NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Fan phone-in, Comeback Player of the Year 2014!

Episode Date: June 2, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal and Chris Wesseling -- takes stock of the big names around the NFL returning from tough campaigns to compile its shortlist of 2014 Comeback Player of the Year candidates.  Elsewhere, the gang picks apart all the latest headlines from across the league and fields some phone calls from ATL Nation.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the League podcast deserves its own a football life. 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 some heroes, Chris Wessling and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys? Hey, Dan.

What is happening? You thought this is going to be a firecracker of a show today. I just had a feeling. I had a Cessler. You have a feeling. Yeah, I have a Cessler that there's a little heat, a little heat in a good way. Mark Cessler out of the studio today on his day off to see. decided not to come in, which to me speaks to his passion for the project.

Your thoughts, the boss. That's not fair at all. I hope he doesn't hear that. We know he doesn't listen to the show, so that's okay. He's very busy. Anything can be saying. I sympathize with him. He's a father of two young boys.

A lot of errands thrown, a lot to do it. Today off, enjoy it. It's June. Mark actually texted yesterday morning to say that he suspected that his sons had gotten into bath salts, which it seems in the Sessler household, Sometimes things just go off with his two little boys. When you have two kids that are sub four years old, anything's possible, it seems. Yeah, when you're taking shots at him not coming, all you are is taking a shot at Simone,

trying to, you know, give her some help. That's Mark's wife, for those that aren't aware of the family structure. Okay, so, yeah, good show. Mark will be back Wednesday. I will be leaving for a vacation to Tejas, Texas, country that is south of Oklahoma. Will you or will you not be on a boat drinking a beer with Cedric Benson at some point? The first two parts I probably will be said if I could find said, yes. But they're Baylor people down in Texas, the people I hang out with.

So I don't know if Benson would be involved. We have a big show today. Big show. We are going to talk about Chris Wessling's piece on the comeback player of the year. You offered up some predictions. I think we talked about that a little bit a few weeks ago, but we're going to really get into it and chew on it a little bit. We're also going to take some phone calls,

which is, I don't think we've ever done that before in this show. We've taken phone calls for, of course, Win West's Toaster, which, by the way, the gold standard is back next Monday, a week from today. Back and better than ever. Yeah, can't wait. How's that going, by the way?

You know, it's all right. We've only lost a few good men to the elimination chamber, but it's, you know. That gold standard elimination chamber is one of the most frightening places in the world it's the price of success you know we run a pete carol like combine up there we sign everyone up but you know not everyone can hang when you said you renovated it what what was it just putting more spikes on the walls and new whips yeah uh fire chamber area pretty much yeah you know have you do you remember the hit 90s nicolodian show guts i do remember guts we have an agro crag in

there and it's it's very agro to save the least christ wrestling connecting on this i could tell yeah This is like, what's Nickelodeon? I never did watch Nickelodeon. Missed out. Yeah, so we're going to get some phone calls in there, and also, you know, we're going to talk a little bit about making the leap, which has come. We had a big meeting of the minds,

and that's coming on the NFL.com backslash ATL page, and we'll talk a little bit about our meeting that we had. But before any of that, the Gold Standard, how about we do some news? Let's do it. The Seattle Seahawks are no longer interested in Jermichael Finley. The former Packers' tight end visited with the Seahawks early in the offseason. They're the only team that Finley is visited with.

But NFL Media Insider Ian Rapp report reported Sunday, per source informed of the team's thinking that the Seahawks are out on the chase to sign the tight end, who, of course, is still a medical... question because of his neck injury that he suffered last October. Your thoughts, gentlemen? Well, the most interesting part of this whole thing is the insurance policy that he's taken out. And Ian's reported, Finley can cash out for $10 million and that he could have a tough decision on whether to return because of that $10 million or not if he's not guaranteed to make much money.

that's this year. So there's a couple things at play. Will a team even offer him a contract because he's been cleared by his own doctor, but it seems like no teams have cleared him? And if he is, and it's just a, let's say, a one-year, $2 million contract,

will he have a tough decision to make in terms of just deciding to hang it up? This situation seems like it was designed by Mark Sessler, one of his little games. You can have $10 million, tax-free, and never play football again, or you can be a health risk at age 26 and risk whether you might never get a contract

worth more than $2 million. Or earn five times the amount of $10 million or suffer a life-changing injury, which shouldn't be forgotten about that. His doctor says he's not going to be at more of a risk, but clearly he's got a neck problem and that has to be part of the thinking of him returning to the field. Does anyone in this room or behind the glass watch Silicon Valley on HBO?

No, I'm going to eventually, but I haven't. Everyone should watch it. Season finale just occurred on Sunday. But it's very interesting in that show, the company, Pied Piper, the guy that runs it, has a chance to sell his compression software to this fake, like, Google-like company called Huli for $10 million. And he has to make the decision to go with his own company and move forward and roll the dice or take the $10 million. And that's exactly what I thought of with Joe Michael Finley. 10 million and walk or roll the dice

I believe you called this one at the beginning of the free agency that he won't be cleared nearly as easily as he thinks he will Yeah doesn't he have to not take the money or else the show ends Well that's I mean that's different I'm sure they I'm sure that's a major reason why he took the money For the narrative of the program but yeah No that's that was the decision he was facing now Finley will I mean that's interesting like if you put yourself in your in those shoes

I guess it depends we'll really find find out how much Dr. Michael Finley loves playing football. If he's cleared to play, I think he'll play. If he's cleared. I think if he's cleared by the teams, he'll play, and it'll be a risk for him, whether he can earn that future money. But I don't know if any team is going to sign him. I think that's why you're hearing this insurance policy thing again.

It sounds to me like maybe his agent is seeing what's out there. They visited with a mystery team on Friday. We don't know who that is. The Seahawks are out. The Packers seem interested, but it seems like they haven't cleared him yet. They're trying to create a market for Finley. And this insurance report coming out sounds to me like, oh, okay, now we're realizing we might not get an offer. This might not happen, and they're introducing this as another possibility.

I saw on Twitter, I can't remember who tweeted it, but this morning someone wrote, if Joe Michael Finley ever ended up on the Patriots and was paired with Rob Gronkowski, just give Tom Brady the MVP now, which I don't know if I believe that. But Finley is that level player where all of a sudden he would be the new Aaron Hernandez. Well, on some levels. I'm just curious what you guys think of Finley, the football player, when healthy. Wes and I had a conversation about it last week when it looked like maybe he was going to sign with the Packers. I mean, if he was a healthy Drew Michael Finley and we had done our top 100 and one free agents, he would have been in the top five.

Wow. He's been easy. He's been highly inconsistent throughout his career. But I thought last year before the injury, he would have been in the injury. he was playing better than he ever had in his career, and I would have considered him a top five tight end. Even that highly inconsistent, at no point, he's always been an above-average starter.

Right. That's worth a lot. So there aren't many above-average young starters sitting out there on free agency. Gentlemen, Josh Freeman started the 2013 season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a starter and the presumed franchise player there. He was released by the New York Giants on Friday.

So if you count, you got the Bucks, and then he went to Minnesota, released there, signed with the Giants, release there. And it leads you to think, where is Josh Freeman's career now on June 2nd, 2014? He doesn't have one? Is it over? 26 years old, the guy that as a 22-year-old was seen as one of the rising stars in the NFL? I mean, there's no injury here. There was no, it was just the guy lost his way and apparently has struggles picking up a playbook. Is this the end of the road?

I don't want to say it's over, but I think it's one of these. He's at a crossroads, and the NFL teams are going to want to see some real penance out of him. He's got to have to work hard. He's going to have to show that he is showing up for meetings. He can be a team leader. And it seems like he, whether he did that when he was 22 or 23, he stopped doing it when he was 25 or 26. So teams want to see that. What happened in New York?

I can't buy that they just cut him because Eli Manning is back on the practice field and they want to make sure Ryan Nassab gets the backup snaps. He had to have been super unimpressive from what they saw. It can't be on field either, though. If something happened, it must have been behind the scenes because they cut him practically before OTAs even started. They had a couple days on the field. I mean, they can't make an evaluation on whether he's a good player or not.

So I have to think there's more to this story or else why did they sign him in the first place? Curtis Painter is still on this roster. There could be less to the story. They didn't sign him until Eli underwent surgery. And they cut him as soon as Eli got back on the field. But they knew that Eli wasn't going to miss the season or anything. They figured they were going to give him a shot. They never even gave him a shot.

I have to feel like either he wasn't happy with the situation or they weren't or something or else, what was the point of ever signing them in the first place? Ryan Nassab and Curtis Painter are on the roster. This is a guy, Josh Freeman, that we thought would be hitting free agency this offseason and signing a big-time contract. He turned down some long-term contract offers. We thought he'd be a guy like Andy Dalton a year ago at this time. Who would have you said had more market value, Josh Freeman or Dalton?

Freeman. It's comparable. And you could make a case for either guy, but he was a guy asking for, that could have been asking for a lot of money. Now he can't even get a job. Change happens quickly in the NFL. Here's some news that happened Friday, but we obviously, our last show was on Thursday,

so we're getting to it now. Darrell Washington, one of the more underrated defensive players in the whole league for the Arizona Cardinals, has been suspended indefinitely. The NFL announced Friday that Washington has been suspended without pay for at least one year

for violating the league's policy and program for substances of abuse. The suspension is effective. effective immediately. Of course, Washington had been suspended four games last year for a violation of the substance abuse policy. He also was sentenced in April by an Arizona judge to one year probation for assaulting a former girlfriend. Now he has this. And gentlemen, before I throw it to you, I just want to read what really jumped out to me after this was Cardinals GM Steve Kime, who had this statement to say where he basically just unloaded on Washington. It's completely unacceptable that

Darrell has once again put us in this position. We all know what the consequences are and we'll deal with him. And he takes it from there. But this is an unhappy team that loses one of their best players for the year and maybe more. He had a $10 million bonus this offseason. I think the Cardinals have paid $5 million of it. And they might try to get some of that back, according to NFL Media Insider Ian Rappaport. So, yeah, they're livid.

That statements what you hear from a guy and a team that, ready to go after some money and potentially ready to cut Washington when it becomes sensible for the salary cap purposes. I don't know if they've made that decision or not, but usually when you come out that strong against your own player, you're just about done with them. And this is a, listen, let's really, let's keep this in perspective. This is a crushing blow to the Arizona Cardinals' chance of being the team of ATL. A leaf a blow.

Really? Yeah. You think it's over? Darrow Washington, the only player in the NFL over the last three years, even missing four games last year with 300 tackles and 15 sacks. The fastest inside linebacker in the league until Ryan Shazir entered the league. You and your Shazir, you've got to just throw that in there. Shazzy.

Some Shazir Lov. Shady Shazy Shazby. Carlos Stansby was on the fringes of the defensive player of your discussion last year. They're without two of their three best defensive players. Well, they're a very talented defense even without Darrow Washington. I mean, he's a great player. A top 100 in the NFL player, according to our list, and I agree with that. But they still have Callais Campbell, Darnel Docket, Patrick Peterson, Tyrone Matthew.

I mean, those are guys who are all as talented as Darrow Washington. Honey Badger might not even be there for week one. He's probably not going to be playing like Honey Badger for the first half of the season. Kevin Minter and Larry Foot are now your inside linebackers. That's a problem. This is not going to be nearly the defense they had last year. I think they might be middle of the pack. Well, luckily you have Carson.

Palmer to really cover up a lot of problems. Well, you mentioned the inside linebackers. The outside linebackers are Matt Shaughnessy and John Abraham, which I picked out as maybe a weak spot of the team going into free agency, coming out of free agency, and now just the entire linebacker position is a problem. There aren't many guys in the league that can rush the passer from the spot that Washington plays and cover like Washington. He's a unique talent, but we've seen this in the NFL.

You don't suddenly become a bad team because of one guy. They have four other guys just as talented as different. of Washington that team. He lost Dansby and Washington. That's fair. And Matthew is a shell of himself, probably. It's almost as big a loss as Sean Lee with the Cowboys. True.

I also would like to say, Greg, next time one of us messes up on the ATL team, you should release a damning statement. You better watch out. I know. It might be, actually. Retract that. Yeah, moving forward, more suspension fund, get ready, society. The New York Giants have waived safety Will Hill Just three days after the NFL suspended Hill for six games

For violating the league substance abuse policy Hill was a strong player on the Giants defense last season But the team obviously decided he was no longer worth it As a guy who wasn't trending upward in terms of getting his act together No matter what Which way this country is trending on the marijuana issue If you're a football player in the NFL, your teammates have to be crushed by this,

and your coaches have to say, how can I rely on you? Do we know it was for marijuana? Three years in a row, drug suspension. Darrell Washington, by the way, did release in a statement. He didn't try to pretend that there was some wrong test. He said it was for marijuana. Hill is a guy who came into the NFL with issues,

so the Giants probably felt like they were giving him another chance when they drafted him. He served a four-game suspension already. He violated the substance abuse policy, as you mentioned last year as well, so they just must feel like he's out of chance. You mentioned coming into the league with substance abuse issues. When he was at Florida, he was tweeting about marijuana all the time.

I mean, this is a guy who has... You probably shouldn't do that. Displayed poor judgment quite a bit. Now, I kind of tuned out of the Giants as much as I could down the stretch because they already are the most boring team in the league just about. Well, Tennessee Titans are like, whoa, Greg. What about them? I'm always a little bored by the Giants.

Me too. And they weren't very good last year, which, you know, compounded it. Greg has issues with the Giants. I wonder why. I do. But you've been saying that Will Hill might have been their best defensive player last year. That's news to me, or best defensive back. He made our making the leap list a couple of times down the stretch last year.

Here's some numbers for you. He returned him. Week 5. At that point, the Giants were allowing 36 and a half points a game. The rest of the season, they allowed less than 20 per game. Yeah, but from the outside, I don't know. How is that a cause and effect? Dude, you were impressed by Will Hill is what I'm saying. I thought he was their best defensive player until Justin Tuck became unblockable late in the year. But pro football focus, not a Bible, but after Will Hill returned for suspension in week 5

was their highest ranked safety in the NFL for the rest of the way. It's a long way of saying he'll have a job eventually. because guys that are that talented and young get a chance with another team. My favorite is the Chris Wessling pro football focus qualifier. Look, I like pro football focus. They do a wonderful job.

That is consistent on this podcast. There will be a qualifier before anyone. I like them. They do a wonderful job, but people shouldn't take anything we say as gospel either. Oh, come on. Right. It's just putting numbers next to something

that's inherently allergic to numbers. It's tough that you're qualifying certain things. We should have one of the other guys on here to hash it out in, like, July when we have nothing else. Why not? That doesn't sound bad. That sounds fun. At least not to us. I don't know what the listeners are in on that.

Mark would love that. Statistician. I know we have some PFF staffers that listen to the show, too, so. Haba, uh-huh. Reach out. By the way, Wes, I've meant to mention off the top of the show. Last night at a bar, you hung out with a notable ESPN personality watching Spurs basketball. Two nights ago?

Two nights ago, yeah. I don't know if we can get into who it was, but I just wanted to let the public know that Wes is so plugged in with major sports culture that throwing back bruskees with stars. This person impressed me. It was unlike any other,

I'll just say, woman I've ever met. Is there a love match, potentially? I think she has a bigger fish to fry than Chris Wesley. Chris, you're quite a nice catch. Thank you for fish Catch I got that

And Greg You were at the Kid Space Museum In Pasadena I heard Yeah that's Really the difference Between our two lives

Right now Wes is Hanging out Throwing back booze I'm there with my mom And my daughter At the Kid Space Museum A delightful time

At least until my kid started puking Because she had a walnut In something Wow That's what I'm looking Brought it down All right

So that was the weekend. And I stayed at home all weekend, basically, because my wife is already in Texas. I'm following behind her. And then I just realized, oh, I don't really have too many friends in my life. But we hung out Friday night. We did. We hung out Friday. That's true.

Barry in the lead. And there's a video of Mark that probably he doesn't want out there. Oh, yeah, Dancing Ceciler. We can never, that can never see the light of day. In fact, he's probably going to be upset that he even brought it up. But he doesn't listen to the show, so we're in the clear. Nobody tweeted Mark about this. This needs to stay secret.

There is a video. Nobody will ever see it except you, Mark, and I. Well, now I know about it. I insist on seeing it. Oh, Sessler's going to kill you, us. I insist on it. Oh, he's going to kill you. He made me promise that no one else can ever see it.

The best part is it was a huge dance hit in the late 90s using a Steve Winwood sample of Valerie. The European version of Valerie. People should tweet at Mark to let us release this video. Mark, I'm not behind this. You brought it up. I didn't bring it up. I did not bring it up. All right, let's move forward.

Hey, Chris Wessling, who will soon be murdered by Mark Sessler, the top comeback player of the year candidates for 2014. You know, you seem to have your finger on the pulse of this entire battle every year because you've done some research on who wins this thing, which is always fun to talk about who is the comeback player. Your thoughts and how does this thing shake out usually? In the sense that it's essentially undefinable, I guess I do have my finger on the pulse of it. There's no hard and fast rolls for it.

Anybody can win for any reason, it seems like. Philip Rivers wasn't coming back from anything but a bad season, and he won last year. And it wasn't even that bad a season. Yeah, it was. I mean, it was bad, but just compared to, it wasn't coming back from Brandon Whedon's 2013 or anything like that. So basically, here are some of the rules. Unless you have shredded your knee, Adrian Peterson, Willis McGahey, you can't win it as a running back. Jerome Bettis won it 15 years ago because his career basically washed out with the Rams after like three or four years.

Steelers trade for him and he has an awesome year. But that's kind of the exception to the role. Wide receivers essentially have to have a career year. Randy Moss wanted his first year in New England. Steve Smith won it after, I believe, breaking his leg and had a career year the next year. No tight end does ever want it. which is interesting because Gronk is going to be up for the award this year. Only three defensive players in history have ever won the award.

Two of them coming back to back in 1999 and 2000. Remember Joe Johnson of the Saints defensive entry? Oh, yeah. I can picture Grunk working out in some futuristic room with a picture of the comeback player of the year trophy staring at him, and that's what motivates him. He wants that gold. Not really.

Your Michael Finley, would he be eligible for the award? Sure. Of course. Why not? He would be a strong candidate if he could get cleared and plays well. So we talked about this. I actually tried to convince Wes to take a softball pants bet, which he eventually took, by the way,

as many listeners should know, on Johnny Mansell starting the season, and then somehow Tyler Thigpin is involved with some weird West stipulation you put in there. I can't remember. You muddy the waters with it. What is it again? It's very simple. If Brian Hoyer starts over a healthy Johnny Mansell in week one, I will eat my softbook.

But if Tyler Thigpin starts over a healthy Johnny Manzell... Tyler Thigpin doesn't even have to be in the discussion because all it is is if Brian Hoyer starts over... All right. Anyway, so before any of that happened, before that shocking move of West taking on that bet, I had tried to get you to take RG3 as comeback player of the year or actually, I should say, the field over RG3,

and you would not agree to it. true to form, you have them as number one on your list here as the top 10 candidates to win the comeback player of the year. Quarterbacks get extra points. They're in the spotlight the most, and in the history of this award, they've basically won it every other year. So he's coming back from being the first player in NFL history to be benched down the stretch for no reason at all?

He's coming back from a bad season. And then they don't call it a benching? He's coming back from a lot. What did they call that again? Conscious uncoupling? I mean, when they, that's, we've almost forgotten it at this point. That was one of the strangest NFL stories of the last decade. And when Kyle Shanahan, you know, said that Mansell reminded him a lot of RG3,

I loved, I forget who it was, but someone tweeted back to, that mean they're going to sit him when healthy the last three weeks of the season? He loved that tweet. Yeah. I thought that was horrible. Here is the top 10. I'll run it down real quick. And then Greg, maybe you could shoot something out off it.

RG3-1, Gronkett 2, which makes sense. Julio Jones 3, DeMarcus Ware 4, Michael Vick 5, Jeremy Macklin, Clay Matthews, Von Miller at 8, he's a sleeper. If he comes back healthy, and motivated, and he goes nuts. Percy Harvin, 9, Aaron Rogers, 10. Aaron Rogers, that would be surprising. Yeah, I think... I don't know if he missed quite enough time.

He missed seven games, but I think the voters were probably holding against him that he came back and was instrumental in them winning the NFC North. Well, then Percy Harvin has to be eliminated, too, right? That's why I have them so far down on the list, because Harvin, basically didn't play during the regular season, but was huge in the Super Bowl. I think Miller is a sleeping giant here. His injury was so late in the season

that unless he's got like Adrian Peterson alien DNA, I don't know if he's going to be like explosive in week one. Well, it also raises a moral question. Can people be coming back from their own substance abuse problems or suspensions? Like, does that count as a comeback? I think it probably does. Well, the, he missed games for that, too. Right, but the ACL tear is what he's really coming back from.

He had already come back from the suspension by mid-season. Hey, this comeback player of the year is pretty nebulous, as you say. You could just come up with anything that you want. Granc, the problem with him is, do we think he's going to be back in week one? If he is, and he actually played a healthy season, I would take my chances with him over RG3, just because I think he's a better player. RG3 has so much going for him now. I mean, he was probably the most spectacular player in the league in 2012.

Now he has way better weapons than he's ever had. The only thing that spooks me, and I will say this, as I mentioned, I have these bailer ties now through marriage. So I root for RG3. I really do, and I think he seems like a good dude. It almost seems too perfect. It's like two set up, well set up for him, and whatever things seem like they're absolutely going to,

to happen it doesn't always play out that way is anyone else saying he's going to become back player of the year besides me is anyone else talking about this besides us that's what i'm saying and i don't think anyone's even thinking about it's under the radar the the thing that could get in his way is just what we were worried about him last year is he got to develop into a great quarterback is what we saw in his first year that repeatable is there a chance he could just be mediocre again on a on a below average team none of us expect the redskins to be particularly good I do. You do?

Yes. How good? I think they easily threaten the Eagles for the title. All right. That would be fun. How about Eli Manning, who's on Wes's more players coming back, the first name there. He's got the quarterback thing, so you don't need to necessarily be an all-time player coming off an absolutely terrible season. I like that.

The guy has shown statistically that he could put up numbers, and, you know, a lot of people argue whether he's great or good or not. But if he does return to the Eli that put up numbers and the John. or back in the playoffs, he seems like he could be in good position. That would essentially be just repeating the Phillip Rivers year. His offensive line fell apart. His receivers weren't very good last year, which is exactly what Rivers dealt with. I just can't put Eli Manning on a positive list. Fair enough.

I think Ware is a great choice to Marcus, where going to Denver, where he's going to be the center of attention. Put it this way. If he has a good season for them, he's going to be near the top of the list. Why wouldn't he be? I don't want to pull a negative Sessler, by the way. but I just have doubts about that guy ever staying healthy for 16 games. See, I have more doubts of Michael Vick actually playing well enough to win the award. I think that's a strong candidate if he had a good season.

People would love that. Right, that's the only reason. I just have my doubts whether it'll happen for him. He started about 9th on this list, and then I realized my studies showed that quarterback gets such an edge. I have to have two quarterbacks and a five. My studies show your hypotheses revealed. Yes. I know nothing about science.

Oh, yes, you do, sir. Anything else, Greg? Julio Jones, another strong one. We've kind of forgotten about him. The wide receivers coach for the Falcons said something interesting this weekend. I just want to read a quote that I found someone interesting. We'll be watching him a little bit, kind of standing on pins and needles. I think if he jumps in the air to catch the ball, if he jumps on top of some defensive back and some DB is under him, you're nervous.

Obviously, it's not a crazy. quote that makes you nervous about Julio Jones, but he's not back playing yet, and you have a coach acknowledging that even when he is back, there's still some concern about how that foot will react. I mean, that's just something interesting to keep in mind moving forward.

I have a question. Yes, sir. Has anyone ever won a rookie of the year and comeback player of the year in their first three years in the league? That seems crazy. That's a good question. We're going to miss this gold standard. He's taking a shot at you. I wonder, who's he taking a

Shout out? He's basically taking a shot at Wes questioning the likelihood of RG3 pulling this double header off. Wes, you should call the Gold Center a little punk like Greg did. I thought that was a fair question.

Oh, okay. I'll research and get back to you. It's hard to imagine that would be true. That could have ever happened, much less than the first three years. No quarterback in history ever had a season as good as RG3 as a rookie. So you have to have an amazing rookie season,

most likely suffer a serious injury or second season, then return to being a great player in your third season. Yes. Seems like that could have happened through the year. Is it just a matter of the awards? If Greg Cook would have come back. Greggy Cook.

How about poor Terry Robesky, by the way? He used to be getting some, you know, you mentioned the wide receivers coach with that. It used to be a guy who got a bunch of head coach interviews. Now, never hear from him. He has to see his son Brian get cut from six, seven different teams in the NFL. Life is T-Rob, Annie.

I think he's going all right. Hey, the Gold Standard. Yeah, he's doing fine. The Gold Standard, you know what? Let's do some phone calls. We have such a great listenership. We're so grateful, including to the people in Canada, I will say, because there was some insinuation among people in social media

that I was somehow denigrating the Great White North. No way. Which couldn't be further from the truth. I love Canada. I just had a, you know, I had a girl there, and it didn't work out. I don't believe it, but it's, you know. Who doesn't love Canada? Canada's great.

Whenever, like, my wife and I are talking about someone and we realize, oh, we, you know, you surprisingly like them or they seem surprisingly nice, then there's always that moment where we look at it. Oh, he must be Canadian. Or she must be Canadian. That's always the answer to why you like someone so much. Why do you hate America so much? I like Americans, too. But Canadians, they always just have that little extra. No, I agree.

I haven't yet to meet a bad Canadian. I wouldn't go that far. They're batty average is much higher. It's been a great week for Canada. Two tennis players into the quarterfinals. Can't believe we got this far into the show without Greg talking about the French Open. I just read Agassiz's automobile.

Wow, we're going deep into that. We'll get into that afterward. I do want to know about his wig because I heard there's a great piece in that about it. Peace. All right, Gold Center. Who do we have on the phone? Let's talk to some people.

It's important to stay in touch. We don't want to be in some ivory tower disconnected from the populace. Yep. First up, we've got Indy Sarah. Oh, I love Indy Sarah. Salt of the Earth. Couldn't be closer to the ground. Forget Ivory Tower. This woman is, you know, she's an A.T.L. favorite, and I'm glad that we get to put her on the show. Yeah, a long-time listener and reader. And a music expert.

All right, so let's hear from her. All right. Here she is. Indy Sarah, are you there? Hello. This is exciting. We've known you as a Twitter follower for a long time. It's an honor, or it should be an honor for you, because you're the first ever. caller in this podcast history. Yes.

For a mail bag type of thing. Yeah. And from Indianapolis, Indiana, does that mean you're a cults fan? No, no. I'm of the opinion. Dan Quail is the first cult fan. I don't know anyone here before that. Wow.

No, I'm a Packer fan. Oh, you're a Packer fan. And then according to Twitter, you are an indie rock mommy, resident do-gooder, and professional nerd. That's all great. What is your favorite band of all time? Well, it's probably super chunk, but the snobby answers the pixie. Wow.

Super tramp? Super chunk. Super chunk. No, super tramp. It almost went on Wes's radar for a second there, but then it faded off. All right. So you are a Frank Black fan and you are a Packers fan. And now you will talk to us.

What's going on? Do you have anything to say? Any questions? What's going on? I do have questions. And actually, I'm in the conference room. This is the day before my last day on this job. Oh, wow.

You guys get busted. Who cares, right? Yeah, it was. It doesn't matter. It was worth it for us. Well, we hope that doesn't happen. But if it does happen, whatever, you know? Yeah.

Yolo. Say, LaVee. So what's up? So, what would you guys be doing if you weren't professional sports writer? would you be sitting in a cubicle like me? I feel like I've already done my time in a cubicle. Yeah, well. And now I'm doing it again.

Yeah, Greg, your answer. That's a good question. That's a great question. I shudder to think about that. I think I'd be working in television, in the sports television, hopefully producing. It wouldn't be too much different, but it may be more behind the scenes.

because that was sort of the track I started on and it was doable so that would have been somewhat acceptable but not nearly as fun as this All right, Wes I can tell you that I would not go back to the post office I might become a bartender at some point

to get by but I don't know if you guys know this that was going to be a librarian I was going back to school for library science when Greg hired me at Roder World like seven years ago Wow I could see that Like, my dream would be owning my own bookstore,

but that's the type of thing that you don't actually do. It just sounds nice. Right. So I wasn't going to answer that. I could see opening up a restaurant, too. Yeah, I was going to say, like, I always kind of had a dream of opening a, like, a bar and grill down on the Jersey Shore or something. Maybe one day when there's multiple millions in the bank, I could do it,

because then it will almost certainly fail as most restaurants do. And you would be the ultimate bartender. I like that bartender idea. Maybe my wife could be the car. hook. Oh, wow, we're on to something here. I'm sure your wife would love that. Why not?

Why not? The around the league bar and grill. What's the kids get a little older, you know? And I actually have a hook. I have a hook to this bar and grill that I won't reveal on air because it's an idea that's a million-dollar idea that I can't share with the masses. I have a standing offer from a man in North Carolina from 20 years ago to be a bartender at this guy's place. That's awesome.

You can't just walk into Huckapoo's and, say I demand a job. I usually just walk into Huckapoo's, walk behind the bar, and get my own beer. I was going to say, something Huckapoo or something Tybee Island related would seem to fit you less. Yes, yeah. Something like a dock guy, like a guy telling stories on the dock. Yes.

That would be perfect. They don't really pay for that. But this would pay. The first professional rock contour. Yeah, it would be a union job. Indy Sarah, thank you so much for calling. It doesn't sound like you got canned. No, no one's still good

Oh good So best of luck with wherever you're going next And thank you so much For listening and reading and everything Okay great You guys have a good day Thanks Sarah Thank you Sarah

Man why can't everybody be like that in the world Such a nice person you could tell Resident Do Gooder I don't have an answer for that Who else? Let's get another person on the line All right we have a gentleman named Patrick from Edmonton Canada Ah Patrick

Welcome to the Around the League podcast body Thank you for having me that air we were just talking about how much we liked canadian yeah we actually there was confusion over whether or not we'd get podcasts or something in the last one so i'm confirming that's good now we learned actually i was wondering if canada um had if there was a big fan base in canada and then gregg confirmed it via hard data that it is so huge so thank you not too cold yeah no patrick so what is up what uh what do you got to say i'm just uh chicken ass. Can I say that? I don't know.

Yeah, let it go. You can say it. Let it ride. No, man. I'm just killing time right now. I'm about to go get a subway sandwich. About to. A subway sandwich. That's good. That's good. Are you going high octane on that sandwich, Patrick? Absolutely as much meat as possible.

I was going to say, I don't know if there's such thing as a high octane subway sandwich. Are they a sponsor of ours? No. So we're in the clear. Actually, we have a hot sauce up here. you don't have. Really? That's an outrage. It ups the octane. Wow, that's good.

So, Patrick, if you had one question that you could ask to the heroes, what would it be? Because now's your chance. My one question for West, specifically, would be, do you know how bad you hurt my feelings when you rag on Bengals fans? I have a Cincinnati Bengals test. tattoo, and so it hurts me to the core when you basically are telling me Santa doesn't exist every season. Patrick, that is a horrible thing that you have to deal with in your life.

Chris Wesleyan, answer to it. That's a fair question. I do not know how bad I hurt your feelings. That would be my answer. You know, it's something that's rooted deep inside of me. I have my feelings hurt, you know. It was the crash side of unrequited love, Paul Brown Stadium. So I guess I lash out because I have had my heartbroken.

So that would be my apology to you. He still has unresolved feelings, Patrick, and he pretends that he's ambivalent. But really, he has strong negative feelings, which is the flip side of love. And it's some unresolved stuff going on. So I'm glad you're bringing this to the forefront. He is the kid that goes, the first one to find out that Santa doesn't exist and goes to the party and tells everyone. Is that true, Chris Wessling? Have you done that?

No, I would put it this way. If you were in Cincinnati in the mid to late 90s and you stayed loyal to the Bengals, you were hurting all fans if you stayed loyal to what they were doing. Have you run into this issue with your brothers, Chris, who many of whom are big-time Bengals fans? Some have season tickets and some listen to the podcast. Do they get annoyed by your anti-Bengals fervor? No, they don't. The Wesleyan clan are all critical thinkers, and they understand where I'm coming from with my Bengals hate.

But that doesn't mean they're not going to stop rooting for them. Patrick, before you go, it says according to your Twitter profile at the Cordyback, that's K-R-D-Y. I sing songs with my best friends. If you could sing one song with your best friend, who would it be? Well, luckily I put that to the test last night at karaoke. I don't remember it, but the footage was, I'm saying, glamorous by Fergie. so I guess that's got to be the answer. Wes, your thoughts.

Fergie, glamorous. That's hideous. I think we got... Wes and Patrick, we need to get him on the podcast together. It would be great. Be the new Mike and the Med Dog. All right, Patrick, thank you very much, buddy. We appreciate you listening and go Canada.

Thanks for having me. Peace. All right, bye. Should we take one more call? Yeah, let's do it. Let's do one more. Let's do one more. We're going to go now to a...

gentleman named Zach, so I realize I'm putting myself in jeopardy here. I might not be the favorite Zach of Around the League after this, which would hurt. Wow. I don't know who's under more pressure now. Let's take a risk here. Zach, are you there? Yes, sir. What's up?

You're live and with the guys. What's up, Zach. How are you, buddy? Welcome to the Around the League podcast. Oh, I thought I never make it. True story. Zach was on hold for seven hours before he got on. That is not true, but cool.

I had a call in sick today. actually to stay on hold. Zach, what... You are from Indiana, correct? Correct. Another Indiana fan. Are you a cults fan? Oh, actually, I was born in Baltimore.

Ah. So that wasn't tolerated in my household. Yeah, I could see why. I could see why. Well, you know, the original Indianapolis Colts or the Baltimore Colts. Sure. Sure, of course. Some throwback knowledge.

Yeah, that's good. You should be on Win West's toaster. Little no fact there. Wait, so deep. Deep enough. You're filling out. You're filibustering. Who's your team then?

Oh, Baltimore Ravens. Oh, you're a Ravens guy. I got you now. Yeah, no. I don't need to filibuster that. We all figured that out before Dan's back. No, I did not. It was coming together in slow motion.

Still blowing Dan's mind. The Colch used to be in Baltimore. What's going on? Do you have anything comment or a question or whatever? Well, you know what? I wasn't vetted for this. I didn't know what was coming. Gold standard.

Gold standard. He threw me under the bus here. Got to keep him on their toes. at first? Yeah, yeah, sure. Okay, this one's going to my little brother, Eli, Elite, Willie. Just wanted to say, hey, brag about being on the podcast. I already warned him, but just in case he didn't believe me. Well, you got to come with a question here, or else you risk getting cut out of the podcast.

I don't get cut. Hold on I don't want to get cut. I don't want this on the cutting room floor. I like the Zach-on-Zack crime involved in. I think he just wanted to stay the number one, Zach. And so he kind of, you know... Set him up to fail. Are you in... Go ahead. I got a question for you.

Sure. Baltimore Ravens fan. Besides Ray Lewis, do any of you have a favorite Ravens player of all time? It's the short list of top Ravens players. We're a new team. Right. Were you, by any chance, at the Ray Rice Press conference a couple weeks ago?

You know what? I wasn't invited. I don't know. I don't like the Ravens. I never did. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Zach, but I've always had an issue with the Ravens. Maybe because they always beat the Jets. I'll throw it to the other two gentlemen in the room. It's hard not to love Ed Reed in general, but I wouldn't say I ever thought of him as my favorite Raven. At the time, I had a Jones for Mark Clayton. I thought he was going to be great. Mark Clayton, I was convinced Mark Clayton for some reason was the apple of my receiver eye for that year or two, but didn't really come through. It was great. Yeah. That's a good question.

Jonathan Ogden, but how fun is a left tackle to watch? Right. Ed Reed was great. Yeah, Ed Reed was awesome, but I don't know that he was ever one of my favorites. I always kind of like Chris McAllister just because his style of play and how I like guys that are talkative. How about modern J Ed Reed? Do you think he's going to make that comeback? No, I don't think he'll ever play again.

That's a good question. I think the gas tank was on empty with Houston and the Jets. last year. How about Dennis Pitta, Immortal, Ring of Honor member. Just put the bust in Canton up right now. You almost have to go defense with this answer.

Yeah. Unless you're a big Jamal Lewis fan or... Who else? Adelius Thomas was fun at the time, but his Patriots days have ruined him in my eyes. But Adelius Thomas was another guy that was the time. Michael McCrary, Peter Bullware. What about special teams?

Dave Zastodil? I actually thought of... The gold standard. How does it drops it? All right, it's official. Gold Standard remains top, Zach. I actually thought of a... It was a good fight.

Jermaine Lewis was awfully good for a lot of years of a kick return. All right, Jack. And he was Super Bowl. He did, he did. Zach, you put up a great fight against the Gold Standard. He came out with a big clutch special teams answer to retain the Zach title. He did. He did.

He certainly did. But, hey, man, thank you very much for calling in, and thank you for listening. Oh, thanks for having me. Later, Zach. Later. All right, gentlemen, let's get out of here. By the way, before we go, I said I was going to mention, I'll just mention it in passing.

The Making the Leap, we have selected the 25 players that will be this year's around the League making the leap candidates, which basically, Greg, what does it mean to make the leap? It means a player that is on their rise of their career that is about to come into the national consciousness. a little more, and we're going to help push them a long way. We think they're going to have a great 2014. Sounds about right.

So we got that will start rolling out next week on the website, and we'll be talking about it more, but just know that we had a high-octane meeting where we really hashed it out. Feelings were hurt, but it didn't matter because it was all for the greater good of the website. Feelings were hurt? Oh, yeah, people were hurt. Kevin Patcha told me privately that he was very upset. You and Patra in private talks again. Yes, as always.

Vikings and Jaguars lead the list of most. players on the Making the Leap. How about that? Bertieze. Very good. All right. So we will be back on Wednesday. I am heading off on vacation.

As I said, I'm going to Texas. But the three gentlemen in this room are going to hold it down as is the gold standard. So until Wednesday, this Dan Hansa signing off, for the mailman and the boss and the gold standard. And thanks again to everybody that called in until Wednesday. It was set in in Oxford. In the heat of battle, your squad, don't let them down. Unlock elite gaming tech at Lenovo.com. Dominate every match with next level speed, seamless streaming, and performance that won't quit.

So you can push your gameplay beyond performance with Intel Core Ultra processors for the next era of gaming. upgrade to smooth high-quality streaming with Intel Wi-Fi 6E and maximize game performance with enhanced overclocking. Win the tech search. Power up at Lenovo.com. Lenovo, Lenovo. Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks.

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