July 16, 2025 • 47 mins
Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic to react to the Jets giving both Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner contract extensions (02:20), the Chiefs giving Trey Smith a contract extension (08:50), the Steelers and Dolphins trading Jalen Ramsey and Minkah Fitzpartrick (13:20), the Steelers possibly listening to offers for T.J. Watt (28:50), the Bears giving GM Ryan Poles an extension (36:20), and more!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to NFL Daily, where we feel like we are
awakening from a deep slumber. I'm Greg Rosenthal here in
Tokyo for one show and so excited to see the
smiling face of Jordan Rodrieg still with the athletic congratulations
all the way across the Pacific Ocean. Welcome Jordan, Thank
(00:27):
you so much. Greg.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Oh my gosh, it's great to see you. I feel
like in football time. It's been years since I've seen
you like. You look the same, you sound the same.
Your backdrop is shockingly amazing. You know.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Yes, anyone who wants to check us out on YouTube,
you will have to see the horrible fake backdrop that
I have because I can't show you this room here
in Tokyo. So yeah, it does feel like a while,
although if you've been listening to NFL Daily, we've had
plenty of content in your feed. Thank you to everyone
who argued with me about the top twenty five players
(01:02):
of the last twenty five years, but especially then get
everyone who helped. That was really fun to do and
we're excited to get back to our regular schedule and
this week is still a little different. We're going to
do some news today Jordan, and it feels like it's
been a while, but really it's just been a two
and a half weeks or so. We'll catch everyone up
on the news, and then on Friday, I'm excited for
(01:24):
a show that you're going to do with one of
the i think the longest tenured player in the NFL,
JJ Jansen, a special teamer long snapper with the Panthers,
where you're going to talk about training camp myths. That's
on Friday, and then on Monday, NFL Daily gets the
Daily back in the title, and we just start rolling.
Where we are right now in terms of teams reporting,
(01:46):
the Chargers are reporting today Wednesday, six teams, rookies reported
on Tuesday, the Lions are reporting over the weekend, and
then the vast majority of the NFL reports training camp
next Tuesday. So that is what has coming up, Jordan.
What has happened while I've been just hanging out in Tokyo.
(02:10):
We'll get to at some point. It's been fun to
see Andrew Siciliano and Maurice Jones drew over here. It's
been weirdly NFL related. But why don't we just jump
into the news and life will probably pop up at
as we're talking, and the Jets gave us a little news,
a little Sauce Gardner Garrett Wilson back to back the
last couple of days. Let's start with Sauce Gardner, because
(02:30):
that came down on Tuesday in the States. I'm already
over here on Wednesday, and yeah, a year longer than
Derek Stingley's contract, but similar in terms of the average
per year. He has now signed Sauce Gardner's through twenty thirty.
Your thoughts and we can kind of combine, you know,
(02:50):
Gardner and Wilson as we get into the nitty gritty
of it.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, it felt just like paperwork that one of these
was going to happen right after the other. I remember
we talked on one of our beloved See You Next
Tuesday shows about how there was just this really good
aura around the Jets this offseason, these really good vibes,
Aaron Glenn being such a huge part of that, but
Darren Moogie also quietly and I think very much behind
(03:14):
the scenes, kind of going to work in a very operational,
procedural mode where they had these guys not only show
up to OTA's, which felt like the signal that these
deals were going to get done. It felt like a
show of good faith for everybody. But it also just
has felt like the culmination of a really positive and
like functional off season by the New York Jets. You know,
(03:38):
you got to go show it on the grass, but
getting their stars re signed extended. This is only the
third first round. These are the second and third first
round draft picks in a very long time that this
team has extended, which says a lot about the core
talent that they're retaining and trying to rebuild here to
make a really strong team.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Yeah, I think we're going Muji over Moogie with Darren Yeahogie.
Speaking of which, you know that is my go to
pen if anyone knows the Muji you know brand over here?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Oh yeah, I one from you actually you know.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Yeah, the point five little clicker, that's the number one
pen in the game. I definitely made a trip and
bought some notebooks for the twenty twenty five season and
some pens. I'm I'm very exciting.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
It wouldn't be you if that was not a part
of your itinerary.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Well, in Tokyo, No, it's mostly it's mostly shopping here,
shopping and eating and a little sports little little baseball,
a little sumo that was amazing. Look, there was no
guarantee to me that the new regime would come in
here and immediately get these deals done. That's actually pretty
rare that like a new coach and a new GM
come in and the first thing they do is recognize
(04:52):
like the great young talent of the old regime. And
so I think it speaks to what you said that
it's a really healthy situation. And I think Gardner in particular,
it's some faith from the new staff because the metrics
would say, like in coverage last year, he gave up
some big plays. He was certainly attacked as a run defender.
(05:15):
Maybe doesn't you know, bring that part of his game
as strong as some other young cornerbacks. And yet they
looked at the overall package and they were not too
worried about it, and they even gave him that little
carrot like if Stingley's going to make thirty million a year,
you're going to make thirty with one hundred thousand dollars
on top of that.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I know, I love that. I love that as a
little flourish. You know that like maybe buys half of
the group dinner when you go out to dinner to
celebrate this contract. I really I think this says so
much about at least the intent we have to obviously
see the team and the new coaching staff put all
of this together, but both of these moves together, and
(05:53):
like you said, retaining young talent. But also I go back,
and I know I'm repeating myself at this point, I
go to having all of these guys in the building together,
not having like a rogue veteran, you know, out for
an undisclosed reason away from even OTAs or mini camp.
Having these guys being very open about their own intent
(06:14):
to stay, to be as Garrett Wilson said, you know,
a Jet for life. I just think that that says
so much about at least the intent of what they're
trying to do with this culture. And obviously having two
incredibly shining stars when sast Gardner is playing at his
best in the mix helps with that.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yeah, and let's get it twisted, like since he entered
the league just by PFF coverage grades, sost Gardner is
the number one cornerback in the NFL and still put
a lot of good tape up last year in coverage,
So I think it was more he just wasn't feeling
if we want to get a little dorky, and I
will for a second it is they're not technically like
new contracts here, and we're going to get the tray
(06:53):
smith in a second where it's like that contract's actually
like a real contract. So when they say that sast
Gardener is the highest paid cornerback ever, that's off the
four years that they're tacking on to the two years
that were already there, and he actually doesn't have that
much guaranteed money. Our insiders, and I trust our insiders
first actually said it was only sixty million guaranteed. Depending
on how you want to count it, it could be
(07:13):
up to seventy five to eighty whatever. But Garrett Wilson,
for instance, it's reported as a four year, one hundred
and thirty million dollar contract that is fifth among wide receivers.
And that's great that that they got in at that level.
But if you look at the total deal, it's six
for one fifty. And that's the thing that stands out
to be the last thing I'll say on these guys,
(07:34):
just like they have them locked in for six years,
that's so much team control basically their whole career if
they want, it will be controlled by the Jets, and
it was interesting to me to get that average above Stingley's.
The Jets actually, I mean Gardner's representation actually had to
give them another year, so he's signed for one extra
year just to get it over. So really Stingley's contract
(07:57):
is better, and that Garrett Wilson contract is going to
age very well, I think by the time you get
to twenty seven twenty eight.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah. Oh, and when you say better better for the player,
obviously Stingley's is better for him as a player. But
we go back to Moogie Muji, our favorite pen brand,
and he he. I mean, this is team this is
team friendly. It's I think it's amenable to your stars
because like both of these guys have said, this is
where they want to be long term, so it's amenable
(08:24):
in terms of timeline. You whenever I look at one
of these contracts and I know we've got it, We're
going to move on to Tray Smith here in a second.
But whenever I look at one of these, I think, okay,
how long until they open that thing back up again?
You know, you see it with quarterback contracts, with with
major core player contracts, yes, receivers, yes, corners, how long
until they open a backup? Nothing is ever going to
(08:46):
stay what it looks like right now.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Yeah, it'll be two or three years if these Jets
players keep playing well. And yeah you Tray Smith had
a franchise tag, if you guys, forget the guard for
the Chiefs was going to be one of the best
free agents this year. Instead they gave the tag and
then right before the deadline, they give him a four year,
ninety four million dollar contract that's basically all real, Like
seventy million dollars is virtually guaranteed. That's the first three years. Kids,
(09:12):
If you want to make the most amount of money possible,
keep saying no to those contracts until you get to
free agency and then you get a real deal one
like this. He is like legitimately the highest paid guard
in NFL history now and like he got just as
much or more guaranteed money than Sas Gardner, which is
kind of crazy for a guard that some people don't
(09:33):
think had like the best year last year. But the
Chiefs keep spending on their offensive line. That seems like
a smart thing.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
He was a pro bowler. I think some of what
they're they're paying right now. Is the essence of continuity
or trying to build more continuity because you've obviously you're
returning Creed Humphrey, You've got Kingsley s Sue Mattea who's
going to kick inside. You obviously signed the left tackle,
and you have Josh Simmons waiting in the wings with
(09:59):
your with your Jalen Moore excuse me as the one
that they sign. And then you have Josh Simmons waiting
in the wings for whichever tackle does not ultimately work out.
And they've obviously got Joon Taylor on the other side.
So you've got this really talented prospect that you drafted
waiting in the wings. You need to shore up and
solidify your interior. You need some continuity on either side
(10:23):
of Creed Humphrey, and I think that's what they're trying
to at least establish here.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
You can't spend everywhere. The Chiefs have been excellent at
making decisions, but man, they spend on the offensive line,
like the resources everyone you just went through, like Juwan
Taylor's been a disappointment. He's making a lot of money.
Jalen Moore was could be a good bargain, But they're
giving a lot of money to a guy that hasn't
played that much. Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith, they're at
the very top. Now, you know the Pace Life and
(10:50):
Zue Motaeo. Right, the Sue Mateo was a draft capital
and Josh Simmons was a draft cut. So you can't
spend anywhere. That's where they've decided to spend. So I
don't want to hear anyone being like, oh, they don't
you know, we're Patrick Mahomes's weapons aren't good enough. Well,
there's a reason for that, and they are plenty spending
plenty on the web.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yes, they're throwing money in draft picks at the problem. Now,
did they throw money at the right people? We will
see Creed Humphrey for sure, but we will definitely see
over the course of the season if they threw money
at actually the right people.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Here, Saucy Athletic threw money at the right person, Jordan
rad Reagan. That's the big contract extension over the offseason.
You're not doing anymore rundown, Greg, it's right here, we're talking.
It's in the rundown. So you're now doing the whole league,
which is going to be really cool. I'm looking forward
to that. The worst news I saw over here and
(11:39):
it happened just a couple of days before I was
hanging out at sumo with our friend Andrew Siciliano, an
employee for the Browns, was related to the Browns. It
was it was quinch On Jenkins, they're running back who
listeners might remember. It was taken in the second round
and he was arrested for mis demeanor domestic battery, and
(12:02):
Tom Pellisero released the arrest report and it was troubling.
Judkins accuser alleged that he punched her with a closed
fist in the chin lip area, and the investigation, the
quick investigation did show that there was probable cause and bruising.
And so we will basically just see what happens with Judkins.
(12:22):
But the Browns have a recent history where they drafted
a player who ran into a very similar problem I
call right after the draft, and the NFL with that
situation put him on the sidelines essentially for a little
bit until they figured out what his suspension would be,
and then he was suspended. So we will see on
(12:43):
this one.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Yeah, there's going to be a process with this, especially
with so many details in this report being so readily available.
So there's going to be a process that I would
fully expect to be a quick a quick decision from
the league before the start of the season, because it
has to be. I mean, there's there's public allegations, police reports,
(13:05):
all of those things. You need to make a quick
decision if you're the NFL.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Yeah, And I know, for instance, like Rashie Rice had
an off season issue that's taken a long time to
go through the process, but the NFL has shown it
it treats domestic violence cases differently and more quickly. Let's
get to the news. When I was over here, that
did that did break through for me, Like there was
(13:29):
the one thing that I think Eric texted me about
and that was the trade, which is now a couple
weeks old that I do I do want to hit
it because I just I feel like we should we
should have that covered on NFL daily before we move forward.
We're going to clear the decks today, Jordan, And that
was the Dolphins Steelers trade. How about the Steelers getting
Jalen Ramsey and John new Smith and a seventh round
(13:51):
pick for Minka Fitzpatrick and a fifth round pick. This
is what I was asking for. This is why me
and Bill Barnwell did the twenty three. Like most intriguing
potential trade candidates, we've now hit on a few more.
I believe Makeup Fitzpatrick, by the way, was on that list.
Certainly Jalen Ramsey was. And man, you just don't see
trades like this. You're the Jalen Ramsey expert, but you
(14:14):
can take this in any direction. What was your first.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Reaction to this, Well, my first reaction was, I can't
wait to see if the contract stays the same, if
any was absorbed, if he gets a little bit of
a raise. Because the reason why, for example, the Los
Angeles Rams, who were in on conversations and we're trying
to make see if this could be something that they
would do, didn't do it is because of the financials
(14:38):
of the situation. Obviously they have a lot of love
for Jalen Ramsey, the person and the player. So this
was spicy. I liked this. I like this a lot
because not only are you going to a team that
very clearly is showing you that it's trying at least
trying to be and when now mode Aaron Rodgers finally
joins the roster, trading for DK Metcalf, adding Jalen Ramsey
(15:00):
j Watt question floating in the distance that we're going
to get to. But other than that, this was very
much a team that's trying to make its intentions clear
for the postseason, and I like the fit in terms
of the personality spiciness, Like, Okay, what people don't remember
is like Jalen Ramsey and DK Metcalf constantly beefed through
(15:21):
in the NFCUS when DK Metcalf was a Seahawk and
Jalen Ramsey was a ram I'm pretty sure that even
at times when first of all, they started motioning DK
away from Jalen whenever Jalen was in the sort of
that power star slot position across from him, and you
could literally see Jalen talking at him, why are you scared?
(15:43):
Why are you scared? Come back over here? And anytime
he would make a play, Jalen would make a play
against Dk, he would like rock the baby. And it's
just I love the idea that these two are teammates
now and not only should they probably have like a
really solid conversation, probably over dinner, and but also the
fact that this competition is going to be coming to practice.
(16:05):
I think gives the Steelers like kind of a juice
that they've really been lacking on both sides of the
ball in terms of that collision and that iron Sharpen's
iron in the passing game specifically and with the quarterback.
And I really really like the idea of that. And
then Johnny Smith is like Arthur Smith's guy, right, He's
(16:25):
like his safety blanket. He always has been. He's been
that way for years. You could tell, you know, he's
had his eye on trying to reunite with him for
a really long time. And so I would not be
surprised to see him take on a role maybe that
certain people on the outside are not expecting in this offense.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, related to the contracts, we haven't heard what's going
to happen with Jalen Ramsey's or make a Fitzpatrick for
that matter. I think Fitzpatrick will just stay on his
current salary, which is pretty high. So is Jalen Ramseys.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
I thought he was going to stay on his current
and whether or not he gets an extension or something
obviously remains to be seen. But they've done deals. David
mcgetta and Jalen in the past have done deals where
you're on the team for a year, then you do
the extension. But he's kind of in like mercenary mode
at this point of his career as.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Well, and he's making a ton And Yeah, I want
to get to the Johnny part of it, because I
was like, why is Johnny Smift in this trade? Like
what are the Dolphins doing? I get it, but like
the Dolphins didn't have to do it. I guess they
felt like they had to get rid of Jalen Ramsey
because Jalen Ramsey just didn't want to be there. He
made it clear that he just didn't want to play there,
(17:31):
and they got a very promising player in make of
fitz Patrick. But what's fascinating to me is like, how
often do you see two players in what's basically a
challenge trade past their prime. I would say at this point,
they'd have to prove that they're not past their prime,
but close enough to it that you could see like
(17:51):
another Pro Bowl or All Pro season left in either
one of them. In both teams, especially the Steelers, betting
against Mink Fitzpatrick is really interesting. He's twenty eight years old,
so he's two years younger than Jalen Ramsey. I would
say early in his career he liked Jalen Ramsey was
on a Hall of Fame type trajectory. I would say
(18:12):
he has not been on no longer on that trajectory.
And we talked about it on this show last year
that something was going on with the Steelers defense, and
it really felt like, and sometimes it got out to
the media, Minka actually did blame some of his teammates
for some problems. And then you saw a lot of
sourced reports that like, everyone's on the same page except
(18:35):
one guy. One guy's doing his own thing over there,
and the rest of us are doing something, And it
seemed clear to me that that one guy was Minka Fitzpatrick.
So he is a dynamic playmaker when everything is going well.
I think Steelers fans would tell you he has not
played as well over the last two years, and so
he has a higher ceiling to me, maybe than Jalen
(18:55):
Ramsey does at this point of his career. But Jalen
Ramsey I think has a higher floor, Like he was
still playing pretty well last year and now they're going
to use him in a bunch of different ways. So
It's a risky trade for the Dolphins, but if nothing else,
they get the guy back that they probably regret trading
so long ago.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Mike Tomlin has also talked very in a very Mike
Tomlin like not going to give anything away kind of way,
but hinted at wanting to make certain changes to his defense.
A player like Jalen Ramsey gives you this like master
puzzle piece around which you can connect all different types
of permutations and things because he can play so many
(19:32):
different positions at a very high level. That's why I
really like this. So it's like, what ideas do you
have for your defense moving forward? Okay, you can toss out,
you know, the fact that he's jumped around from team
a couple of different teams. Toss out the fact that
he was on, you know, a failing Dolphins team that
just couldn't get over the hump. He still played his
butt off, by the way, even late in the season
(19:53):
and you know, had some collisions with Vic Fangio and
he was wanted out clearly, even with our guy Anthony
Weaver there. But still he is still this player that
you can build all kinds of different things around. Because
of all of the different ways he can fit into
your defense, and then you don't have to worry about
large sections of the field. You certainly don't have to
(20:14):
worry about your run defense with Jalen Ramsey, who's still
one of the best tackling corners in the league. So
I think that's what really made this sort of okay.
As long as we also get these other things that
make it worth giving up. A player who used to
be really good for us and still can be very
very good, is only twenty eight years old. We're going
to have to get like Arthur Smith's favorite player back
(20:36):
in return, for example. I think that those are all
part of the equation here.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Yes, I mean both sides got a lot, but I
think both sides ultimately gave up guys they were okay
giving up. The thing was like, what, I know, Arthur
Smith likes Johnny Smith. But the fact that the Dolphins
immediately pivoted and were in reports for like asking around
about tight ends because they just traded Smith. I was like,
(21:01):
why didn't you just keep john new Smith? Like you
could have stared the Dolphins down on this deal. They
would have just done Minka for Jalen Ramsey in some
form or fashion. In the end, they got to like
a move up from the fifth to seventh round basically
for John new Smith. And so that didn't make any
sense to me that you signed like Darren Waller out
of retirement to make up for it.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
I don't know that makes sense to me though, because
Darren Waller and Frank Smith, who's the OC over there,
have a really powerful connection. Obviously they were like deeply
in need of the tight end position, but also Darren Waller,
if there's one coach in the NFL who's going to
convince Darren Waller to like come back and give it
yet another try, but also to have a past precedent
(21:41):
of putting his best foot forward. And they have a
really cool, powerful relationship from back when Frank was in
Las Vegas. This is something that did not surprise me
at all to see that if you need a player,
if you need a tight end, but you also have
to make sure that he's going to be consistent and
like stay with the team. For example, well, someone did
(22:02):
not surprise you.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
He was retired. He was making the worst music video
I've ever seen.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Because because I've talked to Frank Smith about him and
their bond, I'm their bond is like a really special thing.
They Frank really helped Darren through a lot of some
of the worst parts of his life. And like, if
you need somebody and you're gonna call someone anyone off
the street, yeah, you're gonna look for the coaching connections there.
So I mean, no, it's not like we were gonna
(22:27):
mad libit out of nowhere. But seeing it, I was like, oh, yeah,
Frank's over there, so that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
And he's he is very cheap. We don't know what
the contract is, but it said up to five. Usually
up to is doing a lot of work, so yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
And he's not gonna take away from any other types
of like micro rebuilds that you need to do at
the position too, Like you got a guy in the spot,
but you're probably not going to stop there, right, And
so now you're not having somebody who's going to just
sort of take away from whatever else you decide to
do next.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Yeah, they signed a guy, Ferrol Brown, who's been like
a blocking specialist that was on the Patriots a year ago.
And yeah, Darren Waller's only thirty two years old. For
some reason, I thought he was older. He did have
a lot of injuries. He is extremely athletic and even
with the Giants like produce some. So the Dolphins are
(23:17):
funny because every Dolphins move in isolation always kind of
makes sense to me, and a lot of them actually
have worked out pretty well. But they're very much run
like a like a fantasy football roster, where like how
everything matches together doesn't seem to matter, and like one
year to the next doesn't seem to matter, and that
they're generally less than the some of their parts. I
mean they're taking shots. I don't know if you saw
(23:39):
a Sante Samuel, I guess you call them senior now
talking about the Dolphins, I mean ASANTI Sanamuel Junior was
thinking about signing there. But basically a Sante Samuel the
former Patriot like called Mike McDaniel and Chris Greer like weak,
like that they can't handle their players, that they don't
know what they're doing them, just like man.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Big, it's a it is a big and probably very
pivotal year for everybody in the Dolphins building, I would
say that.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Right, And like it's similar when you trade you trade
away Jalen Ramsey who didn't want to be there and
then I see a headline over the last couple of
weeks where it was like cater Kohu knows he needs
to step up as the leader of the cornerback room,
and cater co is a nice story, like an undrafted
guy who's a good nickelback, but he's your best cornerback.
(24:29):
And then you're asking Minka fitzpatrick uh to kind of
solve all these other problems. We'll we'll see if he's
able to do that.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Here's what I'm curious about when you are so blatantly
and they have been for the past couple of years,
like when they had their speed identity, that was you
could very much tell they had speed and timing offense
with Tua when Tua was healthy, with Tyreek and Jalen
and like they could they didn't run the ball enough
in the winter, but they could run the ball. They
had a creative attack. It's interesting when you see the
(24:58):
deviation from that to now. It's like this mishmash of
different thoughts, different models of team build, different strategies, different
and some of its injuries with the quarterback, sure, but
factoring that aside, it just doesn't feel like this is
a coach in a front office that's on the same
page with one another. Like it feels like each one
of them has an idea of what they want the
(25:20):
team to be, and they like are in separate offices,
and like that's it. Like I just I'm not that's
not me reporting anything. It just what it looks like
on paper is like they just don't seem to be
rowing in the same direction, you know.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
And ownership is doing some stuff over here, like it's.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
A lot of it was a pet on his yacht,
you know, like in terms of you know, veteran players
coming out of retirement.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Here here was the quote, by the way, by a
Sante Samuel shout out to him, like if you look
at the interception leaders of the twenty first century, which
is something that I did while doing my research, a
Sante Samuel Senior, I think he's at the top, Like,
you know, he's a playmaker. Forget all the He wasn't
gonna make my list or anything, but he was on
(26:05):
the top. He said about the Dolphins, the reason they
didn't they have to get rid of Jalen Ramsey is
because they were too sensitive. They're sensitive. There's no leadership.
Mike McDaniel is a pushover Chris Greer. The GM has
no backbone. They're running this team like a little league team.
That's fire. I love it. We need we need more
analysts that'll just go off like that. Eric Roberts, lets
us know some of the trade targets that hit from
(26:27):
me and Bill at the beginning of the off season.
Of course, George Pickens, that was a good one. Deebo Samuel,
that was a good one somehow Bill pointed out Joe Tooney.
No one saw that coming. I mean that was that
was a home run. Minka Fitzpatrick was a fun one.
You know. DeVante Adams didn't get traded, but that was close.
(26:48):
Dk Metcalf we got and then Bryce Uff was like
a smaller one that we hit. So we're definitely doing
that episode next year. You mentioned TJ. Watt. Yes, that's your.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Question for you before we get to that. So when
you were going for your twenty five of the last
twenty five years, were you when you were like in
Pro Football Reference looking at you know, different filters of
like ages and stuff. What was going through your head
when you came across players who, like you, almost had
almost forgotten about or if you had and you're like, oh, yeah,
that guy, and then you realize they're like the same
(27:20):
age as you. Like, what was going through your mind
when you had those little moments?
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Are you trying to call me old? Like? I'm aware
of it. I mean, that's why I embraced this challenge
because I started covering the NFL full time in three
so I was like, this is it. Yeah, like this
guy is a.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Greg decade, this is the Grig sent done.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Yeah, it's fine, forties underrated. I definitely had multiple moments,
and that's I think that's what you're looking for in
your summer break where I was like, took a step
back and I was like, these are the good old days.
They're happening right now, like a year ago at this time.
You know, Emmica's not totally healthy. Who knows what's gonna
(28:01):
happen with the future of the show, And so I've
always liked getting older. At some point, I think that's
gonna end, but I don't think I'm there yet. That's
my serious answer to your goofy question.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
And you know what, this is all I wanted. I
finally baited you, and you finally took the bait I
wanted Ernest Greg. I'm like, just give him a rest,
give him a break, two weeks with his family, you know,
soaking up the good vibes, you know, getting some sleep,
not working. I'm gonna get Ernest Greg. I'm gonna get him.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
All season long. It's Ernest Greg. All right, let's take
a quick break. We'll be back and talk. Teach a
wow you mentioned back on NFL Daily. I can't wait
(28:57):
to get back to the West side of Los Angeles
when the weather's perfect. It's not like the ninety five
degrees every day and humid like it is over here.
I mean, it is the one downside of coming here
every summer. I do love Tokyo, but it's like you're
missing California. I feel at the very best time. But
that is some high class problems to be complaining about.
(29:17):
Speaking of which, TJ Watt TJ Watt on the trade block.
At least that's like the reporting, what did you make
of Like there's been back and forth over the last
couple of weeks, the latest one being Mark Cooboli, who
covers them for Pat mcavie's show and has covered that
team for decades at this point, and saying that the
Steelers have been quietly gauging TJ. Watt's trade value.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Yeah, it just feels like a lot of posturing to me.
I mean, if this drags into camp, also fine, because
it's TJ Watt. And so why not give them some
time off, some snaps off, you know, delay the wear
and tear into when you actually need him. I think
I would be surpri kind of just watching him for
(30:02):
as long as we have, and then that whole family,
the competitiveness of that entire family, Like, yes, obviously, get
what you are owed if you're a player, I am
always on team, get what you are owed. But also
this team has made it clear with all of their
off season moves that they're operating on a one year
mindset right now, right, And so I think that if
(30:23):
you're TJ. Watt and you're like, Okay, if they're really
as all in on actually making a run or trying
to this year or breaking past this like middle ground
that they've constantly been stuck in for so long, then okay,
you can maybe rejoin camp when you are ready, after
some time of making a statement about you know why
(30:45):
you're not there, and really give it everything you've got
to try to help this team get to the next
level and hopefully the level after that, because you have
to look at this team now, everything they've done. You
have to basically wipe out all of this multi year conversation,
even with the Metcalf stuff. You know, the year's left,
you have to wipe all of it out because you're
(31:06):
looking at a one year team build. Now, this is
what it is. You've gotten all in quote unquote, first
of all, trying to go for quarterbacks of high status
and being interested in a possible Matthew Stafford situation, getting
to Aaron Rodgers thinking that he's got what it takes,
got what's left in the tank, to really try to
(31:26):
go out first of all the right way for him,
but then also to push this team going after the
superstar receiver, going after the superstar corner. I really think that, like,
you have to throw out everything about the twenty twenty
six onward of this roster and look at what they're
doing right now because clearly that's where they're going to operate.
(31:47):
So you revisit the conversation. I think if you're TJ want,
you don't get to get what you want this year.
And I don't think anybody needs to go be as
dramatic as to go for the full trade. Now, if
you go for a teardown after this season, sure, maybe
then you get curious about trade conversations. But for now,
I think it's all posturing.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Right because when Koboli says that the second you know
they'd have to consider a second round pick eventually, he
almost made it sound like one was on the table.
Who knows, dude, would you because that second round pick
is going to be the same in March as it
is now. You don't get to use it in between,
so I that seems crazy to me. The downside for TJ.
Watt is he's coming off easily like the worst half
(32:26):
of a season that he's ever had, where he did
not look his best. I mean, he's a guy who
made that top twenty five players the last twenty five years,
probably the most surprising to me that I ended up
putting him on. But then when I looked at the
resume at a at a hard time, Steelers fans louder
than any other fan base about any choice, got some
(32:47):
coverage that Troy Palomalo did not make the list and
that that was a tough omission, that was a tough emission.
There were a lot of tough emissions. The one I
actually regret the most was the guy you covered was
von Miller. That was the only one where I was like,
if I had to do it, and I think I
would find a way to somehow get von Miller. But man,
it was tough to take any of those guys off.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Can I ask you about Bobby Wagner, like what was
your thought process with him as well?
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Yeah, he was in the top forty certainly. I mean
when you look at like twenty six to forty, it's
crazy if you were just going off all pros. He's
very close to right there. His very peak was special,
But I think his very peak to me just wasn't
as long as certainly the keek Ley or Ray Lewis
(33:33):
who made it as his position and was too maybe
similar to Fred Warner was probably the other one I
even just thought a little bit about. But he was
Wagner because of his longevity, like had to be considered.
He was in the mix.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Well, I love the series. I was driving listening to
most of it throughout my small travels through this break
and like I loved it. When Kevin Harlan was on talking.
First of all, I could hear you smiling the whole
time I was listening. I wasn't watching. I could literally
hear you grinning like an eight year old the entire
(34:09):
time you're talking to him. And he was so nice
and he gave you it was so cool. He gave
you so many compliments, like subtly through the course of
that interview. I don't know if you've listened to it back,
but it's so great. And then like him talking about
like Aaron Donald for example, right, like just about the
work ethic and the sustained excellence and the small details
(34:33):
that most people don't see when they're thinking about greatness
or legends and they're only looking at SATs. I love
that you guys considered so many of those extra details
for every player, not just for him. And I have
to say selfishly too, I went through and I looked
at your finished list, and I'm you know, I'm going
through a big transition here, work, life, all of that stuff,
and I'm like, oh my god, I got to cover
(34:55):
so many of these guys, like I got to watch
them practice every day, Like I got to watch them
go to work and achieve these levels of greatness in
this like maniacal disposition and way that it's very hard
to explain to people who don't get to see it
up close. And like every single one of those guys
(35:17):
like Julius Pepper's, Luke Keigley, Aaron Donald, like those guys.
I just it was cool. Von Miller, like, I mean,
you didn't have it on, but it was just it
was so cool to hear this conversation and like it
made me feel very grateful to be honest, that we're
living in a time with this kind of excellence. And
I know I sounded like Kevin Kevin Harlan, which is
also what I loved that it was so grateful to
like be experiencing all of it. It just it made
(35:40):
me happy the whole thing. I loved it.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Well, we got we got Ernest Jordan back in the house.
I mean, it's I know, she's kind of always in.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
The house, she is, I know, she never left.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
No, you've you've already over indexed in like covering all
time greats like some of these teams did, like like
Panthers and Browns weirdly over index considering they haven't won
that that much in these great great players mentioned you know,
you mentioned the Steelers. Everything's about this year, and yet
they are a team that like never makes any changes.
Omar Khan, their GM, was signed through twenty twenty eight
(36:10):
to an extension. Mike Tomlin's not going anywhere, like stop
stop talking about unless for whatever reason, he wanted to
go somewhere else, but he's just shown no reason to
think that's the case. Ryan Poles, the Bears GM that
was a little more curious, got an extension to match
Ben Johnson's one through twenty twenty nine. Normally I would say, like,
these contracts don't mean that much, but because you can
(36:31):
always just rip it up. But the Bears don't always
have a history of ripping up. I guess they have
with coaches lately, less so with GM. So man Ryan
pulls through twenty nine and Omar Khan through twenty eight.
It's fine.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
Yeah, And I think the timing of that, I don't know.
It feels like it's felt quietly like this. You know,
Ryan Poles went out and obviously got the quarterback that
they think will be the next great star in Chicago.
He went out got the head coach that everybody else
wanted for multiple coaching cycles. I think that's to his credit.
(37:09):
There's also been, you know, issues with personnel selection, especially
upfront with the last iteration of this offensive line. There's
been issues with coaching and assistant coaching selection, maybe letting
that previous regime have too much say over who their
assistants were that they brought in. To me, this feels
like a Ben Johnson's statement almost. It's like, you're here
(37:31):
with Ben Johnson as long as Ben Johnson wants to
work with you. If Ben Johnson can in fact be
the coach that they think he is. It's a very
it's a very interesting dynamic the way that these coaching
and GM timelines constantly like EBB and flow across each
other in terms of who is really in control and
who has the power at any given moment. So them
(37:52):
being aligne like this we're gonna see over the next
couple of years, and I'm interested in that.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Yeah, Ben Ben Johnson's in control reminds me a little
bit of the less Need Sean McVay timeline with Matt
Eberfuss playing the role of Jeff Fisher in this situation.
And yeah, it's on Polls to make it work with
his coach because the coach is the important guy. Now
let's go to something. Terry McLaurin said this week he
seems at this point likely to not be at training
(38:20):
camp when it opens for the commanders next week.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
Yeah, I've been pretty frustrated. I'm not gonna lie. You know,
everything that has transpired up to this point is has
been disappointing and frustrating. You know, I wanted to continue
my career here. I've created my life here. You know,
my wife and I have bought our first home here.
So this has been somewhere where I've always wanted to be.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
That is courtesy a JP Finley at NBC there in Washington.
So that's one that we'll probably be hearing a little
more from, I think in the next couple of weeks
in terms of him maybe either holding in or something
going on. We will see what happens with Terry McLaurin.
So bad news in the NFC two over the last
(39:05):
couple of weeks that Tristan Wurf's the all pro cut surgery.
That was surprised. He was supposed to be back for
the start of training camp, but his need didn't respond
as they expected, and he's probably gonna miss the start
of the season, according to Rick Stroud of the Saint
Petersburg Times, so he might actually miss the first four
or five games of the season. All yeah, left tackle.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
And I'm going to really be rude to you because
you've been on the other side of the world, But
do you know who will be replacing him? Greg? Without
googling it for at least the first couple weeks of
the season.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
His name is very familiar to me. Charlie Heck. I think, yes,
something like that.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
You got it, Yes, Charlie Heck. Yeah, the swing tackle.
He's been a little bit of a journeyman recently, former
fourth round pick. But I was texting some people over
there and they were really impressed with like, because it
kind of came as a surprise, it seems like to
a lot of people, and unfortunate obviously we're so high
on the Bucks offensive line. There's so well built. They're
(40:01):
really really well coached as well, and like apparently Charlie
Heck has come in and just been like, yeah, you
know what, I'm going to do my best and I'm
going to be a pro and I'm going to fit
in with the guys. Even though they've all been a
collective longer than I've been here, and I just I
think that at least building that continuity as early as
possible into training camp and him staying healthy is going
(40:22):
to be really important.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Yeah, they are a team that I think is built
from the offensive line out and Tristan Wurf's If you're
doing a draft of offensive linemen right now in the
NFL and you have all the GMS involved in it,
there's a pretty good chance. I think Worfs gets taken
first over all the most amount of times that he's
(40:44):
that good, He's that valuable, so that that's a big
loss for them and what I'm expecting to be a
great offensive season. But it's not like he's going to
be out for the whole season.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Huge blow to my Bucks believership. You know, I believe,
I still believe. I think it'll be fine, But you know,
I am high on the Bucks this year. Shout out
to Kevin Clark, who made the most shocked an incredible
facial expression I think I've ever seen from another human
(41:13):
when I said the Bucks were Super Bowl contenders this
year in the Championship tire So.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
Oh, yeah, come on, great guy, I mean, he's selling
you there. I love it. I love it, but they
are I agree with you. That's the expression I'm giving you.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
So there, Kevin, I have home court advantage on this show.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
You know what one other item that that did make
it all the way over here. I was at lunch
with Maurice Jones, Drew and his beautiful family, all his
kids there. He texts me like a couple of days
before he gets to Tokyo's like, hey, you in Tokyo.
Like I'm like yeah, He's like, hey, we should hang out.
I'm going to be there for a couple of days.
(41:52):
So we went to there's like a restaurant here where
you can I mean it's kind of ridiculous, but you can.
Inside the restaurant. They actually make you know, little fake rivers,
and you fish while you're in the restaurant, and then
you eat the fish that you catch, and you better
be ready to eat it because some of those fish
are way more expensive than the others, and the second
(42:13):
you catch it, like you got to eat it. So
don't catch too many fish like we did, because you
know you're paying for all those fish. But he is
the one that told me, Maurice, uh that Nase Harris
was in a fireworks accident. And this was four or
five days before it came out in the news. And
I think that was a common thing in NFL circles
because people talk to people, and I think there was
(42:35):
an initial word that it was maybe really bad, but
at least according to our guy Ian Rappaport, it's something
that will not prevent him from starting the regular season,
even if he misses the start of training camp. But
it was a fireworks accident where he took an eye injury,
which is just, oh.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
That's so scary to me. I don't do fireworks. I
don't f with them. I don't like them. I think
they're stupid. I mean, this is my this is my
hot take, Like they scare the crap out of my dog.
They seriously injure people. It's they're often not worth it,
in my opinion, to go and sit in traffic and
then go sit in you know, amongst everybody else's conversation
and cigarette smoke and go watch them like, no, not for.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
Me, not I hot take. Yeah, I don't want to
be anywhere near them now if you're getting me without
like a tough parking situation, and I can just you know,
go down watch that with my no, I'm saying, can
I just watch it from afar in the beach, And
it was easy enough to do, like I'm fine with it,
but I'm with you, And it was on almost the
(43:37):
tenuere to the day anniversary. I believe of Jason Pierre
Paul's career changing when he had that fireworks accident that
was only in my head recently because where he lost
the part of his finger and really sidetracked him for
a minute before he rebounded. Because he's trying to make
a comeback. I don't know. I happen to see that
(43:57):
he's trying to make a comeback after being out out
of league year. So good good luck to him, but
good luck to Najie Harris. Hopefully everything is okay there.
And then just a couple of little nugs that Juwan
Jennings of the forty nine Ers wants a contract. We're
already seeing these pupp reports like Mike Williams, for instance,
of the Chargers because they're starting camp today Wednesday, he
(44:18):
is now on the pup list, which you can be
taken off from any time. It just means he's not
healthy enough to start camp. And the Charger is also
getting some notice that, you know, their second round pick
is not in camp yet, missed the entire week of
their rookie kind of onboarding training camp, because almost no
rookies in the second round er sign. This is wild,
(44:39):
Like thirty second round picks have not been signed, largely
because the Texans gave a fully guaranteed contract to their pick,
the number thirty four overall pick, and now everyone behind
them is kind of being pressured to maybe do that
or come close to match that. And it reminded me
a little bit of the Derek Stingley contract because that
contract was so high by the Texans that it actually
(44:59):
kind of force the Jets to step up to the plate.
So shout out to the Texans actually for treating their players.
I know.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
This is the opposite of the Shamar Stewart situation, where
you're worried about setting a bad precedent for all the
players that come after you, specifically in that building. In
terms of how the team handles the guarantees, Well, this
is the opposite. The Texans are like, yeah, sure have
all the guarantees, and now everyone else is like, hey,
wait a minute, kind of want that, you know, seems like,
(45:26):
I mean, really be a good thing.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
It's not even how much money is it? Even the
second round pick?
Speaker 2 (45:30):
I know, I'm saying it's it's a positive. It's a
good thing. I agree with it.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
Yeah, I totally agree with you. Okay, it's eleven point
seven million dollars for four years for the thirty fourth
player of the draft. Like if for whatever reason, he
doesn't make it to like the fourth year, Like, you're
paying like a situational pass rusher that much for one year,
and this is the thirty fourth pick in the draft.
(45:54):
You can take that tiny little risk that your pick
wasn't so great. You should believe in this guy. I mean,
that's that's nothing. I think the second round pick should
be guaranteed. Rookie contracts are low enough. Actually they should
all be guaranteed. How about that.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
There you go, not a hot take, in fact, an
incredibly fair take.
Speaker 1 (46:10):
Yeah, a fair take. This was fun. It is great
connecting with you again, Jordan.
Speaker 2 (46:15):
You it's nice to know you're alive.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
We will do it in person again. I'll bring out
Ernest Greg a little bit. We'll have Colleen in the studio.
Hopefully we got to tell her that next.
Speaker 2 (46:27):
Week, and we got to find her first.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
We have a big, a big week of shows. We're
going to be going to our first training camp, Cowboys
training camp later in the week, so that'll be really
fun too. And before that, we're going to hear from
you and JJ Jansen from the Panthers on all the
training camp myths. So I can't wait for that, can't
wait to get on a plane. Thank you Jordan, thank
you Eric for keeping the fire burning back home and
(46:52):
getting those top twenty five episodes out. There's something sick
in me because when I see like these Mike Williams
was placed on the pup list transaction types like I
know football is back and I feel better about myself.
Welcome to NFL Daily, where we feel like we are
awakening from a deep slumber. I'm Greg Rosenthal here in
Tokyo for one show and so excited to see the
smiling face of Jordan Rodrieg still with the athletic congratulations
all the way across the Pacific Ocean. Welcome Jordan, Thank
(00:27):
you so much. Greg.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Oh my gosh, it's great to see you. I feel
like in football time. It's been years since I've seen
you like. You look the same, you sound the same.
Your backdrop is shockingly amazing. You know.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Yes, anyone who wants to check us out on YouTube,
you will have to see the horrible fake backdrop that
I have because I can't show you this room here
in Tokyo. So yeah, it does feel like a while,
although if you've been listening to NFL Daily, we've had
plenty of content in your feed. Thank you to everyone
who argued with me about the top twenty five players
(01:02):
of the last twenty five years, but especially then get
everyone who helped. That was really fun to do and
we're excited to get back to our regular schedule and
this week is still a little different. We're going to
do some news today Jordan, and it feels like it's
been a while, but really it's just been a two
and a half weeks or so. We'll catch everyone up
on the news, and then on Friday, I'm excited for
(01:24):
a show that you're going to do with one of
the i think the longest tenured player in the NFL,
JJ Jansen, a special teamer long snapper with the Panthers,
where you're going to talk about training camp myths. That's
on Friday, and then on Monday, NFL Daily gets the
Daily back in the title, and we just start rolling.
Where we are right now in terms of teams reporting,
(01:46):
the Chargers are reporting today Wednesday, six teams, rookies reported
on Tuesday, the Lions are reporting over the weekend, and
then the vast majority of the NFL reports training camp
next Tuesday. So that is what has coming up, Jordan.
What has happened while I've been just hanging out in Tokyo.
(02:10):
We'll get to at some point. It's been fun to
see Andrew Siciliano and Maurice Jones drew over here. It's
been weirdly NFL related. But why don't we just jump
into the news and life will probably pop up at
as we're talking, and the Jets gave us a little news,
a little Sauce Gardner Garrett Wilson back to back the
last couple of days. Let's start with Sauce Gardner, because
(02:30):
that came down on Tuesday in the States. I'm already
over here on Wednesday, and yeah, a year longer than
Derek Stingley's contract, but similar in terms of the average
per year. He has now signed Sauce Gardner's through twenty thirty.
Your thoughts and we can kind of combine, you know,
(02:50):
Gardner and Wilson as we get into the nitty gritty
of it.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, it felt just like paperwork that one of these
was going to happen right after the other. I remember
we talked on one of our beloved See You Next
Tuesday shows about how there was just this really good
aura around the Jets this offseason, these really good vibes,
Aaron Glenn being such a huge part of that, but
Darren Moogie also quietly and I think very much behind
(03:14):
the scenes, kind of going to work in a very operational,
procedural mode where they had these guys not only show
up to OTA's, which felt like the signal that these
deals were going to get done. It felt like a
show of good faith for everybody. But it also just
has felt like the culmination of a really positive and
like functional off season by the New York Jets. You know,
(03:38):
you got to go show it on the grass, but
getting their stars re signed extended. This is only the
third first round. These are the second and third first
round draft picks in a very long time that this
team has extended, which says a lot about the core
talent that they're retaining and trying to rebuild here to
make a really strong team.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Yeah, I think we're going Muji over Moogie with Darren Yeahogie.
Speaking of which, you know that is my go to
pen if anyone knows the Muji you know brand over here?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Oh yeah, I one from you actually you know.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Yeah, the point five little clicker, that's the number one
pen in the game. I definitely made a trip and
bought some notebooks for the twenty twenty five season and
some pens. I'm I'm very exciting.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
It wouldn't be you if that was not a part
of your itinerary.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Well, in Tokyo, No, it's mostly it's mostly shopping here,
shopping and eating and a little sports little little baseball,
a little sumo that was amazing. Look, there was no
guarantee to me that the new regime would come in
here and immediately get these deals done. That's actually pretty
rare that like a new coach and a new GM
come in and the first thing they do is recognize
(04:52):
like the great young talent of the old regime. And
so I think it speaks to what you said that
it's a really healthy situation. And I think Gardner in particular,
it's some faith from the new staff because the metrics
would say, like in coverage last year, he gave up
some big plays. He was certainly attacked as a run defender.
(05:15):
Maybe doesn't you know, bring that part of his game
as strong as some other young cornerbacks. And yet they
looked at the overall package and they were not too
worried about it, and they even gave him that little
carrot like if Stingley's going to make thirty million a year,
you're going to make thirty with one hundred thousand dollars
on top of that.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I know, I love that. I love that as a
little flourish. You know that like maybe buys half of
the group dinner when you go out to dinner to
celebrate this contract. I really I think this says so
much about at least the intent we have to obviously
see the team and the new coaching staff put all
of this together, but both of these moves together, and
(05:53):
like you said, retaining young talent. But also I go back,
and I know I'm repeating myself at this point, I
go to having all of these guys in the building together,
not having like a rogue veteran, you know, out for
an undisclosed reason away from even OTAs or mini camp.
Having these guys being very open about their own intent
(06:14):
to stay, to be as Garrett Wilson said, you know,
a Jet for life. I just think that that says
so much about at least the intent of what they're
trying to do with this culture. And obviously having two
incredibly shining stars when sast Gardner is playing at his
best in the mix helps with that.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yeah, and let's get it twisted, like since he entered
the league just by PFF coverage grades, sost Gardner is
the number one cornerback in the NFL and still put
a lot of good tape up last year in coverage,
So I think it was more he just wasn't feeling
if we want to get a little dorky, and I
will for a second it is they're not technically like
new contracts here, and we're going to get the tray
(06:53):
smith in a second where it's like that contract's actually
like a real contract. So when they say that sast
Gardener is the highest paid cornerback ever, that's off the
four years that they're tacking on to the two years
that were already there, and he actually doesn't have that
much guaranteed money. Our insiders, and I trust our insiders
first actually said it was only sixty million guaranteed. Depending
on how you want to count it, it could be
(07:13):
up to seventy five to eighty whatever. But Garrett Wilson,
for instance, it's reported as a four year, one hundred
and thirty million dollar contract that is fifth among wide receivers.
And that's great that that they got in at that level.
But if you look at the total deal, it's six
for one fifty. And that's the thing that stands out
to be the last thing I'll say on these guys,
(07:34):
just like they have them locked in for six years,
that's so much team control basically their whole career if
they want, it will be controlled by the Jets, and
it was interesting to me to get that average above Stingley's.
The Jets actually, I mean Gardner's representation actually had to
give them another year, so he's signed for one extra
year just to get it over. So really Stingley's contract
(07:57):
is better, and that Garrett Wilson contract is going to
age very well, I think by the time you get
to twenty seven twenty eight.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah. Oh, and when you say better better for the player,
obviously Stingley's is better for him as a player. But
we go back to Moogie Muji, our favorite pen brand,
and he he. I mean, this is team this is
team friendly. It's I think it's amenable to your stars
because like both of these guys have said, this is
where they want to be long term, so it's amenable
(08:24):
in terms of timeline. You whenever I look at one
of these contracts and I know we've got it, We're
going to move on to Tray Smith here in a second.
But whenever I look at one of these, I think, okay,
how long until they open that thing back up again?
You know, you see it with quarterback contracts, with with
major core player contracts, yes, receivers, yes, corners, how long
until they open a backup? Nothing is ever going to
(08:46):
stay what it looks like right now.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Yeah, it'll be two or three years if these Jets
players keep playing well. And yeah you Tray Smith had
a franchise tag, if you guys, forget the guard for
the Chiefs was going to be one of the best
free agents this year. Instead they gave the tag and
then right before the deadline, they give him a four year,
ninety four million dollar contract that's basically all real, Like
seventy million dollars is virtually guaranteed. That's the first three years. Kids,
(09:12):
If you want to make the most amount of money possible,
keep saying no to those contracts until you get to
free agency and then you get a real deal one
like this. He is like legitimately the highest paid guard
in NFL history now and like he got just as
much or more guaranteed money than Sas Gardner, which is
kind of crazy for a guard that some people don't
(09:33):
think had like the best year last year. But the
Chiefs keep spending on their offensive line. That seems like
a smart thing.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
He was a pro bowler. I think some of what
they're they're paying right now. Is the essence of continuity
or trying to build more continuity because you've obviously you're
returning Creed Humphrey, You've got Kingsley s Sue Mattea who's
going to kick inside. You obviously signed the left tackle,
and you have Josh Simmons waiting in the wings with
(09:59):
your with your Jalen Moore excuse me as the one
that they sign. And then you have Josh Simmons waiting
in the wings for whichever tackle does not ultimately work out.
And they've obviously got Joon Taylor on the other side.
So you've got this really talented prospect that you drafted
waiting in the wings. You need to shore up and
solidify your interior. You need some continuity on either side
(10:23):
of Creed Humphrey, and I think that's what they're trying
to at least establish here.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
You can't spend everywhere. The Chiefs have been excellent at
making decisions, but man, they spend on the offensive line,
like the resources everyone you just went through, like Juwan
Taylor's been a disappointment. He's making a lot of money.
Jalen Moore was could be a good bargain, But they're
giving a lot of money to a guy that hasn't
played that much. Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith, they're at
the very top. Now, you know the Pace Life and
(10:50):
Zue Motaeo. Right, the Sue Mateo was a draft capital
and Josh Simmons was a draft cut. So you can't
spend anywhere. That's where they've decided to spend. So I
don't want to hear anyone being like, oh, they don't
you know, we're Patrick Mahomes's weapons aren't good enough. Well,
there's a reason for that, and they are plenty spending
plenty on the web.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yes, they're throwing money in draft picks at the problem. Now,
did they throw money at the right people? We will
see Creed Humphrey for sure, but we will definitely see
over the course of the season if they threw money
at actually the right people.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Here, Saucy Athletic threw money at the right person, Jordan
rad Reagan. That's the big contract extension over the offseason.
You're not doing anymore rundown, Greg, it's right here, we're talking.
It's in the rundown. So you're now doing the whole league,
which is going to be really cool. I'm looking forward
to that. The worst news I saw over here and
(11:39):
it happened just a couple of days before I was
hanging out at sumo with our friend Andrew Siciliano, an
employee for the Browns, was related to the Browns. It
was it was quinch On Jenkins, they're running back who
listeners might remember. It was taken in the second round
and he was arrested for mis demeanor domestic battery, and
(12:02):
Tom Pellisero released the arrest report and it was troubling.
Judkins accuser alleged that he punched her with a closed
fist in the chin lip area, and the investigation, the
quick investigation did show that there was probable cause and bruising.
And so we will basically just see what happens with Judkins.
(12:22):
But the Browns have a recent history where they drafted
a player who ran into a very similar problem I
call right after the draft, and the NFL with that
situation put him on the sidelines essentially for a little
bit until they figured out what his suspension would be,
and then he was suspended. So we will see on
(12:43):
this one.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Yeah, there's going to be a process with this, especially
with so many details in this report being so readily available.
So there's going to be a process that I would
fully expect to be a quick a quick decision from
the league before the start of the season, because it
has to be. I mean, there's there's public allegations, police reports,
(13:05):
all of those things. You need to make a quick
decision if you're the NFL.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Yeah, And I know, for instance, like Rashie Rice had
an off season issue that's taken a long time to
go through the process, but the NFL has shown it
it treats domestic violence cases differently and more quickly. Let's
get to the news. When I was over here, that
did that did break through for me, Like there was
(13:29):
the one thing that I think Eric texted me about
and that was the trade, which is now a couple
weeks old that I do I do want to hit
it because I just I feel like we should we
should have that covered on NFL daily before we move forward.
We're going to clear the decks today, Jordan, And that
was the Dolphins Steelers trade. How about the Steelers getting
Jalen Ramsey and John new Smith and a seventh round
(13:51):
pick for Minka Fitzpatrick and a fifth round pick. This
is what I was asking for. This is why me
and Bill Barnwell did the twenty three. Like most intriguing
potential trade candidates, we've now hit on a few more.
I believe Makeup Fitzpatrick, by the way, was on that list.
Certainly Jalen Ramsey was. And man, you just don't see
trades like this. You're the Jalen Ramsey expert, but you
(14:14):
can take this in any direction. What was your first.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Reaction to this, Well, my first reaction was, I can't
wait to see if the contract stays the same, if
any was absorbed, if he gets a little bit of
a raise. Because the reason why, for example, the Los
Angeles Rams, who were in on conversations and we're trying
to make see if this could be something that they
would do, didn't do it is because of the financials
(14:38):
of the situation. Obviously they have a lot of love
for Jalen Ramsey, the person and the player. So this
was spicy. I liked this. I like this a lot
because not only are you going to a team that
very clearly is showing you that it's trying at least
trying to be and when now mode Aaron Rodgers finally
joins the roster, trading for DK Metcalf, adding Jalen Ramsey
(15:00):
j Watt question floating in the distance that we're going
to get to. But other than that, this was very
much a team that's trying to make its intentions clear
for the postseason, and I like the fit in terms
of the personality spiciness, Like, Okay, what people don't remember
is like Jalen Ramsey and DK Metcalf constantly beefed through
(15:21):
in the NFCUS when DK Metcalf was a Seahawk and
Jalen Ramsey was a ram I'm pretty sure that even
at times when first of all, they started motioning DK
away from Jalen whenever Jalen was in the sort of
that power star slot position across from him, and you
could literally see Jalen talking at him, why are you scared?
(15:43):
Why are you scared? Come back over here? And anytime
he would make a play, Jalen would make a play
against Dk, he would like rock the baby. And it's
just I love the idea that these two are teammates
now and not only should they probably have like a
really solid conversation, probably over dinner, and but also the
fact that this competition is going to be coming to practice.
(16:05):
I think gives the Steelers like kind of a juice
that they've really been lacking on both sides of the
ball in terms of that collision and that iron Sharpen's
iron in the passing game specifically and with the quarterback.
And I really really like the idea of that. And
then Johnny Smith is like Arthur Smith's guy, right, He's
(16:25):
like his safety blanket. He always has been. He's been
that way for years. You could tell, you know, he's
had his eye on trying to reunite with him for
a really long time. And so I would not be
surprised to see him take on a role maybe that
certain people on the outside are not expecting in this offense.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, related to the contracts, we haven't heard what's going
to happen with Jalen Ramsey's or make a Fitzpatrick for
that matter. I think Fitzpatrick will just stay on his
current salary, which is pretty high. So is Jalen Ramseys.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
I thought he was going to stay on his current
and whether or not he gets an extension or something
obviously remains to be seen. But they've done deals. David
mcgetta and Jalen in the past have done deals where
you're on the team for a year, then you do
the extension. But he's kind of in like mercenary mode
at this point of his career as.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Well, and he's making a ton And Yeah, I want
to get to the Johnny part of it, because I
was like, why is Johnny Smift in this trade? Like
what are the Dolphins doing? I get it, but like
the Dolphins didn't have to do it. I guess they
felt like they had to get rid of Jalen Ramsey
because Jalen Ramsey just didn't want to be there. He
made it clear that he just didn't want to play there,
(17:31):
and they got a very promising player in make of
fitz Patrick. But what's fascinating to me is like, how
often do you see two players in what's basically a
challenge trade past their prime. I would say at this point,
they'd have to prove that they're not past their prime,
but close enough to it that you could see like
(17:51):
another Pro Bowl or All Pro season left in either
one of them. In both teams, especially the Steelers, betting
against Mink Fitzpatrick is really interesting. He's twenty eight years old,
so he's two years younger than Jalen Ramsey. I would
say early in his career he liked Jalen Ramsey was
on a Hall of Fame type trajectory. I would say
(18:12):
he has not been on no longer on that trajectory.
And we talked about it on this show last year
that something was going on with the Steelers defense, and
it really felt like, and sometimes it got out to
the media, Minka actually did blame some of his teammates
for some problems. And then you saw a lot of
sourced reports that like, everyone's on the same page except
(18:35):
one guy. One guy's doing his own thing over there,
and the rest of us are doing something, And it
seemed clear to me that that one guy was Minka Fitzpatrick.
So he is a dynamic playmaker when everything is going well.
I think Steelers fans would tell you he has not
played as well over the last two years, and so
he has a higher ceiling to me, maybe than Jalen
(18:55):
Ramsey does at this point of his career. But Jalen
Ramsey I think has a higher floor, Like he was
still playing pretty well last year and now they're going
to use him in a bunch of different ways. So
It's a risky trade for the Dolphins, but if nothing else,
they get the guy back that they probably regret trading
so long ago.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Mike Tomlin has also talked very in a very Mike
Tomlin like not going to give anything away kind of way,
but hinted at wanting to make certain changes to his defense.
A player like Jalen Ramsey gives you this like master
puzzle piece around which you can connect all different types
of permutations and things because he can play so many
(19:32):
different positions at a very high level. That's why I
really like this. So it's like, what ideas do you
have for your defense moving forward? Okay, you can toss out,
you know, the fact that he's jumped around from team
a couple of different teams. Toss out the fact that
he was on, you know, a failing Dolphins team that
just couldn't get over the hump. He still played his
butt off, by the way, even late in the season
(19:53):
and you know, had some collisions with Vic Fangio and
he was wanted out clearly, even with our guy Anthony
Weaver there. But still he is still this player that
you can build all kinds of different things around. Because
of all of the different ways he can fit into
your defense, and then you don't have to worry about
large sections of the field. You certainly don't have to
(20:14):
worry about your run defense with Jalen Ramsey, who's still
one of the best tackling corners in the league. So
I think that's what really made this sort of okay.
As long as we also get these other things that
make it worth giving up. A player who used to
be really good for us and still can be very
very good, is only twenty eight years old. We're going
to have to get like Arthur Smith's favorite player back
(20:36):
in return, for example. I think that those are all
part of the equation here.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Yes, I mean both sides got a lot, but I
think both sides ultimately gave up guys they were okay
giving up. The thing was like, what, I know, Arthur
Smith likes Johnny Smith. But the fact that the Dolphins
immediately pivoted and were in reports for like asking around
about tight ends because they just traded Smith. I was like,
(21:01):
why didn't you just keep john new Smith? Like you
could have stared the Dolphins down on this deal. They
would have just done Minka for Jalen Ramsey in some
form or fashion. In the end, they got to like
a move up from the fifth to seventh round basically
for John new Smith. And so that didn't make any
sense to me that you signed like Darren Waller out
of retirement to make up for it.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
I don't know that makes sense to me though, because
Darren Waller and Frank Smith, who's the OC over there,
have a really powerful connection. Obviously they were like deeply
in need of the tight end position, but also Darren Waller,
if there's one coach in the NFL who's going to
convince Darren Waller to like come back and give it
yet another try, but also to have a past precedent
(21:41):
of putting his best foot forward. And they have a
really cool, powerful relationship from back when Frank was in
Las Vegas. This is something that did not surprise me
at all to see that if you need a player,
if you need a tight end, but you also have
to make sure that he's going to be consistent and
like stay with the team. For example, well, someone did
(22:02):
not surprise you.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
He was retired. He was making the worst music video
I've ever seen.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Because because I've talked to Frank Smith about him and
their bond, I'm their bond is like a really special thing.
They Frank really helped Darren through a lot of some
of the worst parts of his life. And like, if
you need somebody and you're gonna call someone anyone off
the street, yeah, you're gonna look for the coaching connections there.
So I mean, no, it's not like we were gonna
(22:27):
mad libit out of nowhere. But seeing it, I was like, oh, yeah,
Frank's over there, so that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
And he's he is very cheap. We don't know what
the contract is, but it said up to five. Usually
up to is doing a lot of work, so yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
And he's not gonna take away from any other types
of like micro rebuilds that you need to do at
the position too, Like you got a guy in the spot,
but you're probably not going to stop there, right, And
so now you're not having somebody who's going to just
sort of take away from whatever else you decide to
do next.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Yeah, they signed a guy, Ferrol Brown, who's been like
a blocking specialist that was on the Patriots a year ago.
And yeah, Darren Waller's only thirty two years old. For
some reason, I thought he was older. He did have
a lot of injuries. He is extremely athletic and even
with the Giants like produce some. So the Dolphins are
(23:17):
funny because every Dolphins move in isolation always kind of
makes sense to me, and a lot of them actually
have worked out pretty well. But they're very much run
like a like a fantasy football roster, where like how
everything matches together doesn't seem to matter, and like one
year to the next doesn't seem to matter, and that
they're generally less than the some of their parts. I
mean they're taking shots. I don't know if you saw
(23:39):
a Sante Samuel, I guess you call them senior now
talking about the Dolphins, I mean ASANTI Sanamuel Junior was
thinking about signing there. But basically a Sante Samuel the
former Patriot like called Mike McDaniel and Chris Greer like weak,
like that they can't handle their players, that they don't
know what they're doing them, just like man.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Big, it's a it is a big and probably very
pivotal year for everybody in the Dolphins building, I would
say that.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Right, And like it's similar when you trade you trade
away Jalen Ramsey who didn't want to be there and
then I see a headline over the last couple of
weeks where it was like cater Kohu knows he needs
to step up as the leader of the cornerback room,
and cater co is a nice story, like an undrafted
guy who's a good nickelback, but he's your best cornerback.
(24:29):
And then you're asking Minka fitzpatrick uh to kind of
solve all these other problems. We'll we'll see if he's
able to do that.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Here's what I'm curious about when you are so blatantly
and they have been for the past couple of years,
like when they had their speed identity, that was you
could very much tell they had speed and timing offense
with Tua when Tua was healthy, with Tyreek and Jalen
and like they could they didn't run the ball enough
in the winter, but they could run the ball. They
had a creative attack. It's interesting when you see the
(24:58):
deviation from that to now. It's like this mishmash of
different thoughts, different models of team build, different strategies, different
and some of its injuries with the quarterback, sure, but
factoring that aside, it just doesn't feel like this is
a coach in a front office that's on the same
page with one another. Like it feels like each one
of them has an idea of what they want the
(25:20):
team to be, and they like are in separate offices,
and like that's it. Like I just I'm not that's
not me reporting anything. It just what it looks like
on paper is like they just don't seem to be
rowing in the same direction, you know.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
And ownership is doing some stuff over here, like it's.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
A lot of it was a pet on his yacht,
you know, like in terms of you know, veteran players
coming out of retirement.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Here here was the quote, by the way, by a
Sante Samuel shout out to him, like if you look
at the interception leaders of the twenty first century, which
is something that I did while doing my research, a
Sante Samuel Senior, I think he's at the top, Like,
you know, he's a playmaker. Forget all the He wasn't
gonna make my list or anything, but he was on
(26:05):
the top. He said about the Dolphins, the reason they
didn't they have to get rid of Jalen Ramsey is
because they were too sensitive. They're sensitive. There's no leadership.
Mike McDaniel is a pushover Chris Greer. The GM has
no backbone. They're running this team like a little league team.
That's fire. I love it. We need we need more
analysts that'll just go off like that. Eric Roberts, lets
us know some of the trade targets that hit from
(26:27):
me and Bill at the beginning of the off season.
Of course, George Pickens, that was a good one. Deebo Samuel,
that was a good one somehow Bill pointed out Joe Tooney.
No one saw that coming. I mean that was that
was a home run. Minka Fitzpatrick was a fun one.
You know. DeVante Adams didn't get traded, but that was close.
(26:48):
Dk Metcalf we got and then Bryce Uff was like
a smaller one that we hit. So we're definitely doing
that episode next year. You mentioned TJ. Watt. Yes, that's your.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Question for you before we get to that. So when
you were going for your twenty five of the last
twenty five years, were you when you were like in
Pro Football Reference looking at you know, different filters of
like ages and stuff. What was going through your head
when you came across players who, like you, almost had
almost forgotten about or if you had and you're like, oh, yeah,
that guy, and then you realize they're like the same
(27:20):
age as you. Like, what was going through your mind
when you had those little moments?
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Are you trying to call me old? Like? I'm aware
of it. I mean, that's why I embraced this challenge
because I started covering the NFL full time in three
so I was like, this is it. Yeah, like this
guy is a.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Greg decade, this is the Grig sent done.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Yeah, it's fine, forties underrated. I definitely had multiple moments,
and that's I think that's what you're looking for in
your summer break where I was like, took a step
back and I was like, these are the good old days.
They're happening right now, like a year ago at this time.
You know, Emmica's not totally healthy. Who knows what's gonna
(28:01):
happen with the future of the show, And so I've
always liked getting older. At some point, I think that's
gonna end, but I don't think I'm there yet. That's
my serious answer to your goofy question.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
And you know what, this is all I wanted. I
finally baited you, and you finally took the bait I
wanted Ernest Greg. I'm like, just give him a rest,
give him a break, two weeks with his family, you know,
soaking up the good vibes, you know, getting some sleep,
not working. I'm gonna get Ernest Greg. I'm gonna get him.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
All season long. It's Ernest Greg. All right, let's take
a quick break. We'll be back and talk. Teach a
wow you mentioned back on NFL Daily. I can't wait
(28:57):
to get back to the West side of Los Angeles
when the weather's perfect. It's not like the ninety five
degrees every day and humid like it is over here.
I mean, it is the one downside of coming here
every summer. I do love Tokyo, but it's like you're
missing California. I feel at the very best time. But
that is some high class problems to be complaining about.
(29:17):
Speaking of which, TJ Watt TJ Watt on the trade block.
At least that's like the reporting, what did you make
of Like there's been back and forth over the last
couple of weeks, the latest one being Mark Cooboli, who
covers them for Pat mcavie's show and has covered that
team for decades at this point, and saying that the
Steelers have been quietly gauging TJ. Watt's trade value.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Yeah, it just feels like a lot of posturing to me.
I mean, if this drags into camp, also fine, because
it's TJ Watt. And so why not give them some
time off, some snaps off, you know, delay the wear
and tear into when you actually need him. I think
I would be surpri kind of just watching him for
(30:02):
as long as we have, and then that whole family,
the competitiveness of that entire family, Like, yes, obviously, get
what you are owed if you're a player, I am
always on team, get what you are owed. But also
this team has made it clear with all of their
off season moves that they're operating on a one year
mindset right now, right, And so I think that if
(30:23):
you're TJ. Watt and you're like, Okay, if they're really
as all in on actually making a run or trying
to this year or breaking past this like middle ground
that they've constantly been stuck in for so long, then okay,
you can maybe rejoin camp when you are ready, after
some time of making a statement about you know why
(30:45):
you're not there, and really give it everything you've got
to try to help this team get to the next
level and hopefully the level after that, because you have
to look at this team now, everything they've done. You
have to basically wipe out all of this multi year conversation,
even with the Metcalf stuff. You know, the year's left,
you have to wipe all of it out because you're
(31:06):
looking at a one year team build. Now, this is
what it is. You've gotten all in quote unquote, first
of all, trying to go for quarterbacks of high status
and being interested in a possible Matthew Stafford situation, getting
to Aaron Rodgers thinking that he's got what it takes,
got what's left in the tank, to really try to
(31:26):
go out first of all the right way for him,
but then also to push this team going after the
superstar receiver, going after the superstar corner. I really think that, like,
you have to throw out everything about the twenty twenty
six onward of this roster and look at what they're
doing right now because clearly that's where they're going to operate.
(31:47):
So you revisit the conversation. I think if you're TJ want,
you don't get to get what you want this year.
And I don't think anybody needs to go be as
dramatic as to go for the full trade. Now, if
you go for a teardown after this season, sure, maybe
then you get curious about trade conversations. But for now,
I think it's all posturing.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Right because when Koboli says that the second you know
they'd have to consider a second round pick eventually, he
almost made it sound like one was on the table.
Who knows, dude, would you because that second round pick
is going to be the same in March as it
is now. You don't get to use it in between,
so I that seems crazy to me. The downside for TJ.
Watt is he's coming off easily like the worst half
(32:26):
of a season that he's ever had, where he did
not look his best. I mean, he's a guy who
made that top twenty five players the last twenty five years,
probably the most surprising to me that I ended up
putting him on. But then when I looked at the
resume at a at a hard time, Steelers fans louder
than any other fan base about any choice, got some
(32:47):
coverage that Troy Palomalo did not make the list and
that that was a tough omission, that was a tough emission.
There were a lot of tough emissions. The one I
actually regret the most was the guy you covered was
von Miller. That was the only one where I was like,
if I had to do it, and I think I
would find a way to somehow get von Miller. But man,
it was tough to take any of those guys off.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Can I ask you about Bobby Wagner, like what was
your thought process with him as well?
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Yeah, he was in the top forty certainly. I mean
when you look at like twenty six to forty, it's
crazy if you were just going off all pros. He's
very close to right there. His very peak was special,
But I think his very peak to me just wasn't
as long as certainly the keek Ley or Ray Lewis
(33:33):
who made it as his position and was too maybe
similar to Fred Warner was probably the other one I
even just thought a little bit about. But he was
Wagner because of his longevity, like had to be considered.
He was in the mix.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Well, I love the series. I was driving listening to
most of it throughout my small travels through this break
and like I loved it. When Kevin Harlan was on talking.
First of all, I could hear you smiling the whole
time I was listening. I wasn't watching. I could literally
hear you grinning like an eight year old the entire
(34:09):
time you're talking to him. And he was so nice
and he gave you it was so cool. He gave
you so many compliments, like subtly through the course of
that interview. I don't know if you've listened to it back,
but it's so great. And then like him talking about
like Aaron Donald for example, right, like just about the
work ethic and the sustained excellence and the small details
(34:33):
that most people don't see when they're thinking about greatness
or legends and they're only looking at SATs. I love
that you guys considered so many of those extra details
for every player, not just for him. And I have
to say selfishly too, I went through and I looked
at your finished list, and I'm you know, I'm going
through a big transition here, work, life, all of that stuff,
and I'm like, oh my god, I got to cover
(34:55):
so many of these guys, like I got to watch
them practice every day, Like I got to watch them
go to work and achieve these levels of greatness in
this like maniacal disposition and way that it's very hard
to explain to people who don't get to see it
up close. And like every single one of those guys
(35:17):
like Julius Pepper's, Luke Keigley, Aaron Donald, like those guys.
I just it was cool. Von Miller, like, I mean,
you didn't have it on, but it was just it
was so cool to hear this conversation and like it
made me feel very grateful to be honest, that we're
living in a time with this kind of excellence. And
I know I sounded like Kevin Kevin Harlan, which is
also what I loved that it was so grateful to
like be experiencing all of it. It just it made
(35:40):
me happy the whole thing. I loved it.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Well, we got we got Ernest Jordan back in the house.
I mean, it's I know, she's kind of always in.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
The house, she is, I know, she never left.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
No, you've you've already over indexed in like covering all
time greats like some of these teams did, like like
Panthers and Browns weirdly over index considering they haven't won
that that much in these great great players mentioned you know,
you mentioned the Steelers. Everything's about this year, and yet
they are a team that like never makes any changes.
Omar Khan, their GM, was signed through twenty twenty eight
(36:10):
to an extension. Mike Tomlin's not going anywhere, like stop
stop talking about unless for whatever reason, he wanted to
go somewhere else, but he's just shown no reason to
think that's the case. Ryan Poles, the Bears GM that
was a little more curious, got an extension to match
Ben Johnson's one through twenty twenty nine. Normally I would say, like,
these contracts don't mean that much, but because you can
(36:31):
always just rip it up. But the Bears don't always
have a history of ripping up. I guess they have
with coaches lately, less so with GM. So man Ryan
pulls through twenty nine and Omar Khan through twenty eight.
It's fine.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
Yeah, And I think the timing of that, I don't know.
It feels like it's felt quietly like this. You know,
Ryan Poles went out and obviously got the quarterback that
they think will be the next great star in Chicago.
He went out got the head coach that everybody else
wanted for multiple coaching cycles. I think that's to his credit.
(37:09):
There's also been, you know, issues with personnel selection, especially
upfront with the last iteration of this offensive line. There's
been issues with coaching and assistant coaching selection, maybe letting
that previous regime have too much say over who their
assistants were that they brought in. To me, this feels
like a Ben Johnson's statement almost. It's like, you're here
(37:31):
with Ben Johnson as long as Ben Johnson wants to
work with you. If Ben Johnson can in fact be
the coach that they think he is. It's a very
it's a very interesting dynamic the way that these coaching
and GM timelines constantly like EBB and flow across each
other in terms of who is really in control and
who has the power at any given moment. So them
(37:52):
being aligne like this we're gonna see over the next
couple of years, and I'm interested in that.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Yeah, Ben Ben Johnson's in control reminds me a little
bit of the less Need Sean McVay timeline with Matt
Eberfuss playing the role of Jeff Fisher in this situation.
And yeah, it's on Polls to make it work with
his coach because the coach is the important guy. Now
let's go to something. Terry McLaurin said this week he
seems at this point likely to not be at training
(38:20):
camp when it opens for the commanders next week.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
Yeah, I've been pretty frustrated. I'm not gonna lie. You know,
everything that has transpired up to this point is has
been disappointing and frustrating. You know, I wanted to continue
my career here. I've created my life here. You know,
my wife and I have bought our first home here.
So this has been somewhere where I've always wanted to be.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
That is courtesy a JP Finley at NBC there in Washington.
So that's one that we'll probably be hearing a little
more from, I think in the next couple of weeks
in terms of him maybe either holding in or something
going on. We will see what happens with Terry McLaurin.
So bad news in the NFC two over the last
(39:05):
couple of weeks that Tristan Wurf's the all pro cut surgery.
That was surprised. He was supposed to be back for
the start of training camp, but his need didn't respond
as they expected, and he's probably gonna miss the start
of the season, according to Rick Stroud of the Saint
Petersburg Times, so he might actually miss the first four
or five games of the season. All yeah, left tackle.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
And I'm going to really be rude to you because
you've been on the other side of the world, But
do you know who will be replacing him? Greg? Without
googling it for at least the first couple weeks of
the season.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
His name is very familiar to me. Charlie Heck. I think, yes,
something like that.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
You got it, Yes, Charlie Heck. Yeah, the swing tackle.
He's been a little bit of a journeyman recently, former
fourth round pick. But I was texting some people over
there and they were really impressed with like, because it
kind of came as a surprise, it seems like to
a lot of people, and unfortunate obviously we're so high
on the Bucks offensive line. There's so well built. They're
(40:01):
really really well coached as well, and like apparently Charlie
Heck has come in and just been like, yeah, you
know what, I'm going to do my best and I'm
going to be a pro and I'm going to fit
in with the guys. Even though they've all been a
collective longer than I've been here, and I just I
think that at least building that continuity as early as
possible into training camp and him staying healthy is going
(40:22):
to be really important.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Yeah, they are a team that I think is built
from the offensive line out and Tristan Wurf's If you're
doing a draft of offensive linemen right now in the
NFL and you have all the GMS involved in it,
there's a pretty good chance. I think Worfs gets taken
first over all the most amount of times that he's
(40:44):
that good, He's that valuable, so that that's a big
loss for them and what I'm expecting to be a
great offensive season. But it's not like he's going to
be out for the whole season.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Huge blow to my Bucks believership. You know, I believe,
I still believe. I think it'll be fine, But you know,
I am high on the Bucks this year. Shout out
to Kevin Clark, who made the most shocked an incredible
facial expression I think I've ever seen from another human
(41:13):
when I said the Bucks were Super Bowl contenders this
year in the Championship tire So.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
Oh, yeah, come on, great guy, I mean, he's selling
you there. I love it. I love it, but they
are I agree with you. That's the expression I'm giving you.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
So there, Kevin, I have home court advantage on this show.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
You know what one other item that that did make
it all the way over here. I was at lunch
with Maurice Jones, Drew and his beautiful family, all his
kids there. He texts me like a couple of days
before he gets to Tokyo's like, hey, you in Tokyo.
Like I'm like yeah, He's like, hey, we should hang out.
I'm going to be there for a couple of days.
(41:52):
So we went to there's like a restaurant here where
you can I mean it's kind of ridiculous, but you can.
Inside the restaurant. They actually make you know, little fake rivers,
and you fish while you're in the restaurant, and then
you eat the fish that you catch, and you better
be ready to eat it because some of those fish
are way more expensive than the others, and the second
(42:13):
you catch it, like you got to eat it. So
don't catch too many fish like we did, because you
know you're paying for all those fish. But he is
the one that told me, Maurice, uh that Nase Harris
was in a fireworks accident. And this was four or
five days before it came out in the news. And
I think that was a common thing in NFL circles
because people talk to people, and I think there was
(42:35):
an initial word that it was maybe really bad, but
at least according to our guy Ian Rappaport, it's something
that will not prevent him from starting the regular season,
even if he misses the start of training camp. But
it was a fireworks accident where he took an eye injury,
which is just, oh.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
That's so scary to me. I don't do fireworks. I
don't f with them. I don't like them. I think
they're stupid. I mean, this is my this is my
hot take, Like they scare the crap out of my dog.
They seriously injure people. It's they're often not worth it,
in my opinion, to go and sit in traffic and
then go sit in you know, amongst everybody else's conversation
and cigarette smoke and go watch them like, no, not for.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
Me, not I hot take. Yeah, I don't want to
be anywhere near them now if you're getting me without
like a tough parking situation, and I can just you know,
go down watch that with my no, I'm saying, can
I just watch it from afar in the beach, And
it was easy enough to do, like I'm fine with it,
but I'm with you, And it was on almost the
(43:37):
tenuere to the day anniversary. I believe of Jason Pierre
Paul's career changing when he had that fireworks accident that
was only in my head recently because where he lost
the part of his finger and really sidetracked him for
a minute before he rebounded. Because he's trying to make
a comeback. I don't know. I happen to see that
(43:57):
he's trying to make a comeback after being out out
of league year. So good good luck to him, but
good luck to Najie Harris. Hopefully everything is okay there.
And then just a couple of little nugs that Juwan
Jennings of the forty nine Ers wants a contract. We're
already seeing these pupp reports like Mike Williams, for instance,
of the Chargers because they're starting camp today Wednesday, he
(44:18):
is now on the pup list, which you can be
taken off from any time. It just means he's not
healthy enough to start camp. And the Charger is also
getting some notice that, you know, their second round pick
is not in camp yet, missed the entire week of
their rookie kind of onboarding training camp, because almost no
rookies in the second round er sign. This is wild,
(44:39):
Like thirty second round picks have not been signed, largely
because the Texans gave a fully guaranteed contract to their pick,
the number thirty four overall pick, and now everyone behind
them is kind of being pressured to maybe do that
or come close to match that. And it reminded me
a little bit of the Derek Stingley contract because that
contract was so high by the Texans that it actually
(44:59):
kind of force the Jets to step up to the plate.
So shout out to the Texans actually for treating their players.
I know.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
This is the opposite of the Shamar Stewart situation, where
you're worried about setting a bad precedent for all the
players that come after you, specifically in that building. In
terms of how the team handles the guarantees, Well, this
is the opposite. The Texans are like, yeah, sure have
all the guarantees, and now everyone else is like, hey,
wait a minute, kind of want that, you know, seems like,
(45:26):
I mean, really be a good thing.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
It's not even how much money is it? Even the
second round pick?
Speaker 2 (45:30):
I know, I'm saying it's it's a positive. It's a
good thing. I agree with it.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
Yeah, I totally agree with you. Okay, it's eleven point
seven million dollars for four years for the thirty fourth
player of the draft. Like if for whatever reason, he
doesn't make it to like the fourth year, Like, you're
paying like a situational pass rusher that much for one year,
and this is the thirty fourth pick in the draft.
(45:54):
You can take that tiny little risk that your pick
wasn't so great. You should believe in this guy. I mean,
that's that's nothing. I think the second round pick should
be guaranteed. Rookie contracts are low enough. Actually they should
all be guaranteed. How about that.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
There you go, not a hot take, in fact, an
incredibly fair take.
Speaker 1 (46:10):
Yeah, a fair take. This was fun. It is great
connecting with you again, Jordan.
Speaker 2 (46:15):
You it's nice to know you're alive.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
We will do it in person again. I'll bring out
Ernest Greg a little bit. We'll have Colleen in the studio.
Hopefully we got to tell her that next.
Speaker 2 (46:27):
Week, and we got to find her first.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
We have a big, a big week of shows. We're
going to be going to our first training camp, Cowboys
training camp later in the week, so that'll be really
fun too. And before that, we're going to hear from
you and JJ Jansen from the Panthers on all the
training camp myths. So I can't wait for that, can't
wait to get on a plane. Thank you Jordan, thank
you Eric for keeping the fire burning back home and
(46:52):
getting those top twenty five episodes out. There's something sick
in me because when I see like these Mike Williams
was placed on the pup list transaction types like I
know football is back and I feel better about myself.
Host
Gregg Rosenthal
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