NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - New NFL superstars in 2015

Episode Date: June 22, 2015

A room with some heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal and Chris Wesseling -- discuss the latest NFL news including the Bills' quarterback situation, Tom Brady's appeal and the Odell Beckham drama (14:34). The guys then nominate which players will enter and which players will leave the superstar club in 2015 (22:40).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. Joined Pinterest because of Jay Cutler's wife. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis and I am joined by a room filled with some heroes. Christopher Wessling to my left. Greg Rosethal to my right. What's up, boys?

Hey, Dan. It's happening. What is happening? A lot of cavalieries. heat on the podcast lately. Damashek still sour about, you know, he had a one-for-six showing in

Friday's edition of Win West's toaster. You can check it out on the podcast or on NFL now, where we have video of the entire episode up. He was particularly upset with the question in which I asked which product is Dick Budkiss and Kristen Cavaleri are they, you know, selling

in the NFL network commercial that just runs constantly, which is Pinterest. Dave said that's not football I don't have to know that That was one of several things he complained about The other being that you would dare to ask a question About a stadium name

It's one of several things he didn't know as well He didn't know five things And I was thinking about this And because Dave said he caught a ton of heat On Twitter over the weekend For people going after him I would like to make a kind of like a recurring Situation where Dave just drops by every year or so

But I don't know how much more it is like Why don't you drop by every couple of years? I mean, I worry about his confidence. Too many of these shillacchings are the hands of Wes. Well, it's not really in his wheelhouse. He's like a good box office draw that's not really competitive somehow. And also it doesn't draw a box. All right, so Mark is out of the office for a week.

He's on some type of East Coast sojourn. It's really unclear exactly what I'm doing. Backpacks and bus stops involved in this thing, aren't there? Yeah, they're like early morning shots of the Port Authority in New York. They're hanging out with men in fields. So, you know, I would say keep an eye on Mark's Instagram account because I'm sure some stuff could pop up there. So we'll go on without Mark for two shows this week.

Today's show with the boys, Chris and Greg. We're going to, you know, we're going to talk about the superstar club. What club is this? Something that I invented while eating breakfast this morning. But we're going to talk about, like, players that we see kind of make. Now, I don't want to use the word making the leap because that's copyrighted. By the way, Greg, do you want to say something about the Making the Leap series? Well, we kicked it off this week.

Cessler wrote one ahead of time. Charles Johnson is number 20 on the list. This is our yearly. It's the third time we've done this list of players we believe are going to improve greatly. And yeah, and we got a big one on Tuesday. your boy, Gino Smith. Hmm. I thought he'd be higher, considering.

Well, you know, we don't want to go too. He's making the leap? Just the fact that he's on the list at all. That is a great. I will be reading that. That's bold. I can guarantee you. I will read that.

But so consider this not the making the leap. That's a separate thing. That's more of the player that is promising and then becomes kind of a renowned player or a Pro Bowl type player. This is more like the Platinum Club, where you go from being a great player to a superstar. So who's going to be those guys this year? It's not going to be very many.

And conversely, did I use that word properly? Yeah. Who will drop back? Who are the superstars that we recognize today that by this time next year we'll see them in a different light? Because in my mind, in my mind, there's a balance, a cosmic balance of this.

There's only a set number of guys could be in the superstar club. I like this idea. There's a capacity. One man in? One man out. You're the balance. Bouncer of the Superstar Club?

No, we are the bouncer. Oh, okay. It's a zero-step game right here. Yeah. So we will talk about that, the Superstar Club, and we will have President Obama on a little later. The President of the United States. Now, that was actually another podcast.

Oh, darn. The WTF podcast, but don't check that out. Maybe, TD. What's going on? Can you get the president? I'm working on him for move the stakes. I bet the president. Wait, he literally was in Los Angeles.

Yeah, TD. We're going to ignore that just to make sure no one even hears of that podcast. And you get us like the prime minister of Nigeria? Yeah, I can work on that, yeah. Kridge could do it. She's been hanging out with Obama. Wait, let's test these roots. Who holds the highest office in Nigeria?

This is bad. I should know. I'm going to call your mother. Hey, TD, man. I thought you know it. I love you still. But you should have known. How she's Jamaican?

The president of Nigeria. Are they offensive. Oh, my goodness. Buhari is his last name that much, I know. You just Google, man. You just Google that. Oh, he did!

It's Henley Salasi. That's dishonesty, D. All right, buddy. Anyway, good to see you. Hope you had a nice weekend. It's a fun of the weekend. Me and Wes went back and forth about talking about some old MJ back in the day,

which led to me watching Games of Jordan playing point guard in the 80s. Oh, yeah. Not only if you guys move past that, awkward squabble you had. You're now indulging each other in 1980s and 90s NBA basketball. Guts it, man. Less has that, you know, that old-time knowledge,

and sometimes I need to delve into that a little bit more. And, you know. TD, I undersold him. He's one of the more knowledgeable folks I've ever met about hoops. Wow. You did have some nice hot take. Love Fest. Yeah, I liked it better when you were fighting.

And, by the way, speaking of which, I need to, I have it on my phone a bit of the fighting. saved on my recorder on my phone that I will use it the right time uh Dan quick question does anyone watch I don't you a big fan of entourage Dan their new show the new show ballers starring you know Duane the Rock Johnson anyone give that a watch well no I was the first time I'm a first time father's day for myself yesterday so I didn't get around to it but I will be checking it out uh how was it I didn't watch it oh glad you brought it up in a tell you know something that's being taped it's news for other people people to listen to.

I thought I was off today and behaved accordingly yesterday. All right, so yes, I'll get back to you on that TV on Thursday. Let's do some news. Welcome to Jurassic Park. I did see that last night. You did. Well, that was more for you old fossils in here. But I didn't see that recently.

Newman has been assassinated by a diphylosaurus. Dressa World is pretty good It's a nice popcorn pleaser It's actually I find it to be A stark contrast to some of those Dark Nolan movies I feel like they're trying to make it more

90s fun popcorn It is the biggest Biggest box office hit of all time Surprisingly What depends how you measure So far anyway What is it like 400 million Through two weeks or something

Over 300 for sure domestically probably It's like 980 Worldwide They broke it down It actually made more in the first 17 minutes than entourage has made them. That seems about right.

But the happiest lost bed in my life. It wasn't a bet. We don't do that around here. Let's start. Let's start in Buffalo. Why not? A lot of places to start. Do you want to start in Buffalo? Yeah, sure. Forever. All right. So we came into this season. Greg's boy, Matt Castle, was acquired.

He seemed to be the favorite over E.J. Manuel and Tyrod Taylor. But Matt Castle has not had a good off-season. season program. He struggled both in OTAs and in minicamp. E.J. Manuel really looked best out of all three quarterbacks. And you're hearing from multiple reporters covering the beat that Castle did not play well, called the Clear Loser by ESPN.com's Mike Rodak. And now there is some buzz, Chris Wessling, you wrote this piece for us, that Matt Castle could be on the roster bubble now. He's going to go from the favor to start to potentially on the street. Yeah, I kind of hesitated. I was a little reluctant to do this because it was only one beat writer suggesting

that Castle wouldn't make the roster. It's pretty clear that he had a miserable offseason, but none of the other Bill's quarterbacks particularly looked good either. But then I thought that I might just be able to tweak Greg Rosenthal a little bit. I knew of that, was it. I'm home on Saturday on the weekend. It basically was Chris Wesleyan headline, hey, screw you, Rosenthal. 30% of Wes's post now are really under the radar shots at his boss, which feels like a half to destruction. Usually Wes, usually Wes is all about, oh, that's not news. You know, oh, who cares?

Some writer said something might happen. That's not news. Why do you and Damashchak insist on turning into a southern bumpkin? I'm only imitating Damasek's imitation at this point. But, yeah, it was one writer suggesting something might happen. When did we start putting too much stock into these? Well, I think it's not going to happen before training. I think I wrote it that way.

Okay. I was sure to point out that he was just one writer and that nothing's really going to happen before preseason games anyway. This is, again, why people need to pump the brakes a little bit on the bills as a team to be excited about this year. This is how bad it got it during the minicamp. All three quarterbacks struggled so badly in the Wednesday practice session during minicamp that on Thursday, Rex Ryan made the decision to pull his defensive line first

team off the field and put the second team on so the quarterbacks had a better chance of success like what is it first of all kind of message does that send and second of all it tells you everything you need to know about these guys just are not executing even on this stage how can you expect it come September well they're playing against the defenses that it's been together for a while and is really talented it's not an easy offense to learn Greg Roman and the quarterbacks aren't very talented so that's a that's a bad three things a Molotov cocktail but I wouldn't put too much in the castle's bad off season I wouldn't either.

Just because they can easily beat Manuel out. Right now, it looks like Manuel, according to Joe Basile. How do you pronounce his last name? Basulia. Basalio. Piscagli? One of the best local guys there. He thinks Manuel had the best mini-camp and the best off-season

and looks like the early leader for what it's worth. All right. Moving on. Tuesday is a big day for the throne of ease. Tom Brady's appeal will be heard at the, the New York NFL home office on Tuesday, this to an attempt to reduce a four-game suspension for Brady allegedly having knowledge of illegally doctored footballs at the AFC championship game. Ted Wells, NFL Gumshoe, who, you know, was very confident that Brady at least had

some knowledge that something was cooking will be at the hearing from what we understand. And, you know, as far as a timetable, Greg, based on, what's happened in the past with these appeals. It could either come, you know, within a week, or you could be waiting weeks or even, like, months before we know anything. Our researcher, uh, Adam Zerndorfer. I mean, I keep getting tough. Just use first names.

Adam Z. Give me a break. Boutigate. The coaches had to wait four days. The players had to wait eight days. Ray Rice waited 22 days after his appeal to find out if it, if it helped. Greg Hardy is now 25 days in counting since his appeal was heard. That's a long way of saying everyone wants to know what's the result of this Brady.

You know, appeal, it's going to be a big story on the NFL network and NFL.com Tuesday. But we're not going to know anything for a couple weeks, usually, or at least the rest of the week, unless it breaks with past. I wholeheartedly suggest everyone watches NFL Network live program. We have talented people running these shows, and we're doing some live coverage of the appeal process tomorrow. But that was what came to my mind when we were preparing the podcast. Like, what are they going to be talking about?

We're not going to have a camera in the appeal room. There's not going to be an immediate answer. Just a lot of shots outside 345 Park. Oh, it could find out, you know, like Albert Breer, you mentioned, reported today. Ted Wells will be involved. We'll find out how long it goes. We'll find out, you know, who's involved with who's maybe some testimony, who that's coming from.

But you're right. We're not going to know anything. What about some of the gibronia? from your fan base are they going to get arrested on purpose again for their so they have a great fantasy football story at their draft are we still acting like one of the best players in the league is going to miss time for underinflated footballs so you so you do think it will be it's totally ridiculous the more i think it's going to be wiped away i don't know it's just so laughable that we get to watch inferior product because somebody underinflated a football it's just so laughable

there does seem to be a general consensus and current among people who are paid to have opinion on these things that it will be reduced. With that said, every single step of this entire process, conventional wisdom has been 100% wrong. Every prediction that anyone's made about deflategate from day one has been wrong. So maybe they'll double it. You make a very good point. Exactly.

No one's really ever been right with this. If you listen to our podcast two weeks before the suspension was handed down, there's no way any of us predicted that was going to happen. but two games. That's going to be the answer. It sounds about right. I've looked into the future, and Rogg is his olive branch opportunity is going to take it.

Two games. Sounds about right. And you'll be okay. Your team will be okay. Moving on. Wes, your boy. He's not my boy anymore. Odell Beckham Jr.

Whoa. Yeah. The Giants wide receiver who broke all sorts of records as a rookie last year. As a result, it became one of the more high-profile players in the NFL. and, of course, you know, an overnight icon in New York. He's the big star there with Jeter out of the picture. But now he's got a bum hamstring, and he's got some teammates, you know, kept him out of most of OTAs in the minicamp, and it's led to some teammates making some jokes

as an expense. Of course, he missed games and the preseason last year with a hamstring issue. And he doesn't like the fact that teammates are teasing him. Here is his quote per ESPN last week. For me, this is what I love doing, and this is what I think. feel like my purpose was to do, so it takes a lot of strength for me to be able to come here every day and not practice, have to hear the little remarks, the little jokes, this and that. And it's not just about a hamstring.

It's so many other things that people talk about, so it's hard to come here and try to focus on what play is up right now instead of thinking about how bad you want to be out there. She boy! It's really got you going, Wes. Why don't you quiet about it, O'Dell? Oh, wow. That's terrible. That's what boys do.

They make fun of each other. That's what men do. Come on. Because of, this is another quote. It's offended you. Because of the hamstring last year and the fame, it's like, oh, you're too big time now. So, I mean, I just hear it and you want to blow it off, but after a while it gets old and it kind of bothers you. Wow.

I didn't know he's so mentally weak. Oh, stop. This is interesting. I didn't know he was Jay Cutler. Wow, Wes. This is your boy. It was my boy. I don't know.

That's a very bad quality in a person. you can't take a joke? My first instinct was this guy went to a lot of premieres and had a lot of glowing things that he read about himself and saw about himself and didn't like someone, you know, taking some air out of his tire, if you will. Which is exactly what you would expect NFL teammates to do

to a player in this situation. I mean, can't you just kind of hear them saying that, whoa, wow, you're too big for, you know, you're on all the magazine covers, too big to practice today? It is surprising to me, not that it annoyed him, because I think he's probably so competitive

and thinks he is the man that that's going to annoy him. But it is a little surprising he would go talk to the media about. Yeah, that was weird. That was weird that he decided not only to. I don't think he put a lot of thought into it. But he's still young. You've got to know better, especially where he plays. This is going to be blown up into something where now the reporters didn't have the opportunity because of the timing of it.

But now all the reporters are going to go to his teammates and ask about, you know, what is you saying? Eli Manney basically told him to man up over the weekend. As the time, Coughlin. Coughlin said, worry about things you can control and not about those that you can't. This happens in every locker room and every sport. Teammates razz each other. You have to deal with it.

It shows a little immaturity, but it might also just show how highly he thinks of himself and his competitiveness. He basically thinks, what, Ruben Randall? You're going to talk to me? Shut the up, Ruben Randall, you know what I mean? Maybe he's a bit of a prima don't know. Mark Sessler, who's not here. Hey, Larry Dinell, pipe down.

Hey, give me a break. I'm Odell Beck. Here's the meal ticket here. Mark missed an opportunity to take some shots at Beckham the way Wes has, but he did end his post with this. Our prediction, the playful jabs from teammates will vanish once this dynamic and pristine route running tour to force begins taking apart secondaries on a weekly base. Okay. Well, that's true. There's Mark.

Sessler. Part of the show. Sessler almost is like creating a template through all of these articles in which eventually we'll just be able to create a system that can write Sessler articles for us. I like that, yeah, that's true. I think Sessler is putting all his creative juices right now into his Instagram posts.

You saying he's mailing in his work in NFL.com? It's a bit formulaic at this point. Well, that's pretty much what Greg said too. There's a template. Mark does great work, and when people come after you on Twitter over this, or let Mark know. Just kidding. I had nothing to do with it.

We were innocent. Moving on. Terrell Pryor. My favorite segue of the year. Still in my life. Oh, Terrell Pryor. Terrell Pryor, who is a metrics gold mine, according to Greg Rosenthal. Click generator 3.1.

I don't even remember. Who released them last? The Bengals. The Bengals released them last. Last week, he went on waivers claimed on Monday by the Cleveland Browns, Marks boys. And the interesting thing, or what makes this a little more intriguing from my point of view, because I'm exhausted by Trell Pryor of the quarterback, is that now he's going to try to make it as a wide receiver,

and that's why the Browns picked him up, and they have arguably the worst wide receiver group in the NFL. So maybe Torel Pryor with his size and speed makes a difference. Wes, your thoughts? Another interesting thing about this is that John DiFilippo, the new Browns coordinator, was the quarterback's coach in Oakland when Pryor was there. So obviously he saw something he liked maybe. He thought for a while that Pryor should be playing a different position.

Well, if there's a receiver group that you could possibly make and make an impact quickly, you would think the Browns would be it. Yeah, that's not a deep-looking group. The Roto World Post on this is funny. It says, with Vince Mail, Brian Hartline, Andrew Hawkins, and Taylor Gabriel is his primary competition behind Dwayne Bo. And I'm thinking, I've never even heard of Vince Mail. He's the first guy they listed.

Vince Mail is the guy that looks like LeBron. That's how he's well known. He walks around Cleveland and he's just like, yeah, everyone thinks I'm LeBron. And this should serve as the ultimate test here because another team should be taking note because if he can't stick with the Browns in their wide receiver group, What other wide receiver group would he find a role? Well, you would think, unless he's just so talented that he's an otherworldly athlete,

that the best case scenario is he's on a practice squad. It's a little hard to imagine a guy just switching positions and immediately making an impact. People talk about, like when Tebow was talked about as a tight end, they act like that you can, at the highest level of competition, you can just switch positions and not miss a beat. These are the best cornerbacks in the world. but you're not going to do they've been doing it for 15 or 20 years and if you're the bottom of the depth chart type wide receiver your best chance to make the team is on special teams and is 12 prior flying down the field as a gunner like i mean he this is a pretty big shift he's making i guess you know this is a tough spot for him to be in good point by the way you doubted or maybe you weren't doubting but you pointed out terrell prior metrics uh gold i didn't doubt it i know that it exists but it pains i went to go look to see how it was uh when he was switching to the a wide receiver, that got the same amount of page views as our 39 things to know from

NFC minicamps, which was the highest story of the day. And it took like five minutes to write. That was what my point was. That took five minutes. The other one took five people spending an hour each. Yeah. We should just do Terrell Prior.com. Don't let everyone know the secrets, Craig.

Anything else, anybody else have anything else to say about Terrell Prior? I think we've said more than us. Here's the good news. Next week when he gets cut by the Browns. We get to talk about him again. Another post. All right. That's what's happening in the news.

And now we move on. We turn our attention to the aforementioned superstar club, which was established earlier this morning while I was ordering breakfast at the commissary at the NFL media. But go ahead. Well, I was just going to say this is an appropriate kickoff to what is really the NFL off season. The next five or six weeks, there's nothing. No practices, nothing.

That's it. You can read an article Six Things to Watch Before Training Camp by Connor Orr. That's right. Probably the only previews on the internet of nothing. It's previewing,

nothing is happening. Here's what to look forward to. And you should know, TD, that amongst that list of six is the new rock program ballers. That's true. Connor was into it. He watched it.

All right. We got that hard knocks coming up. I'm looking forward to this. We got some stuff cooking. Anyway, so yes. So, yeah, this is what we need to discuss now. It's a touchy topic because, you know, a superstar that's a prideful man. And for us to be suggesting who's going to fall out of that group, it's a little tough.

But we're going to do it because we're fearless around these parts. And keep in mind, in this theory, there's an order, you know, a cosmic order. It can only be a set number of superstars. So if we're going to throw somebody onto this list and say a player X is a superstar, player wise there's got to be one on the other end that's got to go so let's get it started chris wessling uh would you like to get us going right now and maybe we'll start uh by you naming first the player that you believe will make the leap platinum edition and then the guy that is on the losing end of that okay cj spiller superstar yeah i think you have to trust

what you've seen on tape and in 2012 i believe he was arguably the most dynamic running back in the NFL had short area quickness and long speed that looked like Chris Johnson in his prime and I think he's going to a place where he needs to be in space and you've got one of the best play callers for getting guys into space. We've seen Sean Payton do it with Reggie Bush and Darren Sprouls and C.J. Spiller's way better than both of those guys. So to me, he's a superstar. He is way better than Darren Sproul's and who is the first name? Reggie Bush.

I don't know if that's true. I don't know if he's better than Reggie Bush at Reggie Bush's prime. I haven't seen it. Way better than Reggie Bush. He had that one year. You know what? Yeah, but it happened. Yeah. I mean, it's on tape.

You know what he can do. If he's healthy and he's in a good offense with a good play color. I'm realizing what, you know, everyone has a type. Dan, you definitely have a type. Everyone knows about it. Okay. You know what I'm saying. Oh, I know.

Oh, yes. I'm talking about in football players? Not, well, football players. With Dan, I was talking about women. Oh, yes. You know. Smart ones. West has a type.

It is former top 10 picks that had one great season out of six. Percy Harvin? Well, you got Darren McFadden that showed like one burst of flame. I don't even like Darren McFadden. RG3? Last year he loved him. Yeah, RG3. I was really just making a McFadden joke.

Percy Harvin's more similar to Spiller. I think C.J. I like guys with game-breaking ability. I would love to see it. And I agree with you. did put it on the table. I mean, I'm being stupid about it. But for that season, you're right, he's shown it.

He's shown it in flashes. He makes people miss. He kind of, he shows all those traits that you would want in a superstar, but he doesn't stay on the field and he doesn't run through people. Well, that's why if he was, if he signed with the Browns, I wouldn't be making this. Right. But he signed with the exact one. I was

let me say, to that point, superstar it's a select club. So I'm going to throw out some numbers that I think if he's not in this neighborhood, it's You can't really say he's a superstar. And I'm basing a lot of this off his 2012 season. So he's got to kind of approach to that type of production. Again, 1,500 total yards, around 10 touchdowns, around 40 catches.

Can he do something like that? Is he capable? Those are superstar numbers. Those are not star numbers. I think you can be a superstar and not have superstar numbers because he's going to be splitting time with Mark Ingram. If he gets 1,200 yards and it's just dynamite all year, and the Saints do great, to me, he's a superstar.

All right. Who falls from the ranks of the superstars? Brandon Marshall. Oh, I can't disagree, but go ahead. Why, the Jets aren't allowed to have wide receivers, first of all. Yeah. Even in the heyday of Santonio Holmes in New York, he was never a statistical monster.

You really have to go all the way back to Keishon Johnson. I was going to say Don Maynard. Kishon had, I think, like 100 catch, 1,200-yard, 12 touchdown season. That's been 15 years. It's been a long time. Rex Ryan's out of town. though, which could help. The other thing is, I don't believe that Gino Smith is making the leap.

I just, he doesn't instill any sort of confidence in me whatsoever. So it's less about Marshall, but you think he's going to no longer be a superstar. He's also on the wrong side of 30 now, and he's not Calvin Johnson, he's Brandon Marshall. And he's had more surgeries, and it's played well through them than just about anyone. We were talking about hip surgeries today, because you mentioned Jordy Nelson as a possibility for this. And there were like two or three years in a row where Brandon Marshall underwent hip surgery. So you're right. That can catch up to him at some point.

And he didn't produce like a superstar last year in Chicago. The one thing he has going for him in terms of maintaining his face in the public eye, he'll be a weekly guest on just about every show in New York. Inside the NFL, he'll be on that. He'll be on some radio. No matter what, whether it goes good or bad, it's going to be about Brandon Marshall in New York. And this is the, who's the giant, who's famous for this? Oh, Antrell Role.

Antrole is the guy. If you find a jet or giant has that type of connection with the media, it could lead to bad things if a season goes wrong. So Brendan Marshall will either be their best move in several years or it could turn into a nightmare. I didn't even think about that. The Bears and the Giants essentially, I mean, the Bears, Chicago and then New York, they got rid of Roll. Going to the Bears, and now Marshall's taking all those radio spots that we're all used to. Here's an argument for Brandon Marshall, though, and I like your pick. Chan Galey has been able to create some yardage out of a lot of funny places over the year.

Tyler Thigpin. Tyler Thigpin. I went back and looked for my Gino Smith making the leap and saw what he did in Miami. Jay Fiedler led a top eight scoring offense under Chan Galey. So he found a way to cook up some yards, Ryan Fitzpatrick. He got Fitzpatrick $60 million. Right. And Jets were third in the NFL in rushing last year.

And also, Eric Decker is a nice number two quarterbacks. And there are Cumbies involved. Did he make Making the Leap? I'm not involved. He is not making the leap. That's a bad job by you guys. He's one of the top five receiving options on the Jets. Okay.

Six maybe. Seven. Devin Smith is a deep threat to open things up a little bit. And I could score some points if Gino Smith is okay. All right, moving on. I'll throw it out there. here we go. Ready to ascend.

I'll start with Ready to Descend for this one because it kind of sets it up a little bit. Jimmy Graham. You know, he gets traded to the Seahawks. And I know sometimes like when a mega trade happens, it doesn't happen a lot in the NFL, but you kind of expect the guy to be exactly how he was the season before,

but he's in a new scheme with a new team and a new quarterback. And I wouldn't be surprised if it took some time for that chemistry to develop. I know he'll be, I think I expect him to be, red zone threat immediately with them because he's just too big and too tall and he knows how to get open in the end zone

but as far as being a big part of that offense remember this is a team that average a league best 172 yards a game on the ground last year. The next closest team was the Cowboys at 147 so this team loves to run the ball they have a quarterback that likes to run

and Jimmy Graham last year was not Jimmy Graham's best year either he only averaged 10 and a half yards a catch that was a big drop from previous seasons, didn't have a thousand yards. So I think that Jimmy Graham will continue to be a very good tight end and maybe one of the best in a watered down position right now in the NFL. I don't think he'll quite be Superstar 2013 Jimmy Graham in Seattle, at least in year one. That would be a big surprise. It's been a running theme on the podcast, and I talked about it on now that some whispers coming out of New

Orleans about. I don't know what it is. Maybe it was his approach of the game or his ability to fight through injuries, you know, that there are some questions about Graham. It's interesting. He started out 2013 with four 100-yard games in his first five. Since then, he's had three 100-yard games in like 35 games. Wow. I mean, here are two guys' numbers.

63 catches for 890 yards and four touchdowns. That's one guy. 85 catches for 880 yards, less yardage, and 10 touchdowns. Those two players are Delaney Walker and Jimmy Graham last. Wow. So Jimmy Graham is already coming off a season where he was not really the same guy, now going to a run-first offense. I just feel like they're going to be very motivated to make that signing look good

and make him the centerpiece of the offense. I feel like we know who Jimmy Graham is when he's completely healthy. He's unstoppable. When he has a nagging injury, he's not one-tenth of the player he is when he's healthy. Um, in this exercise, the superstar club, we're, you got to have someone fill the void. It's a little tough with tight inks. There's not a lot of guys that you can kind of go to. I'll throw one out there just because I'm, I'm starting to get, um, getting a little excited about Cam Newton, 2015.

Uh, maybe I've read one too many offseason stories about his improved footwork. But how about Greg Olson? How about Greg Olson? Who was, uh, was an 1,000 yard receiver last year, six touchdowns. If Cam Newton, you know, uh, took the next step as a. passer this season with a better cast around him. The funches there with Benjamin in year two. Could also become a 90 catch, 1,200 yard, 10 touchdown guy.

I don't think that's crazy. So I'll throw him out there. I almost went with Jordan Cameron because of the guy that hates Cleveland rule. Ooh, I kind of like that one. And the assumption that he will automatically become a pro bowler now that he's left Cleveland. But I went with Olson a little safer, I guess. But maybe Cameron's the guy with upside. But I'm not going to put him in a superstar conversation.

I'm buying Cameron. I mean, this is a superstar club And it would be overdue I feel like Greg Olson He's starting to get more national love That hey, this has been an underrated Great career out of this guy But if he then took another step

At age 30 he's getting up there And have his best seasons right now Last year Let's 84 for 1008 yards Six touchdowns That's really good production The Cam Newton footwork thing Cracks me up a little bit

If it was that important Why did you wait till year five to do it? Because now it's... If it was that easy to do, why didn't he do it last year? Mike Shula hangs over that whole situation. And it's never been fully explained to me or solved or... I just wanted to go away. Give Cam Newton someone other than Mike Shula.

Maybe I think he's carrying Mike Shula. You know, not the other way around. Give me a break. Also, Greg Olson doesn't get in the conversation enough as one of the more handsome men in the NFL. He kind of looks like an 80s movie bully. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say He-Man, but he man.

Yeah, I can see that, too. Yeah, he's got a little Billy Zobka action to him. He's the guy who was on the ski team. Yeah. Yeah. All right, Greg, your turn. Who will ascend? Well, we've got a theme here.

We've got an ex-Saint descending. We've got a new saint ascending. And I'm just going to start with the guy who's falling off to start off. Drew Brees. Whoa. Maybe CJ Spiller comes in and it helps to represent a change in the way we see the Saints passing game that the passing game is no longer the centerpiece of that

offense. The big yards aren't there as much before. They play a little more controlled. They don't have big game-breaking receivers at wide out or at tight end right now. And I think if you watch Drew Breeze made more big mistakes last year than before. Still was very good overall, but he's getting up there. And I just kind of don't buy that all these quarterbacks have to be so great forever. Brady and Manning, they broke those rules, but those are two of the greatest to ever play.

And I don't put Breeze at that level. He's a guy who's kind of always done a lot with less physical talents. It wouldn't surprise me if he starts falling off. It's part of my ongoing little beef with pro football focus. They have him as their second ranked quarterback last year. And to me, if you watched him play all year, like you said, he just made way too many big mistakes at crucial times. he was not the same player last year as he had been.

The devil's advocate angle is that he's going to throw less. He's not going to have force it as much. If C.J. Spiller is as good as we think he'll be in that offense with Mark Ingram. That's going to change the way his passing lanes. Now, no Jimmy Graham, of course. But he could also play smarter quarterback potentially and have a better year than last year. Got some Tony Romo action this year. Yeah, I mean, he's had down times before.

I remember I'm looking at 2010 was not a good year. Call him a yo-yo-superstar? No, he's been up for the most part, but he's a little more up and down than Brady or Manning. I just think at some point, all the fun's got to slow down. I think the Saints have started to prepare for that. They took a quarterback early. They started moving to this, you know,

more running backs on the team and look more to the ground game. And it makes sense. I'm not saying he's going to fall off a cliff, but we're talking the superstar club. I mean... He's not throwing for 5,000 yards. You only got a few members of the superstar club, and it's time for Drew.

Bruce, maybe he's no longer a top five guy. He's more like a 10 to 15 guy or something like that. Zero some game, bro. Who was the guy we called a yo-yo superstar earlier? Oh, that was Gino-Ackin. Oh, he could become the yo-yo superstar. And I mean, sometimes the superstar club, it gets, you know, it gets a little dicey at the door.

It gets a little catty, too. You got to, especially if, you know, a guy who's in your same division is walking up. Young guy, younger, by the name of Matt Ryan. And Drew-Ree's like, you know, this is my turf. I'm the NFC South. best quarterback. Matt's like, no, I'm sorry. Everyone thinks of me as a good quarterback, but I can take it to another level. I've got Kyle Shanahan on my team. I'm just hitting my prime. I still got all my physical skills. I'm smart. It's ready for people to see me in that Brady

Manning top four or five class. I don't see a lot of like high-end trash talking between Matt Ryan and Drew Brees. You stink, man. No, you're the one that stinks. Yeah, not a lot of swagger. I and say between those. You're not classy, man. No, you're not classy. Matt Ryan would not be at the top of my list of, like, guys I would want to hang out with at a club. Well, not that I'd be at a club.

Yeah, what are you doing in a club anyway? What's up? Don't sleep on Drew Brees. He can get down. He's got an edge to. He's a big, phony. Whoa. That's what Hank says, too.

Hank says that? Yeah, he does say that. But he plays the role well. Whether it's phony or real, he plays a role well. He can get down. Is that a good thing? He plays a role. He plays a phony well?

Take off your mask, Drew Brees. Let's see who you really are. Boys of Matthew McConaughey. Is he? Yeah. He would. Like, that's going to win me over? Matt Ryan's...

By the way, Matt Ryan, if you want to talk about it, we kind of know who a person is at a certain point, I feel like I know what Matt Ryan is. He's like in the Hall of Very Good. I see, I disagree. I think he's had the type of career where he is overdue for a monster season where all the people around him support him more. he's had a maybe not like Tony Romo but a little like Tony Romo where I think he's better than his overall reputation if things work right I could see him having an MVP caliber type of season I have I loved him last year I like Matt Ryan a lot but it worries me when the quarterback isn't the best player on his own offense and he's not the best Julio Jones is the best player on the family that is not Matt Ryan's fault that's not like Calvin Johnson and Matthew Staffer nobody thinks Antonio Brown is more valuable than Ben Rapposburger

Matt Ryan is a little more up and down than you would like out of the top quarterbacks but when he's good his best games are as good as anyone I mean he can get on a roll he can make really difficult passes and so I could see him doing that for a season you know that Wes is having a little tiff

with his boy O'Dell Beckham when he resists an Eli Manning cheap shot just left it on the table I can't believe it well that's too easy Eli's easy to pay right let's go around the horn one more time Wes give it to me who's ascending well this one might you guys might not even allow this one and your luck career completion rate under 60%

I don't know if he's a superstar but I like I'll put this one with my descending guy Tony Romo Romo was a what the runner up for MVP last year I could see luck doing that this year I think this is a case maybe where he's already in the superstar club but then they have a special other room like a VIP VIP room yeah he gets another level He gets in with Aaron Rogers and JJ Wong.

He's the best player in the league. My only hesitation is that if you asked 32 GMs who would be the quarterback they would take, I don't know if he would be over Aaron Rogers, but he would be one of the top three guys in every one of those guys' lists. That's fair. I had a feeling you were going to reject it.

But the Roma one's really good because I feel like everything worked perfectly for the Cowboys last year, and you get a feeling there could be a bit of a course correction in 2015. Well, yeah, you see, DeMarco Murray isn't there to basically keep the heat off of Romo this year. And I think it was noticeable last year that Jason Whitten had lost a few steps. So there's a security blanket not making plays, really. Romo last year was a great example of just what I was talking about with Matt Ryan,

that everything around you changes and then the perception of you changes. Because Romo's been a top 10 guy forever. I don't think last year for much of the year was one of his best seasons in particular. it's just everyone else was playing up to his level. Yeah. All right. I'll throw one out there. Randall Cobb.

Jordan Nelson, is Jordy Nelson a superstar? Yes, absolutely. Okay, Randall Cobb not quite... You could argue that he's the best receiver in the NFL. Right. With a straight face, you could argue that. So obviously, when you have Jordy Nelson on the team, Randall Cobb is not going to get as many targets as if he was a supreme number one.

But so many things working in his favor. First of all, he's amazing. You know, the guy is a big-time playmaker, and he's only entering his age-25 season. He's smack in the middle of his prime. He's playing with the best quarterback on the planet. He's playing on an offense that with Eddie Lacey and everything else going on, to me, seems almost destined unless something horrible happens to score 550 points this year. So there's going to be a lot of touchdowns.

Randall Cobb's got all the tools, and by the end of the season, I wouldn't be surprised if he even had a better season statistically than Jordy Nelson. This one, I'd be surprised, I don't know, last year, 91 catches, 1,87 yards, and 12 TDs. It wouldn't surprise me if that ends up being the best numbers he ever posts in his career. I mean, you got Devon... That's a ceiling? You've got Devontey Adams this year, too, who's going to steal targets. So you've got more mouse to feed.

Spoiler alert might be on the old making the leap list. That's why I think it makes more sense to knock Jordy Nelson out of the Superstar Club this year coming off a hip surgery. Jordan Nelson's too good to get on. Just because the other hands there, I agree he's too good. But if Cobb gets a lot of passes, they're getting a little better at tight end. You know, they have Devante Adams. You know, maybe he drops down to 1,100 or 1050 in yards. And that's just kind of a pedestrian.

There's no way. I don't think there's any way. What are Cobb's targets? 127, I think. I can't see it dipping too far below that. Even with if Adams rising, I think they're going to score a ton of points. And I think that he's, Rogers loves Randall Cobb. I mean, he's one of those guys that is a security blanket as well.

So I like that. And then on the other side of it, and this is maybe overdue, and I didn't like having to talk about this because we all love the man. So I think maybe he's been kept in the club a little longer than he needs to be. But do you want to take a guess? Jeff Cumberland. Covey's in my superstar. It's time to say goodbye to Larry Fitzgerald.

No. Listen, he has not had a 1,000-yard season since 2011. Uh, he's not, he's not the same guy anymore. Wes is genuinely pained. He's, uh, you know, he's getting older. He's going to be 32 by week one. Only two touchdowns on 103 targets last year. I know they had quarterback issues at the end of the season.

But you can make the argument that he's maybe the third best wide receiver on his team now. I'm just going to say, not a strong argument. Larry Fitzgerald. That's a totally strong argument. You had a great run. You're in the Hall of Fame. You're wearing a yellow jacket one day, but you're no longer a super. Stronger argument.

Jody Nelson and Best Wide Receiver or Larry Fitzgerald, the third best driver was here on his own team. Well, that's not, the last one is not a strong argument because he's way better than Michael Floyd. He hasn't topped 1,000 yards in three straight seasons. That's what I said. There was a, I know, I'm just saying that's, that's like, he's already, numbers-wise, he's already not in the super circle.

He's used differently in Bruce Arian's offense than he used to be used. He plays a lot more slot and he doesn't run the same routes, but there was a five-game window last year when Palmer was healthy and before Fitzgerald's knee injury, where I thought he looked every bit as good as he did. But he gets hurt now, too. That's part of it. He's just getting older. And I knew there would be someone in the group that would feel this way, Wes, it's you.

I don't like being the guy that has to escort him out. You think I feel good about this, Wes? I feel like he's easily the best receiver on their team, and I think he's got... He's still a superstar wide receiver. I think he's got a 1,300-yard season in him this year. I think if you're drafting, well, you might be an exception. But if I was drafting a team and I was taking which receivers do I want this year, I mean, is Fitzgerald in the top 15 right now?

That's a good question. Well, how many superstar receivers are there in the club? It can't just be all receivers. All right, I'm getting a little emotional. I get that. I am too. I'm not happy about it. Still very good receiver.

It's like the hard-knock scene where the coach calls in the guy that he really respects. Like the vet, the old grizzled vet who's done everything that's been asking. of him, he's been a great teammate and a leader and almost having another coach on the field. It's got to end at some point. Carousel comes to a stop. I'm going bold. Larry Fitzgerald, Pro Bowl season this year.

I would be happy if it happened. My last guy I'm kicking out of the club is really along those same lines. Jeff Cumberland. Guy, we've watched a long time. I think he's going to make the Hall of Fame. Frank Gore. But maybe lacking a little sizzle that he used to

have handsome man nice dimples often uh on nthal network demarcus where good player but let's you know everyone was okay where he had a good season with denver it's like go back and think the last few years where where are those memorable demarcus wear plays in moments i mean he gets his numbers he gets his sacks i don't think he's at the same game reckon level that uh he used to be smart personnel move by the cowboys i like that you went to his dimples i would have never known i didn't I didn't even know he had to. No, I got to give a shout out to Fragge. You know, Michelle Regola.

She's never listening to the show. No, she never will either. But she'll now be told she got a shout out. She pointed that out, best in the NFL, she said. Maybe his snaps go down a little bit this year. Shane Ray, they draft him. I mean, they're going to play him a little bit, right? Yeah, I mean, our guy, Kevin Patcher, is in Ohio this week for the rookie symposium.

We should call him on Thursday. Let's do that. And he talked to Shane Ray. Shane Ray said he's going to be defensive rookie of the year. Wow. So if that's going to happen, and who would lie to Kevin Patra? I wouldn't, unless you're looking for a knuckle sandwich. Just saying where, you know, backs off a little.

You got Vaughn Miller, you got Sean Ray, Shane Ray, where backs off. All right, and then who takes his spot? Well, then the natural guy was coached by the same guy who coached DeMarcus Ware last year, Jack Del Rio, who says Khalil Max, stronger than Von Miller. He can stop the run. He can do a little bit of everything. He can throw people around. And this year I think he's going to finish some of those plays where he just hit the quarterback.

He'll get those sacks. And look, everyone knows he's great already. He made a Pro Bowl. But I think he could have the chance to be the type of guy you're talking about as a top five NFL, you know, defensive player. Yeah, I think the question with him is, you know, disruption is important, but you have to get the sacks. And can he be a 15-sac guy or is he a 9-sac? Usually it leads to that. Cameron Wake was a little bit like this for a minute.

you know, getting a lot of hurries and QB hits, I think he'll get it. Gentlemen, you've brought order to the chaos of the Superstar Club. One comes in, one's got to go out, and we did what we did, and now we'll see if we're right. I'm sure we won't be, in many cases. And if that's the case, we'll never talk of this ever again. Mark will be sure to point it out. Mark loves pointing out when we're wrong.

Yeah, well, I guess what? Mark's got another thing on his hands. That's what TD did a little verbal assassination. Is it funny if TD gave Mark the MVP award for this show? TD, it is that time of the show It is that time of the show Yeah, just real quick Before I hand out MVP

I have a guy on Twitter You're making progress, TD, by the way This is the first time I actually remembered This is part of the show You actually asked for MVP votes over here We have a guy called James Higgleston Who says that he's been giving our podcast MVP's Through the months

And he deserves a shot off Oh, Higgles? Yeah, Higgles So he sent me some couple A couple of examples of his podcast MVP's and his just like mine Mark Sessler actually never won just pointed that out

but for today's show I'll be completely honest I really don't know but I'll go with Dan because this is your idea coming up of this during your meal and you know it's a good segment so I'll go with you you don't feel like Higgs is stepping on your toes for this? No it's fine

I give it well if you've noticed once Sully you decided to try to do it out we never saw Sully again not buying the class Higgs wants this to You for the most lukewarm MVP I'll take it I got to be hard work Higgs wants this to be called

the James of the day I don't know about that Higgs The what The James of the day Because his name is James That's not going to happen But feel free to continue to reward me Higgs has gotten plenty of pop from this

Whole bit Yeah he's like Joey Watts That's a word enough All right Thank you very much TD Thank you gentlemen We'll be back on Thursday Like I said, we'll have maybe a special guest in the chair in Mark's spot and get Kevin Patrick coming at you on the phone.

This is signing off for the mailman, the boss, TD, and the Irishman behind the glass. Until Thursday. This is an I-Heart podcast. Thank you.