NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL Inner Monologues with Mina Kimes

Episode Date: May 20, 2021

A room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal are joined by ESPN's Mina Kimes to bring you all of the latest news in the NFL starting with Bruce Arians being all on in QB Blaine Gabbert (7:45) and if Julio Jones could really be traded (12:09). The heroes take you through some INNER MONOLOGUES with prominent NFL figures that they wouldn't want anyone else to hear (23:45).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 NFL podcast. As a very freaky post-Super Bowl tradition. Welcome, and you'll never know what it is. To another edition of the Around the NFL podcast, my name is Dan Hansus. I come to you from a virtual room filled with some heroes, Mark Sessler, Reg Rosenthal, and boys. you know this is big this is big big boy pants stuff this is big leagues joining us a very special

guest um taking a break from being on literally every single show over in bristol it's the great borderline iconic mina kimes welcome back to the at n podcast minna how you doing thank you yeah it's been about a year i guess well no more than a year because um we did a podcast in person so it must have been pre-pandemic you brought us treats i recall you had been to some sort of favorite grocery store of yours and you brought us trinkets and treats in a live studio setting. That's not what happened.

They were hip-hop snacks, but it wasn't a favorite grocery store. It was a convenience store that I bought the treats at because I had to throw up in the bathroom. I don't know if you guys remember. Yeah, I do remember that. You did come on during the pandemic.

I think it was Claibon and Colleen was in the mix and we had no agenda. It was the most formless podcast we've ever done. That was, Nina's flu game, her flu podcast. It was not my finest hour. That's for sure. So happy to have you here, Mina.

And we're going to have a great show today. Coming up later on, we're going to take you inside the minds, the minds of various NFL figures, and let you understand what's going on in their inner thoughts, the inner monologue, the stuff that you don't want you to hear. They don't want their teammates to hear. They don't want the media to hear, but we're going to hear. And that's pretty good. But before we get to that, I mean, I wanted to touch base quickly with you on something based off our last podcast.

We have like a conversation that I really enjoyed, which was what does it mean to be a fan? How important is it to win a championship? Do fans put too much value on titles when we should be more appreciative of teams who routinely put together fun competitive seasons? Greg was coming from this angle. We were talking about the Falcons and what they could be doing this season. And I think you're the perfect person to ask this question, Mina,

because you're a diehard Seahawks fan. You got to enjoy the Super Bowl 48 win. You've mixed in plenty of heartbreak and disappointment in the years before and after. You're also a massive Seattle Mariners fan, a franchise that has never won a World Series in 45 years. In fact, they're the only team in MLB.

I'm not telling, I'm not breaking news to Mina Kimes here. The only team in MLB without so much as a World Series appearance in their history. So I think winning a title, and Mark kind of agreed with my feeling on it, it is a point of catharsis that fans need to kind of let you know that it was all worth something. Where do you come down on this? Because I feel like you're qualified uniquely on some level. Well, thank you for that Mariners recap.

Just really enjoyed that. Maybe this year. Yeah, I think we're batting 199, below the Mendoza line. So that's... So is everybody else? Yeah, true. but the Mariners were no-hit like twice in one week

the worst people always try to talk trash to me on Twitter about the Mariners and I'm like, you really think I feel anything when you say this to me? I actually think the Seahawks are a good vantage point for the question you raised which is the importance of winning a championship competing versus ripping it all up

and illustrative of how in football the timelines and stakes and realities of that are different from other sports. You know, in basketball, I think you really have to have X, Y, Z in place to compete. Whereas when earlier this summer, when there were summer, spring, when there were a lot of rumors about Russell Wilson, there was a strain of thought, well, the Seahawks aren't going to win a Super Bowl anyways.

So why not trade Russell Wilson, maximize his return, rip it up, and start over? To which I said, yeah, there's no, the Seahawks are not one of the five best rosters in football but it's football they might win like i don't like who's to say right like we can't it's far more unpredictable uh with the single elimination playoffs it's far more likely that weird could happen you can get that nick foals flacco run and i believe if you have and this is this is my very long-winded path towards your question if you have a quarterback who's good you should just always try to win i think um if you don't that's where it gets a little more complicated.

Yeah, and it's not, like, I wasn't saying you're not going to get catharsis. Like, of course, it's always going to be nice. I'm just saying, like, ultimately, that's not going to be your only, you're going to get more value out of the journey and everything else. Or else, like, what are you doing? Like, you're still talking about the Rex Ryan days, Dan, and how much you enjoyed it. Or, like, if you can't have fun with teams that don't win the title, then you're never going to have any fun.

But my argument is that it's like a rich person, Greg is a Patriots fan, telling people with no money, it's great to experience poverty. It's good for you, and it's, there's something to learn from it. Like, you're talking to a Seahawks fan whose heart was broken by the Patriots. Your example previously was the Falcons who were destroyed astronomically by the Patriots. So it's more like the person giving me. My point was they had, you had Michael Vic. You've had some good times. I guess what I'm saying is like a title, it's not going to take away the emptiness that's inside you. Like you think it will, but after like a couple of weeks, you're just kind of back to who you were.

I said you go. See, now we're on the same page. If you pull it back, go above the tree tops, I think the reason I, I guess, do I talk about the Rex Ryan Jets all the time? Maybe I do. That's all I got. I'm like, you know, with the Mariners. I've never even seen my team in a Super Bowl. And, you know, I think competitive teams, it's a little ephemeral, whereas flags fly forever. I actually believe that. You have that forever. You have the DVD. You have the memories, all that. Anyway, fun. Good May 20th talking point in a big space. All right. Let's do some news. Otani's going to the Angels.

No! I don't get enough of this on ESPN platforms. Is the pile up? Is it annoying that he's like the best player on the planet? You immediately, I now look like a total liar because less than five minutes ago, I said, you can't hurt me as a Maris fan. I feel nothing. And there I am being hurt all over again.

Yeah, at worst. Live, like when he decided where he was going? Yes, so we weren't on TV. We were in a commercial break, but the generous around the horn producers decided to share that with the world. Yeah, and it's had a lasting effect because I was like, oh, yeah, that'd be kind of connect to what we were talking about at the top of the show. And sure enough, it was on YouTube on like 14 different entries, easy enough to find.

The Mariners are a good example by a team that should have ripped it up early. I don't want to get into it. But the central question is, should you rip it up or, try to compete, right, in every sport. And this is something that is a matter of debate amongst many teams. And I think the Mariners should have ripped it up earlier and done the rebuild and gone full Astros slash cubs slash whatever. And they're doing it now. And there's some NFL teams that might be doing that now as well. All right, let's get to it. Let's start with Bruce Ariens. Bruce Ariens on top of the world, Super Bowl champion coach. He's 68 years old now.

There was a report right around the Super Bowl that if the Bucks won the big game, which they did, that he would maybe walk into the sunset. No way. Ariens is a lifer, and he spoke on the pewter report, a Tampa Bay Buccaneers podcast, about the idea of how he sees kind of the back nine of his career going, one that might not include Tom Brady. Here's what Ariens had to say. I could get extremely excited to have another young quarterback and going to war with one. I'd be honest with you. I'd be excited to take Blaine Gabbard and go to war because I love playing Gabbard.

I think he's the most underrated player in the NFL. Blaine Gabbard's listening to being like, pay me. You're like, let me be a free agent for a month and gave me $3 million. Pay me. I haven't heard such like Gabbard defense and standing since MJD would just tirelessly try to tell me that he was like a diamond in the rough

that was just given a bad hand in life, and he's got Bruce Ariens agreeing with him. I don't believe this for a second, really, though, either. I feel like Bruce Ariens, if they had a bad season with Tampa and it wasn't fun, he would just as easy walk away. Of course, like right now he's having fun, and it sounds like he would want to play forever, or coach forever, but he left pretty quickly last time

and seemed about done at that point. Well, the one thing I note, though, is that, you know, Ariens was tied to Gabbard in Arizona, too, and I went back and looked at some quotes from 2017, and he gushed about Gabbard as a future starter. And so maybe there's just some of these coaches have these traits that they love. One time I talked to Bruce Ariens also,

like the Browns fan of me, about Kelly Holcomb, who was for about a season and a half, incredible for the Cleveland Browns. I mean, Ariens just gushed about him for like 10 straight minutes. It was like too much I could put into the article. So I think he just finds these dudes and falls in love. You think, and of course, Gabbert was a first-round pick and a bust with the Jaguars.

and like, there's a, speaking of baseball, there's a saying the old scouting community, oh, he's got a good face. And they actually put stock in someone being good looking. Gabbard's a very handsome man. Do you think, and he looks the part, obviously, I think he was even in draft day. Maybe. I don't know. He's pretty athletic.

Like, he checks the boxes. Like, do you think the way, Mina, do you think the way that Blaine Gabbard looks, makes certain coaches say, this guy, everything makes sense here. I could fix him. He looks like a star. Like money ball thing. Well, I'll say this about Blaine Gabbard. He looks like someone.

Blaine Gabbard, like completely. Like, if you had to visualize a guy named Blaine Gabbard, it would look exactly like Blaine Gabbard. I was, but your point, Mark, about the Aryans type, if you will, I was thinking that during the draft when they took Trass. I was like, oh, yeah, that's an Aryan's guy. Like, no question. And that's not a compliment, people.

Like, I was not particularly high on trust, but I just think he can't resist the, like, tall pocket passer. he's making it work I mean he's made it work with Brathesberger and Palmer he's ziggin well Mark had a big theory throughout his first season in Tampa

Ariens that like he was totally checked out and was like was almost wishing that he was with Trent Green he was more checked out than he was alongside Trent Green in the CBS booth well I would not say that he was more checked out than he was beside Trent Green he did not want to be in that booth

but the first year in Tampa with James Winston throwing like five interceptions in the London game and like 28 pick sixes. He looked a little tired to me, but I am ultimately wrong. No one can convince me that Bruce Ariens was a broadcaster for one year. It didn't happen. Show me the proof. I demand it. I don't think it did happen.

I think it was there. His voice, by the way, whenever he talks, I just did a panel with him, all the women, the diversity, yeah. And every time he talks, I'm surprised in you by this. I've heard this man, thousands of. of times, right? And every time he speaks, there's like a softness to his voice. It's a little higher than you expect. It actually sounds like what he looks like, which is a hired assassin, like who's like been in the business for a long time. He talks like that a little bit. I don't,

is that an accent? Am I, where's he from? I'm not sure he's fun. Ricky, can you find out where Bruce Ariens, it's distinct. It's like the failure area. It always takes me back a little bit. In other news, Jeff Schultz, reporter for The Athletic, leads a write-up on the Julio Jones situation with the Falcons, thusly. The Falcons would like to trade Julio Jones, period. End of sentence. Okay? So this guy that's plugged in deeply the team knows it. Now, the question becomes, Mark Sessler, does it happen?

How do they make it happen? They have some very real problems. You've talked about it, Mark, often on this podcast. season. They have major salary cap issues to the extent that they can't sign their rookie class right now. And Julio Jones, moving him off the books, would solve a major real hurdle. Is it going to happen? Is this thing, is it fade at this point? I think you've got to mix in what, you know, our friend Steve Weish has reported to. They don't want to. It's not really about the player, but they are in a position, you know, as the article noted, they can't really even sign

their draft picks right now. And so I think that they're they're kind of stuck. And like, you can look at Thomas Dimitrov, who's not really being mentioned enough. Part of your job as GM is not to get the team if you can help it into this kind of situation. They weren't a team that won five Super Bowls, you know, with that as an excuse. But I think it's very real. I mean, just the reporting suggests it's very real and that there were a limited number of teams that probably are targets. They talk about the Niners, the Patriots, maybe the Ravens. I think the Colts could be a team in there.

But they almost have to move him if they can't get Grady Jarrett, to restructure, who's also getting paid $20 million, but they talked about Grady Jarrett's agent, not really necessarily like the most bendable, flexible guy on that front, maybe not totally game to wanting to do that. So, you know, the Falcons are in a tough spot. You're so afraid of Grady Jarrett's agent

that you can't keep like the greatest player in franchise history? I mean, I don't know. I see this is on your radar here, Mina. You started tweeting quite a bit this week. I mean, this morning about, about this story. Streets are talking that this entire column might have been like a sub-tweet or like a sub-colum responding to some mean of times. No, no streets are talking.

I did put out a video saying that it didn't make sense to me. Not that the Falcons are broke. Everyone knows that. But the fact that they're looking to trade Julio to clear up some cap space doesn't square to me with everything else they've done this off season, which was, which began before the draft with restructuring Matt Ryan's contract, which was the first sign that they perhaps were not going to draft a quarterback, right? Because they basically tied the team to Matt Ryan for two seasons.

It'd be really painful for them to move on before then. And then, of course, in the draft, they don't take quarterback. They take Kyle Pitts. You don't rebuild around Kyle Pitt. I love Kyle Pitts, the player, but he was the highest drafted tight end ever. To me, if you're a rebuilding team, you take Justin Fields there and you don't restructure Matt Ryan months before. So I don't understand why you would do those things and then trade Julio for some cap relief and like a future optimistically second round pick. And I say that optimistically based on what I'm hearing, I could be wrong.

You're not going to get an impact player. You didn't get a pick that you could use this year. it feels like mixed messages from the organization. And I have yet to hear a good reason why you don't restructure grade Jared, who's one of the most underrated defensive players in football, other than Todd France is scary. And they haven't even tried that. Like, why getting an extension could be hard?

Getting an extension for Jared, which also would make sense, could be hard. But literally any player will say, yes, I'll take, if you want to give me my $20 million today and then spread it out over the rest of my contract, will take it that thing. It is not hard. The article from Schultz made me think, though, that they really do want to trade Julio. And this was the first time that I thought, okay, this actually is probably going to happen. If I had to guess, you know, I don't really know. And I don't get it. Not just like message sending of rebuilding or not, but just like, this offense could be awesome. I don't know. If they could be a top five offense, they could absolutely be in the

playoffs. They could absolutely have a meaningful season. And you're going to do that for some second round pick. It just does that part doesn't make any sense. too. Like this is a team that had four wins last year. I tweeted this. They had the Pythagorean wins of a seven and a half team win. A win team based on their point differential. They're going to be better. They upgraded at coaching. They brought

Dean Peas out of retirement, which I feel like everyone was kind of being overlooked. Arthur Smith, amazing offensive coach. There's totally a case for this team blowing defenses out of the water. Matt Ryan, whom I love having a comeback season. Don't trade Julio. I

don't get it. We're all in agreement then. restructure Grady Jarrett and let's go. Let's not overthink this, Atlanta Falcons. In other news, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that Joe Burrow, recovering from that nasty knee injury is, quote, all systems go for week one. And that coat came directly. The all systems go from the doctor that has worked with Burrow. Week one is against the Vikings. We'll see how they handle the summer and preseason and all that.

But that's very good news. mean to have burrow back on the field and on that note i'll just throw it out there since we're here very nice year coming up for comeback player of the year race like we knew last year what was going to happen alex smith if he made it back don't even have a vote we know this year it's wide open and i'm going to give you some odds here um dack prescott leads the way coming back from the fraction ankle plus 175 sayquan burrow and cmc all plus 600 nick bosa plus seven and then some long shots for you to chew on here, everybody. Derwin James, Vaughn Miller, plus 1,600.

Odell, Marky, plus 2,500, and then Jimmy G as a real long shot, plus 5,000. Who do you like, Nina Kines? I think those odds accurately reflect the likelihood of every player. I don't, I would say probably Barclay's a bit of a long shot. I would go Bosa over Barclay and CMC personally, but it did seem like Dax to lose, Dacaburro. How about Matt Ryan? Where is he?

Plus 4,000. Get like the Philip Rivers Memorial comeback player of the year, where Philip Rivers came back from being like the 18th best quarterback and then was the sixth? Like, I could see that. If they keep Julio, then your boy Matt Ryan has, it's not Ryan comeback season. That could be Carson.

What if Carson went through 40 touchdowns in, you know, Indianapolis. I was going to say, like, back in, I think it was 1997, they gave Raphael Palmero the gold glove and he played like 14 games at first base. There had to be that year that they gave Phil Rivers comeback player of the year because he threw a bunch of interceptions a year before.

There had to be some nose tackle that shredded his Achilles and played every snap the next year and made the Pro Bowl that just didn't get loved because he wasn't a quarterback. Can I take over and ask you guys a question that I feel like I'm not getting good answer from? You could have just asked it. What do you think? ask you to take over.

I like that you frame it as taking over. That is, that's a power. It's a window into your mind here. I'm redirecting the, I didn't come on. You didn't ask me to come on and ask questions about something. What do you think is the likelihood? Just give it a percent that Carson Wentz in 2021 is better than Philip Rivers was in 2020. It's funny.

We just had this conversation on, on some level on our last show. And I'm kind of on the Wentz wagon. A lot of it is Frank Reich related. The Phil Rivers bar. that's the thing that maybe I'm curious what you guys think was the bar is it where is that bar was it pretty low bar to clear is it I know it wasn't

a high bar it was like maybe a medium bar I think Wins can clear what Rivers did last year because I think he has upside and gets the fresh start with good coaching that's where I come down what's their percent I'm giving it oh yeah yeah 74%

because I'm such a Rivers fan and not a Wens fan I'm going to give it 7% I mean, Rivers was like, I would say Rivers was like the 14th best quarterback in the league or something. So he was in the 10-15 range. It does matter to me that he played fantastic in the playoff game. I know it didn't end that well, but he played as well or better than Josh Allen and MVP candidate in that game. Like, he played great in that game.

So that counts for me. So Dan is officially a wenshead. I am not. I'm skeptical. So I'm going to put it at 41.6% chance. Probably good. It's probably the right answer. All right

That's what's happening In the news By the way Tim Tebow officially signed He's number 85 Minshu Number 15 Probably gonna trade him

Tebow get 15 But who can't I mean I don't want to go down this room We'll not be on the team By the time By the time

Minchu gets traded I don't want to talk about it Let's say it for another show I just I'm still sure I was the more I thought about this day Because I hadn't really

thought about it Since this became a story but like why is urban mire actually doing this i almost think it's something personal and he's just doing his buddy a favor that that's it that's it's a hundred percent it his wife said tim tibo will always be a son to us and so yeah all right okay here we go let's get into it in her monologue time how do you feel about this mina you feel good about the seg um i think it's creative we're like we we had some you know meeting of the minds here like we were like we were like, what can we do the next six or seven weeks that's not just previewing the season,

which we're going to do almost every day starting in July. So it's a tough spot. We ranked defenses last week. That felt pretty bottom of the barrel. No, that's good. Just some good rankings. The Mina Kime show featuring Lenny. Erica Tamposi, by the way. Oh, yeah, featuring Lenny. Erica Tamposi reports via the producer's chair that Bruce Ariens is from Patterson, New Jersey. but he grew up in York, Pennsylvania, home of 1990 alternative rock stalwart live. So who's the most famous person to come out of York? You decide.

I go a call check. I, um, it's a push for me. Lightning crashes. That's it. Oh, yeah. Lightning crashes. Dan and I are like secret live, not even secret, overt live fans. Wait, is there another song?

What's another song that he's done? All over you. selling the drama, the Dolphins Cry. I mean, we are... Dolphins Cry is great. What's the one that you and I started to love that no one else knows, Dan, about the beauty of gray? We go deep, we go deep cuts off metal jewelry in 92.

The Dolphins Cry would be a great Monday Night Football Outro. Like I, you know, and they do those really clever, like, references. Just... Whatever you don't be the lie. Lightning crashes for the Chargers, too. It's all there. Don't confuse live, though, with the band that's... or else Dan Mark get very upset, you know.

The crash test dummies? Oh, the crash test dummies. Those were different bands. Very different bands. All right. Let's get into it. Inner monologue, inner thoughts that people in the NFL are afraid to share with anyone but themselves.

I'll get things going and I will, I'm going to take you inside the mind of Las Vegas Raiders general manager, Mike Mayock. here we go I feel that I'm under an alarming amount of pressure that Alex Leather would pick I kind of wish I had that one back people were pretty mean to me about that

when I saw John that night in the break room he said you outsmarted everybody again Mikey was he messing with me You kind of said it through gritted teeth. Is that how he always talks? I need to watch one of those corona commercials to be sure. I can use a beer. Focus, Mike.

Leatherwood. He'll be fine. Need some of these other draft picks to help me out, though. Rugs? Ornette? Jacobs and Abram? That all happened to those guys last year. Cleveland Farrell? What was I thinking?

So stupid. John is a 10-year contract. They're going to come for me if these guys don't improve. I wonder if I'd find a phone network would give me my old job back. Daniel Jeremiah. Scout jockey. I'm hungry. Let me give a taco.

Hmm. A lot of pressure from Mike. Oh, we're still going. I feel for him. We're out of the mind. We're out of his mind. Were we supposed to write these? I was just going to wing it.

No, you can do it anyway. You're fine. You're fine. You're fine. You're the guest. You know, we've done this enough. We all know what we're going to. Turn in your homework at the end of the episode, Nina.

Yeah, I do like the idea of Mike Mayak as a, as like this self-doubting guy, because he never gives off that impression whatsoever. But there has to be a little bit of doubt creeping in. I mean, you do, you do feel for him as a human. because he knows how, like, amazing this opportunity was. It was perfect for him. It's not like it's a kid getting picked out of the stands to, like, be on the team, but it's about as close as you'll probably get in the NFL. It's virtually unprecedented, and he knows that this year matters.

And they've had so many draft picks over the last three or four years. Like, they did that part right. Everyone says get a million draft picks, take a million swings. the team is absolutely in his image and John Gruden's history will indicate that he will absolutely use Mayak as a scapego if it doesn't work this year, I would say. And one problem is even if Leatherwood is a plus performer,

your average fan is not going to be tracking Leatherwood on Sundays the way they would if it was like you picked up this running back that goes for like 1,600 yards or a wide receiver blowing people up. A little bit difficult. It's so perfect that the hated race Raiders Repick this year was a lineman named Alex Leatherwood. You just, you couldn't make that up.

All right. Ended up being, who did they take after him, the DB? Morrig. Merrig. Yeah, Trevon Merrig. It was, if, simply if they had switched to the picks, everybody would have been cool with the draft. Like, if they had taken Merrig before Leatherwood in the exact same spots, they ended up

with the same players. So it was kind of. He's stuck to his guns. He's, like, stuck to his esoteric draft boards three years in a row, which does indicate, I don't think he's too worried about what people like us are saying. Mina, you're up next. Take us inside the mind of who? I'll do Von Miller first. There we go.

No one expect the same level of performance. God, the pressure. All right, speaking of pressure, man, I'm a favorite to win comeback of the year. My defense is stacked. It's been since the Super Bowl run. We are well-coached, Bradley Chubbs opposite me, we re-signed Shelby Harris. Our secondary is ridiculous. This is one of the best secondaries I've ever played with. We got Kyle Fuller in the mix.

We drafted that kid with the dad who everyone's excited about. But you guys know, we're not winning shit with Drew Locke. Every day at practice, I got to watch that guy throw passes that I know our defense would So, Aaron, if you're listening, whatever it takes, get out here, man. I can't, I can't go out like this. I just can't. Von Miller out. I like this that you guys know.

And then you make an impassioned, like, you reach to Aaron Rogers is all inside the mind of Von Miller. So now I have more questions. Okay, so it would have been more like, maybe I should text Aaron. Yeah. Yeah. It's sort of an Aquaman skill set potentially. If I had written it, I would have thought this through a little bit more. No, no, that I, I, man, Matt, where do they, if they ever, if they ever, ever, ever found a way to get Rogers there, like, where do they come down when you, like, put together the top teams in the AFC?

Are they right behind the chiefs to you? If that ever happened? Depends who they gave up. Depends like if they happen to give up like Bradley Chub and Jerry Judy and someone else, then maybe that would change. something but no i would think i would put him number one i mean i i would even because i i don't know if it was you that said this mean or last week it's like there's like a lot of rosters better than the chiefs it's like they just have patrick mahomes like the chiefs do not like if the chiefs were given kirk cousins they've got like the 12th

best roster in the league you know so i if you put aaron rogers on the broncos i like where did you rank the broncos in your defense rankings it's got it They've got to be top five. I had them at three, and I was very nervous about that. But that defense is incredibly stacked. So Aaron Rogers, the number three defense and some good parts around them. I think they might be the favorites. You're right, though, Von Mill.

Like, people on the, like, veterans on the Broncos have to be actually feeling this, like thinking this. I don't think people, if there's like a thing that I can convey about NFL players that maybe they don't express publicly, it's how sick defensive players get of playing with shit quarterbacks. Like, privately. Those are the, like, it wears on, yeah. Right. And how many short fields do you deal with when you have a quarterback throwing an interception on your own 15, you know?

Brutal. At least Teddy's more likable. They'll at least like them in the locker room, you know. Oh, I forgot about it. I forgot to mention Teddy. Don't, don't. We're having, we're having, we've had a few TED talks recently, Nina, that have kind of been a little bit, it's gotten a little salty.

Greg, you're up. Okay. I think I went to. long. I'm realizing now. All right. Here we go. This is inside the mind of Urban Meyer. Oh, boy. I got this. I'm not Chip Kelly. I'm not Nick Sabin jumping to the NCAA at the first sign of trouble. Who do these people think they're dealing with? So what if I hired a racist strength coach? What am I zip recruiter? So what if I played Travis S at the end at Wide receiver in mini-camp. There's no tackling you, Nimrods. Big deal if I want to let Timmy have

his little tight-end fantasy camp with us. I could play Trevor Lawrence's painting brother at H-pack and we would steamroll this division. Carson Wentz, please. He couldn't have started at North Dakota State last year. The Titans are three offensive players and Mike Brable's haircut. The Texans are right, though. I like that Easterby guy. Still, I got this. I've got my national media friends in my back pocket. We got Fox. We got NFL network. I've got my less media down here than I've got in Columbus.

I've got Joe Cullen, that guy who was naked in the Wendy's drive-thru running my defense. I've got a change offensive football with my beautiful Trevor and my cutting-edge play color. Darrell Bevel. All I need is to schedule some non-conference cupcakes in September, and we'll be top five in the coaches poll before you know it. I've got this. Oh, man. That man is not at a loss for confidence, internally, at least. It's going nimrods on people.

That's not a sharp-cutting insult right there. He's not totally clear on what the NFL schedule is, but, you know, listen, he'll, in time, in time. Not wrong about the division, Urban. Yeah, yeah. Right. Just something about that. He's on your radar, Greg. He's so on my radar.

And the interviews he has with the, with the media. members who are all buddies with them and they're on my radar. He just feels like he thinks he's above the rest of it. No, we're going to find out. He's got to put up results and he's got the kid. I mean, who else? Like, no one has criticized these hires.

No one's criticized. Well, maybe people are starting to criticize it. But it's like, he ups the interest level, though. Like I now, for a lot of reasons, want to watch the Jaguars, whereas, you know, strongly avoided them. There's just like a lot of belief. And maybe he, there's a, there's a,

chance that he's going to, you know, be good and make them nine and seven right away. But I guess I'm not just like cashing in that's like, oh, yeah, this will work out. This could be a total fiasco. I think that's probably, I don't think there's a lot of people that are just assuming they're going to take off now. This could definitely, I will give him credit for this, that he, he handled this beautifully from a timing standpoint. You know, he's the celebrated college coach.

He makes a ton of money doing TV. And then he got this perfect opportunity. that franchise that backed up the Brinks truck for this generational quarterback at number one overall. So he gets that and he gets full power, it seems like, to set things up the way he wants. He could even do things like signed Tim Tebow because he likes him and wants to do his bro a solid. Like he's set up well. Now you have to produce, though. This is the national football.

I mean, if they had two, three-win seasons, I could also see him, you know, hitting the road. He's not someone that's like, hey, let me stick around for seven or eight. years and places so it's like when reggie bush quit our digital television program and headed back to fox like a similar situation to work with urban mire mark you're up buddy all right i am going to go inside the mind of brown's general manager andrew berry music please i carry i carry secrets things nobody else could know a trade on the table Odell to New England

for a second rounder in the exclusive rights to special assistant Ernie Adams Ernie he is not any more retired than Tom Brady we're giving him his old office back the bunker he slept in from 91 to 95 right here in Cleveland mind exercise 777 times 555

is 431,235. There's just things that nobody knows. Kevin Stefansky, born May 8th, 1982. How we were introduced to each other in the year 2000. Right after I quietly solved the Y2K bug for the Clinton White House at age 13, Stefanski and I were put into that special ops program for gifted minds. A lot of crazy shit, astral projection, remote viewing. They kept us hidden away in those caverns under Arlington Cemetery.

We watch football obsessively in our downtime. Cut-ups, old film. That's how we met Ernie Adams. He was doing some really dark stuff for the Navy. People think the Browns just settled on Stefansky. I mean, come on, this was all pre-planned. Paul de Podesta, a baseball man just crosses over to the NFL. Everyone buys it, makes fun of them.

People want simple answers. Lone gunmen. Us alone in the universe, this goes so much deeper than people know. They have no idea what the Cleveland Browns really are. Why they went away, why they came back, and why they're rising again at this very hour. Barry out. Very out to himself. I always thought the Native American flute was something that was just inside your mind, Mark.

So I imagine when you're up at 3.30 in the morning. But I guess Andrew Barry as well. Yeah, Kindred. it's it's surprising because you think of berry as this like analytics guy you know very you know Harvard educated right i believe um but no like he it's not just all about the numbers it's about you know conspiracy theories for him you kind of made him a shaman or i i'm not sure um let me you think belich put ernie adams on the on the trade block like before he retired well no you know that's complex greg i i don't know any more than

what I just told you so does the bloom so I feel like Barry is right now the guy like everybody loves him everybody loves his drafts everybody loves but including me I'm big big Barry fan do you think the bloom comes off the rose if they extend Baker and he struggles in the first year of his extension yes because I think that's that is a lightning flashpoint that would get essentially everyone in the media to go crazy on the browns so that would be it but i mean you know if he plays great and then they extend him i don't what do you not extend him if he has a great season he's smart that's why barry keeps on pushing the right buttons right not extending him he's not going to make the jared goff mistake right now he's going to wait another year well i don't know he he's you're just in a tough

spot the time where goff and um you know got his extension and who else am i forgetting whence gets his expense is the summer right before camp that is the time that you do this and it does sound like they're pretty interested in doing it and i don't see the big upside what is baker gonna do if you make a year late be a year late pay five million dollars more a year whatever do it in week seven like if he gets off to a fast start he's going to take that money in week seven but let's see like a little bit of year two with no i'm with you defansky for one one game no play action he's just kidding he's pushed every right button so far i i don't think he's a group think guy we'll see all right up next i'm going to take you inside the mind speaking of which

of jared goff oh fresh start for the jayman this is exactly what i needed forget about my one house in malibu and the other one near my parents place in napa valley i'm in detroit now baby lakes all around this bitch i don't think this one's at here But should I buy? Or rent. Do the Lions really like me? Or did they bring me here just to get those number ones? Wait a second.

Wait a damn second. Did the Lions trade for me so they could replace me with a draft pick they got in the trade for me? That's messed up. Dan Campbell wouldn't do that to me. That dude seems... Brad Holmes. That guy's a straight shooter. Upper management written all over.

He wouldn't lie to me. Right? I got to call my agent. Oh, I feel bad for him after that. Listen, there's a lot of... In all of us, I'll only speak for myself, but I feel like it's quite common. There's a level of self-doubt in all of us.

And how could Jared Goff off this off-season think he's being set up for a long-term stay in Detroit? Now, I'll say this. And I'll set it up the football conversation like this. This offensive line could be awesome, potentially, or very good. Okay, you go and you take Sewell with the first pick. That's great. You got Frank Ragnow. They just signed him to the extension.

Taylor Decker had a really big season on the other side and you got some solid guard play last year. Like maybe it's a really good line and that can help a quarterback immeasurably as we know. The skill players on the outside, a problem, obviously, unless somebody has a career year. But is there any chance? A, long-winded question, double question. Cessler, double question. A, any chance Jared Gough has a solid season? that he's their quarterback in two years.

I think there's a chance, yeah. Remember, Anthony Lynn is the coordinator. Yeah, like he's not going to throw the ball much. He might throw, like, 484 times. I guess if they fall behind in games, that'll be tricky. But if he's well protected, like, the bar is so low for him now that if he has like an 18 or 19 touchdown and 10 interception with like seven yards per attempt, like everyone's like,

oh wow, Jared Goff was better than we thought. And he's capable of that. I mean, it was just last August that Meena and I jumped on the, I don't if you want to call it a bandwagon, but the lion something or other. And they disappointed my expectations. And I don't think that even organizationally, they're saying they're going to be blowing people away this year.

So I don't like the setup for Jared Goff a ton. I don't think they're thinking Jared Goff's, to your second question, I think they begin heat-seeking a younger quarterback, probably in the next draft. Do you think they should have taken that young quarterback this year? Yes. I would have taken Justin Fields. It's a lion's den, by the way. It was weird how they basically decided ahead of time and so did the Eagles, apparently.

Like they were not going to take Justin Fields no matter what, which is surprising. Like they were trying to trade up for Sewell to four, and the Falcons wouldn't do it, supposedly. I mean, they tried to trade up and it made it sound pretty clear that it was going to be for Sewell. They got him at seven that worked out. The non-rebuilding Falcons was not interested in trading down for a haul. Make it make sense. I'll stop. I'll stop tweeting my sub-tweet, you know, whatever.

Yeah, Jared knows the score. I mean, when you are publicly called trade draft pick fodder, I think. He seems like a guy who would pay attention to. I don't know if he's kept that golf course thing that he put in the back of his house where he could chip like 300 yards. below to his neighbors green something was going on he wasn't hitting the hole and i felt like a horrible metaphor i do know they've taken down the banana republic um posters of goff on the third avenue promenade in santa wow but that's because i think all the businesses have closed so

maybe it isn't just totally yeah so when things go south in the lion's den mina do when i try to put together the imagery. Are you devoured by the expectations? Do the lions devour you? Do you starve inside the lines? When things go poorly in the lines, what is like me? Yeah. Well, isn't there talk of an actual lion on the sidelines now? So maybe you have a date with the live mascot. I like, I actually like the coaching hire. I mean, it was a mistake. It was a mistake. I mean, Wouldn't the lions themselves would become punchless and less vicious? Because that's what happened to the actual lions in the football season. So I think if you're a human, you probably just get right out of there with no problem.

I do like that Goff, you know, had sort of the Hollywood production value that his song changed midway through. I mean, Mina's worried about she didn't write her things out. I mean, we got song changes. I didn't know we could request songs. I didn't know anything. I didn't either. I didn't either. Did you do acting, like in high school or something?

I did. This is just a thousand podcasts of faking it, you know? According to Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports, Matt Campbell of Iowa State was offered an eight-year deal worth $68.5 million to leave the college ranks and take over the Lions program from Matt Patricia. That's weird. Kind of weird for Dan Campbell.

First of all, guys got the same last name, and then he's getting a $7 million, $70 million offer. Right, in like three, I think three last years. It was like Matt Campbell had the leverage to get that kind of offer and you didn't take it. Kind of a weird time in Detroit Lions history. All right, Mina, you're up. Oh, okay. This one's a little bit to be a little subversive, I think.

I like that. Okay. Well, I just think, you know, people call me a homer. I think this is going to fly in the face of that a little bit. No one calls me a Homer, really. But, you know, well, you know, Niners fans on Twitter. Okay. I'm waving my hand from you.

Oh, there it is. Okay. It's me, Brian Schottnheimer. The punchline. So many jokes in Seattle. So many memes. So many insults over the years. You wanted me to throw the ball.

I did. I threw it on early downs at the highest rate in the NFL. What more did you want from me? Yeah, our offense sucked in the second half of the season. But we were still throwing the ball? Well, let me correct that. somebody wasn't throwing the ball to open receivers

underneath. He was big game hunting. I'm not going to name names. I'm not going to name names. Wessel Wilson. I didn't draft that offensive line. I didn't pick that center. Those guards?

One of the guards is okay. Damian Lewis. I think he'll be good lecture. It's not my fault. And yet here I am. The subject of scorn and blame. A joke.

Yeah, Vizor makes more sense in Florida. If you know what? Screw you, Seattle. I got six inches of height now to work with. Shottie is going to show them that it wasn't my fault.

Wow. I have a little internal pep talk and I love it. I'm picturing, like, looking in the mirror, like shirtless, just pumping his fist. That big cross. This connects to my, to my conspiracy theory that Russell Wilson partly put out all the trade requests to distract everyone from his self-started MVP

campaign crashing off the tracks because of the worst 10-game stretch of his entire career, which for whatever reason he got like no blame for, maybe from some Seahawks fans like yourself. I mean, I think kind of noticed, but I feel like nationally was just like, their offensive line stinks and Brian Schott. Oh, and they stopped like trying to throw the ball. It's like, no, Russell, Like it happens. I'm not that worried long term, but that was the worst 10-game stretch of his career. He struggled. If anything, Schadenheimer showed flexibility because you just thought you're going to get this guy that's the same offense year after year. And he went for it last year. I mean, he kind of did everything Russell Wilson asked for. But I think we're just so, I've never really even heard any critique of Russell Wilson, the quarterback on the field ever. So it was sort of probably a mental shift and adjustment that we could handle in season.

And, you know, it's funny to me, like, there are the baldies of the world and other people that really understand the nuances of offensive line play and what's actually going on in the trenches. And, but you don't need to be that person to see what was happening in points with Seattle's offense last year. He just held the ball too long. And that was the big game hunting that was internally his offensive coordinator was thinking about in his mind, shirtless with a giant cross. Like that, you didn't have to be an expert to see that Russell Wilson maybe was. trying to do too much, and that was killing the team at times. The other thing I wanted to say, and I would remember if I had written down my script, but I didn't, is they played the Rams twice.

They played Aaron Donald twice. You know, I think we are, like, there's a bit of a sample size issue in competition factoring to this. All right. That's fair. All right, Greg, you're up. All right. We're going to get inside the mind of Zach Taylor, Bengals coach.

Oh, yeah, that guy. I'm good enough. I'm smart enough. Oh, no. Doggone it, people like me. Stuart Smalley. Except for that Mark Sessler character. What is this deal?

Always wanting to punch down on us, poor Bengals, because his browns have a little success. Well, whatever happened to Ohio Unity? That's a thing. Why don't we both rise up and take over these bullies in Pittsburgh and Baltimore? I mean, well, what's not to like about this team? Jemar Chase, T. Higgins, Tyler Boyd. Joe Mixon, Joey Burrow.

I dare say that group is better than the one in Cleveland. Better than the Steelers. Better than the Ravens in terms of offense. And here I see how Mark say how forgettable I am, well, over and over. Sorry if I like polos instead of button downs, Mark. Why don't you try winning back-to-back games in the NFL with Ryan Finley and Brandon Allen? That happened. It's going to happen.

happen a lot more in 2021. Just you watch out, Mr. Sessler. Oh, now I feel bad. He does seem like a good dad on Instagram. I mean, you know, he's made a good... He's made a good case for how strong the roster is, so where are the wins? My thing with Zach Taylor is this. I just don't understand...

I don't understand who he is at this point. We're two seasons in. He was hired to be kind of like a... Sean McVeigh offshoot. You have your quarterback now. Like I think there's, there are bright skies ahead. But, you know, if in year three, you better produce. Although the only thing that going in his favor is the Bengals move about with the

speed of molasses when it comes to any sort of coaching change. So he's probably safe until at least 2031. So do we get, where do you come down on Mina, the passing on Sewell for Jamar Chase? Oh, boy. Are they going to, are they going to rue that decision? or is Jemar Chase a transcendent talent and how upset can you really get if that guy's a superstar?

I thought it was a defensible pick. I would have taken Sewell, but I didn't think it was like a wildly bad decision. I actually thought the dolphins should have gotten more criticism for not taking Sewell. But I dared to say on NFL lot, this is a really great place for me to air out all my Twitter grievances and straw men or whatever.

I dared to say that the way, what I said, I'm probably making it sound more reasonable in my retelling of my own hot take. But I said their most pressure in this organization is on Jonah Williams in this offensive line because the Bengals basically bet on that group being

good enough to keep Joey healthy. And you know, the first week they get Daniel Hunter, Cleal Mack, and T.J. Water, the first three elite pass pressures. And Bengals fans went crazy at me for, because apparently

not treating Riley Reef, like prime lane johnson is a sin and um i don't i sorry i think that we will see very quickly if it was a mistake i worry about jonah williams health i actually liked him as a college prospect but that is a big bet on that dude and he has not stayed on the field so i i think it makes sense i mean i think like a great wide receiver is maybe a little less than a great left tackle. But you're betting that Jamar Chase is another level above where Sue will be, like, in terms of tackle ranking. And I don't doubt that Mike Brown, who's ultimately making these, or influencing these decisions and loves, like, big college names and everything

like that, is thinking, let's keep Joe Burrow happy. His contract negotiation is in a couple years. The last real quarterback that we had, like, sat out because he didn't want to play are with our franchise like that it's getting to at least for a team like the bengals that there might be some NBA thinking with like you do with Giannis where it's like we got to get people around him that he likes and and keep him and I think that makes sense the bars low here you can win six or seven games if Joe Burrow I think he would have liked the idea of you'll you know come actual games too but I hear you you should do Greg the Mike Francesa move if you can't pronounce the Buck the Milwaukee Bucstar just come a degree

Freak freak. What do you do about the Greek freak? I just don't understand how people are still saying Gian. I know, sorry, Greg, but I, it's, we say it all the time now. The last name is hard to say. I think it was because I probably, like, never said his name out loud. Well, you're also a football person. I'm on shows with people who talk about basketball for a living and still do it. It blows my mind. Quick Sack Taylor Theory. He would be much more memorable if he had a different haircut. Yes. He looks like, like me. He looks like every normal, basic, weird, you know, white dude. That's our, that's basically been your issue or our issue throughout is that he looks, he's got like a polo on. He just like looks like he's about to hit like 18 holes at like the local municipal. Like not even a private. He's not going to Riviera with. Not even 18. He couldn't get the whole afternoon. He's doing nine.

The wife couldn't get him the whole afternoon. He got nine. I mean, look at Lafleur and the same coaching tree with the eyebrows and the skin. He glows, the slick side part. And then you got Zach Taylor who looks like a realtor next to him. I mean, don't get a started on the D.C. either, Captain Lou Elbano. He's got to put rubber bands and grow out of beer to put his mark in the league.

All right, close us out, Mark Sessler. All right. We are going to be looking into the rather mysterious mind of Jack Easterby. Oh, boy. Hit it, Ricky. Be careful here now, Mark. I know. This is his thoughts.

Yeah, Jackie, baby. We're feeling real good about this Texan team. A real unique. Sique squad, guided by something. We're feeling real good. Tie Rod. Hmm. You know what?

Might drive to 7-Eleven today. Pick up a treat. Something special. Something zesty. A treat for Jackie Baby. Sometimes you feel like a nut. Sometimes you don't. Almond Joy's got nuts.

Mounds don't. From another angle. Fresh baby Ruth. Fresh butter finger. Baby Ruth and Butterfinger. Fresh guaranteed. Like the Texans, baby. It's Friday.

Friday. Gotta get down on Friday. Everybody's looking forward to the weekend. Weekend. Yesterday was Thursday. Today is Friday. We, we so excited. We so excited.

Texans, baby. You can feel it in the air. Black, baby, right. Butter finger, baby room. And butter finger fresh. Yeah, and I love it.

I love the, Mark, because you're a little bit older than us. Your commercials aren't our commercial era, but that felt I loved it. But Rebecca Black being Jackie Easterby's favorite artist is something I'll never be able to get out of my mind now. Can you walk? I mean, Ricky interviewed Rebecca Black, so. Like, how did you end up on that set of refra? I just want to just dive into your brain for a second. You'd be careful, Mina.

I just want to know. I mean, this is, you know, we, there, it's a touchy character to go into on this show, considering who we work for. So I tried to keep it just sort of those I don't know, that go into the mind of the quiet storm, Nina, sometimes don't come out. That's right. I mean, this wasn't too different. And, you know, we've been into the mind of Mark quite a bit.

Mina's not as experienced. But I think, like, it felt in character with that. But I felt like this was as gentle and forgiving an evaluation of Mr. Easterby and what's really going on inside. And now that I know this is what's going on inside, like, it makes a lot of sense what's happening in Houston. It's like a nicer way of viewing all the events that are going on. If the secret Svengali behind the scenes for the Houston Texans was a raving lunatic, that would explain a lot. No, yeah.

He just likes snacks. He's just corpies. He's a simple man who's looking forward to the weekend. Those 30 seconds of audio, that's the best media Jack Easterby's gotten in his entire. Right. I hope the Texans feel that way. I mean, if anything, I'm trying to, you know. Currie some favor.

Sure. All right. Let's exit these minds. It's time to. to step away. All right. Mina, you've said it all. You came on and you've said it all. And we thank you so much.

Did I? I think you did. I think you had a really, again, rock-solid appearance. I struck back at my haters, perceived and real. Use it any way you need to. I think that was a good way to operate. Yeah. All right.

And you know where to find, Mina, all over ESPN and check out a podcast, which is great. And we'll be back. Well, we got the network show. See, we're on TV, too, Mina. The around the NFL broadcast Friday at a new earlier time, right after Good Morning Football. How about that? I think that's a solid time slot. So we'll see how that goes.

So check that out Friday. And then we'll be back with another week of shows. I have to go pick up my son at preschool. So I got to go. I have to say it. I have to go. We're going to sign off now. Thank you, Mina.

Stan Hans is signing off for Quiet Storm, The Old Boss, Rookie Hollywood, behind the virtual glass, and the great Nina Kine. Until Friday, heat the call! This is an Ihaught podcast. Thank you.