NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: First rookie QB to start

Episode Date: May 13, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling and Marc Sessler -- sift through the aftermath of the 2014 NFL Draft, breaking down which teams landed gems in New York City. Which teams can bank on throwing their rookie quarterback right into the mix? Which NFL veterans should be fearful of getting passed by? All these questions, and more, answered on this edition of the "Around the League Podcast."Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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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. Does a great Charlie Casserly, you see. Welcome back to another district of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hins, and I'm joined by a room filled with heroes, Chris Wesley, Mark Sessler, and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys?

Hey, Dan. Welcome back. Back in the same room. It feels like a month since we were all sitting here. I wasn't, but. I'm just kicking back and relaxing without the pressure of having to deliver one of those intros. See, it feels nice. It was, I thought, I must say, I thought Greg did a nice job.

I don't remember Saturday's podcast. It's something of a blur. In fact, our boss, John Marvel, rolled over to the quad-quadrant pod sector this morning and remarked that Mark and I sounded, quote, punch drunk on Saturday. Yeah, that's about right. So if the listeners picked up on that and it, on some level, upset them or disappointed them, apologies. Oh, people love the draft podcast.

I think our listeners appreciate punch drunk. That's good. Mark and I, we made it back on Sunday. nearly died on the plane, a lot of turbulence. I watched The Secret Life of Walter Middy. That couldn't have been good. No, it was more like the secret Oscar grab of Ben Stiller. Not a good movie at all.

You just said that joke up for you. Home run? See, when you're in the chair, you got a six hour of plane ride to come up with that? I think it was a home run. But we're back now, and we have a lot to get to, right gentlemen? If you say so. Of course. Oh, do we not?

We got the NFL drafters happen. If you don't think we have a lot to get to now, wait until July. I mean, at least it's all fresh, where it's all kind of shaking out. It's because Ben Stiller, it was very obvious what he was going for. He was going for an emotional heft moment that the Academy would have been. We're back on this topic. So this is the first movie he's ever made where he doesn't play a complete screw-up? I don't remember it too much, actually.

Greenberg, great Ben Stiller movie. Go see that. How about that? All right. You want to go the indie route? That's good. I'd say just go see Zoolander a bunch of times. Or maybe Tropic Thunder.

All right. So big show today. We're going to talk about some draft fallout. Obviously, Greg, I should say, wrote a piece yesterday on collateral damage, 15 veterans. Actually, I wrote it and then just, yeah, Greg, you can use. Oh, really? You need, headlines have been a little fewer recently. 15 veterans that were hurt by.

the 2014 draft we're going to go over some names and talk about why they were hurt. We are also going to talk about the quarterbacks that were drafted on this weekend in the draft. Chris Wessling wrote a piece about which kind of ranking those quarterbacks and who has the best chance to start. Is it immediately, Wes? Well, we're going to discuss that, but some of them will start week one. Some of them won't start until 2017 or 18. Some of them will switch positions. Some of them will wash out of the league without ever starting. I looked into my crystal ball. Yeah, we're going to do a little team of ATL talk.

I have some things to discuss with you gentlemen about that. I was thinking about it on the plane while I was thinking about Ben Stiller's career. But before any of that, the gold standard, behind the glass, how are you, buddy? Doing just great. Thanks, Dan. I now see what the men that were in the studio were so excited about with your haircut. It's not that nice. Keeping it tight and keeping it right, and I respect it.

Appreciate that. And what are you wearing today? It looks like some type of... I'm wearing a soccer jersey. It's indeed a relic, as West pointed out from American soccer history. This is the New York Cosmos. Oh, yeah. Tele.

Exactly. Very good. Well, I'm sure you went to a Cosmos game or two. Flew that banner. So many. Like an old school pennant. Actually, it's funny you should... I'm thankful that you reminded me this.

I keep on bringing back my plane flight, which actually, I guess, was so eventful. I had the direct TV package, and I watched the end of the Portland Timbers, L.A. Galaxy game. Wasn't that an amazing end? Oh, man, an extra time. Two goals, gentlemen, an extra time. Can I just leave right now? My, my, what a finished. Two great touchdowns. I loved it. Yes. Is that what they called them? That's what they're known as. Hubba, hubba. So I watch soccer now, and everything's changing. So let's get into it. We'll start with the news. All right, so we all know the Cleveland Browns were the big stars of draft weekend.

especially at the start of draft weekend landing Johnny Mansell. One interesting note that came up. ESPN Cleveland's Tony Grossey had a source who says the draft card prepared to be given to Commissioner Roger Goodell in New York originally had Teddy Bridgewater's name on it. According to the source, the name was replaced by Johnny Manzell's name with 10 seconds left on the clock because of one man, the maniacally laughing owner, Jimmy Haslam.

A Brown spokesman said, this is not true. I was in the draft room. This is Zach Gilbert as a spokesman. That didn't happen. So, Mark, why don't you start us on this topic? Because, you know, as you said downstairs, and it's kind of a Wesism, the Browns can't have nice things. But how about the Browns can't have a nice weekend without all these, the sullying beginning? I don't know what to think of this story because it sounds a little nutty, but I can't wait for it this ever happened.

happens, a book to be written about this process, someone who actually wants to tell what really happened behind closed doors, because it doesn't seem that crazy to me, to be honest. Here's the one thing that I remember going into the draft was all the Cleveland's research. They had dropped $100,000 plus on a study that said, Teddy Bridgewater's our guy, and everything you heard about Farmer was they loved Bridgewater, and then suddenly they swing back up and they get Mansell. Now, that all could have been a smokescreen. We don't know that, but it's in the course of some of the dramatic surrounding A, Haslam and his ownership of the team and everything else, I don't completely shut the door on this.

I just don't. It just seems plausible. You do, Wes? Yeah, the media so much wanted Jimmy Haslam to get involved in this that they created the story. I could see that. Well, it was a narrative before the draft. You're right. This is what happens to Brown's fans and the Brown's media.

after years of just seeing the world fall apart on you, they start getting paranoid and seeing things that aren't there. The fact that Sessler thinks this story isn't that crazy. Yeah, that seems normal. Ten seconds to go, the entire franchise is going to change, and the owner calls up and changes the draft. That could happen. That's a normal weekend for the Browns.

Well, I also don't think if he did do that, I think he did the right thing. I mean, it's not good for your franchise, But of the two quarterbacks, if you want to grow a franchise out of, you know, burnt dirt, I think Johnny Football is the guy to regalvanize the city. And by the way, there's a Bill Simmons of ESPN and now Grantland has a famous or, I guess, semi-known thing that he calls the Tyson Zone, where if someone or something hits a certain level, anything is believable associated with that person or Brandon.

In the case of the Browns, they've kind of reached the Tyson zone, in my opinion, where everything kind of is in play. The fact that this story is even coming, it's coming from one of their local beatwriters who has to go in and continue to generate fodder. I mean, he must have believed his sourcing, right? He buried it a little bit. He didn't make the headline this.

He just said one source. You could tell he wasn't quite sure. I tend to not believe it in terms of the pure facts of it that his name was on the card. Mike Patton came out very strong, said it was beyond laughable. Haslam came out very strong

and went as aggressive as possible that this is ridiculous. And when they go that hard publicly, it's usually false. But I did do some reconnaissance work with some people behind the scenes that know. And they thought the spirit of it, even if the draft card part was wrong, they believed the spirit of it, that Haslam ultimately was the one making the call and Farmer did not have him as his top quarterback and that there was a quarterback on the board, Teddy Bridgewater, that Farmer had ranked above Mr. Manzole.

Well, that, what you just said, we kind of called that entering the draft, that owners would get involved in the Johnny Mansell pick, not just Haslam, but whichever team took him, the owner would be involved. Yeah, the thing that cracks me up about this is the $100,000 study. Like, people are aghast that they would throw away the $100,000 analytics study. I mean, Jimmy Haslam takes dumps. that are worth more than $100,000? What's $100,000 for an NFL team?

I don't think it's nothing. It's not a big investment. It's just the report. It's not the money, but it wasn't just from Farmer. There were a lot of people that came out saying that Farmer's guy was Bridgewater. Smoke screen. It's all potentially a smokescreen. Maybe they got their guy.

Maybe this was the end game. What I got out of that analytics report is that I'm in the wrong business. All right. More Cleveland Browns, more Jimmy Haslam, more Johnny Mansell. Here's a quote from Haslam on Monday. Monday, who told Johnny football to, quote, act like a backup quarterback. Here's the quote. We were frank with Mansell on Friday.

That's the expectation. You're the backup. This is a hardworking blue-collar town. This isn't Hollywood. We want you to come in and go to work. All this seems like unnecessary things to be saying to me. Why do we need to even put this out there? Why did he say it?

I don't know. Message sending. It's just silly. This isn't Hollywood. Everyone in that hardworking blue-collar town right now is using their hard-earned money to buy Johnny Mansell jerseys. That's a very good point. No one's going to confuse Cleveland for Hollywood. It wouldn't no matter how much you like Cleveland.

I don't think he needs to tell Manzell this. If you watch Manzell's press conference, he's better in front of the podium and more composed and more professional than the owner or the coach or the GM. He's great. Well, these got quotes from some of the players saying there's no. handing him the job the players seem a little bit like okay don't come in here with your Hollywood reputation don't come in here with your partying ways and your image it reminds me a little bit when Joe Namath reached the Jets and all the veterans hated him at first because of his money and the nightlife and he gets all the women right and they want him to prove himself that's

probably a little bit of what's going on it's also college station is a far away from Hollywood too I don't understand what is I don't get the connection there but you're just you're not bigger than the team. They want him to earn it. He's hanging out with Drake, you know? Right. Does Jimmy Hazlm know who Drake is? Yeah. Why not? That's a fair question. He's a hipper than we are. Haslin? Well, hipper than I am.

Maybe not you. Wait a second. You're hipper than Haslton. I don't know what Drake is. That's a shadowy league figure. We've got to move on. The owner is very hip, actually. All right. This is news. More Brown's news. You know, Sessler? I don't know. I would like to do an NFL podcast, not a Cleveland Browns podcast.

And your fingerprints are all over. I didn't organize the structure of the show today. This happened as we're taping, live breaking into the show. Or so Sessler would like you to believe, the Cleveland Browns have signed cornerback Joe Hayden to a five-year contract extension that takes him through the 2019 season. That is the seventh overall pick in the 2010 draft, Joe Hayden, who has, of course, gone on to become one of the best cornerbacks in football and has a number. new cornerback partner in Justin Gilbert.

That is now a locked-in secondary, and if Gilbert works out, could be the best in football. I'm interested to see what the money is because of, A, what Richard Sherman just signed, and B, what Patrick Peterson, who's expected to get a deal at some point here, things he should get, which is more than Sherman. I can tell you, according to pro football talk, a league source says that the deal includes 14 million signing bonus, 22 million fully guaranteed, and another 23 million guaranteed for injury. All that put together surpasses the deal Sherman just got with Seattle. Depending on how you want to sell it in average years.

It's in the ballpark, and Patrick Peterson is expected to finalize a deal. Like Mark said, Ian Rappaport reports that should happen soon, and it's going to be bigger than Richard Sherman, and I think that makes sense. I think if NFL GMs were taking one of those three cornerbacks, they'd probably take Patrick Peterson, plus he's the number five pick in the draft, so you're starting at a higher level. He gets a little more money. Mark's happy.

Joe Hayden. Sherman's numbers are better, but I think Patrick Peterson's a rare athlete, and he doesn't have Earl Thomas covering for him. I hate to say this because I despise Greg Rosenthal's favorite football team, but Derell Revis is somewhere in a gym right now

seeing all these different. Derell Revis loves money. That man loves green. He's seeing all these quarterback that he believes himself to be better than getting paid, and he's sitting on something. some one-year deal and basically is in a play-for-it-year this year. You think this guy's going to be motivated playing for the Patriots?

If it's a terrible time to be a running back, it's an outstanding time to be a cornerback. Because if you want to talk for years, it's a passing league and this is what we've become. Well, these guys that shut that down, they're the most valuable guys on the field. You just fired me up then. You're right. Before you get too fired up, remember that after he has a great season this year, he becomes your problem with the money. He is like the on-field version of Bill Parcells. He'll be somewhere else.

It's fine. Soon enough. Bored with the Patriots. It's going to be, it's going to be grim. We'll be, enjoy it this year. They'll be rebuilding next year with Garapolo anyway. All right. Moving, Mark, is it okay to move on to some other topic?

Again, I did not organize the docket here. The boss put together today's news lineup. So if it's heavy in one team's favor, go talk to the boss. All right. Mike Zimmer says that. Teddy Bridgewater could start in 2014 for the Vikings. Bridgewater was taken with the 32nd overall pick in the first round. Here is the quote from Zimmer via the Star Tribune.

Teddy will play when we feel like he's ready if he's the best guy, which we hope that he will be. We always want to have a competition. We always want to have competition. I'm reading that book that you guys love so much, collision, low crossers, about the 2011 Jets. and it's funny, that word competition is all over coach-speak. They love talking about competition. But at the end of the day, they want to get Teddy in this lineup as soon as possible, right? I think they fully believe in the competition mantra.

Yeah, I agree with that. I don't think it's just like they're throwing words out there. But he did say he hopes Bridgewater wins, which is interesting, that he's not trying to pretend that they hope Matt Castle is always going to be the best quarterback. there. They hope Bridgewater's awesome and that he's the guy. Well, Bridgewater's competition is Matt Castle and speaking of collision low crossers. Yes. Don

Wink Martindale, former Broncos defensive coordinator, has a great castle quote in that book. Which is what? Couldn't hit Black Beauty in a field of white mice. Very offensive. That's a horse, right? You're a big Matt Castle guy. He has a huge

mad castle guy. I'm a little worried that's going to be on Matt Castle's tombstone. And I'd just be like, why would you do that, Matt Castle's family? Put that on that kind of question. It just seems mean. I think Castle is more of a legitimate competitor to win a starting job than, for instance, Brian Hoyer in Cleveland or some of the other, if Fitzpatrick had gone against.

I think Castle is a legitimate guy you can go with. One thing, looking at the Vikings, wouldn't you say, and I'm not by any stretch calling Castle, a guy you want is your starter long term, Castle's traits are a little bit more form-fitting to a Norv Turner offense than the strengths and minus is a Bridgewater. Are you sure? Bridgewater does not have a deep ball? Neither does Castle. Well, Castle is, I think Castle is a more, a taller stature, just a bigger kind of guy.

He's a bigger guy but does not have a strong arm and is incredibly inaccurate. I was surprised. I think had Blake Borders, Blake Borders fall. Black Beauty could tell you that. Who doesn't have a big arm? Matt Castle? He has a good arm, man. No, he doesn't.

Yes, he does. No, he does. He can throw a pretty deep. No, he doesn't even go deep. Well, he would in Norb Turner's offense, though. I think you're wrong. Come on, sorry, I think you're wrong. If you go back and watch some of his games last year, he was very aggressive.

You're comparing him to Christian Ponder. Well, that's all you can compare it to last year. I want to bring it back. I hate to do it, back to the Browns a little bit. Teddy Bridgewater reportedly said that he was happy he went to Minnesota because he didn't want to go to Cleveland. that he was hoping that he wouldn't get drafted by the Browns. What's up with that?

Mark, can I cut in on that one? Sure. You know what? Pipe down, Teddy Bridgewater. Nobody wants to hear you as you tumble down the draft board and you blow it in the combine and you don't play. Relax. And, you know, nobody wants to hear your pro day where you're spiking the ball on the ground. Just be happy and be blessed that you ended up getting drafted in the first round and go to the team and say all the right things you're supposed to say about the team you went to.

And you answer things correctly, and you be respectful, and you be a football player. I don't want to hear you denigrating any other team in the NFL, least of which the Browns, who have enough of that stuff going around. Wow. I don't like it. By the way, this wasn't even... It's like your big brother defending you. Wow.

It's not, you know, it's Mark happens to the root for the Browns. It's not, by the way, it has nothing to do with that. I just hated the fact of him, you know, crapping on some other team. It's like, dude, shut up. Have you ever been to Cleveland? I haven't. That's beside the point. I would rather live in Cleveland.

Not like Minnesota's giving you more than five months of weather that's adequate. I don't know why anybody lives in Minnesota. It wasn't a report. It was Bridgewater on the Dan Patrick show. I told my agent that's not the place where I want to be. That's a bad son. You know what? Teddy Bridgewater will be a bust and will be out of this league in four years.

Well, that's what everyone... And that was the exact moment I knew. Wow. That's strong. Everyone thought that's what Mansell would do. Right? You think Manzell's going to come out and start. Mouthing off against all the teams that passed in by.

Here it comes from Bridgewater. By the way, your name's Teddy. That's also important. So was Teddy Roosevelt. One of our greatest Americans in history. Franklin was better. It's a bunch of nonsense. This is taking a relatively small thing he said.

I don't think it says anything. By all accounts a heck of a nice young man. I like Teddy Bridgewater. If I told Mark this before the draft, if I was a Browns fan, that's who I'd want. I think he's going to be good. And he's set up to do well. I think he could be the one.

If I was choosing one of these three rookies to have a good career, I think I'm rolling with Bridgwag. This could come back to haunt me. He said it also, in a way, a pro-Vikings way, I'm sure. I mean, I don't listen to the audio. But he is trying to, listen, I mean, I think Teddy Broad, I, Bridgewater, I agree with Wesleyan. There's been nothing in the lead-up that would suggest from a personality angle that he's an issue.

I don't, by the way, I don't remember much about last Thursday show. Did we talk about Mark or mention that we had a conversation in a restaurant about the best-looking presidents? No, thankfully. Wes, you would have loved that conversation. I settled on, and this is the dark horse. You put Jimmy Carter in the right sweater. Really?

That surprises me. That is the wrong answers. Put him in the right sweater. The sun hits him a certain way? Not bad. I'm going to have to do some research. Maybe the sun needs to hit you a certain way, so you can't see what's going on. Better looking than John F. Kennedy?

Well, no, I would say JFK. I took JFK out of it. You got to take him out. Oh, it's like talking about basketball and taking Jordan out? Yeah, you've got to take them out, just like Jordan. Yeah, great parallel. Yeah. So anyway, Wes, I'd love if you could think on that and get back to me.

Okay. All right, let's move on. I know it's not Nixon. That's what's called a tease in the business. Everyone's going to be less than Thursday to find out your thoughts on Garfield. I won't be on the podcast Thursday. Garfield was busted, by the way. Martin Van Buren is not in the top 40.

No, he was beat up too. That's fair. more. See, I knew I could count on you on this one. All right. Let's move on, gentlemen. So that is the news. Collateral damage. This is the headline, by the way, and I want to get into this. The headline from Greg Rosenthal, it's a Rosenthal joint, and we've talked to Greg in the past about his headlines sometimes leaving a little something to be desired. Not in this case. Listen to this. Collateral damage, colon. A colon. And Rosenthal 15 veterans hurt by the 2014 NFL draft.

That's a setup for a post, and I'm excited to read it. I major in colon. I love colon. Major in colon. What was that? I don't know. Are you a proctologist? All right.

So, Greg, can you set this up for us? What was, and this is a post you can read on the Around the League page at NFL.com? Tell us a little bit about this. Well, the NFL is basically a zero-sum game when it comes to roster construction. So all these rookies who are living out their dreams now, they're taking away someone's job or they're taking away playing time and their arrival is bad news for a number of veterans around the league. So I basically looked at the veterans.

I thought that basically had the worst weekend. How about that? That's very good. So why don't we go around the room? We're kind of picked through Greg's list and we'll talk about it a little bit. And I think it only makes sense to start with Greg Rosenthal. If you could pull in from this list, then we'll get going. Well, I'm going to pick a couple of guys at the quarterback position to just start off with.

Why don't we do them all together, actually? Oh, yeah. I'm going to go Matt Castle and Christian Ponder. Ponder, I have no idea why he's still on that roster. Castle had to be hoping he wasn't going against the first round pick. Now he is. Matt Schaub, Wessling's boy, is now going to have to face competition from Derek Carr. Brian Hoyer is now facing the impossible task of going against Johnny Mansell.

And let's stop the quarterback theme here with Ryan Mallet. He thought he might be going to Houston to compete to start. It's looking like that might not happen, probably won't happen. He's not only not the quarterback of the future in Houston. He's maybe not even the backup quarterback in New England. He's just kind of stuck there. And now he has the stink on him that Bill Belichick doesn't. He doesn't really want him and doesn't really like him.

He's going to hurt his career. Bad weekend for those guys. All right, one name that jumps out to me, and it's kind of a bummer because there's been so much buildup to this player having a shot at redemption. And a big comeback story, Marcus Lattimore, of the San Francisco 49ers. I was coming back from that terrible knee injury at South Carolina. South Carolina, right? Yeah.

I'm a college expert now. The Niners drafted Carlos Hyde in the middle. middle rounds of the draft. I mean, Frank Gore is immortal, as Greg writes in his post, and that's true how many comers have attempted to knock down Frank Gore, but he's eventually going to be displaced. But for the time being, he needs somebody to run with. And Hyde is a guy that is a healthy player and is, well, I don't know if he's younger, but he's a healthier player. He doesn't have the concerns Latimore has. Latimore has even acknowledged recently that he's still not all the way back and, you know, either mentally or physically. So as much as we

want to get behind Marcus Latimer as the big comeback guy, Carlos Hyde's arrival is not a good sign. I think that tells us that the 49ers can't be too happy with what they've seen from Marcus Latimer. I think it's a direct reflection. And you kind of got a little clue when Latimore spoke about it, how he wasn't too confident. And it's too bad.

It's someone everyone's rooting for it because he was so good in college. And it looked like a worthwhile gamble for the 49. Maybe it will be in a year. But that pick to me says anything we get from Latimore is a big. bonus. He might be a fourth running back. He might not make the team. I don't even know. And another guy that, you know, we heard Harbaugh speak about Quentin Patton at the annual meeting, and it was just lukewarm. There was just nothing there that suggested, I kind of like Patton last year at the beginning of the season, but they go out, they get

Brandon Lloyd, and then they trade for Stevie Johnson and draft a guy. He's on the outs. And then there's a few other running backs. Maybe we'll just hit on them real quickly. Ben Jarvis Greenellis seems to be in a lot of trouble. Now that Jeremy Hill was drafted in the second round, Hugh Jackson was lukewarm when asked about is there room for enough all three that, of course, being those two gentlemen and then Gio Bernard, he said right now there are, so there is. So I wouldn't call that a glowing endorsement of law firm's future. That's what happens when you average 3.4 yards per carry. Well, and he's getting replaced by a similar running back who's from LSU who's drafted in the second round. it's hard to see Greenellis making that team.

To me, it seems like if everyone's healthy going into the season, he'll get cut. I'm a little, Peyton Hillis, of the Giants, they drafted fourth-round pick Andre Williams. You dug deep on this list. I was going to say, I'm a little surprised Peyton made this. Well, if you read right after, I said, sure, Hillis's place on the list, probably a sign we should wrap up this concept. But I wanted to throw it out there because I like Andre Williams, and he's a similar type of big bruising back. If I was picking a running back to have a sneaky good season, Andre Williams in New York. And that was more a set up for me to get to Sean Green and Tennessee.

Bishop Sanky was drafted by the Titans, and Greg, you said he's your favorite running back in this class. I was wondering why you say that. Well, when you watch him, he looks like a little bit bigger of a version of LaShawn McCoy and Gio Bernard, and those are the types of running backs that are coming into the league and finding success right away. And he seems like a guy at his size could carry the ball even. more than Gio Bernard. Maybe it would be closer to McCoy where you can get 15 carries a game and be a big factor for them.

One guy on this list we haven't touched on looks like a big loser to me, not in life. Yeah, I was going to say. But after the draft, Ruben Randall was a guy that Giants have been talking up as Hakeem Nix's replacement. They sounded, as Greg pointed out in this article, ambivalent about him at the winter meeting, at the Combine. Whenever they've talked about him, it was like, maybe he's not ready to step into that Even Cruz said that. Even Victor Cruz said, we need to go out and get a guy to replace Akeem Nix.

And, you know, you're thinking, well, wasn't that what Ruben Randall was for? And now they get O'Dell Beckham. So I think that kind of, especially in fantasy football terms, Ruben Randall, not real, his stock, his arrow isn't really pointing up. And the former offensive coordinator walked out the door and threw some shots at Randall's position, at least, saying big hole there. So the Giants answer. One last wide receiver I do want to throw out because. he's in the news today is Justin Blackman. And we knew that

he was in trouble this year that if he played, maybe that would be a surprise. But it was a bad weekend because the Jaguars drafted two wide receivers. Then they come out publicly and they make it clear Blackman's not playing this year and probably will never play with the Jaguars again. And then we hear

on Tuesday that they have cleaned out his locker. They've removed his nameplate. So Justin Blackman is done. They've given that locker to Blake Bordell. So the symbol Symbolism, it's not exactly subtle here, is you are the past, we are moving on, and away we go. That's a good transition, I feel like to another segment, away we go. The way we go.

Unless Mark, you had any one and you wanted to add from this list. No, I think that's the transition you installed there. Let's continue with it. I tell you about the Ben Stiller movie I saw over the weekend. A few times. Oh, okay. I will move on then. Gentlemen, Chris Wessling, as I said earlier, wrote a great piece.

I really enjoyed it. This was the headline, Who Will Start First? Didn't even read it. Listen, I was not feeling well yesterday. It was my second anniversary with my wife. It kind of kept it low-key, but I will be digging into this after the show. That would be a better excuse if I didn't know for a fact that you were in front of your computer for 10 hours or so. You could have found some time.

You read Mike Silver's piece. Another great piece. I enjoyed that piece. But I didn't, you know what? I feel like I'm being boxed in. If I look at the publish time, 457, now I'm in the clear on this. Wes, I will read it, though. I'm looking forward to it.

But since I didn't read it, I need you to explain it to me. Well, Greg came up with this idea, our brilliant boss. This is why he gets to Big Bucks. Comes up with great feature ideas like. Greg's a millionaire, by the way. Race to the top. Multi-millionaire. Race to the top.

Which of these rookie quarterbacks will start first? And I ranked a dozen of them and predicted, when they will first start their first NFL game. And Johnny Football tops the list. Because basically, there's 0% chance that Brian Hoyer starts week one. Zero percent is ridiculous. Zero. I will eat my softball pants.

Whoa. If Brian Hoyer starts over a healthy Johnny football. In week one. In week one. Wow. That just blew the doors. I'm not even playing the drop. I don't disagree with you, but I don't disagree with the U.S., but that's bold.

Positive. I think America has lost its mind on who Brian Hoyer is. Wow. He's a guy who the other 31 teams passed on him three times before the Browns signed him. Three times in his career, other 31 teams have passed on this guy. Had two good games, one of which he threw three interceptions in. Probably has about a, I haven't looked at the stats, but somewhere between a 55 and 57 completion percentage for his career, which is abysmal for an NFL starter.

Does not have NFL starter tools. Coming back from an ACL injury, which Carson Palmer, RG3, Tom Brady have struggled in the return from ACL surgery, three very talented quarterbacks. Why do we think Hoyer is just going to be like... Bloods are great. I don't understand why Hoyer would be considered as well as considered. He thinks he's going to be great. I think that's not...

Okay, why did anybody think it would be even okay to have this guy starting in week one? Wes, you're making a lot of sense, and I don't necessarily disagree with you, but the owner did come out and kind of made a big picture statement that this is not going to be a job given to him. So you're basically saying that's a smokescreen. This job is Mansell's. Johnny Football does not need the job handed to him. He's going to severely outplay Brian Hoyer in August.

I don't think Cleveland is going to start Hoyer, if Mansell is healthy and looks even adequate because that's what they did here. They went out and got their franchise quarterback. But is that a softball pants type of conviction? I mean, it clearly is from Wessling's. You say 100%. I would give Hoyer a 20% chance at this just for the fact that the Brown's coaching staff and ownership could try to make a point.

You've got to make them earn it. And Hoyer is our guy. and we'll wait the week or two for Hoyer to blow it. Kind of like, for instance, Blaine Gabbard had to wait a couple weeks, didn't he? He waited two weeks before he ended up. We no longer have Josh Gordon. All of that sounds realistic in May, and then when you get these guys on the field for a preseason game, and the fan base sees Johnny football running around making exciting plays,

and then the clamor just starts in Cleveland. We got to get this show. You just bet your softball pants. The clamor starts now. May 13. Westling, eat his softball. May 13th, 2014, Chris Wesleying has put his softball pants,

and I'm not afraid to say it. I think it was done. It was an impulse decision here. But it's also well-reasoned, and I feel like Wes, the chances are probably maybe even more in Wes's favor a little bit than it was with the Oakland Raiders winning six games.

But at the same time, this is shocking. I am stunned right now. It has to be organic. It has to be something where I'm They're so fed up with some storyline. There's no... People have no idea who Brian Hoyer is as a quarterback. I mean, people have lost their mind over this guy.

I wouldn't watch his games recently, for some reason, from last year. He played pretty well. If in a good... In a best-case scenario, he could be like a Matt Hasselbeck type or a Charlie Batch in his prime type, which isn't that exciting, but it's a guy that could start for a seven-and-nine team. That kind of guy. That was a Brian Hoyer with two healthy knees. That's fair.

More like Brian Hoyer. I think one... thing is that you're looking out there and expecting everyone saying that Brian Hoyer's a great starter. I haven't heard anyone say that. I think if anything... There are Browns fans who believe that Johnny Football should not even start as a rookie because they have Brian Hoyer. Shouldn't start the whole year. Shouldn't start a single game because they have Brian Hoyer. And if you have a good quarterback like Brian Hoyer, you got to use it. Did you know you were going to do the softball pants thing coming into today?

I didn't know. Wow. So emotion gripped you. I am just, this whole Brian Hoyer thing has me just miffed. All right, let's move on the list, and that's a big moment in the show just now, and that will be teased throughout this summer, so get excited everybody. We'll always remember where we were. Another week one starter, not my favorite man right now, Teddy Bridgewater. According to Chris Wessling, this is a job that he will win over at Matt Castle, and he will start week one as well.

Open competition. I gave you the line on Matt Castle earlier about Black Beauty and White Mountain. this is not one of the best 32 quarterbacks in the NFL, in my opinion. I think Teddy Bridgewater wins in an open competition. If there was a sandwich proposition up for this one, I would take you on this sandwich. Well, let's do it. All right. It's a long sandwich proposition.

I would definitely am not on Mansell Hoyer because I think the odds are in your favor there. Although I think compared to the Raiders one from a year ago, you have a much, much better chance of eating your softball pants this time around. Bridgewater Castle thing. I think Castle's the favorite. I couldn't disagree more. Really? They went out and they... I guess I'm biased.

They got Teddy Bridgewater and there's nothing about... If you say this about Hoyer, I say it about Castle. There's nothing special about putting Castle out their week one for a fan base that hasn't seen good quarterback play since Brett Favre. And it's like... Castle is just in the way. A bridge quarterback, I call him a door. But they're not...

He is a door. He is a door. Starting Castle gets you nothing. I agree with all that. Hoyer has started three games in his career. Castle has started four or five seasons. He's made a pro bowl. He's led two winning teams.

I'm not saying he's a great quarterback, but he's a guy that you can convince yourself, okay, we'll start him for a little while. Ahead of a guy who a lot of people thought is going to need a year in the NFL to get ready. One last thing on Bridgewater, he'd have to be a guy that doesn't pick up the offense. He's a smart quarterback. They called him one of the smartest prospects coming out. One last point. Zimmer was in Cincinnati when Andy Dalton was there as a rookie and took them to the playoffs as a rookie starter.

I think that's in Bridgewater's favorite. One name that jumps out to me, Wes, looking through the rest of this list. Tom Savage, who, as Mark you remarked during the draft, may or may not exist. We still don't have definitive proof. Not only does he exist, Chris Wessling believes that Tom Savage will be starting the season finale for the Texans in 2014. the prediction. I wouldn't put much stock in that. They have no starter in Houston. They're going to break the record, especially if they trade for Ryan Mallett, five number two quarterbacks on the

roster. Why wouldn't they throw the fan base a bone in the season finale when they're out of the playoff hunt and give them a look toward the next year's quarterback? Makes sense. You had the same logic with Zach Mettenberger? Only because I figured Locker will be hurt at that point. Right. And they might even have Charlie Whitehurst start. If Locker got hurt early in the year, I don't know if they're going to throw out Mettenburg. The most surprising thing I saw here is that Blake Bortles doesn't

start until Thanksgiving. He's barely ahead of David Fails on this list. That's the number three pick on the entire draft. There's a huge golf between four and five. Okay. I think Carr starts ahead of Bortles. We don't have to believe what the Jaguars tell us

in May that they want Chad Henney to start for the entire season. But when Bortals comes out and says, you know what, I don't have any problem with that. I have a lot of stuff to work on. I have no problem with sitting behind Chad Henney. That would bother me a little bit as a Jags fan. I guarantee you Johnny Football wouldn't say I have no problem sitting behind Brian Hoyer.

I like Tage Boyd, by the way, making the list. Just like Peyton Hill has made the bottom end of Greg's list. Taj Boyd, New York Jets, I believe, a six-th-round pick. You know, he's buried on the bottom of the Jets. The six-round pick? How many six-round picks ever start a game for their... Tom Brady! Hey.

Bang. Mark Bouldier, Matt Hasselback. There's your three. And since then, nobody. I like that he's ranked below a guy, Logan Thomas, who you say won't even be a quarterback. Oh, wow. Geez, I hope Tosh Boyd doesn't read this. And you also...

Tage Void might disappear to Casey Kasem's Indian Reservation if he reads this. You also douse a little bit of the A.J. McCarran Love in Cincinnati. Already, I can... smell the Bengals fans attaching themselves to having hope for McCarron as an option. You say he won't start until 2015 at the earliest. I can't agree with him more on that. Yeah, I don't see why they would bench Andy Dalton. Andy Dalton, for as much as we malign him, fairly or unfairly, is a pretty good NFL quarterback.

Bench him for McCarron, who what about McCarran suddenly is a massive upside on Andy? That Andy Dalton, A.J. McCarran pairing is grim. So one point on Derek Carr Over the last two years All six quarterbacks Drafted in the first or early second round Have gone on to start their team season open Well doesn't that prove my Bordell's point

That he's not going to be sitting around there until Thanksgiving He's the number three pick Hey look I'm just saying that the Jaguars have come out As strongly as any team I can remember Saying that he won't start And it doesn't prove your Mac Castle love over Teddy Bridgewater All right gentlemen And you know what, let's put a pin in it for now.

We, you know, we do a lot of podcasts. We've got another one coming up on Thursday. We're going to talk more football. It's going to be great. We've got the College Football 24 podcasts, which you should listen to and download and support. They are coming into the studio right now, so they're going to do some business. So we've got to clear out. It's over for the ATL podcast.

So you just got to deal with that. Cartons for us. We'll have to discuss the real ego chat. Potential teams of the Around the League podcast. Yeah, we'll get to that because we need some time to talk about team of ATL. I have some thoughts on that that I want to run by you. So we'll get to that on our next show Thursday. But until then, this is Dan Hansa signing off for the mailman, the sizzler, the boss,

and the great gold standard behind the glass. Until Thursday. Yeah, there's this national park type of thing where you can walk. Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters.

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