NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Rams Do Business; Report from Ravens Nest

Episode Date: July 26, 2019

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Gregg Rosenthal and Chris Wesseling bring you all the latest news around the NFL but before that, they have to address a very serious matter.(:30). There is a lot of news with training camps starting up around the league including the Rams extending Head Coach Sean McVay and GM Les Snead through 2023 (8:51), Michael Thomas holding out for a new deal (12:20) and the 49ers scouts are unhappy with John Lynch. (21:32) Stay tuned for "Rosenthal Remembers: A return to the Ravens Nest" only on the Around the NFL Podcast. (39:32)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. Creators of the GM Reddit board app. Damn right. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast presented by Sirius XM. My name is Dan Hansus, and I'm joined in a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosethall. What is up, boys?

Hey, Dan. We're all together And it feels damn good But not everything feels good But not everything feels good The Shield Dynasty is over Long live the Shield The company co-ed softball team

Went down in the finals To Barney's Nooners 13 to 10 dug ourselves a hole, deep hole, fell behind 8-0, and crawled our way back, scored 10 runs in the last, what was it, two innings of us? Two innings, I think. Rally came up painfully short, our great player on deck as the tying run when our top girls got caught off first base, gotten a rundown, tagged out.

It's like Babe Ruth when he got thrown out trying to steal second. in the World Series all those years ago. Wait, like rounding first or something? Trying to go to second. Trying to make something happen. And because we, our listeners, have been interested in the Shield for three seasons now, this feels like the right time for a press conference.

Any thoughts about the season? And we have a lot to get to today on the run of the podcast, but the most important thing is what happened with the Shield on Wednesday. So we'll take some questions, quick press conference. All right here. All right there. Can we start with your decision at pitcher, Skip? A smattering of blogs, vlogs, and talk radio outlets are pinging you for starting Brooke from original content on the mound over a surging Matt Tanton.

Would you do it again? I'd do it again, yes. I really thought Brooke, although she'd missed the bulk of the season, she'd carried us in a lot of ways to our first two titles on the bump. And it was not an easy decision. and I worked with my consigliari Wes trying to come up with the right move. And maybe it was the right move. Maybe if Maddie's on the mound, the same outcome we lose. But I felt good going with what I thought was our best team.

Wes, do you have anything to add to that? We had reached a decision that we would have been fined with either of those people pitching, that pitching was not our issue. We have other issues, but pitching was not it. Either one of those persons would have done the job just fine. Next question. You got to score more than 10 runs to win in softball. Yeah, I was going to.

Right there, black shirt. I had a big softball for you, but that answer begs the question. Well, what are the issues? Our lead-off hitter started the game 0 for 3, including striking out to start the game. Now, Wes, you're a warrior. And I want people to know that Chris, that just shows you what time of a man he is, that he's going to say that. Yes, slow start. You finished strong.

You played a big part in the seventh inning rally. played very good defense you were not the reason we lost but we didn't play our cleanest game we did not play a great defensive game we didn't pitch our best game but it wasn't just that we left runs on the field

we let run score that shouldn't have scored we just didn't play our A game we were the best team in the league we just weren't the best team on Wednesday night and that's sports anything else it was execution we just failed to execute gotta ask this

if I can I spoke with a source downstairs who told me there was an aura of this sort of might be our last go-around after the loss. You, Skip, have toyed with retirement for years verbally. I don't know if that's sort of a cat and string operation with the press. Where are you? Are you coming back next season?

I'm not ready to answer that right now. It's a very emotional time. It was one of the toughest losses of my career. Absolutely. I think we were all very confident. There were some people I know in the media thought, was that we were overconfident, which I don't think was.

That was not the issue at all. Overconfidence was not an issue. Execution. Execution. You were more, because usually you always talk down your expectations, and then the last week, you guys, you were talking them up. That just wasn't an issue. I don't think it was.

One more for coach. Quick follow up, we could. I mean, any thoughts to coming back. How about you? You do come back next year, but with a new wave of NFL media employees on the team, let's say William McGinnis, Lidney and Tomlinson, maybe Dion Sanders to systematically drop an A-bomb on these Hammond Eggers that are that populate the rest of the league.

I'm going to cut you off right there. That's a clown question, bro. It's a clown question. I love my team. I support my team. This is a great team that has heart for days. And we didn't get it done. But this is not a tear down.

This is not the end of the shield. Maybe the end of Skip. And I don't know about third base, Wes. I know you said some things after the game, Wes, about a potential retirement. Any thoughts that you have? on that. Well, my skills have eroded and I'm physically weaker. I'm just not as good as I was a few years ago and it doesn't feel good to be one of the reasons we lost. That's a new feeling for me in softball. So it's sort of a wake-up call and it gives me a greater appreciation for, say, Brett

Fav or Ben Rothesberger or Gronk, where you say after the season I'm probably hanging them up and then maybe you get a few months to think about it. But I feel like I'm going to leave my spikes on the back of the dugout and call it a career. Maybe you guys are the 2017 Patriots, though. You started the press release saying the dynasty is over.

But who knows? Maybe it's just, you just win it next year and it's just one little championship loss that's part of the greater story. The shield is at a crossroads. I think that is a good way to put it.

All right, coming up on today's show and presser. Oh, this is a good thing. Rosenthal remembers a return. to the Raven's Nest. I was like, what is that? I didn't plan this segment. What is this?

Coming up later today. Greg flew across the country on the NFL's dime. Thanks, Rog. And watch camp. And we haven't, I don't know about you guys. It costs a lot of money, by the way. It costs a lot of money. I haven't talked to you at all about your trip.

I got upgraded a first class on the way back. What? Very expensive trip. That was a nice drop, and I'm happy with the title he came up with. But it just makes me really miss Greggy does Dallas. A lot of people. people speculated we had mentioned during our tour of conference rooms across NFL media here when this studio is being refurbished whether the Debbie does Dallas or Greggy does

Dallas segment was what got us almost fired no no no not at all a semi-starred talking to about that but we were never threatened our job so anyway Greg was in Baltimore his boys the Ravens got to see his boy Lamar maybe we'll talk a little bit about your making the leap piece on Lamar Jackson, a lot to get to over there as we jump back into the Ravens Nest. But before that, what we're hearing presented by Sirius XM, let's do some news, Ricky. We're in Tampa Bay for Inside Training Camp. You heard that saying when in Rome do as the Romans do? How about in Tampa?

In Tampa, when you're in Tampa, you do as the Bucks do. I got my B.A. hat. You're jealous. You've got to have one of these things. Everybody's got to have one of these things. B.A. has one. I have one. Now we've got a great show for you.

We're live at practice. He talks for three hours straight here. about that. No, not that rapper. I'm talking about Ian Rappapour. With all the breaking news around the league, nobody does it better than him. And then our host, Andrew Siciliano. He's been all over the world. He goes everywhere. Just follow him on social media. I'm plugging here, Andrew. Remember that, okay? But he's here in Tampa, and you're lucky to have him. Live NFL Network, inside trading camp. I'll see you later. We need him to hype us. We need this kind of treatment from Charlie Kemp. Charlie Castle are a real person. GM, he's got rings. He's got a great life. But sometimes it amazes me when I just, I watch him in action and the things that he says.

We should get him on the show. This clip, by the way, if you look at his Twitter feed, this clip took place the entire time he unfurled that speech. Oh, right. Wearing a red, you know, Bruce Aryan's cap, that that's what he was referring to. But through the jaws of a gigantic, like, dinosaur mouth or something? It was the Tampa Bay Pirateship Skull and Bones. I mean, it was a thing. Check it up.

It was a whole thing. All right, let's get into the news starting right here in Los Angeles. The Rams did some business signing coach Sean McVeigh to a five-year extension and also extending general manager less need. McVeigh is 33 years old, now under contract through 2023. It wasn't a situation where they had to get a deal done right now, but they know what they have in McVe, Greg, who in 2017, when he got hired, was, I want to call him an unknown, but he was obviously untested, and it was a bit of a leap of faith, and it turned out to go

gangbusters to use Ashikism. He's 24 and 8. The thing of the disappointment coming off the Super Bowl loss is overlooking, like, how fast and quickly they established themselves is really the most consistent team right now in the NFC. And the reason why, like, not that they need, you know, any kudos for signing McVeigh. it's obviously safe, but he seems so good at all the other things. He gets so much credit for scheming,

but he seems so good at all the other things that a head coach is required to do, which is managing his staff, managing the players, organization, managing the day-to-day things that come with being a coach. I think it did need to happen now because Mike Silver reported that McVeigh was believed to be the lowest paid coach in the league after the Super Bowl and was getting less money than Matt LaFleur and Zach Taylor. So there was do a raise It basically came to him right after that game

And said we're going to get something done And it makes complete sense Very smart And they sit west and baseball They say it's vital to be very strong Up the Middle Catcher Right shortstop center field Same thing in football

With you have to be strong Ownership the general manager The coach the quarterback And that's why the Rams are Where they are for the past three years They went from being a laughing stock organization To sort of the new paradigm For success in the NFL

in the dozen years before McVeigh, they won 31.5% of their games. Since they hired him, they've won 75% of their games. It doesn't get much better than that. Sneed, you know, a nice decision, I guess, by ownership, who was not a popular ownership group and one of the least successful ownership groups in the NFL until McVay came along. A good decision to keep Les Need and pair them with McVey

because I think it's clearly one A-1B that less need is fulfilling McVey's vision, but they really work well together. Sneed was on the ropes, too, before. McVeigh was kind of like his Hail Mary in a way, and it could not have worked out. He'd be like a cat on his fourth life right now. Right.

Eight and a half, maybe? I mean, he wasn't that far. They got really do anything those first several years. Right, but you're saying he's died eight times? I don't know if he died eight times, I don't know if he died eight times, right? Yeah, but he's died. He also took over what was literally the worst three-year run in NFL history before Jeff Fisher got there.

So I was like, you know, he was doing okay before him. Okay. I'm just saying. I like less. I'm sticking with four lives. They were worse than the Browns. He's at about life four and a half, five lives. Would you mind split in the difference?

Go six? No, it's too many. I mean, and I don't even believe that that's true of cats to begin with. I think that was a bunch of malarkey. Well, you had like nine cats in your backyard at one point. They're all gone. They only got one line. Figure that out.

Did you multiply them by nine? No, but I don't know. know they were taken out of my household thankfully but all right so the rams do business you know who wants to do business michael thomas the star saints wide receiver uh he wants a new deal um he wants to get paid like what he is uh which is a superstar he's in the superstar club which means a lot to him but he's a 2016 second round pick which means he doesn't make a lot of money he makes 1.1 million uh as he enters the he's set to make 1.8 1.148 million as he answers the he's set to make 1.1.48 million.

He enters the final year of his rookie contract. He wants to get paid like a star, and that's why he's holding out. Mike Garifolo and Ian Rappapaport reported that Thomas did not report to training camp with teammates. He's seeking a new deal, and Wes, he's staying away until he gets one. Here we go again. He reportedly wants at least $20 million a year, which would make him the highest paid wide receiver in the NFL. And for stretches of last season, he was the best receipts. a receiver in the NFL.

I thought Sean Payton had an interesting point. When he basically said because of the collecting a bargaining agreement, they signed in 2011 that got rid of the rookie wage scale, we don't see rookie holdouts. Instead, we see those holdouts happen at the end of their rookie deals. And because the CBA's ending after this season, it makes negotiations a little trickier in terms of how you can push money out into the future and what the next CBA is going to look like.

like players that are signing five, six-year deals right now are taking a big risk that by the end of that, they're really going to end up looking underpaid. I think it's a perfect time to have a hold on. This guy, I mean, Michael Thomas might be the most in-shaped player in the NFL. Like, if I'm the Saints, do you really care that he misses three weeks of training camp? I don't think it'll matter. It sounds like they're not that far apart in that it'll happen. I mean, I don't see this lingering beyond this summertime period, but you do have to, you have to,

Julio Jones still sitting out there. I feel like we're into year eight of talking about him getting a contract extension at some point. And you've got Tyreek Hill potentially too. So there's going to be yet to see where those numbers come in when they do. Julio Jones wants a deal. Amari Cooper, A.J. Green. Beckham, by the way, your boy, O'Dell Beckham, Mark. Currently the highest paid receiver.

He makes 18 mil a season. And Thomas wants more. By the way, we've been tracking this Ezekiel Elliott holdout situation. And, you know, we have a lot of reporters here. NFL network and this is money time for the network they like to this is where they flex and they show we have feet on the ground everywhere and we're covering every breath and every movement in training camp yesterday was a great example where jane slater goes viral in the news industry by reporting that zeke was not on the team on the plane to oxenard for training

camp and sure enough he did not attend his physical or the team's conditioning run Friday at Cowboys Training Camp, which opens. He is indeed holding out there was talk mark that if talks between the Cowboys and Zeke were moving in a positive direction, even if a deal didn't get done, he was going to potentially show up. I don't know if this means that things are not going well, but there's no deal in place, and Zeke is staying away for now. These are one of these stories.

I get that we all eyes on this, and it's the perfect storm of the Cowboys and Ezekiel Elliott, and we're looking for all this to magnify it. but wake me up in a month because I feel like the only holdout that truly concerns me if I'm a fan right now would be Melvin Gordon. The rest of them, I just, am I wrong? Should I be losing sleep at night over the idea that the Cowboys are going to let Zeke Elliott go weeks into the regular season unsigned or a holdout? Your feeling is everyone gets signed by that first week of the season.

It's going to get done. Except for Melvin Gordon. That's how I would feel. Chargers fans could be a little freaked. I'd be really surprised if they sign Ezekiel Elliott. I think he's just going to have to cave because I think Dak Prescott gets paid first. But do you think he's going to hold out game?

No, that's what I'm saying. I don't know if they can figure out some other way to get him into camp or if he's just happy to skip a couple weeks of camp, which isn't surprising. I'd be like just like a little bit concerned with Zeeke because he's shown up to camp relatively out of shape multiple times.

And he's been very durable, but if he does show up out of shape and he steps on the field week one, by the hamstring monster comes get him. I'd be a little nervous as a Dallas fan. And Melvin Gordon, I have to say, like, I don't know who his agent is or what's going on behind the scenes, but I kind of worry for this guy a little bit

because he seems to be going to, and there's another report out there that he's willing to hold out into the season, a Chargers team that has pieces there, that you could easily see them getting out to a good start and the running game not being a problem for them. And then he's kind of left in a bad way. He seems to be vulnerable right now. I agree.

I don't know if he knows that. If I was, you know, Trent Williams is the other one because, you know, he's a left tackle, and Eric Flowers right now is your left tackle. I know no one expects the Redskins to be any good, but when you're replacing the best player on your team with Eric Flowers, that's a concern. That feels like when you have the rare situation where you have a friend who was in a long-term relationship with someone, they broke up, but they're still, because they're in a lease, they're living together after they've broken up, the Redskins and Trent Williams.

That's how I see that. Do you think the hamstring monster is made out of solely hamstrings? Or is it like a beating heart with hamstrings around it or what? That sounds pretty scary. It sounds like the next like marble universe. I think it's more like a gnome that pops out of the dirt and it just like slaps you in the hamstring and then like goes back underground. No one sees it but it pops you.

It just poop. I like that. Yeah. Like like a whack-a-mole. Bad news for the New York Giants, of course. They are looking to move on from the OBJ era. And Serling Shepard is a big part of that. He just got a four-year, $41 million contract extension in April,

but he will be shut down for the time being after being diagnosed with a thumb fracture. It happened on Thursday at practice. He'll be evaluated on a week-to-week basis. We talked about Julian Edelman up in New England, also dealing with what I believe is a fractured thumb. But that happened, obviously, before this. They're okay with the Patriots with the idea that he'll be back ready for week one. with Shepard based on the timing of this

and Mike Arafolo reported that this has the potential to go right up against the start of the season so he could miss week one against the Cowboys six weeks from Sunday and the news didn't get any better on the same day that Shepard got hurt. Corey Coleman, the former Brown's first round pick trying to get his career on

track and in line for a big role with the Giants. He tore his ACL. You know try to speak to the football gods last week. To show mercy. You did try. They didn't listen. I mean, that was largely jets-based, so I think they've listened so far.

Knock on wood. But I wanted everyone to stay healthy. It's not working out that way. Coleman tore his ACL, and he will obviously be out for the season. That usually involves reconstructive knee surgery. Bad break for Coleman. And they were saying he had a chance to be the number three receiver. I believe he was actually penciled into that role.

Cody Latimer played pretty well at the end of the year, so I don't see a big drop off there. No, probably one of those guys was going to get cut. One of them would be a number three receiver. I don't think they're that bad at receiver with Tate, Shepard, and Ingram, if those guys are healthy, and Barclay essentially as a fourth receiver, I know they don't have Odo Beckham,

but of all the things on the Giants team, that's not even close to my top concern. In fact, that might be one of the better position groups. And Corey Coleman, a total wild card. I don't know. And the immediate reaction was, oh, oh, this position group is, you know, falling apart. It's like, Corey Coleman was a, let's see, if you get anything from him, it's a surprise. Shepard, it's annoying because he's a guy, I've always thought he could put up way bigger numbers than he has,

and this is the year to do it. And so it's a rough start for him. I would say, we don't go to the fantasy extravaganza for a few weeks, but maybe a guy that's going to now drop in your drafts potentially you could get as a bargain. Would they be talking about that on the fantasy corner? Oh, Shepard. I thought you were going to make a joke and say, Eli Manning may be available.

I mean, the corner is a rough and tumble violent environment. So you're getting words out as quick as you can, and the subject matter is unknown. I heard some rumors, actually, that gentrification had hit the corner. That people were, like, a little upset that there's, like, a lot of, like, there's a lot of places that are, like, barbershop slash beard slash they serve a drink to you at the same time. I mean, it was muggings and shootings before.

You prefer that. There's like 14 Starbucks. Right. It's just like a coffee shot. Just a little. Well, if that's the case, it would be a different tone to the report. That's a good tease, though. We can't say for sure what's going on at the fantasy corner.

You'll have to wait until about three or four weeks until the fantasy extravaganza returns. And by the way, the Giants are working out wide receivers, as you might imagine. Kelvin Benjamin reportedly, one of them, one of Dave Gettelman's old. draft picks. Oh, that sounds like where he's going to end up. Okay, report from Tyler Dunn, who works for Bleacher Report these days. He wrote about the 49ers. This one's interesting, West. The current scouting staff, according to Dunn, is feeling increasingly marginalized by head coach Kyle Shanahan and his coaching crew who are, quote, far, far more empowered

on draft day. This story comes at a time when the Niners, this is a big pivotal season for them and their leadership. And some of the stuff that came out of this feature makes you think that there's significant unrest behind the scenes. Well, maybe. I sort of read it as Tyler Dunn got one of these disgruntled guys to talk. And then now it seems like a soap upper when it's really, there are tensions in almost every front office between the scouting staff and the coaching staff come draft time. And the coach is, especially a guy like Kyle Shanan, who has more powerful.

power than most coaches because he had a six-year contract. So there's a lot more job security there, but it's basically the coaches got who they wanted and we didn't get who we want. That happens in every front offer. There was a little nugget. They talked about, for instance, like running back Joe Williams wasn't even on the Niners draft board,

and the scouts in the room were ripping him for quitting on his team in college, but Shanahan loved him and the 49ers got him in the fourth round. The article also is littered with offensive players praising Shanahan to high heaven for how he diagnoses and takes advantage of weaknesses on other teams' defenses. And the Joe Williams pick has a flip side. Shanahan did the same thing with George Kittle, who turned out to be the leading receiver in history by tight deck. I see a positive article.

It was largely positive. But it does point out, I think Shanahan has more power than most HUD coaches. And I have said if they had to choose between one of Lynch and Shanahan, if there were problems, I think they would choose Shanahan. This supports that. But the bigger issue with the front office, and that's the bigger issue with the front office. staff is they didn't really consider taking Mahomes or Watson. They did not think they needed a quarterback in that draft.

They took Solomon Thomas. I mean, that's not, they already had Jimmy G. No, they didn't have anyone. They drafted C.J. Bethard instead, and they took Solomon Thomas number three overall. And, you know, it's easy to go back and play hindsight. I mean, that helped get Sashi Brown fired, too, for passing on those guys. That was the Trubisky trade, right? Yeah.

Okay. Moving on in the news. Program reminder. Coming up next, Rosenthal remembers an emotional return to the Ravens Nest, only on the Around the NFL podcast. Did you brief, Greg, that this was going to be turned into such a high-octane thing? I was like, I've never, well, I've never been to Baltimore before, but we have been to the Ravens Nest in anything. Steelers have signed Coach Mike Tom onto a contract extension, not as beefy as what Sean McGo. they got though. This is a one year extension. The number will keep him employed with the team or under team control through the 2021 season. Tomlin, of course. Now 47 years old, hired in 2007 and had a Super Bowl win in that first year. And it's interesting 10 seasons since they've always been competitive. They've had great teams. They've had good teams. Never a bad team. Last year fell out of the play. off picture and there was some unrest, obviously, behind the scenes to the superstars of the team,

Levyon Bell and Antonio Brown, both at odds with the organization and now play elsewhere. How much heat do you put on the head coach for that? Apparently the Steelers still have enough faith in Tomlin to give him this vote of confidence and keep him from being a lame duck, Greg. But not an overwhelming show of faith. Yeah, it's like sort of like the, like only the Bengals allow a coach to go into the final year of his contract, essentially. Like, shout out to Mac Brown and Marvin Lewis last year.

But, like, so you almost have to do this. It's like the cautious. Okay, let's see. Like the duck that has, like, a wing that's a little wonky. It's not a lame duck, but it's like, a winged duck. A winged duck. Well, he, the Steelers have never fired a coach in the Super Bowl era.

And Tomlin has the highest winning percentage in franchise history. Twelve years without a losing record is no joke. But I, it's pretty amazing. I'd say also, it's like, yeah, who are you going to get that's better? Number one, you have to identify that. But he is, I think he's at a, in terms of his legacy at an interesting place in his career, because when I think of the Steelers, I think when a lot of Steelers fans think of that team, it's the team issues that have happened, you've lost star players,

and you continually drop the ball in the playoffs. You have to change that narrative. That Super Bowl feels like a long time ago. Yeah, I agree. You could look back in five years and say that was the point at which he got it back on track, or you could say, oh, that's when the wheels came off. So this is kind of the, just go on. Never mind.

Mark's right. It's an important year for him. That's he always is. Moving on. Wes and I are on the same page as always. That's what's going on. Love it. Kiss and Cousins.

Moving on, Russell O'Kung, scary story. The Chargers don't have their starting left tackle. A serious health issue. It was revealed. Russell Okun put out a statement on social media that he suffered a pulmonary embolism due to blood clots last month. Didn't we just talk about Mark? Blood clots. Clint Bowman.

only retired because of this. Okun suffered the health scare on June 1st and missed mandatory minicamp practices. He was placed on the NFI list this week ahead of opening camp. There's no timetable for Okun. This is a pretty big deal from a team standpoint, left tackle, obviously. Here's what Okun said. While near death type experiences are certainly a wake-up call,

I'm feeling great physically. It's not an ankle or shoulder. As soon as doctors clear me, my plans include blocking. number 17's blindside, that's Philip Rivers, all the way to Miami, where the Super Bowl will be played in February. I've had two issues with blood clots, and they woke me up about the whole thing. And the first one was my leg was massively swollen, and I could barely walk. And Adam Ranked down in our newsroom was like, why are you here?

Go to the emergency room. And that time, I got it treated quickly, and it was fine. And they said it will never come back. The second time was last September when we came back from London because flights often, if he's flying long distance, this is a concern for him. You have to be on blood thinners. The second time I had this pulmonary embolism thing, and it was blackout pain. It was the most painful thing I've ever experienced and you can barely breathe. And like doctors were like, because it sneaks up on you, you could have died.

It's very much a life for death thing. And I'm concerned a little bit, same with had Clint Bowling stuck around. If you're on blood dinners and if you get these linemen are constantly, We're constantly dealing with blood loss and cuts that we don't even know about. You can't stay in a game. I mean, you have to go to the emergency room right away, typically. This is a Super Bowl contender that crumbled down the stretch last year in large part because of their offensive line,

the right side of their offensive line in particular. And surprise me that they did nothing to upgrade that line in the off season, and now you've got your left tackle a bit of a question mark. Moving on, the Tennessee Titans did some business. they agreed to terms with safety Kevin Bayard on a five-year $70.5 million extension with $31 million in guarantees rap sheet reported this. The team that announced it

that had reached a multi-year deal with Byard, who it makes him the highest paid safety in the league an average annual value over $14 million passing Landon Collins of Washington and the Honey Badger and Kansas City. So a guy entering his age 26th season. Greg, you are fairly high on Tennessee as well, I believe.

Maybe not as high as Wes, but you believe that this team can contend and keep a big piece around. And Byard's kind of like the perfect Titan. He's the guy. It's like if anyone makes a list of like the best safeties and they forget to mention Byard, Titans are fans are just like, have you ever heard of a guy named Kevin Byard? Unless you're Deon Sanders. Right. Someone's not heard of it really shows you're not paying attention.

It's kind of true, though, because he's like the highest paid. player at his position, and how many people in America know much about Kevin Byard? You know what? Shout out to Kevin Byard, who's had a great, you know, start to his career. Well, he's one of the few start offensive backs that doesn't make the headlines weekly by shouting at everyone nonstop and getting into fake feuds with people. I thought they're secondary. Showing up in an armored truck, you know, things like that.

I thought they'd be much better last year. On paper, they look really good in the secondary. That should be the strength of their team, kind of like the Patriots, being able to, like, match up with anyone but malcolm butler was a huge disappointment and they really weren't a good secondary and that that's where they need to get better um dion by the way and will brinson over at cbs our buddy pointed it out on twitter it went from over the course of one calendar year it went from dion thinking that kevin byard was a fan on twitter to kevin byard being the highest paid safety in the national football league uh look good play good play good feel good feel good play good play good

play good play good feel good uh that's pretty funny life moves pretty fast the good thing is if you're dion sanders you kind of could just sweep it all side and say don't care did he even respond to it i don't know see nobody even knows that's what you need to get to teflon d on status there's a i believe he did actually i think he on his show i think it came up on did he eat he ate the poop i think he did yeah i mean he's he wasn't he wasn't on his high horse about it from what i recall hey young buck this one's on me something like that you like i mean i don't know if those were the words it's an unfortunate phrase eat the poop i don't think that's the thing evan sylva's twitter account deion's quote to kevin byard you stay being a fan i'll stay being the man

i'll stay being the man no did he think he was a fan he capped it by telling you that he is the man the man looker play good hey young buck you stay a fan i mean you know this fan was, you know, verified on Twitter with 31,000 followers. Right. And it's like some people might be listening to this and being like, oh, you guys shouldn't like talk about Dion like that. He's a colleague. He's like, no.

Dion's a colleague to us, like a guy that works in IT is a colleague with Bill Gates. Or like the president with someone who works like at the lowest levels of the department of transportation 14 buildings away. All right. Time for 8 o'clock delight. Every first round pick is under contract. Nick Bosa got a deal done with the Niners, and my Jets signed number three overall pick,

Quinn and Williams. As usual, it was over nonsense with guaranteed money in the first year. They worked it out. So everybody's in camp. First Bosa did not hold out in family history. One for three. Must feel good.

Alan Hearns, we talked about on Wednesday, released by the Cowboys, suffered that terrible injury in the playoffs. not out of work long signs a one-year deal with the Miami Dolphins. I wonder if I don't know if he's going to have a role in Miami,

but maybe the Giants would have been a potential better spot for him. I don't know, but he signed the deal already. I'm not sure he'd be a lot to make any team. Moving on. Oh, this is interesting. Speaking of injury news, Andrew Luck held out of team drills as a precaution.

He's got a calf injury. And the team cited what happened to Kevin Duran in the NBA finals, Wes, in the NBA playoffs. We suffered the calf injury in the second round of the playoffs. They held him out, brought him back, and he popped the Achilles. So they used that as a guy to take it easy with their start. Time of the year to be overly cautious so you can get away with it. And Tom Pelliserra reported just minutes ago that he was back on the field doing seven and seven work today.

Speaking of seven on seven work, Emmanuel Sanders back to work. The Broncos receiver participated in the drills on Wednesday. the first team drills he's done since tearing his Achilles last December. Greg Rosenthal. They need him. They don't have much. I'm concerned about their wide receivers a little. Tell me more, Mark.

32 coming off of torn Achilles. They almost made my thinnest position groups list. A lot of question marks with that wide receiver court. The Patriots have question marks on their wide receiver core. Danny Etling has moved to wide receiver. A seventh round pick in 2018. He was on the practice squad last year. former quarterback turn wide receiver you're excited Greg

I am and a missed opportunity here by the rhodo world writer who mentions Terrell Pryor and someone else's recent quarterback hey former quarterback with the Patriots turning into wide receiver little white guy ever heard of Julian Edelman lock it up well the thing is with he this guy though he is a totally different body everyone's saying oh it's the next Julian Edelman well I'm kidding interesting development in Miami Dolphins training camp where Kaelin ballage ballage ballage was the starting running back in team drills at

Friday's practice this is a trend this week new coach Brian Flores getting tricky I loved his game against the Vikings last year I wish I was you could expand on that but that's it you're right out of time go watch this game against the Vikings no you want to finish your thought No, I think it's, I, if Brian Flores is going to run like, run his offense like the Patriots, you're going to have four or five of them. There's never going to be one. There's not one primary starter. They're all going to play. Hank was talking Belage up last year.

He's a big guy. They're both going to be. I like Kenyon Drake, but maybe he's never going to be a 300 touch guy. Even though we lost our championship game on Wednesday night, the Shield reflection ceremony celebration will be held at the old Zeusers. backyard everyone here is invited obviously including handsome Hank who has no ties really to the shield but he's a friend of ours financier though yes he's a financier but he's in england right now with his family so this party one question would you deem it um safe for young children to be at during daylight hours yeah earlier on yes i have some concerns like just sort of knowing

I mean, Brassie is at the party. Brassie's going to be there. Brassie's, like, not a primary concern. Colleen. You know, some of these people, Greg Rosenthal, some of these people get loose. I think anything, any one of these people after dark would be a concern. I mean, your children will be there, so it has to be safe.

No, they're going to be locked in the room for nine hours. No, you can't see that. Do you have an addict? Right. Or maybe they're not going to be there and I'm wrong, but I would assume. My children will be there. But we're going to get a babysitter to help out. That's a veteran move.

Yeah. By the way, outside, two developments. pulling into the NFL media compound today. One, the mural that we've talked about from time to time on the show featuring a host of all pros in the NFL after about a two-year run is now being taken down. Rob Gruncowski is on the mural with the Patriots. I hope it wasn't because he'll be back in a couple of months.

But also Antonio Brown with the Steelers, obviously no longer there, no longer relevant time-wise. So that's been stripped. also Greg you saw the same icon walking in I believe he was he had just exited a Mercedes coop walking with a management member the great Al Michaels oh yeah I want to see what he's do what he's tape maybe he's taping some NFL 100 stuff because I've noticed there's a lot of celebs plan to come through these doors or have been coming and I think they're taping some top secret NFL got a few of them coming on our show potentially hopefully and you know you work

the NFL as we've been lucky enough to do for several years now. You see a lot of stars up close and personal in the sports world and it loses a little bit of its luster overtime. You don't get the same type of feeling. Ow, I feel like he's an uncle that I've never met

and have always admired. So he still kind of has the juice when you see it. It's like, oh, that's Al Michaels. Yeah. The NFL 100 thing, it's interesting. We had Keith Crossrow, I think is his name from NFL films at our Talent Summit. He made it clear. They're not looking to meet standards for this thing. They are trying to set standards for sports lists and what goes into sports

lists. I mean, when you have a show that's hosted by Bill Belichick, Rich Eisen and Collinsworth, what that's a, what a trio. Do you think Belichick gets paid for that? Oh, yes. That's a good question. He loves football so much that you don't know. Whatever it is, it's probably below what he's worth, like it's probably below what he's worth. But yes, because I mean, I think if you're, why wouldn't you be paid for that. It would be kind of insane not to be. How insulting to suggest that he do it for free? Right. That you have to fly out and provide what I'm sure is a lot of expertise. The company is not hurting for money. He did a whole day's worth of a show. It's like six shows or something like that. You're almost certainly right by the way

Mark, but the way you said it was such confidence. It's like, oh, he likes money. Well, he does. I mean, I think he's probably been the highest paid coach for a long, long time. To clarify something for the listener. I mean, he should be. Nor do I argue that he shouldn't Well, I think he, like, he doesn't talk about it much, but I'm sure he looks like. I'm excited about that because when he's done, when he's done some media stuff, it's been good. I need more money. This is not the top 100 players of 2019. We're talking about the top 100 players of all time, all time.

All time. Very exciting. Also very exciting. It's time. Rosenthal remembers a return to the Ravens Nest. only on the Around the NFL podcast. All right, Greg, let's get to it. They put you on a plane. We got to make this expense report worth it.

I know what. They put you on a plane. They sent you to Ravens Camp. You did you do... What did you do that? Tell us about the whole journey. Did some ITC. Did, you know, it's a very quiet town, Owings Mills.

I like that. I like seeing like a different little part of the world. You know, shout out to the Peruvian chicken place. and Owens Mills, big fan. But my, I don't know, my takeaway, should we just like go through it? Yes, let's hear. Tell us all about your trip

because the Ravens, to me, and I think we're all on the same page of this, and Mark, you see them as a threat to the Brown's potential rise to the top of the AFC North. This is an interesting team. Maybe. This is a team that can do things.

I agree. I think they're more interesting than any Ravens team I can remember, basically, since they drafted Joe Flacco, because it's not just that, Not just that they're going to be the most unique offense in the league to prepare for and the toughest, but they have more turnover on defense than they've had since they won the Super Bowl in 2000.

So it's a huge turnover on both sides. And the thing that strikes me between what Mark Ingraham said and watching them and talking is just the variety on offense of running plays. And I know they did a great job with that last year, but I think they believe that with a full off season. They did it all on the fly. And Roman wasn't even the coordinator last year. He was just kind of doing the running game. him able to install an entire offense around Lamar Jackson and Mark Ingram and Gus Edwards in that offensive line, that Ingram was saying the amount of running plays is just outrageous,

the way they can get to different running plays with a billion different formations. And watching practice, you could see it. You never saw the same formation two times in a row. There's so many different combinations. They're going to have two, three tight ends on the field every snap. And because Lamar Jackson is such a unique running talent and those plays, I just think it's a great combination, and it's just going to be weird and it's going to be different and tough to prepare for. It was a year ago when, you know, it was questioned whether John Harbaugh would remain as coach if things didn't go well.

And the one thing I love about them, and I love any football team that decides this is not working, we're going to switch identities in the middle of the season, and they became a completely different operation. Two questions. Do you – does anything concern you about – I know it's one game, but the Chargers playoff game and how they put the hooks on the – on the Ravens, and what happens to this offense when they get into games where they have to throw the football, when all these varieties of run plays don't work, and you're in the deep into the second quarter, and you know it's not going to get a lot better. No, because to me that's one game, one game in which they had about the same amount of yards

as the charges, two offenses that couldn't do much of anything. A game, by the way, that Lamar Jackson led two long touchdown drives at the end of the game, no one seems to give them any credit for, had the ball with a chance to go win at the end of the game. I'm concerned that he's inconsistent accuracy-wise. And then another takeaway watching practice, just like that wide receiver group is so wide open. You have Willie Sneed and about seven or eight other guys, depending on who you talk to, different people expect guys to step up. Yeah, it'd be great if Hollywood Brown steps right in. He's never practiced as an NFL player yet. I mean, that's kind of a lot to expect. So you have Jordan Lasley, you know, it's a lot of

Seth Roberts taking first team snaps. That's a concern. Miles Boykin, who's, you know, there's so much faster, had a big, long touchdown. They've been talking up Jaliel Scott behind the scenes. It's kind of like one of those guys that they think is going to make an impact. We'll see. But they have so many different guys at wide receiver, and yet you have really no one you can trust other than Sneed. You got a good look at Lamar?

Yeah. I mean, it's one practice. He was pretty erratic. I mean, that's the thing watching him. He can make every throw, but he doesn't. But he misses some of the easier ones. I think he's really good in terms of his pocket movement. I think they're going to have them, you know, throwing on the run a lot.

But, you know, RG3 was more consistent, you know, for, it was one day. But it was interesting to see in 2019, you know, players walking off the field. The first day of training game was a great scene. The crowd was awesome there. I mean, they were chanting during training camp, like, you know, just at random moments, except for one guy who was, like, heckling Lamar Jackson. Why would you show up to training camp? He wasn't really heckled.

Wait, what? I heard of one guy goes like, who you're throwing it to Lamar? and he, like, made one other cop. I was like, what is wrong with you? Do they serve alcohol? No. That is a really... It's like...

I'm not surprised there's a guy like that at training camp. I don't know. The rest of it was a throw. It wasn't a great thing. I mean, I went to a couple of Jets training camps at Hofstra University in Long Island, and we've been to Rams camp. It is typically a love fest. Oh, no, it was.

It was. And they were to watch. In terms of, like, clapping and making little chance and stuff. They were the most active training camp crowd I've ever seen. But Lamar was pretty, he was frustrated because he was having an up and down day. All there for a word from our sponsor coming up on the broadcast, the next episode with Ricky Hollywood and MVP, shadowy league figure. And my boss, Sarah Parsons, joins Erica. A little teaser, Erica, for the show.

Yeah, it was really, really great. She's the HBIC here at NFL Network. I can't say even what that means. I know what you're saying, but I feel like that could get me in hot water with the HR department. She's the head broad in charge. Oh, okay. There you go. Scale of 1 to 10, how funny, what sort of humor is she bringing?

Doesn't a woman run NFL network, though? So, you know, technically, I think you'd have to. Right. She's the HBIC of the old zooser. Oh, for sure. No doubt about that. No offense. Yeah.

She also said that her favorite broadcast episode was Chris and Lakeisha. Really? And all of you guys have been on it. So I don't know what that means, but. It means I'm changing departments. Hard pass. All right. There you go.

Check it out. The broadcast every week. Now, back to Rosenthal remembers. An emotional return to the Raven's Nest. It is a beautiful setting. Steve Weishtag, it's got to be one of the nicest just training facilities. The building everything, the big raven, you know, carved, painted into the grass. Like, there is something about football.

in July and August that just gets you. This Greg Raven's romance is already annoying to me. They're more interested. When a team goes from uninteresting. I mean, this is going to, like, until they're finally eliminated, we're going to be dealing with this weekly. This Greg picks his teams that are his teams, although he already has a team. The one team I would refer you to never jump on this.

I've always been pretty anti-raven, actually. You have been in the past. We got along well during that period. So the timing is not great with the Brown's rise. or the timing is excellent if you ask me. I love it. It will be fun to watch because the Chargers were your team last year. I mean,

that you were cheating on the Pats with. Now clearly it's the team of Baltimore. Which is the team that I think as a Troop as a Patriots fan has annoyed me the most over the years has been the Ravens for a couple of those performances. Here's the thing about the concept of an interesting football team. It only lasts as long as you went. Right.

It only lasts as long. You know, they start the season with the Cardinals and the Dolphins, which they have to be thanking the scheduling guides for that because I think it allows them to kind of ease into the season. People are worried about Lamar, but it's like, yes, he's not as good a passer as consistent as you would like. He was a 21-year-old starter. And the difference is he's a better runner than any of the running quarterbacks before.

So it's like, okay, running quarterbacks haven't worked. Well, they haven't been the same as Lamar Jackson, especially in this NFL. You're saying he's a better running quarterback than Michael Vick? I think he's the best one since, Michael Vick, and maybe better. He was on pace to shatter the rookie rushing record. They had the most successful eight.

That's a volume thing, too. Yeah, partly. I mean, I don't think that makes him a better runner than Michael Vick. I think he was on pace. The way, the ease that they picked up 70, 80 yards from him, I mean, they had the best eight game stretch in 40 years running. He turned Gus Edwards to a top five back. Gus Edwards outgained Ezekiel Ellie and Christian McCaffrey after Lamar Jackson took over.

No, Gus has ever been a top eight anything until that. It's a great landing spot for Mark Ingram. And Greg Rowan, you know, I'm excited to watch Greg Roman. But part of it that I'm into them, too, is the defense. Like, right now, Patrick Onwatsu is the guy taking over for Ray Lewis and CJ Mosley's spot. And like, and he to me is like a symbol of the team. I mean, he's calling place. He never even played linebacker until he was a pros.

Now he's, you know, one of the leaders of that group. And it's like a totally remade group that's kind of a mystery. Do you think they are the favorite to win the North? In your mind? No. I think the Steelers and the Browns, I would say, are more of a favorite. But I think they're all, it's not much separating those three. Any other takeaways from your time at Ravens?

My strongest opinion is less about the time there, although you had a great day, Mark Andrews, but more about watching the Lamar Jackson tape that Mark Andrews to me is like an unbelievable making the leap candidate to be a pro bowler right now, to gain 800 to 1,000 yards and be a badass blocker. and for him and Hayden Hurst and Nick Boyle to cause a lot of problems. And I think that's kind of the centerpiece of their offense, even though it's Lamar and the tight ends and Ingram and all the different things you can do with those guys. And Andrews, I guess because he was a late third round pick

and he was on the Ravens didn't get a ton of love. But for a rookie tight end to look that good, like I am expecting him to be a badass. Well, he's in the right offense because Lamar Jackson throws almost exclusively to his tight ends and rarely throws outside the numbers or rarely completes passes outside the numbers anyway. I do have a hot take on the Baltimore, you know,

on the sun in Baltimore. So, you know, at this time of Europe, you know, it's humid, people ought to a lot of complete. That mid-Atlantic sun, I mean, it doesn't hold a candle to the West Coast sun. Give me 83 on the East Coast over 73 or even 71 in terms of sun's strength on the West Coast. The sun is more intense. It's less powerful. I think that's science because it's like farther away from the equator.

You can stand out in that east coast sun. It's true. I was in Massachusetts too when it was 90, 92 degrees. You can be out in that sun for a little while. You're out here and it's 72 degrees and that thing's going to burn you. And you reported that you showed up there and you forgot all your underwear also. Well, that's true. I had to.

You know, I was called the Sessler there. Yeah. I wore, well, I decided to war. I had an extra pair of, you know, athletic shorts. So I just used that as my underwear. And then, you know, I hit the target. This is actually the second road trip this season that I've had to go to a target.

I hit a target and, you know, bought some underwear. What did you wear for day one? Day one, I just went with, like, my running shorts underneath actual shorts. I shared this nugget before the show, but I feel like the audience would like it to note as well. There was this guy that I went to high school with named Berger who loved playing basketball. And, you know, he just was all about it that every day at school he wore Jim shorts under his jeans in case a game broke out. I've done that before.

Just in case. Sounds like a man with a vibrant social life. It's a lot of layers. Last thought connected to the Ravens because you wrote that making the lead piece as well, Greg. Let's do a little over under 2019 Lamar Jackson. Over under 3,000 passing yards. Over. Wes.

Under. Wes, over under 14 passing yards. 7.1 yards. He had more yards for attempt. Andrew Luck, by the way, last year, and Matthew Stafford. Honestly, Wes, where would you put? Lamar Jackson? Where would you put Lamar Jackson if you had a peg? I know yardage isn't the indicator necessarily of greatness, but

I think he's a 2,500-yard passer? Passing yards? Somewhere in that 2,800 to 3,000 yard range. 14 and a half touchdown passes. I want to clarify, I think he'll probably be injured at some point as much as he runs, too, so that factors into my statistical guess. All right, 12 and a half starts. Wow. Over. Over.

Over on all these. 14 and a half touchdown passes. These are about his paces from last year. 14 and a half touchdowns? Yeah. Over. Go over. Passing touchdowns.

But you want a second year quarterback to be better than his previous pace. Right. No, I'm saying that these are pretty low bars. These are pretty low bars. 900 rushing yards. Over. Whoa. Okay.

Okay. What do you think, Mark? Over because I'm going to do. I mean, he had 700 and seven starts. So you see, you see 4,000 combined. Ryan yards passing and rushing. You see a guy that has maybe 30 total touchdowns. You see a guy that's basically a young Vic.

Yeah. That's a playoff team. I think he's going to be a young star. I mean, he was. That's the thing. I don't know if it was that game or what. I feel like the bar or the moved for him so much, like moving the field. The first three quarters of that playoff loss.

And I know he was terrible. He was terrible. He was terrible. But so was Marshall Yanda. Marshall Yonda was terrible. The offensive line was terrible. The running. game was terrible.

They were all terrible. It's only one game, I agree. The whole game counts, too. To me, the fact that he made some badass throws in the fourth quarter counts for something, and he was a rookie. So I'm not... And all these running plays you're talking about, that's fine. But the flip side of that is every defensive coordinator in the league has spent the

offseason trying to figure out this defense. It's not going to be as easy as a lot. But it's going to be a totally different offense, I think. And he's not going to run 20 times a game. Their owner even said that. He's not going to run as much as he did last year. All right, good stuff. Thank you, Greg.

That was as emotional as I thought it would be. You know, it feels like it really, you didn't grow up in that area, but it was... No, I felt a connection. Yeah, I could see that. Think you might move there someday? Probably not, but I've never been there. And I'll tell you, like, you know, residents in. There's some strange things going on at the residence in, you know.

I believe that. Like spirits, like haunted. Just people that have clearly been living there for, like, months. seems to have their dogs there. That's where the connection you're describing came from? No, but I just, the whole vibe, it was quiet. I liked it. It was different.

If you're a long-term resident at the residence inn and the dogs staying home during the day and I don't know where you're going, I think you went sideways at some point in your life. I'm not saying you're a bad person or your life's bad or whatever. It's just maybe things haven't gone to plan. Let's settle down on dogs to begin with, please. You know you. Wow. That's a hot take.

I don't agree. That's how I feel. When you put the sign on your door that says do not disturb, they have like many different options for those at the residence, including one that's like pooch in the room or something like that. Like leave it alone, my dog's in the room. I know NFL Network's Greg Rosenthal. Is it that bizarre?

You were, you are, uh-oh. Look out. It's NFL Networks, Greg Rosenthal. Now, you would think at some point that you're staying in a better hotel. Like, if a hotel allows dogs, which is weird, by the way. Because, like, all right, you can bring your dog. And then the next person that goes in there, there's dog hair. Maybe a peed in the corner. Oh, I don't need that.

Don't they try to put people with dogs into the rooms that have already had dogs in? Yeah, I think so. I don't know. What if there's a convention and you've got to put everyone in everyone, then you're in a room with all this, like, golden shepherd hair on your pillow and your bag? Does the Siciano stay at the residence in with the dogs? It's a kennel based I just stayed in a hotel with my dog before

Yeah I stayed in a kennel so I could be close to the team Headquarters I just wanted to be like two miles away That was the choice Get some points you know You travel with a dog Where are you supposed to stay

Don't travel with a dog That's not the answer Because it's not good for a dog to travel either A dog needs stability It needs to have For me like I love dogs No I love dogs Like the reason I don't have a dog

Is I want a bigger yard to have a dog I want to be home all the time I want people home A dog shouldn't be stuffed underneath an airplane. Don't listen to Dan. You can travel with your dog. You can, but it doesn't mean you should. What if you're on a road trip, driving for 10 hours and you have the dog with you?

That's a one-off thing. That's fine. Okay. But if you're continually traveling with a dog, I don't really count like the eight-pound dogs. That's barely a dog to me. You mean like don't be a traveling salesman with a dog or a truck driver with a dog? I don't know. Because most other things would be a one-off.

Give the dog a stable home where it lives most of its life. and it's not being put through airport security and things of that nature. If you're a truck driver, you've got to have a Basset hound in the front seat. I mean, I wouldn't, but others might. Fred, wasn't that eastbound and down? We'll be back next week with three more shows,

so make sure you join us, and we are in full swing now. I have a little tiny weekend opener to play for you. Okay. It's just a little vibe. We're getting into the weekend. Stop telling me that the season's here and we can't have fun as human beings anymore.

Turn it up! Yes, there is. It's Homer Simpson's dad. I love it. The Shields' remembrance slash reflection ceremony, Zeus or Manor on Saturday, and we'll be back Monday, God willing. That's it.

Dan Hansa's signing off for Quiet Storm, the mailman, the old boss, Ricky Hollywood behind the glass. Ricky, you coming? Oh, yeah, baby. You promise. Yes, I will be there. There will hell to pay. We'll rain fire if you're not there.

Okay. Till Monday. This is an I-heart podcast.