NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Julio Jones to the Titans

Episode Date: June 7, 2021

Monday Pod alert! A room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal breakdown the trade between the Falcons and the Titans for the future HOF wide receiver, Julio Jones. We break down the trade and the terms that went into it.Is Tannehill a true star (22:10)? The heroes touch on some of the other news in the NFL including Aaron Rodgers potentially "dividing the fan base" (28:22) and a trip to the Punters Punch bowl mixer (43:19). We close the show with an Australian fan shoutout.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Around the NFL podcast. Took your mom to prom and never called her back. Oh, welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name's Dan Hansis. Come to you from a virtual room still filled with some heroes, Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal, Matt Money Smith. with the call right there.

The voice of God for the around the NFL podcast. This is a Monday program, boys. How about that? Why? A little bit of news went down in the NFL, news that involves a future Hall of Fame wide receiver. Cess Dog feels like something we should move up the clock on and have a conversation, right?

Yeah. The news broke on Sunday, you know, late morning, California time. And soon after the texts arrive, like, I think we need to move the show up to Monday. And, you know, Mondays in general, I think, are, we've agreed. We're a little bit maybe not high motor. But we're having to be this morning. And there's a reason for it.

Big news. Like, and it's June. And you know what? I remember some June's where, like, you're in a, you're sort of, you know, you could be sleeping in the back of your car. Nothing would happen for two weeks. I mean, it has just been day after day of, like, NFL drama and stuff. So here we go. One more.

One more chapter. Most, like, wives are significant. and others would be like, hey, where's my husband? But actually, in Mark's case, Simone, he's like, oh, it's just Mark. She's like, we're fine. Maybe he's in the car somewhere, maybe not, but he'll come back eventually.

Eventually, he always comes home. Yes, Julio Jones, he's been moved in a trade. And thinking about this, you know, and that's going to be kind of the focus of the show. We're going to hit some news, but we're going to have a nice conversation about Julio. And it's like, think about it's like, what are we here for?

If you're an NFL team, what are you here for? What are you trying to win the game? Yes, yes, Herm. What are you trying to do? Like, what's the point of the 24-7, 365 enterprise that is running? Hello? You play to win the game. Yes, Herm, but it's not just win the game.

It's win the Super Bowl. Win the damn Super Bowl. Get to the big game, win that one, Herman. Maybe that's why the Jets didn't win with you, although I did enjoy. the Herm Edwards' experience on balance. And that's why I love what the Tennessee Titans did. They acquire Julio Jones in exchange for a likely late second round pick. They also get a fourth round pick.

A six-round pick goes back to the Titans as well from the Falcons. The Falcons take all that money that they owe Julio, send it over to Nashville. It's now the Titans' business, and business is booming. Greg, when you have Julio Jones and now A.J. Brown together, that's nice. And that's a team, Greg, that says, we're there. We're there. There's not many AFC teams that are in Super Bowl contention when you look at it on paper. The Titans say, we're right there.

We're going for it. Got to love the move. I do. And I especially like it in this weekend AFC South that we've talked about this offseason where every team you could maybe make the argument took a step back. And if the Titans can go ahead and win this division, I think this move is a nice step toward doing it. Then you have a home game to start the playoffs,

and the Titans have already shown us, like, what can happen when you get there? Brable's had a winning record every year. He's not about, like, taking a step back. He's 9 and 7, 9 and 7, 11, and 5 last year. I think their defense on paper looks pretty good. Like, they haven't been able to transition to it on the field, but the moves they made on paper on defense.

The soft season made sense. The moves on offense didn't make any sense. They looked worse on offense, but suddenly you put Julio Jones and A.J. Brown together, they are two of the top five receivers in each of the last two years in terms of yards per route run. So basically two of the most efficient receivers in the entire NFL. And suddenly Josh Reynolds, who the Titans were trying to talk us up as like, hey, we got him from the Rams. We kind of like him as a start. Hey, Anthony Furks. He's actually played pretty well when he's given the chance at Titan. They each moved down in the peasant. checking order. And then when you're trying to sell Josh Reynolds to me as number three, okay, I'm buying that. When you're trying to sell FERC or matching up against some inside linebacker because you're so worried about AJ Brown and Julio Jones on the outside, okay, I can buy that. And suddenly I do like this team because I like Julio so much

and think he's still playing at such a high level as the favor in the AFC South. Yeah, I mean, and also, you know, arrow up on Derek Henry because the way the offense looked 24 hours ago before this trade, we were concerned. I mean, we made. mentioned, like you said, Greg, in your projected starters piece, like they had lost Corey Davis, Jonu Smith, who combined for about 100 catches and 1,400 yards last year. Well, I mean, that's what essentially Julio Jones and Yardage has averaged every year outside of last season. And what team faced more eight-man boxes? If we were doing around the horn right now, reality would give you a couple.

I get a little point there. How you replace the whole statistics like smoothly with Julio. That was good. Yeah. I mean, I mean, I think also we were. were probably concerned about Derek Henry, you know, in terms of overall his workload. It's like, when is that going to come back to haunt him at some point? But the way that you attacked the Titans was just basically like go up against, go up against Derek Henry. And if you stopped him, when he ran for like less than 115 yards last year, they were three and five. So it looked like that was more, that was, there was more of an avenue to do that now. But now, if you're going to

go stack the box against Derek Henry, what are you doing with AJ Brown? What are you doing with Julio Jones. I mean, it just becomes an absolute nightmare. And I do love this about the Titans. Some teams sort of say, we are this. And maybe you are, but it doesn't show up on paper. The Titans basically say, we want to be huge, physical, and destroy you. Julio Jones is 6.3.222. A.J. Brown is 6.1, 247 and coming at you 10,000 miles an hour. I mean, this is who the Titans are. And now suddenly we have no concerns about their offense. It turns them into a legit Super Bowl threat. in a division that I think they can probably have their record elevated because there's a bunch of trash bags in there. There is, of course, the concern you need Julio Jones to stay healthy.

He did not stay healthy last year. But Greg, as you pointed out last week, that was the first year he's missed extensive action in years and years. But he's also a year older. So it's not like a, from a standpoint of will the Titans definitely be better? I don't know if I'd go that far because you still lost Arthur Smith. You still lost Janu Smith. Obviously, Corey Davis. is not close to Julio Jones when Julio Jones is on the field. But to me, that's what it comes down to. Because I think even if the offensive scheme maybe isn't as explosive as it was or the mind cooking it up isn't at Smith's level,

you're still going to now have this awesome talent here and the dynamic duo that you could put up against anyway. But it's one of those things like in June, this is the perfect trade. And the fact that you didn't have to give up a first rounder. And I guess that report that surfaced last weekend that they had a first round pick trade offer in hand of the falcons was all baloney um but we'll see maybe someone was saying they would give up a first and but you have to send a second back which would be a bad job withholding that from the first report but that's what i'm guessing and probably and probably

pay for part of julio jones's contract or it was just or it was just since there's no GM app they they just floated that out in the wind hoping another team would get sucked into it and get into the derby I mean, surrender a first round pick. But that's my only kind of hesitation, like the yellow light. It's a great move. I love that they went for it and are aggressive here, Tennessee. But will he be that guy? Will we see them on the field, these two Titan wide receivers?

I meant Titan like great players, but they're also the Titans. Yes. So I hope we get 17 games of that. That's where you just got to cross your fingers and hope for some luck. There is some concern that Julio Jones has rarely planned. practiced in the last three years. That's a fair point. He has shown up on Sundays. He's always questionable. He never practices. I don't know if these NFL teams are at all concerned about he's been quoted in the past being like, I'm not really an offseason weights guy. You know, I only

lift weights when they make me to during the season. He obviously is a well-conditioned athlete that works out and is ready to play football at an extremely high level because that's all he's ever done. But for him, you know, he hasn't been like Tom Brady, TB12. He basically says he only lifts weights when they make him to. I don't know if there's some concern that he's not going to age while. I do think there has to be just inherently a human motivation to make this work when you get to Tennessee. Not that he wouldn't be motivated in Atlanta, but he's in a new spot. A.G. Brown pushed to get him there. And he has to be thinking, like, I want to set up the next contract because there's a couple more things I do want to talk about with Julio, but one of them is the

money. And I think it's been misunderstood that like, oh, you've got to take on Julio's contract. Okay, you've got to have the room to take it on this year. But everyone should understand, Julio Jones has an incredibly good contract to take on. Now, he might want more money. That's, I think, going to be a problem down the line and is probably why some teams were hesitant. But for this year, unless he's insisting on new money this year, he's due $15 million this year. That's it. Like, you look around the league and who's making $15 million or more at wide receiver, Julio Jones is better than most of them.

Like, that's the type of money Sammy Watkins was making on the open market. That's not much more than Corey Davis and Nelson Aguilar were making on the open market. It's a little more. And then in the two years after this one, he's making significantly less. and that contract looks amazing. So worst case, if you're the Titans, you either have to pay him more money when the cap goes up or it doesn't work out and he's very easy to get rid of

or he's possibly tradable again. And I don't think the money part of it, if you can absorb them this year, should be a negative at all. That was part of the discussion. I didn't totally understand unless you're Atlanta, who had kind of boxed themselves in a corner and we're in a bad spot. Right, because I think it's correct.

Like what, you know, I guess the premise of our show, a lot of times is Cap Space. Let's not over worry about it. But Atlanta was one of those teams. That's premise of me. You can go against that. Well, no, because I think, I think that take your claim as Mr. Cap Space. No, it's just not. It's just not, it's not like all teams. Atlanta actually was in a terrible situation. And, you know, Arthur Smith, who shares the same agent as Julio Jones, I would imagine new to some degree what he was dealing with when he came into this situation, or maybe he didn't. But it shouldn't have been a huge surprise that Julio Jones probably

wasn't totally happy with the Falcons. That was a big part of the reason he got moved, but they were the one team that absolutely could not hold onto his contract. And that's mismanagement. And that to me says the Falcons like, you know, look, this should not have happened this way. I mean, they get an F grade for me. If you need to move on from a player at some point, they were in a tough spot, this new regime. But to get here and to have them inherit this, to me is just a disastrous exit for Julio Jones. I don't think, if it worked out, and Julio Jones helped the Titans get to the AFC championship of the Super Bowl. It's not that different than the Raiders trading Randy Moss to the Patriots for a fourth-rounder.

It just isn't. I mean, to me, like the regret for the Falcons, if you're a Falcons fan, is like it's not like, it didn't have to happen. Like, I remember reading the article that they could have made some other roster moves and they found the way. Right, there you go. Grady Jarrett and just maybe worked out an extension with him that spread out his cap. And then all of a sudden you can survive.

and then you get this opportunity to have your own big two with Calvin Ridley and Julio Jones and of course the Kyle Pitts, the dynamic rookie tight ender, but he can't stop talking about. So they had that option, but like when Steve Wise, who obviously, you know, covers the falcons, so he's plugged in on this. It wasn't just about money. It just seemed like a marriage that had run its course and he was there a long time. Julio wanted out. So there were kind of layers to this.

My other thought, like, again, it's a slam dunk for the Titans. When I do, when you look at his contract, this is his final year of that deal, the extension he signed in 2019. Is that correct? Yeah. Okay. So this could be, if you're a Titans van and you're pinching yourself and you can't wait to see him on the field, there is a, there's a chance.

This is a one-year rental situation too. Like if he, because if for a wide receiver that's going to be 33 next February, if he has a huge season, I guess you're going to hold on to him. If he's kind of in between, they're in a situation where they might think, okay, this isn't somebody we want to do more business with and you either move on or maybe you tag and trade. I don't know. But I think there is, to me, like a coin flip chance that he's a one-year tight. I think that's in play here too.

It's possible. Even that possibility, I think, is worth the risk. And it's one of the reasons why I think trading for these veterans is a different way to team build that I think is still undervalued in today's NFL because the Titans weren't the only team that could have done it. The Ravens could have found a way. The Patriots could have found a way. They reportedly just didn't want to pay the money. The 49ers could have found a way if they want. And I think there's this idea on draft day that these picks aren't that valuable. Teams will just give up whatever for these picks when it's for a rookie. But when it gets into the offseason, they go crazy.

I tweeted about the Jets how they traded two thirds to move up nine spots for Elijah Vera Tucker. Jets fans got it twisted that I was picking on them. He just was like the latest an example. I was thinking of using Giovante Williams, which the Broncos, you know, traded a fourth to move up five spots in the second round. Or you could use the Eagles who traded a third to the Cowboys to move up two spots in the first round. You could go a million different examples.

Marcus Davenport, when the Saints moved up, you know, two, first to go up 13 spots like people do remember that one and yet you no one wants to give up a late first for Julio Jones everyone's afraid it's group think and it's it's the off season too it's it's like they have these rookies that they fall in love with on draft day but when it gets to the off season they just don't want to give it up I have you I view like the draft sort of as like when you when you're just roaming around town you'd spend like six dollars on a beer but where you're stuck in an airport you'll happily play $14 for a beer. That's the only way to get it.

It's like the draft circle, like, puts people into a frenzy. And a little bit of a draft note, I mean, Peter King talked that the Patriots did not really have serious interest in Julio Jones. But this is the same team where in April, Albert Breer reported that Bill Belichick ignored team scouts who wanted to take A.J. Brown and Devo Samuel and took Nikiel Harry instead. So, I mean, I don't quite know what is going on with the Patriots and why receivers. What did the Patriots give up for most of the new? Second round pick was the top of that. It's getting a little wacky. So he's got a little bit of a blind spot here at wide receiver.

There was the report years ago that he didn't love Julio Jones as a prospect coming into the league either. Yeah, I think, like, I was listening to a podcast recently, and it was Barack Obama was talking about how he had ascended to the highest office in the land. He was the leader of the free world now. He was the president. And he figured, as he went up the ladder of life, and achieve this great position,

he was going to get, I find smarter people and people that were, like, dynamic in all levels. And what he found was that, like, no, that's not really how it works. People move up the ladder, but you're still, you're not dealing with just because you're at the top of your field or the top of the world in this global politics game. You're not going to be surrounded by genius. And I'm not like taking the piss out of the GMs of the world.

But, like, some of these guys just like, no, we're not going to do this because nobody else does this. And I think there's a group think that kind of invades the way these organizations run their operation. And it ends up killing them because I think in three or four months, if Julio stays healthy and he's Julio and I think, you know, there's a chance this is going to happen. He's going to have a big year here. Teams are going to be kicking themselves. The teams like the Ravens, the teams like the Rams.

Jalen Ramsey had this. He tweeted this. This is all it took for a generational guy. And we were out of the Julio sweepstakes. He tweeted on Sunday, wow, we wouldn't. have been unstoppable for real with all them weapons, L.O.L. There's going to be a lot of teams that are going to be thinking that if Jones is a superstar this year. That's why it reminds me of Randy Moss a little bit too, because his stock

was really low because it was stuck on a bad Raiders team. And I think there was a lot of, like, all these teams are so concerned. I get, look at number one, this offseason cap scenario was tougher for some teams. But anyone can make it work out of, like, outside of like maybe five or six teams if they really wanted to. And on top of it, there was this over concern about Julio Jones's health. I mean, last year, yes, he missed a bunch of games. When he played, he was excellent. And if you really go back, as we've mentioned, you go back through the years, he hasn't missed as much time as sort of general perceptions seem to suggest. I mean, he's one of the toughest, grittiest, most badass guys out there. And like, he kind of fits perfectly with the Titans.

And I think that's why it's a complete. You play to win the Super Bowl. That's what, don't worry about two years down line, three years down line. You just added this guy who could win you a Super Bowl and other teams should have been harder in on this. I would have given, if I was a team that figured I'm going to have a late first round pick. If you're the Rams, well, no, the Rams never have first round picks anymore. That's the thing, Jalen Ramsey picking on the Rams. I mean, they've traded.

Yeah, that's, it gets a little tricky for the Rams. They're a bad example, but maybe, uh, I don't know, throw a team out there that should have been in this derby. The Patriots are Ravens, I think we're too. They should have done it. Pull the trigger. The AFC feels and I, the chiefs maybe came, have come down a little bit here. The AFC feels especially wide open right now, and the Titans got a lot better here.

They did. And it's funny Ramsey brings up the Rams because I think the Rams are a little bit at the forefront of thinking about these issues of like what's worth more, a late first round pick or a veteran hand in the bush. The Stefan Diggs trade has sort of slipped under the radar as an unbelievable transaction, which really is similar to the Sulio Jones. and no one picks on the Vikings for it. And it's not about picking on the Vikings because they drafted Justin Jefferson. It's more just like, they knew how good Stefan Diggs was when they traded for them. That's the whole thing of trading for the veterans. That's why I think the Rams, the Eagles, the Patriots have traded more for veterans in general.

You should have less risk. And I think about the Brandon Cook's trades, which you could say worked out okay for both the Patriots. I was going to say there's been 20 Brandon Cook's trades. I know, that's the thing. But that almost, I think, proves. the wisdom of doing them because maybe they weren't total home runs, but cooks helped both the teams he landed on, make a Super Bowl, Patriots Rams, you know, and play well. And they still got in, but it wasn't like a thing where you felt like you wanted to keep them forever. And you know what?

They both got a pretty good draft pick when they traded them away. So it's like they, they both ended up recouping some of that loss. They got a lot of value out of cooks, you know, And you move on, whereas these late first round picks, I keep quoting it. Mike Sando did the research, 40% of them don't get their fifth round option, which is about what we would think. Like a late first round pick, you're going to miss about half the time. And so you fall in love with these guys, but you're going to miss half the time. And a year or two of Julio Jones, to me, is worth more than the chance that you're

missing half the time on these picks. Yeah. It does put a little bit of pressure because it's Todd Downing, taking over the offense. He was with the Titans, you know, the last two seasons. And he sort of said, look, I'm not looking to recreate something different than what Arthur Smith has done. But his one year as an offensive coordinator was with the coming off of the playoffs Raiders in 2017 under Jack Del Rio. They finished 23rd in offense and the entire staff got fired. So I'm not saying that's on Todd Downing, but it's going to be, you know, look, you have to like, the one thing I find out of my memory.

I did not, I cannot, I cannot remember what happened in that too. I guess Derek was. Well, I mean, that was right before Gruden? Yeah, they were six and ten and they were a hot men. Yeah, nobody remembers, yeah, that is. They were inflated all off season, and then they were a complete hot mess. And it's like, I'm not saying that Todd Downing can't do it, but it's interesting me that Arthur Smith, of all people, shipped Julio Jones back to the Titans where Arthur,

where there's an Arthur Smith-sized void calling plays. So we'll see how that works out. I'm looking at like the Raiders, like from. It was more that Downing was like calling the plays. I guess Del Rio, yeah. I mean, I just, I don't really remember, like a lot of eight. around the NFL discussion being like, hey, what's downing doing with these three wide receiver sets? Not a lot of downing talk that year. There wasn't. The whole team kind of just combusted.

Sometimes you forget that Jack Del Rio, you know, presided over a 12 and four Raiders team in 2016. I mean, as every once in a while, I feel like someone associated with Del Rio or something that he points out that, like, his record was better with the Raiders than, you know, Gruden was. So it's not crazy. Well, you got the 12 and 4, but then the sandwich, it was 7, 9, and 6, and 10. And then it was like, peace. And now the John Gruden era, what a, what is seen? All right.

Anyway, forget about that. There you go. Titans fans are excited. The Titans, long gone. Long gone. Well, they're going to be in prime time more. So I do like it for the average fan. I did look at this.

The Falcons were buried anyways. They weren't getting any, uh, any, uh, any pot. this season with Julio. So now if the Titans are going to be in prime time, which they are a little more, okay, now it's, I like the fact we get the Julio instead of. What about your,

your quiet, not so quiet doubts about Ryan Tannahill, true star. Is this now somewhat, does that put on the background? Wait, I have those. Yeah,

you have a little, you have some quibble about should we actually view Tannahill as a guy to trust year after year at this point? We have this conversation a couple weeks ago. This helps. I mean, And there are, there are like the QB gurus, like Nate Tice, who we've had on. I would love to get a little more thoughts on this that he thinks, he kind of thinks

Tana Hill is still like one read. Maybe I'll get to my second read or I'll freak out. And it's very, you know, it's very steam and like calling dependent. But you know what? It's worked incredibly well so that you can't argue with the results. And this will help keep that. I mean, it is interesting that Julio Jones basically, there was the whispers that he wants to go somewhere where the quarterback is one of the established, you know,

top five deep passers in the league. And Tannehill is middle of the pack. He's not a nightmare and he's not the best. I mean, he's been skeined up really well too. This reminds me. I had Erica cut a clip of A.J. Brown, who was showing a personality I really hadn't seen before speaking this Julio Jones trade into existence weeks and weeks ago. Let's listen to A.J. a bit.

Then me, I'm up and cunning. Pro bono. You're two. Not a big deal. Kind of a big deal, but not really. Okay, scratch that. Anyway, whatever. You, the goat of our error, of our receivers, help me, help you. Come home, Leo. Come home. I mean, you know they're texting. Come on. That was like, they're close friends. That was, you know, I cut off part of the thing because it didn't make sense out of context,

but it was him standing in front of also, like, or city in front of a fan-made image of Tannahill. and he starts, like, pumping up Tannahill as the man and a leader, and that you don't even need to talk about Derek Henry because he's got the meanest face ever, and you add Julio to that mix, and they're the meanest, like, four-pack in the league. I like that. I like a little AJ Brown puffing his chest out and making it happen. Yeah, I like that. Some good personality there from AJ.

All right. That's that. Let's hit the rest of the news. Hit it, Ricky. Surprise! Surprise! Happy birthday! What a great time had by all at Hanzas Manor on Sunday,

a little bit belated because the great Lakeisha Jackson Wesleying had been traveling, but we celebrated Lynx's first birthday with a surprise party. Lakeisha thought she was just coming over for a swim at the Penn. had here and instead it was a full on party for you know it was it was tight it was everybody ATN podcast everybody connected to the show and we're obviously like a family uh brought closer by the tragedy with west and to have us all together and to celebrate link and lekeeshia that was nice that was a nice sunday well still recovering let's not drop the ball on um dan's new place which is sort of out of a californian dream i mean i you know our kids

kids, like, I don't know about you, Greg, but our kids don't have a, like, a lot of pool time and you've got a wonderful pool. And, like, they just had the time of the life. And I'm looking over and, like, Jack and Harry are, like, wrestling in the pool, like, two WWF, like, youngsters. And, like, Luke and Colton sitting next to them and Ellis. And I just walker, I just thought, like, watching the six of them together was kind of cool. Like, they're interacting all day long. I mean, it was a lot of, there was a lot of parental supervision going on as well. But it was a fantastic time. No, they were in the pool the whole time. You say you're feeling it today. then Walker's feeling it today. I think it's like four hours in the pool and the sun. I don't know. He hasn't been the same quite since, but he had a blast. I'm glad you mentioned Harry and Jack. We can get to some other issues if you want, but I did love this moment where we saw them.

I mean, they get after each other. And you guys just, you allow it because you trust them, and that's great because it seems like they'd take care of themselves. But yeah, there was a sequence where one of them was choking the other, and then they kissed on the lips, like, very shortly thereafter. It was like, that was brotherhood. It was amazing. We were sitting there and we're talking, and Colleen was talking about something else,

and she goes, are Dan's boys kissing in the hot tub? And they were, like, strangling each other. And it was very, very sweet. It was so great. I mean, they are, I grew up. I was a middle child, and I'm almost six years older than my brother, Kevin, danger. So there wasn't that type of closeness. I mean, my brother and I are very close,

but it's different when their jack is my oldest is six and harrison is four so like they really are they're almost like they're like twins i know mark you know you know it's a similar thing with luke and colton yeah so yes the whole thing is you watch over them you make sure it's not turning to a place where they're actually mad at each other because you don't want wrestling and water at any time uh when there's actual fearsomeness but it's just like two bros just going at it enjoying their company and I give them a little bit of rope for that reason. Yeah. And so, you know, sooner than later, Link will be, we'll be jumping in that pool because I've never seen a one-year-old with the dexterity, the ability to move, dance moves. He's got, he can run around. He's very,

like, with it doesn't, is very chill. So I, he's a very advanced one-year-old Lincoln wrestling. Good appetite, too. Eating like slices of pizza, you know, what's going on. It was awesome. It was awesome. And I am recovering, but it was very nice to get everyone together and celebrate the Wesslings. Okay, let's hit the rest of the news before we say goodbye. The Green Bay Packers, they're dealing with it. It's been a rough off season for this organization. And Mark Murphy, who's the team president. Remember, there's no owner. It's a team that there's shareholders. And then you could actually even buy a frame with a certificate that says you're a part owner of the team. That's a nice little thing what mark would definitely do if it was the browns who would absolutely have that are those still available i feel like that was like a one a one-time thing i don't listen go on for the website i mean you could just make it going to pay you just valuable think about this Greg packers fans and i know many of them are willing to pay 300 bucks or whatever it is they're going to keep offering it okay it's i believe i could be wrong but yeah we worked with jim ryan

at nfl dot com rhino who was a packers fan and he had a he had a shareholder's certificate in a frame and that was less than that wasn't too many years ago so i think it's it's a moneymaker so i remember the stealthex used to legitimately be a publicly traded company which is which is a part of thing that's not true anymore that would be fun to just like have stock in your favorite team so like within their structure team president that's where it's at mark murphy he has a monthly mailbag column on the packers website which yes, is on my radar. I don't like when people try to roll into the business with relevant mailbags that break news. I don't like that because it's coming in on my turf. I'm battling

an internal war when I ask for mailbag questions and everyone's like, what do you think about Mark's thoughts about UFOs? Do you think he's for real? Do you think he would follow the aliens? I'm like, no, ask me about the Julio Jones trade. It's affecting my mailbag. I have a bit of a mailbag crisis going on right now, even though I love the same level of breaking news were you to expound on that topic. But Murph over here in Green Bay, nice job. If you were on an island and there's CDs there, but you could kill Mark, which would you take? I don't know. He's like, where should the next NFL team move if they were to leave America? It's like, all right. Sorry. I love you guys. Anyway, all right, Murphy, he addressed the situation with Aaron Rogers, who obviously is unhappy. Nobody

knows if he's going to turn up at OTA's mandatory camp, I should say. So here's what he said in his mailbag. The situation we face with Aaron Rogers has divided our fan base, the emails and letters that I've received reflect this fact. Now, Murphy also added that, you know, they still believe that our Rogers and the Packers have a future together. Greg, I know how these things get, as we all do, how these things get twisted around. You could read that line, that he's divided our fan base and be like, oh, man, it's the divorce, it's happening, but it's really just

speaking, it's just a fact, like the fans have two, yeah, that's all it is, right? Is there anything to, this feels like a nothing burger? It maybe is, first of all, they don't seem that divide. I think most of them are on the Aaron Rogers side, although I'm sure a lot of them are upset. I don't know about that. Well, they want, they want the team

to work it out and for Rogers to stay, whether they're happy with, maybe they are divided in terms of like their happiness, It's not, no one is saying, let's trade him. Let's get rid of this bum. That's a pretty small segment. But I'm glad I wanted to do this because not only did it come from a mailbag, which it would seem like this was very purposeful.

He hasn't said anything publicly about it much. And he was just like, he had the choice to mention it. I want to read you the quote unquote question. Exactly. I love this. Go. That he answered this too. His name was Ken.

And this is the entire quote. You have done a great job. Don't let the bastards drag you down. Washington needs a name. I suggest the generals. What? It was such an own sequit. It had nothing to do with Aaron Rogers at all.

I think he was responding to the part where it was like, don't let the haters drag you down and that he assumed is about Rogers and that's fine. But it was a weird spot that he was like looking for this in from Ken to go. in on this Rogers thing. And then this is where I appreciate Mike Floreo taking the time to go through the whole mailbag, because I hadn't. And he did know, and I think it was a good point, my old boss. He did know how also in that mailbag, he really pumped up Jordan Love and really

mentioned what a great relationship Matt LaFleur and Brian Gutikun said and really pumped up Brian Gutikin. So I think if you kind of add all those answers together, it does. It must become a little bit of newsworthy to me that he's trying to, like, put this PR spin out there. Well, here is the line that he had on Goodtikuts. I must tell you, I have tremendous confidence in Goody. That's me using Goody. In his relatively short tenure as RGM, he has completely turned around the fortunes of our team.

That's in the same, that's graphs after the situation we face with Aaron Rogers has divided our fan base. It sounds, yeah. They've got their backup a little bit. They put their backup a little bit to the national criticism. Right. But Dan, see, maybe that's what you should do with your mailbag. You get a question that's just about something totally arcane that you're not into and just answer it the way you want to.

That's what he did. And I think that's for the next level mailbagging. No, he's, Murphy is putting everybody in the mailbag industry on notice. And I honestly, that's, that's iron sharpens iron, that whole thing. Sure. I ultimately, I respect him for what he's done here. Yeah, and good for Mark Murphy. So basically he's going out there and he's saying he's letting people know he's using this mailbag as the method to let the fans know.

I'm not going to be bullied by the superstar quarterback. We're not going to fire the GM to make this guy happy. We're digging our heels in a little bit. And again, it just seems like they're daring Rogers to retire. And I don't think they do that if they don't buy it. They think he's going to play. And this has all just been, you know, kind of ugly theater if you're a Packers fan or in the organization. it's uncomfortable, but I don't think they're going to, they think that Roger's going to call

their bluff and not show up. I think you, right. And he's not coming to minicamp this week, by the way. We need to stop these like breathless reports. Is he going to, you know, I know we need to fill time. He's not coming this week. Apparently the receivers are. So that's, that's nice for Jordan Love. And we'll, uh, we'll find out some more as we get, you know, closer to the training. And it's a couple people tweeted at me and I think you guys, too, that we're talking about the money lost that could all be gained back in I guess negotiations and people said under the terms of the new CBA there's no way to get out of the fines you pay I guess there's still loophole for not to be an issue but right at the same time it's still it's sorry it's pennies it's pennies

when you talk about Aaron Rogers it's not going to be a reason it is interesting it's like Peter King suggested number one he basically said in his column this morning that he would bet Rogers today is solid on never playing for the Packers again. He also talked about the idea that there could be a scenario because of the $6.8 million roster bonus that he got in March and not having to give that back or whatever, fight over that and his salary and everything else, that maybe the Packers would come up with a scenario where both sides agree that Rogers would play this season under the concept that he would be openly traded next year to a team of his choice, that they'd play good for one year and give sort of a little bit more of a runway for

Jordan Love to become the starter and play them as much as they could when they had big leads or if they were getting buried in a game. I mean, that feels a little too friendly for what's going on here, but that's one possibility. Yeah, that seems, it seems like a bad idea and it doesn't seem like that. The energy around that would be awful. It wouldn't satisfy anyone. Everyone would be a little unhappy, I feel like with that compromise, especially the fans if they knew about it. In other news, Juan James is not happy with the Denver Broncos. The offensive tackle has filed a 15 million grievance

against this former team of the Broncos. At the same time, he has also agreed to a new contract with the Baltimore Ravens. The 29-year-old suffered a season-ending Achilles injury and a workout away from the facility last month. He had been guaranteed $10 million for the 2021 season. But because the injury took place off-site, It was designated a non-football injury.

That means that Broncos could say, we're not paying his salary. They then released him. Now in this grievance, Greg James wants the $10 million, and he wants $5 million for the 2022 season. So there you go. A little bit ugly the way this thing is turned out for James. Yeah, it'll be a precedent for players working out off-site in the off-season in general.

He's also saying that the Broncos maybe didn't have the right COVID. protocols and that was a reason and that you're only working out offsite because you're doing what you were told to do when you were on site. We'll see. It just could have some impact on how these off seasons go. It's not like a hugely fascinating story. I was shocked though that the Ravens signed him. That was really interesting. They decided to pay him half a million dollars this year that they didn't have to, um, to basically rehab at their facility. And so that they could have them under contract for next year for $8 million. That had almost no risk to them.

So I think it was kind of a creative, clever move by them because now they have him next year. And if he if he doesn't look great in the next off season, they'll probably just cut him anyways. But now they have a tackle to replace Orlando Brown potentially on top of Allie Villanueva. I think like to me, the most impressive athlete in football right now is Mark's boy, Miles Garrett. I mean, the guy is just a freak.

he's a Martian. And when you see him doing those like 360 windmill jams and pickup games, it's like, I don't know about you, Mark, but you're like, let's take it easy on the court there, buddy. You worry about what these guys are doing when they're working out on their own time because, you know, the effects can be done. Last year he was, or last week he was essentially told by the coaching staff. Your basketball career is over for this offseason at least.

And, you know, Miles Garrett, for as good as he looked at times last year, said he was never really better than about 60% health-wise after that COVID thing, which I know that, you know, that was totally pooh-poot on this show. But, I mean, some players. By who? Not by. By Dan. Dan never really took that seriously.

I mean, he was struggling to breathe, he said. This is totally separate, but how much would you pay watching, you know, those Miles Garrett basketball clips are great? How much pay? No, I was going to say to watch, like, I like, or how much, would you need to just like take a charge from miles garret that's so crazy i would like to like watch i would like to watch basically a video of me but not have to go through it or a video of mark just like kind of like standing underneath and take a charge from a you know a bullying miles garret running down the floor you

just got to take it in the chest like i'd do it for very low money just to have the video of it and be able to tell people it happened to me no i need at least a hundred bucks for that at least well let's put this. Let's say if I were severely injured that he would pay for, you know, for me to be fixed on whatever level I need to be fixed. He would not. That's not part of the deal. No, that's not part of it. You got to take the rent. That's not, I'm not entering that situation and that doesn't feel good. I would go flying. It would be fun. All right. In other news, the New York Jets are going to have a new look on offense with Mike LaFleur at the controls. They made some moves in the draft and free agency to better that positional group. Elijah Moore added in the draft in the second round,

a notable one because he plays a similar position to Jameson Crowder, who's been there and been a good soldier for the Jets for the last couple of years on some wretched teams. S&Y reported that the Jets are trying to get Crowder in his contract year to take a, quote, significant pay cut from his $10 million salary. Of course, Corey Davis is there as well, Mark. So it's never a bad thing to have extra wide receivers. I think the Jets are a better team, even if you can't figure out who's starting and Greg, in your projected starter series.

I don't know if you had Crowder in the starting lineup. I think you did. Maybe more being worked in as the season goes along. But they're kind of putting his feet to the fire here, asking him to take a pay cut. I mean, Moore has been getting glowing reports at their mini camps. I mean, there's people going off about how explosive he looks. So he's a slot guy.

I think they're looking at the 10 million cells. million dollar salary for Crowder and saying you're not getting this somewhere else. If we were to cut you or whatever, you're not getting somewhere else. He has no guaranteed money. So can we find like a middle ground where we want you? You get it, we get it. It would be a fair asking price.

But I'm with you, Dan. I look at the, if like Corey Davis stays healthy, if Denzel Mims takes another step, if Elijah Moore becomes what they say you can be, you've got a really interesting group of wide receivers in this team, I mean, for this new coaching staff to work with. So I think Crowder is basically on the way out. Can you keep him for one year on a reduced salary?

Yeah, but you're much better with Crowder. I like having four instead of three. And he is kind of the safest among them. Just because Davis is on a new team, Moore is a rookie Mims we got to see. You kind of know what you have in Crowder. He has a tough decision to make because they said it's a significant pay cut. And maybe his agent is testing the market.

I think you could get a decent contract elsewhere. I mean, they also paid Keel and Cole $6 million, which that move slipped under the radar. And that is the reason I would guess they feel comfortable getting rid of Crowder. My guess is he's going to get cut. I mean, he's not at the facility now. And unless he finds that no one wants to pay him, I guess that's possible, there's a good chance he's gone. He would be an interesting pickup for some things that are desperate. They're like 25, 26 million under the cap.

Like what why does this have to happen? They just don't think he's that good, I guess. Yeah, purely it sounds like just like a business financial decision, but I think they're a better team with him there. And I'm thinking this isn't, he's not close obviously to Julio Jones, but he would help a team. I don't know if if other teams are kind of monitoring the situation and they're thinking he's going to get cut. So why offer, you know, a late round draft pick or whatever it would take to get him? But Crowder has been one of the only guys that was, could make plays for the Jets the last couple years. He's been a little banged up, but I always liked him a lot. I think he's a good player.

In other news, you know, we have the kicker club, and it's wild in the kicker club. So this podcast is celebrated kickers, and it's been really a nice run for kickers on the around the NFL podcast. You know, the punters, you know, we don't talk about them as much, and maybe we should. Maybe we should, but they don't have a club, unfortunately. They have, like it's like the punters punch mixer, I call it. That's a little bit. Get together. Where is that held? It's like at the local gymnasium.

A little lower octane. There's some streamers and some balloons, and there's a big bowl of punch and some finger foods. And there's a bunch of like people are doing the twist and other types of. It's a middle school dance except just like mid-20s punters. exactly so maybe they need somebody to come in and kind of reinvigorate the thing but you look at what that's going on in the club with the kickers and it's a total party and then you look at what's going on here at the punters punch mixer there's room for growth yeah I mean that's why I threw it out there because I just thought

look if if one of the top five punters and kickers in Lee were getting a big you know market setting contract we'd talk about it but the punters get forgotten. I mean, who had more hype as a rookie punter than Michael Dixon? Nobody. And he's lived up to it. Uh, I don't remember of having a ton of hype, but I'm sure he did. Seahawks Twitter was all about it. He has a crazy spin. He has a crazy spin and he kicked he punts it like 70 yards. There, I saw a stat. They was showing like EPA per play by punters over the last three years. And I think Dixon was fourth. So that shows he's a good punter. But you know who was number one in that list. Who's that? It was the best player on

the Patriots last year. Left-footed punter, Jake Bailey was number one. I mean, who fits in more? They were punting the ball a lot for sure. Yeah, the punters. That's all they got now. That's all we got is Jake Bailey now. Jake Bailey.

They're like, all right, everybody clear on the flaw. See, Jake Bailey's taken. He's going to do the swish. They're just trying to bring his name awareness. I don't think he's really caught on nationwide as, as such a great punter. But he really is Jake Bay. Michael Dixon was a, West was a big fan of Michael Dixon. And Michael Dixon is also, um,

Also, quite a marketer. He has a line of clothing products out there called Big Dixon Energy. So, and then those are taking up. So I don't know about this, like, sixth grade punch bowl business. Like, he seems like he's ready to, you know, confront the world as a man and take his position and take it with pride. I mean, if he's really an enterprising young gentleman, and just to make it clear, because I don't think it was made, it's been noted here. His name's been brought up. There's an extension.

It's a four-year contract extension signed on Friday. if he wants any they use the 2018 draft pick to select the Australian punter out of UT but they trade it up to the fifth round to get him so there you go Greg you're nailing that you were all over this

maybe if he's really an enterprising young man maybe build up the punter's punch mixer that's it maybe that's where he should focus on him he probably he has to be the most famous punter right now I don't think there's anyone that tops him

So it's kind of a low, it's like a, it's a low mark right now for punters, not a lot of pop. Yeah. And so there you go. Congratulations, buddy. Finally, in the news, Chad Johnson boxes now. And he went the distance in a four-round exhibition on Sunday night. He was the opening fight of the Floyd Mayweather Logan Paul undercard. And I just, this is just an excuse to say, what?

what the f*** happened in boxing? Yeah, it's what's going on? I mean, the fact that this was a pay-per-view event on a Sunday night, by the way, what's that all about, with a YouTube star, Logan Paul, and a 44-year-old retired Floyd Mayweather, like, we had our old buddy, Mike Coppinger, who used to work for NFL media and now is, you know, doing very well for himself, covering boxing. I'm wondering, like, if you're a boxing purist, like somebody, and I grew up,

like you guys did, late 80s, and it was awesome. Mike Tyson was coming up, and it was a great heavyweight division. You had this phenom that you could build the sport around in the heavyweight division. But I'm no expert, and I fall. And I wonder if like the boxing purists out there, when this is the biggest story around the sport, that's got to hurt. I mean, that's got to hurt. Anyway, but Chad Johnson is one of these guys on the card. And it's just like, not only do you have YouTubers against retired guys that have fought like once in five years,

and that's Floyd Mayweather. And even that, his last match was against the MMA guy, the Irishman. What's his name? Connor. Connor McGregor. Gunnar McGregor. It's like,

100 million out of this. What are we doing here? And we paid for that. I remember we all watched that together that fight, but I don't know. I'm not bagging on another sport because I know there's lovers out there. But it's crazy to me that Chad Johnson is on the undercard of this biggest match of the year.

My only note, though, would be I do think with boxing, because it's accessible to anyone. I mean, all sorts of people get into fights outside of bars and taverns. Like, anyone could box if they wanted to. So there is, if you're going to be like a professional boxing circuit, stay away from this. But in general, like, would I pay $50 to see, like, Greg and Dan spar for, I don't know how many rounds that would last, maybe one, two. But like... It was like a mailbag question.

I would hope so. I mean, I think that there is something about, like, you know, pairing wacky, you know, individuals against each other in the ring. I like the idea that when Erica comes in and, like, hits Dan with a chair, something, you know, it could be. It's somewhere between WWE and an actual sport. And they're so in Floyd Mayweather, Pablo Tori made a great point of like, he sort of was a YouTube star before YouTube stars. It's like, he's getting people to pay money, even though they're always like disappointed by his fights by doing all this crazy stuff off the, you know, out of the ring. And then people pay their money and they're, they're a little dissatisfied. But it's like, that's that that's what he's been doing.

in his entire career. It's very strange. The most interesting part of the Chad Johnson thing was, though, not only was it against Nate Robinson, you know, and he got a, or no, not against Nate Robinson, rather. It was some MMA guy. It was supposed to be against Pac-Man Jones, but Pac-Man, Chad Ocho Cinco wouldn't do it.

He wouldn't do it against Pac-Man. He wasn't confident enough against Pac-Man. I wouldn't want to get in there against Pac-Man either. I mean, I guess if you want to turn it into, like, pro- Wrestling spectacle, it's fine that this is the direction. But this is the sweet sound. Right. They're not like going for belts. They're somewhere in between because I think there's an idea that, you know, Lloyd Mayweather is, you know, trying to help Logan Paul look good here and then like sign him to his company and they might do it again. And it's like, oh, just sort of for fun. Said Chad Johnson after the fight, I lost my virginity tonight and it was fun. I think I'm ready for McGregor. Okay. That's enough. That's what's happening in the news.

I got him on, like, old guy shaking hands and shouting at the clouds about this, but, you know. Are you better point? Sports is as a sports van, like, all encompassing. I enjoy sports more when there's like a fun boxing vibe going on. It's been a while. All right. Before we go, our friend, friend of the show, Kyle Brandt, is in Australia right now. And we talk about our fans are all over the world.

And although I kid about some of the mailbag questions I tend to get, we absolutely love and appreciate our overseas fans because they are everywhere, including Australia. So Kyle is there because Kyle's career is blown up. And he's got it's a little bit. I think the project is a little mysterious what it is exactly. But he's in Australia. He's been quarantining for two weeks, staying in a hotel.

He had to do that. to satisfy the COVID-19 protocols down there where Australia, if I'm not mistaken, has really done well in that realm with COVID. It has not been anything like it's been in a lot of other places in the world. And he is doing Kyle, good morning football, from Australia this week with tapings for him at like 11 p.m. 6 a.m. in New York with the rest of the gang. Anyway, this is a clip from that show that was sent my way when Kyle was talking. about once he was allowed back into society in Australia.

This is what happened. Hi, mate. And I turn, it's just some guy. It's an Australian guy returning home. And he goes, I like you a show, mate. And I was like, oh, wow, you watch good morning football? I'm so flattered. That's incredible.

I mean, that's, I didn't know you guys have it on it. It's really great. And he goes, hey, you want to know my favorite talk? And I go, yeah, I'm wondering, is it like, you know, one of our, like, wacky segments? Or is it like the banter at the taste? able, like, what is this Australian man about to say is his favorite part of Good Morning Football? And he goes, hey, I like Dan Hensis. And I go, oh, really?

You like Dan Henses. That's cool. Dan's great on the show. It's not what I expected you to say, but he does come on a lot during the year. Yeah, I walk around the NFL, mate. And I was like, wow, what an incredible. I'm sorry, I'm not Greg Rosenthal. I wish I could be.

Sorry to disappoint you, dude. But anyway, Dan, Greg, all the guys, you got a huge fan down here, some bloke and awesome loves Dan Hanzus. Dan, you're the best. That's my story. Wow. What was that, Mark?

Dan, Greg, and all the guys. I knew that was going to happen. The look on Mark's face right now, he's furious. He's not happy that around the NFL got some nice, good morning football pop, that the fans are, that are more excited about us,

thinks Kyle is on our show or something. Who knows? He's just mad he didn't get mentioned there. I'm not mad at all. I'm sorry, Mark. One of the three of us actually left college, his second college that he transferred to to go to Australia for six months. You know, I feel a special connection to the country,

but this bloke down there apparently could care less. Wait, you spent some time in Australia? I've never heard about this. Well, you know, for new listeners, that's in England? No. Like if you miss the 1,100 shows until now, you're just joining now. I do want to see what he's up to you down there. I think it's interesting and mysterious.

And he's a friend of our show. If we have a random dude and whoever you are, dude, way to go. Good job. Thanks for supporting us all these years. I mean, we're trying to get back to London. We want to go to Germany. There's a lot of talk about games being played in Germany this year. Man, let's just go for it.

Let's go down to Australia and get loose. Who's paying for this? I don't know. You know, the beer's like much more potent and powerful down there. It's not this like grocery store like American beer with like a lower alcohol percentage. It is high octane and it leaves you wondering where you are. Trust me. I'm going.

I have like that's the number one place I want to go with my family in the summer. It'll probably be more of our summertime. They're winter. Go check out some koalas walker super into once they open the restrictions. I'm thinking next summer. But let's go as an NFL team too. My totally, like, shaded American viewpoint of Australia is that if you go on the ocean, there's a one and two chance you're eaten by a shark. That's like what I know about Australia.

No. But I don't think that's right. But I think there's pretty prevalent down there. Sharks kill under 10 people globally throughout every year. I think it's 10 people a day in Australia. No, it's understand. Sharks get it was such a bad rap. They're not going to bug you.

If you don't bug them, there's a lot more animals that are a lot more dangerous. There's a check it out in the Los Angeles Times last month. To your point, Greg, because sharks are endangered because of a lot of misconceptions that I am also now spewing. But what we're learning now drone technology, they're sending drones over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Los Angeles. And we're learning that great whites are everywhere. Like sharks are everywhere. And we never knew because you never saw them. Like within a hundred feet of the store.

And most importantly, they're not attacking you. Like, if you watch Jaws too many times, as I did as a kid, you just assume that to be the case. Anyway, thank you to Australia. Thank you to Kyle Wren, who's always been so cool to us and to this show. And I'm sorry, Mark, that he didn't bring you up, but you know he loved it. He did. I'm all, I'm all the other guys. So he did name drop me in a sense. We're good.

This one's going to be with you for the rest of the day. I'm sorry. Perfect way to end a Monday. There's got to be a year. We'll bring it up when Kyle's on the show next. I mean,

this is not a one day story. The best part, he probably was like searching for the name of the third guy. He's like, I can't remember that guy's name. That is not true. All right,

good stuff. Mark, you know, this podcast does not exist without a Mark Sessler. Well, we could find out, but I,

so far it doesn't, but that, we don't know what's down the road. All right. Good stuff. stuff. We'll be back on Thursday. We have something cooking Thursday. Ricky, we don't want to reveal it, right? No, it's just going to happen. Be a surprise. But it's Ricky's recipe here that we're going to be following. Right. So, you know, that's a little bit scary

in a way. But that's, it's the offseason. This is where you, you know, you follow Ricky's path and you see where it takes you. And it might even take us, you know, out of the virtual reality that we live in right now. So I'm looking forward to that. And no NFL network show this week. We're on a two-week hiatus from that. So if you want your around the NFL fix after today's show, Thursday's pod, that's where you get it. All right.

Good stuff. Dan Hansa signing off for Quiet Storm. Mark Sessler is the name. Learn it. And the old boss. Of course, Ricky Hollywood. Until Thursday, keep the call. We're going to be able to be.

Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 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-making. and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it.

Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.