NFL GM Rankings + Draft Questions with Eric Edholm

A room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus and Gregg Rosenthal react to the latest news from around the league, starting with the latest on the potential sale of the Washington Commanders (4:44). The Jets and Packers are still negotiating the trade for Aaron Rodgers (13:51), and Devin White has requested a trade (18:26). Then, NFL.com's lead draft writer Eric Edholm joins the show to discuss the prospects that keep him up at night (20:40). After that, we get to Gregg's latest GM rankings (42:58).

Note: timecodes approximate.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Around the NFL podcast, HET's your team more than
any other. From the Chris Westling podcast studio, It's Around
the NFL. Dan Hans is here. I got Ah Hero

(00:20):
back from the Islands in the middle of the Pacific.
Greg Rosenthal, that was quick enough. Welcome back. How was
it was? Like our former president Barack Obama used to say,
you know, I'm in I'm in oy in my mind. Still,
I'm just gonna bringing that totally chill mental vibe to

(00:43):
my podcasting and personal relations wow for the next year.
I like this. I like this, Greg. We had people
gregging for you while you were gone, don't worry. Yeah,
we had a whole pan of Greg Lets holding down
the fort. I don't think Greg Lets is really capture.
That's too demeaning for the quality of guests that you

(01:03):
guys have that Greg Let's hey, just be chill, okay,
remember oh yeah, let's get thirty seconds. Let's see what
happened while you were gone. I feel like you were
gone a long time. You weren't, but it feels that
way because you and I had overlapping vacations. Did you
know the Browns traded for Deshaun Watson? I do know that. Um,

(01:25):
I hope it works out well for them. I think
he'll have a really fun year. Do you know we
went to London a couple of times. Oh your wife
moved out? That that has been my fear and I
wake up in a in a cold sweat. I would
not be a Hawaii in my mind if that happened. Yeah,
very blessed. What a family, What a ride life has

(01:48):
been for Greg Rosenthal. Mark Sessler not with us today,
he'll be back next week. And today's show, good one,
Good one. Um, it's time to get back into some
draft talk. So we have one of the very best
on the subject, Eric ed Holme. He works for US.
He's also our lead draft writer. Did you know that

(02:08):
our lead draft analyst? I didn't know that was dot com.
I was rein Eric at home back when he was
at PF Weekly, like in the mid oughts. So he's
been in the game a minute. He was at Yahoo
for a while, and yet now he's with US. I
you know, I like that title because if Eric and
you know, that's something that was either negotiated or at

(02:29):
some point it was worked out. He asked for it,
we'll ask him about it. That means Daniel Jeremiah is
not the lead draft writer, so just think about that,
which is nice. So right away bonus points for Ed
Holme in a big spot. It's a good move by
him because he's a writer. Um, he's now going to
be a podcaster. Because there are two mediums Jeremiah hasn't

(02:51):
tried out, hasn't touched. It's twenty twenty three. You gotta
do more. You would think Jeremiah, someone that is respected
in the industry, he would touch those areas. But totally
you know, just virgin Ip just writing and podcasting. He's
he's all just about television. That's dinosaur thinking old Hollywood Jeremiah.

(03:14):
For those chord cutters, look out all right. Also, you
have Greg Apiece coming out any minute, any minute, probably
maybe even by the time this podcast is up. Ranking
the general Managers. I always enjoy this exercise. In fact,
I remember having I was disappointment that you kind of

(03:37):
pushed this one through legislation and we didn't get to
actually really talk about it last year. I was like, no,
this is a good piece speaking of IP, I like
this ranking the gms. This was either yea at some
point it was either last year or the year before
you got on me for not mentioning, and that's why
I have mentioned it multiple times to you, even before
I went on vacations. This thing is dropping. When I
get back, we're gonna hit that as well. But first

(03:58):
let's start by doing just a little bit of news.
So very stupid but fun. This is the quietest time

(04:18):
of uh the league year, accepting of course, like post draft,
before training camps. Well except yeah, except post mini camps.
I would say, like late mid June through mid July.
It's a little uh yeah, I mean I yeah. Besides that,
like it's a little under the radar because you think, oh,

(04:39):
the draft is coming up. But yeah, it's been. It
was quiet last week. It's been very quiet this week.
But there was one big bit of news that just
broke as we were about to record. Um. This was
reported by our guy Ian Rappaport that Josh Harris's group
Josh Harris, who I believe owns the Sixers in the NBA,

(05:03):
He's a co owner of the Philadelphia seventy six ers,
a group led by Josh Harris and that includes billionaire
Mitchell Rails and former NBA star and legend Magic Johnson
are nearing a deal to buy the Washington Commanders from
Daniel Snyder for just under six billion dollars. Greggy, Nothing

(05:25):
is final according to Ian, or has been sent to
the League. The bid still needs to be submitted and
improved and approved. But this is another major step and
maybe finally the end of an era in Washington. Amazing
news for Commandos fans, I mean amazing Anders in Washington, DC,
and the Pentagon Commando somehow feels pejorative, so we'll give

(05:48):
them the commander's respect now that they're changing ownership. And
for Ian, who does work for the League as well
as us, to be able to report this tells me
that yes, nothing is final, but they would not be
reporting this. And there's other reporting out there that it's
essentially an agreement and principle unless it was on like
the six inch line. There's been reporting that Jeff Bezos

(06:11):
was was not really in the mix and that this
bid was the best one. And I don't know if
our producer Grave Digger kicked that U drop to start
the show, um because of a long held opinion and
thing I've said on this show, did you justin that

(06:32):
was more about the GM rankings, where I thought listeners like,
everyone's gonna be like, why is my GM ranked? I
would have been surprising. Replace I didn't impressed. I didn't
set that up. Well. The drop was that that we
hate your team more than all the other teams, and
and here and there. Over the ten years of this show,
I have often said every fan base like thinks I

(06:56):
hate their team more than the rest, and only one
of them is right. It's Washington's fans. It's because of
their old owner. It's been a disaster. Like no one
has treated an NFL franchise with more mistakes, I mean more.
I mean, look at the lack of care for their
fans and the players and the coaches frankly over the

(07:18):
last twenty years plus the Dan Snyder and so it's
a great day. That's and listen, Washington football fans they
know this better than anyone. But look at the last
twenty years under Snyder. In the previous twenty years where
they were a fixture, they were a beast in the
NFC East. They won multiple Super Bowl titles. It was,
you know, one of the more exciting, really like kind

(07:40):
of franchises because of the fan base, which is to
the credit of the fans in Washington. I know there
have been times where the stadium hasn't been as packed,
but who could blame them? I mean, even the facility
is not up to par. And you have a situation
now where it's going to feel like, as long as
everything goes to plan here, if this report turns into

(08:02):
a reality like a total rebirth for the organization and
the fans and an excitement level that they haven't had
in a long time. And I'm thinking about the the
New York Mets in baseball that they went from an
ownership that was really underwater and had gotten absolutely buried

(08:22):
by the Bernie Madoff scandal, and we're not spending money.
They sell to a billionaire who immediately who's the billionaires?
Any many owner of the Mets, Cohen pumps in tons
of money and resources into the organization, revitalizes things. Now
football is not quite that easy. You can't just spend
in the same way. That's what Dan Snyder tried to do.

(08:43):
He just was terrible at it for many years. But
just the idea of getting new ownership and if as
long as there's people in charge that know what they're doing,
there's still things we need to learn Greg about the
new ownership. You can't just assume new ownership is going
to be better, but it's probably going to be better.
I mean, the seventy six Ers I think have been
a well run franchise. Magic Johnson I think has rings
in literally every sport other than the NFL. I think

(09:07):
he mentioned that that was the four major US sports.
That's a good sign. And and Snyder he tried to
spend that was part of the reason why things didn't work.
I mean, Albert Haynesworth, Dan Sanders, Donovan McNabb all that.
But I think it does show that some of the

(09:28):
things we've talked about in terms of workplace culture and
harassment over the last number of years, just as a
society like does, get people out of the paint eventually.
I mean, he was suspended by the NFL for a
toxic workplace in sexual harassment. That suspension was kind of

(09:48):
vague when it was going to end. Tanya Snyder, his
wife was still working as the active owner. But you
can draw a pretty clear line between Hit that latest
problem for Dan Snyder in him eventually agreeing to sell
the team. Now it's it's America where he's not really
getting punished. He just sold a thing for an NFL

(10:09):
team for almost six billion dollars. Like nothing goes up
in value like NFL teams. It's an incredible, incredible investment. Already,
the Broncos sale from a year ago looks like a bargain.
They were they were bought for like a million a
billion and a half less And so it's not like
he's getting pushed out the door. But I think based
on everything we know about Snyder, this was the thing

(10:29):
he wanted to do most in the world, and he
would love to keep owning the team. And are completely
embarrassing how everything this isn't gonna end with yeah, Daniel
Snyder being destitute. But it is a billionaire boys club,
and there's probably you could argue in America, there's no
better toy to have for a billionaire in a way
to flex your success. And if you if you love

(10:52):
sports or even just love you know, finding success in
very public venues in society owning a sports team like
so that he loses that and and Jerry Richardson of
the Carolina Panthers also had um a scandal that involved
inappropriate conduct that led swiftly to him uh losing the Panthers.

(11:12):
So yeah, maybe you are seeing progress in a way
that twenty years ago would not have happened. In fact,
I'm almost certain of it. Twenty years ago these things
wouldn't have led to where they're leading now. Brought the
team for seven hundred and fifty million, by the way,
so that's a good it's good good ROI, And it's
I don enough. You're into the whole lot return on
UM and think about it that this group, if it

(11:35):
goes through and they get six billion, it's like, oh
my god, they paid six billion. When they sell in
twenty years, it's going to be like thirty seven billion
dollars you want inflation bro in value. No. No one
was their hug, now you mean you're absolutely right now,
no one. No one was more like anti media and
was worse handling the media, and and Um also was

(11:59):
very vindictive against like his former coaches and stuff like that.
We don't need to go through all that stuff, but
what I mean to say, and also had enemies in
terms of politicians in Washington. The reason I bring all
this up is I think that can all get better,
like immediately, I don't know what it's going to mean
for Ron Rivera. I think he'll have this year to
kind of prove himself to the new ownership group. But

(12:20):
in terms of their stadium deal, which has been an
issue in part, I think because the politicians around Washington
didn't want to do Dan Snyder any favors and it's
just been in gridlock. Now maybe that can be opened
up too, and these new owners can get a nice
new stadium. How about congrats, congrat If you have a
Commanders fan in your life, do you have any? Do

(12:42):
I have? No? Okay, I've got a couple, and they're
huge football fans and they've every I've never seen a
fan base love their teams so much and yet hate
their team because of the owner so much and just
been waiting for this day. They never gave up loyalty
of like wanting to love the team. They've just been
waiting for this day. And so I know, at least

(13:04):
my two friends that are both Commander's friends, like this
is like Christmas. This is the best thing that's happened
to them as sports fans for two decades. So I
am happy for them. Yes, there is I now I'm
thinking about it. In the early days of NFL media,
we had a I wish Mark was here for this,
but we had a colleague named Jason Feller, who sadly
is no longer with us, and he was a diehard

(13:28):
Washington fan. And there was a bar down the street
from our old office called Jockser's Daily in Culver City
that was a crazy Washington sports bar and they would
have sirens going off in there when they would be touchdown.
This is like twelve years ago now and just the
place packed with burgundy and gold. It's a good fan

(13:50):
base that deserves better, and hopefully they'll get it. In
other news, speaking of fan bases that deserve better, the
Jets are still trying to get Aaron Rodgers on their team.
It's an ongoing process. It's um I wouldn't say as
a Jets fan, I'm nervous about it. But at the
same time, like the longer this goes on, the more
it's just like, all right, come on, what's up? Is

(14:14):
there an issue? I don't think so. I mean, Joe
Douglas was on some at some fan event or something
last week and he publicly saying, oh, yeah, he's gonna
be on the team Aaron Rodgers. But then you see
a report from Yahoo's Sports NFL guy Charles Robinson, who
was on the Wild and Taosh podcast. I hope I
got that right. Well that's Mark Tauscher and Jason Wilde,

(14:38):
I believe not wild. I always thought it was will
they double miss? Can you get on that one? Grave Digger,
I'll look into another long time you know, a long
time beat guy. He was in some ways the original
McAfee because he had Aaron Rodgers doing a weekly spot
on his radio show for years in Green Bay. So
either Wild and Taosh or Wilde in Taoish Tasher Willdee

(15:02):
I think ESPN Radio shared some insight into the trade
talks on that program. He reported that the packers asking
price for Rogers is a second round pick in twenty
twenty three. Jets have two of those and a straight
first round pick in twenty twenty four. Green Bay wants
a first round pick next year. No questions asked. Now

(15:25):
I have a question. And there's a little follow up
to this involving Jets ownership, which always makes me a
little bit nervous. But didn't Mark Murphy come out and
say to the media a couple of weeks ago at
the owner's meetings that They're not looking for a first
round pick necessarily, that's what he said. Doesn't that clash
with this report? Well, I think the word necessarily, and

(15:49):
then maybe the difference between a twenty twenty four first
round pick, maybe it's a conditional. It sounds like there's
gonna be conditions on them sending a pick back if
Rogers tires after a year. But it does clash a
little bit. I'm trying to I'm trying to find where
the gray area would be. Yeah, and then you have
a because I want Joe Douglas, the GM of the Jets,

(16:12):
and we'll get into him a little bit later on
the show, to be the guy drive in the boat.
But you always wonder where's Woody Johnson, the Jets owner
and also Robins had said that the parties had the
parameters of a deal in place initially, but after Rogers
said the I'm ninety I was ninety percent retired thing
on the Macavie show, Woody Johnson, here's I'm just this

(16:34):
is a quote from a Yahoo right up of the interview.
Got scared to spend high draft capital on him. That
would explain why the Packers don't want to take less. Okay,
so I don't know if that's true, but if it's true,
that gives a little insight into this, and yes, that
would that would inject a little bit of nerves to
me as a Jets fan that Woody is the one

(16:57):
holding this up over football matters. I think he needs
to be deferring to his general men. Well, it's also
fascinating to me that the McAfee appearance would have had
a material difference on the negotiations. Doesn't surprise you, but
it doesn't surprise me knowing the party's involved. Well, I
mean it makes sense too when you hear that. I

(17:19):
agree you need to have some conditions for if he's
going to retire soon or maybe that would make you
think a little differently than when you just sat down
and face the face with him. No one's worried about this.
It totally makes sense to me that the deal would
happen during the draft, because that's that's when you get
your absolute last case brass tacks offers, and it will
probably be day two of the draft. You'll have to

(17:40):
even wait, I think Dan through day one because that's
when the picks for this year's draft, where the Packers
would actually have to take it. You have to wait
till Friday. It's fine, it's fine. I actually appreciate the
lack of news that's been on this story. I think
everyone's being adults here. It's like, this is just how
it goes every you know, we cover the NFL every day,
so things pop up. But it's fine, it'll have I

(18:02):
was I was proud of the media cycle when one
of the Boomer and Carton I think it is no
Carton is now on a different show. Evan Roberts on
WFAN floated something about the Niners like getting in on
Aaron Rodgers, and everybody's like, no, go away, that's not it.
That's not an actual story, and at this point it's

(18:24):
not Let's see if they can iron things out. Finally
in the news real quick. Here Devin White, linebacker of
the Bucks. He has been on an All Pro team,
second team, he's been a Pro Bowler, and now he
wants out of Tampa Bay. Per Jeremy Fowler U of ESPN,
he's frustrated with extension talk. So Greggy the Bucks, who

(18:44):
some people thought we're gonna go in full teardown mode
after Tom Brady walked away that a lot of their
veteran corps is coming back. White was supposed to be
among that group. This doesn't mean he's actually leaving, but
he's expressing displeasure with the contractor pieces fed up. According
to Yes fans Jenna Lane, I am too grad beggar,

(19:05):
They're not they're not going to do anything. By all
accounts that they have no interest in trade him. They
have him under contract this year on a fifth year
option for eleven point seven million. You know, pretty good
for an off ball winebager. He's a very difficult guy
to evaluate. He was the same guy that dev that
Todd Bowles was kind of burying publicly during last year
for freelancing a little bit. He's had the All Pro teams,

(19:28):
But if if you trust the PF grading, he's a
very boomer bust player who gives up a lot of
big light. It makes a lot of big plays. But
if they don't want to trade him, they're not going
to trade him. And I don't think they're gonna trade him. Yes,
he grades out poorly on PF despite the accolades. Have
we got do we have any on the ESPN program?
We're looking into it. Well, I'll get back to you. Yes,

(19:50):
it's not as easy as I expect. I mean, I
feel reasonably confident this is a man, right Jason wildee Um,
I used to read quite a bit when I was
doing those brick by brick posts on Rhoda World. We
have confirmation it is wildy yeah about and I believe
I've I've been on the program, but way back in

(20:11):
the day. Yeah, way back in the day. All right,
well you should definitely know then, Greg. It was like
fifteen years is different show. I just blank that. Greg
was just name checking like seventeen people and I just
glazed over form a bit. There you know them. That's great,
That's what I know. I'm back to glaze over and
touch All right, here we go. That's what's happening in
the news. Let's take a break and then talk to

(20:34):
our new buddy, Eric Adholme. Welcome back, our guest joining

(20:55):
us now. We established us at the top of the show,
the lead NFL draft writer for NFL Media and it's
properties uh. He is Eric Edholm. Gentlemen, what's going on?
How are you? Eric? I'm doing well? Yeah. I mean

(21:16):
usually at this this point of the draft season, I'm
pulling out my hair and then losing sleep and all
that I've I've I've I've been more dialed in this year,
more more ready for draft, the draft season, I guess,
or the draft to come up. Then I can remember
in recent years, why is that? Why is that? I
don't know? Is it this class? There's something about the

(21:38):
class that makes you feel more at peace? Is it
the lead Draft Analyst title that you somehow it's the title.
Let's just get it out there. It really is. Before
they put lead in there, I was just feeling a
little off. What about I don't know about Jeremiah because
you know, I call him the Wholesome Assassin because he
presents himself as this good guy. But I wouldn't be

(21:58):
surprised if there's a text in your phone or an email.
They're a little bit like a back off type vibe
from M I have. I have some threatening text that
I'm just storing just in case I need to use
as collateral for anything. But I have a few of
my own. I grew up in Boston, you know, I
got a little little salt in my veins. So well,

(22:19):
I want to start here, Eric as we get in
and look ahead. The draft is two weeks from tonight actually,
and and I'm curious, what is the piece of let's
start kind of like, in a broad sense, is what
is the piece of draft board conventional wisdom that's kind
of been driving your nuts during this process this year?

(22:40):
I think it's good question. I think it's probably more
apropos this year because we have a running back who,
you know, regardless of position, if you just ask people
who their their favorite talents are overall, you know, Bijean
Robinson deserves to be I think pretty high on that list.
But the whole question over where running backs should and
shall never be drafted and all that stuff, and and

(23:02):
and maybe it's an overreaction to a guy like sa
Quon Barkley going second and still being a good player,
and most of us recognizing that, okay, seconds pretty rich
for that position. But there's a there's a there's a
happy medium, I think, where players of that ilk can
also be respected in and of themselves and deserve to
go high in drafts or not, you know, high like

(23:24):
top five. But I think bypassing him just because he's
plays a certain position is a little bit shortsighted. So
I don't know that that that debate I don't know
where you guys fall exactly on that spectrum, but good
players tend to help football teams out. That's just my
bottom line. I hate to give Jeremiah pop, but I
do agree with his theory that, especially if you're a

(23:45):
team that feels like you're a piece away, you don't
take a running back high if you're if you're a
rebuilding team, but if you're a team that wants that
final piece. I mean, as Robinson, is he like that? Dude?
Is he at at Barkley's level coming out? Or I
remember and Adrian Peterson came out years ago. Is this
like one of those special type talents? I think so.

(24:06):
I mean I think him in the first then I
know I'm I'm all for it. I mean, he's in
my top five again regardless of position, but I recognize
he's not going in the in the top five. I
don't think, right it would be a shock. Um, Chris
Bower already has a running back. No, I'm kidding, but yeah,
I mean it just right. I think you're right. I

(24:27):
think if you are that team that feels like and yet,
out of one corner of my mouth, I'll also argue
I don't think the Eagles should draft him unless it's
you know, lower than the tenth pick or something like that,
because I think they can They can still do better
with that pick and in certain ways as far as
the immediate need, but because they have such a good
in my opinion, running a run blocking group. You can

(24:48):
put a Boston Scott in there. You can put a
Kenneth Gainwell in there and do pretty well for yourself. Uh.
You know, Miles Sanders is a good player, but he's
not I don't think he's a true difference maker or
anything like that. So they let him go and you
can find another guy of similar quality in my opinion,
So maybe for a team that doesn't quite have the
stout offensive lineup front, but is in that situation. I

(25:09):
know that limits are our list a little, but maybe
that's the team you start pegging Robinson to. I don't
think ten is too early. I mean, if he's a
Hall of Fame type of player, and to me just
watching him, my very amateur eyes feel like he's an
even better prospect than say Quon coming out like in
terms of his natural movement skills, I think he's just

(25:31):
like a little bit smoother that he he could be
up there with the greats, and then what are we
talking about here? Of course that's worth drafting anywhere in
the top ten. And I'm not saying that you would
want to take him too overall, but if you felt
like confident and and you just didn't like the people
around you, just just for sake of argument, here's some
number two overall picks in the last decade alone, not

(25:53):
like not like I think John Robinson should go too,
but you have him too, So that's just the number
I was thinking of. Zach Wilson, a quon. That's why,
that's why it's on my mind. Mitchell Trubisky, Marcus Mariota,
Greg Robinson, Luke jokel. I mean, it's like, what are
we talking about here? This whole like the process has
to be a certain way because certain positions have to

(26:14):
be taken first. The whole reason why running backs stopped
getting taken first, other than the fact that it was
like Ronnie Brown and Cadillac Williams and who else was
in that draft, in the top five of that draft
where it just got a little out of control, is
that positional value, you know, matters, but it doesn't like
you should have to have exceptions for every rule, and
you can't be that hard and fast. If he's a

(26:36):
great player, he deserves to go in the top fifteen,
and I think he will. I think I think you
might go as high as ten to the Eagles if
he's Ladanian Tomlinson right? Right, what are we talking about?
Why are we passing on him? Right? Just because he's
a running back. I mean it's tricky with tight ends too,
but yeah, I think running back has gotten got way
more attention because of this this debate. So I was thinking,

(26:57):
like what players make a marek Ed Holmes stay up
at night? You know, like you're you're worried about the evaluation.
You're worried about where he's gonna go. You're worried if
you're right or wrong about this player, even despite all
the work that you've put in, Like which player? What
are some players are? Give me one to start that

(27:18):
keeps you up at night? Two? And and this is
I'm expecting a lot of hate mail from from Tennessee folks,
But I have my reservations with Jalen Hyatt and to
a lesser degree, head and Hooker because of the offense
in which they are used. Right, I mean Josh Hypel.
I'm not anti Josh Hypel, not anti Vall's been to

(27:38):
a game there. It's a great place. You know, I
love love Rocky Top right, but I think there's reasonable
suspicion about that kind of offense and what those players
are when they come into the league as far as
their their mental preparedness and things like that, how it
translates and everything else, you know. I mean, like I
guess he gets credit for Sam Bradford at Oklahoma Andrew Jones.

(28:01):
I mean, other than that, Drew Locke is the other
top quarterback that he's developed. So you know, you can
see it's a little bit of a pattern there, and
the same thing with the receivers as well. I mean,
I think Gabe Davis would probably be you know, he
had a couple years with him UCF. But Jamon Moore,
you know, Trey Nixon, Villis Jones last year. I mean,

(28:21):
you know, it's not the most illustrious group of all
time in terms of you know, early in to mid
round picks translating to the NFL. Plus with Hooker, you've
got the injury and the age. I mean, he's got
an ACL He's twenty five years old, So as much
as I like him, when I watch him, I think
to myself, he's got a few strikes against them, and
high at kind of a one trick pony. So he's

(28:43):
a speed guy who reminds me way too much a
Will Fuller to be comfortable with. So with both guys,
I had to kind of water it down a little
bit to where I'll take the scrutiny for having them
lower than where they're probably going to be drafted, because
I just I think there are enough pitfalls with each
of them. And you know, on jail and Harder's a
big one. Quentin Johnston from TCU, I get a little
nervous about because of the drops. And you know, he

(29:06):
could be Mike Williams or he could be Kevin White,
you know. I mean that's that's kind of where I
fallen on some of these guys. Man will Fuller, I
forgot about will Fuller. Yeah, he just dropped out the
radar um. Yeah. On the subject of the wide receivers,
because another bit of conventional wisdom is like this is
not the year to find a superstar wide receiver, right,
and yet like nothing's money in the bank when it

(29:28):
comes to drafting. But in the NFL in recent years,
it feels like these wide receiver it's becoming safer and safer.
Bets that is there somebody that could actually be a superstar,
And again, buck conventional wisdom and be that dude. I
know you have jsn In from Ohio State there in
your top ten, so I guess he would be sensible.

(29:49):
You think he could be a guy that's like a
Pro Bowl year one talent year one. I don't know,
But then again, I mean I think I when I
saw him peak performance prior to last season, when he
only you know, played like three games or whatever, you know,
I would have said he's a better player than Garrett Wilson.
I mean I would have just said, if you if
I have to choose between the two of them and

(30:11):
I only get one, I think I'm taking Jackson Smith
and Jigba a little bit longer, maybe not quite as fast,
but he's got elite short area quickness, even compared to
a guy like Garrett Wilson, who's you know, thrives in
that area as well. So you know, I've heard the
slot only argument. I mean I don't. I don't see
it just because he you know, isn't a Blazer. I

(30:31):
think he can win on the outside. I mean he
could be, you know, a beautiful Cooper Cup sort of guy.
You know, that type of performer. Are we complaining about
Cup speed? Now we're saying he's an elite route runner
with great change of direction skills, outstanding hands. I think
that's what he is. If there's a guy that I like,
you know, not quite as much because of the size concerns,

(30:51):
but I'm a bigger's a Flowers fan than other people
might be. I mean, you know, at five eighty two
with short arms, I get the concerns, right, but it's
a big name. I'm ready. I'm not scared. I see
some Antonio Brown in his game. I really really think
he has some of that in him. And as you
guys know, Brown didn't test grade, he didn't produce at

(31:12):
an elite level in college. He just had this skill
set that wasn't fully you know, developed and put it
all together in Pittsburgh. Yeah, I think the receiver things
strange in this draft that there's this idea, well, if
you're looking for the top type of guys, this is
not the draft for you. And yet I'm with you.
Tom Smith and Jigba has incredible upside and ceiling if

(31:34):
he Cooper Cup is the name that he reminds you of.
And I look at Addison and I don't I don't
see why he's in such a different tier of prospect
than Olave and Garrett Wilson going out. You have him
a little lower, you have him down it at twenty eight,
but just in terms of everything but his size, and yes,
he's like a hunt He's a slight guy, but his

(31:54):
movement and you can just see those routes working at
the pro level. And then Quentin Johnson, who I have
less of a feel on, but he he's a huge
guy in his ceiling at least is high. And I
like Cedric Tillman from Tennessee too. So receivers have come
into the league so so good lately. I don't see this.
The top of this class is like miles different from

(32:14):
a year ago. But that's why I don't get paid
to be the draft analysts like big lead draft analysts.
Eric at Home, Yeah, I mean that the lead park
kind of kind of separates us a little bit. I
guess what do you think of Schrager? Do you respect
Schraeger in his draft right, because because he does other
stuff throughout the year. But then he swoops in and
he's a draft guy. You have to respect to those guys.

(32:36):
I've only been here a little while. Guys, I don't
want to start trashing everybody in the company. Yeah, Jeremiah
is safe. Yeah, have me on next week and Schreeger um,
you know on Good Morning Football of course. Uh, the
peacemaker swoops in. He put out his if you know
you know list. Okay, you know about that, uh, and

(32:56):
you know take that as you as you will. But
his his five if you know no list, Nolan Smith Edge, Georgia,
uh Pit tackle, uh, Kalia Cancy h Tyreek, Stevenson corner
at Miami, Christian Guy, Christian Gonzalez corner Oregon, and Emmanuel
Forbes corner of Mississippi State. Stevenson is a guy at

(33:16):
that list that really jumps out to you. Well, I
have him, I don't know. I like him a lot,
and I think he's being kind of undersold a little bit.
You know, he's he plays zone offman, press man. I mean,
you know, he's not perfect, but I think athletically and
just mental toughness wise, he's gonna gonna fit in really well,
just a little surprise. It's a deep corner class. I

(33:37):
mean there's some good names. You mentioned Gonzalez on Peter's
list there, he's gonna go hi, Devin Witherspoon ran well
the other day, he's gonna go hi, Joey Porter Junior.
We have the name value and the athlete, so it's
a loaded position. In fact, Manuel Forbes also on that
list too. Fascinating debate because he's a one hundred and
sixty six pound you know, over six foot two. This

(33:58):
is not just like a slot corner. I mean, this
is a guy who line up outside six pick sixes
in his career, fearless out there. I think if you
like Sauce Gardner's tape, you're gonna like his stay too.
You know, there's a little freelancing, but boy, he does
the job for me. The question is you have toothpick
ankles and that smaller frame. Are you gonna survive in
the NFL. He's unprecedented. He's on my life. I tried

(34:21):
to guess who would be on your make at home,
stay up at night or maybe who would make me
stay up at night less, and Forbes was at the
top one hundred and sixty six pounds as like a cornerback.
If you look at you know, how they have the
you know percentage in terms of other prospects, and they
show the three cone rights in the eighty seven percent
out and you know, arm length, he's in the fiftieth

(34:42):
percent down this and that for wait, he's in the
one percent own, and that's only because they can't put
zero mathematically. There's literally never been a cornerback that tall
and that light. And yet when you watch him, if
you if you ignored that, and you shouldn't because he
probably will get overpowered in certain but you're gonna have
to have some guys to cover these other lightweight wide receivers.

(35:04):
So it kind of makes sense to me that the
whole game is getting lighter and he would keep me
up at night. But he seems like he's like an
incredibly high ceiling guy. It's just everyone's going to be
afraid that he's one hundred and sixty six pounds. That
you boiled it down perfectly there. I mean, that's exactly
kind of how you the production is off the charts good.
It really is that that exciting. You know, he's a

(35:29):
little on the older side, he'll be twenty three, I
want to say, by the end of the season. So
you know, there's there's a little bit of you know,
limitation as far as how much more you know, upside
and growth and development he has. But still, I mean,
I I see a guy who's got rare instincts. I
think he's a first round pick. Now I think, you know,
I was sort of putt him in that early second
round range, but I think he's going to go in

(35:51):
the first I think Tyreek Stevenson should be a second
round pick, but we'll see. I don't know exactly where
he's gonna go. But Forbes is the one who I
think is causing people to kind of have some serious debates.
We had Cordell flot last year ago in the third round.
He's abuse like six foot one seventy five. So statistically,
I want to say, height and weight wise, that's the

(36:12):
closest comp we've had in recent years. Otherwise you got
to go back a long ways to find somebody with,
you know, these Spinley dimensions like he has. All right,
last thing I have for Yericum connor Or was on
our program earlier this week and he had done some digging.
Now he said, it's an exclusive that is dropping on

(36:33):
SI dot com later this week. It's up, It's there,
it's up. Okay, go check it out everyone. All Right,
I'm gonna ask me. We're just gonna say, as the
lead writer, if he knows like he uh, Connor, using
ancestry dot com, had identified a draft prospect that actually
had Norse god blood, which feels like a nice um

(36:53):
attribute that you would put in as a bullet in
the draft profile. Do you know who that might be?
Trying to think of? There any like Scandinavians Cody Mock No,
I mean, I mean that's too on the nose. I think, yeah, yeah,
that would be like the obvious answer that makes it.
Ah jeez. Tyler van Ness, he has got that kind

(37:15):
of square jaw and like the you know, the the
ice man from Top Gun haircut. Tyler S final answer,
all right, it's all I got. All Right, what do
you got? Justin? Should I spoil it? I feel like
our listeners should do Connor a favoring. They're gonna go
read it, they will trust me. It's Tyler Vaness, Lucas Vaness, Sorry,
I'm Lucas Vanes. Yeah, yeah, that's all I got it

(37:37):
is Holton Hollurs oh, a literal of Viking legend Ragnar Lothbrock.
And that's not Minnesota Vikings legend Ragnar, real Vikings, that's
the that's the Ragnar. It's the Vikings that have titles.
It's the original Ragner. I mean those those Vikings had rings.

(37:57):
This is you, you know where it's a tough world
back then. You know, you don't want to judge by
today's standards, but you know, not someone you want to
bring home to your to your just keep him away
from the yeah, the women and children in general. Anyway,
we talk about NFL bloodlines, I mean I'd rather have
the you know, the Norse god bloodlines. Myself, I don't know.

(38:19):
I'd rather have Joey Porter probably true. Yes, anything else,
I'm gonna give you just a very quick rapid fire.
Give me like a yeah on the other players that
I think would that would keep me up at night? Okay, okay,
rapid fire here Brian Branch is he closer to Derwin
James or is he closer to like the do it

(38:40):
all thing that NFL teams fall in love with and
then doesn't work out when you draft him really high
closer to the ladder. The athletic testing, you know, put
a limit on his appeal. But he's so smart, so
I think it's more to the ladder, the do it
all guy who's you know, jack of all trades and
you're glad you have him, but he's not. I don't
think he's special athletically. Will Where are you on the
Will Levis discourse? I feel like now he's been pushed

(39:03):
down so far and you know, incredible body by the
media that now it's actually the backlash of the backlashes
here and everyone's now like, actually Will Levis to settle
it at home. Yeah, yeah, no, I'm on the I'm
pro Levis to a degree. Right, He's got his warts
and last year didn't do him any favors in a
lot of ways. But man, you look what he did
with Liam Cohen twenty twenty one, who they brought back

(39:24):
a zoc. I mean, that's a that's a strange but
but I think good move for Kentucky. They just didn't
have any talent last year. He had two injuries he
played through. You watch the twenty twenty one tape, there's
a lot of appealing stuff. I also hear from a
lot of Penn State fans who are like, no way
that dude should be in the draft, you know, or
in the in the first one hundred and fifty picks.
I think there's a too much of that bias going

(39:45):
on out there too. But I like the guy to
a degree for sure. Okay, I do have one more
than the Panthers regret it forever if they passed on CJ.
Strout regret it forever. No, because Bryce Young could be special.
I just man, he just has so how many the
margin for air is small with that arm, that size
and everything else. I just feel like he's he's gonna

(40:06):
be great. But we play seventeen games every year. That's
my biggest worry. We'll we'll get into all these questions.
We still got We still got about a week and
a half of draft build up to go. But I
as we get closer, I can't I can't quite buy
that Jalen Carter, who everyone sort of recognizes the best
player in the draft, is gonna go anywhere but very

(40:26):
close to the top. That's all we'll see. Mike require
ownership approval. But I but I hear you don't they
all don't They all at that point, I guess quarterbacks
in like situation. Uh, Eric, You've said it all. Thank
you very much. Continue to track everything Eric does on
NFL dot com. And Buddy, Uh, we enjoyed having you.
Thank you. And put Dale Murphy in the hall. And

(40:49):
how about this, Don Mattingley and Dale Murphy going in
the same class and you and I go to Cooper's
down together. Absolutely you kidd may I'm down man. You
let me know. All right, it's like, sorry, honey, I'm
going with Dan hands this to uh Cooper. I'll just
going with a fellow, like middle aged guy on a
private trip to upstate New York. Don't worry that I

(41:11):
don't know I'll be able to make it. Sorry, man,
damn it. You see Greg, you wrote everything all right?
Go ahead, Eric, Kevin, go take it easy. Um uh
did good stuff like at home? I like at home.
I also two things two takeaways, Um the Texans, who
we made so much of it, and rightfully so, winning

(41:33):
that stupid game at the end of the season that
allowed the Bears to take number one pick. In some ways,
like if they are indeed going to take a quarterback,
which I think they will, they're kind of like chill.
They're like, we don't have to freak out about this.
If they're like caught in between on the quarterbacks, we'll
take the other guy. And it's like, no stress on us. Well,
we'll never know, we'll never know. I'm saying it's that's

(41:54):
potentially be the opposite of like, right, we want to
trade out, or we're not even gonna take a quarterback
because we like Bryce Young so much more than Stroud.
There there has been that that thought bubbling up, although
it's hard to say it's just other personnel that like
the Texans might take someone else number two, like Will
Anderson or Jalen Carter and then trade back up to

(42:17):
take like a Will Levis or Richardson or something who knows.
And my other thought out of that conversation, Uh, were
you attempting to retroactively cancel vikings there like the old ones? No?
I was saying, you know, you can't judge them by
today's standards and whatnot, right, um, But also like you

(42:39):
you probably you know, wouldn't want to have cross passed
with Ragnar loth Brock, that's all. No, probably not. You
wouldn't want your daughter meeting Ragnar. No, no, no, no,
certainly not. All right, let's take a break and do
some GM talk. Keep him away from my girl. All right,
we are back. Lets get into Greg. You have a

(43:01):
article going up on NFL dot com ranking the gms.
I like this because you know the gms. Everybody, Oh,
let's rank coaches, let's rank teams, rank gms. It just
feels more personal. It feels like I feel like the gms.
Especially when it's going up on NFL dot com. I
feel like the gms are checking this one out. Yeah.

(43:22):
I've gotten some response over the years, and it's and
everyone is trying to keep relationships with front offices and whatnotum,
But luckily that's not a concern for me. I'm a
jerk and don't really have relationships to them. So there
you go. You can call it as you see it,
because they have. Why does it feel more relationship? I

(43:43):
think it's because they seem more like you could almost
imagine being one of them. Whereas you know they they
should have the tables turned on them. All they're doing
is making up big boards of players and ranking them
and talking about their butts and stuff. Let's turn the
table out them. Did you ever think like we never know,
you're still a relatively young man, Like, who knows what

(44:04):
if you did want to at some point your career
transitioned into getting a front office opportunity. I'm good, just
I mean, listen, you were ready to walk and become
Lamar Agents, Lamar Jackson's personal assistant. You you proposed that
the drop of a dime. You're like, yes, I'll take
the job. I mean that seemed more rewarding th the hours.
You know, I've got a young family, we're really in

(44:27):
our prime. I was thinking of that, you know, in Hawaii,
like we got to appreciate these times. These kids, they're
not too young, they're not too old. We're a nice unit.
You got to appreciate that. Yeah, can I do that
while um being a Jason Light's assistant for twenty three
hours a day? I don't think so. All right, So
you're you're just saying the Lamar Jackson gig would be

(44:50):
very kind of low stakes and low effort necessary for
a nice paycheck. Potentially, I don't know. Yeah, that could
that could do it. He could be a tyrant. You know,
I'm happy we have we have a podcast. We've built
this into something We're not gonna build an NFL team
as successful as this body. All right, I like I
like that. I like that. Let's get to it. UM.
I overall think you did strong to quite strong work

(45:14):
on this UM I have. Unfortunately, I don't have too
many uh quibbles, which is a testament to the effort.
So let's go through it. Which did I mention? I
thought was strong? Okay, too quite strong. I don't deal
well with praise. I feel better when you here is

(45:36):
the top ten. I'm not perfectly on board, but here
we go. Howie Roseman won Bret Bret Beach to Duke
Tobin of the Bengals through let me just in case
there's some people that aren't as die hard in terms
of knowing the personnel the front office. Bret Veach, chiefs
general manager. Who what a ride? What a rocket ride?

(45:58):
Greggy from being my by Greg Rosenthal himself a few
years back to number two on the GM rankings. The
Chiefs winning of Super Bowls many years back. Yes, two
super Bowls and four years will do that. Duke Tobin
of the Mangals three, Brandon Bean and Sean McDermott. Interesting
you give him the co power title? How do you
decide who gets that co slash? Well, the Bills got

(46:22):
it at four. Lynch and Shanahan same deal. Five, but
you have yeah, you have the GM first there good
U six, less sneed Sean McVay slash again. Interesting, Brad
Holmes h Dan Campbell, No slash, just Brad Holmes. Seven
Detroit Lions. Goody, now, goody. I would think there would
be a slash. Mark Murphy there, but no, he's not

(46:45):
making the big person out. Okay, okay. Eight. John Schneider Seahawks.
He probably should have a slash. They had a slash
in previous years. Pete Carroll Yeah, yeah, good slash and
Jarrah at ten again. I I liked the placement. Which
one was the most difficult for you to place of
this group, well, the Rams, because of how do you

(47:06):
evaluate what's happened to them. I didn't want to punish
them too much before seeing how this season's goes. I
didn't want to pre punish, but you look at what's
happened over the last year. I think the biggest problem
was those contracts they gave out, which didn't give them
a lot of flexibility immediately to Donald, Stafford and Cup
and how many guarantees were in that. I also wanted

(47:30):
to recognize it was a five year run of the
most wins in the league other than Kansas City for
the Rams. So it wasn't just this tiny little windows
six year run before last year, and so I didn't
want to kill them too hard, but it was tough.
There was a big drop off after the top five.
I also was, you know, wondering, is that is that
too high for for Duke Tobin the Bengals. But I

(47:54):
give them a little extra credit for as our friend
Solomon Wilcots, not really a friend, but someone I respect,
he said about Marvin Lewis raising the Titanic, And since
I appreciate the hyperlank here, I appreciate I give Duke
Tobin a little bit of extra credit for doing it
in Cincinnati, maybe without as many resources. And if you

(48:16):
look at his hit rate on the free agents that
they brought in, like DJ Reader and A Woozy and
Trey Hendrickson and then the draft, and I liked the
Orlando Brown move. And they have a number that they
go to and they stick with it. I think they've
done a great job. Yeah this is where and trust me,
as somebody does the power rankings. This is not a
shot out against the exercise. Sometimes it's all a little

(48:36):
bit silly because it's like Duke Tobin, Yeah, he's done
a good job, but the fact they got Joe Burrow,
who was a no brainer number one overall pick at QB,
who changed the organization, so you don't really and they
got the number one pick because they were dreadful the
year before. It's Burrow who reset the organization more than
Duke Tobin. But at the same time he did have

(48:56):
to turn in the draft card. Well, he also made
lots of those around him. He gets a little extra
pop for doing it two different times. He had a
very talented team under Andy Dalton. I said at the top,
I'm ranking this mostly on what position they're in now,
but you get some credit of what you've done overtime
and just all the moves are smart sensive sense, like

(49:17):
like Brent Veach, like he gets credit for drafting Mahomes,
but he also gets credit for not being afraid to
move on from big names like Orlando Brown, Matthew and
Frank Clark. And the offensive line overhaul kind of it's
gotten overlooked. Remember their offensive line stinks. Their offensive line stinks.
He does that overall in twenty one, especially on the interior,
it leads to a title the very next year. The

(49:40):
other one I wasn't sure what to do with was
John Schneider, who was like at an all time low
a year ago right now, and maybe he should even
be higher. I don't know if a GM's ever had
a better month and a half than John Schneider. Trading
Russell Wilson for all those draft picks at the exact
perfect time into one of the best draft classes of

(50:01):
the last five or six years. Two starting tackles Trek
will and the runner up for Rookie of the Year
Ken Walker, who could have been in the mix for
Rookie of the Year. And then two other pretty good players,
boy A Maffe and Kobe Bryant. That's six players in
one draft. That reminds me of that Saints draft back
in twenty seventeen or eighteen, which they lived off for years.
I mean, the Jets in Joe Douglass and we can

(50:23):
get to them, they drafted two rookies of the year,
but I didn't even take the Seahawks draft maybe over them.
They're they're close, They're well, I mean, yeah, they nailed
the draft, and like you said, the Wilson trade was
the move of the decade potentially. Just real quick before
we go, I will actually take a quibble. I think
Beach should be number one. Yeah, because and you didn't

(50:43):
make note of it, and you're right up that they
they won the Super Bowl last year and Mahomes Yeah,
oh yeah, they have Mahomes. So how much credit? Well, yeah,
he wasn't the no brainer number one pick. They went
and they targeted Mahomes and got him win another Each
was the key guy in that by each, So Beach
will get forever credit for that. Like the idea Tyreek
Hill is maybe the greatest playmaker at wide receiver of

(51:06):
the last you know, ten twenty years, Like he is
that level to trade him and kind of retool the
roster and then also win the Super Bowl, I think,
and you know, beating Hollie Roseman's Eagles to do it.
I believe he should be number one for that reason.
But I think Roseman deserves a top two spot for sure.
No one brings in veterans like Roseman. I mean Hassan, Reddick, Bradberry, Gardner, Johnson.

(51:31):
None of those guys were on the team a year ago,
even Darius Slay a couple of years ago that trade.
They do a nice job in the draft planning ahead.
They have all these starters that are set up, Jordan
Davis and Jurgens and the Kobe Dean that are going
to fill in spots this year. There they're always good
playing now and later. But yeah, there's a big gap
between those two. You asked you I struggled the most.
It was actually Brad Holmes. I wasn't sure how to
hide put the Lions because he's done everything absolutely perfect.

(51:53):
It's it's hard to make the Lions into such a fun, relevant,
talented team in two years. So he's like Relding one
to one. That said, if you go back and look
at like Executives of the Year previously, like Sporting News
hounds a award. Here's some winners over the last decade,
Ryan Pace, go, Dave Gettlman with the Panthers, you go.

(52:15):
Reggie McKenzie won the award once the Raiders, Ryan Grigson.
So like the Mike mcagnet one. My point there is
kind of like the easy part is getting from the
two wins to the like eight wins and now you're
frisky and then everyone gives you a lot of pop.
Do you see? Do you see? So that's sort of
where Brad Helms is that now, but uh yeah, because
you need to kind of build off that initial making

(52:37):
moves that are kind of makes sense. Goody's two high, Yes,
two high. I think Goody and on some level, Um
squandered the end of the Aaron Rodgers era. He's number eight, right, Yeah,
you have him at eight here, Um because I do
think that he kind of he didn't give Rogers the

(52:58):
roster um in terms of play makers that he needed
last year, and I just can't I can't look past that.
I think he'd really ding him now. Watson was a hit,
but you know he was a rookie who developed late
in the year. You know, the move to move on
from Adams to not be able to land Darren Waller.
Although I don't know where Waller is at head wise,
whether he would have made a difference with the Packers.

(53:19):
I just think him for last year's disappointment to the
point where maybe would take him out of the top ten,
but not like a major free falls so I don't
have a major. Always rated him higher and get pushed
back on that, especially from Packers fans who don't like
him as much as I seem too. His drafts have
been good. They haven't spent any in free agency this year,
but previously they're targeted free agents have been really good.

(53:40):
I guess I I think it's the GM's job to
just keep him in the mix, get him close every year.
He did a good job at the Lafleur higher Like, yeah,
I hear you, though, Jared ten I'm cool with Belichick.
I see, I know it was difficult for you, and
you feel like this is an This is enough of
a punishment to drop him out of the top ten.
I think you've had him at number one in the
past and always high up in the rankings. But they're

(54:03):
just such, they're amid, they're they're there mid. What why
is he not lower than eleven at this point? Did
you watch the game on Monday like he did? You
watch the games the last three years? Now? What what
keeps him uh knocking on the door of the top ten?
Other than name value? Uh? You know their drafts haven't
been bad the last two years. They've gotten three good starters.

(54:24):
I would say out of both if you count Mac
Jones as a good starter. We'll see something pretty good.
Pick uh. They're spending. It's hard to know how to
separate Belichick the coach from the front office, but they,
like you know, their defense, they make a lot of
production out of questionable players. So do you give that
credit to Belichick the coach or do you give that

(54:44):
credit to Belichick the guy who's bringing in these low
cost players. They're very middle of the pack. Eleven feels
middle of the pack, But I guess you could you
could knock them below like to LESCo and Da Costa.
This group is is all close to me. But it's
not like they've been bad. They're just mediocre. Yeah, yeah,
I mean I feel like, yeah, they've made the playoff
once in the three post Brady years. The year they

(55:07):
did make it, they got just that defense got absolutely
bombed out by the Bills late in the season and
then in the playoffs, and then you know, last year
was kind of, let's face it, a disaster. But you know,
do you the g that the head or the coaching
staff decisions that he made. That's more bell Check the
coach than the GM. So you got to kind of

(55:27):
separate that. So now I was telling it, but I
would maybe put him around thirteen or so, Okay, no
big deal. You got Mickey Loomis. Let's see, is this fourteen,
he's fourteen, he's fourteen. Let me just go through the
next the rest of the ones that are eligible here,
because you some guys aren't eligible until they have a
couple of years under their belt. You got to LESCo
at twelve of the Chargers, DA Costa, the Ravens at thirteen.

(55:50):
That's kind of a tough one to judge right now.
Loomis of the Saints at fourteen, Chris Greer the Dolphins
at fifteen, Joe d of the Jets at sixteen. He
was one of the toughest, tough They're thirteen and thirty
seven in his first three seasons. It's not good. It's
pretty good at all, just to look at that. But
on paper they seem amazing. Other than his quarterback decision,

(56:12):
which was a fiasco, right, maybe other teams would have
made it. Supposedly the Eagles were trying to trade up
for Zach Wilson's like, sometimes you just get lucky or unlucky.
But this I couldn't give coming season will define I
couldn't give him too much credit I thought that was
I think that's fair. I think sixteen is totally fair.
As I've said multiple times on this show, he has
a been a two thirty five hitter with forty four

(56:34):
home runs, like and if you could deal with the
batting average being low but the hits being meaningful and important,
then it works. But like I said, if if the
Rogers deal doesn't turn into what Jets fans hope it
will turn into, he's going to be gone, Like I
think Douglas will be gone, and I think Salo will

(56:55):
be gone. There's so much riding on this year because
thirteen to thirty seven, he inherited rec yes and and
really has built up this roster, as we've talked about
pretty good. I was tempted to put him higher than that,
but then you're getting with guys he's gone it before.
Now if they go, if they go eleven and six
or have a win a playoff game, I think he
would deserve to be a top ten guy because he did.

(57:17):
He showed that he built it into something tangible, and
they're a playoff team again, but they're not there yet.
They have to do it. So I think that's fair.
You have Jason light of the Bucks at seventeen, Chris
Ballard the Colts at eighteen interesting, Andrew Barry of the
Browns at nineteen. This one I would I would have
a little pushback on as well. Now I know that
Deshaun Watson trade you're not a fan of. Nobody was

(57:39):
really a fan of it, and the subsequent contract that
Barry was involved with handing to Watson had turned the
league upside down and mess things up for a lot
of people. But Barry, I think, I think the I
think the Browns have um although they had a down
year last year. I think he continues to make overall
strong moves and if the quarterback move hits, I think

(58:00):
or a power player in the AFC. So I think
maybe Barry, based on his track record of the last
three or four years, should be higher. Look, he's been
in the job officially for three years. The third year
is when you're supposed to really make a move. In
years two and three of his ten yere they were
eight and nine and seven and ten. The one year

(58:21):
that they had a lot of success when he was
the GM was mostly with the players that were already there,
so they've their record as mediocre. The Watson trade. If
you take out all the off field stuff, has was
a fiasco. Last year he was a disaster. I mean
that that was You can keep saying like, Okay, we
gotta wait till next year. It's like, okay, but you

(58:42):
gave all that up. It's a fiasco because of the
off the field stuff. But it was a fiasco because
of the on the field stuff that he was so bad.
He was one of the worst quarterbacks in the league.
Struggled in like five starts, right, six starts, that's a
third of the season. He was one of the worst
quarterbacks in the league. And you gave up all that
for him, and you went seven and ten. In your defense,

(59:04):
I just think when you're connecting the other stuff when
you say that, but he's year three in your defense,
which he's responsible for, was terrible. Uh. You know, like
year three is kind of the move year, and they
were in a worse position in year three than they
were in their first year. So that doesn't it doesn't

(59:25):
reflect great. Yeah, but I agree when you look at
the move to move to move, it looks a little
bit better. I was deplorable the way it all played out,
but that his year three is different than other year
three is because the centerpiece of the organization, whether you
like it or not, that they traded for was suspended
for most of the season. So it made his year
three kind of like almost hitting pause on it and

(59:46):
be like my real year three quote unquote is when
Watson is my week one starter, and I think, like
with the guy a little bit above him, Joe Douglass,
like yeah, Deshaun Watson has to play well and they
need to be a team this year or that ownership,
like in New year work is a little temperamental. That
might everybody might be out of that building as well
if Watson falls on his face this year. A lot

(01:00:07):
of pressure, I agree, a lot of pressure. Terry Fatno
from Atlanta at twenty kind of like what he's done.
He didn't really have a choice to do much the
first two years quarterback I don't love, but these are
the guys just like it's kind of like, man, it's
hard to have a hard take. Ronderver and Martin Mayhew
of Washington at twenty one. Scott Fitterer Carolina rounds out
the list. And these guys not Cassio and George Peyton

(01:00:31):
are second to last and last. Oh Okay, I missed that.
Nickossario twenty three, George Paytonto, I mean, just get buried
for Russell Wilson. And now, like, when you do this
list next year, it's gonna be George Peyton slash Sean.
It might just be Sean Payton. I don't even know,
but yeah, you gotta give George the credit. I don't
know if George will be there next year. We'll see

(01:00:51):
too early to rank t Trent Balki, Ran Carthon, Omar
con Quessi, Adolpho Mensa, Monte Assa for it. Can I
you didn't get to hear this? Uh? I love Jonathan
Gannon's uh on Aussie like wondering what they're gonna do
with the third pick. I just want to hear this again.

(01:01:12):
I'm into this Jonathan Gannon era. Every day I ask Monnie.
I'm like, Monie, what you're doing with that pick? What
you're doing with that pick? He's like, you know what
I'm doing with that pick? I don't know what you're
doing with that pick? Where is that from? Said an
NFL network? One's good? Yeah. At the owners meetings, that's funny.
Ryan Poles, Joe Shane and David Zigler. Yeah, that's about

(01:01:37):
the ranking more. You know, check out the analysis way
too much, four thousand words too many, NFL dot com
slash Rosenthal. Good work, Greggy, Uh okay, anything else. We've
done it. I think we've done it. We're back to
three shows a week next week, yes, and then the
week after that is the Draft, which will the coverage

(01:01:57):
will be. We're gonna tell again we're gonna do something
little different with the draft this year. Um, we're gonna
share details of that next week. We can't. We can't
have the conversation without Mark. I don't even know the details.
So I'm looking forward to. This is unbelievable. Greg's been out.
He doesn't even know where it was, Greg. He was
in Hawaii. It's the new Greg. This Greg was very

(01:02:20):
similar to the old Greg. I gotta say not. That's
not a takedown. That's just like felt verries after. Other
than the first thirty four seconds when you were saying
that there's gonna be a new Greg, this felt like
the same Greg. Well maybe on air, you know you,
I'm not going to change who I am, um, but
hopefully in my Oh okay, so I treat people's right.

(01:02:43):
Did you find like an ancient medallion or something in Hawaii.
I feel like there's something about that trip that changed you. Yeah.
I think it was cranking through Love Is Blind season
four and just seeing what matters in life. You know,
I hear you on that. All right, that's it, that
is it will be in Taosh. Well the in Toush

(01:03:08):
got it. That's my big takeaway from today's episode. Until
next week. Read the Call