NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Patriots Texans Update; MiniCamp Takeaways Week 2

Episode Date: June 14, 2019

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler and Chris Wesseling bring you the latest update on the Patriots and Texans with regards to Nick Caserio (5:39) and what it could mean for the teams. The heroes spin around the second week of mandatory minicamps and get you updated on the "whispers" coming out of Cleveland (14:28), the latest with D.K. Metcalf in Seattle (19:21) and Marquez Valdes-Scantling becoming a breakout star. (22:53) Sessler closes the show with a peaceful meditation to lead us into the weekend. (53:27)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. Doesn't pay me shit for this. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I'm joined in a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Whistling, Wessling, and Greg Rosethall. What is up, boys? Chris Whistling.

Whistling. Hey, Dan. Well, we're telling Chris Blue. Chris Blue, it's a change his name. Wesleying is a very fine, strong name, but Chris Whistling has a little bit of that. There's some punch behind that. Whistling feel to it.

Whistling past the graveyard. You smile immediately when you think of that as the last name. I like it. Hi, everybody. Welcome to the Friday show. How's everybody feeling in the studio? Sexy. By the way, this is it, Mark.

We talk about it all year long, and you lament the fact that the end of certain, you know, certain season benchmarks, like the end of the regular season, the end of the playoffs, even the draft. And it's like, oh, well, it's off-season time now. And you're always saying, not for us. It's not, you know. Well, guess what?

This is it. This is the last three-show week before essentially the summer break of the NFL. This is the end of the road for us that started in late July of 2018. I mean, I have made – How do you feel? I feel like if – and maybe no one has noticed – because I haven't even noticed this half the time, but I've made a concerted effort to be less mouthy about that process

because I think the complaint is a bit tiresome at this point. But I will say that as soon as we hit this pause, looming in the distance for me is the avalanche of activity that is just with each day coming closer and closer. It's like when you were a kid and you had, you know, summer vacation came and then you could look at it two ways when like August first hit, for instance. You could say, oh, we got another half of summer,

or you're looking down the barrel. I'm ticking it down. I'm like, we have got, this is going to get whom I sit next to in third grade. This could go very good. This could go very bad. Let's be real. We haven't been putting in a lot of like 15 hour days

over the last month. That's contributed to it. That's contributed to it. I've been grinding a lot. I've been grinding a ton of. I know Dan and I've gotten together to look at some odd games from all seasons. Yeah, there was one comment on Twitter today, actually,

really on this topic, saying absolutely on fire this season talking about the pod. Even Mark sounds interested. I mean, it's, someone's noticed. I appreciate that. As I've said many times before, this podcast is fine. It's a B minus. That's solid B minus.

But that's something to be proud of, I think. To be not failing. Fine. Yeah. At least we're not failing. Today's show, last Friday, West, while you were on your vacation after your honeymoon, We went around the NFL and looked at all the news coming out of the mandatory mini-camps and OTAs for the teams that were active last week. This week, even more teams were in the mix.

So a little later in the show, we are going to go boomerang style back and forth, throwing out some takeaways from the week that was whispers, maybe. but more just generally things that we took from the week. You have a look. Well, if I use some of the guys you've already covered last week, just let me know and I'll move on to another guy. Oh, you haven't? I haven't sat down and really absorbed the show.

It's fine. We don't need to. We'll just mention it as if nothing happened. Just like when. We'll work with you. When Dan and Steve Weiss both had long. Who was it Sammy Watkins points in back-to-back shows? No one said anything.

It was fine. It was like, what's really the big difference? But before we get to that, let's hit a little bit of news. And they said, so have you met an SP? Justin Bieber came out on the record. yesterday, I believe, and said he was only kidding about wanting to fight Tom Cruise. And what you just heard there is a perfect reason why you would bail on any fight in an octagon,

a potential fight to the death with the maniacal Tom Cruise. I mean, West was pointing out that he was older than Wilford Brimley by a couple. It's five plus years he's older than Wilford Brimley was when he was in cocoon, which was an awesome nugget by Wes. but I always just pointed to the neck-up factor that I just found Tom Cruise psychotic enough and wild enough that I wouldn't want to go anywhere near him in a fight. Just me.

Here's what Bieber said. It was a random tweet. It was. I do that stuff sometimes. I think he would probably whip my ass in a fight. He's got that dad's strength. But it's not even that. And Cruz isn't phenomenal shape.

Or he's just like the LSD has worn off. Cruz isn't phenomenal shape, but it's beyond that. It's beyond his physical fitness. fitness, it's that intensity, electricity in his brain, which is out of control. You hear that man? He is an actor.

I mean, he's acting when he does that. I don't know about that. He's a little out there. I don't know. In his real life, he seems to be venturing into some strange corners, too, and interesting corners. I don't know him to be going around pummeling people in his free time outside of acting. Not until he has to.

All right, let's go get going. We'll start on the throne of sleaze where we have some drama going on involving the Pats and the Texans and people that used to work together that no longer work together. And drama. So here's the deal. And you know the history here with the Texans. Their general manager, Rick Smith, leaves the team after his wife falls ill. They go looking for a new GM.

They knock on the door of Nick Casero. They want to meet with Casero, who is the Patriots director of player personnel. That's right. That is correct. Nailed it. Patriots say no. we're keeping Nick so eventually the Texans land on Brian Gain that doesn't work out they let him go after a year and now they want to talk to Casero again the Patriots don't like it and they smell something off so what do they do they file tampering charges against the Texans related related to their attempted GM hire of Casero a source told NFL Network insider Ian Rappaport ESPN first had this so we'll see where this goes. The Pats, obviously, Greg, believe that the Texans have been trying to make this happen around what the NFL rules are in terms of the ability to communicate with someone that's not connected to your team.

And they're going for draft picks and potentially a fine to hit the Texans. And it's just so fascinating because, of course, Bill O'Brien is a Bill Belichick disciple. And I imagine no Christmas cards will be exchanged. Well, there's a lot going on here. Jack Easterby was the team pastor, the chaplain, that they hired way back in 2013 in response to what was going on with Aaron Hernandez. And he did such a good job that he ended up staying with the Patriots for the next five, six years. And they called him the culture coach. So he wasn't trying to push religion on them, but he was trying to work with them off the field.

and he apparently kind of rose to a status where he was involved in the football operations and he left the Patriots very soon after the Robert Kraft drama from this off-season that we covered. And it's been implied pretty strongly that here's the culture coach. He basically left the Patriots upset about everything after Kraft

and there was a bidding war between the Panthers, the Dolphins, and the Texans to get this guy Easterby. He is now the executive vice president of the Texans. He's second in charge of their front office right now. And he's supposedly leading this GM search along with O'Brien. Who was at the ring ceremony with his old buddy Casario? Last Thursday night, I believe it was, you know, just hours before Brian Gain gets hired, hours before they officially request to talk to Casario.

That was Jack Easterby, who was up there. You know, the Patriots are putting all this together. I don't know if they have any actual evidence or what. But it's interesting. It also implies that Casario essentially wants to go. And I think that's what a lot of people have been missing in this story is that if they're already bringing up draft picks and all this stuff and tampering, he's out the door. I mean, it's not like they're keeping. I hear all these.

They're talking trade now. Right. All these Patriots fans are like, well, you don't even know. Maybe he's the one that reported the Texans. And he doesn't even want to go. I was like, no, I don't think. That's how they taught. I don't think that's how.

I don't think that. I had a lot of responses in my tweet, Twitter about that. It's like, hey, maybe he's ratting out the Texans getting them intro. No, I think he wants to go and get a big promotion and work with his friend Bill O'Brien. Typically, like a pastor, if they're doing their job correctly, would be based more on internal power as opposed to external power. But this is an interesting route for a New England-based religious man to take, where he now is high, Octane involved with the Texans trying to pull away Casario. Well, that's what's ironic about it.

I think the Patriots are, if you really want to get deep into it, maybe it's a little more personal for them after Easterby sort of let it be known why he left the Patriots, that now they're getting the character coach of the Texans in trouble for breaking rules. I don't know. It's a little fun. That makes sense. I think I would look at Nick Casario as someone that, you know, you can say that Belichick

and others are going to be there for the next 25 years. I don't think so. I think that there is something of a contingency plan in place, which from a distance, I'd have to say, has something to do with Josh McDaniels, has something to do with someone like Nick Casario, handing over the team in a certain way that would not just drop everyone off a cliff. And how many people can you pull away from this organization? This might be more of the lynchpin type figure that New England's fighting for and saying, we also don't like the way it happened.

And this whole Bill O'Brien, you were one of our friends, someone we can trust. Well, you're out, buddy. Well, I always thought he sat at the right hand of the father alongside Josh McDaniels. Now it seems like he's the fallen angel like Mancini. Who? O'Brien? O'Brien. You don't want to be on the bad side of Belichick.

Casario is really unique, too, because there's no one in the league that has a job like his. He's a coach. I mean, he's out there on the field coaching the players every day in addition to being the GM. He's on the headset on Sundays talking strategy with Josh McDaniel. It's kind of a fascinating character in general. said they had him working a lot with the keel harry their wide receiver you know you see him there's no one quite like him but they never gave him a nice title there's something weird in new england where they never give you a big title or a big raise and and if to me it's like if this

guy was the key to like you know the front office and the in their future like they could have just given him a better title and a raise at any point and they never wanted to so i don't know why that is keep the people that they don't want to let go i mean he's come close to some other jobs and it hasn't happened. But they could have given him a different title and then the Texans would have no choice and they just never did it. Judge character on how people treat their family. And this guy, Casario, has been with this organization since 2001.

He's been there forever. As Greg is saying, he's not just a guy that works behind the scenes. He's been a wide receiver coach. He's been, he's a guy that's involved with the on-field action. He's such a key member of the organization. And now after, and, you know, you know, you know, with the pay and the job titles, I don't know anything about that.

But at this point, this guy... Mosley's pretty underpaid. It's clear that he wants to take the next step in his career, try something new, understandable. He wants to become the general manager, which is one of the most coveted gigs in all professional football. So the Patriots' reaction to this is to what?

Get butt hurt and try to launch with the NFL an investigation. That will essentially, when Casario ends up in Texans, with the Texans, potentially put him in a tougher spot. I know this is, we're not all best friends. This is the NFL. You're trying to beat the other teams. But you're trying to hurt the guy on his way out the door

and make this thing messy instead of just being like, hey, Nick, we love what you do. We'd love to keep you here. We'd love to try to keep you with a better title or better money. If we can't, best of luck to you and thanks for everything. Instead, they're turning this into a whole thing and it's just ugly and it's very patriot.

Well, it's, yeah, it's, I think they're feeling like they're taking it out on the Texans, you know, on Easterby. They're trying to laying their search. They're trying to embarrass them, and they clearly don't like the way they think that it went about that maybe at one of their events that this was going on. Yeah, it is ridiculous. Stop having ring ceremony. Let's start there.

I mean, they probably will at some point. It'll probably end up with like a 20-21 sixth round pick. I do not think, like, Casario is going to be knee-capped here in terms of resources. I mean, you never know. It's a fairly unprecedented story, but I can't. imagine this is going to result in any major trade or anything. All right. So we'll keep an eye on this drama, familial drama.

And let's now spin out of that topic and into camps and action on the field. This is it. This is the end of mandatory mini camp week. There are also OTAs, voluntary practice for teams. But now it's going to get a lot more quiet in the NFL. So let's go around the horn a few times. and throw out some takeaways, things that kind of caught our attention over the course of the past week.

Greg, I'll start with you. All right. I'm going to just start with kind of the news that popped up today since we haven't talked about it at all yet from Mike Silver, some whispers. Are we doing that? Yeah, that's fine. Why not?

In Cleveland, that Todd Monkin, the offensive coordinator, installation of his offense, maybe hasn't gone as smoothly as they were playing. They haven't had a lot of their best players there, which I think would make it harder. And at Freddie Kitchens, the head coaches, had to kind of step in and become more active in installing the offense. And the only reason I wanted to bring that up today is we haven't talked about that much at all. That Todd Munkin is coming in, and Freddie Kitchens got this job because of what a good job he did with the offense. But Todd Munkin has been a very successful offensive coordinator with his own principles in different places over the last few years.

and it's just like not a topic we've talked about and you could see how there might be some issues there and it's just an interesting thing for a first-year head coach already to be dealing with. I wondered how they would mesh because before last year nobody really thought much of either of them in the NFL that neither of them were play callers before last year

and they both impressed so much Monkin actually had his play-calling duties take away but at the time the bucks were I think number one in the NFL in yards so he impressed me by how open he was getting his receivers, and you could say the same thing about Freddie Kitchens. So to me, it was always interesting which one would win out there. Is it a wait and see, though, because... It's not a big deal.

It's just, I think it's like, it's just an interesting story to read and to hear, like, a first, it's probably a typical thing for a first year head coach to have to kind of manage when he's never been a head coach before. But I thought that when they hired Munkin, it's just like, this is a guy who was interviewing for head coaching jobs everywhere, including Cleveland. And so that's always, I don't know, that's always a little bit of a concern that you have two guys with two different philosophies and one that wants to be a head coach.

It's just something to deal with. It is a pretty severe left turn. And a reminder that all the Cleveland hype is going to meet with realities in real life situations because a month ago, Munkin, who I agree with you is probably going to be a head coach at some point and super talented. Like, it's just, he was added like a cherry on top of an offense that had so much talent and Freddie Kitchens and his ingenuity, that Munkin who also was someone who could relate

to Baker Mayfield's college scheme and only add a positive, but then you have to work together and mix all this together. And it's, you know, it's June and maybe it's not going quite as swimmingly as one would have predicted. I thought where you were going with that, by the way, Greg,

was the Mike Silver report today that, quote, several veteran Browns players approached Baker Mayfield to register their displeasure Oh, yeah. With his comments. This was a two-part tweet by Silver. I chose the second part. You're going for the banger up top.

Silver, very popular with Browns fans over the past couple years, by the way. Anyway, so as you know, Baker was outspoken and expressed his, oh, disappointment's not the word, but kind of just showed some bravado about. Chastised them out. Call them out. Chastised Duke Johnson who wants out. He wants to be traded. And Baker said, you could get out of the way or you can join us.

It is what it is. And apparently, according to Silver, Browns players, veterans came up to Baker and said that's not how you should handle this situation. And I don't, same thing. I don't put a ton into it. But it's interesting that after, you know, weeks and weeks and months of nothing but positive, there are some issues to work through here. And this ongoing issue with Duke Johnson is one of them. Well, I think this is one of the reasons why you don't see second-year players as team leaders because he hasn't gone through any of this contract stuff.

And he hasn't learned that in the NFL you don't mess with another player's money. Right. It seems like we even talked about at the time that we wonder if Baker would say the same things like five years down the line. I would guess not because he's got some other guys in the locker. Just like, hey, leave Duke alone. Yeah. I'm not surprised that he at some point early on said something that was rained in a little by the people around it.

But I will say, I'd rather have that in a quarterback than a wilting flower that never speaks and seems to not be a leader at all. Yeah, I agree. I'd rather have the prior. I guess I'd be curious how he reacted to that. Well, the other thing that Silver mentioned, I don't want to misquote him,

but I was watching it on network, and he sort of said that he felt that Baker might not agree with it, but he certainly listened to it and didn't, I don't really came back and argued, but he absorbed it and you move on. All right. Then he threw a punch and knocked like I was a left-tackly knocked out or something.

Let's move away from the Browns. I'll throw one out there. You could say I'm going twice in a row, but that was kind of a piggyback. It was just adding on to Greg's thing. It's a good strategy. It was just accentuated. Good mic time.

Yeah. All right. As we know, Doug Baldwin's done in Seattle. And I'm very interested because you trust what they do up there. You trust John Schneider, you trust Pete. Carol, their talent evaluation, going all the way back to, I remember being on a rooftop in downtown L.A., interviewing Pete Carroll when Matt Flynn was signed to be the starting quarterback. Massive Humble to brag, by the way. Location and job duty.

Okay, I'm going to go on now. After the Seahawks signed Matt Flynn, and the assumption was he would be the starter, and Pete Carroll kept on pound of the table about this kid, Russell Wilson, who they drafted in the mid-rounds, and we all know what happened next with that. Now we're hearing a lot of pop about D.K. Metcalf, and I think it's very important for the Seattle offense that doesn't have a ton of fireworks around it right now beyond their MVP quarterback.

That Metcalf steps up and makes an immediate impact. Here's what Russell Wilson said on Wednesday. D.K., it's great scene to make plays. I think he's looking really, really special. special. He can do anything and everything, and he's tremendous. So this is a guy that got a lot of buzz for his size, his build, his speed. He showed up for the Combine interview with his shirt off just to let the Seahawks coaching staff know how hard he is working to be the best he can be physically. And I just want to be surprised knowing that organization and the fact that there's

a superstar quarterback there if Metcalf is a player and they kind of need him to be. It's been interesting to follow this narrative around D.K. Metcalfe since January. someone who's not in the draft nick community you would look at it and say okay that nobody really ever heard of this guy during the season then he takes his shirt off and everyone says he's a stud at the combine he's a stud the first day and then the second day everyone's like well he can't really move laterally and then you see everybody start to talk bad about him right that he's a he's a product of hype that he's a workout warrior and now it's and then he falls pretty hard in the draft like right people thought he might be the first receiver taken and he almost into round three but now

it's like oh yeah all that stuff about him being the best receiver in the draft may have been true after all he is getting he's one of the rookies to watch i mean he partly it's partly because of the fan base but and the opportunity that's there but i feel like more has been written about him on a day-to-day basis than just about any rookie in the league well maybe it's because of who the head coach is but you're also seeing a lot of hype about david more pique carroll said he was the most improved player in their minning camp you hear a lot of stuff about jerusalem Ron Brown, who looks like a totally different guy this year. So three of their wide receivers are getting incredible hype this off-season.

Yeah, I mean, in Russell Wilson, who probably is not the type to come out and call someone out, spend time talking about David Moore on network today, gushing over him. So, you know, we'll see. Wes, that was a really good piggyback on my comment. Oh, yeah. And now it's right into your own. Well, I'm just following your... Now there's a pattern here.

I want everyone to realize there's a pattern. You must have something on the previous person's comment before you launch into your own. Or I'll break it. And I think Erica should jump in, too, and do a piggyback and have her own whisper. You have four minutes to get this ready, Erica. Absolutely. Wes, you're up. Big breakout candidate this year.

I'm trying to identify some guys. If our listeners haven't been paying attention this offseason, some guys to keep in mind for training camp as breakout candidates for fantasy. And to me, the most obvious one is Marcus Valdez Scantling from the Packers. MVS. Who you hear he's picking up Matt LaFleur's. offense faster than anybody. Aaron Rogers says he's an every down player. Their beat writers is saying it's not Geronimo Allison playing next to Devonte Adams in two wide receiver sets.

It's MVS playing there. And this guy, I believe at one point in his rookie year, had three 100-yard games in a four-week span. He can play. So to me, if Aaron Rogers trusts him, and it sounds like he does, Aaron Rogers is one of the guys saying that this guy's ready to take on this rule, you know that they didn't pick up anybody in the offseason because we talked about it over over again. Packers need to pick somebody up. They must have a lot of confidence in MVS, who to me looks like a huge breakout candidate. You want to piggyback? I'll give you one. Along with the fact that the offense fits him absolutely perfectly, it sounds like it just maximizes everything they like about him, and it's a speed-based offense, and we know that,

but Michael Silver, let's go back to, he's been working hard, he's been grinding his story. We know that Aaron Rogers is a friend of Michael Silver and someone that speaks to Michael Silver, and it was Rogers asked about this offense said that just as DeVante Adams has said and MVS and by the way his nickname is MVS I discovered. Makes sense. He was quoted in a show you were out here. We said if you're not using MVS as a nickname,

you're an idiot, but he is. And we thought it might get in the way of Michael David Smith, the pro football talk MDS, but apparently the Packers can see the difference between those two. Well, we, yes, when we did the show last Friday, I spoke about MVS and Aaron Rogers. You're supposed to interrupt me and tell me when he added a layer to it. But then Mark had a piggyback and I didn't want to jump on his piggyback.

Well, so let me finish this. Then you can piggyback on this. But Rogers, on top of saying that the defense would be stretched with speed and tempo and liking all that, did express concern per silver about less of a chance to audible down out of a play at the line of scrimmage, which we know he has wont to do and one of the best in the league at doing. And actually had a quote that said, think you want me to turn off 11 years of experience. So what will happen between, and Aaron Rogers, he calls out players now and again.

You know, if you're Baker Mayfield, tis, tis, but if Aaron Rogers, oh, you're going to the NFC championship, but what happens between Aaron Rogers and head coach there in terms of when they, you know, Aaron Rogers wants to do what he does on every snap, which is like draw off six people off sides by using his jargon at the line of scrimmage before the clock expires. What happens then? You see the breakthrough? Well, I...

Is this a Mondo piggyback or is that your topic? That is not my topic. I think this was, you know, let's mark down the date June 13th that Mark started turning against the 2019 Packers and trying to start drama. We got six months into the year. All right, Mark, what do you got? I...

There wasn't a lot of news out of Cowboys camp, but there's something about it when you talk about whispers and mystery. And I have long, for long periods of time, outside of Zeke Elliott, found the Cowboys offense to be somewhat dull, and you're exposed to it on a heavy basis because they're on prime time left and right.

And the DAC Prescott experience, I thought sunk a little bit last year, where at times until they kind of got their groove together with the Mari Cooper, things were an issue. But now that Kellyn Moore, their previous backup, is now their offensive coordinator, there are these amazing reports coming out about what they're planning to do with this offense,

and it uses a lot of plays that they've had in place, even when Kellynne Moore was the quarterback, and Scott Linnehan was running a rather stale system. But now Kellynne Moore, who always was described as a coach's son who would be a future coach, is in that role. He is bringing

huge elements of what he ran at Boise. And basically what that means from an really nice report, if you want to check it out, if you're listening to this, Joseph Fariolia of Inside the pylon.com went deep on this. It is a whisper-packed piece, in my opinion.

about an offense that is going to essentially do everything they can to F up the defense before the ball is snapped with an array of formations, snap motions, shifts, all sorts of stuff where they're going to use disguises to keep the defense on their heels while Deck Prescott will get more time to look at coverages. All that sounds like what every team does, except it's not what the Cowboys were doing before.

They're adding all of this to the Cowboys' offense. And the comment also was that Zeke Elliott has really looked good in this situation. Amari Cooper talked about it as being something, we are running the same plays, but we're disguising them, and he feels like he is in a much better system for him as well. So it's a whisper because we're not seeing a lot of it today, but the Cowboys, as a more exciting team, and when you pair it with their defense, which I think if you can pick up where you left off last year, hard to do, don't just hand out the NFC East to someone else quite yet. I'm excited about that. Aren't you guys? I mean, I'm with Mark, they've been a tough offense to watch. Yeah, I agree. And it reminds me of a Freddie Kitchens quote from late in the 2018 season

where he basically said, if you're not making the defense guess before the snap, you're not doing it right in today's NFL. And Kellyn Moore, since he came, you know, since he's been on that staff for a couple of years as a quarterbacks coach, I was just, I just hadn't put a lot of thought into what changes he's going to bring. I just sort of thought maybe it'll be more of the same. But Dan Orlovsky, who worked with Kellan Moore in Detroit, talked about this. I'm glad you brought it up, Mike, on the Meena Kimes podcast one time saying he expects them to go four wide a lot. He expects Dak to be running the ball a lot, like spread, a lot of movement all around and that it will be more of those sort of... That would explain why they didn't cut Alan Hearns.

Right. They want to go four wide. Like Boise and spread and just a lot more principles, which is totally different than what they've been. Biggy bank, Erica. Yeah, I agree. Nailed it. Yeah. Nailed it.

Technically what are you thinking about these cowboys? you know I don't know I think that the Cowboys you guys don't give them enough credit I feel like they got as far as they did last year and you guys still aren't sold on them I don't think they're an especially exciting team but they got to where they were for the for a reason I guess can't argue with the numbers you know excellent and solid I think that's good you know it is an exciting team the shield and a big matchup against the six and two Barney's Nooners and always a long time rival our longest rival

This is like Steelers Ravens. We didn't just beat Barney's Nooners. We embarrassed them. We humbled them. Throttled? Throttled. Manhandled. It was a humiliating affair in which we put up six runs in the top of the first

and really never look back. The game was never in doubt. It was 10 nothing by the end of the second. We won 26 to 6. This is one of the teams we played in the playoffs when I was there. It's a team we beat in the finals the first year. They were reduced to rubble. the point where they were groveling about the umpire.

Oh, they like to complain. Yeah, they were down 20 runs and complaining about the strike zone. The umpire, even after the game, we were having a couple of broodogs celebrating, enjoying ourselves. And the umpire, who was also working the second game in the night in between innings leaned over to us and basically cursed out out the team. It was like, they're telling me that the strike zone's off. You're losing by 20 runs.

Terrible strategy by them. They'll see that hump again, I'm sure. And in related shield news, Ricky, people did throw it out there. They floated the possibility that our missing female outfielder. Maybe there's some connected tissue between you starting the game that caused her to storm out with her dog and then the fire at your apartment. Wow. Yeah.

It could have been some foul play. I mean, if you want to press charges, I'm not saying that I wouldn't go down to the police station with you. I don't think like after the softball. Speculation counts as actual research on this topic. I'd get like a low-level P.I. on that, though. Yeah. All right, let's go around the horn again. Let's be a little quicker this time.

Let's kind of just make our points and we try to get around a couple more times. Yeah, I'll... Or summer break begins. I'm going to mention the conversation, Carolina, about their new 3-4 defense. That Ron Rivera's been there for seven years. He's around a 4-3 defense the whole time.

You kind of think of them as this big 4-man front. They are a 3-4 defense and they are like hammering home pretty hard. Kwan Short is now a defensive end. Gerald McCoy is a defensive end. You know, Lou Kinkley's going to be in a different role. And that's something that's kind of, I think I saw it once early on, but it didn't really strike me as that big of a deal. But that is a pretty big change for them. And it's interesting that a coach that's been there for so long just wants to make a change like that. And I think it's smart. I think you go with the personnel that you have and what you think is going to be best. It sounds like the Patriots are also going to be doing more

for linebackers on the field. this year too. So two teams that have been around a while and have gone back and forth because they have good linebackers in New England. It makes Brian Burns one of the most important rookies in the league. Right, because they need him

to be kind of that edge rusher that's standing up. Everybody knows. I love the Jets. And I try not to talk about them too much. You'd be surprised to hear that. I really do hold back. If I could do it, I would talk about them every episode.

It would just be a Jets podcast. Yeah, I love the Jets. They're my favorite team. But, you know what, it's been a rough, you know, seven or eight years, almost running in the entire span of my time working here. But for the first time, I'm so excited. There's optimism in a way that I don't remember. Even with the Rex Ryan years, it kind of snuck up on you when they got good. And then before you could even, like, kind of get into the flow of it, it was over.

With the Jets now, there just feels there's a bubbling and a sense that they're trending in the right direction. And the higher of Joe Douglas this week is just the latest example. of that. And Sam Darnold, who I'm very optimistic about making a big leap in year two, and I'm not alone. Everyone that follows the game closely sees this guy as a great, great potential at quarterback. And their Jets wide receivers coach had a great line on Thursday at the Jets facility when he was asked to give an assessment of Darnold's skills. Here is the quote, excuse my French when I say this, but he's a fucking dude. He's a f*** dude with a f*** arm, and he's accurate as shit.

So excuse that. I don't know who this Sean Jefferson guy is. I don't know if he can coach wide receivers. It's been around for a lot. I like the cut of his gym. Long-time player. I'll tell you that. Used to be the Titans wide receivers coach.

I remember he used to say Justin Hunter was going to be the next Randy Moss. That's a piggyback. Yeah. That was like a piggyback and then you like, you know, tore him to the ground. Cut the pig's neck open with a knife. He said other things, too. I don't want to limit the Sean Jefferson portfolio to just hyping Justin Hunter. The rest of the guys in the room will, don't worry.

But I honestly believe that it's just a fun time to be a Jeff fan, and nobody's going to pull the wind out of my sales right now. Good for you. I'm enjoying it. I'm excited. Even like Greg Williams at his press conference, doing Greg Williams things again, like telling, letting people know that he told Jamal Adams

that he's coached much better players than him. What a... All right. Give me a break. Jamel Adams should have said I've had better coaches than you. Yeah. Well, you know, he's just tweaking. He's having fun. And, again, everybody else can make fun of Adam Gase and Greg Williams.

I like the coaching staff. I don't think in this room that we're anti-Jets at all, we'd be happy for you if they were competitive. Okay. Well, I'm just... Are you anti-Browns, for instance? No. Well, then certainly it goes in reverse.

Like, no one's out here. I think you're reading into this little differently. Well, you said everyone else in the room would pour oil and salt and water and gas on something else in place. I was talking about the chuckles over Sean Jefferson. Well, it was funny. It was a funny joke. I mostly want Erica to now make like one of those social videos

where she has some good graphics with the image of Mark slitting a pig's throat. It kind of slipped under the radar that he actually made a cutting motion for everyone that's not in the room of himself slitting the pig's throat. It's called acting in performance. Did it look a little too natural? Anyway, Sean Jefferson, you're the man And all those Jets haters It's going to be a tough couple years

Because we're on the rise It's on in New York City Start with that big Browns match up Oh yeah Revenge Mark Revenge! You can tell because Dan's little nugget was Baker Mayfield based

And Dan is quietly heat-seeking the Browns He does not want the Browns to succeed he at all you can feel it i like that we are we are now setting up we are setting up little seven-year-old dan right here all the little childhood emotions coming out and it is overt and i love it we are you're a sick man mark no you i am correct you know it we are setting up some great you know it some great plot lines you know it because you are already annoyed by last year so much about what baker mayfield darn old the whole thing yes you are well if i'm not you mean this is this is a classic sessler move. You're building things up in your brain.

I want the Browns to be good. I want the Jets and the Browns to be playoff teams. I hope you feel the same way. I just expressed that I do, but it's something about it feels a little raw from the Jets angle. A lot of straw men about all these people can't stay on the Jets. It's like just we're fine if they're good. I'm not talking about you specifically. Well, it's definitely. But if your mind wants to make it that way, I would wonder what the other people in the room think.

That's your control. I think we finally have our answer to what would happen if the Browns and Jets. that just became just a little bit interesting. It won't be pretty. No, I really do want the Browns. I want you to be happy. I don't need that, but I appreciate it. I mean, you don't want me to want you to be happy.

I don't want you railing on the week after week. That just simply lowers the enjoyment of football. I certainly won't do that. I won't do that. I promise you. Why would I? Unless they deserve it, just like any other team. We will see.

We will see. They both suck. We both argued about which fan bases had it work. forever and now we're at now if they both get good it's going to get effing ugly i can feel it it's not a one side of just mark his mark is acting crazy i didn't think that until today's show i don't nonsense skip to the skip to week too who needs this opening week whoever they're playing get right to seriously i don't know why they did that actually i will say they have cleveland playing tennessee i don't know who the jets are playing they should have just paired

them up that they're that's the end of that's where monday night football started well no but it's started there's quit jerking around here and put some sandwiches on the line. Sure. The Jets will take care of business. The Browns are going to be a mess in September, so. It's in New York. I mean, I think the Jets would be heavily favored.

I'm happy to bet a sandwich. Heavily favored. I'm happy to bet a sandwich. They would be, at least at this very moment, I think they, yeah, I'm set in the line at Jets minus one. You thought, you thought Hugh Jackson and Todd Haley was bad. I'm just saying, I think the Browns would be favored at a neutral field. It's in New York. It's about, yeah, it's about a pickup.

I thought Hugh and Todd Haley was bad. Just wait until Todd Monkin and Freddie Kitchens square off. He's lashing out. Not really worried. No doubt. Don't worry. Well, if we're going to do it, let's have fun with it. All right, go ahead, Wes.

That's going to be hard to follow. All right. We're sticking on the fantasy football beat here. All right. James Connor of the Steelers last year we saw him used in the LaVian Bell three down roll, big pass catching volume and big running volume. And he is now saying the plan is to. to spread it around with Jalen Samuels and rookie Benny Snell.

I'm saying, hold off on the panic button if you're a James Conner devotee in fantasy football. Let's find out if Benny Snell is good enough to eat into his workload first. Let's find out if Jalen Samuels, who was barely used last year until Connor got injured. It was not impressive, I would not say, in the limited time. He looked. He looked like Marcel Reese. I mean, Marcel Reese made a pro ball. you put him in the right role.

Yeah, he's a bit of an H-back full-back kind of guy. These things work for about a week or two until the overt, better player needs to be used in a pinch and then throughout. The Steelers love Benny Snell in the draft. Most draft Nix I heard thought he was entirely too slow to be an NFL running back. Well, I get why they're thinking that way

because they have not made it to the mid-half-way through December with a healthy running back and I don't know how long. You know, like they always load up their running backs and then they never quite make it healthy to the end of the year with Levy on Bell and now James Connor. Can we get back to Marcel Rees? Well, I was just going to say

that's a great June plan and we hear this all over here. And then once the game start, the coach says my job's on the line. I'm playing my best play. By the way, Greg, you undersold, you gave him credit like this guy could play, but you undersold it.

Four-time Pro Bowler. Second team All-Pro 2013. Yeah, I didn't really know how to respond because I was saying Jalen Samuels wasn't that good and then you hit me with Marcel Russey played fullback. Who plays a position that is extinct in the NFL? It was one of those things like John Cune is like a 74-time Pro Bowl.

Right, exactly. But he had a nice couple of moments, Marcel. Well, there's Kyle Eusecheck and no one else. You're not wrong. All right. Mark, you're up. I know that we've talked about the Cardinals a bunch, but I thought that there were some interesting new information about,

for me, why they drafted, increased information, why they went after Kyler Murray and made the changes they did and didn't have Josh Rosen suddenly learning a new offense. And it's because Kyler Murray, and this comes from Larry Fitzgerald to Steve Weish, basically said has been in the driver's seat from day one, that he is teaching the offense to Larry Fitzgerald, to all the other veterans, that he basically has, from the second he stepped in there, showed total command to the point where the only issue that he,

not that he's been perfect, but the biggest issue that he faces, is that this offense, which let's stop even, throw out all the Chip Kelly business, because they're completely different schemes. It's just that they're both unknown going into their first year. But this is a completely different speed-based, four-wide type deal that's going to force defenders to make choices on every play. And the only thing that's sort of slowed down Kyler Murray so far in camp

has been that the veterans and other players who are not familiar with Cliff Kingsbury's offense have been intellectually trying to figure out after the snap what to do and where to go. Everyone else is catching up to the quarterback, which to me, whether this works or not, I have put to bed any concerns about the draft choice they made because they found the quarterback that is perfect for their system,

which is what do you want to do with every position in your offense? And if you're going to make this thing work, and Cliff Kingsbury is not someone that probably would have been given a 10-year rope to make it work. If it has hiccups along the way, you go and get the guy. And so far, and athletically, they said he's been like amazing to watch as well. This feels like a home run,

and I'm thinking of our friend Jason Zemwalt, Dan's childhood friend or college friend or adult friend that who became our adult friend, a great guy who has had to go through a lot of nonsense just as much as us with the Cardinals. And I'll tell you what,

he's going to be excited because this team is going to be fun to watch. I hope so. I think he might lead all-time podcast like mentions in terms of not, you know, just like not part of the, not on the podcast, but he's just getting me close,

Bob's in the mix. David Ely. Spice rack? David Ely, Spice rack. There's some. This unnamed softball Simone issue, this person. I can't name who the person on the softball team is, but.

All right, want to go one more time around. Even if you want to throw a double banger in there, just two quick. I know. I feel like I've just got a bunch of B minus C pluses. So you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to go speed round and just save them all rapid fire. All right. There is no more hyped player period from the OTA season than David Montgomery.

of the running back for the Bears. We've covered that a little bit. But he is number one in terms of hype. Marquis Goodwin, no longer going to be playing that many snaps. They're having him do less routes. He is clearly not going to be a starter anymore in San Francisco. Travis Frederick, who's kind of the key to that Cowboys' Offensive Line, still has not been on the field for team drills at all yet.

And he's coming back from a shoulder surgery and the Gianbear syndrome. So I feel like that is a major thing to watch in training camp. And then Titus Howard, who everyone assumed the Texans drafted to be their left tackle or right tackle, has played guard throughout training camp. And actually, one more last one. How about Jarrett Stidham? Patriots athletic beat writer says Stidham looked better in his first couple of months than Jimmy G or Jacoby Brissette. Do we have another quarterback to pump up? Wait, who is the quarterback that looks better?

Jared Stidham, their fourth round draft pick. What's an athletic beatwriter? For the athletic. The beat writer for the athlete. He's no Connor Hughes. Yeah, tights out. All right, let's go up to Western New York. LaShawn McCoy coming off his worst season of his career,

3.2 yards a carry. Well, here's a great LaShawn McCoy quote. I'm the type of guy. I thrive off having a big name. So when guys come to my team, they're curious to see how is LaShawn McCoy? Is he a good player? I mean, I'm a dominant player.

I think that speaks for itself. But I'll be in the same role as last year, and I look forward to putting some numbers up and bouncing back from that last season. Wow. His accent changed dramatically. That's not what he wants to hear. And by the way, you will not have the same role

because now there's approximately 47 veteran quarterbacks or running backs to compete with. Frank Gore, T.J. Yeldin, Devin Singletary, all on the roster. Singletary is a third round pick. He's going to get some carries. We'll see what's happening with that running back position. Kicker update.

The Bears, because they've made this into a, you know, I'll wait for the news. The Bears have made. this a total, you know, to do. It's just the biggest story around this team is trying to find a kicker. Well, it's finally some good news at a camp. Nagy called on Elliot Smallfry and Cousinetti Pinero to try 40-yarders. Now they're just moving it in closer and closer, just looking for a win.

It was 42, now it's 40. Misses would have meant conditioning work, makes practices over, and they get started on the pre-camp break. Well, they nailed both their kicks. Nagy, it was a win for them today. I feel like they've tried to do this thing where it creates a fun moment for the kicker like seven different times

and it finally worked It was like a 12-yard field goal I would hate going to work if I were a kicker in the Bears organization And my final nugget is I love trope alerts I love this time of season because you could always find the same story

over and over it's Mad Libs so let's go trope alert two stories Taylor Gabriel of the Bears sees a quote drastic change in Mitchell Trevisky's confidence. Big trope alert around confidence and especially the quarterback position.

And one more, also the quarterback. Lamar Jackson, he might be working with Tom House, the QB whisperer before training camp. Not even definitely, he might be. Jimmy G's working with Tom House, he said, in L.A. too. Mike Carapollo asked that question. Hang it out together. He did?

Yeah, he asked it of Lamar Jackson and then got some sort of a fist bump that they talked about endlessly on NFL network. It sounds like it. But, yes, insert young quarterback here to work with Tom House before training camp. Every year, book it. West. Devonty Freeman, healthy, looking like his old self and no longer has Tavon Coleman to contend with for touches. Keep him on your radar and fantasy as a bounceback guy.

Love him. He can play. Another guy, Carry on Johnson from the Lions. Theo Riddick, no lock to make this roster, and they want to pass the ball to carry on Johnson more this year. He looked phenomenal before his season ending injury last year. Another interesting fantasy guy. Trent Taylor of the 49ers separating from Richie James for the slot receiver rule. Trent Taylor is going to win that job because he's a good player. Scott Miller of the Bucks, rookie sixth rounder, getting some John Brown buzz as the new John Brown and Bruce Ariens

offense. We'll keep an eye on that one in the preseason. Smokey Jr. Smokey Jr. And the Colts may have the most enviable tight-end depth in the league. Jack Doyle back on the field running routes after surgery. Eric Ebron coming off a record-setting season for touchdowns in Indianapolis. And Mo Ali Cox looks like he could be the new, the next basketball to tight-end star. Colts are going to be a problem. Close it out, Mark. I thought it interesting that in Pittsburgh, B reporters who were trying to find out what Terrell Austin's role was,

Terrell Austin's role was as coach there, and that he's been hired essentially to be, someone that deals almost essentially with just on-field challenges to help Mike Tomlin with challenges because Tomlin's had some issues with that in the past. In Minnesota, Kevin Stefansky, who was almost tired by the Browns to do that role that Todd Monkin is now in, is now there, well, also for head coach, they say that Kirk Cousins, essentially the minute that he became the OC last year, Kevin Stafansky, the cousins settled down and felt much better. They liked the relationship.

People can see it. Obviously, Mike Zimmer's very happy because Gary Coofansky. Kubiak is probably running the entire thing, like the emperor from Star Wars behind the scenes. And I thought this was interesting that they did an interview. It was Tom Pelliserra with Stefan Diggs and Adam Thielen. And Adam Thielen, I love him, both very likable guys, would not stop talking. And Stefan Diggs did that thing where there's two people on an interview. And Diggs was like, when am I going to get a chance to talk here?

And at one point he said one little thing. And then Thielen jumped back in with another like two and a half minute long comment. And Diggs, I think he's a pretty charismatic dude, was like, I'm on NFL Network. I want my due. Now, maybe I read the entire thing wrong if you're listing Network. No, I like it. But it's interesting.

This is what we're looking for. I got to find a link to that. Our boy, Chris Hare. You remember him? He works for Chargers Weekly, the podcast. Yeah, nice guy. He also worked on our Pickham show that went south after two seasons. But he told me that Gus Bradley down at Chargers camp has been talking up linebacker

Drew Tranquil out of Notre Dame. And if you think, I feel like the Chargers linebacker core in years past. I'm not talking about their past rushers, has been an issue. It's starting to get deep. And that defense has very. few weaknesses at all. Also, another linebacker update in the cult's system. They could not be any better.

With Darius Leonard out right now, linebacker Bobby Okariki, if I'm saying that right, has been dominant so far in camp activity. So nice, the rich get richer on that front. And the last one I have for you is that Jerry McDonald. The rich get rich. I know. It suddenly feels like a two-minute sports update on, like, Milwaukee. It's a 2020 flash.

Derry McDonald out of the Bay Area News Group was we're all like, oh, Antonio Brown, he's going to fall off a cliff now that he's got Derek Carr. Is it going to be over? He's just going to be annoying but not good. Said that the best training camp performers he's ever seen are quarterback Jeff George and running back Darren McFadden, largely because they could not be hit or tackled in these camp practices. But the same goes for Antonio Brown saying that he's never seen anything like it on the field. Cover the Raiders for a long time. Thank you, McMahon. Back after this.

Um, do you have anything else, Erica? No. No, I didn't think so. A little disappointing. Yeah, way to bring the show to a screeching hog. No, I mean, I can't follow, follow Mark. That was so good. I'm interested to see a lot of the quarterback battles.

That's always a fun thing to watch. Good nug. Dan, your hair looks bad today. Good luck. Wait a minute, uncalled for. Good luck go to vague. Football analysis. That is, you know how to hurt me.

And you have. And actually, you're right. I'm not using my Redkin product. It's looking good. It's fine. It's like the show. All right. Before we go, it is the final show of the school year.

Well, I caught that. A long school year, it started. Late last July's come to a close here. You see how they're doing this to us, by the way. When we started the NFL, there was defined boundaries. Now our school year goes from late July to mid-June. That's rough. And by the way, we're in summer school also because it's not like we're going away.

No, we'll be back with two shows next week. So, yeah, tune in for that. Also, the NFL Media Talent Summit is next week. And we're going to try. This is not a promise. But that means everyone kind of, they have everyone fly into Los Angeles. and there's this big old meeting with all the suits and there's like an auditorium.

It is kind of like being back in school. Swanky hotel. At a swanky hotel on the water here. And we play the role of kind of like the, you know, the kind of the nerdy, like the creative, nerdy guys in the back that everyone likes, but not really ultimately a part of the important power structure. Right. Like when we got, they did last year they did something like.

It's like, oh, I like those guys. you know, but ultimately not the big move and shaking. Last year is something I don't know if it comes back but they organized some type of

improv session where they were calling up all different, you know, big stars and Kurt Warner and Shaq and Colleen Matt Money Smith was a natural. He was good, yeah.

We got called up too and I'm sure there was some internal monologuing going on with like a Michael Irvin by the way for one like who the what is that? Basically, yeah.

So that will probably happen again And we'll be flooded with those same feelings of insecurity Tean Sanders did say hello to me Not because he knows who I am just because I was in the way Oh, young book Simply in his way Oh excuse me there young book All right

Before we go Mark Why don't you do your thing And take us away With one of your famous Mark Sessler Meditations Take a deep breath in And as you breathe out, close your eyes

And begin to relax Bringing attention to your breath Let go of your concerns Your day-to-day worries and see yourself as a being of light. Traveling now along a beautiful seaside cliff, your feet touching the sandy path below. Now you pause to sit and rest

on a calm patch of green grass along the cliff. The air is salty and alive. The sea below crashing. against the rocks. You feel your troubles flittering away in the ocean air. And then you see a figure approaching down the path, sturdy and strong and caring. And now this figure is kneeling down beside you, smiling. And it is Wes in a lush vacation cardigan picked out by Lakeisha, especially for you to enjoy. West smiles

and calmly begins to tell you a winding narrative about the Jerry Tarkhanian-led UNLV running rebels basketball dynasty of the early 90s. Stacey Ogman was a key figure, he tells you. You feel a sense of enormous peace with West sitting beside you. The feeling of almost being underwater

in that ocean below, surrounded by the endless sea. But also, you are very wet. Your clothes are soaked, annoyingly so. And that is because, from high above on a cliff way up, Erica Tamposi has launched a globe-sized water balloon into the air, a balloon that lands ended point blank on your crown chakra. Never trade for Iranian arms, she shouts.

Never do it. No, for f***ing. Meditation over. You know, oh, oh. Oh. Oh. This is an I-Heart podcast.