August 13, 2019 • 31 mins
Hub Arkush and Arthur Arkush spend some time recapping some of the biggest news stories around the league including the latest on the Dax Prescott extension and other contracts within the Cowboys organization. Plus the guys look at the strange behavior surrounding Antonio Brown, the relationship between Aaron Rodgers and Matt LaFleur, as well as the kicker trade between the Ravens and the Vikings.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:11):
Hello all, thank you so muchfor being with us again this week for
another edition of our Pro Football Weeklypodcast. We're going to take you around
the NFL to several NFL training campsand talk about the hottest news, scoops
and rumors. Here to help meout, as our managing editor, Arthur
Arkish, I am the executive editorand general manager of Pro Football Weekly Hub
(00:34):
Arkish and Arthur, I think theplace to start, as kind as I
recall it, maybe kind of closeto where we wrapped last week talking about
one team in particular with some realcontract headaches, and that's the Dallas Cowboys,
and things didn't get any better forthem this week as Dak Prescott,
their starting quarterback, came out andsaid that he expects to be paid forty
(00:56):
million dollars a year. He wantsto be the highest paid player in the
NFL, to which I have acouple of reactions. One would be,
well, you can't blame him.You know, the quarterbacks are getting paid
and whoever has the next deal islikely to get the biggest deal. But
on the flip side, who's hekidding thinking that he is worth the same
kind of money as a Russell Wilson, an Aaron Rodgers or even a Matt
(01:19):
Stafford, Matt Ryan or a ora Tom Brady, Right, we got
to be clear though, I don'tbelieve Dak Prescott said this. This was
an NFL media report by Jane Slater. It clearly came from, you know,
Dak's camp, and I believe ToddFrance is his agent. Several outlets
have since come out and said thatit's not accurate, So, you know,
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two sides to every story. Obviously, I just want to make clear
that Deak Prescott is not quoted assaying he wants to make forty million per
year. Now that being said,it doesn't change the fact that the Cowboys
have a world of headaches and complexitiesand trying to figure out who they're going
to appease, who is going tobe the odd men out, and how
they're going to try and maximize theirtitle window as it's currently as the roster
(02:04):
is currently configured. So I wrotea quick piece of publicly on this Monday,
and I mentioned that Carson Wentz obviouslyis the recent extension, obviously in
the same division. It's a naturalcomparison. His contract includes thirty two million
annually and I believe it was sixtyseven million guaranteed, both in the top
five among quarterbacks. Of course,hob Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson are leading
(02:28):
the pack in aav among the quarterbacks, both closer to thirty six million.
So for Dad to say forty orfor Dak's people to say forty, I
should say, I understand. Andat the same point, that just kind
of sounds like a negotiating tactic andprobably comes with the realization that they're definitely
going to settle for much less thanthat. Yeah, I mean, this
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is clearly all about negotiating. Yougonna throw out some big numbers. But
nonetheless, I don't think that DakPrescott's representation is doing him any favors painting
him with this brush because it forcesanalysts like myself to get to the truth,
which is that I wouldn't have DakPrescott on my list at the top
ten quarterbacks in the NFL. Imean, he's not bad. He's done
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a nice job for the Cowboys.They've won a lot of games with him.
But how many games has Dak Prescottactually gone out and won for them?
What is it about Dak Prescott thatmakes him or his representation are most
importantly, the Dallas Cowboys think heshould be one of the top five or
ten paid quarterbacks in the NFL.And what really complicates things for the Cowboys
is they've got Zeke Elliott out ofcamp threatening to take the year off and
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stay in Mexico. Which you know, it's not like Zeke is right,
I mean, he's under contract.They don't need to give him an extension
really for a couple of years.But nonetheless, it is a big problem
for Jerry Jones. And then youplug in guys like Byron Jones and Jaylon
Smith who expect to get paid andwe'll need to get paid in the next
year as well. There's no waythey can give Dak Prescott the kind of
(04:00):
money that he's asking. I forgotAmari Cooper is gonna have to be resigned
too, And that's really I thinkwhat makes this whole thing so interesting.
Yeah, no doubt about it.So the question is how close to kind
of the middle he wants to meet, if you will, because I think
something in the range of you knowwhat a garoppolo god or someone like that,
upward of twenty eight million per yearcloser to seventy five million guaranteed at
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least sounds like a more, youknow, fairer kind of comparison for Jak
Prescott. But again, this isuh. This is one of the things
that happens when you draft well,and in recent years the Cowboys have and
now the bill is coming due ona lot of these guys at the same
time. The one thing I cansay without question is Zeke Elliott, in
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my estimate, or at least inmy opinion, he already got paid by
the Cowboys. That first contract wasfully guaranteed. He left them on a
lerch multiple times. Of course,with the suspension, he's been in the
commissioner's office again, so I thinkthey should. I understand the offense is
built around him, but if you'regonna bow for this running back who you
have not been able to rely on, to me, that is going to
(05:08):
kind of set this thing in motionon a very very ominous tone, or
with an ominous beginning. So Idon't know whether it should all spin off
of that. I clearly think itshould all spin off a deck, but
I'm not sure I being a hurryto pay really anyone, Dak Prescott can
still play this year on the finalyear of his rookie deal, and then
of course how the Cowboys could usethe tag a couple of times if they
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need to still be further convinced thathe is a franchise guy who's worthy of
this top tier dollars at the position. Yeah, I mean, when you're
gonna throw around a figure like fortymillion, and whoever it is who's throwing
the figure around, I understand whyhis agents would do it. You gotta
be talking about a guy who's basicallyirreplaceable, and there's nothing to suggest that
Dak Prescott is irreplaceable. You know, Zeke Elliott is possibly, maybe probably
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the best running back in the NFL, but any running back is replaceable.
We've certainly seen that in the lastcouple of years. I'm not so sure
that the more important guys to theDallas Cowboys right now aren't Jones and Smith,
and they're gonna get done for lessmoney than Prescott. They're gonna get
done for less money, certainly thanwhat Elliott is asking. I'm sorry,
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yeah, what Zeke Elliott is asking. And so it's just it's an unfortunate
situation that Jerry and Stephen Jones findthemselves in and you just wonder what kind
of impact is it going to haveon this football team. They got good
news and that they're they're all worldcenter. Travis Frederick, who missed all
of last year with a non footballinjury, is back now and appears to
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be pretty close to one hundred percent. They hope that Tyron Smith's knees are
going to hold up. You know, You've also got, of course,
Zach Martin Edgard. You got threeof the best defensive linemen in football right
there. They've already been paid.Which is part of the problem that the
Cowboys are dealing with here is thatthey've got an unusual, unusually large percentage
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of their cap tied up in theiroffensive line, and it makes it more
difficult for them with some of theseskill position guys. But it's really that
offensive line that has kept them competitivein recent years. So it is the
the difficult reality of running an NFLteam these days without having a top capologist.
And I'm not saying that the Cowboyspeople are bad, but they obviously
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have been overruled on occasion by theirmercurial owner. And this is the kind
of situation that you end up andreally Jones has nobody to blame but himself.
Well, they've really built a reputationfor kicking the can down the line
in multiple instances with some of theirprevious best players, frankly in the way
they've handled their contracts. Let's notforget too hub of course, to Marcus
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Lawrence got one hundred and five millionon five year extension earlier this offseason,
including sixty five guaranteed, and thatcap hit is just gonna swell. Obviously,
I'm in the deal actually is somewhatreasonable, I suppose, but that's
something they're gonna have to deal withas these other players come and do as
well. So it's going to beinteresting. But I'm curious myself about Mike
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Weber and Tony Pollard and the restof these Cowboys backup running backs, because
I just I don't know how theZeke thing. I mean, do you
think the Jones bens like you didwith Alban Smith what almost twenty years ago?
Is that the same thing that thesame direction this is going to be
had with Zeke to get him onthe field. I don't think he can.
Arthur. The realities of the campare very different these days than they
(08:31):
were twenty five years ago when hewhen he caved for for Emmett Smith.
You know, you were taught youwere playing with much smaller numbers and it
was much easier to maneuver. Now. I don't know what the floor or
what the bottom line for Elliott's campis, you know, in terms of
how much money he's talking about,But for the reasons that we've pretty much
(08:52):
detailed here that you have so manyplayers to take care of, you know,
in terms of Jones and Smith andCooper and Dak Prescott. He can't
just give in to Ezekiel Elliott becauseof the money he's already spent on DeMarcus
Lawrence in those three offensive linemens.So it really isn't unfortunate. I don't
usually have a lot of sympathy forJerry Jones, but I do kind of
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feel for him in this one becausewe know that Zeke Elliott is absolutely one
of his favorites and probably would loveto take care of him. But he
has to know that if he does, it's going to cost him another very
valuable football player who he will notbe able to resign. You only get
one franchise tag, and you know, I mean, realistically, I don't
know if I have to make achoice between using a franchise tag on Jalon
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Smith or Byron Jones or Dak Prescott, that Prescott's the one who gets the
tag, you know. So he'sin a really tough spot, and I
don't think there are any good answersavailable to him right now. But I
think the one thing that you cankind of see coming is he's not going
to be able to cave to EmmottSmith, and Emmott Smith better take a
lesson from Levion Bell, who didn'tlearn his own lesson. Yeah, he's
(10:00):
still on a rookie contract, butthat rookie contract for the fourth overall pick
is still some serious money. Andif he stays true to his word and
sits out this season, you know, not only has he gained nothing because
he doesn't get the year investing towardsfree agency, He's going to leave a
lot of money on the table thathe will never recoup. And So if
we're asking which way is this morelikely to go? If one of them
is going to cave, I seehim. I see Ezekiel Elliott caving a
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lot sooner than I see Jerry Jonescave in on this one, we shall
see. You know, I haveno sympathy for Jerry Jones because he spent
a top five pick on a runningback who spent you know, almost half
the season a couple of years agosuspended and has been wholly unreliable off the
field. Telling to me hub thatDeck Prescott, the former fourth rounder who
has not cashed in yet on hisbig payday, is in camp with the
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Cowboys, while Zeke Elliott, whoagain has already cashed I think close to
thirty million from the Cowboys staying awayfrom the team. But yeah, we'll
see what happens next with this one. One thing I'm sure we can agree
on. I don't think you can'tjust plug in a Tony Pollard or Mike
Weber whoever the next the plan isfor Zeke Elliott, because he really is
that unique and at the same time, running backs are. You know,
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you just you don't pay them theway that we've seen the Rams paid to
Odd Gurley, the way that we'veseen a few other teams do in recent
years, because you end up ruinedthat decision. You know, You're right,
Arthur, though you cannot just plugin one of these other guys.
It's not the same as Ezekiel Elliott. But I do have to and this
is gonna stun you and probably ourlisteners too. The last guy in the
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world you would expect to say anythingin defense of Jerry Jones is going to
be me because I am not afan. But in fairness to Jerry Jones,
yeah, he used the number fouroverall pick on a running back,
but not just any running back.You got the best running back in football,
and so you know, maybe that'sgoing to tell you at least one
of the two or three best,and you know, arguably the best,
and so I can't fault him forusing the fourth pick on him. Again,
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the only reason that the Cowboys havebeen a threat in recent years is
Zeke Elliott in that offensive line.That's kind of ironic part of this that
is Dak Prescott driving these negotiations.Prescott has been a real find in the
fourth round at quarterback, but he'sjust not the first quarterback or even the
six or seventh or tenth quarterback thatcomes to mind when you talk about the
really good ones in the NFL.Zeke Elliott is the best at what he
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does, and so I do understandhis position. I also couldn't agree with
you more. If he had beena more solid citizen off the field,
he might have a better chance ofgetting something closer to what he would like.
But I think in this particular case, Jones is going to have to
hold tight and we'll see how Elliottresponds. And just one great point,
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There no question Zeke Elliott is ifhe's not the best back in football one
beer, one see. And infairness to Jerry Jones, the Cowboys now
have won the division twice in thepast three years, and Zeke Elliot has
led the NFL and rushing in bothseasons. So clearly there is a little
something, a little bit of amethod to that madness. All right,
So let's move on to some madnessthat there is no method or explain Nation
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four. Everybody continues to talk aboutit. Antonio Brown has now come back
to training camp with the Raiders.People are saying that he finally reported.
Well, the big story originally washe reported in a hot air balloon and
then the next day took a helicopterto the practice field. So it's not
that he's reported so much is thathe is now back in camp after losing
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his appeal with Roger Goodell in theNFL over his desire to wear his old
helmet. The NFL is causing allof its players to go to a new,
newer, technology, theoretically safer helmet. Antonio Brown somewhat famously threatened to
retire rather than wear the new helmet. Nobody believed that for a minute.
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But you know, I'm not sureanybody has taken too seriously anything Antonio Brown
has said in the last year anda half or so. And you just
you've got to scratch your head andwonder what the hell was John Gruden thinking.
And I'm not even gonna pay MikeMack with this brush, because you
know, this was a Gruden movein giving up what he gave up for
in trade to Antonio Brown, thengiving him a new contract when he did
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not have to. He had acouple of years of control, and this
has been his reward. I findmyself scratching my head and wondering, is
Antonio Brown not one hundred okay upstairs, because some of this just doesn't make
sense. And the idea that hewould retire rather than wear a new helmet,
I just don't know anybody who's buyingthat. Yeah, And I mean
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the threat lasted for about five minutes. Obviously came to social media Monday.
I guess it was shortly after helost his grievance to say he would be
returning to camp, but that he'salso on the lookout for this ten year
old or less than ten year oldspecific model of his helmet. And you
know what, I talked to someBears players this week of camp who said
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that, actually, one thing abdoes make sense on is that there are
some site restrictions in some of thesehelmets, and they understand where he's coming
from. But the whole irony inyou know, this guy doesn't want to
wear what the helmet the NFL issaying is the safest. And of course
we know he's said at least oneor two concussions, and you said it.
I mean, I think it's beenpretty questionable increasingly, you know,
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suspicious if you will, in Brown'serratic behavior, in the comments he has
made and the things that he hasdone since forcing his way out of Pittsburgh,
that he isn't mentally fit. Andif that's the case, it's really
sad, and beyond that, shameon the Raiders for not seeing this one
coming. You had said Obviously,you know, you can't really believe anything
Brown says, and clearly John Grudendidn't believe it when Brown said it when
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we first started floating the idea ofretirement, when he was in his standoff
with the Steelers and talking about howhe doesn't need football. He loves the
game, he wants the game,but he doesn't need the game. How
could there be a bigger red flagthan that? Was it Bill Parcels who
said, as soon as a playerstarts talking about retirement, they might as
well be retired. It's just thatthat's the part that does It makes sense
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to me. Well, and I'mthe last one who wants to be out
there, you know, starting rumorsor suggesting that I'm a doctor or understanding
anything medically. But it is ironicthat the story is revolving around the helmet.
The reason that you have a controversyhere is that the NFL owners the
Commissioner's office are doing whatever they canto try and show concern over traumatic brain
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injuries, to look at the equipment, to look at the rules, the
way the game has played. Everythingthey can do, and the whole point
of this new helmet design is theoreticallyprotecting players a little bit better. And
yet, you know, you lookat the way that Antonio Brown is behaving
now, and you have to addto the conversation the fact that up until
about a year and a half ortwo ago, he was not this guy.
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I mean, he was a solidleader, veteran in a locker room,
almost a humble guy, never hadan issue with him, never had
an issue with a teammate. Andnow shortly after all the lava bell holdout
stuff happens, you know, AntonioBrown develops his whole look at me type
attitude, and I find myself wondering. I'm not suggesting that he has CTE
or that he has brain damage oranything like that, but but it's hard
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to ignore the fact. I wastalking to somebody else about this earlier today.
They were talking about the wide receiverdivas, and I ran off the
list and said, yeah, weall know about the wide receiver divas.
But you look at Chatto Chosinko,you look at Terrell Owens, you know,
you look at Michael Irvin. Iguess you could even throw in Randy
Moss. They had some craziness tohim from day one. This isn't something
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that happened, you know, twothirds of the way through their career,
and in the case of Antonio Brown, there has been such a personnel personality
shift here in the last year anda half or two that you do have
to at least ask the question,is he, you know, clicking on
all six cylinders right now? Yep, I know. And obviously I'm not
a doctor either, so we don'twant to speculate, but it is.
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It's concerning, to be sure.And Brown obviously did have some issues,
you know, coming out of theMAC and uh, and there were some
off field concerns, but nothing pronouncedlike this, nothing that's just seemed certifiably
crazy. So uh, you know, I just I hope he's okay and
uh, and we'll see what happensnext to The funny part is, well,
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it's not funny, but the truthof the matter, we're taping this
podcast on Tuesday afternoon. We don'tnormally say that, but I feel inclined
to because of course Hard Knock's premieris the second episode tonight, and if
HBO doesn't tackle this issue had on, uh, there's gonna be a whole
other kind of can of worms onthis issue. So I know, I'll
be watching, well, I won't. You know, we've talked about this
(18:41):
before. We're gonna take a breakhere in a second, but I just
you know, I'll say it.You guys can tell me I'm nuts.
I refuse to watch the show.I've never seen. That's not true.
I saw an episode the first year. I think it was fourteen years ago
or something like that. I findthe entire concept invasive and completely unfair to
these players and coaches. I can'tthink of a boss in any industry who
(19:03):
would warmly embrace this ideal or gladlyparticipate in it. I understand that it's
marketing, it's a chance for theNFL to make money, but I think
these players and coaches being forced todeal with these cameras in their workplace and
behind closed doors is absurd. SoArthur's absolutely right. We probably will get
at least a little better take ona little more information on where Antonio Brown
(19:26):
is, but I'm going to haveto hear it from other people because I
refuse to watch the show. Welcomeback to our Pro Football Weekly NFL podcast.
Everybody, thank you so much forbeing with us. We also want
to thank our fantastic sponsors are outstandingexecutive producer, engineer guy who makes this
(19:48):
show go, Dan Mott. Wewant to thank the guys that Humfrey's McGee,
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our music beds and some of ourbumps in and most of all, of
course, our thanks to all ofyou for listening, for participating. We
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(20:12):
Chicago, which tends to deal withthe Bears because we're based in Chicago as
well as the NFC North, isone that has gained tremendous popularity recently as
well. So please download these podcastsand enjoy them. And that actually is
how we will segue to the nexttopic. Because Arthur, even though everybody
kind of felt it was probably coming, I'm not sure anybody expected some pretty
(20:37):
much out in the open controversy betweenAaron Rodgers and his rookie head coach Matt
Lafleur as early as it arrived.I believe it had occurred prior to the
last podcast. We may have touchedon it already, but the idea that
Matt Aaron Rodgers is calling the Packersworkouts with the Houston Texans last week crazy,
(20:57):
saying that he would never supporter goalong with the live practice they had
for special teams on which one ofthe young Packers was injured. Is really
a direct slap in the face atthe rookie head coach, Matt Lafleur,
who has not taken the bait tothis point. But it seems pretty obvious
that there's no real concern on AaronRodgers part to publicly show any remorse or
(21:22):
concern about whatever in fact did goon in his relationship with Mike McCarthy,
And certainly what he has said anddone over the last week ten days suggests
that whatever that relationship was, it'sgoing to be exactly the same with Matt
Lafleur, whether the Packers or Lafleurlike it or not. Yeah, and
I'm quite sure that the higher upsyou know above La flour In, Brian
(21:44):
Goodcunstan, of course Ted Thompson,excuse me, not to Thompson, but
of course Mark Murphy, they can'tbe pleased because you know, we know
from various reporting that Murphy and AaronRodgers had a one on one conversation in
which you know, Murphy said thatwe need a fresh start and we need
to avoid some of the things thathappened last time, and you just don't
get the sense that that's occurring now. Does it mean their season is doomed.
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No, I'm not sure at all, because I think winning cures all
and the Packers are talented. Ithink they're going to have a chance to
do a lot of winning. Idon't know if they're going to but again,
I think if they get off toa good start, if they exceed
expectations this season, I believe thatthings can be harmonious between Rogers and La
Floor. But it's also pretty obviousthat Lafleur, being so new to this
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role, doesn't have a lot ofpast experiences to lean on. I hope
he's getting some really good advice fromsome people who have done this before,
because it could be you know,it's easy to see how this thing could
go off the rails, but I'mjust not quite there yet. No,
And the quieter rumblings out of GreenBay, and this is what people really
(22:51):
believe it's more about, is thatMatt Lafleur basically told everybody prior to any
training camp during their off season programthat in his offense, there was no
room for audibles. Plays would notbe being changed at the line of scrimmage.
That, of course, was atthe crux of what allegedly was wrong
between Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy,that Rodgers was calling his own plays,
(23:12):
that he was ignoring the head coachdoing whatever he wanted. Lafleur did reiterate
at the beginning of training camp thatat least for now, Rogers would not
be free to call audibles. Rodgershas publicly suggested that that's not necessarily what
he's been told. It is creatinga little bit of confusion, which can't
(23:32):
be good for anybody. But Ithink the reality is that that's what this
is all about, is that Rogers, I don't know if he's tone deaf
or deaf completely or just doesn't agreewith Mark Murphy, but he's been pretty
clear that he thinks he's really goodat changing plays at the line of scrimmage,
that he wants to be able todo that, And our understanding to
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this point is Matt Lafleur is continuingto say no, and that's why you
kind of scratch your and you askyourself, how can this end? Well?
Right? So you know, theFloor's offense has got to be a
dynamic and it's got to be firingon all cylinders early in the season.
And again, I think they've gotthe tools to make that happen, but
there are going to have to besome concessions, clearly by Aaron Rodgers.
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So we'll see if he hasn't adaptedit however many years. I don't know
what's going to make it change,but it's just one of those things where
it's going to be something we can'ttake our eyes off of. And it'd
only be a couple more weeks exactlytwenty three days actually, until the Packers
hit the Lake Front and face theBears on Thursday Night football, So I
know we are both anxiously awaiting andwe'll start to get our answers here soon
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enough. Another big story that brokethis week, and it's kind of interesting
only because you don't see this allthat often, is the Minnesota Vikings and
Baltimore Ravens made a trade. TheVikings send a fifth round pick to the
Ravens for their Norwegian kicker whose nameI'm gonna let you butcher rather than me.
I don't know why we're having sucha hard time with this when I've
(25:03):
checked it like six times, butfor some reason, I can't get it
locked in my head. But whatwas interesting about the story on a league
wide basis is that allegedly not onlydid the Vikings attempt to trade for this
young man, but the Bears apparentlyinquired, as did several other teams.
Of course, Justin Tucker is thebest kicker in the NFL and is going
to be the Ravens kicker. Itwas never really a competition, and yet
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it's pretty unusual for a kicker.This young man actually kicks and punts,
although I don't think or know thatthe plan is for him to do both
in Minnesota. Primarily, he isa place kicker. It's been a long
time since we've seen an unknown andsomewhat untested kicker command the kind of interest
that this young man has. Thispast week, thanks to the wonders of
(25:49):
the Inner Web Hub, I wasable to go back to Marshall. Excuse
me, we'll call it Corey Bedbeck'sMarshall. What is it? The herd?
Yeah, heard bio from the Universityof Mary thank you, that's under
heard. So it is Corey bedBeck, and yes, it is highly
unusual to have the success in thepreseason two preseasons now that he has had
(26:11):
both punting and kicking bombed a coupleof both last week and the preseason opener,
And clearly that was enough for theVikings, who of course have seemingly
been going through uh what a recurringnightmare for five or six years now with
their kicker position dating back to BlairWalsh. And in the game versus the
Seahawks the wildcard game, Hub wason the sidelines for that one. So
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this is the bold move that theyare taking to try and stabilize that spot.
It means Dan Bailey's walking papers willsoon be served. Remember Bailey just
a couple of years ago, whilehe still is the Dallas Cowboys franchise all
tea time leading scorer and most accuratekicker with that franchise. But man,
his fault from grace has been something. With all that being said from the
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you know, judging by the interestaround the league, judging by the success
the Ravens have had of course withJustin Tucker, with bed Vic kind of
being his you know, his understudy. This to me, hub seems like
a risk worth taking. Yes,a fifth round picker is a lot,
yes, and it is almost unprecedentedfor that position. But with everything the
(27:15):
Vikings have riding on this, andwith all the struggles they've endured, I
can't really fault them for making thismove. No, I can't fault the
Vikings. There does continue to besome debate out there. It is vedvik
that's for sure, But I keephaving some people tell me Cory and some
people tell me Cary, Well,we'll figure that out over the next few
weeks before we get to the regularseason. But what I find kind of
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incestuous and almost laughable about all thisis that you look at how this wheel
keeps spinning with a bunch of teamslooking for a kicker. Everybody knows why
the Chicago Bears want a new placekicker need a new placekicker because Cody Parkey
has gone from last year after hisinfamous double doink, and allegedly the Bears
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one of the teams besides the Vikings, in on this. What's ironic about
all that is that, remember,the Vikings used a high pick last year
on Carlson, who they thought wasgonna be their kicker. He bombed early,
or maybe they drafted him two yearsago and he bombed early. He
goes to Oakland, where they havea young kicker named Eddie Pinniarro who has
won the job, but tears agroin after the first preseason game. Carlson
(28:18):
goes out and has an outstanding year, so much so that the Raiders then
trade Pinnerero to the Bearers for aconditional seventh round pick. And so now
you've got the Bearers with both EddiePinnearro and Elliott Fry in camp in an
open competition, and it's the Vikingswho go get Vedvik while the Bears are
inquiring about him. In the meantime, Dan Bailey has now failed in three
(28:41):
or four spots, and I can'timagine that he's going to get picked up
by any of these other teams lookingfor a kicker right off the bat.
But you do have a couple competitionsin other camps, particularly in Cleveland and
in Tampa, where other young kickersAustin Siebert and Matt Gay are being looked
at and could be in demand shouldthey lose the kicking derbys that they're currently
(29:03):
embroiled in. So it's almost likeyou've got a group of teams all looking
at the same two, three orfour kids and they just aren't enough of
these kids to go around right now. Yeah, yeah, so we shall
see. It was only about threeweeks after Daniel Carlson. You're absolutely right,
the fifth rounder last year, thehighest drafted kicker in last year's draft,
(29:23):
one of two overall. Yes,of course, Jason Sanders the other
who went to a Pro Bowl afterbeing drafted by the Miami Dolphins and then
cut and then signed by the Jets. So it's amazing how these kickers make
the rounds. But you know,rest as shure, if the Vikings are
hoping that they're not going to bemaking any more moves at the position for
a long time after signing Vedvec,he's gonna be a lot of fun to
(29:45):
watch and we'll have to see ifthere's any more residual effect. Like you
said, Carlson appears at least fornow, to have kind of stabilized the
raider situation. There's still a scenariowhere it could be Eddie Pinero in Chicago
in what a story that would be. But we'll be keeping close tabs on
this one, even as much aswe're loath to Yeah, I believe you
(30:06):
said Jason Sanders. I think itwas Jason Myers who was well, yeah,
it's just how incestuous this all gets. So he goes to a Pro
Bowl with the Jets, He getsvoted to the Pro Bowl, proceeds to
miss a couple kicks in their lastcouple of games. He's a free agent.
He goes to Seattle, who hadSebastian Janikowski last year, who whenever
anybody asked me, does the kickerever stay with the same team for you
(30:30):
know, for more than a coupleof years. Janikowski's the poster boy who
I believe had seventeen years with theRaiders before going to Seattle last year because
the Raiders thought they were going tohave Eddie Pinero and and you know,
these names just keep bouncing around.So we will keep an eye on these
place kicking jobs. There are goingto be at least two or three,
(30:52):
maybe four place kickers that cut onthe final cut this preseason who are immediately
signed by other teams. Will haveto get into the season before we have
any idea which ones are the realdeal. We are out of time.
On this week's Pro Football Weekly NFLpodcast, we want to thank you all
so much for being with us again. Our thanks to the guys that Humfrey's
McGee for the music, to DanMott for doing such an incredible job keeping
(31:15):
us and getting us and keeping uson the air, to all of our
great sponsors. Most of all isalways though our thanks to all of you.
We look forward to visiting with youagain next week on our Pro Football
Weekly NFL podcast.
Hello all, thank you so muchfor being with us again this week for
another edition of our Pro Football Weeklypodcast. We're going to take you around
the NFL to several NFL training campsand talk about the hottest news, scoops
and rumors. Here to help meout, as our managing editor, Arthur
Arkish, I am the executive editorand general manager of Pro Football Weekly Hub
(00:34):
Arkish and Arthur, I think theplace to start, as kind as I
recall it, maybe kind of closeto where we wrapped last week talking about
one team in particular with some realcontract headaches, and that's the Dallas Cowboys,
and things didn't get any better forthem this week as Dak Prescott,
their starting quarterback, came out andsaid that he expects to be paid forty
(00:56):
million dollars a year. He wantsto be the highest paid player in the
NFL, to which I have acouple of reactions. One would be,
well, you can't blame him.You know, the quarterbacks are getting paid
and whoever has the next deal islikely to get the biggest deal. But
on the flip side, who's hekidding thinking that he is worth the same
kind of money as a Russell Wilson, an Aaron Rodgers or even a Matt
(01:19):
Stafford, Matt Ryan or a ora Tom Brady, Right, we got
to be clear though, I don'tbelieve Dak Prescott said this. This was
an NFL media report by Jane Slater. It clearly came from, you know,
Dak's camp, and I believe ToddFrance is his agent. Several outlets
have since come out and said thatit's not accurate, So, you know,
(01:41):
two sides to every story. Obviously, I just want to make clear
that Deak Prescott is not quoted assaying he wants to make forty million per
year. Now that being said,it doesn't change the fact that the Cowboys
have a world of headaches and complexitiesand trying to figure out who they're going
to appease, who is going tobe the odd men out, and how
they're going to try and maximize theirtitle window as it's currently as the roster
(02:04):
is currently configured. So I wrotea quick piece of publicly on this Monday,
and I mentioned that Carson Wentz obviouslyis the recent extension, obviously in
the same division. It's a naturalcomparison. His contract includes thirty two million
annually and I believe it was sixtyseven million guaranteed, both in the top
five among quarterbacks. Of course,hob Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson are leading
(02:28):
the pack in aav among the quarterbacks, both closer to thirty six million.
So for Dad to say forty orfor Dak's people to say forty, I
should say, I understand. Andat the same point, that just kind
of sounds like a negotiating tactic andprobably comes with the realization that they're definitely
going to settle for much less thanthat. Yeah, I mean, this
(02:50):
is clearly all about negotiating. Yougonna throw out some big numbers. But
nonetheless, I don't think that DakPrescott's representation is doing him any favors painting
him with this brush because it forcesanalysts like myself to get to the truth,
which is that I wouldn't have DakPrescott on my list at the top
ten quarterbacks in the NFL. Imean, he's not bad. He's done
(03:13):
a nice job for the Cowboys.They've won a lot of games with him.
But how many games has Dak Prescottactually gone out and won for them?
What is it about Dak Prescott thatmakes him or his representation are most
importantly, the Dallas Cowboys think heshould be one of the top five or
ten paid quarterbacks in the NFL.And what really complicates things for the Cowboys
is they've got Zeke Elliott out ofcamp threatening to take the year off and
(03:37):
stay in Mexico. Which you know, it's not like Zeke is right,
I mean, he's under contract.They don't need to give him an extension
really for a couple of years.But nonetheless, it is a big problem
for Jerry Jones. And then youplug in guys like Byron Jones and Jaylon
Smith who expect to get paid andwe'll need to get paid in the next
year as well. There's no waythey can give Dak Prescott the kind of
(04:00):
money that he's asking. I forgotAmari Cooper is gonna have to be resigned
too, And that's really I thinkwhat makes this whole thing so interesting.
Yeah, no doubt about it.So the question is how close to kind
of the middle he wants to meet, if you will, because I think
something in the range of you knowwhat a garoppolo god or someone like that,
upward of twenty eight million per yearcloser to seventy five million guaranteed at
(04:24):
least sounds like a more, youknow, fairer kind of comparison for Jak
Prescott. But again, this isuh. This is one of the things
that happens when you draft well,and in recent years the Cowboys have and
now the bill is coming due ona lot of these guys at the same
time. The one thing I cansay without question is Zeke Elliott, in
(04:45):
my estimate, or at least inmy opinion, he already got paid by
the Cowboys. That first contract wasfully guaranteed. He left them on a
lerch multiple times. Of course,with the suspension, he's been in the
commissioner's office again, so I thinkthey should. I understand the offense is
built around him, but if you'regonna bow for this running back who you
have not been able to rely on, to me, that is going to
(05:08):
kind of set this thing in motionon a very very ominous tone, or
with an ominous beginning. So Idon't know whether it should all spin off
of that. I clearly think itshould all spin off a deck, but
I'm not sure I being a hurryto pay really anyone, Dak Prescott can
still play this year on the finalyear of his rookie deal, and then
of course how the Cowboys could usethe tag a couple of times if they
(05:29):
need to still be further convinced thathe is a franchise guy who's worthy of
this top tier dollars at the position. Yeah, I mean, when you're
gonna throw around a figure like fortymillion, and whoever it is who's throwing
the figure around, I understand whyhis agents would do it. You gotta
be talking about a guy who's basicallyirreplaceable, and there's nothing to suggest that
Dak Prescott is irreplaceable. You know, Zeke Elliott is possibly, maybe probably
(05:57):
the best running back in the NFL, but any running back is replaceable.
We've certainly seen that in the lastcouple of years. I'm not so sure
that the more important guys to theDallas Cowboys right now aren't Jones and Smith,
and they're gonna get done for lessmoney than Prescott. They're gonna get
done for less money, certainly thanwhat Elliott is asking. I'm sorry,
(06:18):
yeah, what Zeke Elliott is asking. And so it's just it's an unfortunate
situation that Jerry and Stephen Jones findthemselves in and you just wonder what kind
of impact is it going to haveon this football team. They got good
news and that they're they're all worldcenter. Travis Frederick, who missed all
of last year with a non footballinjury, is back now and appears to
(06:43):
be pretty close to one hundred percent. They hope that Tyron Smith's knees are
going to hold up. You know, You've also got, of course,
Zach Martin Edgard. You got threeof the best defensive linemen in football right
there. They've already been paid.Which is part of the problem that the
Cowboys are dealing with here is thatthey've got an unusual, unusually large percentage
(07:03):
of their cap tied up in theiroffensive line, and it makes it more
difficult for them with some of theseskill position guys. But it's really that
offensive line that has kept them competitivein recent years. So it is the
the difficult reality of running an NFLteam these days without having a top capologist.
And I'm not saying that the Cowboyspeople are bad, but they obviously
(07:28):
have been overruled on occasion by theirmercurial owner. And this is the kind
of situation that you end up andreally Jones has nobody to blame but himself.
Well, they've really built a reputationfor kicking the can down the line
in multiple instances with some of theirprevious best players, frankly in the way
they've handled their contracts. Let's notforget too hub of course, to Marcus
(07:49):
Lawrence got one hundred and five millionon five year extension earlier this offseason,
including sixty five guaranteed, and thatcap hit is just gonna swell. Obviously,
I'm in the deal actually is somewhatreasonable, I suppose, but that's
something they're gonna have to deal withas these other players come and do as
well. So it's going to beinteresting. But I'm curious myself about Mike
(08:11):
Weber and Tony Pollard and the restof these Cowboys backup running backs, because
I just I don't know how theZeke thing. I mean, do you
think the Jones bens like you didwith Alban Smith what almost twenty years ago?
Is that the same thing that thesame direction this is going to be
had with Zeke to get him onthe field. I don't think he can.
Arthur. The realities of the campare very different these days than they
(08:31):
were twenty five years ago when hewhen he caved for for Emmett Smith.
You know, you were taught youwere playing with much smaller numbers and it
was much easier to maneuver. Now. I don't know what the floor or
what the bottom line for Elliott's campis, you know, in terms of
how much money he's talking about,But for the reasons that we've pretty much
(08:52):
detailed here that you have so manyplayers to take care of, you know,
in terms of Jones and Smith andCooper and Dak Prescott. He can't
just give in to Ezekiel Elliott becauseof the money he's already spent on DeMarcus
Lawrence in those three offensive linemens.So it really isn't unfortunate. I don't
usually have a lot of sympathy forJerry Jones, but I do kind of
(09:13):
feel for him in this one becausewe know that Zeke Elliott is absolutely one
of his favorites and probably would loveto take care of him. But he
has to know that if he does, it's going to cost him another very
valuable football player who he will notbe able to resign. You only get
one franchise tag, and you know, I mean, realistically, I don't
know if I have to make achoice between using a franchise tag on Jalon
(09:35):
Smith or Byron Jones or Dak Prescott, that Prescott's the one who gets the
tag, you know. So he'sin a really tough spot, and I
don't think there are any good answersavailable to him right now. But I
think the one thing that you cankind of see coming is he's not going
to be able to cave to EmmottSmith, and Emmott Smith better take a
lesson from Levion Bell, who didn'tlearn his own lesson. Yeah, he's
(10:00):
still on a rookie contract, butthat rookie contract for the fourth overall pick
is still some serious money. Andif he stays true to his word and
sits out this season, you know, not only has he gained nothing because
he doesn't get the year investing towardsfree agency, He's going to leave a
lot of money on the table thathe will never recoup. And So if
we're asking which way is this morelikely to go? If one of them
is going to cave, I seehim. I see Ezekiel Elliott caving a
(10:24):
lot sooner than I see Jerry Jonescave in on this one, we shall
see. You know, I haveno sympathy for Jerry Jones because he spent
a top five pick on a runningback who spent you know, almost half
the season a couple of years agosuspended and has been wholly unreliable off the
field. Telling to me hub thatDeck Prescott, the former fourth rounder who
has not cashed in yet on hisbig payday, is in camp with the
(10:46):
Cowboys, while Zeke Elliott, whoagain has already cashed I think close to
thirty million from the Cowboys staying awayfrom the team. But yeah, we'll
see what happens next with this one. One thing I'm sure we can agree
on. I don't think you can'tjust plug in a Tony Pollard or Mike
Weber whoever the next the plan isfor Zeke Elliott, because he really is
that unique and at the same time, running backs are. You know,
(11:09):
you just you don't pay them theway that we've seen the Rams paid to
Odd Gurley, the way that we'veseen a few other teams do in recent
years, because you end up ruinedthat decision. You know, You're right,
Arthur, though you cannot just plugin one of these other guys.
It's not the same as Ezekiel Elliott. But I do have to and this
is gonna stun you and probably ourlisteners too. The last guy in the
(11:30):
world you would expect to say anythingin defense of Jerry Jones is going to
be me because I am not afan. But in fairness to Jerry Jones,
yeah, he used the number fouroverall pick on a running back,
but not just any running back.You got the best running back in football,
and so you know, maybe that'sgoing to tell you at least one
of the two or three best,and you know, arguably the best,
and so I can't fault him forusing the fourth pick on him. Again,
(11:54):
the only reason that the Cowboys havebeen a threat in recent years is
Zeke Elliott in that offensive line.That's kind of ironic part of this that
is Dak Prescott driving these negotiations.Prescott has been a real find in the
fourth round at quarterback, but he'sjust not the first quarterback or even the
six or seventh or tenth quarterback thatcomes to mind when you talk about the
really good ones in the NFL.Zeke Elliott is the best at what he
(12:16):
does, and so I do understandhis position. I also couldn't agree with
you more. If he had beena more solid citizen off the field,
he might have a better chance ofgetting something closer to what he would like.
But I think in this particular case, Jones is going to have to
hold tight and we'll see how Elliottresponds. And just one great point,
(12:37):
There no question Zeke Elliott is ifhe's not the best back in football one
beer, one see. And infairness to Jerry Jones, the Cowboys now
have won the division twice in thepast three years, and Zeke Elliot has
led the NFL and rushing in bothseasons. So clearly there is a little
something, a little bit of amethod to that madness. All right,
So let's move on to some madnessthat there is no method or explain Nation
(13:00):
four. Everybody continues to talk aboutit. Antonio Brown has now come back
to training camp with the Raiders.People are saying that he finally reported.
Well, the big story originally washe reported in a hot air balloon and
then the next day took a helicopterto the practice field. So it's not
that he's reported so much is thathe is now back in camp after losing
(13:22):
his appeal with Roger Goodell in theNFL over his desire to wear his old
helmet. The NFL is causing allof its players to go to a new,
newer, technology, theoretically safer helmet. Antonio Brown somewhat famously threatened to
retire rather than wear the new helmet. Nobody believed that for a minute.
(13:46):
But you know, I'm not sureanybody has taken too seriously anything Antonio Brown
has said in the last year anda half or so. And you just
you've got to scratch your head andwonder what the hell was John Gruden thinking.
And I'm not even gonna pay MikeMack with this brush, because you
know, this was a Gruden movein giving up what he gave up for
in trade to Antonio Brown, thengiving him a new contract when he did
(14:09):
not have to. He had acouple of years of control, and this
has been his reward. I findmyself scratching my head and wondering, is
Antonio Brown not one hundred okay upstairs, because some of this just doesn't make
sense. And the idea that hewould retire rather than wear a new helmet,
I just don't know anybody who's buyingthat. Yeah, And I mean
(14:31):
the threat lasted for about five minutes. Obviously came to social media Monday.
I guess it was shortly after helost his grievance to say he would be
returning to camp, but that he'salso on the lookout for this ten year
old or less than ten year oldspecific model of his helmet. And you
know what, I talked to someBears players this week of camp who said
(14:52):
that, actually, one thing abdoes make sense on is that there are
some site restrictions in some of thesehelmets, and they understand where he's coming
from. But the whole irony inyou know, this guy doesn't want to
wear what the helmet the NFL issaying is the safest. And of course
we know he's said at least oneor two concussions, and you said it.
I mean, I think it's beenpretty questionable increasingly, you know,
(15:16):
suspicious if you will, in Brown'serratic behavior, in the comments he has
made and the things that he hasdone since forcing his way out of Pittsburgh,
that he isn't mentally fit. Andif that's the case, it's really
sad, and beyond that, shameon the Raiders for not seeing this one
coming. You had said Obviously,you know, you can't really believe anything
Brown says, and clearly John Grudendidn't believe it when Brown said it when
(15:39):
we first started floating the idea ofretirement, when he was in his standoff
with the Steelers and talking about howhe doesn't need football. He loves the
game, he wants the game,but he doesn't need the game. How
could there be a bigger red flagthan that? Was it Bill Parcels who
said, as soon as a playerstarts talking about retirement, they might as
well be retired. It's just thatthat's the part that does It makes sense
(16:00):
to me. Well, and I'mthe last one who wants to be out
there, you know, starting rumorsor suggesting that I'm a doctor or understanding
anything medically. But it is ironicthat the story is revolving around the helmet.
The reason that you have a controversyhere is that the NFL owners the
Commissioner's office are doing whatever they canto try and show concern over traumatic brain
(16:25):
injuries, to look at the equipment, to look at the rules, the
way the game has played. Everythingthey can do, and the whole point
of this new helmet design is theoreticallyprotecting players a little bit better. And
yet, you know, you lookat the way that Antonio Brown is behaving
now, and you have to addto the conversation the fact that up until
about a year and a half ortwo ago, he was not this guy.
(16:49):
I mean, he was a solidleader, veteran in a locker room,
almost a humble guy, never hadan issue with him, never had
an issue with a teammate. Andnow shortly after all the lava bell holdout
stuff happens, you know, AntonioBrown develops his whole look at me type
attitude, and I find myself wondering. I'm not suggesting that he has CTE
or that he has brain damage oranything like that, but but it's hard
(17:14):
to ignore the fact. I wastalking to somebody else about this earlier today.
They were talking about the wide receiverdivas, and I ran off the
list and said, yeah, weall know about the wide receiver divas.
But you look at Chatto Chosinko,you look at Terrell Owens, you know,
you look at Michael Irvin. Iguess you could even throw in Randy
Moss. They had some craziness tohim from day one. This isn't something
(17:34):
that happened, you know, twothirds of the way through their career,
and in the case of Antonio Brown, there has been such a personnel personality
shift here in the last year anda half or two that you do have
to at least ask the question,is he, you know, clicking on
all six cylinders right now? Yep, I know. And obviously I'm not
a doctor either, so we don'twant to speculate, but it is.
(17:56):
It's concerning, to be sure.And Brown obviously did have some issues,
you know, coming out of theMAC and uh, and there were some
off field concerns, but nothing pronouncedlike this, nothing that's just seemed certifiably
crazy. So uh, you know, I just I hope he's okay and
uh, and we'll see what happensnext to The funny part is, well,
(18:18):
it's not funny, but the truthof the matter, we're taping this
podcast on Tuesday afternoon. We don'tnormally say that, but I feel inclined
to because of course Hard Knock's premieris the second episode tonight, and if
HBO doesn't tackle this issue had on, uh, there's gonna be a whole
other kind of can of worms onthis issue. So I know, I'll
be watching, well, I won't. You know, we've talked about this
(18:41):
before. We're gonna take a breakhere in a second, but I just
you know, I'll say it.You guys can tell me I'm nuts.
I refuse to watch the show.I've never seen. That's not true.
I saw an episode the first year. I think it was fourteen years ago
or something like that. I findthe entire concept invasive and completely unfair to
these players and coaches. I can'tthink of a boss in any industry who
(19:03):
would warmly embrace this ideal or gladlyparticipate in it. I understand that it's
marketing, it's a chance for theNFL to make money, but I think
these players and coaches being forced todeal with these cameras in their workplace and
behind closed doors is absurd. SoArthur's absolutely right. We probably will get
at least a little better take ona little more information on where Antonio Brown
(19:26):
is, but I'm going to haveto hear it from other people because I
refuse to watch the show. Welcomeback to our Pro Football Weekly NFL podcast.
Everybody, thank you so much forbeing with us. We also want
to thank our fantastic sponsors are outstandingexecutive producer, engineer guy who makes this
(19:48):
show go, Dan Mott. Wewant to thank the guys that Humfrey's McGee,
the great Chicago rock band, forallowing us to use their music for
our music beds and some of ourbumps in and most of all, of
course, our thanks to all ofyou for listening, for participating. We
hope you have a subscription to allthe Pro Football Weekly podcasts. You can
get one by going to Pro FootballWeekly dot com. Our Pro Football Weekly
(20:12):
Chicago, which tends to deal withthe Bears because we're based in Chicago as
well as the NFC North, isone that has gained tremendous popularity recently as
well. So please download these podcastsand enjoy them. And that actually is
how we will segue to the nexttopic. Because Arthur, even though everybody
kind of felt it was probably coming, I'm not sure anybody expected some pretty
(20:37):
much out in the open controversy betweenAaron Rodgers and his rookie head coach Matt
Lafleur as early as it arrived.I believe it had occurred prior to the
last podcast. We may have touchedon it already, but the idea that
Matt Aaron Rodgers is calling the Packersworkouts with the Houston Texans last week crazy,
(20:57):
saying that he would never supporter goalong with the live practice they had
for special teams on which one ofthe young Packers was injured. Is really
a direct slap in the face atthe rookie head coach, Matt Lafleur,
who has not taken the bait tothis point. But it seems pretty obvious
that there's no real concern on AaronRodgers part to publicly show any remorse or
(21:22):
concern about whatever in fact did goon in his relationship with Mike McCarthy,
And certainly what he has said anddone over the last week ten days suggests
that whatever that relationship was, it'sgoing to be exactly the same with Matt
Lafleur, whether the Packers or Lafleurlike it or not. Yeah, and
I'm quite sure that the higher upsyou know above La flour In, Brian
(21:44):
Goodcunstan, of course Ted Thompson,excuse me, not to Thompson, but
of course Mark Murphy, they can'tbe pleased because you know, we know
from various reporting that Murphy and AaronRodgers had a one on one conversation in
which you know, Murphy said thatwe need a fresh start and we need
to avoid some of the things thathappened last time, and you just don't
get the sense that that's occurring now. Does it mean their season is doomed.
(22:08):
No, I'm not sure at all, because I think winning cures all
and the Packers are talented. Ithink they're going to have a chance to
do a lot of winning. Idon't know if they're going to but again,
I think if they get off toa good start, if they exceed
expectations this season, I believe thatthings can be harmonious between Rogers and La
Floor. But it's also pretty obviousthat Lafleur, being so new to this
(22:30):
role, doesn't have a lot ofpast experiences to lean on. I hope
he's getting some really good advice fromsome people who have done this before,
because it could be you know,it's easy to see how this thing could
go off the rails, but I'mjust not quite there yet. No,
And the quieter rumblings out of GreenBay, and this is what people really
(22:51):
believe it's more about, is thatMatt Lafleur basically told everybody prior to any
training camp during their off season programthat in his offense, there was no
room for audibles. Plays would notbe being changed at the line of scrimmage.
That, of course, was atthe crux of what allegedly was wrong
between Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy,that Rodgers was calling his own plays,
(23:12):
that he was ignoring the head coachdoing whatever he wanted. Lafleur did reiterate
at the beginning of training camp thatat least for now, Rogers would not
be free to call audibles. Rodgershas publicly suggested that that's not necessarily what
he's been told. It is creatinga little bit of confusion, which can't
(23:32):
be good for anybody. But Ithink the reality is that that's what this
is all about, is that Rogers, I don't know if he's tone deaf
or deaf completely or just doesn't agreewith Mark Murphy, but he's been pretty
clear that he thinks he's really goodat changing plays at the line of scrimmage,
that he wants to be able todo that, And our understanding to
(23:55):
this point is Matt Lafleur is continuingto say no, and that's why you
kind of scratch your and you askyourself, how can this end? Well?
Right? So you know, theFloor's offense has got to be a
dynamic and it's got to be firingon all cylinders early in the season.
And again, I think they've gotthe tools to make that happen, but
there are going to have to besome concessions, clearly by Aaron Rodgers.
(24:17):
So we'll see if he hasn't adaptedit however many years. I don't know
what's going to make it change,but it's just one of those things where
it's going to be something we can'ttake our eyes off of. And it'd
only be a couple more weeks exactlytwenty three days actually, until the Packers
hit the Lake Front and face theBears on Thursday Night football, So I
know we are both anxiously awaiting andwe'll start to get our answers here soon
(24:41):
enough. Another big story that brokethis week, and it's kind of interesting
only because you don't see this allthat often, is the Minnesota Vikings and
Baltimore Ravens made a trade. TheVikings send a fifth round pick to the
Ravens for their Norwegian kicker whose nameI'm gonna let you butcher rather than me.
I don't know why we're having sucha hard time with this when I've
(25:03):
checked it like six times, butfor some reason, I can't get it
locked in my head. But whatwas interesting about the story on a league
wide basis is that allegedly not onlydid the Vikings attempt to trade for this
young man, but the Bears apparentlyinquired, as did several other teams.
Of course, Justin Tucker is thebest kicker in the NFL and is going
to be the Ravens kicker. Itwas never really a competition, and yet
(25:29):
it's pretty unusual for a kicker.This young man actually kicks and punts,
although I don't think or know thatthe plan is for him to do both
in Minnesota. Primarily, he isa place kicker. It's been a long
time since we've seen an unknown andsomewhat untested kicker command the kind of interest
that this young man has. Thispast week, thanks to the wonders of
(25:49):
the Inner Web Hub, I wasable to go back to Marshall. Excuse
me, we'll call it Corey Bedbeck'sMarshall. What is it? The herd?
Yeah, heard bio from the Universityof Mary thank you, that's under
heard. So it is Corey bedBeck, and yes, it is highly
unusual to have the success in thepreseason two preseasons now that he has had
(26:11):
both punting and kicking bombed a coupleof both last week and the preseason opener,
And clearly that was enough for theVikings, who of course have seemingly
been going through uh what a recurringnightmare for five or six years now with
their kicker position dating back to BlairWalsh. And in the game versus the
Seahawks the wildcard game, Hub wason the sidelines for that one. So
(26:33):
this is the bold move that theyare taking to try and stabilize that spot.
It means Dan Bailey's walking papers willsoon be served. Remember Bailey just
a couple of years ago, whilehe still is the Dallas Cowboys franchise all
tea time leading scorer and most accuratekicker with that franchise. But man,
his fault from grace has been something. With all that being said from the
(26:55):
you know, judging by the interestaround the league, judging by the success
the Ravens have had of course withJustin Tucker, with bed Vic kind of
being his you know, his understudy. This to me, hub seems like
a risk worth taking. Yes,a fifth round picker is a lot,
yes, and it is almost unprecedentedfor that position. But with everything the
(27:15):
Vikings have riding on this, andwith all the struggles they've endured, I
can't really fault them for making thismove. No, I can't fault the
Vikings. There does continue to besome debate out there. It is vedvik
that's for sure, But I keephaving some people tell me Cory and some
people tell me Cary, Well,we'll figure that out over the next few
weeks before we get to the regularseason. But what I find kind of
(27:36):
incestuous and almost laughable about all thisis that you look at how this wheel
keeps spinning with a bunch of teamslooking for a kicker. Everybody knows why
the Chicago Bears want a new placekicker need a new placekicker because Cody Parkey
has gone from last year after hisinfamous double doink, and allegedly the Bears
(27:56):
one of the teams besides the Vikings, in on this. What's ironic about
all that is that, remember,the Vikings used a high pick last year
on Carlson, who they thought wasgonna be their kicker. He bombed early,
or maybe they drafted him two yearsago and he bombed early. He
goes to Oakland, where they havea young kicker named Eddie Pinniarro who has
won the job, but tears agroin after the first preseason game. Carlson
(28:18):
goes out and has an outstanding year, so much so that the Raiders then
trade Pinnerero to the Bearers for aconditional seventh round pick. And so now
you've got the Bearers with both EddiePinnearro and Elliott Fry in camp in an
open competition, and it's the Vikingswho go get Vedvik while the Bears are
inquiring about him. In the meantime, Dan Bailey has now failed in three
(28:41):
or four spots, and I can'timagine that he's going to get picked up
by any of these other teams lookingfor a kicker right off the bat.
But you do have a couple competitionsin other camps, particularly in Cleveland and
in Tampa, where other young kickersAustin Siebert and Matt Gay are being looked
at and could be in demand shouldthey lose the kicking derbys that they're currently
(29:03):
embroiled in. So it's almost likeyou've got a group of teams all looking
at the same two, three orfour kids and they just aren't enough of
these kids to go around right now. Yeah, yeah, so we shall
see. It was only about threeweeks after Daniel Carlson. You're absolutely right,
the fifth rounder last year, thehighest drafted kicker in last year's draft,
(29:23):
one of two overall. Yes,of course, Jason Sanders the other
who went to a Pro Bowl afterbeing drafted by the Miami Dolphins and then
cut and then signed by the Jets. So it's amazing how these kickers make
the rounds. But you know,rest as shure, if the Vikings are
hoping that they're not going to bemaking any more moves at the position for
a long time after signing Vedvec,he's gonna be a lot of fun to
(29:45):
watch and we'll have to see ifthere's any more residual effect. Like you
said, Carlson appears at least fornow, to have kind of stabilized the
raider situation. There's still a scenariowhere it could be Eddie Pinero in Chicago
in what a story that would be. But we'll be keeping close tabs on
this one, even as much aswe're loath to Yeah, I believe you
(30:06):
said Jason Sanders. I think itwas Jason Myers who was well, yeah,
it's just how incestuous this all gets. So he goes to a Pro
Bowl with the Jets, He getsvoted to the Pro Bowl, proceeds to
miss a couple kicks in their lastcouple of games. He's a free agent.
He goes to Seattle, who hadSebastian Janikowski last year, who whenever
anybody asked me, does the kickerever stay with the same team for you
(30:30):
know, for more than a coupleof years. Janikowski's the poster boy who
I believe had seventeen years with theRaiders before going to Seattle last year because
the Raiders thought they were going tohave Eddie Pinero and and you know,
these names just keep bouncing around.So we will keep an eye on these
place kicking jobs. There are goingto be at least two or three,
(30:52):
maybe four place kickers that cut onthe final cut this preseason who are immediately
signed by other teams. Will haveto get into the season before we have
any idea which ones are the realdeal. We are out of time.
On this week's Pro Football Weekly NFLpodcast, we want to thank you all
so much for being with us again. Our thanks to the guys that Humfrey's
McGee for the music, to DanMott for doing such an incredible job keeping
(31:15):
us and getting us and keeping uson the air, to all of our
great sponsors. Most of all isalways though our thanks to all of you.
We look forward to visiting with youagain next week on our Pro Football
Weekly NFL podcast.
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