NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Owners' meetings extravaganza!

Episode Date: March 25, 2014

A room full of some heroes -- Dan Hanzus and Chris Wesseling -- welcomes guest hero Dave Dameshek to the podcast to discuss the biggest offseason headlines of the week and play an all-new round of “What’s More Likely?”  Elsewhere, intrepid reporters Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal check in from the owners’ meetings in Orlando and discuss what it’s like to be among the most prominent and powerful figures in the National Football League.  This all-new episode of the “Around The League Podcast” is not to be missed  -- so, tune in and join the conversation on Twitter: @NFL_ATL or #NFLATL.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the League podcast is too lazy to write their own intros. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hansen and I'm joined by a room filled with some heroes, Chris Wessling and Dave Damashek. Hi, man. Wait a second. I didn't say it. I was so caught off balance by Sheck being here.

what up boys that's my thing Dave hello Dan hello Chris how are you that's the first time I've ever called you Dan and Chris respectfully I don't it doesn't feel right hey handsus can I just say something real quick before you get into it I saw you were shooting some stuff here at NFL Network this morning I noticed you still have your makeup off you're on I should say you know it's okay to wipe it off I'm still wearing my face and no what happened actually because the way things work in the around the league group is you know you you help out with a video project which is actually dave damask's video project you left that out and i didn't have time

simply it was a time issue so i'm still wearing my face you look terrific you've never looked better in fact so kudos i do have to take care of your friends and family in new york couldn't be proud my dad my dad everyone in the coal town uh back in pearl river very i'm sure proud of me. Wes, thank you for coming in on your off day. My pleasure. Always a pleasure. And, of course, our other two gentlemen, Mark Sessler, and Greg Rosenthal, are in Orlando

for the NFL annual meetings. So it's a pretty professional outfit here, Dave, as you can tell. Yes, I can, and they're down there kibitzing about all manner of rules changes. Yes, and you, Dave, you are on a role last week, by the way. And we're going to get to it. We're going to actually talk. I'll be talking to the two gentlemen in Orlando a little later in the show. Dave had a big week last week, met with Kevin Costner on the airwaves,

and had one of the great lines I thought NFL Network recent history, which was this. April 11th, Draft Day in theaters. Oh, Kevin Costner has a hose. Kevin Costner has a hose. Just a great line, all-time great line. Well, thank you. Yes, of course, I couldn't pass on the opportunity to ask him, not unlike he asks his fictionalized father at the end of field of dreams,

you want to have a catch. I'm sitting out there on the stage with Kossner. What else am I going to ask him? I'll kick myself for the rest of my days if I don't propose a catch. This time with a football, he graciously said yes. We threw it around, and I don't know if it was surprise or what. But yeah, it turns out he can really sling that thing. He can spin it.

He has a hose. He's a pretty good athlete for an actor. He is. In fact, is he the most. Most of any actor in history, this sounds like hyperbole, but then really think about it, is he the greatest actor in sports movies ever? Well, he has to have played the most characters, right? You would think. I think this latest picture draft day where he's the Brown's GM is his sixth sports movie.

Yeah, and as you can see, it's the great giveaway, La Raville Magnifico, when an actor tries to throw the ball when having a catch. Wes, La Raville Magnifico is the great. reveal. That is something that is unspoken but seen and then you just followed away forever and you always know. Blowing my mind. Tom Cruise having a catch in, what was that alien movie he was in? Are you talking Parisian?

Wait, wait a second. Yeah, if you're a hillbilly, you wouldn't know Parisian. Yeah, never mind. Scratch it. War of the Worlds. Tom Cruise having a catch with his son. Embarrassing. Was very embarrassing.

You could, you probably have one, Dave. Well, yeah, I mean, I, by the way, I think it's funny that Tom Cruise finds a way. to work in him running full speed in every movie he's ever made. It's insane. It's really on par with John Travolta wedging in an opportunity to dance in every movie. Travolta, a better dancer than Cruz's runner. Right. But to get back to my point, that Costner, you could tell, knows how to throw.

And if you, not a great movie, it gets maybe to me a little too much. We were talking about movies last week. We were talking about it again is for the love of the game, I believe, the 99. baseball vehicle where he throws the perfect game at the end of his career. Spoiler alert. You could tell when he's pitching, you'd never really seen a movie where an actor actually looked like a pitcher. So he's the real deal in that aspect. Yeah, I agree that he successfully pulls off being a ball player.

I think that Paul Newman doesn't get, I mean Paul Newman, Robert Redford doesn't get enough credit for how good he looked throughout the natural. I mean, there's nowhere to hide when you're playing that role up there swinging the lumber. out in right field and pitching. Yeah, he was good at it. One of the least believable quarterbacks in football movie history, Mac Davis, North Dallas 40. For a movie so praised, Mac Davis is the starting quarterback of NFL team, please. Or is Dallas North 40, as I call it, or is Dallas 40 North?

40 men from Dallas. I haven't seen all of these old-timey pictures. I need to catch up. See all the right moves. Here's an interesting bit of trivia, although I don't know the guy's name. In all the right moves, the high school steel town picture starring the aforementioned Tom Cruise. Of course, he runs in that one. Yeah, well, Craig T. Nelson is the mean coach who hits teenage boys with a nine iron if they don't do as he wishes, which really is a insane, in hindsight.

He hits the kids with a nine iron in practice. That's part for the course in the 50s. Yeah, well, no, this. Of course, I like what you did there. But the picture set in the early 80s. So your point holds no water, or is moot. But listen, the guy who is the quarterback of that high school team, Ampipe, is his nickname is Rifleman, and he throws a glorious ball.

He cuts a great figure of a big guy who can really whip it, and it turns out he played, the real guy, was the quarterback for your New York Jets, Dan Hansus, in the 1987 strike. He was one of the, he was the scab. You know the sport that's the easiest tell on an actor? Basketball. How many times do you watch some goon trying to dribble a basketball?

Oh, Michael J. Fox. Oh, it's terrible. And you just want to shout at these Hollywood people. You have no idea what it is to be an athlete. Right. How could you cast this guy who can't even dribble? Well, the cutaways, the shoddily executed edit of Teen Wolf is the stuff of legend in my book. that Michael J. Fox goes up for a layup.

You see the ball leave his hand, then they cut away to the rim, but it takes like another three seconds for it to actually hit the backboard and then bounce in. And it's the same one. They just loop it. Like, we only made one.

We only have the ball going through the hoop three times total, so we just got to use those three shots all the way through. I thought you were talking about the guy with his pants down at the end of the movie. Oh, well, that's one of the great bizarre continuity areas of all time. It is. I once sat down and looked at what Teen Wolf's stat lines.

would be for the championship game. I actually did the numbers on it. It's an impressive game. I don't think he triple doubles, but he... He didn't mess around and get a triple double. He definitely goes double double. I'm not sure if he gets enough rebounds for the triple double. The gold standard behind the glass.

How are you, buddy? Doing great. Thanks. It's a little weird with Dave here because he calls you by the name that you aren't really gold tie or whatever that is. I'm even like bringing it up. I'm dealing with it. I'm sort of like the dog who responds to buddy, dog, the dog's name. It's fine. Hey, this is your house.

I'll play by your rules. Gold Standard it is. Ah, good man, Dave. All right, so Gold Standard. How about we do some news? Let's do it. All right, let's start in Philadelphia. There's a couple things going on in Philly right now.

And we'll start with the Sean Jackson. Howie Roseman, the Eagles general manager, is in Orlando at the owner's meetings, as you can safely assume. And he was asked about Jackson's status, whether he'll be traded. here's the quote that Roseman said he's still under contract for us and until there's anything to report on our players that's where we are now and I will say to you gentlemen

reporters asked him a bunch of other questions about the Eagles roster and he seemed very open to answering them but was tight-lipped about anything Jackson related which to me kind of spoke volumes there was no you know he's on our team we love this guy that doesn't seem like this guy's in the future

and this doesn't change how we should feel right translation he's still on my roster come offering me a draft pick for him I'm trying to tell you I'm not going to release him that's what he's trying to do I feel like

I mean I'm really surprised is it that difficult is he that difficult in the locker room and otherwise that they can just cut bait with him I understand I mean a lot of people

are playing this game of you know the Panthers are in dire straights because they don't have a wide receiver but of course by the end of the first round they presumably at first round of the draft they presumably will have addressed that with marquis lee or mike evans if they're lucky enough or uh you know any number of other good wide receivers out there in the draft um but that said i the eagles i'm really Jeremy macklin and riley cooper that they're cool with that going i mean going forward is their top two i think you mentioned the draft again, and they know they have a deep draft.

And I think this is what, and my team, the Jets is where they need to be careful here, is that Deshaun Jackson had a great year last year. He proved beyond any doubt that he's a nice fit in what Chip Kelly does, and yet they're still itching to get rid of him to the point where they might just dump him for nothing. So what is it about this guy behind the scenes that we don't know? And the Jets finally got rid of a headache in Santonio Holmes. DeShon Jackson could be Holmes 2.0. that scares me because I think, and we heard Woody Johnson risked maybe a tampering charge on Sunday in Orlando by acknowledging, yes, we're interested in Deshaun Jackson, which is a no-no, according to the league's bylaws.

It sounds like they're going to make a play for him once he's released, if that happens. And just something to be careful about because, yeah, this is a great player, but there's something else to him that's rubbing the Eagles the wrong way. You know who else had a great year in Chip Kelly's offense? Who? Every other player in Chip Kelly's offense. Yeah, I get you. And Shady McCoy was gangbusters and Darren Sprouls. Nick Foles had the best TD Interception ratio in years.

Riley Cooper, breakout year. I think they figured Macklin can come play Jackson's role and they won't miss anything. Well, but to Hansus's point, I, you know, Deshaun Jackson, you know, you've heard that stuff about him that he's difficult. I mean, anecdotally, and it means absolutely nothing. but I have met him and hung out with him for 45 minutes or an hour, and he seemed like a delightful young fella. But apparently, I mean, what could he do that is so vile that they want to purge him from the roster?

Jeremy McLean, let's keep in mind, is coming back from a knee injury. I think it was right after the season, a year and a half after he signs a lucrative contract that you could say he didn't earn because he was coming off a bad season, they go out on a limb and give him this money. And after the season, he asks for more. He's already the seventh highest pay wide receiver in the NFL.

And he says, yeah, I need more money. Well, fellas, caveat emptor with Deshaun Jackson. I mean, he certainly for, there's a certain perception of him, but the numbers don't really equal that. Don't equal the reality of him minus last year is that he's a good receiver, but he's certainly not some unstoppable force Sunday to Sunday. I'd be concerned about bringing him into a lot of different systems. That being said, if he goes to a team like the 49ers,

EGAD. They need to pick up the slack offensively for their defensive deficiencies I see coming up there. Guy like that would be, boy, the arms war between them and the Seahawks would really heat up even further. And in other Eagles news, Michael Vick obviously signed with the Jets on Friday, and there is a report that the Eagles are very interested in, now signing Mark Sanchez to add to their mix. To do what? To do Mark Sanchez things.

ESPN had that the deal was essentially done. Ian Rappaport reported on Monday that they're going to be taking a hard look at, Sanchez and his medicals, but he is among the landing spots. The Giants also a potential fit according to Ian. Mark Sanchez, the Sanchez. Any team without an obvious backup, Ian said, is basically in on him. The Eagles are interesting because to me it says two things. Chip Kelly believes in a two-quarterback system.

He thinks you have to have two guys with starting experience and who can start without messing your old team up. That means he doesn't really think Matt Barclay is one of those guys. Well, that's what my question is. I mean, that indicates that they're ready to cut bait already with Matt Barclay, which is pretty... Or that he's their developmental guy, not their guy who can come in when Fools goes down.

Who does that, though? No one does that. In 2014, carries a third-string QB with the... You know, I know he's a third-round pick, and the price tag isn't heavy with him. But, yeah, well. Landry Jones. I don't expect Landry Jones to be around for very long. He and Barclay were both fourth-round picks, right?

A fourth-round pick, yeah, I'm thinking of Berkeley. A Mark Sanchez, Matt Barkley, backup quarterback showdown on tap in Pennsylvania. Yeah, yep. How is it possible that USC, the greatest quarterback in the history of that school, one of the more successful college programs ever, is Carson Palmer, and it's not close. He's easily their most successful NFL quarterback. Dave, we don't talk about college around these parts. Oh, I'm sorry. Excuse me. Moving on. Reggie McKeigh. Wait, before we move on, would it surprise you if Sanchez

played great for Chip Kelly? That would be, I was actually thinking about that. The only thing, the Jets kind of did him wrong by waiting so long to dump him, the only positive that could come out of this if he landed with Philly is he actually gets to join a team with a real offense and a real offensive mind. That said, I think we saw enough from Sanchez to see that he's pretty limited. It would be the ultimate vouching

for Chip Kelly as a genius if Mark Sanchez came in for an injured Nick Foles and led that team to glory or some type of deep playoff run. I guess we'll never know. We might find out. Roger McKenzie said at the NFL owners meetings in Orlando that Terrell Pryor

has reached out about potentially being released by the Raiders or traded. He wants out of Oakland. Of course, after Matt Schab signed a deal with or was traded to Oakland last week, I guess you can't really fault the guy, especially after the coach comes out and says

Dennis Allen says on Friday, we could see Shab is our quarterback for the next three or four years. Can you blame Terrell Pryor for wanting out of Oakland now? I can't blame either side. I can't blame the Raiders because they know more about football than us and their football people have determined. Do they?

Terrell Pryor is not a quarterback according to them. He's not any kind of solution. Can't blame Pryor because every defensive coordinator in the league would have rather played against Matt Schaub than Thorel Pryor on any Sunday. Well, you know, yeah, that's absolutely right. And it's interesting to me that Torel Pryor, even against, as it was quickly established, the one thing he's going to do is beat you with your legs, and teams still couldn't stop him from doing it.

It's pretty remarkable stuff. And, you know, it's starting to get far in the rearview mirror is the idea of situationally throwing a different kind of quarterback on the field. But I wonder if some teams should go back to thinking that way. Terrell Pryor, as a change of pace, would, I mean, you know, think about the teams that have that locked in the pocket kind of guy. Doesn't it sound intriguing in a vacuum if you're the Giants? Hey, yeah, you could just swap him out in certain situations, take Eli out and throw a guy like Pryor in there. that curveball would be difficult to slow down. That's also a situation where if you do that, Eli, is going to be pissed at you.

True enough, true enough. It's going to have to be a guy who's not established as a franchise quarterback. The Cardinals, maybe a team like that would be interesting doing something like that. I'm on board because I don't really have that much faith in Carson Palmer. Yeah, well, that's a guy who's, yeah, it's not exactly, you know, top tier QB. They're almost like the Cardinals to me or the team that if they have, upper level quarterback play. They really could contend in that conference.

But are we, yeah, I'm not convinced on that guy. They're already running a lot of running plays for E.J. Manuel. Bring in Threll Prior, they said they needed another guy. Sure, sure. Good transition, Wes, because Doug Marone in Orlando said on Monday that the bills are, quote, all in with E.J. Manuel. Here's the quote from Morone. We're secure with our quarterback position. obviously we're all in with E.J. and with Fad, all in with E.J. and Thad. That's quite a statement.

And Dennis Dixon and Jeff Toole. Man, these are all guys that are tied to this team. Sounds like a bad 80s movie. We're all in with E.J. and Thad. We're really excited with what we bring to the table at that position. Was he joking when he said this? You can't really tell in text. Excited? He said it. Yeah, I remember when the Browns were excited for Brandon Whedon, the bills were excited for J.P. Lossman. The Bears were excited for Rex.

Grossman. I am completely, by the way, sort of related. I am now off of this notion, I don't know that I ever fully bought it anyway, that you must have one of the six or eight best quarterbacks to win a Super Bowl. Obviously, you don't. Because if you look at the last three Super Bowl champions, you wouldn't put Flacco, Eli. Well, by the time they won it. The week after they wanted, people put Flacco up there in Eli. But now with a little bit of time and perspective, you would take those guys out of that group now. And then you have Russell Wilson, who's certainly on the rise. To me, what you want is it's much more important to have the weapons around them. And everything points to them taking maybe Mike Evans, the bills there. I mean,

then they have some legit weapons out there. I mean, unless E.J. Manuel is Mark Sanchez-level putrid, then I don't know how he couldn't be successful. I will say this in defense of E.J. Emmanuel because I think a lot of people, eyebrows will arch about the bills even coming out and saying that they're all in behind the guy. But he suffered an injury that kind of completely doomed his chance of progressing at any type of normal level. It's already hard enough to be a rookie quarterback thrown into the job immediately. And then to have him go down with the injury, he was never quite right after that. I think it was against the Browns at Thursday night game when Hoyer also got hurt. Also the game Mark Sessler loves talking about it. If Mark was here, he would have jumped in there. High point of the Cleveland Brown season that year, when they went to three and two when we're in first place in the AFC North. But I think Manuel deserves this whole year to get a real good look. Give him a shot because I feel like he might be prematurely written off by some people. Wes?

Well, I think he didn't play well. And this is going to sound harsh, but teams that lose make excuses like his knee injury. Teams that lose a lot do that. Teams that win a lot, see their quarterback play well. Well, I mean, it's his, the question about him is his accuracy, but he's got the whip and he's got the, he's a big boy and he runs around great. He's sort of a Ben Rathesberger type, you know, he's got the same qualities and the same potential strikes against him that you would put against Rathlisberger. And, yeah, certainly. I mean, again, if they get, let's say they give him either, you know, Eric Ebron or Mike Evans.

I mean, the offense is now bona fide, kind of loaded then. And then I guess you had to give him another year because you spent a first-round draft pick on him. That only makes sense. But, you know, you could find out by November you just wasted another year of your franchise. Interesting news also out of Detroit, the Lions general manager Martin Mayhew said Monday in Orlando that the Lions would not pick up the 50-year option of defensive tackle Nick Fairley's contract. Mayhew, when asked, you know, are you, you know, surprising you came out and told us that information, said that wasn't unintentional. Then he had an interesting quote, I have to ask myself, is he a $5 million player right now? So, obviously, Farley has not lived up to expectations, and he, now the GM has put it out there, put up, or so long.

You want me to translate this one for you? Yes, please do it, Wes. Put the fork down, Susie. Is that Nick Fairley's nickname? Yeah. You're saying he's a fork down? Is over generous carriage? Yes.

He was clearly overweight last year. Discipline is an issue, and this is a kick in the pants. It's pretty public kick in the pants. It is. And it's March 24th. I mean, this isn't like, let's wait until he gets the camp, see how he shows up, see if he's in shape. This is, they're putting him on notice well before the offseason training program begins.

They want a motivated Nick Fairley for 2014, and they're willing to have to have to overpay in 2015 to get him back. Funny you called him Susie because his friend Sue, Indomicon, that is, is the guy who, from the outside, a lot of people would say, aren't the lines looking to purge him? He's a headache. He's more trouble than he's worth. Clearly, there is no indication with, as they are working on a deal with Sue, he is a guy who they consider a cornerstone fairly.

People forget when he was coming out of Auburn, there were plenty of doubters about that guy. I think the public persona of endomic and Sue is more different than any other player over who he actually is as a person. He's not a bad guy. What about as a player, though? What's wrong with kicking a guy? Well, I mean, players are taught to play a little dirty. I say that all the time. Look at it. We're sitting here in Studio 66. Look at the pictures on the walls. We have Jack Lambert behind us. Ray Nitchke. There's Deacon Jones, you know, These guys did all right with playing with a little edge. A guy named Mienjo Green.

They punched and kicked and everything else. All we do is celebrate those guys. But now suddenly, Indomac and Sue has a stink on him. This young man needs to get a hold of himself. Or he's going to kick himself right out of the National Football League. What? The other guys went to the Hall of Fame. What am I missing here?

Listen to Dave, paint the picture of the room. You could almost hear the listeners feeling like they're in here with us. the way you did it. You're a professional day. Way beyond us. Thank you, Dan. Did I mention that you have makeup on? Still, I should go over there. It does remind me that makeup lady said, come over and I will give you the proper wipes. So I'm going to do that after this.

Yeah, there are a lot of conversations I find myself having as a grown man that make me realize that it occurs to me, wow, this is not at all what my parents have mine. This is not at all. They must be ashamed. We got together all those years ago. A doctor, maybe. I don't know. Maybe a congressman. You know, who knows what he'll be?

No, he puts makeup on it. He talks about other people. You want to hear some great shame is after that one... More successful, more athletic human beings. That's who he talks about. One dude working on my hair, the lady working on my face, then she's like, do you want some lip moisturizer? And I said, okay.

Yeah, take it. Go ahead. Trip the light fantastic. Treat yourself. Trip to light fantastic. Once the boss has got a load of you on camera, you're never getting back on. Enjoy it while you can. What's lip moisture,

I don't know, but it felt glorious. Finally, more trouble for Tampa Bay Buccaneers' wide receiver, Mike Williams, who was stabbed in the thigh at his home in Tampa. He was hospitalized and released in the same day. The police suspect that Williams' brother is involved. Obviously, Williams has been, he has some scrapes of the law, and now the prior Bucks regime was upset about his behavior while recovering from a torn hamstring.

now this happens even though who knows this might not be his fault at all you know he got stabbed but you don't know the back story is Mike Williams

going to be on the bucks next year who decided to give this guy a stack of money a lot of money that was a bad idea from the beginning six year

40 million dollar deal last year well he felt to the fourth round coming out of Syracuse because he was a nut job he was uncontrollable no the coaches

couldn't control him and now we're supposed to be surprised that he's arrested one week his brother stabs him the next week It wouldn't surprise me if he's off the roster.

If they draft Sammy Watkins, then a lot of people have him going number seven in the mocks. They do? I haven't seen Watkins fall that far. Is that what's going to be? I've seen him in a lot of mocks, yeah. Wow. I mean, yeah, if they get that, that's a pretty potent duo.

The shame of it, too, the shame of it, though, as well is that if you put Vincent Jackson and a motivated head-on straight Mike Williams, that's a pretty nice one-two punch, but I guess that's asking too much. He seems to be in another headplace. That's the one-two punch that got Josh Freeman. fired. I would say powerful lesson going forward for all NFL teams

do not draft wide receivers named Mike Williams. Very good point. They're 0 for two now. Or anybody named Mike Williams. Yeah, yeah, I guess so. All right. Before you gentlemen leave me, I want to throw it back to the gold standard. And Zach, we have Dave.

It's very nice to have them in studio, and thank you again, Dave, for joining us. Tough booking. Yes. It was a great booking for us. We're very excited. So we're going to play a game, one of the great games of the ATL podcast. And we're going to be doing another one later in the week. When Wes's toaster is back, West's putting it all in the line again. But right now, the Gold Standard, what are we playing?

We, sirs, are playing. Live from Culver City, California, it's America's favorite game show. What's More Likely? All right, gentlemen, what's more likely? likely. Terrell Pryor wins a future starting job, or Matt Schaub is the Raiders quarterback for three to four years, as Dennis Allen said Friday. Oh, easily, Terrell Pryor. Absolutely. How to Matt Schaub three or four years? Listen, if you are in the Raiders front office, the 2013 season never happened. That is how they're operating. Dennis Allen said on Sunday that he said over the past

six or seven years, Matt Schaubb has been one of the top ten quarterbacks in the league. 2013. Never happened in Oakland. Everything's in play. I hate that I had to keep making this front office like my whipping boy. But how do you go from deciding that Carson Palmer is no good? We'll get rid of him for nothing. But bring us Matt Schaub.

Yes, there's our answer. Yeah, I mean, if the offensive line is going to be a question, then you cannot have. have Matt Schaub and expect him to be terribly productive. You know, the thing, when he was with the Texans, and he did, and I think he quickly became a punchline in 2013, given the high hopes and everything else for the team. But, you know, it wasn't that long ago Matt Schaub was putting up, at least in fantasy terms, some great numbers. He was, you know, he was a quietly very good fantasy player.

But, I mean, at this stage of his career, and like I say, with a bad offensive line, and Who's catching the passes there in Oakland? Three or four years. Are you kidding me? No chance. I'll take Pryor. I mean, do you think Pryor will be a starter? You mean win a week one gig, not get, not take it over because somebody got hurt?

He said in the future. In the future. So that could be in 2015 or 2016. He's like 24, I think. But, I mean, I think it's on the unlikely side, but it wouldn't be a shock. Whereas Shab lasting another three or four years would truly shock me. Yeah, I mean, listen, Terrell Pryor, when you watch him throw a football, he does not say number one option on an NFL team,

but that's more likely than Matt Schaub for three years, please. Whatever, guys. Just throwing them out there. I feel like it got a little personal there. What about Terrell Pryor versus Mark Sanchez winning a starting gig, which is more likely? What's more likely? It's a good one.

Terrell Pryor. I think Sanchez has some stink on him that Pryor doesn't. Wes? I don't think either one's winning. It comes down to which quarterback in front of them gets hurt first. It just goes to show it's an old point, but worth repeating. It is amazing. Six billion people walk this earth.

They can't find 32 guys to play quarterback and do it well. It's remarkable. We're talking about Matt Schaub and Brian Hoyer and Tarell Pryor and Matt Castle and Pee and you. And, I mean, Carson Palmer, when you get down to it is at least one of the, what, the top 16 or so? Let's flip this around. Guys on the face of the earth? Let's flip this around. If they found 32 quarterbacks, then you would be saying, you mean to tell me 6 billion people and we can't find enough guys to play defense in the NFL?

All right. We'll get to that when we solve this quarterback conundrum. All right. Here's another one. What's more likely? Richie Incognito signs with an NFL team this offseason Or Jared Allen signs with an NFL team this offseason Jared Allen by a lot

I don't think Incognito ever plays again Speaking of the Raiders I feel like they're looming potentially In the mix for Incognito Oh I don't think anyone's going to sign him I would be surprised if anyone brought in Incognito I mean I've declared that I'm with West There's no way he plays in the NFL and that comes from somebody. I've always laughed. I mean, when Michael Vick was trying to reenter the league

and they would, you know, people would do interviews with GMs and they would say, hey, this young man, no, I'm sorry, no one's going to touch this guy with the 10 foot pole. Well, can he play? Is he a potential huge difference maker? Then I'm not concerned that there will be a spot for him in the NFL. At this point, Richie Incognito is not good enough to be worth the potential headache and the PR nightmare and everything else. That's what it comes down to. is, well, will he contribute? Yeah, then we can look past everything else. Ritching Acognito is not some all-pro lineman.

Trying to find a guard isn't nearly as hard as trying to find a guy with Michael Vicks talent at quarterback. What's More Likely? All right, what's more likely? Actually, Wes, you had one, right? Yeah, this goes back to your quarterback question. Ooh, I like that. What's More Likely, by Halloween?

Mark Sanchez has started a game for an NFL team or Matt Schaub has been benched for ineffectiveness at least once. By Halloween? By Halloween. October 31st. I think it's more likely that Schaub is benched. I think that Mark Sanchez will start a game for the Oakland Raiders when Matt Schaub gets benched.

Take that. I don't know. Listen, I don't know about that. You know, as a side note, you reminded me of something. Isn't it weird? What is it with the Oakland Raiders front office in their obsession with quarterbacks named Matt? It's weird. Matt McGloin.

Matt Schaub. Matt Liner. Matt Liner. And there's another one, too. Matt Flynn. Wow. Yeah. Matt, welcome, Matt.

And who is decent a moment? I think we finally cracked the Reggie McKinsey code. There you go. That's great. Who's out there, Matt Hasselbeck? You're up. You've just named all of the quarterbacks signed or acquired by Reggie McKenzie except the one

who we drafted in the fourth round and cut before he even made it out of training camp. Tyler Wilson. Yep. Oh, right. Not really the strongest resume there. No, let's give them a chance. It's been a little rocky for Reggie. Do you have another one, Wes? What's More Likely?

Let's go running backs. All right. Two guys out there available. Maurice Jones Drew, Chris Johnson. What's more likely, Chris Johnson rushes for a thousand yards in his new home, or Maurice Jones drew, let's say, 700 yards in his new home? Hmm.

I think CJ2K will get starter workload, at least in his first year, wherever he lands. I think I could see him getting over 200 carries. It might take 250 to 260 to get him to 1,000, right, at this stage of the game. I think he's more likely to go over 1,000. I think he still has something in the tank. put him in a good spot he could still have some nice years left mjd could end up on a depth chart where he's sharing the ball three other two other guys yeah i i agree with that i'd say chris johnson has the chance for uh redemption and uh rising like a phoenix if he gets to the right spot where is that spot that's the question though it's it's hard to the guy i know it's an old story at this

point that uh you know two thousand yards is uh pretty long ago but um you know Has anybody ever had such a fall from grace who put up one of the all-time, statistically, one of the all-time great rushing seasons? Sure. Who fell off that fast? Terrell Davis. Wow, I mean, he got hurt. And then I know O.J. Simpson had some trouble down the line after his 2,000-yard season somewhere. Did he?

Yeah, I heard some stuff about him. Jamal, yeah, as a matter of fact, now, wait, now that we're going through it, has anybody not gotten into trouble with 2,000 yards? Eric Dickerson fell into, he got into that whole. I mean, it's quaint now as we look back at it, what he wanted more money, but he was such a villain at the time that he forced himself basically out of L.A. to go to the Colts.

But remember what a stink there was on him for doing that? Wow, if you rush for 2,000 yards, that's pretty much the end of your career is good times. I believe this to be true that if any running back who's rushed for 2,000 yards, out of all that group, nobody has rushed for 1,500 the next year. Not to even 1,500. AP couldn't do it last year.

Terrell Davis blew out his knee in week four the year after he did it. Barry Sanders came very close, I believe. I think he's the closest $1,400 something. All right, General. Chris Johnson, we say fall from grace, but there's no other running back in the NFL active who has rushed for 1,000 yards every year of his career and hasn't missed a game in five years. Wow.

Wouldn't he be a good fit in Atlanta, for instance? I like that fit. I do. I like it a lot. Stephen Jackson still in the picture there with Chris Johnson? I think you can pay both. Hmm. I mean, that would be awesome in 2009.

Imagine, though, being a running back who is right now 22, 23-ish, this premise that was set up for you when you were about 11 is, wow, you got wheels, you're tough, you got the wiggle. Hey, hey, junior, stick with this, man, and you're going to be a multi-millionaire playing pro football. and in a decade, it's just, that's all been a race. There's nothing that gets turned over more quickly and is less highly regarded, almost anywhere on the football field. Almost any position you can name running back

is so diminished the way we consider it. We can just roll some guys through here. Blom Powell. Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be running back. So true. Didn't always used to be that way. Dave Damashek, thank you very much for coming by to visit the Around the League podcast. What a pleasure.

It's always an honor to get Dave in the studio. Wes, did you enjoy it? I did, yeah. It was all right. It was only so-so for, I mean, I enjoyed it, but I feel like I didn't match wits with you guys as well as I could have. Oh, you're following. Maybe because I was lost looking at Hansus and his kabuki makeup.

All right, that's it. Gentlemen, and Wes, you can go home now. I'm going to call up the men in Orlando, but you don't have to be there for that. You have apartments to look at Zarina's to speak with. You know, things of that nature. Hey, quick trivia for you, football fellows. I talked to Steve Mariucci, the name drop, and I bring that up because I like the name drop.

I was just talking with him moments ago, and he told me he once coached a USFL team in Orlando. Quickly, can you name that team? The Predators? Yeah. No, pretty close. Rowlers, prowlers? What an awful name that would be for a team.

Panthers? No, the Michigan Panthers. They won the first title, Anthony Carter and Bobby A Bear. It was the Orlando Renegades. That sounds like a movie. That's a movie name. I'd rather go, yeah. That's like the Miami Sharks.

Any movies that don't have the NFL licensing are usually doomed. You like games, and I know you've got to go. Real fast, do it, though. I like to see who can go back and forth and back and forth. Hansu's starting with you. On your market, set go, USFL teams. Hansus, you start. One.

The USFL. You assume he knows one. You can't name one U.S.S.F.L. The hit men. Are you serious right now? The U.S.FL was a legitimate league. This was no XFL hold on. My favorite U.S.L team name, the Memphis Showboats.

Yeah, the Showboats. The locomotives were won. No, it wasn't. I don't cares. The Houston Gamblers. Reggie White was on the Memphis Showboats. As Donald Trump once said, Small Potatoes. Boston Breakers, New Orleans, Breakers, Portland Breakers.

Las Vegas. Pittsburgh Mallers. Bandits. The, yeah, the Tampa Bay Bandins. Oh, the Tampa Bay Bay Bay Bay. The Michigan Panthers, the Philadelphia stars slash Baltimore stars, the Oakland invaders who, the Arizona Ranglers, who traded their entire franchise, front office and everything, to the Chicago Blitz. A full franchise swap, the only thing that stayed were the uniform.

Now, how can you take a league like that seriously? Let me tell you about the L.A.N.F. Yes, that's exactly right. The A.O. Rosenblum traded the Colts to Jim Mersey. to Robert Ursay and took the Rams. They just swapped franchises. The Houston gamblers with Jim Kelly. How about that?

There were so many good players. There are guys who would be in the Hall of Fame if it weren't for the U.S.FL. Guys like Joe Cribbs, who went to the Birmingham Stallions. How did we get here? Calvin Bryant went to the stars. How about a guy named Herschel Walker with the New Jersey Generals? Absolutely. His best years spent in 18-game seasons taking a pounding with those

Generals, along with Doug Flutie, imagine if he would have played, gone straight to the NFL, Hall of Fame for that guy. He was Bo Jackson level. Aren't you impressed by my ability to reel he's off? I'm impressed. You know, you kind of showed me up at the end of your visit here. You're right, I did. You had it coming.

He also showed you how old he is. That, well, listen. Too old a gentleman in the room right now. I'm not going to apologize to you for knowing about USFL. It was on in the summertime. I would not take on Damashek and win West's toaster if it was only USFL trivia. Thank you. All right, gentlemen, thank you for joining us.

Moving on, the gold standard behind the glass. We have our two gentlemen out in Orlando covering the NFL annual meeting, the owner's meeting in Orlando. Is it possible to get them on the phone now? Yeah, I got them right here. Ah, you're very good at your job. I try. Greg Rosenthal and Mark Sessler.

Are you there? We are here. Hello. Wow. We are huddled around a speaker phone in, the J.W. Marriott overlooking a number of beautiful pools for children to swim in. Wow, that sounds pretty nice. I've got to say. I mean, you do take away the illusion of grandeur with technology for the NFL huddled around like a 1994 speakerphone.

Well, we're in, by the way, we're in Greg's room, and he was given a view out the window, which is about 35 times more alluring than what I realized I was given. What did the Sizzler get? The Sizzler got essentially one of those, when you look out a window in an apartment and you just see a wall. Yeah. Well, you know what, Mark, you're getting the, you're not the boss. When you're the boss, you get that kind of stuff, those parks. Are we really complaining about when we're at the Ritz Carlton or whatever?

No, this place is, it is a whole other rent district that we will never be part of unless we were, you know, asking questions that people don't want to answer. to add the place. All right. So let's get into it then. You gentlemen were sent by the league, shadowy league figures, sent to the two of you from the around the league crew to cover this event. So you're now one day in. If you could tell us a little bit, what are you seeing sights and sounds having been in Orlando for a little over 24 hours now? I think, you know, for Greg and I both, having never been here, and it is a, it's a little bit more of a free-flowing event where For us, we didn't know how to attack it initially, and we were even asking some of the other writers that we knew well, and they kind of said, today, you sort of just lurk.

It's a lot of very wealthy owners, and it's all the coaches and general managers who are essentially on vacation with their families. And it would be like getting to vacation and finding people that you really didn't like from here at the same residency. And so suddenly they come out of a doorway, and there's a bunch of crusty beat writers, there's us trying to, you know, pester them with questions. So they're annoyed, to some degree, off the bat. Wait, so this, I'm trying to, like, imagine this. So is it a situation where Mike Tomlin, like, comes out of an elevator and his two little girls, hypothetically speaking, we're wearing, like, bubbles on their arms to go into the

swimming pool at this hotel, and you're, you're ambushing them to get thoughts on Jason worlds? Because right next to where the meeting is happening, there is a gigantic room literally for wags. It says NFL Wives and girlfriends And then there's a room next to that That's like a playroom for kids And the place is surrounded by

Like human checkers board scenarios and pools Where it's just kids swimming And running in and out of the hotel And I mean they're not in our face But it's so clear that we have interrupted What otherwise would be a delightful getaway For these people Some are more open to asking

Answering some questions than others Plenty of people are very nice Jim Harbaugh spent a lot of time with the media today. I talked with him. And then others are clearly less interested, and Mark generally approaches them anyways, even if they're, like, waiting for attacks outside the hotel. As we know, Sessler is the great intrepid reporter of the Around the League ranks. And I got a text from you, Sizzler, regarding one NFC South coach about one interaction you had. Well, you know, they were bum rushing out of this room, and I tried to grab

Sean Payton. I said, you know, I'm from NFL.com. Can I get you for like maybe literally 15 seconds and he paused and like a father putting his hand on a small child's shoulder which was me he just put his hand on my shoulder and said how about later pal and just walked off you know what generally the reception we got but we were able to get we were getting some people answer my question a lot of rejection so it does remind you a little bit of like asking girls out when they're out of your league but plenty of people talk to us we talk to Jim Harbaugh, I talked to Jay Gruden, we talked to a decent amount, and it really picks up tomorrow, and just seeing everything is fascinating, because as much as the owners,

the coaches are around at the combine here, it's all almost under one roof. There's two hotels right next to each other, so really everywhere you walk and turn, there's a general manager, an owner, or a coach, so it's a surreal experience. Let me ask you guys, through Monday, what's kind of the most surprising or the most interesting takeaway each of you had? I think for me, honestly, I was able to get into a group with Reggie McKenzie where there are only two or three of us way down this hallway. And after the offseason that he's had and the kind of reception, the up and down reception from the media towards him, how open and honest he was with answering questions. And honestly, a pretty funny guy and definitely a smart guy. So I,

I really hadn't had a chance to speak to him one-on-one before ever, and he came across very well and, honestly, pretty controlled of his whole situation with Oakland. It's a good thing that Wes is no longer in the studio. He'd probably somehow find a way to denigrate the man. Yeah, and I think it would be good for the two of them to sit down and maybe have a tea or a coffee. What about you, Greg? Mark Davis. To jump on what Mark was saying first.

Mark Davis is all over the place here, and is talking a lot, and Mark spoke with Mark. Davis in a group today. And the whole L.A. Oakland Raiders thing seems to be cranking up. We're not going to get too deep into that. My probably the biggest surprise was that all the NFL owners and coaches in GMs still have to sit through what is essentially a corporate presentation at an annual meeting that is really well done.

is ultimately probably like the annual meetings at every corporate event. So these billionaires are seated to start the entire meeting for 60 minutes, listening to Roger Goodell, and then a number of different people from the NFL make a presentation, and we managed to find our way into that. We can't really write a report on what went down in there, but for the most part, it was kind of like a very corporate thing that most companies would have, except unbelievable production values. Like, they had a locker for all 32 teams with a jersey in it,

and just everything was just so well done, and you could tell they had rehearsed it many, many times. Well, sorry, Dan. The Jets locker actually had no jersey. They couldn't pinpoint really a player they wanted to focus on. That's the glacier. That's the glacier at work. You know, it was showing the highlights for the entire season was six minutes of it.

There was a lot of other presentations about different parts of the company in the business, but part of it was just reviewing the season for six minutes on a monstrous screen that was bigger than if you went to the movie theaters, that sort of screen. And there's John Fox and John Elway sitting right there in the audience watching their team get devastated by the Seahawks in New York. You know, I imagine going sneaking into like one of these rooms with all these owners and, you know, Jimmy Hasl maybe standing on top of the ladder and doing one of those trust falls back into like Robert Kraft's arms or something like that?

I don't think you're far off. I honestly don't because we, that was the six minutes that we saw. But then there they are transported into behind closed doors for eight or nine hours. Right. You know something's going on. And before we let you gentlemen go, I know there's a open bar event involved somewhere in Orlando that I'm sure you'll be at. Roger Goodell spoke today. You guys also sat in for that, correct?

Yeah, we did. and Rich McKay and Jeff Fisher also spoke, really the, if there's going to be any sizzle in terms of the rules that will be passed this week, it's going to come in the next two days. For now, they're just presenting and talking about the issues at a very low level, but they're not really going back and forth and they're not debating and voting on it. So there wasn't a lot to come from that. I don't think there's going to be instant replay. I don't think there's going to be instant replay. I don't think there. there's going to be any changes there. I think a lot of the Patriots proposals will basically be shot down. But I do think the goalposts are going to be raised. I think that one's fast. The future. We can talk about that later in the week when we find out.

But let's the most important thing. What about will the Indianapolis Colts be allowed to open their dome if the weather permits or something? That topic will be tabled until. May, actually. So big news. That ain't right. All right, fellas. Thank you for taking a few minutes out of your busy days in Orlando. And you will be back with us when we do our next podcast. We'll be doing our next podcast on Thursday this week, listeners, by the way. And the gentleman will be jet-lagged and with us because there is no off-season with around the league. Thanks, fellas. We miss you.

I miss you, too. Mark mentions it often. How much you? miss with you. Oh, that's sweet. Well, you know how I feel. I try to hug the guy. All right, guys. Yeah, bye. That's it for Monday's episode of the Around the League podcast.

We will be back, as I just said, on Thursday this week. We're going to mix it up a little bit because we wanted to have the full team together. And Mark and Greg won't be back in California until Thursday. So hang tight and just enjoy this show until then. the gold standard behind the glass we're going to have a full house you like that better right oh yeah yeah even though it was great having dave on the show today and whenever we mix it and having the heroes altogether is what we're all about it there's some about it there's a magic do you actually see any kind of magic like pixie halo stuff through that glass luckily to protect

me from the flurry of glitter the power yeah it's great this is ridiculous chatter um all right thank you very much for listening you will hear from us again on thursday this is dan hansis signing off for the mailman, for Dave Damashek, for the gold standard behind the glass, and our two friends in Florida, until then. Let's