NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - The Scientists' 101 Top Free Agents

Episode Date: February 28, 2020

A stadium filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Chris Wesseling, Gregg Rosenthal and Marc Sessler go through Chris and Gregg's Top 101 Free Agents list. The heroes argue about where they think some of these big names are listed and where they think they'll go. Plus, an exclusive JAWS recap.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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Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What's up, boys? Hey, Dan. It is that time. Every year. Without fail, late February. scientists go into the lab, and they stay in the lab. Not for days, not for weeks, months.

And when they come upstairs, you see, the toll of the battle as they fought to make a list together, not as combatants, but as allies. And when they were done, they held it up high. The top 101 free agents of 2020! so stupid they did it they did it boys how was the exercise this year all of that just to put graham glasgow at number 44 uh it was better because uh west insisted this year while we were down in the in the lab to play that jaws theme on repeat for months as you say Jaws?

I think you mean 2001 Space Odyssey. I mean 2001 brain fart there. A little John... Born age 32, trying to be human

there and it backpired. We've been in Indianapolis too long already. I, you know, this conversation actually will be the first, I think, that we had

about this top. What a one month? We never spoke about it. Are you at the, are you at the Beatles' late period, like, let it be era

where you're going into the studio and laying down your individual parts and then it's up to the producer to kind of put it all together and make it seem like you're actually a functional unit? I would say that's an apt analogy. Well, I would say that was always it. All it is is we make a top 100 list and then our editors, you know, combine the two lists.

We did use to kind of talk through once they were together if we wanted to make some corrections. But now it's like we're that much closer to death and do we need to use that time to move guys up one or two let's just let the math take care of it for us so does this mean that ali bun purry is your phil specter yeah wow that all checks out and he lets us know if we missed anyone and and uh so he's he's he truly deserves the credit we break we break ties phil bum perry please i mean so if you haven't heard um this show before this special we've done it a couple years down if you haven't more importantly read the top one

one free agents of 2020. You could check it out at NFL.com slash top 101 free agents. Top 101 free agents. Top 101 feels like a better vanity URL. But again, I don't make these decisions. Phil Spector does. Phil Spector makes bad decisions sometimes, as we've learned. He's been known.

So check that out. And it's a great list. And Mark and I a little bit later on are going to reveal our top 101. Nice. It'll be the six minutes that I speak. during this episode. So stay tuned for that. That's where the Jaws music comes in.

I don't know why I said John. So it's something of a minipod. We'll get right into it now. And gentlemen, your list, which for the record, begins with Dack Prescott. But right off the top, you weren't in lockstep on that, were you? We weren't. West had Chris Jones, number one. I did.

I approached it a little bit differently this year. There's always that question when you're making this list. Do you do it by what you're trying to predict the teams will value? Or do you do it by who's the straight out better player? And to me, Chris Jones was the best player available in free agency. And I love Chris Jones. I love putting them second on my individual list. And I have checked out some of the other sites out there.

I was shocked. The SPB. I didn't have them in their top 15, which is just a sign that that's wild. Chris Jones is in the top 15. In one list I saw on ESPN, that is correct, on their insider list. Are they factoring in that they assume he'll just be? No, I don't know. I just think it was a bad list.

But I've seen a couple others, and he's generally in top three or four. And to me, he was the clear best position player. I do my rankings most. I just like who I think has the most value. And so I do move quarterbacks up significantly. And I think you must to some degree, too, Wes, because you put, you know, Doc Prescott number two overall, and there's some other really great. players on the list. But that was one big difference and I was going through our individuals is that

I weighted quarterbacks a lot more heavily in terms of giving them value that they play quarterback because quarterback is more valuable than other positions. Like an average quarterback like Teddy Bridgewater to me has a lot of value. Yeah, I get that. And quarterbacks are important. There's no denying that. To me, I struggle with the older guys because I just don't want an old quarterback in today's NFL. It's a different league than it was four years ago five years ago you can't get away with a statue in the pocket a stone age pony as mark likes to say i uh i uh by the way gregg i just want to say savvy move right out of the gate to go to another media giant media house uh who creates a list of their own and just absolutely destroy it all i i'm just saying one thing i noticed that seemed a little crazy

christ jose petero down for uh just for a little context since we're talking about the stone age ponies Drew Breeze came in at 15 on this list. Tom Brady all the way down at 17. You know Phil Specter loved that. I mean, that's a spicy thing you can sell the article with. And they did. Tom Brady, fourth-ranked QB is in the headline. Oh, my God.

Phil Rivers at 23. It's so predictable. Well, if you remember when the old Zusser took Tom Brady out of the superstar club, that's how they played it as well. Brady moves units or generates clicks when you speak critically of him. So you can't get on Specter for that. Uh, no, and it was really Wes that put them lower. I had them, I had Philip Rivers 13th, Wes had him 32nd.

I had Tom Brady 9th and Wes had him 27. So the average is, that's how it worked out. But I don't. Chris Sims gave you guys a little, uh, what for. Oh, really? A little bit. Don't care. What was, uh, now I'm going to have to look at.

What in what sense? It was kind of a backhanded compliment in the sense that I hear more football people. I respect putting Tom Brady too. low something along those lines don't care tell me why you don't care what it just doesn't matter it doesn't matter what doesn't matter what doesn't matter what does it doesn't matter but you like it though you like engaging i don't care i like it's westling time west i didn't know that i put in more work than chris simms did on this piece so i don't care one one one one reason that i don't put too much into it is did i have it right by the way the general yeah you're right he said two smart people he complimented

ranking Tanna Hill ahead of Brady. So that was the thing he didn't like. I question, is Chris Sims running this account? Oh. I mean, we're friends with his, I just don't know. He's a big-time star. He's got producers that could do things for him. Welcome to World War III.

We don't even know. Oh, I would think he constructed that tweet on his own, Greg. That is a tad cynical. I like Chris Sims. I think he does good work, but I don't care whether anyone's running his account or not. Here is the top 10 of the list. Okay, it's Dak Prescott at 1, Chris Jones at 2, Amari Cooper 3, Janavian Clowny at 4, Shaq Barrett at 5, Yannick and Gokwe at 6,

Justin Simmons at 7, Ryan Tannahill at 8. Interesting, Byron Jones at 9, Eric Arnestead at 10. So out of the top 10, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 of the 10 are defensive players. So defensive needy teams have some blue chip options to hunt for next month. And some of those guys will get tagged like Shaq Barrett in Gacquay. I don't think they're going anywhere. Well, can I ask you quick? I mean, I looked at your top 10, which we just read off.

And I tried to find the first player I thought that would wind up on a different team. And for me, it was Byron Jones at number nine. I thought that it's logically. And it seems every year the top 15 is just like eliminated because most of them stay home. I think Armstead, what number was? He was he. He was 10, and Wes had him high, and I like that. Clowny is the other one.

I think Clowny and Amari Cooper both have better than 50-50 chances of leaving, and Clowny, I would put it quite high because he can't be franchise tagged, and 32 teams are going to be bidding. Seahawks want pass rushers, but I just don't know if they'll be the top one. And I think the Cowboys might lose Amari Cooper. There's this weird assumption that he's going to come back. Why? You're going to be bitten against 31 teams.

They want him. But they don't have all the money in the world, and there's one team. It only takes one team to make them the highest paid player ever at receiver, and I think that could happen. Here's the other bit of logic. The Cowboys, as we know, as we've been talking about, have some really difficult decisions to make, and you see it right on this list. They could go the route, and I don't think it would be necessarily the best one, but they might find it to be the necessary evil to get things under control. Cap-wise is to go let Cooper go and then invest in one of these hot-shot. wide receivers and a draft class full of them and hope they hit on somebody that could

become an instant guy with Dak. Mike McCarthy spoke just before we got in here and, you know, maybe this means nothing, but he emphasized that he wanted Cooper there absolutely next year, no doubt about it. He did. And Cobb. He had this one comment where he said it looked like Amari Cooper was really in sync with Dak and Randall Cobb, who he lauded and he coached before, of course, I'd say even more in sync with Dak.

So that makes you wonder, does, yeah, he's on the list, much lower down. But it makes you wonder if they see Cobb as a cheaper option. It's obviously a very different position. Very different play. I'm just saying why. Jack's not even in the top 10 on this list if Amari Cooper never gets traded to Dallas. Ooh, that's saucy. I mean, it's true.

Look at his numbers with him without Amari Cooper. I just think someone could, why wouldn't Amari Cooper, I guess, make the most money in wide receiver history. I know he's not the greatest wide receiver in NFL history, but that's just how it happens when you get to free agency. It's so rare someone that young, that good, and the cap is going way up. And we don't know about...

Wouldn't you rather play for the Cowboys at $20 million than like the Bengals at $23 million or something? I mean, if it was the Bengals, yes, but there's a lot of teams I think he could find attractive. And I think he might make $25, $30 million. I don't even know. It might be wild.

Cycling back to the Stone Age Pony quarterback's, and Philip Rivers at 23. Every year, I play a little game guessing who wrote the blurb, Greg, or Wes. Oh, I think we know who wrote this one. And then I play a game within a game. It's called Bet Your Life on the Blurb. And I'm going to bet my life that Wes wrote the Philip Rivers blurb for number 23.

Wes, would you mind reading it for the audience? Check Libreia for Contagin, like a horsefly stuck to rosin paper or a mastodon mired in the infamous tarpits. Rivers furious, flat-footed flailing only served to hasten the end of his story Chargers career. No longer possessed of the quick jump step or strong arm necessary to compensate for an overwhelmed offensive line. Rivers is reliant upon a deep moat to sharpshoot from the castle tower. Look for Frank Reich and Nick Siriani to coax their old quarterback to Coke's Kingdom. I love doing it. That is a beautiful blur.

It was amazing. Very enjoyable read overall. I love this article because I get half the credit for all of Wes's great writing. I just like my write-ups, like Mark sent a nice text. Oh, great job on all the write-ups. And I wanted to say back, like, all the good ones are West's. Hold on, though, I will say this. Anyone that reads both of you a lot will also identify some of yours where you've got,

you drop some hammers and little, shoot some arrows through people in a very Greg Rosenthal-type way. I meant you gave. I'm saying, it's not like half of them are readable and the other are just floating garbage. The others are good. Let's get back on track. Mark, what's something that jumped out to you when you went through this top 101? Well, I look at someone like Corey Littleton, and he came in where? It was, I believe, came off an awesome season.

16. And I think that's a very fair place to put it. But my question is when you look at Cory Littleton, and I think he's going to have a lot of interest. because he's versatile, he can do it all, and there's not a lot of players of that position that can do what Corey Littleton did last year. Do you think that he could go to any team and be that kind of player,

or was that partly because of fit where he was with the Rams? I think he can go to any team because I think he's the linebacker you want in 2020 where he is awesome in coverage. He can hang with scatbacks, he can hang with tight ends, and he's rangy. And like Greg said, in the blurb,

which is well written, he also is one of the best specials, teamers in the league. He has a skill set that hasn't been as valued. I do wonder if he'll help improve that market, like these off-ball linebackers that are great in coverage. I mean, they've barely existed, you know, in the NFL in the same way that Cory Littleton does. Like, he deserves to get paid almost like an edge rusher. Everyone values guys who get sacks so much, but there's less Cory Littletons than guys who get 10 sacks like Robert Quinn or something. We talked to Daniel Jeremiah on yesterday's show about what position groups in this draft class

are not so hot and he did he mentioned tight end right yep and I think Hunter Henry it's going to point more to a guy I think he's going to get a really nice payday for a guy that hasn't done a lot in the league because when you factor in the draft class and the fact that he has those mouth-watering skills I imagine a team is going to invest heavily in him They're talking about him potentially getting a franchise, too. Right, which if he gets tagged, and I think he probably will, then Austin Hooper, who is lower on our list, is just going to make so much money.

He's 33rd on our list, which I think is, I have him, like, slightly higher, but I think that's right. I don't think he's a unique game-breaking talent. He was in a great situation and is a really good plus player, but he's kind of the perfect example of guys who make a, killing in free agency like a slightly better than average starter who's young in the middle of his prime and but isn't good enough to keep for Atlanta like they could prioritize keeping him and they have their own issues and they're not doing it and he's and he'll get paid like the top

tight end in the league can I give you one other just impression of this list I find you know invariably it becomes a bit depressing because there are players that we when they were drafted in earlier on in the career they were lauded rightfully so and they changed the game of football. And now I'm looking at the Ndama can Sue at 66 and Gerald McCoy at 68. And those are both below linebacker Blake Martinez. I'm just saying I get it. That's where I get in well ranked, but how quickly some of these guys fall off a shelf.

It sucks to get old. Borderline, uh, borderline Hall of Famers, both of them, though. I mean, they've had a great career. It's just an odd sight to see Sue and McCoy down at that low. Yeah, no, you're right. It was, if anything, some would maybe argue we over it. overrated them, but they were pretty solid players last year for their time. Poor Blake Martinez, like the last couple of months of the season,

saw his value plummet when he kept chasing after running backs who were trucking over him. That was your boy. I thought you might do one of the, like, West, let's make a stand for Blake Martinez and just overrate him just to stick it in my eye. But we weren't too far away from him. You had him 59th item 69. I think that's one of the ones where you have to credit Bob McGinn, the excellent beatwriter for the Packers, longtime beatwriter where he was just pointing out.

week after week that Blake Martinez was getting his butt kicked. Mark, the inexorable, inexorable march of time. Inexorable. Inexorable march of time. The prison into which all humankind is born. Whoa. Right. Why am I wasting podcast moments battling verbally father time?

The sands are draining through the powerglass. Where else do we want to go? Oh, I have one editorial note. I'd like to pitch for Phil Specter, tick note for Phil Specter and the crew. Guys that are very likely to get tagged, how about a little icon next to their name? Love it. And then you don't have to even include it in the blurb. That's addressed with the little badge that's next to their headshot.

I'll go even a step further. Who has his finger on the pulse of tags in this industry more than Greg Rosenthal for the last half decade? The guy loves it. He lives for this. Yeah. Greg, Greg probably bats about 900 on whether a guy's getting tagged or not, so use that. So let's hit that. And they get removed anyways.

It is a little messy, you know. They get taken off the list, I think, or they get a little tag. I was pleasantly surprised to see sometimes, like, the guys we disagreed on the most, Wes. Yeah, and I knew one was coming. One I loved because it's one of my favorite players of the last decade, Jason Pierre Paul. Chris Wesleyan had it in his top. Just looking at him. top 20 i had him 45 and i i love them and i thought that was that was uh fair but uh this is one

where like i'm glad west you know drag j p p p p up he wasn't incredible for his that when he returned last season you're beating the crap out of the quarterback every single game you need to be in the top 20 yeah i one thing with him in in the list in general is just like you want to you want to you want to give credit to last year but you don't want to forget you know the injuries and in the years before that too but when he's healthy he's a beast uh let's see uh let's see You have Kenyon Drake, and he had a really nice season with the Cardinals after that Dolphins trade down at 48. And it did make me think of, you know, where running back spit in when it comes to free agency. And then I thought about, oh, what did the 2019 list look like?

And I checked out, and there he was, Levyon Bell, number one on your list. That was after a lot of tags got removed. After all the tags, that's who sat at number one, is who is your highest. running back on this list. Derek Henry. Okay, so that makes sense. He's at number 14. And that was one we disagreed on.

We were pretty lockstep for the top 20 for the most part. But I had Henry about 20th and Wes at Henry 10th. Yeah, again, I was just going by who's the best player. And this is a guy who carried his team really far into the playoffs. And he was their identity. They got their identity from Derek Henry. That is a good player. I'd be a little concerned he had...

however many carries in the playoff, 85. Yeah, that's fair. That's a fair concern. And he's not great on third downs, but we had him pretty high. I still, you know, think that's pretty high. Melvin Gordon, who, you know, once wanted to be kind of the next Levi-on-Bel is 35. And I still think when he's right, he's like a top 10 to 12 back, but, man, he's very streaky. He's had some big up, some big downs in his career.

He could be a nice value by because he ended up killing his leverage. It was the opposite of what he sought out to do by missing a lot of the season, coming back, not being in shape, and then not playing up to his standards from the year before for a lot of the season. But if he has a full off season, reports on time, has the chip on his shoulder, maybe he signs a prove it type deal, he might end up being a guy you can get big value from. All of that is true. I probably held it too much against him that he was an awful teammate last year,

but what can you do? He's a power back. He can make big plays. I mean, put it this way. I don't think I'm alone saying I'd much rather have him than our number one free agent from last year, Levyon Bell. That was a pretty big swing and miss. I mean, don't you guys just bury us a little more for that? I want that.

I like the signing of the time where he went, and it didn't quite work out. Where's Antonio Brown on this list? Interesting question. We did get asked about that afterwards, and West didn't want to put him on at all. And I thought he can't really be signed right now because the investigation is still going underway. technically he is a free agent he's not on the commissioner exempt list or anything like that but they said they're investigating and all the things that he did it feels like a suspension is coming so i just thought it wasn't i don't want to see him on this list at this point no i don't want

to see him on this list and i'm not going to rank he's not that valuable if he's crazy if you gave me if the league gave me clarity that he suspended four games to start the season and he's free to sign with teams uh then i would i would come up with where he should be great you sign him he has, like, one, 100-yard game for a month, and then he drags your team down to the bottom. I mean, I guess I understand all that, but, like, I'm looking at Greg's list, and he had Gino Smith and 130.

Well, that was like, so Gino's ahead of Antonio Brown in terms of the free agent market? That was, like, literally a bit. Just for me, Phil Spector, and West, because I knew Gila would actually not make the list. Tell me how Antonio Brown does not have negative value. You know what? And it's fair. And Kevin Colbert, the GEO,

of the Steelers made it very clear that the Steelers want nothing to do with them. That ship has sailed. And the same thing was done. When Mike Mayock was asked about it, we're out of the Antonio Brown business. I think he might have burnt his bridge. It's still a little bit crazy to me. And I know he seems like he has legitimate issues. I think he'll get one more shot eventually.

But this guy was arguably the best wide receiver in football. He still should be in his prime. He's about 30, 31 now. he's completely out of football and he's not he's not you know like i said on an exempt list he's just a guy that's been deemed poison yeah but i think deemed correctly i might yeah the question is what does a you know a forward-thinking front office decide to pay him how do you actually you know prepare for next season around a personality like that and is it in the best interest of antonio brown to even be part of a football team where there seem to be you know multiple

black clouds of other issues happening in his actual life And do all the women in your city have to leave town when he gets there? These are all fair question. That would be a logistical issue. I've got one point I do want to make on Gino Smith, which you brought up. Wow. Okay. Circling back.

Yeah, I'm circling back. So two quarterbacks have made it to the divisional round of the playoffs in the last two years. Total. Total. Where are we going to? Total. Okay. Two.

You want to know who they were? Who? Patrick Mahomes and Gino. freaking Smith you bring gino in you're going to have a winner you're going to win a playoff game who does russell wilson and philip rivers look to for guidance gino on the sidelines hey what are you seeing gino correlation i mean gno smith's job at this point is to like turn on the vCR and the tape room and he made the division around two straight years uh eric ebron at 63 he was an interesting guy to me he's a couple years removed um from what about 15 touchdowns

with Andrew Luck, disappeared a little bit last year. Maybe in the right situation he could return to being a big-time red zone threat. He's a guy that's still very young, or youngish. Your analysis on this list has been on point, man, and I agree with you. Everything you said, he is a guy in the right situation who could make you look really good, but what are the odds that he lands in the right situation and his hands don't fail him and he comes up big like he did for that like three-month stretch with the Colts when he was on five? but that three-month stretch is an outlier for his career.

Right, that's the thing, a six-year career and a lot of mental errors. Even in that year, the Colts never quite fully embraced him as a guy. They'd play every snap because they didn't think he was reliable. So he'd be, he's an interesting pickup, though. You got Greg the Legg, Zerline on this list. He is in the 86 spot. We have any other kickers? I just need to be plugged in on this scene.

Well, Mason Crosby just re-signed or else he might have made it. So that's not. Yeah, Crosby was on my, he was in my top 90, I think. Someone's got to snatch Greg the leg up. Yeah, you get the nickname. Wes, I have a question for you. You said you knew this was coming. One player that we disagreed on.

I don't think it was JPP. No, there was only one that I was really like, come on, Greg. And we talked about him in December, and it was Nick Quietkowski, the Bears linebacker, who I had in the top 50. Greg must have had like 98 or something. A guy who, when Danny Trevathan went down, Kwakowski went in the lineup and just made play after play every week. He's sandwiched in between Sue and McCoy.

Yep. I put him on my list as just a little love to you, 81. You know, he's a fine backup middle linebacker that came in and made some plays. I'm not going to go crazy. You like these slow middle linebackers. You put David Mayo on your list. Where do you get slow? You watch Nickquire, you're right, you're right.

Dan, I have a quick quiz for you on the, who wrote this blurb. Now, I know that when you get to number 80 and Marcus Marriota sitting there, and we hear about the Japanese garden of quarterbacking, the art of quarterbacking, and Marieto's sphinx-like regression regarding footwork, arm strength, and pocket presence. I know Wes wrote that, but then let me hit this one. That's why he gets the big bucks. Number 81. Linebacker Devandre Campbell, quick blurb.

that kind of threw me off is this west is it greg the falcons once held high hopes for campbell as an athletic three-down sidekick to dion jones but robin never stepped out of the shadows to thwart potent offenses with cruel intentions when bats wasn't around because gregg would never make a batman a robin analogy it's have you ever have you ever have you seen any batman film or ever watched any vehicle cartoon or television wise of batman yeah yes back in the day uh you know i would see the original Batman, certainly. But Batman begins, the one with Christian Bale, I believe, is actually

the last superhero movie I've seen in the theater. It's kind of a slog. I haven't seen them. The first one that brought it back. Not terrible. Katie Holmes not bringing a lot to the table. The blurbs are so distinct that there really are, this bet your life thing. Wait, can we go back to the Batman thing? The second.

Those aren't just comic. Those are Christopher Nolan movies. Yeah, that's why I went and see it, and I'm such a Christian Bale fan. The Dark Night is one of the classics of the 2000s. The Dark Night Rises was good, not as good. I don't vouch for any of the Marvel stuff, but I mean, you're coming on Nolan's Corner.

I'm not saying it's bad. You're trying to, like, lump him in with Iron Man 7. It's like, come on. This will come as no surprise to you, but when I was thinking of this blurb, it was like the 1960s TV show. No, I figured you were Bert Ward. I watched a little of that.

Adam West. How about the fact that here in 2020, Marcus Mariotta's biggest fan over the years buries him, that's Chris Wesleyan, by the way, buries him at 108 on his list. I actually put Marioada in my top 60, just because I thought, you don't know, Mario did a new spot.

He'd be a top shelf backup at the very worst. And to me, that has a lot of value. I disagree on the value of a top shelf backup. I mean, we heard this week that, you know, the Browns are excited to bring in Chase Daniel give me a break and backup quarterbacks have value if chase Daniel has value Marcus mariotta has more jimmy smith who is 84 four spots below marcus mariotta came back about halfway through last year and played really well down the stretch i'd much rather have jimmy smith on my team

than marcus mariotta he was someone i buried just because his injuries seem at the point where he misses three or four games every year name another player you guys disagreed on you know significantly in terms of the placement is there another player that jumps out well if i rated quarterbacks higher i think west put some of the pass rushers who i like like the aging pass rushers who are more like one or two year guys higher he had robert quin quite high top 30 i thought that was one of the best years of robert quin's career he was downright explosive last year he was i just that he's someone where you're looking at the last four years and has like ebra as he put together long stretches where he's great uh i put him

50-51 but man there's a lot of those guys if you need someone for a year or two that can sack the quarterback there are a lot of players available what do you guys doing taking my man mario addison who i went to italy and germany with and sticking them down at number 100 just disrespectful well he's 30s a sign of respect putting him on the list well i will say this though he it's not like he vanished for the past three years he's been productive yes last year you might be a little underrated on this list i think you're right that is that's a fair quibble and I think one of the tricky things with pass rushers, how do you rank the guys who get sacks but not hits or hurries?

And it seems like every time Mario Addison gets to a quarterback, he takes him down, but he's not causing a lot of disruption on the other downs. All right. So that's cool. We're having a great talk, and we're going to get back to it in a second. Mark, I think it's only fair that we get the Jaws treatment as well. to the stormy waters. Because while...

It's just the brain fart. While the scientists were in the lab, Mark and I were up in the kitchen. And we weren't making eggs. Actually, Mark wasn't making any. Mark called creme brulee before we started today, burnt-looking cheese. Well, it did.

It's a very standard dessert. That's beside the part. As we have long teased, we have put together our version of the top 101. Yeah, Flames, you heard it. Hans-Zus and Mr. Fancy Pants, our top 101 of 2020, pre-agency. Mark? Take it away. Well, it does not arrive without controversy.

I think that's very fair. Because, you know, I spent half the morning reading through your list and looking at your work, and then I went back and crossed checked. Got a little deja vu, didn't you? Well, I did. I cross-checked your list with the list that Dan and I made up in the kitchen. And this, to me, is either the most stunning thing that's ever happened in the history of list-making and sports writing. There's just coincidence.

Or something very dark has occurred, but our list was from head to toe identical. Whoa. Save four. Just one spot. One spot. You guys have Bills turned Eagles cornerback Ronald Darby at number 73 and Carlos Hyde at number 74.

Dan and I, on our list, the only discernible difference that I could detect, had Carlos Hyde at 73 and Ronald Darby at 74. That's ridiculous, though. That's ridiculous. Dan, what conclusion did we come to? I mean, Carlos Hyde had a really nice season, not a superstar season. But I just think with Darby and his injury issues of the knee, I thought Hyde was just the guy.

He was 73. And it just makes it a better list, I believe. Stronger list. You and I had a nice conversation about that before we flipped it. But you won me over with your, you know, Hyde sort of comeback story. And I thought, yes, you're right. It's time for me and Greg to take a long, hard look in the mirror. And we're not saying that you were the same.

You had DJ Reader 29, you had Javar and Hargraveh, 31, everything else was the same. No, there was a period where Dan and I were not in the office for a couple days. And I missed this. I should not have done this. This is on me. But I printed out our list and I put it on Dan's list to look at when he came in. And then he had a family issue and couldn't be in there for a day or two. And then suddenly, bang, Ali Bon Party publishes your guys list that looks just like ours.

And ours is not even put on the website. So I don't want to connect, you know, a billion dots here. Who is Ali Bon Pari? Ali Bon Pari. Phil Specter, so, you know, I am just saying that I... Let's just leave it there and let the lawyers take the baton. Murky. Surprising you guys, you had Holly Poluvati Vaitai, 87.

That was a no-brainer. That's actually where we started our list and then we worked our way in each direction. Last game, Mark, for the Who Wrote the Blurb? one. Number 36, my boy, Robbie Anderson. Deep speed gets paid and Anderson has plenty of it. He often disappointed his Jets coaches, however, and is too talented to have fewer than 800 yards in each of the last two seasons. Well, this is Greg, Greg has a lot of specialties. One of them is he is very when it comes to these players, you know, focused on the money they'll make and the income and the earnings and the year over year. So the minute I heard gets paid, I went, Greg. I could be wrong, but it's also a nice brief clip blurb.

If you deep, if you dive a little deeper into the subtext here, could be a little risky. It's all obscene. I think Greg, I don't know where you're going with that one. Greg is definitely more pithy than I am. Is that correct? I'm just saying, you're saying, oh, the guy with the last name Rosenthal. All he cares about is money.

That's where you're going with it. You are, you have, when I, when you talk about. Wait, but Mark is. wearing a Star of David necklace right now as I speak i mean i when it comes to player contracts west says he doesn't understand time management scenarios i also do not uh but i also do not do do much when it comes is mark right yes or no i'm right of course he's right robbie uh anderson could be well he's not as highly ranked as labor and bell a year ago but we we might have we he'll he'll he's a boomer bus guy either he'll be like a terrific pickup or he'll be a total

disaster don't you think he needs the land in the right place he's on the knucklehead list and he's he kept his nose clean last year but if you do some research on his past give him a lot of money how's he can handle it you don't know these guys you got to worry about certain guys that have the history like if it was my team and you have the choice between Emmanuel Sanders and Robbie Anderson obviously they provide two very different skill sets but I'm just taking Emmanuel Sanders and not worrying about the risk of Robbie Anderson I think that's fair all right final thoughts final takeaways on the free agency top 101 list of 2020. Well, now my number one takeaway is that we need to put a franchise tag symbol by these guys like we suggested. But I do think if you look at this list, the original list before the tags come in, you look at front seven on defense and say it's pretty loaded. That's where you can get help this year. Even after the tags come in, I think you're right because those guys that we mentioned, JPP, Quinn, Everson, Griffin, Dante Fowler, the guys that aren't the top shelf guys. there's like depth there where those are above average quality starters and like we just went through tight ends and it takes like one name until you get to at tackle it's like a couple names it's brian bulaga maybe whereas pass rushers defensive linemen like Hargrave and DJ Reader who I like a lot you can you can find some of those and my last my last takeaway just taking one more glance at it is jadevian clownie he has a chance to be paid as much as anyone

on this list. Oh, yeah. And I guess we'll see. And we know the analysis, and I see you guys went with this angle. A lot of people do, like what he does doesn't always show up in the box score. But if Seattle Seahawks aren't going after him aggressively, a team that desperately needs a pass rush, and they decide we're going to just buy two guys instead of paying for Clowny, I mean, I would just be a little wary, like the Giants have been connected to Clowney.

I guess some people see that giving that guy all that money when statistically health-wise he hasn't always put it together well he had a three-sax season three sacks but he and he could be the highest paid player in he might make more than Aaron Donald it's possible he falls under Seattle wants him back they said they do well right if you if you believe him he falls under that Parcell's planet theory there's only so many people on the planet that have this guy's athleticism and body back to back clowny at four and I he's the biggest risk on this list to me. I know this sounds like a broken record,

but Shaq Barrett at five, they're going to pay him. He's probably going to stay. Oh, let it go, Mark. No, he'll probably stay right in Tampa Bay. This is not a good luck. But does it ever concern you? This is not a good luck?

No, no, no, does it ever concern you when a player has like one huge breakout season? And then do you just say, we assume that's the way the future is going to happen? I hope it is. I think he found a great landing spot and it works. There was like a eight-week window where he had about three sacks, I believe. And then he just went nuts in the beginning. at the end of the season. It was his real first big breakout year.

So I get what you're saying. But you have a lot of history. The tag could work. The tag could work for him. It is a fair comment. You factor in a lot of things. Tag works. You factor in a lot of things with these guys,

and that's one thing you factor in. But then you also offset that a little bit by saying when he was in Denver, he was behind Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware or Von Miller and Bradley Chubb. And he was still getting pressure when he was coming off the bench. So he was a guy who was disruptive even when he was a rotational guy. There you go. And one last one last one is just, man, Bill Belichick has a chance to just sweep out this whole era, not just Tom Brady, which would be the way to really do it.

But Van Nuoy, Devin McCordy, Jamie Collins, Stephen Gaskowski, I think, could get cut and end up at the back end of this list, or maybe not even. Gelskowski's not getting on this list. But he could get cut. There's just a lot of chances here. A lot of big names. Kyle Van Nuoy, I don't know. what value he has to other teams. Scarnacia, he's here in Indianapolis.

He'll be back on that coaching staff in six weeks. I saw that tweet in that. Can't wait for one of these Belichick disciples to sign Kyle Vanoy and then he has like two sacks and 13 tackles next year. Thank you. And I do like the Patriots saying let's sweep out the entire team after we went 12 and 4. You know, it's untenable that we lost in the playoffs.

Well, it's more just it's natural. They're kind of an old team and it's time to reboot a little bit. All right. job boys you did it mark and i did it as well i mean i think we initially did it and then you know here comes the bells and whistles for these guys but that's that's fine the celebration i really thought we were so high on shelby harris that was a unique take from both of us but you guys had the exact same uh same what was it what was it you liked about shelby harris's i mean dan you were pouring orange juice when you mentioned that so

All right, check it out. NFL.com slash top 101 free agents. That's right. And good work, guys. Thank you. We will be back on Monday. We'll be back in Los Angeles as well with a full week of three shows. Three shows every week through the draft.

So we continue that new trend. And thank you to everybody for listening. And we are now getting on an airplane. smell you later I'm going to work that in it's going to be like the new sign off you think that has legs Dan Hans is signing off for the mailman

Clyde Storm the old boss and Rick Hollywood on the carpet till Monday 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 opposites. construct winning rosters.

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