NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Buy, Sell, or Hold on Minicamp Narratives

Episode Date: June 15, 2017

A room filled with some heroes – Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, & Gregg Rosenthal – recap all the latest news from around the NFL including Andrew Luck’s timeline to return, Eric Decker visiting the Titans, and Gregg’s trip to Rams camp. The guys then debate if they would buy, sell or hold on the bigger storylines from minicamp.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. The Around the NFL podcast featuring NFL Network's Greg Rosenthal. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast starring Greg Rosenthal. This is Dan Hansis, joined by a room filled with some heroes, Mark Sessler. And yes, the twice mentioned Greg Rosenthal. who, yes, some people say NFL network. Some people, Sully, still say NFL.com. Let's be honest.

Thank you very much here with NFL.com's Greg Rosenthalp. NFL.com. The NFL.com. The NFL.com's Greg Rosenthal. That is an all-timer. I was talking to my friend Bob at a, Hey, I have a friend named Bob. In Boston.

One of you is line. And he said when he first heard, I believe it was that drop. Or it might have been the drop where it was kind of the Australian guy doing an NFL. He was laughing so hard in bed, like it disrupted his wife's sleep. And she was like, what is happening here? Why are you? And he had to rewind it many times to listen to it. That drop is a couple months old now.

But Mark, I remember you and I going into, this is not going to sound very masculine. Don't be ashamed of me, Dad. Where are we going? We went to get our makeup done, you know, across the way. And in the makeup room was Amber Theo Harris, who gives the vocal on that sound drop. And she had been getting blown up on Twitter and her mentions. Like, wait, did you guys making fun of me on your podcast? I was like, no, no, no, no, no.

I had to explain what was behind it. Kind of a tricky, difficult thing to explain to a person that doesn't have a lot of the background info on how that came to be. Yeah, I think we basically utterly confused her. And like most interactions with, you know, our female co-workers around here, we just left with our status lowered potentially to some degree. Yeah, I think that's very fair to say. This is the Wednesday edition of the Around the NFL podcast. And Chris Wesleyan cannot be with us today.

Hopefully we'll have them back on Friday. But the show must go on. And we have a lot to get to today, including we are in. We're about to hit the dark period, right, Greg? This is it. Thursday, 31 teams wrapped it up. The Cardinals, they decided to get an extra week of vacation. Bruce Ariens, smart.

They've been gone already for a week. The other 31 teams are done Thursday. Is it smart? Here's a perfect example of the segment today. Buy, sell, or hold on minicamp narratives. Is it smart to take you an extra week, or does it show a lack of commitment? That's a good question. Buy seller hold.

I think they started a week earlier, too. Buy seller hold, Greg. I'm selling that. I'm smart. Get that vacation. What if you get a major injury on Thursday? Was that worth it, please? No, no.

You guys pass the test. That's a clear sell on a take. By the way, we think all this news is going to come on Thursday. It's usually around by noon that you realize that half of these coaches took their team bowling. That last day is treated as a complete joke. Yeah, it's like hopscotch tournament 10 a.m. And then everybody's onto their jets. That's a Browns activity right there.

Mike McCarthy said these are the most important practices of the offseason at the same time that he gave the minicamp off to all of his veteran players. I will sell that storyline. It doesn't make any sense. I'm selling that one too. All right. Now, that's coming up later today. Also, a lot of news to get to.

This may be, maybe for the last time, a lot of news to get to, as the NFL does enter its dark period. And that teases for something we'll talk about on Friday, some mysteries ahead in the NFL. But for now, and Greg, we will get to the thing that we didn't get to on Monday. Just a little warning for you. Okay. Peace and love, with all respect. We got to get to it today.

I'm here. All right. Let's do some news. Brale's going to escape from Herrera. Brerley tried to chip on Joe. And he's gone. Michael Bradley Okay

Sully and I would love to hear from Sully on this So good choice of a news drop So the U.S. and Mexico had a World Cup qualifying match in Mexico City, correct? Yep, correct. And Sully, we were talking a little bit before the show with a couple of his buddies

including Crowda, right? Yeah, Robbie Crowda. Crowda Head? Yeah. You bust down and put your life on the line to attend this event attended by 84,000 Mexicans and 1,000 Americans separated by some barbed wire. Can you tell a little of the story? Yeah, yeah, separated by about, I don't know, about 100 Federales,

a few U.S. Marines and a bunch of barbed wire and separating the 1,000 U.S. Do you think that was necessary, or was it really? It was the most intense atmosphere I've ever been in for sure. So I'm glad they were there. Were you guys getting glares through the fence? Did you feel? Oh, no, it was more than glares. I mean, they were throwing stuff at us.

It was a constant. You said you had like you were getting doused by like not just beer, but cans of beer. Unknown liquids were flying over. It was gasoline, Sully. That's why you saw some of those lighters flying by you as well. And I asked Sully, it is kind of a wild sports event to attend. It's an awesome one. It's pretty cool that you went.

But also was part of it. Uh, like, uh, Mark, some practices you're into, you like the danger of it all, you know, uh, you know, you feel like it's about pleasure, but also sometimes the idea that there could be pain, you're into that makes you feel more alive. I mean, I, I'll let you throw that on me. I'm not sure what that's in reference to, but probably. So, uh, for Sully, a big part of this was the danger of it all that you're going to support your, your country's national team and also on some level putting yourself in bodily danger. Very interesting. Yeah. I'm sorry to report that. Dan, Dan Campbell came back and Bill had to replace Bill Belichick of the around the NFL producers. I think this earned you like more, although Dan Campbell wouldn't need barbed wire. No. Or Federale's. No, none of that. But right down to you said they took you, all the security presence took you out of the stadium into a safe house essentially.

Yeah. I mean, gee, do the Mexicans hate us that much? From the hotel. Yeah. If you're a Mexican listener of the show, reach out to Sully and let them know that not everyone. Well, no, they weren't. Well, it's more than soccer.

Eltree fans were great the whole trip except for game day. They take it quite seriously. Oh, for sure. And we scored a draw, which is a very good thing, correct? Yep, very good thing. All right, let's start with the news, and we'll start with Andrew Luck, who obviously not taking part in the minicamp with the cults.

And coming off shoulder surgery and his throwing shoulder surgery, on his throwing shoulder, there continues to be uncertainty about his availability. Chuck Pagano was asked this week on a timetable for luck, and much of the consternation of Colts Nation is very clear there is none yet. No idea. My guess is as good as yours, you know, and he's going through the process. We know that process can be, you know, long. He's doing well. We're just going to take it one day at a time.

you know and the next step is getting to the point where you know he can throw you know and then there's going to be you know obviously a number and a pitch count you know on that and he's going to have to continue to build you know from the ground floor up mark Andrew luck was asked about his shoulder and he said they don't need to have any concerns it will be fine should there be concerns here I mean you want your franchise quarterback to go through an entire offseason health you don't want surgeries. You don't want to worry about pitch counts and all this business when he's 27 years old. But at this point in June, I mean, I don't think you get overly word. You want to just treat his body. You want to give him the perfect chance to heal and not rush it. The most

mistake you could make would be to get him out there and get him active before he's ready. Yeah, but not so much right now. The fact that they're not saying what you want to hear if you're a Colts fan is, oh, he'll be ready for training camp. We're easing him back now. But the fact that they're not ready to say that makes you think. It's concerning. This is a very serious situation. Well, it makes you assume that he won't be ready for the start of training camp, and they're definitely shooting for week one. And that just shows you what a serious surgery it was,

because he had the surgery in the middle of January, and the fact that he's not close, it doesn't sound like he's too close to throwing yet, and when he's fully back, like, I just list, you know, reading between the lines, and I've seen a lot of these over the years, you might, you wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't play at all in the preseason. if the first game action he sees is during the regular season.

And there has to be at least some thought that he won't be ready for opening day. But we're just guessing. That's what we do. That's what we do. That's part of the gig. In other quarterback news, franchise quarterbacks with shoulder issues, Cam Newton won't be throwing at Panthers mini camp after all, just days after it was anticipated by the team that he would be throwing at this camp.

Ron Rivera said that he, quote, got ahead of himself by one week. this according to the team's official website. Nothing, not a setback for Newton, according to Mike Garifolo. But Rivera just got a little ahead of himself. He's still on track. So that's more a positive timetable for your franchise quarterback. Expect Cam to be ready, I would think, at training camp. But we shall see.

We shall see. Well, it shows that the two surgeries were different, even though significantly different, even though they were both shoulder surgeries, because Cam had his surgery three months after. Right. and drew luck. It was a 12-week recovery for him to be throwing the ball again.

So just, you know, reading between the lines, you can pretty much see that the luck surgery was more invasive. Well, and even if they were the same, and they clearly weren't in this case, you have no idea how two different human bodies are going to respond to the same type of surgery. Moving on in Cleveland Browns camp, there's a couple of things going on.

First up, Brock Osweiler. Oh, I can't believe it. He is, of course, the quarterback. that was acquired in a trade with the Browns in that complex salary dump scenario. And guess what? Not all is he still in the mix right now for the Browns. He's getting a lot of positive buzz about how he's looked

and a possibility that he actually is going to be the starter coming out of camp. We'll see how that works out. But he talked about his chances and his ambitions for the Cleveland football franchise. I want to start with this team. And I'm working every single day to put myself in a position to earn that starting job.

But my focus isn't anywhere as far as who's getting what reps. My sole focus is, what can I do today to be a better player and have a good practice and make my teammates better? It's kind of like a pull-string doll answer for a quarterback. He's been this guy from the minute any of us heard anything he had to say when he was the Peyton Manning's backup. He's very measured, sort of an athlete, quote, speak, machine. he's good at that

and I'm not really that concern with how he looks in June mini camp practices and previous OTAs that Osweiler's issues have always been when you're on the field against an opponent

who's actually blitzing you and putting you into danger where is your decision making and your mechanics at that point? I wish we had a if this was a TV show a split screen of when Brock is talking to Mark's rolling his eyes

and shaking his head listening to Brock now that he's on Team Sessler. I don't dislike the guy, but there's a lot of baggage that obviously comes with Brock Osweiler. And one thing that has, that I find a little bit surprising. I probably feel bad for him now, watching him today.

I was like, doing what he can't. He's making a ton of money still, and he has a legit opportunity. If there's like two or three teams in the league where if you're Brock Oswald, you have a legit chance to start games this season, this is one of them. It ended up being not a terrible landing spot. I just think that when the trade happened, the presumption

was he won't even be on the roster. He won't even be on the team by the time we get here, and he still is. Well, and that's when the trade happened. The Browns, of course, got a lot of positive press for making this move. And then it even seemed even more kind of clever that then there were the reports. Oh, and the Browns might not even want them at all, and they're going to cut him. And I remember at the time of the trade, I said it on this podcast. I was like, I hope this doesn't end with come the end of the summer.

We're hearing reports about how Brock is really, he has a good chance to start games. Because you know it's not going to work out. Let's just be honest. Like, we've been through this before. Jets fans have been down this road. Browns fans have been down this road that when you try to put this type of round peg into the square hole, it's never going to fit. Right.

So it seems to me like a waste of time when you could have a guy like Deshaun Kaiser, maybe get him more reps, get him right in the mix, maybe, or another developmental guy like Cody Kessler. Jets have a similar situation with Josh McCown potentially starting when you have two young kids on a going nowhere team. I just, Brock Oswald, they were starting games. especially week one. I just feel like it sends a bad message to the fan base. I don't think that there's any even remote suggestion of a guarantee that that's going to happen.

I mean, it sounds like all we've heard this week is that, and Hugh Jackson does not want to talk about reps and where they're happening with the first or second team, but Kaiser's being given a Russell-like chance to win the starting job. I think Kessler is probably, Kessler and Kaiser, you'd have to imagine in both cases, Hugh Jackson had a lot of say in drafting those quarterbacks. Osweiler just landed on the roster in a bizarre front office. Well, and they never really replaced them. And I've always wondered if they had conversations with the NFL after the trade happened

and if they got any pressure to keep him because it was essentially illegal to do a contract dump according to NFL rules and maybe they admonished him for it. I don't know. It's good theory. They're giving him first team reps, right? Yeah, they're rotating. Yeah, but it sounds like, for instance, yesterday when all this stuff about Kaiser's getting first team. Kaiser and Kessler worked mostly with the first and Osweiler mostly with the second

team, but that again, it switches day to day. I don't read too much into that when you don't have a clear quarterback. Right. And when they're in shorts, we're going to get to my trip to Rams camp. It's like that really hammered at home for me how overcooked a lot of the conversation is this time a year. For instance, Vance Joseph, the coach of the Broncos, said in terms of his quarterback competition. May in June will have zero to none in terms of the impact that it will have on his decision. He says that's how much May and June has mattered to him, zero to none. Let's move on. Eric Decker is a free agent now after the Jets formally released a veteran wide receiver earlier this week. And his first day is a free agent. The receiver is meeting with the Tennessee

Titans rap sheet reported on Wednesday. Decker released Tuesday. He's 30 years old. We know the story with him. He's coming off a couple of surgeries. His last full healthy season, 2015, he was part of the best wide receiver duo in football. And I continue to think that he is a massive, massive value by

at this stage of the game on the NFL calendar, whoever gets him, and the Titans feel like a nice fit, potentially. Don't think I didn't just see you just throw in the best wide receiver duo in football. Look at the numbers. That's not an opinion. It was an opinion. We'll see.

I love it. You're not going to believe, by the way, Greg. You're not going to believe their opinions on this podcast. And no, no, while you're here, give me this because I am on Mark's corner now with the worst team in the league. They combined for like 2,400 yards and like 25 touchdowns that year. I quickly tried to race through and think of a better example, and I couldn't. So you might be right. And I love this move for the Titans.

And look, I'm all in on the Chargers being the team around the NFL. Matt Money Smith. I missed that announcement that he was going to be the play by. play host, but that helps it even more. But I do like these Titans too. And Eric Decker adding to that group, I mean, Mariotta having a whole new receiver group, I think it'd be a terrific pickup.

Yeah, and John Robinson, again, has proven that he works quickly, that you went into this offseason with wide receiver being a burning need. You now have Corey Davis. If you ever added Eric Decker, that position group becomes a strength potentially, and it is a completely different type of offense.

Right. And you have their third round pick was also at wide receiver, Taiwan Taylor. So it could be like a totally different group, essentially, if you pick up Decker. And Taja Sharp, you know. For sure Matthews is solid. He's going to play a little bit. If Tadja Sharp can keep his head on straight, this guy sounds like a little bit of a nightmare. He made another guy's head not straight, according to reports.

We don't want to say. It's all legend. I don't want to throw any cold water. I know everybody seems very excited to make the Chargers, the team of ATL in 2017. I guess I'm the only one that has any problems of them abandoning the city of San Diego. I'm going to reward them as team of ATL after they committed what I thought was an affront

to a very loyal fan base. I find it an odd team because we haven't circled around and had a team of ATL's second time. It would be an odd year to do that for a team that completely showed zero loyalty to the city of San Diego. It has not come up yet. There's been a lot of positive juice about the chargers on the show

in the last couple of. months. I'm sure it takes us. You make a strong point. I was there at the last game in San Diego history, and I came back talking about it for days about how they, you know, creamed that poor city and how unfair it was. If you've had your team move. You make a strong point.

Yeah, I think there's sensitivity to it. And, you know, we'll figure out our team of ATL by roughly week eight or nine, so there will be in-depth conversations. Moving on to Bears camp, Mitchell Trivinsky, of course, the second overall pick has a lot of work to do. He only had 13 starts at University of North Carolina, and he needs as many live reps as possible to really get up to speed at this level of football. And during Tuesday's mini-camp coach, John Fox was asked if he would consider a Trubisky package, quote-unquote, to ensure the first-round pick got some work this season. Fox decided to conjure up his time with Tim Tebow.

I've been around in situations like that before, you know, back in my time in Denver, even with Tebow. So, you know, we're going to do whatever we can as coaches. We've got to put guys in positions where they can utilize their skill set and it won't be any different this year. Plenty of logic there, Mark, but just invoking the name Tebow with any young quarterback, it just feels like it's something that's unnecessary because Tebow does not have a great reputation as a professional quarterback. Let's just be honest here. I don't know why this thing where you bring these rookies in, the Browns tried this with Johnny Mansell too, where we're going to have a package of plays or a different type of.

offense for rookie quarterback X. I don't know why you develop Trubisky this way. When it's also saying we want to give him a full year to develop and really come back the year after as a potential starter. It always bothers me that Fox essentially was kept in the dark about this entire trade-up and the way that they picked Trubisky and now he's got to deal with it. And it's not a player that he wanted necessarily. And it's a team that there probably is going to be increased pressure of Mike Lennon's struggles, not from Fox, so the coaching staff necessarily, but from other parts of the building to get Trubisky on the field.

And I don't think this is that, but it sort of hints at that a little. And if you really break down what Fox said, like almost everything John Fox said, it amounts to nothing. I mean, he doesn't say any, no one gives less to the media. And it would seem crazy in my mind if they did this with Trubisky. I kind of would be surprised if it happened. I want to cycle back to the Browns quickly, bad hosting job by me. But let's cycle back.

This happened right before we came upstairs, but Miles Garrett, the first overall pick in the NFL draft in mini-camp on today, Wednesday suffered a foot injury. He was seen limping to the sideline at the end of the practice. Coach Hugh Jackson did not seem to think it was serious, so we'll find out. And this would be a good test mark. like if the Browns, if God hates Cleveland and all that stuff, if we have some type of serious setback for this guy,

let's just hope, you know, just a little cramp or something. Nothing, no Sammy Walken scenario here. Yeah, I feel like if God is like a top five sort of power rankings of cities that would be on his radar, why Cleveland, you know, economically struggling, a lot of, you know, salt of the earth type people, why wouldn't you be more focused on certain, like, hyperviolent areas? areas of the Middle East to be on your radar than Cleveland.

Maybe get over that God. Wow, taking shot to the Middle East. Not taking a shot at God necessarily either, but just maybe asking him to rethink this. That's what's happening here. Brunton Berner Bloor's a God. Wow. I mean, let's get our priorities straight.

And from Mark, too. That's a surprise. To our listeners from the Middle East, that is Mark Sessler. All right. He lives in West L.A. Well, hey, if any, they have had three.

And I know they're hurting right now, but they have had three straight NBA finals appearances. Things haven't gone too poorly. And they came within one like inning of winning the World Series last year too. Well, by the way, that's not what I would call. That's painful, exactly. That's not joy. I'm saying there's happening than before.

The Indians are a great team now and the cabs obviously have LeBron. If just if the Browns could just get over the hump, we don't need any more documentaries from yes. I would be fine for there to be no more documentaries, including if that means, Cleveland actually does something more than win two games in a season. It is airing again this weekend. Speaking of ESPN documentaries. You know, we get the narrative. It's been out there for a while.

Horrible NBA playoffs, very disappointed how it all turned out. But I just want to say the one thing I was looking forward to then I saw hundreds of commercials leading up to it was the Celtics Lakers 30 for 30. I think it was Best of Enemies is the name of it. And, you know, I sit down in front of my television. I put the young boy to bed And my other boy hasn't come home yet And I'm like, oh, I'm going to dig in on this

Because I love that magic bird He's out partying history He's getting bombed I've lost control of Jaguette's two and a half And the first voice I hear basically Is Donnie Wahlberg I grew up on the south side of Boston With Larry Bird was king

And I love Boston And then it's like, and then it's like Ooh, dueling narrator Here comes Ice Cube Oh, the Lakers were Everything was all about the Lakers and Larry Bird's terrible. It's like, do not hit me with the dueling narrators with Donnie Wahlberg, of all people, not even Mark. And then Ice Cube again?

How many more documentaries does Ice Cube have to be involved with narrating about the Los Angeles sports scene? We did it. What are we going to just keep on doing this? Come back to us, 30 for 30. I very much like this rant. I mean, clever move by you to pivot to cube to distract attention away from your Donnie Wahlberg Boston impression I don't know what

I don't know what that was I had some Gary Baird's going on Let me try it again I grew up in in Southie where Larry Bird was kidding Wait a minute no no no You lived in Boston I can't do it either

The word Larry did not come out correctly there I lived on a college dorm campus It was I wasn't exactly You know Out where like the Goodwill Hunting guys were Sure

Anyway, I just, you know, the Ice Cube thing. They just did that with the Raiders thing with the, wasn't there a Raiders documentary? Yeah, it was good. It was fine. It was nice that Cube was involved with that one. But now you're running them back for this and it's Donnie against Ice Cube. How can you? Donnie is a little low wattage.

That's a concerning choice by USPN. I will say one thing about the Raiders, though. I mean, there's a lot of it be a Walberg, too. There's an organization worthy of some documentaries. A lot of good things. have happened. Oh, that's certainly true. Did we ever even get to the Browns news?

Yeah, Miles Garrett had a foot injury. I mean, I don't even recall talking about that. Yeah, we did. It's not that serious, they hope, and we hope it's not. And if it is serious, remember, that's how we got to it. Then God hates the Browns. Then I am going to leave the company. Yeah.

Finally. Because enough is enough. Oh, I totally get that. And finally, Greg, they put him on the road this week. Greg Rosenthal went to Rams camp on two. Tuesday. So you might remember last year, it was Gregi does Dallas. And now this year, let's call it Gregi Polk's Thousand Oaks. Ooh, I like that. It's also kind of gross. That's what we're going for.

I will see. I mean, Thousand Oaks is a beautiful town. So I guess if I was going to poke a town, I had never. Might as well be a hot town. I had never been there before, but they were at Cal Lutheran University I wasn't familiar with, but a beautiful setting, some mountains in the back, a perfect leather. And it's very quiet. One thing that struck me being up there, it's almost like the Rams are like a small market team in terms of their coverage still.

I mean, they were in St. Louis, which is one of the smallest markets. But it was pretty quiet. It was great because, you know, I could talk to people, but, you know, five or six, you know, print reporters, you know, a couple local TV people, that's about it. I noticed that last year, too. It was quiet.

And there was incredible access. like there'd be a scrum and there'd be there's no you couldn't call it a scrum there were three reporters standing around when we did uh i went to oxnard last spring when they did the hard knocks press conference and that was that was the rams first year back in l a uh you would think there would be a lot of l a reporters and it was just like me and like three other guys there asking the questions on something that was live on nfl network and afterwards they're just like anybody could have gone up to any of the front office officials they had todd girl and a couple other players there's available and it was just there was no swell at all it makes sense i guess it makes sense because you've got reporters going to the angels and the dodgers and i don't know other other thing i mean they are having to win over NFL though i mean you're going to have to win over this market in terms of in terms of interest i guess i mean that the the institute you know in cleveland it's like people have been browns fans for 50 years so you know you got to build that back up gregg so

what were your takeaways from your visit if you had any at all uh well gregg one thing that stuck out was, no, I had a couple. Greg Robinson, you remember Greg Robinson, number two overall pick in the draft? Yes, barely. He was not even getting on the field with the first or the second team. So that made, that made me think that they are going to move on from Greg Robinson, or they're really trying to send a message, but he's due $3.5 million, and that's a lot for a guy who's, I guess, right now, fifth or sixth in their rotation

at tackle, which is crazy. Do you want to know the message that they were sending? What? Hey Greg Robinson, you suck. Stop, that's terrible. Wait, that is, you know, they're not letting them play, that's all. Sit down, be humble might be the second part of them. It's down!

Be humble. Todd Gurley. Greg never likes when we're openly critical of players. I was. I was pointing out. Oh, stop. Leave him alone. You always react the same way.

It's that true at all. Well, he's building a relationship with the rim. So, you know, he's going to have to be up there in beautiful Thousand Oaks, maybe sooner or in later. You know what? He's like a guy, Greg's in AA, NFL.com, and he wants to get the tap. He wants to come up to the majors, NFL network, and that's how you stay there. You've got to have access, you need to treat the players as higher entities than yourself. And I see it now makes it.

Well, with that in mind, I'll point out, it did look like if you're a Todd Gurley fantasy owner that hated life last year because they would never get them the ball in the passing game, I hesitate to take too much away from watching these practices in shorts, but you couldn't help but notice that he's lining up out wide, you know, outside of two wide receivers a couple times. Then he's motioning in, running the other way, and they're throwing it to him. I mean, he seemed to be getting a lot of targets in the passing game, and I would find that exciting.

Tyler Higby was the other guy who had a great day. I mean, I don't know if he's had a great couple of weeks, but he was a beast in the end of him. One question, because, yeah, what can you take away in terms of what you're seeing play to play. But is there any, do you see any shared DNA between the Redskins on tape and the Rams offense, or is it just too hard to put that together at this point? I think just the way that McVe talks in terms of the, he's trying to create matchups.

You know, that's what he answered when talking about Gurley. And Gurley was really trying to, it's almost like the reporters are trying to make him own that he struggled last year, and he almost refuses to say that. That it's all a team thing. He said he doesn't care about what he does individually. cares about the team, but I think there's just a confidence from all the players on both sides of the ball, but especially offense. It's like, hey, we have some people that know what they're doing. I mean, a lot of Gurley was talking about, you know, just crediting the coaches.

They weren't disparaging last year's coaches, but Jared Goff and Gurley and really the offensive guys were just so effusive in how good these offensive coaches were. You can't help but compare them to the Jeff Fisher staff. Was everyone nice to you, Greg? They treat, they were nice to Greggy. They took care of them. Everyone was, were you treated as great up there. Did you do any hits?

No, no hits. I was kind of collecting stuff for a weight. You should be doing hits. Why aren't they giving you hits? Feature. I did let them know, but, you know, they have other people elsewhere that they decided to use. That's terrible.

Any other takeaways, Greg, before we move up? No, that's about it. Do you have fun done? Connor Barwin was a fantastic interview and it was very nice to really make extra. your time, like, after their meetings was there, and that'll be in the Wade Phillips. Did you expense a meal or drinks after? Were you able to eat up there before you came home to your family response?

I was worried. Yeah, so I stopped at Trader Joe's right near their facility and got a couple grab-and-go things. It's about $8. Oh, I would milk that expense account for more. I think you have roughly $35. Oh, yeah. I could have gotten dinner on the way back. I should have done that, but I didn't.

Yeah, next time I would say maximize that. Use that money where you can. Well, they pay you for gas. too and they pay way too much for some reason i don't know why like the gas rates very high yeah don't yeah let's not let them know that yeah well no one's they seem fair to me and uh when you were driving up to the the facility where you did you roll down the windows and crank your tunage up and say hey i'm getting out of the office this is why i'd work for the nfl anything like that uh i was listening to some you know podcasts i think some tennis podcast oh boy that is not cranking

Some WTF with Mark Maren, listen to a little bit of that. Okay. I did feel like leaving there, though. There is something to, all right, I put in an honest day's work. Also, I filed before I left. Oh, that's key. Sometimes I'm writing, you know, at night at home. It tends to be my thing lately.

And it's like, I filed, you know, you get in the car, it's sunny, you got a little tan. You're like, I'm an honest man, making it honest livid. That's what's funny. It is, it's funny, too, because in the rare occasions every once in a while, when I've been in New York working for this job, and maybe, let's say, for instance, because I'm aware of who all the Jets beat writers are. If I go to cover, like, a Rex press conference or something like that, I always feel like they're all looking at me, like, who is this shtole?

Like, we are the beat guys. Who's this loser showing up? Oh, I think they are. Yeah. No, I'm saying it. But in L.A., you know, it's a different vibe. I don't think you were being judged at all. All the beat guys were extremely nice and gracious.

and their ESPN reporter, Alden Gonzalez, says he listens to the podcast. So shout out to Alden. Yeah, Alden Gonzalez. Hey, G. So that was Gregi Pokes Thousand Oaks. Let's move on. Checking on the end around. Over on the old end around, Jeremy Macklin, as we know.

Are we doing it again? Holy shit. Every show now. We're back. We're back. This team. In the Ravens Nest again. Mark's least favorite.

favorite team in the NFL. I mean, we might have to stop talking about the Ravens for the rest of the summer after this run. Anyway, Jeremy McLean, you know what happens when a prominent, a little interesting that Jeremy Maclin made the cut here, whenever a prominent free agent is doing visits and a local restaurant will send a tweet,

you know, insert popular product here for life. That'll be fine with the bird sound, thank you. I know. Let's kill the crows. in the service of, you know, publicity and some goodwill for the fans. Anyway, so there's a restaurant called Jimmy Seafood in Baltimore that offered Macklin. First, they said free crab cakes for the length of his contract. And then when McLean didn't respond, they just up the ante and doubled down and made a lifetime offer. Wow.

And what they didn't know is that McLean was tracking it the whole time. He had it in his back pocket. So after he signed that deal with the Ravens, he came back at Jimmy Seafood and tweeted, I read what y'all said. I love crab cakes, L.O.L. And then Jimmy Seafood responded, Mark, this is, I want to get your take on this. Jimmy Seafood responded, we are crabs of our word. And to me, the language of the tweet clearly seems to indicate that the crabs themselves are running Jimmy Seafood.

And that's, you know, fascinating and impressive, quite frankly. Then again, then you take a step back and go, wait a second. If the crabs are running the restaurant and they're serving crabs, it just took a dark, dark turn. A solian green type turn almost. And on top of it, they're literate and have a grasp of social media, which is also, you know, news. Right. It can't be easy to type with those crab claws. But let's not bury the lead here.

They are sacrificing their own to people like Jeremy McLean and thousands and thousands. of crab-obsessed Marylandites. But in theory, self-hating crabs. Right, like the best-looking crabs are the one that you would put on a plate, maybe enough for crab cakes. But it's true.

But it's like, how do the crabs decide who gets off here? Why would it be the, like, the higher-level crabs? Not just self-hating crabs, Greg Rosenthal, genocidal crabs. And finally in the news, Ben Bacadu. So that was troubling. Like, that took a short. sharp left turn into

like troubling boulevard. Right. It's like that skiing movie where they end up eating the dead I will say one thing I've never eaten

crab cakes in my entire life. Not a surprise. All right, but then the only time I think, you're a fooditarian. I am to say, well I don't eat crabs

but the one time I came close to trying it I had a girlfriend and her family lived, very nice family lived in the Baltimore area but our relationship was on very rocky soil

to say the least and we went out in the Baltimore area to have crab cakes. At least they were, and I was going to maybe try one. And we had quite a few beers in us. We were young, early 20s, and she kept referring to me, well, no, she'd twice, mistakenly referred to me by the name of her ex-boyfriend in front of her family. Wow, twice! That's terrible.

That was a, well, it was a microcosm of everything else that was happening, I think. But on top of it, I was like, I don't like crab cakes, I don't like Baltimore. I don't, I'm getting out of this situation, so let's get out of this next. I had a somewhat similar situation with a name faux pa. This was shortly after getting out of my college relationship, which carried into post-college. And I was going on a Valentine's Day date with a young woman in the Hoboken, the city of Hoboken, home of Mike Gerofalo, Garifolo, excuse me. and I accidentally called this date my ex-girlfriend's name as we were leaving the restaurant.

The guy is drunk. I was a little drunk. I think that's accurate. Finally. You're missing out on crab cakes, man. Give me a break. It's delicious. And by the way, Mark, you miss the show Monday.

Or just steam crab or whatever. You had a stomach bug, Mark. Right. And I just want to ask, just be honest. Did it have anything to do with your Tom Brady diet? No, had not had a... I'm just examining... I'm just doing those once in a while,

had not had one of those in 70s and hours. You know how to trust that book. I will dig in more on this topic later, but I think it's getting too much press for being ultra weird when it's really just essentially not as weird as I thought it would be. And finally...

But no, don't try to link it to that. Yeah, well, jury's out. The jury is not out. There's no jury attending to this case. not eaten that. I had probably nine meals after having a Tom Brady meal. That was like... They've been very good.

That was like the equivalent of Bill Cosby's defense team. It was like, we're going to call one witness and we will settle our defense in 14 minutes. Why on earth are you drawing a parallel to that of all things? Hey, when I could draw a parallel directly from Tom Brady to Bill Cosby, I'm going to do it. Finally, in the end around, whoa. Ben McAdoo got a haircut. Whoa. Anybody see this?

Ben McAdoo haircut? Yeah, I saw it. Whoa. Ben went, he had a very strange haircut last year with the Giants. Let's just put it that way. It was kind of like, there was no way to really make sense of it. It was like too short and too long, and it looked faked, but then obviously real. It looked like it was combed, but then it looked kind of messy.

It was a strange to do. So what did he do? He just pulled in the sides a little bit. He got tight on the sides. threw it to the back grew it out a little bit and combed it to the back and all the grease you can handle

and now he's got like a Pat Riley look thoughts well hold on what Greg have you seen the photo yeah I mean Pat Riley owned that look he this is I'm not saying he looks as good because Pat Riley pulled it off

handsome guy too well Pat Riley didn't shave the sides though it's still kind of weird to me it's very weird it's just weird I'm sorry he was he was asked about it the press guy got a surprise amount of buzz, or maybe not surprising, considering the market. He was asked if he had been getting any, you know, slack from the team.

It's striking. Yeah, they've been pushing me. So got to keep it fresh, right? I just think it was the right move, though. Even if this, maybe he's not there yet, he had to move away from that prior cut. I think the next thing is the goatee. Yeah, but this one is also among NFL head coach haircuts, I would say it's still the weirdest. It is strange.

It is just a strange. Maybe it would look good on like a 19-year-old, but for some reason on McAood, who is about the most serious, like him and his old boss, Mike McCarthy, are probably the two, like, least, like most humorless guys in front of a put him. They're just so serious.

Like, they're serious about their job. They're serious about everything. And then he steps up with that haircut, which is just not serious. And you're operating with a mustache at the same time, and you have to. To go to. Well, it's quite, it's,

is a goatee, but he's taking some off the chin. This is what I would do. I'm looking at a photo here. It's, yeah. I have to say, I can't get a feel on Ben McAdoo. Like, who he is as a person, what's going on? Like, what makes him a head coach? He is one of the most confounding head coaches, not in a

good or bad way. I can remember in a long, long time. Well, he's coming off an 11 and 5 season in a playoff. Talent coach. I would grow out the sides a little bit. I agree that's a little off-putting. And then I would either lose the goatee or grow in a full beard.

And I'm telling you, it will do a lot. I would go full beard because he's, you know, and these coaches, well, I don't, he doesn't have a, and he's not exactly like a Bill Cowher, like, chin he's operating with either. So I'd grow up big beard and, like, and take a little of density off the top of the air there. Wow, Butts it burner, blow to it.

No, I think he's a tower. You absolutely have, uh, you have something to work with here, but you, I think the beard is a good idea. That's what's happening in the news. Elevate your underwear game to the next level with Miundis. What is Miandes?

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All right, Greg, we got to hit it. This broke right before you went away. And it's kind of a touchy situation, let's face it, because... It's not too touchy. It's old news two weeks ago. Well, that's why we showed respect. We waited for you to get back because I thought it was important for you to be in the room for this discussion, which is Miko Grimes came after you real hard.

I mean, we're talking Bunsen-Berner Blow Torch to the maximum. All about a column that Greg wrote. And I'll start here. And I know, Greg, you expressed to me privately that you don't really want to dwell on this. But I think let's at least touch on what this is because Greg wrote in a column a couple weeks ago and I'll read it verbatim here. In the Grimes Media Power Rankings, Miko topped Brent last season for headlines, despite Brent turning in one. of the most randomly dominant seasons ever for an aging quarterback, expecting Grimes to back that up

at 34 years old is unfair, and the bucks are very thin after their starters at the position. This team will be targeted in a past happy division. Now, Mark, that's fair criticism, isn't it? I don't even think it's criticism. If anything, he's lifting up Brent Grimes, and Brent Grimes should be happy about what Greg wrote about Brent Grimes. Michael Grimes, not so sure where she comes down here.

All right, I will even take this. And again, Greg, not totally comfortable talking about this. Well, but I, yeah, I don't want you guys to talk for me for it either. But I will, the other, my, my point is in Greg's defense. Why don't you and I break down the whole thing back? Okay, you can just watch. In my, in my thoughts on this, Greg's little quip that got him on her radar that Miko top rent in the 2015 season for headlines or 2016 season, that was not even a cheap shot

because Brent Grimes had a quietly very strong season. I was trying to point out he had a great season, of course, and under the radar. And she was in the headlines a lot. I mean, the last couple weeks, I mean, we don't need to go through at all, but she, you know, we've heard of Miko Grimes. She's been in the headlines. I got this information literally when they called my boarding group to get on my plane.

And I had one, you know, toddler in one hand. the other hand, and Jeff Darlington, our old colleague, texted me this. And I actually thought, well, this is that the timing could not be more perfect because I'm going to be disconnected and off Twitter. And I don't want to be, if I was here, I would have been sitting there reading my mentions and all of this stuff all day. But I am someone, I have a really strong feeling of nothing bothers me more than when you see like a media figure going back and forth.

forth with another media figure on Twitter. To me, it is the most obnoxious thing in the world. So I don't, so yeah, that's why I don't want to talk because I have no need to be part. No one gains from that. No one gains from going back and forth. Now, and I kind of thought, you know, I'm a fan. I kind of think, you know, Miguel Grimes is funny. If I, I, there was, there was one line where she said something about, you know, my two, me and my.

I'll read that for you. About my two Gs in my name. I mean, it kind of just cracked me up. On some level, I was just delighted and then just wanted to move on. Actually, the tweet is not on this page. What was it? By the way, I will say this. If you do a search for Miss Grimes on Google,

the first entry is Miko Grimes Wiki. The second is Grimes Greg Rosenthal. It's obviously... Well, it's recent, yes. Well, it's impactful. Well, it's also... I do remember it roughly. It was something to do with the, like, the bull, the bullshit two G's in his name.

He's a . . . not a G. Which was funny, and if I didn't work for the shield, I would have immediately changed my Twitter profile to, you know, quote, he's a . . . . . . not a G. That, I mean, that's, there were many shots. It kind of made me laugh. one that got on Wes's radar last week about how she pointed out the number of followers and she called you a oh well i appreciated that she was like she was pointing out like how many followers i had almost like hey this guy uh why are you all following this blank dork she said that would you can't appreciate that come on i mean i feel like you're going too easy on her

and i don't know if it's because you don't want the war to continue but we even i was so excited I was disappointed that Greg didn't want to launch a counteroffensive. We had Lil Debbie on retainer ready to let out a distract. Get your out together, bro, your track. We were ready to drop a major dish track on Miko Grimes, who, according to one of her tweets, listens to the show. Sure, honey. There's no way she listens to the show.

But because we were respecting Greg's wishes, because he was the one directly involved with this beef, this big side of beef, this filet mignon beef that a podcast hosts dreams about, one of the people on the show being involved with, I got to defer to Greg, and we can't take it. Well, yeah, I did see that, well, it didn't stop you from including it in some show the greatest NFL feuds of all time. And I was like, what, have I been involved? I've been involved.

Wait, what is this? Well, that was your podcast episode last week. What a great related segment to what we discussed. But how is it a, I've actually been in some NFL media feuds in this building that will stay unnamed in my time here this was not a feud i have not been involved in this feud whatsoever i think you know why we did that well we all we were fixing for a fight let's be honest we were ready to go to war it would have been very different if i was here and we were doing the podcast that day the whole thing would play out would play out differently but now you know you know frankly frankly i don't mark

yes i don't think gregg has been gracious enough with how loyal we were to him and how we went went to bat for him or ready to go to war with this mad woman yeah we and he and he He's just acting like it's something that should have been assumed and it's something we should care about. That's a fair point. Did you listen to that? I appreciate Wes was fired up and I appreciate you guys all having my back. Your boy, your boy, Jezelnik tweeted, stand with Miko. Well, what is that about?

I mean, that's his thing. Yeah, he had a couple. Yeah, one of them was hashtag, I stand with Miko. I will say this. Although I multiple times, like, respond to people and say yes, obviously with Greg, I did not go so far as to include Michael Grimes' Twitter handle. I didn't want to deal with her. Miko Grimes, whatever my name is.

I did not want to deal with her on any level. So that's where my loyalty hit a wall to some degree. Never before have I wanted RJVP to come back as much as I do after this happened. We could get you to listen to your first episode. I might plug in. We come back for the Miko Grimes. Do it, shadowy league figures. I would listen to like a three-hour podcast.

Wait, so you go after them, but you won't go after the woman that called you a pussy with no cheese or whatever. I mean, it's all, it's all showbiz, you know? Just one gigantic roaming bit. All right, so I believe it to be a missed opportunity, but I respect Greg's. I knew you would.

I knew you would. Because I thought it would have been, not only would it have been a lot of fun. We're still talking about it here five minutes later. I know, but I really wanted that little Debbie disc track. That's what I really wanted. You'll be disappointed, and I'm going to have to reach out to her people now, right? Because we, you know, back and forth probably 14 to 15 texts, arranging, changing schedules.

She was very excited to appear on behalf of this effort. So, you know, we've disappointed little Debbie. That's where my concern, I'm starting to be. And again, that's a problem. That's another example of how we had mobilized on Greg's behalf. I appreciate it, but we're different. And he said, stand down. But we're different humans.

You would react to. Oh, yes, we are. You tell me this often. You say I'm somehow not human, which is ridiculous. I didn't say you're not human. But that I react to things differently. Maybe this is one of them. That's why we're respecting it.

Right? And I like speaking for and handling myself, too. I love that you guys stuck up for me, but I'm going to say handle it how I want to handle it. And now here's the world premiere of Lil Debbie's district. Here we go. Just kidding. All right.

All right, let's move on. How about this? If she comes after you, actually she kept coming after Greg days and days after this. But if something else happens, can we reconsider this movie? There is something, I don't know. There is something I like in these situations when people just don't respond. Hey, you were the bigger man, Greg. You proved it.

Well, she's not technically a man, so he is. You were the bigger human. You're a human. You showed it with this. All right, let's move on. It's okay, though. Little Debbie's going to be crushed. I'm going to deal with that after work.

I mean, I'm getting out of here as soon as the show ends, and I'm going right into a bee's nest. Bad news. The show is never going to end. I mean, one thing I've learned is, like, my friendship with Dan matters, and it's nice, but it's not as important to him as the... show you know i resent that that is a that is a theme that is thrown around here uh of course it's

important to me but i guess you we are different in the sense that a complete evisceration of this miko grimes persona uh from a very popular NFL podcast going after her hard that would have been to me not only entertaining but also a show of uh you know brotherhood but that's where we're different buy sell, hold on minicamp narratives. Yes, this is the final week of mini camps before the NFL's dark period. So we decided to check in on some of the storylines percolating across the league. And we will share a couple each. And you tell us and we'll all jump in whether we buy, hold, or sell on these storylines.

Mark, why don't you get us going, baby? Well, I know that coaches never lie about their quarterback situations and their impending quarterback duels. We have one in Denver. We heard about Vance Joseph saying he's taken nothing away from May or June that will stick. But Denver Post columnist Mark Hisla, longtime writer for the Broncos, has a little report out there. It's called in quotes obvious that Paxton Lynch is the clubhouse leader over Trevor Simeon with, in quotes, hints everywhere. This guy talks to a lot of people. Kislo believes the only way Lynch doesn't start

as if he messes it up, calling Simeon nothing more than the fail-safe device. I found that a little surprising after what we saw from Simeon last year. Are we buying this new leader in the clubhouse according to the Denver Post? I'm selling hard on this, Mark, because I believe that Simeon,

although you guys were bigger fans than I was, I guess, in Sondland, but he certainly showed in year one that he was somebody that could potentially develop into a proficient starter and Lynch barely played and I get it there's pressure involved that he's a first round pick but he was not close to ready and I feel like it'll be weird to go to him as option one it would make more sense to me to go with the guy that showed promise that that is in year two and then you bring in Lynch if simian falters and see if you can get a spark the other way around I feel like it doesn't make as much sense I'm selling on it I was really surprised to see this

report as well, Mark, especially because for what it's worth at OTAs, it sounded like Lynch wasn't playing great. But I'm going to buy it anyways because I kind of trust his instincts as someone that's there every day and is talking to people. And it echoes something we did talk about, I think, at the beginning of this offseason was the tie goes to Lynch. So I think in all things being equal, I do believe the front office and the coaching staff would like Lynch to win

and someone that's there every day watching and talking to people, maybe that is the truth that, look, if neither one of these guys is going to stand out, I don't support it. I really think Simeon deserves a chance, but if neither one stands way apart from the other, then Lynch is the favorite.

I'm also buying it because I trust the reporting. I mean, Kisla's been on target for years and years on this stuff, and you have a first-round investment on a quarterback. Simeon, I think, overachieved last year compared to the fact that no one knew who he was during that Super Bowl week a couple years ago. But my thing with Lynch, it's like all you hear over and over that he's still been erratic, he's still been, you know,

far from looking like a guarantee starting quarterback. So you have to see what happens. I think there's a lot of room for this to change. But I think you're right, if they're even, you obviously go with the higher pedigree. The plan was to play him in year two. two, not year three. But isn't this the exact time of year where coaches are going to grasp onto anything positive

with a young player like Paxton Lynch and say, oh, yeah, he's looking great. And then they're feeding that to the media. Even a guy that's plugged in like this gentleman, we'll see. They're a really interesting team, I think, because of their championship predigree, because they won 12 or 13 games a year for four straight years, because a lot of those players are still there. But yet they're in this really good division. go it could go either way it could go south or they could win the division nothing would surprise

all right next up by sell or hold it's time to start talking kickers nick or robbie this ain't the bachelorette bich who whose voice is that is that you that was dan that's good Good job, Sully. Roberto Aguayo and Nick Folk, of course, of course, if you're following this, and how can you not be following this competition, this no-holds-barred competition? Nick Folk got out to a big early lead when he drilled all his kicks in that, with the uprights being closer together, and then Robbie faltered.

This is during OTAs. Well, guess what? Just when he counted out Robbie, he's back in the. Race. Midway through practice, according to Jenna Lane of ESPN, midway through practice, both lined up for five attempts increasing the distance with each kick. Folk went first and made his first four attempts. His fifth and final kick from 54 yards away bounced off the right goal post. Aguayo went next. One, give me some dings, Sully. Two, three, four, and from 54, yards out five five for five baby uh and then i so i want you to listen to this quote from

dirt cutter who this is an interesting thing for someone to say about any competition in camp roberto got the best of it today look good i mean nick looked good i think we worked back to 54 yards on that last one and uh nix was a little bit short burto roberto hit five clean ones so that's what competition is. Oh, I'm buying, baby, that this competition is neck and neck. I am buying it also. Focally missed one kick, right? Yeah, but Godter's talking about it like, like, okay, advantage.

I love that this is a daily thing. I am buying it 100% because they have waited so long to be able to go to the reporters and say something positive about this. It reminds me a lot of what we just talked about. This is a second round draft pick who has been an absolute, negative distraction, not a distraction, but in terms of the situation, it's a distraction for the bucks.

To have to deal with someone, it's a high-profile, large gaff scenario where he keeps missing kicks in games. He's going to probably maybe not even make the team if he continues on that trajectory. So I am buying, they want to see him succeed. And if it were, like, it's the other one, if it's a tie between Robbie and Nick,

you go Robbie. You know what could happen, by the way. I didn't think of this until right now it would be a little anti-climactic, what with hard knocks coming up, they could end up keeping both. Because they're paying Nick anyway, a large chunk of money.

And then you give Robbie the job and then maybe have Folk do kickoffs or something. And then if Robbie falters, you cut Rob. Or have Robbie do kickoff. Other way around, whatever. I could see that. And then they get to kind of play it by ear because you know Nick Folk will probably get picked up,

I would think, because he is an accurate veteran. They don't want to be left out in the cold. You definitely want to give your second, second round kicker, a nice red shirt year. That's the position that you need to wait until year four or five to get the real product. All right, and that was the latest kicker update by the old Zusser.

Aguio. Folk. Second round picks don't always get second chances. Greg? I'm going to go with all of the OTA and mini-camp buzz on Adrian Peterson being sky high. When you listen to Drew Brees or the Saints talking about Adrian Peterson, it has been gushing.

It has been, we haven't seen a guy look this, you know, explosive, you know, players marveling over his burst and his stride length. and and Peterson himself just talking about that, you know, he would be lying if he didn't take it as motivation that people, you know, think he was kind of done, that no one wanted to sign him. And it's at the point now in New Orleans. I think the OTA minicamp storylines has raised the excitement and the expectation level for Adrian Peterson this year.

I'm selling. I'm selling. And I'm not selling because I disrespect Adrian Peterson. and I don't want Wes to hit me over the head with a crowbar because I know he's very high in Peterson this year. But I just think that Adrian Peterson, one of the more famous NFL players in the last 20 years or certainly one of the most celebrated,

going to a new team and having this fresh start and still having something in the tank. I think he has something in the tank is going to lead to all these type of dispatches in June, which is this guy looks better. better than ever. This guy's amazing. This guy is this. This guy is that. And I think I still hold true to the point that he was beat up last year. He won the rushing title, but maybe he didn't have the same burst in his younger years the year before. He's 32 years old. I think Peterson will be helpful for them. And I think he's going to potentially have another like 1,200-yard season. But do I think that he's going to be Adrian Peterson the way people are talking about him right now? I'm selling on that. Yeah, I'm selling, too. There's a way to sell on this without dismissing Adrian Peterson's upcoming regular season,

which I am also thinking he can be Adrian Peterson that we've seen of late. But the idea that everyone is seeing this vastly different player now in these practices, that's what I'm selling on. Well, I'm not buying that they're talking a lot about that they're going to throw him the ball. We'll see that. That was one of my potential ones. I don't buy that because you already have players in place to deal. We'll see about that, but I am buying it.

I just think this guy's one of the greatest players we've ever seen, and he's playing on the Saints is the main thing. But you're buying that he looks tangibly different than what the Vikings saw in previous maze. That just he looks great, that he can be great, and it'll end up looking even better than he is because he's on that team. That, yeah, I'm getting a little excited about Adrian Peterson and New Orleans. So it's going to be fun seeing him at the Superdome and having this chip on a show. That's all going to be fun.

Right. Will he be the best running back in the league still, which is how he's being talked up, frankly? And I don't know. That seems to be asking him. I'm not going to get the ball enough for that. Next up. Are you buying, selling, or holding on Christian Hakenberg's public execution

by the local media in New York? Christian Hakenberg is real? I cannot remember the last time a New York athlete has been treated. did this unfairly. And let me say something. I am not, I don't hold high hopes for Christian Hakenberg myself.

I think that it was obviously a big... How about Gino Smith? Mark Sanchez. Fairly? Yes, he earned everything he got for the way he acted, including, you know, getting his jaw broken

for being a jack-a-old in the locker room. But let's talk about Hakenberg right now. I know that the reports are bad, the anonymous reports about last season were bad, but this has been so unfair to this kid what's happened this past week with all the reports from real journalists, real sports writers

doing reports on these passes that he's thrown that have bounced and hit reporters who, by the way, and I am not saying that I'm the most mobile human being but let's calm down like, oh, it hit a reporter. Maybe reporters are not moving too fast either a little slow and isn't able to get out of the way.

And this is a situation where he's thrown these passes and the Jets have done bad by him because the Jets don't know what they're doing right now. And they've gotten rid of everyone, including Eric Decker. So he's throwing to a bunch of these kids that nobody knows half these guys are. And a lot of them are running bad routes. And so it's hard to really discern whether it was a really bad throw or a really bad route. But everybody's going ahead because the Jets are back to laughing stock status,

which is always, it seems to people kind of like that. It's a little more fun when the Jets are bad. I get that. I understand that. But dragging him and making him the face of the Jets being a laughing stock of the league again. It just feels unfair. And I worry that it's going to lead to him.

I don't know how mentally strong the kid is, but it's going to lead to him having no shot here because he can't, won't be able to block out just how much people believe him to be a joke. Before he's ever thrown an NFL pass, I am holding on Christian Hackenberg having any chance in the NFL, although I'm doubting it. I'm going to hold there. But I'm selling on this idea that he's so. terrible that there's no reason why people should even take him seriously as a human being.

I think it's a perfect place to use the hold because we've never seen this guy in a game. And some, there are practice players and there are players that look totally crazy in practice. Then the games begin, and you hear about those guys all the time. And often it applies, they say, to the quarterback position. I think there's really concerning reports because there's been a B-line. And last year, I don't think Hakenberg was being beaten up as sort of the face of the Jets troubles the way he has this, this spring, and that is unfair. I agree with you there.

But there's never been like the month or two where it's like, you know what, Hakenberg, he showed some real good things today. And there actually does seem to see some progress. Or he came back looking like a different player. It's been a beeline of terrifying reports about this quarterback. That said, until he's in a game, why judge him on what? Right. You can judge him on his college tape where he's one of the most inaccurate quarterbacks to ever be

drafted in the first three rounds of the. NFL team, where he could not, but that's, it's just such a, it's such a basic function of playing the position, just accuracy. And these are practices where you can't really take much away from them because it's supposed to be easy. It's all scripted. You know, you can't even do one-on-ones. I mean, there's so many restrictions. You can't, it's really not football, but it's, it's built for the offense on a lot of these plays to run fairly smoothly. And I think the problem, he gets picked on because there's blood in the water and they just want to be vicious

and there's 40 reporters there so people have to say some things to get noticed but it's also because there's no defenders there and he just misses a lot of throws which I don't think you're normally used to see. Well a year ago it was RG3 that was throwing the football over walls

and paying houses and stuff and so maybe and it went on to be that RG3 was an absolute disaster on some level that was RG3 in steep decline for a period of three years So everyone kind of knew he was done And then people were piling on This kid has never even played in the NFL

Hakenberg may have no ascension That's the other issue It's unfair but it's not surprising I don't even I'm not sure what buying or selling In this one even means I'm buying it Well you're a monster I don't know what I think go

We'll see what happens with young Christian Hackenberg That's my point You're a pro once you're a professional And you're in games And you stink part of the gig is if you can get buried and that's part of the job. But before you've done it, that's what I'm saying.

It is an unbelievably unfair, tough situation to think about the fact that these OTAs, which normally reporters wouldn't have cared about and people are doing grades. Come back to us, people that have done grades on the OTAs. Well, give me a grade. It is give me a breakworthy, but I'm sure for them it's like

you've got to pump out three, four stories and this is what they all do. That job is a little different. than what we're able to do with our role. Wrap it up, right? The good one, there's plenty of good ones that don't go crazy on that stuff. I will not do a second.

Wait, I have a couple ones. Yeah. Oh, you didn't do a second one? No, but I'm enjoying the second one. Was one of your second ones, Deshaun Kaiser? No. Why don't you take us down that road? Then I'll take us somewhere else.

Yeah. All right. We really got a, yeah. We're getting up there. Let's do a speed round. Let's do a speed round. That's good. All right.

Sean Kaiser, getting more buzz as a potential starter. and I will just say, I am buying it. I like what I hear listening to the kid. And I don't know if it's really based. It's not based on how he's looked. I haven't seen that. It's just based on, I think the Browns are giving him a real chance. I think they want him to have a real chance to win this job.

And so I'm buying. I'm buying too because the Browns, like the Jets and all other teams that are looking ahead to that loaded quarterback class, they need to find out what they have in Deshaun Kaiser before. They decide whether they want to draft another quarterback early in the first round. So they've got to find out. I know Sessler's buying. Yeah, tweeted this morning.

I think he'll be the week one starter, and I'm not at their practice, but it just seems like this is sort of trending that way if he is competent, and so totally buying it. Mark. All right. A lot of Niners, a lot of people think the Niners are going to be a big trash heap next year,

or maybe just a little bit better, but there is a part of their defense. I think that defensive line is interesting. DeForest Buckner said that our front seven can be dominant this year. If you look at the pieces in place, there is potential buying selling or holding. Why would you hold here? I'm going to hold.

All right, then you do it. I'm going to hold because I do think if you look at all the pieces there, they got a lot of players. They're going to cut some pretty good players there. So I think they could be done. But it's a first time coordinator, Robert Salah. It's a lot of moving parts in different spots than they were really drafted for. So I'm not sure.

But I think there's a potential. I guess that means I'm buying it. I'm selling the 49ers in 2017. might be better, but they won't be dominant at anything. That's the Friends 7. I said, at anything, they will not be dominant. Buckner, Eric Armstead, Solomon.

A lot of people think Solomon Thomas could come out as the best first round. You said dominant. You said dominant. I'll be fine. Okay. Buckner, Thomas, Armstead, Navarer Bowman, Ruben Foster.

That's fine. They'll be fine. Sexy. Could be dominant. Well, you're buying, so, yeah. All right. that's it by the way mark yeah before we go i want to make sure um we give you the stage for a second here because you wanted to get something out there it isn't it isn't exactly a or you kidding me

uh but it no it's something you wanted to get off your chest nor is it critical uh nor is it critical or nor is it news but i will i think everyone wants to hear what you you want to talk about i was wandering around uh the building today and i don't know who this person was because they work on a different floor seemed like a nice person in general but it was a late 30, early 40-something male who used in conversation the term awesome sauce. And it kind of is another one of these phrases that, A, if you're that person,

you shouldn't ever be using that phrase at all. No, sit down. Exactly, humble. Find a new way to say what you're about to say. It's like, grow up, Peter Pan. Exactly. You're so far out of where you need to be by using that.

But there's a couple other phrases that came to mind that as we get into the summer, and this is when this jargon starts to light up sometimes, it's time to put some of this to bed. Is this on your sonar? This is a language update. People don't have to agree with me, but I'm not going to be using this word, these words, these phrases. Yasqueen, that is old now. Enough, we get it.

Okay, this was nice a few months ago. Yass queen, no longer. Years ago. Baring it. Whatever, months, years. I don't want to hear about it again. So you're out on Yaz Queen. That is gone.

Okay. How about this to totes? As in it, you know, doesn't that, Math teacher sucks Gemma. Yeah, totes. Well, no, no. Don't more totes. I feel like that's a big silly.

I feel like a lot of these terms are going to be sully terms. No, no, don't throw me under the bus like that. I didn't use any of those. You can weigh in after I'm finished. Tell about that. Totes is out. Anyone, all right, anyone, and this, most people are aware that they're not doing, Culeo, it's their ear still, I still hear this sometime.

I still hear it once in a while, and it's typically from white males. And it's unironically used and that needs to stop right. Now. Coolio's like, no one's talked about me since the higher learning soundtrack. I agree. I think that 99% of the population understands this rule, but I have heard it in the streets of L.A. It bothers me. It was the dangerous mind. Okay.

Am I right when it's spelled as one word? Enough with that. Am I right? Yeah. Wasn't funny then? Not funny now. It's not even helping. It's not even that much shorter when you're typing.

Bay. Okay. Saying things like Greg is Bay. That was stupid to begin with. And I'm not into that. And I don't want. Greg is Bay? are you sure that's how it's used it's used in many different ways

the usage is off there i think it's like you can find that with that you know like salt bay uh that usage is right it is correct yes thank you thank you i'm because i when i read this this are you now you're okay with sully talking absolutely thank this is how i read this stuff sometimes and it's like enough all right Greg is a good guy Greg is not bay i mean all right anyone's still calling things lit that died a hard death in 2016 and it is lingering on, again, typically amongst clunky white males. And finally, AF, as in this party, is lit as f-like. I'm done with that terminology in writing, too.

Okay. That seems like a millennial shot a little bit. I think... Although it is dead, though, because I just saw that on, like, a billboard for, like, an advertisement or maybe a movie using AF and I thought, seeing that, was like, oh, that's done. That's what I'm saying. Millennials, I'm not killing them at all. It's the reverse.

they've moved beyond a lot of this crap. It filters up to the older clunky people still using this phraseology. I don't even know if I'll add one more if you don't mind. Please do. I like your list a lot. And I didn't even know this was a thing, but on Friday in my neighborhood,

you put out the garbage cans on Thursday night and then the trash guy comes on Friday and there's three different pickups. You got the trash can. Jack knows it is that that's where the stinky diapers go. And then you get the blue bag. bin, which is for recyclables in the green bin, for, you know, tree clippings

and things of that nature. And for the first time ever, the guy didn't come to pick up the black bin, which is the most important bin. Please. It's number one. You've got to take away the black bin with the stinky diapers. So I called the sanitation department of Los

Angeles. Wow. And I said, hey, bruh. I'm angry AF. Come, come get my garbage can. And they were cool about it, and they came by, they said, oh, we'll be there on Tuesday. So I saw the other black can of my neighbor sit next, next door still out there, said, oh, you know, shoot this guy, a little heads up, say, hey, don't bring your can in.

They're going to come on Tuesday. And he came out, he's like, oh, thanks, bro. Thanks a lot. Thanks for the con knowledge. Oh, no. Maybe he's just really dumb. Maybe that's not a thing. No, he's not dumb.

Maybe that's not a thing, and he's just a little, you know. But he doesn't know how to pronounce. Knowledge? How old is this guy? He just never knew that the K was silent. It's around our age. Again, it's around our age. Nice guy.

No, no, I'm sure. I'm sure he's not listening to the show, hopefully, too. But yeah, that's a troubling one. Con knowledge. It's like something Andy Bernard would say on the office. So if that's a thing that other people are doing, probably, you know. Cease. Don't lean into that one anymore.

Okay. Jesus, this is a long podcast. All right. We'll be back on Friday. We'll be our last show. the week obviously but also the last time we'll do three shows until minicamp so we'll have some fun what's so funny oh is there it's on urban dictionary i looked up it i looked it up on urban dictionary and i do have to use um the example that that they wrote for it did you know that

shana slept with haven and got herpes thanks for the canals i almost did her that all checks out I guess I'll give them a little credit that it's showing up on Urban Dictionary. Oh, there's a lot on Urban Dictionary. From 2009. Yeah, that's a thing. See, that's a perfect time for that to be a popular word. All right.

We will be back on Friday, as I said. Make sure, give me one second here. So make sure you continue to leave comments and star ratings for the podcast. That means a lot to keep us moving up the old charts over on iTunes. They have a very strange system, but that means a lot. So thank you. And those of you that have reached out to me say, what happened to the 5,000th listener celebration

or 5,000th Redditor celebration? We'll get to that. Once we get to the dark period, we will finish off that contest. We'll find out some type of prize. So don't worry, it has not slipped through the crack. Right around the time that we filed donations for the forked teams that we were incorrect about. Exactly.

Well, yeah, we'll get to that, too. So there you go. Sully's like, get us out of here. I'm happy Sully came back. The Stan Hans is signing off for the Sizzler, the old boss, and Shawnee Sullivan Invincible behind the glass till Friday. Heart Podcasts.