NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - The Best Season of Their Career - Our Lives Depend on It

Episode Date: July 22, 2021

A room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal bring you all of the latest news around the NFL starting with the devastating Cam Akers injury (6:35), the 49ers doing business with Fred Warner (11:45), and Aaron Rodgers turning down becoming the highest paid player in the NFL (18:30). Jerry Jones says that only a handful of his players aren't vaccinated (27:30) and we hit some new Monday Night Football MEGACAST news (34:08). We pick the player in our league who is going to have his greatest season ever or else... (44:00). Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the NFL podcast. Needs more followers on Instagram. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. is Dan Hansis. I'm joined in a room filled, a virtual room, I should say, filled with some heroes, Greg Rosenthal. And this is a real treat, everybody. We have a new contributor

on the show. He's a Connecticut native. He spent some time in England as a youth. He supports, get this, the Cleveland Browns, everybody give it up for Mark Sessler. Make him feel at home. Mark Sessler, ladies and gentlemen. well thanks for having me i really i appreciate the chance to come on and um you know talk with you guys today means a lot you're buddy i'm good i didn't mean to have this like um prolonged absence because there was a show that i was supposed to do um somewhere in the middle of this wilderness and i'd come home um from a trip at the same time as my children and like my you know what is one of my children got a terrible like 24 hour bug and like I woke the next morning the day of a show

and was felled physically. I mean, I had like like heavy motion sickness. And then I said I, you know, the minute I texted you guys saying, because I was then leaving again on a on my second vacation the next day and I thought the minute I texted these guys and told them I legitimately am not feeling well and I really wasn't. It's like no one is going to believe me. They're going to think that I'm basically just like eradicating this one little work. event in the middle of these two weeks off, but that was not the case. It was one of the worst days of my adulthood. I promise you that. It's just a weird coincidence that these 24-hour bugs almost always hit right on the cusp of a vacation to extend it on the front end or the

back end. It's just coincidental. It's coincidental. How about that, Mark? There are some breadcrumbs pointing in that direction, but you say that's completely a coincidence over the years. I don't know. I don't, you need to provide facts about over the years. I can comment only on the most recent occurrence. But had I come on, it would not have been a pleasant experience for, for me, for you, or anyone listening. So I think I was doing this. Because certainly I would never be smirked you, Mark, and come after your integrity and say that Mark is faking illnesses to extend vacations. But is there a possibility that the body, Mark's mind willing, to grind out a summer podcast in this little bubble of vacation time.

But the body conspires to shut things down. I can't speak to that. I can't speak to that. Like the part of me that was conscious was hoping to do the show, but maybe there are deeper forces. Well, we're glad to have you back. That's all that matters. Sessler's back. Rosenthal's here.

Steady as a rock. Rocks don't move. Stay right where they are. What if the studio moves? Greg is stuck right where he is. We have to carry him with us. The old Zusser's here too. Tugboat here to pull things along towards training camp, just coming up. It's about to open. A couple teams. Steelers and Cowboys. Is that right? Yeah. And I mean, it's been a month. We haven't done a show all together since right before Tybee, or no, right after Tyby. That's only been one month. I mean, give us a break. I mean, am I harping on the television show that Greg missed?

But I was present for that, and I put in a, you know, a yeoman's effort, if that's the turn of one of the years. Speak to that, Greg. Yeah, he's right. I mean, it just is funny. You know, it's funny to. I'm glad, though, because you look great. I think we all needed it. We, of course, we didn't mind at the time.

But these shows, they move along. They're off-season shows. I want to have the best mark and you look fit. You look, you have a glow about you, and you're wearing like a beautiful Hawaiian-type shirt that reminds me of one of our old bosses that got swept out in a scandal from the NFL, but, you know. Which one? You've got to be more specific. Well, no, that gentleman, I don't like that he co-opted this type of fashion.

Because it's the only thing I think of too. It looks like an Andy Reid. He's one of the greatest men we've met. So there you go. Yes, there's a floral component to Mark's button down, and he looks refreshed. We're ready to roll. We've got a nice show coming up today. We're going to take a chance on ourselves

and our ability to prognosticate in the National Football League today with some high stakes. We're going to guarantee. I had two names in mind. I think we go around the horn twice, and that's like playing a little bit of Russian roulette, to be honest with you,

because coming up later today, we will guarantee a player having the best season of his career at the risk of our own lives. Whoa. If we're not right, it's over, Johnny. How about that for steak coming back from vacation, Sizzler? Well, I mean, we came up with this segment about 18 minutes before the show. So it feels like we've, you know, maybe we could look back at a bit of a hasty decision

if one of our players, you know, sprains a knee in week six and is out for... On one hand, like, it's dark. On the other, if you told me, like, Colin Coward did this as a segment, I'm suddenly invested in that player throughout the season and a little more invested in Coward. So I think it's going to be effective, Dan, as like, you know, this is your idea, as like sort of a producing mind. This is how you lock people in for the next seven months.

Right. You need stakes, and that's what we have. There are stakes. Our lives are on the line. So we'll come up with some names there and hope for the best. but before that, let's do some news, shall we? I've never been able to know why. I f*** up.

That, not just that, but anything else. I thought that works better context-free. I'll never know why I effed that up. You know, it's been 25 years since the Cowboys have been in the Super Bowl, so Jerry Jones, it could go in any number of directions. I believe that's his relation. He was referring to his relationship with Jimmy Johnson. It was, yeah.

the head coach who we won all those Super Bowls with in the 90s, but always interesting what's going on with Dallas, and we're going to get to that in a little bit. But let's start with some unfortunate injury news because Tom Pellasero of NFL Network reported, and this has been confirmed that Cam Acres, the hyper-promising second year running back for the Rams, has suffered a torn Achilles tendon while training.

Really, there aren't too many injuries that are worse than that for a running back, a game that is driven on speed and explosiveness and Achilles injury is really devastating. So he will be out for the year. And for Sean McVey and the Rams mark, this one really hurts because Acres looked like a guy who could potentially anchor that backfield in a big year, a transition era for the organization on offense with, of course, Matthew Stafford in town.

Now they've got to figure out what to do without Acres. Huge setback here. Yeah, I mean, I think you could look at Cam Acres as someone that was a candidate to lead the league in rushing and fit really. I'm just, he's in the mix, I would say, and, you know, that is a huge loss for them. Daryl Henderson, I like Daryl Henderson. I think if you go back and look, you know, he's obviously going to be the starter at this point. You go back and look what he did early in the year. Week two against Philadelphia had a nice game. Week three, he exploded for 114 yards. That was a game where they did not have Malcolm Brown. They did not have Cam Acres.

I thought he looked good in that game. I mean, he's had some up and down injury scenarios himself. I think he missed about four games. But the rest of the roster, I mean, Xavier Jones, he's undrafted. He has no NFL experience, but they're saying that he may have a bigger role. I like this guy, Jake Funk. And I just want to let you know that yesterday I was digging a little bit into the seventh rounder, Jake Funk.

And none other than Spice Rack wrote me to say that he is, in quotes, very bullish on his ability to stick in the league. league and that he was in a group of football fans and gamblers who said that Jake Funk caught their eye and kept impressing. So a little bit of a wild card man crush scenario. But I think the other news is like they're not going to go re-sign Todd Burley. It's been a little while, you know, before you get to the second point, that you've had like a crush on a white running, white running back. Oh, wait, no, I know. It's every year. You always pick away. It's not exclusive to that subset. It's called the Toby Gerhardt Memorial Mark Sessler, love affair. It's fair. I mean,

You guys continue to track past actions here with no, with very little documentation, but that one seems accurate. But I'll pass it off to you, Greg. But no Todd Gurley going back to L.A. Oh, yeah. I saw when, like, Eric Dickerson was like, they got a sign Todd Gurley. Enough. Hey, Eric Dickerson, you are one of the greats of your era.

Can you just pipe down a little bit? Every time I see Eric Dickerson in the news, it's him telling people the way things should be. The Rams uniform should be this way. The Rams should be doing this. The Rams should be doing that. The Rams shouldn't have done this, but they should have done this. Hey, Eric, pipe down, bud. You got to have other adventures going on.

You're one of the great running backs in the league history. Just take it easy. Go ahead. He likes getting the pop. Them coming back to L.A. was big for him. And they definitely, like, use him a lot. He seems like, I feel like I've never been to a Rams game and not seeing him around. So that's good.

When people threw that out, I was like, oh, I don't think they realize how. Well, first, just how that ended. Like, there was no way the Rams were remotely interested, I don't think, in bringing Todd Gurley back. We'll see if he gets a job. They said they're not going to bring in a veteran, which, you know, makes sense right now because what's the rush? You get a look at your boy Funk. Get a look at Xavier Jones, who was a guy who was on their roster last year who got no run, but at least they've talked up. But Henderson is a guy who's so fast and explosive, but, like, does not try to avoid tackles in any way that he,

He seems like destined to be hurt, and he has been hurt this offseason. And McVeigh's gone out of his way to almost always call him a change of pace, sort of immediately putting him in that role that, like, we want him to be the explosive guy off the bench. So I wouldn't be surprised if they do bring in a guy like Duke Johnson at some point. I'm surprised he's out there, Adrian Peterson. I don't know. But they'll look at the young guys first. Remember CJ Anderson a couple years ago, we were at a playoff game where he was the hammer against the Cowboys in a win.

And someone tweeted at him. He's a free agent right now. I don't know what C.J. Anderson looks like or he's up to. They're like, look, they were fine when Todd Gurley went out. It's like, yeah, they were fine until they got totally stuffed in the NFC championship and then got stuffed even worse in the Super Bowl. So it's like this running game hasn't been great relatively. It had a little up note last year towards the end especially.

But the offensive line, like, you know, they believe in their offensive line, but on paper, it doesn't look great. If CJ said, nah, bra, I'm good. So it looks like his football. all days are behind them. We just talked about this on Monday's show that there were some notable names out there on the veteran market, Lavian Bell, Adrian Peterson, who we talked about more in depth on Monday, Duke Johnson, all out there.

But we'll see. The Rams might think they're okay now, but let's see where they are in week one. I mean, we have a long way to go still. In other news, 49ers are doing business with Fred Warner. seems like a good idea. He signs an extension valued at over $95 million, almost $41 million of that guaranteed. He passes Bobby Wagner at nearly $20 million, $19 million, as the highest paid per year. Linebacker in football.

And that's a huge lockdown for the Niners. Greg, you know, this salary cap thing is always tough to kind of figure out. And it keeps on going up and it will continue to go up. up COVID-19 related issues, notwithstanding. But the Niners have a lot of money tied up with star players, and you wonder if that's going to cash-strap them down the line. But for now, you lock up one of the best players in football on the defensive side of the ball. Yeah, most of the deals, they like get pretty flexible after two years, you know,

including this one. And Warner's obviously worth, I think he was the best middle linebacker in football last year. I mean, he was that good. And it became sort of a trendy thing to de-emphasize. off-ball linebackers, you know, Warner plays middle linebacker, and they somewhat fit into this, but like a lot of teams just, they don't spend any money, they don't care about off-ball linebackers, like, we're going to spend on the secondary and pass rushes, which is like, that makes sense, but it is so hard to find a linebacker that is good on all three downs now,

because everyone is spreading you out with four receivers, and you have to have linebackers that can cover, and Warner can do it all, and you look at some of these first-round picks at these positions, Patrick Queen, Isaiah Sist, Simmons, whoever. And they're like losing their team's games because it's so hard to cover guys in the league. So if you find someone who's an absolute superstar like Warner is, like I think you're thinking about it too hard if you're not putting major resources when you have like a top five guy like Warner. I'm with you. I mean, he can do so much. And, you know, I go back to when, you know, I was young and first started watching football in the like the mid-80s. And your middle linebackers were dudes who had like gigantic shoulder pads and were thumpers. I mean, they were, it was. was different. And Warner can, you know, he's been the number one graded cover linebacker since

2017. He's PFF's number one player under age 25. You know, he played a hybrid linebacker slot corner role at BYU. And I think people thought, well, maybe that won't translate. He was a third round pick. But it totally has. And he gives the Niners so much flexibility on defense. He's been ultra-reliable. He hasn't missed an entire game. I mean, leads them in tackles year after year. And there's just like highlight after highlight of him, you know, 15, 20 yards down field getting into a receiver's face aggressively and breaking up a pass. So there aren't that many guys like him. He's totally worth the contract. Darius Leonard with the Colts could be next. We continue to hear whispers on that, on that front as well. And to the point that I was

making about the Niners, and this from David Lombardi over at the athletic. This 49ers regime, that's Lynch and Shanahan, has now awarded four positional record. contracts and it's four plus years at the helm, Garoppolo in 2018, George Kittle in 2020, Trent Williams in 2021, Fred Warner in 2021. And that tight end left tackle linebacker grouping, obviously Warner still stands. The other two still stand as well as the highest contracts at those positions. I don't think any of those are bad. Garapolo seemed a little like early, but calling that the most, you know, it depends on how

you slice. Yeah, it was a little tricky that one. His was fine. His was fine. But keep him out of that because that muddles up the point. The other three Mando deals that still stand in the market. I'm suddenly thinking they are due for some luck. And, you know, we have a long time to preview this season.

But I'm feeling good about Simone Sessler's 49ers this year. I feel like they're going to be coming back. Well, let her know. I don't think she's tracking it on any level. So, you know. Where's her fandom standing? Is it higher or lower since the Kaepernica? Dan keeps in touch with her a lot, you know, closer than I do, really.

Yeah, I know. Dan and Simone, have something, I'm not quite sure what's happening there, but like, no, I think her fandom sort of starts when the casual fandom begins for other people, when the games begin. I don't think she's, you know, she doesn't, I've checked her phone. She has a lot of apps, potentially too many, but I don't see like the old vestiges of the Roto World app on there or anything of that sort. Wait, how often are you checking her phone? Yeah, that's a little trouble. Well, she gave me the code words to get into her phone, which I don't use, but she did, like in reverse,

I would never, not that, you know, there's just no reason. and I don't care at all, but it's not a two-way street. She gave me the code words to get into her phone. What is her phone model? What is this thing? Well, just the pat, the four-digit. Oh, the digits. Yeah, the four-digit pat.

I mean, what, you know, it seems like it. I think, by the way, what you- Mark sliced off a bit of her thumbprint while she was sleeping and uses it to get in. Keeps it under one of those, like, glasses that they use for microscopes. And that's smart, by the way, that don't look too close. mostly at Simone and I's relationship. Four 2380 babies. We have a tight bond.

I'll leave it at that. Can I tell you real fast that she's been really deep into this like online lineage thing? And we discovered she and I are 10th cousins, however you want to say it, which really got on my radar and very much concerned me. But I guess it actually dates back to like the middle 400s in Europe. So it seems like a lot of people would maybe be in that same boat. but a concerning asterisk on our relationship. How very Game of Thrones of the Sesslers. Right.

Minus the kingdom. I could see that. You know, like, if Mark shaved and put on a wig and stuff, there's some similarity here. It certainly is not. I can't say that. But that I think you're okay. I wouldn't draw up the divorce papers just on the grounds of... Well, we've already crossed too many thresholds to even, you know, there's nothing to prevent at this point.

A little late in the game. All right. In other news. Oh. I mean, I wonder, is there more to the Aaron Rogers story? Because with each passing update, I feel like he's becoming less and less the good guy here. I mean, this is pretty wild. According to Adam Schefter on Twitter, the Packers offered Aaron Rogers a two-year extension earlier this offseason

that would have kept him in Green Bay for the next five years, which puts him into Tom Brady age range if he played out the conduct. contract, and the extension would have made him the highest paid player in football. And Rogers rejected the offer, obviously, and he continues to, although he hasn't really spoken about it, other than that one Scott Van Pelt ESPN Sports Center thing at all, we had said on this podcast, like there's so many things in sports and life that ultimately goes back to the money, and you offer the money, then that should take care of it. Well, if this offer was as good as the Packers want people to believe,

then Rogers is continuing to make this more than about the money, still met that they took a quarterback. And at what point are you just being a jerk? At what point? At what point? I don't put anything into this one. I'm going to push back on that. Okay.

Well, I don't know how it got out. You know, it could come from the team side. It could come from both sides. If Rogers wanted to show that, like, it's not about the money, it's principles. Like, who knows? Maybe his side. I don't really know.

But this means nothing to me that he turned down an offer. Like everyone in the league, including Darius Leonard, we just mentioned or whatever, has turned down offers this summer. That's called the negotiation. You go back and forth. And it really means nothing without knowing what the guaranteed money is and what the structure is. You know, saying that he's the highest paid guy in the league because you tacked on a bunch of, like, phony years at the end and then release that to the media.

That means nothing. Do you think that's what the Packers did? I mean, we don't know one way of the other. other, but that feels like something that would be uncouth to give him a phony offer. I think it's very possible that there was very little guaranteed money past this year. So if that was the offer, and let's say it was kind of like Tom Brady's last deal with the Patriots, where it's like, we'll give you a little bit into the second year. Yeah, but you're speculating just as much as anybody else right now.

We have no idea with the offers. I get it, but that's what I mean. Like without knowing that, it means nothing to me because that's very likely. If you look at like the Breeze and Brady final contracts and even like the Rivers type ones, like that's what happened usually. Like you give them like a little extra guaranteed into a second year and like, so what? He rejected that. Why is this coming out? I would just go back to like Aaron Rogers has been talking about breaking away from the Packers for like 18 months at this point.

I really since that last draft. I mean, this is not even a new topic, but we are in a weird territory. I mean, outside of like Carson Palmer, there aren't that many. quarterbacks, you know, in late July, who are essentially just staging total uncontrolled like psychological warfare with their team. I mean, maybe the Packers know more than we do, but essentially like Ian Rappaport came on NFL network and said, I don't know anything. We don't know anything. We don't know what's going to happen a week from now or four weeks from now. And I think the weirdest scenario is if he suddenly just shows up after all this drama.

Like, why did this happen? So, I mean, to me, it's like if you're suddenly going to, if it was just about money, you could have done this with a lot less pomp and circumstance and headlines and frankly, like disenfranchising a super loyal Packers fan base. I mean, what good came from this if he's going to suddenly show up a fortnight from now? I don't know. I don't want to go too hot takey on this. I just, but I just feel like it's either report to the team and stop being such a huge distraction for a team that's right there, right there to get back to the Super Bowl or retire or, you know, walk away and let the team. team move on.

But the way this is playing out is just, I don't know, man. I want to fire it into the sun. I want to fire it up there with Jeff Bezos. But I can't because we do an NFL podcast and he's the reigning MVP. The whole thing is just ponderous, man. As Casey Ksen once said, effing ponderous. We'll forgive you, you know, we'll forgive everything. The Packers fans will do it.

If he just shows up and nothing, you know. And you're right, we'd be like, why would we waste their time? But that would be better than the alternative, which is. And it won't, there won't be any bad blood for anybody after that. It will be over and you just move on. It's not too late to stop this met. I would still be a little, I'm not going to like, I'll keep it inside, but I'd still be a little annoyed at what he did over the last couple of months.

It seems completely unnecessary, and it involved thousands of people who are annoyed. And us. That includes us. Yeah. Most importantly, it includes us. COVID-19. That includes us. We're all connected to this, which is another ponderous thing.

Can't get on the same page about this? There's medicine for this and we can't get on the same page. Tom Pelliserra reports the NFL and just informed clubs that if a game cannot be rescheduled during the 18-week schedule in 2021, due to a COVID outbreak among unvaccinated players, the team with the outbreak will forfeit, forfeit, my friends, and be credited with a loss. That's huge. More from the memo, which also says the team responsible for a canceled game because of an outbreak among unvaccinated players slash staff will be responsible for financial losses, Marron, and subject to potential discipline from the commissioner. Greg, the NFL has got the iron fist.

They're never afraid to wield it. And it really feels like they are, listen, it's a free country. You make your decisions based on how you feel. That's one of the bedrocks of the nation. It's a great thing. But in the case of this situation, with the health of the players and the fans and everything on the line here, Iron Fists is coming down and saying, get vaccinated or else. Yeah, they're doing what they can.

And this was in a four-page memo with a lot of other stuff where almost nothing was in bold type. And this little two-sentence thing was like in bold type. So it was like, hey, giant CEO, don't miss this sentence. And on one hand, it sounds scary and it makes total sense. They're not going to extend the season. They're already extending the season. On the other hand, if this was the rule last year, no one would have forfeited a game.

And you would hope things won't be worse this year. Now, is it an indication that the league might not bend over as backwards? You know, the Steelers kind of got the short end of it where they're playing like Wednesday to Tuesday and it was like never on them. Maybe they wouldn't bend over as backwards to help out the team that's in trouble this year. But if you just look at it, they never had to reschedule it. They did get in all the games last year. So it's very, I would say it's pretty unlikely that they would have to use this rule.

I think part of it, I mean, from our angle a little bit too, and if you're the teams, it's like you're waking up, remember waking up every morning. And the first thing you do was check, you know, league news to see which player got COVID. And it's like if you can get to the point where you reduce that by 90-something percent, it takes what I think, it was a sinister element added to the season. and for obvious reasons. But there was no vaccine and no solution. So the league did everything they could, maybe even to the point of critique of getting the season through. They pushed it through. Now it's like we have a functional way to reduce all that nonsense. And if you have 30% of players saying, I don't want to be part of that solution, then it's like, look, you're working for a company. This isn't you out in a field hanging out with your friends making those decisions. You're part of a massive billion dollar company. Play by the rules or pay the fine. And this delta variant, which is causing issues, big issues, and it's going to continue to cause issues. So I don't know how, you know, we're seeing breakthroughs all over the place, our own Rich Eisen, the face of NFL network.

He posted last week on Instagram that he had contracted COVID, even though he had gotten his two shots. Big Yankees fan, Aaron Judge, and several Yankees, some of them who had the vaccine. They tested positive or are currently on the injured list as a result. So, I mean, I think it would be, it's just, it's overly hopeful, I think, to expect. Oh, well, last year was last year. 2020 was a mess. 2021 is going to be much better because we're seeing things that we still don't understand. And it's very scary.

And the Dallas Cowboys, let's talk about one of those teams connected to COVID. You have to get to over an 85% vaccination threshold, the team and the, I guess it's not just the players. Is it all personnel? that I'm not totally clear on. No, it's the players. Players specifically, 85% backstition. The personnel were all like close to 100% back. Yeah, it's like 9% for most teams.

If you hit 85% as a team, you're able to go about your business in a much less restrictive way. The Cowboys will open training camp under stricter COVID-19 protocols because they did not reach that 85% threshold. Jared Jones did one of his pressers on Wednesday. this to say about where the Cowboys are in this realm?

We have out of our 90 players here, we have a handful that, in my mind, have still to commit to this. A handful, and a hand is five. And that's iffy in that several of, in my mind, of that finger of five are on their way to potentially having their vaccine. Wait, my biggest takeaway there is, so a handful is five? I would just, I never knew that that was what a handful is. And then he said like each finger can counts a person.

Like, I didn't know a finger is a person. He's breaking news to me. That's developing news. Well, let's say you took a handful of M&Ms. That's not five. So I think he's, I don't know. That's Jerry Jones's math. Jerry Jones, who spent, you know, 61 minutes opening the press conference from what I

could calculate. Then at one point, remember that his head coach. Is that sure he talked for 61 minutes? This thing, I was actually, this is one of these weird days. I was tracking NFL network in my house. This went on forever. Like, I saw the sun, like, moving. Why do you always watch the NFL network on the one day?

I don't know. He comes back. He was like, I'm back from vacation. I'm doing NFL. I want to see what's going on. We got the TV show Friday. They're in Oxnard. Like, their training camp is starting.

We're taping this on Thursday. They have their first practice today. So football is back. But one little note about that, like, after he went on and on. And it really was like the most Jerry. We already saw it during the DAC Prescott. press thing where it was this like, who is this guy? But at like 60 minutes in, he remembers that his head coach, Mike McCarthy, is actually there and sitting next to him. And he just

turned to me. He's like, coach, coach, would you like to make any introductory statements? And Mike McCarthy is like about to talk. And then NFL network, it's like, let's go to commercial, we'll be right back. This is your head coach. This is a very strange setup. That is the job. I love it. I love it. And it's been, Mike McCarthy's been in the wilderness for a couple years now. He was out of the league after getting fired by the Packers. He got that hatchet job, the hit piece on him. And I think some publication, uh, when he was like getting a massage during team meetings. He gets a job with the Cowboys. The team sucks last year. He gets more fire. This year, he's got like the George Michael Faithbeard and the aviators on. He's got like a pair

of $800 aviators on. And I'm thinking to myself like, all right, middle age Mike McCarthy. You're showing the rest of us head in that direction that you could still look a little yeah that's your type of guy you know I mean a little overrated

but I'll accept it he looks fine I don't it's nice isn't like you know I'm not about to like center I'm not about to like you know like station like a movie trilogy around him or anything but

they are loving they are loving this extra week of coverage though I think they volunteered to do the Hall of Fame game every year, just so Jerry can get like a full week. Oh, yeah. No other podcast is tracking this McCarthy glow-up story. Ricky, you're not into these sorts of things, bearish males in their 50s. But I want to ask you a question.

Did you see Mike McCarthy in the beard with the aviators? Yeah, I did. And I didn't make any of those noises you were. And I never want to hear you make those noise. noises again. Oh, yeah. What are you, the Kool-Aid man? Just take a look.

Everybody pause the podcast, pull up a picture of that press conference and tell me that Mike McCarthy isn't doing something right. How about that? He's doing something better than the unshaven Mike McCarthy, like of old and Green Bay where clearly there are some issues going on there. The nude Mike McCarthy on the massage table on his office, that guy. Better than that guy. Better than that incarnation.

All right. Anyway, Jera, 85%. Good luck with that. It just seems like he's wearing sunglasses. That's basically what's the difference. It does make him look cooler. He just looks better. He's got a nice beard.

He feels like there's something to come in his life. Not everything's in the rear view mirror. And some people think that about McArthur. Like, he had the street named for him outside Lambo. He won the titles, he had all those runs, and now this is kind of the epilogue. You know, this is the elderly lion out in the safari, out on the safari being, you know, waiting for the end. I mean, he's an offensive guy, and this is the, you know, I don't know if any of those Packers team had as much talent as this Cowboys team does on offense. There he is.

That is a, that is not a lion in winter. That is a man that has more to accomplish. He kind of looks like late period George Michael, like right before things went. When things went really south for George and Rust and Peas, he was like, all right, this guy is plugged in. I mean, he better have like 11 wins in his future or he's not going to be sitting up on that podium next summer. Oh, come on. He's going to show up.

Dan is, he's still in Texas. He's coming back next week. He's going to show up for our first, like, network show back in L.A. With the aviators on, with a nice beard with a cowboys hat weirdly. He's like, you're going to go full McCarthy. I don't know if I could do the beard. That's the only thing. I could definitely do the full face like McCarthy.

I could do the aviators. But I don't know about the beard. Does the beard not grow out like a normal man's beard? We all tried that. We all did it a year ago at this. You know what the thing is, you know what COVID taught us? The normal man's beard is actually closer to Greg's beard or my beard, which kind of exists in this in-between realm. I think you had a fuller beard for sure.

or Wes was more in the, well, West had a pretty good beard, I think. Yeah, I think he did. But the man that could grow. Yeah, he was a mountain man. Yeah. Wes and Mark, you guys looked a little unruly. Yeah. Yes.

The truly full beard, that is a positive thing. But the negative thing about having a full beard. And this thing I'm happy about in my own life is that I'm noticing even men that I've known for years and years and years, you just these men, you keep on getting hairier and hairier and hairier and hairier and hair is popping up in all different areas of your body and it's just wild uh so the guy that the guys that have the big mountain beard it looks good it looks massingly but you're paying for it typically elsewhere on the bod wait so you so you so you in your 40s you're saying that no like well i don't want to dive into it but like that that's not that's

not a credit to you that you're sort of hair it's not a credit it's like i can't grow a full beard but i'm not like one of those guys that has like a hairy back and it's a the whole thing's a Oh, sure. Who's asking for that? Like, just hair pouring out of the back of the neck and everything. It's just like, what is going on with your body? You look like a wolfman. Like a lot of body image things come in and out of vogue,

but I don't think Harry back, and it's been probably hundreds of years since that's been an attraction point. I like that he came back for this show because Monday night football news, Mark Sessler. Hit it, Ricky. Former NFL. quarterbacks, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning will take part in an alternate Monday night football broadcast over the next three seasons, the worldwide leader announced on Monday. That's like when Michael Jackson called himself the King of Pop, he just put out a press release

one day in like 1991. Please refer to me as the King of Pop. ESPN, please refer to us as the worldwide leader. Dionne Sanders, please refer to me as Coach Sanders. I don't know if you saw that. Yes, it's it. The Monday Night Football Megacast, as it's called, will air on ESPN 2 for 10 games in each of the next three seasons.

And we'll include current and former NFL players and celebrities, joining the Manning brothers on the broadcast. There is no host in place yet, but my agent will be placing a call. And this is a statement from Peyton Manning. He's got a statement out, Sessler. Here it is. This partnership with ESPN and the Walt Disney Company reflects an ongoing shared commitment to offering fans fun, innovative content. ESPN Plus has been a terrific partner for Omaha Productions as we built out the Places franchise, The Places.

And we're excited to co-create a new megacast format that will have something for everyone. Yeho! I added the, I mean, my first reaction was like, what's Brian Greasy thinking? Because this isn't like you have to sign up and pay for ESPN Plus, although it's on,

I think I'm sure it'll be on that too. They're going to put it on ESPN too. Right. That is not a vote of confidence for your number one team, Levy, Greasy, Riddick, Salters. And it's not their fault, but if you're like greasy, for instance,

who, you know, I know you like Dan, he did a solid job. They all did. It was, you know, it was okay. It was a solid thing. Gracie is in that 98 draft with Peyton Manning. It's like he was like the sixth or seventh pick, you know. He's down in the third round. He's, you know, been out of the league for a while.

He's like trying to earn his media career. And then here comes old Peyton Manning who got taken right atop that draft again, swooping in. And it's like, I don't know. Personally, I'm probably going to watch that Manning thing and see how it is. Like then I'll check it out. then I'll adjust but that's my first instinct is I know they're not at the game which I do think hurts but I kind of want to hear what Peyton and Eli have to say especially if like you know

they're they're giving each other the business could be good I mean they've been testing this out with ESPN with college football um you know the national championship game where they had coaches sitting around a table talking I thought I watched some of that and like I thought it was great so I just think this is the way the way they're going where it's like we don't have to convince all viewers that our three-man booth is the only way to observe this event. And I'm typically a little down on the manning as comedic talent in commercials and stuff. But for this, I'd want to watch it. I do wonder, though, because whenever you talk to guys that announce these games, like, they spend hours and hours and hours breaking down film of the two opponents for that

Monday Night Affair. Is that, like Lewis Riddick is doing that without question? Are Eli and Peyton going to be like that? I mean, they're ultra-competitors. So I would think so, but that is extremely time-consuming. Is that their method? Or is it like, hey, let's just sit around and be us? We'll see. And the one thing that got me nervous is them overstuffing the booth. You put in a capable guy as the host, and you let Peyton and Eli do their thing,

analyzing the game. They have natural chemistry, obviously, his brothers. I don't need, like, Rob Wrigal in the booth with him, or who's the voice guy on Fox? Like Frank Caliando. doing his John Gruden impression and mucking it up or some ABC, you know, ESPN, ABC Disney family. It's like, oh, here's Anthony Anderson in for the second quarter. Like, you will chase me away immediately if you try to turn into a promotional vehicle for your various Disney entities. Just give me Peyton, Eli, and a guy that's steering the ship.

And I think that would be, I think it's a really good idea. They can mess it up so easily, though. And I think they will. We don't even need the other Manning, brother, the one. that has like a gig at Fox, you know? You know who's super excited? Hey, Cooper. Hey, Cupper, what do you think, Cupper?

We don't need Cupper in there, but what we do need is New York Post's Andrew Machard, our clicker guy, Marchion, doing constant columns about it. I mean, Marshawn, when he saw that, he was like, I never have to think of a column idea. Anytime I'm a little bit low, I just fire up the last. ESPN 2 telecast. That's a sexy beat. Yep. He's got a lot to time with. Flying to a new destination, Melvin Ingram.

Just talked about Melvin Ingram. He was on the street as of the beginning of this week, but not anymore. He signs with the Steelers, a one-year contract, and I know it, Sizzler. I know as a Browns fan who you think you got the Steelers by the throat, this is the type of signing that you are. He's going to come back and haunt the rest of the AFC North in December. Yeah, or nay. You know, the note I'm looking at right here that I put down is this is the kind of signing that works for Pittsburgh.

It just will, so I'm completely with you. And look, I know that he had no sacks last year in seven games and was injured the year before he's missed two. He's gone to IR with knee issues two years. So there's age, there's injury concerns. But there's also the fact that, like, he recorded the most pressures last year without a sack in seven games, 28. So this is not a player who's done. I call that a clowny, by the way. I call that a clownie.

Clowny was the other. Clowny was the other. But it is a Clowny. Any game where you lead with pressures and don't have a sack, you pulled a Clownie. He tied Clowny, so he totally pulled a Clowny. Did he really tie Clowny? That is so funny. He and Clowny were tied at the top of the list with 28.

So you're dead on. I mean, I don't still, if it doesn't work out, they're still very thin at edge rusher. I mean, they're counting on guys who have not necessarily been. I mean, T.J. Watt, and then you've got Alex Highsmith. They have a rookie Quincy Rochie. To me, that's, you know, if Ingram's healthy, that's a good one, two, three. Highsmith is the starter. Ingram comes off the bench.

Hopefully you keep him healthy that way. He's also just a beast. And they lost Vince Williams, who wasn't like a great inside linebacker, but he just retired, surprisingly, this week. He was going to start for them. He kind of was that locker room, like, fire everyone up, like, beast guy. And Ingram seems like one of the best guys in the league for that. Like, I have, like, no player has ever made a bigger impression on me just hearing him. talk in person two different times in melvin ingram i just wanted to like run through through a

wall people say that though it's like what if i did run through well they'd be like what the are you doing gregg what are you going to be running through a wall or just you i don't think that's the through part it's going to apply you just would yeah you wouldn't get to run through it hey fuck you gregg you wouldn't go through it you would just hurt yourself and then everyone be like what are you doing you be like i don't know melvin ingram i really like him yeah you do it for someone and then the the person's like wait why did you just do that your life is effectively over now, the life you knew. Well, I did it for you.

Didn't ask you, bro. What are you doing? And finally, some upsetting news. New York Jets' assistant coach, Greg Knapp, fighting for his life after suffering severe injuries in a bicycle accident, he was on his bike, riding it near his home in Danville, California. 58 years old.

He was struck by a single motorist at 2.49 p.m. the motorists, thankfully, cooperating with authorities, drug and alcohol, not a factor. So it just sounds like a horrible accident. And those type of things are when you're like, and hopefully Knapp pulls through this. And he was a new addition to the Robert Salas staff. He was working with the quarterbacks and assistant coach. He was going to be working a lot with Zach Wilson. And hopefully he will down the line.

But just those type of things are like a guy going for a run or running. riding on a bike and a car clips them or hits them, you just never know when things can change. Yeah, the one thing that I thought about that was listening to Steve Weish. Again, I was watching network yesterday, but Steve Weish very, like, commenting about him. And this coach is one of the most popular guys around. He's been around for a long time. And it wasn't just other coaches. It was like journalists coming out of the woodwork to say how much, how great he had been to

them over the years. So, best wishes. I mean, you was Steve Young's coach back in the day. he was Peyton Manning's coach in Denver, quarterback coach while he was breaking all those records. It's the type of, I swear like every friend I have that bikes a lot has some sort of terrible accident. And it has, it has scared me off of buying a bike.

I've been wanting to buy a bike to drive, you know, to go around with my kids. I could do that around the neighborhood, you would think, but I don't know. This is like, just seems like it always happens. Best wishes to Mr. Knapp. All right. That's what's happening in the news. All right. As promised.

Listen. Yeah, it was, listen, a little peek behind the curtain. Sometimes a segment comes together easily, an idea comes out, and everybody's on board with it. Sometimes these things are labors of love. You know, it's like you have your first, you have your whole life to write your first album. It becomes a hit, and then you have six months to write your second. And sometimes that's what it feels like when the sand is just falling through the hourglass. And in this case, I just kept on sending like C plus after C plus segment idea at the guy.

guys. And I was like, I was hoping one of you guys would throw one back, throw me a life preserver. But I just kept chucking them at you. By the time it's like an hour before the show, I'm driving kids to camp and it's tough. You can't, you know, you're driving around. Well, wait a minute. I threw out an idea. You did as well. I threw out an idea. And Dan's response was actually, I'm looking for an idea with some pops. So I was like, all right, I'm out. Like, I was thrown out. No, but yours, it worked out. Mine was, mine was really any better than yours. But then I, yours was fine. Especially you first, you're off the I.L. You know, You know, we're easing you back into action.

Anyway, came down on this. What do you do? Well, you got some stakes. All right. Let's add some stakes into this thing. Your life's on the line, okay? And you need to pick a player in our league who will have his greatest season ever. And if you're not right, it's out.

You're done. Time's up. The sand is through the hourglass for you, my friends. So with that in mind, one guideline. And Greg, you were pitching on tax and it was already in my mind. on the same page on this one. It cannot be a player who's entering a second season because it's very natural for a rookie to take the jump and have his quote-unquote best year and year two. It has to be someone year three or beyond that, their best season. And the stakes couldn't be

higher. If it's not his best season, we're out of here. Mark, welcome back. You're in the friar. You're up first. All right. I'm going to go with a player who I think is an ultra talent, He missed 21 games over the last two seasons. Risky. Because, yeah, an injury pretty much ends your life here. Well, that's true. What we've seen of this player, though, suggests that he could be the best in the league. And that is Derwin James.

And here's what I like about Derwin James this season. It is Brandon Staley. And, you know, I was watching the Flying Coach podcast with Peter Schrager, and he had Mike Tomlin on. And Mike Tomlin said, when you're a coach, like, it's one thing to take, like, C players and turn them into B players. Mark's going down. We're going to lose them.

Is this what we're doing with this? The guys missed like 27 who's last 32 games. But keep going, Mark. Well, I would say this, though. His rookie year alone, I mean, people were comparing him to some of the great defensive backs of all time. And if he does not return. But that's a reason not to pick him for this exercise because he was a first team all pro. That is the bar.

He has to have his best season ever. He's got to beat that rookie year. Let me finish my point here and I will explain, okay. What Tomlin said, though, the key to really becoming a next level coach is keeping your A players at a level or better. And I really think if you look at what Brandon Staley did with Aaron Donald and Geraldine Ramsey a year ago, it got him a job because of what he did. I mean, the whole league by the end of the year realized this is a defensive wizard. So I think of Derwin James paired with Brandon Staley in that defense.

And you go back to what Durwin James, the way he was creatively used in that first Lamar Jackson playoff game where the Ravens lost to the Chargers. There are just signposts that tell me is not only going to be that player, but that player plus more, I think he's probably super motivated to come back. They picked up his fifth year option, which says a lot to me.

I cannot wait to see. You know that I'm high on Brandon Staley. The pairing of Staley and Derwin James is going to create, I think, one of the better stories of the league. And there'll be no looking back to the rookie season saying he wasn't who he was as a rookie. It'll be paired with the fact that he came back

from what he's come back with. The way he's used here, it's going to happen to me. It's going to happen. I promise you right now. Are you a kind of a casket guy or more like an urn guy? No, I would not want to be put into, I would not want to be put below the ground at all. Earned. That feels very old school.

But that's a good call, though. That's a good call, Mark. Because Derwin James, if he does get back, you just worry about the nature of the injuries, the lower body. Is he just going to be, even if he is healthy, which is a huge if, did he live? Did he lose that magic that was in his legs, that lower half, the football gods were just not on board with them? There is some risk. And if he's failed again, then I'm suddenly taken out by a female assassin walking down the streets of El Segundo. You know why.

But I am betting on a healthy season. No, I love the instincts. I love Derwin James. I love you, Mark, though, so I want to see you alive. And so I think I took this exercise literally, and I think you don't want a guy that set such a high bar. He was the first team all pro. He was getting some thoughts of, like, defensive player of the year. So he was, like, maybe the best safety in the league already.

And is he going to, like, warm up to this season a little bit as he gets over the injury? The one thing I love, though, is you're right, Staley, and that system has made safeties way better. If you think about Vic Fangio, where Staley, you know, who he learned from. You know, Eddie Jackson in Chicago, Justin Simmons in Denver. And then Staley last year with John Johnson got him paid. That part of it makes sense. It's kind of a safety. Decentric offense.

That part of it makes sense. So I hope he stays healthy and that you stay healthy, my friend. I miss my uncle, Mark. You're up next, Greg. All right. I took it more like trying to be safe here. So I was like, well, if we can't, yeah, it's life and death. If we can't do second year players, I'll go third because that's less years to try to

improve upon. And I'm going to go Deonti Johnson of the Steelers, who I like it, always loved. And everyone always talks about his drops. He almost got benched last year because of his. drops. It's like, that's like T.O. Forever they talked about T.O.'s drops. Like, to drop that many passes, you got to be open all the time. And Deonti Johnson is open all the time. He's a favorite of our friend Matt Harmon and reception. I just love watching him after the catch, before the catch. He's going to be there. And his high right now is 900 yards last year. And he was a guy who,

when it's going, he gets 10, 15, 20 targets. I like Chase Claypool a lot. But I think Johnson is the number one. I think they'll throw him a ton of passes. I feel like he clears that bar, and he clears it by enough where this doesn't feel like I'm trying to cheat. You know, he goes 1,300 yards, and he's like the clear one and has a monster year. I have a question, though. Specifically with this exercise, Greg is correct. I think he can surpass the yardage, what was like 923. He had 88 catches. Sure. He's got to pass. He's got to pass everything. He's got to have a better year. If he had 87, Greg is off the earth. I mean, if he goes 87 for 1250, you're taking me out. You're getting the, Mark,

The other two guys are, we're at the gates, St. Peter, and we decide. Only it's not heaven or hell. It's just you live or die. It's a little bit of a labored metaphor. But it's in that realm. So we'll decide after the season. We'll circle back. I mean, assuming we're alive.

But what about the Ben Rothesberger side of things? And the fact that they have Nagee Harris there is their new running back. Is it possible that this just is not going to be an explosive passing offense at all? I think that's the biggest risk. And there's a lot of mouth to field. Claypool's good. I think juju is almost underrated at this point. James Washington's good.

They even, you know, they have ebron at tight end. You're right. It's a lot of mouse to feed, but I think he goes over to death. Chek actually got me. I almost retweeted this picture he sent out that Rathusberger showed up to camp

in a shirt that said, Severnge, like seven revenge. And it was like the Rothesberger revenge tour. And I was like, oh, he is leading into this. I love this. And then I realized,

oh, Shaq just like got a Photoshop. Did you see, in general, at the end of his, the end of Ben's career is really just conversations about whether he's fat or not. Did you see how he looks in the shirt? He looks pretty tight, looks pretty right. I don't know if it's Tom Brady tight because we were told that his fitness regimen was even better than Tom's or his diet. But he looks like he's ready for the season. One thing about that bothers me, though, like all these people tracking the fatter thing, He did, there were times when he ballooned a little bit.

What are we asking him to be like a 148 pound breatharian? I mean, he is a larger-boned human playing quarterback. That's just who he is. His shirt said the word different on it. This was not photoshopped. So he is one of those guys, I think. He knows he's going to have a lot of pictures of him being taken and that walk to the up to the first training camp,

but he wears a shirt different and he's looking good in it. So I think you're both done for based on your first two picks. Mark, you really, shot for the stars. And Greg, I was kind of with you. And then Greg made the correct point about how great, truly great, Dermon James was as a rookie. So you have to get past that bar. And then Greg, I think there's so many reasons why the Steelers passing attack. Well, it's got to be worse than a year ago. Why? There's, well, there's, yeah, could be. Absolutely could be. But let me give you one, Greg.

Damien Harris. Yeah, boy. Third year. Gotcha. Wasn't used a lot as a rookie. Right. He didn't even play as a rookie. He was hurt. I mean, this is safe, but okay. Of course it is. My life's on the line. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. Third year, great staff from PFF.

The three highest graded running backs, according to that analytics site. Number one, Derek Henry, he better be. Number two, ahead of Dalvin Cook, Damien Harris. And you know what? I get it because the whole thing with PFF is studying every snap. And Damien Harris is one of those guys that passes the sniff test. You watch him, you're like, this guy is just better than a lot of running backs. He is, and he hasn't had that true breakthrough season.

But if you watch last season, his ability to run through tacklers just be someone that you don't want to have to deal with once he hits the hole, it was all there. And he got beat up last year. I think he had an injury that slowed him. He missed six games last year. Yeah, it barely didn't play at all as a rookie because of injury, basically. Right. So that is, I mean, that is my risk really more than anything.

But I think he's the clear number one guy in a new. England offense that is really trying to piece some things together right now with Cam Newton still there. And now Mac Jones in the mix, you get the idea this is going to be a run heavy offense with a guy Harris that Bell Check, I think you trust him. He says, I'm going to give you the Rock, give you the chance to be that dude. And I could see a 1,300-yard season coming out of it, a Cory Dylan-esque season for Damien Harris in year three.

And my life's on the line and I feel decent about it. I think you're fine. I mean, this is, I wouldn't call this like Joseph Campbell like Heroes Journey stuff. to surpass 691 yards. I mean, I think it's smart. He's got a family to worry about. But if you get the exercise, I can find a running back and had 520 yards last year. Add Trent Brown, when you looks good.

You know, they've got to, on paper, they might have one of the best run blocking lines in the league. That's kind of how they're built. And to your point, Mark, yeah, you could say I'm playing it safe. But again, the stakes are as high as the stakes could possibly be here. My life is on the line. And B, I don't think he's going to run for 7004 years. yards at 4.0 a pop. I think he's going to have a big season that's going to, there won't be any need to even study the two years. It's like, oh, that was his big breakout year.

Greg, I think you're doing some type of making the leap piece for the dot com. I hope Damien Harris is a part of it. Otherwise, you're just, you're thinking too much. No, he is. He's honest. All right, let's go around one more time, Mark. I hopefully, hopefully you have protected yourself a little bit more with your second choice. I actually came up with one that was extremely controversial. of the fact that no one would buy it, but I'm going to go with what I would consider the safer of the three options I came up with. And that is Joe Mixen. And this is no home run. This is no home run. He's never topped 1,200 yards, but he's come close. But last year, he was on pace when he got hurt in week six for 1,600 yards. Do not play the funeral music just yet. I think this is

the situation. You've got a healthier offense. You're going to have Joe Burrow. You've got no Giovanni Bernard, and I have a little bonus, a little bonus nugget here. I think Giovanni Bernard down in Tampa Bay, I tried to get this out during our West Hollywood broadcast. We'll have the biggest passing, receiving year of his entire career, and he's had a couple good ones as Tom Brady's James White. Wait, you need these both to happen? Both are happening. Why are we talking about Joe Bernard? Both are happening. The two former teammates will now both have, but for Bernard. For Bernard, it's a nugget. If you have a basically, Mark has a death wish. Like he needs to feel a, alive. He's like, sorry, Simone. I just had to add Gio to the mix to make it twice as hard.

This is not Groundhog Day. You don't, the lights don't go out and you wake up in your bed at 6 a.m. With Sunny and SharePoint. It's not going to happen. If Mixon does not eclipse 1,200 yards, I think he is a easy candidate to do that. If he stays healthy, easy, because there's really no competition for him there. There isn't, like, a clear, like, he is the guy. And I think that with Joe Burrow, you know, healthy, there's going to be a lot, like, more way to confuse a defense. I mean, their passing game is, they have one of the best wide receiver duos out there. And so that, to me, looks like it's a good setup for mixing. He'll have his best year. I will live. Full disclosure. When I was doing my research for this

segment, I did think about mixing. And the reason I thought about it is because I've written on the dot com that he, to me, is a long shot, a superstar club type guy. He's a guy that I feel I could have a big year, but there are just so many reasons why it won't happen. Again, injury risk is a big thing. He missed half of last season with a lower body injury. So you have that to contend with. You have a makeshift offensive line. They famously passed on Penaiseul in favor of the wide receiver.

And I know a lot of people are like, ah, I was fine. That's good. If the wide receiver is great, it's going to be awesome. But if Chase is not an absolute stud and Sewell turns into a rock on the end of offensive line in Detroit, you're going to think to yourself, my God, how did you look that gift horse in the mouth and walk away? And then it's like the coaching staff. I don't know. Well, that's fair. Well, we've talked about this.

Totally anonymous coaching staff. Zach Taylor has done nothing to show that he's a true coaching tree dude off the Sean McVeigh tree that you can trust. These are all reasons why it won't And with your life on the line I feel like getting involved with the Bengals Is never a good idea It's tricky one I will say though If you're going to say that injuries from a year ago

Are predictive or potentially a problem Like again he was on pace for 1600 yards On the ground 300 through the air Then he got injured So I mean there was the production too And I'm with you the coaching staff is slightly anonymous But I'm going to have to hope that they form an identity What was that?

Oh my God Mark stop it Wow. I mean, I actually, I totally buy you with mixing. That's why it's like I totally am with you on mixing. That's going to just make it all the more painful when you're like in week 15. Oh, wait, Geo Bernard has like 200 yards, you know, for the season of the bucks. Why did I add that unnecessarily? No, I feel more strongly about that point.

And I think that will go down as a historically bombshell that I've just dropped. You should have gotten behind that random white, Joe Funk. Mark, you're so crazy. Don't get me started on Funk. All right, Greg, how about you? Mark, I'm very worried about you. Jeff, I'm worried. This one, I feel...

So full of life right now. I feel a little safer about this one than my first one. It's a fourth-year player. It's tight-end Dallas Goddert, rising up to a top-five tight-end type of player. I think he's that good. I think he's been in tough situations. Zach Ertz is, you know, expected to be on his way out.

and Goddard's career best numbers were in 2019, 58 for 607 and 5. To me, he could be the number one there. I know, you know, I know Devante Smith is going to get a lot of run, but Jalen Hertz, you know, not maybe the most accurate guy deep into the outside. Like, he's going to be feeding his boy, Goddard. There's no Hertz there. I could see him, like, going over a thousand. I feel confident about Dallas Goddard.

I like it a lot. It makes total sense. there is this though there were reports even this morning though that urts is likely to stay now they're just reports but it's not an absolute that he's out the door it's a good point he is still showing that that whole thing fizzled and he is showing up to training camp i i kind of figure they'll they'll find a spot for him or even cut him by the time we get what is got its high what's his high water mark 50s for 607 and 5 you know that's not that's okay but I think he's going to be a pro bowl type of player where he's he's skying well above that.

And I do think he really does have the talent. Like he can block a little bit and that's great. People like to talk about that. But he really is a good downfield kiddle type of player that I don't think as, you know, he's not kiddle, but I don't think he's maxed out his ability. Does Earth, well, if Hertz is there and healthy, do they share the problem? Do they share the field or they're going to be splitting snaps a lot? I think Goddard is going to be the one.

regardless. I mean, Goddard put up 524 last year despite missing five games. So I'm baking in a little bit of safety. All he would have to do is really keep going what he was doing last year. You had the lowest version of Ertz last year who was hurt the entire time. And I think everyone is ready to like throw him off the earth. But if he's healthy, he was the first time Goddard got hurt. So he doesn't like have a history of it. You know, he had two healthy seasons before that. So if he, you know, to me he should get 800 falling out of bed. I agree with you, Mark. I've been saying that On this show all off season, Zach Ertz, the disrespect thrown the man's way. Like, he can't play anymore.

Maybe he can't. He couldn't last year. Maybe it was just an injury thing. And his back's going to suddenly be healthy, but he couldn't last year. He did not look healthy. He's also a proud man, an athlete, a champion that perhaps he'll want to shut some of the Rosenthal's of the football community up. Oh, I mean, he shut me up in that Super Bowl. How about, you know, what he did on the biggest place?

Right in front of us, baby. Yeah, but you're talking again. So he's going to have to shut you up again. That was right in front of us, Greg. We were in that second level there in Minneapolis, and he reached over that goal line. Mm, daddy. If only I didn't have, like, the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history the year before, and then a sixth Super Bowl to top it off, like, old school, you know, the next year to really just sandwich that tough memory.

Fair enough. All right. Finally, Kyler Murray, let's go. Oh, let's go. Third year? he was on pace for, if he didn't get hurt, if he doesn't hurt his shoulder on Thursday at football last year,

I'm not doing this because I think his numbers, he probably would end up throwing for close to 43, 4,400 yards. He would have went over 30 touchdowns. His rushing numbers would be even better than they were and they were excellent. So again, and this is a, this continues to pop up in this conversation.

Health, a lot of these guys are tied to health. And if Murray entering his age 24 season and his third season in Cliff Kingsbury's offense, an offense that I think is solid, maybe not spectacular, but it's solid. I think he has a very good chance with his skill set as a former number one overall pick to have a Lamarion type season in year three. And I think he has the chance to do something no one has ever done, which is go $4,000, $1,000 in a season, throw for 4,000 yards, run for $1,000. that's at the high end of this.

But even if he's a step below that, I still think he could throw for around 4,000 yards, throw for 30 touchdowns, which he's never done, add the seven or 800 yards in the ground and another five or six scores, and clearly developed to the point whereas, yo, year three was the best we've seen from Kyler Murray yet.

Get behind superstars entering their prime if your life's on the line, and that's what I'm doing. Makes sense. I think it's pretty safe. I think you're counting on some people I'm not totally sure about, though, to help you get over the line. Ron Dale Moore, everyone's excited about it, but he's like, you know, an undersized rookie, A.J. Green. Chase Edmonds maybe as they're starting running back. And then Cliff Kingsbury has the key one.

Like, can Kingsbury with Murray and this group around him? And, you know, I didn't mention Hopkins, obviously. But I think you need those other guys to come through and you need Cliff to help them out to make this safe. Because Murray did rack up those rushing yards last year. and it was a pretty good season, but you need a little help from the other Cardinals, and Cliff is kind of the guy that I'd be most concerned about. I mean, I would argue that if he just simply, to your point, Dan,

he just wasn't able to do Kyler-Murray things for that later part of the season after their injury, and then the offense fell apart, even if the team is not great. Statistically, we're talking about him besting his statistics. I think he could do all that and more. Look at some of Matthew Stafford's like... His stats weren't that bad, though.

I mean, he goes 3,900, 26, and 12, touchdown, interception and 800 yards direction. Pretty good. I think he could pass 26, though, and maybe even lower his picks, right? Sure. I think it's a pretty safe bet. But he did have a nice step forward as a year, too. It wasn't like the explosion, but he did take a step last year for sure.

His step forward to keep me alive in this exercise will come as a passer because he ran for 819 yards and 11 touchdowns last year. That's really good. That's awesome. Beating that will be, if he does that and he proves as a passer, He is absolutely going to be in the MVP conversation. But I just think that's the ceiling. I think I'm just the Kyler Murray guy.

Will Damien Harris have more rushing yards than Kyler Murray? And will that impact your survival rate? Well, if he matches Kyler last year, I'll be safe because that will be Damien Harris's greatest year. We need him to because, you know, the... I'm not here to play hero ball, Sessler. I'm here to play live and raise my children ball. Zumwalt and all the Suns fans,

all the Phoenix fans out there, they need to pick me up. They need Murray to come through after a heartbreaking NBA finals. I know it was a nice run. It was some Malti's doing okay. The Cardinals beat writers and all the people cover it. I get it. I'm going to give you a pass for the summer months here because there's not a lot to write about, but we don't need any more AJ Green profiles.

Oh, thank you. As I'm doing my research for this egg and I'm trying to learn more about Kyler Murray's season. Everything's just about Caller Murray thinking A.J. Green's going to have a big year. I hope they're right. Like, there's no evidence on the field last year, but I was really stunned how bad green was. I always have been like an A.J. Green is a Hall of Famer type of guy and is almost

underrated for how dominant he was in a weird situation. It was ugly last year, but I want to hope that, you know, like Mike McCarthy, maybe he can, he can, you know, show that aging men still have something in front of them, And I hope, I hope that Kyler goes even a size greater with his helmet this year. The giant helmet and that tiny body. I love it. What a combo. That's entertainment.

Just the visuals. Wonderful. I'd like to see you telling me he has a tiny body to his face. I mean, that guy, I'm sure, is cut up. Is it fit? Right. You know? Oh, no.

Like 4% body fat. He's probably got a tremendous bod. But that helmet just, it throws everything out of whack. It's hard to really get a grasp on his entire physical makeup because his helmet is the size of a refrigerator. Yeah, very top-heavy. All right. Good stuff.

Mark, are you going to stick around? You're with us for the network show tomorrow. Big network show, NFL Network, around the NFL broadcast. Friday. I have to. I think if I'm Eastern. No, 3 p.m. Pacific, 6 p.m. Eastern.

If I didn't show up to that, I might start finally getting on the radar of management, who I don't even think they know that I had part of the company, but if you just continually don't show up to assignments, you've got issues. I mean, they noticed those tweets that you had about going back to the office. I know some management figures definitely. Well, I've, um, was that so? I follow. I'm, I'm chilling on that front due to, do you back channel talk?

Do you have that on authority? Good authority? Greg, that got on people's radar? It was sort of, it was, no, more as a joking thing. Just like, I don't think, I don't think, I don't think Mark wants to come back to the office, it seems. And then they're going to. check into today's show and he's like, oh, Mark's back and he's literally wearing a Hawaiian

shirt. This guy's checked out. He came with some great analysis and he put his, he definitely took some risks, took some big risks. Big risks. Right. Costly ones. Watch NFL network all day in preparation for today's show and that shows that Sessler's back and he's ready. Happy to be. How you enjoy it, Mark, we have a little mini book club going on. We did on Monday's show, pop culture recommendations, and I was singing the praises. of the Once Upon in Hollywood, once upon a time in Hollywood book by Tarantino. And we have a little mini book club, me, you, Gonzo,

chopping it up. This must be nice because you are the biggest fan of Tarantino's picture of all. Well, and also, not only that, but, you know, because Colleen will be traveling for training camp, we actually, you know, the book centers somewhat around the Sharon Tate murders. The three of us are going to go watch the film together

at Gonzo's sort of lush seaside kingdom and watched the movie together on the night of that event. But the book I think is, the book was excellent. You guys had some minor issues with some of the chapters. But you know what I get? Every time I talk about this

and I get someone tweeting me, it's like, you guys always talk about this movie and this book and I read it and I hate it. I don't care if you, it's not my issue. Sticking up your ace. Right, it's not my issue. I think he is, here's what's concerning for most authors.

He wrote his first novel, Tarantino, and it's better, it's more inventive and obsessive and well-written than 96% of any books I've ever read. So, you know, check yourself at the door. And Greg, is shaking his head, but Greg, read it. I did not shake my head at all. I was just saying like, ooh. But it's like he, he honestly is an incredible writer, and I think it was a huge notebook dump. If you're into it, I would read it now.

I was more saying, ooh, at the turn, because I got that you were annoyed with people. criticizing you for talking about it. But then you just flipped it on the whole novelist industry. Right. Take out the novels. All right. We'll be back on Friday and then two more shows next week.

Thank you to everybody for listening. And remember, always, eat the call. Eric, it was so funny. I was just about to type of you to hit the movie. Like, at that very moment. It was time. Thank you.

Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move to Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand. the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it.

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