NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Best free agent bargains, 'Go Get My Lunch'

Episode Date: March 8, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Gregg Rosenthal and Chris Wesseling -- goes digging through the bargain bin, unearthing the best-value gems of this year’s free agent class.  Don���t miss the gang introduce its newest offseason game, 'Go Get My Lunch,' which is sure to thrill football enthusiasts and gourmet sandwich aficionados alike.  Kevin Patra joins Studio 66 over the phone to give his take on the latest NFL headlines -- and to, at long last, reveal a secret about his trip to the Pro Bowl last month.  Who did Patra meet?  Will his beloved Detroit Lions pick up a marquee free agent?  How does one properly pronounce Jairus Byrd and Ricardo Lockette?   There’s only one place to find out -- and that’s the brand new “Around The League Podcast.”  Tune in and join the conversation on Twitter: @NFL_ATL or #NFLATL.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 always goes for two. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hansis and I'm joined by a room filled with heroes, Chris Wessling, Mark Sessler, and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys? Hey, dude. It's Friday. Friday, fun day.

We're naturally excited because. Well, our weekend doesn't begin for another. It doesn't begin for ages. Yeah, we got a couple weeks until a real weekend hits because we'll be working the rumor mill this weekend on the Around the League site. There's going to be a lot of fake reports out there that we'll try not to pass along. Mark said he had to fake his energy today because it's not real. But I don't like that.

Just have low energy. Wow, you just sold him out. He said that before the show started. You know, listen, we come into the studio in variable condition at times and I'm going to do my best to get through the production. Um, Wes, who came in today on his off day, has now gone all the way to the Mr. Clean look again. He is fully shorn, cleanly shaved. I was feeling like a hippie.

I don't like that. Feeling like a, it's very Cincinnati type comment to make. Um, but it's, yeah, it's good to have you back. I think when you're not going out with a dirty hippie. You have to use the back door of every bar you go into. Um, one thing, one thing I came up in the newsroom, I don't know. One thing that came up in the newsroom on Thursday that we should address right now is, who is the top defensive player on the free agent market?

Jaris Bird. There you go. So the people on the network side approached us, the ATL folk, because we're knowledgeable, and said, how do you pronounce that? Turns out it's, Wes. It's Jarris. And this has come up on the podcast before our listeners will remember this even if Greg doesn't. We've corrected him in the podcast.

pass and he insists on calling him gyrus. Well, see, I've heard other people say gyrus, and then, you know, Mark, you went to YouTube to find the answer. Yeah. And what did you find? Well, I found what at this point is a haunting and disturbing depiction of a guy that gives two options. Gold standard behind the glass.

Can we hear that? Yep. Jiris Byrd. Jirous. Byrd. See, hold on. So there's two ways to say, and they're both right. itself as a 30-minute clip to educate us on how to say his name, and then he says it in two

completely different ways, neither the way that anyone in here says it. Is that Jaris Bird that's saying that? No, it has to be like a 52-year-old southern gentleman on like seven shots of whiskey. Walked in the closet somewhere. I just like the fact that we can enter, how do you pronounce Jaris Bird into Google, and this pops up. There are other ones. Who is this man out here putting these pronunciations?

It also has how to pronounce Demetrius Bell and DeNora Searsy of the bills. So many random bills players from a few years ago, it's got it. It's clearly a man in his house in Schenectady, New York, with a lot of time on his hands. I'm thankful for it, though, because as a person that called Mike Petton, Mike Patini, for his entire four-year tenure as Jets defensive coordinator, I'm very happy to have some type of knowledge. Big show today So that's settled Can I hear that one more time Jaius Byrd

Jairoos Byer Slays us every time Big show today We're going to talk about You know, Wes wrote something That I really enjoyed It was posted

This morning, Friday morning On the Around the League page 10 best free agent bargains So we're going to go through that By the way When this went up on the website It had Greg's face and byline and I don't know, Greg, how that, I know you put it in Whip yesterday,

so I'm not sure how that happened, but I said it straight, Wes. Thank you, Mark. In Greg's defense, I saw me put in huge capital letters by Chris Wesleyan when he sent the email. Right, and I didn't put it in Whip, which no one has any idea what we're talking about, by the way, when you say that, Mark, I sent it to the desk. So you're just throwing them under the bus. This is the first I'm hearing of it. I'm throwing everyone under the bus.

It was Wes's piece, and that's how it should be sold on our website. When Sessler works the early shift, now that he doesn't do it all the time anymore, when he works it, sometimes you could see that salt of the earth, Sessler come out near the end of the shift. He's out and he's salty and I like it. That's not what salt of the earth means. What? Salt of the earth would mean... Salt of the earth means you're a good guy, you're a man of the people, you're a regular joke. Salty means a little ordering.

Why do you have an issue with me being referred to as salt of the earth? That's not how he was referring to you. You jump to a conclusion. He's both Salt of the Earth. And salty. That's how I took it. People that are salt of the earth are often salty. I was using context clues.

You were incorrect. Whatever. Don't buy into anything that Greg is saying. You try to steal Wesley's story this morning. All right. And we're also going to play a new game, which we'll unveil a little later. But before that, we're going to do some news, the gold standard. Zach Goldman, our producer behind the glass.

How are you? Doing great. Thank you. Why don't we do this? because we have our man, Chicago correspondent, Kevin Patra. How about we have him sit in on news? Yeah, why know. I'll pretend like this is something we're just talking about now.

But he's already on the line, so we can talk to him right now. Here he is. Kevin Patrick. What up, Ellen? Coming at you. What's up, buddy? How's it going? It's going good.

The entire ATL team is all together, and we're going to do some news, and then we have to talk about something related to your trip to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl. Is that cool? scandalous. Always scandalous. All right. We'll start in New Orleans where Lance Moore will be released by the Saints, and that might not be the only change.

There was a report on Thursday that the team could be open to trading Pierre Thomas and may even put Darren Sprouls on the trade market. Is this surprising to you guys? The Lance Moore part is not surprising. I think Pierre Thomas, they've been talking about trying to do something with his contract for a while now, So that's not surprising. The Darren Sproles thing is surprising because he and Jimmy Grant have been their passing game lately. There have been in some of the local beat writer write-ups that Sproles was potentially a salary cap cut target.

Because they're like about a million and a half under the cap right now. They've got to make moves. But I think talking downstairs, we thought there's no way you could ever part ways with Thomas and Sproles the way that they operate as a passing team unless they're going to completely revamp the way they move the ball. Well, when they put Lance Moore and Thomas on the trade block, that's just because they knew they were going to cut them if they don't take a pay cut.

Sproles, maybe they think we're likely to keep them, but maybe someone out there would actually offer to take the salary and give us something. I have a hard time believing they would cut both of them like you. I think Sproles is more likely to stay. But the real surprise is that they were together this long in the first place. The Saints have had the same offense for six, seven years. There is no team, there's no offense in the NFL that has had the kind of continuity that New Orleans has had.

Marcus Colston, Pierre Thomas, Lance Moore, Darren Sprouls, so many of their linemen. You can't keep teams together for that long, especially with role players. They get overpaid, so it's time to say goodbye. Do you think this has anything to do with how good Ingram and Kyrie Robinson looked in the playoffs and maybe they go to more of a power running game? Yeah, I think that's got to be part of it. You've got to keep a good pass catching running back. Well, Peyton said all last season that they wanted to get tougher running the ball,

and that's what they kind of look they wanted to give defense. Saints fans love these guys and they should, but it is a minor miracle in today's salary cap era that you could keep these role players paying them so well for so long. Patrick, Lance Moore is one year removed from a 1,000-yard season. It's hard always to tell with these guys playing the Superdome with Drew Brees. What kind of market do you think he would? have with free agency now hitting, and he's about to become a free agent?

Oh, I think he has a market, certainly as a tier two or tier three receiver that a team could get and plug in as a veteran guy right away. I think, you know, personally speaking, the lions make a lot of sense for him. He knows the offense the Lombar he's going to put in. There's some other places in New York would make a little bit of sense to me. I think that he's a guy that still has some legs. He's not going to be a one or two receiver. There'll be a slot receiver.

mostly it's what he's played in New Orleans. I think that's where he's going to make his bread the rest of the whatever career he has left. It always comes back to the Lions with you. There's only one team in the NFC and the Patrick House. There are other teams out there. It's like that in the 2010 Jets. What a year.

We'll never forget that season. I do like the Lombardi connection. That makes sense. Yeah, that makes sense. Moving on, DeQuil Jackson, who was, of course, released by the Cleveland Browns last week. It worked out well for Mr. Jackson. And he signed a four-year, $22 million deal with $11 million and guaranteed money with the Indianapolis Colts.

I don't know. Is Jim Mersay, the new George Steinbrenner now? He's just, you know, he's the guy who gives out all the money. You know, DeQuil said that he, the first thing he did, it is a lot of money. And we'll see if he even finishes that contract. He's taking less money than he was making before. He called up Chud. It's a very bizarre scenario.

It's got to be at some point in Indianapolis. probably in a restaurant that we've all strutted through at some point, certainly Wes, that a table where you've got Trent Richardson, Chitzinski, and DeQuelle Jackson, whatever. It's a slow table. Sitting around talking shop. Wasn't DeQuil outraged when Chuck got fired?

Yes, he was. He was definitely, I think that's contributed to him being on the way out. All these deals that are four years, $22 million, stuff like that, they're all two-year deals, I've been noted. I mean, they're all basically the money's guaranteed for two years, and after that, you're going to get cut unless you're playing at a Pro Bowl level. So they're signing these first level of free agents

for two years, five million a year. That's fine. They have struggled to stop the run. They have a bad inside linebackers there. Patrick, can someone both be salty and salt of the earth? Yes, but not me. Got it. Which are you?

You're salty. He's salty. I'm always salty. I've never been salty. He is not salt of the earth, though. I never realized how salty Patrick was. Maybe he shows a different side to me a little bit for whatever reason. Because whatever he's come up in conversations with other NFL media types, people on the desk.

There was like, oh, yeah, Patrick, he's a sharp one. He'll come at you. You know, I don't know that. But he's nestled in the Midwest. He's got to be salt of the earth. But you were ornery even before you went into the cold of Chicago. You were orner even here. You know, it's always brought up.

Is that okay? In fairness That's a rhetorical question You are talking to your boss, by the way You might want to turn the volume down He's questioning my personality In fairness I have a right shift

You made the Sessler shift Look like something for A bunch of people that sleep in Lazy folks I mean your shivers Your shifts at the NFL were ridiculous I don't remember what they were But they would have made me angry too

They were absurd In the old days, yes Yeah, waking up at 2 a.m. isn't always fun. But you know, you do what you got to do. You know what's also not fun, and this is relatively speaking, DeMarcus Ware, a multimillion dollar football player, being asked to take a pay cut, it sounds like, to stay with the Cowboys. A little bit of a labor transition there.

I'm going with it. You know, there's a report that he doesn't want to take a pay cut. Greg, you start to wonder, I know when I... It was a good transition. Be confident in it. Okay, I like to. It's gaining. It's gaining in confidence then.

Greg, I wrote a piece a few weeks back where I said he could be cut and then you shot it down. You're starting to have some doubts that he might actually not be back? Is that what this is about? Is everyone always grinding an axe in this room? No, not at all.

I don't trust Jerry Jones at all. I think this is all for show. They are not going to cut DeMarcus Ware. They can't even bring themselves to cut Miles Austin yet. They couldn't cut Ken Hamlin. they couldn't cut Jay Ratliff They couldn't cut Roy Williams

They couldn't have cut Jay Ratliff After he yelled at Jerry Jones And he didn't play at all And he didn't fit the new system And he cost $6 million They're going to end up capitulating Maybe they'll add some money to his deal Kind of like Terrell Suggs

And save some cap space There will be no pay cut To Marcus Ware will be a Cowboys And you will live in shame I think Jay Novichick is still on the salary cap right now Your theory is this is all about saving face right one both sides want to save face and make it work out but it has to be presented to the public in such a fashion i don't think the cowboys want to look like they i don't

think the cowboys have any leverage here because in their hearts i don't think they believe they would ever cut demarcus ware i think that wear and his agent know that if demarcus ware went to the open market he would go to number one on my free agent list wow really he's a hall of famer still but is he still the guy he was three years i thought last year before Before he got injured, he looked as explosive as ever on his get-off. Wow. He would not be number one, I don't think, on our combined list, because I would not. You would put him below Dante Wittner?

Uh-oh, scientists. I would not put up below. Then you put your byline on that story? Publishing. Oh, wow. Look. Uh-oh. This is not good.

He wasn't healthy last year. He's an aging defensive end. I think he'd be in my top 20, but would you rather have to Marcus where next year than Michael Bennett? Yes, no question. If that's the case... Or Michael Johnson? No question. Michael Johnson had three sacks last year. But you're not signing him just for one year. You're signing him for a couple years. Yeah, I'm taking to Marcus Ware.

I'm taking to Marcus Ware. I've seen a logic breakdown. If the Lions are going to sign a defensive end, would you rather have them sign where Michael Johnson or Michael Bennett? I would say Bennett mainly because of how they move around the defensive line and on the line where Sue can sometimes play out. I knew I like Patrick better than you, West. It would it surprise you if DeMarcus Ware has 18 sacks this year? Yes.

It would surprise me. It would surprise me of anyone at 18 sacks. Mark, your thoughts? I would just like to move into a more serene topic. I got one for you. You ready? There's a report out there that Jeff Cumberland and the Jets are in serious contract talks. Cumpies coming home.

Ow! Eat it, Craig. Cumbi's back. For a team with legitimately zero ass-catching targets News item that no one makes any comment on Because it's useless Nothing? All right, I'm sorry

This is news as Chris Johnson's update on his update On his no update Cumbie, it's coming back If Brandon Pedigrew sign That news would dwarf the Cumberland news You just tried to throw out of it It's in the same ballpark as Clay Harbor Hashtag Cumbie

Chad Hennie in the Jacksonville Jaguars strike a contract, a two-year deal, according to NFL media insider Ian Rappaport. What does this mean, fellas, about the Jaguars? Does it change their draft? Strategy, I don't imagine it does, but that's a two-year deal. He's probably getting pretty good money. I don't know. We keep seeing Daniel Jeremiah going back and forth, projecting them to take a quarterback,

but then occasionally you'll see Khalil Mack in there. They had Clownie earlier on, I think that Hennie is maybe seen as a stopgap quarterback because they don't love one of the guys out there and they want to take the best player, not just the quarterback that they want. I think this gives them options, and there's no use of us guessing what they're going to do in the draft,

but like you said, it allows them to take the best player available. I don't think it means anything. I really don't. Well, they're paying them a lot of money. If Chet, not really. They paid them what they paid them last year. Four million, which is more than a backup. It's what they paid them last year.

It's what you play a backup to a, a starter, somewhere in between. All it tells me is that they like Henny enough, that they like him better than the other Flotsam floating out there on the free agent market. They like Henny better than the 1B options. If

Chad Henny is affecting your draft with the top picks of the draft, they should be fired. And I don't think I don't think David Caldwell is that dumb that Hennie would possibly affect anything. That's the first time I've ever heard anyone use Flotsam without Jetsam.

Patrick? It does mean that Blaine Gabbard's gone, I would say, all but certain. Not that that didn't before. A nice run. I say on the money thing, I mean, Matt Moore's getting $4 million in Miami, he's not going to touch the ball. So if Chad Henney's going to start, I mean, the money is what it is. That's what he got paid last year, and he was a backup going into the year. I think it just says they don't like Vic or McCown, and they didn't want to deal with all that.

By the way, Vic may not want to go to Jacksonville. It's like they can get Henny, and he wants to be there, so. That's fair. all right gentlemen hey kevin patrick before you go you know when you were in honolulu for the pro bowl your main task that we had discussed in the studio was well maybe not everyone's main task but i i felt like we kind of agreed in here that you making a friend before you left was something that would be a priority for you and we never really heard anything so i guess it kind of meant you didn't make a friend but then i heard something from gregg rosenthal

that maybe actually a friend was made. Greg, what did you hear? Well, Alex Mack's transition tag comes up the other day, and we're just talking about Alex Mack, me and Kevin Patrick, back and forth, and he just casually drops a story that not only was he having a conversation with Alex Mack at the Pro Bowl, but it involved drinking and a discussion of the future of book publishing.

All right. You know what, Patrick, you've got to answer to this. because that sounds like a friend moved to me, and you were supposed to report this back. Dan, if I considered every drunk conversation I had with the person a made friend, I'd be a statement to Jesus right now. I mean, this is just, I don't know by you, but that's an everyday thing for me.

I mean, you know, you like to go out. You just strike up a conversation. We were, it just happened to be at the luau they had for the players. You're the luau with your buddy Alex. I've never discussed both publishing. I was with NFL media's Adi King of Walla, and we were hanging out, and he came over, and I don't even know, I couldn't tell you how there were beverages involved. I don't even know how we got on the subject, but actually, I mean, he's a really smart guy.

I thought we had a very good back and forth. We have different ideas on the future of books in the world. Well, what is the future? Well, I mean, the discussion was whether it would be all digital, and I believe the paper, I mean, as much as it will get transitioned. It still won't go away. You've got to have books. So this sounds like a friend. I agree with Patrick.

I agree with Patrick. I'm going to more philosophical things about what books mean to poor and educated people. Wow. That sounds like a friend to me. Oh, yeah. There's no doubt. He wouldn't know me. He wouldn't know me from Adam.

Patrick, I just want. I mean, that tells you where I am on the football hierarchy of people who write about football that the center for the Cleveland Browns wouldn't know my name if I stood right in front of him. I disagree. He would remember you enlightened him. You changed his mind. Yeah, and Patrick, you should know this is a trust tree here in Studio 66. And even if maybe you're not sure that you're friends with Alex Mack, bring it up to us,

and we'll talk it out and we'll figure it out. You know, I didn't even, until he came up in the transition, it was just a fun conversation. I didn't even consider it. Or even better, slightly embellished the story for the podcast purposes, just for entertainment value. That's really the way to go. What's the chance that traces back to the guy? You could really take it in a number of directions if you wanted it to. I'm glad that you're endorsing why.

It's good to know. All right, Kevin Patrick, great hearing your voice. You know, very silky and smooth and salty and salt of the earth. As always. Thank you, buddy. Appreciate it, guys. Kevin Patrick. Support your local bookseller.

I think that's really the takeaway here. That is the moral of that story. All right, what do you guys want to do? You want to talk about Wes's free agent bargains, or do you want to play a game? Save the game for last? Let's do both. We're going to do them both. It's just a matter of, you know, Mark, what do you want?

Let's do Wes's list. I've been looking at it. It's intriguing. I like that. Well, why don't you start it out? We're going to go through West Post 10 best free agent bargains. And, you know, Wes, you set it up with a great opener. Free agent bargain is an oxymoron.

That's how I knew. It was Wes's copy, by the way. What? I was like, that's such a Wes sentence. It is. And I'm looking at Greg's face. I thought something's not right here. Well, explain what that means.

Maybe as the person that they're monitoring the ship, you could have fixed it yourself. Well, no, because the mistake. The desk was putting it up, and I end them right away and said, I have a concern about this piece of content. And they said, you're right. Okay, guys. We're getting this fixed. Let's move forward. Wes, free agent bargain is an oxymoron.

Why? Well, free agents make it to the open market because they're flawed in one way or another. Injury risks, they don't fit a position. They've been inconsistent. They want too much money. Teams don't draft and develop players only to then usher them into the open market and say, you know what, we're washing our hands of you unless there's some problem with them. So it's hard to find guys who are not overpaid in free agency.

There are some, Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril. That was the purpose of this article. Yeah. I like that we're going positive, too, because we have, by the way, the 10 most overpaid players likely to be overpaid. We all contributed to that. You guys should check that out on the website, too. We keep it positive. That's what we do.

Sometimes, not always, not usually. All right, Mark, why don't you start us off and pick a name out of here and, you know, away we go. I think that the name that sticks out to me, I think West, number one, you got a lot of these dead on. But Walter Thurman is a cornerback that I think is destined for a starting job. I think Jacksonville could jump on him. They know, you know, Gus Bradley knows exactly what kind of player he is. Number three on West's list. Number three on the list.

A guy that's done an outstanding job. a nickel role for Seattle, but I think you could take a ton of those guys in that defense and start them anywhere if they have a reserve role for the Seahawks. So I'm very interested to see what happens to him. I think that that is a bargain player. You're going to get more than you think. Just entering his prime, maybe is sized to play the nickelback if he puts on five to ten pounds. Maybe somebody likes him better on the outside. But yeah, he's plenty of talent. One thing quick on that, I feel like San Francisco is going to do what it does, come in, try for Thurmond and Brandon

Browner. Just out of spite. Just at us absolutely. You're also getting a great player in Thurman. Browner maybe not as much, but just to irritate their rivals. If the 49ers are making moves like that out of spite, the Seahawks have them exactly where they want them. Well, that's how these things go. They weren't doing

that, but with low-level players. BJ Daniels and arguing over Ricardo Lockett. But Thurman would be a great signing for them, though. I thought it was Lockett. Well, I think if you were making moves just to irritate your opponent, then your opponent is already in your head.

Yeah, I mean, Lockett was Kaepernick's roommate and his best friend, and the Seahawks took him away. He had a catch in the Super Bowl. That was the difference. Greg, what about you? I hate seeing Maurice Jones Drew on this list

because... Number six. Yeah, I think it's a great list. And for the most part, I think a lot of smart names here, Randy Starks, Jeff Schwartz, Pat Sims, one of Wes's favorites over the years. Jones Drew would have to go against all historical precedent. He is an aging running back with a lot of tread on his tire,

who in the last two years has done the following. Missed 10 games with a major injury and then run for 3.4 yards per carry the following season after that. Terrible team. So I know Jones Drew has had a great career, but you can't find many running backs in NFL history that that's a lot. happened for a couple of years. I got your historical precedence right here. Corey Dillon same age. Coming off a groin

injury. Bengals didn't want him because he was averaging three and a half yards per carry. Patriots get him. He blows up. Stephen Davis. Youngskins. No, same age. Redskins didn't want him. Comes in and Carol, it becomes the workhorse in Carolina's offense.

Both at the same stage in her careers, both coming off injuries, and then blow it up in their next place. What about what Willis McGee did last year for Cleveland? Came in. and set the town on fire. Corey Dillon was never coming off two bad years. I'm looking at it now. He was coming off.

You missed three games, one of the years, with 3.9. Then that's when the Patriots swooped in because the Bengals were tired of his groin injury. There are exceptions, and maybe for the right price, Jones Drew could be a rotation back. It wouldn't be the most shocking thing in the world. If you're talking about exceptions,

maybe one of your exceptions will be a guy who was, for the majority of his career, one of the best running backs in the NFL. A unique talent. But there are so many. many other examples basically every other free agent running back that's hit the market in this point of his career that haven't worked out what i'm counting on is that everyone thinks like you do so nobody pays him any money then he becomes a bargain like stephen jackson last year mark sessler

all right too shay i didn't want to step i like that moment no it was good i like to say the name just let it back out there a sizzler mark sessler you wrote the uh free agency primer for running backs and you had Ben Tate, number one, I imagine you obviously then disagree that MJD. Where was he on your list? Well, I think the Tate, though, is a guy that could be overpaid. It was who's the most talented potentially. I mean, I think that what Wes is doing here is saying that MJD,

the market will be low. People will think the guy's done, and someone's going to snatch him up, and maybe he isn't finished. But I sort of agree with Greg on the sense that I have a tough thing making him a centerpiece, but if you add him to the right offense, very interesting. Wes, let me ask you a question. Your number one on this list is Golden Tate. My question is, is he a bargain if, I mean, he has to go into the right situation, right?

Because he's not a guy that could be signed to be a number one ride receiver. He's not going to tilt the field, do those things. So isn't he kind of a case where he needs to be in the exact right spot to really translate here? Right, but I don't think anyone's going to pay him like a number one. That's why he's on this list. Yeah. I think he's going to get paid like a borderline 2-3. If he gets paid less than Brian Hartline's $6 million a year, then he's a bargain because

Heartline and Amandula are making $6 million and Golden Tate's a better player than both of them. Heartline is sort of the wide receiver version of the after-Dolton line. Because he always comes up with us. That's what we're like, well, if it's less than Hartline as a receiver, $6 million. We can throw Riley Cooper in that. there, too. Yeah, totally valid. I love Starks, and Randy Starks would be a great pickup.

I think he's been one of the number of underrated players of the last five years. I agree with that. He's been great the last five years. I think you nailed number 10 as well, Toby Gearhart. That's my favorite one on the list. I think that it's easy to look at him and say, look, at the guy came in occasionally. But, you know, when he played, he was a guy that produced, and his yards per carry was higher than I thought it was.

How many guys have a second? round pedigree and can play all three downs have fresh legs because they were underutilized and still hit the market and get no fanfare when they hit the market. I think he could go to a cold weather type team and be the kind of running back that could be a bruiser. To me, it seems like the Giants would be a good fit. They really need a running back. He's not going to cost a lot of money.

David Wilson's futures up in the air, so you don't want to pay a ton of money with David Wilson there. He makes a lot of sense. I'm torn on him. When you watch him, you're not overly impressed. But he might be that sort of guy that could just. have 270 carries, get you 1,200 yards. Nothing great, but you need a guy like that.

That's how I feel about it. And you know what? He was living in the shadow in Minnesota. I'm referring, obviously, to Matt Asiata. And, you know, for him to step out there and, you know, make his own career. And, you know, good luck to him. One interesting fit for him, how about the Titans? Because what they didn't want with Johnson in the sense, he'll go one yard, one yard, one yard,

then break a home run. They want a running offense. if they keep the same thing. That could all change now at this point. That would go three, four yards per carry each time. He's more of that kind of a running back. They need a sustaining element in their offense because Chris Johnson was boom or bust,

and Jake Locker is not an accurate quarterback who can keep the chains moving. So I agree with you. Gerhardt would be a good fit there. All right. Great job, Wes. Not only was the content very strong, the arguments in the podcast setting also strong. Thanks, Dan.

You guys agree? It was a good. 10 days for us here on around the league, the website. So if you've missed any of the content, we got the 101 free agents, we got it by position, we've got about five or six big features. Mark looked at what teams will spend a lot. It's all out there and go check it out. We have to be the only podcast that at the conclusion of segments sits around and decides

if we did a good job or not. We just pass ourselves on the back from being so awesome. Barry Horowitz style. Harowitz-in-our-R-Sing ourselves. A lot of weeks, sometimes we're just trying to survive. We're, you know, mailing it in a little bit. But the last 10 days, we don't need to go public with that. The last 10 days we have been on fire.

Very good. All right, moving on, there's a new game. Speaking of, you know, not just settling or resting on your laurels, got a new game. All right. I love Dan's games. For the podcast. This game is a great one. And Greg, I'm going to, you know what the name of this game is, Greg?

This is called Let's Bet Lunch. what do you think that's a terrible name why because well you can't use the word bet right oh

you can't that's not good plus it just sounds cheesy all right well let me how about go get my lunch

I like that go get my lunch I like that because it's really not about buy it's really not the money jobs we can afford lunch right it's really not the money

so much as it's nice if someone brings you lunch that is true it's a service You know, we get away from the NFL huddle for a day. Yeah, that's true. Gold standard behind the glass. Standards and practice is, go get my lunch, is that, are we allowed to use that?

I'm going to err on the side of no, but we'll leave it implied from now on and just call it, go get my lunch. That sounds good. Should we go go get my lunch female dog? No, no, no, that's just. What about, go get my lunch, bitty? No, go get my lunch is good, right? I like that. All right, that's good.

All right, so anyway, these are the rules of go get my lunch. That's it. That's all it is, you know, going forward. Each of us will take our turn. We will make a prediction of sorts or kind of a bold statement. And then the rest of the room has a chance to jump in and say, that's not going to happen, you know? Go get my lunch, you know, that type of situation. And you could take the person up on that challenge.

That is going to be implied for me. Yes, from now on, implied. So you could take them on that challenge, essentially, and then however it unfolds, you either owe the sandwich or you're going to, you know, get a sandwich. And that person, whoever throws it out there, can take on as many as three. You know, we can bring gold standard in on this, too.

Take on even four sandwich bets if you want, or just one. It's your choice. So it will make itself more clear as you get a game. One thing, it's not just like go make a piece of cheese in between two slabs of white bread. It's go get me a high-octane sandwich somewhere, right? An elaborate sandwich.

An elaborate sandwich. It cannot come from, you know, Ralph's, like one of those supermarket wrap-up ones you just pick up. It has to be something that was purchased at a very nice, you know, a deli or something like that, a restaurant. Good. That's respected in the region. Something like that.

All right. Wes, why don't you get us started? Okay. Arthur Jones, Ravens Defensive End, the older brother of Patriots sackmasters Chandler Jones and MMA fighter John Bones Jones Jim Harbaugh or John Harbaugh said the other day if you put the game tape on you know teams are going to bid high on this guy

I'm taking the Colts you guys get the rest of the field he signs with the Indianapolis Colts Hmm well that's too easy I mean I got to take that I'll take that every time unless you have some sort of inside information I do have inside information It's not inside. It's just, it's commonly known.

It's out there on Google. You know, Chuck Pagano used to be the defensive coordinator for the Ravens. Yes, he did. Did you know that when Pagano had to shave his head because he had cancer? Arthur Jones, still playing for the Raven, shaved his own head. Really? In support of Chuck Pagano and said, is to show that we care and love him.

He's a great man and a great leader. He's going to get back to coaching and kicking butt. Arthur Jones, a huge Chuck Pagano. I'm taking my name out of this one. I won't take this one. What? You get 31 teams! Yeah, I'll take it.

I'm just a businessman. Anytime the odds are in my favor, if they were setting these odds in Vegas, my side would be the favorite. It would. No matter what you say with your... There's a sandwich on the line. This isn't inside information.

Well, from a guy that shaved his own head this morning, I don't trust him at all. It's a solidarity thing. All right. Cessler, yours. All right. I'll mark that down. Yeah, we should keep track of this.

That would be smart. If there are two people against one, do they have to both give him a sandwich? No, Westkin has the option of picking up all the sandwich bets or just one. Got it. All right, here we go. It is, what is it, March 7th right now? Yes. On March 14th, Mark Sanchez will be an Oakland Raider.

I'll take that. You're betting that will not happen. No way. I'm taking all. I have a feeling I'm going to. take every bet because if they're bold by nature it'd be an upset so i'm taking that i kind of agree with i'd never go against the cessler how'd that work out if you were picking games last year salty well i do so you're saying by next week free agency dan yeah begins on tuesday

and that gives that raiders plenty of time to swoop in i believe they're the team that said if this guy hits the open market, he'd be our starter today. The first time Reggie McKenzie ever swooped in for anything. This is misguided in so many ways. First of all, Mark Sanchez, not that great a quarterback. Still on the Jets at this point, too. The bigger thing is the March 14th. I don't feel like Mark Sanchez is that free agent that, oh, that first night of free agency,

Reggie McKenzie and Dennis Allen are knocking on his Manhattan beach. Not the first night. Hey, we got to impress him. Let's get Santas now before the rest of the league swoops. The reason I feel so confident is he also is coming off a major shoulder operation. I don't imagine teams are going to race to sign him when they can probably just as easily wait it out a few weeks and track his progress. So the way I should play this game is to come up with stuff that's so milk toasts and rock solid that I win everybody. You're confident, right?

I am very confident. So let's do it. Have the Jets released him yet? Can I bet multiple sandwiches against you? Absolutely not. Will you take multiple sandwiches here? You take, since I got it in first, I have the bet, but it's up to Mark if he wants to take multiple bets. Yeah, I'm going against you on this one, too.

But Greg's sandwich will be more of a finger food sandwich because I don't like the attitude right now. But I'm going to give Jets fan Dan Hansis, who will be losing really a guy that you love in Mark Sanchez. I'm going to buy you a big sandwich. I have a conflicted relationship with him. Put me against Mark on this one too. So three sandwiches on the line here. I'm going to get taken to the house. So you have until.

Just, you have until March 14th. The Jets still have to release him. That's why that should happen in the meantime. That could happen right now. That could happen by nightfall. Or not happen until March 50th. That's fair. That's how I would lose.

This is a real Sessler right here. All right, Greg, your turn. This one is more out of spite than logic. All right. Julian Edelman will get more guaranteed money than your boy, Golden Tate. I'll take that, definitely. Proving once again, Julian Edelman, is an underrated star for the ages.

I will take that bet as well. All right, bring it. I like it. Do you remember last year about November when I wrote an article was calling him one of the most athletic players in the NFL and one of the reasons the Patriots are winning? You know who agrees with you? The greatest NFL AM host of all time, Pat McAfee, who just re-signed a big contract with the Colts.

One of the best punters in the league. Knows punt returners well. This week he broke down his top three. five punt returners in the NFL, had a lot of breakdowns of who keeps them up at night, the strategy to go away from. He knows a lot more than you or I, Chris Wesleyan. Number three on the list, Percy Harvin. Number two, Jacoby Jones, but the number one punt returner in the league, Julian Edelman.

So do you know what happened when Pat McAfee broke down the Packers' offense? He called John Coon, the lifeblood of the Packers' offense. Not his field of expertise. He's punt returners. Maybe football analysis is not a field of X. He panicked and started dancing. Maybe dancing is his field of expertise and football analysis is not.

Greg, just so I have this right, you think Edelman will get more guaranteed money than Golden Tate? Yeah. Okay, I agree with you. I have him as an overpaid guy, potentially. I think that's happening. So, will you take both sales advice?

Oh, yeah. Okay, so. I don't find it manly, really, if you would not. take both the sandwiches right i mean what kind of better you make i would agree with that i only have one i feel like you gotta take them off that would be strange listen to incognito over here i was trying to come up with the right word and it didn't happen he's gonna he's calling us jonathan barn you will go to vegas with us all right craig we're going um all right my

um my turn i will say oh what the hell jeras bird Gyroos Byer Will against all odds shocking the world re-sign with the Buffalo Bills

All right I'll take that I'm taking that Coming on back You're just handing sandwiches away To keep on that This is The difference between

Dan and the rest of us And this is why I love him He just brought this up So we could get that Gyrrisford Drop back in For the good of the show

Selflessly giving away sandwiches. I had a good Chad Hennie one lined up, but then, you know, the coach comes out and says that he's going to be the starter week one. So I had to go with something else. These are like $13 sandwiches we're talking about that you just lost three of. Yeah, but I've already won two in my mind, so we're in good shape right now. I like this game.

I have a couple more. Wait a second. Wait a second. Everyone, nobody thinks this could possibly happen? It's not happening. Not in this room, apparently. They just gave us money to Aaron Williams. And Mario Williams, too.

A lot of Williams is. I'll tell you what. I'm only taking Greg's sandwich bet. That's unmanly. I don't care. I don't care what you guys do. Why is the Greg? I was the first one to say it. I don't care.

I think we were a tie. You can taunt me if you want. That was strategic. Thank you. You got another one, Wes? Go ahead. That is the ultimate lack of confidence sign, though. I'm going to go out on a flimsy limb here.

The first free agent signed. Ooh. We'll be Brandon Albert to the Cardinals. Ooh, that's a good one. I agree with you, so I don't want to wager food items. You have every other free agent about it. I bet you a sandwich on this. But that's extremely logical.

So when the free agency window opens. Right, but the odds are astronomical. There are hundreds of other free agents that all they have to do is beat them to the punch. I have a good feeling of this, not getting involved. I'm in. I'm in. Take them both? I'm taking both sandwiches because I'm manly.

Darno Dockett tweeted out on Friday. I like this culture, by the way. That Brandon Albert will be joining the Cardinals. Did he? We don't know if he was joking or not, but he said, welcome to the bird gang, Brandon. I didn't even know about that. That's why I'm not touching this thing. They're training together.

I think he was just either getting him in trouble or releasing some tampering information. They're going to have a fax issue, which leads to the deal getting done 15 minutes later, which is all takes. It doesn't matter if he signs with him, he has to sign first. I loved it in 20 and 14. We're still faxing deals. What if we just tweaked, go get my lunch, just for some categories, what if we all? all picked who's first to sign, and if any of us are right, that person gets four sandwiches. I'm in on that.

I know that's a little crazy. Because the odds on you being right is tough. I'm willing to go out. But I kind of like this. It gives some fun steaks to next Tuesday at four. The only thing I don't like is some of the pressure about the number of sandwiches. Ted Wells is going to have to investigate the studio. It's getting to that point, I think.

Yeah. Well, they could even out, though. But you're right. Someone could be down seven or eight sandwich. I don't want an NFL gum shoe in my life. All right, one more. Wait, I thought we... This is going well.

Let's have a few more. I was throwing that out. I thought we were going to each pick a player to first sign. What if we did that? Oh, I see what you're saying. Yeah, we could do that. First player to sign. I will go with Baird.

You took mine. Jairair. Jairos. All right, Mark takes Jairus Bayard. I'm going Michael Johnson to the Vikings. How about that? Who is Byrd going to, Mark? Oh, I have to provide that information?

If you get the player, that's good enough. Cleveland Browns. Okay. I'll say Golden Tate is going to come off the market immediately. So they were making now side lunches. That would be bizarre if gold, although you never know. The Jaguar. Lions.

Wow. I don't know. Who knows? Yeah. Who knows ultimately? Anybody else? All right. Some other bets?

Wait, did everyone pick one? Well, he picked Albert. Zach could get in on this one. Zach, get in. I was going to go Tate. Can I go Tate to a different team? Sure. Sure.

Timebreaker. This is huge because I have no idea what's going on. Right. Tate. Right. Here it is. The Blackburn Rovers. I was going to say Manchester United.

You're still on my thunder here. Manchester. Tate to the Tate to the Tate. Titans? Does that work? Yeah, why not? Sure. Interesting. Let's go with that. It's all right.

I'm not writing any of this down. We all have to remember this. The number 34 player on our list being the first player signed is a long shot anyway, so why not the Titans? If the Gold Standard gets this right, ooh, he's a master. We're talking like three kinds of Italian meats.

Yeah. All right, one more, then we've got to go. I'm willing to put more sandwiches on the line here. All right, go. The Houston Texans Pass up to Davy and Clowny and draft a quarterback at number one overall Mm-hmm Texans with a QB at number one

Yeah I agree with that Oh man, that's tough Mark looks like he wants to do it I'll go sandwich with you on that All right I'll take a sandwich with you on that All right

That's the first one where the favorite is what you you said. Not by a ton, but it's the favorite. You'd have to make the game fun. I didn't want it to be like, you have to put something out there. It's a good one.

Two more sandwiches. All right, one more? Did you write that down? I stopped writing them down. We'll have to, we'll have Lyle handle it. Great. I'll be eating liver for lunch. How about the highest paid player in free agency

would be a fun one? I don't know how you measure it. I guess guaranteed money. Yes. This is a good one. Highest paid. we each take someone I think I'm going to go again

could Michael Johnson be I'm going to go with Eugene Monroe is the highest paid player in free agency That's who I was going to take you I actually think Michael Johnson will be the highest paid All right yeah I think that's a good pick

Dan you're writing on this down over there What's going on? No I already said I'm not writing it down We're going to have Lyle handle it I think yeah Monroe Yeah he's going to get the left tackle money I don't know if anybody's going to top that. That is unless Garrett Graham comes out of the ether to snatch a contract that stuns us.

And let's not sleep on what Cumbie gets. Cumbie is going to be the centerpiece of a new dynasty in New York. Couldn't fill a pillow. Don't want to sleep on it. Wow. All right. So we're going to have all this stuff noted and the sandwiches will be changing hands. We will be back on Monday.

And this time I mean it. NFL Media Insider Ian Rappaport will be in studio and we'll talk free agency, which will be right around the corner at that point, less than 24 hours away. That's exciting. Anything else you gentlemen want to share before we leave today? Oh, my map didn't arrive yet, but it should be there this afternoon. Oh, that's good. I was out of the house early this morning, so I don't know if it's probably there by now. But that's close.

Yeah, I think Amazon Prime let me down on this one. Whoa. Yeah. And you have a very close relationship. Well, I'm the only one that has a relationship. You're a black card member. I've taken a blood off. I'm looking forward to not having to buy any sandwiches for the next month.

All right, that's it. We'll be back Monday. This is Dan Hansa signing off for the mailman, the sizzler, the boss, the gold standard behind the glass. Until then. Really, really good. This is an I-Heart podcast.