NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Draft WeekPalooza Day 5: 2021 Draft Recap

Episode Date: May 2, 2021

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Gregg Rosenthal and Phil Wesseling! The 2021 NFL Draft is officially over and there is a lot to catch up on. We talk Winners and Losers of the draft (2:15) and which teams seem the most complete (24:12). RGIII has some comments about Kirk Cousins (30:14) and we cover the latest with Aaron Rodgers (39:18). Phil Wesseling joins the show to talk about Justin Fields (49:28). The heroes go over their sandwich props from the draft(1:01:04) and Dan sings about the biggest signing of the offseason (1:13:12).Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast. Don't care about your mock drafts. Don't need to. Because they're over, baby. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name's Dan Hansis. Come to you from a virtual room filled with some heroes.

Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal. Mark, listen, it's our one Saturday show of the year. If you ever had a chance to cut loose and put on one of your little cute little Star Wars shirts, this was the time, but here you are in a full-on button down like it's Tuesday afternoon for the big meeting with the boss. Well, I see what you're saying, and I understand, but I also just had like two extra buttons just undone all day. It was just sort of wandering around my house, which resembles sort of a war zone right now because Simone poorly is dealing with the second vaccine. and is conked out on the couch and the children are running around like it's on 1981 Nicaragua as I attempt to speak with you about the events of the past two days.

It's like bazookas in the back of pickup trucks driving around at 80 miles per hour. That's just how I imagine Nicaragua was about 40 years ago. That's the scene. Mark, I feel like you wouldn't know that he's from Connecticut, but one thing I think he retains from his Connecticut upbringing is he does wear buttoned down shirts and shorts on a Saturday. Like whenever we're just like hanging out by the beach near like at Wes's place back in the day, like if he was at, like Mark's coming by in a button down shirt. That's just this thing.

I just like collared shirts with the way that I look, t-shirts don't always get it done until I improve the health. So the collared shirts hide in disguise a lot. If there's one thing with Mark, it's like collared shirts, boat shoes, and talking about the yacht, you know, in the harbors. Like, I got to tow that thing out of there. I got to redo the floors. Got to talk to the Harbor Master.

We're lucky we even have a second-lease car right now, so totally off the accuracy chart. The draft is over. Round 7 has concluded the 2021 NFL draft is in the books. It felt normal. I mean, I know it's still different. And the fact that, for instance, during the round one on Thursday night, there was a graphic that said fully vacuum. vaccinated draft room, which still is the funniest thing of the draft for me, you know, all sorts of signs that things are not totally normal. But this did feel like the draft and it's totally

different than last year, for instance. And as I've said many times before, at the end, at the end of round seven, it's the most hopeful time of year in the NFL because everybody thinks, for the most part, there's always a couple outliers that their team nailed the draft. Every GM cannot believe his luck about who fell to them where. And on balance, you look at the top of your draft especially, and you see impact star after impact star after impact star. And it's not going to work out that way. But for right now, you get to look at your new roster and your new death charts and see just a gorgeous alignment of rising stars. Yeah, I think that's true for 31 teams and then there's the Texans.

So, you know, they're like their fans are in a tough spot right now. Things will get better eventually, but I don't think they're feeling optimistic. But you're right about like the return to normalcy. These, these rookies, too, are going to do a mini camp. So there's been a lot of reports about, you know, what team veterans aren't showing up and when and that remains to be seen. But these rookies, like Zach Wilson's going to be on the field. I don't know if it'll be next weekend or the weekend after that.

It's up to each team. But on one of those weekends, he's going to be. playing he's going to be thrown to some other young players for the jets and like it is a slow return to normalcy it's happening it is to your point though about it being the most optimistic time and maybe i've always felt this way but i i feel like more than ever you can't look at like seven teams and ticket them for trash bag status i feel like there are like 28 teams that can make the playoffs um when i look at them today but that's also to your point you know it's three days of everyone telling us how great everyone is that they've drafted, how wonderful these teams are,

how much stronger they all are, how equally powerful each division is at this point, none of it will come true. But I just can't pick out five or six total loser jobs at this point. And there will be because there are always going to be teams that did not do very well over these last three days. And they needed that influx of talent and it just will not happen. That's just the nature of this. This feels like a good place to start now. as we kind of take a above the tree tops look to use a little shadowy league figure corpo jargon. Greg, now that free agency is in the rearview, now that the draft has come and gone, what's a team that you really like right now?

What's a team that you can't wait to see them assembled on the field because you feel like they're better and they're going to be stronger than they were last year? My heart says the dolphins. That's the one that pops to my mind. You know, I think, you know, they got all these picks the last two years. I think if you were judging their last draft class off their rookie year, there's some concerns that maybe they didn't use those picks that well. We'll see.

And so we'll see about the five picks that they had in the first three rounds this year. But I liked them. Like, I want to see Jailen Waddle and Wolf Fuller and Devante Parker. I thought the other picks they made Jailin Phillips, and I think Tua Tua is going to be better in his second year. I don't know what it is, but I just feel like they're, they have come together their team has totally turned over i know there's been all this uh crazy uh transition and different coaches like and that all looks bad but i i think they're going to be

exciting and i'm kind of excited for tuatunga by loa to prove people wrong and that he's better than people think i mean you also have to say that for all the moving up and down um and trading that they've done sometimes those things over the course of a couple years like you don't wind up with the players you would have dreamt of winding up with but to get waddle and to get jalen phillips um two excellent players that Phil needs. I don't know. This team is just so clearly headed in the right direction with coach and GM married at the hip. Because you're right, because there's two parts of being a successful GM. One is understanding the marketplace and striking when opportunity occurs in terms of trading way assets to gain draft picks and set yourself up, you know,

chess piece wise for the next couple of years. But then you actually eventually have to take all that draft capital that you wisely accrue and get some star players so um the dolphins who they tore it all the way down they pretty quickly built things up to respectability and now this year is going to be i mean the expectations here they are going to be expected to be competing for the afc east or at least a playoff spot how about you mark a team that you really like right now compared well i don't want to steal um i don't want to steal your thunder dan but i think there's going to be a lot of chance to talk about the New York Jets. I could not be more. If I were a Jets fan, I would view the last 48 plus hours as the genuine turning point that one would have been waiting for

for decades. And I think it starts with the fact that like, look, if Zach Wilson comes as advertised, I'm not saying as the best quarterback in the draft, but he's the most exciting quarterback in the draft. Because when I were at the point, we're starting to watch some of these guys a little bit of their tape, and like, you can start to fall hard. And I love that they They went, Vera Tucker at Guard at number 14. You, I know you wanted Landon Dickerson, but I think you got a great answer in the interior here. And then Elijah Moore, to get Elijah Moore where they did, to get not only one Michael Carter,

the running back, who was the third most, he caused the third most mistackles in the FBS last year. He's an exciting player. He was teammates with Giovante Williams. But you get another Michael Carter, number two, a defensive back. I mean, one of the Michael Carter's has to be good. They can't both be bad There is no way they can both be unhelpful

One of them has to make an impact I'm with you But I would just say this like There's like a successful Michael Carter Out there somewhere right now Like an accountant like touching his nose Like dead on bro Yeah but that only works if he also has like a Michael Carter

Working like Kitty Corner in the cube near him Like this is the rule of two here Makes it impossible Give me one of them One will thrive I just see I see a plan And you know look at I think Joe Douglas has been given a lot of leeway by the media. I don't know if it's because he's

specifically in New York. He has been touted, I think, before the Jets have gotten good. But he had a plan. He's done a really good job. And I think part of it is boldness. We're in the offseason where if you don't think your quarterback, whether it's his fault or the teams is the right guy, you be bold and you move on. We've seen it with the Rams. We've seen it with others. Here we are. And I think the Jets basically did the same thing. And if Zach Wilson works out all of this pivots off of that. But if he works out, this Jets team will be completely different for the next decade. Well, they did what I was just saying.

At a certain point, he did a really nice job, Douglas, setting the team up with draft picks. But now you've got to start bringing in some guys that can play. And that's why I've come out of this really excited. They take four straight offensive players. And you mentioned Zach Wilson, of course, it all hinges on him. and you just hope that he is the guy they've been waiting for. Vera Tucker trading up the two third round picks to move up and get him. I love that because he's supposed to be a legit star guard potentially or a guy that you

could just plug in there, don't worry about in the Joe Tuny type mold. And then Elijah Moore, the third pick of the second round, that's a guy that could be a legitimate big-time player. So you have those three picks. Those are three impact players right off the bat. So I like that. And Douglas, what you were saying about him is right. It's like I think there's been a lot of hope attached to Douglas,

but at a certain point, it's going to have to now turn over to be some wins. And I think it starts now where you need to see growth. And I thought he started last year with Beckham, Mackay Beckton, Denzel Mims. And now you add these impact players. And I like the strategy with the defense, which is, all right, there's so many holes here. Let's focus on offense. Let's get that thing built up in a way. We never built it up around the last rookie quarterback.

and then we'll let Sala figure out what we have on D and then work on that as we go forward because this is not a Super Bowl or bus season for the jest. And one little thing because, you know, when you look when Mike Shanahan or Kyle Shanahan went from Atlanta to the Niners, they made a huge push in that first off season to bring in free agents and draft players

that would immediately kind of fit and work in the Shanahan offense. And I love that Sala knows enough and he came from a place where he totally gets all that that they prioritized offense out of the gate on the draft to get that thing humming as quickly as possible and we can trust Sala to coach up the defense because we saw it last year with the most banged up defensive roster

in the league in San Francisco. All right. Now this is not going to be, this is not a, you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. I was absolutely going to talk about the Browns either way, but now it's even better now. Scratch on. The Browns are so interesting. We just talked about a team where they had so many holes

that you could really pick anywhere. And it's like, okay, that makes sense. That's where the Jets are as an organization. The Browns have, over the last couple of years, built up a roster that they were able to use this draft to zero in specifically on what they need. So you get Greg Newsom, a cornerback in round one. And then you get Jeremiah Awusu Koremoa,

that everyone loves that pick. Second round pick, 52 overall. He fills a need. at linebacker. We knew they needed help there, especially somebody who could cover. They needed help in the back end. And then I thought it was interesting. Their next two picks, Mark, they take a burner, Anthony Schwartz out of Auburn, a wide receiver, and that adds another dimension to their offense, but also one that kind of Odell Beckham hypothetically fills as well. So it's like a nice depth pickup for them, I think, rather than something that's

like we're desperate to have somebody that can make plays downfield. And then by the time the Browns got to their fourth pick, they're taking basically a swing tackle. Like they are at a point now, I think, where they've built up a roster where they can use the middle of their draft to try to add depth to the team rather than plug massive holes. And it just speaks to what Daniel Jeremiah said at the end of the draft. Like he sees this as a potential like 13 win team. That's, that's the talent that's been built up here in a fair, you know, kind of a short amount of time. Well, and I'll, I'll like Greg in here. But I'll say real quick that when Owasa Coromoa fell to them, I mean, this was a guy that was ticketed for a first round pick by many.

And I started to watch him, which, you know, this is a Cleveland Brown in every sense of the imagination. One that they've not had. It's like the kind of player to me that always would fall to the opponent. If you're a Jets fan, it's always someone else in the AFC East getting that kind of player. It was always the Ravens or Steelers and looking super smart and plucky for having this guy fall on their lap. And it's really one of the first times that I can remember where, the Brown's draft for both all their picks, these were guys that were meant to be gone ahead of time.

I'm talking first, second, third round. So I thought that to be fortune, but also the fact that Andrew Barry has proven to be quite cunning, a general manager. And they have a specific type of guy they want, young, lots of college production, and super crazy physical metrics. And so, you know, Schwartz, the wide receiver,

is the fastest player in college football. So that will add a dimension. I mean, how about the fastest receiver in college football? with the last name Schwartz. There you go. I never thought I'd say the day. Love that. The Browns have potentially seven to nine new defensive starters.

I'm going to do projected starters coming up and, you know, I started looking at it. You know, defensive tackle is kind of a question. They didn't really replace that with Sheldon Richardson. You know, they signed Malik Jackson. That's a lot of new starters. They look good. They look good on paper. They get some opt-outs back to, you know, their coordinator didn't inspire a lot of confidence

last year. So that's their biggest question. That's their biggest obstacle between 13 wins and not, is making that all work together. Because on offense, I'm not surprised. They basically did nothing this offseason. They just added Schwartz. I mean, they didn't have a veteran. You know, they had O'Do Beckham essentially.

And they, because they didn't need to. I mean, they were as loaded and ready to go as any offense in the league. They got to figure it on a defensive. Conversely, Greg, is there a team that you come out of this period? And again, I'll kind of lump in free agency in March

with the draft that you're concerned about. Ooh. I'm just like thinking of like one specific spot, which is that the Colts never got a left tackle. Sam Tevey is their left tackle who is last seen like ending Philip Rivers is running in San Diego and Los Angeles. And then last scene letting Justin Herber get destroyed. I was just very surprised about that.

I think they're going to have to find someone. That combination of Carson Wentz, who holds the ball more than anyone, you know, behind him at left tackle. It's just one position. But I was a little surprised about that. Like, I'm a little worried that the Colts could take a step back in general. I look at... Ooh, I got another one. I know I thought of a better answer.

Let's hear. You want to know who the Titans number two receiver is right now? Oh. It's Josh Reynolds, who was last with the round. Who is their number three receiver? I don't know. It could be anyone. I guess it would be Chester Rogers.

They don't have Johnny Smith anymore, so their starting tight end is Anthony Furkser. You have Derek Henry now coming off like 7,000 carries in the last couple years. They've quietly had a little bit of a talent drain there, and it's not like the defense was great anywhere. So that's my answer. Okay, I like that one. And I was thinking with the Elijah Moore move by the Jets, Jameson Crowder, is somebody that is redundant on that roster. I wonder if a team like the Titans or someone else that feels like, yeah, we're a little short here,

especially if they don't love their slot option. Crowder could be somebody that I think would be attractive to a lot of teams. He's a good player. He's a good player. That is an internal callback to a former NFL media talent who shall remain nameless, who whenever he wanted to emphasize his roots, he would say, hey, he's a cool little player. He's a good ball player.

It's like, hmm, are you possibly from the tri-state area, sir? Or man. He's a ball player. Anyway, the Steelers, I'm going to mention the Steelers. Mark, I am really, I'm playing to your heart right now. How about that? The Steelers, I only say this because I didn't hate the Najee Harris move by any stretch. He could be a star running back and nobody really think about it.

But then you take a tight end with your second. pick and 55 overall. Pat Friermuth. Frayermith. Kind of a tough draft for names, by the way. Is anybody tracking that? I feel like this one's got some real challenges to it. Anyway, the tight end out of Penn State, that's fine too. But they wait until round three to address the offensive line, which I thought it was

like a major area concerned for them. And then they go Kendrick Green, Dan Moore, Jr., back to back. So maybe, and again, this is a good organization, and good. organizations usually hit on mid-round picks more than the have-nots in the league, maybe one or both those guys can play. But I keep thinking of myself how boom or busts the Steelers are. And they didn't make any type of bold move to give themselves some Big Ben insurance. And now they didn't really address what is, to me, a danger area, their offensive line. And Big Ben is starting to move a little bit like Dan Marino near the end there.

in the late 90s, if he has to run for his life, that's how they got into trouble. If you remember with that offense going into the tank in December, everything was just like two-yard darts. He was just getting the ball out of his hand so quick. And they got to the point, he's like, oh, this actually isn't cool that he's getting rid of it so quickly. They can't get anything off.

They can't even get good plays off. And he can't move so he knows that he can't scramble anymore. Anyway, I'm not going to like, because I know in other quarters of the end of people will pile on and be like, the Steelers had a terrible draft. because of this. I'm just saying it's on my radar that they seem vulnerable in a way that I don't remember in past years. I agree with everything you said. And I also really like the Najee Harris pick because it's like, look, you had multiple needs. If you went and got the offensive line and

then missed out on all the running backs, people would be talking about, you know, Benny Snell is your running back in your break. So it's like you kind of can't win on that front. But I think Najee Harris, you know, we've seen Alabama backs come out and either thrive and sometimes they bust out. But I mean, you're right. I'm thinking maybe it was like the second round pick. I was a little surprised they put it off another round to go address. They have a type, though. That's what I like about them is like Harris was compared to Levyon Bell like a year ago.

Frymerth was compared to Heath Miller, this whole draft process. It's like that's, it's like the same guy who drafted Levy on Bell and the same guy who drafted Heath Miller then just like did the same thing. And their center in round three, they, as Damacek loves to point out, the center position in Pittsburgh is one of the. the best lineages in all of sports, if you really want to get deep. So I'm going to trust Colbert to come up with it. I think they're really thin in the secondary, though. They don't have a second cornerback.

Justin Lane is their second cornerback. Cam Sutton's their third, and Terrell Edmonds was last seen, giving up a lot of big plays, and he's their starting safety. So it's not just their offense. I'm with you. They're teetering a little more than usual.

How about you, Mark? So I kind of have the same feeling about the lions, where I love that they, Penae Sewell looks like he's just going to be awesome for like 15 years. So there's no critiquing that pick. But then, but it's also like they had a burning need at wide receiver. And they really didn't do a whole lot to address that.

Now, Amon Ross, St. Brown, another intriguing name. I mean, he's already been talked about in fantasy circles as someone that might just come in and lead the team in targets. I mean, depending on how things shake out. I mean, we'll see. But right now you're looking at Rashad Parramon, Tyrell Williams, who is more of a myth than a reality half the time, Quintes Cephas and Rahs, Amon Ross, St. Brown,

as Jared Goff's cast of whiteouts. And you know, the thing is, here's the thing. In one way you could call Jared Goff a winner because maybe they could have gone and drafted Justin Fields and Jared Goff is getting goffed all over again. So he's the clear-cut starter. He's going to get a chance to do it. But he's walking into an offense that's sort of the opposite

of what he encountered with Sean McVeves Rams, where they're not ready to go. They look really stuck in the mud. And, like, I like what this front office is doing. Lions fans are understandably sensitive, and I even got some tweets last week. But look at, like, Brad Holmes is a good GM. They're dug in on the future.

It's just thinking it's going to be a tough watch on offense this year. I mean, you're kind of coming out of from two angles, though, here. Because I'm asking you who is, you don't like or didn't like their drafting or free agency too much. And it does feel like this is all, again, part of a plan. They're not looking to make a huge splash, I guess, at, position like wide receiver maybe because you know the old major they're going to be a tough watch i know where marcus i know where mark is coming right but that's that might be the point i mean

they they're they're okay going three and 14 this year because this is not they understand that this is going to be a tough year um regardless really so i don't know if i if i came on here and said i just love what the lions have done um i mean i like stool but i love everything else about their offseason and they have no wide receivers i mean i remember a game last year where the Browns played the Jets with no wide receivers and that couldn't have been more of an embarrassment. So, you know, you've got to give something off here. I guess what I'm saying is I almost separate the lines from these type of discussions because they're doing something different to me than what these other teams are doing. But that's, you know. Well, that's your rule. They're trying to

prove a point. And so their first three draft picks added up to 938 pounds combined. You know, they're doing what Gettleman did when he arrived in Carolina. It's like, we're going to take some big uglies. I want to read you a quote from their second round pick and new lion's favorite Levi-on-Muzeriki defensive tackle who said, I like to fuck people up. I like to get off the line and just put my helmet on or my hands on an offensive lineman and fuck the offensive scheme. Who said this? I like pushing them back to three yards and just making them feel like shit. This is their defensive tackle and hopefully my children who are like right there. That sounds like a professional wrestler.

They definitely did not hear that. He's like Dan Campbell as a player. They basically just like drafted a bunch of like 300 pound Dan Campbell. So I like it. All right. You mentioned, by the way, the Texans. And that brings me to my, maybe we could kind of take turns hitting on things that jumped out to us.

I wanted to talk about notable quarterback moves made in the last two days of the draft. So the Texans. They didn't have a first or a second round pick because of the various Bill O'Brien handiwork of recent years. The tuntle trade, the tundsle trade, totally. The Laramie Tonsle trade, which has drained this organization on such a level that, you know, they're still digging out. But they finally come up in the draft in the third round, and what do they do? They use it on a quarterback. Davis Mills at a Stanford, the third round pick.

And, you know, to me, and Rich Eisenon on our. Airways was incredulous about the whole thing. But I mean, it just, it speaks to this organization is turning the page on Deshaun Watson. And you, it's on two levels, because if you think about it, before the legal issues came, Deshaun Watson said, I essentially hate this team. I don't like the management. I don't want to be here. Get me out of here. Then the legal stuff happens. And that's still unfolding. And we don't know how deep and how far the road that's going to go in terms of changing his career and his life. Either way, though, it's not like the legal proceedings

helped his chances of staying in Houston long term. I still feel like this marriage is ending one way or the other. So it made a lot of sense to me, but also I would think it's just sobering as a Texans fan to know that you have Tyrod Taylor under contract for a year and now you got this Stanford kid in the building. And it's like four months ago, we had like the top four quarterback in the league

and everything is changing and not for the better. yeah what are you going to do is start tie rod 17th straight weeks it totally made sense to me a lot of people like davis mills as a you know as that sixth quarterback there were different opinions about him it's the most valuable position you have no depth like ryan finley's there and i think i think it made a lot of sense to have someone that at least you try you got to start taking swings now because you're right it'd be stunning if the sean watson ever plays football for the texans again and and the fact that they're not talking about that publicly They don't have to. There's ongoing, you know, sexual assault cases. It's obvious what's going on there. So it made sense. I mean, you know, because the hard thing is, I think that the coach and GM, who have nothing to do with any of this drama in another world would be looked on in sunnier fashion. It's like they got airdropped into a really tough situation. I have no problem with them taking a quarterback. To Greg's point, look at, you're going to have players gathering in the next weeks and months. You've got to, like, you've got to fortify every possible position.

If Casario's done one thing, he's spent, you know, little amounts of money on lots of players to just basically field as deep a roster as possible. A good roster? No. But he's coming in essentially, he's operating like someone from FEMA, and that's what they're dealing with. And I think it's starting to, if you're a fan, you're starting to wake up. Tyrol will get his chance, finally, right? I don't know. I mean, why are we still, like, in those worlds? of narrative. I mean, I mean, he's a fine backup, but these 14, 15 months have been starting with that DeAndre Hopkins trade to where we are now as a Texans, Texans fan, you're really struggling. And that's that the part of the reason Casario is not getting the benefit of the doubt

is because the guy who was the second most important in making all of those moves is still there and hired Casario. Right. So it's really not a fresh start. It's a continuation. The Saints made a move. They take Ian Book. Notre Dame like some of these names in the draft this year it's like remember in when you played Nintendo games and you're a kid and it was before they had licensing agreements with the various leagues so they would have to make up player names they get quite creative you're right and they're just like I don't know uh Ian book there we go that's a name that's fine I mean that's the all time Notre Dame leader

and passing yards I'm pretty sure I know I know you're a huge fan of them Greg I'm not a huge fan but he probably had more air time than any college football player in the last four years other than like Trevor Lawrence. It's because he's on Notre Dame and he started forever. I loosely identify myself as a Notre Dame fan going back to when I was a kid. I used to root for them mostly because they were on NBC every week and my town was an Irish town. So it was like, all right, I guess I'll root for Notre Dame. But I was like kind of, it was catching my attention that every offensive lineman on Notre Dame like got drafted within three rounds. And like how come they would not win their national title with all these like NFL studs

blocking in front of this gentleman, Mr. Book, who, yes, went 30 and 5 as a starter. He's winning his quarterback in Notre Dame history. He's built like Drew Breeze, 6 foot, 211 pounds. So, yes, he's a fourth round pick. So it's ultimately a dart throw. But just interesting in that room, because it's an interesting, compelling quarterback conversation right now in New Orleans. James Winston's there on a short-term deal.

Tassum Hills there on a short-term deal. and now you have this fourth round pick that they obviously like. I guess if you're a quarterback on the fringe or if people are doubting you enough where you fall to the fourth round, there are a couple of spots where you'd think, I know who can maximize my skills and put me in a position to succeed. Sean Payton in New Orleans would be atop that list right there with Kyle Shanahan. Right, especially a short guy like book who's about Breeze's height.

It does point out, though, that I was stunned. They didn't take any receivers again. you know, our friend Adam at the Saints Twitter podcast. He pointed out, they've drafted two receivers since 2015. There's a little bit of Sean Payton like hubris that like, we don't need offensive playmakers. It's just putting a lot on Camara and Thomas. Like if you're missing one of those guys and now that Drew Breeze isn't there,

it's like they're a little thin. I was really surprised they didn't take a receiver in this class. I mean, at least they took Peyton Turner at number 28 over. Or all, someone that, you know, people plugged into the draft were basically saying, who is this guy? I mean, it was the reaction from Saints fans when that happened was close to an apocalypse on some level. And then sticking in the NFC and the NFC North, the Vikings make a move also in the third round. They select Kellyn Monde at a Texas A&M, which prompted a former teammate of Kirk Cousins to chime in. Robert Griffin, the third, who's currently a free agent, by the way, Bob is.

But he was formerly the starting QB, the Cousins' backup in Washington. In fact, they were drafted together. RG3 was number two overall after a mega trade by Washington that backfired spectacularly. And Cousins was drafted, I believe in the fourth round, ended up taking his job. And Cousins, you know, a bit of a divisive figure. This is what Griffin had to say on a bleacher report program about the move. can tell you right now number eight in minnesota's probably not real happy right now uh because kelemond represents exactly what he doesn't do well right kelemond's the the big physical quarterback

he can run and throw it all over the field um and i don't think that that's something that number eight is able to do uh in cousins in minnesota he added that uh he added that cousins has been cash in checks i believe it was yeah he said he's been been collecting those checks with a lot of eight and and nine and seven record so you can you can be sure that griffin does not look back on his time with with cousins and the shanahan's uh too fondly and that's not a shock man i mean i kind of got the sense that like rg three was sort of trying out for a tv gig where he's good i thought you're good bring your hottest take and like while you're at it like take a former teammate and separate them into like two thousand parts i mean that's like he might be right he represents everything

that Kurt Cousins doesn't do well. A big armed athletic guy. I mean, I get it. They did kind of, they did draft like a very toolsy opposite of Kirk Cousins guy at the top of the third round. I, you know, for all that Griffin, you know, has an axe to grind. If the Vikings are six and eight after 14 weeks, you better believe Vikings fans are asking for Kell and Mon and they might get them. Like, you know, they might get them. And by the way, that's right.

If there's a playbook for getting you. your broadcasting career off the ground as a former player. There's a couple moves you could do. One is you could, if you have like a really good relationship with an iconic player or coach, and you could have either scoopage or just insight on where that guy or where that team's coming from, that's a great move. Or you could use your new platform to eviscerate your enemies. And that's going to get buzz and maybe give you a little bit of pop in a way that you

desire. See, on one hand, like, I'm doing the same thing. I'm saying like, yeah, he's killing. I the other, like, he was speaking facts. And, like, we always want these analysts to not, like, you know, tiptoe around. Oh, nobody's killing RG3. We're not, yeah, we're not like, tisking him. I guess I've, yeah, I liked it.

It was probably the best, uh, quote of the entire weekend. Cousins just isn't very well like. I don't think he's hated. It seems like whatever locker room he goes into, uh, it doesn't seem like he goes, comes out of there making friends for life. I mean, that is such a generalization, someone that's never been in a locker room with Kirk Cousins. But I don't know, you just kind of, you kind of get that vibe. And I mentioned Cousins, we're talking about him a week ago or so, and I still believe

it, that it's a bit of a tough situation there now because he joined a team as the final piece and everything else was loaded up to go to the Super Bowl in Minnesota. And I don't think that's where they are anymore. And yet he's still there, still being Kirk Cousins. And it just puts them in a spot where I think they're just going to kind of live in this middle earth. And to take that one step further, I mean, you know, maybe Mond is going to be fantastic and we'll and we'll all wonder why he fell as far as he did. But the Vikings on offense to me sometimes just in general feel like a team of half measures. Like they were in striking distance to make a move to go get one of the top quarterbacks and there was no effort to do that. So you're bringing in a guy. They said they didn't, they said they didn't consider it. It is worth remembering they guaranteed cousins an extra year of money before last year. So it's this year and now. year he's guaranteed so i don't i don't think timeline is not short i don't think cousins would have

um so-called issues in the locker room to the same degree if he were like 25% better right i mean that factors but he i mean he's pretty damn productive when you look at his number he is i know their offense was the funny thing though is their offense was the best viking's offense i i'd have to i'd have to look but since brett certainly since that brett far of an NFC championship year and certainly the best of the Kirk Cousins a couple of years and better than when they went to the NFC championship. Their offense was really good last year. This is all fine. But do you, but do you think? It was a top 10 offense. I just don't view Kirk Cousins as like in that zone where it's like, we've got our guy. Like you don't think other

players are thinking like, e. I wonder if it's, it's all water under the bridge now or there's not even a bridge or water because it just doesn't exist because the 49ers just traded everything. to go and get Trey Lance. But I wonder if Kyle Shanahan never asked if John Lynch wouldn't mind picking up the phone and call in Minnesota because we knew that Shanahan had a longstanding love of Kirk Cousins' play as a quarterback, but you never really heard a lot about that. I think it's like his salary and Jimmy G's salary together is like, why not go by like a castle in Sweden while you're at it?

I mean, we're getting a lot of money. I don't know. Maybe Jimmy G would go back to Minnesota, but anyway, that doesn't matter. All right. Anybody else want to jump in with something that they took away from the last couple days? Well, while we're on the quarterbacks, we might as well throw in the bucks, took Kyle Trask, which, you know, it's probably the 77th quarterback to be drafted behind Tom Brady. Many of them in the second and third rounds. People kind of forget, like Kevin O'Connell back of the day, Jacoby Brissette, Jimmy Garapolo, and Trask.

Listening to Arians on NFL Network, I don't doubt that they believe Trask fits that offense, perfectly. It did make me think, like, could Ariens ever stay around here after Brady leaves? Because otherwise, it's definitely a plan for the future type of move. I don't know if a lot of analysis needs to be said about it. But it's like, that's a move that you make thinking Bruce Ariens is going to be around. I guess we'll see. And eventually, eventually someone's going to replace Tom Brady. Like somebody will be drafted to replace a retiring Tom Brady. And that's how it plays out. Maybe it's this dude. As Tom Brady enters his age 44 season. Second round pick. Second round pick. How about Blaine Gabbard showing out? You know, it's UFC, you know, number whatever last weekend. And, you know, they pant to, you know, Bucks Super Bowl champions, Tom Brady,

Mike Evans, the all-time leader in Bucks receiving yards, and Blaine Gabbard. That's the trio. I mean, look at Gabbard's doing well right now. I would say one thing. Like, I don't think it's Bruce Ariens has to stick around for seven more years, although he's probably been given a lot of new energy. But Byron Leftwich, I could see them just handy the coaching seat right over to Byron Leftwich, same GM. And Kyle Trask, who's very Tom Brady-like.

Let's see. Yeah, you had Lawrence, Wilson, Lance Fields, Jones, all go round one. And then Kyle Trask went round two, pick 32. And then Mond, pick two of round three. Davis Mills, the third pick of round three, book, the 28th pick of round four. and Sam Ellinger out of Texas to the cults in the sixth round you pick 34 the sixth round.

Interesting. Oh, he's injured. One of those guys, you know, one of those guys going to be a superstar, a bunch of them will be terrible and a couple guys will be in the middle. What else? I'll throw out the Dolphins'

worst moment of the draft was when the Broncos traded up to take Giovante Williams in the second round. That was the 35th pick. I think a lot of people thought Javante Williams was the best running back in this class. He's complete, kind of a Frank Gore type, I think, dynamic. And it just got me thinking, like, the Broncos are making picks like they're the defending Super Bowl champions here.

They're taking a cornerback in the top 10 when they have the most loaded secondary in the league before taking that cornerback. And then they're trading up to take a running back. And they've got Melvin Gordon already there. They let Philip Lindsay go for nothing. Their receivers are loaded. They're tight end. Noah Fant is awesome. Like, they really are a quarterback away.

I don't know if they can somehow get Aaron Rogers there, but it's like every, it's just weird. They're like making these moves as if everything else is settled. And it's fun to watch, but I don't know if Locke's just going to ruin it all. I mean, if you looked at their draft and you had been told they traded for Aaron Rogers a week ago, their draft would have been like, of course, it makes total sense. You've got the quarterback. You've now just turned this into a championship roster, but that hole still sits there.

I just don't think that's over yet, and I know we already discussed that, but we don't need to get hung up on the Rogers thing again, but I do think we should just touch on with the updates since Thursday. Yahoo Sports reported that Rogers, Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports reported that Rogers won't return to the Packers as long as Brian Guttegans. serves as the team's GM. Rogers is willing to consider, quote, hardline options to get what he wants from skipping the entire offseason to holding out of training camp to possibly written. Tiring. So fire that dude, or I fire myself potentially from your organization. Now, Aaron Rogers is trying to control this a little bit now. And he's at a Kentucky Derby with that fiance is. Let that hang in there for a second. And Mike Trico, our boy, bumped into Rogers. And then Tariko provides a live report on his conversations with Rogers from the Kentucky Derby, because that's life. Let's listen to what Tariko said. Aaron has disappointed that news has come out of this rift with the Packers. He expressed a couple of times how much he loves Green Bay, loves the fans, loves the franchise.

There is a fissure. There is a chasm between management and the reigning NFL MVP. He's trying to, he's trying to turn public support and get it with him and against management. I just don't know that's going to work. I don't, I think Packers fans and football fans, a lot of football fans are smart enough to know that that organization is doing very well in building up a championship team around him and to go around if this is indeed true and say fire the GM or I'm out it is it just doesn't look great it's not a great look and and the Packers I think would be very wise to basically uh challenge him if to if he's

really serious about walking go ahead and walk because that's not the right way to do things you're exactly right though because they've talked about him being aware of the perception of him if he were to go, this is like an insane power move, which is sort of the, the offseason sort of theme with these quarterbacks is just swinging for the fences for organizational power. But, you know, you go back and look at like certain players talking about Aaron Rogers earlier in his career, that everyone's like, oh, he, you know, he had his outs with Mike McCarthy at the end. And Ryan Grant had a quote saying, actually, he always had a chip on the shoulder with Mike McCarthy because Mike McCarthy was the quarterback coach in San Francisco when they took Alex Smith over him in the draft. They never really

had a whole relationship. I mean, this is someone that we already know borders into the petty worlds, holds on to grudges, and is now, like, thinking he's going to win a perception battle with Packers fans who already dealt with a messy split with Brett Farve. I mean, that took a while to heal. I just wish he was more forthright. Like, don't try to make us, like, don't think we're stupid that, like, I'm sorry the news got out. Right. Like, just, Just own it. I think we could have a conversation about whether it's okay for the quarterback to want the GM fired. I don't know.

It doesn't seem that crazy to me. It's the GM's job to literally fire everyone on the team. Like, that's what he does. He plans for the future and fires everyone. There's someone in your organization that makes 70 billion times more than you is that much more valuable to you and is making a power play. Just like these GMs make power play. Gooda Kunst in Lafleur, I feel like are having a little bit of a power play. It was all this controversy about what the structure was going to be.

Do you remember we had that conversation a year and a half ago? And there was these separate silos and we're going to separate things. And maybe Lefleur is not too pleased about this with Goudicunts. Then you notice this weekend from Mike Silver and Jay Glazer that Lefleur is making it known. He didn't even know Jordan Love was going to be drafted. And that the cooperation between Lefleur and the front office is not copacetic. and it's not like it is in most NFL places. So I read that as Lafleur, you know, trying to hold the ship together,

but also saying I'm on Rogers' side. And to me, when it's the most important moment in, you know, your career and your franchises, or one of the most important moments in your franchise's career in terms of an off-season story, it's kind of implicitly saying, I wouldn't mind if he was fired either. Well, okay. But, you know, and that's a thing. We just talked about this on Thursday, by the way, or maybe earlier in the week. when we were talking about Kyler Murray and him may be sending messages about wanting to have

input. And I think it's important that these superstar, these top of the line stars be kept in the loop on things for this very reason, because they carry such a big stick that if you get them angry and agitate them, it's just going to create issues with the organization. So you give them a voice, or at least you listen, even if you're not necessarily going to take what they say. Seriously, you just got to play the game. And I just think maybe, maybe you can make the case that Aaron Rogers is special enough to get the GM fired. But that's if the GM's not doing a good job. I mean, the reason, you can't do that, Greg. You can't say I'm in a

contract negotiation. I view myself as valuable. And I feel like I've been kind of, I've been dismissed in this building. So I announce, I decree I want my boss fired, uh, because, he messed things up. I mean, I just think that's, that's just not the way you do it. And I don't think it's going to end well. I'm just surprised with Roger. I'll be lucky to get another contract. I mean, but Aaron Rogers is like, I'm just like surprised that Roger's player in the most valuable person in that organization. I'm with you. Right. But Rogers watched Brett Farb kind of botched his exit out of Green Bay and make it very personal and petty in a way. And I just see him kind of making the same mistakes now. And it's just funny how history repeats. He has been talking about parting ways

with the Packers, I mean, openly, since they drafted Jordan Love, saying, look, at, hey, they did this, not me, but here's the bigger thing I have with Rogers, because each of these, it's not just all these elite quarterbacks should have power or not. Some don't even want it that way, but for those who do, they're not all the same person. And Matt LaFleur, like, you know what, it's real easy to look like the shiny hero when Aaron Rogers clearly has it out for the guy that is sort of in a level parallel deal with Matt LaFloor. So it's like Matt LaFloor siding with Rogers. Here's what I bet you guarantee about Aaron Rogers. You remove Goudiconst out of there. He'll find someone else to be super annoyed with and it probably

will be Matt LaFlor. I think you're right. I think you're right. And it is funny, like we should have kind of seen this coming because we've been following this guy's career long enough that when they do draft the kid, Jordan Love last year and Rogers seethes publicly about it and then comes back and delivers an FU season for the ages and wins MVP. In your mind, you thought, oh, well, he stuck it to his team real good. And now he's got the leverage and he's going to be fine going forward. But guys like him are so pathological that it's not enough to stick it to the team with the MVP season. It's then you need to come back and say, I still don't forgive you. Even though you want to do a new deal with me, I will never forgive you for ever doubting me and bringing

in Jordan Love. And I still am going to make a stink until you get me out of here. I mean, he's wired that way. It's part of what made him great, but also maybe not always likable. Yeah, trade trade love you know i think trade love or fire good a cunct in you know they they're offering them a contract extension already so we already know that they're oh good a constant in a volcano maybe that will be enough i mean what what would please aaron rogers like uh you know tie him to a rock for 20 years i don't know what what would help the one thing that's different about this than most um contract stuff though is i i i wouldn't be totally stunned if aaron rogers did sit out the season. I do think that's possible, right? Like, I, I, I do think if they call his bluff

on this and don't really do much about it, that he, that he might sit it out and wait to get traded next year. It just, he just seems like petty enough. He seems like, right, it's not about jeopardy, but it's more about, I saw that. Ian even reported that. Ian said something in the lines of and Jeopardy is a part of this conversation. I don't want to hear it. No. Sorry Why are you sorry No I'm just like I don't know

Like the Jeopardy thing I don't know That being like cited seriously In the reporting about his decision making process I don't know this this fiance Is I don't know where she's factoring to this I would have gambled almost not at all I know I know where

Jeopardy tapes because we used to live right next to it it tapes right there Culver City here in Los Angeles. That's, you know, where does Cheyenne Woodley reside? What business does she work in? In Los Angeles-based career. I don't know. I just wonder, you know, what's going on there?

Are you that maybe she's getting in there and saying, you know, your horizons are much bigger than this. She didn't seem to be a football fan based on her comments. That also, that read to me maybe a little lady Macbethish. Like maybe there's some that she's putting that out there publicly. and then she knows everything about the NFL behind the scenes. Very Lady Macbethish. Anyway, let's, I have a guess we want to bring on a couple minutes,

but before that happens, Mark, do you want to throw in something else an observation that you have? I just love the power of the drafts to completely change the energy around a team. And I got to the point last season where it was so exhausting to critique the Bears because Bears fans get it, we got it. It's obvious.

It's not even an intriguing conversation. And they're a totally different team to me. I still question the coach GM pairing, but they have a chance with a different type of quarterback to show where they are. And I feel like the Bears are it's a completely new day. I couldn't be happier for that fan base, which has quietly been dragged through the mud for decades in terms of fielding an interesting team. A bunch of 12 and 4 teams that were based off of defense and scoring like 16 points a game.

Worst Super Bowl ever against the Colts. Enough of that nonsense. you've got an exciting quarterback anything can happen from here on out love it speaking of that exciting quarterback like to welcome in a special man yes let's welcome a special guest here he is one of 75 whistling brothers but right near the top of our favorites uh yes the brother of the great late wist chris wessling phil wessling phil welcome first of all to the around the NFL podcast. We know you're a listener.

So first time, long time for you. What's up, buddy? Hey, guys. How's it going? What's up? Yeah, this has to be like a lifelong dream you're realizing right now, Phil. Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

What an honor it is. And I noticed right off the top, Phil sending a message. And we're going to ask him his feelings about Justin Fields. A huge Ohio State fan lives right next to the Ohio State campus there in the suburbs. of Columbus. But I see you're wearing a Maine. It looks like it's an anchor with the word Maine, the state. And was that a pointed critique at some recent comments that Greg Rosenthal made? Yeah. I mean, you guys can't just kick Maine out of the union all of a sudden. I mean, Chris wouldn't let you guys get away with it anyways, the comments you made because he knows

we vacation in Maine. My family does. Well, hold on a minute here. I'll allow Greg to you know, respond. But I, I think I, sometimes with these, with these things that happen, you get clumped in. Like, I used to go to Bar Harbor. I mean, I did a bunch of trips up to Maine with friends, like nothing. You guys started, you guys started honking about Maine. I said nothing negative about Maine. I have to step in and, and cut it down because it was getting out of control, quite frankly. Now, Greg, you probably were utterly disrespectful. I would only imagine. I don't I mean, I love Maine. I've been there multiple times, too. It's beautiful. It just somehow came up. You know, it's fun to have a joke.

And if you had to, you know, pick, like, a state to get rid of it. I'm just saying, like, it would just, it would be one of the options, at least. That was it. But it's beautiful. I knew they could take a joke. I mean, no one's more sarcastic than the hardy folks of Maine. I mean, they got to be funny. It's like they only have, like, electricity half the time.

So you got to use here we go. This is what I'm talking. Phil, that's the disrespect. I know that you speak of. That's megalom. I'm sorry that you have to hear it, Phil. Well, we vacation in the Northeast quite frequently. And they're Portland, Maine, Kenny Bunkport, and just south of their Portsmouth, New Hampshire is one of our favorite.

It's lovely. My brother lives right outside of Portsmouth. I had my bachelor party at Portsmouth. I mean, you and I are basically the same. There's nothing separating us. I went to college at UNH and spent many a nights out in Portsmouth. There we go. This is a Greg issue. Yeah, this feels right.

So, Phil, and I do legendary, I imagine, those road trips from the west side of Cincinnati and up to Maine. That's a bit of a hike. But let's talk Justin Fields. Because you've been on Fields. I know you and Wes, Chris used to text about him a lot and talk about him a lot as a guy that is a potential transcendent type talent. Now, where does your analysis as a college football fan and your homerism begin? Are you able to separate those two things? Or are you going to acknowledge part of this goes back to what a study he was for your favorite football team?

Well, at first I was like, the bears? Come on, man. Not the bears. But then I started thinking about it and I was like, hey, they were eight and eight last year. I mean, could he get them a few more wins and make them that much better of a team? And I think the answer is, yes, he could. Well, what makes him special to you? You saw the speed 4-4?

And I think that Greg touched on this a little bit ago in a couple podcasts prior. I mean, the guy throws a nice deep ball. I mean, downfield passes. I don't know what happened. He was always considered number two before all this draft nonsense went on. But he's in my mind. mind right there with Trevor it's weird because he made you know the national championship he you know outplays Lawrence you know incredibly productive and yet I

do wonder if he had like opted out and didn't even play this season what do you've got higher it was almost like you know people people like the new shiny thing that you know that was Wilson like Lance did not hurt him to opt out it was surprising, but like do you, do you like, what is the biggest problem? Some people say he holds the ball a little too long, maybe a little bit of Russell Wilson, but then I think like, you know, he takes a lot of sacks, but then I think like who takes a lot of sacks and holds the ball more than anyone in their careers? Like Russell Wilson and Aaron Rogers, like that style can work as long as you're not turning the ball over. Like what is your biggest concern when it comes to

fields? It could be, it's a problem with college football. It's like, You play too many teams that aren't on your level and you get too much time in the pocket, right? And then you get to the NFL and you don't have that much time anymore. Now with the Bears. And he took a lot of sacks in college too, right? Yeah, yeah.

He did take a lot of sacks, but he has an ability to maybe avoid sacks sometimes too, which is like, hey, maybe he always thinks he can avoid the sack and you just can't all the time. So with his quickness and his ability to get out of the pocket, sometimes it may be a fault of his that he thinks he can avoid it too many times. Is there any bias out there amongst scouts, you think, for the Ohio State quarterback position?

I mean, there have been a lot of great Ohio State college quarterback. So this is true of other programs, too. We could look at Alabama. But then how many have really completely towered in the NFL? I mean, there's been more flameouts, and Dwayne Haskins being the most recent. I mean, I think that this is a completely different player, but is there that bias packed in with some of these schools? Well, I was thinking about, I mean, what is quarterback university?

I mean, which university puts out the most quarterbacks? B.Y.U. Tulane for a while. J.P. Lossman, you know, Patrick Rand. Oklahoma? I'd go Oklahoma. I'd go Oklahoma right now, yeah. But, I mean, where do my homes come from?

I mean, where do Lamar Jackson come from? I mean, they're not, I don't know. I mean, where do Brett Farve come from? One-offs. Do you think he's a star? You think that you think Justice Fields is going to be a star at this level when you watch them? And you've watched college football and the pros for decades. Where do you come down on this?

Get pump him up. This is your boy. I know. I think he has the it factor. I mean, if you look at, and I was texting Chris, during the game against Clemson this year and I mean that happens to be a six TD game for Justin Fields I mean and he says he's got everything you need and he throws a sexy deep ball is what he's quoting the great TD he's also former producer he's he's played through pain

and I think that you know his teammates seem to totally love him I don't know how he got hopscotched by Zach Wilson but it's the draft does weird things but I mean for me this is small potatoes and I know that Chris especially thought pro days were just utterly useless and maybe they are except that what having the mac jones pro day unfurling literally at the same time that the justin fields was um you know i just sat down to watch and i know how matt jones made me feel it was very like having a nice cheese sandwich or something i don't know but like suddenly you're watching justin fields and the imagination starts to spin so to me that i don't know how to detect these things sometimes but he seems like a next level excitement at least

and he's going to make the bears watchable for the first time in a while Well, sure. I mean, you guys probably have seen the hit he took against Clemson in the semifinals. Can't believe he got up, right? And so for him to get up, and then he played, I mean, Alabama, let's face it, nobody was beating Alabama this year. Right. Right.

I do wonder if he's, like, how he's wired in terms of falling in the draft. And you never want to overreact to like when the ESPN cameras or NFL network cameras cut to him. but he did not look thrilled, you know, that he fell so far. It was not a celebratory, hey, I got picked 11th, which isn't, you know, necessarily a bad thing. I mean, Aaron Rogers was pissed off the whole time he was falling and there's a history of guys doing that.

I don't know. I hope that wasn't like about dang, I got stuck with the bears. Like, do you think he's going to be on a little bit of a revenge tour? Because his whole life, he's been told he's the guy. Him and Lawrence were the number one and two recruits in the country when they came out of high school like all throughout the last few years like it's supposed to be him and lawrence are one too and he ends up being getting passed by this b yu guy and you know they're talking about mac jones might even go in in front of them and in the north dakota state guy goes in front of

him do you think he's going to be like fired up to prove everyone wrong i think even this year in the in the game against clemson he was fired up to prove everybody wrong and you saw what happened so i yeah i mean he's going to be fired up once again and hopefully The same thing happens that he, you know, I'm a Bears fan by any means, but you got to be now. You got to buy it. I mean, you're sending Keisha and Wes, you know, Ohio State sweaters and stuff. You've got to get some Bears gear now.

I don't know. We, we're Patriots fans in this house. Woo. Rough. Well, you almost got, you almost had Justin Fields on the Pats. I know. We were rooting for them. That would have been special.

Oh, the bear. Greg was crying in his beer about that on Thursday night. In his green tea. This is our first draft show without Chris, and we're still getting used to all that. But it's great to have another Wessling Brother here. And I know you guys and there's plans for a memorial over in your neck of the woods at a place that was very special to you and the rest of the brothers. And that's great. And we're all going to gather at some point this summer together.

and I'm looking forward to seeing you there, but just wanted to let you know that just having you on the show, you know, makes us feel closer to Chris. So thank you so much for joining us, buddy. Yeah, thanks for having me. All right. Thank you.

There he goes. The great. Thank you, guys. Phil Wessling, love that guy. One of the great, nice guys. I mean, one of Chris's favorite brothers. Let's be real. I mean, there are top seven.

I was like 18 months younger than him. So, I mean, he was really somebody who I looked up to and like the smartest guy in the room most of the time. I was sure when he was in this room too. So I'm not surprised. I like to think that most of the time is when you guys were in deep arguments and maybe Nick was involved too. Things getting heated up, you know. All right, Phil. Great to see you, buddy.

And we'll see you down the line. All right. Thanks for having me. There we goes. Phil reminds me of Wes as much as any of them in the way that like I wish he was still on hopefully he listens just that he was there for for Chris you know I spent a lot of time with Phil in that last week

of Chris's life and no one was there for Chris and Keisha more than Phil and I mean in West more than Phil and that meant a lot that's the real deal stuff right there when when the cards are really down and especially when there's logistical challenges because Phil has a whole life set up over in the Midwest and a family and a job and he was out here. Not just this most recent bout with cancer, but the first one as well.

So that is a very good man. And I hope Justin Fields makes him look smart in his career. Speaking of attempting to look smart, let's check in on go get my lunch. it is now closed we set the parameters everything locks in after the end of the seventh round and through this show till we get to this point so let's start with Mark Sessler Zach Ertz won't be a member of the Eagles by the end of the draft and I'm the only one that took you on this one I believe unless I missed it in the news stack Zach Ertz

still a member of the Philadelphia Football Club. I've lost that one. It's crystal clear. All right. An out-of-control animal will cause chaos at the draft. Both Greg and I took up on that one. Well, we don't know that didn't happen, but I lost that too. But I would say that the rainy weather did not help that scenario.

I would have been hoping more for like a big sunshiny weekend where there were animals out about on the scene. It's pretty sunny Friday and Saturday. Pretty nice. Pretty nice last two days. Finally, nudity is seen during draft coverage. Now, this one's a little interesting. And Mark, if you want to try to stump on this one, someone did send us a screen grab of a Zafteg man.

I think we have that actually. Oh, do we? Eric, if you. There's a full-figured man lifting up his shirt, patting his belly, nipples exposed in the background of a stage shot, do you say that counts as nudity? I would suggest that his measurements could be viewed as voluptuous, but I don't think that that works at all. I know what I need to push for something. It's just that he could be, he'd be allowed to walk down the street with his sweatshirt up over his male nipples, so I'm not going to count

that if that if i'm being technical enough all right let's move on to greg rosenthal the patriots draft justin field's negative male nipples well i mean it is you know we're gonna go uh this is rough we're gonna go over nine here the broncos draft the qb in the first round no they did not so they are they're feeling good now maybe they want iron rod but you know where this is going to go. This is going to go to a really fascinating training camp battle between the two most boring quarterbacks in the league, Teddy Bridgewater and Drew Locke. Sorry, Greg.

Not personal. Finally, no running backs are drafted in the first round. No, two were drafted, in fact. So, Greg, you took the L on all three of those. All right. The Zucer, a starting QB from 2020 gets traded during. Draft Week, excluding Jimmy Garoppolo. Oh, we didn't go O for nine.

You got that one before it started. I'm willing to, like, I don't want to turn into something ugly, but there are tweets that I've gotten that said, B, and I know Greg was attached to these two, although he was muted or blocked essentially everyone on Twitter. But like, they basically said, go parse the language from that last show where we offer the sandwich. props that the Teddy Bridgewater transaction did not apply to what you said. That said, I am not

here to put, too much on. In what way? In what way, it had to be during the draft or something? I believe that what he said was from like Thursday through Saturday on the show, something like that. If he said the days, if he said the days, I would just say let's investigate, but let's just keep that as a TV. No, I would say if you guys want to deny me that, then I am talking. Totally comfortable with it. You would have to, I guess, on a way, live with that. Well, the reality is someone would have to go listen to it. I don't want to do that.

I don't either. The effort is too much. So, yeah, then you get it by default unless Ricky goes back. Jets trade up in the first round and draft a wide receiver. They did trade up in the first round. They did not draft a wide receiver. They drafted a left guard. Greg and Mark make sandwiches.

Jimmy G. traded to the Pats during the draft. No. You had your hand on the Jets pulse there with the trade up to do something frisky. I think it could have happened because they, of course, took a wide receiver then with their first pick in the third round. I wonder if one of those big three guys was still there, if that was where they would have went with that pick. But probably not. It sounds like they were really well. Probably not.

They gave up two thirds for Tucker. They gave up two thirds and a first for a guard. Right. Better play well. They seem to really believe in Verra Tucker. So there you go. Go get my lunch. All right.

Any other final thoughts before we move on? Let's go rapid fire. The fact that a man who is named Tutu and weighed under 150 pounds recently was drafted in the second round is amazing to me. Let's promote body diversity here. Tutu at well. I mean, the Rams wide receiver recently weighed in under 150. he played at 155 and he got drafted the second round. It is wild to see

it's probably not going to work out. The NFL is changing that that's even like possible. Trey Serman, drafted by the 49ers, I feel like for all the hype of all these running backs, he might be my number one fan of running back. I love him. I watched him in January and I just love the landing spot. I think

he is going to be fantastic for the Niners. The Cowboys kind of got the award for getting bone the most times because the Raiders traded one pick ahead of them to take the top safety on the board that supposedly the Cowboys were going to take. So that was their first and second round pick that were sniped. And then I thought McCarthy, and you pointed this out to Mark, McCarthy Jones and Jones did it almost like exaggerated fist bump for the camera to

like show everyone. Like, oh, we're not mad that some team just went right in front of us to take our pick for the second time. Yeah, my take on Mike McCarthy's body language was that he was not unlike Patty Hurst. He just seemed to be under Lock and Key to some degree. And anybody that's been in part of a fantasy draft knows what it feels like to

there's that one guy that's in front of you and it's almost like he's reading your mind and he's just sticking it to you in a big spot. We have a new Mr. Irrelevant and as you know the clock is ticking on that name. Could be the last one.

It will be he'll be renamed Mr. special probably at some point. I thought it was Mr. Brave. Mr. Brave. I only got five more years to win this sandwich. The future Mr. Brave is the Buccaneers, linebacker,

Grant Stewart out of the University of Houston, picked in the seventh round, number 259 overall. So there you go, the final pick in the draft. Did you have anything to add, Mark? Well, you know, Greg talked about how much things are changing in various ways, it's individual player, scouting methods, what we accept in terms of body types.

But think about how we started this podcast and where we were way back when. And the concept that this was said during last night's NFL draft, Ricky Hollywood fired it up. One of our draft picks, but things are ridiculously crazy at this draft in particular. So I wanted to come out and say this. I will see you all right here for the show tomorrow night and I will also see you at 2022 when the Cleveland Browns win the Super Bowl and I'm out.

Wait, so Machine Gun Kelly is a Browns fan now too? Is that where we're at? You know, it's sweeping the nation. It's it, it is. Sometimes you feel a movement and tell it's where we're going. That's a tough ad to the family. was annoyed because machine god kelly was supposed to announce a pick and he messed it up and like the whole telecast got ground to a halt for a minute or two and eisen not so quietly like put it on

kelly that just like he i think he just went off the reservation yeah he left the bucks out in the cold he was supposed to announce the bucks pick well he had a machine gun and kelly uh he likes to uh present himself as something as of a james dean type uh game change change character. There's a kind of famous story about him that he went to some type of board meeting for his record label. And so it was like a bunch of like, you know, corporate people all sitting around a big table and turned up the new single that he was, he wanted to promote. And then he like jumped up on the table and did like, he rocked out for the entire song and the entire place was like, what is this guy's deal? Who is this person? Why does he exist? Well, he's in the

dog pound you need to find machine gun Kelly there you go oh by the way over on uh draft kings rookie of the year odds as Ricky also chimes in he's he's with Megan Fox as well machine gun Kelly

it makes me feel because I was not familiar with him I had never heard of him before Friday night Megan Fox feels like a lot to handle like she's right machine on Kelly yeah he's a rapper of some kind

but then he was on S&L and he was playing guitar and he's like, okay, pick a lane, bro. Draft Kings. Rookie of the year favorites, Trevor Lawrence at plus 300. My boy, Zach Wilson, at plus 600. Justin Fields, plus 600. Trey Lance plus 600. Mack Jones, plus 1,000.

Top five. Top five. And finally. I like the Lance pick there. Quarterback and Kyle Shanahan's. Good team. A little Kyle Pitts, too. Throw him in.

Got some saucy. And Pat Friermuth at the bottom of the list, plus 4,000. Keep an eye on Friermuth. Offensive rookie of the year, please. And finally, and of course, this could not

pass without being discussed, the Seahawks quietly made a move ahead of the first round of the draft, they signed defensive tackle Robert Keem Dechay. Club announced on Thursday. He hasn't been on a roster since 2019 when he appeared in two games with the Dolphins

before Miami waved him in November. Former first round pick. He's been tracked very closely on this show as everyone knows because he fell out of window. Leading up to the draft, the first round pick went to the Cardinals some concerns about his off-the-field stuff.

Guy went out a window at the middle, in the middle of a college party kind of sealed a bit of his reputation and then he kind of bombed out. But now he's back. And you know where I'm going with this guys. Take us there. Play it. you fell out of our league but you're back and that's sweet

and it's all because of Pete Pete Carol is the savior of Kim Dice Kim Dice Kim Dice You fell out that window

but we fell for you. Take this chance. Hide the door, walk on through. Take this chance. Eye that door. The window's not for you. Dream out loud. We'll be back on Tuesday

with another edition around the NFL podcast. Thank you for everybody that followed along. Dan Hansa signing off for the quiet storm, the old boss, and Ricky Hollywood. Of course, Bill Wessel. We love you, buddy.

Until Tuesday, heed the call. I'm going to be able to be. This is an I-heart podcast.