NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - A new GM App & Raiders Deep Dive with Vic Tafur

Episode Date: June 10, 2020

A bunker filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal bring you all of the latest news in the NFL including Bruce Arians's thinking about quarantining a third QB, Luke Kuechly's new scouting endeavors, and a league "stealing" Dan's great idea. Raiders expert Vic Tafur joins the podcast to do this week Wheel of Teams deep dive on the Raiders.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Around NFL Podcasts, is anyone still out there? Hello? Fair question. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis. I come to you from a city filled with heroes in bunkers. Mark Sessler Greg Rosenthal Ricky Hollywood

What is up Boys and girl Well we're in more than one city now Ricky What's a beautiful backdrop If this is sent out on social at all You know Can we see it?

Yeah it's beautiful Sorry if my lake side wind gets you Wait a minute Exactly Yeah what's happening here I decided to fly home this week to visit family and I can work from anywhere and decided to come home. And it's not too bad of a desk today.

I got to say. Are you able to? Well, by your parents. You know, they're the ones who did the work. Yeah, I haven't done anything. Do you have a little boat down there that you can go row about? I do. Yes. Yes, I have a, have a boat. Does it have a name?

No. I didn't name it. You can do the classic sports writer move and, like, take a picture and be like, my office for the day. No, we ban that phrase. If you recall, Greg, we banned that as part of the lexicon, so she can't do that. What's the square footage over there, Ricky? I'm always trying to figure out an approximation of Erica's family wealth. It's incredible.

That's all you need to know. It's incredible wealth, a little that we know. I mean, it's just it is what it is. That's not true. That's not true. It's a nice, quaint little condo. You know, it is a sign of, like, your class standing when you're asking to count other people's money. So that was a bit of a telling on myself and Greg was happy to jump in there.

Erica, we don't want to make you uncomfortable. We've heard a couple of little stories, but we don't need to make her uncomfortable. A couple little. You guys paint me in the worst light ever. And you know what? You just keep talking and I'm going to sit by my lake house. You're born into it, you know. I think it's nice that you're out of house.

I think it's good. I'm not, right. whatever's happening. I do like my whole thing is when I think about what does it mean to be New England Blue Blood to be one of the, you know, the upper tier members of that society is, was I bounced on the lap of Ted Williams as a child? And to that answer, Erica, you must reply. Yes. Yeah. Teddy ball game.

Teddy ball game. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, well, it's going on in the news, guys. You're right. We do have to get to Vic to Fleck pretty soon. I'm excited about Vic to Fur. You know, he will be the longtime beatman connected to the Raiders,

and he is going to be our guest of honor when we continue our Wheel of Team Series with the Raiders. And this was the first beat guy where when we make the announcement, we spin the wheel on Monday, where I don't know about your guy's replies, but I got several. They're like, you've got to get Vic. Vick's got to be the guy to talk Raiders football, and that's exactly what we're going to do. Yeah, there were a few mentions for people that I'd never heard of also,

but Vicks seem to be the overwhelming favorite among a certain type of Raiders fan. And Greg, you had like a spicy tweet out there where you were ranking the Twitter fan bases. Oh, yeah. And I believe you had the Raiders in the top five, the Raiders fans in the top five Twitter fan bases. Yeah, they've been. put through a lot the last two decades and it hasn't remotely dimmed their enthusiasm. B, I think I just was afraid of them if I didn't put them on. You know, like they, they rule through intelligence and intimidation.

And, you know, I'm guilty of being a victim to that. That was a very crafty tweet to put out there in mid-June where there's not a lot happening. It engages everyone on the list and the others who are not. I always thought that Greg had gotten some social media counseling from someone on how to craft a killer NFL tweet. I was super bored watching my kids' scooter around this little like sort of park half pipe type of thing and was just killing time. But yeah, the best five Twitter, you know, Saints Twitter got number one. They got the, they have the smarts, but they're so funny. I mean, they're the funniest Twitter, the most entertaining.

Seahawks, Twitter, number two. And then I had Raiders, Eagles, and Falcons as the next three. Now, some teams came after me. The Browns fans were there, and that's true. Maybe I don't follow enough Browns fans and stuff. But I felt good about that top five. Okay. Today I had to do the worst Twitter.

You know, people wanted that too. And I went with Patriots, Bills, and Bears. Those are the three worst. Interesting. It's very annoying. You're trash, kid, you're trash. Every Pat's fan, like, agreed in the mentions. I consulted because it came about because Bill Barnwell then replied to me,

I wonder if our bottom five are the same. And so we texted each other. And we had the exact same bottom three. So I was like, well, if it's that much of a consensus, we got to just put it out there. I've never thought about this once, but I like that you guys are plugged in on this because I find it interesting. Oh, look, joining. Joining Erica on the deck, it's Ben Affleck and Mike Greenwell.

That's nice for them to stop over. 1987 MVP runner-up, I believe, Mike Greenwell. How about that? All right, let's do some news. All this family wants is justice. Oh, it's nice to see some people change their mind. Head of the NFL said, yeah, maybe we was wrong. Football players, maybe they did have the right to peacefully protest.

Well, don't apologize. Give Colin Kaepernick a job back. I know he's trying alone. Well, there it is Reverend Al Sharpton, speaking at George Floyd's funeral and calling for Colin Kaepernick to get back in the NFL. Do you guys think, before we get into the news, do you guys think it's going to happen? As simple as that, it's obviously a very complicated issue,

but maybe it's not so complicated. Do you think Colin Kaepernick has played his final down to football in the NFL after what's transpired over the last two weeks? I mean, it's a guess, but I think so because on top of the fact that he, you know, based on the player that he is and he hasn't played in a long time, should already have a backup job based on some of the backup job. based on some of the backups out there. When you start to assuming, you know, action begins

and you start to lose quarterbacks left and right, if his name is ignored at that point, I would be really concerned about where the league actually really is at on this issue. I doubt it. Because, look, if the Seahawks are talking about it in the past tense, it's like, that's a team that should do it. And I just think it's going to,

it would have to take an owner that says, to their coaching staff. I'm sure they'd bring it up, you know, in a way that they want to listen. But it probably would just take an owner saying, we're going to do this because we think it's the right thing to do for the league and we'll figure out the contract. And if you don't want them, like, sorry, we're just going to make that decision. That's happened sometimes in NFL history.

Usually it's more about like league-wide matters. But it basically, I think, would take an owner doing that. And they haven't done it so far. so I guess they don't expect it to happen now. Fair to be cynical, I think about that. I think that's probably the most logical way this plays out. But I will say, you know, that what's happened and how the kind of climate around this has shifted. And I know there are some, there's still millions of people that feel the way Drew Brees did this time last week, for instance.

However, I think it's thawed in terms of how some people that maybe were either on the fence or, or some people that just kind of now see it differently and they did after what's played out with George Floyd and more thought and more coverage of the Kaepernick situation. I wonder if an owner will seize on that realizing that it wouldn't be perhaps quite as polarizing as it was in the past. So I'm going to say, I think it, I think it, I'm going to say yes. I think it can happen.

I think it will happen. And I think also a lot of it was tied to, you know, I think owners were scared about, owners were scared about sponsorship in dollars. I mean, obviously, that's typically what they seem to be lowered to and attracted to to begin with, which is the money base of it. But you're talking about a season where there's also no fans in the stands. I mean, it's a changing time.

And, like, to me, I consider it a pretty cynical reality if no owner at this stage would be open to it. It is, but we haven't heard the owners say anything about Goodell's video. And, of course, that video didn't mention Kaepernick either. And there's this whole, you know, people bring up that there's, you know, a case that, of course, the NFL already settled with, with Kaepernick paying him money in terms of what the terms are of that grievance. And maybe that affects what Goodell can say, I don't really know. But we haven't heard owners on it, really. And one other part of this, which is kind of forgotten because so much has happened both in the NFL and in the world since it happened. But Steve Weish was there when it happened.

The Kaepernick had a private workout or a public workout in November of last year. And that didn't go off without a hitch. That was, I remember Steve coming on our show and saying that the seeds of mistrust are so deep between Kaepernick's camp and the NFL that, if you remember, Kaepernick moved the workout to a different location at the last second. And some people viewed it as maybe not a farce, but something that was like it led to more thought that is this guy really serious about getting in the league or is it more about a platform and using it as a way to spread his message? and that, I imagine, is going to scare teams off as well. So we'll see what happens. But it remains one of the, or if not the biggest singular story in the NFL right now. Let's get to some other news.

And we'll start, oh, yeah, we're talking running back stuff again. And running backs that want to get paid believe they deserve to get paid. And Vikings running back Dalvin Cook, one of the very best in the league, has said that he plans to hold out without a, quote, reasonable. extension. A source told the SBN, he's out without a reasonable extension. He will not be showing up for a camp or beyond.

The Vikings had some cap issues, but they moved Stefan Diggs that clears some money off their cap, but the decision I guess Greg comes down to do they want to invest in a running back when we keep on seeing that these investments

haven't quite worked out around the league when you get to business for a superstar at that position. Yeah, I think they like to pay him, but he has some of the red flags that you worry about in terms of his injury history. He also has a really good backup. I think, I just think it's a normal time for a player to hold out. So like, look, this happens every year. It's not surprising is the thing that's different this year that people might not be aware of is that the new collective bargaining agreement really put in some rules that makes it harder to hold out. And if you don't show up for camp,

you start losing an accrued season if you just don't show up for camp. Now, I think it's going to be up to the team. If you can figure out a contract, it doesn't really matter. You don't need that accrued season. But there are some new rules. You also can get fined much more. It's mandatory. That's if you're on a second contract, so that doesn't apply to Dalvin Cook.

But that was one of those little wrinkles in this new CBA that, like, if Dalvin Cook doesn't show up, in theory, he loses that accrued season towards free agency right away. way if they don't come to a new contract agreement. Yeah, that was a little bit of a undersold aspect of the new CBA because I don't really recall hearing about that until this issue popped up. And it should certainly curb some of the, you know, kind of, you know, some of the stuff we've seen in Termo holdouts, you know, going deep into the season or something if you don't think there's a hope of a contract. The Vikings have, in the past, sign guys like Xavier Rhodes and Diggs and Everson-Gryphon and Linval-Joseph to contracts like the day before

training camp. And Courtney Cronin from ESPN also reported that the actual asking price seems to be closer to about $13 million per year when it was originally noted. It was around 16, which is way up there. So I, you don't know, we'll see what happens with that. But maybe part of it is Cook having to have a dose of reality in terms of what he can ask per year here. And we talked about Derek Henry last week, another guy that wants a long-term deal with Paul Kuharski when we did our Titans deep dive.

And Henry wanting superstar money is tough because he's not a true three down back. Well, Cook is. Cook is a guy that not only is he a stud running the ball, but last season, he was targeted in that offense 63 times. He had 53 catches, averaged almost 10 yards a catch. I mean, he's kind of a do-it-all guy. But like Greg said, there's some red flag. there with his injury history and we'll see

how the Vikings play this. But yeah, this is all very normal. It's almost nice to have some sense of normalcy on the leak out. Like I just on Twitter saw that Nick Underhill who covers the Saints does a great job. He tweeted article that Jared Cook

a lot of talk around the Saints that Jared Cook is going to be unleashed as a monster this year. And I just put up the trope signals because like it's good to have the trope alert back this time of year, which is something that's been wiped out, mostly because we're not going to have any OTAs or minicamps. Trokelet. Trokelet.

Charlie Cook's 33 years old. Well, Jared Cook is his own. He's like a walking trope. He gets that every team he's on. He's been on like five teams. We've heard this Jared Cook trope specifically. I'm not taking the bait. I don't.

One thing with, Dan, I'm not with you. Like, when it comes to the coronavirus taking certain things away potentially for good, like, holdout news is just not simply something that revs my engine, nor will it ever. I want it. I want anything that feels like the way things used to be personally, at least in the world of football. In other news, the NFL and the Players Association, this from Tom Pelliserro today, are discussing the possibility of shortening the 2020 preseason. Nothing is finalized or close to being finalized, but multiple team executives and

formed of talks currently believe they could end up playing half of the typical preseason schedule going from four games to two. That would allow for a longer ramp-up period for a league filled with players who weren't able to get their usual off-season work in with their teams due to the restrictions brought on by COVID-19. This feels like a long time overdue. It is crazy to me that in the late 70s, as late as late 70s, you were playing six preseason games before the season began.

Knocked down to four for the last couple decades. Two feels right because four feels long. Right. And four, this was going to, I believe, be the last year of four or the second of last, you know, they had negotiated it down to three. The players had wanted two. And so for this year, I think we are just getting that too. And who knows?

Maybe it'll go in a certain way that they just say, I know we agreed to three, you know, in the CBA, but maybe we'll knock it down to two. You know, what is the point of these preseason games in terms of, you know, making money other than the TV revenue? Because if fans aren't in the crowd anyways, that's a big part of it. You know, are you really going to charge your fans full price for preseason games like you have in the past your season ticket holders this year? That seems very dicey. I think owners would probably want to avoid that anyways. And I think the coaches and the players are probably on the same page here that they don't want to play four games this.

year at least. I'm with you. I think the league has two problems when it comes to asking fans to pay money to see anything. It's the Pro Bowl and any preseason game, because if anything, you know, the trend last year was, we're not even going to fool around with playing players for five or six plays in these games. They were just yanked entirely for almost three of the four contests for most teams. And I don't think that helped everyone. But we always look at things from this lens. But I would say if you're a coach with, you know, 20, two cornerbacks at the start of camp, and you've got to find a way to whittle it down

and figure out who some of them are. It's just this is going to be a challenging process in general to figure out how to make some of those decisions. And preseason games matter for those guys. That said, the idea that human beings suffered through six of these at some point is crazy. But those guys were also showing up to camp, you know, 15, 16 pounds overweight of like beer weight.

And so these guys, the players are putting themselves into a better situation out of the gate right now. totally different world. There was a time when the Jets Giants preseason game was a bigger deal than any of their regular season games. Well, that was like eight years ago. No, it was like 1959. So they literally like, like when the year after the Jets won Super Bowl 3, the hype and the excitement and, and what Joan Amos had, the meaning behind the preseason game the next year against the Giants was bigger. That the preseason game was a bigger game than the Super Bowl. It's like, I don't know. We can't even.

put our minds in that in that time frame mark the snoopy bowl was manufactured corporate sludge well i that's fine but a lot of the stuff that we're told to be um enthused about related to the NFL could be put into a similar category well you know don't get too precious with that it also gives the league you know a month for to figure out it gives them more time to figure out however they're going to handle these games which is ultra complicated and it's like the the NBA is starting in late July. That's not that much before the NFL, and they've had this whole ramp up, you know, it's not, they need to figure

out how exactly this is all going to work, which is going to take some work. Speaking of a COVID-19 world, Bruce Ariens, the coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, appeared on Chris Long's podcast. Chris Long's a competitor. You know, he's not somebody we cover anymore.

He's a competitor. And I think he should be viewed that. I disagree. Yes. I understand. We want to that he's doing all the right things on and off the field. And I totally agree. But he is a podcast host.

And that should always be kept in mind as well now. Sure. He's in that bucket. So therefore him and the other 15,000 podcasts out there, you know, green life. 15,000 enemies, Mr. Rosenthal. 15,000 enemies. Anyway, Long's podcast had Ariens and Long asked about the idea of keeping a quarterback away from the facility during the season to give the team a little bit protection in these uncertain times.

Let's hear what Brucey had to say. Yeah, that's one of the things I've been pondering in the last two or three weeks. As we set the protocols. What I'm understanding is, if you test positive, it's a quarantine for a two weeks. Now, if you have no symptoms, I don't know what that means. Yeah. Is it a false one? Is there so much to learn and still explore with this?

thing, but I've thought about keeping the third quarterback on the roster out of the role. Is Chris Long's podcast to have like Carnival Cruise music just floating underneath the entire show? I thought it was enjoyable to listen to. Yeah, you've got to set yourself apart. He's actually got a live band just

playing in the background while I'm certainly feeling better about it all of a sudden. There's a lot of logic to Bruce's thoughts there. Yeah, I think there is. But, you know, whenever you hear a backup quarterback talk about anything, All they ever talk about is, you know, my preparation.

I'm prepared to step on the field the minute, you know, anything goes awry. And if you're a quarterback number three in your home on your couch or out in your backyard lying in the grass while everyone else is gaining knowledge and, you know, working together and getting reps, it feels like a bit of a bum deal for that individual. I think it's the perfect role, though, for Mike Lennon, you know, to get back into the league. I mean, it's kind of an embarrassing roster spot to be the – the quarantines quarterback. That's like,

let's get Peterman back in here. Did you get paid the same amount? Of course, yeah. I mean, it wouldn't be a bad job. Who's the joke really on ultimately? Right. I don't think this,

I'd be surprised if this happens, but it's not a crazy thought when you're just thinking about things. Because it's all going to be messy. We'll see. Like five players on the Alabama team reportedly tested positive.

And, you know, they're in the spring. But if that happens with an NFL team, I don't know. I mean, we're in uncharted territory, but it's messy. If, I mean, I love the optimism of this full steam ahead. Everything is going to go off without a hitch.

But, you know, human nature and the way that viruses tend to work and they're not as concerned about television ratings and, you know, attendance and all the other stuff as human beings are especially owners, tricky territory. I think at least Bruce Ariens has to. What he's telling you is coaches are going to have to be more flexible to the tradition of building and running a team than ever before times 10,000. I mean, there is pro sports being played now. You know, it's soccer. It's not as many people. There will be pro sports, you know, played by the NBA, you know, before the NFL comes back. So it's going to be done, you know, as Korean baseball has been being played without any major.

So they're going to have to have a million precautions. But it is being done. It's just there's no other sport with as many people. Well, as many people smashing into each other also, but it's fair. In other news, we're talking about off-season programs in this unprecedented time we're living in the Bears. They've decided to end their off-season program earlier. And Matt Nagy said, you know what, nine weeks? That's fine.

That's enough. And he wants his players to focus on training without having to worry about video conferences four days a week. The team will hold its final virtual meeting. on Thursday. So they're basically finishing a week and a half ahead of schedule. We've done so much. We feel like we're in a really good place right now, Nagy said on a Tuesday conference call.

Yeesh, Mark, yeesh. Yeah, I think I wouldn't tell anyone. I'd say to the players, guys, you've done, you've met all our goals. But I wouldn't announce to, you know, 31 other teams. We're closing up shop because, you know, what do we think of the lions for rolling into Campa, you know, what is it a week later that they do every year? How are the Lions fair with that plan? So, you know, a lot of pressure suddenly on the Bears.

Well, the Saints, didn't it? Well, no, I'm just saying, you know, didn't the Saints say they were canceling the whole offseason program? Well, that's because they play an extra two or three weeks than every other team. So. And I think a lot of, I have found it interesting. It's a little related to this is, you know, the NFL, like, allowed coaches to come back and now they're unveiling, like, when players can go back. And more teams than not have just been like, nah, it's okay.

Like, even the Patriots are, like, we don't really have any big need to come back in. Like, they're allowed to, like, the Rams are the same way. They're allowed to, but a lot of teams, most teams are saying, like, this is fine. Well, let's, let's gear up for training camp. That is our huge goal. Is if that can somehow come off. Right. Like, if that can come off, great.

But otherwise, like, we'll see you then. There's going to be, in a best case. scenario, I guess, is the way this is going to play out. And I totally understand if you want to look at it as like, oh, maybe they shouldn't be so rosy and optimistic about how they want the schedule to go. But if it works out how the NFL wants it to work out, you're going to lose OTAs and you're going to lose the mini-camps and I guess two preseason games. But other than that, they want things to be on schedule.

But if you take away the OTAs and mini camps, like what really, what more? are you able to do right now? Your hands are kind of tied in, right? Right, right. Ultimately. In other news, Panthers news, Luke Keekley retired. Remember that?

How about that? I forgot about that. One of the best linebackers in the league, surprisingly shut it down in January at 29 years old. Well, he's staying with the organization, uh, organization where he became a star announced on Thursday. He's returning, uh,

just last Thursday, returning to the team as a pro scout. And here's Keekley's, quote, my family ran an auto parts company. That was my last job when I was in high school. I worked in the warehouse as a warehouse picker. Well, now he's doing some real grunt work as a scout. Mark, you've got to respect this as an every man.

I think it's pretty cool. I mean, I wonder what the catch-up or someone like him is on that front. It's those jobs by the, you know, they're not cushy. I don't know what exactly his specific role is, but some of those guys are on the road a ton. but I think he's obviously more dealing with the pro side. They'd be like, you know, what kind of linebacker are we looking for you, basically, someone with your skills?

Can we just find you again? I don't know. Yeah, he said he's, he says his favorite thing is to be around the team, to be around football, and this was his way to do that. I think he is mostly working out of Carolina in terms of working, like, with their pro scouting department. You know, you hear people say it's not about, the money. Well, this is clear, like, he's, he's not about the money. He had a broadcasting career

offer. He could do other, other things. It is pretty cool. And you've seen some players, you know, Ozzie Newsom was a, was almost a Hall of Fame type of player. I mean, he was a Hall of Fame. You know, it happened sometimes. Doug Williams, obviously, has had a great career from personnel. In other Panthers news, the team announced Wednesday, today, that they are removing the statue of former owner Jerry Richardson, quote, in the interest of public safety, the 13 foot statue,

which is just an absurd sculpture. It is because it's not going to be melted down or anything. It's just being moved. But it's a giant statue of Richardson holding a football with two ferocious panthers pouncing on each side of him. It's resided outside of the Bank America Stadium. It was given to Richardson on his 80th birthday in 2016. However,

the founding owner of the franchise abruptly put the team up for sell after allegations of racial and sexual misconduct in the workplace were made against him in December 2017. David Tepper ended up coming in and buying the team and here's the full quote from the team. We are aware of the most recent conversation

surrounding the Jerry Richardson statue and are concerned. There may be attempts to take it down. We are moving the statue in the, interest of public safety. Eh, a little lukewarm on the statement there from the Panthers. Greg. Well, I'm not because actions, to me, speak louder than words.

And in this case, I think these actions are going to be appreciated by a lot of people in Carolina. And Jonathan Jones, who we know. You could do both, I guess is what I'm saying. I guess you can do both. Yeah, but here's what I was going to get to. Jonathan Jones, you know, reported and he's followed it up today that, you know, when the sale happened.

and people knew this, Teper, the new owner, had to agree to keep that statue or else he wasn't going to sell the team. And the only reason legally that they could say that they could remove it was for safety reasons. That was written into the contract.

And so they're going with that. And Richardson, um, okay. As some sort of representative that didn't release a statement from Richardson, but did respond a spokesman. And, um,

basically just said he's, he's always treated every, one fairly, but he's probably not thrilled about this. So I, reading between the lines, I think it's, you know, it's the way Tepper was going to get this accomplished. Interesting. It's crazy. It's crazy.

I know. It's wild. Things are changing. The Big Ben, speaking of things are changing, the big Ben block party is coming to an end. We were just talking about this somewhat recently that Ben Ralthusberger, his Twitter account, blocks everybody, including, I know myself, Greg, I believe you. Mark, you were not blocked, which you took issue with on someone. I feel like I've been more critical of Big Ben than everyone here put together for various reasons.

And I've not been blocked by the guy. So I don't understand the strategy. All right. Anyway, it was, and this is your old boss there, Mike Floreo, Greg. Just another example. This guy just, he's going to crank out the content no matter what. And he has a whole story about it on pro football talk that at underscore Big Ben 7 is. is going to unblock all the people that have been blocked,

according to a knowledge per source with knowledge of the situation. So, Greg, we're off the hook. We're unblocked. Oh, my God. What a day. I mean, you get rid of this Richardson statue. That's great. You get unblocked.

It would be funny. I'd like to read this article. I feel like Big Ben was trying to pin it to, like, the latest, you know. Well, as the nation is coming together, I decided to try to heal things as way I could. Unblocking it. I want to know, Greg, and I know you have a cordial relationship with Florio, post-PFT. I want to know if Mike did digging on this and reached out to the Big Bend camp or the Big Bend camp reached out to Florio, a prominent newsmaker, an aggregator here for the NFL. And who got this story out here?

Who was amplifying here? Like, who was the one that wanted to make this something in the mainstream? Feels like Floreo, you know. He's always trying to scare up some stories. He's also very tight with the, you know, he covers the Steelers. That's like the closest team to him. So I bet he was probably annoyed for a long time. He was blocked or something.

I got to believe there's a little bit of Big Ben in there. I mean, wanting, you know, it's the Big Ben image. It's a little bit petty. We've had issues with quarterbacks blocking us before on our show and dealt with it head on with someone we'll talk about later today. But let's be honest. I mean, it looks a little bit small for Big Ben to. to be blocking anyone that comes at him with any sort of a take that's anti-stealers-ish, please. It is funny to think of like the Rathesberger or the guy who runs his Twitter account,

like contacting Florio, hey, can you get this out there? That's what I mean. I want to know, I want the oral history of that BFD post. I'm cordial enough, as he said. We get along. I'm going to text, I'm going to text Mike about it, you know, see what happened. And Mark, don't think I didn't know right away, please. Don't think I didn't notice that, Mark.

Small Ben. more like Small Ben, am I right? Well, you can go with that variation. He's been certain Browns fans would like to call him Big Jen at times. I don't think that's in vogue at the moment, but that had some run for a bit. Finally in the news, look, it's finally happening. And I'm actually, you would think I'd be excited about this. And I know a lot of people on Twitter reach out to me about it, but I'm bummed.

I'm borderline angry about it. There is an app that's being used. over the pond for top-level soccer teams where the team builders are in contact via an app. It's a site that lets clubs see which players are available and to gather information by direct message without the, and this is from the Guardian, I'll use their language here, without the often torturous and expensive process

of going through agents and intermediaries. And this all went down last Thursday, executives from 250 clubs across five continents were immersed in the world of online speed dating every 10 minutes a fresh encounter would start small talk would be made and understanding would be reached perhaps even a deal struck then a button would be pressed and the whole process would start again all the business conducted without an agent in sight 13 premier league clubs were involved in this including the arsenal everton including arsenal everton brighton and it's a 10 minute slot where all the team builders get in contact with each other

and they say, hey, this is who we're shopping. Here's who's available. This is what we might want from you. And it seems just way more effective than the process that goes on here in the North American sports landscape. What's holding us back here at this point? Well, so why are you disappointed? I'm disappointed because the IP is out there now. And I, there's no way to make money off it.

And Wes and I kind of cooked it up as a joint venture, but I would have eventually taken West to court to try to take all the money. All that now is out the door. And it goes back to, I remember I was at Hurst Castle with my wife before we got married. Hurst Castle is a beautiful estate up the coast here in central California. And we were looking at all the beautiful flowers on the estate. And sure enough, I look at one of the flowers, they're like, would it be cool to find out if there was a way to take a photo of the flower on an app and then upload it and know what the flower was? And I even had an idea for it. It was called flower power power, an app.

everyone laughed at me and now sure enough there's a huge app out there that does exactly that this is happening to me again chance to be a multimillionaire being just washed away I'm I'm reminded flower power well but I you know I am I am reminded of uh and I hope I'm misquoting it but um you know to paraphrase you know the Mark Zuckerberg character from the social network like if you would have invented Facebook you would have invented Facebook, you know? You know what I mean? When the Winkle bosses are trying to come up.

If you wanted to do it, then it would have happened. You would have invented it. No. I know. I invented it. I'm Mark. Well, Dan, I'll give you a few more points for the, uh, I know. That's why I'm bad.

The flower app that circulated in the mind there. I think that's a nice thing that you came up with. I had a friend and I, we came up with something called doubles, where instead of this ridiculous, this was a long time ago, pre any dating apps, but in, Instead of like some guy trying to find some girl online, like two guys that are friends go on a, like a date with two girls that are friends and you just see what happens. Doubles.

Well, they have. That would have been, that would have a lot of money. They have like Reddit boards for, you know, people like that. Well, that's what I'm talking about? I came up with this idea in like 2003. So not, it was not on a Reddit board at that point. I just mean like, you know, couples, you know.

Well, I know what you mean. You're like, but this was a more, you know, it's a, it would have been a G-rated first time to hang out, and then you just see what happens from there. This is, it makes sense. I would love to see like a, an entire, like that back house you have at your house mark that we talk about all the time, just filled with notebooks on the, this idea. And all ideas pertaining to couples getting together and privacy. Seems like it's a recipe for some friendships to really be tested, you know.

That's true. That's true. you could go on at the first castle maybe yeah i mean this can't be the first this is not the first mark sessler idea that's popped to his mind about couples disappearing into the darkness no you're right there's got to be notebooks after notebooks after but they're not hold on guys they're not i know you you put your research in you really need to know no all right goodbye anyway the gm app i know now it's not ip for me and i'm not going to make money off it but it just makes sense. They're doing it over there

in the other version of football. So bring it over here and you're not going to see, you're not going to have heartbroken fan bases like in Houston wondering how we got David Johnson in the second round pick for one of the best wide receivers in the world. Let's do this right and eliminate the middleman with the

GM app. That's what's happening in the news. At the facility, it's felt like every other play was a pass from Carl Waller. He loves this new target he has. Handoff here to Jenkins. out of a tackle and the rookies take it off down the middle wide open it's lower to the 10 and tripped up at the two by will redmond is going to score touchdown oakland third and three cars in his last eight passes it comes out quickly and diving for the end zone and the touchdown is the rookie foster morrow up next in the wheel of team series the

Las Vegas Raiders coming off a playoff free season, seven and nine, third place in the AFC West, head coach John Gruden entering his third year and joining us. Like we said, by popular demand, he writes for the athletic and he's covered this team for a long time. Victor Fur, welcome to the Around the NFL podcast. Doing good, guys. How are you guys doing?

Good, good, good. We're doing well. Hey, Vic, so let me, let's start here. So the narrative around the Raiders right now is that the Gruden Mayock team, they see that they have this superpower chiefs in their division and they know they're going to have to try to keep up and score points. Their draft is focused on some level toward that goal of getting this offense more explosive. My question, do you get a started, do you actually think, I know the Raiders think they have,

But do you think they have narrowed the gap here between the top of this division and they're a team that's better and has a real chance of hanging around in the AFC West in 2020? I think they've definitely improved. I mean, obviously, the chiefs are a very high bar, and the chiefs are the best team in the league, probably getting better. So I think it's a tough one. Just stay with him on the scoreboard. But I think Ruggs, ideally, is a guy that can help spread the field,

open things up for other guys like Dern Waller. Josh Jacobs is a big rookie year last year. So there's definitely some pieces there. their offense can't take the next step next year. Yeah, I look at their receiver group, and I think about how they traded for Zay Jones last year because he didn't have anyone, and he just immediately started playing starter snaps.

And then you look at the receiver group this year with Tyro Williams and Renfro and Rugs and pretty good. And Zay Jones might not even make the team. So the personnel has been upgraded. I'm curious just from having watched Gruden so closely, and you're familiar with his time, you know, before in Oakland. How do you think he's been in terms of, like upgrading how he likes to run offense for 2019.

Because when they were good last year, it still kind of looked like the old Gruden, tons of short passes, controlling the ball. It was a little more old school. Like, how was he had meshed with this new NFL? It's a good question, because a lot of times the knocker on Derek Carr,

he's Mr. Checkdown, all the checks the ball down, dumps off the short passes. But that's what John wants. And really, that's the big part of his offense. He doesn't want taking chances down the field. So a lot of times, Derek's doing what he's told to do in an offense. So I think, obviously, last year was hard because I think John was going to evolve a little,

but I think he definitely planned to have most of his offense kind of centered around Antonio Brown. They had the whole, pretty much, he was going to set every record, I think, last year in the book, as far as reception, and yards, and he wasn't going to get them all that often. So I think having that thing all fall apart so closer to the season, it was hard to overcome for them. I think they definitely did a nice job. They used three tight ends a lot, kind of try to use what they, had. But three tight ends, teams are going to catch on pretty quick. It's not going to really help you get a lot of points in the long haul. So I think, you know, Tyra Williams got hurt

last year at two bad feet. So I think last year, I do give John and Derek a little bit of the excuse because I think that's valid. I think they lost two big pieces that received they were counting on last year. Yeah, I look at Mike Mayock also in terms of the overall process of team building that he's pretty quickly added depth in a lot of different areas to a team that definitely needed a lot of depth. I mean, their roster a couple years ago was a horror show. I look at someone like Lynn Bowden, and I know there was the issue with him this morning that maybe is not an issue, but a fascinating player at Kentucky, and I know they've got a

pretty stacked backfield, but could you, to Greg's question and Gruden, you know, growing and becoming maybe more, you know, innovative in 2020-ish, how do you think Lynn Bowden, and maybe not right away, but as a rookie and down the road will be used by this team because it's almost like a question of how do you designate them as a player? Well, I think this year the plan is kind of using as a running back primarily, kind of of easing them in a little bit, just kind of get some receptions, kind of maybe a couple wildcat packages, but I think they're going to bring them along slowly. Eventually, I think the long-term goal is he can play the slot, he can move around, might return kicks also this

year. So I think it will be a good test for John and Greg Olson, the OC, just how they can get him involved, come exploit what he can do. He's definitely a big, you know, make-you-miss kind of guy. So was aware, his stats in the SEC last year were pretty incredible for a pretty bad Kentucky team. They threw him in the quarterback and he kind of still put up huge numbers last year. So I think he really is a rare talent. I think if you had a pro day this year, he was a little hurt. He might have been hiring the draft. So I think it was a good value.

I think he definitely is one of those guys who can definitely make plays with all over the field. What are he expecting from Cleland Farrell this year? He went fourth overall. It was Mayock's, you know, first big draft pick. And didn't seem much in way of production. Max Crosby, who was a later pick, he had 10 sacks and he flashed and looks like a guy who could be a long-term answer for them. Do you think that Farrell, to you, did he come off a guy that was developing, just albeit a little bit slower or a potential question mark whether this was the right guy to bring it to the building? I think maybe both.

I think with him you looked at last year and where it was in the draft, it might be a little high, but he's not really that quick twitch kind of guy you want. He's an edge pass rush. He's more of a bigger kind of physical guy. I think he's worked hard at this off season. I did a story on him recently where he spent 18 weeks in Florida in Miami. He's put on 12 pounds. He's 2.75 now. So I think the plan is having him as a sturdy end.

He can move inside maybe on third downs. But he's definitely a hard worker. He definitely everyone says, you know, the character thing is through the roof. That's why they fell in love with him last year. They kind of, the plan last year was the kind of ideally trade back and get him later in the first rounds. And then when they couldn't trade back, they're kind of stuck.

They're like, well, now what we do? I mean, we love this guy. And four may not be the best value for him, but we do love them. We love so they went ahead and took them there. So I think was you overdrafted, possibly, but I think there's still a lot of work to work with that. I think definitely is a lot more to Cleve Ferrell than we saw last year. Yeah, Mayak avoid. I think that happens all the time, right?

That were teams, they fall in love with the guy, they can't move out, but they still, it puts you in that spot. And then you get killed for overdrafting the guy. But ultimately, if he's a guy you like, you grab him. Yeah, if it works out, if the guy becomes a great player, no one cares. he reached for him. He had a bigger last year. Nobody would care about that he wouldn't do a little higher than they thought. And it's good for him.

He mentioned Max Crosby. They're good friends. And Max obviously overachieved or definitely was better than people thought he was at draft time. So they kind of balances their route where Max was kind of was a player. They thought that Kui might be. And so I think they definitely helped Klee a lot as far as didn't get totally killed in the media in terms of his not so productive rookie year. I think Max definitely helped them out as far as taking some of the shine away and not putting so much of the light on. and Klee's, you know, not totally productive of rookie season.

Well, and, yeah, and Krosby took the heat off of Mayok, too, because, like, with Trayvon Mullen and Josh Jacobs and Renfro was solid, it's like Cleveland Farrow might not have been one of the best four rookies on his own team. I'm curious, I want to switch gears a little bit and just, like, ask you a little bit what it's like covering this team, especially how it's, how they're moving to Vegas. It's just a team with a lot of drama from the top on down, you know, from ownership to coaches over the years, I guess, you know, I've seen,

you've had some drama on Twitter over the years. You know, you're not afraid to get a little back and forth. Like, what is the level? It mixes it up. Yeah, Mick and mixed it. That was old me. I've grown up. That's not me anymore.

Have the Raiders matured that, I guess? Like, as they're moving to Vegas, like, is this still kind of like a crazy team out of left field or what's going on? They're always going to be crazy. I think going back to Al Davis and now Mark, I think you mentioned Gruden's definitely just a very emotional person who kind of does what you think at the moment. I think you look at me and look at the Cluel Mack trades. A lot of things that there's not a history of really a lot of planning and rational thoughts.

They really act, they always have kind of, you know, just kind of shot first and then ask questions later. So I think it always will be crazy. I'm sure Vegas will escalate to another notch. I think just the whole atmosphere there. And I'm dying to know what the plan is as far as security and, like, players. so they can have like a roving patrol of security guys. I'm going to make sure that and go to the one bad night in the high-rollers room at Caesar's Palace.

You're going to have a million bucks. So I just think there's women that are going to be targeted. I just think this is a whole different. People say there's gambling and whumbling all over the country, but it's not like Vegas. You can't get in trouble at 4 a.m. on a Wednesday. Are you moving there? That was the plan.

I am going to be there next month. I think the pandemic kind of has definitely changed some things up a little bit. But I'll be there starting next month. And so, yeah, it's going to be. it's going to be crazy, obviously. How are you going to stay out of the high rollers room? I've been to Vegas. I lived there when I was a young man, so I've learned all of those.

But now I'm a wise veteran. I know where to watch myself. But yeah, it'll be fun. I mean, I definitely, I think, I'm talking to Incognito, who definitely had his share of trouble. He said if he was going to Vegas at 25, it would be a big problem. But now he says he's learned and he'll be helping teammates kind of like take the calmer road. Richie is the voice of reason.

You got to love that. So just sign older players, basically. Right. I was going to say, problematically. The average age of the team is probably exactly 25, so maybe a problem. Yeah, I think the last two years in the draft, definitely Mayak and Gruden, especially Mayak, to talk to these guys. And they're drafting guys who they've fought ahead, like, can this guy handle it in Vegas?

Can this guy handle all the temptations? And so they've definitely made us one reason they've gone towards the bigger program. I'm supposed to be picks for guys from the bigger Clemson. They have a huge pipeline from Clemson now. So they've tried to really thick ahead and draft guys who they think will be able to handle the whole Las Vegas atmosphere. I would say this too. The league gave them four primetime games in Vegas.

It's pretty rare for that to happen to any team. So the expectations are there. Some of those games happen early. And I kind of with teams like this, because I think the consensus seems to be that the Raiders are at least an eight-and-eight team, if not a playoff team potentially. with a seventh wild card or seventh playoff team added. I wonder who the scapegoat would be if things went wrong

because it's not Groot and he's under contract till the end of days. Mayok's done a good job. I look at someone like Paul Gunther, and they brought in Rod Marinelli, which is an interesting guy to bring in on defense. And if the defense, which is, I think, where some of the question marks lie, crumbles early, could you see him being shotguned out of town mid-season?

I think it's possible. When he was talking about that list of possible scapegoats and who wouldn't be as a guy. I thought you were going to say Derek Carr. To me, Derek Carr is the guy on the line this year. Feels presumed at this point, too. Yeah, you're right, you're right. It's probably obvious.

But I think Gunther definitely has to have better results this year. They've drafted more players. They signed two linebackers. I've been here 10 years covering this team, and they've had some bad linebackers. They haven't really addressed like they have this offseason. They got the Kierkowski and Littleton, two guys who have athletic and make some plays all over the field.

So it's kind of going to be excited for Raider fans if you see some quality linebacker play out of this team. So that's a big step for Gunther. And you mentioned the draft class. They've got Arnett in the first round. They hope he can be an impact corner. So talent's definitely there for improvement. And if there's not improvement, then, yeah,

a speculation about Paul Gunther's future is definitely fair. If they were two and four and Carr was playing not great, do you think we see Marcus Mariotta? Yeah, I don't want to play this game. But, yeah, I think. Or just what are your thoughts on how they, They don't play games, Greg. They gave them $7.5 million to Marcus for a reason.

So they didn't bring them to like carry a clipboard and smile and do Hawaiian, you know, commercials from a... So I just think, yeah, I think Derek obviously there's some pressure there. I think they've added the tools you mentioned on the draft class and the guy who signed. So I think that bioluc is interesting. You know, you mentioned if they have a slow start, I think there could be possible, you know, change. So I think definitely there's an urgency for the offense and for Derek Carr. I don't know, man. I think about it now that you kind of put it in my head,

you're moving to a new market. You feel like you're going to gain fans in the desert. You feel like you're going to get some fans from California. But if you could lock down the Pacific Islander fan base, I know actually been to Hawaii for my honeymoon. I remember talking people. Seahawks are very popular in Hawaii. If you could steal away that fan base, nice job.

Maybe there's more to this with Marriota. There's a huge Hawaiian population in Vegas. I did a story not where they signed them. Apparently, all the people who work in, you know, hotels and those places in Hawaii, it's expensive. So they come to Vegas and they work in customer service, you know, a hotel service in Vegas can live a lot cheaper lifestyle. So definitely is a huge Hawaiian population in Las Vegas. All right. Is this Mayak Gruden thing working?

Yes or no? Yeah. I mean, I think, I mean, Antonio Brown definitely tested it. I mean, definitely there was some problems last year with the whole. whole, all that stuff. That was a crazy month. But right now they're good. I think they're definitely, they've worked well together in draft.

You know, Mike does all the homework and kind of makes his recommendations. John has final say. But for the most part, I think it's gone pretty smoothly. I think besides that one major hiccup last year. Is that the craziest thing in your beat years covering the Raiders, the whole Brown drama? It's funny because there's been a lot. But yeah, I think it is. I think getting up every day for a month of six in the morning.

Check in my Instagram, seeing what the guy did today. What are some other fun highlights over the years covering the Raiders? I should make a list. I was Relato McLean. That was a fun experience. I mean, Hugh Jackson was always full of surprises. I mean, Tom Cable had his incidents in the past. Oh, yeah, Cable, that's up there.

I mean, at the press conference where Al Davis hired Hugh Jackson and kind of just had a slideshow, you know, of a lot of Tom Cable's transgressions and that was that was something I mean there's so much stuff I came in Dennis Allen it was just so many I mean just the whole people should find that press conference on YouTube it's one of the most amazing um things I've ever seen watching covering the NFL us you know it's you can't really put words to it unless you watch it no and he's sitting there and I'm watching it I'm like I can't believe what I'm watching I look over at Hugh Jackson's family and they're like oh this is not what we thought

this was. He thought this was, you know, going to be the Hugh Jackson show. And they had to sit through an hour of, uh, it was like 45 minutes of just going through Tom Cable's transgressions. Little did you know how much better that head coaching stint would be than the next one. Yeah, it was, uh, they had a lot of coaches over the year. So there's been so much. I mean, Terrell Pryor had some incidents. It was just so much stuff I've, I've covered. So I think, but definitely I'm telling him Brown, just the, you know, the expectations coming in. Um, and the way, all the the weirdness of the whole thing. And then what really made it just the ultimate was that when he, the five times he practiced,

the five times I watched him and practiced, the guy is incredible. I get why you sign him because you watch him in practice and he just dominates. You're like, oh, they're going to win 10 games this year. I mean, you can't cover that guy. He still, it's amazing how much he's tortured his career where he can't get a job, but he's definitely still a top five receiver in the NFL, which is kind of, it's really sad. But when you watch you in practice, you get, oh, that's why I judge. is doing it. That's why John is willing to take these risks and mix it up because he's going

to catch 110 passes this year if he plays. So it was just a weird never-ending saga for about a month and a half, yeah. I haven't thought about Rolando McLean in a long time, but Mark and I started at NFL.com right around the time of that bizarre arrest in Alabama where there was the photo of him going into the cop car with a giant smile. You remember that, Mark? And I remember there was a question about whether to use that photo as the spot. spotlight image for the article, and I believe the decision was to not use it. But, wow, Raiders history, sometimes sorted. His last few weeks on the team were spent as a practice squad fullback.

I was done as Alan Blade to kind of throw it back in his face a little bit. So, yeah, it was all. That sounds at all. All right, Vic, we really appreciate you coming on and giving us more perspective on the Raiders. And he could follow Vic at Vic to Fur, V-I-C-T-A-F-U-R. and the athletic, which covers the NFL just as about as good as any site out there. So it's well worth the subscription. Vic, thank you.

And good luck in your move to Vegas. Yeah, man, thanks a lot, guys. Thank you. Thanks, Vic. There he goes. The great Victor Fur. Greg, your ongoing series where you, I name it incorrectly, I call it Rasta Reset, but it's actually projected starters series.

This is an ongoing series. I mean, the series ended like a month ago, by the way. It lasted two weeks. I think it ended a month ago. But for the purposes of this exercise where we study each team, is there anything when you, I'm trying to give you pop, Greg. Is there anything from your work you did on that that didn't come up just now that you'd like to share looking at this roster? Well, it was, I even mentioned it on the show that it's the team.

Give me a pop, baby. I think, no, I appreciate it. And it is evergreen throughout the off season, I believe. It's the team I think I liked more after doing this exercise than any other team. I have questions about Derek Carr and we talked about Carr a lot on the last show. But, man, the offensive...

So Fer was about to put you in a headlock for asking that question. I would not win that one. I've seen Vic. I don't really know him, but he's a large man. He looks like he has played before. They have a great offensive line. I love the linebackers who he mentioned. The defensive line is,

maybe shaky, but it's deeper. I think Mayak's done a great job. I mean, the rookies were great. The receiver depth is great. They've got like three different running backs they can use in different ways. They're deep at tight end. Moreau was a good rookie tight end last year, too. It's, I kind of, you know, I think, and I think Gruden coached pretty well with what he had last

year. So I think the defense just needs to be average. And I don't think it's crazy for Raiders fans to have playoff expectations. Usually I think their, their hopes are too high. But this year, I think that's fair. I think they should think that this can be a nine or ten win team. Might not work out, but I think they have the tools to do it. I'll set the over under.

You're feeling optimistic. I'll set the over under at nine and a half. Well, see, that's so high. If you gave me eight and a half, I was going to go for it. Then I'm going under. Okay. Mark? Yeah, I think nine and seven should be expected.

A couple of others over here. Well, but that's not the real one. They're at like seven and a half. They're at seven and a half or eight. I think nationally. So I do like... My number was not based on that. It was based on your glowing report

from the projected starter series on NFL.com. Well, I understand that, you know, what do I... You know, that there's, you know, different ways to value things. Ultimately, I'm saying I think they might be in my top seven playoff teams. When I make the predictions, I think they might get that seven spot.

And I think it's interesting, Mark, you said that they're kind of expected to go nine and seven. been a while since they were in that territory even. Well, I mean, you know, last year, they collapsed at the end of a couple games they should have had. I could point to the game I was at against the Jaguars. They had no business losing that game. And so I think as the talent level increases, there's a lot of pressure on Gruden.

And you paid Gruden money to be a top five coach. I see no evidence of that right now. But he's been that in the past. So I think it was a good question by Greg to ask about Gruden adapt. and really being everything you could ask of a 2020 head coach. I thought he did a good job last year. And I'd have no, I would not be surprised at all to see them. And we can kill Derrick Carr.

And he's not, to me, he's not the guy I would want to start a team with. But if you put a good roster around Derrick Carr, I have no problem with Derek Carr helping them to nine, maybe 10 wins. See, I think he's, Gruden's doing a great job. I mean, I think that if we're talking, because I'm with the same boat as you guys, I see them as a team that's going to hang around in the playoff picture. They're not at the level of the cheese, but this could definitely be a team that wins nine, maybe 10 games if things go right.

And if you told me that's where they'd be in year three. Right. After a total roster tear down. Minus Antonio Brown. Minus Antonio Brown, but you get Ding for bringing him in the first place too. But like Gruden's ability to be presiding over this, I think there were a lot of questions when he got hired,

remember it on the show, whether he was out of the, game too long, just to assume to give him that many years and that much money was a boondoggle potentially. I think everything's going great with the Raiders. This is obviously a key year in terms of progress checking. But Mark, give me one more. I'll throw one more thing out there. Marcus Marriota, does he make any starts this year, not tied to injuries to Derek Carr? Well, I think it's very possible when you, again, to point to the money they paid them. Does he make them? Yes, or no. Yes. I think he'll make, I think he could make two.

So Derrickard gets benched, you're saying. I think that could happen at the end of the year, too, and that could have big implications in the off-season. I think that he's, Vic made a great point of how much they paid Marioita. He is the highest paid backup in the league by, I think, you know, a decent amount. But he... Nice job by his agent.

Yeah. But it shows they wanted him, and he had a market. You know, other teams kind of wanted him to it as a potential backup. I think he's in that spot where if you fall too, games under 500, at that point, you're in worry zone. If they play like we said and they start out quickly and they're above 500 the whole season, then they don't have to worry about it. And all that talk about Cable, not by the way to get up track, I forgot Tom Cable's back there. And, you know, after, after, you know, the allegations of what he did that last time he was with the Raiders. And you know

what? He's been a punching bag, no pun intended by me over the years. Their offensive line did great last year. And actually, I think it looks really good on paper. So that's a strength for them. Hey, and speaking of problematic spinning away now from the Raiders, good talk guys, and we'll do another team next week. Since we're talking about the Raiders and problematic wide receivers like Antonio Brown and the move to Vegas, Chad Johnson, this was actually put on my radar by one

of our listeners, Lilanus and Pajamas. Nice job by you, buddy, with a thought-provoking handle as well. But Chad Johnson, the former Ocho Cinco on Twitter, he threw out some props he laid down some future bets on the NFL. Just before we say goodbye, I just want to see where you guys come down. Is Ocho Cinco going to, since we're in the realm of Vegas? We're in the desert right now. How's Ocho Cinco going to do? I'll go back and forth between you guys.

Actually, Ricky, get in here. I want you in on this, too, from the. palatial godfather estate Don Corleone's Manor. It's officially in a state. It has boats and tennis courts. Give me a break.

That sets a very bad... That sets... That makes it look like I haven't worked. You're a hard worker. No one's ever... Well, it gives that connotation when you... Some people who grow up, it's what you do with what you got. Some people do it and they sit on their hands.

Some people, they work hard. You're working hard. Greg is we're going to mansplain the earth to you while we're at it. So just sit back and sit back and listen. Just try to backtrack here. All right. Here are some props, Ricky. I'll start with you, Erica Tamposi.

20K put down on the Broncos under seven and a half wins. Whoa. Oh, Joe. Wow. That's just the start. That's crazy. You take the under or the over? Seven and a half wins.

I'm taking under. All right. He has 25. Yeah, but like 20K. That's crazy. That's pocket change, maybe. Mark, that's a tennis court maintenance money. Mark, 25K on the Packers over nine wins.

Oh, got to win 10. Yeah, I'd take it over. 25 large. Greg, here's his biggest bet. I love that. Here's his biggest back, Greg. 41K on the Jaguars under five victories. Oh, I hate that.

I hate that. I hate that. No, I hate that. I mean, it is just not that hard to win six games. And I think people are a little too down on the Jaguars. There's some teams out there that are worse. Under five wins. So they have to win four or less.

Oh, with Gardner, Minch, you a quarterback. Give me that, yeah, I hate that one. Oh, guy. All right. All right. 11K, Ricky, on the Steelers over nine wins. Yeah, I think they could do that this year. You don't, Mark?

I wouldn't, I don't have that money, but I wouldn't make that bet myself. I don't like it. Once the last time, and I know Big Ben's been out of the league and coming off a serious injury, but I'd be curious the last time the Steelers won less than 10 games

when he was the quarterback. I'm sure he's been there forever. Last time he was the quarterback. But then he missed? They missed the playoffs. Did he really? Yeah, they won nine games. Mark, 10K on the,

the Colts winning the AFC South. No way. Just wild wagers. He's thrown around with the odds. Well, you got to give you the odds, though. What is it? Plus 1.30. For who?

Oh, it's 10K. 10K on the Colts winning the AFC South. I need that money now. I don't want to wait until January to find out if I won that. You got to pretend you're Chad Ocho Cinco. You're one of the, you know, most enigmatic, great route runners in NFL history. Crazy division. People kind of forget them as a player.

but what a fun player. Yeah, he's, he has his own checkered pass, but a great career. I'm going with that. I like that. I like that. Okay, 25K on Cowboys winning the NFC East plus 110. I'm not trusting the Cowboys. I get it because it's basically a two-team race.

It's not crazy. It's not a bad, it's not a bad guess, but I'm not, I don't like it. And finally, 25K on the, the Saints winning the NFC South. I like that one. That's pretty good. Yeah, I'd take that. It's just a big old parlay of a ton of different things. Why not?

That one seems better than some of the other malarca. Well, that one, you're getting much worse odds, I'm sure. I'm sure. Plus 100. Let me add this up how much money he laid down to Bellagio here. 29000 15, 50, 50 plus 10, 60, 16, 15, 11, 71. So, oh, this is tough. plus 41-250, and that's 11-21-250, 1-11-250,

1-11-250 plus 25K. Now it's getting really tough. $11, $11, $11,000 and $250,000 plus $25,000, $1,256,000, $156,000, $156,000. $2,250. That Chris Long podcast starting to sound better by the minute. Can't top that. Can't top that. I had one, but that was too good.

All right. Let me do the math. Anybody want to close the show while I do the math on this? Sure. I'm going to check my work here. All right. What a day? You know, for Dan Hansis.

Mark Sessler. Erica Tamposi, Vic to four. Eric and Timposi's gardener, you know, mowing the tennis card. We'll see you Friday. Hang on, I'm almost done. I'm almost done. 11 plus 10 plus 50. That's it.

Oh, I missed it by 1,000. It's 157,275,000. Ouch. I'm going to be able to be. Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct

winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the I Heart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.