NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Free Agency Frenzy Day 4! Trubisky and Curtis Samuel Off the Board

Episode Date: March 18, 2021

A room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, and Gregg Rosenthal bring you all of the latest news in the NFL on Free Agency Frenzy Day 4! Patrick Peterson is heading to the Vikings (5:03), Curtis Samuel is joining Ryan Fitzpatrick in Washington (7:37), and Haason Reddick is heading to the Panthers (12:55). NY Post's Andrew Marchand joins the show to briefly talk about the intrigue of Drew Brees in the Sunday Night Football booth (31:05) and #BREAKING! Mitch Trubisky has a new job (44:14). Stick around for some Jay Leno Talk and Eight O'clock delight (47:28).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. As the complete Northern Exposure box set. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis. I come to you from a virtual room filled with some heroes.

Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal. Now, if you're a fan of the show and you know the history of the show, thank attention. Over the last month or so, all of our money drops have been Chris Wessling themed, our good friend who passed away, February 5th. And Northern Exposure, Wes, I mean, I mean, as Mark Sessler would say, wrote sea poems about Northern Exposure. And he said it was one of the truly greatest television programs.

I believe it was like a half drama, half comedy. I never saw it. It was a CBS show. And I don't know if I've ever watched a show on CBS that was in sports or 60 Minutes. And Northern Exposure was a show that was so near and dear to West's heart. And because of that, I have wanted to watch it even before West passed. It piqued my curiosity because West had such great taste in pop culture. However, it's one of those shows that never pops up and you can never find it.

So it remains a bit of a mystery. But I believe a listener at some point sent West the full box set or it was some type of ripped off somewhere of northern exposure. So I guess there's a big underground contingent for that program. I think it's got, it's definitely a cult hit. I used to watch it periodically, but I, I, like, Wes was a true expert, but it was, it took place, you know, in a small little town, very quirky. I think there was the main character. Alaska, right? Yeah, I had a radio show, among other things, but I don't want to do the memory of it wrong.

But I do think the box set came, there was some sort of marketing distribution snag with Northern exposure, so it was hard to obtain. And so, yes, because of the soundtrack, yeah, the soundtrack. Yeah, they can't get the rights to the soundtrack. Well, I was just, it's funny, I was just thinking about this last week for some reason, about northern exposure. It's because it was like Wes's life in some way before it happened. I don't know if he watched it before it happened, but it's like, Tybee was his Alaska. His, when I went, when we went down there and I met his totally diverse and wacky group of friends, which all had their own little flavor. Like, that was the northern exposure.

The guy in the show is, like, the fish out of town, and he ends up having a radio show. There's a little bit of West, too. I mean, that didn't happen until L.A., but it was like he loved collecting characters, and I think that's what that show was all about, everyone kind of doing their own thing. You know, our deep Hollywood connection, Mike Berkowitz, if you're listening, Berkey, and I know, you don't typically work in the television realm, but this sounds like a television show idea. Set it in Tybee. Maybe we star.

Maybe it's our chance. a star vehicle in prime time. It's just throwing it out there as an option. There's something to think about. The NFL, the NFL fires us and we all move to Tybee. Our backup plan is a sitcom on CBS. Speaking of the Wesslings, Phil Wessling, all the Wessling boys that we've met are stand-up dudes and, you know, a little left of center themselves, some of them.

You know, quirky characters and interesting people. Nick Wesleying, of course, was on the show, another Wessling. brother talking trash about cornhole. I wasn't too impressed when I took him on in Tybee, and I hope to have a rematch when we get back to Tybee. Although he kind of wiped the floor with you. I mean, I have to be, I have to, you know. It's not really how I remember it personally,

but, you know, opinions vary, I guess, or facts vary. The score, I mean, the scoreboard does not disagree that. I mean, it was. Here's the thing. Won it solidly. You know, let's stick a pin in it because I'd rather have Nick here to talk about it, but we did this hype up to the big cornhole match and then it was on the day of Wes's wedding

and like we were wearing tuxedos and stuff. It's like, no, no, I want to have a couple drinks. I want to be loose. Let's do this the right way. I thought that Nick kind of, he set that up in a certain way that would benefit him. Anyway, that's for another conversation. Phil Wessling, text me yesterday.

Hey, check this out. Sends me a link. He knows that we are junkies for sports media. And he sends me a link to the great Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, who's their media critic. Drew Bree's edition means end is near for current Sunday night football booth. Hello, catnip for the ATN podcast. So he had to send out the old ATN bat signal to get Andrew back on the show for a return engagement.

And he will join us a little bit later. But before that, let us get to the latest news in NFL free agency. Let's start. Again, there are some name brands that are out there. that you would think, oh, they would come off the board immediately, but whether it be age or the market not being what they want, they remained on the board longer than you expected. One of those people, Patrick Peterson,

the former All-Pro with the Arizona Cardinals, who's been a little up and down in recent years. He is now joining a new team. It's the Minnesota Vikings on a one-year deal. So Peterson gets a fresh start after, I think it was close to a decade in the desert, and Greg will start here is he is this this version of Patrick Peterson and it feels like he's oh he's 35 and this is the end of the road no he's 30 years old he's going to be 31 when week one hits is he a big upgrade to Minnesota secondary or a question mark he's a question mark

the price tag indicates they think he's a big upgrade they didn't have much there last year they went really young and it didn't work that was the weakness of their entire team I would say more than anything was their cornerbacks. Mike Zimmer is kind of the veteran cornerback Spengali. He got Terrence Newman to keep playing until he was 39. Like, he's helped a lot of defensive back. That's what I think of when I think of Mike Zimmer.

So it's a great fit for Patrick Peterson. Maybe the role is somehow better there for him. But he's a guy who, you know, was on the Hall of Fame path. Still has a chance, I think, a solid one. but because he was that number one cornerback, he was like left to do a lot in Arizona. And if you watch the Cardinals, you got to be real. He was getting lit up quite a bit.

I mean, he struggled. And the PFF grade certainly reflect that. He was asked to do more, but he was getting lit up the last two years. And he got suspended during that stretch, which is not a great thing. I think if you look at every Mike Zimmer cornerback room and he's had a lot of stops before Minnesota, too,

that there were always one or two older, veterans who were, like, awesome leaders and kind of set the tone. And they had, their room is really young. I mean, remember last year they wiped out that entire group and started over essentially. So if anything, maybe it's a come in, like, make sure these guys are doing their work right. And maybe we get a good year out of you. But I think it's a question mark for sure. I agree with Greg. He has a chance now on the one year deal to, to rejuvenate his career. Maybe it's one of those changes, scenery things. We'll see. Or is at the beginning of the end. And in other news, the Washington football team continues to make moves.

They have Ryan Fitzpatrick locked and loaded as their week one starter. Most likely, we'll see. I hope the old rug doesn't get pulled out on Fitzmagic. And now they have a great weapon added to the mix. They signed Curtis Samuel, formerly of the Panthers three years, 34.5 million. 24 and a half of that is guaranteed. So I'll say it's a two-year deal for 24.5 million. I think that's right.

All right. So this is a good one, Mark, for Washington, a team that needs juice. They need, you know, we all know what's on the defensive side of the ball and there's a lot of potential there. And we actually saw that potential come to life during their run to the playoffs. It was a limp to the playoffs, but they got to the playoffs. Now we're starting to see some pieces on offense to make this team more interesting. I think it's one of the teams that you just feel differently about from where we were a week ago. And I mean, yeah, it's Ryan Fitzpatrick. And maybe that's a one-year thing.

Ryan Fitzpatrick kind of fits with Curtis Samuel, who, you know, when Cam Newton was in Carolina, they kind of struggled to get Curtis Samuel lit up. Joe Brady shows up last year, and they used him really well. And he was the only wide receiver in the league or player in the league with 800 yards receiving 200 on the ground. He was a Jet Suite master. They used him in the back field a bunch. But now he goes back to Young Turner, Scott Turner, who maybe didn't use him as well in Carolina. So my question is, can Ron Rivera and Scott Turner learn from what Joe Brady and the Panthers did last year?

I mean, you've got Terry McLaur in there. I think Logan Thomas is really interesting. Cam Sims, Antonio Gibson. So you can start to see, for the first time, in a really long time, an interesting offensive core starting to build. And I love this edition. Who named him Young Turner? Was that Michael Irvin? Akeeb Taleb during one of his...

Young Turner. Yeah, he's just... Jihad. Mad hurts. That makes sense. I'm excited to watch the Washington football team for the first time

I don't know I don't know when have I ever been excited to watch them you've not been their ally I mean no I've long said on this show like 30 fan bases are like you hate my you know you hate my team you hate my team I'm like well you're

you're all wrong except for Washington no you're right I do I do not like your team Just in general, just how it was run, and it's been tough to watch. It's like a one-two punch. But now Fitzmagic, McLaur and I love. Gibson, I love. I did like watching them last year because I thought the defense was fun,

and they were starting to get things going. But they were really limited at quarterbacks. And now you get Fitzpatrick, get Samuel, who's a lot of fun to watch, used as a running back and stuff. You think Turner will do that quite a bit. Like, this will be good. You got like two guys I was just thinking about it with Gibson and Samuel who can basically play two positions if you want.

I stated definitively last week on this podcast that I will not be picking the Dallas Cowboys to win the division. And I was worried about this possibility of August rolling around and all the other teams potentially sucking. But after the Fitzpatrick move, after the Samuel move, I am starting to feel good about the idea of picking another team in the division with some level of confidence. I like the Washington football team. And on the subject of that, a little quiet on the name change front. I don't know, was the plan that for the 2021 season that they would have a new nickname? Yeah, I thought they were going to workshop it and not, the whole point was don't rush this. It's getting late early for 2021.

I know, but I don't we, I feel like we all kind of agreed that they kind of stumbled into it. There's no other word for it. They stumbled into beautiful uniforms and I'm kind of cool with the football team. Well, that's what I say. I wonder if that's what's happening here. Right, they got to do it this off season. The timing of it might be, you know, April, May, June, but you got to do it. do it by then or it's too late that it's over i have a theory if it's going to happen it will happen

right ahead of the draft because it's all about selling merch and showcasing and you want your you know draft pick to come up on the stage with rog and and you want to have that new logo and all that stuff locked and loaded but uh if you don't see that i would wonder if there are serious internal conversations about them staying with washington football team which i know that's buzzy to say just keep it. I'm fine with that too. But, you know, I also don't mind. I like uniformity when it's in terms of every team in the league. They got a, where they're from, they got the nickname. Now, oh, you're special? Because you had an offensive nickname. Now you get to be special. No, go find something new. I've come down on the other side, Sessler. Sorry. No, I just like to don't,

I don't want, you know, seven months from now, them rolling out with newfangled, bizarre, insane uniforms with like different shades on the helmet. It was just very sparse in old school the way they were last year. That's what I'm lobbying for. The name, do what you need to. Right. It's like, let's cheer on the Washington Red Rockets. Or it's like, come on.

And don't hit me up on Twitter. People are like, oh, you say it's offensive? I don't say it's offensive. People thought it was that are in the Native American community. So just that's the way it is. And you just got to adjust and move on. Come on. That case is closed.

Move forward. Right. That one's over. You lost. You lose. All right. Speaking of the Panthers, good signing here. Hassan Reddick, the former Cardinal, signs a one-year, $6 million contract. Now, I find the way things tend to work in the NFL in this time of year is if you get, if you're a guy that's coming off a double-digit sack season, you set yourself up very well to get a big, fat contract. Reddick's coming off a 13-sack season. Yes, I understand, I believe five were in one game. But that is a breakout season by really any standard you'd think.

But the contract tells you that the people around the league or around the NFL were not necessarily sold on Reddick as a star. That's what this contract tells me, Greg. Yeah, I think it's like the start of phase two of free agency. see, all those edge rushers got similar contracts, and that was the demarcation line. It makes me feel good. I mean, not to make it all about me, but it's about me. I put Reddick well below all those guys, too, on my rankings.

I was like, am I sleeping? Why is everyone down on this guy? Because I saw other, you know, I saw the athletic or good friend Shield Capati, who I think is really good at doing this stuff. And his picks, by the way, oh, my gosh. He, like, picked, like, 70% against the spreader, something wild last year.

So I'll credit him. Greg is immediately infatuated. I'm just saying before I bury him for having Reddick way too high, because he was kind of a problem for four years. They didn't know what to do with him. He was a little bit of a bust, and you have one year that pops up out of nowhere. And oh, by the way, the Cardinals didn't seem that interested in signing him.

I wanted to see it again before you give it to him. The one thing is he was used differently last year. he had like 56 pressures and he had 57 the whole rest of his career and I guess it's you know Chandler Jones was out of the mix so your role is going to change but I mean that's maybe it's about using him well but I'm not surprised he didn't get some sort of mega contract

so here's my point then if I'm not being clear enough or maybe I was and now I'm just talking too much but Trey Hendrickson he's a guy that's kind of under the radar for a few years he has a breakout year I think he had 13 sacks for the Saints he gets a tier one deal Redick same type of deal. I know he was more of a premium draft pick, but that might even help his case that he was premium draft stock. He has his breakout year and a walk year. He's in Tier 2. I don't know. It's fair. I think Hendrickson personally, I always liked him before. I think he was better

as a reserve player than people realized. He just was only playing 300, 400 snaps, but he reminded me more of a Shaq Barrett, which just like never got the chance as much in New Orleans, but always looked good when he got it. Have you ever heard of, there's a theory in the, you know, NBA. Oh, I'm forgetting the name here. But it's essentially like if you're a reserved, like the numbers show, if you're a reserve that put up good numbers, if you give the guy more minutes, he usually puts up the good numbers. Right. You know, Greg, dealing with your addiction in your past, in matters of the desert, when you see someone, there was no addiction. According to you. Nothing. When you see someone like, shield hit 70% against the street. It probably wasn't 70 by the way by the end of the year because

that would be outrageous, but I was just puffing him up a little. He did very well. He was outrageous. He was great. He did very well. Does that, is that a trigger for you a little bit? Like maybe there is a way to master this realm. Maybe that I should be Robert De Niro at the end of casino. I must topple with the big thick bottle glasses. Like that's my future. You could topple the odds in a way. because you see someone else a contemporary doing the same thing. You must vanquish him. It gets your motor going. You're furious.

You're complimenting him. You have an entire show on NFL network. Probably not. Like if you made it your whole thing, maybe it'd be possible to have some advantage over time. I guess I would just, I would want to see it over five years. A year is nothing. You know what I mean? Like anyone can pop.

You could pop for a year. And to me, like, having an advantage would mean like hitting, what, 58 maybe percent? over, if you could hit 57, 58% over a five-year period, like, great, or 60, like, you would never expect that to continue. If he did it year after year, a year is almost nothing in a sample size. You know what I mean? Greg is broadcasting to us that he would like to spend the next, let's cut it. No, I'm saying it's not worth it.

It's not worth it. It's not worth it. It's, you know, almost entirely luck, and it's not worth the juices and worth the squeeze. Unless you have so much, right, but unless you have like an exorbitant amount of money to put into this, and you're willing to do it over like a 10-year period, I don't know. I mean, no, it wouldn't be worth it because I think you might lose it the next year. All right. Let me give you one before we move on.

Let me give you one hypothetical. Okay. I can CTC right now, cut that check, 500 Gs to you. Or promise you a scenario in which from this point onward, from your age 41, or for age 42 life to whenever it comes to a close, you can hit on 63% of your picks. 66, I'll give you, 66% of your picks. You take in the 500 Gs,

or you walking into the Great Unknown knowing that two out of three of your picks will always be right? And you can do whatever you want with that. It's not the Great Unknown. You just told me two out of three picks are right. If somehow I know that's right, you take that because that's infinite.

But you don't know which, you don't know which of those three is wrong. I guess is another way of putting it. So it's not a slant, it's not Biff finding the sports almanac in Back to the Future, too. But it feels like you're potentially in a big spot. The numbers are on your side. So I'm taking the two out of three. I mean, that's just math right there.

Give me the half a mill. In other news, Kyle Long retired, unretired, now signs with the Chiefs who, Mark, the chiefs really wanted to remake their offensive line and free agency. They did not get Trent Williams, their number one target at left tackle. They did not get Rodney Hudson, the center that was eventually traded to Arizona. They do get Kyle Long. How much of a concern is this, Mr. Sessler, that the chiefs cut their tackles last week. They don't necessarily hit it out of the park here in the free agency portion of the offseason.

and you have the greatest player in the league behind a potentially leaky offensive line. I think it's like in terms of March concerns and March narratives, it is because we're fresh off of watching what happened to the most exciting offense in the NFL without those two tackles. And, you know, there is a guy like Orlando Brown Jr. sitting out there who wants to play left tackle on the Ravens and wants a trade. There is the draft, but Daniel Jeremiah, and I do, Dan, I do trust. what he has to say about the tackle position in the upcoming draft.

Well, I'm just telling you that last year a lot of teams fixed their problems at the tackle position in the draft. It was one of the better ones ever. That's not the case this time. So, you know, there is concern. And, like, you're not going to find a better version of what Mitchell Schwartz was two seasons ago. But I do wonder, like, would they ever re-sign Mitchell Schwartz if he stays out there at a reduced cost? Because he's coming off surgery. And it's like, maybe they just wanted to say, let's reset the board.

you might be back with us and then you're looking for one guy could be Orlando Brown Jr. It could be a draft pick. I wouldn't panic, but I mean, you don't want to be a team looking for two tackles

because finding one is hard enough. Right. I think they've had a terrible week. They got Tooney, paying a guard that much money coming from New England. It has some level of risk based on the precedent.

And I think Hudson or Trent Williams would have been major gets, even better gets than Tooney, and you went hard after him. You were ready to pay Trent Williams, according to reports, you know, basically the highest paid tackle in the league. I think they probably had that in their mind when they cut Fisher and Schwartz.

And I'm with you, Mark. I think cutting Schwartz and Fisher, for that matter, although he might not be ready all season, they probably were thinking on some level, if we swing and miss and we still have cap space, like that is a potential route we can go. But Schwartz, it sounds like, may not play. You know, he's deciding whether he's going to play.

And Kyle Long was great, but he also hasn't been really Kyle Long in about three years. Even the year he sat out, there were two years before that where he wasn't really healthy. Meanwhile, on the throne of Slees, Kyle Van Nuoy is coming back to town. How about that? Got to get the Pats back in the show. I know. It's been too long. It's been minutes.

Kyle Van Nuoy, the outside linebacker, who. Uh-oh. Ooh. Ouch. Ooh. I guess this means that Cam Newton failed Bill Belichick in that scenario. I think so. How about some ownership?

I mean, they can't take away at this point. I still am surprised that people aren't, like, just lying back and being like, oh, we're fine. What more do you want? What more do you want? Remember that old Bill Simmons trope? It's like, oh, you can't complain about a Super Bowl. Wait a five years.

They seem friendly. We come in peace. They seem friendly. I say we trust them. How great for our planet. Reaching back into the greatest hits, Rosenthal. That's Lakeisha saying, how great for our planet. Go ahead, Greg.

I don't even remember at this point. This. It annoys me, by the way. I do like getting Vinoy back, though. Let me, let me help you with their trainer thought you were defending Bill Belichick. No, no, I was saying, I was saying, like, calm down with like they need. There's no disaster at this point. You just watch the greatest run in football history.

Like, just enjoy your life. You're logical. You know, not all Pat's fans are like that. Right. And I speak from knowledge. The expectations are through the roof now, which seems stupid to me. To me, there's still like a 9-and-7 team over under. It doesn't make me think

they're like some world beaters But that is not going to be the belief You're right there's just It's not how it works And I went to school in Boston So I have a lot of Boston friends And like Man the Patriots became the Yankees

And the thing about being a fan of a team like that Is you don't ever say Oh man I really appreciate what happened there And now I can just sit back And look at all my old You know game programs And my replica championship ring that I bought it and I'm going to wear my Tom Brady jersey for the next 30 years and just be happy it

happened. That's not really how it works. You just want more. Yeah, you're right. It's the disease of more. I'm trying to disconnect. It's like partly just our job. It's like I'd rather just root for football and not have any stress on Sunday.

The good thing I know, Dan, as a Yankees fan, you are fine at this point to take your foot off the pedal and have them coast to the mediocrity hanging around you whenever like a Yankees game is on. You're not plugged in. No, I am. That's what I'm saying. I'm like, I'm one of those people. I mean, you don't, the Yankees have won one world series in the last 18 years.

They're always competitive, but that's not enough. Once you get to the mountaintop and you stay there for a while, it's like anything else. It's a bit of a sneaky curse and no one's ever going to feel bad for you. But you don't get to enjoy your team in the same way you once did. It's definitely different. I would say the most annoying aspect to this is that the Patriots are, because he went to the Dolphins, Kyle Van Nuoy, a year ago on a massive contract and got cut. They are getting a fourth round comp pick for Kyle Van Nuoy,

who is now back on the team. It's like Hugh Jackson trading for Carson Palmer and then going back to the Bengals with the draft picks he got from trading for Carson Palmer from the Raiders. It's just like backwater nonsense. Their defense to me is the bigger key. They got, you know, and it's so hard to predict. But they're adding Van Nuoy and Hightower and Judon,

and they're still pretty, very thin at defensive tackle, but they've got a good looking secondary on paper. That, to me, is the key because they were really mediocre to bad last year. And if you have a top eight or nine Belichickian type defense, you got a shot. But that's a, I don't know, I got to see it first. The case for Belichick being a little bit on tilt is that drafting two tight ends in the third round last year and then signing two tight ends to massive contracts this year, that shows you something's going on.

Something's percolating, whether you want to say, that's a good thing or a bad thing. It's very interesting. I think they're very interesting organization. It shows the picks are bad. But it's also one year. And listen, we said it ad nauseum, not just us. Everyone in the football cognizante.

Last year was a disaster for being a rookie coming into this league. You didn't get an off-season program. You didn't have training camp. You didn't have free season games. You get dropped into the, to use a war term. You get dropped right into the shit. And now we're writing off those guys. I'm not writing off.

I don't know anything about him, but... I got you, but they were also, what, drafted outside, like, the top 90 or 85 picks or whatever. And it's like, okay, those guys might not work out. It's like, you know, Rob Gruncowski was a late second round pick. Aaron Hernandez was a fourth round pick. You needed to wait about one week of training camp to realize those guys were the real deal. Right. Right. It's sometimes in covering the sport, like the goalposts move with something like a third round pick.

Sometimes it's treated as well. It's like a top 100 or right around their pick. Then sometimes it's like championship teams are built on third round picks. Like I don't know what to believe sometimes. Right. But here I give you an example. Like so the Panthers get Jimmy Clausen and say he's our starter. And then a year later you realize, uh-uh, this is not going to work. and we have a chance to get Cam Newton. Do you stick to philosophy where you're like, no, let's be noble and stick to Jimmy

Claussen? I feel like that's a little different. I mean, that's the number of overall big cam was. They spent a two, they spent a full year with these two tight ends who probably flopped on some level behind the scenes or just aren't going to be who they want to be. So it's like you upgrade. And Bill Belichick is sort of micro-dosing this week and going insane. I do appreciate Mark is kind of in on the Patriots now.

This is a nice turn. and it's two to one here. I don't think, well, I don't think you've been paying attention. Mark has always had a crush on Belichick, going back to the brown stuff. A little bit. Although I should note, Mark, he never wrote you back. The great piece you wrote, the Belichick letters, all that man had to do was write you back after you wrote that incredible piece on the dot com.

And maybe you should join me on the dark side. He doesn't need to write a media member back. He wrote me when I was like a young naive. But I would say also, Dan, I have been on your side on the Belichick is quietly, about what happened with Tom Brady. I do believe that. But now that the Patriots are a little, they look more like the Browns of the 90s,

you know, with Belichick. Like, they're not the world beaters. Even if they wind up having a good season or whatever, it'll be like a weird, ugly scrap. Now Mark's back in because of that. They're not like the dynastic patriots. One of the best, one of the best face turns, I'll call it,

in the history of this podcast, is when the Patriots, got Antonio Brown and Wes, who had long carried the water up and down the hill for Belichick and the Patriots, turned on them in such a way. It brought me so much joy to have Wes on my side for that period. And he never really did make peace with Belchick for the rest of his time on the show. That really, really got in Wes's craw. And to me, when I think back of some great back and force in history of the show, when the passion was turned to 11, or maybe even too high,

West turning on Belichick over Antonio Brown's signing is, it's pretty high up there. And like so many things, he had great instincts. I do, I, and he didn't get a lot of argument either. It was an embarrassing moment for them.

And I think it was a real turning point for what was the final season of Tom Brady there. I know they won a bunch of games after that and then, you know, they ended up winning 12, but it really was. It put a total black, Mark on Tom Brady's last season and helped to end that. I think he was right on point.

Was that what you were saying back then? I don't know. What's up? Was that what you were saying back then? I was saying I was hoping for the best, but I mean, he was in and out in like two weeks. No, I was saying that this is kind of an embarrassment, but, you know, there weren't any Antonio Brown defenders, but I would say that like two years ago at this time, we were saying what a great job the Raiders did by signing Antonio Brown and how it was going to make

a mark a difference. And this was the John Gruden officer waiting for. Free agency is an absolute ghost. I mean, two years later, look where we are. It's beyond absurd. Although I want to push back. Actually, we're going to talk maybe on this on the broadcast I was thinking about. It's like, people also need to calm down on the like, spinning free agency like never works.

No, but you know what, Craig? Hold on. Hold on. Because now I'm seeing that, no, I'm seeing that tweet. Those tweets are now starting to pop up the new, it's the new, like, the new wave of coolness on Twitter is like, actually, let's be real. Free agency does help some teams. And it's like, all right. There's no right one way to do of anything.

It's like there are a million different ways, but you can't deny that the Eagles, the Rams, the bucks and the chiefs got a lot of their best players by spending a lot in free agency. So like it's a part of it. There's like no one right way to skin the cat. All right. Let's hit pause on the news and welcome in a very special guest.

And here he is. Yes, he is. The New York Post. Secret weapon in all things sports media related. Andrew Marchan joins us now to talk about, and I'll just, again, I'm going to read the headline again because I love it, saucy. I don't think Andrew wrote the headline, but whoever did it, captured it nicely. Drew Breeze edition means end is near for current Sunday night football booth.

Marron. Okay, so you got Al Michael, 76 years old. You got Chris Collinsworth in there, locked and loaded. But Drew Breeze retires, Andrew. He's knocking on the door now. He's already in-house. and, of course, Mike Tarrico as well. How is this going to shake out?

Well, how exactly it will shake out is still to be determined. But, I mean, when you look at it, Toriko came over five years ago. And when he did, NBC had Thursday night football. So he thought he'd do Thursday night. Al would do Sunday night. He'd be able to do the NFL still along with the Olympics and, you know, the big money he got.

But what happened, NBC lost 30 night. And when they had it, the first year, Roger Goodell wanted the A team to do it. So even though Tariko had done Monday Night Football, they still have Al did it do it. And then the next year, Terrico got to do it. And then that went away. So he's been waiting to replace Al Michaels, who's still, if not the best, one of the best play-by players, even at 76 years old. So Tariko's winning wins and Al's contracts up at the end of this year after the Super Bowl, which is in Los Angeles, it would be a storybook ending, except there's no inclination for people I've spoken to that Al Michaels wants to retire.

Now, Drew Brees, he comes in. He's going to work with Tariko on Notre Dame football. He's going to do the pregame show on Sunday night with my Tariko. So NBC had a conference call on Wednesday. You know, nothing to see here. It's a plain sight. I wrote about it last year when I had the breeze going to NBC story about this. You know, now it's even closer.

And how it exactly plays out, could I'll get another one-year deal? It's possible. But I do think Tariko's knocking on that door, a little impatient. wants to get in there, but Al doesn't want to go anywhere. Collins, obviously a lot of different opinions on, you know, how good he is, but he's very established. And Drew Brees don't know what he is, but that's their next generation. It's obvious, this is the plan.

I mean, there's no question about it's a matter of if, and maybe no brief could stick on Notre Dame, maybe I could blow it off, but like I, this is the point. It's clear. I guess my one question, you know, the nation we went through as a group, the Jason Whitten experience with Monday Night Football, You know, and I get that there are, I sense that these people have egos that feels like part of this. But how do they know when they tout Drew Breeze and, you know, they throw them a big parade is the next guy that's going to do X, Y, and Z?

The Drew Breeze is going to actually be good at this. Like, they hit gold with Tony Romo at CBS. But to me, like, I'm just going to say, like, the Drew Breeze experience that personality-wise, wonderful guy on some level. But I don't, you know, it's not the first guy I'd pick is like, I want to listen to him. wax poetic about football games. So is it like they've tested him and they know? Or they're just like, hey, it's a big name. We've got to roll him into the booth.

And I want to just point out, first off. That was a tremendous job. It's a wonderful guy, as you're saying, this guy's going to be no good. I mean, just to throw that in there. Like, you know what, he's a wonderful guy, but no personality, not good. I thought that was very well done.

So, I'm guessing. This is the thing. Drew Breese is a great quarterback. Wonderful guy. um and you know but on some level into the booth now he yeah exactly it doesn't translate well that's a question though but can he

here's a thing these guys basically all know what they're talking about and what the set it's the ability to take what you have been doing on Sundays for 20 years and being able to make it understandable for idiots like me you know what I mean can you say uh can you explain uh how you're checking off a different way just to understand what the quarterback's seeing. You know Drew Brieze has that information in his head.

Now, can he do it in an entertaining way? And here's the thing. To me, a lot of broadcast isn't really what you say a lot of times, but how you say it. And I would argue, yeah, Romo did have the predictions, but the thing that Romo did right out of the bat is that he's just talking about the game, he's very focused on the game. And even though sometimes he waivers and not as good at games, but like when there's been big games, he's into it. And he's focused on that and he's enthusiastic about it.

And I think that's where Breeze, it has to be genuine. It comes across as genuine. So that's where Breeze, you don't know. So they answer your question. Yeah, they don't really know. They're guessing. They, you know, educated guesses, but there's been many mistakes in the past from Joe Montana to Bill Walsh. We're also about the wonderful guys, but not very good in the boot.

Andrew Marchand, giving us the deep dive on Drew Breeze and what comes next. Thank you for joining us, Andrew, and I'll say goodbye with my favorite. favorite Drew Brees quote, maybe ever. And it's, you know, there's a lot through the years where Drew Brees, the way he interfaces of the media, you wonder how genuinely he's being with you or if he's just saying the right things. This quote from the press gathering, I'm as excited to be in the booth with Mike Tariko as I was to throw passes to Michael Thomas on Sundays.

And that's not enough. He can't just say that. He has to then double down with, I am dead serious when I say that. Okay. All right, Drew. Thank you, Andrew and Marcell. It's like, well, Michael Thomas was a pain in the ass, so maybe that was like his way of getting out.

Yeah, I thought that was an interesting quote myself. All right, Andrew, thank you so much. And follow Andrew on Twitter and all those stuff on the post. Always good to see you, buddy. All right, there he goes. And apologies, technical difficulties there. We could not get a good connection, unfortunately, with Andrew. So we had to jump out of that faster than we wanted to.

at the same time still talk good to talk about and fun to talk about this drama Greg do you buy the idea of Al Michaels saying goodbye here where do you stand on where Al's at right now? Well that you know Marshaun had a quote in there where he said Al Michael's still throwing 93-94 on the black you know as opposed to when he was thrown a hundred miles an hour earlier in his career Al Michaels is like the greatest ever do it but I'm not sure I'm with them there. I thought you could see some real decline, almost like boredom, you know, last year. Like Al

was not feeling the pandemic life. Al loves being at the center of everything. He loves ratings. He wants as many people to be watching him. He wants to be at the center of the sports universe. And I totally get that. It had to be a letdown for him and a lot of people.

Yeah, still like a top, whatever, five, six, seven play by play guy at this point. But he, but Tariko on another level. And, and some other guys, too. And so maybe he goes back to ESPN or whatever. But it's really funny because it kind of reminds me of the Drew Breeze situation. It's like if Drew Breeze had wanted to come back this year,

and there was some talk even when Drew Breeze came back last year, there was a little bit of like, well, okay, one more, because we feel a little uncomfortable pushing you out the door here. Right. But now it's the year after, you know, Michaels is going to get his one last year. And then it's, I feel like NBC is going to be like Sean Payton is like, you don't have a choice. If you really want to come back, you're going to have to do it with another team. I do love that every time Al Michaels comes up in one of Andrew's articles that he mentions the Oswald,

the lucky rabbit trade in which ESPN dealt Michaels to NBC in return for this fictional character, a Disney property. And like, I wonder if Al Michaels has like an Al Pacino at the end of any given Sunday type of move left in him where you think he's out. and then he says, actually, I'm taking me and someone else to some other network, and we're going to recreate all this. Go displace the Monday night football crew. Which is displaceable. They seem very nice, but they're in flux.

It's too bad. It's a bad spot for Steve Levy, but that'd be fine. I mean, Michaels is such a titan, and he hangs over all of this right now, that when you ask Steve Levy about it, Levy even says, and it's in the article, in an interview with the athletic. If Al decides on a whim that it might be fun to go back to Monday night football, I'll be like, here you go, Al. What am I going to say to Al Michaels?

Which is, okay, I don't know if that's true or not, but it just shows you, first of all, the deference to a figure he's a titan, Al Michaels in the history of broadcasting and sports broadcasting. But also, like, that would be Levy giving up his dream job. I mean, Monday Night Football, Play-by-Play guy. And Andrew also called this, it has, it has Jay Leno Conan vibes right now. If you know the backstory there,

Jay Leno did late night for, you know, 25 years after Johnny Carson retired. And then in like 2004 NBC announces that Conan, who was doing the late night show after Jay Leno was going to succeed Leno in the big chair at 1130, but not for five years. And it created this really weird dynamic then it blew up in everybody's faces

because then Jay Leno didn't want to leave and NBC kept him on as well with Conan and submarine to everything. You wonder if they're getting into a tricky situation here with some big personalities. Especially with Collinsworth. Big time stars involved.

Because that's a, he's younger and that's a bigger hurdle for, that's a big hurdle for Breeze to clear would be being better than Collinsworth. Unless he's Romo-esque, which, you know, who knows, but. Side note, Conan O'Brien is about 150 times better than Jay Leno, who I never found funny on any level.

Yakes. No, I'm totally, I mean, I'm a huge Conan fan. Jay Leno played the game so well that it got to a point where it finally came back and bit him and everybody saw him as fake and a phony that would do anything. He did the, he had the numbers. He had the numbers. That doesn't mean he's funny, though. I mean, he's probably funny to half of America.

Conan O'Brien's weirder and strange. It wasn't. I completely agree with you there. I spent many an afternoon watching the Tonight Show with Jane Leno live as a page at NBC, making sure the aisles were clear. That was my job for about four months, watching Jay Leno give the same little pre-show speech, which always creeped me out because the inflection in every single word was the exact same every day. Was he kind to you? Did he give you a gift to you left? Well, no, we were pages, so we did not have.

personal relationships. But there could not have been a more beloved boss. And I think everyone there stayed there. And they all got paid. They all got rich off of it. So that makes sense. But every account, first person account was he was like the nicest person of all time and a great boss. So you got to give them that. That's important. That's important. If we're sharing behind the scenes DeLano stories, let me share one more before we get back to football. My 29th birthday, it was wasn't like I wanted as a birthday gift, but it just fell that way. My wife was working for NBC at the time, and we went to a Jay Leno taping in 2009, and it was at the end of the road now when he's about to leave, and it's starting to percolate

that Conan is going to take his job. We go to a taping. I don't remember who the guest was. I remember Ashley Simpson was the musical guest, and I'll never forget. He did that spiel that you're talking about, Greg, and then the show starts, and then During a commercial break, when, you know, they're just resetting things, Leno's sitting at the desk and he has a whole studio audience watching him. And you wondered if the whole moment and the situation with him losing his gig was hanging over him.

He just stared straight ahead stone face during the entire commercial break. And it's like in a war movie where there's an explosion and then all you can hear is just a high pitch like, that's what I pictured going through his brain. And then it was like, all right, we're back in five. and then he turned it back on into a human being, I'll never forget Jay Leno with a thousand-yard stare like the guy that saw too much at war. That's creepy.

Watching that every day, I got the feeling, and it totally makes sense, is like him during that show was like the equivalent of us, like, you know, checking our phone while we're watching TV. He had just done it so many times that it was like he wasn't even, didn't even need to be there because he could do it so easily. All right. Good Jay Leno.

Talk, guys. Breaking news. Jeremy Fowler and Adam Schaefter report. Former number two overall pick. Mitch Trubisky is signing with the Buffalo Bills. There you go, Sessler, your dream scenario. Trubisky shuddered behind a star quarterback, never to be seen or heard from again. Happy birthday. You know, I mean, honestly, I think it's good for Mitch Trubisky.

Like, go and hide away for a little bit. He's young. Who knows what will happen with his career, but I'd never like the idea of him being shoved into another starting spot. Any team that needs them as a starter is probably in trouble, and it would have been, I just, I don't know. I feel bad for some of these quarterbacks when they fail. Even though I ripped them verbally, it's part of our job.

If it were just me wandering around town, I wouldn't be tapping people on the shoulder, telling them how annoyed I am by Mitch Trubisky on the Bears. But I love the fact that they're not. link together anymore. Those two needed to separate in every possible way. And the Bill's good landing spot. Incredible landing spot. If we see him, that means total disaster, but a good place to hide away for a bit and make a nice bit of money. But you're a DED dead if Mitch Tribisky enters a lineup like you would be for certain backups.

It gives you at least a fighting chance of something calamitous happens to Josh Allen. Isn't he automatically one of the better backups in the league? Yes. I'm not saying he's he is an okay backup. I'm not buying that. I'm not necessarily buying that. But I think any backup could potentially look great in Buffalo. Matt Barkley, you go look at when he played his yards per attempt in Buffalo. Like, he moved the ball down the field. I think that is the most quarterback friendly system right now with wide open guys. And Alan's athleticism, you know, is a huge part of that. And Alan took it to another level that Mitch Chubisky is never going to do. But I don't know.

Like, if he ends up playing because Alan gets hurt, wouldn't surprise me if you put up some stats in that offense. He's got athletic season two. That's why I don't hate Mitch as a backup. Like, he can come and he can do a few things. Do I, clearly, you know what I think about him, but I don't hate him as a backup quarterback. It's a nice spot.

Let's do another breaking news. Why not? I think this counts. The Raiders are getting back on the board signing Kenyon Drake, the former Cardinals running back to a two-year. contract, pair him with Josh Jacobs there. Dan doesn't think this was worth breaking news. I had seen this.

Eric had sent it about 15 minutes ago, and I had that locked and loaded in 8 o'clock delight. You've given it the love, it deserves, I guess. This was like a franchise tag level player. You're telling me the Jets signed Kenyon Drake to an $11 million contract. No, you're putting it in the show. That's 18 minutes of delight is what that is. Everything needs to be measured against the Jets.

This is an 8 o'clock delay. light-eyed item to me. People will make fun of the Raiders for this because of the money and it's like, hey, they want to be like a running team. And there's a fair point to that. I just want to say, I like Kenyon Drake. I like watching him. I like him and Josh Jacobs together.

I think that'll be a nice, nice group. Josh Jacobs has had some injury issues. So I mean, go with the two-back system sometimes. Anyways, on to 8 o'clock, Dan. Eight o'clock to light. Philip Lindsay, he's heading to free agency. The Broncos

rescind their restricted free agent tender on the running back, who had back-to-back 1,000 yards to start his career. But, Mark, it just seems like the Broncos were never into Philip Lindsay. I think this has to also do with Lindsay wanting out. Mike McCartney, his agent, said that they came to an agreement. If that's what that means, they signed Mike Boone, who they like from the Vikings. Philip Lindsay, 611 touches in his career, 3,000-plus yards, a West favorite, zero fumbles.

Someone's going to get a good player here. Kicker Corner, Matt Prater, heading to the Cardinals. Prater, he was with the Lions most recently, and he's had a nice, solid NFL career. Listen, I had a bit of a unsavory meeting with him on Media Day way back in 2013 when he was with the 49ers. He was wearing an earring in one ear and seemed to be thinking he was the coolest guy in the building. Probably wasn't. I'm putting that in the past, okay? Matt Prater's had a great career, and now he's got a good job.

good job here at the Cardinals. Seven years. Seven years in Detroit. Ryan Suckup also resigned to the Bucks. No comment. I mean, it's the first time they haven't had a new kicker in about seven years. So that's good. That's good.

All right. Up next, Larry Agahobie. Heading to the Bengals from the Browns. Mark, how you feel about this? Good player, but I would say really streaky. We'll do something really interesting and then kind of fade away. And so the Bengals are hoping for the better version of that. All right, Tim Boyle, signs of the Detroit Lions as a backup quarterback.

Get excited, Greg. Everyone that covers the Packers is convinced Tim Boyle is awesome. And the fans do. And he did look good in the camp. I immediately saw like, oh, he'll beat out Jared Gough. So I don't know. Maybe we'll see Tim Boyle. See the next Matt Flynn?

His nickname is Human Vic. factory cigar. Gross. Finally, Jared Goff, excuse me, Jared Cook, the tight end. Most recently with the Saints, he's bounced around,

obviously. Now with the Chargers. That seems like a nice landing spot. I mean, he always, he always puts up numbers and he always does one or two things that drives you crazy. Kyle Rudolph, also the Giant.

So I guess it's like sign your, you know, next tier of Tight End's Day. That's where we're at. And that is it. Anything else? Anybody wants to add that? No.

That is 8 o'clock the light, everybody. Ricky tells me, Kyle Rudolph to Giants. We just said that. We literally just said that. There's the last item of 8 o'clock the light. She now writes in the chat client, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. The level of discourse in that room is just, it's incredible.

All right. That's it for podcast this week. We gave you a four in four days. You could not be more prepared to have a water cooler chat if water coolers still exist in the future. I don't know if they do. In a world, post-pandemic, will things like water cooler's melt away? Let's save that for a little deeper in the off-season. Okay?

Save it for the post-pandemic podcast. That sounds like a nice podcast. Tomorrow, though, we continue with our content creation when the around the NFL broadcast rolls back onto NFL network airwaves and we'll have kind of a look back at the week that was in addition to any late breaking news that occurs over the next 24 hours. So make sure you check that outset your DVRs. And I do hear some rumbling, some potential talk about decision makers,

gathering, huddling, discussing how do we, get this program to our UK audience, just percolations. There's an NFL sky sports channel out there now, and it just feels like a marriage that needs to happen now. It's all over your, you know, potentially you get sky sports. You could be all over Europe. You could be in Asia even. Let's get this thing worldwide. Let's get to Asia. That's our goal. You know, we are not a, we're not tied down by a national boundary. And you know, it's operated in multiple countries. I wished yesterday, I wished our Irish listeners, a happy St. Patrick's Day, did it on Twitter as well. You know, I have Irish heritage, so it's near and dear to my heart.

And I was then told by someone on Twitter, and I'll accept it as fact, come to Ireland, you will sell out any arena. So just keep on. Let's sell out Slane Castle. Let's go for, let's go bigger. I don't know. But I would love to see the around the NFL podcast travel the world in a post-pandemic scenario. So maybe that will happen. Get up there.

The Emerald Isle is one place. Let's get on it, Burke. If you made it this far. All right. Good stuff. All right. Thank you, everybody, again. For listening, we sincerely appreciate your support through the years.

This is Dan Hansa signing off for The Quiet Storm, the old boss. Ricky Hollywood. Till Friday on the television, heat the call. Thank you. Hey, everybody. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies.

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