NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Top Radio Calls of 2017

Episode Date: February 16, 2018

A room filled with heroes- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling & Marc Sessler- are in on a company holiday to give the listeners what they want! The heroes discuss the latest news from around the league, including Bengals’ QB AJ McCarron becoming a free agent (5:00), Larry Fitzgerald’s plans for 2018 (9:00) and Gruden’s vision for Michael Crabtree (28:00); They review the top radio calls of 2017, which include an appearance from The Zola (33:00), a sonnet by Ron Wolfley and THE No. 1 call of 2017 (41:00);. Plus, NFL.com’s Gregg Rosenthal gives a glimpse into his franchise tag predictions.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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It's a sideg geek. Future of humanity websites. And there's nothing to install patch or upgrade ever. Head to Squarespace. You could take your headset off, Mark. You're done. You've nicely offered some real color to this. Head to Squarespace.com for a free trial.

And when you're ready to launch, use the offer code around to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Squarespace, baby. The Around the NFL podcast. Can't wait. for the Enya World Tour. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansus,

and I am joined by a room filled with heroes. These mics are terrible. How many billions? How many billions? 14 billion? It's up to 14, I believe. Okay. It's not excesses.

You wouldn't know it in Studio 7, as they call it. Dan Hans is here joined by a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What's up, boys? Hey, Dan. I'm in a bad mood. Now I'm in a foul mood. I think it's like studio $700, which is about how much money they pumped into this room.

Wow. I mean, let's open the kimono. It's a closet. Well, and, you know, this is a day where, you know, I guess people should not have any, any sort of sorrieness for us to be doing what is a fun show to do as part of our job. but it is a Roger Goodell mandated holiday for the efforts put into the season in the Super Bowl week, which, by the way, we were part of those efforts, but we are here. And who's not here?

I just waltzed in a little bit before the show, and the Shadow League figures up on the third floor, are they getting ahead, are they looking into the offseason? How can we make this a better product? How can we work harder for people? It is a ghost town up there. Outside of one poor admin manning the front door, it looks like an al-Qaeda strike.

up there you almost got knocked over by tumbo weeds rolling through unbelievable yeah so rog gave the company the day off uh but if you're on the first floor rise and grind baby and that's where i wear here Greg Greg's like i like to write on the website i feel like i have a nice niche they put me on i would rather i would rather drive into the ocean than have the jobs that any of these people on the third floor or most of new york had seriously I would move. I don't know what I would do. When I was growing up, I used to tell my mom.

I used to tell my mom. Mr. Gratitude over here. Yeah, exactly. I didn't want to wear a tie for a living. I didn't want to be sitting in a cubicle. And I seem to have avoided that so far in my career. So I'm not going to complain anymore. But these mics sound terrible.

I'll do the complaining for all of us. I love the job too, but I just find it. I also say, how about third floor? You love your job. How about you show a little passion, get in here and do some work? You grew up wanting to be beholden to no one. And that's where we are. We're not even sponsoring anymore, Bob.

That's good. All right. Welcome to the show. Really in a good place. Pre-show grade D-plus. A lot to get to today. Oh, I am excited about this. We've been teasing it for weeks.

The top five calls of 2017. We whittled it down from dozens, literally dozens, to a final five that are the top five calls. of the year. All five, Zolak. Zolak, probably going to be involved. You'd be surprised if he wasn't, but I cannot confirm anything

until we get to the SEG. Also, franchise tag time coming up. Things keep rolling. And Greg, you wrote a banger. This is Rosenthal's time of year. You know what? I feel like you might as well call Greg

the Clicks Hunter. Crikey. Because this is when Greg rolls out all his annual columns. one after the other and it's like click click click click click click click click and Greg's flying because he knows that bonus money is going to go full i wish bonus money was attached to i say is that NFL networks greg rosenfold what was that great that's a great drop um so we're going to go through prominent names

You know, we have a free agency coming up. These guys are technically slated to become free agents, but some guys are not going to go near the market. So we'll go over who's definitely going to get tagged, who may get tagged, who shouldn't get tagged, right? Sure. A little fun. A little Drew Breeze bonus category.

Although the people are not allowed to be tagged, yeah. So we'll get to that. But before any of that, let's do some news. oh yeah take it away linds speaking of free agency we have another quarterback entering the fray he is a man incongruent his tattoo situation to his facial situation a j mccarran it's a fair assessment he uh he won a grievance against the cincinnity bangles who had tried to uh keep an extra year of control over McCarron connected to his rookie season and being on an NFI list.

Listen, you could dive in if you want and know the details behind it. But at the end of the day, McCarran lawyered up or agented it up and went against the Bengals and won. So instead of being a potential restricted free agent, which would have meant that Cincinnati had an opportunity to keep him, even if he didn't want to stay in Cincinnati. now he'll be an unrestricted free agent. It's party time for McCarran. And we'll start with you on this one, Mark, because I know everyone in the football world immediately connected McCarran to the Browns

because the Browns had that failed trade where they kind of sabotaged themselves a few months back to get McCarron when you heard about him becoming a UFA. Getting nervous at all? What did you feel about it? Because it does potentially complicate the Browns quarterback situation.

I hope it doesn't complicate it too much. I mean, they're in better position to get the quarterback they want than they have been since they drafted Tim Couch, number one overall. I mean, you've got the first and fourth pick. You can choose the college quarterback of your choice with no issues this time when they had the number two pick and trade it out. And you also can make a serious run at Kirk Cousins, along with other teams. I don't think they're the most attractive teams in the mind of Kirk Cousins, Cleveland.

But A.G. and McCarran to me would not be the target. I think it was when it was a Hugh Jackson driven transaction that, you know, I don't know about care what anyone says. Maybe Sashi Brown egg on his face saved them from making that trade, which would have been ridiculous. It was what, a second and a third for Aegee McCarran. I really think it was Hugh Jackson just trying to get. That's a conspiracy theory that he intentionally screwed it up to botched it. I think they botched it, but I don't think that Sashi Brown was like, wow, I really want this quarterback. This is what the plan was all along to ship these two picks for a guy that really, I think, is someone that,

If they ever got him at a low price, he's a bridge guy to a guy they must draft number one or number four. Right. Low price, not Mike Glennon, what he got paid last year. This is a quarterback. When last we saw him, Hugh Jackson had his highest Q rating ever. Everybody was calling him an offensive genius. He had Andy Dalton in the MVP discussion.

They had a great offensive line, great running game, great wide receiver core. And in McCarran's last two starts, season finale, against the Ravens, failed to convert a single third down in the entire game, and then went three quarters in the playoff game against the Steelers without scoring a single point. Again, small sample size, but that would bother me if I was counting on him as a starter. That's a tiny sample size. I mean, he started four games. So this is not a guy to get excited about, and you're right, I wouldn't want to pay him huge money.

To me, if you're a Browns fan, he would be fine as the veteran. You need to have a veteran. You're not just going to have Deshaun Kaiser. and a rookie. So I don't know how the free agency market's going to play out for them. But if it turns out McCarron has kind of that in between... He gets Nick Ful's money. Good backup or even a little...

I think he'll get more than Nick Ful's got last year. Between a backup and a starter type of money, but it's not a long-term commitment. And he's kind of the veteran you have with the rookie. I'm fine with that. I don't know. The Browns have so much money that they could give McCarran like a Mike Lennon-type deal. Mike Lennon got paid $15 million for nothing last year.

and then still draft the quarterback. Well, no, they already did that with Osweiler. Right. But they can do that and still be okay. And they're like, oh, we have a bridge guy in McCarran that we love. And we have Sam Darnold, for instance, a guy that's maybe a little raw, but obviously has a ton of problems. However, and tell me if you disagree, Mark, as a Browns fan, don't even put me near any of that because I don't want anybody on the building to be like, we actually really like AJ. Maybe they'll go in a different direction in the drive.

Don't overcomplicate it. Yeah, if you're going to make any. run in free agency. It better be for Kirk Cousins because then I love that move because you would be able to use the draft the first and fourth pick on other players around him. That I can buy into. I don't want to hear anything about A.J. McCarran made the earth shake for Hugh Jackson and we're going to hand on the start. Don't complicate it. If he knows he's a bridge quarterback in an affordable price, he works for a couple teams. It shouldn't be anything more than that. He might get paid quite a bit of money. What other team do you think would see him as a starter, though?

It's hard to guess how teams see these quarterbacks, but I know there are people other Bucky Brooks. I mean, there are different people who filed the league that thinks he has potential. There were people who Bucky and DJ interviewed last year executives who rated him higher than Garoppola. He's sneaky old, though.

I mean, he's older than Cam Newton. So you're not getting, not that he's old at all. I mean, he should be, he's entering his prime. I think he's 29, 28, 29. He entered the league late. Maybe he's 28. I thought it was 27, He's not a guy, though...

Stand by, people. Yeah, we don't need to get it. My bad. Yeah, he's turning 28 this year. He's not a guy. I don't think a lot of people that haven't seen him up closer are going to pay like $15 million a year, but you never know. Before we move on, right around the time this news broke a tweet from Mark Sessler.

Would you mind if I read it, Mark? And then you could connect the dots for us, perhaps? Yeah. It seemed like there's some sub-tweeting going on. what will happen to sports writers, so-called sports writers, snark vendors, anxiously Caucasian wit crackers, and hobby horse semi-wordsmiths when the Browns achieve even vague competency? It is, it is not a sub-tweet because when everything, every time anything happens related

to the Browns, my mentions are 99% snark and crap coming at me from all corners of the globe. And I am not, I do not own the Browns, nor do I coach them, nor am I operating in their front office. I am someone that is, for some reason, as a 12-year-old, picked them as my team and refuse to jump ship. I don't need to hear about it every time any team does anything linked to Cleveland. Counterpoint, you have sports writers and so-called sports writers. Well, well, because I think Twitter, you know what it is? I hit a point over the last 48 hours where I'm kind of done with Twitter. And it is a cesspool half the time of sports writers. And I know Wes agrees me just attempting to get their little humor out there and generate giggles, and I get a little

tired of it. I loved your tweet. It's Sessler season. It was a great tweet. And then on the other hand, it's like, yeah, win a game, Browns. Then you won't get made fun of as much. I mean, they have to change it. They have to change it.

I said this at this time last year, as far as the podcast evolving, we don't need Mark being pissed about the Browns all the time anymore. It would actually change the. podcast in a fundamentally good way if the Browns were a different type of team. Come on, Browns. Get it done. Moving on.

Sebastian Janikowski is done in Oakland. The 2000, the year 2000 in the year 2000, Seabass was drafted with the 18th overall pick by the Oakland Raiders and Al Davis, Al Davis died like 11 years into Seabass's career. It kept chugging along.

But now it's, is over. Janikowski, it was announced the team will not move forward with him. They were happy, obviously, with the rookie, the kid, what's the kid's name, Georgio Tevecchio, who had a pretty good season last year. Not great, 16 to 21, but he had some moments, especially early on. So they're going to move on from Janikowski. One of the great runs in terms of endurance in terms of, like, franchise.

Was it, Greg? I'm going to ask you question. Was it a good pick? Of course. I mean, that was a great. I would say it's a great pick. And that was, that came at a time when every draft, probably the highlight was the moment right after the Raiders made their pick. And everyone was just like, what?

Who? Like it was always the Raider. Like, what? Darius Hayward Bay. Or sometimes it'd be, you know, it'd always be off the map. And Seabass. That's as far as off the map. You could take a kicker in the first.

Seabass was certainly one of those. And a lot of those first round, Al Davis picks, especially in the 2000s after Seabas, did not work out. But he's one of the best kickers of his generation. Highest paid kicker, I think, in NFL history. Right. Al Davis overruled, from what I read, John Gruden in that draft. John Gruden wanted Sylvester Morris, who played one season as a wide receiver. And he wanted, but he also wanted Sean Alexander, the Seahawks running back, who is, I think, forgotten by history, a wonderful player.

What an MVP. But now you got Gruden back in the big. building. Maybe he said, forget you, Al Davis, I'm getting this guy out of here. But in the fifth round of that, it's crazy. I don't know. He made it from one Gruden there from one group. Yeah. And in the fifth round of that draft, the only other player besides Seabas and Tom Brady that's still active from that 2000 draft was Al Davis's fifth round pick, punter Sean Leckler. So Al Davis in one draft picked two, two of the only players still around since 2000. Two of the great kickers, probably the two best

kickers maybe of this century are free agents this offseason. Seabass and Adam Terry. Did you got, really, I didn't know Adam was pretty agent, interesting. Did you guys know that Tom Brady was the 199th pick of the 2000 draft? Good luck, C-Bass.

I bet he gets a job. I would like to beseech producers of television shows. Just because something has a little sliver of the zeitgeist doesn't mean you need to make it a topic. Like, is Sebastian Janikowski a Hall of Famer does not need to be a topic? He's not a Hall of Famer.

That was? Like, give me David Aker's career over, say, Sebastian and Janakowski. Let's calm down on. It's also like. Draft times out there on February 15th. Yeah, it's bigaded by the news cycle. But that's still bad.

But I'm with you that, come on, everybody comes down. Nice good. And to the Raiders credit, or maybe, or maybe because they had no choice, people forget this now. You people forget this. But Janukaski was kind of a nightmare early in his career. But they saw it through and 18 years later, it comes to an end. Moving on.

Speaking of John Gruden, he, uh, he liked Marshawn Lynch and Michael Crabtree. to return it. At least he could see it happening. Chris Wessling. Marciaun Lynch finished strongly last year. Crabtree, I don't know, maybe not as much. Do you think both these guys are back? I could see Lynch returning. He's always a wild card. As you said, one of the things I discovered in writing this article was average 5.2 yards per carry down to stretch and only finished 10 yards off the league lead over the final five weeks of the season and rushing. So he appears to have plenty left in the tank. Crabtree, there was a report from the Las Vegas review in December that the team's ready to move on from him. And one thing we know about John Gruden is just because

he says something about personnel doesn't make it true. When we were at Roto World back in the day, we used to call him Johnny Sunshine because everything was rainbows and unicorns. And then he cut a guy, you know, a week later. Right. And Lynch, he was even more than Crabtree, he was noncommittal about when they said, will he be on the team? I kind of think Crabtree would have a better chance I don't know what. I just think that he would look at that, look at the passing game and think I can make this guy a little bit better. He did say about Lynch, he's our running back.

Yeah, and then they said, will he be on the team? We're counting on him. I don't know. I think that's more like he's Marshawn Lynch. Nobody knows what he's going to do. This Q&A, by the way, my favorite nugget was at the very end when they talk. A, he is steamed. Gruden is super steamed about the CBA rules where he came up with players.

As if he didn't know this had been in place for years. But he acknowledged at the end that he drives to work at two or three in the morning. And part of the reason is he can't deal with traffic because he said he's an absolutely terrible driver, which made me, I've been a little chilly on Gruden in this whole, the hype on this, I liked that he can't drive.

As a fellow bad driver. As a terrible driver, I think it's kind of cool that John Gruden is, I think he would never admit that. I've known Mark very well for eight years almost, and I've been in the car where he was the driver once. And it was like a drive from one part of Culver City to a local tavern.

It was like four cities. No, it was to pick up your car. You're like, no one admits that they're a bad driver. I do. So it's like every. It's like Damasek's theory. Everyone thinks they have a good sense of humor. No one ever says they're a bad driver, so I commend you. Haven't you?

What? I thought you've admitted it, too. That I'm a bad guy. Oh, no. I thought you were a good driver. Greg took a curb and lost a hubcap. You know, I get a little over aggressive, maybe. But come on, driving the mean streets of New York.

Give me a break. And I just, you were driving. in Manhattan? I kept my car for a couple of years. What are you, a Seinfeld character? That's impressive. I spent, I spent my, most of my life dealing with parking, because I didn't have my own parking spot.

I couldn't afford that. You would have to like double park on the other side of the street and you're watching it from your window and then you're going back and coming back. Yeah, this is terrible. Upper West Side days, you would have to do that twice a week and it was a whole like ballet where everyone would move, everyone would wait, then everyone would parallel park at the exact same time. It was kind of beautiful to watch from above, but a real terror to deal with. I would blow up my car and then in the middle of the night and take the insurance because it sounds

it's a great public transport transit scenario there. Why are you driving? That's a crime. With the job security of both Michael Crabtree and Akeep Talib in doubt. I don't know if we're going to get any more of those showdowns where chains are getting snatched. I love this chain snatching. It could be over. That's what I get excited about. Might be over. It's a shame. So, oh, let's get back to football, Dan.

Get over yourself. Hoppy horses. Larry Fitzgerald, he's going back to football. He's not ready to quit yet. The 11-time pro bowler told Cardinals coach Steve Wilkes, not the same as Bruce Ariens. Good luck to you, Steve, but it doesn't feel right, that he will return for his 15th season.

He's 34 years old. He just won a big golf tournament. But guess what? He's coming back. Wilkes confirmed it on a radio show in Arizona. The Doug and Wolf show. Oh, do you think they have one of those? It's Doug and the wolf.

Oh, I could be wrong, but I mean, this might be not, you know, the second time old wolf. I believe that's Bob Wolfley, Doug Wolfley, who does our top calls every year, right? Not Wolfie. Well, Ron Wolfley is that who you're talking about. Oh, don't you think that's the wolf in Arizona? How many wolves are there?

That would make sense. It's a lot of wolves. Wolves everywhere. Colleen Wolf. I'm just saying it's the Cardinal's show. I think you might be on something. You're probably right. He might be back in this show.

That's all I'm saying. He might be. Anyway, so Fitzgerald's back. Wes, I'll throw a theory out there. Okay. And I've talked to my buddy Jay Zumwalt's a big Cardinals fan. We were texting about this. Lyre Fitzgerald is not any player.

He is one of the favorite sons of Arizona, probably the most important player in Cardinals history, he agrees to come back for a 15th year, it makes me think that the Cardinals, even more than they typically would be, might be a big time player for whether it's Kirk Cousins or another veteran quarterback, because they're not going to leave Larry dying on the vine in year 15. This is not going to be some rebuild with a second round pick quarterback. Your thoughts?

Quarterbacks aside, try naming a more important face of the franchise than Larry Fitzgerald in NFL history. Also, one of the highest paid players in NFL history outside of quarterbacks. I agree with that theory, and I don't even think it's a theory. Their head coach and their general manager have each come out and said, we will be aggressive in going out and getting a quarterback this year. So to me, that says it all. Sometimes that's lip service, though, and they have other plans.

I just, I mean, nobody's attaching cousins to the Cardinals, and I get why there are other places that make more sense. But especially, Greg, under your theory that any team can afford him, It doesn't matter where your cap space is. They've got a little. They've probably got a few more issues than other teams where they have to make some decisions. They could make room for him. He hasn't been attached to him at all.

But I think that would be a fun fit. I also, you don't see players walk away from guaranteed money. Not that Larry Fitzgerald necessarily needs to make his decisions off of money or not. But when push comes to shove, you get into the off season. He's still healthy. He's got all of his money guaranteed. He's one of the highest paid receivers in the league. It's great.

And he's playing at a very high level. He seems like someone who would retire if he's now the 18th best receiver in the league or whatever it is. But he's still one of the top guys in terms of receptions every year. So why not keep playing? And Kime talked about him, to your point, West, is recruiting potential quarterbacks. And they don't have a single quarterback under contract. They don't need to get one.

They need to get two or three. Draft one, get a veteran. Finally, so welcome back, Larry. The football is better with him. By the way, it is Ron Wolfley. I've looked it up. He is, Greg was dead on about that. Greg, good wolf radar.

Former NFL fullback. Your wolf radar is impeccable. Is he part of our top five? I can't confirm anything. Might be. Ron Wolfley, who once said if it's, you know, listen to it. Second and one and you need a yard, I'll get you a yard. If it's second and two and you need two yards, I'll get you a yard.

Sue Cravens, the Redskins, the Redskins safety picked in the second round of the 2016 draft. He was not on the radar. in the NFL last season because he left the team citing some injuries including ongoing concussion issues and had been reportedly contemplating retirement

well he wants to come back and the NFL reinstated Cravens off the reserve left squad list for Washington however Greg that does not mean that he will be back with back with the Redskins

quite the contrary actually There's some thought around the team that they found a replacement in Monta Nicholson, first of all, and that the damage that Cravens did last year by leaving the team, at least within the locker room, that he openly said he just wasn't sure if his heart was in playing football, whether he wanted to do that anymore, that he would be a guy that they basically looked to trade. And I would think that he would have some trade value. It's a very strange situation.

I can't think of many precedents for it. Their linebacker, Mason Foster, last year at the time, said he's going to have to come back and show what he's made of, show people that his heart's really in it. I don't think anybody's going to welcome him back with open arms. It wasn't an isolated incident. He left his team in college multiple times for similar reasons where he was kind of emotionally conflicted, whether basically he wanted to keep playing the sport. But it's natural to have doubts and feelings and interest outside of football. and we saw a guy like Keenan Allen in 2013 came out and said,

I almost quit after my first month in the NFL. I wanted to be a music producer, and I wasn't getting the playing time I deserve. It's one thing they have those feelings. I don't know how wise it is to express them publicly when you worry about a team dynamic in the locker room and football where commitment is a huge issue, commitment to the 53 guys,

and putting your body through the kind of punishment and rigors of the game is a big issue for other players. Yeah, and he recently had a Snapchat comment where he basically said, or he did say, he said, I don't feel like I need to explain myself. I don't feel like I have to. I think I need to follow what makes me happy. Now, that's fine as a human being,

but I think inside an NFL locker room, when you know you're going to be tested to the total limits. All these guys are like, program, I'll die on the field if I have to. And Tom Brady just said it. I'm willing to die. I'll give up everything. Are you willing to do the same?

Like, you're not allowed to be a nuanced human in this league. And he has had concussion. He has had concussion issues. If I was the Redskins, I would welcome him back because ultimately are you going to get much in a trade for him? He was a second round pick that did show talent in his rookie season. He looked like he was going to be a good player. More importantly, Greg, Wes, that was news to me that Keenan Allen was interested in pursuing a music production career. How about get Delaware back together, play some gigs, knock off the rust, and then have him executive producer comeback album?

You're speaking of my freshman year of high school. band that played like the talent show. Yeah, it was like your emo acid rock Prague rock band of the late 90s. It was more, yeah, it was more of a mix of the dead milkmen, you know, they might be giants, the really dead milk. The pixies.

Do you know where all the rest of the band members are? Could you do the legwork to get everyone back for a reunion show? I don't know where. I'll do the rest of the work. I get a few on Facebook. I'll reach out to the chargers. I was on vocals.

They might be giant. Is that birdcage in my heart? Anna NG. Kind of like a joke band. Anna Ning, I love. I actually liked, they might be giants quite a bit. First concert I ever saw in my whole life as a 14-year-old, I believe, was they might be Giants. Is this the White's music podcast?

Opener, Frank Black. It's like Frank Black solo album, early 90s alt rock. It's like the new that, they might be Giants banger. All right, so let me know if you can get the band back together. Let's see if Keenan is interested. All right, that's what's happening. in the news support for today's show comes from

Squarespace ready to start your new business make it stand out with Squarespace with beautiful templates created by world-class designers Squarespace makes it easy to turn your idea into a new and unique turntable all right you're starting to fade on this

you want me to pull out of this bit with you throwing in this time I wasn't prepared that's true website showcase your work blog or publish content, even sell products and services of all kinds in just a few clicks. Yeah, when you say website, that's what your way of telling me that it's over. So we'll just keep going until you say website. And it's all optimized. Wait, are you saying website now?

Do you want it to end? Not an or a white flag. And it's all optimized for mobile right out of the box. There's nothing to install patch or upgrade ever. I know that's important to you, Wes. if you do have a question Squarespace's award-winning 24-7 customer support is there to help

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around to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain that's Squarespace.com offer code around All right here it comes we've been waiting what's going on Greg You're contacting the producer through the glass?

What's up? I'm ready for some breaking news. Oh, what are you got? Marty Herney has been reinstated into his role as the interim Panthers general manager. And I thought this was worth bringing up because it's a very strange situation right now that Marty Herney was being investigated for a sexual harassment case. He was an interim general manager. They don't have a general manager right now, and they're still looking for a

permanent one. Isn't he expected to be the permanent? He was until all of this came up. There was no evidence of a violation. The NFL informed the team and the investigation is now closed. They believe he did not violate the league's personal conduct policy. I just wanted to put

it out there because it's February 16th. They don't have a general manager and he can be the interim guy all they want. It's a strange thing. They got to tighten the end. They're looking for an owner which is not insignificant either. They essentially don't have a front office or an ownership structure. Why would anyone want to go there in free agency with that

type of unrest. We just saw on the two bills how Bill Belichick... It's hard to get a general manager to leave the Jets because of that stuff. I think smart football people know you want to go somewhere that's stable. And maybe the Panthers end up stable, but right now they are not stable. Chaotic. All right. Here we go. The top five calls

of 2017. Okay. This was a labor of love working together throughout the season. If you are a listener of the show, a longtime listener, a weekly listener, you know we play one highlight, typically one highlight for each game we go through on Sundays and Mondays,

a couple on Thursday. And if one, you know, Mark, strikes our fancy. Is that a good way to put it? I think so. It's got to, you know, reach the senses. It's got to make you feel something. Then it gets sent down the convenience.

Vare Belt to Lindsay Fulton behind the glass. And they say, Lindsay, clip that off, put that in the running. And what we ended up with was a good, I'd say 20 or so highlights. We had to whittle it down to five. It took, it was a process that lasted days and days this week. It's the only thing I did. I just went through the highlights. I listened to every vowel.

Danish is? No Danish. Water and white bread just to stay focused. Oh, no. How they hit their words. One rickety light bulb? Yeah, one rickety light bulb. I was in the agony chamber, actually, doing it.

Ah! To make sure I was right, Greg came in at the end, swooped and said, I like this. I don't like that. I'm Greg. That's me. And then, at the end of the day, we had a top five. We needed that. Yeah.

Yeah. A lot of them, when it was a lot of them, you're excited to listen to him at the time. And then suddenly it's February, kind of the context of week six is Bengals game. is a little out the window, and you're just like, oh, that guy was just like mildly raised his voice more than normal. Doesn't resonate the same way. Right. Right. And we find that a lot.

And in these top five, these were the best, though. And we'll start with number five. It comes from the great Mitch Holtus of Casey FX. It was a game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Redskins, a 2920 win. and Harrison Buckner, Buck, Butker, lined up for a 43-yard field goal with eight seconds left, looking to give the Chiefs the win. 2020 tie. High snap, pulled down.

Butker's kick is up. It is right down the boulevard. It's good. And the Chiefs take a 23 to 20 lead with four seconds left in regulation. And Harrison Butker kicks some. You know what. I like it. I like that one.

It's number five. I thought because, I don't know. You can't say butt? Why can't you just say kick some butt? Yeah. Well, he did, didn't he? No, I said, you know what. I think he set up.

We all knew what the punchline was. And we knew. Kicks him heinie. I feel like if we do this year after year, there's going to be some repeat guys. Like, it's going to be like the best holtis one of the year. I don't know the Titans guy's named by heart, but I feel like he's going to get on it quite a bit. Yeah, Paul Allen is a little. It's about personality more than the situation in many of these.

That was a Monday night game, which Greg watched with me and the Paramore, I believe. That's right. Oh, yeah, and the Paramore's mom was in the house. It was a good game. All right, that's number five. Number four, oh, yeah, you knew he was going to show up. And some people are going to say, whoa, whoa, whoa, why is Scott Zolak so low on this list? well, you know, Scott get used to disappointment

because it's starting to pile up for you this month. You coming at number four. I mean, it's an honor to be on the list at all. The Patriots roughing up the dolphins in week 12. And here is a touchdown pass from Tom Brady to the big man a tight end. Second and 13 now for the Patriots. Backed up to the 15.

Brady's in the gut. Takes the step. Bouts in the pocket. Hit me as he throws left. Touchdown. Rob Grancosky. In your face. In your face.

And one increases its lead. Brady gets drilled and gets right up and says keep breaking it. Please keep blitzing our quarterback. Our quarterback. Bob Soji and Scott Zollack, WBZ, I thought this year, gentlemen, was the year, when I look back at the play calling of the unhinged color man eschewing all semblance of professionalism

in favor of rooting openly for his favorite team. Well, in him especially, and he's like, I will trim. over Bob Sochi every single time I speak. I will get my words out there. And we saw him at Media Night. Zolok is a truly strange, wild energy presence. I mean, he was crazy at Media Night.

A tall man. That's him. That's him 24-7. That's it. Like he does, he comes off when you listen to these as like a fan of the Patriots that grew up in Southie or maybe like Western Mass around where Greg's from. And he got to Foxborough. at 6 a.m. for a 4 p.m. kickoff and then at like 3.30 p.m., a Patriot staffer grabbed him after he put down a quarter keg himself and put him up in the booth. That's Scott Zolak. And apparently he's quite popular up there. So people like that.

I think it speaks to a larger issue, Dan, on your statement that it's not only color guys, but writers, I don't know. like the use of we coming from a writer, I just lose a little bit of respect. I don't know. I can't take you as seriously. And we've talked about this on the podcast before. Mark,

you and I grew up around the New York market where even though there are leanings, I'm sure, with these guys, even the color guys, they play pretty straight. But when you listen to these local radio guys, even up in Boston, which is a northeast market, they are all in. Totally different animal.

for the home team. Let's move on to number three. Oh, yeah. That's what she said. Shut up, Scott. Your time's over. You're number four. You don't even get a bronze, baby.

I mean, he has really stretched out those seven career starts into quite a broadcast. It's so true. All right. This next one, this is a deep cut. And it was founded by Mark Sessler, who was waiting for me to pick him up to take him to a bar to watch a mundane, Seahawks Cardinals game in week 10. Oh, wow. And I think you were listening in on the radio call from the phone, something.

Diligently, in a highly professional manner. Think about the professionalism involved with this podcast. Some bird dog scouting premier. And so with 13 minutes and two seconds to play in the third quarter, we heard this from Ron Wolfie, K-T-A-R, Dave Pash with the play-by-play call. Stanton back the throw with time, looking short pass to the left. It is caught inside to 40. Peterson, and he turns up field of the 38, gets the first down inside the 35, down to the 33.

First of all, Peterson caught the ball, which is rare because he doesn't catch a lot of passes, but then he stayed in bounds, got 13 yards. How about that? He broke the tackle of Cam Chancellor. By the way, shook him off like a little winter snow on a sunlit, moonlit, evening. What? Boy, that was weird right there, wasn't it? Do you think?

Dave, I love Dave Pash's straight man reaction there. He's like, what? Sunlit and Moonlit. Because typically when someone gets lost in the weeds, you kind of, they're on their own in a way. But sometimes it's so ridiculous that, and Dave in this case, had to speak as the audience surrogate and be like, what?

Starts off so promising. It was fine. If he had just chosen Sunlit or Moonlit, He was fine. I'm really excited for after the show, because I just Googled Ron Wolfley's name, that there's a newspaper article from the Arizona Republic titled, Here's Why Wolfley Talks That Way during Cardinals games. So I'm looking forward to that.

Why he talks that way? Here's why he talks away. It's going to explain it all. Like Jesse the Body Ventura? I guess so. I just got my flight arrangements for the Combine. Mark, they're sending me to Atlanta as well. Yeah, we're going to Indianapolis, but let's go to,

Atlanta. Oh, we're probably on the same flight. This is the third floor at work again. Oh, they're making their, you know, they got all the square space money coming out of their pockets, but they got to put us on eight connecting flights to get from A to B. At least they're at work. Delta's the only place that flies direct

from L.A. Well, this is a Delta. This is a Delta flight, so contrary to that idea, they've gone at roundabout. How many times can we be double-crossed in one podcast? It's, it is, it's cropping up. I got a direct flight. What is this in 1960s cartoon.

Yeah, American. No, it's on Delta. Direct flight. All right. I don't want to talk about it. Curses. We're getting killed here. Yeah.

All right. Foyled again. Congratulations, Lindsay, on your great fortune. Maybe we expect we make fun of the third four constantly, and this is their way to get revenge. Now we're into the big time. So Ron Wolfley gets the bronze, and now it is time for Merrill Reese and Mike quick of WIP, the Eagles win their first Super Bowl and franchise history. history. And, and I'm happy for Merrill Reese that he got to do this call because it wasn't a

perfect Super Bowl for Melrose. The famous Philly special, not quite as famous as the helmet catch mark, but the very famous Philly special, the most famous individual play in Eagles history, as Greg pointed out on our Super Bowl show, ooh, it has to hurt when you're the play by play guy. He got the name wrong. He said, Tray Burton threw the past Nick Foles. He said, well he went Zach Ertz he kept mentioning Zach Ertz I think four or five or six times so Reese bummer that's a bad one

but vindication came on the final play of Super Bowl 52 we will never forget this hopefully with joy in our hearts nine seconds left Eagles by eight Brady lines them up he's back again he steps on

he's hit he stumbles he is throwing it deep for the end zone and it is battered around and incomplete. And the game is over. The game is over. The Philadelphia Eagles are Super Bowl champions. Eagles fans everywhere. This is for you.

Let the celebration begin. Oh my god, as soon as they win, I just busted out ugly crying and I don't even know what to do with myself right now. This is the best day ever. This ever happens, ever. There you go. That was, of course, Colleen Wolfe, the ATN Media Insider, got that exclusive. But Merrill Reese and Mike Quick with the call, WIP.

That's a nice close. Some of my earliest memories, because football on the radio, I think, can be at times far superior to anything you see on television. And that play explains exactly why, because he's tracking the ball and you're minute by minute, by second by second, wondering if the ball hit the ground or landed in someone's hands and he did a great job with that. It reminds me of driving around with my dad on Sundays

way back, listening to Giants games. And it sounds like it's from the 40s or 50s. It takes you to a completely different time, radio football. I'm impressed with guys like Kevin Harlan who go between television and radio. He does Monday nights and does an awesome job on the radio. And it's such a different

call and such a different skill set and he just like goes between it depending on the day. All right. Good job. Now, that's it. You would think that that call, the first Super Bowl title in Eagles history, a great call by recent quick would get it. But no, there was one better call. And it came from KFAN's Paul Allen and his partner Paul versus Stitch. Yes, the final play of the divisional playoffs, Viking Saints.

Vikings at their own 39. It's third down. Three receivers right, feel, and left. Marshawn Lattimore, 12 yards from Adam. Case on a deep drop, steps up in the pocket. He'll fire to the right side. Caught by Diggs. Stay above! Oh, my God! Oh, my God! 30! K! Tocke! Are you kidding me? It's a Minneapolis-Mitt! It's a Minneapolis! Step on Diggs! And the Minnesota Vikings have walked on the New Orleans Saints. It's a 61-yard Minneapolis miracle. The most impressive part of it for me is Paul Allen

coining the nickname for the play immediately. And it's not the most original nickname, but it is perfect. It will stand the test of time. He set it in real time seconds after the play ended. And that's what's held up. That's how people know that play. And that's how you get number one for the season. That's stepping up to the moment right there.

You're Paul Allen. You met the big moment. You basically did the same thing, Stefan Diggs did. What if you're driving around when that happens? You go right off the highway. Oh, I mean, that would be a really impossible thing to do.

If you're a diehard Vikings fan, if you're listening on the radio, you've got to pull over before the last play. Just in terms of safety. I would agree. Tremendous. tremendous work by Paul. I try to get Paul on the show reached out to him,

but he's probably still fielding media inquiries. That's my theory. That's why he didn't get back to us. Good job by you and Greg. with only water and white bread to come up with that. I mean, that's the art of broadcasting right there. That deserves to be number one.

And I believe Lindsay Fulton deserves a lot of credit. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Helping to curate the list. So there you go. The top five plays, the winner. He gets the crown this year. Paul Allen, uh, with his buddy, Paul Bersuch of KFAN.

All right. Before we go. Greg's click something. He's out in the outback. He's saying, I need them clicks. It's almost bonus time. I got a toll that maximum of 4% bonus. How do I do it?

Maximum clicks. I say, is that NFL network's Greg Rosenthal? So he's been rolling him out the last couple weeks. His signature pieces leading up to free agency. This one, three franchise tag predictions. You call it the primer. Another Primer in a big spot. Headline, 2018 NFL franchise tag Primmer,

colon, eight most likely candidates. Okay. So let's go through it, Greg. You start, you break it down into tears, as we know. We know Greg's work right now. Greg's fingerprints is DNA. He likes to break things into tears. And his top tier is the no-brainers.

Levyon Bell staying with Pittsburgh and DeMarcus Lawrence staying with the Cowboys. No-brainers. means there's no way they shouldn't do it or no way it doesn't happen. There's no way that those players are hitting free agency. With Bell, especially, I could see a scenario where they do get a contract done before the final day that you can tag a player, which is March 6th. But if they're not able to do it in the meantime, there's no way they're not going to tag Bell.

That's my belief. And Lawrence. Well, and this time around Bell said that he would play on the tag, not that he prefers that. I thought he was going to retire or something. I kind of checked out on the whole side. Oh, I thought he said that he would play under it. He's changed.

He has waffled. I will stand corrected. He may very well may have. He has waffled back and forth. It's the second thing I'll look up. See, Mark, like, floating away in the ocean. Goodbye. Either way, Kevin Colbert spoke to a D.D.

King of Walla this week, and he made it clear. I think they're not, they're going to get this done. They offered to make him the highest paid running back in the league by far. last year, I just think there's too much when both sides want to get a deal done, it happens. By the way, on NFL.com, we have a story where he says he would play under

the franchise. Well, it'd be a very high number this year because he played under it last year. Redemption for Sessler? It is massive redemption. I thought you were floating away like Wilson. Well, it's like the worst thing that could be happening. Tides coming in. It's like I, you know, you state something. Everyone's like, no, that's not true at all. Then you're like, what

am I doing here in the building? What's striking to me about this list in that category, two players are no-brainers. It's just 2012 that 21 players got the franchise tag. It has changed massively because five years ago, teams were using it against the spirit of the rules. It was always meant to be used as a tool to help you come to a long-term agreement. And a lot of teams were using it just to keep players there without wanting a long-term agreement. And I think that's a, I mean, think about why the franchise tag started. Why is named the franchise tag for a player who's the face of your franchise

that you're not going to lose him. It's like the NBA has a Larry Bird exception. It's supposed to be for that caliber of player. And the price has gone up significantly due to changes in the CBA. That was one good thing that happened for veterans. So these are high tags. With that set, I think the bigger factor is that teams are just doing a better job resigning their own players.

Because when you look at this list and we'll get into it, Like, I do think some mid-level players are pretty good candidates to get tags and get huge money. And it's easier to re-sign your guys when the salary cap keeps going up. So I guess everybody wins. Next category. Say yes. These players are by no. Elliot Smith shout-out.

How about that? Ooh, Elliot Smith. Look at you. Love you, these players are by no means guaranteed to get tagged, but I'm leaning yes that they will. That's the exact text from Greg. And you have on this list, amongst others, Alan Robinson, Sammy Watkins, and Kyle Fuller. This list surprised me. I did not expect to see names like Kyle Fuller and Andrew Norwell.

And I'd Sheldon Richardson on here. I could be totally wrong. I'm just, I'm just shooting, shooting my shots here, just guessing. I mean, I asked around a little bit on these. I just think it logically, why let Kyle, let you like Kyle Fuller, for instance. and he came out to know or had a great year. I do like him a lot. I think I like him more than the bears like him.

The bears are trying to sign him long term. And I guess my thought is, okay, the bears have 40 million in cap space. They'll probably open up another 20 to 25 million with cuts. You have 65 million in cap space. Why not give Kyle Fuller $15 million this year if he's starting on your team and he makes your team better? You're basically making the choice. We're going to spend less.

to get worse, because you're not going to get better players in free agency than that. And I really, if I'm at these teams, I love that there's no long-term commitment. It's one year you can easily fit them under the cap. Pay him. I like the idea. Well, I think the cap has changed so much. But to your point that this used to be the face of your franchise, I mean, we've quickly veered into a cast of characters that couldn't be anything. They're nothing close to that.

Well, Alan Robinson's, I think one of the more. But Sammy Watkins, Allen Rockins. Face of the franchise, though? Those guys, that's sort of like the Eagles blueprint with Alshan Jeffrey. Give me a year. We're going to go try to win a championship. And then we'll worry about next year after that. They gave up a second round pick and a veteran to get Sammy Watkins.

I actually think if I was the Rams, I would rather tag Lamarcus Joyner. But I think they feel like they've invested so much in Sammy Watkins, even though it's $16 million, which seems crazy for a guy that only had a 593 yards. It's like, you made that trade. I think they want to make it work. You're next here. This is saucy because the Click Hunter now is digging in. He says these are big names that he doesn't think are going to be tagged. That means they're going to go into the UFA pile.

Hopefully. The Click Hunter strikes again. Jarvis Landry. That's not pejorative, by the way. I don't want to make it seem like I'm insulting you, Greg. This will be clear. It's reminiscent of the Mind Hunter, that great serial killer show on Netflix. I watched the pilot.

Couldn't get into it. Oh, I loved it. You're just, these are stories that do well historically. I don't know. I don't think so. I mean, I think some of them not particularly. The thing that's nice is I don't think any of us pay any attention to how our articles do anymore, which overall is a good thing. Yeah.

All right, Jarvis Landry, the dolphins, the guy has like 130 catches a year. But that doesn't always mean you're a real star. Case Keenham of the Vikes. We know all about Case. And then Jimmy Graham, we just talked about him actually on our. a free agency primer video show, which you could check out on YouTube on the official NFL channel. And also, if you like to stay more NFL.com located,

nfl.com slash ATN video where you could find our primer. It's a 15-minute breakdown of the market as it stands. Greg, it might take you that long to find it too. So why aren't these players being 10? Let's start with Jarvis Landry, in your opinion. I don't think the dolphins have ever shown that they really, valued Jarvis Landry. So this is just a guess.

He is not the type of player that usually gets to free agency because he's productive, he's young, he's obviously good, but they don't seem like they really are that into Jarvis Landry. It's my kind of feel. He's like him and Adam Gase

aren't completely on the same page. What if, well, it doesn't, I don't know if it makes sense on their roster, but if you really want to keep O'Dell Beckham around in New York, why don't you get his best friend up there in the Meadowlands? Those guys literally love each other, I think. Oh, my God. The media coverage would be insufferable.

I feel like, yeah, he's a little duplicative with Sterling Shepard. Yeah, I think he is. Anyway, and Jimmy Graham, that makes sense to me, too. That's the second Seahawk, though, so they'd have to pick between these two. Yeah, and they might not go neither. Richardson was one where some of the writing and some of the people out there, they believed kind of like Sammy Watkins that the Seahawks gave up a lot for Sheldon Richardson, and they almost don't want to make that trade be such a waste.

And they seem a little higher on how he performed than his normal stats show. How about make a play, Sheldon Ridgel? Right. He hasn't played his best, really, since 2014. That's a little time now for a young player. It's a long time in the NFL. With Case Keenum, because let's say a lot of people are pairing the Vikings with her cousins. Now, we don't know where the Vikings are on that,

but if you're going to make a play for cousins publicly, and then you also have to turn around and either try to sign or franchise tag Case Keenham after the season he just gave you. Remember when Mark Sanchez got that makeup deal? Were they pursuing Peyton Manning? Yes. And they gave him Sanchez.

Yeah, it was a ridiculous contract that even Jets fans thought was absurd. I think Dan even got in trouble for, you know, angling it that way and his right-up. But yeah, it's like you have to play this game with Case Keenheim who just gave you this like breakout year. And it could be kind of rough. It's a tough situation.

Not to mention Teddy Bridgewater. And you'd have to make the decision by March 6th. I don't see how that makes any sense if you're legitimately going to go after Kirk Cousins. And also, I think there's a great risk. If you give Keenham any tag, he's going to sign that thing right away and lock himself in for more than $20 million. If you don't pay Case Keenham, who's giving him $20 million a year? I don't see like any other franchise saying, oh, yeah, I need to go get my hands on Case Keenum at $20 million. Assuming he doesn't get tagged.

by the way nobody wanted him for a one year two million dollar deal with right things have changed but yeah that that is very true 15 a little over under a teaser go get my lunch not really throwing out this for sandwiches but if case keenham hits the market over under guaranteed money 15 and a half million I go I'm gonna go over gets like a two year deal if glennon got 18 guaranteed I'm a feel like Keenham will get, get over 50. He's sort of this year's Ryan Fitzpatrick after the Jets didn't want to pay Fitzpatrick, but I feel like he's got a little more shine on him and the salary caps higher, so I'll go over. And younger and had a better year, you know, there are, there is a way you can kind of convince yourself into Keenham that, hey, he's a relatively young player who, coming into his I mean, Fitzpatrick set the Jets franchise record for touchdowns that year.

It's got to be over because the quarterback money is insane right now. Fitzpatrick ended up getting $12 million guaranteed. Yeah, I think the money is getting 18 before he gets back. The money's bigger now than it was a couple years ago. All right. And Greg, as we noted, Drew Brees, not even a real discussion here. Drew Brees and Nate sold or both had clauses in their contract that say they can't be tagged. Good job by their agents.

Smart. What contract do you give Drew Brees, though, at age 39? I think it's really tricky. People just assume he's going to just like... bow down and sign some team-friendly deal. Because he said he's staying in. Well, that's easy for him to say. You can play good cop, bad cop with your agent being the bad cop.

And his agent, Tom Condon, is pretty much made a career out of sucking teams dry and getting the maximum amount of quarterback money possible. Matthew Stafford, Peyton Manning, Drew Breeze, and it's very rarely easy. Could you ever see like a weird team like the Jets swooping in and getting Breeze for three years? Anything like that? I mean, he didn't show signs of decline last year. I didn't think. They are three years away, and he'll be like 45 years old.

I don't know. I could just see one team doing like a two-year patch with him. Oh, what about the Cardinals? Right. That's what I'm saying. I mean, I don't think that's not going anywhere. Right. He's probably not.

But I could be so off with this, but I do think there will be some reports at some point that says this team is interested in Drew Brees and he's kind of interested. And it never happens. He ends up using that to stay with the Saints. But I do think, I do think that could happen. Yeah. Lyre Fitzgerald has made a phone call to Drew. right exactly trying to woo him to the desert i don't west i don't think it's going to happen either

i could see that headline definitely i agree that i could see larry fitz jail called drew bruce and there's i could see all of that i'm just gonna write it when it when it comes down to it he's going to be back in new orleans um okay there you go check it out nflb dot com slash rosenthal hunt them cliques hunt him down what's up mark uh it's it's a very in-house mark just celebrate it no my super bowl expenses just got approved after like 45, you know, iterations on email. I don't even know if that should be announced on the podcast. It's been a big internal show anyway.

For many of us. Yeah. I'm still dealing with that. This is another issue. Peak behind the curtain podcast. Yeah, sometimes, you know, it's not as exciting as you would think it would be to open up the kimono. This was an effort. All right.

We will be back on Tuesday, a little different week because of its president's day where we celebrate the past presidents. And we will be back Tuesday. And then we'll have another show, Thursday and then a show Friday. So still three shows next week, but no show Tuesday. But you're all going to tweet us anyway, saying where's the show on Monday? So why do I even tell you this? Love you guys.

And then the week after that, we are going to the Combine. And we'll be doing two shows from there covering all the press conferences for the coaches in GM. So it's a fun time a year. And we're all looking forward to it. I just found out that we were going to have some multiple Westlings in Indianapolis for the Combine. Driving over from Cincinnati. Trouble. Trouble rolling in over the border.

It was trouble last time. Over the city limits. All right. Great news. All right. We will be back next week. So thank you. This is Dan Hansa signing off for Quiet Storm.

Mailman. The old boss, Lindsay Bolton, find the glass. Until Tuesday. This is an I-Heart podcast.