NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - EMBEDDED Combine Stories

Episode Date: February 26, 2020

A stadium filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Chris Wesseling, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal bring you all of the latest news in the NFL surrounding the teams and the NFL scouting combine. The heroes deep dive into the press conferences from the GMs and Coaches today to try to get some more insight into the upcoming season. Why wasn't Daniel Jones name said once? Coach Rhule is excited to work with Cam Newton? Bruce Arians wants Tom Brady over Winston? SO MUCH TO SPECULATE ABOUT.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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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 has never played in the NFL. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hanzas coming to you from a stadium that is filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What is up, boys?

Hey, Dan. Hey, we got prop comedy. It's Mark Sessor, Propcoma. The Gallagher of NFL podcasters. Just wanted to be comfortable. Mark, you have shown up to today's show at Lucas Oil Stadium in the heart of downtown Indianapolis and a full bathrobe. covering your clothes, take us through the thought process.

The thing I love about Indianapolis, and the reason it was my favorite Super Bowl city, potentially, it's up there, is the underground tunnel system and above ground that allows you to, you know, float from one massive indoor complex to the next without facing Mother Nature on any level. And so I was wearing this in the hotel, a little bit of, you know, self-care time and decided, why change? But then you took it off because you would have been ashamed to walk in front of strangers for the entire walk here and then put it back on here. You know, Greg, as he has wanted to do, utterly destroying what he would call a bit. I'd say it's a very organic process. Here is the test now. Well, not the test. That's too strong.

If I could see some chest hair or something, that'd be nice. No one needs to see us underneath. I asked if you could take the T-shirt and we get some of that chest air because I know you got it because I've seen it. And it's impressive. Got some nice lettuce on the. the pecs. I mean, it would end, it would probably end the show, or at least my element of the show. If you really do want to

take that next step into kind of the realm of Cosmo Kramer where you're kind of like the eccentric middle-aged guy, you walk back to the hotel with the robot. Not saying you should or we want you to, just like that would be the movement.

How about this? If you are going to, I'm not walking alone. If we're walking as a group and I'm wearing it, I will do that. And I'm not going to and not 88 conversations about it with people, we just, it is what it is. I'd say you're already seen as the eccentric middle age guy. You don't need, as we go by a bunch of people, it's like, hey, do you guys go everywhere together? It's like entourage.

I would like the idea of the four of us walking and then, and then there's Peter Schrager in the lobby. How quickly would Greg peel off to get away from this hour? No, Greg would want nothing to do it. I like the, I like the contrast. I hope, like we see, I'm not going to mention who, but, you know, we see a head coach walking through the hallway like we did earlier, very. you know, masculine guy who literally takes his dip out of his mouth with his bare hand and throws it in the trash. And then, you know, Mark walks by with his little lab coat.

Well, contrast. And speaking of Peter Schreger, we have an update on the show a little bit later. Yes, when you're ready for it. Let's save that. Let's not forget an update on Schroger, of course, Mark ranked Pete quite low, to be honest with you in his NFL media powder rankings. Not many people getting away with Colin and Pete. well, you know, good morning

football. We're guys together. Gotcha. Yeah. Basically part of that show. We're here at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, rainy Indianapolis for the NFL scouting combine. As you know, if you're a longtime listener of the show, if you don't know, if you're a newer listener and welcome, they send us primarily to check out what's going on the state of the NFL because it is a goldmine.

And from that perspective, because almost every coach and almost every GM speaks to the assembled media. In past years, it was split somewhat evenly over two days. This year, there's a bunch of schedule changes here at the Combine. It's getting crazy because they're moving a lot of the actual underwear Olympics into prime time, maybe all of the underwear Olympics. I haven't tracked it that closely. And they're moving different things around, toying with, I guess, the changes to the structure, seeing what,

maybe the future this event holds. And so we got everybody just about. We have everybody this week, today, Tuesday, and then there's what, three guys speaking tomorrow? For now. Sometimes they add a guy or two. So we are going to today's show go through all of these conversations, these press conferences with these coaches and GMs

and just give you an update on what's going on around the NFL. I think like 27, 28. teams spoke today so your team should be mentioned on this show except for Patriots fans I think you guys have been covered quite a and I just I just want to point out I don't want to dwell on it Greg but can we please drop the where holier than now we're different we're better act when you're not anymore what do you mean why are the Patriots why are the Patriots not part of this event oh are they not speaking to the press I think there's another team or two but I'm I Couldn't figure out who it is because I only counted.

But not 10 years in a row. Because Belchick spoke a few years ago. Because there's no rule making you, apparently. But at what point do the Patriots drop this act and realize they're just another team again? It's over. Like the dynasty is kaput. Get back in line. I want your coach and your GM or whomever speaking at this podium on this event.

That's how you presuppose they see themselves inside the building. I would say it's time. The next time a team makes nine Super Bowls in like 18. years, then that team can sit out. Yeah, but why write your own rules? Why can't you do what the rest of the league's doing when it comes to this event? It's, ugh, the worst. Cowboys. I didn't see anybody from the Cowboys today. Yeah, they got Mike McCarthy McCarthy tomorrow. They're jumping in. So as we've done through the years, it's tradition, we do a draft to see who wants to track which pressers. And this year, just a little bit of a twist. I worked with the fellas to assign each of you to be embedded with one team. And what does embedded mean? If they go to the bathroom, you follow him. It means it's not just getting, you know, oh, this guy's going to get the franchise tag.

It's not just, oh, this guy said he wants him to be his quarterback for a long time. I want to know what Cologne the coach is wearing. I want to know who he's talking to. I want to know his vibe if he felt like he was good spirits. If it seemed like he had a late night the night before, if it looked like a guy that was gearing up for a wild night, Indy tonight. I want to see what other journal is this person's talking to.

I want to know how he's dressed. I want to know everything about this team's, the team leaders. That's what Embedded is all about. And during the draft process, Mark, you embedded yourself with the Browns. West, you embedded yourself with the Bucks. And Greg, you embedded yourself with the Giants in a surprise move. I embedded myself, of course, with the New York football Jets. So let's get into it.

Let's go through some takeaways from the big day. Greg, what did you think was the biggest story at a combine today? I think it was Matt Ruhle saying that he's unbelievably excited to work with Cam Newn. I think Ian Rappaport started a day kind of telegraphing that this was coming, that they expected to keep Cam Newton moving forward. There was some intimation by Ian on his tweets that it had to do with the fact that Cam wouldn't be healthy enough to be traded necessarily in time.

Maybe even hinting around that, hey, I think all these teams are checking out what's out there in terms of interest from other teams, just reading between the lines. And maybe that market's not developing for Cam, at least not at this point, you know, in this pre-free agency period. And that Rule was pretty adamant saying this guy, when he's healthy,

is one of the best of the best in the league that he wants to work with him, that he expects him to be his starter. And to me, that's pretty big news. I don't think, you know, I wouldn't like bet my entire fortune on that he's their week one starter right now, but it looks pretty likely, which we did not know a week ago. It's quite the conundrum because if you're Matt Rule and the Panthers and we kept hearing, that they weren't quite sold on Cam Newton, and that's probably because they don't know who he is

at this stage of his career coming off a serious arm injury, but at the same time, any interesting party would not know who he is, so his trade value plummet. Right, and also, since we've last heard from Matt Ruhle, the coaches have watched all of him Cam Newton's film. You know, he hasn't played that much over the last two years, and Ruhl mentioned that, but, you know, they've watched the old tapes too. and maybe it's the front office or ownership, which has certain ideas,

but now they look at the reality of what's out there in free agency, what they can or can't get in the trade. And you do just get the feeling that that market for Cam isn't going to happen in the timeline that they would need it to happen because he's not going to be healthy fast enough. So why wouldn't they give him a shot? And I love thinking about him in that offense, and he talked about Joe Brady, his offensive coordinator,

which a lot of people are excited to see what he brings to the table. and I think there's more deep shots in that offense, which Cam is, you know, he's a little up and down. He's streaky with, but if you're Matt Ruhle, you're not going to find a better option than Cam Newton, I don't think. I think they'd still be open for looking at other quarterbacks, but it sounds like he's going to be there. I agree with you in a sense if you're a new coach too.

And I think that Cam Newton is a winner here because I like the way this whole ownership into coaching and overall organizational shift is happening. But do you want to start with an unknown X factor at quarterback or anything they had last year. There's also more chips to fall. Like the draft could change what a lot of these teams do at quarterback, and Cam Newton could still wind up somewhere else.

You could almost imagine them drafting someone with Cam Newton, like a first round quarterback, and Cam Newton's there to try to beat them, to try to hold off his job. And I said this a couple of weeks ago, and I still feel that way today. And that's why when I saw what happened in the news today with this kind of pro-CAM future in Carolina,

I was like, okay, this makes some sense to me. because again, remember, this guy is the greatest player in franchise history, in my opinion. And this is an MVP, he's had major injury issues, but do you want to dive into the unknown, the murky unknown of looking for a quarterback? Or do you want to maybe see if this guy that is 30 years old still can still play the guitar, as Leslie Nielsen once said? Do you want to see if he can bounce back and be that guy? And I don't hate that idea either.

or what Greg said, taking a quarterback higher in this draft, and then if you have Newton for one more year, maybe, and if he bounces back and he's great, you have a decision to make or maybe a really great trade piece. And if it doesn't work out, well, you know. And you gave this great Panther, this former MVP, this guy that took you to the Super Bowl, one more chance, he's got his career on track.

So I kind of think this, I see this as a positive development, if this is indeed the direction this is heading now, where he comes back to Charlotte. Yeah, we're just, we're kind of really, between the lines today, and we do have Matt Rule, you know, talking about Cam New, and the difference is there's some teams, and we'll get into them, that are clearly not showing their cards or they're showing that they're ambivalent. And I think it's the way that they address the Cam with as much enthusiasm, Cam story, with as much enthusiasm as possible,

which kind of tells you a lot. I'm unbelievably excited to get to get a chance to work with Cam. I've enjoyed getting to sit down in the cafeteria when he comes by, sitting down to my office. I think he's doing a great job. And for me, you know, the way he balances being a great father, the way he balances being a great quarterback, and the way, you know, the things he's done in the community are really, really important. So I want to make sure I say that. And so I'm excited to get him healthy. Obviously, you know, that's the number one goal for us.

He's doing a great job of doing his part. We have to make sure that we're doing our part as we try to get him healthy for the 2020 season. little bat rule everybody good to hear his voice uh in other quarterback news we're just going to bounce around be good to bounce around sure we'll go in our little embeds we'll go we'll do it all okay and jump in if this was a presser you covered but i'm going to throw some news out there um i thought it was interesting that mike mayock was positive about derrick car but maybe not overflowing he had this to say, Mayak, we're not looking actively to move him at all. We know what we have and we appreciate it. He went on to say that defensively, the team's not very good at all, which is

very, and maybe that is the focus of this offseason for Oakland. But he pointed out that Carr above 70% completion percentage, that he did good things. But you still don't get the sense that they're in love, West, with the quarterback position. Because I was embedded today with another team in need of a quarterback, I've learned to see all of this through the prism of the pressure is on to buy the ring. You're dating a girl for a while. The pressure is on to buy the ring. And I don't think the Raiders want to buy the ring.

I think they see other candidates out there that might make a better marriage. But they're not willing to kick him to the curb yet. They're just waiting to see if something better comes along. Someone responded on Twitter to me, the Raiders are married but ready to cheat. You know, it's like, I thought Mayock, you know, he did kind of the best combine thing you could do in his situation, which he actually came out very strong about Carr. Like, you know, he played at a very high level that we have a quarterback who can function. He didn't say very.

He said he played at a high level. He, he, and he kept, but he kept repeating, like, he can, he can run our offense at a high level. but then he was like quarterbacks like any other position. And if you had a top 10 quarterback, you're not saying quarterbacks like any other position that you're trying to upgrade. No, and I think Mayock, it's a positive for his credibility because you can't come out today and give us a whole line about Derek Carr

that people just simply don't believe. Because a year ago, the Raiders came out very strong on the Derek Car front at this combine. And I think they were definite last year that they wanted to see him for a year. I think they were, but then I think that there were back, back channel conversations and whispers that Gruden also had, you know, two months later, fascinations with various players in the draft. And I think this time around you're looking at the most compelling free agent class, maybe of our lifetime at quarterback.

And a draft littered with a couple of intriguing quarterbacks as well. And a coach in John Gruden who always has a wandering eye for what else might be out there at the position. And Mayak said how pocket, he thought pocket awareness was maybe the most important trade a quarterback could have and that you either have it or you don't. And I was very tempted to just ask, do you think Derek Carr has good pocket awareness? Because I would say that's his biggest weakness. And so I was reading a little bit between the lines of what he was saying. Mayok's the, I think he's the best guy at this event.

He was great last year. He obviously, with his background working for NFL Network as long as he did, he's a very well-spoken guy, guy who never gets boxed into a corner when he's asked a question because he's essentially been doing this for years and years and years. He used to, just for people that might not remember or know, Mike Mayock was a big enough deal at the Combine when he worked as a draft analyst that he had his own press conference. Like he had a press conference just to hit all the questions people had.

He did a bunch of conference calls, but then he would actually be at a podium. I remember covering them. Jam-packed crowd, too. People want to hear. So he is always going to, to me, I find him very interesting compared to so many of these other GMs and coaches. is where you find yourself kind of drifting a little bit

because it just becomes there's so much robotic coach GM talk sometimes or they're just so making a clear effort not to say anything that makes headlines. It was funny. Gettelman, Dave Gettelman, the Giants GM said today at one point that he had learned that there are no, I'm trying to think what he said exactly. Throwaway questions. There are no throwaways. And he was referring to the throwaway answers.

he was referring specifically to when he said like the computer guys line about the analytics department and everybody took that and run with it that he was an old man that was out of touch and he said he's now he's learned through working with the new york media to watch everything he says but a lot of these guys you could tell they're like one of my biggest goals of this week besides obviously eyeing different draft prospects is not to become the story of the day and i think for the most part if these guys were looking not to say much They accomplish their goal. I think as a group, GMs and coaches, compared to decades ago

or even five, six, seven years ago, have become experts and extremely practiced at getting up there and giving you nothing. It's a bit of a stunner if a major news item drops at all. That's why you get embedded so you can read their minds. Right, well, with the bucks, the bucks are a little different. You're embedded team.

All right, Wes, you were. You were embedded with the bucks. You were embedded with the bucks. And again, what does embedded mean? Embedded means Wes covered this head coach, Bruce Ariens, and the GM, Jason Light, like no one else in the building. And this is what he took away from. Well, I saw the look in their eyes when they were asked about buying the ring for James Winston. There's a lot of pressure on him right now to buy that ring and get engaged.

And Ariens and Jason Light both basically said this person is attractive, bright future. There's a lot of clay to work with here. you can see the potential. But timing is everything. And the whole time we were dating James, there was this other girl that we have a connection with. There might be two or three girls we had connections with. We've known them a long time.

We like it. And if there's any possibility we're going to be available at the same time, I need to scratch that itch before I take the plunge on James Winston, before I buy the ring, before we get married. This is what's going on with the bucks. They need to scratch the itch if the timing works out where one of the people that they've had a connection with all along is available. They don't want to get married to James Winston. There is an interesting B-line running through all of Wes's commentary today if you were to isolate these comments.

Well, I was trying to apply it to my own experience, and we can juxtapose how Chris Bowdo and the Colts feel about Jacoby Brissette compared to how the Bucks feel about James Winston. But the Bucks, it's tricky because they have to kind of make a decision on James before free agency, because of the franchise tag, because if you were going to keep James, it's most likely, maybe it's a transition tag where you let him get out there and that kind of kicks the can a little bit. They're confident that they're going to know what's out there. Bruce Aaron said, by next week, I think I'm going to have a good idea of who's available.

Right now I don't have a good idea. But I love that he's willing to just say it. I mean, he essentially said in so many words, There's a couple, you know, there's one or two guys that, you know, if we could get that, if we'd get him, then maybe we would move on from James Winston. And they straight up asked them on Sirius. And he said Tom Brady and Philip Rivers. He said Tom Brady, which is, you know, in theory, if anyone wanted to get, you know, get him in trouble, they could. But no one's going to mind, I don't think.

Like, ultimately, he doesn't really care. Well, wasn't the chore pulling Jason light to this point? because for years on end, when we've had questions about Jamis Winston for ages. And Jason Light, who drafted him, seemed to never want to confront those questions. Well, somebody asked Jason Light exactly that. While you and Bruce Ariens are up here saying, we want to see what's behind door number two, door number three, door number four, what does James and his agent think about you saying all this?

And he basically said, we're not saying we don't want James. We want him. We just want to see what else is out there. And he, you know, he said, I have a great relationship with his agent. We talk all the time. They've made it clear they want to see what their options are before they commit to James Winston. All right. And let me just read one quote here from Bruce Ariens.

Can we win with James? Hell yeah. But you have to see if there is a better option. We may have some audio. So a lot of discussion between tagging, you know, the likes of Shaq Bearer, James, Winston. Listen, are you prepared to lit James' test-free agency? We haven't made that decision yet. Yeah, well, it's still up in the air.

When do you need to make that decision? When? When I know who else is available. There you go. So clearly they are in the middle of the process. All right, let's stick on this topic. And West, there's another quarterback that a lot of people want to know what his job security is with his current team. with this current team.

Well, Jacoby Brissette, and there's all these rumors about Philip Rivers, which Chris Ballard, the Colts GM, will not discuss. He will not even say Philip Rivers' name. Ballard made it clear, look, when you go seven and nine, and half of the season you didn't play well, we're still in evaluation mode. We gave him a two-year contract, so we thought it would take two years to evaluate him. We just don't know yet, and he's buying time.

To me, if we're going to extend this analogy about buying the ring, Here's what's going on with Jacoby Brissette and Chris Bauer in the Colts. You're already married. It's too late to get out at this point. But this is all going to – I'm tying it together. This is all going to pay off. It's all going to make sense. Wow.

They've been dating for a while, Jacoby Brissette and the Colts. It's serious. Their families are intertwined at this point. They like each other. They've been to holiday parties where their families know each other. It's hard to disentangle at this point. The Colts wish Jacob Brisset well. They like him as a person.

but they're not in love and you can't force being in love so they're going to try to find someone else to marry that's what's going on I you know one thing I took away because I did not a lot of sizzle in the relationship you know you're getting you're in your pajamas eating pizza in bed at 8.30 p.m. They're too young for that more like roommates than lovers

I feel like we've done this exact analogy on past shows but it's fine it makes sense I will counter that West with listening to Ballard he said also and sometimes you could take this with a grain of salt, but said this thing has taken a life of its own, referring to the media speculation

that they are kind of done with Jacoby Brissette and they're going to replace them with a new starting quarterback. Do you think there's any scenario where they're going to do kind of like what the Panthers are looking at and they might stick with Jake Briscuit for another year? Or do we all, are we all in agreement? Or are you guys all believe that this is a team that is absolutely ready to move on

with a new QB1? Well, you only heard part of the conversation. He spoke about Jacoby about six different times and the part you heard was, I don't want to hurt Jacobi's feelings because I really like him a lot as a person. That's the part you heard, but you didn't hear the part where he said,

we're going to create competition there. You know, he didn't have a good second half of the year. Part of the record was on him. Look, I know a lot of guys are injured, but you can never point to injured wide receivers. Yeah, he did not excuse his. His injury issues his knee. I think if they, if Jacoby Brissette starts week, week one,

it's because they swung and missed so many times at trying to find his replacement and couldn't find it. He has a lot of guaranteed money. I do think there's a chance that he's their week one starter. The biggest thing is Philip Rivers is possibly a guy that they're going to have competition for. They don't know. They don't know that answer. Even if in Chris Ballad's heart, as he's up there on the podium,

his number one option is to get Philip Rivers. He doesn't know at this point, I don't think, whether that's going to happen or not. So you have to be ready. I think there might be a chance he knows just because of his relationship with Nick Siriani and Frank Wright. Philip Rivers is actually really close with Nick Sirianney. Right. But if Philip Rivers is, you're right, it's possible. But you hear Arians throw a name out.

And if Philip Rivers' agent is out there trying to get the best deal possible, it's still very early in the process. Living in Florida, I mean, do the cults have to evaluate, not? the Philip Rivers experience overall. But the Philip Rivers struggling last year as an actual upgrade over Jacoby Brissette. I like Philip Rivers better. But you talk, these are, Philip Rivers, Frank Wright, likes the player a lot. The whole organization really loves Jacoby Brissette, the person as well. So I don't think that they're rushing into anything.

You're kind of, you're banking on that late period Brett Farr type scenario where he kind of was a turnover machine in that one year with the Jets. He went to the Vikings and he was 38, 39, but it was completely revitalized. Maybe the change of scenery. I like the idea of Phil Rivers playing eight games in a dome at least and playing with an offensively gifted coach like Frank Wright. It all makes so much sense. And I think that's why everyone is like pointing to that as the most logical destination.

But it's still a stopgap because the next year of Brett Farve, he fell off a steep cliff into total darkness. He's a bridge. I just disagree with you. I think the Colts believe if Philip Rivers wants to go there, He's their guy. That's what I'm getting out. But for how long?

I'm just saying Jacoby Berset at that point becomes the backup. I don't think it becomes, hey, do we think Rivers is better than Berset? I think if Rivers wants to go there, he's their guy. And Berset has guaranteed money this year so you could keep them as a highly paid backup. One thing I thought was interesting from Ballard is in the past he said, we don't want to be that first day of free agency, make a splash move type of team. We need to have our team kind of ready until we're. you know, prepared and built up before we're that type of team. And this year he says, we're ready.

Like, we've built our infrastructure. We're ready to go get it. So he, I think, is wanting to spend all that tap space that he has. And I think could be a team that would be interested in some of the highest profile free agents like Amari Cooper or Jadivian clown. I already made this prediction, though. There you go. I said they're going to win the offseason.

So I don't know. I feel like you're trying to reframe it and then you're going to try to take the glory when they have a big free agency. That's how it feels to me, Greg. High stakes, to say the least. I had forgotten. I had forgotten that moment in our podcast history. That shining moment in our history of my show.

Wes, yes. There's another quarterback out there, gentlemen, that everyone's like, I know they're, they said they're behind him, but are they really behind him? Mitch Trubisky and the Chicago Bears, who talked to, who,

Well, maybe you talked to him, maybe you didn't. Who was around? I was hovering around Matt Nagy. You were hovering. Yeah, and there was, you know, this came right around the time that there was word from Ryan Pace, the Bears GM, that their decision on Ryan Trubisky's fifth year option would come in May. They don't, they don't today know. And the vibe I got was, I feel like Matt Nagy has been in to play off the Wesleyan, you know, thread here,

and a bit of an arranged marriage with Mitch Trubisky. And not able to really fight what is the traditional. tradition he's stuck in where you can't really, if you're in an arranged marriage, probably there are a lot of issues, but you can't really complain to the family or anyone else because this is steeped and deep, you know, cultural and religious ties when you have an arranged marriage. Religious. Well, I'm just saying that's how it works in some cultures.

But Trubisky, to me, is someone that they have aggressively talked around as the problem. Matt Niggi today talked about bringing in John DiPhilippo and Bill Laser and all these other guys to reimagine the offense and constantly. calling the offense, you know, we're in multiple years into the Matanagie adventure here, an offense that needs to figure out what its identity is, that it completely lost its identity last year. And he talked more about the running game, I thought, than the air game with Trubisky, where, I mean, come on, we know what the issue was there

and how it all suffered and struggled because of Ms. Trubisky. He did get real about the fact that Trubisky's responsibility is to come in in a couple months and know this offense better than any of the coaches, which was not the case in the past, which is an indictment, I think, of, you know, he's a young player and they keep making excuses for how young he is and all this business, but he is not performing where you're looking at other guys

like Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson who are taking off into the skies. So more accountability, but I heard nothing to suggest that they're about to move on from him. We believe in Mitch, this was Pace, Mitch knows he needs to be better, we need to be better around him, and that's our goal.

They're all, uh, Nagy also mentioned a shift in their offensive philosophy and also that they, he didn't even, here's the thing that is on my radar a little bit. And I still believe some of this is all posturing. And I, I, I still would be stunned if they don't have, um, a capable backup. Um, or someone, I think that's, I think they've indicated as much, but they're not going to chase Daniel route. They want someone that can compete a little bit. He said that, he said that they want competition at all, all positions, but the GM, he stopped short. of revealing whether Chicago intends to add another quarterback via free agency or the draft. How about just say it? How about to say we... Well, they literally don't have any other quarterbacks on the roster, so they have to.

Well, that's true. There was this way, and I give, I think Matt Nagy, his thing, and when we sat down with him at the owners meetings last year, he's a positive energy guy. He's not, he's not someone that has any desire to call people out, but the fact that he basically talked down the Trubisky drama by saying that, you know, we live in this world of instant gratification where you want players to grow up.

Well, yes, you do because we're seeing that happen all over the league. And how many years, how many jobs will be lost if you have another hideous campaign with Ms. Chubisky and all this flowery coach speak? There is very little accountability about the fact that the player is not advancing at the speed. Other NFL quarterbacks are advancing today.

All right, Mark. Do you ever hear about being Shanghai? I've heard the turn. Trapped door in the floor in Portland, in the bar right around the turn of the century, opens up, you get sent. on a ship to Shanghai. Is this problematic in 2020?

Sounds like a Wesley night from about three or four years ago. This is what should happen to every single coach and GM who says we want to create competition at every position. For every question they're asked.

Get rid of it. Get shanghai. Wes, I meant to ask this a few minutes ago, but during your time around Chris Ballard, did you notice anything that surprised you're seemed a little I don't know, unusual?

Whatever it was about him that you and Greg both saw a couple years ago and could not put your thumb on it. Ravens GM Eric DeCosta has the exact same thing. They are two peas in a pod.

Greg is not happy to be connected to this at this point. Greg was originally on board. Yeah, I think I... You absolutely were a driver of that narrative. Greg was standing next to me. Right, and you both agree. There's something a little bit different here.

Something's up. Embedded Sessler, or maybe Sessler, Embedded Cleveland Browns. They did not strike me. Andrew Barry, the GM, and followed by new coach Kevin Stefansky, as people that stayed out late last night or are planning to stay out late tonight. They have the vibe of like-minded brainiacs who are very well programmed to say very, very little. I think some of these teams that need good PR or need to introduce new people for the 18th time in 19 years

roll out GM and coach back to back, and that's what Cleveland did. A few things I learned was that I got the sense that Kevin Stefansky is very open to keeping Kareem Hunt along with Nick Chubb, calling it more the merrier, where I think there were some, you know, with Kareem Hunt's off-the-field stuff in the past in this off-season, maybe they don't see him as someone that's part of the team. He's already in his tenure to deal with the cream-hunt situation. Sounded like he's very open to it. Dave and the Joku, another guy, because I think if you look at him,

Kevin Stafansky's offense last year in Minnesota, two tight-end sets were prominent and used at times by the Vikings successfully. And I think that they want to keep him around. But there was whispers before Stafansky hit the scene that Njoku could be on the trade block along with Joe Schobert, who they seen that they're going to talk to. What about O'Dell Beckham? Because Barry said, you know, I come from the, you know, Howie Roseman's family. I'm a wheeler and dealer by nature.

I will listen to any phone calls. I was a little surprised he didn't shut down talk that O'Dell would be traded. Called him in quotes part of our future and said that a number of times. But I think at this point, they succeeded in really nailing down nothing. Their answers were mechanical, clipped, practiced, I thought, and they both struck. Mark's wearing a bathrobe right now. He's talking very seriously and clinically about his favorite. team the Browns in a bathrobe. Just

another reminder. Well, I mean, it's you know, yeah, and I got deeper into these two pressers thinking there aren't a lot of huge takeaways here. One thing that I did sense that was very different, obviously, from Freddie Kitchens and previous incarnations, was this sense that when the

players hit in April, that it is going to be all business. That they had come, they said they had basically spent these weeks and months coming up with specific projects and very specific must-reach goal. for all key players, where I think that that was the reason the shift happened this offseason, that those goals and that level of sort of sober approach to all football was utterly missing

under Freddie Kitchens and company, and that is entirely gone. So if you want a vibe, I got a vibe of football first. We're not here to win the press conference. They're both very eloquent, and I thought they did a nice job, but it wasn't like, oh, oh, wow, these personalities, I must go spend time with them. I think that they were holding back on their personality. I was embedded in a walk-and-talk with Chris Wessling and Mark on the way over here. I thought you were going to say something important.

What more secrets are you going to share with the group? Let's not get too fast and loose with embedded branding. It's specific to this project. I'm just saying there was some concern or at least notice that Stifansky was more slight of frame than you expected. I think an observation was. Well, you see him on the sideline, and then I think, you know, his whole persona he comes across. We heard from Mina Kimes did her husband. These guys played high school football.

Like, I expected a bigger dude. Maybe 5-10, 160? I don't know. Not a big man. Not that there's a looking man. Not that there's anything wrong with that. In person, by the way. Good-looking man.

Any other embedded takeaways before? I don't want to steal from what may be hotter information from the other embedded camps. Greg, what did you think was the biggest story? Oh, I think he meant the Browns. No, I'm saying, I think that's, I've dumped the notebook on a back-to-back Browns press records that did not tell me as much as I wanted to know. Okay. Let's get embedded with the New York Giants. I mean, when you get embedded with one team, you want to get embedded with the other.

And the Giants today, okay, you just want to get in bed. You want to get in bed with lots of teams. Okay. Joe Judge would not be a fun coach, I think, to cover from the initial. How many handshakes did he give out today? No handshakes today. Famously gave handshakes out to everyone at his introductory press conference. There was a lot going on without him saying anything.

One started the press conference incredibly early. He wasn't alone. He was the first one of the day and he started eight or nine minutes earlier, something like that. They all started early. Tom Coughlin time, trying to be cool. Still have it out for the Giants. It's over, man. Let it go.

I can sort of see what's happening here. I want this post, you know, this post-Eyli Giants to be interesting. And they might be. But it's an interesting situation right now in February because he literally said he's not going to speak about any player. Not any player on other teams, on his own team. He won't say his quarterback's name. He would not say his quarterback's name. So the whole 30 minutes.

He's playing games. That's a red flag. One of my takeaways from this embedded, you know, know, exercise, was that Joe Judge is wearing the pants in the relationship because Dave Gettleman, who loves to fly off the handle, who loves to say a lot of things, and he said some funny things today, ultimately was going with judge rules. So everyone, for some reason, in the Giants Press Corps, kept like asking the question, is Daniel Jones your starting quarterback?

Well, of course he's their starting quarterback. Stop it. But because Joe Judge wouldn't say Daniel Jones' name and was doing it. It's so stupid. It was doing the whole thing where it's like we've got to have competition at every position that for whatever reason, half the Giants Press Corps got all excited about that and was like, ooh, do we have a quarterback controversy, which is obviously they're not drafting another quarterback. With who?

Get real. And Dave Gettelman even started getting annoyed at these questions, but you could tell he had been almost trained by the Joe Judge philosophy. And that so he wouldn't go there. And he just started, you know, personally naming the media guys by name saying, that's a bad job. You know, saying these questions are a bad job, but he wouldn't answer the questions. He did ask the question, well, who was our starter in the last game of the season? You know, it was Daniel Jones. Well, they're also one of the teams that came out absolutely set on fire at last year's combine with two hideous press conferences.

Right. And, yeah, as Dan mentioned, he was, you know, upset about the whole analytics thing. but it's funny he's trying to pretend like just own that when he speaks about analytics he still says he's like oh yeah we're doing the analytics

I mean that's not really like you know what he's like I don't talk about it's like searching the Google he's like you know we're doing it it's a wicked big secret we don't we don't talk about it a lot but we're doing it we got that covered he also says he's like I've done studies on this I don't have to

answer every question at the combine that's what he said which is a funny answer I like that the thing that would annoy me though, if I'm a Giants fan, more than anything, was him repeatedly going defense wins. I wrote that down too. That drove me nuts. Defense wins championship.

Defense wins championships. And offense, you know, offense, it's there. And he immediately mentions the Super Bowl stat where when the number one defense plays the number one offense, the number one defense wins. Well, that's a stupid stat. It's not a stat that tells you

it's no longer relevant. much about anything. It's a tiny sample size, and it's just, I'm not saying defense doesn't matter. Of course it matters. By the way, Dave Gettleman's been there for a few years. Their defense is terrible. So he has to bear the weight of that.

And he's mentioned, and he's trying to put it on the previous GMs that, look, we don't have these giants veterans that have been there a long time that are true New York giants. Okay, that's fine. But you haven't really brought too many in. And you've had a couple decent draft picks. Well, you've moved a bunch of veterans off the team. It's one of the most talent poorer teams in the league.

Rosenthal, embedded. Take us deeper now, Greg. I would, one thing, another thing that I was surprised about. Judge was not commanding the microphone. Interesting. And maybe he's just not experienced with the combine, but Thomas Dimitraf was right next to him. He showed up on time. I mean, he started, he was 11. He's going to start a little bit.

Joe Judge, when he's speaking. Can I state it again because eight guys spoke at the same time at that opening? and at least five or six started early. Two or three were early. Well, also. But, okay, Demetroff's voice, you couldn't hear Joe Judge because Demetroff's voice was so booming and he was next door. This was a problem with several people because it's too crowded now

and they have too many guys going at the same time. It's hard to get close enough to ask the questions and it's hard to hear one guy when the other guy shouting him down from 10 feet away. I think the Giants Press Corps has the same level of, Let's see how this goes that the Jets press corps did a year ago. One, Joe Judge hired the same staff that he was going to hire at Mississippi State. Whether that's good or bad, whatever. It's a unique staff that they're looking at.

And then I do like, the one thing he gave way that I appreciate was all the coaches are living in the same, the Giants coaches are living in the same apartment complex right near the facility. So they're all just like living together and everything is together. It kind of reminds me of that Mike Patton story. Yeah, a couple teams do that, but I think that's because that speaks to organization and flux. You're not all buying homes scattered all over the tri-state area. This would be a good reality show here. Like the, you know, what are they doing at 9 p.m. at night in the old complex?

You think Judge works with today's type of players, speaking the way you are about him. And then you've got Gettleman who I've never heard a GM disdain offense the way that he does. It just seems like an odd fit with the today's millennials. He won't even say his roommate slash coaches names in. until they prove himself to him. I don't know about that thing. Come on. What?

With these, some of these guys, it's just ridiculous. You're making it. You're making these run of rules. Daniel Jones is a first round pick last year who thrived at points last season. The franchise legend quarterback just retired. You know what?

We don't have to get queued here and not bring up Daniel Jones's name. We just wanted to talk about it. What a waste of time for everybody. Don't you, these guys strategize before they come into these combined pressers, which are one of the infrequent times you speak all off season. What an odd tactic. Well, he said, you know, and he really spent most of his press conference explaining this policy.

And, like, that was so bad. The explanation was essentially, I want these players to know that there's no preference and they all have a clean slate. And so that when they get, you know, that I'm not making any opinion on them until. But the way you said it, like, that's fine. But to hammer it home relentlessly is a bit odd. Stop me. Have you heard this before?

Belichick disciple goes to a new city. and immediately has an identity crisis because he thinks he's Bill Belichick, yet he hasn't earned the stripes yet like Belichick. As opposed to like, let's say Mike Braybill who, you know, played under Belichick, and he has a certain confidence, swagger you would even say. He doesn't care what he says up there. He's given reporters the business. People are asking about Tom Brady.

I couldn't believe it. He was talking about Tom Brady a ton. He wasn't worried about that at all. We've talked about it, and everyone's talked about it for years. Andy Reid has such a successful coach. tree that he's known as the godfather the bill belichick coaching tree it's like when you take i don't know if anyone's ever had to move a tree or a a hearty plant and try to put it elsewhere on the property weekly and you hope that the roots take uh but it just ends with a

really brittle you guys all use i mean you love bill oh no no i'm with you on this okay yard man but it is yard man uh that's what it feels like with this belich uh coaching tree that Well, your guy, O'Brien is. He's the only guy. Brian Flores did a nice job. He's got to get a little credit. He's got to get just like a smidge of credit for like the greatest college football coach of the last 30 years. I mean, that should count for something.

Nick Saban. Well, not if you're only talking about the NFL. I'm just saying that that counts for something. Let's stick anything else in your embed. I think that's it for the embedding. Okay. Hands is embedded. All right.

We'll stick with the New York teams. Adam Gay said absolutely absolutely nothing. of interest I found I think he was how was the body language though in the overall presentation you know how he is he's got the hat pulled down low he's wearing he kind of was dressed like a dad going golfing he was wearing all Nike gear but no Jets branded gear did he go double zippers I saw a lot of double zippers today like the zip up but then another coat over it with the double zip I think they're getting their swag some of they're getting their free swag and starting to pile on but he he basically kind of

kept things close to the vest someone asked about Sam Darnold and you know the issues with the health last year and Gay said we'll be nice we are past the mono thing got that thing checked off health-wise saw Sam Donald he looked healthy to me

oh we have to touch on that but right now we're in my embed and then we're going to get to your airport adventure don't bury the lead though then right after as as Gase left he did have some dip in his back pocket of his jeans

so maybe this is You like that? You don't like that? Oh, it's definitely, it's not healthy. He was not the coach that we saw. He was not that coach, but now we have one guy that's scooping and slamming into the garbage can, and then Gase clear. Now, it could have been bubble tape, you know, that candy.

It could have been that, too. I don't know. I think you'll see this as a habit. It's pretty common amongst coaches of a certain age. Is that chewing bubble tape? Probably not. Is that still a thing? Bubble tape?

I don't know. It was in 92. I don't know if it still is. Joe Douglas follows him immediately in the, And the GM actually you could get some real information on Joe Douglas. He looks like a country star. I know nothing of country music. But there are these hearty, beefy guys with beards that are very successful in the country music scene.

We'd have to work on his name. He'd have to be like Blake Doug. Yeah, he needs to work on that. Simple Joe. Think like Eric Church. Have you ever heard or seen Eric Church? No. Chris Stapleton.

Are these guys, he kind of looks like that type of vibe. and in terms of news elements this Jamal Adams thing is something to continue to watch he said the plan is for Jamal to be a jet for life and they are in preliminary talks when he said that I got a nice little snapshot this is a little embed heat right here

how and the beats are different and it's so interesting to be at this event and see the difference level in competition on the beat so if you will are at the Cincinnati Bengals podium, as I was for Zach Taylor today. And I'll get to that a little bit later. Pretty laid back.

It's quiet. Pretty laid back podium. And the crowd around it is fairly sparse. At one point, Dan and I were about 40% of the crowd. And I left. But just the, the jet's beat is very competitive. It has some guys that people know. There have been some homicides inside that piece.

Things have happened on that jet beat. we have our good buddy, Connor Orr, who, by the way, terrible news that I got during the middle of these press conferences, a text from Connor or who came down with the flu. Was going to be on the show, right? And didn't even get on the plane. I changed my flight. You were going to have him to a day earlier. We're going to have Connor. And now we will not have Connor.

And we will not have him at St. Elmo tonight, which is just crushing. That is great. He's a big St. Elmo's booster. He's a glue guy, too. He has a glue guy. He's a huge glue guy. And to lose Connor, I feel like. Greg's sentiment where he tries to, like, put down the gathering without Conner there to counterbalance it?

It's never happened. I'm worried that we're going to lose the ship here. It happened one time that I was just like, it's a great experience, but like we don't have to pretend that the steak is fantastic. To which I said, it's not about the meat. It's about the meat. It's about the meat. That's fair. We need a new first lieutenant.

I'm sorry. We got sidetracked off. work as well audio-wise. The Jets. The Jets. Connor O'R used to work the Jets beat, and he told me some crazy stories. When Joe Douglas

says the plan is for Jamal to be a jet for life, I saw two Jets beat scribes. Beats scribes. That's a real thing. The Connor Hughes of the athletic and Manish Meta of the Daily News get into,

you know, they're standing about six inches away from each other in a race to get the tweet up first. The phone comes out of the back pocket, bang, and then you're typing, typing, typing, send. And I'd love to check, and I will not. But imagine, I believe, I believe Connor Hughes beat Maniche by mere seconds,

and that had to hurt. I'd be concerned for the Hughes family, if that's true. Rough off season continues. And last note on the Jets, positive comments about Levi-on-Bell from all parties. They're trying to, you know, kill that story or the report. Are you buying that? He was savvy.

I think they feel like we're stuck with them for another year. Then they're hopefully Adam Gays is taking the smart act of no longer trying to create headlines about the guy, just try to get the most out of him. The Jets, it's very clear what we're going to see from the Jets this offseason. And they have a, I believe they could be in the running for, quote, unquote, winning the offseason as well. Because their needs are kind of high profile. They need wide receivers. They need an edge rusher.

They need cornerback help. They need line help. It's those four spots that they need. I think a wide receiver especially is somewhere where they're going to either go huge in the draft or make a big free agency or trade move. And Robbie Anderson, the one guy there that people would have an interest in that's a free agent. He was asked directly as Robbie Anderson and number one, Joe Douglas was asked. I view him as a dynamic wide receiver who could take the roof off and a lot of teams are looking for that.

He won't call him a number one because he's not. I think Robbie's gone. I think they are going to completely reboot the weapons around Darnold with Christopher Hernd in a tight end and Lev Bell in the backfield and an entirely new offensive line. And it's going to be expensive, but they have the money and they have the draft resources with some trades in me. I wonder if they might be one of these teams that would look at Hayden Hurst on the Ravens

because there's whispers that Hurston. They love Herndon. They love Herndon. So I think they're... I mean, Herndon's, that's fine if Hurd is on the field. And you saw Sam Darnold at the airport. I'm not done with my embed, but then we're going to do. Good luck.

Joe Douglas doesn't have a wedding ring on. So ladies, he's available. Large beefy man. And that's it. Now, let's get to it. Common man rankings. Oh, last question. He's definitely a common man.

Very common. Last comment. The last question Adam Gase gets and Joe Douglas followed him directly at the same podium was, hey, your boss, Joe Douglas, said that there needs to be better communication top to bottom in the organization, and Joe Douglas stopped and listened to Adam Gase's answer. And I felt that Adam Gase probably had Joe Douglas in his sightline when he was answering the question that publicly put his head coach on the spot to be a little smarter and better in communication.

That's some of the fun stuff that happens on Combin Tuesday. Whose boss is who, though? Is Joe Douglas, Adam Gase's boss? I guess he's not his boss. They both report to the Johnsons. That's true. It's very messy. All right. You met Sam Darnold, my boy at L.A.X. Take us through it.

This was one time, and it was very surreal. I went up to this. Delta at L.A.X has two terminals. One is new, brand new, international, beautiful. The other one is small and dumpy, and that's where I was. So I was utterly shocked to see Sam Darnold wheel into this. I like that you have so much institutional knowledge of the Delta structure at L.A.S. Oh, I mean, it's, don't get me started on that airport. But Sam Darnold rolled in. with what seemed to be a manager, agent, handler type individual. And they had purchased food somewhere else, and they were sitting at this counter.

And it was just me and the two of them. And, you know, a couple of gibronies came up right away and wanted to shake hands with Sam Darnold. And he hadn't eaten yet. So I thought that's a, you broke code there. You got to let him eat his meal. Coronavirus stuff too. Like, do we need handshakes in this?

All this stuff. But Darnold, here was my takeaway. Could not have been any nicer to these people. Well, no, what I did was, I acted completely disinterested as if I had no idea that he was a human of interest. No, I made no eye contact. And all I looked at was I waited until they were both completely done with their food, paid their check, and they were about to get up and leave.

And I walked over and just basically explained, I'm from this, you know, podcast, blah, blah, blah, NFL network. And like, you know, before their eyes are glazed, you know, right? I had like 10 seconds here. I jumped in. I really wanted you to be there in place of me. And I'm not saying that because it was a wonderful. because it was a weird thing.

Had it happened to you, it would have been like a life-changing moment, I think. Oh, yeah. That was so loud. That was... You're okay, Dan? Yeah, go ahead. Anyways, I was like, I have to get this photo.

And I think I was texting you guys being like, should I try to get this photo? And no one's responding something. I'm just going to either do this. And two things are going to happen. Either one, he's going to say yes, and I'm going to love him from now until the end of time, or he's going to blow me off,

and I'll never forget it the rest of my life. And he happily took a photo with me, which I basically sent for you. And it did not. I sent it to my dad. Yeah, I'm not going to be completely sold on anyone because of this, but I might be a little bit. And he kind of won me over as one of the nicer NFL players I've ever encountered. So he seems like a nice guy.

He's a California, USC star, obviously. So a lot of people that airport probably were going up to him during that time. That's must be weird. It's got to be. It's like you in London, Mark. It's very similar to that, and that's why I've had to reduce my voyages over there. All right, let's go a little speed round. We've all done our embeddeds now, right?

Yeah. All right, little speed round, other takeaways from the day. And then just so everybody knows we have a lot more coming up from Indianapolis. In fact, we have, I don't know, I already have regrets about this, but Move the Sticks is on our show tomorrow. speak with him, and we're going to try to get some other guests in the mix for tomorrow's show, maybe get Connie Fox in here and get our final entries to the Connie Fox Song Challenge before making an announcement next week on the winner, and we'll do some more combine talk

kind of looking ahead from a draft perspective. That's coming up tomorrow from Indy. And also a reminder to everyone that the top 101 free agents piece by the scientist is live. And we'll be doing a mini show hitting that and kind of digging into the list. And you'll get that a little later in the week. So we've got a lot of content emanating out of beautiful Indianapolis. All right. Takeways.

How about that John Elway is the only guy on the scheduled press conference list with the star next? to his name where it says tentative that it could be moved to a different time. And then throughout the morning, there was just occasional updates of, okay, John Elway's going to be here at this time. And then it was like, okay, John Elway's going to be at this podium at 1220. And then it was like, actually, no, John L.A. is not going to be here. Now he's going to move his podium over here. This preferential treatment is for John.

Just saying, no one else gets that treatment. even in a sea of very famous NFL. But outside of Bill Belichick, it just doesn't show up, basically. NFL figures, he gets sort of this special diva treatment that no one else. Can I point out, and he did eventually speak, and Wes and I, it was a nice little moment. Wes and I both grew up, you know, as diehard NFL fans. And if you are of a certain age, Elway is a legendary figure. He's an icon.

As much as fun as I have with him as a management figure on this podcast, he's one of those guys. He's one of those dudes that's just like an icon. And, you know, L.A. seemed a little refreshed this year. He had a different kind of look to him than in past years at this event. Normally his voice is like a croak as if he had been in the bar for like 17 hours a night before. And who knows if he has? But this time he did look fresh. And you sort of called him John Wayne.

This is a man. What a life this guy's led. Yeah. Beginning with being like one of the best quarterback prospects in the history of the game, his dad being his coach, orchestrating the trade away from the Colts, ending up in Denver, dragging some bad teams to the Super Bowl, then actually winning some Super Bowls, then winning Super Bowl as a GM. This guy's done everything. He's like, you really, am I really going to sweat Brock Osweiler? It's like, give me a break. He's not going to worry about his little

bad decisions here or there. He made sure to say that Drew Locke, though, is their guy about as aggressively as he could that it feels different being here knowing that they have their quarterback which is like wow I'll give you a couple little things I know I have one because I was please jump in yeah I had Fangio I sat on

on his presser since so we're here when they talked about Locke is our guy and Fangio was on board with that as well when they said about who's going to be behind him he mentioned Rip and Allen and Alan is Brandon Allen

rip is Brett Rippin or, yeah, Rippin, right? St. Mark Rippin? Yep, yep. Joe Flacco didn't even get mentioned. So that tells you everything you need to know. He's getting cut. Not that anybody thought that Flacco was in the Broncos plans in 2020, but even to the point where Fongio,

when he's just like stream of consciousness, he's not even on the radar. So just expect that to quickly come off the boats. Well, I think they've seen the light. The one thing I take away about the combine is that, and this is I include myself, number one, at the top of the list. It is late February.

People have been through hell covering football for the last four or five months. I mean, a first-class version of hell. But no one could look any worse. Every journo and everyone involved looks absolutely as bad as the look all year long. Pasty. I mean, some of the smells coming off of some of these people this morning were unbelievable. And there was the one guy, every combine, the one guy who's working on a gigantic think piece, and robed from individual to individual

with the hot question about why aren't there as many left-handed quarterbacks as right-handed quarterbacks? And, I mean, I'm sure it'll be a wonderful piece, but just having to, this guy got into my hemisphere like 14 times. You have 15 minutes. Assembled media has 15 minutes

with these coaches and GMs. And when the Gibronies get on their feature piece, especially when it happens when it's the two more for coach. And then this drubroney rolls in and asks two questions about left-handed quarterbacks. And it's like, oh, so now we don't get like multiple questions that we could have been addressing important things about the team

for that guy's piece. I think 16 answers for lefty quarterbacks was enough. You don't need eight. You don't need it. It's like they're all boring quotes. It's an oral history. It's a selfish social faux pa because as a general rule, the questions being asked are for the whole group.

We can all get answers. answers out of them. But this guy's coming along with something that nobody else is getting answers out of except him. I also dislike the deep wide receiver class guy. Every, every coach in the GM gets, this is a pretty deep wide receiver class. I was surprised at Mike Brable's presser. No one asked about Tanna Hill or Brady for a solid five, six, seven minutes.

And maybe it was because they all know Babel enough that when he went to the side, which I followed with. And he did talk about Brady a little. he was golden and he's like he's getting after people when he doesn't like the question but in a fun way but letting you know who the alpha is like someone kind of mentioned a question about their offense needing to improve and like where where they needed improvement he was like well i don't know he's like you seem to know a lot about what our team needs and the other guy was just like homina humana he's like we were we had seven yards for play that was second in the league i guess that seemed pretty good to me but if if brayble was trying to make make anyone think that they were bringing back to Anahill or that he was closing the door. It's like it really felt like he was making it clear that their options are open and maybe Brady would be someone they would be interested. They asked about his relationship and he's like, my relationship's undefeated.

Like, this guy can't beat me. And saying that, you know, they go back and forth. They practice together and he extolled all the positives of Brady in terms of preparing for him and was very, very non-exam. uncommittal despite Ryan Tannahill's excellent second half of the season. Maybe that's negotiating or maybe not. I think we have to remember that all these guys work for 32 owners who, you know, outside of anyone with any quarterback question, that owner would love to have Tom Brady on the team no matter what stage of his career he's in.

Some quick takeaway. Zach Taylor, as I said, I sat in on that presser. I didn't ask, I don't tend to ask a ton of questions because I get self-conscious about stepping on the beat writer's toes. but when it's as quiet as the Cincinnati area was, I had to jump in and ask about A.J. Green. I asked him, I asked Zach Taylor how confident he is that A.J. Green is a bangle in week one. He said very confident.

And then I asked the follow-up question, and he, you know, set a lot of, you know, positives about Green. And there was a report out there that Green might be unhappy and he might want out. So I don't know if this is a situation where it's like, you know, put it in pen. But I did, it does make sense why Zach Taylor, who didn't get to enjoy any of the spoils of having AJ Green in his first year as a coach is going to want that guy in the building. And he spoke, you know, in a way that made me think that he will be there. Dave Caldwell, GM of the Jaguars, they were asked about Gardner Mienchu and Nick Foles. go and i just thought it was interesting that um he did point he did make a point to say he likes an off schedule qb which was a buzzword i heard a couple times buzz phrase uh which it would be

garden mean shoe and off schedule means a guy that can make plays when the pocket gets muddy that is not nick foals uh nearly as much as it is gardener mean shoe uh but they were two guys and they will compete it sounded like but who knows he made it sound to me that they are very excited about Minchu and how he could fit with Jay Gruden. He pointed out that Minchew had better stats than Kyler Murray and Daniel Jones, in his opinion, that he had the best rookie stats of any quarterback, that the wins are the most important quarterback stat in Gardner Minchew. Uh-oh, don't tell half of Twitter that.

Right. But just the support and love in his eyes that he thought that that was a quarterback that they could build around. He used those words, and then he threw in a couple things that, you know, obligatory about Foles. But he certainly sounded like they want to move forward with Minchu, and they weren't sure if they would bring Cleas Campbell back, depending on some other moves. I love the Chiefs came out very strong on wanting to do whatever it takes to keep Chris Jones. And also when asked about Sammy Watkins, Andy Reid said that Sammy's in a good place, a great place, and basically said he didn't really understand what the retirement hub.

Lubbub was about the comments he made, making it sound like we're good with him. James Palmer indicated on our network today that unless Watkins is going to take a pay cut, then he's probably not going to, then he's not going to be a member of the judges. Brett Beach, to that point, said that they hope to, quote, bridge a gap with Sammy Watkins. So that means take a haircut, industry, Carl Lance, lose some of that money that he has coming his way. I think with Zach Taylor, when you hear that AJ Green quote, you immediately think, okay, well, they're definitely tagging him. Like, they do telegraph some tags. Matthew Judon, I think, is getting tagged based on what DeCostas said.

Chris Jones is getting tagged. Justin Simmons. Justin Simmons. John Elway just flat out said they're going to tag them if they can't get a deal. And then Hunter Henry was the other one where Tom Telesco. They didn't say it, but basically said that that's one. And Corey Littleton in Los Angeles, I don't think that would be a huge shock. The number is so high for them to tag him.

But they made it clear kind of he's their priority maybe over. Dante Fowler and Michael Brockers and that they're going to bring back Andrew Whitworth too. Speaking of Telesco, let me ask you guys a question. Who is Kyle Smith? He's of that guy. He's with Washington football franchise

in a vice president of player personnel role. He's basically their Duke Tobin who does the same thing for the Bengals, yet they won't call him a GM. But Kyle Smith is working hand and glove with Ron Rivera now and they're running the show. Kyle Smith is running the draft, But he, here's an interesting fact. Not only is he the son of a GM, A.J. Smith, long time, I think 10 years of GM in the NFL,

went to the same high school in Buffalo as Tom Telesco, Chargers GM, David Caldwell, Jaguars GM, Chris Pullian, NFL executive and son of Bill Pullian, and Brian Dable, offensive coordinator of the bills. They all went to St. Francis High School in Buffalo. Interesting. And he did talk about Dwayne Haskins. more effusive praise than I would have expected said I'm really excited about Duane everyone saw how he ascended in the second half of last year I didn't expect the word ascended about Duane Haskins the whole building is excited about him he's got the right stuff we think he's got a bright future they love Duane Haskins the most difficult clock you know the term clock you know recognized or whatever see Kyle Smith is there Duke Duke Tobin, Eric DeCosta. These are all guys you just mentioned, David Caldwell.

That was my most difficult to clocklist. When I saw them, either I didn't know who they were or it took me a minute to piece it together based on what they were saying. And you all just mentioned those guys. Right. They're all a bunch of generic bros. Well, DeCosta did not go to this school. Telesco and David Caldwell. Okay.

But, yeah, Kyle Smith, I had never seen him before. I didn't know what he looked like. But he is a confident guy. Obviously knows football really well. AJ Smith kind of built one of the most talented rosters of the last 20 years and then blew it up partly because of his ego got out of control and like they were fighting for credit with Marty Schottenheimer. I'm going to blow through like one no things because we try to hit almost every team.

If not every team, did we say Doug Peterson wants Jason Peters back? Okay. Peterson also said there's, quote, no issue between Alshon, Jeffrey and Carson Wentz. Howie also said they're ready to spend after a few years keeping what they had, that this begins a three-year period of building up and spending. Interesting. Steve Kime, the Cardinals GM on David Johnson.

David's a guy that because of his work ethic, because of his ability to create mismatches in the passing game, he's a guy that we still value. So it sounds like they want to bring it back or maybe just the financial reality that they're stuck with him. We'll see. He's also, Kime, he's dropped a significant. significant amount of LBSs and he showed up in kind of tight jeans they were what are they call those ankle cut jeans and like a cool Henley this is Steve Kimebaum skinny jeans great shoes skinny jeans LBSs is one of the worst shortening for pound possible like three more syllables

and to top off the outfit the outfit he was wearing Louis Vuitton slip on shoes Louis Vuitton Did you expect the Kynbaum? I feel like he has a, you know, his version of the Tynbaum coming into his life, you know, reconstructing that wardrobe. I think the difference there would be Kime has always dressed fairly well. I don't think I have always, I was not clocking his wardrobe to you. Packers coach, Matt LaFleur, never a doubt about keeping Mike Petton after a disaster's NFC title game. Bob Quinn to Matthew Stafford, we're not trading you, period. Matt Patricia, interesting.

I was checking out Patricia. The pencil is tucked behind the ear, even at this event. And then I was thinking about the pencil. It's a yellow pencil, like a standard 1950s classroom pencil. He has to bring those. He has to pack those. It's his brand. What happens if he forgets them?

Does he have to send an intern to like a write aid in Indianapolis? I mean, you put him in your backpack. How hard is that? But the fact that he has to pack the pencils for, it's almost like a costume he's wearing. At all forced? It feels like a shtick. Don't you pack pens wherever you go? Maybe not.

Well, I don't, it's not a part of my fashion. John Lynch on Jimmy Garoppolo, he has not come close to hitting his ceiling. Did I tell you that I think that Adam Gates had dip in his back pocket? But it could have been bubble tape. I got that. And my one one kind of vague takeaway or general takeaway from listening to all the coaches. Did I mention what a joke that the Patriots aren't involved with this event? It's over.

You've hit on that. Not better than everyone else. I mean, they're here. Get back in the press conference room. This league has officially leapfrogged our league. Now, I don't know if you could say that in the broadcast booth. And we're going to, I'll be tracking this closely come September. But amongst league personnel, this league is now the preferred nomaclature over our league.

I think that even with Aikman and a few others towards the end of the year, they started to move off that. And that feels like producers with engagement on. Twitter realizing like this is starting to become spiraling out of control and becoming corny corny and telling them in production meetings stop saying our league and they shifted over to this league which they can't just say NFL anything else boys you mentioned lafleur ran into him in the elevator and then on the way to our floor in our hotel he remembered he remembered his podcast appearance that is awesome I suggested that you know maybe that's what kicked off

it was good luck kicked off a good season did you bring up the podcast or he just went out no I did okay not only that I was like I didn't even know he was in the elevator and I was doing the bad thing where I just had my head down and was on my phone and he

and he said hello to me and it was it was great and he's going now with you know we've had different conversations about whether he looks young looks old he's now doing a perma perma stubble thing I think I think

it's working I've got some lightning round things. Okay. The Bucks are higher on O.J. Howard this year than they were last year when they weren't sure how he's going to fit Bruce Ariens. Okay. They love him as a blocker, think he's getting better as a receiver and knows the offense better.

Hell yeah. The Colts are high on Paris Campbell. They have big expectations for him. I know that all of their guys were injured at the end of last year. They love him. And Carrie Willis, a safety. Chris Ballard mentioned him in the same sense as Quentin Nelson and Darius Leonard, a guy who stepped in day one and was an NFL starter and we think he's going to be that guy for a long

time. They love him. I got a couple quick ones. Sean McVey did a, he is awesome at this. We've seen this in person where without ever having met anyone who's asking the question, he knows everyone's full name. And he is a skilled orator, but he talked up Daryl Henderson at running back and Tyler Higbee. And I just feel like this Rams team, because you know, McVeigh is ditching the combine and going back and working with his newly formed coaching staff that they understand to some degree that they're in a bit of transition with elements of their offense

and he seemed very upbeat about the whole thing and from the falcons side one note John Bones Fossil was on the same flight as McVeigh and Les Need and the old Zeus are awkward awkward I don't know if it was awkward but I don't know I would imagine

they're still friends to some degree they were on the same flight Falcons letting Austin Hooper hit the market they definitely are that well that was yeah that was he announced that he said he said uh hooper and devondry campbell will hit the free agent he will have suitors and didn't demetro for i don't know who it was quinn was demetra say that mckinley tach mcginley the option wasn't being picked up and then apparently they backtracked on that one so he's like oh no i almost said something newsworthy must backtrack so we'll say hey that's good hunter henry getting the franchise tag is great news for austin hooper

yeah if that if that does happen and we were kind of connecting the dots he says that, you know, Telesco, the Chargers GM, saying that was a strong option for Henry. Yeah, someone's going to pay Austin Hooper an extraordinary amount of money. Did I mention that Judge GM, Joe Douglas, thinks that Brian Winters, their guard, really showed a lot of fight dealing with a very painful shoulder injury that he played through all season. Wow. That made it through the filter. He's the only jet under contract on that line. And what a warrior he was in 2019.

Did I mention that? No. Okay. Now I have. Anything else? All right. Mark's wearing a bathrobe. Now here comes the real test.

Does he walk back to the hotel? I told you I would, so I will. All right. We'll have to update the listeners on Wednesday's show. What happened? You have to walk with me, though. Oh, absolutely. Like a lone nut.

Why wouldn't we walk? Because I could see you deciding, oh, this isn't going well and, like, peeling off and suddenly. Oh, I'll be filming it. Okay. All right. Wes, you will be filming it for the ATN podcast on Instagram. Ricky, great work on the production. Thank you, thank you.

There's that one mark drop that injured us all permanently. Yeah, me too. It really, that really came off hot. In a big spot. Yeah. We'll be all right. Other than that. All right.

Like I said, we're back tomorrow with a great show, guests, Combine Talk. A lot of guests. And tonight's St. Elmo steak dinner. Mark's going to get a big old T-bone. He's breaking his diet. and he's saying I'm embracing the world of flesh once again. No, I think the more clean prediction is I'll drop like $120 for a Caesar salad or something. By the way, we were talking about this.

Mark literally hasn't eaten all day and now he's going to just get a hundred. And the idea that Mark is getting cheated on the bill when you are making up the bill in other ways. I'll just put it that way. You're making up with it. We'll see. I mean, you know, I have a... Just based on history, you find ways. to get that tap to rise without food. Plus, Raj, Rod just has a per diem for us. That's taking a big chunk,

if not most of it out. Yeah, I didn't say a hundred. I said like 120, 140, 160 because someone's getting like, you know, pork butt with like extra shards of bone in it or something, please. Excuse me, do you have the pork butt with extra shards of bone? Ah, give me that pork butt. So that is out of season. If your pork butt has shards of bone, you're not cooking it right. Fresh out. All right. Let's go. Dan Hansa signing off for Dr. Quiet Storm. You do look like a doctor, too.

The mailman, the old boss, Ricky Hollywood from Lucas Oil Stadium. We say, till tomorrow. Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On move to six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

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

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