NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - The return of Revis, Jimmy Graham & more

Episode Date: March 11, 2015

A room filled with heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling and Marc Sessler -- discuss the impact of Darrelle Revis' return to the Jets, the Jimmy Graham trade, Ndamukong Suh to the Dolphins and every other big move so far in free agency.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast is the real MVP. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I am joined by a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, Greg Rosenthal. What's up, boys? Hey, Dan. Massive self-promotion right out of the gate with that money tag.

I missed it. Calling ourselves, the MVP. It's a reference to another sport, aligned by another player in another sport, so you wouldn't follow that. The egoless act, come on, you know. Unnecessary. You got a nice popular podcast, just embrace it for once, you know, be happy. Yeah, let's be honest. I mean, we had a monster day of stories, and we couldn't even put out the podcast last night

because you just wanted to get that special coat for today in this one. Mark wearing another giant coat. Good looking jacket. Look, last time we came in. here was of polar temperatures. I prepare this time, and it's very hot in here now. By the way, what are we even talking about? There's only one thing that matters.

Oh, my goodness. Oh, Greg. Revis to the Jets. Greg, how about that? How you like them apples? Mr. New England on your throne of ease? It's kind of fun. I mean, after you had already, you know, cashed in with your, you know,

nine to five yesterday, I wrote that Revis. Wait, did you say cashed in? You know, I wrote that Revis posted. I couldn't have been more complimentary of the whole thing. It's exciting. It's a big loss for the Patriots, no doubt about that. But it does make the AFC East more fun, and we're not shocked. When we left the podcast studio last time, we thought the Jets are the favorites.

Yeah, and we'll get into Rivas more. But, yeah, it's just... You're loving it. I was loving it. I was so happy to hear it. I clapped my hands together in a very demonstrative way when I heard what had went down that the Jets got Rivas. They're bringing them back for a big deal.

I'm really happy. My free agency is done. Even the fact that, oh, wait, Ryan Fitzpatrick or Gino Smith is still my quarterback, won't be able to dim this. We got Revis back, and we're very happy. And that's only one of the big news items. This is another, Mark, or Mark with a jacket off now, throwing me off.

I told you the temperature is rising in here. All the hot air. Here we go. We got a ton of news to get to because, and another big pressure news drop coming up for TV, because this was, we just came up, I think, on Tuesday. That might have been the wildest free agent signing period ever. Right at 1 o'clock, multiple trades go down, multiple signings.

This is insane. This is crazy. There clearly is no offseason, and the NFL is moving the needle right now, the biggest sport in the country, and it's also the biggest story right now is the NFL. It's crazy. I think it ranks up there as more wild than the day after the lockout ended when all the signings happened.

I remember working like a 20-hour shift for Roto World, but there were only like two or three of us doing it. Those three trades that dropped back to back to back were just crazy. And it was right before 1 p.m. that those trades hit, and we're lucky that we're, you know, five or six of us sitting around ready to tackle those because it was a barrage. I mean, it was just the newsroom, one massive collective gasp after the next. There's never been a five minutes like that in NFL history.

I mean, you can't compare it with something that happens on the field, but for something off the field in transactions to have two starting quarterbacks traded for each other, two potential Hall of Famers in Helodina and Jimmy Graham traded really still in their prime, still playing well. One of those guys go into the defending NFC champion Seahawks from one NFC team to another. I mean, for Pro Bowl, it's just insane.

You could go a whole three years without having three trades that big. And TD, behind the glass, you are the number one fanboy of Russell Wilson you love his sexy deep balls and all that. This has got to be a big moment for you. It is. It is a big moment. I officially chose to embrace the fact that, yes, you know what? If a team is going to have all my boys on it,

I might as well just rule for him. So you're officially a Seahawks. Oh, this is it. Officially ruled for Seahawks fan. You're out of the clock. Area man becomes Seahawks fan in 2015. No, I mean, come on. I mean, correct out loud.

I found out I was a Seahawks fan at the worst possible time. At that one-yard line in theception, that's when I found out of the Seahawks. Well, they're not going to have to throw it to a Recox fan. it's a Ricardo Lockett anymore. Give me a break. Such a burden for you to carry. The only thing, this is the only thing, though, if you're officially a Seahawks fan, once they get filled with bloated contracts and the team has to tear itself apart

and they become a middling unit, as happens the way the NFL works, you need to stay with him. This cannot be just a fanciful fit. It is what it is. It's a very vulnerable position to be in. I like staying objective, but you know what, again, if they have all my boys, you know, I've met, I've met, Beat Carroll, I've met. Name dropper.

Richard Sherman, Russell. Bobby Wags Those are my guys Well you missed their peak They just made it to two straight Super Bowls They won two of them And now they're making moves Just because they're frustrated over one play

This is where it all starts going down hell What do you mean? Maybe he's like a Patriots fan That jumped on in 2002 or three You got a decade ahead of you I don't know if when Greg jumped on But I wouldn't say the peak

I was watching Dick McPherson And all sorts of good friends All right here we go So we got a lot to get Wait, what? Tiddy, we got a lot to get to, so let's do some news. We didn't bring Sam in here to be a chip. I'm not only chip here.

Well done. And by the way, we will be getting into the Chip. What a clown. The Chip Kelly press conference, impromptu press conference that was held on Wednesday. The guy is, as my late grandmother would say, a riot. He's a riot. We didn't bring Sam here to be a chip. Out of the only chip here.

It's like a bad guy. like a varsity blues sequel. All right, let's start with the big deal. And obviously the biggest news is that TD is now Seahawks fan. But how did that happen? It happened because the Seahawks traded for Jimmy Graham and one of the craziest most out of nowhere moves in the history of the NFL during, at least in the last 25 years, I'd say, in the free agency era.

Jimmy Graham out of nowhere, no speculation. All of a sudden, it pops up, it comes together quickly. He's going to the Seahawks. is what the trade specifics are. Saints send Graham and a fourth round pick to the Seahawks for a first round pick. That's the 31st overall. And center, Max Unger.

And Unger is one of the better centers in the league. So we will start with the mailman. Chris Wessling, your initial take when you learn to the trade and the parameters. Well, Greg joked that the Seahawks made this move just because of one play in the Super Bowl.

I look at it, like the last two losses of their season were the Super Bowl and the loss at Kansas City and it was evident in both of those games that what came back to bite them is not having a big body in the red zone they got stuck there Jimmy Graham fills that biggest need but why would the Saints trade him it feels like a organization adrift when you decide that he's such a big cornerstone that you go through months of negotiation and all this talk about whether we can pay Jimmy Graham and he skips them off-season workouts. Then you give him a monster contract.

It's not like that was two or three years ago. That was July. And then just a few months later, you decided to get rid of them. It just seems like a team that doesn't have a plan. Well, we also found out from NFL Media Insidery and Rappaport that the initial kernel of the trade had to do with Max Unger, the center, that the Saints wanted to go out, improve their line, that they want to become a better run team. And then this came into it.

And yeah, it seems crazy that they would trade what is a potential top five playmaker in the league and Graham. But I wonder if that whole arbitration thing and what went down, when C.J. Spiller, or when they traded Darren Sproles last year, it was Graham who tweeted. I have no idea what this team is doing this offseason. I wonder if there was a little bit more bad blood

with a Sean Payton-led front office and organization that holds grudges, number one. That maybe there was a little. I know, but they had to win that battle as signing as a tight end, not a wide receiver, and then, I don't know, it sounds crazy. This doesn't happen if he was held. healthy last season. And immediately after the report, the trade goes down, you know, there's a report

in the New Orleans Times Picayune questioning Graham's toughness that they thought he struggled to play through injuries or stay on the field. And he has. And that's fair. But it's still crazy. I don't like ever questioning the player's toughness because we have no way of knowing from thousands of miles away what's going on with their bodies. But it's indisputable that whenever he's tried to play through an injury, his production drops by more than 50s. How about this? I will not question a player's toughness. How about a player's selflessness? I love getting after Drew Brees.

Drew Brees tweets out a photo of his children, one of the children, wearing a Graham jersey, laying on the ground, arm draped over his sibling, sad that Jimmy Graham was no longer on the team. How about Drew Brees, the crown prince of the NFL? How about he does the move where he reworks his salary and saves some room and maybe this doesn't have to be a situation where the Saints need to get rid of Jimmy Graham. Maybe Drew Brees could have stopped this from happening.

Maybe he'll be next. Mickey Loomis and the Saints have mismanaged their cap. We've talked about this for two weeks, and I think this is part of it. And Loomis now says the plan is to spend some of that money that they're saving on Graham. And, look, Max Unger makes $4.5 million a year, which is a good deal.

But he's a good center, too. They're going to spend some of that money on defense. They're probably going to spend that 31st pick on defense. Maybe they're going to focus on the running game. It just feels weird to shift course like that. But what about back to Breeze? All these other big-name quarterbacks always restructure their salaries. We give Peyton Manning hell for not doing it until this past year. How come nobody's given Drew Breezel? He refused to

restructure his deal. This could have been avoided, I would think. I think he refused to take a pay cut. He certainly would, I'm sure, would have signed like a signing bonus that spreads the money out. Yeah, but they're only getting about, what, two and a half million this year for Graham? What savings? Yes, they're not making much money off it. It accelerated against the cap. I don't think they got much cap savings on that at all. They did not. And it's a little bit of Sean Payton, I think, having what people are criticizing Chip Kelly for, and I'm not necessarily criticizing that he feels like he can create offense. He doesn't know how to pick free agent offensive linemen or no one to spend there because

they're thinking of cutting two of their linemen. So they're getting a lineman that they believe is a Pro Bowl quality guy, although he's been hurt, and they're assuming, I guess, that they can come up with the yards on offense. Well, for all the talk of cutting those two guys, Ben Grubbs and Jari Evans. It hasn't happened, and they go out and get Unger. It tells me they've got a 5-foot-11 quarterback, and they don't want pressure getting them up the middle. And they also have Mark Ingram, and they know the offense worked best last year when it leaned on Ingram to open up the passing year. Peyton said all last off season, we want to get tougher, we want to run the football. And they made a move

towards that with this center addition and resigning Ingram. Maybe they just finally, we see a Saints team that isn't on offense built the same way it was in years past with the pass everything. I am convinced that the big moves in New Orleans are not done. So what do you mean by that? I do not think that Drew Breeze will be the week one starter. Whoa. And I love... TD, record the laughter and the

mocking. Yeah. Record it. He won't be there. All right. You can... We didn't mock you. How about... No, the laughter over here. Record it and then play it back with the same prediction that Tom Brady was going to the Browns last year. Play them all back.

Play that. And then the one that Peyton Manning was retiring. What is it with you and trying to kill off Hall of Fame quarterback? You're basically taking out a shotgun. Drew Brees isn't 29 years old. I think that the big moves are not done. This team is going in weird directions. Well, that I agree with.

There's something strange going on, and Saints fans have been getting on me at Twitter about it. Look, I'm rooting for the Saints. I used to live there. I like the Saints, but there's a strange corrosive dynamic. There's Sean Payton. There's Mickey Loomis. There's an ownership situation that's very troubling.

There's Drew Breeze. I don't, there's lack of leadership. There's a lot of people who I think have a lot of ego. You got the New Orleans Pelicans involved. It's just, it's problems. And Dan's saying or wrapping up, but this is great stuff. I know you don't like this phrase, but my first thought when his trade came down was by-bye St. Super Bowl window.

Well, you just gave one of the best players in the league to your number one challenger in the NFC. I think the rest of the NFC must be furious with this train. In their defense, the Seahawks should be thrilled. But sure. It's not like they gave Jimmy Graham a lot. way, they did get a high-quality starter and a first-round pick. So if you want to make a defense, that's not crazy. It's better than cut.

What are you laughing at, Mark? Because I, you know, Dan has to do a lot of work to manage this show and us from getting completely off the saddle. It's going to be a big show. This is the best story of the whole week. 28 more topics to get to. I'm not trying to short change this because it's a juicy topic. You guys are all making really relevant points.

However, we got like 25 things to get to. That's all I was saying. Hey, you know, if Tori Smith or. The bucks cuts have to take a shot later. We'll deal with it. Greg, demonstrating has no idea how to run the show, you know. So that's why I'm in the chair here. But honestly, I'll make one point.

I think this is the year Russell Wilson. It reminds me of on some level when Randy Moss came to New England, and all of a sudden, Tom Brady, who's never a monster statistical guy, became that guy. I think this is going to be the first year, Russell Wilson. Really? TD Excite really becomes a stud offensive. in addition of being a winner.

I have one more insider nugget here. Yeah, go ahead. Got a little whisper that the Seahawks were really planning to get Jordan Cameron, that that was their plan. And they weren't planning to get Jimmy Graham. This sort of fell into their laps, and then that came to that. They got a much better player. All right, let's talk about now Dorel Revis, who,

oh, now I see why Greg was, he wouldn't stop talking. He didn't want to get to this topic. He is no longer a member of the Patriots. Enjoy your championship in March. It's all over. for New England Patriots and Dorel Revis and perhaps their Super Bowl window themselves

because now Revis Island has returned to New York on a five-year $70 million deal, $39 million guaranteed in this era of just funny money. Revis gets $16 million per season in the first three years of his deal, which is not for nothing, exactly

what he was looking for when the judge traded him away in the first place. Now, my take on it, the Jets should have never traded him in the first place. place. They should have made it work. He's two years older now. He's got a ring with the Patriots, what stinks. He's got a little bit of stink on him because of that.

But this is the absolute right move for the Jets to do. They needed to add a stud cornerback. He was the best one on the market. There may be not a Super Bowl contender, but they can be a playoff contender. And if you want to play in this league in this era of parity, get to the playoffs and see what happens. I'm thrilled to have

him back. He's going to be in a ring of honor one day. He's going to be a face of the franchise type guy. It's a great day for the Jets. and I'll throw it to Mark Sessler to get started here because Mark, I know you were, you didn't think the Jets should have made this move. Now, after seeing the numbers, do you still think it was a mistake?

Well, I didn't want them. What I don't like is the idea of, hey, we'll bring back Revis and everything is good again. And I actually think collectively that that's not New York's response at all this offseason. And looking at what they've done sort of holistically, GM Mike McCagney, I think, whether it's, you know, prodded on by the owner,

or I think he actually has shown a good job being a great here, which is for a fan base that in December was totally lost, they have to be happy with the Jets saying we're not just going to sit pat and let our own guys walk out. I like the way they recreated the entire secondary. Buster Screen is never going to be a number one. He's got some issues, but he's not a bad supporting guy to add. He's getting paid a lot. He's getting paid too much. I'd rather have Derel Revis at 20 million than Buster Screen at 6. But it also, you made a good point this morning, Dan. DeMilner, a guy like him, it allows him not to be put on the hot seat right out of the way. having him, but that doesn't allow him to be on the football field.

They're giving up, and he's done. And they might be signing Antonio Carmardi. We're hearing that the Jets are a favorite for his services. So the Jets have been. You're giving Todd Bowles what he needs. Giving Todd Bulls what he needs, which John Idzik never gave Rex Ryan, who's got to be going absolutely nuts the way this worked out. Right down to the fact, Greg, that Dorel Revis' first visit was going to be in Buffalo

and the Jets didn't let him get there. So poor Rex never got that chance. I love that Daryl Rivas, his agents did that just at the last minute to squeeze that extra $1 million out of Woody Johnson. Yeah, no, smart. I mean, they did everything right and he finally got paid. Chris Wessling now, we throw it to you. Your thoughts? I just, I've been kind of chuckling to myself the last couple of days over this manufactured debate of whether the AFC East is wide open now.

One team has a quarterback. One team has an average quarterback, and two teams don't have a quarterback. So, I mean, since the day this podcast started, we have hammered home the point you don't compete seriously in the NFL without a franchise quarterback. So I don't think that the Jets are a real threat to the picture. But do you not try to build up the rest of your team for the – you don't know when you're going to get that quarterback sometimes. Like I think the Jets at least – part of New York, it's a PR game. What happened under Idzik was the team fell apart because the perception of the front office. Like, maybe they're spending too much, but don't you have to be aggressive?

Build a team, kudos to them for landing Revis. I just don't think that they're like a serious threat to the weird thing is, the Idick is totally responsible for this signing. Everyone kills him, but they couldn't In a backwards way, though. He doesn't get credit for him. No, he doesn't get credit for him, but they couldn't sign him because of what Mike Tannenbaum did

to that team for a couple of years. They were a disaster. He spent, maybe he was... You're misremembering because they had the space to sign him last year, too. You're right. Last year would have been fine, but he helped clear out all the space for them to spend. And you're right. I mean, to me, it seems like, their off-season plan is basically to annoy Rex Ryan,

to keep David Harris away from them. I think it's. To try to sign Comardi, to sign Revis, and to say, hey, here's the team you wish you had last year. I don't see. I don't buy it today. I don't think the Jets have bad blood towards Rex, even if it seems that way.

They have bad blood towards the Patriots, which makes us especially great if you're with the Jets because you weaken the Patriots. There's no way to say that. You didn't weaken them. And West, to your point, yes, the Jets still have a quarterback issue, and I'm not going to go crazy about a Ryan Fitzpatrick trade either.

They still have band-aids there. But when you, and Tom Brady is the best quarterback in the division and won a league. But they just got to rel Rivas, who's going to make Tom Brady less effective. But they had Rivas. What, twice a year? They've always had Rivas. I mean, listen, that's the name of the game. You've got to win your division.

In those division matchups, the Jets got a major chess piece in that battle of Brady. Which, by the way, not for nothing. It's going to be 38 this year. It's a huge loss for the Patriots, but the Patriots have been through this before. Every year we hear, they lose some gigantic star, and it's like, okay, how can they survive without Randy Moss? second they survived about one of these. And this isn't Dorel Rieves. I do think that's one thing where we disagree.

When we talk about it, this isn't Dorel Rivas from five years ago. It's a different Dorel Rivas. It's a good, very, very good player, but it's not like the defensive player of the year. I wrote in my piece about the trade this morning or the signing this morning. If I can get two kind of elite corner years out of him and then he has like kind of a champ bailie soft landing over his last three over the rest of the contract, that's a good signing. And in that meantime, the Jets need to find that question. quarterback. Now, Greg, I just...

Well, if he's on the Jets in four years, it's a major upset. He gets through these first three years, and then he either gets cut or he's got to... Yeah, but I also don't underestimate, like, this guy, what he means to the franchise. I think they brought him back because they want him to be in the franchise forever. They want him. Even though winning the Super Bowl, the Patriots changes how the greater public views him, the Jets very much want Revis to be a jet for life. The Patriots, secondary, though. Let's talk about that. Revis gone. They don't even want Brandon Browner, but they got a lot of work

to do there now. They got McCordy. They do. They've had a lot of work to do in their secondary for the better part of my life. I mean, tell me the great people in their secondary in 2008 or 9 or 7 or 10 or any of these times. So you're right. They had a great thing going with Revis,

but you kind of trust that Belichick and them, they'll find a way to get it, and their pass rushers are better. I like their defense overall. I think one thing, like the way Jimmy Graham just tipped the scales in Seattle's favor in the NFC because it's just a great team getting that piece. That's I felt about Revis going to New England last year

and what Belichick was able to do creatively at the back end of that defense you can't just replace that. You said weeks ago that they prioritized McCordy over Revis and you're right but there are major questions for New England in terms of like how do you duplicate what just happened? It's not

going to be easy. Those years they didn't have Moss and others they didn't go to they didn't win Super Bowls. Right but they weren't winning Super Bowls unless Malcolm Butler made a catch. I'm not giving Derell Revis some magical beast. I'm not giving Derell Revis some magical beans that he somehow made Malcolm Butler make that play. It's like they've, I think their recipe, and they've been a nine conference championship games, like in that span, the Jets have been to one, right?

And so they've been a nine is just they put themselves in the mix every year, and you never know how it's going to shake out. This point might come up again in a minute, but we're 23 hours into the new league. Right. There are at least three or four players in the Patriots Super Bowl roster, key players who weren't even on the team in October. You wonder, by the way, why Greg referenced Magic Bean. When you sit on the throne of ease, those things get fed to you with a not even a silver spoon, a golden spoon.

It's delicious. Moving on. All right, let's talk some of these crazy, crazy trades. We already talked about Jimmy Graham. Now let's talk about the QB for QB swap. To end all QB for QB swaps, Sam Bradford heading to the Eagles in exchange for Nick Foles. There are some draft picks involved here as well. of the exact specifics.

The foals, a fourth-round pick in 2015, and a second-round pick in 2016 to the Rams in exchange for Bradford and the Rams' fifth pick. Greg, I'll start with you here. First of all, did the Eagles give up too much to get Sam Bradford, a guy coming off back-to-back ACL injuries? I was surprised they gave up so much, so yes. I mean, it struck me as strange that they were taking on Bradford's contract

and they had to give up the second round pick. It was really that second round pick that blew my mind. And the Eagles do have a condition where if Bradford gets hurt, they could get something back. So that surprised me. Wes, I think, put it well that, look, if he's a franchise quarterback that they think he is, then it really doesn't matter. But, man, that is a big gamble, and Chip Kelly keeps making those gambles. Yeah, allow me a couple of rejoinders here.

Joinders. The most obvious takeaway is... Three-dollar word by West. The Rams and the Eagles both decided that Sam Bradford held a lot more value than Nick Fools. The Rams weren't giving him up without a second-round pick. And the Eagles took on $10 million more in salary. And I think most teams would agree. And I would agree.

So let's get that out early. And then second of all, Dan, you like to call Chip Kelly derisively the genius. Ernie Adams, Bill Belichick's right-hand man, one of the smartest men in the history of pro football. Starting cornerback next year for the Patriots. It's going to fill a hole. Big earn. One of his sayings is the number one criteria for being a genius in this league. is to get a great quarterback.

I'm not saying Sam Bradford's a great quarterback, but Chip Kelly did extensive research, studied everything about Sam Bradford for over a month now, and he's decided Nick Fools isn't a franchise quarterback. He's just not. So I can't win in this league with Nick Fools. If what I'm seeing are weakness is defensive coordinators are seeing it too, I might be able to win with Sam Bradford.

In fact, the Eagles website said, Chip Kelly determined that Bradford is a special talent who can make the offense sore. I'm not saying he is or he isn't, but to me, I have no problem with a coach going out and saying this guy is not my franchise quarterback, so let me trade for a guy who I believe has that potential. When the trade first happened, I thought that the assumption that Bradford was their long-term answer was naive because I thought they might just flip him and move up, get Marriott. There was a lot of reason to think that it might have been just the first. first part of a longer trade that we didn't know the end of. But now, after what, we didn't know

what the ramifications and the pick swap were later. And the way that Chip Kelly spoke today, it is very clear that the website and the research were real. But, Wes, I mean, we've watched Sam, I don't care about the injuries, remove the injuries and the fact that last year we were writing off quarterbacks that had one knee surgery like that all off season. He's had them back to back, but what about what he's done on the field? We've seen little evidence this. Chip Kelly, of us he knows way much more, though. Well, I think that if you're Chip Kelly and you say, okay, look what I've gotten out of Nick Fools and Mark Sanchez,

two guys that a lot of people in the NFL don't consider starter caliber. And they're getting as many yards and points per game as just about any team. So you can say, okay, I can take Sam Bradford who developed a skittish, skittishness, skittishness, however you say that. He was skittish. He was skittish. I have a couple rejoinders. Because they stopped.

He played behind a bad offensive line, and they never surrounded him with surrounding. with good talent. And I have said before, those are excuses. They shouldn't be allowed. But if you're Chip Kelly and you say, look at this guy's arm, if I put him behind a really good offensive line and my coaching, maybe we can get more out of him. Wes, by the way, it's skid-eye.

Number two, yeah, Mark, you mentioned the press conference where Chip Kelly really was tooting the horn of San Bradford's made the line that we used earlier TD dropped that the only chip is me, Chip Kelly, because Sam Brett... We didn't bring Sam in here to be a chip. I'm not the only Chip here. There you go.

We've got to keep that one in general. Let's talk about the press conference a little bit because Chip saunteres up to the stage, up to the dais, and he delivers an impromptu press conference at Philadelphia and has just his rapport with the Philly reporters. The way he carries himself is really interesting. So this, first of all, people are wondering

what happens with the quarterback situation, Bradford, Sanchez, where's Marcus Marriota? someone asked him what's going on with Marcus Marriota you guys interested in trading up these deals meeting won't be trading up to draft Marcus Mariotta let's dispel that right now you know I think that stuff's crazy you guys have been going with that stuff all along I think Marcus is the best quarterback in the draft we will never mortgage our future to go all the way up to go get somebody like that because we have too many other holes that we're going to take care of so there's that

do we buy that first of all yeah I thought all along was just crazy to think that you're moving up from 20 to two or four in the draft, and how much you would have to mortgage to give that up? I mean, that's... Yeah, but did you say quarterbacks make coach's geniuses? If he believes in Mario, he recruited him in Oregon. If he believes in, why not trade up

and get the guy? Do you know how much it cost to trade up and get? I don't. I have no idea. I don't think anybody does. I do believe him because, I think at this point, we now believe Chip Kelly is capable of anything. Like that he could just walk... You know, he's been so crazy that we're just like, well, he could do anything. But it would be insane

to bring in Bradford like this, pump them up, have the press comes, do a month of research, try to acquire him, give up the picks, that's where it really gets me, and then to trade him for Marriota, it's just sort of hard to imagine. Yeah, like what we've learned in the last 24 since the trade till now shuts the door,

I think, on them, if they changed that now would just be devious because of what the way they've floated this thing. But the way you think he might be deviant. No, no, well, I just don't think at this point the way they PR'd this thing, but it was at the combine where everyone attached to the Rams was telling us, hey, we're counting on Sam Bradford.

He's our guy. We would never delete him from the roster. And they were already. Well, listen, I just don't, I think it was a reason to be skeptical of anything any one of these people say, and by the way, certainly including Chip Kelly. He's the bet. Let's play that one more time. Just listen closely here. Do these deals mean you won't be trading up

to draft Marcus Marius? That laugh? Evil laugh. He doesn't really answer the question either. The laugh is fake. In fairness, he doesn't really say no, exactly. That laugh wasn't fake. That laugh was fake. That was completely. So you're the body language guy and now you're the fake laugh guy.

It was dismissive, which is what his entire press conference was. You know what? But those guys, those reporters, especially some of the ones he was getting angry at, those are the most dismissive guys in the world. I have no problem with that. All we're saying, he is also. Right. No one is defend, that's why they're a good match.

No one is defending the reporters of Philadelphia, the scribes, although I'm sure there are some nice guys on the beat. I don't know any of them. But Chip Kelly is coming back at them. It's like a snark fest. from both sides, and Kelly, I think, is snarkier than any of them. And this is how this press conference ended, by the way. He's seriously like Varsity Blues 2, even bluer.

There's a consistency in my behavior. The fact that it doesn't dive with your schedules is what I think the issue is. Because I didn't have final say last year. Pieces are fitting together in the puzzle, right? Thanks, God. I think part of Chip Kelly, that's, people don't get is he to me when I watch him he just seems like a New England guy like that you're you saying dismissive is like I can tell that guy is from New Hampshire he's just like

New Hampshire he's Jim Calhoun I don't know I don't think it's I see that's it New England whenever anyone has an issue with Chip Kelly it's here's what people don't get it's not what I don't get I think he's an incredibly talented football coach but by the way if he's a genius 12 non-genious coaches made the playoffs last year oh he wouldn't say to six but who I don't care what he went. Who wrote bigger puff pieces about him than us? And to me, he's delivered. That's the part I don't get about the Philadelphia fans getting so critical.

Like, he had 27 touchdowns and two interceptions in a season with Nick Foles. That's a goddamn miracle. That is amazing. But no one's saying he's not a talented coach. It's just. So I give him a little benefit of the doubt. This trade is a little crazy. I think he's gotten a lot of benefit of the doubt from the start and up until now and we'll continue to.

I don't think anyone's saying he's. He's not a good coach or he's not talented. But am I ready to make Sam Bradford the comeback player of the year? No. What was the knock on Bill Belichick as Giants' defensive coordinator as Brown's coach and even early in his Patriots career? Why are we, this is it. We're already calling Chip Kelly.

Oh, because I see a lot of similarities between him. Bill Belichick was knocked as a genius nerd, lacking charisma in any kind of soft touch with the media and the public. He admits he made a ton of mistakes in Cleveland and helped him lose a job. I mean, it's not just be a genius and the exes and knows. You have to learn how to handle the other part of the job. You're not just a coach. If you're a head coach, you have a lot more.

And again, we're 23 hours into the new league year. I don't think he's done some kind of haphazard thing that he's messed up their roster. I think we should let us see how to play now. I don't agree with that. I think the part where they really stressed how similar the offense was at Oklahoma was the part that really said it to me that this is the guy they want. that they really believe what Bradford did at Oklahoma and DeMarco Marie. Maybe they're trying to get him too reportedly.

That was what he saw. Chip Kelly saw Bradford in a system and he thought, okay, I've seen him do it. He can do it. And I like that he's original and he's not afraid to do it. And that he's a jerk because we kill all the boring coaches. So he's not boring. There's an interesting dichotomy in the NFL because football has an extremely conservative culture. Yes.

It doesn't like new ideas. and any time a coach comes into the league with innovation, they get derided by analysts, other coaches. A lot of the cover-your-ass coaches don't like to see guys coming in. But it's also the most innovative of American sports. And it's always getting revolutionized all the time. So I think that's the interesting part about Chip Kelly. I just think one last thing, I know Dan's spinning the hands again,

but it's like a lot happened with offense and pistol and read option. The year before Kelly was even in the last. league. I mean, it's not like he's the only person that brings these concepts to the league, and it's not that everyone dismisses him. There are plenty of long research pieces that describe how innovative he is. There are definitely people that will stand behind him no matter what he does wrong, and there are people that will rip on him no matter what he does right. There are people on our airwaves saying he will never win a Super Bowl because his system just does not work in the NFL. All right, let's touch on the other Eagles news out there. They seem to be in the headlines

with multiple things every day. Byron Maxwell joins the team on a six-year, $60 million deal that includes $25 million guaranteed for the first three years, and then something that came down shortly before we came up to do the podcast. Former Chargers running back, Ryan Matthews, on a plane to Philly.

We'll sign a three-year, $12 million deal with the Eagles. This is all according to Rapsheet. And of course, Greg, Ryan Matthews, is the backup choice after the Eagles are spurned by Frank Gore, your boy. Oh, that was great. As much, well, I spent like five minutes talking about what a great location Philadelphia was for Gore, but Indianapolis is even better. I mean, it's true.

We'll talk about it a little later, right? You can go to Tennessee and Greg will be like, Frank Gore is just polished off as hull-of-frame risk. Now, Ryan Matthews is not as complete a player as Gore, but we've talked about before. If there was a Pro Bowl position for first and second down back, he's wildly talented they keep signing guys that get injured you know they also sign walter thurman i don't know about the strategy just like sign all of philadelphia's leftovers

uh in the secondary maxill is getting seattle's leftovers sorry about that uh and they're they're supposedly going to be interested in brandon browner so we'll see about that if i'm the eagles i'd rather have ryan matthews than frank gore anyway at this stage of the respective careers that's fair yeah over the last two years if chip kelly's looking for a north and south runner over the last two years who's been better north and south than ryan manthews you can count them on One hand. Kelly is investing a lot in guys that have injury history. But that was my first feeling, too.

And I saw it as like, and Greg, you have a personal connection with Gore. You love him, the inconvenient truth. I don't quite get why Gore has been such a hot commodity on the market. He's 32. I know he runs for 1,100 yards every year. But how many, you know, 32, 33-year-old running backs are effective in this league? Give me Ryan Matthews. He's a guy with more upside that can be around longer.

Because Ryan Matthews has had one year in his career that's as good as any year of Frank Gore's career. That's why. And he hasn't shown the falloff on tape. I think Chip Kelly looks at what Frank Gore did last year and he sees a very effective starter that can do a little bit of everything. Well, I think with Frank Gore, you know, we don't talk as much about the intangibles, but he's a team leader. And he's considered one of the absolute best past blocking running backs in the league. Smart player. And you can't, you have to have players that are going to buy in the Chip Kelly system. So maybe a more mature type players too. To Dan's point before about Revis versus Maxwell, though, like, you know, $20 million

over the next couple of years for Maxwell. This is where, you know, Chip Kelly, the GM, is going to be tested, is signing Brandon Graham, signing these defensive players. It's a lot of responsibility for a coach to suddenly be a GM, and he's taking some big swings here on defense. Moving forward, the Lions have made a big move after losing in Dominican Sioux. They acquire Helodinata in a trade with the Ravens. According to Bert Breer, Baltimore receives fourth and fifth round draft picks

in return for NADA, which Mark Sessler, that seems like a pretty nice deal for the Lions who are recovering nicely from losing their key player, Sue. Well, I mean, our around the NFL in-house Lions fan, Kevin Patcher's been talking for weeks and months about the Lions moving to a 3-4, and this would be a perfect building block for that. And I don't know how many more years NADA has left,

but he certainly played well last year for a big chunk of the season. season so it's a good pickup and i mean also if you lose sue you've got to turn around and fairly gone too you got to turn around and plug that in with some reliable bodies nice recovery by martin mayhew the lion's GM after sue leaves but i don't think you can analyze this trade without making the point that sue is still an ascendant talent 28 years old all pro and nod is going to be 31 he's probably inching toward the decline phase the lion's offered to make endomicon sue the highest paid defensive player in nymphal history by far So it's not that the lions did anything wrong in trying to keep him.

The dolphins just blew them out of the water by a couple million, and that was it. Not a, you know, the thing that it should be said, he only has one year left on his contract. So it's a cheap deal for them, I guess. They only give up two late-round picks, but it's also a short-term deal. He's making $8 million. I just worry about any situation where Ozzie Newsom is making the decision, and I know they're deep at defensive tackle. They have Brandon Williams.

They just drafted Jernigan. but I'm a little worried about any situation where Ozzie Newsom's like, I'm going to take $8.5 million of dead money on my cap to say goodbye to Hologna. That's a little, freaks me out a little. Yeah, I think it's the whole picture, if you're Baltimore, that Nata would not come down off his 16 million cap hit. Smartly now. Right. So you didn't want to pay him that.

It was going to be $8 million salary, and that's a lot to pay when you're confident in Brandon Williams and Timmy Jernig. It's fair. All day long on the radio. Raven's Twitter feed, which has annoyed us in the past many times. But it was hashtag in Ozzy we trust. And that would strike me as wild. It's pretentious, except the only thing I'd say versus other fan bases of teams with younger GMs and younger coaches where they're freaking out, it's like, wait, but we can trust

Ozzie Newsom. He's done this for a decade plus, and we know that when he makes these decisions, they're for good reasons. I just don't need a bunch of high school kids on a Twitter feed telling me about Oz News. Any day would be better if you just turn Twitter off. That is some serious Ravens Twitter. Totally.

The entire comprehensive Twitter, not the Ravens, but they're a big part of it. Ozzy does seem to get lost in the best GMs discussion too much. I mean, he gets brought up as, oh, we have to include Ozzy instead of maybe he is the best. So, yes, we mentioned the Lions. Let's talk about their former star defensive player in Domican Sue, who made that deal with the Dolphins official on Wednesday. It is a six-year, $114 million contract, $60 million of a guarantee that makes him the richest defensive player

in the history of the NFL surpassing what J.J. Watt signed last year. I thought it was funny. Speaking of Team Twitter feeds, the Dolphins, they tweeted a picture of Sue walking in the hallway looking at this big thing on a wall. It was like two Lombardi trophies in the message. We house champions here or something. It's like, well, your last title was like 40 years.

ago but whatever big move for the dolphins you can't get on them they had the introductory press conference they had joey philbin sitting in the front road didn't even get up on the dais here we go dolphins you got and sue yes west i just laughing at you say well yeah your last championship was 40 years ago my team there's even longer than that but come on and you had to get rid of adrick and starks to get sue and hartline and gipson and guys you don't really want so i i think it's a great move but it can only be so great a move when you're paying him $20 million a year. It's like there's nothing he can do but live up.

Like the best he can do is just be how he's been. And then it's like a B, a B minus. You know what I mean? You're not going to get any special value out of this. The Dolphins doctors that way back when decided Drew Brees wasn't healthy enough to be this team's quarterback got us here. Desperate year after year maneuvers. It was just a couple years ago that the dolphins have to swing.

to the for the fences with too much free agency noise. Chip Kelly compared Sam Bradford to that Breeze deal, by the way. That's your only chance to get franchise quarterbacks is when they're on a big disclaim. I think we've said it. Good for Chip Kelly. Wow. One of my favorite subplots that's growing

and I'm looking forward to the new season is I used to be the guy that got on Chip Kelly is the genius. Cessler turning on him. I'm willing to forgive. He has me a little agitated today. You're a little bit, a little scorn lover. Because let's be honest, you were the number one Chip Kelly cheerleader just a couple.

couple years ago. That's true. It's the same. But then you moved on to Gus Bradley, of course, famously. I want to talk about another coach. Hold on. Led Laser. Laser, of course.

What are you saying to your fans? I realize this isn't the first team that's ever done this. Thank you. You have Joe Filbin, but you have like 55 people from your organization sitting up there with Sue, and Philbin is just sitting down in the front row with Jernos. What are you telling your fans? It's a great. It's great.

You're right. It's such an image. It really, I want to get a good picture of it because it feels like that should be the cover of their team brochure this year. Philvin's sitting in the front row. Does he have a tape recorder? It just isn't odd.

I wondered if he had to like sneak in. Like, where's your credential? But I'm the coach. That's a Joe Philbert's talk. I would, let's just say, in defense of the dolphins, we, again, we agree it was a good signing. Obviously, Sue, him and Revis are maybe the only two sure things in the free agency class. And the reason it makes sense to me, and the reason, Wes, you were saying the Jets don't have a quarterback and they don't,

so the Revis move. Maybe you could say, eh, what are you doing? You can't really say out of the Dobbins because they believe in Tannahill. He's shown appreciable gains each year. So if you get one of the best defensive players in the world and you stick them on your D-line, and then you hope Ryan Tannehill makes the leap, and the AFC East is, you know, again, clock's ticking on old Tommy Boy and the Pats. You know, they got a shot.

They got a shot. It's great. I've always been a fan of the AFC East, but it's been a lame. Well, you would be. No, that's what I'm saying, but it's been a lame division. I always kind of think, like, does everyone think that the AFC East is the second or third? You know, it's always a lame division. This one, now it's back. I don't know, if it ever was there.

A one quarterback division. Moving forward. All right, so let's talk about some more retirement. So we have a Patrick Willis. We talked about that last night, yeah. It was weird. MJD retired, but that kind of made sense. But, you know, father time catches up with all this,

including Tom Brady and the Patriots. Now some ones that don't make as much sense. And we'll start with the Steelers linebacker, Jason Worlds, who is 27 years old, was staring at a new contract and free agency that probably would have gotten about 15 million guaranteed. Instead, in a shocking move, Wes, you were, I think, working last night. He announces that he's,

walking away from the game. He's going to get more involved with the church that he's involved with. How did this happen? So shocking that I took a much more conservative approach to reporting this story than our editing desk did. I wanted to know, are we sure that this guy

is world's agent? Because I can't believe that this guy's retiring when he has an opportunity for transformative wealth. I mean, he got $9 million last year under the transition tag, but come on, you've got three or four more years Probably would have had about, what, $15, $20 million or something? He already has transformative wealth.

I guess if you do your money, handle your money well, he should have enough money to live comfortably anyway. But this would have put him, this would have been the one where you could take care of future generations of worlds. Yeah, and the report came in today that he's going to work for the Jehovah's Witnesses. Good luck to him on that front. It reminds me a little bit of Glenn Coffey, former 49ers running back third round pick,

who walked away in 2010 to explore a career in religion. So similar. The difference was you can't make a stronger statement about that. It's not about the money than literally being a free agent ready to sign a check for $20 million. I mean, that's someone that's putting his convictions way ahead of what most people would ever consider. The most famous Jehovah's Witness of all time. Anybody know? Jehovah?

Yeah. Besides Jehovah. You know. Behind the Glass TV. No idea. Michael Jackson as a child. Yeah, I mean, I think Wes wrote a nice column here on him. But it's like what, I don't think.

Oh, Michael Jackson? No, no, no, no. About Worlds. Oh, you just dismissed me entirely there. That was a nice little nugget, Mark. But how about the Titans? Wasn't he their top target? It's just like people will do anything to avoid joining the Titans.

We're just looking at it through a certain lens, though. We're looking at it through a worldly gains lens. I think he's saying, I don't care about that. No, it's cool. We can't, maybe we don't understand. Future world. I'm just curious why you think I would know the most. I thought you were an MJ fan.

I am an MJ fan. I know I know about that. But are you? Is the question. I am, but not, you know. I bet you don't even know what religion Russell Wilson is. No idea.

All right. We move on. He is Christian. That's all I can say. Dude loves God. That would not have been somewhat obvious to you, TD? Russell Wilson, huge God fan. That's my guy, man.

I've met him a couple of times, like I said. Who, God? Here we go. Moving on more retirement stuff. Jake Locker. What the hell's going on out there? Jake Locker, I know. Jake Locker's done.

The 2011 number eight overall pick. Just 30 career appearances with the Titans' injuries every year that he played in the league. He just walks away from the game after much reflection and discussion with my family. And Wes got a little upset with me because I didn't hear Wes said that, oh, maybe he'll go back to baseball. And then I retweeted someone else from an outside outlet that had the same thought. Wes had it first. So, Chris, maybe Jake Locker will go back to baseball. Yeah, that was a clown move by you.

I saw Sessler retweeted some other site last night on the world's news, too, like 10 minutes after we had. Oh. I did. Yeah, the world's news. What a world indeed. A lot of free agency heat going on right now. The listener is starting to deduce is that anyone that's attached to this operation on any level when you're not here needs to only be plugged in to Greg, Wes,

Dan, or myself. You can't have anything else happening in your life other than what they're up here. You're trying to smoke us out of here? It is 79,000 degrees. The most insulting part of this. Mark is doing his, I got the vapors thing again with the paperwork.

I got the vapors. Why is it? It was like a 40-degree shift and it feels like a producer trigger move. That's great. What's going on with the heat situation? No idea, guys. We were working on it. Sometimes it's colds.

You're not working on. And it's got to roll with it, guys. Conditions. Playing in the conditions. That's all it is. The most insulting part of this whole locker news is that the Angels GM, who owns the right to locker and baseball, released the quote last night saying, we have no interest in Jake Lockhart.

I don't think he was going to baseball. It's just as someone asked him. He's like, we'll release his rights if he wants to be. We're not signing him. He's just injured all the time. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. I guess he's an injury liability, whatever sport you play. I mean, Patrick Willis makes sense because he said his feet no longer allow him to play football.

And Jake Locker, I think, was just thinking, I cannot stay on the field for more than five games without getting hurt. I'm kind of taking me this money. Or I'm getting no offers. I think people wanted that. There were reports that some teams wanted them. Jake McAllen would. Feels fake to me. Everyone, all these guys, all these bums are getting a ton of money.

I would think he could have got something. I don't know. But it was a rash of like under 30 retirements. I think there are people were wondering what that's all about and we're not. allowed to make a guess i don't know my my strong guess is that you have to do it on a case-by-case basis i don't think that just because jake lockers walking away jason world's is walking away i mean i don't know that they're connected in it does anyone want to get up on their soapbox because i saw it a lot yesterday and dropped the line oh can i get a piano for this

i respect player x you're walking away from the game Before the game walked away from him. Turned his Christopher walking. All right, we get it. Yeah, it's a nice move. I feel for the person that tweeted that. There was like 70,000 people. There was a lot of people.

People don't know how to handle what breakups in general. I think Dan's really hitting on the Twitter point that everyone has to chime in with everything. Everybody has to say, oh, good for power. Patrick Willis. It's kind of like, you know, I really hope they recover that kidnapped child. Like, I can't imagine that pain. It's like, okay, well, it's like, who is hoping that the child's not recovered? You're going to heaven now, congratulations.

Who is not, everyone, who in the other day in a post, because he didn't know how to get out of the post, capped it off with our thoughts and prayers. I wasn't going to bring that up. I didn't say prayers. I said thoughts. And I was, I was genuinely feeling bad. The guy got shot. I'm just saying.

I'm saying, I don't think you said, I thought you wouldn't go to your car, close the door, roll up the windows, and stop and pause, meditate and think about this person's situation at all. All right. While we're here, talking about Twitter of pet peeves, how do we feel about the mute button on Twitter? I love it. I've had caused to use it a few times this week, but I normally just block. I think it's a cop-out. I like it, but I think it's a cop-out. I used to unfollow people, and some of them were almost friends of mine, and they would get mad at me and stuff, but I just felt like that's more honest than muting them.

I'm against the mute button. All right. I only just don't special occasions, and believe me, there are occasions when you need it. Amen. Moving forward. The Chicago Bears, it looks like they're going to have Jay Cutler behind center again. A lot of people thought, I never quite bought into this because you're going to dump Jay Cutler, who's a pain in the ass, obviously, but then you're going to go get Jake Locker

out of retirement or something. Who wins in that case? Anyway, so Ryan Pace, the new GM, came out, told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday, we went through the process of thoroughly evaluating the roster, and we're moving forward with Jay Cutler with Jay. They went first name, which just tells you that there's a connection there. Jay is our starting quarterback. So, Greg, this is, it looks like we're going to have one more year of Jay in Chicago.

I think we're going to have two. Two more. Oh, that's depressing. I'm going to translate that quote for you. Please. Quote, no one would take this contract that the previous administration signed, and we have no choice but to keep Jay Cudler. Well, eating the duty, or...

I wish you weren't a liar. That's it. And he's not really lying. I mean, they're right. He's their starting quarterback, because they have no choice. They have no option. I had to hit the old dictionary.com a few seconds ago to look up the opposite of Galvanize.

What is it? Because they just disheartened their fan base with this move. I tweeted yesterday that the Bears were the loser of free agency because they have Cutler and the other 31 teams are the winners because they don't have Cutler. And the response was, oh, man, you're going to. have to block bears fans all day? I didn't have to block a single Bears fan. No, they don't. They know. They don't. I think every new regime

should be allowed to remove or eliminate one move by the previous regime. Some sport has that. NBA has that, the amnesty clause. They get to do that. Well, that was like three years ago. Well, they basically, they used to be able to amnesty a player, right? One player. Okay. I mean, this is Tressman

comes in, has one great year with the team. They decide, oh, you know what? He can fix Jay Color because they knew he wasn't fixed. We'll give him more time. You sign this ridiculous contract and the timing again kills them because when you know you want to get out there's no one to go get it's a killer and i know we're not to this portion of the program yet but you you were asking for the word what's the opposite of galvanize and i feel like this picture and maybe we'll put it up on the website is going to do that not only for texans fans it's

brian hoyer in a cheap suit uh signing his contract but also mark i feel like it's got to be depressing that was unfe he looks like a better suit than anything i have i've just He looks like a GameStop employee. That NFL quarterback? It's got to be annoying, though. Is it annoying for you to see Hoyer? I guess you were done with Hoyer. Well, I would take Mallet and Hoyer over Cleveland's quarterback scenario right now.

Yeah. There are Cleveland... By the way, that's not saying a whole lot. Here's a good... Here's an interesting one. Would you take Cutler as his currently paid over Mallet and Hoyer? Never. Never.

I like... How about over McCown? Never. If you don't have a good quarterback, I want a situation. and you can get out of. Yeah. I would take color, but I'm the last. You are a huge Cutler Apologist, an acolyte, even.

I mean, I've given up. He's not on your team. It's easier. No, I've even given up on that. Who hasn't? But I'd still rather have the 20th best quarterback than the 27th. So it's like, why not have them? Your dream team is filled with creeps and criminals.

I mean, you've already made it clear that character means nothing to you. And I apologize for taking the shot of Cleveland Springs scene there, but he just doesn't really look like a... He doesn't look like an NFL quarterback to me, that's all. I stopped listening to you guys like 45 seconds ago. Hashtag we are Texans. Bears also gave, what, 40 million to Pernell McPhee, who is on my list of guys who could get overpaid.

So we'll find out if that was overpaying. By the way, speaking of our sandwich bet, we didn't really bring it up. There are no betting. There's no betting, but it's propositions. 60 million for Sue, we now know. I don't know if you're going to get there with all those running backs. Yeah, it's going to be close, though. Murray is the key guy.

You know, Ingram got a decent amount. I got a little bit of a chance if Spiller and Murray come through. Here's somebody who got a lot of money. That deal, Julius Thomas and the Jacksonville Jaguars is done. It's a five-year contract that averages $9.2 million per season, $24 million, guaranteed for a guy that, you may have heard, played basketball in college. It's a small school. And now he's a guy that plays tight end in the NFL,

and he's making 24 million guaranteed on a big contract. Mark, are you convinced? Obviously, we don't imagine he's going to have the same type of touchdown production, 12 in the last two years with Peyton Manning. But is this going to work? Because you're a good person to ask you. You loved the Jags last year. You believed in Bordals and the coaching staff.

And do you think that adding a weapon like this will work for this offense and for Julius Thomas? Well, I don't know you mean by work, but it's not going to be broadcast numbers. Well, he's a productive player, pro ball type player. actually just paid for. I don't know if he'll be a pro-bull type player. I mean, if he wants motivation, he should just log on Twitter because a lot of people seem to think that this guy is the one guy who's going to fall off a cliff.

Our own Dave Damashek called him just a guy on Twitter about an hour of guy. He called him a Jag? He said it's perfect to go to Jacksonville because he's a jag. Oh. That's silly talk. But I think that they've gone and found themselves, you know, the prototypical playmaking type of tight end, one of your newer types that you want to have as a safety valve and more for your quarterback, and they have found the quarterback last off season,

so it's a good addition. I mean, but how do we project in a much lesser offense? I mean, anyone that leaves Peyton Manning is in for a swoon numbers. He didn't top 500 yards. He had about the same amount of yards last year as Scott Chandler. Right, he also missed a bunch of games. He had a high ankle sprain for half the season. But injuries are part of the story with him, as they would have been with Jordan Cameron.

He was on pace to set a touchdown record halfway through the season before those injury slowed down. He played 13 games. Yeah, but he played with a high ankle spurt. He can't knock a guy for not. I mean, your boy, Grunk didn't even play in the Super Bowl when he had an ankle screen. He's getting paid like Gronk. I think he's getting more money than Grunk.

That's because he made it to the open market. That's fair. And if you're the Jaguars, you got to do what the Raiders don't do. Overpay for transcendent talent. No one's paying more right now than the Jags, and I respect them for it. Just go for it. Try to get better. They stink.

They're three and 13. last season, at least 11 losses four years in a row. They're trying to get that fan base energized, putting all that money into the stadium, the ownership is trying to connect with the people, spend some money, I like what they're doing. And if you believe in that quarterback and you believe that enough to shock people by

taking Bortles number three, you've got to give them some weapons and see if he can play. One thing, I mean, I think that it's all skill players and free agency and everyone's going crazy, but if they fix that offensive line which they tried to do by getting Alex Mack last year that fell through, that team is different on offense. If they can find a couple

guys to come in and protect portals. Jeremy Parnell. I mean, they're being bold. They're being bold, which I like. They're thinking originally. It kind of reminds me of the Seahawks. I mean, they're projecting guys, Adrick, Parnell, Dan Scuda, who came in to have much bigger roles than they really had in their previous spot. And they're paying them and they're going to be on the line. I mean, if they win three or four games next year, I don't know if this rebuilding continues. They're getting young players at least, unlike Oakland last off season. And this offseason. The Bermuda Triangle. the NFL, as you call it, the Jags are the one

that are jumping up and down and say, pay attention to us. The Jags, the Titans, and the Falcons, the Bermuda Triangle, the NFL. If you work for NFL media, you're not allowed to write about them. So I try to give them attention. Well, what did you say yesterday? You tried with the Titans. I tried with the Titans, but they don't want, they don't want attention.

Well, Caldwell even admitted their GM that they had five big targets going into re-agency, and they only got three of them. And the two they didn't get, which he did not say, but we can surmise from reporting and various sources that it was McCordy and Cobb. Now, that would have been awesome if you had gotten one of those two.

To get three is pretty good. Along with this group, yeah, but the other, you know, no one was fighting them for Parnell and Adrick at those prices. One thing we've learned, fans should stop falling for the, we've got the most salary cap space, roos that these teams pull. It's a vicious cycle. Teams like the Raiders and the Jags have all the salary cap space. Meanwhile, good teams like the Packers,

devote that space to resigning Randall, Brian Balaga, their own core talent, core players, the Raiders have no core. The Jaguars have no core. They can't go spend that money. If you run your team properly and you have a little bit of a nest egg to go into free agency each year, you could target guys you specifically need. Rather than be the team that has a bare cupboard and then have all this money, then you just throw contracts of guys that aren't even good. And nobody wants to play for you. That's the harder part. How do you bring in talented players that know they're going from Aaron Rogers to a team with

no quarterback? And we've seen this in the NBA a little. Here's my second NBA analogy of the day. Everyone was saving up cap space for a while, and then the cap exploded, and suddenly the cap didn't matter nearly as much as it used to. And so previous moves, like trading James Hardin, for instance, and in the NFL, I think this cap's going to keep going up more and more. So we need to all, and I need to do it too, recalibrate, like, oh, they overpaid Julius Thomas. Like, by the fourth year of that contract, it's probably not going to look too crazy.

The cap's just going up and up and up. Right. All right, quick over-under game with Julius Thomas. Here we go. Yes or no. start with you mark reception 61 under

under west over over great 900 yards mark under under under under seven touchdowns push

over over over over all right so it's going to be okayish all right we talked a little bit about frank gore earlier but let's just go through the specifics there he signed this deal now with the cults 8 and a half million in guarantees So goodbye to Trent Richardson Hello to Frank Gore

Greg, this is a team That obviously with this move And also they've signed now Andre Johnson The wide receiver from the Texans of course This is a team that's going all in To win now one game from the Super Bowl last year They think they're going to go this year

I mean they're not just adding veterans They're adding Frank Gore and Andre Johnson Old veterans No they're I mean but they're guys Who are still playing well who have been among the very best players in the NFL and leaders, and I think played very well last year. Now they get to play alongside Andrew Luck.

I love the fact that Gore says he wanted to play with Luck. That was one of the big things about it, and he changed his mind from Philly to Indy, and because he's been watching Luck. I mean, I love that. I would want to play with Andrew Luck too. Andre Johnson said the same thing. Rap sheet reported the Chargers offered more than the Colts for Andre Johnson.

The plane was revved up waiting to fly Andre Johnson to San Diego, he chose the coolest because he wanted to play with Andrew Luck. Grigsden is aggressive. I mean, he has a lot of cats. He's also swung and missed on a few things. He has a little bit. He was so smart to take Andrew Luck at number one overall. Right.

He feels a little coddled to me because... He's the Rob Deer of the GMs, just swinging at everything. Adam done. But he's going for it while they have a great window here with luck and whatever it is. They're going for it. Trent Cole was a signing, I like, too. Yeah. I don't know.

I think Audrey Johnson has a lot of juice luck. Todd Harriman's Kendall Langford. They've gotten a few, they filled a few holes. How fun is this team? I mean, they were already the team I like to watch just about the most other than the Patriots. And now they're adding gore. Now they're adding AJ. How painful is this move?

I don't think we, because none of us are Texans fans, but this is the least, this is the most painful move you could possibly make if there's a Texans fan. If you're coming up with one transaction, that would be the most painful in the history of Texans franchise. It's Andre Johnson to the Colts. It's going to lead to some great, furious John McClain. tweet so yeah it will I mean they couldn't

they can't win in Indianapolis it never happened and now they're going to have Andre Johnson do it while he's polishing up his canton credentials with a member of the Colts that's this year Steve Smith all right one more before we get to our speed round

and we get out of here this will be the longest around the NFL podcast of all time but in a good way because there's a lot to cover by popular demand all killer no filler all right finally Wes I'll cue you up on this because you wrote the post The Buccaneers, come on, Fox, you've got to be kidding me with this stuff. So they went out and spent all that money.

They got Anthony Collins last year. They got Michael Johnson. Same regime one year later. Josh McCown. Josh McCown. All three of those guys are gone. Collins and Michael Johnson most recently. They added Bruce Carter, which might be a pretty good signing, the Cowboys linebacker.

But, Wes, to drop Anthony Collins and Michael Johnson take the money hit that they're taking on it, what was it exactly? Like, what kind of a penalty Are they assessing themselves with this? When these three guys signed last March, the reported money for all of them was over 80 million and over 40 million guaranteed. And all three of them lasted one year.

I don't think you can talk about Jason Light's first year as Bucks GM without using the phrase abject failure. I mean, GMs very rarely last one year, but if there was ever a case to be made. Well, I mean, you've got to give him another chance. Guys make mistakes. I'm not saying... All right, Wes. I like this new West.

I'm not saying he's a bad general. manager, but his first free agency attempt might have taught him a few less. He's basically saying, I would rather keep the players the last general manager picked than the ones I picked. Ouch. That's a disappointment. If they didn't have James Winston coming in, it's about as low as any franchises right now. I think Tennessee, if I was making a hopeless rankings would be, they'd be at the top,

but the bucks are close. But they're getting James Winston. They're not a true for you're not as their quarterback come week one. They've got Harry Douglas now. They got somebody to put on the program now. By the way, I have something to add for this speed round. Oh, yeah, that's exciting. We have some breaking news.

Patriots news. Fits right in it. Why do we talk about that? Then we'll go into the speed. Well, and it's kind of speed round worthy. Okay, all right. How about this? TD is now time for the speed round.

Start it off, Greg. Breaking news out of New England. Jabal Sheard goes to the Patriots. One of Mark's favorite players. One of my favorite Browns, too. I like it. I love this signing. I am annoyed.

Why? Chabal Shearred. Like this would be, we want to keep our own drafted players. How about resign your own guys, outrageous? All right. Rules of the speed round. The Benny Hill sponsored speed round. Got to be fast.

Here we go. 49ers. Torrey Smith strike five-year, $40 million deal. The deep threat for Baltimore. Now the deep threat for the Niners. Nice move, Mark. Nice addition for a four-win team. Mike Eupati plans to leave the 49ers for the Arizona Cardinals.

One of the best guards on the market. Cardinals get stronger guard. That was necessary, right? Wes. Love this move. If Jonathan Cooper pans out, they could have one of the best guard tans in the league. Yupati goes to show how little we as analysts know.

Faster! Who grade players. Played through a broken foot last year. We need a skinny. Played through a broken foot last year. If you're accusing him a bad pass protection. Too long. Maybe you don't know the full detail.

Mr. Smith goes to Washington. Wes, you're out of the rest of this year. That was terrible. You will be banned for one round of speed round. Here we go. Ryan Fitzpatrick, Greg, signs of the Jets. See? I'm happy.

That's it. I mean, you're all happy about Dorel Rivas. You have Ryan Fitzpatrick as your quarterback. Shut up, jerk. Mark, Brian Hoyer, and the Texans reach agreement on two-year deal. Did we already talk about this? Age of Glory. I won my speed round back.

2011 bills. Got to put them back together on the Jets. Greg is removed Greg for a round. Not funny enough to come back. Shane Vreen expected to land with the Giants. Wes. They've got a new passing down back because, because Rashad Jennings was supposed to be their passing down back,

but he got injured all year last year. Bill's preparing offer for Charles Clay, the Miami Dolphins, Greg. They didn't pay them enough, apparently, to keep in the building. He's going to go. All right, back off with the private planes, bills. Charles Clay and Jerome Felton, you've got to be a little better to get the private planes. The Tennessee Titans, the Titans, I don't know who they are, but apparently Harry Douglas is on that team now.

Also, they re-sign their long snapper, their punter, and a Searcy fellow, Wesley. It's just depressing, disheartening, disgusting. And lastly, Mark, the bear's signed Pernil McVee to a five-year deal. Missing piece? Like the signing, way too much money. All right. Good job.

Wes, you got a little talking in that one part, but overall. Sometimes I have a point I need to make it. You got to let me make it. I need to tell people off sometimes. In the speed round, though, you know, it's a little different game, that's all. West shifts into massive filibuster during speed run. to tell stats nerds that they don't know every local man undermines speed round the speed round

in Tybee is like two hours left until the bar closed like that's that's the speed round they're moving at their own pace no I tell me we stay after the bar close all right so that's it for Wednesday's edition of the round a supersized edition of the around the NFL podcast we're going to be back

on Thursday we'll be right back here talking about another day of free agency and what is a mega week for the NFL so make sure you tune in thank you for listening this is Dan Hans is signing off Mark Sessler, the Sizzler, the mailman, the boss, and T.D. Behind the Glass, until Thursday.