NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Fun Free Agency Fits!

Episode Date: February 22, 2018

A room filled with heroes- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling & Marc Sessler- are at full strength after Dan’s return from The Little C. The heroes discuss the latest news from around the league, including the Dolphins putting the franchise tag on Jarvis Landry (7:00), the Panthers officially naming their “new” GM (15:00), Drew Brees and the Saints’ future and Trevor Siemien possibly on the trade block in Denver (25:00). Thanks to equal efforts on an NFL.com BANGER from Gregg and Marc, the heroes take a look at fun free agency fits! (28:00).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. The Around the NFL podcast is getting another pump in. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I'm joined by a room filled with heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What's up, boys? Hey, Dan. Oh, yeah. Welcome back.

Thanks. Good work on Tuesday, everybody. What were you up to in your time of time away? Don't pretend you. You absolutely did not listen to that show. I didn't. I did some scouting. I wouldn't blame you.

Sparrows? I listened, of course, to Colleen's new odds and ends drop. Oh, yeah. That was a banger. So checked and moved to the 25-minute mark. Mark saw that. And I heard the beginning of the show. I mean, you couldn't miss this.

That's number one on the billboard charts right now. It is. It is out. What a production is. And you mark the West Hollywood. Iron Eagle story at the bar that brought back

a lot of memories to the years there's more times that I could count as Mark going around talking to people at a bar and one thing I don't know

if we've ever talked about it but like when I'm around for these I kind of serve kind of like how the secret services job is just to stand around and just always have your eyes out

it's like that's what I'll do in those situations like all right where's the bouncer all right is the bartender looking at him is there some meathead

giving Mark a stink guy like are these girls This has not been happening quite a while. I feel like the one thing I've thought about this podcast of late, where Greg especially is appaining me as someone that is out on the town like seven nights a week, which couldn't be farther from the truth. I don't think it's a negative. It's not a judgment.

Well, from you, it is, Greg. It's a little bit. It's a little bit of a judgment from Greg, but not from these guys. I think it makes you the most entertaining. It's also the truth. Co-drinker I've ever been around. But I don't believe this theory that you have that it hasn't happened. I mean, it hasn't happened as far as I know of since I've been diagnosed with cancer

because I haven't been out with you in these situations, but it was definitely happening around this time last year. You need someone with you to help set you off and put you into that world. And when Wes got taken out of the mix, a big player in that arena was removed from the equation. Yeah, I feel like on average, it's probably one to three, maybe two to four times a year. We'll get the walk around. That, I think, is very fair.

yeah well we have some we have to make up for lost time yeah but yeah you have to ever be ever vigilant to make sure because you're you're when you're locked in and doing your rounds brown mark um you don't know how other people are going to react to it because it is an that is fair randomness that is unmatched in the bar scene of los angeles that's true but i would you know a lot of drunks get chasty and aggressive marks marks is just i mean where are we going to do you give me No, I'm saying when people get drunk. But Mark's thing is just plain. That's a big difference, though.

That was a huge difference in the way you phrased that. I'll think about that for the next six months. Thank you. I did not mean to phrase it that way. But I was defending you saying you're just after silliness in a good time. I agree with that. I agree with that. All right.

Good show, though, guys. You did nice work. I'm happy to be back because we've got a lot to talk about today. Some news going on. A big franchise tag landed this. week and some new GM is in place, a new old GM, Greg. And I know you have you have takes because on Twitter the old Greg Rosenthal was all fired up.

Yeah. As you've had enough of Marty Herney in my life. I don't need him back. And then a double-banger alert, Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal teamed up for their fun, free agency fits in the AFC, which Mark wrote, the NFC, which Greg wrote. I don't do the NFC. I don't touch that conference when I have the choice. And, you know, maybe some of that heat early on in the show was

Greg was implying that Mark took all the good players. Let's talk about that. Let's get that out. Oh, yeah. Well, Greg had other comments about this column a few days ago that might have been a little more heat. I don't think Mark would totally describe. I don't know if it's a double banger. Maybe it adds up to one banger.

It's probably two half bangers. So get to NFL.com right now. Rush over there. And if you hear from my voice, I miss the show, obviously. I had family in town, my sister and her husband and they have two children, all in the house. So there was a seven-year-old, a five-year-old, a three-year-old, and a one-year-old. 75% of them had a cold, little seizeback. And result.

Yeah. So, Greg, if you want to get going on that, go fund me. It sounds like a fun vacation. Yeah, it was a staycation. I do think we should literally start a Dan Hansis-oriented GoFundMe for your cold, just to see what might come in. Don't do it. Nobody do it.

Wes is back, went on a nice little trip, Wes. How was your weekend? It was glorious. It was a great three days in Hawaii, and I want to go back. It's a great place to go. A long weekend is a great idea, but it's a type of place where I was talking to the Paramore about this. Give me seven, ten days in the Pacific. deep. My energy was gone by Monday, but that's, I think, a cancer-specific thing.

So once I'm healthy, yeah, give me, give me seven to ten. Give me a lifetime in a one. By, you know, three hours into the trip, I was scheming ways to move there. All right. So there you go. That's today's show. Let's before we do anything, let's get into the news. And maybe for the last time, our producer, and we'll get to that at the end of the show, maybe. Lindsay Fulton, let's do this thing. Sweden, the U.S. and Norway coming to the line. Here comes Diggins. On the outside, Diggins making the play around Sweden.

Jesse Diggins to the line. And it is Jesse Diggins delivering a landmark moment that will be etched in U.S. Olympic history. They said Zolak to South Korea. Well, I like it. They said U.S. Olympic history. and I feel unfortunate that I'm guessing no one knows what that sport was even listening in this room. I have no idea. I would have guessed potentially hockey, but I thought the hockey team got deep-sixthed.

Jesse Diggins? What was it, Lindsay? It was women skiing. Oh, good for her and them. I thought it was a man, Jesse Diggins. It was the first time they won the gold medal in the sport. Excellent. I love the enthusiasm, though.

Very fire. Regular Kevin Harlan for the Olympics. Yeah, it's good to have that heat. All right. Let's start with the Miami Dolphins. They've made a decision. Jarvis Landry. He's coming back.

Or, well, he might not come back, but he is under the franchise tag. The team announced that they are putting their tag on the receiver. Rap sheet reported the tag will pay Landry approximately $16 million and is non-exclusive, meaning he's able to negotiate with other teams, but it would cost an outside suit or two first-round picks for the right to sign him. That ain't happening. But, Greg, your thoughts on this move. I know this podcast group, and nobody seems to believe that Jarvis Landry is a superstar. Are you surprised that the dolphins put this, slapped his tag on him?

No, because I think allowing quality starters in the prime of their career to reach free agency at this point is just bad managing of your team. It just shouldn't happen at this point. You should be able to manage your cap to keep basically every quality player that you, want to keep. I would assume you'd want to keep a player like Jarvis Landry. They might not be able to figure out a long-term deal with him. And that's why now we're already starting to hear that he could be a potential trade target for other teams that Ian Rappaport on Tuesdays are up to the minute, floated some of those teams. I believe he put the Panthers were one of them. The Bears could be one. Titans. The Titans. So we'll see if Jarvis Landry actually ends up there. But I think

they'd be okay keeping him under the one-year tag if none of that works out. I just find it interesting because the sense that I got from Miami was that they were pretty hot and cold on the Jarvis Landry experience beyond even just the playing field. And they immediately turn around and tag them. And it does scream trade to me. And Greg, we were talking about... The first day is weird. I just think it's a little strange.

And like, we were talking offline about how the... We were online. I hate that comment. We were online. We were not offline. We were on our chat client. But so was online. But we were saying that the NFL doesn't really want teams to tag and trade.

It's not something they look favorably upon. In theory, it's what, a rule, but it's a rule not enforced with no consequences, which seems totally inane to me. It must be February or March if the dolphins are overextending themselves with no direction and no plan. I hate this move. And they showed no interest whatsoever in extending him and working out a long-term deal. So you set his value at $16 million. You send him a message that you think he's worth top five wide receiver money via the franchise tag. And you're going to bring him back to run your slot receiver-centric bubble screen offense again that goes nowhere in the NFL.

I don't like this move unless the intention is to trade him. Well, you probably aren't bringing him back from the sound of it. Remember, they're the team. They love putting tags on guys that they don't keep. Olivier Vernon got a tag. They took it away. Charles Clay got a transition tag. Both of them were transition tags.

he wound up in Buffalo. So I think they look at it as a tool. And if I were them, I'd be fine paying him $16 million. My guess, and from reading between the lines, is that his initial thought of what he's worth is something that they're just not going to do because it's a three, four-year commitment to make them one of the highest paid receivers in the league.

But that's a lot different than just paying a guy to play well for one year. I mean, it's a little different to find somebody who's willing to pay $7 million for a tight end than $16 million for a slot receiver. I do wonder, the Ravens last offseason inquired about trading for him. Yet, if you look at their cap space right now, and there's probably some people that are going to move. But they've got bottom seven cap space at the moment. I think the one problem with trading him or trading for him is that you already set his value

at $16 million a year. Tough. I don't, I don't, I don't, that's for one year, though. That's not, I don't think he's necessarily going to make that or would expect to make that on a long term. I think he expects to make that deal. Moving on. Here's somebody that's going to make more than that. Oh, wait, let's hit a little breaking news.

Uh-oh. Right during the show. What's going on? I just figure it's Dolphins news, so let's break this out. Report is out there. Not a huge surprise from the Miami Herald. Julius Thomas and Lawrence Timmons will be released by the Miami Dolphins. This will open up some cap space in Miami to either keep Jarvis Land or make some other moves.

There's another part of that report that in Domic and Sue could be a post-June first release. He is scheduled to. have the third highest cap hit in the NFL behind Garoppel and Stafford this year, 26.1 million. That's incredible. Well, that's the thing. All these cap space figures where so many teams have a ton of cap space, that's even before most teams make all these cuts. So in the end, the Dolphins, if they wanted to keep Jarvis Landy, for instance, should have plenty of room. By the way, the post-Payton Manning, Julius Thomas, come back to us.

He got, Peyton Manning got a lot of people paid, Julius Thomas, near the top of the list. Yeah, you know, was that breaking newsworthy? That's the question. I think when you're on the Dolphins. No, what you can say is, oh, one other bit of Dolphins news. When you throw out the break, you're expecting something big. It was appropriate placement. Whether or not it was breaking.

They were the types of players when they actually signed those contracts that we would have had a second or third in the news. Like, that actually mattered. Did it deserve a place in the show? Absolutely. Did it deserve the drop? You don't appreciate Greg's debate. Incrementally lowering the standard for breaking news.

I don't like the phrase. We've had a lot of ridiculous. us breaking news over the years. The phrasing there is a little harsh. But just I wanted to kind of put it out there for debate. Okay. Let the listeners decide. Please weigh in. Tweet it, Greg, with your comments there.

Not the rest of us. Thank you. Anyway, moving on, Drew Brees. He is scheduled to be a free agent. I think a lot of people, almost everybody expects a deal with the saints to everybody. Even Greg, who's saying maybe there could be some issues and some, you know, posturing.

everyone believes Drew Breeze ends up with the Saints and continues his career and then likely ends his career there. Well, Breeze's representatives are expected to meet with the Saints at the Scouting Combine to, quote, try to hammer out what is potentially a short-term deal, rap sheet reported Wednesday on an NFL total access. Rap report expects the sides to find common ground on a deal that will fall between 20 and 25 million annually. Chris Wessling, your thoughts? I think it's noteworthy, not only that rap sheet said so nonchalantly, he is going to be the Saints quarterback, that he's not going

to the market, that they will work something out. It's also noteworthy that Breeze, who has been, you know, a vocal representative of the players union is not trying to break the bank to use rap sheets phrase, or is not expected to break the bank. I know. That's surprising. I guess I'd believe it when I see it, but if he's taken between 20 and 25, he's dramatically underpaid because anyone representing a quarterback right now wants to wait to see.

what Kirk Cousins make. And to me, Drew Brees is worth more at least for one season even than Kirk Cousins. He did not look like a guy who declined at all, despite his age last season to me. But he is a guy that did not have a problem capsizing aspects of their cap for years. So maybe at this point in his age, what are you asking for? You can have some phony six-year, five-year deal that no one's going to buy into? I mean, he's still going to get paid almost twice as much as Brady, even if he gets $24, $25 million. That's a little misleading, though, because Brady got so much up-front money,

he's been getting right around that same money on average three years. Okay. Right. Tommy's been doing fine. I think the whole narrative of guys like hurting their cap because they took a huge. I don't, I think that's... What about four years ago when he did it, though? I don't mean now. Right, but that's all the Saints' fault because they spent so much money on terrible other players.

The money that they spent on Drew Brees was great money well spent and he would have been worth a lot more if they wanted to get it. How many yachts do you need? Go get a Super Bowl ring. Moving on. Marty Herney is the Panthers General Manager, officially. The team announced Wednesday that Herney will be their full-time guy. He had been the intern GM since Carolina Canned Dave Yettleman last summer.

Herney was the GM in Carolina from 2002 to 2012. And of course, Herney was cleared by the NFL last week after an investigation found he did not violate the league's personal conduct policy. uh in regard to a situation a harassment accusation made against him by his ex-wife yes west is a safe you just had on your water there that was impressive while talking yeah yeah well you know i'm just i'm ill i'm under the weather i'm just fighting through the show right now that was and you have admirable massive juggling potential warrior is a warrior a warrior a warrior

that tag fits uh anyway gregg you are a little you weren't expecting more marty herney in your life and yet Here he is. Sandwiching the Dave Gettleman era, as it were. I mean, this is the guy who gave Jake Deloam an extension after the worst playoff performance I've ever seen in a big spot. And it was clear that his arm was done. And then had another couple of years of some regrettable moves after that. It would be like Sashi Brown getting hired by the Browns in five years. It would be like the Browns hiring George Cocaineus.

Or Doug Whaley getting a job. Like, I would have never, I just would have never, guessed that he would be a guy that comes back. And maybe they're just doing it because they don't really have an owner right now. And it's kind of just a band-aid solution. I don't know. Is he like a super interim GM now? I mean, he's a permanent he's a per he's the permanent guy. They needed a GM. Would it be like getting back together with someone that you dated in like 2003? Yeah. It's like it it'd be that odd and that's strange and that hard to explain to people close to you in a relationship that ended really poorly. And she's clearly not marriage material. Well, that's how relationships work a lot too. Like

you go through the relationship and then you break up and then as time passes you a lot of times tend to remember the better aspects of it. You forget the harsh chaos that was brought with it. You forget the John Beeson contract. Right, exactly. You forget the bad stuff. You remember the good stuff and maybe that's where we're at. You just don't see it in the NFL. I mean, outside of like sort of journeymen players that might circle back to the team that drafted them a second time, like bringing back a general manager the second time is hard. It's a hard. It's a hard, weird headspace on a team that is in a super awkward spot. It's almost maybe good for Ron Rivera.

He's the only consistent thing they have until maybe a new owner comes in and sweeps everything else away for the eighth time. It's good news for free agents, and I'm trying to think of guys that are... It's good news for anybody who wants to be overpaid. Because I can see them being very active this year, trying to get a winning season, like maybe a Sammy Watkins type if he gets the free agency. I think Herney will spend some money. Does a new owner come in, though, and just say, bye-bye, Herney, part two.

Not immediately, I wouldn't think But you figure he gets It'd be kind of exciting if that did happen By the way, Mark, even you, like you're Remember you had the woman that ruined your life And you were living in the desert in Arizona, homeless In like a van? Strong way to put that.

It was, I played a part in soon. She put a pause on your life, basically. Yes, I played a part in it, but yes. We've had conversations where you look back with some positives toward that situation as well. There are a few. I mean, it's not an exceedingly long bullet list, bullet point list. But, yeah. Some.

Some. Exactly. Moving on, Alshan Jeffrey, Jeffrey, Jeffrey's season-long heroics in Philadelphia came with a cost. Little Mark Sessler lead right there. Well, you're reading some copy from Sessler. A little copy, a little Sessler copy. I'm looking at your headshot, Mark.

I have been talking with the photo department I've been working on the Peloton bike I've been trying to watch what I eat I'm trying to drop 15 to 20 pounds get my new photo taken to be used on the website that way when the new season comes and all that progress is lost

and to go the other way well the photo stays where it is not that I think you need a new photo mark but this is a very old photo headshot because I can see you're wearing your tan blazer which has been out of a rotation. Hasn't been in my possession in half a decade. It's from like six or seven years ago,

but to Mark's credit, I don't know, he might look better now than he did in that picture. I don't think you really look worse. I think I definitely look better now. In that picture, you know about the cell house. That headshot is an odd headshot.

I blame myself for looking odd in it. You look fine, Mark. It's an odd headshot. It is not complimentary. But back to the point. Everyone, you know, if you want to get updated headshots, if you want to do what I'm doing,

Maybe we could have a fun, like, headshot day here at the office. I like the idea then. It's time. But anyway, Alshan Jeffrey's season-long horogues in Philadelphia came with a cost. Didn't they, Mark? Well, let's sign you up for an afternoon news shift and see how you like that. Go ahead. I set you up.

It did. I mean, listen, he got hurt. He got, I actually kind of forgot about this, that he got hurt in last training camp, tore his rotator cuff, which doesn't sound like a lot of fun. In August of this season, you're saying. Yeah, like this, in his first training camp with the Eagles, played through it to the point where they thought enough to give him a four-year extension, did an excellent job in the playoffs, helped to win a Super Bowl,

34-year a touchdown in the Super Bowl. And, I mean, I don't know. I guess it must have been a super serious version of a Rotator Cup injury. I'm not a doctor, but it's like, that to me seems like something that would be hard to play through as a receiver where you're extending your arm in every possible way. Painful, good for him. I had like microscopic tears a couple years ago in my rotator cuff and I couldn't sleep for a while. I don't know how he played a full season.

One thing I enjoyed with Super Bowl week I'll remember is Alshan Jeffrey's transition into this kind of I don't give a you know what attitude. And I think his, I heard from, I think it was from some of his teammates that were saying they were like watching some of his interviews on the team bus and just like cracking up because he just, it was like Alshan being Alshan. He was just like, I don't care anymore. I'm going to say what I've. want and he was trash talking a lot leading up to the game he was certainly doing it after the game definitely gained a lot of presence gained a lot of respect for like throughout the playoffs in terms of being a game changing wide receiver we knew that he had done at big seasons before but the guy's a star and i'm wondering you know if the the bears now that they have a young franchise quarterback maybe

they should have kept alshan around he guaranteed the bears a super bowl victory and they i i blame them for letting him get out the door yeah that's true uh moving on the cults have made it official with Adam Venetieri. Another Sessalon lead. I mean, you know what? Honestly, at this point, we're six, seven years of deep into this journey.

You've written this story four or five hundred times. There's only so many ways to get into these things. It's so true. I'm sorry. Vitaieri's return comes as little surprise. He told reporters late last season

he planned to advance to his 23rd NFL campaign. And that's where we are because the cults, this from Rapsheet, rap sheet busy this week. They have reached an agreement. on a one-year deal, according to a source informed of the deal. The Colts later confirmed the extension.

And Vittieri is in line for a record-breaking season. He is 57 points behind Morton Anderson for the all-time points lead in the NFL. I think he's a guy of Vintyariate's been talked about for a year. Oh, he's a Hall of Fame or what he did with the Patriots. But if you get this little record on top of it, it. Not a little one. It's a big one. How bad would the cults? How bad would the cults on offense need to be for him not to get this if he played 16 games? It would be another type of record. We'd be watching the worst NFL offense of our lifetime. I think he had over...

He has to stay healthy, which is not a problem for him. If he stays healthy, he's going to get this thing. I think he had like 120 something points last year and he needs 57. So barring injury or a really bad cult year. You're right, Mark. You're Martin Anderson. You just made the Hall of Fame shine off immediately like 14, 15 months later. Take them off the old top 101 list before it even starts. Where would he have been? I had them in like the 70s or 80s just because of the lack of depth of decent players. It's like at least with Vinatari, hey, here's your kicker.

You need a kicker? Chargers, for instance. Here you go. Something that can help your team. That's fair. Should I mention, by the way, I should mention that it's that time of year again, the scientist down on the lab. Old Zeus are hanging out in the kitchen, but can come down if he wants. Greg doesn't like it, but I can.

I have access. They're cooking up their top 101 list. Do we have? Is it 101 this year? It is 101. Yes. We've got to brand this right. Because it has been 99, 100, 101. But if we stay at 101, I think that that could really take it to the next level. It's a big highway, you know, around here in Los Angeles.

Big one. One of the biggest. That 101 needs to have some sex appeal, though. It's been Michael Vic, as we mentioned in the last show, like four times. Yeah. Probably not this. Well, I want it to be Jay Cutler. peek behind the curtain, who is right around 101? It's pretty great.

And Wes immediately, it was like, I wouldn't sign Jake Culler if I had eight different teams. Eight different teams. I wouldn't take Jay Cuttler if he agreed to pay to play for me. I don't want him on. I don't think any NFL team wants him anywhere near their roster. Cutler is a perfect 101. But the exercise he nailed by making it someone you can cling on to, what do you got at 101? Or are you not ready to build?

I have Frank Gore at 101. Oh, that's good. That was generous. Oh, a little shot at Greg Zinger right back Ed Greg One thing about I didn't have him too much higher actually

I think I had him in the 90s If the coach draft Sequin Barclay They will have someone on their roster Who wasn't born when Vinetary Started his career That's awesome It's pretty wild Yeah so the top 101

Free Agents list By the scientists Should be going live Either end of this week or early next week And we will talk about it on Monday's show Next week we're going to Indianapolis For the scouting Goes up Monday.

It goes up Monday. We'll talk about it on Monday show next week. And then we're off to Indy. We'll do two shows at the Combine. Good times. Trevor Simeon, last thing in the news. Next week's NFL scouting combine promises to deliver a whirlwind of chatter, gossip, and juicy rumors. The machine is already churning in Denver, where the future of quarterback Trevor

Simeon is entirely up here. How about this, die? Another mark piece. You're just simply, apparently someone worked here this week and someone did not. Anyway, NFL Network Insider Ian Rappaport reported Wednesday. I could type that in my sleep at this point. NFL Network Insider Ian Rapport in my sleep. I could be heavily drugged up and type that out in four seconds.

Expected to be available through a trade as the Broncos look to make big changes in their quarterback room. Some smart team will pick up Trevor Simeon for peanuts while someone else pays Mike Glennon money for A.J. McCarrant. I was looking at, outside of quarterbacks that are set to hit free agency, the list of ingrained backups right now. And Trevor Simeon, for all the hate on him last season, the better aspects of Trevor Simeon, I looked at potentially Jacoby Preset, if you really love him, or Nick Foles is the only two guys that I can think of right now as backups that I would want over Simeon. It wouldn't shock me at all if Simeon went Case Keenham on the league one year. I agree. The bills, people have guessed as a possible destination. He had some crossover with Mike McCoy, so maybe Arizona could make some sense.

And you're right. I could imagine at this point they would just take like a sixth round pick for Treversome in. Yeah, he's going to need to be surrounded with the kind of stuff that Keenham was surrounded with, especially a solid offensive line. But I think he can play. And it's Elway's ego probably tied into keeping Paxton Lynch. But are they letting the better quarterback out the door? Because everything we've seen from Paxton Lynch, I understand.

that maybe the potential there, it has been a wild hot mess on the field. Well, if you're going to draft the quarterback in the first round. You already say it's over anyway, isn't it? So what are you, why would you be holding on? I think they're assuming Paxton Lynch. They may be in a future world.

Let's see if Paxton Lynch ever develops. He doesn't have much value at this point anyways and that he's going to be the backup to whoever they hopefully, in their mind, sign in free agency. That's what's happening in the news. As you heard earlier in the show, Mark and Greg combined to write half a banger.

Two posts that equaled half a banger. No, that would be a fourth banger each. Half a banger each. We each wrote half a banger. I add it up to a full banger. I mean, that's a slight to say that we wrote a quarter of a bang. I misunderstood. Okay.

So you each wrote a half banger, it equaled a full banger. In theory, the reader will decide. We're maybe even being generous, but that's how we're touting it. The headline writer is not their best day. Free agency fund, comma, aFC, colon. And then, Greg, your piece, free agency fund, comma, NFC, colon. You take it up with some people downstairs. We don't get involved with the headline.

You just send in the copy. I'm going to crack some skulls downstairs about this. Then in the copy. You got to sell it, baby, to make it sizzle. All right. Mark, we'll start. We'll start with you in the AFC. We could jump around, right?

Yeah, let's just make the fun ones. Because all of them, I don't think we need, you know, every single one. Yeah. So I'll start. Where are the phone ones? Let's go through all 32. No, please do not. So I'll start with you.

I'll start with you, Mark. Anywhere you want to go. Which one to you, as you were writing it, you know, got a little hot in the pants. You said, ooh, this is a good one. I don't know if any of them gave me that sensation at the time. But I will say that I thought of you when I think people would have said, oh, of course he's going to give Kirk Cousins to the Browns and write some flowery paragraph how they haven't had a quarterback since Bernie Coas are. F that. I gave him to the Jets, baby.

I gave him to your Jets because I like when Dan asked if. Any of them made you feel hot in the pants? You immediately said, well, one of them made me think of you, Dan. That was sentence later. That was a sentence of two after that. I think the Jets make a lot of sense. They really seem, unless all of this is just, for some reason, you're putting up a smokescreen for no reason.

They've got the money. They've got the need. Mike McCagnan, I think if he doesn't make a big splash in the quarterback scenario this year, is gone. The guy is gone. You've already drafted two quarterbacks. And if you draft a third and he flames out, you're in deep trouble. So you go after Kirk Cousins, I think it's a fit.

Barring the fact that Kirk Cousins, as some people in this room believe, would never want to go there. Speaking of Mark's copy, this move has to happen because this fan base deserves a dose of human joy before mysterious interstellar object 2017 VR12 takes out Earth in higher a blink. There is a massive object. I've been doing some research. Another one, it seems like every two weeks there's an object heading towards Earth. this is the latest object that could wipe out humanity. So you didn't give the quarterback to the Browns like everyone expected,

but you did end the planet. Well, no, no, no, no. What my point was, I think it will pass by is every, I think most of these are probably fake. It's just like, quick, get your priorities in order. A big rock is maybe coming by, but it's like never hits, never happens. We keep going on doing the same priority.

That's the last thing. I'm just saying the Jets, they deserve, if you say this about the Browns, it's sort of the Jets. I mean, you got to go back to early China. Charlton when the Jets actually had a quarterback of note. You, and it would be very Jets if they won this like big time quarterback sweepstakes and then the world ended. It would be very Jets.

But like I think it makes a lot of sense. Or if he was just like the 17th best quarterback. Well, that maybe. We'll take it. That's, I'll take it. I will take it. No, but I think this is why it makes it. First of all, they're definitely going to go after him hard.

I think if your management, which I guess is Christopher Jots, a very good ownership set up for the Jets, not Woody right now, who's in England. or France or something. It's definitely the UK. You believe in Mike McCagnan, but maybe you don't believe him. It's all the same. Maybe the Christian Hakenberg thing spooked you in terms of quarterback acquisition

at this point. So you don't trust your GM a little bit to nail the quarterback pick, but hand out a ton of money and then let Big Mac do better work with non-quarterback positions in the draft, which he's had some success in the draft in his studio. And to his credit,

he took a ton of abuse last off season by releasing a guys like Dorel Revis and a bunch of other people that went on to do very little around the league to create this cap space. Yeah. If you're Kirk Cousins, though, Jeremy Bates have some history, I guess, that it could make some sense. Not much of an offensive line. Certainly not a history of success or great ownership.

I just feel like he's going to be able to get paid. If you're him, why would you make that choice? Unless it's just so much more money than the other teams. And maybe that's why you make that choice. All right. Throw out another one, Greg. Let's start with a guy that was in the news again from Rapsheet today. Sheldon Richardson, who he believes will not get tagged by the Seahawks.

I threw him over to Atlanta, running a similar style defense to the Seahawks. And a team that's going to want to replace Don Terry Poe and loves to make big splash, make bold moves in free agency. And to me, put Sheldon Richardson next to Grady Jarrett. and that's a defensive tackle duo that you're cooking with gas. Thomas Dimitroth, their GM, has a very rigorous policy on character. That's a fair point. I'm not sure. He might not look at it as a fun agency fit.

But you do. So he'd be cool with like. Although he did keep bringing back, you know, guys who keep failing drug suspensions. But this, yeah, I was going to say there was that one time Sheldon Richardson drove like 130 miles per hour with a kid in the back seat. But like, maybe he'd overlook. that. I don't know. In this case. If Richardson does get, it's funny how hard it is to really ruin your free agency value. And who knows, maybe we'll be wrong. But despite everything over the last few years with him

off the field and even on the field where he's been vaguely disappointing, I would expect him to make a ridiculous amount of money if he makes it to free agency. The one thing, though, is with how many good players do. With the rap sheet report, I mean, if you're not going to tag them, and that Seahawks team hasn't tagged someone since 2010, and it was a kicker. So maybe that's not how they'd like to do business, but you must feel pretty confident with both sides saying they want to make it happen that are negotiations already happening. A deal could be coming soon. Like, you're going to lose Shelton Richardson. You might lose Clive. You might lose, you might lose Cam Chancellor. Michael Bennett could be

gone potentially. Like, what is the state of this defense if you keep letting these guys go? Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman are two guys who people think could be available in a potential trade. I mean, you would think Richardson would be a guy in theory because he's younger that you would build around. Yeah, I think the deterioration of, or the exodus of star players in Seattle's defense is one of the stories of the offseason. Right. See if it, and we don't really know how many people it's going to be. Avril, we expect to get cut, hasn't happened. None of these moves have actually happened yet. The Earl Thomas thing has been very quiet, but I think there's I mentioned it a little on the last show

and I wrote about, I think there's an expectation from a lot of people in the NFL and insiders like Ian that there's going to be a ton of trades. And the Seahawks would be a team you would look to as being one of the teams that would be doing that. Here's an interesting one. On Mark's list, Malcolm Butler,

you know he's leaving New England. And they're going to have a void there and they just got embarrassed in the Super Bowl, their defense. So I would not be surprised at all if they try to make a big splash and add more heat to their secondary. You have Kyle Fuller, who finished his season very well with the Bears, getting a deal with the Patriots to help shore up their defensive backfield. I kind of like that.

You could see it. A pricey secondary there. Yeah. Not that. Is he going to get a ton of money, Kyle Fuller? How much money should any of them be getting after the Super Bowl we witnessed? I think Kyle Fuller is going to get paid. Yeah.

If he doesn't get the franchise tag, and I think there's a decent chance just because they have so much cap room and if they truly want to keep them around, it's got to be an option at. least. I think he's going to get paid because there's only so many above-average starting cornerbacks available. Malcolm Butler certainly would be one. I used them. I used, I reused Malcolm Butler, though. Where did you put him? I gave him to Detroit. Gave him to old Matt Patricia, Bob Quinn. They know him. They've seen him be a top 10 type of quarterback in 2015, 2016. He might be a by-low candidate, we'll see, because of everything that's happened. He had kind of a down year and the way that it ended, maybe he's not going to get paid. Are Malcolm Butler and Matt Patricia cool?

Well, that was the question. We had a network hit that got deep six due to other programming, but that was my question. That was like, Matt Patricia, who just had Malcolm Butler had to deal with Malcolm Butler being benched during the Super Bowl. So that was, was that a Belichick decision? And Patricia had to just sit there and have egg on his face? Well, I mean, even everyone's assuming that the Patriots, I think the way the Patriots run, they'd probably take Malcolm Butler back at the right price.

They're, you know, I don't know if they believe that whatever. he did. It was a decision that they made and they clearly didn't appreciate what was going on, but they're kind of a bottom line value type of team. And I believe if the price was right, I would hope that they would still want Butler. I desperately want the lines to become an interesting team. Yes. Step one, bring Malcolm Butler in. Step two, when a Dolphins cut endomic and Sue, bring him back. Now we're cooking with gas. Interesting. A lot of cooking with gas talk. It's a lot of that. Hot new phrase. I like cooking with a green egg.

Oh, yeah. With the green egg. Smoking with the green egg. Now we're cooking with charcoal. You know what I miss? Lump charcoal. I miss and Domok and Sue, like, committing misdemeanors on Thanksgiving. Bring it back.

You get them back in Detroit. Let's have some fun again. Let's get filthy. Matt Schaub may not agree with you, but. I've got a fit that I like here on Mark's list. It's not going to be up in neon lights like headlining the article, but Nate Sodor following that New England to Houston pipeline after the Texans traded Dwayne Brown, they have a massive hole at left tackle.

And if they want to pave the way for a Deshaun Watson bounce back season after the ACL surgery, you're going to need better pass protection. Nate Solder makes sense for them. He already played under Bill O'Brien, as Mark pointed out in the article. It's a fit that makes sense. They also potentially need a guard, another guard, and another tackle. So you've got to start somewhere. Solder could make an insane amount of money

because there are literally no other starting tackles available. If Matt Khalil can get 11. There's not another one. And here's a guy with a great pedigree. He's going to... He ain't retiring, put it that way. But he might have to make a decision. He took a below market deal to stay in New England last time around.

It was believed that was partly due, unfortunately, to his child who has, I believe, a rare form of cancer he's still battling with it you know he's in the boston area it's not something you almost want to speculate about but you know you have to it's a big decision to up and leave bring your family to a whole new place again i think there's some thought that that might be an influence on him just staying in new england well that's a different situation entirely i i think they make a lot of sense even though he is turning 30 and you know offensive linemen big dudes like that may not age well although andrew whitworth is an exception right there who knows maybe Silder plays well in his 30s.

The Texans could be, I feel like this has come up a couple times in the last few years. I feel like they're an AFC sleeper team next year if they have a nice free agency, have a nice draft class and things fall the right way. So go get a left tackle. I mean, Joe Thomas is 33.

And remember how they just in our lobby were playing that Patriots Texans game where Houston nearly nipped New England and took that thing. And they were one of the few AFC teams that I thought, despite their record at the time that they could overtake New England if they met him in the playoffs. They were that exciting with Deshawn Watson and so forgettable because of the disaster that occurred after. Yeah, they have a lot of work to do on both sides of the

ball, really. But with Watson, you feel like anything's possible. I'll throw out a quarterback, yeah, not quite like Deshawn Watson, but I think could get the home crowd excited potentially in Arizona. That's where I put Teddy Bridgewater. It's a total risk. No one knows if what he's going to be like and only the Vikings really know how he looked in practice last year, but that felt like maybe it would be a good fit for him and for them

just as a one year tryout. Let's see what this guy looks like. They're kind of starting from scratch at quarterback and it seems like maybe get a guy like Bridgewater, you draft someone and you see what happens. What about? Because they talk to that, they have no quarterbacks at all. So you get him and maybe you make a move

for someone like a Josh Allen where like you can, Josh Allen is probably not a week one. starter, although I feel like with every one of these guys are starting by week five and I'm done with that narrative. But like you could, you could, you may have Teddy free for even a season or more and start them and then you bring Josh Allen and down the room. Going back to the Larry Fitzgerald thing, I really think they're going to want to have a guy they could plug in who's a veteran that could make some noise potentially. Bridgewater makes sense as like a boom or bus feels strong because they're not going to give them a ton

of money. But Greg, you even wrote in the piece that you think he has the highest ceiling of any free agent quarterback available, which led to some scientist heat downstairs. I disagree, but why do you say that? Yeah, as did the editor, as did Wes. I think Teddy Bridgewater showed in his first two seasons a trajectory of a really strong starting quarterback, not unlike the trajectory that we've seen from a lot of talented young quarterbacks over the last couple years in their first two seasons, Marioita, Winston, similarly.

I think he's underrated in terms of his deep ball, certainly underrated in terms of what he added with his athletic. Now, is that guy coming back? I don't know, but no one knows. I'm not saying it's going to happen. I think it's in the realm of possibility that he gets a long-term deal at some point in his career that's great and that he does reestablish himself as a quarterback. I'm not going to put a limit on him that that's not possible.

And I think he's shown enough tape and intelligence and everything you know about him that he does have a chance to be a top 10 quarterback. What about the idea? How do we know he doesn't have a chance? How about the idea that the Vikings, I guess we don't know for sure, but seem to be okay with him leaving the building. Who got a better look at him in the past year? That will be telling.

We'll see what they really did. We lost Greg for a minute. Greg's comment was he wanted to see what will happen. So there you go. We'll see what they think. By the way, how about Dolphins fans remember, you know, them deciding not to chase after Drew Brees because of his injury 240 years ago? How did that turn out?

Sorry about that, by the way, Greg. Well, no, I'm wearing your head set. I don't like what Greg saying. Just hit the cough button on them. I thought we were going to just cut that part of the show out, but now it's just in. Now we're talking about it. Take the inverse of everything Greg said about Teddy Bridgewater, and that's what I believe. The exact opposite.

You're not buying Bridgewater's arc. Well, Greg's in denial about Teddy Bridgewater's arm strength, first of all. And I think he's probably the biggest injury risk I've seen at quarterback in the past, I don't know, 10 years, 15 years. But that's going to be baked into his contract. I'm not saying that you have to pay him $20 million a year. By injury risk, I mean, that really limits his ceiling. I don't think there's any chance he's coming back anywhere close to what he was before that injury. How do we know?

This is something that there's no certainty to me at all about. I mean, there's no certainty in any predictions like this, but this one especially... One thing we know is that injuries of that caliber lead to more leg injuries because of overcompensation. Who would you pour money into? Tim, Teddy Bridgewater, or Case Keenham? Sam Bradford. Wow. So speak on that, because I feel like no one's talked about Bradford this offseason at all as an interesting pickup. And he might be a guy that ends up in Arizona.

I think Arizona is a place where I could see a former Vikings quarterback. I don't know which one it's going to be, but it feels like one of them could be there. Another major knee issue. So why would you spend on Bradford after a season where his knees were so mysterious that he could move around, but they just refused to play him. Well, first of all, he came back and was immediately inserted above Bridgewater, which tells me that his knee is fine right now, or good enough to play. Second of all, as well as Keenham played last year, the best game played by a Vikings quarterback was Sam Bradford in week one against the Saints, and that's on top of a 2016 season

in which he led the NFL in completion rate and was statistically the best downfield passer in the league, or the most efficient downfield passer in the league. I think he showed true advancement as a player in those two years in Minnesota. And it might be a small sample size, but it showed me enough that I'd rather take a chance on him, much rather take a chance on him than Bridgewater. It's tough because his last time you saw him on the field was so depressing and horrible. And they thought he was ready to play again then. I think that was week five or six when they finally shut him down after that.

But you're right. Maybe he comes and has another healthy year and that'd be worth a lot. I mean, John D. Filippo, their new O.C., worked with Bradford before he was traded away from Philadelphia to Minnesota. That's either going to be good for him or not good for him. I think it'd be good. I think it might be. One other move I wanted to throw out there is Sebastian Janikowski, who's a free agent.

Seabas going to Tampa. I love it. I love kicker talk. You know, I love the Bucks Hard Knocks season. That team is being blown up, by the way, that so many people, myself included, really came to adore a lot of guys on the team. Chris Baker out of there, as we know, Doug Martin gone. You had the disaster at kicker with Robbie Aguio and then Nick Folk.

You get Seabas in there, some stability, and you get a name brand of kicker, which doesn't happen too often. That franchise is in a weird spot right now because they're interesting for what they're kind of in a transition phase, but they were so hard to watch last year. They were one of the most difficult teams to watch. But I kind of want to see what they do to turn that team around. Check out both pieces. two half bangers that equal to a banger, which for no other reason,

if you're just... That's the half-bangers. Oh, those are the bangers. Oh, those are the bangers. Oh, yeah. For no other reason, if you've ever wondered what a half-banger reads like, well, read either of those bangers. There you go.

What if they both wrote bangers and it makes it a double-banger? That's, well, self-scouting tells... I'd say someone wrote three quarters of a banger, one wrote a quarter. Whoa. Maybe I wrote the quarter.

I'm just saying, how do we know it splits down the middle. That's, that's assuming thing. I think we, I think we maximized what we could do with this piece. You know, it's ultimately just kind of throw in some darts against the board. This is able-gazing. It was kind of like, you know, in figure skating, going to bring it back to the Olympics. Nice callback. It's like some of them, they only have a total potential score that can get them into sixth. You know what I mean? Like, even if they're perfect, they don't, this is like that article. The total potential score can only get you, you know, just off the metal stand. There you go.

clicks disappearing by the minute All right, so we'll be back tomorrow Friday so short turnaround for our next show. We are taking questions for the mailbag. So hit us up, the Around the NFL our handles you can as well, but

also the Around the NFL Twitter handle. Just use the hashtag ATN mailbag and we will hopefully get to your question if it's worth a damn. You could be asking it terrible question. That's up to you. Here's an example of a terrible question. If the four heroes were stuck on an island, who would be killed first? We don't want that question. It would be

the lone survivor. Who keeps asking these questions? Well, it's just strange that the human mind is wired in such a way that that that question has occurred to 450 different Twitter followers. Why is that the one question ever? They always want to pit us against each other. That's what it's about. But it's always the island. It's always who would survive. It's always some type of dystopian hellscape where we have to murder each other Well, we're not going to answer that question ever So just stop asking it

But anything else is fair game You'd have to decide who would taste the best And that's a disgusting proposition Yeah, you would have to go back to meat That's disgusting, I imagine, no matter who the body is Well, Mark has tattoos so he would taste inky How many tattoos do you? I have like, what are you talking about?

Like one miniature tiny tattoo on my shoulder If I learned one thing from today's show is that Mark would taste inky. I don't know. I like that because then I would not be on the radar to be killed by you on said island. Well, my... Well, now we've answered that.

Now we're answering the question. I'm borderline gaunt, so I don't think anybody wants to be eating me. Like good news for Dan and Greg. Yeah, and no one's going to eat Greg. So everybody's just going to be feasting on my body. Well, lay off. I'm on the Peloton now.

All right. Eating the fat guy. That's what that happens. Are you happy? listeners. Oh, we've got a title for this episode, at least. We're eating the fact guy. So, yeah, we'll be back Friday. Mailbag

Friday. Fun times. That's it. This is Dan Hansa signing up. Oh, we'll talk about Lindsay's situation tomorrow. Signing off, Dan Hansis. Work Wide Storm, the mailman, the old boss, and Lindsay Fulton behind the glass till Friday.

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