7/19 Football Full Circle Hour 1: Dan Snyder, Franchise Tags, & More

Mike Blewitt and George Kurtz are back for another edition of Football Full Circle! The guys discuss the future of the Washington football team. Mike and George also discuss the recent news about Dan Snyder. The guys take a deep look at the Cincinnati Bengals and the LA Rams. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:21):
Thank you for watching Football Full Circle on Mike Blewett
along with George Kurtz. Gonna get right into the NFL today.
And obviously it was a big week George in terms
of NFL stories. We had some contract stories that we
went over in our episode on Saturday, and on this
Sunday edition we are recapping the most serious story of

(00:42):
this week. And there were rumors about what was going
to happen with Washington beyond their name change, that there
were big revelations of a scandal being brought to light,
and that actually hit Thursday night Thursday afternoon when The
Washington Post dropped a huge article regarding the sexual harassment

(01:05):
of former employees and frankly, the overall mistreatment of former
employees by some red some Washington former employees as well
as the owner, Dan Snyder. Now fifteen women who worked
for them alleged sexual harassment by former Scouts and members
of owner Daniel Snyder's inner circle. Uh. The woman that

(01:27):
is really at the center of it is Emily apple Gate.
She started working for Washington in and settled into a
daily routine. As the story starts, she would regularly meet
with a female co worker in the bathroom during their
lunch breaks, she said, to commiserate and cry about the
frequent sexual harassment and verbal abuse they endured. George, We'll

(01:49):
get into many of some of the details of this,
but it's just another log on the fire of this franchise,
sort of mis tree eating people. We've seen them, mistreat players,
We've seen them obviously now. Uh. Massive allegations of mistreating
employees of the sexual harassment kind, which is depravity at

(02:13):
its best, and also just general bullying and unprofessionalism was
rampant throughout this building and remains so, at least until
this weekend, when the final couple of employees involved in
this resigned or were fired. This is amazing to me
they could have it in this day and age. Uh,

(02:34):
not such why human behavior, But because we all have
these phones, we can record anything and everything, and the
people would do this where you could be quote on tape,
quote on whatever we call these things, and played for everybody.
We were. They were fifteen confidentially convedential agreement signed here,
which this has been going on for a long time,
and everybody knew about it all from the rug. We'll

(02:54):
just paid off and move on. The one lady you
mentioned that's talking about it, she can't because she has
not sign that agreement yet. I'd like to see the
NFL go, because right now Snyder won't release them from
those agreements. So those those women can't talk. I think
you see the NFL go, Yes you can, You're released,
you know, Snyder, Fortunately, you're gonna sell the team one
of the other things. Let's find out what's really going on,

(03:15):
how bad it was? What Snyder gonna say he didn't know?
Of course, you know the agreements were signed. You damn well.
What was going on here? You let it happen? Well,
you just didn't care enough to stop it or whatever
it might be. You know, it's probably much worse than
when I just brought on anyway, So it's just not
a good look obviously for any business, more or less
something in the NFL. You know, we know Roger Goodell,
protect the shield, and if I'm the players, I want

(03:38):
to see what's gonna happen here, because we all know
when a player does anything, suspension right, you do anything
you d w I suspension with Mari, I want to
suspension anything heavier than that. Of course you're getting suspended here.
He's sort of let Indianapo was Colt or say, off
the hook with what he did, not that it's anywhere
near a severe as this. What's he gonna do now

(04:00):
with Snyder after this pro has done. Is it gonna
be another slap on the wrist or is it gonna
do a heavyer fine? Have you a suspension, whatever it
might be, stay away from the team, you know, I
don't know he's got a force to sell a team
so like they did with Jerry Richardson at that what
he uh said some idiotic things. But I'm curiously how
logic Adell handles this, because it's amazing how the punishment
is different from the players than it is for the owners.

(04:21):
But then again, he works for the owners, not the players. Yeah,
no doubt. I mean er say did receive a significant
punishment at some point. We'll see what is handed down here.
Washington attempting to get in front of it. But it's
so transparent what was going on here. A story was
ready to break and then they started taking action. Beth

(04:42):
Wilkinson from the Washington law firm Wilkinson Walsh is going
to be conducting a review. And here's the statement from
Washington owner Dan Snyder. The behavior described in yesterday's Washington
Post article has no place in our franchise or society.
The story is strengthened. Mike ititment to setting a new
culture and standard for our team, the process that began

(05:04):
with the hiring of Coach rivera earlier this year. Beth
Beth Wilkinson and her firm are empowered to do a full,
unbiased investigation to make any and all requisite recommendations. Upon
completion of her work, we will institute new policies and
procedures and strengthening our human resources infrastructure, which they were
archingly not in sidebar, to not only avoid these issues
in the future, but most importantly, create a team culture

(05:27):
that is respectful and inclusive of all. I think it
is a standard boilerplate statement that anybody could make. I
don't believe it. I think he was very involved in
the he set the tone and set the culture for
the entire organization. Now, it is important to note that
he is not currently being alleged with any of the

(05:49):
blatant sexual harassment that went on. He's accused of bullying.
He's accused of being mean to fellow employees both male
and female alike, a lot of well being called stupid,
being degraded in a variety of different ways. And I
think that's, uh, frankly, something I've experienced many people out
there have experienced in the workplace general. Um, you know,

(06:13):
dime store bullying. Frankly, so uh so that that is
the I guess the one note I would make George.
I'm not defending them anyway, still a jerk, and there's
a lot of going, a lot going on. First of all,
he digs in about the name for two decades. Now
we it comes to light that all this other stuff
is going on. But uh, in the case of Jerry Richardson,

(06:36):
he was alleged who has said and acted in some
of the ways that we're going to create that created scandal.
Donald Sterling of the Los Angeles Clippers was on video
making statements that were racist, questionable, and all of the
above not to mention that he had a long history
of x X engaging in districting discrimination discriminator he practices.

(07:01):
Excuse me, so in this instance, Dan Snyder didn't quite
do that. Now do the owners really want to kick
him out when he hasn't done something like that? And
you and I both know very well that this stuff
has likely gone on in other buildings around the NFL recently,
in the past, forever, so that that is the difference.

(07:24):
And I'll let you comment on that well. A couple
of things here. You being up a very good point.
By the way, this is not the only team that's
doing this, all right, Uh it looks bad. Snyder kid
said he didn't know about it because of the confidentiality
agreement between he was a part of it. He okay, did,
so he can't claim that he did nothing to stop it.
You let it go on. You were okay, you know,

(07:46):
I was. We'll just we'll just paid off. You're okay.
So that's a problem here. I like what he says.
You know, we're gonna hire Beth uh I can't remember
her last name to have an unbiased investigation. My first
question would be who's paying her firm? Right? Alright? So
it's not unbiased. It's not. It's not. It can't be

(08:09):
unbiased if you're paying it all right, So they're gonna
cater to you and what you want to have done
or not get done. In essence, I can tell the story.
You may have seen it. Uh, it's certainly a public story.
Andrew Brandt some of you and I like to quote
quite often on the show. Uh, former game of the Packers,
former players agent now does uh teaching sports business law.

(08:29):
He told the story. This is before this happened. By
the way, this is this might even before the name
change thing, but I think it's right after the name
change thing. Talking about Daniel Snyder, how a good friend
of his once went to the Snyder's home, uh play date,
kids had whatever, uh date with the Snyder's kids, and
Snyder wasn't there. But as this gentleman was leaving, he
didn't say who it was. So I don't know if

(08:50):
this gentleman is also in the football world or not.
As the person was leaving, Davis Snyder did come home
and this person said he's he thanked Uh, thank you Dan,
kids had a great time. We can do it again.
It snys reply, that's Mr Snyder to you, it's so
funny that you said that, because this is so odd
because I have an almost an identical story. I worked

(09:14):
with someone who is fifteen years my senior, who was
in the process of going through a business deal with
Daniel Snyder. Now this is obviously here say people want
have to believe this story. Didn't want. I'm just telling
an experience of somebody I know. And in prior to

(09:34):
the meeting, he was told to please refer to him
as Mr. Snyder. Now, the person that I know is
older than Daniel Snyder, and it was a perfectly successful
business person in his own right. So he was like, okay,
no problem. And the second he walked in there, he
went in there and called him Dan. So he wasn't

(09:56):
going to listen to that. You know, the guy that
I know isn't the type of person and that it's
going to listen to instructions like that may maybe it
reflects it does reflect poorly on him and in being unrelatable,
and there's a lot of things about him that we've seen.
First of all, he was a really young owner when
he bought the team, right he's owned the team for
twenty years, but he was a young man. When he

(10:16):
bought the team, he made a ton of money in communications,
and he had the opportunity to buy it from the Cooks.
But prior to that um or in conjunction with all
of this, you know, Snyder has been known to not
really take counsel of other owners. I think people like
Jerry Jones or other owners within the league will take

(10:39):
newer owners under their wings, so to speak, because I mean,
these people are are titans of industry, but they don't
necessarily know how this room works and how to get
things done. And Daniel Snyder is known to really not
take counsel with other folks. The Ron Rivera thing is
really interesting, George, because it has created a ton of momentum.

(11:02):
Now has his presence created all of this change? I
don't know, but it is concurrent with all of the
changes in this now investigation going on. Well, not only
is that it's Rivers. He's been giving a lot of
being given a lot of power here, thank God. Yeah, well, yeah,
you want somebody who's a decent human being and an adult, Yeah,

(11:23):
I guess that too to get the job. The fact
that's happened so quickly, Not only is he the coach,
you know, but now he's in on the name change.
He's gonna be in on this, the culture change of
this organization, which is I mean, I guess good for him,
but I also wanted this when Rivera is like, what
the hell did I get myself into here? You know,

(11:43):
only I got to coach the team, but now I
gotta do everything else too? Is he gonna be spread
too thin? And there's something I would come back to
as well here. I mean, it's so many parts of
the story. Remember, they're actually accused of bribery bribing officials here. Yes,
I know, a joke. I guess they didn't pay enough
because they've been losing games uhing right for the years now.
But I mean the NFL has to do an investigation

(12:04):
on their own. They get this thing that's up a Snyders. Okay, yea,
let's take whatever you find as a gospel here. They
have to do an investigation that they don't have to
find out what the hell is going on. But I
still go back to your first point that you made.
This is not you know, it's not the only place
that happens. I say, in baseball, Astros are the only
team that's cheating. Everybody's cheating. It's pretty much my believe

(12:24):
that once again everybody's probably doing this too. Just to
what degree is what changes? Yeah, my float tweet here
from Pro Football Talk. The NFL typically hires a lawyer
who investigates allegations of team misconduct, and for some reason,
the NFL plans to defer to the lawyer hired by
Washington to investigate Washington. So, um, I think it's a
bad look for the NFL completely, but it wouldn't surprise

(12:48):
me if it was related to the fact that they
don't want to overturn thirty one. Other teams investigating what
might be similar practices can't accuse them because there's no
evidence as of Yeah, but that's the deal. We'll come back.
We'll talk more football after this on FFC Sports grid
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(13:08):
as our team covers the most important topics in sports wagering,
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want the edge than get on the grid sports grid
dot Com. Everybody back on FFC talking about the state
of affairs in the NFL and how we're going to
get back on the field. I know it's sometimes feels

(13:31):
like we're hitting you over the head with these updates,
but we're getting the updates, passing them along, and some
of the stuff is relatively interesting. Every day I feel
that there's good news and positive momentum. The next day
I get kicked in the teeth just like you, and
it feels like we're walking backwards. Uh. As far as
the start of the season, it's concerned. So I'll just

(13:53):
try to take these one by one because there's several
fascets of it. Tom Pallaceero of the NFL and at
Work says that quotes here. Director. NFLPA director Executive Director
Demorris Smith says on a media call that union officials
had a call late last night with team doctors who
gave the opinion quote with a couple of reservations, that

(14:15):
it is safe to open training camp. So I'm like, great, George,
good news, we're getting in there. July rookie is supposed
to report this weekend, but it doesn't stop there. So
the next thing is Barry Jackson is a long time
Miami Herald veteran reporter. The nfl p A has asked

(14:39):
the league. How many player positives it would take for
a team to have to shut it down. NFL hasn't answered.
That's the number two. The next one NFL p A
president J C. Treader on what happens when a teammate
test positive. There's a quarantine when a close contact teammate
test positive. Let's say I've been blocking with my teammates,

(15:00):
and I've been blocking all these defensive linemen. Aren't we
talking about thirty guys? So it's a major complication. According
to Doug for Our, it's a major complication the NF.
He's from USA today. The NFLPA is waiting to hear
back from the NFL about So the reality is, even
as they try to inch towards opening this up, George,
there's still too many questions that keep coming up and

(15:21):
not all of them had been answered. Um, we are
ten days away from everybody reporting. The rookies are supposed
to be there now, ah, and we don't have answers
to a lot of this stuff. If I were a player,
would be like, look, let's just wait a couple of weeks,
get all the answers, and then we'll show up. It's
frustrating Mike because what do we even talking? You and

(15:45):
I've been doing the show for a couple of months,
now what do we What have I been to a
couple jeez? I mean, but we keep saying please in
four months? Wow, I feel much started and like end
of March pushing the end of July. You're right, I
can't all time as parents to be no calendars here, um,
But we keep saying learn from baseball, right, and yet

(16:09):
this is old deja vu again that they can't figet
this stuff out here that one. So I fully understand
that union wants or you know, the all these protocols,
the NFL wants the other set and they But can
we meet in the middle somewhere? Hasn't this been How
has it been discussed? The right to know exactly? Okay, listen,
the Timpany and Buccaneers have sixteen guys at with COVID.

(16:30):
That's it. They're done. We can't have them play anymore.
It seems like I'm not saying that to him. I
just threw out a random number there. I don't know what,
I don't know what the number should be, but I'm saying,
how has this been discussed here? How has it some
of these things been talked about. What happened to the player?
When one player goes on COVID? Yeah, is he going?
I R? Can he come back in two weeks, three weeks,
eight weeks? Is he'm pop? What are you gonna do

(16:50):
with them? Uh? How can you say it's safe? The
O world of training camp where we all know it's not.
I mean, I understand why it's it's a pr game
you sort of playing here. But the Union, when you
know it's not gonna buy this all right, they're gonna
have They have their own stats, they have the same
stats that you have. They know it's not safe. Now,
why aren't you working with them to figure things out?
You know, you hope the Union is not still mad

(17:11):
about the c b A and then now they're gonna
want every little thing. They're gonna take it out here.
I hope that's not the case. It might be, it
might not be. But why aren't you in constant communication
with Mr Smith, Mr Vince, you know, whatever is, talk
to each other and work out what needs to be
worked out. The NFL hasn't really they should be talking
to the NFL p A about the nfl PAS concerns.
Maybe not every little thing. But about the NFL PAS

(17:34):
concerns and work things out. You mentioned it, you know,
it's I think tomorrow some rookies are supposed to go.
And then I think what the Chiefs in Houston shortly
after that, because they played the first game of the season.
Whether or not we believe that game is gonna be
played doesn't matter. We have that. We have to act
as it is. It's coming now, right, the rest of
the teams are within nine days of showing up. How

(17:57):
hasn't this been discussed and at least gotta be framework
And it doesn't even seem like they have a framework, Mike,
which is the scariest thing to me, that this was
played by You will see what happens. Yeah, yeah, I
mean two. And here's another tweet from Dave Burkett. He's
Alliance beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. So it's
been on this show, I mean, on with me a

(18:18):
number of times in the past. D Smith on what
happens at the end of NFL P A does not
get the answers that wants from the league. Quote, We're
going to look at all of our options. So we
are now in a position where if they don't get
some of these key answers. We went over J. J.
Watts laundry list of things that he felt weren't answered.

(18:39):
J C. Treader, the nflp A president, is talking about
things that are unanswered, and frankly, that what he stated
that J. C. Treader situation has really been one of
my major questions all along. Like, Okay, the one guy
tested positive, maybe he got it in the grocery store,
but now he's positive, and you didn't know, and because

(19:03):
he was at the grocery store that morning, whatever, Then
there's an incubation period. Then he tests positive. He's been
in practice for two days, uh, with defensive lineman and
offensive linemen in the locker room and all this other
kind of stuff. Now, how many people shut it down?
It seems like a lot. He's right, isn't it like

(19:25):
thirty guys? Yes, but you know they're not gonna they
can't do that. They've got to follow those protocols. And
there's there's no football alright. Because you mentioned he'd be
around in the meeting room alone. That takes out that
whole position group. They're done. The coaches now they may
be in more than one meeting. That takes everybody else out.
You're probably talking at least thirty and that's being nice.

(19:46):
I understand that they're gonna have to listen. Mike Blewett,
you get it all right, Mike Blue, it's out. I
may have been around you, but positive tests only. I
just test only, So Mike Blue, it hasn't you're positive
even though you and I have even together, and maybe
Ryan and Dane were all together, but we we we
haven't tested positive yet. We can play even though we've
been exposed. You can't. And I think that's probably one

(20:08):
of the concessions we're gonna have to make. If you
weren't supposed to be played this year, that's probably a
concession you're gonna have to make, because if you're gonna
start nailing everybody for being around somebody, it's not gonna work.
It's just nobody hasn't rost them that big to be
able to afford everybody that would miss plus once again,
if one offensive lineman gets it, I mean the whole
group is out. Yeah, I'm sure Russell Wilson's gonna love

(20:31):
to hear that. You know that. Yeah, that's why I
don't think they're gonna be able to finish all the games.
I think this is going to happen at some point. Oh,
I agree. I completely agree with you. I think they
we're gonna hear about what I'm saying. They're getting sick.
I'm just saying that they're tested positive. Oh yeah, we'll not.
Everybody gets sick with over and some people are asymptomatic,
but they have it helly for all you. We know

(20:52):
you and I have had it, but we haven't shown
any symptoms. You know, I don't know. Maybe I haven't tested,
but I get it. If I was the guess I'm
trying to play in my head here, what what do
I think is going to happen? First? Double digit players
on a team having it or a position group getting
decimated by it. I'd probably vote for the position group
because they are together all the time. Yeah, yeah, I

(21:15):
think it's that's That's sort of where we sit right now.
So there's um, you know, we're at a point and
t Smith did cap off when when he was speaking
he did say we're at a point where what's good
for the country is good for sports. Nothing would bring
back fans to stadiums quicker than the simple decision to
wear a mask. He was just stay putting a punctuation

(21:37):
mark at the end of it. They're an exclamation point
on his statement as to what he hopes people will do.
He's look as much as the NFL p A and
the NFL are at odds all the time. Hell, we
we had the cb A signed in the next day.
There was a huge disagreement on on UH major points

(21:58):
about communicating UH certain things to the public. But the reality,
the reality for d Smith is that he needs these
guys to play, right. These guys don't want to They're
not trying to sit out. I think some people misunderstand
the motivations of certain players, Like there's Aaron Rodgers. He

(22:22):
just doesn't want to play because he's getting older and
he just wants to collect his checks. Well, he's not
going to get paid if they don't play. He doesn't
want to go out there and play, but he probably
shouldn't risk it. Um For the guys that are a
little bit younger and haven't built up a nest egg, yeah,
they're going to be more eager to play. And I
think look, a vast majority of the players really do

(22:43):
want to play. They're just asking necessary questions. Oh, I agree,
I think I think it's it's in an athletes sort
of DNA to play. You played through injury all the time.
They probably play, they shouldn't play all the time because
they've had slight tears of ligaments or slight damage to
their bodies. They know they shouldn't play, and a lot
of times they come back too early when they do
get hurt because it's in their DNA to play. It's

(23:04):
how they've been trained through their entire lives. Here. It's
why I'm not gonna knock. I'm not gonna delve into why.
If anybody who opts out, I'm not delving into why.
You know it's your choice. There is a danger here
there now that's something could happen to you or a
family member, and I'm not gonna go into it to
find out why player A, why the player A not go?
Here's nothing wrong with them, there's nothing wrong that I

(23:25):
know that I know about with this family. I think
it's every player is right, even just even if you're fine,
just be your own health. Not to play this season
if you want to opt out, you don't want to,
you want to opt out, you don't want to get paid,
that's fine, Yeah, And to to I'll put the try
to put it. I can't put a pin in it.
I can't. I was gonna say put a pin in it,
but I can't because this is a constant topic. But

(23:47):
Tom Pellicero again uh says here that the league is
looking for opt out decisions. Any player may opt out
of twenty season with written notice by August. First, we
just talked about them reporting by July. Do you want
everybody to opt out by the end of the month, Like,

(24:08):
what are you talking about. They don't even have answers
to all these questions. They don't know how comfortable they're
going to feel. They're obviously gonna want to get out
there and and be there with your teammates and start practicing.
But if they didn't feel comfortable with the way things
were set up after they got there, like you're giving
them two days to try to figure this all out,

(24:29):
I don't know. I just think it's an odd line
in the same to draw. I think this is a
bad move by the NFL because you were sort of
hitting at it. You're forcing players to make a decision
now and right now. It's not good right because everything
everything is so screwed up with the testing with the protocols.
You have nothing written down, but maybe middlegus it's all

(24:50):
fixed a right, The play is a much more comfortable.
You got the testing down. They know the procedures and
they'll want to play if you make it Over's first
and you keep that date, you sort of telling players us,
I don't know what's gonna happen here, h skirt, I'm
not taking any chances. I'm not gonna play. Yeah, they
don't know what's going on because we're already in an
unknown situation where they're making even more unknown. But if

(25:10):
you make and I understand you don't want it to
be September feet Mike, I get that team need to
prepare and they get out a player going, you know,
ten days when the season starts. I don't know. I'm
not gonna play. I understand that, But why not cut
the middle somewhere by middle August or even a was twenty.
Why can't that be a decision where the player goes
You know what, I've been around for three weeks. It's
not getting any better here. I don't feel comfortable. I'm

(25:31):
not going to play. I think that's some sort of
a happy medium for everybody here. Team still us time there,
get somebody else to prepare for it, and the player
can now make an informed decision. That's what I'm being with,
an informercision about whether or not it's safe for me
and my family to play. Yeah. Look, I think MLB players,
I think some guys are gonna opt out after the

(25:52):
season starts, right, They're gonna be they're not feeling comfortable
with their team. Falls back on the standings are like,
what am I doing here? I'm opting out the rest
of the way. I think that could happen, and I
would suspect that certain NFL players will feel less comfortable
after they're in their team's a little bubble for a
little period of time. So we'll come back. We'll talk
about the Cincinnati Bengals. Next on the Grid. It's a

(26:14):
f FC sports grid dot com betting insights and entertainment
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(26:35):
please follow us on Twitter at sports grid on Instagram
at sports grid tv. You find George individually on Twitter
at George Kurtz. I'm at Mike Blewett. So hate mail
to George nice things to say about me. I'll filter
them across to everyone else as needed, So uh, right
back to you. Don't worry about it. A J. Green
signed his franchise tender this week. George. Um Uh. He

(26:59):
had to do it because there was a chance, obviously
in the middle of this pandemic and not knowing what
the salary cap would be, that people that the Bengals
could rescind the franchise tag and just make him a
free agent. Then he was gonna have to go out
and look for a deal that got him twelve point
eight million dollars for this upcoming season. A little difficult
with people not able to travel, examine his foot issues

(27:21):
and everything else, but here. According to Jeff Hobson, who
is the senior writer for Bengals dot Com, A J.
Green has a plan. Let's quote play another four years
and hope and I hope to retire as a Bengal.
So kind of weird that he put a number on
and the rest of his career, but with him being
unable to finish the last three seasons due to injury.

(27:44):
I think A. J. Green is well aware of his
football mortality. Yeah, I really would have liked to have
seen what the offers were to Cincinnati for Green because
I think they should have moved on here and not
that Green still can't do with that. But you're rebuilding here. Listen.
I love A J. Green. He's a fun guy to watch,

(28:05):
a great player. He might do good things, wonderful things
with Joe Burrow. But still you're building for the future.
I mean, if everything goes right in Cincinnati, you're probably
talking two years my three years before you're really there.
You play in a rough, rough division. You know, you
got bull This isn't this isn't getting better until at

(28:29):
least I think that's being nice, right, That's that's probably
being nice. Um. And let's say you're right. By then
A J. Green thirty four his birthdays until twelve days
al right, So by that he's thirty four years old.
Not too many thirty four year over receives. A true
game breaker. Is by that that I would have liked
have seen what the offers were. You have the pre draft,

(28:52):
post draft, whatever it might be, to see what they
could have gotten for the Green and a very you
know where wide receiver crazy league right now. I understand
you mentioned it earlier that Green has been hurt now
and he's been hurt three straight seasons well two O
three streets, miss seven games and six he played sixteen
two thousand seventeen, and that hurts, you know. I mean,
you may not want to give him big time competition

(29:15):
plus the contract he wanted there, But I think Cincinnatial
gonna tried harder. It's almost like they've been shutting people out.
I don't think you should ever say I'm never trading
this guy. Anyone is tradable. You might want to say
we're probably not moving on something like that. We like
a J. Green to the but you should always do
a door over. You don't want to shut teams out
because someone hears all the stithy not trading. I'm not
eve gonna give him a phone call then, And I

(29:35):
just think it's silly to do that. Yeah, my mistake.
He did play full season in seventeen, and the last
time he did play the full season of seventy five catches, thousands,
seventy eight yards, eight touchdowns. He was definitely productive. Year
before that, he was having a great season before he
got hurt. Uh, and then that that was only the

(29:57):
nine games and En obviously, uh, big fat zero never
got on the field. So um, there was a time
George really before he started getting injured, in fact, as
little as as little as is not that all that
long ago where we would consider him a top five receiver. Easy,

(30:18):
it's him and Julio And that was before Michael Thomas
had arisen. DeAndre Hopkins was in that mix, and and O'Dell.
But A J. Green was really firmly a top five
five wide receiver for a big portion of his career,
Oh absolutely, And even he did it for a team
that Andy Dalton was never anyone's answer to Drew Brees,

(30:38):
Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, you know that kind of quarterback
and not a lot going on around him. I mean,
Joe Mixon is a good running back now, but he
didn't have Joe Mixon back then. He was the bank.
Do you want to stop the Bengals offense? You stopped
A J. Green? You gain plant for Green the top
top cornerback. What would defensive it means we're about stopping

(30:59):
a J. Green. So he deserves a really a lot
of credit for what he's done. Plus once again, you
go back to the Steelers and rain Wins. He plays
a lot of games against those two teams historically, those
are really good defenses. Yeah. Absolutely, it's an excellent route runner,
good hands, the whole package. Six four, two tens, lanky.
Uh so you can go up and get it. But
we'll see hopefully these lower leg injuries haven't robbed him

(31:21):
completely of some of his ability. So let's get into
their odds. Look, there's not gonna be a lot of
positive bets here for the Bengals winning tons of games,
but I was surprised to see a little bit of
the market action on them. And we'll go through the
odds right now. So to win the Super Bowl there
fifteen plus fifteen thousand, it's a hundred fifty one. It

(31:42):
was one of the lowest, one of the longest odds
in the entire league. To win the NC Championship, they
are dead last along with the Jaguars at plus seven thousand.
To win the AMC North plus twenty hundred, that is
the longest shot in the whole league to win any division.
It's obviously as a result of the strength of the
raven in particular, but obviously the Steelers and Brown's competitive

(32:03):
teams as well. Uh the win total to make the
playoffs and them do that first as plus six eighty yes, no,
as minus twelve minus twelve. It's a lot of juice
to try to say that they're not going to make
the playoffs. I would just prefer you bet the under
on the Winds. I think that is a lock for me.
But I was surprised to see that at five and

(32:26):
a half George, the over is minus one. So people
are betting the over on the Bengals to win six games,
assuming that St Joe Joe Burrow is going to tack
another four wins onto that two and fourteen season they
had last year. I am not buying it. I think
they did make some improvements this year. I do not

(32:48):
buy that they can win six games this year. For me,
the Bengals are a hard under. Maybe they can win
four games, maybe even five. I do not see them
going six and ten. No way, Oh you know I don't, right.
I mean that division alone, did they go on one
in five? Maybe you could squeak out a win versus

(33:09):
your state rival there and then you look for Okay,
I gotta find four more wins, you get Jacksonville Okay, Giants, Sure,
and I'm done Miami Houston. I think they've both better teams. Yeah,
I think they both. It's at Miami, so I think
that's tough. Houston. Houston still a decent squad. I think
they're eight and eight team. I said, this is the

(33:31):
last time we were talking about the Texans. People love
to bang on them because Bill O'Brien is a punching bag.
But they've won the division four out of the last
five years. There's good players all over the place, and
Deshaun Watson is the quarterback. They don't stink. No, I
think they are more of an average team this year.
So I'm looking at the schedule now here, and that
game is at Houston too. I mean that's gonna be rough.

(33:52):
Maybe you get a break in that Boltimore game doesn't
mean anything in week sevent team and I'm still not
sure you can beat the both bore team. It doesn't care. So,
like I said, and I'm not saying they can be
Jacksonville a Giants, but those are games where they're somewhat
evenly matched. Everything else, they're the dog. I mean, they're
gonna have I don't know what they're gonna do against
the Philadelphia Dallas Pitts. Wheread you know they played Pittsburgh.

(34:15):
I didn't see Washington and Washington another game there they
could possibly pull out there. Uh, and that's really it.
I mean, I don't see you beat in Tennessee Indianapolis.
Don't see that. No, I think the charge is week one.
I think that's why you are seeing some juice though, George,
because there are a bunch of soft teams on this schedule, right.
They got the Giants in Washington, they've got Jacksonville, Uh,

(34:39):
and Miami. Now you and I both think Miami is
on the rise. I'm not so sure about the Giants
in Washington Jacksonville. I'll say this, I think Jacksonville is
the worst team along with Cincinnati. I think those are
the two worst teams in football. I think Washington has
an opportunity to fall apart. But I actually think Ron

(35:00):
RIVERI will do a decent job of putting the defense
together at the very least. So that's probably why people
are You know, you try to take edges. No, that's
the whole point. I think a lot of sharps try
to take edges with the way things are scheduled, and
maybe the road games aren't quite as tough um as

(35:21):
they otherwise could be. Of Jacksonville at home, you get
the Giants at home. I think there are some winnable
games there, and it doesn't mean that will rip through.
And they're definitely going on and six in the division.
George conceded one. Maybe they win too. I'm trying to
get them to six, and I can't do it. I don't.
I don't think they're gonna win five. I think I
think they were lucky to win their second game last year,

(35:44):
and I think they'll be lucky to get to to
five wins. I do not see it happening. I think
I bet the Bengals under hard last year because it
was six they went too and fourteen. I would run
it back. Actually I don't typically like doing that, but
since I'm gonna play a whole bunch of total bets
this year, the Bengals are one of the teams again.

(36:04):
As we've said many times, George, Um, you hang onto
the hang onto some of these bets unless you see
real value. I just think that we gotta wait a
little bit further before you give the sports. In my opinion,
handing over a lot of your money to sports books
at the moment might not be fruitful for you to

(36:26):
might just be handing onto your money to avoid the bets.
I agree, right, because we know we've got some issues
this year. Uh feeling the only way to Bengals get
the six is if COVID hits a lot of their schedule.
I mean really, and the other teams losing players here,
but the Bengals is gonna lose players to eventually. Now
then I get in the six. This is one of
the ones I like, I'd be heavy on the under here.
So what is So let's talk a little bit. We've

(36:48):
got a few minutes left. Let's talk a little bit
about some of the big questions for this team. A.
J Green we let off with, He's not really a question.
He you know, he's an improvement if he's healthy, he's
a big improvement. As options. I think they've done and look,
they have Joe Burrow there now. I think they've added
offensive lineman in recent years, and they're gonna get Jonah
Uh Jonah Williams back in to come back in at

(37:09):
left tackle. He was out the entire year last year.
So Joe Mixon a player that has a lot of
ability and we think could make some noise seeing three
hundred touches or so, he's an interesting fantasy option. I
just don't know that there's enough pieces here overall to
make this team competitive. So what do you think are
some of the big questions with this team? Well? I

(37:30):
think what's good? Your first question is Borrow? Is he
And when I say that, is he a franchise guy?
You know, is he going to be the guy you're
gonna have for the next ten twelve years. You're gonna
be paying you know, a couple of hundred million to
that can lead you out of the you know what
you've been living in the base. But now forever? Is
he that guy? That would be my first question. I
tend to leave that yes he is, but until we

(37:50):
see it on the field, we can't know for sure. Yeah,
And what I would say is that I do think
Joe Burrow is a talented, franchise level quarterback. And if
he if he busts out, and let me say, let
me phrase it differently, if he ends up becoming a bust,
I would blame the Bengals more than I blame Burrow.

(38:11):
And I think that's fair. I think we saw in
Tennessee with Mariota, injuries were an issue. You had a
couple of different coaching styles they tried, They hung in there.
He became sort of unreliable for them, although objectively not bad, Jamis,
you had a lot of off field stuff. He didn't
seem like he was professional. He wasn't a leader, and

(38:33):
then he goes out in his fifth year option year,
which they didn't have to give him any through thirty
interceptions like it's over, Johnny, We're not We're not doing
this anymore with Burrow, unfortunately, I think they can get
to the end of the four or five year deal
and be like, man, sorry, Joe, he just didn't really
do it for us. And meanwhile his coach might have
been fired. They're looking for more front office turnover. I

(38:57):
just think the Bengals are one of the most broken
or going to sayations in the league. It's a family business,
and I just don't think. I think they're sometimes more
interested in profit than they are the product on the field.
And then some teams are like that you'll get no
lugger for me, Mike. I agree with your analysis. Yeah,
so that's it. We're gonna talk about the Rams next.

(39:18):
Andrew Whitworth had a scare with COVID nineteen. We'll talk
a little bit about that, and then the Ramps will
be right back on FFC. Sports grid dot Com Betting
Insights and entertainment at your fingertips seven as our team
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than get on the grid. Sports grid dot Com Back

(39:45):
on the Grid, closing out this hour of Football Full Circle,
Mike and George talking about the Los Angeles Rams supposed
to move into this new stadium. I haven't had a
stadium update on them in a while, but we'll see
if we can find something. Emes, you're going through this segment.
But Andrew Whitworth, longtime offensive tackle, one of the oldest
players in the league, he's back. He signed an extension

(40:07):
at thirty nine years of age. He signed an extension,
and he said during the NFL p A call this week,
as reported here by Dan Graciano, that he had a
family member who went out to lunch with a friend
contracted the coronavirus. Soon after Whitworth, his wife and kids,
and wife's mother and father in law all caught it.
Quote all it takes is one exposure. His father in

(40:29):
law was hospitalized during this. So a scary moment. And
I think a lot of times players don't get the
benefit of the doubt of being a normal human being.
They get dehumanized in a weird way, whether it's because
of fandom or fantasy football or wagers or whatever else. Uh,
some typele lose perspective. And Andrew Whitworth is trying to

(40:50):
add some here. Absolutely. I mean it shows you it
could happen to anybody to be careful out there. I
want to say, watch you, Survinmes wear a mask for
crying out loud work mask. Uh we all hate wearing
a mask. I hate wearing a mask, but I still
wear it. Granted I've gone into a story now and
then I forgot to bring my mask because it doesn't
daun on me. But I woke back out and get
my masks. Not a big deal. But I wonder this

(41:12):
when they do these health and safety protocols, who's gonna
get paid who's not gonna get paid? To opt out
by overs first right now? And also the garbage they're doing.
How are they going to handle players like Whitworth, Zeke
Eliot would fall into this as well, a player who's
had COVID. He's over it now, you will be over
by week one, But what if by week six? Doctor says, oh, no,
you used to have underlying symptoms. Got your breath all right?

(41:38):
And he said he had pretty significant breathing issues. Von
Miller did, And but they haven't exerved themselves since. Yeah,
they're working out, but you're not doing real football work.
But now when they're in camp, when they're playing games
here and you're doing those, you don't feel the same.
Adopted doctor tells you, Yeah, it's related to COVID. You're
not You're not that perch. You really shouldn't be playing anymore.
You should. You're not fully recovering. You're fully recovered to
do normal stuff, but not foot bowl stuff. I wonder

(42:01):
how the NFL is gonna handle this as well. Yeah, agreed,
So there aren't a ton of news stories happening in
the NFL right now. The story, as George and I
have talked about at nauseam, is right in our faces.
Are the rookie is going to be able to report
on time, how many guys are testing positive? Are the
veteran's gonna be able to report on time? How many

(42:23):
are testing positive? Have the NFL and nfl p A
worked out the money, have they worked out the safety protocols.
I would suspect that it won't be worked out before
everybody tries to report to camp. But I think they're
trying to gonna try to get everybody into Camp George,
even if the stuff's not worked out. I think they're
desperate to try to move the news cycle along. Yes, well,

(42:47):
one thing about the NFL, and they truly believe the
virus will bend to them if they can do anything
they want. We could do our normal schedule, everything we
normally would do and will be okay. The problems that
you is not going to have that. I don't think
camp opens up on time. I don't think it's gonna
be I think it's gonna be massively late. I don't
think it'll be you know, August, but I think it'll

(43:08):
be August before we actually do get in. There might
be August first. A second, I think I've a couple
of days off because they're waiting too long, like they're
waiting too long to get everything they need to get
in writing and to satisfy the union. I understand you're
never gonna be able to satisfy the union completely. That's
just when negotiations work right. Once I wants all this was,
I wants all that. You have to meet someplace in
the middle here, but they have to probably edge more

(43:29):
towards the union be safe. I don't think we're playing
two preseason games, you know. I don't think we're playing
any preseason games but one at the very most. And
I also wonder when it comes to these preseason games,
why just do what the what the team is doing
in Major League Baseball? Thinking about scheduling a game and
having you know, Dallas played ball tomorrow, Dallas for the Rams, Dallas,
you're playing Houston. Now you want to try and play

(43:51):
you playing the closest team to you. We'll try and
get it done that way. But even that, I just
don't think it's going to happen. Union's gonna fight that
quite a bit. I think it's a a big negotiating
ploy for both sides. Actually, I think they'll be one
point for the NFL maybe to get other things they
want by saying Okay, fine, we'll give you no ball
preseason games this year, and the Union's gonna use it
the same way. We're not playing in the preseason unless

(44:12):
you do this, this, this, and that. True. True. So
let's talk about the Rams specifically this season again. Uh
we're gonna assume that everything gets underway and we get
some games going, but let's talk about their odds. Rams
obviously disappointed to not have made the playoffs last year
after making the Super Bowl at the end of the

(44:35):
season and losing to the Patriots in the worst Super
Bowl ever. But here are the odds for the Rams
to win the Super Bowl. One plus twenty to win
the NFC Championship plus four hundred. That's fourteen to one
to win the NFC West plus three seventy. That division
in particular is pretty tight, so the Rams are behind

(44:57):
the Niners, which are even money at plus one h it,
and behind the Seahawks. Uh so plus three seventy to
potentially win that division at a very competitive division. Now,
you could argue it's the most competitive division in the NFL.
With Arizona on the rise. Hopefully for those of us
that own Kyler Murray and their fantasy leagues. Uh so, yeah,

(45:18):
I did um to make the playoffs plus one thirty No,
minus one sixty. The win total is eight and a half.
It's minus one thirty two the under. So there was
a lot of fading of the Rams. I didn't I
was fading the Rams last year. I remember our buddy
Joe Rayniery was fading the Rams quite a bit last year.
Going into the season. They had the Super Bowl hangover.

(45:39):
It was obvious Girly was injured. Uh. They just did
not play anywhere near where the level they played to
in the previous season. So now are they gonna And
they weren't terrible. There were nine and seven. It's not
like this team completely fell apart last year. But you know,
considering where expectations were, although it's a point now where

(46:00):
I'm not sure why anybody not named the Patriots has
any expectations after they win or lose the Super Bowl,
it's just hard to get back there. Uh. Then again,
here we are staring at the Chiefs potentially looking at
a repeat. So so there's the odds here, George. We'll
go through the schedule in a moment, But what jumps
out to you of those odds, Well, what jumps out.

(46:20):
I mean, I don't think this is a bad team.
You said they went nine and seven last year. If
we had that extra wild card team, they would have
made the playoffs. They were seventeen, so they would have
gotten there. As far as the odds, I mean, I
don't I worry about Jared Goff. Really what you depending
on him? That's a rough division they play in. I

(46:41):
don't think the fourty Niners are thirteen. I think they
played over their heads a little bit. Not Packers over
their heads, mind you you know Packers I think sold
their soul to get the thirteen wins last year. But
I on think the four Niners are the great four
nine team of the nineties or something like that. To
with the s East West blow at plus three seventy now,
I don't see how it might be a better team too.
I think the Fans are a better team. Eight and

(47:03):
a half wins. I'm gonna take No. One the playoffs
minus one sixty. That's probably where I I don't like
laying that juice. I don't think they make the playoffs.
I don't eat with seven teams. I think they ask
some question marks, and when we do the question marks
on this team. I think they have question marks up
and down the offense outside of white receiver. Yeah, I
mean the playoffs, you got Philly and Dallas. I think

(47:25):
it's only gonna be one NFC North team. I think
you're looking at two NFC South teams. So you got
New Orleans and Tampa UM and then yeah, I guess
it's two out of the NFC West. I think a
better What about Atlanta? I think Lands a push over either. No,

(47:46):
but I don't know that both NFC East teams are
going to live up to expectations. That never happens in
that division is always very consistent. I don't know what
you're talking about. Yeah, they love an eight and eight seasons,
but that that division it's self as a new division
winner every single year virtually. Yeah. So, and they're not

(48:08):
like knocking out two and three teams into the playoffs.
Definitely not three this year and maybe not even to
The teams are just wildly inconsistent. So I don't know. Uh,
my problem with the Rams is I'll kick it off
with my issues with the Rams is what a lot
of people have said. They are a very thin team.
They do not have a lot of depth. They cannot

(48:30):
afford to lose guys, which they started to do last year.
Girly goes down, Cup goes down, and then it's Golf
and Robert Woods. They're trying to get Tyler Higbee in
the mix. It was pretty good down the stretch. I
think there's plenty of talented players on defense. They get
Michael Brocker's back because of that Ravens contract snaff who Uh.

(48:52):
But again, I just think they're really thin. They didn't
have a lot of draft picks. You need Golf to
play back to the level that he is playing in
the Super Bowl season, and I just don't know if
it's possible. Uh. They traded Brandon Cooks, and I just
don't know that they can get back to where they
need to. They'd have to stay extraordinarily healthy, which is
a hard thing to say during this season that they're

(49:15):
going to be able to do. Is he now? You
hosted the draft show for US. I was on you
when I covered the Rams. I was disappointed that what
the what they did. I think part of the reason
why Golf has regressed is that he doesn't have a
lot of time back there to throw anymore. I think
he's turning into a guy who's seeing the rush, he's

(49:35):
throwing up his back foot. I would have preferred them
to go go offensive line. In the first round a
guy fell to them, and they still took the wide
receiver position that they didn't need. The second round they
go camp anchors. Okay, you could, you could? You want
to say they needed a running back. I'm not gonna
argue with you. There they lost girly, I get that,
but you can find running backs later. Still passed on

(49:55):
the offensive linement, so I thought that was two mistakes
they made there. I think you want to get Golf
back his confidence, which I think regressed somewhat last year.
We know he had got he has guys to throw too,
coup Woods. You mentioned everyone Higby with Bolt pretty good
last year. He and drafted in another wide receiver here.
But I think he's seeing the rush. I think he's
that happy feet or his story about his back foot,

(50:17):
rather than stepping into a stores because he just doesn't
want to get hit right now, which is weird for
a guy. I used to say this about Eli Manning,
but at least Eli Manning Playton the year ten plus
years before he started feeling this is not even half that,
and he seems to be feeling this rush already. I
would have, like, guess, the major question maybe the offensive line.
I would have liked to have seen them improve it
more because I think that would have helped the running

(50:38):
game and I think it would have helped golf. Yea,
So I agree with a lot of what you said
because they're off their strength of their their strength of
the team. A couple of years ago when they made
the Super Bowl was their offensive line now Whitworth is
still everybody's thirty nine. John Sullivan was a mainstay at
their center. He's since retired. Are Rob Havenst They lost

(51:02):
Roger Staffold, he's on moved on to the Titans at
a big free agency deal. So a couple of the
main stays they had on that offensive line for a
year or two aren't there anymore, haven't been there, And
to your point, it the team as a whole look
like it regressed. I think there are good weapons there.
I think some people anticipate that Cam Akers could be

(51:24):
a really interesting breakout back as a rookie this year.
I just don't know that consistently that this offense is
going to dominate like they did a couple of years ago.
I do have faith in Sean McVeigh. I think less
need has broken down this team in an unfortunate way.
They've been capped out, they don't have a lot of
cap room. They still need to pay Jalen Ramsey, whom

(51:44):
they gave up big draft picks for, and they're not
going to be able to do that until next year.
I'm frankly surprised that Ramsey has been okay with it. Um.
You know, he still gets paid like a high end
corner because of his draft status, but you know, not
what he could get on the open market, like what
Byron Jones got or James Bradberry got. I agree with

(52:05):
you about that. I'm surprised that Ramsay has held his
tongue as well I sposed to with someone we know
is not afraid to speak. Yeah, but maybe it's some
kind of inside agreement with them that he'll he'll wait
whatever it might be. I'll not worry about the defense.
I think it'll play fine. Remember they also lost their
special teams guy. Those teams coach Fossil to the Cowboys
that he was very good. He was certainly inventive with

(52:26):
fakes and stuff like that. Yeah, they have the best
punter in the business and Johnny Hecker. So uh, that's
it for this hour of football Full Circle on behalf
of George Kurtzer, producer Brian Rikowski on Mike Bluet. Thanks
for watching, everybody, We'll see you next time. On the
Grid sports grid dot com betting insides and entertainment at
your fingertips as our team covers the most important topics

(52:48):
in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models, expert picks,
and more. Want the edge than get on the grid
sports grid dot Com