NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Changing of the Guard in the AFC

Episode Date: April 1, 2019

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler and Chris Wesseling get you up to date with all the latest news around the league including the Browns introducing Odell Beckham Jr (5:00), the Raiders work out and dinner with top draft prospect Kyler Murray (11:22) and Sean McVay’s prank on Kliff Kingsbury (23:16). Could there be a changing of the guard in the AFC? (30:32).Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the NFL podcast. Bites the millennials hands that feed it. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis. They have joined in a room filled with heroes.

Mark Zessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What is up, boys? Hey, Dan. What is that about biting the millennials and? Say, and stop coming after the listeners. I mean, we often, we've done that. We've done that. A big part of our support system.

Do we? Come after the listeners? I feel like that happened four years ago. Yeah. I stopped getting on millennials a long time ago, I think. Yeah, you did. I used to tell them to read a book quite often. You know what?

Right around the time. Crack a book once in a while, millennials. Right around the time you met a woman who was known as the Paramore, but now she has a name. It's Lakeisha. And Wes, this ramp up to the wedding has been outrageous. This weekend, Lakeisha, and it's all on the gram. And there was girls by the pool.

There was a pole involved. If you want to take a break from following Mark Patrick Brady on Instagram, you could also follow Lakeisha Jackson. The case of Jackson zero. And I would say do not ever stop following Mark Patrick Brady. In fact, if you're not following him on Instagram, please do it. Do now. We've noticed that like 150 of you plus have now unfollowed them after following them.

That's just rude. Get back on. But, Wes, your wedding now, it's coming now. It's about a month and a half out just about. Like a freight train. It's next month you're getting married and your wife to be has been very busy. Our bachelor party with Wes, of course, is coming up in just about three weeks. How are you feeling?

Where's your emotions? A little overwhelmed. Where's the P scale right now? Peace scale, I would say, is about a three. Okay, that's a good place. Like, I'm totally confident about the wedding and who I'm marrying and made your life decisions. The most important. Right.

It's more of, like, you just, there's so much planning involved. And I had in my mind because I'm older. Like, nobody gets married for the first time at 45. This is ridiculous. Some people. So I had it in my mind that everything would be casual, you know, I'm past that, like, fairy tale stage of the wedding. Yeah.

But casual is not happy. Like, what you are slowly learning is that you control nothing at all at this point. Yes. It's a bit of a cliche. You realize as the wedding's coming together that you're just along for the ride. Well, it's, I feel like, so I know I don't have any control, but I'm also expected to contribute a lot. That's a tough spot. Yeah.

Tough spot. And Ricky Hollywood behind the glass, where is the Wessling Camp? hashtag West Cam, we had it in front of Greg and I on Friday show. It's gone, and I really miss it, I have to say. Yeah, sorry. It was a great addition to the show. It was, but we got a fit Mark in there too, so we got to zoom out. Apologies.

Welcome back, Mark. How are you doing? I'm fine. I mean, feel free to, I'm fine if you want to cut me out of the shot also for the betterment of this new development, but I'm doing fun. No, no, I welcome your return, so we do not need a West game. All right. All right. So hang in there, Wes.

You're almost to the finish line. We've all been there. You're looking good though. You're feeling good. Look good, feel good, play good. Make good. All right. Big show coming up today.

AFC is an interesting place right now. Really interesting. You all know about Rob Gruncowski retiring, but the defending AFC champion, the defending Super Bowl champion, Patriots, well, they better not look in that rear view mirror or the side view mirror because objects, Greg, are closer

than they appear. We're going to talk about that. Why don't they change the way they make those mirrors at this point so that doesn't have to be true? Because of Steven Spielberg. He needed that for the movie, Jurassic Park. And he paid off, big mirror. He paid him off of that.

Fair enough. And also we're going to do some news. Yeah, so we're going to talk about what's going on in the AFC, which is getting more and more competitive by the day. And a lot of news to get to including Mark on that, well, it's, you know, you can never say, It's not an Indian burial ground because it will always be built upon an Indian burial ground. But the Browns facility in Berea, is that correct?

Am I pronouncing it correctly? I called Berea, but that could be, you know, that could just be from where you're from. Right. These are happy days. You're from a coal town, so. Yes. These are happy days in Berea and a big press conference today. So we're going to start right there.

Let's do some news, Ricky. I just started screaming, just yelling like you would have thought. I thought I was on the field on game day. I think the thing we kept saying was this can't be real. This can't be. Just a bunch of boys having the time of their lives. That was Baker and Mayfield reacting when asked where he was, what happened when he found out.

Odell Beckham Jr. was coming to the Cleveland Browns. Big presser in Cleveland. They had first Freddie Kitchens, the head coach. spoke on his own wearing the Cleveland Indians hat. And for all the awshucks of Freddie Kitchens, Freddie knows what he's doing too. He's putting that cap on. It's another reminder, hey, I'm here to coach ball, talk ball,

and be one of you. Like he gets it. He started the presser, you know, wishing them good luck on their home opener, which is like a veteran coach move. Totally. So Freddie does his thing. And then they trot out the four big stars of the Browns,

Miles Garrett, who did not have a lot to do or say in this press conference. Jarvis Landry, who is the BFF, of course, of Odell Beckham, and then Baker Mayfield, and they had about a 20 to 30-minute presser, the introduction. Your initial takeaways, Mark, from the press conference. Well, I mean, I appreciated that Baker Mayfield and the rest sort of talked about it being a bit of a surreal moment because that's what I've been saying the whole time. And even now, it just seemed weird because the Browns, I think,

have probably led the league in hopeful press conferences that have led to literally nothing but utter disaster. And this occurred on April Fool's Day, number one, which I found a little anti-poetic. But I do think finally, I think they were sitting up there looking at each other, like, how has this come together? How has this happened?

And Baker Mayfield's quote totally encapsulates that. It's still, it's still, I, there was one moment, though, because I thought Baker Mayfield let some edge to him with the reporters, too. He's like, well, there was no one here last year. Now you're all here. It's like, okay, well, you're,

I don't know what's going on there. But he basically at one point, when they were starting to peg, Odell Beckham with, who are you the person? Should we be concerned about Odell Beckham, the experience? And Baker Mayfield said he's here today. He didn't have to be its voluntary. He's part of this team. He cares very much. So I think they're all glued together because Odell and Baker were hanging out long before this happened. And he's legit best friends with Landry and

people are trying to cook up. Will these two get along? Well, they're legit best. I mean, you can tell that they are lifelong friends whose goals have been linked since high school. So I think that the soup can work together. It was a very strange sight. I was taken by, you know, Jarvis Landry saying how he cried when he found out Odell was coming. Odell Beckham saying that joining Landry specifically is maybe the greatest blessing he's ever had in his entire life and that he and Landry are close enough that he hated being apart from him, that he didn't feel like he could be there for him as a friend

enough by FaceTiming every day. And they said they do that. And I was like, you know, I don't talk to my brother or my mom or anyone every day or anything. I mean, and it just, it does give you the idea of like what it means to them to play together and they're how excited they are to be with someone like Baker May. Let's listen to Odell Beckham, who did not tamp down the expectations when talking about what this day meant for the Cleveland Browns and the National Football League as a whole. I think this moment is going to be.

be more iconic than we all realize right now. You know, that's obviously, that's what we'd want to go to be, you know, to look back in 10 years and be like, man, I remember, just today, April 1st, 2019, like, the start of something great, you know, and I'm just happy to be a part of that. What if instead of, like, when the Vikings first traded Randy Moss to the Marcus Tuyasopo, Andrew Walter Raiders, what if at that same time they traded him in the prime of his career, to a Bengals team that just drafted Carson Palmer and had Chad Johnson and Rudy Johnson and Chris Perry and Chris Henry. That's what this seems like to me.

In the prime of his career, they traded for the most talented wide receiver in the NFL on a loaded offense. That's why I can understand why he says this might be more iconic than people realized. I think that's why they put Miles Garrett up there too to sort of signify like, hey, this is our new era. And Garrett fits, even though he didn't get asked much on this day, he is one of the faces and the leaders. and that the Browns are now,

we've been saying they're becoming America's team, but really is different. And I know it's April 1st and we got a couple hours to fill on up to the minute, but like taking a Brown's press conference live on NFL network and like that's the big news of the day. That's totally different. Did you guys gain more confidence in Freddie Kitchens

in terms of handling all these stars? I thought his press conference was as good as anything that came from the players because he hammered home over and over. It's like, look at good. He talked about basically, and he asked, the PR guy. Am I allowed to talk about a player that I've coached before? And the PR guy's like, yes. He's like, all, I follow the rules. But he talks about Larry Fitzgerald. The good players don't mean titles at all. They have to basically make this work. And to me, that is the

major X factor that still hangs in the sky. That's basically where I am right now. I'm excited to see how all this plays together. It's fun to have Beckham with a great young quarterback to see where it all goes. I'm now at the top in terms of like the gas tank is filled with the hype and everything around this team. Just wait. I'm already ready to just, I want to see these guys play. I want to see how they react to adversity.

I want to see how Freddie Kitchens handles the personalities. But I know that's not how it's going to work. It's going to be months and months ahead. But it just, it is, today was just another example of the level of optimism that is I haven't seen around many teams at all in the years that I've been working in NFL.

So it is a little bit surreal going back to. Well, and when we have, it's not gone on. Right. Typically it doesn't. But this is so interesting that it is the Browns, that is the team that is the recipient of all this hype. So we'll see how it plays out. Let's move on.

The Raiders, no hype around the Raiders in terms of an AFC contender right now, but they are busy. They're doing their due diligence, as they say. They're holding a private workout with Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray on Monday in Dallas. and the workout also apparently went very well, according to rap sheet. Murray going nuts.

And in terms of like his ability to throw the ball, I mean, guys are supposed to be one of the great dual threat players. And the Raiders are kicking the tires and seeing if that's a guy they want to make a play for. Interestingly, Wes, the Raiders also sent out a tweet with Raiders great Tim Brown pointing at Kyler Murray saying just Heisman stuff. they're both former Heisman Trophy winners. Do you put anything into that with of course Derek Carr and John Gruden

and Mike Mayock and everyone is saying all the right things about Derek Carr, he's our guy, but then your Twitter account is sending out the Kid Phenom quarterback photo from a workout for the team. Well, I never know what to put in any of these visits. That's why I don't track them very much

because they're not very predictive of who will be drafted by that team. It just says that they're interested. and John Gruden has said at the Combine, Derek Carr is a franchise quarterback and our franchise quarterback. And then just at the late meetings last week, he said again, Derek Carr is going to be our quarterback. I don't know how similar is that to the Giants saying Eli's going to be our quarterback?

Or Odell Beckham, we didn't sign Odell Beckham to trade him. Or Jordy Nelson's going to be on our team next year from John Gruden in week 17 of December last year. Well, let me. What would we be doing if the Jets had brought in Kyler Murray for a long workout and we're tweeting out Kyler Murray tweets from their account? It doesn't mean. How can the Raiders draft them if the Cardinals are already slated to drink? Well, that's the issue, but we talked about a Derek Cartrater of the Raiders and they move up.

But they don't know. They don't know. You don't know what the Cardinals are necessarily going to do. I do put something into it. Okay, this is their time. And Greg Olson, their offensive coordinators down there, Gruden scripts 30 minutes of that quarterback workout. They're going to dinner, Mike Mayock and John Gruden.

Like, I absolutely put something into that. Because if you just signed, let's say, you know, a quarterback to a long-term contract, you're not doing that. Just you're not in the top shelf quarterback game. They are saying that Derek Carr's our quarterback, but he's not one of those quarterbacks that you would just not consider taking. So their eyes have to be open to drafting Kyler Murray or Dwayne Haskins for that. Or maybe they're preparing for a year from now when the Cardinals are. trading Kyler Murray and getting their third quarterback in three seats. It's telling to me, Ian said they're not going to the other quarterback's workouts or

anything. So they're not necessarily like in the second third round quarterback market. Maybe they trade up for the Cardinals, which is maybe what the Cardinals want. With all those draft picks, the Raiders have. Right, exactly. But they are looking hard at Haskins and Murray, like the two guys that they would think would have a chance to be better than Carr. So the Raiders are picking number four in the first round, at least right now.

The New York Giants are picking sixth. and a lot of talk about, oh, the Giants, they'll take a quarterback this year. They passed last year. Well, maybe not. First of all, Ohio State Defense event, Nick Bosa, visiting with the Giants on Tuesday per rap sheet. And a report out of SNY, Ralph Vacchiano, a source told Vacchiano that the Giants will likely select a pass rusher with the sixth overall pick. The source told Vacchiano, as much as we need a young quarterback, I honestly don't know how we can pass. on one of the pass rushers at six.

Dwayne Haskins is a quarterback that's also potentially out there in that area. But the Allen kid, Williams, Bosa, those are three big-time pass rushers that apparently the Giants are hot on. I don't know what to put into these, like the report that they couldn't pass up a defensive end. But the idea that they would like maybe wait

to the second first round pick they had seems kind of, laughable because like that's just not how it works with quarterback if they're into drew lock for instance that they've been kind of tied to maybe daniel jones like someone's going to trade up or you would you would you would take them like you if you're into a first round quarterback you're into it maybe they're not it's impossible to know right now and it's one thing if they were in position to get the number one pass rusher but it's possible with the way things fall that they could get the third or fourth or fifth best pass rusher so it's like you're not even get the best guy I think it's starting to become so I was very anti-Giants.

It's now becoming so incredibly beautiful because they're digging so hard into this thing where they're going to take everything that a Giants fan would want and just say, we are going to continue to push and we might even side Eli Mani into 2020 at this point. That's the reports of that. It's beautiful for like observers who don't have a horse in the race. But if you're a Giants fan...

Oh, then you're setting your house on fire. This is what stinks about being a fan, that people can come into your organization, and get caught up in their own notions and wreak havoc on your team instead of trying to build a winner. Well, and think about our boy Eddie Spaghetti who was tweeting out about having two O'Dell Beckham mouse pads.

Like O'Dell Beckham shirts and hats. I mean, that's... They're leaning into it so much, though. I might almost like... This might be what makes me start to root for Eli Manning and the Giant. I agree. Just have to run that fairy in flag. I remain...

Because he did it again. Gettleman was on Good Morning Football last week and he used some metric guy saying that Eli was one of the top-downfield passers in the league last season. It's mostly just to fire up, like, the three guys that I do this podcast with at this point. Doesn't it remind you? And I'm just along for the ride.

I'm enjoying every step of it. It reminds me of when Les Sneed and the Rams were going on their Case Keenum thing about he had, came in and had, what was it? Like some sort of metric where you don't get it, but Case Keenum is this incredible quarterback that we can anchor our franchise on, and then they trade up and get Jared Gough. Right. And someone pointed out an article right at this time last year that said how the Browns were deciding between Darnold and How.

And Josh Allen. Right. So it's like, who the hell knows? I think that's a, nope. Uh-oh, we got some breaking news. We've got to trade live on the show. What are we got? The Browns have traded Emmanuel Agba to the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for safety Eric Murray.

Manual Agba. Bye-bye. Nice. Ego-Hone. Nice pickup by the chiefs. A guy that. Oh, I stuck your line there. A guy that that, like, PFF, for instance, always loves Ogba because he's very, you know.

much a hurry, not quarterback's hits or sack guy, but he's good against the run and he gets some pressure. He's a starting NFL player and they need some of those on their deep. They were trying to move him. The Browns also cut Derek Kindred the safety today because he started to cost too much for what he was because of some sort of

contract stipulation, but I thought they were going to go out and get Eric Barry potentially, so. They still might do that. Dorsey burning the phone lines with his old front office group here. Eric Murray's played a lot too, so that's a guy I think that they would not trade Agba. I wouldn't think unless it's for someone

that they believe is going to get on the field for them. Because Augba should, like, Murray's played a lot of snaps for a horrible second. Right. I'm not saying he's great. I'm saying they probably see him as having a role. I didn't understand the need to get rid of Agba. It's good to have a third defensive end.

Moving on, the Redskins organization was turned upside down by the Alex Smith leg injury and even more serious medical issue. connected to one of their best players, maybe their best player, left tackle Trent Williams, who had been dealing with what was known as a medical scare. Turned out, according to Rapshit, it was a growth or a tumor on his head that doctors feared might be malignant, scary stuff. It was removed, and there was concerns at the time

that he might miss the season with the situation. Well, it turns out now everything should be okay, and he'll be on the field. So great news, but quite a scare there for Trent Williams. Just speaking of someone who's gone through it, those testing days can be some of the scariest days you have just because of the uncertainty. You just don't know what it will do to the rest of your life.

Shane Lekler is done. The all-pro punter retires after 18 seasons. 18 seasons, the news announced on Twitter by former Texans teammate J.J. Watt, who tweeted out a photo with Lekler, who's holding a bogg's light and just chilling out and what looks like a very J.J. Watt type setting. It must be, you know what?

Now I'm looking at the photo. It's J.J. Watts' big man cabin. Remember that from Hard Knock? Oh, yeah. The giant man cabin. Which we love. Yes. Enjoyed that man cabin with the cornhole outback.

Anyway, so Lekler ends his career, drafted in the fifth round of the 2000 NFL draft by the Raiders. Remember, Leckler and Janikowski, Seabas, came into the league together on the Raiders and then played together for a decade and a half. He made seven pro boners. Bowls, Leckler did, named first team All-Pro six times.

He was a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame all 2000s team. His punt average went up each of the three decades, or the 20s, 30s, and 40s. He finally steps away, though. And here's the thing.

Pat McAfee, former punter, who used to study Leckler's tape to learn how to punt in the most efficient manner possible. says this guy's a first ballot hall famer. Well, not to get on Rich Eisen's corner, what was it, punters or people too?

Is that the Eisen thing? Shouldn't there be more discussion about Shane Leckler? I mean, he's put together a career that few players in his position have ever even approached. Well, I don't know if he'll, I doubt he'll be first ballot. That's just to me, that's just the reality of the situation. He'll definitely be considered because he was the best at his position for, what, a dozen years?

I think Johnny Hecker overtook him and I think Johnny Hecker is the best punter I've ever seen but Shane Lecker will be seen as the guy from that early 2000s also the Raiders went from Ray Guy to Shane Lecker

they have two of the best punters in history and that's got to be the best special team's draft of all time and Guy's the only punter in the Hall of Fame Leckler was so that's sort of that's the Raiders version of going from Brett Farve to Aaron Rogers they did it as the punter position like the worst position possibly

I think it's better than no position Equally a huge feat. I mean, Leckler was in the tuck rule game. And when you talk about McAfee, because he had it in the Peter King piece this morning where he came into the league as a rugby kicker and coaches thought, yes, we can make you. You got the skill set to become a kicker,

but it's going to take some time. And he basically just like took Lechler videotape out of the library and studied it over and over and nobody else and became Pat McAfee. I mean, and he's smart. So Lechler knows it's an uphill battle to get into Canton, not going to get a lot of pop. if he's retiring right before free agency starts or the week of the draft.

So what do you do? Yeah, you wait until April. It's like the owner's meeting's over. Everyone's looking for some content. I mean, we've got NFL network producers now coming up to us in the hallway. Hey, can you pre-tape? Can you be part of the thing? It's like, where were you during the season?

No, didn't care then. Now they got hours to fill. They're like, do five minutes on Shane Lekler in his legacy, whatever. Like Lekler is savvy. He's smart guy. Moving on. Sean McVeigh, you know, this guy, this guy knows out of fun. It's not just a genius.

He's not just a young, brainy genius. He's also a guy who likes to kick back and have a little fun. How about this? A little prank on his buddy and new Cardinals coach Cliff Kingsbury told a little story, Spunny Yarn, Wes. Is that what they say? Oh, yeah. On the Adam Schaefters podcast. What is it called?

It used to be you know him from Adam. podcast and then at some point in ESPN was like yo shifty probably like the adam shaftor podcast we got to change his name that's not going to work so i think now it's just the adam shaftor podcast anyway here is what mcfrey confirmed yeah the what which one the adam shifter podcast what was the former name you were right you were correct you know him from adam i believe okay got that figured out anyway here it is uh mcvay having some fun with his buddy cliff from the adam shepter podcast we have a uh a mutual friend that I put his name in my phone as Roger Goodell.

And I had this friend send me a text saying, I can't believe you're at dinner with Kingsbury and Mahomes. You know better than this. This is tampering. You're both losing picks. And I showed Cliff the text. And he saw a ghost. I said, he better call Steve Kime right away.

He said, I thought I was going to lose the number one overall pick. And we couldn't let it go on too long. But it was pretty good. We got him good. I still, I was talking to him about that yesterday when I saw him. But I'm pretty proud of that one. on April Fool's Day, you got a chuckle, right, Mark? I like it.

I think the best pranks, the best friends are the friends that do amazing pranks, and the best pranks should totally alter your mind state. When you're the subject of it, you should be somewhere, and like suddenly Cliff Kingsbury is freaking out. A second later, you should be somewhere very bizarre and dark and wondering what's happening to you next. You got punked, like that type of idea. Yeah. Candy camera type stuff.

You have an example? The best prank that I was ever involved in, was I went to Miami of Ohio for one year before. How many colleges did you? That don't, my, to the annoyance of my parents, like, I'm all too many. And, like, but nothing of no. How many, though? What's the number?

Three plus, but then, yeah, three, but then, yeah, three plus. So, yeah. So three plus is four. What is the plus? Well, the fourth was, like, a UCLA thing after. Okay. But it wasn't part of the original thing. But the one.

Like continuing education. Basically, yes. Like, when I was at Miami, Ohio, it was one of the weirdest years of my life. But there was one night where we were all up at like 2.30 in the morning in this like dorm room. It's a bunch of like hoodlum guys. And we were like, let's take this one kid who fell asleep for this big test he had. Let's take him to town. And so we all at 2.30 in the morning, turn all the lights on in every dorm room, open every door.

Guys walking up and down taking showers, like in their towels, brushing teeth. And we're like, dude, you wake up. Your test is soon. He's like, so he woke up out of his bed. And his roommate's like, I'm so glad I got you in time. You have a half an hour to get there. So he runs in the shower, takes a shower, brushes the teeth, gets dressed, and we're all acting like, we have books and book bags, and we're like flannel shirts and coats.

And like, hey, good to see you. Have a good day. And we ushered him down to the front door. Then we just watched us he slowly in the middle of the night, cross the entire quad, and went beyond the quad far across campus to this classroom. And ultimately, he told us, I think he, like, knocked on the front door because it was locked. And it's like, it's three in the morning, dude. Your test isn't for like another five hours.

He didn't figure out because it messed. his mind stated it cannot figure out the entire time. There's a fact that it was dark out still that didn't... But it was Ohio in the winter, so it's dark. It's like he wanted to get an early start, so he never figured it out at all. No cell phones. Was he like suspicious when you guys all like stopped and then started singing like a show tune and like, you know, dancing around? Well, that didn't happen until the door slammed on him, but...

You basically like Truman showed him. It was a highly orchestrated prank by many semi-hammered people. Well done. Well done. Hey, I got a red flag to share with you guys. We all know what happened two years ago with the Detroit Lions. Oh, when they weren't trying to win? Yeah, they made the decision.

Oh, we're not going to rush to get to camp for the opening of their offseason program. And what happened? You know, sat at home, watched the playoffs. Right. Okay. Well, fast forward to the present. Tim Caldwell's like, hey, we went nine and seven. That looks pretty good right about now.

NFL, one of their media dudes, sent out a tweet. a look at the start date of the offseason program. I'll give him a name, Michael Signora. He does good work for the company. I don't know him personally, but he does good work. A look at the start date of the offseason program for all 32 NFL teams. And I have to tell you, there's only one team that's waiting all the way until April 22nd. And you may be surprised.

Maybe he's too busy doing a victory lapse over the past interference rule change, which he was at the center of, as we know. but Sean Payton and the Saints waiting all the way until 422 to start their offseason program. Greg, I know this gets you very angry when this comes up on the show. So defend it. Try to defend Sean Payton. We have teams reporting today. The Browns got straight to work today.

Yes, they did. Along with a host of other teams, three weeks from now, three weeks from tomorrow. In fact, that's when the Saints lollygagged their way into the building. You have a set number of days that you can be in the building? they will stay one week later than many of the teams that show up the week earlier. You're making an assumption.

I bet they're out the door the same time as the person. I think how it works is those other teams will take a week off at some point that the Saints won't. They'll just go straight through. So different approaches.

I got no problem with it. Doesn't that annoy your players to keep them deeper into the part of the year when you'd be on vacation with your family? I would look at another way. They get an extra week of vacation

on the front end and then they still get out June 13th, like a lot of. of teams about half the league is getting out June 13th half is the week before June 6th and so they're just doing it all in a row bang it out in a row so that's what the PR side says west just yeah look late July early August this is the time to bunker down that's football season thank you April who cares live your life forget about football for a while so they're you saying the

browns are making a mistake because I kind of think that I kind of like I kind of I'm sorry Dan but I like what the saints are doing like don't send me home for two weeks and then bring me back. Let's get it all done in one thing. All right. Well, I don't care if I'm alone on this island. You'll see. You'll see when the regular season standings are complete, January 1st.

The only one that really, the only one looking at this list that bothers me. Like the Cardinals, for instance, could have showed up this week. They have a new coach. They're going to go next week, so they go all the way through as well. The only one that bothers me actually is the Broncos. Because there's three teams that showed up today, April 1st, the first possible day. The Broncos are going tomorrow. So it's like if you're going to be in that first.

first week and not have much break it's like what was why you guys have a longer weekend right they know mondays we know what we think about mondays on this show so we're trying to give we're giving out four day weekends right oh yeah in april? well actually i think it's actually part of they literally do have four day week i don't think they're in on fridays what a disgrace they're not loud by league rules Denver four and 12 we if they're lucky we're clearly struggling for topics here on april first uh Andrew Lutz, no, we're not. Andrew Luck got married, Nicole Pachanchik, Pachonic. Pachonic?

In a wedding in Prague. How about that? Pretty good. Check yourself before you wreck yourself. Absolutely. Apparently, this woman is from the Czech Republic. So, Luck and this woman, I can't pronounce her name. Her parents are.

Nicole. Luck and Nicole, both 29 met at Stanford, and fell in love. And now they are married. and isn't that a great thing? Well, love is important. You know that marriage is going to have a solid foundation, being as they are both very much into architecture. Ooh.

Oh, Wes, you are in July 31st form right now, not April 1st form, nailed it. Team captain. In the news, nice couple, they nailed it. Prague. Underrated, been there. My brother used to live. Underrated.

Well, it's probably really highly rated. It's amazing. Properly rated. It's amazing. It's like the best. place ever. Brother used to live there, spent some time there. It's one of my goals to get the prog. And you

can do it, Wes, but do it before you have children. Andrew, Andrew Luck and Nicole P. both athletes, and it will be interesting to see the old progeny. How that turns out. Break it down, Mark. I think it's, I mean

the odds would be fine because even he comes from a NFL quarterback that if it's a male child, he will be successful at sports and she's a fantastic gymnast so tremendously gifted i mean you can't go wrong here on the mats can't go not to mention smart i mean this also very smart lucky nailed it again gregg also july 31st form all right here we go that's what's what's happening in the news uh the changing of the guard in the afc that's the name of the segment uh what's going on in the league

right now what's going on in the the american football conference and and and the patriots of the defending champions, and we know the Patriots are going to be in the mix when it comes down to it. But there's, Greg, even as a Patsin, there's no denying that losing Gronk's going to hurt. And maybe, you know, the team could have done a little bit more at this point in the offseason. So far, are you a little bit nervous? No. No. Not at all.

Well, you guys got on me for that all last year. Well, you're rooting against the Patriots at this point in your fandom. Yeah, they win nine straight and AFC championships. I mean, it's beyond time to hand it over. Well, don't we do this every March? Oh, yeah. We say the Patriots are fading. The AFC is up for grabs,

and I'll take the blame here on this one. But Gron's not on the team anymore. I mean, that's tangible. Their best defender, according to Greg, Trey Flowers is gone. He's gone. Tom Brady, and you could get excited about the Lombardi Trophy? That's in the past.

He was in decline last year. Does it bug you, Greg? I mean, they tried to get a... They went after a series of free agents and lost out. But then they're going to get Josh Rosen probably too, so... Is that a good thing? Is that where we're going to hang our hats on? Josh Rosen is the future.

You guys are looking forward. If we like him for other teams... I'm looking backwards. I'm just going to enjoy that. Yeah. And moving forward. They've had enough. Objects are farther than...

Asking... An interesting way to live in the past. Asking for more seems ridiculous. and selfish, frankly. But you're going to get it, though. If you look at which teams have been weakened the most since the end of the year, I think the Patriots are near the top of that list, and it starts with a receiving core that might be the worst in the NFL right now.

I will say this. They have one of the biggest draft halls they've had in a long time, and not that this has been the greatest drafting team around, but if they can nail this draft, I think it's a good tight end draft that they can maneuver up and get one of those past catching guys. I think they're going to be okay. No, it's an important part of the,

you know, they have a little ways to go on their off-season plan. I think that's safe to say. I do think they'll dive in on guys like a Michael Crabtree. I think they'll do, I hope, some trades like this Agba trade that the Chiefs just pulled off. There are another AFC team, I think, was taking a little bit of a step back. So you still got a little time to fill out that roster. Well, you have, here are the division. Draft being the biggest one.

The Pats and we're always going to start with the Pats and the AFC for obvious reasons. But Pats, Ravans, Texans, and Chiefs, can you make a – case that any of those teams got better? No, I think all of them got weaker. No, I think you make the case that they're the teams that have been hurt the most. Right. Or all the teams at the top. There's an exodus of talent on all of those teams. And the Texans have gotten players at every position they've lost, but I would suggest that those players are worse than the guys who left. My problem with this, talking about this right now, is that we're talking about New England, Baltimore, you mentioned Kansas City, throw in Pittsburgh based on the star power they lost. These are

the four most consistent teams in the AFC, show it to me before we start selling them down the river, because I'm not convinced all four of them won't make the playoffs again. I think the chief, well, and the chiefs, you know, we can't, we are waiting for details, but the Tyree Kill situation hangs over this team. And so that's, that's part of what they're offseason, I think just when you look at it globally, like not only are they changing so much about their defense. I think the Agbo move is good, but you're going from a bad defense, Is it going to get better just because it's Steve Spagnolo? And then you have to back up that year on offense without the same players.

I don't have worries. The two teams that took the other two playoff spots, the wild card spots. The Colts, you can make a case they're better. Absolutely better. They didn't lose anyone. Tell us why you like the Colts more now than you did in January. Well, number one, as I said, they didn't lose anyone. All these other teams lost important players.

The Colts resigned the guys they wanted to resign, starting with Mark Lewinsky, one of their guards early in the offseason. and then Pierre Desir and Clayton Gathers, Adam Venetary. And then you bring in Devin Funches. When you look at that game they got shut out in December against Jacksonville, it was because Jacksonville's bigger physical corners really put the clamps on the Colts wide receivers who just weren't physically big enough.

So I think Funches really helps there. And then on their defense, Justin's going to be one of their best players. They needed a pass rusher and edge rusher. So I think not only do they sign the guys they need to, but they brought in two guys who could have an impact. Margus Hunt, too. And Dionne, one of the rookies last year,

who was like the talk of the offseason coming back from ACL surgery. And I think they are no panic. Like that organization I just trust right now because everyone was telling us, go do something. They still have massive cap room and they just stuck. Chris Ballard stuck to his plan from A to Z. And they are another team with a massive draft coming up.

Luck is kind of like the Chris Ballard of dating, you could say. Because it seems like he's been with this girlfriend who you didn't even know about. for, you know, a better part of a decade. Just played it safe, you know, decided to go out of the injury. Got it done. There's only one other team in the AFC that had 12 wins besides the Chiefs. So it was the Chargers who tied for the division but still lost out.

They're another team. They're kind of similar to me that they didn't, they haven't been killed by any Exodus. They added Thomas Davis. They upgraded, sorry, Greg, a backup quarterback with Tyrod Taylor over Gino Smith. They're a team that is still. a team you could imagine winning 10 to 12 games again. So I think they're in a good position right now. Yeah, I feel like I'm giving them an incomplete.

They lose Tyrell Williams and I don't know who they replace him with. They did have some depth there and Travis Benjamin hasn't really played well the last couple years, so I'm not even sure if he'll be on the team or not. But I think that wide receiver core to me is a question right. I mean, the changing of the guard, it's an interesting way and think of it because you think of Pittsburgh as part of that. They weren't in the playoffs. Technically, the only two teams that have made the playoffs the last two years, am I crazy, are just the Chiefs and the Patriots.

That is kind of the top level, and then you think of the Ravens and the Steelers next. But I'm with you. I don't see, like, when you think of Cleveland as a potential Super Bowl team, for instance, it's not that they're, like, likely to do that. It's just looking at the top six, seven, eight, AFC teams. Is it that crazy to imagine any one of those teams in the Super Bowl next year? I don't think so. Or at least getting to the final eight win a playoff game.

Right, right. And I think they're absolutely in that mix and it shouldn't be surprising if any one of those teams the Patriots, Texans or any, take a big step. Well, remember that series laughed at by many as it should have been.

Every team will make the playoffs that I had to work on last year. And when I wrote the cult... Is that coming back? It may be. I will not be part of it. But like, when I did the cults one, I can't think of a team

where more people came at me and just said, whatever, bro. And like, I'm not even... When I wrote a... I'm like, I have to create a reason why I believe this. Right. You didn't predict it. You were just going to, you were just going to, like, it's just that what some of these teams that are in the middle of all this that we chuckle at, we have no idea what we have.

You know what you could do. Take the link of that story. Right now, even now, it's not too late. You put it on the tweet and then you do the quote reetee thing or with the link. Just put like, eat it. I think that would like. I like sent. And then it's like, hey, all my doubters, everyone that said I couldn't do it.

I did it. this team made it. I mean, I should probably in succession go through each of the teams that made the playoffs that I authored the article for. Adam Ranked did the same thing on the other side. It just dropped fire on people.

And outright, we know the CMS, which is our content management system, how to access it here. You could just scrub all the teams that didn't make it. Get rid of the non-12 teams. Those URLs will be dead URLs. I like that.

That's how you plan in the off-season. Maybe we should take this offline, this conversation. Why are we telling everyone this plan? It's less effective if we do it on the show. Anyway, Greg, go ahead. You were saying something when I was about to, I had to dig it with Mark on that. That was important.

Can we talk about the Ravens for a minute, Little Ravens Nest? Sure, please. So I like what they've done with Earl Thomas and Mark Ingram, and yet I still feel like they're a worst team. They lost so much on defense. They lost their two best wide receivers. And I don't think it's controversial to suggest. that defensive coordinators will probably cover Lamar Jackson a little bit better than they did

in his first year in the league. No, I think there are, of all the teams that, like, won a division and probably you would feel good about, I think they have the most questions because it's the biggest overhaul that they've had defensively ever in this entire, like they did it the year after they won the Super Bowl, I believe in 2001, they kept their guys for like one more year than they were you. They have more to overcome defensively than they've ever had. and then you're just looking at Lamar Jackson and that team trying to throw the ball.

Like that would be the one team of all of these teams in terms of changing the guard that I would bet against if you had to pick one, like making it bet. That's not to say that they're in a bad situation organization-wise. No. It's just maybe they take a step back for a year before the young guys get a little bit better and establish themselves, especially that front seven on defense.

But the secondaries as good as it was. Or that they couldn't overcome it, but they just have the most obstacles because they have the Steelers and the Bengals and the Brown. I don't think the Bengals are necessarily out of the mix. Yeah, that's the thing. You look around the NFL, how many teams would you be shocked if they made the playoffs? For me, it would be a list of five or less.

Right. And in the AFC, you know, even the Jets. Would the Jets be a shock? No. I think the Dolphins are a little shocking right now, and the Raiders would be, yeah. Peter King whispered about the Jets as a potential team to play the Patriots in the first Sunday night football game. I saw that. I mean, he wasn't pitching that as something.

heard but but you know the it's funny my two takes on the a fc when you look at the divisions is and this came up in a mailbag a couple of weeks ago your mailbag my mailbag the email bag okay uh the houston texans who won the afc south last year the jaguars finished last 11 and 5 5 and 11 uh if there was one division to pick where the first and last place teams could flip-flop to me the a fc south over all the divisions not just the aFC is the the most likely division where that could happen because that is such a competitive division. I think all of those teams you can make a case for 10 or 11 wins. So I think that's going to be a dogfight right to the end.

The other, I do think, this is overly optimistic. I know it always is, but I try to be realistic with the Jets in terms of what I think they'll do. I think I just have a feeling. I have a bit of a Cessler that this is going to be the first year in a long time. The AFC East is competitive in December because I do think the Patriots. they kind of hit their... They got to 11 wins last year

and they were lucky to get to 11 in some ways. I think they can be a team that even drops down a little bit further. I'm not saying 9 or 8, but a 10-11 win team. And then you open it up to an improved bills and an improved Jets team.

If you can get in that neighborhood, I think that division is going to be competitive too. I think the AFC... I mean, it better be by now. Tom Brady's 42. Like, wake up these other teams. Like, let's get it going. Well, he hasn't really showed his age.

though forever. I know. I'm just saying it's only happening now. He's going to be taking the OTAs off again a little bit. They've earned it. It's my new like they have earned the blow-up season. I think Brady should get fat. I think Belichick should take it fat. Yeah. It doesn't really seem like take it fat. Take it less seriously. Let's have some internal squabbling. Let's not even, don't even try that hard. Just what is going on? It's just blowing up. What? But wasn't last off season? They've earned it. They've earned it. They got over that. That's true. Now you're rooting for embarrassment? No, I'm not rooting for that. I'm just saying... They're all over the place, Greg.

If they did that, I would say the Patriot fans should just back off and be like, you know what? They've earned it. But that's not what's going to happen. Seems like they'll keep a good sense of perspective. That is not how it's going to play. Maybe you will. And I'm not even convinced you would be that way. But you can damn well,

you'll know that the Patriot fans are going to be furious if this team is 8 and 6 in December. They're going to expect what they've come to expect for two decades. You're right. I mean, watching the coverage, this off season and some of the panic and it is a good it's a good lesson in that it will know like whatever you're looking for out of your sports teams to fill you up in terms of happiness and

contentment and like like it will never be enough the patriots are kind of proof of that right now like it'll never fill up your happiness it'll never it'll never be enough where you're just like that's good because if because if you're already there right i feel like i'm there and maybe there's a few fan maybe there's some out there but i i think i think the reaction is kind of obvious that it's always just looking to the next one but it's the it's the old parcels thing again and that's as a yankees fan i had that in the 90s when you get to that certain level and it's the same reason why parcel said he quit he said it gets to a point where the winning doesn't feel as good as the losing feels bad and as a fan that is a tricky spot to get to because it's you have such an amazing ride

uh but it does it does take a toll in terms of the enjoyment you get out of you get out of the out of it versus how much annoyance and anger just because you get spoiled. It's natural. The only thing I'd say is walking around the stadium before the Super Bowl, this Rams Patriots Super Bowl, that did not seem like a world-weary Patriots fan. They were having the absolute time of their lives. They didn't seem to be- It's more like the walk-up to that. That's true. Right.

That, to me, was an iron opener that was not a tired, it's like, oh, you know, what Patriots fans are tired, they're not going to go to the Super Bowl. It was a 94% New England crowd. That's part of their family budget at this point. That's true. And that was not great. I'll never forgive the Rams for that. I got to be honest with you for letting the Patriots fans invade that stadium and turn it into a party. I mean, Ricky, I was happy for you because the year before that, I saw you sobbing in the concourse.

So you had that moment. Not only did you get to see a Patriots win in person, it was basically a Patriots home game. Yeah, which felt completely different than the year before. Remember, it was a completely Eagles fan. Totally opposite. I mean, how many fan bases would have ever let that happen, I guess, when I say that I'm annoyed with the Rams for letting that happen. Can we at least acknowledge that the team was taken away from St. Louis?

Right. And most people in St. Louis do not even follow that team anymore because they're very upset about it. That's fair. Okay. Well done. You know, it was good thing because Lakeisha would have killed you if you didn't bring that. But the argument was to these guys' point was that New England's fan base wouldn't show up because they were tired, that it would be a small Rams crowd, a somewhat big,

Patriots crowd and a bunch of executive suits and their wives. Well, no, it was and their husbands. It was like three-piece suits. It was 96% raging, hammered, awesome. I actually gave them crap. I was like, this just sink into it and enjoy it. It was an amazing maybe that's why, I mean, it was an amazing feeling there. Partly because last season, part of the topic,

even entering the playoffs was changing of the guard is these young quarterbacks and you're thinking that's the chance that you have to like have a changing of the guard. Luck's been around for a while, but now he's back and like in full form and now you have baker mayfield now you have uh lamar jackson and like and mostly patrick mahomes it should be his conference um all right good good conversation ricky how's your dog what's going on he's good he just needed some antibiotics he's having an allergic reaction a little guy but he's okay what did he react to he's like allergic to something outside

which you can't pinpoint hair i don't even know he he uh yeah just you know most force maybe yeah costing me money at the vet. It's been an unusual spring for allergies. Yeah. In L.A. Because it rained so much for four months. But dogs get it too. You don't think it.

They're living organisms the same way that we are. We'll dive into that next on the L.A. allergy podcast. You guys are having fun with this, but allergy people are suffering this. I once lived. Much more. Go ahead. Well, no, I once like the weirdest allergy ever got, I was living in this farmhouse in Boulder, which I mentioned before.

but at one point there was across the street a massive corn field like going on for as far as the I could see and corn goes through some process in early fall well I don't know what it is where it emits some sort of terrible thing that if you're allergic to corn which apparently in that I was

like you just break out in rashes from head to toe and I was working at a jamba juice and I had to quit because they would not let me work at a juice place with rashes all over my body good move by jamba juice yeah thank you jamba Just say and watch out. To Erica's point,

to stuff is in the air that we're not prepared for. What is the name of your dog in? Thor? Yes. Okay, well, get well soon, Thor. Thank you. Good mommy work.

You know, he got her to the vet, got him to the vet. Some people just will be like, oh, wait it out. He was, like, ripping off his fur, though. He was so itchy. So it kind of got to the point where I was like, you know,

he needed a cortisone shot and all that kind of stuff. Poor little guy. Oh, all right. Good job. All right. that's it uh we'll be back wednesday uh we have the the pod i believe well tease it put more pressure to make sure it happens connie fox is back in the around the nfl podcast studio uh joining us sitting in

on the show also of course our twitter show um which i know has been the time has been bouncing around i believe the show will be at 1 30 uh eastern 10 30 pacific on wed so check that out as well um And it will be the debut, Wes, of the Pocket Square. Breaking it out. I got to raise my game. We all do, really. This is a call to all. It's a Clarion call.

You could look at it as me trying to make a power move or something. No, but it's actually more a group thing. Like, here we go. You're trying to bring us with you. Let's do it. Let's fly. How long does it take to get one that's Wednesday is like hours away? The process for me was a few weeks, the whole thing.

Feels like there's a better way to get a pocket square. Maybe. You can go to the wardrobe department. just have him set you up. Maybe another option. All right, that's it. Stan Hansa signing off for a quiet storm, the mailman, the old boss,

and Ricky Hollywood behind the glass. Get well soon, Thor. Deal Wednesday. Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move to Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape.

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