NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Mailbag, Whitner heat, free agency talk

Episode Date: February 28, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Gregg Rosenthal and Chris Wesseling -- continues its comprehensive analysis of the offseason, stepping back into the laboratory to work through the list of the top 101 free agents of 2014 (and even responding to a critique from a member of the list, one Donte Whitner).  Elsewhere, the heroes open up the mailbag to answer questions from the #NFLATL faithful and bring back a very special offseason edition of America’s second-favorite game show, “What’s More Likely?”  So, grab a seat, tune in to 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 is over the projected salary cap. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hanzas, and I'm joined by a room filled with heroes, Chris Wessling, Mark Sessler, and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys. Hey, Dan. Happy Friday. What up?

Yeah. What a week. There's a certain buzz in the air today. Yeah. Well, that's like channeling a late 80s WWF heel. I love it. Yeah. I haven't seen West this fired up in a long time.

What is going on? Someone slept in this morning. Well, you know, a man whose nickname is close to one of the most evil people in the world has called us out today. Oh, that's true. Yeah, we have to start there because where else could you start? I came in this morning to tape the podcast, and there was. You know, there was a little buzz in the air between the two scientists, as you've called it, Mark, Scientist on Scientist Heat between Wes and Greg.

But then it was quickly pushed to the side by some legitimate NFL Star Heat towards the free agency. Oh, wait a minute. He's a two-time pro bowler, isn't he? All right. We're referring to Dante Whitner or Dante Hittner. I don't know what he's going to go by this year. But Dante Hittner was listed by the two signs. Greg and Wes as the number 48 free agency on the top 101, which can be found on NFL.com.

Apparently, this didn't sit well with the 49ers safety. Let us go through some of these tweets, shall we? Please do it. Actually, it started eight hours ago. His first tweet, I'm convinced at nfl.com needs better writers. I'm the 48th best free agent available, huh? L-O-L, which means, Mark, laugh out loud. It does mean that.

Hashtag Hittner. And then, let's see, what else? I'm ranked behind, right after that, he's on fire now. I'm ranked behind guys that didn't even play in 2014. You guys haven't watched the film and definitely don't know football. Hashtag Hittner. And then, and yes, I have a chip on my shoulder. Hittner.

Let's pause there. And I'm going to throw to you, Joe. Solomon, why don't we just get right into it? Why is Dante Hittner in the middle of the list? Well, first of all, he said defiantly don't know football because definitely is sneakily the hardest word to spell in the English language. It gets messed that hard. It's easy to spell if you have a grade school education,

but people who tweet at me all the time for trash talk, you know how you're an idiot is like the biggest... Your. Everybody misspells your, but you defiantly don't know football is up there on the list of things. Wait a minute. What if he means that you have been hired to know football and you're so defiant that you... That's a possibility.

But why is he number 48? Because he's an over 30 safety that's not that good in coverage. He's not over 30. What is he at right now? I think he's entering his age 29 season. He came to the league when he was 20, so this is his ninth season. He's built up a lot of hits over the years. I think if we were talking about who we're going to line up

and play the 2013 season over again, Whitner would be our highest guy out of all those guys in that range on safeties. He had a good year, but I think Greg's point is when you spend a lot of money on a free agent, you have to kind of project a lot going forward. Two or three years down the road, are you still going to be paying a lot of money to a guy who might be done? Is he going to be a priority for the 49ers? I don't think so. I think they believe he can be replaced pretty easily.

Are they going to give him a big long-term contract offer? there's no indications that they're going to. He's a good safety that fits better in the 1980s and 90s style of play where you wanted that big hitter. He's not as good in coverage. He's solid. You had him ranked about 40th. I had him ranked a little lower, so he ended up in our top 50.

I just think that's the role of that he is. He's a solid starter in the middle of his career. Okay, so Greg says that Dante Wittner is a man of another time. So now let's move on deeper into the timeline, getting closer to, the mid-afternoon Friday. Greg points out, this is what Wittner's upset about and links out to the list. Then here comes Hittner again at Greg Rosenthal. I'm not upset at the list.

I'm upset at the fact that NFL.com hired you. Bunsen burner blowtorch on the scientist. Him and a lot of other people. Very good gold standard. We asked him, we asked Dante to come on the podcast right then. It was right before we walked up here, and he didn't want to do it. Yeah, and Greg, to your credit, you ask them immediately, hey, listen, you know. Bring it.

Bring it. You want to come on the podcast and talk? He says, how can I talk football with someone that obviously doesn't know football? Blue Torch. Isn't he not looking at this list the way that you guys did in terms of, if you're a general manager, you want to go out and re-sign someone? It's not just top 100 best-to-worst players. How old are they?

Where are they in career? If we have to sign them to a four-year deal, where are they at the end of that deal? That's why he is where he is. not looking at it as a general manager would look at it. I guess he's talking about Henry Melton when he's talking about guys who didn't even play last year. Henry Melton, a few years younger than Wittner, plays a much more valuable NFL position as far as what kind of money gets spent.

And general managers, I would think, would spend more money on Henry Melton than Dante Wittner. And they've shown that. He's been trying to get this big, long-term deal for most of his career. He asked out of Buffalo basically because of it. He was franchised a few times And the money just doesn't go out there For these kind of safeties

I think top 50s good I mean he's around guys like Anquan Bolden Edelman McFadden Roger Saffel these are all starters Guys that you're going to put in your lineup And they're going to start I like Malcolm Jenkins a little more In this day and age in the NFL

I think he can cover some people You put Wittner in the slot It's going to be a problem I mean a lot of A lot of bills and 49ers fans came to ATL's defense. To the point, though, are we to be surmised from this that while he's very disenfranchised

with the work that Wes and Greg... And then specifically Greg personally. I know. Why didn't he go to mean that West? But I'm the flip side, obviously content with the product that Dan and I produce. You didn't see any insults come our way. He was very, you know, specific. And we're going to get, you know,

we're going to get into more of the scientists' top 101. But I just want, before we get going with the podcast, in earnest, I want to, one more issue that I got tweeted at us yesterday. And this also goes to Wes and Greg. Stephanie from somewhere tweeted, this is so messed up about the list. You guys didn't even list Tim Tebow when you know he is good enough to be on that list. Total discrimination. What, against quarterbacks that can't throw? Wait, what does Stephanie from somewhere mean? That's her, that's how she goes around.

I think all I can say to that is guilty as charged. All right, so we got a big show. We just had to get into that immediately because it was, you know, legitimate heat right there. I love it. People were coming across the newsroom like, oh, watch out. Wittner's, this is great. If every player is reading NFL.com and around the league and having wanted to discuss our ratings, let's do it. Absolutely.

Big show, big Friday show. We're going to do everyone's not favorite game. Everybody's favorite game is, it's pretty fairly known, unless you're Greg, it's Win West's Toaster. However, America's second favorite game, it just moved past Jeopardy is what's more likely, as you know. Did you bring wink tie? Did I bring wink tie?

Wink tie. Aren't you winked today? Yeah, but I don't, I'm not comfortable with that name. Wink tie. You said you're going to wear a wink tie. Yeah, but, you know, wink tie? That does fit you. All right.

You want me to go by wink tie? I could do it. No, not really. Just be winked. The gold standard behind the glass Working on some audio behind the glass about For that game We get excited for that

We're also going to do some mailbag questions We got some tweets from The Twitterverse toward the ATL crew But why don't we start The Gold Standard, how are you, buddy? Doing great, thanks With the news All right

And we'll start with a pretty big story The salary cap is expected to make a nearly $10 million jump in 2014. Albert Breer reported Thursday that the cap is expected to be set at $133 million, according to union and team sources. That could become official as soon as Friday. Obviously, that is the biggest jump in sometime. What are we to make of this? It's overdue.

There used to be a big jump every year, and that's why people make more money every year. and it's not that hard to fit under the salary cap and the last four or five years have been tougher for the players and the teams because the salaries haven't been rising and it's good. Everyone can just spend some money. We don't have to hear about salary cap.

Who cares? I can see Gettleman in his office with like his record player turned up high doing like pirouettes around the room. He's got some cash. He just slid three more beads over on his abacus. And, you know, Breer actually made note of it on Twitter yesterday. You know, we heard a lot when the salary

cap wasn't moving in the last couple of years that this was a sign and that the NFL had really killed the players union in the CBA. But as Breer noted, all the money from these TV deals is going to really lead to the cap jumping higher and higher as we get through the rest of this decade. So now the players are about to get into a really good position to really start cleaning up. But that's after five years of not doing anything out of nowhere, so it's overdue. Well, in those five years, quarterback salaries kept getting higher and higher and all the other positions

were not going up. When did it become such a thing that we're all so interested in cap numbers and salaries? There was like a change and like if you're a fan now, you have to know about dead money on the cap. I think it's because that's why some of your favorite players are getting

chopped before their careers. It is weird though. There was a change 20 years ago. People really started getting into the contracts of everything. Oh, guaranteed money. I'm not saying we aren't, but we're working in the industry, it seems bizarre to me that fans have to care so much. 20 years ago.

Maybe 10, 15? 194 when free agency started. Yeah, there was a time where I remember talking to an old boss that used to be a sports editor, told me that having an NFL beat was the best beat to have because it was a three to four month season with, you know, training camp. And then it was like, you know, kick back your feet for a few months after the season ends. That is obviously not the case anymore. At a certain point, though, at a certain point, there's too much.

news of money. There's too much. Here's what he's going to make in year one, two, three, four. Who cares? When you're seeing all these reports about people restructuring their contract, shut up. Those are the most pointless. It's just accounting. It's not news.

When you ever a child sifting through the newspaper for a plan B free agents, I remember doing that. It was such a huge deal. Like, who's been put on the plan B list? Moving on. Dennis Pitta and the Baltimore Ravens agreed to a five-year contract worth roughly 32 million, Ravens source told Bert Breer. This locks up one of Joe Flacco's favorite targets.

Of course, Pidham missed most of last year with a hip injury, but the guy can play, and now he's staying in Baltimore. I think my fellow scientist, Greg and I, had the same reaction immediately to this. It now means that Eugene Monroe will probably get the franchise tag. Ozzie Newsom's plan coming together keeps his two highest priorities as they rebuild that offense or overhaul the offense in which so far they haven't done.

much work beyond keeping their own guys, but I think they want to definitely tweak the offense. They missed Pitt a ton last year, so they had to keep them. And I think they have to give that tag. It's 11.5 for Monroe. Maybe eventually you get a long-term deal done, but they can't let him walk away. He's the best tackle out there. And it's a big victory for Pitt, because I remember when he got injured late in the summer, it was if he doesn't play all year, he's entering this contract situation where his value could plummet. But he came back. It's a bad news, though, If you're part of the Dallas Clark family, the lights are low in that house. It's been a good run for Dallas.

Dallas Clark being in the NFL last year was the ultimate charity case. That was a struggle to watch. The Ravens, it got overlooked maybe how truly awful their offense was. I mean, they were at the Jaguars level. They were at the Raiders with Matt McGloin type of level. That's how bad they were last year. I mean, that's going to be one of those things you have to watch. If they've run out that same offense again,

two years in a row, then you start wondering about their future. They still need a one. They can't just rely on Pitta. They need a wide receiver for sure. The Eagles of course signed Jason Peters to a huge extension. Their left tackle on Wednesday

and now on Thursday it became official that Jason Kelsey and Riley Cooper were also locked up to new deals. A deal with Jeremy McLean is said to be not far behind. The Eagles obviously like their core and they're locking them up. they were what second behind the broncos in offense last year and this comes on the heels of locking up jason peters so they have their core locked up

they're still talking to macklin i think it looks like the eagles want multi years maclin wants only one year so he can go back into free agency again next year but he wasn't a big part of the offense last year anyway this this offense is locked up they can concentrate on rebuilding the defense or upgrading the defense i like these moves Yeah, the one takeaway for me is that Kelly at this point's not going to sign or re-sign guys that don't really fit his vision of the kind of team he's going to build. And we talked about Cooper as a guy that might get overpaid and not be a good signing somewhere else, but he does fit what Philly did last year. He fit like a glove. And I think that it's confirmation that they believe that will continue. And he didn't get paid that much. It sounds good because it's Riley Cooper and you look at the five years.

But really he got paid as a low-level starter, maybe $5 million a year. For a NFL veteran, that's not much. You could even not have him in the starting lineup at that salary. I'm impressed that Kelly, it shows he's a good coach that he comes in and he improved the players that Reed had. He didn't need to find new players. He made them better. And they have that offensive line now locked up through 2016.

All five of them. I mean, you talk about continuity is the biggest factor with an offensive line. Those five are set. And he quickly found the right players for his. type of line, too. It didn't take five, you know, bad teams takes you five years to get that done. And two things about Riley Cooper. One, he signed,

although he won't see out the contract surely, five years or 25 million. Any jet fan knows and remembers, that is the exact total five for 25 that Neil O'Donnell signed in 1996. Wow. Wow. And that sticks with you. That's a number that sticks with you.

Don't hurt yourself stretching for that one. It had to go back to the jet somehow. And that was, that was, you know, That's very important to get it out there. Also, on a note that I found quite humorous, the quote of the day yesterday, poor Riley Cooper, because of his Kenny Chesney exploits, will always be asked these types of questions. He gets asked about the proposed N-word band on the field, his exact quote, I think it's a good rule. That's a good move, Riley Cooper, to say that. Yes, it is.

Moving forward. I was looking for exciting other five-year $25 million contracts in history since that. Yeah. Really on top of you. You're a fan of these. Travis Henry won signed a five-year, $25 million contract. One for each kid. One million per kid.

Wow. That's Damasheck's contract, if I'm not mistaken. I just thought you would be interested in that. I was thinking there was some really famous baseball one. Yeah, there is. We just can't think of it. I think Danny Tartable signed a five-year-old. million dollar contract with the anchorson once signed a five-year $25 million

contract two years ago with the Vikings yikes that's all that's all we got show has been brought to its knees and it's all my fault uh finally uh adam schuster reports uh ESPN's adam shaftor reports that the saints will use their franchise tag on titan jimmy graham before monday's deadline per league source i guess that's not a huge surprise the real question is will the NFL who decides these things tag him as a wide receiver or a tight end he's a tight end well the saints really decide on it they'll tag him as a tight end so the graham can file a grievance and ian rapaport has indicated he will but there's no doubt saints are calling him a tight end you know what tight ends do sometimes they line up on the line sometimes

they line up in the slot sometimes they line up out wide that's a tight end there's an unnamed talking head that i heard yesterday uh explain his reasoning why uh jimmy graham should be a tight end he goes to the tight-end meetings. He's a tight end. I won't say who it was. All right, and that's it for the news. Before we get on to the top 101 free agents and everyone's second favorite game, I wanted to get, there's an ATL mailbag up on the Around the League podcast that I wrote

where I got a bunch of questions from readers. However, not all of the questions were geared toward the NFL. Some are geared specifically toward the ATL podcast. I just wanted to get a couple of them out there. Dan's often talked We don't promote his work enough on the podcast And now he's just taking The Bull by the Horns

And just creating a segment out of his post I love it All right, here we go At NFL ATL This is from Hulk Caesar Savage Oh no I think it's Hulk Cesar Savage like Julio

Cesar Chavez Yeah Does that one it is? Yeah It's pretty good Way to pick that out At Hulk Caesar Caesar

If the apocalypse started During a podcast who amongst you would be made emergency leader, hashtag ATL Mailbag. That's a good question. I like to think of it if we split up, it would be one of those things, you know, divided we fall. I think we would all die immediately. But if we stuck together and we came together like an interlocking puzzle, we would survive. Yeah, I don't know if it's...

Zach would be doing. What is the question really asking? I don't understand it. In a, like Lord of the Fly type situation... Who's got the conch? Who would have the conch? I'm not sure it's a time that we would be, you know, putting together org charts. I think we need to work as a team and not worry about one person being the leader.

I think the bigger question is what is happening if we all just go down in this apocalypse, but somehow the rest of the NFL media group survives? Who's taking over? Patrick has his own podcast? What happens? I think they'd reassess many things. They'd reassess a lot. It'd be taking place in bars a lot.

And Gold Center, the reason I think that you would die is because we would find out that there was an apocalypse going on because I could see Walker storming through the door killing you behind the glass and then we would immediately need to start figuring out a plan. Sure, no, point taken. Thank you. Thank you for killing me.

Thank you for killing me. What was that movie where they're all on the mountain? You know what I'm saying? All I know is I'm happy because... Pay it forward? I am... I'm happy because If worse comes to worse

And we have to eat one of One of us to survive I'm the last one you guys want to eat You know what I'm saying? That's a fair point I'm surviving that alive Was that movie? Dan would be biting into my calves

They're so succulent I would think because of the org chart We would probably go based on the org chart Of the company and Greg would be the leader How long till he's overthrown? But I'm saying like Would Greg be able to hold on to the leader? I think that's what the question is about.

Right. Right. Well, I don't think in a rugged scenario where we're survivalists that I'm, frankly, the best choice for a leader. I'm happy to follow one of you guys. I feel like... But there was like a tennis tournament. We would be comfortable with you leading...

I feel like Wes or Dan would be more of the... Maybe the rugged, you know, outdoor here. Possibly. I can't fix anything. But I'm going to go with the underdog. Mark Sessler is a minimalist. Yes, he is. He could see his desk.

He just had to live off, you know, the land or whatever we needed to live off of Mark. That's a fair point. I actually spent years as a camp council learning how to build all sorts of fires in rainstorms. Cessler is the answer, I think. He would be like lock and lost. He was our

lock. In fact, I could see Cessler burying a dagger into Rosenthal's back. But it's good to see that my boss picked the other two people in the room and nod me. So I'll follow that away. All right, moving on. This is from Blades Rock. Richie loves K.

Weird. Do you deliberately pick contestants with the least amount of NFL knowledge to maintain mythical status of Wes's toaster? It's a fair question. We'll let the gold standard answer this one. Go ahead. Look, I can't account for butterflies on stage, so to speak. We went through a rigorous casting process. Nothing came out of it.

But no, next month we're taking you down, West. It sounded like a long yes to me. I've been wondering about this whole operation for a while, and I think this question. question is on to something. I could vouch for gold standard's integrity. I think he got some really bad luck. As much as we were happy to have our two listeners call in, and it was great for them to be a part of the show.

It did not bode well for people buying into the gold standard as the arbiter of fairness. But he's going to get another shot next month. I would like to know what the young man from Saskatoon ingested before he came on the show. Moving on, Andrew, this is a great to her handle, at Chewbacca's beard at ATL, do you think you could goad at Chris Wessling into saying he'll eat pants

if the Raiders go 8 and 8. Of course, they needed to get to 6 last year. First thing's first, isn't Chewbacca's whole body a beard? Yeah, it is... There's no area that's not a beard. I am not making any softball pants statements until after the free agency and draft process plays out. That's certainly fair.

And finally, Andrew, who is at Tick-Tac underscore Fate, at NFL ATL, why are the Falcons ass? As funny as that sounds, it reads even better if you just look at the Twitter, the tweet that's on Dan's mailbag. I suggest everyone go to it. But it's a fair question, so. I think this is better answered in print, and we can direct you toward the offseason forecast to the falcons. I want to know. Why do you guys think the falcons are ass? Why did they have a bad year?

Holio Jones got injured. No, not why they had a bad year. Why are they ass? Holyo Jones got injured. Their offensive line wasn't built well, and their defense doesn't have any playmakers. And they believe themselves to be still a player away from being 13 and 3 when I think they're probably closer to 16 players away from that being the case right now. Whoa.

Some Dante Wittner level heat there. Geez. I can't believe me. You do that to our favorite general manager. He is my favorite guy. I love the guy, but it's, let's deal in facts. They don't have a lot other than Matt Ryan and the two wide receivers. Your two lines are a disaster.

Really, what is so great about that team? They drafted a couple young cornerbacks that sound good. There's nothing so great about that team. I think it goes back to MC Hammer. Tick-Tack underscore fate. I'm thinking more big picture. Nailed it. I feel like I can live with less than six Atlanta Falcons

primetime games next year, so it's not our bad. Well, you know what? Can we dial up Gino Smith versus the Falcons again on like the saddest Monday night of all time? That was a great game, though. Nobody wants to watch a game in that mausoleum they play in anyway. The gold standard behind the glass, I think it's time. Live from Culver City, California, it's America's favorite game show. What's more likely?

That's awesome That reminds me of Like staying home from school sick one day And watching like back to back to back to back game shows And maybe the listener is asking the same question Mark asked before the show When we first heard that And he said who was that

And it was none other than the gold standard What a job I thought it was Rod Roddy How dynamic is that guy back there It's outrageous Dan's feeling some heat with this cheesy game show host voice I think I have a real challenger. Going back to what you were saying, Mark, the two shows that I remember watching back-to-back

specifically on sick days was Family Feud, Ray Combs era, rest in peace, and then right into Price's Right with Bob Barker. But you knew when, like, Charlie's Angels faded into MASH that it was over. You had to go back to school the next day. What's a sick day? You never missed school? No, we weren't allowed. My mom, quote... Oh, you had like 700 people.

Well, yeah, and my mom quote said, I don't care if you have blood coming out of your eyeballs. You're not coming. I pulled this trigger multiple times. I would stay home for the first round of the tournament, the NCAA tournament. You get to be alone. See, you never had that opportunity. Well, I made up for it by skipping like weeks at a time in college.

You guys don't know. I'm a game show connoisseur, a professional, because I once worked on the show most outrageous game show moments, four, I believe it was. I'm not even joking. And my job. A Nielsen's powerhouse, no doubt. I did well. Dante Wittner feeling.

Very fulfilled at the moment. It was actually hosted by Chuck Woolery. Wow. And it was taped in a mall somewhere in Orange County. And my job was to go into work and watch game shows all day from 9 in the morning to 6 at night and pick out, find some outrageous moments. For the end of the week, we'd have a big meeting and we'd all watch it. I'd take it all back. You would now be my choice in a Lord of the Fly situation.

Wait, did you ever have any, like any interface with Chaz Woolery? Yeah, I went to, when we taped the show and everything, I was like a PA basically, but yeah. Good guy? Yeah, nice guy. That sounds like a no to me, but no, no, he looked just, I mean, he couldn't have been nicer. And I got to say, 70s era match game, pretty rewatchable. You got really tired of a lot of game shows very quickly watching it all day for two months. Match game, you could keep your entertainment value high.

All right, good. So check that out on YouTube. Greg endorses it. All right, let's start. Let's do the first one. What's more likely? All right, gentlemen, what's more likely? Michael Vicks signs with the New York Jets or the Houston Texans.

Jets, just because free agents usually come down to connections. He has the Marty Morning Wake connection. And there's already a report that they're interested. I have a hard time arguing that. It seems like what we're reading, T leaves wise. he's going to gangrene. Yeah, Vic doesn't seem like a Bill O'Brien. I don't know what a Bill O'Brien quarterback is,

but that feels like an odd fit, so I'm going to go Jets. It just seems like such a Jets move. We talked about it in the middle of October, November last year, and now here it's coming, Dan. It's getting excited. Moderately excited. By the way, the scientists set Vick at number 35 overall,

and I'm just going to read the blur because why not, that accompanies Vic's name. Vic might be entering the stage of his career where he's just good enough to get you beat. That sounds promising. And he's still an upgrade on many starters out there. Is he the first quarterback on this list? He is.

It's a bad list for quarterbacks. There's nobody even close to him on this list. Vic is number one. And then the argument would be over Matt Castle, Josh McCown, or Josh Freeman as number two. Disaster. I'm going to throw out of what's more likely. What's more likely?

You don't just throw them out. We have a new way of doing things around here. Okay. And I'm also breaking the rules because there's three options in this. What's more likely of these three quarterbacks, McCown, Freeman, or Castle, which one is more likely to have a surprisingly good season as a fairly cheap option that gets you nine wins, something like that?

What are the options again? McCown? Yes. Matt Castle or Josh Freeman. Sneaky good signing Freeman's out of here Not at one of those He's getting you nine wins

And then McCown resigns in Chicago So let's say Unless Jay Cuddler goes down He's not in the mix I'll go Castle in a disaster For a team though Castle who's still a fairly young guy Once led a Chief's team

Or didn't lead him But he was the quarterback of a chief's team That went 11 to 5 And he's a quarterback of a Patriots team That also went 11 to 5 I'll go Castle But it's like Would you rather eat a bowl of cottage cheese

Or mayonnaise I love cottage cheese I would never eat it in my life I buy cottage cheese. Cines cheese is way better than eating a bowl of mayonnaise. It's disgusting. I wouldn't touch either product. No, no vegetarian likes or dislikes

vegetables and dairy products more than Mark. Vegetarians like things. He lives on French fries alone. I've never eaten cottage cheese in my life. It's insane. Usually it's like vegetarians are like, oh, I love the earth. I love the taste of these vegetables and whatever. And you don't like anything.

What would your frame look like without? French fries. I do not eat French fries that often. I think there's got to be a chance. An olives. Excuse me, green olives. I love olives. I think there's got to be a chance Matt Castle on the Texans

might be decent. I was just about to say that. I could see them drafting clownie. They still have Watt. They've got some interesting parts there. I could see the Texans having nine minutes. I think we should listen to Dante Wittner just this month. Use your eyes. Watch the film. If you just watched Matt Castle last year,

he was all right. You put him on a good team, he would be all right Well, you're not including the Bengals game He had some bad games He had some good games What's more likely What team is more likely To wildly overspend

To middling results In other words, to pull in Ireland The Jets Or the raiders Not the country We don't want to be smirch half our listeners No, not the Republic of Ireland We're talking about the erstwhile GM of the Dolphins

but who will be more likely to overspend without a lot coming back their way of the Jets or the Raiders or another team mystery team I love how Mark put this in a piece he wrote today the Raiders have $65 million to spend what's more likely they spend that money on quality free agents

or purchase a low-level metropolis well they've got that kind of cash I go Raiders because you know the owners come out with quotes basically that said, my GM no longer has any excuses to hide behind, and this is the off-season we've been waiting for. I think that has the makings of we're going to overpay just to bring names in,

where the Jets, they seem focused on building a part of their team, essentially half their team, the offense, that needs to improve. And I think that I'dzik isn't a fly-by-night character. Here's my big concern. I think if they get Michael Vick and it's at the right price, that's fine, whatever. we'll see if that works out. I'm a little nervous that they overspend and get Eric Decker at a disgusting price.

The Raiders have to spend because they don't have any starters. Everyone they signed last year was on a one-year contract. So they basically have to fill in seven, eight, nine starters. Their team's going to be a bunch of free agents again. But the question is who's going to be last year's dolphins? We have to be chunks of new players coming in and does it work or not? That feels like the Raiders. Well, here's some of the options.

Mark Sessler wrote a great piece. You guys should check it out. Free Agency's big spenders, pretenders, and surprises. So he broke down who's going to spend a lot, who's not. He listed the Raiders, Brown's Jets, Ravens, Colts, and Redskins as seven teams that could be spending a lot. And I'm going to go with, for my answer, the Redskins. Because any time their general manager says something like, we're going to have some room to do some things, that means that's, that's Checkbooks open.

Dan Snyder's going to be Dan Snyder, and they're going to throw silly money. And they have 20 of the free agents of their own, and a lot of them you would not bring back if you have any sign of mental capacity to watch football. Which Greg and I do not, according to Dante Whitney. How about the Browns? Maybe they'll be that.

They overpaid last year for some players. Why not do it again? You're not happy with the Desmond Bryant- Paul Kruger era? I think Kruger was vastly overpaid for what we saw. But you have to overpay if you're Cleveland to get players to come in there, right? I don't buy that. I keep hearing that everywhere.

Just money is money. People are going anywhere. If they offer half a million more than another team, they're going there, players don't care. Well, this brings up a conversation Mark and I have with an agent in Indianapolis. Look at that. There you go. News gatherers. We wanted them to know if Darren McFedon was going to rejoin Hugh Jackson and Cincinnati,

and the agent shot it down and said Cincinnati is still one of those places. That nobody really wants to go there if there are other options. That's because Wes has been poisoning the well for two years on a podcast. That came unsolicited. It did come unsolicited. But that's because they don't offer good free agent contracts to other free agents. From what the agent was telling us, it goes well beyond that. What's More Likely?

Speaking of Darren McFadden, what's more likely? A 1,000-yard season from McFadden or Hakeem Nix in 2014. I'll jump in with Nix. doubt about it. I don't think McFadden could stay healthy enough to get a thousand yards. Or have a role where he's the guy to get a thousand yards. Well, and I have to go next because I really did think that McFadden was going to go back with Hugh Jackson, who did a great job with him a couple of years ago. But Nix put him in the right offense, and maybe that's a comeback player type candidate right there.

Wait, what about McFadden being put in a place that's more suited to a strength? But we just found out that the one place, he's not going there. I'm not sure where he was. Why do we think There's only one place. I don't see McFadden as a guy that can play for more than nine games a season. I'll vote McFadden on the Reggie Bush career track. Goes to a more wide open offense and has a comeback year. It is easier for a running back to get a thousand yards. But how about Hakeem Nix going down to Carolina?

I like that. Where he went to college. He's the number one receiver. Steve Smith, number two. I could see that happening. You get a thousand yards in that offense, I think. not good question i don't know about that thanks a lot i just came up with it on the fly they run a lot hekeem nix ranked number 25 on your guys's list darren mcfadden can be found at number 49 49

you had him over there you had him a little higher i did i did have him higher i did have him higher i had him as my number one running back above ben tate i just want nfl quasi stars to keep attacking you guys on social media that would be great if it happened if it happened for like two straight months I thought it was out of bounds all the Bills fans that went after him and the people sending YouTube highlights of him giving up touchdowns in the Super Bowl to Anquan Bold and that was some 49ers fans

called him Wifner we would never do that. What's more likely? Dante Wittner reconsider the Free Agency 101 list and it's cool with being number 48 or Dante Wittner spears Greg Rosenthal

into a wheelchair. Oh yeah, definitely the latter. Yeah, the latter. I mean, that's a pretty heavy thing to do to someone. Greg is taking the high road here, and I appreciate that. This is the high road? Well, no, I think you're saying, I can take it. I'm going to come back at you.

I'm going to keep to my opinion. But if you two were in the same 10 by 10 room or something, I don't like your chances of coming out, not bloodied, not beaten up, at least not with his point made very strongly. Oh, I think he'd enjoy our company. We're a regular group of guys, and we'd come to an agreement That everyone can... Hey, look...

We wouldn't be in the room. He didn't say writer. He said, writers. He was throwing Wes under the bus, too. Yeah, but very quickly focused on one individual. Wes wisely faded into the ether on this. You know, I don't care what players say. I would explain to him.

Unless it's Steve Smith. Look, you're great, Dante. I don't know if you've watched the tape of Anthony Collins's six starts over his entire career in Cincinnati, but he looked pretty good. And that's why he's 47, you're 48. and Dante's, okay, that makes sense. I love that Dante Wittner, you know, brought the heat today,

but I will say it's a little disappointed that it shielded us or kind of deflected attention away from the legitimate heat, the Bunsen burner heat, Bunsen burner heat, Bunsen burner blow torch heat. Thank you, Gold Center, between Greg and Wes. And this is not manufactured. It was happening during the podcast on Wednesday. It was happening. You missed it, Mark.

Yesterday in the office, they were just sniping at each other, like two little chihuahuas. And then according to you, Mark, Mark, they were going at it again today. Yeah, it's a shame because just weeks ago, I felt, I know you did Dan as well, that we were a unified group. That was a lot that we could look towards each other and appreciate our gifts, even our foibles. And now it's just become so, whatever that word is.

It's become so ugly. It's really, it's not, it's hard to come to work right now. It used to be fun coming to the office, but now there's kind of like a cringe worthy feeling when I sit in my chair because I don't know when these guys are going to go off on each other. Right. Unpredictable. Two scientists, scientists on scientist crime. Yeah.

There was a big disagreement about Zane Beatles. West didn't even mention him in his. Then he suddenly wanted to raise him 20 points. Well, I see. There are no, like, great guards on the market this year. Everybody's mediocre. But there are a lot of teams looking for guards. The Giants in particular have come out.

Don't steer this away from, come on. And this is what we're talking about, legitimate guard heat. Like, who else is doing this? These two guys getting after each other. Like, oh, how can Zane Beatles be down that far? Like, what are we talking about here? There was a big disagreement over whether Kenny Britt or Ted Ginn should be number 101. And I learned a lot about Wes here.

I learned how he's changed as an NFL analyst. He basically wanted Britt to be number one 101 on list because I don't know if he really bought it, but it just had more sizzle. It was more exciting that this guy, Brit. Wait, I keep hearing from Wes. Wes is mentioning quotes Throwing me under the bus He says that you keep throwing him under the bus Repeated last year

Well in fact he has Every time there's a disagreement over a player He misrepresents where I put them I put them in the place that we would agree on And he actually He actually had them 20 spots later This is what we're dealing with all day long But the Kerry Brits

Then let me explain It comes down to what you need If you need a kick returner And a guy who can you know, do a trick play. Guy that could get arrested at a car wash and hoboken. That's Ted Ginn. If you want a guy you're hoping can eventually step in and be a number two receiver,

has the potential to be even more of that. A reclamation project, you're going after Kenny Britt. So it depends on what you're looking for that. You would need a lot of things to break right, I feel, for Kenny Britt to do that. I agree, but there are players like that in the past who have had a lot of things. You said Ted Ginn was the best receiver on the Panthers at one point last year. And he's a good return, man. Which is why we're now talking about Steve Smith saying his career's in jeopardy.

That said more about how bad the Panthers. I don't know why there was so many more disagreements over the bottom of the list. If it wasn't for Wes, Brian Delapointe would have been 30 spots. I'm actually glad that you basically buried him. If some player has to have a problem with Wes, it's De La Puente and his owner. Because you have basically turned him into a bottom feeder. I asked you. the last few days.

I asked you to tell me what the difference was between Brian De La Puente and Evan Dietrich Smith, and you couldn't. Well, he's got one extra little part of his name, De La Puente, and then Dietrich Smith. Other than that, it's getting comfortable in the laboratory. You had Dietrich Smith, like, out

of your list, but De La Plente in the 30s, I thought that was a little incongru. With a couple that starts just descending into an argument that you're like, just check, please, and a gun, please. Stay together. That's how I're listening. Wow, wow, it says, look, can we get back to this Golden Tate thing?

This is really, been eating away at me. We still have him too low. We have him in... We have him below Enquamboldened. He's 45 on the list. All right, let's throw it to you guys. Golden Tate's 45

on the list. Usually when we end the podcast Let me make my case here first. Golden Tate, guess who was number one in the NFL in yards after the catch per reception? It wasn't Demerius Thomas. It wasn't Kendall Wright, wasn't

Antonio Brown. I'm going to make a guess. It was Golden Tate. Guess it was number one in the NFL and missed tackles for wide receivers? Golden Tate. Golden Tate. Guess it was number one in the NFL and punt return efficiency. Greg Little.

Golden Tate. What? Then why, what team knows Golden Tate the best? The Seahawks. Why are they not making him a priority? Because they have a lot of other priorities too. Oh, stop. They don't have a cap.

They'll be back with the Seahawks. He'll be back with the Seahawks. You just hate to see this. it. Don't try to lure us into it. Dan, let's stay up on the high... Every time the Seahawks talk about who is valuable and who they want back, Golden Tate is the top of the list.

Yeah, they don't do anything about it. Eight catches for 61 yards and three playoff games combined. They ran the ball. I'm not saying he's not a useful guy. That's why he's in the top 50. By the way, I think we know where Goldstander stands on your points, Greg, because you didn't get the blowtorch after that playoff stat. I think you deserved your own blow torch there.

Sorry, sorry. You're framing them in a very nice, genteel way. I am. Everything that everybody thinks Julian Edelman is, Golden Tates better in all those areas. And not by a little bit. He's a lot better in all those areas. Is he a better return, man? Yes.

No. He had more yards, better average, and a better efficiency rating last year on punt returns. What happened to the sound effect that the beaker is breaking? I like that. And what happened to Zane Beatles? Let's get back to that. All right, we're going to have to take it offline the rest of this discussion, but I'm sure we'll continue. continue as we roll closer and closer to free agency.

We'll be back on Monday. We will have an in-studio guest, our NFL media insider Ian Rappaport. We'll make his A-TEL podcast debut. We're going to talk free agency with Ian and amongst other things. Until then, this is Dan Hantz signing off for the mailman, the boss, the sizzler, and the gold standard behind the glass. Until Monday. I'm a hot handyman.