NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Projected starters, Bucky Brooks live!

Episode Date: May 23, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling and Marc Sessler -- continues its team-by-team breakdown of starting lineups across the NFL.  Elsewhere, the gang welcomes Bucky Brooks into Studio 66 to make sense of the league's post-draft landscape.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. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. 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 wary of shadowy league figures. Welcome to another edition of the Round the League podcast. My name is Dan Hanzas, and I'm joined by a room filled with heroes, Chris Wessling, Mark Sessler, and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys. Hey, Dan.

Happy Friday. Happy Friday. Looking forward to this weekend. It's going to be a great weekend. How was your Thursday night, Dan? Thursday night was excellent. Well, let's ditch the pretense. We're actually taping Thursday, and we're trying to be cute here.

It's going up first thing Friday. But as you can see, we're professional, so we can mess with tents and time. It just shows the power we have over the medium. I'm not as professional as Mark Sessler, who brought up a Russian novel up here in terms of his printouts just to get ready for the show. This is, yeah, this is not something that Sessler. This is more than one time he's done this, and it's interesting, a man of the trees. This is not for the show. It's a scattery point.

By the way, and I'm going to send a photo out at some point because for the past, whatever it is, 11, 12 months, I am the individual without a computer. monitor in here. And so any information that I want to reference must be printed out. West Southern uses at all. That's not a good excuse. That's fair, but well, this is not, there is a pile of paper to my left, which has nothing to do with the show.

You are destroying the environment worse than China. The question is, does a smart man take a trip to Kinko's and drop like $22 to print 400 papers, or does he do it on the office printer? Nobody prints 400 papers anymore. It's over for printing. If a guy were to do that, would you do it at your office or a kinkos for

$22. Mark is that guy that, you know, before the weekend's out, goes and picks up a bunch of highlighters and post-it notes and brings it home just to save a few bucks. I would probably just download it onto my iPad. That would be one way to look at it in the 21st century. I like that. Yeah, but I don't, I'm tired of my eyes looking to computers all day long. That's why.

And, you know, listen. All right, all right. Your eyes are prices. My reasoning is pure. There is reason. Okay, so we got a really nice show today. I am very excited. We're all very excited.

Bucky Brooks, NFL analyst for NFL media. We'll be back his second visit with us. We're going to talk about, he came to us and said that he had some good information to share in his talks around the league. He's a pretty plugged in guy. So Bucky's going to be in here. We're going to dig into a little bit. We have our projected starters series where we basically, you know, make predictions who will be starting, what will be the starting roster for each team on week one.

in September, so we're going to, you know, have some fun talking about that a little bit. We're going to get, we're going to get Kevin Patra coming at you on the phone. He had something he wanted to discuss with us, so we're going to handle that. And then... Not any, not his relate, not any long-distance relationship or anything like that. I don't think so. That would be weird. Patrick is single looking to mingle or ready to mingle.

It would be weird if he were in a relationship? No, weird if he was going to talk, I guess, if that was what he really wanted to talk to us about. but gentlemen before any of that the gold standard behind the glass how are you i'm good thank you we do have something to talk about about gold standard a little later in the show uh let's do some news buddy let's do it michael vick was signed by the new york jets in the off season uh to compete with gino smith for the starting job or so we've been led to believe but vick had some interesting comments to say On Thursday, he told reporters this, going through the competition with Nick, referring to Foles last season, both of us coming in, that was an open competition, and the best guy was going to win the job.

That's what it was. It was pretty much cut and dry. But this situation is different. It's kind of unique, even though it's not an open competition. We're both competing every day. And the key there is even though it's not an open competition, what does that mean? Does Michael Vick truly believe that he doesn't. have a chance to win this job at a training camp it's a competition but it's not open he he's

right that is unique i basically it seems what he's getting at is it's this is not last year where chip kelly came out and said you know the best man's going to win this job according to michael vick and this is a little interesting because john idzick the glacier and rex ryan have both said it's an open competition he's not buying it he's not buying it and he's making it known which is kind of interesting. So it's Gino Smith's job to lose, which is perfectly reasonable scenario. It sounds like he's saying,

I'm assuming I'm not winning this job unless Gino Smith does something catastrophic. To hear Michael Vick an established player even say. What's he saying? I think he's saying they want Gino Smith to have the job. I'm not going to make any waves. If I outplay him in preseason by quite a bit,

they'll give me the job. But it's going to take that to happen. I agree with that. And, you know, the general manager, he went out there and drafted this quarterback, and this is a team that he inherited that has had three or four straight years of off-season completely disrupted by quarterback controversies when there really wasn't a quarterback. And I think ideally the Jets would like to have Gino Smith go in as the unquestioned starter, but the problem is he's got to keep the job.

What about this? What if Vic is sort of... setting Gino up here. Little Jedi mind trick. Loop de loop. Don't take me. Oh, the rope-a-dope. Don't take me too seriously.

It's not really an open competition. Kind of like, you know, when I was a high school tennis player. Oh, boy. How did we get down this road? Did not see this coming. I would wear ragtag sort of outfits. Not really Tennessee shorts, some, you know, goofy sneakers. I would try to look as goofy as possible.

So, you know, play a little bad. How did you pull that off? In warm-ups. You know what I'm saying? So they don't take you too seriously. And then when it's competition time, they don't know it hit you. Excellent analogy. The last 13 years of Vick's career means nothing to Gino Smith.

And, well, listen to this. And I found this also interesting, this is a second part of his quote, It's still tough right now. I won't lie. Deep down, you always want to be a starter. You always feel like you're a starter. And that's just the competitive nature.

in me. Hopefully that opportunity will come again one day. I've just got to keep working for it. It seems like it's a little bit Fugasey. When you bring up what Greg just brought up, it sounds What's that code for? It's a little fraud. It's a little fake. I don't buy it.

I think he thinks he's going to win the job still and he's just kind of playing it quiet. He's playing the card. You were saying, Mark? No, I mean, I... Dan, you're convinced Gino's going to be the weak one starter. He will. In fact, we made a sandwich bet about it this morning,

and I've never been more confident about any sandwich bet than this. John Idzik, if he starts Michael Vick, it's an admission of failure on the 39th overall pick in last year's draft. So I think that will be enough, barring an absolute Gino-Smith meltdown in the preseason that he will at least get the start, but at the beginning of the season. But where I think that Michael Vick was smart to take this job,

is Vic knows that Gino's on a very short leash. And I think Vic is anticipating Gino's. failure. Or maybe he's looked around and he's like, man, Jeff Cumberland is the best receiver on this team. I don't want to be starting. I mean, the Jets like 31 other teams are in the business of putting the best players on the field.

And I don't think they're going to hand Gino Smith anything. I think that's what they want. But if Vick out plays him, why would they not play Vick when they've added all these other parts? Because they believe in Gino Smith. I think John and Zick believes in Gino Smith. The Browns believed in Bray and Whedon last year, too. Well, I'm not saying it's right.

I'm not saying it's right, but I think the team is not going to give up on Gino Smith yet. We shall see. We shall. San Francisco 49ers linebacker Alden Smith is beginning to sort out his pending legal case. Smith pleaded no contest as charged on Wednesday to three felony counts of illegal possession of an assault weapon and to two misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence of alcohol. Smith is scheduled for a July 25th sentencing in Santa Clara. Gentlemen, Alden Smith, is he going to be in the mix in 2014 on the NFL field at all?

Is he going to be in jail? Is he going to be in jail? I'm not kidding. No, and Ian Rappaport. It's a weird thing no one really talks about. Or NFL jail. I mean, he's got a suspension coming for sure. I think a suspension's coming, but I think Ian Rappaport, our insider, put it well like a month or so ago

and kind of point out, this guy, forget about NFL suspicions. he has a pretty decent chance of ending up in a prison and pleading guilty to multiple charges like this he's really throwing himself at the mercy of a judge well the difference between no contest and pleading guilty there is a difference and part of the reason they do this it's a strategy they're hoping for a lesser sentence because he pleaded no contest we're not legal experts we're not going to get into it he could be put in jail for no time at all or he could be up to four years in four months, depending on what the judge decides to do. They must have felt good that if they plead no contest to all these charges, that they'll

get a favorable result. But who knows? These are serious charges, felony assault weapons charges. And you would think, especially because Smith has a history, he's not a first-time offender in terms of the league, in terms of getting in trouble, that the league's going to punish him significantly. These weren't charges that got pleaded down to something lesser, and then he accepted at a guilty plea, which you see a lot.

He accepted these charges and now he's really, you know, I would be surprised if we see him in 2014. Again, none of us are legal experts, but it seems between the actual potential prison sentence hanging over him and then what the league is going to do with him,

it just seems very difficult to imagine him playing. Well, if he were to run out and smoke grass from the planet earth, then he would definitely be out for 16 games. Josh Gordon, Josh Gordon, Heat, from Sessler. It ain't right.

I know, Mark. Moving forward, Andre Johnson, as you'll remember last week, wondered aloud to a group of reporters at a charity event if Houston was still the place for him after last year's two and 14 season. Andre doesn't want to be involved with another rebuilding process. Now, Ian Rappaport reported this on Wednesday that the wide receiver doesn't plan on attending mandatory workouts with the team, mandatory mini-camp with the team, I should say. He's already been on record saying that the OTAs are not something that's voluntary that he'll

want to take part in, and now it looks like he'll sit out the mandatory mini-camp as well. So we don't know how this is going to pan out ultimately with Johnson, but he's serious about his unhappiness with the situation. That's the next level of being upset is giving up money. If you skip mandatory minicamp, you can get fined. It indicates that he might be ready to skip part of training camp. Generally, players are only willing to give up so much money. They don't want to incur fines for all of training camp.

They certainly don't want to miss game checks. We've seen these standoffs over the years again and again, and they usually end in the middle of August if they haven't ended by them. This one's a little bit different. I would like to know from Andre Johnson, To what end? Yeah. To what end are you doing this?

He didn't say he wants to be traded. He just doesn't want to go through a rebuilding process, but it seems like he's doing some thinking about that. He also indicated it's not about the quarterback position. It's just about rebuilding. Give me a break. Yeah. This was after the draft.

I wish he wasn't a liar. I wish he weren't a liar. One of the more vocal critics of the quarterback scenario last year, Johnson, right? Who really wanted to change. And it was after the draft that he got upset. It wasn't when they started rebuilding. If you're, though, the Texans, are you potentially in the back of your mind entertaining the idea of moving him? Because there's a new regime versus a coach that's been in there five, six years, and just going to weather through the storm,

do you want to maybe move this problem situation while you can still get value? There is one interesting way to look at this. Their draft shows that they're going to be a run the ball with volume. team that relies on defense and a ground attack. I don't know. They're not going to compete for a division title this year. I don't think with Ryan Fitzpatrick. That would make some sense. The dead money situation is what's hard to swallow.

$11.96 million in dead money, which means that the Texans would have that money on the cap for the right to not have Andre Johnson on the roster. Well, it's also dead money if he's not on the field. but he will they can call his bluff he's not going to sit out the season I agree with that

Greg lays in bed at night trying to figure out how this ends with Andre Johnson playing for Bill Belgrade Oh it's happening One phone call Get a ring Revis

AJ Brady You ain't getting no more rings buddy Tom Brady's just about to go into that late period Dan Marino decline Where it's a giant statue Behind the line of scrimmage

Taking sacks And throwing off the back foot Oh it's happening Ends with like a 65 point loss to the Jaguars? No, it actually... Give me a break. You little punk? It actually ends with a young guy by the name of Jimmy Garapolo,

leading them to a surprising Super Bowl title, Dynasty 2. Finally in the news. That's absurd. Just crazy. Former Vikings coach Bud Grant, who of course, if you're a. a football fan that goes back a little bit, you know that Grant led the Vikings to four Super Bowl appearances. They lost all of them.

Is that correct? Yes. He did win four great cups in the CFL in six appearances. Very anti-CFL crowd in there. He won two NBA titles as a player. He also played three sports at the University of Minnesota. What have you done? I work on a podcast.

That's fun. Bud Grant, yes, the former Vikings coach. Apparently, this kind of went over, I think, all of our heads, has hosted a garage sale for the past nine years. And this year, he will be holding another one. He's 87 years old now. The final one. The last biggest, most best final garage sale.

And that's because he must be running out of stuff after 10 years, you'd think. He's going to be offering, quote, one-of-a-kind items from his personal collection, including Vikings memorabilia and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. All of this is just to get to Chris Wessling's mind and his imagination with the help of some other people in the newsroom about, you know, some potential items, NFL items that could be found in a great rummage sale. So Wes, we're going to throw it to you

and if you want to throw out a couple of options that people might find. Damashik, to no surprise, had some great suggestions. the Super Bowl won jet packs where that was like the half-time show or the pre-game show where they actually had these futuristic like Jetsons jet packs guys flying all over the air

like zooming all over the place that was pretty cool and then the Mingo Green Coke bottle I thought that most iconic commercial in NFL history that would be good you've got a lot you've got a lot on here

I like Eric Dickerson's goggles goggles goggles not giggles You've got Rod Smart's He Hate Me, Jersey I don't know about that one All right You don't have to buy it then

Mike Dicka's sweater vest I would get that I like that I would think Eric Dickerson's goggles Would be loaded with bacteria It's good crowd tonight lively crowd Joe Horn's flip phone

Which I'll always remember That was in like a 2003 I believe Saints game At the Superdome Sunday night game And I'll remember it Because it was the same exact phone I had

And at that very moment, I connected with Joe Horn in a way, I never imagined I would. While half of the white male-dominated media was losing its mind over what Joe Horn had just done, you connected with him. Good for you. I like that, Dan. The whites are the worst. I like a Terrell Owen Sharpie. That's good. Writing utensil.

It means I don't need to steal one from the closet over there on the second floor. But that really wasn't that fun. That's a callback from, you know, that's perfect. That's nice. Imagining the ink, though, run out at this point, correct? Is there a comedy Emmy for podcasts that perhaps we could win? You guys are killing it right now. Oh, obviously.

The studio audience back here is going wild. They're going nuts. You know what the sleeper list on this is? The sleeper item? Charles Martin's hit list hand towel. What is that? When he... Okay, so the bears and packers are playing in the mid-80s,

Charles Martin has a hand towel with names written in marker of the people that he has a bounty on. And he ends up, like, five seconds after a play is over with, body slams Jim McMahon into the turf, separates McMahon's shoulder, and it ends up Charles Martin get suspended. And the hitman list on the towel was evidence. I like that. Like a pre-bounty bounty. Yes. And Wes and I both read Helter Skelter when I first saw that I saw Charles Manson's hit list. And I was like, Chris has gone far afield on this list here.

This article is titled the Ultimate NFL Garage Sale. It could also be titled, Hey, it's May. Yeah, so that's it. That's it for that conversation. And I had a bunch that I suggested, but I felt like they were all things that would get West fired if he put them in the story that had his eyeline on it. So we're all good.

We did get to include Max McGee's Super Bowl 1 Eve Bartab. I wonder how much. of the audience will get that. But do a Wikipedia search and you'll find out. All right, gentlemen, let's move forward. Hey, we were talking about the team of ATL. By the way, Gold Center, have you done any research on that yet? Oh, yeah, tons.

Have you reached out to Dick Banks, the one-man house band about a potential team of ATL theme? We're trying to get some things in the works. All right. Good, good, good. According to this published date, he's had two days, not one to get going on that. Oh, yeah, that's true. So, very true, Mark. But before we, before we, when I lost my train of God, what were we just talking about?

Patrick? Oh, yeah. So we talked about each of us throughout a team that maybe would be a team that maybe we can get behind in 2014, the way we did with the Panthers in 2013. And Kevin Patrick, coming at your Chicago correspondent, he wanted to get involved with the mix. sent an instant message to me this morning saying there was a team that jumped out to him. So why don't we get him on the line, Gold Standard, and we'll find out who that team is. Better not be the Lions.

Kevin Patcher, are you there? Yes, sir. How are you going, fellas? There he is. How are you, buddy? How are you doing, buddy? I can report there is Sun in the Midwest. Sessler, actually, Mark, do you want to let Kevin know what you thought he might be doing today?

I don't know. My mind, just because we tried calling you before, no answer. I thought you must be very distracted doing something that brought pleasure to you. And I just had a vision of you through a Chicago park, dancing, spinning circles over and over, over a green meadow. In the sunlight. A couple things there. Actually, I'm just outside Detroit, my home. Well, that's an issue.

That's a done great. And I may or may not have a little bit blue in my left hand right now. I don't know. All right. Well, that's good. See, we're on. Everything is on fire right now. So Kevin Patra, you said you came out and told me this morning on It's the Messenger that there was a team that needs to be broached as a possibility.

Not your formal, not the formal team that you're going to pitch when we figure out the team of ATL, but the team that's tickling your fancy, and who is that? Yeah, I listened to you guys to the podcast yesterday, and you went through every team, and the one on my mind you didn't hit. So I just figured I'd throw it out there, and that's the Chicago Bears. I think they have a lot of possibilities Mark Sessor has sold already, I feel like Mark parked up a little bit

They have a coach that I think everyone in the room would like Yeah I think we can all agree on that Spells Mark with a C, we like that Check We have a good offense Bears have a good offense Check

With two, the best wide receiver group in the league Check The most underrated running back in the league In that Forte Tulane Habe Two lane It's not, Tulane's not really a big deal.

Tulane. But, yeah. And they're going to have a good pass for us next year, and they're going to have one Achilles' heel, which I think every team of ATL probably has a little downside. That's why they are still on the board. And that's the terrible secondary that they could possibly have. And you hit on a point there, Kevin Patra, and I really do like your pick, and it's making me think that any team of ATL is not going to be a flawless organism.

It's going to be a team that we do. just enjoy and we look past the blemishes because we think the hole is greater than the sum of its parts. What do you think, gentlemen, the bears? I'm not in veto range yet, but they do have a quarterback known best in the Wesleyan household for his petulance. That's the biggest drawback, right? Yeah, Jake Cutler is by far the biggest drawback to the Chicago Bears.

You're saying because he's a jerk. Yeah, he's a petulant guy. Andy was outplayed by his backup last year. Oh, stop it. Well, and on the Cutler front, he doesn't finish seasons. Like, you have to picture a bear's team that has to have a backup coming and play four games. I can't root for a man who grew up to look like what Hermie the dentist would be. I don't even know what that means.

No one knows what that means. Is that a cartoon from the 20s? You even lost me on that west. Heard is from the Rudolph Christmas story. Hermie wants to be a dentist. Okay, I know that one. Cutler has been one of the most entertaining quarterback since he entered the league. He's the NFL's great villain.

Who puts together more difficult passes than color? He's a fun quarterback to watch. He is on my top five list of quarterbacks to watch. You know what's strange, too, is Chris Wessling, who is known as the scientist, one of his nicknames, went with his heart instead of the old Noggin. I often go with my heart. Right. While Mark made the point, which I think is the biggest fear you should have of Cutler,

that he can't stay on the field, Wesleying is just saying, listen, I don't like his personality. I don't like the guy. Yeah. To be fair, before he got hurt, and Josh McCown came in, we were talking about how what a different Jay Cutler was last year. I do remember Wes sitting in that chair, and you were really happy with his play and how he's made changes, and he was playing like an MVP. Talk to us, Wes. He played better last year.

He's not a terrible quarterback. I have a hard time rooting for a guy who I don't like. What? He said, by the way, Wes didn't say he's vetoing. He just said it's giving him a little pause. Petra is a Lions fan throwing this out there. That shows, you know what, that's something, too. And if you have trust in and someone needs to come in for Cutler,

that's going to be a well-coached quarterback. We saw that last season. A little David Fails action, maybe. Oh, wow. Jordan Palmer, right, West? Jordan Palmer will not play for the Chicago Bears. Well, Kevin Patrick, I think that was an excellent suggestion, and there certainly, you know, again, it's way too early.

It's like taking too much out of OTAs with the players. We don't want to make it known what teams are really in the mix. But the Bears, that's an interesting thought. Thank you, Kevin, and thanks for all the listeners have chimed in on this issue. They have their own choices. Some had pretty dramatic feelings about whether we should pick it in the preseason. I like that they were saying don't pick it in the preseason. And, Patrick, you can now go back to your chess match in the park with John Legend.

All right. Thanks, Kevin. All right, good talk from Kevin Patcher. Always great hearing his voice, ATL's version of Mark Wahlberg, as we all know. We are going to now get into, we have a series up on the Around the League page, NFL.com, backslash ATL, the projected 2014 starters. This is where we've predicted the week one starting lineups for all 32 teams, analyzing the potential impact of each rookie class.

So we'll quickly go. We got Bucky Brooks coming in a few minutes. So let's go quickly around the room, and each of us can point out something we found interesting from the series, and we will start with the boss, Greg Rosenthal. Well, I'm going to start with the team Kevin Patcher was just talking about. I did the NFC North starting lineups, and it just struck me how the Chicago Bears could be starting six or seven new defensive starters this year. It could be as little as three or four, but you're looking at Jared Allen, Lamar, He, Houston, Kyle Fuller, their first round pick, Ryan Mundy, strong safety.

And then you might also have a couple rookies. Ego Ferguson and Will Sutton could start. Maybe they'll even replace Chris Conte. You could have seven new defensive starters. And then you look at the offensive side, and man, they're loaded. That is as good a starting lineup, including the offensive line, as stable as any group in the league. They've just totally flipped from a few years ago. And I like that starting lineup.

I like how Tresman needed essentially about 18 months to come in and fix that line went over the course of how many 70 years Lovie Smith It just descended into madness with him Right, and they're as stable as it gets now I think they're pretty happy it's a group that's better as a group Than if you just look at the individuals The previous regime left kind of a conundrum there on how to fix an aging defense And it looks like they've done a pretty good job

Let's see how they do with six or seven new starts starters. All right, Wes, what do you, what was the team or a player that kind of jumps out to you? It was interesting. The one that jumped out to me was the Bears division rivals. The Packers don't have a hole on the roster. Whoa. They are a deep, deep team that got a key player in free agency, drafted well, and is getting more key players back from injury than anyone else. Getting Clay Matthews, Casey Hayward, who was a big loss for them last year, was their best cornerback the year before. Brad Jones coming back from injury. And then they have got young guys like Dayton Jones, who they expect to come in and play a huge role this year. And then Micah Hyde, who isn't

even listed on our starting lineup, but I think they're going to have to find snaps for him in the secondary. I really like what their defense did. And then of course, you know, the offense with Aaron Rogers and Eddie Lacey, the receivers are good. And then they bring in a guy like Devante Adams, who a lot of people liked in the second round at wide receiver. This is a loaded, low. So was this a situation where you didn't quite realize it until you sat down and scratched out who was there and, wow, what we got here? If you look at the team they put on the field in the championship, in the playoff game against the 49ers when they lost, and they barely lost, look at the players on defense who are new.

Clay Matthews wasn't on the field, Casey Hayward wasn't on the field, ha-ha Clinton Dix, Julius Peppers, Dayton Jones barely played. This is a majorly upgraded roster from their playoff loss. There is one hole, I think. Their left tackle. We don't know. David Bakhtiari wasn't particularly great last year. That's a pretty important.

But he wasn't an issue. It's not a surprise. He didn't hurt Aaron Rogers. I'd say that, and then their defensive end, they have a lot of depth there. They don't know if they have anyone that's particularly good. Mike Daniels played great last year. All right, scientists, bear down.

Mark Sessler. All right, you know, when I was going through the AFC East today. Yes, Mark. Thought I'd set that up. You know, I took a look at the Patriots roster in a couple issues skill position-wise. And you know last year they went through the season without, it doesn't matter what New England does. They're going to win 10, 12, 11 games anyways, go to the playoffs.

But I look at Buffalo's lineup and say if you remove the quarterback position from both teams, and that's an issue. But outside of that, the Buffalo Bills have more talent than the New England Patriots. Stop. Whoa. Buffalo's defense, you want to talk about a defense that doesn't have a weak spot and has potentially one of the better front sevens in football? That's Buffalo. We saw hints of that last season. And then on offense, you've added Sammy Watkins to a wide receiver group, Robert Woods, Mike Williams from Tampa Bay, not a terrible addition. Jackson and Spiller in the backfield, a line that is not a great offensive line necessarily, but they've made some additions there. And look at New England. Edelman Amandola,

Brandon Lafell is your potential number three, and then this Dobson-Thomkin scenario where last year, neither one of them jumped out as a premier talent. I like what you're cooking up. I concede your point that the rosters outside of quarterback are not that dissimilar. However, the bills do not have the best tight-end quarterback

and cornerback of the past 7-8. ears which the Patriots do have. That is true. And you need to, and Grunkowski, if he's in there, that's a completely different offense, but I'm not sure he's back there for the beginning of the year. All right. And I will stick in the AFC East with the New York Jets. Shocker. Yeah. Well, you know, sometimes you've got to keep people on their toes. Stephen Hill, you know, the Jets have waited and been patient with Stephen Hill to emerge, a former second round pick. It hasn't happened. I'm just curious, Mark. I know you listed him as a starter in this projection and I can't really blame you because there's not someone necessarily

that will step in but I really do think Hill is in great danger not only of not having a starting role but potentially bouncing off this team taken by a prior regime and you have some other guys some sneaky guys on the roster you know Jacoby Ford maybe can slide into that spot they took two wide receivers in the fourth round Jalen Saunders and Shaq Evans and his name is Shaq which is cool. So I'm kind of wondering if one of these young guys can emerge and get on the good side of Marty Mordenwig if they're going to see a lot of time.

And who knows, maybe they get someone off the street. I just don't think Stephen Hill will have any real role with the Jets in 2014. In the piece itself, we mentioned that Stephen Hill's one of the guys that is in danger of falling off the side of a cliff in New York if he doesn't do something quick. But we're talking week one. I would put him as a week one starter because the Jets probably want to give him one more shot to prove that that draft pick was correct.

And the other guys you mentioned are people, I've not watched those college guys. I'm not going to jump in and put Shaq, whatever his name is, as the starter this time around. I'm going Stephen Hill. Can he lose his job? Yes, but he also hasn't played with the real quarterback yet. He will be when Michael Vic takes the week one starts under center. Callback.

All right. That's it for that. Mark, I know you have to get out of here. I do. And it's good because you kind of make some room for a man that we respect. You can go out on the bottom with this Bill's Patriots. Listen, sorry to upset your future, Greg. It was a good point.

Times running out. It was a good point. Here's the one thing you forgot. One of them is coached by perhaps the greatest coach in Annville history. Doug Marone, yes. And the other one is coached by a guy that went 11 and 17 in the Big East. Greg, your team hasn't had a losing season since you were like a freshman in college. Mark.

I'm out of here. I've had enough. Great scene. you. Bucky Brooks, who is making his way into the studio. And this is nice. We've never had like a live guest coming into it. Yes.

So I would like to introduce the man. He is a former star at UNC, a second round pick in the NFL, a personnel man, a scout, analyst for NFL media. And perhaps most importantly, he has the same exact left as Jay-Z. That's pretty funny. I heard Greg in here, banging on the bills. Bucky Brooks. Banging on the bills. Oh, I'm sorry you had to watch that, you know,

a little family argument. What do you think, Bills are Patriots roster if you take out the quarterback? Are they close? I hate to agree with Mark, but he makes compelling points. They're pretty talented. What about Jay-Z and Bucs?

Similar laugh? You ever got that? I wish I could have his swag and his plot in life right now. Can we do a side-by-side comparison? Well, no. It's kind of similar. There's something there, Bucky. That's great class.

All right. So, Bucky, you are a man that we trust for your knowledge of all matters, professional football. And you mentioned to Greg in an email that you had a lot of info that you had to share. I just come across random stuff and talking to guys throughout the league about many camps and what they think and how they perceive. And you need to unload this information. We don't know anything. We got to dump it off. So we are the dump.

We are the trash dump that Bucke Brooks comes to, and we're proud to be that. So where do we want to start? How about I'll throw it out there? Why don't we start in Cleveland, which is a team poor Mark Sessler won't be able to talk about it with you. But we're curious what your thought is on the Johnny Mansell situation in Cleveland. You know, I think the Cleveland situation is really interesting. Having known Ray Farmer, God, we played against each other in college and really were close friends. Wow.

In the business, talking about his vision for building a team. team, he's really one of the few guys who has talked about what his vision would be and kind of followed through. With Johnny Mansell coming in, he has always talked about the team being a team that is not necessarily quarterback-centric, but a team that is similar and balanced like the Seattle Seahawks were. He was fascinated by the way they built their team, and a lot of the conversation when people have really dinged them about Josh Gordon and why they haven't gone out and got a marquee receiver. During the senior ball, we talked, and he said, look, who's the marquee receiver for the Seattle Seahawks, yet they were able to win it.

He talked about Percy Harvin, yeah, came in and made contributions, but it's about finding a couple of receivers that can step up on a game-by-game basis. With Johnny Manzell, I think the fascination with Johnny Manzell is how does he fit, what will he do, what were their offense look like? And I think if you go back and not necessarily look at what Kyle Shanahan was able to do with the Washington Redskins and the pistol, Johnny Manzell didn't play in a pistol at Texan. So when people kind of make that parallel, that's not necessarily accurate. I think when you look at what Calh Shanahan has done,

he has experienced during the West Coast offense from his time with Gary Kubiak in Houston. I envision that offense looking very much like the Houston Texans' offense look. When you have a lot of boot, rollout action, a lot of stretch runs, when you look at the two running backs, they got Terrence West and Ben Tate in the offseason. Both of those guys are zone-based running games. So as I'm connecting the dots, it leads me to believe that

they're going to run the zone-based system, and then they're going to have Johnny Menzell always see. sneak out the back door. A lot of movement passes, a lot of things. And then talking to a separate executive, he said, envision Johnny Mansell playing like Jeff Garcia in San Francisco rather than the Doug Flutie Fran targeting comparison. Think about how Jeff Garcia played at his prime, at his best when Steve Marriucci was there. That's how he could see Johnny Mansell possibly playing in a national football league. You've seen how teams use their offseason in OTAs, team building, training camp do you think there's anything to wasting a little bit too much energy on getting

Brian Hoyer ready as a starter instead of investing all your time and resources into really getting your number one draft pick prepared or is there plenty of time for both and it doesn't really matter I mean I think it's plenty of time for both I do think it's funny you know the Browns have this groundswell of attention and media attention and everyone's fascinated by Johnny Mansell and they have done every everything that they can to absolutely squash that. It's not going to work, though. Yeah, even like squash his comment as, oh, he's a backup, he's this.

I think if you bind to Johnny Menzel, you buy it to the whole package, you buy it to the personality, you bring into the competitive drive that he brings to the table. And I think you have to let Johnny be Johnny, and I think he doesn't get enough credit for his football IQ. I believe that he can play this game at a high level, but I think you have to make sure you put him in a position to succeed. I understand having Brian Hoy kind of take the reins early. but I think eventually Johnny Manzell has to be the quarterback of that team.

Bucky Brooks, I don't know if you're aware, but Chris Wessling, to my right, has said he will eat his softball pants. We're talking nylon composite parts, metal zipper. If Johnny Manzell is not under center week one for the bruce. No, no, no. Uh-oh. If Brian Hoyer starts over a healthy Johnny Manzell. In week one.

If Tyler Thigpin starts, I'm in the clear. Okay. All right. Fair enough. Fair enough. Or if Mansell's hurt, you're in the clearance. Should West be concerned? Is it possible that is not starting?

I mean, I think it's possible. Like, if he goes out and he just kind of lays an egg during preseason, he doesn't grasp the offense, I can't envision him not being the start on opening day. For as much as people are building up Brian Hoyer, let's keep Brian Hoery in perspective. Like, he is not the next great coming. I think they drafted Johnny Manzell with a plan for him to be the starting quarterback.

And also because Kyle Shanahan did such a great job of getting Robert Griffin, the third, ready to play as a rookie. I think Johnny Mizzell eventually be that guy. All right, let's move into Minnesota. That is a team that seems as intrigues Bucky Brooks a little bit. You want to tell us a little bit about Anthony Barr and what he could be doing in Minnesota this year? I think the fascinating report is coming out of Minnesota

is how Mike Zimmer will use Anthony Barr. He even alluded to having a Von Miller-like role in that defense. And so the transition that Anthony Barr has to make in Minnesota is moving from being a three-four, outside linebacker to being a four three outside linebacker. And while a lot of it is semantics, in making that comparison to what Von Miller has done

for the Denver Broncos, I think that's a very valid way to get him on the field. First, you have him stand up play over top of the tight end on first and second down where he can use his length, his athleticism, and strength to set the edge on the running game. And then on nickel situations, you can have him put his hand on the

ground and come off the edge. Von Miller really succeeded and thrived in that role. And Mike Zimmer has done similar things. If you go back to his days in Atlanta with Michael Bowley, if you look at Michael Bowley's production, when Mike Zimmer was there, it's very, very similar to the role that I can envision Anthony

Barr playing for them. He got him paid, too. He got him a lot of money. He did a really good job of finding a way to create production for him. I think he will find a way to create production for Anthony Barr. That Vikings team is interesting. We did this starting lineup series on the site and you look at Barr

rushing off the edge and then you look at the defensive line they have, Brian Robes Linval Joseph, Sharif Floyd, and Everson Griffin, that's an intriguing group there. And with a defense coordinator or a head coach who de facto defense coordinator, who understands how to get his guys going, his guys really play for them. He's a hard-nosed coach. He kind of finds a way to get him going. The success he had in Cincinnati, I absolutely believe he can do similar things in Minnesota.

And he has a very young, talented roster. The only position of question for me is Captain Munnallin playing. at cornerback. I just wanted, can he hold up? Xavier Rose, Captain Muntillant. I wonder how good they are with Josh Robinson also having to play in the nickel package. And what about Teddy Bridgewater? What are you thinking of him right now? I think people are excited about Teddy Bridgewater. I know after we've gone

through all the pre-draft speculation and people kind of poking holes in what he is, I think they've been pleasantly surprised at what he's been able to do. The fact that he's getting reps with the number ones says a lot about what he was able to show in rookie minicamp. And he falls into what I think is a perfect situation for a rookie quarterback. Most

rookie quarterbacks aren't drafted at the bottom of the first round, so they typically don't fall into talented situations. With Agent Peterson in the backfield, pass catchers, you know, Quarterill Patterson, Greg Jennings, Kyle Rudolph, he has a wealth of weapons around him where he only has to kind of play the point-guard role. If he doesn't go and mess it up, I can easily see him supplant Matt Castle as a starting quarterback in Minnesota. Let's talk about Mike Zimmer's old team.

How is Hugh Jackson going to utilize Jeremy Hill and what does that mean for Ben Jarvis Green Ellis? You know, I love Hugh Jackson as an offensive coordinator. He doesn't get enough credit for what he did in Oakland. When he was the offense coordinator in Oakland, twice, they were finishing the top 10 in rushing, and they were number two as an offensive coordinator. So in remaking that Cincinnati Bengals team, he's going to make them a tougher, more physical team

at the point of attack, and they're going to run the ball between the tackles. Jeremy Hill would be the hammer in that offense. Ben Jarvis Green, that still could have a role, but I think Jeremy Hill and Giovanni Bernard would be the one-two punch in that running game, and they'll do a lot of unbalanced sets. That's one of the things that he does cleverly under the radar.

He does a lot of extra offensive linemen in the game. Unbalanced S, running the power in the counter. He'll find a way to get Jeremy Hill going. And part of the reason they drafted Jeremy Hill over Carlos Hid is because they liked the way he ran to LSU against eight nine-man boxes. He'll see some of those looks in the AFC North, but he'll thrive in that. Is his strategy to improve Andy Dalton going to be partly to minimize Andy Dalton? I think so.

I think what he'll do is he'll try and make it where. you have to respect the running game because if they can create enough of a punch in the run where they can draw that extra safety into the box now makes it easy for Andy Dalton to throw outside. But Andy Dalton has to grow up and I'm surprised I know there's been conversations about him signing that contract. I'm not all in on

Andy Dalton being necessarily a franchise quarterback that can get them to the next level. I think they'll do everything in their power to put them in a situation where you can't fail but I can see them playing another quarterback real soon in Cincinnati. How do you mean real soon? This year? Well I mean I I mean, I'm not going to say... I don't think they'll sign that contract either.

I think Mike Brown... You know Mike, I don't think Mike Brown's going to give him that deal this year. I think he'll let it ride. There's no reason to give him that deal this year. With a deal that he wants, if he's talking about that 18 to 19, that Joe Flackle went to like... That's crazy talk. That's crazy for Andy Dalton. Now, AJ McCarron, for whatever AJ McCarran is or isn't, the office that he's stepping into in Cincinnati

is very similar to what he did in Alabama, where all he has to do is be a game manager, a caretaker. If, for whatever reason, Andy Dalton has hurt, can't get it done. I think AJ McCarran can step in there and not only play but play very, very well. As a rookie, you think he's a guy that they can count on? I think he was drafted for a reason. I don't think it was just a throwaway pick. I think there was something behind taking AJ McCarrant. I think, you know, regardless of whether he has all the talent tools that you look for in a franchise quarterback, I think he's a

good play. He's won a lot of games. And knowing how to get his team to the winning circle, there's something to be said for that. Does it matter? You've been inside of teams and from the front office and scouting perspective, does it matter that he's a fifth round pick? Well, if he was a third round pick by the Bengals, would that materially help his chances of playing sooner? Or does it really matter?

Maybe, I mean, when someone comes in, like, one picks one, two, and three. First three rounds, those are guys that are pretty much locks to be on your team. You expect them to have a future for you. You expect them to eventually be starters in your program. Now, the fact that he's a fifth round pick, it does kind of put him out of the realm of conversation

in terms of being a lock. But if he goes in and shows people in OTAs, many camps, but more importantly, in preseason, that he can handle the responsibilities of being a quarterback, he could get a legitimate chance. I mean, I don't want to bring up the Russell Wilson thing because he was the third round. And there is a little bit of a difference.

But I think ultimately, you want to play players who earn the right to get on the field. If he earns the right through his performance in preseason, he could be a guy. And finally, I know you are hearing a lot of intrigue around how the Saints plan to use Brandon Cooks. You know, Brandon Cooks, one of my favorite players in the draft,

super explosive, probably the most polished of all the wide receivers coming out. When you lose the Darren Sproles and you let Lance Moore go, you have to kind of figure out a way to make up that production. The fact that the Saints jumped up to get him says that Sean Payton has a plan for him. And I think that plan could include him being

kind of the guy that plays all over the field in the slot on the outside, does a lot of stuff. I can see Brandon Cook's being a guy and as a rookie to have 70 plus catches as a guy that kind of makes up some of the production that Darren Sproles had as an underneath checkdown guy, but also some of the stuff that Lance

Moore did. Plus, he's exposed enough to get over the top. He should have a big, big, big season. I'm not a fantasy football player, but I would put a lot of money on Brandon Cooks if he was my guy. Let me throw out one more you mentioned fantasy football. It's really got my attention how much Dave Gettelman, the Panthers GM,

has talked up O'Dell Beckham. Love it. Has said twice on two different occasions, the only wide receiver in this class, you can't question his route running is O'Dell Beckham. There's some truth to that. And I think when you look, you have to understand, like, evaluators and GMs and scouts, when they're looking at tape, they're trying to find guys that are seamlessly fit into a pro system.

Because Odell Beckham played under Cam Cameron, he ran routes that we see on Sundays. We see an offense at LSU that is one that's very similar to what Camp Cameron did at Baltimore, in Miami, and San Diego. So it's easy to look at him and say, okay, he can run all of the routes on the route. He shouldn't have a big learning curve in terms of being able to get on the field. field for the Giants. And in fact, when I watched him on tape, he reminded me of the guy they already have in New York and Victor Cruz. His skill set reminds me of Victor Cruz, but he has a little more pop. So the fact that you have Victor Cruz, Odell-Back and Menel, Ruben Randall also

on the outside, you have three really good wide receivers, and you have a new offense coordinator that is going to run some of that West Coast system. I think he could be a really good fit. I don't see Dave Gettleman being out of bounds with that comment, because I think there's some truth. Is he trying to get a job in New York again if Carolina doesn't He did not draft O'Dell Beckham. You know, the funny thing is whenever you leave a team and you go to another team, there's that affinity that you have for your previous team allows you or leads you to make decisions based on what you've experienced. Even his decision to draft Kelvin Benjamin, he talks about plexico birds.

Now, I didn't necessarily see that, but the more he talked about it, I can see trying to give Cam Newton what Eli Manning had, a big target of guy that can kind of expand the strike zone to make up for some of the. accuracy issues that he may or may not have on the outside. So Dave Gettelman is reaching back into his past, and that's why he believes so much in those guys he talked about. If I was a Panthers fan, I'd be like, hey, buddy, let's get some receivers that you talk up on the Panthers.

We just let him go. He didn't have the 12th overall pick. You know, I mean, I would like to see them surround. Like, I think of all the top quarterbacks, Cam has been the one who has had to do the most with the lease in terms of the talent on the outside. You would like to see him upgrade at Receiver Corps on the perimeter. For sure.

Bucky Brooks, we want you, if possible, to come in on a semi-regular basis. We would love that. Let's do it. Let's put me in. Put me in, Coach. I'm ready. All right. Bucky Brooks has visited his personal dumpster, the Around the League podcast.

He's unloaded into it. I don't know if this analogy really works, but we're just going to roll with it from now. But thank you. Thank you, Bucky, for coming in, and we hope to see you again soon. Appreciate it. I'll work on my Jay-Z life. I don't think you have to All right

Bucky Brooks With another great showing Love that guy And love his Jay Z laugh Let's hear it one more time And then let's hear Bucky Wow

It's like the same dude Canny Huh Very interesting Anyway We mentioned earlier That we had some news On the gold standard

And I can't say It's great news For the podcast But it's You know Good news For the Gold Standard He will be

Leaving us leaving us the gold standard Zach Goldman moving on to other endeavors and Zach you just should know that you will be missed Thank you so much It's very kind

I've so enjoyed my time here You guys are the best And yeah Mollie's a caller a tweet away You know that violin there If I was a conspiracy-minded listener I would be wondering why The violin music was playing

On the previous podcast Greg called the gold standard a punk And then on the next podcast, the news breaks that the gold standard is leaving. There is no connection. Zach and I have a small Jewish man bond that you guys will never understand. Well, Zach, yes, we have loved working with you. And who knows, maybe one day down the road, we will be reunited. But for now, you're moving on to even better things before you go, by the way.

Not the final show, by the way. No, no, I'll still be here for a while. We've got a couple of weeks. Oh, yeah, we should make that clear. I'm just making sure. You're right. You're absolutely right. Greg, Gold Center's got about three more weeks with us, I believe.

But we just want to let the audience know and also throw it out there that because it's, to me, the thing that stresses the gold standard out the most, which is finding contestants for Win West's Toaster, I wanted to put that heat on it one more time. We've got to do it. And this will be for the Gold Stenders last week, we will bring back Win West's Toaster. Win West's Toaster. The game of skill and valor in which contestants battle in NFL trivia against Chris Wessling, the mailman with the winner, either Wes keeping his toaster, which he always has, or a contestant taking Wes's signature NFL toaster that manages to somehow superimpose NFL logos upon the bread product.

So that will happen. It's so stupid. That will happen. The eighth wonder of the world. Yes, three weeks from now. And Gold Standard, who will be leaving us, unfortunately, in three weeks, it will be his last big task is to round up a real murderer's row. And, you know, just to make it even more special, or lining up someone special, a real heavyweight if the callers cannot take West down, somebody from inside the building, a, you know, Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, WrestleMania, six-type showdown, if West Slays, all comers. and Gold Standard, are you going to give us a nice crop of challenges?

I ask you. I will. Given that this is the last go-round, it's the only way I can go out. I want to know who the in-house competitor could be. I've got a guess, though, Brian Baldinger. Baldi. That would be a fun one. He's got a messed up pinky.

I think we should keep them out. It's gross. All right, so that's the big news. And, Zach, we've really enjoyed working with you. But we got some time left. We wanted to get that out there, and you get to work, Goldstander. because you're not done working for us yet. Sounds good.

All right. So let's get out of here. Signing off for the mailman, the sizzler, the boss. Bucky Brooks went out, throw it out to him. Kevin Patra. Kevin Patcher, who's always coming at you. And, of course, the gold standard, the quitter. They should call him.

No, that's not true. That's not true. He's a good man. Until Monday. In the heat of battle, In the heat of battle, your squad relies on you. Don't let them down. Unlock elite gaming tech at Lenovo.com.

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Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move to Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and MNoveauvin. NFL rookies. To evaluate team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find

anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Flauio. Together, we host the NFL fantasy football podcast.

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