NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Broncos, Texans hire head coaches + Baldy on the Big Game

Episode Date: February 1, 2023

A room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal recap all the latest news from around the league, starting with the breaking news that Sean Payton is heading to Denver to coach Russell Wilson and the Broncos (5:09). DeMeco Ryans returns to Houston to coach the Texans (13:02), and Brock Purdy could be out six months with a torn UCL (18:29). Dan takes a break from the news to rank the top five cities that NFL players want to live in (24:32), then we resume with reports of Vic Fangio to Miami (27:04), Kellen Moore's new job (29:03), and the NFL's updated salary cap for 2023 (32:26). Then, Brian Baldinger joins the heroes to weigh in on the top five cities list (36:10) and break down the Eagles-Chiefs Super Bowl LVII matchup (41:01). We close the show commenting on the AFC Pro Bowl quarterbacks (57:44). Note: timecodes approximate.NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast. Can't wait for the off season. Halfway there. From the Chris Wessling podcast studio, it's Around the NFL. I am Dan Hansis. I got heroes here.

Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler. All right. Let's set the table here. Super Bowl. Set? Great. Chiefs, Eagles but we still have like two weeks

until the game but we will fill the time. We have a lot of shows too. A lot of work. Work, work, work, work, work. Three shows before we get to the Super Bowl and then three shows before the actual Super Bowl in Arizona

and some hot guests coming up. Just a little tease. I have full confidence we can talk our way through every single show they have us do. We will find a way coming up later the great Brian Baldinger will join us. Baldi, as he's known. Baldi was probably more unhappy than anyone else that the extra week was added to the season, pushing the Super Bowl back a week, which in essence pushes his ability to go wild in the

offseason back a week. So we'll talk to him about that as well. I mean, that said the one time we had him on during Super Bowl week, like an hour earlier, he was scuba diving in the waters off Miami. So he seems to find a way. He does find a way. And he's also, there's nobody better when talking about the game in the trenches than Baldy, a former offensive lineman himself, turned top rate

analyst. So we're going to kind of dig in a little bit on that element of Super Bowl 57. But before that, shall we hit the news? Let's go. Let's do some news. Fly he goes like on the road to

victory. fly egos fly it's going to turn down one two three head on low in a high and watch those eagles fly

fly egos fly all over all to me oh no pirate that's from the podium the risers after the NFC title game.

It is good to see something that Jalen Hertz can't do. You know, he can't sing. So he's not perfect. No, he's got a couple of weeks to work on that. I mean, that is what a huge argument the end of that game celebration was and the one in Arrowhead to not take the title games. I know some of these money hungry individuals up high want to like shift it to this neutral site.

What are we doing here? Never ever do that. I know they will. They probably will, but don't ever do it. Fans always say being at home for a winning conference championship game is better than the Super Bowl. Even better than winning a Super Bowl, that's the whole idea. But just in terms of having a fun day, you can't top that. But they needed to get Milata on the mic.

He's got some pipes. You know, you've heard the singing on the mass singer. You've got the Christmas album. I did not see that. With Milata and the offensive linemen. Yeah, they needed to replace him. AJ Brown was just standing up there admitted afterwards. he has no idea.

He didn't even know what the words were. He'd never really heard that. That seems fair to not know them. I never even heard that. And very strange, although he was butchering it tone-wise, Bradshaw taking the mic away for, like, the final line, just let him finish at that point. He's already drowning out there.

Yeah, I don't know if that, geez, who's asking for the title games to get moved from, you know, the number one seed? There are whispers that that will become sort of the next public event. But like who wants it, like football fans? On pro football talk.com, my former boss, Mike Floreo, sources. It's his idea? Within the league. Within the league.

League sources. So, um, doesn't that kind of, some of my former co-workers over at 345 Park Avenue where I used to work. Are they still at that address? Doesn't it kind of align with where everything else is going with league events? Where they, like, can you? I'm a company person. Can this just be, can we just keep this the same?

Can we keep anything the same? I think there will be extreme pushback if that is the case. But that is poor singing notwithstanding, yes, because winning the conference title is obviously such a big, big event for every fan base and that celebration, I'm sure, was a lot of fun in Philly. Colleen Wolf was there, had Connie on the Power Rankings podcast today, my co-host on that show, and she was at an apartment somewhere in Philadelphia, still breathing in the beauty of the life of a Philadelphia sportsman.

I thought she might be breathing in something else, but I'm sure that happened earlier. I feel like I'm really hot. All right. Let's get into the news. Oh, my goodness. We got massive NFL news here. This from Rapsheet, Sean Payton is going to the Broncos.

Hey now. New Orleans and Denver just finalized a trade, settling the compensation. sources say New Orleans gets a first rounder that would be the 29th overall pick in the upcoming draft that is San Francisco's pick and an early pick in addition to that first rounder likely

according to Ian a second round pick so a 29th overall pick and then a second rounder they will also give a pick back the Broncos will to the Saints it's a complex deal as Ian as Ian reports but it is now done Sean Payton is the new head coach of the Denver Broncos ending a kind of a whirlwind affair for Peyton

who this time last year it felt like he was going to do a year of football mark as a commentator and then had the world at his feet and then it didn't really seem like that was how it was going to end up playing out it seemed like he maybe overplayed his hand and didn't have the chance that he would now have which is be a head coach back in the league highly compensated obviously, and running the show in Denver. Yeah, I mean, I could have imagined him taking over the Chargers job.

I think that would have been the ideal landing spot for him. Dallas always hung out there in the mist. Denver, I did not think were, I kind of always thought that he was using the Broncos's leverage, but there was very little leverage. And you walk into, I think, a very challenging situation. There's kind of a glass, half full, half empty, because the half full is they were such a disaster last year and so poorly organized under Nathaniel Hackett.

and the quarterback was such a failure that you almost can't do worse on the offensive side of the ball. And maybe if Russell Wilson a year into this and under Sean Payton turns the corner and it's not the guy that he was last year, I have suspicions around that, that's for sure. Then suddenly Sean Payton looks like the genius everyone says he is. But it's a complex job because I'm fully convinced

that Russell Wilson will never be the old Russell Wilson and everything on that offense and everything they're built around and his deal and all that other stuff centers around Russell Wilson. And I mean, I know there's ways you can get out of that contract at some point, but can Sean Payton overcome all that? Greg, as a Broncos fan, not that you're a Broncos fan, but you're thinking, though, like, man, things could not have gone worse in year one with Russell Wilson,

and you could point to a lot of reasons why, but you can't avoid that Wilson played poorly. Going into year two, which is an emergency situation in terms of them figuring out whether he's their guy, you've got to be at least feeling good that you have Sean Payton now in the building, and now you're going to know for sure. There won't be any unsaid questions after this year about Wilson and his future in Denver.

Right. Sean Payton is the man in Denver now. Russell Wilson is not. It's just the quarterback now. If I had to guess, extremely early, I would put Russell Wilson's chances of being on this team in two years at like less than 50-50. But I am certain Sean Payton's going to be there in a couple of years.

The way his contract, Russell Wilson's, is structured, I don't think they'll try to get out of it right now. Although I personally think that wouldn't be that crazy. I think it's possible. They'll give it one year with. Sean Payton, and you've got to love it if you're a Broncos fans, because I've got issues with how Sean Payton manipulated the media, and he's friends with everyone,

and there's different sources talking to this guy, and it almost looked like you mentioned. He wasn't going to get a job in this cycle. I mean, don't forget that Broncos' ownership was in Michigan last weekend, by all accounts, begging Jim Harbaugh, trying to get him to take that job. Dan Quinn pulled out and was reported to be one of their top choices. is maybe it was two sides that didn't quite have a perfect landing spot,

and they went back to each other, and Walmart's got long money. And that's who owns the Broncos right now. And one thing we kept hearing from the Sean Payton sources was that he wanted a lot of money and he wanted a lot of power. So they have a GM there in George Payton. But Sean Payton's the guy who's running every aspect of this organization, and he was good at it in New Orleans. I get on him for the media stuff, but man, he can make.

manage an offense, and he can manage like every aspect of the organization from the front office to the coaching staff to everything. He's going to have to hire coaches a little last minute here, but I mean, Broncos fans have to be excited. It's Peyton and Peyton. It might just be Peyton at some point. Yeah. And, you know, we're going to get to DeMico Ryan's in a second here. But I want to mention that, you know, Ryan's, the reporting is out there that he kind of let Denver know that wasn't where he wanted to be. Right. They wanted him too. In Houston and Dan Quinn, a guy that really put himself in a good position to get a head coach job.

He didn't want to go to Denver. And it makes sense because you don't want to be a head coach that goes to the Broncos after what happened last year with the quarterback and end up getting fired after a year because Russell Wilson doesn't get better and you kind of get baby with a bathwatered right out of Denver and you don't feel you get a fair shot. That is not going to happen with Sean Payton for the reasons. Greg, you just said. Sean Payton was going to go somewhere where he would be the Grand Puba and that's what he is in Denver

and no matter what happens with Russell Wilson now Peyton will get a long run to try to turn this organization around. I think it's kind of a for everything that's gone wrong for Denver I think it's a slam dunk higher for them and it puts them back on the road to getting back

in the right direction here. I mean they've been dealing with one of the worst sort of optics PR snafus of any team over the last, you know, since September. It resets all that. And now we're in that period where it's going to be very flowery speak about what this means for Russell Wilson. I don't buy it until I see it, but I do think that if there's any coach out there that can find a way to work around Russell Wilson's weaknesses and also probably have another quarterback on the roster that he maybe likes better that could

usurp Russell Wilson if things get nasty in this season. I don't think you have to go 16, 17 games of Russell Wilson. You don't. I'm Russell Wilson and I throw a sexy deep ball. He does do that. I would like to see Taysam Hill just throw him in that trade. Yeah, I don't think it's going to have. Actually, players are not allowed by rule to be part of coach trade. So that could happen. Anybody's going to find a way to work around things.

Later in the off season, let's bring in Taysom Hill another contract. Quickly from the Saints perspective, just to focus on these picks. You're right, Denver is resetting and it does feel all better. But it is worth noting they don't have their first round pick, which would have been number five. because they traded it for Russell Wilson on top of other picks that are coming in the future. Seattle has that pick.

They did have a pick late in the first round. You mentioned it's 29th, the 49ers pick because they traded away Bradley Chubb. So they basically got Sean Payton as part of almost that Bradley Chubb move, but like you do want to have picks. That's a nice trade, by the way. Because Chubb didn't exactly like the World Empire in Miami

and now you're going to end up getting... That's saving them. I guess. You're right. It gave him the flexibility. ability to do something like this. But it depends on the results because the Rams don't have first round picks. They haven't used

them at all. They won a Super Bowl. The problem here's the quarterback went south. If you got a premier version of Russell Wilson then added another first to get Sean Payton, no one's complaining about that. I will believe and I don't know how it can be confirmed because people have different agendas. That Peyton would have gone back to the Saints

if they were willing to get rid of Dennis Allen. They chose not to do that. And I think the Saints will say, well, we just got a first round pick and it sounds like maybe a two next year for our coach we did okay in this. Yeah, but Dennis Allenger coach. That is not

okay. I would have taken the Sean Payton route personally. More breaking news. Wow, this really worked out timing-wise for the old Ateaners. Oh, yes, it did. The old Zusser. The Texans have officially signed 49ers defensive coordinator Demico Ryan's to a six-year

contract to become their head coach. Now, what does that mean? don't know the money's guaranteed though for demico ryan so after uh the texans went one and done with each of their last two head coaches levy smith and david cully demico ryan's enters the picture he had been kind of like the the buzzy mark uh sexiest pick here for any team coming off a great season with san francisco and now the texans get their man do you like the higher i know it for the it makes sense the texans feel like they hit a home run here if you're a guy, a fan of Domingo Rions, are you a little nervous about what he's walking into in Houston?

I think it's a good situation. I think, like, Sean Payton, whether we want to believe anything he says or not, described it as a good situation. I think it is because it's been an absolute disaster. The organization is in wreckage mode from a PR angle. D'Miko Ryans comes in as someone that is from the Texans, they can kind of reset the board a little bit and say, all this stuff that just happened, we can forget about it now.

You're months away from selecting the best possible quarterback at number two, which starts things over again and helps you forget about Deshaun Watson and helps you forget about a lot of things, whether they should be given that luxury or not. I like to hire because I think number one, he seems to be an excellent coach who obviously got the most out of his players in San Francisco post-Roberts Sala, which was a challenge, certainly connects with them.

And I think there's a reason to believe that the connection with Houston, I think is good for them. And that said, Cal McNair is now paying, like, three different coaching staffs, an absolute ton of money. It might be four. I think he probably still paying Bill O'Brien even. You're probably right. That starts, I mean, I'm not worried about him. He's a multi-billionaire, but it's just like...

They've made some errors in judgment. Can you trust them to hang with Ryan's if things get tough? I think they know they have to. Now, Nick Casario, their general manager, who's been at the front of these hires, is now on his third. head coach, he would be the next fall guy, I guess, if things don't go well. It's interesting, Ryan's and Casero, kind of from different branches of the NFL universe, Casario coming from the Belichick tree, Ryans, who was with the Texans as a player, and then the Eagles, and now under Shanahan.

So I would assume there's an agreement there that those two guys will work together. And Ryan's was the defensive rookie of the year there. We're getting old because I was doing Rotoworld that season, 2006, and now. he was in the league 10 years and now he's a head coach. He knows the McNair's. He knows them personally. He was as well respected as anyone in that franchise for the time he was there. So I think that's what makes it a great move for him, for the Texans, and made it make sense more than if he didn't have a history there.

But that's the team that drafted him. I mean, that's the team he grew up playing with JJ Watt. And we've heard that his wife. And a lot of people love Houston, by the way. Like, people just, like, players love Houston, great food, great culture. It sounds like his family, like the idea of going back to Houston. I'm just saying if you took a poll of the players in the league,

maybe the coaches too, former players, what city in the United States that has an NFL team would I most want to live in, I think Houston finishes top five. Okay. So I'm saying that's a factor too. I think it is. Get in there. I mean, yeah.

Bye-bye Broncos, too. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Okay, I don't know. This turned into a referendum of whether Houston's a great American city. It is. It's one of the jewels of Texas, Gregi. But the organization where that's representing Houston has not been one that anyone would refer to as a great, stable place for a head coach to go. Times are maybe different.

They have draft picks. It's a new horizon here. I would think, I would guess the way the NFL typically works with head coaches. they're not going to they wouldn't dare I don't think go one and done unless something really crazy happened here he'll probably be on the more typical model for some that inherits a mess which is you get like three years you get and you got to get a team to the playoffs by that third year or they probably are going to take a real long hard look so that's exactly where Houston needs to start they need to start with some stability start with a head coach and a DC previously that has a lot of respect the players are going to be buying in This is, just like with the Broncos, I think it's kind of a best case scenario in terms of getting things organized and kind of resetting what your organization is about. I thought they hit on a couple young players this year, too. So Jalen Petrie and we'll see about Derek Stingley, who was taken ahead of Soss Gardner, which that's something that Texans fans will be mindful of in the coming years. But he was injured, and I think he played okay.

So there's some young talent there, but not a lot on defense. So it's going to be a culture shock for Ryan's who's had this loaded defense. They have cap room. They have a ton of picks. Yep. Man, that is whoever ends up as the DC of the Niners that is becoming now a factory for producing head coach of Sala and now Ryan's. And yes, so there's uncertainty at DC for San Francisco, also at QB after the news of Brock Purdy. And one of the saddest things I really remember seeing on the field in terms of just from a competition and from a storyline standpoint,

Purdy went from waking up that morning as maybe being the biggest story in the sporting world, if he could win another game, to getting hit on the elbow in the sixth play of the series. Turns out it's a complete tear of his UCL in his elbow and then going back into that game after Johnson goes down with a head injury and just handing the ball off when you were supposed to be fighting for the Super Bowl. Such a bummer. But anyway, the reporting is that Purdy has a complete tear of the ulnar collateral ligament. He will reportedly, according to Tom Pelliserio, seek a second opinion on the injury. But Pell Cera reports the hope is he will undergo a repair rather than a total reconstruction,

the famous or the infamous Tommy John surgery. They're hoping six months. They're hoping. Purdy spoke Tuesday morning and said nothing was decided for sure yet. So I think that's the hope, but it's not certain. Nick Mullins is the quarterback that comes to mind that I've read about that. that had this injury most recently in the NFL, the same 49ers, you know, backup at the time.

Of course, it's a 49th quarterback that had to have another injury. And, yeah, I think he was out six months, and again, that was the hope. But it sounds like Purdy's not totally sure that he'll avoid a reconstruction. I mean, it's, he'd still be, in theory, available for camp, no matter what goes on here. And it just clouds what is a cubic company. They always say that this time of year and, like, we'll see.

But I mean, we heard that about Tradavius White. He's also training camp, and then he shows a week 10. Training camp is this massive date that hangs out there, but then all sorts of players show up late to camp and they're totally, like, that we just have to stop overvaluing some of these timelines because in general, if they really wanted him to be their week one quarterback over Trey Lance,

like it's going to be a competition either way. This adds some haze to it, but he knows the offense, he knows Shanahan, he knows all the players on the team, and he'd be ready by week one. Like, I de-emphasize, like, the chaos surrounding Brock Purdy's timeline. Yeah, and I'm just a little bit, I'm looking for clarity because as a baseball fan, if a pitcher gets Tommy John surgery, which Purdy's hoping to avoid that, which is a ligament replacement surgery, a starter is usually out 18 months.

A reliever will maybe miss a year. So maybe it's obviously football is a completely different sport. It's a good thing he's not on the Yankees. Baseball. Well, yeah, dodged a bullet there with Brock Purdy. Football is completely different than basketball. If Brock Purdy misses six months, okay. maybe he is good to go.

But does this open the door for Tom Brady as an option for San Francisco? Trey Lance, who knows what the Trey Lance situation is at this point? Jimmy G, I think, is finally out the door. And now Pertie's a big question mark. And by the way, Purdy wasn't a toolsy player to start with.

And now elbow injury, you wonder how that affects his ability to drive the ball down field, especially year one, out of the surgery like this. I'm not sure I can stomach the Tom Brady to the Niners scenario. I mean, you like...

Oh, you love the Niners too much for that? No, I just think that... You don't want it. I think you have... What would you stomach for Tom Brady? Where would I mind him going? I could stomach almost. Like the Niners thing to me is not attractive.

It would ruin the purity of your Niners' love. I just think that you've got, like, you don't, Trey Lance has had one of the most, like, if you look at like what happened to Carson Wentz in Philadelphia, everyone's making, it's so bad that Nick Foles took over if you're Carson Wentz, like you had your legacy stolen away during an MVP season. Like, Trey Lance has been through this season after season. So if his third year begins with we've taken Tom Brady,

then get Tray Lance out of there and let him play somewhere else. I think if Brady went, Tray Lance would be gone. I assumed going into the conference championship game, it'd be Purdy and Lance. And Lance would probably have a better chance to play than most people give him credit for, and that would just see. And that's sort of a good problem.

We have two young quarterbacks. We like them both for different reasons. We got them. Now that Purdy's hurt, I feel like the Brady chance is higher, for sure. Yeah. And whenever Purdy, you know, does resurface and at what level he's playing, there is this concern, like, what if that was the Brock Purdy story? I hope it's not. I hope he has a lot more in front of him, but it's obviously disappointing for the kid. Yes. I just want to acknowledge quickly that Mark jumped on the Niners bandwagon and immediately disaster struck. Like, the curse of Mark is alive. Honestly, like I largely just ignored Twitter entirely at this point, but when I do log on, I see. these tweets. I have been pro-Shanahan and pro-niners for years. Yeah, that's fair. He liked them all season, I would say. The cults or your team's situation like the Titans, I apologize, but like how has anyone

in your Titans' fandom head this much? It's like no one controls what happened. They created their own misfortune in total darkness. I did not. Your retort, Justin? I have nothing. It's like your team. Didn't even know. I'm glad he apologized. That at least. least that he acknowledges some amount of responsibility there. I don't acknowledge any responsibility at all. It's just like I don't want to just move on with it. Just out of curiosity unrelated to this conversation, who are you picking for the Super Bowl? Well, they asked me today to already make my pick.

And I mean, I don't think I... Like at this point, a showman would not say today. Right, right. I don't want to know. What are you going to say for the preview show next week? I picked one of these teams to make the Super Bowl. Okay. And if, like, if you want to go back and research that, that's where I'm leaning.

Not you, per se, but like someone else that they've seen, if they have a lot of time. I'm leaning there, but I'm not sure. Okay. Not entirely sure yet. It's kind of like a black cat, a ladder. The black cat's going underneath a ladder. A mirror falls off the wall and shatters. Whoever's connected, maybe not the best news.

But we move on. But first, let's take a quick break. without further ado here is the top five cities that players want to play in and this is correct no i'm going to decide if this is true or no here we go number five

Houston so you did crack the top five just barely number four Vegas and by the way a big part of this no income tax those are two states right off the bat no income tax three Los Angeles. It's a great place to live for a pro athlete. Maybe tax is too high.

Keep an eye on that. Build your other brands. Number two. Atlanta. Players want to be in Atlanta. And number one. Another income tax-free haven. And also a great place to live.

Colleen? Colleen? Miami. There it is. Miami. I thought you were going to sneak in New York there at the end. Houston, Vegas, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami. Nashville's got to be above Houston.

No. Also a tax haven't. See, this is where. You're not as close with the players. I factored in as me. I passed on it. Number seven. I think you did a good job there.

No. I don't think. This is it. Houston needs to be top four and then I wouldn't argue. You could shake up those four anyway. LA, Miami, Houston, Atlanta. I don't think Vegas. I think Vegas is a little bit of a niche pick there.

I don't think it gets up top five. This is one of your weirdest, like, stand on the hill and just take arrows no matter what. What takes Vegas' spot? Houston. No, I got Houston. I'm saying top four. What a cop out. You're like, I don't agree with one of your top five, but I won't replace it.

It's now a top four. I would say Houston, to me, might be number one or two, but I don't have a problem with any of the other four. Who should be there instead of Vegas? I just was saying Vegas can't be in the top four. You're saying Flip Houston and Vegas. Maybe New York sneaks in over Vegas. I'm saying, why are we still discussing this? Maybe New York.

I don't know. All right. I think you did a great job. Thank you. Vic Fangio. Guess what? He is back in business. The Dolphins will hire the ex-Broncos coach as defensive coordinator, or will they?

Fangio himself says, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, stop the clocks. That's not necessarily what's going to happen here because there's another team that could be interested in. in Fonjillo. Ian Rappaport was on, who had the NFL network had the original reporting on this, was on Pat McAfee today, I believe, and said, although the Niners are in the mix with the ties to Kyle Shanahan, ultimately this, he thinks this will end with Fongio going to Miami. But as of right now, it remains open. There's the update on Fongio. I mean, Tom Pellisero, the Pell Razor, previously announced that the deal with Miami would be. on Pillraiser.

On that episode, the highest, we're making the highest paid defensive coordinator. So, I mean, I think money might ultimately just do this. Who?

Who would be the highest paid? Fongio to go to Miami. He loves Kyle Shanahan, though. The Niners, you know, their D.C. is out the door. So I think that's where this all shifted. Yeah, they don't have a natural replacement on the roster.

They've done a great job, you know, developing coaches, but they've lost so many now in a short span. Like, Fongio seems so older, seems old, but he's, like, much younger than Bill Belichick and Andy Reid and Carol. I just think of him as this cranky old guy, but we'll use cranky. Yeah.

Sorry, Vic. Well, his name's Vic. You know, he's old. What a great higher. He's old school. If you're, if you're, how many Vicks are out there actively now? Hey, Vic. No, I mean, they were as previously, they were Victor's.

How many victors are out there? I'm even fewer. Yeah. Where is Vic Beasley? Is he still in the NFL? I don't know. In other news, Kellan Moore, out.

You know, this is not, you know, in fantasy sports, when you drop a guy from your roster and you kind of wrestle with it, you're like, a bit of a crunch, or I don't really want to do this,

but I think I should do this in my mind. It makes, it's in the best interests of my team. And then right away, somebody else picks up that player and you're like, probably shouldn't have done that. Kellan Moore, fired by the Cowboys.

He's the fall guy after Dallas falls short again. I guess you can't fire Dak Prescott, so you've got to fire somebody. So get rid of the O.C. It's his fault. Their season once again ended short of the NFC title game. And almost immediately you blink. And Kellan Moore is hired by the Los Angeles Chargers.

And the one other kind of note to the story, Mark, not only is more out of Dallas, and immediately in LA upgrading that situation for the Chargers. It is Zaddy himself. Mike McCarthy, who is taking over

play calling duties for the Cowboys cue the laughter and the snickering from the cognizante. I don't think we need to laugh at Mike McCarthy calling plays,

but I do think a layer is removed from... There it is. Listen to Twitter. I guess they are laughing. I mean, you, have fewer and fewer guys to blame.

Dan Quinn's defense wasn't. Dan Quinn's sticking around, by the way, because I think Dan Quinn's thinking, if things go south here, I've been nothing but to hear. I'll be Dan Quinn, the head coach, by November. Because the next fall guy is Mike McCarthy. I think the fact that Moore was hired immediately to go pair with Justin Herbert, which I like, tells me all I need to know.

This doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I know their offense was a little up and down this season, but they were top five over the past four years. under Moore and EPA. I mean, they've been a highly productive offense. Have we pointed to it? I think it's two seasons in a row where you were undone by the Niners, and it's been a bad look, a bad exit two times.

Who was asking for Kellynne Moore to be fired 10 days ago after they thrashed the Buccaneers and Dak Prescott looked like the best quarterback around? Nobody. It's just totally reactive. And I just, there were whispers. Albert Brewer told Dan Patrick that Moore and McCarthy were not necessarily getting along very well at the end.

And so maybe it just the relationship broke down. Right. They probably have different philosophies. Moore was there a long time. I mean, Moore was DAC's former teammate. So you could almost understand a little bit of a power struggle there that, like, Moore is getting what his offense wants to be done. I, as a Justin Herbert, you know, fan, I didn't know how to feel about this

because people are all over the place with Moore. I mean, they did really struggle down the stretch last year. And they do a lot of stuff, but did they have an identity? But some people think it's McCarthy and Moore clashing, that it wasn't one guy's system. So maybe better to have a divorce. McCarthy made this move quite a few times in Green Bay. It was like he would call plays and then he would back off.

And he would call plays and he would back off depending on what was happening. So I think it's McCarthy thinking if I'm going to go down, I'm going to do it my way. That's the Zaddy move. There you go. Classic Zaddy move. And finally in the news. Until Zaddy doesn't have a job. Wait, I do have enough.

Wait, Mark was talking over Mark there. This has become utterly unruly. I don't seem as a Zaddy on any level. Finally in the news The NFL salary gap will continue to climb in 2023 Rapsheet in the Pell Razor

this week on Pell Razor Does he know that That's his nickname That's a great nickname I don't know I don't even really talk to Tom I gotta be honest with you Yeah

He doesn't seem to know We've heard nothing Have you how many conversations You've had with Pell Razor? I believe one Greg I mean a handful Not many

I used to know Tom a little bit when he was at USA Today Right about that I don't know, is that PFT. You were very close with them. No, but I spoke with him. The Pell Reeser reported with Ian that the league informed teams Monday that the salary cap in 2020 will be a record 224.8.8 million per club.

That's a 16.6 million leap for each club from the 208.2 million cap hit of 2022. This connects to new media deals, the addition of 17th game and other increased profits. And it's continued to go up that way and continue an up. upward climb. I'm wondering if, like, for instance, Greg, real quick here, like, what is the percentage of teams that didn't meet the salary cap and spent under the salary cap in 2022? Well, everyone.

That set, well, sat well, sat well under it. Like, he could have made moves, but chose to maybe leave a little bit of bubble. A good percentage of the league, yeah, didn't get that close to it. Right. More than 10 teams, I would say. My question is, as the salary cap continues to. escalate are we going to start to see something akin to MLB where certain owners are going to start making business decisions and they stay far away from the cap which is high enough now where you

could field a halfway competitive team and pockets of money while you're at it I worry about that as a one and I know the union is going to fight to make sure that doesn't happen that but they ultimately the owners are the ones signing the checks I wonder at what point you start to see that become a part of the There is a floor. You have to spend, I forget what the rule of it. It's like cash spending, 90% of it over a three-year period in aggregate. So there have been teams that have had to like spend at the last second to make sure that you get over that floor. But it's something like 90% of the cap.

So you can't. Right. I wonder we're going to see more and more of that from a handful of owners. Because there's so much cap space now. It's gotten up so much. It's $16 million this year raise. And it's like $30 over the last three. And there's no good players.

It's harder to find good players in free agency to spend it on and in the draft than it is to spend that money. So it does open it up for that trade tsunami. I think that is where it's getting a little more NBA-like because there's so much cap space. It's the only way you can get good new players is with trades. That's great for like the off-season. I mean, that creates massive storylines and probabilities and possibilities and possibilities. I do have an update though for you on the top five cities that players want to live in. Well, the fine update.

It's not going to change my list. Las Vegas is out as number five. I overlooked one town that we just talked about, which has officially entered the list at number five. Justin, here we go. So even this doesn't sound as good. It's Dallas. Dallas is the fifth.

Dallas is fine. Dallas is the fifth city. Dallas is better than Houston. Where are you from? I'm from Dallas. I think the players prefer Houston. We're, Greg. Sorry, but like you suddenly are acting as this insider that's spoken to.

would need to be a majority of NFL players to even have an opinion on this. I just have a good feel. I don't know the last time you spoke to an NFL player, though. MJD in the film room. I was there. Someone that's not living in Los Angeles for a job here. I just have a good feel of the league, you know.

Okay. Let's take a break. That's a f***. Utter farce. Welcome back. Our guest is a long-time favorite of ATN. But let's be honest, he's kind of everybody's favorite. And that's a credit to the man, the myth, the legend.

And also, we're very lucky to have him because he's always in hot demand. He is Brian Baldinger, also known as Baldi. What's up, buddy? Well, hello, guys. How are you? How's everything going? We're good. Can you settle something here?

I like to look today, Baldi. You look straight out of like an 80s action movie. Yeah, well, I mean, I did NFL now, and it was just time to put the stuff away. Now I'm ready to drive. Right. I'm thinking of like... Baldi's like an action figure who has like seven or eight kind of scenarios. I like that.

I'm thinking like Predator with Schwarzenegger, you being like one of his dudes with like Jesse the body of Ventura. I get the vibe. I like both those guys. Yeah, hyper-masculine. Um, we were just talking, uh, earlier in the show, Baldi, and you were a long time NFL player. I think you played how many years? A dozen years? It was a lot of years. Yeah. And that was like another lifetime ago. So I, you know, I might, I understand, but you're, you're plugged in as hell, baldy. And we're just curious, like, what are the top like five NFL

cities that players want to play and live in? And I threw out a list that included Houston. And I factored in things like in state income tax and the, the, the, culture of the city and all that. Houston, Vegas, L.A., Atlanta, Miami as my top five in descending order. How does that list look to you and what I miss and what are you thinking? Where are you?

I'm just looking out at Fort Lauderdale Beach right now. And I'm saying, like, how could it get any better than this? I think that's number one. I think that's number one. I mean, I literally could probably throw a baseball to Nick Bosa's house from here. You know,

right down the road. You can go to Fort Laudette. Waterdaleport, any day in the week in the offseason, and you're going to see players, they're all coming here. And there is no state income tax. And the sunshine is about as bright as it gets right now. So if you want to train, you want to probably, but I also have a philosophy. I don't know if I should share it with you guys or not.

Please, please do it. You've already decided. All right. Like Mike McDaniel doesn't want to hear this. But I don't think the dolphins will ever win a championship ever. Yeah, because life is just too good in South Florida. Right. I remember Miami.

One night I was at the Hard Rock Casino, right? And it's late. We're playing Blackjack. And there's two prominent starters on the Miami Dolphins on a Monday night at 4 a.m. with a drink in her hand. And I'm like, look, I don't blame them. I'd be doing the same thing if I was player. But I don't know if that's what Andy Reid wants when he gets his team,

you know, trying to get his team ready, you know, to play on Sunday. because, well, let's face it, there's no place open at 4 in the morning in Kansas City. So, you know, I mean, like, I just think the temptations and the lifestyle, it's too good to actually think about winning championships here. And you started your career with the Cowboys, Greg. It's the same problem. Yeah, Greg said that deserves to be in the top five. I put Dallas in the top five. I like Dan's top five.

I just replaced Vegas with Dallas and then it was good. Well, here is the argument. Like, Greg made a huge case for Houston being not only top five, but number one. It's a top three, top three. Miami, I think, would be one. I think Miami's one. Is Houston top three? Like, I still have a farm in Texas.

You can't put Houston in the top five. And I'm not down on Houston. Oh, no. Like, you know, like, whoever planned Houston, like, they had ADD the whole time. I mean, you know, there's three different towns. It's changed, though. Oh, wait, Greg is telling you it's changed. I'm connected more with the younger generation, Baldi.

And it's a different city. A lot of nightclub. James Harden types of clubs that he likes. Drag hasn't talked to an NFL player since 1998, if he even did that. Well, you know, look, Jalen Hurdle might have a different opinion about Houston and somebody that doesn't come from that city, which is fine. I know this. It's still the number one recruited city in America for high school football.

So if you want to find your talent for major colleges, just go to Houston. They're in every single corner in crevice, you know, from Katie all the way out to where, you know jalen played for his dad so and everywhere in between yeah and you know a lot of guys want to go back home when they're uh college days are through and anyway that's why i made by top five but we're not at greg's level in terms of breaking these things down absolutely not um baldie let's talk a little bit like let's dive in the trenches here i know this has to be a matchup you love um i want to start with the eagles let's start here just because uh you know we think about what are the one of the best defenses of this century and of course you start with the ravens in 2000

you talk about the legion of doom boom excuse me that that obviously that big seattle defense that won a title nearly one another does philadelphia is there a chance they crack this conversation or at least can be seen in that group if they dominate kansas city with what they've been able to do especially up front yeah yeah i mean can't cities is in one offense football uh you know they got some legendary coaches in the other side, Andy Reid, Eric Vanamy, you know, can game playing with the best of them. They got the best quarterback in the league. You know, if they get to Patch Mahomes and they just, you know, chase them around the yard the way Tampa did a few years ago, and they end up with, say, five more sacks, which might

be possible. You know, you're in the 80s for sacks in a season. And then if you add the interceptions and, you know, what they're doing in the postseason right now to Daniel Jones and to what they did to San Francisco, I mean, I think you'd be foolish not to start talking about this is one of the all-time great defenses. And look, I played in Philly with Reggie White and Clyde Simmons and Seth Joyner. And I know what great defense looks like when Buddy Ryan was coached those teams. And this looks a lot like what Philadelphia put on the field a lot of weekends back then.

Where do you think the matchup is where they can get pressure? Because the chiefs are so good in the interior. Maybe you tell me, like, is that the best center and guard combination in the league between Creed Humphrey and Trace Smith and Tune? They're good. They're good, Greg. I think, you know, look, I'm a big fan of Zeus. Like, I'll say this about Atlanta Brown Jr. Like, he's so big that it's like, you know, it's like trying to run around the sun to get to the quarterback.

You know, and then you can't really run through them, but you can get pressure off the edge from Atlanta. Like he's not the best athlete out there playing in that position. I think you do it against Wiley. I think off the edges, you could definitely get pressure on Patrick Mahomes. Now, you know, the great thing about great, well, the thing about great quarterbacks is they know how to escape edge pressure. They just do. They feel it. They got a GPS system in their head.

But they can't, they have a hard time if Javon Hardgrave or Fletcher Cox or somebody like that is coming right up the middle at you. And that's where I think this defense gets really good because, you know, you know, You know, the guys I'm talking about inside, and they'll play Brandon Graham in there. They lined up Hassan Reddick in there a little bit last Sunday. Their ability to get pressure up the middle is probably the best in the league right now. I mean, so we're going to spend the next two weeks. Andy Reid, obviously, offensive wizard, whatever Philly throws at him.

We know he's going to come in with a bag of tricks. Andy Reid deserves to be coronated at this point if they win this game for what he is. But it's almost like Nick Siriani's, the biggest headline he ever generated, was his opening press conference, which I think is a kind of a tell on everyone at this point where it's like, we're going to destroy the guy before he does and everything. We don't know who he is. But I still feel like we don't really know that much about Nick Siriani.

I know you're close to the team. What have you observed that makes him effective with the players that makes him special that makes him a factor in the Super Bowl as a head coach? Well, I mean, if you looked at the coach on the other side last Sunday, I've seen Kyle Shanahan smile all year. like you know and so like there's you know and that's not a knock on Kyle maybe there's stress in that job that you know we don't see I mean I think it's a great job but Nick Sirianni's that guy's having a ball he's got his kids up in the podium after the thing like his ability

just to just watch him in practice just mingle with the players shoot the to breeze with them whether it's in the stretch line in the in the weight room after practice you name the guy just knows how to like really build one-on-one relationships he's special like that and he's having a ball now it helps that they won 16 games you know it's not like the eagles two years ago they're 4 11 and 1 and it was just misery in philadelphia but you know the guys having a good time and i like that about nick because i used to say this all the time with coaches they'd walk around with their butt like this tight all week long and then their pregame speeches let's go have some fun well i don't think it works that way

I think you've got to, like, mirror what you want your players to do. And so he basically empowers his team to pay, this is your team. I'm empowering you. But look, these are the fundamentals of the game. We're going to harp on the fundamentals every single day so that they're sharpened tools when you get to Sunday. So we're not going to let anything slide, but we're going to have some fun along the way doing it. And I feel like that's kind of how this team is built. Is like they're having a good time working really hard.

they got great team chemistry he helps build that chemistry they're getting all their work done they're prepared like the nuance to the game you know that um all of the the stuff that you got to know in the moment like they're ready fourth down and one you name it they got to play ready but you know it looks like they're having a good time along the way yeah and you and i'm sure you played out under you know all types of coaches in terms of how they were designated or how they were described that is a kind of a needle to thread though right when it comes to the guy that's the good good guy smiling coach it's having a fun time without getting walked over ultimately when things go sideways so what he's been able to pull off here that that's not so easy is it well it isn't but that's why you need a good staff i mean nobody's walking over jeff stout you know like when it was when it was covid and you know everybody was doing these meetings on zoom i was just like in lane johnson's house listening to Stout. And I see the terror on these players' faces, like after games.

And, like, they would be, like, having a competition. Like, who's going to get chewed out the most? Because it's coming, you know, for missing that assignment on third down or missing a protection or whatever. Like, nobody walks over Stout. And, you know, even a guy like Lane Johnson who's been in the league 10 years, like the ultimate respect right there, you know, with Kelsey and Lane and how to do things. And so Malada had to learn it, you know, and Sal Malah had to learn it.

And Dickerson is finding it out. You know, and so I think it's important, like if you're talking about, okay, a coach that has to needle that thread, which is a really good analogy, you have to have your guys in place that are really good assisting coaches that can do a lot of, you know, that have to do all the work for you. Wait, what's going on at Lane Johnson's house? Yeah, you can't just sneak that in there. What's going? Are you guys playing, like, Xbox or Switch? You know, he's got a barn in his backyard. You know, they've been to this, like, you know, this gym, this weight room.

And we call it the barn. And everybody wants to work out there. Like, the Eagles have a good facility at NovaCare. But you're not having as much fun as you are at Lane's house. At the barn. You know, and his girlfriend and his, you know, his chef and his trainer, they're all there. They're welcoming. You know, you just got to find a little spot in the driveway to park the car.

But, you know, I mean, every day. you don't know who's going to be there working out or training. It could be an MMA fighter. It could be a college kid. It could be a guy from another team. You know, it's like, you know, it's the ultimate, like, fraternity over there. I think I might take Baldi's top five cities over Gregg's at this point. I love, I love it.

When you're turning on the Eagles tape now, like, which lineman, is it Lane Johnson that you like watching the most? I almost feel like him playing through this torn adductor muscle, which he's, So he retort has been weirdly under the radar. You know, he's obviously one of their very best players. Like, what gets he excited watching this team? Well, I mean, that injury, like when he had the injury, like the doctor that everybody in the world goes to is Dr. William Myers in Philadelphia. And when I was at Duke, Bill Myers was at Duke. He was Bill that now he's William's a big shot.

Of course. But he was our doctor at Duke when I was there. I don't know, like he's done two of those core muscle surgeries for me. So when Lane had his injury, like I talked. talk to him about it and I said there's no way he can play like if they want you to play you can rest rehab and all this but like as soon as you make an explosive move playing like you're just going to drop and the guy's played almost every snap like it's been unbelievable now he's in his house right now hooked up with a bunch of wires doing the guy never stops doing

treatment but it's been amazing watching him but I also I love salmalo um because nobody ever says a word about Isaac he's probably the smartest guy on the whole team he can play every position he's played four different positions in a game never says a word like he's so he's played every snap this year so steady um dickerson you can't have any more fun than landa dickerson's having in life period like the guy the guy's mind is just it's just out there what he's thinking about what he's texting players at two in a morning about have any examples you know like he's thinking about like how he could build a barn better than lanes at two of them That's great.

Barn envy. I'm thinking about that. Barne competition. Why is that important? Landon, like, you know, like, you can get into some conversation about him, about anything. You know, you know, when you talk about Jordan Malada, like, I didn't put a helmet on until five years ago. And now, like, he's throwing Nick Bose around on the field. Like, you're not supposed to be able to do that stuff.

He's got six toes. Like, who has six toes? You know, he's got wet feet. Like, he's not even human. He's like, you know, he's an amphibian. You know, like the league office know that? Should that be something that should be put up the... You should photograph his tub, man.

Like, you know, we make fun of his toes. It's a performance enhancer. It's a performance enhancer for us. Like, I don't know how you find a shoe to fit in his toes. Like, he doesn't make it. You know, like, you've got to have, like, you know, it's like you've got to have a fin, like a giant fin out there. Like, that's why he warms up barefoot every week, you know,

because he doesn't really have shoes that fit. Amazing. Baldi delivers. in a big spot. These two teams, you've anything throughout these playoff runs that you've learned about them that kind of, I know you're a tape dog above almost all.

So you were watching all these games throughout the regular season. Did you learn anything new about the Chiefs or the Eagles throughout the playoff run? I don't know how many teams could do what the Chiefs just did. They lost their best corner,

Ligerius Sneed, on the fourth play. All right, he's out there against, you know, Jemar Chase. All right, we got a guy that can match up with Chase. All right. they lose one of the fourth play so there's Joshua Williams you know there's Jalen Watson

there's Brian Cook you know there's you know Trent McDuffie you got four rookies playing in the secondary four like and they're not breaking down and you're oh by the way you're going up against Joe Burrell and you're going up against maybe the best fleet of receivers in a league and you know

they take them all the way twice and it's a difference in a game like I've blown away by it because like I thought pregame just going in and you know a week ago at this time going on Bengals are going after these guys. You know, Jaylon Watson interception against, you know, Trevor Lawrence, okay, here's the test.

Like, they're going to wear him out. They didn't. You know, Spaggs had a good game plan, doubled him when it was appropriate. They didn't break down in the back end, because let's face it, if you break down on the back end of the defense, either by structure, like blown a call or missing tackles, you're going to give up explosive plays. You're going to get beat. And they didn't do that the whole game.

Like, I was amazed that Cincinnati couldn't take advantage of four rookies. playing in the secondary like that. You know, before we get out of here, there is a play in history that involved you, Baldi, and I'd love to see something like this in the Super Bowl, because we all love when an offensive alignment does something we're not

expecting. You go back to 1988, you blocked for Eric Dickerson that year at nearly 1,700 yards, but check out this pass to Baldy, a tackle eligible. What is going on here? Look at how we runs. Beast. Beast. Yeah, like, I get blown up there. Yeah, it's open for that.

I'm caught by, by the way, I just want to just clarify here. The guy that tackling me is the fastest player in the Packers. I just want you to know that. It wasn't like some slow linemen catch me. It was the fastest guy on the team. He caught up quickly, yes. Who's the quarterback there? When we had a lead in the fourth quarter, we went to the wishbone.

And I would go from right guard to the tight end spot to block the edge on these runs. We had Albert Bentley, Eric Dickerson. We had a loaded backfield. And we brought in this quarterback that ran a wishbone. So I told the coach Ron Meyer, I said, look, Ron, I'll do that. I'll make this switch for you. But you got to put a pass play in for me. We got to keep monies.

Like, I'm not going to just block. Like, I need a real pass. So he goes, all right. So we worked in his pass, you know, a little play action thing, block and, you know, hesitate and they go out. So they called it. They called the end zone there, you know, at Lambeau Field. And, you know, I'm proud to say that I led to the league in yards per catch that year with

37 yards of catch. Dang. I'm looking at your pro football reference. It was the only catch of your career. Were you ever targeted again? Well, I was targeted again, and this is where Mike Singletary comes in. I beat Singletary in the end zone against Chicago that year. They were the best, they were one of the best defensive football.

But, like, Singletary had to interfere with me in order to stop me from catching a ball. Oh, you should have got a yardage for that. No, that guy, you know, that Singletary guy, man. He ruined the chance for you to catch. Hack. Baldi, always a pleasure, sir. Thank you. You're going to be in Phoenix, I assume, next week.

Yeah, I'm going to head there for a little bit. All right. Maybe we'll... Not too many working assignments, mostly you'll have some fun. Can we just be in like your entourage, perhaps, for a night out just to see what's going on? You better... You can. Yes, you can't.

Notice how you hesitated. It was more telling to me. The entourage is... I mean, even I'm amazed at what's coming with me. meet to this one party. Like, I'm amazed. Again, you can't tease these things. Who's coming? Who's coming? It's in the entourage.

You know, it's nobody from Hollywood. But I'm just saying when these three girls show up at this party with me, like, like, it's, it's going to stop. It's going to stop the party. Wow. It's a strong group. He's going to deliver, too. That's Baldi and I'm picking up.

Yeah, somehow adding the three of us to the mix doesn't feel quite as, uh, baldi doesn't want his chair. Appetizing. Baldi could show up as he is right now in a workout long-sleeved tea and a bandana or a tuxedo. Either one equally possible and he'll just crush no matter what. I can't wait to. I hope we run into it. Baldi, we love you, buddy.

All right. Thanks, Baldi. There you go. Take care, guys. Bye. What a legend. It's so clear that wherever he's going in the evening does not in his mind include us. He is, you know, and he is, let's see, Baldi.

Baldi was born in 1960 he's 63 years old and I feel like no he's not yeah I feel like as a man 20 some odd years is junior um that's best case scenario like what could you be if you were born in 1960 what is the best version of a man baldie yeah is that my coming on too strong I think he's created his own life and lifestyle though I think he's done it in a wake like downstairs in the They have our names on lockers and it's very tall our full names. It just says Baldi's bio. Like it just, we all know he's operating a little differently. All right.

That was good too. That was interesting to hear Baldi's take on it. And I do, it is. He had like 15 valuable nugs there. Always, always. And it is interesting when you look at like, oh, the great defenses. Am I missing one in the, in these past 20 plus years? Obviously Ravens.

Seattle, do you want to say maybe the Denver defense? I think that second Super Bowl I mean I think you have to say pass rush yes defense you know part of it is just the opponents they've played like their numbers defensively aren't quite as overwhelming because in theory you can run on them

they haven't played a lot of high-powered ones but now they get the ultimate test this is it's great it's going to be I think I'll watch the game is what I'm trying to say one more I miss this note but we are very plugged in obviously on the pro bowl and they made a big addition to the pro ball roster you guys aware of

this yeah um Tyler Huntley he threw two touchdowns this year he's been added to the pro bowl roster and he's a fourth alternate he replaces Josh Allen I just want to say like again nobody asks us anything um we can help like we can help the direction we want the pro bowl to be successful in this new iteration we didn't have to fill that spot. We could have just kept it vacant and pivoted off that because I don't think it helps Huntley or the Pro Bowl itself ultimately.

No, it becomes a talking point where it stands out and we are used to Pro Bowl alternates all over the map. Mahomes, Super Bowl bound, so he's not going. Alan, Herbert, Lamar Jackson, and Tua all bowed out due to injury-related. Burrow just was like, I don't want to go.

And Burrow doesn't want to go. So the only, like, I was like, then I was like, There's still got to be a bunch more than Huntley, but it's Derek Carr, and the Raiders put out a bizarre tweet celebrating with an exclamation. No, no, no, no, no. You don't do that. The next guy's Trevor Lawrence. That makes sense. But then if you go beyond the list, I would argue that they should.

I would have said this, like, Ryan Tannahill, who absolutely, if he wanted to go, like, would be my next guy. Can he pick it after that? I put Jacobi percent over it. I had Jacoby percent over, Huntley. Absolutely. This made news even when it first came up that he was the first. fourth alternate because that was public information. People were like, how could that be?

And it's the players vote. Like you can mix up the different votes. So there was enough people. Maybe they were just Ravens players. Maybe they went to college with him or friends with him or whatever. Enough people put him on the initial list that he should be a starter. Because it's not like people are voting for alterters.

Just for, like, I think he was behind Lamar, but it was like, Lamar was third alternate and Tyler Huntley was fourth for some reason. I don't know. Maybe the Ravens just voted a lot. But yeah, it's a little It's a little traveling. I think it's a player vote, like, tip this. It's not the fan vote.

I mean, it doesn't matter, but it also is why. It's also not a football game, so it's a little less octaney in terms of seeing Huntley out there. I guess they need someone for the flag football game and for like the target practice stuff. Just pivot. Panic pivot, like the Empire State Building. Right, you can't put that on his pro football reference page,

can you? But you will. I guess they will. Well, the first thing came to my mind is that, you know, the agent can use that as a, you know, a bargaining tool. Is there any escalators in his contracts? I don't know. Probably not, but.

I'm sure we'll convince a team to double or triple his pay. Yeah, you point that out, and then I'm the team. I'd be like, but he did go throw two touchdown. You are aware of that. And, you know, I thought that was good, Baldi also sharing underlying. People should know that Fort Lauderdale, especially people that aren't from this country, is about 30 miles away from my.

Miami. So that's where Baldy is. Miami, a clear number one. That's where spring break is, too. If you're involved in that. Miami. And Greg, just, I understand the Houston thing. Yeah. It's not like certain legendary cuisine. Totally understand because you're not as in with the players as myself. Right. But I think you think that you're factoring in things that I haven't with my list. Legendary cuisine, it's a hip-hop mecca. Culturally, it makes sense. Now, unless what am I missing something else?

why Houston would be higher on the list. No taxes. Said that too, yeah. Good housing, like housing relatively, yeah. Gentlemen's clubs, there's lots of stuff. Well, they're everywhere. I file that under culture. We have Atlanta on the list.

Atlanta is... We have Miami on the list. Atlanta's number two. Vegas on the list. Nightlife. Anyway, good stuff. Anything else? I will tell you something that came up during that interview.

Yes. I was born with two webbed little toes, to be honest. And I had surgery to remove that. Well, breaking news. I've never heard. I mean, I know it's not that uncommon, but to have an NFL player with that same situation, I enjoy that.

And you had a surgery to reverse the toe. Yeah, I mean, early on, because I remember being, I mean, I don't know why I'm saying this here, but when I was young and I'd be on the swim team or at the pool, like, it's like, well, I realized that my little toes looked different. They were almost, like, double the size. It was like a bone situation And so I had a surgery to remove it

Were you like an incredible swimmer at that time? It did not help my swim. I was an all right swim team member But like if we're talking freestyle Then you get into butterfly and stuff It's like get out of here But I don't think it helped me I think it's something that a lot of people

Are born with. I don't think there's anything Greg thinks it's something shameful I don't think so at all Thank you Dan And if you kept it the way you were You would have been just as beautiful to me, Mark. I appreciate that and I don't not believe you

But I'm glad that I... But you were probably a better swimmer before. Yeah, that's probably true. Maybe it helped Milata his footwork somehow. That's why I said maybe you've got to send it up the flagpole with the league office. Yeah, well, he's had an interesting, like a pretty intriguing rise from nowhere. Right, almost he's suspiciously great. Yeah.

He's from the International Pathway program. Yeah. Henry Hodgson. I mean, we're not saying that's suspicious. It might be the incredible size in athleticism that virtually unmatched in the NFL. But he has six toes. There's an X factor. on each foot.

Yeah. Would you take a sixth toe to be one of the great tackles of the sport? Give me it. Give me a digit. 100%. Right. I mean, I'd take a sixth toe for a lot less than that. How about like a nice dinner?

Oh, good steak. I don't think you would. Thursday show, by the way, will be the iconic don't say Super Bowl show where you will be penalized. We'll figure out some ground rules on this. If you even say the words, Super Bowl. You can say Super and bowl, but not. You can't put them together. And if you do, you're penalized.

We will not talk the big game on Thursday. Now we've got to figure out what we're going to talk about. There's the challenge. You think this is an easy job? All right. It's pretty easy. We're very lucky. But we will give you a great show on Thursday.

Or we'll try to. Until then. Heath the car. Thank you. This is an IHeart podcast.