NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Bradford trade & 2016 QB Rankings

Episode Date: September 7, 2016

A room filled with heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal and Chris Wesseling– analyze the latest NFL news including the Vikings trading for QB Sam Bradford and the Eagles announcing QB Carson Wentz as their Week 1 starter. Then the heroes weigh in on Jared Goff being named the No. 3 QB for the Rams before wrapping the podcast sharing their Pre-Week 1 QB rankings.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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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. Hey, Damashek here. Make sure you check out the new episode of the Dave Damashek football program. We're joined by Meet the Press host and Green Bay Packers fan Chuck Todd. Plus, Ike Taylor, Maurice Jones, Drew, and I are setting the table for you. Just before kickoff, we're talking about the Vikings, the Colts, the entire AFC, the entire NFC, football season is upon us.

Check it out on iTunes or NFL.com slash podcasts. The Around the NFL podcast would stop wearing pants if society allowed it. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansus and I am joined by a room filled with some heroes. Chris Wessling and Greg Rosethal. What's up, boys? Hey, Dan. The old three-man weave.

The old three stooges. Is that what they did on Three Stooges? Wes, help me out. I didn't like the Three Stooges as a show. Right in your time period wheelhouse. Not really. It's a little ancient for me. You watched somebody back growing up.

You said you did. A little bit, but it was always one of the shows when it was on. I was looking to do something else. Like when taxis on or mash. or Star Trek? Everybody, can I just say, like, and if there's some baby boomers? I've never watched any of those four shows that you just mentioned. Good reason.

If there's any baby boomers listening, I apologize, but everybody's got to calm down with the Three Stooges stuff. What is if it's the great beacon of comedy? Just calm down a little bit. I can't disagree with you. You kind of like it as something you watch growing up, but then, hey, when I want to watch some real comedy, Larry Moe and Curley, that's where I go.

Who's talking like this. Let's calm down with that just a little bit. Make sure when you build your man cave, you have the picture of the Three Stooges golfing. That's a staple of all man caves. I will make sure to do that. All right. Today is Monday, September 6th, excuse me.

Tuesday, September 6th, 2016, which means we've made it, guys, to the end of the long road to a new football season. In just two days, the 2016 season kicks off with a rematch of Super Bowl. Bowl 50 between the Broncos and Panthers, and, you know, we'll be covering that on this very show. A lot of fun stuff going on this week with you around the NFL podcast.

Today, we're going to talk about all the latest news in a wild weekend, a cut-down weekend, and then get into Greg Rosenthal's fourth annual QB Index extravaganza. Fourth annual on the show, have we done it done it? I don't know. Who knows? It's a fourth year that the column has existed, yes. Right. and what Greg does every week, he updates his QB index.

And we'll get into it later. But for Greg, the toughest one is the one right before the season starts. Yeah, well, the whole first month is confusing. But yeah, before the season starts, because you've got nothing to evaluate. Just copy and paste your week 17. Well, you know, we'll get to that later right before the extended Three Stooges talk, which wraps up the show. I'm going to stock football at all times.

I am, Greg. Lots of yucks there with the three studios talk. Mark Sessler is not here today, as you may have noticed. Or maybe not. Sometimes Mark doesn't talk for long stretches on the show. In this case, he is out sick today. And we were supposed to do our sandwich props today. Go get my lunch, you turd.

But we cannot do it without the fourth horseman. So what we're going to do is actually add a supplemental episode of the Around the NFL podcast this week. Tomorrow will go up tomorrow, late afternoon. early evening on the West Coast here in the United States that will have just solely be the home of our sandwich props. That's exciting. Go get my lunch is, I believe, the best game we've created in one of our best segments.

And I believe it has standalone value. I'm with you. I think Mark being sick, we might have stumbled upon something here that you get a little bonus. And this is, you know, let's face it, if you like the show, if you're a regular, long-time listener. I think you'll like this, this one, a little extra. Absolutely.

First week. Absolutely. So on Wednesday, yes, that's when we'll drop that. And then the following day, late Thursday, we will have our third podcast of the week in which we'll preview all the week-one games. And then, yes, recap the Thursday night opener. And then that gives way, of course, to Sunday night, the return of our flagship show, the weekly recaps. So, yes, a busy week ahead for the around the NFL podcast. but it starts right here. And let's start by saying hello to the Irishman behind the glass. What's up, buddy?

You know what? I'm thinking after we just talked about, go got my lunch tomorrow. You notice that Irishman now has like bits, like lined up when I say hello to him. You used to be like, hey, man, I'm like, hey, what's going on? Now it's like, you say hi to Irish? And then he's like into like a Jerry Seinfeld stream of consciousness riff. He's like looking at notes below.

It just says like orange bit. It's got like flop sweat. Sorry. This is an Irish. This is a Irish. This is stretch run at Don. honest with newfound confidence that's true yeah i mean that builds right into it because i am on my stretch run here i have what like three and a half weeks left okay no we don't like to talk about that

irish but i feel like we need like a sandwich schedule for me because i feel like that's a good idea that is so fair because we get on each other and people outside the podcast for not owing or not paying off sandwiches and yet we owe you uh one each for what was it again it is it was uh jalen Smith. Your sandwich tomorrow is taken care of. I got it. If I put this on tape, maybe it'll make myself do it. And I got yours next week, buddy.

I love that. This time next week, or pick the day next week and you got a high-octane sandwich coming your way. Let's do some news. This is the stupidest trade in the history of sports. Literally my whole life is my mother and my family and the Eagles. I love this team more than anything. And I

cannot believe that we gave up. A first round of from next year and a second round of 2018 for a guy who has not even played division one talent. How about that? I like that. I like that. I like that color into every sports radio show in history. Specifically Philadelphia involving Carson Wentz.

Carson Wentz, who was picked second overall. We're going to get to him in a second. Well, let's talk first about the man who we thought was going to be opening the season as the starter of the eagle, Sam Bradford. But guess what? Teddy Bridgewater blows out his knee. horrifying fashion and it sets in motion a domino effect that ends with sam bradford being traded to the minnesota vikings this weekend in exchange for a 2017 first round pick and a 2018 fourth round pick

and wow gregg rosenthal you wrote the winners and losers piece on this i think the first thought of everyone was wait sam bradford could fetch that type of value in 2016 is it is it that crazy to think it's good for both sides yet that yes, given the circumstances, he is worth that much to this year's Minnesota Vikings. And when I listen to them talk about it, I'm not high on Sam Bradford at all. But I don't think you can go into a season with that roster with Sean Hill as your starting quarterback, moving into a new stadium, especially when you don't know when Teddy Bridgewater is going to be back, if he's going to be back next year. And I thought it was telling that the Vikings general manager said it was really important to him that Bradford was under contract for two years as

opposed to one. And I think they're looking at this as we'll see how it goes, but it might be a medium to long term type of thing. The mesmerizing spellbinding hold that Sam Bradford has over executive and scouts in the NFL is amazing. And it's funny to me that every year when you see these trades, they point to like a three or four game stretch that Sam Bradford has. and ignore the rest of the data altogether. That's what the Eagles pointed to all off-season to justify them. The Eagles pointed to the final seven games. Rick Spielsman pointed to a final month stretch,

and that's what they do. They ignore the bulk of the evidence on Sam Bradford and go with his three or four most impressive games in a season. But here's the thing. Haven't it been proven that the 20th best starting quarterback in the league is worth a lot. I mean, if you look at what Brock Osweiler fetched, obviously what Bradford fetched that that has significant value compared to the 45th best quarterback in the league perhaps perhaps but let can I just let's let's let you go first go ahead

where you're going to say he hasn't learned the offense yet it's a it's a leap of faith to say he's going to be the 20th best quarterback in the NFL coming into a new offense the first week of the season and not to mention is he really the 20th best quarterback in the NFL if he plays about 11 games per season on average and I'll take okay A more macro viewpoint on it. And I wrote about this on Friday about how the Vikings just had terrible luck and they don't need this at this stage, all the stuff they put up with. But the truth of the matter is when the football gods bang you like this

and the Vikings got banged hard right before the last preseason game, their quarterback knee explodes essentially like a bomb hit it. And so what did they do? They couldn't live with the fact that they had this team they thought was Super Bowl ready. So they felt compelled to make, to me, what felt like a panic trade, the type of trade that they had no other options, they looked around, they didn't like their backup quarterback, obviously there were no real options on the free agent pile.

So they made the best trade they thought they could. But that doesn't mean it was the right trade to make. Sometimes when you get banged, like they got banged here, you just get banged. Stop saying banged. You just got to live with it. And it's not your season. And you hope that Teddy Bridgerwetter comes back,

or you hope Sean Hill turns into something or something else happens. But you can't turn into something. I'm just saying is by giving a mortgageing a big part of your future for a guy that everyone that follows football knows is a limited player. To me, it was a panic move and something they should not have done. You can't force the issue like this. I'm glad they made a panic move because I agree with Greg that it makes both teams more watchable this year.

The Vikings with Sean Hill at quarterback would have been one of the most unwatchable teams in the NFL and the Eagles with Sam Braver the quarterback would not be nearly as much fun as Carson Wentz. So I agree. I think it was a panic move. The Vikings were desperate and I'm glad they did it. Well, I think the stadium is a huge part of it. I really.

Yeah, I agree. Which shouldn't be a part of it, by the way. I'm sorry. That's the way owners and executives think, though. That the excitement that we've been, I talked about last week, that's maybe one of the hardest things to do in sports to time the crescendo of an organization lifting up as they're moving into a beautiful new stadium and then to have it all just. ruin right before the season was crushing. Here's a thing, though, first-round picks.

Obviously, they're the most valuable thing that you can have. But if he gives them okay starting quarterback play for a couple years, I mean, you can blow your first-round pick in a lot of different ways. The Vikings have proven to be pretty good at it lately. Trey Wayne's was their first-round pick last year. He's done absolutely nothing for them and is not going to really be a big part of this team. Matt Khalil was a first-round pick a few years ago. He's one of the worst left tackles in the league. Like, no, people criticize. for giving up first round picks. But again, you're working under the assumption that Sam Bradford not only stays on the field,

but plays like a top 20 level quarterback. And that is a huge reach. You're putting a lot of faith in North Turner, and you're putting a lot of faith in Pat Shermer, who has been Sam Bradford's, I don't even know, like, special godparents or something throughout his NFL career in St. Louis and now Philadelphia and Minnesota, he's the one helping to give Bradford all these chances. And let's now and see how things now spin

Sam Bradford suddenly out of the picture in Philly and I think a lot of people, at least I thought, thought, okay, now Chase Daniel, who the head coach coveted to bring into the building, becomes their quarterback for how long we don't know, but at least to start the season. But no, we learned that the decision has been made that Carson Wentz, the guy who barely played in the preseason after sustaining an injury in the first week of action,

will be the week one starter. or Wes, what was your first takeaway to this? This was stunning to me as well. My first takeaway was what changed. I know that you traded San Bradford, but if Carson Wentz wasn't ready to start with Sam Bradford in the house, why is he ready to start with Chase Daniels in the house? Either he's ready or he's not.

What we saw in the first preseason game with his mechanical flaws suggested he's nowhere close to being ready. My thought was, man, they have a lot of belief in Carson Wentz. I mean, they must just have a pure undying belief. and they're scouting and what they've seen in practices, obviously, because of the picks that they gave up to get this guy and then to do this, as you said, put him over Chase Daniel, trade away Bradford in the first place. In some ways you can look at it, like, they're not giving up on the season,

but they're not doing everything possible to win games because otherwise they had said their best chance to win was with Sam Bradford and then they traded him. This makes me think, how bad is Chase Daniel? a guy that... Supposed he's at a bad off season. I mean, a bad off season, and maybe this is a situation where the front office wasn't in lockstep

with a coach that liked the guy a lot. Because you would think even if he was half decent, this is why he was brought on. So to take him out of the picture here tells me that they really didn't think he could give them any value as a starter. Yeah, that's true. And he's making more money than a lot of starters.

I think when you say they're not giving up on the season, that's fair. No NFL team admits to giving up on a season. But this is a tacit acknowledgement that they're building. They're not expecting to contend with Wents as the starter. They must love him in practice. And the reports were that Wence outplayed Daniel in practice significantly.

So I guess why wouldn't you let him play? The crazy thing is that one preseason game, if you look at it, he had 50% completions. He fumbled. He was very inaccurate. He had a bad interception in the red zone. And then he got hurt, and he took a lot of big hit. So it was about as bad a half as you could have.

It was like boiling Blake Bordel's entire season into one half. He also made a couple unbelievable plays, and he kind of reminds me of Russell Wilson how he can make unblocked defender's miss. He's going to be exciting. All right, let's move on, guys. We can talk about that for an entire show, the fascinating dynamic in Philly right now. But we got more to get to. So let's move on to Josh Sitton, who was an all-pro guard with the Green Bay Packers last year.

So there was no reason to think he would not have a central role with the team this year. but apparently not because the team decided to release the guard, a guy who had played 110 and 120 of 112 games with the team since 2009. They tried to trade him, couldn't find a taker or couldn't work out a deal. According to Mike Grafalo, Garofolo, still working on that. Garifolo. Garfalo. So what happens?

He hits the street, and you knew Josh Sinton would not be out of work long. Days later, he signs with the Chicago Bay. So he stays in the division. A rap sheet report of the deal is worth $21.75 million with $10 million in guarantees over three years. Wes, what is this? What's going on in the interior offensive lines when this is happening? I'm confused. This seemed like it was all a Ted Thompson decision that Josh Sitton was going into his last year of his contract.

And Ted Thompson didn't want to pay him the money. So we're going to turn a position over to Lane Taylor. a complete unknown who struggled a little bit in pass protection last year on the interior. Yeah, but Greg, this guy was rated, PFF had him as one of the best guards in the league. He was all pro. Second team, all pro. Second team, all pro. For three straight years.

He was not making a ton of money this year. It wasn't due a ton of money. They didn't have a proven guy ready to step in. What are we missing here? Yeah, I think this is something where there's more to the story. And we're not going to know what it is. Maybe some reporter that's a true. Intrepid inside Packers' reporter will get the story because I think there's something missing.

That sounds like a challenge to either Connor or Mark Sessler. No, it was maybe more to the Milwaukee Journal. Sentinel Staff, the Green Bay Press Gazette. I mean, they have some of the best reporters in the league and they're all dumbfounded. This move was among, if not the most surprising, Saturday cut down day moves that I can remember in the last five or six, seven years. You always are on that day, you know, thinking, okay, there'll be a surprise or two. You don't see all pros get cut out of nowhere when you think they're playing well. You know what it reminds me of is the year that Randy Moss was irritated with his contract situation in New England,

and they decided to ship him out. But he, yeah. I mean, this is what a lot of coaches do because the team is so tenuous that you have to have the feeling that you're all in it for the team. And if one guy is worried so much about his contract that he's making waves, I can see how sometimes that's an issue. And I think Belichick does that as much as anybody in the league. It also makes me think at least a little bit that what we talk about often. No one can really.

It's hard for us to evaluate interior line play. I think pro football focus does an incredible job. But sometimes NFL teams disagree with their analysis, obviously. I mean, everyone's going to see players differently. I can't imagine they would cut Josh sitting if they thought he could be a top five guard this year. He lost 20 pounds. you know, there's other, you know, he lost 20 pounds. He intended to do that this offseason, but I don't know, maybe they had concerns.

And then on the other side, that's a huge pickup for the Bears. I mean, the team that we talked about it, not a lot of hope around the Bears and their offensive line was a major issue all throughout the summer. And all of a sudden, like a gift from God, do you have a second team, all-pros guard walk into the building? If Josh Sittance, what he's been the past few years, and long is who we think he is, he's been injured, I think that could be one of the best guard duos in the NFL.

They still have issues at center and tackle, but it would go a long way toward clarifying an issue that was a problem throughout August. All right, let's move on, guys, and talk about the San Francisco 49ers. Quarterback situation, Colin Kaepernick, will be on the Niners. There was talk Kaepernick,

who is obviously in the middle of a huge national controversy over his refusal to stand for the national anthem and also, you know, his poor play in recent season. seasons combined with Blaine Gabbard being in the picture, made you think that either he would get the RG3 treatment and could get ice for the season, which I guess is still technically could be in play. Or he'd get cut or somehow traded if they could find a taker. But as of right now, he will be on the team for the Niners. Blaine Gabbard will be the starting quarterback, Wes, and that completes quite a career comeback for Gabbard, who's now a week one starter,

after many people left him for dead. But is it even a huge achievement considering the team that he's on? I don't think so honestly who did he have to beat out Colin Kaepernick who was injured the entire offseason showed up severely underweight still is

for training camp and was even injured in training camp with an arm issue so no I don't think it's some great achievement by Blaine Gabbard and I would like to know what the two of you think the overrunner is on starts for Blaine Gabbard this year do we think that Kaepernick will be the actual backup

or do we think it could be an ice situation I think the over-under to answer, and this answers both, would be about five. He starts three early. Look at the first three games. Rams, good defense, at Carolina, at Seattle. I mean, I wouldn't put a past Chip Kelly to think that, okay, we're going to get Colin Kaepernick ready. The beginning of this season is brutal anyways. We'll see how those three games go, and maybe he'll be ready to play against some teams we can compete against.

So you think it would be Kaepernick, not Ponder taking it? I do. Now, we disagreed last week on whether Kaepernick would be on this team. It never made sense to me whether Kaepernick, that Kaepernick would get cut because I think Chip Kelly, he wants options. He doesn't care about the issues that are going on in terms of-Cept. Kelly doesn't control the 53-man roster, according to Chip Kelly. I'm sure that his input in terms of Colin Kaepernick making the team matters.

I mean, he said publicly, and maybe this is a message to his front office. Who knows? he's one of the best two quarterbacks on the team I thought Kaepernick on Thursday night it was a really interesting moment especially for the last night of the preseason which is Dudsville all the pressure he had put on himself

and then of course he knelt for the anthem this time he didn't sit all of that going into the game the crowd booing booing and going out there it's like he had put all this pressure on himself and the first thing he goes out there and does is does a 15 play touchdown drive

with some nice throws in there some bad throws too yeah some nice some nice throws in there. 15-play touchdown drive. It was the best drive I saw out of the 49ers the whole preseason. I kind of watched that and I was like, that was badass. That was kind of badass. Against defensive players that won't even make the team.

There were some starters. There were some not. I mean, you could say that about Tom Brady, too, against the Giants, and he struggled. Like, I'm just saying there was as much pressure in a preseason performance. His roster spot and everything that had been going on as possible, and he looked a lot better than you would have expected. I'm going to say under on the gab, what is it, five and a half, five starts? I said. I said five.

Yeah, you got to give the number, Wes. No, you gave the number. Okay. All right, so you said it at what? I'll say five. I think, I'm going to go crazy here. I'm going to say three quarterbacks on that roster will start at least four games. I think we're going to see all of them because the thing, and somebody brought it up on Twitter, Wes, over the weekend.

Let's not forget amid all this controversy around Colin Kaepernick that the guy can't play anymore unless somehow he gets fixed and judging by the way he looks and one magical drive in the end of August. accepted. There's a good chance he'll get on the field. He'll stink up the joint. Playing Gabbard, come on, let's calm down. He stinks, too. And then Ponder, who's a former starter, they'll probably turn to him at some point, too. I think it's all part of a very long season for Chip Kelly in San Francisco. Well, there aren't many quarterbacks that could succeed with the talent around them. That's true. But I do, we give Chip Kelly a lot of credit. Why don't give him a little time with

Colin Kaepernick? Let's move on to talk. A crazy situation here in L.A. with the Rams. Jared Goff, who was the first overall pick in the 2016 NFL draft, in an era where any first round pick, for the most part, starts. Even Carson Wentz found a way to start week one. Jared Goff went one overall. That's a lock to start week one.

Not only is he not starting against the 49ers on Monday night football. He won't even be in uniform. He'll be in street clothes as the emergency third string backup. Chris Wessling, how do we get here? I would direct everyone to read Mike Silver's latest long form on the education of quarterbacks in today's NFL. It is one of the best pieces I've read all year in any football article. And a lot of it goes into how college quarterback is so easy to play because of the spread offenses that it's hard to judge them. And I think you see golf struggles pre-snap and post-snap in the preseason.

two different areas that really the post snap is more processing the pre-snap is more preparation and he struggles with both of them I don't think a lot of people are surprised from that considering his college offense but the Rams have to be disappointed that this guy is going to be one of the most expensive

scout team quarterbacks in NFL history he's going to be running the scout team in Rams practices that's wild it's so crazy and part of me is like oh okay the Rams on some level deserve a little bit of credit here they know he's not ready and they're resisting resisting the pressure just because he's the first pick to make him

play football in week one but then part of me's like whoa wait a second you don't even trust him to be the backup quarterback that's almost you're almost putting it in his head here's that he's a mess right now here's the weird part jeff fisher tells steve weish NFL media is steve wise that he won't play in week one he'll be a third quarterback but in week two it'll probably be sean mann who's the week what's going to change in a week that that makes no sense to me Well, Fisher's comments on quarterbacks to the media to me are meaningless. He just says things to say things because coaches have to say things. And I don't think he gives away almost anything of what he's really feeling.

I'm not going to, you never know, just because he struggles right now, we've talked about it. Alex Smith, Eli Manning were in worse situations, I would say, at this point in their rookie year. And it got even worse when they got put into game. So you don't want to play a guy if he's clearly not ready. and he could totally turn it around, but I don't want to hear any spin about Keen. I told you guys that Keenham was the starter the whole time. That's Jeff Fisher's like, give me a break.

It is a disappointment. You know, it's fine. It's not the end of the world. They gave up all those draft picks just to go with Case Keenum. He said, well, I told you guys, that's the starter the whole time. I am really excited to watch Tuesday night, the finale of Hard Knocks, with a special eye on how this last week played out

with Goff because they must have really been spooked by something that's happened in these final weeks to think that they need to take what, to me, seems like a drastic measure in his progress. I think he's going to start a lot of games this year. Oh, over-under game. I'll set it at seven and a half. Over.

Under. The guy was opening out of uniform in week one will start more than half their games. He's not ready. Fisher is already saying that he might bump up to backup. You lose a couple games. Watch the fourth preseason game and tell me if you believe that. I believe that.

A train record. It has a lot to do with what the record is. Do you believe that the Rams coaching staff can get Jared Goff ready to play in two months? Well, that's the question. That's fair, dog. I think that's where you can't really criticize Goff as much as criticize the whole operation. Because if you ask what team do you not want to get drafted by, if you're a young quarterback looking to develop,

I would say these Rams would have to be. near the top of the list. That's fair. Can't disagree with that. All right, guys. Our final bit of action here in the news is a little bit of odds and ends. Odds and ends. Everybody likes some odds and ends.

You've got to hit it right at the end there. All right, let's get going. I like this. All right. Rob Ninkovich facing a four-game suspension for testing. positive for a banned substance more trouble for the patriots who just they can't stop cheating Greg right I just wanted I knew you would just this is the throne of ease he's already out with an injury he just spends his suspension on the sidelines in the trainers room I'll do anything

to get ahead you're hired Bill Belichick and other Patriots in those eagle uh excuse me other Patriots is bused second round pick cornerback has been traded for offensive of lineman Josh Klein in a 2018 fourth round pick, Greg. What's that about New England and a scramble to get their roster set? They have a thin quarterback group, but I'm always very wary of a guy that stunk that bad in one place. Why is he going to be that much better in New England? Did he stink that bad? I don't know.

They thought he was. He was fifth on their depth chart. That's just that Howie Roseman, let me get rid of everybody Chip Kelly brought in mentality. Chicago Bears linebacker Pernell McPhee, one of their best players last season, facing the prospect of starting the season on the Puplist. In fact, he is on the Pup list, correct? That is a major injury for the Bears. That looked like the strength of their team, those outside linebackers.

He's their best player. Mark Sanchez, cut by the Broncos, probably had to be the lowest moment of his career, not counting the butt fumble. Signs with the Dallas Cowboys. He will now back up Dack Prescott, Wes. Yeah, hopefully we'll never see him play this year. Can we turn this up a little bit?

It's not quite sweet Georgia Brown. Life isn't so bad, though, for Mark Sanchez, if you think about it. You get cut by the defending Super Bowl champions. You end up on the Cowboys. He already had a suite at Jerry World to watch USC the day that he was released. That's true. By the way, they can't talk about, oh, we didn't talk to him early. How has he got a sweet there that night?

And you're also, you made a point in a write-up. He'll be starting on Thanksgiving. Oh, yeah. It's all the scheme for that. The Pittsburgh Steelers have lost Bud Dupree, who's moved to injured reserve. The linebacker had missed all of the preseason with an issue with his core muscle, a tear in that area. How big a loss is that, Wes? Well, we're not sure he was even better than James Harrison.

He was probably going to start, though. Him James Harrison and Jarvis Jones. I can't say it's a huge loss because these young Pittsburgh linebackers haven't been what they're cracked up to be. The Jets wiped away two sins of the Glacier era, cutting tight-end Jason Morrow and waving D. Milner. A first-round pick, Milner was supposed to replace Revis after they traded him to the Bucks. Amaro, not being able to stick on a team with no tight ends,

tells you a lot about Jason Morrow, who's known as soft. He subsequently was picked up by the Titans, making him one of Wes's favorite players. Well, the Titans don't add soft players. Have you finally given up on D. Milner? You're going to follow him to the next team, again? You're still there as of like two weeks. I was, but he couldn't stay on the field.

The guy's body betrayed him. It's all over. Speaking of all over, Justin Gilbert, another huge bust cornerback of the Cleveland Browns was traded to the Steelers for a sixth-round pick. And again, everybody all excited. Oh, the Browns, they keep spinning magic, getting draft picks for bus.

Well, you still took bus. So let's not get too excited about what you did. Let's just be fair. I like the Adi Kinkawala had some texts from the Browns staff that essentially was laughing. about Gilbert's chances of returning around in Pittsburgh. He's been one of the most maligned young players I've heard in a long time. Yeah, in a very long time.

What happens if he becomes an all-pro with the Steelers' marks and Xbox? Well, him and Mingo will be together on the All-Pro team. This seems like a bad thing. Darren McFadden, who fell and broke his elbow a few months back, is not sure if he'll ever be able to fully extend his arm again. Oh, yeah. That's a problem. I like extending my arm. oh yeah you do this is what happens when you get old it's key

your limbs just don't work right anymore yeah and finally this line from jerry jones on tony romo who will remain on the active roster you don't have to spend a lot of time going over and kind of circumcising the mosquito irishman what does that mean to circumcise the mosquito i have no idea all right gregg i don't want to talk about it okay This means let's not go into too much detail and pick this thing apart. Just take it for what it's worth. I didn't want to give a real answer.

Oh, like, we don't need to see the mosquitoes. Is that basically what you're saying? Got it. He's saying you're going to need tiny tweezers to circumcise it. Don't go in that far for the closer. This is such a small issue. Let's not make a big deal out of it, much like the mosquito's penis. Don't look.

I would just say don't look at the mosquitoes. The circumcision thing, that's a little gross to me. I think it's a Southernism. I think it's a well-known phrase throughout the South. Okay. And that wraps odds and ends. I like that. I like that little.

Before the show, West, you weren't in the highest spirits. But when you hear that song, that's a little bounce. It makes you feel like you're on the docket Tybee again, doesn't it? Yeah, it reminds me of sweet Georgia Brown, the old Harlem Globe Trotter's theme song. Oh, yeah. We didn't have the rights to that. Yeah. Well, we got the generic knockoff version.

Yeah, very close to a fringe one there. We got like the Washington General's version. Very good. I like that. All right. That's what's happening in the news. All right. go.

Greg going on and on about this. He's like, what are we going to talk about on the podcast? This is one of my big things I write every year. I want the glory. Give it to me. This is all not true. I literally suggested not doing this on the podcast. You pushed for it.

This lets our listeners into the mind of Dan Hansis. All right. That just led us into the mind of Greg Rosenthal. All right. You want to be in the mind of Dan Hansis? I love talking about QBs. Love it. You said, oh, I didn't love talking about it.

division-by-division previews for seven months. Well, that was obvious. No. But I love talking about quarterbacks in all forms. So can you give us, Greg, as huge you let out a deep side. First of all, an overview of what the QB index is. And if people are new to the website or to this podcast, what they can expect. Well, I'll watch all the quarterbacks I can basically every game every week

and we'll be ranking them based on how they're performing in this season alone. But for this entry level, preseason, addition. It's a little bit of a different question. What quarterback do I want running my team this year? Just answering that question, ranking the quarterbacks. Who do you like for 2016? That's fair. And I think it's a great exercise, but you said it's tough. Here. Oh, we're back. We're back in Tai B. I like it. It's kind of like the Mr. Belvedere theme a little bit. I don't know how this song got associated with Tybee.

Yeah. Why are we back here for the quarterback? I don't know. I have no idea how that happened. But you said it's hard to do it before the season starts, and that's what we've done here. Well, people I know will look at this list, and there's some players, some young players,

where I'm essentially projecting. I'm saying, who do I want this season? Who do I really trust? Who do I think is going to have a great season? So some guys who maybe haven't done it before are getting treated and ranked like this. they have ahead of some veterans because I'm excited about them. All right.

So you don't have the rookies on here for the simple fact that they haven't played yet. So you're not going to go crazy. But then again, you got Jimmy Gropolo on this list. How does Jimmy get there? Well, he's played in some regular season games. He's played three preseason games. You're right. I mean, the rookies.

Trevor Simeon, what's he doing there? We've seen Simeon in the preseason. There's not much difference between them and the rookies. You're right. I feel like Dax should be on this. All right, let's not get caught up with that. That's just that's your decision, your editorial decision. I feel like it's a fair criticism.

It does seem a little... This thing hasn't been published yet. Oh, okay. So you're still working on it. I would put Simeon and Prescott on the same level. All right, let's start at the top of the list, though. And these are the... You have a broken into tiers, it looks like.

One through seven. How would you describe these first seven names? Starting with Aaron Rogers, Cam Newton, Tom Brady, Ben Rutherstberger, Russell Wilson, Drew Brees, and Phil Rivers. What is that seven? What do they represent? Well, they're all handsome. They're what you look for in a quarterback.

I mean, they're the best of the best. To me, they all could put up an MVP season, and it wouldn't totally shock you. Do you think Ben Rothesburg is handsome? No, but just something I said. Okay. Aaron Rogers is number one on this list for me, because when it comes down to it, to me, this week's ranking especially is not just about obviously what you did last year. I could rerun my end of the year rankings.

It's about what we've seen over the last decade. And to me, Aaron Rogers has been the best quarterback. of the decade. He's still in his prime. He's got plenty of talent around him, so there's no reason for me, really, to think that he can't be the best quarterback once again. There had to have been these first five guys on the list, just trying to enter your mindset. Not much separation. Because I would have Russell Wilson in a dog fight with Aaron Rogers for the top spot in this list. There's no quarterback I really trust in the NFL more than Russell Wilson at this stage. Even more than Rathesberger. Trust is a good word because I think when you,

say trust Russell Wilson makes more sense on a game-to-game level than Rob. He's my MVP pick this year, Russell Wilson. It wouldn't surprise me at all. In fact, I think I might have picked them in the NFL.com analyst predictions that we had to do. Yeah, all five of those guys, to me, that's the top level. And I threw Breeze and Rivers in there because to me, they're set apart from the rest as well. And then you have eight and nine on their own little island, Andrew Luck, and Carson Palmer, followed by on their own little island 10 and 11 and this is where it gets really interesting to me

James Winston and Marcus Marriota there are a lot of solid names beneath these two guys what have they done to be this high on the list especially if we were going to talk about trust are we ready to trust them at this level I think going into their second season based on what they showed as rookies and a little bit preseason and what we've heard about them this off season that we should expect them to be much better this season and if you look at their rookie years compared to other great quarterbacks rookie years or even let's let's dial it back to last year. Blake Bortles and Derek Carr and Teddy Bridgewater. Think of them after their first season and Bridgewater didn't make that leap. But think of Bordels and Carr after

their rookie season and the type of leap that they made. Winston and Marriota were at such a higher level already than those two guys were as rookies. And I think they're going to do it in different ways, but I think they both have everything you would want out of a quarterback to be a top shelf type of quarterback. To make a Russell Wilson or Andrew Luck type second year leap, those guys were on the borderline of a top 10 quarterback in their second year. Well, you already know how I feel about Mario. I don't think I need to go into more detail on that one.

I'm kind of flummoxed about Carson Palmer, who finished number two on your season-ending rankings, and now you've dropped him all the way to number nine out of the top tier. Okay, tell me which quarterback's ahead of him that you would rather have this year rather than Carson Palmer. I would definitely put him over Philip Rivers. I would also put Andrew Luck over Philip Rivers.

Okay, so you found one name. Right? Yeah, I mean, you've got them at a totally different tier. I mean, is it the hand-wringing over the playoff performance? That has to be it. Is it the worries about that the Harold Goodwin-led offense in the preseason hasn't produced anything? It's a little bit of the playoffs.

It's a little bit of his age, and it's a lot of his career. To me, Philip Rivers and Drew Brees have been better players than Carson Palmer basically every season for the last 10 seasons except for last year. And I'm going to ultimately trust them more than I trust Palmer. Doesn't Palmer have the best record in the NFL since he landed with Bruce Ariens or something? I mean, he's been a different quarterback under Aryan. Absolutely. He got hurt the first time around.

He was great that year too. But yeah, I could see Carson Palmer some of those chances that he's taken get intercepted and people be a little down on him. I trust those other guys more. All right. Let's look now at the mid-tier. Now we're like kind of right in the middle, flirting with that old Dalton line.

I'm redoing the tiers as we're talking, so this is good exercise. Okay, good. I'm glad that we can do your work for you during this part of the show. It's good. Number 12, you started with Andy Dalton. So he is the best of the not, the best of the good?

Is that a fair way to simplify it? Yeah, this is kind of the middle group of good quarterback. Okay, so you got Andy Dalton, followed by Matt Ryan, followed by Eli Manning at number 15, which is right in the middle here on this list, Blake Bortles, Alex Smith, Joe Flacco at 17, Derek Carr at 18, and just because we got to show respect for a guy with tantalizing skill set, Matthew Stafford, up at 19. So that's that middle tier, West, your thought.

There's not a lot to quibble with here. I would probably have Blake Bortles and Alex Smith both higher than Eli Manning. Yeah. I think I heard all the, you know, all the people that have been criticized for being a little negative about Eli Man. And Hansis has pointed this out. What is this exercise? Who you want for this season?

Yeah, this season only. West, didn't you just say that you think he could lead the league in touchdowns this year? Yeah, but I always said that's driven almost purely by O'Dell Beckham. But I'm just saying if the production is production. If you put Blake Bortals in the Giants offense, I think you'd throw 40. Well, that's the argument against Carson Palmer for what it's worth. You put Phillip Rivers or Drew Brees or any of those guys on the Cardinals team. I think they would be as good or better.

I don't agree with it. Right. It's hard to do better than what Carson Palmer did last year. This tier was by far the hardest part of the exercise for me. And I've shuffled them around. Bortles and Smith were a little higher earlier. I have a hard time with the whole Bortle's car. Now Bridgewater is out of that mix.

for this season, but he would have been there. Alex Smith, who I think is going to have a great year. And Matt Ryan, I don't know what to do with Matt Ryan. I feel like Wes and I are the last two people on Matt Ryan Island. I still like him better than Dalton. People don't know what to do with him anymore. That was a weird last season he had. And wouldn't, I don't, I'm a little over influenced by the Jim Bob Cooter editor at her.

Man, Matthew Stafford looked good once Cooter took over and looked good at this preseason. And it wouldn't surprise me at all if Stafford put up a big numbers fantasy type of season this year. I don't think anything would ever surprise you with Matthew Stafford. All right. I found the Dalton line of your list. It's this next tier. Yeah. 20 through 23 is Kirk Cousins, which is a little high.

I thought you would drop him a little lower. Ryan Tannahill at 21, Tyrod Taylor at 22, and Jay Cutler at 23. This is the Dalton line right around here. Yeah, you could put it after it, but I. Cousins is the new Dalton, I guess. This is the make or break tier. Yeah, thanks. I can make that the little heading.

Yeah, Kirk Cousins on a one-year contract, Tyrod Taylor. We'll see if the bills pick up his options. The Bears have no more guaranteed money, do Jay Cutler. And Ryan Tannahill, how he does in his first season with Gase, is going to determine his future in Miami. It really is that you're compared to your contemporaries, because these guys aren't, they're not terrible starting. quarterbacks, and yet they're buried here in the 20s.

There's reasons to like all four of those. Right. There's reasons. None of them, it would surprise you if they're Pro Bowl quarterbacks here. Also, color, maybe. Two of the biggest coach killers of the 21st century in this tier. Danvers. What? Why would I love coach killers?

Michael Bennett had nice things to say about Ryan Tannale, by the way. He doesn't have nice things to say about anyone. Wait, what did he say? He had this to say. They both went to Texas A&M together. He was a senior Bennett when Tenahill was a freshman wide receiver. Tanahel was the best athlete at our school, better than Von Miller, better than me. My brother, Martellis Bennett, would argue that.

But Tanahel was one of the best athletes I've ever seen. He ran a four-four. He could do every type of dunk. He was just cool. He was a smooth, cool guy. If I had to pick one quarterback to describe as uncool in the NFL, it might be right in Tannett. But it points out it's a little underrated. like we've seen what dunking no we've seen quarterbacks go to wide receiver it's a little underrated to

to be a decent wide receiver at the college level like playing right Ryan tannohill was getting snaps and was somewhat a D1 program and switch to playing quarterback and just be like okay yeah I'm a great quarterback too well well cheapening the word great I mean he got picked in the number 12 overall great enough who gets thrown under yeah who gets thrown under the Ryan tannahill bus next So many bodies strewn across the roadway Good question Now the next tier This is the guys that you don't really believe in, Greg

That's how I read into this This might really be the Dalton line Although it's very low Oh, that's not the Dalton line Number 24, my boy, Ryan Fitzpatrick 25 Sam Bradford 26 Brock Osweiler 27 Jimmy Garoppolo

28 Trevor Simeon 29 RG3 30 Now it's getting dark Blaine Gabbard, 31, Case Keenham. Yeah, this will be broken up a little bit into tiers because it's unfair to put Fitzpatrick in the same tier. He should be in the next one, at the bottom of the next one. I would much rather have Fitzpatrick as my field general than Jay Cutler.

Interesting. Don't really? Yes. We do this every year where everybody overrates Jay Cutler. Well, the difference is now overrating him, according to you, is ranking him 23rd in the league. So, I mean, even his ratings, not too high. I'm sure that will go a long way towards his five-win season.

I would move fits up. You could quibble, what do you want him ahead of Cutler or not, but he should be in that group. And then you could start, like, the real dregs with San Bradford. You don't have to put Ryan that low. I mean, that's disrespectful. But I think you have to look at, and grant that he's in a great situation, and he'll probably put up some numbers this year,

but you have to look at what he's done throughout his career. I get it. But isn't it just about this season? Yeah, it is. maybe he found his spot, and he's going to have a similar year next year, which would be solid, not great. He seems to have a lot of confidence. He does.

He seems to think, and who knows, everybody's confident. Are you sure? I am, I'll tell you what. I'm honest about the Jets. I'm really starting to feel bullish about this season. Have you looked at the first half schedule? That's the thing. At first I was very upset about that schedule,

but then I started to think to myself, Wait, but if the Jets are good, they're going to be okay. They're going to hold their head above the water. If they can somehow get three or four wins out of that first six games against five playoff teams from last year and a Bills team that swept them, they're in good shape going into the backstretched of the season. And I'm just excited. I've been working, doing this podcast long enough where I've been involved with horrible jet teams,

eight and eight type jet teams. But you're always feeling a little optimistic going into week one. As are, hey, by the way, just about every fan, including. me and everyone else. The Lions fans are cracking me up with their excitement. They're pumped. Oh, my God. Calvin Johnson leaves in their playoff team.

All right. And then, yeah, as we said, Dak, let's put him in there. I'll throw him in there. Where would he be? Cannot put him ahead of Ryan. No, he would be in the bottom five. I mean, let's see. Put him over Gropolo.

Stop being a homer. Let's see, let's see, let's see, Dak Prescott in some games. games that matter. See Garoplo in some games. Exactly. Put him above Groplo where he belongs. I agree. They actually should all, they should all, the guys who have never played in the NFL.

Garoplo has played, by the way. Played a half. Oh, come on. Stop with that half. What, garbage time against the Chiefs? He's just as an experience. Week 17 is a rookie year. Yeah.

All right. Well, anyway, this will be up when on the website. Wednesday morning. Wednesday morning. So make sure you check out NFL.com slash QB index. That feels like. a good vanity URL is that going to be it i'll ask for it why not it's been in the past all right gregg uh with a little victory you'll laugh for greg let's get some whistle

some whistle Greg rosenthal this is a very meaningful piece that he writes every week so this is his little celebration i'm doing a dance yeah oh and you can't see it right now but uh exciting news for the podcast our preview show on thursday it goes up late thursday early friday depending where you are uh will be on youtube this year the entire show on YouTube on NFL now and also our Sunday night recap show so two of our three shows will be on video in full Maron

somebody on Twitter said if I hear Dan say Maron I'm always tempted to turn off the podcast turn it off Good riddance clown turn it off I dare you to turn it off We can't talk about Doug Marone again How about that? You think about that? Poor old Dougie down Jack's trapped.

That guy doesn't tell you. You tell him. Yeah, let us know, watch the videos. Let us know what you think. Pass it around to your friends, hit refresh a lot. Maybe that's where I'll get my unflattering Chris Wesleying screenshot. Oh, you're still worried about that? Because I want revenge.

I thought it was a fine picture of you myself. I wanted to say thanks, by the way, to all the people that listened way back to the iTunes challenge and left those comments because I've been watching that and it has been going up you know we broke a thousand it's been going it does help us a lot our rankings have been good so if you have not left a comment for us do it it helps all right that's fair and one and one last thing before we go I should touch us because we're talking quarterbacks over on the subreddit a reader or listener C tagga who uses Kevin Patra as his avatar offered up um the here each of us, what our QB comparisons are based on their personalities and traits on the podcast.

This is ridiculous. You guys worried about this? This is asking for it. This is asking for it a little bit, but I feel like we should see what people have to say. Greg, Drew Brees. Oh, this person does it. Yeah. Smaller guy.

Okay. Not exactly the figure you would expect out of a boss, but efficient and always on the nose with his analysis, loves New Orleans. And phony. total pony Mark Jay Cutler Moody polarizing

yeah this is why I'm saying I thought you were going to ask us to do it and even then I was worried I was just going to give everyone Aaron Rogers now I'm going to have to tell Mark what was said about it

Moody polarizing but has the respect of most of his teammates Dan is his Martellus Bennett with his fantasy corner narrative and is known for taking the second half of the season off okay that was not

That wasn't too nice. Wes, Philip Rivers. Not bad, Wes. Underappreciated, fiery. We appreciate you. Maybe your comedy bits like when you do your puns and stuff, but otherwise, totally appreciated. Fiery, doesn't back down from anyone.

Could retire at any moment and disappear back into the south. I see no connection between Phil Rivers. Really? I actually think this one's good. Other than the children thing is a problem. Look, you want to be Philip. River. That guy, he's competitive. Everyone likes him. He's fiery.

Who's not fiery and competitive in the NFL? Give me Tom Brady. Sam Bradford. Dan, Andy Dalton, fitting. Great when surrounded by talent that hides his deficiencies. Like that he doesn't really give much input on fantasy. Well, there's enough honking during the fantasy

podcast. I couldn't get anything anyway. Doesn't take criticism well. Right on cue. Dan with Wes's photo incident. Dalton with J.J. Watts, Red Rider, Bibi B. Let me just say. I don't take criticism well. I brought up the photo incident. I took it well. I brought it up. We talked about it. I don't think he took it well. It wasn't criticism. That's a circular argument. All I did was post a picture in which I thought you looked good.

No, I'll have my vengeance. Connor or Gino Smith has shown potential, but you honestly never know where his spitfire takes are going to go, much like a ride on the the Gino coaster. Both live in New Jersey in haunted matches. Connor haunted by ghosts, Gino haunted by memories of Ikeh and Pali.

Well, I can make a prediction here. What? This C-Tega guy is going to be dead to Connor Ward going forward. And finally, and perhaps curiously, Kevin Patra,

Tom Brady. What? Keeps a journal of slights that fuel him to build his glorious pod. He's a Michigan fan. Produces the majority of majority of the content on NFL.com, but leaves the flashy long-form articles to the other

heroes. Does Tom Brady leave the flashy Super Bowl rings to the other quarterbacks? I don't get that one. I mean, that's up for... Did Patrick write this? The guy has Patra's face as his avatar. Oh, wouldn't that be great? And he calls himself, Tom Brady. If we uncovered that, that would be amazing if this is Patra in disguise. Working under a pseudonym C. Tega. That actually is the first comment on the thing. It's written by Patrick. All right.

That was interesting. Yeah, that was good, see? Is it worse to have a bad QB or not have one at all? Well, you're saying you want to be a QB. I'm just wondering what people think about me, who am I? Well, maybe C. Taga slash Kevin Patcher will help you out. I'll give you a Patrick's phone number and you could get it from him. You can be...

You can be like Brian Hoyer. The backup to Jay Cutler. Patrick didn't really write this article because the guy spelled Connor or his name wrong. Oh, that's bad. Okay. That's to throw you off the sin. That's why. We like that.

All right. That's it for today's show. Like I said, we got a lot more coming to you this week, starting tomorrow with our special, special feature, supplemental podcast. Go get my lunch. Oh, how exciting is that. So until then. This is Dan Hansa signing up for the mailman, the boss and the Irishman behind the glass. Till Wednesday.

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 Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever, you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant.

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