NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - AFC & NFC Hierarchy Report

Episode Date: July 12, 2018

A room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler & Chris Wesseling - assemble to bring you the latest news from around the league, including the latest on LeSean McCoy’s alleged legal troubles (8:00), The Hall Of Fame Committee throwing shade at Terrell Owens (13:45), Pacman Jones’ bizarre airport brawl (17:00), Jeff Fisher’s potential new gig (21:30) and Tony Romo’s Super Bowl prediction (24:00). The heroes then do a “Hierarchy Check” on both the NFC and AFC (27:00).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. The Around the NFL podcast won't be attending their Hall of Fame ceremony. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast presented by New Era. My name is Dan Hansis, joined in a room filled with some heroes, Mark Sessler, and Chris Wessling, the Kissing Cousins. What's up, boys? Hey, Dan. Oh, yeah. Do you see yourself achieving any?

anything approaching Hall of Fame level recognition at the end of your career. Either of you. I don't. I think we're having a decent podcast career, but I don't know if they've opened up a hall for podcast bros. That's our only shot. I think the trajectory right now says is a hard no. Sports writing Hall of Fame, not going to happen.

Not happening at all. We can't even get into the pro football writers of America. We're not going to that. Although you're the only one that was really knocking on the door there. I'm agitated still. Nobody answered the door for you there. But no, I probably not. Wes is silent because West probably thinks he's getting to several Hall of Fame.

Huckapoo's Hall of Fame. Cornhole? No, no, just the Huckapoo's Hall of Fame. That's it. I think you're already there. I feel like I have some philosophical issues with halls of fame anyway, so don't need to be invited. Mostly because Eli Manning is going into one prominent Hall of Fame. We'll see about that.

In about seven years. This is the Thursday edition of the Around the NFL podcast, presented by NURA, and because New Era is with us, this was a video show. How exciting! It's our first video show in some time so you can catch this streaming on NFL.com. When?

When, Lindsay? How can people get this show on video? That's going to air at 9 a.m. tomorrow, which is Friday. There you go. So if you want to see us Jabronis in action, do that. And if you don't, here's the audio show. And we got a lot to get to today. A lot of news.

LaShawn McCoy updates. It's not a good time for the bills or Shady McCoy fans. So we'll track what's going on with his situation. Also, it is time now as we edge. We're deep now into NFL summer vacation. So training camp right around the bend. Let's do a little AFC and NFC hierarchy report. Just where everybody stands.

Not that time. And Wes, you handled the NFC. and Mark you handled the AFC and then I'm just going to be like hey are these guys are these bros doing the job? I mean we put a lot of work into this how was it eight or nine minutes of preparation each as we compiled these lists

we reached dramatically different conclusions too that's how you get into the hall boys that type of work ethic so we're excited and yes as we turn to the news we're going to have a special guest with us in fact can we invite him in right now

Yes, he is, of course you know who he is, if you're a fan of NFL media products. He is Alex Gelhar of the fantasy team, NFL Fantasy Live podcast. The stronghold. The stronghold. He announced with great fanfare on Twitter. Fanfare. That he was leaving not just NFL media, but the entire industry to become a freedom fighter. That's what I call him.

He's going to be a lawyer, but a good lawyer, not the bad lawyer. So this is his last day here? Tomorrow is your last day. But we said, let's get Alex in here, sit in on the news as a goodbye. Oh, yeah, thank you. Wonderful show to join you with so many hats on the table. A lot of hats. And Mark, already on your radar that the producers behind the glass,

although they do yeoman's work, incredible work, one hat missing. There is. And New Hera provided all 32 hats. So it's squarely on the shoulders of someone behind the. glass who thought, we'll put 31 teams here, save for the Cleveland Browns. I find that to be an absolute slap in the face. All you have to do to earn a hat in this room is to have two wins over a two-year period. Or one in one year. I mean, it's a pretty low bar, Mark. It is a low bar, but I still feel at this point that it's just another notch on the belt of the insults that

constantly rained down on me on this show. Well, think about, looking at it this way as well, I asked where it, where's the Jets hat? And I was told, oh, it's front and center. And then I was pointed to a large television screen, basically on the roof of the studio. Technically, I guess, front and center, but really, but we got a ways to get. Nice hats, though.

Technically center, but not front. Not at all. So, Alex, happy to have you here. Thank you. And excited for the next step in your life. But for now, why don't we do some news? Let's. Oh, we are fine

Oh my That was England England fans Uh, literally the day after we name them The World Cup team of ATL They go down to flames. Gellar, you're a big football fan.

This is true. This was a team that's well known for Heartbreak, England. The Three Lions, I believe? Yes. The Trio of the Lions? Okay. This was an especially heartbreaking loss because they had no business losing. Is that fair to say?

Not that they had no business losing. The Croatia team was very good, and it was kind of their golden generation, as some of these teams they were referred to in the tournament, was still there, aging. Many people just expected, though, from the gauntlet that Croatia had gone through back-to-back 120-minute games in the span of like seven days, that's grueling on the body. So they thought England was coming in sharp. They were coming in fresher and that they should walk out victorious,

but they did not. And it's probably fitting, though, that you guys would bestow them with the team of ATL honor. I mean, to a man, people on Twitter were said, why did you just do that? It's a total ominous curse. I had a question, is this the best World Cup? I'm not, you weren't around years and years ago, but that you've ever seen. Is this the best one during your lifetime? Yeah, I was actually just talking about this with Alex Wilk at lunch today, because we were just talking about how so many of the games themselves have been great in the collective whole of the World Cup with the intrigue and stories and players has just been so entertaining to watch. I mean, you go back to the group stage. There's been a lot of different upsets and a lot of cool

storylines. Like Panama, they got beat around on the field routinely, but they scored their first ever World Cup goal, and that was a national celebration. They lost six to one in that game, but it was very cool. How about we get America in the Cup? Then it will be really interesting. Next time they're in. They could be the worst team on the planet, and they're in next time, right? And two World Cups.

Oh, two. You're an automatic entry when you host. Oh. I do like right after, because we inserted ourselves into this England mess by naming them the team of ATL in the World Cup, as soon as the game ended. I didn't even understand. It was like a different language. It was a bunch of hooligans in England.

yelling at each other and people from other countries making fun of England. And so I just, I had a tap out in my Twitter feed for a while. And the other thing I'll add is I knew immediately. I'm no soccer fan, but I am a sports fan and a general feeling of when something bad is going to happen. I can sometimes pick up on it. Once that whole meme thing took off about bringing it home, it's coming home, it's like, no, this is definitely going to blow up in your... You are not a fan from the word go on that. I take exception here with the idea that we are.

somehow to blame for this when they were up one-nothing and controlling the game and just peed on their legs for the final one. They did. 20, 30 minutes. It was our fault, Wes. No, no. Show up and play better in the second half. All right.

So there you go. Little World Cup chatter. Fun stuff. Now some football. And we'll start, obviously, with the heavy news surrounding Buffalo Bills running back, LaShawn McCoy. And here's the latest on him. McCoy's former girlfriend told police she believed.

the bill's running back, possibly, quote, set her up when she was violently assaulted during alleged home invasion robbery at her residence in suburban Atlanta early Tuesday morning. An incident report released by the Milton Police Department states, quote, the caller possibly thinks her boyfriend possibly set her up. Delicia Corden, McCoy's former girlfriend is not named specifically by police as the caller, but other events in the report, the caller says, happened to her, correspond with what Corden's attorney said occurred during the end. incident. So Milton police on Wednesday released a redacted version of their report of Tuesday's

incident at the home. Armed robbery, aggravated assault with a firearm, residential burglary without force, aggravated battery. Police have not named any suspect Mike Garifolo. Our own Mike Garifolo reported that McCoy returned to training for football this morning, practicing with Frank Gore and other running backs in South Florida. And here's the question. a lot of question, a lot of unanswered questions. And again, McCoy vehemently has denied all these allegations against them. And there's no charges filed or even a suspect with the police. So there's a lot wide open right now. But that doesn't necessarily clear him at all in terms of whether or not he's playing football because that's not how the NFL levies justice.

Where are we at with McCoy? Are we going to see him on the field? Well, I think the situation is serious enough that you automatically turn to the commissioner's exempt list, which was basically created so they could take someone off the field while an investigation is ongoing. And from what we've heard so far, you figure the investigation is going to be, you know, still active throughout the season. Yeah. It's something we'll be tracking very closely.

And you look at the bills, Gellar, like, I mean, if McCoy's not involved, we already know they have all sorts of issues, their offensive line, a lot of turnover. you have AJ McCarron who's unproven and then the rookie who's probably going to see a lot of time. If you take McCoy out of the mix, he's like the one guy that they could point to carry the load for this team. The bills could be in a lot of trouble with that McCoy.

Yeah, I mean, last year alone, LaShawn McCoy wasn't his finest year on the football field, but he accounted for almost 33% of the total offense of the bills. That's a huge, huge piece to lose. They went and signed Chris Ivory in the offseason, but we haven't seen him be able to be a true workhorse in any sense. And as you mentioned, their wide receiving core as well. They've lost a lot of players.

They lost Deonti Thompson. They got rid of Jordan Matthews. It's basically just Kelvin Benjamin and Zay Jones. If he's even back in time because he had offseason, there's. If you're a rookie quarterback, you could not paint a more troubling lineup to enter against actual NFL defenses. So a lot to be seen here. I talked to said, Bills fan, Patrick Crawley, downstairs, and said, why would you want your rookie first-round pick even playing on this team? Because it just feels like it's a recipe to take a beating.

and also potentially regress. Patrick Crawley, not totally sad, just was married and returned from a honeymoon. Everyone in our office is getting married except for Gellhardt this week and this month. Coming under fire for that. Maybe that's why you're leaving. The exact kind of situation we would expect a team

to take a chance on Adrian Peterson. Because he would have to come in as a workhorse, which fits him not as a complimentary player. So maybe that would be an option. To Marco Murray. Yep, both. And since you brought it up, moving back to his home state of Wisconsin.

Yes. To attend law school as he seeks a life as a legal counsel. Yes. You know, maybe that's part of the reason. Maybe the L.A. The L.A. ladies. Maybe not Gellar's speed. He wants to find a girl just like Ma.

That's really not part of the reasoning. But feel free that's good for you to throw that conjecture out during the news here. Permission to nickname Alex Esquire or Esk. Oh, wow. I like that. You could raise an objection at any time. I'm going to let it go for right now. Overruled.

You didn't even object. Anyway, more bad news, more legal stuff. This is why Alex is on today's show. Former NFL cornerback Brandon Browner charged with attempted murder. My goodness. And three other felonies Tuesday after he allegedly assaulted a woman during a home break in in California on Sunday. The L.A. County District Attorney's Office also charged Browner with two misdemeanors

in its court filing. He's scheduled to be a wrong. reigned in Pomona Superior Court on Tuesday. He's 33 years old. We were just talking about on Monday or Tuesday show how quickly things changed in Seattle over a relatively short period of time. So not only is that team going to look a lot different in the secondary,

Browner, like life comes at you fast, Mark. Well, and also, it's just you feel like how quickly things change post-career for some of these guys. And we don't know what's going on with Brandon Browner, but there's always another, there's victims in this and there's that other side. And I just feel like Brandon Browner was someone that we were writing about as a football player a couple years ago,

and the meltdown is pretty staggering. I mean, he won a Super Bowl in 2014 with the Patriots. That's just a few years ago. Go from there to all of these troubles is quite the precipitous fall as soon as his playing days were close to her right behind him. Moving on, Terrell Owens, who made the, to many people, curious decision to opt out of being celebrated at the Hall of Fame in Canton this summer.

He was elected, but announced that he would not attend the ceremonies, which is pretty unheard of and a unique situation. And instead will hold his own Hall of Fame ceremony at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, his alma mater. The Hall of Fame, obviously, a little butt hurt. Let's just keep it real. They didn't like that. They felt it to be disrespectful. and they've decided they're not even going to acknowledge Tio during its ceremony instead concentrating on the other inductees that are participating in the event, Bobby

Bethard, Brian Dawkins, Ray Lewis, Randy Moss, among that group. So the NFL Hall of Fame, obviously not very happy with Trell Owens. This disappoints me. You expect an austere entity that calls itself the Hall of Fame to be above sort of childish tip for tat. We know who Terrell Owens is it. He's acting the same way he's always acted. The same guy who Bill Parcells reached a conclusion. This guy's a narcissist. So I'm going to start calling him the player instead of using his name. He's the same guy he always was. The Hall of Fame should be above stuff like this. Trell Owens earned this. He should get the

credit. Having been to the Hall of Fame, the one, compared to so much other stuff that happens in the NFL, on the field and off, it is, it is a event that is purely joy. And it's really kind of for the football fan. And I don't understand how, I get that you're not going to have a blowout ceremony for Tio when he's not there. But to ignore his accomplishments and his presence altogether is a weird event and a weird tone decision for an event that is actually so much fun. And it's really all positive. It does seem petty to me. Hall of Fame executive director Joe Horrigan said that the focus will be on the guys who are here and also said there's no reason to bring him up as an individual.

he's not here. That enshrinement, of course, will be on August 4. There is a reason, because he earned it over his career. That's the reason to bring him up. I take exception with Joe Horrigan. I feel like the diss or the battle should be between Torell Owens and the Hall of Fame Selection Committee, which everybody knows is a wildly imperfect process for selecting who actually gets enshrined in Canton.

Right. Like, the Canton shouldn't take exception to Terrell Owens not wanting to be there. His beef is more with the people that unjustly kept him out of the Hall of Fame. He could use a lawyer or representative. someone to get kind of in his, this is the kind of case you'd want to take on, I think. Yes, exactly. Sustained, Alex.

Yes. Very well done. I'm using all of my lawyer knowledge and just trying to impress Alex. You're doing a great job. Thank you very much. Oh, man, Pac-Man Jones, a man that has really, did I mention, by the way, August 4th, I know there's some shadowy league figures back there.

August 4th, the Hall of Fame and Shryman only on NFL network. Well played. It's a great event on television. Anyway, Pac-Man Jones, no stranger. of trouble. He found some at an airport in Atlanta. Mark, we've been at the Atlanta airport, and I don't remember anything like this ever happening before. But anyway, Atlanta police spokesman Jarius Dardy says Pac-Man was confronted by ABM Industries employee. That sounds like a made-up company of like evil. Band-A Industries. Yeah, some type of evil corporate shadowy entity.

anyway, ABM Industries employee Frank Reagan after Reagan made a gesture toward the football player and that led to words being exchanged and then Reagan, and this is all, I think, on TMZ, the video, Reagan struck Pacman with a closed fist, cut Jones's face and then Pac-Man, he squares up, comes after Reagan, knocks him down. It looks like Pac-Man got the better of the brawl. It did remind me, even though Pac-Man is a professional athlete and Reagan was, or however you pronounce his name, a guy in good shape, and they're just flailing at each other. And it just reminds me how awkward and really unimpressive most fistfights usually are.

And the unedited, you know, fight itself lasted about a minute and 40 seconds. And it's mostly like, who's got the longer reach here? Who's going to connect? Reagan had the reach. He had the reach. And there was a female trying to keep Pac-Man out of the entire thing. But, you know, because you always hear about these bar fights these players get into. and it's like, why are players always getting into fights?

And you find out what, this is a guy hired to work at the airport, goading Pac-Man on. Well, I'd like to see the part where the video doesn't show at the beginning. Sure. What words are exchanged before we get to that video? I'm not ready to completely exonerate Pac-Man. I'm not either because the history, no, he only has about 180 incidents like this. Well, I've heard from numerous friends and family members in Cincinnati

that know about things that go on after dark. Pac-Man, the number of fist fights that have been reprimed. reported in the news is not the number of fist fights that he has been involved in. Wes, you've been known to be involved in fist fights outside Huckapoo's in your younger... I was bouncing. I'm just a show of hands. How many people have been in a legit fist fight here? The old Zusser stays above that fray.

That's nice. You should be proud of it. Well, it's sometimes did you start it or was it... I got into a brawl with Mo Bader in fifth grade. Shout out to Mo Bader. Fifth graders have brawls? Yeah, we were tussling on a football field. There was some rolling around.

But there wasn't straight up fisticuffs. And then my buddy, Bob, I would say this is an eighth grade. He had a fist fight with Dave Raina over a girl. And I served as Bob's like manager like Bobby Heenan style. But I did not get involved with the fight. Well, I'd like the manager that whips up trouble. You probably got Bob into the fight if I know you at all. I think I had a role in the actual.

Stinky Davis? When we were in fourth grade, like a collection of nine or eight or nine fourth graders, I was one of them. They put a new playground up, one of those, it was like a big deal. It was like a wooden playground with tires when that was like a new thing. And these third graders were all over. Oh, aggression is high when a new playground. Oh, yeah. So we like, we went on, we got, we took them out.

And we were suspended for like, we missed a holiday party. I got into a bar brawl over a girl once. Vagely sexy, by the way. yeah it didn't go well like then there was I was on the Boulder mall in Boulder Colorado like one one a m after a copy editing shift at the daily camera and was waiting for my friend Kiwi to drive to come down and pick me up

because I have a car and this guy came racing out of the darkness with his friend chasing him like from blocks away and there's no one else around I can see him burning towards me and I'm on a bench just sitting there and his friend's like get away get away I was like what and his friend the crazy guy came up and just socked me in the eye socket and I went down and then his friend took him down.

My friend showed up and just pulled me away to a dive bar and tried to recover. What was going on there? I think his friend was... It was like a sink and destroy mission for anybody on a bench. I think whoever had been sitting on that bench would have taken that hit. Wow.

But he really hates that bench. It was me. He was after, not the bench. One thing I'd be remiss if we didn't report about this airport ball was Pac-Man Jones dropped his bag of Popeyes, which Twitter detectives were all over because, I mean, one, delicious and two, like, you're wasting airport food like that.

That's not cheap. It's not cheap, and you need it for the long flight ahead. Moving on, Jeff Fisher. Hey, this is the last time we heard from Jeff Fisher in a miced-up capacity. Unfortunately, I won't be there this weekend. I was just fired. Oh, all right.

So Jeff Fisher, that was on hard. Knox, of course, after he was let go. Well, this report from the New York Post that Jeff Fisher is scheduled to call the September 30th game between the Jaguars and Jets in Jacksonville. He will share the booth with play-by-play announcer and NFL Network star Dan Helley. Marchand of the Post reports that Fisher is not scheduled to call any more games at this point, although there could be more opportunities. So Fisher was kind of had a low profile. I think he was even hanging out in Montana for a while.

There was some like low grade photo of him at a supermarket in Montana at some point, like maybe a year ago. What like Bigfoot style photo? Kind of, yeah. Rainy, walking between the aisles. He looked kind of grizzly. He's resurfacing, West. I know you're excited. Well, I think it's easy because Jeff Fisher has a punchline at this point to say that he'll be terrible.

But you have no idea. It's a totally different skill set and reminds me a bit of Matt Millen, who was an awful GM, but that has nothing to do with calling football games. And you can use your experience as a bad GM to make you a better announcer or a bad head coach to make you a better announcer. I think he is, can you communicate? Like, Tony Romo put everyone to shame last year because he came in there fresh off the field and was able to communicate what he was seen in a way that tons of former players and coaches who sit up there are not able to do. It's a totally different situation. Speaking of Tony Romo, he was on our airwaves. He was at some golf tournament.

That's what Tony Romo does. Airwaves. I basically assume. Why are you angry about it? I just assume I'm not even mad about it, but I just assume at any time when Tony Romo is not in a broadcast booth or sleeping, he's at a golf course. Okay. You're not wrong.

Maybe if you hear a little tension in my voice, I'm not even a big golf guy, but I'm a little jealous. Seems like a good way to live your life. Okay. And he's a millionaire and better looking than me. And everything seems to be going Tony Romo's way and retired. Well, wait, you were very pro Tony Romo last season. Something's got under your soul. skin here you're i don't really the hero worship for romo is a little bit on my radar heading into

2018 that's all what i mean do you disagree with the notion that he really already is giving us something we've never gotten from a football i think he's excellent i love it i was in on the ground floor with tony romo but the man is not jesus christ that's all i'm saying in general when anyone's getting too much praise even if they he's not jesus christ with a seven iron mark i mean i'm not suggesting he is you like praise to be limited to a few people not everyone jumping on the romo bandwagon is what i'm talking about everyone now pretends like they always saw tony romo is a talent that could thrive i feel like you just want it with like a chink in the armor you want them to have some sort of gaff on air that the that bring

him back in maybe to get some of the people to jump off the train okay anyway people are more interesting when they have flaws this went somewhere i did not expect on our airwaves uh tony romo with the great friend of the around the nfl podcast lindsay rhodes had this about the Super Bowl in Atlanta this year. It's pretty early. The thing about the NFL is things change pretty fast. Injuries happen. A lot of stuff happens.

But if I was picking right now, I'd probably go with Green Bay versus Jacksonville. I think that would be just a tentative, rough guess here in the summer months. Fair enough. Which led then, of course, what else are you going to do? NFL.com has a prominent former quarterback and media star. make a prediction, it's splashed across the front of NFL.com and with the image of Aaron Rogers and then Blake Bordels. And I'm like, well, I don't know.

Is this really going to happen? Come on. They should have done it was Aaron Rogers and Jalen Ramsey because that would be the better story. Right. Aaron Rogers going head to head. I love our programming department. They do a piece of work and really everyone at this company.

I'm on my way out. I can, you know, fight from the hip from the hip a little bit if you want to here. But just the idea of Blake Bortles playing the Super Bowl, let's just say the Zucer is not buying it. I mean, it was like five minutes away from happening last year. I know. A great Stefan Gilmore tipped pass away from possibly having him in the school. Well, how about not buying the Packers?

I understand it's the most logical thing on the planet, but it's like every summer, 88% of football analysts pick the Packers to go to the Super Bowl. Hasn't happened in almost a decade. A diehard, a born-in-bred Packers fan, do you have the same confidence as many people in the football at Gagnacenti? I mean, if Aaron Rogers plays for 16 games or close to it, we've seen, they're going to at least be in the mix.

And a lot of times with the NFL, it just matters as getting to the post. Oh, I wrote a piece saying that they will go to the playoffs. So that's happening. You're fine. Yeah, but you wrote that about every teacher. Everyone's going to the play. He wrote it about 16. Rank wrote the other 16.

Where we at with that series is the Patriots piece? We are creeping towards the final chapter. I will be filing the Patriots piece shortly. Lindsay, can you make a note that when the Patriots piece is filed, we're going to do a whole segment on it? Yep, I'm on it. The only thing I was going to add is maybe why there is more confidence this year is because Teflon, Dom Capers, is no longer there.

And, I mean, you know, the grass is always greener, but the early reports are a lot of the players are really into Mike Petten, his philosophy, his schemes a little easier to understand. They've had an influx of young talent that a lot of people were really high on. They've got the Mohamed Wilkerson Reclamation Project as well. So perhaps Aaron Roder... I like me some Mike Patton. I think he's good.

Perhaps he doesn't get bounced in the playoffs when his... his defense gives up 40-some points, as we've seen. Did you catch that trope alert in there? What? His defense is easier to understand. Yes. What does that even mean? I do feel like it is a site we don't need to see again.

Late January, Packers melting on a late Sunday playoff game, and Dom Capers up in the booth, the hair just staring down at a defense completely dissolving. That will never happen. That image haunts my dreams many nights. Petton's sort of a bit of a steeler guy. I think he could, remember we had our hook. can beat up who coach rankings he was high up there yeah that was petton petton's number one claim to fame as an NFL head coach is that he could kick the ass of most other NFL

coaches not much else going on pack man would take him probably all right that's what's happening in the news Alex gelhar we worked with you for what four years five years this is this would be this November would be my sixth year unbelievable probably spend as much time with you and your dad Scott at the Super Bowl as any two people in the past five years I think he's more popular than I at the at the NFL to be completely honest a firefighter um so Alex we've loved working with you you're like one of the nicest guys in the building and uh I'm sure this this change yes it will be something that suits you well hopefully excited some lawyers they want it they start they have aspirations of going and making a great difference and they become sort of a

monsters yeah yeah you know evil corporate suits, Darth Vader-ish. So just please, be careful. I will try to keep that idealism close to my heart. Stay away from the darkness. There is a chance we'll need your services.

Yeah, please. Dan will call me, as you mentioned. Whether it's for insight on the show or personal issues. Counsel, personal counsel. The arc of Dan's career tells me that you will be making money off of Dan for a variety of incidents down the road.

He's probably right. So let's stay in touch, Al. Absolutely. Alex Galhar, into the... Oh, we'll see him at the garage. We're going to have a couple belts. Yeah. With him first.

A couple belts. It's going away, soire. All right. Now, it is time. Now that we have gotten to the point of the summer, gentlemen, where everyone's about to come report. We're not there yet. Everybody's still having fun on their hovercrafts.

Hovercraft. Their jet skis and their nightclubs, even though West doesn't understand why young men in their 20s that have a lot of disposable income and are very desirable to members of the opposite of the second. why they would want to be in nightclubs. Why on earth? A lot of people are doing that during this time off.

I was shaking my head more at the jet skis than the nightclub. But that will soon be over and everyone will get to camp. So now as we kind of head toward, we really start to spin toward 2018. It is time to check in on both conferences, the AFC and the NFC, a hierarchy report, where teams stack up, where we see them as we look toward a new season. And Mark, we're going to start. with the AFC. And the way we did this was Mark, as I

mentioned at the top of the show, Mark, you will be offering up a breakdown of the American Football Conference. You're going to say, who's got a shot, who's got no shot? inaccurate. And then Wes will chime in with the NFC

version. So why don't you get us going, Mr. Sessler? And we shielded these lists from you so that you could offer debate if you must. Right. And obviously, Wes can also debate what you say as well. Wes is going to agree largely, I'm hoping. That's why you're the kissing cousin. All right.

So, let's just do this right away. Tier number one, the big heavies is what I call tier number one. Okay. I like it. Okay? And the big heavies are two teams that I think have owned the AFC for a long time. Obviously, one as the edge over the other, but that's the Patriots and the Steelers. So right away, at odds with Tony Romo and his Jaguars.

Interesting. We'll see them soon enough. So the big heavy. There you go. Ben, obviously, he's having a laugh. at somebody's expense here's right off the bat I'm going to say Wes

I don't know if you come down or if you're in the same garage here in past years of an exercise like this we would have the Patriots in their own tier but you have now put them as essentially co-favorants in their conference you basically have a feeling

that the paths are starting to creep back to the pack I had them listed above the Steelers as they should be but I think there is just a little bit of a variable with Tom Brady age. Not that I doubt him. Gradual decline, is that what you're saying? The 2009, Brett Favre was marvelous.

The 2010 Brett Favre was a disaster. It never is pretty when it ends. The final year of Peyton Manning, although they won a Super Bowl, he was an abject disaster in games. It was benched for Brock Osweiler. So I don't see it happening for Tom Brady necessarily that way, but possible. Last year at this time, the Patriots, we were all convinced to have the strongest roster in the league.

we're talking about them going undefeated. To me, the Steelers have a stronger roster. I'm fine with the Patriots being slightly ahead of them or whatever because they have Brady and Belichick. And that counts for a lot. Absolutely. So it's close, but I think we're all in agreement

that the patch would still be seen as the favorite. What's the next tier of Mr. Sessler? Tier two, status quo berserkers. Like, they could blow up this top tier potentially. They're berserkers. I know what the Jaguars were last year. That's what they were last year and they are this year again. lead this tier two status quo

berserker's category. The only other team that I put in there right now is the Chargers because A, we don't really see them necessarily based on what they did last year as one of these top four teams, but there's a lot of reasons to believe they could be, and the AFC is a little bit watered down

and they could have, if everything goes right, they could be one of these teams that vive for the AFC championship. Counterpoint, when's the last thing everything went right for the Chargers? 1968, maybe? I don't know. guys know my feeling on this until the charger stopped going nine and seven or eight and eight every year uh i am not going to believe it but maybe i see what you're saying they could be a berserker

if they get i think the most important thing west is and and their kicking situation did not allow this to happen is to get out of the gate fast if they start three and oh or or even you know three and one uh i could totally see them winning 11 or 12 but they got to get out of the gates i totally understand your skepticism and where it's coming from but of course that same skepticism was directed at a team like the Jaguars last year. Once they prove they're out of the basement, then I believe in them. So to me, the charges and Jags belong in this category.

I think Mark is batting 1,000 right now. Because they do have... He doesn't like the overpraise, but I do. I think they have the two strongest rosters in that conference. Yeah, I think that when I got to the rest of these teams, a lot of these teams have flaws. So, you know, here we go. Tier 3 could be working a few more weeks into January,

even if some people inside the... the building, we're planning to take a vacation, maybe to Ibiza or Turks and Kekos after week 17. Okay, so that, all right, let me try to translate that. So this is teams that they could get hot, could surprise some people, make a run into the playoffs, but maybe not to the end game. But it's going to surprise a lot of people, including people in their own building. Well, I mean, some of these teams have to make the playoffs because there's still two more slots.

And I think maybe in the building thinking, you know what, we're seven and six right now, book that vacation. I don't like where this team's going. And then they get hot and you have to cancel your plans. Yes. I like who's in the steer. Have you named the team? I'll name the teams. This segment is really about the names of the tiers. It is. The teams are five teams, the Ravens, the Bengals, the Titans, the Titans, the Titans. I feel like the Ravens feel strong to me this year. The Titans feel strong. The Chiefs, you can't underestimate them because they're always there and they're talented. The Texans are a true wild card and they are talented with the exception of the offensive line. Right. The Bengals are the real wild card here to me because I like them better than

most people, but there's a lot of bounce back they have to do to get there. Yeah, they need some young players to become what they thought they would. What was the name of tier two again? Tier two was status quo berserkers. Okay. Status quo berserkers. And who was in that tier? That was the Jags and Chargers. Should we start from the top? Well, and I'm just saying the Chargers status quo berserers. Okay. I just believe that they could have a special season. Okay, I think the Chiefs and Texans, you can make a case for both of them being in tier two, that they could be berserkers if things connect,

whereas the other teams you have in Tier 3 really, to me, have a ceiling that does not put them potentially in the final four. I like the Texans a lot more than, I think Greg felt like they could be good, but they also could be terrible necessarily, potentially. Like, if they play the way they did when they kind of got hot with Sean Watson, and if he's all the way back, but there's some questions there. A running quarterback coming off an ACL injury. Right.

And what version of JJ Watt do we get? So it's just there's stuff to fill in. I don't know how many tiers you have. I suspect there will be many. And I will say that the Chiefs and Texans, if I did this, they would be in their own tier because they're so boom or bust. That's fair.

You dish the assignment off to me, so you have your opportunity to do this at home. Like Doc Rivers in 1990. Tier four. And now this is where we get a little bit, out of order. I'm not trying to order them specifically if it's sort of, we're getting into some strange places. Tier four, the effing rest of the AFC East.

Okay, because every year, can you ever possibly topple the Patriots? They're in their own category because the dolphins, bills, and jets. I like the dolphins much more than the other two teams right now. I don't know. What are you going to do to win that division for once? Especially in light of recent events. I think the bills can be sitting on a two and 14 bomb.

I call this tier the dormats. It's a similar, it's a sailor. That's what you think, bust out. Patriots just walk all over them every year. Which team do you like the most of these three AFCs teams? How about that? The Jets have the most upside. The Dolphins.

I think Miami. And you could argue Miami, of course. But I think the bills are cut below those teams. That's all. They are. And that's... I'm not saying the Jets should be higher. I'm just saying the bills in that group.

I feel like the bills could be one of the worst teams in the league. Well, I put them lowest. So here we go. Tier 5. And this is simply. Who are you? Because I can't, we're at this point in the summer, and I can't quite figure out what we're going to get from these AFC teams,

the Raiders, the Broncos, and the Colts. I like the name of this tier because they could be anything. John Gruden is a huge mystery after a decade away and what they've done to their roster in the off season. The Broncos could easily be back in the playoffs if Case Keenham is who they think he is. And to me, the Colts, even though their defensive talent is maybe the worst in the league, I could see Andrew Luck, if he is who he was, leading this team back to the playoff. He did that before with shoddy roster.

The rest of the AFC East Tier bit, again, I have an issue with it because all the teams in the tier below, I would put ahead of the bills. And probably the other two East. Well, that's why I said that from here on it was not a specific ranking exercise. Well, that's what this is. It's literally a ranking exercise. Well, listen, you can, again, the listener and the host of the show, or have the freedom to be honest with you? I think you're doing a nice job.

What if we just moved the Who Are You, Tier up one low? Let's go, Who Are You Above of the AECs? Okay, we're good. Everything's better now. We're back on track. Final tier. That was driving me crazy. All right.

Are you OCD? A little bit. I thought if I put the Jets down below, I'd be hearing it from you, so I can't win. Tier 6, prove it to me instead of getting my hopes up only to have me thinking about driving off Interstate 10 by late September. Cleveland Browns. Yeah. yep that's fair it's the fear of every browns fan every uh every non browns fan that works on the

around the NFL podcast uh that they are going to bang you again despite all the positive vibes around the franchise right now but i think they i think they will be higher in this conversation next year this is i really believe it i think this going to be the first year i actively root for the browns just because i want a happier mark i do like the idea of west rooting against the browns these past five years even though marks oh i've been open rooting against it. I just don't respect them. Mark's happiness and sadness. It's completely centered on how the Browns

are performing. So on some level, you're rooting for Mark's unhappiness. Oh, I've learned my level. Well, is it Wes's fault? Is he part of the organization? I would say no. It's a conspiracy, man. So that's the AFC hierarchy report? Yep. Wonderful. Wonderful stuff.

Oh, you know what we have to do, by the way? Before we get to the NFC. Oh, yeah. This is good. Training Camp Spotlight, baby. presented, of course, by New Era. And since we brought up my Jets, you know the Jets always got to come up. They always got a little bit more pop than they deserve on this podcast.

A little bit more. Who's hosting the goddamn podcast? It's me. So Sam Darnold, Teddy Bridgewater, and Josh McCown, the three-headed monster back there. Wes, I'm going to tee you up on this. Who's starting week one? Josh McCown.

So you think there's no chance? Darnold gets the call? The best route to the job for Sam Darnold, I think, is Josh McCown gets injured and he is a fragile quarterback. He's old and he plays a reckless style in a Teddy Bridgewater trade. Yes, I could see that happening for sure. I feel it's like what would he have to, what does he need to do to win the job if you're Sam Darnold? You kind of have to blow people's expectations away in the preseason, I think, because if he's, there's no reason to rush him into the lineup right away. He's the youngest rookie.

Is he the youngest rookie? He is. He's only 20 years old. Youngest rookie quarterback. Just turned 21 last month. With Baker Mayfield, the age is an issue out there where you can't just, you can't put him in the shadows for two seasons. You don't need to do that with Darnold. And the Jets are not a playoff level roster.

I don't think at this point on offense. So if anything, maybe you'd find an appropriate spot in the season after a buy week or something. And then you give them a good sample size end of the year. yeah i'm with you when i did do the good morning football segment i laid out three doors that the jets could walk through this season one was best case that darnald starts a season and they have a really nice year two is that he comes in maybe around Halloween a little before a little after and has some ups and downs and three the wheels fall off and everything's terrible i think number two is where they'll probably end up and that has darnold coming in eventually and i believe

if you remember last summer mccown almost played no snaps in the preseason i think you're going to see a ton of bridgewater showcasing him uh with uh the kid getting a lot of work as well and then i think they will try to trade bridgewater but we'll see mccown played well last year and he is obviously beloved in that locker room they really look up to him that was training camp spotlight presented by new era now let's move to the nc chris westling i know as a scientist even though your other scientist, Greg Rosenthal, not here on vacation, doing his thing. Is he in Japan? I think we haven't seen Greg in like

four months. Is he in Japan? No, he's in Los Angeles right now from what I... Oh, is he? I'm just trying to get airtime here. There he is. Even though you're down to scientist, you know, I have access to the lab. Absolutely. I have the optical scan that gets me

downstairs. I'd maybe change the locks at some point. Yeah. When did they go from skeleton key to optical skin? That's an upgrade. Rogg upgraded it. Okay. Shout out to Rogg. And even though Greg's not here, I just want to say, as you begin this segment, as a fellow lab guy, good luck. Why am I not allowed into this part of the house? Check with Greg. It's not my case.

I voted to put you in. That's above my pay. Wait, that suggests he did not. And that suggests that Dan broke the tie by saying no also. No, no, no, no. I'll repeat myself, that's above my pay grant. I took the invite. I was hanging out in the check.

All right. kitchen making grilled cheese, and then I got the e-call. Already we're in a bad place, the four of us. All right, Wes, NFC hierarchy report. It's so diametrically opposed to the AFC. So your second tier in the AFC, would you be surprised if the Jaguars or Chargers did not make the playoffs? I mean, I would be surprised at the Jaguars did not, but almost anything could happen with those two teams. That would not surprise me at all if they don't make those two teams.

The only two teams that I would be surprised, are the Steelers in the page? Yes. I count seven teams in the NFC for six playoff spots and all seven would surprise me if they don't make it. That's it?

These are the contenders in the NFC. The Eagles, Rams, Saints. What's the name of the tier? I'm sorry? Contenders. Contenders. Okay. Eagles, Rams, Saints.

Falcons, Vikings, Packers, and Panthers are right on the edge if I would be surprised or not, but they have a strong roster. It would surprise me. me a little bit. They were a playoff team last year. Yeah, I mean, you make a lot of sense there, Wes. These are all teams that are pretty loaded.

All loaded teams coming off really good seasons. Like you said, the Panthers, maybe the team that not quite at the level of these other teams. But yeah, you're right. That's a lot different than the AFC. I think all seven of these teams that the season does not end in a Lombardi trophy, it's a disappointment. I'd agree with you. It's an argument to read. It's an argument to reseed the playoffs because some of these guys are not going to make it while you're going to get two half-baked operations in the AFC playing in January? I don't know.

I know you've brought that up before. It's just cyclical. I don't know. It is what it is. The only thing I'd say is Dallas to me feels like they have high expectations. They're very imperfect, though, so they don't need to be in that category. Yeah, I was going to say, and I guess we're going to hit that, but is there any teams that are just missing the cut there or is this very kind of to you black and white that

the seven i broke this down into two tiers because i thought it would work better to contrast with the afc but if you want to go deeper i sort of have bounce back candidates as one tier which is the rest of the nfc east outside of the eagles yeah disappointing year with the giants and redskins so many injuries for those guys and the cowboys with ezekiel ellis suspension and the defensive line injuries and suspensions. They just didn't have it last year. So these guys are all bounced back candidates. And then you could also make a tier, sort of a Making the Leap Tier, the 49ers and Bears.

Sure. Two teams that the 49ers, the way they closed out the season and the Bears, what they did this offseason, could be really emerging teams. But here's my pretenders list. And the column on the right, Seahawks, Cardinals, Lions, and Buccaneers is sort of like Marks, Who Are You, Tier? Who are you? Who are these guys?

I don't know who the Seahawks are anymore. But if you're in this Pretenders tier, and again, Niners, Bears, Cowboys, Redskins, Giants, Seahawks, Cardinals, Lines, and Bucks, when you call them Pretenders, you're saying you would be stunned if any of these teams was playing in the Super Bowl. Yeah, it would not surprise me if any of those teams. I don't think there's a Bill's level team on here where it would shock me if they made the playoffs. Right. I think any of these teams can make the playoffs.

I just don't think they're strong enough to go all the way. And the Cowboys, to me, are the wildcard. of the conference. I can see that. Last year was just such a difficult season. The Zeke Elliott drama, I think, really messed with them. Watching All or Nothing really put Jason Garrett on my radar. And there were some people, by the way, after Tuesday's show, were pounding the table that Garrett should be seen as the Dalton scale.

That's a good call. That fits. We came up with that answers on the fly. Yeah, that does fit. This will be Garrett's last stand. I feel very confident I don't even know what his contract situation is but they need results

he needs to win 10 plus games and maybe even win a playoff game because Jera is not getting any young I think the 49ers are a wild card because if you get there's got to be some bounce back where you come down a little bit off those last five games there's no doubt

they're not going to win every game that way but if they look like they did at the end of last year you talk about the Patriots having Belich and Brady I really think that Shanahan and Garoppolo have the early seed of that. And there's a lot to be said for how those two work together and what it can mean for that entire offense.

They quickly added a lot of parts on defense too. They don't have major positional groups of weakness or need. Dan, promise me you will make Garrett's last stand an ongoing bit for the entire season. I like that. Let me get down to the lab and get to work on that. So there's no, I guess that's my big take. take away from the way you're setting up that conference west the nfc there's no dormant although probably will be when the season starts but from or once the season gets into full bloom but

looking at it right now every team kind of has a case to have a nice season who would you even throw out there is the potential dormant i can't see one team that is i'm worried about the bucks especially their defense got a lot better than i think they are so talented outside of the winston and fitzpatrick questions you know that they really reloaded that front seven as mark said and their offensive metrics, and a lot of the key metrics, they were better than teams like the Rams and the Eagles. I mean, they have so much talent on this team, but you're right.

It was a disappointing season. They can't seem to put it all together, and I'm not going to believe in them until, you know, obviously their quarterback's situation gets straight. The head-goat situation is on my radar a little bit too. I was going to say their weakness may be the coaching staff until they show us otherwise. And with their schedule, they could be staring at 0-1-3, and then who knows how that team reacts to adversity.

I certainly didn't react well last year. Well, that's sort of like what happened to the Giants last year. Once you get behind that eight ball, it's awfully hard to climb out. Right. And they also had a head coach that was in over his head in Ben McAdoo. It was no longer there. So that's very interesting. I enjoyed both hierarchies.

You want me to hand out grades? Please. Okay. I don't know. Fill the rule of Elliot Harrison here. Hierarchy grades. Remember, you're going to be hanging out socially with us later today. Do you want us to be part of the building?

pain or not. I'm just going to grade you guys on pass-fail. Both pass. Oh, great. That is how you do it. That's how you dodge trouble. Well, now I'm disappointed. I want to know what you really think, but.

Satisfactory. Remember that would be a good. Got a couple of those. I want the A. Extremely satisfactory work by both the scientists, sorry, the kissing cousins. Our eight minutes prep works deserves respect. And we'll talk to Greg, maybe. I won't talk.

I'm annoyed to find out that I'm learning now that he voted me. of the... Yeah, Wes, you kind of let that one slip. That's completely fabricated. Loose lips, sink, basements. Greg and I have never talked about Mark being in the lab. Greg and I have never talked about the lab

outside of this room. Spin, baby. Wes, damage control. I'm going to put a little chair under the doorknob and you guys have to be stuck down there. I have the whole rest of the house. We don't have a little house party.

It's a retina scan situation. All right. So, we will be back on Monday with another show. And I just want to say, before we go, again, shout out to Alex Gellar in his new career back in Wisconsin. Also, the podcast award. Lindsay, I don't have that info in front of me.

Where can people go to vote for the around the NFL podcast? Hashtag. Let's get crooked. Let's get crooked. Is that really the official hashtag? Yes, that is it. Well, the voting. The voting limb of this.

Yeah. Oh, the official voting can be done at podcast awards.com. Okay, and you go, what was, there was a little more prompting, I believe. You'll have to register for an account. Oh, no, that's killing us. Now, you should have left that out because nobody's going to register. No, you just got to nominate around the NFL and make sure that you nominate them in the sports category. There you go.

Get in there and do it. Register and be happy that you did. And then unsubscribe. And yeah, I'll give everyone as we, you know, trust the process here. No, that's not the hashtag. The hashtag is, let's get crooked. Let's get crooked. Use your hot mail address, the one that you don't really use.

Use that one so you're not getting spam. And throw us a vote because if we win, I assume something amazing will happen. Both for us in the studio, probably monetary gain and you as the listener because if we have more money, we will be happier and probably then more efficient as podcasters. Happiness is contagious. By the way, if you go to their site, they have had up the entire year last year's winners. So you'd I don't see us on there Well that we didn't win last year

But like one of the one of the benefits Is that anyone if you log in and you register Every time you visit podcast awards over the next year You could cycle down and see our name on that front page That alone would be a huge benefit I think to the voter Absolutely What a boon And again another prompt

Go to Apple Podcasts And leave five star ratings And the comments We'll probably get back to reading some comments down the line So please support the show as you always do you guys are amazing Greg we'll be back next week it's our last week of two shows

and then we ramp up for training camp so until then this is Dan Hansa signing off for the quiet storm the mailman the Wisconsin Wiz kid is that what Esquire Esquire of course and Lindsay Fulton behind the glass

till Monday This is an IHeart podcast.