NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Trey Lance Gets Traded and What Really Matters

Episode Date: August 28, 2023

In a room full of heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, and Marc Sessler put a bow on the preseason and tell you what really matters headed into the new season. Before the heroes wrap up the preseason, they get caught up on the news from around the league including talking about what Trey Lance being traded to the Cowboys means for San Francisco (09:00) and Dallas (15:35), Josh Jacobs getting his new contract (20:05--), a trip to the kickers corner (32:05) and more. After the break, the heroes wrap up the preseason with a chat about the Dolphins (42:22), the Steelers (45:03) and more! Note: Time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast. Full of hot takes and cool dad. From the Chris Wesleying podcast studio. It's Around the NFL. I am Dan Hansis. Got heroes here. Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal.

Cool dad alert. Look out. Self-proclaim. but I'll take that out of uncool dads. But yeah, we, you know, we're a little different. We're a little different than when we started in 2013. Well, we weren't dads. I think I was.

I know I was. And so was Mark. Yeah, but I was early. Early dad. I was already to two children, but we weren't because you weren't. If you guys are much older than me. If it's Mark and I, then it hasn't happened to the show. It needs to.

I think everyone knows that fatherhood started in 2014 with the arrival of Jack Carson Hansis. By the way, speaking of my son. and my other son and my family. And really the whole town where I live. Congratulations to El Segundo, the Little League team. They won the whole thing. They won the Little League World Series.

It's wild. Won the United States title beating Texas on Saturday. Then won the world title yesterday on a walkoff by this kid Louis Lappy, who I don't know, man. He's never going to pay for a soda pop again in this town. going to the celebration parade on Main Street after the podcast today. They'll be slipping up here soon. Maybe at the parade today.

Yeah, yeah. It was a really fun, fun few days being a part of it and kind of history for the town because they'd never been to town that prides itself on baseball and community and just kind of being a throwback type of community in terms of values. And for that,

to happen to go on that run, which El-Sugano had never been in the World Series, and then win it, I will remember that for a long time. And how are things in your neck of the woods this weekend? Well, I'd say one thing about El-Sugano, because I mean, I've spent a lot of time there over the years. And if you've never been there, or, you know, it's where L.A.X is essentially. But it is this, like, small, old-school American, almost just, like, Berg in the middle of massive L.A. And it's very different than if Santa Monica went to. of the World Series or some other part of this city. It's like this little tiny old school town in there.

So I can only imagine, because you're a resident now, you've embraced it, and you're a huge baseball fan, so the meeting of these two events together in your life must have been special. I mean, you were texting us quite a bit. I will. Just remember this? Not at all, no.

When the kids miss the playoffs this year, you can't complain. You got your title. Yes. El Segundo. I got the old oil refined. That's true, too. I got the Mighty Pacific. They call it Mayberry by the sea.

A little baseball and our moms, barbecue and Bruce Springsteen. That's badass, though, out of walk off. I don't know. Your kids, I would think, are going to be talking about that and remember that for the rest of our lives.

Maybe. We always think that with our children that they'll remember things the way we think they'll remember them, but they're also half paying attention and playing with their friends for the majority of the game because they're kids and they have no sense of the moment. It just to mean when they're in high school and stuff, they'll be like, or when they're in, I think, I think,

they'll know it in town pride. Town pride. It'd be interesting to be in that high school when those kids, these kids, like suddenly a royalty inside of a normal, you know, what grade are they in? I mean, they're like, what? They're 12. So there's a bunch of normal 12-year-olds around that can't even figure out how to like,

You know, they're in the hallways of the middle school. And then you got these, like, local heroes. I mean, there's going to be a divergence of social stratospheres in this world over the next few years. So, yes, very important to do in my neck of the woods. Also important is the celebration that is the end of the preseason schedule. It's over, folks. Every game was played. Training camps wrapping up.

Are we all done with camps across? Yeah, pretty much. Yep. which means football is next week, real football. Football's back. How about that? Well, not yet. No, we've been through this.

Yeah, many, many times. You keep on trying to rush the football's back, Greg. Yeah, it's the whole point. It's back at so many different points. But is it truly back where you could say it without any reservations? I wouldn't say that. No, I think you need to be stoic about that. I hate the third week of the preseason.

First couple, you're excited. But, man. like billionaire owners charging full price for guys that have no chance making the team tearing their ACLs like Nate Sudfield did. I mean, the Brown is a tough, it's tough. It's a tough situation. They literally cut Kellyn Monde in Cleveland and then after they made that Josh Dobbs trade told Kellyn Monde, you're not going to make the team,

but you have to play our entire third preseason game at quarterback. To me, that's preseason and not so. They did the same with Nate Sudfeld in Detroit, essentially. and he ended up tearing his ACL. He knew he had no chance to make the team. But, Greg, you also made the point. It's rough. A couple shows ago that anyone arguing about injuries in the preseason

needs to pipe down because they're just going to happen anyways at some point. The third week is... Feels a little mercenary. Is rough. And if they just charged $20 per ticket, I wouldn't be a complaint. The fact that you literally pay the exact same amount as a regular season game is preposterous. You got the old Rex Ryan putting Mark Sanchez back in the preseason game and then a disaster strikes.

With too much negative, we've got to get to the good stuff. Sorry. No, those guys, those quarterbacks, that's a tough situation. The way they sell them on it is, hey, you can get to showcase. Get some tape. Ball out, bro. Showcase and you bring someone else calling. Anyway, all right, we got a lot to get to.

Let's start with the news. First and 10 for the Giant 14. Rogers with the fade for Wilson in the touchdown. To my point, he threw an absolute. Oh, there it is. First of many times, I think, boys. Aaron Rogers to Garrett Wilson. And I'm getting more and more annoyed at myself because of my jet fandom when I did the superstar club that I didn't put Garrett Wilson in ahead of it. Because I feel more certain about that than anything. If he stays healthy and Rogers stays healthy, he's going to think, I think he's going to produce in that Justin Jefferson Club this year. Devante Adams Club. I think he is just different. And now he's with a truly great QB, who looks great as well, I think they are going to make music. And Aaron Rogers, I mean, I think if you look at the last couple of years in Green Bay,

sort of openly, visibly, frustrated with wide receiver play. And when you hear on Hard Knocks how he talks about Garrett Wilson, it's genuine, it's real. I think he sees it too. And I think we saw some of it a year ago. And it's like the last year's draft class for the Jets is as big of a game changer and as big of a deal as getting Aaron Rogers. I watch this game in a place in the middle of L.A.

The Snoopy Bowl you speak of. at the Snoopy Bowl, but it's like in L.A. At least the Jets gave us something to watch this week, and one of the few starters out there. You have a hodgepage of people that aren't tied to anything in L.A. It's like they all have 18 different teams, but the place came to a standstill to watch the Aaron Rogers drive. It was like, that's what the Jets are this season.

I checked out the offensive player of the year odds because we had to submit our predictions on NFL.com. We'll also be doing our awards predictions later on this week on this podcast. Spicy. And Garrett Wilson was somewhat high up there. And I was like, no, that's surprising. But then I also saw Breece Hall was somewhat high up there. And I was like, oh, Jets fans are feeling them.

The only reason those numbers are quite that high as Jets fans are putting a decent amount of money on it, and it just puts them higher on the list. But the Garrett Wilson part, I could buy that. As I said, not so much pre-Sall, offensive player of the year. I said to eyes, and the thing about this jet season is the logic checks out that they're going to be good. Will it be good?

Well, we're getting closer to find it out, Marky. Football's almost here. I think it's all, you know, I can't decide if the Dan experience of it is going to be more of an issue for Greg and I if they are really good or if they crater. And it's like, I really want the, I just want you to be happy. It's been a huge, I can't imagine your weekend. The World Series situation, you've got Aaron Rogers playing for the Jets. I don't know.

These are, what could go wrong? We got our first, a lot. Our reformed Monday night football recap, the very first one. Josh Allen at Aaron Rogers' debut. And our super producer Eric Roberts, the Bills fan. So it's just going to be a lot of heat. A lot of heat on Monday night. All right.

Let's get to the news. Let's start with Aaron Rogers is a jet because Zach Wilson failed as the number two overall pick in the 2021 overall in the 2021 draft. One pick after Wilson was taken, Tray Lance came off the board to the Niners who moved major assets to get Tray Lance. They saw Trey Lance, they being Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch, as the missing piece of a really potentially a dynasty that they could build in San Francisco. And of course, that has never happened. Injuries have been a major reason why, but Lance also has had opportunities both on the field and behind the scenes to entrench himself in the Bay Area. It never happened. Sam Donald beat him out as the number two quarterback.

And now he's gone. The 49ers traded Trey Lance to the Cowboys for a 2004. fourth round pick the cowboys take on lance's entire salary that's 5.3 million guaranteed in 2024 the cowboys now could also exercise that fifth round option for 2025 down the road let's start with the 49ers side of it uh Greg this is a team that were they they're forced almost to be candid about this after the trade happened that it just didn't work out and it's one of the biggest I feel like gaffs for any team in the last five years or so, the fact that it's one of the super teams in the league makes it even more kind of

fascinating. It's crazy and it's like fuel for like bad takes everywhere. I almost feel like I don't like any takes coming out of this. I don't like the takes from the 49ers brass even. Like I watched the Kyle Shannon press conference and I thought he tried to be as honest as he could. And he said, look, Sam Darnold really pulled away that it wasn't that close and that they were they were pleasantly surprised to get a fourth round pick. They weren't. They weren't even expecting to get something that good for Trey Lansing. I'm like, man, you weren't a day three pick. That's like, let's not make a fourth round pick during the draft.

People are throwing around like nothing. Like it's nothing. You throw it in just to move up in the third round. You got nothing for him. It was a disaster. I think after listening to him and Lynch talk about it. I think part of it is Trey Lance, the person is someone everyone really likes. And that's part of it.

He, like, is Brock Purdy's closest friend on the team, which I think says a lot about both of those guys, that they're, like, so tight. And when they talk about each other, you can tell me. And I think they were just trying to avoid their distraction in that it's a painful memory for Kyle Shanahan, too, that they're embarrassed by it. And that it's just better off to just totally cut ties, take whatever you can for. And the Cowboys, apparently, unlike other teams, stepped up with a fourth round pick, whereas maybe the earlier offers were with the fifth and sixth round pick.

And from a 49ers perspective, I think you had to do it. But let's not do the back slapping. thing was like, it was like, hey, they took a gamble. No, no harm in that. They took it. No, it's like, no, you made a bad gamble. You picked the wrong horse. And because because the rest of the roster has worked out so well and because Kyle Shanahan has a reputation for essentially taking, you know, mid-level quarterbacks and maximizing them, this black eye is easier for the Niners to kind of shrug off and move into the season because they're still seen as maybe the second best team in the conference, second or third. And I find it to be such a bizarre, like, subplot to this Niners regime

because they have struggle in certain ways. And, I mean, there have been years where injuries derailed them at quarterback. But this is a player that they simply couldn't develop who, if you look at all the rest of the guys that Shanahan has had, in theory, on paper, has higher potential. But no one's seen it. I mean, I think, you know, now the Cowboys adopt this puzzle to solve, essentially. I mean, what's not to like from the Cowboys side? But the Niners have to walk. walk away saying this is a player we couldn't figure out but we have we've seen them more than anyone and we gave them away for next to nothing the bills the ravens the lions had some interest apparently i mean this is a black mark on the niners organization but i also don't freak out

about it because yeah you want your team to go swing for the fences in another world tray land stayed healthy and they did they also took solomon thomas over patrick mahomes when they desperately needed a quarterback and josh allen you know isn't it weird that they have a bit of a blind spot considering the offensive mastermind that's running the show. And I don't know if we had the exact big, what makes this even more painful than the Jets, for instance, missing on Wilson is that the 49ers moved into that spot aggressively. I'm looking at the original article when it came out. Nick Shook wrote it on March 26, 2021.

They traded up from 12 overall to third overall with the Dolphins. Miami received the 12th pick, a third round pick, and first round picks in 22 and 23. So you have to be sure about that guy. And I guess the question I would have, if I'm really from both sides, the fact that they never truly gave him a chance, like truly gave him a chance. If I'm a Cowboys fan or I'm the Dallas guy, I'm kind of tempering my expectations in the sense that like if the 49ers are willing to give up on this guy and Sam Donald's bounced around the league for a couple years

and he beat him out in camp, like this might be just the guy that's not a pro. I am convinced, like, this started to come into my mind a couple of weeks ago. Like, I think Kyle Shanahan probably didn't, that was never on board with Tray Lance as much. I think that he and John Lynch might have been somewhere different on that front. But that can't happen, you know what I mean? But I think of a trade of that magnitude, they had to be in lockstep. If they weren't locked up at the beginning, though, he, they convinced him and he was on board by the time they took him. I'm not saying they were like at odds, but I don't think that, like, Tray Lance never seemed like the most Kyle Shanahan-esque quarterback to me.

I think by the end of this process, if there were no backstory or value attached to it, that he seemed more comfortable with Brandon Allen as a number three than Trey Lance. And they moved on. I mean, I think it seemed like they wanted to get rid of and dump the whole Trey Lance weekly questions, the weekly narrative around it, and just move on. And they did right by the player on that front. Well, I think it's a warning of like they were at the number 12 pick in the draft. And they said as much over the weekend.

We just didn't think we would be up there again. We thought this was our chance. we got to take a quarterback. This is the year to do it. But like some years, and that was a highly touted draft, they could have taken fields. Or Mac Jones.

My nuclear grade hot take is, they might have won the Super Bowl there with Mac Jones a couple of years. I actually think Mac Jones in San Francisco would have worked out really well. But we'll never know. Kind of like how I think Sam Donald will work out with San Francisco really well.

And now he's just one heartbeat away. Sam Donald. From a Cowboys perspective, I don't hate that they took on the money. Like the 49er, just stop trying to make it out that you did okay in this street. Stop it. They tried to like, hey, we were surprised.

Someone actually took his money. It's like, were you really? He's making $6 million over the next. His money is an absolute. It's like he is making less per year than Mike White is for the dolphin. So stop it. On a one year deal basically.

Right. Unless you want to keep him around. Right. And I think it's worth the try for the Cowboys. And I don't think it says much. about DAC, but I do think it's, you know, you have to think about the possibility what if DAC gets hurt or what if DAC just had a disastrous year and he has sort of an out in his contract coming up after this year. I think it's way more likely that he gets that

contract renegotiated because they would take on a ton of dead money if they tried to ever cut or obviously more likely trade DAC Press. Well, regardless, you know that you're going to lose DAC for a number of games, probably to injury every season. I mean, I don't know if There's no proof that he's any better Tray Lance than Cooper Rush, but the potential is there. Let's hear from Dak Prescott, and you don't have to listen closely to hear it.

Not necessarily that he's unhappy about the move, but he didn't really need to be talking about it, but everybody's going to ask him. To be honest with you, I'm not surprised by anything anymore. You've been there in this league eight years, been on this team. It's hard to say that I was surprised, to be honest with him. And here is Jared Jones

offering his take on things. Jerry did not consult many people. on the front lines of the Cowboys, according to his words. We didn't tell anybody until we did it. Period. There was nobody that knew it. We told Mike after we'd done it.

But my point is, we just wanted to get it done. Have you talked to back since then? No, I have not. Mike Lee and Mike McCarthy, the head coach. Jera. You need to tell us that. He doesn't. I think Jera loves it.

Gerald wants you to know that this is his decision, but you're right. You don't need to go out of your way to say that you kind of kept your head coach in the dark on who his number two quarterback is, as well as DAC, who you have a very deep business relationship with at this point and personal relationship, I would imagine. And I mean, Jerry Jones is the one owner that sort of historically

fawns over, becomes friends with, treats his players like his own sons, and to go out of your way. So shall we read into that then? I don't know, because I think, you know, DAC is the one quarterback, too, of any that I can think of that anytime you turn on any talking head show, they're talking about Dak Prescott. We're doing it right now. And it's like, I wonder if some of it's just rubbed off on him a little bit. It just seems to have the weight of the world on him to some

degree. It's disappointing. I mean, it's disappointing for Cooper Rush, too, who, what is he making this year? Let's see. He signed a two-year contract for $5 million. So that's basically nothing. I think he'll be the backup right now but it might be something where if Dak Prescott got hurt Cooper Rush comes into the game but if Dak Prescott misses seven weeks you're going to give Tray Lance the chance

to play for seven weeks and you have them for two more years I think that's a good move DAC's got to be 31 it's not like you would expect to ever move on from DAC it's more like if an injury happens and a little bit of leverage

maybe in contract negotiations but they would take on so much money. Some of these quarterback contracts that the big guys are now signing where they keep restructuring, restructuring, like, it would be very painful for the Cowboys to ever move on from Dak Prescott, not to mention what are the freaking odds that Tray Lance is going to ever be better than Dak Prescott is at age 31? I think it's pretty small.

The odds that he's half the player that Dak is, I think is very small at this point. You know, circling back to what I said about the 49ers being willing to move on. And your old boss, Florio had wrote a post about, you know, they just gave Zach Market a top of the market contract on the offensive line. Michael Parsons is going to be up for a new deal soon. And he's going to be the highest played defensive player in the league, potentially when that happens. So does DAC's contract and having to restructure him soon enough to make the Parsons deal work?

Is this all something to keep an eye on? I think it's worth keeping an eye. Yeah, it's like a huge telling season for DAC Press gun. It is an important year. pointing stretch drive last year. Important year. And other news, Josh Jacobs and the Raiders are back in business. Similar vibes to Sequin and the Giants.

The Raiders signed Jacobs to a one year $12 million contract. That's a nice little raise. He would have made just over $10 million under the franchise tag. It sets him up well in the future as well. If the Raiders mark want to tag him again next year, he gets kind of a top of the market one-year deal, or they could choose to give him free agency, which is kind of what he's been wanting anyway, if he's not going to get paid to the value he believes he's worth. So Josh Jacobs was back, hopefully the same way he was last year.

I mean, it kind of goes back to me with the whole concept of the Raiders' vision about who they are and who they want to be, that they made this very strong decision not to give him a fifth-year option, which would have cost them $8 million. So they're now paying well more than that after a prolonged, controversial. tit and tat here, where in the end, Josh Jacobs, like, now you roll him out in week one. I hope he's healthy. I hope you don't get one of these situations where a guy didn't show up in the preseason and he's going to deal with a lower body injury.

But he's, like, critical to their team. They got themselves into this own mess. And, I mean, also, if you're Josh Jacobs, though, there was a chance, like, teams could have come and offered something. The Dolphins had a little bit of interest. Josh Jacobs is the latest running back to learn, like, teams aren't giving up much for any of you. you guys unfortunately sad for you but like no one was coming with a monster deal that the raiders

would have ever accepted he did well though he is the first ever franchise tag player to successfully not show up it's not technically a holdout since he was unsigned and get a raise sequin didn't really he got an incentives and it'll hit some of those probably it's like a million bucks a million point eight for for sequin but uh jacob's got it jacob's got an actual 1.6 million dollar raise off the franchise tag. That's actually never happened. So that's something. And I think it's because of the owner. I think Mark

Davis, he said, I'm so proud of him. He's the heartbeat of the team. You can read the tea leaves that Mark Davis was like, give this man a raise. I don't care what you think about running back. I just think it's something, but this is not at all what this group of running backs is seeking. This one year fix where then you have to go back out on the whole thing. It's like they want real

deals. And these are like short term like we're desperate. It's you were Zemirah White. And so, yeah we'll pay you in the 11th hour he's also a guy like didn't have a lot of like no one was doubting them declining his fifth year option to put that in perspective like he was a guy that had been very

up and down yeah and if you're curious yeah so he's making 12 this year Derek Henry is making 12 and a half this year as part of his four for 50 contract he signed if he did get tagged next year that would be 14 which is just behind Alvin Kamara who makes 15 million

as the third highest annual value salary in the league. Christian McCaffrey, it's $16 million per year is number one. Okay. Another news. This came down a few minutes ago. The Cardinals, man, the tank is strong in Arizona and it is rolling over. Hope for the fans of the Redbirds.

Colt McCoy will not be the starting quarterback this year. He won't even be on the team after Arizona cut the veteran passer, clearing the way, Greg for I guess Josh Dobbs who they literally just brought into the building come on Greg don't say stop this team ain't trying to win but why do you assume Josh Dobbs or Clayton tune or any worse than Colt McCoy quote McCoy's 38 years old uh in a new system and by all accounts struggled throughout the the practice and he was I mean he had the full off season and he's a veteran like I felt like he might not play at a high level but he at least, you know, know the playbook, front and back.

Right. And with Dobbs, you're really like, you're winging it. Well, so their offensive coordinator is Drew Pittsing, who was with Dobbs last year. Okay, that helps. In Cleveland. So that, I think that was it. That they, I think they looked at McCoy and thought this was the other guy, you know, this was the previous regime's guy.

And he was going to have to probably play at a better level than he played at 38 years old for them to think, like, why don't we just play Clayton? Tune. If there's not much difference between him, let's play Josh Dobbs and Clayton Tune. Clayton Tune is a fifth round rookie, who I watch quite a bit in the preseason, and I would say he looked okay for a rookie quarterback in the preseason. Not great, but not terrible. He's clearly, so they drafted him, so they're going to probably favor him over Colt McCoy. You mentioned the link with the O.C. and Dobbs. And, you know, Dobbs was a guy that, you know, last year the Titans were like, we don't know much about you, but you want, we need you to come in

and win important for games for us over Malik Willis down the stretch. he didn't look that bad. I mean, I think he's serviceable. He's older than people realize he's been around. But I think for me, Kyler Murray on the PUP, it's like, okay, like, if this was a team that went seven and one, like, you roll Kyler Murray back into the lineup. If we want to say they're not tanking or they're not doing whatever the word is, like, if Kyler Murray never sees the field, we know what this team is doing.

And how do you, in today's NFL, though, how do you explain to anyone if we don't see Kyler Murray all season long because you can probably shroud it as some sort of like he's not fully healthy but if they were a competitor Kyla Murray would play this year no doubt about it and he probably won't. They traded for Josh Jobs three days ago. These are not serious

people making serious decisions. I'm absolutely with you right now. They're serious about getting the first draw pick. Like serious decisions about being competitive and that's the guy I feel bad for it. Jonathan Gannon because I feel like he's going to be put in a very difficult situation this year and then you've got to trust ownership to let you

start over next year I where are the wins coming from I think they were hopeful of like the Tune McCoy combo and which is crazy to begin with that they could last for a little while and that it probably maybe neither were

quite as good as they were hoping for and Dobbs they felt like as a better option but yes I've never heard of a late round pick swap for a week one NFL starter maybe it might be Clayton Tune though I can't be sure I don't know if they're going to win more than two games. Two good quarterbacks in this draft, though, probably.

They're on O for watch, for real. I mean, it's almost, it's so tough to do that, but... I know it is. But just they're on the watch list. They do. Like, I want to see what this Rams team is, but, like, there's no other win on clear win on that schedule. They're at Houston. They got the Rams a couple of time, but yeah, it's a tough sit. Tough sitch for Ryan Jensen and the Bucks.

NFL Network's Ian Rappaport reports that the knee injury that Jensen suffered last year, and tried to play through down the stretch is likely career ending. He was placed on IR. He'll miss the 2023 season, obviously. And it sounds like this is the end of the road for Jensen. Robert Hainsley, who filled in for him last year, now we'll slot in as the starting center this year.

So good luck to Robert. And Ryan, at 32 years old, Ryan Jensen, that is a, that's tough. And we talked about it last week, Greg, that the he rushed and came back and tried to play on the knee in the blowout loss to the bucks

a blowout loss in the playoffs last year. Hopefully that doesn't that didn't come to play in terms of a long-term issue. I mean, it seems like it did. I mean, Jensen said, yeah, his heart was broken and look, he was a friend of Tom,

Tom Brady, and Tom Brady helped him get that contract, which he ended up, I think he got $22, $23 million guaranteed he ended up only playing one game with it. And he just, you can't predict injuries. And he earned that money by playing great for years before that. But he tried to come back from an ACL-M-C-L meniscus tear and a fractured cartilage and kneecap without surgery using a new method,

what they called, I believe, a futuristic method where they use stem cells from the umbilical cords of baby. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. That does not sound right there. That's, you need to red flag that. If you are Ryan Jensen or anyone, that's, that's, no, no, no, no. And he played, he didn't feel fair to the, to the baby, to be honest. And he played, he played that game.

He played the playoff game, which was a, this is not suicide. The sci-fi channel. That was not wise. It was not. And plus your 6-4-319 playing on an unsurgically repaired. Is it just like an old umbilical cord, like wrapped around his knee with knotted up? No, I believe that's not how that. It's stem cell treatments from the umbilical cords of babies, which, look, medical professionals, experts are the ones that are doing this.

But, yeah, they were also donated by families of babies who were born by Cesarean section in Antigua. I mean, none of this sounds good. I don't know. I thought you're going down a different road there. Okay, healthy babies born. Okay. Yeah. Let's just move on.

Please. That offensive line, which was really good for a while with Tom Brady, to me, is a huge question mark in front of Baker Mayfield. Look out. Jobs won at the end of training camp and preseason. Mackay Beckton, his audition at right tackle, went well enough where it looks like Robert Siles going to give him the right tackle job. Good luck there. CJ Stroud with Houston.

He's been playing with the number ones all throughout the spring and summer and preseason. So no surprise he's now officially the QB1 for the Texans. transactions alert Walker on first out moving to his left and now Walker

fires down field looking for DJ Moore on the head sink makes a diving catch for a Panthers touchdown wow 62 yards Carolina has tied the game

Brilliant throw by P.J. Walker by the Chicago Bears, Greg, and I know that throw means a lot too. It was one of the greatest throws in NFL history. He was unable to hang around and be the backup to Justin Fields cut loose by the Chicago Bears. It was pretty shocking.

They gave, I think, $2 million guaranteed. So I guess the thought of cutting him this early is maybe another team picks him up and then the money offsets because he's probably going to get. another job. But yes, I'm sad for PJ.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It was a great, hell of a throw. Hell of a throw. Tyson Badgant maybe from Shepard. The Division 3,

Shepard, might be their backup or it might be Nathan Peterman. I mean, what a combination. Stay healthy. Badgin played all right in the preseason. I think that's why PJ Walker's getting the street.

Yeah, the Paris fans do not want to see Badgant on the field in any capacity this season. The Rams trade for starting guard, Kevin Dotson. And the Pats also add two tackles to the mix. Their names, Greg? Oh, my gosh.

Well, I got to go look. Tyrone Wheatley? Tyrone Wheatley? The old running back? Verdary and Lowe are the two names. I mean, no, it's not the same person. One was, yeah, the sixth round pick, I think, of the Vikings. Their offensive line is a mess.

They've been just really injured. They had questions anyways. They have a new offensive line coach. The scar of losing Dante Scarnacia has not. The Scarnecia is a lot. It's got me worried. How about the fact that the Jets have his son? Yeah, that's where he's too.

That's a coup d'etat right there. Head of operations of some type of strange title. Right now, the Patriots starting right tackle is probably like a fourth-round rookie who's looked bad in the preseason and is hurt also. So they are scrambling. I'm not sure who is starting week one. Oh, by the way, they play the Eagles. Oof, finally, let's head to kicker corner. Let's go to the club.

Nobody likes to go to the club on Monday. I do. Cade York. No good, bro. The Brown's kicker who struggled last year, struggled again throughout training camp of preseason. Cut loose. So Cleveland's looking for a kicker.

The Titans also without a kicker right now. Let me just throw out there. Hey, Robbie Gold, still looking for a job. The Niners also, speaking of Robbie Gold, the Niners, Moody, the guy that they invested a high draft pick in, he's beat up. His backup also beat up. So they have some questions there too. Robbie do not pick up the phone if John Lynch calls. He was disrespectful in the first place.

But go to one of these other places. I think, like, I would take Robbie Gold in a second. The Browns, though, traded a 2025 seventh round pick to the Chargers for Dustin Hopkins. So in theory, that's their. guy. Dustin Hopkins was far from perfect either, but watching Cade York melt down this preseason? Couldn't bring him back. I mean,

it was rough. Did you see the final kick against the Chiefs? This was a chance to go kick. It was a manageable game-winning field goal with less than a minute to go. Not going to put Patrick Mahomes back in there at the Chiefs. They're done. And low-kick deflected away. Blocked. Just a mess. And just you kind of knew

right then. You know, the layman's going to blame that on the line, but many times it's the kicker. No, that was the kicker. He's been off. All the time. And you knew he was gone. And it's like, that was the highest 124th pick, fourth round, 222 draft. That doesn't happen that often. The layman mark.

It was the highest kicker drafted, I think, in six years since 2016. And this is why you've got to be careful on the old tweets on Twitter. Brown's sent out a tweet, I believe, after week one, Eric's going to fly it up on the YouTube. Oh, no. That's why you draft a kicker when Kade York hit that game. Things change fast. Not a coincidence that was sent on 9-11. We have another Brown's tweet that was quite a problem today.

If we have, I believe we, there we go. Happy birthday to offensive guard Michael Dunn, who hours later, and we've encountered this, Dan, multiple times, was cut by the organization. And that tweet still's hanging out. Later that day? Yeah, hours later. Why can't these two sides speak to each other?

You've got to have the social writer at the moment. meetings. They got to be in there with the personnel chiefs. I mean, Jerry's got to tell every, you don't tell Mike McCarthy, but you at least tell the social team. That's important. That step can't be missed. That you can't, you can't, because they literally ruined his birthday.

Right. Don't send out a tweet. It is like the worst birthday ever. It's like you're mocking him. Michael Dunn. Hey, Michael Dunn. No ifs, ands or butts here. Happy birthday from us.

We wish that. I hope, and I think he might get another job. He's, um, he played a bunch for them. He's kind of connected. to the podcast industry. His wife, I happen to know, as the producer of the Birds with Friends podcast.

How about that? Features our friend of the show Bo Wolf and Zach Berman. It's a small world. The layman might not know that, Mark. Yeah, well, it's not easy to be a layman. I think some teams out there need some blocking.

One more plug. The guy's a millionaire, but I'm going to give him the plug anyway. Robbie Gould, lifetime. He's 40 years old. Made over 84% of his kicks last year for the 49. and in the postseason. The Browns, I would imagine, Mark, fashion themselves a team that could compete in the playoffs.

Well, they've got Hopkins. They made their move. But I think they do, and that's one of the reasons they weren't going to risk the Cade York thing. Even though even a week ago they were talking about. Like Brable, probably they see themselves as playing meaningful football. Yeah, January. They literally don't have a kicker. Robbie Gold, 29 for 29 in field goals in the postseason,

39 for 39 and extra points. 16 games in his career. 16 playoff games has never missed a game. I think it's ageism. I think it's in there. It's ageism. He doesn't have enough touchbacks. Enough.

I would be worried, too, if you're the Browns, like taking the loser of a Chargers kicking competition. Yeah, that seems ominous. I know Cameron Dicker is a good kicker, but ominous. Before we take a break, a reminder, we announce it on Thursday.

Give me some big. music. Oh, a little industrial backbees. This is like in bed music. NFL plus multiplication sign around the NFL

this season. Two shows a week. Do we have any word, Eric? Is it Mondays and Thursdays to go up live on the site or is it? I think so. Yeah.

It's like heavy conversation around that still, but it's going to be special. Mondays, Thursday's brand new episodes. Monday will be a game

of the week. We pick the game. We love the most on Sunday. We watch it together and look at it from a different

angle. And then Thursday, dreamatorium. Dream at loud, brother. This game of the week's situation,

so there's three of us, and like probably someone's going to have to step in and break ties between person A and person B's

picking two. games, and then what if the third person votes a third game? How do we decide? I didn't even think about that. I mean, it's going to be, I can just see already like the power, you know, like the power wrestling. What if it's all one-one-one? That's what I'm saying. Yeah.

Leave it up to our silent name of the hat. We could put it out as a poll or something, though, maybe. Which one do you want us to? Drew behind the scenes? He doesn't speak, though. We would never get it out of them. Yeah. We'll figure it out. That's for us to figure out. Anyway, NFL

us, ATN, you need a subscription here in the States. Everywhere else, it's part of your DeZone GamePass International situation over there. We'll be right back after this. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from Scouting Reports and Player Development to team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning

rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights. you won't find anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, analyze matchups, and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the

league year after year. Whether you're a die-hard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture. If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL cover zero.

We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. All right, welcome back. See, I was my voice maybe a little off screaming in the local fields of the Southland. Nobody could discredit your enthusiasm. Now that preseason is over, now the training camp is over. Are there any thoughts? We've got a big week coming up, by the way.

I want to express this before we get to the final conversation of the show. We have two of our favorite shows. In fact, you know who reached out to me? I'm not telling tales out of school here, right? I told you guys about this last night. I don't know. Out of the blue. You know who texts me?

No. Scott Hanson. You know what Scott Hanson wanted to know. You know Scott Hanson. Yeah, I think anyone who's an American would. Red Zone, the voice. Which you can also get on NFL Plus. Bang.

Plug it, baby. Hansen checks in with Hans us. And guess what? He wants to know when around the AFC and around the NFC is rolling out on our podcast. He says, I've been catching up on pods. Yeah. When's it rolling out? And I said, well, once.

Wednesday, baby, and Thursday, baby. AFC and NFC with special guests. And he's like, thanks for the info. He's like, this is the show that really the host of the first football Sunday for the entire country. These are the shows he needs to listen to before he feels prepared to welcome the entire country into his Hansonian insanity. And he famously does not relieve himself during the Red Zone telecast. and what I almost replied to him I wanted to kind of take the relationship a little further

I relieved myself constantly during ATN tapings 15 times a show we got to stop down and old Zeusers got to take care of the prostate We know I mean it is it's become a major issue and impediment for the show So but that would that guys are polar opposites From that part of the body

And yet our last names very similar Think about that have you ever thought about that No I haven't you're just more to like an archaic European version of his unrecognized version. Exactly. Like I could have, I could have had forefathers that got off the boat at Ellis Island and they said, no, bro, you're Hansen now.

So I ducked that one. I like the originality of it all. Did he mention like your co-hosts in the text thread? You mentioned Greg. Well, you know, I saw Scott Hanson a couple weekends ago. I had some friends gave him a little tour and like he couldn't have been nicer. So he and I are in a good place. Good, good.

And a great place. Excellent. Excellent. So around the AFC, around the NFC, and 48 minutes each coming up later this week with our good friends Patrick Claibon and Shook is back, which is great. Nick Shook is going to join us and do the NFC. Also, we are going to do our season predictions, award predictions. Did you guys get your copy in, by the way? Oh, yeah.

I was going to mention something. I feel like last year, one of us didn't and caused an issue. One of you guys, I remember. I did it. I think I needed an extension. It might have been you. No, I had it. I sent mine in.

I did it. That we're going to drop on Monday morning. It's like, oh, the rest of the world. That's a little tease. It's like the rest of the world. Oh, Labor Day. Actually, the rest of the world's like, what? You have a holiday on the...

You know what it is for us? Day. Yeah, it's a day. We'll be dropping those awards predictions on Monday. Labor Day. Pick who wins a Super Bowl. Super Bowl picks, award picks, any other predictions that we want to share. That's coming up.

All right. Final thoughts on the summer that was. Greg, right before training camp started, I remember we had a conversation and a segment on the show. It's like, what, what matters? What should the discerning smart football fan be paying attention to at the beginning of training camp? What's something at the end of training camp now that we should be keeping tabs on as week one rapidly approaches? Well, the injuries to me are always the biggest thing. So I tried to look at the bigger picture. the Dolphins starting camp with Jalen Ramsey getting hurt to me was as big a story as there's been. And then for a cascade of injuries in the secondary along with Jalen Ramsey after that,

like that's one team I just feel a little differently about. Like that actually mattered. That going into the season, I think the dolphins are a little thinner and a little more suspect on defense than I expect. I'd say outside of like what's happened to Denver's wide receiver core, like the Dolphins a couple months ago, go and this is so happens every year to a couple teams of dotting their teams it's like they

looked complete everywhere and like toron armstead has this has that issues guys on defense and it's like a couple fortnights later and like there's holes there and like you in that division with that schedule Miami is not as sure of a thing and and I hesitate to react too much this I wouldn't have brought this up because I don't know if this part matters but like I don't think too had a great camp just based on the reports on the scene that he was a little up and down. No, not at all. Just that he was a little up and down.

And I, you know, he was, he played a lot in the preseason. And I think, I think they were trying to work some things out a little bit. Maybe that he had a little bit uneven of a start of year two. He, I mean, we'll see though. He's had some just remarkably efficient runs when he's been healthy on the field. He's also had some really bad stretches and bad games. If you kind of go by his game log, I don't think he's short, a short slam dunk that he's going to play at a high level.

I'm kind of in a similar boat. And that, and that, you know, the New England side of things as well, if we want to stick in the AFCs for a little bit, um, their ability to have a full, uh, training camp and preseason with Mack Jones being the guy and O'Brien being the lead. What did you take out of the Patriots? Do you feel any better about their offense compared to this time last year? Yes, except for the offensive line, which is a big except for.

I kind of like what they're getting out of case. Bouti de Mario. Like, I actually think they have enough. Sneaky, one of the big stories was Zappi looked bad in practice. In camp, there was never, and in the games, there was certainly never any battle. I think they're a very frisky team if they can get some protection. I mean, I feel like the reporting around the offense has been just underwhelming from wire to wire.

It got a little better. I think towards the end in term, I think they have enough there, but we'll see. That's two teams in the AFC East, though, that everyone wants to, you know, throw everyone in the playoffs, but it's like the Jets and the Patriots have big offensive line questions. You guys must have experienced it doing these predictions. Like, man, the AFC is loaded. It's hard to leave out some of these teams that are going to make it. I know one team that I named as a division winner because, you know, a couple

months ago I started to get into the mind that this team might be being overlooked. I cannot think of a team that offensively had a more, I wouldn't say outrageous, but just pretty clean from wire to wire. The Pittsburgh Steelers. You think they mattered. I think they mattered because I think there's a team that you could have said, well, we like Pittsburgh because of Tomlin, but we don't trust Kenny Pickett, and you have no idea if the offensive line's going to work, or if the whole attack's going to eat being anything more

than like a bowl of vanilla ice cream. And they came out and just executed over and over. And I thought to pick it, it's the preseason. So it's like fine. But if you get that version of them, if anything, he's not turning the ball over, he's super clean. Like, he totally has chemistry with Pickens and the rest of those guys. And so I picked them as my division winner over the Bengals, over the Ravens, over the Browns. Spoiler alert. What are we doing over here? That was for, it's for NFL.

Little tease, little teeth. Well, because you know what? Because a lot of times you'll see, yeah, but you're not really, you're like saying they're going to be good, but you're not really doing anything about it. It's like, I'm doing something about it. Oh, trust us.

We knew after what you said in the summer and then they had a nice preseason. You're probably having the Super Bowl now. 12 and 5. You have them in the Super Bowl? Boring a rain out. No, I'm not going to reveal that answer right now. You got to leave, you know, we'll see. They're in the Super Bowl.

I think they found another pass. That's never what I said initially about them. I think they're just a... Yeah, I, listen, that preseason was perfect for them. Now, I can't wait. In fact, when we do our draft, which is coming up, week one draft. Wow. Can you believe it next week?

I know, Mark, you're going to be hot in the pants for that 10 a.m. Steelers, Niners still. That's a good kid. Absolutely. But you better hope the draft goes your way. Aren't you taking... Because I want to see the Steelers. I want to see that offense in action against a real defense that's trying with its first team.

That would be a real tone setter for you to take that game away from me like minutes into our first draft. Well, you can't. First of all, the Jets are in prime. So he doesn't have to worry about that. Right. So he just goes and plucks this.

I'll do the old. I'll be watching anything. What universe am I on now that it would be cruel to take the Steelers away from Mark Sessel? Let's calm down with this, man. It's like a huge aspect of that. That's a fetish of yours.

I understand. But that's a great game. And I can't wait to see. But it's also another test of what drives me so crazy about this time of year is people get so worked up about teams that do well in the preseason. And then you don't have that mindset of like, nobody's really trying. It doesn't matter. Right. Well, like the Ravens, for instance, didn't get nearly the pop in the preseason.

They lost. The starters. Yeah, they lost again. Uh-oh. This thing, this boat is taken on water. They didn't get a lot of pop in terms of the camp reports. Their starters didn't play in the preseason. But I actually look at that.

And I look for the most part, there haven't been massive game-changing injuries around the league. Burrow, we assume, is going to be totally fine for week one. I actually look at their camp now and think, look, they got to week one with this receiver group healthy. That J.K. Dobbin did return in time. Like, that was a concern going into it in July. And, like, even though we have no idea what's going to happen, like, flowers looks pretty good. Bateman and OBJ are healthy. Like, they got to week one with everything intact.

which for that team is a win. They brought in Clowny. So, like, to me, that's a win for the Ravens in terms of the preseason. That mattered. None of those guys are hurt when you actually think they're going to be hurt. I think the Panthers had a bad preseason. Iconmoe keeps struggling. He gave up another sack.

Like, this is three straight weeks. And their receiver group is pretty banged up and not impressive. Even if they weren't banged up, like, they're slow. I have a little more concern about Bryce Young and that offense than I did coming into it. And the fact that this cult situation, and we're coming up on tomorrow is the self-imposed deadline right on cut day for the Colts with Jonathan Taylor. The fact that that you look at the Raiders, they got Josh Jacobs situation under control here. It's going to be very tough for the Colts with a rookie quarterback and Anthony Richardson.

If this is going to continue to hang over this team, does this get done? Maybe by the time you hear this podcast, Jonathan Taylor has traded. I also thought I didn't really share it last week, but, you know, sometimes you can sniff this stuff out like that report that there are all these different teams interested in taylor that could have been sent out uh you know to how interested and trying to make this a thing even when it's not necessarily a thing is that guy even healthy uh where are the colts and and you look at the afc south in general it just it's kind of a a tough division division to make sense of because you have the colts as i said with a rookie quarterback you got houston texans with a rookie quarterback uh the

Tennessee Titans, everybody's kind of saying they're on the down swing now, but you know, unless you're really high in the Jaguars, Titans could hang around. That's why I shouldn't have bang the under. I think also with the cults like, so this is a player who is revered as like

the guy in the locker room. Your star running back is like considered one of the best dudes around. Every person talks about him that way. What are you saying to like everyone else in the organization when it's like, we're willing to shop this guy, go into the season, without the core of our offense.

After a last year's organizational meltdown. I mean, you thought that you re-setset things, you bring in Stuyken, like Stikin's going to have a vision, you give Stikin what he needs to succeed, and instead you're in this prolonged battle with the best player on your team. I think it's a weird message to everyone involved about what the cults hope to achieve

based on really just a couple of millions of dollars. It's a bad way to end to start the season. And my last one is... Bad vibes. It's good if you're a 49ers fan. The Brock Purdy thing went as well as possible. That mattered. That absolutely mattered that he got on the field for practice.

First team reps played in the preseason, no setbacks. The Trey Lance thing was a cloud hanging over the organization. And they move him out. And now you have Sam Donald, who they like behind Purdy. And it's all systems go with an offense that is going to be ready to roll. I really think no matter who the quarterback is. So they have clarity at that spot because Darnold is a locked and loaded backup.

They showed their faith in Purdy and they got Trey Lance out of there, which I think was necessary. So if I'm a San Francisco 49ers fan, I'm like, okay, good. We know what's going on here. We don't have anything else with this team standing in the way of making that run

and finally getting over the hump and getting back to the Super Bowl and winning the thing. Well, except for one guy. He's up in the Pacific Northwest. Gino. I don't know about that offensive line, but then.

All right. Let's, you know what? Let's sit on. Yeah, there's too many weak one. Around the AFC and around the NFC. We don't want to stop on any of those conversations about these teams. Yep. Save it.

That would disappoint Scott Hanson. We cannot do that. No need to. All right. That's it. How are you doing, Eric? How's your thumb, by the way? Thumb check.

Robert's thumb check. Actually, it's supposed to be getting stitches out today. Well, that's going to be telling to see what it looks like. Whatever has happened to any growth yet? Yeah. I mean, it's scabble. over pretty nice. I mean, I don't think you need a daily update

on the growth. It's going to take them. I do. Mark is also, this is just from a human, like the evolution. I know you're anti-Darwinism, Greg, but like, I want to know if we're dealing with something new. Yeah, like an actual doctor said that his thumb would just literally grow back. That's

news. That was news to me. I think it's going to happen. I have faith in you. I have faith in your thumb, but it's not going to be like it grows an extra inch every day. It's going to take a little while, right? It's like those stats about glaciers. It's moving at an incredible pace. It's like a centimeter and a half every five years.

You know, Roselfeld is always like on and on about Adam and Eve and the Garden and everything. I think that we might be dealing with a producer here that this is the next stage of evolution. And it starts in the kitchen with an accident and it turns into a revolution. It's exciting for our show, if nothing else. If I can bring anything, I hope it's a fun talk. talking point for the next year. So Greg, go ahead. What else do I have to say?

Maybe he'll be the next like Pedro Martinez. That thumb's going to come back like three inches longer. And Eric, I thought you were going to have an Adam and Eve take. Oh, yeah. Love those guys. All right. That's it. Like we said, Wednesday, around the AFC in exactly 48 minutes with Patrick Claibon.

Now that's something to be excited about. We're getting closer. Football is back. Mostly. Not really. Soon. Here the goal. This is an IHeart podcast.