NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Backup QB Power Rankings

Episode Date: August 4, 2017

A room filled with heroes – Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, & Gregg Rosenthal – recap all the latest news from around the NFL including Ryan Tannehill and Forrest Lamp both suffering injuries. The heroes then sort each backup quarterback around the league into four different tiers. The guys wrap the show by debating which current NFL players are on the Hall of Fame bubble.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 is being blackballed by the league. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hanses and I am joined by a room filled with some heroes. Mark Sessler in my left. Greg Rosethal on my right. What's up, boys? I think we are being underman by the league.

I think the league, if they had their druthers, the show would potentially not even exist. You could argue the show already does not exist. Oh, please. Fair arguments we made. What? Well, we have lots of listeners that believe it. I said to the lead.

I appreciate it. Okay, I got you. Well, you know, it's good to have a little chip on your shoulder. It's something to dry that. Well, they're giving us ample room for that. Welcome to the Friday edition of the around the very bitter group of men in this room, apparently. No, we love doing the show. It's great.

get the opportunity to get together, chop it up, a little football chop with the boys three times a week, talking about the NFL. I mean, it cannot be more lucky than we are. It's great. I'm a little concerned because of, you know, leading up to this show during our meeting. And all day in an office downstairs, Greg,

I think it's because Wes isn't in the office. Greg has no one to really banter with. Greg and Dan, back and forth. I didn't notice it. Red Sox. We walked into a room that had different type of construction. Dan noticed it and thought it was a big deal. Grega Care lasts.

There's a lot of personality, you know, differences here. I really, you know what? You would think I wouldn't like it, but I really appreciate your ability to be a good Stinky Davis here. Good job, Mark. Well, I like not being in the center of it sometimes. Usually Dan's role. Yeah, coming from a man wearing a woman's shirt right now.

I am not wearing a woman's shirt. You are. It is a NFL network T-shirt, and it is labeled as a medium, and it's not say that it is for men or women. You said it's generally for women, and you said, hey, can I still have this? It looks fine on me. See where the cut is a little tighter up around the upper chest area

and the way it hugs the upper arms? I mean, your bod is looking good. I mean, I don't... It's not an indictment of your body. Downstairs, as you were making that argument, another man was walking around with the same shirt on. Yeah, but I'm saying your shirt... Case closed.

The female version of that shirt. No, no, no. This is the male adult large. It is a unisex t-shirt. There's the female medium. All right. Well, I disagree entirely. It is a man's shirt for a man.

All right. Anyway, today's show is a good one. Got a lot to get to today. The Friday show, including, of course, big news with the Miami Dolphins and a potential catastrophe for their 2017 season. And kind of rithing off that will also now take a look at the quarterback situations, the depth charts around the NFL for teams that are, are in contention this season, put it that way,

for playoff spots, teams that we should be keeping a close eye on in case they lose a quarterback. How would they look? How much trouble would they be in? So we'll do a little, well, call it the backup QB power rankings. Why not? Yeah. We can do whatever we want.

This podcast, by the way, is presented by New Era. I should say that as well. Nailed it. Also, the Hall of Fame induction ceremony is, coming up this weekend in Canton and Greg Rodebanger about players, active players on the precipice of the Hall fame themselves with a nice little strong finish to their careers or maybe guys that are already in, in your mind.

A little bit of those, some best bets. It's a very topical show. You know, we're jumping off of news. We're talking about Canton. We've got the finger on the pulse of this league. Kind of figure this all out. Kind of got it all figured out. Yeah, so we got all that.

But before we do any of that, we will say hi to the great. Sully. What's up, bud? The great Sully, I like it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You did miss a beach body drop at the top of the show. I did. I know.

Yeah, I was getting stuff ready. Stacking the show. You're doing, you're hustling back there. Yeah, my hustle and bustling. Yeah. Where would you put in terms of prep of our show compared to say the moving sticks show? Are we talking? Just pure audio-wise?

Yeah. Oh, double at least. Yeah. What about stress level? Stress level? about the same. That's because DJ, that in Jeremiah, he's a monster. I'm not going to be ignored, Dan.

Yeah, we had five videos, one coming out next week, four coming out today in an audio pod. So he's, you know, Jeremiah. We didn't try to make it possible for you to promote their shows. That wasn't what we were. That was a little backhanded plug. Thank you. Jeremiah, a nice guy, son of a preacher, all that. But don't be fooled.

This guy dries up from San Diego, and he basically carries around a whip. And that's what Sully's hinting at right now. We can't say it, but he can't say it, but we can't. I don't know about that one. And then he goes, no, DJ. All I heard is, like, he asked you to do half as much, but the stress level is equal. That's concerning. Interesting.

Yeah. That's the interpersonal dynamics crumbling. How about this? Connect the dots. Yeah. Let's do some news. Oh, Sunday night. Sid, back again.

Actually, Sid, Carrie Underwood, who could tell? With Vox like that. What a set of pipes on... Forget Carrie Underwood. I definitely go, Sid. The one woman, Mount Rushmore, La Sid. Here we go. Let's start with the big news in the NFL.

Ryan Tannihill in a practice on Thursday, rolling out of the pocket toward the sideline, plants his left foot to... as he went to the out-of-bounds marker, and what happens? His knee gives out. He collapses. Initially, there was fears because there are always fears in this sector that he had suffered a serious knee injury,

and that was the news that was hanging over the NFL for much of Thursday. Then it came out that, wait a second, structurally everything's okay with the knee. The dolphins survive a scare, but then as day turned to night, you started seeing the reports. that this is a situation. He originally hurt the knee in December of last year,

and they decided not to have a surgery, surgical repair of it. And it might be a situation reported by ESPN's Adam Schaefter, that his left knee is a ticking time bomb, he was told by a source. So now the dolphins are caught, Greg, in an in-between right now. Should we try to get this guy right? He's going to be out weeks either way.

Or do we just shut it down, get the knee surgically repaired, and then take it from there? It's a tough situation, but they have time to make this decision because if they shut them down, that's it. The season's over. They have to be rethinking the decision that they made last December to get some stem cell therapy with Dr. Andrews, not get a surgery and just have him play on that partially torn ACL because ultimately only lasted a handful of practices before he re-injured it. So I think they're in a spot where do we want to go back?

back down that road, get him ready to play again, and who knows, next time he's on the field, the same thing might happen again, and you again just keep kicking the can down into the future. The other dynamic of this was that when we thought that Tannahill initially was in dire straits, immediately Colin Kaepernick's name comes up, and also because Adam Gase has a close relationship with this player, Jay Cutler. And then all that went away, and we thought, well, we don't have to worry about that side of it. And then suddenly back in the news is Colin Kaepernick potentially a candidate for Miami. We know that the Dolphins owner, Stephen Ross,

verbally supported what he did last season, his protests. And Jay Cutler and Gase, according to Mondo Sagarro down in Miami, Gase has reached out to Cutler. So there's a lot of moving pieces here. I like the little, you know, Spanish accent. I did not attempt that. I know I botched the name. He's a great reporter.

A global human, Mark, is. A couple things. That will be fine. Miami might be the one city where Kaepernick, you could actually make a real case. could be blackballed because some of the comments he made that were seemed supportive of Fidel Castro, and that is a major, I don't need to tell anybody

that that's a hot button topic. Salgaro wrote a big column crushing Kaepernick. Right, in that region of the country. So it's almost a little bit of a double hit there, whether or not that's a guy you want to bring in the building. The other point I want to make is we're not doctors. Mark, I know you were a couple of credits away from being a doctor, and you decided to follow sports blogging instead.

But I remember back in December, it striking me is a little odd when they would cut to Tannahill on the sideline in crutches and a full leg cast. And you would have the announcer saying like, oh, we talked to the Dolphins coaching staff this week. Adam Gay said they're holding out hope that Ryan Tano could come back later this season. And it was like, whoa, whoa, that guy's messed up. So it almost seems like from a distance, it almost could feel like they never quite grasped the severity of the injury suffered. and what happened yesterday and the quagmire they find themselves in today really supports that that from the beginning the dolphins underestimated what a situation this is

and if the Schefter source is right that his knee is a ticking time bomb they should have gotten the thing repaired at the end of last year because then he probably would have been ready for this year now you have a chance to wipe out a year of the guy's prime and it feels like it was mishandled it feels like Ryan Tannahill is the quarterback we will never know whether he's good enough or not. Like it keeps,

there keeps being a reason why they can't make a final decision on Tannhill. Most of it's been changing coaches. He's had some ups and downs. Now you've started to feel good about him under Gase. And then he has the injury last year that really stopped that season. They're in a tough spot because, okay, maybe you bring in Cutler. It really sounds like it could be option one for them. You know, what is that?

What kind of season are you going to really have? Hold that thought, Greg. Because I think with this amazing situation going on with the dolphins, not in a good way, but it's a big storyline in the season. We should reach out to the biggest dolphin fan we know in this building. He was just on the show on Wednesday. He did a little cameo. I don't even think he's left his office since the news came down about Ryan Tannel.

He's been holed up in his third floor. Sweet. Let's get handsome Hank on the line. Henry Hodgson. you know, a heartbeat away from being... We have to go through his assistant to the assistant first, right? So many levels of clearance. While Sully's working on that,

I just want to say, Mark, even though the shirt is a little snug up top, the way it's cut, you look at. I don't doubt that at all. Well, you can pull it off right now. You got that beach back. That's also correct. There he is.

I think Henry is on the line. What's up, handsome Hank? Hi, guys. How you doing? Hey, are you ready for the J. Cutler era? No. I mean, nothing to really get me ready to that. So would you prefer the Colin Kaepernick era instead of the J. Cutler era?

I mean, I don't really want any era at the moment. I just kind of want to fast forward a little bit like probably Dan does to 2018. Ouch. Wow. Already, there was so much optimism. You have no hope already for this Dolphins team. I don't have no hope, but in a division with the Patriots, I just think what looked like a hard task already now looks like an impossible one.

Perhaps a little bit shocking, I would think, though, Henry, that all of a sudden you may also be in the scam for Sam. Yeah, though I still think you guys have a head start there, the Jets. I think the Jets have a massive head start. I mean, when it comes to Matt Moore, I thought he was solid. when he came in last year and would be a top seven type backup in the NFL, in my eyes. Like, are you that concerned about going from Ryan Tannahill to Matt Moore? No, I definitely agree he's a top seven backup, but that's as a backup.

I think when it comes, you know, if you're talking about a whole season with him as a Starter, and you saw it a little bit, he played those three games before he got to the Steelers game, and it was pretty clear that while he was okay in those ones and serviceable, and look, let's be honest, he was the guy that led them into the playoffs. those guys get found out pretty quickly. And so that's why I would definitely advocate for them to bring in someone else, Kaepernick over Cutler probably, as another potential starter. Because I do think that four or five weeks into the season,

Matt Moore would be found out and you'd want to have someone else that you could put there in his place. Well, this is, Gase is a quarterback-friendly coach. Yep. And I don't know if there's that. I like Ryan Tannahill a lot, and I don't know if there's that big of a difference between Ryan Tano and Matt Moore. If you look at the numbers in Miami for what it's worth, yards per attempt, completion, all of that. Matt Moore has basically got the same amount and same numbers. He's not going to get you beat quarterback, and that's kind of what Ryan Tannahill is.

Ryan Tano is a higher upside, but at no point as Ryan Tannibald, he'll have been taking over games and winning them anyway. So Henry's, yeah, go ahead, Henry. No, well, you're looking at numbers, and I agree that they're probably not that different, but what Tannahill offered last year, which improved, you know, measurably under Gase, was that he was making, he was making plays outside of the pocket and making things happen. I think if you look at the sort of five to ten best plays that Tannerhill made last season that he wasn't making in years past, it was stuff that took advantage of his athleticism

and also the fact that he had probably better receivers than he had done previously in his career and a running game finally that got going as well. Matt Moore would benefit from that. don't think he has any of the athleticism or much of the athleticism that Tanahill showed that made things happen. And, you know, they won games late in games and by small margins, often because of those types of plays that Tanahill was able to make. And to Henry's point also, you said at the beginning, Henry, that yes, maybe more in Tanahill statistically doesn't seem a lot different, but Taniel has that higher ceiling. And if he, and yours always hope I would think as a

dolphin fan, if he clicked in year two and took it to the next level, then the dolphins are legitimately frisky and maybe not better than the Pats, but they're a team that maybe they can make some noise, win a playoff game, who knows from there. But with Matt Moore, you kind of know what you're going to get. He's not going to embarrass you, which some backup quarterbacks, and we'll get to that later in this league

can do. But there's definitely a ceiling in place if Matt Moore is your quarterback. Oh, I'd say is Jake Huttler got Adam Gase hired in Miami. I mean, he had 25 touchdowns, 11 interceptions. That was the year where people thought, well, you know, Jake Hudler's turned the corner in age 33, he's going to become an MVP, everyone talking about it.

That was unrealistic. I can see the one quarterback that is a long-time starter that I'd much rather see in the announcer's booth than on the field. I don't need Jay Cutler back in my life. I'm also not convinced that he's not tacked on 45-50 pounds. Yeah, Maurice Jones through retirement workout plan. Whoa. Wait a minute.

Keep us out of that. Bunsen burner blowtor. I would love to see Cutler or Kaepernick. I kind of like that Gase made it very clear. They're going to bring in someone if Tanna Hills hurt. I mean, he said Matt Moore is our guy for now. And I think they're going to bring either one of those stories is fun. I mean, I had finally given up the ghost on Jay Cutler, but now they can bring me back.

It's going to be Brock Osweiler, by the way, Henry. So many ghosts, by the way. Mansell or Case Keenham. So many ghosts with Greg. The haunted mansion is full with Ryan Tannahill. You didn't give up that ghost. And now you got Jay Cutler involved. You got Gino Smith up in Jersey.

A lot of ghosts flying around. Got Frank Gore ghosting all the way to can. All right, Henry. You want to get some lunch after this? Yeah, let's get lunch. All right, cool. Greg's going to come, too? I would never miss out on, what's that place called?

It is delicious. Bucco shop. Bucco shop. Mark, will you come to? I am unavailable today because apparently I'm wearing a shirt that's for women. Mark also doesn't like food, so that's a turnoff. That's the biggest obstacle here. Mark ate on Monday, and so he's good for the moment.

All right, bye, bye, Henry. All right, bye. All right, moving on. So we've got a lot of stuff to, and we'll figure out what happens next. with the Dolphins, and it might even be an update before this podcast goes live, but that's what we know right now. Moving on some other tough, tough injury news, the Los Angeles Chargers, who seem to be snake bit with injuries,

or maybe it's something to do with their staff, how they treat their place, who knows, but now they're down a rookie offensive lineman, Forrest Lamp, and it is coincidence, ironic? I don't know, but just earlier this week on this very podcast, Mr. Greg Rosenthal. Speaking of Greg Rosenthal, by the way, welcome back. You weren't at Wednesday show because you were doing your duties out in the field once again.

Hey, girl. Hi, girl. Is that who I think it is? Yeah, girl. Is that NFL Network's Greg Rosenthal? Yeah, girl, it is. Oh, he nasty. What?

You are nasty, Greg. The great Jason Zumwalt, by the way, right there. Anyway, on Monday's show, Greg was here, and we were talking about their wide receiver injury issues, but Greg was talking about the offensive line situation. If they lost their second pick, Forrest Lamp, or their third pick, Feeney, who's supposed to start at centers, like those, I think, would be more hurtful to their team

because those two guys are really the key of helping to fix. that offensive line rookie starters in the middle. And so, Greg, you made that comment, and then the guy, poor guy blows out his ACL and his right knee on Wednesday, and his season's over. Yeah, and I don't need the 30 to 40 tweets blaming me for jinxing the guy. Give me a break.

Who is supporting the Chargers more than me? I'm on Team Chargers. It's unfortunate that Forrestlamp is hurt. I mean, he had played, I read something like 10 straight years without a single injury. and he joins the chargers and tears his ACL. That's tough. They're cursed.

And the reason you said that is because this is not a team that can deal with too many injuries on that line. I mean, what are we going to do here? If it's going to be a turnstile on that line, all these already seemed a little overly optimistic viewpoint about this team, I would say. But now if you're going to have a bad line, forget about it. Philip Rivers is going to regress like he did at the end of last year.

Who are we getting in there, Kenny Wiggins? Who knows? It's a good thing they draft to Dan Fienie. I mean, that's DJ's, I think, second interior lineman in the draft this year behind the boy that got hurt, your boy. Tom Telesco, their general manager, is getting a second chance, Forrest Lamp, who some people, they really liked as a first round. I know his name, Mark. He's disrespecting the man. Now I know.

First round type of pick. Tom Telesco, this is his second chance to rebuild the Chargers' offensive line from scratch. He received a post-show grade of D-minus, I would say, for the first. first time around basically none of it worked and maybe it's not working now all right in other news uh in the aFC this is kind of a weird little story martavis brian and i'm going to admit in our little pre-prod meeting uh when i came across this i was stunned i thought martavis brian was back i thought he was going to be on the stealers this year i thought he got reinstated did i miss something i don't know but uh according to the pittsburgh post gazette an NFL spokesman

said that martavis bryant has yet to receive full reinstatement to the NFL because because he has not yet satisfied the league's requirements. So that means that Martavis Bryant's still out of the mix. And we don't actually know if he's actually going to be playing for this team. That's a surprise, Mark. It is. It is. I mean, this came out a couple days ago,

but it does not surprise me at any point when the NFL takes its sweet time with these suspensions and the layers and the chapters to them. I mean, some of these players, what it takes to get back onto the field, we just don't have the details behind the scenes. of why or why it's happening. But it's very rare that he was conditionally reinstated, that he was in the facility and all that, but he can't practice.

I mean, I can't remember a situation. And they say it's not a setback. Exactly like that. They said he has to satisfy all the requirements. The Post-Gazette suggests it may involve arrangement for clinical resources. But it's important for that team. Yeah, so keep an eye on that situation.

In Pittsburgh, moving on the Cleveland Brown. Uh-oh. A little brownie. He's talking, I'll tell you what. Sean Kaiser, the buzz is building in Berea. Barria. Berea. You know, maybe, maybe building your complex on an Indian burial ground, that is no longer

to be an issue. Maybe all the demons are exercised because Deshaun Kaiser has got people excited. Veteran beat reporter Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote that Kaiser, the rookie second round pick, not only won the first seven days. of training camp, quote, it's not even close. Of course, Kaiser is battling Cody Kessler and Brock Osweiler to be the starter for the Browns this season. But Mark Sessler, here's my question. And I know this happens all the time. A guy gets drafted in April and the whole thing is it's a really nice pick, a great developmental pick. And they fast forward three months. And all of a sudden

it's like, oh, this guy is now ready week one. Do you have any concerns? turns, Mark, that they might get overly excited and put a guy in the lineup before he's actually ready just because they want something fresh and shiny and new to build a team around. Sure, because it may not be hard to be heads and tails the best quarterback on the field when your competition is Cody Kessler and Brock Osweiler. I think what they love about him probably they're seeing, if you're a writer, you're watching these practices, you're seeing the arm strength, you're seeing the size. A lot of the quarterbacks in Cleveland have been sort of, whether it's Kessler or it's

Colt McCoy, sort of pop-gun-arms, smaller dudes that don't look like your Ben Rothesburgers and the rest of the division. Kaiser looks the part, and I think, honestly, for some of these people that have covered the team for a decade-plus, they so want a quarterback to be the guy that almost wish-cast him into the role. And so I like that. I do also think, though, that, you know, he's obviously practiced well. It's so premature.

There's a scrimmage today. He hasn't played the preseason at all. At all. There's a scrimmage today, and, you know, it's happening. It looks like in a rainstorm. the way they showed the scene a few minutes ago, if it's going to kick off in a couple hours. I want to see that.

I want to see him in the preseason. I do think it's an interesting person to have in the mix. If it were just Kessler and Osweiler, very little reason for excitement. Well, who knows? Maybe this is looking too far ahead, but maybe, I mean, if he could have a solid season, it's like maybe they're not even looking for a quarterback next year, and it's not that crazy. I mean, the thing is like, okay, Trubisky goes to, Kaiser goes 48.

None of that means anything right now. But, you know, Derek Carr was taken in the second round, had a good rookie year. Colin Kaepernick was taken in the second round was good the second round was a pretty good rookie. So, who knows? Kaiser's the man. Sounds good. Take the Browns out of the quarterback mix in the first round next year. This jet fan signs off on that.

But you would sign off, too, if it meant that Kaiser looked good this year. I don't care when it happens. Yeah, it needed to happen in my lifetime. DJ still thinks Brock Osweiler's going to be your week one starter. I don't know why he thinks that, but that's why he thinks. I do have some breaking news, by the way. 16 hours ago, August 3rd, 2017, 8.58 p.m. Mark Sessler's dispatch on Twitter, okay, okay, you've reeled me in again, Browns.

I'm officially fired up to see Kaiser in action. Noted, Mark. I saw your response to that where you, you know, you timestamped it and said it will be on your radar. I want to be excited. Not a bad way. I'm not like this Mark much better. So 680 likes for that. I want to be excited.

I would like to go into the football season with some sense of optimism out the team that I've followed for 30 years. I'm not sure this is the way in, but it's the only door I see at the moment. It's nice to see you being a little more honest with yourself. Yes. Because let's be real. You are going to be, you are excited either way. Now you're just allowing the public to know it. Yeah.

Instead of it eating you from within, the inside out, like the monsters from within, you are now openly saying this team matters to me I care about them I need them to win and this is a much healthier aspect and it's worked out so well in the past that I don't see anything but good times ahead I feel like last year when you were saying that you weren't invested it was almost like an ulcer that was growing with every loss inside you this optimism this openness I think it will be better for your internal I hope so your guts I mean you know, it's time. Enough is enough.

So anyway, yes, everyone's excited to see Deshaun Kaiser, preseason right around the corner, so we'll see where the Browns fit him in on their pecking order. Moving on. Speaking of quarterbacks that are atop their depth chart, Blake Bortles has had his trouble. We talked about it. He had the five interceptions in a practice earlier this week.

You know, he's almost become, it's almost kind of become shorthand in a pejorative sense for being a bad quarterback. Oh, you guys are real Bordals. He's mortals today out there. And things like this play into that. You're saying that. I don't know.

It's just something Cam Jordan might say. Let's see what Cam Jordan said, you know, apropos nothing. Nobody was talking about the Jaguars. It was a question about Drew Brees and how he helps the Saints on defense. And here's what Cam had to say. You know, you're not going to face more of a top-tier quarterback than Drew.

And that rapidly helps the learning curve. When you talk about, you know, Drew's able to look somebody off or see something down the field and able to adjust those throws, that's only going to help their young corners. When you talk about the lineback of core, you talk about Manteau, you talk about A.J. Klein, Craig Robertson. You talk about Steph, who's entering his third year. We're just talking about going against our offense. It can only help us. I mean, it's not like we're going against Blake Burroughs here. You know, it's not like Drew's giving picks away.

We were talking about a guy who was a perennial elite. All right. A couple things here. Let's calm down a little bit about Drew Breez helping the Saints defense so much. Same unit that finished 27, 31st, and 31st in York. At most, he's just begun to help them. At most, it's just happening. He may be beating them down so badly.

They have no confidence. Maybe. I mean, what would have, if that's what the defense looks like with their secret weapon, Drew Breeze helping them in practice, what would it be like if Blake Bortles was there? Anyway. So that was on my radar a little bit. But, Mark, the other thing is,

You know, leave Blake out of it. He's got enough going on. He's got enough battles. I'll say this. By doing what we do here, I would say a thousand times at least a name or something slipped out of my mouth where I thought, my God, I wish I hadn't just name dropped that person or done that. But I don't understand where, like, a player, usually you don't hear players ripping on

quarterback. That's good. I like it. Let's rip some more. Let's have some ripping. It just seems unnecessary. In the 60s and 70s, you read those old football books. They used to rip each other all the time and talk about honestly, like, who's going.

good who's bad this is what we want out of our players you know we criticize them for not talking up enough it is it is kind of a professional wrestling hook to it all i get that which maybe makes sense because i remember interviewing cam jordan was a rookie in this building his father his name was blank jordan does anybody remember camp jordan's father steve no maybe sully this is where you got to be hammering that laptop you know helping out the old host minnesota vikings tight end i remember that i believe it was Forrest Lamp. Anyway, it was Blank Jordan.

If you are a wrestling fan from the early 90s, you'll remember an amazing classic vignette of Mr. It was Steve Jordan. Good job. Mr. Perfect, the great 90s wrestler of WWF, did a vignette where he was Mr. Perfect. So he was doing sports exploits. Like he shot a hole in one. He hit a grand slam.

And then to cap it off, he was with Steve Jordan. and he threw, Mr. Perfect, threw an 80-yard bomb and then caught it himself for a touchdown. Rest in peace, Kurt Henning. But I asked Cam, Jordan, about that. Your dad was in a famous WWF skit, and he's like, yeah, I was there that day. I was like, oh.

So maybe he's a wrestling fan, and he's rampant, maybe he's leading the revolution here. If he's pulling from that world, I can get behind it. All right. Moving on, the Patriots, quick trip to the throne of ease. Quick trip. They were getting killed in the blogs yesterday because somebody tweeted out their season ticket package.

First loss they've had in a while. Yeah, it's true. It's fair. Their season ticket package, which included, if you purchase season tickets, tickets to the AFC championship game and the divisional playoffs. And it was seen by some Greg is very arrogant. I know you've been very successful, but now you are just assuming you're playing.

hosting home games in the digital playoffs in aFC title yeah yeah it said game playoff game two so they're they're have a buy too yeah so they are not only yeah they are also there is no home date for the wild card round that got on my radar and I know seven straight buys Greg I get it congratulations to you that's that's significant yeah but Sally just barked yeah yeah no yeah I'm just barred on the soundboard silly 45 minutes into the tab of acid that he dropped for lunch I have I have fat fingers Sully just, like, face planted on the dropboard. I'll cut that out.

No, no, no, please leave it. No, no, no, no. I was putting radar. You're not cutting anything out, Sally. Anyway, turns out, though. Patriots are evil, I think, is where you were going. Yeah, well, not including the wild card game. That's a little, to quote a cesslerism, that's beyond the pale.

But the truth of the matter is that it is more a housekeeping issue, as it turned out, after doing some digging, that teams, fans have the option, like a pay as they advance option, where they get locked into the ticket immediately as the team advances. Patriots just to save some postage mail the tickets that can become like kind of relics or not relics can become basically alternate histories in a way if they don't actually host those games. So I can't really kill them for that. But the no wild card game, you know, come on.

A little aggressive. I mean, it's New England. It's the New England Patriots scenario. Now, Greg, your rebuttal. Aren't other teams doing stuff like this? I don't know. You playoff tickets. It seems like one of those things they're just sticking on.

See, there we go. I think it was fair. I was just pointing out the funnier thing to me is that there was no wild card. Yeah. Are the Jets shipping playoff tickets to their fans? I don't even know the Jets are shipping tickets. I think they're just saying, let's move forward. I mean, it's been a while.

2009 was the last season where they did have a wild card game, where they were part of. I mean, that's what do you want, Greg? You want us to say, yeah, it's been a great run. Yes. It's been great, Greg. You guys have done something really special. I ever done anything. Unprecedented.

Finally, in the news, the season, we had our first action of the NFL season. The Hall of Fame game took place in Canton, a 20 to 18 Cowboys victory over the Arizona Cardinals. Big come from behind effort, I believe, by the Cowboys. I didn't see it. missed it. Can't vouch for it. but a real come from behind effort. Mark, I know you were plugged in on the game.

I watched, I'd say 87% of it. Do you want to tell us some of your takeaways? One takeaway I have is that people probably opened. I know that I opened the game, ripping on the fact that the first NFL pass thrown all season was by Blaine Gabbard, that that felt very ominous to me, concerning for all of us, played very well.

And it's just one worthless preseason game, but I mean, you have to wonder, what Ariens has been doing with him all offseason, I thought your boy, Kanditsche, Kham Dice, Kham Dice, Kemp Dice, Kemp Dijee, Kemp Dijee, May your salvation come in August. He did not get the veteran pass, as Connor Wro wrote, because normally you'd see all these guys were on the sidelines, helmets off. I don't even know why they put guys like Carson Palmer and Larry Fitzgerald.

Why do you make them wear football pads in this game? They're never going to see the field. Under any condition they will not play. Why are you making them dress up in this garb? That's fair. There are all the things happened, but what got on my radar today was that the two of you during our pre-production meeting, I thought, you know, let's have a robust conversation about the first football game of the year.

No one bothered to watch the thing, except me. By the way, I said 2018 final. Okay, I have a little, I want to prepare a statement, so I don't get, I want to tell you how I feel about this. Do you need the miss of music? Sure. Prepared statement about the Hall of Fame game tank job done by my colleagues. I was prepared to have an in-depth conversation today about the Hall of Fame game

after closely watching roughly 87% of the preseason opener in Canton, Ohio. I was stunned to discover during our pre-production meeting that nobody else in this room took pains to watch even a minute of the game. Get your act together, bro. You're trash. I find it appalling that I am the only one who tapped in. to my personal wellspring of professionalism at the workplace to closely monitor a game that was roundly ignored by our colleagues. One statement on that.

Get your act together, bro. Your track. One statement for Greg. Get your act together, bro. You're trash. One statement for Dan. Get your act together, bro. You're track. One statement for the level of professionalism in the American workplace shown by hobby horses skipping a deeply meaningful start to the season. Get your act together, bro. You're trash. Get your act together, bro. Your track.

Get your act together, bro. Get your act together, bro. Mark, furiously pointing at Sully with pit stains below. And my woman's shirt. That's because the woman's shirt is cut higher. It is. Thank you. Thank you.

That's a fair defense. A couple thoughts here. I don't know how you would have reacted in previous pre-season where I'm caring you up and down the show with all the Friday night, Saturday night games I'm watching. You want to talk about radar? You are on Greg's radar with this. Give me a break. I'm not calling you out for that.

Number two. Haring you. I love it. Yesterday was a big day. The final day of my daughter, Ellis, is Polywag swimming class. Unfortunately, for the third straight time, she was held back. She's going to be reentering polywog again, but it was still a big day, had to go to the last class, and we celebrated with a milkshake afterwards.

Some things are more important. Get your ass together, bro. You're trash. Listen, get some priorities. Help back three times. Not a natural swimmer. Geez, maybe time to pull the rip corner. I think it's nice to spend time with your children.

I sat home and watched the game with Luke and Colton, and it was actually a nice experience. It's one of the first games that they started to have questions about what they were seen. It was quite a good time, Dan. I suggest you try the same. And I will just say that for all your 87% study of the game, the only thing that you took away was that Blaine Gabbard started,

Kandice played snaps, and Larry Fitzgerald was not wearing his uniform, or was wearing his uniform fully, which kind of got on your radar. I came away with a larger picture view of why did they put these players in these uniforms when they will not play. I read Connor Orr is what we learned, too. Like, you're not fooling anyway. Why don't you check my Twitter timeline, buddy? Oh, man. I was tweeting comments about the game.

This is Greg's nightmare to have not watched a game and be called out for it. So he's coming back strong and I'll listen to every word of it. I love this. This is good. All right, that's it. That's it. And I should, once again, a 20 to 18 win for the Cowboys. A real squeaker for America's team.

Let's, you know what? Get my act together. Let's move on. And let's talk about it. All right. So we were saying, oh, boy, e, ble, the dolphins were in trouble. But there are teams that would be in a lot. lot more trouble than the dolphins if they lost their starting quarterback.

And let's face it, this is a brutal game. It is a physical game. It is a game where quarterbacks get hurt all the time. I hate to say it. If you're a hardcore football fan, there's a decent chance that your star quarterback can go down and miss team time this year. So we thought maybe, let's take a look in terms of teams that, you know, are either knocking on the door, were playoff teams last year teams that people are buzzing about this year

let's look at their quarterback situations behind the starter and kind of power rank where they are and I guess a good place to start is at the top and I'll throw out a bunch of names here and then we can all kind of figure it out and put it into some tiers that we have set up here

but the first right now I think and I think this person is alone Jimmy Garoppolo with his limited experience in the NFL, but just the buzz around him, how he has played when he's gotten into the game, the fact that people are, there's even some reports earlier this summer that there's not a big drop off when he replaces Tom Brady. There is a general feeling that it's like a Joe Montana Steve Young situation going on right here. Now, it's way premature to say that, but that's how people feel.

And I think he has done enough on the field to tell us, Greg, that he's kind of in his own class right now in terms of the number one backup quarterback you could live with if your guy went down. He stands out as the one backup that feels like he has potential to be a great starter, that Patriots might consider using the franchise tag on him. Usually there's a few more guys like this actually with like, okay, big time potential weight in the wings. But right now any of those guys are actually competing to start.

Like Deshaun Watson, he has a chance to actually start. Deshaun Kaiser, there's really not any of those trend. backup cool quarterbacks out there. I mean, he's locked into the spot, but I believe what Bill Belichick has said about him, and I believe in their own actions that they refused. They probably were offered an absolute mountain by Cleveland and maybe another team for his services,

and they didn't want to make that trade. And they may live to regret it. I mean, everyone is now just assuming this guy is going to be a pro-ball, all-pro tight guy. We don't know, but it's safe to say, as far as this exercise goes, you feel okay. Tom Brady has his way.

This guy will never play, never hit the field. It's a tricky situation in New England. We've talked about that. How are they going to make this work? Gropolo keeps on, this is his fourth year in the league now, right? At some point they're going to have to make a decision, but we'll see where that goes. Anyway, so now let's talk about Matt Moore.

So Matt Moore is a guy not in Gropolo's tier. Grappolo is younger. He's got the upside things. Moore, I believe, is 33, 34. He's in that range at this point. But Greg, or Mark, every time he's gotten in the lineup, he has done the job and taken care of business. He got the Dolphins to the playoffs, and Tana Hill went down last year. So our second tier, hold the fort.

These are guys that can, if your quarterback misses a month, you can expect to go around 500 and he'll play a steady manner, or maybe win a game for you if he gets hot. Hold the fort guy. He might be at the top of that list, far below Garapolo, but also really a good guy to have. The Dolphins could be in a worse situation right now. It's only last season that we have any evidence of what Matt Moore's been at this time. Because Ryan Tanhill started 16 games for four straight seasons before last year. But and also Matt Moore annoyed me a couple times back in previous free agency sessions

where he had a chance to go potentially start for a lower-level team like a New York Jets or a Cleveland or something. And he didn't want to. He wanted to stay in Miami and keep the backup job. Nice place to live. No, of course. I think that life and overall quality of life probably came into that decision. But last year, as Henry said before, when he came in, he essentially did pull them into the playoffs by not being a liability. He was better than people think. I really believe. I think Gase will trust him. They need to get another body in there potentially, but

like if he had played in his month playing how Ryan Tannahill played in his first month playing for Adam Gase, which no one brings up that Ryan Tannel Hill was abysmal, probably the worst month of his career the first month of last year. season. More came in there and he made good decisions. He made some big plays. He embarrassed your Jets. Not that that was too unique. But he wasn't, even the playoff game was not his fault.

There was 21-0-0 before he barely had the ball. He had no protection early in the game. Watch that game. He got killed in that game. He was fine. He showed some toughness. You can't embarrass a team with no pride, Craig. He just beat up on the Jets. It was that Monday night. You remember that game. It was a whoopin. They all kind

of blended together after a while. I'm going to go down a list now. You tell me if they deserve to be in the hold the fort tier i want i want you to know the below tier is the honey take your kids to the mother to your mother's tier which is things are getting bad it's it's abysmal your season's in trouble below that tier honey take your kids to your mother so you're your mother you're separated with you from your wife get to higher ground get to safe ground oh hope to see you again i may never see you again it's not a relationship issue it's a potential like an apocalyptic type It's like, okay, mom, take the kids for the weekend.

No, it's like, honey, get the kids, pack them up, get to your mother's place, which is probably upstate or something, and just stay there and I'll meet up with you. But you don't, in your head, you don't know if you'll have a make. You're sacrificing yourself. You're in the low-lying land. Right. You want, get to your mothers. And don't, honey, honey, don't say anything.

Just do it. It's quite a narrative you built for this group of quarterbacks. That's a bad place. There is a worst place than that. The tier is called You banged No not even a chance to evacuate It's basically the season is over

So those are the tiers You have Should be a starter Or the throne of ease Let's call this tier The throne of ease, let's be honest And Graspo is by himself Isn't it funny how the Patriots

Have the number one backup quarterback? It is disgusting It's a testament obviously To what they've been able to build that organization, but it's also a little... It is hideous. You've got to admit it's a little annoying. I would be completely annoyed with the Patriots

if I was not a fan of them. Anyway, so Throne of E's, hold the fort guys. Honey, take the kids to your mothers and you banged. So I'm going to go down the list here now. A.J. McCarran, is he a hold the fort guy? For the Bengals. He's one of the best hold the fort guys. He is one of...

I said there weren't many young quarterbacks with potential. He at the very least has a potential to be kind of a mid-tier starter, like a Kirk Cousins or an Andy Dalton type. Another guy that, you know, there was trade interest around him, so that tells you a lot. How about, oh, I don't know, Derek Anderson of the Panthers. Hold the fort? Honey, take the kids to your mothers.

I think he's proven that he can hold the fort. I don't know how many more years he can do that, but every time Cam Newton's had to step out of the lineup, Derek Anderson has come in and done fine. So in this scenario, Derek Anderson is so strong he can protect your kids. I'm not really sure how it works. The kids are out. The kids are gone.

They are safe, but that doesn't mean all as well. They're safe for now. But you're saying they're above that. Hold the four. It's like. I like Derek Anderson. I feel bad for him that one game where he threw one, do you guys remember he threw one pass in place of Cam Newton

who had been benched for wearing a tie or not wearing a tie? And Mike Tolbert dropped a pass. He threw one pass. It was an interception against the CX. That was it. O for one interception. That's an embarrassing game. he's not in your bang territory that's for sure i like him also it actually makes sense although that

wasn't the intention hold the fort is hey i can protect this house right that's what i was saying kids come in out of the backyard obviously let's lock the doors batting down the hatchets but you know i got this under control that's the difference how about nick foals and philly nick foals in an offense that he's familiar with i think that was a good signing i feel i feel like he's a matt more type where he'll have a solid five, six games for you. Maybe you don't want him starting the whole season. Very up and down on Nick Foles. But, again, the difference between holding the fort and you banged.

I mean, he's not in, he's. Oh, are the kids staying at home or are you going upstate with the kids? I will allow the kids to stay at home with Nick Foles. Oh, he's going to hold the fort. Yeah. By the way, again. Feel a little shaky about it. Month and missing a month of time, your QB1, you're going to go two and two.

Maybe the schedule breaks right, go three and one. You're feeling okay. If it really breaks right, you can tie the all. all-time NFL record for touchdowns in a game like Nick Foles. Yes, that's true. Is that a snowstorm? No, it was against the Raiders, just dialed up seven touchdowns. I don't know.

That feels like it was two lifetimes. That was a chip. He also had that 27-2 touchdown interception ratio, which we'll never see again. Anyway, how about this? Greg, this is a tough one for you, I know. Your boy, Gino Smith, New York Giants, backup quarterback. Is he a hold the fort guy? I think he could put, you could really sign on for any of them, I feel like.

hold the fort honey take the kids to your mother you banged i would accept arguments for all three where do you come down mark you banged oh i listen i am i don't need to believe in gino smith i simply do not how dare you be smirched no eugene's your guy eugene cyril smith the third's great name well let's remember let's dial it back to 2013 when gino smith was a rookie quarterback wanted to keep this spot under an hour. Starting for a team that won eight games and he did a lot of good things. He was a solid quarterback. He might be, here's a new category for you.

Oh, sorry, kids. You're back. Let me write this down. Hey, ready? Oh, sorry, kids. Go ahead. Sorry, kids. Gino might be better than your quote-unquote Hall of Fame quarterback that's

starting. No, come on. Together, bro. You're trash. Greg, that is too much. You have gone too far with that. This is a guy that essentially seem to have no friends in his own locker room with the Jets. I think it's not just the on-field stuff.

I don't buy Gino Smith as an NFL starter. I don't think he even wants to be an NFL starter. Here's the category. Sorry, kids. Daddy Eli may not be coming home. Eli's staying home. He might be reclined on the chair at this point, just watching TV, but he's not going anywhere. I saw a lot of Gino, of course.

I would put him at the very bottom of Hold the Fort right straddling the line of taking the kids. You can see the nuclear bomb coming right at the front door of the house. Look, that's some respect from a man who's watched a lot of Gino Smith. Because he did have moments. He's solid. I've watched enough Gino Smith.

Greg moving the goalposts a little bit right here because a year ago this time, you're talking that he could be a starter in this league. The last time we saw him play was the best four-game stretch of his career. That was three years ago. He should be better. And a blown-out knee. It should be better.

All right. You want to bring up past exploits with bad Jets teams? How about Ryan Fitzpatrick? Where is he rank? 32 touchdowns two years ago. A disaster last year up and down throughout his career. Where does he fit in? Here's what I'd say.

When he went 10 and 6 with the Jets and had that career year, it came with great weapons around him. Yes. And in Tampa Bay, if you ever lost James Winston for a stretch of time, he's got even better weapons around him this year. That's true. I don't trust Ryan Fitzpatrick, you know, year to year, but it's not the worst situation.

It's not the worst situation. I'm telling the kids, honey, go take them to your mother. Watch out. There might be flying footballs coming at them from Ryan Fitzpatrick. I mean, he comes in there. He's like either going to blow up your team or he's going to be great for a week. You don't know. But you're talking about a guy that did much more with the Jets than Gino Smith

ever did with the Jets. He's getting older. I mean, that's older, but he's not. I mean, what are we talking about with age now? He's 33, 34. He's not ancient. But I think Fitzpatrick, I would put him in hold the fort, but certainly is not a guy to pencil in.

You know what you're going to get out of him. You could go three in one in a month with Ryan Fitzpatrick if he gets hot, but the wheels can fall off. Both he and Gina are a little, are kind of the opposite of Matt Moore where it's like, you know what you're going to get. No, you don't know what you're going to get. All right.

All right. But how about Brett Hunley over in Green Bay? I think we've almost put him in his own category because we've seen so little. What we've seen is promising, but it's been in the preseason. Is he a mystery man? We can just put him in his own category? Yeah, I don't think he, I don't, how can you really say that he's in one of these other categories? I mean, he would be not, I really, Aaron Rogers would be just about the last starting quarterback I would want to see get hurt.

But Brett Huntley would be one of the more interesting backups to see play, just to see what it looks like. Here are two guys I would put in the same category. They're kind of the same guy to me. Chase Daniel in New Orleans and Colt McCoy in Washington. To me, both mid to lower hold the fort guys. What do you guys think? I agree. I think they've shown in their current systems that they can be effective.

If Chase Daniels maybe on any other team, I wouldn't be feeling him quite as much as I am in New Orleans. Agree with that. How about? All right, let's say I know head coach wasn't feeling the quarterbacks earlier this week, but let's say that Mr. Simeon wins the Broncos quarterback battle, which I still think he will, at least to start the season. Did you see enough from Paxton Lynch to categorize him,

or do you give him the pass and put him in the Hunley category? I put him in the Hunley zone category because we saw very little. I think that he's a player that so clearly needed like a year or two to really kind of develop, and I don't think he's all the way there yet. Didn't look good last year, but it was limited. Interesting player, though. If he can maximize on what he is physically, there's a lot going on with Paxil Lynch.

All right, update. Mystery Man category now is Mystery Men. Is everybody okay with that? Underrated. No, I don't even know if it's an underrated movie. It's a movie I saw Mystery Men. Oh, was that the superhero comedy? It was like a superhero comedy.

Janine Garofalo was involved. Not a biggest cry. Hard pass. I mean, she was probably like the seventh lead, but for some reason I can't remember anyone else that was in it, which isn't a good sense. I'm not like anti-Garofalo. Her comedic sensibilities tend to overlap with a lot of the things I find funny,

so she showed up in a lot of things over the years that are things that I enjoy. But she was always one of the things I didn't enjoy as much in those projects. If you know what I'm saying, if I'm making sense. I get that. I'm a little bit of a fan. I mean, not actively, but I don't need to see her in a comedy superhero. Strangely, her and Hank Azaria are billed first,

and yet Ben Stiller, Greg Kinnear, Jeffrey Rush are all in this movie. So it was a curious, I believe, Paul, you know, Pee-E-Herman in a rare role outside of that. There you go ahead and put Garofalo in Honey, take the kids to your mother then? I think so. Okay. What about Matt Castle in Tennessee? You're bangs. You know, once upon the time, he was like the painter.

saint of this discussion because Tommy boy blew out his ACL in 2008 and then this guy stepped in no experience even in college no experience and they went 11 and 5 the New England Patriots that's a down year for the Patriots by the way 11 to 5 out of respect for Wes I'm not going to put him in hold the fort because you know Wes is battling you know the big C right now I don't want to cause him any extra stress throwing his phone against the wall oh he'll go nuts but I still would put him in the next tier down, Castle. He did come in last year, by the way, for Tennessee and helped them win a game. He didn't embarrass them. You know, he was fine. Part of my, the way, look at this is the drop-off from the starter to whoever's behind him. And there's just a steep, by the way,

if we're watching Matt Castle, how boring the season has become when it could have been Marcus Marriota. And I am concerned, you know, Marcus Murdo is not complete full seasons up to now. So there's a danger of seeing him. So I'm putting him in you bang because the experience will not be good. Yeah, Tennessee fans. I know you get a little salty with me because of the Titans bit. I think there's reason to be excited legitimately this season, but also keep your guard up because we don't know if Marcus can play a full season. You know he can play.

Can he stay healthy? Matt Castle, that very much could be in the mix this season. How about Case Keenum? Interesting name. He's playing for the Minnesota Vikings, backing up Sam Bradford. This discussion, again, West once upon a time, was all about that case. Now, you know, he threw that case out.

Where do you guys come down to this? I think you take your kids to the mother. You honey, take the kids to your mother. I mean, Bradford, what, set an NFL record for a completion percentage last year? I'm not in love with Sam Bradford. I'm not sure there's vast amounts of difference between Sam Bradford and some NFL backups, but it's a steep drop off to Case Keen. I really liked Case Keenum a lot more after watching All or Nothing.

You kind of felt for him, but you also maybe understood a little bit more why he's not a starting quarterback he was really feeling the pressure when they were losing some of those early games it was like they lost the Super Bowl and they were like thinking that he was feeling like the season's over right and finally I have 10 names here and you guys can make the argument stop me at any point they are classified ya banged okay which is complete nuclear annihilation of your town just one town would go out in a nuclear bomb drop well I'm saying all towns but targeted

More specific to your life, the town's gone. You're done. Anyway, stop me if you disagree. Matt Schaub in Atlanta. Oh, absolutely banged. All right. Yeah. Landry Jones and Pittsburgh.

Oh, yeah. Return your season tickets. See if you can get some money back. Josh Dobbs, watch out. Dobbs is going to win that backup spot, and then you're not so banged. Put that thing on stop hub or whatever. Ryan Mallet in Baltimore.

No, come on. Oh, you're. Is he at the bottom of you banged? You're double banged. Matt Schaub is down there, but there's some trash at the bottom of that list. I think they're stuck with Mallet, too. They just signed Austin Howard,

gave all the rest of their cap room to a tackle. I don't know if they're signing Kaepernick. I can't believe this guy's in the NFL. I thought he was on the Curtis Painter-era Colts, but Scott Tolzeen in Indianapolis. Banged. You're banged so bad. You might be back at the number one overall pick with the Colts.

With Tolzeen. It's amazing that, They told Zina, a big, big favorite in Green Bay for a while. That's not a crazy thought, Greg. If this luck thing is worst case scenario, I mean, they're not going to be scamming for Sam, obviously. And you believe that if your Jets trying to get to number one and the Colts jump you, just like they did for Peyton Manning.

They didn't jump me. Peyton just bailed on the Jets. I don't know why I don't hold that against them. I should. The Cowboys and Kellan Moore. Big banging. Have we seen enough of Kellynne Moore? We haven't seen much.

Made a few throws last night and the game of you guys failed to watch. If this ever happened, people would make some argument like, wow, you know, with this Cowboys offensive line, like, no. Any quarterback would thrive. Tell us about Kellynne Moore yesterday. Serviceable. I'm not, he did not change my opinion of him overall.

You know what? He looked pretty good a couple seasons ago, late in the season when they gave him, I think, a game and a half, and that was what earned him this faith by Dallas. So maybe he could, maybe it's more a situation. where you take your kids, take your kids. He's thrown 104 passes in his career. Does it take your kids to the movies? No, it's take them upstate.

You've got to take them to your mothers. Out of danger, not just to the cinema. I'm not totally familiar with this gentleman, Ruddick of Detroit. Well, the backup scenario in general is Detroit is, I don't know why they, maybe they love one of these guys. I personally get on it. The Detroit's lucky they're in this conversation after the way they handle training care. It's about as bad a backup situation.

Brad Kaya and Jake Ruddock. If they lost Stafford, he's sneaky, one of the most valuable players. If they lost Stafford, they'd be in the mix for number one overall, I think. Banged. Boykin over in Seattle. Hasn't been looking good, according to some reports, which makes me think maybe that's the Kaepernick landing spot. You banged.

Got Austin Davis there, too. That's a banged situation. Carol did not dismiss the Kaepernick thing. He kind of sidestepped it more than anything else. I believe during one of the slower periods of the NFL calendar we had it like a CP like the main image on our homepage saying like Seattle Kaepernick it's happening baby something like that it didn't never happen obviously but it also was never dismissed

I think that was the headline exactly it was they wanted it to happen Seattle comma Kaepernick comma it's happening baby slam and a woo cardinals Drew Stanton still there Drew still there dancing away on the sidelines playing gabber too I don't know if you I don't know if that's a your banged scenario I would go one notch up

take the kids wife take the kids upstate far upstate okay how about the Oakland it's E.J. Manuel and who else who's the other guy Connor Cook

Connor Cook who was a disaster in the playoff game that's only one game but I can't you know what I would put them honey take your kids see mothers I would say you banged

I don't trust E.J. Manuel at all we've seen out of E.J. Manuel is not positive to save the league. Hey, 15th overall pick. It's got to count for something. No, it does not count for anything other than the fact that the people that made that pick are no longer with the bills. Kellyn Clemens is still in the league.

He's the backup for Phillip Rivers in Los Angeles. That is a recipe to torpedo any interest in this move to Los Angeles if Rivers got hurt. I think that was a team. Rivers never gets hurt, by the way. I don't think he's ever missed the game. That was a team that might have considered taking a quarterback. on that team. Let's not go quarterback now.

That's a good point. Oh, boy. It's too late now. It's too late now. It's been said. All right, there you go. So it's slim pickings. As bad as it feels, as bad as it is for the Dobbins right now, it could be a lot worse.

All right. Before we get out of here, yes, the Hall of Fame, it's happening. Get excited. Who's going into the hall this year? We got Terrell Davis, Ladanian Tomlinson, Kurt Warner. Kurt Warner, all NFL Network employees, right? It's a pretty big boon to this old enterprise. They are doubling the amount of Hall of Famers that are employed here, three to six.

It's no joke. Anybody else? Did I miss anyone? I want to be respectful, at least to the guys that got voted in and the standard. You got our crew. Oh, you got Jerry Jones, of course. Jera? Morton Anderson.

You got Jason Taylor. You've got... Morton Anderson's in? What you missed last night in the Hall of Fame game was the letter that Tom Brady wrote, on behalf of Jason Taylor to get to argue for him to be in the Hall of Fame, pretty incredible letter. Morton Anderson is in second kicker all time. Well, come on, Dan.

I've been too plugged in on this. But congratulations to everybody. Anyway, so here we go. Here we go. Now, Greg wrote a banger. Even though he just chastised me. I'll look past. Kenny Easley.

I knew you were forgetting. Kenny Easley. Seahawks. We were missing one name there. Good job. 1980s DB. Anyway, Greg, you wrote a piece to you argue. 11 players on the bubble for the Hall of Fame.

And you believe, Greg, how do we want to do this? How should we do this, Greg? Why don't you start us here? I'll throw out, well, on the bubble is a tricky lead to it because I had some real long shots and I make it clear they're real long shots. And maybe the most interesting name in there, which I thought about was Matt Ryan.

Now, he was the longest of these long shots. But when you have a historical season like he had, an MVP season, that makes a big time difference. And if you look at the shape of careers now, if he could have a mid-30s run, a little like Breeze, Brady Manning, where he plays his very best and has a two or three more really top-notch seasons, you look at his just raw numbers. He's going to end up in the top seven, eight, all-time passing yards, passing touchdowns. He needs to do a lot more. I'm just saying having that one season is like a pillar. He's putting his post in the ground. he's got a chance if he really plays well.

And let's say this. Let's say he does that and he has, you know, a productive, more half-to-game. He wins a Super Bowl, too. What is so different between him and Kurt Warner? Right. One Super Bowl won, one lost, and a bunch of great seasons. The long shot. That's a long shot.

What would have really helped closing that game out in February. Yep. Yep. So, yeah, you could think about getting a second at some point. He needs a win there. You also have Brandon Marshall as a long shot, which I feel like I got laughed out of this room for suggesting that a couple years ago. but if you look at his numbers, they are excellent.

I know he slowed down last year, but if he has a nice end of his career here. He wouldn't have my vote, but I think if he could do two more years, a thousand yards, you know, close to 10 touchdowns each year, and importantly, have a playoff moment or two, then he, I think, could convince some voters.

I think that position is really crowded and tough, but if he does it for, if he were to leave right now, I would say it's going to take a while. The name that stuck out to me that I hadn't really thought about much was Indomacan Sioux. who I really believe is on track to make the Hall of Fame. And I guess I hadn't thought about it because he's a guy who inspires some mixed feelings.

But when you do the all decades team, he's going to be your defensive tackle of the 2010s. He's made five all-pro teams, first or second team, out of seven years. And there's not many players like them with just that disruptive against the run in the past. To me, he's kind of done the hard part. The only thing he has to avoid is some crazy injuries or a total decline.

But they would give him that kind. They gave him a record-setting contract, I reckon they would give it to him again. I think he's kind of in. I would say he's one of the defining defensive players of his generation. I feel like that's a major. You have to be one of those guys, and it's hard to argue that Sue isn't one of those guys.

I also think that some of the things that have kept, for instance, Terrell Owens out with the personality side of it and all this stuff. When we're voting, when people are voting for Natomacan Sioux 10, 12, 13 years, 14 years from now, are people going to care about Nadomacan Sues, you know, ups and downs. Is that what he's most famous for, though? Honestly, the Thanksgiving behavior? I don't think he should be,

but I think it probably is up there. Well, I thought about how he's kind of a paradoxical player, because I think the Lions fans probably feel like he's a little unfulfilled in terms of his potential. I think fans feel like that because he was so good in college, he was so good as a rookie that the bar was so high, and yet I think overall you can't knock at all what he's accomplished. He also gets banged by his position a little bit

because it's not like a number stacking type position, so he doesn't have like eight, 15 sacks seasons or anything. But he's played for two organizations who have not really had their act together in terms of continuity. If he was with a better team, I think people would. Yeah. You could put Terrell Suggs in your Hall of Fame.

I don't want to be. He's not in mine. I put him as a long time. I'm just trying to, you know, look at some guys. Bad person close, I would cite there. Well, we can't move on from this without making my annual Frank Gore mention. All right.

The numbers are starting to get hard to ignore. 600 more yards and he pet in this season and he would be up to number five all time passing Ladanian Tomlinson he's had 1,200 yards for 11 straight seasons

that is an outrageous statistic I'd have no problem with that how many people do you think would say absolutely not he's one of the great compilers of all time and was he ever the top five running back in the league early in his career absolutely

he had a 2,100 total yard season Okay. I mean, it just, I guess the only thing I'll say is he's not a wow guy, at least in the past six or seven years now. He's a grinded out guy that's, you look at the end of the season, like, oh, he had another nice season. But is he a guy that you're putting the offense on his back and he's taking team special places because he's such a dynamic talent? I really respect the career he's had. Is he one of the greatest running backs of all time? If we put Jerome Bettis in the Hall of Fame, don't we put Frank Gorin? I never would have thought that there would have been a good argument. I always thought this was going to be a huge uphill battle

because Gore's basically my favorite player from this generation. And now it feels a little less like an uphill battle. But I don't think he'll be a slam dunk. I mean, he's been playing so long. He's had a 1,200-yard season, Dan. Yes. When the first inconvenient truth came out in 2006 by Al Gore, and when the second inconvenient truth is coming out in the sequel in 2017,

he's still there. He spans that whole era. I like this. James Harrison, you say, that he has helped his case, I absolutely think James Harrison belongs in the Hall of Fame. Nice.

I'm surprised to hear that. That'll be enough of a lot. Well, he, I think for me, sometimes it's like, I think that he, the fact that he, back then, that was 2010 or something, 2011, I mean, he is still around.

The longevity itself is incredible. Doesn't have the numbers, but I think he has the intangible. At his peak, he was a feared game-changing talent, and now he's, in this weird like extended epilogue to his career which is hard not to have a lot of respect for and if you track his Instagram account it's insane the amount of work he's put in to stay in the league and last parting thought Greg I just appreciate all the time you know I know I wanted

to keep the show tight here and I really blew it no it's not on you oh yeah here it is Dwight freeney he put if there was any doubt he put himself in the hall of fame I don't care that their offense blew that game the fact that he was the most valuable pass rusher pressures, a sack, a tackle for loss. That should have been his Michael Strayhand moment. So even though they blew it, it's the moment for me. And I think that put him over the time. Yeah, that sucks.

I haven't really thought about that. He had such a great game. That completely got washed away that Frini was a major impact player. Gave Nate sold her nightmares. My God. That got wiped away. And it shouldn't be. And hopefully it won't be, Greg.

All right. Great show, guys. Beefy but informative is how I would have decided. describe today's show. Post-show grade? Post-show grade. Hmm. I'm going to give it a B.

B-plus. B-plus. Overachieving today. Yeah, I liked it. I like the show. We miss West, though. Hopefully, West will be back. Next week, tomorrow, Saturday is the Shield

Celebration Bonanza at Cessler Manor to, you know, back-to-back L.A. County C-plus champions. So deal with its society. So we're going to throw down this weekend, Mark. Yeah, until we get, I guarantee this ends with the police at my house. I am slightly concerned but excited about it. I mean, it might not even be for noise or anything.

It might be just like a parole violation with our team. That's right. A lot of colorful characters. One quick note, I am going to extend the show in extra 30 seconds. I have tried to follow up on your task of sorting through this Reddit scenario. Yeah. And there is no. Well, let me just clarify.

We promised the 5,000 Reddit follower on our subreddit. around the NFL would get some type of prize. Mark graciously accepted the task of figuring out what the prize would be. Well, it was thrust on me, but yes. Okay, where are we at? Well, we're in a tough place. There's, like, according to the, you know, to Greby and the rest of the people that run this ship over there, there is no tangible way to discern the 5,000 follower.

Right. Or even the first or the last. Pick someone at random. I have an idea. Well, believe me, I've been getting a lot of people telling me I'm your random person. It's like. We could take this offline, but I have an idea how to, at it. had to do that i want to reward them i care about these people there's a lot of good chatter on that

reddit board yeah we love the subreddit make sure you check it out it's almost six thousand strong might even be six thousand now uh even greg's plugging in on it now i think so it's it's really taken off shake but uh thank you for everyone that listens uh let's let's go home let's go to lunch stan hans signing off for quiet storm the old boss sully behind the class Erica back there she is. Until Monday.