NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Luck or Rodgers?

Episode Date: April 3, 2015

A room filled with some heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal and Marc Sessler -- plays its newest game, “What’s Your Fancy?” -- a contest of skill and valor that asks contestants to make impossibly difficult choices, like “Would you trade 31-year-old Aaron Rodgers for 25-year-old Andrew Luck?” (30:00) or “would you rather have Julio Jones or Dez Bryant?” (26:30) The gang also hits the mailbag, answering burning questions from around ATN Nation. Check out all this high-octane fun and more on the newest edition of “The Around the NFL Podcast.”Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast will own you on the dance floor. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis and I'm joined by a room filled with some heroes. Mark Sessler to my left and Greg Rosenthal to my right. What's up, boys? It's happening. Every once in a while a money drop sneaks in.

And we have no idea, money tag sneaks, and we have no idea where it came from. TD just throws him in there. Well, that was one he made, obviously. Clearly. Right? A comic genius. T.D. on his day off, just bomb drops us with something that makes no sense. Gold standard keeps picking these ones on Thursday.

It's Gold Standard Thursday. I can take no credit. Just relief pitching. Yes, welcome to Friday's edition of the Iran-the-N-Fel podcast. Of course, this is a week in the NFL where the news is, slow down. It slowed down news-wise to the point that for the first time in a while, we will not even

be doing any news. There's no news to talk about. Well, you know, that doesn't mean there's not football to talk about, right? Old Mark, Sessler? Oh, yeah. I mean, this is the time of year where, especially sitting downstairs with Dan, he's been digging

into the college tape. This is when he starts to do that. It's talking a little DJ Humphreys, offensive tackle out of, where's he out of Dan? Florida. Florida. Oh, Floo. Watched some of his tape today. So I just lean on you, and as we get up towards draft time, Dan's the man for that.

And, well, yes, obviously, draft expert here. Chris Wesleying, not with us. This is the first day of his, you know, much-deserved vacation. We're all going to be taking vacations at some point between now and the start of training camp, and this is now Wes's time. He's in Georgia, Tybee Island. Is it Tybee or Tybee Island? Tybee, Tai Bay Island.

Not Tai Ba. Tybee Island. Tybee. And what we'll do is we always do whenever West goes to Tai B. There's really only one place you're going to find him. It's at the bar, Huckapoo's. So as we do every year, we're going to call down to the old Huckapoo's Pub. Studying other types of prospects.

Yeah, and see how he's doing. I mean, then if you look at, we're taping this at 254 Pacific time, which means it's right around 6 o'clock. on the east coast of the continental United States so I would think West has probably been at that bar in upwards of six hours that's an estimate

that sounds about right I want to see well let's see we've there's some photographic evidence he's been around Tybee Island not just at the bar but probably mostly at the bar all right so yes we'll call Chris a little later in the show we are going to do we have some

Greg and I and Mark's been involved as well on some level Mark a little apprehensive about pitching ideas for some reason. I think you, maybe the fear of rejection, is it? Well, it's not the, it's the proof of every time, you know, Greg, the boss and Dan sitting there, spitballing ideas, like, come up with an idea, I'll throw something out there. No, yeah, no, that's not going to work. And then we end up using it in the end anyways.

Greg and I talked about after Wednesday's show, we said, oh, let's come up with some new ideas. So I left a bunch of post-its with ideas on the border between Greg and I's seat. And then when I got to work, Greg had added. some post-its of his own ideas. Mark was just sitting under the cubicle. I didn't even know this area of the office was being used in this way. So, you know, listen, no harm, no foul. I'm happy to have done nothing.

I'm looking forward to next gold standard Friday when the gold standard is going to run the whole show. All of his ideas are going to be in there. That's a real thing that's happening, so don't miss that. But that was all a long way of me getting to the point that we have a new thing. A new, I'm not going to call it a game, but a new segment. This is speaking of ideas It took a while to come up with a name And Mark, you did

You nailed this one I called Who'd You Rather Was the idea I came up with What did you come up with, Greg? It was like Actually, I have this written down I came up with the idea for the game

But I struggled to name it I think I was going to go Something like broken monitors Yeah, that's what I was Esoteric I had Who'd You Rather And Greg cited TMZ litigation concerns

So that was thrown out. And then Greg said broken monitors, which was kind of channeling like a Tom Green type sense of humor, which was fine enough. And then Mark comes in and he says what? What's your fancy? What's your fancy? By the way, no paper wasted, no post-it notes, trees continue to grow. Yeah, so what's your fancy, which is a game where we're going to let each of us will lay out two options. And we'll just say, what's your fancy?

Who would you rather have? It's going to be, I think, I think, player-based. but it's the first time we've done this segment, so it could go in a number of directions. Qualest du Fantasia. That's the other option. That is also what's your fancy. Zach, you've lived in London.

How would you say it in British? I don't really know. Which do you fancy would probably be the better term. But I like What's Your Fancy more. That sounds Old West almost more. What's your fancy? What was that attempt, Greg? I don't know.

I just want to see what he would say. Greg had issues with the phrasing, didn't he? I wanted to do it with an accent, but then I remembered we have people who listen to this who actually have that accent. That would be nice. All right, so yes. And then we'll also hit the mailbag.

Have a new mailbag column coming out later today. So look out for that. And we're going to, I dig through all those questions because inevitably there's a lot of podcast-based type questions as well. So we'll hit that. So that's what's happening today. I'm excited Big show

Big show So I mean Without further ado I mean this is the This is the segment that we just were teasing It's broken monitors with I had many better names But we can't remember them all

Because they were just ephemeral nonsense That could be another name for this Ephemoral nonsense Femoral nonsense Oh my god's your fancy So I don't know how we want to start it Greg This was one of your post-it note ideas

Okay So Wow this is a lot of Yeah, so basically, and again, to clarify, you're going to give us two options, right? And we choose which one is our fancy. I mean, it could be very simple, just player X, player B. I was trying to think of something that could work any time of year. We don't have a lot of news here.

Or you get a little more complicated, as I'm sure Mark has done. I think Mark is going to send us some weird directions. I'm looking forward. I came up with a great game. All right, let's do it. Let's start with a relatively simple one. But it's especially... Wait, look at the block of paragraph texting for Marks.

This is going to be juicy. I'm looking forward to Mark. All right. All right. This is especially for your two guys in your situations as fans. Hey, you guys. You're a Jets fan, Dan.

Mark, you're a Browns fan for new listeners. For now. Who do you rather have? Who do you fancy for your team? Indomacan Sue or Ryan Tannahill? Qualist Sue Fantasia. Who do you fancy? Indomican Sue or Ryan Tannehill.

Neither one of you have quarterbacks. Do you do you, do you see? take the quarterback who's better than average right now and is ascending and you just have them you have them for good indefinitely whatever i want to make sure we're all clear on the rules also that we're factoring in age contract i don't think you have because it's very important if we're talking about indomacusu do i want to be paying this guy 60 million guarantee don't even worry about that just which would you rather have on your team indomacan sue or ryannehill long throwing out all the money and everything else yeah yeah i'll take sue

give me sue i would too i mean if why i he's a superior player tanna hill would be a non-superior quarterback you're you're failing to avoid there for both teams but the dolphins aren't going to make the playoffs probably with sue and tannahill well you're looking at a better player well i guess i would think you're looking at which is more important position to have a chance to have a franchise quarterback i mean it's arguable indomacu's not as good as a player on the jet's defense Muhammad Wilkerson and they've got him and that hasn't really done much for him so I just was wondering how desperate

kind of the quarterback thing is and Tannahill feels like the right player to ask this question about it. I mean I get where you're going with it but I can't get away. Yes everybody wants a quarterback everybody needs a quarterback but you're asking me if I want a Hall of Fame defensive tackle in the prime of his career against a potentially

ascendant quarterback but it's kind of hard to tell as we know in Bill Lasers offense as Wes is quick to point out it's a little bit gimmicky so his stats going up last year. Maybe he doesn't necessarily mean he's a player on the rise. So I like Tannehill. I would love to have Tannel in my roster as opposed to the Jets options,

and I'm sure, Mark, the way you feel with the Brown's quarterback room. But am I going to pass on Sue? Hell no. Really? Yeah. What's your fancy? All right, my turn. And it's good because it ties into Ryan Tannehill as well.

And I will also do what Greg did not. Think about factors like age and contract situations. Okay. Would you rather have Ryan Tannahill? He's an interesting figure in this league. Wow, another Tannahill. Or Drew Brees. Now, listen to the tale of the tape.

Drew Brees is the fourth year of a five-year deal. He's due $18.75 million this season. 19.75 million next year. He's 36 years old. Tannahill, final year of his rookie deal. Do $660K this year with a $1.5 million roster bonus. 10 years younger, 26 years old. if you are a GM, who do you want right now

factoring in age and money and skill? Drew Brees versus Ryan Tannahill. I mean, that totally depends what team... Wait, wait, wait, wait. Right, okay. Qualessu Fantasia. Fantasia. It's very team-specific

because are you a Super Bowl-ready team that you plug in Breeze for one year? Generic team? I go Tannahill because you're building for the future. I don't think Breeze is around for more than... We already saw Breeze decline a little bit last year. Maybe that was a fluke. I don't know. But I'm going to go with the younger player.

I realize he's not Drew Breeze, but it's the future. I disagree. I would take your chance to win a Super Bowl. And I think Drew Breeze gives you the chance to do that for this year, hopefully another year. And the contract really isn't that big of an advantage for Breeze. Because to keep Brian Tannahill in this situation, he's going to get one of those quarterback contracts sooner than later. He's going to get it next year. So you're going to have to pay him $17, $18 million a year. I'm a Tana Hill fan.

You think Tana Hill would get that much on the open market? Oh, yeah. He's getting it. I mean, it's just... I would think you'd be more in line for a Kaepernick-type deal. That's what Kaepernick had, basically. 14, 15. He's going to get it.

People are getting it. No question Breeze is better. I just, I'm thinking as a GM, you have to keep looking towards tomorrow. I believe Kaepernick's making 12 million this year. 12 million. This year, I believe. Yeah, 10.4 base and then 2.4. but his is that year-by-year thing, it averages out, it ends up being about 50.

He also got a big signing bonus to sign, which has to be factors in. But yeah, give me some Drew Breeze. I think we're a little too early to give up on some of these quarterbacks. Look at Tom Brady just had, I was too, as a Patriots fan, I thought he was really declining. On the Patriots, though, you dropped Drew Breeze into the Oakland Raiders, and where are you? Who knows? Mark, it's time for your first. You're in the ocean.

Okay. You are John Elway. this one's for me I didn't know we could be other people I asked you that specifically downstairs can you embody other people you are John Elway and you are haunted by Peyton Manning's aging human body

while sipping a Mai Tai in your study at Dove Valley the phone rings it's the Bears they want to send you Jay Cutler Pernell McPhee and this year's number one overall pick for Peyton so Manning

or Cutler McPhee in a first Qualest to a Fantasia I really wish I put on more time. I don't even have four questions. Let me write this down. So it's Peyton for Cutler, Pernell McPhee. And a number one.

What about Andy McPhee, Pacey Wooder's old girlfriend? Can we throw her in there too? Sure. Andy McPhee. Is it her like Dawson's Creek era? Sure, no, in her prime and she's his assistant. Continuing our tradition of never have any references that are up to date. We make fun of West for that.

But all ours are, Dan, five years later. Greg is stalling. And the first round pick? I'm not stall. And this year's first round pick. All right, Greg, go ahead. I'm taking Cutler.

I'm the last man on Cutler Island. I'm probably not going to win a Super Bowl with Jay Cutler, but Denver is stacked. You get the number one pick, and I'm worried, you know, I'm worried about Peyton Manning. So I feel like I'll take that return for him. I'm staying with Peyton Manning because John Elliott would not have brought Peyton Manning back

I didn't think he still had it in him to make this one last run to the Super Bowl. Jay Culler is, you know, let's be honest, a pile of garbage. You know, as a quarterback, is a man? I am sure he's probably okay. Kristen Cavalieri probably thinks he's excellent, and that's fine, but as a quarterback? Is he really, though? Is he really that bad? I mean, let's just look.

He's been playing in the league almost 10 years and hasn't done anything, except for get people fired and go to the playoffs once deep. Today is the sixth anniversary, Thursday, rather, was the sixth anniversary of the Jay Cutler trade. to Chicago. Who won that trade, do you think? Definitely not the Bears. Well, no one won or the Bears did not win. Wrong answers.

Jay Cutler won. Oh, yeah. That's fair. That's a trick. And the Broncos won, too. They got to Marius Thomas, and eventually they got Peyton Manning. You stick with Peyton Manning. I'm sticking with Peyton Manning.

All right. That is my fancy. There you go. All right, Greg, your turn. By the way, Jay Cutler, higher QBR last year than Alex Smith and Teddy Bridgewetter. Two highly respected people. Yeah, Jay Cutler is really good. In the world.

I wish, I needed to, you know, make mine as elaborate as Marks. I feel like this. Well, you know, we open the show by saying Mark doesn't want to contribute ideas, doesn't want to be part of the show. Well, maybe I'm behind the scenes working. From now on, this might turn into, Dan, I hope you don't get threatened. But this could turn into something where Mark is just the host throwing things out. That's fine.

That would be finally. Is Mark the guy that we need to feed him ideas and then he hits them out of the park? Maybe that's what this is. We can work that way. He is like the quarterback, just all talent, not much upstairs, but you put him out there in the right system. He's got the most talent of the whole group. This has wandered.

All right. Go ahead. I'm going to go with my most simple one next. James Winston or Teddy Bridgewater? I'll go Teddy Bridgewater. Knowing everything you know right now. Everything we know, because I think what we know about Teddy Bridgewater is positive, and certainly something you can work with.

And, you know, he's impressive, the most impressive rookie last season. And Winston, we don't know. So I'll go with what we know at that position. I feel like that is maybe a sound way to look at things. But if you're going for the home run, give me Winston. Maybe he turns into a legitimate all-pro quarterback. And maybe Bridgewater will still be that guy. But there's a reason why Winston, and as we've said on this pop many times before,

we're not college experts. There's the reason why he's the consensus number one overall pick. People love him as a player. Seems like a bit of a dunce and potentially... Whoa. What? Seems like a dunce? A lot of people have said that, you know,

well, not dunce like he's stupid, but he causes mischief. So go sit in the corner for a while. This guy stole crab legs, bro. So, you know, you worry about that a little bit, but he was also a kid, so who knows? I think I'm going with a more gutsy move, which is just saying, take a shot. Maybe this guy's a superstar. Bridgewater is the safe pick to me.

Dan, the GM, out of a job two years from now. I'll just be riding into a new contract. One of the things everyone says about Winston that I like it when they talk to him is that he's maybe the smartest quarterback in this draft in terms of like getting on the chalkboard and he's the football guy's football guy. How many quarterbacks are in this draft? I mean, there's like four guys. No, no, but that's like one of his strengths is that the mental side of thing. But when you watch even my limited knowledge of James Winston,

And that's talked about as one of his big strengths, how smarties. But he throws Jay Cutler-like interceptions, like really bone-headed interceptions. So I don't know where that all matches up, by the way. Did anybody happen to see Teddy Bridgewater's Pro Day? Are you sure you want to invest in a guy like that? That's a blowtorch. I'll sleep at the wheel. How about Marietta or Derek Carr?

I know I'm just now cheating. Car. So you're going with what you've seen. I'm not into, I don't know enough about Marriota. I don't. All right, here we go. By the way, you missed your chance to say what's your fancy or the Spanish equivalent. Here's my next one.

All right, it's a three for three swap mixing both coaches and players. Andrew Luck, T.Y. Hilton, and Chas Pagano, known as the lame duck. or Russell Wilson, Jimmy Graham and Pete Carroll Wait, you're going to have to repeat that again All right

Andrew Luck, T.Y. Hilton, and Chuck Pagano or Russell Wilson, Jimmy Graham, and Pete Carroll. Quallessu Fantasia. Hmm. That is interesting. Pagano is a setback here.

Yeah, well that's the hook of it because he's potentially, even though we all love Chuck Strong, maybe not a great head coach. Whereas Carol, we now, he's bona fide, big-time guy. Speak for yourself, loving Chuck Strong. I mean, I don't dislike Chuck Strong, but I don't. Oh, you're personally, you think you might be a bad guy yourself? No, no, he seems like a totally great guy.

He's a warrior. He came back from cancer. No, no, he's a great guy. He's very likable, but I'm talking about as a football coach. Greg, inching towards a pro-cancer stand. I'm going to go just based on what I think is the, in a trade, the highest quality product here, Andrew Luck, I'll take it, and everything that comes with it. I agree.

I'm going to take Andrew Luck and T.Y. Hilton. By the way, Hilton versus Graham, not as uneven at this time as you would think. I'd rather have Jimmy Graham. Different players, but yeah. There's some concerns that the Saints gave up on Jimmy Graham at his peak and was a little injured. Peak Carroll isn't 44 years old either. Plus, I'm living in this strange universe where maybe I can change my

coach eventually. I just stuck with him. I guess I'd take my chances. I take my chances. Can I get rid of Pagano a while? No. So many factors. You have to keep Pagano as long as you keep Andrew Luck.

Well, when you're saying Carol, you're basically saying the Seahawks defense. You're thinking he can install that defense and get the right people in place eventually. So you're talking yourself out of what you just decided. And I do want to. I had an Andrew Luck one too. On the fly. Yeah, you would have to stick with the coach as long as you stuck with the. the quarterback so if you don't if chuck mcano is not a good coach you're stuck with him for the

duration of andrew luck's career i'll go for it i like this game though i got to say yeah he did a good job early well it was really mark i need to come up with better questions next time i have one that wasn't written by mark oh wait by the way you just said you like this game but the one that was just laid out was by me and you're shooting all the credit over to mark what no i just i came up with that one that was a great one yeah but you're saying you know mark made the game no i just like the Look, the choose-your-adventure aspect. I think what happened here was it got a little edgy downstairs, and we're fine now, okay? Everyone's getting enough credit, everyone's feeling good.

This was the least edgy day at the office we've ever had. There cannot be a scenario, Mark, where there's even credit. Someone has to win. Gold standard behind the glass. Definitely not winning this one, but, okay, you're tiptoeing gingerly in the fog halfway down a wooded slope in a strange, unfriendly land. A mysterious man in a large hat approaches you with two hands-out stretch. holding small crystal balls in each.

In one, a vision of dynamic recording artist Jewel, singing the national anthem at Super Bowl 32 in Majestic Qualcomm Stadium. In the other, the great Faith Hill belting out the Star-Spangled banner in the beautiful Georgia Dome at Super Bowl 34. The man cautions you that only one is the right answer and the fate of the world depends on it

before whispering, Qualis Sufantatio. I love Gold Standard. It's so easy for me. Can't get through any of that. It's so easy. I think I have the same answer as Mark. Wait, first of all, I just, we got to give a round of applause, too.

Good job. I wasn't doing my job at all for the last 10 minutes. Now it makes sense while you missed that drop earlier. Yeah. It's okay. So basically it comes down to you want to cut through all the, the BS. But why would you? Is Jewel v. Faith Hill.

Yep. And if you choose the wrong singer, the world ends? Yeah. Well, but what are, what's right and wrong? Just best pipes, best, who would you like to hang out with? So it's like a troll that has. If your job was on the line, someone said, hey, Greg, you're planning the Super Bowl. Okay.

Between the two, who you picked. How to go total package here. Yep. Wait, in 2015, this is for? No, no, no. In their prime. So, 98 and 2000. I've changed my answer.

Mark, you seem to know. Oh, it's easy for me. This is personal preference. Oh. But I love her story. Lived in a vehicle along the highways. I go jewel. And I like where she was at that time.

It's from, that was the crystal ball portrayed that performance, correct? Correct. I'll go to Kiltcher myself. Jule Kiltcher who sold millions of albums in the 90s, tailed off a little bit, but we're picking her in 98 when she was still an ascendant talent, you know, has that yodel quality, which I like as a singer. So basically you've rested the fate of the free world.

One, on your own preferences, that's selfish. And then two, the fact that Jules' backstory is like Chris Farley's man down by the river, It's the story of redemption, and I always have been on the record that the Faith Hill pregame song is ponderous. Oh, my gosh. And overbaked. Wow. That's true, and that's really throwing me for loop, because my answer is Faith Hill. Because I'm thinking about the world.

You're thinking corporate sponsorship and money. I think she appeals to the masses more, and I want the world to live so that I can have the choice in the future to listen to Jewel or Faith Hill. Greg's right, by the way. I mean, I just, I find Jewel to be fetching and interesting, as you say. But probably the, what does the troll say to gold standard? Like, as in the answer? Or what does he say at the end? Yeah, what is the guy?

This is the first one that has an answer. Well, so he says, Qualis Sufantasia before fading into the ether. And then if you pick, if you pick Faith Hill, the world ends. Oh, yeah, Mark. That's what happens. You got a no gold standard, too. He's definitely going Jewel. I love the story.

Okay. That's good. Who's up? Mark. All right, let's see. All right, your team's head coach is kidnapped by a band of Eurasian separatists. Oh, no. On the fly, on the fly, you've only got a minute to pick here.

You can hire either Dave Damashek or Handsome Hank as your interim head coach until the Eurasian separatists are deep-sixth. Qualis to Fantasia. Well, Hank. Yeah, Hank knows more. Hank is a... Well, Damashik is going to be very offended to hear that, so you need to... Wait, as a head coach or GM, what did you say?

As your interim head coach taking over for what has been kidnapped. No, I think Dave is a smart football mind and everything, but I think that Handsome Hank is the notorious DOP. I mean, he's in a management role. He literally worked in NFL Europe. He's friends with NFL head coach. I think Dave is too much of a creative to be in that position of power. I think he would struggle to deal with the players.

Whereas Henry, have you seen Henry get angry, like in the office? Yes, I have. And the daggers, he'll send out with his eyes. and that sharp tongue of his. No, I think they're... I think Henry's a good fit as a authority figure. Let me throw a bone here to Damashik. I think he's sort of a George Allen character from the past.

He could get everyone excited. You know, interim coaches, you're going to lean on your coordinators, number one. Or like Bill Veak or whatever. Sure. I just think he's a character. He'd be beloved by the press. So would Handsome Hank, a noble character himself. But just to even this out, I go, Sheck.

Here's a problem that would occur. Dave would force everyone to lock. room to listen to is like ponderous underground hipster music and it could lead to issues. See, there's a lot of stuff to unpack here. I'm a big fan of Damashik's music. Give me a break. I know. Well, there's some history to that comment and I agree.

Yeah, exactly. Did you answer, by the way? Yeah. Hank. No, you know, he's a football guy. Oh, pavement, man. Nothing like... Let's get a football question. Nothing like pavement. That was about football coaches. All right. Well, it's your turn, Greg.

Oh, really? All right, I'll go. Here we go. Go. No, I don't really have a football question. Your turn. All right, how about Andrew Luck for two seasons, or Matt Ryan indefinitely? You just have two seasons, and then Andrew Luck is gone?

And then what do you have? You're looking in the free agent pile or draft? Yeah, you're just starting over again. He's going to leave you via free agency. Who is you? Like your team. It's a good one. I'll go Andrew Luck.

Our Andrew Luck love is knowing no bounds. right now. Yeah. Because you get Matt Ryan for a decade or whatever it is. How old is Matt Ryan now? He's probably 30 almost. Yeah, see, if he's close to 30, I'll probably just go with luck and see if I can win a couple of rings. It's 29.

Yeah, give me luck as well. Good one. I got speaking of the Falcons, Julio Jones or Des Bryant, both 26 years old, both make about the same amount of money. One's franchise tagged ones in the final year of his deal. Julio Jones has some foot injury history. Dez has some back issues that crop up occasionally. Maybe Dez is a little more of a wild card off the field, although he's been on his best behavior for a while now.

That's it. That's a tough one. I'm glad that's tough level wide receivers. I'm going to go Des Bryant. You don't seem comfort a little about it. No, I think it's a coin flip. I'd be thrilled with either, but I'll just go Des Bryant. When both guys are at peak powers, they're the two best guys in the league. That game where...

Calvin Johnson, you got throw in there. Although he hasn't been at now, though. Yeah, he hasn't been at his very... Julio Jones shredding, who's a Patrick Peterson, right before he got hurt at the end of the last year. Des Bryant, when he gets on those runs and he's just, you know, making all these guys look like high school kids. Julio Jones on fire on Monday night towards the end of the season.

Just, yeah, that's tough. This is tough because I think you have to fast. factor in a little bit of the off-field stuff with Des. Is he going to be a wild card? Julio Jones is no issue. I'm a little more worried about Julio Jones' feet than Des Bryant's back, too. I would go Des Bryant because of the drive that he has, like the leadership. Even though he's got the off-field stuff, he's got like the, just he wants that ball,

he wants to be great, he wants to be in the All- Fame, he wants to win all the titles, just a little more than maybe you get from Julio Jones. That's a tough one. One more each? Yeah. I won both of Marks. No, one of them was Andrew Luck related, so let's just go with my last one here. It's not as football-y as Greg would like.

No, no, no, I won't. I just wanted to mix them up back and forth. It's been great. Give me a break. Okay. You are somewhere... Greg, stop micromanaging the game. You're somewhere far from here.

And you're a nice woman in a petticoat. And... I already like this. You've been chosen by your rich uncle, Stanley, at Penguin Books to author a book about football, but you don't know anything about football or care. Which scientist would you hire as your ghost writer, the boss or the mailman?

Oh, that's not fair. What's your fancy? Well, they're both writers. Oh. I forgot to say what's your fancy again last thing. Oh. Got to answer it. That's bad.

Well, I'm going to say Greg. Because although I know... This is ridiculous. I honestly think that Wes would be great. As told Wes privately, I think you would be excellent as a writer of a long form or a book on football or anything, really. Greg can fire me. Wes cannot.

Gold standard. Gil Brand is not an option here? No, he can't write. Not at this time. Okay, all right. Then I guess Greg, because he can fire me too. Well, I can't fire you. That's true.

You really can't. No. You're untouchable, basically. You're very close to me right now, just physically. Wow. You're physically into the same, though. I was thinking of a question. My last question was basically who would you rather be on a road trip with

and then make you guys choose between Wes and one of the other. Give us your last one, Mark. We'll get out of here. You are Ted Thompson. It's been a quiet off season until line two lights up. It's pesky Ryan Grigsin, the Colts GM. Teddy boy, he says, I got a deal for you. Andrew Luck for Rogers, straight up.

Say yes now or it goes away forever, and I'll deny I ever dialed your number. you punk so switch rogers for luck or keep rogers vast is il fantasia there you go whoa german i like that ominous it is there's a more of aggressive tone to the game now the german's been introduced um i'm first generation you know oh it's in the blood interesting uh all right so this is a great one's a great one to end it on because all right so aaron luck Aaron Luck, now that would be awesome. Aaron Rogers is 31, correct? Early 30s, he just turned 30, I believe, last year.

Sure. And Andrew Luck's like 25 or 26, so he got the five years. Rogers is a better player at this stage. I think Rogers should be. I guess I would, my initial thought was you'd just take Rogers because he's the best player in football by far. You don't know if luck's ever going to get that high. But now that I think about it,

If I'm running a team, I want five extra years of awesomeness, so I'm taking life. And I'm a little nervous about Aaron Rogers' body also. Really? I don't know. You know, he's had injuries now that have blown up two seasons for the Packers, and Andrew Luck, by all count, seems to be invincible at this stage. I'm going to, as much as it pays me, because Aaron Rogers is probably my favorite quarterback to watch, give me Andrew Luck.

I got a job. I got kids to feed. I got college to pay for. It's a great question, though, because everyone, there's a feeling, almost like Andrew Luck is there but I don't think he's there and you don't know that he's ever going to get to as good as Aaron Rogers

is which I would now put Aaron Rogers' peak among the greatest quarterbacks of all time you don't know if Andrew Luck's going to get there so will Andrew Luck become the greatest quarterback of all time? No probably not but like will he even get to that sort of level where he's got a couple MVP's put it out of I'd be surprised if after it's all said

and done people don't look at luck is a top 15 quarterback ever I think he seems to have that type of ceiling, and I'll take five extra years of a top 15 guy over the guy that's top three, arguably. Me too, and I feel like this game's kind of over and over with these questions told us that we think very highly of Andrew Luck. We all went to Andrew Luck. I even had an Andrew Luck one left in the chamber.

That's how I was fun, though. That was good. We'll bring this back. Wes would have liked this one, so we'll make sure to get Wes. Speaking of Wes, let's call Huckabooz, again, it's almost 630. on the East Coast, which means West has probably been at this bar for, God, six and a half hours now. How are you doing? Can I speak with Chris Wessling? Is he in the establishment? He hasn't come yet, no.

Oh, he hasn't come yet? Okay. I think he's taking a little break. I was waiting this afternoon. So you're expecting him? Yeah, absolutely sure. All right, great. Can you just let him know that around the NFL team was looking for him? Yeah, yeah. You got his podcast right now? Yes, we are. Okay, yeah, I'll let him know as soon as he gets here.

All right, great, thanks. All right, we're going to have to get him on the line. He was with him earlier. Yeah, let's get him on, let's call a cell, gold standard. Wow. It's not a good sign if he doesn't pick up. At all. Let's all just be on the same page of that.

In fact, gold standard, if he doesn't pick up, let's make sure to call the police. Definitely. I actually, yeah, I've already started on the other line. Okay, good. All right, it doesn't look like he's going to pick up. I'm sorry. The person you are trying to reach has a voicemail box

that has not been set up yet. Oh, no. Call again later. Goodbye. All right, all right. We'll make sure. We'll get him. Listen, we're probably not going to get them

on this show, but trust this. There's going to be a long week in Tybee. We're going to get him before the end of the week. All right. Let's move on. It's been two years with this phone,

by the way. I guess he's just not going to set up to voicemail at this point. I mean, voicemail is kind of out as it is. But you probably want to have it set up for emergencies and the like. But, you know,

West is a busy man. He's owning an island right now. He owns that place. All right, let's hit the mailbag before we get out of here. A lot of great questions, as always, from you, the listeners. And why don't we start with the question that came up, and it might even been, you know, something that came out of Greg Rosenthal's series of tweets. This is from Joe Bailey at J.W. Bailey 1. What sort of ceiling does Derek Carr have? What current QB will he be similar to in terms of talent?

And we'll start, Greg, what did you lay out earlier this morning that caused some dissension? Well, I've been starting to go back, watch some of these quarterbacks. And I'm confused why the conventional wisdom about Derek Carr and Gino Smith, for instance, are so different. I see them both as quarterbacks that have a chance, but haven't really shown a lot yet. Derek Carr, when you watch his rookie, he wasn't really that impressive. and there is a conversation that he's their franchise quarterback, that they're kind of set with Derek Carr, and he's a guy that's toolsy, very fast, big arm, you know,

he's good in the pocket, but he had a pretty bad season. Let's be honest, Derek Carr. So my thought is basically he's the guy that has a chance, but he's a long way from being average. Greg, Mark, you seem to be on the other side of the fence with this. Well, no, what annoys me in general is that all this judgment on quarterbacks you know, 16 games into the career. It happened with Gino Smith.

It's happening with Carr. It's happened with RG3. It's happened with everyone else. Everyone wanted to crown RG3 after his rookie season. You finally completely wrong down the stretch. It's like, look, let's be a little more patient before we call anyone the future. He has a chance, but it wasn't a great rookie

season, I guess. But listen, here's the thing. People go out and whiff noticeably on quarterbacks after one season. Plenty of GMs do it over and over. I'm not over-crediting Reggie McKenzie. but after one season of car, you can't say, listen, they missed that, and they've got to get right back in there

and take Marriota or swing a deal. They've got a guy that can say we are comfortable going into year two with. Are there issues? Sure, but any young quarterback outside of Andrew Luck and your Peyton Mannings is going to have a lot to work on. I do feel like there is a narrative

that the Raiders have hit on Derrick Carr. I feel like that's out there. Whether it's true or not, I don't know. Well, it's not true yet. Yeah. It's true that it's out there. I partly wrote it because I think, I guess I like Gino Smith better than the average person,

and I'm wondering why Derek Carr is like, you know, I probably like him less than the average person, and that they're a lot closer than people would think. I think they're basically the same type of quarterback. The advantage that Carr has is, you know, Gino didn't really progress a ton in his second season, so that's a bad sign. But Carr, if you line him up versus all the rookie quarterbacks over the years,

it's not just that he was on the Raiders. He's missing throws, he's missing open receivers. We'll see. It was only a rookie year. Payton Manning through 27 interceptions this first year. Sure, and that was a different time, but you're right. Peyton Manning, and people looks back at the stats of Troy Aikman, all those guys. None of them were that impressive.

John Elway, all the rest. But I have more of an issue with Gino Smith where we're hoisting him up. Well, I'm the only one doing it. There's no way. That is a Greg thing. Yeah, because he's a turnover machine, and I'm not selling the guy down the river, but I'm very close to saying we know what his ceiling is, and I've lost the curiosity. he's played he's first of all he's younger than derrick car so i mean they're the i know he's played an extra

year in the league but they're the same age sure and he started about the same amount of games as derrick car and to me they're very similar in that you can see traits from both of them that are promising that you've seen them have big moments each and you're like oh wow that could that could be pretty special if they get it kind of rained in that's all they've shown but then so let's say you're you're a team in need of a quarterback you have the choice of two quarterbacks, it's Gino or its car, who do you take for the future?

I'm taking Gino. See, I go to car. I tweeted and replied to you. I don't know what car is seen. By the way, they haven't started close to the same amount of games. I don't know why I said that. Gino started almost all last year. I don't want to cheat Peyton Manning. He didn't have 27

interceptions. He had 22. But four years later, four years deep into his career, he had a 29 interception season. So these guys should Give be given time to develop What they did in the old days Everyone looks at cars Touchdown Interception ratio

And that's it And I'm just saying if you really watch The games I don't know It wasn't that impressive And when you watch Gino He does a lot of impressive things Everyone just wants to slam you boy

Gino This is a he stinks Here's another There's an interesting thought From Signor Willie At Shawnee Gilbo Which I thought was interesting So we talked about the Buffalo tax

As something where the bills Have to overpay to get big names because Western New York maybe isn't the most exotic locale for an NFL free agent. Would there be a London tax if we ever got a team out there? Would it be hard to attract free agents to be playing overseas? Signor Willie asks. Well, I think especially after the initial glow or rush of that opportunity, three or four years into that franchise where, you know, first of all,

you're going to have to iron out how those teams travel and everything else, but you've got to move your entire family over. very hard to see, you know, extended family, blah, blah, blah. It's just, it makes life more tough at the same time. It's going to be the right thing for young, adventurous players that say this is exciting to me, but that's not everyone. No. Yes, a thousand times, yes.

I think that's one of the many problems with putting a team in London permanently. You get drafted there. I mean, come on. I don't even know what the attack situation would be. I know that's getting deep into it, but that's high important. Zach, who's lived there, though. You think the NFL players, I mean... I think there's huge, like...

You think they'd like to go over there. I would love to see a team there, but I do think that there are tax and visa issues. Well, the Beatles left England to get away from the taxes, didn't they? I mean, it must be pretty hardcore. Yeah. Right. You know who else did? A little guy by the name of George Washington and the rest of those.

Old G. Wadsey. No taxation without representation. Bang. I think a lot of players... Just antagonizing our listeners overseas. I think they love London as a city and a place to live, but it's very... It's very complex. Definitely.

And the cost of living there is astronomical. Right. We would love it. Like, imagine if they were saying, would you like to just move to, wouldn't you just move there tomorrow? Today. I would.

No, I would not. Just to have an adventure in life. Nothing against England or Europe. I love the old USA. Give me those stars and stripes. You know what? We're only going to have. We're only going to have one, you know, life.

Maybe it's that you haven't had the second kid yet. I think Mark's feeling it. The second kid, it's like, I could go to Mars if you gave them. I'm just saying, you know, we've got these lovely kids. I love London. We love these kids, but you don't want your life to become a routine. We've only had one.

Give me a little adventure. I live there. I know it's a great place. London's great. Don't come after me, listeners. I love England, but I like it here too. All right. Eric Vatz or Eric Vapes, one way to put it.

Another way. At Eric Votes. Joey. Which current NFL player do you think would make the best? best coach after their playing career is over. Ritchie Incognito came to my mind instantly. Got top five. And then I'll throw out, I'll throw out Charles Tillman as a guy that seems to be a leader of men.

There you go. Charles Tillman. I mean, I'm just going to go. Charles Tillman. He was a Walter Payton Man in the Year, which would be a good place to start. Anyone that's won that award? Probably a good dude. Although Thomas Davis also won that award also would be a great pick.

I feel like those guys are too smart and too much of leaders to be NFL head coaches. And you know what I mean? too broad in terms of their... Maybe their front office guys? No, they don't want to work in football because to be a head football coach, you need to be working 100 hours a week, maybe not with your family as much,

one-track mind. They're a little too smart to be head-foot. I'll go Peyton Manning because all you hear about is he's got all these... There's whispers that he'd like to do front-office things after his career, and he's this obsessive, compulsive guy that watches film. I put Brady in the same...

I don't think Brady... wants to do that, or maybe he does, we haven't heard that, but with Peyton, there seems to be a real, some buzz around him. Now, I'm probably going to come off as very simple-minded here, and I know there's Jim Harbaugh, but how many other coaches are quarterbacks? I guess Gary Kubiak. Kubiak. Yeah.

There's not a ton of them, though. It's not like catchers in baseball where it's a natural ascension to that post. Quarterback, it's not like a... There's plenty of coaches didn't even play at the NFL level, too. A lot of offensive linemen. A lot of offensive linemen have been coaches. This is from Mary at Just Mary. I never came up with an answer, but I still don't have one.

I was trying to think of like a great backup quarterback. Let's move on. Okay. At Just Mary asks, what's your dream team to see on Hard Knocks this year? The Browns were quickly attached and then detached from the show. It doesn't look like that's going to happen. NFL films and the NFL is not going to force the Browns to do it when they have one of their premier players coming out of rehab. It's not a good look.

I don't see it happening. I would, I'll throw out Buffalo Bills and record. Ryan, Rex, obviously with the Jets in 2010. That was the best hard-knock season. A lot of exciting players in there. It's a good atmosphere around that team right now. The Bills and their fans deserve that type of spotlight. It would be fun.

I like the Bills as an option. That would have been my first choice. I would go with the 49ers. I just want to see what's happening. Yeah, that's a good one. Tom Sula and a lot of change. And just let's get a peek behind that one. I mean, knowing that it won't be Cleveland,

which I think would have been intriguing, you know, in a disaster film scenario type way. I'll go Arizona Cardinals. I love Ariens. I think that that team's a real potential contender. They've got Carson Palmer coming back. There's a lot of characters on that team. Those would do it, too, in a second.

They probably would. Yeah, I think so. New owner. Philadelphia would be another fun one. Ooh, that would be cool. A chip would not green light that, I don't think. Although he would like to let us. No.

What about the Redskins? What's going on behind that curtain? The genius that he is. The Redskins? Some interesting stuff happening there. That's true. There would be some drama. They're one team that can be forced upon them.

The thing with Hard Knocks, so it's not predictable, you know, what seasons are going to be good. Because one of the worst seasons ever was the Cowboys, right in the middle of T.O. And Romo and stuff. I don't think they quite figured out the show by that point. No, because they had some good ones before there, right before it, with the early, like, The first Bengals one was one of my favorites, and yet that was a totally random team. Just saying.

From Good Friend, Sarah Peters, Indy Sarah. This is a good one. Heroes, what is your dream jeopardy category? Now, this is one question. Usually I drop these questions on you guys in the studio, but I gave you guys a heads up for this one. I still haven't thought about it. You have no excuse if you don't have one

because I gave you hours of advance notice. I'll put Greg up third because clearly you didn't think about one. But Mark, you did. I did think about one. I would like a category after spending so many days at work and nights out with Wes a category about his work history. Chris Wesleyan's work history. Jobs, various employments.

I think I could do well in that category. Yeah. That would be really unfair to the other contestant. Well, another thing, I just get two or three right and they're out. Well, that's what all I've thought about is strategy. I want to win the game. So I want to pick a category that I'm going to get. all the questions and there's no chance anyone will get anything else.

That's why I thought about it and I was trying to think like things that I'm obsessive about that many people aren't, especially if a show is taping in Burbank or something, I'm going to go with Oasis discography. I like that. Or Oasis singles. I feel like I could name every single in order since 94. So I can't imagine someone banging me on any of those categories even, and God forbid, for the other guys in the game if I get a daily double.

Someone could have done well, like 13 years ago, maybe, like some sort of particular. Oh, in 2000. What is Shaker Maker? Daily Double. See, if I'm going against you, though, I'm just, I'm pressing the button and I'm answering Wonderwall with every, you're going to, you know, but you negative points, bro. All right, your turn. Well, I was going to say the same thing.

Oasis singles? I was going to say pavement, you know, the band, not the, not the ground. Gotcha. Just because I figure how many people are going to nail all those. You'd be in a good position there. Maybe Joan Didian books. We had a big argument this morning about Joan Diddy, and I think I could crush people in some Joan Didian trivia.

That's a good one, too. Do you think you know enough about Wes's work history that you wouldn't be overthinking and end up getting stumped? Well, I just got to get one right. No, you want to clean up the category. You're going to get all right. Sure, I think I know enough. No, is that my obsessive category or another fact?

Probably not, to be honest. I'm just saying, I'm not sure. And also, it's based on being true. I'm assuming everything he said is true. Yeah, Mark's not really thought this one out. All right, let's see. I feel like I need better answers for these. Couple more.

Our old friend Tristan asks, what are the early picks for potential team of ATL? I still feel it's a little too early. I haven't put a lot of thought into it yet. Of course, we had the Panthers in year one. The Chargers last year was polarizing. In fact, I could totally foresee a scenario where we don't even name a team of ATL this year because the Chargers became so messy, but we're going to try, I'm sure.

I think the team we should have chosen last year and was right in the mix the whole time was the Arizona Cardinals, and that, to me, would be another. Yeah, I would draw a ball in there. A strong candidate again, though. I don't see why not. I think they'll have a chance. We'll keep an eye on the Cardinals. This one from Kevin Vaughn at Kev the Buck.

what is Joey Watts spending all his fan duel plunder on? I would think money or women and booze I would say. Yeah I mean Joey Watts you know for being a celebrated character is a simple person He doesn't have a savings plan

Right I think he's going to go for the excesses That weren't readily available to him before So Dan's answer is correct I know you guys are crazy You don't become Joey Watts and win $25,000 in one weekend without an unbelievable amount of research and a game plan on how to get that done. He is reinvesting this into more football winnings, fan duel,

and he's trying to run that number up. This has become a profession. He's crunching the numbers. How old is Joey Watts? He's putting it all back in, and he's going to retire on this. 20,000 isn't enough. If you're Joey Watts, you have the desire to be great. That 20G, that went out the door next weekend in Ream.

Let's be honest. The house always wins. That's part of his legend, too. Yeah, and then he gets it back, and he's an up-and-down-type character, and that's why we love him. Ethan Murphy, at Ethan Murphy, 1996. This one is to me. Will you or Patra ever try to win Wes's Toaster?

I feel Patrick's street brawl experience could give him an advantage. I don't know how Patrick's physical prowess would help him in a game of the mind. His brawn doesn't help him out. I'll never play the game because, first, of all, I'm not going to beat Wes. I know that. And number two, it's better, if you know that, to just back away and let the game play out. Why was Mark not even mentioned as a possibility?

That's fair. I think I would not want to do it. I don't think so. Although I would say any one of us that's in the room all the time all day long typing about football, well, you got an all-ranged shot. Any man can be beat. But who would take, who would keep the time if you were. Yeah, see, I view the timekeeping role is paramount to, you know, the glory that would come with running. And I wouldn't win.

Finding someone as good at keeping time as you would be tougher than finding someone to be west. Listen, I don't like to, I'll take the praise on this one. Okay. A couple more before we get out of here. This from Millets at Kellam J. Woods. And this is an interesting one. I like this one. Speaking of Wessling, would you rather have a Wessling-sized baby or a baby-sized wrestling?

Referring to Chris Wessling, our colleague, right now. And by the way, Chris got back to me on text. He's garage drinking. so he couldn't get to the phone. That's a great garage drinking, that thing? Does a Wessling-sized Wessling grow into an adult? Let me think about it. A Wessling-sized baby, so the baby is giant.

I don't want that. Like, you know, 5'9 or something. That sounds like a horror show. I don't want that. I want the baby-sized Wessling. At least we could, I assume he'll have the use of his vocal cords, and though we still get Wessling's sharp. His voice would probably be elevated and things, like a tiny little man.

But his sharp wit would be there. Yeah, you could express wants and needs. Yeah, the other one just sounds tragic. The other one, I don't know what you're doing. It sounds like a monster. Yeah, I feel like we're going to get some good tweets about this one, you know, a little Photoshop action. You're responsible.

We don't need a malformed gigantic, baby. Wesleyan, I mean, think of how frustrating it would be to be Wesleyan and not be able to talk, too. That would be trouble. You need to hear Wes's opinions. All right, and finally, from Matt Selser, at Sells 2015. The most exciting kickoff game would be Patriots versus Blank. Great question.

I'm going to go Patriots versus the Philadelphia Eagles. Do they do at a conference game? Well, I didn't, you know, if we're constraining to what they're thinking, it's probably going to be some AFC team, but I think they do play the Eagles, and I think that's two fascinating storylines right there. I don't know if they've ever done that. That would chick first Chip Kelly?

It doesn't mean that they shouldn't. Right. they do oh no but don't they you start and end against a division no it's not true they you only end against the division guy and and i don't know if you knew this but they do host the eagles too so there you go i think it makes sense i like that one what else would it be i mean i guess jets would be interesting bills would be i here's a good one i smell the bills as the team it just feels like that that's the right level of hey we're the new team on the block we're wrecks that's a good week one although the last two years they've gone for the

biggest best possible game and right now that's the Steelers Steelers. That's a good one. We've seen that before. I feel like that exactly. The Jaguars are not an option. Dolphins, that's not going to happen. I think the Eagles and the Bills and the Steelers are probably the three options

there. And just going by past history I think Eagles is probably the best one but Bills is the one I would put my Joey Watts 10K on. Yeah, how about that Bills though? It's fans. You're you're buzzy enough. You're in the mix now for these sort of things. You're in the mix for a freaking hard knocks and freaking opening day.

And potentially a massive letdown. Oh. Well, listen, you've got to be realistic. You don't have a quarterback. Get a quarterback, and I love everything else that's happening. All right. Just let the air out of the balloon in Buffalo there. I am from the state of New York.

I thought you're from London. No, I live there, but I am from Rochester, New York, which isn't too far. I adore the bills, but come on. You all say you're from Cleveland. I never say that. The other people think that. Well, these are places I've lived. Western New York.

I was born in a hospital in Rochester, New York. You once lived in a commune in Boulder, right? Yes, but I wasn't born there. All right. That's it for Friday's edition of the Around the NFL podcast. We'll be back on Monday, and again, we're going to make sure we're going to get Wes on the phone. He's garage drinking right now, a fruit punch, by the way. Colleen Wilfell's out with us on Monday.

Oh, we got the wolf woman in town. Colleen Wiltham. Really looking forward to that will be the first time. She's also garage drinking right now. I don't know about that, but potentially. So yeah, Colleen and Greg and myself and maybe Mark, I don't know, we'll see. We'll be all here on Monday to talk about another week of football. All right, this is Dan Hansis, signing off for the Quiet Storm, the boss, the gold standard behind the glass, and also Will the Thrill.

And the guy at Huckapoo's. The guy at Huckapooze or the garage, Christopher Wessling, until Monday. This is an I-Heart podcast.