NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Free Agency Winners & Losers

Episode Date: March 16, 2018

A room filled with heroes- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling & Marc Sessler- assemble in-studio to recap more free agency news and notes. The heroes discuss the Raiders’ big moves (7:30), a mysterious move by the Ravens that’s on Marc’s radar (13:00), more Browns moves (33:00) and a big signing for the Jags (37:00). The guys wrap up the show with some more free agency odds and ends (43:00).Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Around the NFL podcast is 25% cute boy. Welcome back. It's happening to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hanses and I'm joined by a room filled with heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris

Wesleying, and yes, cute boy, Greg Rosethal. What's up, boys? Hey, Dan. Hey, cute boy. This is starting to get some less. I don't really. I apologize. I did not know it would come to this.

I feel like the whole podcast the last four or five years was leading to that moment. I found it delightful. Yes. It is the end of the first week of free agency. Things are maybe slowing down a little bit, but there's still some big storylines out there. What's the biggest storyline out there as of taping Greg Rosenthal? Indomicon, Sue. visiting with the Saints, but just where he'll land.

Between him and Sheldon Richardson and Honey Badger. And Honey Badger. Those still three big name free agents that got to pick teams. Anything aside of Kiss and Cousins? I'm very annoyed. About what? I learned recently that after working here for what, seven, eight years? I don't even know when we began.

I mean, thousands upon thousands of authored articles, columns, tweets covering the sport, that I was denied. entry into the pro football writers of America with a strongly worded email saying that I simply have not really accomplished anything that would fall into their guidelines. So not sure what else I need to do. This is some breaking news right here. Whoa. I don't know.

I guess I'll just- I'll just keep writing. I'll keep trying. By football cognizanty. Yep. I thought the reason for your denial was because you worked for this company. They don't allow anyone that works. I'm not sure what the reason is.

I find it offensive, whatever the reason. The email you showed us said the reason was. The reason was they don't allow NFL employees. I think they used that as some sort of a, hey, like, hey, I have a medical issue that you can't complain kind of thing. Throw that into the email. I think the subtext was, you aren't a real journalist in our eyes. We all went to journal school. Do you want to keep it real?

Let's keep it real. Go ask Mike Silver if he's in the football writers club. He's not, because they don't allow NFL choice. Ask Ian Rappaport. I thought I could have brought a lot to the table there. Some transcriptions during an event. Greg, you seem to think you know. I was once...

I'm saying somebody should ask and see what the answer did. I was once a member of the Pro Football Writers Association for a few years before I worked here. And, yeah, I think the bar is pretty much just can you pay the $30 fee? Because there's lots of, you know... I think if you just have a blog, a low-level website, you're like, you can be anyone and join it. Apparently not. I don't think they're too choose. I'll write another 8,000 articles and see if maybe they, you know, redefine their stance on this.

It is indeed a rule that you cannot... be a member while working for this company, but I do like your ability to suss out all, you know, weed through all that and know that they would not accept you regarding. They would not. No, and that's really the spirit of it. They were in a little room in probably 18 or 19 journals just chuckling at my letter. That's exactly how it happened.

I will remember it now. Remember the website, I think it was Fire Joe Morgan, where they would take somebody's bad column, some of the bad take and then just piece by piece, take it apart? they probably had your letter up on a projector and they're all just laughing, drinking whiskey. Having a grand old time with it.

Right, no, it's obviously a buffet. Sure. Have you thought about reapplying and showing them that Joe Thomas retirement banger that you did a great job with the other day? Maybe they would reconsider it. I don't think it would do anything. I don't think it's up to snuff.

I don't think it would do anything. For the pro football club of America? No. No. Why do you want to be in that club anyway? I just wanted to see. I thought it might be nice. Thought it might be nice.

I just wanted to expose the fact that they wouldn't let him in. The Fancy Pants Riders Club, like, what do you actually get besides paying dues? There was a night when I had a few beers in me, and I thought, I'm just going to apply for this thing and see what happens. Why did you sign up, Greg? You get a free friendship with Gary Myers. I mean, at the time, I was working at NBC and before pro football talk, just because I didn't know anyone, essentially to just meet people and stuff like that. I just, I guess. Hard pass.

I don't see. I didn't last. It's a room filled with whiskey and women, Dan. It sounds like you would be. It's literally the opposite of. that it is the most depressing room probably in the business who knows we won't know it's like a 1950s television show inside of a club denied okay sorry about that mark maybe maybe in the future you never know what the future holds a lot to talk about so we're going to go through a whole

list of news maybe for fun we'll throw in some winners and losers of the first week in free agency if you have any and uh there's more the trade tsunami Struck again. Just great tragedy. Great casualties. It just can't take it anymore. You just want the tsunami to stop at this point. I read on a political website that they heard that the wave of Democrats coming this year in the House of Representatives might turn into a tsunami.

So the tsunami is now going outside of the realm of football and across the country into politics and everything else. So you have enhanced a word? Yes, I take. It's like Dan bringing the Howard Dean's cream back. Brought that back, big time. You know, Greg, I did hear people in our other newsroom over on the other building talking about you. There's only one newsroom. Okay, the Edith Bay area, which we often call the newsroom, talking about Greg Rosenthal.

He called this trade tsunami. I heard a couple guys chattering about it. They said, that's crazy. He called it that. Now everyone's using it. There you go. It's spread across the campus to the other building on our lot. Isn't it cute that the other building calls their room the newsroom?

That's adorable. It'll be on my tombstone. You've created a tsunami. Nothing personal against you, Lindsay. You've created a tsunami of hype about tsunami. It's basically just the room where, like, Shaq has turned into his own personal playground. It's not a lot of news. I think it's more because total access is, like, up to the second news, and they do a lot of news over there.

Okay. I love for a fight. I've got a dog in this fight. I'm out for dishing out some of the articles we write to you guys over there. I'll send it over to Tim Posey's way to write. Sully, he can write a few articles. See how that goes. Let's do some news.

Louisiana, by the way, in New Orleans, is back. And this shows the whole world. We're back. We've back. The whole world, though. Tom Benson, the longtime owner of the New Orleans Saints. That was what he said, on the riser at Super Bowl 44, when the Saints, just a couple of years after Katrina hoisted the Lombardy.

Benson passed away on Thursday at the age of 90 from natural causes. Benson also was the owner of the New Orleans Pelicans of the NBA. But this was an influential figure, both in the NFL, Greg, and in the Louisiana area in general. This was a giant. New Orleans. Yeah, he doesn't get much more New Orleans than him. He grew up in a shotgun house in the 7th Ward, had no money, built up his fortune through owning banks and car dealerships. And he was complicated, like a lot of New Orleans people, had it character.

There were certain times that New Orleans was pretty upset with Tom Benson, but there were, you know, back in 85, one thing I didn't really realize was, you know, from the moment he took over the team, they basically got a cent much better. through his hiring a general manager who ended up hiring Jim Mora, certainly through the decisions after Katrina, after that tough season with Jim Hazlett, to make a very tough decision to fire Jim Hazlet when he was beloved, who he had won the only playoff game in Saints history

and really steered them through a tough season, fired Jim Haslett anyways and wound up hiring Sean Payton, which led to all this success. So a complicated guy, but a very memorable, owner and in a league full of guys who know how to handle their business, he was the head of the finance committee for a long, long time. So even among people who were shrewd negotiators and businessmen, he was the guy that they looked to to negotiate their deals. People today, if you're 30-something years old, you have no distinct memory of how awful. You people don't

understand. I'm one of them because I was, this is before I became a football fan. The Saints were the dregs of the NFL forever. And for as great as Peyton and Eli Manning have been for their teams, Archie Manning suffered through hell with those old Saints teams. And when I became like a Browns fan in 86, the following season, I was making my little summertime football magazine. Little. And I started to, you know, you'd start to glean information from like USA Today and newspapers. And like this Saints team, this 87 Saints team is coming in hot. And so in my little predictions. I was like, I'm going to pick them to win the division, which was crazy because the Niners were in that division back then. NFC West. Yep. And Cleveland opened the 87 season

against the Saints, and I spent months terrified that Cleveland was going to go 0 in 1. And they got dropped by the Saints, and the strike hit that year. But the Saints went 12 and 3, and the one memory I have of Tom Benson, and it's been played a billion times since, because that season, when they went 12 and 3, was one of the biggest things that had happened in football in decades. And Tom Benson, a much younger guy, was dancing around with his little umbrella. The Benson Bougy. Yep, and it was, that became famous that season.

I was like, who is this guy? He's a crazy man. I like him. Yeah. Tom Benson, dead at the age of 90. Moving on. What's up, Greg? What's up, Wes?

Moving on. He thinks there's been enough Tom Benson coverage. You know, when an owner dies, the owners own the network. Right. I think when an owner dies, the owners get a lot of attention. I think it's fair to say. It's fair to say. Gail Benson, the kind of the football of it all is Gail Benson, his third wife,

takes over the team immediately. It's already been approved. There was a lot of controversy around the family a couple of years back. Was that squared away or is that something that's still going on? Gail Benson and Tom Benson won a lawsuit against basically the rest of Tom Benson's family, including his grandchildren, some children. It was pretty ugly lawsuit. And so they're kind of out of the business.

business and Gail Benson is now running the Saints and the Pelicans. Moving on the Oakland Raiders are continuing to retool. They have signed Jordy Nelson, the veteran wide receiver who was cut earlier this week by the Green Bay Packers. A rap sheet reports it's a two-year deal worth $15 million, $13 of that guaranteed. James Jones, former Packers Whiteout, actually broke this news, probably ruffled some feathers inside the building. and to make news for, make room for Nelson, the Raiders released Michael Crabtree. Crabtree hits the street.

Maybe not for long, though, because the Ravens, we reported earlier this week that they had agreed with a deal with former Redskins receiver Ryan Grant. That fell through because of a medical issue, and now the Ravens are hot for Crabtree. So we'll see how long he stays on the market. Your thoughts on this move, West, or these moves? Well, it seems from reading the Las Vegas Review Journal over the last few months,

they've consistently reported that Crabtree's roster spot was in jeopardy because he was basically a headache in the locker room last season. So it seemed to me that they were looking for a reason to cut ties with him, and Jordy Nelson became the reason. They didn't want to let him out the door, agreed to a two-year deal with him, and we'll see who's got more left in the tank this year between Jordy and Crabtree. I'd take Crabtree. It's a lot.

They gave him $13 million, guarantee. for Jordy Nelson. Maybe he's their slot receiver and he has a different future than he really had in terms of how he played in Green Bay, which was primarily on the outside. James Coe sent out a tweet just showing how much separation Jordy had been getting as a slot receiver when they moved him inside in Green Bay. So maybe he can kind of remake who he was because he definitely has lost a lot of foot speed and it's the type of signing that bad teams make as veterans on the other side of the hill. Well, and it's Reggie McKenzie and the other people he knows inside the Raiders front

Opus saying, oh, we'll dump Crabtree, who might be a better receiver at this point for just a guy that we know in Jordy Nelson. I want to find out one thing, though, from the Ravens angle, you show me what's wrong with Ryan Grant's body. Show me. Well, they wouldn't be able to avoid the deal if he was healthy. I want to know what's actually wrong with Ryan Grant who's never missed an NFL game. This feels super fishy to me.

This is on Mark's radar, it being the Ravens. And it does seem a little fishy. He's never missed the game in his career. And there are some people who would say, there's a lot of gray area in teams' physicals, and you could probably find a reason to fail a guy for a lot of reasons if you really, if you were motivated to do so. So people are saying that the Ravens not only released him just because they wanted Crabtree, but because they think they already have Crabtree in the bag, and he's a guy they want it all.

That doesn't make sense to me. It came down. I don't know. I don't know about vaccinations here against your Ravens, so you don't like. Mark, famous. No, I just, I, well, I do like Ozzy Newsom a lot. I mean, he's never missed an NFL game. So that, that's part of the why.

I just want to know. I just say, show me the body part that's not up to snuff for the Baltimore Ravens. Show me the body part. Don't you think that he would be speaking out angrily, Ryan Grant, if that was the case? He's, he's still around. He may still speak. Well, we'll track the story. We're a news podcast for the NFL.

It shows that John Gruden's words in terms of praise don't mean a lot because in February, quote, Crabtree is a big reason I was excited to get here and it's not like that was like that's necessarily a lie or anything but it just shows these quotes publicly how are people going to deal with the 5 and 11

John Gruden led Raiders that's on your radar too you're on fire today no I just think that I think it's like this assumption that they're going to go 12 and 4 and win that division I don't think anybody's assuming that's not a good looking roster right now no yeah I think the Gruden's here

he's bringing excitement they're trying to get back on track but I don't think anybody has them locked in to go back to the Super Bowl. It's a classic straw man scenario that I'm raising. Doug Martin's also on the team. How about that? Doug Martin, who washed out with the bucks after a couple dreadful seasons and a suspension for drug use, 29 years old, but he gets a deal.

Now, I know Greg's getting hot in the pants because he has sandwich props on Marshall Lynch getting cut. But Mike Silver of NFL media, who's a man in the know when it comes to Bay Area football, says that is not happening. Yeah, it looks like I'm going to lose that sandwich proposition. It's a long off season. Well, it has to be by the end of the month, so it has to happen fairly soon. Doug Martin, for the price he's at, why not take a swing?

But when Gruden said, let's bring it back to 1998, he wasn't just saying that. Not with these players necessarily, but with his approach. Their first signings were a pair of blocking tight ends, re-signing Lee Smith and getting another one, Derek Carrey. who they paid pretty good money and signing a fullback or two, I believe, I think at least one, where they told, Gruden told Keith Smith from the Cowboys, like, get ready because we're putting a lot on you. And that's the fullback.

So he's going blocking tight ends, fullback. He's trying to zig a little bit while the rest of the league is zagging, which isn't necessarily a terrible idea. I think if you're a Raiders fan, you have to be, you know, heartened that your head coach is playing Jeff Fisher football. it reminds me when he was in Tampa they would always sign these big names kind of towards the end of their career

it's not too different from what Al Davis used to do in Oakland like big names championship like type of guys that have done it before it didn't really work for John Gruden and Tampa by the way we got to find a way to get Michael Crabtree forget about this Raven stuff

get them in the NFC West we need a little Kib Talib Crabtree round three just a fight to the death why not why not like Roman in times bring it back thumbs up thumbs down you know the deal mark thumbs up i could see you as a king deciding the fate of slaves that feels i like a lower level job in that castle kind of just hide out uh moving on the miami dolphins made a surprise move on thursday uh releasing their long time center mike pouncey um and they wasted no time filling that hole by trading with the 49ers

for Adam Kilgore, who I guess was deemed expendable there because of a, they signed. Danny Kilgore. Danny Kilgore. Danny Kilgore. Daniel. Daniel. Yeah. Anyway, the 49ers made a signing of signing the former Giants interior alignment, which led to, I guess,

Kilgore being expendable, but they just gave him an extension. I don't really know what the Niners are doing. They're building a great team and they got a great young quarterback. But their free agency plans are weird. Anyway, Pouncey is a free agent. Your thoughts, Mark? Not as weird as the Dolphins' free agency plans, which, I mean, I think they're an easy target,

and it's easy just to fire off on the dolphins for what they've done over the last week or so. But you replace Jarvis Landry with Albert Wilson and Danny Amandola. You replace Nadamak and Sue with essentially Robert Quinn, and you've replaced a Pro Bowl center. He wants his release, he's gone and you replace him with a guy

that wasn't a starter a couple years ago. I think if you're a Dolphins fan, you're sitting out there saying, hit me with the PR pitch on why this season coming up is a fun one that I should get galvanized for as a human. Well, they signed Josh Sitton.

There you go. That's your pitch. Another interior lineman. That's your pitch. Road grader. He's played well there. Road grader out. Is Road Grader out?

Remember what everybody used to call Interior lineman road graders? He don't hear it as much. Let's bring it back. If you have to use guard or something over and over in an article, you might hit Road Grader. like paragraph 4.

Earth mover? This move by the 49er signing a guy who in your press release, you touted him as one of the leaders of our organization and a future leader, and then they traded him a month later, is I almost give him credit for this. It's something I've never heard of it before. They structured the contract in such a way where there was no signing bonus. It's almost as if they knew this was a possibility,

and then they found an upgrade. So in a sense, it was kind of a low-risk move that they locked in the guy they liked at a price that was apparently tradable, got an upgrade, and then were able to deal them away. Now, they didn't really give them, get anything for them. They just kind of dumped him,

but I've never heard of such a thing. Kyle Shanahan has very strong opinions on several positions. He saw it with Kyle Use Check last year. He wants a chess piece at fullback. Saw it with Jared McKinnon, and he also spoke in very, specific glowing terms about the center position and what it means in his offense. And I think they targeted Western Richburg as a guy who can allow

them to do many more different things than Daniel Kilgord. Well, think about it. He had Alex Mack and Cleveland. With Atlanta, they made a big pitch and they got Alex Mack and that helped that line a lot. And I can't kill the Dolphins for cutting pouncy who's made some Pro Bowls, but also for what it's worth was ranked very low in pro football focus last year. Has also had suspensions, has had injuries. Last we heard, he had a framed picture of Aaron Hernandez in his base. Well, they're talking culture change. These are all tricky thing. Was Incognito's right-hand man in the scandal?

Not a great guy, maybe. That seems, that seems okay. Whenever you have the chance to sign a Aaron Hernandez truther to a multi-million dollar contract, you got to do it. Leap. Leap on that. He's out there, right? No one signed him yet, right? I think he'll end up getting a saucy contract, though, because there's no offensive lineman. Yeah, I agree. I agree. Vante's Burfick, speaking of suspensions, he is facing a four-game ban for use of PEDs. Burfect is appealing.

This is just the latest alleged transgression for Burfate, who has long been an issue for the Bengals, despite being a high-quality linebacker. Yeah, I mean, on top of this is the third suspension, the first PED-related one, but NFL research sent out an extensive list of the very very. varied infractions of Berfic's career dating back to 2013. He has been fined hundreds of thousands of dollars, and these include such issues as ankle twisting, spearing, striking a player in the groin,

flipping the middle finger to fans, leg stomping. Shall I go on? Yeah, keep going. It's endless, defenseless player hits. I mean, it's stuff we've seen during the playoff game with the Steelers, nonstop chicanery from this guy. If ever there was a guy born to play,

in the league with Vince McMahon. It's the guy who's a mid-1980s wrestling heel, Vantes Burford. This is my favorite list from Sessler since 50 adjectives to describe the Cowboys defense. I mean, he created the list. I can like 2014. Well, it's almost as if he was playing

like suspension bingo and PDs was like the last thing to check off. Well, Rapsheet reported that the Bengals can get out of this contract which includes $11.3 million in guarantees. if Berwick loses the appeal on this.

So he's not, he's been a difference maker on the field. Whenever he's out on one of these annual suspensions, the Bengals defense falls apart. And whenever he comes back, they get a lot better real quick. But I don't, how long do you, they've been enabling this guy for his entire career. How long do you continue to enable him? Right.

They've been his champion through all this nonsense. Well, he could, he could potentially land in Oakland where there was a very unconfirmed report that he was going to get traded to Oakland. and that proved to be untrue. Paul Gunther is where Gunther is. Makes a little sense. And John Gruden loved him.

Symvant is perfect on Monday night football last year. Another Brown's trade. This time they send cornerback Jason McCordy to the Patriots for, well, they swap seventh round picks,

so the Browns move up a little bit. Is that? They got New England six, I believe. So essentially, in the Patriots get their Brown's sevens, so it's like going to be two or three picks from each other. In the sixth, right.

It was the lowest possible compensation. So the... Yeah, well, they released them initially, and then the Patriots before the transaction struck, the Patriots called up and said, we want a second pair of twins on our roster. We will take Jason McCordy. McCordy fills the void left by Malcolm Butler.

Also was, according to PFF, the number 17 cover corner in the league last year, so the Browns had two days lose their left tackle and their best cornerback. Why, Mark? Was there something we don't know about McCordy? Well, I think because they signed T.J. Carey and Terrence Mitchell at cornerback and Marius Randall at safety.

And it's typically, I just think it's like a new front office saying, we don't like any of your old players. We're just going to rotate in new ones. Go ahead. No, you go ahead. I was very surprised by this because I thought McCordy played at a Pro Bowl level and maybe the best season he's ever had. I don't get why they did it either.

It's like the year before when everybody spent the whole season saying, why did we get rid of Joe Hayden? He still had plenty left in the tank. and now you're going to have the same regrets again this year. Well, and he was making $3 million, which is an amazing bargain for anyone that plays 900 snaps for you. Dorsey said he told McCordy that there was a good chance he wasn't going to make the roster, so that out of respect for him, they were going to cut him now,

which is strange and then totally phony because he totally showed a lack of respect by ultimately choosing McCordy's destination on a very cheap contract, where McCordy could have maybe gotten more money or at least chosen where he'd wanted to go. Him and his brother have said they've wanted to play together, so I don't think he's that disappointed,

but enough with the, like, I respect him so much, I'm going to fire him and then not fire him. In other Cleveland news, Tyrod Taylor was introduced as their new quarterback. In fact, their new starting quarterback after Taylor spoke, Hugh Jackson backed his QB saying, quote he's going to be the starting quarterback there is no competition is that a truth or is that a lie mark i mean they they were tweeting out what ryan pace said when they signed mike lennon last year and it was the exact same quote i think hugh jackson doesn't want to deal with another

rookie but give me a break i mean all of this could completely crumble and change i i just find it i don't even know he changes quarterbacks every other hour i don't even right why do you even say this. I mean, except he just said it in a very confident way. Like, there's no, there's no competition this time around. We'll see. That's strange. Like, why is there, why would there ever not be a competition? In any position?

Maybe he just thought that Tyrod's self-esteem could use a little boost, but it seemed unnecessary. Superfluous. It wasn't necessary. You're right. Are the Browns better than they were three weeks ago? Mark Sessler. I think so. I think so, too.

Joe Thomas being gone leaves a huge hole. They don't have an answer for that one. I don't quite get the McCordy thing, but Tyrod is a huge upgrade, so they should be better. Moving on the Seattle Seahawks and make a move, they sign Ed Dixon. So there you go, the replacement for Jimmy Graham, Wes. I like it. He doesn't have the name that Jimmy Graham does, but he played really well last season, and whereas he really struggled to catch the ball with anybody within a few feet.

distance of him early in his Ravens career. He's gotten more consistent since he landed in Carolina and now going on to Seattle. I think he's a good signing. And in other Seahawks news, Richard Sherman, as this might not come as a surprise, gentlemen, but Sherman is beginning to speak out about the Seattle Seahawks. He said in a interview with your boy, Mark, Joe Thomas, as well as Andrew Hawkins on the Tomahawk. podcast. Oh, I get it. Tama for Thomas and Hawkins.

There it is. Show's doing very well. Not bad. Not bad. Anyway, Richard Sherman said he thinks part of the problem, and apparently there's a problem in Seattle, is that Pete Carroll's message is getting stale to the vets. The idea that there's a college mentality in place. After four years, you shuttle guys out no matter what. Here's what else he had to say. I think at the end of the day it just became an issue of devaluing core players, you know, players

that are playing at a high level and really being curious about younger players and, you know, curious about the unknown, you know, they say maybe this guy's going to be the next guy instead of saying, hey, you have Hall of Fame talents, you know, in your secondary, how about you ride this out? It'd be

like Pittsburgh saying, you know, Troy Paul Mottel is great, but, you know, let's figure out what this guy behind him has. This is Troy. Is this fair, Mark? I mean, I can see why he's frustrated, and probably if you're Richard Sherman, I mean, you feel disrespected and you don't, I think veteran players, you've heard this before, when they essentially break up a winning team, a lot of angst comes with it. But I don't think it's fair to say that Pete Carroll's anything but a top five NFL coach who essentially helped make Sherman's

career and plenty of other players and took that team to multiple Super Bowls. I mean, I'm getting tired of a coach's message probably happens to a lot of them, but Pete Carroll is more than just a college coach. I think it's a legitimate and fair criticism of sports executives and team builders. Going back to the 1860s and 70s, they always try to find the next big thing at the cost of what they have in-house. It seems to be the nature of the position, and I think that is fair. The 1860s? You will read, if you go back and read baseball history of owners from the 1860, 70s, 70s, 80s, 80s, that was a criticism back then

that they were always willing to kind of overlook the veterans on their own team in search of the new next best thing. Does it marginalize what Pete Carroll's accomplished, though, in Seattle? It's like, well, we can't skip over this. Well, save it for the Civil War podcast. It's like everything was a little different,

you know, back before cars. Or like, oh, they had electricity. It's like the quotes you read about Ty Cobb or something where we had to pay this guy too much. Players are going to be running the game, you know? We're always going to lose money. It's how the NFL is set up, though, because I think the Seahawks tried to straddle that line. And I think they held on to that group about as well or even more than some teams were.

It's just kind of with the salary cap and the way contract. They drafted terribly for the past, what, three or four years? It's the way contracts are structured. I also do think there might be something to the idea that Pete Carroll is a good builder, is a good teacher, that they're really good at teaching fundamentals and he has a lot of energy. And that maybe he is a little better with a young. young group starting over. And, like, that's, that's not a, that's a great skill to have in the NFL.

Right. That criticism, Pete Carroll uses philosophy and psychology more than most coaches. So I do think that's a fair criticism that maybe the message gets old. Right. Especially if you're over 30 and you're 10 multi-millionaire. And my take on it is Richard Sherman, there is something to be said for just turning the page. I mean, a fifth round pick, Sherman got behind him, turned him into, gave him the opportunity. he became a star, he became a multi-millionaire,

he was lionized in Seattle and by Pete Carroll for years, and then they decided to go in a different direction. Why do we now have to get into this mud-slinging? Right, and a lot of those players thrived in the culture that Carol created that allowed them to be who they were. They themselves speak out. There's a pot, right. It's just not all negative.

He created what helped your career, and now you don't like the flip side of it. But that said, this isn't that much of a criticism, I don't think. It's like beyond the pale thing. It feels like it's just getting started. So that would be my producer. It might be his way of firing himself up a little motivating in all that going into the season. And I know we're doing winners and losers a little later.

But early winner, how about TD, our former podcast producer, who I've heard is the producer of the Tomahawk podcast. He is. And he produced, I guess, that clip that we just played on this podcast. TD is back. Wow. Landed on his feet. Tid he's like, when was I gone? He's been busy.

He's been working. Very busy. No, I know. I just mean he's back on this podcast. Oh, he's back. here. Okay, yeah, yeah. Back in the producing game.

Moving on. Oh, talk about self-esteem that maybe needs a little pat on the old booty. Yeah, because you know what helps with that is phony public messages that you're going to go back on in a couple months. Referring back to Tyrod and the Brown, sorry. Self-esteem. Tavon Austin, a couple of years back, and one of the, you know, hindsight is 20-20, but in that instance, everyone involved, the football Cagnoscenti was fully aware that that was a mistake to give Tavon Austin superstar wide receiver money.

Well, the Rams got out and they said, we're dumping Tavon Austin. And now, it turns out, actually, after they lose Sammy Watkins, let's just rip up that horrible embarrassing contract for the organization and give you a nice one-year, $5 million deal, up to $8 million if he hits some benchmarks. So Tavon Austin, not gone. He's cool swallowing his pride and sticking around because maybe his market wasn't so hot as it turned out. Well, he didn't really have much of a choice here.

He, I think the Rams were hoping to trade him and they didn't necessarily know how much cap room they were going to have. They're paying him $5 million guaranteed regardless because that was in his contract. So when he went to another team, they were still paying him that $5 million anyways. They couldn't find anything for him and they had the idea maybe an offseason would help him,

and they got him to take away the rest of the money in his contract and put it into per game bonuses. So essentially, they really don't have any risk. They could still cut them in August and pay him that if they felt like it. And he thought maybe if ever there's a team I could do some things on, this Rams offense, especially without Wackens here, maybe I can do something. They got stuck. They need him to be a deep threat because they're going to miss Sammy Wacken's speed.

but it's amazing to see guys like Tyreek Hill and Brandon Cooks about the same size, about the same speed can be very good deep threats, and Tavon Austin has never had that skill. And now a word from our sponsor. Dear human, are you stuck in a rut? Do you find yourself bored with life? Tired of yourself?

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www.flameclass.com. Mr. F. Whoa, can we get the breaking news drop? He's back. Mr. F is back? Spot reads here and there. I like it. Is that the first breaking news drop for a, uh, uh,

Advertiser? I like this. Mr. F, not just your average advertiser. We are, we work for the NFL. We're part of the machine. So, yeah, maybe we do break in, we break in for advertiser talk. But you're right. Mr. Flame is not just any advertiser.

No. No, he's not. He's a legend. Moving on, the Panthers are signing former Falcons defensive tackle Don Terry Poe. And Poe becomes Carolina's instant replacement for Star Lutalali. The Cardinals signing Poe three-year deal. Wow, they went from one of the hardest last names to pronounce to perhaps the easiest. I wonder if that had anything to do with it.

Three-year deal worth between $9 and $10 million annually, according to Rapsheet. Just 27 years old, Wes, this is pretty nice signing, right? They signed Poe, but it's never more for Bashad Breeland. Yes. Well done. Well done. Bashad Breeland, the Panthers and National. failed his physical and his contract is off.

Ouch. So the big cornerback that they picked up, who Greg and I both thought was a very good signing for them, will not be playing in Carolina. I maybe believe this physical report versus the other one we discussed. Oh, about that. It's interesting both the players are from the Redskins that failed their physicals.

I don't know what that means. Probably nothing. I have now two sources on the malady that Ryan and Grant was Play it on me. I'm waiting for my third. Okay. I triple source everything.

You know that. I'll wait. So I'll let you as soon as I get that triple source. Po is more of a pass rusher. I like that he cost less than Star did. You just go first name. Yeah.

Star Lo. Let's just go Star. Star-Lulay broke the bank. Yeah, that was one of the contracts. I think I'm doing the best-worst contracts at some point. I'm putting that on the worst. It's too much for a guy who doesn't really make much of an impact. Don't want to be on that list.

For the guy who had a front row seat to K-Wan Short making all the plays. Right. That's what I'm saying. The Jaguars add another weapon for Blake Bortles. Is that the lead to the article? It feels very leedy. It's not. That was not the lead to my article.

You want to know Wes's lead to the article? Sure. Just by the tone of voice, you just heard the free agency frenzy ending. That was true. That was it. Wes's lead, the Jaguars are fulfilling their plan to upgrade the talent surrounding quarterback Blake Bordels. Like then?

Jacksonville was agreed to terms with former Jets tight end, Austin, Safarian Jenkins, ASJ. Two years, $10 million rap sheet reported. The Saints and Seahawks are also interested in Safari and Jenkins who kind of cleaned up his life. He had a drinking problem and an alcoholic he was.

And he got back on track. The Jets gave him a shot because they're a classy organization. He kind of reestablished himself as a young tight end that can make plays, kind of disappeared in the second half of the season, which is probably why he's not still on the Jets, but a guy that probably can make plays.

If the quarterback can get him the ball, we'll see about that. Like Whartles. I was a little surprised at how much attention he was getting for a guy who averaged 7.1 yards per reception and to me looked pretty slow with the ball in his hands. He does do some things. He's got good hands, can move the change.

You can use him in the red zone. DJ, Daniel Jeremiah, said he compared him to Mercedes Lewis coming out of college and now he's going to learn from Mercedes-Lewis who doesn't move very well in his own one note on this do not if you even think about it jaguars do not cut my two favorite players on the team ben coyac and the day before st patty's day you do not release james o'shaughnessy you can't release me don't you understand i can i'm a move tight end i can block but i also i'm a chess piece don't you understand that might get him cut if that's how he's addressing the

team nonstop. I think they're in trouble because they sign Niles Paul also plays tight end. They're also visiting with Luke Wilson. They're just going all tight ends all the time.

I'd much rather have Safarian Jenkins at that price than Jimmy Graham at the price that he would. Oh, I couldn't disagree more. Give me a shot. That's all I ask for. I've always loved you.

The Jets lost Austin Safari and Jenkins, but they do keep Mo. Claiborne. The cornerback signs a one-year $7 million deal like this a lot. Claiborne, when healthy, which is always an issue with him, is a guy that can take out number one receivers on a good day. But now, because they signed Tramaine Johnson, you slide Claiborne to the number two guy.

You roll him over there, which is a nice fit for him. He got the two young safeties, Wes. We talked about it on Wednesday. Really building this identity. You were a little bit on the fence about it, but they are building something and they have a defensive-minded coach with secondary background. I really like what they're doing back there. Yeah, I do too on paper.

The next step is to actually stop receivers. Well, yeah. And get a pass-ricks. And get a pass-riff. They do. And I was going to ask you, I know you think you have to go quarterback, Dan, at number six. What if there's a run on quarterbacks?

Yeah. And you have a choice between the third or fourth or fifth quarterback, or I'd say third or fourth, or Bradley Chub. Right. I wonder if very jets-like move to pass on a quarterback and take him instead. I would be stunned if they didn't take him. if he was there and let's say three of the four quarter well you don't know who they actually love but if they are not in love with the guys that are left chub makes all the sense in the world

they have not had a true pass rusher since john abraham that is forever but the jets are getting better in the back end of their defense that's good and uh i would love honey badger there they have buster screen uh now who slides into a nickel corner roll but he's owed seven million dollars they can get out of that deal and you give imagine that that's an identity was. I would be on board with that as their identity if they switched out

buster screen for Honeybeet. Didn't they try to have a nickname for their secondary or something last year? They stole... The cute boys?

The cute boys it was. It was... The Eagles stole their identity before turning... Before the Eagles decided to start wearing dog masks.

Anyone else you'd like to pilfer from identity thieves? Jamal Adams, who is one of my favorite follows on social media, he's referring to the secondary

is New Jack City, which I like. that's original. Well, it's a rule in the NFL. You cannot have a secondary without a nickname. The Rams need one. The Rams. That's coming for the Rams.

When you have Akib Talib and Marks. I'm on board. If they get Honey Badger, they're a new Jack City. I'm on board. Okay, a lot of riding on this. And they did try to, or at least the Jet Social Media, tried to get no fly zone going. Right.

And that was the Bronco. Denver was like, what? Why would Dave and do that? I don't know. We can't come up with 32 original names for these things. Well, the answer is it's a. It's a 23-year-old intern that is trying to kill time in May. Just go back and look at 80s sports posters and you'll get all kinds of ideas for Nicknance.

That's true. Moving on, Tyler Eifert is sticking around in Cincinnati. He signs a one-year deal, a max value of $8 million. This makes sense for player and team. Cincinnati keeps a tight end with high upside. Eifert's still just 27 years old, gets a chance to kind of reestablish his value after two years that have been wrecked by injury, Greg. They need Eiffert to matter. Andy Dalton needs help to be where he was a couple years ago.

So they need Eiffert. They need Cordy Glenn to be healthy and play well at left tackle or else the Bengals are going to be fairly unwatchable again. They're on my radar in a good way for an offense that could bounce back in a hurry. If Cordy Glenn is the guy the Bills thought they were signing a few years ago, if he's that guy, John Ross, who won't get any hype because his rookie year was so disappointing, He could be a difference maker. If Healthy is a difference maker.

Joe Mixon's going to play better with an improved offensive line. I think they have a lot of room for... He was a great guy to have, I think, especially not as your start as Joe Bernard. There's a lot of room for improvement on this team. Let's wrap it up with a little 8 o'clock delight. The Redskins re-signed Zach Brown, the linebacker, a deal three years, $24 million, number 19 on the top 101.

Greg. I like it. I don't know. The Texans resigned. signed Jonathan Jones. I don't have much say on him. I like Zach Brown. That's a good guy.

I see you wearing a suit. I figure you have something to say on everybody. Texans cornerback Jonathan Joseph. He's sticking around in Houston. The cornerback signs a two-year deal. Your thoughts, Mark Sessler? 33 years old. This secondary was hot garbage last year.

It's a good thing they got Aaron Colvin. If he can help, they need more help. The Texans do lose. CJ Fedorowitz, the tight end who's dealt with concussions. He retires West. age 26. Four concussions over a calendar year from December 16 to December 17. And the Texans have had, they've been obliterated by concussions at tight end.

Stephen Anderson had them in September last year. Brian Griffin, their backup tight end. His season ended in November due to concussions. It's a position they have to address. And finally, the Vikings made it official. I guess whatever restaurant they took her cousins to was appropriate. It was the Capitol Grill, the most generic steak place. in the biz. Give me a break. I mean, Capital Girl's fine.

Kirk Cousins did him a favor. Let's get some spice into this. Sir Cousins officially under contract. I mean, that is not the place you take a guy who doesn't want to eat. I mean, he couldn't wait until this long was over. Okay, now you could say. What are you saying? I already said it. Okay. Speaking of Kirk Cousins, this is what he said during his opening press conference today, which kind of struck me as funny. You know, I look forward to playing here.

as, you know, Rick said yesterday, you know, this is a lifetime deal. No, it's not. Just want to add that. Just so you know. Can I take exception with this notion that Kirk Cousins is some mercenary who will always take the highest money? It goes against every stated fact from his relationship with the Redskins and what everyone expected him to do. He had a chance to draw in three teams and raise his price tag and he didn't do it. He went to the team that he thought had the best chance to win.

He was committed to the Redskins. they were not committed to him. He would have signed if they wouldn't have kind of dilly-dallyed for two years and tried to figure out who he was. I think Kirk Cousins is, he's made it clear that he's not about the money. And I think his actions have shown them. Jets offered more. So that tells you that right there.

Well, I hope for his case, though, and his kids that it's not a lifetime contract because we want Kurt to be alive more than three years. You know what I'm saying? I mean, that's, you're right. Let's keep Cousins alive for another 50 years or so. Ian Rappaport. 60 even. 70 is a little much.

Tom Pelliserra, who's been on the Cousinsby this week, gave some news, which I had not heard until today about how the contracts all played out. Their agent, Wes, and you're right. They could have tried to make it bigger and bigger. They basically said, give us your best offers right off the top. And they got three offers, one from the Cardinals, one from the Jets, one from the Vikings. It's believed that the Jets did have the highest offer, but it was structured a little different. The Cardinals were in the same ballpark of the Vikings, but that basically they were all very similar contract offers.

There wasn't one team that went crazy blowing out of the water. I think it was pretty similar in terms of guarantee. But his agent said... And he chose and he decided to choose the Vikings. His agent made it clear that it wasn't even close to the best offer. He put that out yesterday. Well, he has self-interest to do that. I definitely trust Tom more.

But a mercenary would be you'd go sign with a garbage team for more money. And that's clearly not what he's ever in about. And keep playing that game of like, okay, this guy, you know, go back. A mercenary would incite a bidding war, and he did the opposite of inciting a bidding war. I think he did okay, no matter what, though. Yes. So I don't want to get too much credit for being, like, the saint that. I'm not saying the saint.

I'm saying the speculation or the discussion is dramatically misinformed on this issue. And to your point where DeMarco Murray hit free agency in the open market at the wrong time over and over and paid for it, Kirk Cousins, in a very unusual situation, could not have timed this any better. Now, he probably would have rather have signed a long-term deal with the Redskins years ago. They handled that so poorly that here you go. He got paid. I mean, and mercenary is unfair to any professional athlete

where it's so tilted in favor of the owners and the team. Stop. It is. You're talking about guys getting paid $20 million. No, I get it. But you can't be on the same side that says great value, great deal, and then blame a player for doing the same in trying to get the best.

Let's do some winners and losers. since we're on the topic, I'll throw out a winner for me, and it is franchise quarterbacks. There is this idea, and I get it, that this fully guaranteed Kirk Cousin contract won't really change anything because this was a specific instance and all that. However, don't be surprised. Like when Aaron Rogers' deal comes up or when the next, when Sam Darnold's deal, if he's a star, comes up, if they rather do something like this where you play out your rookie deal, you get a max franchise tag two years in a row and then sign the three-year deal because not only you make a maximum amount of money there, then you hit free agency again when you're in your late 20s, potentially what you're seeing with some of these guys like Trumane Johnson.

I think that this was a big deal, this fully guaranteed contract. And I do think it will have an effect and people look back at it as a game changer for the guys that have the most leverage, which is the franchise quarterback. They start, they're going to start dictating the terms and changing the game because of what cousins did. I hear you. I got a loser. And this got hammered on NFL network yesterday, so I'm almost a little bored by it. But it does stand out to me because it was a team with a lot of cap room and a lot of distinct needs. And I thought the cults would be more active.

I thought they would have found a way to lure more people to that organization. And they really, they added, I think, one defensive end who is relatively in the no-name category. So they got a lot to do in the draft. Why would you want to go there if you're an offensive player and the franchise? quarterback is just a complete mystery. If I'm a wide receiver, if I'm, I, that was a bit of a gamble, but if he's healthy, you also, I mean, half of their needs to me came on defense. I mean, they just, they, they let some people walk out and they didn't get much back

in return. Wes? Loser, John Elway. I mentioned this on our last podcast, but they're in a Super Bowl window. And, Dan, your point about franchise quarterbacks, their value is beyond calculable in today's NFL. The only thing that matters is whether you're the answer or not when you're talking about team building. That's why Kirk Cousins is so much more valuable than Case Keenum. He's done this for three years. We know he's the answer. We don't know if Case Keatom's the answer. He's a

mystery. And all of your nucleus players spent the last three months working themselves into a fervor over Kirk Cousins. You heard Von Miller say it. You heard Brandon Marshall say it. You heard their defensive back say it. We want Kirk Cousins. And then you go out and get Case Keenum, a guy who to me is so dependent on what's around him, he's not going to lift anyone higher. It felt like a spin by Elway when he came out and said this week, we got our guy because we all know what you really wanted. And you got the guy that is frankly unproven beyond one magic three-month stretch.

You got another guy. And you didn't get Tyrod either who was reported they also might have wanted. I'll give wide receivers as a winner in general because this is a position that's been relatively underpaid compared to linemen in previous years, but wide receivers got paid. Wide receivers coming off bad years or injured years got paid. Alan Robinson and Sammy Watkins got paid full price despite red flags, which means the legit number one receivers out there like A.J. Green or Antonio

Brown, when they do deals, like they are going to go way on top of them. And then even the secondary receivers, I mean, Taylor Gabriel, I like Taylor Gabriel, but he got 14 million guaranteed. He's never had more than 650 yards. He is, by definition, a role player. Paul Richardson has less career yards than Eric Ebron, and he got paid big time money. Marquis Lee has had it up and down career. He got paid big time money.

I'm not even saying that these are bad signings, but just the whole wide receiver market kind of went up. And that's going to have repercussions when legit top 20, top 25 receivers start, you know, getting new contracts. Do you think this is because general managers are not as confident about drafting wide receivers and getting an immediate – The record of recent first round wide receivers is not good, and this draft class is not supposed to be that great at wide receiver. Yeah, I think that's a great point. And it explains it, and that they were the, it was one of the positions that was just out there in deep.

So the teams wanted to spend it on someone. One more quick winner-loser. I'll start, the Chicago Bears fans. Yes. Finally, that team has a little juice to them. I think they're doing a nice job copying the Rams model and bringing in some talent around Mitch Trubisky. Now we just got to find out if that kid can play.

Can that dog hunt? I'll give you a winner. I think Brandon being the Bill's GM, they have not had a quarterback since Jim Kelly, essentially, and you have, over the course of two off seasons, given yourself with your draft hall a chance, and I don't question at all that this is their strategy, to get into the top five and get the quarterback of your choice,

and you can change that organization to be the guy that changed it for the next 10 plus years. They need to find somebody that will trade it. They do, but they put themselves in a position for it. They telegraphed it, whether that's good or bad, you know what they're trying to do. I would make A.J. McCarron a loser, though, because I think if Sam Bradford didn't, you know, if Sam Bradford ends up getting $20 million, $15 million, I think McCarron was hopeful to be one of those five quarterbacks that kind of filled the slot. And he got mid to low level backup money, two years, $10 million, which makes all the sense in the world for Buffalo.

But if you're A.J. McCarran, now you're going to deal with a rookie. It's like Brian Daibble is a brand new offensive coordinator. I don't know if he's really set up for success. Wes. Piggibacking off your bear's point, Mitch Trubisky and Patrick Holmes, to me, are the biggest. winner is a free agency. And in Trubisky's case, he looks so much like a candidate to pull a Jared Gough from the new head coach to the surrounding talent to out. There's so many similarities there. Patrick Mahomes, their GM has already come out and said this guy's one of the best players ever seen. Then they traded an MVP candidate to open up a space for him, went out and got Sammy Watkins for him. To me, this is, they're making Patrick Mahomes like

the centerpiece of their franchise. And piggybacking off a mark, I think the bills, okay, that's a winner. But the Giants and Colts with those two draft picks and so many teams still needing quarterbacks, they're winners too. They're going to get a lot of big. People are going to want to trade up for quarterbacks now. Subscribe to the Around the NFL podcast on Apple Podcasts and Google Play. A little Google Play pop in a big spot.

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America. Little handsome boys. No confirmation we'd be allowed in the subreddit room either. I'm not going to assume anything at this point. I think it's pretty safe to assume that we would be allowed in that room. Not going to assume it. All right. That's it. This Stan Hans is signing off. For a quiet storm, the mailman,

the old boss. Miss money bags behind the class. I haven't seen it. not yet. Lindsay Fulton behind the glass. Until Monday. Hey, everybody. And I'm Bucky here. And I'm Bucky Brooks.

On Move the 6, 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

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