NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Minicamp winners & losers

Episode Date: June 20, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling and Marc Sessler -- debate the winners and losers from the 2014 edition of minicamps. The heroic foursome also react to the latest news from around the league, including the Tom Brady and New York Jets' playbook fiasco, and the Atlanta Falcons’ new backup quarterback.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. Starts now. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hansis and I am joined by a room filled with heroes. Chris Wessling, Mark Sessler, and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys? Hey, Dan.

How's everybody doing? Well, we're doing just fine. It's Friday morning, and I guess the hesitation... Top of the morning, team. Well, the hesitation in our voices is, let's be honest, this show remains something of an audio grab bag. And we were just told by our producer that there's a VIP room we could be recording from, but instead we're here.

Doesn't audio grab bag sound like some great British indie rock band? Started up, British people. sounds good in general. There's nothing really good about it. T.D., I believe, is aging by the day in, like, dog years, trying to figure this out. He's totally gray now. He's got a long, bushy white beard. He's going to figure this out, though. And he can't defend himself because I'm wearing his headset right now. Yeah, so we're dealing with our technical difficulties. You know, we talked about this on Wednesday's show, and we're working through it, so just bear with us. We have what I like to call a great show today, gentlemen. We're going to... Trope alert. That's a trope in itself, yeah.

We're going to really dig in. Mini-camps are over, right? There's... What is the schedule? It's over. It's over now. It's all over. All the teams are now on a break until training camp starts.

Everybody gets a month off, not us. I think the Rams still have OTAs, but mini-camps are over. The Rams are weird. They don't even do a mini-camp. They sign everyone at the same time. You know, relax Rams, by the way. You're not special. Oh, by the way, there's a Rams.

day next week. I was informed on NFL network. A week from today, Friday. Watch out for that. Yeah. So. But the main point being that with the exception of the precious Rams, everyone else is taking off a month before training camp. So we're going to now take that opportunity. You now look back on the past two weeks of mini camps and OTAs and choose the winners and the losers. So we're going to go around the room a few times and nominate different winners and losers. purely in the football sense. We don't want people to think that we view player X as a total loser as a human. But just how the last couple of weeks played out, we'll get into that. That will be the heart of our show. And to clarify, none of these wins or losses count in the standing.

So they're losers. But if we call you a loser, you still have a chance. Zero, zero. Yeah. And while we're on the topic, if you're listening to the podcast right now, total winner. But before we get into that, the big, meaty, juicy topic, we have the great TD, not behind the glass. How are you, buddy? What's going on, fellas?

How is the feedback? I know you're trying to get out of the Goldsender's shadow in terms of the news transition. Gold standard, of course, said, let's do it, which became iconic. Your first one on Wednesday was what was it? again let's go which you know middling middling effort and also the response lukewarm let's be honest

good song by the cars though a solid song yeah layup line yeah so we're going to now move into the news portion of the program and it will be TD's take two for the intro so let's do some news TD

let's jump right into it wow I feel like the pressure is building And I don't know, T.D., I know in your mind maybe you wanted to do, to edit that, because, but I want you to let the, the uncomfortable silence hang in the room because T.D. paused for up to five seconds almost as we all stared at him. He collected his thoughts and then delivered his latest phrase. Let's just say I had something else in the bag and then the stage was set. I was like, no, I want to switch it up. So, you know, a little switcheroo.

All right. Well, I liked it. also known as jitters the yips um all right let's do some news all right so we got into some heated debate on wednesday show about the jets camp specifically michael vick and gino smith and whether it is a circus or not

now it's going to get potentially even more interesting in the studio right now some heat between the jets and browns mark of course a browns fan rex ryan jets coach is livid at his former as west put it in our post first lieutenant and current Browns coach Mike Patton, who recently told an anecdote in a piece by Greg Bedard of Monday morning quarterback in which he revealed that the Jets playbook may have ended up in the hands of Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. According to Bedard's story, Patton said that he gave the playbook to Nick Sabin, the Alabama coach, who has mutual friendships with both Ryan and Bill Belichick, of course, and Brady seemed to hint at this wedding. that the Patriots had gotten their hands on it. Rex not happy. Ryan's quote, during his Thursday press conference,

I don't understand what he's trying to gain by it, Ryan said of Petten. Everyone needs to talk to Mike Petten because he's got all the answers. Mark, I turn to you. Your thoughts on this manner. I mean, I think if you look at what Rex Ryan did when he first came to New York, top order of business was to point up at New England

and shove it right in Belichick's face and say, not afraid of anyone, we're coming at you, we're the Jets. It's not the same thing, but what Petten, to me, is so far as Cleveland's coach, is a guy that doesn't pull punches, isn't afraid to pull the curtain back. And I kind of believe Petten. I believe his account of things. And I don't really, I think when you look at Rex's reaction in Belichicks, it tells me more.

Well, I don't think that anyone's questioning whether Petton was telling the truth of Greg Bedard. I think what more seemed to Miff Rex. and Ryan and Petten were very close at one time. We don't know what the relationship is at right now. But it seems as if Rex's little myth that this was even put out there in an anecdote in this otherwise positive piece on Petten and it makes Rex look bad. Well, it might shatter the coaching fraternity wall a bit to share this information. Right.

I don't think it's a matter of whether it's a true story or not. It's whether your friend should go around telling that story that makes Rex look like a bumbling idiot. Rex tried to make the case that it disrespects the Patriots, too. It's strange to see Rex and Bill Belichick on the same side of things, basically saying, look, people have playbooks all the time. It's not about knowing the playbook. This is disrespecting Bill Belichick and the Patriots' legacy to say that they had some unfair advantage. I think it's something if it's just these guys talking at a party or a bar,

they'd just be giving each other grief about it, and it's not that big a deal. I mean, that's what happened at this wedding, basically, Brady is talking with Wes Welker's buddy who was on the jet staff and kind of just talking trash that they had their playbook. That's why they got him. Jonathan Franklin's NFL career appears to have reached a sudden

conclusion. Packers coach Mike McCarthy announced Thursday that the running back won't return for a second season with the team due to a neck injury. Shortly thereafter, Franklin posted on his Twitter page a message where he said, unfortunately this week I've been ruled out for returning for the

season and returning to play in the NFL. fell. So it appears once again the Packers are snake bit here with neck injuries, and Franklin, who was a fourth round pick last year and a promising guy that they kind of saw as a change of paceback coming into the league with Eddie Lacey, is now suddenly out of the picture. Kind of a bummer.

It's a huge bummer. By all accounts, he's a likable guy. You interviewed him last year. I did at a rookie event at an L.A. public school, and he couldn't have been a nicer guy. I remember talking to him about making the transition to Green Bay where they're, you know,

he'd never been to Wisconsin and seen that many white people before. And it would be kind of, it was a very good natured about it. And it was a guy that you wanted to root for. And if you remember, at that time, Franklin was getting more buzzed than Lacey initially as a guy that could come in and make an instant impact. And, of course, Lacey became the star this year. And now Franklin is out of the picture. He was one of those guys going into the draft that people thought could be a first, second-round

pick was sort of a draft Nick favorite, had one big game. for them last year, and it's just crazy how this keeps happening to the Packers. This is, what, the third neck injury? Fourth? Fourth. Beat Rider Jason Wildy had a list of seven or eight since the year 2000. Wow. That doesn't even include Sterling Sharp in the early to mid-90s.

Terrence Murphy was the guy that his career ended, right? The second round pick, Finley, Jim Michael Finley, of course. Nick Collins. One thing it tells me for teams that have a dire need like Green Bay did at running back, last year was, I like the idea and the Patriots have done this a couple years in the row with certain position groups is attack the draft and get multiple running backs

because odds are, whether it's by injury or just a performance, one of these guys aren't going to work out. If there's a bright side for Jonathan Franklin, it's that he's a guy who doesn't just identify himself as a football player. He said last year, last summer, look, my mission in life is to become mayor of Los Angeles.

So he might be our mayor someday. Come on over. We can use some leadership. I like that. He told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, football does not define us. I love the game and I have a passion for it, but the game is not just me. I'm more than just a game. I feel it's great to show that to everybody.

It teaches you not to be limited in life. Can he get us into the VIP room? Ooh. What is his platform for helping podcasts in Los Angeles? I like this guy. And if he does run for office, will Brett Favre speak on his behalf in a campaigning? All these things lie ahead. moving forward.

What is going on with No Sean Moreno? The Miami Dolphins running back has been taking snaps behind Lamar Miller, we knew, but also Daniel Thomas and Damien Williams and Orleans Darkwa and Mike Gillissy. Gillissy and Marcus Thigpen, which I think that's a made-up name. These are all guys that aren't even in the mix. Moreno is not even practicing. He was running off to the side. Greg Rosenthal.

you wrote that it was a site that was invoked memories of a late career Albert Hainsworth. What is going on with No Sean Moreno? Well, there's one thing about sitting on the bench. There's another, if you're being humiliated and doing something separate of the rest of your teammates, that you're not even allowed to practice with them, apparently because he's out of shape. Joel Philbin, the coach, Ann Moreno, have both alluded to that he wasn't in great shape when he showed up. But then Moreno started talking about the humidity in Miami. That was a difficult transition for him.

He also started talking about he needs to start working out with a trainer before training camp. He's never done that before. And then a report came out that he's got an illness. Just something strange is going on here. And I'm wondering if Noshan Moreno makes the dolphins. I've got a theory about what's going on here. Let's hear it. He's clearly sabotaging this whole effort so he can get

back to Denver and be the past catching back for the Broncos. Denver didn't want him. Now we're learning why. Denver refused to pay a guy who had 1,500 yards and 13 touchdowns last year, even $2.5, $3 million. They're like, no thanks. We'd rather just not have you. And maybe whatever this is, maybe that's why.

And talk about a guy that doesn't fit the mold playing with Peyton Manning, who asks you to work harder than really any quarterback in football. 1.25 million this year guaranteed for Moreno between his signing bonus and his salary. So they would have to, that's a pretty bad look if you drop a guy after giving him a million. But they'd still save money. They still would have to pay him another million. 0.75 to keep him. So I really wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't make the two.

Are we sure that Devon Bess hasn't returned to Miami, kidnapped No Sean Moreno and is on Miami's field in No Sean Marino's helmet? in Jersey, pads, pants, and shoes. It's an option. It's probably not the case. I watched some Broncos games on Game Rewon last night, and I have a prediction. Okay.

Peyton Manning's going to miss No Sean Marino in the passing game. Maybe he will go back there. Just keep dialing this up. That's cool. They have talked about Monta Ball as seeing more work and doing a better job. the passing game, but you're not buying that. I think Monte Ball can do basic things.

No Sean Marino had a mind meld with Peyton Manning. Manning would look at all of his options and know exactly where Marino was at all times, and Marino bailed him out on a lot of third downs and a lot of plays where the pocket was breaking down. This sets up, though, one of the most unexplained phenomenons in our entire culture, the year after making the leap, making the leap bump. Lamar Miller, your boy, top five on the list. Last year, maybe he gets it just a year later. Maybe we're a little premature.

People talk about that all the time. A phenomenon. T.J. Yates wasn't released by the Houston Texans. After all, Houston reverse course Wednesday and traded the quarterback to the Atlanta Falcons. In exchange, the Texans received linebacker Akeem Dent, a good landing spot for Yates, who now becomes what appears to be the clear backup behind Matt Ryan. The Falcons also released Dominique Davis on Thursday. cleared up this situation even more.

If Matt Ryan didn't get injured last year when he was getting hit on every other dropback, he's not going to get injured this year. It doesn't really matter who their backup is. Are you calling Matt Ryan invincible? Wow, that is a bold statement. I think they have a majorly upgraded offensive line, and he's probably safe. He doesn't miss games. And that's lucky because T.J. Yates is his backup.

Well, but if you're Yates, I could see every one of those quarterbacks in Houston. in getting a start this season. That has potential to melt into chaotic rivers. And Yates, meanwhile, this is exactly correct by West. Yates is couched in Atlanta where we will never hear from him ever again. Have a nice life. Is he a corporeal entity? At this point, he has vanished into another world.

By this way, this was our test of whether we can really take a almost insignificant news item and quickly just say something about it and then move on. always wanted to do that and try, but we can't. You just doubled it right there. And somehow that news item that was supposed to be very brief and included a reference to chaotic rivers. All right, let's move on, guys. That's the news.

Before we get into the winners and losers of minicamp, I wanted to just run something by Kevin Patcher, the great Kevin Patcher coming at you, our Chicago ATL correspondent, got back to me. I think I heard some feelings on Wednesday's pod where I called Patcher the manliest member of the ATL podcast. Certainly hurt Greg and Mark's feelings because I didn't hurt my feelings. It sounded like I wasn't even considering them and I said that he had beaten out Wes. So first of all, I want to apologize.

That's not how I meant it. But I also want to now fill you in on what Patra had to say about this because he listened, of course. Here's a direct quote from Kevin Patra. Wes and I would be a good match. He's got the weight and old man strength. but I can take a punch and let him wear himself out, Mickey Ward style. Copious beers would also need to be consumed first. So, you know, interesting.

I think not only am I older, but I have a major experience edge on him. Right. Usually that goes handed in. What do you mean? Oh, you mean in the realm of, oh, fisticuffs. I don't know, physical stamina. I'm not sure I would take you over Patra. Keep in mind, I have six brothers.

That's true. I know nothing of Patra in a tavern, you know, in terms of when he gets irritated. But I have seen Wes with lathered up to some degree. I wouldn't go near him with a 15-foot pole. Oh, wow. That's a lot of pole. I mean, this guy needs his space, and I wouldn't touch him in a fight. I would want him on my side.

If anyone's ever happened upon Wes in a Huckapoo's parking lot, when things are going down, this guy, he brings the hammer, and he doesn't stop. He doesn't let up until it's over. But he's an arm of justice. He's going to fight for what's right. That's what I do know about him. Justified. All right, so good.

I just wanted to get that out there. Gentlemen, minicamps, over, except for the precious Rams. Let's talk about it. Winners and losers. Do we want to start positive or do we want to start negative? Let's start there. Let's give some positives out there. It was much harder to find winners than losers.

Yeah. Well, as the NFL's resident cynic, that checks out. I don't believe I'm saying. Cynical. You don't? No. Hmm. What do you guys think? I don't know if cynical is the right word.

I would say philosophical. Thank you. Appreciate that, Mark. You're a good guy. Brown-nosed. Why would I need to brown-nose Wes? We're friends. Well, you just said he's the toughest guy on the block in our group.

I said he's potentially tougher than Patro. Maybe you're afraid of him. Well, we weren't even considered. And, by the way, no apology necessary for that. I wouldn't consider me either. I wasn't considering myself either. That's why I didn't think it was offensive, but it seemed to go down the wrong way. All right, so let's start with Mark Sessler, who has good things to say about everyone at all times.

So let's start with him. Well, my fire was stolen on both of my winning subjects by our news grab early in the show. But I went Lamar Miller because actually wrote in a piece. I don't even know what that means. I think Wesleyan, what he saw. all in Lamar Miller a year ago still holds true. And the dolphins have said that their one goal is to get their running backs in space for big plays, which is something they didn't do last year. And that is ideal for Lamar Miller. And I don't know what's going to happen with Moreno. I'm not that

overly concerned with his fitness at this point. He's got time to fix that up. But I think that Miller is more what they want in this offense. And he's going to have that season that Wesleyan thought with last year. He's in there getting the reps. He's proving it. That's my first winner. Didn't we give up on Lamar Miller, though, 10 weeks until last season or even before that? Prematurely. Who's this weak, he mostobie? I don't know. I thought, well, I remember you were the biggest Lamar Miller fan, and then I remember bringing it up during the podcast as the season progressed, and you acknowledge that it didn't work out. Do you think it's going to be a big difference this year? I think his biggest weakness was a lack of

power, and apparently he's balked up. Joe Philbin has addressed this during the offseason that he looks more powerful. He's told him he needed to be able to break tackles, and it looks like this is something he's going to be able to do. But I would say that's his biggest buggeroo. He has to be able to break tackles and run inside. Well, what he has going for him is the same thing that Bill Laser has going for him, and that's that Mike Sherman is no longer involved.

I think it's addition by subtraction, and that whole offense could be better, even if Laser is just fine. Well, in Laser, when we talked to him, the one thing that he, I said, give me the one takeaway about your offense. what's the number one thing? And he went in a direction, I didn't think he would. He said the story of our offensive line. He said, what's going to happen from where we were last year to this year

is going to be the thing that people talk about when they talk about the dolphins. That's better for Tanna Hill and for Miller. Wesleying, your pick for a winner. Let's go to my old hometown of Cincinnati. Offensive coordinator, Hugh Jackson, is a big off-season winner. Tasty. I love that he didn't go the defer to a event. veteran route. They drafted Jeremy Hill immediately put him above Ben Jarvis Green Ellis, who looked

frankly like he was on his last legs last year. And now they have Gio Bernard an increased role. One of the things that watching Bengals games, I think we all said last year, they need to get Gio Bernard more involved. The ball moves more when he's involved. So now they have him and a better power back in Jeremy Hill. So you have those two running backs in the backfield. Greg did a making the leap piece on Marvin Jones, who whenever I looked at went back and watched games, rewind. All he does is make plays. So they've got A.J. Green who draws double teams. Marvin Jones

is taking advantage of single teams. You've got two good running backs, and you've got two quality tight ends in Gresham and Tyler Effort. They've got as many weapons as anybody. I mean, also, winner, Bengals fans. Getting rid of Jay Gruden, maybe it's not that. Jay Gruden did fine in Cincinnati.

But Hugh Jackson is almost underrated for what he's done in the pros. The Raiders have not been above average in Yards' games. other than two years of the last 11. And those two years were Hugh Jackson's two years. Hugh Jackson led a team that was quarterback by Carson Palmer, Bruce Gradkowski, and I forget who else was splitting time, Jason Campbell.

Jason Campbell. To the top 10. Those were two top 10 offenses the years Jackson was in. Also had really the only two good years of Darren McFadden's career. And a wildly cunning individual because he got the Bengals to trade Carson Palmer for a couple high draft picks and then gets fired and goes to Cincinnati and helps use those draft picks to build his offense, which he's now in control of. I get what you're saying here with the wink.

A mad genius. There's something going on behind the scenes there. Greg, your winner. Let's start with my boy, Robert Woods. He didn't make it to make it the leap, but he's got to make it to this segment. Yeah, I was reading on ESPN.com, Mike Rodak, who does a good job with the bills. He was saying how Mike Williams hasn't really been running with the first team. Hasn't looked special this offseason.

Also pointed out Sammy Watkins has had some drops, not really worried about that long term. Robert Woods hasn't dropped a pass in all of OTAs. He's locked into the starting lineup. He's got a rapport with E.J. Manuel, the other guys don't have. Sticking with my boy, Woods. Wes. He hasn't dropped a pass in non-contact practices. He didn't drop a pass all of last year.

It's like asking your four-year-old son in the backyard, to drop a pass while you're playing catch. All right, what's a wide receiver's foremost job, Wessling? Make plays. Make plays, catch the ball. In all of last year, how many times did Robert Woods drop a pass sent to him? According to my boss in the newsroom earlier this morning, zero. That's it.

By the way, that wasn't a confirmation of your stat. That was Wes throwing it back at you that came from you and he doesn't necessarily believe it. It's a stat. It's a fact. I have no qualms with Robert Wood's hands. I believe he has excellent hands. and he'll sell his body out to make a catch. We made a sandwich bet.

Who's going to lead the Bills in receiving yards? And I'm feeling better about it after this OTA session. That's it. I have no qualms about that proposition. Who do you think we'll lead? I have the entire Bill's roster outside of Robert Woods. But I think it will be Sammy Watkins. I mean, I would hope so.

Considering what they gave up for the guy, he better be making an instant impact. Right. Well, I also get a potato salad and a sandwich. Oh, it sounds awful. Potato salad is such a low-level. side dish in my opinion like what are you really getting you know what i forgot to i i should have told you this up front but the original proposition was lunch you should be getting a potato salad anyway by the way i have to have salad in my top five dishes that i do not trust unless i know the person

who made it i'm with and i don't eat it anyways if if my negotiating was this bad with all of your contracts this place would just go under i don't know or else we'd be happy man right i will throw out other wide receiver. And I think, Wes, you might disagree with it, but let's roll with it, and we're going to stay positive. Ruben Randall, wide receiver in New York Giants, according to NJ.com, said that he continues to have a strong offseason that was in our report earlier this week. Obviously, this is a great situation.

Randall has the season. Got Victor Cruz, got Odell Beckham in the mix. It seems like Randall is going to get plenty of work out wide as an impact. receiver for them. I'm feeling good about not just Randall, but this entire Giants offense, you know, it's big that you have Eli back and he's working with the team after ankle surgery. You have Ben McAdoo in an offense coordinator that was kind of overdue with Kevin Gilbride who, you know, had his moments with the team, but those days had passed it seemed by the end of last season. This is a team that not a lot of people are talking about,

despite them being the New York Giants. And I think Eli's going to bounce back. I think Ruben Randall is going to be a part of that reason, and I think this offense is going to score points. Ruben Randall also revealed that the coaching staff sat him down and basically said, put the fork down, Susie. Winner. By the way, you say no one's talking about the Giants. You are always talking about the Giants.

You love the Giants. I think I like Odell Beckham better than Ruben Randall. I mean, if you've listened to Dave Gettelman, the Panthers GM has been raving about Odell Beckham, that he was the only wide receiver in the draft, whom you couldn't question his route running, that he is pro-ready, and every other receiver in the draft is not. So what do you, let's talk over under, West, Ruben Randall, 60 catches. That's a good, that's a good line right there. I would go slightly under.

900 yards. Slightly under. Seven touchdowns. I think he hit that one on the head. Okay. I think it's interesting that you mentioned that the coaching. staff had those words for him because when we, when Greg and I were in Orlando, Coughlin would not stop talking about Ruben Randall's a guy that not, we think he can step up.

He has to step up this season. He has to get it done. And we haven't seen, you know, Eli's had his issues, obviously, but we haven't seen that receiving core fully healthy in a long time. And when they were, whether you like Gilbride or not, he was running running shoot elements with that team. They haven't been able to do what they want to do. I think the coordinator switch is interesting.

All right, let's talk some losers. And again, not losers in the human sense, but losers in minicamp, OTAs, the last couple of weeks. We'll start with you, Mark Sessler. I am going to shift into loser in the human sense. Wow. No, because the chance to play in the NFL is obviously something that no one's going to get to do except the total cream of the crop.

But if you're Kyle Orton, what you can do is decide I'm sitting on a multimillion. dollar deal, but I just don't care enough. And I care so little that I'm going to sabotage my teammates and force them to be one snap away from Brandon Whedon being your starting quarterback, with, by the way, Tony Romo in ill shape. I don't like the guy's attitude. I think he's not been clear from the start in terms of, if you want to get out of this, let the cowboys know and get this situation figured out half a year ago or right at the end

of the season, so they have a chance to go out and draft someone. get a real backup. Now they're in peril, and that team is not have any inches to give up. They're on the cusp of being a three-win team if Romo goes down. Well, first of all, that's not Kyle Orton's problem. He doesn't care with what's going out with the Cowboys if he's intending to retire. My second point, I want to bring up a parallel to Mark Sessler. Earlier in your career, before you started working the NFL, you worked at a mid- Upper-Tier investment firm of some kind? Is that about right? accurate enough.

I'm not sure which one. And you had a nice job and you did the job well and you had an opportunity to move up in the job and build a real career for yourself. And you walked away one day because you said, I'm not into it. And you walked away from good money potentially in a secure career because you wanted to do something else. Would you be called a loser for that? I did that to come to the NFL. Well, okay, but that's a different NFL we're talking about. What if Cowort has his version of a different NFL?

In that previous employment, I served drinking lemonade. Which sounds good, doesn't it? Well, good for him. I'm not saying he can't make the choice. In that job, I served villainous people driving around in cream-colored porches. I had nothing to do with that lifestyle. Orton is leaving a tight-knit locker room capsized. I don't like the whole way it's going down.

Here's the problem. Kyle Orton is a bon vivant in the body of an NFL quarterback. If this was the late 60s, he'd be Don Meredith. Why is that? Don Meredith. Give the audience and myself a little more explanation. Well, if you've read North Dallas 40 or if you're familiar with any of the old Monday night football tales, Don Meredith was among the biggest partiers in NFL history.

He owned many cream-colored Porsches. So, I mean, Kyle Orton, what do you think, Greg? A villain of the human form? Look, I'm not going to get in the way of this whole Mark Orton thing. I enjoy watching it. I'd love to bring the two of them together and see if they can squash it, but for right now, they're working things out. I think you'd be fun to hang out with.

Don't get me wrong. I don't think you'll be hanging out with Cal. I won't be it. No, but from this angle, this specific angle, I've made myself clear. All right. Wes, that will be tough to match. Your turn. Losers?

Yeah. These people will seem like they're probably nice people, but Houston Texans fans. Oh, wow. Be careful here. I'm not trolling, but look, you're a Texans fan. you've got an established mediocrity in a mysterious mediocrity in your quarterback core in my world I would much rather have a mysterious mediocrity playing quarterback than established mediocrity they're going to have Ryan Fitzpatrick owner of a 350 lifetime winning

percentage as their quarterback and their best player in franchise history has basically said all offseason I don't want to be associated with this franchise anymore It's not a great offseason for the Houston Texans fans. It's an important distinction. You're saying they're losers, but not because of something they did, it's something that's being done to them. Exactly. Yeah, that's fair.

So they're not really losers. They're more like fools. If you go back, I'm just kidding. That was totally kidding. That Texans owner, when they fired Kubiak and talked about what was ahead, boldly talked about the Texans as a team still knocking on the Super Bowl door that was about to make a bold new move. change things up to make some tweaks and get right back into the

playoff hunt. That cannot be what he envisioned many months ago the fact that he's got Ryan Fitzpatrick saddled his starter at this point. Couldn't agree more with the West. I feel bad for that fan base. And with all due respect to owners who pay for this podcast and everything else that's going on right now, one thing about when they make those assertations or proclamations about a team, I don't know if they quite really know about the true structure of the team. So when Bob McNair said that he thought the Texans last year's 2 and 14 was a bump in the road,

I'm not sure he quite understood the problems that the franchise was facing from a roster standpoint. Silver lining. It's the offseason. There really are no winners and losers. Like we've said, the scoreboard hasn't happened. If Gedevian Clowny is what some people think he is. And he gets healthy. It gets healthy.

That's another bad thing. I mean, the number one pick in the draft had hernia surgery. But it's worth noting. If come January, Jadevian Clownie has double-digit sacks and looks like a man. matchup nightmare for offensive linemen for the next decade. I think Texans fans will say, all right, that was worth the tradeoff to watch Ryan Fitzpatrick all year. They were historically unlucky. They just need to get a little luckier to win seven games this year in that terrible division.

Would not be that surprising. Greg, give us a loser. Well, let's go with the obvious choice. I'll combine a couple. The Cardinals and the Cowboys both lost dynamic inside linebackers for the season. And, you know, we can talk who didn't look good on the field. These are real problems that are going to completely change their seasons. Darrell Washington, we think of as one of the most underrated players in the league.

Sean Lee is one of the best inside linebackers in football, too. Both of those defense already looked like they had problems. Rather, sorry, the Cowboys defense already looked like it had a big problem. The Cardinals, I think, will be okay. But these are major hits for the off season. And this is basically the worst things that can happen to you in the offseason. It happens to a couple teams each year. This year it's the Cowboys and the Cardinals.

You know, Greg came in and it looked like around the newsroom he had rekindled a May to September romance with Carson Palmer. So I went and watched some Carson Palmer film yesterday. And I watched the Colts game. And honestly, it was one of the best games by any quarterback all year. That's what I'm saying. And then I watched some other games. But I saw enough in that one game to kind of rethink. think what I thought of Carson Palmer, this could have been the team of ATL.

This can still be the team of ATL. It can't be the ATL because here's why. Darrell Washington, one of their first four, one of their top four players in the team. Carlos Dansby. Just pretend he wasn't there to begin with. Carlos Dansby, one of the best inside linebackers of football last year. Tyron Matthew won't be on the field until October probably. Three of their top players will not be on, they're not going to be as exciting to watch.

Next man up. That's what they say. This is a team of ATL up. It's not the healthiest team in the NFL. They've still got a lot of dynamic players. They don't excite me anymore. And to throw them out because their inside linebackers are hurt. Come on.

Wes is going to be a hard man to turn when it comes to the team of ATL. You're going to have to really. I told you. I am more invested in this than you guys. I've been doing this for 15 or 20 years because I don't have a team. I always pick my own team every year. This feels like having an argument with maybe a previous girlfriend where you realize at some point in the middle of this three-week debate, if you don't essentially just

agree, it's not going to go well. Is this really the team of Wes? It's really what it is. Hey, look, I have a list of teams that it will be acceptable. No. And it is a team of one. Yeah, we're going to block some of those. Forget the team of Wes.

Yeah, you've got to play ball, Wes, or it's going to get dirty. This isn't a, I don't know what you would call it, autocracy. No, I said, I have a list of teams. I'm not saying it has to be the Steelers. All right, more loser talk. The Dallas Cowboys lost Jason Hatcher to the Washington Redskins in the offseason, and at the time it seemed like maybe a questionable move by the Redskins, and now it really does.

This was a guy on the wrong side of 30 that had some past knee issues, and now he went under the night for orthoscopic knee surgery. They say he's out four to six weeks, which would mean he'd be back in plenty of time for the season, but who knows how this stuff really works out. And it's just once again, the Redskins seem to be failing over and over again in free agency and not making smart decisions. And, you know, although this wasn't necessarily tied into what happened on the field, in general, it was not a great week for the Redskins with this name change thing going on again. And you have some, the government getting involved on some level. And you have to imagine that that name change or the issue with the name is starting to creep into, obviously, the organization, it's a distraction at this point.

But at what point does it become an issue for the players who were probably asked about it all the time? So I can't imagine the Redskins were bummed to see this week come to an end. You made a good point about the Redskins decisions. Who is making the decisions for this team? Do you think when it comes down to core personnel moves? Bruce Allen? Jay Gruden. Is it?

I think it's Jay Gruden. Or is it San Diego's old general manager who we sat next to you on an airplane? I think he is rolling the dice on. some of these moves. I don't think it's Bruce Allen who has very little personnel experience. I think it's Jay Gruden. He's run teams before. He's been in the NFL. He was not only the GM of his Arena League team. He was the president. I mean, we can say, oh, that's the Arena League. You try to run a professional football league team. There's a lot that goes into it, and Jay Gruden has that sort of experience. To me, I bet he is the guy pulling the stream.

And if, let's say Jason Hatcher ends up getting some swelling on the knee midway through training camp and he ends up going on short-term IR or it becomes a whole situation who's getting to the quarterback for the Redskins and how is that defense going to get better? Ryan Arakpo and Ryan Kerrigan? Do you believe that I don't think Hatcher's job

this is why I was kind of scratching my head at the signing anyway. He should be a three technique nose tackle and they're going to play him at defensive end. In Jim Haslett's defense the defensive ends aren't pass rushers the outside linebackers are. So I think it's a little like I never really understood that signing to begin. In Jim Haslet's

it's defense, you give up 400 plus yards a game. This is one of the most fascinating teams. I will never support them for the team of around the league. You've made that abundantly clear? If we were making a list of teams that I feel like could have the biggest range of the worst season possible to the best, the Redskins are near the top. I could see them being great if everything goes right, and I could see them being 3 and 13. Okay, we have a couple minutes left, so why don't we kind of go around the table

and maybe a quick case, a winner or a loser, or both. You can knock out a couple if you want, and we'll try to get through this and get everybody out on the table. Oh, wow. So this is what I call, and I invented this term, the Lightning Round. If I had known that, I wouldn't have mentioned Robert Wood so early. I would have just tried to sneak in it. Yeah, because that's the ice scene on the cake.

That was kind of a joke. All right, this is what they call the, quote, Lightning Round. Mark's assler go. Going to go quickly. I like what Mike Patton has done. I think right out of the gate, first press conference. At the Combine. Hold on. First press conference had to defend the fact that the team wanted Jim Harbaugh more, shot it right back in everyone's face, has handled Johnny Mansell. Everything else very well. Go wrestling.

I've got a quick winner, Derek Carr, quick loser, Michael Vic, Derek Carr, because last night I did a little exercise. I ranked 1 through 32, which expected starting quarterback I would like to have at the helm of my team. Matt Schaub was number 32, just ahead of Chad Henney. Derek Carr has looked good and training camp has already bypassed Matt McGloin for the number two role is putting pressure on shop Mike Vic because of what I said yesterday

about the regret scale he clearly wishes he had signed with another team By the way I changed 32 diapers last night Greg Winner I'm going to go Teddy Bridgewater It's always tough to figure out what positive reviews matter what don't just using my spidey sense

reading between the lines I think they're really excited about Bridgewater and he's going to be the best rookie quarterback this year and then I'm going to give you a couple of losers. Dr. Michael Finley. We only have time for one loser. We'll go around one more time. We thought he'd be back this year.

Dr. Michael Finley, he's not. And another winner, us. No more OTAs, no more minicamps. I'm out. You should have saved that for the last one. He was going on one more time. I told you. I got a winner.

Michael Floyd, I predict he will be the Cardinals' leading receiver this year. Larry Fitzgerald to become the second banana there. Loser, Zach Stacey, St. Louis Rams, running back. What does that guy have to do to get a starting running back job? Everything that Trey Mason said was true. He's not been guaranteed a spot, Stacey, as a starting running back. Mark. Loser, Ben Tate, thought he was going to be a lead back for this team, finds out right now.

I think at this point he's lucky if he's even leading this team in carries come December. Wes! I blew my wad on the last one. You told me to go one or two. Craig! We're the winners, because this segment is over. The speed round. We won.

That's it. That's it. All right. We'll stop. We'll stop. I had more. Wes, you don't have any more? Do some more.

I'll just make some up. Bill Laser. Mark Sessler loves him. How about Chris Johnson unnecessarily raising expectations saying you can still rush for 2,000 yards? And then also comparing himself to a jailed rapper named Lil Boosie. Don't do that, bro. Wes. Loser, the gold standard.

Wow. That's mean. Well, England lost on Thursday. Oh, yeah, that's true. I thought you were saying because he couldn't hang out with us. As a person winner. Gold standard a winner of a person. Not behind the glass is laughing.

That's true. TD winner. winner in the big seat in the big chair definitely up in his game and finally last but not least Greg Rosenthal the boss he's got nothing it's over lightning round over winner Mark Sessler won I don't know there was no point system I like a big winner Mikey wins all right that's it for today's show we will be back on Monday with another week of action there will be no action on the field but we never rest and that's what we do Mark you will be heading on vacation, so we will just

push on without you. I might phone in. Phone it in? You're going to phone it in? I might phone it in. I might call into the show. I like that. We'll see. Maybe not. All right, so Mark might phone it in on Monday. We'll all be in the dark dungeon here, secondary studio. Until then, this is Dan Hansa, signing off for the mailman, the Sizzler, the boss, and take date

behind the glass. This is an I-heart podcast.