NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Catching up on News and Huge Offseason Storylines

Episode Date: February 20, 2024

In a room full of heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler, and Colleen Wolfe get you caught up on the news from around the league and tell you which offseason storylines they think will be the biggest. The heroes start with the news, including the 49ers firing Steve Wilks (17:15), Jimmy Garappolo's suspension (23:18), Mike Zimmer getting the Cowboys' DC job (28:45), Russel Wilson's future in Denver (38:54) and more! The heroes then put a bow on Super Bowl LVIII with their final thoughts (49:07) and then look ahead toward the offseason's biggest storylines (01:07:46).   Note: time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast is back in the Chris Wessling podcast studio. Hell yeah. We back. I don't know the rest of the building. The Chris Wessling podcast studio is still functioning and that's great. And so is the Around the NFL podcast. Dan hands us here.

Got heroes. Mark Sessler Greg Rosenthal And yes She also back Kallie Wolfe Connie's the queen She is the queen of

NFL media 1051 soldier Colleen Watt's up Hey what is up I can't believe we did it again We both got here 1051 I mean it is on It again science

This one made me think there might be some Truman show scenario was going around because this morning we had a week off after the Super Bowl and we're all back together and you know I was Greg and I actually spent the week together oh that's nice let's get to that next but I want to hear everything

like 7 a.m. you know we're sending out text and email we're ready to get back to work and all through the morning I'm like all right I'm going to get there maybe I'll get there an hour earlier that you know get settled in and then something pops up and it's a half hour I'm still like eight minutes ahead of my typical 10-51 soldier schedule.

As I'm stepping out the door, UPS truck pulls up to deliver these big, heavy doors. We're just putting in a closet in our house. And I have to help the man. They're so heavy. I help the man bring in the closets, wipes out the eight-minute window, 10-51 soldier, and now it's

starting to feel like a bigger conspiracy, Cess Dog. All right. Ready UPS truck? Go UPS truck. We're just directing the whole thing. Right. But your intention was to come here earlier and... My intention... Okay. To what end would this be a conspiracy to make you show up at $10.51?

But what is the goal? That's... Well, that's what I want to know. We don't know. Like, you can't... The fates are... The fates are working your schedule. Not you.

I mean, fate would be one thing, okay? But I am thinking something bigger and grander. He is literally always parking as soon as I pull in the garage behind him. Like, it's always orchestrated that way. So it's not just me. So, Colleen... who's coming from a totally different area of the South Bay

is also the way the traffic patterns work, the stoplights, how is this happening exactly this moment? That adds another wrinkle. That's a wrench, but not in this case. So anyway. It's like it's the new eighth wonder of the world. It's really...

Everyone wants to know about it. Also, what I want to know about, Mark Sessler, you come from a different area of Los Angeles to get to work. And one of your early text this morning was about something that's on your radar here in the office and I

could not wait to hear about it. Well, you know, it's disturbing to me personally. Is this developing news? Is this breaking new? What is this? I'd say it's developing. All right. It's a developing situation. We've got to hit it then. Because what do you got by? Well, I'd label it

under the category of theft. Uh-oh. So like one of the perks when you go to the Super Bowl, and do all the work that we did and have the great time that we had you come back and on your desk they have a Super Bowl program which you can give to a child or something

This has never happened to me Oh well this is I don't this is having us though Yeah you don't have a desk Yeah and they don't have a desk Which he's never sat out of before No they took it away but just understandable There's a desk you could sit at near us Oh okay cool

So a Super Bowl program Neatly put on on the desk And on top of it in a in a plastic Or in a cardboard box Is a Super Bowl ticket encased in glass. It's a wonderful memento, especially in the past, I'm going to say about five years. They went away the league from physical tickets, taking it to the game.

And now it's a digital situation. So this ticket, like I took my buddy Greg from New York to the game, and he's a huge sports fan. I always wanted to go to the Super Bowl. And he was really bummed. And I said, guess what? They do have this ticket that they put in glass, and I'm going to give it to you. So it's a gift. You can give it to a child again, finds it.

fascinating anyone that didn't go to the game and so I always look forward to it and I'm thankful for it and my attitude has been you know pleasant towards the whole situation I thought everyone was just buying these ticket places no they're also no they're also they're valuable so like they're you know it is so I come in and I you know I you know our desk is like you know smashed up against glass for all these tour groups come in and all these people are riffrapping in and out the door right behind my desk

and everywhere like Dan's desk Super Bowl program neatly put out and his little ticket in the cardboard box. Of course, I look at Greg's desk, and it's like perfect. He's got two. Perfect. Yeah, it's perfect and everything's fine. And then on my desk, the Super Bowl program has just been like ripped open

to someone's like reading a magazine. And the ticket in the box are gone. So someone literally went to my desk, not only stole the thing, but then just sat and read my Super Bowl program probably in my seat and then said, F you, I'm going to take this valuable item and leave Mark, of course. Let's go to HR. It is a good read. Judy Batista often contributes, Steve Weish. The program is not my concern. I already have a program.

So someone stole, like someone stole this precious item from simply, and I walked around and like every desk, like clockwork has this like perfect little program and a little, you know, trinket. Sounds like a case for Frank Signetti. I think it does. Signetti could use the work. It's big based. So I don't know. It's, you know, but welcome back to work. It's great to be back together, as they say. that's a major and that and i understand mark and it's especially and it's annoying because old greggie and the zoos dog both have our programs and tickets and yet it's almost like

you were targeted well it was also and i'm not going to dig into this man gregg all the guys there was a seating situation at the super bowl where you know man and gregg's guest got put up like and i had to keep keep a lid on this but my seats were like in nosebleed central so it's like someone is on the prowl to disengage me further from the entire mission. Greg, your take? You can have my ticket, so that takes care of that. Well, that's very nice, but I actually think you could give it to Walker, for instance, who would love it, and I would just ask HR, how do I get another one of these?

Yeah, that's, Greg, that's very kind of you, but that was also Walker's first Super Bowl. It's kind of robbing Peter to pay Paul a little bit. I can't take that. I don't think I've ever brought one of those home. I always give them to people. I don't know. I don't like having things. Your son went to his first Super Bowl.

I'm not a big things guy. It just feels like it weighs you down. I think I'm not a big things guy either. But when it's robbed from me, it's more of the... How old is your son? It's a violation. Yes, thank you. I feel like he would appreciate it.

Okay. He would. But because we don't need to take it from walking. Mark will get a ticket. We're going to get it. Yeah. It's just a matter of, first of all, Eric, can we pull the footage out of the newsroom? And sometimes I give Eric harder tests and a typical podcast producer.

Do you think? Yeah. We need to pull the files. We need to find out who is sitting at Mark's desk, which, by the way, is a violation in its own right. Well, they should be fired. They should be fired. Can we do that, Eric? Can we get the footage?

I'll look into hacking security. Who's the guy that runs the, and that guy's busy right now. David Burris? Listen, B-Dog, this place is sinking right now? Yeah, we have problems. There's cracks in the floors. There's ceilings that are caving in. Half the electrics are shot.

It's got to stop raining. It's almost like they didn't account. They built a $10 million building. and then we're like, oh, but it doesn't rain in L.A. They're dry backing outside. Oh, baby. Oh, baby. It rains in L.A.

in December and January. It's like a building made of like brambles on top of a mesa. And then, uh-oh, weather happened. And it's like, the whole place is crumbling. And the Chris Wesleying podcast, maybe it's West, wherever he is watching over us. So far is still functioning. But everywhere around us, the place is basically in chaos. This is the Noah's arc of NFL media.

Yes. Right here. Right here. Anyway, that's, terrible mark that would annoy me greatly right i was thinking if in reverse i think you would be you would understand you'd be annoyed it would look like they targeted you right it could be someone that doesn't have a desk and didn't never get a ticket yeah but also was like oh that's a good person to target what about roberts you um first super bowl for eric roberts excellent work all week

thank you they give it our jacket to all the staff the super bowl jacket roberts needs a jacket too i you i will put a bow on this i did end up getting a jacket it's at my desk. But it was like, I've heard that it's, I didn't take out of the back because I got it and started working,

obviously. And apparently it's a double X. That's a quite large jacket. Hey, I'll take it. You know, I appreciate the gift. You could crop it. I was there for the experience,

guys. It was a great week. I'm not going to let a jacket ruin my week. We got to get Kyle Yushcheck's wife to, like, modify your jacket.

Yeah. That's a great idea. It's a nice jacket. That's all. I would have been as bitter about it as I was, but it was a nice freaking jacket. Can we get?

Roberts's a large. Can we get market ticket, Robert's Alarge? That's it. All right. Welcome back, everybody. Thank you for hanging around. I hope in the interim, no one listened to another NFL podcast and liked it. Not allowed.

That's not allowed. And that went without saying. But if you did, shame on you. And then you were also, you found out, oh, all other podcasts are bad. Well, it worked in our favor somehow. We are nominated, by the way, IHeart Radio. We are nominated for Best NFL podcast. The award show is in Austin next month.

Best sports podcast. Best sports? Second time. Yeah. Hell yeah. And, you know, the competition is fierce, but also the competition is weak, ultimately. And we are the greatest. And the award that we went over in the old UK speaks to that.

Yeah. As does the Stitcher Award from 13 and the best new podcast. Seamlessly linked together. iTunes Award from 12. So now people need to. to understand that. So you learned a hard lesson and wasted your time

on any other NFL podcast nay, sports podcast last week. But we are now back in today's episode in addition to getting caught up on everything that's happened since Super Bowl 58.

We're going to share in our opinion the biggest storylines of the 2024 off season in which we are now firmly, Connie, planted. There's a lot. There's so many,

Mark has already come up with like 74 different options. Like, now the season's begun. Football's back. No, no. It's binder season does. Mark had concerns about Russell Wilson's in the news for selling his house. Mark asked nicely, maybe we should take it out of the news because that might be the biggest storyline of the off season for Mark when we get to that segment.

I thought it lived in that world to some degree, but I'm sure we will spend exhaustive time during the news nugget item going down the road and explaining what it means separately. Mark politely flagged this for you. Right. And now to write it for it by these things. to you. I see it. You get it. No, no, no. We don't need this. We get it stuff. I said, we'll take it out of the news if that is indeed your biggest off-season storyline. I already did an end around. Then you said it was not on your list of 14 possibilities. I didn't put it on the list because I knew it would be caused mental. All of a sudden, we're in this Mark Vortex because we did, I said, we'll take it out. We'll take it out. No, no, no. It'll be all yours. No, no. Definitely the least necessary news item, to be fair.

I think we don't change the show during the show. No, it's good. Now it's in, we're in too deep. We're off. Let's do some news. So is that a wood elf? Are we talking high elf, dark elves? I think that it runs the whole gamut. I mean, if you get into, I'm not, you know, I'm sort of an affringe elf individual. But like the fact that I think some people thought it doesn't represent a tough, you know, football player. Well, there's a lot of things happening with elves that could cause a problem for the Ravens or Steelers, I think, depending on some of their powers.

So we'll leave it out. We'll leave that right there at that. In case you missed it from Radio Row, that's Mark Sessler and a sit-down. with Denzel Ward and Miles Garrett of the Browns. You can only tee these players up. You know what I mean? Right. And I thought you did a brilliant job there,

giving them a chance, a platform to dig it on the elves. And if they don't want to take it and run with it, they don't have to. Well, so two things were happening real quick. I realize I've already talked a lot on this show about personal items. But they...

No, go ahead. Well, no, one. That's the time here. That was the day that we drove into, like, Las Vegas. Right to this. And this was like 18 minutes into the show it's like, and I had come in like with my health at like a one out of ten

and I talked about it unless, like, I had no voice and I just felt medicated and like at one point I'm looking over and like Miles Garrett was where Dan was and he's just looking to me like staring at me like, this guy's got issues. This is also like a top 10 brown of all times. They looked very amused. Denzo Ward had the look on his face like, I'm not going

to have to say much here. This guy's doing great. This is fun for me. It got better because I had two lists of questions because we this has happened. We've been to rail before. It's like, serious questions or fun questions. And I was like, I'm not going to go down the wrong road. And then, like, you're supposed to ask the sponsor question first. And I'm, like, eight questions in and realize I hadn't asked the sponsor question.

And I asked it in a weird way. And the note we got from, you know, upper management the next day was like, you don't go off script on the, on the sponsor. And then you were saddled with overly serious questions. The rest of the week. I'm very distracted right now because Link and Wesleyan and Lakeisha are walking by. Oh. Podcast studio. Okay.

Link is waving and it's melting. my heart and the whole show is derailed now. Wow. I forgot that Lakeisha's in town. Wow. We, uh, it's an incredible I'm not, I'm not overly, um, confident. Like I, I, feeling good that Link is in this building right now. I feel like this might be the most dangerous building in Los Angeles based on the,

but he's going to come inside the arc here. We're going to get him inside the arc two by two. We saw, I saw them, uh, yesterday for a little bowling and in dinner. It would have been Chris Wesleyan's 50th birthday. Oh, my. And wait a minute, and your birthday, Greg. And mine as well. And Roger Goodell's.

And Roger Goodell's. The tree. In that order. The Holy Trinity. The pillars. Like the Rams have Aaron Donald and Stafford, the weight bearing walls. Unbelievable. How old did you turn?

I'm 45. So I'm five years younger. What's going on? Big one. But I think Chris would have been proud with no prep, no telling him what to do. Link just took that bowling ball and threw the thing down there. for a three-year-old, like an athlete. He's fearless.

It's in the Wesleyan DNA. I mean, their ability to play parlor games and bowling and things of that nature. In fact, I was last weekend or this past weekend, I was up in Big Bear where I go every year with my buddy Bob and his family and our family. We have a nice time together. And we happened to be staying at a house that we had rented that was directly behind the motor in motel where in 2015, I think we figured out. Mark, Wes, and myself did a weekend in Big Bear

that was debauchress on multiple levels. It was a all-time Chris Night Out performance by Chris. The twinkle in Sessler's eyes right now. No, because it was like it had many layers. It would be hard to tell a few hour story about it. All I can tell you is the night ends with us putting West

to bed in one of the twin beds. and Mark and I going into this little kitchen and eating bad pizza and listening to Counting Crows but we had an amazing like as I walk I have to cut we cut through from the house through this parking lot and there it is it's room number one this motor lodge with the chairs

and then I got this flashback of because Wes and I were very dorky about softball so we brought our gloves and I remember the parking lot where we were having catch and I believe you were sitting in the chair and we were just talking and then there was a brewery across the street yep where we went to bare mountain brewery a lot of memories uh and i didn't even connect that it was on his birthday that this was going on so a 50th that is a crazy crazy thing all right get on track

he's like i thought this was a football podcast we'll get there we'll get there the off season has like kind of begun it's yeah it's like we haven't seen each other for a week we have a lot of catching up to do we just couldn't they don't really talk football i like to i like a real deep dive shut up this this feels quiet you little nerd i love the listeners um right and i don't think anyone's thinking that it's just this weird thing in your head shut up silence silence four eyes nerds all right let's get into it oh god Connie when we were in Vegas yes when we talked about the kind of subplots that are under the radar that like real football heads, I know, which we are, we can be that and also have personalities and be human beings.

What was your subplot going into 58? Was it, did I have to do with Steve Wilkes? Steve Wilf. I don't even remember what it was. It was that it could be a launching pad to greater. If he was able. Oh, it was a launching pad, all right. If he was able to get the defense together and have a good performance and beat the Chiefs and turn things around for himself because the narrative all year long was that he wasn't a good fit and there was a wrong philosophy and everything was terrible about that take.

Steve Wilkes was relieved of his duties three days after the 49ers fell short in the Super Bowl against the Chiefs, a game where I didn't think their defense played overly poorly. But there were more elements at play behind the scenes very clearly that we talked about it on the show. going into the Super Bowl that maybe something wasn't quite right. Here is Shanahan at his press conference. This morning, I relieved Steve Wilkes of his duties. I'm going to end up making a change here, a defensive coordinator. And really tough decision because really says nothing about Steve as a man or as a football coach.

I mean, he's exactly what we wanted as a man. He is a great football coach. But just where we're going, where we're at with our team, from a scheme standpoint and things like that, looking through it all throughout the year through these last few days. I felt pretty strongly that this was a decision that was best for organization.

I'm not as surprised because Steve Wilkes came from outside like the Shanahan tree. Didn't have experience with him before Albert Breer wrote this thing and it sounded like something he had heard from inside the building that the management of the overtime period

where it was kind of like the last straw, but that he might have been on shaky ground, even going into the overtime where, you know, there's a third and six and they rush seven, but the defensive backs are all back, if you remember that play. It was a pretty easy conversion. And then Shanahan actually took a time out later in that overtime because he saw what that a similar setup was going to happen on another third down, I believe, and didn't like it and made him change the call. And people are getting on Shanahan for making Steve Wilkes a bit of a scapegoat. It felt like, it. It felt like, an awkward fit all year and they did underachieve. So I think that's just the way it goes sometimes. Yeah, I mean, it's the old, like, you know, we saw a lot of mid-season coordinator firings on good teams this year. And like, but

Shanahan had him come down from the booth after they were whacked a couple weeks in a row in the middle of the season. And I thought his words, like, Shannon at least is going to be honest about stuff. He just said it was harder than it needed to be. And it's like, you're exactly right. Like, it's almost Belichekian where like so much of their coordinator

action, they've lost a lot of coaches along the way, They're grooming in-house, and it just wasn't a fit. And Wilkes has been successful in other places. He'll work again. That's not the question. But I think if you're, it's not just a scapegoat. Like, their defense really let them down later in the year. Their overall season.

They lost the Super Bowl because of the offense. They won, they played defense more than well. And like, if the offense played to 75% of their average game in the Super Bowl, they win it. I pointed out in that post-game pod, the first nine drives that you said 13 points. That's an entire game. so the 49ers offense kind of lost that Super Bowl if we're if we're doing blame here and Steve Wilkes would not have been fired if the defense had a great performance in the Subaru which it did until the offense kind of let the Chiefs back in it so that's just bad luck but that's

also football it's a lot about luck but also the the players didn't totally buy in it felt like like the star players like the guys like Fred Warner and Nick Bosa even after the game Nick Bosa said that the defense was not prepared well enough to defend Mahomes and the Niners do run their defense like a very specific way. When Robert Sala came in and did it for the three years and then Dimeco Ryans was promoted from within to run it that way. And Steve

Wilkes, his whole background is mostly with D.Bs. And so that's where a lot of his energy and focus went to. And that's not really how they are run. They run more of like that Seattle cover three. So then I was thinking, well, what if like Pete Carroll ends up going there

in some capacity? I had that thought too and it's kind of like a piece ever going to, you think he's going to take a step down and go back to me in a DC at 72 years old. People were also like his first call to be to Bill Belichick. I'm like, I mean, that's interesting. Why not call? It's hard to be.

We talk about it like with this podcast. No reverse gears in this tank. Can Belichick or Carol, would they ever go and not be the leader of their own staff? That seems unlikely, but it doesn't mean doesn't make sense. Carol kind of fits just because I don't know if he's head coaching again at any point. There's like

Mike Rabel's out there too, but he's too big and two. tall and too strong, apparently, to work inside any building? By the way, it also kind of poked a hole in what was a plug-in-play narrative going into the season that anybody that was DC, that would be a launching pad because Sala, D.Miko, and he was also a victim, Wilkes, of the success of those guys, as it turned out, because they were dominant under Ryan's last year. And this year, they weren't bad. They finished third in points allowed, 17.5. But there are underlying numbers that we've popped the hood.

They are only ninth in defensive EPA. and they got killed in the playoffs, especially on the ground, giving up over 5 yards of carry and 149 yards in the postseason, although they shut down Isaiah Petrago. So, you know, it's a tough one, but you got to trust Shanahan.

We'll talk about Kyle. And he can't fire Shanahan. So we had to fire... Although they're looking outside. Like, I don't think they have a... They didn't have, like, a logical replacement that's built from within guy. Like, Brandon Staley's an option.

It doesn't seem like they know who they're going to... They wanted Vic Fangio last year. Didn't get him. Jimmy Garoppolo's NFL career has taken another twist. The former 49ers and current Raiders quarterback has been suspended two games for violating the NFL's performance-enhancing substance policy. It is related to Jimmy G using a prescribed medication without having a valid therapeutic use exemption from the league. Jimmy G. will not appeal the suspension, so he'll miss the first two games of the season. reporting out there also says that the Raiders are expected to release

for Apollo before the fifth day of the new league year uh that's next month uh so jimmy g uh who just signed a three year 72.75 million contract that never felt right never even when it happened i think everybody's like i don't know that included oh nearly 34 million guaranteed i don't know if the suspension messes with that at all but it does but josh mcdaniels was the team's head coach dave ziegler was the general manager none of that is the thing anymore. So that's how Jimmy G ends up back. I don't know where he is on Greg's free agency 101 if it gets to that. But it can't be very high because I feel like he's at a low value point

right now in his career. Yeah, he'd be a good, a good backup 1B type. So you're good maybe 101. Probably a little higher. He would be higher, I think. It's a good point because he's not on my list. I kind of forgot about him because he is still on a roster right now, but I will, uh, well, I don't need to put him on now because he's not a free agent. But I, do want to be mentally prepared where to put them. It's pretty rare that you lose $11 million, though, off of like a suspension like this. And that's what PFT reported that he will lose because of it

because it's no longer guaranteed. That is pretty brutal. He has made $150 million in his career and has one season where he started every game. I think that his starting days outside of a disaster are done. Like you kind of want to go somewhere and kind of ride it out as a well-paid backup, maybe the Texans, because he's been in that offensive system,

not having to learn a new system from scratch. But who can pitch him as a starter at this point? We've seen it. We've been there. We've done that. I wonder where the Raiders are going to go now, too, because Antonio Pierce said that he doesn't want some, like, Band-Aid situation at the quarterback position.

They're at 13. Do they end up trading up at some point? They don't really, like, draft quarterbacks early. They never really have traditionally. but Antonio Pierce does have a connection to Jaden Daniels from LSU, the Heisman winner. So they go back, Pierce recruited him at ASU.

He gave Antonio Pierce a shout out in that acceptance speech. And he was also in the Raiders locker room after that like win against Denver. So they have that connection going. So that could maybe be an option for them. Good nugget. Good nug. Speaking of Antonio Pierce, he was on Max Crosby's The Rush podcast recently. And he had this to say about Patrick Mahomes.

And, you know, of course, the Raiders during the interim run that Pierce had that got him this job in a full-time capacity with the Raiders. They shut down the Chiefs on Christmas Day. Here's what he said on the Rush podcast. You got the Jordan rules, and I'm calling out from now on as long as I'm here, the Patrick Mahers. home roles. So you remember when Jordan was going through it with the Pistons, all those guys in the 80s before he came Michael Jordan and Air Jordan, the Pistons used to

whoop his ass. Anytime he came to the whole elbows, filling them. Love taps. We touched them. We're in their head mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually. I'm touching you. So I show those guys, Jordan getting his ass whooped. And you get more of that at his Twitter handle to the rush with Max.

It's a little different. I'm just saying there's some Rex Ryan vibes with Antonio Pierce, which could be good, or it could be bad. I'm very dubious of that higher. It feels like one, a late season run by an interim coach that, I don't know if it's going to be repeatable in the regular season. I like

from a content standpoint, someone going after Patrick Mahomes is saying, we're going to, we're going to whoop on you. But you're just given Mahomes more reason to whip your ass twice next year. I don't know why you need to verbalize that on the podcast. But like, Dan, you've been on the beat, the suspicious

Antonio Pierce beat from and I know Raider fans don't, kind of every time I mention it, like they're unhappy about it. But it's okay for someone else to have a different opinion about this guy. And I just don't know. He's a perfect interim coach. I just don't know if this is going to translate. I want it to work so bad that I'm like so all in on it.

He's always come crashing down on me. He's in a tough spot being in the division with Harbaugh and Andy Reed and Sean Peyton. But talk like I do like that. It's why we liked Robert Sala. I think when he first got the Jets job because he was good on the mic and said certain... What happened to that guy?

Like, right, certain confident things. It's why we like Rex Ryan. It's like I like coach the rare coach that actually speaks to it. And they did beat Patrick Mahomes' ass. I mean, that was maybe the worst performance by Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs since he's been there. So, like, I know they didn't win the Super Bowl of it, but it changed Antonio Pierce's life.

I think it got him like a four-year contract. I think that was it. That was the win that did it. It was in Arrowhead, too, as I recall. All right. In other news, you mentioned Rex Ryan. This was a good little media internal battle over in Bristol because the Cowboys, before they made it official that they were hiring Mike Zimmer

as their new defensive coordinator replacing Dan Quinn, who got a head coaching job. Rex Ryan had interviewed for the job. And when Adam Schefter reported on, I believe it was the NFC or the title game Sunday that Zimmer was going to get the job. Ryan on live television on ESPN refuted Adam Schepter's report. No, no. As far as I know, you know, this is not a, this is not a done deal. Like, I'm in, I'm in it.

Well, sorry, Rex, because the Cowboys did indeed go with Mike Zimmer. So he takes over here as Zimmer at his introductory press conference last week. We're not trying to reinvent the wheel here. I mean, they've been pretty good. You know, I know there's been some situations. where things haven't happened, but that happens in coaching. You know, it happens a lot. So we're going to look at the players, try and figure out the best way to use them,

put the scheme together. And again, you know, we want to take the good things that they've done and maybe add a few more other things that we've done good in the past. I'm happy that Zimmer is back. I like a good cantankerous old coach. And he's grumpy. And if things go sideways in Dallas, whenever they give him the mic

he's going to be there's going to be some entertainment there. Zimmer, the old grump is back. I think Zaddy had an interesting comment because there's a lot of them just slapping each other on the back but they faced each other a ton and he said that when he'd get together with Aaron Rogers

that they both identified Zimmer and his defense in general as the kind of the thorniest thing they'd run into each season. I mean, that's not how it ended in Minnesota for Zimmer where I think one of the reasons he was flushed out was like this guy can't get along with younger players. He runs people the wrong way in the building.

But I think the, when you take away all the head coach layer of junk you got to do and you can just focus on this, it's not a, it's a, you know what you're getting with Mike Zimmer. And I think if anything, the Cowboys can't go into the season on either side of the ball with a big mystery or question mark. And Jerry Jones knows exactly what he's getting with Mike Zimmer because he was with the Cowboys for a long time as a defensive assistant, a TV coach. I think of him mostly.

as a Cowboys guy. Exactly. He was there in the 90s when they were just like a powerhouse through Bill Parcells. Yep. He brings drama. I mean, even this negotiation

to get the job brought drama because the flip side of what you said to Rex Ryan was at some point, I think it was the Monday after the Super Bowl for like an hour. Adam Schaefter actually reported

this Zimmer job that I had reported was done is maybe not you know, as locked in As we thought, and Rex Ryan is now a strong candidate. Within an hour, it was Zimmer's job. So it was basically Jerry Jones and company saying, like, all right, you've messed around long enough, Zimmer, wanting more money.

We're not giving you the money. Like, stop this. It has been a week. We are going to hire Rex Ryan. We're going to tell you by putting it through the thing, like take the job. We want you to take the job. And then he takes the job. All right.

Let's pause right here for a minute and take a break and then get back to the news. All right. We're back. In other news, the Buccaneers and Mike Evans, it's looking increasingly possible. He's played his last game in Tampa. It was reported that Bucks had a soft deadline to get an extension done with Evans that told yesterday. And both sides, according to Jordan Schultz of Bleacher report, are far apart. so Tampa Bay will take on over seven million

in dead money if they don't get a deal done which they didn't and now I think because of Greg the situation with the way his contract is structured any type of franchise tag would be very burdensome to them

so it's very possible he ends up in your free agency 101 right yes which would be fun I think the tag for him would be $28 million which just seems a little wild even for a one-year contract, which is always nice for the team. And yeah, now they, they're already paying, putting $7 million on the books now. As you mentioned,

in dead money, like, even if they do resign him, they're going to have dead money from not having resigned him by this week, which it does make it a lot more likely that he's gone. And I think part of it is they want to use that franchise tag on Antoine Winfield would be my guess. Baker Mayfield's also a free agent. of other free agents, and they really might say good. I wouldn't totally rule it out, like, that they just step up and give them, but it doesn't make financial sense. Like, why would, you know, why would they have dead money and then sign them for even more

money? Mark. And the tag doesn't make a ton of sense because it's like this isn't, they want a playoff game and like that they had a nice season. And it's like, you got a lot of moving parts with Baker and the rest, but it's like, this isn't a one year with Super Bowl window team where you bring them back and then have to do this next off season. Yeah.

But I don't love watching Mike Evans to just go out the door either. this is great news mark for fans of teams in the aFC north that are not the Pittsburgh Steelers fans Jerry Dulek is it Dulloch Dulek Dulloch? It could be all of them Dukh I don't know Gary Dee of the Pittsburgh Post

Gazette had this he wrote this recently in his reporting in fact there appears to be some internal division that maybe Mason Rudolph should be the starter after the way he finished the 2020 season winning the final three season games to gain entry into the playoffs.

In any event, Dulac went on, the Steelers are not interested in bringing in a quarterback who wants to be a starter. That would include Justin Fields and Kirk Cousins and probably even Russell Wilson, who has a connection to the team. They are committed to giving Kenny Pickett a third season to see if he is the guy to do more than just win a playoff game, something they haven't done in a franchise record seven years. So the post-Big Ben landscape and really the end of Ben's career there, the quarterback has been a problem for Pittsburgh.

And I think this is, I mean, if you're a Steelers fan, you're pulling your hair out because you know Rudolph is who Rudolph is. And Pickett hasn't shown enough. Are they actually, is this a smokescreen cess dog? Are they actually serious about this? I think the environment could change depending on, you know, who becomes available. And there are, you know, there was some whispering during Super Bowl week

that Ryan Tannahild was maybe on the radar of the Steelers. But if this is their plan, I, you know, they're such a Charlotte consistent organization always happened. but then also you get stuck in your own thinking here. This is about as uncreative a solution to a quarterback problem. Quarterback problems get people fired. Like Mike Tomlin's in a better position than most coaches and most coaching staffs, but you're in a division with Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson,

and in theory to Sean Watson, but also the Browns and Ravens defenses. It's like you're going to tell Steelers fans in mid-February, we're going back in with the same two dudes at quarterback. You don't wait until year three or four to find out if a rookie can't play. Connie, it seems impossible. Yeah, well, you cut Tribisky, and then Mason Rudolph is an impending free agent,

so you don't have a backup to Kenny Pickett. Like, what is your plan exactly? I guess they assume that they'll want Mason Rudolph more than any other team, which is a pretty safe assumption. For people in the building to want him to start, they also are probably looking at Mason Rudolph, not as you didn't, saying we know who he is, Dan,

and looking at him as... But they made it a different way than I do. Right. They're looking at him as a guy that didn't play. for two or three years, and then when he did just play at the end of last season, they saw maybe a, they believe they saw a different guy and they're going into it. It seems

insane, and I don't quite buy it, because Arthur Smith has no history with those guys. He's the offensive coordinator. Like, I like, it's funny that they used the, like, the first hours of the off season to cut Trubisky. It was just like some of us, like, mean. And their punter, who did have some pretty

bad moments, Presley Harbin, and they were starting right tackle. They mistakenly gave a huge contract to just a couple years ago, a core for, Chuck Socor for, and so they've caught him too. It's like, I don't know. I don't buy this. What team doesn't want to bring in a quarterback that wants to start? It just seems to. We've seen Arthur Smith without a quarterback.

Doesn't it feel like a little Steelersy though, too? That's the only thing I believe it. And let me preface this by saying there are many teams who are worse than the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL right now. Hell, they did make the playoffs this year. But there is not, in my opinion, there is not a more

boring team in football right now. A team that I look less forward to watching on game pass than watching Pittsburgh. I give you the New England Patriots. I mean, it's February. But they're bad. They're in that world though. Yeah, but they're bad and boring. And I understand you have a personal connection to them. But I'm saying like

when I put it on, unless you're you know, you get juiced watching their defense make plays and T.J. Watt. And I get that. But in terms of offensive football, the Steelers are with, especially they have players. They have players. And sometimes you see it, but it's such a slock. It always feels like it's raining.

and it's just like You don't have to watch this for a number of months though at least. There's no son. You know that old story about the girl that gets locked in the closet when there's the one sunny day on Mars? You know that old fable or whatever that tale was?

No, but I'm interested. Like Rapunzel's cousin? I'll look it up. I'll find it. I feel like I'm the little girl locked in the closet for the one day of sunshine and every time I get out, it's raining again at the old Heinzfield

and I'm watching a slog 1610 game. I'm just sick of it. Steelers fans, you hear me. You might even know what I'm talking about, about the girl that never got to see the sun. Connie, you searching that for me? No, no, I'm just writing down that Dan is the little girl locked in the closet. See, what's happening on Mars also is?

I kind of feel like it might have been a Mars scenario. I don't know. Let me look into it. Go ahead. Let me tee you up on another item and we're going to get out of the way. Russell Wilson is selling his Denver home, Mark, after a disastrous two-year run with the Broncos that appears at an end. And also the player he was once traded for, Gino Smith, the Seahawks, go ahead and guaranteed his base salary this year, paving the way for another season. There, go ahead. All right.

With a home was worth about $25 million. Let's start right there. And let's end right there. I think they said it's the most expensive property ever sold in the Denver area just two years ago. Oh, my gosh. Wow. I'm not, like, you've got to sell it. You're not, I get that.

You're not going to, you know, Airbnb, that sounds difficult. So you get out of tent, you're gone. And I do think the one reason I thought about putting this into our storylines, it's more from the Broncos side because like they're going to need, obviously, a lot at quarterback, something to keep Sean Payton happy. There's ways they could go depending where they are on the draft. But the financials saddled to Wilson are insane. I mean, they're like you can get any, I feel like any team get out of these things,

but they will essentially have them 85 million in dead money. there's a pretty strong case that it's the worst trade in NFL history that it's right there with Hersh Walker and all these other and the GM survived for what they got what they gave up the money that you're saying is now even hurting them into this year

and you got like one disaster season and one season where he was like the 19th best quarterback in the league out of all that it's crazy and I don't see the home for him because Pittsburgh like Chato Chosinko's on his podcast saying he's been hearing all week that Russell Wilson and Steelers, that's a match.

That wouldn't match up with the report we just talked about, though. And that report from Dulac almost felt like a response to all this Russell Wilson stuff because it was going around quite a bit in Vegas. He's like the Steelers are the favorite for his next destination. I don't think that means anything. And I don't know if there's a starting job for Russ out there. And finally in the news, the tag window has opened. Gregi, what do you got?

Anybody, a little tag talk? You want to do a little tag talk? I want to do a little tag talk. Not a TED Talk. The Gino thing, by the way, it was interesting. I did want to mention just that. They guaranteed him the base salary, which was pretty low. But almost immediately, the Schefters of the world put out that the Seahawks thought,

look, he has a low price. And that whether we keep him or trade him, we want to, he's a good, like, he's basically an asset. And I was like, ooh, well, that would indicate to me they're thinking about possibly trading him. Depending on how the off season goes. Their new offensive coordinator was the Washington Huskies head coach, Ryan Grubb. And if you'd think that maybe

they could keep Gino, because I think this is the opposite of the Russell Wilson. The words, like, he's an affordable quarterback at that price. But Grubb was, like, the guy who was attached to Michael Pennix,

Jr., who is like a rising name a quarterback. And maybe Gino works as a, keep him around for one season and let Pennix Jr. be your dude or fill in the blank rookie. It just struck me as a, when I saw that from the chifters of the world,

just like, and they're not sure yet. They're going to see, like, what's maybe shakes out, see how they feel in a month or two, but they would be happy enough if they have Gino. Like, that's a good option, but they might be looking around. Or maybe they'll do something with Pennix. Like, that's fine,

but I'm still stuck on the fact that Russell Wilson has fewer wins in Denver than he had bathrooms in his house that he saw. How about, yeah, that's statistics. That's up there with, like, he's never going to pass it. That's a good, like, rich people mansion story that's up there with when MC Hammer went bankrupt. They're like, did you know he had gold-plated

faucets in his bathroom? Probably shouldn't have done that. Patrick Mahom and Andy Reid also have more wins in Allegiance Stadium than any Raiders coach quarterback combo. That's a fun one. All of them together. Wow. That's a tape. Okay, so the tag, it's open. It's a big tag day, February 20th.

Everyone, I don't know, you're celebrating. You can apply the tag. You've got a couple weeks to do so. Made a quick list. I think Antoine Winfield. I think he gets it. Over Baker, over Evans. Yeah, T. Higgins almost certainly is going to get it. After that, a little fewer less locks than normal. Josh Allen, I would say with the Jaguars.

Can you pause there one second? Rewan. T. Higgins, I thought it was kind of a foregone conclusion he was going to reach free agency. Did something change there? I think they're going to let Tyler Boyd go do that. But then you could lose two guys and you've got to pay chase too. Because it's the Bengals, they keep things in-house in terms of sourcing and reporters better than just about any team.

no one really knows. I just think it'd be kind of crazy to let T. Higgins go to the... I agree with you. I feel like everyone's been already putting him atop the free agency board. Yeah. And now that's...

I think Burrow came out and basically said that he needs him back. And they have the cap space, right? We'll see. They have a lot of cap space. That should not be in the lock. I used to do it as a column as a lock. It's close to it.

But Josh Allen, I think,'s a lock. Brian Burns is probable. Justin Matabeeke for the Ravens. Good chance. Christian Wilkins for the dolphins. Good chance. So these, again, all the best possible free agents. Jalen Johnson, I think, the cornerback for the Bears, decent chance.

Legerius Sneed and Chris Jones is a huge Chiefs conversation where Chris Jones would do $32 million on the, I think would be his tag number. Yes, that's it. That's wild. Insane. Or Ligeria Sneed, who I think's going to become, if not the highest paid cornerback in the league close to it. That's trick.

I was thinking about that right after the Super Bowl because I ran into Spags on the field and he was. Yeah, you did. He was crying, like, and when I asked him about, like, just, you know, the win, obviously. He immediately went to, this is never, this group is never going to be together again. And we're never going to have these players experience this. And it was more, like, from a place of sadness than it was celebratory tears. And that really hit me. And in that moment, I was like, Chris Jones, Chris Jones, Chris Jones.

And would they really just, like, let him walk? To me, the best way to do this probably would be to tag Snead. and get that deal done with Jones before free agency somehow. He's going to cost... This was... At the celebration. And we'll get like that.

Jones, like, verbalized that he wanted to be there for like multiple more years. And it certainly had a few beers, but I think that leads to more truth, truth, and that time... And some other...

Yeah, no, I think you're right. They wrote duels, though. But also, like... Not a drop of alcoholists. If they're going to pay him and let's say it's a little bit less than he goes to some hideous team that has a ton of cap room,

like the commanders or something. Like, why not win multiple Super Bowls for just a little bit less money? Yeah. Yeah. I think that's what Mahomes did with his contract borrow less. I love that. Not all about the greenbacks. He's already making so much money.

He wants to have the big. I think the saddest thing is like when he wants to win Super Bowls and then goes to a terrible team and it's just like the one guy in a terrible team. He needs like the three year guaranteed money, but he should get that. If you're bored by the steel, I don't want to see him on the Panthers or like the commanders. No, I'm saying life is just not about all greenbacks. Yeah.

No. I was agreeing with you take. I mean, I'd say for the 90% of doing the show, we knew it was not all about greenbacks. And, you know, gets closer to that all the time. Anything else? Barclay, so a couple other big news, which is less likely. Tag talk is still happening. Sequin Barclay, Derek Henry, Tyrant Smith.

I think they're all unlikely. No, no one. And then Kirk Cousins and Danielle Hunter, who you might look at, like, oh, are they on the free agents list? Both of them cannot be tagged because of their, they have that in their contract. So the Vikings will not be using their tags. Well done. Good job by the agent.

Patrick Queen, though, also in Baltimore. Like, he's, you think they're going to try. I just don't think they would do it. I think that's a good question. I just see him listed. Yes. I personally don't think that they would. Water's nice.

Put that much money on another inside linebacker when they have Roquant Smith, but maybe they would surprise me, especially when you have a Matabeeke as an option. All right. We're caught up. That's what's happening in the news. Here we go. You ready?

All summer in a day is a science. fiction short story by American writer Ray Bradbury. First published in March 154. The story is about a class of students on Venus. Right. Trong Pew, Marky.

Which is in the story a world of constant rainstorms where the sun is only visible for one hour every seven years. One of the children Margo moved to Venus from Earth five years ago, five years earlier, and is the only one who remembers the sun since it shines regularly.

on earth. She describes the sun, she describes the sun to the other children as being like a penny or a fire in the stove. The other children being too young to have ever seen it themselves, do not believe her. Just before the sun comes out, a boy named William rallies the other children and they lock Margot in a closet down a tunnel. The teacher arrives to take the class outside to enjoy their hour of sunshine. In their astonishment and joy, they all forget about Margo, and gleefully rushed to play outside, savoring every second of their newfound freedom. It begins to rain again. And the children start crying once they realize they won't get to see the sun again for another seven years.

The children run back inside as the sun disappears and it starts storming. At this point, one of them remembers Margot. They let her out of the closet and stand frozen, ashamed over what they have done now that they finally understand what she had been missing. that's what it's like watching the Pittsburgh Steelers. I mean, it's an incredible vision that you've created for us. I think, like Raymond Bradbury, obviously testing the limits of various substances,

and was on the child gang beat well before other people. And I've been on that beat myself, that these child gangs are a problem. For about 15 seconds there, I thought that was like a live ad read. Dan is Margo. Like for Audible, I don't know what it would be for. Let the American viewing public out of that closet of Pittsburgh Steelers. Let us see the sunshine.

Yeah. Okay. Okay. That's, yeah, that's it. We'll be right back. And when we return, the biggest storylines of the offseason act. First and goal. Mahomes flings at you.

It's there. Hartman, Jackpot, Kansas City. And this was the Andy Reed special. This was the Andy Reid special. We talked about. He was saving all day. He's going to fake emotion to go across. And at that moment, he turns and goes back Hartman, who they didn't have, right?

And they go get Hartman and bring him back. And the game winning drive of Mahomes career, he's been waiting before he's once your goals, but he's never had it in an overtime. He is the best. He is the standard when Michael Jordan wins it again. There it is. the call of the touchdown to me, Cole, Hardman from Patrick Mahones, in

overtime. You know, that was, I thought about it on the flight home from Vegas, the first time in NFL history. Now, second overtime game, but that, obviously, Falcons, oh my God, Kyle was the

overtime. Both of those. That's crazy. That's a tie game, obviously, when you're running back, what's it James White, goes in the end zone, uh that that was the first time in NFL history where the Super Bowls decided what one team's winning when the play starts and the other team wins when it's over that is crushing to the very last play and i still can never i'll always remember sitting um at that great spot we had that perch where our studio setup was um all of those Niners fans right below us like they in the even though it was creeping death there still was a chance if there's a Malcolm Butler type play or something could have We were almost incredibly hopeful. I've met a man, well, right in front of us, there was a lot of anxiety, which is understandable.

The center for the Chiefs all game was bad snaps over and over and over again. Their former first round pick, um, holding out hope, but hope was not going to be rewarded. That feeling of them coming down the field to, uh, quote Dave Damasek, like, that's living to me. Like there's a lot of that's living. Most of it's in your life with people. that matter to you that you love doing things and stuff. But they're, to me, that's why I love sports. They're stealing emotions.

No, I'm saying in a, in a moment like that where you've built the entire season to just like, it's all going to happen in these next couple of moments. There, to me, is a heightened sense of life, of reality, where everything, you notice more in those spots. You see a little more in those spots. And it's one of the reasons why this job is so great. I do.

the guy that I'll always think of was directly below me and when Moody hits the field goal to put them at head and overtime he is seated with his head down he can't even watch and I think his wife and his buddy like pat him on the back and he made it he made it so you can imagine where he was minutes later so it's a great sports man I also have this memory of because you know unlike other Super Bowls we're on the East Coast and you come back to like the hotel and there's like eight people awake because we were there to like two in the

morning. Like, you go back to our hotel in Vegas, and it's like, we haven't even begun this evening. Like, what's everyone's, but there were hordes of, like, Niners fans, obviously in our hotel. And I just thought, like, how low are you feeling where you're, like, in this haze post game where you're wandering around with, like, your pals all in, like, used check and McCaffrey jerseys, and you just lost another Super Bowl. It's just like, I think it just feels so hopeless for the losing team. Even though I see, I looked at the, like, the Draft King's odds and, like, the Niners were the number one team to go back there. I'm thinking like, I will never not pick the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl in the next couple of years. I'm not falling down this trapdoor ever again.

Same. We were, we were, our green room in the stadium shared a wall with the Chiefs locker room. So for like two hours after the game, we could just hear everything that was happening. And so everyone that like works on the Super Bowl, the whole crew just stays and drinks afterwards and like hangs out on the field. But it was so interesting to like sort of all like huddle around with our like little like Red Solo Cups trying to listen to the chief speech through the concrete wall. Very cool. That's amazing.

Like that game more, I had this theory like the way that game. And it really was a great game in terms of strategy and in everything that went on the last like quarter and, you know, overtime and a half essentially. But it reminded me of a great tennis match. In a previous life, when I used to, you know, get into these sorts of things, no sport. has the odds flip as quickly as a great tennis match because you get to the championship, you have a match point,

you might lose that point, lose that game, and then it's right back to tie. That terrible win probability chart. It goes like all you need is one more point. You're like minus 800 to win. And then two seconds later, you're an underdog.

And that's what the Super Bowl felt like because there were a couple match points. The 49ers coming out of that two-minute warning, all they needed was a first down. That was essentially a match point. You only needed four yards. The whole last Mahomes drive, you could look at it, like the defense just had to make one play. And there was, you know, and then the whole thing would be over.

There was a second 18. There was a third and long. And so there was all just like the whole thing could have ended on one point. But it didn't. The fourth quarter into overtime was some of the best Super Bowl drama that we've ever been in person for. And I really agree with you. At the end, you could just feel like this building, the tension in the building, like rising. A few other Super Bowl takeaways before we look ahead to the offseat.

First of all, shout out Colleen Wolfe, who was the in-stadium host of the freaking game. We mentioned it on Super Bowl Sunday, but Connie all throughout the pregame, including her thunderbirds going up in the jet. Watch that with astonishment in the stadium, including the iconic shot of you in the suit with the giant American flag in front of you. It's on your Instagram, right? Because I missed it live, but I was glad you posted it. You did a great job explaining it on Radio Row, but actually seeing it with. was, I was blown away. And then you did an awesome job all throughout the game that then went into overtime.

Did you get paid extra when it goes into overtime? No, but that's okay. So people know, like, when you're in commercial breakwatching the game, Colleen is with a co-host. And who was it? There was a few different people. Simply Mike Robb, Steve was there, Smith. Basically talking things, talking through the crowd to 70,000 people, like what's going on,

sharing different thoughts. It was very cool. And I think also one good thing because, like, we, it's kind of, it's kind of, common place for us to watch you just go star like this but we were lucky enough to bring like guests and like we're like oh that's our friend like down on the field yeah like announcing to the entire stadium and flying around and jet

they're like that's your friend it makes it feel like a home game like you and Cynthia also had a couple segments where she was voicing stuff in the pregame and I'm just like wow our friends are just like voicing the freaking Super Bowl I think you put it well on the on the Super Bowl wrap up show Greg it feels like our world has gotten

a little smaller for a game that big which is that was my comment thing. Oh. No, it was actually great. I was going to give it to you if you needed it after the ticket fiasco on your desk. Yeah, thank you. Um, my, my kind of takeaway after, because again, we, we're watching the game in person. Our vantage point isn't always great. We don't have access to replays. And then we go and we do an hour and a half on the, uh, right after the game talking about it. So getting to read and watch things. Um, I thought what a, uh, it was a boondoggle for Kyle, I thought, Shanahan. And, and, and things that I've watched about

His strategy, one, one, I watched like a real deep dive, a cut up of like mistakes that he made in strategy. His failure to protect, adequately call up protect schemes for Purdy, typified by the final possession they had in overtime before the field goal where they call a fake kind of end around to CMC that involves to sell the fake to CMC involves the center pulling away from. Chris Jones and then leaving the middle of the San Francisco offensive line, which was their weakness throughout the game. And the way they ran the football, the way they kind of played right into Spags's hands throughout the game where Spags kind of schooled Kyle Shanahan, where they're running McCaffrey over and over into this area occupied by their guards, which is their weak point. And Chris Jones, the most dominant defensive lineman on the planet. And then right down to of course the overtime situation which we talked about a little bit on Super Bowl Sunday but

the team San Francisco clearly not maybe having a handle on the the overtime rules and the obviously the decision not to give the ball to the Chiefs after they win the coin toss and OT and so on the New Heights podcast Travis Kelsey and his brother Jason they get into how overtime played out and the setup and how prepared the chiefs were for it like the Patriots famously had Ernie Adams, their guy that was behind the scenes that had that team always kind of one step ahead, especially in these type of crucible games. Well, the chiefs have someone, a guy named Mike Frazier, who's their statistical analysis coordinator, and Travis Kelsey made a point on his podcast to give him credit for having them prepared in a way, it seemed like the 49ers

were not. He's the one that goes over all these scenarios, all these big time situations. Yep. And a half and a game. rule changes he's the one that comes up stands in front of the team when he comes in front of the team you're everybody can fire phrase then sure enough he goes over these kind of situations i'm pretty sure we went over the overtime rules three times four times in the two-week span that we were in like the play like in the actually the overtime rules the every single week we talked about overtime rules in the playoffs and phrase was up front giving what we would do in all these scenarios so everybody on the team on our like we knew exactly what the best situation was how we were

going to handle it how we were going to like attack it and um a guy like that man you don't realize how big of a big of a you know job it is to do that kind of stuff because it's kind of like all right you're just going over the rules we kind of know the rules but it's like when you harp on them it becomes second nature and you don't even think about it in the in the game and it's just you know phrase coming up big man they got a they got to get a phrase over there and uh and San Fran. I mean, hold on, though. Hudson Burner.

Frage can walk away knowing that Travis Kelsey obviously was listening to Frage, but then you've got the narrative that Miko Harmon didn't even know that the game was over. So someone's not paying attention. You can only do so much. It's not Frasge's spot, but it didn't stick into Michael Harman's life. Well, I think he was just, yeah, I don't know

if he didn't know the rules as much as like he was just in the moment. Also, like, how many catches had he even made to that point when he was with all season long before that? I think he was just like focused on, like, I'm going to make a play. Yeah. But, uh, it does, you think the Niners don't have a guy like that?

That would battle. No, I don't. There was enough reporting around the game afterwards that there was a lot of I don't think Kyle Shanahan had a good feel of it either. He came back the next day and then said, well, actually our plan was we wanted to get the ball third. Like, if we match, then we wanted to get the ball third. And I was like, I don't believe you.

You've lied a lot in public situations. You lied about that Steve, you were going to keep Steve Wilkes the day before you got rid of. And I understand why you have to do that. But the day. before when he got asked the same question, he didn't have that answer. He just said, and great, come on, we wanted the ball.

He inadvertently told on himself again when he said that because I think Kelsey or some, I think Kelsey also said the chief's plan written in stone is that if the other team scores a touchdown, we get the ball back. We go for two if we score a touchdown. So no matter what, there wasn't a third possession coming for the Niners. And he wasn't prepared for that as a possibility either. And I guess the one other thing I'm going to say is that I watched another cut up of their game plan. We talked about Debo Samuel was targeted 11 times, three catches. He is not good as good in man coverage.

He eats up zone coverage. They're man coverage destroyers, Brandon Ayuk, who just throughout the playoffs really was not getting targeted the way he should. And they showed all these moments in the game whereas you're targeting Ayuk, he's probably shaken free with his route running ability in a way that Debo does. doesn't because he has a different skill set. So I'm just all these things like it's just like you Kyle doesn't get a pass. And I'm not going to bury Purdy at all. I don't think he played a great game, but didn't play poorly.

Shanahan, I think got got out coached in a huge stage. And when we talk about him quote, not being able to get over the hump and choking like this is more like digging into it a little further is how is he getting beaten these giant games? Well, you got out coached and that plays a massive role. It's when we go in critique like Bengals teams under Zach Taylor of old, where, like, they couldn't adjust the offensive line in-game and Burroughs getting killed. It's like, Brock Purdy, like, actually, I, like, we didn't blame him after the show and we shouldn't.

Like, he faced a ton of, like, just pressure where no one was unblocked, like, pass rushers coming right. I think there were nine in that game. Chris Jones had a free rush on that third down. That play cannot happen. Right. It's funny, though, how Super Bowl sometimes get decided a little bit. John Feliciano, it's not like a great player, got hurt in the first half of that game. He was replaced by.

Spencer Burford, who after the game had to own up on Monday to being the guy who blew that protection, only because his own teammate, Feliciano, who had gotten hurt, came to the right tackle's defense on Twitter saying, like, that's not Colton McKibbitt's fault. Stop blaming him. And everyone's like, oh, wait, so you're blaming the other guy. And so they had to like talk it out and stuff. And this is what happens when you lose Super Bowl. It's a lot of blame. I just like McCall Hardman is just stuck in my head because it happened in the end zone that was like right in front of us

where we were standing and then Rick Berkholder their head trainer the chiefs like ran over to me on the field because I used to work with him when I was in Philly and he's like grabbed me and was like oh my God Michael Hardman look up how many catches he had in this game it was only like two or three and that was the one that won it for us

and then just like ran off like it was like a fever dream of sorts. He didn't say like how how are you doing? How have things been for you? He was like, go talk to go find him. Okay. Anything else game wise takeaways. And we should mention because we haven't mentioned yet. There's the parade

that happened in Kansas City after the Super Bowl was marred by active senseless violence, a shooting where over 20 people were shot. A person was killed. All the other people who were injured have been released from the hospital, which is great news. And you know, I

I don't have to say much unless I don't know what you guys say other than this stuff sucks but it doesn't surprise me anymore in this country and it's sad gun violence and these type of mass shootings continue to happen but once I guess I do want to say something that

when what happened in Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 when a room full of first graders were murdered with an AR-15 and our political system couldn't get on the same page to do anything about that and we've had hundreds and hundreds of people murdered since

and these type of acts. I just have no faith in our country and our system to stop these things from happening and it just sucks. Yeah, like half the wounded were under age 16. I mean, that stands out because I think this is meant to be, and you know, Kansas City's had a bunch of these, but it's still a special, special event for your fan base, many who can't afford to go to games.

It's like they were the players and like there was a report like Andy Reid was actually like helping children that have been separated from their parents and stuff. It's like they were integrated with the crowd in a big way and it's like this is what you have to worry about happening. And like we have kids and it's like 30 years ago, this wouldn't be on a parent's mind. But now it's like I'm sending my kids to school in a, you know, a cityscape of some, to some degree. And I don't know if it's safe at all. And it's like nothing, there's not, I don't, there's all this half the country saying, well, these are things, we want these weapons. for protection

and all this stuff, enough with that nonsense. Stop taking, like, money from the National Rifle Association politicians and, like, do something about it. Like, at what point? Because I think you're right, it's like, it's a news story.

Then, like, if it, you know, when the first time it happens, like when it's Columbine, like the nation is stunned and it's like a two-year, three-year-long story. Now it happens, and it's going off the news cycle in two days because we're not surprised by it.

No, and we try to, like, we want to focus on the positive and you focus on the heroism, of the day and you do respect that to the nth degree and how the chiefs have reacted and how everyone in that city reacted and yet it's like not the it's the least surprising thing ever and so when we're talking about like american exceptionalism or worse it's like this doesn't happen anywhere else this is just us yeah i mean it's it's awful there's nothing else to even add to it just the fact that there were so many kids that were harmed and the nurses from the hospitals that were

treating them, talked about just the fear that was in their faces when they got to the hospital and just how heartbreaking that is, that you go to celebrate a Super Bowl win at a parade, which should be the most exciting and fun thing to do as a parent with your kids, with your friends, for your entire city, for your team, and then to end up at a hospital and be that scared and have that trauma happen because that is not something that leaves you for a fair. very, very, very long time. And shout out to Patrick Mahomes and his wife and Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey and everyone else who, you know, gave money to try to support the victims and...

The people that tackled the others, too, the fans that just like went ahead and put their lives on the line too. All right. Let's take a break. And when we come back, let's dig into those off-season storylines to come. that right okay welcome back big beefy show we were away for over a week we just couldn't couldn't help ourselves wait to get on in front of the bike and talk we love it turned 46 about 12 minutes ago so the honking it's been heavy honking but I think it's been

a nice app so far absolutely I got nowhere to be really I mean I do but we're here not right I have a lunch date with Cynthia okay and quite and quite frankly I'm a little afraid to step outside the studio one false step the temple of doom that we now have it here so hopefully we'll be safe in our ways back to our car

anyway before we do that it is the 2024 off season officially we have free agents in fact announcement horn you know that old announcement horn I like that one

I like this it builds anticipation about stuff Greg's free agent 101 list is dropping later this week and on Thursday or something close enough I think Monday

Monday it's due this week it's due they got to edit it for the old edit at the end of the week but on Thursday we will be talking about it and Mark it just did dawn on me and we probably play a little catch-up but I don't doubt our ability

do we want to roll out maybe a free agency the 102 this year. Well, you had talked about, you know, on our last show or a couple shows that, that you wanted to maybe take the job from Greg. An outright swipe. I've abandoned that plan. I enjoyed my days off. Yeah, he announced that would have to happen during your vacation.

Yes, I think that we, you know, we've customarily come up with our own list. And I think we were at Capeville doing that. Maybe we just go, we don't have to go 100. Dealing list. Necessarily. We go... You want to go 11? Go 200, 300 deep if we need. Oh, you want to go that way? I mean, like, kind of be like,

then the viewer who's new to the exercise is like, wait a minute, those guys worked harder than that guy. How many free agents are there? But I know, but after, but after you get to like, 200 or 300, it's a random name generator. How many, like, uh, you threw out 11? How many, like, a dues paying union members connected to,

uh, the good question, players association are eligible for free agency. Because I'm saying we just, we just, the whole, rank them off, right, list. Right. We'll do, we'll do 1,200. I don't think it's that many. I know it's not that many. but if it is

let's find it Eric once we get that footage from upstairs can we find out how many free agents are there or maybe put a randy on that one in a typical year put big funk on that one

got it probably like got to be what three to 500 I have no idea though big funk it's calling as you're all friend

I'm not coming home today Sessler's list will be three to 500 then well it's Tesla and like Dan and Mark two I felt better about the 11 but

I think it sets it sets the bar and I like your ambition it blinds me the greatness of it and the lofty the loftiness of it so let's do it so the free agency 301 let's do that

Mark and Dan dropping at some point we're going to at some point sneak attack on the old Rosendog here but Greg's 101 is coming next week on dot com but we're going to talk about it so you have free agency that's coming of course the draft is coming you know like move the sticks guy

he's already up to Mach 2.0 oh Mike already so with that with that in mind, let's get into it. And Colleen, do you want to get us going? How strong do you feel about this? I feel great. I feel great. This feels like a can't miss.

This is very easy. Although last night it was sexiest storylines and then this morning it was huge storylines, but that's okay. Storylines are storylines and it's the same thing. So. Nice try though. I did not give you a mixed cross signals. No, you didn't. Sexy, huge storyline. Right. Right. So I feel like the number one thing for me is where does Kirk Cousins land? Because for the quarterback, the quarterbacks in

general, like between him and Baker Mayfield, I need to know what happens. But with Kirk Cousins, he's obviously, he's going to be 36 this summer. He's coming off the torn Achilles. But he did say, he didn't say he would take a hometown discount, but he said that he's not worried about the money at the stage of his career, Mark, how you were talking about earlier, maybe money is in everything for Kirk Cousins. He was on our show too at Radio Row and he made it very clear like he is all about testing that market too. Kirk knows

how to get paid so I don't know if I buy into like that. He likes the money. But okay so Justin Jefferson said he's not signing a new deal until he knows that Cousins is coming back. So he's got that leverage going for him and then Quincey Adolvenza, their GM

expressed his desire to keep cousins and he had already redone whatever the extension was before so it's not like those two are completely disconnected. They already have, they've already worked on a deal together before. So that makes me think that he could potentially be back. But I mean,

it's been a while since he tested free agency and we know what happened when he did. Yes. So there, there's reporting out there. I think PFT reported that the Vikings aren't necessarily willing to give him an all-guarantee contract. Our own Pellraiser reported that the Vikings want cousins back. But this is interesting.

That's dog. could go after a cheaper veteran like Sam Darnold if Cousins is too expensive, hoping the veteran referring to Sam Darnold would be, quote, this year's Baker Mayfield while also buying time to develop a rookie. So you have players to this. Sam Darnold Baker Mayfield argument to bed.

You're just trying to get him to be Baker Mayfield at this point. Well, so here we, so they believe. It makes a good point. Well, the point being is that people see Sam still, as give him an actual chance and he could do what Baker did last year. That's more flying into the old

Zusser's point that Darnold has a market because people see a playmaker still. But that's beside the point. Back to you. Sam Darnold, yes. Back to you, Colleen. So the Vikings want him back, but they want to do it their way. And if he does

end up hitting the open market, it is like Aaron Rogers is the big offseason quarterback story. Cousins could help a lot. of teams in a profound way. Very big one. But how will he even be coming off that Achilles at his age? Right. I too. I, he is such an interesting case. I thought when he became a free agent last time, like he was going to do better than people thought, and he did, ultimately getting the fully guaranteed contract from the Vikings. This time, I'm not totally sure, because

he's coming off in Achilles and you just go through the teams that would give him like $40, $50 million a year. Will the Vikings? I'm not totally sure that the Vikings will. I'm sure they would have them back, but I think they might be thinking, we got to pay Justin Jefferson. We need to start over at quarterback at some point. Maybe this is that point. Would it be Denver? That to me is the team that is most desperate and almost plug in play in terms of their coach and that Kirk Cousins would make sense there. That's one team. But after you get past that, it's like, Like the Raiders, you know, maybe, like Falcons, maybe, like, there's no one that just you look at and you say they'll definitely give up 40, 50 million dollars a year.

And then the Steelers come in. Right. I don't think the Steelers are out of the closet. Let me out of the closet. If they were outrageous, like that would be a good match. The one thing, like, Sean Payton during the Super Bowl week, like went out of his way to talk up Baker Mayfield a ton to. Like, I would just, I think that Baker, and that's a whole different conversation,

but it's like, he's, I think he's going to. go after a veteran if they don't want to trade up and try to get a... There's just not that many teams because you know, the number one overall pick that takes the Bears out of the mix, basically. You figure Washington's probably out of the mix. Although you never know.

In a weird world, they could decide to trade that pick. You know, the Patriots, they're a little... Like, that's taking some... There's only so many spots here. The 49ers, I don't think they would do that. Oh, that would be... That is such an... That keeps coming back over and over the Shanahan, Custling. Well, because if it was

any other year in the Shanahan era, I think it would have happened, but this year it won't happen. I'm with you. All right. So Cousins, the top the quarterback discussion list. Right next to him, I would say, is Justin Fields. That is another huge storyline right here.

The Chicago Bears, of course, have the number one pick thanks to the Panthers and the trade that they made. And this one's interesting because I mentioned move the sticks. He says, In his latest mock, he's got Caleb Williams, the USC star going to the Bears. That's an option that they have at number one.

They have a bunch of options. Another option is that they keep Justin Fields and either use the number one overall pick or on something else or maybe even a quarterback or trade that number one pick down. Or maybe you keep Justin Fields and you trade that pick and then take a quarterback later. They have so many choices or not take a quarterback at all. This I will tell you, though, here's reporting. Good job by Jenna Lemonschelli of the New York Post. Notice that Justin Fields no longer follows the Bears on Instagram.

Troop alert. I'm not doing that. Troop alert. I mean, not doing what? He did it. I know. I just, it's like. Now, would you guys unfollow NFL media like during your negotiations?

My contract's coming up, so I'm just wondering. Would they even notice? I would do it if. Right. Who's tracking this? It's just a sad. Jenna Levichelli. Well, no, in this case.

I'm going to say that we do that to our own their tracking. They're not on the Lemoncelli Beach. He might report like we also have a contract coming out. I don't even know if I am following them. Let's let's maybe try it. You know? That's a fair question.

I'll do it at once. Anyway, and that is a famous trope alert now with players that are unhappy for whatever reason, unfollowing the team that they're on. I thought it was notable. At the very least, it means he's just kind of annoyed that most likely he hasn't been given a firm answer

one way or the other. also you could look at it as maybe he was told that they're going in a direction that involves Cape Williams or whoever else and he's already now looking forward and he's like I'm done with the bears they told me they're done with me anyway

there's so much intrigue around this and it has such a big butterfly effect Gregi whatever the bears decide because not only if they their decision changes the trajectory of their franchise it also if Fields does end up hitting

the trade market, that changes the draft for whatever team ends up going for him. I mean, it's a big story. He's a very unique player to be available in a trade. I can't think of many that are quite like him, that are young, promising, have a lot of tape. You can look at it a few different ways. He's not like a Kevin Cobb or a Jimmy G or these guys who tend to get some pop in the trade market at quarterback that you saw them for like five games you know what i mean and they end up getting a nice draft picks for them but they're just like more promised than ever like someone

you actually this is a top pick who's shown a lot and it's pretty good i i think is is at the dalton line or above it or right around it at this point but certainly has potential to be has done a lot of good things guys like that just don't become available very often so i i think he's a fascinating case i've never believed that this was a decision. I didn't think he had, I don't think he had any chance of staying. I don't think he has any chance of staying. I don't, I'm sure they would like, like they go through the process of thinking about it or whatever, but I've never thought he had a realistic chance at staying because there are great

quarterbacks in this class and there's, why would you keep Justin Fields over that? So, great college quarterbacks in this class. That's part of this. Like, you don't know. I get it, but I just don't think they would look. at it like that. I think they would look at it like we've seen him for this long and we're not totally sure. I'm just saying they're not, whoever it is is not

a guarantee either. Just like Fields wasn't a guarantee. It's not. Of course. It's not like Kirk Cousins or Justin Fields. But he came in drafted Justin Fields highly. Right. But not nearly as highly. He's not even in the same ballpark that Kayla Williams or Drake May were

coming out of college or maybe even Jaden Daniels. So I do think that the players himself mattered, but I think he's going to have a bigger trade market than people think. Well, I think I'm with you because I think his gifts, especially when you talk to like defensive coaches, they are all in on like the mobility of a quarterback. And I think he's just that dangerous. And I think you could look at the bears and say, nice end of your season. Like we've seen growth in Justin Fields, but we don't really trust that you know how to maximize a quarterback.

We do. We're going to take a chance on this guy. And I don't know what you'd get for him in terms of a trade. See, that's the thing. I've talked with people about this and there's like, well, if it's a third, sure. I don't know if I want to give up a second. I'm like, Justin Fields is a pretty good. option for Atlanta, for the Raiders who have his offensive coordinator from a year ago,

for maybe the Vikings, maybe the Bucks, maybe the Patriots. Like, he's a pretty big upgrade. I think they're getting like a second plus, maybe even first. I got a comp for you. I got a comp for you. We mentioned Donald. When he was traded from the Jets to the Panthers, he was a former number three overall pick.

The Jets got back a 2021, six-rounder and a second and a fourth rounder. Stunk with the Jets. The Fields has shown... Well, that's what I'm saying. But that's other teams thinking... That was good value. But that's other teams thinking we can make... We can do it right by...

What I'm saying... I think that's a baseline what Fields could command. Could he get a late first round pick? Maybe. I don't... I don't think that's a crazy thing to do. One other thing that complicates this and why I know you're certain of it, Greg. And I think the way it's trending is he's probably starting over somewhere else.

I thought he was pretty good last year. I thought he really showed growth. last year. I think the locker room loved him. You heard that constantly. Everybody wants him back. They gave him a number one receiver and DJ Moore and more played like an all pro last year. Like I thought it makes it more difficult in terms of a decision because I think he did show again, he gave you, it's tantalizing.

Helps his value. But also from a financial standpoint, they're going to want to restart on a rookie contract so they can continue to rebuild. And I get that. That's part of, yeah, that's a good point because that's part of the business model with these teams and they treasure that. But man, if Fields goes to the, Giants and becomes a superstar, the bears are going to be happy if their guy is a stud, but it's a big risk. He's shown enough where it could really backfire if they moved him.

And that's what makes it a really fun, interesting storyline. Gregi, how about you? Okay. My overarching one is, will any big name wide receivers get traded and who will it be? And we've seen it happen enough that, like, I now believe, oh, well, this is one of the things that you can either expect or is possible. Name something, Greggy. Well, this offseason, there was some buzz, I think, last week, floating around about Justin Jefferson.

I don't think they would ever trade him. But I think him throwing these flares up and the amount of money he's going to cost. Like, I think teams will maybe try to sniff around. How did he get to Minnesota, Greg? Right. Stefan Diggs wanted out and they did the trade for the number one pick. Another name, I think, that fits into. Yeah.

So there's this group, Jefferson is the least likely, but, you know, it's AG Brown. and I never would have thought AJ Brown would have got traded. Diggs is another one. Brandon Ayuk, there's, you know, he wants more money now. Devante Adams, I think, is going to stay at this point because it doesn't, financially, it hurts them to trade it. Raiders think they're going to the Super Bowl, so he's not going anywhere.

So he's another one. And I would just throw out, is Tyree Kill like the craziest person ever? Again, these guys bring back such a huge draft hall and they cost so much money. just like which if any of these guys gets dealt and the way that Ayyuk is putting it out there and it's the same way that it's like he wants he tries to get the contract he wants

like he tries to find out you know from other teams what they would pay him and then they can start making it uncomfortable on the 49ers if the 49ers aren't ready to pay him 34 I had specifically Stefan Diggs because I think the bills are like one like because they were wiped out like a month ago at this point you kind of forget how dark that season ended and, like, where that team kind of sits.

And, like, Gabe Davis has been verbal about the fact that he wants to test free agency. He could be gone. He could get much more money than the bills want to pay him. Stefan Diggs ever requested a trade. You are left. I already thought this was a team that was missing an element for Josh Allen in the offense. They seem like one guy short in a number of games. And suddenly, they could look completely different on offense.

If these chips fall in a certain way where you lose your kind of your dump of one guy, but then Gabe Davis has these games where he explodes. out of nowhere. The reason why they felt a player short this year is because Stefan Diggs wasn't Stefan Diggs anymore last year. And that was, that makes, as you saying,

was that one of your storylines? Because, like, what is Diggs' market coming off the year? He just came off and he's another year old. I think he'd get paid, though, for just, like, I don't know. Do we think he's falling off? I mean, what's his contract?

He's under contract. So, like, what would a team give up if he were put on the market as one of those players you're referring to, Greg? Not as much. would you could you get a first round pick still for stephan diggs i don't know also the i personally think that's not crazy again i look at it like the rams not every first round picks equaled 20 to 30 for a couple honeymoon years

what if you're the chiefs say at number 32 right that's that's not a first round the chiefs can like that's better than anything they're going to get at 32 i wouldn't i would be afraid of giving patrick mahomes uh another in general though also like you i mentioned jeremiah again. So, you know, it just shows a level of maturity.

Yeah. Like the Patriots have the more abundant offense of the Patriots. He has Marvin Harrison Jr. going there.

And if Harrison is as good as everyone says, yeah, you got to use a premium pick on a wide receiver. But you also,

these drafts keep churning out big time players at wide receiver. First round, second round, third round, fourth round. Do you really want

to give up a top-tier asset for an expensive? veteran wide receiver who might be a pain in the ass to use digs as a reference there like where you could if you trust your scouting people

you could probably find someone at a much lesser draft value that will as a young up and coming contract controllable player like it's very interesting an incredibly good wide receiver class I think Dean Brugler of the athletic had

like 17 in his top 100 does it seem like wide receiver classes are just going to get better right they keep Malik neighbors and Romaya Dunezay, like those are top seven, like three receivers are probably going in the top seven or eight pick. So that does, that does throw a little bit

of a wrench into this. But I wanted to throw that out there because I don't know what the name's going to be. And yet I feel like someone's, someone weird is going to shake loose that we end up talking a lot about in March. And Aaron Rogers runs the Jets. And if he tells Joe D. and Woody to pick up the phone and

call the Raiders, I still wouldn't be stunned if Adams ends up there just because Rogers has that much power to say get it done. Now, well, the Raiders, if they want to answer the phone, that's another conversation. Right. And if Iyuk wants $30 million a year and they can get a monster deal back for him,

like, do they make a decision of him under Devo and all that stuff? Go ahead, Mark. What do you got? It kind of segues into my one because I obviously, like, the ones that you mentioned are all obvious ones too. But there are a couple teams that just ended the season in chaotic corners where it's like you're kind of everything that you thought about them changed. And I would list like, and I think this is, the offseason can change everything you think

about even a junk team. So there are these teams that like came into last season with a ton of hope and like the Eagles, for instance, like, where are we going to be after the free agent and draft process with two new, two new coordinators again? Like, do we feel differently about them? Do they reset the board? Because right now it feels like the energy around the Eagles. And they, you know, for years, it's like Howie Roseman and the whole organization is just top class and they're, they're to keep overachieving. Look there's been ebbs and flows to that. Well, there was like, I'm not, I'm more saying of late,

they're like to the smartest team around. They're drafting the player that no one else can develop. And like, we're in a weird place with them. We're in a weird place with the Cowboys. Like, can the Cowboys, like, actually get us hopeful and excited about their season again versus just the moniker around them? And I throw the Jets in there because it's like the Jets are fundamentally no different than the team that we were talking about as a potential AFC Super Bowl team.

And they've got another draft and they've got, they've got another round of free agency but there's this feeling like you just mentioned that they're controlled by their quarterback which is like about as unhealthy as it gets that you kept an offensive coordinator that showed no acumen to run an offense that your head coach seemed to go from alpha male

to I'm not sure this guy even knows what he's doing at this point and it all feels like those three teams but there's others I throw in there that are mysterious like a Harbaugh Greg Roman offense with Justin Herbert like I can't wait to see what pieces they add to that and what that offense looks like a couple months now but like these

teams that are like in a dark spot will it get any better or is it just going to crescendo even worse into ugly territories that had either ugly seasons last year or disappointing ends what they do that's interesting you mentioned the cowboys too because i think about deck prescott and his absolutely insane cap hit that's coming up this year he goes from his cap number is 59.4 million dollars and like the highest cap hit this past year. was Patrick Mahomes at 37 but like the way that Dax deal is done like remember how difficult it was to get his deal done last time and all of the negotiations that went into it he has one year left he has a no trade clause he has all sorts of clauses in there he can't be tagged like

he can get honestly anything so I one of the things that I'm most certain about this offseason is Jera and Dack doing business together because yeah they have no like we might start to have doubts about Dax's ability to really lead a team all the way, but I don't think Jara has any doubts. He'd fire everybody else before Dack, in my opinion. So, we'll see. They got your business, though, to get the captain. They kind of have to.

They will. And they've got a lot going on in terms of cap issues. Tyron Smith void deal just voided. He played at a high level. The Eagles, to me, are the team, though, that I expect will look very different a month from now. Whereas the Cowboys, I think, are just, they're kind of locked in. They're going to add some. They'll do things on the edges.

They've got some important players coming up. Whereas the Eagles, you know, there was that report that Hassan Reddick might be traded, but they have all their older guys are kind of up for. I don't know what they're going to do, but like when I'm talking about these receivers, could A.J. Brown be that person that gets traded again. Like, I doubt it, but they're just the team that like, I don't know what they're going to do, but they're going to do something. They're going to do a lot.

I thought you were going to bring up A.J. Brown. He would be another option. He was the famous trade from the Titans, but he was by all outside reporting and stuff an unhappy camper there and they're trying, I would imagine after the way last year ended, Connie, they're trying to change the culture, freshen things up a little bit,

put a new coat of paint on. I think they need more than that. Or is it Devontz Smith? Like he would, you know, The Slim Reaper? People would love a little Devon. Mark, the Slim Reaper.

You can't just change the culture like in three weeks. No. I don't even know what that means. Especially if you have a lot of the same people. You trade some of the guys that are, they believe, are contributing to a bad locker room. Yeah.

Well, how many. any games ended with A.J. Brown, like, picking rocks. I don't know, Connie. I still go back to my explanation. It's like, no one knows. No one knows what happened. Oh, you're right. Never mind then.

Right. Things just happen. That show seems to be well beloved. We love Abbott Elementary. Okay. All right. We're having two different conversations. Sorry.

All right. How long is this pod been? This has been two hours. It's over. I would love to put a moratorium on everyone's stressing about how long our podcast is. I didn't say anything. It's, if the. conversation is good, and it's

fine. All right, well, then in that case, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, two more people to throw in the interesting off-season storylines. Will Tom Brady actually announced a game? Also, we only have two shows this week, so we're giving the people a little housekeeping. We're going to be Tuesday, Thursday this week. So, you know, it's less

than usual. People want to come to us and tell us the podcast is too long, then we'll have to maybe start talking. I haven't heard anyone ever say. What people? Like, you'd change the show if, like, a rando from like No, if there was some type of deep call with People saying our show is too long. There's too much honking.

It would make sense to have an internal conversation. It was hurting our data points. Right. I don't sense that. But let's stop stressing about it. I think I'm just hungry. I think it's more concerned. That's different.

When you tell us you have nowhere to be, then it's like then there's no railings on what could happen. Where are you got to go? I got all sorts of places to be. This is the only safe place. No, it's not. It's Noah's Ark. It's Wes's Ark.

Well, people eventually got off Nozark. They didn't just die on the ship and it sunk. They got off the ship and started a new civilization. According to the theories. According to the theories. Like, I'm not, you know. David for the theology. Eric, anything.

Well, that's a great point, Mark. Anything in terms of footage from the newsroom about the missing Super Bowl ticket? Nothing at the moment. I've heard that the water leaking from the ceiling may have flowed the process. I sense you are very. earnestly investigating this. I'm digging through Emosler as he speaks. Big Funk. Any updates on how many free agents will be on Mark and I's write-up, which I'm saying 150 words each on the blurbs? Oh, at least. We'll just split it up. Hatsy is it? Get Connie in there a little bit.

Sure. Get Connie on about 100 blurbs. After extensive research, I've realized I'm not that good at math. And so it's going to take me a little while longer. I'd say upwards to 300 plus free agents. I've seen like five lists that are like top 200 free agents. That doesn't, that doesn't help you. You need to find an All of them. That doesn't scare us. It's their picking and choosing. All right. Funk, are you around on Thursday?

I am. All right, we have to have a conversation. Okay. But all conversations can only be had on microphone. So until then, we say goodbye. We say goodbye to the audience. We didn't even get to hear about that week together. Oh, yeah.

Greg, but maybe next Thursday. Come back Thursday. Big, big funk conversation. Also, Greg and Mark, private time. No microphones. No, none needed. again. Connie,

you've said it off. There's a drop. Until Thursday. He's the call. Good to be back.