NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Aaron Rodgers Speaks & Where will Matthew Stafford end up?

Episode Date: January 26, 2021

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal bring you all of the latest news in the NFL starting with the Eagles hiring their new head coach (3:29), Aaron Rodgers speaking out on his career (9:15), and the speculation on whether Jared Goff will still be a Ram (16:26). Kevin Patra, long time Lions fan, joins the show to discuss the new hire and Stafford's potential departure (22:59).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.

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the NFL podcast are available for virtual parties. Can't get paid for it, though. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis. I come to you from a virtual room filled with heroes.

Oh, some heroes. Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal. What is up? Boys. Virtual Parks. Hey now. Haba, hubba. Was that the loudest that the intro ever was?

Yes, I believe it was. I was having similar issues to Greg. I felt like I was at, like, you know, like at the old Nirvana concert I went to Springfield Civic Center in 1994. how about that loudest concert ever mine was and it's not like some badge of honor like gregg rosenthal getting to see the great nirvana i saw aerosmith on the just push play tour 2001 at the pnc arts center in holndale new jersey and i don't know if i was by a speaker or what but my ears were ringing for a week and a half i don't know if i've ever recovered i blame joe perry Stephen Tyler.

All right, to Mark, I would imagine maybe a Toad the Wet Sprocket concert, Annie DeFranco, what do you got? I did like Ani DeFranco. I despise Toad in the Wet Sprocket. I simply hated that band. I think I would have to go with. The U-2 concert we went to was loud,

but it wasn't like crushing your ears loud. Maybe Blues Traveler, the first concert ever went to. Well, when that harmonica gets plugged into a PA, when pop or rips, and he wails, your drums pop. All right. Welcome to the Around the NFL podcast. Yes, we are two days removed from Championship Sunday. We have a really fun Super Bowl matchup coming up in about a week and a half, of course, between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City. Chiefs, plenty of time

to talk about that. And we will in good time. We got another show coming up on Thursday, and then two more programs ahead of Super Bowl Sunday night to dig into the nitty-gritty of the big game today we're going to talk about other things going on in the NFL and there's a lot cooking right now and Greg I mean right off the bat let's let's talk about the biggest story in the NFL your cameo on today's edition of the power ranking show with me and Matt Money Smith what a performance well it was exciting to be invited thank you for having me I know mark was on last week and and who knows maybe it'll be a home and home little money on the podcast about that for a tease.

Where it talks with money. What are you ranking at this point? Is it just down to the final two team? I don't know, man. We just talked about the Buccaneers. There was no ranking, at least, when I was there. Yeah, we've reached the point. We're basically just shooting the shit on television.

So it's actually good, though. It's fun just to talk. All right, a lot to get into it. We have a special guest. Speaking of special guests, it's been a minute, Kevin Patra, coming at you. to talk about everything that's going on around his boyhood team, the Detroit Lions.

I know Patrick has takes to share. That's coming up. But before we do that, let's check in on the news. There's much to dig into. All right? I don't want to look at the camera, right? It's time to get to work. Nice.

Wow. I iconic picture right there. I love this picture. That is sweet. Wow. The sound you here is Philadelphia Eagles fans cringing across the country. I don't know what's going on with the Eagles social media account. The Siriani situation...

That was him. That was him entering his office, I think. That was him, yes. I should make that clear. I just asked Ricky to pull one of the tweets where they just had someone with their iPhone, has Siriana enters the office. I guess that was once Doug Peterson's and he looks at him. and somebody randomly says, get to work.

And then he says, ooh, that's sweet and points at a bunch of photos. And then they also had photos of him walking or video of Siriani walking around the Eagles complex, not exactly dynamic. They put up online the actual conference call when Jeffrey Lurie offers Siriani the job. We'll just listen to that really quick. Nick, it's Jeffrey Lurie. Hey, Mr. Lurie, don't worry. I'm good.

How are you? I'm great. I got kind of a big question. for you. Absolutely. How would you like to be the head coach to Philadelphia Eagles? I'm so excited. Congratulations.

Everybody listening here. Thank you everybody. Thank you everybody. I can't believe you can't afford with the test. I can't be more at the support with that organization. We are so incredibly excited for the coach you are and the coach you can become and everything you bring to the best fan base in America is off the charts and we had really good candidates you stood out in so many ways and I can't wait for you to join all of us and reach for more Lombardi trophies because that's

what we're going to do and that even felt a little weird to me I know that you're trying to give the people the content Greg but I'm not sure it was I don't know what's going on with the Eagles right now the whole operation and I feel like I'm not alone Yeah, I feel bad. You know, if their social team is listening. I think it's just they're trying to drum up, they're trying to drum up some excitement for the Siriani era. And it is weird. It's been so long, I feel like, since the Eagles had a moment like this where not only are things seemingly going wrong, but they don't have much juice and they're like trying to self-generate some juice. If nothing else, the Eagles have always been one of the top teams in juice. I mean, they hired a coach with less juice than the one they just fired, and he's wandering around the complex and what seemed to be loafers. I don't know what was going. But I think it's a different world because any sort of like interaction with the media, I mean, is, you know, chest up at this point. You know, no one's seen the bottom of you, but it was not a dynamic opening look at their winning decision.

Way too much sartorial criticism coming from social media. First of all, we shouldn't be saying anything about the way he dresses. We're not known for our style either. But the people on Twitter, everyone who's been wearing sweatpants with egg yolk on their white t-shirt for 20 hours a day, all right, the dark khakis were maybe a little bit wrinkled. Maybe needed one more pass at the iron. Did the shirt match the jacket? Maybe not perfectly, but I didn't think it was anything egregious. I just thought, a seriana getting buried for the way he.

dressed, everybody better look in the mirror before they make any commentary. I hear you. I didn't see all that. I do think about this pandemic time, because you're describing me the sweatpants and the egg yolk. The thing that I've changed the most that will never change back is I can't

believe that I would wear like pants or jeans in my house like after I would get home from work or back in from the grocery store for like the rest of the night, like back in the day. I don't know. I'm never going, that'll never happening. It's insane. Wow. I know I know I was, yeah, I know a lot of people

had already done that before, but what I mean? Here's the thing. Like, it's going to be in a few months. It's like, all right, guys, it's real exciting. We're going to get you back in the office setting and you're going to have your big fancy pants on and like your shirts and your ties. It's like, wait a minute, what? I'm not doing that again. That's where I start to have issues. When they, when, you know, some loudmouth tells me I got to roll back into some, you know, find a parking space and wear like 18 different shirts a week. Forget you the problem is the problem is mark that as much as we'd like it not to be the case there is societal structure that god willing pandemic goes away we we have the choice to either

fall back in line like good drones or take a walk and i think i might take a walk like i literally like i have thought a lot about this like i like if there are some good things that have come through the pandemic and like big companies are like going to be smart about it or they're going to be real clunky in old school and make us go back to do everything. I have to sit at like my little cubicle typing for five hours with like 80 people interrupting you. I mean, when was the last time you really did that anyways even before? Mark, we'll see you back at the office and you'll be dressed like a good boy. I will not ever go back. All right, let's get into the news starting with the Packers. Let's continue to follow this soap opera. I was happy to see and I think

we should on this podcast and well, some people won't embrace this, but we embrace, need, getting rid of needless quote unquote controversies and there was a ton of buildup on Sunday based on some things that Aaron Rogers said in his press conference that made people think does Aaron Rogers want out a green bag? Calm down. It was just the way the passion and the how upset he was and he answered a question in a certain way that you could have looked at it as him saying, oh, there's mystery. Maybe I won't be back. He was always going to be back. and the Packers made that official on their end, well, close as you can get to as official,

with Packers, President and CEO, Mark Murphy, going on the WNFL in Green Bay, and having this to say about Aaron Rogers and his future in Green Bay. There's no way in heck that Aaron is not going to be on the Packers. I mean, he is going to be the MVP of the league. Might have had his best year ever. He's our unquestioned leader.

and, you know, we're not idiots. We're not idiots, Mark Murphy says. And then Aaron Rogers had an appearance on the Pat McAfee show, which I haven't watched a lot of the Pat McAfee show. I have to be honest with you, but I checked it out. And I kind of like what they're doing over there. Yeah, it's good. I like the vibe of the McAvey show.

And obviously get a big fish in Aaron Rogers. Rogers talked about, well, you know, where he's at, talked about the game itself that the Packers just lost. and also the thoughts he's had about finishing his career where he started it. To me, a reality, not a certainty or an absolute, is that my future is not in my hands. Now, that's really the case for all of us, I think, as players. But you can't, I think naturally,

there's times where you let your mind go to maybe, I'm going to be a Packer for Life, or I'm going to be, you know, I'm going to be like a Tim Duncan or a Jeter or Kobe and play with one team my entire career. I think naturally you dream about that. I mean, that's kind of like a dream scenario, and I've talked about that for much of my career. I think, you know, when they drafted Jordan,

it was more just like the reality kicking in going, hey, that's actually never the case. There are no absolutes in this business. That seems level-headed and a good analysis of the situation, Greg, by the great Rogers. Yeah, I really enjoyed listening to the entire interview with context and you know I think he also said you know there's no reason to believe he wouldn't be there I think he was talking about that it's out of his hands but it also doesn't mean that

some of the speculation or reporting about his contractual situation and that that could be the area where they make Aaron Rogers whole or happy or is a big conversation for the next months. I mean, that's still to me very much on the table. Mike Florio, my old boss, you know, had a source saying, like, he wants more money, that he wants some guaranteed money into the contract. Rogers, I think alluding to that, said, I haven't talked to anyone. You know, I haven't talked to anyone with the Packers or I think he was saying about his agent in terms of that. But it wouldn't surprise me if his agent's off doing some work talking to media sources. It all makes sense to me. And I think.

hearing Mark Murphy, like, they're going to do what they need to do to make Aaron Rogers happy. I'm pretty confident in that. I mean, it's like you went and drafted a first round quarterback, and we can package that away as one item. And then Aaron Rogers goes out and is essentially the MVP of the year. I mean, this is someone I think that wants to be wanted. I don't buy that it's the polar opposite of him and far away back in the day. This is a different situation, but there is a young quarterback on the roster sitting there. think that he spoke before the year that the future was in doubt. And I think this is someone

that also mentioned about being like a Kobe Bryant or a Tim Duncan who, you know, you entertain the idea of being a Packer for life. I think that's going to take, to your point, Greg, more money. And, you know, he also made the point, which is just true, that, you know, you want these athletes not to just, you know, dispense sound bites, which we're tired of and we're too savvy for. But then when Aaron Rogers speaks his mind after the game, it creates the spin cycle of speculation and news and we're forced to talk about it. But I think that the end result, I think I said I put a 9% chance that he could be on a different team. Because if he really, really wanted to, maybe something happens. But if hearing him now, and hearing the team in

general, it's like, I think we can put this thing away, hopefully. This is not Deshaun Watson's situation. It's a totally different situation. People just got a little bit carried away. Now, I am not a guy that counts other people's money. Aaron Rogers wanting to redo his contract. Is there a part of you've heard Tom Brady did it once in a time instead of giving me more money, bring in that extra weapon or two to get me over the hump? Maybe that's a way they can work out some type of dialogue. Like how do we get you another Super Bowl, Aaron?

And does that put us in the best position tying up more cat money with you? But, you know, maybe. They'd probably lower it. They'd do the... Yeah, I could go the other way. You're right. In the short term, I think they would lower it. I think if Rogers is going to have a point here in terms of his future being uncertain,

is he might want just things to be guaranteed because he's going to say, I don't want this to be a year-to-year thing. I don't want to feel like this isn't going to be my last year in Green Bay. Will you guarantee me money through 2022? Let's say that seems like probably two more years. And then you lower my cap-hit, but you're actually giving me more money. The Packers, like a lot of teams, more than most years, are in some cap, you know, issues if they're really going to lower the salary cap $20 million.

I don't think we quite are sure what's going to happen. But if that actually happens, it is kind of a sea change compared to anything that's ever happened in the history of the NFL. Teams have been preparing for that $20 million to be there. And if they really do dial it back that much, it's going to be weird. A lot of weird things. I mean, the other aspect is like, you know, dug in beatwriters like Rob Domoski have said that, you know, everything that anyone's seen from Jordan Love in person, he's just not ready.

And if anything, Tim Boyle would be a starter if Rogers weren't there. So it's like it just makes no sense. There's no secondary plan there. Yeah. And the thought, if you do get into bed further with Aaron Rogers and give him those guarantees, it doesn't mean you're wasting Jordan Love totally. Obviously, it doesn't work out ideally because he's on that rookie contract. But the idea is you brought him in because you thought he could be a top line quarterback

as a first round pick. If you develop them right way, you have a great backup quarterback. Now that you have an aging, Aaron Rogers entering his late 30s, drama, drama. Speaking of quarterback drama, let's check in with the L.A. Rams.

And we know Sean McVeigh had grown tired with Jared Gough by the end of this season, the, you know, the middling play, the turnovers. And even after he busted his thumb, you could tell that McVeigh wasn't looking to make any excuses for the former number one overall pick

and refusing to commit him as their quarterback in 2021. Well, Ram's general manager, Les Sneed, had a chance to throw some cold water on the speculation around Gough. And instead, he grabbed the kerosene. He spoke Tuesday, and he refused to endorse Gough as the starter. In fact, in a tweet from Omar Ruiz, Sneed said, Jared Gough is a ram at this moment. What is going on here? By the end of the day. It's almost like the Rams have made a conscious decision to not put any gray area on this.

I mean, he could have said outright Jared Goff's not going to be on our team. But that's about as close as you can get in football parlance when you say he's on the team at the moment. Yeah, it's like I think, you know, you all had the relationship back in your 20s or something where you began to broadcast to friends that a breakup was imminent maybe before the person you were dating knew. and it just the energy was out there. And I mean, these guys are skilled at the art of public relations. If Lesneed wanted us not to be discussing this right now, there would be a lot of ways to use his words, to not create a hot point.

But instead, they seem to do that every time. And it just seems very clear to me that unless they just can't find a way to move them, because the money side of it is a disaster, there's all these quarterbacks with these huge contracts that the teams are, unhappy with el problemo and like uh like you know golf to me though he's somewhere else but who's going to come trading for jared golf like i just that is the other side of this that i can't find a real and like unless a suitor is just desperate yeah this thing this thing turned fast i mean from

achman and week 16 seahawks rams kind of burying goff in a way that seemed like man he's talking to mc fay but you know maybe i'm just we're speculating a little bit to them you know seemingly benching Goff for Wofford but being able to kind of hide behind the injury to this where it's like you're right then they're not hiding it like I wasn't even 100% convinced that he was gone gone until this one but man he's gone gone I mean they even asked them when they about the salary cap like hey wouldn't it be hard to trade Goff because of the cap hit and I do want to get into that in a second but I'll let you talk like and and less need was was like well you can always you know yeah I would be hard, but you can always move things around with the cap.

It seems like they're so, they've decided internally that golf is not the guy. And you get it. I was just talking about it after their last playoff game against the Packers. You can only imagine Sean McVeigh, a guy that has so much skill in his ability to call games and cook up dynamic game plans, watching these other teams that have quarterbacks that can do things outside the pocket and can go off script and make big time play. plays and you wonder if there was just a conversation internally like he's not the guy we need to get on the page of these other teams that have this dynamic athlete behind center and that's how

I feel it went now Greg as you're alluding to like this is not going to be easy because his stock has never been lower and he makes superstar quarterback or close to it money so how do you actually get get it done now that you're basically putting it out there that it's going to happen Okay, so he is due $43 million guaranteed over the next two years, which sounds like a ton, but, you know, that's $21 million a year. It is guaranteed, though. The thing is, you can't cut them. Like, you really can't. If they cut them, even with a post-June 1st thing, you know, it would hurt them $15 million in the salary cap, and they would have $50 million of dead money on their cap.

You can't, but you can't trade them. And a trade can be as low cost as like a sixth and seventh round flip. I don't know what kind of market Jared Goff would have right now. Basically none, I would think, with that contract. But if he was willing to restructure and all you're doing is trading like a late round pick swap for Goff and ultimately it's a cap hit, then you can do it. I mean, you take a little bit of a, I'm looking at it now on our friends at over the cap. But you actually save money on the salary cap. You have some dead money, but you ultimately save, you know, $10, $12 million this year.

So I think that's what will happen. I think someone will give up, like, a pick swap and maybe be willing to pay Jared Gough. I mean, could it even be like a Rock Osweiler type thing? Maybe not, though, because with that contract, the money is guaranteed. It's really any team that would pay him $42 million. I like where Mark was going with that. Rock, and you get a second round pick from the Rams just to take on the salary. Yeah, except the problem is, it's also the worst off season.

NFL history to try to pull that off with the cap not growing the way it normally would due to revenue loss so they're in a tricky situation but they're not hiding their feelings man it's got he's come a long way from uh right before that super bowl when he was playing well the last few years for golf you know they then they went back to the well with hard knocks that really wasn't good you do wonder if there's a little more behind the scene stuff too where they would sour on them this much you know as a lead i don't know what it you know is it all it's crazy all right Let's move on. Of course, we're going to continue to track that.

Real quick, some coach Carousel stuff. We mentioned Nick Siriani up top. And by the way, let's give Nick a chance. And Eagles fans, you too, because I was tracking the replies on those tweets that the Eagles are saying out. Everybody just sees him as a puppet hired by Hallie Roseman, and we should have kept Doug P. It's like, oh, man, good luck to Nick Seriani because it feels like there's a lot of negative energy around him. He hired Jonathan Gannon as his new deal. and Shane Steichen as the offensive coordinator.

Darrell Bevel is the new O.C. in Jacksonville and two familiar names, Bill O'Brien and Doug Marone deposed head coaches. They end up together in Alabama, Nick Sabin's staff? Wow. What about that? Marron. Those guys are close friends. Remember, I mean, there were two owners meetings in a row where I found myself in a scrum

with O'Brien and Marlon. and others. And they were very welcoming, I think. I'm not certain, but they seem to be. This eagle staff is kind of the, it's good memories. Maybe, no, I guess they probably won't be back together in the NFL again. Maybe, maybe Bill O'Brien will get a coordinator shot higher Marone. I think, Pat, hey, let's bring in Kevin Patcher a little early here. I want to team up on the lines, of course. But Patrick, were you there in the bar in Indianapolis when Cessler had cozyed up to all those coaches in the corner of that hotel bar? Well, no, this was an owner's meeting, so I don't think that, I don't think so.

Yeah, this is wrong venue. Wrong venue. But that was, Mark, one of the more iconic NFL media trip moments where we're like, where's Mark, where's Mark? And you were just, it was like all these titans of the sport at the time. And then you were just there, like, with a big grin and a glass of red wine, just like nodding your head to their conversations, laughing along. It was, I was, there was some, I was, you know, offering some comments here and there.

I wasn't just sort of a clown on the side, as I remember it. You were right in the middle of it. I don't, you were, you were involved with the conversation as well, you're saying. That's how I remember it. Oh, yeah, I think he was spitting yarn. They were like, who's this guy? This guy's great. You were like a wild card.

It's always good every once in a while. Everything has to be right. The temperature and the bar has to be right. Oh, and remember bars. Oh, what a place they were. Right. We're talking distinctly about the past at this point. Like if a wild card rolls into your conversation and your circle,

it could be met with a brush off and like, who the F is this guy? Or if the wild card brings something, it's like, all right, let's keep this guy in the circle. There might have been a little bit of both going on in that scenario. This guy just changed the temperature in the room. All right. Kevin Patra. How are you, fellas? Patra's a legend.

I mean, let's talk about it. Kevin, who's been too long. Yeah, it's been too long. you do awesome work covering the league for nfl.com a regular on this podcast and you know i think we checked in with you kevin right before the season on your thoughts on the lions and we don't want to put you in a box but it's been such a eventful past few weeks in Detroit i wanted to talk to somebody who covers a team and also grew up following them let's start i'm going to kind to go in reverse order of like everything big going on in Detroit right now, but let's start

with the Matt Stafford News, which is obviously seismic NFL networks Tom Pelliserro reported over the weekend that the Lions and Matthew Stafford have agreed to part ways this offseason, which points Patrick to a full rebuild incoming here under Dan Campbell, assuming this is how it does end up. Where do you come down like on the Matthew Stafford era? overall since he was the number one overall pick and how are you feeling right now about him? I mean, the era overall is he's the best quarterback the Detroit Lions have ever had unless you really want to throw in Bobby Lane from the 1950s, but that's so old. My dad wasn't even peeing standing up yet.

So I can't give a comment on that. But in my lifetime in the Super Bowl era, tell me more about your father's bathroom habits. Yeah. I mean, I think he can still be in standing up. So we're still good there. But anyway, but he's the greatest quarterback that they've had. He owns all the records, like 30-some passing records. I mean, even if you consider that this era relative to other eras,

there's no quarterback. I mean, you're talking about Charlie Batch, Joey Harrington's of the world, Eric Schmitz of the world, Scott Mitchell's. Like, there's no one that comes close to the type of quarterback he was, the type of leader he was, and his longevity at the position playing through injuries. There's no question that he's the greatest quarterback. quarterback of Detroit Lions history. But it's a low bar.

I mean, it's a very, very, very, very, very low bar. He's a tricky guy to talk about because I think there's nuance that absolutely the organization did not support him well over the last 10 plus years. They should have won many more games if they were functional with Matthew Stafford. They should have won more playoff games. But he's also not, I've seen him, you know, throw up. in there with like rivers and romo or different guys and he's not that guy either i mean he he's very rarely been a top 10 quarterback he's been a better than average like NFL starting quarterback

which is exciting to see which is exciting to have and he's he's had moments but he hasn't been like a pro bowl type difference maker guy he's sort of in that in that middle tier so it's like it he's not he's i almost think he's overrated by some that are like man that's like Stafford is a Hall of, you know, would have been a Hall of Famer. And it's like, I don't know. I don't know about Hall of Fame, but the numbers are there, certainly. And you have to look at what was around him. It was crap for most of the time.

I mean, the one year they had a good defense, the offense kind of sucked. So, I mean, that's just an issue of, like, what was around him all the time. Yes, he had Calvin Johnson, but at that time, the line sucked. Now the line's better, and all his receivers were injured. I just think that now it makes sense to part ways. I think the talent, he still has talent. He's only 32 years old, which seems ridiculous to think about. So he's still got five or six years left if he stays healthy.

And it'll be, I'm rooting for him to succeed wherever else he goes because I think he's gotten the raw end of the stick by bad or mediocre organization. And it would have been exciting to see his career in a better place that didn't churn out its best players and have most of them retire or leave in the early 30s. that's fair I mean would you struggle to come up with I'm not asking you to do it here but a top five moments for Matthew Stafford

my one thing about him that I kind of feel like that quarterback and team they tried for a real long time but I'd love to see Matthew Stafford in a different environment with a different opportunity and maybe the Lions with a different quarterback just to see if they can shake things up

because I feel like you're right he's 32 but I feel like he's been in the league with the Lions for 25 years I mean, it just feels like it's been the same. There is almost like no hill or valley or ebb or flow. It's just been the Stafford and the Lions have been the same thing to me for so long. And that may be an issue with the way that I see them. But I just, I feel like he's not.

There is a little bit of blame that I would attach to Matthew Stafford. When you look at the Lions and say, well, they never got over the hump. They never won a playoff game. They never really did anything of note. He takes some blame there. They should have one playoff game. They should have, that was bullshit. The Cowboys.

But any, sure. They got killed on that. Yes, I could come up with Matt Stafford top five. And most of them, honestly, would be him freelancing at the end of the game to pull his team off their ass and get it at the end of the game. Whether it's the dive in the end zone against the Cowboys, which was preceded by a ridiculous throw into a hole as big as a, you know, as a cue ball. And just most of those are going to be with his arm and just, but you're right. My biggest frustration with Stafford always was he. took some of the stupidest sacks to like push him out of field goal range or kill a drive that

was my biggest thing not necessarily the interceptions because i always felt like me he was trying to make a play and i'll i'll forgive that most of the time but it was this the dumb sacks that he'd take or like the the air mailed pass that would just kill a drive so i very tradable he's very tradable right that that's true i just man i struggle to separate him as a player that they don't not a building block but a guy that's going to get you to the next level and And I think that's, the lines were never good enough for him to, like, help them get to the next level. They needed something different. I really struggle to separate the mediocrity of the lions from Stafford.

And to feel like he, of course, he's Stafford. He's involved with, on some level, their failure to get over the hump. But, I mean, put, there's very few quarterbacks, I think, that you could put in his shoes over these last 11 years or whatever it's been. And it would have made a difference. And so maybe he's not Patrick Mahomes, but if you put him in an organization that was more functional, I think he could have a totally different trajectory on his career. We talk about that. We talk about Sam Donald all the time.

Like, how do you judge Sam Donald when he's around Slop? Like, I don't think Matthew Stafford's been in a totally different situation. He's had some great players, like a Calvin Johnson, for instance, around him. But I would like to see him as a football fan in a new spot and surrounded by an organization that knows how to make the most of him. Ryan Tannenhill is a good example of a player that has talent that can, in the right situation, in the right situation, can be a difference maker. And I think that's Stafford to a T. Well, I think, like, he is the most tradable guy of all these guys, because it, it won't be that complicated.

Now, of course, Deshaun Watson's more valuable, and you'd rather have Deshaun Watson. And there's other guys that aren't even getting mentioned right now, like Jimmy G to me is going to be very tradable. But Stafford's contract is very tradable. He wants out. They want him out. I think there will be a nice market for him. I'm curious if you're going to get a first round pick for Stafford. Wouldn't surprise me.

I think there's a lot of teams that he'd improve. The money just doesn't make sense if you're not getting the first pick. He's not that expensive. I think, yes, they are going to do what's right for him. They want to after what he's put in. But I think if you say we're not going to get a first round pick or something of equal value, I don't think you're going to do that. The one of the problem is they go 20 years without finding another quarterback.

Oh, sure. Absolutely. There's no guarantees about anything, especially when you don't have a top two pick. All right. Up next, Dan Campbell, he's the head coach. It gets the six-year deal leaving the Saints to join the Lions. Obviously, people got all fired up about the intro comments and biting kneecaps and all that business. how do you feel what's your confidence what's your P-scale at let's say one

soaked on the pants got to get home to mommy 10 I'm feeling really confident I'm feeling pumped about Campbell Detroit where you're at I mean I wasn't my it wasn't my version of a great hire that's not who I would have chosen but I'm not in charge and I don't get a say so having said that so like I I understand the hire like we talk about all the time usually go for what's the opposite what's the opposite of a rocket scientist maybe dan campbell like they went from the guy who didn't play to like football head and they brought in all these football heads so that's where we're going so i get the vision and at least for for you know at this time there's a vision there's a clear vision from ownership that they're bringing in guys who played

before and i was i thought that the press conference was ridiculous now was it entertaining yes but the biting the kneecap stuff still don't understand it try to clarify it like three different times. I don't get it. Don't get it at all. But that's not for me. He even said that. It's the first locker room.

If those guys like to talk about biting kneecaps, more power to him. But I will say, I think I like the staff he's created, that he's brought in, or whether that was Chris Spielman, who helped get him all. I like the staff they brought in. I think Lynn is going to be a solid offensive coordinator. I think he's worked with. young quarterbacks. So if that's the draft choice,

that we have some there. And do Staley, those two, there can be a run game. So I think D'Andre Swift, that'll be a solid pairing. And, you know, Aaron Glenn intrigues me on defense, just given what the secondary in New Orleans did.

So I'm not, I wasn't a huge fan of the Dan Campbell hire, but I'm willing to give him a chance. If he's going to be the guy that just says, you know what, everyone, I'm going to take the spotlight, and you can go about and do your work and be good coordinators. And this is what I'm looking for,

but you take it and run with it, then I'm fine with it. Not many of those guys left, the kind of the overseer who's not really the expert on one side. You know, even Tomlin basically is a defensive guy at the end of the day. I'm a little worried about their offense with Anthony Lynn and Deuce Daly. You just get the feeling from Chris Spielman and from Dan Campbell that it's like, we want to smash, you know, we want to run the ball over you, We want to be a smash-mouth offense. Like, we want to be physical.

That's all they're talking about. And that's all great. But, you know, unless you draft Justin Herbert, I'm more worried about developing the passing game. Isn't that also what essentially Matt Patricia wanted on offense? I mean, you got like a 43-year-old Adrian Peterson running the ball 25 times a game. I mean, I'm willing to see, like, let's wait to see who the quarterback is and what the other pieces. Obviously, DeAndreux Swift is not. not a smash-mouth guy that's going to get the ball 30 times up the middle.

But, you know, the Chargers the last few years have been a passing first team, even this year with Herbert. So I'm willing to say that I'm willing to give Anthony Lind some leash and say that he's going to adapt. And that's the one thing that Campbell said in his press conference that I think you can take away. He wants to put our, you know, what we do well against what you do not well. You're our best on your weakest.

So I think that's going to depend on where matchups come down, what happens with the wide receivers of which are none on, basically none. or under contract. So it's a complete tear down and buildup. So they can say all they want right now about running the ball, passing the ball. But, you know, when you're going to be down 20 to nothing because your defense can't stop a feather in the wind, it doesn't matter. And, you know, like you talk about where the organization's heading.

And listen, it's a new dawn, new leadership in the front office, new head coach. But I'm thinking about them. And, you know, last year the big move was they traded Darius Slay, their top cornerback. And then they used the number three overall pick to drive. draft Jeff Akuta, and you're trying to get better, but it's like how much better is the roster? Now you're going to trade Matthew Stafford, and then I guess with the number of seven overall pick, you're going to draft a quarterback, but are you going to get a guy that's much better than Matthew Stafford?

Is this organization, do you think they're equipped to make the decisions to actually turn this thing around? Do you believe, and now, of course, you have John Dorsey in the building who did some good things with the Chiefs and then with the Browns, but a lot of bad things, too. That's why he's no longer at those places. Do you trust his leadership? So while I didn't really enjoy the Campbell selection, I did, and I did like the Holmes as being a GM choice. And I think bringing in Dorsey to back him up, just looking at what the Rams have done to stockpile talent when we all thought, or a lot of us thought that they would, you know, kind of hit the pavement given the losses in free agency and such.

But what the rookies did coming up and what their drafts have been in the secondary and on defense in the past, I think that that's a, he's going to have a solid voice in there. and I, so I'm more optimistic that. But again, it goes back to ownership. This is a team that every four years, I mean, Mark knows this well. You keep hitting the restart button every four years. Nothing's ever going to work. I think that was the point of giving Campbell a six-year contract to kind of say, look, we're here in this for the long haul, even if it blows up.

But do I have faith that a team that in my entire lifetime has never been good? No, I can't have faith in that. I can have hope. that's all I have is hope they're at a low point it is interesting I think as you were going through it and I was thinking about the roster not much they're not much they're on defense and then their best players like Gallaud yeah got yeah the O line is solid Galladay is a free agent like they they are as much in a tear down situation as really any team in the entire NFL right now well when you're basically allowing considering the Bengals have borough yeah yeah I mean

Patrick, you grew up, I'm sure, with other Lions fans around you. It seems like obviously a fan base that has a good reason to be just, you know, essentially agitated all the time. But do you have that one fan friend out there that's like rose-colored glasses nonstop, thinks the lions are always heading in the right direction? Or is everyone essentially grumpy? Are there any outliers? There are very, very few outliers, I would say.

I might have one friend who's like, well, I can see that. like, willing to say the, you know, everything's great. Every hire is going to work out, you know, can see it. But for the most part, you know, us Midwesterners are politely skeptical. I mean, I attempted to jump on their bandwagon, you know, in August. And, you know, in any other scenario, the fans would be like, we might not be great, but thank you. It'll be fun. People were like agitated with me.

Like, you're an idiot. This team is stupid. I've been following them for years. Don't do this. this is a bad idea and i mean it was a bad idea i had a friend whose dad told him about 10 15 years ago please stop being a lion's fan don't waste your life like i've done with mine like that's kind of where we're at as a fan base like telling you to not be a fan so i mean they're they weren't going in the right direction so maybe this is it maybe you hit the reboot and you have the

right leadership and you build a roster and maybe maybe patria maybe you build a superpower you never know yeah you know we're crazier things have happened right i know all about it you know the the hope all you got is hope and and maybe it turns around and this is the the regime to do it patra you've said it all anything else we need to know about you right now about me yeah you have a young family of course now the beer looks good thank you i'm uh i'm constantly watching a child crawl up downstairs that's my nine-year-old is fascinated with crawling upstairs of which we have a lot because our house is like built upwards um so he's favorite thing we'll brag we live in we yeah yeah uh we live in gate city we currently so just gates constantly and whenever he gets a free thing so i'm

getting a lot of exercise walking upstairs not down them because then i got to carry it back down because he can't look in here the hanses family is looking for a new lodging uh residents and the only thing my my two sons want is a house with stairs and it's like son The Los Angeles real estate market, I cannot give that to you. You're not getting into the years. No. Yeah. Well, ours is a role of townhomes.

So it's like, you know, they squish them in. Right, right, right. Yeah, we stayed at an Airbnb somewhat recently and it was like the kids ran into that. They have stairs. They shouldn't be this excited about that. They also have like a 10-month winner if you're not in L.A. So, you know, come on kids. That's true.

All right, Patrick. Patrick, thanks for joining us, buddy. Stay warm, stay healthy. Appreciate it, Paulus. All right. There he goes. Kevin Patrick, coming at you. Listen, I've been in that place with Patrick.

Patra's that right now. My whole life, I feel like, Mark, you can relate as well. Even when there are some warning signs, all you can do is hope that maybe skeptics are wrong, you know. And not that there's a ton of skeptics. There is some around the Campbell hire, but I think maybe that was more surprising the amount of years they gave him. But as I said in a recent show,

I don't worry about that as much because if he stinks and it's not working, they're going to fire him, eat the money anyway, probably, and it's not on your cap. But it is, to use that, if that's indeed what Patrick was saying, like the part of the reason he got six years is because they want to show that they are serious about this rebuild.

It's like, all right, but what if it doesn't work? You can't just keep going back and back and back. I mean, if anything, they've been too patient. There's four or five teams out there, and there's a couple in the NFC North. They're just like, they don't fire the coach because of the money and other teams where the money is flowing, they might, you know, cut the cord quicker.

I think Cleveland at one point was paying Rob Judzinski for three separate stops in Cleveland. So like when things go bad for these coaches, for these teams, I mean, the owner ends up paying like a staff of like 70 different people from three different regimes, ultra-nightmare. All right. Good stuff. Good show.

Good conversation. We'll be back on Thursday. Yeah, we talked about Matt Money-Smith. He might even be joining us, which would be fun. Always great to have money on. And no network show this week, so you don't have to worry about tuning into that. But we will, can start to build up. I don't know if we usually do a show, guys, where we say we're not allowed to use the Super Bowl.

Bowl word. I don't know if that's this Thursday show or if we're going to start ramping up a little bit. I don't know. Listen, it's all stuff to work out. That's the fun part of it. Four? Wow. Only three more shows until the Super Bowl. Only four more

in this somewhat cursed, but it's had its beautiful moments 20 season. Fair, fair, fair. All right. This Dan Hans is signing off. Four, Quiet Storm, the old boss, Ricky Hollywood, Kevin Patcher, who came right at you till Thursday. Hey,

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