NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Lamar Landing Spots, Danny Dimes Deal & Rodgers-Jets Meeting

Episode Date: March 8, 2023

A room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal react to a news-filled Tuesday, starting with Lamar Jackson receiving the non-exclusive franchise tag from the Baltimore Ravens (2:10). Aaron Rodgers has met with the Jets (22:48), Daniel Jones and the Giants worked out a big extension while Saquon Barkley was franchise-tagged (34:42), and Geno Smith also signed a new contract (50:00). Then, the heroes discuss the ideal landing spots for Lamar Jackson (1:00:51), including Indianapolis (1:01:25), New England (1:03:38), and Atlanta (1:06:54), among others.  Note: timecodes approximate.NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast. Hey, Greg, nice tortoise, nerd. From the Chris Wessling podcast studio. Sniper shot. It's Around the NFL. I'm Dan Hansis. Greg Rosenthal's here.

Untured, Greg. Untured. Mark Sessler. How is everybody? I'm all for a, you know, out of, out of, uh, deep space shot of Greg once in a while, but that seemed unseemly to me. Greg, I don't approve.

I'm glad for the concern. Norrie has been struggling with the move. We've had to move her cage all around. She hasn't been eating. The rain came and we had a covering, we're having to buy something to cover up, but she got a little wet. So we're a little worried about Norrie right now.

Why does caring for an animal, which we've all done in our lifetime? Why does that make you a nerd, among other things that i mean listen we didn't write that we didn't record it we had nothing to do with that through me we never do um the tortoise i feel like you can probably of all the pets yeah if the tortoise doesn't make it just get another one yeah they're all the same yeah it's not personality driven not an animal from that it's not like i don't know for sure but i'm different it's like no like you are the same but you were the same during dinosaur dogs with the child even know

depending on the age of the child the whole point though is that like I'm going to be 65 years old and Norrie will still be there. And that's the beauty of the tortoise. They don't die on you. They stay with you 40 years. Oh, well, then everybody wins. But I'm saying if the tortoise croaks,

there's a scenario where you just replace the tortoise because of all the most important thing is to keep your child happy and not be facing themes of death. What about myself, you know? It's about you. It's about the around the NFL digging into a big, big news day.

We last spoke with you on Monday, and then Tuesday was a massive development of various storylines, and we're going to get to them all in the news. But, you know, Lamar Jackson, I think is the biggest, I think the Aaron Roger's story and he's meeting with the Jets, that is huge, obviously, on a number of levels personally as well. but the Lamar Jackson situation has layers. It's got a little something for everyone. Whatever angle you cover football from, it's got a little something for you.

And I thought that yesterday was fascinating because Gregi, as, for instance, you're a member of the Lamar me. Yeah. And I'm not a freedom fighter on the other side. I feel like you are, but you're just taking the easy way out. Just say how you feel.

You think he's over? Raven. You're part of the smar me. Let's smear me. I don't find him to be at the level of, you know, the greats in the league right now, but I see him as a great quarterback. Love to have him on my team. But what I'm saying is when, after all this talk, all this speculation for weeks about

why don't the Ravens give him what he wants, the fully guaranteed contract, And then they hit them with a transitional tag, the Ravens. No, the franchise tag, not exclusive tag. And then where it got really juicy, Mark, was multiple teams. It starts leaking to reporters are instantly not interested. We're being told right now. That's where it stands now. The Atlanta Falcons, the Miami Dolphins, the Carolina Panthers, the Washington commanders.

And it's creating this big story that goes beyond the player. and maybe in some ways it's always been bigger than Lamar because of what it means financially with the league, it's just heating up. This is a huge story. Yeah, I mean, I think the interest among any general manager, any coach in Lamar would be intense if Lamar's, you know, theorized contract demands

at some stage in this process. Let's say they changed a little bit, they lowered, they became a little bit off of this. Or they even found out what they were. Or they found out what they were. He doesn't have an agent. So I think that adds some complexity. Because if an agent can make Deshawn Watson and Deshawn Watson's financial demands, which were out, you know, astronomical and unlike anything we'd ever seen in the NFL, feasible to one team, certainly maybe an agent could do that for Lamar Jackson, who comes with zero baggage and such a better, I mean, the whole Lamar Jackson experience is different.

But I think there is, if you look around the league, the idea that these teams, through various channels and reporters, came out to say, no interest or like at least right now, no interest. It just tells me that there is almost a, I'm not saying it's spoken, but there's a league-wide concept of, we're not going there with this contract guy after guy at this point. Because a team right now could say, it's not that hard. We're going to give Lamar Jackson a Deshawn Watson level deal,

and we know the Ravens don't want to do that, so he'd be ours. Or even structure in a way that the Ravens couldn't match or just made it uncomfortable. It has been spoken about, though. Steve Bashati, who's the most important figure, on the team side here in terms of Lamar Jackson, the owner of the Ravens said that the contract for Deshaun Watson

is, quote, going to make it harder to do business. That's what he said last winter. The NFLPA actually had a report, a complaint essentially back in December, warning about this exact scenario, worried that the owners were going to come together and not allow that to happen. And I'm glad you brought up like the agent for Watson because I do think that is part of the story.

Watson, the thing I was so upset about beyond that he is a creep and everything he did off the field was I was upset with our industry because I felt like his agent, David Mulligetta, had all these reporters under his thumb. A lot of hypocrisy there about, you know, reporting is supposed to be about just being fair and balanced and that they were playing to the agent. They were playing to that relationship. Lamar doesn't have an agent and I think he's an interesting figure because he's so different as a player people don't, you know, sometimes teams the power structure doesn't know what to do

with guys that are so different as a player he's also different in this scenario either except in this time the media and the agents who to me are very much on the same team and they're working together they don't like, I've heard on our air essentially people caping for the agent industry and saying this is why you need an agent

So from a PR angle in terms of how we're like handling it, the messaging is where I guess Lamar Jackson loses out from having an agent because he has a bunch of reporters who it's in their best interest to make it like Lamar's really blowing it by not having an agent. Yeah. And here's the thing. There is you can make that case just because this was always going to be a very complex negotiation. I thought it always read a big red alarm for me when the reporting came out that

the NFLPA is working with Lamar as well to try to get this done. So now you got the union involved directly with the player and the owners, obviously, as long as there's been unions and big ownership, there's going to be loggerheads there. That was a red flag to me that this could go in a different direction. And then I think about the, obviously, kind of the root of a lot of this is the Deshaun Watson, as we're saying, the trade and then the fully guaranteed contract and that to me is becoming like the ex exxon valdez spill of the NFL where what it happened

it was like oh my god this is a disaster I can't believe this happened how is this allowed to happen and then as time passed you thought you kind of move forward but no it hangs around it just it's this that this black slick all around the league and you got the the birds that are covered and you're washing them in the sink that's a sad thing to see mark that was and and and that's what I'm thinking about this now because and this is do not take this as me being pro ownership or anything i'm saying everyone at the time said wow i can't believe watson got that money especially considering his past obviously and what he had done or in what he was suspended for do NFL owners and teams because one team the browns who have had a suspect past let's face it

since they came back in the league in general uh with ownership at times made that decision to give the fully guaranteed money. Does that mean all other ownerships now have to do that with premier quarterbacks? And if they're not on board with that, does that automatically make a collusion? Like that's the dirty word. I think I speak about it, yes, which was a formal memo, actually, that the NFLPA sent to the NFL, just to give the background, that they were colluding to refrain from offering fully guaranteed contracts. That was back in October.

It was reported by Kailen Kaler of the Athletic. Yeah, and I think the thing is, like, are you going to win? that battle, ultimately, five years from now, is this going to be, it'll be a moment in time, and then probably we're going to have to deal with quarterback contracts that way. Because the precedent has been set, but I think there is a clear, I'm not saying it's like necessarily they're on a text message thread together. It's not that, but there is a clear pushback to just open the floodgate. I think there is a little bit of a Lamar-esque element to it. We all see that Lamar Jackson, he's an MVP level player. His, you know, injuries,

durability has been a problem the last two years. But there's a, like, on Lamar's side where the type of quarterback he is, his durability the last two seasons, do you just hand him that money? Like, if it were Joe Burrow vying for this contract, I just think there'd be, if he were out there and it was Joe Burrow, or it was someone just is a little bit easier just to basically look at and say, I can project Joe Burrow for the next 10 years and what he's going to do. Maybe someone would line up here and say, I'll do that deal. Well, it's an interesting case point because Joe Burrow is going to be

looking for a new contract this off season. And Justin Herbert? But he's so far away from free agency. He's also working for the Bengals, and it's just hard to imagine the Bengals being the team to do this. And in theory, Lamar Jackson, the closer and closer he gets to free agency, I've heard that he's lost his leverage that he should have held out two years ago, and now he's kind of stuck in the situation.

And I get that. But the closer he gets to free agency, the closer he is to be in Kirk Cousins. Now, Kirk Cousins was actually the last quarterback to get the non-exclusive tag. when he was in Washington, and he was the last quarterback to get to free agency at this sort of middle of his career. And what did he get? He got a fully guaranteed contract.

This has happened before, which at the time was setting records, and people were saying, well, the Watson's thing's so much bigger. Yeah, but just contracts in general are bigger, and obviously Jackson is at that level. So if he wants to play it out, and he actually could get to free agency,

I guess I would have a hard time believing that he's not going to get a great deal, And I do think the stances teams are taking now is not necessarily the stance. First of all, teams that we haven't heard about are taking behind the scenes. But also what they could take in April or especially post-draft. I think the draft and people liking this draft class is a big X factor here. And if Lamar doesn't sign that offer sheet, things could change a little bit after the draft. And even the teams and everybody, because it's, it's for football fans, it's juicy.

It's a soap opera kind of here. So when Atlanta, Miami, Carolina, Washington, and through various reports, come out as, oh, they're not, that doesn't necessarily mean they're not interested. To be fair, no national, for the most part, this was not national reporters who are usually the word on these things.

This was like one reporter per team. The Falcons actually were one NFL network we reported that was so widely reported and so definitive that I believe it, because the others were like, not expected to do. How it looks right now, they're not expected to this or that. And it was like one reporter. The Falcons came out pretty hard.

I was like, dang, man. After about 10 minutes. Sorry to interrupt. And the Falcons took over like Twitter for 10 minutes where it's like, this is the landing spot. It was an obvious landing spot. Okay. So that one I'm like, okay, I'll buy it. I just, yeah, that's where on the other side of it where it's like something doesn't smell right here is like, why would these teams have that type of outlook where they were not even looking to negotiate when just because it's out there.

and by the way, it was refuted directly to Stephen A. Smith. You might remember a week ago that he was even looking for a fully guaranteed contract. Like, why would that keep you from at least having conversations with him making a contract offer, which is, let's say, somewhere between, like, you know, Kyler Murray's deal or Daniel Jones's new deal, which we're going to get to, and give him an offer. Like, that's where it was a little bit to me, like, wait, teams are just saying we're out. Like, we're just out.

We're not even going to have a conversation. Frank Reich, a week ago at the Combine, you know, he's looking for a quarterback. in Carolina, and they're certainly in good position to draft one or trade up and draft the guy they want. But he basically said, no stone unturned. We'll look through at every avenue. But so suddenly, I know that it's not the team saying this, but the No Panthers situation came a little quick. It's like, why? At this point, I think the one little missing part with an agent is like, you're right, Greg, we don't know exactly what Lamar Jackson's asking for. And whatever he's asking for today or what he wanted a week ago or a month ago can shift

and change and suddenly you can bring these nos back into the pool and you can bring these other teams like if the Aaron Rogers thing with the jets goes south the jets are heat seeking an answer they shouldn't be saying no unless there's something out there in the atmosphere that says do you want to be the next Haslam contingent that hands this type of deal to someone and draws the ire of every other owner just ruining everything again you know one year later the the one thing like the Exxon Valde that had ramifications that lived on. Here's the thing

though, like teams aren't going to broadcast this either. And even if they're saying they're out,

like the teams that were in on Stafford, we didn't know until the last minute. The team, like Carson Wentz

had a market a year ago. Matt Ryan had a market and most of these had very little breadcrums before they

happened from the insiders. You know, as great work as the insiders do, the big stories this big haven't dropped

until the last second. Of course the dolphins are going to put it out there that they're not going to be going into quarterbacks. They were saying the same thing about Tom Brady a year ago, and it took them essentially getting suspended

and losing a first-round pick to find out what the truth was. They're serving piles of, you know, you know what, and they could call it their side of the story to reporters. And in this case, and I think you're seeing how the reporting game goes, like usually the agents, you know, presenting one side to the reporters and the team's presenting the other side. And here, it's just like all the reporters are basically, just going from the team side

and a vacuum of information when it comes to Lamar. I wonder at the end of the day if Lamar and his family realized what they were really going up against before they went into this negotiation. Like, and how, because obviously... Makes me root for him more, though.

Sure. It makes me want to like... Sure, like the precedent obviously was potentially set with Watson. And if Lamar got or gets what he wants, what do you think is going to happen with Herbert and Burrow and Jalen Hertz. So he becomes

like this guy like was the Browns thing a standalone situation that the league moved on from or is this the deal that then cements this is the new reality. I think it would be a tipping point because why would you take less if you're Joe Burrow? And that's why it is odious. There is something to it. Yeah, as odious as

Sean Watson, the whole saga was like that agent did his job. Like he manipulated the media. He got him a fully guaranteed deal. Like maybe it would have helped to have somebody that was on his side that could read this situation because it was so multi-layered. But you know what? At the end of the day, I say all that, he's going to be fine. Right. Like, it's not like these people are talking, oh, this is collusion. Look at MLB in the 80s.

That was hardcore stuff. Go read the Wikipedia on that. Daniel Jones just got a four-year, $160 million contract. Gino Smith got what, $100 million or whatever it was. These guys earn their paydays, and because they're quarterbacks, it seems inflated. At the end of the day, Lamar will get paid a huge amount of money. Right. An astronomical amount of money, guaranteed money, too. It might just not be what the initial goal was. And he certainly doesn't need.

I would expect him to, you know, do a hold in if the tag thing is all that sits out their months from now. How can you go back to the Ravens? Well, you see, I think that that relationship feels kind of over to me. But even in another world, I think it wouldn't be if after July, you can renegotiate a new deal with Lamar and it could be it could be closer to this like 45 million a year of 46 where it's like maybe not entirely all guaranteed but you get closer it's so different than the Kirk Cousin's situation though because that didn't feel contentious so much as was it was Washington while he was still there and it was very contentious was there was multiple franchisees to say god ugly yeah he actually almost felt uglier in a way that just because he was upset with the situation and And eventually he got to go. The one thing, and I agree with what you're saying about how the owners could be looking at it,

whether they're talking about it or not, one boring thing that I didn't really know much about and I've heard more about it is this whole escrow idea. And it's like, it's very boring. But the NFL requires NFL teams to have all the cash of any guaranteed part of the contract that they give out in escrow while that contract is happening. So as I understand it, and someone explain it, because I don't know what the fucking escrow means. Excuse me.

It's all falling apart. Sorry, Graver. You did it twice. If you give Kurt Cousins his three years, 90 million, or whatever it was, totally guaranteed three years ago, the owner of the Vikings has to have that $90 million in cash sitting there. Even if he's not spending it at that moment, you have to have actual proof that we have enough money at this time to spend it. And you would think, oh, well, these guys are

billionaire owners. Like, no way. There's a huge difference between how much cash some of these owners have and how much cash some other owners have. And I've heard the Raiders brought up as an example, for instance, that there's no earthly way Mark Davis could give. that contract to Lamar Jackson, just doesn't have the cash. Or Mike Brown. Or the Chargers, or the Giants, probably. Like, there are a lot of teams that just couldn't have that pile of cash sitting around. And there are a lot of teams, like Jimmy Haslam, who just, like, bought a portion of some other sports team.

What did he just buy? The Milwaukee Bucks, I believe. He's just like, oh, yeah, I'm going to go buy a quarter of the Milwaukee Bucks for $700 million. He's got that cash city around. And so that creates a scenario other sports. sports have had where it's like really the rich owners can have an advantage over the other ones and I think that's partly what some of them are afraid of or just simply can't do it nullifies the salary cap um before we're going to get back to Lamar talking about some destinations that

we like maybe we'll we'll pitch some teams we like them do these actual teams like them that's I don't know it's it see it's the crux of the whole thing Xon Valdez all over again I thought it's all these that's it's two different ships we're talking about We're going to look into that during the break. I'm also going to share with you. I did a little digging July 17th, 2017. Cousins signed his second franchise tag. The then, you know, Arskins did release a statement expressing disappointment.

And then this is just a funny little note. Team president, Bruce Allen, said in his statement that Cousins was obviously important to our team and fans and detailed the team's offer made to the quarterback. He also talked about the decision and a video posted on the team's website, but referred to. Couss and Cousins on five occasions as Kurt instead of Cric. I don't remember that. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. Good old Bruce Allen.

Let's take a break and we'll hit the rest of the news. Busy, busy, busy. All right, we're back. I got some developing news right here. I'm Dan Rather. A little different than a ham. It's similar. All right, listen to this.

Valdez alasca. Boom, Valdez, baby. I have an honest question for you. Yeah. Mr. Integrity over there. Integrity? Just proper pronunciation. Had I drummed up, I totally own the fact that, like, there is no excuse for me to pronounce the name of that tankering correctly.

And I did, and I will, I'll think about that. But had I, out of thin air, had the correct pronunciation, would we have just gone through all the bells and whistles to, I would we could be correcting your fallacy? We'd move right on into. Daniel Jones was the developing news. How about, honest, just a yes or no. How about you don't hit out? Well, no, I think it's an, I'm investigating the scenario.

You got it wrong. I got it right. Well, we understand where you're coming from with that. I said before the break, I was going to check on it. So I had set it up with the audience. I had to pay it off. That's what the host does. And then I paid it off.

And I would have taken the out. I think it's a fair question on my part to ask if we would have gone to such lengths to inform the audience. I said what I said. Greg? More like Valdez nuts. All right, let's do some news. It's best for anybody who has an interest in this

to make a decision sooner rather than later. You know, I remember when Farv before he retired, you know, there were times where he was in April and May and he still, you know, we weren't sure if he was going to come back because he didn't come to any off-season program. And then in 2008, he actually did retire in March and then kind of said, no, no, no, actually in June, after OTAs, I actually want to come back and play. And then that's when, you know, I've been traded to the Jets. And, you know, there was obviously a lot of tension that summer.

But for everybody involved directly and indirectly, it's best for a decision earlier. That's, of course, Aaron Rogers from... his mythic appearance on the Aubrey Marcus podcast last week. The way that nearly put me to sleep, just the way he speaks a little bit. It's very sleepy. Late at night. Those are two best friends, just chopping it up.

Late at night. Yeah, late night chatting. Yes, that's what Aaron Rogers said last week. He doesn't want to draw this thing out. And I think that would be great if that's how it plays out. Because right now, the Jets and Aaron Rogers are in communication. last on Tuesday it was reported that the Packers had given the Jets permission to speak with their longtime quarterback and then the Jets got on a private jet and met with Rogers in California

and we don't know where things are right now that's where we're at but this is this is the situation now the Jets are not going to have Derek Carr on their team the Jets obviously need an upgraded quarterback and now they're speaking with Aaron Rogers and all I can say is get it done. You cannot get into the red zone here and not put this across the goal line. Fingers crossed for everyone that follows gangrene. Well, that assumes everyone wants Aaron Rogers. Is that the case? I think it is. Smart Jets fans. I think it is. You want Aaron Rogers. Do you want Aaron Rogers, even with all the baggage, or do you want Jimmy Garoppolo? Right. I mean, let's be honest about it. Like James Winston, Andy Dalton,

Ryan Tannahill, like, who do you want? Do you want to win a Super Bowl? Like, are we, we're a half century deep into this wait for our next Super Bowl visit. Do you want to win the Super Bowl? Because I am not, I don't think I'm over shooting the moon here when I say, if they have Aaron Rogers, and he has a better year than last year, of course, this could be a Super Bowl contender. I think those are the stakes right now. I'm with you.

I think they'd be, you know, no higher than fifth or sixth in my list of, like, likely teams, but they would have. in the AFC, but they would have a shot. I believed when Woody Johnson got on a plane as the reporting shows goes out to California with the big contingent, that more likely than not, Aaron Rogers will be a jet. And you were already, you know, being cautious with your optimism, worried about Lucy, you know, taking the football away from you as a jet jet fan. And I get that.

And Aaron Rogers is also a cruel vixen sometimes, an unpredictable. guys and it's totally up to him. But to get this far, it just feels like, well, Aaron Rogers wouldn't take the meeting unless he was, you know, willing to go to the Jets. He knows the Packers don't want him on some level. We know his head is not in the sand in terms of news reports. He knows exactly what Bob McGinn reported. He knows they're letting him talk to the Jets. He wants to be wanted. So I can't imagine him going back to the Packers at this point. Once you've already taking this step. We've heard it thrown back out there that retirement is really an option here that he's still not giving up. I don't know. I mean, I don't know what's in his heart, but I don't see

other teams making this trip either. It just feels like this is probably going to happen, and he might make you sweat it out a little bit. I think he will do that, but I think if you're a Jets fan, you aren't trying to compete against three other franchises that have just as much to offer. I think the Jets, actually, this matters to Aaron Rogers, because I think if you're Aaron Rogers, if you are constantly thinking about your life, your consciousness, your legacy, who you are as a football player, talked about gaining new appreciation for the fact that he is, the one thing about the Jets and applied to the Browns back when Odell Beck and went there and all this other stuff, if you turn the Jets into a winner, if you took them to a Super Bowl, if you won a Super Bowl,

it doesn't even matter about anything else ever. Aaron Rogers becomes complete and total legend and he's completely won. And I just think if you're in New York, to your point with the Red Zone, Dan, if you're going to fly out there on the plane, if you're going to take them out to dinner, do all that business, there's no one else competing for him, you've got to seal the deal. And like, I kind of wish that while they were out there, everyone just agreed to it and you fly home. I don't like any situation when you fly to meet someone and then you fly back home and you sort of just have them sitting there waiting. But you know what? They're the only team in the race right now. I think the Packers are in the deep rearview mirror at this

point yeah and the thing is like because we were talking about before the show greggie it's like the jets kind of need this decision um in advance of free agency when other players hit the market when other teams have the opportunity to engage in trade talks when this lamar jackson situation is unfolding and it becomes a situation uh where they can't just sit here and then be left like without a chair like Aaron Rogers has to work with them when one way or the other. And what makes me nervous is that Rogers is an unpredictable person and Woody Johnson and the Jets historically, although they did get Brett Farv once upon the time. 15 years ago this week? Yes. Do I trust this to go off without a hitch? No, it seems like

still a pretty wide open situation. I wish I could be a fly on the wall just to know how these conversations go. But it makes too much sense. I've been saying this for almost two months now. this always made so much sense for the Jets and I think it makes sense for Rogers as well now and we talked to I was on Rachel's show yesterday like this is where he is at in his career now if the Packers are looking to move on like go to a team that has a chance to win

where you could cement your legacy in a different way if you have the passion this is a great setup where you could be a legend in the New York market I mean I'd also why you know who knows where Aaron Rogers was mentally a year ago But like, if you're going to go take this money from the Jets, this is not year 46 with the Packers. I think you need to be like, you need to get a guy who is absolutely all in on the entire, from here on, offseason on, to work with new players to make it as anti-Aren Rogers as we felt about him the last couple off seasons. Like, I mean, you've had your time away, your retreat, your X and Y and Z.

Now, if you're going to join the Jets, like, give them everything that you're worth. Right. I think the love of the game is real. You don't go through this. You don't become Aaron Rogers if it's not deep, if it's not profound. I think there's this idea that he's a little left to center. And he's like, this guy loves ball. Now, he loved having a situation last year where he didn't have to be there the whole offseason.

And I think the Packers didn't love that. So I'm with you. I think that would have to change. But that was one of my takeaways listening to that podcast was how much I think the love of the game And that win over the Cowboys alone, like it sounded like it was one of the most memorable moments of his entire career. And I could see that. Even fans are like, well, you only won one eight games in the end. But to him, this is his life.

And that was just like a moment. And I think going to a new place, and we saw it with Tom Brady, we saw it with Peyton Manning when we thought he was kind of done after Indianapolis. These greats, I think it's just human nature. You can get reinvigorated being in a new situation. And I think he's looking for a new. And Dan, it may ultimately come out when the autobiography of Jets winning quarterback Aaron Rogers hits the shelves, that maybe it was this much maligned darkness retreat that inside of his heart, his soul, his mind, turned the Jets into a tangible concept for him versus just floating around up and down the avenues of Green Bay

where going to the Jets would sound like a nightmare. Maybe this did it. It's like, what am I got? I already know the way to the stadium. You take a left on Mike Holmgrenway and a right on McCarthy Avenue. And I'm seeing, I saw this tweet from your old place of work, Greg, pro football talk.

Aaron Rogers and Zach Wilson will be all smiles and they'll say all the right things if the Jets trade for Rogers. How long until the first story citing unnamed source that Rogers hates Wilson and or Wilson hates Rogers. You know, miss me with all that trash. People want to bring storm clouds in all the time with this team just let's see how it all plays out

instead of trying to manifest misery for an organization that's had more than it's fair share. Aaron Rogers is Zach Wilson's hero and it is kind of hilarious to me that like Zach Wilson isn't even mentioned in any of this and he shouldn't be but it is weird that it's like a number two overall draft pick that's in his third season

and no one's even considering him as an option including if they don't get Aaron Rogers no one's considering him as an option. I think if they got there a car he might not have been on the team. Rogers actually makes sense to me that it's like, okay, I can just chill, I can learn the position

if I'm ever going to develop, actually this maybe gives me a better chance. One last thing is Woody Johnson, maybe you know, he's been up and down, mostly down, but he didn't always have the closer Nathaniel Hackett on it. That is true. Nathaniel

Hackett, if he does nothing else, if he because remember was the Broncos a year ago, I thought when they always, when they went after Nathaniel Hackett, that was when we were going Aaron Rogers to Denver. That would agree with this kids, and it didn't happen. But a year later, Nathaniel Hackett all roses. You know what I would love if the trade happened and then they have the big press conference?

First of all, I'd want Hackett to do similar to what he did with Russell Wilson at the press conference. Come on, y'all, Russell Wilson. Holy shit. I want that again. Word for word, just replace the quarterback. I also, if he is the one that gets this done, I want him entering the press conference Hackett to enter Sandman by Metallica. Totally. Beau Rivera style.

Then you just build a statue of him outside. And he just comes in like a rock star, dressed like Dean Blandino ready for a night out. Oh, my God. Super Bowl week. I mean, he's already been more valuable to the Jets than he was. Then he's got to actually coordinate the offense. That's the problem.

I do think the Packers have the Jets over the barrel a little bit in terms of trade talks, though. You know, you send the owner there. You know that they don't really have an option B. But do the Packers have an option B? They do. I think they want to go with Jordan Love. You mean in terms of another trade. With leverage and who can they pivot and say,

well, if you don't give us this, we're going to go to. I think it's just something where you kind of know you're going to get a deal done. But I think the Packers start out with a little extra edge here. And it's weird because the contract's so big. I have a hard time figuring out what Aaron Rogers' value is. Because he's obviously better than Russell Wilson, but you're not going to get the Russell Wilson package at this point. I don't think you're going to get that close to it actually.

turning 40, so that does factor. Is there any reality where the Jets get out of this with Rogers and their first round pick? How can you be Brian Goodenkust and trade Rogers without a first round pick being involved? Right. I just think part of it is he's part of this story, too. I'm putting a 17% chance, but I think there's a chance to me. I feel like we're surprised sometimes by the way these trades end up.

Right, because of the money. Yeah, because of the money, it might be like a first. and a fourth or it might be next year's first though sure or next year's fourth and this year's third you know like I and he has to work with them right because he has to say well I also want to go here and then they could play those two teams off each other it's it's why it's messy because sometimes you compare one situation to another like Lamar to Watson it's not it isn't the same exactly and like you can't compare Rogers to Stafford for instance or russell wilson I actually think, you know, the Jets won't have to give up

as much as those teams gave up to get Rodgers. All right. Let's stay in Northern New Jersey and talk about the Giants who, who he men, they make a huge splash on Tuesday, Tuesday which, by the way, was

the birthday of Justin Graver, our producer. That's true. Happy birthday, Justin. Thanks. How old did you turn yesterday? I turned 31 years young. You know, people don't really talk about 31. 31 just

sneaks under the radar. It's going to be a big year for you, but it comes after a massive landmark. So the 30s, they start to get lost a little. Lost. There it is. What did you do for your birthday? Jessica and I had a nice brunch,

and then we had a nice day together inside watching some Oscar contender movies, so we're ready for this weekend. That is so cute. And she got me a nice few gifts, a very nice dinner, It was great. Were there any...

If you could see Mark's the look in his eyes, as he's thinking about the birthday evening, you wouldn't be blown away. I think it sounds like you had a great time, Justin. I'm happy for you. Were there any moments, and I know it must have been uncomfortable, but like where you were apart and did you FaceTime during those videos? Like when you were in the bathroom, for instance? No, there was no FaceTiming yesterday.

There was a lot of texting with you guys. At one point, Jessica was like, you have to be on your phone so much. It's your birthday. And I'm like, yes, it's a really busy week. We're trying to plan all this. It was maybe the busiest day of the offsy. It's also like a free agency if you're an adult. How about the gift from us to you?

No emergency podcast yesterday. That was tremendous. And you know what? I also have to thank a quote unquote anonymous person for contributing to our dinner fund last night, which I'm not supposed to know who it is, but I know. And thank you very much. Is this somebody in the studio? Yes.

I think I know who it is. I think I know exactly what it is. If I had to choose between the two, both very upstanding gentlemen, but because this person wants me to say who it is. But should I? Because I know it's from the playbook because this person has done the same for me

in the past for different things. I see, yes. It was Mark Sessler. I'm not confirming her denying. A very generous man, Mark Sessler. Thank you. Is that make up for the Valdez thing? No, not even the least, because my intention was for it to not be spoken about,

but I'm happy that you enjoyed your evening, Justin. Thank you. Until Dan gets involved. All right. Let's see. Daniel Jones, two-parter here. So they do come to terms on a long-term deal. He signs a four-year, $160 million contract that includes reportedly $35 million in incentives.

How much is it virtually guaranteed, Greggy? 82, I think, in the first two years. And then they get 12 into the third year as well. How about this? How about looking at Tuesday is not a bad day for Lamar Jackson, but maybe a great one because I think he will get more than Daniel Jones from somebody. And that will make him very happy, I believe. Good way to look at it.

That's just another way to look at it. And in a corresponding move. I should hope so, though. And he might have less this year. I mean, yes, he's aiming a lot. lot higher than Daniel Jones. We're going to get to the more. Somebody's going to offer him a big contract, right?

Somebody's going to offer them something huge. I mean, the, even if it's not fully guaranteed. There's a lot of showmanship yesterday amongst these teams. Someone's going to cave in it. Also, the Ravens, depending on what reports you believe, have offered a minimum of 133 guaranteed, which is, you know, considerably less than Kyler Murray, but is considerably more than Daniel Jones already.

So because they were able to get a deal with Jones, they didn't have to use the franchise tag, which allowed them then to use that on safe. Aquan Barkley, who now will most likely stick around. You keep the nucleus together, the two most important players on that offense. And then it's up to Joe Shane and Brian Dable, Mark Sessler, to build up the offense around them. And we shall see so much, obviously this is all built around the idea that Jones goes from what he was last year, which was a functional to good starter, to great quarterback, franchise quarterback. It's a gamble, but also there's a lot of money out there for a quarter.

It's a lot for Daniel Jones based on really one year where he looked like a complete changemaker to me. I mean, if suddenly they put Jason Garrett back at his co-head coach, I'd hate this deal, but it's full trust for me and Brian Dayball. What he did last year and having the ability to continue to do that with Daniel Jones as really kind of a guy who's becoming a top five, top seven offensive play caller and quarterback developer. I mean, if you think that Dayball can keep that going, there you are. I mean, this is starting to become the price of quarterbacks in general, but this was a bit of a head turner that Daniel Jones initially started to ask for way more than they thought originally at that one point, and then he got it. How about Lamar hires the agent that Danny Dimes hired last week after firing the other guy?

There you go. The contract, which didn't come out until this morning, so that's a plus beyond, you know, helping Graver's love life of not podcasting yesterday, is we have the details. And even there's an update since I last read it on PFT. They had an error. There is not $12 million guaranteed for 2025 until 2025, which means in all practicality, it's a two-year $82 million contract.

And it's fully guaranteed, which is interesting. So everyone's complaining about guaranteed. He got fully guaranteed two years at $40-plus million a year, which is a lot. But then they can get out. It reminds me almost exactly of the Kirk Cousins contract that he keeps resigning over and over because it puts the Giants in a difficult position to have to make a decision on Daniel Jones almost every year because his cap hit as you extend this thing out. They got a phony baloney 2026 year in there starts getting crazy and they're going to have to keep renegotiating it.

And at that point, you almost have to. decide, okay, do we add another year of guarantees? That's a long way of saying it's a two-year deal, but he still holds a lot of cards because they're going to want to go back to the table and renegotiate it pretty soon, maybe as soon as next offseason and certainly after two of these four years. He does hold the cards, but specifically with Daniel Jones, I don't hate this because we don't really know what Daniel Jones will be two years from now. There is a lot of projection there. They kind of threaded the needle.

I wouldn't even hate this for Lamar Jackson if Lamar Jackson were coming from a different angle of like heavily guaranteed two years, find out where we are after that. Versus four years, five years. If the guarantee, I think for Lamar would be like two years, 90 million or 90 plus, and then you get some guaranteed into the third year. Or he's so far below other quarterbacks who have been at that level. Daniel Jones had the fewest amount of big time throws in the NFL. last year, Daniel Jones's numbers have been terrible.

And I've always been on the side of like, actually, Daniel Jones could be like a good to average starting quarterback. But this is, it's a lot. It's good to be a quarterback. This is kind of like them. I just wonder how Brian Dable's feeling because he made Daniel Jones all this money. If he had another coach last year, Daniel Jones is bye-bye. I totally agree.

Yeah, I saw somebody wrote like if they kept Joe Judge around, Jones is probably signing like a one-year, $4 million deal to be a backup quarter. that's a little that's a little too low it's within the range of outcomes instead he signs this this deal and isn't it crazy and how unusual the giants in general i was texting with some giants buddies yesterday such a funky kind of strange hard to put your finger on year in general for the giants who we know the expectations were so low you have this new head coach who had a roster that didn't seem to have a lot of pieces a former first round pick a quarterback who had underwhelmed with a bad setup, a former number two overall pick running back who had lost his juice it had

seemed. And then all these different things happen. They actually make the second round of the playoffs. And now these guys that Dave Gettleman drafted, the quarterback that Gettelman drafted, the running back that he took, they get new contracts. I know it's a franchise tag right now for Sequin from the next regime that took over a huge mess. That almost never happens, like that you would have these key players from a failed regime and then build the next era of the franchise around them. It's been kind of interesting to them. Dexter Lawrence might be next too.

It's another getelman guy. They're an interesting team because it's unusual how this next phase of Giants football is unfolded, different than how it usually works, which is new regime takes over and then builds the whole thing from the ground up. Right. But to the Jones contract and what you got going on with Sequin, that if this year went south, you're not looking forward for half a decade. This is, I think if you're Joe Shane, he said, well, yes, of course.

Like, I would rather have picked up the fifth year option. They didn't assess him to be this player. He became it under day ball. So why didn't they give him the tag? That's the thing. I think they're making the same mistakes that they made with Eli Manning. I think this contract could be very regrettable. I think...

But you just said yourself, it's a two-year deal. I get it, but if Jaydon Jones plays around the same level, but they don't get as many breaks and things... aren't ready to really take that next step. And let's say they go 6 and 11 and Daniel Jones is the 19th quarterback in the league and you owe them $42 million the next year. It's like, and it's not really the quarterback

that Dable wants and loves. I just think it's thorny when ownership gets involved and you get the sense from reporting that the Maras love Daniel Jones like a son and they push them to treat him like this when the tag was sitting right there. I mean, if the Ravens can give Lamar the tag or you can use the tech, just give him the tag.

He's the perfect candidate for the tech. Let's see if you can do it again and if you get better in this system. But Sequin was part of this conversation too. Absolutely. Sequin and Dable are who got him paid. But would you want Seekwon getting a long-term lucrative deal when he turned down $12 million a year in the middle of the season? I think we'd be having, we'd be critiquing the Barclay part of it

if he didn't get franchised and got a deal. That depends on the guarantees. We heard from Mike Garifolo. I mean, it's a running back versus a quarterback. Right. That they've gone up to third. 13 a year for Sequin. If that was like a two, I'd rather play Sequin two for 30 in most of it's

guarantee, all of it's guaranteed and tag Jones than committing this extra year to Jones and paying the extra money when you're going to. Where I see you're coming from, Greg is and why this is a, again, with everything else of the Giants, they're kind of an interesting team right now and unique in some ways. Like, you don't typically pay this kind of money and give out this type of contract on a projection. Of course. Like this is, he has not proven.

he's worth this type of money yet. But they're so confident internally that he will be that guy that they're rolling the dice a little bit. I think it's Daibald betting on Daiball as much as it is on Daniel Jones. And it's their guy. It's their in-house guy. I put something into that. I put something into ownership and the front office.

And maybe Daibol is not so hot about it, but I think he probably swings a pretty big stick in there after what he did in his first year that they believe in him. So believe in your guys. They did. They showed it and they paid. Yeah, it is tricky because they weren't their guys to begin with. Right.

That's weird. As you mentioned, and I think Dexter Lawrence is going to be the next guy who gets a long-term deal. And he makes sense as an elite interior defensive tackle. One thing it does do is it helps them spend more of their cap space this year. Daniel Jones's cap number is way, way lower. It's at $19 million than it would have been if you got a tag. So that would have been at $31. So they have $12 million more to spend, and they need to.

They got a lot of holes. Let's hear from Dimes who spoke to the media on Wednesday. In a situation like this, you're trying to do what's best for you and your family while also balancing, you know, being part of a team and understanding the goals and the vision that we have as a team and as an organization. And that was certainly important to me throughout the deal. And, you know, I think we found a way to do both those things and to do it, do the right way for both sides so yeah that was certainly important to me um and yeah so i mean sayquan

you know i've you know i've said he means a tongue to me as a as a teammate as a friend and means a ton to us as a as a player so um you know certainly won't i won't talk about his business but um you know that was a piece of it too he's the perfect giant i know greggy 48 and 46 and all that but uh like he's kind of the that's why the myers love him too like he's that guy that you could send him out there, say nothing interesting, be a good organizational soldier, and somebody that, like Eli, you could just kind of plug him in. They see him as that type of this figure of stability

that they could build an organization around. He's a guy you would want your daughter to date. How about someone who can make some more big plays in the passing game? It annoyed me. I know the Eagles were one thing, but, you know, he did light up some teams at the end of the season. How about getting the standing ovation before the entire Giants crowd.

I think you'd want your daughter to date that guy. He's also making $40 million a year. He's considerably older than Greg's daughter. I'm not talking about Greg's daughter. I'm saying like they like him. You read it as far as they like him like a son. It's like, okay, Daniel Jones. How about you try not to be aggressively boring?

Like Pat Leonard was on our show, right? And he had that whole interview where he sat down. I'm so mad about this deal. Where are we going with this? Okay, so they had the state dinner, and Daniel Jones told him, yes, what I, like, he told him what I present publicly, I go out of my way to be as boring as possible. And it's just like, why? I don't know if there's that much, like, charisma and everything exciting beneath the surface.

Not everybody needs to, you know, command the spotlight and be a little party boy. You don't have to commit. Just be yourself. Why? To be not being yourself. I think that kind of is. I think he's boring. That could be.

He is being himself, I think. But he said, like, that's his strategy that he doesn't want to... Maybe that's a cover because he's self-conscious about how boring is. So he's like, hey, this is all just an act to keep the media at bay. It was like, actually... I mean, I'm the most boring man a lot. Outside of him not getting that Johnny Unitas movie role. I've been, I let the record show.

I think I've been the biggest dime supporter on this podcast throughout his career. Listen to the last five minutes of the show. Can you possibly settle down for five minutes? I'm just saying, like, as a player, I've always thought, Okay, he's a little underrated here, but now he's, now he's a little overrated. The man got paid. Well, everybody gets paid. Just like Gino Smith got paid.

How about that, Gregie? I bet you're happy with that contract. I was. Gino Smith, this came down, of course, as it always does, right after we taped on Monday, the veteran quarterback who had a incredible breakout season in year nine, signed a three-year contract extension that includes, 40 million guaranteed. He makes $28 million in the first year of his new deal. And this is all funny money. But just so you know, like Gino comeback player of the year, 30 touchdown passes, maxed out

every possible incentive, I believe, on his deal, got $7 million last year. And it was probably the most he ever made in his life. By far. He had only made seven only, but he had made 17 in his career before this contract. And now he quadruples his 2022 salary in the first year of his new deal. good for Gino Smith. I got to say it, Gregi. I'm happy for him.

Now, is this a lot of money to give out to a guy that has had one big year in a decade and kind of cooled off down the stretch? You could make that case. I won't do it, though, because when you have the year that he had and just like with Daniel Dimes there and New Jersey, they like him in that building, Seattle. And they were like, we believe in him as a guy that we could kind of trust to run our offense and be a face of the team.

Gino got paid. Yeah, this was a win-win. I mean, this, to me, is one of the best stories in sports for Gino Smith to come through. It's so unlikely at this point. And like I said, yeah, $17 million in his whole career now, $40 million guaranteed. But I don't think it's too much. I think the Seahawks actually got him to take a pretty team-friendly contract. And I think he understood where he was at in his career.

And he's not as young. He's not a first-round pick like Daniel Jones. And that all factors into it. but it's a very different contract than Daniel Jones. It's really a two-year, $50 million contract, and they can get out of it if they want after one year, really, that he's going to make $12 million guaranteed in 2024 regardless. And so that's a lot of money to have to just give away,

but we've seen teams do it if for some reason they wanted to move on. And otherwise, yeah, it's a three-year, $75 million contract. There was a ton of incentives. There's a ton of incentives, but it's three for 25. So that's right around the league average or even below it for starting quarterbacks. I think it's a completely fair contract. I think he was, A, a better quarterback than Daniel Jones a year ago. That's the thing is Derek Carr and Gino were better quarterback and our better quarterbacks,

I think, than David Jones. I don't know if Derek Carr was last year. But it's 42 million less than Daniel Jones. I think it's very much a Seahawks situation, too, where they were looking to move on from an ego dress. bench, starting quarterback who was clashing with leadership. And they moved on to Gino Smith, who fells Russell Wilson in the opener, which I thought was symbolic and beautiful, ends up breaking Russell Wilson's single season passing

record along the way, completely changes the way we feel about athletes who struggle as quarterbacks over the first half decade of their lives. And in theory, I think, is exactly what the Seahawks are looking for. The Seahawks under Carroll want to still be this, like, team first type situation. 30 million of this is an incentives which speaks to Gino and the team believing that he can reach those and if they does, good for them. And they can also

go out and draft someone like Anthony Richardson and have them in a perfect situation to develop behind Gino Smith and figure out what you do at this point. I don't think you stop looking at young quarterbacks, but Gino's not in the way but you keep a bridge here and it's a great way to end a good story. Had he ended up somewhere

else, it would have been an ill taste after the comeback player of the year operation that he pulled off. think they're going to draft Richardson now if he's there in five. It's perfect, though. Why not? Sure. It's such a great opportunity. He would only sit for so long. Like five weeks probably. Right. And that's where the contract kind of being a one-year deal, maybe to, comes into play if something like that should happen. But who knows? Maybe Richardson is the guy they truly love and he feels like the guy they would truly love. They just love big traits, guys, like physical freaks. But maybe Richardson goes one overall and they don't get the chance. And they end up. up taking a defensive lineman or Richardson goes... Are people talking about Richardson going one overall?

A little bit. Yeah, I mean, I think it's a little... Well, it would depend who it would trade into that spot. Yeah, inflated, but that's some people around the year. Or he goes number four overall, the Colts take him. Whoever it is, maybe the CX don't get him. So they're kind of covered either way. I just feel like the way things worked out because of the Denver trade and then just hitting the lotto on Gino, you have an opportunity.

It's like an organizational life hack here where you could be a contender in the NFC have a have a season where you're contending for a division title and grab a potential star quarterback in the draft like kind of got to do it i think done well the rebuilding year went all right if it falls to them i unlike uh and i've seen this on seahawks twitter i i disproportionately follow too many seahawks fans but they're they're very entertaining and there's definitely they're already clashing some people think it's crazy to draft another quarterback with Gino, and some people are like, oh, yeah, what you're saying, it's a life hack, of course, do it, a team hack.

I'm more on your side that actually, I think take quarterbacks, if you love them, as much as I love Gino, and I sort of am rooting for them not to do it. It gives you coverage with Gino, too. I actually think it's not a bad idea to do that. And this conjointe kind of reminds me, this Gino thing on this podcast, you know, just us talking, Gino. Mm-hmm. Us?

All of us. I mean, he's going to be in the NFL. six or seven more years because his skill set to me translates perfectly to a guy who even when he's not starting is going to be like a good veteran backup because to me he sort of has that like ability to read the field and understand coverages that just age as well and like that even when he's not starting anymore like I just feel like Gino's got to be around now another six years feels like a nice logical endpoint for your victory lap like today's podcast great job Greg we're all proud of you you nailed the Gino thing now we can move forward perhaps

I think it'd be organic to move forward that's not my style but I will take a victory laugh look at this Greg literally just ran around the desk I like that the dumbest thing of everybody

I like that here's Pete Carroll and Gino Smith. Yeah, when you guys get your chance and you really dig in, you'll see that it is. Bear Rogers comes to the Jets. What I do on that way. We're counting on him coming through and doing the things that he was able to do last year. And if he does that, he's going to get rewarded.

And we know that if he's able to come back and do that, he's going to have a great season and we're going to be in great shape. We're going to have a real chance to be at the best, at our best. So it is heavily structured that way. And, you know, he's gambling a little bit in that sense on himself. Yeah, I mean, what does that say about him? No, he's clear about it. They were, you know, this was part of it. The perfect person.

Throughout. So it's a really strong part of the contract. And I think that's maybe why ownership is so happy with it, too. If you perform and you get it done and, you know, gladly we would reward, you know. And so I think that it was a real combination of thinking that worked out for us. That's Brock and Salk Show on Seattle Sports 710 AM. It's like, unbelievable. What does it say about Gino that he just quadrupled his salary to 28 million this year?

What a soldier. Well, it's saying he took a, there's an extreme amount of incentives. That's integrity. Incentives. Shout out to Derek Carr. Shout out to the Saints because I've heard some backroom whispering that like the Saints coming up in that Derek Carr move absolutely helped Gino get paid and get this thing over. So all connected.

It's all connected. All right. Let's wrap it up here. The news. No franchise tag for Chiefs left tackle Orlando. Brown. There's some saucy tackles available to teams if you're looking to overpay for a guy that's a little older but also has a track record. Casey Edge Rush or Frank Clark also no longer connected to the Chiefs. He has been released. The Bucks cut ties with their veteran left tackle

Donovan Smith. So that's another dude out there. And the Dolphins say goodbye to cornerback Byron Jones. He's released. Where do these veterans? various players fall in the Greggie 101. Well, Orlando Brown's number two overall. Man, the top 101 took a beating on franchise tag deadline day. Always does, right? Yeah, and there's been some signings elsewhere, too. Orlena Brown is now number two overall.

He'll get probably the most amount of guaranteed money in this market now. We used to do that. We used to try to guess that. Yeah, I think it would be because he's only 27. You're right, there are some veteran tackles out there like Mike McGlinchie. there's some younger ones too Jawan Taylor Caleb McGarry

Frank Clark is very inconsistent as a pass rusher 30 years old so he's down at number 63 Byron Jones nice career but it sounds like does not sound good

that he's going to be able to continue playing football unfortunately and now with all these guys that come off the list when they get tagged and whatnot a lot of guys are being pushed up

so Baker who began at 101 he's got to be in what the 80s now 90s maybe low 90s 70s maybe well dan baker remains at 101 but you just lock them in there that's part of the 101 conundrum so 101 is is more of a mindset it's a spiritual thing and so it is unfair if you're a baker mayfield fan that as these other players are coming off the board our editor ali bon puri yes points out are you going to be comfortable if might be Mike White and Sam Darnold now pass Baker on the list because he's stuck in a lap around this desk when Donald passes Baker. I mean, how many Baker fans do you have coming at you about this glitch? Not many.

Where is Donald now? Is he at like 103 or something like that where he's creeped up like nine spots? So we will lock it in when free agency actually opens. But yeah, there will be more players flying off this list. Amazing. I love it. The 101 conundrum. Let's take a break and wrap things up with some more.

Lamar chatter. All right, here we go. Before we say goodbye, obviously we did a lot of talk about Lamar Jackson in a situation at the top of the show, but it makes sense to talk about what teams make the most sense to you guys

in terms of where he should land. And I'll leave it up to you guys because I didn't put too much into all those reports of those teams being out. So you could certainly represent one of those teams in a more meaningful way and pitch Lamar on why he should join the team. Mark, get us going. I would love to see what Shane Steichen and the Colts could do with Lamar Jackson.

You are representing the Colts right now. Yeah, I'm representing the Colts. I think that you've got an offensive mind who turned Jalen Hertz. We've got, well, you know, the collective we and you've got a coach that basically turned Jalen Hertz into an high-flying MVP. candidate and a Super Bowl quarterback. And Lamar Jackson, I don't know if like our city, Indianapolis, totally feels like the place where star players want to go

necessarily compared to like a Miami or something like that. But we have a quarterback need. And I think we've got the coach. We've got a lot of. Wait, why did you match? Why the stray to your own city in your pitch? Because this is me speaking. Are we all doing this?

I know. I find that you represent your franchise. This is just, to be honest, a little isn't where I would call like the circus of stars necessarily, but you've had some great quarterbacks to the plate here. And Lamar Jackson would be totally appreciated in Indianapolis. I think he'd had a chance, slew, after all this quarterback wreckage that we've dealt with. And Chris Ballard, who let's be honest, like Chris, he works right down the hall. He's got about one more chance on the quarterback front before the whole ship sinks.

Let's get this Lamar thing done, get Shane stiking off with a good situation at quarterback versus another, you know, journeyman that you got to sell to the press for six months. We have to sell. Well, he's going to have to do a lot of that. I don't speak to them. They've got the number four overall pick. I just hate when teams let... He has the number four.

You have the number four overall pick. I guess. I hate when... Who am I again? I don't know. Shane, just don't let the Colts's mistakes from the last few years just change what you're going to do. Can you imagine if Lamar was available for the Colts last year at this time or two years

to go at the time. They would have been the team that would have gone after him the most, but now because they've been burned by Matt Ryan and Carson Wentz, then, oh, we have to go with a rookie. They do have the number four overall pick, though, so I...

We have to see this differently. Yeah, it feels... But, I mean, don't let those mistakes affect you. He's not Shane Steakin, by the way. I was speaking about our coach who's got experience working with... He's a rep for the organization. A nameless rep.

Yeah, you're a public rep. Okay, I want to make amends, too, as a public rep for the New England Patriots who drafted Sony Michelle 31st overall in the 2018 draft when all the national reporting

and local were like you know it doesn't quite make sense because Brady's still here but they really love Lamar Jackson and I was just hoping I just felt perfect the end of the first round and they took Sony Michelle

who by the way was absolutely vital in winning their six Super Bowl in that playoff run I'm just saying it was the right move That's good. It wasn't the right move. But now is the time, now is the time to do it. They're laying low.

You know, I've been into Mac Jones, but if you have a chance to get Lamar Jackson, I think you could find a home for Mac Jones, maybe get some sort of pick back, and you make it happen with Lamar. We make it happen. We make it happen. Bill O'Brien, who would you rather have with Lamar Jackson? Probably like seven or eight people. Or maybe 13, but he did coach.

Deshawn Watson, they're very, very different players, but it just showed to me that Bill O'Brien can be flexible, whereas he went from, like, Hoyer to Watson. He went kind of from Watson as a runner to Watson much more as a pocket passer, and I just think it would make my life more fun. And I would just... As a team rep, yeah. Right, as a team rep, I'm a huge fan of the Around the NFL podcast,

and I'd love to get Greg Rosenthal back on board, and bringing in Lamar, that would do it. Really? That's interesting. He's taking a victory lap. He's now referenced himself as a vibrant character, not from the third person angle. You're edging dangerously close to having a neon sign behind me at this point, Greg. I'm a human. Classic non-human move.

They don't feel like that crazy of a out-of-left-field team. I think they would be into it. Yeah, I'm curious about. And they hate the Ravens. Yeah, they hate the Ravens, and that's cool. They don't really. They respect them. It's a rivalry.

It's certainly a rivalry. With the Ravens, I guess they lose some control here at this point, obviously. But they do ultimately have the final say about whether they want to match a contract. Would you be comfortable trading or losing him to an AFC rival at that level and then having to deal with him for a decade plus, potentially? Or with the Patriots. But you left yourself open to these type of situations. Yeah, I think of what they did. Come on, Kraft.

You got that escrow money? Let's do it. I think the Ravens have to be okay with the idea that someone could craft a contract. They're not going to match and they move on. I just think that's part of this. But I don't know if New England, I kind of had them on my thing, too, as a potential fit. But it's like, do you think the Patriots, the way they operate, would dish out that kind of money for Lamar Jackson? I don't know.

I think all bets are off with the Patriots right now. They've been very unpredictable. They are willing to spend on top of the market type guys when they feel like there's a value. there and it just feels like the end of days in terms of Belichick and things are erratic I mean they freaking hired Matt Patricia to be their offensive coordinator a year ago yeah I think they're willing to just do some things

I'm a public rep front facing rep for the Atlanta Falcons and I just want to let everybody know like we're just joking yesterday she'll want to get people mad we want to get the Lamarmy fired up and cause some buzz so that when the report's leak of us whining and dining Lamar come out. It makes us look that much better. Like, just like, oh, wow, they're playing chess.

The La Smarmy is not going to like that. The, and listen, sometimes you don't overthink things. We got a ton of guap escrow out the ace. We got escrow out the ace. You ever heard, Home Depot, ever heard of it? Yeah, these are large store fronts, large store. Go get your lumber, bitch. Yeah.

Home Depot. It's like, oh, you won your, you got your team because your dad, like, had a good day at the racetrack. I built Home Depot. Literally. Screwdrivers, everything you need, hammers, plumbing supplies, fencing, carpeting, indoor and outdoor, grills. Wood. Lumber. A lot of wood.

Depot, bitch. So we got the escrow. And we also have a head coach who knows how to win with a mobile quarterback. We got a nice offensive line. Mark, I know you are a rep for a different team, but who we got in the backfield in Atlanta? You've got a wide-ranging assortment of battlers, of mallers. I got you a tee jump. You got Corderole Patterson and you got?

This isn't your guy? I've not speaking about any player from other team. I've only, I'm not, I'm not going to create a, do I have the only doing? Tyler Alge here, Algey. I'm not going to speak about. Is he your guy? Your guy. But I'm me.

I'm playing team rep. I'm not Mark Sessler. Okay. Fair. There. Tyler, what, who is that? That's not amazing. I am now battling myself.

Tyler Algier, bang, who average 5.6 yards per carry. Oh, Kyle Pitts. Oh, uh, Drake London. oh a good offensive line did i mention a weak division did i mention playing in a dome did i mention playing in hotlanta this is this makes too much sense to not happen so you can have your little racini reports out there that's fine uh you could get people fired up on twitter you can get the lamar me angry but at the end of the day we are the place for this guy and we might not offer him, $235 million guaranteed

or whatever, but we're going to give him a ton of guap, that Home Depot guap, and he's going to come to us because it's too perfect. It was an interesting move to out of the gate, rush to let him know we don't, we're not interested. That was the one team that

is playing around the most. I do the number eight overall draft pick, too, they have the number eight pick. Do you ever, were you ever, you ever go into Home Depot as a kid with your dad or whatever? Sure. You just, he kind of sets you free and you just start wandering it's kind of a fun place to get lost in those aisles are like 40 yards tall there's just all sorts of there's a home and garden area outside you wander out there it smells nice the birds are out

there um it's fun no i never did that you never did they did i don't think they had what home depots in western massachusetts well back in my youth it took a lot i feel like it was maybe it took a while to come out i mean but you're it's it's a larger version of being taken to the hardware store when you're young. Sure. It's got that lumber smell. I had some good time at true value. Sure.

Hardware store. Which is the opposite, by the way. And I think Pergament was dating myself here, but Pergament, I believe, was a home improvement store chain in the tri-state area that I went to a lot with Keith. The place I didn't want to go to was Marshalls. Debbie would take me, my mom, to Marshalls. And she would just, oh, my God, Marshalls is a discount. like, what do you call?

Clothing store. It's still alive. And I would go on my, it was the 80s, early 90s. I would go on the lap around the store to try to kill time. And by the time I got back to where I left my mom, she was like three feet over in the same aisle.

The Marshall's trips were forever. A mom wormhole. Like a pre-target mom wormhole. Yeah. Anyway, does anybody else have? I think it's for my mom. Does anybody else have another? rep you want to throw out there?

What about one little operation? Here we are in the middle of the country and everyone just assumes that we're going to be parting ways with our quarterback and just taking this guy that's played like 82 snaps and everyone thinks we're set. Well, Jordan Love

could be sent back to any team anywhere in reverse and we just have Lamar Jackson as our quarterback in Green Bay. We love the idea of having the backfield we have. We're a cold weather team. You get Lamar Jackson as part of a run-heavy offense and our growing defense. And the Green Bay Packers would welcome Lamar Jackson after what we've been through

with our rather extra veteran quarterback of the past, you know, decade plus. And we'll take Lamar from here and go. And I think the Packers are this team that sits out there as an excellent fit that's not being talked about because we're operating in the shadows. Can I ask a question? I've already said what I need to say, but sure. You're the team rep. So I just want to throw it out there. Lamar, one of the things he's dealt with for a long time in Baltimore is like they don't know how to properly build around him. Why would Lamar want to go to a team that might have a worse skill group than even the Ravens? Well, we don't see ourselves that way, first of all, on any level. And what we'll do is build around Lamar. I mean, we will flexibly coordinate our roster

to accelerate and, you know, magnify his gifts. They might have two first-round drafts. This year after that Aaron. That's right. I mean, we're fully set up to build around them immediately. And it's the greatest fan base in sports. He'd get the chance to play in Lambo. And, like, look over at Baltimore and say, check you later. Nice move up.

Nice move by you, Ravens. Right. I'm not a rep from a team. I'm a rep just from the NFL, I guess. And what I would say is there's just so many teams out there that Lamar would really juice up that people aren't even talking about. It only takes one or two. No, I'm not going anywhere.

It could be anywhere in these divisions. It could be Detroit. It could be Minnesota. Carolina still makes a lot of sense. Tampa, they've got a cap situation, but they certainly need a quarterback. Someone's going to pop up and provide a home for Lamar. I agree.

I mean, I think that's like a, I thought you're going to go with Washington because what fan base needs a fresh start more than the commanders and maybe you have a fresh start from the top down and then Lamar is your quarterback. And you could finally, after decades in the wilderness, feel like you're on to something fresh and beautiful and exciting. But, yeah.

And you would maybe stick it to Baltimore. Those two organizations don't really basically make. They don't like each other. They don't like each other. I will make one last team rep move, which is come home, Lamar. You know, we got a quarterback here in Miami that we're putting it out there publicly. We do support them. We would only come off of Tuatunga Vailoa if we got a super duper star,

an MVP caliber quarterback. That's who you are, Lamar. Come home. He's a super duper star. Yeah. He was an MVP and he's a top 10 quarterback when he plays, whenever he plays. Had some injuries, but nothing crazy. The Ravens are 45 and 16 with Lamar Jackson and 2 and 8 without him.

That's superstar level stuff. I think he's a superstar. You said super duper star. Okay. I'll leave it at Superstar. It's the one thing we haven't really talked about today, which is like Lamar Jackson, is he a superstar or is he a super duper star? Because I think that might define like whether he ever got his wish or not.

And how much do people put in 2019 was several years back now to injury plague seasons. And the production wasn't extremely high. I was looking at the QBR. He was kind of a middle of the pack guy each of the last two seasons. Stop 10 this year. EPA per dropback from 2019 through 2022 has gone from first to 14th to 16th to 21st. Although EPA, I have a, well, that's a whole separate. EPA is a team stat.

It seems like here's one, every time there's any critique of Lamar, it's like, yes, but that doesn't really, that's not really valid. It's like Lamar Jackson has missed 12 games over the last two seasons. And all I'd say is that Baltimore, as much as any team in the league, when Grig Roman's offense when it works for the first couple of years made it about as Lamar friendly as possible. You'd have to go do that in Miami where you have Tyreek Hill and Jail and Waddle.

I am fully confident that would be an extremely Lamar friendly offense. I think it's a great fit, but I'm just saying of any of these places, though. And being friendly to just about any quarterback, but I think you stick Lamar Jackson into any offense without it being aimed at his way. Lamar was ninth in QBR this past season

behind Jacoby Reset year before he was 17th behind rookie Mac Jones. So that's the only I'm not sure I'm certainly not trying to take down your eyes like Aaron Rogers was 26th in in QBR and I just think using your eyes. If super duper star is top five quarterbacks he's not there right now. He's not. Do I think there would be a chance he can get back there certainly but he's not there. He's more in the six to 10 range. So I'll just say like my final kind of thought on the situation and because if there is any type of backdoor conversations

going on with owners on how to handle this, you know, that's something that needs to be brought to light. But if you are not in that top five, should you be getting the type of contract that is nearly unprecedented in the league? Is that carve away conspiracy theories? Is that partly at the heart of this? No, and it happened last year with the quarterback.

Right. Who's not top five? With two. Kyler and Deshawn Watson. I mean, I'm, Dan, I'm with you. I think that I, I think Lamar Jackson is a tough long-term sign. I really think that I wish you could craft like a two-year deal

that like rewards him richly for the player he is, which is unlike any other player in the league, and I think it would make it easier for teams. Okay, so try some of this stuff. I don't know about two, but three maybe. Try it. Talk to him. Don't cancel yourself out. See if we can get creative because it seems like the weirdest thing.

Seems like he kind of wants out of Baltimore or that the Ravens are ready to do this. See what you can come up with. Maybe it will work. Maybe it won't. All right. That's it. Thank you to everybody for listening.

What a show. What a show. Of around the NFL with good reason. We'll be back sooner than you might expect with around the AFC in 48 minutes with the great Colleen Wolf. Around the NFC in 48 minutes will follow soon after that. So a big week. And of course, we are on standby. We took Tuesday off because it was Justin's birthday.

Had to. But otherwise, we are locked and loaded for whatever may come next. And Justin, did you get something on escrow real quick? Real quick. Real quick on escrow. No, Greg nailed it. Escro is you put the money away. Greg was spot on.

Okay, Greg. Go around the desk of you. It's a one-time bit. He's the call. You know, This is an IHeart podcast.