NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: AFC West Roster Reset; The Mailbag!

Episode Date: April 7, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler and Chris Wesseling -- begins its comprehensive rankings of offseason moves across the NFL, beginning with the AFC West.  Will the Denver Broncos once again set the bar in the division or have their rivals done enough to catch up?  Elsewhere, the heroes open up the mailbag to answer ATL Nation’s burning questions about the most important topics on and off the gridiron.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Around the League podcast knows how to pronounce Jiris. Byers. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hansis and I'm joined by room filled with heroes, Chris Wessling, Mark Sessler, and Greg Rosethal. What up, boys? Hey, Dan.

Full House. How are you? How are you, Mark? I'm good. It's been, I really missed you guys last week. You know, it was nice taking a vacation, but it just wasn't the same without our every couple of day chats. Did you get our voicemail we left for you? Is that how we broke the news to you?

Yes, the news came, the Colt McCoy News? Stunning development. Yes, I could not get any phone calls in this remote location I was in, but I got that when I got home. To just give you an idea of how plugged in Sessler's to the, the podcast when he's not on the show. He asked me yesterday, Sunday, if that was part of the podcast from Wednesday.

Oh, right. I have a little catchy enough to do. Mark, the one thing I want to immediately catch up with you is you're from Connecticut originally. Yukon, men's and women, both in the championship games. Yukon women, 39, and O, I want to get your

thoughts. I know you're a big college hoops fan. You know, I have not watched a second of the men's tournament and certainly not a second of the women's tournament. I didn't even know that was on television. I didn't even know who was in the championship game. I grew up a huge Yukon fan.

I mean, my earliest memories as a gigantic fan, I would say it was a bigger Yukon fan than I was a Patriots or Red Sox fan. As a young child, my father went there. Oh, so you were like Scott Burrell and Danielle Marshall? Tate George. When he hit the turnaround shot against Clemson in the Sweet 16, 1990, I was jumping up and down so much. I was 11 or 12 years old.

I slipped, hit my head on the back of an end table, and got all bloody. Wow. It's a true story. And yet you still get out of the chair to this day. Damn the potential consequences of your actions. I like that. Greg was a dyed-in-the-wool, Hartford Whalers fan as a youth. Is that true?

That's not true. The whale. And then, you know, one more thing before we really get into the show, and this is a question for you, Greg. Because the first thing, when I heard about it, I needed to see what Greg Rosenthal thought. Undertaker loses at WrestleMania for the first time on Sunday night ends his streak of 21 straight wins in the main event. What, you're just trying to provoke us into anger to start the show? It still does, it still does amaze me that smart, like, people we like we know

are really into pro wrestling still, and they defend it up and down. Don't be highfalutin about it. I'm not highfalutin, it's just hard to wrap my mind around. Well, I thought Undertaker had to be off the scene for 15 years at this point. I can't believe he's still wrestling. He's very old. He's very old. And I won't say who it is, but in our newsroom, we sit next to a guy that used to write for the WWE

and even went on some road trips with Vince McMahon and was getting some stories this morning. It sounds like pretty interesting to work in that. Do you watch Goldstandard behind the glass? Do you watch wrestling? I saw a couple of trees from me. Well, yeah. So I took about a decade and a half hiatus from it. But the year 2000, that WrestleMania, a group of friends and I congregated in my den and watched it.

And we thought it would be, you know, sort of an intrigue. gig exercise to do it again yesterday so we did it and yeah no i i think the sports passed me by unfortunately yeah because you're a grown-ups to some degree no no i agree well you had a great sweet yesterday well let's be honest gold senate you had a great tweet about the demographic do you thank you yeah well no i didn't see any children anywhere and so i think we need to stop lying to ourselves about what the target market is for w w a action would you take a child to that event i wouldn't I was reared on a hardy diet of pro wrestling And look how great I turned out, Mark

I know My brother and I had wrestling figures And we had a ring with a steel cage That you could tack onto it We were obsessed, but it affected me negatively, I think After what the British Bulldogs did to me I will never take a child to a wrestling match Well, tell the listeners what happened to you

You know, I had never gone to a match I would say I was about 11 years old And I think a friend's dad took us to Cincinnati Gardens in Cincinnati to watch wrestling. And the British Bulldogs come out as a tag team, and they were one of my favorite wrestling tag teams because they were really athletic, pulled off all these crazy moves in the ring.

Davey Boy Smith, Rest his Soul, and some other guy. Yeah. So they come out and they wrestle, and an hour later, they come back out with masks on as a completely different wrestling tag team. That's disturbing. I was crestfallen. I was never again able to.

to watch wrestling. And you could just tell, by the way, their bodies were, some of their moves that it was the same two news. Yeah, they were built the exact, I mean, they're pretty small for wrestlers. They were very acrobatic. You wonder why so many of these wrestlers die young. That double shift, pulling that double shift,

and then traveling through the night and taking tranquilizers to get back up for the next match. You saw inside the machine. You didn't like it. It was a loss of innocence, definitely. All right. I can never get that childhood back. I love it.

Great topper of the show. We do have a nice show today It's slowing down the news cycle But yet the ATL podcast There's no shortage of topics to talk about I think that speaks to us Potentially There's a little

There is a shortage Yeah We're gonna stretch We're gonna make some stuff up Yeah we'll get into that We just got undermined You know we just started a new series Rost to Reset where we're going

Division by Division team by team Looking at what's happened in the last couple of months or since the season's ended. We'll get some more mailbag questions. We've been, Mark, we've been holding on to many of these waiting for you to return. We did a couple last week. We were going to do some more a little later today's show. Are you excited about that?

I am wound up for this. I bet you are. But before we do any of that, the Gold Standard, let's do some news, all right? Let's do it. We'll start with Mark's team, the Browns, Center Alex Mack, who's transition tagged right now. He visited with the Jaguars on Friday. That was his first official visit,

and there are reports or rumors that the Jags could make a play on him. There was a report from Pro Football Talk on Sunday that the Browns would match an offer that the Jags made if that were to happen. So this is obviously a front-end center. The Browns want to make sure he stays there. But why did they give him the transition tag in the first place? I don't know. Well, I think the one thing they kept talking about was they didn't want to,

and this is what Reggie McKenzie did with Houston. and Veld here, like he didn't want to make these guys stay on the team if they really didn't want to be there and they sat down with Alex Mack. I just get the sense that Alex Mack does not want to be a Cleveland Brown long term unless he were to stay this year and have a different experience with this new coaching staff. Right. And for those that don't know, the transition tag, difference between the transition tag and the franchise tag. And someone correct me if I'm wrong. Franchise tag, it's a fixed number of the top five players at that position, the average salary. Transition tag, it's a lower

annual salary and that allows other teams the opportunity to offer or sign that player to a contract sheet. That original team can then match that. If they don't match it, he goes to the new team but you get no compensation. Is that

right? That's right. My takeaway from that pro football talk article was like you said, Alex Mack does not want to resign with the Browns. The Browns actually want another team to offer him a contract so they can match it, at which point Mac will be signed long term in Cleveland.

They get to keep him. Well, Mack's also realizing he's a center that might not get a monster contract. And the first numbers thrown out was a potential $22 million guaranteed over three years. And the Browns, of course they would match that. This is why they transition tag them.

They're willing to pay him $10 million guaranteed this year. That means only another $12 million guaranteed over the next two years after that. And they have more cap space than any team now and if they don't if they were to lose mac to the jaguars anyone else their offensive line quietly totally in shambles i like that the brown's jaguars heat that started in the movie draft day has bled over into real life yes nice segue by the way mark and i were writing our draft day review will be on the around the league page this week keep an eye out for that one more point

about this if everyone knows that the browns still want Alex mac isn't a little strange or maybe the explanation why there's only been one team that's really seriously looking at them because they know the Browns are just going to match whatever contract they would sign him to a sheet why are you looking me like that Greg what I'm waiting not looking at you at all you have bug eyes you bug eye in me no they assume the Browns they don't want to do the Browns work for them essentially right is that possible that I think that's totally it that no team's going to bother unless they can just blow the Browns out of the water with some monster offer no one wants to do that mark more Browns news

Aren't you excited that you're back? Isn't this better than Palm Springs? Ideal timing. Nate Burleson. And draft day this week. It's a big Browns week. Big Browns week. Nate Burleson is now a member of the Cleveland Browns, Mark Sessler.

Strikes a one-year deal with the team. Essentially, it's in a funny way. You have the Megatron Burleson set up. Now it's a similar thing, but in Cleveland because now you have Josh Gordon and low-level Nate Burleson. No disrespect to the man. He's a very nice guy. I've met him.

Name dropper. Mark your thoughts Well I think number one I think the front office In Cleveland is not happy with Greg Little And for good reason He cannot He's some of the unstickiest hands in the league

But I'm not sure Burleson's even on the roster Come September There's no lock to make the team What's more likely Nate Burleson is on the Brown's roster For the opening game Or Ed Reed is on any roster For the opening game

Ed Reed ain't playing no more Burleson, for sure. He plays the slot, and they already signed Andrew Hawkins. I don't see why they did that. To me, Hawkins is the starter at this point. He's the number two or number three. Wherever you want to put him on the field, he's going to play a lot. And Burleson is the next most likely receiver on the team to make the team.

How many 30-something-year-olds who no longer have working legs and don't contribute on special teams make rosters? He's good in the locker room. He is good in the locker room. I've seen a few of those players make Cleveland's roster in the past. All right. Speaking of bad legs, Andre Brown running back last year with the New York Giants, has signed with the Houston Texans, has shown some flashes in his time with the Giants, but also has had a broken leg in the past two seasons.

He's had two broken legs situations. Now basically takes the place of Ben Tate, another Cleveland Brown's tie-in. Mark, see, it's a good thing you're back. He replaces Ben Tate in Houston. He'll be Ariane Foster's back. up and he could see time because Aaron Foster has not been too durable of late. Well, durability is a big Andre Brown bugaboo too. In addition to the two broken legs, he's had ACL surgery and other injuries.

I think going into last season, he had only played two NFL games. Really? Yeah, on five different teams. This will continue the streak of Andre Brown being wildly overrated in fantasy leagues. Yes, it will. I don't know why. It really annoys me. Everyone's always really excited about it.

Maybe it was just last season, but he was ranked. He was getting drafted in the 6th round. The Texans will have a running back coming off of back surgery and the most brittle running back in the league behind him. This just paves the way for Peyton Hillis just to start his massive comeback. He's already signed with the Giants. The Giants got that deal done. Well, you have to keep Peyton in the building.

You have to lock him up. This is like first week of free agency. They kept Peyton in the building. true story i'm aware of that that's that's why i made that point that he is set up nicely for a bounceback campaign oh i see where you're going with this time um all right anything else to say on that topic not a word all right in st louis the less need the general manager a personal favorite of mine is listeners of the podcast know uh has said tells greg bedard of the monday morning quarterback.com that calls for the number two pick that the Rams own via the Redskins

have been, quote, flirtatious and nothing will be serious until it becomes more clear what direction the Texans will go with their number one pick. One interesting note, also a guy whose opinion I respect because he's pretty plugged in and he's great on Twitter, John McLean of the Houston Chronicle, now believes that Johnny football is going to the Texans at number one. that would shake up the whole draft if that actually happened. I think Dan was just excited to see less need and the word flirtatious in a headlight together. Guys got a great hairline and a pretty nice cheekbox.

I actually spoke with him in Orlando. Really only to get close and find out if the hair was as legendary. And it is. It's legitimately a wonderful head of hair. What do we think about the flirtatious talks? I think that number two pick is very likely a spot that could get traded. Why not? If Clowny makes it to two or Clowny gets taken number one,

then the number one quarterback's still on the board, and the Rams seem like a team that would want to trade out. It's tough to guess this early, but it seems likely. The Rams want Clowny to go number one probably, right? Because they want these teams freaking out to try to get Johnny football, potentially at two. I think the Rams want Clowny that they're at number two. I agree.

I still find it hard to believe that any team is going to pass on Clownie. I think he's one of those guys that comes out every five or ten years. Greg Williams would love to have him on that defense. That would be an unfair defense suddenly if they got him. Well, there's also some talk behind the scenes, and this is the type of stuff people can't report because whatever, but we'll just throw it out there because we're responsible. There is still some talk that the Rams could be in the market for a quarterback in this draft.

Is that true? People, I'm not making, there is talk. People chattering do believe. that the whole Rams stuff on Bradford that maybe it might not be 100% genuine and maybe the Rams are throwing this out there behind the scenes so people think that and they want to trade up with them that seems likely it's tough to tell

I don't know if my idol rants in the newsroom count as people talking around the league that's not what I'm counting well one thing that Les Needs said though in Orlando was I don't want to draft a guy high up that isn't going to play from day one so if they're going to go quarterback high up that would be a surprise to me It would be something like Jeff Fisher and Sneed, of course, falling in love with one of those quarterbacks.

Mansell seemed like the most likely of those guys. Have you ever been in love with two girls at the same time? Yeah. You have? Yeah, sure. Okay. I mean, the Rams are clearly head over heels for Sam Bradford. Hopefully not currently.

What that would be is that they really aren't, that they draft the quarterback and they trade Bradford. Every time they talk about Sam Bradford, it's like they're talking about a Hall of Famer. They're smitten with that guy. I feel like there's some of that involved. to where they're still trying to convince themselves. That does have that tone. Well, and they have to because there is no upside to doing anything but that publicly. Right?

Yeah. Good point. Some news from over the weekend, John Fox and the Denver Broncos. Good point. All right. Score. Nice. John Fox and the Denver Broncos have agreed to a three-year contract extension.

The final year of Fox's current deal was ripped up. There was one more year remaining. And a source tells NFL media insider Ian Rappaport that the deal is both fair and generous, gentlemen. Do you think John Fox puts a ceiling on what the Broncos are capable of? As in, do you think if they face the Seahawks again, is there any way he doesn't get completely worked over by Pete Carroll staff? Do you think the reason they lost is because they got out-coached? I think that's one of the reasons I think they got heavily outcoached

I think they got outplayed by a better superior team I think they even acknowledged that they didn't prepare as well as they could have Not even just the prepar I mean I thought the Seahawks preparation Was just about perfect Their game plan was perfect They beat them

And then during the game There were three moves that I thought during the game Like what is John Fox thinking What do you let's hear The challenge Early in the game A challenge that didn't make any sense He's terrible out challenges

the opening kickoff in the second half when Prater can just kick it out of the back of the end zone and they went with a pop-up kick that Harvin ran back for a touchdown and then there was a play call I think on third or third down or something where I was like, it was third and 20 and they ran a draw play or something, I don't know.

And I think one question with Fox is A, is he a guy that puts a ceiling on what they have in place now potentially? But post-Paeton Manning, which is potentially sooner than we all realize it could be next season, and is he the guy you'd want to oversee what comes next, or does it not matter at this point? I was critical or at least wondering what they were doing when they hired John Fox.

I was surprised he got such a great job right away, but he's done a great job. He made the playoffs with Tiwo. I don't think he really puts a ceiling on them. He hires great people around him. He's made good choices with his offensive coordinators. Everyone likes playing with them. I think he has a good staff, and I think he's a good coach.

I just, I would have no confidence if they played the Seahawks again that they could win. Almost coached the Carolina Panthers led by Jake Delome to a win over the Bill Belichick Dynasty Patriots. That's a good point. Here's what you're getting at. I think there's only five NFL coaches that really make a huge difference. And he's probably not one of those five. Right, I agree with it. But he might be in the group of the next five guys.

Yeah, I agree. Give him money. All right, Wes, let's check in on your Chris Johnson tracker. finally last news item of the day what have we learned since friday's podcast has anything changed there was a report this weekend i could tell you that johnson expected to pick his next team by the middle of the week but we haven't heard any teams really hot on his trails yet well i think what what we've learned is that basically the jets and the falcons are the only obvious candidates uh since friday the cowboys according to the fort worst star telegram have no interest

The Dolphins, according to Ian Rappaport, have no interest, even though there was trade talk. The Bills, apparently the Titans called the Bills, not vice versa. So that interest were always blown up. So I think the Falcons apparently were one of the teams that talked trade, and then the Jets, according to NFL Media Insider Ian Rappaport, were the team that came closest to pulling off a trade. So those two teams look like the most likely landing spots. Get excited, Dan.

Well, no, this is all working out Right to my man John Isick, the Glacier Right into the Glacier's hands Oh, you haven't heard that, Mark, have you? I like that. Okay, right into the Glacier's hands He's going to be able to sign Johnson at a deep discount

And all of a sudden you've got deals up and down that roster Man knows what he's doing. It would be interesting to see Michael Vick handing the ball off to Chris Johnson in an offense that Alex Eric Decker and probably is going to draft a young receiver too. I thought you were going to say it would be interesting to see Vic hand the ball off to Chris Johnson in 2010. Right.

Or 2006 or 2008, I guess it would be even better. Nine? Michael Vic was still in jail. That would have been a problem. It would have made it tough. Yeah, do Jets make all the sense in the world? We talked about this last week. I think you put ivory and Johnson together.

That's a good team. Or above average, in my opinion. Your opinion matters? Or average. A little bit. Within the context of this building or. This room right here, it matters. Millions of readers online.

That side of the desk. Cross the world. Right here. Anything else of that? I think we've got some breaking news. As we're taping this podcast, Dan. Well, you say, you teased it. Let it rip.

Oh, well, sometimes we're up here. You know, our helpful guys down in the newsroom, David Ely, Kevin Patrick coming at you covering for us. He let me know. The Saints have matched the offer sheet for safety, Raphael. Hubba, hubba. Adjust your life accordingly. Wait, which he apparently, he did not want them to do that.

He wanted a starting job with the Falcons. He didn't want to be backing up Kenny Vicaro and Jarrett. Bird. Jai Ruse Bired. Jairoos, Bayard. Big to get that in there. Yeah. So this is a lose, lose, lose, win situation.

Saints are happy. They have some depth. They have no more cap room, but that hasn't stopped them at any point in the past. Right. Bush is not happy. because he's not a starter, and the Falcons didn't find what they thought was going to be a next starting. We have to pay you millions of dollars, please suffer through this with us in a wonderful city.

That's a fair point. No one's going to argue that. The site of Super Bowl 30, or excuse me, the site of WrestleMania 30. Hopefully the site of the Super Bowl in 2018. That vote is coming up in a month. If any NFL owners are listening, thanks, by the way. But, yeah, seriously, what are you doing? Vote for, you know, you got to go New Orleans over Minnesota and what's the other option?

Houston. Well, no, Houston's got it. No, there's only-Inapples. It's Indianapolis, Minnesota, and New Orleans. Tough one. Who wants to go to Minnesota in February? Indianapolis, they did an outstanding. They did, but not a tough decision.

New Orleans all the way. Mark and I have been lucky enough to go to the last three with NFL.com. And New Orleans, by far, is the city that gets. the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl gets New Orleans. Perfect match every four years at the very, at the very least. Get that in that city. And Greg, you got those ties.

I mean, there's, no one would argue about that if they signed a lifetime contract, New Orleans every four or five years. And it also guarantees every four or five years, ATL has like 40 stories during the last week in January where Crescent City is in it for something. So we don't want to write New Orleans another time. Is, if you return to New Orleans, is that like Montezuma coming back from the battle? You're just welcomed, like, a conquering hero? Greg.

Is that a biblical reference or something? Montezuma? Montezuma? I'm just joking. No, but like you just won this epic battle. You could welcome back. That's your old stomping ground. Are you well known in the streets of the city?

It was... Or is it more like Montezuma's revenge? It was out with a second that they announced that, I just wanted to still be employed and be going to Super Bowls at that time. made it to it was pretty much career goal everything's downhill all right moving on all right so we launched

a new series offseason series on the around the league page on Monday a roster reset so we're going to go through well Greg why don't you you are the boss that's what they call you explain to us what this new series is about well it's not just us

it's on NFL AM it's on total access it's on our podcast this is what the ladies and gents It's called cross-platform promotion. Sell out. Roster recess. Hashtag sell out. Basically, we're just picking each division, which teams improve the most this off season.

So we look back, division by division, and we also look ahead to what's next for each team. All right, and who kicked it off? And if AFC West with Chris Wessling, and he picked, no surprise here, the Broncos as the team that improved the most in the AFC West. All right, Wes. So why don't you give us, first of all, kind of an overview of. what you, after doing all your research, what's your overview of the division right now? I think the Broncos are stronger than they were last year when they went to the Super Bowl. I think they're pulling away from the pack.

The Raiders are going closer to the middle. Basically, I think Kansas City, San Diego, and Oakland have mediocre teams. So there's mediocre in the middle, and the Broncos pulling away. So you're giving Oakland the little credit by saying they're mediocre. Sure. I don't mind giving Oakland credit when they deserve it. They were sub-mediocre last year. They were brutal.

It would be a gutsy softball pants pick to say they don't get to five wins this year. I wouldn't make that. You can't. They did a fair job of improving in a number of areas. McKenzie has a tough job. He had essentially to fill like 10 starting spots, if not more. Well, let's look at what the Broncos did. They pick up where, T.J. Ward, Keep to leave, Emmanuel Sanders.

Is there any risk here, West, that were kind of fall. for the shiny team that spends the big money and gets big names, and we're just impressed because they made a lot of moves? I don't think so because I think another thing that really isn't talked about they have going for them is they have more impact players returning from injury than any team. Their best defensive player, Von Miller, their best offensive lineman Ryan Clayty, Derek Wolf, one of their best run stoppers, Kevin Vickerson, Rahim Moore, who has range at safety, pair him with T.J. Ward.

They've got a lot of things going for them. And frankly, the AFC just is pretty weak. And how often do you see, you know, teams go out and they're the big spender and they win the offseason? And usually they're like a middle-ling to a poor team the season before. This is the situation where the team, which was, to me, clearly the best team in the conference last year is the team that won the off-season. So to me, I feel like the level, the chances of letdown are smaller. And a lot of that's because Peyton Manning's still in the picture. Well, like last year was a Dolphins team that went out and went crazy on the open.

market, but still a lot of talent void there, and they weren't able to get someone that they overpaid for players. For the Broncos, I look at Emmanuel Sanders as a nice addition, and an offense that you could plug it in and it'll be very productive. And you're right, if you want to give Fox credit, what a good job he did last season with so many injured players, and they didn't skip a beat. And new parts. I think that's a great point you made, Wes, about all the guys coming back, because that's

why they probably felt comfortable letting guys like Zane Beatles go, Eric Decker. Sean Phillips and Robert Ayers maybe aren't world beaters, but those guys played a lot of snaps for him. Wesley Woodyard played a lot, Rogers, Carmardi. They have lost people, but the roster still looks good. Do you see a roster hole there that needs to be filled through the draft? Well, middle line

backer, they went after DeQuelle Jackson, which suggests even though Nate Irving played well down the stretch that they're not sold on him yet. I don't think they like him on passing downs quite as much. So middle linebackers, one area, and I don't know if they're done tinkering with their offensive line yet.

How about running back? I know Fabiano's got Monty Ball in the top 10 fantasy pick, but Monty Ball and Ronnie Hillman's not a good backfield. Well, it's a bit of a mystery, too. I mean, I think there's a lot of reasons to like Ball, but we don't know what he's going to be when he's the bell cow. Just get one more guy. Considering John Fox's history, I mean, we've been, as Greg and I used to do fantasy football,

just, you know, you throw your hands up every single year because he always goes with a veteran, and he never trusts a younger back. So this would be a departure from character for him to rely on Monte Ball. All right. What about the Oakland Raiders? We touched on them a little bit, a couple of minutes ago. Do you think, in your mind, you think these improvements in it, they are not going to be one of the worst teams in the league?

Do you think they've done enough to kind of at least gain some sense of dignity back? Yeah, I think they, I think this team might have some dignity. They look like they're competitive. You ranked them number two in this group of how much they improve this office. They're going to put on the media guide for the Raiders, they might have some dignity. If Matt Schaub doesn't play like he did last week or last season, then they might have some dignity.

Could you see Oakland, after all, they've said about Schab, go out and take a quarterback number three or number five? Sure. They need a quarterback. They do. They've talked about him as a guy who can compete with Peyton Manning and Philip Rivers and who can be the answer for three or four years, but the contract says they can cut him in really any time.

It's crazy how many guys they sign that'll start right away. They're not just signing a few key free agents. They signed 11 free agents from other teams. And of those 11, I think 10 will probably start. That's insane. That's half their starting. And Woodley, Tuck, Antonio Smith, Carlos Rogers, Donald Penn, Maurice Jones, Drew might start, James Jones, Austin Howard, Terrell Brown.

I mean, those are your starting lineup Oakland Raiders. That's tough on Dennis Allen as a coach. Wes, Reggie McKenzie and Dennis Allen. What's today? April 7, 2015. Employed by the organization? By this time next year? Yep.

No. Both gone. All right. Let's move over the San Diego Chargers. Now, in your post, West, you don't have a lot here for them. What does that mean? Does that mean you didn't do your due diligence and put a poor effort on this? Or is it something else?

The most frustrating part of this exercise was writing about the charges because they I haven't done anything except signed Donald Brown. I should have known. What about resigning Seiji Adiratutu? Well, yeah, I did. I neglected to mention that one. They did re-sign Donald Butler.

That was probably the most important move. He's one of their few young starters on defense who you might consider above average. They also lost clipboard Jesus. They did and replaced him with Kellyn Clemens. I think that's a net. That might be a net gain. I think that's a game.

I think that's an upgrade. Well, I'm only thinking about that he hate me all-stars. You know, great nicknames for poor players. Losing him is... Yeah, that's true. So really not a football opinion of any nature. Not at all. Okay.

Not at all. They didn't lose anyone. So that's good. Except for Ken Wisenhunt, and that's bad. That's true. They dumped some guys. They dumped Loran McLean and Derek Cox, who was... The latter was one of the worst free agent signings of last season.

The Chargers are essentially like when Hans Solo was frozen in carbonite. and at some point they'll melt and become a team again. I still want the chargers to be frisky. I guess I enjoyed watching Rivers Matter last year. I hope they challenged the Broncos. I think they need speed on both sides of the ball. They need another receiver behind Keenan Allen, and their cornerbacks were terrible last year.

They need help there. They have to be targeting a wide receiver in the draft, you'd think, right? I know their cornerback is a big spot for them, but Keenan Allen is as great as he was as a rookie. He's not what someone would think is a franchise-type wide receiver. They need somebody to put on the other side of the field with him, right? Yeah, you know, we're used to for so long having these big, tall, deep threats, Malcolm Floyd, De Nario Alexander, Vincent Jackson,

and now they don't have any of those guys. Do you see them bringing in, with Donald Brown in there, same offense next year where they're just going to run the ball 45 times a game? That seems to be, I think they really liked that at the end of last season and when they ran, they seemed to find a good mixture there. You mentioned getting, improving the pass rush, which is a great point. Melvin Ingram and Dwight Freeney. Freeney was off to a great start last year, but then missed the season.

He's coming back for less money this year. He took a pay cut to stay. And then you write, reward Ryan Matthews. Give a contract extension to your boy. Oh, how things have changed. Wow. Do you think that happens? I don't think that happens.

Not after they signed Donald Brown to a contract, which was basically better than any running back on the market got. and he's only going to see the ball five or ten times a game. Damn it, Donald. Maybe it's one of those moves where if you get halfway into next season and last year's Ryan Matthews is still healthy and still chugging and give him some cash. Yeah, I agree. Why pay for a running back who could just get injured this year? And finally, the Kansas City Chiefs.

Wes, do you think this is a team that's regressed? Well, yeah, they've lost, you know, Chiefs fans have been killing me ever since this win on Twitter. They've lost 6,000 snaps. Three offensive linemen, Tyson Jackson, Keenan Lewis. Such a mad scientist move to add up the snaps. That's a lot of snaps. I love that.

That's why you're the mad scientist. That's a lot of snaps. I don't think they're a better team. They've lost too much talent, and they really haven't signed anyone except Vance Walker. Everything went right for them out of the gate last year, too. But their offense, I thought, got frisky and dangerous down the stretch. And their defense fell apart because they were no longer facing backup quarterback. which they did in five straight games at one point.

You are down on Dwayne Bow with good reason. That's a major situation for them to find somebody that maybe is a legit number one because he's starting to prove that he can't be that guy. They need a number two. He's a number three, too. I don't know if it would surprise me if he came in tip-top shape and regained his playmaking ability,

but he didn't have it last year. He was moving like a tight end. They showed a lot of faith, or maybe it was just they didn't have much cap space, but a lot of faith in the offensive linemen that are there because they let so many walk. Wait, you're right. Vance Walker, who's a defensive tackle,

is their biggest acquisition this offseason. And here are the guys that have left. Brandon Albert, John Asamoa, Tyson Jackson, Kendrick Lewis, Dexter McCluster, and Jeff Schwartz. All those guys are starters. And those are just the highlights. That's a rough departure on the line

because that team, Jamal Charles, that's the centerpiece of your offense. And you just want to run him all day long and Alex Smith is not going to sit back there and throw a ton of passes. I don't know. Nine and nobody started last year. I'm not sure it's going to work out.

They're plugging high, highly drafted players into that offensive line. Donald Stevenson, Eric Fisher. But, you know, offensive lines take time and they need cohesiveness. Who knows how that will work out? I'm interested to see. I don't totally discount the idea that the Alex Smith and Andy Reid excitement we saw down the stretch last year was a mirage. Maybe this is going to be a pretty good offense.

give Reed and Smith some credit that they could keep it going. They did it for more than half a season. Come on, give them some credit, Wes. Well, I mean, yeah, they did it for more than half a season. I have no problem with that, but they need better talent. Certainly it doesn't sound that we have not picked the ATL podcast team of 2014. Right now, it doesn't look like the Chiefs are going to get that. I'm not backing the Chiefs, especially the way they're fans reacted.

It has to be unanimous, I think. This is something has to be agreed. I agree with you on that. Yeah, you can block that West. Vito. All right, let's move on. Good job there, Wes. Way to carry the show there for a solid 10 minutes.

Thank you, Daniel. Why don't we dip back into the mail bag? You've got mail. Because, like I said, we wanted Cessler to be back in town to do this because some of these questions directly involve Cessler. And I'll start with one. Let's see. What should I start with? This one will be, this is very Cessler-centric.

It's from one of our favorite Twitter guys and an average. A vivid listener, and a good fantasy guy at that Rumford Johnny, at Rumford Johnny, has this question. Can a sandwich sands meat be considered, quote, elaborate? You're asking me that? No, I mean, you're the vegetarian. I don't really even like sandwiches in general. What? No, I don't, I mean, again, I'm vegetarian.

You don't like food. I don't really like food that much. I think the answer that we will all agree on is that no, a sandwich needs meat. It can't just be lettuce. This entire operation to spend. I had a sandwich last night at the garage that did not have meat. How was it? It was pretty good.

Was it the best sandwich you ever had? No. Would you call it elaborate? I would not call that a high-octane sandwich. Well, but Mark has no choice. I think Mark is owed some sandwiches. Is that? Yes, but...

And yours cannot have meat on it, so you have to have an elaborate one without meat. I just find that for the vegetarian, this entire arrangement, this bet, is not something that I sit up at night about things. thinking about excitedly. I think your guys are getting the probably more expensive high-octane meat-fil-s sandwiches.

Are you American? I like peanut butter and jelly. I feel as bad for you as I do, Raphael Bush. So, Rump for Johnny, thank you for checking in. No, it cannot be considered elaborate. This is also something revolving

Mark's eating habits from Frank Campos at Frank Campos J. What's more likely? Mark Sessler eats meat again or Chris Wessling becomes a Cincinnati fan again. I think he's referring to the Bengals. I'm a fan of the city, and I like the Reds,

but it's not going to happen. I'm not going to become a Bengals fan unless, well, I'll just leave it at that. What if they made the Super Bowl? No, it has nothing to do with that. Well, what if ownership changed? Okay, now we're talking. And, well, so you would think that Wes, that's the more likely thing. But Sessler, I don't know if you want this out there,

but you acknowledged to us recently that you had a BLT last year. I did. I did. And it was wonderful, actually. But you're asking, down the road, would I, like a year ago, I did it very randomly. Can BLT be your elaborate sandwich for the vet, for the, go get my lunch? No, because I was going to say that no way would I return to becoming a meat eater. So, Wesleyan will be a Bengals fan.

But you were. But you were. You already ate it. Right. I've experienced both lifestyles, and I am opting for the meat-free diet. Not sure why. Greg, this one is in your direction as the boss. How about, this is from Christopher Iiella, C.D. I.E.L. on Twitter.

How about a longer podcast? Fifty minutes just isn't enough to fit football and your side stories. I want to hear more. We're on three times a week, and I think one of our best attribute is we leave you wanting more. You know what I mean? We don't want. Once it gets over an hour, then it's suddenly an hour 30, then it's longer than the Godfather part two. I was thinking about an offshoot podcast just filled with my mailman story.

That would be. I like. Excellent. All right. And this finally, this is a good one. To each hero, this is from Martin Wired, and that's M. Wired underscore T.HFC. Martin, you got to work on that Twitter handle. To each hero, what's your best memory as?

a fan of your team and what's your worst and that's a good one i like that one we'll start with chris wessel your let's go first your uh best memory i don't really have a team right but we're going back to before you retired i can't remember like one single defining moment i guess i would say uh my dad was a lot like me where he uh didn't really care much for the bengals he had problems with their ownership but he got excited whenever rodney holman they're tied in from the 80s would just plow through the secondary, and I liked him. He kind of pulled a Greg and would jump off the couch. So I guess my dad getting excited about Rodney Holman

and maybe James Brooks, the 80s-era Bengals. Worst moment, the 1990s. Right. That's the decade. I would say if there was a worst moment, my falling out with the team came when I had a lot of issues with how they were handling basically the entire operation. And Lee Johnson, their punter,

came out and basically said everything that I've been wanting to say about how the team was run he was a really smart guy I wouldn't call it like a direct rip job he just basically diagramed this is exactly what's wrong with your organization

and Mike Brown cut him the next day so it was like a Sunday after a game and they had been an embarrassment for years it was like he cut you right there yeah in a way I was going to say like your worst moment might have been when you went to the office depot to get the

folder that would hold your dossier while you were quitting the Bengals. I worked in a law firm. I have plenty of folders. Mark Sessler, your best memory as a fan. Best memory would be my father surprised me in 1988, said

we had to go do some chores, get in the car with me, actually had packed bags, drove to the airport, and we went and saw a Brown's Steelers game in the middle of the 1988 season was Bernie Cozor's birthday. I had never been to Cleveland Stadium. So it It wasn't the biggest game on the planet, but they wiped Pittsburgh up, and that was excellent.

Do you think Bernie Kozar, after that win over the Steelers, on his birthday, went out to celebrate? What do you think, chances on it? 145 percent? I don't know. You'd have to ask Babette Cozar, his former wife. Oh. Babette. All right.

That's a nice memory, and your worst. Babette's a lot of pressure on a woman. I feel like you better be good-looking if you're going to be a bad bet. It would be blonde. Worst. Oh, my. God, I don't even know where to begin with this franchise. You've got to pick one that stands out of all eyes.

The year I was graduating college is the same year that Cleveland moved to Baltimore. And I had spent my entire college career majoring in journalism and PR because I was going to move to Cleveland that December, because I graduated in December, and I was going to go work for the Browns. Bang. Instead, I'm watching Art Modell on the steps in Baltimore saying, we aren't in Cleveland anymore. We aren't the Browns anymore The whole thing was changing So my career aspiration shot Three months later I'm in New York City Working in the Columbia Library

Shoving metal rods into books That would set off alarm detectors when you leave Getting paid $11 an hour Basically had like Lee Harvey Oswald's job I essentially followed in Oswald's footsteps Do you think if Art Modell was better at managing his own money They would still be in Cleveland? Yes

I think there's a fair argument for then I just want to point out I had a factory of sadness drop ready and I was so sad that I couldn't do it. Sorry. It was too sad. It was too sad. You want to do it anyway?

You are a factory of sadness. Greg. Mark really appreciated that extra effort. Welcome back, Mark. Best memory. Best memory. It has to be the 2001 Super Bowl. For sure.

And really that whole season was better than any season that'll ever be for a Boston sports fan. I don't care about the Red Sox winning the first World Series as much as that season. You cannot top what went on. Just the quality of the games and it coming out of nowhere. I was actually living out here at the time, watching the games early with some friends.

It was delightful, a dream. I mean, what could beat that? They were a heavy underdog against the juggernaut in New Orleans, the Crescent City. Right. Win at the gun, just perfect, dream season. And they were five and five at the time. this whole run where you kept thinking it was going to end and they wouldn't make

the playoffs and then the playoff games, each one of them was, you know, pretty delicious in their own right. Yeah, you had the tuck game, which was iconic. And then it launched a dynasty. So the game even gains, that season gains more. This must be nice to be a Patriots fan. That was number one. My least favorite moment was, or the worst moment, was after the Super Bowl, the second Super Bowl a loss against the Giants. Worse than 18 and 1. Yeah, definitely. Why?

Because at that point, more years had passed. That team was more likable. They were punching above their weight. There was no reason for them to really be there that year. And it felt like they'll probably never get back here. Wouldn't it just be great Belichick and Brady get one more? So you wanted it more, just one more time. And just the way it ended, that was much more disappointment.

I go into the locker room afterwards, and Tom Brady. Brady is just sitting there with his head in his hands, catatonic. I was like, this is a bummer. I'm going over to the Giants. It's funny because I did not know you at that point, but I was in the same locker room. I'll never forget Brady, who clearly was injured in that game. Afterwards, sitting on a chair slowly pulling, like, dark business socks up

before he walked out with Giselle in like a $7,000 suit. This is a bad scene. As you would imagine. Then I realized. Dan was in the winning locker room, by the way. Seal. Seal was taking photos in the winning locker room. That was where I realized.

Never go into the losing locker room if you have an option. So I don't think I did before or since. What's the point? You made me go into the losing locker. Well, you're covering that team. Finally, yeah, me, my best memory, and this really speaks to, as someone born in 1980, how little has gone right for the Jets since Joe Namath predicted victory in Super Bowl 3.

My favorite personal memory is the 2010 divisional playoffs. The Jets going into Foxborough with Rex Ryan in his second year, Mark Sanchez and beating that Patriots team that was 14 and 2 and Brady was the MVP and Bart Scott after the game saying, can't wait. I watched that at a Jets bar in Burbank and I remember calling my father after the game and I remember saying to him, this is it. This is the team that's going to the Super Bowl. We had the Steelers next week.

We had knocked off Peyton Manning and Tom Brady in consecutive weeks. And of course, the Jets, I think were down 17-0 at halftime against the Steelers the next week and they haven't been back to the playoffs since. But at that moment, I thought I was rooting for the best team in football. That memory's gotten worse over time. Yeah. It was the peak of the Rex Mark Sanchez time together by far. And then my worst memory is the best Jets team that I ever watched was the 98 Jets got knocked off by the Broncos in the AFC title game.

In 99, Elway had retired, and the Jets were by many accounts with Parcells as the head coach. and Belichick is the defensive coordinator reviewed as the AFC favorite. Playing the Patriots in week one, first play the second quarter, Vinny drops with a blown Achilles tendon out for the season. Parcells and one of his biggest missteps as a coach has Rick Meyer as the backup, sticks with him three or four weeks too long, and the season is lost, and Testa Bertie's gone, and that great Jets team with Kishan and Krabet and some great players in defense.

Not even Ray Lucas, because he's lost. save that season. Ray Lucas played well down the stretch. Went six and three, but they were buried and they finished eight and eight. And I remember being so in on that season. I went again with my dad, Jim Corbitt of the USA Today, then working for the Journal News in Westchester, gave us a tour of the Jets training camp, a favor someone did for us. And I got to sit in on a Parcell's press conference.

I was all in on that team. I was so obsessed, and they broke my heart. That's my worst memory. And that's it. That's it for the podcast. That was good. A lot of heartbreak there for three of us, and then one guy's just sitting on top of the world.

Oh, whatever. Heartbreak, heartbreak, heartbreak, dynasty. Shattered lives. Basically, no playoff wins for 15 to 20 years before that. A couple here or there. Oh, crimey a river. You went to two Super Bowls. I mean, come on.

He lost them, but it's been nice being a patron saint. In spite of some of the painful losses in the last 10 years. Of course. Yeah. I feel like you're fair about it. You're being fair about it. No one would argue that. It's going to end.

I'm going to enjoy this Brady career for the next couple of years. Well, let's say you knew that the next 10 years for New England's football team would be Wes's 1990s era with the Patriot, with the Bengals. Or would you rather shave a limb off your body? Oh, I would definitely just, they can lose as many games as they want. He wants to keep his limbs. You're too close to the sport at this point. I would take. I would take another 10 years of Dave Shula as head coach over losing a limb.

Like, yeah, there's a lot of things less than that than you could have gone with than lose a limb. Like if you had just said even like break your pinky once, I don't even think I would. I don't even think I would do that. I remember those 1990 Spangles teams. I may go with the limb. They've got the Super Bowls. Look, I haven't even delved into things like Mike Brown starting the loyalty clause because, Carl Pickens would rip on the Bengals.

Corey Dillon saying he'd rather flip burgers than play for the Bengals. Ray Bentley, a linebacker, came up and... It's just play out West. Basically, just took the headphones off of Dave Schuller's head and laughed at him. I mean, it was a laughable team. We could go on and on, on and on with all our teams. All right, guys, we've got to get out of here. We'll be back on Wednesday with another show.

It'll be the four of us. The Gold Standard will be not with us, but we'll have a special guest producer to be determined. Until then. This is Dan Hansen signing off for the mailman, the sizzler, the boss, and the gold standard behind the glass. See you. For roster, reset, clipboard. Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks.

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