NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Deep Dive on Chiefs Kingdom & Camp Check-In with Connie Fox

Episode Date: August 3, 2023

In a room full of heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, and Marc Sessler get caught up on news from around the league including a possible quarterback battle brewing in Washington (12:00) and an update on Alvin Kamara (18:43). After the break, Pete Sweeney from Arrowhead Pride joins the show from Chiefs camp to discuss the Chiefs' long practices (29:56), on-field battles early in camp (34:24) and who he thinks could be a surprise impact player this season (43:09). The heroes wrap up the show with Colleen Wolfe checking in from the Hall of Fame Game where she updates us on her training camp tour (49:22 ), her chat with Bryce Young (55:04) and her stop in Pittsburgh (01:00:50).  NOTE: Time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast still believes in Sam Darnold. Hell you. From the Chris Wessling podcast studio, it's Around the NFL. I am Dan Hansis. I have Greg Rosenthal and Mark Sessler here. Heroes, both of them. I do believe in Donald.

Everyone knows that I've always believed in him. If he somehow has a genosance type situation, imagine how horrible I will be this year. Think about this. Think about a worst case scenario. If the Jets are good and Darnold thrives as the start of the 49ers. I mean, what a monster. Yeah, Greg and Mark will be suffering from wire to wire.

It would be like the entire podcast from 2013 through 2018 like I was. And Gino last year. You deserve that victory walk you got left. I didn't really dunk. Actually, I take that back. I could have, you know, I was always very careful because you were always very sensitive as a Jets fan, not to enjoy the Patriots thing too much. You're certainly not to point out the Jets foibles. I would say on the Gino front, you were thoroughly aggravated.

Thoroughly aggravated. Because that was such a special surprise. Do you want to parade for not rubbing it in my face that the Jets suck during? the Patriots, unreal dynasty, unending dynasty? Yeah, to hold back my natural fandom, it made my life 0.003,4% less enjoyable during the shows, and that's not cool. But that would have been serious punching down back then

because that Patriots dynasty... Sure. There were moments, though, because you love to enjoy the bad moments. The throne of sleeves. You love to nail it. When Brady lost to the Titans, I will always remember that.

You treated that as a celebratory. and it hurt, but I just, I mean, you also, you announced that Brady's career was over in, like, 2014, which was slightly, um, that's incorrect. It was, I believe, like 2018. It might have been around. When was that? Well, that was his last pass, the Titans, right? I think it was actually 2015, if I had to guess that you, I think there were, yeah, there were some things going down. You were gradual decline. They had won the title before and you said now, now they're hitting the downslip. And yet, um, as all things, things do, it came to an end. It did. And now it's over. He's 46 years old today, by the way. I don't think that's on our news rundown. Wow.

Yeah. Congratulations. Tom Brady. He also bought a piece of some, some soccer team. And Talk Sport UK wants to talk about it with me. I have no insight on the soccer team. I would love if we could just get a bit of us, you know, quiet moratorium on super rich athletes buying pieces of soccer teams.

Don't care. Oversey soccer. I don't, doesn't matter to me. I'm happy for them. I hope they're invested in it in a way that goes just beyond the monetary. I just don't need to hear me. I don't even know why you need to say that you're happy for them. I'm not, I feel no, I feel nothing.

Yeah, right. I feel nothing. Yeah. Good for you. You're able to do something none of us can financially. And I have no interest in your investment. And, but let's talk about people who are relevant in the NFL, Greg, because Tom Brady no longer relevant on his birthday.

You know who else's birthday it is today? Zach Wilson turns 24 years old. You know who's starting for the New York Jets tonight in the Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio, Jets v. Browns? Zach Wilson, the past and yes, one day, perhaps future of the New York Jets. That might be the most... That might be the most intriguing aspect to that game

because I think we're going to see essentially no other starter. I'm so scared about that, by the way. I mentioned the offensive line. You're scared of a Hall of Fame game? the offensive line, not coming together, but it's Aaron Rogers and the back of Zach Wilson. Like for all the excitement, can we just stick him at number three? I mean, this is the day. If you want an all-time great quarterback, August 3rd, just, I'm just saying if you're thinking of having a child next year and you want to try to time it, August 3rd. It's true.

Zach and Tom. By the way, it's been in global warming news, the hottest summer on record. in like a century, I believe, maybe ever? I don't have the full data. It's been hot as hell, coast to coast, which is for training camps ripe for even more battles, you know, tempers flaring.

You get the sun and the heat with competition and camp, and it leads to a lot of drama every year. It's part of it. This is what happened, This courtesy of Clarence Hill, who covers the Cowboys, his Twitter, or X. His ex, one hour. Here we go. Here's Dak Prescott in the red practice jersey.

They're near the goal line. He's forced out of the pocket, rolling to his right, makes a man missed. Take it out by the goal. Well, that didn't go so well. Trayvon Diggs, I don't think you could hear anything. But Trayvon Diggs, here's the transcript of what Diggs said to Prescott. Shut your bitch ass up. I just want to say I love it.

I love that these two superstars on the same team are, that's how it goes in the summer in these training camps. They are enemies for about six weeks or whatever until they have to be a brotherhood come week. Trayvon Diggs to Dack Prescott. Jack Prescott, shut your whole shit ass up. I was at a restaurant yesterday, and, you know, there's always the... Did you say that to a waiter? I was going to say, where is this going? I wouldn't address them.

No, but it's up on the screen was they had this story, you know, it was like FS1 or ESPN or something. And it was, you know, is this a big deal in Dallas? Is this something to be concerned about? Oh, stop it. You have to always go in that direction with Jack, but, yeah. Oh, my God. Of course they're going to do that. But like, it is not.

exploding on live television. I think it's just, it's part and parcel of August. It happens 10 times a day, like at every camp practice. I don't know those exact words, but some sort of altercation or trash talk. That's always more fun when it's stars doing it, but it is not uncommon. In Cincinnati, I remember reading like the first day or two of camp. Like Orlando Brown and Trey Hendrickson got into it almost right away because Trey Hendrickson is almost famous, and this is going back to

do his New Orleans Day and Cincinnati, that like he goes insane in practice like it's a game. Trigger Trey. I think it's because he's got a trigger. Can you say that again? Trigger Trey. Why are you saying it like it's a, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe that's because he's got like

a hair trigger temper. I didn't even think about it. But he just goes so hard that the first time you see it, it's almost like, what the hell, man? Like, it's almost too much. But people say that's just sort of a hair, trigger, temper. That's just sort of how he is all the time and it's helped him in his career and maybe trigger Trayvon. How about, ooh, pretty good.

Hair, trigger, temper, tray. Less roll off the tonguey. Yeah, true, true, true. All right, let's, we have a great show coming up. Peter Sweeney. How great is this? Greg, you brought him up in passing a couple days ago. What a great job he does over at Arrowhead Pride, covering in the Chief.

and let's check in with Peter Sweeney and the Defending World Champion Chiefs a little bit later. Also, we're going to check in with Connie Fox who's been traveling across this scorching nation visiting camps, and she's going to check in and tell us what she's been up to,

including, by the way, a wild road trip. Two-person road trip she was on that you're going to hear about. But first, the news. This summer's two big movies. I don't know if you're having a speaker or a movie. This summer's two big movies, Barbie? That wouldn't be one of them.

Wouldn't be one of them. Okay. Oppenheimer's out. I haven't seen that. That'd be interesting. So Scott Pioly, our own Scott Pioly, there with NFL Plus, goes way back. He's ours. He's hours. He's hours now. Once upon the time he was Bill. So he feels confident asking Belichick, Gregi, that question on the practice field and not worrying about being cast out of the Patriot Way forever. Bill, they scold him privately after the interview. We don't know, but, uh, No Barbie for Bill, but he'll see Oppenheimer, probably in the offseason. Well, he loves to talk about in like old World War II era and history whatnot, these books on the shelf.

So I think that's very much in Belichick's alley. But I wish he would open his mind to Barbie, because I think it might hit more with the players. If he was going to show one to the player or the other, I think it might be a good way to sort of Trojan Horror some feminism into Bill Belichick's life. Why does he reject it out of hand? Well, I have a theory. Okay.

In certain corners of the culture wars, Barbie has developed a lot of heat and aggression from the conservatives. Sure. About how the film presents. Ken or something, I don't know. Effectively squash the movie's success. It really worked. I don't know where Belcha comes down.

Well, I mean, we know some of his... Well, I mean, there's evidence that he's, you know... Signs over the years, you know. So it's possible he's dismissed. Barbie out of hand based on maybe a television cable channel he watches. I don't know. But I'd also suggest that probably Belichick hasn't spent ample time reading reviews of Barbie. I think it's like if you just thought there's a movie about Barbie the doll, like it's

something more than that. There's different layers to it. I don't know if Belichick has gone down the road to discover what the movie might be about. So you just think it's Barbie the doll. I don't want to see that. Right. He probably hasn't gone back and watched Francis Ha, like not familiar with like, oh wow,

Greta Gerwig, actually, she did a great job modernizing little women, even though it was set back then, but making it kind of relevant for today, let's see what's happening. Maybe he's not thinking that. You've seen both films, Mark. Better use of your $20. Which of the two films?

Yeah, you can only see one. And I'm not going to talk about artistically in terms of, obviously, Christopher Nolan's, you know, gift. So is Gerwig. What is, if you can only see one? All right. Well, I don't, you know, that's interesting Get off the fence, bro.

No, no, but I think Oppenheimer, It does everything that you expect And it did everything that I thought it would do Barbie, I think I would give a little bit of a nudge to Barbie over Oppenheimer In terms of kind of like I didn't know what? Maybe it's time for another bell check letter

To Bill, let him know Wait, like what if I honestly, I will write him a letter telling him why you should see Barbie What if I actually do write that? I will do that. Can you read it on the show And then we'll send it off? Yes, I will absolutely send it to him.

Rap report, rap sheet was on the show last week and he said if we honestly and in good faith reached out to Belichick or his people or the Patriots, maybe not the Patriots if we can find a way to get a little bit closer. He might come on the show. If it was something not football related.

We cannot ask a single football question. It has to be another topic that he's drenched. It has to be the opposite. Eric. Maybe World War II. The ask has to be out about Barbenheimer. I know it's a little past its due date in terms of pop culture, that conversation.

But just in general, maybe talking films. Maybe we'll get him during a quiet moment post training camp pre week one. I think we're a couple months off target on that. It would have been probably better in May or June. But like, you're right. Well, why not try? But I will write this letter. Good, good, good.

Ron Rivera. He was on our show yesterday, kind of, did our press conferences. That was fun. He is, and in that fake press conference, he talked about Sam Howell, the second year quarterback, former. fifth round pick, and of course, Jacoby Brissette, the veteran, the veteran. He's officially a well-traveled veteran, Jacoby Brissette, but he's been effective pretty much everywhere he's ever played. Here is what Ron Rivera had to say about this QB battle, which a lot of

people think it's Hal's job to lose, but Rivera, he says, hold your horses, bra. As I've said a couple, don't sleep on Jacobi. He's done a nice job as well. I mean, we got some really good quarterback play going on right now. We've got a real good quarterback room. very happy with what we've got right now. It sounded like a someone that was being held by a terrorist. Jake Briskey. Sorry to step on Fraggs is beautiful. Yeah, he never can't do that.

This is not like fighting in training camp, Mark. This is nothing new. We've been covering bad camp battles for a long time at the quarterback position. Then coaches talking themselves or trying to talk the media into it, not being a major concern. This one continues. I continue to bump up against it, especially in a very difficult division.

I think the commanders are in for trouble, but maybe he's right and everyone's wrong. I mean, the one thing I'd point to is that last year in Cleveland under the direction of Kevin Stefansky, Jacobi Brissette, 10th and EPA per dropback, effective week-to-week, an incredible teammate, but actually I thought his best work as a quarterback came last season. So it's like, I don't think this is completely untrue.

I just think in general, year to year, Washington, under Ron Rivera, it's like you're heat-seeking the most milk-toast quarterback situation all the time. Like, why have you drafted no one? You can say what you want about Jacoby Brissette, but he's still going to be a middle of the pack guy on a team that has no quarterback. I just thought those quotes were like pushing, you know, it was just textbook coach trying to say the nice thing while thinking, how-mina, how-a-ha-ha-mina, because the reports, and why I think it's notable is the reports, I don't. Washington is it's been pretty uneven and Jacoby Brissette hasn't looked great either that the offense has been struggling which is not a huge shock with that defensive line there they're in the same defense for the fourth street year and people kind of look past the Eric B.

enemy is running an offense for the first time it's a very different offense in what Scott Turner so there's an adjustment period but I think it's notable that it's looked pretty rocky you got you got like the scrimmages coming up but just like a little bit of a QB battle check And we mentioned we hadn't heard too much about Trask, Mayfield. Like, there haven't been screaming headlines. It seems to me like Richardson, Anthony Richardson, is pushing forward in his quest to become the week one guy. But we'll find out more. Yeah.

I read that Baker has been struggling with turnovers in camp. The door should be open for Trask or at least to see some type of split there. And the 49ers, we touched on that recently. That's the other, like, doors open because the house is on fire. Where, in Tampa, you're saying? Yeah. Yeah. Don't try to sell me on that situation.

Occasionally they said, as we mentioned, windows getting thrown open. Wolford's getting some snaps there with Evans and Godwin. So they said throw it into the competitive cauldron, the competition caldron. I love the competition cauldron. We need to build out a drop for that. People are like picking up end tables and throwing them through glass to try to escape. People are running through the sliding door. It's like that full run like you see in like a YouTube video.

home accidents. I think the preseason matters for Howell more than most. There's not too many preseason that matter. Do you guys ever walk through a screen door? I walked into ones. Yeah, absolutely. A notable, this event happened to me in sixth grade. I've walked into a glass door.

What were you saying here? No, but it was at a sixth grade, like, a party in someone's house where it was like someone's playing music on a boom box and you're like slow dancing with people and all that kind of thing. And then like, I'm going to go out to the porch and I walk right into a screen door. Just a disaster. What a disaster. Emeka and I had sort of a... That's pretty bad.

Sixth grade party. Terrible. It's like call my mom, come pick me up. I'm out of here. Welcome to the ocean. Take me out. Like it broke, it's done? I mean, I didn't... That's the other thing. Like, if I were powerful enough that I broke the screen, that would have met... I didn't, I just bounced off it and kind of went backwards. At our...

We had a party in the town I grew up in Wilberham. My parents no longer live there. western massachusetts farm town dan you would like that turkey farms apples a peach that's wholesome um we had a little party to like celebrate us getting married because we were getting married here in california with people that were uh from there and my 12 year old cousin ran through and broke our screen door at our our house and like and my mom legit was like kind of mad at him and didn't seem to really forgive him easily. She was too hard and I'm like, he's a kid. Just calm down, but they were like pretty hard that

he destroyed the screen door forever and our party. Here's the thing. As a dad who had a screen door in my previous residence and I had young sons that just walked through that shit, that's an $80 repair and taking it off the track and then you have to

transport it to the hardware store unless you could do it yourself, which I wasn't going to do. Got to bring it back. It's a whole nightmare. It's a chore. I, in the same category before we move on, junior year of high school, I'm at a high school party, a summer party in a backyard. It's my friend Sarah, she was my junior prom date. So there was some heat at the time around just being in this house for a party. There's a hammock in the backyard. I go to plop down in the hammock and I tumble and knock the whole hammock over.

And then her older brother, Chris, a guy I kind of thought was a cool guy. and he was a cool guy. He came up to me and was like, Dan, like no one's ever been able to knock that hammock over. So in addition to being very embarrassing, it was like, Dan, you must be like 700 pounds. Like, you took out the hammock.

So it was like just a low moment. Embarrassing. These are wounds. These are wounds that don't heal. We still remember these things. You remember exactly how you felt when you went through that screen door. Yeah.

And I could still picture that hammock going on me in a big spot. Never really healed from any of it. That is a tough one. in other news Alvin Kamar is on a tough spot because as you may or may not know that he was involved in a skirmish in Las Vegas around the Pro Bowl

it was a felony that he pled down to a misdemeanor involving the assault of an individual so the legal side's resolved but the NFL side of it in terms of discipline remains up in the air here is the latest on that Kamara met with Commissioner Roger Goodell on Wednesday in New York

regarding the incident that happened last February and we shall see. Rapsheet said on Inside Training Camp live this morning that in terms of a projection, there is the understanding of this will be a suspension. Is it going to be two games, four games, six games, they don't know.

Ian said, and this was interesting to me, Mark, that, you know, it kind of depends on how Kamara could give Godell some understanding on how this happened. I don't know how you spin something like this, but it could make a determination of how long one of the Saints best players is on the field. It's always tougher when there's video to try to spin it in any way. I mean, I guess, you know, these suspensions, there's no real roadmap for us to

know how long they'll be. I don't know what you can say to the commissioner to affect him in one way or the one way or the other. He was asking for it, commission. I, well, I guess if anything, if you come with, if you're contrite, if you really are, if you back on the situation, say, like, I, I'm taking accountability for it. I made a mistake. I want to correct it, blah, blah, blah. But like, you know, we've seen some players that were suspended in the last couple years where it's like you get their explanation. They seem to have no accountability. So where are you coming from on that one? He tried to end the legal process as quickly as he could with accountability through a lawyer, pleading no contest and had to pay the victim $100,000 and serve $3,000. 30 hours of community service. So I think he's tried to get this process through.

It might not be the worst thing in the world for Alvin Camara to skip a couple games considering his age. But my God, there's been some chatter at Saints Training Camp. I got to say, I know you don't want to fall for those little clips or something. I think you can sometimes see things in those little clips. Like last year, we looked at Sequin. We're like, actually, Sequin kind of looks like Sequin again. And it looked like Sequin again.

Alvin Camer looked like Alvin Camer. Got juice. You look like the juice is back, and they're okay in the meantime. Jamal Williams, our friend is there. Jamal Williams is there. Obviously, a lot of talk about the rookie they brought in as well, Kendry Miller. Yeah, I think, you know, you and I are on other sides of the fence, Greg. What is Kamara in 2023 superstar or not?

If he, you don't have to give him like Derek Henry touches, and they haven't really, for him to be highly effective. Maybe you just work him into the ovens in a different way and he's better than. Could I have waited a round before taking Camara in our running back draft that we did? I think you could have. Perhaps. You could have. Am I more stunned?

That was a disaster for you. That's what you guys think. Did you take Jonathan Taylor? I took Taylor too. And I don't care. We haven't gotten to the football yet. We haven't gotten to the football. Am I more confident and more surprised at blowback of any take I had all off season than that Alvin Camara is like a top 10 running back?

Give me a break. Camara's going to smoke all of you. And I'm going to be as obnoxious about him this year as I was about it. And what happens if he has three to a half yards to carry again? It's really terrible. Like he's literally never had under 1,300 yards in a season. Oh, yeah, he's really falling off. He's coming back.

Well, maybe we don't see him until week seven. So at least we can fend off your. I'm putting it over under a two and a half game. Is your other running back you took in that draft? Is he going to play this year? So so far we don't, we don't have confirmation that either of those guys to play. I took Bijan number two. All right.

It was a disastrous episode for Greg. I am looking forward to Camara, Bijon, Jonathan Taylor, having incredible seasons together and me honking about it. It's going to give some juice to that running back draft. You know that it bugged him. It killed him. It ate him up. They made a graphic, put it out on Instagram, and he's getting killed by the public.

Just destroyed, roasted daily. Finally, in the news, Desmond, speaking of underwhelming quarterback battles, Desmond Ritter, it's not even a battle because the second round quarterback after taking over for Marcus Marieto late last season is locked and loaded as the QB1 in Atlanta. Arthur Blank, the owner of the Falcons, came out and told reporters that he saw Ritter as a franchise QB, former third round pick. Here is what Ritter had to say about, I felt good about the big man upstairs saying that, not God. Yeah, obviously for me, you know, that's comforting for me, you know, obviously knowing that, you know, Mr. Blank and everyone in the organization believes in me and, you know, my skill set. And then, you know, at the end of the day for myself, it's about, you know, putting a higher expectation, you know, even what they have for myself and going out and trying to exceed that and be better. What doesn't murder, huh?

What's all the mean about? I don't know. Are you someone who's never heard Desmond Ritter's voice before? I never saw him like with the helmet off talking like that, yeah. It's Mahomesian, the voice a little bit. Yeah, it's from that neighborhood a little bit. Yeah. Certainly, that's not been a problem for Mahomes. I mean, I always got on Tom Brady's cadence.

The whole look, got a voice in general. That kind of caught me off guard. Greatest of all time. What do you mean? Okay. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know why the word.

Stick a pin in that. The word comfort. I think like... Whoa, Dave Ely just came into the newsroom. Why? Okay. It came in behind the glass. What's going on?

This is a surprise. Why is he doing this? Oh, this is a bigger news item than the Desmond. Why is Ely behind the glass? Well, I was going to call. I was bringing in Ely as a surprise for after the news. But we can interrupt it with Ely now. I think this is developing news.

If we need to get back to Ritter, we could. I don't interrupt anything. I don't think we have to get back to Ritter. Good luck to you, son. We have developing news. For the third show and her. Ely came to Mark and I to give some context of something he wanted in today's show

and it felt uncomfortable. We're like, Ely, why don't you just come on if you want to publish a show? I love this idea. I didn't propose. First off, Dave, how are you? I'm going to be in the show. Great, you know, just ITC going well.

It's a good time to here. He runs the newsroom over there, the news operation. And he does it beautifully. Dave, we've worked forever. Famously had a girlfriend that left him. Now she's married to somebody else. and the Panthers almost won the Super Bowl a few years back. I think we're caught up.

I'm glad that you really, I think the listeners forgot my backstory, so I'm glad to bring it up again. Dave, we love you. What's up? It's just, you know, something I've noticed this week. You guys are doing a lot of shows, so that means you're here in the office a lot. And Mark and Greg on multiple occasions

have made a point to come through the newsroom. We've had some conversations, and it's just kind of dawned on me that you haven't. Right. So I just want to know if are things good? Have you forgotten where you've come from? But this is what this is about? Yeah, you know, as someone who's had three Instagrams about integrity this week,

it's just not squaring for me. So I want to know what's up. Common man, Ranking, it's taking a hit. Okay, that's fair. That's absolutely fair. I apologize. I should be more attached to the newsroom where I got my start at this company. Now, as the host of the program, a lot of pre-show work.

And I'm always, as Eric, you know, we're just going through or cranking through content. talent, I get it. A lot of research, a lot of building out the show. I actually have two tapings today. I'm recording two separate podcasts. Are you saying that you're busier than Mark and Greg? A little bit. A little bit right now.

Today, I am busy. Well, would you deny that you are always the last in the building out of the three of us? So if you got there earlier, that would give you a little time to smooth. Counterpoint. Well, that is, that's now, now you're talking about what's the preferred place to do your pre-work ahead of the show. I choose to do it away from the office and away from distractions. Oh, so we're a distraction.

you can be at times not you in particular but a lot of people if I try to get here early to say and go and sit at my desk I don't do that either but like I'm trying to like get ready for the show and there's just a lot of people on top of people doing stop-bys

and I love talking I love chopping it up with the people that I work with I would say that I have a more I have a more friendly demeanor than either of these two guys I'm like in the office I told I told David.

I need the spin coming from Dan right now. Yeah, I told. I love chopping it up with colleagues. I love the office setting. With colleagues. He loves the people. I predicted this would not go well. And I feel like my prediction is that.

What do you mean not go well? I'm just saying. There's no way that this is going to end with any. I don't know what you're aiming for David Ely and trying to get Dan. He wants an apology. Mark, do you want to go back to Desmond Ritter talk? No, I don't. So I do appreciate it.

But if you want an apology, yes. I'm going to make more of an effort to stop in and say hi. Yeah, no, it's like this, it's a business relationship, you know? This business is about relationships. But, like, Cessler, like, eats his lunch in a car, basically. I did that once. It's like, why am I the guy? We're just hobby marks eating, so it's okay.

I've also, like, I... That got the biggest producer room laugh that we've had in a long time. That was good. We need more. And I'm not pointing out. I'm not trying to go after you, Mark, but I'm just saying, why am I being targeted as being detached? I would say when he's going, Ossemoa. Because you're, they've talked to us.

We've seen them this week. This is what he was looking for. You asked what David Ely was looking for. Mark was like, I am not. doing that David Ely and I thought yeah what why don't I was definitely more keen on the idea I'll tell you why because I'm going to give you the act let's be fair and balanced let's be fair and balanced let's think that Dan historically is probably more of a stopover talk to people in the office guy than I am so I was not this is

not going to be my flaming arrow into Dan's like you know midsection more so in Colver our old our old offices and you know what again that was a different environment I think I miss those days in Culver the more intimate setting it was just a different time. It doesn't mean we can't try to do the same thing here, but sometimes you can't get back to the way things were. I know, you know, progress is only forward. There was a period where there are no reverse gears in this tank. When Greg was our boss, he had to have a somewhat stern interaction with Dave Damashek to stop talking to us because, like, news

would be breaking, but we would just be talking to Dave for 50 to 60 minutes in a row. Those days are over. I'm much happier now. I'm leading the stop by power rankings. everything's easier. I'll be better, because I know you, like, if you want to rank, like, best stop-byes, I'm beating out, Greg. Like, I'm a better stop-eye guy. I mean, my memory is not that good, so I don't know.

Oh, there we go. I'm going to work on it. All right, I appreciate that. Thank you for having me on. I said my piece. Back to your scheduled programming. All right, there we go. Dave Ely.

Good appearance. This guest is, you want coverage of the Kansas City Chiefs, the defending Super Bowl champions. It's not going to get much better than Peter Sweeney, the editor-in-chief and lead writer for Arrowhead Pride. And now he joins us on around the NFL. Welcome, Pete. Thank you. Thank you for having me. A lot of sexual energy with this song.

There you go. It's a Rorschach test for guests. I really like this guest. Yes, we already like you, bud. We mentioned right before we started. You're at Missouri Western State University, which is where Andy Reid sends his team during training camp. It's kind of out of fashion now for teams to, you know,

a lot of teams now just train at their team facilities, but Reed still sees as an old school guy, I guess, value in that. you're in what looks like an old cafeteria and it seems very smart in general for a team of this level, including the team that has perhaps the greatest quarterback who ever lived eating in a mess hall.

I can see you guys and I'll describe it to the west here of Patrick Mahler. You can move your camera if you want if you want to show us. Yeah, this is really going to help the YouTube subscribers to see this. Wow, very humble. That's where the chiefs, you know, eat and then a Starbucks is closed right now because there's no college students here.

So Andy Reid likes to keep it old school, as I was mentioning, and I think he's been doing it for 20-plus years. I think it dates back to the Eagles, and not a lot of teams are doing it anymore, but he seems to really like the camaraderie. It's that thought process of you leave maybe as individuals, but you come back a team because they have the cafeteria and they're eating all their meals together, and they have. dorms together. And so he likes it. And it's working, especially these past recent years. It's a little next level, though, with the dorms. There's very few teams that are still doing that. But it kind of coincides with something I've seen in terms of the coverage of practice. And yeah, people should check out Arrow and Pride because you really go in depth. You do a good job of saying everything that's at type practice, but also some summaries of trends, who's looking good, who's not.

And one thing I think is different about the Chiefs than other teams is they're given a max, I think, of four. hours total of some different portions of practice. And Andy Reid is very much practically the only guy left who just tries to use all those four hours. And you hear about when they actually put the pads on and you're listening to like how these days are, it all feels very out of the 90s, even the 2000s, even teams like the Patriots aren't really like that anymore. So I guess just describe what's that like?

what's the thing, and the players don't mind it? Because a lot of these teams are getting in and out of the off the field in like 90 minutes. And the chiefs are just out there forever in the heat. But obviously it's worked pretty well. Yeah, Andy Reed, I think you always hear about the Andy Reed camp. And in talking to some guys who have not been career chiefs, that's the key. They do confirm that it just adds another layer. And the whole thought process.

Drew Trankel was mentioning like this is absolutely brutal, compared to like the chargers, which was like a breeze. Yeah, the whole thought process is like we're playing into January and February. Let's make sure that we can breathe on the field. Let's make sure we still have some energy. Then if you go through this process and I mean, sometimes the real field hits like 100, 100, 101 by the time the practice is over. He keeps the guys out there.

I remember guys throwing up last year. We already had someone throw up this year at the beginning of camp. And it's so that this is the hardest part of the year. And that's how he designs it. It's a little old school, as you were saying. It's a little bit like high school, college football, but he wants them to have that energy for, you know, for the Chiefs. They usually end up playing, of course, the 17 games,

but they want to play 18, 19, 20. And so I think all that goes in today, for example, they had a 16 play long period with Patrick Mahomes and the first team offense. At this stage of his career, Patrick Mahomes doesn't need to be on 11 on 11 for 16 straight plays, but they're like, now you're going to earn it too. And it doesn't matter that he's the two-time MVP. I mean, I know, you know, reading reports. of the overall aura of this camp that's been,

it's been real testy. I think there were three days in a row where there were fights. But Andy Reid's response to that sort of seemed to be total delight, where I know he's sort of screaming like, edge, edge, edge. It's like, is this how, how is Andy Reid creating, like, the next frontier of like, we've already achieved these Super Bowl wins? How do you make it fresh start over?

Is it this aggressiveness in camp? Because like a lot of these other camps, to Greg's point, Like it's 90 minutes and it's hit the road and it's like keep platyre safe and off the field. I think chiefs seem to be going all in on ultra madness. Yeah. So there's two points there. First in the testing is Travis Kelsey was getting involved in a lot of it. And I don't know if it's a Steve Spagnolo emphasis this year that says we're going to force turnovers and we want to be going even past the whistle.

But for some reason, even the backups of the backups of the backups, everyone's grabby this year. poking the ball out. And Travis Kelsey's in his 11th year. We're very old now. Travis Kelsey's in his 11th year. And he has these backups poking the ball out. So eventually, you know, he's gotten upset. And then I also noticed that there's a young player, been with the Chiefs a few years trying to push the, to make the roster, DiCaprio Boodle, probably like your six or seven quarterback. He is just chirping off camp. And he's had Richie James get in his face. He's had other receivers that are not too pleased with the smack talk. And so when it's high,

you have the pads on finally, you know, you get some of that. And you're right with the Andy Reid portion, you'd mention the edge. So Andy Reid, I don't know if you guys know this, every year has a year's slogan. Again, you talk about the old school stuff. And this slogan is all over the walls a couple of years back. They ended up failing. But for example, that was run it back. The edge thing you mentioned, that was last year's slogan.

And it actually is etched on the inside of the Super Bowl ring. If you look at the Super Bowl ring, the edge is etched there. And I believe this year's is united. I'm pretty sure. I'll have to like double check, but that is now they won the championship with Edge. They don't keep it just because they won. They have a new theme for the year. I mean, the Rams, for instance, have a T-shirt that has a goddamn paragraph on the back of it.

And how about, how about Edge? That's great. You put it on the ring. United. I love it. You mentioned the defense, Pete, and Justin Reed, standout safety, tweeted. Defense has a real chance to be really special this year. got to keep earning it every day first well first i just wanted to say if i'm a cheese fan i'm loving

everything pete tweeter saying right now because it sounds like this team is not complacent in any way and i know you can sometimes that's typical summer training camp talk but i feel good about it if i'm a chees fan that this team is looking to do something special they want to be the next patriots now at this point with the two rings um what do you think about the defense do you see this as a potential special unit or is it still going to be a team that's known from the homes and what he does i think it's special when you talk about what the chiefs have been in the era of Mahomes since he took over a starter is 2018. I think there is, like you talk about ceilings this time of year, I think the offensive line and the defense has the highest ceiling it's might have had for Patrick

Mahomes in this era. And the defense in particular, all these guys were really young last year. And a lot of them have a year under their belt, especially the cornerback room where you had Trent McDuffie really emerging. Legerius Sneed is not really a household name, but he's been really good for the chiefs. Mick Bolton and Willie Gay, if combined now for, you know, what will be their third year. They bring in true tranquil. So in the division, you go and get another team's leading tackler up front.

You got to get Chris Jones in camp. That situation is a little weird. I'm sure you guys are going to want to talk about that a little bit. But once he does, you know, you're surrounding him with George Carloptus. It was really good last year. I think an underrated signing was Charles Men of you who can go inside outside. I think the chiefs actually like him more inside next to Chris Jones. But right now they have injuries to Mike.

Dana and another defensive end. And so they, many who was injured today, so they've been mixing and matching with Josh Caindo, who's way lesser known and I'm Lee Caring. But I think they feel like once they have a many of you and Dana and Carlopthus and Jones and everybody back and you put Derek Nottie in that mix, they're going to be good up front. They feel really good about their second level and their third level is young and upcoming. And though it's not as well known, I just think Justin Reed looks at it and says, now I've been training Brian Cook. remember Juan Thornhill went to the Cleveland Browns.

I've been training Brian Cook to be next to me all of last year. They added Mike Edwards, who had seven interceptions with the bucks in his four-year tenure. And so they just really feel like they have all the pieces. And this was interesting by Justin Reed, just to close this point. I think he is a nice pick for, I guess this would be a bold prediction for being a first team all pro because he said he didn't really have a full grasp of the Kansas City defense until the Bengals game last year, which was pretty late in the season. And so now he feels like he's not having to think about where he has to be, getting guys into position.

And so you feel really good about the ceiling. But at this stage of the game, we haven't even played a preseason game. We'll have to see. But I would agree. I think the potential is there. Yeah. I think the only take that's age almost as bad as Dan's Brady is going to start declining in 2015 take is my skepticism of Steve Spagnolo's reputation entering his job with the chief. because, like, that's their secret sauce.

People kind of wonder, like, how does it work when you're paying Mahomes what he makes and Kelsey and what Chris Jones is going to make and you have all these big salaries? It's like, you have Steve Spagnolo just take these fourth and seventh round picks throughout the secondary where everyone else is spending tons of money and they're awesome. And that's development and that's coaching. I love what you said about Reed. I've always really liked them. Their secondary could be really good.

And I hear you on the linebackers. But I don't know about the ceiling when I look at the defensive line. I guess that's where I would push back. And let me know what you think about the Chris Jones situation, too. Because even if Chris Jones is there and he's one of the best defensive players in the league, you tell me Carl Aftus had a good rookie or like, did he? I don't know. Did he?

And then I also say like the rest of the people around. I'll let you answer. Sorry. And then to me it looks average, maybe even with Chris Jones. I guess that's where I have a little bit of question. No, 100%. And I think Mike Dana, he's been out for the past couple of days. days here with a calf issue. I think he's a lesser known name. And I would have liked to have seen

the chiefs retain a Frank Clark. I do wonder if once Chris Jones finally gets done, we know about the chief's cap situation, which is really low at this point where there is money freed up. They go and bring back Carlos Dunlap, which starts to make you feel like, okay, maybe they do have enough pieces there. There's one glaring weakness for me. It's a little bit of the unknown at the edge position, which is one of the most important positions along the defense. And so I would completely agree. don't, I don't mind the pushback. I think there's going to be a lot of guys that really have to prove themselves on the defensive line. And underrated part two, and this doesn't get talked about enough, I think just from a national standpoint is the chiefs made a change a year ago by making

Brendan Daly, the linebacker's coach and bringing in Joe Cullen, the former defensive coordinator for belief the Jacksonal Jaguars. And he changed the game when it came to the front because now all the linemen, it seems like they're a lot more positionless. You know, you talk about Chris Jones and he's a defensive tackle. He'll line up outside a third of the time. Charles O'Manna, who's the guy they brought in to really match what he does. And what that allows you to do is take the weakest offensive lineman on the other side and put a mismatch. And so even if you're not dealing with the most above average defensive line in the game, I think a real underrated part of the chiefs is what Cullen does and how he lines these guys up and how he makes sure they're

inside outside. All these guys can do it. You see it all the time. I feel bad bringing this up. And I know you had a question, Mark, but I did just want to know because Joe Cullen doesn't come up often for the old heads, I think he's most famous for driving through a Wendy's naked during his job. I mean, we all need to do that once or twice. Sometimes when you have a good night, you need a junior bacon cheeseburger. It was just one of those stories. I think it was 2006 or seven. I was at Rotoworld.

It was just one of those stories where it would have been totally different in the Twitter era. He really had no answer for it. Oh, don't knock it until you tried. What's your answer? Well, I think he was arrested. He was arrested and he admitted he was blacked out at the time. So there was some darkness to the story. He lost the job.

I'm glad to see him back. That's a great note, though. Do you want to bring up anything dark from a Pete's past while we're here? I'm just saying, you don't get a chance. The old kid, you know, the kids listening might not know. I had an open container at Cortland State back in the day. It was tough. Got your ass.

All right, Mark, one more. Well, I just wanted to ask about a couple, you know, young guys on the team. Justin Ross and Eric Prince. We talked about Prince on our training camp, Whispers. He's making some rumbling, some noise. What have you seen from these guys? They have a chance to make an impact and stick around? I have both on the 53.

I didn't have Justin Ross on my initial 53, and I think he's worked his way to that. I think Cadarist Tony plays a big role, his injury situation. My projection currently has the Chiefskeeping seven receivers, which is a little out of the ordinary. I think they do some roster work where maybe the first day Cadarius makes it. Then you're able to put him on the IR to return a veteran like Blake. bell you might have cut the day before you bring back and you work it that way and so it you know it's seven receivers but it's really six but i think jester ross he pushes to make the team he's been getting a lot of wraps with patrick mahomes a lot more than i anticipated coming

into can and deneric prince is is his player that's hiding in plain sight and after the chiefs have their first preseason game i don't know if they'll be able to i he's one of the best past catchers i think period in camp and if he can get the pass protection down i think that's what's going to make it interesting, which is, you know, maybe the chiefs can save Jerich McKinnon, which they'd like to do. Maybe they say, okay, let's have Deneerick play this role. The chiefs have a really good running back situation because early downs, it's Isaiah Pacheco. You have Clyde Adruzalier still here backing him up in that role. And now you have two really good past catchers. And who better to teach Deneerick Prince who's trying to break into the league as an undrafted free agent at

Tulsa than one of the best past protectors in the league in Jerich McKinn. And so, good problem to have. I definitely see both of these players making the 50 bring that roster. It sounds like you don't want to draft Clyde Edwards-Layer for like the third straight year in fantasy. I know that was supposed to be last, but just quickly rank like what the receive, who do you think leads this team in reception? I know it's just like a

competition at wide receiver. Like, who do you think ends up leading the like rank their receptions at the end of the year? Yeah, obvious, but always important to remind you, this is past catcher two, right? Because it's going to be beyond Travis Kelsey. And I think it's Skymore for me. I know that Mark Quisvaldoz

Scantling, Cadarius Tony, your popular picks. hard for me to think Cadarist Tony plays like more than 13 games. I wish I was wrong because we've seen the talent. Mark Woods-Veldos scaling, I think, wanted to come into Kansas City and be more of a receiver all around and he was in Green Bay. And he kind of has just been what he was in Green Bay. Whereas I think Skymore, especially in that slot where he's really good, is ready to break out.

I think he's going to be that chain mover guy for Patrick Mahomes now that Ju-Ju has moved on to New England. Yeah, my last question was going to be over under 800 yards for Cadarious. Sounds like you're banging the under on that. that one yeah not because i i don't like the kid he just you can't assume that he's going to be on the field he got injured five minutes into practice this camp and it's unbelievable that he just can't find a way to stand the field so unfortunately yeah i would i would say under on a all right great stuff from pete sweeney you could follow him on twitter at pg swine and of course

over at arrowhead pride where he does awesome work thank you mr swine all right thank you guys thanks pete all right good conversation i think we've got Got a new friend of the show and a chiefs A1 guy. Peter can put his head on the pillow and say, I nailed it. I nailed my ATN appearance today. I like seeing the mess hall. I guess it's a lesson that like if you've got, if you're a good enough coach like Andy Reid, you can still push him.

You can still make today's athlete accept that. But you also, you kind of have to have maybe not the bona fides, but you have to have the expertise that Reid does. Like, they try to stand here. Do you say their shipping players are having individual bed shipping? He said that, yeah, some of the... That makes sense.

It does, but it kind of... Are you really going to sleep on one of those old... Doesn't it sort of push up against the whole concept of, like, you know... A little bit. You know? You're going to be on a cot like any college kid. But then they can then spin it or their agent can spin it as we can't have my guy waking up with a sore back.

Right. I'm sleeping in a freshman. I technically understand what's happening there, but it's like, There's a whatever. As someone who lived with a roommate who got scabies from picking up a bed from the outside like the dorm, it's like that seems like a good idea. Oh, that was on him.

He picked it up from outside the dorm. You know, the era of Bear Bryant, you know, Vince Lombardi and even Bill Parcells, that's gone. You can't ride players the way they used to. It's a much more, even the guys that aren't known as player-friendly are way more friendly than the previous eras. but you're right like for read to be able to institute this policy and put these guys on an island for several weeks together you have to have the bona fides and you have to have the faith and respect of the players and they do and i did just remind me before we get we have another illustrious guest coming up here before we sign off what the chiefs pulled off last year like the fact that the chiefs uh with a young defense as pete pointed out that was just learning on the fly with tyriek hill out of the building and gone.

And then on top of it all, Mahomes suffering that ankle injury in the playoffs, and they still ended up with a ring that said edge on the side because they won the Super Bowl. I don't think we talked about the Chiefs enough last season or this season. And everyone's going to pick, like, right? I didn't even get a chance. Like, I would love to. This year to win the Super Bowl or whatever. Maybe it's time to just say, just embrace it.

The Chiefs, they're the safe pick. They're the ones right now that make me. I mean, I had them in the Super Bowl last year from, from, from the Super Bowl. the get-go, the Chiefs. Did I'm winning? No, but that wasn't as fun. You picked Mahomes to lose. I also had them there to begin with and said that to be the one seed and all that,

that people were sleeping on it. Because as Mahomes is there, it happened. We were taking his greatness for granted. You're right. Like, I didn't even get a chance. I'd love to. I love, that would be a great team to watch every day at practice if you're Pete Sweden, you just have up close and personal of Pat Mahomes in practice.

Why did we set the table for Greg to just do what he just did? I don't know. Did you just say you didn't get the chance? You had plenty of bites at the apple. No, he's talking about my prediction. No, I mean, but you're saying we didn't give the chiefs enough credit. I'm just saying I give him some credit.

All right. I got a thumbs up. Does that mean player theme music? Because I think we have somebody special. Colleen Wolf. Connie's the queen. She is the queen of NFL media. Wow.

This song's great. But Colleen and her. awkward as ever, reacting to her song being played is what really sells it for me. Hi, Connie. Hi, guys. It's so great to see you and hear you. We miss you.

I don't think it was awkward at all. I don't know what that says about me. I thought it was elegant and funny. All right. Oh, I like that. A little Jack, what did you think? I approve. Okay, great.

To be clear, I didn't disapprove with Colleen's behavior on Cam there. But let's just move on. It wasn't exactly a stamp of approval. but that's fine. We will move on. I find the awkwardness endearing, Colleen. You are all over, you are all over America right now, Connie.

You have been, let's see. Here is the rundown, Colleen. She's been at the Panthers. She's been at the Steelers. Right now she's in Canton at the Hall of Fame. Then she's going to the Niners. Then she's going to the Seahawks. So you are on a bona fide campus tour,

which shows, by the way, that the company is into the tiny box, like to be sending her all. No doubt about that. Yeah. But let's start with a road trip to Charlotte with one of the city's shining suns. Oh, my gosh. Okay.

So Panthers Camp was so much fun. Like the vibes there were great. And I don't know if that was partially because it was on our big back together weekend. So they had like a ton of festivities there. But being in Charlotte and then in Spartanburg at Panthers Camp with Steve Smith's is an experience unlike any other. It's it was he's such a celebrity there and seeing guys like DeAngelo Hall on that staff again, it felt like a little reunion too and kind of seeing him as a coach that

made my heart just so happy because he wanted to do that so bad. And the whole staff in Charlotte with the Panthers, they're so cool like the players are happy. It just felt so positive overall. but I drove back from Spartanburg to Charlotte with Steve and all I did was just to pepper him. Yeah. And like we've had many because of like Thursday night football and doing our Saturday show and having to go to New York. Like there's been many car rides.

But this one I just was in camp mode and I just peppered him with questions on wide receivers, DBs, different systems, how he scouts everything. Like what his processes? and it was so enlightening, and the way he is so thorough about everything he does, he pulled out these laminated scouting cards that he uses to evaluate every single position. And I was like, oh, my God, this is incredible. Can I take a picture of this? And he grabbed him out of my hand.

And he's like, absolutely not. And then just starts laughing because that's just Steve. But his whole— Put it in your binder. I know. I wanted it for my binder. Like, this would have really opened things up for me. so I don't unfortunately

Binders not getting as much pop as they were a few years ago. The queen of the binders. I know, you know, I didn't for the first year ever. This is kind of historic. I did not bring a binder with me in training camp.

It's all on the computer. I finally went full digital. You are our last connection to the previous century, Colleen. I'm a little, right. You know, that is enough. Ever since last year, ever since Mitt Romney,

You've been kind of carrying the binder full of woman. You've been kind of carrying the binder flag, and now it's gone. It's over. Keep in staples and business. You are like a heavy preparer, which I understand that world, and I appreciate that. You know, I think it's, I also kind of want to know what you and, like, Steve Smith, like, where you went to eat and, like, what you did at night. What did you listen to on the radio? Yeah, you could share a little bit about that, but.

We went to Wendy's, and the entire place, knew Steve, wanted pictures with Steve. Steve got completely mobbed in Wendy's. What about you, though? They're recognizing you as an on-air broadcaster, I'm assuming. No, and that's fine. I just took the pictures for everyone. So everyone was just handing me their phones. Wendy's, by the way, is not a sponsor of this podcast,

but I believe that's the second time it's come up. Yeah. Well, yeah, we mentioned about an unnamed NFL assistant who drove through the Wendy's drive-thrued naked and was arrested. A nude assistant. I'm assuming that's a different scenario than you guys were in. involved in. I would assume. Yes. We had our NFL plus polos on from training camp still, which I was supposed to just have this like country club live in assignment in Spartanburg where I was going to do a couple

hits and then into like the larger show and then just kind of chill and like say hi to people, watch practice, actually like be at camp and see everything. And then a Wizard of Oz type weather scenario in Kansas City, where Kimmy Checks was hosting the whole three hours or four hours, whatever it was with Steve Mariucci. So they got pulled. And then they were like, Hey, Colleen, you got to get on and drive this thing for two hours. It's like, disaster. I'm sorry, what? Right now? Okay, cool. So it was, it was great. Good times. Can you like so Oh, you know what? Go ahead, kind. You're on fire and I love it. Go. I have so much to give, guys. so much to say. So we talked to Bryce Young, who I cannot even explain the good energy that he

admits and kind of just spreads to everyone around him. It's like he's so genuine. He's so grounded. He's so chill, so cool. And he's at the same time completely confident in and secure and like what he can do and what he's capable of. The staff absolutely loves him. You can tell his teammates love him and that everyone's kind of blown away by his preparation. We had talked to him right after they did the rookie talent show and all of the players were blown away by like him getting up there and singing and like actually like really leaning in, which takes a whole lot of confidence to get in front of a team as a rookie as the quarterback, like the number one overall pick and then own a song like that.

But just in general, I absolutely loved him and he had the same Philly's dunks as I did as I was wearing so just as like a sneaker person, that also grabbed my heart. All right. Any bad energy since you brought up good energy? You pick up any bad energy waves anywhere? Not there. No. It's been like really good.

I made friends with this lady at a perfume counter in Pittsburgh. She was telling me about her late husband had me crying by the end of our experience. We were hugging. Like I was just trying to get a sample. You know, it's really difficult to do? Colleen and I got a lot of stuff going on because we have our hard knocks, hard knocks podcast that's premiering this week and i called up connie to button up some things yesterday and she's she's getting a manicure and she's in the midst of doing that and she's speaking with the

woman this is exactly how i want my talons and i'm trying to get a word in but she's she's focused on the talons uh you're just you're a whirlwind wolf i am i am and i always have been and um you i just want you guys to know that i cut down my talons so you won't be hearing the as mr at least as as much. Bad news for the ASMR crowd. Yeah, no, it's been a tough month for them and this doesn't help. I like hearing that. What else happened with the ASMR?

I know it's a rocky road going down, you know, if that's what you're into, that's rocky road. You're insinuating there's another event that happened. Bark knows more. Yeah, he does. I know more. He's in that world. We don't have time right now for that.

I want to know that. You never know when you take that turn with Sessler? Well, what do you know? What's happening behind the scenes? All right, don't say it. That's a whole different segment. Go ahead. I do love hearing about Bryce Young.

He does give off this sort of like beatific vibe, you know, this crazy energy. And it kind of makes sense. Like if you're 5'10 and you're the best football player in the country, that's going to take a lot of confidence to get there. Like that's a sneaky. I overcame a lot at every level, essentially, to be like a lot of people thinking like, yeah, you just don't look like the kind of guy who's going to be the best. player on the field. And there's a lot of talk of like pro ready. It's going to take Anthony Richardson a while. It's like Bryce Young was the opposite. There was concerns about his size and everything, but there's no concerns about his readiness. He could be the rare quarterback very

different than the last Panthers, number one overall pick. But like Cam Newton, he could just start as like a legit top 10, top 15 quarterback. I don't think that's out of bounds. Yeah. And just kind of like talking to everyone there. I think that they really legitimately think that, too. You hear so much smoke this time of year. And I mean, I know that when I come back from these camps, I'm like, that's it. This is the team. I'm all in on the Panthers.

So I'm almost afraid to go in on the Panthers because I don't want to jinx them. I don't want to Sessler them at this point like he did with the Titans. But I think it's happening. I don't think I have a choice at this point. I think the rest of the team has plenty of concerns pretty much almost across the board other than Bryson. So he could even play really well. and they might not be amazing.

Your story, though, being in the car with Steve Young does remind me on the content summit, Steve Smith, I mean. Unless you were also in the car. Yeah, we don't know where Steve Young was. Unaccounted for. It's ESPN's fault. At the content summit, a pretty big group of us

went out to get some Mexican food. And I drove, I had driven Colleen to the restaurant, but on the way back, I had to have a car full of people bringing them back to the hotel because the cars were splitting up. And suddenly Steve's, Smith was in the back seat of my like extremely dirty with child seats and like a young girl's manga is there and it's everything and it's not a new car.

I've had it for like eight or nine years and that drive back to the hotel with Steve Smith in the back seat actually made me think like I might have to buy a new car. This will never happen again, but even just the car is a reflection of the man on some level and right. The embarrassment of that five to ten minutes was a. enough that I've thought about it a lot since that I might have to get in the car. Well, I'm just so happy that Steve didn't get in the car on the way to the restaurant because it was just Greg and I in the car. And when I got in the car, his radio was on and it was actually a book on tape.

And he said it was a biography of a woman who grew up in Dominica in the early 20th century. Yeah. This guy knows how to party or what? It was a Gene Reese biography. Great author. Great, great bio there. But yes, I got in Greg's car once and it was the Bible on tape. And I was just like, wow.

Yeah, like deep Old Testament. But also, you were also in Pittsburgh and I have ticketed them for double-digit wins confidently. Am I a fool? Double-digit wins. Okay. Terrible vibes in Pittsburgh. I don't know about that. What was your takeaway from that visit?

other than the woman in the Julie store or the thumb finger place I loved her she was great at the perfume counter she was just so wonderful um no I I could see this division actually being pretty good if the Steelers can live up to the potential that they have because Kenny Pickett now that he's not getting thrown in in week four he's worked with Matt Canada before and they've also given him upgrades on the offensive line with their first round pick they I think that when you look at, they've made improvements at the wide receiver position too. And then that defense with T.J. Watt healthy. You think about when he got hurt last year, Alex Highsmith came in and had a career season. Like he was given the opportunity that he didn't have before to really shine. And now when you put those two guys together, what this defense could actually be. And I think with an improved offensive line, the offense could be more balanced. And when you think about the hallmarks of Mike Tomlin's teams, his successful teams over the years, it's been a balanced offense and a really good defense, and that's what they have.

I think this defense could be special. Their front seven is great. Their backups to Watt in Highsmith, like Herbig is a rookie who's been having a big camp for them. I think they're happy with what they're getting out of their tackle. Project Jones, so far he's going to start right away. But they remind me of that team that got blown out by the Patriots. in the AFC championship game. I think that was 2016,

where it's like they're great up front, but the secondary is ultimately a problem. I think that's a pretty big weakness. But if you just took the secondary away, to me that looks like an 11 or 12 win team. But that could be a pretty big weakness. I think there's like a lot of hoping there in the secondary. I think that's secondary too with Patrick Peterson.

I know that he's been around for so long. But Patrick Peterson, And we talked to him and he was so, so, so excited just to be a stealer, just to work with Mike Tomlin because he was saying that Tomlin wants to put him in different positions and maximize what skill set he has now at this point in his career. So they were lining him up all over the place. They played him at free safety a little bit too. So I wouldn't be surprised to see Patrick Peterson take on a couple different roles in that secondary. Well, look what they did with Joe Hayden after his Cleveland years. They found a way to maximize what was left of his ability, Peterson.

I would not be surprised. Connie, anything else before we say goodbye that you want to share with the audience or the heroes here in studio? Well, I am here in Canton waiting for Joe Thomas's enshrinement. And I'm so excited because I've never been, I've never been to Canton Hall of Fame just to be here as like someone celebrating.

I've always had to work. That's why you're there just as a friend? Yeah. Wow. John is flying out tomorrow. and we're going to all of the Joe festivities with his family and all of his knucklehead friends that I've been lucky enough to meet over the years. And I'm just like so excited to see him on stage get his jacket.

And then he's batting cleanup order of the speeches. And it's going to be really, really cool just to hang out and watch it all. How does it feel to be living like Mark's, in a way, childhood fantasy, that you're like literally at the greatest brown. player of our lifetime, at least, I would say. I think so. The last 20 years at his enshrinement, just hanging out with him for the weekend because you guys are friends.

It doesn't feel real. Like, I never thought that I would be in a position where I would be friends with someone who was being inducted into the Hall of Fame. It's just, it's a little surreal and really, really cool. And Mark, I'll send you a bunch of, like, behind the scenes deep cuts. Please do. you can see what's happening. And to celebrate, I'm actually wearing Gonzo's t-shirt that I had to pull from his closet

when I helped watch your wonderful two dogs. Underneath them, the classic jean jacket. But I'm very happy that you get to celebrate with Joe Thomas. I mean, we got to know him a little bit, and it's good to find out that he's an incredibly great guy, not just a great football player. And I can see why the two of you are friends. What? It felt like a concession speech

No, I'm happy for you To go have fun and just go I think Canton is also The important thing here is that they take care of this great state of ours And I will help in the transition any way I can Colleen, you've said it all I'll catch up with you a little later For some hard knocks

Thanks for that Pell Razor drop Oh yes Appreciate you Like he's never listened to our show That is super clear Thank you, thank you I take his word for it but you know Agree to dispel

Hellraiser. Thank you, Colleen. Bye, guys. What a ray of sunshine, that wolf. That was genuine what I said to her. I don't know why you're giggling. What? About that I'm glad that she's...

It was just kind of like a politician, like, stumped. I told her, I told her on text before she appeared that I needed, like, an ambulance to pick me up and take me out of here. Like, this is where we're at at this point. Well, then, I think we should leave, then. I think we should have been doing this for four hours. All right. Anything else? Any other housekeeping Monday.

Our next show will be at Cowboys Camp up in Oxnard. Oxnard. Oxnard. Oxnard. Maybe work on that name. Yeah. If the Rams can work on their T-shirt. Oxnard.

Rebrent. Jordan Rodry got back to me, by the way. Covers the Rams for the Athletic. About the shirt. I had asked her on the show earlier this week if she could do some digging. Like, what's the history behind the shirt? She said that she's working on an answer on the shirts.

And she said, as of now, quote, model the way is the Sean McVeigh shirt. And she thinks, but this is not her official reporting, that the long one, what does the long one say again? Does anybody remember? Do we have that?

It's like compete and and ampersand. The long one has to do with all the new kids they brought in. So they're trying to, you know, I think that's one of those... It's still a culture with all these young kids. It was mentally and physically tough players who play smart and love to compete.

Right. How about just compete? Yeah. That's one of those, like, ideas, like someone brought up in a meeting and then it actually happens and it's a total bomb and no one wants to claim it afterwards. It's like, oh yeah,

who thought of that little show that totally didn't work on our network and no one wants to claim that. And you should know that Jordan, And she has a bit of an issue with Greg, a minor issue. Oh, wow. Because she said, Greg doesn't believe I listen to every show, so I've got an even bigger chip to find out the info in order to prove him wrong.

I feel after she was on our episode that I felt convinced that she was a completest. Greg, where's the doubt coming from? I don't even remember that. Maybe I said that on air. I mean, every show. It's a lot. It's a lot. I must have said it to her on the air.

That's a lot. Reikles. But I appreciate it, Jordan. bridge builder thank you to peter sweeney thank you to connie fox uh we will see you in dallas make sure you check out the hard knocks podcast double drop on friday until then you know what you got to though heat the call This is an I-heart podcast.