NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Sounds from the Combine: Do We Believe Them?

Episode Date: February 27, 2024

In a room full of heroes - Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler, and Patrick Claybon dive into the news coming out of the NFL Combine and tell you whether or not they believe what the execs from around the NFL are saying (03:00). The heroes also take some time to congratulate Peter King on his retirement (46:10) and dive into some quarterback talk with the Athletic's Nate Tice (01:01:33).  Note: time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast. Would let Jamal Williams get his touchdown. That's right. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. I'm Greg Rosenthal, sitting in for Dan Hanses in the host chair. He'll be back Thursday, but I'm surrounded by a room filled with some heroes, Mark Sessler, and Patrick Labon.

we're here hey guys it's great to have you back Patrick I don't know when the last visit was I don't remember but it wasn't that long ago it was in the playoff it wasn't that long but it also it's anytime I'm not with you guys

is you feel that yeah so there's a hole that has been filled right it's it's like Connor or or maybe it was Dan's old saying at the combine which if you can tell by the sound quality here and by the fact I said

we're in the Chris Wesleying podcast studio we are not in Indianapolis breaking news but he used to say back in the day it's not about the meat when we would go to St. Elmo's the famous steakhouse

it's about the meat that is a danism and I would say the same you know with hanging out with you the meat in this case would be the Alpa store up in the huddle we had before whatever that was we had some carna asada

it was good It was tasty. And I mean, I think we did such a good job not going to the combine a year ago that the company, the people high upstairs said, let's not send them again because they seem to thrive by not going to the location. Right. People still listen to the shows anyways. What do they really know? It's fine. Although I got to say, if you're listening shadowy league figures out there,

I'm officially putting in our request that we want to go back. I think we do. For 2025. If we are still gamefully employed at this company, which is never a guarantee, I want to push to go back. I think it's fine. It was nice.

On some levels, it's easier to be here, but I want to go back. I'm with you. I think we should bring Patrick with us as well. Like to make it a full group experience. I too would also like to be employed by this spectacular organization in 2025. And I would like to join you guys.

Okay. It'll be fun. It is a great company. It has been fun going there. But the years off, we're fine. And you know what? It was actually almost, on some level, it's easier to watch all these combine pressers.

Now, back in our days as reporters, as real dogged reporters, we would split up all the different podium sessions between the GMs and the coaches, 80, 90% of them have a 15-minute session on a podium. We would split it up. We would even have a draft when Kevin Petra and Conororor were involved, and we would split it all up.

Now we're talking how the sausage gets made. Oh. This time we just sort of watched on Twitter, watched on NFL network, and we got a lot of good sound. So we're going to play a game to start this show. We've got Eric back behind the glass. Randy is back there as well.

And they've been putting together sound clips all day of what's been coming out of these combine pressers. So even before we get to a little bit of news, this felt like the news. This felt meteor. We're going to play a little game of, do we believe it? I like the meteor callback. Yes. Do we believe what these men are saying?

And in this case, it is all men at these podiums. We don't have a woman head coach or a woman GM. It's, do we believe what these men are saying? Maybe that's the name of the segment. We haven't discussed that beforehand. What do you think? I think it's, it is appropriate on multiple levels. Yes, I tend to believe nothing, so I want to see if someone can convince me otherwise.

What about if you believe? Okay, if you believe Yeah, just if you believe If you believe As the name, I don't know Eric, break the tie I like do you believe Do you believe these men

I like having these men I think when you originally pitched I think in 2024 The answer would be no to most Do you believe them That was the original pitch Okay Let's start with Quessi

Quessi Adofimenta Who's in The Spotlight right now Because of a lot of these Justin Jefferson talks I'm getting texts from people. You're getting these, like, aggregator who's covering another aggregator, who's covering someone who heard whispers that Justin Jefferson may be traded.

And it's been kind of the story of the last couple of weeks. It's been annoying me because no one's actually really reported anything. Quessie had some first person comments on the topic today. We got unbelievably close. We've said it and we'll continue to say it. We think he's the best by receiver in the league and should be compensated as such. We think he's one of the best non-quarterbacks in the league. I think he should be compensated as such.

And so we'll continue to have those dialogues and those conversations. I promise them and I will continue to promise them that I will not talk about our negotiations. I think this job should be done with integrity. So a lot of the stuff that I hear is completely false. But I can't get up here and tell you what's not true or not false because that's not how I promised to do this job. So he was talking about contract negotiations that he had had with Jefferson. How close he was? I tend to, despite my comments that I theoretically believe no one in these places,

I do believe them because I think part of it is they went through a process last off season where they cut salary, they cut some veterans, they're in a bit of a rebuild, but why on earth? How do you sell to your fans? Part of this is, you know, the PRs of it. How do you sell to anyone, including whoever's going to be your quarterback, the rest of your offense, the rest of your locker room? We're going to find a way to trade the most exciting young wide receiver in the league. And then what's the pathway forward?

So I think, yes, they're going to keep them. They want to make it happen. That's my thought on that. I mean, just taking it all into context, just watching the clip, I believe him. I'm at 85% belief. But then, like, the sourcing on this trade rumor doesn't make any sense. Like Greg said, it's this game of telephone that doesn't have a beginning call. And why would they trade Justin Jefferson?

Like, the whole point of this entire process that we're in Indianapolis to do is to evaluate talent, acquire that talent, and hopefully have them on your football team, what's the point of getting a known commodity that you know, as Quessie said, is one of the best players in the game if you're going to trade for what? Right. They got him by trading Stefan Diggs, and it was like, you're not going to just keep merry-go-rounding this. Right.

I forget now who it was, and I apologize on Twitter who was saying, like, yeah, like, who knows, they could maybe even not keep cousins. They could end up using some of these draft picks to get a young quarterback. You take one at 11. and then eventually you use all these resources to go find a number one receiver to support this young quarterback. So I did think this was newsworthy.

It was noteworthy. I believe them because of the clarity and aggression in which he said that the rumors were false and also that they got so close. That was new. We never heard that. He said we were extremely close to getting a contract done preview.

I think he's talking about, you know, during last season or before last season. So the fact that he's saying that now or the last times they talk, I feel very confident. I believe you, Quessie. Let's see if we believe Kevin O'Connell, the Vikings coach, who's going to talk about Kirk Cousins and his future with the team. The thing about free agencies itself is this is not Kirk's first time in free agency. Kirk Cousins knows how I feel about him. I've held no secrets there. He knows how the Minnesota Vikings feel about him.

I believe Kirk wants to be a Viking. And we're going to work to try to make that the outcome. I believe Kevin Okombe. Because again, maybe it's a Vikings thing. It just makes sense, right? Kirk's ultimately going to make a financial decision for him and his family. The Vikings are going to try to be a part of that. They don't necessarily know the outcomes, but I don't think there's a reason not to try.

And I did like the timing from Kirk. He was throwing a football and like doing a kind of like 40% drop back. On a tennis court. On a tennis court. That kind of threw me. How do you feel about that, Greg? Would you want Kirk Cousins on you? Yeah.

I believe that I could be wrong, but I believe Kirk is in the former tennis star club, along with Matthew Stafford and Drew Brees, which does support that tennis is an extremely athletic. Unfortunately, apparently, you know, we're losing our best athletes to the NFL. But it's also a. a proven stage actor, like we've seen him, you know, from a musical angle. The Vikings, maybe they're just a believable, uh, transparent organization.

But I think Kevin O'Connor also came out and said, wait a minute, this is one of the huge reasons I wanted to come here. And it's like if you're a coach who is an offensive-minded coach and your quarterback is at the center of that, like you, you go move on from Kirk Cousins to what? And suddenly you could be in a total abyss if you, and he pointed out how much he thought that Cousins was playing like a top quarterback before I got injured last. year too. So I think they would, they're open to bringing him back and we'll just see what happened. Right. I believe that Kirk, all things being equal, like for some reason, the Vikings would

match any deal out there. I believe Kevin O'Connell that Kirk Cousins would rather just stay in Minnesota. Why wouldn't he? You could see it on the quarterback show. You can see, it's just logical. You got kids in school. You have a great, you have a great system. If they're not equal and another team wants to blow the Vikings out of the water and the Vikings aren't prepared to pay $50 million a year, $100 million guaranteed, and there is a team out there that might want to do that, whether that's Atlanta or someone else, then it's a totally different conversation, and he could lose.

So we'll see. I'm not as confident that Minnesota and Quessie will meet that sort of price, but I also have no idea if anyone's even going to make that sort of price because he's still 36 coming off a torn Achilles. I think that can't be ignored. And that's why Quessie's answer. is believable and the outcome of that is believable because this yeah because this answer while i believe kevin o'connell it's not as certain that i'm thinking in three years

kirk cousins is going to be in minnesota whereas i feel pretty confident in three years or even yeah or even three months we saw kirk cousins uh i saw him on the insider show he did had some like gold uh grill to his teeth and uh justin jefferson appreciate that so look they're all getting along. Their buddies. It's not as kumbaya, I wouldn't say, in Chicago. I thought Ryan Poles, their GM, had some telling comments when he spoke about Justin Fields on Tuesday. I will say this. I think you guys know me well enough now. I do, if we go down that road, I want to do right by Justin as well. No one wants to live in gray. I know that's uncomfortable. I wouldn't want to be in that situation either. So we'll gather the information. We'll move

as quickly as possible. We're not going to be in a rush and see what presents itself and what's best for the organization. I mean, when I hear we want to do right by Justin Fields in the context of like, if we move him, it matters to us

that he doesn't get dropped off a cliff into the worst situation somewhere else. I mean, we'll talk to Nate Tice later about some quarterbacks. I would say one thing. Like, as the weeks have gone on, I put it at like 0% that they're keeping Justin Fields.

I just put it at about 0%. Yeah. Yeah, I've been on that corner that I just, I just didn't, I just didn't see it for many reasons. The biggest ones being that there's two, two or three great quarterback prospects in this, in this class. And I just think they're a little uncertain about fields. And that's, it's just logical. And the fact that he repeated those words you said or that you heard multiple times, almost like he had, he had it a little ready that he, if they do it, they want to do right by Justin. and they don't want to live in the gray.

And he went on polls to like multiple other interviews. He wasn't afraid to like talk about this. And if Justin Fields was their quarterback, they would know by now. If they're planning to take a quarterback first overall, they know by now. It's not like they're waiting to decide. So they know what they're going to do. You do not say that about your franchise quarterback publicly if you are going to keep them, period. They know their trading them.

And one thing we didn't hear was he even put a timeline on it that, like, ideally in the next couple of weeks, basically that it's sooner than later, it makes more sense if it happens before or right at the beginning of free agency. Yeah, and that's one thing that makes sense for the Bears and it makes sense for Justin. And I think what Poles is doing there is acknowledging that this is a difficult situation for Justin, who didn't do anything to anybody, right? He didn't run a foul of anybody. No. The Bears feel that they can have a better chance to get a better quarterback coming up in the draft. And he's acknowledging the circumstance while, and who knows, like, do these conversations really change the trade price? No, they don't.

So, like, I don't understand why we have to, like, be coy about it because the price is going to be the price. But I'll ding him for the coyness, but I do believe that he's not angry at Justin. He doesn't want to put Justin in a negative circumstance. And when it comes to making the trade, it's ultimately going to benefit Justin. because some team obviously wants him and the bears, they don't. And I don't think it's even that, I don't think it's coy. I think that's the NFL version of, of not coy. And yet, like, when people are like, well, he's got to play his cards close to the vest

to, like, you know, keep his leverage of what, it's like either Justin Fields is available or he's not. The team's trading for him, they're going to know if he's available or not. You need to know that before you trade for him. Yeah, and Paul said he wanted to know himself, like by tomorrow. Like, they want to come learn about these other quarterbacks. Right. You've already made your decision.

Right. So that's going to be one of the most fascinating stories over the next couple weeks. Could the Giants be one of the teams? That would be a little wild. But who knows? Let's listen to Joe Shane talk about Daniel Jones' future with the team. Joe Shane is the GM of the Giants. I have faith in Daniel.

I have faith in Daniels our starting quarterback. He was answering questions there about Jones's future, not. Exactly answering the question, but just saying that he has faith in Daniel. And he's a little, you know, a little sharp there. I can't think of a team that should have a more active wandering eye at this position than the Giants. I think they mismanaged this exact process with Jones and Sequin a year ago about as poorly as you could. And you're kind of back in the same situation. Jones has a very big price tag, which I think is a problem.

But, like, they, to me, feel like a legit candidate to draft another quarterback to compete with Daniel Jones immediately, money aside. Yes, I don't believe Joe Shane in this, in this one, that he has faith in Daniel Jones as his starting quarter. Did it sound like it? I think he's going to bring another option in. The timing is tricky, because I think he even said he's bringing a veteran in. He said he told Daniel Jones that, and that makes sense.

Tyrod's a free agent. Daniel Jones isn't going to be able to be healthy for a while. So even if you're drafting a rookie number six overall or even trading up, you're going to want a tie rod type. or a veteran to bring in. So it'll be interesting to see what type they bring in along with what I believe is going to be a rookie. I don't believe him.

Yeah, I believe, I guess, in the spirit, because he chose his words very carefully. Like, Daniel Jones is their starting quarterback as per the plans. But he said he has faith in him. I don't believe he has faith. Let's get a few beers in Joe Shane and see what he says. But it seems like the obvious scenario we're evaluating

in New Jersey is that there's not a lot of reason to have faith in Dan. Daniel Jones' long-time prospects as the giant starting quarterback. It's crazy that they gave him that contract, which guarantees him $40 million this year else he wouldn't be on the team. But hey, at least they didn't pay the running back, right? Because that's the worst-case scenario. Right.

One little nugget there was he opened up the possibility of using the franchise tag on Saquan. Joe Shane did kind of pushing back against an Adam Schaefter report. from Monday that the Giants weren't planning to use the tag on him. He also, by the way, mentioned the Cowboys aren't planning to use it on Pollard, the writers aren't planning to use it on

Jacobs, the chargers aren't planning to use it on Echler, none of those are surprises at all. But Shane throwing it out there publicly that actually the cap went up $30 million and that might have changed their math that maybe we would use the tag on Sequin. Worth noting, this was the first time

and if we were there, Mark, I would have tried the draft. Dave Canales, the Panthers. You'd want to cover that press. I would want to cover. I think it'd be a high draft. Sure. Where do you see that?

I think the draft process, we'd sit there, like we'd go out and have dinner, and literally the four or five reporters would like go from top to bottom. And I think the process was like, don't get stuck with the GM or coach you don't want to cover. And I like new faces. So he would have been high on my life. Yeah, I always want to see the new face.

And Canales came out firing at his first press. How's it going? How's everybody doing? Great. Had a nice workout earlier. Ready to rock. Okay, just the intensity and the tight-fitting Lycra on him. It was a lot and it's I like it.

And I want to hear more from Dave Canales about his thoughts on his quarterback. No plan to fix Bryce Young. I think for me it's about building an offense that we can be proud of. of something that is tough, something that is smart, that takes care of the football. Number one, we got to create more explosives. And then, of course, we have to minimize damage with exotic pressures and things like that. So I think just elevating the whole group and really asking Bryce to just do his part. Vibe-wise, like, what are you picking up here from Canales?

I'm picking up that the workout wasn't that intense that he had. That's a lot of energy. So I don't know that it was. Because maybe the volume was there, the intensity wasn't necessarily there. He seems like he would be like a good instructor of like aerobics. Oh, I think so. Or just maybe a strength trainer. I'd say that I'd have to caution myself that that type of persona sometimes where it's like,

hey, I'm great. I worked out this morning and had a healthy breakfast. It's like that kind of person can rub me the wrong way at a certain hour of the morning. He did elaborate guys right after that. He said it was like a CrossFit kind of thing and then ended with a steep incline walk. But he framed it as very sweaty. Yeah, so he did like some circuit trading. I feel pretty confident.

He's a fit, dude. He's a fit guy, and I think that he is a good fit for Carolina. I do think that all of those problems from 2023 were not Bryce related. It took a team effort to be that bad. So I do believe him. I do believe him that the plan is to come in and fix Bryce. The plan is to have a functional offense that is NFL level and competent. And then we can evaluate Bryce, but I don't know that you could really evaluate anybody on that office.

I think also from his own belief that he can improve all this, Gino Smith, Baker Mayfield. Like, comeback player of the year and a comeback player of the year candidate in my book, two guys whose careers were lost. And so why come in and say, we need to fix Rice? Right. You don't label him that way. You kind of lift all the blame off of the quarterback and start fresh.

Yeah, I think C.J. Stroud was quoted during Super Bowl week, you know, him having a conversation with Bryce Young of just like, Never forget who you are, why you, you were the one. You were the one, not me. And, like, kind of saying, like, everything that happened, like, you're still that dude. And that's going to be a big part of Canales, the mental side of it. I think Mike Daniel did a good job with Tua, for instance.

Tua had played a couple years before. It's just Bryce Young. And, yeah, I think of Alex Smith, who had the worst rookie season I've seen from a first round pick, certainly a first overall pick. And the very next year, got a good coordinator, Norv Turner, and played a thousand percent better and went from the worst quarterback in the league to like a league average quarterback,

which is pretty good for a second year. They probably are aiming higher with Bryce, but I can see the parallels in what you said about just making the offense better. One person who is not going to make the offense better in Denver, I think, is Russell Wilson. We're going to go out of Indianapolis, and we're going to go into what is either the home of Russell Wilson or Brandon Marshall? I think it was Russell Wilson's

soon to be sold Denver home? There's comically large books. Right. I assume this was not Brandon Marshall's podcast studio because I would be like let's talk to them because they got some cash.

This is Russell Wilson's house because I think Brandon Marshall makes a couple comments like he sees Sierra or Sierra walking around and he's like oh there goes see so it's at Russell Wilson's house. I got to say

I would be a better podcast if I had listened to all of this podcast because I actually want to because when I heard 80 minutes of this, I thought that actually, it's a good use of 1.5 speed. I don't know if you're into that with podcast. I approve it now in certain circumstances. Not like comedy. Not if you really love the guest or something, but if you just

For information purposes. This would be a good one, 1.5. But I want to listen to it because I have a feeling it's going to be fun. But I've listened to about seven or eight different sections of it. Some of them were like two or three minutes long. So I've listened to a lot of it, including this first one on Russell Wilson, talking about winning is a habit. Listen, I think in a 12-year period, there hasn't been much that I haven't gone through. I've been through all the winning, been through some of the losing, not all of it. Somebody says some of them.

Don't get used to it. Yeah, right, right. Because so many people get used to losing. Right. Winning is a habit, but losing is too. And that's not a habit I'm taking in. That's not a habit I believe in. Does not believe it.

The haircuts different. I feel like it means business. He's now freshly shorn, wearing it tight like a Patrick, Claibon. Russell Wilson also tried to leave open the possibility that he could stay in Denver. I got more fire than ever, honestly, especially over the past two years of what I've gone through. Whether it's in Denver or somewhere else. I hope it's in Denver. I hope I get to finish there.

I committed there. I wanted to be there. I want to be there. Hold on. You can go back to Denver, bro? I can go back there. You can play with Coach Peyton again. Yeah.

That was Russell Wilson and Brandon Marshall on the I Am Athlete podcast. I mean, I think you just have to look at the Russell Wilson experience in a different way than someone else answering that question. Like, he's admitting no defeat. I will also, he's an easy target, and I find him grading to listen to if he goes on and on about his sports, psychology stuff. But the one honest comments I thought he said during the season was that how hard last year was for him and how hard this season was

just to be a different, to be seen so differently. I can't think of another quarterback that went from star power to off like completely, we look at them as like a failure at this point. And to go through that personally probably would try you. But like I don't think in his world of worlds, he's getting paid. He's going to get paid a ton of guarantee money. It was why would you want to go back into this cauldron, this experience, which coach Sean Payton, who openly doesn't want you to be.

No, body language and tone did a lot of work there because when he is, When Brandon Marshall was like, really? And then Russell was... Good question by Brandon Marshall. Yeah. And Russell Wilson gives him kind of like... Yeah. He sort of like gave him a like, well, maybe. You know, you know, not really.

Yeah, it's not something that he's going to personally enjoy. Like, I don't think Russ is going to be chilling at Sean Payton's house and they're going to be sharing memories about their times together. But I do think Russ would like a chance to be a starting quarterback somewhere. And if that's Denver, he'll take that. chance. That's your only chance. Yeah. If that's the only one. But, yeah, it's grading and it gives weird podcast grifter. But, like, I wonder, like, because so many of those people, like, we have a nation of people

that got grifted. People bought all those power energy band bracelets and, and, like, listen to hours of Tony Robbins. We have power energy bracelets. Yeah, there was this company that they put hologram. Actually, my son Walker, it has done. does wear this one that, uh, they said is good for, like, your stomach, uh, if you get car sick, which I, I think it has as much effectiveness, but it tricks them into thinking it works. But yeah, like, it's weird that people fall for all that stuff, but for some reason, like, Russell Wilson can't necessarily get away with it. But I, I think it's all the same. Um, but it's, good point. It's just, he, he is tiring, but he's a better quarterback than Mason Rudolph.

you know well sure and and like the price tag clearly is is is the difference but it just it feels weird if he's if he's priced out i do worry about him though because he's just this relentless positivity positively he's going to believe that his belief will take him to the next level because it has he's achieved more than anyone would have ever imagined a third round pick who is a super Bowl champion, one of the seven or eight best quarterbacks of the last like ten years. Nine Pro Bowl. Right. Like he's achieved

it all and yet it's I don't I don't think it's coming. He's a not this isn't this doesn't happen to every quarterback but for him I don't give much chance of it coming back. It's not coming back and I don't think even the starting job is coming back and so for him to adjust to what

that's going to be like I think it's going to be difficult and I thought it was going to be difficult sometimes for guys and they end up doing it really well. I think Cam Newton transitioned into that second Patriots phase of his career pretty damn well and it worked for him. So maybe Russell Wilson will end up doing that. Even if he's not playing that well, like where he's a good teammate and like he fits in and it's fine. But to me, it's going to be hard for him to adjust to a point where he's like backing up Drake May or something like that. And when the Steelers tell us, and I don't know if I believe them at this point either,

that they're not chasing another quarterback, I'm struggling to find the team out there that inside their building convinced themselves Russell Wilson can be our starting quarterback and this is going to work well. Right. So he's probably going to get cut. He sent a video of him working out today with Brandon Marshall. They're working out together. Let's go. Let's ride, baby.

Two. You know, love Nipsey Hustle, but I feel like we got to move on from the like grinding on my life song is the song for every workout video for pro athletes at some point. We need to move

past that. We're not moving past Sean Payton though who had kind of amazing comments. You know he's getting annoyed by Russell Wilson continuing to talk about the contractual nefarious stuff that Russell Wilson was asked to do by the Broncos

and you know it's annoying the Broncos that Russell Wilson keeps bringing this up. I think that might be why Sean Payton kept honking about it on Tuesday. I saw this like humorous meme the other day where there was a Bronco fan with a shirt on and there was like eight quarterbacks

names across through it, you know, and he's drinking the quarterback Kool-Aid, and, you know, our job is to make sure that this next one, you know, doesn't have a line through it. I do believe him. Yes, I believe him. The fact that he says the next one, he also put a timeline on Wilson. So I would anticipate it being, you know, within the next two weeks. So you don't think this is going to go to the eve of March 7th.

I think I just said the next two weeks. Yeah, next two weeks. I love a little fiery, Sean Payton. He's a fun value I had to have back. Yeah, I don't know. I'm trying to remember how he was at the very start of his career, but he has zero, he openly has zero patience for half of these conversations at this point.

Yeah, and he's clear. He lets us know, and that's the thing. It's easy to believe Sean Payton, because, you know, he's going to say whatever comes to mind. and he said it there. He's going to know. He's got the Paris, you know, St. Germain, the cool hoodie on

and he's got the Jordans and he's living like. I don't, you know, he's doing fine. Let's, uh, we're going to listen to a few more people, if we believe them or not. And, uh, before we do that, though,

we're going to take a little break. We are back and so are the stars of tomorrow. Taking the field in Indianapolis. We have a front row seat waiting for. you watch live as our analysts are joined by current players to break down the top quarterbacks, wide receivers, and running backs as they compete at the 2024 NFL scouting combine. Don't miss players only combine presented by Noble with coverage starting Saturday at 2 p.m. Eastern only on NFL plus. The boy, the boy's into it. The boy wants to watch some,

some combine action. Walker. Oh, yeah. A completist. He got a draft board. He's been in a And he was all excited because they were showing old NFL combines, apparently, on, like, the NFL channel. And he was confused, thought that was live. I was like, no, don't watch this. That's a wait. I also saw he was watching one of those top ten shows with an old clip of Wes back in the day. He is a true junkie. And so he was using his TV time to watch old top 10 in-season trades, I believe, was the episode.

And Wes was spout and wisdom about the Bobby Lane trade from. Detroit, which is the most West thing ever and talking about this curse. And it's a beautiful it truly is a beautiful thing. We're like walking a room and see your son and he's watching this thing and Wes is on it. So Wes lives on. And that

like he was so strong in those episodes. If you ever have a hankering, you should go check those out. He was made for the for that content. Right. And I was on that episode too. And you were also made for that content. No. I I was. You were great. Because like when I see those number interstitials on

the top tens and there's like a ball bursting through an aquarium with the number six on it and then Greg Rosebell's face comes up like that's or it's like wait why are there like like five buxom cheerleaders and the number seven it's like wait why are they there exactly but that's like the whole show is just like the cheerle you know in the interstitials does your does Walker think that every dad is just hanging out on television no I asked him that he thinks it's cool, but, but no, I was bad back. We all get better at our jobs. You were saying you had regrets, I believe, about an interview you just did yesterday.

I often have regrets about performances on this show. And I can say without a doubt, if I could do those top tens again, I would be better at them now than I was seven or eight years ago. Well, I would say one thing behind the glass. Like, they often are filmed at the combine, and like, it's like, go out till three in the morning and then film this at seven in the morning. That was a little bit of it. But yeah, Amica came over and she supported my claim.

She's like, yeah, you're just so chill. Why are you just? And I'm just like being very like chill and laid back, which is not the way to do that. You got to be more like DA, Damon Ammon Deloria or whatever. You got to come hot. You got to come decisive. He does it.

Not that I would do that. I'm just saying, trust me, we all get better. Not at things that we do. I would be better. We would all be better, I think. Yeah, I didn't make my combine appearance at that time. I could do better as well. Mark is a striking television presence from, you know,

he came from the desk at NFL Network in 2020. You were a different man back then. A bit of an end around. Television executives here, not sure how that all came together. A.J. Brown was on WIP last week, and we're going to include him in this Do You Believe section because it was talked about in Philly

and certainly by Howie Roseman, at his combine presser, and AJ Brown was talking about the rumors of whether he would want to stay in Philly or not. I have no problem. I want to be here. It's simple as that. I love where I'm at. It's simple as that. Next question. And he also hit on the talk that there could be friction with him and his quarterback. You know, I think that's total BS. You know, I'm not going to get into me and his relationship on the air, but it's total BS. and it wasn't it wasn't a problem when I was on my season game street it wasn't it wasn't talking about that then so they only started talking about that when we started losing so of course

yeah you see friction you see friction from everybody from the coaches the players from everybody so yeah so there you go the one interesting like dynamic to this was that this was on you know WIP and philly like he was sitting around listening to everyone going off on the radio and called in it wasn't a schedule He called it on his own to bring up these points. That makes me believe him. If you're going to call in to WIP out of nowhere.

Right. So I'm willing to think that it was a very frustrating meltdown. And like that's a tough town to have a meltdown in. And I think it's like, look it, it worked really well the year before. There's still a lot of talented players on that team. And it's like I think A.J. Brown's probably found some peace over all that happened. And it's like calling in to say, chill out. It's going to be fine from my side of things.

Yeah, and not to just make it everything about just how bad the offense was and how disjointed it seemed, but Jalen was hurt at the end of the season, and so was AJ. Like, they were limping across the finish line. So you add all of that to get like, yeah, there's frustrations. Like, we saw Travis Kelsey go at Andy Reed in the actual Super Bowl. Right. But as AJ pointed out, they won, so everything's good. Like, we don't have these outside expectations on their relationship because they won. So then we're just to assume that everything's fine

And they hug and everything's great But it's just like such a binary thing And I'm glad like I'm glad that AJ Because people might say like oh he's clearly paying too much attention But like people are talking about like yeah You would like to be able to pick up the phone And call and say hey this this is dumb This has nothing to do with anything

So yes I believe I appreciate that And I hope I hope they keep AJ Brown and Devante Smith together for another year I think they will. I think they know what they have. It might get a little tricky once DeVantz is up for new con. He could get a new contract this offseason, but they might not address it yet. Like at some point,

they might break those two up. We'll see. I thought it was interesting. Howie Roseman also all but confirmed James Bradbury. He did confirm James Bradbury is going to be back with the team. I think that's more of a contract thing that he has so many, so much guaranteed money in his contract. but like if the Eagles had the Chiefs defense,

they would have been like in the conference championship. Like, and then no one would have been talking about the offense. The offense was okay for most of the year. Let's move on to back to Indianapolis. Let's talk to Elliot Wolf. The fact that Elliot Wolf even had a podium was news. The fact that Elliot Wolf confirmed that he has final say on the Patriots roster, like this has been a slow build.

It's kind of been the expectation. But Elliot Wolf is that dude. running the Patriots now and they're right in the thick of this quarterback talk because they're number three overall some people think they could take one some people think they could trade down what does Elliot Wolf think I think it's a really good year for quarterbacks it's a really good year at a lot of positions like any position we're gonna we're gonna evaluate their strengths and weaknesses determine who fits for us we're pretty early in the process here

like I haven't met any these guys drought hasn't met any these guys so you know as we continue through the process here we'll determine what's best for the team. And, you know, one thing about the quarterbacks in this draft specifically that I'm excited about is they all look like they're really tough guys, which, you know, is obviously great at any position, but the quarterback position especially. Ellie Wolf's dad, Ron, the famous. He's starting to look like Ron Wolf.

Right. GM of the Packers back in the day, famously had a philosophy to draft a quarterback every single year. Ever since I heard that, that's been what I then say in articles and then a podcast. I was like that, oh, that's a good move. This draft a quarterback every year. It was kind of the Patriots move for a while, too, behind Brady. And Ron Wolf would keep hitting on these late round picks that would develop into backups that would be trade picks

or be good people behind Brentford. So I think Ellie Wolf's going to do that. Whether he does that with the number three pick or not, I don't know. He also had some interesting comments. I think it was in a side session because Eric was grinding tape. He watched it three times over. We couldn't find anywhere on Twitter. He made this comment that he,

He didn't want the culture there to be as, what was it? He said, tough guy vibe. Right. Certainly there's more of an open, less of a hard-ass-type vibe in the building. Now, post-Belichick. That's interesting. Yeah, I figured if he said that on a camera in front of a mic, it would have been too hard to find the video of it. Yes.

But, yeah, that one will probably get back to Belichick, and Wolf shouldn't regret that he said it because he's just being honest. Ask those ball boys how the negative comments go inside of England. it will become a little thing in Boston. Either. I mean, does it matter? No. Because the one thing I don't believe about what Elliot said there is that they're early

in the process. Well, that's true. Yeah. I think they've probably done a whole lot of work on the process. And maybe there's a few conversations that they would like to have in person. But I think they're pretty far on. I mean, Elliot Wolf has been around, like, there are a lot

of, like, John Schneider and other people that would go way back in the old Green Bay days where Ron Wolf was there and Elliot Wolf was like a kid. People knew him as a kid. Like he's been in the NFL forever. So I find his comments to be a little, not hedging, but like he's not going to tell us a thing about what they're doing at quarterback. I'd be stunned if they don't have a bigger plan at quarterback than rerun. Go back with Mack Jones and Bailey Zappy. They have to be flexible because with the three pick, you don't know what quarterback you're going to get. Let's say they like Drake May. And as you mentioned, and I failed to mention at the beginning of the show, we are getting Nate Tyson

to wrap up this show to talk some quarterbacks. Yeah, who knows? Maybe Caleb Williams doesn't get taken one, and they love Caleb Williams, and they want to trade to two, and they have resources to get him. Or maybe Drake May falls to three, and they would take him, but they wouldn't take Jayden Daniels, or vice versa. Maybe they're really in on Jayden Daniels, but he ends up going to, and then you have to be able to pivot.

So there's a lot of things that they'll have to do before that, including getting I think someone in the building through free agency that's at least just there regardless of what they're going to do in the draft. He also was very high on calling Michael O'WNU a core piece in someone they want to build around, which made me think a franchise tag

could be coming for O'NU. Just the level of support he was putting behind him made me think either they're going to get that deal done or maybe they might... Well, they're the third most cap room in the league. Right. So I tend to think they'll be aggressive. Right.

They weren't as, he wasn't as aggressive talking about Kyle Dugger, so I don't think a franchise tag would happen there. Let's wrap up a couple more in Indy. Rahim Morris is the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, and he pointed to one reason why that could be the case. I'm not afraid to say that we have the ability and we're capable to go out there and win next year. If we do some of the right things, some of the right moves, we can do that. And that's not an arrogance, that's not a confidence, that's not a cockiness. that is more of a credit to the people that were in the building with me still some of the people that are not there now and what they've been able to do you know if we had better quarterback play last year in Atlanta I might not be standing here perhaps the most honest thing that was said yeah and correct thing that was said in the podium today from indianapolis it's 100% true I think desmond ritter and taylor heinkey would probably agree with that as well I know author smith would you know maybe there's a few people that think it's james's fault that are

got fired, but I think there was a few more things that went into that. Yeah, the quarterback play was bad. It was especially bad in the red zone. They had so many opportunities, and you can think about them week after week after week, play after play, where they didn't get it done there and go on the quarterback position.

And that's the way the game goes. Yeah, it's like one reason for Falcons fans to immediately appreciate Rahim Morris, the way that he's been talked about from people inside the Rams organization and parts beyond. that this, we needed an energy shift around the Falcons offense. And it's very clear right now that if Desmond Ritter is hanging around, he'll be a backup. They're going somewhere else, and that was important, I think.

Yeah, well, that can't be fun to listen to if you're Desmond Ritter, but it makes a lot of sense. I'm excited about this Falcons coaching staff. It was interesting, I think, hearing Sean McVade, he gave a press conference in L.A., because he's not going to the combine about the guys that went to Atlanta and really believing that they put together a great coaching staff, which is, you know, diminish the Rams coaching staff. But that's how it works. Let's wrap up with Tom Telesco,

who's still in the NFL. He's still in the AFC West. He did the rare thing where he lost one job and got another. That almost never happened to GMs. And it happened to Tom Telesco, of all people. I don't mind Tom Telesco, but he's not like the guy that you would have expected that to happen. He is the guy that was asked about Devante Adams,

possibly getting traded, This offseason. Another GM asked you this week about whether Don DeVonthe is available. He's a traitor. It's quick. It is true. It is true. Everyone took that to mean like there is no chance Devante Adams is getting traded.

I think that's probably true. I tend to also. But I also don't totally, but I don't believe people should be having headlines that he said that we will not trade Devonty. No, I'm with you. I think it's important that like Devante Adams was. was a big proponent of Antonio Pierce being hired and liked that because I think we were heading towards like irritated Devante Adams territory

with each passing week last season had a lot to do with the coach that got fired and I think he's in a better place. Quarterback's still a big question though. Yeah, and it's a question I think they'll need to answer and that's something in a conversation they'll need to have with Devante, but ultimately it's up to Mark Davis and Tom Telesco

to make the circumstances comfortable enough for Devante to be there. it's their choice because I asked we did TA with Steve Smith Sr. And I asked him

if you're Devante do you want to be back in Las Vegas like a lot of people who's like well depends on the financial circumstances

I mean they can make it worth his while to be on a bad football team what are they going to do pay him more money if that's what it's if not that

then yeah Devante would probably like to if he's going to play football Jackpot baby Yeah, absolutely. But if you like living there and they get a decent enough quarterback, Justin Fields? Does Justin Fields want to be with Luke Getsey again?

That's not. That would be, that doesn't happen to it. No. Why not? I mean, it just doesn't happen that often. What's to indicate that they wouldn't work together? Well, let's get Mac Jones and Matt Patricia. No, it's not quite the same.

I guess you're saying as a Justin Fields fan, if I could read between the lines here, you don't want him to be with Luke Getzzi necessarily because you're not that confident in Getzzi? Because otherwise, like, it's familiarity with the system. He just said, okay. Yes. Yeah.

And I believe Patrick. No, I believe you. I believe you, but there's only so many spots where he could land and I feel like that could be okay. And if I was a Raider fan, I would like that. At this point, I feel like that would be a good... And there would be more hope with Justin,

I mean, considering the options. He just feels like that's what Al Davis would have done at this. point is go get Justin Fields. That would be an enticing matchup and I think you can get over the OCs part of it, but the Falcons also linger out there as a They loved other teams is failed, not failed

but second chance first round pick because Justin Fields occupies a weird space where like he was better than the average first round quarterback actually if you think about it. Like he's better than average. He's just not a top five to ten quarterback yet. It's weird that the way that the

draft doesn't feel like it impacts this as much as Cousins does yeah like Cousins is going to slot so much in the quarterback position because it feels like if Cousins is not there for Atlanta then Fields becomes more viable

and then the field like it may depend like Russell Wilson may have a job or may not depending on where Cuck Cousins goes because that's the big chess piece so we've we've now honked for a while it's been a little bit but we've got more to come

And before we do any of that, we're going to take a quick break. And then we're actually going to do the news then. That's wild. We're shaking things up, Eric. Innovative. After the break. We are back.

And let's do some news. Here is, I'm going to tell you what the news clip is before we even hear it. just to give you a little context. This was Peter King being prompted on NBC Sports Network on the birth of my daughter, Ellis Rosenthal. Like Ellie, as in short for Ellis, and everybody's going to say, Ellis, Ellie is short for Ellis Burks.

Rosenthal is a sick Red Sox fan, unlike, or just like somebody else on this panel, who shall not be named. And my only question is, couldn't you think of a better Red Sox? You know, Carly Estramsky, Ted Williams, Ellis Burks, better than naming a girl, Pudge, I guess. And yeah, that was this show we were on way back in 2011 on NBC Sports Network, and him roasting me for my daughter's name.

Hey, congratulations to Greg, because we might not have had Peter King if he was talking about it close like that to me. We would have been celebrating Peter King's 26-year career. Yeah, that was, you know, I took it in good spirit, just the fact that he brought it up. I always remember, it's also the oldest thing on my phone. It's the oldest save thing on my phone. And Peter King, of course, retired surprisingly out of nowhere this week, wrote his last football, Morning in America column. So happy trails, Peter King. No one quite like them in football media over the last.

No, like I was thinking about like this one combine many years ago where, you know, back then you did these long tables where you'd write and you'd be sitting down with people from other publications and stations and like Peter King came and sat down like a seat away for me

and like I was like I'm not gonna bug him but I was like this is one of the few kind of football reporters slash football minds where I was like kind of starstruck and like I it's like him growing up reading Sports Illustrated growing up reading these guys like Dr. Z Paul Zimmerman

and Peter King are like the two dudes that I would just say had these length the incredible careers where they changed football so much. And Peter King, I think the one thing I heard about them consistently and over and over. And you knew when you were young, Greg, in the business was that, I guess, like, his most recent going away type dinner, it was a mix of, like, 10 old school veteran journalists that he'd worked with for ages. But then, like, 10 people that were very new to the industry, that he just wanted to be

part of that as well. Like, it seemed to always nurture, care about young journalists. gave a he really showed incredible faith in a some of them that aren't journalists anymore it wasn't just lifers that he knew would be and i think peter king is just a very special part of this industry and it's like there is no replacing him right i mean he kind of bridges the the gap of all these generations and he was like the guy which it's pretty you know in an industry as big as you know football writing and there were other guys over the years but for a long time like he kind of was the guy like when john harbaugh i believe spoke about it a couple people this week of like

you know they're going to miss they they grew up eric de costa grew up reading peter king and have those memories of those conversations and he i think the thing he did better than anyone else is he got good he got players to talk in a way he got them comfortable to explain the game or explain stories behind the game in a way um that was really unique and he did that with sports illustrated and then he did that on the web with MMQB and then you know to tv when he was on football night in america and everything he had a great book inside the helmet where he goes through different positions and gets really and i feel like it's probably out of print i don't even know but if you could find it that was a really great inside look where he spends a lot of time with

some of the best players in the NFL and it's back back in the 90s it's great and and i i really think because like watching you guys um go around and interact with people and i do want to celebrate Peter King, but y'all deserve flowers, too. I'm going to be honest, like, because you talked about spanning and connecting these legacies, like you guys connect those legacies as well.

And the one thing that I was thinking about, because Peter came on Total Access the day he retired, was we ran out of time because, you know, Peter writes a 10,000-word column every single week for 30 years. So, you know, sometimes it can run a little long. But hopefully the industry

facilitates growth, right, for the next generation of people that can come through and hopefully get that access and be around and to do these interviews and to have these relationships because sometimes it feels like they won't.

But I think in the people that I'm sitting with at this table and, you know, the dude who's not here and, of course, the one who's not with us anymore, that legacy is, it exists. I just, I don't know why put on me to say this, but I think it's... Wow, Patrick, like that kind of made my

week. I don't know. Sometimes you just kind of forget what you even do during the day. That is... That is really... Right back at you. Appreciate it. And it's one of the reasons why I miss going to the Combine. Because that's a week for that. For... You do realize, like, how long you've been doing this. You see the new people coming up. It is a time to have those sort of meetings, dinners, advice, all that sort of stuff. And yeah, Peter was very

helpful to me that that Friday show we did he actually we had a segment my old producer Matt Casey reminded me where Peter essentially played the fantasy football buffoon like how am I messing up in fantasy football and I was the fantasy quote unquote expert and that was my role on the show was like the Michael Fabiano of that show and I would come on and we would talk fantasy we would talk like reality and fantasy Peter would sort of talk about his takes and how that would apply to fantasy and I would kind of come at him. I was like, actually, no. And we had fun doing that and he was very nice. He would give me and Matt a ride back to the city and his, in his car. That made a big difference with a newborn, getting back an hour earlier instead of having

to take the train and had great conversations. And he was just a great dude. And yeah, that book I mentioned, deep interviews and sort of like what it's like to play these positions and stuff with Boomer Assison, Barry Sanders, Bruce Smith, Jimmy Johnson. It's a really cool well-written book shows, I think, what he does well. So happy trails to Peter King. We're going to fly through some news that I just thought was worth noting. So jump in whenever you want to hear. First, let's talk a little just rule stuff.

The end zone touchdown rule where the ball is fumbled into the end zone and then the other team gets it on the 20. That's not going to change. It's over. That is not going to change. Despite some people thinking it's going to change, it's not going to change. I find it annoying because of the NFL seems to do a good job in the offseason of sussing out rule.

that seem to kind of generate a lot of, like, why does this rule still exist? And, like, this is one where you could, I think, temper, like, the cause and effect of that kind of a fumble and it would make sense to everyone, and we're not doing it. I think keep the ball, but you move it back to the 20. Something like that. The sideline should be the sideline all the way down. If somebody fumbles out of the back of the end zone, that's different.

Somebody fumbles in the end zone, the other team recovers it clearly. But I just don't understand that the sideline outside of the end zone being different. You know, there's new competition committee members, Sean McDermott, Sean McVeigh. Maybe they weren't into it because, like, this thing... Well, they didn't even go to the Combine. It didn't even get... They must have been on the conference call or whatever

because it didn't even get out of committee, essentially. Stephen Jones talked about it too. McDermott benefited from that role in the playoffs. Yeah, that's a good point. The other thing I thought, just a quick note, we don't even need discusses. Andrew Barry, your guy in Cleveland. I like that he's trying to push

the Browns are proposing pushing back the trade deadline, which I've been talking about for years. I think that would be great. So we'll follow up on that if that actually goes through, but I like that the Browns are trying to get that done. Some business happened over the weekend. T. Higgins officially got the franchise tag, and some thought is that he might get traded.

That seems to be a more realistic possibility than with most franchise tags. I can't tell if it's just speculation or, or if there's reasons behind it. Brian Burns also looks likely to get a tag. Dan Morgan, the new Panthers GM, said today, like, if we need to, essentially. I don't know why you'd trade Higgins. Considering who the Bengals are right now,

where your position in the AFC, who your quarterback is, and what that wide receiver room starts to look like if you take Higgins off the team. Yeah, it's like, how much Andre Yosefaz are we willing to build this airplane out of? Why not run it back with T at least one more time? I think that's what they will do.

I'm a little torn. If they're not going to pay T. Higgins, the money that he'll deserve and will earn next year, and they've been a team that has been willing to just franchise tag guys and then lose them eventually, that's happened a number of time, including with Jesse Bates, I think, like, you could get a pretty, you know, you might be able to get, like, the 17th pick of the draft

or the 20th pick of the draft, and you take a wide receiver there. that crazy? I don't think that's crazy. Well, it's like Diggs Jefferson. If you can pull that off, if you get an offer that allows you to do that. The odds are you probably won't get it right, but the players coming out now have a pretty high

success rate at wide receiver. I was trying to think of teams that would maybe give up a first round pick for T. Higgins. And this probably wouldn't happen until April anyways, but like the Colts, that's in the middle of the draft. The Bucks, if Mike Evans leaves, like the Texans, the Bills, the Lions, like would you trade for

the 25th pick for T. Higgins? I actually, I'm maybe leaning no, but I don't hate it either way. Yeah, it depends on how you view your window. Like, let's say that the punt doesn't hit the 49ers of McLeod, is able to recover it, and the Chiefs lose the Super Bowl, like, and they're out of the Mike Evans run. You know, are they willing? Would the Bengals be willing to give T. Higgins to the Kansas City Chiefs? No, the Chiefs forget it, but maybe like the Texans or the Lions or the Colts or the Bucks or the Bucks

There's like a million teams where it's like would the Bengals look at it like okay let's not just put everything into this year let's keep stretching this thing as much as we can we're going to pay Jamar like literally it's like late early evening

in Indianapolis right now probably someone from the Bengals is talking to someone from another team about this topic at this very moment a couple other quick items I mentioned earlier the cap went up $30 million that is unprecedented

it was expected to go up a lot maybe like 18 to 20 this is kind of the after effects of the teams printing money once again now that the pandemic is you know in terms of financial repercussions is kind of in the rear view

and so that's going to make it easier to keep a guy like T. Higgins or a guy like Sequin Barclay and again there's too many, too much cap space out there not enough good players. Some of the decent players that have gotten released though in the last handful of days, Shaq Barrett from the Bucks he's in my top 101. He's at 80

Emmanuel Agba I think is at the very back end of the top 101. Zavian Howard, the cornerback for the Dolphins, some of the early cuts. It just all feels financially triggered in these cases, and most of these guys are still solid players and we'll find another team soon. Right, they're like solid but not 18, 25 cap charge type of guys.

Although Zavian Howard did have two pretty rough seasons, so I'm not sure the market for him is going to be good. And yeah, I mentioned Brian Burns. And, yeah, Brett Veach, the GM of the chief said they do figure that they're going to use the tag. Now, he didn't say who it would be on. The logic is it would probably be Legerius Sneed. And they're going to try to get Chris Jones sign in the meantime. Eric tells me we might have some breaking news.

Let's hear it. Go. Just read it off for me. There it is right there. The Chief 7 form Legerius Sneed. They're going to use the franchise. to act for him. I wish I had read that like 30 seconds ago. There's ways of

communications and then sometimes you get on a roll and it's all good. We got it in here. It's in the show. I'm messaging you in like 75 different ways and eventually holding the fingers, typing fingers up and Claibon saw them. You know, more of a live in the moment, looking to Mark's, you know, mysterious

eyes. Yeah, you're not alone. People say they like to do that. It's a good thing to do. I couldn't imagine spending my time in a better way. I mean, you kind of have the perfect two seats for it. it's a one reason why Dan and Mark just shut me out of conversation and Dan's just

mesmerized I mean look at those things oh please what is happening here but I think with Burns and speed like the tag as a negotiation strategy like a step in the negotiation it seems to becoming the more popular thing oh I think it was always popular but I'm I hear you and I think that's the reason

why they created the franchise tag and well as besides its role as a price control metric like just procedurally like okay so we're going to do this negotiation but tag right now let's continue if anything yeah it's always been about restricting the best players from actually leaving the team it's a vestige of the old free agency system and if anything i think they do try to get these these deals done um maybe even more than they did 15 years ago but you're right patrick most of the time they don't they just end up getting stuck on that tag and

I sent some optimism from Vich 2 on Chris Jones. We will see. And who knows, maybe we'll have an update. I mean, he said it again. They really, really want to keep him. I think he wants to stay. He's been saying that one of the little nugget that I thought that the Bucks, both Jason Light and Todd Bowles came out very strongly saying like Mike Evans is very much

in our plans. So I thought that was maybe not going to be the case. And it's like they're going to push to keep him and Baker Mayfield. And if I'm a Bucks fan, I like that. we'll see if we can believe them, if that's true. Yeah, we'll see. I'm sure. I do believe them. Man, I think there's going to be some big offers for Mike Evans. So we'll see if they can match them.

And it might just honestly, because we're going to see Derek Henry playing somewhere else. And it's just, it's weird. And we're going to look back. Mike Evans is going in the Bucks Ring of Honor. He may be going to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Just a couple extra years. Like, what's the price? I'm with you.

I think you keep him in Tampa. Yeah, I think they would absolutely. love to keep Mike Evans like they're going to keep Levante David. He expects to stay in Tampa. He said as much. We will continue to say things into microphones

with our friend Nate Tice coming up after a quick break. Nate is going to join us and we'll talk about some of the quarterbacks at the combine. That music can only mean one thing. We've got a guest coming up. One I'm very excited about.

This is a man who once backed up Russell Wilson at the University of Wisconsin. He is the host of the athletic football show, including a weekly episode called Prospects to Proskees with Dane Bruebler, which I have personally listened to all season. in an effort to not be as dumb about the NFL draft process this year. A self-brag arrives in the middle of the production. Make it personal.

It's Nate Tice. Make it personal. Not as dumb because there's only so much I can do. There's only so much I can do. Your program with Dane is great. It's every Wednesday. People should check it out. And yeah, I'm not going to say it's a total blind spot on this episode on this show,

but we don't cover it as much until, like, right now. So that's the purpose of you, Nate, to get us smart on these matters. It's perfect timing for Combine Week. By the way, that intro music really reminds me of the Four Horseman in WCW with Rattler and Arna Anderson and everything. It's very much so I approve of that theme.

I have seen people cover that guitar cell because it's phenomenal. But no, what better way to talk about the draft than literally Combine Week? I think the I have Sauron moves from the rest of, regular season to the draft. And here we are in Indianapolis. Yeah, you are there. We are in the studio.

And yes, our host, Dan Hansis, loves to play that song as a roar shock test of what people think of. And that was, I think, the first time that we've heard that. Yeah, we often get, like, you know, lonely obsessed detective driving through the L.A. night in a BMW or something. Yeah. Okay. I like that.

Yeah. And something came out from 1983 to 1986. Yeah, something of that. So maybe that's why it's Rick Flair in 1990. because they still acted like it was the 80s, even it was 95. Performing a psychological test on every guest is a very damn thing to do.

I do, because Greg has increased his ball draft knowledge, right? Yeah. I wanted to know, Nate, do you feel the level of ball knowledge generally has impacted things at the combine based on the way that it seems like, from what I'm hearing from podiums and interviews, that team officials are very reluctant to say anything.

Do you think that your contribution to the level of ball knowledge has stunted conversation? Just me personally? It's a team effort of that. It's a team effort, Nate. But it's a team effort. No, I think the general fan has become smarter.

And I also think the advanced fan has become smarter as well. And I think there is a growing, I mean, shoot, you guys shoot Mina Bill Barnwell. There's many people out there that do so much good stuff and that I think that's what it is. I think that people realize, oh, there is more to this game rather than just grit and who wants it more, which does matter. But also, like, yeah, the intricacies of the scheme stuff, even the processes. I mean, there's so many, so many articles you can write, but it feels like there's a new article about some process with the draft or training or how teams look at guys.

So I do think there is some of that. And also, we're getting into a point where coaches aren't showing up for the combine. which if you told me that 10 years ago, five years ago, I'd be like, really? Like, just he sick? And like, so that, that blows my mind. And the player stuff I understand, especially after post-COVID, you know,

after kind of the changes of what they realize they can and cannot do. But I do think that people have become more savvy as far as, like, how they answer stuff, even co-did stuff, because I do think the general fan has bumped up a lot. The floor has, I think, raised up a little bit. At least maybe I'm just in my own little.

a bubble, but that's how I think. No, I think the attention and look, the draft community is bigger than ever. Like, there are a lot of draft NICs out there. You got to try to stand apart, Nate. You got to cover the NFL and the draft. And one of the things I've

noticed this year is you've been a Drake May guy. And so we got the news this week that the top three expected quarterbacks, Caleb Williams, Drake May, Jaden Daniels, in whatever order they end up going. That's, that's probably the consensus order, but who knows, are not going to throw at the comment. That's not

surprising. That's not new for top prospects over the years. But I want to talk about them anyways, because you've been a May guy throughout. And maybe for the average fan out there, like, why are you a May guy? And you're a Caleb Williams guy, too, because I hear, I hear you rank the two of them probably among the seven or eight, you know, six or seven best quarterback prospects of the last like 12 years where, you know, you would have had Caleb Williams number one in almost every draft. You just like Drake May a little bit better and that the two of them are that high level of prospect. Why the separation between those two and kind of those two as a group? What do you think? Yeah, I truly think they are as top tier of a prospect as you can get.

There's no perfect prospect, of course, and that that's going into that. And I'll just be corny and say that. But I've been kind of like officially scouting guys, like as far as like actually doing this process and watching a six, seven, eight games of all 22. Since 2014, I was still with the, I was joined the Falcons. And I would say in that time period, so that's about a decade. Caleb, Williams, Drake May are up there with Trevor Lawrence that's in some way should perform that top tier of prospect that I've ever watched. And then you get off of that.

I mean, I was pretty high on fields, but he was a tier below that. I was high, like Stroud, I was even a full tier below that. I didn't even know if I liked him or Richardson, you know, last year as well. But I think with these guys, Caleb was a guy I got low on during the season. And then now I just studied it. And I'm like, oh, yeah, you're awesome. And you are supremely accurate. And I think that's the underage.

I'll start with Caleb, but that's the underrated thing with him is that he's really good from the pocket. And a lot of that scrambling, running around stuff was out of necessity because that offense blew. And the offense line was no good. And I thought he didn't get a lot of help, which surprised me from going from TV copy to all of 22. And it just grew and grew and grew. I don't know comparing him to freaking Drew Brie's coming out of Purdue because of just that accuracy and how he operates. And on top of all the stuff, the ad living and the creation and everything, I think he has rare contact balance. He's tremendous to me.

The accuracy and the work from the pocket has been so underrated with him. And that's why on top of all the cool stuff where he gets comparisons to them homes, that's a cool package. But May, and why I prefer him, it's 1A1B. They're both top five guys to be easy. May to me is the prototype as far as size, 642.30. He's a great athlete. I think that's been underrated for him this process. He is one of the most efficient and explosive scramblers in recent memory as far as

coming out of college, like as far as just earning first downs. He's smart with getting down to once he gets past there, but I think he's going to run like a four, six something. I think he's a very good athlete. On top of it, he's aggressive. and he works over the middle. And the comparison and why I always want to bring up the over the middle stuff is I think of that as like three-point shooting, but for quarterbacks.

So if you can't do that, you have to be an exceptional athlete, like a Russell Westbrook, who can't shoot, or if you have to be like Chris Paul and make it like Joe Burroughs a great example. He doesn't really work over the middle as much as you would think, but he's a monster and quick game. And he's a monster and just accuracy and all that. He's like Chris Paul. He can shoot those long twos instead of shooting threes. And so to me, you have to have those gifts. May does that.

He launches stuff over the middle with timing, with arm strength, and with just anticipation throwing them stuff, like throwing guys open truly. And so, sorry, I got new headphones because I forgot mine. So I had to buy $20 a headphones at the airport. No, look at the shape. It looks great. It looks like a podcaster. Yeah, right.

I know, right? I actually thought it looked like, I remember the dream team when, you know, Charles Barkley said, I don't know who they are, but we're going to stomp them or whatever we're going to say. I feel like I have the translation headphones right there, Algeria, I think it was. But I think, no, but I watch him. It's just he's that total package. When I watch these elite guys, the, it's hard.

I'm not going to compare anyone in the halls, but Josh Allen, Lamar, Justin Herbert, those type of guys, a borough, even a DAC Prescott or Matthew Stafford. They work that shit over the middle over and over and over. It's because that is the juiciest area to create explosive plays, but it requires a lot of balls from the quarterback. So I saw you. as that i saw you doing um a sit down with uh chicago bears it might have been a radio station or a pod it was recent and you were you were pounding the table from may and like i even this morning on twitter i've seen some people coming from such a different place on that quarterback and you've got people that look at calip williams and say a big chunk of what he did in college

won't work or translate to the NFL it's like so the opinions are all over the place but if you're the chicago bears and this dog and pony show about what might happen with fields like are do you have to believe that they're looking at these two quarterbacks the same that you are saying this is an absolute upgrade from Justin Fields and without any question no matter what we're saying publicly these two guys or who you move on from your current current quarterback to get one of them if it's and I don't know which one it is but it's like their heads and tails better than Fields in your mind. I do and even though I am still high on Fields and still think he can be a pretty good quarterback in this league. I just think he has blemishes that I don't know if he can overcome with

his throwing style. He I just talked about all that stuff throwing over the middle. Fields doesn't do that. He's not good in quick game. He actually, like his upside still is almost like a Russell Wilson when in his prime, you know, running around, launching great deep balls, having some limitations and some of the stuff, you know, throwing stuff underneath and over the middle. So when I look at that, and like I said, these two as prospects, I still view higher than Fields, even though Fields might be five or six, you know, the guys are watching the last 10 years.

But I think these guys are a tier better. And because they do the things that Fields has shown that he hasn't been able to do, even with a little better situation this past year. And that's even before getting into the contract stuff. And I know kind of fake smart people want to use that as like a whole talking point. But it doesn't matter. And resetting the rookie contract scale, especially when you're paying guys like Montes Sweat and stuff like that. So that helps the argument as well.

I said on that little Bears podcast too. And not that's mean, but that Bears podcast too is that I, it was that I love those guys. I don't know why I said little. But there's like one of them asked like, would you bump if they traded with Washington been flopped at one pick and got the other guy. It was May in this example. I was like, that's ideal to me. If you look at them in the same tier, which is what I do, that would be the ideal on trade

fields, move back to two, get even more capital and then take the other guy, the one B of the of the two guys. Right. I don't want to spend any more on this because I want to get to the other quarterbacks, but it does concern me that like one of these two guys is going to be coached by the same guy that was coaching that, that terrible USC offense a year ago that suddenly like everyone's like, wow, this was really hard to watch this offense. And it's like that guy is going to be coaching one of them.

But let's let's move. Let's move on from that. Yeah, let's go down to Jaden. I've called it Nate amateur kinesiology, right? With the body type concerns. How concerned are you with Jaden's body type? I'm, I am concerned. And I'm going to put on my boomer scout hat on a little bit.

He's got narrow shoulders. And that's frame. It's all about, you know, filling out the frame. Even the guy like CJ Stroud last year, it was 214, I think. he has broad shoulders and big hands. And why I'm bringing that up is frame to grow. Right. He's already gained like 60.

Big shoulders, big hands. I've always had potential to just get bigger. We don't doubt that. Sorry. Yeah, no, but what Daniels is that I think he's maxed out. Like he's already gained like 60 pounds. I think he went into college at 140, 145, like a ridiculously low weight when he went to Arizona State.

And when you look at quarterbacks, and this is honestly, I remember coming on here, quarterback's under 210, not even 205, which is what Daniel is. was listed at and I think he's more like 195 is you can it's hard to find a quarterback under 210 or even 205 that has had long-term success in the NFL if you look even since 2000 the year 2000 the only quarterback to have i like adjusted net yards you know touchdowns interceptions take away sack yardage uh seven or more is usually like a top five top six quarterback season uh in a given year there's only been two quarterbacks i'm sorry three quarter no two quarterbacks since 2000 have seven or more

And that's Kirk Cousins and Jeff Garcia. And so, okay, what's dropped with the six yards, which is like a top half season. So above average type of quarterback year, you're throwing in Aaron Brooks. And that's the only other guy that you can throw in there. So Breeze has got to be on the border line there, but yeah. You got the 209. So Breeze got the 209. So that's what helps them out.

So that four pounds is like, is carrying. Well, but that's the other thing is Daniel's a six four. So he's long and slender. And that's another thing about Breeze is. stout. That's why actually compared him to Caleb Williams, is they actually kind of are going to weigh about the same. It might be like 212 or something. But I think that's where my concerns are. It's just this is a historical outlier. And on top of it, he, no one has scrambled more over the last five years than Daniels. And that's how he chooses to play. It's a hard and he's

reckless. So it's really just durability stuff that is my main concern. And then on top of it, you know, pulling out of the pocket, like defenders pulling out of their grasp. So that leaves me just a little hesitant, especially teams talking about or people looking at him as a top five guy. That's like I grade him more as like a late first, early second type. That will probably get inflated, of course. But I've had some blemishes. I'm writing about him right now.

And as I dove more into it, I've had more, I have more concerns that I did going into it. Yeah, he's someone that like, I know the draftics and you guys on prospect approach, like the QB3 discussion was a big one all season. Like, who's going to be this third quarterback? And I would say, like, half the country had no idea that Dayton Daniels was going to

a consensus top five pick doesn't doesn't mean anything though because we've seen that over and over and then those guys do get taken uh very high and sometimes they're they're awesome and sometimes they're not of the guys that are throwing at the combine uh so you know michael pennix and bo knicks and and uh is j j j mccarthy throwing do we know that i think he is i think he is yeah um like who's your favorite flavors uh among among the rest of the guys I've grown on McCarthy a little bit, but it's not like I'm like, oh,

I'll take him in the first round. He probably will go because I do think Shanahan coaches are going to love him from that tree. There's got to be a lot of, there's got to be a lot of Broncos McCarthy thing. And that's a lot higher, you know, or even,

or even Atlanta at like eight or seven. Atlanta or Vikings at 11. I actually think that's the one. I actually think he'll like him. I just brought up all that weight stuff. Jay J.J. McCarthy has the same concerns. He's sub 205 as well. And, uh,

but I actually. do think there are some comparisons with him and cousins when he was coming out of Michigan State. Cousins went in the fourth round. It's not like he was a top 20 guy. And McCarthy has a couple of things that coaches like. And even as I, you only have so many snaps with him because they didn't throw the ball much is that he's willing to throw the ball in the middle, like not just reckless, but like aggressive. And also he can throw on the move. He's a good athlete. He's got a loose live arm. And certain coaches from certain offenses, they like that a lot. Not so much me. I like big arm throw far, you know, but a guy like this is like, I can see certain people

really liking it, even if I don't have that graded as high. But he's kind of grown on me. And then after that, like Nixon Pennix. I'm a lukewarm on or I actually like glass half empty on. And then Spencer Rattler's probably another one. I actually do like how he spins the ball. His more stuff is more off field and maturity and stuff and how he is as a leader. So that I'll find out probably more throughout this week.

But he's another guy worth mentioning. How many quarterbacks go in the first round this time around? I think four end up going. I think McCarthy gets in there. I think Daniels is in there. And then, of course, May and Williams. I think it'll end up being four. It's annoying to me.

You just brought up like seven different quarterbacks, and none of them were the subject of most of our text messages over the course of the season, which was two-lane quarterback, Michael Pratt. Nice mid-round option for a guy who I think will have a nice long career. Athletic, he can make it happen. But we don't need to spend time. time on Pratt. Before, before you let you go, Nate, and I do want to thank you once again for during

Super Bowl week, you invited me out to get off the strip because Nate is a Vegas local. That was a home game for him. And just to go to like a normal pizza place in a normal neighborhood of Las Vegas, which does apparently exist. And it did feel like a breath of fresh air. I never had seen that before. And it like, it really helped recharge me for the week. So that was amazing. I, Before we let you go, who like at a wide receiver position are you looking forward to seeing this week actually do stuff on the field? Yeah, it seems like Harrison and neighbors aren't doing anything. So in Dunzee, Roman Dunsay from Washington, I think I'm curious what he runs. He's a Vegas guy too.

He actually went to a high school right down the road for me, Bishop Gorman. And he was a track star there, but now he weighs about 215 to 18. I'm a huge fan of him. I think Daniel Jeremiah has a top three guy. he's a really good player. I compare him to Chris Godwin. I'm curious how he runs. I'm excited to watch him.

Another guy I'm really excited is A.D. Mitchell from Texas really has grown on me, really twitchy, transfer from Georgia, a big pedigree guy, you know, five-star type of guy. He really grew on me as I watched more and more of him. So I want to see how he tests because I think he might be able to jump out of the gym. I'm pretty excited to watch that happen. I think you've said it all, Nate. you've got like 15 other shows that you have to do today, including your own. And then you have any, like, night plans here?

And I guess you don't need to make plans ahead of time in Indianapolis. That's what, well, Bucky told me yesterday, you have to. You have to. In terms of reservations. Well, they were conflicting. Tell me who was right. Tell me who was right, Nate, because Ian said he didn't have to make reservations. Bucky said he did.

We assume that Ian's just walking into places because. Red carpet for Ian. What do you have? have to do how do you operate in indy i hope i get an invite uh if not i always i always do a ruse chris by myself i i'm a sucker for russ chris just going back to i just like you the chain and indies one is pretty good so i always do one meal by myself there but then usually i'm just hoping for an invite somewhere i know i got a 14 15 month year old at home this is this is me catching up on sleep this week like that that's what i'm doing this is real i yeah i got more curfews

that I used to when I used to come to to Indianapolis. So, yeah, just hope for the invite. I think St. Elmo's, though, is a little basic. Wow. That's a real man right there. That's a man who's comfortable in himself. He likes spending time with himself and his friend Ruth, Chris.

Enjoy Nate. Just a loser. Thank you. Just a loser. Thanks, Greg. See you, Nate. See you guys. I feel like that was a good kind of entry point. We're just starting. Time to start grinding that tape. Little primer. I feel like I feel behind Nate Tice.

I feel like he's doing more work on this. That's okay. That's his thing. He's making rankings. He's one of the drafts. It's fine to catch up late. You know, kids in school, especially classes you're not as passionate about. Cramming's fine.

Doing it all at the last minute's fine if as long as you do enough. As long as you get it done. Right. For many paths. Right. Like if it's something you love, you love reading and writing, you want to put in the work throughout the whole semester, the class, you know? You're right.

The whole time. You're not as into science. Just find a cheat, not a cheat, but, you know, find a way to cram at the last time. Whatever it takes. Whatever it takes. Yeah. Exactly. That's, and I enjoy the draft, but I enjoy the draft process starting with the combine.

And like, watching the combine is perfect prep for it because you just, all that stuff from, like, DJ and it just becomes osmosis to where you're talking about. Well, they give us that 500 page PDF. You're like, Oh, yeah, Ola Foshanu's, like, drop step is too big. Dan will be back on Thursday to really settle this thing down. It always gets too long when I'm here running the show. We will be back then, and for Mark Sessler, for Patrick Claibon, for Nate Tice, for Chris Wesleyan on the Top Ten show.

For Eric and Randy Behind the Glass, heed the call. This is an I-heart podcast.