NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Cowboys Cut Dez Bryant & Josh Rosen Talk With ESPN's Sam Alipour

Episode Date: April 13, 2018

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

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the NFL podcast. This might be bad. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hanzas, and I am joined. I'm in a room filled with heroes.

Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What's up, boys? Hey, Dan. Ooh, a little crack to the throat there, a little frog in there. Rough night last night. Yeah. Really? Yeah, we got a couple of drinks, a little happy hour at the garage, a local tavern.

And I showed up about 545, and I could already tell Wes was well on the path to Enlightenment. I think I'd only have one drink when you showed up. Well, you were in good spirits. So it was like, you know, sometimes when you're at a happy hour especially and you're in a good mood and it's like the first one goes down, it's just like, let's fly. And I could tell you had the let's fly look to you. Wes had the trajectory of, you could tell where it was going.

I'd say you're fully back, Wes, from what I can say. Yeah. Well, that was the first happy hour I've gone to in probably a year. Very good. I feel like we've been to a couple drinking occasions with you post Super Bowl on. Not official happy hours. I don't know what classifies as happy hour. We didn't have between five and six.

They were charging a full price at the owner's meeting. This is the Friday edition of the Around the NFL podcast. So much to get to. The big news, of course, is one of the most famous cowboys of the last, I'd say, 25 years, is no longer with the team. So we'll get into that. Also, we will check in, go get my lunch. Free agency props.

We will do a little housekeeping, see where we are there. Greg, I think you might like it. A little tease. Looking forward to it. And also, our draft quarterback draft series continues on Wednesday, of course. We had

Josh Norris of Rotow World. I almost said John Norris, again, the MTV Vijay. Forgotten by society, but not me, apparently, in the old hard drive. Josh Norris talked about Sam Darnold, who he was not a big fan of. Josh, specifically, a huge fan of who we're going to talk about today, Josh Rosen,

and also we will have on Sam Alpour of ESPN, who wrote a really nice profile, Q&A profile on Rosen that you could read that came out this week and then a little announcement at the end of the show about a very special edition of the Around the NFL podcast coming up next week. That's it. I laid out the whole show. Good setup, right, Greg? I don't even know what this special announcement is, so I'm excited. Very good.

Even better, then. All right. Let's get to it. Let's do some news, Lindsay. Dinosaurs are back, and they are not happy. Check out Erica Tampozy. You crazy for this one. She did a really nice job.

If you haven't seen it yet on Twitter, you can get it at the ATN handle or me and Greg's handles or whatever, wherever. putting video to Lindsay's, what are they called again? Promos. No, but there's the industry. Topicles. Topicles, that's what she calls them. Oh, really? I like that word.

That's sort of, that's a new lexicon. Greg was about to talk down to me about not knowing lingo. Of course. That is what Lindsay told us last Friday. They were called topicals. What was Greg about to say? I don't, definitely not that. Why are you saying topicals, idiot?

That's what it felt like. In your head, that's what it was. Yeah, I learn a lot about what Dan has. as a vision of me in his head. A lot of times he's responding to a ghost that's not here. In that case, an actual comment, but maybe ghosts as well. Yeah. We all have our theories.

But we're going to work through this, Greg. I feel confident, you know, who's not going to work through it, the Cowboys and Des Bryant. Nope. It's over, people. Jerry Jones met with the wide receiver on Friday. No pay cut offered, nothing like that. Jera just wanted to say it's time to move on.

And in a statement, Jerry Jones said, as an organization, we hold Des Bryant in the highest regard. And we are grateful for his passion, spirit, and contributions to this team for the past eight years. He will always be a valued member of our family. Mark will start with you on this one, 29 years old, statistically in decline for a couple of years now, and had a lot of money scheduled to come his way. So this was the type of move that the Cowboys probably had to make, but still not an easy move. This guy, in a lot of ways, has been one of the faces of this franchise for almost a decade.

I mean, I think we saw this move coming from, Des Bryant held strong, never openly said he would take a pay cut, said the opposite. And I really enjoyed for the past month plus the Jerry Jones and Stephen Jones, father and son, good cop, bad cop routine, where Jerry Jones is always supportive of Des, But Stephen Jones basically said, this is a tough one. There's no way you can match up this salary with what Des Bryant is on the field.

And I thought Albert Breer, for the MMQB, wrote a good piece where he basically said that the Cowboys coaches looked at Des Bryant and didn't feel that he was able to transform his game in a world where his speed and explosiveness was no longer present. One of those coaches said he does very few things really well at this stage in his career. And when I read that, that was the first time I thought Des is definitely getting released if they're talking about him. like that and actually dan this is why you're allowed in the uh lab that's right des yeah you you you called this three or four years ago when he got when he broke his foot you said you know what i just don't think we'll ever see the same des brian again it it's ironic that jerry jones's supposed you know father-son relationship give me a break first of all but like his close relationship

with des brian which theoretically is why they waited so long to cut him ultimately hurt des Bryant and I thought DeMarcus Ware on the breaking news coverage on the network kept it real where he said you know why they kept them so long because they didn't want them going to other teams

like they that this is a decision that they made okay maybe Jerry was the last one holding out that that's great but ultimately they hurt Des Bryant by holding on. Did they do something similar with Romo last year because that was there was money involved or how

when you could release them but that was well after free agency. They did it very similar with DeMarcus Ware, and so that's where he was speaking from, I believe. Right. And Greg, you were on network talking about how this was the move that the Cowboys haven't made in the past, but we are bringing up some names like Romo last year, although that was a no-brainer. Demarcus Ware, that was a tough release. And now, Des Bryant, there are examples of them cutting ties with these guys.

Ian puts it back, Ian Rappaport, our NFL Network Insider, about three or four years. And I think if you're reading between the line of what he's saying is that Stephen Jones is the one and maybe the rest of the front office maybe making more of the cutthroat traditional moves and no longer it's Jerry Jones making these sentimental keeping the guys too long and giving out terrible contracts

to their own players. I've been hammering this point I feel like for a decade at this point and it wasn't about money. I buy that because Des Bryant said he never really got a chance to he would have taken a pay cut. Jane Slater thought in the end. They have a ton of dead money on their cap.

they have no wide receivers on their team. They were basically just saying, like, we don't want. They have Tony Romo dead cap money. They've got a lot for Dez, so that is an issue. But I love the idea that let's keep him around so he doesn't land somewhere else. I'm fully convinced he's going to land in the NFC East and play the Cowboys twice a year. He's almost said that. There's tweets.

He's already out there saying it. It's just a matter of whether the Redskins or maybe the Giants, probably not the Eagles, but whether they have interest in him. And that would make, in the Redskins case, they could use a weapon. and the Giants definitely can use a weapon. That would be a lot of fun. Can you imagine a locker room with Odell Beckham and Desbri? Pat Sherman's head will just explode, as well ours.

Sherman will be in a mental hospital by week eight. Let's face it. It happens. Des was getting the one-on-one coverage that people think, okay, now Ezekiel Elliott is in trouble because Dez is no longer going to draw, you know, defenders. He was already, Elliot was playing against eight, nine men in the box throughout last year.

Des was getting one-on-one matchups. He wasn't winning. it. But I think he can still be successful as like a role player in another team. It's not like he's a bum. It's much better off with him as a number two receiver making whatever he's going to make a red zone guy. And he's kind of gives me Steve Smith going to Baltimore vibes that he just wants to light the world on fire. He's not Steve Smith. He's not Steve Smith. He's not Steve Smith himself pointed out. This guy runs three routes. He's not Steve Smith. He's working with a route coach now. It took him 29 years, but he is now. But you buy a fresh start then. You see it.

as a fresh start for Dez, Brian? I think you'll get a better Dez for this year. I think you'll get a good role player death. Maybe not Steve Smith in Baltimore, but you'll get a good role player. But he's got to land in the right place. Yeah. He has to have the right quarterback. And this always happens.

We joke about it all the time about how everybody connects guys to the Patriots. That would make sense to me. They don't have a deep wide receiver group and you put him with a veteran best quarterback in the world. I could see Des going for 1100 yards and nine touchdowns. I mean, I'd be shot. I'd be shot. But he's got to be shot. He's got to have the right set up.

They are pretty deep. If he has the wrong setup, Des will sign somewhere and disappear. What about Redskins? Redskins makes it. It's hard to see Des Bryant. It's kind of like when Peyton Manning went to the Broncos and it took your eyes weeks to adjust to see him in a Broncos uniform.

I feel the same way about Des Bryant, but I can kind of see it in a Redskins uniform. It's Thursday night football week two. Bingo. Redskins Cowboys sign it up. Falcons are another team, I think would be interesting. I think they could use another receiver. They talk about Red Zone.

I don't know. Yeah, it'd be kind of fun. Think back to all the struggles they had last year inside the 20 and near the goal line. And I just want to make, this is not, we're not doing the obituary on Dez's career because I think he probably has a few years left. But Dez pre-back injury, pre-feet, foot issues and things like that was one of my favorite players to watch this decade. I mean, he was just a perfect fit for the Cowboys. I don't think anyone's looked better in a Cowboys uniform. Well, you can make that argument, but there are other guys.

But he just was born to play on the Cowboys. and he was just such a dominant fun guy to watch in his prime. Burning question, though. I mean, he may be picked up soon, but can he get into the Greybeard's locker room for maybe a game or two to help that team out? That's a good thought, Mark. I mean, he's just sitting out there.

I would love to add him to the locker room, and maybe I will. In fact, he's on the team. You'll get a lot more coverage from NFL Network if you signed up Brian. You get an hour of coverage of breaking news. I do desperately need a receiver on the outside, but it does not help my...

I'm looking for some guys. can give me chunk plays and I don't know if you got to take what you can get. Right. Yeah. He is a perfect graybeard, but who's going to have the tough conversation with Michael Floyd? Oh, you've got to give him a call today. Mike Floyd's been having a lot of tough conversations over the last three or four years. He might be

used to it by now. So there you go. Des Bryant is there for the taking and we'll track his free agency process and see how long it lasts. Moving on, this is to me, the dummy story of the week in the sense of when you

a team that can easily avoid something that makes your team look bad, but you just walk right into it. The Seattle Seahawks have postponed a scheduled workout for quarterback Colin Kaepernick until they know more about his stance on matters relating to the national anthem, his collusion lawsuit against the NFL, and other stances against social injustice. Several sources informed of the situation told Rapsheet on Thursday. Seattle scheduled a workout two weeks ago but decided to postpone at the last minute after not having a clear understanding on how the quarterback would proceed on those

matters according to rap sheet my point there gregg is why did this ever have to be public shouldn't even even if they had questions why not just bring them in for the workout and then have internal discussions ooh we still feel uncomfortable then don't sign them why make a big deal of it like this or have all that set before you even give him a call like if we're not ready to take on Colin Kaepernick, what you want him to put to the side all of everything? You don't think it's fair for a team to ask him if he's going to continue to kneel? I don't think that's a problem necessarily to find out what they're doing, but that that's a term of his employment, then why are you talking to him?

Because he might change what he's going to do, and you think he could be an upgrade on your quarterback situation. But I think, I guess if you're saying then that kneeling is unacceptable with the Seahawks, And whatever your stance is going to be, we aren't on board for that. And then don't call them. Why? I don't get that. Why?

Why are you not allowed to do your due diligence on a quarterback and say, hey, what are your plans? For one, you could make the argument, you know, that it's illegal. But that gets into it. How is it illegal to ask him what his plans are? Because it's not illegal to, you know, Neil, obviously the Seahawks had a lot of people, you know, that's why I'm surprised with the Seahawks. they had a lot of people that were protesting. It isn't about the kneeling. It's about what every team has a problem with.

How much extra resources are we going to have to put into this one player versus the other 52? Why would you have to put in any? Because you're going to have to, he's going to bring the media circus with him if he does that. You know that. I mean, I think that you're, I don't want to accuse you anything, but you're being a little intentionally gullible here. Of course, you're going to have to deal with a lot more media if Colin Kaepernick continues to kneel. It's going to be a huge issue. I think that's fair for the team to wonder what his plans are.

I think to Dan's point, the way it played out, though, does not look, it's not seamless for the Seahawks. Or maybe it was another way to approach this and do your homework. It makes you look like that you're just not a strong-willed organization or you just don't have your crap together. I mean, either figure out whether you want this guy and everything that comes with them on your team before the workout or have the workout and then internally discuss it and then just don't sign them. But then to make this, have this come to light, it's just unnecessary controversy. Between the lines, it sounded more to me like, and this is just a total projection, but it was part of Ian's report, that the collusion case against the NFL was maybe a little more what they were either concerned with or wanted to know his plans. And I get that, but again, like, why go through this unless they scheduled the workout two weeks ago?

That collusion case was well underway by then. Yeah. I would look at it in a slightly different direction. Why is Caps Camp leaking this to the media? Why do you think you're going to get a job after you leaked it to the media? I don't know. To me, if you want a job, don't do that. Well, they also, yeah, that's fair that, like, you're, there's two camps that it's pretty clear.

The Seahawks are leaking their side of the story, and then you're hearing. In response to Caps Camp. Right, there were dueling insider. There was various messaging from various insiders, and it was one side and the other. And, you know, it just, I think it's a messy thing to occur on a Thursday afternoon for both sides. But you also have to answer the question, like if, let's say, someone knows that that work, it sounded like people knew that workout was set up there. Like, well, why isn't this happening? And you just, you tell the truth. Yeah. That's why it wasn't happening. Let's move on.

The San Francisco 49ers are dealing with a situation regarding their first round pick last season. Ruben Foster, who was arrested back in February, has now been officially charged with multiple domestic violence and weapons counts in connection to his arrest, the Santa Clara County District attorney's office announced Foster 24 years old, allegedly attacked his girlfriend in their California home. The victim told police that Foster dragged her by her hair physically threw her out of the house and punched her in the head eight to ten times. She was treated at a hospital for multiple injuries, including a ruptured eardrum. Prosecutor said, and then police searched the house, found a weapon. I'm not a gun guy, but a Sig Sauer 516 sounds like a pretty big-time

gun illegal to possess in California, a lot of heat on Twitter about, well, the 49ers should cut ties with Ruben Foster, but that hasn't happened yet. And it does bring back West, whether I don't know if this transfer is over to the Fortune 500 world or this office or anywhere else that he still has a job right now because he's a first round pick. That's the way I'm reading it. and it's not maybe a savory way to look at the world or the 49ers or the sport. But that, to me, if he's a sixth round pick, he's already gone.

Yeah, I don't think it's just the NFL in any sport. Your leash is as long as the talent you have. And this guy was one of the best rookies in the NFL last year. The 49ers crowed about him after the draft and said, we got him, you know, was late in the first round or early second round. And we thought about taking him with our first first round pick, like, in the top five. So there was a reason this guy was available, and I think we're seeing it now. They cut Tremaine Brock, who was a cornerback on their team, almost immediately after he was accused of domestic violence a year ago.

So that's a second round pick. So what's the rule that in San Francisco? That spells it out right there. I mean, this isn't even the first arrest that he had this offseason. He was arrested for marijuana possession too, which is not something you would normally get cut for, but it's clearly a huge problem for them. Well, and they have, Richard Sherman was at the, at the court and has basically said, I want to put this guy under my wing and help him out. That said, what has already occurred is enough of a reason to not be on an NFL roster.

Forget going forward. I mean, it's, the inconsistency is a reason that the NFL loses fans. And by the way, the 49ers, this is not like, oh, we really got screwed here. As Wes said, this was the reason why he dropped all the way to the bottom of the first round. There were a lot of character concerns and off the first. field issues and the Niners took a chance and it bit them in the ass so now they're dealing with the consequences and yeah he's still on the team and we'll see if public pressure affects that but for the time being Ruben Foster's still a 49er well I assume the NFL that eventually

he's going to get suspended because the domestic violence policy is pretty straightforward if he goes to jail do they cut him he's facing up to 11 years in prison that should be added as well into this I mean very rarely do you end up getting that type of maximum sentence But he's facing significant legal issues that could take him out of football for a long time, potentially. Moving on, the Cleveland Browns, they traded for Jarvis Landry before the start of free agency. And now they have him under contract, or they're close to having him under contract. The wide receiver and Browns are close to finalizing a five-year, $75.5 million extension Rapshue reports. That comes with 47 million guaranteed, a lot, a lot of money for a slot receiver.

Actually, more than 9 million more than Mike Evans got from the bucks. Mark, I think this like speaks to a concern that you voiced earlier this year around the time of this trade, that the Browns have all this money, but are spending wildly. And you don't want to see them in salary cap hell in two years, but this is the type of deal that potentially could hurt them. Yeah, this threw me because, I mean, I think Landry, Wes, you point out that you've got to go out and pay to get these guys if you're the Browns. You're going to have to do it differently than the Patriots and consistent winners pulling in star players to go get a Super Bowl ring. But this contract, I kind of, my jaw dropped because it's a lot of money. And the one thing about Dorsey, he's not the only person in that front office. They brought in others who, I would assume, have maybe a little bit more of a track record of keeping a clean cap than John Dorsey. But one. One of his reputations when he left Kansas City was that they left that cap in tatters. And, you know, you can say what you want about Sashi Brown doing this or not doing that.

But when they sign players to deals and they were not star players necessarily, you never looked at the contract and thought, what on earth are you doing here? They were fair contracts for the players they were getting. I looked at this and I cannot believe that Jarvis Landry is getting nine more guaranteed million dollars than Mike Evans. And I think if you're Dave Gettleman, you woke up. and you read this news and you thought I've got Odell Beckham on my roster? What on earth do I do? Thanks a lot, John Dorsey.

It's not what the good organizations do. Pay a slot receiver that much money, but good organizations don't have to because the organization sells itself. The Browns have to sell it with money. Moving on. Mike Wallace is a member of the Philadelphia Eagles, and he wants to make a little extra guap. He has a good chance to do it, too.

a $585,000 incentive in his contract. All he has to do is weigh under 250 pounds by Monday's start to Philly's off-season program. Right now, Mike Wallace weighs in exactly at 200 pounds. I mean, that's a hell of a weekend at Hanano is to get you in trouble. Could you do it? Is there any way a human could gain 50 pounds in 70-something hours? 72 hours, 50 pounds? I think Trent Richardson could.

Andre the giant potentially. If you're already like 600, like morbidly obese, maybe you get it up to 650 in a couple days, but I don't think. I don't think so. 50 pounds at a couple of days. You'd have to grow a new appendage. You would probably take, honestly, eating nonstop milkshakes and all that,

hamburger, pizza. Eat, eat like a 10-year-old child. Could you even put 50 pounds of food in your body in 70? I mean, that's. Joe Thomas, he had that recipe. for keeping on his way that he recommended that it was a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of whole milk every hour

all day. That's how Richie Incognito's insides are dead. But if you ramp that up to every 30 minutes, every 15 minutes, then... You kill yourself. What I want Mike Wallace to do, I understand it's a human challenge that few have ever ever...

Go out there this weekend, have an intense lost weekend. I'm talking about eating whole chickens, drinking everything that you possibly get our hands on and show up around 248. Still get your money. That would be fun. And that's, I mean, I want this agent.

This is an incredible incentive. What was the weight that Trent Richardson gained at Denny's, like 13 pounds in a weekend or something? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, shit. I'm out about that. Maybe it is possible if you're Trent Richardson.

I don't know. And I just want you guys all to know I spoke with the shadowy league figures to get your bonuses. You just got to come into camp in August. under 400 pounds. Okay. So together? Yeah.

As a group? Oh, not as a group. Oh, each. Each. Oh, that's doable. Yeah, they call these, there's, you know, unlikely to be incerned incentives and then likely to be earned. I guess this would be in the likely to be earned incentive. And finally in the news.

Oh, against all odds, Michael Crabtree versus Akeeb Talib. Back on. It's Crabtree Talib three, baby. No chain, no gain. why and you think how could this have happened because Crabtree of course left the AFC West, went to Baltimore and then you have Talib who got traded

from the Broncos to the Rams different conferences well guess what? The Baltimore Sun reported on Thursday that the two teams will have a joint a series of joint practices ahead of their preseason game on August 9th in Baltimore

and everything is back in play gentlemen. I know Like yesterday as we were doling out news stories, when this one came across, it was, is this going to Kevin Patcher? Is it going to Bergo? Is it going to someone else? No, no, this is going to Dan. David Ely actually had to at you because this is your kind of story. And I have to ask, after last years, you know, you track something last year during the preseason and training camp.

Aguayo. Folk. The biggest cliffhanger since that one episode of Friends when Rachel went to me. meet Ross at the airport after his work trip to China and was stunned to see Ross cuddling up to his new squeeze, Julie. Is this as big as

that for you? Are you tracking it to I mean, Foucaguayo? That was one of the biggest battles in the history of professional football. This is kind of I file it under a different scenario because they're not fighting for one job or anything like that. But you know Crabtree is wearing the chain again.

Greg, he's wearing the chain because if he didn't not wear the chain the second time, to take it off now would be to back down. To lose face. To lose face, to lose respect. And everyone's tracking it intensely. Right, yeah, you can't play in the NFL anymore if you don't show up to that practice of the chain. I'm serious. He's in too deep.

And one of my favorite stories of last season was before the second time the chain got ripped. He actually taped it down onto his chest before kickoff. So he cannot reach for it Because if he, you know it, West, you just said If you take off the chain, you lose the He-Man Alpha-Man-Alpha-Mail battle, you can't do that. After two times, sure. But after one time, there's not that much attention on it.

You know, you could still get away with, you know, putting the chain away. Where are these practices going to be held? They will be held, I think, in Baltimore or the area. So he'll be on his home turf, which will give him access to Because I was going to say, that would have been an easy drive. You could have been there for it. But I don't think it's crazy to ask, you know, in this new NFL, you know, can I make the trip?

Let's fly you out. It's a new landscape. I love it. All right. That's what's happening in the news. All right. We move on. It is time to continue our draft quarterback series.

We roll on. This will be the most important draft like ever. Guys, we need to talk about Josh Rosen. Josh Rosen Josh Rosen All right That's what you've gotten yourself into Sam. Here's Sam Alipur.

He is a senior writer at ESPN Magazine. He has an amazing Christophe's Prasinga's Avatar on Twitter. And he had this to say about Josh Rosen, the UCLA quarterback. He may very well become the first bold, informed voice to helm the most important position in America's top sport. Sam, let's start there.

Isn't that exactly what might scare some teams off come April 26? Yeah, it'll scare some teams off. But Josh is looking for a good fit. I think, look, he agreed to this interview. It's a risky proposition, putting a microphone in front of Josh, a guy who has gotten himself in trouble with his outspoken thoughts. But I think he agreed to do this interview in part because he really, really does want everybody, teams included, to know exactly who he is, because fit is important

for him. Yeah, you know, everyone wants to go first. I think Josh, a big factor here is cultural fit. If a team's on the fence after reading his full thoughts on a variety of topics, ranging from leadership to religion to colonizing Mars, then if they're still on the fence, you know, get out a lot because Josh is looking for the fit. Sam is referring to, as he said at the top of the show, a Q&A that he did with Josh Rosen, and I found it to be a fascinating look into Rosen and basically where he's coming from. That all makes sense to me, Josh, that he doesn't, Sam, he doesn't want

people to think that they're going to get a quarterback that's going to keep his mouth shut, that's not going to share his thoughts. And that, to me, that makes him exciting. Wes, I know you kind of feel the same way. Well, there's a lot of talk about just how intelligent he is compared to other football players. And to me, this is a sign of intelligence. It's about quality of life. He doesn't want to go to a team where he's not going to, where coaches aren't going to accept who he is. He knows who he is. He wants to go, even if he loses a little bit of money in the process. It's about quality of life. Yeah, I would agree with that. He definitely knows who he is, but he also knows what he doesn't know. You know, the knock on him are among the many knocks on

him, and these are all perceived character flaws, right? These are the analysis of the unquantifiable, but among those knocks is, you know, he's an arrogant know-it-all. I find the guy I sat across from for an hour is not that guy he repeatedly says the words i don't know what do you think he's a very curious guy he's a millennial in many ways he is i mean like take our our conversation about religion uh he is a culturally jewish jewish by heritage and you know attended catholic mass every day just to learn he was interested he was curious now he did you say every day uh sorry i was gonna say wow i think he's gonna go into the priesthood every sunday though you said right every sunday every sunday every sunday every sunday shows you how much i know and then and then on that note he draws me in

he asked me well what do you sit on it and i'm a muslim by heritage uh ancestrally i guess you could say and i too attended mass partly to impress a catholic girlfriend i've done that too And I, too, am agnostic, and we sort of saw eye to eye on that. And as he says, you know, I don't have the answers on this. I think it's strange to think you're born into the right religion. So he's on a search. He's searching. So, you know, again, he knows what he doesn't know.

And that applies to coaching. He does want to know the why. He wants you to tell him, if you're his coach, why are we calling this play? So scary. But he's also a people pleaser, he says. You tell him why, and he'll go out there and execute it. So, yeah, that could scare some teams off. But, you know, there's a lot of coaches in this league.

GMs who aren't threatened by that, who are not threatened by an inquisitive, smart quarterback. And if you don't think that applies to Tom Brady or crazy, that is Tom Brady, you know. Though she regularly says that Tom needs to be challenged, that Tom needs the why. Well, that's Josh. And surely there's a team out there for him. From the football side, we are pro guys. We don't spend a ton of time watching college. But I watched this morning his game against Texas A&M,

the incredible fourth quarter comeback. And I realized he threw a couple passes there that could have been picks that would have neutralized that incredible performance by him in the fourth quarter. But all this business about he's intelligent and his personality. I don't care if you're at what in GM you are. How do you not watch that kind of performance and some of his tape, compared to some of the other quarterbacks,

he's an incredibly natural thrower on the field. Why is that not superseding the idea that he's intelligent and inquisitive? I'm a little down. If you're a fan of a team that looks at Josh Rosen and says he's too much for us to handle, it might be time to find a new team. Doesn't he kind of feel like an outlier in this type of process too? Because in the profile, you mentioned that Jim Mora and S.I. called Rosen a challenge, but he's a full.

fun challenge to which Rosen said, I think if you take radioactive material and concentrate it, you can get something real special out of it. He's calling himself radioactive, which is usually not how this goes. Usually you're trying to sell the best version of yourself, even if that's not who you really are. But to me, that's how it came across in this profile, Sam, that he's just saying, I am who I am, and if you don't like it, don't draft me, which is kind of unusual, on my opinion. It's a different take, isn't it? On the draft process.

But he's a different bird, man. He's very, very unique. I've never met anybody like him. And at the end of the day, I agree with you. How do you not look at his tape, his skills? He's the most pro-ready quarterback in this draft. I mean, I'll leave that to you smarter people to talk about. I just interviewed him.

But, you know, at the same time, there are a lot of teams out there in conservative country. He clearly leans liberal. He's going to be a social activist. He's going to buy this time at first. As he said, he's not going to rock the boat until he's got a starting job. But eventually, if he does pan out on the field, he will be the face of a franchise with all that entails, a position that's usually manned by cookie-cutter personalities and, you know, with robotic answers.

I'm sorry. I don't want to put a microphone in front of Drew Brees' face because Drew Brees has nothing interesting to say. Amen. Thank you. Right? But, and for that matter, you know, Tom Brady and a lot of, that's why I'm calling him, or in my tweet anyway, not in this story,

potentially the first bold, informed voice to man, the most high-profile position in sports. Colin Kaepernick, is a bold, informed voice now, not necessarily when he was bawling out for the 49ers. So imagine, you know, again, assuming Josh pans out in the field, combining that with that platform and then his, you know, bold, informed voice, that's a change agent in the ready position. This guy can make a bigger impact off the field than on the field, and that's saying something. Yeah, I think that's absolutely right, and that's why so many of the things he said in this interview got a lot of attention that had nothing to do with football.

But one of the quotes that really struck me was about football, and I think it was really telling everyone focused on I'm the best QB in the draft. You know, everyone's going to say that. But what he said makes him the best QB is that he's the most efficient, monotonously consistent QB in the draft that Aaron Rodgers has a little flare. But if you watch Tom Brady, Peyton Manning Drew Brees, there's nothing explosive or Johnny Mansell like it's just quarterbacking. And when I watch Josh Rosen, like I am in love with what I see because you can see the throws. You can see him handle pressure because they had such poor offensive line play. You can you can see that the baseline seems to be what we call the Dalton scale, which is that in between whether he's a franchise quarterback or not. That feels like the baseline.

And usually NFL teams want a really safe, supposedly quarterback. Because I think the contrast between his personality and what he does on the field is great. Because when you look at him, he's the one I don't really see the holes in. He's the efficient guy that you almost feel like, gosh, in a worst case scenario, as long as he gets drafted by the right team, he can be an efficient, you know, Kirk Cousins Plus type of player. The contrast is stark, isn't it? It's really strange.

I see the same thing when I look at him. A monotonous, consistent quarterback, whatever that means. And then off the field, he's this guy who can speak eloquently on interplanetary colonization. He seemed like pro send the nukes at the tips of Mars. He seemed like he wasn't against the Elon Musk. Yeah, what the hell was that? I literally had to talk the interview and be like, dude, what are we talking? about right now. But I mean, boy, I honestly, I enjoyed that conversation so much. I went

in bracing to meet the guy that the NFL draft whisper machine had painted them out to be, which is a smug, entitled rich kid jerk whose teammates supposedly don't like him. the guy I met and said is a very chill guy, a curious young man who wants to learn, who wants to grow, who wants to save the world, by the way. And I don't know how you can come away from that interview, not being impressed by him. Awesome. Sam, thank you so much for coming on. You could check out the profile, and you really should, if you haven't yet. ESB in the magazine, you could also get it online right now.

And Sam, you can follow him on Twitter at Sam. Poor, A-L-I-P-O-U-R on Twitter. Sam, thanks so much. Thanks, so. Maybe I'll see you on Mars one day. You got it. There you go, Sam. I am so intrigued by Rosen and Mark, again, and the reason why we're doing this series,

you have to go back to 1983, really, to find a quarterback class that had the opportunity to have such a seismic change and make the difference in the following year. And that's what we're doing here. And Josh Rosen, he's the guy that's kind of, to me, the most fascinating prospect. And the one that, and as the Jets and Browns fans in the room, mark, we're not hearing our teams connected to them. And they're at the one, four, and three picks.

It's kind of, you wonder if our teams are scared in the same way it seems like other teams could be. It's, I agree with Greg, with your assessment, having started to watch these guys, that he stands out to me as the one that you can just see him on an NFL field. performing week in and week out in the consistent similar way and it highly bothers me that the culture and I'm not calling out a specific team

because we don't know what these teams actually think behind closed doors right now Right the Jets and Browns we don't know we don't know but if that's the case that some are passing on him because he is intellectual and interesting and curious

by the way he's not the only NFL player with those traits that would that would if I were a fan of one of those teams I would be extremely disappointed because I think you're passing on a potentially very special player if football is what he wants to do with his life long term.

Isn't that a fair question? This is a guy whose first love was tennis and came to football later. Isn't it a fair question to ask how important football is to him? And that's what I'm assuming these teams. It can't just be, you know, oh, we don't need a quarterback

who's interested in exploration of Mars. There's got to be, the more burning question needs to be because along with this stuff, if you're a quarterback, and we've seen it. If you're not all in, then you simply don't fit the culture of the position. We don't know if he is or he isn't. You're Jay Cuthlin, which is he's been connected to fairly or unfairly.

I give him the benefit of the doubt until I know otherwise, but these teams know more than we do, but it bothers me to think that anyone would pass based on a unique personality. That, to me, tells me the NFL and these front offices are so ancient in their thinking potentially. Very conservative league. Yes. I think that that's got to be a factor.

And I do think Josh Allen and Sam Darnold do have some of the traits that teams make mistakes on again and again. That Josh Rosen might have the, I don't think it's a red flag, but might not have the sex appeal as a player just because he's not quite as good improvising. He's not quite as big physically. He's got a really good arm and I think probably throws the ball down the field. He showed that he can do it better than those two guys. But it's not as big a like, wow, it's got a wow. it's going to wow you, you know, arm. And maybe that's part of it as well.

Well, now more than ever, improvising is important, but I think Peyton Manning and Tom Brady and Drew Brees have showed that Philip Rivers, too. What you do before the snap and how quickly you get rid of the football can offset that need for improvisation. And he's far from a stiff. He's closer to Drew Brees. Who's great?

He was one of the best tennis players in the country. The guy's a great athlete. He made plays. He made plays against pressure. Any courts of thunder posts in like 2012? I mean, I'm all in on Josh Rosen. I mean, for all of the above. So if the Jets take him, like I said,

he's got some great qualities to him. Wow, I'll take that as a compliment. He also has Greg. He has the, he's Jewish. Oh, yeah. And he goes to Mass every Sunday. But he claims to be either an agnostic or an atheist. But he's checking all the boxes.

So he's got Jew, Greg, Catholic, Dan, agnostic West. I'm not agnostic. I mean, atheist? I'm searching. Okay. Well, he, I will say this. And then Mark just, Mark covers everything. He's a spiritual monster.

I mean, he's not the only person that's plugged into Neil Negress Tyson, by the way, but I do appreciate that he's got a wide breadth of interest. Okay. There you go. Interesting prospect. Love this draft. It's going to be great on the Broncos while the jets take, you know. That is a fear.

The guard out of Notre Dame. Rose into the Broncos. False to the Broncos. And then it's like, oh. John Elway does it again. John he's back. This guy gets it. It's like, calm down.

This guy gets it. If anything, the lack of teams like connected to Rosen almost makes me think maybe they all do love him if you don't know. He's the one guy that none of the teams are specifically that connected to. John Elway knew what he was doing all along. He had an ace in his back pocket.

Just when he counted out John. Oh, he comes and get you. Oh, and he really set. Oh, I can tell all the rap ship. You might be time to move on to me a career at that point. I can picture it now. And Elway, he had been playing the slow game the whole time. He knew he had Case Keen, him a great locker room guy who could come in and start

for a year or two, and then you bring in the kid. This is just masterful work at the quarterback position by one of the best ever play the game. Hey, John Elway, one thing you know about John Elway, he gets his man. You get him in right, he's got to close the deal. He put him in a room, one on one. John Elway, he called him up. And when Josh Rosen picked up the phone, he said, I'm interested in whatever you have to say. Welcome to the Broncos.

He just had a connection. Oh, yeah. John Elway, he's a thinker, too. It's like the Cush phone call. John, Elway's not scared of someone that's socially conscious. Okay. All right. I think we wrung that one for all it was worth.

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Spartan, baby. Okay. A little housekeeping before we go. Got to get to this weekend. Get to the weekend and party. Remember where there's like party? I cannot stand that word. as a verb.

What, party? Yeah, it is, it's annoying to me when it's a, let's go party this Friday. No, just, that is, that is a, it is a troubling verb. It's a fair stance you take it. I agree. Mark is back from Europe. He's out on party. It's, yeah.

You did some partying with Rex Ryan and marking. Actually, speaking of 5Ks, we were, uh, Rex was a bout to run a 5K in Germany. And then we found it was rescheduled. Good thing it was. I don't think he would have done well. I don't have the lap band. Did that come up at all? He looks fit to me.

I did not come up. How was eating happening? I don't know how I would have gotten into that. I mean, these guys ate well, but he, he, it was a fit looking, it's a fit looking version of Rex. Remember, he said that when him and Rob were temporarily bonded again in Buffalo, that he was removing his lap band to honor his brother and go at their fitness plan together on even footing, which just sounded like a big excuse to be able to eat a lot of steak again,

but it sounds like he's working at it. I don't have a status update on the band. I thought you guys talked about it. You told me it was an open book. That never came up? That's like something inside of someone's body. I don't need to, I didn't go down that road. Why don't you just text them now and maybe by the end of the show?

Do you have Rex's number? You got it. Yeah, because we have to, there's more interviews to come for this thing I'm writing, so yeah. You want to share it? No. Can we call them right now? With the listeners? I don't think that would be.

Can we call Rex right now? No. Come on. Let's do it another time. Okay. There's just, think of all the listeners right now in their car going, come on, Mark, come on. Mark, come on. Let's just call them up. Lindsay, don't cape to peer pressure, Mark.

I think that might, that might not be a strategically good move right now. Let's do a little housekeeping because next week, or maybe the week after, but we will do our go-get-my-lunch props for the 2018 NFL draft. So let's check in on our last round, which covered free agency. We'll start with Chris Wessling, Wes. You said yourself that this was an important round for you to get back in the race. You're still in a little bit of trouble because you are currently at 3 and 8. We'll probably get a little bit better when everything winds up. But you had A.J. McCarran and Terrell Pryor signing with the Browns.

McCarran went to the bills and Pryor went to the Jets. So you lost two sandwiches there. Mark did not take you on that. Well, I thought it made so much sense. Within like an hour Prior it was gone The Browns had traded for Landry Or something

It was dead in the water You were gone You speaking of John Elway always gets this man You had Kirk Cousins going to Denver Didn't happen Foolish Of course

You got two right though Richard Sherman Gets more guaranteed money Than Teddy Bridgewater Teddy poor Teddy just got 500K from the jets I think Teddy's paying the Jets to play That was like that was really a pitchers duel

Sherman signed a below market contract, but still, what do he get? Like $5 million or something? Three technically, as long as he's on a team. It was a pitcher still. I did not take you up on that west, so Greg and Mark got sandwiches. And then you went out and said Kyle Fuller will sign a contract from a team other than the Bears. He did get a contract from the Saints, was it? Packers.

But then the Bears matched that. And you guys all expected that to happen. We all believed it would happen. We need a word. We need a vocab word for when that happened. So listeners help us out there. Yeah. Mark Sessler, currently seven and three, but that will likely change.

But for now, you're in good position. Kirk Cousin signs with the Minnesota Vikings. Congratulations. You went with the favorite, and that was smart. Joe Thomas retires before the draft. This one felt a little dirty, but you had sparrows, a Mary Kay Cabin. I did not have sparrows. I did not.

No, had I gone the other way? Let's go through the Rolodex. No, I do not have. We had some of other people and the Tony Grosy A little Grosy Daryl Reuter Why would they tell me?

There's random team employees that are termed like Inside the building people I just I went to tell us We won't be mad Each of my props Each of my props

All three of you took Had I said Joe Thomas Plays for another season I don't think any one of you would have taken me But just I'm being honest I think I believe I believe

Serious yeah Did anyone did you get Any type of inside info. Absolutely not. I promise you, I vow to you. Because even if you did, well played by you, sir. But I would tell you, yes, I did have a sparrow. It's a strong denial.

I would know, because I've said before I have a source on this or that, I would tell you. At the time, he did say that he was going to do the complete opposite, which is definitely a mark move to go completely different just on a whim as you're going. That's right, Greg. Good analysis, Greg. You made three sandwiches off to end, Greg. West there. Now you have two that are hanging in the air. Neither looks promising. DeMarco Murray signs with an NFC East team. I guess that could happen, but he is still out there.

He's a member of the Greybeards, which is never a good sign in mid-April. And you also have a big-time decision maker will be fired prior to the draft due to a botching free agency. You could almost already put this in the L column because it probably would have happened by now. Well, I think the due to botching free agency part, unless that were some sort of narrative that came out in the next couple weeks. I think I lost this one. In drafts 13 days away now, so you're looking like you're losing six sandwiches. It looks like you'll end up.

Although Murray, you never know. I'll be 7 and 9. Sort of like a Buffalo Bills type finish. Greg Rosenthal, big, big round, 10 and 5 currently, with more to come potentially. You also went with the favorite Kirk Cousins to the Vikings. Richard Sherman will not be among the top five cornerbacks and guaranteed money. You made three sandwiches off that. You did not, you almost, I mean, we've never had a perfect game.

And I would say you kind of came close because it probably was a discussion inside the building with John Gruden. But Marshawn Lynch gets cut before April 1st. He remains on the team and probably will. Wes, you did not take Greg up on that. So Dan and Mark made sandwiches. And finally. He took a pay cut. Yeah.

It took some money to stay. Trumane Johnson receives the most guaranteed money of any defensive player. That's a good one. And it got you three sandwiches. So 10 and 5 with the potential to get all the way up to 12 and 5 right now. Greg owns the guaranteed money space of this exercise. I honestly, I don't even have a head for that, so I would never make that kind of a bet.

And Greg has won multiple times on that. And that's a mental note. Never disagree with Greg on guaranteed money. Yeah, there's a strategy of this game. And finally, the old Zeus are currently 4 and 8. Richard Sherman signs within three weeks of the beginning of free agency. He actually signed even before it starts. technically after getting cut, made two languages there.

Arizona Cardinals sign a 2017 Vikings quarterback. They did. They signed Sam Bradford, but nobody took the Zeus runner, which cost me in a big spot. That's an Osweiler. That one hurts. Because I don't think that was too safe. I thought I should have gotten at least one sandwich off there. There were just so many Vikings quarterbacks.

Yeah. Kirk Cousin signs with the Jets. I had that premonition, but I actually read into the premonition wrong. I was actually just thanking Kirk Cousin. and wishing him luck considering my team, I think. And finally, it came pretty close on this one. Andrew Norwell, the guard, receives the most guaranteed money of all non-QBs slash endomicant sue.

It was looking good for the first few days, but then Tramaine Johnson and I believe... Solder, I think actually would have been the right answer for that. So I think he ended up making the third most non-QB guaranteed money, and that cost me three sandwiches. I'll probably finish six and eight. Greg, probably 12 and 5. Mark, 7 and 9.

And Wes, 5 and 8, it looks like. So that puts you into first place all time, Greg. And now you've got the draft coming up right now because I want that, I want first place back. Well, I just, I want to, I have some sparrows, you know, wondering about, you know, the future of go get my lunch because I haven't seen it. We haven't seen any actual lunch in a long time.

So this is just some parlor game, then we might have to change the name of it. I don't do parlor games. It's a parlor game. I'm out. I'm just begging for sandwiches over there. Maybe we should. Maybe we'll do some sandwich stuff because not only does Nick Fortier keep the standings updated

and all the bets going back years now, props, excuse me. He also has a who owes whom tab as well as that really fun soundboard. So make sure you check it out. Go get my lunch. org. Fun, fun, fun, fun. I'm doing a sandwich run next week. I found a new place.

Ouch, I owe a ton of sandwiches to everyone. I'm going to get in here and reprogram this page somehow. All right. You even know sandwiches to Patra. Oh, no, I do. This is bad. Sorry. Don't worry about it more.

Just pay us. Don't worry about everybody else. Maybe Patra send him something. He deserves it. Absolutely. That's working so hard cranking out the newsers. He deserves a sandwich. Big announcement coming up next week,

sometimes imitated. never duplicated and you know what I'm talking about subreddit you're the GM makes its return next week on the around the NFL podcast oh yeah

get the Kime bomb ready Kime bomb sugar bear and if you don't know what it is well you'll have to find out but just know that the general managers and head coaches of the NFL with the draft right around the corner

they're picking up the phones and they're making some phone calls trying to make their teams better, trying to get to the Super Bowl, hoist that trophy. I kind of feel like we lost a main character in Sashi Brown from this exercise. Who says he's out? He's still got a phone.

That's true. Still got a telephone. He's no longer the gym. So yes, that will come back next week. And also our draft QB series will roll on Monday. Very exciting. Oh, yeah. Carbs is back.

Chase Good Bread coming off really a breakout performance at the Combine on our podcast. He will come on and talk about Baker Mayfield and his thoughts on the Oklahoma prospect. So that's it. It's time to party, Mark. Time to party, Hardy. Stan Hansa signing off for Quiet Storm, the mailman.

The old boss and Lindsay Fulton behind the glass. Tell Monday! Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move to Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape. decision makers and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies.

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