NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - A.J. Brown is a Patriot, Inside Myles Garrett's Trade and Blockbuster Winners and Losers

Episode Date: June 2, 2026

Gregg Rosenthal and Jourdan Rodrigue do a deep dive on the two BLOCKBUSTER trades that reshaped the NFL. First, a look at A.J. Brown being traded from the Eagles to the Patriots and a discussion on the Patriots' approach to the offseason, Brown's fit with the Patriots, and what's next for the Eagles post A.J. Brown. After the break, Jourdan takes you behind the scenes of her reporting on the Myles Garrett trade and explains the timeline of the deal, Jared Verse's part in the trade happening and the future of the Rams roster. Finally, Gregg lays out the winners and loser for both trades. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Welcome to NFL Daily where A.J. Brown is officially wide receiver one. I'm Greg Rosenthal here in the Chris Wesleyan podcast studio. We're back in the studio. And we're back with Jordan Rod Rieg. Great to have her back on the show. And what a show for you to return to because Jordan Rod Rigg, aka Athletic National Insider.

Rams Insider is going to give us all the insiders. inside scoop on the Miles Garrett trade coming up. You know, my favorite text I got from you when all of this was happening, Greg, was that I'm really focusing on the positive or the correct things, which is the content that we will be doing on NFL daily and how we can best maximize the continuation of the regular season because there are, in fact, deals and moves and trades happening right now. I think June 1st is becoming quite an exciting day. That's going to be, Greg Rosenthal.

It's going to be a part of our winners and losers segment at the very end of the show. Are you calling yourself a winner? No, I mean, always, but there's lots of winners and losers. And yeah, it wouldn't be the worst thing to have another little NFL tent pole day where transactions happen. And yes, there was another one on Monday after Nick shook and I taped the Miles Garrett reaction pod. It was AJ Brown finally going to the Patriots. So here's how today's show going to go. We're going to talk about AJ Brown. We've kind of put off having the full-throated conversation about AJ Brown to the Patriots. until it actually happened.

And now it has actually happened. So we'll talk about the A.J. Brown trade, give it the love that it deserves. But then we'll also talk to the woman who literally wrote the story on the Miles Garrett trade for the athletic, follow up on some of the sound we've been getting from both sides and some more behind the trade activity.

You know, just a little inside scoop. It's a fun one. That Jordan has. Yeah. One of the craziest trades of NFL history and one of the most surprising, certainly. And then we'll do some winners and losers at the end of the show of all these.

trades. But yeah, let's start with AJ Brown. It did finally happen. The reporting that we alluded to even on Monday show and has been kind of talked about for a little while now was right on the compensation that it was a 2028 first round pick going to the Philadelphia Eagles. It's also a 2027 fifth round pick. So that was just a little bit extra that we didn't know about. But essentially, it's basically just the first in a couple of years for AJ Brown. I think the compensation is about right for both sides. We can get into the money of it all, which I find really interesting. But I sort of want to start on the Patriots team build of it all.

There was this idea after the Super Bowl, hey, we're not going to try to rush things, Jordan. We're going to build this team the right way. You know, we don't think we're necessarily just one piece of weight. Like we're thinking long term, how do you think this AJ Brown trade fits with that and really how they've attacked this entire offseason? It does not fit with what you just said, actually. What it does fit with was a team that says all of that because they understand the importance of not skipping steps and being patient in terms of especially getting some of their depth a little bit more squared away, fixing some problem areas, including the offensive line, fixing things like the run game, getting a little bit more creativity in their passing attack. But at the same time, it's a team that's realized, oh, yeah, Drake May going into the third year of his relatively cheap rookie contract and also wanting to maximize that window.

So a team that sort of is manifesting itself as wanting to be patient behind the scenes probably not very. Yeah, I'm not faulting them at all. I think they're just telling us. You're always saying, and you just said it well, that teams tell us what they really think by how they do. an off season. So yeah, like you can say we're not skipping steps. I don't think they need to skip step. They had a ton of cap space for a second straight year. They couldn't spend it all last year. But let's just take a step back and look at what they did this

offseason. They traded a future first for AJ Brown, who's been a top five-ish receiver for most of the last few years. Maybe he wasn't at that level last year. We can get into that. They also signed one of the other top free agent wide receivers available in Romeo Dobbs, who now slides in, I think more comfortably as a number two. So they completely replace the top of their receiver room. They have a new one and a two.

They sign one of the more expensive blocking tight ends in free agency in Julian Hill, who's now out for the season. We can get to that if we want a little more. Very disappointing from Mike Frable. He talked about it on Tuesday. He suffered an injury and knee injury at practice. But they gave seven and a half guaranteed for a blocking tight end. They were short at edge.

They gave $23.5 million. guaranteed to an edge player. They sign one of the most expensive guards. And the guy I thought was the best guard in free agency, another weak spot in Elijah Vera Tucker. Jermont Jones was the edge that I'm talking about. And a young player goes out at safety. They bring in a trusty veteran that they're familiar with in Kevin Byard.

That's an aggressive as hell offseason. It's one of the more aggressive off seasons any teams had in the NFL and reminds me a lot of what they did a year ago. And to be fair, that what they did a year ago is what helped them get to the Super Bowl. Yeah. And I think to it's picking and choosing maybe different spots. Injuries aside, because those that, especially to the tight end, because their room was already a little bit thinner now with some of the departures in free agency and all of that.

So this, to me, was understanding where they needed to be aggressive. There was a time when Mike Vrabel first took over and you're looking at this roster and this roster had, was trying to recall. cover from those really awful last couple Bill Belichick drafts. And there was just so much need to even understand where the biggest problems were about to be. Right. Last year, they played enough football and played long enough into the postseason to really see glaringly where those issues that they were going to need to be aggressive. If they did decide that they were going to try to be aggressive, which when you have a quarterback like Drake May, you must decide either you're going to be

aggressive or you're going to go for a build that also will probably include either a fifth year option or an extension in terms of the length of that type of a patient build, quote, unquote. They don't think they have to quite do that. Why bother? Patience. Yeah. Overrated. Look, Ray Bull had a sustained run in Tennessee, but it didn't last forever. That's just how things go. you have Drake May 24 years old on his rookie contract here. He's entering his third season. You mentioned he'll be a contract eligible after this season. I think finances.

Spend now while he's cheap. Right. And one of the things that, whether it was Belichick or Kraft or what, helped out Rable and Elliot Wolf was they left so much cap space for the next people that arrived. And you mentioned the lack of good draft picks. Like their drafts haven't been that good with Rable. And Wolf either.

Like we'll see about last year. The first one was a fiasco other than Drake May, which is a big other than. But I could have picked Drake May 3rd overall. So I'm not going to give them too much credit. But that's it. I'm just saying everyone would have taken Drake May 3rd overall. They have nothing else from that draft. I actually went and looked because we're doing the GM draft.

They've started to prep for it a little bit. A lot going on at schools these days. I knew I wouldn't the next couple nights. So they only have five Belichick starters left. Yeah. And one of them, they just made taking like a massive pay cut. So they have really turned over their roster. And I think A.J. Brown and Romeo Dobbs specifically address one of their biggest weaknesses and will help out their young quarterback.

The question I have for you is do you think at this stage of his career, A.J. Brown, is that dude? Can be that dude. I think it's a really interesting question with both of these trades. And we'll get to Jared Verse. to me, I think some of the trade evaluation has to come down to how good is A.J. Brown going to be. How good is Jared V's going to be is a question we can talk about later? How good do you think A.J. Brown is going to be. In the short term, still that dude. And that's exactly what our entire conversation has been predicated on so far in this show.

Is in the short term, which is what they are clearly planning for to continue to stay aggressive with Drake May on that rookie contract, where they are spending aggressively and maybe drafting less aggressively, trying to maybe troubleshoot their own draft classes and establish data points with veterans that they like and then try to draft according to those traits as they go. You need to build that up in your internal scouting system. You need to understand what type of players you like, what you don't like, who fits, who doesn't traits,

and how to put them together. All of that takes time. They're doing it by spending a lot of money and being aggressive in these types of trades. And then their drafts, no, their drafts are not where they should be, but they probably are thinking about that too and how they're going to need to draft very well on the other side of whatever this push is.

And so, you know, my colleague, Zach Berman's really plugged in in Philadelphia and he's talking about some of the consideration or the conversation about, you know, the next two years of A.J. Brown are probably going to be at the top of the league, like really, really, really good. after that, it's just not, we just don't know because he'll be, what, 32 at that point? And we just don't know. 30 or 31, yeah. He's 28.

He's sneaky young. Like I was surprised when I lucked. He's about to turn 29. So it's his age 29 seasons. So yeah, it's the 29 and 30 seasons that they are probably hoping are really maxed. And that fits year three of the quarterback's rookie deal with five potentially available to them. He would be an extension before that, but you can backload that too. So this all makes a lot of sense.

to me, and again, to your top of the show point, does point to a team that knows it's trying to max out just this window specifically. And good teams often think in two to three year windows, there's no, there's very few. There are some, either continuous builds because of, you know, organizational catastrophe, or there are some super long builds because there's just been depleted staff and roster and all these things. But good teams turn over every two to three years and they look at increments of time every two to three years. And that's what I think the Patriots are trying to do. They are so deep at receiver now.

I think Dan Orlovsky got a little over his skis on ESPN saying they're the deepest wide receiver group in the league. It's like, I don't know about that. But they did draft Kyle Williams in the third round, who I loved last year coming into the draft, didn't do much. He was sort of the ultimate sacrificial lamb as an ex-receiver just clearing, like running clearing routes as a smaller guy. It didn't really make sense.

Kishon Booty was much better at that role, actually being an ex-receiver. He's still on the roster. So he's essentially A.J. Brown's backup, but they feel a little duplicative. You have Kyle Williams as a backup. You have Matt Collins, who's one of the best sort of prototype fourth receivers,

like a really good special teamer. Training Camp Hero, Matt Collins. Right. Who's a good backup. DeMario Douglas, who's made a lot of plays for them and was a guy that Drake May trusted over the middle of the field.

And your guy, Efton Chisholm, you know, still there. My guy. Oh, my God. It's a lot of guys. Not even. It's a lot of guys. And we'll see. Booty might be available as Booty sometimes is in a trade. But there's no point in trading him right now.

Maybe in training campies at the end of his tenure. Well, that's what they did when they were configuring this roster too. They waited. They had the, you know, the names escaping right now. The safety. That was one of the guys that was the holdover of the Belichick era as well. Kyle Dugger. Yes.

And they waited all the way into training camp. And they waited forever. And got nothing for them at the end, to be clear. But in terms of their roster configuration, in terms of their roster configuration, like it seems to me that this is kind of how they prefer to operate. Sure. And you can't really have too many receivers. They have six, I would say, that are definitely NFL quality.

One of them could get hurt or you trade one of them. We'll see. my friend Matt Harmon worried me a little bit with his reception. Our friend Matt Harmon. Now you don't know. Just to be clear. He used to work together. He was just starting out in fantasy.

I did his old podcast backyard banter when you were still in like, I have gone to breweries with him and Josh Norris. So I think that counts. Fair. He worried me writing up this trade pointing out that AJ Brown's one of his all-time favorite receivers to chart to, you know, everything. And that he just wasn't. getting as open versus man coverage,

especially deep down the field last year. That he was still very much a good receiver last year, like against man, like a top 20 receiver, but not that elite wide receiver against man coverage, where he was like top one or two getting open just the year before. I know the argument's going to be like he wasn't happy there in Philadelphia, and that certainly was a product of, you know, maybe his diminished production.

Then again, he was quite productive. late in the season. It's hard for me to imagine like he's trying less like in the games where he dominated and he kind of dominated a sneaky amount of games last year. Like he killed the bears. He killed the like that Rams come back was largely because they couldn't cover him one on one. Like there were three or four the Cowboys game where he was pretty awesome. And so he's a little worried that the decline has started. He was saying flat out. It's started. It's kind of just a question of like does it go off a cliff? He's not that old. Or does he maintain at this level where he's, I think realistically, maybe more like a top 10 to 15 receiver, that would be good enough.

He brought up the name Alan Robinson as a worry of a guy that he absolutely loved and he saw the warning signs and then fell off a cliff at a similar point. I don't think AJ Brown will be like that. I have so much respect and admiration for Matt's work. It's a valuable resource and an ingenuity of his own creation that is really awesome. However, I don't think you can comp him to Alan Robinson when Alan Robinson was struggling, like separation was struggling even before the Rams decided to sign him in free agency. That was the whole thing with him was, you know, this is so out of their prototype. Like, why would they, why would they do this?

And so, you know, signs, the signs are very different here, I think. And I kind of look at Howie Roseman and the reports, especially early on, about how high the ask was. from Howie Roseman. And to me, that says a lot about where the Eagles' own internal scouting thinks that he is or thought that he was. And then ultimately, I mean, this thing dragged out for so long, you have to take less. Let's talk about how Howie Roseman addressed it with the media. I don't think he was on camera. So it was just a lot of quotes.

And they were instructive on how clearly it pained Howie Roseman. This is not plan A. they saw what AJ Brown did for them as a franchise. They just signed him to a big contract relatively recently. So they're also taking a lot of financial pain to have to trade him away. That's why they waited for June 1st. He said they could have taken a pick in this draft. And he more or less indicated that he could have had the Patriots 2026 first round pick.

He didn't say that exactly, but that's what I read into it. but it wasn't worth it to them because they would have had so much more salary cap pain. Now you can spread that pain over a couple years and you're getting worse. And he acknowledged that. I felt better as a Patriots fan of how much it seemed to pain. And I don't think he was just saying that. I do think it just became untenable. AJ Brown specifically J.

Brown specifically, Jalen Hertz, with this team, with this build, it just wasn't, it just wasn't going to work vibes wise for another year. It was a little less about the football. Yeah, I think, I mean, they clearly valued him so much, but there's an entire team construction and dynamic that they also had to think about. And then also the happiness of, of a player they may really like and want to keep around, but did clearly wanted to be elsewhere. So, I mean, all of those, I'm not saying that's, affects necessarily his play on the field. It might. We talked about this with Dexter Lawrence as well.

There's just always more often than not with these premier players. To me, there's a honeymoon bump usually at the new place. Especially wide receiver. And I feel like, and if you have a really good quarterback also, it could last more than one year. It could last a couple of years.

So I, you know, I'm pretty optimistic about this. And I think Howie knows that too, about the, bump and because he's enjoyed it with some players as well. And so I just, I don't know. I think that's part of it too. I went to watch an AJ Brown film from last year. And there are some great plays down the field of him dunking on. Yeah, I still think he's a top receiver. I tend to

agree about that bump. And he can look at the player that he has most reminded me as a pro. I've always thought was his closest comp because there's just almost not any that have come along. He's not at Terrell Owens' level. But I think he's been more of a leader than Terrell Owens. Everyone you hear in Philadelphia who talk about their experiences, his teammates and the players, I don't think his leadership, even last season was a problem for them. He said on Monday in an interview with Maria Taylor, we're going to listen to in a second, that he did regret taking anything to social media.

And he said he learned from that. But he has zero regrets about how he handled everything through the regular media, where he sometimes was vocal. And he said, I was a captain trying to hold my team accountable. And if you go through the rest of the locker room, he doesn't think anyone would have any problem with the type of leadership. And I think that's an asset of maybe why the Patriots wanted him, ironically. The B reporters have gone through the entire locker room. And truly, other than there was clear a separation of friendship or just like,

rifting apart with the quarterback. Like, other than that, you could not find, and even then, he could not fault his ability. He could not fault his, they're all on the same page in terms of team goals. And so, you know, they went through over the last two years. The whole beat's gone through and tried to find anything, something. And they can't, you know, and I think that's really telling. AJ Brown spoke with Maria Taylor from his house. the setup was strange.

We'll get to that in a second, but you just talked about the friendship between A.J. Brown and J.L. Hurts. Brown spoke at length about that to Maria Taylor. Nothing happened. Nothing happened. You know, people just grow apart.

Nothing happened between me and him or our families, wives, anything. Nothing like that ever happened. You know, but life happens, you know, and you just look up sometimes. times and you just find yourself drifting away, you know, and, and that's fine. And I think both parties are something. We're, it's a serious conversation. The, for those listening, there's a, a very well-placed, beautiful, like vase with a bowl on it full of potpourri or orange peels or

something. And I just had that architectural digest, Dakota Johnson. I love limes in my head. I doubt you're familiar with this. Not familiar with that one. The listeners, the listeners will know about this one. It's a very I love Limes moment. Shout out to Maria Taylor and the 7 PM in Brooklyn crew. That's usually Carmelo Anthony's podcast who clearly got there. You know, maybe it was late notice. They talked about there was nothing in the house because A.J. Brown is moving.

AJ Brown literally was in Foxborough. I think later that day taking his physical, he is on the field as of Tuesday. There's some beautiful B-roll that if you're watching on YouTube, you can see of just A.J. Brown jogging and talking to Rabel that Patriots are sending out socials of him catching one-handed passes. He is wearing the number one. You know, Jalen hurts his number.

No, no, I'm sure it's nothing to do with that. That's what I said, wide receiver one at the top. That's what he's going with now, now that he is in New England. There's, hey, look, that is some B-roll of what summer college. the deepest receivers room. Yes, there you go. One thing about Maria Taylor, she's always going to get the interview, and I can't believe they got that done in such short time.

Like, that's pretty incredible. He was a little circumspect and sad for a guy who clearly welcomed her into his home, like not always giving that long answers about the Philadelphia experience. He said he was grieving. I think it was difficult. He also made it clear. that by the end of last season, he said that's when I decided, but he just was like, I wanted my agent to handle it, but clearly, you know, he, he wanted out at the end of last season.

But it was a little distracting because they were doing the interview right in front of a carpet that said Patriots Man Cave. And it was like a 10 by 12 foot carpet, Patriots Man Cave. like, well, you got that quickly. And he was like, no, I've had it for like years. She's like, you've had a Patriots Man Cave carpet in your basement for like three years. And he's just like, I'm just ride or die Patriots. Sod. I love it. But usually you see professionals kind of give up the fandom. And she, to her credit, did a good job digging into that. And he's just always been a Patriots fan. His older cousin was a Patriots fan. And he, he's, He said that was kind of his role model and life was his older cousin.

And so he just followed it. A.J. Brown posted on Instagram pictures of him wearing Tom Brady's jersey as a youth, as a baby, essentially. But then everyone realized, like, it was with the wrong uniforms and it was just AI. So it was like A.J. Brown putting AI uniforms on himself and then posting that, just all is just a little strange. But he does. have the bona fides because he talked about how like when the helmet catch happened like he got so

upset that his dad had to like slap him upside the head and be like start to act right you're not acting like there's other people around you and he says he kicked his entire family out of the out of the house and that he's been living and dying with the Patriots fortunes ever since he spoke about it from Foxborough on Tuesday just talking to my mom and I was like man I'm still in the awe you know I'm trying to adjust and, you know, walking up the hill with the uniform on. I was like, man, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is real, you know, and caught myself one point in practice, wasn't paying attention because I was like,

dang, I'm a patriot, you know? You know, and, uh, just trying to take it all in as much as I can, you know, obviously, you know, you know, I got back to work quickly, but it's just, it's lovers to it. And I'm, like I said, I'm enjoying it. It's, it's, obviously, I know this. this ain't heaven, but, you know, it's close to it. This ain't heaven, but it's close to it about Foxborough.

Let's go. Yeah, of course, you're trying to, like, gauge his true fandom credentials as a Patriots fan, Greg. But, you know what he look like? And listeners, I know if you go watch it on YouTube, he looked serene. That's what he looked like to me as he was talking about. This has been a real journey for him. I think people are seeing the results of this and forgetting about. just how freaking long all of this dragged out and probably the mental stress of it and trying to

compartmentalize and trying to not maybe pay as much attention to all the things that all the talking's on around you and it's just been a main topic of most news cycles for for months and you know for three years if you really think about it really the first season I mean his season that season was good but the team was a total mess when they collapsed after the Super Bowl and then if you remember the Super Bowl season that they won. That's where he breaks the book out. Like there was tons of drama. How could we forget about the leadership book?

Yes. So that's been really a story for a couple years. And the friendship with Jalen Hertz thing was weird because when it was sold to us, and I think there was a lot of truth to it that he was really close friends with Jalen Hertz. And I understand him not going into detail about that, but just saying they drifted apart and professional. friendship, you know, you got to make that work.

Hey, how are we doing, you know, friendship profession? It's different. Like, you know someone from afar. Then you start working together and then you learn the real, you know, real person. I've told you this in person. Sometimes you shouldn't meet your heroes and sometimes you should and you're a person. I'm really glad I met. Okay.

Thank you. I'm glad it was not too much there. I was like, I set you up to take a shot at me. No, I wanted you to take a quick shot at me. Yeah, look, AJ Brown, he went into. his mental health, which he's spoken openly about, especially during that Super Bowl season, which they won, which has been difficult for him. And when Maria Taylor asked him about it, he kind of indicated, he felt like he did keep that very separate. He kept himself in a good place,

but also he had to kind of put himself first in a way, which was difficult. And I think it's the reason that he's in New England right now. One thing that Howie said that I didn't want to forget about was just about the pick that they got. And I talked about this with Shuck. We don't need to linger on it. But he said, for us to take a 2026 pick, that's a late first cap consequences, etc. We've always been in the mindset that a pick is a pick. A first round pick is a first round pick. It doesn't matter. Teams are still going to be playing football in 2028. And that's how I have always thought of it too. I've always thought it's weird that everyone says, well, it's not worth as much. If it's one year out, it's kind of worth like a second round pick.

No, it's not. It's worth the first round pick. As long as you're employed, it's just stupid. Howie agrees with me. Yes. Yes. And, you know, like he also, that's what people with job continuity can say also. Exactly.

So they're, you know, good for him. He's right. That's someone who's thinking truly long term. Did you gather yourself further? You want to tell the listeners what you into, you know, what, a little spittle came out? You're just really excited about this. I'm just so happy for you. I'm really happy for you.

This is your moment. So I think it's fair compensation for both sides. I think Howie did a good job getting the money. I mean, the pick that he got. One thing I did want to point out was just the contract. He is due about $32 million this year, essentially. They only had him for one year. It's more likely a two-year 50-ish million dollar contract,

which is $25 per year. One of the benefits that both the Rams and the Patriots, it's had in these trades was these veterans, it's a little rare, pretty recently just signed big contracts so they don't have to sign new ones. And the cap space is kind of crazy. If AJ Brown balls out, maybe he gets a new contract. But the cap figures of what they are paying AJ Brown, $7 million this year, 11 next year, 17.8 the year after that and 23 the year after that. Things will change. But in terms of cap figures, they're paying $3 million. $36 million for A.J. Brown over three years.

So I think that's part of the pain that how he's a woman feels is that he's paying that. I could have been doing that. Right. He kind of paid the front end. So I think that plays into it if you think that the Patriots gave up too much value. I also think part of the problem is when this initially leaked all of the chatter about him wanting two first round picks or there's a sky high asking price and all this stuff. Some of that leads to us maybe thinking this is less.

of a good value of a trader. He's receiving less good value in return. I think this is fine. I think this is about what you would think, a 28, 29-year-old, even a great receiver would get a first-rounder and then a middle-to-late-middle pick. Like, to me, that seems fine.

So let's put a pin in this. We'll do some winners and losers at the end so we can get our last thoughts out here for the day on A.J. Brown. But let's talk Miles Garrett after the break. But as we go to break... I love Lymes. Can we have some sound?

Can we have some sound, Eric Roberts? Obviously, I know this ain't heaven, but, you know, it's close to it. Pride is like love. You feel it in your heart. IR. Radio. Canada's number one streaming app for radio and podcasts, including IHart Pride Canada, your favorite hits, and must-have party bangers,

plus personalized and curated playlists. Like back-in-the-day pride. Come together, celebrate love. Take pride with you. Anytime. Anywhere. Just ask your smart speaker to play IHeart Pride Canada. Stream us on your phone or listen now at iHeartRadio.ca.

Is this heaven? No, it's the Chris Wesleyan podcast studio. My friend, Jordan Roderig, who's just been waiting for me to stop honking about the Patriots so she can get to her banger. the inside story of the Miles Garrett trade to the Los Angeles Rams. A lot of directions that we can go and we should go. Where do you want to start? I think how you started the article,

which was how long of a process this was, this offseason specifically a multi-month process, but even going back, a multi-year process, the Rams fascination with Miles Garrett. Yeah, and also I want to start by saying this was really fun to report on because this is one of those things where you have a series of hunches and inklings and you start putting together puzzle pieces over a lot of time and keeping all your notes on like even you'll read in the story, even interactions between people that you see that normally you wouldn't sort of clock but seem to kind of be relevant in that moment and then we're beyond. And, you know, the Rams, when Miles Garrett's contract got adjusted, this was in late March, this was about five days a weekish before the NFL league meetings in Phoenix, Arizona this year. It sort of sent a signal out across the league, as we thought at the time, and we had a lot of fun talking about it at the time, about how people were going to think that he was tradable. He had previously the year before, he had requested a trade, and then, you know, that didn't happen and said he got the contract.

he had the no trade clause in the contract, which was a real power lever for him. But that move in itself, which was, you know, we had a lot of fun with, but also the league was very much talking about. And at that point, the Rams,

among other teams, started calling the Browns, right, and asking, you know, what are your terms? What do you want? What is he available? Those kinds of things.

To my understanding, Andrew Barry's fending off a lot of these calls, doesn't want to trade him at the time, but it's, It's interesting because then they go to league meetings. And the Rams were really, really supportive of a draft picks proposal submitted by the Browns and that Andrew Barry sort of presented the case for where teams should be able to trade draft

picks five years in advance instead of three, which is what's currently allowed. And Sean McVeigh is on the competition committee. And Shaw McVeigh is like all public about how the rule is never going to pass and hell know and it's just not it's going to be dead in the water but the rams themselves were very supportive of this and on the record being very supportive of of this proposal and so these two teams start really palling around i'm watching this i'm watching sean mcvay and Andrew berry joke around with each other and sort of rib each other as they're walking into a privilege session and that stands out to me you've seen Andrew berry smile was that's the other thing i have to say these are things that stand out to me

because if you remember and i know you do leading all the way up to this year, the Browns had pissed a lot of people off because of that contract that they gave Deshawn Watson. And so no, it was not a regular occurrence to see the Browns palling around with other teams. It was not a regular occurrence to see like that actually happened where the competition committee, one of the guys on the competition committee and Sean McVeigh, who's basically being put on all the talk shows to talk about the competition committee making a beeline for Andrew Barry as if they're old their long time old pals and so it just and the chatter about miles at the time it just started sticking with me and then so come to find out

you know through this reporting process that is when it all started was during that two week window and then the Rams just started going after it just hitting the gas less need and Andrew Barry would just bounce terms back and forth all the time for weeks they would just be constantly running ideas off of each other. And it built from there to the point, Greg, where they had a really good idea that this was going to get done before the first round of the draft.

Which is fascinating and I think provides context to the Ty Simpson pick. Yeah, it does. And we can get into that a little bit. Look, GMs lie. They have to lie. There are certain times when they have to lie more than others. Andrew Barry was asked at the owner's meeting

about Miles Garrett and said, I don't want to waste any more breath about it. Miles Garrett is a brown for life. Uh, he pretty much just lied there. That's, that's, that's fine. I'm not sure why he's still, uh, lying. This was him on Tuesday. We weren't, Miles wasn't on the training block. We weren't auctioning him off. Um, this is not something that was, was a primary consideration going to the spring. You wouldn't change the contract if he, if you weren't trying to make him available, period, full stop. And even saying no, no, no for a while up until like late,

March, which isn't that late. It's just a negotiating strategy. You were absolutely open to the idea of Miles Garrett being traded. There are like seven loopholes he can hide behind here too, which is why GMs say these types of things after a beloved fan favorite player. And in this case, an absolute like alien superstar does get traded away. One of them being Miles Garrett had a no trade clause, which he waived because he wanted to come to Los Angeles. You don't just accidentally wave your no trade clause, right? knowing it was Los Angeles making the offer, Waves and No Trade Clause comes to L.A. He could hide behind that.

Oh, because he has a no trade clause, there's no way we could even entertain the idea. You can hide behind the fact that, yeah, he was shutting teams down at the beginning of this. They weren't, they weren't sitting there and dialing out themselves. They were being dialed into. But that's what you do when you want to trade someone.

But that is the loophole, exactly. But the signal was sent already across the league, right? League people were talking about this contract adjustment. The signal had been sent. but you know GMs, Greg. He can hide behind that loophole because I'm not actually dialing the numbers on my phone. I'm receiving calls because of this thing that we did in the contract.

And I think Brown's fans, thrilled is the wrong word, but they got a really good return. And I guess I follow too many. They're going to love Jared Verst. I'm just saying he is not Miles Garrett. Nobody's saying that they are going to, that fan base is going to absolutely love Jared Verse.

Okay, let's get into that then. I misspoke on Monday's pod. I was really annoyed at myself. I always think of Versus as a second round pick because they never have any first round picks, but he was a first round pick. So it's a fifth year option, which will be available to the Browns,

which means he has three years left on his contract. Now, they could still give him a new contract after this season, but holding his contractual rights for the next three seasons, I think makes him even more valuable. And I do buy the idea that Jared Verse in, like a world where he was available in a trade, where the Browns just wanted him or some teams wanted him,

that he would be worth a first plus. I don't know if it's two firsts or it's a first and a third, but to get a player who, when I made my edge rusher rankings, I had 10th overall. I think that's a fair. I think he is not a top, I don't know if he'll ever be a top five.

He needs to develop, but he fits into a larger plan and he is a difference maker. And he's from Dayton. And like, man, he really checks a lot of boxes. And as you say, like, you think the Browns are going to love them. So it makes sense financially and from the team build perspective when it comes to the Browns.

Great personality, too. It's a young, they're really leaning into, for the most part, there's still some veterans there, Denzel Ward being one of them. But for the most part, they are leaning into a younger core. And he is perfect for that. He is, he fears nothing. And you'll hear him definitely on the field. And he plays like he fears nothing.

And I think Browns fans will, Rams fans certainly appreciate it. Browns fans will absolutely appreciate that as well. The thing here, though, is it wasn't necessarily that Jared Verst was on the table right away. Like I said, these guys go back and forth on these terms for a long time. And even up until the end of it, it was very clear the Browns were not moving off of if you're not going to give us this pick haul that would be if you don't send a player, you know, you have to send more picks, obviously.

And if that's not going to happen, you have to send a player. And it's, you know, they really, they've got a lot of young edge rushers on that team, on the Rams. And so you're thinking about if you're Sean McVeigh and you're less need, you're thinking about the pick application or the pick translation to what which player would give them the different sliding scale of what the pick and player combination would be, if that makes sense. Like you're looking at the total equation at the end. And so that was a real point of angst. internally. I do know that. But you said they had a feel that it was going to happen before the draft, which if we're to believe Andrew Barry, which maybe we shouldn't,

what he said Tuesday, because they asked him, well, when did things change? And they said, well, when verse was in it? Once verse was in it, which kind of indicates to me, verse was probably on the table before the draft. Multiple players were on the table before the draft. The fact that he was one of them is huge. I'm going to guess. I'm not going to ask you to tell me. He was absolutely top priority.

They really, really wanted him. Byron Young would be the other logical one because he's a good player at the same position. I don't know if he was. And I think, too, it's interesting because they, this was basically done Saturday, right? And then there was sort of a cooling off period of like, are we all really doing this? Kind of a thing. And there was such a similar to the, almost similar to the, almost similar. to the AJ Brown trade with how many weeks and months that it dragged on, this was just privately.

It was almost like a, when it actually happened internally is almost like a, okay, I guess this happened. You know, they were all ready for it and waiting for it for so long. Just the final, the final terms of it had to be worked out. It was, I would say, almost inevitable by the draft that Miles Garrett was going to be a Los Angeles. Were the Eagles ever involved? You'd have to ask the Browns. I don't know, but I do know that one of the reasons they wanted to keep it so quiet, I mean, obviously, is so there weren't more teams that were trying to get in the mix on this.

However, I'll also say this. People are really trying to assess and evaluate this entire thing without factoring in the no trade clause. Right. Miles Garrett and Sean McVeigh had previously encountered each other just in passing after a game at SoFi Stadium. the Rams won. Oh yeah. Zach Jackson had a great story on that. And it was in your piece on his podcast.

It was Sean McVeigh was openly fanboying over Miles Garrett, like two Miles Garrett. And so- Garrett was looking for the bus. And he pulls up in his car and he's like, hey man, you kept me up all night. He's like following him to the bus. All week. I did not sleep because of you. And year over year, especially, you know, there's on the

BAM's beat there's oftentimes where like, you know, one of the beat writers is helping out colleagues write like a big story about a star player who's achieving a milestone. Miles Garrett is one of those players. So Sean's gotten questions about Miles Garrett over the years. And I will say he is the one player who's ever been comparable in their minds, not quite because there is no Aaron Donald, but comparable to that in terms of potential to be the best ever at his position.

And that is absolutely what Sean McVeigh. thinks of Miles Garrett as an outside pass rusher. And he also, he's like a fan. He's like a fan of him. He's like one of his favorite players of all time. And so this is like, this was so aggressive behind the scenes, but they didn't want to overcommit. And a lot of other things, I mentioned in the article,

a lot of other timing elements all had to be true at the same time. That no trade clause was huge. Right. Not just for getting this done, but, and for Miles Garrett having some some autonomy to choose, but it also immediately rules out other teams because the player doesn't have to waive it for everybody. It's like the NBA and once you are kind of locked in on a team, like he could have stiff-armed any other options. My feel of the Eagles was if they were really involved, like nitty-gritty, like they were on the AJ Brown, I mean like the Rams were

on the AJ Brown, I think it would have gotten out more. The Eagles seemed to operate in a way, and this is almost like, you know, a financial services strategy. It's like they want to know what every deal. So they're going to talk a little bit about every deal because it's good to just know about every deal, but it doesn't sound to me like it got that close. I think if Jared Verst, like, improves significantly as a player, then this can be like a home run for the Browns.

Obviously, they have to take advantage. I think if he stays where he is, he's a great pass rusher and Andrew Barry kept mentioning it's a short list of players who have made the Pro Bowl original ballot. He said original ballot back to back seasons to start their careers.

He's absolutely right. If Jared Verst takes it to another level, he misses a lot of tackles, he's in the area but doesn't finish a lot of plays, but he is the type of guy that almost every pass rush plan needs and he's like the best version of it, just like the strongest guy ever.

if he can take his game to another level where he's finishing plays even more, then it really becomes a home run. That said, you love it from the Rams side because, as I mentioned financially, not only are they getting this guy who can change the math for the rest of their defense and make all the other players better, he's only do $100 million in cash, Miles Garrett, for the next three seasons. The Browns have already paid him a lot of that money. And I was told that the Rams do not plan to touch that contract,

at least in the short term, at least in the next year. So, you know, I think that's always a grain of salt conversation. They've never acquired a premier player and then not extended them on their contract. They've always done that. But in this case, it was a little bit different. It got me to sort of raise one eyebrow because, you know, it's multiple team sources. They're pretty adamant. They're not touching the contract as it stands right now.

And we're like pretty open about how nice that contract was. Yeah, I mean, he just got it. And so the Browns did kind of like the Eagles did for AJ Brown, but even more so, a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of upfront money. And Gary Tien, okay, what you just said, I want to give you a couple quick hitting follow-ups. One, you know, Aaron Donald in the piece, I believe it was in that piece, that there was that quote that Aaron, you know,

there was a joke in the Rams building that Aaron Donald was their best cornerback. Who's the best cornerback? It's like, Aaron Donald, because he makes everyone so much better. And like, Miles Garrett can be that. sort of player. Is there a chance that we get the real Aaron Donald back, do you think, next to Miles Garrett? It's funny. You know, I know that the fan base would love that. I never say never on anything Rams at this point in my time covering them. I mean, look at what they've done over the last like six, seven years, right? I have not heard anything on that. So Pat McAfee, and I saw this just as I

was walking in, I should have mentioned it to you, contacted Aaron Donald. And Aaron Donald Was he in the gym? I don't know. But Aaron Donald's response was, well, I got to see, you know, if I could possibly get that spark back again. I don't have that spark right now, but I'd have to see. So it wasn't exactly a no, which it generally has been whenever they've asked Aaron Donald in different podcast situations.

And he's been like, I have no desire to play football again. That feels like mostly a no, but he didn't say no. One of the things that's really interesting about this, though, too, is like to that point, the Rams first called the Browns about Miles Garrett back in 2022 when they were in their quote unquote like run a back mode like trying to figure out how they were going to do that. And Aaron Donald, as we now know, had already started talking to them about, okay, I want to play, you know, two more seasons and we'll do this deal and then give

me an out clause just in case I decide I'm done like all of these things. And that to me was because there was always another, you know, there's always this sort of commentary internally. Like it was the Rams, the players of Rams have always been obsessed with are Miles Garrett and Joe Burrow. Wow. And they're not going after Joe Burrow at this point as of now. Yeah. And it's like going after.

Give it a couple of years. Going after Miles Garrett is that was their thing of like, okay, let's keep Aaron in the league as long as we can. And so that's always, there's always been sort of that like, sort of joking, sort of not kind of vibe. I can't say whether or not they always said, give him a chance to miss it and we'll see. I don't know if he misses it that bad quite yet. But, you know, we'll see, I guess.

The quote was, yeah, he said he's 35 and he's got to see if he can fire that light back up. I mean, who knows, it doesn't mean too much there. on a more like nitty-gritty level, how do you think does it impact their team build just in terms of who's going to get some money in the short term because and by short term I mean this off season who could get a long-term contract because a few good players are eligible.

Number one is, you know, buy his play on the field, the most underpaid player in the entire NFL for the last three years, Pukinakua. Byron Young is a third round pick who would be, you know, extension eligible. You know, next year they're going to have Kobe Turner up. So I don't know if you just have any vibes or feel of like maybe how Garrett impacts any of their team build process. Well, as far as they are clear right now, all of this is in the parameters of right now, right?

They're not touching the contract. So that's as cost controlled as it gets in terms of. if they know what that number is going to be for for garret for garret for gerrit tri mcduffey similar they just paid him uh like what was it for four four year 124 million um so that's that's also something where they know that number at least this in part informed the tie simpson pick because they they were so confident that they were going to get miles garrett and get miles garret's contract as well in combination with Trent Duffy, in combination with some of these guys that they will eventually pay, a couple that you mentioned, being cost controlled on the other side of whatever

this particular run this year costs in terms of picks, in terms of monies, in terms of resource allocation overall, understanding who their quarterback is going to be and having that quarterback being cost controlled on the other side of whatever all of this costs for, as long as Matthew Stafford is trying to take them to championships, that was hugely important to them. Because of all of those things that I said that are true at the same time. And that's where, that is where there were really two big parts to that Ty Simpson story.

One of them was the, you know, the Sean McVeveh at all in this early press conference and the misunderstanding and sort of the things that were pissing him off that led to it. And then him, them going on the press tour about, you know, what is accurate, which I know to be true, which weeks up to the draft, raving about the kid and loving the kid as a prospect, that was one part of the story.

The other piece of this that nobody knew except for a very, very small amount of people in that building was that this was all setting up preparation to bring in Miles Garrett as well, specifically Miles Garrett. And in theory, yeah, you're going to have less draft capital, but you don't feel the need for it as much because you have a quarterback in place. To me, I didn't actually hate the process of the Ty Simpson pick as much as I question. And I think it's the ultimate reason why people then love that pick, just the evaluation of Ty Simpson. So he's going to have to be. That's where I'm at too.

Right. They're going to have to be right about that. He is an outlier in so many different ways. They are trying very much to do what the goal. Golden State Warriors did in the second run of the Steph Curry area. And they said it publicly and everyone got on them for it, this two timelines thing where they had these three high draft picks. And we're going to try to win the title with the old guys. And we're going to have the timeline for the young guys to be ready.

The Rams have plenty of young guys. It's not just Ty Simpson. But yes, they have, if you're watching, Nick Harris pointed out on Twitter, like their first round picks since 2015, you got Gurley. You got Gough. You have no pick for about eight years. Then you have Jared Verse, who was traded, just like Goff was once traded. Then no pick in 25, no pick in 27.

And then you got Ty Simpson there holding the fort down. They better be right about that kid. What have they got against Jared's, you know? Oh, that's true. That is mean. More on that in a second. We're going to do some winners and losers. Let's take one more break.

I'm going to come back and just hit some final thoughts on these massive league-changing trades. Thank you to the Titans drafting A.J. Brown back in the day and leading to this moment with the Rable and then the Rams and the Patriots and Eagles. Just giving us some great June content. Pride is like love. You feel it in your heart. IR Radio. Canada's number one streaming app for radio and podcasts, including IHart Pride Canada, your favorite hits and must have party bangers, plus personalized and curated playlists. Like back in the day pride. Celebrate love. Take pride with you.

Anytime, anywhere. Just ask your smart speaker to play IHart Pride Canada. Stream us on your phone or listen now at iHeartRadio.ca. Back on NFL Daily, Jordan's done snooping. Jordan's done seeing how Andrew Barry, Sean McVeigh, they are laughing. It almost reminds me of those like 90s movies where it's like, oh, the cool kids suddenly hanging out with the dorky girl who happens to be like really hot

and then takes off her glasses and everyone. Oh, wow. And I'm the loner at the lunch table across the hall. You're not in this analogy. Winners and losers. It's going to just throw out some rapid fire winners and losers. Let's start with the schedule makers,

the NFL writ large, specifically NBC, Maria Taylor, and Netflix for those first two games. We got A.J. Brown now, it felt a little too running it back. I know the Patriots had made some moves and everything. It felt a little too, man, we just saw this game and it wasn't great. But now you got A.J. Brown's first game in that Patriots, number one, against the most physical secondary in the league.

And that's how you're starting the season. Just gives a little extra juice, not that you really need it. And then even better, I think, is the Miles Garrett debut. is in Australia, of all places, and it's against Trent freaking Williams. So just, I don't know if the NFL had an idea or asked about, probably not about the Garrett thing. I'm guessing they did ask about the AJ Brown thing and maybe that informed the decision. I have no idea. I was just thinking about how we, with Colleen, we did a would you rather.

And mine is dangerously close from becoming dangerously close to becoming true because it was, would you rather get followed around for the rest of your life by what, 15 cats? or sacked one time surprised by surprise by Miles Garrett. And I picked the latter because I feel like it would just be over quickly. I hope he doesn't hear this. Right. Or if you report something McVeigh is not happy with, he could set that up.

Yeah. It's just a little too zip code adjacent here for me to be truly comfortable. The betting line moved for the first game. Miles Garrett apparently was worth a point, or at least so many people were just like, the Rams are going to win, that it actually moved from two and a half to three and a half.

But I guess I would say losers here on the flip side of that would be those left tackles in the NFC West here. Charles Cross and the right tackles, to be honest, he's going to move back and forth. But Trent Williams,

that's a win for just fans watching those two Hall of Famers go after each other now a couple times a year. In Paris Johnson, who's one of the better young left-left tackles and league. Nice match.

Did you see the post? post Johnny V out of the Phoenix market that is a media member there. Yeah.

Same the difference between the two teams. It's like, yeah, one's trading for Garrett and the other is in a contract dispute with Jacoby Reset.

That's tough. We live the duality of man. That division. And I know the NFC West has had its moments over the last handful of years. There was a moment when the AFC North

was really rocking with three great teams and even the Browns had their moments. But this is, This NFC West is as good as any division, which is why the pressure on the Rams is really interesting. They are the,

they are entering the season as like the favorites, the one team that is the favorites in a way. And that's what I was getting out with like a joky tweet I had, that they're going for winning now in the most winning now way ever. And that's all I meant was just like, they're going to be viewed as anything less than a Super Bowl as a disappointment. It's a tough place to live. That is, it's, it's, I know you meant it as like a joke, but that is true.

That is absolutely the intent. It's super, super difficult to be that way. The pressure, the strain, I told you what it felt like the last time around when I was sort in the building, like experiencing all of this as the beat rider. Like, that is a huge amount of strain. Here's my, here's my take, my opinion on all of this. And I said this in 2021 too. This is either going to go exactly how they want it to or it's going to be a disaster.

There's not going to actually be a middle. Interesting. That's my take. Okay. Yeah. I think they have different. I think the most likely outcome is somewhere in between. That they're a very, very good team, but they probably don't win the Super Bowl just because

no one is probably going to win the Super Bowl. But I call it a reverse Jeff Fisher syndrome that they have. They spent so much time in the middle that right now they would rather burn in the sun in glory or burn in hell than be in the middle. Life is short. I think that's the way to do it. AJ Brown, when asked by Maria Taylor in that interview

what he thinks went wrong, what was tough. He just said it was just expectations. And he was saying expectations, I think from the outside, but he said it was more from ourselves that we just knew we were so good. We had everyone back. We should be going back to back.

We tried to say we're not defending anything. I think it's harder when you are defending the title. The Rams are not doing that. So many of the players on the roster have not won a title, most of them, obviously. So that I think helps. them out, but just he said the expectations is what made it tough. All right, another winner. Yeah, just making June 1st a day. I think the NFL network tent pole promoters, let's make

June 1st like a thing moving forward. That like makes some, we needed some shoulder programming to use an industry term around this. We should have been a little more ready for it. I'm calling out the NFL network and ESPN for this. Yeah, they really could have checked their emails from you that you undoubtedly sent them about your notes on the matter. It's just an extension of the regular season. There is a real point within this that I'm serious about,

which is that the expanding cap space and the TV money that's come into the league and the fact that there is just way more cap space has made huge trades way easier. And so I think as the NBA, which still kills the NFL in terms of massive trades, their salary capstriestri, right now, they're almost in like version three.

It's making it harder and harder and harder to make massive trades because you have to match the salaries. And they're much more almost of a hard cap now than the NFL weirdly. The NFL is in this place where it's actually pretty easy to make these massive trades. I kind of, as I'm thinking of similar trades in yesterday, so I kind of forgot about, oh yeah, the other argument for best player, a defensive player in the NFL was traded literally like nine months ago. I forgot about that one.

Yeah. That's pretty similar. Also happened. Yes. winners, people who pre-wrote their AJ Brown trade analysis. Bill Barnwell, David Ely and the guys on the NFL.com. Chad Graff. Chad Graff had what.

Mike Reese had a pre-written one. And then next level, the Ringer Fantasy show was in Europe. At some Spotify thing must be nice. And so they pre-taped a breaking news podcast. That's next level. shout out to Danny Hyphitz, Danny Kelly, Craig Horiback. That's pretty awesome. Should we be doing that, Eric?

I want to get your thoughts. Pre-tapping a Breaking News episode. No. What if we could get a trip to Europe? And so they was like covering us on both ends. If we have to do it because we will be in Europe, then yes. Yeah, because they didn't have like the trade terms or anything, although it kind of was... But how would you feel about two breaking news podcasts in the feed within one hour of you?

other. We could have done that. Miles Garrett, A.J. Brown, double gut punch yesterday. It was pretty wild. So here's the thing. Credit to them because they did pre-taped that. But I also saw the post where it was Craig and Danny Highfits, I think, if I'm remembering correctly. And then a third, like, more unwelcome guest that they put it in the caption. So everyone go check out that caption. And our buddy, Danny Highfits, is certainly going to love us for pointing this out.

And they still had to do it live because the Miles Garrett trade was. Good point. It was such a shot. Good point. You can only have too many things that you can plan ahead. The NFL is just too unpredictable. We're winners, me and you. How about five first round picks traded for veterans,

including two from the Rams alone. Trent McDuffie was one of them. In this off-season cycle, we're going to do a little episode coming up about why trades are more prevalent. So this is going to make it easier. Andrew Sicilianna? Yeah. He's a winner.

always because now the last call that he had of miles garret having a sack is like an all-timer and as the you know he's done the rams preseason in the past he'll is going to have some good inside scoop of all the jared verse universe uh you know he knows jared well so it's just all setting jared verse yeah is all you had to say yeah the jared verse um how about mike rable getting his guy back and a j brown speaking about the accountability the tough coaching. He never knew why Mike Brable was always just on him, just asking for him to be even better back in the day. But as time went on, he appreciated it. And AJ Brown and Rable, you know, kind of continue their relationship as coach and player. Let's listen to Mike Ravel joke about it

on Tuesday. I mean, I think that that was known a long time. You know what I mean? I think I knew that. You know, I mean, I think he showed me pictures when he was a little kid wearing my jersey and stuff like that. That he didn't wear my shoes. I mean, I think I knew that just from the time that he, you know, like, I think when we drafted him, he was like, I wish the Patriots drafted me. And I said, well, that's, that didn't happen. You know, we, the Titans drafted you.

Well, for a second, I thought he was saying that A.J. Brown put in AI in the Mike Ravel uniform. No, that was just Rable being funny. Like, can we save some of our water on the planet? That would be great. To be real, the last few weeks have been good for Rable because it's just gotten back into normal football stuff, which I think is positive for him.

And then it's also putting his predecessor, Bill Belichick, in the loser category here. Because I don't know if you remember who they drafted instead of A.J. Brown. AJ Brown, again, on this Maria Taylor interview, said that he left the green room crying because he was hoping so much that he would get drafted by the New England Patriots.

Wasn't the Arizona State guy? who instead drafted your fellow alumna, Nikiel Harry. Damn. Oversized, bulky, Sun Devils taken L. Strong ex-receiver, Nikiel Harry.

If Bill Belichick had just drafted Lamar Jackson, as everyone said they were going to do the year before instead they took Sony Michelle, they won a Super Bowl. But if they had taken Lamar Jackson and A.J. Brown in back-to-back years, instead of Sony Michelle and Nikiel Harry, he might still be coaching them.

It's about the players, not the coach. You know what I mean? And how many other lives would be unaffected? Loser here. Anyone who had a Rams versus jersey? My daughter and my wife, who are very upset, hated this trade. And Jared Verse. That sucks for Jared Verse.

I know he's from Dayton. He's going to have a good attitude, but it kind of sucks. Yeah. I think it's okay to point out. Underrated Food Town, I will say. I've spent some time in Cleveland. Fair. Underrated food.

But you don't have a chance to win a Super Bowl. You fit here. My really good friend called me this morning at 7.30. He's a big time Browns fan. And I knew he was upset because, as I mentioned, he called me at 730. And he told me that he read my article that posted today alongside my colleague, Zach Jackson. And reading it in his words felt like I was stabbing him with a spoon. Dang.

I would say, Jason, maybe you're kind of a loser on that one. Dang. Jason getting stabbed with this soon. And I'm a loser because I got called at 7.30 in the morning. Yeah, that's too early. Even for a text. If I see... There's a lot of angst.

I've been getting some screenshots of group chats. Like, there's a lot of angs. You know, I've been a parent a long time now. I'm up at like 615, 630. But you only send even a text. Never call that early. You only send a text that early. If you see someone's already tweeting, then it's safe.

like if I see you've like sent a like your article out at 745, I won't feel bad sending you a text that early, but that's sort of the, I'm just giving some advice here. Let's show the, the Quentin Lake tweet that he had too about Jaredverse, which he said, Jared, my locker mate is one of the most amazing human beings and teammates

have ever been around. Sucks that some things are out of players control, but love and support is what he needs in the moment. Love my guide of death. and can't wait to see him tear up the league. Everyone just accepts this stuff, and I get it. You have to.

There's no other option, but it does suck. The Rams had no loyalty for Jared Verse, and I do think it's painful that it's like a one-way street. And I appreciate, like, both my daughter and wife hated the trade because they're fans of Jaredverse

and Jared Verce, and they're, like, loyal to that. And that's how I feel as a fan. Like, when the Celtics traded, like, Marcus Smart, I don't want them to trade Jay Lambert. I think it's a totally, valid and worthwhile, like, emotion and think to have that, like, actually, I hate that trade.

It kind of sucks that you traded away a guy that I like. You didn't have to do that. You might not be better. It might not work out. It might actually make you worse. And the people doing it, they never get traded. Like, they get fired. But if they're going, you know what I mean? So I think it's okay for people to, like, be like, that kind of sucks to not be loyal to a young, good player. It sucks for him. Everybody is allowed to feel their feelings however they want to feel them. That's all I have to say about it. We don't have to just accept that the saddice is. But it will be cool.

Feel your grief. Yeah. We'll have to get like the Bills. I mean the Browns Rams matchup at some point. We do have a Bills Rams matchup in week five. I bring that up because I have some bills on my loser list here. First of all, they're going to have to now go against Miles Garrett. I was thinking more of Maxwell Hirston,

who's kind of an underside. first round corner they drafted, and that's who AJ Brown likes to dunk on. So they're going to have to deal with AJ Brown. Undersized cornerbacks don't do well. Christian Benford's probably going to get the matchup there. But a fun little Bill's Rams matchup on Monday, football.

This is a pretty long episode. It is long. I think Eric just said it was seven hours long. I mean, when are we going to get these two big stories? I mean, you're at Maxwell Harrison at this point. He was literally the last one on the list. I'm like, okay. Maxwell Harrison and the Bills.

Got DJ Moore, but I don't know if you're feeling as good about that as you would be if you got A.J. Brown or Miles Garrett. Let's get out of here. Hit that music. It was great being back, Greg. Great to have you back. It's not going to be the last time that Jordan is back this week.

We're getting in the lab. We're ranking general managers later this week with Ollie Connolly. Before that, though, we will be back in the studio with Patrick Claibon. I don't know what we're going to. talk about. I think we said it all here today. We'll see you next thing. This is an I-Heart podcast, guaranteed human.