NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Buy, sell, hold on offseason narratives

Episode Date: April 7, 2017

A room filled with heroes – Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Chris Wesseling, & Gregg Rosenthal – recap all the latest news from around the NFL including Adrian Peterson scheduling a visit with the Saints, and Seahawks general manager John Schneider validating the rumors that they’re considering trading Richard Sherman. Then the heroes update their free agency sandwich props and predict which offseason narratives will hold up in a game of “Buy, Sell, Hold”. Finally, we officially say goodbye to Mr. Flaim as he joins us from The Hauge, the Netherlands.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the NFL podcast won a Stitcher Award, I think. Where the hell is that? Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis. And I am joined by a room filled with heroes.

Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What's up, boys? Hey, Dan. I know where the Stitcher Award is. Where? A previous producer stole it and put it on her fireplace mantle. Yes, that's exactly what happened. Dan unveiled the story, a great one on the old Rich Eisen Show last week.

A week ago, Friday, I did break that news on the audience network. I was like, it's out there. I was like, if that producer is watching right now, you know he or she might be getting a little hot under the collar a little bit she's found out chances are she wasn't you know who else is getting a little hot under the collar other car companies that are Hyundai because the around the NFL podcast is driven by the offer mentioned Hyundai that's right people might be watching us on a stream and if you're not if you're listening to the audio version you can catch us

So check it out. Thursdays 9 p.m. Eastern. Six Pacific. What is it in England? What is that? Eight hour difference? That's seven hour difference from New York City. You guys figure it out.

I think I'd be five in the morning in London. Perhaps five hours. I could be way off. Also hot under the collar, Wes. Other people on our softball team, the shield, the defending Los Angeles County C plus champions. Other people in the outfield because Greg.

Rosenthal is preparing for his second practice with the team today, Thursday. He even brought shorts. Really? Yeah, we get to see his legs. And he's taking things very seriously and turned some heads in the first practice, West, didn't he? Took him about 20 minutes to earn a nickname, pepper spray. Pepper spraying the ball all over the field. Yeah, that's one thing we'll never hear with Greg at the plate.

Strike three, you're up. Greg was spraying the ball. It just like, oh, pepper spray. Former tennis player, high school tennis player, is that correct? That would be correct. I mean, you've told me as a manager, Dan, it's good to, you know, under promise over-deliver. So I don't want to, you know, like your Yankees this year, I don't want to, you know, too much pressure. I'm just trying to be a role player.

Right, like the baby bombers are getting a little too much heat. But I expect a batting title for me. You win championships by having a core group of people who care about each other and put the team first. And Greg, what I like bad at him and most is his attitude. All along he said, look, I'm just trying to fit in, play my role. Look, I know that fly balls, you don't want men who have fly balls and softball, especially in college.

You want ground balls and line drives and pepper spray is all about ground balls and line drives. Mark, how about some of Greg's social faux paws that he's known for? You think that could lead to some issues. on the team. It sounds like it's not, according to Wes's scouting report about having a good attitude. What are these social faux pods?

This is the first I'm hearing of them. Although my wife did tell me what she's like, no one ever knows that you're joking. So I guess that's a social issue. But that's not an issue. You're not typically telling jokes while you're up at the plate. You just got to hit the ball.

That's all you're going to do. There's a lot of joke telling in softball. A lot of bits. Well, hold off on that maybe. Yeah, just nose to the grindstone and just hit those line drives, pepper spray. welcome to you around the NFL podcast later in the show because we're very excited you know with the Hyundai situation but we need to square things away with our previous

sponsor Mr. Flame and his economics class in the Hague, the Netherlands. So we will get Mr. F on the phone at the conclusion of today's show just to see if everything's okay. I mean, he could be a powder keg. He can get on the line and Mother F us all through the night and hang up. That could happen. He would have absolute reason to respond that way. And he's notably anti-car. Likes bikes, doesn't like cars,

so it must hurt him a little extra that he's getting replaced by. He's in the Hague, the Netherlands. We are still convinced that he may be committed some sort of minor to major crime in the United States and is essentially on the run. Wow. Maybe there is a temper there. We don't know. We've never ruled that out.

Like Rick and Casablanca? Like a lot of villains and criminals that disappear from the states. And there's one thing to remember, everybody. Everyone drink, by the way, if you're playing, West makes a Casablanca reference. Bingo. That's definitely a hat trick for 2016, I think, for 17. One thing for everyone to keep in mind,

and this is a sports podcast, but occasionally it touches on real life things, like we were talking about earlier home team, about how to treat your friends and family. Here's another thing. We all wear masks. So Mr. F seems like the nicest guy in the world. we don't know how he's going to react to this.

We might see the true Mr. F today. It's a good point. So you mean like a metaphorical mask, not one like made out of other people's skin or anything? Yeah, that could happen too, but this one's mostly metaphorical mask. Today's show, we will, everybody's getting sick of the offseason already.

God. What off season? Well, yeah, it's by literal title only. It's the off season. But, you know, when does football start? We're not even close. We are barely into it. Yeah, but what we're going to do,

there are plenty of storylines out there. Wes, you don't like the word narrative. I did some homework on the word narrative. Okay, good, good, we'll get to that. But just storylines that are percolating around the league, the way, because what happens is, and we've been through this rigmarole so many times now, having done this show for four years,

and Mark and I have been here since we were in our teens, I feel like, that by the time you get to the end of August, everybody knows everything in exactly how the season's going to turn out, and then everybody's proven to be an idiot most of the time. These storylines are starting to, like, coagulate now. Calcify. Calcify. So we'll see.

We'll buy, we'll sell, or we'll hold on some of these popular narrative slash storylines out there. And we will also do a little housekeeping. I'll leave it at that, a little internal housekeeping. But before we do that, we'll say hi to Sid behind the glass. Sid, do you have the camera that shows you behind the glass? I think we do. Oh, wow, look at that. Here, can you look at the camera?

I said. Give all the fans. There she is. Oh, that's real. Hi, guys. There she is. We just like tripled our streaming audience from like three to nine right there. This is going to be great.

We're all under an oath with ourselves that because people sometimes, oh, we're doing a video podcast and then it's a horrible show. It's like, oh, hey, check this out, guys. on the screen and then it's like everyone listening is like you guys have lost it. We have made a promise to each other in the audience that this will not be that type of video show. But we could also tease. If you want to see

behind the glass and see new money at work, we got the camera. Show it again. Look at that. Oh, look at it working. Here, hit a drop. Any drop. Show people how you hit drops. Top savage. Yeah. Just like that. That's how the magic is made. I have a little news about new money. Oh, yeah? Oh. Came into

the studio. Well New money's on it You see new money If you want me to tell About this I came into the studio Yesterday a little bit early

And there were a crowd of people Listening to a recording back there And I don't this You must have sang this professionally at some point Belting out a legit I guess it was a Disney song From beginning to end

And it was amazing And to the point where it sounded Like a professional production She is a legit singer for real It's not just the little bits That she does for our show That's not exactly how I remember this story

I was in the podcast studio, and I sing a song for the Dave Dameshack program to introduce Matt Harmon, and the producer of said show played it and mortified me in front of strangers that I had never met before. It sounded like a Disney song, but... Oh, yes, it was Matt Harmon's introduction song that we said. Oh, it was written. Oh, okay. It was written by me and M of EP, true story. The story has very little in common with Mark's version of that story.

What, I came in and... This happened. When I came in here, there were a crowd of people surrounding Sydney listening to a song that Sydney sang. That checks out entirely. It was a Disney reference made. It's harder to be, Mark, it's harder to be an ATN media insider than you thought, isn't it? Got to get the story right. When you begin to be one, tell me how that goes.

Wow. I go with triple source. I triple source. That's why. No, you don't. I always do. And that's when I go with the story. that's unsolicited advice I'm probably done speaking to you

for the next week or two All right Let's do some news said Don't you open your mouth about the best A little bit of Sherman there Yeah All right Let's do some news

We'll start with Richard Sherman And the news all around You know we had our Romo podcast on Wednesday So we kind of we wanted to push this aside and give it the time it deserved, because Richard Sherman, of course, is in the news because the Seahawks are open about their potential desire to move the All-Pro corner, and this was something that had been floating out there for weeks. West, you even when we did our, you're the GM, you brought it up as an option, possibly. And then it goes next level because Seahawks

General Manager, John Schneider, goes on K-I-R-O-A-M on Seattle on Wednesday and confirmed. Everything you're hearing is legit you know i think we're a very unique organization in that regard we have a great relationship with uh with a lot of our players there's very much an openness uh what you've seen um lately and the news is real um that's on both sides it's just open communication and then he made it clear that sherman was not in the dark on this with the organization he knows what's going on we know what's going on i don't know if anything would ever happen but like I tell people all the time where 98% of the deals that we're involved with, we don't follow through with. But at least we've opened that door, gone down the road and seen what's behind, you know, door A or door B, you know.

Greg, your thoughts. Well, he can say that they're an open organization. The reality is talking about this so publicly with a guy who's been a cornerstone of your franchise is, not normal. It's not something they've done before. And they are considering him, trading him, I believe, you know, for a few reasons. Number one, he didn't play as well last year as he's played in the past. Still a very good cornerback. I haven't heard a lot of people saying that, but maybe not a, maybe not a first team all pro, but not at, you know, as like he was a few years back, not a bad cornerback. Two, I think they're going to have to turn over

this roster at some point. It's got a great core that's been together for so long, but maybe they're thinking, okay, how do we start getting younger? But most importantly, he's been a pain. And I think his relationship with Pete Carroll has been well documented, been up and down. Pete Carroll said it, you know, he said at the owner's meeting that it was a tough year for Sherman and he never really got over it. He never got past it. So I think they're sending, they're either sending them a message, which I think will

be good for them, or they really will trade them if a team steps up. I think they have a chance to. I mean, there are going to be teams that say we're willing to take on. the external headache and whatever you have to deal whenever there are players that are potential problem cases the only way we hear about it is if it's totally immense or at some point someone gets arrested and we find out something official a lot of players on rosters inside the building

create all sorts of drama that we'll never hear about and you have to wonder just like in your own life if you hit a boiling point with someone a relationship no matter how good it was no matter how much you had from it you cut ties and maybe the Seahawks that got to that point that, yes, it's not just his playing ability. It's declined some, but the whole Richard Sherman experience, we're willing to shop that to someone else at this point. It's so unusual for a general manager to be this honest

that people have kind of glossed over how, I guess, unbelievable it is, that a Super Bowl contender is willing to trade one of its best players while in a Super Bowl window. And he has come out, he told Albert Brewer of the MMQB, very little chance it happens. I don't know if there's a little chance of it happens or not. It's unheard of. I mean, we've been talking,

this has been something that's popped up in the offseason West where we talked about how much responsibility a front officer or coach has to be honest with the media. And it was striking to me that he would come out because this is not just any other player. This is a Super Bowl champion. This is an all-pro. This is the heart and soul of that team, really.

He's like the face of the team if you're besides Russell Wilson. It's not entirely unheard of, though, because we constantly praise the Patriots for getting rid of players before they decline. Richard Seymour was traded at a time when he was still a very valuable player and that turned heads. They traded Jamie Collins last year.

The Patriots are now roundly praised when they do that. And the Seahawks, they may be doing something similar. Who's going to scout Richard Sherman better than the Seahawks? They know where he's at his career as a person and a player. It's a great point. And you think why do the Patriots trade those players? Usually it's just money. Sometimes it's a little bit.

They're getting bigger than the team. team and Richard Sherman I think encompasses that that he did some things in terms of talking about play calling and yelling on the sideline where he's becoming a little bigger than the team the media where he threatened to have a guy fired or run out of the business right that's not that's not a good look for an organization yeah so when his older brother says hey the seahawks just don't want the seahawks just want to control him of course they do of course they don't want a cornerback telling a writer that he's going to take his job but I I I thought his brother, Branton, who, according to Ian Rappaport, our NFL Network Insider, his report on this is very close and helps really run, you know, Sherman's life and career, that he thought it was positive to give Richard Sherman a little bit of a chip on his shoulder that maybe he was implying that Richard Sherman could use right about now.

And he was saying maybe this is good for the team to, he essentially was saying this is maybe a good idea for the team to try to. I buy that. Rain him in a little bit. Richard Sherman's that kind of player that would play better with a chip on his shoulder? Moving on, gentlemen. Adrian Peterson still doesn't have a job. What's up with that?

Because he went. That's our new segment. Was up with that. He visited, of course, with the Patriots earlier this week. No offer came out of that meeting. Seahawks the same thing. And they signed Eddie Lacey instead. Now he plans to meet with the New Orleans set in New Orleans says next week,

according to NFL networks, Heath Evans, speaking of insiders, via source informed of the team's plans. This is his third visit in free agency. Wes, is this a fit? AP Enola. Well, you'll hear a rap sheet tell you that's a fit. You'll hear Charlie Castley and other people say it's a fit. I don't see it. They already have Mark Ingram as a powerback.

And Mark Igrim is acceptable in the passing game. He's not an asset in the passing game like a Darren Sprouls or a Reggie Bush out there running routes. Gotten better, though. Sure, but he's still a running back. Nobody would confuse him with a guy who can play the slot or line up out wide. Adrian Peterson is not a good fit for the Saints. He's a net minus in the passing game, not a good pass protector.

Nobody would watch Adrian Peterson catch a pass, take a minute to round his body into shape, and then start running and say, we need that in New Orleans. To me, I don't see it as a fit. Was it Larry Holder that came on up to the minute a few minutes ago that basically said, well look at the Saints have an opening for a number two back I don't think that's a fit either you already have someone that can give you a lot of what Adrian Peterson has and I think it's Mike Garifolo made a good point later on in that show that A his market value isn't what he thought it would be and B his other idea was I'll just latch on to a Super Bowl team if it's not the money first and we'll just ride in and get

a ring and then will be a perfect final chapter of the Adrian Peterson saga well you don't necessarily get a Super Bowl team that wants you is he's not a better off now. This happens with quarterbacks. We've heard Jay Cutler that's been floating around. If he's not, if he's now choosing to play with a perennial 7 and 9 Saints team, potentially in a best case scenario as maybe their number two guy, why wouldn't he just stay in shape and realize he's not going to get paid and it's not

a happy thing, but someone will get hurt in backfields, many people will get hurt in backfields and signed with a contender in September or October. Is that such a crazy thought for this guy? because the market right now is frankly like I would think a little bit embarrassing to him this is a legendary player i don't think it's a crazy thought and from everything we've heard he's in no rush to sign he wants to make sure the fit is perfect and meets all of his criteria that hasn't happened yet and the report from serious xm last week was that he is not yet turned down an offer he also does not participate in camp or most of most of the or any of the preseason so it's not someone that you need in your building to mesh with from april on or something He could be, he's motivated as a football player. There's no question there. But yeah, I think that makes sense to wait until you get the offer you want. Well, at this point, it sounds like he'll be waiting until after the draft,

which means a lot of running back slots are going to get filled. Maybe this New Orleans situation is kind of like people thought in New England doing a bit of a solid for his agent and doing some due diligence. It does seem like something the Saints would do, though. Even though it doesn't make sense on paper, I could just see Sean Payton and Mickey Loomis just kind of decided, we want Adrian Peterson. Like, this sounds great.

There's a 10% chance he could just be like the best running back in the league or one of them, and let's just add him, see what happens. To distract them from all the other issues on that team. That fan base can talk about Adrian Peterson on a Saints team that has myriad issues, a ton of junk going on, please. Moving on. So Tony Romo goes from the gridiron. That's what they call a football field.

Now, do we know why? Wes will tell us as a historian of the game. It's a grid. It's laid out. What about the iron? I don't know about that, but it is a grid. All right. Okay.

It's laid out. I'll give you half credit on the answer. Etymology podcast with Wes is the host. Anyway, so Tony Romo leaves the grid iron for the broadcast booth. And a lot of people thought, I was one of them, thought that this was the path that Peyton Manning was going to take because I could always picture I thought about this many, many times. Me as a 57-year-old dad with my son back from college

and we're watching the old Thanksgiving game and there's old Peyton Manning with a big old forehead breaking down, chopping up the game. You thought about it? I thought about it all the time. All the time. This stuff went through my head all the time. Me, my boy, and Peyton Manning's forehead at 70 years old.

Jack and Harrison, I mean, they'd be up there at that point. Yeah, I mean, listen, in this scenario, they're young men. Coming up from college or something. They're young, they're pre-med. They're interviewing you on their podcast. What's happening? Anyway, so, but that didn't work out because Peyton Manning, apparently, he doesn't want to do that.

He doesn't want to go in the booth and be an excellent color commentator. He wants to take the John Elway path. Interesting. John O'Rond. Why not? I believe it's Orend. Orand of the sports. A media writer, yeah.

of the Sports Business Journal reported that Manning won't be joining Romo in these ranks. Here's a quote from O'Rand. I haven't actually talked to Peyton about, well, it's quite a qualifier about this, but people who are close, hey, listen, it is April. That's like my report from Sydney's back office singing scenario. This is a great early April post to write because it's an interesting storyline. I call it justifying your existence on planet Earth. That's what kind of storyline is.

But when the quote starts, I haven't actually talked to Peyton about. this what are you going to do but people who are close to him say he has no interest in being a sports broadcaster he has little interest in traveling every sunday he has little interest in going into work every sunday to do a studio show uh he wants that elway path which of course is player and then getting into football i think uh elway started in what the afl and then worked his way into denver many years in business too this yes and then became a top executive with the broncos Wait a minute. Doesn't want to work on Sundays, doesn't want to travel.

The L-Way role is about 50 times more work, more time-consuming, more stressful than most broadcasting jobs. Maybe it was I don't want to do that to go into studio show and say two sentences of banalities with, you know. With Tony Gonzalez. He created that method as a player. I'm just saying that that may be. not make sense, but when you're ready to really dive back in to, like, dedicate your life to the sport, that seems like it would make sense that that would appeal more to Peyton Manning than being some honk.

This news that Dan has disparaged in so many ways. Wow. Not you personally. His music to my ears, I think Peyton Manning would have been a brutal broadcaster. Oh, I disagree. I don't find him to be a funny human being in any way, shape, or form. And I think I'd like to see him go be a GM somewhere. Holy now. He's not going to be doing anything because West just murdered him.

It's over for Manning. He was a great quarterback and can be a good business man. I just don't see him as a guy I want to hear from in a brawkin. Your instincts are all wrong on this, Wes, because he was, if you ask people around the league, who is like the funniest guy at the Pro Bowl, gave speeches. That's who I want to go to for comedy. People around a football way. Not comedy, but just somebody.

We're talking levity and a loose guy, but also knows the game. Who knows the game better than baseball? Peyton, we're all missing out, including me and my boys as teenagers. Everything would be scripted. You'd only get safe answers and safe analysis, no things. Hey, you'll never forget the time that old, old Peyton ordered all those drinks of that rookie's room. I'll tell you. And then football writers thought he was hilarious.

Peyton, don't listen to any of this. I don't think you have any conflicts there. Finally, Amazon Prime will live stream Thursday night. football after a brief romance with Twitter in 2016. The league's Thursday night prime time games are moving to Amazon Prime. The league announced on Wednesday. The site in the league have agreed to partner on a deal for the rights to live stream 10 Thursday night football games. This was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

And I think the thing that really jumps out here is the money, which I'm not seeing in this NFL. com post, but it was substantial. 50 million. Five times more than what Twitter offered last year. Twitter got it for last year. I think when I hear people say that the TV ratings are down, who cares? This is the future. And there will be a time where the NFL is getting more money from streaming services than

from networks. Yep. Think about also Thursday night football, a reputation could not be worse than it is right now that it has the stink on it for being bad football that nobody wants to play and everybody's tired and hurt. And they're still able to have the leverage to get this type of deal for these games. And it was the number two show in all of television. Or it was either two or three.

Sunday night football was one and Thursday night football was two or three. So maybe it's reputation among some football fans for the quality of play isn't great, but it's hugely successful. Right. We're comparing Thursday night football to other primetime football packages. So yes, on that front, I think it's a test ground for much larger operations like this from Amazon, from Twitter potentially. I remember growing up when they, when,

Sunday ticket first came out and was only available at bars and restaurants. It wasn't even available initially at your home. But I always thought, wouldn't it be great if you had a team from out of town where you could just stream, you could buy a package of just your team. You don't need to worry about the whole rest of the league. And the whole league, they're getting smart about this. They're going to start to break this up and offer fans something that they cannot get right now. It has to keep being more fan-based, more fan-focused, because it's so easy.

They talked about it even with what they want to shorten. the games in the commercial, because if you give the average younger viewer an extra 30 to 60 seconds to click onto their phone and get interested in something else, they're gone. So you've got to keep getting smarter. And this is another way of doing it, new platforms, new vistas. That's what's happening in the news. It was good. New platforms, please.

When you end on new platforms, new vistas, there's nowhere else to take it. I know. I know it. Well, if you're watching this on NFL.com, we want you to not close. click off, but we would accept it if you did. You know, the Sports Business Journal, you know, with that type of the sourcing that was used by the sports business journal, maybe you can slide into there. He has been breaking news. He's done a great job for years and years, John Auerland.

Don't all NFL insiders quote or cite sources close to the situation or close to the player? I'm just breaking some balls over here. Yes, you are. Wait, I thought you're not on the home team. Well, John Orrand is not on my team. Taking shots at the writer. He does a nice job. I think a shot to Wes earlier.

See, that was your misunderstanding. That was a good piece to write, but it does speak to what's out there. I thought we could all use a little Peyton Manning update in our lives. I like it. I'm all in. You know, I love it. Dan is on an island trying to wait for a boat to come by and pick him up. It's not happening.

I'm in. And Peyton, I miss you, Peyton. I do. I thought he'd be in the booth by now. And that wit and levity and great sense of humor would have been on display. I had my fill. Yeah. Cut that meat.

He was. What a fun. He was on a Colts broadcast last year or two, and he was one of those guys in the booth, and this would change, but he would just get in the middle of like a three-minute-long story. And, you know, there's a football game going on in front of him, and you can just tell the play-by-play guy kind of wants to cut in,

and like, hey, there was a 20-yard game here, and you're talking about, you know, shooting, you know. Wait, you mean Peyton Mani wants to be in control of the football game? He's talking about duck hunting down in the bayou or something. What? I don't know. No, he's not. You're mixing it up with Duck Dynasty.

All right. Let's move on. And let's circle back now to one of our favorite games that we play before tent pole moments of the NFL season. Go get my lunch, you bozos. Let's see how we did. It's quite a graphic. Why is Wes's – see, we're breaking the rule. We're not going to talk about what's in the studio if you can't hear,

if you can't know what we're doing on the audio. But for some reason, the go and the graphic is Wes's head. We'll tweet this out. Oh, I guess because I'm bald. I look more like an O than you guys. Well, yeah, Wes looks most like a plate of the four of us. Shouldn't you at least had your mouth open, though, so you could have the O with the circle in the middle?

I don't know. I think he said we weren't going to do this. I didn't sit down for this. Apologies audio audience. Maybe you were in this graphic, Wes, in that way, because you did have a rough re-agency period. I did. Oh, really?

So let's go through it. And stop doing that, Greg. You're always looking on my monitor. Just wait. Everybody else is. This is a free and public website. I can go ahead. Just put it up on your own.

Just wanted to save some time. I don't like what you creep over. I love that pet peeve of Dan's because it's happened probably three times. And he's like, sometimes he willfully tries to like ruin like a surprise by seeing what it is first. And it's like, what are you doing over here? Willful surprise ruin her. All right, Chris, you, all right, do we want to, how do we want to do this?

Sid, should we flash the standings just for the people watching? These aren't even accurate. All right, here we go. Greg, just, we'll get to it. Calm down. Crazy. Goodness gracious. Oh, wow.

I got, all right. I got moitered. Wes, you went two and seven. Wow. And let's go through it. Most guaranteed money, you had A.J. Bowie. And that did not work out. I think Stefan Gilmore was the winner.

Is that correct, Greg? he was but I haven't gotten my sandwiches for it okay we'll work through it we'll work through it Stefan Gilmore did it get the most care someone came very very close correct there was someone else out there that was right I think Gilmore got what like 41 million or something

late in the game you're right I'm trying oh was it was it a defensive lineman I believe well this is Brandon Williams this is great great podcast it was it was Brandon Williams I think I got a lot he's up in that in that world I think you're right. I think you're right.

All right. So anyway, A.J. did not get it. Next up, Wes, you had Calais Campbell, will sign with the Broncos. By the way, all of us took you on that. Connor, Dan, Greg, and Mark. By the way, Sydney, I was not here, remember. Sydney did everything for me.

Yes, and we will get to that. That almost happened. Callias Campbell went and visited Denver, and I thought I had it. You should have had Callias Campbell will visit the Broncos. That would have. gotten you a sandwich. I don't know if it had the same cachet.

The Saints won't get first round value for Brandon Cooks. Now, Mark, Sidney, and your steed took Wes on that. That was part of the hook for Mark here. On a horse? Yes. He, maybe I didn't use the right word there. Sydney took everything for Mark. I asked her to, so she was not a great strategy.

Not acting out. And we'll see how it played out. But in this case, it did work out. you got a sandwich there. And then the team that signs Adrian Peterson, you have the Raiders. And that's the only thing really withstanding here. And we don't know what's going to happen, but probably won't be the Raiders. But that one holds for now.

Two and seven. Up next, Mark Sessler. Mark Sessler. What do we have, Sid? Because I think the board you sent me, it said seven and four to Marco. Yeah, seven and four. Seven and four for Mark. We'll start with for Mark, for Mark, Terrell Pryor, Kevin Zitler,

then Danta Hightower will change teams, but stay in their respective divisions. Always tricky with these when you get hyper-specific with the players. That was a ridiculous job by me. One of the names, that is true. Kevin Zitler did. Right. And the Jets went hard after Hightower, but that didn't work out. But it did get some cup.

You lost three there. Lost three sandwiches. Browns do not resign Terrell Pryor. That's a win. That's a win. Nice job. Marks, Sidney. Thanks for the sound effect.

Yeah, that's a... And I didn't take you up on that, but Connor and Wes did, so you get two sandwiches there. Teams that signs Adrian Peterson also had the Raiders, and then this one is going to probably not happen, but who knows, most guaranteed money. Jimmy Garoppolo after a sign and trade.

That's not over yet. Not over yet. That makes sense. That's why I have not collected on Stefan Gilmore. or your four sandwiches. And also, that's going to happen. No one took me up on that, apparently. Well, that's just we all, we all have to put a game out there.

Has to happen by the draft, I believe. Yep. Up next, Greg Rose. So, Mark, it came out well for you, going the strategy of throwing yours out there, but then being hyper-aggressive and taking wagers. Yes, it did. Is that something you plan to do in the future?

Well, I'll just, I probably won't attend the sandwich episodes and just have Sidney do it for me. Well, it worked last time. All right. Next up, Greg Rosenthal, who went 500, according to the board here, four and four. And let's see what Greg has.

Stefan Gilmore gets more money than A.J. Bouillet. Wait, that's right. But that's right. See, it marks it wrong online. Nick Fortier has that wrong. I was going off. Oh, Nikki. Yep.

Flip those standings around. We got a new leader. Calm down, Greg. Let's calm down there. Well, you're not undefeated. like someone else well uh saying overall standings wow uh yeah but Gilmore got more money right yeah because we we kind of we said it was guaranteed money was kind of what we came down on right could we give a sad you know trombone to sidney right about now that was necessary

thank you sorry sid uh Greg the team that signs Adrian Peterson well he they've already announced he's not so you're actually not being credited with an L on this I should get a lot big L there I guess you never know though in a big, big L. A huge L, let's face it. He gone. Pepper spray, let's face it, that's an L. Most guaranteed money, Stefan Gilmore.

That looks like a win. We'll see. And then the bear, we'll see, though. The Bears spend the most money in free agency. That's not going to be right. That's not, they haven't given me the four L's yet, but I'm going to get them. Four L's. Four L's.

That's a tough. Yikes. Who has spent the most money? It'll even out, though. Gilmore will be four wins. Well, I mean, it's got to be, if it's not the Niners, it could be potentially the Rams had some crazy. Yeah, no one has totally stood out. We'll have to get research to help us out there.

Bill signed two fullbacks. That was pricey. That's, yeah. A lot of fullbacks. A lot of full backs. Let's move on to the old Zusser who started out here with Brandon Marshall signs with the Giants. And that was the big score for me. If you hit one on those, you're in good shape for the entire round.

And I got the old Grand Slam sandwich as we talked about. I had AP to the Raiders. That's probably not going to happen, but we don't know yet. Most guaranteed money. I had this one wrong. That's a high tower. He did not stay on the market, perhaps. He stayed on the market longer than I realized.

I thought he would be a hotter property, but he wasn't. And then I had Tony Romo signs with the Broncos, and that's going to cost me. I think Nick Fortier may be on vacation because some of these needs, he does a wonderful job with this, but he has you listed as, six and no. I think I'm six and four actually. And I think Nick is a bad day for Nick because he does such a good job with the board. But how was he to know that we were going to check in on the second? Maybe we could have given him a heads up. You know, listen, we kind of buried him in a big We don't tell Mr. F what's happening in his life. We don't tell Nick. By the way, they're both

getting paid the same amount of money by us, which is zero. Moving on, Connor or his first full round, we go get my lunch. Let's see what we got here. Most guaranteed money. A.J. Bouye, that's wrong. Team that signs Adrian Peterson, the Bucks. Don't know about that. Mike Lennon will not go to a team entrenched as a starter. That's a loss. Greg and Mark both get sandwiches there.

And Derell Revis signs a multi-year contract. That is still hanging in the air. Revis doesn't have a job, so we'll see what happens there. And then... Danger! Finally, my brother, Kevin Danejee. your hands is got into the mix said that Tony Romo would play for the Bengals in 2017. Big old L.

Sidney, why did you not put me on that prop? That's an excellent question. She disobeyed by order. That was a different day. It was a different day. Yeah, I think it was. We tried to get in on that. You're right.

He was here, and I think I actually agreed that he probably would go to the Bengals. I might explain it. I think we all tried to, you know, just steal sandwiches from him, and he wouldn't allow it. Only did it. He only took it from me. So he goes, I'll never see that sandwich.

I can guarantee you. And now let's take a look at the overall standings right now as where do we stand right now. It's just mostly just to stick it to Greg a little bit. Well, but we just established that it's totally wrong. No,

show the standings from that round, which are accurate. Not four TAs. Sidney's are. Yeah, these are updated. Yeah. No, Sydney isn't remotely accurate. Let's see.

Sidney, show the standings that you have. There we go. This is accurate. Mark 7 and 4, I was 6 and 4, Greg 500, Conner 2 and 4, West 2 and 7. Those are accurate, Greg. No, they're not. What's off? I have at least more than that.

You've at least more than that? It doesn't matter. It's not a thing. That checks out for me. Making a bad podcast. Good job, Sidney. I'm trying to be accurate. All right.

There are no repercussions anymore for Luzi since we stopped ordering sandwiches. I think we should bring it back. It's like your Blake Bortles and you can spend the whole. whole off season doing whatever you want. There's no repercussions for ruining the Jaguar's team. This entire segment is really fitting and well with this post-truth world we're living in. Like the standings are basically just made up all sorts of. Greg's suddenly struggling, so he's out on the segment.

Yeah, this is classic Greg. Segmit killer. You are not in first place. You know that, though, right? You're willing to admit that? He's not going to admit that. No, he can't do it. This eats him up so much.

I love it. You're dying right now. I'm just trying to point out that all these standings are totally off. Even Sidney will admit she was trustee, Nick Fortier there. He's got it. Greg, if we try to get in touch with Greg tonight, he'll be driving through a desert. Like, Greg, are your windows down? It's a city on the horizon.

All right. So there you go. Go get my lunch. There's the update. Let's move on. Let's talk about it now, Wes. First of all, do you want to share your little thoughts on, or your big thoughts, I could say, on narratives? What's your narrative angle?

You want to talk about that? As we talk about buy, sell, hold on off-season narratives. Well, I don't know what a narrative is. Okay. Before Peyton Manning told somebody, I don't believe your narrative or whatever it was a few years ago, a narrative meant storytelling from one point of view. He's like, okay, you're going to control somebody, you're going to lead them along. and the reader wants to know what happens next. What narrative, I think, what people think it is now,

it's an opinion widely held by people and especially susceptible to snark. That's what a narrative is. But that's not really what a narrative is. Narrative is not an opinion, but that's the way people use it now. So I kind of struggle to know what people mean when they say what's an off-season narrative.

It's kind of like a story. I think everything you're saying is a good point, but I think it's essentially like a story that you're right. Many people are telling themselves or telling the people that listen to them, you know, if they're members of the media. We're kind of selling you this, and you're either buying it or you're not.

So it's everything that ever gets said in the offseason. No, I think it's like convention. It's almost a shorthand, and this isn't maybe the right way to use the word, but it's a shorthand for conventional wisdom. I missed the words conventional wisdom. Bring it back. Conventional messaging, because I don't know if it's wisdom.

So what we're going to do here now is we're going to throw out some conventional wisdom. Messaging. Messaging. And we're not here to boil the ocean, gentlemen. But what we want to do, that's one of the Corpo Buzzwords. Yeah, it is. Popped up recently that we made note of. And buy sell or hold on these things that are happening.

And Mark, why don't you get us going? Throw one out there and let us know if you're buying, buy him, you're selling, you're holding. All right. I'll say first that I love our corporation, and I love our sponsors. That's a narrative. Let's try it.

I think there's a lot of narrative type stuff. I'm with Wes. I have no idea what a narrative is. I struggled to come up with these, but here we go. There's a lot of narrative-y-type stuff around Jay Cutler. He's going to do this. He's going to do that. So, according to many, Jay Cutler is done with football.

He's happy to simply show his butt to people on Seaside Cliffs now, and that's the extent of it. Do we buy it? Done? Out, gone? There you go. I'm selling that. Where do you come down?

I believe that Jake Cutler likes to enjoy his offseason the way that I would like to enjoy mine. Okay. He has the ability to, and he's out on vacation, standing over a fence, naked with his hot white. That's what you would like to do. I would love to be just out wherever he is on this tropical vacation. And when football comes back around. I feel like you'd be solo, though. Then you do, I am a married person.

I would bring my spouse with me, Greg. But when he has to get pulled into the life of football and then all the bullets start flying, quarterbacks go down, and suddenly Jay Cutler, his stock starts rising, his contract value starts rising. He's had a big long break. He hasn't had to go through the rig of morale of March through, whatever. Yes, I think he's going to be back in, so I'm not buying the idea. You're selling.

I'm selling it. Selling hard. He's coming back. He's playing next season in my book. I agree. Once the offseason starts in March and April and May, all NFL executives overvalue draft picks and undervalue veterans who can play. And by the time, training camp rules around,

they start to value veterans again because the coach has become more of the process. And I think at that point, once you see an injury to a quarterback, Jay Cutler is going to have his phone ringing. Perfectly said. All right, Wes, your turn. Buy sell hold. All 32 teams are colluding to Blackball the 32nd best quarterback in the NFL. NFL. Well, we know

what you're doing, but you should tell us. I'm selling the hell out of that one. Yeah, you've been selling that. You're selling up and down. You're selling real hard. What do you guys think? I'm selling because it's the same thing with Cutler. It's the next guy down that list. If you really gets into a

position where you need a quarterback, forget all this business, whatever you think about Colin Kaepernick, you have to sign. It's going to be, it's a need situation. I'm selling. Not only would they never collude It's just timing. I think he's going to be on a team.

I'm holding. I think he might be getting blackballed. Also, it doesn't help his cause that he hasn't been a very good quarterback. By all 32 teams, though? All 32 teams? Probably not. But some teams are just outright not interested in all. Right, there would only be a handful that could even make sense.

I mean, that's not how the word blackball works. Right. I don't think the NFL in general does. things as a whole. It is truly 32 independent operations. I don't think they're all in a conference call saying this player doesn't get signed by any of us and they all say yes. I'm holding.

All right. Well, we try to convince you. It's an opinion. Just an opinion. It's an ugly situation with Colin Kaepernick. I'll throw it out there. The Texans will be aggressive in targeting a quarterback after the Tony Rombo news. Now, obviously, they're going to go get a quarterback.

I'm buying on that. But I will even take it a step further. They're going to be hyper aggressive. They are going to go nuts. They're going to do something kind of really on this, a surfacy type move, which is trading way up in the first round, I think, to get a quarterback.

And I'll even throw a team out there, a team you know, West is near and dear to my heart. The Jets with the fifth pick, a Jets team looking for more draft picks, and a Jets team that's not necessarily looking for a quarterback that early. I could see the Texans trading way up in the first round and getting the quarterback that they need to convince as their guy

because it ain't Tom Savage. I know that. I'm buying that this is wish fulfillment for Dan and the rest of the Jets fans out there. I mean, Rick Smith. Well, it doesn't have to be the Jets, but I'm saying that they're aggressively and they trade up to get one of these like top three quarterbacks,

Mitch Trubisky tight. Rick Smith hasn't drafted a quarterback in the top three rounds for 11 years. I don't know if he's going to be trading up in a draft to where people generally think there could be many of the top quarterbacks available at pick 25, possibly all of them. Right. Or none. I'm with you, Greg. You're talking about going from 25 up to potentially six or somewhere in that area.

That is extremely expensive. The one visit that they've had that is just interesting is Patrick Mahomes. That's a Bill O'Brien type of quarterback potentially. A lot of people feel like he could fade into the second round even, that a lot of these guys are going to be there when they pick. So if it's a trade-up, I could see it being. You're going to hop scotch a team like the Giants maybe that is looking for a post-Ely type quarterback or one of these teams a couple slots up.

I don't see going all the way up to five or six. What about getting in front of the Browns at 12? That could happen if they really fall in love with the guy. Or trade with the Browns. They don't have the Browns. They already gave up their second round pick to get rid of their last quarterback fee. Well, that's fair.

But they gave away next year. I mean, you can talk about trading future draft picks. Maybe Cleveland would trade with Houston. Here's another follow-up question to something you said. What is a Bill O'Brien quarterback? Well, I think we've waited to find out from the draft what that is.

I will put this. I think it's more Jake... Probably around the 40-second best quarterback in the NFL. It's more Jay Cutler than it would be Colin Kaepernick. I think Jay Cutler really doesn't fit just because I think he wants someone that is known for reading coverages and he puts a lot on their plate. Well, that's not Colin Kaepernick.

And it's not Jay Cutler necessarily either. I think it sounds like they short-circuited Brock Osweiler. I'm buying this for one very simple reason because you have to ask yourself, what is the most reactive move possible? That's what I mean. In the wake of Tony Romo, because the Texans are always reacting to something at quarterback,

and now they're going to be reacting to not getting Tony Romo, so they're going to be aggressive. Was there a more reactive move than Brian Hoyer crapping the bed in the playoffs and then giving $72 million contract to Brock Oslo? I think they're still locked in. That had the owner's sign on. I think in that organization specifically, where the owner is at

dictates so much about what they do. How come no one is talking about the fact that there's another professional athlete named Pat Mahomes? His father? I mean, Pat Mahomes. Pitcher, starting pitcher. That was his father. For the twins?

Is it really? Yeah. I mean, that made me giggle as a child over and over. Just that the name Pat Mahomes existed and now it's back. Like, La Troi Hawkins is a stepfather. You know, the old 20-year veteran reliever? La Troi Hawkins is a stepfather. Really?

Yeah. That's a great, that's a great bullpenny's got us. Daniel Jeremiah is like, oh, my God. All right. All right. All right. My narrative is going to be the Atlanta Falcons will have a Super Bowl hangover. And I'm going to hold on that.

Because I don't know how to feel about this. I think Dan Quinn is uniquely geared and built to fire up this team and get past it. That he's just the right attitude. And I think he's so positive and the energy. And I think they've got a young defense that's coming together. That side of the ball should get better. So there are logical reasons why that they wouldn't have a Super Bowl hangover. But man, that is as bad a loss as you'll ever see.

it's hard enough to just bounce back like we saw with the Panthers and repeat a magical season like that and you lost Kyle Shanahan. So I am totally on the fence. I don't know what to think about this Falcons team, but I think just writing them off like they're not an elite quote-unquote team

discredits a little bit what they accomplished on offense. They should have won that Super Bowl. It was one of the best offenses we've seen in a long time and we should be talking about them as Super Bowl champions. It didn't happen. So I don't know what's going to happen with this team. Well, I'm holding. What does hangover mean like six and ten area?

No, not making the playoffs. I think anything short of the playoffs is a hangover. If you make the playoffs, I don't think you can say it's a hangover. I think the special, like, record-breaking offensive seasons when they come around, they usually don't get followed up with another one. And I think everything worked, and he had Kyle Shanahan. And I hate to say it because I feel bad for Falcons fans. I mean, it was the Patriots of all teams that took it from them also.

But I do get, I kind of buy that that was the window. And that was, they'll never be as good as that in offense. And Matt Ryan will never be that good again. And he might be very good. But that was their season. And they just didn't finish. And it's very possible to me that they won't get back and there will be a hangover. Here's what I like about this team.

Last year's draft, so many of those players that they drafted correctly, that they developed them quickly and well. all contributed to a team that went as far as you can go outside of one bad quarter, one bad half. I think they're going to continue to do that. They have a good front office. Dan Quinn has gone out of his way to talk to other coaches and other sports that suffered similar total crumblings in a big spot. And I think the teams, athletes today are trained to move on. The fans, we can't move on from it, but a lot of these guys can. And it's a new day starting next season. I don't think it's a whole, they don't see a hangover. I'm selling.

I'm so confused by the concept of narrative. I had no idea this was even out there in the football-like discussion. It's all anyone talks to Dan Quinn about. Every single football publication has had like a feature about the Super Bowl hangover already. I mean, they lost Kyle Shanahan, so it's easy for me to believe that they're not going to be as good. I don't know about this specific Super Bowl hangover word, but, yeah, I don't think they're going to be as good because they lost Kyle Shanahan. It reminds me of when Pete Carroll was asked 4,500 times about throwing the bass, instead of running the ball in the Super Bowl,

and that wasn't the end of the Seahawks. I think that... But have they come nearly as close since... No, but they've had a hangover. They've been in the division around both the years since. So if the Falcons get back and get back in position, then I think they're doing their job. What more can you ask for out of an NFL team?

It's tough to stay at the top. Hangover is kind of a nebulous term, but... He said not making playoffs. Yeah, I'm saying, if, look, the Falcons didn't come that close to the playoffs for three straight years until last year, if they can establish themselves as a team that's in the... the playoffs in the mix each and every year i think i think they'd be happy hey time now it's time now is that it for the narratives maybe we'll have one more after this but time now for draft

facts driven by hunday you know they they gave us this this read to do and was everyone in the media group has to do draft facts we're not really draft guys but i was told Sidney said, do your best. We didn't even know that Pat Mahomes. We could come up with a draft back of our own. There's a draft back. Pat Mahomes is Patrick Mahomes' father. That's a good one.

That is pretty good. I got another one. Okay. You're going to get two. Hey, Hyundai, what a better bond than the one that you have with us because we're giving you two draft facts. We're giving you a lot. What are you giving us? Here we go.

I'm looking for a car this summer. Just putting that out there again. Here's a draft fact. Elton Patterson, Defense event, Central Florida, selected by the Cincinnati, selected by the Cincinnati Bengals with a 259th pick overall in the seventh round of the 2003 NFL draft. He finished with one career sack and eight games spent with Cincinnati and Jacksonville. There you go. That was draft facts driven by Hyundai.

Elton. How many Elton's have there been in the NFL? I don't know. But we have time for one more, Greg, and you seem to be chopping at the bench. Well, considering you only had eight career tackles, it's pretty good. he got a sack at least he had that guy can get in the back player guys got a motor for days wherever he is now you got one more do you want to get out of here buy sell hole oh it's up it's up to you you know a good one you're leading the way is it a good one be confident say it is

it's good all right let's do it last one west has been pedaling this car you know the super ball window is closing for the cardinals there's a narrative for you and that's a narrative i thought it i'm selling it i'm selling it story i don't believe i'm so confused i don't believe it i don't believe in windows generally anyways. Super Bowl windows opening and closing, but I definitely don't believe it with this Cardinal team. Why don't you believe in Super Bowl windows opening and closing? That's a weird belief to hold.

Because I don't think a window connotates like many years. It's either it's open or it's closed. Do they have a chance to win this year? Yes, I think they do. I don't think they're that much different overall than they were going into last year or even the year before that. And I think if everything fell right for them, yes, they can be a contend. This is one area where you and I will always differ,

because, and potentially to your credit, you look at the league and you feel like anything can happen, any team can wind up at the playoffs. And I feel that four or five teams, tops have a chance at the Super Bowl. And I will not be enough of that. But we would have never considered the Falcons as one of those teams.

And there was... All right, so then the fifth team is a wildcard team were not considered. But we were indignant a year ago about considering, like, the Panthers or the Cardinals could not even make the playoffs. And yet they totally felt. You were indignant when we said that the Patriots

are going to absolutely go back to the Super Bowl. I would just say this. That was some guarantee. There is, the Cardinals thing does not come out of thin air. You've lost a ton of defensive talent. You're hoping that your quarterback suddenly resurges. You know, we talk about teams where everything went right.

The year before for the Cardinals, up until the NFC title game, everything was going right. They were essentially the Falcons of last year, the year before, up until the wheels fell off. I don't think they're going to the Super Bowl. The team has a huge amount of pressure on them to nail this draft, to even get a roster in shape, even to compare with last years of the years before. I don't think they're going to the Super Bowl. I just think they are one of the teams that has a chance. Well, that's just, of course I don't think they're going.

Only one team is going. They have a chance. And their window has shut. They have a chance. This narrative you're spinning at their roster is the same as it was, like, it's equally as strong as it was going into the last season. They're worse at quarterback. They're worse in the wide receiver core.

They're worse on the defensive line. They're worse at linebacker. They're worse in the secondary. They're based around one player. I think they'll be better at wide receiver for sure. I think they can get better play out of their line. I don't think like... Their offensive lines worse.

Why? But they lost Evan Mathis. He's not there anymore. Jared Valdeer's coming off an injury. I mean, who's better than they were later? They're moving Valdeer to right tackled, sounds like. Oh, so you're going to put DJ Humphrey and all... I'm just saying, print the playoff tickets, please.

I don't understand how you look at that. I don't think they're better. I just... I'm sure you wanted to bring this one up. There's one of many teams that, that... Have a chance. I'm not buying it somehow closed. I'm holding.

I'm holding. Let's see what they do in the draft because two years ago they got the best player in the league basically. And everybody was flying high about Kimebomb. And then he kind of. He didn't do so well in the last draft. If he has a great draft and some of these guys bounce back, maybe Honey Badger's gets healthier. Carson Palmer plays like he did in the last half of the season. That's a big part of the couple other things come together.

You know, it's not like the NFC has these giants that. It's not like in the AFC with the Patriots, and you're like, Jesus, we are really looking up at a monster. NFC is a little wide open. The NFC is a little tougher to get into the playoffs in general. The one thing they have going for them is that the NFC West is not what it was a couple years. You're right. I'm counting on a lot of their guys having better seasons than they did a year ago, like Carson Palmer, like Tyron Matthew, like John Brown. Frankly, like Bruce Ariens.

Right. Bruce Ariens to me, and I love Bruce Ariens. He seemed a little bit out of it last year. I don't know what it was. It wasn't the same guy. They're also in the playoffs last year if their kicker was decent. So it wasn't like they had, they were a train wreck last season. Just a couple things just didn't click for him.

There was some hubris. There was some hubris from Bruce Ariens. Brandon Williams can be my starting cornerback. Got torched early in the season. DJ Humphreys can be my starting right tackle. Got torched early in the season. All right. Before we go, we promised after the stunning.

And it was stunning to us, too, even though it shouldn't have been, and we lost track of the days in the weeks and the months. The stunning acknowledgement that there are new sponsors with the podcast and what did that mean? It was, let's be honest,

it was kind of like a Tony Romo Phil Sims scenario with the great Mr. Flame playing the role of Phil Sims. How dare you compare Mr. Flames? I'm just connecting it. I'm connecting it to current events.

But the difference is this podcast is a class act and we could not say goodbye to Mr. F is a sponsor without speaking to him about a formally, see where his head's at, see if he's okay with what's going on with our new relationships, corpo relationship. So let's bring him on the line now. You know where he's coming from.

You know where he's coming from. The Hague, the Netherlands, Mr. Flame of his famed economics class. Welcome back to the around the NFL podcast, Mr. Flame. Thanks, Dan. Hi, Mr. Flame. What up? You know, now I want just. Just be totally honest with us here, Mr. F.

How surprised were you when, let's call it, the Hyundai bomb dropped? Well, it was a little surprising. It was unfortunately a bad evening. I watched my Gonzaga Bulldogs lose to UNC, and the sponsorship news came in on the same night. Brutal. Yeah, maybe in the middle of the night, a little blindsided, but not unexpected on it. Honestly, from everything we've talked about all year was just what's the next best thing for the podcast. And I think that two sponsors is a really, really good deal for you.

Well, you are an economics man, as we know. And, yeah, in terms of the economics of it, I guess for the NFL, it made sense. Mr. Flame was so kind to us, but paid us mostly in things like sandwiches and warm regards. Whereas these other companies are now coming with a coal-hard cash. So I guess I'll say this. As an economics man, even if you're a little disappointed, it makes sense. It makes dollars. It makes sense, right?

Oh, totally. And also, think about your, the fits for all of the previous bits about the P-scale. I mean, come on. You got another company in Culver City. It doesn't get any better. That's true. That's a very good point by the great Mr. Flame. Don't you think, go ahead, Greg.

I was going to say, don't you think it also makes sense, you know, Mr. Flame, if we're as classy as Dan just called us, that maybe we would have told you at some point in between taping the podcast and when you listen to it yourself. So I apologize for that. That's my own fault. Oh, no, don't worry. You guys are super busy. And, hey, the offseason's time for odd shows. When's the, you know, the classic religion podcast and the philosophy podcast and the novel podcast?

It's going to be great. It's all coming up. I mean, you have a class that you've been teaching about this interaction with us and sponsorship. The final chapter feels a little grim. It's essentially a lesson on greed and corporate malfeasance and basically taking the four of us. At one point, we were getting great gifts from you. Now we are getting essentially nothing. Our company is being rewarded.

I don't, what would you, how would you explain this to a group of young teenagers in the Hague, the Netherlands? well in terms of economics it makes a lot of sense for the corporation but i also think that there's an opportunity here for you guys you're going to have to find a way to uh to make sure that these sponsors recognize that the heroes need a little cut of the pie and uh would you like to represent us i think i need to i mean it's clear sidney's already got one of the brand new santa phase for 2018 series new new money's new car and uh me and Sundays has already convinced Mark to go back to underwear. So this is a perfect springtime for you guys.

Yeah. You know what? That's Mr. S positivity has always been such an amazing thing. And it's leaving us feeling better about how this is played out because it was. Ultimately, it was another win for the big boxes over the little guy. But it just shows the conquering spirit of a Mr. F type not to say, hey, let's look at the positive. Look at the upside.

I don't want to look at that way. I have said several times that. Mr. F, as our sponsor, is my favorite portion in the history of this podcast. I loved everything about it. Mr. F, did your sponsorship of us, did it live up to your expectations? Oh, it exceeded it in so many ways. You can't believe how many fans have reached out to me just to say that the thanks that I'm sending you reflect the thanks that we all feel, you know, listening for so many years to your great show. it makes us laugh out loud and they have told me to tell you just, you know, how great a show it is and that that's why, you know, why we listen.

And that has been a really unusual or surprising thing out of this. I thought it was just, you know, kind of a one-off six months ago. I just sort of said. Now, we like to run these bits into the ground. All right, at Mike Flame 1, by the way, on Twitter. And it would be, I think also it would be foolish not to leave you here without giving. And we talked about this earlier in the week, Mark and Mr. Flame. It's become a real friendship.

So we're going to leave the two of you a private moment now to share your thoughts about each other. Go ahead. Well, it doesn't feel very private. I have three people right around me. Listen, I think Mr. F, the bottom bullet points said an all-around great guy. And that's what he is. I mean, he came in, and maybe if it had been a different type of personality, we would have said one week of a sponsorship is enough.

But he didn't lure us in. I think he really showed us that he got what our podcast was about. Say you, though. Speak to Mr. Flame. Dan is a master of creating ultra-awkward moments in my life, and this is another one of them. But Mr. Ruff, you are a friend of mine. You're a friend.

You're a good man. Mark is blasting right now. Definitely. Your turn, Mr. F. for me too. I've really, really enjoyed the bit, the extended bit for sure. It's been fantastic. Thanks so much.

But could you make it a little more personal for Mark? I don't have a soundtrack and three people watching on my end. That's right. That's fair. All right. Excellent. And you know let's stay in touch. Because you never know. The corporal overlords

they may decide it doesn't work out. And if you would have us back down the line, we don't, we want to leave 1% open. You know, 99% probably this is over. 1%. That sounds great. I like that plan.

Who knows? Your softball team may need a sandwich run. Oh. There you go. Mr. F. Mike Flame, economics class in the Hague, the Netherlands. If you're ever there. Oh, my God.

Go sign up for that class and learn how economics work. And also a little bit about life. A lot about life. Make the pilgrimage. I say you do it. And you say hello. The mecca of economics. And you sign up for a high school class?

I don't think you can just go into a high school class. Well, that was the advertisement on our podcast for the last five, six months. Try it out. See where that takes you. I think we're going to meet Mr. Flame before our lives are through. And I'll bring up this conversation at that time. I think we are going to see him. I don't know where it's going to be.

I hope it's in the Netherlands. We are going to meet Mr. Flame. I'm on board with this theory. All right. Well, you never know. We'll see. But we've got to go now. It's sad to say goodbye to Mr. Flame and goodbye to our audience for another show.

But here's the good news. We're still friends on Mr. Flame. And we'll be back next week with a whole other show. And thank you for everybody that's watching the streaming. We're going to be doing this every Thursday for the entirety of April. Is that correct, Sydney? That is correct. NFL.com Thursdays at 9 Eastern, 6 Pacific.

Walk on. You didn't sound very certain about that. I wasn't totally certain. Good job, Greg. All right, let's go. And we're getting everything's working out here. Outside of a total injustice that's been occurred with Mr. F. That's true.

That's fair, but... Let's paint it with a nice little brush. We got it. We got to move forward as a unit, and let's go home. This is Dan Hansa, signing off for a quiet storm, the mailman, the boss, A new money behind the glass To Monday

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