NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 32 Takeaways from AFC Coaches Breakfast and Dave Canales Steals the Show

Episode Date: March 31, 2026

Gregg Rosenthal, Nick Shook and on-site correspondent Jourdan Rodrigue provide the latest sights, sounds and reports from the 2026 NFL Annual League Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. From a spicy Sean Payton interview to an attention-grabbing photoshoot with Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales, the NFL Daily trio brings you the best stories from one of the NFL's most entertaining tentpole events.NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. I'm Daniel Jeremiah. And I am Greg Rosenthal. I know that, Greg. We're teaming up on 40s and free agents, the podcast that owns the NFL offseason. This is where teams are built.

Free agency, combine, pro days, trades. Every move matters. From my draft boards and mock drafts to my vaunted top 101 free agents and how rosters come together. Quarterback movement. Surprise signings. We'll tell you what it means. And who really.

really wins. Open your free IHeart radio app, search 40s and free agents, and listen now. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we were not invited to Jay Glazer's annual day drinking event with all the NFL coaches. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm in Los Angeles. I'm talking to my friend Nick Shook in Cleveland, and we are going to be talking coaches, breakfast takeaways. Are you ready? I'm so ready, although I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get a few really embarrassing earlier morning photos from Phoenix's, like sweaty Mike Tomlin. We didn't get sweaty Mike Tomlin this year. No.

And that Jay Glazer get together, which apparently is an annual event going on almost 20 years, apparently, and this is not surprising at all if you know Mike Tomlin, kickstarted with Glazer day drinking with Mike Tomlin at one of these owners' meetings. And then apparently it turned into a thing where he invites every coach to just hang out, relax. As Glazer said, sometimes. the leaders need to be taken care of. Who's thinking about them and just, you know, let their proverbial hair down?

He got 28 of the 32 head coaches to just hang out around the pool and have some beers and whatnot. Who are the squares, the four squares that didn't go? I want to find out. I could guess. Yeah. But I don't know. We also were going to talk about Dave Canals. He's a candidate maybe for one of those that wouldn't be there.

But I don't know. He seems like a regular dude who's going to talk. what I thought was a fascinating insight into the coach's photo, which we talked about on Monday show. But let's get to the news. And who really is always a reliable quote, this time a year, any time of year. It's Sean Payton, the Denver Broncos coach. First of all, he just, this is as an aside, I thought it was very interesting that his experience with the flag football, which took place in Los Angeles playing against Team USA, he said was very humbling. And he would be very surprised if there's even one single NFL player on the Olympics flag football theme.

So in 2028, I think that's an astute observation. So Joe Burrow, you might get disappointed. But let's get to the NFL of it all. I liked this back and forth. I'm going to get your thoughts on it right after. But it's Sean Payton and a reporter kind of talking about some of the articles that were in Denver about how come the Broncos aren't doing anything. This was, of course, before the Jalen Waddle trade.

Let's, yeah, I hear, I saw the stories, all right, and I don't believe it. And so it's not, let's run it back. I hate that turn. All right, it's not let's run it back. Let's understand one thing. It's anything but that. When you win 11 to 13 one score games, like you saw the flip in just one season between Kansas City, it's how do you improve your team?

and the better you get, the harder it is to improve your team. And so you just weren't patient enough for us to trade for Waddle. Your stories had been written. Oh, come on. You had ten other suggestions, too. And listen, you can come get one of these jobs. Apply for one. Well, I never feel good.

I never feel good. I love that. What were your thoughts, Chuck? Come get one of these jobs, the job that you're totally unqualified for it. I'm just going to expose you for it by saying this right now because I'm feeling a little angry today because I didn't like how you wrote your stories. But I'm going to defend them real quick because it's not like they didn't do anything. They retained some of their own.

They were able to keep their pair of linebackers and Alex Singleton and Justin's Dernod. And yeah, I mean, this is a team that finished with the number one seed in the AFC. Maybe they like a lot of what they had and maybe their priorities were to keep a lot of what they had and then add a playmaker and Jalen Waddle. It is funny. If there's any coach that's going to go after a reporter who, once that reporter asks that question about the content that they produced while the

Broncos were perceived as sitting on their hands, it's Sean Payton. It is Sean Payton to a T. Nobody holds a vendetta like Sean Payton. And this is kind of, I guess, the perfect place. It's casual enough for him to just go after the guy and set the record straight, at least in his mind. Here's the thing, though. That's his love language.

I think he's only doing it with someone. I don't think he's mad. I think he's having fun. I think this is how he interacts with the world. And I guess I feel like I share that with Sean Paine. I don't know if it's working out for me that going after people is my love language. I don't have that many people. No, I actually think that's one of my favorite attributes of you, Greg.

You know, not to turn this into a shower Greg with compliments session here. But I mean, once you figure out that when Greg comes at you, he's actually expressing love, it's the best thing in the world. You're no longer on the defensive. You're like, oh, we're bringing anything closer here. Let's hug. It gets tricky when you have kids, though. You know, not every kid can be... How you create dry humor.

Yeah, parented the same way. I have my son here, Walker, who's playing the Wii in silence. I said, as long as he stayed quiet in the garage, he doesn't really respond to that. So, you know, I've changed course there. Sean Payton, though, loves it. And I do take a few things away from that. First of all, you hate the idea of running it back.

And I agree that never works. And I've been worried about that when it comes to the Broncos, that you bring back the same team. It usually just doesn't work. You know, George Payton, the GM, talked about how, look, we got rid of Drey Greenlock because we really like those other two linebackers that you said. And they might use Jonah Ellis, by the way, at linebacker as well. And I get it.

Jalen Waddle will add something. They might change their number two quarterback. Sean Payton said that job could be Sam Ellengers or Jared Stidham, and maybe Jared Stidham could still be traded. But the most telling thing was at the end when he just said, well, I'm never happy. Yeah. Yeah, well, because coaches know, I mean, they'll say this time and time again, but they especially know how hard it is to repeat success from year to year because so many things have to go right.

You got to stay healthy. You got to have the schedule kind of play to your advantage. You got to catch a hot streak at the right time. Broncos did all of that. They also won a lot of close games by just waking up in the fourth quarter. And he understands how thin that margin is between victory and loss and how hard it is to repeat that. But I give them some credit. The only thing that I really worry about roster-wise right now is that their running back room didn't get a lot better.

Like, you know, you have the idea of Dobbins back. and everything else, but I would have really liked for them to make an addition there. And the draft is still ahead, so they still have time to make additions. But yeah, I agree with you that it's running it back. As much as you like a team, I think there are some challenges that you can kind of project and something you can't see coming. And it leads to some occasional disappointment. Not saying Broncos fans that I believe you're going to be disappointed.

Okay. Don't come after me. We're already on bad terms because of Bonnix. I get that. But, you know, this is just part of, you know, what they may be dealing with in 2026. But you were a little lucky last year. And you don't have to take my words for it. Your head coach is saying it.

I love a head coach kind of acknowledging that, that we weren't quite as good as the record, or a lot of things went our way. But also, you know, Sean Payton's getting up there in years. He's got a great team. He has turned around a disastrous situation. And he said he's never happy. And so, you know, life is short.

I think he is finding happiness and he expresses it in different ways. But I hope he can find some happiness. Also finding happiness as a first time head coach, Jesse Minter. I've been talking about the nomaday. Madabweke situation all offseason thinking that is the most important news for the Ravens. Either they get one of the best defensive tackles in the league back or they have a big hole in their defensive line. Minter did not say if Madabweke is coming back, but there was a report by ESPN last week that

said signs are trending that way. And Minter did say that Madabweke is in a great place mentally. And so that just indicates to me it was about, I think the mentality of if Madabweke wanted to play again or not. And so that sounds great. He also mentioned when I asked about fourth downs, whether he'd be aggressive. He said, well, Lamar Jackson's one of the best fourth down players in the NFL side. I love to hear that. Both good news for the race. Somebody's done a little scouting of the roster he's about to coach. So good on Jesse Minter for that. He's done his research. You're right, though, Matt of BK is a huge part of this defense. They couldn't stop the run.

They couldn't stop anything up front when they went on their losing streak in the middle of the season last year. And of course, Lamar Jackson's injury coincided with that. Getting him back will be huge. Also the nature of the injury that he dealt with the neck injury for an interior lineman is always, you know, frightening. It's for anybody, but especially for interior linemen whose heads are just more involved on a per play basis. So you hope that he's able to come back. And I think upgrade from in a good place mentally to also a good place physically, we have months to determine whether that's the case. Yeah. And I'm watching that. I think it's really big for their team. I was surprised to see the Ravens have the highest projected so early over

under wind total. You might take a look at that in an upcoming episode, but that, getting a little over our skis, I think. One team that does not have a higher win total than really any AFC team is your Cleveland Browns. Todd Monkin spoke. And I thought it was interesting. He said the reps in the quarterback battle won't be even.

He said, how last season ended matters a lot. And so he's going to favor some quarterbacks over others. On Deshaun Watson, he said he hasn't gone back and watched a lot of films. and that he knows he's going to be on the roster. He knows he'll evaluate him. Set he'll give him a shot, but what are your takeaways from hearing this from Munkin early? So I collected an assortment of Todd Munkin responses,

and what we got was, I don't know if it was a master class, but it was definitely a veteran example of how to give a bunch of non-answers and leave everybody guessing when it comes to the quarterback. Okay. So first quote,

what I've seen over the years, I'm hoping to tap into that. That's in relation to Deshawn Watson. Second quote, I know he's going to be on the roster. I know we're going to evaluate him. Third quote, we're excited to see what we have. He's part of our roster.

These are all Watson-related quotes. Then it shifts to who's getting reps. Who starts out getting the rows, most reps will be decided on, quote, what I've seen in the past and where last year ended like you just said, right? Well, where was Deshawn Watson last year? Not on the field. Shador Sanders was on the field. And then he's asked about Shador, and he talks about how last year mattered, but also

that these reps are not going to be even. So what he's essentially saying, and he ends it here with the number of reps a player get doesn't, doesn't eliminate competition and it's not set in stone. In the last quote, we certainly want to allocate our reps to the players that gives us the best chance to win, which means this is all a work in progress and that they're not going to reveal anything because he even admitted that he hasn't really gone back and studied Watson's tape, but he also understands who Watson was at his peak. The Browns are leaving everything open. Jimmy Haslam has even tried to pivot from the whole swing and a miss to potential home run.

He's pointed to Sam Darnel and Daniel Jones's examples of what Watson could be. I don't buy it. What I do buy is that the Browns are just like, well, last year we had five options. This year we have two and we're just going to figure it out as a go. Justice for Dylan Gabriel, you know, he's not in this mix. I think the most telling part was he hasn't gone back and watched a lot of Watson film. I think the bromance is real with Shadur. I think they're going to try to give Shadur as many reps as much opportunity.

You know what else I think is a real bromance though? What? Ty Simpson. Ooh. Keep an eye on it. I think that's a real romance. I don't want to buy it, but I'm buying it. It's started to pick up an indie, and it's only gained a little bit of momentum with each week that's passed since then.

And I just, the longer we go on, the more I'm like, I think they really like him. And I think there's going to be another player in that competition that is not on the roster right now. Where are there extra picks? I'm thinking out loud right now. They have four in the top 70. They have two in the first round. Okay, so they have 24 and 39 are the extra one. The extra one is 24 and 39 is there.

That's the range, though, that you would expect them to draft him specifically. 24. Too high. 39, sure. 24, too high. It is interesting because the GM, the head coach, like, I know it's a new head coach, but I just feel like they don't have the longest timeline in the world. I think he would like to show his work in terms of what he could do with quarterback.

That's really interesting. I like that thought. This is why Nick Shuck makes the big bucks. Who else makes big bucks? It's Matt Lafleur, not Mike Lafleur, already confusing our producer who has to go look for Lefleur sound and things getting mixed up. Well, we didn't get mixed up here. We have some quotes that were actually from Monday,

but I thought these were noteworthy, and they were new to me Tuesday morning. It was Matt Lafleur talking about maybe what went wrong with the Packers a season ago. If I'm being honest about it, I think there were some guys that were upset about roles last year, and I think that took a toll on our football team. So you need guys that bring great energy every day.

I think from a coaching standpoint, role clarity is key. So we got to obviously do a better job communicating with our players. Hey, here's your role. And if you're unhappy about your role, it's on you to do something about that to carve out a bigger role on this football team. But yeah, the buy-in is absolutely critical. Getting guys in there that are juiced that are ready to go to work each and every day is going to be critical for us.

heard some whispers about this that just like yeah the vibes weren't great and you look at like who's not on the roster anymore and who knows I'm not just no point in guessing who that was also thought it was interesting he said they were going to strip down the offensive installation to studs basically start all over they have a bunch of new coaches including on the offensive line throughout you know offensive coordinator and almost act like it's

the first year for mat Lafleur and start from scratch which I like just some interesting interesting thoughts about a team that's trying to take the next step from being the seventh seat every year. Yeah, I think that that was a little bit of usual coach speak with, well, if you don't like your role, go out and earn it and change it, that sort of thing. But I also, you know, this is, you could see this as cherry picking and that's fine. But I felt in those games that they lost to the bears, you could see the lack of continuity, just culture wise, like vibes wise. When things were falling apart around them, they were not able to get up off the mat and fight back. And I believe that in hindsight, LaFleur has seen that, understood that, and probably experienced that every day and is out.

to make sure that doesn't happen again, which is why you start from square one. And I mean, look, this is a guy who's been there and had a lot of success for a while now. So it's not like you're questioning his ability to get the job done. It's just a matter of bringing everybody together.

This happens from time to time, even with established coaches, sometimes the vibes are just bad one year and you need that off-season reset. So Packers fans are going to hope that they're able to reset and start off on a better foot. Obviously, winning cures a lot of that.

They have drafted really well at receiver, but it is tricky to build a receiver room where you're trying to get four or five guys fed. Look, the first round pick, Matthew Golden didn't have a lot of time last year. When Watson came back, Christian Watson came back, maybe that cut into what Romeo Dobbs would do.

And so it's just, it's tricky to keep everyone happy. One guy who's probably happy is Kirk Cousins because everyone seems to want him as their backup quarterback. It includes the Packers. Why are you pumping your fist? Because that's one of my notes

that I just wrote on the side was in all caps. Everybody wants Kirk Cousins. Well, you mentioned it In context with a guy who did speak Tuesday, Clint Kubiak. So why don't you talk about the Raiders are another team potentially in the mix? And Matt Lafleur volunteered Kirk Cousins' name. Yeah. And he's not the only coach.

Sean McVeigh did it yesterday as well. He was just like, oh, yeah, by the way, for our backup job, it's Jimmy G or maybe it's Kirk Cousins, which I thought, you know, was a little bit eyebrow raising. It just shows how much he's in demand. But Kubiak said that, you know, the Raiders, he wants to add a veteran quarterback to the room, obvious, especially when you're anticipating. they'll select Fernando Mendoza number one. And, you know, Kirk seems to be a good fit there,

although he didn't say that outright, unlike the other two coaches, but we've projected them as a good fit as well. And he's also talked about how the ideal situation in 2026 would be a rookie, watching, quote, a mature adult go and run an offense and run the team, end quote. So I think he's a fan of sitting the young guy and letting a veteran get the job done, and they just need to go find that veteran now. Right. And he went a little far saying, like, you don't know if he's going to start week one of 26 or week one of 2027. And I'm thinking, well, there's no way he's waiting until week one of

27. But if you have Kirk Cousin start the beginning of the year, you think there's some benefit of that or whoever the veteran quarterback would be. We'll see. I think that depends more on how Fernando Mendoza adapts and what his summer is like. But it is good to have a fallback plan. Speaking of, you know, planning ahead in terms of contract, just a couple little notes. It's Ian Conningham, the Falcons GM, said that a Drake London contract extension is, quote, top of mind. Remember, he's in the same class as Garrett Wilson, who got paid a year ago as Christo Lave, who's trying to get paid now. I think that deal will happen. The Vikings exercised the fifth-year option of Jordan Addison.

Not a total lock there because of his off-field stuff, and you just didn't know there were some trade rumors about him this off-season. The Jaguars will also exercise the fifth-year option of Anton Harrison, just some fifth-year-old. option talk. And, you know, I think this is a big year for Addison in terms of getting paid. And whether he'll have a future in Minnesota or not, I don't know, but he's under contract there for two more years. I think when, when things are good, he's proven how special he could be as a receiver, whether he was at Pitt, USC, or with the Viking, right? But last season, it was kind of the whole, the whole evaluation just felt a little off. It felt a little polluted by the fact that they struggled offensively, that they had these issues at quarterback. We, you know, when we talked

to Justin Jefferson on Radio Row. He even admitted that, you know, there was a lot of frustration. And I, that alone would be fine. And I think they would still understand the potential and what Addison has done when things are good and feel confident in, you know, signing, at least getting the fifth your option done, if not considering a long-term deal. But you're right, it's the off-field issues. It's three encounters with law enforcement.

It's missing to walk through prior to the game against the Browns overseas, which is back in week five. These are signs that just make you think twice about giving that sort of guy a long-term extension. When it comes to on-field performance, though, I mean, I think he's done enough. though they struggled last year to deserve it. It's just the total picture. And they're also operating with an interim GM right now.

So things are just a little, they're not as settled as you would like them to be with decisions like that. So picking up the fifth year at least gives you the extra year to kind of explore whether you want to keep them long term. That was very subtle quality pro podcast or FLEC just referring back to our conversation with Justin. I mean, it was a highlight of the year for both of us. So I have it back. It was great. Justin Jefferson is the man. He appreciated the shoutout that we gave him too on social with it, which I appreciated.

And look, I should have remembered, yeah, that game in Dublin, or was it London? It all blends together. That's why I said it for two weeks. You know, he gets benched through, you know, he's out late, and then he has the game-winning catch. And he pretty much dominated on that drive. That was the one against the Brown. So that was in London. and got them to win in that game

because I fully believe in his talent. I think he's one of the best number two wide receivers in the league. Very much, you know, not quite at the level of Devante Smith in Jalen Waddle, but in terms of the contract that he would get, I see them in the same kind of bucket of players

that, okay, maybe you're not a top 20 receiver. Those two guys might be, but you're pretty close to that. And man, that is worth a lot as long as he can stay on attack. And we, I mean, mentioned Anton Harrison. That was, you know, I wasn't sure that they would. He's had a very, I wouldn't say up and down career, but there's some years where he's looked great as a tackle.

You also noticed that Liam Cohen said, Travis Hunter very well ahead in recovery. This is that time of year where everyone's ahead in recovery, but good to hear. This was a fifth year option, too, that I think is the product of all the vibes are good right now because we finished strong last year and we believe in our future. And yeah, with Harrison. Yeah, because like, let's think about their offense and how explosive they became as a passing offense. Of course, you're going to at least, you know, pick up the fifth year guy or the fifth year option on a guy who is important to protecting your quarterback and continuing that explosive offense. So, I mean, his grades have kind of gone up and down, at least according to PFF.

Last year he had his career best performance. Some of that, I believe, is related to the offensive success. And it's less than $20 million for the fifth year option on a former first rounder. So it makes sense. But it's not necessarily a sign that they're going to retain him long term. He's still going to have to earn that. I thought he was great two years ago. So that was, what, the 2020 three season.

And then, yeah, and then maybe it was a little bit of a dip, but good context. Sad for everyone that lost their jobs at PFF, by the way you're mentioning. It just seems like they've completely given up on content, which sucks to see. A lot of great people like Trevor Sycambe over there. And so I know a lot of them will bounce back. But yeah, I might have to cancel that PFF subscription. Let's go to the Jets. It's just cracking me up how much Aaron Glenn is just talking about, like,

Gino Smith is the answer to our prayers, everything that we want to be, all this stuff. They're using AI more in the building, which has me a little concerned. I don't know what we're talking about there. AI can make mistakes, folks. And then he was like, we're going to be a little more multiple. We're going to do more three, four, you know,

four three. We're not going to be as static. I just think that's one of the things to watch this season. Aaron Glenn has not really adjusted his defense for a while. He is now in charge of the defense. He has to make this thing work or else he's going to be gone. and he's got to make it work early in the season. Let's go to the Dolphins,

where John Eric Sullivan is the new Dolphins GM. I thought it was interesting. He's had some interesting quotes in general, but he mentioned that the three pillars of their roster are Devon A. Chan, not got to trade him. Jordan Brooks, the linebacker, and Aaron Brewer, the center. Those are the three pillars that they're building around. Not exactly the weight-bearing walls that the Rams talked about years ago

where it was like Aaron Donald and... Yeah. Stafford, of course. I'm trying to think who the other the weight bearing walls were. But yeah, maybe Cooper Cup at the time was, but then that wall fell apart. Yeah, but really good players.

And I think just interesting that he mentioned those three. He also mentioned on the offensive line, how they have two spots that they feel great about. Patrick Paul at left tackle and Aaron Brewer at center. And I'm thinking, oh, well, if I'm right tackle Austin, Jackson, who they invested a lot of money in in the old regime, I'd be like, huh? Well, oh, am I not long for this?

This seems to just interesting how the new regime views the roster of the inherited. Not their guy. And it's funny because you look at this roster and how they've had to tear it down in this rebuild. And then you compare it to the stance that the new regime is taking, which is, you know, very optimistic and kind of trying to oversell a little bit. I believe Jeff Hathley was talking about how, you know, he still feels good about the roster and they have playmakers and everything else, but it's a work in progress.

And I'm like, okay, first year honeymoon phase is going on right now. and you're trying to tell everybody and sell your plan that you have a long-term vision for what this team should be. But it's interesting that they're kind of doing a baseball team approach and building through the middle, like pitcher and middle infielder. They're going A-chan as an explosive running back brewer is one of the best centers in the NFL, you know, as a finalist to win the protector of the year. And then Jordan Brooks, who I have always really appreciated, I feel like has been a little underrated in his career. Yeah.

It makes some sense, but I just know that they are so far away that when I'm doing, working on my first mock draft, right? which I believe will be up tomorrow. And I got to the Dolphins and I'm thinking like, well, you could go in a number of different directions because they have needs all over the place. But me being trenches guy, I'm like, I'm looking back at offensive line. I'm not telling you who,

but I'm telling you that Aaron Brewer might have a new buddy lined up on one side of him as they continue this rebuild. They could use a guard. I think I can guess what it is. But we don't want to reveal anything. Too quickly. Let's go to Mike McCarthy. I just keep clocking this story.

to me that he can't believe how lucky he is to be the Steelers coach. I don't think it's the greatest sign in the world. He was like, it is just so surreal to him. I don't think he expected to get hired a third time, much less with the Steelers. I don't know if I liked that vibe. I did think it was funny that he noted in his first ever coach's breakfast in, I think, 2006, he was being asked a question about whether his quarterback then Brett Farve was going to come back or not.

And now here he is 20 years later. asked about Aaron Rogers, who he says he feels good about and texts multiple times a week. This is, it's obvious that this thing is happening and it's just annoying that it's not official, but to me, it's official. But also, maybe not like the best sign for your organization that your coaches, like, you're just revisiting like what the Packers were going through 20 years ago with the same guy. I don't know. There's something strange about it. Well, it was a break from convention when they hired him because usually they went with young and upcoming coaches. Instead, they go with a guy with a ton of experience that he can then lean on.

situations like this, which I kind of think that maybe they needed in one way or another. And a lot of that has to do with the quarterback situation. Now, obviously, when he was hired, the immediate connection was made to Aaron Rogers. And well, maybe this will convince Rogers to come back. I don't know if it was really that deep, but it does help them at this point. But it is, like, funny that this is a guy who has coached at big time, you know, franchising. You know, he's coached the Packers. He's coached the Cowboys.

He's been to a Super Bowl. He's won a Super Bowl. He's been in big time games. And now he's just, like, walking around like, gee whiz, isn't. And this is just the best. I'm the coach of my hometown team. It's very endearing and likable in general. I just, and also, I think as you get older, and he is that, we are all that.

I think you appreciate things maybe a little more. I think he's appreciating the hell out of this moment. Let's actually listen to McCarthy. I didn't realize we had sound. We got sound for McCarthy Roberts in the, you know, in the mills, finding all the great sound on Tuesday. 2006 was my first time doing this. And the first question was about a veteran quarterback,

whether he's going to come back or not. So it's a big deja vu. But no, it's going good. It's been very positive. And we'll just continue to talk. So we talk regularly. All right. He talks regularly with Aaron Rogers.

Also talking regularly, Mike Vrable. Thought it was interesting. He really stressed how inefficient he believed they were running the football last year said the explosive plays they had hid how they really weren't that good running, something that we were hitting a lot on this show. That's interesting. And that their offseason moves were directed to try to fix that. I wonder if moving Will Campbell inside could potentially be part of that.

But they signed Julian Hill, who's a good tight end. They signed Reggie Gilliam, who's a fullback from the bills. And so they've made some moves with thinking about the running game. Mike Brable saying he wants all the tight ends. quote unquote, and that is going to be geared. So something we were talking about was like people were saying that they had a good running game, but it was really boom or bust. Also asked about his old friend, A.J. Brown.

It's our daily AJ Brown update. Let's listen to what Mike Crable had to say. We've talked about this since last January. We're going to try to everything we can to strengthen our roster through the draft, through free agency, multiple ways of player acquisition. So anything that we can continue to do to strengthen the roster, we're going to try to do. Okay.

As everyone does at this time of the year. I know, but not shutting it down, not shutting it down. He's sick of answering that question. Also, apparently, he just absolutely destroyed a orange juice while he was sitting there. So we've been saying we've been noticed there's less breakfast being consumed during the coach's breakfast.

but Vrable's down in that OJ. Didn't do it in one gulp, but puts it down pretty quickly, you know, hits it again. You know, it's a manly OJ drink. See, see this, first off, shout out to Eric. My goodness, the collection of clips of him

sipping this orange juice, and it's not sipping, it's gulping. Fantastic work on your part, super producer, Eric Roberts. But also, this makes me think it's yet another reason for why I would love to play from Mike Vrable and run through a brick wall for him

because that's how I consume my beverages as well. So no shade on taking healthy gults. Potentially dehydrated from the night before. Vitamin C, getting back to life. Let's talk about the lion. I just wanted to note there was a story about how they made Frank Ragnow who once played through like a punctured lung and all sorts of other.

Fractured throat. Pay back his signing bonus, which has happened for many of these lines over the years. It was a day after a Taylor Decker story where the left tackle didn't feel like the lions really dealt with them, dealt with him on a fair level after he decided to return. I think they wanted them to take a pay cut, and there was some misunderstanding between the two.

And Dan Campbell's done a great job. Brad Holmes has done a great job. But, you know, the ownership structure hasn't changed. And it was just a reminder, like, that maybe Dan Campbell has done. and Brad Holmes are still, you know, having to deal with some organizational issues that have led to the Lions being who the Lions have been over the last 30 or 40 years. And that's the thing is as you turn the corner toward being a successful franchise,

sometimes it's hard to shake those old habits. You might be able to paper over them with victories, but small things like this still point toward, you know, some organizational deficiencies, weaknesses, whatever you might want to see them as. That's kind of crazy. I'm not going to lie, that's kind of crazy. But we are also in an NFL with old guard ownership and then new much wealthier ownership. And we haven't quite cleared that gap yet.

The last name is Ford. I know that. But still, look, I know the audio. Old habits die hard. I get it. But and that's how they've always operated. It's disappointing. And I know it's going to be on Lions fans' radars because they have a long history of loving their players but not loving the ownership.

seeing this, how they're treating some of their best players over the last handful of years, is really disappointing. Speaking of ownership, Jed York, the 49ers owner on Sunday revealed that when asked about Christian Kirk, that he didn't know Christian Kirk was on the roster. He also mentioned he hoped Brandon Ayuk could play for the team this year, which I honestly just think it's a little bit of a red flag that he is so disconnected from knowing what was happening because there's no way Brandon Ayuk is playing for the team this year. And like, it's not great that that the average casual,

maybe not casual NFL fan, casual 49ers fan would know that. And like a lot of, a lot of people, I would say, that follow the NFL would have already known that Kristen Kirk is on the 49ers and the order doesn't. There's two ways to look at this, though, because you can either see it as, oh, no, the owner's unplugged. This is a bad sign. But it's also a strong sign in how good your regime group is

at doing their job, John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan managing everything so that Jed York doesn't have to get involved because conversely you would have an owner that's meddling and messing out the operation. But I did think it was funny when our insiders did a hit on Good Morning Football this morning and they started talking about Brandon Iukin. There's still that Niners logo next to him because they haven't resolved it yet, but everybody knows that he's not going to be on that team. I was like, hmm, interesting that that's still, he's still associated with the 49ers.

And maybe that's just the world that Jed's living in right now. Yeah, maybe. maybe he watches GMFB with the sound off and just sees the name there. Yeah, that's our guy. I think this is great. The NFL announced that the Seahawks are going to be the hard-knock team this year and the Patriots are going to be the hard-knock team next year. They've never announced it a year ahead.

Very interesting that it's going to be the two Super Bowl teams from this year and that they get a year ahead on the Patriots. But pretty cool that the Seahawks did it. My theory is that this was a, I'm not going to say dying property for NFL films, but it's lost interest. Struggling. From the struggling. I think it gets okay ratings within HBO and everything.

But in terms of conversation, like, I'll just admit, I've kind of ducked out of watching Harnock lately. And it's almost like, we're going to make you do this. Or the Seahawks, we're willing to do it. And, yeah, defending champ on Harnock. Pretty cool. Yeah. So I think that there's a couple of.

avenues with this that are kind of interesting. One, you have to acknowledge the fact that we live in a different world than we did when Hard Knocks first debuted, you know, with the Ravens going on to win in the Super Bowl and everything else, right? And all the captivating moments that came from that. We have more access now than we did then. I mean, exponentially more access now than we did then. We also are dealing with players who are now properly trained in media to say all of the right

things so that you don't get as many of those genuine, candid moments that you would 10, 15, 20 years ago. So, of course, the allure is going to decline a little bit. But I wonder and I worry a little bit about scheduling two teams in advance, the two Super Bowl teams, one this year and one next year, if that's going to be, end up being a mistake the year after or if it's really not going to matter at all. Mike Braybill will be there, whether they're coming off a bad season or a good season. That's a compelling organization to hit because we've never really seen behind the scenes. So I think that part of it is fine. And look, I think that's a great point.

Everyone's grown up now with reality TV. I just think there's so much football behind the scenes. There's so many documentaries. There's so many self-produced, like, team NFL, that it's just the market's flooded. And we all operate as if there's a camera present at all times. Like the authenticity of a, like, the true authentic moment of 25 years ago is no longer there.

No, you're getting raw. You're getting raw 60% G all the time. This is who I am. I'm not playing for the cameras at all. So let's finish with a guy who does. play for the cameras. He admitted it. A fascinating moment from Dave Canales on Good Morning Football, reacting to Kyle Brandt, who did his annual look at the coach's photo and commenting just how nice Canales shirt looked in terms of the thread count, how, you know, in shape he looked,

his hair looked great, like he was fresh from a barber. Here is Canales' response to that. I do know there was some strategy to where you stand in the in the staff photo. So you know, you got to position yourself next to people that may or may not make you look a little better. And certainly strategically like on the far opposite side of Matt LaFleur, you know, who's like the guy. So you can see Matt and I have at least 12 feet of distance. You know, there's so there's some framing in there. You know, I'm not going to say any names, but there's a little strategy behind it. Wow. I love it.

Jordan and I talked after getting Canalus on the show. He's a really compelling guy on camera, very likable. But I always feel like there's like a real Canalis behind it all that I want to get to know like a little better. He presents publicly very well. And I thought that was really telling because he positioned himself. Like he said, there's some strategy of where you want to be. he is right next to between Mike McCarthy and Kellyn Moore. It's so unfair.

He's the one that said it though. That's why this is amazing. You want to talk about, you know, bulletin board material. Coach is never talking any trash. If I'm McCarthy or the guy in his division, Kellynne Moore and he's saying he's strategic. And then I was like, well, it'll be really interesting to find out the two he's next to and then those were the two.

I'm just, I think there was some intent behind it. I love this, Chuck. Also, he did a great job of putting Kellan Morbys and him and Domeco Ryan's. Right. You essentially got, here's the crew of the guys. Here's the guys that stayed in shape. Here's the guys that drank too much and let themselves get, you know,

let their physical state get away from them. Good on him. But you know what? That response, I'm going to go all the way back to the front of the show here. That response tells me that I think it was a little unfair that you thought Dave Canales might not have been at Jay Glazer's party because that guy who answers like that and is thinking that far ahead, he's down to hang.

He's down to hang. He has, like he wrote a book, he has talked about recovery, right? Yeah, he might be abstaining from the drinks, but hanging out. Yeah, that's fair. Just fascinating. I wish that we had the AFC coaches. So someone could ask McCarthy

what you think of Canalesis comments. Like keep this going. as a news cycle. And yeah, as a man who is in great shape, check, I mean, I hate to think that in a similar situation, like the NFL team photos they used to take, talent team photos,

that you were thinking about that in such a way. Oh, I got to position myself next to Rosenthal. No, God. I am the Kellynne Moore in this scenario. No, you're not. No, the height difference would just not be good for the lineup. And plus they never put people with that difference in height.

It'd be good for you. Of course, yeah, but I don't need to do. do that. Okay? That's like, when it comes to height, that's punching down. That's punching down. It is punching down a little bit. But I will say, literally, I would make sure if I was in the coach's photo to put somebody between me and Robert Sala, because I would probably be wearing the same thing he was wearing, but that man's got a better build than I do. Okay. That's fair. But this is absolutely a story I am going to track for the rest of this season, or if nothing else, just bring it up all the time, especially when the Panthers in Stains play. Let's take a break.

on the other side, should have mentioned at the top of the show, we got a special guest. Yeah, it's one of our main hosts. It's Jordan Roderick. She's boots on the ground at the owner's meetings. We'll talk about rule changes, everything else she's been hearing in Phoenix. I'm Daniel Jeremiah. And I'm Greg Rosenthal. And this is 40s and free agents. The games may be over, but the NFL never stopped. This is my favorite part of the calendar. Yeah, mine too, Greg. Free agency, the combine, the NFL draft, Pro days, trades. This is where teams reshape their future. This is where Daniel Jeremiah makes his money. On 40s and free agents, we break down every move that actually matters. From my draft evaluations, mock drafts, and team fits to my top 101

free agents and how real rosters are built, cap space, contracts, and all the tough decisions included. You got quarterbacks on the move. We got teams rebuilding. It's hope season. Yeah, absolutely. It's hope season. We'll tell you what's real, what's noise, and what it means for your favorite team. Smart analysis, real conversations every week. I don't know about the smart, but definitely analysis. Listen to 40s and free agents on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Back on NFL Daily for one of my favorite annual segments, Jordan Rodriguez, by a pool, in a hotel or at a hotel that she could not afford to stay at. But the NFL owners can. Welcome. Jordan. How are you?

you doing? Hi, I'm great. I love the Phoenix Biltmore. It's fantastic. It's a prime lurking area. If you do my job and you need to listen to other people, talk to each other and then have meetings, you know, in various pockets by pools, around the circle bar. Everybody watched the Duke game earlier this week. That caused quite the stir down at the circle bar when a lot of people missed their privilege sessions because of that game. Oh, wow. Yeah, it was a, it was a vibe. So yeah, it's, I'm happy to see you guys, but I am not unhappy to be sitting where I am currently. That's amazing. I don't, I don't envy you and yet I'm happy, I'm happy for you. Wait, what's the like lurking strategy? What are you getting out of this? Yeah. Are you meeting with some people? What, what is the Jordan Roderig strategy here? Yes, it's to never stay still for too long, first of all. So there are a couple of

areas, I'll keep my favorite one private, but there are a couple areas where you know you're always going to see people and where you're always going to run into people, A, that you need to talk to or B, that you need to get some FaceTime with or C that you maybe talk to you on the phone a lot or text a lot, but don't get a lot of times to get FaceTime with. So I like to be out. This is my favorite one. This is better than the Orlando or Jacksonville or Breakers or any Palm Beach ones because the layout is really simple. There's the pool where I never go. because it's all the coaches partying and I just feel like I don't belong there. And then there's the circle bar area and there's a lot of patio chairs and tables and everything.

And that's a great place to lurk. Then there's the lobby where people have no choice but to walk past you back and forth between their meetings. And then there's the walkway between the meeting session rooms and the lobby where is another, again, a good place. And my last place is my favorite, which I will not share. but let me just tell you. Ooh. Nobody would survive this event if not for this one particular spot on site. And that is where I park outside.

So that's got to see everyone. They must go there. I can guess. Yeah. It's not like a lot of sizzle. Sorry, Chuck. You jump in next. But like the rules that they passed on Tuesday as we're taping.

not exciting. Like you can now do an onside kick any time of the game. Like they're changing the team's incentive to when they kick off from the 50 yard line where they were just kicking it out of balance. It's just like little small things. They did expand, you know, replay in terms of obvious officiating mistakes. So that could have a big impact. But like what's the buzz in terms of it just doesn't feel like there's a, in terms of changing the league, it's not a season like that. No, it's been very calm and that's been kind of awesome.

I would say too, it was not a really buzzy coaching cycle either. Not a busy hiring cycle. I was talking to a couple of people who thought the two kind of went hand in hand where there wasn't some person or catalytic figure causing buzz or some disruptor, anything like that. You know, it's kind of a very calm coaching cycle, a lot of retread coached with a couple, very unknown, kind of unproven guys. And then also, it's been a quiet rule cycle.

The tush push basically has not been mentioned other than people saying, hey, remember last year when all we talked about was the tush push? And what I've both disliked and liked, one, it's been calmer. So the buzzier stuff, you know, didn't even get a chance to hit the floor before it was rescinded. This is the draft picks proposal. But then it's also like been just a lot of football talk, which is more my vibe. I don't really care as much about the rule stuff. the football talk has been cool because it's also a lot of guys that know each other.

It's a very incestuous coaching landscape right now, a lot of siblings, like literal siblings, and then a lot of like coaching siblings too from the same trees, interconnecting coaching trees. So everybody really knows each other for the most part. And everybody, it's one of those calm events where everybody's just actually talking a lot of football, which I have personally quite enjoyed, but it's also not super exciting for the news cycles. one of those coaches that, you know, came from one of those trees that has now spawned his own tree and somebody that you know very well, obviously. Sean McVeigh, is it me or did he seem like he was a little chattier this year than usual

or maybe more just landed on my radar? Okay, here's the lore. This is my favorite thing about these meetings. The lore, and yes, you're correct. A lot chattier, awake and in good health in the morning, I'll just say. because it used to be that the, it used to be that the NFC coaches would go and do their table sessions in the morning

at it's always been early as hell. And they would always do the sessions, first thing in the morning, and NFC would always go the day after the big party that the league hosts, where they absolutely blow out the budget and they, it's an open bar for hours. It's a band,

entertainment, and it's, you know, there was a petting zoo and all this stuff. And like there's all this stuff that happens. And that's an open bar. That is a night that people kind of go a little bit harder. And then usually they'd make the NFC coaches for a year over, year, over year, over year. They'd make the NFC coaches go the next morning. The theory was that it was like a Tomlin thing that he was trolling.

So like this can't be proven, but that was the theory that there was like a Tomlin thing or he's trolling the other coaches, especially the Shanahan guys who he's friends with and was kind of like trolling all of these NFC bros because he would make them go when they were at their most in pain, basically. You'd see the Kyle Shanahan photos and the Sean McVeigh looking a little green around the guild photos and videos and all those things. This year, I don't think it's a coincidence, me personally, that Mike Tomlin is taking a break from coaching. All of a sudden, the NFC West is in full power. And, hey, by the way, the days flipped where AFC went Tuesday morning and NFC got to go Monday morning.

So no, Nick, I don't think it's a coincidence that Sean McVeigh was feeling particularly chatty. Now, the quality of some of the things he said is up for debate. But I think that, you know, it was definitely a healthier option. Oh, there she goes. We have lost Jordan. We were warned that her phone was overheating. And so we say goodbye. She's doing great work out there for the athletic and giving us some reporting.

Who knows? Maybe she just was trying to go join that Jay Glazer. I mean, the Arizona side. No, she says she doesn't feel uncomfortable by the pool. No, for real, her phone overheated. I'm looking forward, by the way, next week. We're going to have a Jordan Nick Shook show. So this was a preview of that pairing while I go see my parent and take the early part of next week off.

She did have some interesting takes from Sean McBay, which she kind of alluded to earlier. And she can expound on this when she's on. the show, but, you know, kind of the shorter version was that, you know, she, she thought Sean McVeigh could have been a little stronger publicly, responding to what's going on in terms of Puka Nakua and everything that's been surrounding him and the civil allegations, but that, look, it would not be a surprise to her who knows this organization. Well, if, you know, the concerns with everything going off the field with Puka is a, a.

conversation that does come up in the coming weeks, months when it comes to, you know, contract negotiations and Puka's future. And, you know, this is an organization that is, you know, quickly pivoted and everything. So it's just something that is, is a big deal. It's not the media, quote unquote, you know, making a big deal. It's just something that's going to come up between the player and the team. But heck, Jordan is the Rams expert. She can talk about that next week. I'm looking forward to, uh, to that show, Shuki. Yeah, time to shine for Shook. Kids are going to be back in charge.

Mom and dad are out on date night. We rule the house. That's right. Seeing my literal mom and dad. Let's hit the music. Let's get out of here. Thank you, Shook, for going over all the coaches, all the news. And, of course, Jordan, calling in there from Phoenix.

We are not done here this week on the eve. The next time you'll hear from me, we myself, Daniel Jeremiah, 40s, and free agents. We're also going through a lot of the defensive prospects later in the week with Ali Connolly. We will see you there. I'm Daniel Jeremiah. And I am Greg Rosenthal. I know that, Greg. We're teaming up on 40s and free agents, the podcast that owns the NFL offseason.

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