NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL Love Letters From Secret Admirers

Episode Date: June 14, 2023

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal around the NFL and read some intimate love letters from secret admirers. Before the tender, written moments, the guys discuss some news from around the league including Saquon Barkley potentially holding out a season (7:01) , Bill Belichick on the possibility of DeAndre Hopkins becoming a Patriot (10:57) , Stefon Diggs' absence at training camp (16:16) and Aaron Rodgers having the time of his life with the Jets (21:27). The heroes begin their love letters by reading a letter to Saquon Barkley (32:36) , Reading a poem to Justin Herbert (38:50) , a letter from college (43:25) , the Falcons' Dave Ragone (45:50) , the all encompassing love letter (50:38) and finally a forgotten love (53:16).   Note: Time codes approximateNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast. We'll be the next team featured on Hard Knocks. It's possible. What are we doing? From Parts Unknown, it's another edition of Around the NFL. My name is Dan Hansis, Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler, from different parts of America.

like, yeah, this Hard Knocks thing is a curiosity and a concern for me because we have teams like the Bears and Jets coming out and saying they don't want to do it. And it just seems odd to me that the Lions got massive pop off that show last year and a great wave of personal goodwill and that didn't move the needle. And it makes me worried about the future of Hard Knocks potentially slipping away entirely. Because if the lions can't sell it to these have-nots, who can? I'm not worried, but I am. I'm just saying they're going to make some team do it, and it'll be great,

and it's HBO, and it's too good for the NFL to go away. And so maybe if a team is a little ornery about it, that's not the worst. But I would like to see a hard-knocks about us. I mean, the drama, the subplots, I, like, Mark, what would you think would be a big takeaway for hard knocks ATN viewers well i mean i i guess there'd be invariably you'd have to track each of us pretty deeply in our personal lives because although we we text each other a lot we see each other like maybe a couple hours a week when we're doing the show so there'd be a lot of other um content coming from beyond the show and i don't mess with the mirage and we we hang out outside of

work you're right it's no we do but i mean it's just like there there would be a lot of um i would it doesn't help great when you say don't mess with the mirage i'm joking i'm I think it would be good hard knocks for our show in the sense that, you know, when we all come back from our summer vacations in July, we're always, you know, very refreshed and recharged. But our version of hard knocks would also capture that, that creeping horror when the realization in like the end of August, early September hits that, oh, my God, this is happening again. And we have, you know, roughly 7,000 hours of content to fill and another season is upon us. And that's a little bit of that. There's a little bit of that. There's natural conflict and we'd all be responding to it very differently. Welcome, everybody. It's a quiet week in June. Not as quiet as it will be starting next week.

There are some teams that are concluding their mandatory mini camps this week. Some teams wrapped it up last week. Some teams are excusing their veterans entirely. It's obviously different than it used to be in our league. And I don't think that's a bad thing. We will be going through some news coming out of camps in a bit. And Mark, you're a lover, right? Yeah, I think so. I mean, I have that capacity.

You have the, I have the capacity to love. we're going to we're going to tell some love stories to you figures or entities I don't know I don't know what you guys are going to be talking about really but in the NFL we're telling some love stories today I mean this is absolutely a Sessler jam this is uh Sessler is a lover I mean he's too modest there I don't know what he's trying to hide but just just ask some of the co-ed at camp happiness. He ran through that thing like a tornado, you know. That is mythical. I would say that like because, you know, I kind of pitched this segment yesterday, then as we get closer and closer to the show, even waking up this morning earlier,

I was like, I have no idea as usual what this segment is. And I created it. So we will see what comes out of this. It's a good one. I like it. Why do you do that, Greg? Because whenever Mark pitches an idea, I feel like they're comes a level of apprehension for Mark and anxiety about it going well. We don't need to ramp up the pressure. It's not on Mark to make the segment sing. No. It was a good idea and now it becomes our job collectively to make it sing.

It was a great idea. And I always love a Mark suggestion because they always do sing. I mean, we need that left of center energy right now in the middle of June. Well, we'll see. We'll see how we fare. Or in the middle of a strange kitchen, wherever you are, Greg. right now i i am renting um a house uh visiting my parents in massachusetts it's a lot of cedar behind you yeah it's nice it's new i like kind of cleaned it before we started so that's it's just

an invite to watch us on youtube check us out are we going to get any wives and children cameos walking in the background that's i've been i've banished my children to my brother's house for the podcast and no um amica uh made it clear she she she wanted to get everything handled so she's does not end up on YouTube. She will not be there. Damn it. Mark, another chance to see Emeka by the boards.

Yeah, no, it's a privilege when it happens, but it's an elusive target. It's kind of like a leap year type thing for Mark and I. All right, let's do some news. Near the cowboy 35,

single bat, two tight ends. Lexer over the three-man front, snap, span, handoff, Barclay over the right guard, pass the 35, breaks a tackle 35,

he's on the 30. He goes for the 12, Run for the Newside, 1510, five, run through the newsside line. He's inside the pylon with a touchdown. Barkley with a 36-yard. Touchdown run for the Giants. Ah, there is that man, Sequin Barclay, who came back from a knee injury, got some new coaching with Brian Dable and company,

and had a big year for the Giants, a big year that in some cases might lead to a big contract with his rookie deal coming up. But that hasn't happened yet. And Seyquan Barkley was at a charity event. Isn't it weird these charity events, by the way, in June especially, whenever a team's dealing with or players dealing with contract squabbles or some type of heat, maybe it's a double-edged sword or maybe it works for both sides because the media is showing up in mass to talk about the player's issue with the team or whatever the controversy is. But it also does. get a ton of media to said charity event this one some sayquan um kids camp in jersey city anyway he was asked about uh his uncertain situation and uh and i must add as a setup here when he was

asked whether or not he would consider sitting out the 20 23 season rather than playing on the franchise tag barclay said that's a card i could play here's some more where are the state of negotiates now are you talking are they open to talking right now or are you kind of just in a holding panic? I think they're open to talking. I think I'm open to talking. But I think at the end of the day, when you really break it down and break it down and look at it as a whole, you know, it's no rush. There's no rush. You still have time. There's still time on the table to get July 17th. July 17th, it's not tomorrow. It's nine in the week. We still have time. And that's how I look at it. I guess that's to maybe that's like the naive way to look at it and I could be completely

wrong. But for me, that's how I look at it. And I trust my team. And hopefully I trust in the Giants. I can get some of them. So Ralph Akeano has been covering the New York beat forever. Now with Fox Sports, wrote last month that it doesn't sound like a long-term deal for Barclays, particularly close. Greg, he's set to play on the tag that will pay him just over $10 million. Do you think there's any chance he gets a deal here? Yes, because it sounded like, according to our guy, Mike Garifolo,

there were some pretty good offers coming from the Giants before the tag was a plight. applied. Garifolo had said it was in the $12 million a year range. It's all about structure and guarantees. And so that you never know exactly what that means. But it seems like compared to Josh Jacobs, for instance, these two guys who were both on the franchise tag, Sequin's got a chance for it to happen.

I don't take it too seriously that he could miss regular season time, but it might be one where he doesn't sign until, you know, 10 days before the season. Compare that to Jacobs who sent like a cryptic tweet this week. who said sometimes it's not about you, we got to do it for the ones after us. And I don't think Josh McDaniels is interested at all in giving a long-term contract. So that could get more contentious. Well, and there's, you know, the only real example we have recently of doing it for the next wave of running backs was Levi-on-Bel.

And that not only didn't work and fell on its, flat on its face, it essentially ended Levi-on-Bel's career to some degree as well. So I think part of Saigon Berkeley was if you read some of the beat writers around this, it's like, You got that Jets money. I mean, not as much money as he would have had if he had just. Well, he did, but he did. But I don't think it changed the way that we feel about paying running backs, like, you know, climate-wise. And I think Seekwon cares absolutely a ton about his own legacy, his own career. And sitting out, like, is not going to suddenly trigger a big money deal for him in offseason from now.

I think you start to fade from the radar and possibly be replaced on your own team this season. So I think he'll be there, but it could probably annoy us deep in the training camp. I hope his agent isn't filling Sequin's head with too much talk about sitting out because I think, yeah, I think Levyon Bell is the ultimate cautionary tale there because he did get some money for the Jets and certainly not as much as the original deal entailed. But when he came back after missing a year of his prime, he was not close to the same player because he was so desperate to get high market money, which is his right, he had to take the bag from a Jets team that was at that point in the NFL sphere was

you know, at basically the bottom of the pile for teams you'd want to go to with Adam Gase running the show over there. And then it went, it was a disaster. So Barclay, don't put yourself in that situation. And I like watching them play. In fact, let's put a pin in Saquan and his situation for the time being. We'll get to it a little bit more in a bit. DeAndre Hopkins, great wide receiver. He's a free agent after the Cardinals parted ways with the all pro a couple weeks back. He visited with the Titans last week. Rapsheet reported earlier this morning. It was a quote, very positive visit. He is now scheduled to visit

with the Patriots on Wednesday and Thursday. Bill Belichick before that Ian reporting was asked about nuke and the Pats and all that. And here's what he had to say. So I'm not really a travel agent here. I'm not going to say it's going to happen here or not going to happen. Or there's a lot of other stuff going on that I'm not directly involved in and so I'm not going to say anything and then you know you turn around and sit up and I misled you in some way because that's not what I'm going to do uh here's the follow-up question always good when somebody follows up on

a line of questioning that belichick doesn't really want to get into what would you bring to the table should things work yeah I'm not going to talk about players that aren't on the team you know that Just throw it out there, okay. Put that line in the water. You never know. Bill and good spirits. Yeah, Mark, you have, well, he could talk about Nuke because he's not connected to any team right now. But I guess Belichick was saying that's just not his style.

He's not going to talk about a player who's not assigned to the dotted line. Yeah, he doesn't. And there's still teams hanging out there in the mist that have interest in Newk Hopkins. the chiefs and bills, if they can sort out their money situation. I think Cleveland has been talked about as a real target. And Tennessee, I think it's interesting. It's like, we have a player that actually went on this podcast, not ours, a different one, and listed the quarterbacks that he wanted to play with.

And you thought back at the time, well, maybe everyone's going to line up and try to make it happen. And it seems instead like it's going to be a bit of a longer process where he's going to want to get paid as much as he can. And Mike Reese, who does a great job covering the Patriots said that he thought maybe New England's looking like a one-year deal that's kind of more like the Odell Beckham one to some degree. So I do find one that, you know, who knows where we are like interpersonally, but the idea that Newt Hopkins gets reunited with Bill O'Brien intrigues me in a weird way. It's very similar to me to Darius Slay is on this Eagles team with Matt Patricia, which is awkward.

He said it's like, he said their relationship now is cordial after Slay basically slammed him on his way out of Detroit and then Philadelphia hired Patricia as a defensive assistant. The fact that Nuke is willing to go to that meeting suggests he'd get over it. Everyone loves himself, some Bill O'Brien in Foxborough. Like, he's a different Bill O'Brien in Foxborough. He's at the end of the bar. He doesn't have the pressure of being the head coach. He's just like a regular Boston guy.

In other. In other. Oh, last point I have on that. Hey, New England, don't let them out of the building. You have them for a two-day visit. Everybody knows that the AFC East is extremely competitive. Give yourselves a puncher's chance in that division this year. Get people talking about you as anything other than the team most likely to finish in last place.

You had nuke in there. All of a sudden, you add a little energy and hope, not just to the fan base, but inside that building. Greg, it makes too much sense for your boys. I love it. I think this wide receiver group is going to be better than people think this year because I think Kendrick Bourne will be better. He sounds a little like motivated. It's like deeper, but they don't really have a difference maker. And I don't know if Nuke is that guy, but I think it's a spot where they would know how to serve what he does well. Belichick is good at just like ignoring the stuff. You don't do well. Focus on what you do do do well. Mac Jones not really like a deep ball thrower, but I could see it working. Let's stay in the AFC East where the Buffalo Bills I have them number one on my urgency scale. Gregi has them in the top three, I believe. That article will be going up early next week, by the way.

For the people that have been refreshing NFL.com repeatedly this week, just know that I will be turning it in to features editor Ali Benpuri. Isn't it funny how often Ali comes up on the show and he just has no idea? like you wouldn't know I don't think people are hitting him up that he's being referenced so regularly on this program and I don't think he's a regular listener mark he's just coming up probably on a weekly basis on you know pretty sizably you know in terms of metrics football podcast yeah he's he is a very busy individual a professional but I would imagine that even if someone were to come up and sort of tap Ali on the shoulder and say hey you were mentioned in this podcast from yesterday you might want to check it out I don't that I don't think that would compel him to press play on any level That's just my guess. That's hard. He's got to be on Twitter, though. I don't, I think I follow Ali in Twitter.

Not too active, but look for him. Ali Ban Pori, our listeners, and be friendly about it. Just say, hey, the around the NFL podcast says hello and really respects all the work you do. And I have a phone call with Ali later this week. So I'm going to let you guys know if anything comes with this. Anyway, so the reason why the bills do have urgency to get it done this year, to get over the hump, to get back to their first Super Bowl in, what, 25 plus years. And you need Stefan Diggs along for the ride.

And it'd be better if Stefan Diggs is in a good place. Right now it doesn't seem like he's in a very good place with his team. In fact, Bill's coach, Sean McDermott told reporters that Diggs is not at mandatory minicamp this week. And it's not great, Bob. Yeah, Steph is not here. Everybody else is here at the current time. How concerned you about that? Oh, very concerned.

Yeah, very concerned. I'm not going to get into, and listen, I respect everyone's questions and what they want to know about our team. Right now, I'm just, I'm not going to get into that anymore. So we'll talk about practice. Happy to do that, happy to answer those questions, and we'll move forward from there. It's a little bit of a leading question by the reporter, said, how concerned are you? but I thought it was notable, Gregi, that McDermott would say very concerned that he's not

at this June practice. It makes me wonder if this thing is, the schism is a little deeper than the public knows. I am totally with you. Hearing that in context was good. It does change how I feel about it a little bit because I was thinking maybe McDermott's saying very concerned because he's in a tough spot where if he says he's not concerned, it's not a big deal. That's sort of not taking whatever Diggs's problem seriously. And I think he knows Stefan Diggs well enough that he wants to show whatever respect he can out of this process. And so I think he was answering it honestly. I don't think he's trying to make a move. But very concerned is very concerned. I don't think of Sean McDermott as a guy who is trying to mislead the public. And so I think he is very concerned

that there might be something more long term here. Well, and I just have to assume that we're getting those few words from him. And I think he's one of the coaches that will just be up front with his stuff. And I like him for that reason. But he knows the environment. He knows what's been going on with Stefan Diggs all off season.

The drumbeat is some strange tweets that I mean, maybe you read nothing into in a complete and total absence from team activities that now is mined into scenario where this is the most desperate team in the AFC to get to the Super Bowl, a team that needs less distraction than anyone else.

and literally the pivotal star player in your passing game is refusing to show up and probably seems pretty serious about not showing up until he gets what he wants. And they didn't do a whole lot to add depth to that whiteout group. I mean, it's like you lose digs and that group starts to fall apart. But it's not money, which is the, it's rare that it doesn't seem like it's about money. He just signed an extension last offseason, which was a big one. So I can't imagine it's about money. It really seems like he's just like frustrated they keep losing.

I don't know. there's more going on than we really see i think it always goes back to the money greggie i know i know he's frustrated and he's a he's a guy that wears his emotions on his sleeve but there's got to be something in his business arrangement that he's not thrilled with you would think he got he got he got a 21.5 million dollar signing bonus just last april his but greg my question would be what what does he want what is what needs to happen for him to if it's not a money thing it's like what are you wanting like a public show of affection uh from the team and team brats you I don't know how that would play out either.

Is he unhappy that Josh Allen is on the cover of Madden this year? Is that what this is all about? I think they get a lot. It is funny when Alan's asked about it. And he's just like, well, you know, that's that's Stefan. You know, he's he's competitive. He's a little. Uh-oh.

He was saying it in a good way, I think. Like, that's why he is such a great player. But more than any holdout, if we wanted to call this a holdout, I guess he is missing mandatory work. in recent memory. It really does seem to be like he was just pissed they lose. Like since they lost, he's just been grumbling that he's not happy about the bills.

Maybe it's about the offensive coordinator. There was a new one, Ken Dorsey last year. Like maybe, I mean, he had huge numbers, so it's hard to figure. There were a moment,

I would say if you look through their season where he had some down games or was quiet or maybe wasn't as active in the game plan or wasn't as targeted as much. I'd like to check that out. Big Randy, behind the virtual glass, if you could check out his targets,

21 21 verse 22 that would be i got it right i got it right here they were basically the same they were huge in 2020 127 targets or 166 targets but basically the same 164 1504 and but they i think he sat out the last week uh because they they didn't need to win or it can't well down to 10 targets right right what did he have in 2020 now that you got i was wrong i was looking at the receptions they were more efficient then but the target were basically the same 166, 164, and then he missed the game last year, 154. Got it. Let's stay in the AFC East.

Aaron Rogers, one of my favorite lines in arguably the best sitcom of all time arrested development when George Bluth is in prison and his son, Michael, is visiting him. And George has made friends in prison and it's very a comfortable lifestyle. He's eating an ice cream sandwich. and Michael says to his father, Dad, you're doing time. And George Bluth goes, Michael, I'm having the time of my life.

That's Aaron Rogers. Yeah, it was a lot of fun, actually. The last six weeks have been about the most fun I've had in a while. So it's fun to come to work and be excited about what we're doing. We've got a great quarterback room to be able to work with Todd Downing and Rob and hacks in there all the time. and, you know, we get some other randoms coming and sit in the room, which is nice, too. But to work with Zach and Tim and Chris has been a lot of fun.

I mean, let's call this what it is. Rogers is enjoying, yes, both presenting a highly functional, healthy relationship with his new team, but also a little twist of the night to the Packers that I loved this offseason program. I loved being, having perfect attendance, and what a great vibe it is here, maybe not so much over there. well there always is a double pronged approach to anything he says and right now it is that dichotomy of like yes this is a bit of a dig at green bay the thing though because like i've probably been um is down on the rogers offseason charade the past couple years is as as much as as well as anyone and like since that press conference i do see a guy who feels like there's new energy

he seems excited he's going he's hanging out with his teammates a bunch where he always seems to like a little bit of a lone wolf to me in green bay towards the latter part of all that So I buy it. I mean, it's, I think also it's if things change in that with that schedule they have, they start one and four. But I don't think they're going to. I think there's something about a new version, a better version of Aaron Rogers than we got last year. I'm, I'm buying in maybe to a fool's degree. As a as a jet's fan, this was the best case scenario. Other than he had the minor calf strain, but he was practicing by the end of of the OTAs like in the mini camps. Like this is what you wanted. You did not you would have my radar would have been up if after all. all that drama throughout the off season. He then does the I'm working out on my own in California move. Like you couldn't ask for a better setup to how this goes. Where it goes from here? Well, it's about to get real sooner than later once we get to the fall.

But so far, it's so good. It makes total sense that an all-time great at whatever field they're in is going to feel a new motivation after maybe things started getting stale in your job. You've reached the highest of highs with Green Bay. And like now, not that you're trying harder, but yeah, you're probably trying harder. Like you are extra motivated to make it all work. And it's nice to just be somewhere else. And it's nice to be in New York City, going to the Knicks games and going to, you know,

boy genius or wherever the hell he's going Taylor Swift. He went to the Tony's. I mean, he's going to the Tony's. That was a little much. Wait, I thought we were bearing the lead, though. Who are the randoms in their offensive meeting? That was like an Aaron Rogers quiet shot. There are some people, some random, some coach on the Jets is like, am I one of the randoms?

Who is he talking about? Oh, I assumed it was Zach Wilson. Oh, well, he mentioned Zach. He mentioned Zach. Yeah. That's a good question. That's a good question. Finally in the news, you know, we love the media beat.

And this one is personal on two levels because Mark Ingram, formerly of NFL media, also formerly of the Saints and other NFL teams, a legend at U.S. There's billboards all over the city right now. People might find this really weird, but it's a kind of a weird sports town in Los Angeles. Somebody's buying a bunch of billboards across the Southland, and it says give Reggie Bush his Heisman back. It's like, I kind of agree that.

Yeah, on the four of five. Yeah, just like, who's doing this? Who's spending this money? What's happening right now? They're everywhere too. I want to follow like the dark money that is somehow supplying. this like is reggie bush ultimately connected to this i i don't right is the heisman because i know that reggie had the heisman for a while and then he had to give it back a few years ago is this

something that could be purchased because couldn't we just take the billboard money uh this this these dark forces and and purchase the heisman and then give it to reggie and maybe you can get some tequila shots out of it i don't think i don't think it's out one thanksgiving eve i think i think it's gone the the that actual heisman but i think the idea now is like look Reggie Bush was just doing some small scale gift taking that now is legal if you're in the NCAA anyways. Give the man his respect. Our former co-worker. I know he really remembers us incredibly well as like that guy.

Oh, yeah, that guy. And then, yeah, the other guy. Yeah, those guys. Oh, is that my chauffeur? I'm not, I'm not sure. Reggie is looking like he's out at Fox now A contract squabble He wants more money

And Fox is like We don't want to give you that much more money And bad news for Reg because Fox This is of course is from Andrew Marchan Our Boy from the New York Post Whose brother listens to this show All these connections All these red strings

Anyway And guess who they have locked and loaded According to Marshawn, it's Mark Ingram, Mark Sessler's friend from Germany or Greece, I don't remember, who would hypothetically retire from the NFL after 13 seasons and join Fox. And we know, Sizzler, that Ingram would do a great job in that phase of his career. Well, I think it's already proven. I mean, whether you, you know, spent time with him in a locker room as a teammate or coach, he's off the charts on that level he's done a ton of podcast work and TV work like

it was Italy and Germany I think you know that but I'll let you know but I would just get it like the trip was very like tight knit because we're just traveling around on bus had no choice but to get to know people's personalities and like he's just got this gift of engagement I mean he's just bizarrely funny he he would go in to do these like one-man skits for you know 10 20 minutes at a time staying in character so i don't i just more want to see what we'll get out of him on a on that kind of platform because it might be too it might be not zany enough for him i want to see him really be the what the guy that i witnessed in those german countries mark with a sea wow good word right because when you think that crew it's like i think

is that urban mire is on that and liner and bush was on that yeah zany is maybe not the word I don't want to go back to the whole mirage thing from before, you know, because we are great friends. But the bond mark that you built with Mark Engram and Rex Ryan and some defensive tackle and like the Panthers. The Greek prime minister. Is it more of an unbreakable bond? Like if you could only save one of us falling off a boat, like are you going Mark with a gay? The way I'd answer that is, you know, we were all on text threads together. And so during the trip, people needed information.

And so there was a vibrant level of communication. Then about 10 days after we got back and there was some photos being sent and a text or two, I think it was Mark Hingham. They said, okay, well, now we're not going to be using this thread anymore. We've moved on to a new phase of the friendship and the trip hangout. And it's just like, I think that kind of was maybe aimed at me to some degree, along with the other regular Joe's on the thread. so he didn't use the right so i won by default i won by default i'm on the boat i'm on the boat

he no he did say something like that where it was like where you know this phase of our communication is now shifting it was not just to be clear that shift was into nothingness correct into a total abyss well you've seen him here and there and and and uh exchange pleasantries so i've i think i feel like i've seen that in person so that's not yeah i'm kidding a little bit he didn't have to that though he could have just let it fade away naturally he didn't have to make as an announcement that this we are no longer on on speaking or texting terms wasn't it it's kind of decisive though it's like there's no there's no way to not know exactly where he's coming from on this he could remove himself from the conversation that maybe maybe iPhones weren't able to do that

back then wait i do want to hit on one thing with reggie bush because i think it's something i've seen we've seen at nfl network unless you have a lot more mark ingram thoughts here Um, he, he is making a mistake. I feel like a lot of ex athletes who aren't as good, uh, being broadcasters as they were as being players, like there's difference makers in terms of broadcasters. And then there's like guys that are there because they were big names or because they're good looking and there's like a sliding scale and like the smaller your name and maybe the smaller like how good looking you are, like the better you have to be.

And like, Reggie Bush is, you know, as famous as it gets. Um, and he's pushing. for more money and we've seen this at our network sometimes i think sometimes some of the guys who who push for more money it's like the other side is like actually like you're not like our leading running back you're not our leading star here and you're not making that money back that easily if you just kind of go away right that's fair i mean people aren't the ratings for the football games are not going to go down because mark ingram has replaced reggie bush even though reggie bush is way more famous so be careful really good business advice from greg rosenthal let's take a break

um all right we are back and uh love love love love how important it is in society um to share your feelings because mark uh if you don't share your feelings for the people you love it's like a bank account and if you don't make those love deposits eventually that bank account will run dry was that apt yeah i think we've all learned the hard way on that front um in our youth and in years since so i'd agree with you you've got to you got to put the work in i'm having a weird day yes i i believe that uh Greg how about you uh the bank account of love uh was that apt i think it was fantastic I'm always trying to make deposits.

They sometimes get rejected. Gross. Very often they are rejected. All right. So what we're going to do here is we're going to share. We're going to share our feelings. This is actually a safe space. So we don't want any pushback from the public at large one way or the other on this

because we're just opening up our heart and letting people know how we feel. I'll get it going because I think mine is more universal, my first one, in terms of, you know what? I'll save that one. I'll start with somebody that we discussed earlier. I want to talk about Saquan Barclay. This is my love letter to Saquan Barclay. Saquan is not your fault. you've

it's not your fault you've done everything this team could have ever asked of you a local boy kid from the Bronx they made you a number two overall pick and you immediately played in an elite level that justified

what was seen as an unorthodox decision why was it unorthodox because remember running backs aren't special they are a replaceable commodity they get old fast

that's why that's what they say right you tore your ACL in 2020 you worked your way back you got a real coaching staff around you and in 2022 you finished first team all pro

that's the second time by the way you've gotten that honor in four full seasons I don't think you'll get old fast say quads in fact barring a Giants run to the Super Bowl you'll still be

26 years old at the end of this season when it ends is 26 old mark is it old it does not feel old to me you've played four full NFL seasons and we're first team all pro and half of them a rookie of the year award third place and comeback player the year voting last year should have beaten gino man of the community great smile state school education i love you sayquan barkley I love how you play, and so do the hardworking denizens of northern New Jersey in the greater tri-state area. This guy right here, he's one of us, back after this. I believe your current contract situation will represent the tipping point when it became clear that anti-runningback sentiment has gone too far. You are the perfect test case, Sequin, a superstar running back in your prime who carried your offense through thick and thin.

And when last year's stunning run to the playoffs concluded for the Giants, it was the pediat. pedestrian quarterback. That Eli Manning cosplayer who got the massive new contract. Where's my music? Thank you. It's not your fault, Sequin. I know and you know that that mannequin's success

was largely predicated on your very presence on the field to take what you achieved over 16 games of all pro greatness. Then see it used as successful leverage for that stone-faced Jamoke from Duke. That non-human.

Okay, this is too far. Maybe sitting out a season then watching the carnage wrought by asking said mannequin to efficiently run an offense without you. Yes, that would show them, but don't do it. We deserve to see you.

The beauty, the greatness that you give us every Sunday. But it's good to make them think about that worst-case scenario. You are loved. by people who understand what football is all about, especially big blue football, Benny and Hackensack, Doris and Rigo Park, Mike in Upper Saddle River, and yes, Danny from Rockland County, we are your people, and we will lift you up in the way you deserve.

Sincerely, Danny from Rockland County. Wow. What a start here. And, I mean, Dan, I know. you were suggesting that his agent shouldn't take him down a dark road and take his career off track in a misguided fashion, I would just cut off everything that you've created right there if I were that agent and basically just ship it in a Zoom meeting to everyone involved in the Giants in the Saquan-Barkley decision-making process. You nailed it. Do I get a cut? Like, no. Let's get, let's give Dan from Rockland a little cut. It should be a bigger cut, though. There there must be something annoying if you're saco and barclay and you just are

fully in the knowledge that you are better at football than daniel jones and daniel jones got 92 million dollars guaranteed over to your contract and you're just hoping to squeeze it from like 12 and a half uh to 14 uh so i don't think he would mind danny from rocklin taking these shots from to dandy he's too good a teammate to do that but he's he's fine if danny from rocklin does it for him That's the other thing. Like we heard from earlier in the show from the charity event in Jersey City. He is a upstanding citizen, a good dude, a good teammate. Like it would have been very easy as soon as Jones got that, frankly, somewhat absurd contract.

And taking his all giants off his social media and made this about, look what you gave the quarterback, but not me. But he is trying to play this in a different way. And I don't know if it will help him, not hitting the next. nuclear red button, but I respect him for trying to think of the team. And Daniel Jones first, because it's not his fault either, that that's the way the system is rigged. It's just rigged against people that play Saquan's position. And the one thing he has got going for him, too, is because it's not a what would they look like without Saquan Barclay? Because through the injuries, and we've seen a lot of test case examples of there being no Saquan on that offense. And Danny Dimes is not

the same player. I mean, last year was what was what you've been waiting. for from the Giants as a whole. And to pull Saquan, I think they've got to realize that would be a semi-disaster. There is something funny about this whole thing to me, though, because I think he's going to get that contract. We'll see. It's hard to guess. But that it's such a Dave Geddleman team, that it's all those picks he got killed for,

Daniel Jones, and you took Sequin too high. I mean, Leonard Williams was a guy he signed, not that people were getting on him, but that's a Gettelman signing. Andrew Thomas was his draft pick, like, Dexter Lawrence was his draft pick. These are who they're building around. And Joe Shane's done a good job since they got there. It's not Shane and Davel's fault, but it's a little bit of a Gettlement on the come up.

All right, Greg, you're up. Okay. I don't know which one to go. This is actually a poem. I didn't write it. It's on Reddit. It's on Reddit from Herbert Gal 1010. Here it goes

Really putting in the work Music's really throwing me off here Flowing hair Blowing leads Powder blues Smoking trees Third and long Dime after dime

But why those runs on second and nine Shots down the field That don't seem real That one to Guyton Made me squeal So hard to sack, so hard to pick, you don't make mistakes, you make Tua fans sick. No Joe Lombardi, no Anthony Lynn, keep blaming the coaches if we don't win. Save us from 27-0 and Marlon McCree from Cating, from Steve Young, from Ed Hockey Lee.

Lightning fast reads, lightning fast through the sky, a bolt through the heart. never say die the city we live in the city of angels lonely as i am together we cry wow gorgeous yeah who wrote that you need to tell us again who wrote that like that's quite a writer um Herbert gal 1010 um on uh you know the Justin Herbert red we got to get her on the podcast yeah you might not be able to find it it's really deep down you have to really know what what you're looking for him jalen guyton was that was he taking some fire in that was like basically even jalen guyton can make place no it was a very specific one that i also remember well me and herbert gal 10 10 yeah have some similarities that one against the giants you know the i think it was the

20 uh 21 season it was like the throw of the year at home early december so did you slide into Herbert gal's DMs to let her know you'd be using her. No, I thought she'd be fine. Pros? Yeah, I thought she'd be fine. Is she in that house right now, that rental home? It's an agreement. It's an arrangement.

It's an arrangement. Just if those deposits are getting rejected, it's just like a solution that everyone wins, yeah. I'm really happy, let me just say. I am so happy that Justin Herbert is not on the Miami Dolphins. I think the entire NFL should be very happy. That's not the fact. And you could take that as to a shade, if you will.

But even Dolphins fans in their heart of hearts will acknowledge if you took that offense with that play caller and put Herbert in there and what he can do and his ability to stay on the field, they could run that division for a decade. So we'll see what he does in the long term in Los Angeles. If there's a long term in Los Angeles, they haven't gotten that deal done yet. I think they'll find a way, but to the Chargers, they're known to be cheap. They are,

but that would be about as big of an organizational calamity as you could stir up in their literal team history to not find a way. They just lost 27, blue at 27-0-0 lead in the playoffs. So they have the capacity to stun. It's part of the poem, the 27-0.

Really, Chargers fans will know what I'm talking about there, Marlon McCree, that was what Herbert Gal 1010 is talking about. I did the research after I saw the poem to find out. Martin McCree, the guy that fumbled when they intercepted Brady in the divisional round of 2006 and Troy Brown. Ed Hockey, part of a famous call that switched another playoff game. Just the details are amazing.

Impressive. I think Herbert is a guy who, who I just think inspires poetry. I think that's the only way you can even write a letter to him. His play is just so beautiful. It's like art. Very nice, Greg. Very nice.

And I hope you sign that letter to Justin and just pilfer Charger Gals' work. Okay. Yeah. Don't attribute it. Herbert Gow. That's how this industry works. Sorry, Herbert Gowl. All right, Mark, you're up.

All right, this is a letter to the Atlanta falcons um but from me if i were still like a student obsessed with football in like a some sort of mythical academic setting from the past like back when you write letters to people like this you've caught my eye instead of paying attention in algebra two i find myself drifting away with thoughts of your beauty how did i not notice you before i don't even remember that life now when i my trap or keeper. My pages are absent of equations, pie graphs, or rise overrun. Replaced instead with fantasies of you, running 150 plus snaps out of the Maryland Power Eye. Switching for quarters at a time into a mauling single-win outfit that crafts 27-play 22-minute marches that turn the runtime

of an NFL game into a brisk walk around the park. Nobody can perfect a heavyset Notre Dame box in the autumn of 2023, such as you. Long, painful minutes for the enemy or on tap as your beautiful leader, Arthur Smith, unfurls one time-chewing ground assault after the next out of a five-man flex bone set doubling as a rabid dog. I am yours.

I know I'm not alone with my falcons fandom in this room, but it's just how they make me feel. What I think is coming our way, which is the style of... We would never. I've been waiting for. We would never, Mark. You've buried yourself emotionally, intimately, about these Falcons here today.

So who opened that letter? It just goes to the organization. That's tricky. You'd have to hope it lands in the right hands. I didn't think about that. It's very touching. And maybe before, you know, we have any Falcons stuck because we don't always. know what we're going to do on this uh in these segments um i i also have a letter going to

flowery uh branch and let's hear it yeah wow okay i guess a lot of love is this from the the justin girl as well um this you can interpret whoever this is from however you want but it's to dave ragon offensive coordinator of the atlanta falcons thank you for making that clear Dave Regone. It's important. I hope this letter finds you well. And the quote unquote security team doesn't intercept it again, like one of those Marriota ducks under pressure, LMAO, exclamation point.

Oh. Exclamation point. As you know, I've been the number one Dave Regone fan since your NFL Europe MVP days with the Berlin Thunder. You revived Josh McCown's career in the UFL as a QB coach. You scraped a thousand yards out of Kendall Wright and Nate Washington, as a Titans-wide receiver coach, you helped Mitch Trubisky

win an MVP award. You have a lovely wife and two children. And now, Dave Ragon, you are changing football as we know it if Arthur Smith lets you. While the rest of the world is obsessed with pass, pass, pass, you're bringing it back to the 1980s when men were men, when they didn't wear antiperspirant,

when punting was a good play, when EPA meant the environmental protection agency. I just hope Smith doesn't get in our way, Dave Regone. No amount of FedEx money can fake what you have or can take away what you've built, Dave Regone. Why don't you answer my emails, Dave Regone? Why does Arthur Smith take all the credit, Dave Regone? I get that he's handsome and rich and authoritative as a Catholic school nun,

but that's why you have to follow steps C through F of my last letter to you, and I will do the rest. Please, Dave Ragon, don't shut me out. That wasn't me at the T-ball field. Sorry, I missed that last one. What happened at the T-ball field? Wasn't him. Wasn't me.

Wasn't me. Oh, I see. I am, this is my favorite podcast subplot of the upcoming season, because I also am on record that the Falcons are, a little bit interesting this year, but they still decided, you know, to sit on the QB situation, which will make all of this null and void come real football time.

And I'm looking forward to that playing out and having the conversations again in October. Not if Dave Ragon can do what Greg is suggesting. I think that every position group will be fine. I think it's kind of, aren't they at least building an offense where your quarterback can chill out a little bit and he has to do everything?

Right. And this is an Arthur Smith. style offense, Greg, don't you agree that? Well, I mean, I think, I personally, and that didn't have a, uh, anyone signing that letter just for protection, um, but if Dave Ragon follows steps C through F, uh, from the previous letter, um, maybe the Falcons will have something also to, uh, come together as a team to,

to come around this new interim coach Dave, Dave Ragon, because Arthur Smith is indisposed for, for whatever reason. And then Ragon finally gets the pop that he deserves. And I feel like, or at least this person feels Arthur Smith that has really been hogging this credit. I mean, if anything happens to Arthur Smith, we were coming right back to this C-through-F business in your letter. It would be a problem. How much would Ryan Tannenhill really have cost this team? You didn't have to start them.

You didn't have to give him the job. You could have done the whole song and dance and stuff. said it's Desmond Ritter's job to lose. And then Ryan Tadahill could have come in week four, as he should. And then he's your quarterback. Well, he's still good. I'm leaving open my mind for that to happen. I feel like we're learning, you know, with this Hopkins release, sometimes things do happen

pretty late. And it makes too much sense. And I have an update. I know you guys were really waiting for this, that one week we were just going to talk about, I was going to look back at the Desmond Ritter tape of 2022. and we would talk about the tape. We're not ready for that week because we're going to blow it out. It's going to be daily shows.

But I have done some of the legwork behind it. And I got to say, I don't feel any different about Desmond Ritter. I might feel less, less excited about Desmond Ritter than I was before. So let's do this, Tanna Hill. Oh, really? A little preview. Just saying it didn't. I know there's some people I respect like Nate Tice who's in the Ritter camp.

I'm not I'm not seeing it right now. All right, let's move that pessimism out and let's again open up our hearts and our arms to love. And I want to share love for a lot of people here. I believe you, the guy moving all over the place on offense, you are a movable chess piece. The guy putting his hand in the ground. Also, the guy allowed to stand up. Yeah, that's way better. To all you rookie QBs who are throwing really far spirals.

Hell yeah, I think that's newsworthy. The guy moved to the opposite side of the line, the guy being moved to the interior or kicked outside. Yeah, you got this, king. Holdouts? Smart play. Hold ins. Bring down the machine from with. thin, baby.

The guy who said he was 100% entering training camp last year but is now saying this is the year he's actually 100% healthy. I don't think you're a liar. The quarterback who says he's learning so much in a new backup role,

princes become kings, but kings can become princes too. The QB who is hyper-confident in a new offense install? Yeah, boy. The same player who says having Derrick Carr has been, quote, amazing. Give me that juice. I'll guzzle it down too.

Guy who isn't entirely clear on the gambling policy and feels lucky. Vegas, baby. Vegas. I believe you. All of you. Beautiful, beautiful babies of this wonderful cosmic ballet we call pro football. All of you, I believe. that was touching i think it's a time of positivity and i refuse to engage in anything else right some of these letters just seemed weird frankly um not expressing love maybe as it was intended um realizing now and yet that that was beautiful that was love it just um it oozed acceptance uh you know we're going to be doused with these comments from these players and you can swim upstream and try to stop it but you're accepting it and that that is love that's an aspect of love I love you also inclusive I love you also what was that Mark I don't know something I said four months ago on the show apparently let's hear it again I love you also Mark why don't we close out this love fest with one more from you

is one that I intercepted for anyone that was listening closely last off season. We had a little bit of a look in at the life of Cole Strange. So a year later, this is an email from Patriots O-Linman, Cole Strange to Linda Halcyon. That's the girl that he dated from 10th grade at Farragut High in Tennessee into his freshman year at Chattanooga. I don't know if you knew that that's where he went to school. But who's to forget that letter? Yeah, that was great. Yes, that woman.

Right. And before Cole and Linda Halcyon were pulled away by the world, essentially. This is years later, and he's slightly myth. But he says, Dear Linda, I'm writing you from Patriots mini camp, where I've just sat through a 75-minute meeting on pre-snap adjustments from the guard-center guard combo along our interior offensive line. We were never taught these concepts back when I played at Farragut High.

One additional concept I wasn't taught at Farragut, that you would somehow be convinced by your materialistic parents to get engaged to Lester Wexelworth. What are we doing here? Wexelworth is a total nerd, and not in that reverse psychology emo way that some girls dig. But I get it, hedge fun guy versus 301-pound interior mauler playing a game your parents don't respect.

I guess you've forgotten all about our plans to visit every diner and dive bar along the Tennessee stretch of Interstate 40, or eat nothing but Chinese takeout for one month just to see what happens to our intestinal systems, or go birdwatching from atop the old Roller's building with a bottle of whiskey and Cool Ranch Doritos. Bill Belichick said to me the other day, you'll be twice the player when you learn to wipe out the past. I guess that's what I'll do. May your days be bright, Linda Halcyat or Linda Wexelworth, whatever. Yours, Cole Strange, Patriots, line and unbelievable you know when he was drafted there was a lot of pushback that that was a reach in the

first round a year ago but i think it's also when you read something like that it's a reminder that a person's value and worth goes beyond their their splits or their leg press or you know whatever else you know there's more to it and cole is showing you that right appreciate that response because it's just like, this is whole other side of these players that we're not always aware of. No, it's tough because like, like Wexelrod, I would get it if it was like the dorky emo type.

It's like sneaky, they're actually sneaky hot. Absolutely. It's like that Rachel girl in the movie in the early 2000, she takes off the glasses. But she actually was hot a lot. There's actually a lot of guys like that. Wexelrod's not that guy. he's a three he's a three and a half and you're ditching him for strange ditching

ditching strange yeah i believe you're referring to um lany boggs uh from she's all that the freddy prince junior vehicle uh yeah she was super hot um and we didn't need six pence none the richer or the stairwell walk to tell us otherwise great rachel is the actress's name and i should have had that ready if i was going to make such an analogy but you nailed it they clark kenned her basically and then you know the glasses come off and it's a super bean can we like slow down too with um what was going on at the daily planet like in metropolis like clarkent was smoke show broad shoulders high chiseled cheekbones great hair and so he's wearing a pair of glasses and now it's like not only do we not see him as superman we see him as a bumbling like fool

hanger on in the newsroom like let's clean it up world yeah man if anything i thought he brought you know, levity to that newsroom with his sort of tripping and bumbling and falling over things, which was just showed you as a great method actor. He, that's not who he really was. And those glasses turned out to come back into fashion as like hot guy glasses. And they've been probably stuck there for about 15 years. They just are the hot guy glasses. Right. Now. If they, if Superman were to come out today, um, Clark Kent wouldn't have the glasses and Superman would. Right. Um, I also love that like, Cole. Strange is, and it's something special about this podcast, that we have sources, we have ways to get into the Cole Strange's world, but you have to be a regular listener because I did Google because I remember Linda Halcyon was involved in the program. And it was almost exactly a year ago. And if you Google Col Strange Mark Sessler, you find a review as the top result. And it's from Reddit and I'll read it. And it says Mark's excursion.

into Cole Strange's head is an all-time Cessler moment. So I just think that's, that's, that's accurate. That's what that is. There it is. I guess we'll see where we are next summer with him. Wonderful. And that's it. That's it for today's show.

And I think the only other thing I'll say is tell somebody that you love them today, as we did. We'll be back Thursday with Connie Fox. Until then. you know what to do he the call love you guys oh i love you also same This is an IHeart podcast.