NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Cam Newton Injury; Biggest Training Camp Surprises & Preseason Thursday

Episode Date: August 23, 2019

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Chris Wesseling, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal bring you all of the latest news around the NFL including the latest with Cam Newton's foot (7:02), Patrick Chung's indictment (10:45), and the Cardinals signing Crabtree (14:19). The heroes spin through the preseason Thursday takeaways and the biggest training camp surprises. (43:07)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. Can't figure out what XFL stands for. That's not true, Extreme Football League. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast presented by Sirius XM. My name is Dan Hansis. I'm joined in a room filled with Heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What is that boys?

Hey, man. Right? X is extreme. Right. So that came from a listener, and the listeners listened to a series of shows and views us as mental adults. I mean, maybe I'm wrong. It's a sim, the league also has, you know, been, well, please. Happy Friday, everybody.

How's everybody doing, Greg? I'm great. Good until I heard that, now annoyed. Now annoyed. I get it. Wes, you got the winter cap on here. Well, I came in with nothing but this polo shirt on. And then it was, you know, it was like a meat locker in here.

So put the old gray shirt and a hat on. Wednesday, and make sure you get it and make sure you check it out if you haven't yet because I'm sure your fantasy draft is this weekend or in the week coming. The fantasy extravaganza. It was the 25th annual fantasy extravaganza. And what a celebration it was to mark that milestone. So I didn't get a chance to bring it up. But I wanted to make one more point, one more nugget that I got, Mark,

from the Wessling Rosenthal Rich Eisensoe appearance, which again, went over like gangbusters everywhere you turn. A lot of social media action around that. The guys look great, and I mentioned this on Instagram and Twitter, but I want to say it in person.

You guys looked really good on camera. Fit, well-dressed. Fit? Yeah. That's generous. Well-spoken. It was just a nice thing to see. Represented the brand well.

But I didn't want to mention, Mark, that I heard through the Gravevine that, you know, Wes, he positions himself as the man sitting at the top of the common man rankings, okay? Sure, he does. Famously. Yeah. You know, Bernie told me that he took a limo to the rich eyes of show. Wait a minute.

There was no limo. That cannot be true, West. That is erroneous. There was no limo. and the poor driver had to take out a baby seat to put us in. It was a car service. It was a, yes. If it was offered, what am I going to do?

Not taking? Let's actually, I have footage, the west side of Cincinnati, a working class area. Let's cut to the west side of Cincinnati. Their reaction to the news. Oh, is that Wes's mom? They're worked up, and they should be. In Wes's defense, he doesn't drive an automobile these days, which is kind of a common man.

thing. So, you know, if you get offered a three ride, the common man thing is get in the pickup truck and rumble over to direct TV headquarters. Or I would say just a simple Uber X, the lowest tier Uber offer. Expense it. You can expense it easily with the company. I'm sure Wes has a very cooked up appropriate response to this, though. I was told by the people in the west side of Cincinnati that I was getting up

when I wore dockers once in a while. One thing I learned, one thing I learned during that episode. sitting behind the glass is that you guys are ass-f-h-h-h-h-h-h-ha-ha. I now understand what's... It took you going back there? Well, I'm in here, and I become one, too. But when I'm back there, I realize these guys are impossible to deal with. Total vultures.

They're living up on clouds. And I just was appalled by what I viewed, especially off-air. Sobering, sobering stuff, Mark. Coming up on the Friday edition of the Around the NFL podcast, some preseason week three takeaways. There was a handful, a bushel of games played Thursday in what used to be the most important week on the preseason calendar. And I guess it still is, but it's different now. It's just different.

It's just not treated in the same way it once was. But there are takeaways, and we will share them. Also, Greg wrote a banger. Yeah, he did. What was that? 5,000 words? Drop a 5,000 word banger on us? No, it was 20, it was under 2,500.

Really? Yeah. Nice work. Anyway, biggest training camp surprises going city by city by city. Now, Mark, would an ass-a-do you do that? Look at all the compliments I'm paying to the group today. Can you stop saying it so I have to go back and bleep all these words? Like an asshole keeps saying the word asshole, so I have to go back and do all this work.

Whenever you are buttering anyone up, it is for a purpose. Nick Fortier, get that drop right there. So Greg wrote about the, from his viewpoint, the biggest camp, surprises in each city so we'll hit that but before that let's do some news going broke by and hype but i know what i like because i'm banking on the brown to be that win in type total wins two digits grab the credit and swipe go ahead turn up change the stereo do you dorsey spinning it making the right pick imagination at work call him general electric click moves one after the other all this new talent man and pays to discuss oh pound let me hear you bark that noise freddie ready with the

Cleveland boys. A maker in the back with a stash in poise. Better believe, Beliveland. Got some brand new toys. Boy, Brown, making D's shiver. Like the league on fire, like the Cuyahoga River. They've never seen flows hot with these are. Cardi C-B.

It's Bernie Co. Zaw. Yay! Oh! Wow. That was not Cardi B. That was Connie Fox, a.k.a. the tiny box, Colleen Wolfe, this morning on Good Morning Football. All about your Browns, Mark.

blown away. And I, you know, one little, there's so much to unpack there, but she mentioned Baker Mayfield's fashion poise. And I, you know what? Obviously, he did the GQ thing. And I saw, I seen all the tweets, everyone calling what the coat he wore, his grandmother's coat, all this, let's, let's be real about one thing. And it's, now it's his turn to be ripped apart for his fashion choices. Every one of these quarterbacks that does one of these fashion spreads, and really any rich male, any male that becomes super rich, starts wearing clothing that is so beyond what any of us would ever comprehend putting on that he's just like anyone else at this point

it's not like he's set new give me a break with the Mark Sanchez spreadsheet like that to me was next level right he's not picking these clothes the only question is whether he takes him with him I think Baker's at the point he's just taking those clothes right was it I thought that was like a joke on on Twitter that was actually his grandmother's coat

no it just that it looked very much like a coat of grandmother from any century might put on got you yes any century Connie Fox Wow. She did great job. She wrote that? Yes, she did.

She did, and she performed it, and I think she won the rap battle between her, Nate Berluson, as predicted, and Kyle Brent. Wow. That hurts, Nate. You know it does. Cam Newton got hurt. Unbelievable. On Thursday, he left the preseason game against the Patriots with a foot injury. He left the stadium in a walking boot, and rap sheet reported Friday that an X-ray and an X-ray and other tests, he was diagnosed with a mid-foot sprain in his left foot. General manager Marty Herney told Rap Sheet that the team is, quote, cautiously optimistic

that Newton will be ready for week one against the Rams, week one, which is now, you know, just over two weeks away. And, Wes, you know, we didn't mention Cam Newton in the fantasy extravaganza during the stay-way chatter, but he was on my list, just didn't get a chance to bring him up. I just, I'm a little bit nervous about Cam because obviously any 30-year-old quarterback that said two shoulder surgeries, you get nervous. But he's also had ankle surgery.

Now this foot is connected to that ankle. Is it possible that a guy that's taken a lot of abuse over the years, he's breaking down? Is that a real concern to be having it if you're a Panthers fan? Because it's a scary one. Well, I mean, is it possible? Sure, but I don't know. It seems more like bad luck to me.

them breaking down a mid-foot spring. To me, the greater concern is that I haven't liked what I've seen out of Will Greer, the quarterback they drafted in a third round. Guys like Ryan Finley, the Bengals mid-round pick and Jared Stidham, the Patriots mid-round pick, look a lot better. I've been impressed with Easton Stick a little bit from the Chargers, but Will Greer has not played well. And he got brave reviews coming out of the draft.

It's a bummer because Cam Newton got really good reviews in practice for his arm looking great. like throwing the deep ball pretty well. He's got the new motion. You're kind of excited to see this new cam, and now he's going to be coming in to a brutal week one matchup as it is with an injury. Even if he plays, you would think they're going to try to limit him being their goal line,

you know, back, which he essentially is in that time. And you just hate, like, going into the season that way. I don't blame him, though. Like, everyone said it's like, this just shows you can't play your players in the preseason. I just feel like that that's a little too easy. Like, certain teams. Like, every team.

team is a little different. Certain teams believe that it's going to help. If you're playing football, you're going to be at a risk. It's a bummer when they get hurt in week one, too. And it's not any different. That could happen in practice. If watch the play you got injured on, he's bouncing around. It's going to happen if you're playing football. The Patriots thought it was important for Tom Brady to play football. I think he did too. And it's like, everyone's going to make their own call. But that doesn't mean never play. I think Wes nailed it with the bad luck. But I mean, because Newton in 2014, he fractured a rib in a preseason game and missed regular season action.

To Dan's point, he's had a concussion. There's some of these guys I like to call them just like a bug because they're constantly getting the injury bug, biting them left and right. We're always talking about their injuries. You call Cam Newton a bug? A bug. Then it's like it's December in 2014. He gets into a random car accident.

Now that's bad luck. It's bad luck. I'm not saying that's his fault. I don't know how that. My point being is that the car accident, a perfect example. That's rotten luck. And yeah, injuries suck in there, rotten luck too. When they start to pile up for a guy that his plays a certain way,

I would just be starting to get nervous if I was a Panthers fan. He might want to reconsider those glamour scooter shoots on his way to the stadium. I mean, for multiple reasons. And it is, like you said, he's got a very tough matchup against the Rams, Greg. And it was a bummer watching a diminished version of Newton labor through those last five or so starts last season. And now you have a situation for the Panthers who just want to turn the page. and now you might have a hobbled Newton in week one. We'll see what kind of progress he makes

as we get closer to that Sunday. Moving on, bad news on the throne of slees. Patriot Safety, Patrick Chung, has been indicted by a grand jury on a charge of cocaine possession. This occurred in Meredith, New Hampshire, on June 25th. The felony charge is only one charge Chung is facing. Excuse me. The felony charge is the only one Chung is facing.

no other individuals involved. He has a court date coming up. He doesn't have to appear at it. His lawyer can appear on his behalf. That's an August 28th arraignment. So we'll see how this gets sorted out. But Greg Chung is an important part of that defense. And this is a pretty heavy off-the-field situation to be hanging over him.

Yeah, it's unclear what it's going to mean for his status. Whether could he be playing week one? Could he be suspended? Could he just be away from the team for the whole year? Like, no one has any idea. But to your point, a huge Patriots fan who we all know well, let's call him Burke, I mean, texted me apoplectic after this, thinking that after Gilmore, Stefan Gilmore and Tom Brady, that Patrick Chung might be the third most valuable patron.

I'm like, all right, let's calm down there. I know he covers tight ends well and he's versatile, but let's calm down with that. It does mean, though, that Duran Harmon, who's been a starter the last few years, and some people thought would maybe not make this team, might get traded to one of those Patriots South or West coming out of camp. Looks like he'll make the team. I think that's kind of my takeaway because they're going to need him now. Ill planning, though, because it sounds like from when you piece together the report that an alarm went off

or something that alerted the police who were going there to help, obviously, and assist, and then bang, you know, your house is not put together the way you need to be. So they're in the house checking on, what, like a burglar alarm or something? I think to help the civilian that lives there instead the civilians. I think maybe in that spot the cops give a little wink Patrick clean up the snow something like that

They feel differently In Meredith's New Hampshire You gotta get off the grid Eric knows how it operates in New Hampshire Get the snow plow out You gotta get off the grid Meredith's right now that's alarm systems This big lake

The biggest lake in New Hampshire Meredith is Lake Winipasaki And it gets kind of wild Up in up there you know Up in the Pissack It does It is I don't think they call it that

But And I don't know enough about I'm not obviously making any comment about Patrick Chung's guilt or innocence but it is interesting that I feel like every six to nine months there's some like mega criminal charge connected to the New England Patriots. Here we go. It just, you know, connect the dots over the years.

I know everybody. There's team players and front office officials get in trouble from every organization. You've got quarterbacks, you know, dispensing their phones and dumpsters because they don't want those to be examined. You know, it's a broad. I would just say take out the red string, you know, the red string in criminal investigations and then just go basically year to year. It's going to go a through line.

Manhunter season three. Yes, no, maybe so, Greg. What? That they get, there's been a lot. There's been a lot of gates. There's been a lot of, you know, stuff. Crime. They get more attention.

And they've checked all the boxes, like, at the level from petty misdemeanors to capital murder and everything in between. Like stumbling naked into a police station. That too. There's the ones that are more humor-based. Okay, I'm going to move on. It's too bad.

Young's been a great story. You know, he left home, he came back. He's won three rings since he's been back. You know, he's been much better since they originally cut him back in the day or traded him. This is the poor guy. Deepest Patriots defense I remember in years.

They're going to be good again. All right, let's move on. Michael Crabtree, he's back. Two weeks after working out for the Cardinals, left without a deal. The veteran Whiteout agrees to terms with Arizona on a one-year deal. He joins a group of receivers

led by veteran Larry Fitzgerald, Christian Kirk, Kishon Johnson, not Kishon, Andy Isabella, and Hakeem Butler. Kevin White, the former Bears' first round pick, he got cut. I guess that's Crabtree essentially replaces Kevin White on this depth chart. Crabtree, 31 years old, Mark, spent last season with the Ravens, had a big role in the offense, at least until Lamar Jackson showed up and had 607 yards receiving three touchdowns. a guy that maybe finds a way to catch the ball in the end zone, but not the most explosive guy at this point of his career.

I mean, I gather that they brought him in initially. A, obviously he's available, but that he played under Mike Leach at Texas Tech, so he's very familiar with the offense. And I think, you know, you opened Cardinals camp, and there was this buzz about Kevin White and where Kevin might end up in the offense. For us, it's all wait and see, and he's gone.

And they also lost to Keen Butler. So there's a spot there. The Kishon Johnson news is interesting to me because it was Josh Weinfuss of ESPN that said he may have had the best training camp of anyone on the Cardinals roster, veteran or rookie alike. So they need people to step up and turn into glue for Kyla Murley right away. Well, he, Kishon Johnson's a six-round rookie, very shifty, quick. They want to play with four receivers. And this shows why, you know, when we project the starters, I do this, you know, fantasy owners are draft. in Andy Isabella.

It's just like, well, they're going to have four receivers. And they like the college evaluation of Andy Isabella, and they like Hakeem Butler, and that's going to be their four. And you just never know with rookies. Isabella just doesn't look like he's ready to go. And to me, this is basically, we don't want to play this guy. We like Keishon Johnson, and Crabtree's going to be in there, and that's our top four with Kirk and Fitzgerald.

I'd like to point out that in the last two off seasons, the two teams with among the worst wide receiver cores in the league have said the way to get better, is to get rid of Michael Crabtree. And now a team with one of the worst wide receiver quarters in the NFL has said, a way to get better is to bring in Michael Crick. I think he can still play. He's savvy, though. You know, remember there was that report where they couldn't get a deal done with Crabtree two weeks ago?

What has he done in between? He fired his agent, and then he hired the same agent who represents Kyler Murray and Cliff Kingsbury. Spot. Which seems like a conflict of interest when you're representing the number one overall pick and the coach. Worked out. There's a lot of that. Watching you, agents. There's a lot of young wide receivers on that roster and a young quarterback.

You know what Crabtree feels like to me was? Bill Parcells coined it once upon a time. Progress stopper. Perhaps. Perhaps. Let's move on. It's also a big play stopper. The Cowboys.

Cowboys make a big deal. Oh, man, a big contract. But not with one of the players you might expect. They reached agreement on a long-term deal earlier this week with linebacker Jalen Smith. The Cowboys made the deal official after a rap sheet report. Stephen Jones said Tuesday the extension is for five years and it's worth $64 million, including $35.5 million guaranteed. He's under contract through the 2024 season.

If you're a listener of this podcast, you've heard Chris Wessling singing the praises of Smith all throughout the 2018 season. And he's such a great story after what happened at Notre Dame where he looked like a stone cold top five pick. suffers a terrible knee injury and you're not sure if he's ever going to be able to play in the NFL. It does affect his draft stock, but the Cowboys took a chance, West. They took him high in the second round. He sat out his rookie year and became one of the best linebackers in football. Yeah, it's a great story. At one point, he had drop foot syndrome and he could barely, he had no range of motion in his lower leg. It's an amazing story. Nobody thought that he was

going to come back and be one of the best linebackers in football, which he was for the last few months of last season, along with Leighton Vandrash. He's a guy that you could tell, even in his second, but definitely last year, his third year, he's such a leader for that team that he... He's an impressive human. He's talked to him, remember? Right. And the Cowboys in training camp, just the way that they would talk about it, even in his second

year, you could just tell the influence he has over all of them and the way he approaches and kind of the joy he has. And the way he talks about Leighton Vandrash, and the two of them seem like just, a perfect pair to sign forever. And I saw some criticism that's like, you know, this is a relatively team-friendly deal. Like, he could have gotten more money if you waited out. Like, this is a guy who had his entire career flash before his eyes is happy to have it. He's two years away from free agency.

And I hate that where you're like trying to get into someone else's money saying that you should have tried to get more money. It's like his generations are secured for, you know, his sons and his. you know, the next generation after that, like don't tell people not to sign a big contract if they want to, shut up. And I mean, the Cowboys, you know, I can't think of a team in a person more than Jerry Jones

who was attracted to high risk, high reward draft picks. And they don't, like Randy Gregory, not working out at this point. And essentially, you could look at them and say, maybe you stretched on that one. But this was viewed that way too. And it has worked out beautifully.

And I like a team that once you find that position group that is stacked, side. We're going to keep one, move someone else, and go lower money at the position. So a lot of teams do that, and their general managers can't figure out a way to keep all these guys. Keep this group together. The defense has gotten so much better. And I'll give Smith the last word, because in his press conference, he said, pointing back to the Cowboys essentially taking that risk on him in the second round. Here's what he had to say. You took a risk, you know, a $4.5 million risk, you know, had I never been able to play again.

So me understanding that it was my duty for them to get the return on their investment. And they've been able to do that. And, you know, now, fortunate enough to really be a cowboy for life is just what I wanted. It's good story. I like those stories. Now, Cowboys, keep doing work, so don't have to talk about contracts anymore. Big D. There's three more to discuss.

It's not going away tonight. injury news from the preseason Drew Locke on Monday night football preseason edition sprained his throwing hand and that's going to cost them a lot of time it sets back the Broncos second round rookie to the point where he could start the season

on IR Boomerang is that right Mark? Yes but I hear some flacks Some people are saying I prefer IR boomerang and people are telling me that they like Boomerang IR that that rolls off I always thought that sounded better, personally. I like IR Boomerang.

Again, it only goes back to the fact that it's not sticking on any level as a true term because people can't even describe what's happening. Like, Erica, if you could describe in 30 words or less, what is IR Boomerang? Put it on the spot. Like in football terms? Yes. It's like people that bounce off and on the injury report. I mean, that's about 70% right?

She's very close. It's like a new rule. For new listeners, you know, injured reserve used to mean you're out for the season. But now you can put a player on injured reserve and they can come back as early as I believe eight weeks is the earliest. Isn't it two players now? Yeah, you can do two players now. And that is IR boomerang.

I believe you said bounce back. And it's sort of like the idea that the boomerang, you're sending them far out of field. And, you know, if it returns. But it comes back. It's gone. It's not IR Frisbee. That thing is in the woods. This is almost like, it almost takes Vic Fangio and.

John Elway off the hook because it would have been embarrassing when Kevin Hogan was their backup week one, which I think he would have been whether Locke was hurt or not. I don't know. I don't know that for sure, but I just think luck. One of my takeaways from this, you know, preseason is just they're, you know, Joe Flack was playing this season. I would have thought that I, right, but even if the rest of the team is terrible or if some, you know, if he doesn't play as well, if they were like one and three, I would have expected, okay, now everyone's going to be talking And Locke's not playing until it's week 16 and if the Broncos are out of it. Like, I just don't, I don't think there's any change.

Watch your mouth. I'm saying if, you know. So a boomerang, boomerang, I.R. is sort of like a side piece. IR. You can keep them there. You know, you kind of keep them out of the limelight. You don't, you know, it's not, it's not. Barry them in the backyard for a while. Right.

But then you know what they say, West, they always, you can always dig them back up. You can always dig it back up. Side piece and someone buried in the yard like sounds. Because it doesn't cost you all this money. Right? It doesn't, you know, you're not going out to dinner every week. Yeah, you're not going out to dinner every week. They can cost money, I would imagine.

Or is Lil Debbie? I mean, they're paid a full salary, so it breaks down a little there. By the way, has anyone ever seen... But they come back? Has anyone ever seen someone successfully throw a boomerang? It's impossible. I owned one as a child. Did you ever throw it and it came back to you or even close?

No, you can... It basically goes straight and then hooks right and then lands about 37 feet away from you. You're running after it, typically, yeah. And Australian listeners, you know it too. I was just going to say, over under 100 tweets you're going to get from Australia. Right. And it's another reminder of how much better life is just in general, just in terms of, like, quality of life now than before in most of the world. This is such a great thing.

What about all the mental illness? No, there's a lot. At some point, though, when they invented the boomerang, it's like, wow, that's the best entertainment option we've got. I don't think it's the biggest revolution that, you know, we've had in entertainment in decades. Wasn't it meant for hunting? It was a hunting tool, I believe. It's a piece of garbage. So it's for sustenance and survival.

Don't come at me with facts. Theory by bit. Finally in the news. Step behind the red velvet gentleman. Matt Nagy's back in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. tracking this. I mean, no podcast has been hitting this story harder, how the bears have been handling their search for a kicker after the double doink, Cody Parkie. SI drops a hammer. I don't know if you guys had a chance to read this. It's required

reading if this is a saga that interests you. Really digging in on what exactly the bears have done this offseason. They brought in nine kickers. Nine kickers brought them in like cattle for slaughter and herded them together and used a bizarre scoring score. system that Byzantine, does that work in this? Yeah, that's

totally. That's perfect. To try to explain how they were progressing, then cut them at will, had little notes, humiliated the men,

didn't treat them like football players. And then they were left with four, and now we're down to one poor, poor guy. Who's the last guy there?

Eddie Pinheiro, who I'm really scared for. I don't think he's going to be their week one kicker. So they held a competition? Usually you bring in like at most three or four kickers, if you're really looking. The Bears brought in nine, and it's a really great story about it.

This is in some way draconian? Dude, this is, it was all the kickers. It feels like an old Hollywood casting call. If you can't take the pressure of a kicking competition, what are you going to do with five seconds on the clock? Here's what Notre Dame's Justin Ewan. Well, you're in lockstep with Matt Nagy, but everybody else thought it was ridiculous. I was connected to it.

Justin Eun, a kicker for Notre Dame had this to say, it's not efficient for the team to continuously beat that one dead horse the whole time. You have to build a system of confidence for your kicker. I don't think that's how the bears are running it. And shout out to Youen for actually speaking out. A lot of other kickers, they spoke badly and they spoke anonymously. There are other bears kickers, if you go look around, their comments, I think what they were sort of saying in general as camp pressed on was exhaustion with the day-to-day pressure.

With the 43-yard stuff and the Augusta silence. How soft are these guys? I'm not arguing that they're not soft. It's a hard job less. I know. That's the point. Bill Parcells used to walk up the Venetary as a rookie and start putting voodoo on him and walking across his path in the middle of the kids.

It's a results business and the Bears' coaches have gotten terrible results. So shouldn't they bear some blame here? Whatever they're doing. $5 million at a good kicker. It's not working. Yeah. Yeah. Someone should have signed your buddy Myers.

He was available, Jason Myers. Can we like, actually, can we start some games before we say it's not working? That's fair. I don't, well, my point is this whole process isn't working because if I could, I would, I'm guessing none of these players will play for the Bears in a regular season game, including Eddie Pinnero. Their, their kicker will be someone that's on another roster, which makes it all the more ridiculous. Yeah, because then you're, how much money have you sunk into airline flights and hotels and all this other? Yeah, and you're just going to take Matt Brian off the golf course in a week.

Absurd. Why isn't Matt Brian playing for him? I don't know. I didn't want to bring up someone to Jets to quietly sign him, but, you know, I have a responsibility to listeners to mention that he would make sense. Your reach is watch. Your influence is that great. It's a global audience great.

Deep State front office men in the Bears Complex are now going to figure out that Matt Bryant's available. Well, him going to Floor and Park. That's what's happening in the news. All right, let's do some quick preseason Thursday takeaways. I am so tired of preseason, and I respect you guys if you have a ton of notes to share on this. and we could do a beefy 20-minute segment on the seven games that were played last night.

But I'm not going to share it too much. So I'm going to let you guys handle the bulk of this. Greg, get us going. What was something from the Thursday action? Please, please, please. Week one. No, there was a very significant development in the Redskins game, which is that Darius Geis played football at the pro level

for the first time and looked good. And that is a big step for a guy who still hadn't been cleared until this week to be in a game. and looked like kind of the Darius Geis that we saw in highlights in college. I mean, I wouldn't say he looked great, but there were enough to build off for a first appearance that you're like, okay, he's going to be a factor week one. That was a big, that was a big development. There were a couple runs where I wondered if his speed was all there,

but he laid a nasty to a farm on someone. They gave him the first six carries in 11 in all, and they gave him a catch. And for me, after, you know, you talk about him, you know, you're annoyed it behind the scenes how hard they're working to get their body back. And it's a good story for a team that is weapons depleted. Then a team that could use some, you know, good news. A team that lost a tight end last night, Jordan Reed, the 18th time.

You know, we joke about when I make my jokes about Tyler Eifford and how I believe in him and he gets hurt every year. So don't take him serious. With Jordan Reed, I mean, and I hope this isn't a serious head injury he has. Well, I mean, that was one of the worst hits I've ever seen a player take to their head. I think any play, I mean, I feel really bad for him. And I've seen some joking Jordan Reed stuff today. But, like, that was a vicious.

brain injury and he's had a lot of them but man that was a tough hit to watch on replay and in a preseason game west uh we mark and i can tag team this one because we both watched jaguars dolphins and um i thought that josh allen the jaguar is number one pick there are there may be a couple teams regretting not drafting him he is a huge player the size speed combination is is very impressive and he to me he looked like i told mark like a a roadhouse bouncer during the middle of a midnight melee just hip tossing guys out the saloon doors while somebody's breaking a chair over his back he's just going through the dolphins offensive line like they weren't there is venevich esk yes i and i you know for me i have question marks about how the john de filippo and nick fowl's um offense is going to

work in their overall dug moron world and everything that you know Leonard four net looked good last night, I thought, which was a nice development, but they're going to need to keep restocking defense over and over. And Josh Allen, there's a play if you can go find this on Twitter. Obviously you're playing. Who? Us? The listener, anyone who heard that. You know, there is a Dolphins right side of the line with Jesse Davis and Dion Calhoun, two guys that just got absolutely, Josh Allen just took kind of both of them with his arms and just swept them aside and buried a running back like nine yards in the backfield. This is a guy that I think anyone who dressed, He drafted anyone else above him, and all the reasons to pick who they did, are going to be measured by how Josh Allen does.

And the most impressive play to me was one where he flexed out and covered a running back in the passing game. I think it was Kalin Belage and destroyed him. Yes. And you just don't see that from guys that are essentially playing a defensive line. And the announcer kept making, I forget who was it, a good point, that Allen's going to change up the way they do defense because they're always very traditional for three, but he's more of a stand-up guy. out there, it just makes them more flexible. As if that defense needed any more good news, it'd be fun. When Josh Rosen led that 13-play 99-yard drive, which was impressive, I thought,

all right, that's cool. Now do it with Josh Allen out there. Right. Josh Rosen's gotten some pop, and we'll switch into that last few weeks. And he's, man, he makes, I said this even in Arizona. He makes some really impressive throws, and he did that in this game. But I didn't watch that game and think, oh, Josh Rosen made his. move.

No. It's one drive and it was against the backups. And Fitzpatrick has not looked sharp in the preseason, which is worth noting. But Flores seems to have already decided based on practices that there really isn't a competition. And Troy Aikman, you tweeted about it. Yeah, I mean, Troy Aikman made a comment. And, you know, obviously he's hearing stuff and spending time with the coaches that it

made it sound like Josh Rosen just has not really grasped the offense or picked it up the way that you'd want him to and that they just feel more. comfortable, and that Ryan Fitzpatrick has looked bad in games, but the whole Fitzpatrick experience has the coaching staff feeling much more comfortable. I read behind, I read his comment and basically said Fitzpatrick starting week one barring him getting, you know, like a rock landing on him from the sky. You get the vibe that they're still, hopefully not too big, you get the vibe that he, that baggage connected to him is still there. Charlie Casterly, you know, our own Charlie Casterly was on the show. We didn't get a chance to talk about it,

but Charlie made news earlier this year for making critical comments or based on a conversation he had on Josh Rosen. And, you know, you wonder if he's going to get it, Rosen. But he's going to start, right? He will eventually. And he has made some great throws. And Aikman, who, you know, has seen in Rosen play a lot at UCLA. I mean, he said he thinks he's one of the most talented throwers he's ever seen, period.

Rosen. Rosen. Just coming from Troy Aik. and I can kind of see why you would say that, man, he has two or three every game that are just, they're an unbelievable play. So at some point, they're just going to want to see it. That offensive line looks so bad that, I don't know, no one's going to succeed there. He's not the most mobile guy, but he made a nice throw when he kind of rolled out and put one

right in the receiver's hands roll to his right. Yeah, the tools are definitely there. Speaking of toolsy young quarterbacks, Daniel Jones continues to look really good for the Giants. Danny Dimes. Danny Dines, which is nice. I saw that. I like that. Pop up. And, you know, he's 25 of 30. And don't read too much into preseason stats, obviously. But 25 of 30, 369, two touchdowns.

He's lost some fumbles, but hasn't thrown an interception, taken two sacks. And Eli's barely played. And this is the best possible outcome for Daniel Jones, what's happened in the last three weeks. That he has planted that seed now in not just Pat Schumer's mind, but all the way up the front office chain. that you got a kid here that looks like he can handle it. Like you're not hearing any reports about Daniel Jones. He's not, he's too raw, he's not ready yet.

And on the field, he doesn't look that way. And I was thinking about it with when you take a look at the last, let's say, you know, year and a half now, when the Giants made the decision to take Saquan Barkley and Sam Darnold went the next pick to the Jets. And if Darnold turns into an all pro and wins a Super Bowl, Bowl and all that, the Giants will always look bad. But you know what, if Barkley, who has all the tools to be a Hall of Fame running back,

let's face it, and he had the best rookie year arguably of any running back ever last year, even if Daniel Jones is what, Andy Dalton, you can't really kill the Giants for the decision they made if Barkley is as special as that. If you went the next year and got a quarterback who can be good to pair with a potential all-time running back, and I don't want to get too hyperbasket. there. Maybe they didn't mess it up so bad. Well, if Barkley is Jim Brown, for instance, then, okay, you're going to look back and say, no one, I don't think anyone says that Barclay is the suspect part of what they did.

It was just not planning around the quarterback or hoping that they lucked into one this year. If Daniel Jones works out, it's Dave Gettleman, and we already, you know, there's already the jokes out on Twitter, which make a lot of sense about Dave Gettleman sitting back in his easy chair in his office saying, F you to essentially, Mike Francesel and every single media person, ever that ripped on me. That's how it works. Daniel Jones works out. He's going to enjoy it.

I'm kind of A, Daniel Jones makes the Giants more fun to watch. One of the things I liked in this game, because he's had really good pass protection in general, and so quarterbacks are going to look better that way. But he did have a couple throws against pressure in this game, and he's not afraid to just rip it down 30, 35 yards with pressure in his face. And it almost makes me, it made me think about that. I think I've been a little anti-Giants over the years.

on this podcast. But I think once the Daniel Jones era starts, that's all over. And I'm going to enjoy Dave Gettleman just like bringing up the Daniel Jones draft pick in every conversation and talking trash to basically every reporter forever. If that happens, it would be delightful. And I think that, you know, you can talk about him all day, but you mention it their line. You've got Kevin Zeitler. Will Hernandez looks like they've found someone very stable for a long.

Their line was such a disaster for so long that he stepped in at the perfect time. Nate Seldr's a problem, though. I think that's under the radar. Carl Lawson was giving him the business. There was a sequence with Jones where he completed a downfield pass about 35 yards, then got walloped, got destroyed on almost like a double hit from each side, lost the ball, got up, and then one or two plays later,

stood tall in the pocket and put one right down to the goal line that led to a touchdown. Like that stuff is pretty impressive. One note on Eli, I think it's worth noting that David Diehl, former Giants offensive lineman told Anthony Munoz, current Bengals analyst, that he hasn't seen Eli throw with this much velocity in a number of years. I feel like some former giant

Eli teammates has that ever... I mean, but what's... Every quarterback is getting that compliment this summer. It's got a little more... It's always like, it's... It looks, you know, stronger than ever. And you watch anything he's throwing deep, and then you watch Daniel Jones, and who do you want? Daniel Jones, many times. Anybody else throw out?

I would say, I looked at the... the Ravens Eagles game and who knows what's going to happen with either one of these quarterbacks this year but it was interesting to watch the journey of my boy Trace McSorley who I've brought up a few times on this show number one I love what the Ravens did here

there was one play in the very early part of the game Trace. Where they essentially handed it off to a running back to Justice Hill on a play where they had three offensive linemen in front of them and six people like split out wide

The play totally failed, but I loved it. But McSorley in general, like, looked interesting to me enough where I think you could find ways to use him to some degree on the field in places. If you were going to do that with RG3, I would rather do it, try it with Trace McSorley at this point. He made the team last night. They're not cutting him now. He should have. And then I think on the other side, Josh McCown, it kind of just shows you that, I mean, there was a play where at some point they feel like in four or five days he's learned the protections and the entire scheme to such. a degree in audibles that he did so much pre-snap that he walked over during a timeout to the

sideline. And Carson Wentz and the coaches were all giggling with him because they couldn't believe how much he'd picked up. And that you can just roam around network television for a while or cable television. And then if you've done this long enough, roll back into a team and unfurl 200-something yards and make J.J.R. Sego-Whiteside look like he should be on the first team offense. Pressing a quarterback here, Josh McCown. But McCown still has. it. And it makes me wonder, you go some of the backups around the league and say, you did not yank Josh McCown out of retirement. Some of these clowns roaming around. You got Kevin Hogan, please.

He played against first team or his last year and couldn't play anymore. I'm not saying Josh McCown is always going to be Josh McCown, though he's going to come in and do some great things. I love Josh McCown. Some bad things. He's a coach on the field. Right. His first three drives last night, it looked like he should have stayed in retirement. And then all of a sudden he caught fire. If the Eagles front office decided to do it, they're in front office I buy into right now. and so I like the move.

I'm wary of... I hate the move. I like it. I'm wary of buying into any preseason hype, but this does look like the best Patriots defense in a little while. And that game, again, it's a preseason. But if Cam Newton hadn't got hurt, the story would have been, you know,

the Panthers starting offense got steamrolled. They averaged less than two yards per play against the Patriots when the two starters were out there. Like they were just guys are flying all over, and it's guys who have been in the system a long time and it's a very deep secondary. I think Belichick is loving that he's the coordinator for this specific defense because I think they're primed.

Can I ask one question? Why are we going up to, is it the Ottawa Blue Bombers field and finding out hours before the game that the NFL teams don't like where the end zone is positioned and suddenly we're playing an NFL preseason game on an 80-yard field that looks somewhat suspect to begin with? I know there's probably people even inside this building that would be annoyed and bringing that up.

But, like, why aren't we three or four months ahead of time scoping that out and saying this is appropriate and we have team sign off or we don't? I was like, are they going to count the stats from this game? This is ridiculous. They're playing on an 80-yard field. I mean, and this comes a year after the Mexico City. What are you talking about?

Fiasco, where the field was wet so they couldn't get it safe enough for the players. I mean, the Packers, for those who hadn't heard the story, they were going to play their starters in this game. The Raiders were not anyways, but they decided not to because of this 80-yard funky field. Well, the Packers lost first-round linebacker Rashon Garrett. We don't

know how serious it is, but carted off the field. Can I do it real quick? The 80-yard field? Sure. Ryan Finley, Bengals, quarterback. I think they have something impressive there. They've got something interesting behind Andy Dalton. He has looked really good three weeks in a row.

Accurate, savvy. Hollywood Brown, Ravens rookie first rounder. Back in plain, finally, looked pretty good. And my favorite thing of the preseason so far, Matt Millen back in the booth. That's great. We thought he was on death's doorstep. He was.

To quote Damashek, not just surviving, but living. He's dropping lines like Raiders linebackers dropping interceptions. And he says, I've seen better hands on a clock. Oh, great broadcaster. And it annoys me, of course, he's going to be remembered for his time as the general manager. And he's gone to college in terms of broadcasting. But people aren't like, why should we listen to Matt Millen? The broad, it's like, well, what has a lot of broadcast?

It doesn't mean you can't, it doesn't mean that you're not a smart person who's really good. He's always been one of my favorite announcers. It's a different skill set. Right, exactly. Matt Millen got a heart transplant. You cannot be closer to Death Store. No. Then when you literally have your heart taken out of your body and you're given the heart of another human being.

That's pretty cool. Live it up, Matt Millen. By the way, it is Winnipeg, Not Ottawa for a lot. of the people in Canada that we're about to tweet at me. Don't want to hear about it. Love you, Canada. Love Canada, beautiful nation. That's what's happening in the preseason.

Let's go, week one. Get here. Greg wrote a banger. There's no two ways around it. 2009. Here's the headline, NFL.com. I mean, I don't do the headlines. What is it?

You had something to do with it. 2019 NFL preseason colon. Training camp surprises for all 32 teams. I like that. A little bit of SEO, but quite direct. So you went through every team You threw out a surprise So Greg, why don't you kind of steer the ship here

With of your list of 32 surprises And actually, if you read the piece Mark, did you read it? I know you did. Outline. Wow, this highlight. This guy's prepped. You're on fire today, Mark.

If you read it the way Mark did, you know, you get more than 32 surprises here. That's annotated. It's well, yeah, some teams got multiple. 32 teams, but it's packed with, I'd say there are 57 surprises. Abridged, annotated. Let's say 46 to 57 surprises in this content.

Greg, of that list of 46 to 57, what were some of yours that you liked the most? Or are the most interesting, intriguing? Well, Quinn and Williams' start at Nose Tackle didn't take, according to Connor Hughes of the Athletic. You know, they thought they'd huge start inside between Henry Anderson and Leonard Williams. And I think they've decided that's not his best position.

I don't think this is a huge deal, but I think he's going to probably start the year rotating, you know, maybe coming off the bench, which to me was a little bit of a surprise learning that. And they're waiting. It doesn't mean he hasn't looked good in the preseason, but he's not going to be a guy who just steps out there and is playing 50 snaps again. Maybe trade Leonard Williams to the Texans or Jadavian Clowny and then slide over Quinn and Williams to the end where he could play every snap. And then you have a game-changing clownie in the mix as well. It's not that crazy. I've warming up to your trade idea. How many defensive

of linemen are they going to move over the course of four or five years? That's what they do. There's a churn. There's always churn in the NFL mark. Except last year the Cowboys and you re-sign the entire position group and stay strong for the next six, seven years. What was that the sons of anarchy? What? Wilkerson, Richardson.

Oh, yes. Yes, that was it. Grown up and moved on. What else, Greg? How about DJ Chark? You remember him the first round pick of the Jaguars a year ago who had kind of a disaster He was in the top of the second round.

He was second. He is now one of their top three receivers. They came into the season knowing who their top three receivers are, and it doesn't include Marquis Lee, and it doesn't include Keel and Cole, who we used to write Hosanna's about on this podcast. And so it's now Chris Conley, he used to be with Kansas City. It's D.D. Westbrook, who Mark's boy, John D. Filippo,

said, is the best route runner he's ever coached, which includes Stefan Diggs and Adam Thielen. Is he still in your stable of boys, Mark, in 2019? No reason not to think he's a great guy. And it's DJ Chark, who ESPN called their preseason training camp MVP. So he kind of came out of nowhere and he's going to have a role there. Speaking of preseason and training camp MVP's, and this was a bit of a saucy subject on the fantasy extravaganza. Both the athletic and ESPN named Deshawn Jackson, the Eagles training camp MVP, which Greg Gostooley points out.

a sentence he expected to write in 2019. Is it possible that we get a vintage D-Jack season? Yes, yes. I mean, 1300 yards. I think him in Tampa last year, he's been so underrated that he's looked like the same Deshawn Jackson the whole time, but James Winston is not great throw in the deep ball and that just wasn't a very good offense in general and that he's looked really good.

That's my opinion. What is a vintage D-Jax season? I'm going to look that up while you guys argue. Wes, you disappointed. 800 yards, four touchdowns. Uh, at his peak, he was a guy that could average 18 to 20 yards per reception. He's just, I can't remember a guy that old that fast. Maybe I mean, Daryl Green certainly.

There's certainly been some, but man, he hasn't lost any speed. He led the NFL in yards per reception last year at 18.9 over, uh, 41 catches. Dan, I think you're not, you're going to like that this is out there. What? This caught my eye down in Carolina. Longtime Panthers hero, Ram Gano. Oh, yeah, that's on my list, too, of ones I need a big of him. veteran kicker Graham Ganoe could lose his job to someone named Joey Sly.

Sounds fake. Which is an even bigger surprise in Cam Newton's deep ball reported looking better than ever during camp until... You're on Dan's corner. Well, just saying. You're welcome on the kicking corner, but I want to keep these good kickers that are going to get fired. You need a hush-hush scenario here. Gnoh's going to be kicking for the bears. Right.

One of these guys is for the bears, you know. I wouldn't mind the Brown's taking one of them. You guys can have Sam Ficken. I don't want Ficking. And maybe it's Sly that gets traded. Is someone got a trade for Sly who has preparatively, Heasless looked so good, and Ganoe had a pretty iffy year last year. And Ganoe's just not healthy yet.

That's part of the issue. Sly's got a leg. I want, that's a good jersey. Joey Sly. Yeah. That's a great. What a great kicker name. Who do you want?

Sam Ficking? Or do you want Joey Sly? You want Joey Sly? Joey Sly, you can trust him. He'll get the job done. Maybe you can't trust him, actually, but he'll get it done. He'll get what he wants, which would fall through the upright. I think it was good that you noted all these

for like the third or fourth year in a row this pile up of maladies and injuries in San Francisco. I feel like 10 years from now we're going to get like an Aaron Brockovich-type movie about what is happening to the drinking water around the facility. I mean, it's like something is going on here

and it's ridiculous. Brockovich. It's like Chernobyl. I mean, something unusual is a midnight showing of that one. That's the football movie we need. You know, Carlos Hyde not so long ago was, you know, the golden boy in San Francisco and didn't work out in Cleveland, bounced around. And now, Greg, quite a surprise potentially that he might not even make the final 53 in Kansas City. They gave him 800,000 guaranteed.

This is where our editors, you know, Gennaro, Felice, what a great job. Oh, he's great. I had the wrong signing bonus. He just fixed it. Didn't even say it. Then to brag about it, shoot you a nasty note. I noticed it when I reread it. I was like, oh, sorry.

He, guys, they give almost a million dollars and Darwin Thompson and a former cornerback, Tremont Smith, who's like a special teamer, who converted to running back just a few weeks ago is going to make the team over Carlos Hyde. It's a bad sign. If you're Carlos side.

Quick breaking news, breaking news, Ricky Hollywood. Taylor Luan, who, the All-Pro Titans left tackle, who made an impassioned plea when Word got out that he was going to be suspended for violating the league's performance-enhancing substances policy? Well, it didn't work out.

His appeal to the league didn't change anything. So he's out the first four games of the 2019 season. Did a lie detector test, which many people apparently don't believe in. Also, if you... I mean, I understand scientifically... Have you read up on Taylor Luan at all? I mean, I know many facts. There are some interesting facts about Taylor Wan out there.

I'm just saying, I don't know. The guys I believe. Some guys I don't believe. It was an impassioned plea. Have you watched the current season of Mind Hunter? I will be doing that soon. One of the serial killers, they find a book stashed in his drawer,

how to beat a lie detector test. And then he proceeded to beat the lie detector test. Let's go on. Greg. How about the Steelers defense? I want West to jump in here, too. Let's talk some Sam McGuven. Oh, okay.

Now you know how to say. his name. Sam, well, yeah, he's been running with the starters, the dolphins. This guy's,

while Kiko Alonzo is out with an undisclosed injury, and Greg has opined, may not even make the team. Sam McGuven, former CFL player, is playing alongside Sam Baker

who looks really good. Yeah, Jerome Baker, who looked, yeah, he had a great game and he's supposedly look good. This is what happens when new coaches come in sometimes. They had a second round pick

in Rayquan McMillan, who might not make the team. Kiko Alonzo, who is kind of, you know, with the old regime, and they've got their new guys. If nothing else, they've got to try some young players and see what happens.

Kiko Alonzo is kind of a good villain to have on your team. He's an Esther. I could see him landing with the Raiders in about three weeks. How about the Steelers defensive back? I feel like that's been a trouble spot forever. And maybe this is just camp pipe.

Like, I'm not too excited about Stephen Nelson, who they gave a lot of money to as a chief's cornerback. But they're saying, Cameron Sutton and Artie Burns, who are two pretty high draftics, both had really good camps, especially Sutton, and that Edmonds, their safety, who was their first round pick a year ago, too, is really coming on in his second year.

Joe Hayden, who they've really loved, I think they're going to give him a long-term contract since he's been in Pittsburgh. Suddenly that secondary looks pretty good. Mike Tomlin has the defense. Why is this defense not good? It should be really good. I don't know why.

There's no excuse for it not to be a top eight to ten defense. I think it's really talented. People are very annoyed with our ability to constantly bag on the Detroit Lions, but you did note that Matthew Stafford's practice reports, etc., have been up and down. It's throwing with a lot of zip this summer. Well, where are we? Are we feeling good? No, that's what they're saying. I mean, I don't know what to expect. It's Darrell Beville, who changes his offenses depending on what team he's at. But they've just been, you know, We had those joint practices with the Patriots Stafford, and just in general, the writers there have just been saying the offense just hasn't had it going, and you worry about that a little bit

with a veteran quarterback. Are we sure they've shown up to camp yet? That was a few years ago. You've gotten on them for not showing up. Have we seen their first team offense at all? They didn't, yeah, and they didn't have. Or even their second team off. Or their first team defensive line is just now getting back healthy.

Almost all of those guys have been heard at some point. Well, they're playing the Cardinals in week one, so we know that Arizona's keeping it under wraps. Detroit's saying we're going to do the same thing. We're not going to show you anything. We're going to unveil our massively run heavy offense and surprise you just as much, Cardinals' defense. And you know what?

Against the Cardinals' defense? Well, against the Cardinals' defense, they might be fine. James Winston has always had a bit of a sneaky dad bod. If you remember, hard knocks in his shirtless scenes. You know, he's obviously a well-built. He's an incredible athlete, but not cut out of season. Stone, like other professionals. Well, contract your body.

He doesn't have the Derrick Car arms. No, he doesn't have the pipes of Derek Carr. But he's got the bod working right now, Greg. And you know what that means? You can just tell it in his face. What does it mean? I don't know. He's going to win the MVP.

Oh, okay. Usually it doesn't mean anything. I mean, it doesn't take much for me to find something positive to say about James Winston going, at least just like hoping that he's going to turn it around. But you could tell when he was scrambling. And he's always been an underrated scramble. I think he's a pretty good scrambler. But you can just tell he's quicker this year.

I mean, he's lost some weight. His face just looks like it's college James Mason. You know what? They're going to have such a hard decision, bucks. Let's say he has a better season, and he's a little bit more consistent. He keeps his nose clean and turns the ball over a little bit less. Maybe the bucks don't go anywhere, but he shows some growth in the Bruce Ariens era. Are they going to give him, like, a massive contract?

The thing I'd say. They're kind of going to be in a very tough spot and a big decision. Is Jason Lights pick? He's just been extended. If he has that good year, it looks like you... Franchise tag. Right? I mean, well, really?

Is that what they'll do you think? Yeah. I mean, buys him a year to make up their mind whether it's real or not. It's a fair thought. It's a worst idea. Oh, he could go to Kirk Cousins route. Or... What?

Signed for that kind of money. Or the Blake Bortles route. Well, the bucks could just drag it out if they don't believe. They don't believe that, you know, they want to give him a mega contract. Yeah. West nailed it is what I'm saying. What if that team goes five and a... At some point, can we not be totally disappointing compared to our roster?

Yeah, if they go five and 11... I don't think he's coming back as to start it. Yeah, need progress for sure. Anything else? Anybody want to jump in with one of their own or Greg, another one of yours? All right. That's that. It's Friday.

I mean, I could. Everybody's working. Good stuff, Greg. Check it out, NFL.com slash Rosenthal. Thank you. A real banger. You'll notice the bangers, there's an uptick in bangers now as week one approaches. Mark, you've had bangers.

Wes, you've had bangers. Wes had a great piece on all the rookies to keep an eye on that's have a good training camp. Thank you. This week. We should talk about that. Let's get into it. Let's extend the pod. Let's do it next week.

I, by the way, have a surprise banger that could come out any time between tonight and 2040s. You got to watch out for the surprise. No, no, no, we can't say anything more. We can say more. No, we absolutely cannot. Well, we can say that you pre-wrote an obituary. People do that in news organizations. We just won't save four.

Judy Batista is generally the go-to pre-write obit writer at this company. She writes a lot of them. I'm not even joking, but they trusted Mark for a big one. It puts you in a weird spot because not that I'm actually this, but it's like, do I really want to wait 35 years for this piece to come out? It's like, you know, or you? Can you? Is it okay?

to call an obituary a banger. I mean, that's... No! I would call it the last word. It's the last word. It's indecent. It's not a banger. At our text, Jade, he called it a long form.

I'm like, you do it 3,500 words or something on this? What's going on? It's a major figure. This individual better, you know, at some point expire, because that would just be a waste of a lot of work. At some point, they will. It just will our organization still, you know, the file could get lost in the mix. Right.

Like, I hope this doesn't happen, but it's certainly possible that you, you could perish before this person or any one of us. Totally, totally. Or Mark's status of employment, this company could perish. They're not going to run it then. I did think about that. Like, it's, like, we should have turned this down. Like, I don't want to get into someone else's business, but like, you know, if, if Judy, let's say, you know, there's different, you know, everyone knows talent as contracts.

So when her contract is up, can't she just be like, well, what are you going to do with the 35 obits I wrote? You got to bring me back. You can't run those if I'm no longer with the company. It's a great leverage. I guess you could yank the byline. So I'm a businessman, and that's how I've been thinking. Save it for the morbid humor podcast. All right.

Before we go, a couple new. Greg, you want to get a little plug in? Your little side pod is coming back. Oh, I didn't know where you were going. I didn't know where you were going. I have something to promote. Oh, yes. The little rising star.

She'll be leaving us soon enough. The Jesselnik and Rosenthal Vanity Project is coming back to Comedy Central. podcast for season two starting September 3rd. So people should catch up up, you know, with the old episodes. Catch up now. And Ricky, by the way,

connect the dots. Ricky's doing this unnamed fantasy project with Rank where she's on camera. She is a big part of the Jessel Nick Rosenthal show. She's not going to be sitting

behind the glass too much longer. It's just... If you're in middle school and you move to a completely different part of the country, you go to a different school, you become a high school person. You say you're going to keep in touch

with all those middle school friends back in Minnesota. By the time you're in a sophomore in high school, you will never speak to any of them ever again. She's not the kind of bird you can keep caged, you know? No. Yeah, but I'd never leave you guys. Well, you say that now. Well, we'll play that in the episode where we say goodbye to you. Just like clip that. Clip that. And we heard Connie Fox earlier, she was on the latest throwback pod where we talked about her senior year of high school, August 2002. Some bangers in that era. I mean, you're revealing her age, which which I don't think is a problem, but just on that.

She is, you know, Connie is, she is without any type of, you know, some people get sensitive about that. Colleen is not one of them. That's a, I think that's a fair assessment. Yeah. Well, I was not assessing differently. I was just saying factually people could put together what her age is if they were curious. They probably wouldn't have thought about it, but then you brought it up. Well, we should cut this from the show.

Apology. So check that out at Throwback Pod. And let's all have a nice weekend. Let's have a safe weekend. Okay. All right. You guys are ready to go. Stan Hans is signing off for Quiet Storm, the mailman, the old boss.

I can sit here all day. You guys are ready to go. And Ricky Hollywood behind the glass. Go for it. Till Monday. This is an IHeart podcast.