NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Bunkercast XXII: Andrew Marchand and Christian McCaffrey Inks Deal

Episode Date: April 13, 2020

A bunker filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Gregg Rosenthal and Chris Wesseling bring you all of the latest news around the NFL including the Panthers inking a major deal with RB Christian McCaffrey and some rule changes. The ATN heroes bring on Andrew Marchand from the New York Post to talk about the announcing booth for ESPN and Drew Brees.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everybody. Today's edition of the Around the NFL podcast is presented by Rocket Mortgage. Join Rocket Mortgage and saying thank you to essential workers by posting a video to everyone knows a hero.com. Everyone knows a hero.com. Do it. Welcome to the show. Rock. mortgage and let's get to it it's Monday football talk time the Around the NFL podcast have been overrun by their own children welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast my name is Dan Hansis coming to you from a city filled with heroes in bunkers Mark Sessler Chris Wessling Greg Rosenthal what is up boys hey Dan Hey, hope everybody enjoyed the holiday weekend.

Easter, Passover, everybody fly. Very nice Sunday Easter in the Sessler household, you know, a little bit different than the other wall-to-wall 24-7 exposure that I have with my family, nonstop, never-ending. Don't get one second to myself scenario. It was quite peaceful and enjoyable. We fast-tracked Jack. is has doesn't have his own bike or he didn't and we were going to give what give him one with the training wheels and everything for his birthday in august but given the situation fast track that he got it from the easter bunny yesterday morning he was on fire he couldn't believe it um

because he was just talking about how he wanted a bike and bang easter bunny you know hits it out of the park who's plugged in the easter bunny who's who's a great dad the easter bunny uh and the mommy anyway so i get to go driving around i have a bike i have a bike i forgot about it. It was the one mark. We come from such humble beginnings mark with this company that I didn't even have a car when we started at the NFL and I used to have to ride my bike to get to work. That thing was in the back of the garage, brought it out, dusted it off, got the tarantulas off it, pumped up the tires of some air. And we're riding around the neighborhood and it feels good. It feels good to be out there. Yeah, I feel like that bike. My earlier memories of that bike would be that we'd occasionally

when we were on the edit desk go down to the Irish Times or we'd go down to Joxer Dailies after work and you know it would stretch on to seven or eight at night and one night Dan was singing karaoke with a big black backpack and then left into the middle of the night to drive his bike home but you know he had a few I would say

a few beers would be safe to say and you know about 45 minutes later I got a you know I didn't know Emily his wife very well at all and she texted me very concerned about Dan's whereabouts because he hadn't arrived back home yet. So I don't know what happened in the interim there, Dan, or if you were just lagging.

I think, yeah, I think I just wasn't in touch the way I needed to be on that night. And when I got back home, it was like I was 16 again. And the parents had caught me coming home from a party. And I, you know, that's funny. That's one thing that bonds us in our time, Mark. I have gotten messages from your wife as well. Where is Mark? Is he okay?

I need your help. I would prefer we don't dig too deep. the topic. Not necessary, but it just goes to show we got each other's backs and that's a good thing. All right, guys and gal. How are you, Ricky? Doing well. How are you guys? Good. You look fresh face. Did you get a nice relaxing weekend? I did. Yeah, I felt good. I can't believe it's already Monday again, though. On Friday, we had the first around the NFL Twitter show from the bunker. I thought it went really well. And if you didn't check it out, you should because it essentially is us, you know, not being reined in by any of the corporate giant.

We were able to talk, Wes, you could speak on this because I know you air that frustration sometimes when we do some other stuff on network and whatnot. The Twitter show is very close, almost an identical twin brother to the audio show. Yes, I felt like for the first time since we've been on, like, kind of a strictly run camera operation, we were allowed to approach at the same way we do the podcast, which is, you know, we like to say we've got good chemistry, but that chemistry isn't there if everyone is on cue and scripted. That has to happen.

It has to flow naturally, organically. And I felt like that happened on the Twitter show. And here's the good news. The show is coming back every Friday through the draft. So make sure you check it out on Friday. And we'll be promoting that. And it's run by the NFL handle is tweeting it out. So that's got, that's the reach.

Greg, that's the reach you're looking for. social. I'm the social master. It's really all I care about these days. I'm just on the gram checking out IG,

you know, that's just, I love those rap battles. Hey, you know, love the DJ battle. You're a constant presence on Instagram.

Maybe, maybe to the point where I'd ask you to tone it down just a little bit. I'm like, sometimes like, hey, Wes, off TikTok already,

bro. I've never been on TikTok. It wasn't until, I think, a month or two ago that I heard of TikTok. Mark and I, We're way into Vine back in the day. Oh, well, we had a few, there were a few accounts that we tracked very closely.

Let's put it that way. All right, today's show. I'm excited. We got Andrew Marchant coming on from the New York Post. He is the sports media reporter slash watchdog. He has been taking us every step of the way through the machinations connected to this great drama at ESPN with Monday Night Football. So we're going to talk to Andrew about what's going on with that booth, who's going to be. in it in 2020 who's not in the booth and why aren't they uh looking forward to talking to

andrew uh but before we do that let us get caught up with some news every day now that i wake up that we're out here at our house and uh thinking about what's happening and what's going to happen and i think it's harder it gets a little harder every day because um i think I think less about myself than the people I care for. Oh, I'm sure. And, um, um, my hair, um, my hair is looking at all I can't get my hair cut and you start self-cutting my hair maybe. But anyway.

Uh, speaking of social media and Instagram, Mark, you've been way plugged in on Alec Baldwin's ongoing meltdown connected to COVID-19. Yeah. I mean, again, it's another thing that I'm invested in because I think that you, Dan, are interested in it, too, because it was another text that I sent unreplied to yesterday to our group where, and I get it, it's the middle of Easter morning, and I found time to peruse Alec Baldwin's rather sort of daily IGTV deep dive where he seems to be, claims to be in a bathroom. It looks like bigger than any room in my house. And he just goes on these dizzying rants. And like the one you heard, he'd a very nice thought. about the people around him, and then he cannot help but fade into what seemed like an internal

thought or two about his hair. And that's sort of the vibe of the overall production. I enjoy them. His ego is immense. And he brings a lot to the table. That and like the blanket of depression. If you just want to put that over you, you want to just like put that over you for the rest of the day. Like here's Alec Baldwin's depression. He's trying to get rid of it to his viewers. I've said on the show in the past that I've always viewed Alik Waldo as my celebrity. Spirit Animal, and I'm rewatching 30 Rock right now, and it all checks out. I think his behavior might be similar to what mine would be if I were extremely rich and had a big mansion and nothing to do.

So I don't have any of those things, but if I did, I could see my behavior being very similar to current-day Baldwin. All right. Let's get into it. Let's do some of those. Keep those Baldwin news drops coming because I feel like he speaks for all of us in a lot of is. No doubt. All right. Christian McCaffrey got paid.

This is Adam Schaefter, VSBN, had it. It is a four-year contract extension worth $16 million a year, so $4 for $64. I don't know if that is the actual value of the deal probably isn't. But he gets paid, and it's very interesting the timing here, Greg, because as we all know, running backs that get paid typically haven't been working out. Todd Gurley, Levi-on-Bell. it goes on and yet the Panthers decide after an offseason where we heard some whispers that they might even move McCaffrey instead they lock him down your thoughts and there's no point

making a comment on the money because the details are now it's a four-year extension which means he still has the year of his rookie deal still to tack on to that but he's no average running back like great players if you have a top five player at the position it gives you an advantage I don't care what position you're playing people are going to make all these opinions Oh, $16 million a year. Let's see what the guaranteed money is. I suspect it's not outrageous and that it's more like a two, maybe a three-year deal where you still have some of his rookie contract. Why not?

He is a huge advantage in the passing game. First thing I thought of was that little skit we did a couple years ago. Can Christian McCaffrey run through the tackles or run up the middle? Yeah, well, he's answered that one. And I don't even know if that matters as much. did 10 or 15 years ago, whether you can run between the tackles, he's the prototype for where the position is going in the future, where he's just like a rocked-up slot receiver who can also play running back. And that probably will go great with the new head coach, Matt Rule,

and his offense with Joe Brady there. So to me, he's the new face of the franchise. Luke Keekley's retired. Cam Newton is out of there. And this is Christian McCaffrey's team. Yeah, I think it's interesting just to kind of monitor every transaction that comes out of Carolina because it's another puzzle piece and what Matt Rule, who I think is going to be a different thinking type of head coach wants to do with this roster. And there were whispers about basically anyone being available in Carolina and that, you know, there was some little chatter that maybe even Christian McCaffrey could be moved. And this is a decisive slap down to that development.

And he's part of the – he's 23. I get that you want you – these running back contracts are going to be looked at sideways. But he's not 26 or 27. I mean, I don't have a problem with the – deal. Listeners may or may not be aware that Teddy Bridgewater averaged less than six air yards per attempt last season in his time with the Saints, which included a handful of starts. Well, you know, it helps when you have the best receiving running back in the league there

for a guy that might like to check it down a lot and keep it a little more conservative. So if you're a little nervous about Teddy and whether he's able to open it up on offense and drive the ball and really move it off. Well, if he's going to be conservative by nature, he has the best guy possible as a kind of safety valve in Christian McCaffrey. He also might not be the quarterback, and almost certainly won't be the quarterback by the time Christian McCaffrey's contract is up. I mean, it's still very much feels like a year.

He'll be the quarterback this year, though, right? He will be, but he might be battling, you know, Tua or Justin Herbert or love or, who knows. I think the Panthers are a reasonable possibility to take a quarterback early. All right. In other news, the NFL draft, we already know it's going to be a much different affair. We originally supposed to be going to be filled with glitz and glamour in Las Vegas, all wiped away by the dreaded COVID-19. So what is it instead?

We knew it was going to be a quote-unquote virtual affair. Head masks, headgear, mid-90s Skinnamax Fair? No, a little bit different. It's going to be done in the homes of the veterans. various decision makers across the league. Roger Goodell is going to be stationed in the basement. And I bet it's a nice basement, by the way. It's not like your basement in his Westchester County home outside of New York City.

And it's going to be an ESPN and NFL network joint affair across both networks. So it's going to be different, Mark Sessler, much different. And because of the nature and the limitations, ESPN and NFL are working together as opposed to having two separate broadcast. They're going to combine the telecast. I don't know if you remember this, Mark. Maybe you were a little older because you were a little older than me, but the cartoon All-Stars Against Drugs in the early 90s,

they simulcast a cartoon half-hour special or an hour-long special in about 1992 or so. I personally do not remember that, but it sounds like a nice show. Greg's in my age range, but I know he wasn't around in 1992. They combined all the top cartoon stars of the day into one show. and then told everybody not to smoke weed, basically. The Laugh Olympics. You're talking about the Laf Olympics?

Not the Laf Olympics. It's the Clarking on All Stars to the Rescue, I think it was. Dan, I think if anything, their message was largely ignored by most of the country. Yeah, I don't think the really Rotans were on board with that message, Greg. Yeah, the Laugh Olympics was great. I was a big fan. Anyway, we're all whiffing on our pop culture references right now, but let's just say that it is going to look and sound a lot different.

the NFL announced those details. So get ready, people. It's just amazing. It's happening. I mean, the NFL is lucky how the whole schedule played out. And people were upset that they did free agency at the time. And I know we're only a month removed, not even. I think it makes sense now in retrospect.

Because no one knows when anything is going to be close to back to normal. And now the NFL draft is literally the only meaningful, sporty event. I guess outside of WrestleMania, if you want to count that, but that's entertainment. That's going to take place for a matter of three or four months and it's giving people something to look forward to. We're only 10 days away.

And no reason you can't do. I mean, the draft essentially has been a remote operation for 32 teams. Anyways, when we used to go to Radio City Music Hall, there'd be like two gibronies from each club sitting there with a phone taking a phone call from the war room.

So it should go off without a hitch mostly. I mean, I feel bad a little bit for some of the people that spent, like a guy like Charles Davis who spent, you know, a year studying prospects and is no longer part of the production, but that's just the cost of trying to mash two groups together. I like the idea that all these GMs have one IT person in their houses, in their home. Bless you, Rick. You're muted. I saw it. You know, on our life is a professional.

Eric, you know, during the live Twitter show, we got a dog barking coming from our producers apartment. And now we have a live, you know, an on-air sneeze. There is a new button. I guess I was muted. And so I clicked it. It clicked it, but I unmuted myself. Nailed it.

You should probably be tested. Yeah. Go ahead, Wes. Finish that point. Sorry. I like the idea that all these GMs have an IT person in their house. And I'm reading in Peter King's column about Thomas Dimitra's making sure this guy only uses the side exit is in no other rooms of the house.

They're treating them like it's an espionage. Like they're undercover, these IT guys. Just put them in like hazmat suits. Yeah, they're not going to be allowed to see anything. All you've had to tell yellow with the big headpiece and the mask, the plastic mask in the front. Just go for it. And I get.

Yeah, blindfold. I get people are all worried about like the cameras and how the production's got to be or whatever. But like every pick has always been made as Mark said by telephone. anyways, if they want to call, it's not like they were doing it on Slack in the past. It's like Thomas Dimitraf will call Bill Belichick and they'll work out of trade. Like, what is? It really isn't that different than it is normally. I will be tracking one thing. I mean, if you're Goodell, you know that you're going to get

highly, you know, scrutinized for the backgrounds. Like, we've all got these backgrounds behind us. And if you're in your Goodell basement, what's it going to look like? Is he going to go out of his way to remove maybe extremely expensive vases and things that people would get on people's radar like an old like rush concert poster sure anything that might to have people turn sideways i just i want to know the process i i have to say this i mean we've worked at nfl network for a long time and it's a bummer from the vantage point of we have all these great people that put together the draft coverage and can execute it from the research team to our on our talent people that's going to be different this year but as a purely as a fan it will be kind of an interesting show to watch just how

it unfolds and kind of the mystery of what can happen, what can go wrong, that kind of end of it is something that will make it a little bit more intriguing than other drafts. Well, and more than that, it's a show to watch. It's a live show to watch. You know, I know like people are like watching NBA players play horse from their basement, but there's like a level of desperation there that I'm not, I'm not ready for. Like, this is an actual big time live television event that's actually going to happen, which is nice. All right. In other news, as happens every time around this year, the competition committee works together on potential rule changes. So each team has the opportunity to make proposals

that they send to the competition committee. And then the committee works together on whether or not to implement that rule into the book for the new season. And we can go through a few of them right now one that's kind of a highlight for me here is a potential quote unquote bill bellichick rule west i know you love this stuff uh they could look to close a loophole uh that belichick first used against the jets and that grisly monday night blowout um by new england in week six i want to say where they took multiple procedure penalties in a row to just wind down clock time uh to to to end that ugly and then ironically that was that was a great night yeah i want to talk about my favorite game another great night was the saturday night of the wild card playoffs when mike rable of the

titans used that against bellichick when it really counted and he needed those seconds uh and used it against bill uh his old protege so uh the league that's one of the rule proposals to change that situation so you can't run off double the time on on penalties you're committing on purpose that seems like a no-brainer Well, it fails two rules. It fails the common sense rule. By common sense, it shouldn't be allowed in the game. And the second rule, is the sport better for it or worse?

The sport is worse for it, so take it out. It's no surprise that Belichick was looking for a loophole. His one idol in the NFL is Paul Brown, who spent most of his career thinking up new ways to get around rules, Ben rules. I mean, that's the history of sports in this country, really. Farewell, time-chewing loophole. Right. Thank you. That's gone, but probably the biggest news for me out of this was they didn't even,

the competition committee didn't even bring back the pass interference replay for a vote. So it's just gone. It was back for, it was on for one year on the books. It was a trial basis. And they're not even going to have the owners vote on it when they meet again, which is scheduled for mid to late May. It's just off the books. I mean, it's unofficial, I guess, but that that is gone. Well, that was the one small.

thing that they did when they instituted the rule was they gave themselves that out was like it is not a forever rule it's a one year trial run and obviously it did not work out well so i don't think anybody's really crying about that common sense wins again here's a few other ones that are out there the eagles uh they've made quite a few proposals here's uh they want to modify the blind side block rule to prevent unnecessary fouls that that popped up a couple times it most notably Cody Ford of the Bills was called for an illegal blindside block on a third and nine when the Bills had the ball in Texans territory and overtime of that crazy wildcard game. The 15-yard penalty knocked the bills at a field goal range,

and effectively that was their last best chance to win the game. So a lot of these times, same thing with the Nicolrobi-Colman, non-Pi, Phantom PI call, that led to the P.I. Sometimes it's a high visibility play in the playoffs that leads. to these things. The Eagles also want to make permanent the expansion of automatic replay reviews to include scoring, plays, and turnovers negated by a foul, as well as any successful or unsuccessful try attempt. They also want to, we talked about the onside kick rule that the Eagles proposed that would allow a team who's trailing in the game an opportunity to maintain possession

after scoring. For example, the team trailing could attempt a fourth and 15 from their own 25-yard line. We saw that used in the Pro Bowl. Any thoughts on that stuff, guys? No. No. Philly would also want to bring back overtime is a 15-minute affair.

Back in 2017, the owners approved shortening it down to 10 minutes, but Philly saying it was better the old way. The Dolphins also propose an option for the defense for the game clocks to stay. start on the referee signal, the defense declines an offensive penalty that occurs late in either half. That is the Belichick rule, right? Is that what that is? No, it's kind of like a close cousin to it that you're getting an advantage by having a penalty. I don't think that

Eagle's overtime rule, unless I'm crazy. I feel like the overtime rule is popular inside the league and out, and I feel like they're on an island there trying to go back to the old overtime. At least I hope they are. And finally, the Ravens and Chargers have proposed to add a, quote, booth umpire as an eighth game official to the officiating crew at a senior technology advisor. It seems like always good to have a senior technology advisor in modern times to the referee to assist the officiating crew. So all those are up for vote.

The owner's meetings, which were supposed to happen last month, are now pushed and scheduled for what? Next month? Yeah, there's one scheduled for May, you know, mid-May and Marina del Rey. We will see if that happens or if they try to do it. by phone or what they decide to do. All right. Finally, in the news, yes, whenever a member of the Graveyard's comes off the roster,

it's like with a teacher, they could say all the kids are the same, but they're not all the same. Some you love and they stick with you. And for me, that was Roosevelt Nix, the fullback, the only fullback, in fact, on NFL.com's own website for top available free agents. It was just Roosevelt Knicks under the fullback category. So I knew it was only a matter of time before he went elsewhere, and he does go to the Indianapolis Colts on a one-year deal. So Rosie Nick, I'd have to ask you.

As someone who's functioning high up and you actually created the team, does it change the way you run your offense? You're pulling a fullback out. If you have a fullback, it tells us something about your, your playbook, but he's gone. He's out. Well, as I've said, that once a gray beard, always a gray beard. So it doesn't change this roster, but I guess it's just

a little a ping of, oh, wow, he's moving on in another way as well to a real team. So that's just the way it is. And again, very different this offseason. Nix is one of the only guys on this entire roster of real equality players, still without a job. With a

job, what are these guys going to sign? What's going to happen? I guess we've got to wait for COVID-19 to go away. A lot of big name still out there. You'll have to find you have to find someone else to take those four imaginary fullback snaps away from your roster. Anyway, good, good for you, Rosie Nix. Get that, get that real

money. That's what's happening in the news. Or is it? Do we have a little breaking news here? Tom Pelliserra reports, the NFL and NFLPA have reached agreement that a voluntary off-season program, including some version, Virtual training and virtual practices is going to start in April 20th, a couple weeks.

But probably the key item here is that no team will be allowed to go back onto the field until all 32 facilities are able to be opened. So it's basically, yeah, it's a good rule, but basically no one is allowed to practice until all 32 states or 32 teams, rather, are like back on the field. And why is that notable? name an area of the country that has not been hit hard by COVID-19. If that area of the country has a football team there, they can't get a jump start while the Jets and Giants is an example are still completely, you know, dealing with all the mayhem that COVID-19 is presenting.

So that makes a lot of sense. I don't know what virtual training is. I mean, classroom stuff. Like, basically, they're doing the classroom stuff that they would do in the facility where they're meeting with their position coach and going over some playbook stuff. It links the NFL into political circles as much as it's ever been

because you're going to have certain governors, I mean, for very good reasons, simply refusing to open anything up in certain states where others are going to push and you're going to have, there will be, you know, the NFL's not going to be able to control that at all. I think it's a fascinating time. And I just, the idea that they're going to, like, open things up in a couple months to me seems, does anyone feel that that's just wildly, wildly impossible right now? I don't think there's any expectation that anyone's practicing before training camp.

So, yes, they're not going to announce. And this is about the off-season program, to be clear. This is only about the OTA minicamp period. And, yeah, to answer your question, Mark, it would be shocking to me, if anyone is practicing any OTAs or mini-camps. If the NFLPA is like the rest of society, they're going to point out after this is over, see, we can virtually do all this stuff. we don't have to be we don't have to gather each April to do this yep fair point fair point same thing about going into the office let's just you know yeah exactly my kids have to go back

to day you know daycare but that part is essential get the kid yeah get back to school the pod could use uh you could use a little in person uh we could we can stand to be together i i still adults stay out of pants kids go back to school yeah dan will be in wettchester new york in six months if this continues um all right Let us move on. All right, it's the man, really the greatest journalist in the history of the around the NFL podcast. I feel like that's the way we got to step this up because we talk about almost every

article that rolls out from the New York Post sports media guy, Andrew Marchand. First of all, let's start right there of the New York Post, Andrew Marchand. Now, I thought it was Marchant initially and as a New York guy for years thought that was marching. West piped in and said, no, he thought it would have been Marchand. He might have heard it. Please settle it right now on the Iran-the-N-Fo podcast. Well, I know this.

This has been a huge debate on the podcast. My brother, Michael, he's a huge fan of your podcast. So he's been giving me the updates of how to say our last name. My brother's one of the, he's like the George Steinbrenner fantasy football players. He'll, you know, else fan to anybody. So he's been updating me. He listens to you guys religiously. Like literally, he listens every week.

So he knows every joke, sandwich jokes. He updated me. So I'm ready for this podcast. It's more shan, is how you say our last week. Oh, no. And, and I guess you're O for four, you know, I'll tell you this sandwich I want. That is unbelievable. I don't even know.

I'm like, I don't know, I'm flustered right now. That was somehow we still got it wrong. You know what? It really should be like March and. It really should be S-H. I'll give you that. The French is Marchand. We have French cousins.

So if you said it like Marchand, I'll give you that. But people can get it wrong forever. All right. Well, we have that. Fair enough. settled at least. So, Andrew, like I said, there's one thing about, and your brother knows this. We are obsessed with the soap opera around Monday Night Football and what's going on in that booth.

And your reporting has been stellar for a long time now. I mean, I feel like you've been ahead of the curve on this. And people are kind of following your reporting to find out what's going on. The latest, of course, was Drew Breeze, that ESPN had an eye on him for after his retirement. that he would slide in to the booth, but it turns out, based on your reporting late last week, that he is actually going now to NBC after his retirement, maybe setting up with Notre Dame, getting some reps there, and then maybe replacing Chris Collinsworth down the road. So just in terms of an overview, in the saga of Monday Night Football,

what has made this so interesting to you and something that is important to report on in this media sphere? as you've gone along through the weeks and months of this. Well, first of all, let me just correct you. None of this is important. And so, no, obviously, you guys like it a lot. I love it as well. Listen, when you look at Monday Night Football, it's been around for half a century,

and that booth is one of the historic booths in the history of sports casting, which is a big deal. And, I mean, when people, you know, I'm joking about it not being important, but, you know, these ESPNPAY is nearly two. billion dollars to broadcast the games each season, and these announcers make millions of dollars, and people have a lot of opinions on it. So it is interesting, especially to an audience like yours, football audience, especially for Monday night, because even though the ESPN hasn't

to get in the best games, that booth is the most scrutinized. Largely, I think, because if you look at like a Sunday afternoon, in your local market, a lot of times you like your local team or you have red zone or you have a sunday package where you can watch your team so you're focused on that on mondays it's the end of the fantasy weekend you might have that still in play but then you're really into the game and you may have a bet on it but the announcement and then if it's a bad game the announcers become more to the forefront so i think for that reason guys like joe tess and booger macfarlane uh you know there's a lot of pressure on that booth even the games aren't as big so i think you look at the history and the i think they've really lacked some success in the boogromobile a couple years ago was one of the worst ideas history of ideas um and so uh you know so that's what made it really a fascinating and Peyton Manning was also a part of this the my favorite twist so far by the way was Romo re-ups with CBS and ESPN was hot for Romo but CBS did what they had to do to keep them they pivot at the dream Peyton Manning Al Michaels pairing uh is

what ESPN, according to your reports, they had their eye on. They got turned down twice there, right? Like with the Al Michael situation, was that ever something that was close to happening where he would jump ship from Sunday night football and jump networks from NBC to ESPN? And this Peyton Manning thing, at what point does someone in your position, Andrew, get to stop reporting about Peyton Manning being in the booth? Because Peyton Manning doesn't want to be in the booth. It's a couple of things there.

So ESPN did think there. is a path to Peyton and Al as a combination. I think the two, you know, Al Michaels likely wouldn't go to ESPN unless there was a marquee guy next to him. And Peyton Manning's about as big as you can get in terms of names and potentially, you know, developing to a big booth. So the way it could have possibly worked is that, you know, Al only has two more years left on his contract. Mike Tariko's already signed there. You know, Al Michael is a legend in the, in the booth. He'll be 77. after these two years, which includes a Super Bowl two years for now. He doesn't have any plans to retire.

So could there be something worked out where we went to ESPN if they had the right analyst? I think that's possible. There's a history there. Of course, he was at Monday Night Football forever. And as far as Peyton Manning's concerned, yeah, you're 100% right. Like until proven otherwise, he doesn't want to do it. The money, I don't think they offered them from what I was told money, but it was $10 plus million. And again, Peyton Manning doesn't have to do it.

He's made more than a quarter billion on the field and who knows how much off of it. So he doesn't need to broadcast. And it is a time commitment for a guy like him, you know, for normal people. Work four months, five months, three days a week, including travel and then just doing three-hour game. That's not a lot, but that disrupts his life. They can't really tell him what the play-by-play guy is. And you guys know, the Manning's want everything perfect. And so it's hard to believe he's going to do it at any point, but he's only going to do it.

if it's the right thing. Like everything's exactly lines up. You reported on Breeze, and I wonder, like, have ESP, I mean, NBC or ESPN when they were involved, been given any idea that it's just going to be one year until he's in the booth? Because Sean Payton kind of hinted maybe he's only back for one year, but the contracts for two years. And it's almost like this broadcast deal almost makes it seem like they're announcing Drew Breeze's retirement for Drew Breeze. Most people feel like it's going to be one year, and I saw what Sean Peyton said, and that's what TV execs think. But then, like you just said, he has a two-year contract. They do well or he wants to play another year.

I mean, I don't think there's anything precluding him from doing that. So I think this contract will be waiting for him whenever he retires from football. So it's interesting. I do think Drew was smart to make the deal now because, see, the thing is about Tony Romo that people maybe don't understand this, $180 million. It's a ridiculous sum. however you look at it even after i explain all this you're going to say yeah that's ridiculous sum i'm not trying to convince you 180 million dollars makes sense but the reason it happens because everything broke right for tony romo especially the fact that number one cbs is a super

bowl next year so it's important have your booth correct going to that but more importantly number two is which i probably should put number two number one if it's more important but anyway um the uh more importantly is that the NFL deals are up and so uh going into those contract negotiations, all these companies, their television is built around the NFL. It's the, you look at the top 50 programs, almost every single one of them are NFL games. And so they want to have the best chance to continue with the NFL. And so that's why Romo, everything went exactly right. I don't think people are going to be making $18 million. You know, will they go up a little bit? You know, Troy makes about six and a half to seven

and a half. Will he get the 10 eventually? Maybe, but he's not getting 18. I really, really doubt. ESPN seems to be throwing some big numbers around at unproven guys. Do you sense this is more about the fact that they are not impressed with anybody currently analyzing games on Sundays, or is it more about just needing the big name? Yeah, I think that's a little bit of a misnomer because I think when you look at the Romo negotiations now, they were prepared all from $140 million over 10 years, which is a crazy amount. And obviously they got, CBS had a higher offer at $180 million. For Manning,

I don't, you know, I know there's a report saying that they were going to offer from $20 million. That's from everything I reported upon. That's not true, that they were only going to go maybe 12 to 14. I say only, but that's still a lot of money. Don't get me wrong. For Drew Breeze, now you understand what the Breeze. ESPN could have had Drew Breeze. He, his side presented ESPN with a contract offer that I believe was for $10 plus million. And they said no, because Drew Breeze is proven. And so they were in the $6.5 million range. They could have this wrapped up, but we're in the middle of pandemic. I just reported today, you know, ESPN has some guys like Stephen A. Smith and Scott Bamp Health. They're some of their highest earners. They've asked them to

take 15% pay cuts for the next three months. And so you add all that up. And, you know, they're going to be, they're going to try to be smart about it. And I think when you look at it, Yeah, it looks like ESPN has gone 0 for 4. But if you look at each circumstance, you can understand why they didn't get each guy. The only guy you could say, no, they could have had him, was Drew Breeze. And again, to me, yeah, Drew Breeze could be really good, but he's never done it.

And, you know, I'm not sure. I've talked to a lot of people in TV, you know, do the producers, broadcasters, and some think he'll be really good. Some aren't as sure. I do think NBC is giving them a good game plan. Do Notre Dame, do the pregame show. That's a big hand I put on the video. We can't see it on the podcast, but I just put it right in front of the camera here.

Is that you, that it's a, it's a nice ramp they've given them that he can improve with Notre Dame and then also do the pregame show and then possibly be ready to do Sunday night football and potentially a Super Bowl. I was doing a little bit of homework on you, Andrew, and not that you would remember this, but we crossed paths briefly at Ithaca College in 1993 when I was there for three months at the Park School. And that's journalism school, if you're wondering. And my lack of ability to stay there for more than three months definitely shows on this show itself. But I would ask you this, because, like, looking at what you've been through in your own career, Dan would

love this. You've had minor run-ins with Don Imus, who called you a moron and a mental patient. You've clashed with Mike and the Mad Dog. And speaking of Al Michaels, I read that you were in a bit of a feud with Al Michaels for a bit there. You're a man after our own heart, Andrew. Yeah, those are all true. Although Al likes me now. I just did. It's kind of funny.

There was a long time where Al really apparently, not apparently, like, we had a face-to-face. Did not like me. I referred a lot about when he was going, when he first went to NBC, the contract of Monday at football, he kind of backed out of, and then he wanted to pipe a jet.

Yada, yada, y'all and I did. I should keep it close. Anyways, recently I just did a, a big article about the 40th anniversary of, do you believe miracles? And now it was nice enough to give me an hour and 15 minutes of its time. And afterward, he sent me an email saying he's never gotten such great reaction to a story. And his daughter was crying. And I emailed him back.

We come a long way. Back on the good list. And then, you know, we... Yes. Yeah, go ahead. No, I was just going to say that me being on this podcast, and I think Mark, same thing. Mike and the Mad Dog were so important growing up in the Northeast to us. It was, I felt like, I don't know, I was torn in two directions when you were reporting on Francesa's failed app and you were hitting all the beats on the reporting and you were accurate in it.

And then you were clearly hurting the big man and you were taking him down. It was like watching Godzilla get shot down at the end of the movie. So I want to commend you for the reporting on Francesa despite him getting upset, but also it does hurt because Francesa was. Frances was something of an idol growing up. Mixed emotions on this side of the mic. Well, you know, and I listen to Mike from Chris growing up, too. You know, my brother, who I mentioned earlier, was at college, and my dad would be working. I'd come, you know, my mom and I would have dinner, and I'd put WFAN on, and we'd listen to it to the whole time.

Then I'd say to my mom, oh, nice conversation we had. So Mike and Chris, and the run and I had, I was a very young guy when that happened. I was like 24, and they've got a... basically at Sandbag me. Kind of it worked out. I really wish I had a tape of that. Honestly, that would have been, because I think I held my own,

but I was a 23-year-old in the middle of the New York Post newsroom, and they're, like, screaming at me. And I'm pretty sure I kept my composure pretty well. But, like, someone, like, one of the women over from, like, the entertainment section, like, came over, what are you doing? And then, like, this guy, Anthony Stabiel,

who's a big track guy, I was like, he's out with Mike and the Mad Dog. So, oh, it was, uh, I was, fun. I think it's an honor, though. You know, I'm just calling me a more on a mental patient. I mean, come on. Is there a higher honor in radio than that? I don't think so. Finally, before we say goodbye, uh, Andrew, Marchand, Marchand, Marchand, Marchand. There you got. Martian. Marcia. Okay. Um, how do you think this ends up? Uh, week one. You don't know if you want. It doesn't matter. That's, uh, week one, let's, let's all hope and pray, uh, that football and life is

returning to normal. by September and we're playing. What is the booth for Monday night football when they have their first game, that double-header, customary double-header on the first Monday of the season? Yeah, I want to give you one booth because that second booth, I mean, come on.

Yeah, forget about the second booth. Maybe they'll bring back Greenie and Golick, because I'm sure you guys love that booth. For Berman, or Berman doing the play-by-play play. Not a bell bottom. There's another one, actually. Chris Burma-Haple had a little run. I loved when I was a kid.

But anyway, I'm not a bad guy, I don't think. But I'll go with Steve Levy, Dan Rolovsky, and Lewis Riddick. I'd probably go just two-man booth personally. I think you should keep it simple. I think you're getting a mistake of trying to break in a three-man crew, especially on national TV with the scrutiny they have. And I think two is easier. That's what I would say.

They're looking at Kurt Warner as well. Nate Burleson, I think they're looking at, but I doubt CS would let him out of his deal. And I'm not sure. He wants to be like an entertainment guy. I don't know if he wants a job. So that's what I'll go with. All right.

But I think they'll do one or the other. I think you go Riddick or Olavski. What do you guys got? We're just following along with you, Andrew. Whatever you write, we believe. I like the idea of Lewis, Riddick. I also like hearing these weird like packages that the NBC or ESPN are maybe going for. and it's like a new package in 2022,

and then just get with some wild boosts there. Just like throw anyone out there. Stephen A. Smith, why not? Oh, yeah, if it switches. Well, yeah, if it switches like network, if CBS loses it, it goes someplace else, or they only have one game. That would be fun.

That'd be probably give you guys some fodder for me to report on and you guys have talked about. I guess my one take then would be, as you reported, that they had a chance to counteroffering get Breeze in their building. How much money, I know these are very strange times right now, but how much money the difference was, compared to what ESPN is as this, you know, giant of the industry, just do the deal.

That's what I'm thinking. And then you have your guy and you roll the dice and maybe you get a Romo-Romo-s guy. But I understand the other side of, too, Wes, I think you disagree with me, that you may be throwing just a ton of money at a completely unproven guy. It's a recipe for disaster. Well, I was more like thrown off by Greg saying Stephen A. Smith, why not? How many why nots do you want? I could give you like eight. Don't put Stephen A. Smith in a football booth, first of all.

Don't put him in any booth ever, but definitely not football sport, which he doesn't know, and thinks Hunter Henry plays a totally different sport, is out of the league or whatever. Give me a break on Stephen A. Smith. All right. Andrew Marchan. Yeah, that's pretty entertaining. Isn't that what it's all about? Entertainment at the end? You can follow him on Twitter.

He writes for the New York Post, and he's been doing great reporting in this field, which we are fascinated by his friends call him Clicker. That's interesting. And if you do follow him on Twitter, I just want to mention something. This coronavirus tragedy is touching everybody. It hit the New York Post in a terrible way over the weekend with one of your great photographers, Anthony Cozy, who passed away and just tragic as a family. And I saw that you had pointed to a GoFundMe page to help support his family, which is obviously

a very good cause. Sounds like a really sad moment for everyone. It was one of those guys that seems like. Andrew, that everybody loved, which makes it hurt even more. Yeah, it's been a heartbreaking day for us, you know, started late last night or early last night. And, yeah, Anthony, you know what, he's, if you have that friend who kind of always makes you smile, always trying to do something good, he was a photographer, and not only with,

like, celebrities, like Derek Jeter, which he had great relationships with, but, you know, we're hearing stories about so many people that, you know, there's one. story about this, this couple that got engaged in Central Park, and he was just walking in there and took their names down. I mean, that's special, and he's much too young, 48 with two young children.

So it's very sad. And, you know, like everyone's telling, I'm sure you guys have been preaching this stay inside because, you know, there are a lot of numbers out there and when it doesn't hit home, but this one, obviously, for all of us,

really hits home, even though New York and the Tri-Stary has been really hit hard. You know, this one for us has been hard piercing. So I appreciate you doing that. Anybody out there who can contribute. I appreciate it by everybody. Yeah, head over.

We'll retweet it from the around the NFL handle. And you could check out Andrew if you want a spot there. The GoFundMe link. Thank you for coming on. Andrew. It was great having you on. And maybe we could do this again as the world turns. Now that soap operas are drying up, this is like the new one that I enjoy the most.

This is my all my children. And you're like you're the script doctor behind the scenes in a lot of ways. It's not that you're making up the stories. You're just digging them up. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Maybe I'll make up a couple to make more interesting.

All right, cool. Say how to your brother for us. Andrew, Margin. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right. There he goes. Andrew Marchand.

I'm just going to say his name quickly because I still don't really know it for sure. Marchand. Marchand. There you go. So that was interesting and enlightening. I'm excited to see what happens next in the booth. We have more guests coming up, by the way, later this week. I'm very excited about this.

Kyle Brandt is making his Around the NFL podcast debut, the great Good Morning football host. I think we all have a lot of respect for Kyle. So he's going to come on the show and that will be fun. And we might even have another guest. It's going to be a big week, another big week for the Around the NFL podcast in the bunkers. You guys excited? Yeah, it feels like we should have maybe had Kyle Brandt on seven or eight times by now. so the box needs to be thoroughly checked here.

Yeah, I agree with you. He's a busy man. He is. He's a very busy man, but he's making time for us. His day usually starts before the COVID sheltering at what, two in the morning our time or midnight our time? Yeah, well, they've been, they're still shut down good morning football right now. But yeah, he's one of those, doing those morning shows is absurd, the hours.

Is that what we want? Do we want a morning show? one day. No, we should do a late night, Joe, right? What would our choice be? Let's shift to 24-7 at this point. I mean, we were doing three episodes a couple of months ago. We're now doing five or six. Let's just go 24-7. If you have to step out and tend to a child for five minutes, that's fine. The screen stays on. I don't think you should say that out loud. You just put the idea into the air. All right. This is Dan Heads of signing off for The Quiet Storm, the mailman, the old boss, Rick Hollywood, in her apartment on to Tuesday.

Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct. winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective

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