NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Are Manning and Brady's windows closing?

Episode Date: June 12, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling and Marc Sessler -- breaks down what the future may hold for Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.  Are the two quarterbacks trending toward quiet twilight years or on the verge of late-career glory?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 League podcast. Loves Priyanka. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Henses, and I'm joined by a room filled with heroes, Chris Wessling, Mark Sessler, and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys? Hey, Dan.

What is up? This, uh, I'll tell you what? What's up? A lot of buzz. A lot of buzz after what happened on Monday's show, Greg Rosenthal, swiping the toaster away from Chris Wessling. The photo evidence was posted on Twitter of the toaster changing hands. And now we live in a different world than the one we woke up on Monday. I mean, and let's just go over some things. Mark, you've noticed it. We've all noticed it. Twitter. People are tweeting at us a lot of reaction. yeah i mean and we have encountered dan you and i in the office just a frosty sort of fallout and a lot of ugliness and we're and we're reading about it from listeners that i think a lot of them just shell shocked by what happened and yeah some yeah some quick uh rundown of what we've been seeing um one hashtag i saw out there a lot of like heat toward gregg which maybe and mark i know you've gone to the fence for your boss on this a lot uh that gregg doesn't deserve maybe

but a lot of people are taking out their frustrations on Greg stealing the toaster on Greg himself. Hashtag Twitter, Boogie Man was something I saw. One listener started a White House petition to get the toaster back to Wes or to bring the game back. I'm not sure what you're... To bring the game back. One listener said that he started shouting Al Groh while he was washing his dishes. The question, of course, that West got wrong that ultimately cost him the toaster. And his wife was looking at him, and how was it described?

Well, I think she was confused slash a little bit sad for him as a person. Yeah. One listener had to press pause before the competition started because the emotion had overwhelmed him. Chills, he said. Chills. There was a listener that sent the picture of the toaster changing hands to the website historical pictures. Another listener asked Greg if he will be reenacting the fax machine scene from office space on the toaster. where it's bashed to bits.

I like that option. Damn, it feels good to be a gangster. Good to have a toaster. Yeah. One listener wrote that he started chanting, This is Bull-Bu-Sht after Greg won, and he used the hashtag West Can't Die. And then, strangely, this is one of my favorites

just for the randomness of it. One listener said that this was Greg Rosenthal's Snowdog moment referencing how Cuba Gooding Jr., I guess, hit his peak with Jerry McGuire and then Snowdog was the beginning of the end, I think. I think what he's saying is the hubris that maybe Mr. Gooding displayed in his Oscar speech when he's on top of the world to be followed by the worst decisions of his career. So this right now would be my peak, and I'm going to blow it. Well, sorry, go on, Dan. No, go ahead. Well, I think what's lost, if we were to look at this as a competition as it was, is that Greg is being viewed as someone that came in and maybe in a controversial way that's convoluted,

snatched this out of, Wes was at his peak. He beat a Wesleyan at his peak who came off what I think were two of his best victories ever, back-to-back barn burners. Greg came in and won fair and square. That's where I have an issue that he's treated as if he pulled some lever to steam. to yank this away. He did win fair and square. I think the listeners are a little bit exasperated

because Greg has made it known all along that he did not like the game and would like to put it out of its... It's not really a miserable game, but he would like to put the show to bed. And I have a direct quote from Greg yesterday while sitting downstairs. What is this?

Why would I want a rematch? Was his direct quote. Yeah. So we're not even sure it's happening. Gold standard astutely put a rule into effect that Greg has to challenge someone within six months. or vacate the toaster.

So all these things are happening right now. There is a new plot twist here. Greg told his wife about this magical toaster. Oh, that's true. And she is fascinated by it. That helps us. She's very, well, I don't know if it does, Dan. She wants it.

She is interested in this toaster. She had never heard of the game when Wes's toaster. Shocking that she hadn't listened. That's absurd. And so I explained it to her. At first, she thought it was ridiculous. But then when I told her the details of this toaster, she was very intrigued.

and she said, you know, we should have that. Can't we just keep that? Can't we just keep the toaster? It's the yin and the yang of the game, though. We had a people's champion in West, and in fact, the game was named after West, so that's a tad tricky. But we now have a villainous king, perhaps, sitting on the throne.

Joffrey, this is a Jopry scenario. You asked for it. For Game of Thrones face. Be careful what you wish for. I wasn't really that into taking him on. You got what you wanted. One last thing. My favorite hashtag,

Greg the Grinch of WWT.com. That's awesome. And one more thing, Wes, Riverboat Ron, there was a Riverboat Ron reference to you passing on the final question to win on a tiebreaker, hopefully, with time, and you played it a little conservative, and someone said that you were pre-riverboat Ron by making that decision. It was actually the opposite.

This was an aggressive tactic by me, knowing that I didn't have the answer to pass and try to win on the tiebreaker. I would not have gotten the answer, regardless of how many minutes you gave me. All right. So, as you know, this is still a very sensitive, touchy topic around the office, and the listeners really reacted to it in a visceral way. So hopefully Greg will keep the game going.

I've never, we haven't gotten a fraction of the amount of responses for any of our shows is this one. Like my Twitter account has been blowing up since. And you wanted to get rid of this show? Well, it's still up. He has the power right now. Visionary. All right. A big show today.

Big show today. A huge show almost. We're going to discuss the Making the Leap series for the Around the League, which we hope you read around the league. I know you listen to it guys and girls and we're very happy that you do. But a lot of great content on the website, right, boss? Well, by the numbers, there are countless more people that actually read us than listen to the podcast. So I would, you know, tell all those people reading. You should be listening to our podcast.

I like that. Unfortunately, they can't hear us right now. You said, buy the numbers, and then you said countless, which that seems to be. Mysteries of the earth. Anyway, so we're going to get into, we've revealed two more players on our list, our top 25 list. We are going to get into something that Chris Wessling wrote about Peyton Manning and whether his window is closing and maybe some other players who are up against it as we enter the 2014 season in a segment that I'd like to.

to call window a dressing window dressing window addressing addressing the window okay nailed it but before any of that we have a man behind the glass who is this is it folks this is the final show of the gold standard era on the around the league podcast he he is here one last time zach goldman how are you buddy doing great bit sad but great yeah this is uh It's a happy moment because the Gold Center is moving on to better things, but also, you know, we're going to miss you, buddy. Hey, you too, guys. Let's do a nice show to round out the era.

All right, I like it. As long as you're plugged in, we did notice, you know, you were a little late coming up here. You got your FIFA shirt on it. A little bit of senioritis creeping in. That was a good analogy. I went off campus for lunch today. Wow.

It's like the guy that took his SATs that he cannot flunk out. I'm already going to Dartmouth, Dan. He's been accepted to Dartmouth. And now it's just a matter of it's a, you know, CTC. Cut the check. I just got to pick out my cumberbund for prom. Exactly. All right, let's do some news one last time.

Let's do it. I'm going to miss that. Let's do it. The Atlanta Falcons defense is already potentially going to be one of the shakier units in the NFC, and they got some more bad news on Tuesday. The team announced that linebacker Sean Weatherspoon will miss the entire 2014 season after suffering a torn Achilles at practice. Weather Spoon has dealt with injury issues for the past three years.

He missed a bunch of last season with a foot and a knee issue. Now he blows his Achilles, and even worse for him is that this is in his contract year. So he's at a crossroads, and the Falcons are in trouble. This seems like it kind of flew a bit under the radar. Like it didn't make major news, but... Could have been the timing. It was late Tuesday. And the fact that he's been kind of billed as the Falcons' best defensive player for half a decade now,

but missed most of last season was kind of underwhelming the year before that. And with them moving to a 3-4-based defense, there was kind of a question about what his role would be. He's always been an outside linebacker in the 4-3. He was expected to shift inside on early downs and then play back outside on late downs. So I think there was some question about how much they were going to count on him this year. It's a shame though. He is 27 years old now. He's now losing two straight seasons right in the very prime of his career. He only played seven games last year because of injuries. Now he misses all of this year. I think he was the best player on that defense. We did making the leap a couple years ago in 2012. That was the first time we did it. Sean Weatherspoon was my pick that year. And I thought he already was at a top 10 linebacker level in terms of four three linebackers. Very versatile. I wrote about him a couple of. couple times that year ahead of their playoff games, and he was a guy that could do everything.

And I think if you were picking one guy out of that defense still today, he would have been the guy if he was healthy, and now they've lost him. Yeah, I guess the only upside would be that you're losing him here versus late August. There's time to prepare someone else for the role, but I don't care what team you root for at some point this year, something's going to body rock you from an injury angle that's going to change the way you think about your team. And it kept changing for the Falcons last year. No team had worse injury luck.

So they have to feel a little bit like the Cowboys who have already suffered a huge season-ending injury where their injury luck is starting off bad this year, just like last year. And we're going to work under the assumption that Julio Jones will be back in healthy, and Roddy White will be a semblance of his old self. So you assume the Falcons will be able to score points

even without Tony Gonzalez. But, you know, this has the feel of them losing a lot of, you know, 34 to 28 games this year. isn't it? I wouldn't, I really don't think that Weatherspin was that integral to their new defense. If this was last year or the year before, it would seem like a much bigger blow. If you, he's entering a contract year, and if you look at what they did in the draft, the guys they drafted, I don't think they were going to try to re-sign Sean Weatherspoon. They do not have a lot of good linebackers, though.

I mean, who are their good lineback? Corey Beerman, you know, they might be starting a Keem Dent, Ossieu Minura, Jonathan Massacquad, a bunch of mid-round picks. Paul Wara-Lo and Jopo Bartu, who, who. were both undrafted rookies last year held up pretty well. Right, and they're slated to start right now. It's a weird group. There's no secret that the Carolina Panthers have some issues at wide receiver. All four of their major contributors at the position left the team and joined teams elsewhere in the offseason.

Cam Newton, the team's quarterback, is obviously heard and seen what's been going on. And he spoke out today, this according to the Charlotte Observer. The elephant in the room has already been stated. those guys have already accepted the challenge referring to the receivers that are left. You don't have to go in there and tell those guys, hey, you're projected the sorriest receivers in the NFL. We already know. And he goes on and kind of goes down, plays the nobody believes in his card,

and says that will be how the Panthers rally around it. And he also goes on to say that people are saying the same thing about us last year and the year before. So Newton, at least publicly, is taking a positive outlook and saying that this is not the end of days for the Panthers. that they lost all this talent. No one was calling him the sorriest receivers last year. I didn't get that. We're calling them this year because they are, right? Are they?

Jericho Cottery, Jason Avant, and Kelvin Benjamin. That's probably the worst top three. When your number one receiver is probably best fit as a number three receiver with a contender, that's very bad news. No, I agree with that. So much hinges on Kelvin Benjamin, whether he's the Plexco-Burris next-level guy

that they expect him to be, If he's that, I mean, I think it took plaques a year or two before he really had a huge impact on the Steelers. So maybe it takes a while, but I think Benjamin holds the whole key here because no one else is a starter level player. And Benjamin is a guy that's viewed as not a boom or bust, but intriguing player that is not pro-ready necessarily. There's a lot of parts of his game they say need work. It's not the position you want to have to lean on on a rookie. Did we? No.

By the way, did we mention Jason Avant is in the house? Yeah, we did. We did. Jason Avon, here's the man. Jason Avon has got great hands. Jason Avon says, Ivan, you catch a lot of balls, yeah. Jason Avon is a great man.

I was wondering if you'd ever be able to work that back in, but it's back. It's not nearly as good as Jarus Bird. Jairaira Ruse Bayer. Jaird. He's got to cram that one in there. I like it, though. That's not a song. Is there any other team that even competes with the Panthers as the worst group?

Because if Benjamin is your number one, I mean, even if he's a 900-yard receiver, if he exceeds expectations, I think they're still the worst. I'm not sure who's that close. The Rams? Yeah, if the Browns don't have Josh Gordon. I count Josh Gordon is on their team. He is on their team. He's not going to be on their team.

But he probably, there's a good chance he'll play this year. There's a good chance he'll be out for 16 games. Wait, why is there a good chance that he'll play? There's mixed reporting. whether it's going to be the whole year. Stay on boy, gentlemen. We'll see. Well, all right, the Browns, you're right.

Browns without Gordon. There's nothing there. You and everyone else have been arguing all offseason that Miles Austin is finished. Now you're going to count him as a guy who actually has some upside if things break right? I'm just saying in a knife fight, Miles Austin, Andrew Hawkins,

and Nate Burleson versus Avant, Katrie, and Benjamin. Yeah, that's close. I think Andrew Hawkins. I think we can agree with that. Andrew Hawkins is probably the first one knifed in a knife fight. What are we arguing who's the defendant? D-Midas and who's the D? Yeah, they're both crappy.

All right, they're the two worst. Congratulations, Mark. You won the argument, I guess. More Cam Newton News. As we know, Colin Kaepernick got that new contract with the Niners. Originally, it looked like your typical massive franchise quarterback contract, but as it turns out, it's very unique in the sense that there is not a ton of guaranteed money and the Niners get to do a more year-to-year plan in terms of progressing with the

quarterback going forward. This type of contract is scaring Cam Newton, according to NFL Media Insider who reported Tuesday on NFL Total Access that Kaepernick's people are really scared because they're under the impression that this could be the way teams now approach contract discussions with franchise QBs. Newton is looking for more guaranteed money than the 13 million Kaepernick got, and he's looking for more annual salary than Kaepernick got. So he's looking for the type of contract that many people thought Kaepernick would get

as opposed to the one he did. And he'll get it. The minute I saw Kaepernick's contract signed, one of the first things I thought is Cam Newton and Andrew Luck would have never taken this contract. There's no way. Yeah, I agree with that. I don't think Cam Newton has anything to worry about. What are they going to do?

Right. Bring back Jimmy Klausen? I don't think the Kaepernick deal was a mold for what. what's to come, you know, over and over. I mean, that was an aberration that I freaked out agents and annoyed people. It could be something a way, you know, Chris wrote about this, about these middle-tier quarterbacks with Alex Smith and Andy Dalton. It could be a way to get something done with those guys.

Maybe they would accept that type of contract because it feels more like a middle-tier type of deal that you're paying as you go. Sure, but I think the point here is that we're talking about top-tier guys. Right. Those are the ones that are scared. this is what's coming for them. And I don't, if you have an agent that agrees to this kind of a deal, you need to rethink that.

It's interesting, too, that we just assume Cam and luck will get paid way more. I mean, Kavernick has accomplished a lot. I think you get an advantage of being the number one pick to start because you're starting at a higher base. Yeah. And they've played more. All right, gentlemen, let's move on. The Making the Leap series is underway for Around the League.

We started it and we discussed on Monday's show, Josh McCown at number 25. Now we move to number 24. Dun-bah-dam-a-ma! Minnesota Vikings' cornerback Xavier Rhodes. Greg Rosenthal wrote about it on the Around the League page. And Greg, please make the case for Xavier Rhodes making the leap in 2014. I was a little worried when I watched the first half of his season on our game rewind

that we made a bad choice here. And it was going to be difficult to make the argument. But he closed out the season really. strong. And in a division where he's going to have to match up against Brandon Marshall, Alshan Drey, Calvin Johnson, Jordan Nelson. I mean, he's going to be in the spotlight. So this could either go really well or go spectacularly wrong. But he was great towards the end of the season, making plays on balls, very physical receiver. Early in the year, he got pushed around a little bit. But he held his own against Brandon Marshall. I thought he had a really good

game against the Bears at the end of the season, also breaking up a lot of pass against the Packers. And he's kind of that prototype press man coverage corner. And Mike Zimmer is a big reason why we chose him. Now that Zimmer's there, he's done a great job with defensive backs. I think Xavier Rhodes takes the leap. Makes the leap. I was going to ask you more about that Zimmer connection.

Is there anything you saw in your research where it helps a young cornerback to have Zimmer drawing up the plays or drawing up the scheme? Well, he's always wanted press man cornerbacks. Look, I'm not a scout, but when he struggled in these games, it seemed to be when he was playing off-coverage zone, letting, like Calvin Johnson and a couple of the receivers just would pick up 10 yards routinely because he would play off the guys. What he did well is when he's right on top of him,

playing him to the sidelines. He naturally was very good at that, and that's what Zimmer wants. I think that should help him. And he'll, I mean, Zimmer is compiling an improved front seven, which should help any cornerback in that defense, too. He was average last year overall roads, but that's pretty good for a rookie cornerback. Yeah, that's very good. He was a slightly above average starter, and he was clearly the best player in a secondary that was terrible.

But he was clearly the best player in his secondary. So that's a good way to start, and man, that's a tough division to play cornerback. I mean, yeah, I was just thinking of that. The top receivers, if he's the number one guy, you have obviously you have Calvin Johnson in Detroit, you have Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffrey in Chicago Pick Your Poison. You have Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb in Green Bay. I mean, if he does not make the leap, the Vikings are in serious trouble. Yeah, but they're getting him improving, hopefully, and then they get Harrison Smith back.

I don't think he's going to be a guy, and there aren't many guys like Joe Hayden that travel, that follow top receivers around the field. He's probably just going to stay on the left side, do his thing there, and if he's good, they'll just start avoiding him and start throwing to the other side. All right, let's move on to number 23 on the list of Mark Sessler joint. which always gets people excited. I quite enjoyed this piece. You actually read this.

I quite enjoyed it. Seattle Seahawks. No chance. What was your favorite part? Didn't even look at it. I liked Mark's mixture of analysis and optimism. That is, that came out of left. Seattle Seahawks running back.

Kristen Michael, number 23. Almost didn't make the list, Mark Sessler says, because of the man in front of him. well you know these this back five of this top 25 countdown there has been some debate and he missed it initially because of marshawn lynch but after spending a week with the seahawks at the super bowl they all week long honestly laid out what they were going to do without any deception they said we know who we are this is it and so when they started talking about christin michael's having a larger role and contributing i believe it and

What adds to that is the snippets of tape we started seeing coming out of OTAs where Kristen Michael is breaking ankles left and right, and he's doing things that you can't teach. And he's not going to go and replace Lynch. No one's saying that. But part of one aspect of making the leap is, how will he be viewed at the end of this season? And I think he'll be viewed without question as the future of that run-heavy attack.

And it's because last season as a rookie, not unlike a lot of rookie running backs. He couldn't do the little things well, the details. His past protection was an issue. That's not different than maybe David Wilson with the Giants when he was a rookie. But they said that he's short all that up. He's matured. He's doing the complete job.

They want to put him out there on the field. Robert Turbin is destined to be the number three guy behind him by the midseason, if not a lot sooner. This guy can make plays. He scored 12 touchdowns in 88 carries as a senior at Texas A&M. he has continually shown that he can break off runs get to the second level and beyond of a defense I like him he's exciting

if I have one reservation about this pick it's that I don't believe the coaches that he's really that much better at doing the little things I'll be surprised if Turbin doesn't open the season as the passing down back and I think Michael will probably be the change of pace guy they maybe work him in a series here and a series there that would be my one hesitation on this pick

He's the type of guy, though. If he gets eight or ten touches in a game, let's just say a random week two game, you could see him popping off some crazy runs, and then the coaches just feel like, we got to get him on the field. I think that's totally fair. Yeah, and that's what we mentioned was like his best case is that he starts doing things were the Seahawks, and they, in John Schneider, the GMs called him one of the top two most explosive players on the team.

Pete Carroll said he was his pick to be a breakout guy this season. they're seeing stuff that in practice that tells them we have to put this guy on the field if he can pay off, he's going to have a role. One of my favorite guys in the media is Lewis Riddick on ESPN who's really sharp, has been in front offices. He thinks Michael is the most talented running back to be drafted in the last five years.

That's a bold statement. I mean, he had off the field, he got suspended at Texas S&M for a game. He had issues there, but he also, he played because of what he could do. He has totally freaky combine numbers. That everything points to him being, they called him, the trainer to Texas A&M said he was more explosive than Adrian Peterson. And you were saying, you know, maybe 100 carries something like that. It really wouldn't surprise me if this becomes more of a committee.

It makes all the sense in the world to do that spurs-like thinking, rest lynch a little bit in the regular season, get Michael in there like the Seahawks needed another weapon. It's crazy. If he's as good as we're saying he is, then the Seahawks aren't going to. to lose much when when lynch is resting. They're still going to be the best team in the division or whatever. Anybody spooked by the spelling of his first name? Yes. Has there ever been a successful NFL player with the spelling that sounds like Christine?

That's why he dropped in the draft. He could shift to Chris. That's why he dropped in the draft. People at a reservation. In fact, I was confusing. Is he number one I'm making a leap if he's Chris Michael? I'm just throwing out there. I'm just throwing it up there.

The good news for you, Dan, is you no longer will feel any obligation. to read this piece because we've just laid out the bullets for you. I told you. I really enjoyed that mixture of analysis and optimism. But that's a Cessler trademark. Also allusions to water. Water, darkness, forests. Wood nymphs.

Wage on next story. All right, gentlemen. So that is it for our Making the Leap talk for today. We're going to keep rolling all the way down to Number one, and who will be number one? I know people are talking about it. There's buzz. Nobody knows.

I certainly don't. Can I make a suggestion? You will read it anyway. Golden Tate. I think he was on the list last year, wasn't it? Of course, that reminds us of one of... Didn't really make the leap, but... One of the gold standards...

$30 million contracts says he did. One of the gold standards's greatest hits was in our first game of, Go get my lunch. The last part's supposed to be... Oh, sorry. Yours was Golden Tate related, was it? Yeah, I believe it was a Golden Tate to the Titans. Mm.

Yeah. Didn't quite work out. No, you know, you win some, you lose some. But I maintain that if the Titans have a bad season this year, it's all because they didn't get Golden Tate. You're very Titan-centric, it seems like, in many ways. I think we've been as a podcast in a lot of ways. We all sort of recognize their...

I thought they were Titans phobic on this podcast. Well, I don't know. They have sort of a comfortable middling nature to them. That's true. That should be the motto this year. Yeah. Room for the Titans. We're a comforting middling outfit.

There we go. All right. So, Chris Wessling. Yes, sir. On Tuesday, you wrote a piece about Peyton Manning and how much time he has left, really, to be, get to that. He's been to three Super Bowls now. He's won one. He wants to win that second one.

And I think we all kind of are on the same page, or maybe we're not, that if Manning gets that second Super Bowl win, in addition to all his numbers, a lot of people are going to be comfortable saying he's the greatest. quarterback to ever play the game. So that's where the stakes are at if you're into it as a historical situation. And I think we know that Peyton Manning does look at football that way and he wants to be seen that way. Chris Wesleying, what is your, what was your take on Manning in 2014? I think a lot of people see the Broncos as a franchise that is all in for 2014, that they're mortgaging the future to win now. And I feel like he's got three more years left on his contract. And there's a good chance he plays all three more years. He has said it doesn't really, is not really concerned to him going out on top like Elway did. So even if they win the Super Bowl, he might well play another

one or two years. And he also said his body feels as good now as it ever has. It doesn't seem like a guy thinking about retirement and, you know, 37-year-old season was the best of his career. So why even think about retirement? I think he loves football. I think that's very obvious. So it makes sense to me that he's going to and he signed that massive contract to join the broncos two years ago so as long as he's still effective he's going to keep playing and that's three more years and really they're the class of the aFC once again there's nobody really even close to them and outside of manning looking at their roster do we think that their window is closing you know what i'm saying i mean do we think this is a roster that's going to look at a much

stronger roster now than the team that went to the super bowl great we're Chris just nailed it. The AFC, which five years ago had a flurry of hot teams, outside of a Patriots team that is equally in question in terms of its ability to go long term with someone like Tom Brady, who is going to challenge Denver this season? I mean, someone is always going to pop up, but we're talking about it on paper here in June. They are heads and tails, a team that went out, fixed their top weaknesses, and it's not fair to look at aging players like Manning and presume that an injury, injury is going to sideswipe him. If one doesn't, he'll play three years.

Remember when he was getting ready for his first season with the Broncos, the whole question was, can he even make it through a season? Will he really be the guy that he was before? Is this just going to be one year? The Broncos drafted Brock Osweiler because of that, because they had no idea. They made this contract year to year because of that. But Wes is right, I think. Now that we've seen what he can do, there's been no drop-off. I remember in fantasy leagues, people didn't want to take him that year because we just thought, hey, well, Peyton Manning's not going to be good anymore.

There's been no drop-off. There's not really any reason to think he won't play for a while unless he takes a big hit. Here's the flip side of it, if you want to look at what could happen. I mean, he just turned 38 in March, and I know we all view Manning as godlike, and he really has been, but

38 is, that's a ripe age for a quarterback, and we look at the Broncos is a team that might be better than last year's team. But then you're also, on some level, you're putting in an assumption that Manning will do what he did last year, which I don't think he's going to come close to the numbers he did last year, and not just because I think he's less of a player,

because I don't necessarily think that, but just that was one of those special crazy seasons where everything kind of came together and it worked perfectly. I don't see him going back more to the type of production than he had in his first year with Denver, which is still awesome. But that's going to make them not as good a team potentially because he's not going to be playing at an all-time super level that he did last year, in my opinion.

He could throw 15 fewer touchdowns than he did last year and still lead to league. Yeah, he threw 55 last year. And they can win as many games with a more complete team. They have a much better defense on paper this year than they did last year. And he's comfortable being a late career Chad Pennington. He already is that guy a little bit. I mean, he's winning the game from up here from his mind.

He's not winning it because of a big arm. And that, and I think that's what. why Brady has a chance to last a few more years, too, because they're playing a mental game. It's not about their physical skills. Well, let's get into that then. Let's talk about Manning is a guy that this is, you know, perhaps his last best chance entering his age 38 season. When we go around the room and nominate another player who is maybe a little older, who is still a very talented and productive player, but maybe this will be their last chance. to make a real run, whether it's at a Super Bowl

or to be an all-pro. What's this segment called again? What did I call it? It was awesome. Come on. It was a window. How do you not remember it? Dan is going to...

Does Shakespeare have to look at his notes to remember the title of Hamlet? I mean, give me a break. How are we called Father Time dropping a hammer? No, it is window-oddressing. Because we're addressing the window. Goldstein, you're going to miss that. I know it.

Oh, yeah. I'm going to have to hit you up for puns regularly. Got to go to the note. You got it. $3 per pun. All right. So, let's, I'll start it out since his name are. I'll pay you $3 to stop the pun. I'll start out since you mentioned Tom Brady, Greg Rosenthal, the boss.

I will nominate Brady as someone that I still believe will be a top flight player in 2014. But I think this is probably the last time you're going to really view him as that. type of player. I know that he played great by the end of the season, but he also, when you looked at his final numbers last year, he trended downward in almost every major statistic. So I kind of see him as somebody that not quite late period Dan Marino yet. And I think you're going to see that next year when he's really going to start the age because he's moving slower and slower and it's going to become a bigger issue. I mean, he took 40 sacks last year, which is the second most of his career in the most in over a decade. I think his mobility

will continue to haunt him. And, you know, just the general signs of wear and tear as a player ages. So, Tom Brady will continue to be Tom Brady this year. Maybe at a little bit of a lesser level, but still enough to lead a Super Bowl-type team. But this is it for Tom Brady, in my opinion. It's patently absurd. Go ahead. Tell me why.

Yeah. My number one pet peeve is judging quarterbacks when they're missing all of their wide receivers. They've got a right tackle down. The offensive talent is depleted, and you're holding him to the standards of when he was the best player in the NFL. He wasn't as good, though, even if you throw out the receiver issue. Who was playing in the AFC championship game? But he's a good quarterback, but he wasn't as good two years ago as he was earlier in his career. To argue that he's at the same level as when he was at his peak is also absurd to me.

From people that if you watch the game, he's not as good as he was. How could he? He's 37 years old. He missed more throws last year, but he's still one of the top. three or four quarterbacks in the NFL. I think you're missing my point, too, is that I still think he's going to be a great quarterback, but he's not going to continue forever, and he is downward trending at a moderate level. I think everybody is making way too much of this downward trend. It's just a very small percentage. And the question isn't, he isn't as good as

he was. None of these players that we're going to bring up. Well, Manning is a liar. Manning is not as good as he was. Manning's skill set is not what it was. Again, we're going back to surrounding talent he had the best surrounding talent of maybe any quarterback outside of brady's 2017 that's why he was better we Dan has made some uh bold predictions on this show before and we've laughed him off and then bang five months later we're telling him hey remember when dan nailed this i don't think that's the case here only because i well i'm gonna laugh you off i like the setup though no no i just said i'm not going to just shrug off dan's prediction but i look back to that game he won against the Saints, the way he orchestrated that drive from the neck up with a minute and a

half to go, there's just only so many guys can do that. That's not going away. And the talent around him was subpar. Look at what he had compared to Manning. I mean, it's just absurd. Well, I also agree it is not going away. But I think at a certain point, Father Time takes over for everyone. And I think that age and a decline will after this season, I just think this is it for Brady. If you He wants to get back to the Super Bowl, this is it. Father Time has taken more from Peyton Manning than Tom Brady. If you put Tom Brady in the Broncos' offense last year, he has the same numbers as Manning, maybe better. Oh, no.

Why not? I think that's fair, but what Father Time has done is make Brady not as confident in the pocket. And that's because of his ACL injury, or that's just because he's taking a lot of hits. He was the best, I think, maybe in NFL history in terms of pocket presence and moving around with guys around him. And now he sees ghosts sometimes. He ducks when guys aren't there. That's not a huge strength of his game anymore. And I think we're so caught on these guys as legends

that you never want to see them decline a little bit. It's going to happen. They have to get old. They can't beat back the odds in father time forever. And when it does, it happens swiftly with quarterbacks when it happens. It has to happen somewhat soon. And I think it's fair to say Brady has already started declining a little bit. I don't think it's that crazy.

This is you trying to, as a Patriots fan, you know. I don't know. I'll take it. I'm preparing mentally. I'll take it. I'm preparing mentally. Because last time that Wes and Greg were, Wes and Mark are going against me, Greg left me hanging.

This time he's with me and I appreciate that. I'm with you. Let's move on then. Mark Sessler. Nominate. All right. I think that's a bad choice. Well, now hold on.

Mine is based a lot on situation and it's Frank Gore. And it's because I think Frank Gore is still going to be productive as a player for a number of more years, but he's not going to be on the 49ers, I don't believe, after this season. And so then he's going to go sign a contract with a team whose Super Bowl window not only isn't open,

just isn't even years from even existing. And then suddenly he's not on the radar anymore. He's pounding away for, who knows, some team on the NFC South somewhere. Gore is a good player, but if you're not attached to him in that 49ers offense, his scenario dims for a championship.

I like what you did there. You just ensured that the Around the League podcast will be played by Frank Gore every time he goes to work out. I like that. That's inspiration now. But I'm not telling you that he's declining. If he doesn't resign with the 49ers, that's what I'm saying is the issue. One of our former editors, Ryan Mockignana, interviewed, is a boxing writer also, interviewed Frank Gore for a very nice feature article. It just went up on our site today, and that was one of the takeaways that Frank Gore, every time he goes to work out.

pulls up his phone, takes out a video of an ESPN analyst saying this is going to be his last good season and uses that as fuel every time he goes to pump iron. Right. Are we ripping Frank Gore here, though? No. I thought I heard you say that that might be his last good year. If he is not on the 49ers, I don't think this will be his last good year by any stretch. It's situational.

The inconvenient truth, Greg Rosenthal's favorite player. Do you have a comment on him? I love that article. It says it really well if you guys go out. on the site and read it and I thought it was interesting his teammates including Marcus Latimore thinks he's the smartest football player that he's ever met which is interesting because Gore was known coming out of college for struggling on the wonder look and it just shows how stupid that test is because everyone that's been around Frank Gore

says he's one of the smartest football players that they've ever played with and I think this could be his last year in San Francisco wouldn't surprise me I don't think Mark's out on a huge limb there but man I would love nothing more to see the inconvenient truth make a little Super Bowl run. I think he's going to close this window. I don't know what that means. Yeah, I don't know. That's some good window addressing.

Greg, your guy. Well, my guy's not someone that's been at the top of the game like Frank Gore or Tom Brady or Payne Manny, but I'm going to choose Carson Palmer. And I just find him a really interesting guy this year in general because he's been the butt of jokes for the last few years. And he's played for some awful teams in Cincinnati and Oakland. but this is a guy that was a number one pick of the draft. It was a guy people thought was a top three NFL quarterback for a brief window there. They thought it was Brady Manning and then Carson Palmer.

And here he is with all this talent around him. And he's still much, you know, he's younger than Brady and Manning by a handful of years. I think he's still got a chance. If ever Carson Palmer was going to make you think differently about how his career has been a disappointment, this is the year. And I think he has a shot to do it. I agree with you because I,

While I think none of us are sold on Carson Palmer being the guy to lead the Cardinals to the top of the NFC West, if you're ever going to make a case, it's going to be now with this team, with Larry Fitzgerald, still somewhat still Lyre Fitzgerald and with a defense, although we know the defense has taken some hits. Palmer at this age, this is the time to make the run. And you get a feeling that if he doesn't make significant gains, the Cardinals could be looking in a different direction after this season. So he understands that, and that's pretty heavy motivation. He might as well have changed his name

because he's just not the same player he was before the ACL injury and the elbow injury. He's a different player. Jordan Palmer. Is that taken? He can wow you though. I mean, if he was a college prospect coming out, he would have all those wow plays

that would get scouts excited and get him drafted high. Still, he makes three or four throws every game that not many quarterbacks can make. I think people forget that. He can get on little runs where he looks like one of the best quarterbacks in the league. Wes, we'll close with you. A little window ad dressing.

Reggie Wayne coming off an ACL injury. Pasty. The Colts are a contender. They kind of need him. T.Y. Hilton's a different kind of receiver. We don't know what Hakeem Nix is going to do after a downseason in New York. And Andrew Luck has called Reggie Wayne a freak when it comes to working out his ACL injury and his rehabilitation.

But he's going to be 35 years old. And I don't know. It just seemed like they drafted Montcrieff. Dante Moncrief in the third round. Seems like they were drafting him to be Wayne's replacement. It seems like he might be looking at the last chance here for him to be a number one receiver. But do you think he would not be on the roster a year from now? Is that what you're hitting him?

I think that's possible. 35 years old coming off at Torn ACL, that usually means you're about done. I know he's broken all the rules, but that's usually what it means. The wide receiver is over 35 years old. There are few and far between how many you have a thousand yards season in there. So it's quite possible at the window already shut on him, and it's kind of sad for such a great player, but to blow out your knee at that age and have to come back from that,

it could already be over for Reggie Wayne. Could be? You want to write the story for him. It would be as maybe he's a lesser player, but he's still a key role player on a team that could go win a title. I think they have a shot. Why not? All right, gentlemen.

So that is it for today's episode of the Around the League podcast. As we mentioned earlier, the great gold standard. This is his last show. It's been a great run. We're hoping to see if he cries here. Are you going to cry? Yeah, I am. It's already begun.

Waterworks back here. It's time for you to make your final statement in front of a microphone with the NFL before you move on. The floor is yours. Yeah, and I didn't want to put any added pressure. When Crystal did this, K. Rich, we were all. all in tears afterwards. All right, I'll do my best. Well, it's been a long road.

It's been a wonderful ride akin to the Gino coaster, I would say. Some ups, some downs, but always greeted with four smiles. So, thank you guys for having me. I've really enjoyed myself. Thank you to all of you have let me into

your homes and cars and treadmills. It's been a true blast. I've learned a lot about football from Phil Dawson to Jarris Bird Jair's Bird exactly I now

would consider myself an expert on the topic but I couldn't have done it without you guys thank you so much for having me and I hope that it's not the end of our journey together as Bert Cooper said when he watched the moon landing Bravo nice job and like Bert Cooper

you have now died in the eyes of the league podcast spoiler spoiler oh yeah Spoilent, deal with it. And we move on to our ninth producer. And we will unveil that new producer on Friday show. So, of course, tune in for that, the Gold Standard. We loved having you, and best of luck, and enjoy the World Cup.

Thank you, sir. Appreciate that. That's what it's all about. And a lot of listeners are rightfully upset that the Gold Standard is leaving us. But I think they should understand he's going on to bigger and better things. I am convinced the gold standard will be all of our bosses in 10, 15 years, we'll be running some sort of large international sports corporation. If I had to, if you want to put some stock in on the gold standard right now if you can.

Now we're really building the pressure up. You better not fail, buddy. All right. So that's it. So we're moving on. But Gold Standard will always be on the train with us. Signing off. This is Dan Hansis for the mailman, the sizzler, the boss.

And one last time, the gold standard. standard behind the glass. Until Friday. This is an I-heart podcast.