NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: OTA whispers

Episode Date: May 29, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling and Marc Sessler -- breaks down all the reviews, reactions and rumors from this week’s batch of organized team activities.  Elsewhere, as always, the gang picks apart all the biggest headlines from around the league.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet, we've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the League podcast is on Coughlin Time. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hanzas, and I am joined by a room filled with heroes. Chris Wessling, Mark Sessler, and Greg Rosenthal.

What up, boys? Hey, Dan. Wow, a little bit of a delay there was. It's called what we talked about before the show. It's a beat from Chris Wesslinger. He took several beats there before throwing it out there. I'm a little off my mark. I'll be all right.

Well, what's wrong? Nothing. Nothing. I'm good. Listen, he's the mailman. He always delivers. I'm very excited today because, you know, working for the around-the-league crew is very exciting, and it's really fulfilling work, and it's a great job that a lot of people would kill for.

But one thing we don't typically get is real lunch breaks. You know, Greg keeps us work, and he's the boss. He says, you know, get your food, get back here. Not today. I don't say that. Not today. A metaphorical whip. Yeah.

Not today. Today, sandwiches were ordered by the boss. Oh, yeah. And we're going to have a sit down And we're going to get Patra on the phone from Chicago Kevin Patrick coming at you And we're going to talk some ATL initiative business Oh yeah, we're going to

Well, this is, you know, a result of The Go Get My Lunch Sandwich games are going to go go get your lunch Right That last part was supposed to be implied Oh, that's right And we're also going to talk about an upcoming series Making the Leap

Which was a big hit last year And we'll certainly be talking about it on the podcast, so we're going to decide which players will be making the leap. People are talking about it in the streets. And that's our job. Right. That's pretty good. No, that's good.

I love this job. And I will say we all took the orders. We put them in. And, uh, what, Wes, what did you get as a sandwich? I got the classic Italian sub. That's a solid one. I was going to get the Chippoldeat chicken. We couldn't find it on the menu.

So I went with the Jamaican jerk sandwich. And what did you got, Greg? The barbecue beef, brisket panini. Good God. That's pretty good. I had that the last two times. It's delicious. Mark Sessler, noted vegetarian of the group, I wanted to have Greg forward the sandwich that Mark ordered, so I'm going to go down the list because it's an abomination.

It's called custom veggie sandwich. These are Mark's choices. Sour dough, no cheese, romaine lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, avocado, green olives, pickles, jalapenos, salt, pepper, and Dijon. Oh, my goodness. Look at that thing. What is the issue? Where's the beef? Where's the cheese?

In the email that Mark sent to me, which I should have just forwarded, it had three stars in all caps, no meat, no cheese. As if the word... As if we don't know that Mark doesn't eat meat. As if the words custom veggie sandwich doesn't imply no meat. I know that our friend Tristan in Australia will agree with me that if you don't clarify these things, the baker whoever putting this thing together in some sandwich shop

just throws everything on there you have to be specific Baker Baker I'm not I understand I get being vegetarian but the vegetarian

but you don't like cheese or tofu thing I also yeah and I also get when Mark says he doesn't he's not into the high octane sandwich business he sees it's overrated

I see that because this is hard work to come up with something that you find delectable how about this you continue to mow down life forms in order to eat your lunch and I won't but I'll take the heat. Right. If every time I had to order a

sandwich it was like writing a small short story or something. I mean that's an assignment to come up with all of that. Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers avocados, green olives, pickles, jalapinos all had life coursing through their veins before somebody plucked them off the vines. I think you know what I'm saying. All right so anyway, Mark is going to enjoy sandwich. We're all going to do our stuff. Sorry to call you out on that, Mark. Wait, and by the way, Patra

Yes. Already had to scurry off to his lunch, and he's going to be empty-handed during this meeting. Well, he doesn't live here, so what can we do? He can get Chicago-style beef. Patrick's eaten meat. That man's been in fist fights, as we know. He's in the streets.

All right, so big show today, guys. We are going to get into the OTAs. We're going to start digging in. They've really kicked off in earnest this week. There have been Tuesday and Wednesday. We did, Mark and Wes both handled a kind of an overview of the day, and we're going to kind of pick through those two things. We need, I don't know, we need some type a catchy title for it.

Whispers. OTA and Whispers. It doesn't sound bad. Also, we're going to get into a little talk about, a little chatter about the Top 100, NFL Network's Top 100, and thoughts upon the latest reveal, which was, what, 61 to 70, Mark? Or, Greg? That's true.

and so we'll hit that but before we do any of that as we always do there's the great man behind the glass he's the clock is ticking on the gold standard being a part of the around league podcast but we're savering every moment the gold standard Zach Goldman sir what's up buddy not too much how you doing how are you I'm great any anything you need to share right now uh not too much still bummed about landed Donovan obviously well let's move on all right you know what I mean well a quick bit a household activity that we got to take care of. We are running low on... Did you mean housekeeping there? Housekeeping, yeah.

Household, I like to believe that we all share an abode. I was going to say, like, Mark, you have to unload the dishwasher in the last year. West, you need to make the beds. Greg. I'm always stuck on the ironing. Yeah. Anyways, we are running low on money tags. Hashtag money tags.

So if we could have our esteemed listeners submit their pithiest, funniest intros. That would be splendid. And to explain that the money intros, money tags, hashtag money tags, are the start of the show. Well, they're this. I'll play this. The Around the League podcast.

Does a great Charlie Casserly, you see. So something like that, but funnier, basically. Correct. Bring your A game and be a part of the Around the League podcast listeners. As you always are, we love to be in contact with you. Now we take off doing some work. and try to put it upon the people that listen. That's really the best part.

I mean, it's a to-do taking off our list. I know. I've never found on that. It's not like we're contributing half and half now. We've just relying on this completely. We need to start figuring out ways how to transfer this to other elements of our job. All right. Good stuff, guys.

Hey, let's do some news. Let's do it. All right, the big news that happened after our show. on Tuesday, Dallas Cowboys Middle Linebacker, Sean Lee, out for the year, most likely with a torn ACL suffered during the first day of OTAs with the Cowboys. Obviously devastating news for the defensive linchpin of that team. NFL Media Insider Ian Rappaport reported Wednesday on NFL Total Access that the Cowboys, at this point anyway, don't plan on bringing in outside veterans

to compete for Lee's middle linebacker spot. and I'll give you the three names that are jumping out right now in Big D as people to play in Sean Lee's spot. Devante Holloman, Anthony Hitchens, Justin Durant. Do any of those names light up your Christmas tree, gentlemen? Durant's already a starter on the strong side so they would conceivably be moving him into the middle and then maybe moving Devante Holloman to the strong side.

Holloman was a training camp darling last year, late round draft pick, played really well. Cowboys fans love him and insist that, you know, if they play that guy, they'll be just fine. Yeah, but the Cowboys coaches don't love Bruce Carter, who's also now going to be locked into a starting line. And this is a defense that was among, if not the worst, than the entire league last year, and now you're losing your best player. No, I'm not saying I believe Holloman is the answer, but... Yes, you do.

I can tell you that when I saw a Cowboys defense without Sean Lee, DeMarcus Ware, and Jason Hatcher last year, The New Orleans Saints racked up an NFL record 40 first down. It puts so much pressure on Tony Romo and the offense, too, because... Well, what else is new, though? Well, what else is new? But they're going to have to win these games 48 to 46 next season. And I, you know, look at Dallas. That's a team that, Dan, you said it downstairs.

Despite their up and down, they had a lot of hope going into most seasons and a lot of hype. This looks like a four-win team to me. Wow. There's a... Front seven's awful on this team. There's a listener who tweeted at us a month or two ago that he wanted to get involved in the go-get-my-lunch proceedings by saying the Cowboys will not win more than three games.

He said that? Yeah. I would take that. And part of it was that he believes Tony Romo will be heard again, but this defense is a three-win defense. They have George Selvey probably starting again. they have Nick Hayden or you know who know Tyrone Crawford if he gets healthy

Anthony Spencer is a total mystery coming off an injury and then there's Henry Melton their big free agent signing whose knee doesn't look good every single player in the league right now is ahead of schedule except for Henry Melton who's behind schedule he's the only one that that schedule is really for and they had massive need at safety and Claiborne at cornerback is a total enigma

there's issues on every layer of this defense. And I think, Wes, you're saying, if Tony Romo got hurt, all bets are off. And I think I could get behind, Mark, a four-win team. But to me, if I needed to make a guess now, my life was on the line, I'd say this is, I don't know, six or seven win team. And if you could say one thing for the Cowboys

is that how many years, like Mark alluded to, have there been expectations with a team, this will be the first time in some time that there will be no expectations for the Cowboys, and maybe they'll be able to ride that to some semblance of momentum or some type of motivation. Nobody believed in his car. Well, it's a good thing they've been locked into, what, six or seven nationally televised games again. If Brandon Whedon's running this outfit, they're going to be in the hunt for the number one pick.

They gave Lee a lot of money before last year, and I remember I wrote up a post on it when it happened. I thought it was a great contract. It was worth a risk. It's a move you have to make. But now here's a guy that already missed 15 games combined over the last. two years to a variety of injuries, and now he's going to miss probably the whole season. It's kind of been a disaster signing for them. So here's one moving forward with other Cowboys News.

One player that can almost single-handedly help keep the team afloat is Des Bryant. He was asked this week if he believed he should be one of the highest-paid receivers in the game. This is Des Bryant coming off the past two seasons where he has 25 touchdowns. His response, yeah, I deserve it. I deserve it. I feel like I do. I put the work in, but I let that kind of stuff take care of itself. It is what it is.

I let my agent talk about it and give me some feedback. And Des Bryant, who's working under his rookie deal, is scheduled to make $1.78 million and a $250K workout bonus, arguably the best deal in the NFL, or one of the best. It would be funny to see how much of his new contract gets taken out of Jerry Jones babysitter fee. What, the guy that used to be, are they still traveling around with Des Bryant, the Cowboys employee? They still do that.

I think there's still some of that going on. I wonder what his curfew is now. I really took from what Ian reported on Wednesday night it was where he added some context about the Cowboys are not ruling out giving him a new contract before this one is up, but they want to make sure his progress continues. And I don't think that's talking about on-field progress. They basically want to say, okay, let's see how you're acting for the next three or four months off the field. And if you have the right attitude, and maybe then we'll pay it. Well, and that's consistent with what Jones said at the NFL annual meetings in March. And there was an enigmatic quote from Jones about where they stood with Des Bryant contract-wise.

It made no sense at all in terms of whether they were actively looking under an extension or not. Garrett hinted that they were, but I think you're right. It's in this holding pattern of sorts. It's come a long way from two years ago when every Cowboys beat right are flat out guaranteed. Des Bryant would not get a second contract from the Cowboys. He's a great candidate for a franchise tag too because you'd happily pay him that one-year contract if you need to

because he's obviously worth it. He's more than worth it. But there's other guys like AJ Green, Julio Jones. They're all going to be up for contracts too and they can kind of wait around for them. I also wonder internally, especially for a cowboy's team that is dealing with back issues regarding their quarterback if Des is back, which is given a problem two years in a row.

If that's something, maybe that's on their radar, too, if he has the body to hold up. He's only 25. It doesn't turn 26 until November. But this is a guy that left the season finale in 2012 in a wheelchair, and then he dealt with that back issue all through last season, you know. But he was great. And he was a great player. Let's play a quick improvised game here.

Dez Bryant, A.J. Green, Julio Jones, Demarius Thomas, all entering contract years, right? Sure. Which one gets the highest contract? They're all pretty equal as receivers, wouldn't you say? I would not put Thomas quite at that level if they're all healthy. And even Des, I might put a little bit low because of the injuries. I'm going to give it to Julio Jones. I would agree with Julio Jones.

He's probably the most consistent of those players, right? I'd say AJ Green's the most consistent. But that's the Bengals. And Julio's had two foot injuries now, the Combine foot injury and last year. I changed my answer to A.J. Green, if the Bengals pay him what he's worth, which they should. They're so stingy, though. I love Julio Jones, but I think it's A.J. Green who gets the most money here. And I think Des is the most talented of any of those guys.

I think Julio is. So we're betting against Jerry Jones paying top dollar to an in-house talent. It is crazy. You mentioned he might be the most talented wide receiver. of those guys and in football, for all the trash we just talked about, the Cowboys, that offense is very, I mean, they have one of the most talented wide receivers, they have a very good quarterback, they have one of the most talented left tackles in the league, they have a very good running back in DeMarco, where, I mean, it's a great offense,

should be. On paper. They're a back spasm away from Brandon Whedon. All right, moving forward, one of our favorite players in the Around the League podcast, history, New Orleans Saints Safety, Gyrus, Gyrus, Gyrus Byrd, Jairus, Byrd. Underwent back surgery on Thursday, Saints coach, Sean Peyton announced to reporters. It's an issue with a disc issue that Peyton downplayed said it wasn't necessarily,

it wasn't a necessary surgery and one that wouldn't have been done if the issue cropped up during the regular season, but it was something that will help him down the line. It doesn't sound like a serious issue, but a back surgery is back surgery, and not great news for a Saints team that just invested more than $26 million and guaranteed money to Mr. Jiru spurred. I wish Sean Payton wasn't a liar. I wish you weren't a liar. Why do you say that?

No, you can't downplay any back surgery. Right. Here's the thing. Would he have had this back surgery in February? Of course not, because it would have dramatically changed his market value. So it has to be somewhat serious. Were the saints aware of the surgery or the issue before they signed him? I wonder if that was a situation as well.

I wonder, would we be talking about this if you didn't love saying Jarus Bird's name so? Jaroos? Jai Ruse Bayard. Jai Ruse. Just an excuse to bring back one of our favorite parts of this show during the Gold Standard era, really. Yes, exactly. surgery is going to get Jairus Byrd or Jerus Bird mention every time, but it doesn't, the threshold isn't even that high.

Basically anything he does, he'll find his way into the podcast at this point. Moving forward, Doug Baldwin and the Seattle Seahawks. Baldwin. Have struck a deal on a two-year extension. NFL media insider Ian Rappaport reported Thursday. The deal is worth $4.3 million a year for a total of $13 million with almost $11 million in money. The Seahawks are targeting this week to have the deal formally done, but this seems like a fair deal for a pretty good receiver, right? I can tell you I would rather have Doug

Baldwin on my team than Brian Hartline, and he's making a lot less than the heart line. He's below the heartline. I would take Heartline, and not just because he was in your show. What is the issue that you have with Seattle? With Seattle receivers in general. In the last couple of days, Baldwin's name is bubbled up as a potential post on our website, and every time it does, Greg just says, nah, not worth it. And even with this had to get, this had to get floated in under your, well, I don't know. Let's get to the bottom of your hatred for Seahawks wide receiver. Or guys named Doug. Baldwin is a good third or fourth receiver. We didn't need to be doing posts on that he might possibly sign a contract that they're working on a deal. Let's just wait

until that contract signed. Then we can talk about Dougie. I'm going to put on my ball. Pants here and assign some homework to Greg. Those are tight. Watch some Doug Baldwin film. All right. And by the way, Pete Carroll has this to say. Big weekend plans for Greg. Doug has been a tremendous player, Pete Carroll said.

Why would Pete Carroll lie? He says he's tremendous, Greg. He is a good player. He's the type of guy your fan base is going to love. If he's on the open mark, look at his contract. That says it all, Wes. It's a good deal for the Seahawk. It's a good deal for him, too.

I like Doug Baldwin. But he's getting paid appropriately and Brian Hartline is way overpaid. I hate to see this. That might be fair. The one thing about Baldwin now is there is there long term. Richardson is a second round pick. Percy Harvin.

This used to be a big weakness for the team. I don't know if their receiver group is a weakness anymore. Doug Baldwin's making Jordy Nelson money. Stop. Come on, guys. All right, moving on. We have another NFL owner that has passed away. Malcolm Glazer, who purchased the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1995 and hoisted the team's first Super Bowl trophy eight years later, died Wednesday morning at the age of 85.

Glazer served as a guiding force in the Bucks' rise as a respected NFL power following decades of struggles in Glazer's time as owner. The team earned seven playoff bursts, five playoff wins, and the team's lone Super Bowl title in the 2002 season. People forget how awful the Bucks were for so many years. They were like the team that you can make fun of. And, you know, Glazer didn't do it alone. His family and his sons and daughter played a major role in turning the franchise around. But, you know, Glazer played a big part in the Bucks's rise. I'm glad you mentioned how awful they were.

When Hugh Culverhouse died in 1994, he was the former owner and really a big wig in the inside NFL circles. He was a big-time lawyer who really helped all, got involved in the Al Davis lawsuit. When he died, Glazer's competition for the Bucks franchise, Peter Angelos, the Baltimore Orioles owner who basically ran that franchise into the ground, George Steinbrenner, won it in on a Tampa Bay resident, and a man named Socrates Babacos. That is awesome. He should own everything. And people forget that the Bucks flirted with Bill Parsons. One second. Does anybody realize that West just rolled all that information out without looking at a piece of paper?

And then, it's a scientist. Socrates, Babacoss? Is that real? Was any of that real what you just said? Yes. And Glazer, when he bought the franchise, it was the highest fee in the history of professional sports franchise. $192 million. Wow.

Okay, Mark. I'm sorry. Well, no, but they had flirted with Bill Parcells multiple times, and it was Glazer that finally said, you know what? I can't go get someone who I want to come. coach just to come here on their own volition. I'm going to swing one of the biggest trades of all time to go get John Gruden. I think those trades aren't allowed anymore because of that deal.

Isn't that correct? He's a gutsy move. He's what you want in a lot of ways in an owner. When he passed away, it's not a name that a lot of NFL fans are even we are that familiar with his son, Joel, mostly runs a team. They're pretty hands-off just for the big moves. You know, they hired Tony Dungey, they hired John Gruden. he's a guy that is probably or almost definitely more well-known overseas

because they own Manchester United than he ever was in the U.S. The Gold Standard knows this in 2005 Glazer purchased the Manchester United soccer team. The team won five Premier League titles 2007, 8, 9, 11, and 13 as well as the 2008 UEFA Champions League. Hubba, Hubba, thoughts, gold center. You can just say Champions League, I think. In that context.

Yeah, I mean, it was obviously him buying Manchester United was quite an acrimonious acquisition. He, you know, settled them with a certain amount of debt. You're dumb Americans, you did it against us. There you go. And, yeah, so it was kind of sad to see him not greeted, you know, so fondly. Because, yeah, all Tampa Bay Buccaneers, fans obviously view them with a fondness. Where did the debt come from acquiring star talent or just from poor management? purchase the team.

Goldstanders, it's safe to say that if Dan was a soccer fan, he would be a man-you fan? That's very, yeah, with the Yankees connection. I heard there's a Yankees connection there. They're actually twinned with Manchester City now, Manchester United Drivals. It's safe to say Fabiano would be a Manchester United fan, though. But I know that Oasis are Man City guys, and my allegiance to Noel and Liam Liam runs deep.

So I'm going to say I'm a Man City guy. That's fair. Right under the radar. All right, gentlemen, let's move forward. Top 100. Wes's favorite aspect of being an NFL fan is the top 100 countdown every year. Is that correct, Wes? That's erroneous.

Okay. Greg Rosenthal, they counted down 61 to 70 on the list. Greg, the boss, wrote up six takeaways from the latest edition of the top 100, and we'll throw it to Greg Rosenthal. Wow. And see what he has to say. What kind of jumped out at you? 61 to 70.

Well, Nick Foles jumped out. He's number 70 on the list. He's ahead of Romo. He's ahead of Colin Kaepernick. He's ahead of Matthew Stafford. I would take all three of those quarterbacks over Nick Foles. And he's a guy that made the Pro Bowl. People were talking about him as a potential MVP candidate.

And my thing is just let's slow down a little on Nick Foles. We don't know what he is yet. He's started 10 games. He's shown some good things. But he wasn't the reason they won the division. They won the division because of the system and because of the offensive line and everything around. And Foles was a nice part. of that, but he's not this good.

He's not at that level yet. I think in the NFL, you start out, and Foles isn't as highly regarded at this stage of his career around the league as Jay Cutler was at the similar stage. I think in the NFL what matters when you judge quarterbacks, whether rightly or wrongly, what do you do when the game's on the line? And like you said, Foles really hasn't had a chance to do that yet. They haven't needed him when the game's on the line. so let's hold off on anointing him.

Put the anointing oils away. They could have used them a little more in the second half of that loss to the Eagles in the playoffs. He wasn't terrible. Saints. Saints, sorry. They did beat themselves on some level.

Yeah, and he wasn't terrible either. It was a typical Nick Foles game where he's part of a larger machine. That's all I'm saying. Well, but this, by the way, is not a career retrospective. It's meant to be where they are coming off right last season, right? Or even I think it's supposed to be for this upcoming season. Either way, I wouldn't put him in that category.

I would not say he's a top 10 category. Can I, I'll ask you gentlemen, the question. There are three quarterbacks that are behind falls on this list. Tony Romo, Colin Kaepernick, and Matthew Stafford. If I were to hire you as a head coach for a team, is, let's say Kaepernick at us. I feel like you guys would take Kaepernick above those other three guys? No question. Okay.

Kaepernick doesn't belong in that group, I agree. Who would be the fourth of these guys? I'll put it that way. Who would be the last guy you'd want if I gave you these as four? options. Foles by far. I agree with Greg. And because Foles, for me, it's the system he's in. I don't trust that if you put him into any system he thrives. I feel that Tony Romo, Stafford. Ramos, 34 with the back surgery. That doesn't, you still want. Are you talking about starting a team today? Yeah. Well, I would never take a 34-year-old quarterback to start a team. That's how I laid it out. I said, I just hired you as

coach. Then Stafford. Interesting. I would take Romo because, well, I mean, I don't believe your The roles are the same as the top 100 list. It's a different game. It's an off. It's a spin-off. If we're starting a team, I would take Stanford if it was just those three. They have a discussion show after the actual show with Damashek and Silver. And then if you're listening NFL Network executives, maybe at one in the morning, throw on

Hans-Zus, Wes, Sessler, the Around the League crew, and we do this whole other thing. And while the first after show is going on, we will be. at a local watering hole just talking about ideas for the show and then by the time we roll at 1 a.m., we're flying. What an idea. Come on, guys.

Let's get this started. Social media movement. Instant entertainment. After-after show. 20-hour work day. Anything else jump out of you at the top 100 there, Mr. Rosenthal? No, Jared Allen got a little overrated.

I didn't, nothing else really. Cameron Wake's an underrated player. I like that you mentioned that. because he is vastly underrated. Yeah, he should have been higher. Why does that happen year after year with him? He's not a named player and he came from the Canadian Football League. I think he probably doesn't have as much respect from other players.

There's a general anti-Canadian sentiment in the NFL amongst his players. If he was a number three overall pick in the draft, don't you think he would be more highly rated? Or on a team anyone cared about. I don't feel that the... It's all Jeff Ireland's fault that Cam Wake isn't getting his own pub. That's fair. I don't feel like the Iran League podcast has a huge. huge Canadian following. Do we get a lot of heat from Canada?

I don't know. I've looked at the numbers. We have an incredible international audience. It's almost hard to believe. Thank you all for listening. A huge segment of our listenership is from overseas. And Canada is a huge part of that. They are our number two country behind the UK. Really? You haven't broken down that far? Yeah. Metrics, mine, but UK, Canada, we love Canada, Germany, Australia. I certainly. Can you forward these numbers to us? Sure. I want to be in on this.

This is your job before you leave. I can let you know to the listener how many we've got. It's exciting. I, for a brief time of my life, dated a woman named Kirby that lived in Toronto. Little memoir teaser for you guys. Her name is Kirby? No part of that is true. Kirby. K-I-R-B-Y.

That sounds to me like it did not end well. It did not, actually. But I don't play Canada. It's like when you're away camp and you're like, oh, yeah, I have a girlfriend. She lives in Canada. You wouldn't know her. A lot of hoops to jump in the bad.

I've tried that ruse before. It's too absurd to make up in this case. But that's a memoir tease coming out in 20164. To make up, all you did was take an 80 center fielder's first name and throw a Canadian city out there. You did it. You cracked it. All right. So, moving forward.

Good top 100 talk, Greg. Way to lead it. Wes, you really enjoyed it. I could tell. I did. Yes. Let's dig into the OTAs Whispers

Breaking down some nuggets Taken from both the Around the League NFL.com backslash ATL You get all the news that we write about That really formulates the bedrock Of the Around the League podcast We had what we learned from Wednesdays OTAs and Tuesdays

So I figure we'll go around the room once Perhaps even twice If time permits and talk about things that have jumped out to us. So why don't we start, Mark, you wrote up the Wednesday roundup, something that jumped out to you on Wednesday. Well, I think for me, the minute I hit work at around 8 a.m., Greg basically said we've got Johnny Mansell teed up in Cleveland.

Like, you've got to jump right on this. And A, it started with Petten, basically responding to whatever it was, people were perceiving happened in Vegas to Johnny Mansell over the weekend. My takeaway was, number one, they don't care what he does off the field as long as he basically doesn't get arrested. He already was moved into second team snaps ahead of... Tyler, Thigpen. Your boy.

Number three. Wes's boy. None of it means anything in May. But, you know, with Hoyer not cleared really for full-on-11 contact, he took number ones. And in the takeaway for me had nothing to do with this Las Vegas business. It was a couple of the writers on the scene who watched every snap said this offense by Kyle Shanahan is being engineered entirely for a mobile quarterback. There's a lot being borrowed from what he did with RG3, and it's not being engineered for someone other than Mansell.

This is his job to lose. So it's not being engineered for a immobile quarterback with a giant knee brace. I wouldn't call Hoyer mobile at all. I think coming off surgery, you're saying he did. With a giant knee brace, he will be an immobile. Well, I know in your mind we're dealing with 2013, Brian Hoyer, but that guy's not walking through the door. We're dealing with the ACL Brian Hoyer.

Well, yes. Correct, Wes. The point is it's not being engineered for Brian Hoyer. Thank you very much. But it shows, no, no, no, because we all get it. It's not the point. I just think that Cleveland, no matter what they've said, they took this guy to play.

Listen to the optimism in your voice when you talk about this team. I get excited, Mark. It would be wrong for, I think having him sit until week eight or something is not going to go well. Here's what I thought. I agree. I thought yesterday was a nice sign for the Browns organization that after a week or so of the strange comments about holding Johnny Mansell down, finally, after this Vegas thing, what really the good thing came out of it was the coach coming out, Mike Patton would be like, I don't care. He even checked with me. He said it was fine.

It's fine for him to go to Vegas. He told me he was studying. He gave him the benefit of the doubt, and he told the media so. And then Manzell, because I think, you know, he's JFF and he's a fun guy. You know, when the media was trying to give him some heat about it, he's like, listen, I'll do what I want to do. It's my life. I do my work, and then I do my play, and I could separate those two things. Everything made sense, and I like that it wasn't turned into a bigger thing by the Browns.

I agree. Didn't we see, like, it seems like a shift in philosophy on how they're going to handle Johnny football. See, Vegas is the greatest thing in the world. I think they were the guy that got a way too hot girlfriend and had no idea how to handle that out of the gate because they've never had one, and they're starting to get their moxie, they're understanding what they're dealing with.

For now, let's see where we are next podcast. I also like the biggest winner of the Vegas trip for Johnny Football was DJ Pauli D of Jersey Shore fame, back on the radar, back on the grid. You know, the situation probably saw that I was like, Wes has no idea what's going on. I know who DJ Polly D is.

I didn't know that he had intertwined. Yeah, I didn't either. He was in the mix. He was in one of the shots. There's an Instagram out there with the two of them. Oh, that's why. DJ Pauly D who's listening to this right now. He's like, yo, I make $3.3 million a year DJ in Vegas.

So I know he's doing okay in his life, but back on the grid. I didn't realize until I moved to L.A. that DJs are basically like athletes and movie stars in this area, in the L.A. Vegas area. It's amazing. They have billboards and they get paid. paid millions of dollars for spinning a record. I like you're called a record.

But you know what? Do they have a DJ in Huckapoo's? It sounds like no. No. They have a playlist. A very good playlist. DJ. Come on.

I think I'm hanging out of a place with a DJ. Wes, what is your... Give me a takeaway from either Tuesday or Wednesday. My takeaway is I wish Bruce Ariens was still not a liar. I wish you weren't a liar. After he drafted Logan Thomas, he admitted, I lie pretty good because he said, you know, I'm not going to draft a quarterback.

We've got Carson Palmer. Well, now he's talking about Andre Ellington, a scatback who's gained 10 pounds. So maybe he's got a little more durability than last year when they decided they had to play the discarded husk of Richard Mendenhall over Andre Ellington. They could only give Ellington 12 carries a game because he's not, he doesn't have the body, thin hips slightly build. Now he's going to get 25 to 30 touches a game, which would break all NFL rounds. records. He's going to get 500 touches on the season. Well, the coaches always throw out these numbers, though, in the office. It's laughable. They're not doing the math of 30 touches a game equals 480.

I don't think that necessarily means he's lying. He's lying. I think he is looking at Ellington as a guy who's going to touch the ball a lot more this year and is a centerpiece of his office. I believe that. Wes is being injured by Halloween. You've just referred to a living being as a discarded husk. He was like Molly-wopped, Richard Mendenhall. I watched some Ellington or really some Carson Palmer,

but Ellington always just pops off the screen. And when you watch Andre Ellington, I think why is this guy not getting the ball more? And there is not much separation between a LaShawn McCoy type of player and Andre Ellington. I think he has the potential to be a top five or six running back in the league that he is that good when you watch his movement skills and everything. Maybe he's not 25 to 30

a game, but it wouldn't surprise me to see Andre Ellington rack up yards and go to the Pro Bowl. But isn't Wes annoyed because you've followed fantasy football for a decade plus, and these kind of nonsensical promises happen every year at this time?

That's part of why I'm annoyed. I'm also annoyed because the Cardinals themselves said he's thin, hip, and slightly built. So would you give Gerius Norwood 350 carries? No, he's going to get injured. If they decided last year... Jee Luce? If they decided last year he's not built right to handle a heavy workload or to be your between the tackles back,

I don't think 10 pounds is really going to change that. Can't guys develop into that? LaShawn McCoy is certainly tougher than when he started in the league. It happens with guys like that. Some guys don't. Like, I don't think Leon Washington was ever going to be that guy, but he's a guy who was similar to Andre Ellington style-wise. Greg, your takeaway. that Bill O'Brien, the Texans coach, came right out on day one of OTAs and made it clear

it's not Ryan Fitzpatrick's job, that this is an open quarterback competition. We're just assuming Fitzpatrick is the favorite. He probably is the favorite, but no one can love Ryan Fitzpatrick, and I think O'Brien and the Texans are in that group. They didn't want him to be the true number one. For a guy that quarterback guru, Bill O'Brien, still waiting to see it happen. Well, no, I'm sorry, but he's one of many guys through the building that made Tom Brady look good. I haven't, there's not a long pedigree here.

Did they develop Matt McGloin? That's fair. Matt McGloin, big home run. But this is exactly the opposite of what I thought when they hired him, where they'd be with the quarterback situation, which is essentially a bathtub full of backups. There's not one guy here that you can sell to your fan base and say, get excited. There's a guy to really develop here. maybe Keenham, I guess, but I think the team already kind of wrote the guy off last year.

Why would they all be in a bathtub? I saw a bathtub full of backups in 94. They were opening for the violent family. Get excited, Texas fans. T.J. Yates. Case Keatom. We didn't need Bill O'Brien to say this. We already knew Case Keenum was in this quarterback race with Ryan's Fitzpatrick.

What if this is all... What if it's a Yates? Yates is not winning this. What if it was all just a genius play by the Texans after getting the next Lawrence Taylor in this year's draft saying, you know what, screw the quarterback position, it will cause us to go in the tank again, that's fine. Another 3 and 13, bang, they take the top quarterback in next year's draft, and now all of a sudden they have two massive dynamic number one picks back to back. Here we go. Not what Dallas is picking number one. That's what I'm talking about.

What? Dallas takes Marcus Marriota. on Manzell in 2014 and then take a quarterback first overall in 2015? If Roma gets hurt again and Wheddon has to come in. You guys are talking like you know something we don't. Is something up with time? We don't have a quarterback.

Weedon also gets coaches fired. The last two coaches attached to Brandon Weedon lost their jobs. Brennan is not taking a meaningful snap for the Cowboys this year. It's just not going to happen. They hope. I mean, I don't think he's going to be the backup quarterback. Do you really think they're going to do it? Ryan Mallet.

Somebody that's not in the picture right now would be my prediction. T.J. Yates. Case Keenham. If T.J. Yates is a quarterback, they're still getting the number one draft pick. I'm a little nervous about my hometown jet team. A little bit of a potential distraction going on there now with the quarterback situation. I think we've all kind of seen it coming. And on Wednesday, there was some heat.

There was some legit heat. Rex Ryan was asked about Michael Vick's comments from a week earlier about, you know, Vic said this is not an open competition. he's competing and then Rex came out they asked him immediately of course is it an open competition to which Rex applied you know of course it is it sure is something along those lines minutes later and you follow all this on Twitter now the all the beat guys go from Rex's press conference to the Jets locker room and ask Michael Vick so you know is this a open competition and Vick's response was nah it's not an open competition so there's still my feeling on this is that Vic needs to pipe down. I said this earlier this week on the podcast

and stop talking so much but this is kind of what you invited in when you signed a high-profile player to compete against your incumbent and the jets seem like they might have a bit of turbulence coming to Florin Park this summer. Goldstander cue up some circus music.

It's back in town, baby. It's back in town. It's just starting. We can't even perceive the ridiculous stories that will be coming out of the Jets this year. Well, as Wes said yesterday, my spidey sense is tingling. Something's just a miss here. It just, it's not on the same page.

Right. It's a little ugly. Well, the other weird thing about it is that Enrich Samini of ESPN New York commented that Vic sounded brainwashed when they came and spoke with him initially. Repeating talking points like a Manchurian candidate. Like someone had gotten to him. But then despite that, he also then dropped. the comment again that he still didn't believe it was an open competition. I think the only thing that could really backfire on the Jets here is if Vic continually talks through the summer and makes these type of comments.

And I guess they can't put a muzzle on the guy, maybe a poor choice of words regarding Michael Vick. I don't blame VIN. But, yeah, I think they're in a tough spot. If he's going to want to talk and as a veteran with a lot of past success, they can't necessarily control the guy. It's going to put them in a very bad spot that maybe they didn't foresee. Nobody has reported exactly what Vic was promised when he signed. But I know before he signed, there was a report from one of the local papers that said Vic will be offered the chance to compete for the starting job.

And Ian Rappaport said a couple weeks before Vic signed, he's willing to wait months to sign with a team if he doesn't get a chance to compete for the starting job. So he signs a couple weeks later with the Jets, why would he sign there if he wasn't promised a chance to compete? This is on Idzik, and I'll tell you why, because two, two sons summers ago, you had Sanchez and Tebow battling with the press. That was a nightmare. So, Idzik takes over and takes Gino Smith and has him dealing with Sanchez last summer,

which was uncomfortable. He had a chance to put Gino alone in this job and not add this dimension. And you're shaking your head, Dave. I am because we all agreed it was the right move two months ago. And now we're saying I'dzik should be killed for getting him. It's agreed if Vic has a chance to win the job, because I think Vic is the better quarterback. If he's suddenly being told now, no, you're not, you're going to sit back and be a good teammate. You're going to be a catty for Gino until he face plan?

That's poorly managed. And I don't think that's what he's been told. That's just an assumption that people are making. I think it's an OTA story. I don't think it matters. And they needed to bring in Vic because they couldn't just rely on Gino. And if this is the worst that happens that there's some stuff in the media and a little back and forth, maybe there is something behind the scene. He just told us last podcast that this is a story that will go on all year because Vic never shuts up.

It will. It's going to be a drama. I don't think it affects them winning or losing, but I do think it's going to be a daily drama. It's not good for Rex Ryan to have to comment on this every press conference. It's just the last thing they need. But you know what? That's part of the gig in New York, too.

Like if it wasn't this, it would be something else. Rex Ryan's been answering things for four or five years now, and this is going to be the thing that he deals with this year. Yeah, but anything other than the quarterback situation is a lot less problematic. Rex Ryan doesn't want to have to. deal with the quarterback situation, and here he is again. Well, until they have a true franchise quarterback, it will always be a major. Last year was relatively quiet out of Flore and Park.

They had no other options. You know, oh, you're talking in general? Yeah, the media didn't go too wild. Only because Sanchez was taken. But Sanchez has taken out of the equation. That's the only reason it was the healthiest that team has been with the press for a long time, and they invited it all back in with this. By signing a capable veteran backup, though.

It wasn't a bad move. He wasn't signed to be a backup. mistake to sign Michael Vick. He wasn't signed to be a backup. Right. If their intention was to say, we're going to go with Gino in year two the way the bills did, for instance, with E.J. Manuel, for better or worse, there's no drama in Buffalo.

But there is in New York because they brought a guy that everyone assumes is a more electric, more trustworthy player under center than their second year quarterback. And wasn't given a backup's contract. Was given a mid-level you can compete to start contract. They signed him

as a security blanket. They really did. Well, that's naive if you're the Jets. And you can disagree, but I mean, this circus can't... It's hugely naive, and I don't believe for a second that Michael Vick was told he's going to be the backup when he signed. And has he been told now he is the backup? I believe he's been told this is Gino Smith's job to lose. But does anybody know this? No, I believe that that's what his statements are telling us.

Why would he say it's not an open competition otherwise? It's such a weird comment. We don't know what's going on behind the scenes, but everything... I think everything we can infer is Michael Vick was told at first you're going to have a chance to compete to start and has been told since then you have a chance to compete to start, but Gino's going to be the guy unless he messes up. And that's still the case. Right, but there's a very subtle but important distinction there. Well, we'll see how it plays out. I've always thought that Gino will be the starter and then the first sign of trouble they're going to bring in Vic and that's still how I see it playing out.

And if that's how it plays out, then I think it was the right signing. They have to just deal with the stuff that Vic is going to talk, though. in my opinion. All right, gentlemen. That is it. A lot of little Jets heat, man. Sorry to leave on that heat-filled podcast. That ugly note.

It was competitive talk about the Jets, but we're going to, we'll be back when? When's the next show? We will be back. It's competition, an open competition. Our three weeks, three shows a week, back next week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday. And Gold Standard, before we go,

we need to talk about Win West's Toaster. Yes, we do. Have you, what's this, any updates? I'm still refurbishing the Elimination Chamber. So the updates are there. We've got a lot of spikes coming in. It's been some weird deliveries to NFL media. I can't believe you had to refurbish it.

Yeah, yeah. You know, it didn't do the job last time. We've got to keep turning up the heat. All right, good. So how do people get in touch with you? Well, you can either contact me at That Damn Yank on Twitter or the Around the League page at at NFL. underscore ATL.

But mostly at that damn, yeah. Mostly just keep us out of it. You know, come on. Yeah. No, just let me know that you want to be a part of it. You've got to actually be based in the United States or Canada, I guess we can do. Okay, North America. Yeah, you've got to be able to call in, so that's sort of the problem there.

Thank you to all of our esteemed international listeners. And again, send those money tags, hashtag money tags, to our around the league Twitter account. Do our work for us. All right, that's it. Until Monday, this is Dan Hansa, signing off for the mailman, the sizzler, the boss, and the gold standard behind the glass. Until next week. Astinville, stayed in being like, Rondie Lerner. In the heat of battle, your squad.

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