NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - What Matters & Hot Butt Rankings

Episode Date: August 16, 2021

A room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal bring you what really matters from the first week of preseason games (14:14), but not without bringing out the official Bengals Divorce dossier. The heroes go over their hot butt rankings for the upcoming season (42:06).  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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Wish they had a Chipotle Burrito named after them. Welcome to, yeah, that's true. To another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name's Dan Hansis. I come to you from a virtual room filled with some heroes. Greg Rosenthal. Mark Sessler. Boys, it's Monday.

But I want to start Monday with a nice story. This is a good one. Last week on the podcast. We were talking about Whispers, training camp whispers, and we got to the Cincinnati football franchise. and we started talking about Joseph Burrow and what's going on with him

and then it kind of delved into can you trust the Cincinnati Bengals to handle this the right way, the special talent. We're a little bit worried about the Bengals based on their history of struggles. And during that conversation, Wes came up as he often does

when we're talking to Bengals and we're talking about when I tried to, I was trying to woo Wes back to the Bengals and it just never worked out. And then the dossier came up, the Chris Wesseling Bengals dossier came up, the one that he cataloged years of frustrations

with the Bengals and the incompetence and his opinion of the organization and how it was run, which led to him divorcing himself from the team. So nice conversation. Good to bring up West. The show goes on. So then tugboats on the Peloton.

Because sometimes the tugboats got to get on the Peloton. You are tugboat for listeners that might be coming back. Do not know that all the listeners know on tugboat? Now, that thing is taken off. It really is. It's gone into the skies. Some just, you know, they hop in and out. They're coming back for the regular season.

We see those numbers skying, sky. All right. Tugboat is the new old blue eyes. Tugboat is the old Zusser. Tugboat is Daddy Rich. I think you just went seventh person. Four times four. Anyway, so it's training camp for all of us.

And I'm on the Peloton. I get a phone call while I'm on the bike. It's Lakeisha. Lecisha Jackson Wesley. And she's a little bit out of breath and she sounds upset. And I'm like, what's going on? Lakeisha is everything okay. Lecisha says she was just listening to the podcast, that day's podcast, and she was just

about to get home. And she said, what did the dossier look like? And I said it was like a lot of pages. It was probably like six to ten inches thick. It was probably in a folder, and she's like, oh, my God, I was cleaning out Wes's desk today because it was the Culver City office was closed down last week for NFL Network. And I didn't know what it was. And I have such a challenge trying to figure out what to keep and what not to keep with Wes because he had so many papers and I put it in the trash. She didn't know what it was.

And she only knew what it was because, or it only rang a bell because somehow the dossier came up on that day's podcast. So we start figuring out, oh, what do we got to do? She was going to pick up Blink from daycare. Like, should I go back to the office? Can you go back to the office? We got to get to the trash can before the people come by and pick things up and take it to the dumpster. Long story short, Lakeisha gets back to the office just in time, scoops up the dossier. Oh, look at this.

Now, in my hands right now is the iconic Chris Williams. Wessling divorces the Bengals dossier 1,000 pages deep. How many you think? It's got to be hundreds. Oh, more than, it's, I would say it's probably, I don't know, 500 pages? That's a thick, that's a very thick file right there. And this was a beautiful thing to go through because, as we know, Wes had many jobs. He wasn't just the mailman.

He also worked at a law office for a while, and I'm sure part of that, a lot of he was tasked with doing researching, and you could see that in his history because he has all these articles, and he's highlighted things that really stood out to it. I mean, we're going years and years and years of this. The first article took, the first article he saved was from September of 1999. And about how Mike Brown and the Bengals were behind the times in terms of the structuring and how to be a successful franchise because at that point it had been 10 years since Super Bowl 23, and they weren't adapting.

And then it goes all the way to about two. 2002. And I believe this, and we can, we will never know for sure, but I believe the reason West stopped at this point, he has a bunch of articles about the 2002 Bengals who were 0 and 7 and they were facing the expansion Houston Texans in week eight and they guaranteed victory over the Texans. And he was so disgusted by that that he had multiple articles printed up and then columnists from the Cincinnati area all fired up about that. And it stops there. and um that was it there they didn't need to build the case anymore he was officially done no the case was strong very strong case so then yeah because i was curious when it began and when it ended so it started with sean keeler for the cincinnati post in september 99 it ended in 2002 and then just like you know these things with west and we miss him so much we had a great weekend together our our california family was jack's birthday party so we had a nice little pool party all of us together with our families, Mark, Greg, and a bunch of other people.

And then yesterday, Lakeisha joined my family and J.B. Long of the Rams and his family, and we were at this concert in the park. It was real nice. It was real nice family. And I got to the last page of the dossier, and I see that he actually had printed out in 2015. The thing I'm most proud of writing on the website is the power rankings, not the power rankings, the pain rankings. and he never told me this. The one thing he did tell me, and it always stuck in me, because you guys know, nothing was better than getting a compliment from Chris.

And he had told me how he really liked how the pain rankings column came out. It was like a seven-part series, and he really liked the writing, and that meant a lot to me. And sure enough, he had printed it out all the comments, and he had underlined and highlighted things from the pain rankings. And he never mentioned that to me. I didn't know that he had kept it in his own files and, like, saved all the different things he liked,

Then when he got to the Bengals, he had notes in the margins to talk about the things he agreed with and didn't agree with. And that was just like, that got me. And it made me pretty emotional this morning. And I called Lakeisha right away. But I just think it's an amazing, okay, coincidence you want to call it. But is there something more at play with this? Because this was in a garbage can. We had not brought up the dossier in probably a year on this.

podcast. I would guess something like that. It just happens to come up randomly on Wednesday's show. The same day, Lakeisha had a very difficult task in what's been a year of difficult tasks, which is, you know, we all had to go to the office in Culver City and clear out our desks for the move to Englewood. And Wes's desk was there the whole time. And, you know, we all looked at it. And I did. And it was, and that was one of Lakeisha's things she had to do was go through that desk and that day we talked about it she found this didn't know what it is threw it out but happened to listen to the podcast and was able to retrieve it and this is the most treasured document in the history of the around the NFL podcast and now it is safe forever how about that story

we have to go back erika you know was not around with the podcast back then lekeesha was not around with the podcast back then when that dossie first came out i would love to go find that episode because it was it was so west it's so hilarious i think we believed him that he had the dossier like of course we believed him um but it was just like amazing to see it in person uh and it doesn't surprise me all the highlighting and all the notes like that's something i've gotten from west like everything he read his books they're all underlined they all have notes in the margin for him reading it was very much like a participatory sport uh which is so cool and and you're right it's crazy like if Keisha doesn't listen to that.

She said she basically got back there minutes before they were, like, closing down for the day and letting employees back in. And then that was it. And here it is. I don't know where we should put that. But that is awesome that he had the pain rankings in there. Maybe he had that in there, like, it was like going to be more proof. If we ever try to get him back on the Bengals, you know, bandwagon, be like, see, Dan, you wrote this back back then.

I am not going back on the bandwagon. Yeah. And I told, I asked Lakeisha, you know, I see. sought her permission on it because I wanted to show it to the audience that are watching on YouTube and if we put it up on social but I promise to get it back to her because it belongs with Lakeisha

and in the Wessling House but that was really nice and I do I mean listen that episode by the way might be 2013 I wouldn't be surprised me it goes way back to the beginning of the show our very first season when we first did that yeah and I know Lakeisha is

a spiritual person and Wes we've talked about it we saved it for the theology podcast that never came to pass, but he was someone that was searching and had questions about, you know, what it is, what happens after your time on this earth is through. And, you know, I have the same questions I think about that. And then something like that happens, like, I guess it's all coincidence. But, yeah, I don't know, Mark. There have been other things. Lakeisha has noted that, you know, butterflies were a symbol between her and West, and butterflies have been appearing in her yard left and right. They were at your pool party.

a series of them flying around I've been seeing them in my yard I will say one thing though I think when you lose a wonderful friend you know sometimes you can tilt to just talking about all the positives and I just will note on that Bengals folder

and the work he did that one of the biggest arguments that Wes and I ever got into was when I had the gall years after that binder had been discussed and the Browns were going through their deep hell and it was like

you know why don't you just dump a team like this, you're wasting your time. And in reverse, I kind of said, like, no, you know what? I'm not jumping off my team just because they're going through some rough patches, some skids. And I kind of insinuated that Wes had done that. And it was like, listen, if you ever gotten into a little bit of a tiff with Wes where he's not going to move one inch on his ground, he basically gave me a look like, don't even try it with me. Like, my divorce with the Bengals is so absolutely rocked in gold and complete fact. And I'm never going to be moved. I said, I'm never, touching this topic ever again. So I have, you know, it was, there was a lot that went on around

that whole Bengals thing. Absolutely. It is certainly a part of the history of this show. Anyway, so that was, that was pretty wild. And we have a nice show coming up today. You depend on us listeners for steady-handed takes on the NFL. And that's not typically what happens coming out of week one of the preseason where people want to make, you know, crazy and, and, and, and, and, and snap judgments about players and teams based on a really pretty silly football games. That's not where we're going to do. But we are going to try to help by explaining what mattered in week one of preseason action. Me, you guys know me.

I care about the final scores. I look at those preseason standings. Yes, you do. I really study them. But for the most part, the other way to look at it is it's more nuance in terms of figuring out what to take out of the action rather than the results. As someone who is into the standing so much, Dan, are you aware of the historic streak that one team is on right now? One of the most storied streaks in the history of our sport?

No. I'm ashamed to say, I don't know where you're going with this. The Ravens this week have a chance to win their 19th straight preseason game, tying the all-time record set by Vince Lom. Lombardy's Packers back in the day. They have somehow won 18 straight preseason games. That's incredible. After Trace McSorley led them to a comeback touchdown late in their game over the weekend. Do you hang a banner for that kind of achievement?

I mean, the cults feel like they might hang a banner in celebration of such? In some ways, if you really wanted to kind of study it, more unlikely than going 17 and 0? Yes, yes. Because think of all the – I would love to go back and see the race. random moments of third teamers versus third teamers, which is how they won this last game, by the way. They were down in that game, and it was like deep backups who came back to win that game.

But, yeah, it's the most random thing ever. Because Lombardi was a nut, and it was a different error. So I'm sure, like, they had Bart Star, like, doing QB sneaks. They were all playing, yeah. You played for games. Now, some teams do take it more seriously than others, and the Ravens and the Patriots. And there are teams, I think, that you can see it by who plays their starters.

They do take it more serious, so it's a little less random, but still, that's insane. But basically what we're going to try to do is Bill Parcell is one of my favorite Parcellisms. Don't tell me about the labor. Show me the baby. No, this is the inverse. We're going to tell you all about the labor. The baby don't matter. We don't care about the baby.

Get rid of the baby. Send it off to an orphanage. Fine. Good luck to you, baby, and your life, whatever happens to you. We're also going to bring back the hot butt thermometer. yes for NFL head coaches who's safe who's in a little bit of danger whose butt is on fire going through it one run through 32 we're going to figure that out um who are the who are the coaches to keep an eye on in terms of job security

entering 2021 not as many as usual that's my preview that's that's my bigger Yeah, it's a shorter list. I thought the same thing. We're going to get into that in a few minutes, but let's start, yes, with preseason week one. Everyone in action, you have the Hall of Fame game between Dallas and Pittsburgh, but this was the week where all 32 kicked off their preseason slates. Now it's three games for the first time. It had been four and previous to that six.

Now it's three, and who knows where it goes from here. So each game matters a lot. internally for these teams, and let's share some things that you really should care about. The things that mattered, Greg, get us going. I'll start with the Patriots quarterback battle because, you know, it's one of the few positions that's up for grabs with a team that, you know, has a chance, I think, to make the playoffs this year. And I thought Mack Jones playing with the starting group that the offensive line starters stayed out there with Mac Jones when he came on for his first series mattered.

That, you know, as Bill Belichick has shown throughout this camp, he's giving Mac Jones a legit chance to start. And then more importantly, I think Mac Jones backed up what everyone said about him during training camp. The numbers didn't jump off the page, but I think this is one where it really helped to watch because he just was very comfortable running the offense, made good throws, made good decisions, made quick decisions. and almost the entire camp, everything I'm reading from Greg Bedard and Boston Sports Journal and Tom Curran and all these different writers, Mike Reese, like, it was all sort of backed up in this preseason game where Cam, for the most part, looked good, but it's like a little slower making decisions, and there's always like one player like, huh, what happened there? And then that Mac Jones looked like he belonged. And I don't want to take too much from it. It's early. But

Ron Rivera and Jack Del Rio were throwing a lot at both quarterbacks. That really makes a difference, I think, in evaluating it. That was one team. team that was blitzing and doing all this stuff. And Mac Jones, I think, really does have a chance to start week one. And if he doesn't, he's playing well enough. And if he keeps it up, that it's just like he's putting that tape out there to start week three. Like he is, he's backing that up.

I'm going to piggyback off that real quick, because I think all the first round rookies had positive starts here. Mac Jones, he looks exactly like the type of QB prospect that Belichick's been looking for since Jimmy Garoppolo. And Greg, we talked about it. Saturday's pool party for the young Jack Hansis, that, you know, New England's on fire with this guy. I have mixed feelings about this. When the crowd started going a little too nuts for Mack Jones coming in, I'm just like, why does this give me such conflicting feelings?

But I think I know why. But anyway, so Mack Jones, he looked like he looked like he's the guy that's going to be playing meaningful snaps this year. Real quick, I'll just cycle through with Tray Lance with that rollout and then throwing across the field, the 80-yard touchdown. Justin Fields with a TD pass and the TD Scramble after he replaced Andy Dalton. Zach Wilson, after some hiccups in the week leading up to this game, he looked poised, led the Jets on two scoring drives against the Giants. And Trevor Lawrence bounced back from that early sack and led the team. And just, I mean, has anyone passed the look test more than Trevor Lawrence coming into the league? The guy already looks like a star and maybe that doesn't translate.

But I just have no concerns that Trevor Lawrence is not going to continue to get better as his rookie. season continues. Well, I think Lawrence was put under a lot of pressure in that game against the Browns, and I mean, I thought of all the group, and it's just, there's weeks to go. To me, it was Justin Fields, just absolutely. You're talking about someone that cannot be suppressed. There's something about the way he throws the ball, and I kind of remember mentioning this on his pro day that was paired with Mack Jones, you know, on multiple, hour to hour.

I just think the way he throws the ball is just something that even, like, a young child, not, you know, a watcher of football could just see the beauty of it. And the one thing I liked about him, he got off to a bit of a slow start, and he worked his way out of it. And there was a comment that I read in The Athletic from his high school coach who, you know, obsessively watches all his stuff. He said, the coach's name is Matt Dickman. He said, it felt exactly like always.

He kind of gets the feel of things, and then he takes off after that. And you could just see him grow in confidence throughout that game. And if you're a Bears fan, I mean, you just have not seen this from the quarterback position in decades. decades and decades. And he completely changes the complexion of that team. And here's another guy, you know, he won't be starting week one, apparently. It's just a matter of time because he is counter opposite visually and athletically, especially on the move and what he can do with his legs and how he's so quickly and easily threw the ball on the move. Andy Dalton is fine. He's fine.

That's the ceiling. He can't do any of this stuff. Like you cannot, the fan base is going to go literally nuts if Justin Fields is sitting on the sideline. As he was warming up, that crowd was going literally crazy. It was going crazy. They have been waiting for this forever. The preseason crowds have been going nuts. I have noticed, I think, you know, people missed being at football games last year. I went to the Rams Chargers. Even, even that crowd was getting into fights and going fairly nuts for like a bunch of backups. Were you near that fight, Greg? I was not aware of that until Twitter the next day. I was not, yeah. Were you involved with any of those? I was not involved. I was not there. We did get on the Jumbotron very quick.

which has to be the biggest jumbotron in the league that's like wrapping around it's it's wild fields by the way i think he has a shot to start week one throw some respect to the mercedes ben stadium in Atlanta there no this thing now this thing now now they've been to both because it goes all around and it's so bit i think it's it's different it's bigger i think fields has a shot to start week one but he has to play he has to improve each week he's a you know he holds the ball forever and and he was making plays and you're right his arm is just like so obvious And he, you know, he's reminiscent of Russell Wilson a little bit, but he's not going against Matt Flynn to get the starting job.

So I think he'll have to kind of like make steps each week. I thought, you know, this was up and down. He made plays, also made some mistakes. But the arm, like, like Zach Wilson's arm, you must have been excited. The two-third and long completions, just like seeing the arm strength from Zach Wilson right on the money, is like awesome to see. You know, you just can't really teach that.

Tray Lance was the same. Trey Lance probably had the most hiccups, but that was another one that was good to watch because their offensive line couldn't block anybody. And it, I think, was a reminder to John Lynch. A, we don't necessarily have to start Trey Lance. You know, they did have five, I think he had seven drives and they had about four or five first down.

So he made some really good plays. But, like, he got killed in that game. Like, he got hit really hard. Starting defensive line out there. Right. He got hit really hard three or four times, though. If you're, first of all, he's got to try to avoid taking some of these hits. And then secondly, if you're a 49ers coach or GM, it's like, well, that's why we keep

Jimmy Garoppolo no matter what, because like one of those hits could go the wrong way. And it was a little scary to watch. Josh Johnson, who was picked up by the Jets as a veteran to put in that QB room. He's been on 13 teams in 14 years. How about that? That kind of goes under the radar how long he's been around, even if he's never stuck anywhere. he called Wilson special and he said it reminds him of Aaron Rogers. So, listen, that doesn't mean Zach Wilson's going to be Aaron Rogers, but he has that

unique armed talent. That's why the Jets fell in love with him. And to him to them was the clear number two after Trevor Lawrence. How about you, Mark? I would take a look at the, I wanted to see what was going on with Tua. And I saw a different Tua to some degree. He threw a bit of a killer interception at the end. He tossed it into double coverage in the end zone.

but I saw more decisive throws. I would go look at A, the rope he threw to Mike Gisicki, who was going to be awesome this season. He was good last year, too. But then he had a throw to Mack Hollins. Classic super right into a tight window. I thought it showed guts, decisiveness. Some of the stuff we weren't seen last year.

And it's hard to tell what that offense is going to look like. We know it's different because we've talked to people close to the team on that one. But it's going to be deeper throws. It's going to be more aggressive. And I think that it was a good first step for two. If you're a Dolphins fan, you've been concerned about kind of where he's at mentally and stuff. He looks sharper to me. He looked like he was ready to go and he made a couple great throws.

They need to get Will Fuller back on the field. You know, Will Fuller hasn't practiced like all of training camp. That sounds familiar? Texans fan, Devonty Parker has been banged up most of training camp. That sounds familiar. It's like they want to get those guys back on the field. By the way, Will Fuller, not for nothing. And I'm a Will Fuller fan as a player.

He's always, I think, been a little underrated. So frustrating. He finally stayed healthy. last year, and I was like, oh, but he didn't finish the season. Oh, he had a PED bust. So I was like, did he stay healthy because he was on PEDs? We don't know, but the fact that he's gone right back to having injury issues. Yeah, too, it was on my list, too, Mark, because he had a three and out, and then he

completed eight straight passes, and like a Saki pass was a beautiful touch pass that went for 50 yards, as you mentioned. It is a shame that his day ended on the interception because if he, if he doesn't make that mistake and he punches the ball in. Tua is a major talking point this week about how biggest day is. But if you watched it, you see the positives there. They outgained Chicago 215 yards, 79

in the first half. And I just love them. Jake Brisket comes in and it's like a reminder. Oh, yeah, smart move by the dolphins. Ryan Fitzpatrick let him go elsewhere and get a really steady, non-glamorous backup in there. So Tua can be completely free of any of that concern. just think he's being set up well. I don't know about the co-offensive coordinator's thing. And I still, even after we talked to Cam Wolfe, our new NFL network reporter that does a lot

of dolphins coverage, I didn't come out of that conversation feeling like, oh, they have this figured out because there's still got to be somebody, the Batman to the Robin. It's got to be Godsy. I think, not that it makes a huge difference, but I'm pretty sure Godsey is the one. We'll see how this works. The nugget about having two in Corona time, I mean, the cults without their defensive coordinator this weekend because he was there was some sort of corona scenario going on. So I would maybe have two of every coach. They just double that staff, you know, let the owner pay for it. And well, but then what happens is if you get two of every coach, follow along here, Mark, at the team facility, all of a sudden you have double the

people. And the whole reason you have two of every coach is because of the coronavirus and now you've doubled the capacity of your building. I mean, maybe you just, that defeats the whole purpose. You ever think about that in times of the Delta variant? Mark, do you ever think about that? I maybe didn't follow it through to its final conclusion, but it wouldn't be unnatural to have kind of the 1B coach home on Zoom, doing stuff on Zoom. We don't need your physical body with us.

That's why you got two Belichick in New England. That mullet that you tweeted out is looking good on Steve. So he's the backup, if anything happens. He's committed to it. I'll give him that. What else, Craig? I'll throw out one of the Broncos offense that I really thought, KJ Hamler and then especially

Giovante Williams have so much juice and this was a Wesism. The preseason is all about like the rookie running backs because more than anyone, they are all about the eye test. Giovante Williams was my favorite running back coming in to this draft and just seeing

him behind that offensive. He's such like a perfect zone like cut back runner. You could see the vision. You could see the explosion. That is an awesome one-two punch with Melvin Gordon who's banged up again. it's good to have someone with him. I think Melvin Gordon's weirdly underrated at this point.

And like, you can just tell Giovante Williams is going to be a player. And K.J. Hamler, he's a light guy. But he, in theory, is their fourth receiver. And, I mean, he has got jets. You know, he had the 80-yard touchdown. And there's another couple plays there where, like, he is someone that's sort of uncoverable in these training camp practices. And if you just line up all the weapons, man, it's almost like they're too good to fail.

It's all there. I know, I'm not going to go crazy that Locke and Teddy played great. against backups playing fairly vanilla. To me, it's just like Hamler and Giovante Williams are a reminder that they go seven, eight deep of pretty fun weapons there, the Broncos. I'm all in on the Broncos, making the playoffs. Sounds familiar. But you're right, you're right.

This is all set up, they're set up well for a 10 or 11 win season and being one of these AFC wild cards if they could just get steady play out of quarterback, right? They can survive an injury or two. to, you know, they had a lot last year and it's like they can lose a tight end. They can lose a receiver. They can even lose a running back and they still have like great other guys. Even for a pessimist like me with that QV room, the ceiling for Drew Locke and Teddy Bridgewater is to me steady play.

So like it's not out of like the realm of outcomes here that they play well to their abilities within this offense surrounded by good talent. So yeah, I think if you're a Denver fan, you have a lot of reasons to be optimistic. even though in the back of your mind you're wondering if you've been left vulnerable again by the decision. There is a world, too, where Locke is someone we just don't know yet, that maybe he makes even more of a leap beyond steady. I don't see that yet, but I will say something.

I thought he threw the ball really well in that game. It's a small sample size, but the whole quarterback scenario looked a little cleaner than it has in a while in Denver, but, you know, against it. It's not against first teamers. I'm just saying that. That's why I went with the skill guys. I went with the skill guys, because I really do think you could. see Javanti Williams and Hamler and be like,

ooh, those guys are fun. There's another world, though, where they both threw two interceptions and everyone's melting. They were clean and steady, which is all we're asking for. They were good. Oh, my favorite part of the summer

with these preseason games is that a lot of the games are covered by local TV. You don't have national networks covering this game. So to build out a broadcasting roster, you got all sorts of people coming from all over the place and the Minnesota Vikings, they had a, I don't know actually who it is. And the question asked is not a bad one, although what I'm getting at overall is that sometimes you have people that aren't really equipped to be handling NFL coverage, doing NFL coverage.

But in this case, the question was fine enough. It was Zimmer's answer that just reminded me, A, why I like Mike Zimmer a lot, and B, why some guys get what the preseason's about, and some guys maybe don't. Zimmer gets it, and he keeps it real. Play that back, Ricky. but there were some good things that you saw at the end of the half. What did you tell you guys? I told them it was a very poor performance. We're going to scrimmage next week with this same bunch because we didn't tackle well.

We made the wrong checks on defense with the safeties. We throw an interception for a touchdown. Go three and out, the first two series. Terrible punts. So other than that, it's been great. He's not going to humor the sideline interviewer and go along with the line of questioning. He was not happy with the first half of the Minnesota Vikings. He was given a total softball and he completely refused to play ball.

Well, while we're talking preseason announcers, I do have something that, I don't know if we're going to do it weekly, but I like to call it the Ron Wolfley moment of the week from the Great Cardinals preseason announcer. Of course, for you, that was just, every down. You know what? Honestly, I wish I had one on right now, so I'd let you pull it down over the bridge of my nose. Get a little blood flowing up here. Automatic first down. It needed a little context and it went back too far, but he was talking about just having a helmet on and his announcer was like, oh yeah, you should have one on too. He's like, yeah, I wish someone would just slam that helmet over the bridge of my nose and get the blood flow. I mean, most of his

Most of his comments come with no context, actually. So you'll just get that out of nowhere. Well, it really cracked me up because the guy's response was like, all right, setting up for first down. He had no response to just wanting a lot of blood on it all over him in the booth. Like that Andrew W.K. album cover, just woefully just covered in his own blood. Anything else? I have a quick one. I don't think I've talked about the Browns in ages because it's like every time.

dies, Mark. No, no, no, I want to tell you about, I don't know if there is a more... No setup needed, just launch into your Browns take. Well, I don't know if there is a more buzzy player that I've experienced in Browns camp since maybe back when, like, Josh Cribbs started to become a star. Donovan People's Jones has been written up day after day as someone who is, as a wide receiver, maybe the future of that wide receiver room because they're going to have like 30 million tied up in their veterans next season.

Beckham, I'm not sure he'll be back. But People's Jones has made plays every game or every practice. And in the game, he did the same thing against the Jaguars. Another guy, their second round rookie who could have been a first rounder, linebacker, Jeremiah Owosu, Coramoa, joke. Look to me. It kind of was had a Micah Parsons feel to me. His speed, go watch a play where he had a close.

He came in like on four yards. It took him like maybe a second to travel four yards. It looked like kind of a Madden guy on super jets or super engines. I don't know. It was exciting to watch. I think he's going to be a big part of that defense. He didn't play a ton in that game, but his role is expanding. It was out for like 10 days because of Corona and has come back and looked incredible to me.

15 and 2, 16 and 1. Where do you see? No, I'm not saying that. It's just that, you know, finally after like 18,000 terrible years, drafts some young guys that are developing. Like, it's about time. DPJ, as I call him, is my Elijah Moore this summer where it's like all the beat reporters are on fire about it. I'm looking at the depth chart there. Beckham, obviously, is the big mystery piece there.

He's coming back from the ACL. Jarvis Landry, he's been a great signing by Cleveland, and he'll continue to be locked and loaded there. You got Richard Higgins. Like, where does, is People's Jones going to, you think, get enough playing time to make the impact that he can? Well, I'm not calling him like a, I don't think he's someone you go draft like high up in fantasy or something.

It's just that, you know, coming out of, Michigan it was like there were a lot of people loved his athleticism and then into what they'd get from him last year he started to make plays down the stretch and it's like he's just completely picking up where he left off so I can see his role just expanding it's also like he's a second year player there may be no Beckham next year I mean I think he he will be a starter next season makes sense makes a lot of sense excited times David and Joku hype there there's a lot of hype for the for the depth of the brown if if we're wrapping up here I'll just go quickly. Nelville Gallimore

is the best defensive tackle on the Cowboys and is now out six weeks with like a broken elbow. That already was a major problem for them. They've had some bad luck just as they're getting some of their bigger name guys back. And then we should point out like the Colts quarterback battle which we've been

bagging on the whole time. Jacob Eason probably had more great throws this week than any of those rookie quarterbacks we mentioned. It's just I he's the type of quarterback I always am wrong about. He's like the Mike Glennon, Zach Mettenberger, he's going to throw like four throws a game where you're like, oh my God, that was amazing. But you can see why Frank Reich likes him. And supposedly that was

better than any practice he's ever had, which, you know, that's kind of what you want out of them. He came out and he made some awesome throws. He's going to miss a few. And then Ellenger come in and like, you know, from people who have watched them a lot of Texas, they were like, that's better than any game he ever had at Texas. Like they both played great in that game, I would say compared to expectations. If I'm a Colts fan, though, I'm almost worried that, like, if they play too well, any thought of picking up another veteran is out the window and it could be Fool's Gold. I tend to think it won't go as well the next two weeks. The Panthers were playing deep backups and they were not one of those teams that were sending blitzes and doing all sorts

of stuff on defense. Well, I was just going to say, like, the cults are a total mystery with the quarterback situation because you've heard the reports out there. I think it was some Jay Glazer that the five to 12 week timetable for Carson Wentz might be closer to five. And then if you apply that, maybe he's right there up against week one or close to it. But then the owner, Jim Ursay, came out this past week and said we're not going to rush Wentz back to play. And I think that certainly carries some weight and tells you maybe something. So we don't really know how long.

I think that's maybe why I'm a little hands off on the whole like what's going on the cult's backups because I'm not totally sure how much it's going to matter. because it all depends on when whence comes back. Well, to me it matters because if he got, is when's going to stay healthy even even when he gets out of it? That's fair. But if Eason, if Eason plays two more weeks like that, there's no doubt they're not going to get a veteran and they're,

he's going to start week one. He did everything he could in that game just. I don't know what veteran is they're going to go get off the street that's going to play better than he did yesterday. And Jim Ursay, the owner of the team, I mean, this is out of context, but he had a quote that I saw on Good Morning Football where basically he talked about Sam Ellinger as a team kind of finding Tom Brady late in a draft that maybe that's

what's happened to us. Again, they have talked about Ellinger as being like super, super buzzy. I'm not saying, Dan, that I think that this is like, is the next Tom Brady. I'm saying, I'm hands off on this. I know. I know. I know. This stuff doesn't interest me like the owner saying the seventh round pick is Tom Brady. Like, the whole Colts quarterback thing is so murky to me that I'm just like, I don't know. I'm more attaching it to like when they say that Ellinger has, you know, high up executives buzz inside the building. To me, there's something

going on there where, you know, they're not looking for a veteran. They must like these two guys more than the average person, seems to. They're giving him first team reps throughout this week, and he might get the start in week, too. So he, even though Eason played well, it sounds like Gellinger has a chance to be

ahead of him. Crazy. And I kind of left the door open for you there, Greg. But since you didn't mention, I'll just ask you outright, does it matter? Because we're trying to decide what matters in week one of the preseason that the Saints had six turnovers on offense

no that's not great I don't think I don't think that one matters I mean we just have so fluky seems so fluky it's mostly fumbles and stuff it just would be nice if you're a Saints fan for some good news to be coming out of you know that world you know at some point I have some good news for you the little

Jordan Humphrey one of our favorites on the show six foot four six foot four actually correct like showed up played well I mean they're going to need guys to do it and like little jordan is is my dude right now i mean they were the one that could have they could they they were just a quarter away from ending uh the most story streak in sports right now the raven's preseason it was only one intercept wait how many interceptions there was only oh it was a couple interceptions yeah how about this each had one how about this used to be lill

jordan humphrey can we maybe i don't want to take away lill because i understand it he probably has a lot of uh connections to it there could be some personal connections to it with family and everything, but maybe just for the rest of us, because he is indeed six foot four, what is the average height of an American male? What, five eight, five nine? No, five, eleven, perhaps. Five eleven, that's, that's disturbing. Yeah, we've, we've been skyrocketing. I thought. Disturbing average American male height. Five foot nine. That makes sense to me. Greg, where did you get your information from? What, like, Did you, where did that?

You just boiled that up. It's always getting tired. So if you just go like 40 and under his age group, I'm not giving up on this. Wait, why did you correct us and then admit that it was just a guess? I mean, it was, it's everything's a guess. Well, no, that was. Wait, so Dan, you're going to attempt to change his name or ask him to change his name. Is that where you were going with this?

Well, you can go, well, I'll work on it. I'll workshop it because you could also call not so little Jordan Humphrey. Okay. I mean, perhaps he doesn't want you to workshop it, but I guess it's also your personal freedom to see if Jordan Humphrey is available to come on the show. Maybe I'll run it by him. Maybe it'll be a good sport about it. Maybe he'll take offense to it. That's the way to do it.

Yeah, I'll put the ask out. Email she will never type. Erica, by the way, remember I asked you to make the document whenever we have a guest on the show and then we have some notes like whether we like. the guest whether we want them back or not like cam wolf was on the show excellent guest not a hit and quit the guests we're going to want him back uh we had somebody else on recently matt burrows excellent great job have you actually been keeping this document i have but but the the thing is is like we've only had like one or two that are like on my no flies my no fly list you know what i asked is for us to build out an actual document so we can go back to it whenever it's like

Oh, there's, the Seahawks are in the news. Okay, let's get Sean Dugar. Like, that guy was great. Right. So what I'm saying is, can you work on the dock? Because I kind of get the feeling you've been kind of, every time I say that, you go, yeah, yeah, I got it updated. No, I have a doc. Yeah, I can send it to you.

I mean, I think it could be a shared one that we could all be a part of it. You could share it on the screen, right? Yeah. You can share the doc right now. No, it's on my other computer right now. Right now. That's like for the kids today. Google Docs.

Don't, don't transfer over computers at all. When we were kids, when we were going to school in the 80s and 90s, it was like the old dog ate my homework type thing. Yeah. Now the kids say, oh, it's on my other laptop. Yeah. Erica's like, this will take me three minutes to make and then I'll put it back up. No, I actually, I literally do have it somewhere. I want to know who's on the no fly list, although I do know at least one of the names.

Right. You know? The no fly list. I like that. All right. There you go. That's what's happening in week one of the preseason. That's what mattered, unless there was somebody else had like a lightning nugget they wanted to throw out.

I think we're moving more into not mattering territory, so maybe we just, you know. Just because we missed it timing-wise and we're not doing news, Rashad Bateman being out the first three weeks of the season is definitely matters for the Ravens. I should have mentioned that when I was mentioning that. Well, if they keep winning the preseason games, then it's not an issue for anyone. In general, and there are exceptions to the rule, I guess O'Dell Beckham is a perfect exception to the rule. He missed all of training camp in the first month of his rookie season with the Giants and then was a superstar upon impact. But in general, I always get very nervous. Any type of skill player that misses Summers with an injury or misses the beginning of the season, it's very hard for these guys to catch up, it seems like.

And then the next summer, Trope Alert, it's that same rookie entering his second year. I finally have a chance to make an impact and feel great. had a chance to catch up, yeah. Right, I hope that doesn't happen with Bateman, but you worry about that. And the Ravens need Bateman to make an impact. So that's a big story to track. All right.

Also, worth tracking are butts. You've got to be careful in today's day and age. It's not, you shouldn't be tracking all butts. No, no, no. That's inappropriate. Right. Worry about your own butt. It's a good, one thing to live by.

I mean, we saw it. Um. Be careful, Greg. I've got Courts of Thunder. Be careful, Greg. You came up with that name, Courts of Thunder. You know, my tennis podcast. How is that doing, by the way?

You're enjoying it, so? It's been great. I mean, it's just occasional on the big, the big tournaments. We got the U.S. Open coming up here. But Mark had. I think, no, that is not accurate. We talked about that on the podcast. That is not accurate.

I don't know. That is absolutely not accurate. Well, you can just take that out or beep it out. Absolutely not accurate. There was no blog that existed of that nature. Not run by me. And edit point here. All right.

So you worry about your own butt. That's important. But in our capacity as professional football analysts, we have to worry about the butts of the 32 NFL head coaches. More specifically, and I feel like it's important to be more specific at this point in the conversation on the segment, their job security. How hot is their butt? And I don't mean that in, you know, what are the buns like? Or like when Mark sees Kevin Stefansky, he's talking about it in a different context. I'm talking about when you're sitting on a seat and the seat is getting hot, hot seat, hot but, but rankings right now on the around the NFL podcast.

And by the way, this is too hot for NFL.com. I wrote this column in 2019. And you know how it works in our little world. Typically, if you write something, then the budget comes back around the next year and you find that you have all these things lined up again. again for a new year. For some reason, the hot butt rankings slipped off that list of old Zusser assignments. Well, what was the explanation? Were you given one?

It's too much for the reader. Hotbutt was too hot for dot com. But right here on the round NFL podcast, just the perfect amount of heat. We can get away with a lot more on this podcast, just in general. I appreciate that. I mean, I've had the corrections you get on some of this stuff you attempt. to write. It's like, all right, I will be, I'll simply be writing for a nine-year-old audience

going forward. In the podcast, I can just say people at the average height's 5-11 and sometimes it slips through, sometimes it doesn't, but you know. 5-11 is so tall, Greg. I really thought it was rising. Well, when you're as short as me, it's like everything over 5-9 is the same.

I never know who's taller or not. It's just like, oh, they're taller. I know. I think the more issue is, Craig, that you've introduced it to to Dan and I as like rock solid fact. Oh, you guys are wrong. It's actually 5-11. Right. And then 47 seconds later, you're like, oh, I was just guessing. I didn't say that.

I didn't say that. That's the problem right there. Okay. All right. So we'll break it down into categories here. Okay. So what we're trying to do is figure out which coaches, ultimately the goal here. And it's not something we celebrate, but it's our job to figure out who's in the most danger as a head coach and to be fired.

Because every Black Monday, as it's called, the Monday after the regular season ends. And sometimes in the days and weeks leading up. up to the final game of the season. And sometimes 10 to 14. Sometimes in like week six. Remember last year of the Falcons? How early was that? Anyway, most things happened right after the season.

But these things, they could happen in the middle of the year, a week or two later. I think Doug Peterson got popped a couple weeks after the season ended. But anyway, there are seven new coaches this year. So there's going to be turnover. There's no way to, you can't just put your head in the sand on this and be like, oh, no, everything's going to work out every year about four to eight. coaches will get dismissed and replaced. So let's start there.

So there are seven new coaches for the process of this exercise. We view them as safe. I mean, it happens every now and then. A coach is won and done. But in the case of Arthur Smith with the Falcons, Dan Campbell with the Lions, David Cully with the Texans, Urban Meyer with the Jaguars, Brandon Staley with the Chargers, Robert Sala with the Jets, Sala, and Nick Siriani. With the Eagles, we kind of keep him out of this situation.

But I do want to say this, boys, and you tell me what you think. For some reason, Nick Siriani, I get a little worried about. And Cully especially, I worry how the Texans view him organizationally, whether he's part of the future or just to handle this mess. I wonder if this is a year where we get a one and done. I think with Cully, the environment is so volatile that the outcomes, it is unpredictable. I think, though, you know, the one thing I heard during the Eagles broadcast was that Jason Kelsey really talked up Nick Siriani. Now, I understand he's answering a question to the media and he's not going to say something negative.

But it kind of threw me because a lot of the kind of clunky presser stuff is in the rearview mirror and it's not been the players' experience with him. So maybe, you know, first of all, I think the Eagles are a little bit better than people realize, like roster-wise, especially on offense. And, like, you know, maybe it's not a disaster. I'd be surprised that they bump him after one year because, Lori is pretty patient, and I think they basically said we're in a new era, which it's not a rebuild, but it's Siriani is not expected to win the Super Bowl this year. It's tough to lose your job after one year. Almost never happens.

Chudzinski was won. Who's the last guy? It feels bad to speculate before they even, you know, coach a game. The only way it does happen, I think, is if the entire, like, ownership blows up everything. Right. It could that happen in Houston or Philly? Sure. if everything went crazy.

But both of those would shock me. These guys do get four or five-year contracts. Ricky, can you look up and I'm really putting you on the spot today, Ricky? And I'm sorry, I know it was you had a fun weekend yourself. So I apologize. Can you find out who was the last coach who is won and done in the NFL? Was it Chip Kelly with the Niners by chance? I think he made two years, I think, Chip.

No, Mark's right. It was one year. Okay. I think so. Well, let's see if that's indeed the most recent guy. All right. So then, and you guys, you mentioned it, Greg. Now we're going to talk about the guys that feel safe, very safe.

And this year, Greg, it does feel like that that list is longer than in past years. I feel like half the league is more than half the league. I only, you know, we put it into tiers. And in the final two tiers, which is like, you're kind of intro. What are your names for it? It's like too hot to touch, close. You know, the final two spots where I would say they're, in a little bit of danger here only added up to seven names for me and only three in the total

bottom tier so to me i i think the vast majority of the league has to feel has to feel pretty good and i'm just remembering the cardinals coach who got fired after one year uh the joshrews has helped us out with that steve wilkes was one and done with the cardinals steve wilkes also um according to this site the one and done club coaches since 2000. Chip Kelly, 49ers, was one. Mike. Yep, Tom Sula, 49ers. Malarkey with the Jaguars.

Hugh Jackson with the Raiders. Jim Mora with the Seahawks. It happens. Cam Cameron with the dolphins. Art Shell with the Raiders. Schottenheimer with the Washington football team. You know, the ownership hasn't changed with San Francisco, but it wasn't so long ago.

They were a mess. So I think they fired Chip Kelly after one year and put in Tom Sula, right? And he got one year. And then they fired him. Like that's pretty hardcore unrest in an organization. And we have a friend who's very tight with Tom Sula who that's pretty good. I mean, it sucks to get fired after one year and it's your dream job and you hope to have it forever. But he had like two or three years left on his contract.

And he just made a ton of money sitting on his. But the 49ers are a very strange franchise in the last 30 years. They're either like one of the best teams in the league with Jim Harbaugh or a total nightmare. Right. So, Mark, for your guys that are safe, what's your list? I'm just curious what your list is. I mean, it's like talking totally safe. It's like 18, 19 people.

I mean, it starts with Bill Belichick. It's got the Andy Reid's, Sean Payton, the three Shons, Sean McDermott, Sean McDermott, John McVe, John Harbaugh, Frank Reich. Ron Rivera, Matt Rules, Kevin Stefansky, Matt LaFleurrein, Brian Flores, Bruce Ariens, John Gruden, Mike Tomlin, Kyle Shanahan, Mike Vrable, Joe Judge. Hmm, I have some major disagreements there. Interesting. One would be, I have Joe Judge in my second to last category. You have a second degree burns?

Maybe he should be if the season goes a really wrong category, now that I'm thinking about it. They love him, though. They adore him up. Is it that bad? That's tough. Well, I'm looking at it like if a three-win season happened, which guys could be a surprise? And to me, Joe Judge, you could throw them into that mix

because the Giants act like they're all about continuity and classy and stuff, but no one's gone through coaches faster than them really over the last. six years, you know, with Macadoo, and it hasn't been, it hasn't been great. And just because of drama could happen, I would at least put him if, I'm going to put him in the middle category, at least, if something went really wrong. And I would, I would maybe even throw, like, Rule and Tomlin in that one, too, if things went crazy sound. Did he?

Rule has a 10-year contract. Does he? Is that a thing? Rule got 10 years also? I don't, I don't think Matt Rule is. I thought it was some extensively long. It was a huge contract. Hold on. That's it. So, Greg, so.

Seven here, you're right. That's crazy long. Newbies. You should be safe. And then we have first degree, second degree, and third degree burns. So I have Joe Judge in first degree as well. No, you have moments in second degree you're saying. But I have him. Yeah, I moved once I thought about it. Jason Garrett, I would put in fifth degree right now.

He might not make it through the regular season. You could see him being kind of a sacrificial lamb, but that's not the same as the hot coat. Different app. Did I call him the hot coach? I'm still alive only, I'm saying, badly burn. Here's the thing. I know, like, for instance, Peter Schrager, who's plugged in with a lot of teams.

I remember Schrager talking late last season, how much the Giants love Joe Judge internally. That's what I just said. I mean, the ownership was glowed over Joe Judge, so I just think I'd be a hard right turn. But I guess my thoughts on it are they had a unsuccessful season last year. And if they struggled again badly this year, and something I think I talked about on the podcast, week, maybe it was the network show. Just the idea of his style of coaching, if he starts to rub guys the wrong way and in that media market where people start chirping and you have some unnamed sources and

that becomes a sinking ship with the Giants after two years with a GM, they're probably going to get rid of if it's a bad season, with a quarterback they're going to dump, would they end up going down the route of let's reboot the machine? And I think Judge is vulnerable in that state. So that's why I kind of keep him out of the safe territory because he's in a little bit more of a volatile situation. My other first degree guys, I have Fongio there, and I just, I don't know, just because I do too.

I'm with you. The Broncos, obviously, it's an important year for them. And even though there's a quarterback situation, there's a lot of question marks, I think there's expectations there. And how many years has he been there now? This is his third. His third year. I mean, not a lot of coaches last three years without making the playoffs.

So I think it's an important year for him, and I think their playoff chances are coin flip at best. I know this is crazy, but I did have John Gruden first degree. Not that I don't think it would happen, but I know the Raider, and it's not Al Davis anymore, it's his son, and it's a less temperamental world. But if the season really went bad, and I don't know about this Raiders team,

if the season really went off the rails and things were going really poorly, could John Gruden at least be a disgust? And then my last name I had in first degree was Pete Carroll for all the reasons we've talked about this summer that if things go sideways with Russell Wilson again and the organization has to decide between the 32-year-old superstar quarterback and a nearly 70-year-old head coach, it makes sense who wins that battle.

We were very similar on that sense. I had Pete Carroll, and we're talking to things went absolutely nightmarish and, you know, Wilson's out the door or something like that. I had Fongio. I put Mike Zimmer in there just because, I don't know, if it were an absolute disaster, maybe they finally move on there.

And I put Mike McCarthy, because I understand that, you know, we've got our great ball coach and all this other business, but if they go, if they had a horrific season in the NFC East, and you got Jerry Jones thinking,

this is what I think this team is, and Mike McCarthy delivers like a steaming egg, I could see them making a change there. Ew, steaming egg, that's gross. I'm with you. I really wrestled with McCarthy. And I ended up putting him in second degree. I have him, Zimmer as well, just because Zimmer is, he's been there a long time,

and they have a lot of issues there. And then I have Cliff Kingsbury in second degree as well. Yep. That's my exact second degree as well. I have McCarthy, Zimmer. I think they probably need to have winning records, you know, need to have things go well. And Cliff Kingsbury's maybe in that same category. whereas basically his offense needs to be good.

If they went eight and nine or nine and eight and like Kyler plays well, I think he'd be okay. He's an offensive coach. The one big disagreement I have, I had your exact same third degree, Dan, though, is I have Fangio in your butts on fire. Third degree. I just think he's in a winner else year.

There's a new GM there. Anyone? Can someone call an ambulance? I can quite a lot of state. I love Fangio. I think if his defense shows up and he's a top five defense, and they're a good team, it'll be fine.

But I think he is close to as much of a win or else mandate as any coach in the league. John Elway is basically out of the building. He's the guy who hired Fanjo. By our reports on NFL Network, Elway's job is essentially ceremonial. And there's new ownership, which is coming, one of the messiest stories in the NFL, I think probably right up there for the league with Deshaun Watson. I think the Broncos ownership situation might be like the story number one that is on the league office's radar right now in terms of being a problem for the NFL. So that could be changing.

You have a new GM and you're in your third year. So you're right. Coaches almost never get a fourth year unless they make the playoffs. So I think Fanjo, I love them. I think they'll be good. But if they don't win, I would expect them to lose it. Third degree burns, we're all in agreement here, Nagy and Zach Taylor. it sounds like easy those that was my list was taylor naggy and fangio yeah i guess yeah the reason i

had naggy and taylor it just they just seem in a whole other place where they are you know they need results and i guess fadio does too it just feels like a little bit more of a desperation situation with taylor who in over two years nobody really knows what to make of them and if they have a bad year and a burrow doesn't progress it makes all the sense in the world actually to kind of hit refresh on that organization and naggy we talked about this forever so there's no real reason to dig in too deep the only way naggy's job is saved is if justin fields i think has a big time rookie season otherwise you would think the bears are going to move on but then again they've been very patient with naggy over the past couple of years and i think if things went a let's say

fields was you could see it but the coaching staff wasn't able to deliver it sometimes like the new quarterback buys new life for the GM and for the coaching staff but it could be the opposite of someone somewhere in Chicago. I don't think their ownership seems too involved to me on some level, kind of hands off. But they were like, wait a minute, we have this precious jewel. We've got the wrong people surrounding them, blow the whole thing up. Right. I mean, if you think about that last draft class, you know, with Lamar, obviously Harbaugh was fine,

but like Darnold, a couple coaches, Baker, a couple coaches. Like, yeah, the new, you know, Josh Rosen got, you know, was part of getting his coach fired. like the new quarterback doesn't necessarily keep your job. There you go. So, yeah, this is, it does feel like a time of relative calm, but we named it, like, for me anyway, I have nine coaches that are at some level of danger and, you know, the only thing that could happen,

because, you know, who knows? But like, the only thing that could happen, some of those coaches we label as safe, something could change, whether there's things we don't know going on, behind the scenes with power struggles or maybe a season really goes off the rails and, you know, there's some, again, something bad happens in a meeting between the bosses. It's like things can change, but it just does feel like a time where there's so many guys that are really anchored with the organization. And then even guys like a Matt rule coming off a so-so first season, but his job security is built into his contract.

Same thing with John Gruden. he's entering, I believe, year four of a 10-year deal. So do the Raiders, even if they are not really, even if they have buyers' remorse at the end of this year, are they going to swallow the pill of paying a guy for six years on top of paying a new coach's salary? Those things come into play as well. I take back what I said about Rule.

That was wrong. I forgot about the seven years thing. I was just thinking if it went really south and Tepard's just like, what are we doing here? Matt Rule is, first of all, Matt Rule, like most of, people a year ago thought the Panthers are going to win one game. They looked like the worst team in the league. He did a good job.

I'm not saying he didn't. But he's a quarterback guy. There's no hot butt. This is where, and he's going to learn this if, you know, Darnold needs to work because if he didn't, that's back to back years. He went out of his way to give two-year commitments to quarterbacks that don't work. And that is a tough way to start your coaching career, but the seven-year deal should save him. They also, like, look it, like, they had a chance.

chant. They could have gone and got Justin Fields. They could have pursued a rookie and they pursued Sam Darnold. I think that kind of thing optics-wise could create a huge mess. We shall see. Good stuff. Good show. Another big week for around the NFL. We'll be back on Thursday with another podcast, the television show. Wednesday airing this week. Wednesday. On Wednesday, yeah.

How about that? Wednesday on NFL network, the around the NFL broadcast, we heard from a shadowy league figure that our telecast that aired ahead of the preseason kickoff between the Washington football team and Patriots on Thursday did a nice number. Well, I mean, the ratings have been through the roof. I mean, to some degree, we're carrying the network through this busy month if you want to look at it that way. I'm not joking. It did a good number.

I am too. I heard the numbers. Our ratings are not through the roof for the television. That's a bit, right? Unless I am hearing other things that it's just... I mean, yeah, put us on. Put us on primetime, dad. You know, put us on 6 to 7 p.m. Eastern before a game.

This is where this show belongs. We need more of it, please. Maybe we should take these comments actually to a shadowy league figure instead of this... Nope, let's just passive aggressively mention it in the podcast. Exactly. Minute 59. What a career. we are carving out um all right good stuff thank you to rickie for doing all that work today

and she's working she's scrambling on her own dossier now building out that uh uh guest template i really am happy about that and i'm proud to have you with us erika dan is like the coaches what are you about losing his like she's really going to tune out now if we keep pushing her um thank you dan that was really No, we're just like looking forward to the... It's very genuine, if nothing else. Yeah, exactly. It felt so heartfelt and really, really great.

Great. Well, okay, back to it. Thank you. And we'll be back at it again. On Wednesday on the television, on Thursday, in your ears, podcast style. Until then, he's a call. We're going to be able to be. I'm Marcus Grant.

And I'm Michael Flawio, and together we host the NFL fantasy football podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL fantasy football podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet, We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more.

Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sundays. Don't miss it.

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