NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - QBs & Covid; Lions talk with Patra

Episode Date: August 3, 2020

A bunker filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal bring you all of the latest news in the NFL including Doug Pederson contracting Covid-19 (7:12), Stafford and Minshew among players being added to Covid-List (13:45), more player opt outs (19:26) and the Rock buying the XFL. Kevin Patra stops by to flex and talk about the Lions (27:53).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. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents.

Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL, visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the NFL podcast is very popular with British men. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis. I'm coming to you from a virtual room filled with heroes.

Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal. What's up, boys? I mean, I think we rage with the British men, but there's at least 11 British females that tune into our show. I'm saying at least. I think it could even be 12. It's a real shame that we're not going overseas this year because of, you know,

But I will say we can rest easy knowing that we were making progress. Year one, our first trip to London in 2018, there were three people that were not white males at the live show. And thereby force potentially. There was no evidence that they went out and bought their own tickets. Right. Year two, there were at least 11 women. Yeah, it was a little more diverse in general. UK fans get a lot of pop and we're doing a little NFL UK show they announced later this week on Thursday.

The information is on the NFL UK Twitter around the NFL Twitter too, a little live show with Neil Reynolds. That'll be fun. But I want to give a little shout out to our Canadian listeners because UK gets so much pop. I happen to be perusing our like analytics and looking at the international number. And it's like Canada is a strong number two. and it's they're not as vocal apparently but they're they're massive and we don't we don't give a lot a lot of pop to the Canadians and while we're here I'm going to give some pop to the American listeners who comprise our largest audience and uh always uh always love you know you know the old zooser

he loves the USA these colors don't run all that all right this is a Monday edition should I pick a nation or a country to hoist up not too late very excited about the Estonian listening contingent. There's at least six or seven of them, and they're diehards, according to Greg's analytical map. It's always funny, though, when Dan points out, like, he loves the USA as if, like, he loves it more than... He's trying to say he loves it more than us.

I do. I see what you do. I do. I think he might. I do. I think we are a flawed country, but so too is every human. You know, we're working at it, and hopefully we can be better. But the bones of this nation, what it represents, is a beautiful thing

but we could always strive to be better U.S. Okay. Now, let's get to it. What's happening? America's not in a place. It's not a place. It's an idea, boys. I'm letting you stay bad on this. You know.

See, that's why I love the country more. I mean, we all love it. We all love it. I see it as a complex idea. Yeah. All right. play show is a good one we um we're what we've talked about behind the scenes we're trying to navigate this we've done over a thousand episodes we've done i think this is going to be what our eighth or ninth season uh but this one is like no other season for obvious reasons uh with the 19

and as such it does feel a little strange to dive into uh certain conversations about the season that's upcoming where it probably makes more sense to kind of live in the moment and just document what's going on right now and how the landscape looks as the NFL attempts to work its way through this really tricky situation that's presented itself in 2020. So we're going to do all the news. We're going to have a good friend of the show, a man who's, I want to just say, who's bod, maybe lost some spotlight. It didn't lose any greatness, but it lost some spotlight because Nick Shook rolled in with those giant traps and biceps and all that stuff. Well, it's time for somebody else's body to get the recognition that it never deserved to lose in the first place.

So that's my tease for later in the show to talk about the Detroit Lions, a team that's dealing with some very serious COVID-19 issues itself right now. So let's get into it. Plenty to talk about. Ricky, let's hit the news. Yeah, Wayne understands that the NFL is the most profitable sports league on earth. and there are only so many opportunities that come along like this. I mean, you're talking about

an enormous real estate play with an A-list tenant. The Raiders had a great season. It's a shame. Derek Carr went down when he did. Yeah, he's a great QB. Let me tell you some. And that is the most

I've heard or watched from Ballers since the first episode when I couldn't believe that Home Box Office had botched such a tremendous premise for a show. Joe, the rock as a former star turned agent,

the ability to use all the real logos and team names, celebrity and NFL star cameos galore. And somehow it was like Arliss level bad. I hate ballers. I never saw it, but I did see a couple Twitter clips of Jay Glazer's acting. So if that was kind of like an indication of what the rest, of the show was like I didn't need to see that much more. I mean, Glazer actually in his, he has a mailbag. I'm not saying it's the preeminent version of that type of article,

but in his version of that, he talked about the fact that the ballers director and producer allowed Glazer and others to really kind of impromptu on the set that they'd go through like a lot of different just sort of hamming it up with Glazer and Glazer's actor or NFL friends and it created some high drum. I've seen probably four or five episodes. I'm not not as down on it as you are, Dan, but I never watched more, and I think that they botched what could have been something very, very special. It had a lot of annoying cameos on it. Okay. Anyway, the reason why we just heard from Dwayne Johnson, The Rock, is because he bought a stake in the XFL, buying it out of bankruptcy. And this kind of reminds me of when

Justin Timberlake bought into MySpace in 2011, thinking that he could be part of rebranding it and bringing it back, feels similarly doomed for The Rock, but he's a very successful man, maybe him and his partners, who include his ex-wife, by the way. Nice job there, keeping it together for the, for the biz. Maybe they can figure something out to make the first true professional sports league alternative to the NFL since the NFL NFL NFL merger in 1970. We'll see. It's going to own a team, too. You know? There you go. And that's the lead story of today. No, here's the lead story of today. COVID time.

It's that time again. Doug Peterson, the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, has tested positive for the coronavirus. ESPN's Tim McManus reported it. He added that Peterson believes he contracted the virus outside. of the Eagles team facility. Peterson is asymptomatic, fortunately. He says he's feeling fine.

The Eagles also sent home another member of the staff. So Peterson is out for in a definite period of time. Once again, remind you of how quickly things can be depleted and how a team now has to begin preparing for a season that's five and a half weeks away, six weeks away, potentially without the leader of the team, Greg, obstacles upon obstacles right now. Yeah, I think more than anything,

it's just a reminder to the rest of the league. They better have their backup plans in place. And Peterson spoke with the media on Monday. He's still going to be doing some of the virtual meetings as much as he can. Sounds like a lot. I mean, you know, if broadcasters, I remember Chris Cuomo was doing shows from his basement with the virus.

I guess he can be holding your virtual meeting. So Peterson's away from his family. He's away from his team. team. He's still going to be doing his work somewhat. But it's a reminder. Every team needs a backup plan. And not just for your head coach. You need a backup plan for every single coach on your roster, for every single staff member on your roster. I mean, what if you lose, you know, the Vikings or the Chiefs lost their medical examiner? So you're going to need to have backup plans on backup plans for players, staff, coaches, and it's going to be a

season full of backup plans. Like best backup plans wins because everyone's going to need some of them. I mean, I think in this case, it's Deuce Staley for the Eagles. And if you want to look at it from a rose-colored glasses, POV, I guess you could say that in the season, a guy like Deuce Staley, some of these guys who have been at the assistant level for so long, that it might be a chance for them to come in and coach a winner to

and show what they can do in the same spot. But I think it's when you lose the cluster of defensive coaches potentially. Peterson is asymptomatic. That doesn't mean that we won't get a coach at some point who is symptomatic. And while Chris Cuomo did CNN from his basement, I mean, not everyone is going to be, you know, in that level of, you know, not being touched by it. I think that the coaching side of it and the staff side of it is as perilous as anything else. And it's just sort of like a high-brow, high-level name where it reminds you, it's not just, you know, large defensive tackles opting out and catching Corona. Like Mark Sessler, I'm a huge baseball fan.

And I've been watching my Yankees every night. including their sweep of the Red Sox this weekend, Tough Break. Greg, I know you were watching the games as well. And I think from watching that, it feels like the NFL is going to be a similar situation. This feels like a war of attrition,

not just for the league, just to try to survive it, but for every team. And some teams, if this does go on a schedule at the NFL, some teams you imagine are going to be more fortunate than others. Some teams are going to see their seasons potentially wiped out because of this.

and what I guess concerns me and makes me nervous as a sports fan and somebody that covers professional football for a living is you watch what happened again baseball which is the guinea pig right now with the Miami Marlins and they had a ton of positive tests and there was some talk and speculation that there was some irresponsible things going on with the players that led to the big outbreak in their clubhouse but now we have the St. Louis Cardinals, another team that's dealing with an issue here.

And there's a possibility here that there might not be irresponsible behavior going on. I doubt Doug Peterson was irresponsible. And it just reminds you how easy it is to catch this and how one person getting it can change everything, the fortunes for an entire organization that has dreams of winning a Super Bowl. Well, and the Cardinals, there's reports the Cardinals went to a casino. So, I mean, I think that you could, if you're going to, it is, it comes down to the choices you make. And, I mean, I just think we're in a much different world that when Tom Hanks and two NBA players caught it, it shut down that sport entirely. Now the NFL's viewpoint, and tell me if you think I'm wrong, seems to be at all costs we're going to press on.

And the idea of, you know, competitive imbalance is already at play. I mean, when players are opting out left and right, there isn't competitive imbalance. And like when you're losing coaching staffs, more of that. I mean, it's a very different world than we lived in in March. Well, and I think it's going to be up. It's really interesting that the saints, for instance, are creating their own mini bubble where 130 of their 150 players and staff are staying in a hotel or planning to stay in a hotel for camp. And they're taking that step on their own.

And so it's trying to mitigate whatever risk is out there. But it is funny. like people compartmentalize like everyone's furious at the players who are being irresponsible going out and it's like in that that makes sense but you know there's not quite as much fury of like all you have to do to get coronaviruses go out a couple times and you'll probably get it like that's that's if you're not going to be solving if you're not going to be solving that issue it's got to be it's got to be pretty difficult to solve and the hotel the idea for the saints sounds like a sound one in principle and I wouldn't be surprised of other teams

do it. But that could also backfire in a huge way because somebody can contract the virus and then take it into that hotel and then game over. The Saints and whatever team else is done. I guess what I was saying, Mark, was whether the St. Louis Cardinals were at a casino or the Marlins were out at a hotel bar or whatever, that's one thing. And that would almost set in a weird way, set your mind at ease. It's like, you will ruin your season if you can't be disciplined. But then there's going to be a bunch of other guys. And guarantee it happens and already has. With a lot of all these tests that are coming through that didn't do something reckless, that maybe went to, uh, you know, take their daughter to the park or went to the grocery store because it's that,

it's that contagious. It's scary. The virus is not simply, you know, responding to reckless behavior. All right. And speaking of the COVID-19 virus, the lions and the jaguars have placed their starting quarterbacks on their reserve COVID-19 list. Matthew Stafford, uh, hits the list. After results came back from the team's third round of testing on Friday, it is unclear how long Stafford will be out per NFL protocol, but the team is scheduled to start their strength and conditioning workouts on Monday. And Stafford, of course, very unique situation for him. His wife, Kelly, had brain surgery in the not too distant past.

She just had a child this spring. So you wonder what Matthew Stafford's thinking right now. We talked about this on Friday show. What a huge franchise altering decision a franchise quarterback has in front of him if he feels uncomfortable about playing. I have no idea where Stafford's at mentally right now on that, but that's a situation. And then your boy, Mark Sessler, Gardner Mienchu, he was added to the COVID-19 list by the Jags, along with four other players on the Jaguars.

So Minchu, who's locked and loaded as their starter for 2020 in Jacksonville, he also is in the same boat now as Stafford, waiting to get well and get back on the field. Yeah, I think part of it is we're thinking it's August, there's all this time for conditioning and, you know, everyone will be in theory back and ready to go in September. But imagine if this were week seven and you lose Stafford, Kenny Galladay, we mentioned in the last show. T.J. Hawkinson, you're in theory, you're, you know, blooming into a productive, tight end person right there. That's a huge chunk of your offense. Again, it just points to competitive imbalance for me. And I, you know, losing a quarterback is one piece, but

you could also lose four defensive linemen. I mean, I want to be positive about this, but I think it's as tricky a scenario as by 10 that we've ever encountered. Now, the NFL is hoping that all this, you know, daily testing that they're finding people, you know, that are testing positive and that the tests, you know, now that hopefully the players are coming in and they're being safe, that the numbers are going to go down. But it's hard not to notice that they're a little clustered. I think there's seven or eight teams that haven't had any positive tests. But you got like the Lions offense that, you know, you don't want to guess what's going on.

But they were working out separately like the NFLPA told them not to. And there's been clusters on a couple teams, Jaguars and Lions and Vikings being three of them. And yeah, your mind thinks about the season. And if that happened, because in theory, It's not like the virus knows when the season starts. There isn't that much that's really changing between now and then. Actually, it does. Right, sorry to jump in here.

The virus is aware that September 8th is kickoff, and they are very excited about it. It is very excited about it. That would be good news. But it's such a dramatic, like, whiplash of, like, Jaguards.com is sending out, like, this slow motion video of Gardner Minshu on Instagram and Twitter. You know, check out our Instagram, by the way, around the end. NFL big pop for that right now uh you know they're they're saying hey rickie what's the handle on that rickie come on rick it's at the at n podcast there you go and it's like okay so we're we got the

we have we don't have any uh slow motion gardener minshu shots but the daggers do and it's like his hair is all flowing and it's like he was like just on the way in to get like test positive for coronavirus i don't know there's something that was a beautiful minshu video but um there's something about it that I'm not, I don't know what he's been doing with this off-season, but kind of felt like a ripe character to be plucked by the old Corona. What, do you think because he's so charismatic that coronavirus is going to help itself? I mean, I think that all sorts of things are attracted to Gardner Minshu and as are probably, you know, air-free diseases. Including one guy on this show. I think he's a great player and he's an exciting character. And the NFL needs him right now. So I couldn't be more on his, on his get better. How about that? I'm excited for you, Mark, because moving in, you're moving. You share me photos of your new home that you're moving into with your family,

and it looks great. I'm very happy for you guys. Thanks. Just so happens that Corona did send an Evite for that Thursday night kickoff game, Texans' Chiefs. They're setting up a party at your house that night, so watch out. I mean, you know, you'd think in past years it would be my dream to get not a really devastating version of Corona, but just a soft one that kind of. It pulls you, a lot of people's sympathy and empathy about this guy's been through a lot, you know, but it doesn't really, you know, attach you too hard. In this case, I'm over it. I don't want to catch it. I don't want my kids to catch it or any of you. It's lost its appeal. Bold stance. Okay, good. Nice, good lesson to learn there. Greg just wants to have, Greg just was, get Cecil out of here and put Patrick Claibon in here for the rest of this year. What are you talking about? I'm just saying you're really going out on a limb. You don't want to catch coronavirus.

please in other news i would have loved this uh coronavirus but not so much in 2020 it's lost it's uh it's flash in other news it is good times to be a jets fan jets linebacker c j mosley who signed a massive free agent deal uh entering the 2019 season and then ripped up his groin in the opener and basically missed the whole season he has now decided to opt out of the 2020 season source told Rich Zemini it was due to family health reasons. Mosley, his contract tolls, you're going to hear that a lot with these different things.

And we'll talk about the opt-out situation in the NFL, which is murky right now. And some people are not happy about it. But Mosley, who has four years left on his deal, he opts out. So what that means is he gets the stipend from the NFL, I think 150 grand. Is that what it is?

that will be taken out of a future salary unless he has an underlying medical condition. And then next year, the contract tolls. So he still has four years left. He doesn't have three years left. And I did think it was interesting, before we get to what this means for the Jets. Interesting report I read from Mike Floreo at PFT,

that there is a little bit of buzz, and I'm not connecting this to Mosley or anybody, that some teams are unhappy that they have a feeling or a vibe that some agents are trying to use the opt out as leverage, whether it be for a contract extension or players who feel like they're not going to make the team anyway. So they are opting out and taking the money. That is a report that I read. I don't know what it means, but it did raise my eyebrow. Put your name on it then. That's a serious, I mean, the people that are being sources for PFT because that's a pretty serious

accusation. And I don't, I don't see any like, I don't see any specific players that anyone's suspecting or fits that MO because ultimately it's just fronting them, you know, unless they have a medical condition, which no one's going to have a problem with. Like Marcus Cannon, for instance, is officially, you know, the second category where he's getting $350,000 because, you know, as a former cancer survivor, it's just giving the money that they're going to get later anyway. So if you're going to be like whispering about that, I don't know, put your name on it. All right. I like that, Greg. And as far as the Jets go, Mosley was supposed to be an important part of this defense, obviously. So in the span of a week, they lost Mosley, Jamal Adams, to the Seahawks in a trade.

And the Jets, I will say they're pretty deep inside linebacker. They did a nice job. Greg Williams plugging the holes with Mosley out last year. But it really does feel, and I try to be optimistic as the Jets fan as stupid as that idea is. But you just can't take away that much talent from that defense. And I do really like Greg Williams. as a coordinator, and expect this team to compete at a high level. And it just reinforces to me what the 2020 jet season is about with all those draft picks ahead and the idea of building toward the future. This, to me, is more and more becoming a season that's about, can Sam Darnold progress? Can this offense take the next step with gays?

Because once you remove those two heavy hitters from the defense, I feel less and less confident that they're going to contend for a playoff spot. There's just not enough talent on the roster. I mean, I think if you're Joe Douglas, who we can agree is probably the one thing you could say, going forward, it's Douglas and Sam Darnold that you could still see here a number of years. When Mosley's contract now isn't going to complete four years from now, it's just less and less in my book the odds of him even being there at that point. I think if you're Joe Douglas, like if you want to be an optimistic Jets fan, you've got to go through another rough ride. It's probably, you know, on paper looks like a rough ride. But you're setting the table to attract, maybe. be a different tier of available coach with all the future draft picks and a quarterback in place if Darnold improves to get a coach that you don't have to, who isn't, who isn't a dead man walking right now? Gase is a dead man walking.

And I just don't know, I think it's another tough year on a fan base to sign up in all the pretty words about Greg Williams. I mean, Greg Williams won't be there five months now. He'll be an interim coach for the second time in three or four years. William has a hint of, of, Mark, you're getting fired up about the Jets. again. I'm being optimistic. You're going to get a better coach, which they probably should have done earlier.

I don't know about optimistic. You're in a better environment. I think you could make a better argument. Well, William says a history. He was really good at improving kind of an under talented group to average or better than average. And the second year usually goes okay. And then it usually starts kind of going off the rails. But we don't need to linger on the Jets too much.

But it's funny. I remember writing something about the Jets earlier this off season. And I said, you know, if you look at their roster, I think the only position groups that are average or better or have a chance to be average or better are inside linebacker in safety. And now those ones, I wouldn't say, would qualify either. They'll probably keep Avery Williamson, who is maybe not going to make the team we don't really know.

And I am going to point out, it really reminds me of Juan James, who wasn't in a rundown, but I'm going to throw it out there anyways. The Broncos right tackle, who, like Mosley, got a huge salary, like two of the highest paid players in free agency last. year in terms of guaranteed money, barely played it all because of an injury last year like Mosley and also opted out on Monday. And also that's going to be a troubling position group potentially for the Broncos. So like two guys, it's free agency. It's always a risk. And these are two guys

who got a lot of cash. Where do you find a right tackle right now? Not, you're not. You're not going to find a right tackle. The Jets also released Ryan Winters, their guard. He's been a star since 2013. He should catch on somewhere else as either a depth or starting piece. Speaking of the opt-out, Patriots' safety and their Forever Captain, Devin McCordy, on Sunday, he spoke out. He's angry with the NFL for attempting to move the deadline in which players can decide whether or not they want to opt out this year. Here's what McCordy had to say. I think it's an absolute joke that the NFL is changing the opt-out period, mainly because they don't want to continue to see guys opt-out. I'm sure they're shocked about how many guys have opted out.

I think it's terrible. I think it's BS that the league has changed that date. And the Patriots, of course, Greg, have had eight players opt out of the 2020 season. That's the most in the NFL. And you wonder, McCordy speaking out like this, if he could be next. Yeah, listening to his quote, there were a couple interesting things. Number one was what you just said. The way he mentioned it, he thought,

players still hadn't decided that they haven't even been in the facility and that there's going to be more to come. And so that was my take, which has been borne out because I think when we last spoke, we were in the mid-20s in terms of opt-outs. And now we're speaking Monday afternoon. We're in the mid-40s. So it's almost doubled since Friday. And it looks like it's going to continue. And he indicated, you know, maybe he wasn't totally on board or not. The other thing that's interesting to me is he's responding to a report from Adam Schaefter that the NFL was going to make the deadline Tuesday or Wednesday instead of being one week from when they actually signed the CBA. Remember when we were like, oh yeah, they signed the CBA? And we said that live on NFL

network. We re-taped like a whole second. That was 10 days ago. They still haven't signed it. Still hasn't happened. Like the players don't have to let them move that deadline. So we haven't heard anything about it since. That's kind of a floating story. And if they are going to move that deadline, the players are probably going to ask for something in return. I have no idea what that would be, though. And Dan, the other side to the report of agents saying that there's this sort of negotiating for new contracts is there is concern, according to Florio, through a source, unnamed source, that players are just using this as a way to guarantee income, even though that doesn't make a lot of sense because it would come out of next year. Players on the bubble

are saying, if I think I might not make this team, I'm opting out to get the money. but you'd still have to give it back if you didn't make a team next year. So I find that to be a dubious idea. And look, I mean, if anything, I think the opt-out, and this is just my personal belief, should be extended. They should put it out a number of more weeks because this has to be a careful decision that you don't either, you don't want to rush to opt out when you find out the team is handling it the way you are.

If we were going to go back into the workplace with a similar situation and you had family members concerned, it makes sense that you'd say, let me go see what it's like. Let's get an idea of how much we think this can work and then make a decision versus having to do it in a rush. I hate the idea that players feel, if more people feel like McCordy, that they're being pressured into this decision. I'm totally with you, and I'm going to bring Kevin Patch on right now, our buddy, to jump in on the convo if you want. Hey, how are you going? Like, why wouldn't you, Kevin, I'll set you up with this. why wouldn't you extend that op-out to deep into the training camp?

Because don't you want to see if you're that player, I want to get on the field, I want to be hitting some people, I want to see how those tests come back, and then I'll decide if I'm going to try to play a whole season. It does feel like they're putting the players in a needlessly difficult situation, decision-wise. Well, I can't completely disagree with you, Dan, but, I mean, you think of, from a coach's perspective, I just jumped on this call, so I don't know what you're going to. guys had been through before. But if coaches are constant whiners about everything they can't control. So that's just another thing you're thrown at them. And they're going to, they're going to

complain about not knowing what players they have. And you're just given players, I mean, is it going to be a situation where you got a player who probably knows he's cut? Then he just takes the opt out as opposed to getting cut. So put it off. Baseball players are still opting out in the middle of the season. That seems problematic. And ultimately, the players agreed that they would, you know, the deadline would be a week after they signed this thing. So it's not going to be later than that. But it is fascinating to me. They're still negotiating.

Like these, they're even sending out transactions. Okay, this guy's officially opt out. This guy's on the COVID-19 list. They actually haven't even signed an agreement that those designations exist. It's a very strange time. And there's a lot of trust between both sides. I actually think the players have done a pretty good job, as Devin McCordy kind of pointed out, standing their ground.

And this is one, I wouldn't be surprised if they do stand their ground. And the date doesn't wind up getting it. pushed in the end. Patra. All right. That's what's happening in the news. Yes, Kevin Patra is joining the show. It's been a while.

It's been too long, in fact. It's been too long. Yes, it has been. And it's the reason we, you sprung to mind, Patrick, is because we wanted to pick one of these teams that's dealing with a lot of drama right now and in this modern NFL landscape. And your Detroit Lions are right at the top of the list because not only do they have, I believe, seven players on the COVID-19 list.

It's also now Matthew Stafford. And it happens set against the backdrop of a very important year for the Lions, a year where there's a belief. Greg, I think you talked about it on our last show. I think they're kind of a sneaky trendy team. That they're technically a favorite, according to one odds maker. And there's a lot of hope around the team, but then also a pessimistic side that says Matt Patricia is still the head coach,

and they say it ain't going to work. Where is your head at as the Lions fan as just someone that follows and writes about the league so well on NFL.com right now. Yeah. Well, I think we're all in the world of unknown. We don't know anything. Like, there's a part of me that says, we don't know about COVID a lot of it.

Maybe this is a thing where, you know, Matthew Stafford contracted it. And now he's in the clear he's got antibodies that he's not going to have to worry about it later in the year. We don't know that yet or not. So I think that the optimistic side says, well, maybe we get this out of the way early. And I think with Stafford going out,

on the COVID list. People are kind of forgetting that Kenny Galladay and Hawkinson are both on that list too. And that just like triples the factor for it's screwing up the entire offense that looked kind of like it could be one of the better offenses when Matthew Stafford was healthy under Darrell Bevel last year and that, you know, the ads swift. But the COVID situation just does what it does to every team. And it just a lot of unknown at this point. I mean, you hope Stafford's okay, asymptomatic, obviously, but at this point, but what do we know about this virus is very little,

because it keeps seeing change by the week and by the month. Well, you think about the Red Sox player that's, you know, Edward Rodriguez, we don't know what, you know, we're not expecting this to happen to like a great number of NFL players, but you think about the Red Sox pitcher Edwardo Rodriguez, who's out for the season because of complications having to do with COVID. And that's what you are worried about that this, when these guys get back on the field, look, the Lions players might be back on the field by the time pads are on anyways.

I mean, that's not happening until August 17th. Not a lot is really happening other than, like, working out and mentally preparing. But you're right, like having the unknown of like how these guys are going to deal with it afterwards is, I don't know. How can that not hang over you? What do you think about the Lions, Patrick? I'm cautiously optimistic. If Stafford can stay healthy, I liked, I mean, I like the offense.

My pessimistic side is on the Matt Patricia defense because I still don't see where the pass rush is coming from. Unless somehow Gerard Davis turns into edge rush or something, because I don't see where he's going to fit in otherwise or Jamie Collins becomes something that we haven't seen in the last few years. I don't see where they're going to get pressure. The back end of the defense doesn't bother me so much. I like Akuta. I think he's going to be a really stud player that's going to fill in for Slay a lot. But there's, again, there's this whole pessimistic side that this is a team last year that had no depth. And you saw that when Stafford went out and other guys started getting hurt, still doesn't have a lot of depth.

And that's going to be huge in this year with guys going on the COVID list. It's going to happen since some lions already got sick. So you just assume that it's going to happen during the season. And if you have a shallow roster, I think you're going to get screwed at the end of the day. You know, you talk about teams like the Saints, like the 49ers, like the Ravens, like the Chiefs, the upper echelons team, they can withstand a guy going down to a position group. Shouldn't be shallow. Bob Quinn's fourth year there, you know, no excuses. Shouldn't be but are. I mean, when you're basically, you're banking on expats the whole time, and that's how you're building your roster, you're going to be shallow because these veterans, you know who they are and you know who they're not, and they don't have crazy upside anymore. I mean, Kevin, let me ask you this.

If you were to get, if you were to get a lion's win for every thousand news articles that you've written for NFL.com, I put them at about an 11 or 12 win team at this point, if not a 20 win team, right to the Super Bowl 20 and O. But we all deal with this variously in our newsroom. If you root for a bad football team. Are they playing 20 games? Yeah, I was going to ask that. Well, that's, that's, they're playing the Pro Bowl, too. They're going to go back to the old format. If it were the old format, you could.

go 20 and 0 if you went 16 and 0 and maybe won an extra preseason game i don't know 19 and the championships used to play the college all-stars we're going to go back to that throw that we got to find that we need to find that 20th win so i'm getting killed for math on this show that's where we're at with this point i mean i would just ask you though do you feel that the national because i i think it was the last show where i said i thought they could be the seventh the seventh playoff team in the nfc because i could see them maybe just going old school and running the ball like 45 000 times and just maybe sneaking in there. There is a reason to kind of like the potential of the lions.

Do you think when we, but the other 4,000 times I mentioned them, I just sort of feel like they're boring. Do you think that's an unfair viewpoint from the national media? Yes, just specifically you, Mark, I think it's unfair. I'm not alone. I don't, I didn't come up with that on my own. Given that you've gone through the pain of a losing team year after year after year, just to look north of your rooting interests and just decide to kick us at every moment. the show i i think is just completely unfair i just called you the seventh nfc i think you have a bigger heart yes yeah you're trying to you know one how magnanimous his on the cheek is not worth

uh too little too late the groin i hear you i don't can i can i say something patria i a lot of people are buzzing about the lions uh if they can be healthy and on the field i'm a little surprised that people are so pumped up about the lions not not that they're pumped up but this team ended last year on a nine game losing streak their defense was horrendous and the head coach he just and listen this coming from a fan of a team that needs to get rid of their head coach and you already know it and he's still there patricia to me has all the earmarking is one of those guys that just doesn't work out and you're almost planning ahead even while the season is yet to begin as the future without him i mean maybe matthew stafford does stay healthy but this idea

there's two things going on. We're going to do some division previews, so I don't want to get it too big picture. But two things that surprised me, what I've heard this summer is people talking up the lines and people assuming the Packers are going to come down to Earth or somehow slip this season. That surprises me as well.

I think you got two-fold things. I think that people saw what the lines look like with Stafford when he was healthy, and he was top 10 quarterback, in my opinion. I think he flew under the radar a lot because of because they lost some games. I mean, this is a team that could have started out six and oh. I mean, he should have beat the Chiefs.

That game was, that was a great game, 34 to 30. I think that's what people are clinging to. Now, I agree with you on the Matt Patricia thing. I think, I mean, look, let's be honest. He took over for a coach who was a dead man walking the time they got the, they hired the GM. So, I mean, I was confused as to what Bob Quinn's been doing since the moment he took over, why I understand that Martha Ford wanted to keep Jim Caldwell.

but why did he get a second ear when you knew he was gone right then after that? And they wanted Patricia. I mean, it's been earmarked since the moment Bob Quinn took over. So it was just been a cavalcade of moves that don't stack on top of one another. And to get rid of them again after this year, like you said, it's a winner bust year for both of them. So they're going to be starting over from scratch again. And then do you get rid of a Darryl Bevel if Matthew Stafford looks great with him? but you go six and ten because your head coach, you know,

can come up with one good defensive scheme a year. Well, they have defensive players this year. They add, you know, when your defense is as bad as they were, I think the way that they approached it of just adding so many pieces is the right move because they're just trying to get to average. And they added NFL quality guys. I'm not as down on Patricia necessarily. I think he's got to have a chance.

He's not a defensive mastermind. Now it's not like the Patriots defenses with him were so bad. But the reason I think they are. are exciting. They have been a boring franchise. I'll buy that. But the reason they're exciting is because they're offense. I mean, Matthew Stafford, I think you're underselling him in terms of top 10 quarterback. I think he was like a top three or four quarterback for the six or seven games that he's in there. Now, maybe it's a sample size thing. You shouldn't get too carried away. But I honestly don't think there was even a question. I thought it was the best he was playing

in his entire career. And then you look at the pieces around him. The line is fine. I don't think it's a great line, but I think it's fine. It's not bad. DeAndre Schiff, Swift was the one running back in the class I thought was like, if he was coming out 10 years ago, he might have been a top 10 pick. I mean, he just has everything you could possibly want in a running back. You have Kerryon Johnson, who is a great backup. You have T.J. Hawkinson, who should be better in his second year. And you still have Galladay Jones and Amandola, which is a rock solid, if not better, receiver group. I mean, that is a, that is a fun offense that was playing really well. Honestly, the only thing that worries me about all that was it was six games and it's

Darrell Bevel, and it's like maybe we were putting a little too much on those six games, but those six games, there was a lot to believe that you could carry it over and that they would be maybe a top five, six, seven offense, that they have that type of potential. Yeah, like I said before, I mean, you named all the pieces, but aside from having two backs now, where's the depth, I mean, the wide receiver group? I don't see the depth there. Now, can you find a fourth guy? But if Kenny Gallaudet gets hurt, if Marvin Jones gets hurt again, I think they're just too

thin at all those positions that they need everybody to stay healthy for 16 games in order to content. The idea that I'm buying Matthew Stafford is a top five quarterback from wire to wire. I'll buy that. I mean, I get that, but I think he was playing at

that sort of level for a five or six game stretch there last year. I want to rectify something, Patrick, because it annoyed me in the moment and now we have a golden opportunity. On Friday's show, myself, Greg, and Mark all failed to really nail down what happened in Matt Stafford's lone playoff start in his career.

A loss to the Cowboys. It was the week before the Des caught it game. But none of us in the moment could remember why it was so painful and why Lions fans were angry afterwards. I want you to be the voice of the Lions fans and tell America and the world why the Lions got the fact that none of you great football minds remember

is just exemplify I know it's forgettable I mean it's true it got overshadowed the next week by the way and let the man speak Greg it was a penalty on the cowboys

pass interference they threw the freaking flag and then got together decided they didn't want to piss off Jerry Jones and picked up the flag and then we had the worst punt in his own that went negative 75 yards the wrong way and lost the game. I did say something

about pass interference on the show, by the way, but I couldn't quite remember the details. It does probably ever even happen. So, yes, maybe karma caught up to the Cowboys the next week. Did you, I guess as a Lions fan, you got something out of that?

Well, I mean, it was the Packers, but yeah, you know. It's true. It's all losing. It's all losses. That's why the Lions will always stay high up on the pain rankings, because with the true painful franchises, there There's layers to it. Just when you think that the onion is peeled back all the way.

There's just more. And Patra, as a true fan, sees that. One last thing, Patra. Is there an apology? What's happening here? I don't know. And by the way, congratulations on the birth of your son. Thank you.

It's been too long. It's been too long since we had you. He's almost four months. How you doing? How's fatherhood? in a pandemic. You know, it was the first couple months when he didn't see anybody. That was pretty good.

We got to figure out how to be parents without, you know, the in-laws over every other week and such. So, you know, but it's good. Yeah, that gets a little tricky with the in-laws. You better hope they're not around the NFL fans. Yeah, we're good. Now, they're American. Okay.

But my apology, Patrick, is this. And again, an apology on behalf. This one not on behalf of the podcast. This one's just me. when Nick Shook hit the scene and started showing up in the podcast studio with that body I might have been taken

I might have been carried away by it I might even given your drop to Nick Shook the workout drop and all that was wrong because you you are sneaky yoked you've always been somebody that's at a masculine build

and I want to tell you that I still appreciate your body and just from the looks of this conversation my own thank you sir I appreciate I'm actually going to go workout in about 20 minutes So I'll be thinking of you.

What are you working on right now? I'm doing Insanity Max 30, BeachBody. Yes. Wow. Oh, no, we, Kevin and I have had many conversations about Beachbody. So, yeah, showing who is the man. I feel like we're really missing Wes in this conversation, though, because West was kind of the Kevin Patrick Body Truther. Yeah.

It was always like, eh. Yeah. Maybe you, maybe you, well, in his mind, it was the truther, you know, And I'm like, Dan's giving him a little too much pop here. I think he said something like, I've seen a billion five foot nine guys to weigh 160 pounds or something. Yeah. Yeah. Which, you know, he took about 30 pounds off me, but that's fair.

You know, I appreciate all, all criticisms and all praise equally. You do look like a fireman in his prime right now. My brother's unit in Livonia, Michigan. There you go. Shout out. Shout out to what's your brother's. name. Matt. Shout out to Matt Patra,

the fireman. How about that? Who gets more respect in the family, your firefighter brother, or you who's carved out a really good media career at the NFL? Probably, well, I mean, it depends. I'm not going to answer that question.

Think on that one. All right. Patra, I know you have an appointment with the IT department, which everyone dreads at the level of like a dentist root canal scenario. Well, so good luck with that. Yes, sir. I mean, it really comes down to and it's not just the NFL. This is any company, any big company, when you call IT, it all depends who you get because

there are some great people in the IDT department that will help you out. And some where it's like, oh, my afternoon is over. This is going to be terrible. Patrick will rolling the dice in real time. Yeah. And I'm sorry for Patrick's brother out there, but they respect Kevin. Mattie. I'm telling you said that.

Oh, firefighting. I mean, oh, saving lives. How about writing a blog on the four new additions to the Jaguars COVID-19 list? Exactly. How about covering six Super Bowls? Right. Yeah. Priorities, please.

All right, Patrick. We'll let you guys. Sorry, buddy. Thanks, guys. Appreciate you. All right. That was good. It's been too long.

He really may be, as Mark alluded to, in terms of the amount of post he's written, if I had to guess, I think Kevin Patra has more page views than any writer in NFL.com history. I think it has to be. No doubt. It has to be. I mean, he's gone nonstop for... I mean, we were all in the mix there for a while, but now, you know, maybe even had a lead over Patra probably for a while there, but he's dusted us. It's almost impossible to imagine this now, but I, I remember working Saturday shifts when we were the newswriters and doing 16 stories in one day. Absolutely.

Patrick, Patrick's been grinding that path for many years, and he's a good man. All right. Before we go, here's the problem, here is the problem with ballers, ultimately. what HBO and the Rock attempted to do was create sports entourage. And they were, we all remember entourage, the, the aughts, uh, HBO comedy. And it's kind of become a bit of a punchline with the benefit of hindsight. But if you were in that moment, if you were in your 20s in that decade, and I will raise my hand to this. And I, and I think there's many listeners that are in our range of the same way, you watched

entourage. You kind of were into it. It was kind of a way to live vicariously. What would it be like to be rich and famous and in your 20s in Hollywood? And then the show just got increasingly terrible. By the time entourage ended, we didn't need entourage anymore. But The Rock and HBO says, let's cook this, let's cook this stew up again and throw in the Miami Dolphins and the NFL and all this stuff. And it was just like,

it left a really bad taste in my mouth. That's why I hate ballers. I mean, that's your right to judge it as you see as you see fit. How many episodes did you watch? I mean, I'm generally with you, but. I watched, I did honestly watch probably three or four because I really wanted to give it a chance. And I love HBO. I do.

You know what this problem is? I think, look, maybe a fictional weekly football show could work or not, but I think part of the problem is, are you got to be better than Hard Knocks? Are you going to be better than Last Chance You? I thought I was done with Last Chance You, and the buzz out there is this the best season yet, had to turn it back on, and it's awesome. I know that sort of thing's not for everyone, but if you're not going to top the drama and the characters that you're getting in those reality shows, you don't need it. You don't need ballers. I mean, I'd say the NFL's actual news cycle has better stuff happening than ballers did, too.

It's kind of like a house-a-card scenario where real life started to trump plots that were fantastical in a dated time. I mean, Ballers is not pushing the envelope enough when those episodes were coming out, based on the floor that I saw. Ricky, you get the final thought on Ballers. Yeah, no, it sucks. You never watched it, did you? No, but it's not, like, I've seen clips of it. It's terrible. All right.

I'm just hedging my bets for when Rock takes over a big chunk of NFL media like two years from now. You're like, that guy was on board with my show. And my one last rant is Kai Forbeth got released by the Cowboys, and it's like, why did you even sign him? Why did you waste the man's time, Dallas, Gerra, Stephen, the whole game, McCarthy, when you just went and gave Greg Zerline a nice contract, and then you keep Kai and limbo for months. And now where is Kai? Kai is unemployed in the midst of a pandemic that's getting worse by the day. You didn't do right by Kai. Kai might be Kai, but Kai doesn't deserve that.

And the Dallas Cowboys, speaking of karma, karma got you in the 2014 playoffs. It's coming for you again for what you did in Kai for, Beth. If he's out of the league, if he's made his last kick after what he did for your franchise, at the end of December, you were a mess in your special teams game. What did he do? He shows up. He goes nine for nine. And he just kicks everything straight through the middle.

And this is how you treat him. You try to ruin the guy's career. According to overthecap.com, Kai did get $137,000 guaranteed for that contract. So that's a lot more. Not all that money, though, Greg. And just saying that's more gym equipment for Kai to be Kai. I mean, he could be in a support group with Brian Walter.

Brian Walter is getting dropped to the curb in August. in that helpful timing either. I mean, it's, you know. Did you say more gym equipment for guys? What does he spending that money on? I mean, he's got, you know, he's a new entertainer, maybe. I don't know. All right. Anyway, that's it. Mark, good luck with the move. Like I said, I would love to help you with the move, but I was just traveling. And it's very important that I quarantine right now, so I just can't help you out. I understand. When are you moving? Well, it's this sort of slow Ho Chi men trail process that will take place over the next 17 or 18 days I was going to say

When does the lead start? How is it related to like the I'm not judging either but I would just claim it's not a pleasant experience but thank you Greg for always diminishing what we are friends go through. It's appreciated. But I am I'm leaving a little mark in 14 days.

Thank you. We will speak then. I'm literally leaving the show right now. All right. Bye, Mark. Bye. We love him. Stan Hansis.

He did. He actually left. I think he was done with today's show. It's a very legitimate take I have. Oh, yeah. He was done 30 minutes ago. I think he was done with Greg, too. Oh, yeah.

You really, you got to text him, Greg. This might be a text. He's not the first. first one, you know. It's not the first time. He's not the first one. Is this one of those days, Greg? It happens a couple times a year, maybe, where you have to send the reach-out text to Mark. Is this qualified? I mean, it's probably more than a couple days. I don't know. I mean, my life is just a series of people that I annoy as I, you know, travel along the Hitchieman Trail. Right. On that note. This is Dan Hans.

signing off for in absentia the quiet storm the mailman who's doing well by the way he's working at it and he's he's working his way through this and we hope to see him back with this sooner rather than later the old boss and the great ricky hollywood behind the glass until wednesday We're going to be able to be. Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters.

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