NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Earl Thomas & 2020 Hype Champion Contenders

Episode Date: August 24, 2020

A bunker filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Chris Wesseling, and Gregg Rosenthal bring you all of the latest news in the NFL including the Ravens parting ways with Earl Thomas (10:10), Mike Williams being week to week (23:09), and a incident of 77 false positive Covid tests in the NFL (25:02). The heroes talk HYPE teams and who are hype champion contenders (33:24).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. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the NFL podcast. Swings on three and O counts. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis. I'm coming to you from a room.

The virtual room that is filled with heroes. Mark Sessling. Chris Wesley and Greg Rosenthal. What's up, boys? Hey, Dan. It's Mondays with Wes. That 3-0 count thing. I mean, it's all situational.

You can't just go up there hacking when you're down by five runs and nobody on base. You know? It totally depends on the situation. You know, we were texting a little bit, and I'm like a super newbie to the sport. But, Dan, I liked your take on this that you presented to us in private, which I don't know if you'd want to share in public. Maybe not. No, I would never share my thoughts on the Fernando Tatis Jr.

Controversy in public. No, I was saying, well, this is a bit stale now. This is like last week's news. But the young Padre star, who we saw at West's Bachelor Party a year ago, in fact. But now he's become a superstar. The Padres were kicking somebody's ass. I think it was the Rangers last week. And it was a three-o count with the bases load late in the game.

His manager, the other team was hoping he would not swing at the meatball thrown right over the middle of the plate on 3-0. Tatis said, F it. He said he didn't see the sign. He hit it 430 feet. Everybody was mad at him. And then sports Twitter does this thing as someone that follows baseball very closely. And it's one of my favorite, like, sports writer tropes. concerning baseball.

Sports writers and baseball writers love to let you know that they're on the side of being against the old rules the way the game should be played. And they want that out front and they want to make sure, I don't want to say who the person was, but there is one person

that actually has ties to our company that also does baseball stuff. He took time out from his off day to get on in the video chat pool side to let it be known that he sided with Fernando Tatis Jr. as well. It's just one of my, a funny thing that I've noticed in that realm. Well, it's also one of those like, hey, I might be out on a limb here, but don't, you know,

I think it's fine to swing on three out. It's like, yes, you and 98% of the people. That's not really a take. Everyone agrees with it. There's very few people who disagree at this point. So it's like not an interesting thing to talk about it. Everyone younger than Bob Feller agrees with it. I like how he stole third the next day. That was when, that's when he won me over. And I'm still learning the basic rules. So forget the unwritten rules. I don't need to deal with that. You keep saying that. You worked at Baseball Weekly and you grew up a big baseball fan. I'm confused. Did all that information just, you know, seep out of your brain? Oh, entirely. Okay. Mark's like you could steal third? What? I stopped following football or working in football.

I mean, you know, how many, how many of these absurd names, you know, second third string safeties and linebackers would go immediately into the hemisphere? I mean, I would, I would, I would be spending my time completely differently. And that was 1996 when I worked for baseball weekly. I mean, that is like essentially the 1950s right now. So, you know, not a lot of knowledge. To connect the dots. My move I said to Mark was to take the side of the unwritten rules on Twitter.

I believe in the unwritten rules and they should be respected. And that would get you some pop if you want to get some heat. I would love it. I would get some retweets and some replies. All right. It is West Monday, and this is three in a row with Mr. Wessling, which means we're on a streak. Speaking of baseball, it's a Ripkin-like streak. Let's go for it.

It's a Joe D-type streak. Why don't we go for 56 straight weeks, Wes? How are you feeling, by the way? Feeling all right. My back hurts a little bit, but it just depends on the day. Weekend was pretty good compared to the previous week. So I'd say I'm feeling better now than I was a few weeks ago. all right so we have progress

I think that's valid call it progress not a progress stopper as Bill Parcells would say one of my favorite Parcellisms gave in the old guy up actually it came up actually on Friday's edition of the around the NFL broadcast

which I hope you guys are tuning into and if you are checking in on the subreddit there's a link up there if you missed it when it was on the network or on NFL.com live streaming on Friday and we'll have a episode. Coming up Friday, today's show, yes, yes, Greg, hit me with a mm that I wasn't expecting. It is ironic that Bill Parcell's in hindsight was kind of a progress stopper for his old assistant who's outshined him. Wow, that's, I don't know about that, Greg.

That is reductive thinking, but that's your opinion. That's fine. All right, today's show. We're talking about hype teams. Every year there are a few teams that get really pumped up by the football cognoscenti. And this year is no different. Mark, you know all too well that it was your team that was the hype bunny champion of 2019. Didn't work out. But this is a new year. So we're going to kind of look into that phenomenon and look at what teams. could be what teams kind of are in that on the hype train this year if there's a team that's the hype team champion like the Browns of 2019 and more importantly what teams are out there that deserve hype aren't getting it

and then we'll end up surprising people once we start playing football that's coming up later but first let us do some news back to Donchich Donchitz pulls up three-pointer bang bang it's good Andchich wins the game at the buzzards. You can't tell us to stick to football. We cover all the sports, baby. This is an omnibus today, yes. Yes, of the Dallas Mavericks, just a virtuoso performance.

And I texted Wes yesterday after the game. I hadn't been watching a lot of the NBA playoffs today. It's just been a weird dopsy-turvy kind of year, and I hadn't been plugged in. But I started watching a little bit this weekend, and I was lucky enough to watch that whole game. And that dude, he is special and it's like Mahomes special potentially in the NBA. He's 21 years old, West.

I looked it up. I figured because he's from another country that maybe he was a Euro ball star for about nine years. And he's a 29 year old rookie. No, he's 21. He was born in 99, Wessling. 99. When you're doing things that only Oscar Robertson and Charles Barkley have ever done, I mean, that's some pretty elite company.

at 21 years old and I was you know I have been paying attention in the NBA I've been watching it I like watching it but I go back and forth on it because it's amazing how skilled these guys are especially the younger players

like Luca to be 21 years old and have that many skills to have like 30 foot range to be a point card in a 6-7 forward's body to get 17 rebounds in the same game and at the same time like the game of basketball is kind of boring

because it's just a three-point contest. So you've got to balance that out. Like the players are so much more skilled, yet there's not as much fun basketball to watch. I do think another annoying Twitter phenomenon, if you want to call it, that bloomed off of this. And that's when you get the – everyone's like, when I was 21, I was raking leaves in my yard

and, like, living in my basement. It's like we get it. Like 99.98% of us are not achieving what he's achieving at age 21. Wait, you're not matching up to like a generational athlete in achievement at your age. It's a shocker. Luca Donchich was a star in the Euro League, by the way, at like 17 and still four teams passed on them. It's amazing. And we talk about the bears trading up for Tribisky and then Patrick Mahomes going to the Chiefs several picks later.

Atlanta Hawks had the rights. In fact, I think technically selected Luca Donchix. Is it Donchix? Donchich. It's a little weird, though, the sun's getting no key for, like, drafting, you know, eight in number one overall. I mean, eight is pretty good. So, Trey Young's pretty good, too.

The best tweet I saw was the Bears missed on this NBA player, which is yesterday. Anyway, so, yeah, and where is the defense was? A team got eliminated yesterday, dropped 150 points on him. No, it's amazing. I don't know. I'll be cranky about that. Well, it's get to the point where it's like football. where you can't really compare stats.

I mean, if you look back to the 90s, when Jordan's in his prime, and you think about some of those series against the Knicks and the Miami Heat, even the Jazz, final scores are in the 70s and low 80s, and now typical scores in the 120s. Like, you can't compare stats.

Yeah, that's true. All right. Ice hockey, any NHL playoffs talk before we get going? Get Zach Goldman in here to talk a little beautiful game? Hey, anytime you can get the gold standard in, you've got to do it. We should do that. Next offseason, we should just have a random segment just hit the listeners out of nowhere. Just Goldman talks, chops it up for 12 minutes on what's going on in the Champions League or wherever.

I think it would please a huge chunk of our audience that exists on the other side of the ocean. Ricky, make note of that, all right? Ricky. No. Unmute. All right. He's awake. Let's get to it.

Better late than ever. Oh, Baltimore Ravens, Earl Thomas. You hate to see a divorce. Never happy. They've decided the Ravens to abruptly part ways with their seven-time pro-ball safety. After an on-field altercation with teammate Chuck Clark, this happened over the weekend. And it becomes especially intriguing Greg Rosenthal because the Ravens announced that they had terminated Thomas's contract for personal conduct that has adversely affected the team

and the Ravens, that means, are coming after his money. They're going to expect it to void his 10 million guarantee salary, and you can safely assume the safety will file a grievance. So it's sloppy. Earl Thomas doesn't figure it to be out of work for long, but it's pretty wild how quickly it's come apart for him and Baltimore. It wasn't just one incident. It wasn't just the fight with Chuck Clark.

You would not cut a quality starter like Earl Thomas just for one incident. And it's the Ravens kind of putting their money where their mouth is because a lot of teams talk about, well, no one's more important than the team. It's all about the organization. It's the culture. And it's like, yeah, if a guy's talented enough, people ignore that. But with Earl Thomas, it really was about that because they don't have a backup. Deshaun Elliott is the guy stepping in. He's played 40 snaps in his career.

Earl Thomas played well last year. It's not about the money. They have enough salary cap space. It's just about that they felt he was untenable. He apparently missed a number of meetings last year. He was fined a number of times, according to the athletic, during training camp this year. It sounded like he had problems with multiple teammates. And they just decided the risk was not worth the reward that this guy just needs to get out of our building.

I think the most interesting thing when you look at this is the young guy had had enough of the Hall of Famer. Chuck Clark, a young player in what, his third or fourth year, he had enough of the All-Pro. The Perennial All-Pro didn't know his assignments. Like you said, had been late to meetings. Mike Silver reported that last week he told him he couldn't show up on time because he was getting his car-washed. Car-washed.

Car-washed! The old guy, the Future Hall of Famer, was putting the younger players in such a bad position that they said, we can't handle this guy anymore. We don't want him around anymore. He doesn't care. He's not committed. And you talk about progress stoppers, that's what the Ravens decided,

that a guy who maybe was slightly above average starter last year in the first month of the season was a liability big time. You could tell he didn't have the speed anymore. And to me, he plays more like a box safety now than a free safety. And I think the Ravens said that. This guy's stopping our progress. We'd rather go forward with Sean Elliott. Yeah, for me, when you see Pete Carroll and John Schneider

and you see John Harbaugh and Eric Dacosta move away from a play like this. And you hear the stories. And we have, there are some Earl Thomas stories that we've heard that aren't necessarily out there. I think he's just been a phenomenal talent, but a different kind of guy and not necessarily, obviously not like a locker room glue guy. And, you know, the Ravens to me are one of those teams where if they get stuck with all this dead money, because the NFLPA will have to go through and, you know, deal with this because I think it's interesting. It's not just, you don't just fight for Earl Thomas in this because there was a leadership council of players and others in Baltimore that made the decision.

We don't want this guy on our team anymore. So it's complex. The Ravens, to me, as a Browns fan, dealing with them year after year, they are, their culture is real. And Earl Thomas was getting in the way of that. And I think it's a tremendous statement to the rest of the roster to say we're not putting up with it. I don't know if you guys noticed this.

It was one report. I don't know if it was Schefter. I apologize for not citing who it is. but there was some talk and you've heard this in different areas, as Mark's alluding to, Earl's Earl. Hey, that's just Earl being Earl. And that's the old Damashek or Adam Carollaism. When people describe a guy that way, well, might not be the best dude to deal with.

Might not be a great locker room guy. It might be tough to deal him. And it's also something where like, okay, there's one thing when you're a young player coming up and he was not the leader in that locker room and maybe you get away with kind of being a loner. It's a different thing when you're getting paid a lot of money. You've been there a while, but you're the new guy. And he had the off-field issue this off-season

where his wife was arrested for threatening him with a gun. So you do worry a little bit about Earl Thomas's well-being seeing some of his Instagram posts and something. And that has to be something that any team that signs him thinks about. Well, yeah, also the fact that two, Super Bowl contenders, two very well-respected organizations have thrown in the towel on him now. You also had

the middle finger thing with Pete Carroll a couple years ago. I don't know if teams are going to be lining up for Earl Thomas at this point. He'll get a job, though. He was playing pretty well by the end of last season. For what it's worth, PFF had him as like a top five in terms of coverage. Not a lot of big time plays, but he

was pretty solid. Someone will give him a job, whether it's a Cowboys, Patriots, I don't know. Someone will give him a job. I mean, like, you know, the other thing that's standouts to me is when he was on the Seahawks and walked over to the Cowboys locker room in his uniform, shoulder pads on, holding his helmet and said, come get me. I mean, it's just, you know, you're going to have, that's great. So he's going to get a job, but he's, is he going to change from this location in Baltimore to the next?

I don't think so. I think you're going to get more of the Earl Thomas effect than less. What is with tiresome but talented safeties telling Dallas to come get them? Jamal Adams did that a month ago or so as well. It's weird. Speaking of the Cowboys, Mike McCarthy said he has discussed signing Thomas with VP of player personnel, Will McClay that according to Rapsheet. So keep an eye on that.

I bet that's where he ends up. It always felt like that's where this was going to end up. Eventually, we'll see if it happens next up in the news. Peter King, long time, scribe. I mean, when Peter King decides to retire, people are going to throw some bouquets at his feet as one of the greatest to do it. And he'll deserve it, in my opinion. Greg disagrees.

I think King is one of the great football writers. Please. What are you trying to do here? I don't know. I used to a former co-worker. He's trying to get a rise out of you. A former coworker. I've mentioned this on this podcast.

He would give me a drive back from Stanford, Connecticut, back to New York City every Friday, every Friday evening from NBC Sports Channel. What a guy. You know, it doesn't have to give me a free ride in his nice driven car. Don't you see what I was doing in my own kind of way, Greg? I was just teeny up to tell that story again because I know it brings back warm memories of your days as a rising fantasy writer in the industry. Yeah, before it all came crashing down. Is he unwilling to take public transportation?

Who's driving into New York City from Stanford? I would be put me on a train. I'd get in a car accident in New York City about four minutes. No, you know how John Madden wouldn't fly? He hated planes. Peter King hates trains. Well, he does write about taking trains like all the time. Well, I got something for you.

One of the better football magazine articles of all time is Peter King's 1990 article on John Madden and the Magin Cruiser called Bus Man's Holiday. Wow. Where Madden is in the role of John Steinbeck and travels with Charlie. And King chronicles his bus ride across the country. It's one of the better articles. Look it up. Busman's holiday. Dig it up. Busy.

Hey, Bussie. That's certified. Anyway, Peter King, you know, this time of year, he travels around the country visiting camps. He spent the week at Chiefs Training Camp and Peter King wrote Draft Clyde Edwards, L.A. in the first round of your fantasy draft, believe me, you'll thank me for that tip

on the LSU rookie. This came after King observed what was going on over there and also had a conversation with Brett Veach, another guy that Greg once had issues with, the Chief's general manager, who said that he's, quote, on pace to have a big year to be our primary ball carrier. Well, by the time I left Roto World and Greg was at Pro Football Talk, we had a point and laugh at Peter King Roll whenever he dispensed fantasy advice.

I think it was probably after he told everyone to draft Danny Warful at quarterback. After he told everyone that Eddie Royal was going to catch like 90 passes for the Chargers and draft him. Anytime there was like a fourth or fifth receiver that nobody would ever touch in their draft, Peter King would tout him as his fantasy pick. So I just want to put that out there before saying I think that most of the fantasy industry had already arrived at this decision when Damien Williams decided to pack it in for the year that if you're going to be the number one running back

in this offense and you're built like Edwards Aller to be that guy who operates in space and makes people miss, of course he's going to be a first-round fantasy pick. Lewis Riddick beat him to this take. The ESPN Monday Night Football announcer said he'd take them number one overall. And that's a guy who has made it clear

he has deep connections inside the chief's building. So someone high up, maybe even someone that I once gave a high-pitched voice to in our, what is that segment called? You're the GM. You're the GM. It doesn't mean I was getting on, Vich. I was just giving him a high-pitched voice, you know?

I would point to Vich's comments about Patrick Mahomes the year before Patrick Mahomes became the starter after he had made one start the year before and he gushed over Mahomes at the Combine and it made headlines because there were, you know, it's fair but there were people just saying, you know, pump the brakes on Patrick Mahomes, let's see what he's actually like

when we get a full season at him. So when Mahomes go, or when Veach goes off on E. Lair this way, I'm going to listen, his ADP is 22 right now. I'd looked it up. You guys know I've been tracking this stuff. I would ask you this. In the first round, would you take, Clyde Edwards E. Lair over Patrick Mahomes, who's going at 11 right now.

Hold that thought. That's a cliffhanger. Wes, it's a cliffhanger because Wednesday, coming up. I won't be here Wednesday. All right, so, Wes, that was okay. You could feel free to expand on this after this plug. The fifth annual, maybe, around the NFL, fantasy extravaganza. And it's the biggest one ever, folks. guests galore

if you're respected in the fantasy industry if you're a good yacker if you do your homework this is the fantasy special for you so that's coming up on Wednesday's show Wes since you will not be with us on Wednesday do you want to expand on that oh well just that the fantasy industry

they spend all their time agreeing with each other on everything instead of doing useful things like fixing their sport when a quarterback is the most important position in all of American sports and yet is not important at all in fantasy football. So fix your sport. It's a fair point. They get in that fantasy

bubble and a lot of the analysis is sort of comparing itself to the other analysis out there. Like, oh, we're higher on this guy than others. Like, people want to give yourself a pat on the back. You had Lamar Jackson in the eighth round, you know, instead of him average going in the ninth. Well, you know, put him in the second. And then people would have won their league. So I don't want to hear about that. There you go. Greg and Wes. Brick by brick, they built the road a world. So they speak from a place of knowledge. So they might sound cranky to you,

like old men. But no, they are they are forefathers of the industry in a lot of ways. I would wonder what our forefathers and our grandfathers would think of fantasy football in general. Oh, here you go. Now, because you can't play both sides of the fence, Sessler. I didn't now start to be digging in and dropping ADP and all this stuff. And then then you start doing your little hobby horses digs again. No, no, I didn't say here's what they would think. I said I wonder what they would think. I will not answer for them. I wonder. I think they're coming back from, you know, coming back from the war front, World War II and signing up for a fantasy football team. Don't think so. Well, I think if you go back far enough, our grandfather's thought that sports were

pedally. I mean, not even fantasy sports, just actual sports. We're not worthy of their attention. Imagine telling Ed Sessler the first, Mark, that for your primary income, you talking to a microphone about football. Oh, I'm sure they have multiple questions. They've had multiple questions about what I'm doing in general for decades, so you're right. And rest of the peace, Ed Sessler, the first, 1881 to 1950? Not, you haven't totally nailed the name there, but I see, I appreciate the lineage check.

Thank you. Okay, cool. All right, in other news, the Chargers have their wide receiver room thinned out because Rapsheet reports that Mike Williams has been diagnosed with a sprained shoulder. He's week to week. We don't like to hear week to week at this stage. We're too close to the season.

In fact, the season come Thursdays, two weeks away from kicking it off for two weeks and three days for the rest of the teams. So, yeah, there's a good chance there, so that Mike Williams isn't available for Tyrod Taylor and company, and that is not great. I mean, outside of Keenan Allen, what's left at wide receiver is super concerning.

You got rookies. You got Joe Reed, KJ Hill. I mean, you got Tyrod Taylor at quarterback. I don't love this offense at all right now, depending on what happens here. It worries me when we talked about last week whether the Chargers would be a team of ATL candidate. They remind me a little bit too much

of the Detroit Lions of the past couple of years where they're so shallow at the skill positions. Running back, if Echler gets hurt, they're in trouble. wide receiver if williams is out there in trouble tight end if hunter henry's out there in trouble they just don't go deep at any of those spots they they are a team screaming to sign a veteran wide receiver at cuts or make a trade because those guys you mentioned not one of them has an NFL catch i asked daniel jeremiah buddy who he thinks would even start for this team he thinks it would be kj hill who's a rookie late round pick because he looks pretty polished but uh i mean that that is that's pretty

grim. They need to make a move because Williams and Keenan Allen have both had their issues with injuries over the years. Finally in the news, reportedly 77 individuals connected with NFL teams tested positive for the coronavirus over the weekend. However, the NFL later cleared all those individuals who tested positive after what it's... testing partner called an isolated contamination during test preparation. So now all of those tests, all 77, as the report is attributing the number at, have been classified as false positives. Great news.

And on top of the great news, but also a little bit troubling. We'll get to that in a second. Tom Pellar Sauer reported just earlier this hour that Dr. Allen Sills, that guy's a rock star, the NFL's chief medical officer. says from August 12th to 20th, there were 58,397 tests administered, including 23,260 to players, six confirmed positive tests, zero among players. So this continues to go really well. However, not great that there was a contamination, because what if that happens on Saturday before week four?

Right. Like one of those players who had a false positive was the starting quarterback for the Buffalo Bills. So what happens if this occurred three weeks from now on a Saturday night, Sunday morning, and Josh Allen can't get cleared in time for the starting game? Do they delay the game? Do they work with the company to have faster results? I think this incidence might cause them to shore up a few things in their rules there. Right.

Like there was some talk about maybe the game scenario is you get this stuff done on Friday. in case this occurs. But it's like the good news is it wasn't positives. That would have been like a nuclear bomb landing on the NFL. But like the concerning fact that you're sort of held hostage by these test results. And you know, I'm like along with Josh Allen, Kevin Stefanski tested positive according to this and he didn't have it. And they missed practice. The whole team did a walkthrough instead of a padded practice, which some of these, you know, programs can't afford all that to happen.

And I don't know. I mean, it's you're just rolling the dutch. And whenever it lands on a 20-sided Dungeons and Dragons dice lands on 20, you're banged. It seems like the system working, though. It seems like the system working. Obviously, you don't want this to happen, and you hope nothing this widespread would happen again. But that's good. Everyone was playing it safe.

Like, if the bills lose a game because it goes wrong because it's testing, you lose a game. It's like, or you delay the game. It sounds more liking. Right, but that wouldn't be everything's going fine if the bills lose a game because of tests. I'm just saying in the scheme of things, the fact that everyone, like, the Browns got their practice delayed from 8 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. Sure. It's fine. It seems like it's a system working where, like, they're not trying to cut corners. And this was not ideal. But the whole point is to just prevent an outbreak.

And as long as that's, like, not happening, I don't know. I mean, I guess I'm not that worried about, like, teams getting one game delayed or even, like, some competitive disadvantage where you, like, lose a game. Well, I think the good news is that, I mean, even after all these positives rolled in, like, I think the teams themselves knew something was suspicious. We were, you know, if you're tracking it on Twitter, you weren't buying that they were all positive, you know, an hour into it because how successful it has been with non, you know, the low percentage of positive cases. But that is a thorny sideshow if that occurs six times over the year.

I wouldn't shrug that off. This is one of my favorite of Greg's infamous, who cares? I mean, you're saying if there's a false positive and a starting quarterback misses the game and they're at a competitive disadvantage, it doesn't matter? If Josh Allen actually has COVID and misses? Okay, that's fun.

The process to which this all happened is totally understandable and it's positive. Like, it's a good thing. And that's it. Like, they would, I'm sure they would delay a game if they thought there was any chance that it was a false positive. But the process that this is all happening

is what we want, right? I just can't imagine. telling a bills fan, hey, we made you sit your quarterback even though he doesn't have COVID and you lost the game. Just deal with it. A newsflash this year. Yeah, you know, there's more important things than your team winning. Of course. But I think, like,

that's not a small thing. Whether he actually has COVID or not should be the determining factor, whether he can play. You would think they'll learn from this. You've brought that up several times during this crisis, Greg, that like, ultimately, who cares that's small potatoes? But within this

miniature world, it's a huge deal, even if within the bigger scope of life. I'm not saying who cares. I'm saying the process is what like we're looking for to work. And it seems like it worked here. Nothing really bad happened. No one was put at any risk. And all the teams were back like within 12 hours. So it just doesn't seem like it's too big of a cause for alarm. As Mark said, they should tighten up some things. And I think the testing is primarily going to be on Fridays to avoid something like this happening. Because I spent all my time with a nine and eight year old, can I ask you, can I say, what is small potatoes mean? What would be the, why is something small potatoes versus a normal sized potato issue?

I don't have the etymology for you. I don't, it just is a weird, does it make more sense another time? Maybe in the context of like a, maybe in the context of a big dinner plate. That's how I pictured. And you got a big, delicious piece of steak and maybe some delicious greens on the side next to that. And then there's some small potatoes on the plate. And it's like, we're not going to focus on that because that's not nearly as important as the other stuff. on the plate. Well, it's also the title of the 30 for 30 on Donald Trump and the USFL, right?

Small potato. That's what he said infamously of the USFL after it folded, after he helped a spearhead moving it to take the NFL on head to head, and then the league promptly folded. He kind of washed his hands of the league and said it was

small potatoes to start with. I've got an update for... Enraged. Enraged people. Yes. Dating from the mid-19th century, the phrase suggests not bother with undersized spuds while harvesting or buying the vegetable. Yeah, you need those big, big ones or else just get rid of it. No, it's like real men, farmers, men of the earth. All right.

That's what's happening in the news. What an informative, you know, well-rounded episode of the podcast so far. I'm learning about all the major sports just about hockey accepted. And now I've learned about small potatoes background. What a ride. And we're just getting started because now, let's talk hype. And I will give a little hat tip here to Kevin Clark over at the ringer who wrote a piece

last week talking about hype and how people often hype up the wrong teams and how that happens and why that happens. So it just gave me the kernel of an idea. And I thought one way to kind of take that thought, the thought of hype and then spin in a different direction is actually trying to figure out who these teams are as we approach week one. So I kind of was going through the teams, boys, and trying to figure out, first of all, who are the teams that are getting kind of, if there's a hype champion, and unfortunately Mark the Browns were last year, and then it did not work out for Cleveland. In fact, you could say,

and I think Clark wrote this in his pieces as well, the 2019 Browns and the 2011 Eagles, the quote-unquote dream team, which by the way, Vince Young said dream team, which I think that always kind of got buried a little bit. Vince Young, who is, I believe, a backup quarterback at that point, he's the one that said it, and then people attached that to everyone in the organization, maybe not so fair. But that was the other team. Everyone said, oh, taking them to the Super Bowl, they bombed as well. Those are the two, I think, biggest hype teams. Does anybody else have another like monster hype team of the past 10 years that jumps out to you that fell on its face? This year's to Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Hmm. Okay. So let's get into it that way, because the teams, when I kind of went through the list, me if I'm missing a hype champion contender for 2020 or if one that I have here, I have five doesn't belong. So I have the Colts, the Bucks, the Cowboys, the Cardals, and the Bills. It's teams that have all seemed to be getting a lot of love in the industry and their fan bases are on fire about their Super Bowl chances. And there seems to be a very popular sentiment that these teams are going to take their game to the next level. Is that any of those five teams, Indie, Tampa, Dallas, Arizona, Buffalo, not designed. to be there, and do you see another team that does deserve to be there?

I think outside of the Buccaneers, I've heard the Broncos more than anyone, and maybe that's just, like, selective viewing on my end, but that... I think the Colts are a reflection of this podcast. I'm not sure if I hear a ton of Colts talk elsewhere. The Cowboys are the one in that list. I actually had hard time thinking of, like, who this season is so clear. The Bucks, sure, in terms of media attention, I don't know if how many people are going to be picking them to win the division, even.

though against the Saints. I guess we'll find out. But the bills make a lot of sense to me. The Cowboys make a lot of sense to me. And then the bucks certainly fit. The bucks are in their own category. I mean, I find the exercise a little tough because we're talking about this. I think it happens because you're talking about this stuff nonstop when the league is in stasis and not a lot is really occurring. And then camp starts and suddenly the teams looked hot, had 12 of injuries and they're off the list. But the Bucs have been a B-line from start to finish. Yes, I'm with you on that.

And it makes sense. They're a team that finished strong defensively last year, that everyone kind of agreed that James Winston was killing them. And certainly with the turnovers, you can make a strong case that that was the case. And then they go and get Tom Brady and Grunk. The recipe is all there. So I would say, yes, that they feel like they might end up being the 2020.

20 hype champions. And Ariens has coached some hyped up teams that came through. I mean, with the Colts and then certainly with the Cardinals, I think Aryans being there gives them a sense of professionalism and like that they actually could be legit in a way that a lot of hype teams maybe don't have where I'm actually, you know, you buy into it a little more when you have Ariens and Todd Bowles who have worked together and have some skins on the wall in the NFL. Right.

Were that Eagles team at Vince Young, as you said, the brand. rounds team from last year had a second year quarterback and a coach that apparently never took notes or game plans. So, I mean, you know, you like the makeup of the box a little bit more. Somebody remind me, was Vince Young their starting quarterback in 2011? He wasn't, right? No. No, but I would say that even though he's the one who said it, there was nobody on the eagle saying, this guy's nuts, this guy's crazy. He kind of captured the spirit of what everybody was Hey, we were already good. We signed Nandiyosimo.

Vick had, you know, a little flirtation with the MVP award. We're going to fly, but no. This was before Nnamdi Asma was eating lunch alone in his car and the locker room was falling apart at the seams. Exactly. They went, yes, they went eight and eight that season. It's amazing how we think of Nondi Osmo and now versus before that season. He was mentioned like he was Derell Revis.

He was. for two or three years. Right. And he was thought of as a guy who was going to be in the Hall of Fame. I mean, I think of him now as Mr. Kerry Washington. There you go.

Having a pretty good Hollywood career as an actor, which is pretty rare that you pull that off. That was Mark and I's second season at NFL, and I remember that was when the Jets and Rex Ryan were at their peak. The Jets were said to be in the driver's seat to get him, and everybody was going

nuts about NAMD and Revis in the same secondary. And then he went to the Eagles, and he did not, In addition to his issues with teammates, he did with lunch and loneliness. Man, we've all been there. I don't know. But I wrote that article. I remember.

He didn't play well. All right. So let's get into now, let's bring up some teams that deserve more hype this season. And maybe they're in the best position possible. It's better to be under the radar and then kind of make your mark on the season, jump up a win or two or three, get to the playoffs, make some noise. Greg, do you have a team to you that deserves a little more hype than they've gotten and are primed to do some damage?

It's a tricky exercise because we're like reacting almost to what we've said too because we are the cognizanty, you know? But I do think when I thought about it, what I tried to think about is what team has a chance to be in a conference championship game that really no one is thinking about in that way. And I have two teams. I'm going to throw out one that we haven't talked about in this way in a long time. And that's the Los Angeles Rams.

I just think that their floor last year for offense was average. And it's an offense first league. It's a quarterback who I went back and looked at it. When I did the QB index in 2018, I had golf seventh. I mean, he really did play well that season. If their floor last year was average, and they averaged about 35 points in the last five weeks of the season on offense, then you think they should get better on offense this year. They should be closer to a top 10 offense with Woods and cup back makes a huge difference.

I really like camakers. Their offensive line is a problem, but Higbee finally came through for them. You have Gerald Everett. Like, you have plenty of weapons. You have a good quarterback and you have what we thought is a great play caller. Then you go to the other side of the ball and you have superstars. You have Jalen Ramsey and Aaron Donald to build around. You have a secondary, which I think has some promising players.

Troy Hill played well. John Johnson's been good over the years. Really, their safety combo is one of the better ones in the league, potentially, with Taylor Rap, if he can play well. And to me, there's a lot there, and there's sort of an organizational success that I've seen in the past that, hey, a little like the Seahawks going into last year, if you're bad seasons, 9 and 7, I'll give you a chance to win or 11 or 12 games. and they're a team that because of the losses and because of how last season was disappointed, I feel like we just haven't talked about a lot of this office. I'm with you,

but I think that golf was a different player behind that offensive line last year. That's the question is the line. They didn't do much to address that. The run game wasn't the same. I mean, I think this is the most interesting Rams team in Los Angeles for me because you're basically, this is sort of not a rebuild,

but they, I guess a reload with new players. And Sean McVeigh, the Luster, you know, a bit last year. I think that's all just perception. I mean, I think he's still the same coach, but everyone looks different when the offensive line's not functioning. Yeah, this is the team I had at the top of my list, too. You mentioned Sean McVeigh's lost some luster. I still think every bit as highly of him as I once did, and I was reading an old article where the year after Jeff Fisher left and McVey came in, Les Sneed was hoping the offense would go from about 32nd to maybe 20th, and McVeigh kind of looked at him with a sparkle in his eye and said,

really, that's it. You think we can only get to 20th, huh? You know, and they were top five. They had one of the most dramatic turnarounds ever, and it's just that confidence that McVe has, just that innate confidence that he's smarter than the other coaches, I buy it. I think he's still got it. And this year he doesn't have to spend the games handing off to a guy who can't make people miss. And I think that is a media construct on some level as well that McVe three or four years ago he was what Kyle Shanahan is now where everyone was just raving

about how he's the future and no one sees the game like he sees it and three or four years from now Kyle Shanahan will be where McVeigh is now and somebody will be talking about some other guy I think that's just the nature of it so I think it's good that we're you know we're being responsible about this

Sean McVeigh is still Sean McVe there's no reason to think that he can't cook up a great offense let me throw a team from the AFC out there it is the Pittsburgh Steelers and I know that feels I'm sorry That was mine Well you feel free to tag team

They are a team that We're so great on defense last year And it's incredible that they almost made it to the playoffs With Duck Hodges and Mason Rudolph Who were hysterically terrible Well hysterically and historically terrible me Like after Big Ben ripped up his tendons in week two And from week

to on, the Steelers had two games where they had more than 200 yards passing. Two! This is 2019 NFL. And while that was going on, while that offense was hitting the wall and James Connor on top of that was battling

injuries and defenses were stacking the box because they knew that there was no quarterback that could beat them and it was just a train wreck. The defense evolved into one of the best in the league led by a trio of super stars and Devin Bush, you hit the ground running, Mika Fitzpatrick, great trade, T.J. Watt, who is a defensive player of the year type player. So you factor in that, the great defense.

You factor in the schedule, which is the second easiest in football. You factor in big Ben Rathlisberger being back and the idea that, okay, maybe he's done. Maybe at this age he's done. And if he is, or if he gets hurt again, they didn't do a good job with the quarterbacks, upgrading that room. They put too much faith in Big Ben's staying healthy. But okay, you could name 29 other teams that will go down the toilet if they're starting quarterback gets hurt. Big Ben's one of them and the Steelers are one of them.

So I'm saying Big Ben is kind of Big Benish. He doesn't have to be his best version of himself. And just that, that leadership and that ability of quarterback will make them a better or an average or even very good offense. Pair it with the defense. And this is a Super Bowl level team. And people aren't talking about that because people are just dwelling like a Dedy said on Friday show

The network show Oh, is Big Ben skinny, is Big Ben fat? Can he throw spirals anymore? Big Ben doesn't have to be a superstar. He just needs to be pretty good And this team is going to go deep, deep, deep into January. I think part of the problem for Pittsburgh is, you know, A, we just remember what happened the year before

And so there's that. They were 8 and 5, by the way. And that was when I was thinking, Mike Tomlin is my type of coach of the year candidate because of what he was coaching around to get them to eight and five, then the wheels just fell off. And it's not a surprise that they did. This to me is an issue with the fact that you're in the same conference with the Chiefs and the Ravens, who are superpowers. And it's like, how do you get past those guys if you want to make

an argument for Pittsburgh? But they're always there if they're healthy. And that was my pick too, right out of the gate. And to me, I think guys like Deonti Johnson, he's going to be, I could see a huge leave from him. And, you know, Adidi, who was on our, around the NFL, brought podcast on Friday. She kind of ended my season with her whispers because she had, she went to Pittsburgh's practice and we had her come on to talk the whole AFC North and she went to Cleveland's and she, I don't think since she really, because we were running out of time, she didn't really get to say what she wanted to say at the end there, which was that the difference between how those two teams were practicing right now was so stark and so night and day that it honestly,

not escaped that conversation in my mind since. But I want to put the positive light more on the fact that it's Pittsburgh. It's Mike Tomlin. That was so mean. That was so mean of a day. You know what? She's being real. She knows you too well. But it's also styles. It's stylistic choices. Tomlin has them tackling to the ground and has them high energy. And there's a lot of leaders. Look, I kind of buy into everything Dan said and what you're saying. So I'm not really arguing. But the fact that they're practicing differently, there's 25 other teams that are doing no tackling at all that aren't going to run like the crazy practices that tomlin does that's their style that works for them i don't necessarily like the rams are the complete opposite and the

chiefs are the opposite in some ways and i don't know i wouldn't be too worried about the how quiet practice is i i am going to get too worried about it trust me this is me not you i'm i'm freaking out about it so yeah yeah you know and i guess the other part of it is dd also mentioned that the Ravens are much, much better this year. We'll see. Listen, they went 14 and 2 last year. Right. And I know they flamed out in January, but it's way more likely that they

probably are an 11 or 12 win team or even below that. If you just go off, you know, history, what it tells us, which Wes often is instructive. Instructive. Yes. Good out of division schedule though for that. I think sometimes you look at the division schedule and you think

what divisions can sneak two or three teams and that's concerned with my first pick, the Rams, because that division, the NFC West, is really tough. AFC North, the division's pretty good. But out of division, you play the AFC South and then the NFC East, you get the Washington football team, you get the giant, you know, I like them piling up some wins out of the division, both the Steelers and the Ravens and the Browns, for that matter. Can I offer a quick one, and I won't go on and around about it? I think that, and this is a team that when I think sort of year after year, we say this team would go five and 11 or

11 and 5 because it's, I don't think that's changed. That's the Texans. But I think the DeAndre Hopkins trade turned everyone so vehemently against Bill O'Brien, the general manager, that we forget that he's a good game day coach. To me, I think he's a good game day coach and they always seem to be in the mix. You still have to Sean Watson. I really don't hate the group of wide receivers. You've got Brandon Cooks, Randall Cobb, Will Fuller. Now, they all have to stay healthy. That's an X factor. If David Johnson, David Johnson did not arrive in a casket. I am just saying he's an actual player who might be good. I didn't love the trade at all, but I'm not writing him off quite yet.

You've got pieces on offense. He actually did. And it was like an undertaker thing in WWF where he sat up dramatically and the crowd went insane. Well, I like that. See, I like that. Then he understands the perception. And he's saying, I'm not, don't put me six feet under quite yet. I just think the Texans, if they were in the final four in the AFC, I wouldn't be surprised at all.

If they snuck into the AFC championship game, not surprised at all. I like your premise here. I think people are way too down on their offense because of losing that big name, DeAndre Hopkins. I mean, not just the big name, a great receiver, but like you said, still an above-average-wide receiver core. The top-five quarterback. The top-five quarterback, the best offensive line they've had there in years.

To me, the problem's on the other side of the ball, and they haven't fixed the secondary that's just rotten. But I agree with you on their offense, and they should not surprise people if they were right back in the mix of things as they always are. Maybe they could get Earl Thomas. I would put them in their own kind of category

and maybe you could, I just think Earl Thomas is trouble. I don't know. I can stand on that one. Maybe you can put them in a category of teams that have a high floor and a lower ceiling to me. They exist in kind of this realm where I can kind of see them going 8 and 8 or 10 and 6 and not really too much in either direction outside of that.

and I don't think they could sneak into the AFC championship because I don't think you really can, first of all, sneak into the conference championship game often unless you have a buy. And I don't see them as a team that wins multiple playoff games. I don't know. I just think they have a roof. The ceiling is the roof, as Michael Jordan once said.

I agree with both of you on. I got one team, I think, that's got championship roof. But a lot of things got to go right. Not a lot of teams that people are talking about right now. The Eagles are as under the radar as they've been in a long time. probably since Doug Peterson took over, maybe since that Sam Bradford, Chip Kelly year, maybe even further back. And they have a, you know, a decently low floor, but they've been as injured as any team in the NFL the last couple years. They've still made the playoffs.

You know, they still won that division over Dallas without anyone healthy at receiver at the end of last year. And I do think they're kind of a boom or bust team that could go seven to nine or eight and eight. But I do think they have Super Bowl upside. They have to have a lot of things go right. They already lost Brandon Brooks. But if Dillard, their first-round pick at left tackle, plays like a first-rounder, you got him and Lane Johnson and, you know, Peter's playing guard. Like, Kelsey's still there.

That could be a really good offensive line. On the defensive line, you got Malik Jackson back. He's supposedly looking good. You still have Graham. You still have Fletcher Cox. You have Darius Slay in the secondary. They like their secondary depth more than ever. You need Deshaun Jackson to stay held.

Jalen Rieger to do some things. It is a lot of ifs. But I think if you just looked at like, hey, if their top 12 players stayed healthy and you stacked up their team versus everyone else's top 12 players staying healthy, the Eagles are up there. We know their coach is good.

We know their quarterback's pretty good. I mean, maybe he's not top three, but he's good. Like, they, I don't see why they should be discounted as a team that can go to the Super Bowl. Maybe that's because I just picked them to do that every year

and I just hoping I'm writing. last year and that went. I mean, I like that you have Washington in your division. You have the Giants. That's going to help. It's not a, it's not a dog-eat-dog division, but they're also playing the AFC North. They got a first-place schedule. I mean, it could be thorny. I don't know if they're going to get a buy. I mean, there's only one team does now. But, I mean, the road to get to the conference championship will be tough. This isn't fun because there's no way to predict it. And even if you could, that would be a crappy thing to predict as well, even though, Mark, you've been known to do it, but injuries play such a huge part in this.

Like, when you're trying to figure out who that team is going to be, and this from football outsiders via the Clark piece, that they've been tracking adjusted games lost since 2001, says that metric shows that injuries are higher in the past six years than in previous seasons. And, you know, it is a gauntlet, and it's a battle, a war of attrition. And that ends up becoming as big a look at the Eagles last year, the Steelers last year. that's just luck to me. Some people say, I hate this,

but some people say that luck or health is a skill. I don't know, man. I think sometimes you just get lucky. A guy rolls up on you or he doesn't, and that's going to affect these teams. Maybe their quarterback can play his first postseason game, never. You know, one of the primary points of that article from Kevin Clark that you mentioned this is based on is that we miss a lot on the hype teams

because of we don't factor in offensive and defensive lines. They're harder to, I guess, gauge. And I think that's a little bit unfair. I think most analysts, most pundits do factor in the lines, but they're like every other position. They're unpredictable. You think a team is going to have a

good line and then the right tackle goes down in week two. Or you think they're going to have a good line and they just don't gel because their first round pick isn't ready and he's not a good player. But back to the Colts, that's one of the reasons to believe that They're legit, and I think the Ravens and Chiefs have to be considered by far the class of the

AFC, but then right after that are the Colts, because the offensive line, they've been together with since their third year now where they have the same exact starting five. They're one of the top five units in the league there. And then the defensive line, that defense that Matt Iberflus has, the most important position on that defense is the three technique tackle, and they go out and get the Forrest Buckner. I think that was a huge pickup, and he's going to play better than ever. You know, Stephen Holder, their beat writer, put a report out today that Jonathan Taylor, who is going to ease, like, offensive rookie of the year type candidate, obviously,

is getting to the second level over and over and over behind that offensive line. Now, that's happening against the cult's defense, so, you know, make of that what you will. But, you know, Michael Pittman, Jonathan Taylor, Paris Campbell's getting a lot of buzz. And Rivers, you know, unlike some of these. guys isn't going somewhere where he's having to start completely from scratch. He and Frank Reich, Nick Siriani, these guys all know each other and work together well. So you could see it being a very smooth transition. If you get a good Rivers year, I like it too. The last time that we were talking about the cults on this podcast with Wes, he was rightly calling out the idea of

rivers throwing timing balloons deep into secondaries. That's got to be a concern about a hype team, though, Wes, the old quarterback who's a turnover machine. It is. You just don't know. I mean, that's one of those things where you got to wait for the games because these old quarterbacks, it's the same thing with Tom Brady. To me, it was obvious that we saw a drop-off in Tom Brady's skill set last year. People who were close to the Patriots disagree with that.

So we'll see how it plays out. I thought it was obvious that we saw a decline in Philip Rivers too. And Greg, I don't think so as much. So we'll see kind of how that plays out. Rivers was on Inside Training Camp Live with Siciliano, our buddy, and Kurt Warner last week. Just hearing Philip Rivers speak with like a Colts hat on and talking about the whole opportunity, like it's surreal and it's got me fired up.

I really do think it's one of the best storyline. It's not getting a ton of national attention, but he's such a great NFL figure. And if they can pile up some wins early and they kind of become one of those teams everyone's talking about, it's something people can get behind. America needs this team. Greg, you didn't categorize Kurt Warner as our buddy. Would you like to cycle back and give him that label? Well, we did do the show with him on Neil Reynolds.

With Neil Reynolds in the NFL, UK. I was going to say Sky Sports. That was not for Sky. I don't know Kurt personally. You know, I guess he was aware of us based on being on that show with him. But I don't know if you guys know him personally. I'd like to be his friend. Neil at one point said something to Kurt and then set me up on something.

And Kurt looked at me like I was a contest winner. Zoom call. So I don't think we can safely classify him as a friend. It's a little early. By the way, contest winner. That reminds me of something we meant to talk about a few weeks ago about our friends overseas while we're on the topic. That Sky Sports has a brand new NFL channel. And it's debuting, it's unveiling with the opening kickoff and continuing on through all sorts of content. And hopefully, it sounds like they might put our broadcast show that we're going to do during the season, preview in games. They might put it on that Sky Sports NFL channel. So big cheers to Neal Reynolds and everything.

I don't want to call them out, but that would be foolish not to. I mean, we are the preeminent NFL podcast overseas. And while we're at it, here's my direct deposit information. Right. Should I be factoring a windfall into this for the Wesleyan household? The answer is no. Oh. But great visibility for the entire Wessling family. Before we sign off, does anybody have like 30 seconds or less team out there?

Because I had one more. I don't know if anybody else had another one. I'll give you a lightning round. Give me a lightning round. I'll give you a Chicago Bears. And I wish they would have got a different quarterback. I wish they would have got a different quarterback, but Nick Fools isn't the worst in the league. And this defense was Super Bowl caliber two years ago.

We know they can do it on one set of the ball. I think you could see some bounce back years for guys like Alan Robinson, Tariq Cohen, David Montgomery. All right. I'll throw out the Seattle Seahawks, a team that as much as they gave up for Jamal Adams, I like the move because it showed a sense of urgency

I think is necessary in that building where since the Malcolm Butler incident, as we'll call Super Bowl 49. That team has not... Greatest play ever. It's not an incident. They've won their division once. in those five years. They've not been to the title game in the NFC since,

but because they have, to me, a top five quarterback in Russell Wilson every year they're in contention. Well, at a certain point, and Russell Wilson's about 30 now, or 31, you've got to now take that next step and become a Super Bowl contender again. So I like the Adams move, and maybe they could leverage that to take the next step on defense. So that's a team to keep an eye on it. Because I think people are so used to the Seattle Seahawks going 11 and 4.

in playing a playoff game or two that nobody even is looking at them as Super Bowl contenders or a team that's bad that should be criticized they're just in the mix it's time to take a step up and maybe they can with Adams who's obviously a special player

on defense. Look how banged up the Niners are right now all over the place like it makes some sense if you can get out to a fast start and the Niners get out to a slow one. The Seahawks have had a mediocre defense for three straight years.

So they're getting to the playoffs and winning a playoff game here and there with a mediocre. poker defense. So you're right, there is some upside there, Dan, if the defense actually becomes an asset on top of Russell Wilson. Look, it's not easy to beat Josh McCown with his calf ripped off his phone in January. So I credit where credit is due. And obviously, yes, that was a gutsy effort by Seattle. It goes without saying that because of the Jamal Adams trade and how personal it was for me as a Jets fan, I needed to step off formally Seahawks Corner in 2020. I say

goodbye. But like Earl Thomas, my Instagram story, despite bad blood, was one of respect. They said, hey, Seattle Seahawks, great working with you. I really had a fun time with you in 2019. Thank you for the opportunity and best wishes going forward. Seahawks

and Seahawks Corner. Am I alone on the because Greg stepped off at last year? I lose track of which one of you guys are trying to kiss butt on Seahawks Corner. I'm not on it. Kissing up to that mob they got up there in the Pacific Northwest. I do like their Twitter.

Wes is going to get a Mina Kimes' DM for that comment, calling the Seahawks fans a mob. I think she's the only Seahawks fan I haven't blocked on Twitter. They're like you, Wes. They're a cantankerous, you know, well-read crew with some hot takes. No, I'm not a Manchurian candidate. They are. They're nothing like me.

They don't do their own thinking up there. All right. I'm still on that corner and happy to be there. A lot of real estate. West Mondays, deliver in once again. Oh, yeah. All right. West Monday was a hit, as it always is.

We'll be back on Wednesday, of course, with the fifth-ish annual fantasy extravaganza with special guests galore. So you cannot miss that, especially if you're drafting this weekend or next week, as you should. So make sure you tune in for that. And that's it. Anything else, everybody?

That's it. This feels like a good jumping off point. Wes, good luck to you this. week with everything. Thank you. We love you, buddy. Thank you. Love you, love you, too. Ah, I got it this time.

Dan is signing up for the mailman, the old boss, Rick Hollywood. Kill the extravaganza. Don't think I didn't notice that you didn't sign me off there with the name. Oh, did I miss you? Mailman, the old boss, and Ricky Hollywood. I'm going to be thinking about that in the next couple hours. The show of Dan's dream. The line of it.

Wait, I said myself. Is that what I did? I think you just, you know, appropriately just skipped right over me, which is fine. Oh, I thought I signed up for the old losers. I think it would be muscle memory at this point, but it's okay. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Flawio, and together we host the NFL fantasy football podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy football.

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or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

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