NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Combine takeaways & awards

Episode Date: February 20, 2015

A Lucas Oil Stadium filled with heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Kevin Patra and Conor Orr -- break down all the latest from the 2015 NFL Scouting Combine plus updates on Peyton Manning, Adrian Peterson and much more. The guys then wrap the show with the first ever (and probably only) Combine Coaches and GM Pressers Awards.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 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 officers. construct winning rosters. We study the tape,

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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Around the NFL podcast doesn't do route concepts. Welcome back to another day. of the Round the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hanzas, and I am joined by a stadium filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Connor, Orr, and Kevin at Patra.

What's up, boys? And I messed up your name, Kevin. It's all right. I forgive you, Dan. Wow. You don't want to start that way. The lights are on us. It's a big event.

The NFL scouting combine is here. Mark, you've been at this event four years in a row. Is that correct? Fifth year. Whoa. Tell me how this year compares to other years. Or is it always the same? Is it a Groundhog Day here?

It does have a feeling where it's sort of the same each year because you see the same exact people sitting in the same seats, all the writers. And, you know, you get the laundry list of coaches and GMs coming through. I mean, the storylines are what, I think, make the combine or break. And last year's had a lot of drama with, like, the Jim Harbaugh to the Brown's rumor and stuff. I think this lacked, like, a devastating storyline. But there was a lot of good stuff on both of that packed days.

New faces, like Rex Ryan coming in. Was that a Thurman Thomas jersey he had on? He was wearing a Thurman Thomas jersey on Friday, yeah, which was interesting. There was, of course, Bill Belichick was caught on camera, spooning up some type of liquid with his finger by NFL Network cameras on Friday. He's wearing a sweatshirt now that says Bill Belichick on it. So he's reaching the self-parody stage, but it doesn't matter. He's got six rings all told.

So, yeah, I mean, for me, this was my first combine experience, and Kevin Patrick was yours as well. And to me, the big takeaway, and we're going to get into some news and we're going to hand out some combine awards before we get out of here. But the big takeaway for me is like seeing these coaches the way this event breaks down Wednesday and Thursday. And some guys on Friday go to all speak at the podium, GMs and coaches, a lot of coaches, not everybody, but many, if not most. And you see how these coaches are basically at this stage of their career in the rock star status. and how you get why. There's a lot of reasons why you want to be an NFL head coach,

but you can see, like, these guys, when they come to these events, they're like the swaggering big dogs. They love it. A lot of these guys like it. Today I sat in on a Jeff Fisher press conference, and it's 15 minutes only for each of these guys, but Jeff was like, no, I want to take more because some guys you can tell just love being at that podium

and holding court and being, you know, El Ombre. Then you walk out in the hallway, and like you said, when one of them departs the media center and is disappearing into the darkness of the stadium, everyone's coming up wanting to shake their hands, especially the new coaches, I think, too, that have just ascended to this position. Everyone wants to get chummy with them.

I don't think there's a better, like, feeling. Like, if you're Todd Bowles, for example, like, it doesn't get any better than this because inevitably you will get fired, you know what I mean? But right now, you're in that sweet spot. You're in that sweet spot. You're the hot coordinator. You're, you know, you've assembled your staff.

You think you're going to the Super Bowl next year. Everybody's coming up and telling you how great you are. That's why everyone loves it because it's like Hope Eternal unless you're Mike Patton or Ray Farmer Oh, that wasn't right. Hey, that's me too. The big takeaway for me

was the difference between the media area which is a bunch of mice scurring around asking a lot of times ridiculous questions or the same questions over and over again about the devaluation of the running back position. Yeah, let's come down with that. And then you come out here into the stadium

when they're actually the guys are on the field and it's eerily quiet almost. and like the two difference, the difference there is very striking that I never would have got. You don't hear that on TV because you got the cameras and the sound close. It's a lot of popping and stuff, but this stadium was very quiet throughout the day. It's all business on this field, and it is interesting to see it up close. But to me, the big star, he's not going to get a Combine Award, first annual Combine Award, but I think Connor were taking us to an underground cigar saloon on Tuesday night where they were, you know, serving.

high-octane beverages and smoking cigars and sitting on plush red couches. Very plush. Wow, this guy knows the city like the back of his hand. I woke up on Wednesday morning. My room smelled like a mafia hangout. Yeah, man, Nikki Blaine's. That's like, it's very similar to what my own house looks like. I kind of modeled it after that.

Like Tony Montana's a guest room, basically. So, yeah, so we've been checking out the indie nightlife, even though it's been single-degree, single-digit weather here, which is outrageous. Dan has been complaining the entire time. Listen. Listen. Endlessly.

I know because Patrick is the tough guy from Detroit. Hey, I'm from Detroit, but now I'm in Chicago. That is the worst accent. I get it. I get it. It's cold. It's a great Detroit accent. But, you know, I grew up in New York. I went to school in Boston.

I get cold, too. I've been in L.A. for almost five years, so it's softened me at some level. But it's legitimately cold to the point where I've asked area bartenders who have gotten to know well and, you know, at St. Elmo's. which we'll get into later. This is called even for Indianapolis standards, and everyone's like, yeah, it's legitimately absurd. Yeah, I didn't see Patrick complaining

when Dan hailed a cab to go three blocks. Oh, I can't play. In the middle of that three-block ride, Kevin started to realize this was a good move. I got ridiculed for complaining about it, actually. Well, none of us agreed with you. All right, so big takeaway so far, Kevin Patrick tougher than all of us.

Correct. 100%. Looking great, by the way, Kevin. Thank you. Your traps, especially. All right, so we've got a big show, as I said. But let's start, as we always do. Even though we're on the floor of Lucas Oil Stadium,

basically right at the goal line where Ahmaud Bradshaw fell in backwards to win Super Bowl 46 for the New York Giants, Connor, or a young beat writer at that time in his life. What was your big takeaway, by the way, of that event or the most memorable moment of covering that Super Bowl in this building? I would say, because I was on Patriots duty, and I ran into the locker room so fast that I guess one of the security guards wasn't paying attention

and I was in the Patriots locker room before anyone else was allowed in so it was like me 53 sobbing men and like Robert Kraft going around and individually hugging everybody and then I looked around like I gotta get out of here so it was like an or family reunion 53 sobbing men all right let's get to some news let's do some headlines TD is thousands of miles away so we don't get a TD drop, but just imagine at this point,

he'd like what's happening for those, and then he'd drop in the news thing. It was like, oh, that was a quirky news drop. He was a mildly witty soundbite. Good job, TD. But imagine that just happened. And let's start with John Elway. And so John spoke, this one's for John. John spoke on Thursday, and you know exactly what everyone wanted to know.

The first question was, what's up with Peyton Manning? And this is where it gets a little weird. And this is still a weird story. We've been talking about it on the podcast. how something that doesn't quite add up. Ian Rappaport and Albert Breer last Friday reported that Peyton Manning had a face-to-face sit down with John Elway in Denver and expressed that he wanted to return for another season. NFL media wasn't the only media group that reported that Manning gave the go ahead that he wants to be back.

But then they asked John Elway about it and Elway says he still hasn't heard from Manning definitively whether he wants to return. And so there's a disconnect there. And then the other thing that struck me, you know, I was sitting in on this. It was my first overall pick in our Combine coverage draft in day two. I took John Elway and I was very happy with it. Someone asked, well, there's been, you know, reports and whispers out there that it's the contract, Manning's contract that is playing into this.

And he essentially dodged the question. His was his quote, I think the bottom line is, that's pretty good Elway, by the way. It's okay. I think the bottom line is I don't like to get into anybody's contract and discuss anything about contracts, but just know that I believe he'll be back, and I believe he'll be our quarterback. So dodged it completely.

So there is, and Connor, you as the grizzled beatman of the around the NFL group, although being a very young man, tell me, read through this, cut through the BS, and tell me what's going on here? They don't want him to come back for the amount of money that they are. I mean, I think that it's going to be a sense. thing because I feel like Elway holds all the strength in this

because if Peyton Manning can't walk away because of a contract dispute especially after all the money that he's made in his career how he's remembered. And so Elway knows this. He also knows, he mentioned that Peyton would like to add another Super Bowl almost sort of challenging him a little bit. Peyton would like to add another Super Bowl to his resume.

So I feel like now it's just kind of we're in that sensitive gray area where they don't really want to address the elephant in the room. But they are letting it play out in the media to some degree because you're challenging Gene Manning, that's what Elway did. He basically flipped the narrative. I just feel like I'm going to be wrong about the summertime bet that he retires, but I wouldn't be shocked. And I think that I would not owe you full sandwiches, by the way, if this happened, if he winds up with another team. That would be crazy. The other thing that kind of jumped out to me is one reporter, you know, was, you know, what about March 9th? He was like, is there a deadline for him to give you this final word? and March 9th is an important date because that's when Manning's $19 million salary

becomes guarantee and Elway just he repeated himself and said he's got all the time he wants so it's like clearly something's at play here and they got to work this out and I don't know if it's been handled extremely well because it's the longer it hangs out in the media the more awkward it gets between Elway and Kubiak the day before it seems like the organizational stance is we want to make it put it on him make everyone else believe that we're doing everything we can to bring him back, even if they're not, even if they are squabbling over money. All right, moving on.

So let's check him with Adrian Peterson, who, you know, he is not here, obviously, but he spoke to ESPN on Thursday, an interview, said that he was, quote, still uneasy about rejoining the Vikings after the team helped expedite his placement on the exempt list in September. He had this to say, there were people in the organization. I said, say him like, L.A.2. There are people in the organization that I trusted who knew exemptions. what was said that weren't heard from they weren't able to do anything about it so and i kind of see where peterson obviously you know what he did was not good and he he was certainly punished for it

but the vikings didn't exactly race to his aid they never like stood up publicly for him and this guy's been the face of the franchise for years and it's clear that this is a guy he's stinging from this that they didn't have his back in this the most dramatic moment of his life i think behind the scenes though who probably did reach out to Adrian Peterson were the coaches. I think the coaches from the start wanted him on the field, but the PR angle was not handled well. And you know, when everyone doubted Peterson after he tore up his knee, he came back with a big chip on his shoulder and basically proved everyone wrong. I think this time around, he's probably angry again. And I wouldn't be surprised to see him on a different team too. How about you pair him and Peyton made him together?

Well, he brought up Texas in talking to them. He brought up kind of like how they supported him in Texas throughout this. It just points, all signs point to Dallas. And I think the coaching staff and those who talked to him kind of knew already that this is how Peterson felt, because all along they said, we want him back if he wants to be here. There's always been that caveat that if he wants to be here. So I think they know that he feels kind of betrayed by the people, whether right or wrong, whatever. It doesn't matter. That's how he feels by the people of Minnesota. And let's go, my eighth grade social studies teacher, Ms. Myzel, had the famous line. She tied into many things we learned about.

about money makes the world go around. So we just talked about it with Peyton Manning, and I'm sure that plays in with Adrian Peterson, too, and the Vikings, is that maybe we don't know that it's public yet, but maybe they've already approached him, or there's been whispers, back channels about you need to restructure your deal if you want to stay with us. He's making a lot of money for a running back.

So, Connor, you think that could be playing into this as well? I think so. I just think that all around, like, I think that there was an awkward situation to begin with, because if Peterson wanted somebody to come out and defend him, you have a general manager that's you know for better for worse under fire that some people thought wasn't going to survive this season

you had a brand new rookie head coach at the same time who doesn't want to make waves and ruin his first opportunity that he's gotten after years and years as an assistant so you know you can do as much as you can behind closed doors but if he wanted a public strong defense I don't think that anyone in that organization was in a good spot to provide it for him and I think that that might be where the frustration is but you're right I mean you need to follow the money

money because I think that they might be looking to move on and sort of dress up the roster in a different way. I talked to someone here at the Combine that was talking about DeMarco Murray and how it seemed weird to me that they were, they seemed so willing to let Murray go. And he said that, you know, people within the Cowboys, they thought it was funny when people like, oh, they're going to, they're overworking to Mark or Murray. Almost like this has always been in their plan that they never planned to bring Murray back. They were just going to work them hard, get the best, you know, production you could get out of him. Hopefully he stays healthy. And then they were going to bring someone else in.

That could be Adrian Peterson. That will be Adrian Peterson. We should see. That could be a sandwich proposition. Because one thing I know about free agency and this time of season, when everyone thinks it's definitely going to be one way, all of a sudden he's playing for the Raiders. Sure.

You know, we'll see. Moving on. So Sam Bradford talked about Adrian Peterson tearing up his knee. Poor Sam Bradford has torn his knee up twice in a row over the last two seasons. And yet the Rams are staying by their quarterback, the former number one overall pick. You know, they've been open about the fact they still want him to be there. guy this year. Jeff Fisher, Friday

morning, he was the first one up at the podium at Lucas Oil Stadium. He, again, got behind Bradford and said he was betting on Sam Bradford in 2015 when reporters asked, you know, do you have like a plan B? Like, well, you know, you need a plan B

with San Bradford at this stage of the game. He says, I don't know what that looks like right now. We'll let you know. It could be a veteran. It could be a draft choice. It could be a combination of that. It could be Austin Davis. It could be Sean Hill. so you know he's they're in they're in on this guy this makes sense that they're the problem is that sam bradford for more than just a couple seasons has been plan b this is not a quarterback that a from a health perspective you can rely on and and fisher today which i found very annoying is he's still

touting bradford's record against the nfc west let it go five two and one but and by the way five two and one is not amazing no you want to drop me well he's an eight no since i was here with him he's like five, two, and one, and then I saw someone tweeted that, you know, most of those wins are against the Cardinals when they weren't always good Cardinals teams. So that's a weird step to throw out there that your, obviously, your organization helps you out. And for the amount of money he makes, this is an outrage. This is just one of those things that I think they know that there's no better option

to give it a role again, so they've got to boost him up as ridiculous as it sounds. I just think this is another case where Jeff Fisher, in 20 years of coaching, has had six seasons where he's had more than eight wins six out of 20 and a lot of it is because he doesn't he can't find a quarterback or he can't mount you know get it good good enough play out of a quarterback and this is just another example of that playing out here here's the thing though that they got i kind get the bradford thing uh keeping him because there's not a lot out there but yeah you better have a good play and you better have a better backup than shone hill uh because there you got to look at it as a 50 50 proposition that bradford goes down again you don't know how that leg's going to

react. But it is the worst year in a while to try to find a quarterback in the combination of free agency or the draft. At this rate, Josh McCown is going to get like a $700 million contract. Yeah. He'll be sitting by week six. As a brief aside, also Ian had a report that Russell Wilson could be heading towards a guaranteed contract, you know, in the 80 million range. If that happens, the whole financial spectrum of the NFL changes. So that is a huge... No one will talk to John Snyder again inside the NFL community. It will be a huge thing to watch how that plays out with Russell Wilson. Speaking of contract talk, Mike McCarthy professed his love for Reggie Randall Cobb on Thursday,

and Ted Thompson spoke for the media. Ted Thompson keeps it close to the vest. They asked about, will you, do you want to sign Randall Cobb? It was obviously their number one free agent target. And he said, oh, we want to sign all our free agents. So he's not saying much. But Randall Cobb, I would think, if they let him hit the open market, there are a lot of teams, and there's a lot of money floating around.

The salary cap is going to be, like, what, $143 million? There are a lot of teams that can make a hard play for a receiver like Cobb. He's got to be careful. And I'll just add to that this conversation piece. The Marius Thomas, John Elway, told local reporters, this is weird thing at the Combine with the coverage, how it works, where everyone gets the podium time, the 15 minutes, there's chair set up. but for some guys or most GMs and coaches they'll then go to the hallway

and the beat guys, the local beat guys will scurry and find him and he'll do another five, ten minutes or whatever. But sometimes, and in the case of... This story does have a payoff. It does. In this case, sometimes only the beat reporters have access to the coach.

In this case, we didn't have access so we learned secondhand that the franchise tag will be used on Demarius Thomas if they can't do a long-term deal. So if you were a team that had your eye on Demarius Thomas, it's not going to happen. He's not hitting the open market. I think we knew that they were going to do, whether it was with Julius or DeMarius, one of those guys was not going to go to free agency on any level.

I think they went with the more reliable play. Right. This is the player that they deem irreplaceable, where I think Julius Thomas, they feel like, especially if Peyton Manning comes back, Peyton Manning's made Jacob Tammy worthwhile for the last how many years. So I think that they know that Demarius Thomas opens up their offense in ways that other players don't, so they have to keep them. It's kind of like the Des Bryant-Demarco-Murray situation in Dallas. My only concern there, though, is if you end up having to go with Brock Osweiler or something like that,

you're going to need as many skill position players as you possibly can. And I think dismissing it or not trying to find a way to get creative enough to bring both of those guys back, I mean, as impossible as it might seem, I mean, that $10 million cushion that you're getting in the salary cap should be able to help you push you in the right direction to get that done. I mean, you know, Brock Oswalders is not going to make Jacob Tammy into a Pro Bowl tight end. Right. And speaking of the Packers and hallway discussions that are not privy to the riff-raft like us, Mike McCarthy, the Packers coach, told Packers beat reporters on Thursday that, quote, I thought we were the best team in football when our season ended.

You have to prove it on the field, obviously. And to me, that was just like an obvious, The comment means Aaron Rogers doesn't get hurt. We were the best team in the league. They weren't the best coach team. Right. That's for sure. Well, I mean, maybe. But I get where he's coming from.

Obviously, this is a loss that stings because he even brought up, he started to dig in on it. He said the team uses the 16 principles of championship offense and defense. And he said, we hit 13 of the 16 on offense. And the three that we didn't get, I think we were like one or two plays off. I mean, this is a guy that's been staring at the tape and staring at the numbers and trying to scratch his head and trying to figure out how this didn't work out. I just imagine this, like, board of, like, championship principles and, like, he just runs in after the game, like, did he hit them all?

It's like minority report. He's, like, sliding it around. I mean, in a way, it's a sneaky, more crushing season than when they went 15 and won and lost in the playoffs. I think so, too. I mean, it's like, you know, to say that, that's fine. But McCarthy in his play calling is a big reason they aren't. They wouldn't get to the Super Bowl.

For sure, for sure. I think Rogers, if he's healthy, I think they win that game. But McCarthy didn't do a great job in that game, finishing it off. Yeah, but I get it. I mean, people, and also you think about the Super Bowl, how that ended for the Seahawks. And now that's how people remember when they think crushing losses. But that Packers loss, to me, is still one of the worst losses

I've ever seen a team suffer on a big stage ever. Well, and the scapegoat basically got deep-sixed. It took Boston and just shipped them out of town. That wasn't the Packer way, I thought. But was reacquired within the division. So there's plenty of the Vikings. The quote just tells me almost that he blames Bostick for not, for losing a championship, essentially.

Really? That's how I read it. Yeah. Port Port. Patrick connecting the dots. Speaking of the Super Bowl, this one I wanted to hit on quickly, we were hanging out in Shula's, which is kind of like the Weston is where we're all staying.

All our fans are now going to flock to the Weston. We're pounding on the glass. Like three people walking. He's the back door. I think we have three. I don't know. All right. So the Weston, the Shula's is a great hangout.

And we saw Jeremy Lane on the ticker on the TV that he had knee surgery. He was an ACL tear. And that occurred on the interception in the Super Bowl where he actually also suffered the action movie type arm break, like a Segal arm break. It was the most damaging interception return of all time. Fair? Yes. Oh, please. And it suddenly puts Seattle, who lost their defensive coordinator to start and Dan Quinn,

potentially if Byron Maxwell goes to another team. He's probably gone, right? It looks like he's going to make – we want $10 million a year. Some team's probably going to pay him. That's the Seattle secondary that suddenly needs two starting cornerbacks to go along with Richard Sherman. When you listen to John Schneider this week, he sounds resigned to the fact that Brian Maxwell outplayed his contract and he's going to get something we can't afford. And so he's gone already.

It just sounded that way from Snyder. So, yeah, they have so much money tied up and just to a few players, they're going to need younger guys to step up. And we didn't see that in the Super Bowl, that's for sure. No, but no team's developed cornerbacks better over the last half a decade. Oh, they're great.

All right, well, I mean. They're real great. I thought I was a good way to wrap that little segment up and get you to the next part. You put a nice bow on it? I put a bow on it for you. But then I dropped it in. That's great.

All right, that's what's happening. That's the news. And now it is time, and this has never happened before. This is a first for around the NFL. The Combine Coaches and GM's Presser Awards, first annual. We're going to hand out some awards to the coaches and GMs that delivered good and bad performances over the last two days. That really, so far, it's going to shift a little bit now as the Combine takes off.

But when they flew us out here, a big part of our assignment was to be all over those press conferences, which we were. Good job, guys. He did great. Kevin. Thanks. Your beard. by the way.

I called him a mid-period John Ritter. I still don't understand what that means. So it's after, it's after. Like problem child? Kevin has some sneaky salt and pepper going on. I didn't realize that there was some white hair going on. It's Greg just whipping me. It's just aging me quickly.

So it's Post-3's company pre-stay-tuned. So it's that like 84 sweet spot where he was like kind of out of the picture. I don't think Patcher was even born during this sweet spot of Ritter's career. Moving on. He's very comfortable talking about it. As you can tell, Kevin Patrick. So anyway, we're going to hand out some awards, and, you know, listen, all I can say is the academy is behind this.

I had nothing to do with picking who the winners were. I can only say that I will be announcing the awards. You're just the vessel that this is coming through. Right. And then there will be some applause, I imagine, that our producer will pipe in. But not really. There's a big crowd in the stadium here that's going to be cheering when we announce you. So let's start.

Let's get right. Let's get into it. It's a good thing we're not in the Falcon Stadium, by the way. Hey, yo. Hi, yo. The first award, best joke. Mark Sessler. All right.

That was actually a clunker. I would like to have a TD. Best second impression. So this is, you could read into this however you want, but best second impression by a coach or GM, the winner. Jim Tom Sula, who after he admitted, or it was widely known that his introductory press conference as Niners coach did not go well. He had that really awesome, awkward interaction as well with the local... It was like a between-two Ferns operation. But now he steps to the podium.

And I don't know, Mark, maybe you remember or Connor, what his exact words all I stepped to the podium. He's like, let's try this again. Yeah, I think he... Well, he admitted that he had been heavily coached up by their media and PR cadre to not be a complete disaster this time. And I thought, number one, he poked fun of himself multiple times right out of the gate.

And the first three or four questions from reporters were about that basically just what happened in that press comments, which was a mystifying 45 minutes of absolute mumbling, fumbling disaster from his mouth. What is this guy talking about? He, this time around... Take it easy.

No, it was a mess. And it was like that's the one thing that probably put the whole fan base in a shaky spot. Like, is this our guy? You go from Jim Harbaugh, number one, to this. But he came around, and I thought he was real strong. He did a good job.

I will say that. first time though the interviewer did not set him up in a way like it's your first interview as a head coach and someone's asking you

if you're a leak to some like damaging anonymous report that led to the house he also this guy the reporter was like just between us I hate that

that is the worst but you're on television I know that was cheesy but he did he did better he was he was himself and from everything

we've heard and people that know him he's a really good guy and I think it's just going to be a process for him because we were saying at the top of the show how you go from just a regular guy or regular coach once you're the head coach all eyes are on you and everything is different and i think for a guy like him it's a little tougher i do wonder if behind the scenes there's a little slapping on the wrist because after trent balky came out and said nothing

basically the day before tom sull when he was asked about frank gore and michael crabtree like are you negotiating the common reply at the combine is we just don't talk about that and you know we don't. You can ask the question. He goes, oh, yeah, listen, those talks are underway. It's like there was a lot of information coming out, and I think probably Trent Palky's face was melting somewhere. All right. Next category, most random opening preamble to a presser. Rex Ryan, Buffalo Bill's head coach. Rex, who I do miss, you know, the Jets fan does miss Rex, and things are a lot different now for the Jets beat writers. But he started his press conference, and everybody who's waiting for Rex because it's always fun when Rex is about and he steps up to the podium he mentions

that he was up at 4 a.m. for something I think NFL AM I would presume and then starts talking about the Buffalo Bisons which is an independent league team minor league baseball team up obviously in Western New York a Blue Jays affiliate and just a bunch of nonsense about baseball and just everyone kind of left everyone scratch everybody chuckled a little bit but everybody also was like wait what are we what's going on here most random preamble I'm a little tired of the act Oh, wow. I just think he's so much more entertaining than all of the other coaches. So that's why the media always revolves around him

because at least he's going to give you something a little more different, more energetic than just the time is yours, Andy Reid. Wait, you didn't watch General Manager from the Titans Rustin Webster. You didn't see the Hickster, Dennis Hickey, blow the roof off. Wait, Mark, I want to get back to you are out on Rex Ryan. Well, I think number one, having done the combine five times here, It's every time Rex Ryan shows up It's this swarm of media

Just to sit and watch him crack like mid-level jokes And I just don't find him to be It's just sort of like a schick a little bit Fair It's fair No it's I think what it is is And he's become incredible at this over the years It's a filibuster

He knows that there are questions That he doesn't want to answer Gotta kill time So he's gonna come out there and be like Oh I'm this old folksy guy And I'm gonna talk about it makes sense There was a great impression by the way Sorry about that

Next category, yeah, that was great. The whole thing is. We're just on fire with impressions right now. It's no L-Way. Next category, most white thing. And the winner, Rex Ryan's teeth. The old chomper's, the whitest thing. And I just want to, I usually don't say.

The thing is the proper term, because we're not sure they're real. Who got beat out on this? The Indianapolis snowfall and Connor Oar. Oh, out. Conner's white. Very white. So, it doesn't help that I have a tucked in shirt right now. I'm not going to lie.

It's not working for. By the way, Greg just texted me is watching this back in the office. The boss is, you know, undoing me because he says he can see my ankles. And it's like, number one, these chairs are a little strange and I'm not comfortable with the boss

looking at uncovered skin in my body. How about you start? How about you start wearing a suit, Mark? And, you know, grow up in the room. You're 40 now. It's time. All right. Next category.

Best caught on camera moment. We referred to it earlier. This is runaway Bill Belichick, you know, with his finger licking a plate, trying to get the last drop of whatever his breakfast was, which led to a lot of discussion about what it was. Was it salad dressing? Couldn't have been.

It was 9 a.m. Maple syrup. Too sticky. Yeah, he licked it too quick for it to be maple syrup. He would have had to peck at it more. Here's my alternate chaos theory, some sort of a home fry, and there's, like, the crumbs, and he's using his fingers as kind of a vacuum to clean the plate. I like that.

That's a pretty, from the wilderness concept there. That was good. The biggest fall from Grace. this goes to the coach or GM or someone in the process here. I don't know, you know, this isn't picking on him. Doug Marone. When we were talking about being the, you know, you're the G, when you're the head coach and everyone wants to be your friend.

He was running the drills with the offensive lineman today on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium. Well, he was also walking by the media center when a lot of press conferences were going on. He kind of did a long, dragged walk through Radio Row. And it was kind of sad because he, he gambled on the fact that he was going to be one of these 32 coaches talking. And now all of a sudden, I mean, he's an offensive line coach.

He was like staring through the window, like a tear falling from his left eye. And yet I don't, you know, I guess you can't feel too bad for him. What did you get, $4 million there? Yeah, he's doing fine. He's well calm and said he's still in the game. But that was one of the biggest gambles, backfired gambles in a long time in this business. It's not a good sign when you're Gus Bradley and David Caldor from the Jaguars. And, like, three of the first five questions are like,

wait, we heard this guy's like a total jerk. Why do you like him? Their problem, though, was you respond by saying, I think it was Gus. First, at the Senior Bowl Mobile, he's like, well, humility, first of all. That was our main reason for hiring him. That's the shining characteristic that we've gleaned from Doug Maron. We should probably also mention here that we did see Doug one night

at a hotel bar, and we had to stop Mark from approaching Doug to ask him about what went wrong with a Jets interview. Intrepid reporter. He was, that was super intrepid. That might have put you like under the earth. He's a large individual, by the way. He's a big man. Like a front door type size.

Next category, best Mia Coppa. Best Mia Coppa, Marks Esselor. Ray Farmer, Brown's GM, owned up to his texting point. Came right out of the gate. Apologized, said it was me. It's not going to happen again. You know, but you find out that there was a, it was Patton's reaction to it, I thought was even more interesting, where he had to say, they asked him about it, and

Petten's an honest guy. We've learned that. He was like, listen, it pissed me off. I mean, he's like, I'm not going to lie. He's like, I'm not going to even tell you what my real response was in the heat of the moment. So the whole crew, the front office in Petton and Haslam, went to Florida like last week for this retreat, which I told on the last podcast, you know, Greg, how about we go on a retreat?

You know, we could all do this is a good idea, right? I mean, this isn't a retreat. This is work. Let's go somewhere and not work. But anyways. So I think Farmer had a lot of bridge building behind the scenes, but they seem to be in a good place at this point. I don't buy this that there's an epic disaster unfurling there.

They both praise each other. Connor is like, I'm trying to be optimistic, and Connor's another Browns fan who, every time I talk to him, it's just total darkness. I think that they have a very good, they made a recent change in the public relations department, and I think that they have someone that's very good at diffusing situations, like this, but I mean, I mean, you're starting quarter, but you don't have a starting

quarterback. You're, the guy that you drafted last year is, is in a rehab facility. I mean, and you're admitting, you're basically leaving yourself open to some sort of fine or susceptible to some sort of suspension by admitting that you're breaking league rules. Yeah, but didn't he have to admit? I mean, where was he going to go in that press conference if he didn't admit it right up up front? The other thing is if they find out, hey, by the way, we're taking away a second round pick or something. Then there's going to be more anger attached to this. This connects to that award. This is the most outrageous

man crush award. It goes to Mark Sessler. Mike Petton, your boy. We have photographic evidence. It's ridiculous. Of Mark in the front row of the press conference, looking up at Mike Patton, he's Santa Claus, and you are six years old.

Listen, I'm just doing my job. I'm covering the sport. I'm covering different angles. I'm writing it for the website, talking about it right here. Speaking different angles, he's so, Mark is so proud of the picture he has on his phone of the back of his head. Just the baldness of the head. It is.

And speaking of head, the Lesneed presents Best Hair Award. We would give it to Lesne. He was there, and his hair was awesome as always, but we can't give it to Les anymore. So we name it after him.

This one's a bit of an upset. John Elway. He's an older man. He's in his late 50s. Full wavy. Still mostly Sandy, not likely died. And a lot of people say,

what about Gary Kubiak? It's got the hair of the 28-year-old. It's getting a little suspicious. That's all. I'm surprised you didn't give it. To yourself, frankly. Well, I'm not a coach or a general manager. As soon as he walked out, I said that to everybody there.

I just said, handsome man. I mean, Elway. Handsome man. No, I thought you're talking about me. No. Okay. We think the hair is completely real. It's not a, there's no extension scenario going on in our way.

We're running out of time. So it's, most overused buzzword. This is like in the Oscars, they give out the awards that are before the show, and they don't even get, the people that win don't even get to go on stage. Most overused buzzword, process. Everybody loves talking about the process of free agency and the draft. We're going through the process. is overused.

The St. Elmo Awards, our Steakhouse, best cut of steak at Elmo's, the Flay Mignon. The best waiter at St. Elmo's Andy. Oh, he's a waiter. Fantastic. So good. Looked like a low-level Tony Roma. The best Combine Deep Sleeper,

which the three of us, Patra, Connor, and myself, Mark, was upstairs cranking away within the stadium's bowels. You announced this one, Connor, because we watched him for a good four and a half minutes. It's all about Jerry Lovelock from here. Oh, yeah.

You can write it down. I mean Prairie view A&M Guys got a cannon It's like This would be like us in 2000 Saying Tom Brady Keep an eye on it

I mean this is going to be This is going to be that kind of This is the next Eric Hippel That kind of thing I mean he I think he's just an extra arm though He's not actually in this right

Should we say that We should probably make that clear That takes a little wind Out of the sales Yeah But that arm is beautiful It is a great And finally

We'll do the most grim realization award That would be the Jets beat guys He went from Rex Ryan I know Mark but he was still somebody they were able to get headlines out of and now they went to Mike McCagnan GM who I like but yeah right and the new head coach he is not somebody that's going to give you a lot of

heat either Todd Bowles so you could tell and sitting behind the beat guys which is a good way to watch this stuff when you're at the press conference you can tell that they were a little like wow things have changed it's finally set in that the salad days are over I just remember like when when Rex Ryan was there You would have your main story and then you would have a notebook where you'd have like a couple items. Like there was a time when he guaranteed they would win the Super Bowl and it was not the headline on either of those things.

It was like the third item in a notebook and it's just like that is so far gone. Won't that beat still find a way to eat each other up over something? I'm sure. Yeah. I mean, it's New York. It's an angry pack of journos. I skipped over, but one last one before we get out of here because Mark's going to be mad at me. best vegetarian option at acclaimed Midwest Steakhouse.

I asked Mark, he went with bread. Well, listen, the baskets of bread were excellent. It was. Was there a runner-up, a close runner-up? That would be the vegetable drink with a heavy vodka-laced, like, tomato-type juice. Or that sandwich I wasn't allowed to bring into the Combine. All right. All right.

Well, that's it. Those are the Combine Awards. We'll never do them again. but I just want everyone to know that you listen to history the first and only Combine Awards maybe not you tell us on Twitter if you liked it or not

we will be here I'll be here until Monday you guys will be trickling out of here one by one patch will be driving because he's grizzled they said hey we're going to put you on a plane and say no I'm going to roll my windows down and drive to Detroit Chicago true story so yeah we'll be here

covering the rest of the event as it takes up but thank you for listening to around the NFL podcast special live from Lucas Oil Stadium. We will all be back in the studio next week. I think we'll do two shows next week. And then after that, we'll go back to three shows a week

with the draft looming. That's the next big event. It never ends. It never ends. It's almost like there's no downtime. It speaks volumes. That's it. This is Dan Hansa signing off for Quiet Storm. Space Ghost Kevin Fatcher coming at you.

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