NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - RGIII, Russell Wilson palooza

Episode Date: May 18, 2016

A room full of heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling and Marc Sessler –  are joined by NFL Network’s Patrick Claybon as they break down the latest news from the NFL including the new revelations involving RGIII’s time in Washington and Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett’s comments on Sam Bradford. Then the heroes welcome in Senior NFL Writer Will Brinson from CBS Sports to discuss Russell Wilson’s commencement speech and why it has become a hot topic.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, be a dear and check out the new episode of the Dave Damashek football program. Maurice Jones Drew, handsome Hank and I are breaking down the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Bills after all those injuries, and our Game of Thrones recap for you. Check it out. iTunes or NFL.com slash podcasts. The Around the NFL podcast. Change producers like most people change socks.

Welcome back to another. edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I am joined by Iram Feld with Heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What's up, boys? Hey, Dan. Not really true. Yeah, you change your socks literally every day, I would hope, sometimes twice a day,

depending on your physical activities. We change producers, you know, whenever our arcane system deems that someone has to leave the company. Yeah, I mean, what if Greg were to wear socks from now until what would be December 18th. What if Mark was to wear underwear at all? See, that would make it really cloudy. What are you getting at?

Why are you discussing that? Well, famously, you don't wear underwear. Was not famously known on this show. You haven't talked about it on the show before? Now we have. No, we've mentioned it on the show before. Not when I've been here. Really?

Great. Of course we haven't mentioned that. Do we, I mean, we can stop down. the show and wipe this out. It's Southern California. Yeah, it's like I just do what I need to do. I've always been fascinated that Mark does a little freeballing. Well, to peel back the curtain, this was revealed on a walk.

Don't peel back that curtain. No, yeah, that's true. It's just one curtain and that's all. We were on a walk to lunch once, and this fact was revealed a year or two ago, and it was a stunning day in the around. I think everybody's like, oh, man, it's really human out. And then Mark's like, I feel great, man. There's your answer.

That's a whole other podcast. No, it's not. The Mark Freeballing podcast is coming up later this summer. And I cannot wait. That's a three-hour job, I think. Commando. Today is a, what I like to think, will be a tight 49 around the NFL podcast. Wednesday edition, sponsored by no one, a show that I will give a pre-grade of A-minus.

I like that you. You've raised expectations. You've gone from B plus to A minus as your default grade. I enjoy the off-season shows. They're fun, and I think everyone's a little more relaxed right now, so it gets a little bump. But that means it's harder to live up to, of course. Right, the boss?

I mean, that's one way to look at it. By the way, one more thing about the MVP. I want to see the pre-show C-minus that you just use it as motivation that we try to prove Dan wrong and just have to. have the best show ever. That's a movie. But then I would have to undermine the show just to be right, and it would get really ugly. One more point of us, Wes, Mark and I winning MVP coins for the month of April,

which was a league designated honor to keep employees loyal and, you know, going with the stream, with the current. Bringing this one back up again. Yeah, no, I just want to mention that I heard through the Gravevine, and Mark maybe he's a two-time MVP, you could let us know if this is true, that we get the coin. the box where you put the coins and also a gift certificate for, I kid you not,

$5. What? To where? For what? This isn't good reporting because you're basing this on third-hand information. No, I'm basing it on

first-hand information. Someone in the newsroom that won an MVP. I said, is it true, that you get a $5 coupon or gift card? And I think his words was, yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what it was. So can't wait to buy half a beer.

Well, that is an upgrade because when I first won this years ago, back when RG3 was like a top five quarterback in the making, I did not get a certificate at all. I didn't even pick up my coin, and that's for other reasons. Isn't this feel like- Because I was being bullied by various members of the Around the NFL podcast for having been named the MVP. Right.

There's a misstep. Well, while we're on that topic, I wasn't expecting this to come up. I do regret some of the wording I used in our podcast last time, failing to mention some of the real MVPs of the Around the NFL. Damage control. Kevin, Patra, and Connor, Orr. When I said 80% of the product at the NFL's produced, you know, by the MVP's. I meant the Around the NFL group and Patra and Orr are doing Yoman's work.

Unfortunately not eligible. They're probably writing 90% of our articles right now. On our IM client, make sure you beep that. out Brandon if you can a bunch of garbage people work there but um on our i am client it i saw actual hissing from patrick towards the boss to the point where i i couldn't even look at it i had to scroll away you know what that's one of the things i love about patra is that he's a fiery guy he is and i think it's got hard shows up in his work absolutely uh before we get to the news uh we want to welcome a guest into the studio studio wow a surprise uh he's going to sit

in on the news, which is fitting because he is the face of breaking news on NFL Network. He's also our next door neighbor of Wes and I directly. I'm going to say next U.S. president. Potentially. I'm not going to rule it out, actually. Too young legally. His name is Patrick Claibon. Welcome back to the around the NFL.

Hey, it's great to be here. It's fantastic. With like the full assembly, which is amazing. The big move here is, and Claibot is going to start taking notes of this. Claybomb got married about, what, six weeks ago now? Oh, God, don't put it. Recent. Yeah, it was recent.

I remember it like it was yesterday. He invited all the fantasy guys to the wedding, which we didn't take as a shot because we were just getting to know Claybomb. But I would think at this point, after all the time sitting together and a couple podcast appearances, that loyalties would be shifting for the old clay bowl. In the event that we celebrate our marriage again, you guys. will be there. That means a lot.

You don't have to second marriage, whatever. I mean, we didn't even get invites to Conner's wedding. I wouldn't expect it to Claybo. We would have been invited if we lived in New York. Greg must tear open the wound on the Patrick Conner duo before getting into the news. What is wrong with you, boss? This is bad boss work. But welcome back, Patrick.

Let's do some news, all right? Yeah, let's talk news. Hey, Mom, the meatloaf! We want it now! The meatloaf! Yes, the Irishman's back behind the glass dropping hammers. Pick up the chisels and the hammers. Let's start with some news and we'll start with a former first round pick gone bad on the throne of ease.

Dominique Easley, formerly of the Patriots, he was released under, you know, sneaky, mysterious circumstances. A couple weeks back has found a new NFL home. The Rams of Los Angeles have signed the third-year defensive tackle to a one-year deal. NFL media's Rand Gatlin reported. Easley was released last month. Had some moments, of course, in his first couple years, but also had injury issues and maybe some other issues that we never really heard too much about.

But Chris Wesleyan, you wrote the piece on around the NFL, NFL. NFL.com slash news. If you want to check out our written content, tell us why this is a good move for the Rams. First of all, I'm very disappointed that you did not refer to him as Throne of Easley. Oh. Gros.

Yeah. Missedop. Yeah, the Rams get a guy who barely plays, but when he does play, he's effective. And he might have some attitude issues because the Patriots released him, according to CSN, New England's Tom Curran, over philosophical differences with the injury program

about showing up, about how he wanted to rehab, and other issues with his attitude. Well, it's crazy he lasted this long out there. It's because he's injured and because of the injury problems. It's a first round pick that played well in the NFL. You would not have expected him to sit out there. It reminds me a little bit of a player that he's essentially replacing in St. Louis, or Los Angeles now. Nick Fairley, who has moved on, who was kind of at this point last year, a risky pick.

Played pretty well for them. You know, got a nice one year. I mean, that's a deep, deep defensive line. Good-looking defensive line. Well, they can't get out of an off-season without adding four or five defensive linemen. It feels like that's what the Rams do. But there were people, there were a few people on Twitter yesterday saying, oh, had he been healthy

that easily is every bit the player that Aaron Donald is well, how about slow down with that? Because part of it is staying healthy in the NFL. Twitter.

Twitter is funny. Well, there was some Twitter battles about that. Claibon, by the way, is like the Twitter gatekeeper. Commissioner of Twitter. Bit of an ombudsman. That's because you guys do actual work.

I just sit there and wait for things to happen. Then I go sit in the chair. That is Claibon's job. I don't know if we talked about it the last time you were on. But Claibon sits there, and he's plugged in on what's going on, of course, in the NFL world. But what he does, it's like the old Batman series from the 60s. He waits for the red phone to ring from Commissioner Gordon, and he picks up the phone, and they go, I assume, tell me if I'm wrong, it's like, three minutes talking

RG3 Cleveland. And then you go, got it. And then you put your earpiece in, and then you get in front of the camera, which is right near us for better and for worse. And then you give a live update to the country. Yeah, that's pretty much it. That's not an easy job, by the way. I mean, the job is just being ready. Do you write your own stuff or do you just go up there in freeform? It depends on how much time we have. Most of the time I'm winging it.

But if we have a little heads up, like I know that Tom Brady's appeal thing is going to be a thing that's going to be discussed, and it's literally the same thing that we've talked about seven different times. Mark Freeforms in his pants. Well, again, sounds disgusting. Not on board with this. You could make an argument for a lot of people that have never lived in Southern California might not understand. There is a tremendous argument for it, and I have at least tried both ways, and I know what works better.

Everyone else is, I will not veer from what I've been doing since I was a five-year-old boy. How about try something new? So it really has nothing to do with Los Angeles. You were doing it in the wilds of Connecticut. Not true. I don't judge you at all for what you do with your underpants. or lack of that way. I just am floored by it

because you seem like an underpants guy. I don't know. I don't think I do, actually. Define an underpants guy. I know, yeah. I'm not sure what that is. Pretty much every guy. Yeah, for the most.

Superheroes? No, I know what a guy that doesn't wear underpants is usually, I don't know, he's like a suave, like a tally. Keep going. Swarthy. So I'm not swave or swarthy, according to you. No, I don't think everybody would be swave or swarthy. claim on maybe, but

definitely not swarthy. He's swath. He could be swath. All right, let's move on. Mark, we can, I'm going to put the power in your hands now. If it's up to you, Noma Underpants

references. Listen, I don't like to control people or the show or the flow of the show. Okay. Underpants references. You don't like to control much. I like it all hanging out there. Let's move on to the undefeated,

which is a new offshoot of ESPN's brand. I guess it's catered toward, I don't know, it's like an African American sports site. What is the undefeated? I'm not sure, but it's been called on Deadspin. I know Black Rantland. It's been a site that's

been percolating for years it feels like, and it finally showed up this week and right away there's a story that has people talking. Jason Reed wrote a piece about Robert Griffin 3rd, and

And the piece in general was about, I think it was called the puzzling plummet of RG3 focusing on his time in Washington. And the one thing that jumped out, a couple things jumped out here. First, Mike Shanahan is very open to talking about how the end of the, how RG3 went from the shining light in Washington to a guy that was kicked out the door after not even playing his final year with the team. but also one nugget that really has jumped out from something that took place February 5th, 2013. This was, was this a year after the knee injury or was it months after? Well, it was a month after the playoffs. 2012 playoffs, that's right. Griffith, here's the exact, I'll read it.

Griffin called for a meeting. He declined to tell Mike Shanahan what he wanted to discuss saying only it was important. Griffin, Mike Shanahan, and Kyle Shanahan, and quarterback's coach Matt LaFlor gathered in the offensive meeting room at team headquarters. quarters. And with the coaches seated, Griffin walked to the blackboard and wrote, number one, change things. Number two, change our protections. Number three, unacceptable. Number four, bottom line. Griffin then instructed the coaches to let him speak interrupted and rolled through a list of grievances, you know, citing specific plays. Shanahan got up and walked out of the room. And that was,

what a snapshot, Patrick Claibon, into what was going on. Washington wow three years ago yeah that that's the snapshot of uh and first of all my this was my initial exposure to the undefeated which i guess i'll call it oh and one at this oh wow that's fired um which no i'm sure that where's the buntz and blurt did you read the whole article i don't think it was a bad article i thought it was i thought it was dripped okay tell us why um it's tough for me to get past certain things because because you know um pretty much anybody in any walk of life uh can struggle with the idea that something about them is makes them a monolith like this person does this mark sessler is from connecticut so he doesn't wear underpants like that's that's it and so

you get to parts in this article where it's like you know african-american fans were angry african-american fans were upset so who is this website supposed to be for if it's for supposedly me why am i being told how i felt about something that's fair i i think that's a fair that the mix of race and in football at times felt awkward. To me, it seemed like it almost could just be, it could be an article in any website, and it was just, it didn't have a ton that was new. This specific information about that meeting was new in its details,

but actually that meeting has been reported before. And a lot of this has been out there on some level before, whether it's through Shanahan on the record or through people off the record, which a lot of times we believe to be Shanahan. I didn't think it was a bad article. It just, there was a lot to it, and it wasn't a lot that was new. I thought that the quotes and the research were quite good. It failed on this level.

Being someone who's written long forms and Mark's written long articles and you've written long articles, I know how he approached, I can assume how he approached this article. He started with the end of the story. The Browns have a black GM, a black coach, black offensive coordinator, black defensive coordinator, how can I make this about race? I'm now writing for a black website. I'm a black writer. How can I weave RG3's fall and potential redemption into a race story?

And I don't see RG3's fall as a race issue at all. Well, I feel like the, and I did read this, and I read all your guys' content, and it's all very good. A lot of this was pinned on. It seemed like Griffin's attitude in general, but it seemed to, me, I think everyone should be an agreement that it wasn't just RG3, the reason why it didn't work out in Washington. Shanahan had a place, and Shannon loves talking about RG3. I mean, and it wasn't it just a couple of weeks ago where RG3, Shanahan was in the news kind of being

praised for, you know, getting out of the way and trying to help RG3 continue his NFL career. And now here he is kind of helping to throw him under the bus, because Shanahan goes on to say in the article that he one of the words that RG3 used in that infamous meeting was unacceptable that he wrote on the board and that was a Dan Snyderism citing the Redskins owner so the fact that that RG3 was kind of in bed with Washington's ownership and then Shanahan kind of had his own

agenda it seemed like it was a real stew where this thing was doomed from the start despite how amazing his rookie year was we'll be in the year 2040 and somebody will reanimate Mike Shanahan from Cryo Freeze and he'll have some something to say about and eventually at what point are we going to stop caring about what Mike Shanahan has to say we're getting close I think we should be there I feel like and and Jason Reed is as Chris mentioned the the race discussion surrounding RG3 anytime that you're going to have a black quarterback there's going to be a race discussion well and some of the comments from the other

older quarterback that Doug Williams is in the building and he literally refused or never talked to Doug Williams, that at least was maybe, not that he needs to talk to Doug Williams, but maybe that he wasn't talking to anyone was an interesting look into maybe what goes wrong with a lot of young quarterback. Well, from Jason's standpoint, it seemed like the mentions of Doug Williams and Warren Moon came from a standpoint of a lot of and Robert just talked to the good ones, you know? It just seemed that way. And this discussion from Jason having gone back and read his comments about RG3 in the past,

I understand that the undefeated is a new property, but we didn't hear about a lot of these things before. It was just, you know, RG3 is doing this, that, and the other, and it's bad. And now we get to the undefeated, and RG3 did all these bad things before. What's he going to write about when RG3 isn't an option? Well, I look at it another way. I think when I'm thinking about how he came up with coming up to do this, it's his wheelhouse.

He was a Redskins beat writer and then eventually a columnist, and he had all this information, it was new. And he has written similar versions of the selfish RG3 columns before. And so he had all this information. And if you just take some of the details about it, about how they pared down the offense at the end of his rookie year, or that meeting between Shanahan and Snyder. To me, I find that interesting. I mean, Shanahan talking about that meeting, I know you've heard it before, but it is interesting to hear Snyder and his friends partying on a boat when the head coach of the team

didn't want to do the trade in the first place. And it's just like the 75th time in Redskins history under Dan Snyder that we have a story like that. And some people enjoy it. Isn't it to some degree Shanahan trying to secure a legacy that is fleeting at this point? Because, yeah, for all the RG3 stuff, the B line over and over is the owner wanted to do this,

I clearly disagreed. Then the RG3 is not talking to Doug Williams, but he's obviously talking to Daniel Snyder, picking up Daniel Snyder terms and bringing them back to meetings with Shanahan, which was so transparent to Shanahan, who, by the way, if you want to look at Shanahan's relationship with most quarterbacks in general, post John Elway, and throw Kyle Shanahan in two. There's plenty of controversy. There's plenty of ego. It's not just RG3. By the way, Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post just flat out eviscerated Mike Shanahan. In this article, I think the most noteworthy thing Shanahan does is try to. to separate himself from Daniel Schneider's decision to draft Robert Griffin a third

and then Crow about that draft pick during that rookie year. And Shanahan basically says, I advised him not to do it. I washed my hands of the whole thing. Steinberg found at least 10 to 12 quotes directly from 2012 where Shanahan is boasting about how he loved the trade. Part of the thing that I still find interesting, though, is Gruden and Shanahan's belief that Griffin did not ever develop the skills that they believe is necessary. for a starting quarterback, and that greed, just watching these off-season practices, like the Browns believe he can have those skills, essentially,

that he's going to develop at some point those skills. Because they basically say after each practice, Gruden said he would have to correct an inordinate amount of mistakes, which all comes back to holding the ball too long and not going through reads and all this stuff. But the Browns have a belief that's not a problem, that they can fix them. Good talk, guys. Let's move on to Zach Metenberger. who, of course, earlier this week, the Tennessee Titans gave up on their former,

ooh, good instant trivia, I should know this. Sixth round pick? Yes. Sixth round pick decided he couldn't. What was your term, Wes, or that you read? What was the Black Beauty quote for a Scattershot quarterback? Matt Castle couldn't find Black Beauty in a field of white mice. That's kind of Zach Mettenberger's problem or his biggest one.

So the Titans gave up on him, but the San Diego Chargers decided he was worth a flyer. They claim Mettenberger off waivers from the Titans. The team announced on Tuesday. The Bolts had the number two waiver priority behind the Browns. So the San Diego Chargers. This, I guess if you want to, and we don't spend too much time on Zach Mentenberger, but you don't want to have him in a position where he's battling for a starter job. He goes to a team that has an established starter that's been pretty durable during his career.

This seems like a good place for Zach Mettenberger to try to get a career going, right? Well, yeah, landing with the guy. guy who drafted him and drafted him for a reason. I think that's the best case scenario. Yeah, I mean, we didn't do a Zach Mettenberger landing spots. I don't know why we didn't. I'm surprised. But he would have had to, San Diego would have had to been atop that list because

quarterbacks, when they get dumped, usually the number one target is someone fell in love with him at some point, thought they were a project. Ken Wisenhunt, Ken Wisenhunt's track history with grooming young quarterbacks is at very best dubious. It's fair And he's not going to have to play in San Diego When was the last time Philip Rivers missed a game?

Never? Has he ever missed a game? Played through a torn ACL I don't think he's ever missed a game There were the um Ironman, bro What was it? No, no, no, did Whitehurst ever?

No, I mean he was there He got paid a ton of money to do literally. Yeah, he has started every game since since he became the starter. So Mettenberger wasn't on, it's interesting to me two other teams claimed them to the Giants, which makes a lot of sense because their backup situation is dreadful.

And the Bengals, which would have been a different and interesting fit than adding just another quarterback to that mix. Let's keep on talking quarterbacks. We move on to Sam Bradford, who did show up at Eagles Camp, taking part in their mini camp. Doug Peterson and Bradford both spoke to the media on Tuesday. We'll start with what Doug Peterson, the head coach, had to say doing everything in his power to try to quell this quarterback controversy

with Carson Wince and Chase Daniel. I've actually talked to Sam and since he's been back and I told him, you know, my feelings haven't changed. He's my guy. He's the number one guy. And I just want him to embrace that and let's not look forward. Or not look backward, but look forward. Guys, why do I always, why do I get the feeling you never want like an authority figure to say that,

say that? Why is this popping up from maybe it's my childhood? Remember, you are my number one guy. Listen, when Jack Napier or Napier, I don't know, did it to Bob and Batman, the Tim Burton Batman, you knew poor Bob was doomed. I feel the same way about Sam Bradford. He shouldn't be believing what his coach is saying. He's not his number one guy.

I think it's different when your coach is a former backup quarterback, though, right? And not like a deranged killer who fell into that of ass. Yes. Okay, that's fair. What are Sam Preffert's options? I mean, whether you believe him or not, he's going to be the guy to start the season and how long that lasts depends entirely on how he plays. Well, if you're Doug Peterson,

they gave him a great gift because potentially you have a franchise quarterback and Carson Wentz to anchor your new coaching career to. On the flip side, as a first-year NFL coach, he's got a lot of opportunities to stumble over his words is he's trying to describe this three-headed quarterback situation that's complex. I get a different feeling from Doug Peterson that I did from Bill O'Brien last year after watching hard knocks and hearing him openly tell his team like, hey, lie to people

and then trying to be confident about his quarterback. I get a completely different feeling from Doug Peterson. I think he's being honest. I don't know. I'm credible, I mean, the whole thing about not looking back, look ahead. Looking ahead is what got Sam Bradford in trouble, in theory. He was looking well ahead, and he still was talking about it. He still was talking about it in this press conference that I know in my heart.

I'm not naive to the fact that Wentz is eventually going to play, but I just, you know, financially and for my career, I realize right now is the best time to just start. I don't think it's that crazy that Sam Bradford helps them win nine or ten games and ends up getting traded for a decent draft pick next year. I mean, you're presuming that he's going to play nine or ten games. That's fair point. And then there's Michael Bennett who, I don't know,

because he's Michael Bennett decided to dip his toe into the Sam Bradford controversy in Philadelphia, probably because Bennett's still smarting that he signed a terrible deal a few years back. Get over it, bro. But this is what Bennett had to say, told 7-10 ESPN in Seattle on Tuesday about his thoughts on Sam Bradford. So let's say Sam Bradford again. I just almost threw it. I was like, I can't believe San Baffa is complaining about making $40, $40 million in the next two years because he actually has to compete for a position.

I'm like, I'm like, this guy, man, this guy right here definitely sets a bad tone of what a player should be. And I mean, if all the team, maybe Hawford would play with a guy that doesn't want to compete at the high level and it feels like this position should be solidified without even, you know, putting up the stats or the wins to back that, back that up. How does anyone have an issue with any of that? I agree with him. I agree with this point, but it's become a little bit of a pile on with San Bradford. And you could also... He has it coming.

You could also make the point that Michael Bennett shouldn't be seen as the paragon of a clubhouse because he spends his offseason bitching and moaning about he doesn't have enough money and he deserves more. I mean, everybody's trying to get paid. Everybody's trying to put themselves in the best position in their career. And Sam Bradford is getting roasted for it. And Sam Bradford's already been paid. I mean, come on. The guy's made $78 million before this year.

Made plenty of money, yeah. To play, what, mediocre football? Michael Bennett's one of the best players in his position in the NFL. One guy's underpaid, and the other guy's severely overpaid. It just sounds like sour grapes, though. It's not like St. Bradford's putting a hunt to anybody's heads. It's not sour grapes. We put our sour grapes on this podcast all the time.

It's what a lot of people in the NFL believe that you should be competing for your position and not afraid to compete. And a lot of the piling on came from reporters and writers and TV people and talking heads. This is how a player telling you, if a quarterback on my team did this, if it was Sam Bradford specifically, this is my reaction. And I was being honest, I mean, if the people in San Francisco feel the same way about Kaepernick who's trying to spend the entire offseason getting out of town, I get that too. But as you said, Wes, I mean, he's still got to play well anyway.

Right. So, like, what was the, hey, will you guys trade me? No? All right, cool. I've still got to play football well. Otherwise, I'm not going to be on the team anyways. Bradford did not handle the situation well. nor did his age.

I've been on record, yeah, with Tom, Tom Condon. I think he's been too vocal, but I don't know. It just seems like Bennett's bitter and should, you know, concentrated on his own situation. The weird thing that Bennett's hitting on that I think is right is the sentence from Bradford's press conference where they ask him about Peterson's comment that he's the number one guy. And Bradford kind of having this answer that I really do appreciate that because that allows me to come back into the locker room and lead these. guys and be the leader of the team.

And I'm kind of thinking, well, if you want to lead the guys and you want to be the quarterback, lead the guys and be the quarterback, isn't that? I mean, I'm not. Don't try to lead Denver's guys. Right. Not so much that is just like you're going to have to earn that anyways. No one's giving Sam Bradford that regardless. That's not going to be earned in May, June, and July necessarily anyway.

That's going to be earned in August. Based off something to coach said. When the game, when the game's, I don't think you get to stand back and say, oh, this was all my agent's idea. And that's basically what he's done. Look, you went along with you. You empowered him to make this decision. You could have said, no, I'm happy here.

I want to lead these guys. I want to compete. No, you said, I'll trust you to try to put me in Denver. And I think some of what Bennett was saying might have been a critique of the way that the quarterback position is treated in the first place. Right, which a lot of NFL players probably feel that way. True.

And finally in the news, one guy that's kind of gotten forgotten in the Jets' quarterback room is Bryce Petty, the 14th. round pick of a year ago out of Baylor. Now that Christian Hackenberg's on the scene. You wonder if he'll be the odd, if Petty will be the odd man out if Ryan Fitzpatrick ever rejoins the team. He did say this week, however, he's made a ton of progress as he learns an NFL quarterback position after playing in a spread offense in Baylor.

He had this to say to Darrell Slater of NJ.com at a David Harris charity event. For me, it's a process. Just watching film. I'm seeing things. I played Madden the other day, and it's not just picking run plays anymore. It's like, oh, they've got an underfront. You start picking up things differently. That's exciting for me.

That's what's happening in the news. Sorry, man. Um, all right. By the way, everyone saying, remember we've been saying Gino Smith, uh, he'll either be the starter or not on the team that's not too. I'm starting to think that's not going to be on the team. Well, I think you might be right about that. If I, if I had to put a sandwich down, I say Gino makes it. They're both. Well, this is the thing. Like if you, yeah, if you invest in Christian Hackerberger, you no longer, you can't have two giant project, project guys, right?

Or three. You can't, well, who's the third? Gino Smith. Oh, he's pretty much full-formed as a mediocre quarterback in my mind. Oh, please. Don't see that in front of Gino-Smith's number one cheerleader. I'm not his number one cheerleader. Yes, you are.

But you literally just said the words he is fully formed as a quarterback. He's 25 years old and hasn't played since he was 23. Maybe by 35, he'll be a good quarterback. Good thing. 45, 55? Good thing franchise savior Ron Fitzpatrick wasn't fully formed at 25. Right, exactly. That's, by the way, that's a false narrative about Jets fans that they all think.

that Ryan Fitzpatrick. Well, you think Ryan Fitzpatrick better than he is. I think he is what he has been with Chan Galey in this offensive core. All right. I don't know. He's like Tom Brady, but better looking. He is better looking than people give him credit for. Better looking than Tom Brady?

Step back. Well, Brady's not, you know. He's a little synthetic. I'll leave it at that. All right, Patrick Claibon, we are going to say goodbye to you now. You need to go give some news updates. Thanks, guys. You need to let everyone know.

Thanks for coming on. to be more pragmatic about the pants under situation. In what sense? It's giving me something to think about. I want you to choose your own path. Then come on here and we'll tell everyone that listens to the show what you've chosen. Just slide that into one of your news updates. Ask the audience what they think.

Have social media help you with a pool. Maybe a Twitter poll. You all have a good one. All right. Patrick Claibon. At Patrick Claibon? That's you. Check him out on Twitter. follow him and he will write back to you i can promise you that there's one thing i know about claibon

eight million tweets and counting all right next up guys we want to i want to talk about something we talk about russell wilson's commencement speech at the university of wisconsin over the weekend i think we had a split down the middle i thought it was a little bit of a human showing by dangerous west you were on the other side if i recall uh that maybe it wasn't as authentic as it led on. And then here comes Will Brinson, the senior NFL writer for CBS Sports who writes, I mean, if I had a guess, it was 50,000, maybe 100,000 words on Russell Wilson's commencement speech and why a lot of it was bogus. So Will is a friend of the show and definitely a friend during a Super Bowl week and other events whenever we see him, usually at the bar. He's going to join

us right now and talk about his Russell Wilson think piece. Will brinson what's up buddy what's going on guys um i hate to uh you know i mean i i would just say that having you know doing some yard work this week listening to the show where you guys discussed it i like i like mowing the grass listen to some high octane podcasting and uh i would say that yeah maybe west west got a little bump in those old common man rankings who's the ability you see through the russle wilson sherott wow i like that well will i I don't need a bummed in my common man rankings, but I appreciate the support. He does need it.

Don't get this mixed. I mean, I don't know how much. I've talked about this probably 150 times in the last few days, so I can't. I always forget, like, who knows what about the Russell Wilson saga involving Tom O'Brien, but basically it boils down to Russell Wilson wanted to go play, he wanted to go play baseball professionally. He wanted to play football professionally, and he didn't want to give up baseball in order to be the full-time quarterback at NC State. Tom, or this was back in 2011, Tom O'Brien basically

gave him, he was in a situation where and Tom O'Brien is for those that aren't aware? The former NC State head coach, see that's, I'm like doing a Raleigh radio hit. Everybody knows that Tom O'Brien is, right? Tom O'Brien does not speak with that country accent at Russell Wilson's

that was also another little exaggeration there. Ooh, saucy. No, yeah, there was Chuck Amato, the coach before him, and he's a high-pitched Italian guy. Tom O'Brien's from like Ohio and sniffles and has a nasally voice, but even close. So anyway, Tom O'Brien basically wanted to have Mike Glenn was his recruit. He could either have two years of Mike Glennon guaranteed or Glennon was going to transfer himself

or he could maybe have one year of Russell. The problem was if Russell got hot playing baseball or hurt playing baseball, you know, he might have decided to bail out state and then Tom O'Brien has no quarterbacks and he's definitely getting fired. Yeah, so he was afraid that he was going to end up with nothing instead of too, and just for anyone that's not aware before Will goes on, the crux of Russell Wilson's commencement speech at Wisconsin was that he overcame all these people at his former college NC State doubting him, but Will, that was not the case when you started digging in.

Yeah, I mean, my beef, as someone who, you know, an NC State alum, so admittedly biased, is that this is not even, it's not even the case at all. like NC State fans love Russell Wilson. They wanted to win when he started making the run to the Super Bowl, NC state fans were clamoring to get a statue up before Wisconsin could do it. Yeah, I mean, they wanted to make sure that he's the guy, and it burns them that he's considered partially Wisconsin. I think it burns Russell Wilson, but to kick the whole school

and the athletic programs, multiple athletic programs under the bus, in a commencement speech in order to motivate some cheese curdlers out of Wisconsin, It's pretty offensive to people in North Carolina. Well, Will, how do you feel personally and emotionally after deciding to go full Judas and turn your back on Russell Wilson and really, you know, announce yourself as the biggest Russell Wilson detractor in the nation? I'll be honest, Greg. It feels it – I now know the shame and the pain that Pete Priscoe lives with every day. You have to go against Russell Wilson, a good-hearted person who, by all accounts, does really

nice things for the community. I'm kidding, because I know you're still a fan. You're a big fan. Yeah, and look, I love Russell Wilson as a quarterback, but fatigue is settled in for me in terms of Russell Wilson off the field, and I hope that he continues to be motivated by his slights, and I hope that he continues to visit children's hospitals, but I just think that he has a good story anyway. He could have just told the absolute 100% truth, and people would have been excited. Well, Brinson, why do you think, I mean, you can't say anything these days without, if it's

going to get published and we knew it would, without it being fact-checked and turned around within 24 hours on Twitter? Why does he think he can get away with this if there's so many inaccuracies, which there are, according to your report? Yeah, Mark, I think that he is utilizing the old winners right to history and as someone, you know, I mean, that's, that is true to a degree, but I just, I couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't handle watching somebody who, who won, just kick a program when they're down. I think that's really the logic. I also think that he's, because he's this guy who has overcome a lot, and that's true, he really has, that he literally had to delude himself into believing certain things, and that he's probably deluded himself

into believing that, along with nanobbles curing concussions, that he was also booted from NC State by everyone in Rale and that he's only welcome in Wisconsin. I will also say this about the Russell Wilson stuff. Russell Wilson might very well just be a rich man's Tim Tebow. And I don't mean that from a football perspective. I mean that from these rabid Wilsonites on Twitter. Oh, you must be getting buried.

Just block all the 12s on Twitter. I've already blocked him. my life has improved immeasurably. These guys are crazy. I mean, some of the stuff you see, I mean, I usually, my mentions are fairly tame from a perspective of, I'm not getting flamed too much, but, I mean, these guys aren't even like Seahawks fans. They're just, they're just rabid Russellites who, who refuse to back down from anything,

and they're just, they're, it's just, I got this one guy, angry, angry white QBs. Have you guys seen this? just, he's like, he's accusing me of being a racist, but if he says I didn't include any sources in my, in my story, I was like, dude, the entire story is literally sourced material where I linked and blocked quoted, and then he accused me of not talking to what I was, like, linking to my stories for 2014. It's, I just, these people all deserve to be blocked and sent to some island that is run by someone who believes nanobbles are real. Well, all of this makes sense, and I like the way you frame the entire discussion, but let me ask you,

From this point of view, this is not Walter Cronkite reporting on Vietnam. This is a quarterback at a commencement address trying to inspire young kids. Does it even matter if he bends the truth a little bit? Poetic license. How about that, Will? No, yeah. Yeah, from that perspective, this is not, this is May and this is the NFL. I mean, I will say that I took much greater pleasure in writing that story

and kind of, you know, bring and rustle down like a little peg than I did writing three straight days. sort of Zach Metenberger story. So, I mean, from that perspective, it's May at the NFL, you know, should he be able to take a little poetic license and say some things, sure, but at the same time, I mean, like, like, he won. Tom O'Brien's been fired and buried by this fan base.

Like, he got, he got run out of town. He looks like an idiot. Everybody assumes that he picked Mike Glennon over Russell Wilson. You know, he didn't win any more games that he would have if Russell had stuck around. You know, Russell went on and went to a Rose Bowl while NC State was at the, you know, the, the, the, Cheetos, Bahamas Bowl in St. Petersburg, and so Russell won. He got a Super Bowl out of it.

Let the past, you know, let the pass line. Take the High Road, Russell. That's supposed to be his move. It's just disappointing to see him take these unnecessary digs. And before we let you go, because we know you've really, you've raised the Wilbrinson brand immeasurably with this think piece column. I'm sure you have many other hits to do today, but I do want to, I'm curious if either the Seahawks or a member of Russell Wilson's entourage. And he literally, there is a, I think it's an SI story from a couple of years ago. He has his own entourage. He has like a turtle in there.

He has a guy that sells shoes. Has anyone reached out to you from the Wilson camp or from the Seahawks with glorious vengeance and anger? No, they haven't. I assume that when Russell gives the 2035 commencement speech at NC State, it'll make a point to take a shot. I love it. I mean, I don't know. Maybe, I heard Bermani Jones, who, you know, is from the theory as well,

point out that maybe Russell should drop pack from whole pack of badgers at this point, given what he's done. I've not heard from the Seahawks. I would imagine that the Seahawks didn't like the article and that at some point I will perhaps see a shadowy Seahawk figure and that he'll sidle up to me at a league event and mention that maybe I should, maybe I should talk to Russell. I kind of feel like I've got the facts here. I mean, I, you know, I didn't write a hit piece on Russell.

I just laid out the, you know, laid out the quotes and the facts and let the world decide for itself. Well, I hope you don't mind us selling this podcast with the quote. Wilson is the next Tebow or some, whatever that quote was. I actually, uh, no. Slash at Will, Wilburntz. I, um, you got to raise our profile, too. I used, I used that line, um, earlier. I was, I was just in casual conversation with somebody.

I was like, I bet that that, that was like, that's, I was like, that's, pretty that's a pretty good quote that could be spun around. Maybe you could turn into a, you can write a piece if you want on it. Yeah, we'll write a hit piece on Brinson. Any time. Will Brinson, the senior NFL writer at CBS Sports, also

a friend of the show. We hope to sidle up next to you at the next league event because you can hang, brother. Always good. Always good to talk. Take it easy. All right. Thanks, at Will Brinson. That's where you can get all your Brinson heat. We love Will. And that was

I was a fun little story because not only was it did Will do a nice job with the research on it, it makes a lot more sense now knowing I didn't realize that Will went to NC State why he decided to do this. But now he did a nice job researching it and he did call out Russell Wilson. It's not the end of the world that Russell Wilson

took some poetic license with this. 500 at Bats, it was 73. But he absolutely did. And it does, it does, his, hit against that narrative again that Russell Wilson struggles to be authentic and real. It hit home for me the way he framed the story as

you know I'm tired of writing about Zach Mettenberg. He wrote this piece because it interested in him and that's our jobs too. Whatever interests us and gives us the passion to write 2,000 words on his subject, that's why it's interesting. He did a really good job. Yeah. Because he was passionate about the subject.

All right. That is it for Wednesday's edition of the Around the NFL podcast. We will be back tomorrow with yet another show. The train keeps rolling. Very impressive work by the team today. Until then, this is Dan Hansis, signing off for The Quiet Storm. The Mailman, the boss, and the Irishman behind the glass. Until Thursday. Hey, Mom! The meat loaves!

We want it now! The meatloaf! What is she doing? I never know what she's doing back there. Ma! The meatloaf! This is an I-Heart podcast. Thank you.