NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Projected Starters AUTOPSY

Episode Date: June 3, 2021

A room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Gregg Rosenthal are joined by Nick Shook to bring you all of the latest news in the NFL starting with Al Michaels and where he could announce next (9:12). The Ravens are switching up their offense (13:50) and players are speaking out about covid vaccines (17:00). We take a deep dive into Gregg Rosenthal's "Projected Starters Series" (28:51).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. Wants to find Mark Sessler a new job. 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. The aforementioned, Mark Sessler, don't go anywhere, Mark. We need you, buddy.

Now more than ever. And Greg Rosenthal. I mean, if you were to voluntarily leave the company to pursue other projects and you reached out for help, obviously, we would help you on that end. But I just don't really want to pursue that even as a thought. Well, I mean, these are either listener generated or it came from inside our own company, that message. And it said that it didn't say that I'm looking for a new job. It said the ATN podcast, I believe, is looking, help. hoping to find me a new job. So it's sort of an unsettling way to open a show that

will probably wind on for 80 or 90 minutes, but I'll do my best. No one said it means you have to leave this job. Maybe it's a Weish deal where you get a side hustle. You start working for the Browns. You get that double stream of income and suddenly like the whole Sessler household is just flying. I mean, we know a few people that have worked for the Browns and they're, you know, they're not far from us right now, Dan. And it also doesn't always turn out well. You know, sometimes those stays with the Browns end under mysterious circumstances. What's that I hear in the background? Oh, my gosh.

That's, my God. That's Nick Shook's music. Is this where I crash? Is this where I crush the beer cans and, like, dump them over my head? You know, I mean, I've been known to do that. I've been known to do that. Oh, well, you know. Some things are best left to mystery.

Wee, Shook, he's back. How about that? You know, Nick, I was thinking, what did Freddie Kitchens do? I know. We're going to have to get some drinks inside of Shook some time just to get the load down on this. Got to get them inside that chiseled body. Shook, I was thinking you are a rising star with NFL media. I see you on network now a lot.

Your football writing is top notch. you have a striking appearance because of your well-built physique and your bald head and your fairly symmetrical face. There's a lot of things going for you right now, Nick. What we need now is to put together. We need to put together some projects. It could be a little more symmetrical. It would be nice.

I had a few project ideas. And you could take this IP and run with it. And then, of course, if it takes off, could just give me a producer credit and I'll stay out of it on the creative end, but maybe I just get a paycheck. Nick's shook, and that's kind of just you on various personal, domestic, global affairs that concern you. Yeah, I mean, I like that idea.

I get that a lot. You know, people think they're really clever when I'm like, wow, I say, well, I'm in a social setting and I say, wow. And they go, oh, would that make you perhaps shook? Are you shook? Yeah, I was going to say, was that not the first time that you've gotten that as a potential programming idea or... I usually pat them on the back and say, you know what, I've never heard that in my life before. Thank you.

Pat them on the back. Tough one. How about this one? All right for that producer, what do you got next? Yeah, how about, yeah, it's just the start. How about Nick shook me all night long and that's a sex and relationship podcast? That one would take off on a different podcast network, I think. It would be dangerous, but in a good way.

And then finally, I just got shook, colon, Nick on earthquakes and other seismic activities. I have experienced a few months living in L.A. And we even had one here in the Cleveland area a couple summers ago that was so small you couldn't even feel it. But the news told you about it for five days because it's so rare. That is a nice sort of breaking news element to it as well where people would say, you know, we felt something in the middle of the night. You know where to go. You have to suddenly start a earthquake-oriented podcast at 312 a.m. I like it.

I love it. Just imagine, like, here in Southern California, whenever there's a tremor, everyone runs to Twitter and says, Earthquake, or you feel that, blah, blah, blah. Shook has a live link. It's a live stream, and he's breaking it down for two hours. Like, doing my Kornacki, I got my sleeves rolled up. I'm in front of some big board that's showing, like, you know, the Richter scale and the seismograph and where the epicenter was. here's another one shook not stirred a podcast about mixology that's good that's see it's all there when you are blessed with the physique well you've earned that with the dome with the fairly

symmetrical face with the mind that you have and then the name to top it off i'd say it's the off season and it's time to start thinking bigger that's all nick i'm just lucky that when i shaved my head for the first time that I didn't have an oblong head, at least to what I can see. So important. Nick's definitely does sound like a go ahead, Mark. No, I was going to say, Nick, you could do a lot of things with Nick as well, shaving nicks and, you know, nicks and razors, like a little shaving podcast.

People with beards are very, you know, they're very trendy right now. There's people with the fashionable beards. You could cater to them. How about this? Shook about nicks. And it's all about cutting yourself shaving and how to avoid that. You know, I think this brainstorming session just produced a winner. that's great on a more serious note Nick this is your first show with us since you so beautifully

helped us handle recaps on Sunday nights and you know you would you would come in and tag in for Chris Wessling last season which was you know a very kind of difficult vulnerable time for the podcast and, you know, especially as Wes was getting sicker and he started to worry about where it was all going. Shook was always there and always very versatile for us and always cool to jump on whenever and fill in. And you do fill, you know, it's a very important place in the history of this podcast, Nick, and hope to have you involved in this upcoming regular season on Sunday nights because God knows we need the help. But thank you for being part of that time in the history of the show as difficult as it was.

Well, I'll tell you what, guys, ever since I had, since Greg first hired me seven years ago, I always wanted to be a part of this, and it was always, it's always been an honor and we'll continue to be an honor for every time that I'm able to join you guys. So thank you for having me. Yeah, thanks, man. It was, you were, I remember you were there on that, that, I'll never forget that episode now, you know, the last, you know, Brown's win. Not the last Browns win ever, but the Brown's playoff win where, yeah, West's kind of tagged out for you. Like that, that was an amazing show. All right.

Coming up on today's show with Nick Shook sitting in for the whole banger of an app. How long did you say, Mark, 80 to 90 minutes? We'll try to come in under that, but no promises. I mean, 90 would be, 90 to 100 is where I'm sitting at. Now we're 10 minutes in. I think we've got at least another 90. three minutes to go. Coming up on today's show, you know, we've talked about it.

We talked about it last week, and in general, Greg's biggest offseason written piece on NFL.com is his projected starter series. And you would think during this time of year when things are a little slow, that we would have been hitting it hard. And yet, we neglected the series. We didn't, it came up casually in conversation, but it never got its own seg. And now days and weeks have passed. since the debut of the series,

we're now finally going to address it in a series that in a segment we like to call Projected starters. Autopsy. Yes, projected starters. Autopsy, where we dig through the corpse of Greg's brilliant series and share some takeaways of our own. also slightly grisly but i i think that people are going to enjoy it poke in the corpse it took

weeks to make up this sound drop so it was worth the wait uh also we promised them you get them we share some of the iTunes reviews out there at the end of the show but before that let's hit the news i mean let's face it the giants are coming off a worse week than harvey winesteed and they're up by 14 points That's what we chose for Al, come on. Granted, it was not Al's finest moment. That would not be his, do you believe in Miracles moment. It might be the opposite of it.

It might be the unbreakable. It might be the Samuel Jackson to Bruce Willis moment in Al Michaels' career. But it might be more like, do you believe in Mike Tariko taking over in one more year? Mike Tarrico hired by NBC several years ago It was always thought to be the heir apparent to Al Michaels Now we're at a stage where Al is in the final year of his contract NBC has the Super Bowl It's in Los Angeles, Al Michaels is hometown

And now here we are in a situation where is Al going off into the sunset Probably not. Al Michaels loves what he's doing Even at 76 years old And this report from friend of the show, Andrew Marchand NBC's Al Michaels has emerged as Amazon Prime's top choice to do play-by-play for its forthcoming exclusive Thursday night NFL package. The Post has learned. The courting has already begun with NBC, an active part of the discussions that could include its top production people being part of a potential deal as well. According to sources, Amazon begins its exclusive broadcast of Thursday night football next season.

Greg, Michaels is the target here, but there's also talk. talk about Joe Buck and Ian Eagle. I love it. There's a weird Jay Leno announces he's retiring in seven years and Conan's waiting to take over vibe going on. It's another NBC boondoggle potentially here where Tariko has earned his shot and the old guy is still there. Giving Al a final act to his career on a great platform.

That feels perfect. I hope it happens. Yeah, I love this. We've talked about it now for a few years. It's not that I want a lot of my life, still think he's, you know, top four. You know, I want him to be on one of these prime time games. He's just taking, you know, he's just late career Joe Montana in front of Steve Young doesn't belong on that Sunday night.

So perfect. Put him on the new Amazon and we fly. I'm into it. But he'd still do the NBC Sunday night games this year, according to that report. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So Amazon doesn't start till 2022. So he then would segue pretty naturally.

He gets his swan song at NBC. It's in LA. as Dan mentioned, he gets the Super Bowl, and then he just moves to Thursday night and Joe Buck doesn't have to work as hard in 2022. I mean, Tariko very much feels like a New England-based Jimmy Garapolo product where you thought maybe he's the heir apparent, but the lead guy is just too good in staying around too long.

And like, the thing about Michaels is this. Maybe he's not where he was, like, years ago. For me, he's still like the top of the mountain. And I would love to be his age and still passionate about what one is doing. I think that's kind of there's these announcers that have been in our lives for like our entire lives. It's crazy. I mean, and he's the dude that announces like every sport. I love it.

I find another part of this job is we must continually chat about other men becoming very rich. And you have to have the stomach for that. I'm most curious to hear Al Michaels read like the ad reads or the information about streaming during those broadcasts being on Amazon Prime and how he handles. the whole concept of that. You would think that they might be a little looser. I guess it's still an NFL partner, but if the gambling shackles are coming off in general across the coverage of the NFL, you would think like Amazon would maybe be the one that pushes the boundaries a little bit,

and Al would love to dive into that. Sure, kind of like how in Major League Baseball they're using the minor leagues to try to figure out some rules to make the game go in a more expedient manner. Or maybe the streaming platform is the setup for prime time and Sunday and Monday and all that. I like that. And I hope Al gets that final act. One other little nugget in that, like, and it's not surprising, but they talked about Nate Berlison as perhaps the partner to whoever they hire as the play by playman, which is, you know, again, I think it's like his next ascension. But Amazon is like, we're not going to try to like put a bunch of kids out there.

We're going to try to put together a team that is like one of the best teams around. In other news, Lamar Jackson, in his three NFL seasons, which of course includes an MVP award in 2019, he has operated almost totally out of the pistol formation. That's changing, we hear in June. ESPN.com's Jameson Hensley reports that the offense in Baltimore this season will include plays with Jackson starting under center. Greg Roman, the team's OC, told reporters on Wednesday, the change is. is coming to the team's approach. He doesn't know what the percentage will be or the extent of how much they're going to use it,

but they're working on it and evaluating it every day. Shook, why do you think the Ravens are doing this and do you think this is important or just a June non-story? I think it could jumpstart their passing offense a little bit. And the reason for that is first variety, but secondly, the boot opportunities and how well you can get him on the rollout in that sort of situation. It's more natural coming from under center

with a run fake and breaking back to your opposite side than necessarily doing the read option type of thing where it's more lateral than it is gaining depth on your rollout. So I think that that's probably one of the goals of going under center. They also have a rushing attack that has proven, in part because of Lamar Jackson's presence in that offense, has proven to be very effective. And coming out of some traditional sets, I think adds more unpredictability and limits team's ability to potentially stack the box or try to game plan against that running attack. can't do what you did the year before it's like the history of offensive evolution in the NFL if you do it you're going to get stuck like once once you get past the mid-90s to start of the 2000s and i think that was part of the raven's issue last year not that they were bad offensively it's still a good running game but they didn't really evolve what they do you have to change in some way each year else it's not going to work and as long as they don't lose kind of the core of what they do and it's not like they're not going to use his legs and it's not like play action can't be

effective from under center can be more effective and they're a great play action team so you they need to have a few more flavors to throw out there each week i mean i think it was like two seasons ago they were appropriately lauded for bludgeoning teams with their approach but last year you know they didn't have nick boyle they tried to do that again um they were largely successful for parts of the season but there were all these side shows that we talked about on tuesday with you know Lamar Jackson saying that the defenses were calling out plays pre-snap. Like, you know, that's the trick with the Greg Roman offense. And he said all offseason, we have to expand.

I mean, I will say this, though, the Ravens social media team got a little too excited about the concept of this yesterday and put out, I don't know if you saw this, this Lamar Jackson passed to Sammy Watkins, and it was like an ultra duck. And all these people were like, why did you put that clip out there? Like, it did not help this messaging on. any level you have to go check it out i get you could look at it cynically and say it's a you know tacit admission that the offense was kind of going the wrong direction last year or you could just say okay this is smart this is smart yet like you guys are saying you have to evolve you can't just

stay the same way and imagine if if lamar is comfortable in this and he's got some better playmakers this year you know maybe his game takes a jump and that would be very exciting for the ravens in other news. The COVID-19 vaccine. It's very important that we all get vaccinated and there are some people in our country that don't feel that way and that is creating a level of tension in our nation. There's always tension in this country, especially if you feel like in the last few years. But the new thing now is the idea of being vaccinated and the Buffalo Bills are kind of a case study in the NFL.

the bills, let me set it up this way. The NFL, if you get to 85% vaccination on your roster, it allows you to relax some of the restrictions on your team. It just makes life a lot easier for the team, in addition to it makes it safer for everyone. But the bills aren't really talking about it. They don't want to talk about it when they're asked about. A quarterback Josh Allen and linebacker Tremad Edmonds

did not want to talk about the vaccines. And then Jordan Poyer said, according to the Buffalo News, the following. Real quick, before we start, I'm not going to be answering questions about vaccines. So if you guys can direct your questions on to football, I would love to answer them. All respect. I appreciate it. What is this, what's this all about, Greg?

What's going on here? I think they have been put in the spotlight because Josh Allen and especially Cole Beasley have been so vocal. And I think Poyer or a family member, I think was his wife, you know, it was too. But Beasley was so vocal. about essentially not believing the science and wanting to do his own research. And Josh Allen essentially alluded to that too. Like if you don't want to answer the questions and you're saying it's private, it's pretty

clear which direction you're going. And I'd like to think they actually huddled a little bit and said, we don't want this to be a problem within our team. And let's just shut it down in terms of the media as a story. At some point, though, it'll be a bigger deal because the rule. as you mentioned, Dan, are different depending on how vaccinated you are. And then when you get to the season, they really get different. Like, if you're in the by week and you're not vaccinated, you've got to show up to get tested every day.

And if not, you can go, you know, you can go to Hawaii. You go with Jason Witten and Tony Romo and to Cabo. I think they just live there now. They just hang out the four of them in Cabo. And you can do whatever you want. So that would seem to be like where the rubber hits the road there. Where it's like, are they really going to stay away from it during the season when you get these advantages as a team? I don't know. I'd struggle to think that by training camp,

that 15% of roster players would not be vaccinated. But, you know, across. Look at our country though. Well, a country, it's 63% are vaccinated or have had at least one shot right now. And tons of people have bailed on the second one. So, you know, there's just like last year, there's a human element to how it's being processed to some degree. And I mean, I guess, listen, like, it's not really fair that Josh Allen would be, like, picked apart by everyone for doing something different than we all did. But I totally get it. And the bills are in a weird spot if, if, like, he refuses to answer those questions. To your point, Greg, it just simply suggests that he's against it. Not only that, but then you think about the competitive

advantages or disadvantages, you know, like Greg had, you know, mentioned it. I mean, when it comes to the coaching staff, they can't even be involved if they're not vaccinated. You know, there's, there's, like, a clear separation. There's the masking that. involved. And there's also the vulnerability associated because, let's face it, according to the CDC, you know, you get vaccinated. The chance that you're infected and can spread are extremely low, which is, you know, led to the change in mask advising and everything else. Well, if you're unvaccinated and you contract COVID-19, guess what? You're stuck in where we were last year, which is you're out. And anybody who's near you who wasn't vaccinated is out. And if this is

something that's prevalent more among one team, you're setting yourself up for issues going into the season. I hate, and we don't want to go down this road too far, but I hate that this has become on some level a political side-taking scenario. It's just, it's very frustrating because the science is there that this works. Everybody should get a shot. And if you listen to the show, have some considerations for your fellow man. I mean, we hear a lot about patriotic thoughts.

It's like, let's have some concern for other people. All right. In other news, hit the trope alert, Ricky. Troop alert. Trojanet, Trojanet, Trojanet, Trojanet, Trojanet. Jared Goff has a fresh start with the Detroit Lions, and head coach Dan Campbell loves what he sees. He made about five throws yesterday that were just,

wow, Campbell said that via the Detroit Free Press. Now, Mark, we went to Rams camp a few years back, and one thing that you jumped out is that boy can throw a football. that has never been an issue with Jared Goff. So it doesn't surprise me that he's throwing tight line drive spirals on target. That's how he became a number one overall pick. But unfortunately, for Goff, the football at quarterback, goes beyond that. And that's where he's gotten into trouble in the last couple of years.

Yeah, I guess in Detroit, it's more like, who is he throwing it to when real games started? I mean, they are one of the thinner wide receiver groups out there. But, I mean, this is the kind of stuff that I hear it goes in one ear and out the other. Jared Goff throwing good passes when there's no pass for us, like no, no scheming against his weaknesses, okay, he's a great athlete. He's a supreme athlete. I should, I don't think this should be surprising any of us. That's why it is a trope. Well, yeah, the trope is like, you know, disappointing player for other team, you know, is wowing in the offseason practices. Jared Goff can spin it. Let's pump him up. Yeah. We remember that scene in Hard Knocks, right? You know, where Sean McVeigh sitting there. Who was it? Was it Sean McPhair? Was it? Jeff Fisher, standing back. The Rams have been on so many NFL films properties that have lost traction.

Oh, man, that's an NFL throw right there. Yeah, well, it's June. Yeah. Now, you know, I was thinking we'll save this for the Fantasy Spectacular coming up later this summer. But I wonder they're going to be playing from behind a lot. Goff is probably going to get a season full of starts. There's not a lot of wide receivers. How about T.J. Hawkinson, under the radar is a big ad.

Tight end, very thin in fantasy. He was great last year. In other Trope Alert news. Trooperat. Trooperat. Tropernet. Trooperate. Hey, listen, Mac Jones is the new hot quarterback

with all the swag with the Patriots, but do not forget that Cam Newton is a former MVP now in the second year of the Patriot system. And guess what? Offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels had this to say. He came back to. year at a much different position. He has a different grasp of the offense, a different understanding of the terminology.

Now we're working on refining the precision, the details. Okay. So what does that mean? He just had no idea what he's doing last year? What are we doing? Yeah, that's the year too. The guy gets the offense a little more. It's usually more about young players.

Things are slowing down for me. But it's, yeah, but it also can be for free agents, especially it might be like a pandemic trope because you didn't have the offseason last year and that part makes sense i'm buying it i mean also they they they they're a completely different offense like they you know you can read this in greg's projected starters but it's a stat that's out there i mean no team ran less two tight ends they probably will be you know top three in the league with that this year it's so it's like it's not like the same playbook they got a whole bunch of different players finally sit on that finally in the news Uh-oh.

Greg, on Tuesday's show, you were just talking about it. We were talking about how you'll see you at the crossroads. Well, you won't be lonely. I'll see you at the cross. I'm going to miss everybody, especially the uncle, Charles. Chandler Jones, J.J. Watt, both at the crossroads. Well, popped up that Chandler Jones, you know, maybe connected to some trade rumors. And what did he do?

Speaking of trope alerts, he deleted the Cardinals from his. social media in its entirety, no more mentions of the Arizona Cardinals on Chandler Jones social. Greg is looking it up right now. He can't even believe it. He needs to get to the gram right now. What does that mean, Shucky, is Chandler Jones on the way out? He certainly must be disgruntled. I mean, I think athletes do this 70% of the time solely for the attention as if they don't get

enough. So I get pretty annoyed by stuff like this. But again, we are in June, so we need something to feed the bees. and if we're going to feed a controversy beast, it's definitely somebody wiping stuff out from their social media. Personally, I don't know if this really does mean he's disgruntled or if he's preparing for what could eventually be the inevitable, or if we just have some people who are just scrubbing social media timelines

and just happen to look and say, oh, look, he doesn't mention his team anymore. Oh, no. Like, what if I had deleted around the NFL writer? No, I don't notice. What if I got rid of that, around the NFL writer out of my bio? Is everybody going to think I'm disgruntled? What if I'm just trying to save characters? I think perhaps David Ely would ping you on Instant Messenger with a few questions.

Maybe Jones doesn't like all the pop J.J. Watts getting as like Mr. Cardinal, because, you know, you see him at the Sun's game. And JJ Watt immediately is like always tweeting about the Suns in Phoenix Sports. He's in the front row at the game. And it's like, Chandler Jones is like, what's up with me, you know? What about my shine? What about my shine? There are also some whispers that it could be related to a trade for,

Julio Jones. Jones for Jones. In fact, that came from our friend Jason Zumwald. He texted us with some concerns about that. So not a report. It's just Cardinal Superfan Jason Zunwald. No, he didn't come up with that out of thin air. He said that, you know, the streets were talking that he's got his own, I guess,

chat rooms and areas that he hangs out in where this was becoming a thing. I'm not saying that it's from the Associated Press necessarily. Hey, listen, Chandler Jones in a second. for Julio Jones, but I don't know if that helps the Falcons salary cap-ish. I don't know. Right. I mean, love you, Jay.

All right. If I, by the way, if I scrubbed you guys from my social entirely and then any reference to the ATN podcast, do you think that would? Maybe that would earn like a subreddit post or something? Would that get a little pop? Is Dan on his way out? Is he starting his own podcast?

platform, the Dan Hanzas network? It would just be all like throwback and the boys on your Instagram. And squirrels. I think you might be like a little annoyed with the, I think in your mind, I mean, anyone would think this, that it's going to generate this sort of American ground swell of attention. It might just be a little bit lesser or at least it would be like an hour of attention and then people would move on to the next anti-drama.

So I don't think it's worth it. It's like Chandler Jones, the same thing only on a smaller scale. basically, like one hour of people writing up a aggregated blog post about it. Yeah, Shook, Shook deletes all of his around the NFL stuff. No one notices in like a week later. He's like, can I put it back? Is that like no one needs this? It's like when you post a picture on Instagram and delete it because it didn't get enough likes yet.

It's that kind of stuff. Nobody saw it. The tree falls in the woods. Nobody hears it. That's a great episode of Nick Shook, by the way, when your social posting, you keep going back and expecting pop and it doesn't get a little shook there, I like that. All right. That's what's happening in the news.

Projected starters. We dig through what's left of Greg's projected starters series. What work Greg did. And now it's upon us to look upon it on a cold slate. Take out the scalpel and other cutting devices. poke around and see what's inside. Mark, it is gone. I think one of the most, you know, so it's split up into eight divisions.

And I noted this last week, I think one of the most intriguing entries is the AFC South. Because there was a period, you know, when the Texans were rising with Deshaun Watson, and, you know, the cults had Philip Rivers, and you could look at the Titans as a team that was a Super Bowl threat, and then suddenly the Jackson Dill Jaguars got Trevor Lawrence that you might this big this division after so many years in the past of having issues had risen I think the way that

you've outlined what's happened in the NFC South it's completely different and I think the one that I caught my attention the most was the cults and just for a couple little things I thought this was imaginative because you mentioned the quarterback position and we've talked about Carson Wentz a billion times but if you want to talk about not a corpse but someone that's been under the knife a lot it is Carson Wentz and his back backup is Jacob Easton, who is completely untested. And, you know, any one of these teams that lose their starters, you're in fair hot water and you can make some excuses.

But that would be the floor falling out in a division they very clearly could win. And you made a note that why not reunite Frank Reich with none other than Nick Foles? It's too awkward, as you pointed out, but that would be one of the more intriguing things to happen in the offseason if you wanted to generate one more story. The other thing I thought about the cults, because you noted they just, after years of getting better and better, under Chris Ballard, that there's a pause on that. They did not get better this year.

And I think if you're kind of casually watching football, you would say, but yeah, but they have the best offensive line. Hands down, like Carson Wentz is in the best situation because of their own line. Now, they're not going to get Eric Fisher for, you know, we don't know, like it could be weeks. But in general, like, they aren't the number one offensive line in the league. And you pointed out that they had taken a step back. and who knows where they are this season. Offensive lines are so unpredictable.

Like they were seventh last year in pro football focus, but it's just one of those things that like every play-by-play guy just says, because I don't know, he's heard other people say it. It's like, they're the best offensive line in the league. No, they really weren't a year ago. They were good. They weren't maybe like dominant. And they're counting on, you know,

they're counting on guys to step in right away and do things on both sides of all. Like, Quitty Pay has to come in and, I think, be a factor for them. They lost a lot on the defensive line. I'm not feeling the Colts. You want to keep that in the division. You go to Houston and just look at their backfield. We know the Deshaun Watson situation. We know how they've thrown a lot of stuff at the wall to address that or prepare for plan B.

You know, Tyrod Taylor, Jeff Driscoll, Davis Mills, that draft pick. But you want to talk about throwing stuff at the wall and seeing if it sticks. Look at their running back room. There's seven guys on this list. Not one of them, to me, looks like your potential, like the definite lead back. Because you got David Johnson, who we know how they got him in the trade with DeAndre Hopkins. They signed Mark Ingram. They signed Philip Lindsay, who might have gotten a raw deal in Denver.

And then Nick Castario pulls one out of his New England bag and signs Rex Burkhead. Not to mention the other three guys on the list, Buddy Hal, Dantrell Hilliard, and Scotty Phillips. There's so many running backs in this room. and no clear leader or direction. I mean, they could have them all battle it out, I guess, and see which ones survive. But, I mean, I guess for this type of team, this is the best approach.

It's definitely an intriguing, if not hilarious approach. I look at, they were on my list, the Texans. They had two and 15 written all over them if Tyrod's the quarterback. Right. And who knows if he even makes it through the season, and then you start going down the depth chart there. I feel like Tyrod is not even like. Like, I mean, I guess he is high up on their concerns.

But there are position groups that I think are worse, you know, compared to league average. You know, I counted three defensive players that I know are starting. And like the rest of the defense is just total competition. I think if anything, though, like they, for all, I look at the Texans as a team. There's a lot of, like, delusions of grandeur running around inside that organization. But I don't think that extends to the general manager who went out and signed a ton of people to one-year deals because it's a patch year and I think they knew that and it's like you're going to look a whole lot different a year from now and start to get some draft picks back

but it's going to be a really ugly autumn um I'll move over to the AFC West where Greg had rightly pointed out that there are some questions on that offense which is you know kind of a bummer you don't want there to be questions about the offense because you have this fantastic young quarterback and Justin Herbert coming off a record-breaking rookie season, but now you have them on a new offense. Joe Lombardi is the new offensive coordinator. The offensive line should be better. But yeah, the skill group, that is on my radar.

Keenan Allen needs to stay healthy here. Hunter Henry's gone. Jared Cook in 2021. Like everyone else, I've been sucked into Jared Cook for a bunch of years. for a bunch of years, like 2018 through 2020, maybe even before that, 2017, maybe. But at this point, you kind of know what you're going to get. Mike Williams, another guy, very up and down.

And, you know, they picked up his fifth year option. They're hoping he has a big breakthrough year. Josh Palmer is there. It's an unproven guy. Julio Jones, as you point out, Greg, makes a lot of sense there. But the charges probably aren't going to do that cool thing for their fan base. so this is what you're going to get. You know, they got to get, they need Keenan to stay healthy.

Austin Eckler's got to stay healthy, or this could go sideways. Oh, yeah, autopsy. Look underneath the curtain with the chart. I think it's all like writing out of fear of things going wrong for Herbert because I like Herbert so much. And I've seen them try to rebuild these offensive lines before. And it does all look great on paper. It's a little hard to imagine that they don't improve to average with the with the personnel

they brought in. But I don't know, something always goes wrong. And then this week, you know, Lombardi was talking about that, you know, he thinks Mike Williams going to have big numbers. You know, they raise a lot of fantasy alarms because essentially Mike Williams playing the X is like Michael Thomas in the Saints offense. It's more or less what Joe Lombardi's trying to do. He's not trying to reinvent the wheel. The Saints run a pretty conventional, but effective NFL offense. And if Mike Williams is that guy that they're relying on to count, to catch like 90 or 100 balls, I don't know. just feels like a lot to be counting on. They're not really the same player.

And I mean, like Mike Williams, like two years ago, led the league in yards per catch. I mean, at a thousand yards season, he's never had more than 50 catches, though, in any year, and he's had some durability issues. So it's kind of a projection to suddenly say he's our Michael Thomas. I mean, we will see. Not only that, but I also worry about their depth because if there's one team that's been bitten by the injury bug pretty bad on the offensive side of the ball the last three to five years, it's them, Keenan Allen being won one year.

And if that happened again, whether it was him or Mike Williams or somebody else, God forbid, they're in a world of trouble if that happens. Right. Lombardy's not scheming you out of injury problems, I don't feel like. In case you're just joining us, this is. Projected starters. What else you got? Was it worth it, Dan? You've been pushing this projected starters, Seg.

I think the drop, you know, I'm up to drop. I've used it three times now. And I think that's pushing us over the finish line right now. I got to say, we've been some medical, like, sort of autopsy type talk into her. I'll throw one in maybe. Go for it. All right, Greg. You want to put on your Dr. Michael Bodden cap?

Go ahead. In your blue scrubs. Or how about that? Who's that quack that everyone gets on, that everyone retweets despite him getting, like, you know, fired from the chargers and kicked out of the NFL and losing the medical license? Yeah. Chowie. Devin Bush is a guy coming off of a major injury. And just because we haven't mentioned his name all offseason,

he does strike me as this guy. Like everyone thinks Devin Bush is already Devin White or Roquine Smith. And they're just like, okay, you're going to get Devin Bush back. And like, that's going to really help. The history of the Steelers defense at inside lineback is incredible. It's like, I haven't seen that out of Devin Bush. Like he is a flashy player that you see with Splash plays. I don't know if he's been particular.

particularly effective, and he's coming off of a major injury, and that is a thin position for the Steelers. If you want to pick on their defense, their defense was number one in DVOA last year. It was a good defense, but they've lost a couple people, and they need Devin Bush to take a big step, and people are just kind of assuming it's going to happen. It's like, I've got to see that happen. I mean, also, I think they're thin at cornerback. I'll stay in the AFC North, and, you know, if you want to talk about a team that could be experiencing some shortness of breath, maybe even, you know, heart issues if they don't get production at the past rushing position

it could be the Ravens and Greg points out that every year it feels like they lose their number one dude and like that happened again but they now have Tyus Bowser Pernell McPhee and Jalen Ferguson as their lead dudes who last year and they have the rookie too

but last year those guys combined for seven sacks so you're asking and the Ravens aren't necessarily like when you're a rookie jump in and play as much as you normally would like they kind of slow bake them. So they're going to need help there. I also look at their backup quarterback position. If anything happens to Lamar Jackson, and I guess, like, you know, maybe it's cliche to say you worry about Lamar Jackson getting injured, but he's that kind of a quarterback.

Your backup is Trace McSorley, who I like is like maybe a little gadget type player here or there, but I wonder if Eric Acosta, who is always an active GM, might look for some veterans in both of those spots, you know, heading towards the end of training camp to patch that up. I think we got a glimpse of what the Ravens would look like with Trace McSorley in that Monday night game against the Browns late when Lamar Jackson had to run to the locker room. Thankfully, he is able to overcome the quote-unquote cramps and come back in time to lead them to victory. But you wouldn't want to be caught in that situation. You guys were feeling good when Trace McSorley was out there. He did make like one throw.

But after that, it pretty much bogged down. Brown's fans were just where they were feeling themselves. And then there comes Lamar running out of the bathroom. What a date. That really turned into, like, the game of the year in the NFL. Toilet paper hanging out of his pants. Euro ball. That was a, and not a great ending for the Browns and their fans.

But that was great theater. That whole drama. The whole game was really, I mean, if anything, you could say the Browns, like, answered a lot of doubters on their offense, too. But it was. Oh, my God. Lamar was playing the Browns. How did I not connect that?

There, yeah. I'm going to keep this in the AFC North and go back to Pittsburgh. Real quick, just because, Greg, you brought, you know, Devin Bush. Another defensive situation that I think is worth watching is T.J. Watts' effectiveness now that Bud Dupree is not opposite him. After Bud Dupree got hurt last year, his pressure percentage, according to next gen, dropped by like 10%, which was significant because he was way up there. You're the next gen guy.

That's kind of you stake that as your corner, your next gen. Cynthia's there, too. I don't know if there's a little bit of... No, no, we're friendly. We're the same team. Friendly on the surface, but there's... Yeah, but she has her supercomputer. She's not just leaning on next gen.

You've had some disparaging comments about the supercomputer, at least pass through your mind. You haven't shared them in public. I mean, I got a laptop. We're all right. We're working over here. We'll have Cynthia on soon. It's been on my list of to-dos to answer all the slights that Nick is thrown out.

Yeah, and all the mental ones. Also, keep it in in Pittsburgh. Their offensive line for me is still. concern. You know, I recall draft day and Adi's report, which was that it was clear that they knew they needed offensive line help, but they liked to blend their board and need at the same time, and they went with Najee Harris in the first round. And, you know, on paper, you're like, well, that's an upgrade over James Connor, but I look at that starting five, and I'm not super encouraged. I know some people are bullish on Kevin Dotson at left guard. They drafted a center in the

third round. Kendrick Green will see if he starts and you have David DeCastro, but I'm not happy about their tackles from this point right now, and another next-gen dive real quick. The Steelers were second to last in the league and expected rushing yards per attempt, which basically measures how effective their offensive line is. The only team that was worse than them was the Browns. But the difference between the Browns and them was the Browns running backs overcame that consistently. They posted the best rushing yards over expectation per attempt in the entire NFL. The Steelers, and that was at plus 1.15 yards per attempt.

So those running backs were consistently exceeding expectation and doing their job to a very very high degree. The Steelers were at negative 0.01 yards per attempt. So the running backs were ineffective and their offensive line was also ineffective. So if you run back a line that looks very similar this year, you add Najee Harris. That's a lot to put on the shoulders of a rookie who does have a lot of mileage on him coming out of Alabama. So I think that's going to be a big thing to watch for the Steelers this year and the chances for their offense. And if we're carving up the AFC North, I might as well plug in on the Bengals here. And And Greg, you pointed it out, and it makes sense.

There's potential here for this offense to take a big jump. Now, the Joe Burrow ACL situation, and ripped up his knee, something fierce. And it's good that he's back practicing in OTAs, and you hope he's close to the same guy. There's a bit of a projection here that he makes the second-year leap and improves as a player if the knee cooperates. And then you have, you know, you got Jamar Chase there now. you have Tyler Boyd, underrated guy, T. Higgins, Joe Mixing at running back. And I don't know what to take from the Joe Nixon experience at this point, but we know he's fantastically talented and he still has prime years ahead of him.

The offensive line, as you point out, Greg, maybe Pena Sewell would have been the guy a logical pick there. But you know what? There are pieces there that they are developing. If the offensive line gets better and they did bring in Riley Reef, of course, there to help on that. end with these weapons and Burroughs potential, I'm not saying there's going to be four teams in the AFC North with nine plus wins. I just think that Cincinnati might muck some

things up. And, you know, the bullies like Cessler and the Browns looking down and pointing and laughing at them, they might not be doing that if this team comes together a little quickly, more quickly than people anticipate. I mean, a year ago, I said that I thought Zach Taylor had a chance to be coach of the year. I think a lot of it comes down to the specialness that they believe Zach Taylor brings. But I don't think the Bengals are a two or three-win team. They have a pretty good roster on offense. They should be a team that goes out and, you know, they beat Tennessee last year. That's the one game I look at where I thought you kind of got a glimpse. Bad team to give you a little glimpse of what they can be with Burrow Healthy and all that

business. They lost their quarterback. The floor fell out. They've been ravaged by injuries, really as much as any team in that division or that conference over the last couple of years. you haven't really had a chance to see what they can be. They can win eight games. I don't know if the defense is going to be worth a damn there, and that's a problem. And we've talked about the coaching staff on this show. But their offense, I think, can keep them in games.

I would take that young skill group, not counting quarterback. I guess I'm going, like, just running back receiver group of young players over any in the NFL. I can't, I mean, Dallas would be in the mix. I mean, there'd be other teams in the mix, but I think I would take that. Partly because I just love T. Higgins so much. And I'm kind of assuming Jamar Chase is going to be awesome. But I did notice kind of doing this exercise. The Bengals have completely changed their approach of, like, player acquisition.

I don't know if it's going to work, but they were the number one team in terms of draft and development in the NFL. Year after year, they dominated this stat, which was just like, how many snaps did you have from players he drafted? They would be, like, far and away ahead of the entire NFL. Now, was that working particularly? It was working okay. They were, you know, they were making the playoffs and losing usually under Marvin Lewis. Now you look at their defense. It's all free agents from other places that, you know, were mostly letdowns in, at least at some points.

Like, DJ Reader, Ogun Joby, Hendrickson, Von Bell, Awuzier from Dallas. You got Trey Wains, Mike Hilton came in. Like, that is just a lot of guys from other places and you're counting on Lou Albano to just make it work. That usually doesn't work. They are, everyone says, like, the middle class of free agency. is kind of dead, you know, it's either like star, but except for the Bengals. They are all about the middle class. I'd have to think Green Bay would be up there too, but I can already see a trend. I can already tell what's going to happen on this show. If Cleveland starts out like

one in three or one in four or two and four, it's like, here we are. Cleveland had one nice season and everyone's over it. Now it's like they've been, it's an offseason where they're being a little overrated now at this point. It's June. People are tired of that. And it's going to be exhaustion sit in. You know, the Saints could be good for like 18 years in a row. The Packers can be good for 25, but Cleveland had their one season. Now let's have the Bengals come nip them in the butt and, you know, take them from fourth to third, third to fourth place.

And the Steelers suddenly are seeming like they're so much better than Cleveland. And we just trust the Ravens. And the whole, you know what? That's why I have Nick Shook, who's about six foot three and built a bricks to start throwing punches if you guys get too, you know, loose on this front. You better keep it. you got to keep your traps closed i'm a little annoyed i mean mark we've been we've been prepared for this we've been steeled by the year that was 2019 i'll tell you what the vitriol that

i endured online while working for the browns as they went down in a massive ball of flames it was unlike anything i've ever experienced working here and ranking players and upsetting fans because they're guys ninth when he should be second in their opinion uh so people love for the the hype machine to to go down uh crash and burn but um Even if they did start one and three, it's a long season. Remember, they got blown out in week one last year. I'm sure you guys will be totally calm on a Sunday night podcast if they're one and three. No, we will not.

Oh, well, yeah, it's a long season, very measured. All your points about us getting on you for the Browns and Mark, like those are Thursday show stuff. By then, you'll have calm down a little bit. I think I'll be too afraid on Sunday nights. Like, we know not to touch the furnace on Sunday nights. You've got to see where the Sessler eyes are at before you make any calm. comments at all. But there is, you know, there's being a Browns fan right now. Yes, you have to deal with the expectations. But on the plus side, like, well, draft time as an example, it's like

everyone is just genuflecting at the altar of the Cleveland Browns, that everything they do is genius. So if you're going to get that type of positive buzz around your organization, you've got to deal with the expectation heat that comes with it. It's part of the price. I had this very weird dream. I will not take more than a minute on this. Last night, it's one of those ones where you wake up and it's like five, 12 in the morning and like you have no idea who you are. But I was at an airport with you, Dan, and we were in this like insane chase to try to find luggage. And I was trying to get Kevin Stefansky's luggage for him. And I was meant to then take it to the Browns complex, but I couldn't find it. And I kept getting lost and it was snowing out. And then you were like,

hey, man, I'm good. Like, we were going to a hotel and you're like, I found my baggage. So are you good? Like, can you figure this out? I'm like, I guess so. And I'm walking around with this like, sort of rather like strange colorful bag that belongs to Kevin Stefansky and then the dream ended I didn't fulfill the journey on any level what does that dream what did the dream book say about that your Kevin Stephansky's like jockey his bag boy I think I was like the guy that would be like hey can you do us a favor can you just you know defancy's got to go go bring his luggage to the complex and don't don't forget anything and I was like there was baggage everywhere people were wearing masks not wearing masks explained Nick Shook's final day with the Cleveland Brown

That may be true. Stefansky is like, I've got some sensitive materials coming in from Nicaragua. Can you call up Sessler to pick it up? That is, the dream book would say that that's Mark dealing with the stress and weight of carrying the Browns bag on the national perspective and dealing with the fire from you guys and the pressure, and it's getting to him and it's getting into his subconscious and the season can't get here any slower. I could not. I think that's well, well assessed.

I'm going to that anymore. I have one last one before we, if anybody else jumps in, go ahead, jump in. But, you know, Greg, I don't know. Listen, we do a lot of stuff together on television and on this podcast. And so I've heard this a lot and I've read this now in your piece of record on the 2021 season upcoming projected starters. I need receipts on this Russell Wilson League MVP promotion. This theory or this thing you've been propagating. It was like a Sunday night football game where it was like, it was a pregame interview and it was all about in all the media outlets saying how he's never received an MVP vote.

Like that, you know, that was all part of it. Yeah, but your theory here, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that Russell Wilson spearheaded this media narrative that, right? That's what you're saying. You're calling it a promotion that he was running behind the scenes. I mean, yes or no. Yeah, pretty much that he was, he was contributing to it. He talked publicly about like what an MVP would mean to him and that he wants to be the greatest in the game and like that is what he wants.

Yeah, but he was asked about it, I'm sure. Unless you could point, I don't know, I'm just saying. You bring it up enough that I need proof at this point that he was actually doing this. I don't want to vote. More importantly, I want to win the award, Wilson said September 25th. What are you asking me here? He was doing it. He's got the PR arm.

I stand by it. I do like you also ended your Seahawks right up with this little blurb. Also popular Seahawks fans, any shout out to their status as a special breed of humanity, more knowledgeable and inexplicable than any other collection of people on Earth. What are you up to over there, Rosenthal? Yeah, what's that about? I'm just messing around. You also jumped off their corner last year.

Yeah. Well, they didn't like that. I think it's all connected. Yeah, they didn't like that. And they just like the Seahawks fans, they do have a great Twitter presence. They're smart. They're weird. But they don't like to hear that any other fan base could also have like a smart, weird fan base.

They want to feel special. And once you say like, okay, I'm not really feeling them as a Super Bowl team this year, then they come at you. Mark it down, June 3rd, 2021. Greg Rosenthal officially became fatigued with Seahawks and Seahawks Twitter. Yeah. Keep the 12s weird. The t-shirt should read. Anybody else before we close out this segment, which, by the way, has a title, and that title is.

Projected starters. It's the rule of fours. Most people think, oh, three times you do it. That's the peak comedic efficiency. Four, five, six, seven, eight. I will say my girlfriend, which you guys have loved to be. discussed many times in this podcast in the past. She's in physical therapy school.

And last semester, uh, she had to dissect a cadaver, which meant that she was studying a lot of images of like, you know, formaldehyde preserved dead humans and, and their various tissues. And every time I hear that drop, I just think about looking over my shoulder at her computer screen and seeing nerves and hearts and brains and all these gruesome stuff. Was it a man or a woman that she had to cut open and explore? It was a man and I'll never forget She came home one day and said Today I shaved the back fat off of a man

Oh I have other questions It is like the least surprising thing Asked to stir me I know me too It was like it was amazing and also the least surprising Part of this podcast That's where Mark's mind went immediately

And if it is a woman Do you know where I can go to get one No I just you know There are some follow up questions But that's for one of your other podcast Kess, Nick, but I maybe could send some questions in. I can't think of a title to loop in dissection of cadavers, but we'll get there. I have one last one, and it's the Raiders, and they're secondary, just because it's not

necessarily much different on paper, but my big question mark is Damon Arnett. You know, you spend a high pick on him, and he was a non-factor last year. He dealt with injuries, but after Mike Mayock spent the offseason trashing their defense, and then they, you know, put some effort toward it. they drafted safety Trevon Merig. I just, I need to see, I don't know what to expect from this group. I mean, it's not necessarily that I don't know who is projected to be the starters, but I have no idea what they're going to get,

other than that Jonathan Abrams going to be in the box more, and he already plays like a psychopath, so we might as well, you know, enjoy him being around the ball more. I mean, he might have been their biggest problem in a defense full of them. I'm glad you brought them up just because I kind of forgot about Casey Hayward. They signed Casey Hayward. He might be their slot guy. But I mentioned, I'm probably basing this on like too small of a sample size and everything.

But when I watched Damon Arnett last year, I thought he looked pretty good. I know he did not test that well and he gave up some big plays. But him and Trayvon Mullen, like I thought they have shown some things. And young cornerbacks are, it's tough, man. It is tough to come into the NFL as a young cornerback. I think both of them actually have flashed a lot. Like, people think they're busts. And I thought both of them have shown some things.

So it wouldn't shock me if those two guys improved. Yeah, definitely like Mullins more than Arnett, but I mean, Mollins has a little bit more of a, you know, sample size so far. So it's interesting. Gus Bradley to put it all together. I'm not so sure. All right. Good stuff.

And check it out, NFL.com slash projected starters. It's kind of pretty much evergreen content. You could read it now. Projected starters. All right. That. You could read it now. You could read it a month.

now, and you'll kind of be up to date. That's what I told Ali. I'm done until the season. This works as a season preview. I didn't tell Ali. I'm just hiding. I am unreachable. I have more content to get to Ali today. You'll run in time.

As the rule of fives, as promised, on Tuesday, we asked for some reviews and stars over on iTunes. Checked it out. Went over to the iTunes. got a decent amount I got to be honest with you Greg you appeal to the audience

we didn't listen we got a nice handful but I was hoping for many because again it's the only thing we ask for well that's that true it's underwhelming it's not maybe again

adoration five stars five stars leave a review that's all we ask all right let's get into it. This one from

this from C. Elko 3. Love the hosts. Not enough cults. Five stars. Apparently the way for a small market team to make the pot each week is to sign Teddy Bridgewater. That said, a great podcast. Even in the offseason.

Up next. Mark Sessler, 2024. Five stars. I enjoy Mark's Brown's fandom, wit, and literacy. Nice comment there, Mark. Oh, I wrote that, you think? Eric Stabe. It's Mark's brother at Eric Sessler.

Zach Attack Curie, long-time listener, first-time reviewer. The NFL is lucky to have these heroes making podcasts for them when they could easily break off on their own and bankroll the best independent NFL podcast network via Patreon, Hey, the heroes, slammer. Whoa. Are you listening to a employer? Up next.

Missed my uncle Charles. Miss my uncle Charles. Just here for the Bone Thugs talk. People love that. It was a missed opportunity, Shook, without you on the show. You, you know, the guys make jokes that I like rap. You like rap even more. And you are a Clevelander.

So, Bone Thugs, the floor is yours, if you have anything to say about them. Well, I will say this, and this is going to date myself, but Bone Thugs was hot when I was like a kid. Well, I know that, but I don't think you maybe listen to him at some of course. Absolutely. No doubt. No doubt about it. Not so much in the last couple years, but they're definitely in the rotation every once in a while. It's lukewarm.

By the way, there's no. Bone Thugs is great. There's no, Greg, there's no kind of joshing you about your rap enjoyment. It's just simply pointed out on the show. Greg likes rap. Yeah. Respectual. I like some of it, too.

Not at your level. I like, like, you know, lesbian indie rock, too, but that doesn't get its own little pop. It doesn't. And maybe it should. All right. Up next.

Favorite podcast ever from M.H. Class of 83. June 2021, and I listened to a fair amount of podcast, mostly football, great NFL Insight, with just the right levity, the different personalities bounce off each other perfectly. Erica, Ricky, jump in here.

Erica is the finishing touch, occasionally bringing them all back to Earth without any damper on the amusement. Go, Erica. I hope this podcast carries on just as it is for my lifetime, if the universe would be so kind, all the best for healing,

heart, all of you. Wow, that was so nice. That was very nice. Why do we not assume? that Erica wrote that when you're immediately suggesting that a pro-mark one was written by myself. Up next, smart with NFL, comma, woke ideology. Two stars out of five.

Smart NFL analysts, if you brush off the woke rhetoric, they spew when they veer away from sports. I can't stomach the ignorance on real world matters. No one cares about your opinions on vaccines and politics. You're losing listeners because of it. Wake up, guys. Trump voters and people who don't want to get vaccinated are in every room you walk in. Maybe time to show them a little respect.

All caps. Bye. So just being in a room that you walk in is worthy of respect? No. Even if you just use the term woke, we don't need you. He jumped out just in time. You know, today's episode touched on things he finds unpleasant. I was going to say he definitely tuned out after about the first 10th. I mean, that's, yeah.

Let Mark Cook from Vado, all right? I listen to this podcast more than I watch the NFL. I mean, there's not a better selling point for our show. And finally,

best podcast around. Parenthetical's in the tone of Dan. My favorite podcast by far, and in quarantine, I dabbled in many. I listened to each episode as soon as I can on the day it comes out. Love everything you do. I recently lost a close friend

and your openness and friendship talking about Chris really helps me through it. I would call him Wes, but that seems like a nickname you have to earn. I'm just a lowly listener. That is not true. Wes was down to be called by

Wes by anyone. I don't want to lessen my compliment with an NFL question. I'd have some, but I'd rather just leave a great review. Oh, that's very nice. Williams. Thank you, William. And you understood it.

These were good reviews. I assumed you maybe you picked the best of them, so there were even more. But good job. I think we can do better. Maybe come back strong again. We'll do it again some other time. Yeah, that we call for more reviews.

Send us your reviews, and we will read them on the air, potentially. All right, shook. Oh, before we say goodbye, Ricky, something very exciting. Speaking of Vanity Projects, you have something to share. Yes, so the broadcast, my,

podcast that I do with Emma got signed by all things comedy. So we're going to be on the ATC network. Welcome, Ricky. Big time. Really excited. So if the ATN listeners want to do me a little favor and go over there and subscribe or check out an episode, there's episodes actually not Nick, but everyone else in here that you guys have your own episodes and they're great.

We wrote a funny script where Mark Redd basically him going crazy and getting getting a huge tattoo of Baker Mayfield after they win the Super Bowl. So a little foreshadowing about what life would be like. I think it's great. But yeah, I'm excited. Congratulations. So you're now being, you're being paid now for the show. Correct?

Well, yeah, ad sales potentially. Any retroactive kickbacks to the people that, you know, between the lines there. Yeah. Well. But yeah, Mark, if you go, you know, pump up your own episode, I can. can work something out for you. Venmo like 12 bucks or something. When the Browns do win the Super Bowl,

we should like have a listening party to that episode. Compare it with reality. It'll be, it'll be fun. Good job, Ricky. Thank you. I'm so excited. Really excited. Check out the broadcast. Check out J.R.V.P.

Check out the throwback podcast. My buddy Bob, who I do the show with, kills me. He absolutely destroys me for never promoting the show. And I say, listen, I like to keep my world separate whenever possible. But since everyone else is getting their plugs in, I will mention it, and I'll make sure he knows that I did. And the listeners will as well, I imagine.

Let's give Bob's show a pop, too, because my kids were literally, I'm not exaggerating, counting down the days before Lego Masters came back. And first, you know, we had that DVR. Bob's working on Lego Masters. We had a DVR and first thing, you know, get home from school, that's, it's a total hit. It's a huge Lego Master's house, too. I like that.

Bob is a producer on the show, and he works very closely with Will Arnett, the host. I can't share any of the stories that I've heard, but it's, it's very interesting to learn what goes on inside the Hollywood machine with someone on the edges of the Illuminati. Now, you wouldn't think Arnett was on the edges, but he's there. Exclusive club. Whoa. I'm intrigued. That was insane What, did I oversell it?

It's just, you know, you get a good peek into the show business world. That's, I mean, yeah, I was kind of wondering, like, the photos of him with all the Legos behind. I'm like, how do you get that, you know? You got to do some bartering behind the scenes, you know, to make that happen, which I, any Illuminati people out there, I'm willing to have a conversation. Oh, Ricky, this is not a good look for you. No. You'll give up anything to be inside the circle.

yeah your quest for fame is just endless it is and it's leaving a path of destruction in its wake like what do i have to do to get a yacht like it could it be that bad just ask dad that's your quickest route um all right yes check out uh rickie's show the broadcast hey you bray and nick shook uh you've done it again you've said it all and um thank you for joining us today And I look forward to having you on again on the show again soon and, of course, during the regular season as well. Yeah, certainly. Love being on. Love being around you guys, even though, you know, we're remotely, you know, not quite hanging out in L.A., but yeah, it's been a blast as always.

So thanks. We're getting there. Thank you, Shooky. All right. This is Dan Hanzas signing off for The Quiet Storm, the old boss, the unshookable Nick Shook. What did I think? I had like a really bad nickname that everyone hated. Now I'm forgetting it.

Damn it. It was something inappropriate, like the pipe, the pipe. Oh, the pipe. The pipe. Did not catch on. Trying to get this pipe. Ricky Hollywood. Check out the around the NFL broadcast Friday on the network right after Good Morning Football.

Until then, he's the call. Thank you. This is an I-heart podcast.