NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Top 10 Non-QB Players

Episode Date: June 23, 2016

A room full of heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling and Colleen Wolfe – discuss the latest NFL news including the chances DeMarco Murray returns to 2014 form and Eric Decker saying he is tired of Ryan Fitzpatrick’s contract situation. Also, the Heroes break down potential candidates to win the Comeback Player of the Year award in 2016. Plus, did I mention Dan Hanzus was behind the glass today?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. Making America great again. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. I'm your host, Colleen Wolfe. But Dan is here too. I think he's trying to sabotage me. And we're joined by a room filled with some heroes,

Chris Wessling and Greg Rosenthal. Hi, Colleen. What's up? Dan, what the hell is going on here? I am. It is the offseason. It is the dark period So to mix things up

I am behind the glass today Brandon is over my shoulder But I am running the show From behind the glass Oh no So Dan basically He's seated behind the glass Brandon literally just went over his shoulder

To press something for him As he was pressing it He's in the shadows right now And so far these are the things that I've heard from Dan Oh that's a button Can they hear me? Oh, it's my world.

Great. I love it. It's Dan in front of a soundboard, and it's the off season. I am very excited. You know, I think this is a good way for me to look at the show from a different angle behind the glass, see who the real contributors, who's really carrying their weight, who needs to work harder, pick up the chisels on that side. Great.

So Dan is looking over our shoulders while we do this. It's just an excuse for Dan to play Get Your Dan Hands as much as part. possible in this show. So I said to him, I saw him earlier this morning, he was getting makeup. And he said, yeah, I don't know about having the pod three times this week. Might have been a mistake. And now, all of a sudden, he's not hosting. And he sends me an email a half hour before we sit down to do this.

And he says, you're hosting. I'm producing. So. It's all being shown. That was. This is a great conspiracy theory, Colleen. Yes, you know, in putting the show together, how do we jazz this one up, you know,

the third show of a very quiet week. But it wasn't because I thought the show was going to drown, so I was jumping off the ship. If anything, I put myself in an even more vital role here because I'm trying something new. So you're more important than Brandon. I mean, Brandon McGinnis is more important than you. you're saying in our show that's an interesting thing well that's what irish says to me wow this is this is a lot

to handle right now i think and can i just say that's why you change producers so often they're so valuable you don't want any one of them to get too comfortable every seven months or so that's not nice but colin this is obviously you're running the show here but i do want to we should touch on we should touch on what's going on with the softball team uh i did i handed out the starting lineup yeah you did wednesday afternoon uh you are not starting and I know you're a little upset about that yeah I'm on the bench but that's fine I I'm not going to change my approach at all and you know what I guess I just have to prove myself I feel like the Trent Richardson even though I never really had a breakout year strike three you're

out play ball so this is going well this is just Dan's desire to have as many drops Strike three, you're out. Oh, my God. By the way, I found these drops of random baseball stuff. Clearly, it was recorded in Toronto. Play ball. Strike three, you're out. Dan, do you have a pre-show grade?

No. In fact, I'm the producer. The host hands out the pre-show grade. So that's on you. Okay. I'm feeling pretty satisfactory right now. So I'm going to go with a C-plus. Wow. Wow.

That's pretty much my standard. Like, I will set the bar really low. Yeah. And then basically be surprised if it's better. Under, you know, under promise over-deliver. Right. You know, it's like my pre-show grade for the softball game tonight. That's a hot butt sizzling in the host chair.

You are really just putting in a bad position here. Yeah, in a bad position here. My pre-show grade for the softball game is D-plus. Because I feel like, I feel like putting Colleen. on the bench. Somebody's going to have to take him away from the soundboard for real. She hasn't been here. She hasn't been on the field for a while. You're causing some consternation

within the team. She's not handling it well. She's already trying to bring alcohol to the game. She's going to be on the bench. What's wrong with bringing alcohol to the game? It's softball. That's the only way to play. Well, I was going to bring it because I didn't want to have to pay for postmates, but someone else

already came up to, I mean, they came in and really saved the day because they're bringing beer. So you are going to sit on the bench right next to the beer. And drink it during the game. I feel like that's a good rule. I'm excited about the softball game and I give it a pregame grade of A, kind of, I think. Right, Brandon?

All right. Very important game for the Shield. We're three and four a game out of the playoffs. And the only thing with Colleen, we're glad to have her back in the lineup, but you can't just parachute back into the picture and expect to still have a starting job. You've been gone for almost two months. Well, for various reasons. I know.

You know, a lot of them work related. So I'm not, no excuses, though. Okay. We'll see what happens tonight. How about that? I like it. Okay. Let's do some news.

How about that? Okay. Let's do some news. You and your comments. It's fun to say them. It's fun to hear them. That's why I say them. That's why I listen.

All right. So first up, this is very good. Good job, Dan. Yay. Oh, wait. Dan needs constant affirmation as a producer too. All right. So, guys, first up, there's a quarterback in the league that cannot stop staring at himself in the mirror.

That's Matt Ryan. He's using a mirror to improve his footwork. It's about all the quarterbacks. He's hoping to improve his timing and his ball placement. And what do you think about this? Will it help? Do you care at all? How did this make it into the news?

Listen, it is. Why do you think Dan is not hosting this? So Dan sets this up as a shaky news news operation, a first news item. Yes. I'm sorry, I was the only one that was even slightly interested in planning the show today. Well, that's... I would have planned it if I knew I was hosting it. Number two, number two, this is away, Wes, as a jumping off point to talk about Matt Ryan

if you really need to, you know, pull back the curtain a little bit. Go ahead. Let's talk a little Matt Ryan. Sure. What do we think? Bad year last. year relatively. A little disappointing. I was disappointed. I think you'll have a bounce back year. I think Matt Ryan's the same quarterback. He's always been. And I heard Nate Burleson say on

total access yesterday that Mohammed Sanoo is going to be one of the best number two wide receivers in the league. I think Nate and I are on an island on this one. I think Sanoo is going to exceed expectations. He got lost in the shuffle in Cincinnati, not enough targets to go around for everyone. And I think he felt a little left out when A.J. Green and Marvin Jones were injured for a month, month and a half long stretch in 2014. I thought Sunu played lights out. A lot of drops. A lot of diving catches, a lot of tough catches in traffic.

I think when he's targeted consistently, he's a good player. I also think second year in Kyle Shanhan's offense, so that always helps. First year sometimes, it's a little shaky. We saw what happened with Eli Manning in Ben McAdoo's offense. It just takes a little bit of time, and then you sort of see when it starts to click. So hopefully that happens with Matt Ryan.

I also think that Shanahan and Ryan should have been a much better combination than it was. Like, we thought that that was going to be amazing. Right. And it was not good at all. I wouldn't say it was not good at all because the running game worked for Shanahan. It should be much better. I mean, they fell off, though, so far the second half of the season. It was weird that the defense wasn't really the problem for Matt Ryan.

I mean, for the Falcons. I think being average on defense was about as good as they could expect. it was really the passing game declining was the problem down. Admit it, though, Greg, you were all in on Matt Ryan last season. He disappointed you. He maybe revealed himself to be no better than 11 through 14 in the quarterback rankings. And maybe that's just who he is. Maybe he'll never become the top five guy.

Well, I think this year when he is going up against the Nallin Saints, you know, Dan's not even listening right now. Dan, I'm producing. You have to listen. I'm producing. I'm saying when he is going up against, you know, Jaris Bird and the New Orleans Saints. Stay with me. Jarus Burriss Burr.

Put down the chisels. Giroos Bayard. Yeah. Jairoos. Bired. Yeah. So, no, I think you start putting down the chisels. The timing there, I don't want this fixed in editing.

That was a big delay. How are you going to expect Matt Ryan to keep playing at the same level, keep posting the same numbers when he loses Tony Gonzalez and Roddy White is. a shell of himself. Yeah. Basically, he had Julio Jones in the slowest wide

receiver core in the NFL. Yeah, but he gets to play Jaris Bird twice a year. There you go. Jairus. Byard.

All right. Moving on. How about DeMarco Murray? He's happy to get his groove back. He's going to be running downhill again. He told the Jim Rome show.

He likes the fit with the offense. It's strictly downhill. And that's what he's been accustomed to his entire life. He said nothing against last year or what happened. It just didn't work out.

But he's super excited about the upcoming season. and he's really looking forward to it. Do you think that DeMarco Murray will bounce back in the Titans' offense? I do. I don't think he's going to be 2014 to Marco Murray. That guy's gone. But as I've said several times, when you look at guys with extremely heavy workloads,

historically heavy workloads, they often are terrible the next year and then bounce back to 75, 80% of what they were the year before that. So to me, that's reasonable. He's in an offense that's more suited to his style now, too. Well, but he doesn't get the Cowboys offensive line. Like that's the biggest reason why he had that breakout season. No, it wasn't. He's a good runner.

He played well. Yeah, for half a season behind the best offensive line in the league. For at least 13 games that season. Scientist heat? Yeah, that's true. What's happening right now, Dan? Not quite at that level. We're not going down to the lab.

Do you want to go down to the lab? We can. Wow. Yeah. I think there was some, there could have been some buns in. burner blow torch but I didn't hear that yet we don't need to I don't just hand this out willy-nilly there's been a lot of willy-nilly drops here uh I the Titans offensive line remains to be seen how good they are you know they've got some pedigree there but they

certainly weren't a great group last year and they still got you know offensive mastermind Mike malarkey running the show I by the way Wes's theory holds water to me that after you know at a time's a dynamic 14 season 15 was that down season tied to the workload and maybe he bounces back but there is the other side of it where it's just gone that he had he had usefulness for a period of his career and he got he got work to death and now his career is in a uh it can't it can't be coming back from that it could be over if that's the case he'll quickly find himself on the bench in favor of derrick henry yeah the thing that i really didn't like about last year was when he talked with geoffrey lorry about the fact that he needed more touches and he need to

be in there more and i don't like a player that sort of complains about that classic uh locker room lawyer behavior got to get rid of the locker room lawyers we've seen that for years you should get a locker room lawyer drop dan can you work on that yeah yeah after the show guys great okay by the way everyone's going to get a shot at this at some point it's not as easy as it looks shout out to the irishman and and you know all the people before him because not only have to listen to what's going on you got to mine the board yeah and you just got to be plugged in on the levels which i'm not even doing well dan what's the hardest part about this transition I just explained all the different things.

The hardest one. I think the hardest one would be getting emails five minutes before the show from Dan Hansis of all the drops in preparation that you need. Brandon is agreeing with it. But you know what? That's what makes the show great. All right. What else is going on?

All right. So Patrick Peterson, he's pumped up about second year. Oh! For J.J. Nelson, he said on NBC Radio, he's going to have a great year. Now he was in that limited role last season. And Kevin Patrick actually wrote up. this article, so shout out to him. And he described him as a petite, 5'10, 160 pounds.

He's talking about his bod on there, yeah. I'd like to see him call J.J. Nelson Petit to his face. Yeah, that's classic. The NFL player here. Patrick, who bolted up in the winter and now is cutting weight in the summer is now calling professional athletes petite. Now, Nelson is 510, 160, so he and Patra about the same size. Oh.

Put it on the white. So look, I mean, he has Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Floyd, and John Brown on that depth chart. He has to get in front of one of these guys. How do you see this playing out, Greg? Well, he's not getting in front of any of those guys, although between Floyd and Brown especially, the odds of one of them being heard at some point is certainly possible. So they're going to need J.J. Nelson. And I think the Cardinals throw the ball enough.

They don't really use the tight end that much as we talked about on the last show that they can use a fourth receiver. I mean, even in his role last year, you saw Nelson Flash. He certainly looked good in the preseason. And a couple times made some big time plays in the regular season. Bruce Ariens and Steve Kime have been talking J.J. Nelson up all offseason. I remember at the scouting combine when they were talking about him. And somebody asked who's faster between John Brown and J.J. Nelson.

And Arian said it's not even close. Nelson's faster. And John Brown's one of the fastest wide receivers in the league. And he also talked him up during the OTAs about just how good he is tracking the ball, that he has something special about tracking the ball over his shoulder, which is just a tough thing for young receivers to do. And he's got that skill set. It's amazing how they find these guys.

Where did J.J. Nelson went to go to college? Anybody? So much optimism in the off season. How much of it is true? Well, J.J. Nelson, in fairness, by the way, he went to UAB. I believe they eliminated their pro. for a little while after he left, although I think it's back.

They first announced it's... I'm just saying it's not a good sign when you eliminate the program. Probably not a great group. But this is the time of year where guys like J.J. Nelson, lightweight guys, when there's no tackling. You know, this is kind of their time.

Are you calling Kevin Patra a lightweight? Wow. No. I would never do that. I would never insult another man's body. I'm built like a 12-year-old. year old girl um by the way so one of the things that um dan does when he hosts the show is keep time oh yeah that's true um how are we doing so far so far um made some mistakes in my timing oh no don't

doubt yourself and no i'm only at five minutes so far that's not right definitely wrong hey good news a great producer serves as a backup and i have us at 15 minutes oh perfect okay so i'm 10 minutes off, great. Yep. I'm also really good at math. Okay, so I think it's time to move on. Yeah, let's move on to our next door here. Oh, the next story.

Oh, Dan, you should be in here for this one. This is. So much wreckage. Dan also wearing his judge shirt today, too. I am. True Homer. So Eric Decker, he's tired of Ryan Fitzpatrick and the whole contract situation. Actually, tonight at 7 p.m. on Total Access, Tiffany Blackman has a one-on-one interview with Eric Decker, and he said that he's so tired of answering questions about Fitzpatrick.

I know everybody's tired of hearing about it. He said on a scale from 1 to 10, he's at a 10 right now. We've talked about it at nauseam here. Everyone feels the same way. The Jets players feel the same way. The coach feels the same way. the GM feels the same way, West feels the same way, I feel the same way. Yeah.

And I, you know, not to toot my own horn, but months ago I predicted this was going to get ugly if they didn't take care of it. And God forbid, it went into the training camp. And guess what? They're the goddamn Jets. So what happens? This is going to go into training camp. And it's going to continue to haunt the franchise and create ugliness.

And it, again, points to an ugly season in New York for the Jets. I am not excited right now. Wait, haven't you literally tooted your own horn? during this podcast like multiple times and you have multiple horns i don't know that's more of a bell i'm just saying like uh the clown car horn is your own horn the dan hans this song is like tooting your own horn all right uh no i i honestly uh i'm sick of it too and i just wish this never happened it's moving at a glacial pace and it's one of those things that just like it makes me not like the jets and it makes me sick of ryan fitzpatrick and i don't really want to do that i don't

want to feel like that but i have no choice i feel sorry for poor NFL media's Tiffany blackman one of one of my favorite of our team reporters who knows ahead of time Eric decker's fed up with this question and she also has to ask the question stuff so one of the i actually went down to the comment section on this article at nfl.com and admirable lord ken says give mo that money and move on already what do you think about that giving the money to mo wilkerson instead it's fair it's At a certain point, Ryan Fitzpatrick might have overplayed his hand, and the team's just going to say, screw it, you know? I hope that doesn't happen.

Ryan Fitzpatrick's sitting there with a pair of threes in his hand. Yeah. Trying to push more money to the center of the table. I don't want to be on the Gino coaster, but this is getting ridiculous. This is a false comparison, but if the false choice, I suppose. But if the two choices were, forget Ryan Fitzpatrick, just roll with Gino Smith, see what happens this year. and give Mo Wilkerson the money he wants,

and Mo Wilkerson is signed long-term. Or you get Fitzpatrick, you get Mo Wilkerson back on a one-year contract, but it's probably his last year in New York. If I'm a Jets fan, I'm taking the long-term Mo Wilkerson contract and rolling the dice with Gino. He's more important long-term. Are those two situations related to each other? Maybe not.

They have to be somewhat related. They're on the same team, and they're strapped for cap, you know, cap room. They should be somewhat related. Like I said, it's probably a false choice, but if you have to make the choice there, Dano. Well, I've heard, you know, the fact that they have a killer schedule this year and they're, you know, one of those in-between teams where they're not, you know, a juggernaut and they're not bad.

If there was a season to look ahead, I would say this could be it. So, yeah, keep Big Moe then. Yeah. But I don't think it's that simple. I wish it was. I'm sensing people are getting on the Gino coaster with me. Well, you look at what the Broncos did last year, and it was the defense and not Peyton Manning.

So if Gino Smith could just be a surrogative, serviceable quarterback. And import the Broncos' 2015 defense. Yes. Behind him. That'd help. Yeah. All right.

Well, just to sort of pull the curtain back a little bit before the show, Dan came in here and he was dancing and, like, he was in a really good mood. Normally when we're in here, he's always in a good mood. But I can always see he's like a little stressed sometimes. Like he's just, he wants to get all of his stuff together and he wants. to plan it out so before the show when we all come in here he's usually like kind of in the zone and and just like in his computer today he waltzes in he's dancing he's making jokes but we were also listening to lemonade biancé's lemonade oh yeah and that sparked a little bit of a conversation

about album of the year so oh i like this color yeah right i said that i think fiance's lemonade should get album of the year i think it will i love I love Chance the rapper, I love Kanye, but Beyonce, you can't top it for me. I want to hear Wes chime in first. Blood on the tracks, 1975. That's not an option. How old are you? Have you listened to any?

Wes, how old are you? 42. Have you listened to any music recorded that was released this year? Yes, I've listened to Kanye's album. I tried to listen to Beyonce's, but they make it awfully hard to find it. Well, yeah. Hey, Beyonce, come back to. to us get on all the streaming services thank you i thought you liked chance too no i like the song

that greg played in the podcast studio that was good sure well what else is out there what would be i mean we got to represent other rock or pop or the year's only half over what is that and what are those things rock yeah i don't know well this is out there here's the thing lemonade is fantastic i've never listened to any bioncé album more than a couple times it's just not my not my cup of tea but lemonade I've listened to constantly. It's very enjoyable. And it's like art, you know, with a capital A. You throw in the films, it's going to win everything.

That's the point is it doesn't matter what we think. That just seems like something that's going to win every single Grammy whenever that comes up. Of course it matters what we think. And it's going to be very straight. Everyone's going to be commenting on how awkward it is that Jay-Z is just sitting there next. I know. I thought it was awkward that he was in the video, like in the actual lemonade. Oh, come on.

visual component. This is all a ruse. It is. You know what they're doing here. But it's weird. It's all for show. Oh, come on. I never liked Beyonce before this for the record.

So this changed everything for me. Interesting. All right. But no, I'm going chance. I mean, chance. You're going chance? Definitely might. I mean, the song that we played on Song of the Summer all night, that would maybe be my, like, fifth favorite song on that album.

I mean, that's, if you want, like, just in terms of pure talent, he's got to, God, to be in the in the upper echelon of the most talented rappers of all time already wow bold i don't think it's that i don't even think it's that bold and it's a very joyous enjoy like it's a happy album it's got to make you happy dan what do you think i like that we've got i've got to chime in on chance of rapper so i would have to study what i've been listening to this year but i do like i did like the conier lap but i think that he is uh you know the academy the grammies they don't like him, so I don't think they'll give it to him. Beyonce is kind of a critic's darling

and the darling of the listeners of the world, so I would go with that. This is Chance, by the way. Ooh, I like this. This is a strange sort of intro. I like his actual voice, too. Well, he's not going to get in until 30 seconds into this song, unfortunately.

It's coloring book the name of the album? That's right. I'm going to be listening to that. All right. Oh, this is a great song. This is fantastic. Will this be played at Wesselmania? Hell yeah.

That song is so much better than the crappy Justin Timberlake song. You really hate that so much. It's just pap. Now Brandon is dancing back there. I mean, I don't really like this song, but it's kind of catchy and I don't want it to be catchy. It's so bland and unoriginal. Oh, God. All my prediction was

And like, what do you mean Do you have sunshine in your pocket? What does that mean? I mean, it's no Sugar Ray, but Sugar Ray, it's not bad. No, no, we're not playing. Brandon went in to get on the board. I had to swap him.

Brandon just threw a fit because he didn't get Sugar Ray play. No, no. He is jumping around. Oh, my God. My ears. No, all right, all right, all right. Sorry, Brandon. Let's move on.

So let's talk about, let's talk about football again. Maybe we can do that. Football is happening. I mean, it will be happening soon at least. Mix the little pigskin in. Yeah. So we have a comeback player of the year candidates for 2016. So we have a nomination from every single person here, including Dan behind the glass.

Oh, yeah. I'm involved. Okay. So, Wes, let's start with you. A lot of wide receivers coming back. You could go Des Bryant, Jordy Nelson, Kelvin Benjamin. I won't even say Victor Cruz. No.

I'm going to Andrew Luck. He was the first guy I thought of. It was just last off season that we were hearing from Frank Gore and Andre Johnson, guys who have been around the league for a dozen years saying this guy's a football. God, best quarterback we've ever seen, runs the team like a coach. He was coming off leading the NFL in touchdowns and finishing 30 yards. And we just act like he's just some guy who might be good now. He's clearly great.

We're not saying. We're not saying. The players ranked him number 92. Well, that list is a little odd with the voting. You can't use that as a strawman argument because we know that looks terrible. In our last podcast, Greg asked if maybe we're a little skeptical that he can recapture that form. Well, what I said was I think Russell, all I said was it's surprising to me that Russell Wilson seems like a sure bet. And I think you agree with that.

Who did you rank higher in your top 100, West? I rank Russell Wilson. So I think on some level you agree with that. That's just like a safer, safer bet. That's all I'm saying. I'm with you that I do think luck is going to bounce back. And I think that's a great choice. I think that's a if you are going to where they take your money

where they take your money to pick on these sort of things. It's hot there a lot. I would guess if they have such a thing. Pepper mill. A bunch of Al Michaels. I would guess that Andrew Luck is one of the top choices there for this award. If there is such. Yeah, that's a really good.

I would almost think that magical city in the desert where Spice Rack. NHL team goes in there. Yeah. They might even take. that quarterback off the board because I mean he's obviously no pretty weird I mean he's clearly whatever the rest of the names we're going to say here luck I think everyone agrees is a hall of fame talent that just had a bad injury marred year everyone does not agree I wish they would well they'll they'll find out soon enough thank you yeah and they focus too on fixing or hope I mean

hopefully they're fixing that offensive line but they did put a lot of resources into it so hopefully that helps luck as well I like that one West. I went with a tight end. Wow. I feel like people sort of forget about this guy a little bit. Julius Thomas. Oh, I thought you were going Jimmy Graham. No, no. And I thought about Jimmy Graham, but the way that they looked at the Seahawks offense looked when Jimmy Graham went down, they just looked so much better that I, you know, I'm staying away from him. But I like Julius Thomas because, you know, he was injured in

the preseason, so he missed a lot of time there. He missed the first quarter of the season. And he was with a new team. He's a new offense, new quarterback, and missing time. That's crucial time, especially when you're in his position. And it's like you can't really build chemistry with the guys around you and your quarterback when you're not in there and you're not getting the reps and stuff. And he really did start to improve the second half of last season. And so I think that now that he has a full off season and he's able to spend time with Blake and just kind of get into the rhythm there. I think that he's going to be a lot better this year.

Even with the disappointing year last year, he leads all NFL tight ends and touchdowns over the last three years. I saw that, and I was so surprised I had to double check that. I mean, I guess Peyton Manning, those two years were incredible. Well, I use that as maybe, Wes, when you like to say that the wide receiver makes the quarterback in a lot of cases, I mean, Julius Thomas is a perfect example to me of the quarterback making the receiver. He's never going to be a 10, 12, 15 touchdown guy again, is he?

I would push back majorly against them. He's a great red zone target and Bordels through 35 touchdowns later. And furthermore, I don't even know. What are the rules? I know it's hazy, the rules for a back player of the year. Which is why it's. What is he coming back? I know he heard his finger earlier in the season.

He broke his hand, right? He's coming back from a bad season and missing, missing time. He looked a little chunk, by the way, by the end of the last season. That's something to track as well. That's true. This is a guy that I think West. jumps off the tape when you watch him that he's really talented. Before last year he did.

He's also a guy with as many seasons over 500 yards as Jared Cook or someone that probably less than that. I mean, he has one season in his NFL career. He gets injured a lot. With over 500. Right, but he didn't play. Well, the knock on him. He didn't play the first two years.

He had one great year. And then he had the weird year, the last year in Denver. So it's a guy that hasn't consistently produced for whatever reason. The knock on him is the same one as Jimmy Grand, toughness. That if he gets a nagging injury, he's not. going to produce at the level he should. Yeah, but I, you know, I feel like with the success that he had in Denver and then the

fact that he went to Jacksonville and it was just such a down year for him, I feel like that's got to eat away at you a little bit. So I would hope that he would come back and just that would at least fuel him a little bit. Also, because they have Alan Robinson and Alan Hearns, defenses, I mean, the way that Robinson was last year, defenses are going to have to cover them. So that will help Julius Thomas as well. That's true. All right, who's yours, Rosie?

Well, I thought about, you know, your pick for when you had to really hang some onions after a few shows ago when I was gone. I thought about Kaepernick, because I'm thinking, you know, narratives work with this comeback player of the year award. Yes, big, big point. It's all about the narrative. And except when Philip Rivers won and I was just like, what was he coming back from being the 18th quarterback in the league? And then I thought about, well, similar to that, maybe it could be my guy, Ryan Tannahill, just because I want to mention my article going up today, the case for Ryan Tannahill.

But no, he does not really make any sense as a comeback player there. So I chose what I really would pick if I was putting down sandwiches in this mythical desert town that we speak about. And that's Des Bryant. I mean, Des Bryant is someone I think that's going to be highly motivated to prove that last year was an aberration. And I think it's going to be highly motivated to be in as good shape as possible, which he has admitted that was not the case last year coming off of his holdout and some injury issues, obviously. And then you get this, I don't know how many more years we're going to have of Tony Romo, but I don't think they're going to be able to run the playbook that they did a few years ago

where he didn't throw the ball that much. I think they're going to be throwing the ball a ton. And they got a great offensive line. And that's a recipe for Desirean to get, you know, almost 2,000 yards, something like that. Wow. And he gets covered clear of the year. I think with that quarterback, with that offensive line, with that young running back, and with Des Bryant, the ceiling for the Cowboys on offense.

I mean, I'm not going to put it. I agree with, I think, the general consensus here that the Packers probably have the best offense in the league if everything is clicking. But the Cowboys, they're going to be in contention if everything clicks and people stay healthy. I agree, and I don't think that defense is going to be very good. But I think that helps out Des Bryant's case. I think they're going to be, unlike a couple years ago, I think they're going to be in a lot of games that it's 29, 26, or 34, 31, and they're going to have to score a lot of points.

Greg, how about the idea that he could be breaking down physically at age 28? The only person I've ever heard make that claim is Dan Hanses. Well, I'm just saying that he's got a lot going on with his body. He's been around a while now. It's certainly possible. I can't wait to see Des Bryant and Josh Norman. I mean, ooh, that's true. I don't like the injuries either, West.

Feet, don't like the feet, don't like a back. He left the stadium in a wheelchair For no reason You love Des Bryant, I'm surprised I do love, wait Why do I have to be a blind fanboy About someone? I'm just saying there's two sides of the coin

With this conversation Well, his His guy that he should follow is Brandon Marshall Because no one is more physical And had more surgeries than Brandon Marshall And yet he's had some great longevity In his career At all time, Jeff.

That's a good point. Do you have a comeback player of the earth? I do. Do you not count because you're a producer? Well, let's be honest, in a normal situation, the producer would not, we wouldn't trust the football acumen of a producer. You don't trust my football acumen? No, please.

All right. Wait, no, I'll let you guys decide. Oh, of course you have to throw it in. I'm kidding. Kevin White. Oh, I'll throw out there as a guy that's a little off the grid. And in general, I'd like to say I have a. Play ball.

Wait. Oh, my God. That the Bears and Vikings are going to switch fates this season and it'll be the Bears getting back to the playoffs and a big reason why is that Jay Cutler of all people will turn into a big-time passer with Alshon Jeffrey young dynamic Kevin White, a guy that's been compared to Andre Johnson by his wide receivers coach,

a guy who's looking very strong and healthy in the off-season workouts. Look out for Kevin White, baby. Comeback player of the year. Trope alert. Trope alert? Okay. Nailed it. Troop alert on you.

You're believing all the off-season hype about Kevin White. You haven't even seen him play a snap and all of a sudden he's your comeback of the year candidate? Yeah. Can't wait until Brian Hoyer wins comeback player of the year with this wide receiver court. Oh, wow. Brian Hoyer. Sorry, guys. I'm too busy hanging onion.

Hanging Onion? Oh, my gosh. I don't know. I like Kevin. I've got to play ball. I got guys back there saying Andrew Lux, the comeback player of the year. I'm hanging onion over here. I thought the goal is to get it right.

Well, I think I will be right. Has there ever been, I like Kevin White. That's an interesting pick. Has there ever been a guy who missed his rookie year, never played in the NFL, and still one comeback player of the year? Good question. Probably not, right? I would guess not.

Wait, Irishman just ran it here. Could you be a rookie of the year and comeback player of the year? I don't think you can be a rookie of the year in your second season. Could he be both? By the way, we should now move it. It's no longer called a Sessler. It's called a play ball when you have a project. I've got a play ball.

Yeah, Brandon has sent me multiple notes during the podcast. Yeah, what is Brandon doing over? The latest one is that I. Not producing. I owe him a sandwich for his knowledge. Don't challenge his producer knowledge. he did win a sandwich on the last go get my lunch brand i would put if i had a rank 1 to 10 how well brandon's handling this which isn't really a demotion just more a little change up of the guard here

it's like how you how you did to colin and softball yeah four and a half out of 10 basically what i would think he's in 11 right now he's jumping around there like he's a cheerleader i've never felt so much energy i think he's like on a sugar rush right now he's very proud jumping all over the studio and they're whispering to each other now all right let's move on you said a sugar ray rush guys oh i've never seen brandon more oh my god outwardly emotional we need to have an intervention with the sugar ray yeah i thought you guys were talking about sugar ray Leonard the other day before the pod you were talking sugar ray and i was like oh i guess i missed this whole conversation whatever be a lot cooler not know it was um sugar ray the artist okay so chris you wrote a artist

air quotes. You wrote an article that's up right now on NFL.com that everybody can check out. So it's about the most valuable non-quarterbacks entering the 2016 season. And question, did you rank these? Are they in order? I know they're number. Thanks for reading the article, Kelly. No, I have it right here.

And I do have some observations. Isn't it a banger? That's what hosts have to do. Hardcore banger. Not read Chris's articles. But you're looking at them and you have. have them numbered one through 10. I didn't know if one was like the top.

One's the top, right? Okay. I will confirm. Got it. So what I was looking at. I don't know if you're just lying to cover up for the fact that you haven't read it, Colleen, but you could use some context clues here. When JJ Watts's number 10, number one, and Patrick Peterson's number 10, you know,

you can kind of figure it out. I'm a terrible liar. All right. So let's get to this list. It's a really great all-encompassing list. But now that I'm looking at it, one through, five, you only have one offensive player. Interesting.

Well, all the best offensive players play the guy behind the center, yeah. Do you think that it's just like a great time for defensive players or just what you're saying a great defensive player inherently you're saying is more valuable than a great wide receiver or skill position? No, I'm not saying. I'm not saying JJ Watt is, Mike go down is the best defensive player of all time when it's all said and done. Aaron Donald played on his level last year. Von Miller's a Super Bowl MVP and will be the highest paid non-quarterback in the NFL soon. And Luke Keekley, I think, is he's going

to be a first ballot Hall of Fame middle linebacker. So that's who you're dealing with. And Gronk is in their class. Gronk is number two on your list. Number two. So you have no running backs on this list. No levy on bell. No levy on bell. I mean, can he stay off the suspended list and out of the trainers room? The one that stands out to me the most is Keekly Exactly. And I guess I'd like to hear you explain why you think he's at that level, where he's that valuable to their team. I think you could look at the Panthers and argue Kwan Short last year was as valuable as Keeley. Is that that crazy? Yes.

Really? Yes. I would point you in the direction of the Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving game, which is the best game I've seen by an inside linebacker in the past half decade. And his playoff run, which was overshadowed by Von Miller. but equally is impressive in a different kind of way. I thought Thomas Davis, I guess it's just there's so many good players in the defense that maybe you don't think of Kikley standing apart that much.

Like, for instance, in the Conference Championship game, I thought Thomas Davis before his injury was the best guy on the field. That's nothing against Kikley. It's just Thomas Davis was insanely good. So he's surrounded by great talent, but you shouldn't count that against Luke Kakley. Wes, I like your list. Thank you, Dan.

I think it's very strong. I, like, Aaron Donald is number three. I don't think a lot of people would put him there, but Wes is a real football head. So I believe in him when he puts him in the top three there. The one question I will say, you got AP on the just-miss portion of this. Isn't that kind of, I know you said earlier this week

that maybe he lost a half-step, but you get on people for doubting Larry Fitzgerald. Adrian Peterson is one of the greatest running backs of all time. Shouldn't we give him a little more? room and should it be on this top 10 still until he really falls off. I love Adrian Peterson. I think he's great, but I'm not going to put a 30-year-old running back up there who doesn't really do much in the passing game.

This would be probably the first time in his entire career that he wouldn't be on a list like this. I would rank Levi-on-Bel over Adrian Peterson. And you did. And I agree because of what you said about passing down. He has a role, but you also don't have any two-down defensive tackles on this list. And at this point in his career, you're right. He's not a gigantic asset on third downs, which is like every other down is a passing down.

Well, for all the weirdos on the Vikings Reddit board, look, Adrian Peterson is the best running back of his generation. He's one of my favorite players of all time. But he's not what he was three years ago. He's still great. He's just not like the 2,097 yards in a single season guy now. Tyron Matthew, he's also on the Just Miss list. If he stayed healthy, where would he have moved at all? I think he'd be in the top 10 if he had stayed healthy.

Really? So he'd be ahead of his teammate Peterson. No, he'd be neck and neck right there. You have Antonio Brown, Julio Jones, and O'Dell Beckham, 6, 7, 8, and it does get me thinking about just this era of wide receivers is crazy. And I don't know if it's, I don't think it's just that the numbers are inflated

because if you throw in DeAndre Hopkins and A.J. Green and Des Bryant into that mix, and they didn't quite make your top 10, that's just a crazy top-heavy, like, star stud number one receiver group. right now. Yeah, I think you can, I mean, you look at the numbers, and Julio Jones had the second most receptions and yards ever last season. And part of that is because of the era they played in.

But Antonio Brown was right behind him. And I think you can make the argument that O'Dell Beckham is the best wide receiver in the game. Since he entered the starting line, since he played his first NFL game in week five of 2014, Gronk is the only player within six touchdowns of him. But you have Julio, you have Julio ranked higher than him. Yeah. And Holyo has more yards than him.

I mean, yards and receptions count too. Day, do you think in 1-2 here, do you think if Rick Smith picked up the phone and called Belichick and offered Watt for Gronk? Wow. Oh, my God. What would Belichick do? I don't think either of those guys would take it.

They like what they have. That would be so weird. It would be weird. And yet I think Belichick would take it. Really? No way. I mean, I guess, I guess in a real, real world scenario.

Why would you ever get rid of Grom? You don't just want to mess up your team, but I think in Belichick would agree with West that J.J. Watt is a more valuable player, not to mention he's a healthier player. And I feel like less of an injury risk. I know he's coming off an injury right now. There were also multiple reports that Belichick fell in love with J.J. Watt before that draft. Ooh, that's a good point.

if I was Dan right now, I would chime in with. It's convenient how those Patriot stories always come out. Belichick was out, you know, he wanted Percy Harvin. He wanted JJ Wap. This particular one came out before the draft. Oh, okay. Yeah. All right.

Phil Belichick's infallible, Greg. That's how I see it from behind the club. I love this list. I really have no problems with it. I wanted to hear what you said with Kikley. I would put Miller higher than Aaron Donald, but that is a small quibble. And that is basically just, When I look at this list, I kind of think it's not just last year.

I don't think you're basing it just on last year. Based on all data available to us. Right. And to me, the fact that Von Miller's been so great year after year, really, since the day he entered the league would give him a slight edge because I want to see Aaron Donald do it again. I mean, you're talking about it. There's no reason the thing he wouldn't.

He won defensive rookie of the year the year before that. So it's not like we're talking about a guy without a pedigree. That's fair. And that's a small quibble. I would still have Donald on the top. I also want to point out you always, between the top 100 list and this list, you always have a lot of love for Gino Atkins.

Always. That's so true. Which I appreciate. I think you're the biggest Gino Atkins' truther out there about what a great player he is. He's right up there with Aaron Donald, really. I mean, I think they're neck-in-neck for the best defensive tackle in the league.

And Gino in two of the past four years has been one of the best defensive players in the league. He's a difference. Strike three. You're out. All right, then. Dan, if this article had a vanity URL, what would it be? NFL.com slash

Wes ain't all about the QBs. This game is more than just the glory boys. Check out these other players because they're badass and also dope. Cool. So everybody can check that out there. It's a great article. I've basically written, I haven't written any of it. I'm reading it right now.

I've read half of it. You're trying to take credit for it now. I should point out what prompted this article with. Whoa. Dan, you know, as a producer, you're supposed to be making. the talent feel better. Oh. And you're doing strike three on West's point.

You're doing this sad, you know? No, I wasn't strike three at West's point. I hit that button by accident. Really? I'm not good at this. No, you're great. I think you're great. It's been a lot of fun.

The chisels have been thrown away. Wait, so what spurred this article? Well, Fletcher Cox just got a new contract, which made him the second highest paid non-quarterback in NFL history. And all the talk is that Von Miller will soon become the highest paid non-quarterback in NFL history. So it seemed like a good time to write this up. Great timing, good content.

Well, written, good read, got my words together. Nailed it. It's going to be a metrics banger. No doubt about that. They're going to ride this thing through the weekend. Yeah, but who's they? That's the big question. The DOP.

Oh, that's true. Dan, I want to thank you for throwing me in the seat, unprepared. I think I learned a lot. You know what? I think we all learned a lot here because I learned a lot. behind the glass on what goes into producing and how it's not it's not an easy job and I just want to say Irish now sitting to my right pick up the chisels does this mean that he's officially on Mount Rushmore now you've been back there I don't think I not yet

it's not a done deal yet keep dangling the carrot yeah you got to dangle that carrot what does he have to do Dan let let let this whole thing play out that's all I'm saying Translation, if it's going to happen, we're going to make a production out of it and have some elements. We're not just going to throw it into the end of a show where Brandon's not even on the microphone. That's a good job producing by Dan Hansis. I've never seen Brandon so happy. Well, both of you are beaming right now. Like the wacky sidekick on a radio show.

He keeps on handing little notes of bits. This one says, how to get on Mount Rushmore, get four hits tonight. That's true. We're going to need off today. Yeah, Brandon's first ever leadoff appearance. I will be doing scouting. reports for everybody from the bench. All right.

You can take over the Sessler's social media rule. Oh, perfect. All right, great. We're going to miss Mark today. I know. I haven't been at a game yet with Mark. But then I've only been to two games. And one of them, you try to order beer from the outfield.

And the other one, there was no umpires. So it wasn't really an official game. How does it? Strike three. You're up. I had three hits in that one. Wow. Well, now the pressure's on.

This time it counts. Well, we miss Mark. Mark is going to be back with us. Is he back on Monday? He is back. Or Tuesday, whenever we're doing our show. From vacation on Monday. It's not the same without him here.

No, you need that energy, that's sizzler energy. Yeah, he's going to come back, refreshed. I'm excited about it. I'm excited. All right. And so you guys are all back on Monday? We will be back for another show on Monday. Two shows next week.

We'll probably do it Monday Thursday. That sounds right. Okay. Great. Well, everybody, have a great weekend. Nailed it. I'll see you guys. tonight for softball

for the mailman for the boss for Dan weird the Irishman we gotta come up with a nickname the old suzer still Monday

nicely done all all right all right so kind of you know all right so Connie you'll You know, you're tracking the length of the program.

Yep. That's good. Just being the producer, you know. And Dan, like every producer, don't be afraid to get in my ear. I don't know how to do that. Oh, okay. Oh, okay. Wait, that's a button?

Connie, do you hear me? Yes. Don't fuck this off. This is an I-Heart podcast. Thank you.