NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Free agency recap, 'Go Get My Sandwich' scoreboard

Episode Date: March 14, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler and Chris Wesseling -- delivers its final word on free agency, picking apart all of the biggest moves of the past week, including Darrelle Revis’ arrival in Foxborough, Eric Decker’s move to the New York Jets and Steve Smith’s release from the Carolina Panthers. Elsewhere, the gang puts the Oakland Raiders’ front office under the microscope and analyzes the merits of Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis’ new contract extension. Find out who owes delicious Dagwoods and saucy subs as the podcast recaps the inaugural instalment of ‘Go Get My Sandwich.’ What kind of hero is Marc promising to the other heroes? There’s only one way to find out -- by tuning into the latest episode of the “Around The League Podcast.” Don’t forget to join the conversation on Twitter by tweeting @NFL_ATL and be sure to submit your very own intro tag by using the hashtag #MoneyTags.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 is as consistent as a Brett-Farv retirement. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Henses and I'm joined by a room filled with heroes. Chris Wessling, Mark Sessler, and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys? Hey, Dan. Happy Friday.

We've reached the end of week one of free agency. How's everybody feeling about that? Almost, you know, Monday to Friday. Saturday counts. And we'll be here delivering content. I'm feeling it. You don't really make your money on the first day of free agency. Everyone's excited.

It's wildly busy. It's more Thursday at 5 o'clock and you've been pounding out post for 8, 72 hours. You don't know what's happened. And now you've got to make something up about Wesley Woodyard to the Titans and it's got to be sharp. So that's when we make our money. I thought that you meant the GM. actually start to earn their dollars with the low-level signing. Who cares about GM?

I've had fun this week. I feel like I should be paying the NFL to be doing this. All right. I like that. I agree. This is, Mark actually had a similar comment that basically, this is more fun because we're not trying to make news out of nothing. We're analyzed. We're busy all day.

It's going to be boring the next couple months. And also with the, it's kind of like a fantasy draft where, yeah, there's the big names that come off the market in the first couple days, just like the first couple rounds. But now this is where the GMs make their run. This is where they find those gems. Wes, you're talking about the guys that you get cheap and then they get the big contract next year. A lot of those guys are still out there. Way to be brought in to make a big impact in 2014.

We should keep in mind what Dave Gettleman did last year. He got at least 500 quality snaps out of five or six players that weren't signed until way later in free agency. By this time last year, none of those guys have been signed. And we had a top 101 at first, and now it's down below 50 of those guys are available. The top 15 was wiped away in the first 48 hours or so. It's the best available free agents. Chris Wesleyan wrote it up on Thursday, and it's just getting diminished by the day.

But it's a new fresh analysis piece. Go check it out. I view that to mean that the league's decision makers don't agree with roughly half of your list. They're still out there. Actually, they agreed with a lot more this year. Wesleying being involved helped. I'm just saying the top of the list was... Versus Dan and I contributing to that a year ago.

That's how I take that. Wait, I was around last year. No, I just did it myself a year ago, so... You know, I was trying to give Wes some credit. Thank you. So, a lot to get to, first, Wes, I could smell your cologne. It's not cologne. It's not cologne.

It's a lot of your musk. It's old-spiced sport. Yes, it's deodorant. I don't have cologne on. Someone smells great. In this room? Because I just got here. Well, maybe I put half the stick on.

Maybe. Maybe you overdid it. I have old space swagger. Ooh, swagger. Greg has a head cold and has like Ben Gay spread throughout his body. Well, that could be it. Well, that could be it. And Cecil, you are kind of a rugged mountain man.

You use your natural scent to call to other animals in nature. Liquids and gels onto my body. Gold standard. What do you use for your antiperspirate? I've been on the right guard rotation lately. I respect that. Spray? I'm usually, no, no.

I don't know, of course not. Yeah. Never go spray. That was big in the late 80s, early 90s. That would take like 20 years off your life, I think. All right, big show. Before we get into it, two things. We need Goldstander behind the glass, by the way.

How are you? I'm great. Thanks. We need more intros at the beginning of the show. I know we've been doing some repeats lately with Matt Money Smith, who handles that so kindly. We don't pay the man a dime, and he's a professional radio guy. I feel a little weird about that. That's an aside right now, because I feel like his agent eventually is going to come to us.

You guys don't pay him? That's pro bono work. So we typically, after a rotate, we write about 15 or 20 of them. We deliver him to the Gold Standard. He sends them to money. Money records them. We need some help with this because we're very busy, free agency. So we're thinking, why do we throw it to the listeners?

And Gold Standard, let me know if this is a good idea. We throw it to the listeners and let them come up with money tags, and they send it on Twitter to ATL, NFL, underscore. ATL, hashtag money tags. Boom. Now, just in case, I'm sure, maybe there's someone new to the show, this is how it sounds. The Around the League podcast always goes for two. Here's another example.

The Around the League podcast openly fears Papa John. So send in, get Murthy, have fun with it, and if it's funny, and Greg, you will be the ultimate judge of this as the boss. You will decide if it's funny enough, it will become one of our intros. The intro is my favorite part of the show. It's all downhill after that. I'm not joking. I just like, I've listened to other podcasts, minute-long intros. Forget it.

I'm glad Greg is the boss that gets to decide if this is funny or not. was only saying that. No, because there could be other people deciding this, and, you know, maybe we don't want to trust their humor. If there's a deadlock somehow. Greg, you decide it. All right. I don't know what Wesleyan is getting at here.

I don't either. I have faith in Greg's ability to trust. Under the radar, science heat. No, I have faith in Greg's ability to judge humor. But a lack of faith in someone else's ability to do so. It's interesting. All right, gentlemen. So, yes, help us out with that.

listeners, you always do help us out with the show, and this would be a great help, because I don't know, you know, Sessler hasn't been really bringing the heat with those, so we need someone else to step in. I don't know if I've ever contributed any. All right, so why don't we get into the news, right, gentlemen? Because we'll be a little different. Usually we do a little news up top. We have so much news.

We've got to just get rolling here. And the biggest news, or I'm going to say the biggest news of the week, because I still believe this guy is, you know, possibly the best cornerback in the league. Daryl Revis lands with the Patriots. We all speculated about this on Wednesday's podcast. He signs what's typically basically a one year $12 million deal, but there is a second year option. But he's on the Patriots next year. The

arms race between the Patriots and the Broncos is real. Gentlemen. I just feel bad for the Patriots that this is going to force Tom Brady onto the Brown's roster. If you listen to Wednesday, they show. Mark hinted at a mega train. Well, real quick, I think what they did, we have to get another face of the franchise for the cover of the game day

programs, the little pocket schedules that men carry around in their wallets. You got Revis. To replace number 12, old number 12. But what do we think about this? Greg, you're a Patriots fan. It reminds me of when they brought in Randy Moss, who's one of the smartest players, Bill Belichick

says he's ever coached. Kind of another coach on the field, that wide receiver. Revis that kind of cerebral cornerback. I don't know if they've ever quite had a guy like this, but he's certainly the best cornerback there since Ty Law and Asante Samuel, even better. I think he's still got some juice.

I said this before I knew it was on the team, that he could be the best cornerback in the league. It's perfect for their system. I think it just feels like New England foresees a time when they're going to deal with Denver again in the playoffs, potentially, and they've got to find a way if Denver looks the same way they did last season to shut that offense down. Revis, not a bad option, obviously.

How many times can we say that the Patriots did not set the trend they copied off another team? What were they copying here? I think they're obviously on Brandon Browner's trail. They signed Dorel Revis. Dorel Revis, the best press man corner of the past decade.

Brandon Browner, the prototypical physical press man corner. They're copying off the Seahawks. What's wrong with that? Makes sense. I mean, there's nothing wrong with it. There's nothing wrong with it, but it just strikes me that Bill Belichick is usually the guy who comes up with the multiple tight ends and all these other schemes that he does. He's been coaching up press cornerback since the mid-80s Giants. That's been what he wanted.

Tushay. He hasn't found many lately. That hasn't worked too well. To me, this is the ultimate one-year contract player for the ultimate kind of week-to-week this year is all that matters team in the ultimate like one-year league. I think it's perfect that he's there for one year, and then they'll see if he's really worth being the best paid cornerback in the league. It makes a lot of sense for them. And, yeah, we talked about it Wednesday.

They need to be looking at Tom Brady the same way John Elway looks at Peyton Manning. The window is getting smaller and smaller the opening, and you've got to take advantageous. Now you have one of the best defensive players in the league anchoring your secondary. So it was a no-brainer. You know, in the NFC you had last season, especially Seattle and San Francisco going back-to-back. back to back to back with little moves trying to counter each other. I feel like Denver and New England has shifted into that mode

and sort of almost overtaken those two in that way. New England's only made one move so far. It's about as big a move as you can make, though. Is there anybody in this room who doesn't believe that now a year removed from surgery, Revis is going to come back and have a dominant season and announce his presence with him? I like it. Oh, I think there's no question.

He had a great season last year, by the way. I like that. I'm not sure how great last season was. But for a guy who, look at RG3 coming off surgery, Revis, I thought he was, I would have taken him over anyone on most teams. Yeah, and Rich Samini of the Daily News, because I tracked this, or ESPN, I tracked this very closely for the Jets because they were in the mix, obviously at some point, a little bit at least.

And one scout had told Samini that Revis actually looked human last year, which was his quote. But, you know, the question now becomes, is he, Two years removed Revis again, or is he not the same guy? There's still a little bit of question whether he'll ever be the guy who was before he hurt the knee. The Jets thing is interesting that Gary Myers in the Daily News had a long story how Revis's top priority when he got to the free agent market was he wanted to return to the Jets. And Rex Ryan, of course, wanted Revis back, but ownership and general manager John Idzik did not want Revis.

and I just find it interesting this is getting out into the press and it just makes me think how this Rex Ryan just like Revis is very year to year and there's still issues there. It might not be all that Machiavellian. It might just be Rex's Miffed that he wanted Revis. So he let it like, if I want something that bad and I know I'm right, I'd be a little Miff too.

Right, I hear you. But if you're Woody Johnson and John Idzick reading a big article in the New York Daily News, Are you really fired up? Your coach is getting that out there? If you're Rex Ryan, do you really care when you knew you were right? That's fair. All right, moving forward, Steve Smith, the now former Carolina Panthers wide receiver

was officially released on Thursday. He's visiting the Ravens on Friday. I believe he has other visits lined up for the upcoming days. What are your guys' takes on this? And actually, before we do that, I just want to read a quote from Steve Smith, who is kind of like an angry ex-girlfriend, right now. He was asked on a radio station. This is before he was even officially cut. What would happen if he went to Carolina to play? And his quote is, if that happens to run

through Bank of America Stadium, that's where the Panthers play was. I know all the stadiums now. I've studied them. Put your goggles on because there's going to be blood and guts everywhere. Steve Smith, quote, machine. Put your goggles on as the new ice up sun. I mean, we talked about Baltimore's wanting to get back. to an offense that had an Anquan Bolden type compliment to Tori Smith. And they're not the same player, but they had nothing aside of Tori Smith last year

on the wide receiver spot. And the better fit, though, in my mind is New Orleans. Then you're in the division and you can play Carolina twice. You can go back to that stadium, whatever it's named, and drop a hammer. Bank of America. I'd be surprised. He's probably going to be a raven by the time people hear us. That's how these podcasts are going lately.

he's perfect chain mover that's what they need i put zero stock in the notion that steve smith's going to be playing with a chip on his shoulder because he's played a chip with a chip on his shoulder for 13 years how much bigger can it get before it drives him into the soil no one's played with a bigger chip on their shoulder their entire career than steve smith but i do believe that going to a team with a quarterback who's a very good passer will help his career because Cam Newt, let's face it, is not one of the league's best passers. He's a good quarterback,

but passing is not as forte. Is Joe Flacco one of the best? I think if you give him weapons, yeah, I think he's... In January, 2013, through February 2nd, 2013. He was like one of the best. Remember that?

That was weird. Question, if he did sign with the Ravens, at random, Mark Sessler, what are Steve Smith's stats over 16 games if he signed with the Ravens? plays in five games no if he starts 16 games he won't

wow so it's over for steve smith no he suffers an injury about six weeks in he plays starts why do you always put a hex on play why must i project you're out margis season when he's going to play five games mark you're out your negative juju

west 16 games steve smith 58 catches 770 yards Five touchdowns. Greg, that's all right? No, that's good. I like that.

On Baltimore, a team like that, yeah, that's perfect. All right. You're off by 11 games, West, but other than that, which makes him an end of the line, Derek Mason. Yikes. Moving on, Roger Saffold, you know, tough stuff going on in Oakland right now. In fact, I just checked the NFL.com homepage, and it's pretty grim. The landing page of NFL.com, here. huge headline, bungling free agency with a picture of a beleaguered-looking Reggie McKenzie

and Mark Davis. He looks like a sad cartoon bear. I am, it's very sad. And then Judy Patista wrote a column about have the Raiders have struggled. Roger Saffold might be the image of that struggle. He failed a Raiders physical under mysterious circumstances after signing a big deal to be a tackle and then return to the Rams later that night on a five-year contract. contract.

So that is the weirdest story of the week, right? Yes, news of the weird. I don't want to kick Reggie McKenzie because he's already down. I mean, it's no fun anymore. He may be down because you've lashed him in articles, maybe seven or eight times in the last 72 hours. But I think it strikes me when I read the St. Louis Post-Dispatch report. They have flown Saffold's parents out to watch the signing.

Awkward. Saffold told his eight. agent, the doctor told me during my physical, you're cleared. And then they go back on it. And from Mike Silver, our NFL media columnist, Mark Davis put the kibosh on it. Well, that's why I asked Greg yesterday, why isn't the league looking into something like that? That's, or at least the Players Association, it seems like such a yank around to Saffold to bring him and his family out. But you felt, Greg, that because the Rams thing happened so lickety split after the Raiders thing,

fell apart that? I think if he had ended up having to settle for some two-year, $6 million contract three weeks from now, maybe that would be something that was investigated by the NFLPA. But he had a five-year contract worth a lot of money from the Rams waiting for him to who's going to make a big stink about it. Now, that money that he's getting from the Rams is not nearly as much money as the Raiders. So it did end up costing Saffold. I'm sure it was a brutal moment for him, but he landed on his feet pretty well.

It just makes the Raiders look so bad. One of Silver's high-place sources said he thought it was the worst day of his entire career in football. That's how ashamed he essentially was at what happened. I can't wait until the book or the novella or the leaflet of this experience is produced in a bookstore. And it tells us finally that like a holographic Ben Kenobi-like image of Al Davis appeared and like shut this thing down. Well, here's the thing, it might have saved the Raiders, though, as crazy as it is. And I hate to think that Mark Davis read a lot of negative articles about how bad this signing was, and that was a factor in it. Shadowy League figure slipping into the room.

Yeah, I'll shut up now. But if that is what happened, and the end result is they did not give Roger Saffold a guy we were killing who's had eight different surgeries and not a particularly great career, a monster contract. If the end result is they wind up with Donald Penn or something for less money. Yeah, except that's so bad for them. Flipside is it's a complete zero, no confidence in your general manager and front office that made that decision. And it's not a good look. And then if you pull it back a little further, if you're a Raiders fan, you've got to be nervous right now about the direction of your franchise,

who's running it from the top down, now more than ever. Because there was a time, this was a year ago, or even a week ago, where it was like, Reggie McKenzie, this guy did well in Green Bay, now he's finally going to get a chance to build the roster, and this is what happens? If you're a Raidersand, what do you have to be excited about? Last year, snafu like this, happened to one of the best executives in the NFL. The Elvis Dumerville facts.

I think very different situations, obviously, though. They were both the fault of the front office. The Broncos thing, like, maybe even more embarrassing at the time, because that was just ridiculous. Well, and people kill the Raiders for being an organization that didn't move to the technology age, but it was Denver that sat around waiting for a fax to come find. A year ago, Mark, you told me a year ago Saturday is the anniversary of Faxgate. Yes, it is tomorrow.

How about that? What are we going to do to celebrate? Go to Kinko. For sure. Write more articles. What do we think about Lamar Woodley and Justin Tuck, both signing. with the Raiders, both around $5 million a year, better contracts than they would have gotten elsewhere.

It felt a little bit to me like, oh man, this Saffold thing was bad. We better make up for it and close these deals and have something positive to show our fans. I think it's just a question of which guy's the bigger bust over the contract. Wow. I think both guys are built-in questions about whether it's their effort level or where they are at the stage of their career, but I don't think there's any way

both these guys end up being worth of money. I have a lot of questions about this. Greg mentioned that Lamar Houston was told a few weeks ago by Dennis Allen that he no longer fits his defense. There's hints that they might... Houston said that publicly. Are they switching to a 3-4? Because that's the only way the Lamar Woodley signing makes sense.

He was drafted to be the prototypical 3-4 outside linebacker. He's never played with his hand at the NFL level. I don't know how that signing makes sense if they're not moving to a 3-4. Do a little bit of both? Maybe. Aren't these sightings, though, if the Patriots or the 49ers made them, we'd be like, ooh, Woodley. Oh, I don't feel that way about Justin Tuck because, you know, it's all right last year. He's all right, but these are not, this is not billed for the future moves, and this is a team that needs to get,

listen, they had two outstanding young players on their roster that they grew, and they let them go, and they replace them with aging players who are on the, well, Woodley's fine potentially, but Tuck is on the downside of his career. You're not going to beat the Broncos for the division title. These are save your job Reggie McKenzie moves. Try to get respectability for a year because he knows he's gone if they don't have a respectable year. He probably needs to get seven or eight wins to keep his job, you think. Right, but the goal should not be to win seven or eight games.

It should be a model of sustainability. But they had to sign starters. So whether it was Woodley or Tuck or guys. who were a couple million dollars less, they had to sign starters in free agency. And to their credit, that's all they did last year on these one-year deals with some ridiculous players,

and we laughed about their roster going into the year. They coached them up okay, so... To their credit, they won four games! Yes. All right. All right. Moving forward, Darren Sprouls, who was rumored to be released

or reported to be released. Then the Saints found out they had a trade market for the running back, which in retrospect wasn't that surprising. They move them to the Eagles on Thursday in exchange for a fifth round draft pick. And then on Friday, Sproles signs a two-year extension that takes him through the 2016 season. This is a great move, right, gentlemen? I like the trade more than the extension.

The trade makes sense you give Chip Kelly another weapon to spread out his offense. And really in two-minute drills, which are really important in the NFL, he'll be on the field. I guess my question is, is he better than LaShawn McCoy? No, but then he's going to be his backup. He's not a running back anymore. He's just purely a passing down guy. LaShawn McCoy had the second most touches or was on the field for the second most snaps in all football last year coming off a monster season. I think it makes a lot of sense to have somebody to take some of that workload.

And he offers you something very dangerous in the passing game. And I think Kelly, if anyone in the league, is going to find a way to use both on the field if he really needs to. I think what's frustrating, and Dan and I mentioned this yesterday, if you root for a team that is lacking weapons, the way the Eagles went out and spent a low-round draft pick to grab this guy, what team would decide not to give up a fifth-round pick for Darren Sproul? Sometimes I wonder if teams just don't do due diligence with some of these things. Who wouldn't give a fifth-round pick for Darren Sprouls?

How many fifth-round picks turn into players that help your team instantly? Unless they're going to Sproles, which didn't sound like there was a lot of communication there. Here's your opportunities for what we've gotten. I've got a theory on this. From March through the end of September, all front office, all football people value young players and potential in draft picks more than established veterans.

Once the games actually start to count, they realize the value of established guys of who they can trust. Sproles has a lot more value in October than he does in March. And they have to pay him the money, too. He had a good, big contract number, so I don't think. a lot of teams were in position to pay a reserve $5 million. I bet the extension is going to actually lower that number in terms of cap figure. But just imagine Sproles in one spot, McCoy and the other, Deshawn somewhere else.

And Chip Kelly, Brian Baldinger was in our office yesterday sitting near us, and he talks about Kelly just wants guys that can win one-on-one matchups and to set up as many different one-on-one matchups all over the field. I guess my problem is what coach doesn't want that and why another team? I mean, I just feel some frustration. But one thing, the Eagles are the team in that division getting better, while the rest of that division is not. And I think what coaches don't want that,

the coaches that win in the NFL are the ones who are bold and who think originally. Chip Kelly's that guy. They got Sproles with a fifth round pick that they traded, that they got in a trade. with the Patriots for Isaac Sopiwaga. That's how you win, baby. Well, and give Hallie Roseman some credit, too. Greg, I would ask Mark,

but Mark would say broken fibula week two of the preseason. I ask you, Darren Sprouls, 16 games, statistics with the Eagles. 55 catches for 500 yards receiving, 60 rushes for whatever, 250 yards. Hmm, I feel like you're underselling him a little bit. He had 70 catches with the Saints last year. I feel like they're going to use him a lot in the passing game. I'll go 40 rushes and about 45 receptions for 400 yards.

That's even lower than me. He's clearly on the decline. Do you want to give him a shot? I project numbers similar to Wes's, but he will have a period of depression in October. He'll just feel depressed and low, and we're going to see an ugly October from Sproles. You're weird dude.

I'm just telling you what I feel I respect that Moving forward Eric Decker Signs a five-year deal With the New York Jets On Wednesday I predicted I believe this would happen

Because the Jets needed to make a move Especially after Revis Signed with the Patriots They get the deal done Wes I knew you were unhappy With the prospect of this happening Very unhappy in fact But ultimately it makes sense for the Jets

The money wasn't too outrageous Does it of course it does I mean he is a all right some people might not say he's a legit number one but maybe he's a 1A

or a good two hold on we have a new scale what thanks to a Twitter follower Brad Tucker we have the Eric Decker scale

okay I'm listening he is the mark above which you're a number one receiver in the NFL I like that well that I like that

but the only thing is the Jets didn't have anybody near that mark so now they have a guy of that mark a perfect signer for the time. It's just a selfish sentiment for me. I don't want to see him on the Jets wasted.

He's going to be wasted on the Jets. You're going back to your fantasy football days. You're just worried about numbers. You accused me of that the other day. It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with real football, and I don't want to see him wasted. Hold on that. It's a bad spot for him.

But the Jets also are committed to adding more than air. Here's why I'm not ready to kill it entirely yet. If they stand Pat and just keep him as their number one receiver, disaster. But if they go out and add someone like James Jones and they get a couple, It's a receiver-rich draft. You've got to start somewhere. You can't kill the move. You could kill your love of Eric Decker and how it might affect his stats.

But for the Jets, it's a great move. I don't care about watching football. It's boring to watch Eric Decker on the Jets. Okay, but for the Jets who needed to add a wide receiver, they added arguably the top guy in the market. I think it's an incredible bargain. He's a better player than Mike Williams who got more money, and he's not a knucklehead like Mike Williams.

Is it boring, though, if they go out and add three more targets over the course of now in September and potentially bring Michael Vickett. It's going to be a boring offense as long as Rex Ryan's there. They got him at a good number. There could also be the Brian Hartline line. That's a different line. We always talk about...

Why has it got to be a white guy? By the way, because Decker agreed to this deal. Right. He wasn't yanked in. Sorry, here you are playing for that. He went out to dinner with Rex Ryan. He agreed to it. Well, the Brian Hartline line line is that Wesleyan,

every time a receiver contract happens, where he's like, well, he's better than Brian Hartline. He's not making as much as him. Hartline makes about $6 million a year, and I consider that basically the baseline, if you're a average starter that got to free agency. And he's just above that. He's basically being paid to be a number two receiver. It's not really big, big money. It's almost the exact same contract as Stevie Johnson, which is appropriate because they're both at the Eric Decker level.

Now, we would have loved to see him with the cults. That would have been an interesting landing spot. That's why I'm a little bitter about this. Well, they don't get them, and it's over. That's why I'm a little bit. Hey, I'm allowed to have bias. Although Decker is, yes, you are. It's almost like he's trying to convince himself into this move. He spoke with the media on Friday, and he said, you know, look, New Jersey, Newark, really underrated, beautiful places.

Those are actual quotes. You have to convince your significant other, too, and it's easier to say, it's New York's an easy sell on a rising spouse. I thought you were going with, Decker was trying to sell himself on Gino Smith. Oh, that too. Which was kind of, that's a tough sell. But what else is he going to say? Somebody asked, what do you think about playing for Gino Smith? After playing for Peyton Man, he's like, oh, it's going to suck.

He's not going to say that. He's going to, like, spin it positively. It will suck. But I just don't think that ultimately Gino Smith is the Jets quarterback. You know what else is going to suck is when he gets held to two catches for 21 yards in two different meetings against Derell Revis twice a year. You know what else is going to, I thought you were going to say, like, when I kidnap him and keep him in my basement. Dan, final thought.

Not a bad move by the Jets. A good move by the Jets. I got him at a bargain rate. I just, as a fan of football and watching good football, I hate it. I think Wesleyan sees the future and he knows he can see the October 8th podcast where I'm killing him and getting on his boy, Eric Decker,

because he's only had eight catches this year. And I'll be fine with saying give him a quarterback and he'll be better. Well, how about this? Nobody asked me my prediction. Eric Decker, 2013, 124 catches 1,800 yards, 12 touchdown. I like it. I like it. On TechMobile, what are you talking about?

They don't make TechMobile anymore. Be a lot cooler if they did. Jermichael Finley, looks like he's heading to the Seahawks. He visited with them this week and then canceled all his other visits. The Seahawks are waiting for him to be fully medically cleared. But once that happens, and I guess we should assume that, will happen. Finley joins their offense. That, to me, seems like a nice fit.

It's interesting because they've never used the tight end as a big pass catching element in their offense. But with Golden Tate leaving, Percy Harvin's there, he needs a second fiddle. So they make Jer Michael Finley, that guy? That's interesting to me. I feel like this is one of the most underreported stories of the week.

Jermichael Finley, it hasn't happened yet, and that's maybe why, but it really sounds like it's a matter of time. he fits that mold of Michael Bennett or Cliff Averill guys who are, you know, knocked down a little bit in terms of their price and going to the Seahawks. I think he could be a huge factor next January. All right. The Redskins have signed defensive tackle. Jason Hatcher away from the Cowboys, a four-year $27.5 million contract.

This went down on Thursday. This nice move there by the Redskins. Fair? Well, Ann, you're robbing from. a Cowboys team that no matter what they do will still be presented on national television 22 times next year, but have to acknowledge they're in full-on

rebuilding mode on defense at this point if they weren't already. Where, Hatcher gone, probably Spencer as well. I don't trust the Redskins defense at all at this point, no matter who they add, but... This is like Decker, love the player, hate the fit. Yeah. Jason Hatcher became a superstar last year

when he moved to a 4-3 defense. He was a three-technic defense. defensive tackle, which plays right next to the big fat guy that takes all the blockers. In the 3-4 defense, he's going to play defensive end. He's played defensive end in the 3-4 defense before and was an average starter. I'm torn because he's one of my favorite guys in free agency, but everything the Redskins touch in free agency turns to garbage. And then when I saw the contract numbers, and then when I heard Jason Hatcher's quote,

the Redskins blew every other offer out of the water. No one was willing to pay him like half of what he got. So I haven't seen the details in terms of how much money early, but there is a little bit of risk that this is a contract that looks very bad in about a year or two. Wes, I'd like your feedback on this. Marvin Lewis signs a one-year extension with the Bengals, keeping him in town through 2015. Most successful regular season coach in Bengals history by quite a bit.

That's all I mean. He is who he is. is. The Bengals can't do any better than him. What a weird tenure. 11 years, only three losing seasons, but no playoff wins. A Twitter follower suggested he is kind of like

the after Dalton scale for coaches, too. I like that. I don't know. I mean, it's got to be weird for him without Zimmer there, but he is sort of right at that spot where you don't know whether you should keep him or try to do it. He is completely average because he is not, well, he is, he's 90 and 85 and

in the regular season, and if you factor in the postseason, he has 90, 90, and one. Yeah, but that's with a big Mike Brown ownership weighing on you. And if he were in a city with an owner that wanted to get tough and bring in the right guy, I don't think that Marvin Lewis is a bad coach, but he would have been out of there a long time ago in another city. Give him a little bit credit. Marvin Lewis is a great defensive mind of his own. It wasn't just Mike Zimmer.

They've averaged 10 wins a year the last three years, so it's very hard to fire him. They've got their act together because they're drafting. changed a little bit. Because Marvin Lewis got more involved in it than any previous coach with the Bengals. Do you think, though, after no playoff wins in 12 years, that that would work in most NFL cities? No, but this is the most unique NFL city. He's Rex Ryan right now, year to year.

He's winning 10 games a year. Over the last 30 years, over the last 25 years, the Bengals ownership is the most unique in the NFL. Well, unique sounds positive, and I'm not sure that it's a positive, positive unique. Well, we're talking about... It's not always positive. As we board Dan to death here, in the mid-90s, people aren't going to believe this. The Bengals had, like, one scout.

That was their department. Wasn't it their television announcer? Duke Tobin. Well, they would send, yeah, they would send their television announcer Dave Lapham. Jump in, Dan, baby. Move it along. Trying to keep the show under an hour, folks. While he was announcing Big Eight football games, they asked him to double as a scout.

All right, so that is it for news. Before we go, we need to take care of some business. last, I guess it was Friday show, right? It was a week ago we played the revolutionary new game. Go get my sandwich bitch.

Last part's supposed to be implied. Oh, right. I keep forgetting that. I will be better. So Gold Standard, touch base with Gold Standard earlier this week. I said, why don't we go through the backlog? Because I failed as a host. I wasn't tracking any of this

as we were going through all this sandwich bets. Let's listen to it. pull out what the actual stakes were, and now we'll revisit it and see who owes what, to who, or whom? So who or whom? Whom. To whom. All right, so why don't we start?

Gold Center, are you prepared for this segment? I'm ready. All right, let's start. Arthur Jones, Ravens Defensive End, the older brother of Patriots sackmasters, Chandler Jones, and MMA fighter John Bones Jones. John Harbaugh said the other day, if you put the game tape on,

you know teams are going to bid high on this guy. I'm taking the Colts. You guys get the rest of the field. Victory for what? Nice. Sweet victory. And you should have gotten odds on that because that was, I mean, you took one team.

We got 31. Well, that was the object of the game. You got to go bold, make it interesting. And just so everyone knows, Greg, you were the only person who took that sandwich bet. Nice try, Dan. Nice try. It's true.

You and Greg both took it. Mark backed out. I did not take it. Yes, you did. And you could study the tape. You could study the tape is what you can do. Backed out isn't the term. I found your logic stunningly convincing and I sided with you.

I listened to the tape and you and Greg both accepted the challenge. I said, I'm not going to do it. Wow, another controversy with him. This is already outrageous. Check the tape. I promise you I didn't take it. But you can look at it. And if you listen and hear it, then I will.

Greg, your quote, I'm just a businessman when you took this bet. But sometimes it doesn't work out. I liked my odds. You've got to just play out emotionally. I am not trying to see, the proof is on the tape. If I, that would be pretty dirty for me to try to get by without you guys checking. I never took it. I said, I'm not going to do this.

I'm not going to do that. I think those are my exact words. I'll have to listen to the tape. That's not the way I recall it. All right. Next one, Gold Standard. On March 14th, Mark Sanchez will be an Oakland Raider. All right, we're recording the show.

show on Friday, March 14th. Not only is Mark Sanchez, not an Oakland Raider, he is still a member of the New York Jets. I guess technically, Mark, you're not dead yet, but let's face it. I've got plenty of time left. Would you like, let's assume, I guess, when is the official league day over? It's a couple hours away now. Let's assume nothing happens.

Well, if it's March 14th anywhere, then this thing's on. It's by Saturday, by the time we wake up Saturday morning, I am in trouble. I'm going to be behind. They'll have to be on the transaction. action wire in the next hour. I have already teed up three elaborate high-octane sandwiches for each of you, but I get to choose what the ingredients are.

No, no, no, no. I know you're a vegetarian, but that does not... I'm not having a cucumber sandwich. No, I'd go like cows' tongue, spiders and herbs, and something different for Wes. I don't know. I want to get the most meaty thing with juice falling off the sandwich. Oh, you'll get it. Blood.

Particles of meat just running down your face. It's in the mail, baby. That would be good. Wait, you're mailing our sandwiches? That'll be weird, too. Just so you know, yeah, you're right. Dan, Greg, and Wes all get sandwiches. You guys might want to track this as we go along.

So right now, Greg goes two sandwiches. No. I'm even. Yeah, Greg's even, but not really. Money-wise are even, but sandwich-wise, you're involved with two transactions. And here we go. Greg's. It's now Greg's pick.

Julian Adelman will get more guaranteed money than your boy, Golden Tate. Golden Tate signed with the Detroit Lions this week. He got 13.25 million guaranteed. Julian Edelman's still on the market. Again, this technically, he could beat Tate, but... Well, there's no technically about it. This bed is open.

I would not make this bet. It's open. It's not over. Julian Edelman doesn't get 13.25 total, even without the guarantee. We factually don't know the answer yet. It's not over, but it's not looking too. good. How about we double down and say Edelman doesn't get 13.25 total?

I'd stick to the original. Have faith in the prognostication you made one week ago. Did we give up when the Germans bombed her Pearl Harbor? I'm not backing down. No, I don't know. Hey, I wouldn't make it again, but we got a chance. Julian, come on, 49ers. Spend some money.

Two years, $14 million, totally guaranteed. I like it. I don't even know if Julian Edelman's better than Quentin Patton. Why are the 49ers messing around? You're kicking him while he's down. Quentin's good. I still got a chance here. All right.

If this holds, Greg, I was with you on this one. Yes, thanks. But Mark and Wes. Way to support. I know. Mark and West likely will be getting sandwiches. Does that make you lose a sandwich too? No, because I was on his side.

He just missed a chance. I missed an opportunity. So good news. I'm down two sandwiches. No, you would get a sandwich in this situation. Total. I'm looking holistically. All right.

Next up, my turn. Jaris Bird. Jairus Fierre. Stupid. Jair Rewis. Spire. Will, against all odds, shocking the world, re-sign with the Buffalo Bills.

All right. I'll take that. That was the worst one. By far the worst one. But because I was a man of strategy, I only took Greg's sandwich bet, so I owe Greg a sandwich. That was unmanly of you. It was.

Listen. Tell NFL Gumshoe Ted Wells to come in here and investigate the situation. I'm not going to just throw out sandwiches willy-nilly. I'm collecting them willing to. That was smart of you. In hindsight, I mocked you, but it was small of you, yet wise of you. And that doesn't matter to me. I don't care.

It's all about ending up on top, relatively speaking. Wes. The first free agent signed. We'll be Brandon Albert to the Cardinals. Oh, I thought Wes was a Svengali that predicted everything at a time. I guess not. Wait, this was part of a larger situation where we all went out and predicted who would be the first free agent. Separate.

Right. Two separate. Oh, no, this was involved in that. No. That organically grew out of it. Well, it was later in the discussion. We said, why don't we then do this? Right.

That was the same discussion. We took sandwich bets on your specific. Oh, really? Yes, and then what on. So, Wes, you got to listen to this tape again. I don't know if that's true. I need to listen to this tape. Well, I do trust that Dan seems like he methodically went back and practiced.

I spent about seven hours of a shift at some point this week going through this tape. And just so we know, Mark, strangely, you agreed with Wes. Even all the odds were on the side of everyone else. You said, I agree that Brandon Allen will go to the Cardinals. Occasionally, he signed with the dolphins and it wasn't first. Wes is able to, like a tractor beam, pull me in with some sort of allure, and I fell for that. And I'm an idiot. It's that glint that he has, that Southern Smile.

And so Dan and Greg get sandwiches in that case. And then just going through a couple more. First person to sign, no one's getting a sandwich here, but I will go through the list. Wes, you had Albert de Cards. Greg, Michael Johnson, to Vikings. Mark, Gyrus Bird, Gyrus Bird to Browns. Sorry, buddy. I had Golden Tate to Lions, but not first.

Gold Standard. Gold Standard had Golden Tate to Titans. Sorry. That was, in hindsight, an impossible bet to win. Almost, yeah. Because every single person signed at 401. Right. Right.

How closely did you follow that Gold Standard, knowing that you were involved with a sandwich? Pretty, pretty closely. Yeah, you know, I really thought I saw a narrative being spun there, but... Do you know how to reach the NFL.com home page? Well, I have to go through Google first. That's tricky. But usually I do.

I'm feeling lucky and, you know, it works out. And then, let's see what else. We had Texans pass on Clowny take a quarterback number one. Who threw that out there? I threw that out. We should have even allowed that. That had nothing to do with it. See, that's, yeah, hard to track.

That's long term. That's a long term. sandwich bet. Dan and Mark both said that that wouldn't happen. So that will down the line. And then highest paid player in free agency, obviously this one isn't technically over yet in terms of guaranteed money. There's another weird one.

Greg, Wes, and myself all said Eugene Monroe. I don't know why we all agreed there. Why are you just like soldiers of group think? Speak for yourself. We all did this at some point. This is almost like one of those tests. Why do you agree with everything I said? Why did you come up with the same answer?

are all three of you. The pot calling the kettle. And then Mark, you had Michael Johnson. So Eugene Monroe got 19 million guaranteed. Michael Johnson got 24 million guaranteed. Jiris Bird got 28 million guaranteed. Akeeb Taleb out of nowhere, got 26 million guaranteed. That ends up being 12 million on Tilly.

Yeah, it ends up being a little funny money with Taleb. But either way, Bird's going to win. How did we not get that? He was number one on our list. O overthought that way. We overthought it. overthought it classic overmanaging

so bird wasn't in Monroe by the way wasn't even the top tackle wait there are two more sandwiches out there oh Greg and I have side sandwiches well this is before

this ever happened Mike Mitchell oh my God versus Kendrick Lewis on who gets more guaranteed money Mike Mitchell had a five year $25 million

this is a scientist sandwich bet yeah Kendrick Lewis nobody wants him He's not even going to be signed The Housewives of America Have been put to sleep on this bet Do Canadian dollars count on this bet

Once again it doesn't It doesn't look good But you have not won the bet And an injury is going to happen In August I'm going to go a little Sessler out here Mike Mitchell gets injured then Then they bring in Lewis for five years

30 million Guys predicting injuries And Jason World's 18 million guaranteed Whatever I was right about that How would you guys like it if an NFL player predicted one of us get carpal tunnel syndrome? I wouldn't be nice. I worked in the post office.

That's a big danger there. Dan and I had a sandwich one well before we ever even thought about this game. We did. Months ago. It was like the genesis of the game. Will Richie Incognito ever play in the NFL again? And this was at a point when it was looking a little better for Incognito. But right now, I said he would not, and I'm feeling pretty strong about it. You know, as soon as Richie Incognito destroyed his Ferrari with a baseball bat, I thought to

myself, this could be a problem for me. For you. You're the one with the problem all of a sudden. Listen, we all have problems. That's his thing. I got my thing, which is probably a tasty sandwich going to Greg. But that one, we have to wait several years to find out potentially, too. We never capped it. He could come back three years from now. Yeah. I'm sure a lot of teams are going to be. Hey, Incognito hasn't been around long. Let's see what he's up to. Let's go to the Hooters down in Boca Ratonis.

as Chris would say, and see what he's up to. Bet's open. All right, so that's that. Of course, we will let you guys know when those, the ones that are kind of hanging out there are official. It could be, well, Marks, obviously, is about 20 minutes. He'll lose. And what was the other one? Oh, the Julian Edelman, Golden Tate.

That's still hanging in the air. We'll get that taken care of. That's it for Friday's ATL podcast. Another award winner. Are there any other awards that we can win? get the Stitcher. We got the best of 2013. It's like a Stitcher, Goldsender, are you aware of any of these

things? Can you nominate us? We didn't even know the Stitcher awards existed, so maybe there's more out there. I feel like it's sort of like once you get an Oscar, like an Emmy, like trying to get an independent spirit award or something. Yes, true. Who cares about that? Radio foreign press podcast, American. I like that. Yeah, just

keep an eye on a Gold Center. Yeah, we'll do. All right, so we will be back on Monday. We'll be talking more of free agency and everything else that's going on in the NFL. Until then, this Dan Hansen signing up for the mailman, the sizzler, the boss, and the gold standard behind the glass. Until then. Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba.