NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Calls of the Year and Mailbag

Episode Date: January 30, 2025

Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Patrick Claybon to give you the calls of the year and answer your mail bag questions. First, open the NFL Daily mailbag and answer your questions including a look at the All-Decade Team (10:00), the Eagles Success (19:28), Dolphins fandom (25:40) and more! After the break, it's time for the calls of the year (37:32)!NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're so big time we can wear shorts to work. Yes, I'm here in the Chris Wesleying podcast studio with my partner, Patrick Claibon, who, yeah, he is big time enough. He's one of the only two people Eric Roberts has ever seen wearing shorts to work. I'm shocked to hear that. Yes. Because honestly, I'm not, I don't see myself as big time now, nor definitely when I first came here for my interview. Didn't wear shorts on my interview.

Yeah. But in that first year coming to work at 3 o'clock in the morning to do news shifts, I, who am I dressing up for the walls? That's fair. But now you got people getting in your grill. I think it was Dave Schott, who's in the news. Yeah, runs the news department in some way, the talent there. Like, I think I wore shorts once. and he yelled at me enough.

And I've heard he yelled at you too that I never did. It wasn't yelling. I think that first interaction with Greg Rosenthal taught him a lesson. You don't come at Greg sideways and it maybe gave shot

a little bit of a lesson on how to deal with people in shorts. Well, it's a big show here. It's a pre-super Bowl week show. And I told you guys before the show, it's just one of those days where you feel like

you're always playing catch-up. I feel like I'm stuck in a one-two count right now. And I'm just fouling the balls off and barely surviving. So I hope we deliver what's going to be a really fun show. And we're including you, our listeners in it, because I asked on the old interwebs on Blue Sky for some questions. And so we're going to have a fun mail bag.

And then we're also going to do our calls of the year. And we don't know who's going to win. Eric really took control of this process. He's putting on his big boy pants and covering up those big leg tattoos. and I don't know what's coming. I went back and clicked through every recap show of the season. Oh my God. Wow.

And listen to at least the opening highlight for every game of the year. Wow. So again, before you guys get mad and somebody thinks that your team is being slighted, listen to what Eric just went through. He's already done the work to do those calls every single week of the season. He went back and listened to every single one of them. Your team has not been slighted. He grinded for this.

Yeah. I had a list of like 40 to start. So we have to, we can't, we can't be here all day, guys. Okay, that means we will get to the questions that you guys sent in, again, on Blue Sky. After just a quick couple items, I just want to throw out there. This is a daily show. We want to keep everyone abreast of what's happening around the league. And these are just quick hitters.

I noticed the Cowboys, they extended their personnel chief, Will McLeigh. Nice move for them. Actually makes me feel a little better about what's going on in Dallas. As does the Eber Fluse, defensive coordinator. Things make sense. Pick up. I kind of, I like that because McLean's contract was coming up soon. There was some question.

He's done a good job picking players along with the Joneses, of course. We hadn't mentioned on the show that the Bengals found their new defensive coordinator. It's Al Golden, who just did a nice job at Notre Dame, had previously been with the Bengals. And I believe when they fired Lou Anna Rumo, the buzz there was they're basically going to hire this guy. So he's their, their coach. They are not going to have their tight-end Eric All for the entire 2020. season, which is really disappointing. He had a great rookie year.

There were some complications after his surgery. And then I saw some quotes down at Mobile, the parallel universe of the NFL right now, that was from Andrew Barry. And he said, we have no interest in trading Miles Garrett. And you can even assume that we want to sign Miles again to a contract in the coming days, in the coming months. The fact that he said it so definitively,

actually, I took that as, that's real news. That's good. You feel like there's no subterfuge here. It's, it's all obvious. I think when you say on the record, we're planning to sign him to a contract and he almost put a timeline on it, like it's going to happen this offseason, even though he has two years left on his deal, I feel like there's probably progress there. And he wouldn't just say that to say that.

Maybe I'm, maybe I'm wrong. No. Maybe. I think that's good news for the rounds. Yeah, it seems, it seems obvious. And that's a good thing. If people are going to do things that seem obvious. and foregone.

It's when things go the other way that kind of get weird like signing a quarterback. Yes, that was a problem. They need to go find a quarterback. Maybe they'll draft one of those quarterbacks in Mobile. We're going to talk about the Senior Bowl on our last show of the week. You'll hear that on Friday.

I'm looking forward to that. And the only other item of news is really the subject of our first skeet, tweet. I like just calling them tweets. So let's throw them up there. this one is from Benoit's smart car

he asks is the Saints job the worst one this year or the worst one this decade funny phrasing there the news of the day because yes the Saints haven't hired their head coach yet is that Kellyn Moore

did a second interview and based on if you're reading between the lines of the local reporting it seems like he's now the favorite to get that job and they might be waiting until the Super Bowl is over to give the key

to Kellyn Moore for the New Orleans Saints. What do you think about that and this question? Well, I think in terms of what's available right now and Kellyn Moore is not the hot name that he once was, considering the other options, one in particular. And I've seen floated out there. I feel like Kellynne Moore would be better than a John Gruden or some categorical failure and mistake, right?

He never interviewed in the end, but it keeps being out there. Yes. Praise God. But ultimately, as far as the judge, job like evaluating the job i really don't think it's that bad um if you think that loomis is you know has has one foot out if if gale's starting to look sideways at him like if that's a particular thing i don't know if it's that concern i'm looking back if we're talking about worst jobs of the last decade doug peterson won a super bowl he had all the cash out yeah he got

fired he got fired by the same team that fired andy right he goes to jacksonville with trit And they consistently get worse as time goes on after that urban fiasco where I'm looking at it and saying, like, how great of a position was dug in? Interesting. And yes, I think with the way the Jaguars have got about this coaching search and they don't even have a GM right now, like they don't seem like they know what they're doing. There was a couple of pre-Domico coaching situations in Houston. That was the first one that came to me. I don't think this compares to either one of those. I know we can do the cap malfeasance thing and talk about projecting things into the future.

And I don't necessarily think the cap prohibits you from being close. I mean, the team had an opportunity in the division this year, right? It was, and I think we have a referential question coming up later where we can get into specifics on the 2024 Saints. But this team was devastated by injuries all across the board. and as well as coming in with Dennis Allen as your head coach again in 2024, where I don't necessarily think it's that bad of a job career. I think it's one of the worst jobs of the decade. I wouldn't say it'd be the worst.

I would say those Houston teams were the first one that popped to mine. I think the Gerard Mayo, even though I was very harsh on him, entered a pretty difficult situation last year. Drake May arriving made that a little better, but at the time he got it especially in the roster that he had in just the situation there. That was pretty rough. The Panthers, pre-Canales,

I mean, just it's been a rough, it's been a rough road. But this Saints job, I think, is uniquely bad because of the Mickey Loomis situation. It really seems like he is staying. And I think the way that he has run that team,

it's just time. And he is running it in such a way that he has as much power as almost anyone. And I thought he might get pushed out and you see the different people that didn't want that job. Aaron Glenn literally talked about at his press conference

how much he wanted the Jets job compared to the Saints. He was in that building just five years ago. So he knows exactly what's going on. I think that should be a red flag to Gail Benson. Joe Brady was in that building and the Saints were very interested in him

by all reports. He decides to stay in Buffalo. These are two guys that knew, the organization well. Ben Johnson was not in that building but worked with a lot of people that were. Dan Campbell, he's hiring a guy as his O.C. that was with

John Payton in New Orleans. There's a lot of connection there. He didn't want to go there. And I think Mickey Loomis in New Orleans to me is very similar to the Trent Balke situation. And you can say that the roster could be worse. You're right. There are

worst teams out there for sure. It's not a tough division. But the quarterback situation is very tricky with what you're going to do with Derek Carr. If you keep them another year, then it kind of kicks the can down the road. And salary cap is a problem. I think at some point, as much as I think it's been a little overblown, like you're going to have to bite the bullet a little bit and start thinking about not just shooting for seven or eight wins. So that's a tough situation.

I don't know if Kellan Moore is the guy to turn it all around. I don't even know if they eat, like, if you ask the average Eagles fan, like, they're not super pumped on Kellynne Moore. I mean, I know. I mean, give it a week and a half, great. Right, we'll see. That's fair. Let's go to the next question.

This one is from Los G's. Los G's. Which is just like a familiar name. I feel like, I feel like we've crossed past here before. It does feel familiar. Halfway through the decade, which players are locks for the all decade team? I love this question. He said, Mahomes is the first QB.

which QB would be second, Alan or Lamar. Well, to answer the second question first, it's clearly Lamar because he has two first team all pros this decade and probably two MVP's. So I think he's got a probably a solid lead as the second team quarterback right now, but we're only halfway through the decade. And Josh has a chance there.

It's not like a huge gap. And Joe Burrow will be in that mix. Who knows? Jaden Daniels might be in that mix. Yeah. Fun fact, of that question, I had to remind myself that Tom Brady had 12,000 passing yards since the start at 2020, which was crazy to me. But like over, like it wasn't even close. Like, um, but Tom Brady was

Tom Brady with the Bucks was like incredible. Anyways. It doesn't, yeah, it doesn't make any sense, but he's not going to have the longevity in the decade. Um, yeah, the first team, really, I think the more interesting conversation, because we can beat, uh, Patrick and Josh. I mean, Josh and Lamar to death. The running back discussion with like what Sequin's doing now. Yeah. Derek Henry, I think. Yeah. Has that first team case.

Okay. So far. But it's, it's going to be a push. It's going to be a push here towards the finish. It's a long way to go to John Robinson, I think, could have a chance in the long run. You got to get there. So I took the question very, very literally, and this was probably my favorite one I got,

because it speaks to what I get into, these Hall of Fame cases, all this stuff. And I went and searched. on pro football reference and you can sort by approximate value which is just like a good way of like starts and awards and then I just figured well you probably have to have one first team all pro to even be

considered halfway through the decade so I sorted it by that and the question was who are all decade locks only halfway through it that is an extremely high bar to be a lock halfway through

why can't I say the word lock normally and I've come normally all three times I came up with with one total lock and that's Miles Garrett he has four first team all pros

I don't actually think there's a case for anyone as better at what he's done he's what I hear the angry reprisal okay it's fair part of the country it's a good point TJ Watt has three first first team all pro

so he's only one behind there approximate value. He was the highest non-quarterback. He was actually third overall, according to pro football reference behind Lamar and Patrick Mahomes, just in terms of their little metric. But I just think four, and I think he's going to keep it going. To me, he's a lock just about. The other two that popped up, to me, have a really good case. Chris Jones is at three. And I think with what he's done in the playoffs, even if it doesn't, you know, we'll see how the rest of the decade goes, man, he'll be tough to keep off that. And then Fred Warner's interesting. He's done it, he's done first team all pro four out of five years now. So he's pretty

up there. Those were the closest I found to locks. It's hard to make a lock halfway through the decade because you never know what's going to happen the next five years. Even Mahomes isn't necessarily a lock if, if some quarterback like Allen or Jaden or Burrow just go absolutely crazy and have the best stretch we've ever seen from a quarterback, that's possible, but those are my locks. Yeah, it's, it's, there's a long way to go. I kind of wondered, uh, towards the, the front end, right? Because I was looking in, uh, to the Brady situation where, because Tom doesn't qualify, but the guys who retired in 2019, I mean, excuse me, uh, the guys who are, are set to retire, like right now, who's got those five years to get in. And it becomes, it becomes a little tougher.

It's one of the things that's annoying about the all. decade team, which I do like that there is just a randomness to it that when your career, like if you start at 15 and end at 25, you have a less likely chance to make the all decade team. And if you start at 10 and then at 20. So Kelsey, I guess are both Kelsey's out? They have chances. I wrote them down as like guys who would have a chance. They both have a couple all pros.

But Travis, I think, would have a better chance, certainly that he would be my pick. at tight end for the last five years. Okay. So far. But we've got five more to go. Some other interesting names. T.J. Watt, he's got three first team all pros. Trent Williams. You know, he could get it done. Roquant Smith has three first team all pros.

I don't know if he, is he an all decade guy? It might be. The linebacking group would lean with heavy bias towards guys in the middle. And so like you may get that positional malfeasence, right? We're like, Roquan's playing outside. We'll see. And then some guys who I think have a chance. JJ, I think, has a great chance.

He has two first team all pros so far, but he's got this whole rest of the decade to go. Tyreek and Devante Adams both have three. And so they're in that mix, but they're kind of headed on the downslope. And then some younger guys, Tristan Worf's, Pena Sewell, both have a couple early. So if they can start stacking up numbers,

Jamar Chase is another one. Aaron Donald did, you know, pack in three pretty great. That's what I'm saying. So, fun question. I like thinking about that. And it's not over at quarterback. You could always catch up to Patrick Moms. You never know.

All right, let's go to the next one. This is from the Red Shark. It asks, should the 49ers draft the quarterback next year or this year, can they win a Super Bowl if they pay Purdy? Yes. I mean, yes. Can they win a Super Bowl with Rock Party on the roster? Yes.

Can they construct the roster in the way that they need to? I think you have an advantage. when you get a player that's good and show success early on that you don't necessarily have to play. I mean, Brock Purdy was getting paid it. More in the supplemental bonus and the play performance bonus. Right, they already could have won in the Super Bowl.

He played more than well enough, I think, throughout that playoff run to win a Super Bowl. If their defense played a little bit better, a few things happened, they win a Super Bowl. But I think, right, the way that we've seen these quarterback contracts grow over the course of years where the percentage of the cap,

I don't think you're going to have to give them cap percentage money like Tua got or Trevor Lawrence got, right? Because it's just the way that these contracts line up and the timing of which who gets paid when they get paid. Yeah, you get a number that would look crazy a few years ago, but percentage of the cap wise, I don't necessarily think it's going to do the damage. It's like, oh, God, we got to play the quarter. Because like the guys that got paid were, we just saw them in the playoffs.

Like, these are the guys or you either were getting paid or you were a highly selected draft pick. These are the guys that it takes to win. Brock Purdy's earned payment in my opinion. And I know that there's a whole bunch of assonite arguments. The guy's gone out there and played well and it hasn't been an abject disaster. So yeah, he deserves to be compensated. Yeah, I don't want it to drag out all offseason.

I think the 49ers have made a mistake handling it that way with so many of their stars. But people get so fixated on can you possibly win with a quarterback on your cap that big. Last year, four or five of the teams that had the highest

dead cap in the entire league were in the divisional round. And so that's not just like paying $50 million to a really good player. The Rams, for instance, who I think had a really good team last year, the Packers who had a really good team last year, they're paying $60, 70 million in cap space to nobody, to Aaron Rogers, who was off the team, to Aaron Donald, who was off the team, and they made it happen anyways. The 49ers, even this year, like, it's, so much of their cap was in Ayuk. and Debo and McCaffrey,

and those guys, frankly, weren't giving them that much this year. Debo was mostly healthy, and they were all smart investments at the time. But teams spend $50 million routinely in worse ways than an above-average quarterback. So I think it's very possible. Does it get 12% harder? Maybe.

It maybe becomes 12% harder to construct your team. But I think people really overrate, whatever that percentage is. Almost to the extent that we overrate winning this one game coming up here a couple weeks in determining like how good is a team. Yes, everybody wants to win a Super Bowl. It's great to win

a Super Bowl. It would be great for Brock Party. Had they been able to complete that pass where Chris Jones got in his face and they win the Super Bowl. But ultimately in determining how good a team is and how capable they are, it doesn't necessarily because ball's not round. Randomness dictates a whole lot of this. Yes,

you can win with Brock. Well, this leads perfectly into our next question from stage 8 final boss. Shout out to the blue sky followers out there. I mean, I don't love that they suddenly get way more people because of events that are happening

in the world, but good questions here. And this one is directly related to what you just talked about, Patrick. I'll take it. What is that Howie Roseman is doing that other GMs aren't? We've seen a miss on free agents, namely last season. I mean, missed on some of this season.

Bryce Huff. But the cap situations that restrict other teams never seem to bother the Eagles. Related to Purdy, I think Jalen Hertz and this Eagles team is a perfect example that you do not need your $50 million quarterback

to be one of the five best quarterbacks in the league to construct a really talented team around said quarterback. I've seen Jalen Hertz play better football than he did this year. They almost won a Super Bowl with him playing at a ridiculously eye level two years ago. He has not played consistently at that

level this year and yet front to back these are the two best teams I think this year in the league that happened to make the Super Bowl this year. They deserved it and so that's a great example. I'll let you go first on what you think Howie is doing right. Well, there's been

key points where the rest of the league failed, right? Getting Sequin on this contract, everybody should have been in on this. This wasn't any particular genius level operation by Howie. This was a very good player in the division that they had seen plenty of times

and there was an opportunity to sign him at a reduced rate because overall the league circumstances prohibited running backs from being paid what they should. And the Eagles were as influential in that happening as anyone, which is funny. And then they watched the price get so low that they realized like, oh, actually, this would be great. Yeah, a spectacular move that literally everybody should have made.

Sequoan Barkley should have been on everybody's radar. But it's also hitting on these high variants. things where, I don't know, draft circumstance, I think a conversation surrounding Jalen Carter made it feel like that was a high variance thing, but it was known going in, right? That this was one of the best players in the draft, if not the best player in the draft,

and he was going to be there at eight. And so, again, I think that's another situation where everybody else's evaluation, regardless of how you feel about the situation, the ability of the player, right? If people had known that the player was going to demonstrate this level of ability on the football field, he wouldn't have been there for the Eagles to take, right?

So there's a couple of aspects there And it's also getting out of things That aren't necessarily working Because how he has this He has the success He's not constantly trying to save his job Or keep his job Where if there's a Hassan Reddick type situation

If there's a Carson Wins type situation It just Spry stuff's not going to be on this team anymore next year They're just going to eat that as a mistake Like how he recognizes that sunk cost is a logical fallacy And just go If you can make a move make it and he has the cachet to be able to do that because he's not constantly worried about his job. Yeah, and that's key that they have a defined setup.

Now, it's not always that comfortable for coaches. I don't think the coaches there are empowered. I think they kind of view the coaches as temporary employees. They're a little fungible to them. And that's just the way they do it. But they have been consistent with that. Jeffrey Lurie, their owner and Howie Roseman, really run the team. in that manner and he he trusts Howie to do so and and it's consistent I think probably the number one

number there's two things I think they do better than than other teams is that they sign their own guys who are good early like really early like Jordan Milata's how many contracts has Jordan Milata had like they gave him a second contract after he played like four games they're like oh my god what did we find and then they gave him a third contract when it's just like let's get two years out in front of this. And if you look throughout the roster, do you remember the AJ Brown Devonta Smith contracts that they got this offseason? No, nobody does. AJ Brown, no one even knew that he wanted a new contract because he was still two years away from it, but they wanted to make sure Devanta got his. And then they knew that

might have played a certain way to the guy who's actually the best wide receiver on the roster. And they extended him. And so then, of course, A.J. Brown wants his numbers. But I think he's a happier productive eagle when he's not getting his numbers because he feels like he was taken care of fairly. And you can go up and down this roster. Josh Sweat is actually another great example. Paid early and often, not a super. I'm not saying they've done this perfectly with everyone, but I do think they do that more than other teams. And what that does is your window gets extended, right? Because you're not having to worry about, uh, about these decisions. decisions and also the price isn't going down like these guys right they get they usually get ahead of it

and they look good lane johnson like when when was the lane johnson contract like problems it never happens they're always two years ahead of it and actually it's it's almost unfortunate for their players like it's not unfortunate because they're happy to get that money early but like lane johnson never totally maxes out as like the best right tackle in the league like he should money ways but anyways that that's a good yeah and we see the exact converse of that down in dallas where it's like wait until the absolute last minute and pay these players, which again, I'm, I'm grateful if the player wants to take the risk and the team wants to pay out a huge contract to Micah or to DAC, yeah, I'm all for that. But if you make somebody an offer that they would

like to have two years early, then you have the opportunity. You don't have to wait. And they take swings like Mackay Beckton was a swing and Huff was a swing too. Like they miss on plenty of the swings. Jahan Dotson, a little bit of a miss on a swing. I think they've been better in general when you're talking about what teams could do to copy them. They trade a lot. I think trades are an underrated part to just try to improve your team. And some have really not worked for them. I don't know that their hit rate is like that much higher than other teams, but they have a philosophy. They stick to it. And the philosophy is, we will never stop signing and drafting linemen on both sides. And they never stop it. No matter

what the year is, they're always just throwing in. And they've been so consistent with that, over a 10-year period, and it really has worked for them. Maybe other teams can have a different philosophy, but they are really consistent with that. Let's go to our next one as we just shower the Eagles in love. Now we're going to go to one that I agreed with from Kyle Bruno here, saying why doesn't anyone talk about the dolphins having a long-suffering fan base? Longest playoff wind drought.

No way, which is, that surprised me. That's since 2000. They have the longest one in the entire NFL. I didn't know that. And I didn't know the commanders had such a long one before this year, too. And that was really long. The Raiders are the second most, second longest, by the way. No Jets are third.

No Super Bowl win since 73. No AFC title since 92. The owner got the team docked the first round pick for tampering. The QB is the face of concussions, bad, a lot of free agent signings. I don't know why fans all want to be recognized as a team that suffers the most pain. But you are right that the dolphins kind of slide under the radar. The reason is because it seems like it's fun to play in Miami. And because they're always like a,

they're very often a seven to nine win team. But I would kind of agree with Dolphins fans who identify with that particular sort of pain because they're always just mediocre to average and they never win a playoff game. That actually is a pretty good measure of like who's going through it the most. Because a playoff win feels awesome. And it really, in making the playoffs is great. But when you make the playoffs and you just go one and out, and it's like Skyler Thompson or it's, or it's Tua in the cold not being competitive, it kind of just feels like you really didn't belong there. And it's, you don't have that good one playoff win can feel great. And so I'm with you. I think the dolphins are sneaky up there. I think one reason, right, because I think we've discussed all of these things, not the particular playoff drought, right? We saw that kind of shift with the commander's run. this season. But ultimately, in that division, as far as bemoaned fan bases, people in New York

are always going to get more attention for like whatever they got going on. And so I think that that's a particular reason that it doesn't get discussed now. Like throwing Tua having a brain in there is kind of unfair. Yes. I wish I didn't read that out loud. I was going to kind of mentally edit that, but that's my bad. The interesting thing is, Tyreek Hill doesn't count as a bus free agent signing to me. I think the Tyreek signing was great. It was great. That's the trade. Trade. They gave a lot. Yeah. They did. Right. With these trades, right, because you have to

make the pay to do, it feels like a free agency signing. Other than that, it's tough to really think of like a great free agency pickup that the dolphins have had. Well, they had that one year they gave Mike Wallace and a couple other guys and they were like the off-season winners. They've done that quite a bit. One that is not necessarily sneaky bad, but people forget that they drafted Minka.

They had Minka in there. Mika is like a franchise stalwart in Pittsburgh where if things go right, the end of his career could be spectacular, and they'll remember him as like a lifelong stealer, but this was a guy that you shipped out. So yes, we should appreciate Finn's fan misery and easily talk about them as much as the other.

More than anything, I think they're an underrated fan base. I hope to see our friend Henry Hodgson, the most famous of all Dolphins fans. They're very knowledgeable, very passionate, and they've been going through it. Let's go to our next one. Zach Joseph asks,

all the final four teams are top 10 in running. Do you think it's going to be a trend of great offenses emphasizing the run and how defenses will adjust? I think we've been going this way for a while. Top 10 and running depends what the metric is you're looking at because winning teams run more because they're ahead. but I do think some of the trends

we talked about going into the year more too tight end looks, teams going heavier they really have happened and you're seeing the best running backs now we're seeing

kind of like the early aughts when they were dominating fantasy we had about five or six of those monster running back seasons this year there is something to it and I think you're seeing

more creativity in the running game like teams now don't just like run one thing they run seven things and they run a couple of them run it insanely different ways.

And now the run game is almost like how the past game, how that evolution happened where it's just, you got to get yourself a cool run game coordinator like Matt LaFleur. Yeah, it's all cyclical, right? Yes. I don't think we're ever going to be done with a fundamental aspect of football. Kind of like that discussion kind of seemed a little, a little short-sighted to me a few years ago where it's like,

yeah, why run the ball at all? It made me think back to like those early days watching football as a kid where it's like, why do they just run into people's backs? three times, you know, it seemed overly simplified. And so, yeah, I'm glad that, you know, because every coach comes in and gets hired. Yeah, we want to be multiple. We want to attack and we say all these things. But, yeah, it's a fundamental aspect of the game.

It's all going to be cyclical. We're going to see trends change over the course of years and you're going to want to put, if you have a guy that you're going to give the ball 20 to 25 times a game, you're going to want to be good. And these teams have good players at that spot. And I think there will be some teams that lean into it, even more in terms of size. I think it's notable that Philly and KC are two of the bigger teams out there.

I know it's a little random that these are the two teams that made the playoffs. I mean, they made the Super Bowl, but Philadelphia is a large team. Kansas City is a pretty big team, actually, as well. Detroit's a large team. Physically, you do see some mismatch of just drafting size, and so that might become a thing again. Our next question is from one of my favorite long. time listeners, Eric in Utah, Eric Utah, I guess we're calling him. He's got his own podcast,

by the way, the End Zone podcast. Shout out to Eric 18. That's how we know him on blue sky. He said, did Dan Campbell kill it with his O.C. hire, a patent disciple paired with the intermediate receiving kings of sun god and Tim Patrick paired with an elite game. Well, that just sounds to be like the lions are elite paired with J-Mo taking the top off. John Morton was a really surprising hire. I was like, why is that name familiar? John, Morton, because he's not an up-and-comer. He was an offensive coordinator for one season in the NFL. It was with the 2017 Todd Bulls Jets, led by Josh McCown, Robbie Chosen, Anderson at the time, and Austin Safarian Jenkins.

So there not much was going on with that team, although McCown played sneaky good. That was the best McCown season. Yes. And you can't really blame Morton there for getting swept out. Like all of Todd Bulls' offensive coordinators back then, he lasted exactly one year. I don't know if that was all Todd's choice or not, but I don't know if it's sneaky. Great. It was very surprising because I think people thought

they would be doing this new cutting age guy on their own team and they dip into someone he's familiar with. But at this point, Dan Campbell has completely earned my trust in terms of his coaching tree and who he chooses. And he also chose Kelvin Shepard, a former Bill's player, who was once traded one for one for James. Jerry Hughes and was always in my mind as one of the worst trades of that decade because Jerry Hughes was incredible for the bills. But Calvin Shepard, now a defensive coordinator,

I bet he'll be great too. So I don't know if you have any thoughts on John Morton and the Lions. Well, I think, right, because you get the Peyton Tree, right, which is Dan Campbell is a part of. There's familiarity there. I think a lot of the things we associate with Ben Johnson were the things that we could see, right? Because that's how our bias impacts. And we see. And we a team that's very aggressive. Dan Campbell's going to remain aggressive. I think the particular skill sets of the players lend to those trick plays, right?

I think Amon Raus St. Brown is such a skilled receiver, and Jared Goff is such an accurate passer that it leads to those hook and lateral opportunities to make those hook and ladder plays where I feel like the lions are still going to run trick plays. I think that's still going to be an integral part

of the process. And Bears fans may be disappointed when they're like, oh, where's the razzle-dazzle? Because it's the guys I think, I think that make you able to do that. And so there may be a fall off, but I still think the lines are going to store plenty of points because they got the guys that can score plenty of points. Yeah, and I do think they need to start adding to that offensive line again,

getting a little older and not quite as good on the interior either. I'm going to go speed round through a couple more of these. You can throw it up or not, Eric, but we'll just go through quickly. C.M. Bailey asks, what's a home run swing at QB? You'd like to see the Steelers make. There's really no home run swings out there. than Matthew Stafford. So that would be my...

Yeah, swing for the fences. That's it. We got one from N7 Thunder who asks, should the Texans give Stefan Diggs a new contract or let him walk? I think it makes a lot of sense. They know him. He knows them.

It's difficult for Diggs that this is his free agent year coming off of an injury. I think it's best. In those situations, it's good to maybe stay where you know. If they do not go that way, I have some value options. Oh, okay. Great with C.J. Shral.

Darius Slayton is incredibly underrated. he's been imprisoned in New York in the same way that Saquan Barclay had. I think Nick Westbrookine would be a nice value signing in the division. Diomie Brown is coming up

on free agency. I don't know if the commanders are going to let him go. And sneakily, MVS, also set to be a free agent. Also made a nice run towards the end. You can bring Deontay Johnson back. Well, no, I don't know.

I'll think that's going to happen. We got one asking, wanting some fantasy takes, who's a hot dynasty trade based on coaching coordinator movement? I think the Bears, you know, Caleb and Rome, a good time to buy. Drake May, C.J. Stroud, buy low.

Drake London, Bajon. Like, whatever price Bajon is, he would be my number one overall, like, Dynasty. Yeah, but everybody's letting go of Bijon or Jemir Gibbs right now. If you want to, if you want to vibe check your league, see what the, the, the, the, Bryce Young value is at. People may be holding in that situation. It all just depends on who's on your roster and who you're able.

able to get. But I'm with Greg. By low on C.J. Alder. And our friend Jackson Bevins, who does the Cigar Thoughts podcast, but also writes a great column Cigar Thoughts, too, asked about Kubiak in Seattle and whether last year in New Orleans was on the injuries. I don't know. Kubiak's actually had a lot of chance. He actually has looked pretty solid throughout. Like, he seems like he's not going to hurt you. I don't know. about Gino Smith in a system like I want Gino to be able to make a lot of decisions and usually that's a system where you're just kind of you know doing ABC but I I hope they can marry the system to make Gino like as Gino as possible

well if anybody can take an ABC system and add a D there we go and an E it's Eugene Cyril Smith I do because again the Saints had the most unique offensive line combinations this season 10 different offensive linemen had 50 or more snaps so it just the injuries to those skill guys because, you know, our cigar friend had mentioned the skill guys. Jackson. Yeah. It's,

there was a lot that went along in New Orleans, including having the head coach that did at the start of the season. Yeah, the fact that they were all kind of in sync at the beginning of the year when they were healthy was a pretty good, pretty good sign. So I'm excited for that. Let's take a quick break. We're going to do

the calls of the year right after this. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game.

What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt. At Jones and Drew Franklin on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more.

What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team-building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape. talk to decision makers and share the insights you won't find anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots,

from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, analyze matchups, and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a die-hard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture. If you want insight that goes beyond the bottom,

box score. This podcast is for you. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Back on NFL Daily, it's all been leading to this. One man put together the most thorough and researched and excellent candidates for calls of the year that's ever been and two men are going to sit here in the Chris Wesleying podcast studio

and decide what is the call of the year. I think that's the format. Yeah, we'll do it. Yeah, I don't think there's a reason to muddy this up, guys. Okay. You just listen, have some fun, look back, think about, hey, remember when

the Colts were popping off and we've won? It's very much to remember when this is, this is, as I said on the show, with Mina and Colleen and Jordan when we were talking about the tiny table results. We were talking about the over-unders. I feel like this is kind of closed-the-circle week. Like all the things we threw out there

at the beginning of the year, we also have our All-Pro team coming up. We close the circle here. We finish this season before moving on to the off-season. We're going to group this in different categories. And the first category is just like, that was fun.

Remember that? Like, this is a fun category of plays. Let's go back to week one to start. Five and a half minutes to go. First quarter, Indianapolis trails three to nothing. But they've got it now first in ten on their own 40. Richardson on play action, backs to throw. He slips on the turf, gets up, heaves it downfield, looking for Alec Pierce.

He's got it. Toop down, a bomb. 60 yards. Anthony Richardson to Alec Pierce. That's what you're talking. about in the deep game. Touchdown, I-N-D-Y. Oh, I love it.

Matt Taylor on WF-N-I. Rick Venturi there in the booth. Remember when I was trying to do throw of the year and then I just sort of forgot about it halfway through. It's because that was the first one and I knew nothing, no one was going to beat it. Yeah, every throw, every deep throw, I think Bo Nix had the one late in the season.

That was pretty sweet. But in terms of the total play, I think the call was as good as, as good as the throw. Ooh. Just the, the exclamation point of after Pierce catches the ball and goes in the end zone, a bomb! I think that was great, great execution.

I love the play, love the call. I love that analysis by you. And this is a real, a real pro with the pipes here. I don't know about that. Patrick, that throw, one of the best throws of all time. It's not a, it's not even a joke. It really is. Better than PJ Walker?

PJ Walker's is up there. talking about B-throw. Those are two of the best throws of all time. It's okay, guys. Like, it doesn't have to win a Super Bowl to be one of the best throws of all time. It really was. That's a strong candidate. I'm going to go ahead and say, like, that's in the small circle of real contenders, although I'll probably say that after every single one, because I'll get excited at new. Let's go to Week 11, and let's go to Nashville. Six men set to rush. Levis, from his end zone, firing deep downfield for Westbrook.

Keynes got it. 40, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, 5. End zone. Touchdown. Titans, the longest touchdown pass of the year in the National Football League just went 98 years. Oh, Mike Keith, the best, WGFX. Sad news that Mike Keith is moving on to Tennessee, the volunteers away from the Titans.

And so that means this may be our last chance to hear Mike Keith on this particular podcast. And that is sad. But it was a bad play by the Vikings defense in an absolutely hopeless game where the Titans had done nothing. It was 16 to 3 at that point. and just bad coverage leads to that 98 yard NWI touchdown. So the play, the call better than the play. I mean, the call, it's the yard.

It's just my Keith's voice and the way he rolls that yards. That's another strong contender, inner circle. Let's go to week 13. I know it was tough probably for Eric to pick only one Bill's play. Not that you had to limit it to one per team, but I'm looking at the sheet and I see that's kind of what you did. this is this is the bill's snow lateral josh allen week 13 first and a goal from the seven allen under center takes a snap quick hitter thrown behind but somehow caught and now lateral to

alan and reaching for the pylon are you kidding me it's a touchdown unbelievable a catch by amari Cooper, a lateral to Josh Allen, and he runs the remaining five yards for the score. Have you ever seen that one before? Oh, great job by Chris Brown on WGR. What did he say there? Can you believe, like a good, a well time, can you believe it? Yeah. Always hits. And also, it contextualize the fact, because looking back, if we remember that Amari pitched the ball to Josh Allen, when you hear the call, if you remember Amar had almost no business catching that ball. Yes. In the first place. place that was thrown a full yard behind him on the slant and he reaches

back and catches it with one hand. And then Josh is, you know, calling for an insane play to be made because that's Josh and that's why we love him. And yeah, the call fits that. Great memories. Also, probably the seed for all his little lateral thoughts and plays coming down the home stretch of the season. See, the Mari Cooper trade was worth it. He's like, remember

that one time it worked? Sorry. No one, no one got my little jab there. It was mean. It was mean. It wasn't mean. It worked out. It worked out. Just for giving us that memory. I hope you remember the good times of that Bill's season.

There was some fun ones. I do. I had a fun time. There was fun ones. Let's go to week four. It's Ben Johnson. It's Jared Goff. It's a trick play. Second and goal for the Lions from the 7.

Gough out of the gun, Montgomery to his right. Jared leans in. There's the snap. Jared on the end around, gives it to Amman Ra. He's going to throw it to Jared. It's up to the end. Oh, Jared Goff! Oh, baby, on the receiving end of a pass from Amid Rock St. Brown.

Oh, Ben Johnson, I see you too. That is beautiful stuff. That is Monday Night Magic. Yeah, I love it. Dan Miller, last year's winner of the call of the year, WX, Y, T, Lomas Brown. Dan Miller, I feel like, has been as much a part of the Sunday night recaps as anyone. Yeah, because the team is. scores non-stop points and it's hard to pick,

even hard to pick a trick play, but that one in a score fest where you get the energy of the game in the historical matchup between these Seahawks and Lions teams we've had these past few years. There was a couple booths where it was hard to, like, whittle it down to one.

I mean, we'll have a little section later, but like some of these booths are just great at what they do. They absolutely are. One of those booths is Paul Allen and KFAN in Minnesota. I'm curious which one you picked here. This is from Week 16. First and 10th from the Seattle 39.

358 to go. Seattle Leaves on four in the fourth quarter. Sam steps up. Sam throws left. Caught Jefferson. Touchdown! Sam, the man on the fan. Finds the moneymaker

Justin Jefferson. Oh, that's a great option right there. And I see what you did here, Eric. You're kind of picking some great plays that live up to the calls. And I like that.

because we're going down memory lane and we're remembering some of the best moments of this entire season. I would say that that was the peak of the Vikings season, but no, the next week, they put it on the Packers, right? And they went up even another level.

But that was pretty exciting back and forth. That was the comeback win in Seattle. They were actually down for it at that moment. And I think it would stand some people to, because we can all remember how it fell apart at the end, But Sam Darnold, time and time again when they were plays to be made late in games for a stretch there this season.

He was making them. Like, we can't take those away. All right. Our next category of plays are from gentlemen who were on the program this year. And in no way do they get any favoritism. They're on the program

because they do the damn thing in the first place. Week one. One, Matt Money-Smith. Herbert to throw. And has him on the crosser. It's McCawkey. Shuffle.

Shuffle. Touchdown. Oh, lad. Ten-yard touchdown toss. That's strong. And he broke two sets of ankles on that touchdown grab. What a play for the rookie. He hit the brakes.

Watch the plane fly right by. And then another plane flew by. And he skipped into the end zone. Call him Maverick. Oh, dang. That's another strong one. I mean, we got we got some real options here because that's a call you can't plan. I mean, that is all off the dome. It's the partnership between money and DJ. I have to admit they have good chemistry. And it led to the creation. We saw Ladd literally flying a plane in celebration later on in the season. Like that moment, just a moment where money and DJ are looking up at planes. coming down landing at LAX

we have the shuffle in there because they're playing against the Raiders right so so money makes the shuffle call there's just of course that was pretty perfect that's going to be tough to be let's go to week eight our friend Andrew Siciliano this was

in the aftermath of a tough loss for them Tim Donovan the long time Brown's play by play guy if you're the Cleveland Brown one play to get a huge emotional win you got a defense 24 yards let's go three seconds this is it for the win make some noise wherever you can hear the sounds of our voice right now 24 yard line shotgun brown's up 29 24 Lamar jackson has the football brown's rushing for Lamar flushed out Lamar chased by Zadarius

Lamar jackson avoids adarius he's got to throw it directing traffic pump fake now throwing end zone Bill Gordon complete. The Brown's wins. 29. 24. You just knew it. You knew it. You felt it. So many things happened in this game.

They're unexplainedable. And it all ended up to a Brown's win. This one's for you. Getting a little misty here in the studio. Awesome job by Andrew and Nathan Segura. And a reminder of something I try to keep in mind and voice on this show, which is that one game can be pretty special. I know this was a miserable brown season,

and yet I don't think that takes away from anything of the emotion of that win that was in that booth and the connection they had with Jim Donovan in the city. and what an exciting just day of football that was against the team they hate the most in the world, too. It helps a little extra beating the Ravens that day. What a great call by Andrew and Nathan Zagora. And not just culminating the cultural context of the week and the loss of Jim, right, but the fact that the game had built up to that point.

Andrew highlighting so many things that took place that didn't necessarily make any sense on a bad Browns team against the Ravens team that would ultimately contend in the playoffs where, yeah, sometimes all that stuff doesn't matter. And on a Sunday, magic can happen. We should appreciate it. Yeah, that was awesome. Let's go to a guy who's on the Mount Rushmore of calls of the year. I think he was a runner up last year.

Why are we even making runners up? Let's go Tyler Higby, week 16, his return. Two tied-end set with the strength to the ride of Matthew Stafford, who's under center. From that right side, Pooka in motion, play fig, roll right, Stafford throws, caught by Higby. That's a 10. Big rig.

to the goal line. Touchdown! Tyler Higby! Welcome back. Big Rig Higgs. Touchdown, L.A. I love it. J.B. Long, of course.

I forgot to say his name leading into it. There were so many fun J.B. Long calls throughout the season on K.S.P.N. Yeah, you feel the excitement. Of course, we got another, we got some other place coming up against the jet. But yeah, to see, do have a player come back and to hear that in J.B.'s voice and have them get in the end zone, it's, uh, it comes through. It comes through. Good job, Jay. I was wrong saying that everyone only got one, uh, bite at the apple this year because our next section is, uh, defense matters too. Only a couple defensive plays in this, uh, show. And one of them was by our guy, Andrew van Ginkle back in week one. And here comes Daniel Jones, 12 of 22 for a. 111 yards, Vikes Lee, 216, Jones.

Oh, he threw it to Van Ginkle. Touchdown! That's the fourth touchdown in Andrew Van Ginkle's career, and he read Daniel Jones like a book, and that book had a happy ending. Ooh, that's a strong one. Both of Paul's entries this year were absolutely fantastic. That's my favorite of the two at the very least.

if we're doing a Paul Allen bracket because just to get to that stat with the quickness of Andrew Van Ginkle's career returns for a touchdown right there to add the reading like a book. It was just a great call. That was awesome.

Let's go to another pick six. This was a thick pick. And this is K-I-R-O. Steve Rable. Third down in seven from the Seattle nine. Blitz is coming. Throw inside. It's picked off.

Leo Williams. coming near side he's running like a racehorse he's that midfield turns up field has blockers holy smokes are you kidding Leo Williams is going to take it in for a touchdown Seahawks the Seahawks mess up a kick return they dump it on the defense

and Leo Williams says I got you covered picks it off as he drops back into coverage comes up the near sidelines in front of the bench picks up lockers and takes it all the way in for a touchdown. Are you kidding me? Great job there. They were going in to go up 28 to 7 the Jets in that game.

That Leo Williams played, turn the game around. So a big play in that game, and I love how the voice cracked. Yeah, the legitimate excitement. And that's what we want. Don't fake it. Let's go to the Wolfley Brothers. I mean, I didn't even realize until this year that they were brothers. I guess I should have.

Craig and Ron Ron. Ron's in Pittsburgh. Let's start there. Both these calls, by the way, are from week 10. Let's just play them back to back. Wolf on Wolf. They break the huddle. Mike Williams comes to the left.

Three receivers split to the right. Warren to the left of Wilson in the shotgun. Wilson settles back. Raises the foot, gets the snap. Back to pass. Looking. Going to float it up left for Williams.

And Williams makes the grab in the end zone. What a throw! What a catch! Mike Williams in his first game and a Steelers uniform has hauled in a 32-yard touchdown strike from Russell Wilson. Oh, he threw that ball, wang-dang-doodle down the sidelines. I don't think I've ever seen anything like this. First target, first catch, could be a game winner-kinger. Unbelievable. Snap to Murray, drop straight back. A fade, right corner. The end zone, Harrison. Oh, what a catch with one hand for a touchdown. Marvin Harrison Jr. Halls it in with his right arm. Just a gorgeous drop in the bucket by Murray. Spin the pig, Kyler.

Spin it. Drop it. A dime being dropped into the buckets right over the shoulder of Marvin Harrison, Jr. Spin that pig, Kyler. I can't. It hurts. I think there was a haiku in there.

That was amazing. That's Ron Wolfley, by the way. And we should mention their play-by-play guys. Ron is the one in Arizona. I misspoke. Dave Pash is the play-by-play, K-M-V-P. And yes, in Pittsburgh, it's Rob King, who's the play-by-play gay. And then Craig Wolfley, rather, jumps in for the Wang Dang doodle. Just wouldn't be the same on Sundays without the Wolfley Bros. And finally, it's a couple plays that we've played on this show a couple times, because we just had on our guest, Bram Weinstein, last week, and yet we've talked about a lot in this show. I think the commanders were kind of the team this year. I don't know. They were just, they were just part of so many of the best moments of the season. Let's listen to Bram and

London Fletcher in a divisional round. Third down to 10. Snap the golf, steps up, good pocket, throws the middle of the pickup. Jeremy Chin's got it. That's it. like it's 1991. We're going to the NFC championship game. This is the Motown, the home of Motown, and tonight,

they'll be playing the blues, baby. I think I could hear them dab it up in the booth. There's a call. I think it might have been the Monday night winner against the Bengals where I think Bram mentions

that London Fletcher punched him. Like he says, I just got punched in the booth. Like I said, that's another booth where I had like seven. Yeah. Yeah, it's tough to pick. I love the trash talk too immediately by London Fledger. That's an ex-player thing that he's immediately sticking in the lion's face a little bit.

Bram does such a good job covering the team and making you just enthusiastic by listening to him that after talking to him, I flipped my pick to the commanders last week. And now I'm mad at Bram about that. So to feel better, let's listen to. Yeah, we got to listen to the Hail Mary before we get out of here. There's an eight deep form with the goal line. They bring three. Daniel's backing up. He's just going to have to let one fly.

Goes to the right side. Steps away from the defenders. Gives himself some time. Now steps up, fires. Heads towards the end zone. It is... Go! Oh!

Oh, wow. Touchdown! Oh, yeah. Oh, that's it. That's it. That's why we do this. To have that moment culminate where you can hear the booth. Absolutely losing it. I think that's what great about all of Bram's calls is the way he

accelerates into the touchdown Washington, and you can feel it. And fans will always remember this 2024 season. They ultimately didn't get the ending result that they started to believe. But right there in those moments is why you believe. It's why we do all those things. And that one's tough to be, Greg. It is. And yet, I don't like, I don't like having to choose. one. Maybe in future years, like, we'll have a bracket or something, but it just feels like a slight to say anything

is beating that moment with Andrew Siciliano and Nathan Zagura. That was incredible. The McConkey one by Money and DJ, like I loved it, the Higby one coming up, like the Paul Allen, Van Ginkle, the Hail Mary is going to stick with me. The Richardson throw,

I think you were really well said that the play call was as good as the throw. And so I hope no one gets mad here. Okay. But I'm going to give it to Mike Keith and his week 11 call. And it's partly for that call,

which was outstanding. And it's partly for the years of enjoyment that Mike Keith has given listeners in Nashville and hopefully on the round NFL podcast and on this podcast. And Mike Keith, to me, he's the man. And since we won't get to hear him anymore, I guess I'm giving it to Mike Keith.

It makes perfect sense. A team that for some reason still wears those Oilers uniforms that instead of sticking into their identity in Nashville, and Mike Keith is that to me. So he deserves honor. I think like in terms of technical and execution and summarizing things, Paul Allen, we're giving, you know, franchise voice cornerstones, their flowers. I'd give it to him for Van Ginkle. reading Daniel Jones like a book. Love it. And yes, I think that Hail Mary call will live

forever, which is, that's better than any award. The touchdown with less than 10 seconds to Terry McLaren to win the game, that would be a great Bram call. You could legitimately have your own Bram Weinstein bracket. I think that that Siciliano call is going to live in

the hearts and minds of a lot of Browns fans forever. And spend that pig is going to do it for me as well. Let's get out of here. We'll be back on Friday. I'm going to have my friends, Adam and Ryan,

from the Saints Block Party podcast. They've been boots on the ground in Senior Bowl this week. Like, oh, yeah, NFL network got Daniel, Jeremiah, and Charles Davis. We got Adam and Ryan coming on this show to recap the week at the Senior Bowl.

Looking forward to that. And, yeah, let's end this with a little Mike Keith. When we're saying goodbye to a legend, you know football is back. Levis in the shotgun. Six men set to rush. Levis, from his end zone, firing deep downfield for Westbrook. Keeney's got it.

40, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, 5. End zone. Touchdown. Titans. The longest touchdown pass of the year in the national. Football League just went 98 years. This is an I-Heart podcast.