NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Hard Knocks nominations

Episode Date: April 3, 2017

A room filled with heroes – Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Chris Wesseling, & Gregg Rosenthal – recap all the latest news from around the NFL including Cowboys general manager Jerry Jones giving the okay for other teams to pursue Tony Romo, and running back Adrian Peterson visiting the Patriots. Then, the heroes break down which teams they’d most like to see featured on Hard Knocks this season, plus a couple they’d like to blacklist from the show altogether.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the NFL podcast would win a pickup game against Daniel Jeremiah. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hanzas, and I am joined by a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What's up, boys?

Hey, Dan. It's actually, speaking of a DJ, he was up here in the studio when we got upstairs. Of course, he was a guest on Friday show. And I think he might have taken my advice. I think he might have started a podcast here. Sounded like it. So if that's the case, everybody look into it. if Dan has a new show.

Wow. He's leveraging our appearance into his own endeavor. Best of luck to Daniel Jeremiah. I miss this showdown between DJ and the rest of you. Some good feedback. People enjoyed it. It was kind of a one-on-one battle with Greg laughing like a jackal every time DJ put down my appearance. I got to check this out.

It's kind of a La Raville Magnifico. episode. Oh, uh-oh. A little bit. And I shared with Greg. I said, there's a thing where I, you know, where I come from, the Coaltown, it's called Home Team, that... He doesn't want me laughing at DJ's...

It was about the type of laughing that you were doing, and it was like, remember what team we're on. We're all in the same team here. You can't just jump around and defect. To be fair to Greg, I think I was probably laughing just as hard. Trust me. Trust me. I could pick up things.

Sounds thorny. It's good nature. from Wes, Colleen, a little on the fence, Greg, very clear. It was a mercenary in this. I mean, his whole bit was kind of a, you know, fantastic, you know, absurd bit. So I don't even know laughing hard at something so absurd. There would be no offense to be taken from that. It was, like, absurdist humor.

I feel like Greg is always picking up the pieces socially after, you know, completely destroying someone without trying to. That's also why I'm not, like, mad at Greg was upset that I was mad. after the show and even sent like a text later on like, hey, that was a fun show. All kidding aside, just to see if I was mad at him. But I know that, I know that

Greg, you know, sometimes in these social situations, you can get on people's radar, and I've learned that. And I love Greg. Yeah. Because I don't, you know, I don't pussyfoot around as much as you guys. That must be it. Well, way to diagnose it, Greg. So, yes.

Back in my cold town, we had a little called Bustin' balls, you know? Don't get me starting your cold town with gorgeous views of the Atlantic. You know? Yeah, that's Western Massachusetts for you. All right. Cow farms.

All kidding aside. Great show today. And big news. Because today's show, the Around the NFL podcast, is driven people by Hyundai. this is a little awkward i would say we were aware that there was a new sponsor coming into the fold uh in april but as things happen in the world west sometimes you you know you forget

when when the month changes over yeah and we would have loved to talk to mr flame about this first to be quite honest with you i'm sure well that was the plan this is a major surprise to him so Mark, I know you're extremely almost oddly close to Mr. Flame, the great Mr. F. If you could reach out to him, maybe we can... Oddly? I mean, you know, again, but yeah, I think we have to reach out to him. Here's what I do know, that over the last, whatever it was, how many months that he operated him in his high school class in the Hague, the Netherlands, operated as our sponsor, many lunches, many gifts, many things coming directly to the four of us and also to Sydney. what is Hyundai going to give us? Somebody took, you know, on your car tires,

the little plastic piece where you inflate a tire, someone took them off my car. If they send me four of those little plastic pieces, I'm not saying you have to, but as a gesture of goodwill to get this relationship going, four of those little plastic thingsies would be great. So welcome aboard Hyundai.

We're happy that you're driving us, according to the copy. Now, today's show, a great one. And Mark, reach out to your very, very close friend, Mr. F, and maybe we can broker some type of... What is your issue with the fact that I'm friends with Mr. F? Not an issue, it's just an observation that you've become more than passing email buddies. It's a little more...

Yes or no? Your bond is a little more personal than the rest of us. I'd like to see your research on this, but I'd say that I consider him a genuine friend, yeah. Facebook friends, we, you know... A genuine friend. Wish him well. So that's exactly what I'm hitting at. No, you're painting it like any friendship between two people

where there's any level of depth to it. There's something obviously wrong involved. It must just be, I must be using him for some reason or vice versa. Like, he's just a good guy. Now this is kind of digging into your own head right now. That is not what I would say. It feels like a little bit, you know, take it down a notch down. All right, all right.

So you are, you are just, can you at least reach out to him? That's all. I would be happy to him. Okay, great. Today's show will feature a breakdown of hard knocks. How about that? Hard knocks. There's some news today that HBO and NFL films,

they have, I guess, re-up their contract or commitment with each other. So not that it was something that was hanging in the balance or hanging in the air. We all expected another season to arrive this summer. But we will be getting one. And that gives us an opportunity to jump off and talk about some teams we'd like to see in, I believe is the, what is the 12th season of the groundbreaking HBO documentary series. So we'll go through that. We'll nominate teams.

I'll have some fun with it. That's what we do around here. We have fun. Hyundai, I've been reminded, not Hyundai. Hyundai like Sunday. Hyundai like Sunday. Everybody know that? All right.

We do now. All right. And maybe we'll have a special guest at the end of the show. We'll see if it works out. But let's get to some news, folks. It's WrestleMania. Grankowski's in the ring. Get to that a little bit later, too. We'll start, though, with the Dallas Cowboys and the Tony Romo Saga.

And what appears to be the next step in Romo disconnecting with the Cowboys permanently, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has reached out to all 32 NFL teams, letting them know that, quote, they are permitted to contact Tony Romo or his agent to schedule a workout, visit, or physical. This according to NFL networks, Mike Garifolo. Garifolo noted Monday the talks are to be limited to conversations concerning Romo's 2017-19 NFL player contract.

I'm sure that would be honored. Chris Wessling, can you tell me in your, what does this mean to you? Are we getting closer to finally Romo being out of Dallas, or is this just going to continue to drag on? I like the way you phrased that. What does it mean to me? Because to everyone else, it means last ditch attempt at a trade before workouts start. To me, not usually part of the tinfoil hat brigade here, but Jerry Jones has made comments in the past that he likes soap operas to extend throughout an offseason because of the attention it gives the NFL.

I mean, it's not a coincidence this news is released on opening day for baseball. He's dragging out, he is dragging out this Tony Romo saga for all of them. of March because it's good for the NFL to make news during baseball's time of year. And Jerry is, most people know this, but Jones is probably the most influential owner in the NFL. So Wes's theory here that he's working to juice the NFL makes sense because he's basically one step below the commissioner. There's some showmanship to Jerry Jones. He appreciates, you know, dragging things out, getting more interest in it. That's why he moved the Raiders to Vegas.

He moved the Rams to Los Angeles. He just wants to spice it up. He was instrumental in getting the other owners to agree that Vegas would be good for the NFL. I really don't think he wants anything to do with this whole thing about a good guy packed with Romo that you let him off your roster and he floats downstate to Houston. I really don't think Jared Jones wants Tony Romo to go to a Super Bowl level defense in Houston and get them deep into the playoffs. It's taking the attention in a state you dominate to a completely different place.

Right. I agree. And so it's just exhausting every possible avenue to find a different outcome than him landing on the Texans. I don't really see why any team that would be interested in Romo would change their minds in any way because they could schedule a workout with him. Like no one was really looking to trade him before. Why would they be now? What's the difference? One question about, and now we're hearing that the Broncos aren't really. in and it's almost like Texans or bust. I have a real issue with that in the sense that if Elway likes Paxton Lynch and Trevor Simeon,

why does that mean that precludes the Broncos from getting Tony Romo, who is at best, let's face it, a two-year patch and maybe far less than that. Why can't they continue to develop those two guys if you like them and also get Tony Romo and see how it works out? I think they could if the price was right. Yeah, I think Elway's shown the past couple of years that he wants a quarterback at his price.

He did it with Kaepernick. Kappernick refused the pay cut. He wouldn't pay what the Texans were paying for Osweiler either. And it makes sense for him to put it out there that they're not really that interested because he's not in a trade. And he kind of sees a situation where it sure looks like Houston cleared the decks for Romo and that Roma wants to play for Houston. So he's not going to let it out there.

Now, if a situation happened where suddenly Roma was sitting out there and maybe his price went down, I found this interesting, though. The most important part of this news to me is that I think, think Tony Romo is planning to play football because Jerry Jones said he met with Romo last week and he was going to meet with him soon after the owner's meeting. Then this news comes out. I think it's safe to assume that Tony Romo and his representatives are, we're on board with whatever this news is.

And to me, that sounds like a guy who's trying to take the steps to play football, not to not to announce. Moving forward, Adrian Peterson, still out there. The only team he's connected to right now is the San Diego Greybeard's. But he did meet with the New England Patriots on Monday. Rapsheet reported it was the veteran running back second free agent visit of the offseason following a meeting with the Seattle Seahawks. Last month, he left the Patriot Way without a deal,

according to Peter Schrager of Good Morning Football. But that doesn't mean, Mark, that a deal won't get done with the Pats. Do you think that would be a good fit? Let's start there, Patriots, Adrian Peterson. I think it's one of the few teams that seem like it would be a fit. I mean, Wes has been talking about that link for months, and it makes some sense. I think a visit like this didn't need to end in a signing to be the only way that you get Pete. They're doing their homework.

The Patriots do care about the person, too. And if you look back, Tom Kerr and your boy, Greg, wrote an article where he included some of the comments that Jonathan Kraft made about Adrian Peterson when the whole – child abuse thing went down, whatever we want to call that. And he called it unacceptable and abhorrent. So that's two years ago, and a lot of people have come around to Adrian Peterson's version of all that, to some degree. Others have not.

I think that is a factor, even though it's not as much of a hot button issue as it would have been right after it happened. But you're signing up for the person. They don't want Joe Mixon, for instance. They're not interested in him. So it's not just take anyone no matter what they represent off the field. Well, Tom Curran, you mentioned that. article. I mean, his theory is they're just doing

a solid to Peterson's agent. That's it. Ben D'Agra's his agent used to be one of, if not the most powerful agents in the entire NFL. He's coming off a suspension. Meanwhile, his biggest client can't get a job, and

you know, they're helping him out, and they're getting some information. You know, Jeff Howe of Boston Herald also reported they weren't comfortable enough to, you know, they didn't make any offer during this trip. So I think that speaks a lot. That's a conspiracy theory I can buy. There's a part B

to that theory, too, that they're also sending a message to Lagarde Blunt, lower your asking price, or we'll bring in Peterson. Moving on. Hey, remember Wes? Remember Martavis Bryant? I do. Remember that dude? Well, he's in the news. Appearing on Thursday's edition of Up to the Minute

Live, a program we will be on Monday. It'll be a little late in the game for you to watch that, but hopefully later in the week as well. We are, I think it's what, it's two to three every day. You know, you could always find these clips on NFL.com. They're searching out. Anyway, Rapsheet was on that program and said that the suspended Steelers wide receiver

believes he will soon be returning to Pittsburgh. Here's what Rappport had to say or report. When you speak to people close to him, they are confident that in the near future, he will get word that he has been reinstated by reinstated to the NFL. Chris Wessling, you wrote this piece up on around the NFL. Remind people, I don't know why I'm talking like this. Slow down a little bit. Chris, can you remind people why Martavis Bryant is such a special player?

He's nicknamed the alien because there's no one else like him in the NFL. He's got some Randy Moss qualities to him. There's a 6-foot-4 guy who runs, you know, probably right around a 4-440, can leap out of the building and make spectacular catches like he did with that one that was through his legs. Everything's changed in the last month. Mark Sessler tweeted out this quote from Kevin Colbert on March 1st. Me, Mark, right here? Some hack with a Twitter account.

Martavis was a great asset to us when he was available. That was just four weeks ago. And now Adi Kinkwabala reports that the Steelers expect him for the start of offseason workouts. Well, the phrasing was legitimate hope. April 17th. So they expect in the next couple of weeks for Roger Goodell to, reinstate Martavis Bryant. Quite a weapon.

I mean, we talk about the AFC as being top heavy in terms of having one or two teams you can take seriously. For me, at least, Steelers are always one of those teams. And when you add that element back into an offense that also has Antonio Brown and Levion Bell and Big Ben, if Big Ben actually returns next season. I was going to say, like, yeah, Big Ben,

we believe you might retire. Right. Maybe Lederius Green, who's battled concussion issues. But he plans on playing. And the few games he played last year, He was a great fit for that. Well, and they couldn't replace Bryant. You know, you wouldn't have thought losing your number two receiver,

albeit maybe the best number two receiver in the league would be that devastating. But that spot ended up being a gaping hole of drops and injuries and just out-of-sync plays by Sammy Coates and Mark Sweeten. And they never really found him, but they did find a slot receiver and Eli Rogers. So suddenly you put Brian back there, and that's the best-looking offense in the league along with the Patriots. Hubba, hubba. Moving on, the Vikings have some more Teddy Bridgewater insurance. Minnesota agreed to terms with former Rams quarterback Case Keenham, a one-year, $2 million deal. Mike Garifolo reported, San Bradford is going to be the starter.

He's locked in there. He has another year left on his deal, I believe. But Teddy Bridgewater, who suffered that devastating freak knee injury last summer, it is no guarantee that he'll be back next year or back at all. So we'll see. I think he posted a video with some progress on social media last week, but it was a devastating injury for Bridgewater. Greg, now Case Keenham enters as the backup.

What are your thoughts? Just that they're not counting on Bridgewater, and how could they? But this, I think, drives the point home that they wanted it. Not only did they want, obviously you're going to have a backup quarterback, but they wanted someone with experience. I mean, they wanted what they would consider a real backup quarterback because they have no idea if Teddy Bridgewater is going to play. Mike Zimmer said last week when asked about Bridgewater ever playing again,

he said, I honestly have no idea. You got to keep planning. You got to keep planning then. That's crazy. I mean, here's my question. Like, let's say you go into, I guess you could IR them, but do you ever just have to cut bait with him if the report is just that negative by the end of the summer?

I think it's so early, no, I don't see why, because why can't you just. Not right now. I'm saying if you can't a conclusion, he could not. play again. Yeah, I mean, if that, if you felt strongly enough, he's not coming back to football, but I don't see why you wouldn't wait a whole another year just to see. From what we heard about the severity of the injury, it's typically in these situations, it's not, you know, there's specifics to every injury. I don't want to group them all in one category, but when you have what's deemed a devastating knee injury, it feels like 50-50 with these

guys. You can be Navarra Bowman where you get back, it'd be Marcus Latimore, where you don't, and you just never know until the process plays out, and it's still ongoing. Moving on. Hey, Zach Brown. Oh, another gray beard team member. And a reminder, once a gray beard, always a gray beard. So people that tweet at me when these guys start coming off the market,

hey, you got to replace so-and-so. No, it's a fake team, dummy. He's on the team. That's it. Did he ever make even a start? Daddy's not going back and editing that 10 times over the next two months. A little bit of work. What's that thing goes out the door?

It's out the door. See, yeah. Anyway, the Redskins agreed to terms with inside linebacker Zach Brown spent last year with the Bills, just 27 years old, coming off the season where he established career highs and tackles and forced fumbles. And Wes, this is a player that at this stage of the game, I like this pickup for the Bills. I love it. Excuse me, the Redskins. I love it.

He was ranked 20th on our top 101 free agents. Only Adrian Peterson and Jonathan Hankins remain from the top 20s. So this was a good signing. He was among the tackle leaders all year last year. And if you go back and watch the, I believe it was the week four game against the Patriots. He had like 18 tackles. It was one of the best games by an inside linebacker all year. Wes is going to be telling his grandchildren about this game.

I mean, you love this game. I actually remember when you were watching it. I think you were watching it at work on Game Pass. And you were just like, I never seen a linebacker play like this for this game. That was a shutout win if people remember. Is that how West talks? That's my impression of Damasek's impression. Nobody is more abused in the people trying to speak like someone than Wesley,

who is just reduced to like some sort of mindless person with literally no education. Chewing on grass. I'll take that and counter you with Damashek's impression of me, which maybe you haven't heard. It doesn't know about too much. But it's a lot of, well, I don't really know about that. Checks out. As time goes on, anybody that does a Wes impression.

and gets more and more country. Eventually, it's just going to be like a deliverance, like the kid with a messed up face playing the banjo that's going to be west. That's true. Redskins, you know, we killed the Redskins for having a bad off season, and they have. It is worth noting, you know, Brown is a nice pickup at a position in need,

and their biggest losses everyone, you know, really talked about, were a wide receiver. And you look at their wide receivers. Terrell prior, they look pretty good. Jameson Crowder, Josh Dotson, if he can get healthy, Jordan Reed, that's a great for, you know, receiving option group.

So, yeah, maybe they're not in such bad. Moving on. Nicest thing Greg's ever said about the Redskins. Maybe they're not in such bad shape. We are in the... What an olive branch. Sorry. Huge olive branch, Greg.

Very classy, Greg. But, you know, we, now we have to make up, you know. Who? You and I? Yeah. I told you. I, because I know you and you're in the trust tree. That's more insulting than me laughing 15%.

I can take it. No, I can take it. take it because you're in the trust tree and I could step back and be like not a lot of people in that tree yeah that's true it's true if you're not in the tree and you do something to upset the old zooser and I'm not saying this is like a positive trait of mine then you're in trouble like probably you'll never get off the list but if you're in the tree you get a significant amount of rope before you're hanging from you put it that way a lot of next metaphors here you're uh yeah you're like I mean you're like mr. Miyagi pruning the bonsai tree you're

tree is pretty thin these days. Not a lot of new members coming into the tree house. Gronk talk. Spring of Gronk it is. In the early days and I feel like we're in a post-Gronk world in terms of documenting his off-the-field stuff in his early years it was legitimate fun and you'd read profiles where he would show up at Keggers and you know be spotted on a dance floor like

doing backflips or the brother. or just being in a wrestling match in the middle of the street. But now he's a little more streamlined and all these things are, they seem to be an extension of the Gronk brand. Perfect example. He showed up ringside at WrestleMania 33 on Sunday.

And he's good buddies with a pro wrestler named Mojo Raleigh. And they worked him into the script of the match. I don't want to break K-Fabe here. But they worked him into the script and he ended up dropping a shoulder, kind of like a running shoulder slam-type move onto another wrestler named Jinder Mahal.

And it all started when... These names sound made up. When Mahal threw a beer on Grunk. The man's name is Ginger? J-I-N-D-E-R. I think he's a wrestler of Iranian descent. Be careful, Dan. I mean, what a surprise for Grank

thinks he's just... showing up to enjoy a nice sporting event. It gets caught in the middle of it. It's unbelievable. I remember that move when Hillbilly Jim pulled it. Sure. Hillbilly Jim had a couple brothers, too. Uncle Elmer?

It was real. I don't remember this. Ginger, by the way, is from Calgary, Canada, but his nationality is Indian, so a little far off there. You're trying, though. I see an effort on your part. The effort is absolutely there, and that's important. That's important.

Anyway, so Gronk, and then he showed up the next day. So that was Sunday in Orlando. Monday in Boston, he showed up at opening day for the Red Sox, where Tom Brady, who was presented his missing Super Bowl jerseys earlier in the day by Robert Kraft, which was documented by the team, of course, with both still-in-motion photographers. Brady held up the jerseys on the field at Fenway Park

and then Gronk swipe the jersey away from Brady and ran away. And then Tom Brady, this is worth checking out. It's kind of funny. Tom Brady chases, runs after Gronk, and tackles him behind second base and retrieves the jersey once more. Great fun. A little calculated, maybe not as natural as the old summer of Gronk antics, but I'll sign off on this one.

He has great potential about 10 years from now, I think, as he's nearing 40 to be one of the most ponderous public figures of our lifetime. not now not now i get it i like gronk but i mean can you imagine this guy's midlife crisis when it comes around and what sort of social media platforms we have in our world then it's going to be rugged on a positive note he's not moving like a guy that people were afraid might never play at a high level again because of back surgery said he'd be ready for camp they're moving pretty well there was a lot of discussion on twitter at the time during the russomani but like what is bill like they're shocked like how good do you have to be to be able to get clear into the

do WrestleMania, you know, no other Patriot would be out. And one response was like, he probably didn't tell them at all. He's just out. Like, he's done other things like the, I think, ESPN magazine cover when he was naked or something. Like, he's not telling the team. He gets away with it. He jumps, he climbs into the ring.

You could watch a video on the end around where I wrote about it. He climbs into the ring and does a running sprint and levels this guy with his shoulder and Ginger Mahal, who's Canadian of Indian descent. is six foot five and 230 pounds of pure muscle. Wait, is that wrestling height and weight or real height and weight? If you look at the video, he's bigger than Grunk, so it seems pretty legit. And that's like running into a wall, essentially, like four months removed from back surgery. That's all I'm going to say.

Dan, what would have been a bigger fantasy for you in the off season to have Tom Brady tackle grunk in both of their bodies just physically crumble and they're done? It did cross my mind because it was surprising. pat on pat crime yeah it was surprising to me that brady actually as part of the bit at fenway tackled gronk they're hugging each other there's actually the apse shot photos and at one point like brady's hand is uncomfortably uh close to gronks we're getting back into that region for you yeah is it they closer than i am to our former sponsor mr flame well you tell us i told you that that's how you took where he was going with that you thought that that's what i was getting

i typically no i do not think in that case. But I typically know Dan has... It's going on up there. Coded language for all sorts of things, and that got into a certain wheelhouse. Let me lean on the kissing cousin for this. Wes, I've simply said that Mark would be the best person to reach out to because he's developed a more personal relationship.

That's all. That's what I got out of it, that we all four of us like Mr. F and are big fans of him, but Mark has carried on more correspondence with him. Now the way that was described, I will sign up for entirely. Well, I mean, I'm just saying I didn't say much more than that either. You put a sort of a ring of suspicion around the whole thing, which, you know. I think it's the word odd that got Mark Lewis. It got on your radar.

It did. What did it get on yours if I were to subscribe a friendship that you have with someone is odd? Yeah, I guess because he lives in the Netherlands and you've never met, it's, I should have said unusual. Would that have been better? Not really. Strange. Different? Quirky?

Quirky. Well, none of those. And finally in the news, Cam Newton and his wife, is Cam married? Let's see. I can get myself in any more trouble here. Cam Newton, wife. Looks like it says partner, according to Google. Kia Proctor. Anyway, welcome the child to the world this weekend.

Her name, Sovereign, Dior, Cambella, Newton. It's a mouthful. Beautiful name. Sovereign. And in case you just want to know, or maybe just to brush up on your vocab definition of sovereign, a monarch, a king, a queen, or supreme ruler, person who has supreme power or authority,

a group or body of persons or a state having sovereign authority, or, and this is what I think she was named after, a gold coin of the United Kingdom discontinued after 1914. Oh, yeah, it's that last one. We fought wars to get rid of monarchs. That's what's happening in this. Guess what? I got another ad here for us. All right.

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Yep. It's top secret information that said they weren't going to share it with others. I need some modal in my life. All right. Moving on, let's talk a little hard knocks. Let's do it.

Oh, there it is. What a second. Yes, the new season of Hard Knocks coming in August. We'll find this info. Mark Sessler wrote a banger. Lead, Hard Knocks is sticking around for a long haul. I would hardly call that a banger. It's like a four-graph PR release that they summarize and put my name on.

This year's five-episode season scheduled to launch on Tuesday, August 8th, which is right around when it always starts. and the announcement came that they're staying in bed together. That's great. But now let's break it down. There has not been a team name yet. Last year, the team was announced, you know, the Rams, as we recall, a little earlier. But usually it happens later in the spring. I'm thinking around late in May.

But our job, one of our jobs, does... Had that Miandis read go. What did you think about it? Did a very solid job. We're going back to that. Yeah. Is that, is everyone comfortable

with the situation? I like the product. I miss Mr. Flame already. We got to talk to Mikey. I hope he's not angry. We've only seen nice sides of Mr. Flame. Maybe this is when we see the dark side. It's possible.

And this came very abruptly with no notice at all. No, I would be angry. I mean, what has he done? He's been nothing but a glorious sponsor. And then one day, poof, he's out of the game. and we double up on new sponsors. Well, we look a little mercenary.

Greg? Greg loves it. I, you know. Greg is a mercenary. You'll learn that Friday. Yeah, you know, maybe Mr. Flame, he had a great run. What more can you ask? I don't know.

All right, let's keep moving. Anyway, so Hard Knocks. There is a whole system to Hard Knocks, which we'll get to in a little bit, whereby a lot of teams can be excluded from the process, though you can also, any team can volunteer to be on the show. I think the Jaguars, or we've kind of heard whispers that the Jaguars have been begging to be on the show for years and years.

Maybe that's just an unfair rumor. But for the most part, there's a general sense that teams are kind of plucked to appear on the show, maybe sometimes against their will. We'll see what happens this year. So why don't we talk about Hard Knocks, and specifically who we would like to see your number one choice

factoring out who has to be picked who can be picked who's off the hook let's go around the room here and I'll start with you Mark Sessler I've always wanted to see

my favorite team the Browns on hard knocks and here's one of the major reasons August is the last month that they have to be relevant and I beyond that honestly, that's been the case year after year.

Once the games start, all the off-season build-up and drama, and they are typically a pretty interesting team in the off-season. You'd allow it to crescendo for once because the minute the games start, forget about it, that's when we focus on all these great teams and organizations that consistently go to the playoffs. I think there's a lot. There's also, in many years, there would have been a case for Cleveland to be an interesting target because you've got this new front office

that's trying to do things in a way that no other team has done it of late. You've got Hugh Jackson, who was great during the Bengals, Art Knox. He was fantastic on it. He'd be a good personality. Jimmy Haslam is an owner that would be intriguing on camera. I don't think we still, there's a lot of preconceived notions about him. You'd probably have Miles Garrett, the number one draft pick. You'd probably have a rookie quarterback at number 12.

You'd still have basically the age-old storyline of the team trying to tug itself out of hell. And you'd throw in a Josh Gordon potentially. There's a lot of moving parts here. And I do feel like we've seen certain teams sort of over and over. And this would be, I don't know why they've never gotten on it, but it would be a team unlike any other in terms of they're not the most successful. They are the least successful. How do you rise out of the ashes?

I like it. I think there's one reason why we haven't seen them yet is if you hire a new coach, you can stay off the show for a couple of years, I think. And they hire a coach. That's every other year for them. Literally, they've been doing it for like a decade. So they've kept themselves on that list of teams that can avoid being on the show against their will. You could have a little Brock situation.

Tony Grosy in this angry contingent of beat writers. I just think there's a lot of anger and hope and passion all mixed up into one. I think it would be an interesting team. And looking at the list, and there's only eight on an article that Dan wrote, you can find who are the teams the NFL can man, they can compel them to be on the show. They can make them be on the show, and they would have no other choice. The Browns are one of those eight, and looking at that list, I thought it wouldn't totally shock me if they were the Hard Knocks team this year.

Mark sold me. It wouldn't be number one on my list, but it would be a fun one. I thought they would be boring, and then Mark sold me on it. I thought that was pretty compelling, especially with the number one overall pick, and then a rookie quarterback also, that could be an interesting. It could be the closest thing Joe Thomas gets to the playoffs. No, you're not wrong. I will amend what I said If you hire a new coach

It keeps you out of the mix for that year So the Browns are on the list this year And the list is eight teams That can be I like your use They're compelled Slash told Fairs, Buccaneers,

Bounds, Colts Eagles, Ravens, Saints and Titans All can be forced to be on the show But anyway So the Browns I like that choice I liked it the last couple of years I liked, it was always interesting to me when Mansell was in the mix.

He's obviously not there anymore, but plenty of good storylines. Wes, who would you want to see on the show? I want to see the Patriots, the defining team of the era, like the 60s Packers, the 70s Steelers, the 80s 49ers, the early 90s Cowboys. This is the team of the era. You know, every Friday during the season, we get a glimpse of the real Belichick, not the one who's buttoned up and refuses to speak to the media. But Friday afternoons, he's in a good mood. and he outlines what's going on with the NFL that week or what's going on with his opponent that week

and it's some of the most fascinating football conversation going if we could get a peek at that, that would be cool if we'd get a peek at how driven Tom Brady is to mow down age barriers, why do the Patriots value Jimmy Garoppolo so much? Do his teammates really think he's that good? I think there's all kinds of issues. And the defining team of its era, as Dan has said, has now clicked into win now mode.

after they won a Super Bowl. This could be the best Patriots team of the Brady Belichick era. I think that's pretty fascinating. More Patriots in your life, Danny. Well, it's not going to happen for the simple reason that they're way too controlling of their brand. Well, couldn't they be compelled by an NFL that they've gone back and forth with? Couldn't the NFL say to them? The NFL and the Patriots are not on a great footing.

I don't think they're off the list. If you make the playoffs in the last two years, you're off the list. But, well, strangely, though, if you really want to imagine what it would be like for the patrons on Hard Knocks, there was that random season-long documentary about, I believe, the 2009 Patriots. Do your job. That was, what was it? Wasn't it do your job? Yeah. It was really on Belichick.

It was unbelievable. Oh, no, wait. We're mixing two of them up, actually. No, one was about the 2009, I believe it was. Yeah, they lost to the Ravens in the playoffs. It was that year. It was the year after Brady came back from the ACL, so it was 2009. That was a football life, actually.

They went under that banner, even though it was totally different. It was a two-partner, I think it was. But that was, if you want to know, you'll never see them on Hard Knocks, but if you want to know what it was like, it was focused on Belichick, but it also had a lot of moments like Brady in Belichick's office. I don't think, especially with all that transpired in the last couple of years, I don't think the Patriots would ever sign off on NFL cameras having that type of access ever again. But, you know, it would be great, though.

Even as a Patriots hater, it would be fun to see. behind closed doors, so I get it. You're carrying the water west for your favorite team, but I don't think it's a bad choice. Well, I mean, you have your jets. I like interesting football teams that are well run. Right. It's not, I mean, it's kind of fake fandom.

It's not a fandom at all. It's just, this is what I like about football teams that are good at what they do. You're a fan mercenary. That's what you are. I mean, call it what you want. I just like the sport. You like a bad football team.

I like the sport too, but I also have a loyalty to a team. You jumped off of your team, and now you jump around whoever's good. I make no apologies for it. I'm not, you know, accusing you. The Titans weren't good, but I jumped around to them. I jumped around to interesting teams. When you are like 91 and 87 or whatever your age difference is,

you're going to be having the same exact conversation. No, you know why? Because West will come back to the Bengals one day. That's not happening. One day, when he's soft. I think when he settles down and has a kid and his son's like, Papa, I want to watch football with you. I'd be like, hey, you can still watch 58-year-old Tom Brady,

who's still in the Pro Bowl. Just think about that, Wes. We stole the Pro Bowl then? I'll throw one out there. Dallas Cowboys. And I'll tell you why. It's not going to be for the reason you think. A lot of people will be like, oh, the Cowboys, blah, blah, blah.

You know, they're the America's team. No, I'm digging in a little deeper than that. because I believe, in my opinion, the Cowboys are, you know, set for a painfully disappointing 2017. And I want to be on the ground floor, baby. Interesting. I want to look into this. Their confidence, can you imagine the confidence coming out of that building right now, the self-belief within that complex and what this team will be achieving.

And I just want to give a little history lesson for people. And I know these things are not necessarily, you know, they don't all tie together. But the last five seasons, the Cowboys have had a double-digit win total. 2003, 10 and 6, 2004, 6 in 10. 2007, 13 and 3, 2008, 9 and 7, missed the playoffs. 2009, 11 and 5, 2010, 6 and 10. 2014, 12 and 4, 2015, 4 and 12. By transitive properties, 13 and 3 in 2006.

Oh, yeah, baby. 3 and 13 and 2,000. You just want to see it all burn down. Some people just want to watch the world burn. That's me. I want to see it. And here's some of the other positive things about it. I think they're going to be in that practice facility, that brand new practice facility.

I like seeing those things. They have a practice facility that's worth more than some stadiums. And I want to get behind the closed doors there. Jerry Jones is going to be all over that thing. And I like Jerry. Like some owners, like you brought. up Jimmy Haslam. I would imagine he would potentially stay in the shadows a little bit. A lot of

owners aren't really out in front for the Hard Knocks season, but you know, Jerry's a whole different situation. Maybe we get on the Jerry bus. That's fun. Jason Garrett, he's the biggest issue here. Huge dud. Actually, the biggest dud on this program since Mike Smith

and his Tevas. Tevas? Tevas? We never did figure that out. I think it's Tevas. Like if you want to talk about like the anti-power power rankings for head coaches on hard knocks. It's basically Mike Smith in 2014 and I forgot his name.

Joe Philbin in 2012, I believe. Jeff Fisher wasn't doing too much for me either. Yeah, that's true. What was... Joe Philbin's legacy was really as the guy who cleans up after the room when people leave it. It's like picks up little pieces of paper. They're walking around being the wrong business.

Picking up gum on the practice field. and telling people to tie their shoelaces. That was the most exciting thing about Philbin on Hard Knocks. Anyway, so you get the stars, you got Des, you got Zeke, you got Dak, you got stars, you got drama, and a foreboding sense of general doom. Give me the Cowboys. Well, Jerry Jones, you know, has done Hard Knocks twice before, and the last time they were on, you know,

might be the reason why he would be afraid to do it because they could not be compelled, but they could raise their hand and say, hey, we want to do it. and I would assume the NFL films would love that. They did it the last time they were coming off 13 and 3 with T.O. and Tony Romo and Wade Phillips as their coach. And I think it was the single most disappointing season

in the history of Hard Knocks, maybe not the worst, but probably in the three or four worst, but the most excitement going into it, wow, this is going to be great. Tony Romo, T.O., like this awesome team that just lost a heartbreaker to the Giants and the playoffs, and it was just kind of a season that nothing really happened. it has potential to be less than you'd think it would be

I feel like we've been there done that with the Cowboys a little bit it would be you've got new players in there it would be intriguing to see these young guys behind the scenes but you know it also reinforced the idea that the NFL is truly only focused on about five or six teams I don't know if the Cowboys want to show behind the scenes with the Zico Elliott right now well that's fair by the way Cowboys were on it in 2002 which is ancient history

and it was a different show frankly back then I don't really count that and then 2008 so as Greg alluded to and that was you know almost a decade ago so it's not like it's like oh we just had the Cowboys on the show everything's different there with the exception of the owner at this stage Greg well I think we could talk a little after this about teams we actually think we'll be on and so I'll admit that this team has no chance to be on but it's a team I would personally want to be on more than any other and that's the Pittsburgh Steelers the first thing in hard not is, do you have a compelling head coach? There might not be a head coach in the league. I'd rather see for five weeks behind the scenes than Mike Tomlin. Why is that? I just think he's a dynamic personality. He has charisma.

He's not sure what you're getting with him. Everyone who's ever spoken with him is like, this guy's a leader. This guy kind of controls the room. He's a presence. He walks in a dive bars and buys a round for everyone in there in Pittsburgh. So does Rob Ryan. So there's that, and I think Mike Tomlin is kind of the coach version of the Steelers. There's something mysterious about them.

I mean, they're this great organization that we hear all about. You know, they're one of the organizations in the NFL, but they're kind of private. They keep things inside. So that's kind of like the Patriots, that's why I would love to see them. I think Ben Rathesberger, you know, mixing in with his teammates. I think he got some personalities there at skilled position with Antonio, Brown and Levi-on-Bel and Martavis Bryant's return. You could have James Harrison returning to the mix again.

He's always fun on hard knocks. It was great on the second Bengals season. A little bit of the Roonies. You know, some of the most. Now you're selling me. The Roonies, baby. I'm serious, though. If you love football, this is one of the most important families.

And I think they would dive into the history of this. I don't think they'd ever do it because they're so traditional. They like to run a tough training camp, too, that. has gotten under the radar of the NFL, so maybe they don't want cameras in there. Yeah, they have a beautiful location, you know, traditional location for their training. It would be delightful as a football fan.

I don't think it'll ever happen. All right. Now, of the, so there are four choices, personal choices. And then of the eight teams that can be chosen, who you think is most likely? Let's say, let's work off the premise that it will be one of those teams, which is not necessarily how it will play out. but Bears, Bucks, Browns, Colts, Eagles, Ravens, Saints, and Titans.

Great, you said something interesting downstairs that I kind of buy into a little bit about the team you think could happen. Well, I thought the Saints were a logical choice. They've never, it's never happened before. You just got the New Orleans element. You know, they have training camp down there. You've got people that fans know, it's the end of the Sean Payton era. You know, perhaps Drew Brees is there. You maybe wouldn't have ownership getting in the way with Tom Benson.

and I think that would be a compelling choice, Wes shakes his head. I can't deal with that much Sean Payton in my life. I just can't. They could be like a team people love to hate a little bit too. I cannot watch Sean Payton just lie all through every episode. He also, knowing Sean Peyton coming off like 14 straight, 7 and 9s, the most underrated subplot in the NFL right now, you know, he knows his number could be up soon.

If he continues to struggle in New Orleans, this could be like a good way to get his brand out there. Hey, look how cool I am. and I'm the guy you want leading the operation. He's publicly spoken against Hard Knocks a few times and even said he would never allow cameras to show a release of a player. He thinks that's inhumane. But he did say last year,

and I don't know if this was in response to a pro football talk article where the Saints were bracing to be chosen as last year's thing. For some reason. And Sean Payton did said, you know, say, you know, if we got picked, I'll be the smiling good guy. You know, he'll take it. So who knows? Anybody else want to throw out who you think of that group?

I could see the Saints. I think the Titans are maybe. Titans are intriguing, although your head coach scenario there. You can get over a bad head coach if you pick up the slack in other areas. Could the Eagles be a team? I think they would be intriguing and they might say yes. Bucks, not terrible. James Winston has charisma.

I think the Bucks are connected with everything right now, whether it's free agent destinations, trade possibilities, hard-knox choices. I don't know. All right. Finally, Mark, I'm going to give you one last chance. You are, as everyone knows, a Browns fan. What do you have to say in the closing thoughts on?

Well, I just wanted to say there are a couple teams that I don't think should be featured on hard knocks. Okay. I have a couple. I have a no list, a soft no, but also, I mean it. Regular no. Right. Dolphins, bills, Steelers, Ravens, Chargers, Broncos, and the Seattle Seahawks. The next list is definitely not.

Oh, definitely. Gotcha now. This is the worst list to be out there. These are the teams I don't want on it. This is the definitely not list. The Bengals, the Patriots, the Raiders, the Titans, the Colts, the Giants, the Redskins, the Cowboys, the Panthers, the Lions, the Vikings, the Bucks, the Falcons, and the Texans. And the final tier is go F yourself. That's even worse than definitely not.

You're not getting on the show. Saints, Jets, Chiefs, Jaguars, Eagles, Packers, Bears, Niners, Cardinals, and. and, of course, the Rams. Okay, so who does that leave? Leaves the Browns. Get it right this time. My list is both New York teams. They're already as overexposed as you could possibly get by every media member in this country.

Wes, this was a little unnecessary. I mean, we knew that already. Yeah, don't, no jets or giants, please. Okay. I don't think you need to worry about the jets. I don't think you have to worry about the Giants either. You'll be okay, Chris. You'll get through this.

You don't even watch a show, do you? If it's a good season, I'll watch it. Okay. All right. So I wanted to have someone on the phone, but we're running a little short on time. We have to do an NFL network hit. We've got a meeting with some shadowy league figures. So we're going to bump this guy like Matt Damon on the Jimmy Kimmel show.

And maybe we can make something. Also not like Matt Damon at all. I think longtime listeners of the podcast could guess who this. Looks like a tall Matt. I was going to say, there's more than a past. resemblance to Hollywood superstar Matt Damon. Like a six-foot-six version of

Mealy? Yeah. Not a bad-looking dude. Anyway, he's bumped. So it's like, good news, bad news. Good news is you've been compared to a major league hunk. Bad news. Once again, another opportunity goes by the boards to get back on the show. Maybe next week or, excuse me, maybe next show, or maybe next week or maybe next year. But we got to go.

We've got to start preparing for other aspects. A lot of people think this is the only thing we do in NFL media. Is that what they think? That's some streets talking about our roles. Gotcha. You'd be surprised with us how many people don't realize

how much writing we do that are huge fans of the podcast. Check out our stuff at NFL.com slash news. It's ironic because the listeners think this is the only part of our job, whereas our bosses don't even count it as part of our job. It's a horrible tug of war. Speaking of a listener, shout-out to all the people when Mark tweeted out of a photo with John Gonzalez in it,

who tweeted that they needed Greg Rosenthal to explain who the fourth person was in the picture. I enjoy that. All right. Let's go. Got work to do. Got other things to do. Stan Hansa signing off for Quiet Storm, the mailman, the boss, and La Cid behind the glass. See you Wednesday.

I am not happy. Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sundays. Don't miss it.

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