Around the NFC in 48 Minutes: Free Agency Preview

A room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Gregg Rosenthal and Patrick Claybon go around the entire NFC conference in 48 minutes to preview free agency for every NFC team, one division at a time. We start with the NFC East (7:05), followed by the NFC North (21:25), then the NFC South (34:57), and finally finish with the NFC West (53:01).

Note: timecodes approximate.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Around the NFL podcast doesn't really understand NFTs from
the Chris Westlink podcast studio, it's around the NFL. I'm
Dan Hansis, I got heroes, Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sesssler and
one of the busiest men in the building right now

(00:21):
at least front facing Patrick Clayban. Thanks Dan, I think
rude like legitimately busy. You've been here every day anchoring
the live NFL Now coverage during a very busy and
vital week on the NFL calendar. And we thank you
for that. And I appreciate you, guys, and I appreciate
you acknowledging all the other people who are who are
also rounding all the time. And Mark and I were

(00:43):
talking about this. You guys talked about it yesterday on
the pod. We're all gearing up for the thing that's
that's happening already right now anyway, but it's it's it's
fun to do looking forward to I have to tell you,
like from a Jets angle, Dan, that I was here
earlier today and talking to CLAIBONNU. He is busy, he's
doing TV. Also, I've find there's this is a skill
that you have that I don't think anyway, you're constantly
tweeting while on television. I think people have questions about

(01:06):
But he was deeply embedded following someone name um crack
Rock on Twitter today and walking around the newsroom. It's
at crack rock cr a k r ok and you
can Patrick explain what crack rocks cases. Yeah, well, we've
been looking for insight into Aaron Rodgers and apparently this
is the Twitter account name crack Rock. This is no

(01:29):
linkage whatsoever between the owner of the Jets, But Woody
Johnson is having a nice lunch in Florida. Crack Rock
is sitting right next to him and is tweeting details
regarding the conversation. Apparently crack rock is the go to
source for your Jets hat crack rocks. This is yeah, okay,
well yeah, I mean in theory it spelled. His background

(01:51):
for Twitter is crack Shack, which is a delicious fried
chicken place. Yeah, not a blue check birthday. This is
more crack rock discussion than I would have shot up to.
It is, Um, is there any evidence that crack rock
is actually telling the truth? Well beyond crack Rock, no

(02:13):
read what are the tweets? Why don't Patrick shit his beat.
But um, I purely just thought that the crack rock
is the name was funny. But now that I've been
put on the spot, let me find because this has
been a very very stressful twenty four hours. Um for
Jets Venza there has been gonna get carpal tunnel from

(02:34):
just refreshing my Twitter feed. You want to be there
when it happens one way or the other, and it
feels like it's on the precipice of going down. Like
the latest now is that it seems like everybody is
down with it and it's more about making it work financially,
which again they're in the red zone. This cannot get
bogged down over a few million dollars. Easy for me

(02:55):
to say, but that can't be the reason this doesn't happen.
If Rogers wants playing the Jets, and the Jets want Rodgers,
they have to figure out a way. It's tricky because
they don't appear to be competing against anyone else, which
in theory would provide good leverage. But they also have
the time of like they want to get this done
sooner than later, and that they don't really have any

(03:16):
backup option. The operative tweet from the aforementioned crack rock
is it's happening. Aaron Rodgers is going to sign with
the Jets. What he left the owner's meeting to get
this done. He had lunch and left in a hurry.
And then somebody said, do you frequent breakers going there
in May and had my wedding there? And he said, yes,
I am no finer hotel in the world. And then

(03:38):
he tweeted a picture of Woody Johnson having lunch two
tables away. That's pretty solid right there. We don't know
the timing of the photo, Chicken, but that is unquestionably
Woody talking to another older man who is not Aaron
Rodgers though, and I don't doesn't look like a major
figure in the jewel Rodgers is in California. That's not changed.
That's in Florida. Yes, I don't, Yeah, familiar with before

(04:02):
Woody got on the plane to fly to come to
Malibu have this discussion. So that's where we're at. Basically
he was when the Jets met with him. Yeah, I mean,
maybe we need to look in the mirror. Who needs
to be breaking this story. It's just up the road.
Let's do it. Let's spend the weekend just like I'll

(04:25):
just drive up and down Malibu looking for Aaron Rodgers clues. Um. Yeah,
So we will continue to track what's going on, obviously
with Rogers and the Jets and everything else as free
agency approaches. The legal tampering window opens up on Monday.
And you last time you heard from us, and I
know we're giving you a lot for the Ears this week,

(04:48):
but that's the drive. That's the drive to be successful
and give the people what they want. We're just gonna
keep giving you quote content that we hope is high
in quality and entertaining. It would be wrong of us
to give less. It would be very wrong to do
and around the AFC in forty eight minutes and not
do the NFC. Although I think that happened once. That happened,

(05:09):
and it could have happened this week if Aaron Rodgers,
you know, the news broke twenty minutes ago. But very
disrespectful to the half the league. National Football Conference, um
particular NFC fans, highly disappointed you talk about all the time.
Very on brand for this podcast. But we're gonna hit
the NFC and all sixteen of its teams. Um, like

(05:34):
right now, let's go, like, let's do it, Graver, let's roll.
You want that airhorn again? Oh, we got the visual
clock again. What we want, what we are sensitive to
is giving the AFC treatment that we wouldn't give to
the other conference. So if the AFC gets the airhorn,

(05:54):
the NFC obviously it also feels like something we could
have ironed out before the show. But that's how the show,
even the question itself feels superfluous. Just do it also
to take somebody out with that silence realm that we had.
And don't worry, don't worry. I know, I know this
man to my right, Patrick, handsome son of a gun.

(06:15):
I'll stop it. But if you have to trike him
right in a vice, you gotta do it. Hit everyone
gets the same treatment. Well maybe yesterday that wasn't the case,
but you got it in right your own face. Ye,
just saying no, like you can talk after the timer,
but if you're talking about that team, I will trank you.
That's I think that's fair. I think at least make

(06:37):
it be known in advance so we know what can
be said in what camp he said. It's good to
hear Graver be a little more decisive there. Yeah, you
should have seen the steely resolve in his eyes. When
Dan was talking about giving people a content, Graver was
like solemnly nodding, like yeah, yeah, that was very masculine,
like a man holding his child as he walks down

(06:58):
a city street, not unlike it's like fourth hour FaceTime
with Jessica. That's when it really shines through. Okay, here,
all right, let's start with the NFC East and the
Dallas Cowboys. They do need help. They need help in
the playmaker area, and I'm curious how they go about it.

(07:21):
Are they going to be a little more subtle about
it and uh and use the draft and free agency
to try to make some measured, thoughtful additions, or are
they gonna do what feels like the Cowboy move, which
is like I'm gonna go get that big old wide receiver,
new new compkins, I'm gonna bring them into the building.
Nuke on the Cowboys does feel like it's gonna happen

(07:43):
to me, or it makes a lot of sense. Odell
on the Cowboys makes a lot of sense to me.
Am I am I being too obvious here, but I
kind of think the Cowboys, which I kind of see,
is a good thing, not a defect they are kind
of obvious and big in their ways. I think they
get one of these big wide receivers to pair and
replace Para CD and replace the Mark Cooper. Do you

(08:05):
see that happening over the next week or two. I do,
and yet I worry about what that'll mean for the
rest of the roster. The fact that they're letting Dalton
Schultz go to free agency. They picked Tony Pollard was
an interesting decision. I think you'd go either way there,
but Schultz is a really good player, so that's another
pair of hands that you have to replace. They're very

(08:27):
thin in terms of their defensive tackle position. They literally
don't have any of their starting linebackers off the ball ready.
Anthony Brown, who was good for them and then got hurt,
Donovan Wilson, who was good for them. They're both free
agents and they're in more cap trouble than most teams.
They need to cut Ezekiel Elliott. I have nothing against
Ezekiel Elliot, but if they try to bring him back

(08:47):
in a restructured contract, it just feels like the Cowboys
are making the same mistakes choosing emotion and bad self
scouting that they've done a lot of times. Well, their
cap situation last offseason. It was one of the teams
where a truly reeked habit and it forced Maury Cooper
out the building. But then they are twenty million in
cap space left poorly managed. Yeah, like you could you
could have managed. So I don't really take the Cowboys

(09:09):
very seriously. I think it's hilarious to me that it's
twenty seven years since they last appeared in a super Bowl,
and that era is an era of like we talk
a lot, we don't do much. And the twenty seven
years before their last super Bowl win takes them back
to nineteen sixty eight, which is eight years after they
were founded. That's all that it's been as long during
that Cowboys are incredible era since then, where they've done

(09:32):
literally nothing except talk. And Jerry Jones has talked about
Odell Beckham and it's the perfect thing to do. Go
get Odell and try to sell us that everything's gonna
be fine. Check your latter. I think literally nothing's a
bit excessive. They were in contention of these past couple
of seasons, They've got a lot of years are they've
been good. There are teams that have been way less
successful even though they haven't gotten to those games. I
think that's part of what the frustration is. It's not

(09:53):
like this this organization has been hopeless. They keep on
knocking on the door and then failing. So whatever it
is internally that they struggle with is finding what is
or what are those missing pieces to take them the
next level. But this year, you're right, Greg, if they
do seem to have a lot of things they have
to address, but those missing pieces you outline it is
they are missing wide receivers. So it's not a luxury thing.
They need it, all right, Safe the New York Giants,

(10:18):
Greg Rosenthal, all right, your favorite team. They have things.
You know, there's this idea that they don't have things
on this Giants rafter, that everything needs to be rebuilt.
They have their quarterback in say Quon Barkley, they have
two tackles they're running. I'm saying they have their quarterback
and say, oh, at least damn sorry, I cast the right.

(10:42):
They have two tackles that they believe in, Andrew Thomas
and Evan Neil struggled as a rookie means a top
ten pick. They have a good defensive line, and the
needs that they have are available in free agency. A
rare team. That's true. Off ball linebacker, there's a ton
of those that you can get. I think good players
for relatively cheap safety. Maybe they bring back Julian Love,
maybe not. Some cornerbacks, uh, James Bradberry would work. Like.

(11:06):
I actually think they are set up to spend this
offseason at a cute few key positions that they need
to fill that won't cost that much money. Maybe they
get in the mix for a tight end, uh, Dalton Saltz,
Mike Kasecki. Like there aren't a lot of pass catchers available,
but just about everything else, I think they can. But
they are they they're pass catching. Like situation is a problem.
Like you got Isaiah Hodgins, who was good last year,

(11:27):
I thought better than we would have expected, Wandale Robinson
who's young. And then like if you look at their
depth chart, that's it. It goes to like Colin Johnson
and someone named Khalil Pimpleton. So it's like it's not
a great free agent market for wide receivers lines training camp, right,
Khalil Khalil Pimpleton. He did well. He's a giant now
and I'm not sure that's who you want starting week

(11:49):
one for you. So there's work to do. There's so
much talent, young talent specifically that we can believe in.
There's there's so many pieces. But why does this team,
even though they'd completely washed the Vikings out of the playoff,
feels kind of Vikings This like it could go either
way and they're one or two things going wrong, especially
if they if they're not able to reach a deal
with sa Quon, maybe sa Quon doesn't sign the tag

(12:11):
as much as he appreciates everybody there, and then and
then what kind of situation are you in? It makes
you wonder if between if picking between the quarterback and
the running back on who they focus on to get
the contract, if maybe they picked the wrong guy. I
know that the quarterback makes things different, but as Greg said,
maybe sae Quon Barkley is the quarterback of the New
York Giants. Well still, but they gotta cut the next

(12:33):
couple of days, so that'll free up a little bit
of money. Yeah, that will help. Uh Again, so we're
gonna drag it into another show. We're gonna be burying
Danny dimes to you. Everybody get paid except for Daniel Jones.
He's not even the quarterback. It's buried him. I just
think that franchise that was, uh you miss hearing me.

(12:56):
I just think they didn't need to give him all
that guaranteed money. But it's not the end of the world.
He felt perfect for huge spots. Sirie on my Watch
said in response to you, I'm not sure I understand.
I think she was talking to you. Listen, won't somebody
please stand up for Daniel Jones who just got a
huge contract to play football for the job. That's rich
because everyone should get paid except for Danny. I mean,

(13:21):
it's not my money. Give it to Daniel Jones, give
it to mine. According to Graver, you were on topics,
so you were shot, understandable. But Mark Mark was addressing,
so he wasn't shot. He was addressing, trying to iron
out just on the new house rules for how the

(13:42):
dart gun works. Mark. You're on the Eagles defending conference champs.
I think, like the thing that happened for me with
the Eagles lash years, like Nick Sirianni to me, is
shaping up potentially as like a top five coach. But
I think he's about to be really tested after this
great season because you've got like a wild chunk of
your defense potentially out the door. Javon Hargrave, James Bradbury,

(14:03):
Chancer Gardner, Johnson, t J. Edwards. Because you're white, that's
just a couple of the million. On offense, Miles Sanders
could be gone. It's you're losing a ton of people.
It also lost both your coordinators. And I think it's
like some teams, this seems to happen him over and
over and they find a way to get it done.
Like I think with Sean Decai that is a good hire.
Brian Johnson was in building and has been working with

(14:23):
Jail and Hurts since he was four years old. So
in a way like I kind of look at all
this change and say, I trust Howie Roseman, I trust
the Eagles about his team, that guy in the NFC.
But I would say there is a lot to do
suddenly in terms of like restocking the shelf and keeping
things smooth or any of you concerned. I think you

(14:44):
made a the way you set it up, it was great, Mark,
because like we all believe that Nick Sriani not only
deserve the jobs that turned out, but it's good at it.
And then remember we talked to Baldy during the playoffs
and he's like, you know what makes this guy? What
makes it work? And he said, in part he has
this incredible staff around him that allows them to approach
the roster and the team in a lot of different ways.

(15:05):
This is gonna be a real test now for Sirianni,
and they're gonna pay Jalen Hurts. Perhaps the roster is
going to be different. This coaching staff is not going
to be the initial guys that he hand picked. I
guess we'll learn a lot more about whether he's an
elite coach or not in the years to come. Yeah,
you can definitely see just in the way that those
guys talked about Nick Sirianni when they got their respective
head coaching jobs, like they really appreciated the things that

(15:27):
he did for them and how they set up and
so much of it was because of how aggressive Howie
Roseman was coming into last season. The question is now,
how aggressive can you be in free agency when you've
got all of your guys that came so close to
winning a Super Bowl. You can't necessarily pick in place
when there's that connection with the city, with these players,
with the team, with guys like CJJ Hargrave going all

(15:50):
the way down the list, like you have to pick
at some point, and I think that changes the process
a little bit. I think they could prioritize Gardner Johnson
or Bradberry keep one of them. They'll probably keep t J. Edwards.
It's a painful year for them because I think they'll
say goodbye to Brandon Graham and Fletcher Cox and those
are ogs. But I trust no front office in the
league more, you know, to be flexible. I'm just curious

(16:13):
like where they prioritize. I don't think they're gonna sit
back and just like watch people go out the door.
I think they're gonna be aggressive going after some of
the bigger names in trades in free agency. I'm not
sure where history tells us With the Eagles, it'll be
on the defensive line maybe to start, and maybe the
offensive line if Kelsey ends up retire and we still
haven't found out about that. And it may get all

(16:35):
the way into training camp where a situation opens up
like the one in New Orleans did last year, and
they get a really good player right before the starting
before the draft when you were gonna try to get
Alan Robinson, but the Rams outbid. Yeah, that worked out
quite nicely. Time out. Whoa, I'm gonna add to the
Eagles here us after the clock? Okay, well, Kim, he's

(17:00):
the arbitrat. Timeouts are kind of you know, Nebulos, I
hear you on that DAYLN Hurts under contract for the
twenty three season at four point two million, obviously maybe
the biggest deal in the league right now, considering what
he brings to that team. M Are they going to
pay him this offseason? I like this quote because I

(17:22):
guess you could take advantage of that for one more
year and then things could start to get sticky, depending
on how that year progresses. But this is a great
quote from a J. Brown Listen. He was on the
Raw Room podcast. Listen, I love Philly. If you do
not pay this man, just ship me off wherever he
fin it go. So you talk about pressure, Howie get

(17:44):
it done? I mean they are going to pay him?
What is he talking about? I don't know, just making sure, Yeah,
just put it out there. It sounded like Howie Roseman
at the Combine was ready to give a contract worthy
of him. I hope that their experience pay Carson Wentz
after three years because they paid Wentz a year early,
maybe two years early, considering he had a fifth year option.

(18:07):
So you don't have to pay Jalen Hurts, but I
think they will. Yeah, helps even up the books a
little bit. Lamar Jackson should have maybe figured this out
a year plus ago versus now or the Ravens. Time
in the Commanders, Patrick Clayburn, let's get it so Eric
b Enemy comes in. Sam Howell going to be the starter.

(18:28):
My question is, and I'll get to it quickly so
we can have so much time to talk about the
Washington Commanders. How much Sam Howell do we get if
he's allowed to have his experiences, his struggles, his trials
and tribulations on a team with a very good defense.
Jack del Rio and company figured out how to get
eleven guys on the field at the same time at
some point during the middle of the season. How much

(18:50):
time does Sam Howell get to struggle before they go
with whatever veteran backup they bring in in our nation's capital. Well,
I'm not like totally confidence command in Washington, d C.
In the Pentagon, there are in the pure Pentagon, it's
a pure building. Um, I'm not totally convinced Howell has
that job at all, just because of the way that,
like Rivera has said, if a veteran comes in and

(19:12):
beats him out, like, so be it. And I'd think,
like the draft is a real option for them, Like
I there, I'd know that the raven The last place
the Ravens would want Lamar Jackson to go is like
thirty five miles away in Washington, DC. That said, I mean,
it's like they should be a competitor for everyone. I
think they're like, if you're Ron Rivera, you cannot just
at this point float out Sam Howell and hope it

(19:33):
works because Ron Rivera has not really had a quarterback
this entire time. And it's all this good will because
he does all this extra work around the building, but
you gotta win games at some point here. Well, he
looked very intriguing Sam Howe in that game. I think
that matters. I wonder how Dan Snyder's situation affects how
decisions are made this offseason. Like you have an owner

(19:57):
who is supposedly trying to sell, but there's some question
whether he is and whether the NFL is trying to
force him out like they would be a logical team
to pursue Lamar Jackson. But if not that they do
have cap space and they would be a logical team
to be aggressive for a guy like Orlando Brown, let's say,
or other names at the top of the market, because
they're the Washington Commanders. That's like what they do. But

(20:20):
how does Snyder's issues like affect all this? I don't know,
but I think it's a pretty good question. Yeah, especially
because I asked it. You did, Yeah, okay, all right, um, yeah, yeah,
it's typically around this point in the episode when the
LSD hits with Greg Right, I just absolutely trying to
make fun of myself. I said, I think that's a
good question, and then I was like, well, that's that's ridiculous. Yeah.

(20:44):
I wonder, yeah, I wonder if the ownership thing is
going to lead to the organization just kind of keeping
their foot off the pedal this year. And that's great
for OWL because that would give him an opportunity. It
was reported last week by ESPN for what it's worth
that Taylor Heineke is still in the mix. Potentially is
the guy they bring into be the backup, which would
be I think very good news for samhow he's a
free agent. Yeah, yeah, it'll be Italian who they go get.

(21:05):
But we'll see. I mean that is he was the
fifth round pick of the twenty twenty two NFL Draft. Now,
I know, I understand the guy in San Francisco did
very well as a light round pick, but you can
really pin a season on someone that you took in
the fifth round. Big chance, according to Spicetrack, first round
talent there it is. Let's move to the NFC North.

(21:28):
The Bears. You know, when you look ahead to their
free agency, they need like everything, They have so much
work to do. The question I have is, like, you know,
here's what they have. They have the most cap space,
they have the number one pick, and they have the
luxury of trading that because they have a QB that
they believe in. And when you factor in the money
and the picks and the potential selling that draft pick

(21:51):
for even more picks, there's an opportunity here to have
a really fast turnaround. If you do this right, you
have a couple of These next couple of months are
huge for the organization. Every Bears fan knows it. Do
we trust this brain trust to get this right? I
think it's like a like a new millionaire move it
into a mansion with no furniture because you've got the

(22:11):
means to go get all the furniture. But like you've
never done this before, and so you better have the
right people around you to make sure you don't buy
like that's got all matched mark speaking from experience, Well,
I definitely am not. I can promise you that. I
would just say this, like like I don't think it's
a great free agency group this like like do you

(22:31):
have to go spend all this money just because you
have it? I don't like when like I feel like
the Dolphins have done that four or five times, but
like the Bears have it, they have to do. But essentially,
if you don't use this offseason draft and everything else
to surround like you're a quarterback with the best, then
you've totally failed. They can do it, they will do it.
But like there, for instance, the wide receivers in this

(22:51):
that's where I start. I mean, you have you have
to build everywhere. Obviously you can go. You could space
it out if you want and go a little bit here,
a little bit there, but go get them some weapons,
build up the line if you because they do, you
are they one hundred percent. Do they know Justin Fields
is their future and a star. I think he can
be give him the guys, don't waste his rookie contract

(23:12):
and be going into next offseason be like we need
to get this guy some weapons. I think that's a
place to be aggressive building up. Do you think that
they actually do think that about him? When all the
chatter early Alma was like, we've sat him down, we
talked to him like, you know, here's the process we're
gonna see there's a quarterback with like better that's how
you talk about Patrick Mahomes. No, but there's we've seen
enough to know that there's a reasonable expectation that they

(23:32):
should try. Right, we can't run out a roster where
Equanimius Saint Brown is going to be your best receiving option. Again,
I don't think anybody wants to see that. So they
don't have to do like, hey, Nuke and Odell or
everybody's coming to Chicago. I don't think it's necessarily that.
But give us something serviceable to where it's not glaring
that there's an inadequacy on so many different parts of

(23:52):
the roster. Right, Eberflus kind of skated on how many
games they lost at a Row even though he's a
defensive coach there. You've lost relentlessly. It's terrible, the worst
season in their history. Right. You mentioned that that they
need everything, and I guess i'd push back on you
don't want to spend bad money in terms of guarantees
into like year three and four. But most teams don't

(24:13):
do that anymore. Teams are smarter about Okay, the guarantees
are going to be for two years, and so if
that's the case, I'd overpay a little for a Zach Allen,
who I think would fit well for a Jacoby Myers,
because Jacoby Myers isn't a number one, but you need
to get a two or a three, just to start
filling out that group a little jaguary when they did,
all right, I like that you thought about it. They'll

(24:37):
take I'll take out the dart. I'll let the poison
course through me and be like I earned that right
through the ear lobe pierced. Now he's a little bit left.
Oh thanks, well, now now you got too much in
the system. All right. The Detroit Lions, Greg Rosenthal lads,
push forward. It's Lions time, baby. I mean, they've got

(24:58):
a decent amount of cap space. I that I think
it's the time in their development to make a couple
of big splashes, maybe just one in free agency. And
they seemed to me like a strong candid to go
get Javon Hargrave. They spent money on Michael Brockers didn't
work out. They spent their first two picks in the
Dan Campbell era on defensive tackles. One really worked a

(25:18):
Lee McNeil, the other didn't. LEVI onwuz Rique, and I
think Javon Hargrave is like a logical guy there. I
order James Bradbury. They certainly could use a cornerback, but
I think the Lions want to build their lines first.
That's just like who they are. And I think this
is like push time, and it's time to start swimming
in the deep free agent pools. Let's go. I think

(25:41):
everyone thought this was very special. Why did not even speak?
Obviously that was that was coming. Grave is very proud
of himself. I literally have no remembering, no member what
I was going to say at this point. This is

(26:02):
every Detroit Lions conversation ever. I hope they bring back
Jamal Williams. He's our friend, you know, they kept their
offensive coordinator. They get them for one more year. Ben Johnson, Um,
I do I do worry about It makes sense to
build up the defense, Right Is that offense going to
be as good next year as it was in twenty two? Like?

(26:23):
Is that sustainable? We are we confident that that's going
to be the same, like major part of their attack?
I don't know. Probably not, But if they're seventy five
percent as good and the defense is fifty percent better,
but that would be nice. I think I think they
would take that for sure. Yeah, that's a playoff team.
I mean, I think everyone thought they were going to
get a quarterback this offseason, not expecting golf to be

(26:46):
to play at the level he did. Golf was forget
the name. Golf played really well for them and kept
the mistakes to a minimum and didn't have a thousand
yards stare we've seen in the past. Do you do
you trust though? Do you not go get a quarterback?
Do you not? Do you just look look past that
and say we're good with golf. I just the thing
about it is like year after year or you're gonna
get that version of them, but you're not going to
get in a reagent veteran. I think think they're talking

(27:08):
about the sixth pick and sick in the draft. I
think I think they're absolutely in the quarterback market with that.
I think it's smart though, Like you can say, do
you think depending on how the board shakes out, or
maybe going up and getting one of the guys like
competing with the indianapolis Is and the Texans of the world,
that would send a rough message to golf. But yeah,

(27:28):
I think so. I think if they're thinking quarterback, then
if they think moving from six to three gets it done,
that the price would be worth it. Yeah, be huge.
I mean Anthony Richardson with Ben Johnson, that seems like fun. Well,
they kind of fit the Lamar Jackson thing for me too.
But I mean, you know, they're a power team that
wants to run. Lamar would fit great. But it's like,

(27:49):
apparently no one is going to be doing that for
a while. They do have two first round picks in
the next couple of years twenty million dollars the Green
Bay Packers, Mark Sessler, So I was looking at this
like Brett Farve took his first snap for the Packers
on September thirteenth, nineteen ninety two. That is eleven thousand,
one hundred and thirty four days ago. Aaron Rodgers made

(28:11):
his first start for Green Bay on September eighth, two
thousand and eight, five thousand, two hundred and ninety five
days ago. This entire time, it has been quarterback, easy
Street for this fan base. We know that, and that's
not their fault. I'm not trying to take the fans down,
But there are thirty year old Packers fans. I mean,
there are like four year old Packers fans forty five
years old that have no conscious memory of anything other

(28:34):
than golden play from that position. So this is the thing.
I think, you now come to a totally beautiful child.
Well you know at the point that the presumed starter.
But I'd say, barring some snooze fest Rogers returning to
Green Bay after all this drama like it is, we
rip into the great unknown now and it is a
total void, a wilderness, a Jordan Love shaped unknown future.

(28:58):
And I am more excited about the Green Bay then
I've ever been on this show, because it's so different
than it ever was before. And I think if you're
a Packers fan, you get on board with this because
it's like, you know what it is, time to move
on from Aaron Rodgers, even if he's better than Jordan Loved.
Right now, see what you have and do it and
go for it. Why have you always wanted Packers fans
to not have good quarterback play? Because the number one

(29:23):
I think they have a reason to be frustrated with
You don't know the answer to that. I guess they're
not getting the full, well rounded experience of a fan
if you've had those quarterbacks. I'm not saying they should.
They probably can say, well, we should have won five
more Super Bowls too. Fair Well, they get credited also
for properly like targeting those two players, and they enjoyed
the spoils of it, even if it only produced two titles,

(29:45):
that's two more than the Jets, a lot of fun moments,
irrelevancy the whole time. I'm curious with the Roger situation
if like, where is Laflora on this, Like we know
it seems like Gouda Kuntz is probably ready and he's
got a guy like is La Flour pissed behind the
scenes that he could still have Aaron Rodgers on his

(30:06):
team but instead now is forced to roll the dice
with Jordan Love, who I understand he looked good at
times last season, but overall hadn't been blown the doors
off people development wise. I think they with the franchise
and including the fan base, there's just so much experience
around this exact scenario, especially with Aaron going through last year.
We talked to Leroy Butler on Now earlier today, Well

(30:29):
you know, wow, it's it's an apparatus and um, and
it helps us sometimes. And he said he was going
to break Jets fans hearts either way. He says he's
either going to go there and it's not gonna work,
or he's gonna stay in Green Bass If if Jordan's
Love was ready, he said, yes, he's ready for Jordan.
He said, there's not a There wasn't a third options
suck or stay at the Packers, but I'd probably be great.

(30:50):
I would have feeling is there like everybody's ready to
move on and maybe like Marcus saying, you know, they
need to experience, they need to see the immune system
boost of being sick for a little bit. Um, I
think they've done. Um. Can we put Leroy Butler on
our band list for this podcast? Just add him to
the it's in the Hall of Fame, the never list.

(31:14):
All right, let's we got the Vikings, Patrick Claybon. Let
we get it. So the Vikings had an incredible offense
last year. Is one of my favorite weird stats that
the Vikings were bottom ten in terms of turning the
ball over but still had a top ten offense. There
were number seven in total offense. Kirking Company, we're doing
things that were just so many problems on the defensive

(31:34):
side of the ball. Incomes Brian Flores. He you know,
there's the typical answer when somebody's like an introductory news conference,
Hey four three three four, Hey waffle, and he's like,
we're gonna but it's it's three to four. So, like,
my question with regards to the Vikings is how much
are they going to spend in free agency to try
to make this defense capable of winning right now? I

(31:57):
don't think it's gonna be that much, because I think
their cap issues are real enough. They're certainly gonna open
up room. We've heard Adam feeling it's gonna get cut.
Maybe it's Harrison Smith. I think it's Quessey time. I
don't know if any GM has a tougher job than
quesse Adopo Menza this offseason. You kind of they kind

(32:20):
of remind me of the Raiders in the NFC in
the sense that, like the expectations are gonna be high,
but man, they have almost no areas on the team
where you couldn't see them turning it over, like left tackle,
Like the tackle situation looks pretty good. And other than that,
like including Kirk Cousins or do you extend him out
another year because if you don't, his number is very high. Yeah,

(32:42):
I mean they've eighteen million, they're in the red with
effective cap space, so the feeling thing feels imminent other changes,
So it's a tough building situation. And I go along
it's Kevin O'Connell too, because Kevin O'Connell like by all
accounts good first season, Like it felt different than the
Zimmer Vikings teams, and a lot of tall, good looking
former quarterback so that's probably part of the deal. But like,

(33:04):
I mean, so much went right at the end of
games for them, or the way that they all these
metrics that you know the falloff is coming. But on
top of it, to your point, Patrick Click, it's like
they actually have holes and they're missing things. I do
think that Brian Flores, though, is going to show once again.
I think he's an awesome coach, and I think that
defense will will obvious how they can't be worse, but
you're gonna get a Brian Flores esque version and that's

(33:26):
going to be a boost for them, and maybe the
offense doesn't have to do everything at the end of games.
Better coaching, better players, you'll get better there, right that
the one Dalbin Cook hasn't really been talked about on
the show much, but he according to Kevin Seaford at ESPN,
if he wasn't having shoulder surgery, he would be cut
most likely, So that kind of tells you a little
bit about maybe where he's at in his career. This

(33:47):
appoint would also again Minnesota and the salary cap and
how they're trying to give the roster a little bit
more balanced. He if he gets cut and then fails
a physical, they owe him an extra two million dollars,
so that's apps keeping him on the roster. Alexander Madison
is backup, is a free agent who I think would
be a nice pickup for some team, maybe as a

(34:08):
guy or a starter. But yeah, A lot of starters
are free agents, Dalvin, Tomlinson, Patrick Peterson, Chandon Sullivan, Garrett Bradbury.
It's a lot. I think Dalvin's a must. What do
they go? What do you think Dalvin's a must? Oh?
Are we gonna get slow trigger figure? It's all over there. Um,

(34:28):
he's a must. What to bring back? Just on the
defensive one. Sorry, I'm losing consciousness. Sorry, buddy, I really
needed to know. I'm sorry. Wakes up in the middle
of the NFCS segment. Oh yeah, there's multiple delvens. I
just realized though. All right, we are going to take
a break and then tackle. Yes, the NFC South, all right,

(34:54):
we're back. Let us head to give me a little
air horn, just to get some juice into the NFC
South's juice. It up the Atlanta Falcons. It doesn't. And
mister Clay bun as Lamar's top stand. Please make it

(35:16):
make sense to me that they have to if this
is actually a real thing, they have to change their
minds and go after Lamar Jackson. If the report is true.
They didn't need to look in the mirror. Home Depot
the everyone, every Home Depot employee needs to look in
the mirror because Lamar Jackson on the Falcons we went
over the other day and makes so much sense. I

(35:36):
also want to point out that Arthur Smith is entering
his third season, and this is how the NFL typically works.
You get like three years to make the playoffs and
then the owner typically is like, well, we're gonna move on.
So understanding there should be some urgency in that building
at this point, like somebody's gonna make a push here,
because I just just like with Sam Howell, no disrespect,

(35:57):
but you're gonna really in year three years turned to
Desmond Rider on a math small sample size and be like,
we're rolling with this kid. I think the most charitable
reading is subterfuge, as if to say, hey, other teams,
we're not interested in Lamar. Please the offer sheet that
you send him doesn't need to be all that because
we're not going to submit one. And then March fifteenth

(36:17):
rolls around and the folks and Flowery Branch give Lamar
an offer sheet that he wants. That that's the most
charitable reading. So I think that's the case. I think
that could be the case for one of these teams,
but again, it's a longer timeline. March fifteenth is when
this business can start. And we heard some reports, you know,
agents saying, look, if we were Lamar's agent, we'd be
tampering the hell out of this. It's like, okay, coach,

(36:38):
put me in fourth quarter, a little one state, but
the rules are technically they wouldn't be able to do
anything until the fifteenth. I I my conspiracy theory was
that they are going after Ryan. Tannehill talked about that
because they need to push that. To Dan's point, it's
the third year for Arthur Smith. They have sixty two

(36:58):
million dollars in campus space. They took all that pain
from Matt Ryan a year ago. I think their candidates
for some of the biggest names in free agency, liking
Orlando Brown, although that actually that wouldn't make sense. Who
was I thinking? Javon Hargrave could certainly make sense, like
a Zach Allen. Their defense needs a lot of help.
I would say one thing like looking at the roster,
because Drake London, outside of some weird drops and fumbles,

(37:21):
like a really good wide receiver. Beyond that, you have
four guys on the roster, Rashaan Rashaun, Henry, Frank Darby,
Josh Allie and Jared Bernhardt who combined for one catch
last year. And we don't know what Kyle Pitts is
at this point, to be honest, and so Ryan Tannehill
can't go from a Bearcuboard Titans team to a Falcon's
team with less and less, you're gonna have to use

(37:42):
that money. They have the number eight pick. Maybe the
quarterback comes there too. By the way, let's see if
Terry fontedou we haven't really heard much of Terry Fontedo
the last couple of years, has just been tearing things down.
Now it's time to show up. It's been a tough
so far a decade for Terry's, Like they just don't
seem to have a lot of pop. Maybe Fonto could
just bratchhat losing all Moneys the team on his back,

(38:02):
right now, that's fair, that's fair outlier, all right? Moving
on the Carolina Panthers with Greg Rosenthal, Well, there they
are the team that I think is lying about Lamar
or at least that's the most likely. And even the
report about lying the hardest, like they even the report

(38:24):
about the Panthers was like they were don't look for
them too or it's not likely they're not expected to,
and I think they could be a team that would
wait out the market because I don't think this roster's
that bad. Like they need a few wide receivers. Who
doesn't I feel like half the league needs a couple
wide receivers, which is why the few ones available in

(38:45):
free agency, and guys like DeAndre Hopkins who thinks he'll
he'll go for a second round pick, like, they'll all move.
But this is not a bad looking team. I'm curious
to see if they cut Shack Thompson, who's been there
for a long time. They don't really need to, but
that would kind of be like, hey, we're the new regime.
It doesn't quite make sense to keep him. I mean,
Frank Reich cannot carry over the cult situation where you

(39:07):
go into the season with a total question mark at quarterback.
There's got to be a plan here. I think there
are a huge candidate to move up if they fall
in love with someone. There's a bunch of teams they're
gonna move up because I think the quarterback rush is
gonna happen between one and five, one and six right away.
I don't think they're gonna wait on that. You gotta
get a guy in between, so it'll be telling which
guy or which type of guy that yet Jacobe per
sect could make sense. He was with Frank Reik before.

(39:30):
It was a fun team to watch down the stretch.
The Steve Wilkes edition of the DGAF Panthers that really
just didn't seem to care about you or your aspirations.
They ran all over the Lions in that game where
the Lions really had a shot to get into the
playoffs and they just could do nothing about the Carolina Panthers.
And sorry, I think like Sam Darnold showed a lot
like as Sam kind of starts to settle into that

(39:51):
this is me. I'm a backup and I could be
pretty good or I could come in and be a good,
good looking starter. I think maybe there's a shot that
Sam comes back. Got another that feels very suspicious to me.
What a moment, It's it's great and we're here now,
bottle service fantastic. I will say, as much as I

(40:13):
love Sam Darnald that uh, it's been what was Cam's
last kind of big year, like twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen, Yeah,
there was that playoff game against the Saints, where before
the shoulder completely fell off, were ca Yeah, they Um,
they've been in the wilderness for a little while here.
And if it was if it was somebody in house,
it was, if it was darn Old, if it was

(40:34):
Jake Brisket. Like if I'm a Panthers van and I
agree with you like that, there's a reason they somehow
got to seven wins despite the Baker and Darnald. Their
line plays pretty good on both sides. They if they
kind of get aggressive and get someone exciting at quarterback.
I think, as much as I love Sam Darnald, um
that perhaps that's the way to go, like make a splashing.

(40:54):
But the seven wins is kind of annoying that it
puts them outside that premium draft pick position. And then
then do we want to you know, trade up the
board and give up assets. That's a decision they needs.
I mean, So David Tepper, who you know has not gone,
not succeeded, but gone after big names off season after offseason,
suddenly sits pat with someone on the roster right now.
I don't think so. Maybe he's been hurt too many times.

(41:17):
I feel bad for him. That's the case. Lazy gunman
just sort of like after the fact, takes the guy
out by the way for the listeners. He's like a
grassy North smoking a joint. I totally narked on Mark
there and got him shot. I don't know why. I
don't know it was coming anyway. And the laziness is
just like I have to line up. I gotta make

(41:37):
sure I'm hitting the right person. I don't want to
just like recklessly into the studio, back into the left.
There it is okay the Saints, Mark, I mean my feeling, no,
I just like it's gonna be your Pelicans. That's just
like where I was, just like my writing this out
thinking about them, Like my feeling about them is that

(41:58):
they just sort of we talked for the with Derek Carlo.
They sort of just are right now. Um. And I
was trying to figure out, like why why I feel
that way about them, because I really have liked the
Saints in general for a long time, and I think
it's part of last season, Like the most exciting thing
that they produced was that that it got like the
metrics community into a lather over Andy Dalton, which is

(42:19):
a weird thing to be like your apex of a campaign. Um,
And like Dennis Allen's I thought Blue Ribbon was essentially
nobody was excited about Daltons throughout it, but doing like
QBA next like every week I look at like the
it's like Andy Dalton just kept rocketing up the board
as if he's not why a tittle? I get it,

(42:40):
but like um on your own index, No, you mean
he did? I put him lower than the metrics community
more like why a titty? Hey, what was that about?
It really hash and deep into the bloodstream. It's now
it's this is now becoming an intervention twy bro. But
I know I know what annoys me about them, and

(43:01):
I think it's like I don't know him personally, but
it's like Dennis Allen and you mentioned this, like the
Chauncey Gardner Johnson split, I think like that would not
have happened with Sean Payton in there. And it's like
Dennis Allen is like this active walking advertisement for the
value of Sean Payton and it's like, yes, they they
I think Derek Carr will be fine if you get
the best version of them and they can win this
idiotic division, but it's hard to project them mean much more. Well, no,

(43:26):
because it's like I actually am more more annoyed for
But Saints are a great fan base. Like it's like
when they're fun, the league is better and they've been
less fun and it's like they're taking the juice out
part by part. I don't like it. They they have
potentially a ton of big moves to make, Like Michael
Thomas said on Twitter, he was excited about Derek Carr,

(43:47):
but he's expected to be released. Jarvis Landry like Cameron Jordan,
I think's gonna be there, But they don't have anyone
at defensive tackle. Marcus Davenport's a free agent. Like, I
think they have a lot to move, is left to make.
They're gonna be one of the most active teams. Is
what is going on? We know Kamara is facing potential
um discipline. He could be a sneaky trade kid. Is

(44:10):
he is he definitely part of their team? Is he's safe?
Cut wise? Like where are we at at Kamara? His
contracts fine, so it would only be I think if
they traded him and would be complicated. I'd love to
see them go get like Kareem Hunt and like just
let Alvin Kamara. We'll see what happens with him. But like,
don't just restock it running back? Did you think that

(44:31):
Kareem Hunt had um? I think no. I think he
can still play well. Go back to that Carolina game
in Week one. He didn't looked done to me. I
think his role was limited. They couldn't use a backup
running back and there's a lot of options out there.
Rashad Penny's out there. How about Jeff Wilson late round
draft picks Barkley, He's a franchise tagged I was gonna

(44:59):
say Mark could been sim What if he simply refuses
to play for the Giants and they end up trading him.
That can happen. There could be a tag and trade.
Forget that talking refusing to return to the Giants. Absolutely
guy because he doesn't want to play on the because
things like all seem peachy now, but then it gets ugly.

(45:20):
He doesn't. He wanted a long term deal, he didn't
get one, and the Giants are forced to trade him
and he winds up with the Saints in like week
one or week two. Sourcing on this, I'm just saying
it's a potential like life thread because because we were
stop talking about because the potential of running backs has
been artificially lowered by the existence of the franchise tag
more than any other position, because turns back, he's a quarterback.

(45:42):
Remember it's he already turned out a deal for more years,
so he's just sit there and take a one year.
Maybe he'll push back on that's very important fair point.
If he was a guy to get like a two,
he's not playing another down two for twenty seven type deal,
which Garafolo is hinting at that it was over a
thirteen million a year. I think I think he gets
his long term deal from the Giants. Not well, wait,

(46:03):
what's the next barrier? Play like player freedom and power
is not just playing on the tag saying forget this nonsense.
If you're gonna undervalue my tag a tight end or
a running back. It didn't work out for the last guy.
But wait, did not true the ten and all the
things you're doing here is Patrick. So clearly there is

(46:25):
a void, not just in Tampa but in the entire
NFL as we all have to solemnly accept the existence
of this fact that he's gone. He's not coming back.
He's firing back that you sho people on Twitter saying
that it's not happening, and so this team was positioned
to still contend. They were holding the things together with
duct tape. They brought everybody back and it didn't work out.

(46:47):
Now that they're hemorrhaging guys who had success, Leonard Fournette
is gone, we wonder what the future is going to
be like. Dam was entertaining the options of maybe Mike
Evans heading to Dallas. But let's say, okay, David's hitting
free agents great to Let's say they keep everybody. Are
there enough pieces remaining from the Brady era to bring
in a veteran quarterback and contend in twenty twenty three?

(47:10):
Can I ask a question, yes, when you watch the Bucks,
did you feel like Brady was He wasn't no longer
elevating them, but was he making them worse? Holding them back?
Because if he was more just like a middle of
the road guy, which is kind of how I saw
him in his final season, then I would say you
should break it down because it's just a kind of

(47:32):
a team in purgatory. But if this team still has upside, okay,
let's do it. But I don't think they are. I
think they it might be time. Some of these guys
are getting older. Now they're a rough spot this offseason,
in particular, they're fifty two million in the red, and
part of that is that they took this thirty five
million dollar Tom Brady dead cap hit and so trying
to keep like Jamel Dean Lavan to David's gonna go

(47:53):
make money somewhere else. But it's like, I'm not sure
it's as easy this time around, because remember, like the
phenomenon with the Super Bowl winning Bucks was like no
one was a free agent, everyone was returning, and that
happened almost two years in a row. And it's like
they keep talking up Kyle Trask, which it just sounds
like they're trying to sell us on a this is
a year where we're gonna we gave you Tom Brady,
now you're getting Kyle Trask. We'll see how much fun that.

(48:17):
I hate it for Todd Bowles. Their defense was pretty
mediocre last year. I had to answer your question, Battrick.
I think the answer is no, I don't think they can.
I think they're in a really difficult I think they
are who everyone thinks the Rams are, which is that
they sold everything to have this push and now it's

(48:37):
truly gone and it's blown up and there's not gonna
be much left in the end, even though there's some
decent players there. Now, I don't think it's going to
add up to much, and they're gonna be gone by
the next time. The Bucks are good. I think they
are like that that team people think the Rams are.
If I could make a case to Dan's point, Tom
and the offense did not look good. The thing about
Tom is this historical world breaking level of consistency when

(49:01):
Tom doesn't have that, considering the fact that pushing close
to fifty at a certain point during the season, like
it just it wasn't that Tom was necessarily bad and
dragging the team down, but an inconsistent Tom Brady is
just not Tom Brady. And so maybe there's aspects of
the twenty twenty two Bucks that we kind of missed

(49:21):
because things were so bad. A lot of free agents.
All Right, we gotta take a break and then we're
gonna hit the NFC West. But before that, we got
some breaking news rap sheet reports that Vikings Pro Bowl
pass rusher as A Darius Smith, has informed the team

(49:44):
that he wants to be released. The team has no
plans to do that. The situation remains unresolved, says Rappaport.
Then z Smith chimes in on Twitter himself, I just
want to say thank you to skull Nation for another
he ain't coming back for an amazing season and experience.
Thank you all my teammates coaches in the entire minute.
Son of Vikings organization, purple heart. I really like this

(50:07):
move by Smith, which is like, yes, there's all sorts
of messiness with the organization who are like spoiling for
a fight, And he's like, no, I'm gone, just like
and I'm being very pleasant about it, but I gone.
I guess he is. He is on track to play
for all four NFC North teams in four years. And
by the way, we like Brian Flores. We were just

(50:28):
saying he's a that's a big first step to making
that defense better because it was atrocious last year. This
is not a good first step toward that. Taken away
one of their better defensive players. Yeah, he played well
for them. This contract, I feel like has been haunted
because it was the one that he signed last year
after he backed out of the deal that was reported

(50:49):
for days with Baltimore, so he wasn't happy there. He
doesn't appear to be happy. Now. Maybe it's because he
played too well by the end of the season. He
I mean, he was on a serious role and I'm
too good. Right, He could get do great in free agency.
But I think the Vikings are in a weird spot here.
I wouldn't want to cut him, especially because he's throwing
a going the way party walking around the Green Bay building.

(51:14):
We're saying that no one was staying hello to him, right,
I mean, it's like that moves going on here. Hey,
it's cake in the break room. I'm out because thanks
for everything, all right, So there you go. Add that
as a dendum to the Vikings talk. Get used to
time out there, Thank you very much, productive improve We
got one left. We didn't really take one. We just
said developing news hit the drive and went along. So
do we do? You have to use the timeout because

(51:36):
it wasn't okay, but we but we'll finished a division.
Gist of the show is that we're giving this two
and forty eight minutes, and we take timeouts if it's
going to go longer. That's true, you have to make
a judgment justin but it's also usually during the three
minute I mean, it is nebulous can I take a
retroactive timeout so we can get some breaking news regarding Zadarious? Yes,
all right, cool, second time out and boom, and I'm

(51:58):
comfortable of this. It leaves us with one and back
pocket for the final quarter of the game. I got
Andy Reid to my left here. You know what happened
last time he did. It's put us in a bad spots. Excited.
I do have like a it's more obsessed with like
clock management than everyone, So that's personal. Take them out

(52:19):
the Packers that uh I never did? Time out? Greg,
if you want to make it right now a window?
Wait the time? How long are these timeouts play the
way the best isn't the NBA. It's not a thirty
second time out. You can take as long as I
just I just really want the Packers to spend all
their resources on offense and making Jordan Love look good,

(52:39):
just to annoy Aaron Rodgers and souls. Bring them in
first round picks, bring them in, let's Jacoby Buyers, whatever,
Let's just get them all in Green Bay to make
that that was even. You went back a division to
land that one. All right, Let's take a break and
then close things out, all right, we're back. Let's move

(53:01):
to the NFC West, the Arizona Cardinals. Part of me
just wants to spend three minutes talking Robbie Anderson has
now chosen Robbie I E. Anderson. That's interesting to me,
fascinating chosen by the Cardinals at this point though, because
he was also cut because he did absolutely nothing for
them after their mid season acquisition. So that's another, yet

(53:23):
another spot they need to figure out. They might be
trading new cop against might It sounds like it was
even that kind of I don't know what's going on
with the Cardinals. It's like they've already agreed to terms
on the trade that they want to make in the future.
Do you see that report. I don't remember seeing that
wording before. It's like, don't you want to engage with
a team and then figure out the terms. Maybe they'll
give you a first round pick because and they're agreed

(53:45):
to in invisible terms it was a second rounder. Anyway,
There's a lot of work to be done here. JJ Watt,
who's nobody's version of a peak JJ was still quality player.
He led them in pass rushing, snaps and rushers. They
got to take care of that area. You're gonna have
to get new playmakers around whoever is at quarterback, and

(54:08):
just a big, big job ahead of Jonathan Gannon and
and a new brain trust there. I mean, if you're
John they had to have told Jonathan Gannon. Ray had
to demand it like it's a freebe year, because there
it's it is. They're in as bad a shape as
any team in the NFC. The only thing I like
it for him. What I would like a little bit
is like it could show you not it's not gonna
be Brian Dable, but maybe you can do a lot

(54:29):
with a little and show us why you're a special
hire versus like the Cliff Kings or anything. Was so
toxic by the end that he disappeared to Thailand, and
I'm not sure he's ever returned. But um Gannon, like,
why not come in and be like, we get it.
Everything's evil here, but I can make something out of it.
I worry Jonathan Gannon did not show anything as like

(54:51):
a schematic guy that head coach like. He didn't show
any thing as like a schematic genius, Like that's what
you want out of your head coach, like to provide
some sort of advantage. He didn't show that in Philly.
His offensive coordinators Drew Pittsing who had you know, first time,

(55:12):
O see, not a lot of experience. We'll see. I
was taken by Kelvin Beacham, who was maybe the most
respected guy in that locker room. Was there a long
long time saying about Kyler Murray that the one thing
Kyler needs to do is to grow up, that like
he thinks he can do it, and that he's very gifted,

(55:32):
but that he's not there in terms of leadership. Hearing
that from Beecham specifically resonated, Dude, Kyler Murray is gonna
be freaking out by about weeks six of next season.
And I was able to talk to Kelvin Beacham today
NFL now because there's been so much around this, there's
always the hesitation and the tiptoeing, like Kyler needs to
grow up, he needs to be more mature. I was like,
what's this specific thing that Kyler has done, thank you,

(55:54):
or has not done that he can improve on it?
And he just said he could spend some more time
with his teammates off the like that was the first place.
So it's not like top Kyler's flipping tables or something.
He's finished, he's clocking out and leaving. He wants them
to do list less of that. M grow up, be
a man and grow up, but like be a man.
That's spend more time with your teammates. Be a man.

(56:17):
This is the ever I've ever heard. It was really
that was interesting and great reporting from Patrick's. Dan went
on for a while like, I didn't know interesting that
out there? You got that in the face. No, that
is that was a great follow up question Patrick. But

(56:39):
it's like be a man. We're just going into it.
Almost would call for another It's so intriguing that, all right,
let's call time out, time out there. Because if he's saying,
because he's now on the NFL network with the great
Clay Bon, he knows he has to be careful on
some level what he says. It's but journalistically the question
was asked, he has to answer it to me when

(56:59):
somebody's and that's what he said in the interview before Patrick,
he said, be a man like that feels a little
heavier than just hey, go get burgers with the guys.
I think it maybe it, yeah, And it's hard to
base things on hard knocks, but a little that you
get from that and then just witnessing he looks like
a guy who's does his own thing, maybe a little aloof.

(57:21):
I always struggle with what does aloof mean? But he
kind of keeps to himself and he's not bothering anyone.
But that creates an issue when you're the quarterback. I
think if you watched that Hard Knocks, like and I
didn't see all of it, it got too depressing. But
like the last week or two, I gave us right
when I watched Kyler Murray though it it is just
a different persona uh then you'd see from like a

(57:41):
super plugged in pro athlete, like he's got a lot
of other stuff going on, and like I think he is,
he's he wants to drive his teammates like he'd get
on them, and I kind of like his intensity. There
are things I liked about him. He was hard. Yeah,
when he's on him, he's hard. Only he's like a
perfect Maybe that doesn't have vive though, when you're not
spending the time to make the relationship. I think if
the organization is better, then you get a better Kyler.

(58:04):
It was really in shambles. You had There was even
disagreements onto who was doing the thing in Mexico. They
weren't even sure who who the perpetrator was. The coaching
staff office was frankly like an embarrassment to them. I mean,
these are the people in charge of Kyler Murray and
so like winning is going to help everything. But I
just wanted like a concrete thing because this has been
two years. I think it's like, oh, well, Kyler's doing

(58:28):
this and he's not doing that. It's like, well, what
is he doing? Why is he not doing because we've
talked about this so much, like can we put something
concrete on it? Because at a certain point it's just like, yeah,
this guy's a little different. He's shorter than other people.
Are we are we doing this just because of those
things like he likes video games and we're saying like,
or is there something that he's actually doing. I think
his answer was good, though, spend more good, spend more time.

(58:51):
But maybe that also means not just to the players,
but spend more time like the other big time quarterbacks do.
In terms of which team. I mean, I think there's
the school. He's super he's so talented, you don't move on.
But like there's a global issue or a concern about
the other aspects of Kyler Murray. He now, he is
an incredible athlete and that's not just football. And that's
why I was so excited. And Walker was excited to

(59:13):
get the number one jersey again on his baseball team
because he's the smallest guy on the team and they
give it to the smallest guy and that's for Kyler Murray.
And oh, by the way, he happens to be on
the A's so he's got the Kyler Murray A's uniform
number one. How about that? It for the short folks,
Not that he knew that he does like Kyler. He
did do it for Kyle. The smallest child should get

(59:35):
a single number. That's why the extra smalls are one. Yeah,
and it goes up that way with these so is
his favorite players. Kyler. Nobody likes him. He likes he
likes that he's shorter and run. I don't think he
knows this year is I didn't realize that, like little
leagues were organizing numbers off of Kyler Murray's non pro

(59:56):
baseball career. Like I just thought it was like a
little because they're there's a picture of Kyler in that
Oakland A's number one too. Yeah, remember all the talk
you would go back to baseball, Well he might, it's
not that crazy. Still could happen. I guess it's a
little cassy by like mid October. All right, we're out
of time out la rams Greg Roseal, Okay, I've been
listening to Eleven Personnel, the podcasts on the Athletic by

(01:00:20):
our friend Jordan rod Reeg. This offseas good listen, and
my takeaway from Jordan's takeaway, who knows a lot more
in talks to the people there, is that it's really
not them blowing it up. And less Needs spoke about
this on Thursday. They're calling it a remodel. If they
were blowing it up, Aaron Donald, Cooper Cup, Matthew Stafford
wouldn't be there. And they're making it clear we're building

(01:00:41):
around these guys still, and so I think they're looking
at this as a year they might step back a
little and free up a lot of cap space for
twenty twenty four. In twenty twenty four is when they'll
feel like they really are going back for titles. But
in the meantime, they're going to be investing in players
that they think can win. Then so I think they'll
be active in free and say guy like Chauncey Gardner

(01:01:03):
Johnson I think would fit their scheme. I don't think
they're just gonna sit back and do absolutely nothing, but
they feel like they're aiming more for the middle or
like the lower playoffs this year and that next year
with Donald and Cup and Stafford still here, that they
go after it once, so like we've done it before
and maybe we should do it again. And the ramp
up to this season, team slogans would be like we

(01:01:23):
grate with nine and eight. That's that feels about right.
Seven would be heaven. Yeah, I think that's it. But
it's not like they're not the Titans or they're not
the Cardinals where they're just blowing it up. They want
to get back into the Winter's show, all unveiled, shot
fired behind the glass. What happened that Titans? I just immediately,

(01:01:44):
which is unfair. They were like, I hear what you're saying, Greg,
but I mean I do want this is an LA thing.
But like I'm driving around in my car listening to
this like one sports radio station that's about all every
LA team, and it's like no, like actual angst over
what the Rams, what happened to them last season? Or
what's going on now? I know that, Like there's certain

(01:02:06):
people that are plugged in, but it's like where are
the Rams fans and all this? Like I would be
a little bit annoyed with what's happened over last The
last season was an absolute no show, and you keep
taking people away telling us, no, we're not taking a
step back. I mean, if anything, it's at least a
one year or two year surrender. I think it's a
one last year everything went wrong, but like a lot

(01:02:30):
of this stuff, like you went into the year with
an offensive line that if you were they're good self scouters,
like you would have known that offensive line was a disaster.
My takeaway from less needs availability today he said that
Cooper Cup, Aaron Donald and Matthew Stafford were weight bearing
walls for the franchise. But there's a wall missing there,
and so what's the plan with Jalen Ramsey. It's tough

(01:02:50):
for me to believe that Jalen Ramsey is to be
shipped and you believe significantly that the team is going
to be better because of that. Consider now that's as
like as they're calling it a remodel a teardown. I'm
waiting if you're getting multiple picks for Ramsey, they have
a lot of holes to fill three what is it

(01:03:13):
load bearing? Load bearing? Yeah, load bearing. They need to
install a beam Dartney. Also, it'd be good if like
the Fourth Wall, Sean McVeigh isn't just like, I don't
know if I want to be a while anymore every
twelve months, that's fair Seattle Seahawks Mark Sessler, Well, I mean,
look at like the Rams and Cardinals over what what's
happened over the last twelve months. And I think by contrast,

(01:03:36):
because you can say whatever you want if you're the Rams,
like the results of the results and we'll see what happens.
But like the Seattle rebuild and team building vision is
the complete contrast because they were taking this so called
year away and you know it could have gotten a
lot darker. They were great with nine and eight, right
they were, And but also they came out of it
with not just hey, we're gonna be nine and eight again,

(01:03:56):
and like I think a lot's changed, Like Pete Carroll
last shre at this time and previous was taking a
lot of lumps in the whole Russell Wilson thing that
Pete Carroll was sort of shaped as this out of
touch kind of guy that like, that's your raw raw
Pete Carroll act is kind of falling short. Like there's
no more footage of John Schneider wandering around topless with

(01:04:17):
a championship belt around his waist. All of that was
in the deep past. And but now, after moving on
from Russell Wilsons usually well topless. But usually usually these
quarterbacks win these power struggles, and I think we kind
of viewed that might have happened with Russell Wilson. But
look who looks better than Pete Carroll. And now you've
got two first two seconds, a proven QB on an

(01:04:39):
affordable deal. You absolutely can take a shot at a
rookie quarterback and you're put You put that rookie quarterback
into a much better environment than most first round quarterbacks
could Troop could want to be in. So I'd say
say hello to the best rebuilding job in the NFC,
and maybe the rest of the division, with all their verbalization,
could take a look at what Seattle's done. Verbalization. Well,
that's what happens when you have the best draft class

(01:05:02):
along with the jets in the league or you have
too right, and they I mean last last year that
they just hit on guys that were immediate contributors, five
of them, including two starting tackles, and they have free
agent money to spend two. I think they could get
in the mix for some of these pass rushers defensive linemen.
It maybe bring Shack Griffin back at cornerback. They need
a cornerback. Yeah, if they hit on half of the

(01:05:23):
players that they hit, if they hit on a quarter
of the players that they hit on in twenty twenty two,
then they get huge boat boosts boost from this draft
when like, when are the Seahawks ever going to be
picking five again? Like in this era, it's it's not
gonna happen again. And so they could go off the
board there and maybe think about the future because I mean,
even even if it's three years with Gino, it's still
only three years. They've got so many options they could

(01:05:45):
go either way. I'm curious what where they're at with
a guy that represented the previous era of the team
where things weren't so Sonny Jamal Adams, who missed another
full season. Ryan Neil stepped in and did very good
work for them. He's a free agent now, like Jamal Adams,
job saved with this team is he is, He's someone
they still expect to be a major contributor because on paper,

(01:06:06):
that could be seen as another big addition for this
team if he comes back and is the Jamal of old. Right,
that's a great point. I think he would be difficult
to get rid of because of the contracts still, because
I was thinking like they could be a Jesse Bates team,
and then I thought, Okay, I don't know if that
makes sense to pain digs a pain. He has no
guaranteed money after this season, but right now, like are,

(01:06:27):
it'd be like a twenty million dollar cap hit, dead
money hit. Tough, tough trade. Let's close it out with
mister Claybonne and the Niners. Let's do it yet another
season derailed by quarterback injury and then subsequent quarterback injury
and then subsequent quarterback injury. We know that they're going
to bring in a veteran and they'll approach the Brock
situation however they can. Hopefully he comes back. Hopefully he

(01:06:49):
goes under the knife tomorrow and everything goes goes great
and he comes back. But my question is when do
the Niners actually need to decide long term between Tray
and Rock And why would they make that decision now?
Why not have them both back and just go forward
with both on the roster. Clearly they need more than one.
I'm with you, like they're they're the super rare team

(01:07:11):
that sold the entire farm for a quarterback. The quarterback
essentially never produced anything for them, and they're still the
best team in the division and arguably top two or
three in the NFC. It's like, I don't know why
you'd need to do that unless there was this kind
of fever pitch for Trey Lance out there and just
don't see that, Like what, You're not going to get
value for him and you I think it's fair to say, like,

(01:07:32):
as much as I loved brock Purtty, like we want
to see a little bit more and before we move
on from Trey Lance for brock Purtty, but we also
need to see a lot more. I want to see
more from both of them, have them compete, and then
you make your decision. It sets up well, well is
strong because one of the guys is getting reconstructive elbow surgery.
But you don't need to rush brock Purty back. So

(01:07:53):
if he gets the surgery tomorrow, again, let's get it done.
Let's move forward, and then he's on track to be
ready maybe in September. Like you don't need to have
him on the field week one, because I think that
kind of gives you an opportunity to give Trey Lance
a chance, and you give him September, but perhaps while
you get Purty up to speed, and then if Lance

(01:08:13):
is thriving as your number two overall pick, yeah, now
you have a good problem because then you have a
guy that played well for you last year down the
stretch and this draft pick that you invested so much in.
I think it would be a mistake to to rush
Purty back into the lineup just because he played so
well at the end of the year that said we
need We don't know what they think about Lance at
this point internally in that building. I think they have

(01:08:36):
other issues too that have gotten his one minute looked over.
I guess they're a little thinner on the defensive line
than they used to be. They used to be so
deep there. Jimmy Ward's a free agent. A couple other
starting offensive lineman or free agent, including Mike McGlinchey, and
yet I want to use this time to talk about
our old friend, one time guest, one time Tim Kawakami,

(01:08:57):
who had a report that they're not ruling out Lamar
Jackson pursue and that would be the team that would
blow the NFL to smithereens to go after Lamar Jackson
and I it's so messy. I like it, but wow,
but I mean it's fun. It's a fun thought that
they're not ruling it out because like they don't have

(01:09:17):
a quarterback for sure yet, and so they're a team
was trying to win a Super Bowl. You could send
you know, Trey Lance back to Baltimore as part of
all that, or orban I don't know, but just the
fact that he thought it was worth throwing that out there. Okay,
they're looking at it. I don't eat brock Purty becoming
a Ravens quarterback. I like brock Purty. That would be
tough for you. That'd be a bad beat for just
like a season after season of like chop Down fan interest,

(01:09:41):
it's about you, well not often um that was around
the NFC in forty eight minutes. Well done, and you
know you do you do the math there sixteen sixteen.
It's thirty two. We went around the NFL these last
two episodes, so ninety six minutes. What's the name of
the show. The name of the show around the NFL? Beautiful.

(01:10:04):
We did it, We went it did it. Big, big
show for Patrick. You know, he was worried in the
newsroom earlier this week, thought he needed a bounce back
performance because he wasn't pleased with something that happened two
weeks ago. A Paris should have hit Chris Rock two
more times. Okay, there you go, there you go. Put
that on social don't do that, Chris Rock. Yeah, well

(01:10:25):
we talked a little bit about a lesson. He didn't.
This story needs to go away at this point. Yeahs
a Sunday night. Yeah, I'm sure Jimmy Kimmel's if Chris
Rock gets struck into it because I'm invested. You know,
Mark is a big fan and I am now as well.
What everything everywhere? You really want the film to win

(01:10:47):
a little Oscar breakdown, there's ten My first like comment
would be, that's absurd. It's like a participation award. Now,
a few years ago they opened it up so that
we would get more movies like Top Gun getting a
Best Picture. By the way, I know it did, all right.

(01:11:07):
This is it's like everyone just assumes the Top Gun sucks.
Like Top Gun, Maverick absolutely belongs to that group. I
would markets for a while it was like the co
favorite with everything everywhere else, but not well, I just
think it's like, oh it's top Gun. It wasn't made
like for you know, the nuts. Top Gun also basically
saved movie theaters. Like I would argue that Tar is incredible.

(01:11:30):
I love me some time. I watched taras now you
see that that is a good movie. But I don't
understand the last thirty minutes. It's all like a part
of it. It's it's a little crazy. Yeah, absolutely, thank you.
No thing. Oh really, I'm saying the best picture. No thing.
It's not fine for Best Picture. But I think they
listen every every film is up for best but it was.

(01:11:55):
It was brutalized by critics after Crash one in two
thousand for I don't know, but the shine is still
on the trophies. Speaking at trophies, why is that trophy
still in the studio? Greg is done moving? What? Greg? Well,
that's fair, it's time. I mean it's only been a week.
It wasn't first on my Mind's got a little trophy

(01:12:22):
I have yet to set up. I think, you know,
I got to set up the whole garage. I think
I'm turning the camera the other way. We've really got
to work on this, all right. Patrick's going to check
the sub reddit. Oh no, he's grabbing the he's getting
the locked trophy and he's greg Yeah, expedite this, okay,
I will bring it home today. UM. All right, thank

(01:12:43):
you everybody for listening. We will be back again this
week if something happens with a certain number twelve other
than that, or you know, hypothetically a certain number three
three eight eight, Oh sorry, that's okay. UM. Otherwise, we'll
be back next week for the start of Free Agency Week.

(01:13:05):
We're planning to do a show every day Monday through Thursday. UM,
so get ready for that. Keep up to date, you know,
just be there for us and we'll be there for you.
We love you all. Well, look at this beautiful shot
you got to watch. Check out the YouTube stream. Listen
to the audio while watching the YouTube. For the rest

(01:13:30):
of the episode, Coming Front, I was told actually in
my ear to lean back because I was in covering
up to the lock truppy. So all right, thank you
everybody Till Monday. You know what you gotta do. Heat
the call