NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Players at a Crossroads

Episode Date: June 1, 2021

A room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal bring you all of the latest news in the NFL starting with Aaron Rodgers and the flexibility with his cap now that June 1st has hit (9:41). Big Ben is taking a pay cut to help the team (20:00) and Patriots rookie QB Mac Jones has SWAG (26:20). The heroes close the show with players or personnel they feel are at a crossroads this upcoming season (33:58).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. Prematurely crosses things off. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis. I come to you from a virtual room filled with some heroes. Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenfall. Boys, I hope everybody enjoyed your holiday.

weekend, but it's back at it. Let's fly, Sessler. I did have a nice weekend. I don't distinguish yesterday as like, I mean, I hold up the holiday with much value for what it means in our country, but it wasn't like, hey, today is a holiday compared to what else. It's like we're home all weekend. We're home another day. Am I not as excited about the holidays as I should be? I saw something, Simone, was, you guys went somewhere? I don't know what it was, but it It looked fun.

That was a field trip that I was not a part of, but I do believe they had fun. They went to a farm-type environment. It looked like like a sleepover situation, no? Like the weekend or something. Mark, what were you up to this weekend? I honestly was, I literally stayed home the entire time. I didn't leave my house. Interesting.

I really didn't. As always, Mark, what he does on Mark time, don't. Well, this is... Don't dig too deep. What did you guys do? I'm sure you had like you, you know, you did puzzles and put, you know, did barbecues and went to the park and the beach. Let me guess. Find me something different than that.

You don't have to take it personally. No, we did not, um, we did some hikes. We did some hikes. You know, we did some nature. We went down to the San Gabriel River, took a hike around there. Nice. Did, uh, did some wetlands stuff. But yeah, it was pretty much as a family.

Uh, not a lot of, not a lot of a lot of, uh, big stories here we had some friends over you know we enjoyed uh the pool and the barbecue and we played some wiffle ball yesterday with the boys got their got their reps in you know i got to keep that hand-eye coordination no no vacations no time off although i will say that um as i was playfully you know pitching to my sons at this field this park across the street from where i live there was a um capital m capital d mean dad on the baseball field right next to where we were, just like going off on his kid for not throwing strikes.

And he was the coach of this team, obviously, and they'd gotten there a half hour early to get some work in before the rest of the team got there. And I'm just like thinking to myself, like, if I ever become that guy, I'm out of here. I'm just shutting everything down. How old was the kid? It's probably like an 11-year-old.

They can take it. I'm kidding. Anyway, so be nice to your kids. Don't take sports too seriously if you're a coach, dad. Please. Like, unless you turn into a total champion, and then we will, then we will, you know, put you on a pedestal. You know, like you will be Tiger Woods' dad or I'm thinking of some tennis dads. Like, it'll, you know, you have to make it to the end.

Otherwise, we'll hate you. Right. It just feels like the odds are kind of against you. And even if you do make it to that level, at what cost? Right, they're probably much nicer than these mean dads, to be fair. No, we do lots of soccer. And I have to say that the biggest turnoff, almost the only turnoff are the other parents. On our team, we seem to have pretty much chilled out parents.

But like some of these other clowns, it's like these kids are nine. The result of this game does not decide your value as an adult, Mr. Vicarious. Yeah, I think that's well said. All right, today's show. I'll see you at the crossroads. where you won't be lonely. Bone or thugs or perhaps Harmony once said. Who are the guys in Bone Thugs in Harmony?

Greg, you like rap. I mean, I don't know. Their name was like Crazy Bone. There was different bones. I wouldn't say I was like, I knew them about as well as I bet you knew them, which is I knew their big songs and I could hum them. And that's where I left it.

But, you know, some of Cleveland's finest, bone thugs in harmony. They've held up well. Some of the rap, I feel like from that period, hasn't held up that well. And you know what? You could put bone thugs out today. I think it would do well. Great.

First of the month is another classic. Busy bone, wishbone, lazy bone, crazy bone, flesh and bone. And they had that goofball come out at the draft. Reping, was it Cleveland? What was his name again? Machine Gun Kelly. Machine Gun Kelly. Get Machine Gun Kelly out of there.

Get bone thugs up on the stage to rep Cleveland. I hear you, but Dan, let's say someone came out on the stage at like Radio City Music Hall and did a mic drop about the Jets winning the Super Bowl. I mean, would we be hearing critique about it like on June 1st? No. It was a delightful moment. I'm not saying that that guy's like music catalog is what I'm all about, but it was a nice moment that spice things up in a very, you know, I think prim and proper environment.

He was just like, I'm going to upset the apple cart. Like I did not have Sessler watching the machine gun Kelly clip talking about the Browns like for 40 hours straight on Memorial Day weekend like on my bingo card for this year. But that's like how many times does Mark watch that video? He loves that video. Multiple times. Anyway, yes, Crossroads. That's a that's a phrase that's like or a word that's stuck in my head as a sports fan since 1988. There was an old magazine.

It was like a baseball monthly or something. And the story was Mattingly at the crossroads. And I didn't even really know what the word meant. But it was a story about how Don Mattingly was facing a lot of issues. He was in a little bit of decline statistically. His boss, George Steinbrenner, was like a maniac. And there was talks of trades going on, a potential trade. And his career could have went in any, you know, multiple directions at that point.

I always think about that now. When you talk about, you look into each season, there always are players that are at a true crossroads in their career. And what happens will dictate kind of their future. So with that in mind, we're going to dig into some NFL players or coaches or whomever at a crossroads, where they may be lonely if things go really poorly. That's Kismet. This smash hit, married to an NFL segment on our podcast. So, and before we do that, let's hit the news. Okay, five minutes.

Just five minutes. Thank you. I don't want to be your food in this game for two. So I'm leaving you behind. Bye, bye, bye. Well, there's the generational divide. Ricky Hollywood, we told her about the segment, and she went and pulled up a clip from the 2001 Britney Spears film, Crossroads,

and some car sing-along to an in-sync song, which I guess was a little nod to the relationship between Spears and Timberlake back then. Ricky, were you aware of Bone Thugs and Harmonies, Crossroads? Or is Crossroads specifically a Britney Spears situation? Of course, but anyone, you know, my age, you say Crossroads. You think of Britney Spears, like really trying to sing in the back of a car. during the radio song.

I mean, come on. I could be wrong, but I think we had a Britney Spears Crossroads conversation four years ago when we did this segment because sometimes we do segments and Dan all like texted out

and I Googled it. I was like, have we done this before? Because I don't quite remember it. And, you know, we had, but it was like four years ago. And I think we had this some sort of Britney Convo then too.

Maybe it was a different producer. You saw it in the theater, Mark? Yeah. Wow. Because it wasn't a box office hit. I think it's proven to have some legs. People still talk about it, but I don't think it was a big hit. Who did you go with, Mark?

I don't want to get too off the beaten path here, but. I went with a female that I knew for a very brief time. It was living in- Date night. He actually went like Sunday night. Like his family was gone for the weekend. They're playing it at the new art. And Mark was there all by himself in a movie theater.

Fair response, Greg. All right, let's get into it. It is June 1st, which is an important date on the NFL calendar. It frees up a lot of financials for teams. They can move around money. The cap hits aren't as disastrous as they could be. Aaron Rogers is a perfect example. If the Packers were to trade him after June 1st today,

they'd free up 16 million in cap space this year while shouldering a 21.152 million dead money hit. This is coming from the athletic match, Schneidman. If they were to move him before today's date, it would have been almost 39 million in dead money charge on their cap. So there is some flexibility here. However, according to a source, Schneidman's reporting, General Manager Brian Guterkanz is still holding firm to the stance that he will, not trade the reigning mvp mark this comes a week after rogers was on ESPN speaking with Kenny main and he was kind of vague about things didn't go out and echo what's been reported that he wants to trade but clearly a guy that's unhappy he skips OTAs for the first time and he's

drinking booze with the guy from the drum movie and everybody's having a good time um what's where are you at on the story and what do you think happens next um i'm i I think we're all a little tired of the story, but in terms of the freshness of it where we're learning that the Packers have no interest in trading number, Goodacunz does not have any interest. I mean, I don't think they've ever shown any interest in doing that ever. I mean, there's just been nothing to that.

I mean, it's almost like if you come to a point where these two parties playing chicken, move into an area where Aaron Rogers is going to sit out the year and maybe even retire and then kind of reboot the whole machine and start his career o'clock. Maybe at that point you said we've got to get value. I don't think they're there yet. And the Packers, like it or not, hold enough leverage to not have to move or panic at this point.

I mean, there is, there has to be panic inside the organization to some degree, but it really seems to boil down to good accounts. So is there maybe someone like a Mark Murphy or someone else saying, hey, can you figure this out before we move the greatest quarterback on the planet? Well, they're willing to give a quote. It's off the right, you know, it's unnamed and who knows who, who gave it, but whoever gave it is giving it with the understanding that that quote, as small as it was, will not trade, will make a headline, and I bet it gets approved from

whoever it was. You don't want to guess, but someone high up inside the Packers. And so they're putting that out there. And why wouldn't they feel that way? The line that was most interesting to me in the article was, yeah, basically they don't really believe that Rogers won't play. And I wouldn't either When you have James Jones and John Cune

I keep going back to two of his best friends saying publicly There's probably something they could do And that Rogers literally asked to stay in Green Bay for years Earlier this offseason He just wants the contract that keeps them there And that's where it gets complicated But there's no point in even entertaining this for a while At least until like midway through training camp

Then maybe it gets a little more Yet we will entertain it on every show possible Well, this was the June 1st date. But I think the way Dan pointed out the financials is instructive. Because, you know, even if they trade him, oh, yeah, okay, you can save some cap space this year. He's going to be your most expensive player on your cap when he's not on your roster. You really want to do that? You can't.

Like, this is so stupid. You just can't. I think the only way to do this is to wait it out and call his bluff. Otherwise, you know, Gouda Kuntz is in a really tough spot. Because, like, I've said on the show that there is some logic and just the idea of trading him at a max value and if he doesn't want to be there. But at the same time, it's like, you don't want to be the guy that traded Aaron Rogers as an MVP. It's like, if you could avoid this, you will. He's not going to make that, he's not going to get that half a million dollar workout bonus because he's already missed too many offseason workouts, Rogers.

I guess the next thing to watch is the mandatory camp. But even that, that's peanuts for him. It's not even $100 grand. So really, it's like we wait until training camp starts. And I'd also note this about the financials. Like for all this money that you lose for these practices, which I think is one of the most phony things out there, if this thing heals and they get back together, it's going to lead to Aaron Rogers signing an extension that kind of, you know, it's like when you buy a house, which I've not done, but it's like you had all these little payments and debts, just throw it all into the mortgage. Like, it's all going to get swept away by the massive signing bonus. Like, oh, you're not, you lose $50,000 for not showing up to an OTA.

He could care less about that. That would cripple us for two or three years. He could not give a smaller Iota about that. I agree with all that. Things do, even for somebody that's a multi, multi, multi millionaire like Rogers, once you get to training camp, it becomes $50,000 per day. And like, I don't care who you are. That starts to add up.

But to Mark's point, it's negotiable. All you have to do is negotiate, you know, whatever deal that he takes coming back. And they'll say, we're not going to, you know, as part of that deal, we're not going to find you anything. No, I think what they should do is, like, hold them to the fines and still dare him to retire. I mean, just go all in at this point. Seems like kind of their move at this point. If they weren't going to give him any guaranteed money beyond this year, it does seem like they're kind of still flipping the finger at them. I want them to hold one of these, like, Packers Shareholders meetings right now with the sky on fire and just like everyone up there fielding questions from like 20,000 super irate shareholders.

It's a good point. The COVID is saving Mark Murphy and Goudicunds from some like awful offseason event where they're like retiring some old Packers number and just hundreds of Packers fans are like trying to light their entire facility on fire. speaking of lingering melodramas Julio Jones we had Steve Weiss who's as plugged in as they come And he even works with the Falcons And earns a salary compensation That is yet to reveal to us on the show

He said don't get overly crazy Worked up about a Julio Jones trade Happening in the near future It could be down the road It could be training camp before Jones gets moved. However, again, post-June 1st, so some money can get moved around. And there are tons of reports out there. The Seahawks, the 49ers, the Rams, the Titans, all reported to have interest in Julio Jones, Greg. There's also a report from ESPN this weekend that the Falcons

have a first-round pick trade offer in hand. And if that's true, how could they not pull the trigger? just move on at this point. What are your thoughts? Do you think something happens sooner rather than later here? Yeah, it could. The fact that all these reports were from different outlets to me is meaningful. Like everyone's got different sources on this, but the, you know, Florio, my old boss, said the Titans are the favorites

and that they've made enough. Okay. The report that they have the first round pick in hand was from Diana Rossini, who also said the Seahawks are very much into it. The fact that the 49ers are into it from a totally separate different. I believe all of them. And the first round pick report coming out so early makes me think it's way in the future. So I did ask, you can trade 2024 first round picks now.

Like the Rams, for instance, are allowed to trade that pick now. But any team could. And the Rams are supposedly in the mix. And that made me think maybe, you know, it could be the Rams first round pick, you know, in three years. And that would explain why the Titans, I mean, why the Falcons wouldn't take that. They'd probably rather have even a second next year over like a first and three years. Do you think, though, that if it's a first round pick, it comes with the stipulation that you eat some of this money versus maybe with a second rounder, you would accept the entire Julio Jones contract? I don't buy, I don't know about the eating money.

I guess we'll see. Doesn't happen in the NFL often. Yeah, wants a new contract too. Didn't the Panthers just do that with Teddy Bridgewater? Yeah, yeah, no, it's not frequent, but it could absolutely happen. I don't have any feel for that because it doesn't add up to me that he's going to want more money, according to my old boss, again, Florio, that he's going to want some sort of adjustment. But you're going to pay, I don't know, it's just very confusing to me.

Titans make so much sense. Titans make the most sense. We've circled them as a team that you wonder what's in store for them. lost a couple pieces on offense, lost the architect of their game plan, Arthur Jones. Now you plug in Julio Jones, you're starting to feel a little better

that they're going to be able to survive that and move on and conquer. That would be nice for them. They have $3.2 million in available cap space, and I know that that gets brushed aside. They would just have to do a few things. Right. Steve said that last week, too.

Like, don't get overly caught up in the cap stuff because most of these teams do have a lot of backdoor methods to clear up the number. Like the bills cleared up $8 million today by just giving Stefan Diggs a bonus essentially in spreading his money out. I'm not sure, you know, for what reason some people think Zach Gertz. And I know we're going to crossroads later. I mean, Julio, to me, is a little bit of at a crossroads.

I don't want to talk anymore, Julio, in that segment, we've talked about him enough. But I think he played so well last year, people are sleeping on that he can still be a top five receiver. And if he goes and has a second act where he is a top five receiver for a few more years. That just puts him on another, you know, level. He's already high up there, like a lock Hall of Famer, but that could take him to another level. You just can't have him for 10 games a year. I mean, he played really well when he was on the field. Yeah, there are two parts of that. I think I was about to say what you just said, Mark, that he could play at a high level, but then

miss five to six games every year. And then, you know, that's a little. Yeah, that's not good. Last year, by the way, first time he missed more than two games since 2013. I know he's had a lot of injuries where he plays through injuries. Right. Like he's in the injury before. No, he plays through them because he's tough as nails. But it's like I feel like I've written Julio Jones and foot in the same, or foot area in the same article roughly 17,000 times. And that was years ago. In other news, Ben Rafflesberger. He is back for another year at the Pittsburgh Steelers.

And he did it after taking a haircut. Little industry jargon for you. That's a pay cut. and guess what? Ben said, it was me. I'm the one who said this is what we should do. Here's the quote. It was my idea. I went to them and told them we needed to sign some guys. I knew we had a great defense and some great weapons. I wanted to help the team do whatever it could. That's an American, Greg Rosenthal. That is a man that's putting his team and his fellow man above himself. And when you look at Ben Rathusberger and just the American flag flapping behind him as he looks out on the horizon, that is a leader.

Don't you could talk about your little Teddy Bridgewater all day, Greg, but when you want a leader of men, Ben, leader of men. Please. I'll direct you back to like all these PFT articles I wrote in like 2007 that all his teammates were sick of him even back then. Um, even bread's got to, you've got to let you know that, oh, it's my idea, you know, wouldn't never be the, you know, it was my idea. It's just this very Ben Rathosberger. Like, you know, when you talk about, like people talk about, okay, well, he's a, he's a franchise legend. You know, you've got to, you got to treat Aaron Rogers with a certain amount of respect in this,

in that, like, that is Ben Rathusberger to the end degree. I feel like the Steelers are always bending over backwards to make sure Ben's, Ben knows how important he is that his ego is is nice and in inflated i mean in that article he the anti- teddy for gregg is ben robles i mean yeah there's few guys who i love watching more and i'm not a fan off the field more uh of bet than ben robson because i love some of the ben ralphosberger off the field stuff i'm just as a teammate that man is selfless as they come and just read the quote Greg, just read the quote. Greg, I mean, Mark.

Well, I mean, I totally believe Ben Rathlisberger. Let's start with that. He also mentioned, like, I found this a very, also very Ben-esque quote, because they were kind of pinging him about his deep passing last year. And his quote was, you know I had total reconstruction on my elbow. That might have had something to do with it, but no excuses. By the way, we did not know that he had total reconstruction on his elbow. That was news as well.

Yeah, we did. Was it total reconstruction? Did he get Tommy John surgery? I mean, he got elbow surgery. I don't know what total reconstruction and elbow surgery. But Ben Rathesberger, he put it out there there. And then there's some reporters who are close to Ben who have been putting it out there too, that it's like, Ben sees what everyone's saying about him.

And he is fired up to shove it in their face, which I appreciate. I mean, I want him to have that angle. Hasn't he locked you guys on Twitter? If he did it, like that would be entertaining. I'm not anti-stealers in that way. Like if Ben Rathosberger becomes a heel and has a great season and, like, tortures mark, I'm not saying I'm rooting for that, but it would make good podcasts. Good theater, yeah.

Yeah, that's the theater I hope to go to. You know, give me a break. These things are cyclical. And, you know, Ben's, now Ben's elbow was never actually healthy last year. That's not what we were told last summer. Tua's hip, we were told last week, not actually healthy last year. No, 10 times better now. Now it's 10 times better.

But we were told it was healthy last year. What are the injuries right now that are healed that we're going to learn next spring? Burrow. Yeah. Burrow and, you know, standout just because they were so significant. But Burrow especially is in a tough spot. I feel like. Oh, you could totally see it.

June 1st, 2022, Burrow, colon, I'm finally back to 100%. Right. My knee is fresh as a baby's knee. And like, but there is video of him even today moving around very well. So, you know, this, we're in the right age to get these injuries to some degree with the medical advances, Greg, the advances that the medical field is brought on to our life. Hey, Mark. Right. The miracles of modern science.

No, it's nothing short of it. You know, we haven't talked about this a lot on the show, if at all. We've talked about, for instance, how the thought that the Dallas defense could take a jump with a new coordinator. Pittsburgh, you know, they got rid of Feikner. Is it Feikner? Randy Feikner? Thickner. He was replaced by Matt Canada.

And Routtsberger also said in his availability, you'll see nothing that you've seen in the past. So I don't know. Is it going to be a brand new offense? Certainly, if I'm a Steelers fan, I'm saying, good, because I didn't need to see the offense that they put on the field the last month or so ever again. So if this is an actual reboot of the offense,

that could be a good thing, but also that could come with some growing pains and it's an old man at quarterback. Well, that's what I'd ask. And I think people were asking the same question is, like, are we suddenly going to get Big Ben rolling out play action sets? I mean, how different can it be when your quarterback has become a Stone Age pony, as we say? Essentially immobile, a quick release quarterback.

He was their quarterbacks coach, too. So he has a good relationship with Rathusberger. And there were these articles last year that's like, Matt Canada is trying to integrate some new concepts into the offense, like end around and it's just like okay i'd be like he's getting creative and that was that was like a thing behind the scene so i don't i don't know how much of it's going to be different you had a voice last year let's turn down the snark on the stealers i feel like it's turned up pretty high for the podcast right now it should be noted that at least gregg and myself believe the steelers could

have another nice year and the mark seems to be more on the train that this is going up in flames no that's okay too well well i've actually already even on the show revised that like i feel like I had my January into February March fun. That's true. But the fact of the matter is like if the Steelers finished a game ahead of the Ravens or Browns or a game below, I wouldn't be surprised at all. I don't see them falling off a cliff the way that some do. I don't think any of us do just because we've been doing this.

They've never done that under Tomlin. Finally in the news, Mack Jones. He is the future at quarterback for the New England Patriots. This came out last week, but we missed it. I feel like we should touch on it. Patriots coaches They like what they see from Mac Jones But the players do too

Here's what Kendrick Bourne said To reporters after Thursday's OTA practice He has the swag to him I didn't know that he had At first you know he's out there He's out there confident And that's what you need in a quarterback And in all our players

Swag Is that Trump? Why am I a little? Yeah I think it's I think it's a bit of a truth It's like insert Young player you know probably a white quarterback it's like oh this guy's got a little more swag than we expected

did it with baker do it with joe burrow and now uh mac jones here i'm just thinking of that mac jones photo when he's shirtless holding the cigar and they're like you know what maybe maybe there was some swag there if you look closer at the photo that's a guy that could have swag buried within him when he's walking when he's walking to the to the stage was that swag that was Some people like that. He walked with a purpose. I thought it was kind of interesting. Yeah, I guess there was a little swag there.

I mean, sometimes it's sort of an effervescence that you can't feel until you're kind of up close to the person. A lot of people said that about Bill Clinton. I'm not saying everyone said it, but like that you could feel him his presence when he walked in a room. I know Greg's like, Bill Clinton got up to some bad things. I'm just saying in general. I'm not saying that.

Well, you gave a look like, don't you remember Whitewater? Whitewater is what I'm pointing to But I mean maybe Mac Jones in person brings it I didn't feel that at his pro day For instance watching that on a television In my living room but Well I wanted to put this news thing into the show too

Because I read multiple articles From Patriots beatwriters That were like I know we shouldn't overreact to one day in May But my God It's a quarterback competition right now in that like mac jones looked amazing and like and belichick put it out there put him out there next the cam for us to see because they're excited i was and to me that's very surprising from some

veteran reporters and maybe we're just bored here and i don't put anything into these practices usually but there was that vibe from the patriots reporters so it might be a preview of what's to come in august whether it's worthy or not of patriots reporters hyping up mac jones should be playing sooner than Of course, I'm not surprised that he throws as well as Cam Newton, like in terms of accuracy and stuff, if that's what they're talking about. Camp throws a lot of those lawn darts. I guess I'd be curious, like those same reporters and they have a lot of the same guys there for several years, were they saying it about Jared Stidham a couple years ago? Sometimes these could be deceiving. Mike Reese, who I totally trust, said that he said that of Mac Jones, he's probably further along than any Patriots rookie quarterback at this point than anyone who came before him. basically said that three the three people that blew him away in their first Patriots practice and equaled mac jones to them were dion branch west welker and randy moss and he put

mac jones as sort of initial debut in front of the reporters up there with that so i'm mike right mike reese he wasn't even the what i was talking about i didn't see that and mike reese is the godfather he's right he's not he's not a bloviator i mean he's very measured in his reporting so that caught my eye um is anybody going to be meant mentioning Cam in the next segment? I think you certainly could. I didn't want to step on anybody. But Cam,

certainly at the crossroads in his career, Cam, maybe the quarterback with the most swag of the last 10 years. You know, and now he's got this guy rolling in saying his teammates telling him that the other guy's got the swag.

A little drama there. I don't know what happens to Cam. If he gets, if he doesn't get his job, if he loses the job in camp and just, where, career after that um so we'll see if he gets an opportunity to hold on to that job

that's what's happening in the news yes that's what that's where like an ad break would come in but we have not done that in our podcast in about four years the um veteran savvy you've got that we've all got you know the pregnant pause we're comfortable in it we can live in that little silence. We're not going to just freak out. And people ask, like, why don't you, every other successful podcast that I listen to, there are ad breaks. And what Greg, Mark, and myself say is no, no ads in our show. We don't want the money. We rather just be a clean product for the listener. No money. Don't want it. Don't need it.

Careful what you wish for. That new I heart deal. Yeah, we don't get, we don't get the ad money either. So I appreciate. everyone who's keeping us. Greg, I'm trying to paint us in a fictional, of course, way, but... Well, there is a parallel. I mean, and this is why I totally believe Big Ben. He went to the big company, the big Oregon said, I want less money. And I feel in many ways we've said at least we don't want more.

We just keep us where we're at. Don't grow the show necessarily with your own sales, big company. Keep us, you know, just afloat. And we'll be fine. We don't need anything more materialistically for the two over eight or nine years. Nothing. This is reminding me of like three or four years ago. I feel like we had a we need more money season.

Wes was leading the bandwagon on that one. But it was a bit of a bit of a theme. Now, I actually want to say thanks to our listeners. Someone told us we're in the top 200 of all podcasts, not the sports podcast in the UK. And I was like, oh, that's pretty impressive. So I checked the U.S. sports rankings. Just curious. And we're in the top 20 here in the off season of the sports podcast in the U.S.

And there's no other. football-only non-fantasy. There's like the fantasy footballers, which is a fantasy one, is in there. But other than that, there's no other American football, just football show in there. So I want to say thanks

and that people should rate and review. We never asked for that. Every podcast I listen to, ask every podcast. We don't do that every podcast. And since we only do it once every 20 podcast, go do it in a huge number right now. Good call, Greg.

And yes, we decline ad revenue. We say, don't put it in our checking account. because we want a clean show. What you could do for us, listeners, is five stars leave a review. I have other ideas of what they could do also, but we'll start there. All right.

Crossroads. I'll see you at the crossroads. I'll see you at the crossroads. You won't be lonely. The video was wild, too. You had Uncle Charles was it? Pretty about Uncle Charles. And then he, he, death comes and taps him on the forehead and his eyeballs turn black and he just dies on his porch.

I miss my uncle, Charles. And then there's a big mountain at the end of the video. And just dead people walking up the mountain. It was dark. It was kind of a, they were kind of a sneaky dark band. In general, their topics were pretty dark. Right. And then at the very end is, oh, who's going up there?

Oh, it's a guy in the Raiders hat. It's easy. He's going up that mountain. he had not troubling he was heading mark he was heading to paradise bro oh okay well i'm happy that's good for him i'll see you at the cross is where you won't be lonely he was going up not down well i'm starting to connect the dots i mean i've certainly i've seen the video you know maybe i wasn't playing you're taking trenchant notes on the whole thing like i sort of i'm going to save it for the theology podcast because that that video really veers into that realm anyway crossroads let's get it going

I'll start. And I don't want you to get sensitive to this mark, but because there's more nuance to it, Baker Mayfield. Let's go. I mean, I had a feeling this is coming. Baker Mayfield is at a crossroads. But it's not because it's like Baker Mayfield, is he actually good?

Maybe he's not actually good. But no, that's not the angle I'm taking. although, of course, if he really struggled this year, that would create an issue for him. The next month is going to tell us a lot, the next couple of months. If he gets that contract extension this summer, he's off the crossroads list, obviously.

If he doesn't get it, and the Browns, it should be noted, have several guys, big time players that are up for extension, some that are entering contract years right now. Others like Baker, and I believe is it Chubb as well, Mark. or had their options picked up

or they have two more years left. I mean, Chubb and Ward definitely are on the re-sign list. I think Denzel Ward is the next guy up. Right. You also have Teller, the guard that went nuts. He's coming up. Anyway, so there's a lot of business to be done for the Browns, and they have the option to wait it out.

If they do, it could really, it could go one or two ways, and that's where the crossroads comes in for Baker. If he has a monster year, or he builds off, this year and has a similar or even better year and the Browns make a playoff run again. He's going to end up when the contract comes, they're going to sign him next year and he's going to get way more, you would think, than he would have gotten signing the deal this year. He might go from being just beneath the top quarterback's payday to the top one. Conversely, if he does have a down year, I'm not saying the Browns would move on from him

because he's under contract next season anyway, but it changes a lot of things for him and it ramps up the pressure. So if indeed he does not get this contract, it really, it puts him in a situation where his financial future and his brown future is really magnified and a lot will be riding on this season. Crossroads. Yeah. I mean, it's impossible to disagree with the fact that he's out of crossroads because you're wondering, I think still it's fair for certain people to say there have been ebbs and flows to his rather short career. And like you can't just totally wipe way 2019, although there would be logical reasons to. But you look at last year and you look at the fit, he threw one interception in the regular season after week seven. In the NFL, there are two players

that have had 11,000 passing yards, 75 passing touchdowns, and an 89 plus passer rating over the first three years. It is Baker Mayfield and Dan Marino. And look, you can, you can shape those statistics. He knew you were coming with this. No, you can shape those statistics any way you want. But like if you get the stretch version of Baker Mayfield and you know you know we all i think Greg we just watched like that chiefs browns replay again um that version of baker mayfield is a winning quarterback in this system um he's in the same offense for the first time in his career in an off season so i think like the environment is good if he can't respond to that environment that's why you have a fifth year option to take more time they don't need to rush and do this um but

there's no doubt that if he flopped like you don't have time in the NFL you look elsewhere so It's all about how he performs. Which is why I was saying, like, it's not necessarily, is Baker good or not? And those numbers, what you're saying, backs up that he's been, with the exception of that 2019 season, very good. It's more that it does create a situation. It's a high level of risk for the Browns, which I'm sure they're a smart organization now. They're weighing all this right now as they try to figure out a game plan because it could become a DAC-esque situation, the way the Cowboys ended up getting burned in their contract, if Baker continues to progress.

so they're rolling the dice if they don't do the deal. It could work out for them too if it turns out he doesn't have a big year and they don't have to pay him as much. But obviously, that's not great news for the organization either. It's a lot of interesting dynamics at play. And you do wonder if the Wentz and Goff extensions play into the thinking of the organization as well because those obviously did not work out for their teams. Yeah, I think this is where player empowerment, for lack of a better word,

or noise of how much you want to make, when it comes to your contract really makes a difference because if I'm the Browns, I don't want to give him the contract now. What's the big positive? If Baker Mayfield is going to be happy enough behind the scenes and in front of a microphone,

it's like what's the upside of paying them now? It sounds like they're leaning towards doing it. And I understand giving it to him. It removes him getting asked a lot of questions about it, if they're struggling or if they're playing well. Either way, it'll become like a bit of a focus during the season, and that's not ideal. But if I was the Browns, I was like, I would live with that

because you got him under contract for two more years, and if he plays great, I don't think he's going to get that much more next off season than he'd get now. He's not signing that contract for less than whatever. It's going to be $32, $33 plus million a year. He's going to get a real contract even if it's now. So if I'm the Browns, if he's fine, rolling it to next year, I would be fine, too.

And he hasn't made at least any public mess about it. No. Who's up next? Mark? I would go with Matthew Stafford. I mean, there's the obvious crossroads of you have been in one place for so long in Detroit. And there's always been an excuse for anything that happened to Matthew Stafford, the Detroit Lions. It's like, no one can argue that. Here's the thing I find a little bit interesting about the Matthew Stafford experience going to the Rams.

I love the move by the Rams. I thought it was bold. It was, we're upgrading the most important position. Sean McVeigh, really at this point, also can just say, look, I have my guy that isn't looking elsewhere or playing around this quarterback. That saw Matthew Stafford, according to what we know about him, right? So Matthew Stafford, I think, has a ton of pressure on him right now, though, as well. Because what you start to hear now is the Rams are essentially a Super Bowl team.

This was the final piece. my question is Matthew Stafford has never really vibed to me as the final piece of the puzzle. I don't think that they traded for Aaron Rogers. They did not trade for Russell Wilson. They got a quarterback who is extremely productive and solid, but what happens to Matthew Stafford? And this isn't to say like he can't handle the pressure, but you could see things going a little bit tough for him and the Rams if he doesn't essentially take him to the Super Bowl. That's where the floor has been set based on expectations, based on a lot of other business. player quotes. Like if they go, you know, nine and eight and go into the wild card and lose a

wild card round game, that's a calamity for what they gave up, I think. I think it simply is. I mean, the floor is the Super Bowl in their own stadium next February. Anything else I think will be lamb-based on local LA talk radio, which I listen to in the afternoons here. You do. In terms of urgency, do you think if things went sideways this year? that the Rams would move on? I don't know what the ramifications of that would be because when I think about his situation, it feels like he moved to a much healthier situation,

a great place for the back end of his career. And I feel like he's in a good place, a confident place, and a feeling that he has a fresh start here. I don't see him as a crossroads guys because I just don't see him as somebody that's like winner else right now. But do you see it as like,

like a situation where his career could be totally upside down a year from now if things don't go the way I think I think it's it's like you know with some of these guys like their contract stipulations make it tough to move on and things like that and what they gave up so they might have to in a self-fulfilling prophecy just hang with him but if it were a total flop and these things have happened they all look great now but then you get you know nine 10 weeks into the season and if it is a disaster and the Rams aren't working would they draft someone or make another move I wouldn't think that's impossible. They don't even have first round picks, though. They traded two first round picks. It feels like it ties up. But I would say there would be crossroads into a totally toxic situation. I don't think

that's going to happen. I just think that like the problem for Matthew Stafford a little bit is it's like Super Bowl or bust. That's going to be really rough for 31 other teams. I have been surprised just at the narrative around the Rams that they are now a top five NFL. Because I look at them last year and I think they were very, I knew exactly who they were. as a team. They were like the 10th best team in the NFL. And so you take away two starters from the secondary from that team. You expect some defensive regression because they were the best defense in the league. And you add Stafford for Gough. And to me, that kind of comes out in the wash. And to me, they're still about the 10th best team in the league. But that is not the

public perception. And that's going to, that puts a little more on all of them this year. But he's signed through 2022, and I just see them selling out to make the Stafford part of it work, not just for the next two years, the next five years, really, or else you're right, Mark, it is a disaster. You could absolutely be right on this one. I would, in this type of exercise, I would say if this year didn't go well for Stafford, and then he was their guy next year, that would be when I would put him in the crossroads. But who knows? Things change quickly.

I mean, it's sort of my move to not totally understand the XAFord. exercise too, but like, um, I have actually three or five other people. My next one will be a floor. The floor falls out and the man maybe doesn't even exist after this year. Wow. I can't wait. Stay tuned everybody. Right after this ad break. No, we don't have those. You would think it's strange that we don't, but we just don't. Greg, you're all right. I'm going to throw out a duo. I don't know if that's not understanding the exercise, but they're teammates and they play the same position. So they make sense together. It's Chandler Jones and J.J. Watt. I think they both are at a crossroads, and they're entering it together.

That's nice. Yeah. They won't be lonely. Right. That's true. They're going to have their buddies. You know, you get a little long in the tooth. You go out to the desert.

It's a move a lot of Americans do. These guys could have different careers if they can have a strong back night. JJ Watt, we kind of think, okay, he's at the end of his road. Same age as when Reggie White went to Green Bay. Can he have a second act? around the same age of when Julius Peppers is still doing good things in Chicago and before Peppers went to Green Bay. Can he have a second act, J.J. Watt, like a Kurt Warner even,

where he ends up being an integral part to a team that goes further. Then he starts getting back to that J.J. Watt that we thought he was the first few years of his career, which is an all-time great. And he's got that in his own way for that five years, but a nice little backstretch would really help change that. Chandler Jones isn't JJ Watt. But Chandler Jones has been one of the best pass rushers in the league since he entered it. He's coming off a major injury.

But what worries me about him is he's coming off the worst month of his career before that injury, which got a little swept under the rug because it's only a month. It's a small sample size. He's turning 31 years old. Here's these two guys, which on paper might be the best edge rush duo in the league or one of them. They could go one of two directions. And I wouldn't even say Chandler Jones, you could, you know, Totally eliminate him from Hall of Fame consideration when you look at the resume someday.

Maybe he's not quite there, but if he has a strong stretch and they're good with J.J. Watt, people think of Chandler Jones a little differently, too. Teammates in the crossroads. They're not lonely. It's funny because I was thinking of their head coach Cliff Kingsbury for the crossroads. The whole organization feels like it is a little bit. I mean, Kyler is not going anywhere, obviously. so his risk level entering the season is lower.

But it feels like a really important season for the Cardinals and some of these moves like A.J. Green, crossroads guy, for sure. I feel like he's already lonely. Yeah, he's lonely. He's devastatingly lonely. To me, yeah, he's past that crossroads. I think it's just, I just, Watt is such a fascinating player to me.

And we've kind of gone through his career on this podcast. for the most part. And there's never, as we get further away from those first few years, I think people forget that there was never anyone like them, not that I've ever seen. And I'm not saying he could get back to that level. But if he can, like, really lead the way and be great for them, that would be amazing.

I mean, also Chandler Jones, they could move on from him without any issues, money-wise, after this season. Right. I think they might have, if it was easier this year. But they wanted to see. They wanted to give him another chance. I mean, he's a beast when he's, right um i will move to the minnesota vikings and kirk cousins

so this kellen mon situation you know let's not get crazy about it he's a third round pick early in the third round pick but um he is the um the highest draft pick for the vikings at quarterback since you boy gregg teddy bridgewater back in 2014 and he's now in the building. You add to that, that it was out there, that the Vikings were in on Justin Fields. They didn't get him. It didn't work out.

Things played out differently. The Bears in the division ended up with fields. And the Vikings did something that apparently the Packers didn't. Ahead of the draft, this according to ESPN, they called Kirk Cousins and said, hey, we might be dipping our toe back in the quarterback market in this draft class, we don't want you to be blindsided, just FYI.

Why, Kirk? And I'm just wondering how that phone call goes, by the way. It's like, uh, I guess, okay. Okay, you're still paying me $30 million this year? Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do I have $35 million guaranteed next year? Yeah, yeah. Okay.

And they click. And this news is going to completely enrage Aaron Rogers that you're giving me more, uh, love than you get, the Packards are giving him. Okay. So I don't know what happens. with his contract. So he signed through 2022,

$35 million base salary for 2022, by the way. And there's a $45 million cap hit connected to it. Again, the June 1st date, maybe that becomes more movable. But if he has another one of these years that's up and down and you start to hear more of that Justin Jefferson vibe, you remember the interview we talked about a couple weeks ago, where who was he pumping up? Joe Burrow, I believe.

how Joe Burrow had the swag and Kirk, you know, doesn't necessarily have that and Kirk likes to get rid of the ball and all that stuff. If the Vikings kind of stay earthbound and I kind of see Minnesota as maybe a team that's kind of just trapped in NFL purgatory a little bit in the NFC right now, with Mond in the building entering year two next year, with cousins on the final year of his contract, with the Vikings maybe having a top 12 pick, if things. didn't go right next year. Is Kirk Cousins' time with the Vikings near an end if he doesn't deliver a season

that makes them say, no, he's the guy we want in here for multiple more years? I think he's at the crossroads here. I would say this. He kind of reminds me of like a Jimmy Garoppolo figure where what you might have end up doing is you bring in either way, either it's Monde or you go somewhere else at quarterback. And you can't trade. You can't trade Kirk Cousins with who Kirk Cousins is with the amount of guaranteed money he has next year.

insane team is party to that. And Kyle Shanahan has a quarterback. So I don't know who the, who would be courting him at this point. Vikings maybe, you know, pay some money to, to trade him. That would be the only way. But in general, like, he's not a trade candidate. In fact, he's a much more weighty financial situation. Wait, why wouldn't he be a trade candidate? Because he's only has one more year on the deal. And if you do make the money work on both sides, he's very tradable. You're asking a lot, though, that the team, that the Vikings are going to eat a ton of his salary to move him. I mean, it's possible. But what are you going to get in return? I just, I'm saying I don't think that there's a huge line of people waiting for Kirk Cousins

after this year. Essentially, by the way, but no, also, right, if he, if he is, if they're looking to trade him, it's because he also stunk up the joint next year. So it's another year of Kirk Cousins losing his luster. So I think it's, I think it's the problem is it's, is there crosswinds? Are there changes happening here? Crossroads? Yes. But they're stuck with them. The same. way you'd be stuck paying someone a ton of money over the next two years. It's not that different than Stafford if Stafford were an absolute disaster. I think it's a good. I think Stafford's a good comparison in terms of productivity because I don't think what we've seen from Kirk Cousins in his career, he's very steady, like him or not. And he's a productive quarterback, at least on paper.

So I feel like the bad season for him would still be like, you know, close to 4,000 yards, around 30 touchdowns, you know, pass a rating around 95 or something. But the team's going nowhere and he's not a very popular figure inside the building. And they feel like, man, we got to shake this thing up. That's kind of how I see it going. I don't know if he has that at this stage of his career with the sporting cast and Justin Jefferson there and Dalvin Cook. I don't know if he craters, which makes it a little bit more of a tougher decision for the

Vikings if they feel like they want to shake him. I would just say this, though. His numbers were fine Kirk Cousins last year. I mean, like I think there's something about the Kirk Cousinic experience that we're all suspicious of. But like last year's collapse, he had a great run game too. They have one of the, they have the best rookie wide receiver in the league. Kurt Cousins did his job for the most part. Their defense fell apart. I mean, you got Alvin Camaro running for five touchdowns against them. What was at Christmas night? It's like this was not six, this was not a Mike Zimmer defense.

And so I think like it's just like always kind of blame the quarterback. That said, to go get Cullen is it's a first step in the direction of they're not going to resign Kirk Cousins. They're going to get out of this thing as soon as I can. I mean, what would have happened if they had fields, Greg? If they did get fields, there's no way they were going to keep fields on the bench for two years. So it was already in their head that they're looking to get out of this.

It's a Cousin-Land-Lance scenario. Yeah, but Cousins has broken some barriers. He did it with the franchise tag. And he's fascinating to me because he does remind me of like an NBA contract where he's guaranteed $35 million next year. I can't remember something quite like that, where his full salary is guaranteed. So that's like a Kemba Walker contract in the NBA

where it's just like that guy's getting his money no matter who's paying him. And Cousins is such a funny character because this has been his story since year too. Everyone's always wanting him to be something he's not. He's never that guy. He's sneaky, like streaky. But he's also by the end of the year,

ultimately you know what you're getting from the Kirk Cousins experience. And it like sort of drives everyone, including like his own front office crazy the difference between him and stafford though mark i would just say is is i think if cousins imploded or the viking's imploded everything gets blown up and then he is at a crossroads and then you do you just like the new regime just finds a way to get rid of them and and that's not going to happen in l.A i think no matter what right because the rams regime will survive like eight nuclear blasts like they've given away all their draft picks i mean they're they're fourth and wins since they got there they're fourth and wins since they got there what are they

They're also rather like unkillable. So there's, it's a little bit different. But this is, he's so funny, cousins to try to figure out. Because like you were saying, Mark, like who would want him, who would take on the money? In his last two seasons with the Vikings, he has 91 touchdown, or three seasons with the Vikings, all three seasons. 91 touchdowns, 29 interceptions. 91 and 29. Last season, he completed almost 68% of his passes, 4,300 yards, 35 touchdown.

Downs, 13 picks, a pass rating of 105, QBR 63.2. You know, like, these are big time numbers. I know they're not maybe super duper star numbers, but like I would kill to have a quarterback that produced like this every year. And I think something with cousins, I don't know what it is. Is there something about him? Yeah, it's, I think it's like in some moments, he seems to short circuit. I think Baker is, Baker at worst, you're hoping, is a, is a rich man's cousins, is a little bit better than cousins without the short sentence.

Well, I don't want to make it more money than cousins, so I don't want to be too much richer, but. I think, I think there's a lot of similarities there. He's also missed one game in the last six years. That's valuable. Their ability is a talent trait. Okay. Who's up? Mark.

All right. I would like to dip into the coaching ranks because I think there's someone who is at a genuine crossroads. and his name is Greg Roman, the Ravens Offensive Coordinator. Because, like, here's the deal. You could put it all on Lamar Jackson, but there's no, like, Lamar Jackson passes the eye test in terms of being, like, an elite athlete

that you would build a team around all the time. Can he become a little bit of a better passer? Yes, we see that, we know that, and they knew that when they drafted him. Greg Roman did an excellent job integrating his skills with an offense that zigged when the rest of the NFL zagged. And Greg Roman's done that,

various stops in San Francisco and Buffalo. But the Greg Roman experience, the problem a little bit, we all know, is it gets a tad stale. And, you know, last year, a team that is essentially streaking towards the playoffs, they had a few bumps, but the Ravens were clearly a playoff team. They've got their wide receiver, Hollywood Brown, going nuts over the issues on offense. You've got Lamar Jackson telling the Rich Eisen Show that defenders are calling out the plays pre-snap. Greg Roman, months later, this offseason said, we are going to expand the offense. So we have to. We have to change it a little bit.

You've got to become a little more versatile. You went and got Sammy Watkins. You've got Rashad Bateman in the draft. You've got more help at wide receiver. Your tight ends are healthy again. That was an issue last year. There's no reason for the Ravens not to look a little bit different, not to respond a little bit differently to what's happened over the past two years

under the Greg Roman offense. And if it doesn't, I think Greg Roman is in hot water. I think that's a great choice. And they went from first in DVOA on offense. to 11th a year ago, that's been the track record. It's on him to kind of prove what I think a lot of people in the NFL think about him and that I think was a little bit echoed in Hollywood Brown. Like, does he have another move here?

It could be. He feels like a guy that, like, his career wouldn't be at a crossroads. I feel like he'd get another job somewhere based on his track record. But as a reason, as a coordinator in Baltimore, I mean, he's presided over some big offenses. And I feel like someone would defy into that. What a unique history he has. I mean, you know, he's worked for the two Harbaugh brothers and then he had the good tie rod season, the best season Tyrod ever had.

But he very much, like, whatever he does, starts wearing off after that first year. And like every spot, at this point, you have to consider it a significant trend. Also, everyone we're talking about is going to get another job. But it would be a significant crossroads to lose essentially your third role. as a play caller you may not be a play caller again for a while right i i don't know if you would get another coordinator job at least not right away and this was a guy who's you know is wanted to become a head coach all right great close us out but actually before your point you you make that you say that mark and you're right like most of these guys all these guys even if things didn't

work out they'll resurface somewhere else is there a todd girly like todd girly when we're like figuring the segment out on text yesterday, I cited him as an example of like that guy entering last season, big time crossroads year. It didn't work out, obviously in Atlanta. And now he's just trying to stay in the league. Is there like a prominent player? Maybe it's A.J. Green. I think I think the writing's on the wall there. But can't, do you think Cam would be out of football this year, at next year, potentially? Well, I think that's what I'm talking about. Here's why I think there's a reason for that. A, no one sees him as a starter. B, Cam Newton is not looking to be a career backup for five years.

like a cult McCoy. We don't know that. I'm just saying that if those two things were true, I don't know what he, his attitude in New England makes me think he might be more willing to do that than than we would have expected, but you're right. No one, no one really knows. I mean, Gurley's trying out with the lion. So it's like Gurley hasn't walked away from football.

It's just that, you know, might not make that too. Well, football's walking away from him is what I'm saying. Like, is there someone that is in that situation if things go really poorly in 2021. A prominent former superstar that's kind of on the ropes here of things I mean, Big Ben certainly. Big Ben's basically

I don't have any good ones going off the top my head. Yeah. Anyway, great, close us out. I'm going to pass. You know, I had a couple more. So I'll just throw Zeke. Zeke would be interesting. But I'm going to go. I'm going to go with someone else here. Just because he fits a different profile. And that's Derwin James, who

went into his second season in the NFL as one of the favorites for defensive player of the year was one of the only rookie defensive players I can ever remember who got some love for defensive player of the year. He did win rookie of the year. Not only was he, you know, probably the best safety in the league, but he was just one of the best defensive players at any position and the football heads, the Jeremiah's, the Cosells, the everyone, like speaking about him, I think in tones that they reserve for all-time great, really, what they kind of expect Derwin James' career to look like. And he's been hurt two straight years.

And you just hope he comes back from those two injuries like the same player that he was before and that he starts building up his career. I'm not saying he has to be an all-pro like this year, but we might get an indication of is he going to continue on that trajectory or is he just going to be unfortunately waiting? by these injuries and not the same guy, like a Bob Sanders, by the way, a safety, a little smaller,

who won defensive player of the year early in his career. Honey Badger is a guy that comes with mine, too, that broke into the league as a monster force, and then injuries kind of waylaid him, and then you wondered if he would ever be the same guy, and maybe if he's not the same Honey Badger he was initially in Arizona, he's still a productive starter. Yeah, I think that's a great one,

because, I mean, in terms of crushing, summer injuries and the chargers were one of the focused teams of hard knocks. I mean, you just saw the air go out of that entire organization when he hurt his knee in practice last August because he was, you know, the linchpin of everything. I mean, in the back end of that defense and the fact that you had waited all year to get him back and to lose him again, it does concern me that this idea of a professional athlete when they go away for this long with injuries to assume they can get back to that spot. It's a big assumption.

You hope he can, though. He's very young, obviously. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of mystery attached to that. And I think, you know, as outsiders, you don't have any read on him because he kind of goes away in terms of understanding his personality and him talking to the press. These guys are on rehab, vanish. And they all come back talking about how arduous it was, how lonely that process is. And these guys thrive off of being in the locker room around their teammates. I do think that the presence of Brandon Staley as the coach is a huge area.

up. Had they gone and gotten an offensive kind of coach who's going to just basically, you know, you're going to get a couple different defensive coordinators. I think Staley, if you just look at his isolated one year with the Rams and what he did for certain players on that team, asked John Johnson, John Johnson being

one of them, who went from good to great. Right. I think the environment for him is amazing. And I kind of just trust that the star athlete inside of him, I mean, it's sort of who he is. That's what his soul is. Will respond. And contract-wise, the fifth year option kind of helps out both sides here because they picked that up and so

normally he'd be in a contract year which would make it messy but he's under contract for next year too and um you did get me thinking with zeke but his he has 12.4 million that's already guaranteed for 2022 right i was going to go down that road and i didn't do that if he stunk if if he was bad um i don't know at some point if he was bad this year he's not guaranteed to be there again next year one way or another but also you could phase him into like a deep committee and like he is gone one year later i mean that's that would be a crossroads to some degree he's not a star running back anymore i thought tony pollard was better than him last year i even like asked the research department to give me some like next gen cool stats of uh of uh like when the because his numbers per touch

were a lot better of like when pollard was on the field and zeke was on the field because it seems so much better and uh they came back with no actually the cowboys were way better with zeke on the So sometimes you go to the next gen stats, you go to the research, it doesn't give you the result you want. And you know, Greg, you got an egg on your face. You got egg on your face. When you mentioned teammates playing the same position, I thought you were going to go Jalen Smith and Layton Van deresh of the Cowboys with Michael Parsons there because their money situation would allow them to completely get away from Vanderesh after this season. And Jalen Smith, that's a little tougher, but you'd have to pick one or the other to stick with Micah Parsons. Or, Greg, your honesty there, your ability to be voluminous.

vulnerable and show the trials and tribulations of being a football analyst. For you to just put it all out there for the audience just now, I just have so much respect for you. Truly vulnerable. Would have been very vulnerable if I actually, like, mentioned that in whatever article I was writing. But no, I just ignored that fact. Just ignored it. Didn't support my theory. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We've all done it. By the way, Zika's 25. He posted career lows in rushing yards, 979 yards per attempt, 4.0. man, if the Jets had running back that average 4.0, I'd be jumping in the streets. And he tied a career worse. I think this is what got him most on the radar with people. He had six fumbles last year also. He was losing like a terrible offensive line.

There was like a six-week stretch where he lost a fumble every game. It wasn't just that he was putting on the ground. They were losing possession every time. It didn't look good. We are experiencing the Zeke is staying in shape off season, which happens every three off seasons, I think. That I've noticed in Dallas. it seems like he's he's motivated all right so there you go there are some players some coaches

at a crossroads uh we'll be back on thursday you know projected starters Greg are we going to touch on it this week we said we would last Thursday I feel like we should mark that would be lying to the audience essentially to say we would and will not we haven't worked out the particulars of how that segment would go but that is something that's percolate Maybe we'll have a guest involved as well. I don't know. Yeah, I mean, we are allowed to, we are allowed to lie to the audience whenever we feel like it and in whatever form. But in this case, it would feel wrong because it would also be, you know, affecting Greg. I mean, we could just say that it's coming up next week and then just keep putting it off to like September.

Kick the can. Yeah. Kick that can. All right. That's also in play. Just be aware of that. All right. Good stuff. Also in play is your Roblo NFL hat. I just want to say for our. audio listeners, of course. Dan's worn this black NFL hat, this entire show. It's very distracting. I know. You know, I actually was looking for my product, my product, the Redkin before we started. And somehow every one of my dispensers is missing.

So I said, you know what? You don't even, you don't roll with one. I usually have them in different areas of house. I suggesting foul play? I mean, it doesn't sound like much. I am suggesting, yes, that someone was working against. to me here. Like, because we might be using a segment from today's podcast on our Friday NFL network show. And it's like, now I'm wearing a hat in that. That's not what I like to do

on television, but people are conspired. So who's working against you? Your wife, who's like you're, you guys are both making income, but why lower your value? You're not, you're not too far away from where I am now. And we actually saw each other. You were in my town on Friday. How do I know that you didn't work against me? I mean, in theory that says, oh, we can't use. one of these for the network segment we have more work to do for the network show why on earth would i go in that direction let's let come on sure all comes let's start a my son hides my stuff all the time for no reason other than just to mess with me so like i'll like find my air pods like in his trash can you know just who knows maybe there i don't let anyone in this room no one's coming

in here mark that is the most like airtight alibi anyone's ever come up with why would i want to do more work. It's that simple. I'm ruled out as a suspect. Yeah, I buy it. All right, good stuff. We'll be back Thursday. Yes, the network show Friday right after Good Morning Football. So make sure you check that out at it. And as Greg alluded to, yes, maybe we should. Maybe we need to read some of these comments on the podcast. So keep that in mind. Leave a comment. We could do that Thursday. We could do that Thursday. We'll read some on Thursday's show at the end of the show. Be a part of the adventure here on the around the NFL podcast. This is Dan Hansa signing off for Quiet Storm.

The old boss, Ricky Hollywood, behind the virtual glass. Until Thursday, see the call. This is an eye heart This is an IHeart podcast. Thank you.