NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - DeAndre Hopkins + Offseason Fly On The Wall

Episode Date: May 30, 2023

A room filled with heroes- Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal react to DeAndre Hopkins being released by the Cardinals (01:13) and discuss where he may play next. The heroes also talk about Jimmy Garoppolo's latest injury (13:33) and Jon Gruden's possible return to the NFL (16:45). After the break, the heroes take a trip around the league and pretend to be a fly on the wall in Green Bay (24:45), Denver (31:20), Las Vegas (36:45), Foxborough (47:45), Los Angeles (55:20) and Cleveland (01:01:10:). Note: Time codes approximate NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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From the Chris Wessling podcast studio, it's around the NFL. I am Dan Hansis. I think you're pretty cool. Listen. Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal. What's up, Wesent? I'd imagine there was a few people that heard that and felt that it was aimed at them appropriately. Right.

It couldn't be talking about us, though. The jacket bros are coming strong. Jack bros are back. Cool dads. Jack bros. You guys are total jack bros. That's the way I look. get it. That's a good nickname.

I don't want it, the clothing thing to become a, like, a day-by-day insurrection, because I just want to wear this sometimes just because I don't want to wear other stuff. When Levi comes out, though, there's a different Cessoril energy. We've talked about this. You got the, when faded denim Levi comes out, look

out. Rock and Rolls in the building. Yeah, but you've issued that they were a warning for that. I want to say, before we get into everything, including a little fly on the wall in NFL facilities here in the off-season, some news. I declare vengeance.

And it's been a while on late-week news dumps in the off-season. How dare you, Arizona Cardinals, on so many levels, release DeAndre Hopkins after we complete taping Thursday and just let us stew on our own mess. Thursday afternoon all through Friday through a holiday weekend are you kidding me

vengeance declared you do it on Monday morning 9 a.m. East Coast time Yeah it's uh it's they're not understanding how media works I I know that personally I'm with you on this on the vengeance streak we found out as we you know

just after we wrapped our show on Thursday and it's one of these situations where I was stuck in like a thicket of traffic and I thought there's a world here we're going to say this is such big news that you know circle the wagons, go back, get back on screen yard. You were worried about that text coming. Yeah, absolutely.

Just like this could bubble into more work. It's like the guys that did the Roquan Smith emergency podcast, this could be a situation. Well, it's the off season. And I don't like stewing in my own juices, but sometimes it's good for the... juices. Yeah, stewing your own juice. Somehow even grosser. But so just be mindful of that NFL transaction wire.

We're all in this together, ultimately, and we don't like it in scooped. Oh, it's unrewarding. I actually conducted multiple podcasts that it wasn't recording, but I just had to, like, get the juices out. Get it out. You just talk DeAndre Hopkins by myself. Ring out the underpants. In my garage. Good.

That's not worth it. You live a strange and lonely life, Greg. Yeah, so we are going to get into all that, because that is, timing aside, a very nice morsel. of information and speculation to get into around suddenly a number one wide receiver. Is he kind of, maybe? Suddenly hitting the market. But first, yes, we're going to get to that

and everything else in Da Nuz. Shotgun. Murray, out of the pocket. Seven seconds. Six seconds. Murray, gives it down field. It is. Oh, it's cool. It is caught DeAndre Hopkins.

No, the Hail Mary from Kyler Murray and what a play by Murray to DeAndre Hopkins to beat the bills in happier times for Arizona. The bills, by the way,

who probably took notice of that as they formulate how to handle their wide receiver room in the next days and weeks. But yes, the Arizona Cardinals and DeAndre Hopkins are no more because the official release came down

on Friday with a team announcement. His future had been in question since the end of 2022. He had a nearly $31 million cap hit the most among any wide receivers in the NFL, seventh highest overall. And the Cardinals say we're going to eat it. We're going to eat the pain.

And you could, Greg, you could follow and we're going to talk about teams that make sense. But you could follow again the path of what Arizona is doing this year, which is we could try to figure out something to spread this out or make deal that makes sense and allows us more financial flexibility, but we're not trying to really win this year. So we're going to swallow the pain, move on. And for a guy in Hopkins who arrived with so much fanfare three seasons ago and when the Cardinals pilfered the Texans

and that trade once upon the time for him now to go out the door for nothing in return and nary a playoff win, it feels a little empty at the end. Yeah, the entire Kyler Murray era which DeAndre Hopkins was such a big part, feels a little empty. That one playoff appearance we were at them getting blown out. Murray Magic, which we just heard was kind of the highlight of this era. And them taking the pain now really surprised me because they have $21 million in dead cap money

with DeAndre Hopkins' release. And if they had waited until June 1st, it is a rare time where they would have had to wait because they already used their first two pre-June 1st designations. You only get two that you can just use. before it's actually June 1st. But they said, if this guy's got to keep going on podcasts and basically talking about like he wants to get out of here,

what are we doing here? He doesn't have a sub-tweeting our quarterback and all that. Maybe we'll just throw it out there at the end or the beginning of a holiday week and the transaction isn't official, even as we're taping this, which is just shy of 4 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday. It should be official then.

It won't be official until the very end of the weekend. So if some team wanted to step up and actually trade for them in between, they could, but I think they were confident that wasn't going to happen. Doesn't seem like that is going to happen. Nobody wants DeAndre Hopkins at that price. And so they just like, you're right, make as strong a statement as they have so far that they're essentially not trying to win this year.

Yeah, it's a full-on rebuild. And I think that was clear prior to this move because DeAndre Hopkins hung out on that roster and it just didn't make a lot of sense. And yes, I think his own words hastened the process here. And it also tells me that, you know, we've seen this before. There were teams interested. We know that, and we'll get into it. But there was not intense interest in taking on his salary.

I mean, it's not that the Cardinals didn't try to trade him, but they couldn't make it happen. It doesn't look great for them. But I think teams knew that ultimately Arizona at some point would have to hit the ejector seat button and they'd have a chance to get DeAndre Hopkins in the open market. And this is a learning lesson for all of us because it happens a lot in this league

where a decorated veteran is on. the trade block and we do i remember it's doing an episode a couple months ago we're like all right what would he fetch oh yeah a late first round pick maybe and then things play out and you see the market isn't what you expect and yeah financially there's a reason for that there is a p ed suspension that's a reason for that you talk to certain people that follow the game closely even though somebody like j j wott comes out and says this guy still has the best hands in the league there are some deeper under the hood numbers that reflect he's not as good in man to man anymore he doesn't maybe have the speedy used to have.

So you factor all those things together and the trade value we expected it would have isn't there. That's it, Greg. However, I think it is fair to give this Arizona regime some heat because there had to be a better way to play this if you were going forward without Hopkins, whether it was the trade deadline last year or figuring out something before this happened.

And they just didn't do it. And I just think once again, I think when you make the list of what organizations feel like it's a little loose at the steering. ring wheel. The Cardinals are that team to me right now. Well, Hopkins talking about how he wanted stable front office management at his next place got me thinking of like, oh yeah, he went through the Bill O'Brien, Jackie Easterby mess in Houston and then went to the Steve Kime debacle in Arizona.

I guess he was working for Fox Sports. So people have seen Steve Kine, but he disappeared for a little while during that season. They weren't run well. He was suspended so they couldn't really trade him during last season. And I think what's key is when he returned, he wasn't the same player. He average 11.2 yards per catch that tied for the lowest in his career. He's not as explosive. I think he can still be a number two. And I think the Cardinals this offseason with their new GM, Montiaston, for it, probably

did blow it in some way because at least according to our insiders, trade talks were heating up previously. And basically, if they got any trade offer and they didn't. execute that trade before the draft, they messed up because something would have been better than nothing. Maybe it was just a fourth round pick or something like that. Maybe Hopkins' side made it seem like we're not going to renegotiate unless we get released. And so there might be more to the story and the Cardinals' hands were tied. I do think that the new front office did a nice job in the draft, basically lining up for the future. But to your point, like, if it was clear that

you're not going to get that first round pick or a second round pick for this player, why not hold out in a way to get literally anything you can. And there were teams interested. I mean, I think that his financials made him a tough trade for the team on the receiving end also. Bills and Chiefs have been the teams that are reported. But the Bills and Chiefs, I think this probably got in the way. I know that the cap means literally nothing anymore.

It doesn't really matter financially on any level. But if you go to over the cap, they are the second and third least amount of money to spend right now. So I think what his contract would have demanded would have required a lot of dancing around. that and figuring that out. Yes, and Bert Breer of Sports Illustrated wrote today that Hopkins,

interest in Hopkins is, quote, very tepid from teams and that he may have to choose between, quote, taking the bag and chasing a ring, and also Bert wrote that the O'Dell Beckham signing by Baltimore, which raised a lot of eyebrows for how much Beckham got considering his recent injury history

and having not played last year. um that spooked uh other teams from wanting to be involved with hopkins here so you know an anonymous executive also wrote uh told breer he can't run anymore so there are teams that are wary of getting into business with a guy in the wrong so i think it's worth the gamble i think the bills it makes so much sense to give hopkins uh some run here he doesn't have to be the number one guy with digs there as long as you keep digs happy mohomes obviously is going to make any wide receiver better and squeeze everything out of him. It makes a lot of sense for him

on a lot of teams with those two teams. I'd still be surprised if it's not one of that. Apparently, what's happening a little bit in an arms race type scenario is that Buffalo wants him,

there's interest, and the chiefs want him, but they definitely don't want the other team to get them. They're just mostly interested that the chiefs don't want the bills getting him. The bills don't want the chiefs getting him.

And the chiefs of all foot, there's reporting that inside the building they view Cadarius Tony as a fairly legitimate number one if they don't get him. I mean, Cadarius Tony's never been healthy. Cadarius Tony's never been productive.

That is quite a projection. Any other roster by the... It smells like a smokescreen a little bit more. I love Tony, by the way. I've been talking up Tony since he got drunk. I love him, but it's a little much. Any other roster that you looked at Valda Scantling, Cadarious Tony, Skymore, and Rishie Rice is your top four?

You would be killing them for like, why aren't you giving Patrick Mahomes more help? I know they have Kelsey. You have a very good offensive line, maybe great, and you have Andy Reed. So I'm not personally worried, but they do have a major need. And I think the bills have a need, too. I mean, he would fit in great as a number two.

Complicating factors, though, is that I want to call him a vixen, but men can't be vixen. What do we call St. Omni? Aminous? I mean. St. Aminous? It's the agent who's not really an agent that the NFL has been telling.

Dasty. Dashing? Don't dashing. I mean, I want a more. More boating? Yeah. A man biscuit. Man biscuit.

We don't know what he looks like. We found it. I mean, he could look like me. Well, I mean, maybe I am a man biscuit. You're a little man biscuit. I love a little snack on you. What's better than a biscuit? I don't know what's up with the St. Omni thing, though.

So he doesn't have a real agent. Teams, according to pro football talk, are anxious or worried about emailing Hopkins' as representatives. There's an update here. The Amni is involved. It's very strange. Just before the show. Oh, he's hired.

DeAndre Hopkins hired Agent Kelton Crenshaw up, Clutch Sports. Okay. Clutch with a K. Clutch with a C for you for digging up that little nug. Sure. Timely. Well, we don't want to get banged again like we did last show. Well, what's up with... I want to know what St. Omni is doing behind the scenes, though.

Mark with a C. Don't ask questions. Because he's... It's not like he's not getting it done. He helped get Roquan Smith deal done. He helped get Laramie Tunsel, one of the highest paid players in the NFL done. So there's something to St. Omni is doing. and that's really speaking to the people.

I mean, he's also given himself a great name. In other news, also something I dropped Thursday after our show. The athletics to Sean Reed reported that Jimmy Garoppolo recently signed quarterback of the Raiders underwent foot surgery after signing with the team. He's expected to miss, yes, this is the same Garoppolo who is always hurt. Always, when he's on the field, put him in a good situation. He's a performer. When he's hurt, he can't help you.

And he's always hurt. And he's out for OTA's. Reid reported that Jimmy G's recovery timeline is unknown. That there's a sense of the team is confident he'll be ready to play for the start of the regular season. Jeez. But we don't know. They don't know. And then your boy, Gregie, your old boss, Florio, did some digging, got his hands on that contract.

And reported, and a good job by PFT here, that Garoppolo can be released without penalty by the Raiders. this summer because of that foot injury. So if it's a situation where it's not progressing, they can just bail entirely out of the Garoppolo situation. Feels like kind of a disaster potentially for the Raiders here. Yeah, well, that's so that the thing they did business-wise, which you just mentioned, was this addendum G inside the contract that created all this flexibility.

Yeah, sure. Like, so there's a disaster in waiting. Jarrett stood and walked out the door, had one great game and then one not-so-great game. game last year. Brian Hoyer is your backup quarterback. He's 37 years old. And you have a rookie, Aidan O'Connell, is the only other quarterback on the roster right now. Carson Wendt. Well, and so actually, Scott Turner is their past game coordinator. So that either says, no, I'm going to tell everyone definitely don't get Carson Wentz, or I've at least worked with him

before. Or, you know, there is a partial owner there. Well, that's the other certain guy. Tom Brady. Now, the rules of the NFL are. that you can't be a partial owner and also be a player unless it's approved by the other 31 owners and there's contractual. Why would anybody in the AFC West sign off on that? So I don't

think that would fly if this thing is as official as they say. It's crazy though because the day Jimmy G. was signed they did the press conference. If you guys remember it was delayed a day. Right. And then it was delayed the next day. And it was all because of this addendum G.

They, he was in the building. He got there, and they failed him on the physical. It's kind of, that's got to be an awkward, it must have been an awkward 24 hours there. And they were like, oh, it's no big deal. We're just crossing T's dot and eyes, nothing to worry about. Whereas there was totally something to worry about. He should have gotten that surgery right after the season, but I guess he was trying to avoid it happening.

Remember, it was the same injury that, why he missed all that time. And his surgery timeline was weird. Yeah, they said, oh, he might be able to return for the NFC title game or the Super Bowl. They thought he might play in the Super Bowl. I think that's what banged them. They thought if we have a chance for him to play in the Super Bowl, he would. But now... So you were going to bench Brock Purdy on a heater for the guy with the...

I don't know. Let's stick a pin in all that talk because it's going to come up a little bit later. Finally, in the news, John Gruden. Gregi, do you remember John Gruden? One of the central figures, I would say, of this... podcast for its first seven years as a broadcaster in a big spot a lot of different opinions on uh gruden as a broadcaster we talked about it a lot and then of course uh as the richest coach in NFL history at the time for the Raiders hard knock star as well so yeah his his DNA is

everywhere on this show but uh he also kind of got himself run out of the league i like me bringing him up as if the audience has no idea who's done you never know people probably uh gruden got out of the league during in the middle of his tenure, head coaches of the Raiders after he came out of retirement there are the Raiders again because of some emails that surfaced that had some

you know inappropriate language we can say. It's a racist. Yeah, it was racist language. I don't remember exactly what it was. I'm not trying to pussyfoot around it, but it was whatever it was, it was enough to get him fired

right before they played a game in the middle of the season. So Gruden has been laying low for a couple of years. No Corona commercials. You notice that went away as well. Yeah, but sponsorship usually follows. Sure, there was probably a board meeting for the Corona Beer Company. I don't think it was a long one.

They did a vote. It was like 7-5. And they're like, all right, we got to get rid of them. You're going. Kudos to the lady in the corner who was like, what do you guys think about replacing him with Snoop Dogg and Andy Sandberg? They're like, actually, that'd be great. Right, right.

I mean, I love Snoop, but Snoop, not a Sterling record. either, like, when you look at, like, his past. That's true. They, like, dancing with the devil a little bit. That's accurate. But you put Samberg. I mean, I love Snoop where we're right across from his clothing store. He's actually got two clothing stores in the same mini mall in which I get Jamaican food once a week.

Have you shop there? I never shop there. Is it a clothing store or is it sell those dolls? It's clothing. Pop figures. Now I've walked by it enough. It's clothing. But there's pop figures in there because I think that's what the line is for.

There's lines outside the building, yeah. Well, when I looked in, I just saw. They're figurines. They're like collectible figurines. They're called pop figures. Really? I mean, I mostly saw. We'll do some digging on this.

You know, sneakers, some, you know, shirts, what now. I've not gone in, but I do appreciate they put the sound system with speakers outside the shop. And it gives that a hell of a career. That's good vibe to the whole mini mall. Can I just ask, sorry, you see people are lining up for. for dolls, for figures. What kind of, what does the... They are, it's a brand as Funko.

They're pop figures. My sons have some. They're like $10, $20 and there's specialty ones that are even more valuable. They're collectible items. Okay. And they're kind of like, think Cabbage Patch kids, a new generation. I always thought they were lining out of the shoe drop. Okay.

I can be wrong. I think you might be. But there's like pictures and photos. All right. Let's get back. Well, they look pretty cool. Anyway, Gruden has come out of hiding. and the Saints are responsible for it.

They bring in Gruden to help Derek Carr, his former quarterback during his Raiders run, and the offensive coaching staff under Dennis Allen. Nola reported this on Friday. So Carr and Gruden, Mark, have a connection there, and I would imagine Gruden wants to be back in the mix in some way, and this would be a first step toward that. Yeah, I find it, I mean, I get why it's happening from a football angle.

You know, it's been a while. since we've seen John Gruden. But I find it interesting that a year ago, the Saints offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael kind of shrugged off wanting to do larger duties, and now he's bringing in a consultant to teach someone, essentially his offense. It's not the offense that Gruden teaches

is not vastly different from what the Saints do. But I guess if it's anything you can do to make Derek Carr feel a little more comfortable to surround him with a coach that he knows, I find it also interesting because I spent most, most of the car, Raiders, Gruden tenure, not really believing that Gruden was all in on Derrick Carr.

True. I think it's just Dennis Allen doing a solid for a guy who reportedly wants to get back into the league. And this is a little bit of a trial balloon. How much blowback do we get? I asked a little bit,

just I'm curious if the Saints would hire him. It doesn't sound like they're hiring him necessarily, but it's just someone who, Gruden, who clearly, wants back in and this is a friend of his giving him a solid. I mean, Greg Williams got back in the league pretty quickly, very different circumstances. Yeah. But it's just saying it's an old boys network where nothing would surprise me when it comes

to Jordan. The NFL might exert whatever power they have on not wanting John Gruden into the league, though. John Gruden versus Roger Goodell and the NFL was a bubbling legal battle. I think it might still be going on in the Nevada courts. Yeah, and just by way of a backstory, Gruden made the very like kind of boomer dad mistake of just writing freely in an email,

a company email connected to former Washington general manager, Bruce Allen, and in the emails, there's uses of misogynistic, racist, anti-LGBQ language, complaining about the league hiring women as referees, teams drafting gay players, players protesting the national anthem. It was just like, bro, are you serious? From it's like John Gruden at Raiders.com to Bruce Allen at Washington.com. Come on, guys.

Washington.com. And they, I believe they kind of, they had a falling out Bruce Allen and John Gruden because Allen got buried as part of all this. Right. And that only came to like it wasn't an investigation of Gruden even, which is, I think Gruden led to. some legal action. It was an investigation of Washington's team that uncovered Gruden's comments that then were leaked or got out there and away we go. Anyway, that's what's happening. In the news,

let's take a break and fly in the wall time. It's 5.23 p.m. One of your kids is asking for a snack. Another is building a fort out of your clean laundry and you're staring at a half empty fridge and thinking, what are we even going to eat tonight? Or you could just hello fresh. It. With over 80 recipes to choose from every week, including kid-friendly ones, even for picky eaters, you'll get fresh ingredients and easy step-by-step recipes delivered right to your door. No, last-minute grocery runs. No, what do we even have, fridge staring? And the best part, you're in total control. Skip a week, pause anytime, pick what works for you. It's dinner on your terms. The kids can even help you cook. Yeah, it's going to be messy. But somehow, they tend to eat the vegetables they made themselves. Try Hellofresh today and get 50% off the first box with free shipping. Go to Hellofresh.c.ca and use promo code Dinner50. That's Hellofresh.ca promo code Dinner50. Hellofresh.

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Upgrade to smooth high-quality streaming with Intel Wi-Fi 6E and maximize game performance with enhanced overclocking. Win the tech search. Power up at Lenovo.com. Lenovo, Lenovo. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin, and this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel?

That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more.

Oh, God. How annoying. Flies, annoying? Yeah, they are. All right. Welcome back. Good fly talk. I'm struggling to get rid of some flies

in the new house. Tough sitch. It's Ant Season 2, where I live once, you know, the weather, springtime hits, they start migrating in the house, and you just can't get rid of those things. What do you have, like, jars of, like, open jam sitting around?

I got two young children. Well, that'll do it. And not now a dog, but maybe the dog can help. I don't know dogs. Train them to just lap up ants. Maybe you'll develop a taste for them. Feels like anti-dog behavior. Yeah, probably.

Fly on the wall. So there are things that we know in our league that are reported or that teams and players and coaches in front office people will publicly state. and then there are the real conversations that are happening behind closed doors at the team facility and this segment

is our way of kind of giving you a little bit more information or speculation on what those conversations might be and then we discuss that's the segment that's how you say I want to see you start this thing I would like to actually defer to you

I'm going to defer to you Greg to start I think no one is quite sure of the tone and how we're totally doing this, although we've done it in the past. Hey, it's May 30th. So just have some fun with it. I am a fly on the wall. Those beady eyes. Don't swat

at me in Green Bay. Right near Lambo Field. Pretty special how, you know, the practice facility right next to the field, right next to the stadium. It's all one. It's just a small town. It's good. It's a really unique thing about the NFL. I'm a fly

in Wisconsin, and I'm listening to what Matt LaFleur is talking about when it comes to Jordan Love in all of his young weapons. And I'm curious if this fly is really picking up on the anxiety in Matt LaFleur's voice. I don't know. I want to be a fly there to find out

how confident he really is in this young quarterback, how confident he is in himself, famously called the young bearded boy by Keith Hansis. This is when we find out if he's really a man as a coach. There's no Aaron Rogers. There's a quarterback who's been as up and down when he's played in the preseason and little regular season action as any quarterback possible. Tons of great plays, tons of head scratching plays.

But it's not Jordan Love surrounded by a team of veterans to help pick him up. it's surrounded by the youngest skill position talent, especially at receiver in the entire league. They're going to be playing Christian Watson, Romeo Dobbs, who are second year players, Jaden Reed, a rookie. And then at tight end, two more rookies, Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft.

And so they've been on the field now for just a couple weeks. We're just starting OTAs. And as a fly on the wall, I would just love to hear the real talk between LaFleur, and his coaching staff of where he really thinks Jordan Love is right now and where he really thinks these wide receivers are right now. Because I think you can find out a lot early and whether he's that confident.

And frankly, just by the tone of his voice, because my fly is particularly smart, like how much self-confidence he really has that he's going to show the league that he's the guy who's been leading these 13 win seasons. I like this. This is a good flywork. I would say that I think you have a star potentially in Christian Watson

and Dobbs showed a lot too. And I think if you're LaFleur, you're maybe walking around with a little bit more of a strut and a little more confidence because you ultimately won this battle with Aaron Rogers. I mean, it was like Aaron Rogers sort of controlling the coaching staff

as he's want to do. And, you know, all this off-season drama year after year, it's, I think if you're a fair-minded Packers fan, you'd say, we're resetting. We don't know what Jordan Love is. There isn't actually high expectations of Jordan Love at this point.

We understand that he's got a young offense around him. It almost, if anything, buys Matt LaFleur time where the narrative before was like, yeah, you can win in the regular season, but come every January, you get axed, and you're the coach that can't seem to win these playoff games. And now it's like, we know that you're talented, you're a good coach. It's your job to show what you can do in a young quarterback, and I don't think there's an expectation has to happen starting in week one. Yeah, I don't know if I ever saw it as a Rogers v. LaFleur battle where it's more like he

outlasted Rogers and then the circumstances of the love drafting have now presented this situation and him as a first round pick and I think what it I listen he has a 712 winning percentage as a head coach and that's great even factoring in a losing record last year but I think myself certainly Keith Hansis uh in the garage there in Culver City with their bearded boy that was three years ago but um you know even though the record's great and they've won a couple they won a couple playoff games you know never got over the hump but it's always been a little bit like okay but like is Matt LaFleur like you can talk him up because of his record is a top coach but what's he really about like is this guy legit and

that's why this year it's a great kind of subplot in the NFC and I think I think it's going to buy him two years because even if I think Jordan Love doesn't play well or let's say he like is terrible let's say he has a really bad year which is within the range of outcomes I don't think that would get Lafleur canned I would think you would get another chance next year, whether it was year two with love his starter or if they went in a different direction. But at the same time, I think certainly he could be strutting around with confidence, but also there's probably a little part of him that's like, all right, and spotlight is going to be really on me now is for all the frustrations that Iron Rogers became kind of

bigger than the team, he took all of the kind of spotlight and for better or worse, the good and the bad that came with that. And now it's going to be right on the head coach to find a way to make this young quarterback play at a high level. Plus, it's the offseason. It's beard and body time for Lefleur and hair. And he got eyebrows. He got a lot of shots from Rogers, compliments, really, but a lot of mentions of how tight the eyebrows, the beard, all of it were.

But the love contract is partly why I want to be there and hear what they're really saying. Because I was surprised. It did, to me, people say, oh, it was a good deal for the Packers. It was good business blow about, like, it did show to me a lack. of total confidence in Jordan Love, which is fine. I guess it makes sense. They're not totally confident in him, but I was a little surprised that they're not going into this new era

with Jordan Love with two feet in. It's kind of one foot in and to your point, he could stink this year like they can get out of it after this year. So how confident is he really? And how confident with all these young players around him? I find them finally intriguing. Because since 1992, every coach has had Brett Farver, Aaron Rogers, as quarterback, and now we're, like, and totally

uncharted. What's this is a theme with Mark? He's only intrigued by great teams once they stink. Right. Like the Rams? Once the star's gone, typically, is when Mark thinks we're interesting. It's an opposite bandwagon move. So I listened, because I was curious what the fly segment really was, so I actually was Googling it. Yes. And I say the same exact thing. And, well, similar is. Yeah. And first of all, we both found that

there's some podcast called Fly on the Wall. with Carvey and Spade that talk old S&L. So it was getting in the way of our Google search. I found the first time we ever did this. And we were talking about McVeigh as maybe the next Walsh. And Mark said, well, let's see when he has, you know, something. Yeah, more like Brandon Walsh. Something happened to him.

Like, that is when I'll be interested. And you were right. You're now more interested in the Rams now that they've struggled. Yeah. I believe in, you know, what I've said in the past, it will come true. Go ahead, Mark. Let's head to another facility. I am going to fly in an emptied-out office outside of Denver, Colorado.

And it's the, you know, the fly is thinking, you know, no one's here to swat me away. I'm also not sure as a fly that I actually can hear the way that humans do, which puts a bit of a log jab into the concept of the segment, but we're going to forge on there. But into the doorway. Could it help me if I told you, you can hear? I can hear. Great. Actually, great hearing. Otherwise, segment over.

But like, into the doorway comes Broncos head coach, Sean Payton. And he just comes into the middle of the room and he just starts giggling. Because this was Russell Wilson's little private office from a year ago where he'd go up and, unlike all the rest of the players on the roster, have his little meetings and phone calls and his special little time in his little corner office. Out. He gone. Because now Sean Payton has basically made it very clear that these, the.

Russell Wilson experience is going to be rained in hardcore. No more private office, no more performance team, getting special access to the building and, you know, waving feathers at Russell Wilson's hair and flexing his muscles. He now has to prove that he actually can play football in this new offense. And while there is a lot of belief that he'll be at least serviceable because it's Sean Peyton's offense, I just think that where Nathaniel Hackett had no choice but to endure Russell Wilson's horrible bottom five play all season that I want to know as a fly.

I'm going to start to fly out of this little office when Sean Payton walks out of it. And I'm just going to track him quietly so that I don't draw too much attention or get swatted and listen to little conversations between him and General George Patton, Peyton, the general manager, and just what in general the agreement is. Because if Russell...

Do you think they've spoken yet, Patton and... I think they're on the same page about something because Peyton is lucky to have a job after trading those picks away. I think Peyton is on this. George Payton is on the same page as Sean Payton in the same way like Tom on succession was on the same page as, uh, what's his name? Greg. No.

Greg Deeggs? No, no. Oh, Mattson? He's like, yes, sir. Anything you want, sir. I'm bendable, sir. I will get the players that you need. Subservient.

I totally agree with that. I don't think Peyton is sitting in the power seat. He's lucky to be there at this point. It was a terrible mistake. Patton. Well, they're both. Peyton, so that's a problem for both of us. I thought we decided for this show's purpose.

We were just going to call him General Patton. And it's even more important now that Sean Payton's head coach. Peyton, I think, since it's in the power seat. Patton is lucky to be in the building. But I think that there must be, and I just want to this is to me quietly, I lauded the media a couple weeks ago

for not starting to dive into billions of think pieces about Russell Wilson, the rebuilt, you know, bounce back quarterback. And I just want to know what the actual verbal agreement is that if Russell Wilson comes out through all of camp and flat lines and then lays multiple eggs in a row

in the regular season, how quickly, how soon do we see Jared Stidham, who they paid a lot of money to? Halloween. I think he gets about six weeks or so. I think that's fair. I mean, I think it's like you need to have been given power to move on from this. Can I throw out... Unlimited. Can I throw out

because we're heading towards the new season? And that was tremendously confusing at points, and not your fault it was because of the last names right can i call um a measure to order and get a vote and has to be unanimous to pass that on the for the purposes of this program moving forward for the duration of the current general managers stay with the broncos yeah that we now uh call him kevin saunders wait what's wrong with general patten or general george but i i'll write that down i'm just saying i'm just saying that way he has we will never confuse that

the Peyton, Patton, Peyton thing. Right, yeah. And, like, now he has a totally different name than the head coach. And it will, what just happened now will never happen again if he's Kevin Saunders, the general manager of the Bronx. It's even worse when you have to write about both of them. We've had that before where it's a Smith and Smith and we have to put the first name back in over and over. And I stepped right into it.

All right, Kevin Saunders, it is from now on. And if you happen to have missed the May 30th episode of the around the NFL podcast, it's going to be confusing. If you're friends with anyone that listens to the show. Let them know. So everything's covered. And it kind of reminds, Kevin Saunders reminds me of Steve Sanders, who's, you know, an all-time television character on Beverly Hills 902 and now.

Right. And I mentioned Brandon Walser earlier. Yeah. Everything's tied together. All right. Maybe we tweet that change out. All right. Behind the glass, can you just make note of that,

that the general manager of the Broncos on this show is Kevin Saunders. I think, by the way, Russell Wilson, like, has no excuses in a way. like this offensive line looks pretty good. They're quite deep at wide receiver, and he's got this amazing coach. But if you look at what's worked under Sean Payton, what he prizes, it's kind of the opposite of what Russell Wilson is.

It's closer to a Teddy Bridgewater type. I think that's why he liked Teddy Bridgewater. Drew Breeze is the Hall of Fame version of that, but it's like quick decision-making, out of your hand, fast, over the middle of the field, literally all the things that are the opposite of what Russell Wilson did well,

even when he was one of the best quarterbacks in the league. It's problematic. Can we head back to the desert in Vegas? Sure, why not? You're a fly. Because listen, I'm just a fly. I don't know nothing for nothing. I have no agenda because I only live for like 30 days. Right. Is that true?

That's it. It's about a month I got. So when I tell you this, I'm not trying to further my own career or hurt someone in a way that will allow me to advances as a species or 30 days it's about four weeks and i'm gone so i was in this raiders facility and um there was uh it was a dark room and i'm just going to need your guys help with this and i'm going to apologize uh to your producer eric um ahead of time um because i think this will give him a little work in uh post production so apologies eric from the fly me um so this man uh he was wearing kind of a hoodie dark hair about you know 40 something maybe late 40s uh he was hunched over this was i should let you know this was about

late last week um okay and uh and this is just again i don't know i don't know what any of this means but here's a translation or here's a um just a transcription of what this figure was saying, and then he fumbled for, it's like a black rectangular device with like buttons on it or something. I don't know what. Calculator, an iPad device of some sort, or?

I don't know. It was like something he could talk into. Oh, a cell phone. A phone. A phone. Yeah, you're fly. I know. You just don't need a cell phone.

Yeah, it was in. his um it was in the compartment there's like a compartment in the the fly seems so intelligent about some aspects of human life and yet it's like he was wearing these pants pants thank you okay uh and he took out the the phone from the pants and then he's hitting the phone and um the first three digits that i could see were six one seven i don't know if that's uh it's a boston area boston area code uh and i appear it seemed to have gone straight to voicemail and then this this guy left like a sobbing message he was really emotional yeah to some guy named uh bill or william and he mentioned something about regrets and again

i'm just a fly actually bill o'brien sucks was said at one point and then a bunch of pleases and then um he put down the phone and then sobbed again really at an emotionally high register alone in this room until, like, it seemed like a staffer came in and he very quickly kind of rubbed his eyes and kind of walked out of the room with his head down. So I don't know, like, all the specifics, but someone was very upset about the state, I would imagine, of this business, whatever this business is.

I've been doing, I've been digging while you've been talking. Okay. And there's a couple candidates here. Okay. But I did look up the age of head coach Josh McDaniels, who likes to wear the hoodie like his former friend Bill, Belichick in the Boston area. And so he's 47, just turned 47 during the offseason.

It's got to be him. Got to be him. You could see why he'd be very frustrated with what we talked about in the new segment with Jimmy G. And yeah, I think it's pretty common to have the Patriots on Speedaw. The last time that Josh McDaniels ventured out as a head coach, it was a one-and-done disaster scenario with the Rams. Actually, as just as an OC, last time he called plays outside of New England.

And that offense finished 32nd in point. 31st overall. And here he is in a situation potentially on a Raiders team that I felt even weeks ago was a floating ship in the darkness with no quarterback potentially. He must, and I have to get going, I have to lay some eggs and the carcass of a dead deer.

But he is entering his second year in Vegas. His career record is 17 and 28. So we just talked about 712 for Lafleur. McDaniels is 378. as a coach and winning percentage. And now you have to be thinking that he is very nervous about what's going on. Like he is now tied to a team that might not have a quarterback and he's coming off 11 lost season. And is McDaniels going to get out of this alive?

And if Garoppolo is not available, like it feels like this is one of the grimmest situations the side of Arizona. On paper, their offense is intriguing. total continuity on the offensive line. Pretty good weapons for Garoppolo. The defense looks like a mess, though. And then you look at this backup situation, it screams for someone else. And that's why I thought when you said

it's a mid-40s guy in the Raiders facility who wears a hoodie. I was thinking of a much taller, much more handsome man who also happens to have the most Super Bowls in NFL. history. I thought it was Tom Brady having regrets. I'm not familiar with who that is.

Right. I know you're a fly. But Tom Brady, reportedly a partial owner of the Raiders, potentially could have regrets about even doing that because this job could be sitting for him with his old buddy. But this Tom Brady guy, why would he want to get involved with this particular team at this stage of his life? Well, why would he be calling Bill Belichick, crunch? That's where I lost me. I realized I was going the wrong way here.

Well, he has a deep burning desire inside to overshadow Jimmy Garapolo and try to support his happiness at every turn. And that alone would make him want to do that. I don't think, I mean, I've talked about that a couple of times on the show, Brady and Big Daniels, but we don't actually think this is going to happen, right? Now I don't because of the whole ownership thing.

None of it makes sense. I didn't know the rules. If you're Tom Brady, though, what's attractive about coming back to play for a team that seems to be in total chaos? And it's interesting with the parallel with Arizona. If this Garoppolo thing really goes sideways and as we learn more through the summer, if they are indeed kind of shipwrecked without a quarterback here, wouldn't it make all the sense of the world then to move Adams? And they say, oh, you can't make it work with the money, but just like the Cardinals are saying, we don't care. We'll take all the pain.

No, because Devonte Adams is great. Right, but what do you? I mean, if you're, if your season. is basically cooked if you don't have a quarterback. We all know that, and they obviously don't have the defense to save the day. That could lead to another pivot. I'm just saying it kind of opens the door for a lot of different avenues for this team to go. Hopefully, and listen, we don't want to overreact on May 30th, like, just because of one Jimmy

Gropolo report out there, like, he could be fine for week one. But it's just a little bit ominous given his history. And if you're the head coach, you know you are in a very vulnerable position right now. And let's just say in another world, they, because I think. one possible reality is that if they move on from Jimmy G initially, they could re-sign him at a different price. That seems weird. But let's say there's a scenario where Brian Hoyer slash Aden Rookieman is your starting

two-pack come September. What will Devante Adams be saying by October? He already talked about the fact that he wasn't totally on board with the idea that they went and got Jimmy G. Maybe he knew about the foot stuff. Well, there you go. But either way, you're right. I mean, the back seven on defense, like there's so much focus on the, actually I think the offense is a chance. If Jimmy G was healthy to be a top 10 offense, I think that's their roadmap that they would see a top 10 offense and better on defense.

But the back seven on defense, their linebacker and their secondary, like, it's a disaster. And you're right. It's funny because McDaniels held out so long and maybe he couldn't get the right job, but he passed up a lot of jobs. And he was trying to time it. and a year and a half in, they don't look any better than when John Gruden was there, they probably look worse.

And supposedly Hunter Renfro might get traded. There's still this buzz out there that the saints are interested. I don't understand that. All right, let's take a break and then we'll visit three more facilities. It's 5.23 p.m. One of your kids is asking for a snack.

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We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. All right, welcome back. I'm holding in my hand, by the way, a Funko Pop figurine delivered from one of our great maestroes behind the glass, Christy Stapleton. It's an Aaron Judge Funko pop figure. I guess taking off somebody's desk.

Wait, let me get this right here. You know, you really got to check out this. The cameraman's getting put to work there. The YouTube feed is really paid off today. And this is, this figure is, oh, there we go. That's it, Mark. So if you were curious. I've seen those and I think they're very attractive.

It's a very nice. Very attractive. It's a nice hobbyist addition to the hobbyist collection. What is your, where you had as a collectible throughout your life guy? I mean post childhood? Yeah, like what was your, like Star Wars figurines, things like that? As a child, not as an adult. You have them in the boxes and?

No, I play, you know, I had. used to bury them in the yard and stuff. And that was part of the game. Like they have to go find their friend who's been buried on the ground. Remember that one in the sand pit? And then you pour some water in there. Freeze them in ice?

I did have that Ellis Burke's starting lineup figure come with. I had a lot of starting for a while. But at this point, I think I'm not out of that. Wrestling figures, I had almost the entire WWF collection along with a steel cage. Oh, yeah. So you put King Kong Bundy versus Hulk Hogan to mimic,

I believe, WrestleMania, too. In fact, sitting on my desk in our newsroom is a Kenobron. Brian and Altoon, a starting line of figurines from 1989. I lost all that football helmets every one of my football figures sometime in 1989 and never found him again. So they're just catching passes and passing without any protection at all. Why are you making it at my laptop, Greg? Don't do that.

Why do you keep doing that lately with smart laptop? It's just sitting there. I'm making sure I don't like take whatever. I already told you before the show. But I couldn't root quite. Yeah, but that's also, it's a violation, a little bit of his space when you look over there. It's just strange. It's off-putting.

It's just right there. Would you want someone to do that to you? I mean, if it's just my notes for the show, I'd be fine, yeah. You don't know what's on there, though. Yeah, what if I'm doing something else over here? I was making sure that I didn't take, but I... Go ahead. I like to leave myself options of what I'm going to do.

I'm going to leave the 49ers to the side, actually. Okay. I am curious what they think about Trey Lance and they're in darnold in reality. behind the scenes and at the risk of a leaning too hard on the 617 area code my fly is flying up to foxborough okay and good we got we're all over this facility and and it's looking you know it buzzes past the coaches buzzes past uh bill o'bride oh like what is mac jones doing there in the men's bathroom let's just keep going uh let's go up to the ownership on the third floor uh robert craft and his son Jonathan Kraft talking

there's no microphones in there there's nothing. Only a fly could find out and the crafts are worried because they know Belichick has it bugged the whole building. Oh, literally has the building bugged. But they made a special ownership craft-only bunker where they can get real. And this fly is peeping a conversation

between these two men who believe they should get a little more credit for everything that's happened over the last 20-plus years and believe that the last three years have been embarrassing. And they, especially Robert, because let's be real. Robert is the Logan Roy in this situation. Jonathan is Connor. I don't know why I'm...

That's fine. I made him Connor. That was maybe a little harsh. That was harsh. Robert's looking at his age. He's 81 years old. He's running out of time. Connor who ran for president and got less than 1% of the vote, that guy.

Successful campaign? Let's at least make Let's make him Shiv Let's make Jonathan Shiv Some strengths and weaknesses He's looking at this Bill Belichick Coaching record and saying like okay

He's only 20 plus away From breaking the all-time record But he doesn't care He wants results now And they're talking I believe About a situation this year where this team needs to be showing progress on offense,

needs to be competitive and have a winning record, or that they want to be steadfast. I believe Robert Kraft is telling his son that before this season, in the off season, the quiet of the off season, the fly is picking up that he wants his son to not let him off the hook. When things get hard in January and he has to look Bill Belichick in the eye, that he actually pulls the trigger and he goes in a new direction if this team does not make the playoffs.

That he does the type of thing that Bill Belichick was famous for when he cut Drew Bledsoe or traded Drew Bledsoe and cut lawyer Molloy back in the day and shows that bloodlust, that ruthlessness, unless they're a winning organization again this year. I mean, is there, because I agree with it, we've been talking about it. Like this feels like a pivotal year for Belichick

and the marriage between Belichick and Kraft, which is, again, and it needs to be stated repeatedly, the most successful union of coach and head coach, coach and owner, in addition to coach and quarterback ever, the quarterback left. And ever since the quarterback left, the coach hasn't been quite as successful.

And now there's growing tensions between the coach and the owner as an indirect result or direct result. And it's just like, I don't know, like this almost feels still a little bit of a rush to get Belichick out. the door unless you have somebody lined up that you absolutely adore and feel like is the guy that could give you another like 20 years? I think they do.

Who? Gerard Mayo. I don't know if that's going to be right or wrong. We're going to fire Bill Belichick to take a chance of Gerard Mayo. I just think that's what they think. Well, so they put in incredible effort to keep Mayo. Kraft has talked up Mayo. Kraft, I think, had the most pointed comments that, you know, subtext were anti Bill Belichick comments about the way that Matt Patricia essentially was put into a terrible position last year, didn't do a good job, not a good job by Matt Patricia, but Kraft really went out to defend Matt Patricia, that he was an incredibly hard worker and did what he could in a terrible situation. And I don't know, you'd have to dig pretty hard to find comments that reach that level of annoyance with his own head coach. That said, like Mayo aside or something.

something like that. There's no one else in the building that fits the bill right now. And I don't know how if you're going to move on from Bill Belichick, you better be right. Right. I'm not saying this is not. I don't think any of this is a good idea. To me, Bill Belichick is still a top three defensive coach week to week. I mean, they were number one in DVOA with that unit last year somehow. I think they have a chance to be one of the best defense in league this year, which would make them very hard to fire. And they have a chance to surprise people. But I do think this is where Kraft is at. And it's also not crazy if you had four straight years of mediocrity. There's not many coaches that survive that no matter. But I guess

my point is, and again, Gerard Mayo could be great. But before you go fire literally Bill Belichick, how about we give Bill a true heir to Brady, like an actual difference maker at quarterback? because I watched Cam Newton wasn't that guy. And Mack Jones has ability and has some potential, but there's a reason why nobody had him above the Dalton line when we did that exercise last week. So I don't think anybody sees Jones as a future star. Like, are you really going to, that's how this is going to end?

Maybe, but here's the one problem. Like, Bill Belichick is also the general manager. And Bill Belichick made the decision to go get Mac Jones. And he's also made a pretty trenchant year after year decision. I know they had that free agency split. a couple off seasons ago, but it's typically been like a weapons light attack. I mean, they're wide receivers for a really long time and just been kind of like you're looking at that group and thinking, eh, and it's like this year's group is sort of like, all right,

I don't look at this. If this is the year that Bill Belichick suddenly has to pull 12, 13 wins out of his butt to get to the playoffs. Yeah, but like if they go 8 and 9 this year and Kraft decides to pull the trigger and start over, you know, who's going to be thrilled about that, all the other teams in the AFC East? everybody the whole UFC so like not to say that you shouldn't do it but it is

I think you shouldn't do it it wouldn't be a celebration it would be a celebration for these teams do you think that Bill Belichick would turn right around Al Pacino style and go get a job somewhere else oh absolutely like why not go back to like the Cleveland Browns where he started and say I'm going to accept he

go ahead Mark no he wants a good owner like I don't think he would buy into that ownership group but like Bill Belichick would be like are you kidding me I'm going to go somewhere else not only I'm going to get the coaching record somewhere else I'm going to make sure that I spend the next half a decade sticking Yeah, I'll handpick my quarterback, whenever it pops up that has a great young quarterback and a team, a roster that has some juice, I'll go out of my own terms.

Well, it's Tom Brady Part 2. He's 30 wins away, by the way. Well, what if he wins 30 games this year? Oh, no. That would be really impressive. There is like a playoffs one. This is why I'm annoyed by NFL coaching records and stuff like that. Got to count the playoffs games.

Look, I'm just a fly in the room. I'm not agreeing with what's going on here. I'm just passing along the information. Thank you for the info. Mark, you got another one? I am a fly related to some of the other flies that have been, you know, we're, flies, there's a long family tree here. And I exist.

Nathous. I exist for less than a month in Southern California. But right here, smack dab in the middle of my 28-day lifespan, I find myself in Los Angeles, in the Los Angeles area. Nice spot for a fly. Yeah, I've attached myself to a human that is moving briskly down a hallway into a meeting room with a very good looking head coach. I myself, the fly that I, the person I'm attached to also has an incredible head of hair. I mean, it's an handsome man also.

I'm with you all the way on this. Head coach GM duo is attractive. And they're sitting down and say, look, like, I'm not sure where exactly we are with this team. We have built a very, very young roster. And we've got some problems, though. And I think let's just take it. I'm sorry, is this the fly saying this? The fly is hearing things like this.

Okay, okay. And it's, you know, there's some muffled conversation. There's some sort of like tapping on the table because there's some indecision here. Because the roster that they're talking about just looks a little weird. And I keep hearing the name, like, look at, we love Matthew Stafford, the person. We know that Aaron Donald is one of the greatest defensive players of all time. Cooper Cup is wonderful, too. But we have to take a real look in the mirror and say,

who are we now for this season for next season and how quickly would we move one, two, or three of these players or other additional pieces if we really wanted to embrace the concept of a true start over. Right now we've got a extremely young roster attached to an aging, old quarterback

coming off a disastrous injury situation. Who are we and what are we? And the training camp starts in a month and then they go silent. This would be the year to take on some dead money. they are doing it in a way that NFL teams have almost never done it in the history of the sport. They have $74 million in dead money.

So they're just eating it. We talked about the Cardinals eating that Hopkins salary. The Rams been eating it. They got 60 from Alan Robinson, Jalen Ramsey, and Leonard Floyd combined. So I don't think they would mind the financial pain that it would cost to trade Donald or Stafford Cup would make just no sense to me. So I'm putting him to the side a little bit. but man, I think it'd be tough to get a buy-in. I think it'd be tough to think like that right now.

I don't think they want to think like that, and I don't think, I think it'd be a little crazy to go into the season thinking like that. Maybe that's a week five conversation. Maybe it's a plan ahead. Well, let me ask you a question, like from another angle. Like, if the Rams, first of all, I think they, a year from now, we're going to see the Rams very differently.

I think we'll see them in a positive light. But you have Stetson Bennett, who, you know, comes in with an interesting college career and why not get a look at Stetson Bennett sooner than later in games that matter if you're a team that starts off one in three or something and you go into next year's draft class which could potentially be explosive at quarterback

and know that you do everything you can if you're less sneaky because he'll do anything to get what he wants to get the number one quarterback with all the draft assets that you could acquire by trading some of these guys. Stafford specifically would not cost much to move and to me would make the most sense of it if a team needed a quarterback.

I think they want to compete this year. I think the only way we see Bennett is if Stafford gets hurt, which is certainly possible. Yeah. And I just looked it up because I was curious because there was a big hull of blue, obviously, about Sean McVeigh, whether he was even going to return this year, and then he was on the fence,

and then it actually really looked like it wasn't going to happen, and he had given his coaching staff permission to look for other jobs, and then all of a sudden it comes down that he is back. And I was like, well, is this just like a one-year thing? And this is going to be the way he is now, Looking back at his quotes at the time back in January, he had said that he made a decision for years to come. So obviously you can change.

Head coaches are fickle. But I'm working under the idea that they're going to try to ring every last drop they can out of the Stafford Donald era here and see if they could do something similar maybe to what the Seahawks did this past year where it's like they surprise some people. Maybe win nine or ten games. They're frisky. or maybe they get into the playoffs and all that. And then even if it doesn't work

and Stafford goes down in week four or this or that happens, yeah, then you could start spinning the wheels in a different direction and then McVeigh and Sneed can truly reboot the operation next year. So I think they, I think, and I think what we do, sometimes you kind of want to have a more clear idea

of what these teams are doing, but the Rams seem like a team they're kind of in the middle and they're operating that way. And that doesn't mean it's the wrong way to do it. Sometimes it's like, oh, that's a half measure. They should be going all in or all out. But they kind of make sense to me to be doing what they're doing

and then they could pivot if they have to. I mean, I don't think NFL rebuilds now, if you're good, RSCs and it projects us a potential one-year rebuild. One good draft can really change organizations, you know? Like it. I like it. Okay. Let me preface this by saying, I'm a fly.

Still. We got that last time. Not like the turn of the phrase, you know, unnoticed observer of a particular situation type of thing. I think you met my brother earlier. Yes, a rather dim insect. He, well, that's untoward. Maybe not on the scale of a fly. But he died of natural causes.

He was 25 days old. I'm quite literally a fly in the wall and you know I'm going to eat some poop I'm going to touch a bunch of things I shouldn't spread some disease and then I'll die again

in a month and I have no agenda Greg I know you I never do agents can't muzzle me Greg so I'll let you decode what was going on when I was buzzing around Browns camp this week. I went to Browns,

you know, I like certain things. I have a particular taste for things. Fair? Yeah. Brown things. Anyway, there was this, here's the situation.

There was this handsome guy. Kind of like a, I think I'll call him like a mezzanine level, George Clooney. Okay. There's another guy there that was calling himself the tasty berry. I don't know.

A silver-haired old. older gentleman, kind of prominent jaw, kind of like a Springsteenian jaw. He kept referencing his 18 Wheeler collection. That was weird. Knowledge about like Springsteen and what a mezzanine level even means for a fly. And of course, Alex Van Pelt was also there. Anyway, they were having an amazing time.

In fact, Eric behind the glass, good to see you again. My brother is quite fond of you. I think I did get some audio of what was going on in this room with all these gentlemen. You hear that? Yeah. Sounds like a lot of fun. They were having an amazing time. Drinks were flowing.

They were throwing like popcorn in each other's mouths playfully. They did a couple of crank calls. That guy, the Clooney guy, kept saying something about the jerky boys being underrated. I didn't know any of that meant. But this is all happening while they are watching some endless highlight cut up of Texans games. I'm guessing from like when my great,

great, great, great, great, great, great, grandfather was alive. I'm thinking like 2018, 2019, some from 2020 I knew because there's nobody in the stands. Must have been the COVID era. Anyway, they were loving these highlights and seems pretty optimistic about their place in life.

not a care in the world. And you tell me what this means. I'm just a fly. So what does it all mean? I will thrust my own personal experience into part of this. Did I mention they were having sloppy steaks, too? No. They were taking glasses of water, pouring it over these steaks,

sloping them up, and just eating up with the steaks too. How did you resist not eating people? Oh, I went down there. I took a taste, put it that way. There is someone on the Brown's coaching staff who, on the first day he was hired, came on our network, NFL network, and spoke with Andrew Siciliano. And I had tweeted out that Kevin Stefanski, the coach, the newly hired coach, side-by-side photos did look like a relative or a brother or a cousin of George Clooney. And Ciliano actually asked. You were that someone.

I tweeted that out, yes. but someone, like Andrew asked Stefansky about it and he got very kind of agitated and slightly nervous. So that was my introduction. I think that's who you're talking about that. That's one of the guys. Thank you for connecting the dots. Yeah, the mezzanine. Mezzan. He, well, he didn't like that people were calling

a mezzanine level, Clooney. Well, that's true. And who was it? Juicy Berry? That's got to be the... I have no idea. It's got to be the general manager. I think they're feeling themselves. I think they're feeling like they're a sleeping giant here. I think they're feeling good about their off-season moves. I think they believe the

hype that happened around this organization for a couple off seasons before Baker Mayfield's injury and then play and then this Watson thing all took took a side turn. I think they're feeling themselves and I think they're confident. I think they quietly had one of the better off seasons around. Their holes were in the middle of their defense up front. They had some issues in the secondary. They've added pieces all over the place. The Elijah Moore trade, don't hate that.

And I think it all comes down to whether or not Watson can play again. That's fine to look at the people that you observe for watching these highlights from three years ago, but I could watch a lot of what's happening. I don't know. Something in my chest. Was it the steak? I'm about 27 days old, so I don't have much time. I just want to say like, if this is it, I just want to

wrap it up. Say, thanks for having me on the show. Shout out to Alex Van Pelt, too. I thought he was a great edition. I, yeah, I think. think they believe that and the small sample size we'll see it was bad last year but i bet they feel like they are going to surprise the only the only thing that juicy berry and uh mezzanine cluny should be worried about is that uh that 18 wheeler guy yeah i mean he hasn't always been keeping his his uh employees around that long if things don't uh don't end up in the win

column so i think they got a win i think they're i think they're under pressure they got a win But you might as well enjoy the off season. What was that? I mean, they were really enjoying. Yeah, let's bring that up. I got that on my... On my iPhone. What a time.

One of them is really... What production. I love it. I think I hear Van Pelt in there. Oh, Van Pelt is. He had his tie off and then tied it around his head like that guy at the weddings. Lathered up.

up Freddy Kitchen style. You know that guy at the weddings. Yeah. Like, take the fuck away off. All right. Anything else? Well, I was listening to that first show I mentioned earlier. And I don't know.

I just was, I heard Wes on it. And we were talking about the Panthers. I tried to think about a panther's angle today to talk about. But I was like, no, let's just play this on the show. Because it was talking about Spartanburg, West Virginia. And I always like to have a little bit of ATN history around the NFL history, which he mentioned on the show. Spartanburg has some historical significance to this podcast. That is the exit I pulled over when I called Greg to accept this job.

Wow. I was driving from Cincinnati back to time and stopped the Spartanburg exit to tell Greg. I was leaving a road to world. Is there a shrine there? I like that. Just jump it in. Oh, just hearing his voice. Awesome.

Yeah, I had checked in on another older episode of this segment and it was he was talking about he wanted to be a fly at the Giants facility to see the trow of the trow Kool-Aid

and just to see what media members were drinking out of it for Dave Gettlement and his arrow with the Giants. That's all he wanted to be there just to see and we noticed that Bob Glauber was from Newsday now retired, was just sitting in a watching it. But Chris just wanted to know

which Giants media member would be bending over for Gettleman. Not the biggest fan of the New York media market, Chris Wendellman, right? You like the Hoggmolly era. Yeah, I think there was

some pro Gettlement in there. Nice. Excellent. What's up? That's it. We'll be back on Thursday. With another show. Actually, it's going to be a road show.

that's our annual road show we're going to be by the beach by the sea we'll call it and we're going to have hopefully some special guests that will be joining us and Greg we maybe will touch on your

done with a lot of hard work you've been doing over on the dot com projected starter series is done it's done and dusted but love doing some like some takeaways from Greg's projected starters so we'll hit that and

it reads like a very juicy gossip column off Well, it's a good read because it's not like a typical column or sports writing piece of work. It's just like little nuggets and things that interest you for each team. Little nugs.

And so be ready for that. Looking forward to that as the offseason goes along. And this is the Tuesday show here also happens to be our former producer, Justin Gravers. He's starting his first day at a new place. And just want to, we want to take. this time just to wish justin the best of luck moving forward and we missed having justin around and he's such a great asset to the show wish he was still here but he's there and he's going to

kill it so we just want to give grave digger a shout out on the route mount rushmore um if you followed our socials you saw we we had a chance to to have dinner with justin to uh just a few weeks ago and just couldn't thank him enough for the great job that he did in the couple years that he was here one year running the show around the NFL really helped us a lot. And we love him as a friend. We love him as a producer too. So good luck over at Fox and we'll run into him down the line too. Yeah, I thought he was so professional from the very start. I think when you cover football, we all learn this, that the first year, you kind of take over something. There's a lot of biarrhythms to the season and it can catch you by surprise.

And he was just rarely, if never, caught by surprise. I thought he offered so much behind the scenes on air. He became a beloved figure. And I kind of look back to our trip to London, which is a time when we all like get closer together as people, where I really got to know him more as a person. And there's sort of always been a kindness and a gentleness to him. And I will miss him. Yep.

One of the true nice guys. And you're right. you have to be in that chair you have to be able to roll with the punches and adjust and learn on the fly and fly nailed it and Justin always did that and he'll continue to do that

and we love you Justin Graver how about one last Grave Digger drop if we got there Love you Grave Digger Love you, bud. All right, we'll be back on Thursday like we said, roadshow until then you know what you need to do It's Chris Wesley who's known to say.

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