NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Franchise taggin', 49ers drama

Episode Date: March 4, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Gregg Rosenthal and Chris Wesseling -- analyzes Monday’s deadline to tag franchise players, breaking down which deals were surprising, who was snubbed and the implications of using the less-noted transition tag.  Elsewhere, the gang sorts through all the news out of San Francisco, where the 49ers re-signed wide receiver Anquan Boldin. However, the Niners might find it a distinctly more difficult prospect to keep some other faces of the franchise happily under contract.  Could coach Jim Harbaugh be on the way out?  How much money does Colin Kaepernick want to stay?  Is either story as exciting as the heroes' suggestions for a new extra point system?  Find out on the brand new “Around The League Podcast” and join the conversation on Twitter: @NFL_ATL or #NFLATL.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the League podcast refuses to discuss the British bulldo. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I'm joined by a room filled with heroes. Chris Wessling, Mark Sessler, and Greg Rosadol. What up, boys? Hey, Dan. Happy Monday, if there is such a thing.

It's been a busy Monday. Mark pulled the. I'll take off the day where the franchise tags had to be officially handed out. Hey, I don't make the schedule. So he comes in, he waltz, and he looks relaxed. Ran a 5K today. Did you?

A race out of nowhere with no training? No, on a treadmill. Oh, against no one. A personal 5K. That's not a 5K. That'd be like saying... Distance-wise, it was a 5-2. That connotates a race.

But still, I see... I see where you're coming from, and I remarked, right, before we began today that you look different or something going on right you have the glow of a man that is getting healthy well dan and i go to the same gym i haven't seen you there but i assume that's because you were here yeah well i was in at 5 am at the gym i did two or three hours and then i came right here yeah i can get i smell your scent when i'm there i can tell that dan's been there i don't even know what that means man i know uh all right so yes today is a big day um this was

the deadline monday for franchise tags to be handed out, and they were handed out, but not a lot of them. So we're going to get into that. We're going to start there, actually. We're also going to do some other news around the league, and then we're going to get back into the laboratory and go over the top 10 wide receivers, free agency primer, get the scientists going at each other, hopefully.

But why don't we start with the news with the franchise tag on our website, NFL.com, backslash ATL. We have our franchise tag tracker, and I'm holding it in my hand right now. printed it up and the tags were applied gentlemen jimmy graham official official Greg Hardy of the panthers Brian Arakbo of the Redskins as we already knew nick folk with the jets and then there were two transition tags Alex Mack center Cleveland Browns Mark Sessler you were probably at the gym working

out no I was reading roto world and that landed oh okay roto world what about our site I go there because I get instant news and I get the analysis from our site. Okay. Wow, backpedaling. Yeah, yikes. And then the Steelers. Have you been talking to them about employment or something? I was on my phone.

Should we be worried? Greg, you created that monster and it's efficient. Wait, this would be good. We were talking about leverage before the podcast. This would be good for leverage to get. Wait, I don't want to go down this road, actually. I have no leverage. But finally, the Steelers use their transition tag.

outside linebacker Jason World. So, gentlemen, I throw it to you. Who wants to get going? What do you take out of these moves? I think the big move is Nick Folk, staying with the Jets. Got it. I thought Combe was going to get to say it. Championship contender type of move to make sure,

hey, we got this guy, Folk, could sign a big 50. Isn't it a Patriots fan that may not realize that the window is just about shut now and Tom Brady walking with a limp at this stage? You keep making your Jets joke. Franchising your kicker is often a prudent mood. It costs almost no money. I'm not criticizing. It totally makes sense.

It's fine. Who cares? Let's talk Jason Worlds. This was a surprise. Should we explain the transition tag? Because the transition tag is quite a bit different than the franchise tag. I think so. It's so rare.

I think it's very important to. There are some people in this room that don't even know what the transaction. The gold standard, our producer behind the glass. Do you know what the transition tag is? Zach. I don't know what the transition tag is It's essentially a cheaper version of the franchise tag It's 20% less than the franchise tag number

And it gives you the right And basically so Alex Mack for instance Who was given the transition tag by the Browns He now can sign a one year $10 million tender Would have been about a million and a half more If it was the franchise number But he can go around with his agent shop his services and sign a contract with any old team out there.

And the difference here is the Browns will have five days to match it. And if they don't match it, they get nothing in return, which is sort of bizarre. But that's what it is. And it's a deterrent, I think, to other teams negotiating for the Browns. So the risk here, if you're the Patriots, let's say they wanted Alex Mack. they signed Mac to a five-year, $50 million contract, and the Browns take four days, and then they say, okay, we'll match it,

and you just wasted two weeks. Right, whereas maybe the Browns would have spent more money on him if the Patriots didn't get involved in that hypothetical scenario. It does feel like in the Mac angle that he sat down with the team over the weekend and they tried to win him back over, because I think he's clearly one of the guys that was unhappy with probably five years of losing, but also just what was happening recently. I think they couldn't get him to agree to anything

The agent basically said There's no way you let us go to market And this is the closest thing they can do to protect him to some degree Well they could have just placed the franchise tag on him though Well you can do that And then you pretty much prevent any team from signing him If you want to sign him under the franchise tag You have to give up two first round draft picks

That's prohibitive no one's gonna do that So it's a little bit of the roll of the dice You save a little money. Maybe in this case, you keep the player a little happier, and they can go out and see their value. And maybe the Browns are confident that their offer to Alex Mack is fair. It's a good offer, and he'll go find that out when he goes out into free agency. And just the difference, so you know,

and I'll use Nick Folk as an example because it would be really funny. If, let's say, the Marks Cleveland Browns were to offer Nick Folk a contract, the Jets would get two number one picks for the Browns, and you would get Nick Falk and the contract you signed him to do. It doesn't sound like a good deal. That is a non-exclusive franchise deck. I mean, I could see one team potentially saying we are going to pick 31st, 32nd. We're that confident over the next two years.

We're going to make a run, or we're going to go after Jimmy Graham. Forget the first round. We talked about this in the newsroom. My team would be the Packers. But otherwise, it's a sealed door to do that, right? Yes. If you're a general manager, Jimmy Graham's out there, you're Ted Thompson. You would do that?

You would give up two first-round picks? I'm Ted Thompson, so I'm armed with the knowledge that I have actually picked better in the third and fourth rounds than I have in the late first rounds over the years. Do you think it's realistic that any team does this? No, I don't. I think the Packers make the most sense, but I think Ted Thompson would never give up draft picks. Here's the thing, though. They're not just giving up draft picks. They're giving up the highest contract for a tight end in league history and two first-round pick.

Exactly, yes. Well, that's a lot. I don't know if I'd do that even for Jimmy Graham. You're giving up guys like Nick Perry and Derek Sherrod. And then you also have to give up probably, what would you guess, Jimmy Graham will end up making $12 million a year? Right. It's a huge portion of your cap, especially if you have a quarterback like Rogers. I like Wes's idea that you could actually just give up two of your past first round picks.

You could select them. What about the Washington Redskins? Do you think there was ever a thought that they would actually let Arakbo potentially hit the open market without any type of safety lock on him? They want us to believe that, but I never thought that. The listeners should know I put my softball pants on the line again. That was a sneaky softball pants moved by Wes. Mark might not even be aware of this unless he was on Twitter this morning. Mark was just working.

out hard, sweating profusely, while Wes just out of nowhere, all willy-nilly, tweeted out that if the Redskins did not place a tag on Arakbow, he was going to eat his softball pants. Will Chris Wessling eat his softball pants? I get a little fired up when these things are totally, I just want to point out the absurdity of things. There's no way, there are national reporters saying the Redskins aren't going to tag Arakpo when it's the only move they had.

I like this term national reporters You know who you're thinking of You just try not to call people out national reporters I thought there were several There were reports all over the place on Arakpo That was risky though I mean whereas the Raiders It would have been a huge upset to win six games

Iraqpo I thought you were right I thought you were going to be right But you just kind of threw that out there this morning I mean we could have been sauteing up things This afternoon If you notice I didn't send it out to my whole Twitter followers I only sent it out to the ATL account. It doesn't matter.

He would have made you eat the pants. That's true. It would have been crazy to me for them to let Arakpo go, though. They have no homegrown talents over the last 10 years. They finally make a good draft pick and you let him walk. It would almost be as crazy as what the Raiders did, I think. Well, that's a great transition, Mark, showing that you come into the office on your off day, but you're still sharp as attack.

Not everyone that maybe we expected to get franchise did And we could start with the Oakland Raiders Defensive end Lamar Houston And tackle Jared Veld here Two guys that are impact players for this team They have plenty of cap room Reggie McKenzie finally has some wiggle room And he does not put the tag on either

How do we make sense of this? I just teed up Reggie McKenzie on an article Well I think he deserves it What are they doing As enticing a tease as that was to go to our website, can you explain some of your Reggie McKenzie? He's been given a mandate by his owner. Start winning, stop making excuses. He has more salary cap money than anybody in the league.

These are two free agents who are in our top 10 on our list. I thought Houston played at a Pro Bowl level last year. Veldier missed a lot of the season but played at a Pro Bowl level the year before that. two guys still in their prime in the top five or six maybe at their positions if you consider Houston a three-four end maybe top five and he's just going to let him hit the market

no team has more holes in the NFL than the Raiders when you have the opportunity They're just one big hole Yeah black hole When you keep those guys in house You have plenty other work to do But instead he's risking the potential of having even more holes The goal is to win a Lombardi trophy

not to acquire the most salary cap space. Maybe he thinks he gets any extra money that's left over. I think if you're a Raiders fan, if you're a Raiders fan, you heard from Valdeer last month that he said the team has shown no urgency and even reaching out to try to strike a long-term deal. So that doesn't give a lot of confidence

that something's happening between now on the 11th of March, but also left tackle, one of the toughest positions to fill if you lose a guy with promise. Well, here's how I look at rosters. In the NFL, there isn't much difference between an average NFL starter and a high-end reserve. There is a huge difference between a high-end starter and an average starter.

The guys you want to keep are guys like Houston and Valdir who are in their prime. The goal for consistent winning, you draft, develop, and keep. The Raiders have drafted to develop two players. They have the resources to keep them, and apparently they're opting against that. They're their best two players. Who's better on the Raiders than those two guys? I don't even think it's close. Houston jumped out week after week last year for that defense.

I got to think that Valdeer is going to sign a contract before a free agency. I at least want to wait before I kill them. They must know something, right? I just think that maybe... Raiders fans better hope. You don't want to set the average price for that contract at whatever the franchise number is, which is really high for a tackle, in fairness to the Raiders, and maybe they feel like they're close on a deal and they'll get it done.

I think Lamar Houston's gone, and I think he'll get paid a lot of money. If they were close on Veldier, didn't you think it was a little ominous that Ian Rappaport, our NFL Media Insider, reported that there was no communication with Veldier today in advance of the franchise. Which is what he said himself leading up, that he had heard nothing from the team. I just find it odd. One aside, I had said on Friday show that Ian would be in studio today. That is a clear indication that I don't read email properly. Miscommunication. Ian will be in next Monday.

Just know that society. Wow, I'm surprised people even were still listening. All the rap sheet fans that were hanging on this appearance are going to be disappointed. Like, where is he? How can he hasn't been introduced yet? All right, let me go over the rest of, you know, the notable names that did not receive the tag. We kind of knew this from Sunday, but Bill's announced formally they won't use their tag on anyone, including safety, Jaris Bird, who is now the number one overall free agent on the three-seat top 101, right? And there are some intriguing landing spots for him, starting with.

Marks Browns, where his former head coach, or a former defensive coordinator is now the head coach, his former... What on my team, too? No, no, no, no, no. It all goes back to the 2010, Jess. The Eagles cleared up, have taken care of their offense, have a major need at safety, and their coach just happened to coach him in college. And his father, Gilbert, is the secondary coach for the Buccaneers now. Interesting. Wow.

You put him in that Buccaneer secondary, that's a scary... Dropping the Gilbird. Hill Bird, I believe, at least a one or two-time Pro Bowler with the Chargers back in the day. Are you happy with this potential thought that the Browns saw what was going on with Gyrus Bird? Maybe this group of executives in Cleveland feel a little differently about T.J. Ward than Michael Lombardi and Rob Chisinski and whoever did, that they're going to let T.J. Ward go to the market. They're going to transition Alex Mack, and maybe it's all a setup to try to get Bird instead. I think Bird is an up. I don't like when you are a team without much talent where you remove a talented player and just fill them with it. I'd like to see them have two good

safeties, not just one, but Bird is an upgrade over Ward. Ward, I think, is more of a in-the-box run stopper. But, you know, Petton said that his two safeties are interchangeable. There's really a strong and a free safety, but I'll take Bird healthy over Ward. And I think Ward would go to the frankly. Earl Thomas and Cam Chancellor, not Earl Thomas or Cam Chancellor. Dyrus Byrd is going to get so much money in this market, a safety that can cover

because he's going to get treated like a top 10 cornerback because ultimately that's what safeties like him are at this point. They're just being asked to cover. But they must have watched Ward's tape and I think he's had some suspicious play previous to this season where he got hurt a lot. His

coverage is shaky and maybe they felt this guy is not a Pro Bowl safety. He's just among a weaker class of safeties in the AFC. Or they just love Mac too. I mean, that part's a positive. I liked Greg giving a Brown's front office official

the benefit of the doubt. I like that. That usually typically doesn't work out, but maybe it will this time. Maybe they know what they're doing. I'm turning a new corner. All right, just a few more before we move on. Vante Davis didn't get tagged. That was, was that a surprise to us? No, I think they

had pretty much said they weren't going to tag him. So that wasn't a surprise. The cornerback crop is very deep, not quite as deep because Brent Grimes got signed today. I guess we'll talk about that in a bit, but he's one of many guys out there. The tackle Eugene Monroe with the Ravens? That was a surprise to me. A week ago, I would have thought they were at least trying to get something done before or they tag them. Number two with a bullet on our top 101.

So we remove all the franchise tagged players from our top 101 list. I think Eugene Monroe is now the top offensive linemen available. and he's going to make a lot of money. And, man, I'd be worried if I was the Ravens losing him. I'm not too worried about losing Michael Orr, but now I would consider an upset if Monroe returns to their team. Well, speaking of benefit of the doubt, I'm okay with kind of wondering what the heck Reggie McKenzie is doing,

but also saying I'm sure Ozzie Newsom has a plan. Last year, look at all the upheaval they had, and he still had a plan, and people loved what he ended up doing in the offseason. He's been one of the best in the business for 15 years now. I only think it's a shame, though, because they gave up multiple draft picks for him in what was, you know, something of a loss season. They were still in the race when they pulled that move,

but they viewed him as their left tackle of the future. If he signs elsewhere, they'll get compensatory to picks. And there are, it's a nice left tackle market. There's a couple of guys out there. All right, the gold standard behind the glass. How are you, buddy? Good, thanks. How was your weekend?

Yeah, pretty uneventful. Did you watch? Did you watch all soccer? Did you watch a little Oscars? Dabbled a little bit in Oscars. He was really just going back and forth about the whole Jason Worlds thing. Well, if you get transition tagged, maybe another team will sign them. I actually could see that happening worlds going to another team.

Maybe not. The Wikipedia Black Hole I just went through with transition tags. I ended up in like Antarctica. It was crazy. All right, let's do some news. Let's do it. All right, there's a lot of, obviously, there's a lot of news going on in San Francisco still. We've been covering it like a snuggy to use a term Mike Silver, Twitter profile term, for the Around the League blog.

So let me just go through some of these nuggets. Don't look at each other. I can say things. Not exactly the most current reference there. That is what Silver's Twitter profile says. He's even updated. dated that dated reference. Whatever.

According to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle and Killian, Jim Harbaugh's act has worn thin, and I like this wording that Anne used with face of the 49ers-type players. What does that mean and doesn't mean anything? I don't think it matters that much that some players are getting tied. of Jim Harbaugh's act, you could find players in every locker room that's tired of a head coach's act. So much of what head coaches do in terms of their speeches and their motivational techniques are ridiculous. They're stupid for adults to be buying into some of this stuff.

So I think there's always going to be a segment that thinks a coach is corny. I don't care about that. So either Kaepernick or Patrick Willis is fed up with Jim Harbaugh. Or Frank Gore or Justin Smith. They've got a lot of Ferdin Davis. They've got a lot of big name guys. But I don't care about that.

I think it's a bigger topic. The front office might be fed up with Jim Harbaugh, whether that's the general manager, Trent Balke, ownership, whatever it is. There's some sort of schism right now. But shame on the Niners if they ultimately believe, because I know it's been reported or it's been speculated that, oh, they have enough talent,

and they believe in their internal candidates to just, they could potentially replace them and not skip a beat. There were a lot of bad years between, you know, the mid-90s until Harbaugh got there. And since he's been there, they've averaged 12 wins a year. They went to the NFC title game all three years. They went to the Super Bowl and almost won once.

I think this guy is a pretty good coach, and they should deal with his crap until they stop winning. I like your analysis. Thanks, buddy. That's good. agree. People forget they were not just bad. They were the laughing stock of the NFL bad. That their ownership and the changing of the coaches, everything that was going on in terms of dysfunction, if you had to rank the most dysfunctional franchises of the 2000s, there's a strong

argument to be made 49ers are number one. Mike Nolan and Mike Singletary and Dennis Erickson and those, that whole group in a row and the fights between the general management and the owner and everyone, it was ugly. Not only the dysfunction, but the fact that nobody paid them any attention until they did something embarrassing. Right. They were off the national radar as far as teams in the NFL. They were in the news when Mike Singletary took his pants down to his ankles to make a point at halftime. It's poisonous. You know, that or when Mike Singletary sent Vernon Davis to the locker room for being disobedient. Can't have it.

Yeah, I mean, that kind of stuff, they were a joke. Mike Nolan was even worse. Mike Nolan's tenure was an embarrassment. It must be bad enough. The ultimate empty suit is Mike Nolan. Literally wore a suit. I liked it at the start. And he was empty within the suit.

I liked it. I'm a big fan of the suit. I once made a remark about that on Twitter like a year ago, and everybody was like, he did it in honor of his father, man. Get off his back. Whatever. You like stepping in it on Twitter later. Whatever.

I think it's like when you're young, and I know this happened to West a lot. When you are dating a woman that is much too hot for you, and it usually lasts for a short amount of time. Well, no, I'm saying this. This did happen to Wes. It's absolutely true. But what would

force you to decide to completely part ways with this person? If behind the scenes it's so destructive and it's causing such a problem, everyone's like, why would you ever part ways with that woman? Well, there's not because you think you can do better.

No, it's because the whole structure's crumbling around. It's because it's made your life worse by having that person in it. Something is going on with Harbaugh where they're thinking, yes, he is 12 wins a year, but we're ready to. He or she is so hot. It's hard to. He is the equivalent of a super hot woman as a coach. I mean, any team. So you don't think he's hot?

I'm saying he's super hot, but the Niners organization is the guy. I'm just making sure I understood the amount. The Niners organization is the guy, and they're thinking a lot of good is on the surface here for getting tired of. For every hot chick, there's a guy somewhere who's tired of putting up with her stuff. There you go. Well, Albert Breer made a good analogy that maybe Jim Harbaugh is going to be the Bill Parcells of this generation. I like that analogy. That he's a guy that comes in, takes over a program, wrecks shop, you know, bang some cans around,

maybe rub some people the wrong way improves the team and he's gone after five years after a lot of chaos. I mean, one thing in that article that really struck out was the quote where we have thrived under chaos and, what was it? Yeah. Tension over the last years. And it was like, wow, there's chaos and tension there?

Well, I read that and I think that's very interesting. But the difference for me a little bit is that Parcell's won two Super Bowls with his first organization before he started his vagabond act. Very true. Other Niners... Other Niners news.

Well, Harbaugh did it at Stanford, too. This is the NFL. We're not talking. Yeah, I agree with that. There was talk that Harbaugh had kind of worn out his welcome in Stanford.

I'll just wait until you guys are done. Right, but you got to win a championship in the NFL. You know, rubbing people the wrong way there and was it such a dominant personality and they knew David's shot and they were kind of like, okay, we'll see you later.

Anquam Bolden is signing a new deal with the San Francisco 49ers. He's not going anywhere. Ian Rappaport reported Monday that the deal is worth $12 million over two years. Makes a lot of sense, right? Bolden was a really good fit for them, actually a great fit. Guess he wasn't the face of the franchise player annoyed with the head coach. No, I could have guessed that. He settled in as a $6 million year receiver.

That's what he had the last couple of years, too. that's pretty good. They're slow, though. I mean, Michael Crabtree's slow. Anquon Bolden's slow. Vernon Davis is fast. That's two slow wide receivers, though. Would you regard Crabtree is slow before the Achilles?

Yes. Really? I mean, below average for an NFL receiver. For an NFL starting receiver, and just in terms of speed, he's not a speed guy. He's not a speed threat, but he's very good after the catch. I think Patcher made a good point in his post where he said that the last two teams, Bolden played for the Cardinals.

and the Ravens have sorely missed him. Thank you for bringing up, Patra. Next time he's on the show, I have a bone to pick with Kevin regarding his Pro Bowl coverage. Oh, that's excellent. Wow, you've been holding on to this for a while. No, I just learned about it.

We have sources inside the building. We can say what it is. He made a friend. Yeah, I know, but we've got to get to the... We've got to question about this. Why did you keep it tucked away the way he did? Baldwin is one of my favorite players of the last 10 or 12 years. People thought he was breaking down

at the end of his run in Arizona. I mean, his staying power has been awesome that there's really been no falloff. People thought maybe he got overpaid by Baltimore and then got overpaid by San Francisco. Now here he is on another contract. He's a tricky player to judge. People love him as they should.

He's a leader on whatever team he goes to. Everybody always says he's the toughest guy on the team, probably the toughest, physically toughest wide receiver in the league. People want to like anoint him as an all-pro type after he has a 200-yard game, and then he'll disappear for five or six weeks. Slow guys age well. You know, if you're slow to begin with,

it doesn't really matter if you get slower. I mean, he had 1179 yards last year. I don't think people realized what a monster year that was. NFL Media Insider Ian Rappaport reported Monday that Colin Kaepernick wants more than 18 million annually from the 49ers in his upcoming contract. He's looking for more than the 18.2 million annually that Jay Cutler received early.

this year from the Bears, which seems kind of fair, but still that's a lot of money to a guy that's still pretty early to tell if he's really the guy. I'd pay it in a second. Right. I think we made the same point when Flacco got paid. It sounds like a lot of money to an average fan, casual fan, but that's what you pay franchise quarterbacks. What's your option?

Okay, Kaepernick, you walk. We'll go try to find a quarterback again. Who's one more big games? Kaepernick or Jay Cudler? You can almost imagine Kaepernick bringing that him up himself being like, that guy with the flop tops getting more than me? Give me a break. That's why every- That's exactly what he'd say. That's why owners across the league and general managers across the league should have been angry with the Bears when they gave Jay Cutler that contract.

Because that guy is, what, 15th best quarterback in the league? People love to grieve about this stuff. People got mad at Romo's contract. It's a no-brainer. If you have a quarterback, you pay him. I think they're worth 40 or 45 million. and even a slightly above average quarterback. So the salary cap.

Right, it keeps their number down relatively, but aren't they worth more than two? Whoever gets paid $9 million in free agency this year, Eugene Monroe and Jiris Bird, you really think those two guys combined are worth a starting quarterback? I don't think so. Yeah, I agree.

Kaepernick, I think the question is, if you wanted an alternative, you would just keep drafting guys. That's the only other option. Keep drafting second, third rounders and hope that you find another one. and maybe you just franchise tag Kaepernick a year from now. But why are the truly elite guys, a guy like Aaron Rogers,

who I believe is making, what, $21 million, something? 24, 25? Why is he, why is that so close to a guy that, like, Cutler? That's true. I think it's a cap issue. I just feel like why is the truly elite guy and the goodish guy so close together? Why isn't it more balanced? That's just the way the salary cap is set up.

You want to talk about a true apocalyptic future? Go ahead. Well, let's say this Harbaugh thing falls out next season and the team doesn't get its ducks in a row and keep Kaepernick around, which I don't think would ever happen they're going to sign them, but you lose Harbaugh and Kaepernick in one off-season?

You go. And hey, welcome to our new stadium where nothing of value is held for the month. I know we're wildly late, Dan, but... You guys are a bunch of chatty Kathy's today. This is a good time for it. Do you guys, even taking the contract out of it, are you confident Capernick is going to be

a top 10 quarterback in three, four years, that he's that guy. After last year, what is your thought? I have some doubts on him. I'm not on the Jaworski train where he's going to be the best quarterback in history, but I think the people who doubt him as a franchise quarterback are silly. People who call him a run first quarterback. He's not that. I don't think he's Andrew Luck.

I think he's better than, I'd be much more comfortable with him than Jay Cutler. I wonder what they serve in the beverage car. the Jaworsky train. That's a good question. A variety of drinks, I would imagine. Do you see Capernick? I don't know if any... If I'm their GM, I would have no problem

aligning him as a top 10 type quarterback in terms of pay and going forward with that risk. I don't think he has issues in his game. That's not what I'm asking, though. Yeah, I think he projects out that way. I mean, as a completely raw guy who hadn't even started, he came in

and I thought he did an outrageous job winning that Atlanta playoff game. taking him to the Super Bowl. He's been transcendent in some postseason moments. But let's also be fair, if we're going to say that, we also have to remember that three turnovers in the fourth quarter of the NFC title game. And one of the best touchdown passes I've ever seen.

It's fair too. Let's say, Dan, he goes to the, he's on the Jets. Would you have a problem paying him 18 million a year? No, no, I'm taking the money out of it. I agree. You just pay him the money. I'm just saying it seems like a lot of money. That's fine, and I agree with Dan.

There should be more of a middle class. Right. It's really that Aaron, and Brady and Manning are underpaid, I think. Right. That's fair. But none of us can confidently stand on the table and say, Kaepernick's definitely that top 10 guy, which is, I think that's interesting. I don't know if I'm totally convincing that guy.

So what does that mean that we can't say that? He's still worth the money. Yeah, I'm taking that out of it. I'm just saying he's not really at that point where we're that confident. He's an elite type of quarterback. Oh, I just used the E word. I hate that. but that we're not totally convinced he's that guy.

A year ago, I would have been more confident. If you want me to name the quarterbacks I'd rather have than him, I'd be happy to, but it might take a while and it might be for another podcast, but I'd be happy to say which quarterbacks are better. All right, July 12th, that's the podcast. Well, we're here. You want to do it? Why don't you go through it right now?

It's going to be hard on time. Manning, Brady, who might be out of the league by the time we're done with this thing. Breeze, Rogers. Well, Rogers would be number one, but anyway. Big Ben, Rivers, Russell Wilson, Andrew Luck, Matt Ryan. That might be about it. All at their ages today, you'd want them today for the rest of their careers. Cam and Kaepernick in the same category.

I'd probably take Cam over Kaepernick, but they're close. So, Kaepernick, 10th best quarterback. Yeah, he's about the 10-11 range. It's fair. NFL media's Judy Batista had an interesting feature today where she reported that the NFL competition committee, which has been in Florida talking about potential proposals to send to the owners this year are discussing the possibility of pushing the point after touchdown,

the extra point to the 25-yard line, which would make it a 42-yard attempt. Right now it's ball set at the two, making it a 19 or 20-yard attempt. That's pretty crazy, isn't it? It's a long extra point. I think it's spicy. I like it. I like it.

To make the game more interesting. Isn't it a little bit? It's kind of taste too much, though? Why too much? How are 35. What is our attraction to the current extra point? No, the current extra point, we've outgrown it. I think that the kickers are so advanced now and the conditions and the fields and everything about the NFL's progress past extra points.

But a 42-yard field goal to me, and 40 to 49-yard field goals last year were converted, I believe it was 83%. 83% of the time. That, I mean, I would go crazy. I like it. That's why you lock down Nick Falk. Yeah, because it's so hard to find a kick. It's in five years. And now Alex Barron commits a false start penalty and you're back to a 47-yard extra point.

Downstairs, I mean, Dan is, I didn't know. That's a great call, though. One false start and it's a 47-year-old yard kick. A personal foul. All of a sudden, it's a bomb outside 50. It is a little crazy. But Dan. That's absurd.

Now we're having fun. I didn't ever knew that Dan was. such a traditionalist. If Dan was back in the 1920s, you'd be like, this forward past, this is a terrible idea. Keep the watermelon ball. Yeah, let's lady folk voting. No, sir. No, but I, no, listen,

it's just to me, all right, think about it this way. It's good. The example I said earlier, all right, Mark, I love using the Browns as an example. Late in a game, they needed to keep their playoff hopes alive. They marched 98 yards down the field, an amazing gutsy drive. They convert

four fourth downs they get in the end zone they tie the Steelers up if they hit the extra point and you push the extra point from 42 yards and by the way it's in Cleveland where it's negative 8 degrees with a 72 winchill you push the extra point so you lose whatever so you're a factory

I'm hanging on the edge of my chair because I'm hanging on the edge of my chair because this extra point means everything whereas it's not for the extra point in a game before that you'd be like ah the extra point 98 yard drive that's the Broncos corrective steering is too much so what Dan wants is an extra point

that's automatic that there's no drama to it I say this is reductive thinking I'm fine totally getting rid of the extra point

which was the whole idea of this is the future what is it's like 2057 it's either what's wrong with this game

or six points but if the choices keep the system as it is now which is pointless or add this 42 yardie I like it

but if it's a 20 yard goal and they're proposing potentially 42 what is wrong with a 35 why do we need to get fancy

If we propose a 57 and then meet in the middle of 42. Yeah, I mean, it's absurd. Dan's like, this is too much excitement, too much tension. We can't have excitement? Too much drama. You don't love the game the way I love the game, apparently. I love the purity of the great game that Vince Lombardi loved, and I'm on the side of Lombardi. So there you go.

I love that the NFL stands alone among sports, and that if they can find a way to make it more exciting, they do. That's a very true of it. You know what else? You know what other game made a lot of changes? The XFL. Should we just start doing stuff like that? Like place the ball at the 50 and then two idiots run at each other and get the ball? Are we going to do that since more fun?

Adam Carolla has the idea to do a Trident where you try to hit one in the, hit something in the middle of the goal post. And that's like three or that's like another point. I don't know. That's exciting. That I like. You know what I mean? Do it. And you have another pull in the middle.

If you go for the middle one, you hit it right on, you get another extra point on top. There should be two poles in the middle with a really skinny zone there. Right? That would be fun, too. You guys could turn it into rock and jock football. Go ahead. I like Manetheel the way I like my own. That never exs a source spot with Dan here, which I'd, like, in all the years of knowing him, never would have detected existing.

My team just franchised a kicker, so it's really like... Did you used to prefer it when people used hay as thigh pads? Yes, I did. I hated it. All right. Before we go today, we figured it's always. fun slip back into the lab because gold standard you know people love the lab people love the scientists getting at each other and let's go downstairs we're heading into the lab all right

there we are mark are you behind me yeah we're now in the lab downstairs oh hear that we're going to talk a little bit about the top 10 wide receivers uh uh the free agency primer that's upset on our website This was written by Chris Wessling, the post we have up today, but this is a list that was compiled by Greg and West together, right? Yes. All right. Mark, do you want to go over that list or read out the top ten? All right, let's do it real quick.

In a class of their own, according to Chris Wesleyan, those are his words exactly. Yes, that's the subheading, class of their own, Eric Decker and Hakeem Nix. Moving down to the solid starter category, We've got at the top, Golden Tate, followed by James Jones, Julian Edelman, and Emmanuel Sanders. Wait, can we put the, yeah, let's stay down there. We're still down here in the bubbles.

We didn't leave. We're still down there. Gold standard. In the final heat, starters with questions, according to Professor Wesleyan, or I guess scientist Wesleyan. Professor Wesleyan. Sydney Rice, if he can still function physically, followed by Andre Roberts. Sidney rises on this list. This is grim. This is ugly. It goes to Kenny Britt, and then Ted Ginn.

Questions is right. Wesleyan's Brit obsession has officially gone off the tracks that he somehow made a starters with questions. That's a lot of questions. What are the questions? Am I crazy? Like, that makes no sense. That's a good point. I did. I did. It's a bad heading. That's an insult to Ken Gill. Put Kenny Britt ahead of Jacobi Ford. I mean, who would you want in there without Kenny Brits?

Well, I don't like the heading starters with questions. Well, you're the boss. Go changing. Oh, the scientist. There's no level loss here. Is there any way we look back on this group and we say, I can't believe we ever thought Eric Decker was better than Hakeem Nix? Sure. There's a chance we do that. If Hakeem Nix ever gets his legs back, then we would say that. And if Decker lands, as you've said before, with the wrong type of team that overpays for him, he will vanish.

Well, let's throw it to you two, Dan and Mark. I know you don't have your lab. You do wear lab coats, actually. Yeah, well, we wear hard hats always and safety goggles as long as our coats. You root for NFL franchises that play football that have a need at wide receiver. Would you rather have your team signed Decker or Knicks? Well, is the money... It's comparable.

It's comparable? Well, let's say Nick's a little less, because he should be less. If it's comparable, I'm going with Decker, just because I thought, I don't know, I didn't get a good vibe from Nick's in those last two years of the Giants. Even beyond the injuries, I didn't really like how he kind of handled, carried himself in the media, and kind of just got a little bit of bad vibe. So I'd give Decker a shot. I want to see Dan's big board for free agency, all the measurables, like hands, strength, vibe. Does it get a check in the vibe category? A vibe is incredibly important in life, in all factors of life.

I have a tough time with Decker and Cleveland, if that's where you're asking me. If they were to take Sammy Watkins number four, have a quarterback, have Gordon and Decker, and it all worked out, which is far-fetched. I like Decker. Otherwise, I go Nix. Let me ask you. So you like him only if he's a number three-wide receiver. When's the last time of King Nick's made a play?

Because I can tell you when Eric Decker was making plays. I just think that Decker is the guy that we're going to look back on. I hope I'm wrong for his sake and the sake of his precious family. Eric Decker gets no respect in this podcast studio. It's fair west that you say that. But I will tell you that you also said yourself, Wes, where are the giants if Akeem Nix isn't on that Super Bowl team, that second Super Bowl team? You know where they are?

Where they've been the last two years? Right. With him not making any place. Maybe we're, maybe I'm becoming one of those general managers that evaluates these free agents based on what they did in college. Maybe Hakeem Nix, that guy from a couple of. years ago that I thought was going to be a top five wide receiver.

And if we had been placing bets after 2011, who was more important, who's going to get signed first Nix or Cruz? You would have definitely thought it would be Hakeem Nix. Nix at full health, it's one of the top five or six wide receivers in the NFL. He was. That's who we want.

But he's not that guy anymore. Okay. And even when he was at full health, it was only for a few games at a time, he's had hip, ankle, knee, thigh, every part of your leg you could possibly go wrong. Nix has had multiple instances with all of them. So you're saying it's not just that he's been banged up.

You think he's breaking down at age 26 or whatever? I'm saying even if he gets healthy and ever shows playmaking ability again, he'll probably get injured shortly thereafter. I guess where I'm coming from is I don't view either as a guy I want to go tout around as my big wide receiver signing and then, hey, we're going to center our passing game around this guy. Neither one of them. Let me ask one more question off this top 10 list.

in the much maligned subhead stars with questions. Sidney Rice, Andre Roberts, Kenny Britt, Tedgin. Choose one of that list that will actually become a big-time playmaker this year, who most likely to surprise. I would, if I had to give none of them a long-term deal, but I would like to add Roberts to a team and see what he can do. The rest of them all feel, if they're not locker room cancer-type material,

They are just too far gone. The only one that's like that is Britt, right? I mean, there's nothing. I cannot fathom how I would be hired by a team to add Britt to my roster. Sydney Rice is probably in Switzerland right now having his knees replaced. I'm not saying locker room can't sprawling. But like with Rice, there's major health issues. It's a giant question mark.

We talk about Hakeem Nick's making sense for the Panthers. What about Sidney Rice from North Carolina, went to school at South Carolina? If he can play for more than four games in season, that's the issue. I take a shot with Ryan. as a two or three, and the price is going to be right. He might be a lot less expensive than guys like Tate. What do you think? Do you think Sidney Rice is going to get paid a lot?

I don't know. No, I don't think he's going to get a one-year deal, and it would probably be for $1 to $2 million. I don't think any of these guys are going to get paid a lot. Tate. Tate, Jones, Edelman, and Sanders, they're not going to get that much money. They're nice role players. Someone might pay for Sanders.

I think opinions are all over the map on him in the NFL. And I agree with Mark on Andre Roberts. If someone would have told you last year at this time that Edelman was a better player than Andre Roberts, he would have asked what they were smoking. You would have gotten answers too. Maybe that's the sound in the background right now. This is what people do in the NFL.

What did you do last year? Everyone assumes that 2013 stats will carry over. And they don't. That's not how the NFL works. Well, maybe then James Jones could be a touchdown-leading type of guy. I think James Jones, for as bad a year as he had, I think he had a career high in yards. James Jones was okay. He doesn't have great hands.

He stopped separating halfway through the year, and it's not really his fault. He had a torn PCL. Around the leagues, Dan Hanzas will be speaking with James Jones at NFL Network Studios on Tuesday. And I'll report back to you guys what I get out of him. I like James Jones, and I think he'll make for a great signing. You can tell him I said that. I will. I'll let him know that.

He was wearing some fancy orange pants. I thought they were like gold. It was like, please Packers don't give him. up on me. It looked like he was selling Sherbert. I'm colorblind, so. Oh, that's right. Let's not bring that up anymore. Yeah. All right, let's go upstairs.

We're going to leave the lab. Who's that? Who's in charge of upkeep down there, by the other? Well, that's a mystery. I think these guys, I don't think when you have two sort of mad scientists operating, right? There's not a... People have been where Lyle's been. We put him in the lab. Should we let people know what Lyle is all about?

Right. He is an ogre that's been hanging out. In the lab too long, some strange things growing off of his head. It's just, we have to keep him out of public. That's why he's always messed everything up. All right, before we go, Wes, real quick, update on the map. Oh, ATL World Map. I meant to order it last night. I'll order it.

I promise you it will be ordered. What is the map for our listeners? Well, we have all these listeners from different points of the globe. A lot from United Kingdom, Australia. We've had some Finland. German. German, African, we have people from all over. So I'm going to buy a map.

We're going to put it in the podcast studio, place pins in all of the places where people have told us they're from. You said this was an off-season project. We are now, we're in the off-season. I'm just at a certain point in results are, you know, you expect. Well, I was told that this was a post-combine project. We are now post-combine. I will, I promise you, I will more it. Told that.

Who are you told that by it? Greg! He made it clear. This is post-combine. If Wesleyan's going to be late delivering something, I'd rather be this than the free agent primers. That's fair. I will order it tonight, and I will, you know, I'm an Amazon Prime member. I'll have it delivered as soon as possible.

I'll have it in there. As you may or may not know, does not shop. He refuses to everything done online. He's a man of the future. You know why I don't shop? He's a man type figure. You know why I'll shop? Because there's people out there.

They're the worst. I like that you wear this Amazon Prime membership. like you're like a select member of an elite club that no one else could be. You'd always bring that up. Yeah, it's like me and Wilford Brimley. Do you get paid for each reference?

I could see if the podcast ever truly took off and became famous and then it eventually disappeared through the sands of time and Wes would be able to milk his celebrity to do like, you know, every once in a while I'll see like Wilford Brimley's like selling gold coins. I could see Wes doing some type of commercial Hawking Coins is the former ATL podcast.

Do I strike you as a man who would be happy to do a commercial? Yes. I don't think I'm a commercial guy. You'd be a changed person at that point, though. That's true. You kind of resemble a young Wilford business. I don't love. That's a compliment.

Wow. On that note. Time I beat us. On that note, we will be back on Wednesday, as we always are. We'll continue to talk about free agency, which is getting closer and closer every day. and any other news and, you know, whatever else is happening. Until then, this is Dan Hansis, signing off for the mailman, the sizzler, the boss, the gold standard behind the glass, and fly all the intern down in the dungeon.

I'm glad. Until Wednesday. My job is to buy, God, get things done. What is that? Thank you.