NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Bunkercast XX: Steve Wyche

Episode Date: April 8, 2020

A bunker filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Chris Wesseling, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal are joined by Steve Wyche to cover the news around the nfl. A few new teams released new uniforms and they're not all that bad. Plus, Steve sat down with Tua Tagvailoa and thinks he'd make a good fit with the Chargers.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, big news that we're excited to share with you on Friday. We are launching the Around the NFL Twitter show. It's a live program that you could catch at 1 p.m. Pacific, 4 p.m. Eastern, 9 p.m. over in the U.K., so you got a little lunch hour in the West Coast, on the East Coast, a happy hour, and, yeah, some cocktails late at night over in the UK. We're excited for you to check it out. This pandemic's been great for, you know, connecting with people. around you. How about connect with us?

You know, get on your phone. Send us questions. You spend enough time with your family. It's just nothing short of an internet, a tornado coming at you, and why would you want to miss that? You'd want to be witnessing that. Well, it's going to be more visual, and that's not to say you can see us,

but there's going to be memes, social, video, you can tell us which guests you want on. I mean, it's going to be interactive. Sounds fun. It's the only way to see or hear from us on Friday will be our only show. check it out. The Around the NFL Twitter show, 1 p.m. Pacific, 4 p.m. Eastern, 9 p.m. in the UK. Can't wait. Now, let's get to the show. The Around the NFL podcast.

Washes their webs. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I'm coming to you from a city filled with heroes in bunkers. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What is up, boys? Hey, Dan. And it's a fun week. A lot of guests this week, because that's not all. He's a reporter, analyst, host for NFL.

He's a Howard University graduate. He always keeps it real and do not disrespect his dojo. Steve Weish, welcome back to the Around the NFL podcast. Father, there's nothing like reading the Twitter bio page to bring me in. If I knew you, don't disrespect my dojo. I was like, my God. Is that a Napoleon Dynamite reference? Kind of sort of.

You know, I think it was one of those things where, You know, so many people come hard at me on Twitter sometimes. I make them think it's like martial arts. So if they do confront me that, you know, they're going to have some hands and feet coming along. Hey, but before we get started, you know, I said to here in my living room, but I told my wife, Deanne, who most of you have met, usually over an excessive bottle of she had or wine. Yep. She's like, oh, you're doing it with Dan with the good hair?

Oh, no. That's it. That's right. He's our Becky. I'm the Becky with the good hair. of NFL media. She's a wonderful woman. In fact, I hope to see her again.

We got to see her last spring, but with the situation as it is, I never, you know, when are we going to see Sweet Day? Right. Hopefully, Miss D, maybe she'll crash the party. Maybe she'll come in and have a little fun right here, but, well, I'll get together soon. I've got to have you guys over at the house. It's kind of in the middle of a tear down right now. We're in the middle of getting things done when the pandemic struck.

So I'm navigating that with my three sons. and brother-in-law, there's a whole lot of grown men and my poor little wife here. So she is a champ. Steve Weish's life goals for many reasons, but one of them being the extensive and impressive house that he purchased in the Los Angeles area. So we hope to get to that point. Okay. It was, hey, Greg, you know what?

It was all done because I purchased other homes before. Okay. Extensive and impressive. I love renting. That's my preference is to rent a home that square footage compared to the rent makes your eyeballs fall out. I like it that way. By the way, Steve, you are, last time you were on the show, sneaky great bod Hall of Fame, Steve Weish, keeps it tight, keeps it right, great arms, you know, and what are you doing during this to stay in shape? A lot of people are facing that challenge right now that, you know, depended on the gym to get your excellent.

exercise and now you're trapped in your home. Yeah, you know, it's crazy, you know, I, in my backyard, like I said, my three sons are here. So we've actually set up like a circuit training, but we're back to kind of the prison yard workout, man. I mean, we got, you know, we've got the pushup, the pushup station, the sit-up station. You know, we've got a couple barbells. We got, you know, little curls and shoulderwork going on and kind of a boxing station. So, you know, we change it up. We change it up. We change it up from time to time.

We got a stationary bike that we get in there. So we change it up. So is this like Rocky training in the Russian wilderness ahead of the Drago fight? Throwing railroad ties around. No, I think this is more like Curtis training in San Quentin. It's more like that. We're keeping it tight, man. All right, good.

Keep it tight. Keep it right. Steve's on the show. We're going to spin through some news. You have some interesting insight on the great Tua. Last name pronounced how? Greg? Pongo Vialoa. I mean, come on. At this point, we've had him on the show. We've talked about him daily for two months. What are we waiting for? Well, we've called him toa exclusively. Other than you, we said we've had him on the show. We haven't actually had him on the show. If we had him on the show, I would be able to study and learn the name. Right now, I'm still just going with Cliff. Cliff's notes, Tua.

You got Weish here for your Pacific Islander news. I mean, this guy is steeped in the culture. I know. And Steve is super plugged in the Tua situation. We had a really good conversation yesterday about Tua with Peter Schrager, who gave us a little bit of insight into his, you know, just how much of a coveted prospect he is in the top of the first round. So I want to get to that with you, Steve, a little bit later. But why don't we begin things by catching up on the news. Hit it, Ricky. I have a tremendous faith in my Lord. And one thing about Tom Brady is I is understood that he is the goat, for you to get replaced by Tom Brady in a city that you love so much. I guess that's kudos to me.

That's the first I heard that. That's great. That's one of my favorite lines of the offseason. James Winston on Fox. And good for him. James is, he's starting up some type of hotline for people to learn more and get information of the need regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. but he was asked by the talking head, what's it like?

You know, you're out of work right now, and Tom took your job. He said, it's kudos to him that Tom Brady took his job. I don't know what that means, but I do. I feel bad for the guy. I mean, he certainly is in a difficult spot right now, as we all know, as a football player. But I imagine he's getting asked this all the time about Tom Brady and about what's going on. Are you going to get a job? This guy threw for 5,000 yards last year, and he's out on the street as we approach

mid-April. Well, they're linked together historically forever now if we consider football history, something that will go on forever. I mean, he's always the guy that Tom Brady unseated. But I think there's a good argument. I don't know if it's kudos to him that they would have moved on anyways for someone else. It's not just simply a Tom Brady replaced me thing. It's you kind of lost your job based on the inability to keep the ball out of the other

team's hands. Oh, I see what that means. So he's saying the only way, what would it, what would it, What would it take for me to lose my gig? Tom Brady had to be involved. It's a positive attitude. And James Winston, if nothing else, always seems to see the sunny side of things when it comes to James Winston. It's like Tom Brady's ex is thinking, well, I guess, you know, if we're going to get displaced, it's by Giselle.

You know, if you're going to get, you're going to lose your job. Cudos to them. That's a good girl. Pretty good. All right. Speaking of Tom Brady, we talked about this last week, he agreed to sit down or, you do a phoner with Howard Stern on the Howard Stern show that went down this morning. It was about a two-hour, wide-ranging interview with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Quarterback, a lot of kind of interesting tidbits came out of it. Maybe no bombshells, but clearly Brady, who did this interview, I guess, it's a bit of a statement. I am no longer connected to the Patriot Way. I'm going to just talk about it. He dropped some salty language. He was pretty honest in several of his answers. even Donald Trump came up, and he spoke rather candidly, I thought, about his relationship with Trump. But one thing, and I want to play this clip, one of my favorite kind of all-time NFL questions is chicken or the egg,

what made the Patriots dynasty? Is it Tom Brady, Bill Belichick? Who's truly the hero here? And Stern asked him about that. Let's listen to. I think it's a pretty shi-argument, actually, that people would say that because again, I can't do his job and he can't do mine.

Right. So the fact that you could say would I be successful without him the same level of success, I don't believe I would have been. But I feel the same and vice versa as well. To have him

allowed me to be the best I could be. So I'm grateful for that. And I very much believe that he feels the same about me because we've expressed that to each other. And then Stern doubled down and said, but don't you think that it's messed up that you're not retiring a patriot? Do you hold that against Belichick?

But Tom, isn't there some resentment on your part that he didn't make you a patriot for life? In other words, no, absolutely not. No, because this is a part for me in my life to experience something very different. And, you know, there's things, there's ways for me to grow and evolve in a different way that I haven't had the opportunity to do that aren't right or wrong, that's just right for me. Steve, what's your take on the whole situation here?

Yeah, look, I think that's a fantastic and a very honest answer with Tom Brady. I mean, we don't know if either would have been as successful without each other. And I think the fact that Brady said, hey, look, you know, I've expressed that to him and he's expressed that to me. We're going to find out, you know, I think it's a little bit more unfair to Tom Brady that he didn't get a chance. chance to stake his claim when he was 35, so to speak, to see if he could win without Bill Belichick. And he's got to do it when he's 43 with a franchise that, to me right now is at best,

second best in the NFC South, buying the Saints. But at the same time, I mean, I think that's kind of how it works. I mean, who knows that the Patriots are going to be successful? I think the bills are the best team in the AFC going into the season. But who knows? If Belichick can coach up some of these other guys, that's fine. But you've got to have the quarterback. And if you're going with Jared Stidham, you know, to be your guy, I don't think in the short term that's going to be, you know, be the answer. Maybe James Winston goes and replaces Tom Brady and then we'll say kudos to him as well again. His Brady's answer to the chicken or egg question was maybe my favorite answer he's ever given.

I don't get the obsession with this topic. There's not an answer. There's never going to be an answer. You might think you're going to get an answer on what an age 43 quarterback does in Tampa Bay, but they are inextricably linked, and there is no need for us to try to tear apart and dissect who's more responsible for their success. I just don't get it. And thank you, Tom, for putting it that way. I think it's sports, though, Wes. I think it's just fun to debate things like that. Right, but there's no answer. Well, I think that's what makes part of it fun for a lot of people, and myself included, just this idea of, is that, was this truly, the all-time perfect storm of the greatest coach ever and the greatest quarterback ever.

Why not settle on that as the answer? Like, why do I know that like sports writers in general and sports fans, like if it's not simple, they don't want to, they don't want to tackle it. Like, issues are complex. There's a lot of factors that go into it. Why can't that be the answer? Well, Mark's the same way with the JFK assassination. And he doesn't want to accept that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman.

He needs it to be more. He needs it to be more complicated. But maybe you're right, Wes. Maybe it's just the simple as. Well, that is an unbelievable aside from Dan there. And it's not just me. It's the large, the majority of the country that's looked into that for more than five minutes. But I will say this about Tom Brady, that I think that this was Tom Brady at his most honest. And I totally accept his answer. If you listen to the rest of what he discussed about his life and the way he went through some of the marital issues he had with Giselle, because it's, you know, it's great to want to marry Tom Brady, the successful quarterback but then part of that is you lose the man to the NFL for a huge chunk of the year every year and the weight that it uh the toll that it took on their marriage i just thought that brady being is open and honest about that and his relationship with bill i've waited for this

um version of tom brady for a long time he's still a tad manufactured because i think he's very cautious about what he says but you never would have gotten this interview three months ago and he sounds like a man reflecting back on the whole patriotic experience and appreciating it. I just don't think there is this long-lasting animosity against anyone there at this point. Let's move on. It was fun, though. It was a good interview. I think one little nugget, by the way, and Stern dropped this and maybe this passed me in the, but they talked about, has Tom Brady ever been asked to play like a major role in a movie that he turned down? And noted that O.J. Simpson was at one point the lead candidate to play The Terminator, which that that kind of stopped me in my train. There were a number of major revelations, but that one threw me, and I'm still considering it. He played The Terminator.

Well, that's another, okay, we don't need to go down that path, but fair enough. So we've hit JFK and OJ so far in today's episode. Somewhere there's going to be an Aaron Hernandez drop in here. It's the rule of threes. I can't hear the disappointment in your voice, Dan, that Tom said he cried, you know, when he's, when he, when he last spoke with Kraft and with Belichick, that it was a tearful goodbye. Considering how close they are to the divorce,

I am kind of surprised how, as Mark said, sort of how little animosity and drama there is to it. Well, I mean, we don't need to go down the swimhole again. But just because he's saying the right things here and taking the high road doesn't, to me, do you think he's lying that he cried? He didn't, he wasn't crying. No, I think it was obviously a very emotional time for him

and how could it not be. But when Brady says things like There's no ugly divorce here It was just time for a fresh start And I wanted a new challenge The Patriots kind of made that decision for him In my mind He said he knew going into the season, right?

So it feels like it was on, but he said that was probably the biggest news item Was just he said he felt going into the season It probably was going to be his last season Right, meaning he's had months to adjust to this And I and I again, I believe him on that too I just do I think that was a point of debate months ago

when this was, you know, all decided. But Tom Brady's probably felt this change coming in his life since late summer. Of course, he negotiated in his contract to become a free agent and they have no franchise tag attached to it. So, of course, he knew this was coming. Yep. Moving on, hard knocks news. And it's not good news, in my opinion. For the first time, Hard Knocks is planning to supersize.

Feature two teams this summer, the Rams and the Chargers. This is according to Adam Schefter. It hasn't been officially announced. And this, of course, depends on if there are training camps, which we don't know yet, considering all that's going on in the world. But if Schepter's reporting is right and there's no reason to think that it's incorrect, he's usually pretty good with this kind of stuff, It will be a Rams and Chargers hard knocks.

And I'm curious, Steve, you're plugged in on the L.A. scene on this. The idea of, well, let me start it this way. I'm a little worried about this as a Jump the Shark moment for Hard Knocks. As someone that's written about the show for the past nine years on our website, I've watched every episode, written about every episode. There's been great seasons. There's been Blas seasons. but this is the first one where I'm when I look at the five teams that were quote

unquote and more now that more than ever quote unquote hard knocks eligible in that list included lions, Jags, Cardinals, Broncos and Steelers for them not to be chosen instead to go with the Rams, the L.A. market team and the Chargers, the other L.A. market team moving into a new stadium, the Chargers who badly need some juice, the Rams who have a relationship, obviously with the media side of things at the NFL. It does feel like a promotional opportunity. And yes, you could say it's always a promotional opportunity, hard knocks. That's what it is. But this one feels a little on the nose. And to me, that, that upsets me is a hard knocks die hard. Steve, talk me off the ledge. Yeah, look, well, the interesting thing about it is the

great stuff about hard knocks and the personalities and the characters. And when you think about of that, when it comes to the Rams, you're talking about Sean McVeigh and, you know, they don't have a lot of great characters. I mean, Aaron Donald's fantastic and they've got some good players. So I think a lot of this is going to hinge you on the Chargers, especially if they end up drafting Tua, because now you're going to have the Tua Tyrod Taylor quarterback question. You can have Anthony Lynn, who I'm glad is getting exposure because he's a fantastic head coach, but, you know, you're going to have him talking an awful lot of that. So there'll be drama there, you know, and the Chargers, they've loaded up this offseat.

and you just have to see what's happening at quarterback. I don't know. It feels a little bit forced. I would have liked to have seen the Arizona Cardinals because, you know, them with DeAndre Hopkins and Kyla Murray is just going to be a great player in this league for a long time. And Cliff Kingsbury in a year or two, I think that would have been a very entertaining hard knocks.

But I'm just going to see how it's going to be interesting to see how they navigated because the move into the stadium, people outside the L.A. market really aren't going to give a damn about that. I mean, that's, you know, that is what it is. It's a new stadium. It's going to be splashy, but how many people in the other markets are going to, you know, take a visit to come see either one of these two teams play? I'm with you.

I think that that's been pounded over our heads relentlessly in the L.A. area. But why would we care if that were a subplot in New Jersey or Detroit or Houston? We wouldn't. To me, my one concern for the quality of the show is I think it succeeds when you go deeper than you thought with certain people and with, coaches and certain players that are, you know, not necessarily, they become stars during the show, one of its great qualities. When you're splitting this up with two teams, I just think to me, it strikes me as a little less intimate. You're not getting a great feel for one team necessarily

if you're giving each half as much real estate. I'm willing to give it a look. I'll say this. I got a little tired of the endless and predictable LA montages when the Rams were featured just a few years ago and they're going to do that all of that all over again. And it's just like I want to see hard knocks to me is in danger when it feels retread like retread material. And they struggle with that a little bit because it's not the only thing doing this anymore. And they are going back to a subject matter that they just touched on. And it was not one of their better seasons. It was Jeff Fisher. So that's a difference. But I would be curious how this came about. Number one, you know, how much did the pandemic impact, did it have an impact on teams not wanting to do it?

And how did the decision get made? Is it something where, hey, we need to push the Rams and the Chargers? Or is it a situation that they've run out of teams that are willing or want to do it? And yeah, you have that list of teams that you can force to do it. But I think the NFL films has generally tried to avoid truly forcing a team that didn't have agreement, certainly on the ownership level. And is this like, are they down to the only teams that were? down to do it. You know what I mean? There's no way

that they'll ever give that answer. So, I mean, get rid of this whole thing with the rules for hard knocks. I mean, it's the whole thing. That's just speculation. I don't know if that's I mean, I have no idea. But if you're going to if you're going to tell me that a Rams Chargers co-join, and remember the Tyrod Taylor, everybody likes Tyrod. We saw him on the Browns Hard Knocks

two years ago. Aaron Donald, Jared Goff. We learned about him on the Rams Hard Knocks. And oh, by the way, the Rams all or nothing season that that followed directly after that. I'm just wondering where Hard Knocks is going forward when it's clear to me that this idea that the teams could be compelled to do it, well, the Steelers should be doing it or the Cardinals should be doing it. People would be more interested in that. Maybe you're right, Greg.

Maybe there's more because of the unprecedented times that they just said, let's stick with these two local teams and make it work that way. But yeah, as you could tell, I'm a little bit worked up about it because I love the show. I love writing about the show and it makes me worry about the future of the show the path I mean, Dan, you will get an opportunity to write about a critical almost unsolved mysteries

type update as to whether Jared Goff is aware of which side of the earth the sun rises from where he's standing at this point. We need that update. And you made the good point, Mark, that the show by its very nature can feel repetitive sometimes if you watched every season. There are certain tropes

to hard knocks. When you take that format of the show and then marry it with a team you just did look out well the show is ultimately about buy it are the players buying into the coach or the assistant coach is buying into the head coach

are the players buying into the quarterback are the viewers buying into the angles that the show wants and I think it's fair for you Dan to question the buy in if you feel like it's a little bit promotional we should stop here

let's move on we have some new we have some new uniforms to talk about let's start in a nobody calls it a town uh but do people call it at l i don't know but i can tell you this the falcons have a new uniform and they have ATL across the front of it this is a new fad uh teams putting the city the jets did it the browns did it i don't know if it's going to stay with the new browns uniform reveal um but it says ATL across the jersey it's uh I guess there are some other changes to it. The logo looks like it's the same. Steve, your thoughts on this?

What are people saying down in your neck of the woods? Well, you know, my kids, having grown up mainly in Atlanta when I used to cover the Falcons for the Atlanta Journal of Constitution are huge Falcons fans. They were kind of, eh, about it. But, I mean, they ripped off the jersey idea from the Atlanta Hawks, one of the NBA's premier franchises. So, I mean, look, the Hawks have ATL over. Like, come on.

I mean, come up with something. You know, someone made a great point. I believe it was Ross Tucker, who said, you can kind of tell a lot about franchises when they continue to change their uniforms, you know, every four or five years. And the Falcons have done this a few times. I don't get it. I'm sure it's, you know, the merchandising and all that. But the all-white uniforms are kind of slick.

I'm a big, you know, all-white uniform guy. But the other ones look, you know, very arena football league. That's why I thought it said a F, L across the front and not ATO. That's, I feel like that's the number, Wes, I'm sure you picked up on this too. That's the number one put down teams get when they release new uniforms now. Immediately people say it looks like an arena football league team.

Oh, yeah. And I think that's an astute point that the teams that change their uniforms every few years are the same teams changing their defensive scheme, their coaches, their general managers. That's going to happen. It's about changing every couple of years. Hey, you guys are right on this. My one rule when it comes to uniform changes, because it seems also like, hey, this other team in our division just did it. We got to do it too.

There's a little bit of a fashion catch-up scenario that I don't appreciate. But by the way, if you're going to roll out new uniforms in 2020 and you're a team that's had five or six iterations of this, my rule is they better look better than all the ones before. And that's just not the case with too many of these revisions. I mean, this one to me, I'm waiting for the Falcons to change it again. All right. Here is the missive from Arthur Blank, owner of the Falcons. We've stayed true to our roots by keeping our colors and the Falcon Bird intact, making it even more prominent than ever before,

but delivering a more modern design that reflects our team, our fans, and this great city. Black has been a part of our history since 1966, and both our fans and players have asked us to bring it back. I like the black tops and the white the white pants with the red shirt. I think that looks good. Other than that red shirt, I'm fine with it. The red one is rough. All right.

Let's move out to the other New Jersey. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers who have, they wave goodbye, Mark and Wes. I know you're going to be very upset about this. Oh, yeah. They wave goodbye to the alarm clock numbers on their jersey. And the block numbers, as they call it, history. No more traditional full length stripes. They decided five years after launching that alarm clock uniform that they need to do it again.

So here it is a new uniform set. What do you guys think about this one? Go ahead, Wes. I'm happy to have the offensive vomit-inducing road uniforms out of my life. I don't love their new road uniforms, but I like the all-white home ones. And the all-peuter color-rush ones are beautiful. I love those. Wow, I like this, Wes.

The passion. Yeah, I'm like, you know, I am a big fan of what the Bucks did compared to where they were a day ago. I see it right now. Nick Shook on Twitter has the all pewter, and I agree it looks great. Mark, your thoughts. Well, I agree that it is an improvement. The white on white, I think, look great. What I would have wanted to see was the helmet decal dealt with to some degree.

It appeared to have gotten larger, which was not my request. Everyone seems to love pewter on pewter. I think it's a cool look. I'm not there emotionally with everyone else. I think they took steps to improve it, but it wasn't a massive drastic overhaul. But any improvement off of what it was is okay by me. I'm into the gray ones. The gray on, you know, the gray with the pewter, forget.

That's my favorite one of either of these uniform ones. All right. So it sounds like we like it. I like the bucks. And Greg is a colorblind individual. So I like gray. That's a special. I'm a big fan of gray.

So what do we want? want to give. We give the bucks a, what, a B, B plus? B plus. And Falcons, Steve, what are we doing for Falcons? Yeah, they're, they're, they're D. I mean, just to rip off, the way time you rip off the Atlanta Hawks, man. That's like an amazing sticking point. I love it. Also, like, you shouldn't have put the airline code on your jersey. It's okay in the NBA, but, you know, those jerseys are tank tops. Weish, taking off the Arthur Blank Christmas card list as we speak. Hey, Steve, real quick on this.

Do you have any insight? You're a plugged in, gentlemen, in the league. Any insight on what's going on with this possible virtual mock draft? How this is going to go down. Have you talked to anybody or heard anything? Or is this all just you've read about it like everybody else? Oh, man. I'm so glad you took that turn because I thought you're going to talk about the new Rams logo.

No, I mean, look. The main thing, you know, that we're hearing here is, are the concerns if there are going to be technical glitches, you know, during trades and all this. And the league is going to have special circumstances for this. But I'm, why is that a concern? Because every draft up to this point, people have picked up a telephone and made a phone call and made the trade. You don't make trades over Zoom. You don't make trades over video conferencing. So I don't understand why that aspect of it has all of a sudden become a concern.

So, you know, again, that's kind of the big hang up. But, yeah, they're going to do all of the glitch testing. They're going to do make sure everything is rock solid. And I'm just going to be interested to see what type of production it is because players are going to be having cameras in their locations for reaction. You know, so just how they're going to do all the production with it. But the big concern, like I said, seems to be that there could be glitches with trades and things like that. And, again, there's special circumstances. These teams will be given, I guess.

special time to work things out. But I just don't see why that's an issue now when you can just pick up the phone and make a deal like they've always done. It struck me as a, I mean, there's a PR angle to it where there's all these, you know, Twitter commands a lot of stuff out there. And there's all these whippersnappers telling us how funny it's going to be when GMA is unable to make a pick because he can't log into his computer, which is just utter nonsense to me for the way the IT support they all have. And it's a PR angle to say where, A, it makes sense just to just test it out and go ahead and do it, have fun.

But like, we tried. We took precautions versus, hey, we did nothing. And then, you know, round two melted on national television for whatever reason. And we never, we never saw this coming because we are, most of us are age 55 and above. I would just like to point out that all mock drafts, which you see every day on Twitter, every single mock draft is a virtual. DRAC. Right. Nice. So you're telling me you're having a mock mock draft and it blows my mind and I have no

idea how that would be done. It kind of the universe is going to collapse in on itself once it begins. So what and you it would be amazing by the way if they use the actual players from this draft class and guys are giving away state secrets. I would love it. They're so worried about IT issues. I would guess what are they going to do, Steve? Like use the 2019 draft class as the as the examples for who to pick. I'm curious how that all goes down. Yeah, it's

a weird time, but I think the cool part about this is, for years, guys, and we've heard it. Oh, the combine and these pro days and these visits, they're all just fact checks to the in-person study, the practice study, and the film study. Well, now that's what these teams are going to have to rely on.

Yeah, they're doing video conferences with these draft prospects, but these teams with the good scouting departments are going to be revealed, as are the teams with shallow scouting departments. And I've talked to a lot of people about this, and they're really interested to see because some teams hire information gatherers as opposed to football guys. And, you know, these teams that don't have a lot of deep connections on who to check background for for character witnesses and things like that, those are the teams that are

going to miss. And there's going to be some misses in this as there are in every draft. But, you know, the people kind of under the hood a little bit are saying this is where some team scouting staffs are really going to be revealed. I mean, we'll get some amazing finger pointing coming out of this, you know, for months and months and years as certain prospects melt off the grid. And the GMs, some of these GMs will use it as an excuse, I'm sure, as well. You know, I know I blew the 2020 draft, but, you know, we were facing challenges that no one could have foreseen. It's a tough time.

Finally, in the news. Jadavian Clowny, yes. Where was he when you first put out the top 101, Greg and West? I think behind Amari and Dak. Number three on the top 1001 free agents still on the street looking for a gig. Mike Garifolo of NFL Network reported at this point, Clowney resigning in Seattle appears to be a long shot. I think there's been, I think a lot of people thought that the way this market is playing out that Clownie would maybe end up back in Seattle, but according to Garifolo, and he's good with this stuff as well.

that's not the case. Mark, the Browns are connected to Clowny. I'm curious your thoughts on that. Do you think that would be a good fit? Obviously, on paper, it seems great if you lined them up across from Miles Garrett. But is Clowny a guy that you'd want to pay $18 million a year and hope that he maxes out his potential? What's not to like? I think they lead the league in Cap room right now. Their roster, you know, I don't want to fall for what I fell for last year, but their roster is pretty juicy.

they definitely could use help on defense. You know, last night, because it sounds like we're going to be in our house forever, we purchased an Xbox, and I played Madden for the first time in about 20 years and dropped a 35 to 7 bomb on the Seahawks. What if you add Clowny to the team I was playing last night all bombs away? We're going 16 and 0 and right through the playoffs in virtual reality times. All right. What's not to like?

He had three sacks last year. He missed more times with injury. He would cost a ton of money. there's been questions about his motivation level, whether he's always there motor-wise. I think it's a one-year deal, though, I think. I don't think there's been much question about his motor, you know, on the field. I mean, maybe there is some Bill O'Brien, which is maybe more about Bill O'Brien, like whispers back in the day in terms of his off-season.

But the crazy thing with the Browns is they have Olivier Vernon still on the team. We kind of expected him to get cut, and it's a perfect situation for the Browns. I do because I think if you bring in Clownie, you probably get rid of Vernon. And so whether they get him or not, they're fine. No, no, guys. He's not a fit for that team. I mean, you can say if it's a one-year deal. It would have to be on a one-year deal because you're going to have to be.

I think that's what he's doing now, right? I think it would be a one-year thing, but you don't think it's a fit as a player or as a person or both? No, that locker room is a Tinderbox. They're still going through changes up top. I think they need, you know, Clownie's not a big personality, but he is one of those athletes that carries, you know, by a mood, you know, people kind of work around him a little bit. I just don't think for that team right now, they need to add another big name, another big personality.

I think they need to get, and not saying Gidevian Clon, who I really like, not saying he's not a lunch pail type of guy, but if they're going to make a move, I'd go more for an Everson-Griffon-Tite who's just a solid, and that's Olivier Vernon. Olivier Vernon is a younger version, more expensive version than Everson Griffin. But I would go there instead of adding him into that locker room right now. They've got to get their arms around the culture of that building. And I just think having a few lower profile guys would help in that regard. Yeah.

They win the offseason again if they get clowny. But I totally feel the same way, Steve, that that feels like a dangerous move. I don't know. Finally, before we say goodbye, Steve, you sat down with. with Alabama quarterback, Tua, Taglo Lavia. Tunga Vilawa. Tunga Vailoa. Yes.

And you got some information about how he's feeling. But what are the other, what's the kind of vibe you got face-to-face with this kid who obviously is someone that a lot of people believe goes in the top five maybe of the draft and so fascinating, but also, of course, the injury history of the way his college career ended. What's your vibe after meeting with him? Well, look, I've known it for a while and the family for a while, and, you know, he's the real deal. You know, guys, we all know Kurt Warner and just how genuine of a human being. He is, and two is very much that guy.

He's his own man, and he's just so wise. And one of the things in the interview that really struck me, you know, I said, how are these video interviews going? He says, they're great. Some teams have their owners involved. You've got a lot of different leadership. He's like, but the thing I gather is I can tell the culture of what's going on by some of the things that are said. So I said, are you finding that out by questions you ask or just kind of reading the tea leaves? He says, some of it's from the questions I ask, but some of it's from the things they say and they don't say.

So that kind of lets you know, this is a guy whose radar is always up, right? Whether he's judging these types of things on the field, off the field. I've got a huge long-form piece coming out on him in the next couple days on NFL.com. I really get into a lot of things just about him and a lot of things in his life and where things are headed. But he's just so smart that any team that gets him, I get it. The medical is a legitimate thing. You have got to be sure one way or another. But if you don't draft him and he becomes Drew Brees, another guy who had a medical history,

That's going to cost people their jobs. So whether Miami is throwing up all these smoke screens about liking Justin Herbert, I've heard, same thing, a lot of folks are hearing, there's people in the building like Herbert better. But if they pass on him and he gets to the Chargers and he becomes big for the Chargers, that's just one of those situations. You never know. But he's somebody who's very, very deep, but not in one of the eclectic deep ways.

You hear a lot of quarterbacks, where they say over-analytic. and overthink things. Joey Harrington comes to mind. Guy had all the tools, but just over-examined every last thing. Too is not that guy. But when the piece comes out, you'll find a lot of really interesting things

set about him by coaches who've had to face him and deal with him. And just you understand where a lot of this comes from because he's a very spiritual kid. And I think someone who, wherever he goes, he's going to be such a winner in the community and such a win in the locker room that even if he is somewhat limited,

he's just going to be such a positive force. He's going to help out any ball club. Get him chargers. I mean, that's the move. Get them, chargers. That's the move. I keep saying it too, Rosie. I keep saying it.

But, you know, if the dolphins let the chargers jump them and take it. Move up. Yeah, move up. Wow. Well, we talk about it was straight. Can you sit till number five and assume he's going to be there? It sounds like if teams are talking to them, are they not mesmerized with the person side of it in saying,

we've got to get up above number five to make this happen? Well, we just talked with Schrager. Schrager said yesterday that in his talks with people around the league, there's less of a feeling and a certainty about how coveted he is and the idea of the lines who a lot of people point to as a team that might trade back. Well, they might not have the partner people expect. That obviously could all be draft smoke right now. But he's kind of a fascinating prospect from that aspect as well. Yeah, I don't know if a team necessarily has to jump up. I mean, I think that's kind of what we're seeing right now is that he might be there at five for Miami.

And here's the thing. Should he take a dip? Should he get past five or maybe even past the charges, which would be just malfeasance if he does? Look for the Raiders, though. Look for the Raiders to be a team to come up and make a move. You know, I've heard and spoken to people, there could be some interest there. They're not going to make the huge leap to come up and get him. But if he starts to slip, they're a team that's going to get an itchy trip.

trigger finger and he would be huge there. You know, Marcus Mariotta is like a big brother to him. We know they just signed him to be David Carr's backup. We still don't know what's going to, I mean, Derek Carr's backup, but we still don't know what happens with him. The Patriots are still out there as a team that could pull a trigger on a trade. So we really don't know, but the Tua story, we're talking about him so much because there's just so many different things that

can happen with him just because teams are afraid of the medical and they can't get their hands on them because of the pandemic. Well, Steve, you like the, kid you're you're tight with the family so out of respect for you a man i respect so much i am going to pronounce his last name correctly effective immediately tungo viola bang well done and i will never get it wrong ever again that's my promise to you steve weish it's not just a good head of hair you can tell that to uh to d uh Steve weiss you you've said it all you came on and uh like every time you're on the around the NFL podcast I mean you just hit out of the park you guys

you the best man i love being on i really appreciate love you guys and i hope you're staying safe and your families are all good you too stephen keep up the uh the prison workouts and uh stay safe and i hope to see you back in the office oh yeah heard those guns oh my goodness before too long and a reminder of everybody our twitter show uh that we're doing on friday we're kind of launching it it's a season kind of a week in review type show uh make sure you you check it out it is on at 1 p.m. Pacific, 4 p.m. Eastern, and what would that be 8 o'clock in the UK, 9 o'clock in that range, live on Twitter. We're going to try it out and we're excited to see how it goes. Could be a disaster. If for no other reason than to see the idea of doing a live Twitter show fully produced with people across our city working on the production elements of it,

that it could go terribly wrong. Check the show out just for that reason. Forget about the football. and the mirth, Friday, 4 p.m. Eastern, 1 p.m. Pacific. That's it. Good, nice follow-up comments, guys. This is Dan Hansa signing off for Quiet Storm, the mailman, the old boss, real promotional machines, you guys, and the great Steve Weiss. It's going to be a precursor to the draft, Dan. There you go. Until Thursday. Thank you. This is an I-Heart podcast.