NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Packers Stunner, Mina Kimes on Baker Mayfield

Episode Date: July 24, 2019

A room filled with heroes- Dan Hanzus, Chris Wesseling and Marc Sessler bring you all of the latest news around the NFL (and there is a lot of it in this episode!) including Packers parting ways with Mike Daniels, (6:50) Taylor Lewan testing postive for PEDs (9:09) and Mark Sanchez hanging up his cleats.(25:02) The heroes spin through some rapid fire news with 8 oclock delight (29:07) because there is just so much to get to and Mina Kimes joins in to discuss Baker Mayfield and how he could be president. (32:29)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. Wishes its middle name was Princess. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast presented by Sirius XM. My name is Dan Hansus, and I'm joined a room filled with some heroes, Mark Sessler, and Chris Wessling. What is up, boys? Hey, Dan. We're back in the studio.

And it feels good. It does feel good. It feels real good. I learned, you know, about it soon after last show was put up on air, that my mic or my voice in general was barely audible to the, to the, it's. For your first line. I'm so over the this. I just felt like a little bit. I'm so over.

There was some sort of a plot going on where my voice was trying, someone was trying to squelch my opinions. Is it, is it fair to wonder if, Wes, just you and I on this one, is it fair. to wonder if there were some score settling involved here. Well, yeah, I think that's always fair. Mark has had his issues with our producers over the years. I, and I also notice it's the only show that Greg was here with me since I've returned from a long sojourn and suddenly I'm off to the side in a white chair with a green, fuzzy pillow and my mic is barely working.

I did when I came into the studio, I got there early and Greg was already there, which is weird. And he seemed to be in the corner fiddling with some wires. With something. I don't blame the producer. I think he got into the studio. Oh, you think this is Greg. I thought that that's what Mark was putting out there.

And now I'm putting it all together, you know, some context clues here. Greg in the motherboard, who knows what was happening, I don't like any of it. Greg in the motherboard sounds like his first album. Oh, hey, Dan. You're here early. I was like, no, it's like 10 minutes before the show. Oh, yeah, no, I just, you know, got here. Hey, I got another pair of new sneakers.

Check them out. Oh, how about the Yankees? It's like, what? Why is Greg asking me about the Yankees? Another pair of new sneakers, check it out. All right. This is the Wednesday edition of the Around the NFL podcast. Much to get to today. Now training camps are really ramping up. Almost everyone is either reporting already or, you know, Thursday, Friday, and we're in full swing. And you see it in the news because after weeks and weeks of, you know, let's call it what it is, a bunch of BSin between the heroes and the studio, you know, looking for stuff to talk about. um you know delving into topics that maybe don't need to be delved into uh and sometimes that makes for fun podcasting but now we have a lot of actual news to get to us and that's a bit of relief i got

to say you think a little bit a little bit so much news that we might even return uh for the first time and sometime eight o'clock delight wow one of our favorite tunes i could have used another few weeks of no news i yeah now that it's here this influx is unwelcome on some level i was trying to keep a good attitude about it. Also on today's show, Mina Kimes. We've teased it for a few days now. She wrote about Baker Mayfield for ESPN,

a great piece. And we thought it'd be fun to get her on the show and talk about it and got to know Mina a little bit more, who we've all been fans of for a long time. So Mina will join us as well a little bit. But before that, now time for what we are hearing. Presented by Sirius XM. Let's do some news.

You all know what town is? This man covered so good. He's been having his own cell phone service. The man's so good they've been to give him his own jail for Jalen Cowley. Because these receivers are on 24-hour lockdown. If you check his pockets, he got eight master locks in his pocket. They're on lockdown all season. The man, the mirror, Jalen Ramsey.

Y'all know what it is. Oh, boy. Jalen Ramsey, that was the sound of the end of the big arrival era in the NFL for training camp. Jalen Ramsey killed it. It's over now because he showed up in an armored truck with a hype man and a megaphone. And as you could hear from the crowd of seven. There's a smattering of like maybe six to seven people. When the, because he, he, as the height man's in front of the truck, yelling into the megaphone about how great Jalen Ramsey is, first of all, you got to imagine Jalen Ramsey in the truck, who has to be thinking, because he pulled up and saw nobody was there. He has to be thinking to himself, oh, wait a second, this may not be a good idea.

Then when the lock triggers, to open up the two heavy steel arbor doors, that's louder than any of the cheers, which really tells you a lot about, again, the turnout for this. and the whole thing was just a little bit ponderous. Well, if you're a talented young cornerback with swag in the NFL, the first thing they give you when you get in the league, your agent and then your family and friends, they give you the Dion Sanders handbook. And it's up to you not to be a cheap knockoff of Dion Sanders. It's up to you to embrace the character.

And my problem with this, it was inartistic, and he did not embrace the rule. It's over now. He only gave us about half of the character there. I also, you know, you are a team where every other club in your division won 9, 10, or 11 games. You went 5 and 11 as one of the biggest disappointments in the entire NFL. And so this is the year where you need to kind of get back together, get those core leaders operating in unison. And you roll up saying, look at me, I want to open a truck.

You need to give me more money while like eight bosses and like four fans are standing there. It just feels like a little bit ill-tune. Can you picture Tom Coughlin? I don't know if he knows Twitter exists. but if this video does get into one of his old 1997 TVs that he has in his study... What's going to get there? He's probably not going to be thrilled with. Anyway, so Jalen Ramsey now a cautionary tale for, you know, how to ruin things.

That would be like you rolling into the newsroom at 5.15 in the morning and, you know, turning on the speakers and shouting about how much of a raise you need with six people sitting there four of them four months removed from USC. And everyone that makes about a tenth of the amount of money is you, well, a hundredth of the amount of money. anything you just described except for the Ray's part. I've seen Warren Sapp do that in the newsroom. You aren't wrong. He ain't in the newsroom no more. All right, let's get to it. Let's start with some surprising news out of Green Bay.

The Packers made a cut that people did not see coming. NFL networks Mike Garifolo reported Wednesday that the Packers are releasing defensive lineman and Mike Daniels, a 2017 pro bowler who was due $8,000, 2019 in base salary, clears that money, and then some on their Cap 30 years old. They spent all seven years of his career with Green Bay. As I said, a pro bowl guy recently has 2017 had some injury issues last year.

However, Wes, the Packers make the decision to move on. How about that? This comes at a time when they also extend Dean Lowry, who started last year as a rotational guy behind Muhammad Wilkerson. But he's in the prime of his career, and Mike Daniels is just now exiting the prime of his career. I thought the timing was peculiar. If you knew this, I mean, what's changed between your spring practices and now that this couldn't have been done six weeks ago or two months ago? And Joe Banner, former Eagles and Browns president, had some pretty strong language on Twitter.

He said, let's be perfectly clear, the releasing of veteran players on the eve of training camp is wrong and indefensible unless there are circumstances we are unaware of and have been clearly explained to the player or an agent. It's just wrong. It's hard not to feel for anyone that gets chopped right here and suddenly asked to pick up the pieces somewhere else. And Mike Garifolo, because now we have every reporter reporting all day long from sunup till sundown. Said that the Packers had tried to complete a trade for Mike Daniels and just couldn't make it happen. I don't know what they were asking because this is someone that I could imagine someone giving something for, no problem. And then Stacey Dales later in the morning,

reported that basically that Matt LaFleur in the front office came to a point where they feel happy and comfortable with the guys you just mentioned and someone also like Zadaria Smooth who they can move inside and out and be flexible with but if you're Mike Daniels why could this not have happened two months ago

where you've got time to pick up the pieces and move somewhere else? And he'll catch... Assuming he is healthy this is a good player that has years left and perhaps some extra motivation now after what's happened here but you wonder or if, could this be as simple as a bottom line situation?

We saw that report a couple of weeks ago, but the Packers reporting record expenses. They were flat year to year in terms of revenue, or excuse me, they were down year to year in terms of revenue, almost had none. This is a different organization that's run differently. Are they just tightening up the purse strings after spending a lot of money back in March? I don't know.

That's a good question. Other news in the NFL. Taylor Luan, the all-pro. left tackle, one of the key pieces of the Tennessee Titans as they hope to get back to the playoffs in 2019. He'll miss the start of the regular season, a four-game suspension after failing a drug test for a banned substance.

Luan says he didn't knowingly take the prohibited supplement and he did the new move, which you're seeing pop up now as these players get out in front of these announcements with a video on social media expressing either, to how it could have happened or apologies to the fan base and all of that. So Luan says, you know, he had no idea. He's not a cheater, but he has failed the test and he will miss four games. And that hurts a lot, Mark Sessler, a 28-year-old smack in the prime of his career.

And a lot of people think Tennessee is going to be better this year. Well, it's going to be a tough start without their best player. Well, I don't think this story is over. he failed the test, but he passed a lie detector test saying that he did not know that this was part of the mix of whatever he took. What does that mean, though? Well, here's the thing. If you go look at the video, I mean, watching it, I thought that he made a compelling emotional case. And just who knows what he did, but from a human behavior angle, I don't think you go this distance if you know inside that you aren't, that this didn't happen to you versus you choosing this to happen. This guy is not a head case.

he's someone that is super plugged into the team. He was emotional about where he left the team by getting the suspension. So I came away kind of thinking, I believe him. And I don't know if this needs to be a case-by-case thing too with the NFL where, you know, you can't just – he's going to appeal it, and I hope he's heard. Well, to your point, Ian Rappaport reported today on Inside Training Camp Live that this has not yet been made official, and there's no statement coming from the NFL just yet. They're still in the process of going through the different samples,

making sure the first sample matches the second sample. So it's not a done deal, but it seems like it could certainly end that way. And Luan sees it coming, so he's fighting it. He's been their best offensive player. You know, the skill position players are not their best offensive players in Tennessee. And their right tackle, Jack Conklin is coming off a bad year in which he had knee issues. They do have a pretty decent backup in Dennis Kelly. So I don't think this means, you know, watch out they're never going to be able to score points in the first four games.

But your biggest issue, if you're the Titans, is quarterback durability, and it has been, and this is the wrong guy to not go into the season with. Holdout talk, always fun. Zeke Elliott, it's the biggest name, and I believe the Cowboys report on Friday, so we'll find out if he indeed plans to hold out. Melvin Gordon of the Chargers did not show up to training camp on Wednesday, so his holdout is official, and Ian Rappaport reported that the holdout could be lengthy as the Chargers will haul. Halt contract talks with Gordon not showing up. That is not a great situation.

Also in Jacksonville, the Jaguars, Yannick and Gokway, he'll hold out of training camp. Reported Wednesday that the pass rusher will not report to training camp with teammates. He skipped mandatory minicamp in June after contract desires were not met. So these are two important pieces of the puzzle. Right now, not involved with the team. Quick fantasy note on the Chargers backfield, Mike Silver. of NFL network, spoke to Anthony Lynn, the head coach, who said that

2018 7th round pick Justin Jackson, we'll get a lot of reps in camp, and they have big plans for him if Melvin Gordon doesn't come back. I mean, they're going to have to. I mean, it sounds, the front office does not sound like they're going to cave here, and that one is going to go on. With Nagakwe, they offered him a deal of a short-term $19 million deal with over the first two years with 50 million plus but 19 million per year, which would have made in the fourth highest paid player at his position. But that tells me that he is a better chance to get paid

here sooner than later because they're already offering something. It just maybe isn't the terms he wants. Again, back to Joe Banner, I saw he was pumping up in Gokway as a guy who should get Dexter Lawrence money because he's cleaner from a character and health point of view than Dexter Lawrence. I would just add he might be the past rusher that Dexter Lawrence is, but not the same all-around player, definitely not as good against the run. Let's move to Cincinnati. The Bengals are handing out some money. A wide receiver, Tyler Boyd, agreed to terms on a four-year contract extension worth

$43 million. Tom Pelliserro reported Tuesday. The team a leader announced the signing. The former second round pick was slated to enter the final year of his rookie contract, where he'd make about a million bucks. Now I'll make 11-3 in year one of this new deal, 24 years old, 76 for $1,000. thousand, 28 yards and seven touchdowns last year. And Wes, the Bengals and A.J. Green, who's been injured and not quite himself in recent

seasons, we'll see how many years he has left. But Boyd, the Bengals have identified as a part of their future. Well, he earned this deal by being one of the best number two receivers in the league last year. And if AJ Green is healthy, which he hasn't been in a while for 16 games. This has a chance to be one of the better won two punches at wide receiver in the league. Mike Brown, their owner, said that A.J. Green is one of the great ones, and great

ones tend to age better than average players. So, reading between the lines, this does not mean that they just because they extended Boyd, they're looking at the end of the road with A.J. Green. Well, I mean, they're going to have to deal with A.J. Green soon. He's entering in the final year of his contract. But the Bengals are not a team that goes

out. They have to pay their own because they don't go out and sign free agents. Right. We've talked about their offensive line is a major question mark. But you could squint, and you know I'm a big fan of the tight end Tyler Eifert, if he could stay healthy. You could squint and see this team with an ability to score points. And I think that goes back.

And of course, Zach Taylor now in the mix as well, Joe Mix and A.J. Green, Tyler Boyd, Tyler Eifford, if you could stay healthy. These guys can potentially put up some points, but if you don't have anybody to block. Well, I feel like we've, the personnel hasn't changed much on office. and the skill position players. You know, they've had Mixing for a couple years. They've had Boyd for three years. They've had Green the whole time.

They've had Eiffert. Kind of. Kind of, you're right. But you don't know if he's going to be good for six or 16 games this year either. But offensive lines can kill an offense if they just can. In other Bengals news, team president, Mike Brown, has been the face of that front office for years and years and years. He concedes in an interview this week that Bengals fans are, quote,

edgy, disappointed, and he had this to say, we have to excite our fan base. We haven't made a playoff appearance for three years, and in this business, that's forever. We have lost some of our hold on our fan base. We have to win that back. I mean, count as progress, Wes, that Brown is coming out and saying such things? I feel like he's just even ignored this as an even issue for decades. It's not progress. I heard similar quotes 25 years ago.

I would also say, you know, to state, we haven't made the playoffs in the past three years as the core issue in Cincinnati. I mean, that's not where the troubles and the identity of a team that does not really want to stand out began. Well, it's a starting point, though. Well, you know what? Coming from him, and I mean, this is West's territory, but I have heard enough. In my binder, my infamous binder, there are highlighted and annotated quotes from Mike Brown

that are almost word for word what he's saying now, that we've lost a hold on our fan base. Right, just wheel them out. From 1996, from 1998, from 2001, from 2003, it's, you know, it's a broken record. They are who they are, and they're not, you know, this is that time where they make that statement, then they'll go right back to being the Bengals we know. Let's swing back to Big D. Yes, we don't know what the future holds with Ezekiel Elliott, but very good news for one of the men that would hypothetically block and will block for Zeke Elliott once week one comes around.

Travis, Frederick, to be active for the start of Cowboys. Camp. Rap sheet had this. He'll avoid the NFI list and be ready to go. Frederick, of course, missed the entire 2018 season after being diagnosed with Gillian Barr syndrome and autoimmune disease that affects the nervous system, which is scary. I mean, that's scary business. You mess with a nervous system. I think this is one of the most underrated storylines of the NFL offseason and a huge development in the NFC East and the NFC wide because, I mean, We hear the name of the syndrome, and the more you read about it, you're like, wait a minute, this person is coming back from where they were a year ago.

People come back to work and sit in a desk and they can type again, but these coming back to play NFL center at a high level, that's not happening every day. Arguably the best center in the NFL prior to this diagnosis last year. And I don't see any reason why this is not a 12-win team. I just, their roster is so strong. still just 28 years old so frederick if he comes back and he is the guy that he was that is a major piece uh for dallas returning to the fold and other cowboys news not returning to the fold alan hernes the wide receiver um he was released by the team on tuesday uh the move was confirmed on wednesday hernes had one season with the cowboys ending in gruesome fashion with an awful

broken ankle suffered against the Seahawks in the playoffs in Rappaport reported that Hearns' ankle is ready to go but after several months of rehab which kept Hurons out of OTAs in minicamp excuse me he did he did participate in OTAs in mini camp but the Cowboys are deciding to go in a different direction well they have Amari Cooper Michael Gallup and Randall Cobb locked in as the top three

they've got Tavon, Austin as their Swiss Army knife and the four-roll, where were the snaps going to come from for Alan Hearns? And we talk about getting released at this time. It's never fun for the player who has to scramble to catch on with teams that kind of have their rosters in order or have an understanding of what their roster is going to be or a plan. Hearns said, I'm good, just wish they did this earlier.

They asked me for a pay cut Monday a couple days before the camp, which is certainly fair. It's certainly fair that he's a little miffed, is what you're saying. Certainly fair that if you're going to ask the guy to take a haircut, you know, go get a haircut, a little industry parlance. Right. Is it, I mean, is it still? I think that's been around for like 50 years. It's been around, but is it something that we're still employing?

Isn't it great, though? I like it. It's great. We have a nice platform here at the Around the NFL podcast. We should be doing everything on our power to make sure. I will alter my attitude towards it and embrace it from here on out. Some of us never had a hair to cut. Once upon a time he did.

I meant metaphorically as far as what Alan Hearns is dealing with. I see. In other news, Andy Reid says that he is, quote, comfortable having wide receiver Tyreek Hill back with the team following Friday's news that Hill will not be suspended. The NFL announced last Friday, as we talked about a Monday show, that it could not conclude that Hill had violated the league's personal conduct policy and therefore will not be suspended. Here's what Reed had to say. Let's talk about Tyreek. I know that's a hot topic. So the law enforcement side of it, there have been statements made on that.

There's been statements made by the chiefs. There have been statements made by Tyreek. And with all those, obviously we were comfortable with Tyreek coming back here and by the National Football League, statements by the National Football League. So we're comfortable with Tyreek coming back here. Look forward to bringing him back here and having an opportunity to get back doing what he loves to do.

He has some obligations that he'll take care of as he goes, and I'm not going to get into all that. I'm going to kind of end it after this year. But we've all, in particular to you folks here, you've all read all the statements, as we have, and we have the trust in Tyreek and that we're going to go forward in a positive way here.

You get the idea, Mark, you talked about it on Monday. You know, the Chiefs had also an opportunity here to step up and if they decided that Hill, because of his actions, and specifically what we know for sure, which is the threat that we heard in that recorded conversation between Hill and his fiancé, that they could step in and say, well, you're not going to play with us,

but the Chiefs have chosen to go ahead. different route, which is more in line with the NFL decided. Yeah, and it's, I mean, this seems like one of those scenarios where Reed and the PR man get together very close to say, here's exactly what you're going to open your news press conference with. Let's

not have a lot of follow-ups about this. The PR guy was in like the corner of the press conference just staring at Andy Reed. Exactly. Exactly. It doesn't change anything that we discussed on our last show. Moving on. Oh, the town of friendly people, Pearl River.

We back in business. Ex-Huston, Texans, general manager Brian Gain, landed a new job with a former team. The Bills hired Gain as senior personnel advisor to assist with both pro and college scouting. The team announced Tuesday the Texans, in a surprise move, fired Gain as their GM after just one season in June. Tough news for Pearl River. We were proud to see one of our own. We grew up on Quake Lane in Pearl River, about a stone's row from. the hanses house and um you can keep playing that i just like it's very nice makes it feel like

i'm back in PR and it's the fourth of july and the fireworks in the cemetery yeah i mean i think one thing that i've always thought my whole life even when i grew up um you know not too far from pearl river far enough that you can knock someone from pearl river down but you know they're going to get back up they're climbing out of that mind shop do you know my mom i love deb just the greatest woman. Well, other than my mom. She is actively miffed that

you could keep in. Erica's mom too. That what? What are we talking about? Moms? This thing where your mom is the greatest mom of the world. That's fine that you think that.

But there are other people that are other, she's a wonderful person. That my mom is the greatest. Now, I'm not saying that you need to believe. You said it definitively as if there's something that we all believe to. You know what? I'm going to put Deb on the phone with you and you can share your opinions.

I had about an hour and a half conversation with Deb at the Super Bowl. We're tight, but I think she doesn't understand where I'm coming from. The point I'm trying to make is that my mom who grew up, well, she was born in Queens in New York City, and then as a young girl, moved to Pearl River, and she loves the town where she grew up. She has issues with how I sometimes portray Pearl River, which to me is ridiculous, because I believe it's, I portrayed in a flattering light, but opinions vary, apparently. It's definitely portrayed in A-Light.

Well, Brian Gain, back on his feet. Finally, in the news, before we get to 8 o'clock delight, yes, a well-known player is hanging up the cleats after 10 seasons.

Sanchez takes the snap. Back before the end zone for Holmes. Got it! Touchdown! What a catch by Santonio Holmes. What a throw by Sanchez. And the Jets answer right back. There's the high point of my Jets fandom.

As sad as that may seem, it was a divisional round playoff game against the New England Patriots in January. 2011. Mark Sanchez throws a beautiful ball. Santonio Holmes gets his toes down in the corner of the end zone. The Jets upset the Patriots 28 to 21 in Foxborough. that is the famous Can't Wait Bart Scott game.

They then could wait actually because then they got beat by the Steelers the next week. But Mark Sanchez is finished. He's retiring after 10 years in the NFL. He's taking a college football job at ABC ESPN. And I don't think that this is a career that deserves a long winding obituary or anything like that. But I will just say that for a guy that will be remembered, and perhaps fairly so, I get it. it for the butt fumble. There is a large segment of football fans

in the New York, New Jersey area that have fond memories of Sanchez and what he was able to do. And while the Jets' defense in those early Rex Ryan years carried that team, go back if you care to and watch highlights from those four playoff wins all on the road from Sanchez.

And he made some big money throws as a 22, 23-year-old kid who actually was a bit of a limited player, as it turned out, The Jets drafted him to be a star. He was never close to that. But he had Moxie, had charisma. He didn't quite have the game to become a true franchise passer.

But he had some really special moments. And for Jets fans who haven't had a lot of special moments since Joe Namath, he will always be remembered fondly. I get it. The butt fumble. It's part of his legacy. But he was more than that. It's real different if you are a fan of a team that has to look back to that far

to your last playoff appearances at all. And he came very close to being Eric Mangini's quarterback in Cleveland. They traded with the Jets traded up. And the Browns wound up getting Alex Mack at number 21. And I'll say one thing about like when you've seen what happened with Tony Romo. And around this time was when Tony Romo was criticized, so rounding his career for one or two mistakes he made. And it kind of, the book was out on him. And I think that helped him as a broadcaster along with his incredible smarts.

We've already seen some stuff from Sanchez. He's very good on air. And I kind of love what he's going to do with his next career because this is when the quarterback gets revenge when they go have a nice 20 or 30 year long career where they're still in the limelight and we learn to love him. I don't think about the fumble and I don't really even think much about the playoffs. For me, when I think of Mark Sanchez, it's the first few NFL starts when he looked like a throwback to the 50s and 60s with his ball handling and sleight of hand. And it looked like we were seeing a guy who was going to be the Jets quarterback for the next decade. and I just never thought he got better after his first few starts.

He, yeah, and he, after that second season, they actually, after the Bart Scott Patriots game, they fell behind 24-3 in the AFC title game against the Steelers almost came all the way back. They lost 2419, and there was a, it will live in Jets' infamy, a third in three. Rathlisberger rolls to his right

and hits a young guy named Antonio Brown for the first down that let the Steelers run out the clock. to clinch the AFC title. Every Jets fan that knows the game and was following what was going on the second half just wanted to see Mark Sanchez get the ball one more time because he was playing incredibly well in the second half and it's a great what-if in his career and in Jets history

if they could have gotten that last stop. But they didn't and that is it. Good luck Mark Sanchez and whatever comes next. Let us now hit 8 o'clock the light. All right. Jadavia and Clowny. unsigned franchise tag player expected to report before week one mark surprised well i i would have been a couple days ago but tom pellicero talked to someone who said

they'd be shocked if he missed any regular season games also from tom pellicero he reports that quote no new deal is on the horizon at this point for tom brady the patriots quarterback going on 42 years old another chip on the shoulder the old man west well you never know if of a contract that's coming from Brady or from the Patriots, but Mike Giardy from NFL Network says there is some frustration from Brady's camp that this hasn't been taken care of yet. Hmm, interesting. Drama, Ricky. Cooper Cup, the Rams wide receiver who tore his ACL last November,

will avoid the active publicist to open training camp. Great news. Mark Sessel for a team that missed Cooper Cup down the stretch last year. For a team that has questions about Todd Gurley, for a team that's wondering how Jared Gough were rebound from an ugly, ugly Super Bowl. This is a nice bit of news. Here's some bad news for you, potentially, Mark.

Seth DeVov watch. The Patriots have signed tight end Lance Kendricks. Isn't that the roster spot that DeVov would hypothetically have at this stage? As I tweeted, I think this is the move behind the move, behind the move. Ooh, I like that. Bobby Wagner reports to the Seahawks. Duke Johnson also reports to the Browns West, so some people are reporting despite being unhappy.

Yeah, it's good that Bobby Wagner's there. This seems like Earl Thomas is the way he handed it last year, that he might not give 100% in practices, but he's still going to be there. I'm annoyed on this Duke Johnson thing. I'm not saying he is the greatest running back on the planet, but that they're supposed to give him away for a bag of spoons because he's disgruntled. Don't do it. Mark, I know you're furious about this.

The Redskins part ways with linebacker Mason Foster. Vent, this is your platform. I'm still coming to grips with this. I'm working on a written piece, a personal diary piece. You know, I just need to dump out some emotions, a lot of conflicting. Kind of like what I do with Sanchez just now. I thought you're a Mason Foster monologue with a hit harder. I have raging forces inside of me over this topic and not ready to discuss.

Hey, Wes, this is not a laughing matter, but Adrian Peterson is reportedly in Financial Rune, a guy that's made more than double of any running back in NFL history, like 100 million, and he's got people coming after him over loans. It's like trying to keep watering your hands. Yeah. You just have to wonder, like, who's, who, who, yeah, just like water. That's it. I'll leave it there.

Andy Reid, exotic off-season activity. He had some Mexican food, Mark. Once, twice? Okay. Need more information, please. He was asked if he did anything fun or exotic, exotic this off season. and he said that he had... Taco Bell.

No. He had chili relanos. Oh, those are great. Rianos? I mean stretch boundaries of the human experience whenever you can. That's my next project.

Chile Rianos. I'm going to make chili Rianos. That's what's happening in the news. All right. As promised, our next guest, you know who she is. Senior writer over at ESP.

She's involved in roughly 400 ESPN programs and beyond the Queen of Bristol. Mina Kimes, welcome to the Around the NFL podcast. Well, the Queen of Everywhere but Bristol, hopefully. Or that's what I've managed so far. It's so good to have you, Mina, on the show. We are big fans of yours. And we have been doing like a dance for like a year or so. Like we got to get Mina on the show.

And finally, here we are. Yeah, same city yet not together. I know. Isn't it a weird? And one quick note, I mean, Greg, he had been very excited about being a part of this, but confided to Dan and I this morning that he was a little too nervous to appear. So we're just going to forge on with the three of us. FYI.

Got it. And the reason we have Mina on, there was a lot of reasons, but the idea came from her latest profile for ESPN on Baker Mayfield headline. Baker Mayfield isn't afraid of the hype and it's a great piece. And Mina, as you, I'm sure. or no, Mark Sessler is a huge Cleveland Browns fan. So this just felt like the perfect opportunity to have you on the show and talk about it for a few minutes. And let me start here. Well, let's get into it this way. So Hugh Jackson, not Baker Mayfield's favorite guy, called Baker

the Pied Piper. That is, charisma, quote, has a way of drawing people to him, which you wrote in the piece. A lot of people found deeply weird. Did you find that when you spent extended time with the Cleveland Brown's starting quarterback. Well, I want to add a quick note on that Pied Piper analogy. While I was writing the piece, I actually looked up the Pied Piper story. I don't know if you guys know, but it's very dark. Oh, yeah. It ends badly, right?

Which in retrospect, may have been accurate. Because the Pied Piper ends up, you know, leading the rats out of the town. They don't pay him so he, like, kills all the kids or leads them away from the town as well and may have foreshadowed some of the tension between Baker and Hugh Jackson because he did lead the team away from Hugh in some ways. Why is it that in the old days, the fairy tales that were read to children, children slaughtered all the time in those fairy tales. I guess it was a way to keep them in line, but it's pretty heavy in retrospect. Children only lived to be 14 or 15 years old and some of those old in times, so they were tougher at an earlier age, I think.

Well, how else do you commemorate a tragedy? That's true, too. You remember the victims. Anyway, so Baker-Bingfield, what was your sense on the guy spending? How much time did you spend with him for this? You know, so I met him in Cleveland for that first interview, and we spent about an hour and a half or so in the Browns facility, and that was enough to come away believing, not about the killing the kids part, but the charisma aspect of the pie-paper analogy really holds.

I mean, the guy is, it's funny to me, guys, that he says, I'm not politically correct or I'm not a politician, because he could run for president, right? Like, he's so freaking charismatic, and you hear stories about it, you didn't college. he's a kind of guy who could like walk into a locker room and regardless of your age or your background, I think he can immediately connect with every single person. Is there anyone else? I mean, in terms of the charisma that he exudes, you've been around a lot of different football players and other athletes in different sports. Does he remind you like right off the bat of someone else? I remember people used to say like when they walk into

a room with Bill Clinton, not everyone, but some people felt like you could just feel as energy coming at you and it was a very unique situation. It sounds like Baker has a little bit of that going on. Is there anyone else that comes to mind? Yeah, in the NFL, definitely none of the guys that I've profiled. It's funny, I actually wrote a story about his backup in Cleveland, Tyrod Taylor, who could not be more different from him, who is a wonderful person in Baker himself, you know, talked about how kind he was. And in some ways how that made him not, he said, didn't want to come in be an ass, was his words with respect to Ty Rod. But, you know, I did a story on Aaron Rogers a couple of summers ago, very different. Jalen Ramsey,

last summer, I actually thought that story, Jalen Ramsey was in the news today for the Brinks truck stunt. I thought, yeah, well, let's, we don't have to talk about that. I thought the Ramsey story was actually kind of interesting, an interesting lens to think about Baker, because while they're very different, and they play different positions, and I think their personalities mean different things for those positions, Jalen talked a lot of trash and was very much himself, and I think he kind of caught the bad side of that last season, which is if you talk a lot of a lot of trash and you're yourself and your team doesn't back it up it hurts and i think that's the risk for baker as well well that's a great call and also the with i think what baker what makes

him different and he does feel different um when you look at the the way the league is especially at the quarterback position and he even said in your piece you write about how the even the idea of quote franchise quarterback it's like a politician type term he is outspoken he's he can have rabbit ears on social media and sports media, he'll stir things up, he'll say things. And I feel like you think back in the NFL, and especially the modern NFL, a lot of quarterbacks don't do that. So in some ways, you could look at Baker as a bit of a social experiment, right? For a guy that is going to be outspoken, say what's on his mind, but also be the leader

of a team at quarterback a position that's typically reserved for this stoic man that's the face of the team and never says anything interesting. I think that's what you're absolutely right. What's unusual about him is that he's a quarterback, right? Because if he was a defensive end, we wouldn't really, you know, honestly, he doesn't even talk that much trash. But the fact that he sort of says what he thinks about everything and plays that position is unusual.

I talked to Drew Stanton for this story, and the interview didn't make it into the piece. But, you know, there's a guy who's been in the league for 12 seasons at this point, been around a lot of number one picks. He was around Andrew Luck. And he had a lot of thoughts, interesting thoughts on the way that they've managed Baker in Cleveland from a football perspective, compared to other quarterbacks he's been around. But from a personality perspective, he told me, Baker's not like any other quarterback I've been around.

And he did say, he thought some of it was generational. You know, Baker is very much a millennial. He is online like us. He is reading stuff. He is not afraid to express his opinions. And I think there might be a bit of a sea change from here on out. Well, I think we've seen quarterbacks like this. To me, he's got shades of former Bears quarterback Jim McMahon.

He's got some Brett Fav. and those, like Jim McMahon was unreliable. He was injured constantly. He was in trouble a lot to the point where it affected whether he was going to play or not. And Farv was the opposite. He was a rock. He played every week. He couldn't get him out of the lineup.

So to me, that's kind of interesting that he has kind of both of those guys in him. And we'll see which one wins help. But I think I see more Fav in him. Like Young Fav. No, that's the perfect comparison, Brett Farrb. And Lincoln Riley brought that up to me because he said, you know, Baker's the only quarterback I've been around who plays better emotional. And we were kind of like trying to think of other quarterbacks.

And he came up with Favre. And you guys might remember Scott McLuhan, who was consulting for the Browns when they took Baker, was also a Brett Fav guy. And I think he saw shades of him in his former QB. I don't think that they draft Baker-Mayfield, if not for Scott McLuhan. I agree. I'm convinced to this day. This was in the piece, so I assume it's in bounds.

But I found it very interesting, the nuggets that you. dug up on his, you know, he got married this summer, and I follow Emily Wilkinson on Instagram, just because I want to track, I want to track what my quarterback is doing, number one. Sure, you do. But he is social media savvy, but at the same time I found this nugget that to get her attention because she was just like, who is this sort of thug quarterback guy, he followed her and unfollowed her and unfollowed her on Instagram to get on her radar. I mean, that's, I'm not sure that's something Baker Mayfield would want me to know, but I

find it an interesting way to go for a future NFL quarterback. If you were to reboot or reimagine Fear, the Mark Wahlberg, Reese Witherspoon Classic, that would be one of his early moves, like early on in the films. But I guess if you get the girl, then it doesn't come off too poorly, I guess. You know, when I heard that, I was confused because Baker's so accurate, right? That's his hallmark, but he just kept shooting a shot. Look, it worked, right? So who are we to question it? Absolutely. And we also, you know, the Browns, the history, it's almost, too perfect. And Mark, I know it's, Mark is the bronze fan. You're almost on guard because everything seems to be falling into place so beautifully for Cleveland that you're waiting for

the other shoe to drop. But he's the perfect guy to land in Cleveland. And I thought another part of your profile, again, everybody check it out on ESPN.com is when you ask him about all the hype, there are people that are people out there that are smart football people that think that Cleveland Browns can go to the Super Bowl this year, that they're going to win the division. Like, that's a real thing that's out there. I do. And you ask him, if it feels weird to have so much hype and he says for them not for me for everyone else around here it's been pretty terrible to be part of this team for a while and that's so true and mark you could speak to this more than anyone yeah a lot of hype around the browns it could backfire and that's we've seen it happen with a thousand teams before but you know what it's a lot better then being made fun of constantly for being one in thirty one or whatever it is or twelve and ninety eight or whatever the run was before that like this is better it is better i think the off season is just so long that there is already exhaustion with a team that just simply won seven games last year. We're not talking about Patriots exhaustion,

except some people seem just as tired of the Browns. But I wonder, I mean, by being there, do you feel like the quarterback in the team are able to kind of get beyond all that and just stay focused? I do. By the way, the dismissive tone about the Brown's winning division, I certainly think they're going to win the division. I do, too.

Super Bowl is a little, you know, slow your role. It is a competitive division. I do, I agree, you're probably going to get two playoff teams out of here, but I do think Baker is capable of doing it. You know, there's this question that I posed in the piece of, well, what's going to happen if he encounters adversity? You know, at the beginning of schedule, there's some challenges there. But he's encountered adversity before. I think the fact that last season, after winning that initial game, they had so many losses, and it was obviously a circus-like environment in Cleveland, we now know more about, the fact that he kept his head down.

and was able to just kind of steer through it, I think is important and instructive. Now, they've got a lot of mouths to feed there on that offense now, and he's got to navigate that, but he navigated as well in college, too. And guys, I like, I'm very high on him not having a sophomore slump, I suppose, just because of the ways in which he improved over the season last year. I have concerns about this offensive line. It's probably the biggest concern I have about the team. but the fact that he was able to, like his decision-making,

you saw, I think, him and Freddie Kitchens kind of come together as the season went on. I think that they'll be fine this year. Yeah, and people underestimate how much a player like Odell can open up an offense. I don't see any way how they're not going to be much better. And I really did put a star by that, the sentence we've been talking about, where he talks about, you know, for them, not for me, for everyone else around here, it's been pretty terrible to be a part of this team. because the contrast with the other team in Ohio,

which is still haunted, which went through the 90s and had quarterbacks that were the polar opposite of Baker Mayfield and Andy Dalton and Carson Palmer personality-wise. And I think it's easier for a quarterback like Baker Mayfield to come in and eradicate all those ghosts in the building because of that charisma and that personality. And I'm not sure the Bengals have done that yet.

Go ahead, Mina. Oh, no, I was just amazed. It was a sad, um, about the Bengals. I don't want to talk about it. Very appropriate. Yeah, yeah. Maybe the focus of your next profile at ESPN.

I mean, hey, you're not just a, you know, a great profile writer. You got a lot of irons in the fire, including you hosted a show, co-hosted a show with the ringer Big Little Live, which is, first of all, really nice job with the title. Kudos on that. Thanks. Your thoughts, because I don't know, Wes, a few weeks back on our show, wrote. Seapones, or spoke seapones, about the show. What were your thoughts about season two of Big Little Eyes? Oh, the music.

I thought that, I feel like I should change the tone of my voice. Go a little more NPR on you guys. That's my Russell Wilson contract announcement voice. Hey, around the NFL. Top of Mount Kilimanjaro voice. All right, go ahead. I thought that the acting was incredible. I thought the plot didn't quite hold me as much as it did in season one.

but I thought overall it was you know for this time of years the perfect summer you know television show is there a season three I kind of hope not I don't know I think that they've exhausted the run of this

they've said in the past it would be two seasons but you never know I would like you I do season three but Merrill Streep has a twin and she comes in and unleashes her brand of chaos oh that sounds fun feels like a bridge too far it is good though I mean

the prestige TV era that's ongoing. We're kind of out of the from the enormous shadow of Game of Thrones, which is nice. Ricky Hollywood behind the glass threw it out there. I need a show to watch. I nominated Euphoria

and me and I saw you back that up on Twitter. That's the one, Ricky. Yeah. That's a great, it's almost like a throwback HBO show to the old days where it's titillating and a little wild and it's meant to scare away certain people.

The stuff that they removed from their library about a year ago. I mean, I liked you for you, too. I thought you were already watching. I suggested Silver Spoons, which West agreed with. I don't know what's going on. That's not getting. There's that generational divide again between Erica and the boys on the other side of the table.

I think Ricky would like you on Ricky Schroeder. Finally, before you go, Mina, and again, thank you so much for joining us. I want to give you our version. It's kind of like our old game, Qualas to Fantasia. What's your fantasy? where I'm just going to give you an either-or scenario, a little sliding doors action. Boy, okay.

Okay. You're a die-hard Seahawks fan. True. Which I love, by the way. Tough times. Because we keep it real here in the studio about who we root for. And Mina's out here covering the NFL and just being like, I grew up with the Seahawks, with my old man, and I just, that's who I support,

and I still do. So I respect that, Mina. No. I can't hide it. I have a Super Bowl tattoo. I'm not going to pretend. See you? Really? What is it?

Regrettably. Where is it? It's a 48 Roman numerals. My brother and I made a pact if we ever won because, you know, obviously it was the first that we would get them together. Wow. I was worried that it was the one where the referees banged you against the Steelers and you got it before the game and that would have been bad. But okay, that's good that you got the W. All right, here we go.

If I could tell you that in Super Bowl 49, the famous. pass, of course, which we don't have to dwell on. I'm happy to get into it. Yeah, but if you could go back in time, and I won't guarantee anything else other than the ball is handed. Is that Lenny in the background? It is.

He heard Super Bowl 49, and he was like, Mom, get out. BTSC. Enough. All I can tell you is, instead of the famous play call, the pass, they hand the ball to Marshawn. Okay? I can't tell you whether the play works. Would you

be willing to live in a universe, butterfly effect, uh, that doesn't include the etch-a-sketch. Oh, yeah. For sure. It's gone. Um, and nothing like it ever replaces it. This is easy. No, this is easy.

Because the etch-skeaching, like, I, I, I've gone months without doing it recently. I've been busy. So I don't mind getting that. I will say, I don't think that they should have handed it to March on. Um, but obviously the interception was the worst, worst case scenario. Like, I would have rather have him gotten stuffed, which is what I think would have been the most likely outcome than the interstate. Interception. Interesting. See, I guess because we don't know each other personally, I just imagine

you to be on the Etch-a-Sketch like 14 hours a day. Would she know? Would she know that Etch-Sketch ever existed? It's gone. It's like elite butterfly. If she knew that it didn't exist and she remembered it from a different universe, that would be tough to deal with it. Okay, now you know it existed, but you can't recreate it. It's gone. I think I would have found another outlet. Okay. Yeah. The amount of times that that Interception, the GIF, or whatever, is sent to me, it would be worth it to eliminate it. Well, that's true. Speaking as a Jets fan

who gets the butt fumble 47 times a week, I feel your pain there. All right, Mina, again, check it out. Baker Mayfield isn't afraid of the hype on ESPN.com. She also has a podcast, the Mina Kimes show featuring Lenny, the great Lenny.

And she's on all those other shows on ESPN, the Levittard show does great work on, and so many other things. And we just thank you for coming on the show and giving us a few minutes. Thanks, guys. Thanks, Mina. Thank you.

I appreciate it. All right. There she goes. Mina comes delightful. Oh, she's great. Gotta have her back on the show. I think it's like we are in a time where sports writing for a lot of people has been reduced to lists. Here's a list of this or that.

And it's like, is this really the upper echelon of why you started into this? She's still pounding out these stories where news, five or six news stories come from it. And you get to know a player. in a way you wouldn't have, so kudos to her. And she's on like 640 television shows, so a busy lady. Ricky, tell us what you think of Mina Kimes. I think she's absolutely incredible. She's on the broadcast, correct?

Oh, yeah. She's a broad, a fellow broad. She's so impressive. She's so smart. She is not just your typical, you know, girl reporter writer, too, not to throw shade to any of those. Yeah, she's one of a kind. I absolutely adore her. And lives up in the Hollywood Hills.

Oh, yeah. Which, you know, at some point I think we need to get up there by invitation. Well, preferably. Or whatever means necessary. Yeah, we can storm the gates, perhaps, as a backup plan. That has not worked well for certain people in the past. You said she's been on the broadcast, your podcast, of course, that you do with M of VP. I've also been a guest.

I think we all have. Everyone. Are we all broads then? Yeah. I like that. Nice. That gives us, that's a line for the resume. Honorary broad.

Yeah. Honorary Broad. All right, let's get out of here. By the way, this is it. Tonight, the Shield, 10 and 2, the number one seat in the playoffs, plays for our third consecutive championship. The hashtag West that I've been using all season long in the emails I've sent out. Do you recall?

No, because when I see a hashtag, my mind just glazes over. Defend the Dynasty has been the hashtag. And this is our chance to do it, Erica. This is your first time for a season with the Shield. You'll be getting important innings behind the plate tonight. Where are the butterflies is that for you? Feeling good. Feeling confident.

Feeling excited. Good, too. Feeling dangerous? I woke up feeling dangerous today. Shade my head, wore my best underwear. Play ball! You know, treated myself to a high-octane sandwich. I'm savoring.

This could be, you never know. It could be my last championship day. Could be the last hurrah. Best underwear. You got to, well, I mean, 99% of us have favored underwear mark because we wear underwear? I currently do and I have a favorite. I bought a series of three that I, you know, whenever they're

out of the wash. For newer listeners to the show, because it doesn't come up in a while. Mark, uh, it was well known, went Commando at all times. And a bit of a hippie throwback type thing. It's not the case. You've moved away. I just got tired of that. I did that because I wanted to and then I didn't want

to. But I don't regret having done that. Do you, are you always in the underpants now? Not always. What do you mean by that? I mean, I take showers. Sometimes you wake up feeling dangerous. Oh, you mean, if I were to go out onto the street in jeans or something?

No, I would say, yes, I would say almost always. Like we're going as the three of us and our buddy, Jason Zumwalt, we are going to see once upon a time in Hollywood on Thursday. I will be wearing... Well, I know, a thin slice of denim, will that be the only thing separating us from your band? No, no, I will be wearing underwear for that event. Neandis. I think Neandis changed it, actually.

change the game. When we had that sponsor, I think it changed. But you know, they're not a sponsor anymore. I would love them to be again. Just when they come back and then we can tell them. And they take the bag out and they give us the bag. We'll talk about the ballpark patch.

They changed my life. Anyway, so we're going to play our championship game and there will be a, I'm sure we'll talk about it on Friday's show. I mean, it's going to really suck if we lose because we'll have to address it in a press conference. Anything's possible, but this is. This is the most comfortable I've felt about our team going into the tournament. Unless anyone think Wes and I take it too seriously, we will be heading to the ballpark very early to scout the semi-final matchup

just to get some notes on our opponent in the 9 p.m. first pitch. And we will use those notes to our advantage. You got into it with the Ump or someone last time. Are you concerned that same individual will be overseen your game again? That seems like bad. He's a mook. There's no way they would assign him to the championship. championship game.

He's a MOOC. All right. He was a hammondager in that industry. So he was not, he was not the best craftsman at umpire during the game. It's just like any other sport. They're going to put their best people on the games account. I imagine they're going to have a full crew, including down the left and right field line for this. Yes.

You're going to see the outside, outside the shirt chest protectors from the old American League. You're going to see everything there. So we're all, we're very excited and there will be a party at a Tony Garcia, our short star shortstop's yacht club immediately after the game so hopefully that will be a celebration maybe not immediately and maybe and and not like a uh remember when gronk on the bad ankle was dancing in indianapolis after super bowl what was it 47 i just called super bowl giants too yes exactly this is my first healthy championship for the shield i'm looking forward to it not a trace of cancer in his bones or his body and it's a wonderful thing no no hamstrings snapping like a twig

Knock on wood All right Let's get out of here We got to get We got a prep Thanks again Tamina Kimes This is Dan Hansa

Signing off For Quiet Storm The Mailman And Ricky Hollywood Just Just four broads Chopin it up On a podcast

Till Friday This is an IHeart podcast.