NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Rivers-Mariota trade talk!

Episode Date: April 14, 2015

A room finally filled with all its heroes again -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler and Chris Wesseling -- continues its exploration of the NFL offseason, navigating through the latest headlines, including the retirements of Pittsburgh Steelers greats Troy Polamalu and Ike Taylor (7:00, 10:40). Elsewhere, the gang plays another rousing game of "What's More Likely?" (33:40) and offers its own take on the latest trade speculation surrounding Philip Rivers and Marcus Mariota (27:30).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. Never gets at Chris Wesleyan references. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I'm joined by a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Christopher Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What's up, boys? Hey, Dan.

There is. That's an old slap in the face to a guy that's just come back. you take a shot at him right out of the right out of the gate well yes listen that was that wasn't me had nothing to do with that uh it was behind the glass zach goldman rolling in a little late today let's talk about it was a little bit of a flurry of uh little traffic huh yeah um but zack's here he throws up a chris wessling sound dropping why not because chris wessling's back from tiby island welcome back mr wessling great to be here we as we when we talk to you when we finally got you on the horn there at Huckapoo's, you said you were looking forward to returning, but

you know, I think in the back of all of our minds, like, well, but will he actually return? But here you are in the flesh. I believe what I actually said was, I'm not coming back. You did say that at one point. Oh, yeah. You did say that, but you missed this ultimately. I did.

I missed, guys. Do you notice Welcome Back, Cotter, one of your shows from the 70s? Right. I dropped this. This song as modern as most of Chris's references. That was by design I wasn't alive when this show Well I might have been alive

But I didn't see it in first running So yeah So a successful trip home Or back to Tybee Exceeded all expectations I had a I had a blast I don't think I've laughed so much

In my whole life We also have that post Tybee Chris Wessling voice right now Oh this is much better than it was A little throaty You're not going to be hitting the high notes Put it that way but you're getting by with it right now.

I'm getting by. My theory for how this voice comes to be is there's a lot of yelling at loud bars. Is that a fair theory? Well, you're missing one key element, but possibly. I think I found in my nights out with Wes, and there have been quite a few at this point, Chris is a natural voice razor when the imbibing begins.

So I think it doesn't need to be a loud bar. It's just multiple nights out. Well, I think you're closer to the truth there. I come from a big family, and sometimes in order to get a word in edgewise, you have to be louder than the other people. And that comes out after a couple of beverages. And, you know, it's like a big family on Tybee.

We're all trying to get jokes in, you know. I know, Chris, that you mentioned that you spent a lot of time on Tybee in area soup kitchens helping out with some of the inhabitants that don't have what other people have. Tell us about that experience. That's just patently false. So, yes, Chris Wessling's back. It's the four of us together, which has not been a common occurrence since the Super Bowl.

So it's good to be here as we get closer and closer to the draft. We have a nice show. We got two shows this week and those that were expecting a show on Monday. Listen, Greg and I were in the office yesterday, and Mark was on his off day, and Wes was traveling. We want to everyone together. They said, wait, why don't we just push it a day? We'll get everybody back, get the band back together. And I'm not talking about Delaware, but if you do have Delaware tapes, again, we're going to put out a

call at around the NFL. If you have any footage of Delaware, the band, Greg's goth band from the late 90s. Not a goth band. Please send it our way. Goth Emo. We will give you a generous, generous prize. You were proto-em-o. All right, so nice show today.

Nice show today. The Welcome Back West Show. We are going to get into, we're going to bring back what's more likely, one of our favorite games and, you know, kind of a pre-draft edition. go through there's a lot of uh different things cooking right now as uh mark i know you as a draft nick you're plugged in especially but there's a lot cooking behind this oh this is when the homework you know every night you go home you're just grinding through that central illinois tape looking for that gem yeah that's why i call you grind this time of season that's how it is when you go home your workday begins uh so we'll play some what's more likely draft edition uh and we will also hit

the news, which we have a nice bit of news to get to. It's not a ton happening right now, but when we're gone for a few days, it piles up, and we need to address it all. So we're going to hit that. Also, I just want to put it on the grid. We've talked about, and it's good that Wes is here, we've talked about the Dalton scale before. At some point, and maybe as soon as the next week, maybe down the line a little bit. I just want to let everyone know that we're going to do our first podcast that is entirely built around. the Dalton scale, breaking down where everyone fits in in the quarterback solar system. And we're hoping by the end of the show that Dan will understand what is the Dalton scale.

Well, that is the, to me, that's like the bigger picture. And there will be the reveal whether I get it by that point. Right now I'm completely in the woods. That's really the main reason for this exercise. But Gold Standard speeding into the office today through L.A. traffic, it's a real female dog, right, buddy? I wouldn't say, I wouldn't say speeding. I'd say delicately gliding for relay traffic. I pictured Zach who's usually like a picture of tranquility, millennial tranquility,

banging his steering wheel. Anything but. A lot of four-letter words like drat and dang. It wasn't pretty. Got to drop that draught. Yeah. Sometimes they use parlance of your favorite sport, you get a bicycle kick right to the head. Totally.

That was you this morning. Absolutely. All right. Let's do some news, buddy. Let's do it. and we forgive you by the way thank you because you don't have a lot of time left with us either no just a few weeks yeah i'm savoring every moment god you're savoring every moment by you know coming in late exactly but maybe that was more a tease to let us know that you know don't

not around forever not going to be around i can't take another zach goldman disappearance but that's what we're facing anyway let's do some some news. We'll start with, really, one of the bigger news stories of the offseason since we weren't here on Friday when it broke, so we're going to talk about it now. Troy Paul Molo, the great Pittsburgh Steelers Safety played 12 seasons in Pittsburgh was, you know, one of the really defining players of his generation has decided to retire. He said in a phone interview with a local paper in Pennsylvania that he is retiring from the NFL. He did not seriously consider playing elsewhere. He, of course, it was out there that

he might end up getting cut by the Steelers, which would have been awkward. This play has declined in recent years. But he decides, I'm going to end my career now, eight-time Pro Bowls. Certainly the Hall of Fame, Greg. Where does he stack up when you talk about the all-time safetys in the NFL? Well, Chris probably has a good answer for this too, but football perspective wrote an interesting article. Actually, I believe it was, what is it, 538.com. looking at Palo Malo's career that he was on track to be right there with the greatest safeties of all time, who they believe is Paul Kraus,

and who is the other safety you would put at the top of your list? Ronnie Lott would be number one, yeah. But they basically said, and I agree with this, that the end of Paul Lamaul's career kind of takes him out of that discussion because he really didn't do anything the last three or four years of his career. But I was really surprised on Twitter and just conversation that anyone was questioning whether he was a Hall of Famer at all And people, some of the voters, some of the voters were on Twitter and they said,

well, you can't just put everyone right into the Hall of Fame. That's hot air. That's positional bias by people that think only running backs and quarterbacks should go in the Hall of Fame. I mean, this guy was a cut above everyone in his generation, maybe save Ed Reed. I think Ed Reed was better. Yeah. But I think the two of them are definite Hall of Famers. Well, if Palomalu, for whatever wants to make an argument that he doesn't get in the Hall of Fame,

good luck to any safety outside of one every 30 years making the Hall of Fame at this point. What more do you need to do? I think it's a knee-jerk reaction by some of the voters that everyone's always just saying, oh, Hall of Fame or this, Hall of Fame or that. And they're saying, well, it's not that easy. But if you just look at his number, if you look at what he did in terms of being at the top of the game, first of all, Ricky Jackson's a Hall of Famer, Tim Brown's a Hall of Famer. Those guys weren't one of the top three players at their position that often.

And Troy Palomalo was one of the top three defenders. in the league three or four different times. He got multiple votes for a defensive player of the year. So that's not just the best at his position. For three or four years of his career, he was one of the top defensive players, period. He could do things physically that very few other players that his position or any position could do.

Mark, you obviously, Browns fan, do you have a memory of Pal Malu with the Browns that you've maybe tried to block it up and now it can come back? If you're anyone in that division, you're the Bengals and Browns. You dealt with Ed Reed and Palomalu four games a season. It wasn't any one

thing. It was a consistent trauma they brought in every single game. You were pumped when he retired. Oh, I was kidding. You said good ridden's. Get rid of this guy. I was kidding because I think the one thing about him too. Paying a huge respect. Well, the one, exactly, you want him out of the division because that defense, you can

say his play has fallen off, but you're not going to replace him in Pittsburgh for decades. You're not going to find that guy. I also said you ended up homeless, which I found to be you just moved right into total fabrication which and lies at that. this point. I picture when I picture him playing like a lion on the

Serengetti. The main flying, he's actually jumping through the air all the time, pouncing on people. I don't know. That's like, that power speak leaping combination. I like any time you can get the Serengetti involved. Damasek wrote a really good article about

Palomalo retiring, where he talked about how unique a player he was, and I think that's what I'll remember about Palomalu, that there was no one quite like him. And sometimes people call it instincts or, you know, freestyling or whatever you want to do. Sometimes Palomala was doing things on the field that his coaches really didn't want him to do, but it just worked out.

And maybe he couldn't even explain it after the fact. He just had sort of that crazy instinct to know what to do. Like George Costanza is driving a car. I'm doing things here. You don't even know about it. All right. And other secondary news with the Steelers, this is good. It's going to look different in the secondary for the Steelers in 2015.

Ike Taylor has decided to retire after 12 seasons, now 34, and, you know, Wes, I'll throw it to you on this to start. I feel like Ike Taylor in recent years has almost become one of the benchmarks of the cornerback you want. Your fantasy-wide receiver would be watched up, matched up against. He was a guy that was a liability for them. But to last 12 years in the NFL, there was a time when Ike Taylor was a big-time player, right? Well, I think for a few years there, he was one of three or four cornerbacks in the NFL who were shadow cornerbacks. And you would put Ike Taylor on your number one guy. And he wasn't Daryl Revis, but he frustrated A.J. Green regularly.

And I think a lot of his troubles the last couple of years were because he's obviously lost several steps, and the Steelers still wanted to keep him with no safety help over the top. So it wasn't naturally just getting old. But he was just below Pro Bowl for a long time. He signifies for me a little bit just in recent years. I agree with everything else. but Pittsburgh has had a needed cornerback for a while, and they tend to take their players and let them get very old for them

and just not change it. They should have two years ago he was getting utterly flamed. It was time to move on. It's a good time to go. This retirement right on the heels of Palomalo really ends that 2005 Steelers team. Now, they won two Super Bowls within, what, four seasons, and then they made another Super Bowl just a couple seasons later. So that was the kind of the second wave.

It wasn't quite a dynasty, but it was a nice run they had. And I'm trying to think, is there, there's no one left from that 2005 team other than Rathlisberger that I can think of. I think Kiesel's retiring too. And if you, I mean, just look at Palomolo. Because Harrison was not on that team. Or if he was, he wasn't. Briefly, he wasn't an impact guy. I don't know if he was on that one, but around that time.

So those guys, you'll remember, Larry Foote. I mean, I'll remember that team. Larry Foote, James Ferrier, Ike Taylor, Palomalo. It's okay, that little group, Casey Hampton, they're gone. Good, it's over. And this is one of the things I meant to say when we were talking about Palo Molo. It's got to be so much of a credit to him and Ike Taylor as well. How many years in that whole era for a decade straight they were number one overall on defense?

More than five. Right. Research did a stat. Palomalo, since the day they drafted him, they are the number one defense in the league in terms of just yards allowed since that moment. There's also a stat they said. Today, they had three big retirements this off season, also Jason Worlds, a little different type of retirement. There hasn't been a game since 2002 where Ike, Taylor, Palomalu, or Worlds haven't been on the field, where one of those players hasn't been on the field.

So it's a totally different group, and now LeBow is gone. It's just forget him. All right, so we'll do a little more Steelers news. And, you know, listen, no other way to say it. Drop the ball on Friday. We forgot to talk about Levy on Bell. You don't even tell it. You don't even tell the listeners.

Listen, there's all about truth and honesty here. We had a show, we talked about LaVion, but now we will. Lavian Bell facing a suspension. Three games, according to NFL Media Insider, this was tied to his DUI arrest, and then they found some weed in his car with his friend Lagart. So the Steelers, barring a successful appeal, will be without Leveon Bell for the first three weeks of the season. Is there a positive way, Mark, to spin this for the Steelers,

or is this just bad news that puts them in a tough spot to start the season? Well, the positive would be that they at least went out and addressed the running back position by getting DeAngelo Williams. It's not a heat-seeking solution, but it's better than what was going on when Bell couldn't play in the playoff game against Baltimore, which I think they would have won that game if he did, obviously. Second part, three-game suspension, we get all hyped up about the first quarter of the season. That's what everyone gets all bent out of shape. Three games is not that long. It's a long season. They'll be fine. Just don't go 0 and 3, basically. Yeah, you might go down to two.

I disagree. I think it's major. Look at two years ago, they started out 0 and 4 when Leveon and Bell was injured to start the season. They weren't nearly the team, though. It's not that team, but we saw in the playoffs. They weren't the same without him. I mean, I think he's that important to them. And it's two years in a row the Steelers have started out slowly. I don't think they can afford to keep starting out slowly.

As a Patriots fan, now I wouldn't mind that Steelers game in week one. And as a Browns fan, everyone wants them early. Right, you want to get them early. Because Levyon Bell right now to me is the number one running back in the league. until we see what Adrian Peterson is bringing to the table again. I mean, he's going to be right there with Lavinabelle. But he's also, it would have been the number one fantasy pick. So it's kind of a big fantasy story here.

Do you take him number one overall, even though you miss three games? This is Michael Fabiano walking in the door. It would be one thing if their defense was solid, and you weren't changing coordinators, you weren't overhauling your entire secondary. I just feel like those are a lot of issues they have in September. Well, I think it's a headache. I'm not downgrading as that, but three games out of what the NFL season is,

I just, I'm, the Pittsburgh, I've seen them do this over and over. Big Ben, six-game suspension, reduced to four. They go to the Super Bowl that season. They're a good team. They find out how to get over their own problems. It wouldn't stun me if this gets reduced to two. And it's not like their talent poor on offense, as you point out. They have a top five to six quarterback.

You have a pretty good offensive line now. You have a good receiver group. I mean, they can still put up some points. Is there any doubt, by the way, you know, to my right here, Mr. Throne of ease, that the Steelers will be the Patriots Week 1 opponent on Thursday night. No, they will. And then Cleveland will play in week four when Bell comes back and rush it for 180 yards

and three touchdowns. It's two hours. I doubt it. My prediction is the Jets. It's going to be Revis, Patriots. Oh, yeah. I think that's what the way. We'll find out next week, I think, right?

We got the shit. Jets are on national TV every game. We'll do a special schedule release podcast. Can't wait to watch Gino Smith or Ryan Fitzpatrick in week one. Listen, give me a break with that. Greg will tell you that Gino Smith is a big year. ahead of them. All right, moving on.

This came through late Monday night that Michael Crabtree has signed a one-year deal with the Oakland Raiders. Crabtree, of course, spent his first six seasons with the San Francisco 49ers. You know, it was met by a bit of a cold market, but he gets a deal with the Raiders. It's worth one-year deal worth $3.2 million. He can earn another $1.8 in incentives. Wes, I'll start with you. Michael Crabtree, maybe he's looked a step slow since that Achilles injury,

but is this an upgrade for a Raiders offense that doesn't have a lot of weapons? No, one of the most speed-challenged wide-receiver cores in the NFL gets another speed-challenged wide receiver. I don't like it at all. Shocking that I don't like a Raiders move. But what does he give them that James Jones doesn't already give them, or whatever other slow wide receiver they have? He hit 90 yards in six of eight games to close out 2012 season.

And he's done that two times in 20 or four games since he tore his Achilles tendon. And he was among the league leaders and dropped passes last year. One of the worst starting wide receivers in the league in 2013. Or 2014, I'm sorry. I will say how much is that tie into Colin Kaepernick's downturn last season? I don't know if it's a lot. Vernon Davis had 285 yards. I'm not ready to end his career.

I think Crabtree, you're getting him for $3 million. I think these are, this is the type of move you want to make if you're a team going for free and see a guy who's shown production who's still young he the biggest concern is off the field he seems he's a joick yeah no one seems to want to play with michael crabtree that's a problem what does he give them that they don't already have some potential for more james jones you know what he is there's a chance that michael crabtree at his age just a couple years ago he's dominating teams on a super bowl run that he was the best we were saying the same thing about hakeem nicks last offseason well you were saying that oh well i wasn't you were saying that i don't remember

I debated this topic with Greg on NFL now this morning and what I'm hearing, the feedback I'm getting from on Twitter, from listeners, from management. No one has watched that video. Upper management also saying that I won the debate because I said this was a bum move for the Raiders. It's a team that couldn't get Randall Cobb. They couldn't get Jeremy Macklin.

So in middle April, you go out and get Michael Crabtree, have a nice day. I'm just going to call this the West and Mark corner of the table. They sit across from me. Dan is next to me. That's the close-minded corner. You know, you just say, Raiders, they made a move, and so you immediately, oh, I don't like you because it's the Raiders. Who's been more right in the entire country about the Raiders the last couple of years? Well, nobody.

Saying the Raiders are going to be awful is not, it's not like you're alone on an eyelid. Exactly how they're going to be awful and why they're going to be awful. I think that Crabtree, though, I will say this, Mark. You make the good point that they missed, they whiffed on their real targets. But to me, I don't know, he's a nice guy to have in that room when you have the Andre Holme. and Rod Streeter. It's like, I like Andre Holmes better than Crabtree. So do I.

I like Rodstreet or better than Crabtree right now. But I think that Crabtree, there is a chance. Evaluate the game, not the name. Right. Crabtree's tape is terrible the last couple of years. I'm just saying if he was 33 or something, I'd be like, yeah, you're right. This is a bad move. There's a chance he could bounce.

Maybe he breaks up a little bit that he had no money. He probably was expecting a five-year, four-year deal. He's motivated. He'll be motivated by this deal. You know? One thing, though, if you're going to say, oh, you know, he had issues, and so did Vernon Davis because of Colin Kaepernick in Greg Roman's offense. Well, hold on.

You go, you're going to Oakland. Yeah. Well, you got Bill Musk. What solution is there? We're not plugging him into the Indianapolis cults. Well, it depends what narrative you're following. Derek Carr might be the future also. He might be Johnny Unitas.

He might be coached by Bill Musgrave, though. That's a problem. That's a problem for the whole Oakland offense that's kind of been under the radar this year, that now they have Jack Del Rio as their head coach and Bill Musgrave as their offensive coordinator. If I was Derek Carr, I'd be pretty disappointed with that tournament. Close-minded corner has one nice thing to say about the Raiders. I really like their attempt to sign Sean Richardson.

I thought that was a guy you should be targeting. Okay. And then it got spoiled, but I thought that came from a good place. Well, it's McKenzie saying, I will get more Packers players, whatever I have to do. They actually, they were just trying to sign Trent Richardson again. I don't know if that counts. Moving on, the Dolphins, the Miami Dolphins, they love Ryan Tannahill. Oh, Ryan Tannahill, he's a franchise star.

We know, Wes, that Mike Tannenbaum came out and said at the NFL annual meeting that they've identified Tanna Hill as the future, the franchise, they want a huge deal. NFL media insider Ian Rappaport said Monday on NFL Total Access, which Mark is the flagship program of NFL. Is that right? Yes. And also, while we're doing drops, where I'm doing it, dropping drops. We should also mention that

Ike Taylor is on the Dave Damashek football program this week. Two shows. Isn't you the co-host now? This week he is. So if you're a Steelers fan and you've got a Jones in for some nostalgia, you go tune into that. But listen to us first. Ryan Tannihill,

Ian reports they want to get this deal done before the start of the new season. This is a little different between how the Colts are dealing with Andrew Luck. Both players drafted the same year in the first round. Jim Ursay said We're going to wait until after the 2015 season

to deal with Andrew Luck. The Dolphins want to deal with Ryan Tannenhill right now and Greg, what is the rush to get a deal done? Is it because they're already aware they're boxing themselves in financially because of that sue deal? No, I think it's smart to get a deal done before Russell Wilson

happens, before Andrew Luck, and before that 2016 option comes up. Because basically if they want to keep them with that option next year. It'll be $16, $15, $16 million. I don't think they want to pay him that much and guaranteed money per year.

Maybe it'll be around that. So why not sign him now? The only risk is they might have a different offensive coordinator in a year. Weren't they not even sure if he was their quarterback week four this most recent season? And now they're in a rush to make him a $100 million player. I don't know.

It just seems like a little, why we rush into the ultimate. Well, we don't know he's going to get back a $100 million year player. I don't know he's going to make $100 million. Well, there have been reports out there that he could fed. something in that. But here's the issue because you look at this offseason for the nine or ten teams that don't have that quarterback, you're out there picking

up scraps. Right. So Tanna Hill, no one's saying Tanna Hill's a top five quarterback. We don't know his ceiling like we do Andy Dalton. That'd be the difference. I feel like Andy Dalton that they went and paid him. It's gotten better every year. That gets at me. Well, we don't... Yeah, so we don't know what's going to be ahead. But if you're them, you don't just start over

unless you have a high draft pick and... Well, I'm not saying start over, but you have some time to play with here. You have through next season, and they want to get a deal done before this upcoming season even happens. I don't know, I'm just saying, yeah, he has improved each year, but, and, Wes, you've said you're not really all in necessarily on the type of offense Miami runs. Are we that sold at this guy's the future? No, I don't think Tana Hillers convinced anyone he's a franchise quarterback, except Mike Tannenbaum.

Well, it's crazy, though. Mike Tannenbaum's never gotten a quarterback decision wrong, by the way. The system... Besides Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow. Go ahead, Greg. The system is friendly to quarterbacks, and I agree. it was tough to kind of unpack how much of it was TANL, how much of it was a system. That is the system that's there.

You look at his numbers, we were looking at when we did the NFL now hit on it, 4,000 yards, 27 touchdowns, 12 interceptions. A few years ago, that's like Drew Breeze's numbers. That's a top six, seven quarterback in the league. The numbers are different now in the NFL, but that is the system that they have. The risk, like I said, is that laser's not going to be there in a year or two if Philips blows this. What's the difference between Tana Hill and Nick Fools? Foles had a much better 2013 than Tannahill did last year, but he was also a product of a system.

I think he's more physically gifted, I would say. He is, but Foles performed better in that season. Well, but to your argument, we just saw a team trade away what they thought was a franchise quarterback for Nick Folles, so you're in that swamp of eight to ten guys that we aren't sold on, but if you're an NFL general manager and a head coach, do you take Tanna Hill or do you go get Josh McCown? Right, I'd rather have Tana.

Endomicon 2 is making $20 million a year. I really think I'd rather have Tannahill, just in a total vacuum where my options is Sue and whatever quarterback you can get or Tannahill, I'll just take Tannahill. I will go to the other side on that. Let me sue, and I'll give a decent quarterback. Well, who would you get, though?

That's the thing. Ryan Fitzpatrick? I don't know, but we complain that the Bengals are stuck in purgatory because of Andy Dalton. The dolphins are also stuck in purgatory because of Ryan Taney. Well, there's a fair argument for that. I think he's going up. I don't want to be 10 and 6 every year.

I want to win a Super Bowl. Dolphins would love to go 10 and 6. Right, that's what I'm saying. The Bengals are happy being 10 and 6, and we pick on them for it. Other Dolphins news. The center for the dolphins, Mike Pouncey, has a new deal. Five years worth more than 50 million, over 20 million of guarantees, according to Rapsheet. This is the same Mike Pouncey who has come under fire for some stuff off the field.

He owns a free Hernandez hat, for instance, also. was tied into that bullying scandal, a loyal boy to Richie Incognito. However, he thanked the Dolphins for being loyal to him. He's obviously a high-end player in the middle of that line. So they lock him up, they keep the center, and hopefully they'll keep the quarterback, and then they have a nice little dynamic there. Well, I couldn't help but think, and I know we're not allowed to talk about this, really, at the NFL media news group, but I couldn't help but think of the contrast

when I was watching Mike Pouncey crying, you know, at his press conference, very emotional about the faith and the contract that he got that across, you know, the country that same day, jurors are deliberating over Aaron Hernandez's murder trial and these guys were best friends and I have no real point to that, but it was just like what a contract between those two

next teammates. I get your point and I think it's well made. I'm with Mark. I also agree. I don't even know what my point is. Well, because you know, let's not mask pouncy as some sort of, you know, solid citizen there's all sorts of question. That was not my point. It was more just like these two teammates.

the two different roads that they're in the middle. It was like a Robert Frostpaw. Well, I don't know if Mike Pouncey is, whatever. Have a nice time with Mike Pouncy. Yeah, not exactly. I feel the same way about it. Put it this way. Like, if he was on the free agent list,

he wouldn't be on the L.A. Grabeards. Not a good locker room guy. Keep him Mike Pouncey off my team. But, you know, the Dolphins are the Doblins. They're going to do what they want to do. All right, here's something interesting, finally, that came out of San Diego, the UT Tribune. Kevin A.C., who is their longtime beat writer,

a columnist and is very tight with Philip Rivers so tight that they've done you know benefits together raising money fundraisers and obviously good healthy relationship there and AC is a respected voice in that sports scene says that the time is now to trade Philip Rivers if Marcus Marriota is the man and AC goes you know pretty deep into explaining why he thinks that possible tying into the possible relocation of the Chargers and Philip Rivers at age 33 maybe is wished to move back east for the end of his career. And if all that stuff is lined up and they love Marriota,

maybe now is the time to pull the trigger mark. First of all, do you read into this at all? Kevin A.C., a true boy of Philip Rivers saying trade Phil Rivers. Well, he clearly knows that Philip Rivers does not want to go to Los Angeles. And I think that maybe the flip side is if you want to get any sort of benefit from Rivers at the tail end of his career, and you want to make a move and you can do it with the Titans, for instance. Greg was hot on this this morning.

That's your target, I guess, Tennessee, and you go up and you start over. The same way they did with Breeze into rivers. I don't think they have a good idea, but I just think if they love Mariotta, then that's the only way that you could possibly make the argument for this. If you just love Marcus Mariotta, okay, now I guess you think about it, but it seems crazy to me. I wouldn't do it. Do you remember a draft?

I'm sure there is every year, but this one sticks out to me where all the experts have no clue what's going on with Marcus Mariotto, where you've seen him going anywhere from one to the second round. And only he doesn't have character concerns. This is purely based upon what they think his ceiling is as a player. It seems like Mariotta is either the hottest property in the draft or something that teams are afraid to get in business with. That would be a little scary to me. It's a little bit like the 2007 class. Guys like Locker and Blaine Gabbert were talked about...

That's what I said. Seven, you said. Oh, I meant 11. Listen, Tybee Island does that to him. Well, Locker and Gabbard were talked about at one point going number one or two overall in that draft, and they ended up going eight and ten. Frank Ponder was supposed to be in the second round. He ended up number 12.

I mean, it does happen. Gino Smith at one point was thought of as a possible top... Don't even get me started on that one. I remember that. Top five pick. With Mariotta, though, I just don't under... I mean, that is a... a move that you're just putting it out all out on the table, because that's the type of move

that gets everyone fired. And you're saying, okay, this is the time to get some value out of Philip Rivers. But you know what's a great value? Having Philip Rivers on your team for the next three or four years, while he's still a top 10 quarterback, because I think he can and will be. Well, unless he refuses to play there, that's the other part of it. I don't think that, because the chargers, if anything, who knows whether we can believe it, have said very strongly, there is no way we're moving Philip Rivers. I guess my thought is you have him under contract this year. You have the franchise tag next year.

If he doesn't want to play in L.A., call his bluff. I mean, I guess I would, I would, it's hard for me to imagine Philip Rivers would be like, nope, I'm just going to be done with football. I'm not going to take the 20 million. I'm just not going to play the sport I love. He's got seven kids to feed. Because I don't like driving up the five, and I like the South. I mean, that seems a little wacky.

People from the South are a little wacky. I was just there. It is. Anybody taking it a little personally as Los Angeles residents at all this is percolating? Well, I think if you have kids to get into school, you could start to see where it all starts to make sense. They could homeschool them anywhere. Bill Rivers does not have any worries about school systems. No, whatever issues he has with L.A., he's not going to be having to buy a small apartment complex in south centrally. He's going to live in the most glorious part of the city.

So I don't think he does have huge issues. That would be a good sitcom, actually. Like rivers and all the kids move into, you know, something on the other side of the tracks. Too many cooks in the bitch. I don't know. I've come to like Los Angeles, but I could definitely see why it's not for everyone.

It's definitely not a city for everyone. By the way, this would require the Tennessee Titans to do something edgy and, you know, unpredictable for the first time in a decade. So let's not jump the gun here. Yeah, here's the thing. If Tennessee has a chance to do it, do it. Do it. Do everything you can.

This is your chance. Which is why they won't do it. This is your chance, Titan, that this is a miracle if this ever happens. Put it this way. They got Metenberger. They're all right. I don't even, I mean, I'm not even familiar with who you're talking about, the Tutans. If this franchise, the Tano Su Tintans, pulled off this trade, we would talk about that team.

How about this maneuver? Cleveland gets into number two by giving both their number one picks to Tennessee. Then they trade for Rivers who can't be more excited about getting his seven kids into the Cleveland school system. Pipe Dream. I know. You guys shred me on now for that. You clown car. Yeah.

Sessler came in... Two-man clown car. Sessler came in breathing fire this morning because of this Rivers article. Well, now it's legitimate. Now trading Philip Rivers, now we can discuss it. Whatever, you clown car. If Philip Rivers is not going to Cleveland if he doesn't want to go to L.A. Well, which team...

I'll ask you this. Which team has been actively trying to trade for a quarterback and has been doggedly willing to take risk? The Titans or the Browns? Browns? Well, the Browns, but the Titans have all the juice here because they have Marriota. The Titans are frozen in snow. Right, but they're underneath the ice. That doesn't even mean the Chargers are going to ship Phil Rivers to damn Ohio.

Well, if Cleveland got the number two pick, things start to change. I'm not saying with where they are now. They're only trading them if they get Marietta in this scenario. Or James Winston. How did Rivers come into the league? Maybe he goes right out of San Diego the same way with massive draft day trade scenarios. All right. It's all right to dream.

you clowns i don't know why you take a personal because i i i'm not taking it personal but it was like the one time when i'm gone for three or four days i hear like you're getting buried on nfl now by a couple of schmows all i said was that's a pipe dream i don't think we buried too i didn't even watch it so i don't know wait a second this is all falling apart uh all right that's what's happening okay let's move on now to um listen one of our favorite games

It has a very simple title. What is it? Live from Culver City, California, it's America's favorite game show. What's More Likely! That's right. Another edition of What's More Likely, where we throw out some different possibilities, and we ask the audience, what is more likely? So we will go through it.

I came up with a few of them. I know you guys came up with a couple as well. So let's get right to it. Greg Roosevelt has another high-actane meeting to get to. So let's get to it. Let's go with the first one. What's more likely? All right.

We just talked about what's more likely. The Chargers trade Philip Rivers and draft Marcus Mariotta or the Vikings trade Adrian Peterson and draft Melvin Gordon. I'll go first and say that, the chargers are more likely. Partly just because of probability here, the Melvin Gordon thing makes it a little tougher to just know that they're going to go for that running back.

I'll throw in Todd Gurley, too. Either one. I'm still going to go with the Chargers. I don't think it's more likely than not to happen, but just there's been so much smoke about this. And on some level, it does make a little bit of sense for everyone involved if they truly love Marriota. I agree.

I think it's likely that the Vikings trade Adrian Peterson, but the Melvin Gordon part or Todd Gurley part throws me off, I think they like Jerk McKinnon. Really? I do think they like him. I don't know. Matt Azziata was their main guy down the stretch. He was playing pretty well, too. Only because McKinnon was injured. Right, but I mean, he got injured quickly.

He doesn't look like a guy that could carry the load. Peterson Cole McKinnon, one of the best athletes he's ever practiced with. Chesh. I will also go chargers because they're just seem. to be more heat. It's the age of the player. I think Rivers still has something left. But also, these other teams that might want Peterson, the Cowboys of the Cardinals, they can go out

and draft and running back too. Well, how about just Rivers or Peterson? Who's more likely to get traded? Rivers. Peterson. Hmm. Peterson. He's just, he's the one that's openly unhappy right now. Maybe Rivers is too, but...

By the way, this is shaping up for some fireworks here in this draft. You don't need to be a draft to get excited about a possible Philip Rivers and Adrian Peterson trade. That's good because no quarterback's going to the draft. What's more likely? All right, Marks Browns draft a quarterback in the first round For the third time in four years

Or Johnny Mansell starts at least five games this season Mark will start with you Well, I think it's hard to get up I mean, because let's remove drafting someone in the sixth round Or something like that, okay? First round, yeah. Okay, so it's, I'll go Mansell starting five games Just because part of it is you've got to get up there

And get Marriota, that's not easy I'm going to go whatever, the answer. It doesn't matter what you put up against Manzell starting five games. I'm not taking Manzell starting five games because I can't imagine that happening. I really can't. Isn't it possible it's one of those stories where it is, but I'm buying it. You're buying it. Well, all right.

I'm picking Manzell starting five games. I'm kind of with that too. I think that people are kind of, first of all, Josh McCown stinks. Secondly, well, we know that. But secondly, like this idea that the Browns are going to draft a quarterback again early in the draft, I don't buy it. I think they're going to go a different route this. time. And Mansell, once he's in camp and if he shows some growth and makes him

and makes him plays him, McCown's not playing well, I think they're going to take another look at him. But I think there's a good chance he's not good at professional football. Okay, well, that's different. But five more games to find that out isn't crazy. And there hasn't been a 16-game starter in Cleveland in 13 years. How many first-round quarterbacks never got a chance to start at least eight games in their career? I'm not saying he won't start ever again for any team. but yeah a big chunk of this season

I guess I'm not expecting it that's obvious I would say it would be a bad kind of brownsy mistake if they cut cord on him without at least giving a chance to do something on the field I know they're pissed about how this played out and they should be but I don't know it feels

like it would be a mistake not to at least give him a shot it's the combination of the off field and the on field with the on field the beautiful combination right being just as big if not bigger for me that he really struggled in practice and in the game. What's more likely?

Let me just do a little setup for this one because Zach Mettenberger, there was a columnist in Tennessee that wrote that he knows what's going on inside the Titans and they are all in on Zach Mettenberger. They believe that he is a poor man's Tom Brady. That was the exact words in the article and you know, for that reason, don't expect

them to be making any bold move for a quarterback in Chicago later this month. So with that in mind, what's more likely, Zach Mettenberger has voted to a Pro Bowl and not an alternate, none of that garbage. He's voted to a Pro Bowl in the next 10 years or Ken Wisenhunt and Rustin Webster are unemployed by the end of January.

Oh, come on. I'm giving Zach 10 years to get to the Pro Bowl. Way more likely that Rustin Webster and Ken Wisenhunt are unemployed. I agree with that. Especially if this is the decision they're going for. That's kind of what I was going for. yeah i i agree with that ownership change potentially that that seems in a lot of flux i'd like to know

who the football genius is who's telling david climber that bettenberger's a poor man's tom brady only because they were both drafted in the six rounders he was i i actually am of the mind that mettonberger was not bad as a rookie i know west wait you've been all over the map on this he wasn't he wasn't that bad he wasn't worse than derrick car or or like portals he ended up i'm not a big quarterback rating fan For what it's worth, the quarterback ratings, it's about the same as Tom Brady had it. Right, but you're not a quarterback rating. We've already gone over this. Everything he did was in garbage time or fluke plays.

My point, though, is even if you're grading him on the nicest way possible, it's hard for me to come up with that he's the guy that you're going to pass on Rivers or the number two pick for. Like, even if you're thinking, wow, like, what's the best case scenario? That he's the 14th best quarterback in the league. That's in a good scenario. Doesn't that feel like way more the likely scenario with this franchise, though, that they stick with Metzenberger rather than roll the dice with Gold Rivers?

Take a defensive tackle at number two. Yes. What's more likely? All right. Think about come draft time. The Bears find a taker for Jay Cutler that nets them a third round pick or higher. Or the Niners' first round draft pick hugs Roger Goodell at the podium and then immediately announces his retirement. I'm going to go with the Niners scenario that seems more likely to me

I can't imagine anybody trading a third round pick or higher for Jay Cutler that I was curious like I was trying to think of what would be a believable draft pick I guess third is it's that contract yeah poor Niners yeah I'll have to go at the Niners retirement Jim Thompson would just go on like a 3,000 mile walk if that happened like this is some serious for the second time in his life what are you getting at not a guy that goes for walks

seems like he's had a gumpy and past all right anybody else want to jump in with one all right i got one what's more likely Marcus mariotta goes number one overall or James Winston goes to the jet

my first instinct is to say that all this Marriota number one nonsense is just because the draft has to get here already and I'm chalking it up to that just over-analization at this point so I think Winston goes one to the bucks so obviously that's

I'm going with that. I'm with you that we heard the same nonsense those aren't the two options well what's the other option then Winston to the Jets or Marriota number one you got to pick one of those two options even if neither one of them is particularly likely which I think we'd all agree that is there a third

No, it's less than 50-50, but one of these may... Swing it over to Mark, and then I'll... I will go with the Jets. Trading up, they've been aggressive, they've been extremely aggressive, and I don't think they think they have a quarterback if they know anything about football. So they're going to trade up. They're going to do what they can to get James Winston

and reboot that franchise. It's not that far to go. It's not. It's not. Part of it is that Winston maybe Winston doesn't go one, and maybe you can trade up to two or three or who knows. It was funny being on Tybee. I'm so far removed from college football in the draft nick process that I have no idea. But it was funny hearing people who watch college football and are big fans saying that James Winston is a no-brainer, like, will be a stud quarterback.

And I hearing analysts, like, I don't hear that all the time, but that was the conventional wisdom back in the South. I don't know. I guess maybe the Jets would trade up for him if he's that good. Yeah. And I guess I don't see Mario to go on number one. So, yeah, I guess the Jets trading up into that spot to go get him. But I don't see that playing out either. Who else got one?

Well, I heard the name. I did a would you rather. Wait a second. That's cheating, Mark. Listen, it was a miscommunication. By the way, kind of cheating like in our game on Friday when you did our two truths and a lie and put truths within your lie, which I thought was a little shady business. I was thinking about it when I was listening.

All right. Well, I did that too, actually. We can take that up off one. Pinellope Cruz had some element of truth. The appeal board is going to take a look at this. I think I played the game well. That's from another angle. If the whole game was just two truths and a lie,

what a one, two for two. There was everything else that was the problem. Keep looking back. You got wiped out. All right. So what is the, what's this called then? Would you rather? Would you rather?

All right. A, would you rather leave your current life behind to join a flying saucer cult stationed on the forest outskirts of Munich, Germany. This is becoming a weekly. occurrence hour episode. It's April. It's basically like an excavation of Mark's subconscious. By the way, would you rather I finish this or should we just end the podcast? All right. A, would you rather leave your current life behind to join a flying saucer cult station on the outskirts of Munich, Germany? In this scenario, you would never be allowed to watch football

again. Still, your family can come with you and all your financial needs will be gone forever. To help the flying saucer cult, though, you must spend at least seven hours a day every day. day watching the skies for alien craft and recording your observations in a spiral-bound community journal. Or, would you rather leave your NFL job and move to Papillion, Nebraska, where you will work at Rite Aid for the rest of your life? You can bring your family, but you live in a spare apartment house at the edge of the city. Also part of the deal, you can never eat a dairy product for the rest of your life, and your

apartment is filled with cats. This isn't even close. I'm going to Munich. going there. That didn't sound like a bad deal. No financial worries the rest of my life. You have to join a cult. It's a flying saucer call. You didn't say what went into the cult, but ultimately I'm thinking seven hours a day, that's not a long work day. And my family is with me, and there's no financial worries. I get to eat whatever I want. I'm going, I'm not giving up power over my mind. I refuse to join a cult. I wouldn't give up the power. You're going to a house filled of it.

I had faith I could stay strong. I'm allergic to cats. Oh, you're backed into this one That's a good point My wife's allergic to cats too So I guess I'll go with the other one With the cult What if we could join the cult And then I could overthrow the leader

Right But then wouldn't we then be You would be our leader then Which is fine But like I really don't want to have anybody As like a quote unquote leader How are you going to have a cult without a leader? I got to break out of this cult basically

Wes do you have one before we go No, I can't match that No, we got to go out on that All right Do we want anybody else have one? All right, that's it That's it for Tuesday's edition of the Around the NFL podcast. We will be back on Thursday with another great show.

Gold Standard Thursdays. Will Gold Standard be on for another show on Thursday? I think it's happening. Wow, that'll be, I believe, four shows in a row. TD actually getting nervous at this point, by the way. He said it downstairs in the newsroom on Monday that he's starting to feel pressure as Gold Standard really starts to dig his talons into the show. But, of course, he's leaving us gold standards.

Right. It's artificial. He's so worried he concocted an entire traffic situation across western Los Angeles to slow gold standard down, make him look bad. Devious. I imagine TD Moore just coasting. That reminds me if somebody tweeted, like, why do you hate TD? It's like probably those type of comments. He probably, that's what people think, though.

No. Well, it's all in good and fun. We all love TD, including Chris Wesleyan on Thursday. That was touching. Now the country knows that I love TD. You do. We'll be back on Thursday with another great show, the four of us.

This Dan Hansa signing off for Quiet Storm, the mailman, the boss, and the gold standard behind the glass. Until then. Welcome back to that same old place that you laughed about. Well, the names have all changed since you hung around. But those dreams have remained and they've turned around. You'd have thought they'd lead you. We'd have thought that we'd like here, well, we need him.

Yeah, we tease him a lot because we got him on the spot. Welcome back. Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back, welcome back. Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back. This is an I-Heart podcast. Thank you.