NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Big Ben's Tantrum & The Top 10 NFL Offenses

Episode Date: May 7, 2018

A room filled with some heroes- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal & Chris Wesseling- react to Ben Roethlisberger's snide comments about the Steelers drafting QB Mason Rudolph (6:00), the Saints cutting Colby Fleener (16:00) and Bruce Arians' new gig (22:30). They check in with Marc's jury duty situation and get Keith Hanzus' take on the Jets drafting Sam Darnold (27:00). The heroes review Wess's sub-banger, "Top 10 offenses in the NFL" and give their thoughts on the teams he ranked (30:00).Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents.

Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the NFL podcast is actually real-life friends with Move the Sticks. Welcome back. Bogus to another addition to the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hanzas, and I am joined in room that's filled with some heroes. Chris Wessling and Greg Rosethal.

What's up, boys? Hey, Dan. Ah. It's tough to be at work right now. Weekend. That what those sounds meant? A bunch of dads in Vegas. Then the five, you know, four and a half, five hour drive back to L.A.

I mean, certainly, once you become a man of my age, my late 30s now, it takes a few days to get back. So I'm just letting everybody now. pre-show grade from the old zooser as your host d minus whoa the gentleman that's for your own personal my own personal the the our show pre-show grade i'll save uh for the end of this open this was your swan song in Vegas I'm thinking about hanging up hanging up the cleats just like I did you turn this Vegas trip into what Ozzie newsom did with his last draft and right similar praise from the football cognoscenti people just standing up and cheering you as you walked out of the sports book we need a spice right

update because I saw some random tweets from him. Yeah. Spicerack and I were in communication via text. We could not get on the same page to meet up, which was a bummer. But we did. I did see a around the NFL podcast listener approached me and said he enjoyed our work, which was really a great move considering it happened in front of all my friends. And that led to them being filled with jealousy and envy, which is really what you want.

You want to win the interpersonation. personal battles with your best friends. With every. Yes. Every interpersonal battle in your life, right? Yeah. So everybody else had to take stock. What am I really doing in my career in my life?

And I was just like soaking it up, doing the Pope handshake. You really did win the weekend like Ozzy. It's great to hear you vocalize, you know, all these things inside of your brain. Some of these men listen to the podcast, too. So it might be the end of the friendship. Wes, you also had a nice saucy weekend I heard. We hung out, the Paramore and I hung out with Tiffany Blackman on Saturday for Cinco to Derby. And then...

NFL network's on. Did a little brunch action yesterday. The Paramore's cousin was in town from St. Louis. So I went over my limit of fun for the weekend. Nice. I don't doubt that, Wes. So you had fun this weekend. Greg and you got down, I imagine?

Got down? What does that mean? That's what the kids are saying? That's what the kids were saying in like 86. I hung out a lot with my kids, but I did go out for my wedding anniversary, 11, 11 years. Abba, about that. Tell us about the whole night. Oh, yeah.

No. Okay. All right. So Greg had a nice weekend, too. We hope all the listeners had a nice weekend. It is now Friday. And this is what I'm talking about. That's how you get a D-minus.

This is not Friday. It's not Friday. It's literally the fucking opposite of Friday. It's Monday. And we have a nice show. We're going to plow through the show. The pre-show great here, a very solid C-plus. That's the upside.

Very solid. Uh, so we're going to do some news, including, uh, big Ben Rafflesberger, making some interesting public comments about his own team's draft strategy and his new colleague in a quarterback room, uh, saucy stuff. Uh, also Chris Wesleying wrote a banger, top 10 offenses in the national football. I can't hear that siren anymore. I heard it all weekend. I think we got a sub bangor on this one. Well, sub is not a good show. Turn off the show, everybody.

Yeah, this is terrible. advertising for the show ahead. Speak for yourself, B-minus. So the top 10 office. We're going to carry you. We're going to carry you. We're going to carry you. Yes, I like that.

So there you go. That's today's show. And we're very excited to get to it and to start things off. Oh, and by the way, Sessler's not here. Still on jury duty. We believe all week. That's the plan. Do we believe that he's on jury duty?

Yes, I believe it. There's a lot of corroborating stories. Show your work. That's all I'm saying. Doesn't it seem like a nice, perfect timing for an extended jury duty? That's all I'm saying. I believe him, but I don't believe that he tried his hardest to get out of it. Literally begging the judge.

I do not want to do three podcasts a week after the draft, please. But you know what? If you know the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off and the principal starts poking around to see if Ferris really is under the weather. Right. I might have to poke around a little bit this week on the podcast. Just to make sure Mark is where he says he is. I think this is a brilliant idea. Okay.

Let's do some news. He was great. I want him to play right now. That was a little jarring to hear my boy, Todd Bowles, the Jets coach, get really excitable. That was Bowles. He was asked in a press conference, I think, on Friday, to evaluate Sam Darnold's first practice. And he said this. He was great.

I want him to play right now. Now he was great. I want him to play right now. That's Todd Bowles. That does not sound like Todd. How jarring is that? It was purposeful sarcasm on his part, but. But he'd never done that in four years, three years coaching the jets.

He showed more personality in one sentence than he did in three years. You can tell even the room. It was like nervous laughter. It's like what is happening? Who is this guy? Yeah. Anyway, Todd Bowles. We'll get to the Jets at the end of the news too.

But let's start with Ben Ralthusberger, who has been the quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2004, and he's been the starter that entire time. And he's a man that even though he's, you know, contemplated retirement and told us that for many years, has a little issue with his team going ahead and drafting Mason Rudolph in the third round of the draft this past, last week or two weeks ago. So now you have Ben Rolzberger talking about it. And he was, on KD, K-D-A's Cook and Pony in Pittsburgh, and he had this to say about the situation.

I told them when the season was over, I felt really good and it was planning on coming back for three to five years, exactly what I just told you guys. So I was surprised when they took a quarterback because I thought that maybe in the third round, you know, you can get some really good football players that can help this team now, and nothing against Mason.

I think he's a great football player. I don't know him personally, I'm sure he's a great kid. I just don't know how, you know, backing up or being the third, who knows where he's going to fall on the depth chart, but helps us win now. But, you know, that's not my decision to make you. That's all the coaches and the GM and all of those kind of things. So if they feel like he can help our team, so be it.

But I was a little surprised. Ben was also asked if he planned to mentor Mason Rudolph. Well, I don't think I'll need to me. He said that he doesn't need me. So if you have a question, I might have to just point to the point. you know what's in that laugh at the end what's going on here I'm always

I'm always disappointed when people are predictable I'd like to give him the benefit of doubt when Greg's immediate analysis after the draft pick was is there anybody you'd you'd least rather have as your mentor than Ben Rotha? I think that was the question

yeah was question yeah and I thought let's give him the benefit of doubt maybe he's not that predictable maybe he'll no he's entirely that predictable and his little evil cackle just because Mason Rudolph said it's not Big Ben's job to teach me. Mason Rudolph was trying to be nice about it, you know? Can you use that cackle like, honestly?

It's like 30 times in the show I want it. It can't be enough evil Big Ben cackle today. I think that's a keeper. It's going to be part of the show. All right. So Ben is being. It's like we have a laugh track now, like an evil Big Ben laugh track for our show.

This is great. So Ben is not. Ben is not good at hiding his, you know, the lesser parts of him. Right. You know what I mean? He's just bad at hiding that he's kind of a jerk. And he deserves some criticism for this and, you know, don't be a jerk. The difference, though, between him and a lot of great quarterbacks is just he's kind of just bad at hiding it.

It's like, who could be a bigger jerk than Joe Montana was to Steve Young? I mean, you couldn't be. or Brett Fav to Aaron Rogers or probably a lot of quarterbacks if they're in a similar type of situation, they just kind of quietly go about being a jerk behind the scenes. Right, that's what you've got to do. It doesn't make Ben,

I'm not defending Ben as a better player, but I also understand the reaction of, you know, Dave Damashek was a Steelers fan who was basically saying, you know, give me a break with all these people getting the vapors over Ben Rathesberger, or not being thrilled that a guy's coming in to potentially take his job. It is kind of a natural reaction.

He's sort of a jerk about it. I don't know if it's that unique among quarterback. My takeaway on it is one, Big Ben, pipe down a little bit. I'm not getting the vapors over it, but you have been talking about how you're going to retire for like five, six years now. Sorry, like sue the Steelers if they realize that Landry Jones stinks and they have to get somebody else in there in case you get hurt or you finally do follow through on your retirement threat.

So I can't I got you have to understand where the Steelers are are coming from on this. And one other note is that Ben Roslisberger once said that he would not be where he was and he had so much help when he was young in his career from Tommy Maddox. So it's kind of like that pay it forward situation. But if you're maybe like, you know, a guy that laughs like this, maybe you don't pay it forward and you just want to live out your career with yourself in the spotlight the whole time. It's not just that he threatened retirement last offseason. It's that even though he says he's playing three to five more years,

at the same time, in the same interview, for the second time this week, he says, I'm taking it one season at a time. After each season, I have to take a look at my body and see how I'm going to be. So, of course, these Steelers are going to protect themselves. They answer to the other part of their ownership, the front office, the rest of the guys on the roster, not just to Big Ben in the quarterback room. They answer to a higher power than Ben Rathosburgh. Well, it's funny, too, because it's just going to make this a bigger issue.

In theory, it's really going to make it more annoying for Ben Rathesberger, because now there's going to be more eyes on this. There's going to be more conversation about this, more questions about it. And as much as the Steelers were happy to get Mason Rudolph, you know, their general manager, Kevin Colbert, said he was in the mix in their rankings with some of the top quarterback. You know, part of it's just value and circumstance. He fell to the end of the third round, and so they took him.

And are they, you know, if someone had really loved Mason Rudolph and taking them in the late first and second round, he wouldn't end up being on the Steelers, but they got to do what they like because they like the value. He went all out on cooking pony, by the way. Not only did he express these issues that he had in the playbook comment, but he also went out and said, well, what about Joshua Dobbs last year's fourth round pick? If you take Mason Rudolph in the third round the following year, does that mean that you screwed up your fourth round pick? Like, he's going all out calling up the Steelers. Oh, yeah.

That is, I mean, listen, it's a little beyond the pale. You know what? Do we want to hear it? Sure. Let's hear it. Those are, him and Randy, the two guys that thought of the worst. I'll be honest. I wasn't worried about him coming and taking my job.

I feel confident that I can go out and beat whoever I need to beat out for my job. That's just the kind of thing I have in myself. I do feel bad for those guys because, you know, Landis stood the world game, and I don't know what's going to happen. I assume Landry's still the two. I don't really know. You know, and Josh. same thing last year.

He'd taken in the fourth round. You know, so does it mean the Steelers, like, screw up in that pick? Like, do they think that he wasn't the one that they thought, or has he not developed the way they thought? Why else would you take a quarterback in the third round the next year? Wow. So that's what's going on, Big Ben, right now. He's going through a lot of stuff, and I honestly feel bad for Mason Rudolph.

I don't feel bad that he's in the NFL, and he's making a lot of money now, but that's a tough situation to walk into. to let's move on. The Carolina Panthers have signed a new running back. His name is C.J. Anderson. He was released by the Broncos earlier this offseason, a guy that has a track record of success, Greg Rosenthal, and he joins a Carolina backfield that could probably use a little more heat

between the tackles, yes or no? Absolutely. Great signing. I was kind of wondering what are they going to do? Because even if you're as high on Christian McCaffrey as possible, I don't think you see him as 450 touches this year, and they had really no option. And C.J. Anderson was one of, if not, the best free agents at any position unsigned, I believe. Certainly the best free agent running back I can think of.

I love the fit. I agree with you totally. I was working on this top 10 offense list, and one of the reasons the Panthers didn't squeak into the 10 spot was because they didn't have a power back. This fills that hole. He's a good compliment to Christian McCaffrey. Didn't end up in Miami who had shown interest. him. And I guess Frank Gore took that spot from him. Fazi Whitaker, Cameron Artist Payne, also on the depth chart. So CJ is going to have a role on this team and potentially a very big one. The Seattle

Seahawks have parted ways with pass rusher Cliff Avril. He was waived with a failed physical designation. A neck injury suffered four games into his 10th season led Pete Carroll to concede earlier in the off season, that Averill will have a, quote, hard time playing football again. So Averill leaves the Seahawks and also the NFL because he took a job West with a local radio station in Seattle. So happy trails, Club Avril. Yeah, he has been embraced by that community. And we all know his work off the football field building those houses in Haiti.

I believe he also built a school in Haiti. So good for him that he has been embraced and he has a job after his football career. He's not officially ruling out retirement for what it's worth that if the doctors somehow cleared him. It sounds like mentally he hasn't kind of gotten to that hurdle that he's totally giving up. But it sure sounds like it. And he's got a nice landing spot there. And him and Michael Bennett signing within days of Egypt – no, on the same day, I believe, back in 2013, turned that defense from, like, rising to one of the best that we've seen.

and they won the Super Bowl. Didn't they sign identical contracts? Very similar contracts the first time around. And if they didn't have credible bargains. If they didn't have a quarterback on a rookie salary, they wouldn't have been able to sign those guys. It's fair. Five years with the Seahawks, I remember he came and was at NFL Network Studios

about six years ago, and I interviewed him, and he was getting jerked around by the lines who weren't willing to pay him the money that he wanted, and he goes to Seattle, and it certainly worked out. for him. I thought he could have won Super Bowl MVP. We were at that game live, and that was a tough one to pick an MVP. Malcolm Smith got it.

But Averill was my pick as the guy who made the biggest difference on a snap-to-snap basis. He could have easily been Super Bowl MVP. The New Orleans Saints are moving on from Kobe Fleener. The Saints are releasing the tight end. He signed a five-year, $36 million deal in free agency in 2016, but it just never clicked. between Fleener and Drew Breeze. He appeared in 27 games, just nine starts, 72 catches for 926 and five touchdowns. His season ended after a concussion in week 12.

I'm not sure what his status is in terms of his physical availability right now. But Fleener, a first round pick of the Colts West, had Andrew Luck and then Drew Breeze, and it just has never happened for him. So you suspect that it never will. I do suspect that. He's never been a physical player, and now he's dealing with the fifth concussion of his career that we know about. Rapsheet reported that he's still receiving treatment from the final concussion.

He ended his season last year, and he still wants to play if he can return to health. That was one of those contracts everyone kind of made fun of the second that happened, and everyone was right in this case. Have you noticed the Saints can't just plug anyone in at tight end? It feels like they should be able to with Drew Brees, but Josh Hill never made that leap, and Kobe Fleener never was what they thought he was either.

And now they're bringing back Ben Watson, a guy who's done it there before, but he's 37 years old. I was kind of surprised that he's just penciled in as their starter, but this makes that very clear. There are many, I was thinking about this when I was reading the story. There aren't many, I guess, Marty Bennett, I know, we were talking about Michael Bennett. How many tight ends get signed in free agency

and then really do make a big impact? The list isn't very long, is it? No, you're right. You're right. all right you know what this feels like a good time to check in with mark and again i'm not saying i don't believe that mark is on jury duty you're raising the question now i just feel like someone has to ask it because you know mark could be doing some mark things too that's all i'm saying like the case could have been settled four days ago for all we know has any been is anyone doing

any homework on this i go to vegas i unplug i come back in and everyone is just accepting that mark is like involved in the trial of the century. So why give him a call? I mean, I've got a family to worry about. This isn't on the top of my list. It's got to be, I don't want Mark to know that I'm questioning him. So let me just call him under the theory that I need to know more about the Kobe Fleener release. Mark Sessler's thoughts on Kobe Fleener's release.

That's why we're calling. Okay. Nobody let him know. Okay. That there are doubts. We're great actors. Because I know I'm not the only one with doubts, by the way. Maybe, you know.

You guys aren't speaking to them. But I know they're there. Now, if it's a voicemail, it doesn't necessarily... Your call has been forwarded to an automated voice messaging system. Is not available. At the tone, please record your message. When you've finished recording, you may hang up or press one for more options. Hey, Mark.

It's Dan. What's up? Wes and Greg here, too, around the NFL podcast. Kobe Fleener released by the Saints after two uninspiring seasons. just thought maybe you'd give us a detailed look into your feelings on this move by the Saints and whether Fleener has an NFL future beyond last season. We miss you, Mark. We need you on this Fleener.

Come back to us. Yeah, good luck with that case. Did you wink when you said case? Listen, I'm not saying it for sure. Moving on. That's just something to track. Your suspicions have been roused. Derek Johnson, signing with the enemy, the former chiefs star, signed with the Raiders on Friday.

Mike Silver had this. The team made the announcement official, 35 years old. The Raiders continue, Greg, to add veterans that are probably on the other side of their prime. Do you think Johnson makes an impact for Oakland this year? Not a meaningful one. It just is another signing that I think goes to prove the reporting out there that, basically John Gruden is running this front office that he's doing. Yeah, Reggie got pushed out.

I mean, I don't necessarily doubt that Reggie McKenzie enjoys working with John Gruden and fulfilling John Gruden's vision. Like, they've worked to, he might, but it's clear that it's John Gruden kind of, you know, making these decisions asking Reggie to do it. So after playing this entire career, or at least the latter part of his career, in a 3-4 defense, he's moving to a 4-3. defense I don't know if that's going to work he played he played they had a four three in kansas city before but yeah it's 35 years old regardless it's it's uh it's a lot to ask and

that's been a trouble position for them yes and it does not look much better on paper raiders are kind of a fascinating yes uh team i was going to say potential car crash but i don't assume that these are all going to be removed that don't work out because we don't know but oh i think car crash is in one end of the spectrum of what could happen. Imagine it does go worst case scenario and they drop a 4 and 12 and Gruden has nine years and 90 million silver steel. It's funny because everyone's now so against them and it's a stupid, you know, nature of

mine that now I think I'm going to root for them more. Like I just want them to be in the mix. I don't want them to be the car crash that everyone expects. Well, you're joining me in that because I felt the same thing. Yeah. Everyone is so sure of it that I just want to be the guy that's like, well, everybody shut up for a second. Let's just see if this guy actually can still do it. I don't know what's going to happen.

I'm just kind of more into them being interesting because it's become a cliche now, but it's true. The Raiders are more. The league is more interesting when the Raiders are good. And especially now that Gruden's back, I think it'll be more fun if at least they're in the mix a little bit. You know, we love talking about the booth.

We love the booth. We cover it. Not many podcasts cover the booth as heavily as us. Nobody's got the coverage of the booth that we got. CBS announced Thursday. that Bruce Ariens will work in a three-man booth booth with Greg Gumbull and Trent Green in 2018. And Jamie Erdahl handles the sideline reporting for that team. Quick's takeaway on that one, Chris Wesley.

Well, I like to rank all these booths throughout the year when I watch. And let's just say that Bruce Ariens landed in the dream spot. What? That booth needed some personality. He better be good, though. because he's not good. I mean, your dream spot as far as... You could look at it like that,

or you could look at it like he's joining a group that he can only improve to a certain level. And I would rather see him at a certain set. You think they'll pull him down? So you're saying you'd rather him sign with a star team rather than a team that's kind of middling or worse? Right, or just be by himself. Like, all I know is that you do not want to run into Mark Sessler

or myself on the Sunday mornings where we turn on the old game at 10 a.m. And you realize you got old gumble and, and, uh, Gumby people make, people are making comments people, streets talking. Streets are talking. I mean, when Mark would get it, it would like, it would immediately put him in a bad movie. We too. I totally understand it.

I wouldn't say, I mean, I don't know what you guys stand. We're talking, we're talking Gumby and Green here. He had a, he had a streak of Gumby and Green that was tough last season. I wouldn't say that they, maybe opinions vary on this. They never take away from the game where the point where I'm like, liking the game I'm watching less. But are they bringing anything to the table? Opinions definitely vary on that one. In other news, Richard Deich of the Athletic reported that Joe Tessitore and Jason Witten will be a two-man booth on Monday night football.

And Booger McFarlane, the good-natured giant former NFL player. Is that a good way to describe someone? A good-natured giant. Affable fellow? It's just on the borderline of offensive. I feel like, I don't know where it's a good nature giant. I don't know. How is that offensive?

I don't know. But it feels like a compliment to me. To that point, it did ring a bell in my own head as I was saying it. Yeah. Is that okay? He's a good nature giant. Feels fine to me. Yeah.

Okay. He's going to be the quote field analyst of this team and then poor Lisa Salters. She had that whole field to herself and now she stays on. She's the only one that survives the Monday night football purge. she's the sideline reporter. So I guess she has to stay on the sideline. She can't move anywhere because you got the affable giant everywhere else. I think it's the combination of the good natured even might be more offensive than the giant part.

Anyways. He's a nice guy. That's what I mean. I like good nature to put down. Somehow, I don't know. Okay. Go on. I mean with faint praise.

I don't know what the word is. Big Ben agrees. The field, I think this has really good potential. I'm excited. I don't know Burger McFarland's track record that well because he's a college football guy, so, you know, at ESPN. But I like the idea of kind of the X's and O's guy on the field.

I know they tried it with Tony Siragusa that maybe that wasn't the right guy to execute that vision. But Lewis Riddick did it in the Pro Bowl. And I think Booger McFarland is very, he is a likable guy. And I think he's going to kind of add that sort of like exes and O's sideline thing. Like it's trying something. I would love to be a fly on the wall.

in this meeting where someone throughout this line, hey, what if we revived the old Tony Siragusa rule? How does that happen? Well, I think the actual, hopefully, execution of it's going to be a little different. Well, I hope so. It's not another sideline reporter. It's basically another guy that chimes in, not as often as a third man in the booth, but he's going to be shining in with some exes.

The Saragusa thing was more than an experiment, by the way. It lasted years and years. It felt like it lasted decades. Did he ever contribute anything to the broadcast? Right, but that's not Burger McFarland's fault. Akeman would be like, you know, throw it down to Tony Sergousen. He's like, oh, from my vantage point, that was a heck of a play. Back to you.

It's like, well, they're about to wear their long cleats. When they tried out. See, that's Salters his territory, though. That's where it gets tricky. Yeah. That will not be Booger's territory. Richard Deich reported this, and as part of that, he said 12 people tried out for that job that Witten got.

And it sounded like McFarland was another, was one of those 12 as well. So he made an impression on them. I believe Bruce Ariens was one of those 12, too. Did not wind up getting the job. Why not just have a three-man booth? I don't get this field analyst thing. They're just trying to mix it up.

Reinvent the wheel, if you will. See if it works. You sound skeptical. I have no take. I think Wes seems to. Yeah, I don't see how that adds to the broadcast in any meaningful way at all. I'm looking in these broadcasts for some announcers who can teach me things and not enough of them are like that.

Tony Romo was absolutely the perfect example. So hearing from Bougar McFarland once every 27 minutes is going to... My guess is he'll be more involved and that's going to be part of his role. We'll see. You've got to be good at doing it, but he's been with the SBN for four years. This has the potential to really annoy Mark Sessler. Oh my God, you're right. And I think we all agree that Monday Night Football was done.

do for a change. It was not working as we talked about before Gruden left. So let's see what this works. Finally, as we, yes, you heard from Todd Bowles earlier today. He was great. I want him to play right now. Regarding Sam Darnold, who's in his initial practices as the future and the turning point in the history of the New York Jets, his arrival. I got a lot of tweets about what does Keith Hanses think about the move and haven't had a chance to unveil the voicemail from Keith, but now it is time. His thoughts on Sam Darnold to the Jets at number three overall. His name is Keith.

He's dad's dad. No doubt about it. He's a big Jets fan. What is he going to say about the game today? What is he going to say about the game today? I think Sam Donald was a great pick for the Jets. He's the man they wanted from the beginning. And I believe he has the intangibles needed to be a star in the NFL.

The Jets are certainly due. They've drafted 24 quarterbacks since 1976 in an effort to replace my hero, Joe Willie. Go Jets. He's very excited. Yes. He's very excited. I mean, my dad was born in the 50s, early 50s, and since 1975.

he's seen them all, all the horrible quarterbacks. I just started, my Jet Fandom really started in earnest right around Browning Nagel in 92, and it's been a hellacious hellscape of 25 years. Keith's got the Ken O'Brien, Richard Todd, Pat Ryan, and all the other bums in between. So who was the best one they drafted in all that span? Had to be Chad Pennington, I guess. Ken O'Brien? Pennington and O'Brien would be the closest they come.

You've had some top 10 to 12 guys, and you claim that even that alone, you'd be happy about that. If you can just finally get a serviceable guy like that. Although I think now Sam Darnold's raised the bar on that. If he has Ken O'Brien's career, are you going to be happy? No. No. I don't think Ken O'Brien. I think if he is kind of like a Matt Stafford type career, I would definitely sign off on that.

Okay. But the excitement of all this is that maybe he's way better than that. But you know Keith's excited when he's throwing Joe Namath name around. That's true. That's true. When Joe Willie comes up. Yeah. And his name has been coming up a lot with Sam Donald.

I think Donald is the right attitude to handle that type of pressure. But we're going to find out, oh, it's good to be a jet fan right now. Anyway, in this exact moment it is. All right. There we go. That's what's happening in the news. Now Chris Westling wrote what he calls. calls a sub-banger, but Greg, you and I both know that West is a gifted football analyst,

and he really has a way with words. So even a sub-banger from West... I don't even believe it. Well, what I'm saying is... It's the off-season. I believe West. It's a very high standard for an off-season banger. A sub-banger from West, though, is someone else's Supreme Banger.

So I still think you should check it out at NFL.com slash Wesleying, the top 10 offenses in the National Football League. So let's get into it, Wes. Now, my first question, first of all, let me get this list up. That's important. Here we go. You have that number one. It's not some fun at the top.

Okay. And some people are going to say they're a little surprised by this. New Orleans Saints, the number one offense in the league, what makes them to you? Are they head and shoulders above the number two team you have here, the Patriots and then the Steelers are three? Or is it really kind of a toss-up? I don't think they're head and shoulders. In fact, the Patriots led in every meaningful metric last year for offense. They were number one in everything.

But they've also lost a guy who was one of the hottest running backs in the league down the stretch in Dionne Lewis. They lost their deep threat in Brandon Cooks, and they don't have anyone else on the roster, really, who has that skill set. And they lost their left tackle. So there's a lot of questions on the Patriots' offense. They do get Edelman and Malcolm Mitchell back, and they drafted Sony Michelle, but those are question marks. Greg? I was surprised to see the Patriots as high as they were. So I appreciate it, you know, as a Patriot.

Did you see their last game, how they played on offense? Incredible, yeah. And I think to your point, you just mentioned, you know, the options they have to. They had a plan eventually for how to replace. They don't really have a vertical receiver. Cooks, I think, wasn't exactly what they wanted out of a vertical receiver either, but they are deep at receiver. I think they believe Sony Michelle will be an upgrade from Dionne Lewis that has to play out.

And one move that has been pretty under the radar was their trade for Trent Brown, who people around New England now seem to think has a good chance to start at left tackle, a position he did not play much in San Francisco. So we'll see if that works. Two seems high. I would not even put the Patriots number two. I would put the Steelers either one or two, just because the continuity you have with Rogers, I mean, Rathlisberger, Bell, Brown, and that offensive line.

So that's eight of their 11 starters on offense. You don't see a group that good stay together that long, too long. The Patriots have the greatest quarterback of all time and the greatest tight end of all time, still playing as well as they've ever played. And, you know, Juju Smith-Schuster is another guy you think can maybe even take a step. They felt good enough Pittsburgh about Smith-Schuster to trade Martavis Bryant. So you've got to love them.

The Saints, though, just the skill talent all over the field playing in that building with the quarterback who's a master. You look for a weakness in that offense. We talked about the tight end earlier, so that's one. Ben Watson isn't a guy who's making people miss out of the catch anymore. But to me, the biggest weakness is the backup quarterback. If Drew Brees goes down, their playoff hopes are over because Tom Savage is their number two. Tom Savage is real.

And if you're talking about only the backup quarterback as your problem, that's a pretty good offense. Yeah, Cameron Meredith, I think, can add something. When Mark Ingram is your second best running back, that's incredible. I mean, that duo and that offensive line, which has... had so many injuries last year. That's why injuries, teams that blame their season on injuries are usually fans are just kind of taking the easy way out because teams like the Saints or the Patriots for that matter, they'll have crazy injuries and they'll figure it out.

And that's Sean Payton, who is still getting it done as a play caller. After all these years, whatever reputation he has, like he has earned it. Like that is, he is right near, if not the top of the list of the guys you want construction. No hot butt. No. Mr. Payton. His issues have always been the other side of the ball. Even during their down days,

they were one of the best offenses in the league every year. The only hesitation I would have, not that Drew Brees really showed that he was in any level of decline, but he is now another year older. And then Kamara and Ingram, that was literally the best tandem season of all time. Do they do that every single year? Probably not.

Will they ever be that good again? Maybe not. So they need to kind of continue to perform in tandem at that level or close to it for this offense, I think, to be number one, but not impossible. No, I agree. And I look to fourth on this list of Falcons, that could be a model of how the Saints running backs come back to the pack a little bit like Devonte Freeman and Tevin Coleman did last year. But that's still a great tandem in Atlanta. And then you add Calvin Ridley to the wide receiver core.

Again, an offense where the backup quarterback seems to be the biggest problem, maybe the play caller. Yeah, I think Sarkozing is a guy that I worry about. about the most there. That's giving them some love, which I, I'm totally on board with if people have been listening to these podcasts the last couple weeks. Like, I am very high on this Falcons team to stay near the top of the NFL. But I think the perception out there after last season is no one, most people would not consider them the fourth best offense in the league anymore.

Well, I think most people look at, they look at basic stats, like total offense, points per game. If you look at the metrics, they were second and drive success rate. and second in yards per drive last season. They were moving ball. We talked about this on the last podcast. They just had bad luck on turnovers and in the red zone. And, you know, some of it is Sarkisian's play calling.

He didn't maximize guys like Taylor Gabriel. He didn't get Kevin Coleman the ball in space enough. If he can get better at that, I think the Falcons can just as easily go back to number one. If it's May, then Wesleying or Rosenthal are writing bangers. You know the chargers are going to be in the top five of things. here they are sitting at number five the number five offense in all football according to west tell us why chris well they won six of their last seven games last year they were one of the best offenses already

so i expect and then the number seven overall pick in the draft mike williams really gave them nothing he figured he's going to have a bigger role this year hunter henry i thought was a top five tight end by the end of the season and with antonio gates no longer around you have to worry about that the offensive line is improved with mike pouncy coming in as the center and they've got a couple of second year guards that look promising. I don't really see a weakness on this offense, except maybe running back depth. If I'm giving awards, though, for this list,

just if I wrote an article about the list. You know, I would give the award to, oh, this is a mouthful, but, you know, the fan base with the best chance to be pissed off award, it goes to the Eagles. I mean, the Eagles are two spots behind the Chargers after dropping a 40 burger in the Super Bowl, the backup quarterback. I just, and I get, and you can explain why you put them there.

They're behind some other offenses, but to me, they have the best chance to rise if you make this list again at the end of the year, because they have a chance, I think, to be one of the very best offenses. Well, I'm not really going to put the recency bias of the Super Bowl as like the decided. You just did it with the Chargers end of the season. That's seven games, not one. Okay. The Eagles finished ninth and weighted DVOA.

11th and yards per drive and seventh in total offense. They were not like some juggernaut that people couldn't stop. Where were they before Carson once tore up as a few, though? They were higher. But now he's coming in often, he's not going to be the same quarterback coming off in ACL surgery. Yeah, I'm less worried about what all these teams did last season

and more just projecting forward, and I love their offensive line in general. Do you project the loss of Frank Wright and John D. Filippo hurting them at all? Not a ton. Again, and maybe I'll be wrong about that, that I'm, I'm, because it's kind of hard to wrap your head around how much they matter or not. But when your head coach, it's like if Andy Reid, and maybe this is giving Doug Peterson a little too much credit, if Andy Reid loses his offensive coordinator, I don't think the Chief's offense is going to get worse.

And so Peterson just lost it. I kind of trust in his system and his quarterbacks, and their talent. And they're just a team I kind of expect to be just very tough to defend week after week. And if their quarterback was not coming off in ACL and LCS, injury, they would be higher on this list. Another fan base that is going to get angry in West. I think you could fend for yourself. Maybe you're not all the way back physically after your cancer win.

But at the same time, I know you could take care of yourself. But in Los Angeles, when you put those Rams at number seven and you or number eight, excuse me, and you got a team that led the league in points scoring last year. They add Brandon Cooks. They got all that talent. And arguably the best running back in Todd Gurley. Shouldn't they be a little bit higher? Would you believe the 2017 L.A. Rams finished behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,

considerably behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and drive success rate in yards per drive? The Rams scored a lot of points because they have a brilliant offensive coordinator, but they did not move the ball consistently. Turnovers, possessions, short fields. They were good. They didn't move the ball. They were an effective offense.

I don't have a problem with them being there, if only because the teams ahead of them are all rock solid. The Packers have Aaron Rogers, so I'm just going to put them ahead of... The quarterbacks ahead of them are all better than Jared Gough. The Chargers, you know, you're high on them, and that makes sense. I do, I kind of expect the Rams to come back to the pack a little bit on offense, at least this year. Am I, I don't think, actually, I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one, but does anyone else think Jared Gough specifically could really come back to the back? I'm not going to say, rookie year, Jared Gough, but maybe somewhere in the middle?

It's the big, it's really the main question for that team. because you look at their offense and they have Gurley, but it's not like it's a loaded offensive weapons around. No, they're good. What happens to this offense if Gurley goes down? They're in trouble. They're in big trouble. So running back depth is a big issue for them.

Brandon Cook's Robert Woods Cooper Cup. I like that. That's a nice wide receiver room, not maybe all world, but they can get the job done. Tyler Hig be a tight end. Not exactly grunk. It shows how deep the league is on. offense at the Vikings with with cousins who I know you like with Dalvin cook who I know

you like and then Diggs and Dillon on the outside can only be ninth I don't have a huge issue with them there because I don't know who I would put in you know I would put them ahead of but that's a good looking offense to be number nine case Keenham was a borderline stud last year in Minnesota's offense we talked about that last week uh that he was in a really great set up now Kirk cousins who's a probably a substantially better quarterback you should say then Case Keenom now steps into that offense. Wes, you put them in the bottom of your top 10 at number nine, but some upside there to be even better, right?

There is, and a lot depends on Dalvin Cook. Again, I have a hard time penciling guys right into their pre-injury form when they're coming back from major knee injuries. So he's a question mark. The wide receiver group is one of the best in the league, I think, and the offensive line is questionable. Okay. How about a little love from West to the Detroit Lions?

usually is punching bag. Yet they made the list over a number of teams, but the chiefs kind of stand out to me as the team that I would be afraid to defend. I know we have to see how it goes with Patrick Mahomes, but just the weapons and the coach. They finished in the knocking on the door category by Chris. Yeah, I'm going to bust down that door. I know everyone loves Patrick Mahones.

Patrick Mahomes got to throw the ball through the door. That's fine. But the way I envision this offense, a young quarterback is going to be making rookie mistakes. They're going to have turnovers. They're going to have games where they're not moving the chains. It's going to happen. And because that is one of my principal roles on this podcast,

the New York Giants not even getting on knocking on the door. Well, they don't have a good quarter. All those weapons. You need a good quarterback to have a good offense. Hall of Famer, Eli Manning. Seekwan Barclay, who could be Todd Grohl. Peyton Manning's a Hall of Famer, but if he was leading offense right now, I wouldn't rank him high.

Sterling Shepard, Evan Ingram. I mean, what else could you want an improved offensive line? The Giants are going to score some points. I've won a good quarter. back that's what i would want in a good offense i mean i knew that would be your reply well i mean honestly have you not watched the last two years uh last year i am throwing out last year no i don't i don't mean this i mean the way he's thrown the ball he's not the same guy he was but i think the way he escapes pressure ton of weapons you could argue he had no one has better weapons than him

right now right i mean the offensive line is part of your weapons right no i don't i don't think it's fixed i actually don't count if we're talking football parlance i don't count i don't count the offensive line in weapons. However, it's very important that you bring up offensive line because it is a suspect offensive line at best. Yeah. We'll reconvene Wednesday on the offseason, is Eli

Manning going to screw up the Giants podcast? That's basically what we are. You should do every show from here until September about this. The Buccaneers, Texans, and 49ers, I thought all of those have a better, more deserving of top 10 mention than the Giants. They got on the outside.

Panthers, too. Yeah. 49ers will be fascinating. Weirdly, I don't feel like we've talked about them a lot this offseason. You would think they'd be kind of a buzz team. Like, I have a lot of faith in their coach and quarterback. The rest of it is coming together, and we have to see. Like, I don't know. They, to me, have the biggest gap, maybe between ceiling and floor of just about any of these teams, certainly.

Their drive success rate with Jimmy G. under center would have set an NFL record if it lasted all season. And that's not going to happen this year. So check it out NFL.com slash Wessling. I'm sure you'll get a vanity URL eventually, Chris. We shall see a man of your stature within this organization deserves one. So check it out the full write-up from Wes. The next time you hear from us will be Wednesday, three shows this week. And Greg is going to make a very special and extremely personal announcement slash revelation on Wednesday's show.

So you're not going to want to miss it. Wow. Wow, I got to come up with something. Usually that's a bit that I would throw at Mark, and then Mark, we get a little bit flustered and angry at me. But in this case, I had to go to you. You know what? I actually have, I have something immediately popped into my mind.

Wow. Do you want to share it on Wednesday show? Yeah. Okay. I'm going to tease it. So there you go. Now you got it to tune him. Craig's a man that sometimes will keep the cards close to the best.

Not on Wednesday. The guy's an open book. This is. Looking forward to this. Yeah, this is one. this is one that's been it's been bubbling inside my family for a little bit i'll just use that as my interesting now i'm thinking i might have an idea of it but i don't even want to say it i don't want to speak it not having another kid if that's what i thought uh number three was coming i was going to say

you made a terrible decision we got to shut it down it too living in l.a but it's not that okay i'm very excited and i got that it kind of sounded like that the open book it's the gregg rosenthal open book podcast coming up Wednesday so you don't want to miss it until then this is dan hans signing off for chris wessling gregg rosenthal and lindsay photon behind the glass oohie till wednesday Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies

to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sundays. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the I-Hare. Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season?

Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football. podcast on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL, visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. This is an IHeart podcast.