NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Combine Takeaways and Mike Evans Gets Paid

Episode Date: March 4, 2024

In a room full of heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, and Marc Sessler tell you what stood out to them in the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine. Before the combine, the heroes get caught up on the news including Mike Evans sticking with the Buccaneers (08:47), rumors around Baker Mayfield and Kirk Cousins (15:11), Jason Kelce's retirement (32:20), and they pay their respects to Chris Mortensen (37:50). The heroes then dive into combine talk with The Ringer's Danny Kelly (41:16).  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. Already misses the luck competition. From the Chris Wessling podcast studio, it's Around the NFL. I am Dan Hansis. I have heroes here. Greg Rosenthal.

Mark Sessler. And now, okay, now I'm starting to get the juice. We were playing. based on a nice little carved out, a nice spot on the old NFL media bench for the combine. So we were back here in L.A. for that. And I felt that. But now everyone's back from Indy and free agency is on the horizon.

Franchise tag deadlines coming up in a couple days. We are now, Gregi, on the precipice of the true new league year and everything that comes with it. Like as we are taping more veterans losing their job, which we don't like to see. just keep happening one after another. None that are going to change our lives or our rundown. But yeah, the combine is a nice little jolt, and now here we go. It is an odd event, I think, from like our career perspective, to be watching it states away on television versus being there.

And it was a different kind of event this year with like crowds and the place going literally crazy when you're used to it being kind of like a golf match and so hushed in there. And I did watch a lot of NFL network. when you're there, you can't really do it. And I'm not tooting our own networks horn. I often go in the opposite direction, but I thought they put together the most entertaining combine broadcast that they've ever achieved.

Wow. Examples? I have a few examples that I can share a little later in the show. But I thought that, like, DJ, Rich, like, and the atmosphere. Did you hit your head this weekend or something? No, no. I know it sounds like I wouldn't say that kind of thing, but like they, it's, I think that they, the goal is to not be day three of the draft.

where you're just getting, you know, doused in data that starts to lose meaning. And I thought they brought a lot of interesting context and their homework paid off. But it was also a ton of guests and coaches more than in the past. Yeah, not to be a company, man, but that is, I think it is the best thing we do. When I was just getting started out in this industry, and when they put that in the combine, I thought that was, it was like a fun football broadcast for like seven or eight hours. It was good back when it was Mayock. It's good with this new guy.

I think he's going to work out. Now you have to compliment. Who cares about Jeremiah? I'd love to be part of it one day. Well, that's true. By the way, I don't like it shining during our absence. That doesn't make a lot of sense. Had we been at the combine, Greg, you would have been in trouble.

Because, and this is, I think, one of the cute little ticks about Greg. And we've known Greg for a long time now, Mark. He's got his binoculars. And then Super Bowl Sunday, when we're up there in the auxiliary booth, he's got the binoculars, and he's all excited. And it's cute. It's adorable, actually. I mean, it's not an abnormal activity.

It kind of is, let's be honest. There's nobody else around us using them. Well, that's because we're just by ourselves. No, no, we're in the auxiliary. There's no reason to be. You're not going to win this one, Greg. Wait, do you see a lot of people taking out the binoculars? I don't. I think it's a classic.

Maybe that's more in the regular press box. Maybe the real journals. Like the first game I ever went to, I brought binoculars, and it was incredible. And these days, I could use binoculars. Yeah, that depends where you're at, but it makes a big difference. So Big Funk, who's, on a heater right now because as we know Funk behind the glass, Randy Chavez

brought in, got you your ticket, ticket gate. You did. I'll never forget that. Now Funk picks up Gregi's binoculars, which he left behind on the set at the Super Bowl over there in Vegas. And if you want to say anything to Randy

on Mike, I feel like that, like you're going to play cool because you don't want to act like you're too attached to your binoculars, but those things matter to you. And it's Funk is one that kept them in your life. Randy is a great human being. He always cares about us as humans. He cares about our pets as pets. And I'm not surprised of all people that he...

Turn that up in my... I need that funk. There was a glow in Greg's eye when funk, more like hunk, came in the room and brought the binoculars. Now, that's it. I mean, I did pick it up on the way to the Superdome for Ravens 49ers Super Bowl. Big funk. And I feel like the performance level was going down,

but I thought maybe it was time when I realized I had lost it. Gonna find those binoculars. Nothing left. I was like, why does Dan want to do this and now I know. Big funk. Hey, funk, it's been, we gave you about a week and a half. That's right. You did it over.

Those who listened a couple weeks back know that we threw out this idea. Some shock jocks a few years back took a young and impressionable big funk and said, we're going to give you a thousand bucks. And in return, you're going to sell out your fandom and get a Chicago Bears logo on your thigh even though you're a diehard packers fan and we the around the NFL podcast anti shock jack or at least those shock jocks uh decided to give you an option to a crowd source fundraiser to get some type of work done on that tattoo to alterate it maybe remove it your thoughts but it was the last time we we left off right you big funk had the ball in your corks so we didn't want to

push anything on you like those shock jocks once upon the time time. Where's your head at? Do you want to move forward with a procedure or are we going to leave it as is? Go ahead. You know, after lots of consideration, I think I've determined that I think I'm going to keep it. Okay. I'm going to turn it up. Turn his music up. He's going to keep it. It's part of his history. We all walk a path. We didn't force it. Big fun. We were freedom given him on that front. Yeah, that's totally understandable.

I respect that. What about the idea that someone had with the Ghostbusters sort of circle over it with an X with a new tattoo? So that's keeping it, but making it a little. I ain't afraid of no bears. I'm down with that. Ghostbusters. It's totally changed. That's a new version.

Are you? Okay, so are you down to it just it or not fun? Ghostbusters is my favorite movie. So. Well, I haven't seen that recommendation. You don't have it removed. I think what he's saying is he doesn't. want to remove, but this idea that we're

going now anti-bears and putting the X through it, you'd be down with that. Don't alter. You know what's funny? For the longest time, I'd said that the one thing I would do was write sucks underneath. Yeah. But that sounds like a thousand times. Andy loves ghost mom. He doesn't want that.

All right, turn it up. Turn it up again. How do I never think about that? He's changing his mind. He's clarifying. He wants to alter that in. In fairness, he was not on this tweet that we saw from someone. I'll show you the mock-up. I think

We're headed. Also, I did love, Dan, because you have no tattoos, right? No. It was so funny because you were thrown removal, and everyone I've talked to that's ever gotten a tattoo removal says it's the most painful thing ever. I've heard that. And it's, like, incredibly expensive. So I was like, I was like, I can't do removal.

It's a pretty big tattoo. It's, it's a, yeah, it's sizable. To the credit of our, and I'm not surprised, our listeners, like, on the glorious subreddit and check that, check that environment out. couldn't be more pristine. It's, they had hundreds of suggestions and ideas and concepts of what he could do

or how he could solve the problem or alter it. Great, yeah. All right, get us a price quote, right? Sounds good, we'll do. Getting that price quote. Find the best deal, but work with someone rap, you're both. All right.

Progress made. Are you, Mark, what is these looks? We're doing important work here for fun. What did I do? You keep shooting glances at Greg. I like to look at Greg during the show on occasion. I guess I missed it because I'm... It was not.

I couldn't be more excited about how the show's opened. And I noted that the listeners were very involved and it's in a testament to them. I'm excited. And I even have a suggestion maybe of the tattoo artist, but we'll get to that later. Off, off mic. All right.

We got a lot to get to. So yeah, with the combine in the rear view mirror, we're going to have a guest come by because, you know, we do our best. We do our work. But we know where our limitations are. And when you're looking at prospects coming into the league, you want to get somebody that really is an expert in this realm.

And Danny Kelly, who does great stuff with the ringer and has a big-time podcast, fantasy podcast, but really knows his stuff in this realm. It's going to come on a little bit later and talk with us about what he saw. Some takeaways. We're going to share some of our own takeaways from over the weekend. But before that, let's do some news. Jason Connor from S.

How are you? Hey, good, Connor. How are you? doing well thanks how's everything good hey yeah we uh we no no we just we won a lot more games than what he uh predicted us he did yes you had us for two i haven't hanging up i haven't hanging up in my office yeah oh no oh no uh that is uh from the buccaneer social media and uh connor or you may recall one of his busiest off season uh stories he writes is he i think he he picks every

game and then has final record picks for every team, which, you know, can go disastrously. I think he had the Patriots going to like the AFC title game. Well, he likes to do it. He likes to have a little bit of spice in there, yeah. So obviously he was and I was with him, maybe not two and 15 with Connor, but I didn't think the bucks were a playoff. You went under on their over under. Yeah. But Jason Light remembers the general manager and you

what you heard just there is a nice little combine. See, that's the fun stuff at the combine. You start mixing up the journals with the coaches and the GMs. Well, Connor also famously, back when it was a quieter environment, was in this, you know, during the tryouts in the 40s, down by the, you know, right on the edge of where the seats were and made some sort of enough noise or disturbance where like a fill in the blank like timer guy from the Steelers, I believe,

turn around and I'm like, dude, stop making noise. I'm trying to like concentrate. It's like, Conner's always combining it up. I do remember that. And I do like, I have to, Prefaces, Conner handled the whole interaction well. You should check it out on Twitter. And Light didn't have a bad vibe about it.

He was like, hey. He kind of jabbed out of a little bit. It was all fun, but he did tell the social department of the Buccaneers, hey, let's come do this. That wasn't by mistake. So that was fun. It was next level. He had a little idea for some content. Give the GM some credit for that or the social team had some idea for some content.

And they went and executed. And Connor, Connor's a big boy. You can hold his own as well. So I think I'm sure that interaction. from that point onward went well. So you know what? Everyone's competitive. Like, I don't get, you know, in the sports, even the sports media, everyone's competitive.

But the GMs, they read all that stuff. Even when they say they don't. Yeah, they read it all or it's brought to them or it gets to them somehow. So, you know, bully the light. Yeah, that's great. All right. Why don't we start with Tampa Bay? Well, that's good how it worked out.

Cool. Mike Evans. He's not going anywhere. He signs a two-year, $52 million contract. which includes $35 million and guaranteed money to remain with the Bucks, the only team that he has ever known in the NFL. He's been 10 years in the league. And I thought about, this is interesting to me.

10 years in the league for Mike Evans. I've talked about Texas with Nick Wessling about this. And he's like, he's a superstar. This is before last year, which was a great season for Evans. And I said, I always felt he was just a touch below. And I don't know if he's ever been an all pro, Greg. You can, no. I know he's been a pro bowler five times.

He has a historical. Doric start to his career 10 years, 10, 1,000 yard seasons. And sometimes it feels like despite his incredibly consistent unique production, he flies a little bit under the radar. But here is an example of it paying off for him. This consistency, maybe he doesn't get brought up in the same breath as the greatest wide receivers of his generation mark. But to get this type of contract this far into his career, it doesn't happen unless you

do something truly. historic, which is what he's done. It doesn't matter who the quarterback is. He's done it with Tom Brady. He's done it with Baker Mayfield. He's done it with who's the guy with the really long neck? Remember that guy? Mike Lennon.

James Winston. James Winston. He's done it with them all. The good, the bad, the greatest. And he's rewarded for that consistency with this deal. Yeah, he's been QB proof. And, you know, I think if you go and look at Baker Mayfield's season and, you know, major comeback campaign, a lot of it has to do with Evans and how consistent Evans wants.

After a bit of a strange campaign with Tom Brady the year, before. And I think you're right. If you look at the age and if his production were hot and cold or he was in every other year type of guy, you wonder if he floats off somewhere else. But I think the Bucks, it's what needed to happen. I think also the second part of this is like Evans, there was reporting that Evan said he wanted to play with the premier quarterback. He wanted to be on a team that could compete. That is the case with the Bucks as a competitive team. Baker Mayfield cannot float away in this. It's almost like the Bucks and Jason Light have to, They can't lose the Baker-Mayfield derby here without another plan because Kyle Trask and John Wolford are not premier quarterbacks.

Right, and they don't have a high draft pick. And, you know, they haven't been mentioned in the Kirk Cousin sweepstakes, although they'd make a little sense. I think Baker's most likely outcome will get to that. $26 million. This wide receiver market is not coming down. I've heard it posited by people that I usually agree with all the time that says, like, all these receivers coming to the league. Like, it always works. and you know there's so many great wide receivers

like this wide receiver market's going to cool down it's like no there's actually still not enough I can think of so many teams where they don't have enough wide receivers passing game is the most important offense is the most important it's going to go up up and up I was wrong he was second team all pro

two different times including this year now they've added a slot receiver too which is nice so six guys get it and I like that so he was second team two times 2016 2023 incredible consistency I know like fantasy points isn't like the best way to measure receivers but I think it does point something out.

If you give him half point per reception, yards, touch,ons, he's been top 15 in fantasy, eight out of his 10 years. And the other two, he was top 25. Like, that is just ridiculous. That's a top 15 receiver. But I give him credit. A lot of players say they want to stay at one place. They want to do this or that.

I believe he took somewhat of a hometown discount here to stay. He told his agent, just get the deal done with Tampa. At this point, I think he would have. gotten more guaranteed money. The second year is not fully guaranteed. It's like half guaranteed. Like I think if he went out there, he would have made even more.

Now how much more? It probably would have been like that much more. But he's putting his money where his mouth is. I think he said like just get the best possible deal with Tampa. I don't want to deal with it. And credit to him that's smart. Yeah. Being comfortable and where he lives with his family and then the fan base that loves

him and just the familiarity of that team at all makes sense. It's a very human decision. All right. Speaking of Baker, NFL Networks James Pond. or bud believes the falcons are a quote dark horse to sign baker mayfield so baker is not getting the franchise tag um from the bucks uh that deadline's thursday correct it's tuesday tuesday tomorrow we'll be back and update it next show so don't expect that so baker absent a similar surprise deal like we just saw with heavens uh could hit the open market and the falcons are connected

to do a bunch of guys, Greg, but Baker is one of them. And he would represent an upgrade over what they had last year. I still think they need to swing a little bigger after the last few years, how they've handled the quarterback position. But it's good for Baker. He's got to market. I keep seeing different reporters have different variations of these Baker reports, which is interesting.

Coming out of Indianapolis, the agents doing his work, but I don't dispute it. Daniel Jeremiah said the Patriots might be in on, Baker. Jeremy Fowler threw out there that the Falcons are going to get one of these guys basically, Cousins, Fields, or Baker. And it's going to be, is going to end up being

one of these three. And so now Tampa, who I think is still the most likely outcome for Baker, has competition and he's going to cost a lot. And I was wrong, I believe, to say, a month and a half ago that I didn't think he was going to get the Gino type contract. If he's got multiple teams bidding on him

to become a starter, he is getting the Gino type contract maybe a little more. We'll see. I think that it'll be about what it gets. I mean, I think that it just seems logical and clear that Cousins is the first chip to fall.

And then Baker has to be seen by someone like Atlanta as like a very solid fallback option versus having no option. I do think it's interesting. Unless the bucks just get it done first. Well, I think this adds some... It adds urgency to what Tampa's,

how they got organized. And I think that that's why the Evan things happened. Like, Baker could be next. I do think in New England, it's interesting that Alex Van Pelt, who I think was a low wattage higher his offensive coordinator, like, worked with Baker in Cleveland and, like, knows him very

well and has to be behind the scenes, you know, suggesting this guy can do it. Yes, bring Baker to New England. I don't want. I know they have $100 million in cash base. Get the guy when he's on the one year $3 million contract, not the next year. It's just sort of obvious. When I woke up this morning, I was feeling pretty dangerous. All right.

So, yes, Graziano of ESPN and also Jeremy Fowler put out an article this morning, sharing all their kind of whispers and all the conversations they heard. Greg just shared one of those nugs about the Falcons game plan of the veteran quarterback. Grazanne also reported in that piece that the quote, top QB solution for the Falcons is Kirk Cousins, should he

reach free agency? And the Cousins' free agency situation is very interesting because the Vikings from what you're hearing out there do want them back, but they also have a very complex or they have a vision of how they want to handle this

offseason and number one is Justin Jefferson and if top wide receivers beneath Jefferson are getting like 25 to 28 million, you know, Justin Jefferson is going to get 30 to 35, right? So Kirk Cousins has to agree to a deal that fits within the framework of their ability to really build a team around Cousins and Jefferson without maxing everything out. So they're kind of in a tough spot. But Cousins, ever the great businessman, Mark, doesn't sound like he's looking to give any type a hometown discount to Minnesota, which means it could get to the point where he is fielding offers and he's going to get paid either way, again, a lot of money.

He has a special talent to hit the market at a time that seems to benefit him in many, many ways. I mean, and like Evans, consistently produce and put himself in a good leverage position. I think that people, I think Cousins is very well liked throughout the league. You keep hearing that. And I think that there are more so than in years past, a higher belief that he could come in and take a Falcons team. and take him to the next level.

The reporting from Graziano was also that Cousins has a very specific idea in quotes about what he wants and that the Vikings so far have been unwilling to match it. I do think Kevin O'Connell on NFL Network came out very strongly suggesting, like, I think we're going to get, I think we can get this done.

Like I think that Kevin O'Connell came to Minnesota largely because of Kirk Cousins and is a huge proponent. And if you're the Vikings, I know it's been a bit of a rebuild in terms of their cap and stuff. It's like, you lose Kirk Cousins, you're the team suddenly wondering what is happening at the most important position.

It's hard to know which one, you know, which of these reports that, like, put a lot of stock in it. But I thought this one was worth it because hearing that about the Falcons, it actually does make sense. I just, there's something about this whole thing with the Vikings that to me, I feel like they're going to be okay letting Kirk walk if some team actually blows the doors off in a huge contract. And I think that could be the Falcons.

They are the team that makes sense and you're hearing all this stuff. that the Justin Fields market isn't that great. He's kind of going to be the backup plan maybe for a lot of these teams. And in the Falcons and maybe the Broncos, although they haven't been mentioned, to me do feel like the one team that could just put the money on the table and that Minnesota is like, all right, we'll see you. We'll find out in a week.

It'll probably be about one week from this time on Monday that we know. I'd be curious and maybe there's something to check out ahead of next show, but how many teams currently have the setup and are successful teams with a quarterback on a top-tier salary and a wide receiver on a top-tier salary, that's so much of your cap tied up to two guys, and it makes it very difficult to build a balanced roster. One little note that not too long ago today on the Pat McAfee show,

Schefter also mentioned that maybe the commanders could jump in on the Kirk Cousin thing. They're kind of open where they sit, they're kind of open taking a couple of different directions. That's the ultimate, like, we're no longer Dan Snyder move, and we're just a new franchise. The Cowboys, they're another one of those teams. See, they're trying to figure it out. They got Dak making all this money. They got C.D. Lambs contract coming up.

And then they go, all right, we got to have a functional defense and Micah Parsons. Then we've got to get the offensive tackles taken care of. One of them, Tyrant Smith, according to Rapsheet, is, quote, unlikely to return to the Cowboys next season. And I think that's less about his ability, even though he's 33. He's still very competent tackle. But it's all about Gregie, that big picture with them. And all the money that they have to dole out. Are you going to really give a top of the market left tackle salary to Tyrant Smith when you got the QB and the linebacker and the wide receiver all hanging out there?

Right. I think that's rap sheet hearing through the grapevine what Tyron Smith's market was going to be at the combine. And the Cowboys realized like, oh, we actually got him to take a pay cut last year because he kept getting hurt. And now he's going to make $20 million a year, whatever it is. And we're just out. And he's hitting free agency at a perfect time. I mean, any tackle would be. But there's literally no one else.

Like Michael Owenyu, who's bounced around guard and tack was a nice young player. But like, there aren't any good, like, high level starting left tackle. So he is, he must know already he has a contract offers from certain teams and the Cowboys. It's got to be a bit of a tough pill to swallow because the vibe I get from everything Dallas is saying. And that's just Jerry Jones basically is like, it is just, it's kind of a Super Bowl or bust all over again. And these players are not easy to replace, although it isn't a pretty interesting draft class at tackle, guard, and other line positions. It's very deep. We'll get to that. But yeah, it's the tackles and the receivers, which they say are the deepest here.

They're buying to us. In other news, you know how he's well, Mike? Darren Waller, weird career for Darren Waller, who is currently with the Giants after his first season went in a disappointing injury-riddled manner. You could say about the last few seasons for Waller after he was briefly one of the last few seasons. the most productive tight ends in football there is a report out there there was previously a report out there that down waller despite being i think he's run 30 or 31 30 he's turning 32 uh he's 31 now i believe and uh there was a report that he was indeed coming back to the giants for another season but now an update to that report in the new york post is that waller is still undecided on whether he

will continue playing or opt to retire um giants gave up a third round pick mark for for Waller, and I'm guessing they wish they didn't do that. Well, yeah. I mean, last offseason for the Giants was riddled with curious decisions. Coming off a Coach of the Year campaign, it's just like they hurt themselves in multiple ways. I think we kept saying that the X factor for New York was like which version of Waller you get. He had his lowest yards per reception of his entire career.

And I think that offense also went through quarterback hell. and I think him not being around next season would not change their fortune. I mean, 2020 is hindsight too, right? Like, it made sense when they made the trade. I used to talk about all last summer. I never got a great five about Darren Waller and the Giants for some reason.

And sure enough, it didn't go well. But I feel like you didn't get a great vibe from him when he came in to do the broadcasting boot camp. He seems a wandering spirit of it. But I think that it almost is, I don't think that performance is informative of what's going on here. But if I'm hearing...

What at the media summit? Yeah, but if I'm hearing that he's not that into playing next year and it might be a physical thing too, I'm surprised that the giants have been publicly saying like, oh, no, we want them,

we're keeping them, we're not cutting them because they would actually save with a post-June 1st cut $11.6 million in cap savings. But it goes back to a cliche I say at this time of year, which is like it's a lot easier

to find cap space than is good players. And I guess they just feel like they really need some good players. But if he's not that into it, I don't know. Maybe let it go. I mean, once, you know, this happens in every sport. Like, he got, he got the big contract, and he's never been close to the same guy.

He's been hurt a lot, too. And there's been questions about his desire. And, you know, it's not somebody you typically want to go to war with. Oh, I would like to know that, like, that actual health situation, though, because that could be driving most of this. If you just don't feel like you can be what you were. It's a lot of soft tissue injuries, I feel like that he's dealt with, yeah. To pass on $11, $12 million. just because you're done, that, uh, that says a lot.

Well, you seem to pass on Mark and I's wisdom in that conference room. Well, we also had to, you know, course correct our own presentation between the first and $12 million, although maybe you're the type of guy that, that tweeted out is like, would you rather have $1 million or one hour to pick Jay Z brain? I'm taking the hour. It's like, no, take the money. It was around the second seminar presentation where I did consider jumping out the window. That's what I recall.

We were put through a test, and, you know, Greg escapes Godfrey. I don't know. Where were you on? Skipping through Japan. Holiday somewhere. Skipping through Tokyo, hand in hand, with his beautiful wife. And other news. Maybe.

I don't know. I don't know what's going on in Tokyo with Greg. Now that I think the time, I think it was Hawaii. I think it was Hawaii. But, yeah, that could be wrong. Aaron Jones is a Packers running back. He's 29 years old. Yeah.

Good and bad. 2,023, but overall, you know, very productive player in his time with the team. Uh, if he is going to stay with the Packers, it's very likely he is going to need to take a pay cut for what it's worth. Uh, match nine men reported that Ryan Guttegans, the general manager said the team, quote, absolutely expects Rogers to be there. And, and that makes sense to me because look at the Jones to be there, expects Aaron Jones to be there, um, uh, because look at this, look at the running back market. Look at all these big names in free agency. And you kind of get the feeling outside of maybe Barclay. They're all going to struggle to get the money they want.

So Jones is not going to want to reenter that phrase. He's going to want to play out his contract because a four-year, $48 million deal he signed in 2021. He's entering the final year. So even with a haircut, probably going to do a lot better than he would do on the open market. That's something that's changed in just the last few years where if you saw the report that they will cut him if he doesn't take a pay cut. That guy almost always used to get cut.

And now, like Joe Mixen is a good example last year. Now when those reports come out, especially at running back, you're probably right if he can make more with them. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel also reported that they're not looking to bring back A.J. Dillon. So if Jones goes, A.J. Dylan goes, it's not the greatest draft for running backs

by any stretch. Like, that's going to look very different. I think Jones, when he was on the field, they were a much better offense. He finished very strong. All right, let's take a break and we'll continue through the news. All right, we're back in other news.

The 49ers have found their new defensive coordinator. It is an in-house move, and it is Nick Sorenson, who will be promoted. He was the team's defensive pass game specialist and nickel cornerbacks coach. He takes over for Steve Wilkes, who was dismissed last month. They also are hiring former Chargers coach, Brandon Staley, as an assistant head coach. So we're going to two-head monster this. thing, I guess, Mark, with Staley behind Sorensen. Well, so it's Staley is replacing essentially the same position by another ex-chargers coach

Anthony Lynn, who left to go to the commanders. I think this just is what happened. This is one of the least surprising hires in terms of Kyle Shanahan deciding I'm absolutely picking from my in-house crew because, you know, Wilkes, it didn't work. And I think a lot of it seemed like the energy around it, just not seeing an eye to and maybe the way the Niners want to do things like Sorensen, who is a long-time Pete Carroll, protege

underneath, you know, for years ago, has been with San Francisco for a while. He's done a lot of everything as a player and a coach, and it's like, cool, makes sense. Did you see the juicy side of this in that same Graziano Fowler write up? Sources say the 49ers explored the possibility of hiring Steve Spagnolo, away

from the Chiefs for their D.C. position shortly after they're lost to Kansas City in the Super Bowl, but then the Chiefs very quietly gave Speggnolo. a new deal that is reportedly worth five million. Wow. Which is big gwop for a coordinator, but interesting that the old, if you can't beat him, join and move was on the radar for Lynch and Shannon. Well, they helped get him paid. Nothing wrong with that. He's got got to be the highest paid coordinator in NFL history. Which make, which would like Quinn. I thought was getting what three or four last year. And that was said to be it would make sense. If someone was going to be, it would be the guy coming off two straight, uh, Super Bowl titles. And he's not going to get a job like a head coaching job. Yeah. You better pay him like.

that in other news let's spin through this all right Greg set it up the competition committee oh my gosh they are proposing some dramatic changes to the kickoff we talked about the kickoff and and how it's kind of a wasted play right now Greg you talked about getting rid of it entirely I said I don't think so Greg I think it's football it's got to be involved somehow what is what is this pitch what is this idea to fix the play we'll like dive into this more in late March but the fact that the competition committee is who's putting it up there.

There's two different ways rules can get suggested. One, a team can just suggest it. And it's like, okay, that's an idea. We'll see everyone's going to vote for it. They have this idea of only doing onside kicks if you're trailing in the fourth quarter. We'll see if that happens.

That's a team. When it's from the competition community, they're already into it. They're trying to make it happen. And the XFL model, which was created by former TNF recap guest, Sam Schwartzstein, who's on Amazon Prime

as the next Jane Stets guy. I had no idea. He created the rule book for the X of L back in the day, which is kind of crazy. Wait, he had the rule where the balls at the 50-yard line and people sprint from opposite ends? So that is essentially the rule. The ACL Destroyer?

No, not that way. The kicker lines up at his own 30-yard line and 10 members of the kickoff team line up at the opponent's 35, 5 yards away from the returning team's block. Only the kicker and one returner are allowed to move before the ball's touch. You kind of just got to watch it to see.

It's different, but it would result in a lot more kickoffs. In fact, I think the majority of kickoffs would be returned because otherwise it goes to the 35, which is great. I don't, I don't, I need to study this one. Maybe they, but it seems to be messing with you a little bit. But maybe they, maybe this was prompted to some degree by your calls for it just to disappear entirely during our super bowl. That's what did it. Good way to look at it. You know, Bill Belichick was with me. He was like either do it or kill it. That was, that was his idea. Do it or kill it. Uh, quick cuts. And then we got to get going here. Uh, the Vikings, uh, cut ties with Alexander Madison, they're running back.

So a year after Davin Cook goes, now Madison is out the door as well. The Patriots say goodbye again to J.C. Jackson, whose career has turned into a bit of an odyssey. Washington cuts ties with Logan Thomas, Charles Leno. The Eagles say goodbye to Bayard, Kevin Bayard, and the Saints cut safety, Marcus May. And one other transaction, Jason Kelsey, yes, indeed, is retiring the Eagles Veteran Center, a mainstay, a stalwart and now a media star will be able to focus on other

endeavors. Also, our competition. We got the old IHeart Radio podcast awards coming up next week in Austin, Texas. We'll be there. And they are in the same category as us, which is troubling with all the swift pop up. Especially right now.

He's coming off maybe the... A little bit of nuclear hot right now. You said Mark was maybe the best retirement speech you've ever seen. It was the longest. And I So I saw many portions of it walking around the building here. I thought he did a great job. All right, let's listen. I've been asked many times, why did I choose football?

What drew me to the game? And I never have an answer that gets it right. The best way I can explain it is what draws you to your favorite song, your favorite book. It's what it makes you feel. The seriousness of it, the intensity of it. Stepping on the field was the most alive and free I had ever felt. there was a visceral feeling with football

unlike any other sport the hairs on my arms would stand up I could hit somebody run around like a crazed lunatic and then get told good job I love football nice I feel like Wes would have love that also I like they show up in a sleevels t-shirt

you know some guys wear the suit but he's that's on brand that's a big some big shoes to fill a little game nugget like the tush push is not going to be the same without Jason Kelsey

maybe that retires yeah yeah that's big I mean he he kind of changed the game in terms of like I think teams look for more Jason Kelsey types at center the quickness the athleticism he's going to wind up

being a hallfamer he talked about how when essentially the Chip Kelly years he almost thought he was going to get out he was of Philadelphia his coach believed in him we do I think Eric also have him talking about the most famous play in Eagles history.

I won't forget Nick Foles having the game of his life on the biggest stage possible and the biggest dick on the team going up to Doug Peterson and asking for the Philly Special and Doug Peterson having the biggest balls in the stadium Do it. Say it. Say, yeah, let's do it. Oh, that's nice.

One of the most memorable plays in Super Bowl history. The most. Like second most. The most. Top ten. Number one. It is kind of crazy how you lost that on those sandwiches all those years ago. It's absurd.

If all of you would have said, top ten. It's not crazy. It's absurd. If only it wasn't horseshoes, you know, then you would have had it. The most influential Super Bowl play of all time. Well, that's just silly. That's incorrect. It's not silly. But it meant something to that man.

Look how much it meant. I do like that a man sobbing there talking about balls and big d'bts. That's a great, like a lot of like balls breaks with tears in your eyes talking about big dicks and balls. That is very on brand for that man. Something for everyone. No one's hit their

retirement, like, on this sort of momentum, I feel like, since maybe Michael Strahan did it well, like, if you had told me Michael Strahan was going to become, like, a monster media star for most of his career, I wouldn't have exactly... Tony Romo. Tony Romo had an incredible... But his... But to go out on top, like, Shrayhan went on

his title, too. His playing career was kind of very depressing, and he broke his back. It's funny. Kelsey... Well, I was going to say Shrihan went out on the title, and I said Kelsey did, too, but no, like, he kind of became a member of the Chiefs in the last like three weeks of the season. So, like, Like I'll never forget.

I think we're together. All three of us, I think we're together. When Super Bowl Sunday morning, when he came, we were at the hotel, he came out of the elevator, and he was wearing a onesie. It was like overall's onesie, Chief's logos all over it. And we saw him exit out the doors. And it really was like a massive celebrity with everybody with their phones out and handlers, like taking him to the car.

Yes, he is, he's going to do okay. Probably defeat us in the I-Hard Awards, but you never know. I never know. I wouldn't be surprised if he replaces Kirk Curb Street on Amazon. I think that was been suggested up there. I did pull one more clip from the Kelsey Presser. It's just because this guy was a pretty big talking point on the podcast for a bit, and he did get mentioned in a Hall of Famers retirement speech.

Give me all the Big Dom he got. I'd like to thank Big Dom DeSandro. Truly the life force of this organization. No one gives more time and energy to this team. At the drop of a hat, Dom is by your side. My family and I give our sincerest thank yous for always treating us with dignity and assistance. Can I just say, can I help?

Can I offer it a little, to that point, a little unsolicited advice, just hire Big Dom as the coach. If everyone loves this guy so much, hire him as the coach, build up with good assistant staff around him to help him with the X's and O's and be done with it. Get Siriani out of the building.

can't even control himself without Big Dom there. Sireone is losing the PR contest day by day. Christ. All right. And finally in the news, this is a sad item to end it on, but definitely something we should talk about.

Award winning ESPN NFL reporter, Chris Mortensen passed away on Sunday at the age of 72. Really sad. This is someone who battled stage four throat cancer in 2006. which, you know, cancer obviously is something that's very close to everyone, us as well. West battled esophageal cancer, a battle ultimately he's no longer with us. And Mortensen, or Mort is everyone knew him, and the famous Mort report that I remember watching

so many, so many Mort reports when he was the kind of insider in the 90s and into the 2000s and then hung around, he died suddenly on Sunday morning. And the way all the tributes, Mark, poured out toward Mortensen. And he was a different dude because this business, especially the insider business, is kind of a nasty one at times. And it's competitive and as cutthroat as anything in this industry. And Mortensen was the guy who was known to help people along the way. And how do you do this job as a national reporter?

How to get your foot in the door. How to succeed. So even while the young ones were coming up, he never said. stop being a class act so he's a widely respected journalist he actually grew up right in the backyard here uh in torrents i believe uh but also someone who did it the right way in terms of helping uh younger reporters coming up and it's it's really sad uh to see him go so soon yeah i mean it's when you hear someone described uniformly by people that knew him very well people that worked with him people that just came into contact with him it's like he was the gentle insider i think that

game now is seems a little it's cutthroat um it swallows up your personal life your time and mortensen always had a different kind of vibe to him and like i think also he experienced the insider job at a time when pregame shows actually mattered when like he'd come on sunday morning and give you news that no one else had now it's like a lot of rehashing of stuff that we heard on wednesday thursday friday it's like he was a pre-twitter um but in twitter too but like he operated as this person who brought incredible context information to the football experience. Yeah, he was doing it back when it was like John Clayton and Len Pathcurelli at ASPN.

And then I remember when they brought in Schefter. And in theory, Schaefter would be like going on his turf. And instead, they made this great tandem and always just a kind man. He was really nice. He reached out to me a handful of times when I started at Pro Football Talk. We would have conversations. And like people said, like very generous and warm and helpful, just like seeing someone coming up in the business unprompted and and he i know he reached out to west too uh when west was going

through uh his battle and and they had that to share and so i think just on a on a human level i also remember he reached out to kisha after after west died so so rest and peace he was a classy guy he he got daniel jeremiah you know started in this business too and it was it was tough seeing dj deal with that on live tv and everything um and they were uh extremely close so great great rest and peace, Chris Morgensen. All right, let's take a break. And when we return, Danny Kelly, let's talk Combine in the draft ahead.

Welcome back. Our next guest is a senior staff writer for the Ringer, co-hosts of the Ringer Fantasy Football Show, and The Ringer NFL Draft Show. And it is that last credit that we're going to dive into here with Danny Kelly. Welcome back to Around the NFL, Danny. Thank you so much. How are you guys doing?

Good. You know, a fellow Dan, Daniel, I was Danny from 80 birth until 92. And then ahead of seventh grade, I had a heart to heart with my mom. And I think I asked her for. permission to go to a more stylized quote unquote cool Dan and she rubber stamped it but still to this day my family calls me Danny do you have other people are you Dan to anyone are you a Daniel on here or is a Dan all Danny all the time let's get into it yeah I kind of went the opposite direction from you from 82 to high school I was

Daniel so like my parents still call me Daniel and high school I decided I want to be Dan so a lot of my high school friends that from that era still call me Dan and then kind of as a bit, I decided to have everyone start calling me Danny, and it just kind of stuck. What do you mean as a bit? Because, yeah, this is your professional name. It's the only name I know you up. You've been around

on the interwebs, but you've been Danny Kelly the whole time. But Greg, I mean, there's been a lot of ink spilled and audio spilled out from microphones about Triple G and Greg and all the Greg culture. Like, you have to let him be on his Danny path, like, and understand that it's its own thing.

Absolutely. I don't get the bit part. I will say that in the year 2000, and this whole segment is about this name. So everybody just dig in. Yeah. In 2000, I worked at TGI Fridays before I went away to college. And there were three Dan's. And I went to Danny just for that summer. And I'm telling you, it was, it was special.

It made me consider staying with it. But ultimately, I cowered out. And you are the Danny of the NFL media industry. So thank you for joining us, buddy. Let's talk a little. The combine is over. we are spinning forward. What is, you know, a big picture thought coming out of this weekend for you, Danny Kelly?

I think, first of all, a lot of guys are very fast. I mean, obviously, this is what you talk about at the combine, but it was especially fast combine for receivers, running backs, offensive linemen. There's a lot of really, really good athletes. I think in general, players are maybe just starting to get much better at these combine tests. They're just like the training is a lot better these days. Maybe the athletes are just better, too, because of all the training involved in, you know, athletics and sports. So very fast players at the combine. I know this.

I'm breaking news here. This is exciting. Well, you mentioned that the drop. The wide receiver day stands out maybe the most because, you know, for our, our purposes, maybe the most interesting. Like, you know, receivers fast. Okay. At the combine. Like, you know, the two deepest positions in this draft.

We haven't talked a lot of draft, so I feel like we're starting out on this show. But for our listeners, two of the deepest positions are tackle and wide receiver. There's sort of a discussion, which position gets more in the first round. It could be upwards of 8 to 10 for either position, which is crazy. But one thing I noticed, Danny, I heard Josh Norris, our friend talk about this too, is like, all these receivers are big. Like, it was supposed to be this trend that like, oh, you don't have to be like a huge receiver anymore. And starting with Roma Dundee, your guy from the Pacific Northwest,

who's like a real deal ex-receiver who could, you know, DJ, our guy at NFL Network has him as high as third or fourth overall. We'll go somewhere in like the top eight. It could be all receivers and quarterbacks to start off. You know, he shows up. He has a great workout. He's like a real deal ex-rece receiver, but he wasn't the only one. It just felt like they're deep as hell and they're big as hell.

So it's, I don't know if that's a trend or if it's just. like random that we got some nice, big, big men entering the line. Calm down, Greg. I think it, honestly, the last year, there was a bunch of small receivers and that was kind of a thing. That kind of felt more like a blip. I still think we're going to still see a lot of big receivers. You got Roma Dunzee, Brian Thomas from LSU, who's like six foot three, 80 Mitchell from Texas, who's one of my favorites in this class. He like was one of the most surprising and best athletes at the combine overall.

Like you said, Roma Dunezay. There's a handful of other guys that have good size. So, yeah, it's definitely nice to, you know, have some variation there, some variety. Because last year, you know, it was just a bunch of guys who were like 178 pounds. And, you know, obviously the NFL's changing, but it is good to have these guys with size, too. I mean, you could argue that some of these speed tests and there were more wide receivers under their 4-440 than any other draft in history. So you're right. I think they're able to train for these better and prepare better.

But like someone like Xavier Worthy, who is a very small guy and all that stuff. And it's not, you know, it depends where he goes. But he made himself a lot of money by just running fast versus other players where you kind of expected it. I would ask from a flip side from the quarterback angle because a bunch of quarterbacks did nothing. And you kind of left wondering what the rest of this market looks like. Is there a quarterback that changed your perception, your mind? Can that happen at the combine? Yeah, I think at the quarterback position, the one.

guy that stood out just from literally weighing in was j j mccarthy because he came in at 219 pounds and i think everyone was expecting him to be about 205 or something like that and you know obviously you can put out there's different ways to kind of bulk up right before the combine but um he looked pretty you know like cut he was obviously they run around and really tight stuff it wasn't like he just did a bunch of donuts and and gained a bunch of weight before the combine to kind of get up that weight it looked like pretty realistic weight so uh j j j j mccarthy coming in at 219 pounds was I think actually a pretty big news just because, you know, they're the rigors of the NFL, you get hit a lot. You have to have a little bit of bulk.

And I think especially relative to the fact that Jane Daniels did not weigh in. And to my eye, just at the podium looked extremely skinny. I think just that that comparison, that contrast could be pretty important come draft time, especially because at the combine, just the buzz around McCarthy was palpable. And you didn't really feel that with JJ. Well, there's some talk that, like, it could go quarterback 1, 2, 3, 4. And so that fourth would be J.J. McCarthy in theory. Although, I don't like this whole thing where, like, they clearly add weight going into the combine. And then they don't run.

Bryce Young did this last year. And then they do the, you know, he was throwing the ball. And then they lose the weight for their pro day. They don't weigh in there. But then they do do the speed stuff there. So it's all kind of like, what are we doing here? Sneaky. For what it's worth, for what it's worth, McCarthy, I believe, did run.

the three cone and it was an elite time so at least there's that he it was like six eight five or something like that no one's worried about how he moves he moves fantastic anyways and so it is he might get a little bit of a harbaugh bump that harbaugh likes him so much that he could go top that i was gonna as a follow-up to that like what is to you the mccarthy NFL comp on the on the higher end and maybe on the more conservative end uh so i comped him to a more sprightly kirk cousins um i I think he's kind of a guy that's not going to, he's not going to be super impressive physically, you know, he's kind of just right down the middle average and in terms of his arm strength, his size, his frame, his speed, everything, but he's very good attacking

the middle of field. He is very good on third downs and in the red zone, has a little bit of swagger to him, plays with a very confident demeanor, obviously, you know, and this is important to people in the NFL, he's a winner. He's, I think he lost like one game in college or something like that. So he's, you know, got all those intangibles. He's got, you know, again, an average frame in basically every way. And that's kind of like the Kirk Cousins line for me.

Are we going to get more first round offensive linemen than in any other his draft in history? We definitely might. This is a class. I have a very hard time stacking these offensive linemen because there's so many good ones. Danny does the draft guide, by the way, for the ringer, which is extensive in his out there. And a great read. some very, you know, snarky, hilarious lines in there from time to time. Thank you.

Yeah, it's a great class. When I was putting my board together, it struck me, like you said earlier, like you alluded to earlier. It's just all tackles and receivers. And the first, like, you could, I could see like 10 offensive players going off the board to start this draft and wouldn't be that surprised. So, yeah, it's a lot of offensive linemen. It's a great year to want to tackle. There's even a couple good, like, guard tackle combo type guys. there's a couple center guard combo type players.

So great offensive line draft and overall there's going to be a lot of them taking in the first round. Well, especially, yeah, because there's none in free agency. There doesn't seem like there's just enough in the NFL. And then a guy like Joe Alt goes out there and he's doing the, the, I don't know what they call. The mobility Joe is like the three cone and everything. And he's putting up Lane Johnson type numbers. So it's like, okay, that guy is going to go very high. Did you have some favorites at receiver?

You mentioned A.D. Mitchell, which. Yeah, so his teammates with Xavier Worthy, who runs the 4-2-1, and that's a great moment. The crowd goes crazy. I was kind of actually thinking just a little sidebar, like, NFL Network has been building to that moment for like 20 years, because he came out and was like, I've been watching the combine since I was a little kid, and it'd been my dream to do this. And I was like, that literally, they kind of created this event as an event, and then he does it. And the crowd goes crazy. The crowd actually cared enough to go crazy. I was like, and he's probably going to go in the first round now because of it.

Like, that was a big, a wig win for NFL. It didn't exist before. But, like, between those two guys, like, are they first round receivers? Adi Mitchell, Zavian Worthy. Like, it just seems like there's so many Xavier Worthy. It seems like there's so many guys who could or could not be first round receivers, which makes me wonder if teams just, like, wait a little bit on it. But answer that.

And if you had any other receivers, you want to throw out there as a big winner. Yeah, I think. So right now there's like the big three, Marvin Harrison, Jr. Malik Neighbors, Romadoon Zay. And then after that, there's probably six to eight different receivers I think could go in the first round. You have the two you mentioned from the two Texas receivers, A.D. Mitchell, Xavier Worthy. You got Brian Thomas Jr. from LSU. I'm a big Ladd-McConkie guy.

I don't know if he has necessarily the size to go in the first round, but he ran a 4-3-9. He's like an all-around receiver. I've comped him to Doug Baldwin. He's just a really good rounder, an extraordinary acceleration. You have Keon Coleman, who is a confusing evaluation because he was actually one of the slowest. receivers at the combine in terms of the 40, but then when he was running the gauntlet, they track like their miles per hour, their speed. He was like the fastest.

So, you know, you get into the argument of a field speed and game speed. And then there's a handful of other guys. Troy Franklin from Oregon is another player that I think a lot of people have put in the first round. I really like Jalen Polk from Washington, their second receiver. And, you know, there's a couple other guys that could like rise in the process, Roman Wilson. Ricky Pearsall from Florida.

It's had an incredible combine. It's a big time for like athletic white outside receivers. Like for real. It's like, and you have Cooper DeGine who's like this incredibly athletic cornerback. It is a little bit of a paradigm shift because McConkey and Pearsall are both testing, you know, Pearsall especially out of the roof, but McConkey might be like a first round white. I mean, it's it's not like this Matt, like this is in the minds of alert to the New England Patriots. Right.

But it's in the minds of like decision makers and stuff to sort of like, okay, that's that's something that's happening like that let's let's let's address for that and then we got to move to cornerback next a bit of a drought there since seahorn hey um on brian thomas interesting right because everybody talked about worthy he ran

close to worthy speed but I saw this reported somewhere four inches taller 44 pounds heavier and then I was like who who's a like a beast like that but also fast as hell and I was like DK Metcalf that was like is he I know Metcalf was a little bigger He was 228 and Thomas, Thomas weighed in 209.

But does he strike you? And he also led FBS, by the way, 17 touchdowns. Yeah, yeah. Instant Star. Like, do you see, like, is there anyone in the draft and I'm using him as somebody that intrigues me as a potential hit the ground running, like number one potential guy? Is Thomas or someone else that you saw this weekend that guy? Yeah, Thomas.

So A.D. Mitchell and Brian Thomas Jr. are kind of in that same vein and that same mold of receiver. like a sort of raw but really explosive. And they have this frame where like the 6-3, 6-4-200-ish-pound guys, that's not really been like a frame that has been super successful in the NFL prior to the last few years. Now you see guys like George Pickens. C.D. Lam sort of is in that sort of vein where they're these taller,

skinny guys. And I comped Brian Thompson to Christian Watson, I guess, with hamstrings at work. because he, to me, is just, you know, again, there's a little bit of, I think, concern over his overall nuance as a route runner and all those things. He didn't run a ton of different routes for LSU. He was running a lot of slot phase, a lot of vertical routes. But he scores a ton of touchdowns. If you get him with a good quarterback who can lead him down the field, he has that field tilting ability. And so, yeah, I actually saw, you know, speaking of these two guys, Eddie Mitchell and Brian Thomas Jr. I saw a tweet from Warren Sharp. There's two receivers since 2015 at the combine that have run four, three, or better and six two and two oh five or more that's d k mecalf and ad mitchell so ad mitchell to me i think

was one of the biggest winners because i think there were questions coming into the week whether he has that quote unquote long speed that that you know vertical take the take the top off a defense type speed and i found it interesting at the at the podiums he actually said something like i don't ever run my routes full speed which is simultaneously interesting and a red flag i didn't really know what to make that because the question the question the question question was basically about him varying his route speed and lolling defenders to sleep and basically, you know, changing his speed. So it's not always just like he's running full speed at all times. But I think it just kind of came out came out a little bit wrong and a little misleading. But he to me was one of the biggest winners just because I don't, I even wrote in my report like, does he have the long speed? I don't know if he has that that elite vertical speed, but it sure seems like he does after the way he tested. It's pretty telling that we've gotten like we go this far into the Q&A and we haven't even talked about a defensive player, but I do think like Dallas Turner watching him run is 40 and just

like the way he's built, like his wingspan is arms. Like he, to me, he's probably the first defensive guy off the board in a pretty thin class for defensive dudes. Yeah, 83 inch wingspan, which is, I saw someone put, it's almost exactly the same as LeBron James. And he's only six foot two, I think, six foot two. So obviously his his frame is almost perfectly built to play like the edge. he's really long arms but he's still he's not lanky he's not tall and like sort of skinny and lanky he's just sort of perfectly uh constructed to rush the passer in a 447 the 40 40 and a half inch vert basically everything all his numbers are 90th percentile and more from edge rushes of the combine so he you know i think definitely made money i kind of had him somewhere in the

middle the first round before this week and i'm guessing based just on the way he tested teams are going to be going back and looking at the tape and being like this is a guy that we can mold This is a guy that we can, you know, work with because of those athletic traits. Right. I mean, there were different defensive players had nice week. Kenyon Mitchell, who's a cornerback, maybe the top corner, you know, maybe Byron Murphy's defensive tackle. But it is something interesting about this class that there might not be any defensive players in the top 10. That's why there's there seems to be extreme classes based on positions.

Like the defense, you know, people are going to push cornerbacks up the board, but running back in tight. end is also like there might not be anyone other than Brock Bowers at tight end that gets taken in the first couple rounds there might there probably isn't any running backs is getting taken in the first couple rounds you famously um came at the king last year and missed by telling me that Luke musgrave was going to be better than Sam Leporta and all Sam Loporta did was have like the greatest rookie that's right we went back and forth on this well and I stuck my flag on Sam Leporta's back. And you went with Musgrave.

Why would you do that? And all Leporta did was carry a bunch of fantasy teams to titles in the Lions to the NFC championship. Put the flag in the hill behind Sam Lipporter, not the center of his back. I think Greg literally had you on the show just to get to that self-brag. But for some reason, we've been texting about this, just one small tape. Mr. Kelly, your response to that assassination attempt. So the way I remember it, this is all erroneous, first of all.

I very lightly suggested that I like Luke Musgrave slightly more than Samaport. I wasn't like, you know, planting a flag with Musgrave. By the way, you forget to mention my big sleeper on this show last year, the guy that I was like willing to like stake my career on was Devon A-chan. That's a good job. How about that? That was a good job. Right in your ass, Greg.

You're good about that? Right up your ass. That was good. He, you know, he was great in the six games he played. Oh, stop it. That was good. That was a good one. Greg, this is our guest.

Literally the guest of the showder. That was a good one. He nailed that. Danny Apollers. Anything else? So we want to talk about it. Do you have any tight ends or running back just to just to hit those positions that that you do like? Because they're not going to go high in the draft necessarily.

Obviously Bowers will, but is there anyone that you like? So my, I think, favorite running back this year is Trey Benson from Florida State. It reminds me a lot of Kenneth Walker just stylistically. Very quick feet, very explosive. He ran a 439, which is exactly what Kenneth Walker ran last year or two years ago. He is a big game hunter, so he's, I think, a little bit unsure sometimes behind the line scrimmage. He'll try and bounce runs a little too often and trying to reverse the field, kind of the way that Kendall Walker does. It's the same sort of style, but I love this guy.

I think he's going to end up probably being a third rounder, but he, to me, is the most exciting running back in this class. I want to ask you, you know, you were feet on the ground, and there's this thing that keeps happening at these combines, and it's a civilian versus a player, and I don't think it's fair. if we can bring up the video here. All right, what are we looking at? It is a player who is, you know, running a drill, and then there's this man on a red shirt and here, this guy is in a white sweatshirt holding, like, the big giant bag that comes smashing you.

And you know, and you know it's not going to go well, but then they replayed this in slow motion of it's like getting hit by punch by Rocky, basically. So they're doing like swim drills, and there's a young man getting absolutely, I mean, in this era of, you know, protecting the, brain and the NFL's initiatives. Put that guy in a helmet at the very least.

Danny, your thoughts? Is this a guy that lost like his fantasy league, last place fantasy league punishment or whatever, go out there and hold the bags during these drills? Oh, last place. It's a little bit of a thankless, thankless job. You were there for all these questions. By the way, bad job by the guy who asked Caleb Williams as his first question. Oh, yeah.

How come you don't want to compete or something like that? Why are you scared to compete? That's so bad. You got to leave the building when he, open like that. I know you, I know you wanted to talk about Amarius Mims, Danny and his comparison between, you know, himself and the other prospects and definitely the reporters in the building. Yeah, there was a picture circulating from Ryan Fowler on Twitter that showed Ameris Mims, like taking pictures of the sort of scene. Oh, no. I don't know. He looks like a, he is twice as big

as anybody else on that floor. There's a little bit of like Hobbit perspective filming technique going on because they're about five or six feet beyond it. But no doubt he towers over any other human in the shot. And it is a, and then people where someone commented, they realized going to the combine for the first time, they didn't realize how many short reporters there are out there. And it is a short crew. I got to admit, there's a lot of short guys.

Like if you're just average height. That kind of looked like the munchkins. Right. Then you're looking tall on that crew. Oompa lupas. This picture is for anyone who thinks they could go play NFL football right now. Go try and, you know, rush against that guy. He had, by the way, of absolutely ridiculous, uh, freakish workout, which might, and he's barely played at the pro level just because of, uh, injuries and then didn't have a starting job, but he, he might get taken extremely, extremely high.

All right. Washington's own Danny Kelly. Check him out, uh, at the ringer. Of course, check out his NFL draft show is, his draft guide. And of course, fantasy football is always on the mind. He's on that too. another thought about dany's because i said in tgia friday's summer of 2000 at the palisade center mall in west niac new york um i found it to be i weaponized it a little bit uh because when you're danny with with the opposite sex or you know whomever uh you're attempting uh to mingle with i i found that being a danny made you seem a little safer a little sweeter a little uh that guy uh where yeah more fun loving and more kind of wholesome almost Did that play a role at all in how others perceive you in a sweet, wholesome way, a manner that would allow you to succeed in various endeavors? Romantically, especially.

Yes, absolutely. I think subtly my personality changed when I, you know, because your name is such a big part of your identity. Right. Like, Greg, you probably had a lot of issues with like two Gs in your name. Yes. How was that growing up for you? Yeah, people like, they still comment on it a lot. But you are, you are, like, you're a married man.

You have a child, I believe. You know, he's a sweet Danny. But also, Greg, Greg was a major swordsman in Western Massachusetts and high school. So I think being a triple G help. But anyway, I just, that was a memory I had of the TGI Friday's run in 2000s. Special run for you. Absolutely. I agree.

I agree fully with that. All right. Daniel's a little bit like, oh, keep your eye on that guy. Can you keep him in arms length? Dan's like, mm, no, kind of a bad news situation. Danny, say, Danny. Thank you, buddy. See you, Danny.

There he goes. Good one. I wanted to bring up some. Great guest. Thank you, Dan. Closer to our show. And I opened the show. I want to be balanced in my cover.

You got to be. You got to be talking about another Daniel, yes. Another Daniel. This is a Daniel. Again, I want to trickle back. Like I said, you keep Daniels at an arm's length whenever you can. Yeah, I think especially, well, so, you know, I said they had a great job. They brought a bunch of guests on Joey Molanaro, who is like this incredible impressionist.

I think he's one of the best out there. a huge football fan and like he talked about growing up and coming to the combine where you'd stand in that roped off area where you would just wait to see reporters and stuff coming by like it was a big deal

he was like a football nerd there's always there's always great fans there there's always also the sketchy autograph collectible guys I hate those guys but that's not Joey no no no quick sidebar because we've been to the combine many times

can we calm down with the grown men with the helmets and the glossies I think we could like waiting for the teenagers to walk by, it's got to be something else to do. Oh, no, yeah. There's got to be something better to do.

This is someone who went Joey, and so we already know we can trust him on some level. But so Joey sat with Rich Eisen and Daniel Jeremiah. Because those guys, Parker, standing next to like teenage boys sometimes that are fans. It's their son sometimes. Oh, yeah. I was at a, but I'm with you.

I was at a women's tennis tournament just yesterday in San Diego. Walker goes up there. You buy like this big. The big old ball. The big ball. Love the big tennis ball. And there's, you know, he's getting swel. Followed up. I let him just go up there.

Right. And he's getting swallowed up by these adults kind of angle. You're going to give like how old Walker seven? He's eight. You're going to give eight year old nine year old Walker Rosenthal sharp elbows? No, it's over an autograph. It seems to proper. The size of a seven year old. Grow up Peter Pan. Go ahead. Sidebar ended.

I will attempt to like I just want. I thought you would enjoy this. Go ahead. Where Molanaro basically caught DJ not doing what he needed to be doing. Ah, very good. Let's be here today. Dream come true. Hey, brother. Oh, we're excited to be here, Jim. Chris Collinsworth is in the building. Oh, I like that was wrong. Oh, no, Romo!

Wow. That's two red flags. Oh, my God. I've already screwed you up. DJ. Let me be the straight man. Go ahead. Go ahead.

Go ahead. Here's a guy that's got his head so buried in tape. He can't tell the difference between Tony Ramon and Chris Collinsworth. I say, Daniel Jeremiah, I think you got a career as a general manager. I don't know about a broadcaster too much. her too much. Who's that Molinari? Yeah.

I like that Paizan. I'm going to go check out his next stand-up show. He's great. Steelers fan. I believe he listens to the show a little bit. Joey Molonari?

Molonari. Molonaro. Yeah. I like him. I bet there's a Joey Molonari out there, but yeah. That's great. Good nug.

Mark, you were all over the coverage this weekend. I love it. I got here at 7 a.m. Do you have any other notes that you want to get out of the comment? It is fun.

And start the draft process. Download that notebook, Mark. Go. I would say next year, if we are not invited, there will be a strongly worded letter sent to everyone on the third floor. We will be there. I missed hanging out. I missed the fun.

I miss the sights and the sounds. And yet we have soldiered on and done the best we possibly can. That's in the notes. No, I was just my. Did you have any other? That was my side note. Okay. That's good.

And I wholeheartedly agree. Player side we covered. I am very interested to see. more from the quarterback tape like Michael Pennix Jr. and the rest of these dudes. Sure. Yeah. There was this guy, Isaac Coronado from Louisville. It's

sort of what the combine made for. He is the fastest 220 pound back in Combine history. Our friend Bill Barnwell created something called the Speed Score back in the day, which kind of adjusted weight for speed. Before there was the reception

with Matt Harmon, there was the Speed Score. The Speed score. And he's, I think, the highest in speed score history or close to the top. Next-Gen stats had him fifth all-time in terms of athleticism. There was this total workout score that had him fifth out of about 1,765 running back. So a big man that can move and kind of bounced around at first. But he has the type of day where it's like, okay, now he went from being like some seventh round pick to like some team's going to give him a chance in the third round. I was going to say it's a job in a chain type of.

a guy. He was just as fast as Devin A. Chan and Keaton Mitchell, except he weighs 50 more pounds in them. What was up with you getting agro with Kelly about a couple different things there? Is that just mixing it? Isn't that just part and parcel with, you know, Reg the interviewer slash connector? That's how

how do you not know this? This is how we show love in Western Massachusetts. We're all just a bunch of jerks, apparently. But Danny already has texted me and wanted an apology? A correction. Yes. Devin A. A. Chan erasure he had almost

a thousand scrimmage yards and 11 touchdowns I demand a correction so here it is you got your correction we have an audience that's vast and there's a responsibility that comes with that you try to totally what did you say he played six games I think he did have like a

he played like 11 he played 11 but yeah it felt like um it is weird not only do we have all these like star running backs hitting free agency and nobody seems to be willing to pay them you're going to have a draft now where it's possible it takes until round four, day two of the draft

or day three of the draft for running back to come off the board. Now, somebody will probably jump up into the third or multiple guys, but nobody, there's no Bijans this year. It's a weird draft in terms of certain positions being slightly ghost-like. Mar Gibbs is no bejons. All right. The world where

D.K. McCoff and AJ Brown, remember where they got drafted? Late second. Like that, that world doesn't exist anymore. People are taking their receivers. All right, let's take a break and we'll finish up. welcome back we talked about with danny kelly the fantasy league uh move where the guy who finished in last place has to do some type of shameful act um one of the people in my fantasy league is someone i've known for 20 years my league of record chalyn patel who uh along with his family purchased west braham just like they have the team now and uh it's been a a major

I mean, it's been blowing my mind and learning more about the culture of the baggies and everything. Immediately my favorite team and we've been texting with John Gonzalez, Gonzo, Colleen's husband, who's a major soccer fan,

and he's been shading in some context about the move. And I've been texting, of course, with Shalyn about it, and there's a lot of excitement. Very strange, this convergence. It is an amazing thing. You definitely have a friend that is wealthier than any friend I have. I definitely don't have one that high or even close.

That is incredible and it's incredible. Now we can root for them because they're in the championship. I'm going to say something wrong, but they're in the level in the league below the Premier League, but they got a chance here. They got a chance to get elevated. They're in the race. So we got something to root for the next.

Shilin also wants to get to get bumped up, make him some money. A great guy. I've seen him through the years. My buddy, Greg, 50% G from the Super Bowl. was roommates with him at Bapsin and I've known him for years. He's a great guy. And I was, I sent out a tweet a couple days ago, like congratulating him and saying that this is my new team.

Dare I say this could be the team of around the NFL, the football team around the NFL because Shilin is a major ATN fan, listener. Makes sense. Anyway, so that little back and forth with me and Shilin gets picked up by a website out in England, a headline West Brom Takeover. Colin. Actually, this is developing news. I think it's fair to say. Ben-Ham-Haw-Haw-Hol.

West Brom takeover, colon, Shalin Patel invites NFL media crew. That's us. To the Hawthorns as New Baggies fans. Ready for the lead? Shalin Patel has invited around the NFL host, Dan Hansis, and his crew to the Hawthorns after his West Brom takeover was confirmed. And now I'm going to read the second graph

as an Englishman. The American replied via Twitter on one March after his compatriot announced he would now be a Baguiz fan from now on after the announcement of 28 February that Guchan Lai's time as majority shareholder was over.

And then there's a full quote. West Brom profile grows in the U.S. already after Shalin Patel takeover. We're wagging a dog over here right now. ATN and our strength is a top international podcast West Brom this is the crossover that no one knew existed and here we are

all I need was to have been included in the invitation and you are well that's what I'm saying and so you didn't reply to it but did a wonderful job to that so shoots a little reply you know let them know that you're into it what platform is it happening on it's on a platform you've retired from

yeah so I'll write him I'll write him personally I forgot. I'll let him know there's a reason you haven't replied. Yeah, I'll write him personally. You've stepped down from your Twitter dude. I have. I will find a pathway to reach him and thank him. It'll be your ghost account.

Do you have any Jason Kelsey light like a press conference to give a tearful eulgy of your social media? I'm crafting it. I'm carving it. Are you actually going to delete your account? I have a friend that did that. They deleted it with a big following and it's just gone. Let it sit there. Let it sit there.

It can space. It is very exciting. I heard from a listener who hosts a great tennis podcast, a tennis podcast, David Law. He said, he said this takeover meant a lot to him. He's been a fan since he's just a little boy. And now, you know,

they were worried about the future of this team. And your friend is saving it. Now, I'm a little torn. I can root for multiple teams. You know, famously, I once wore a West Ham jersey. Second time you've said famously about yourself. It's supposed to be ironic. I got to, I got it.

The point is it's not famous. Got, got, got it. Worry to, yeah, I wore a West Ham jersey. Jersey and got booed off the stage in London. So I have been a supporter of the hammers. But I feel like I can support both. They're in different leagues. We're cool.

Dude in the NFL. Very casual, yes. That's true. It is your NFL move as well. You have to know what part of the country you're in, where to wear the kits and all that. But I proudly fly the flag, Boing, Boeing style. So we got to get there. We got to get to London and get to that stadium.

Who, by the way, is a great guy. Like, I wouldn't even know that he was this business. monster and I would imagine and he's very smart and and greatest fantasy football for whatever that means yeah like where did he finish this year in fantasy is I would want to know oh man I should roughly ballpark he had you know what I could tell you I could tell you that he had the greatest regular season of all time and I don't know if it paid off in the playoffs but his management of the team was pristine so just make that know bag bag you know that this man knows what he's doing in terms of transactions uh anything else before we say goodbye we're back on Wednesday we got

Connie. Connie Fox will be with us on Wednesday and we're going to do some pre-free agency conversation. I feel like this should be the new theme when we have a guest coming on. All right. I really like it.

I like the segue we have coming up on Wednesday too. Nice tease. You want to figure out how it works. A Jason Kelsey Twitter retirement speech where you mentioned bids and balls repeatedly. How about on Wednesday? I'm going to craft it.

We've got a whole show built out now. Thank you, everybody. Oh, and thank you. Speaking of retirements and Philadelphia legends, Sean Kelly behind the glass that we've talked about a lot in this show and is a great dude, is leaving for greener pastures and full-time employment back in Philadelphia. So we want to say thank you to Sean Kelly, bud. Oh, thank you so much. Guys, I didn't bring me on. I appreciate it.

You guys are so nice. Thank you. You guys are the best. And anyone should check out, you know, Sean, if you're looking for stand up. Yes. in the Philadelphia area, he is, he's out there. And he's been cutting his teeth on the LA comedy scene, which is as, you know, hardcore as it gets up and tumble.

He's just going to rip Philadelphia wide open with his act. Oh, it's going to be big. New job, which is separate from that. Yes, it's going to be big. I'm excited to do both a new great production job in Philly. And then also take on that stand-up scene by Storm. Oh, yeah. We're going to be running Philadelphia, guys.

It's going to be great. All right, slow down. Well, we're coming in hot. I'm coming in hot. We wish you well, Sean. Yeah, we have a pretty intimate crew of people behind the glass and to lose someone like John Kelly is not easy, but on to greener. It always stinks. But I remember you're a young man, Sean.

How old are you? Yes, 25. 25. It's amazing to have this experience. I didn't, I was floating, I was working at a PR firm when I was 25. I was like, what, what's happening? You are on a great path, buddy. Thank you for everything you did for the show.

Thank you guys so much. It's been a pleasure. These last four seasons have been the most amazing couple of years. I've met so many amazing people. people. You guys included. It's been a pleasure working for this show.

Especially, yeah, top of the list. Yeah, real phrase. We might get another article written on this website. So if this becomes a little news tag on,

we want to get the quote right about how great we are. Oh, yeah. No, you guys, yeah, the three greatest people I have ever met at NFL.

And what order would the three of us be? Oh, that's really, give it to them. Just give it to them. That always mark. Really, you know,

I'm going to leave that one to mystery. But you all are highly regret. The first show I ever worked on was around the NFL. And when I first got here, my first day working remote in New Jersey during the pandemic. And it was the first logo I ever saw. And it's been an amazing couple of seasons.

It was you guys, bunch of seasons. Love you, bud. Love you, too. All right. That's it. Until Wednesday. Until next time, heed the call. This is an I-Heart podcast.