NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Jobs on the line this draft season

Episode Date: April 14, 2017

A room filled with heroes – Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Chris Wesseling, & Gregg Rosenthal – recap all the latest news from around the NFL including the passing of Steelers owner Dan Rooney at age 84, and Marshawn Lynch coming one step closer to joining the Raiders. Then the heroes talk about whose job may be in jeopardy once the draft is all said and done. Plus, a very special LIVE edition of “Orr You Kidding Me?” as Conor joins us from his haunted mansion in New Jersey.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. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL fantasy football podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL fantasy football podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet,

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Knows what a Super Bowl tastes like. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis and I am joined by a room filled with Heardt. Rose, Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What's up, boys? Hey, Dan. Hey, happy Thursday. This is our second video show of the month, driven, of course.

This podcast is driven by Hyundai. You guys need to know that. And part of that deal that we have with Hyundai, a video show every Thursday for all of April. So you check it out tonight 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific. You can do the calibration if you're in other parts of the world. It's on you. Last week we got, you know, a link for the full show. If you didn't happen to catch it live, Sidney will send that out.

We'll put it on the round of the NFL Twitter. Absolutely. So, yeah. MIRTH will be had. A lot of fun, a lot of mirth. And a lot to get to in today's show, a show where we'll talk about more draft talk because we're getting closer and closer to the draft, draft talk that will include butt talk. Hot butt talk.

And you know I love that. Uh, we, what's up? Oh, no, you're not looking forward to that, Greg. It's disgusting as well. Also known as Dan's favorite sound drop. It is among my favorite sounds in the world, is a roasting buttocks. Says a lot about you. Also, we're going to have a special guest come in live on Skype,

uh, so you'll hear it on the audio, but that's another reason to click into the video. Uh, the great Connor or bring it back, or are you kidding me with a special accompaniment? That is exciting. But before we do any of that, there is some huge NFL news that came down probably about an hour before we began taping. So let's get into it. Let's start, Sid, doing some news. One of the great figures in the history of the NFL, Dan Rooney, who was the chairman of the Pittsburgh Steelers, passed away on Thursday at the age of 84. Rooney did it all in the league.

He came up, the son, of course, of Art Rooney, born the year before the Steelers came into existence and grew up around the team and became one of the influential figures, Wes, both in terms of leading the Steelers to all their Super Bowl title, six of them, but also in terms of the NFL, working with commissioners,

the establishment of the Rooney rule, which he's spearheaded. Rooney is one of the big ones, one of the big names in the history of the game, and we lost them today at the age of 84. I think if you have a Mount Rushmore of the NFL. Dan Rooney's on there with Pete Roselle, with George Hallis, with Paul Brown, and maybe Lamar Hunt. If you have got five people, those are your handful of some of the most important people in the history of the NFL.

And his career spans, basically, from the end. advent of the NFL as a popular sport. Before the 1958 title game, it was an afterthought. You cannot overstate how far above baseball was than every other sport in America. And since then, football has become. But he started at a time, if you read Judy Patista's excellent retrospective on Dan Rooney. He started negotiating contracts with players when he was an accounting student in college in the 1950s. This is shortly after the Steelers were the Phil Pitt-Stee.

Eagles. They had to combine with the Eagles during World War II, and they were the carpets. They had to combine with the Cardinals. This is how bleak it was in the NFL. And then now you go, 1969 is when he takes control of day-to-day operations with the Steelers. They have been in the league for about 35 years, one playoff appearance, no wins. They were the least successful organization in the NFL. Since he took control in 1969, they are the most successful organization in the NFL, seven Super Bowls, only three head coaches in nearly 50 years, and they are the model NFL franchise. And if you were to add a fifth to that Mount Rushmore, it could be Art Rooney,

who was an iconic figure when we first watched football, absolutely. The thing that stands out for me is when you look at the Steelers, they're in a division where if you aren't a consistent team, you dust. And the coaching hiring, the ability to find a coach three of them in a time where other teams have 20 of them and to get success out of all of them, to stick by them, and the results speak for themselves. It is one of the most consistent. A, some of these teams are not,

they can be owned by a family, but they don't operate as a family-run business. The Steelers have always been a family-run business. And this is a Renaissance man. Ambassador to Ireland did all sorts of stuff. The guy never stopped learning, doing new things, breaking new boundaries. People think of the Steelers as a great organization.

Like, that's one of the model organizations in terms of stability, in terms of doing things the right way. And for the most part, I think they're thinking of Dan Rooney. Now, the chief, his dad, Art Rooney, the original Art Rooney, not his son, Art Rooney, the second, who runs the team now. You know, he bought the team, but I think he created the team. When you look at the history of the Steelers, even the chief would have said that Dan was kind of the pivotal figure. If you wanted to, you know, read anything on it, there's a book called About Three Bricks Shy of a Load, which I've recommended on this podcast before.

But it's a great portrait of the football in the 70s and Dan Rooney. And if you think about it, like you said, he took over in 69. The first big decision he made as essentially the guy running the team was hiring Chuck Knoll. Interesting side point. He hired Chuck Knoe because Joe Paterno turned him down. Who knows? That is a strange door that could have. Yeah, and his father was leaning towards other individuals.

And it was Dan Rooney basically saying you have to hire this guy. and with Noel at the helm, they won four titles in the 70s. And then his father passed away and the Steelers had up and down seasons in the 80s into the 90s. And then finally, I believe it was 17 years into, or it could have been more, but it was around 20 years into his ownership or being on his own without his father. They won the Super Bowl against the Seahawks and then again against the Cardinals. So six in total, all with Rooney there. And here's, and I said at the top of this, we talked about how he was there from the very beginning.

He was five years old, and he was being taken to Steelers training camp, and his dad weren't even watch him, so the players would be looking after him. Here's something Dan Rudy said in one of our great NFL films vault about what it was like being a young kid following around his team. I would go on a lot of the trips, especially when I got a little bit older, maybe the 10 years old, and I would go to away games, and we were on a train then. The players, you'd spend eight hours with them, and I'd take my homework with them, and they'd help me do my homework, would talk to me,

and things like that, and I became very close to them. That carried on throughout his life. He was well-known as a guy that did not treat his players as adversaries. He was known for going into the locker room after games and shaking hands with every one of his players. I mean, this guy was the real deal. I mean, he was a humanitarian, within the walls of the NFL.

I mean, he lived his entire life a couple blocks away from the stadium in the same, this is a millionaire many times over, in the same two-story house that he grew up in. That's crazy. He just walked to the facility. He never once moved in his whole life. And there's a quote from me and Joe Green, who is the guy who introduced Dan Rooney when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. And he said, Dan has always led with humility.

When things go as planned, Dan is in the background. When things don't go as planned, he's in the forefront. I mean, he didn't – Judy mentioned he didn't have a bio in the team media guide because he didn't want attention. It's like he went to mass every day. He didn't have many, you know, luxuries, but he drove his own plane to the owner. Like, he had his own plane, and he drove it every – you know, he flew it everywhere. It's like they don't make – they don't make guys quite like.

So not exactly a millennial. I mean, honestly, we're like these guys in the NFL is one way. to watch this happen. As you go from the 70s, the 80s to now, you're losing these people. And the people that are replacing them are of a different quality. I know that makes me sound old and cranky, but it's true. It's just a different type of outlook on that. But even in his own generation, Rooney, he stood above.

And it's no small feat that also he went from being an owner or being the chairman of the Steelers and then was always deeply tied to his homeland in Ireland. We have a lot of Irish listeners that he was very, He was very involved with just promoting the arts in Ireland and being involved with everything where his family's from. And so when Obama nominated him as the United States ambassador to Ireland, this was right after Obama got elected, that was a really big deal for this guy. And it just showed that when that happened in 2008, early 2009, it was like a week after he had won the sixth Super Bowl. and then he was became the, it was the only time he really left the Steelers in any capacity when he was serving that. And he visited every county in the entire country, Ireland, which no other ambassador had done.

So even in that job, he did it better and with a touch of class that maybe past people in that role didn't quite handle that way. And again, at an age when other people are shutting it down. This guy in his 70s goes and does something that other people would have tried to do in their early in their life. And then you just shut it down in your 60s and 70s, the guy never stopped. He may ultimately, his ultimate legacy may be the Rooney rule when we look back a half a century from now. And before that, even in the late 1960s, he hired Bill Nunn, who was the first, I believe, full-time Black Scout. And the Steelers dynasty was built upon Dan Rooney and Bill Nunn and, I believe, was it Art Rooney, dipping into the historically black colleges.

And two of the greatest five drafts in NFL history are the Steelers in that. time period where they drafted these stars from the historically black colleges before the other NFL teams were willing to do that. And his type of leadership is what helped build the NFL in terms of, and this is where I think the ownership has changed to some degree, where he really did have that broad sort of, let's do what's right for the NFL instead of always being worried about our team. He was quoted in Judy's piece. Our business is the game.

We're not in this thing to make all the money in the world. I think some other teams still do things our way, but on this, we might be the last guy on the mountain. Now, that was a decade ago. That's a great quote. And he really was kind of the last guy on the mountain. And what struck me, you know, just reading all the tweets and everything about is all the Pittsburgh television stations, all three stations immediately went into breaking live coverage in the city of Pittsburgh. Now, how many other people, much less NFL owners, like,

Robert Kraft has won a lot of Super Bowls. It's like this is a sort of a different level of someone that's a true royalty and legend in the city. Look at it this way. How many cities have a monumental figure like that? I grew up in Cincinnati and I can't think of who they would break in for all the stations to say this guy died. I can't think of one guy who would be that monumental of a figure. And I look at Steve Boshati, the Ravens owner. This is a great, this is out of all the tributes I heard, this was.

was the most fitting. He called Dan Rooney the conscience of the NFL. And he absolutely was. As Mark said, he did things a different way. As Greg said, that quote, we might be the last guy on the mountain. He had morals and values that he clung to when the world was getting too fast and money was becoming everything. He was the one who took everyone aside and said, let's think about what we're doing. There was a memorable story where it was during some type of conversation about commerce where he sent to the league office in NFL jersey covered in patches of corporations to make the point and he back to the money thing and I'm sure tremendously rich man despite the fact that he lived in that modest home he said he never did anything in his life

for money and it the whole and just the way that they kept it in the Rooney family I mean there's a lot of crazy stories at one point he had to fire his brother who was running the personnel department in the middle of the 70s I mean It was not always a clean. No, that is a story. And even, even I believe it was, I want to say, the late 90s, you know, at one point they had to sell most of the interest in the team because they didn't have the money to do it. And, you know, they split it among the five brothers. And in the end, all the other four brothers just sold their interest.

And Dan Rooney was the last man standing. So Dan Rooney, dead at the age of 84. an all-time figure. A life well-lived, universally beloved and respected. Let's move on to other NFL news, and we'll talk about Marshawn Lynch, who has been dancing with the Raiders for a couple of weeks now, and now we seem to be heading towards something final. NFL Network Insider Ian Rappaport reported Thursday that the Seahawks and Raiders

are expected to work out a trade for the running back, but first Lynch must rework his current deal that he signed before that. retirement last year. Per Rappaport, Lynch's agents have permission from Seattle to talk to Oakland about adjusting the deal. If a new contract is struck, then they will move on to talking the compensation. Lynch signed a three-year, $31 million contract in 2015, pays out $9 million in 2017. If he came out of retirement, soon to be 31, Mark.

Looks like it's going to happen. I think it's definitely about to happen. good for Seattle for trying to get something out of it, even if it's very little. I mean, a couple weeks ago, Seattle might just do the nice thing and let him go. Well, we found out this offseason, if anything, teams are not into doing the nice thing. The Cowboys weren't into doing the nice thing with the Roma when they thought it would happen. And the same with Seattle. Get value out of this.

This is a player, if he's still going to contribute, if it's not going to be on Seattle, get something in return, if anything, if you're going to get anything. The bottom line here is barring a major upset. He'll be on the Raiders, and then the Raiders can enter the draft without knowing they need an early round running back. They might still draft a power back in the later rounds to eventually replace him, but that shouldn't have to be a priority entering the draft. I mean, we've talked about it on the show. It's such an X factor of how good he'll be. Like, if he came back and he was 2014 Marshawn Lynch, that wouldn't shock me.

I don't know. Marshaun Lynch seems like a guy capable of doing some crazy things. Maybe the year off really does help you heal. he hasn't had that much pounding on his body. But if he came back and he's just kind of done and that DeAndre Washington and Jalen Richard are better players than him right now, like that wouldn't totally surprise me either.

You don't know what you're going to get. So it sounds like a deal with Lynch will get done before the draft. Don't expect to see Adrian Peterson sign somewhere before the draft in Philadelphia, which, by the way, will be outdoors. Did we touch on that? Oh, it's going to be outside all right. Totally outside.

Don't try to sneak inside to make a pick. No. commission. No half measures here. Don't sell it as outdoors. And then I see inside the spectrum. I don't even want to see a tent. But if it begins to lightning, like lots of lightning, you got to see it through. And if, you know, whatever happens, happens. That's the risk. You have to see it through. And you know what? You're dealing with fans in public. Too bad. You set the table for this. You got to see it through NFL draft. Isn't that kind of exciting? It's fantastic.

I'm going to take it even. Yeah, I'm going to just stop. But anyway, yes, drafts outdoors. But barring a dramatic shift, Adrian Peterson is not expected to land a deal with a team prior to the draft. That according to rap sheet, teams will continue to monitor Peterson's status. But that wait for a new contract will continue. So far, Greg, Peterson has met with the Patriots and Saints.

No deal in either case. 32 years old. We talked about this on our network hit on Wednesday about how this actually ends up but it's going to take some more time to play out. Maybe your answer that he won't sign with the team until October

you know, kind of be one of those in-season replacements like a late career Roger Clemens or something someone gets injured and actually gets a little desperate to pay you the money. I don't think that's going to happen but this just shows, you know, the interest is not there. It is interesting that Marshawn Lynch has a better market, ultimately, than Adrian Peterson.

Well, we don't know that to be true. We don't know. We don't know what the money is. I still think a big portion of this is that Adrian Peterson is in no rush to, unless the fit is perfect. He's in no rush to put his name on a piece of paper. I'm a little amazed the Raiders are giving up anything to sign Lynch, but from, you know, what we've heard, it might just be like a conditional seventh round pick. It might be next to nothing.

But the fact is, it looks like the Raiders wanted to sign Marshall Lynch. they didn't want to sign Adrian Peterson. I bet. Well, sorry, but if this draft class were not a good running back class, you had one or two guys' tops that you could count on to come in and contribute, Adrian Peterson's timeline might be very different. He might already have a team. Someone would have said it's a need, and we've got to deal with it.

But there are like seven or eight guys teams could look at and find a fit in potentially. There is no point in signing someone 10 years older and 10 times more expensive when you could get a rookie. I'm buying in more and more, Greg, by the way. you threw it out there a couple shows ago. The idea of an olive branch, another big difference between the Lynch and Peterson situation

is the Raiders making the move to Vegas, and Marshaun Lynch being the Oakland son and the idea of him coming to the Raiders and adding even more juice to a season where if you're a Raider fan that did not say, oh, screw these guys, I'm not following them, this gives you even more excitement, so it kind of helps them on that front, the PR front.

I mean, even from our front as fans, you know, Marshawn Lynch and Oakland, throw them on the first, you know, Sunday night game of the year or something. Like, if they're actually in the mix at the end of the season, Marshawn, you know, Marshaun Lynch trying to get that team of Super Bowl before they leave. Well, hold on. You're cooking with gas there. Hold on. It's exciting to you, but if, and I understand the Raiders fans are going to travel differently than Chargers fans would. But it is a half measure of an olive branch. We're going to sign a 30-year-old running back,

and suddenly everyone in Oakland's going to be very excited about what's happened over the last month to their beloved team. Oakland has no football team anymore. Marshaun Lynch is going to solve that? Give me a break. Maybe it just gets them in the stadium and a little more excited about this good. I like your other theory that if they go, if they start, you know, three and five, people are going to empty in droves.

Who was it who said you start making moves to please the fans? Soon you'll be sitting in the stands next to him. You know who said that? Whitey Herzog? I don't know. Keith Hansa said that. He originated that quote. That's not true.

Gandhi? All right. It's not true. I don't know who said it. But I like you just, I mean, why not a tribute to someone in your family line, gets some credit for it? I mean, we're talking about the Rooney's and stuff, yeah. A very Dan Rooney moved by you. Ed Sessler, any famous lines?

I mean, you know, books of them. What's the most famous, like, Ed Sesslerism? I think he said over and over, I'm extremely. proud of you and it just fueled me from babyhood on babyhood i don't know i feel like we no my dad was he'd be good at a party rip some jokes out watch them operate little mini bar at the house we have people over i mean you know you kind of learn from your dad how to do all this business so how to be a man yeah wow so he was like a regular Vince Lombardi would always love my dad post game post game party you know kind of like cocktail party in they like to they like to have people every week you've had some

Belichick doing that? No. Talk about a different time. Let's dedicate the show to the greatness of Ed Sessler. Fine by me. We've never even mentioned Ed Sessler on the show. It's good to... It's overdue.

Yeah. Eddie! Maybe we'll have a segment. 550 episodes in. Here we go. Johnny Kerr. It wasn't Keith Hansen. I believe Johnny Reg Kerr used to be the coach of the Chicago Bulls.

Jonathan Hankins has a job. The former Giants defensive tackle is agreed to terms with the Colts on a three-year deal worth up to $30 million, which is pretty good coin at this stage of the game. This according to Rapsheet, the new pact includes $15.9 million guaranteed $10.5 million in the first year. The Colts later confirmed the move West. You like it? I love it. In an offseason where there aren't many obvious winners because the star players are spread out so much

and many of the moves are spread out. think I like what the Colts have done on their defense better than what any team has done on their defense. Chris Bowdo has really added size, versatility, toughness, athleticism to that front seven. He's got pass rushers and John Simon and Jabal Sheard. He's got big guys in Jonathan Hankins and Al Woods and Barquite, not Barcliffe, who was the Estonian guy, the Eastern Bargis Hunt? And even got an inside linebacker and Sean Spence. This is a completely overhauled front seven, one that desperately needed it. Essentially, everything that Ryan Grigson could not do, Ballard has done at about

one 15th the time. It's got to pan out, of course, on the field. I'm sure he would be happy if even, you know, start two out of three of the... I agree with Wes, and I agree with you. It's been great. And you know what's crazy in terms of how bad Ryan Grigson was? They've added all these pieces, and I like these guys. I think they're going to play starter snaps.

They still have about five or six spots on that defense where they could. and really use upgrade. I was looking at kind of their drafting. It's like they need everything on that team except for wide receiver, tight end, and I guess quarterback, you know, if you don't want to worry about Scott Tolzeen taking all your off-season snaps,

which is what's happening right now. I'd certainly be worried about it. I'd be a little worried about it. So we, Greg, where are we with Chris Ballard right now? I'm fine with him. I'm saying he's bringing a different energy and he's a guy that just can't quite, put my finger on, but he's different than the rest of the GMs.

You two have severe issues. I would suggest you address them. Why? It was just, it was. That's the end of my advice. If you were there, you have to understand the energy that was emanating off this man. What is this energy you guys keep talking about? There was something going on.

And maybe it's mystical. I'm watching the energies bringing to a team that desperately needed it. You can go, you know, go on with your personal observations. I don't know what you guys are. talking about are you is that your is that ed sessler huh is that your father that is mark sessler see very very uh defensive of chris baller i think he is done a great job we'll see colts fans i think colts fans finally feel like they have someone in their in their building that cares about building the roster versus arguing with the coach damn wow barry and griggo

sorry ryan not sure we are barry the grig bone as greggs shows me a screen grab of Chris Ballard. I'm just saying. It's a mystical energy around Chris. Sorry, Mark. Finally, Bill Belichick, you know, for a team that's supposedly famous for, you know, keeping things behind closed doors and Patriot Way, this team is in the news a lot. And maybe it's because they're just so damn good and everyone's so interested in the coach

and the tight end and the quarterback and everybody else. but Belichick did an interview with author and journalist Susie Welch. And in that interview, it was a long-ranging interview. Wes, you quite liked it, I know, because it really Belichick dove into a lot of aspects of his history and his thoughts on coaching. And one aspect of the interview, or the aspect of the interview that got the most play

was Belichick and Welch played a word association game. Word association games are sneaky, good tools because they get people to say things, because the very nature of it, speed answer, you can get some good info. And I think that as soon as he did a nice job here with Bill, let's hear some word association. I'm going to say word and just want your immediate snap reaction, okay? Sure. Football. More sport than business, but it's a business.

But I respect the game for the game and for the sport. The media. It's how a team connects to its fans. Deflate Gate. Ridiculous. Aaron here it is. Tragedy. Heartbreaking.

Yes. That would be another word. Yeah. Winning. The goal. There's no medals for trying. This isn't like eighth grade where everybody gets a trophy. We're in a professional sport, and it's competitive to win.

That's what we do. There you go. There were many interesting tidbits in this article from Bill Belichick and his philosophy on coaching, the lessons he's learned. The one I found most interesting was the lesson he learned that you count on your most dependable players, not your most talented players. And I think when you try to figure out his philosophy of roster building, why he jettisoned some guys in their prime, why he gets rid of a Jamie Collins and keeps a Dante Hightower, Jamie Collins is more talented than Dante Hightower. He's found Hightower to be more dependable. And it's not just those two as an example.

There are many examples where he leans on, he even points out, look, Tom Brady's not the most talented guy in the world. But find a more dependable quarterback than Tom Brady in NFL history. Yeah, people who are trying to push that today, that Brady, they try to isolate that quote and say that Pelichick said that Brady wasn't the most athletic. What was the exact wording? It wasn't the most athletic player or wasn't a very athletic player. But what he's saying, everybody knows if you know the game, that Brady started a certain way and through hard work. and preparation and just mastering the position became something totally different.

Obviously, somebody that you can trust above anyone else. That's why they've been together for 15 years. That audio, by the way, and video, if you're watching our show, was courtesy of CNBC. See, like a big Susie Welch fan? I mean, he really, like, kind of opened up for her. He was...

Was that at a Buffalo Wild Wings or something? It was kind of one of those restaurants where the license plates were under the glass. It's like, take a bill there. Was that a real crowd behind them, Or a piped-in crowd. I can't even know. That sounded like actual, like,

background noise in the middle of, like, a bar and grill. I understand. Go to a nice restaurant reservation. Say, I have the head coach of the New England Patriots. Do you think we can get, like, a private booth area to conduct this? And I'm sure the restaurant would go, yeah. Yeah, we would. A humana, yeah.

But instead, they go to the Buffalo Wildwood wings on the... Well, we don't know that it was. Have you been in a Buffalo Wild Wings lately? Not in a while. It's like they're at the Bubba Gump on the Santa Monica Pier. It's like, let's go to a nicer place. That's all. I hear that.

That's what's happening in the news. We forgot one thing. Just the tone of his voice, by the way, when he says ridiculous after deflakeet. That's Bill Belichick, right? He's like, ridiculous. Ridiculous. Contain yourself. Wait, sorry, Wes.

The dates have been announced for the Tivey Island Super Bowl. Oh, Wes. I did not forget. Oh, okay. It was so important, Wes, that. I've broken it out of news. Apologies. No, no apology necessary.

I trampled it on your news. It's fine, it's fine. But it was that important to me. The Falcons are hosting the Super Bowl in a couple of years. The NFL announced officially that Super Bowl 53 will be played inside that new stadium, Mercedes-Benz Stadium. On February 3rd, 2019, the first game in Atlanta in 19 years. And what Wes is getting at, Chris. You are very excited, as we all are, because what is the possibility in play here?

We need to start laying the groundwork now that this is absolutely going to happen because there's no reason for it not to happen. That Friday, most of our work is done for the week. All the teams are done given their interviews. We jet out of there in a car. The four of us, Connor, Patra, we hit Tybee Island. It's a three hour and 45-minute drive. I'll be happy to drive there as long as someone else drives back.

We go to Tybee Island, we record the last podcast, that late week podcast at Huckapoo. Oh, my God. And then we party Friday night and Saturday, and we get back Sunday morning, ready for. Revitalize and ready for. Sunday afternoon, like maybe 4.30 p.m. just ahead of kickoff, 5.54, something like that. Revitalize. That's the word you're going to use for how we would return from Huckapoo's. Revitalized. This was playing around on our I.M client.

David Ely, who is Wes's boss and my boss, terrified potentially at the thought of this. He said, if I'm still involved in the company at this point, you simply have to get back to the game on time. I would say this has potential to, on one end of the spectrum, be one of the greatest things we've ever done as a group. And on the other end, Wes exits as sort of a Barrett Robbins figure, and we never see him at that Super Bowl. It's going to be one of the two. Yes, just like Barrett Robbins of the Raiders, went to Mexico and I missed the game, right? He just missed it out. It's definitely in play, I would say, for the prodigal West.

But I will say this, I absolutely think we would have to take advantage of that. In fact, if we really, really mobilized and got this thing set up and the shadowy league figures shot it down through ambivalence and just, you know, not being plugged into this show and the audience, the Super Bowl 53 show will be our last podcast. Oh. And then at that point, we quit. Right. And at that point, we don't fly back on the chartered plane with our employees. We simply all move to Tybee, and we stay there from now until the end of time.

And we start a football podcast. There you go. I mean... We're trying to squeeze it into one day. A gauntlet has been thrown down. And just let it go on post-super Bowl forever. Well, worst-case scenario for me, we don't do the... podcast from there.

Friday afternoon, I'm going anyway. Look, we're free from Friday afternoon until game time. I mean, I've been pretty salty about Atlanta getting the Super Bowl over New Orleans for a long time. It's a crime. But now I'm starting to warm up. This could be, I think it will be our finest moment as a podcast. If we're still around.

If we're still employed by the company, that's not a given you. A lot of factors. Variables. All right. I have to deliver right now, gentlemen. a draft act time now for draft facts driven by hunday rhymes the sunday yep and this draft fact i'll go all the way back to the 2009 draft what a year and um who could forget the 66 pick of the third round of the 2009 draft you know him bradley

Fletcher defensive back St. Louis Rams went on to play Marron seven seasons and forced four fumbles and had a sack and geez eight interceptions over a career spent with the Rams, the Eagles, and the New England Patriots. Started 54 games. I think I wrote a few, wrote a world blur about Bradley Fletcher back in the day. I mean, I now know the purpose of why we have this show on Thursday streamed, and you can watch it on video on NFL.com, because you can literally watch Dan Google and find the draft act of the day. Hyundai getting their money's worth, no doubt, just like any Hyundai customer. Well done, Mark.

That was draft acts driven by Hyundai. Sydney is furious with us. as usual it's not the only thing she's furious with all right now it's time

to move on to the next portion of the program hot draft butts it's that time it's that time Greg because

and here is the conceit of this segment the draft is a time where GMs and coaches They work together with scouts

Everyone in the front office They all come together Hopefully they're all pulling in the same direction Mark you have fears in your team's front office That might not be the case But the hope is everyone's working together To identify ways to make the team better And if you're a GM that's coming off a disappointing year

or if you're a player who's also come off a disappointing year and there's a possibility that a move could be made in this draft that could leave your buttocks a straight up roasting dog straight up roasted buttocks because they're making a move to essentially potentially replace you or you have enough heat on you where you could be replaced if you bang yourself in a big spot in this draft that's what this egg hot draft butts is all about yeah so funny I don't know, just the ridiculousness of the phrase buttocks, straight up roasting dog.

It's like, what's happening? That this is a legitimate setup to our segment. Buttocks will be straight up roasting, dog. It's a very real seg in a big spot. Here we go. And Mark, you do such great work at NFL.com. Thank you. What better person to start this exercise off with than you?

Thank you for that uncondescending introduction to my segment of this program here. I will say this. I will go to the state of Ohio, but I'm not going to Cleveland this time. We know their butts are hot. They've got to nail this thing. But I'm going to go to Cincinnati because under the radar, Marvin Lewis has slowly, verbally been acknowledging that the grip he has over his job is really, really in a precarious position at this point.

Well, Marvin Lewis is an idiot. That is an old soundbite. I did not say that right now. But let's just travel back in time a little bit. In December before the season was over, he basically said that he basically planned to coach the team next year, all in, still involved, and that put to bed rumors that he was potentially going to retire.

One month later, he said he was hoping for a contract extension, using the words, we'd like to agree on something at some point. It puts, I think, everybody's mind at ease going, forward for their futures. One month later. February, Lewis said it's not crucial in quotes for him to sign a contract extension saying, if things work out, we would look to do that. And now let's go to April.

Just a few days ago, Lewis says basically there is no expectation of a contract extension saying it's not really a subject that's on his mind all of a sudden. So he's not getting one. And I think basically the one-year trial for Marvin Lewis, he's the second longest tenured coach in the NFL, begins with this draft. And there are whispers that his grip over this draft is not what it's been in years past, is they've got other people in the front office with more power, and it's not just the Marvin Lewis show the way it was for a long time.

So I think, A, the Bengals, we saw what happened in Free Agency. This is no longer a team that we can easily call one of the most talented in the AFC, which we did, no matter whether or not they want to pull. playoff game. The roster was unbelievable. Through the way they built that team, free agency, and the draft, now you've had your offensive line raided. Your quarterback got killed last year behind a bad offensive line. You now lost your right guard and your starting left tackle. You got complete question marks filling in. So you've got to try to find offensive line help in a draft that could be one of the worst

offensive line drafts, and they're saying 15 years. So that's a problem. And on top of it, you have other holes. So it's a huge mountain climb from Marvin Lewis. And you've got to wonder if he's going to get out of this, his butt is, it's hot. The position I have taken on this for a long time, and will continue to be my position, is that his relationship with the Bengals ends when he wants it to end, not when the Bengals wanted it to end. Do you think this year is a little different? Because he's been doing these one-in-one, two-year contract extensions for so long,

and this time around he's saying he wants it, and now he's saying it's not on his mind and he doesn't have it. That's a red flag. The Bengals operate differently than every other team in the NFL, though, and their front office is convoluted. When you say that he's losing some voice in the draft room, that likely means I would think that Duke Tobin is running things, and he's done a good job.

It's probably a good thing if Duke Tobin is running things. But what you say is very fair. It's a bad sign that he hasn't gotten the extension, but whether the Bengals move to action on actually, firing him, I doubt that. Well, they have problems. I do think they need to hit, and I think that butt is a little bit hotter because of the way the Bengals have been doing things the last five years.

They are about drafting and developing slowly about as much as any team in the league. They draft guys in the first round and don't play them until the third year, and then they become productive starters sometimes. So they are not a team that's used to just plugging in guys. They usually have guys already there in the starting lineup that are ready to take those roles and they don't need rookies. And now you look at this roster on the offensive line and then different parts of the defense, certainly linebacker and up front.

And they need guys to come in and contribute right away. And that's not really what the Bengals have done lately. Chris Wessling. Tell us about some buttocks. Was it about a week and a half ago, two weeks ago? Daniel Jeremiah was on this very program. And when he wasn't taking pot shots at Dan. in Hansis, he was giving us info, well, he was at least suggesting that the chiefs might be

a team willing to draft a guy like Patrick Mahomes and let him sit for a year before eventually taking over for Alex Smith. I believe Alex Smith has a hot butt. As much as they've come out and said he's our guy, I think they know their ceilings capped with him in the playoffs. They're not going to beat the Steelers or the Patriots with Alex Smith as their quarterback. So it wouldn't surprise me at all if a first or second round draft pick in this draft is used to select his successor and when you get into something like that extended slumps mean there's pressure to start playing the guy behind the starter makes sense not getting any younger Alex Smith not that he's old but he's 33 you're not expecting him to take a big massive leap

and he had a year last year that was not as good as his other seasons in kansas city Certainly not as good as the two previous seasons. And his weapons were better. Right. And that's a bit of a concern. I think it makes sense. It's almost amazing. If you would have said in 2013 when they traded for him,

that he would have lasted four straight years as an unquestioned starter. And win as many games as he did. Right. I mean, they've been among the winningness teams. I mean, he's had a really strange career, obviously. And when he went to the Chiefs, remember, he was playing extremely well before he got hurt in his last year in San Francisco and then got wiped away by Colin Kaepernick's rise.

The Niners were, I'm just looking at him, 19 and 5 in his two seasons before he got crazy. So I guess I'm not that surprised that he started there for four years because he's always been a proficient quarterback. And they just yesterday on NFL Network, they played that heartbreaking Chiefs loss to the Colts, I think it was 45, 44 in the playoffs a couple years ago where Smith played out of his mind in that game. But obviously that is not the Alex Smith that you're getting week to week.

in the regular season. And I totally get it. And, Wes, I think it's a great name to bring up because if you're going into this, this will be his fourth year or fifth? This will be his fifth. This will be his fifth. I mean, it's kind of sit or get off the pot time.

Even if you have been a proficient starter, they need to decide if this guy's a Super Bowl guy. Well, and to your point, Wes, like when we talk about, oh, the messaging now is we're going to draft someone to groom for one, two, maybe even three years before they become a starter, that just does not exist anymore. Remember Ryan Tannahill, the red shirt year,

Blake Bortles, the red shirt year. It is April nonsense when those words are being used. If Alex Smith comes out and the chiefs who have high expectations are not getting the job done, someone like Patrick Mahomes is the fans are going to go nuts to want to see someone like that. All right, moving up. All right, so Blake Bortles, that's hot butt.

That guy's, his buns are on fire. It's a hot heine. And you know why? Because I don't care that they resign Chad Henny and I don't care that Bortles is telling people that his mechanics are back on track. I look at this situation as Tom Coughlin has taken the reins of that organization

and he has no like relationship with play. He doesn't, I don't know if he's even talked to him yet because of the rules of the league. So it's not like he has anything invested in Bordals and making that work. he's going to look at it clinically and all he has to go off is some pretty grisly tape. We're watching it right now. Yeah.

If you're watching the video show, you could check it out. But like grizzly tape last year. Right. And let's calm down with the, that he played so great for two games at the end of season. Right. Forget about all that. And remember that even the quote unquote breakout season maybe could have been a little bit of a mirage on some level. And understand this.

And this is where his butt gets really hot. The draft is, what, April 27th, April 28th? Outside. Is it? Yes. The draft is April 28th, Thursday. April 27th through the 29th. All right, April 27th.

Outdoors. We did say before the show, West doesn't have bits. I mean, this is a bit. He's got a bit. This is a big time bits. They're just more straight. You're more of the straight man. Yeah, a straight bit.

I think not having bits is a credit. you i don't know not having bits is one of my bits anyway april 27th to the 29th address in philadelphia outdoors may second is when the jaguars have to decide to pick up that fifth year option he'll know by april 28th whether that option uh will definitely not be picked up he won't know for sure if it will be but if they go and tom coffin identifies a guy he likes

uh they i have I absolutely think the Jaguars are in play to take one of these quarterbacks. You can't have a newcomer come in and steal the show. I disagree. In this case, you can't. Yeah, I think there's a very real chance that a newcomer can come in and steal the show. And Blake Borders should be very nervous. Wouldn't you say it's far more likely to happen at the top of the second round than the number, what, four overall pick?

Absolutely. Yes. Okay. Yeah, I agree with that. And they've had guys like Deshaun Watson in there for visits. they're clearly interested in this crop of rookies. Well, I've been mystified all off season about their approach supporting Bordels. So it would make a lot more sense.

If they actually, this whole time, have had it in their head, we probably will draft the quarterback in the first two or three rounds and have someone there that can possibly play sooner than later. Or David Caldwell, who put his neck out to draft Bortles and was the voice of the front office, was that support for Blake Bortals. and, you know, he's found some good players, but Tom Coughlin has come in and completely changed the power structure. The voice of the organization is now Tom Coughlin.

Dave Caldwell, you could find him actually in the Poconos estate formerly occupied by Howie Roseman during the early Chip Kelly years. He actually is now subletting it out to Caldwell. That's a true story. I mean, no one's gotten more of a pass from the media in general than the Jaguars. I was looking at the... Probably because of the Jacksonville Jaguars. I get it, but the most...

I looked at the most wins and losses over the last five years. The Jaguars have more losses than the Browns. They are the worst team. And the Jaguars are 10 losses clear of even the third worst team. So the Jaguars and the Browns were the two worst by a long shot. And you don't really think of them. Maybe you do think of them at that lower level. I think they're on the...

They have not won more than five games in six years. Like that's hard to do. Well, we don't think of them as winning anything either. No, but just the perception was always hope filled. There was always hope. And now it's like, come on. They definitely got on people's... radar this past year because everyone got sucked in and then they stunk and now

Gus Bradley finally got wiped away and I look at that roster and I like it if it wasn't for quarterback I would be I would be in on this year all right Greg your turn talk about some butt well this is a surprising one to suddenly be feeling the flame out of nowhere some whispers about Carlos Hyde in San Francisco could be worried about a number two overall draft pick, perhaps Leonard Fournett landing there. Who knows if they trade down? Who knows if they take a running back later in the draft? Multiple reports.

And granted, these are from draft analysts. You know, not always the most trustworthy reports in the world, but some reports that they were ready to move on from Carlos Hyde. And more interesting to me is the fact that John Lynch, their general manager, was asked about that report. and he just kind of talked around it. I mean, he said they're hopeful that he can fit in the offense, but particularly when there's a new regime,

they want to kind of see it. You're not sure if this skill set's going to translate, which I think reading between the line is that they're not too sure about Carlos Hyde, and I think they're a team that's going to want to really focus on running the football and get a running back or a couple running backs that fits what Kyle Shanahan wants to do, and maybe Carlos Hyde is not that guy. This one does not pass my smell test for several reasons. First of all, roster this week cannot afford to spend the number two overall pick on a running back.

Second of all, Kyle Shanahan came out in early March and already named Carlos Hyde the starter. Well, there's no one else on the roster. Said when he watched the tape, he's the guy who stood out. He also said people overrate too much what the scheme is. That if you're a good running back, you can run in any scheme. And third, when I watched all of Colin Kaepernick's games, Carler's Hyde jumped up. off the film. He was their best offensive player by a long shot. This guy's too talented to give up on. When I hear John Lynch say those things, he's talking about motivation. He's trying to

motivate Carlos Hyde. Stay on the field. Seems like the wrong guy to pick on outside of the motivation side on that roster. There's just not that much talent. And he did put good, he did play some good games. And also, what is number two back? But what is his number one criticism of Carlos He doesn't stay on the field? Maybe that would be number one. I would say on the field, what's the number one criticism. Not involved in the past. Like is a guy that loves to bounce it outside all the time. I mean, they killed him, like, just hit the hole.

Stop trying to make a big play all the time. I mean, he is an incredible running back to watch in terms of his skill and the way to make people miss that is his size is unbelievable. He has so much talent. And I think that's why he pops off the tape. But I think that coaches get driven a little crazy that he just won't just take the hole you're given. And that is the opposite of what Kyle Sianahan looks for in a running back.

He wants someone like Tevin Coleman that might not have much wiggle, but just kind of goes. All I'd say is he hasn't even coached him. He hasn't even had a chance to coach him. He's not, give it a month. Sure. Give it some time. I mean, Shanahan has done a great job with running backs who were not as successful before he found them. He could plug a guy in off the street and have him run for a thousand yards.

I just think it's, I get where you're coming from. If they draft someone, if they draft a running back at number two, then I think then then the lays the foundation. That's what we're doing here. But I just don't think that at this point where you're getting rid of Carlos Hyde on the 49ers. Greg, there's some good points for May. Let's see. Do you still feel as strongly as you did four minutes ago?

I mean, I'm, I know. Wes made some good points. Mark made some good points. Well, that was, you don't even believe in the second part of your statement. I don't know what. I'm more confused because West, this was Wes's idea, but then he shot, I was like, oh, that's a good idea. No, because it is a good story.

And there is some smoke there, but I think it's more smoke than fire. I think it makes sense. Maybe it's not the number two over. I don't think it needs to be the number two overall pick. I could see them drafted a guy in the third round. Right. You can get your starting running. Now we're all getting cozy.

You can get your starting running back in the third round. They'll draft the guy in a third round and then Carlos Hype will beat him out. Segment over. This surprisingly got on Mark's radar. Yes. I was waiting. Believe me, I understand why it's on my radar. I was waiting.

It was like 40. It was like 40 minutes, you know, into the show and I still hadn't had Mark mad at me and maybe 20. It was a highly smarmy comment by you. About what? It's late on a Thursday afternoon. Enough is enough. I don't even know what the smarmy one was.

This one got me. Get on with it. People are worried about us, Mark. I'm starting to get worried. I'm not worried. There was some heat on Twitter from our Thursday hit that. Although he came from Ely. Yeah, it's like, it's like, I know Mark hates me, but now it's like everyone, now everyone really.

I do not hate you. I do not hate you, but I will not accept smorminess. Smarmingness. that's two very different things it's all real folks um all right uh so that's our that's our talk that's our hot drap butts talk and i enjoyed it and anytime i can say but 25 times in 15 minutes on a podcast that's listened to by hundreds of thousands of people i feel like including your bosses i feel lucky we know that you like that aspect you're cheating life Cheating life.

All right. Here we go. To end the show today, we're going to bring on a special guest. As we teased, live from his haunted mansion in New Jersey, there's nobody better than Connor or. Let's welcome him to the Around the NFL podcast driven by Hyundai. There he is. Connor or on Skype. This one's for the ladies.

This is where the video's podcast really pays off. You've got to watch this. Look at that head. set too you are you are really important looking right now you also kind of look like an assistant baseball coach for the local high school yeah that's what i'm going for like out of work umpire that's the uh that's kind of my thing right now all right so connor reached out to me earlier this week as he's wanted to do and said hey are you kidding me it's time to bring it back because i have something that's really grinding my gears and and if you're not familiar with or you kidding me

it is the platform for Connor or one of our gifted writers for nfl.com to let people know what's going on in his mind something that he's seeing out there in the pop monoculture and you want to take it down a notch is typically how this goes is that correct yeah I would say you're nailing it yeah all right so today's topic is going to be uh Tony Romo and his uh his issues or his decision to travel with the Mavs to their final regular season game. That got on Conner's grid. And I will tell you this, Connor, because it's so special, because we're on a video show, because it is a juicy topic, we've got to bring back an old friend. He's from the second floor. He works in product. His name is Patrick Cagongo.

Oh, yeah. Come on in Cagongo. Welcome back to the Around the NFL podcast. He brought his axe. I don't know the model. What is it? It is a Fender Jazz Master. A Fender Jazz Master.

And what he's going to do? That's what he's going to do. He's got a shred. That's what he's got worse. You know why? Because we're about to play. Are you kidding me? What are we doing?

All right, Connor, let's go. All right, so I think this has been woefully misrepresented in the media this week. But I was watching Good Morning Football this morning, and they were talking about... Shameless Product Club! Sorry, go ahead. That's okay. They were talking about Tony Romo's quote, special week

and they said like you know that Tony Romo's getting all these fun experiences like he's some sort of fourth grader that won the spelling bee but there's no ice cream at their house so like he just needs to play with the mavericks

for a night just because he was good at basketball once and just felt like it I think that's like the stupidest thing ever Tony you're a little too lucky to get what you get in this world aren't you? I can do better than that.

Keep going on a gunner. Like, he's already decided, okay, like, I'm just going to be a broadcaster and then kick this other guy out who's been doing this for 30 years. And now they're like, oh, well, I vaguely like golf, too. So let's put him on the Masters because that seems important. Like, you know, my hometown right now is hiring a building inspector. So, like, Tony's been in buildings. Like, why don't we just, you know, why don't we do that? I think this is like, for the caliber of player he was, like low-foot-tut-tupu retired five years ago,

but maybe he wanted to drive Tony Stewart's car at the Indy 500. Let's let him do that. We'll check with him and make sure that that's something that he didn't want to do first. It's Tony's world. We're just living in it. And that ain't fair. So what are you saying, though? Are you saying that Tony Romo should kind of quietly go into the next phase of his career, not be celebrated by the city of Dallas where he was one of their favorite sons for a decade plus?

I mean, let's be fair. You're being a little crotchety. Yeah, it's true because he brought them so many Super Bowls and titles and everything like that. Total burn. He never won nothing. That was dark. That was so dark. But like, you know, so where do we draw the line now?

Does like John Beeson get to play for the Mighty Ducks when he's, you know, like now that he's done doing whatever he wants to do? And like we're just like I almost made the mock trial team. Can I sit on the Supreme Court for one day before, you know, I'm done with the NFL just to try to overturn something? Save it for the politics podcast. So your point is that Tony Rombo just wasn't enough of a legend to be able to kind of pick and choose whatever he wants to do in this dream week.

Why doesn't it, like, let's find like a kid who broke his arm at school and can't play baseball so he can sit on the bench. Let's let him do it. Or like, you know, let's let some, you know, this girl that gets picked on or something like that. and she's having a bad week. Let's let her sit on the bench and hang out with the Mavericks. I think that's a way better use of everyone's time than. Oh, and then, like, the crowd was chanting to get,

and he wanted to get into the game. Like, what are you doing? You're not on the roster. Connor, you seem a little bit petty. My counterpoint, Connor, because we did write about this on the end around, that people take everything so seriously. And anybody that got their britches in a bunch about their me undies in a bunch about this idea that Tony Romo can't sit at the end of the bench and get loud ovation from the people of Dallas for a one-off thing where it will be forgotten. But everyone that was there enjoyed it and got some good pub and move some merch.

I mean, there are so many worse things to get upset about and you choose Tony Romo. I don't understand. This is going to be the start of one of the dumbest traditions in sports history. That's fair. Like, when Drew Brees retires, he's going to get to play for the Pelicans. And then when, I don't know, when Eli Manning retires, oh, let's let him back clean up in the Yankees one night since they're out of the playoffs. Poor Yankees. Yeah.

And then, like, you know, it's such a shameless way to push merchandise. And how many, like, sheep went in there and bought jerseys that that thing sold out in the first quarter? That's so ridiculous. You've all been fooled. Is there anything else you would like to add, Connor? Or are you kidding me? Bye, Connor. Thanks, Connor. Love you, pal.

Looking good. Look at him. Thank you. Thank you. Love that guy. Patrick. Thank you so much for all you done. Maybe give us, can you play us out again?

again like you did last time yeah put a little pressure on you not yet i'll queue you up i'll be back we will be back on a monday with another round of shows uh three shows next week thank you to everyone listening remember if you're if you happen to be hearing this before nine p m eastern six p m pacific check this show out and also we'll send out a link so you can watch it at any time um that's it so signing off this is Dan Hansis for a quiet storm the mailman the boss

Connor or are you kidding me and new money behind the glass till Monday take it away Cagongo Look at close up Let's get closer I don't know. I'm going to be.

I'm . I don't know. I'm going to be. . Woo! Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks.

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