NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - When Will Each Rookie QB Make Their First Start?

Episode Date: June 28, 2018

A room filled with some heroes- Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler, Chris Wesseling & Patrick Claybon - recap the latest news from around the league, including Jameis Winston’s now official suspension (6:25), outgoing Panthers owner Jerry Richardson fined $2.75 million (13:30), Danielle Hunter’s new contract (18:00) and a few trope alerts. Marc reads a letter from a podcast listener (31:00) and the heroes debate which holiday each rookie quarterback will make their first start (35:00).Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast is really failing themselves. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. I'm Greg Rosenthal, surrounded by a room full of heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Wesleyan, and Patrick Claibon. Hey, Greg. We're back. I don't know. You're still making me sit and dance.

chair. It's comfortable for me. Why mix up my level of comfort, you know, just to make you happier? So you're more comfortable hosting the show and completely removing the necessity of Dan in general than you not sit there. I miss, I've never missed Dan more than this week. Dan's gone doing a great job on good morning football on his vacation. How about that putting in some work time?

That's next level vacationing when suddenly you just appear on a national television show and they're asking your opinion in the middle of your vacation. That's a great... I mean, that's an awesome move. You're coming back. I don't know if he had his family with him because, you know,

they had to go down at Times Square for the show. But if he did, that's outstanding. You got your family. It's a boss move. Hey, come watch me on my nationally televised show in Times Square and then we'll go do your... I'd be like, I'd be, because he's in his Pearl River hometown.

I would be dropping texts to like every ex-girlfriend, be like, maybe you just want to turn on this national television station. and that's why did you dump me 14 years ago, a bit good move about you. Or just like show up to Times Square and press your face against the glass and see what me and Kyle Brandt are up to. Mark, just send a one word text to your X that says winning.

Yeah, well, that's implied. So no Dan today. And not only that, but it's going to be our last podcast for a little while here as we spread out across the country for various family visits on the East Coast, both Mark and I are doing that. I don't know if Wes has any plans.

Well, I'm on the Gulf Coast. Wes is going to the Gulf Coast. And for the first time since we've started this little podcast six years ago, we're just going dark next week. There's nothing. That's what happens with the Wednesday, July 4th. You know, it's tough to do the show before, after it. You guys can live without the show for one week.

It's a first. I don't know. I'm going to speak on behalf of listeners here that might get worried, especially, you know, somebody misses a pod, and then they keep refreshing their app. And it's like, what's going on? Well, hopefully they'll listen to this episode and they'll find out. Yeah, they're going to have to deal with it.

It's what the archives are for. Sometimes you go back and watch an old movie. This is a bit of a power move, I would say. Like, it took us about six years. But this time we brought up kind of, you know, sometimes we'd pre-tape stuff. We brought up the concept. Well, it's July 4. People are just going to be having fun.

How about if we just let it breathe for a week? Would people die? Well, I would say specifically, Greg, when you brought that up, it changed the tenor. Because I feel sometimes to be like, yeah, let's just go. dark for like two or three weeks, but Greg's like, no, we're doing three shows this week and next week. But when Greg brought it up, it's like, hmm, maybe this is really a group idea. That's how mine's changed. Well, it's made sense this time around. It's July 4th. But before we all take off, Claybon, you're probably, are you doing some news shifts

next week? Are you still working? I'm sorry to kind of rub that in. No, it's okay. I am glad that you guys are going to be able to do other stuff. Well, we are glad that you joined us for two shows. this week, which is outstanding. And we postponed the show just about 15 minutes today because Patrick Claibon in his real job capacity was handling a lot of big breaking news. We have a update in James Winston suspension in the Jerry Richardson story.

We have some more news including Levyon Bell, a little tropler. Mark Sessler has something very special from a listener coming up. And then finally we're bringing back a segment segment that Chris Wessling came up with last year. So why don't you explain it, Chris? Pick the holiday when the hot shot rookie quarterback will displace the veteran quarterback. I mean, there's a lot of different ways you can just come up with segments in the middle

of June. This is a unique one. I mean, you're also, we haven't set this rule or boundary, but feel free to go beyond the United States for holiday. Okay. Oh, I plan to. We might not have sound drops ready for those, but that's okay. There's those national food days, like national...

There's a holiday every day now, so there's a lot to pick from it. I don't like that pretend stuff. Like St. Percival's Day, you know? This shows... Tom Savage Day. This shows the level of importance our listeners have, because we had a list kind of of, okay, during the quiet days, here are some different cool ideas for shows we would do. And we were maybe going to do one of those this Thursday.

But instead, one listener reminded of us of this segment that none of us actually remember doing a year ago and really pushed for that. So, yeah, so the listener successfully convinced us to just redo a segment that we've done before, before an original, as you said, new cool idea that sits on a list somewhere. So the power of the listener, potentially Dark Evil. This was our buddy Christopher Watson from Alaska who came up with the idea. He's great, so he's wonderful listeners. Shout out to Christopher.

Let's do some news. Oh, my God. Look at all. Oh, man. Let's go on. Everybody, they killed him. Oh, my God. As God is my witness, he is broken in half.

Welcome back to Lindsay plays a wrestling drop that none of us are aware of. It's been 20 years since The Undertaker through Mankind. Thank you. No. Claybon. I have Twitter. Okay. I have lots of wrestling knowledge, but it is mostly pre-Undertaker. So that was a big-time moment in the history of wrestling.

This was a great show to have Claibon on, because that's a great show to have Claybon on, because Dan, I don't know. Well, really, he knows his... Dan would have known that. Dan knows his wrestling. Really, just for internet purposes, because that call by Jim Ross has been edited onto so many other moments.

Right. It almost requires people to know about that moment in wrestling. I'm happy that you know who Jim Ross is. Just, honestly, most of my 1998 was spent imitating Jim Ross. That is awesome. I love it. I won't. Rod Hyans.

Rod Hyans. Pist didn't like Rod Hans from the Rattlesnake. That is amazing. I can't follow that up. One thing that is not amazing for James Winston or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is the three-game suspension that came down officially on Thursday,

I think before the league office takes off for a few days for the weekend. They got this news out there, officially suspended for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy. He will not appeal the ban and this is very interesting to me because it is part of a negotiated settlement. The suspension stems from a female Uber driver

accusing Winston of groping her in March 2016, although the story didn't become public and the NFL was not aware of it until late last year. Winston released an apology. The NFL also released a pretty long statement about the incident and about the steps he needs.

to take to comply with the suspension. We'll start with you, Wes. What was your reaction, I guess, after reading the apology and what the NFL had to say? Well, the two things that stick out to me are the NFL saying that they did in fact conclude Winston violated the conduct policy by touching the driver in an inappropriate and sexual manner without her consent. So to me, that leaves very little doubt about what actually happened. And the other thing is a potential ban from the NFL if he violates the problem.

personal conduct policy. Again, those were my two big takeaways from the news. I feel like we have to remember that Winston denied all of this in a public statement last November. Beamently. Right? And it wasn't just the incident with the driver. It was how many people in the car, how the night unfolded, there was a complete lack of honesty from Winston about this entire case. So a lot of people tripping over the apology today, and I take issue with that because it's an apology when you've essentially been found out is different than issuing an apology as a lone person ahead of it.

And I think there's a lot of fans out there that are asking, why only three games? And because it could be more, and I think that would be understandable. Because of the pattern of behavior here? I'm just saying that for this kind of an act in the country living right now, is three games enough for this?

Is that what the NFL is saying? This is what happens when a player goes and does this, you're out for three weeks of an NFL season, and this is a starting quarterback. Six is the baseline for domestic violence issues. The NFL is established that. Now, they've moved off of that six based on other factors, whether it's the severity of the case.

Who knows? Maybe it's partly because of... This isn't domestic violence either. No, no, that's true. But six, for any incident sort of either of a sexual or domestic violence nature, it's usually that was sort of the baseline that they work off of and they make changes based on that. I think what leads to the confusion is, well, initially, what Tom reported when we came on.

Tom Pelliserra. Yeah, my bad. Excuse me. Tom Pelliserro, our NFL network employee, he's an NFL network's own Tom Pellasero, was that this three games comes as a result of a settlement agreement between Winston's party and the NFL. And so that leads to a gray area. What my concern is, as with all these things, is what happened. I want to hear what happened, why it happened, what are we going to do about it, and as long as settlements are a part of the process, as long as, you know, more probable than nots, like all of these, all of these things lead to confusion because I think they tend to be confusing.

And there's no, there's no motive to actually address what actually happened. Right. The league just said they examined an extensive amount of evidence, including telephone records. business records, Uber records, and they also met with Winston and his lawyer and got statements from him. They believe that what the Uber driver said was credible. And one thing from the statement from Winston

that really stuck out to me, and I'll just read it, the first paragraph of it at least, which is that first and foremost, I would like to say I'm sorry to the Uber driver for the position I put you in. It is uncharacteristic of me, and I genuinely apologize. In the past two and a half years, My life has been filled with experiences, opportunities, and events that have helped me grow, mature, and learn,

including the fact that I have eliminated alcohol from my life. Tom Pelliserro, now this is me talking, said that he had quit drinking alcohol, apparently believed he had an issue with alcohol almost a year ago. He has had changes in his life. He's about to have a kid for the first time. He's engaged. We saw the James Winston, I guess the NFL films wanted us to see on some level, but he is a complicated guy in that not only is he the leader of the team

and theoretically the face of the franchise, a guy that you're putting up on posters on the side of the building. He's also a guy that people in the building, they don't just say, okay, he's our leader. They say like this is one of the greatest leaders we've ever been around. I've never believed in a guy more. Jason Light talking about the moment he drafted James Winston. The ownership has supported James Winston really strongly,

including in the last few months. This isn't just before all this happened. And this is recently. So they believe in him despite the evidence, I guess, and the suspension. And to go back to it, as part of this two-year journey of growth is a statement from last November where he says, I believe the driver was confused as to the number of passengers in the car and who was sitting next to her, the accusation is false. And he goes on to say that in our current climate, you know, it's important to tell the truth,

et cetera. And so I just, I don't know. I'm not buying it. I'm not buying it as this big journey of growth. And it's a mea culpa because you've been found out because you've been caught. To your point, Greg, with Jason Light and other people being just effusive with praise of James and the person he is, I think when you have a societal issue like the way that we treat women, there's going to be no shortage of people that are willing to say nice things about

how somebody has grown and how somebody has accomplished this and how they're a nice person And other than that, there still needs to be accounting for what somebody actually did. And in any apology where somebody says, this isn't indicative of the person I am, if it's something that you did, yes, it's not the whole story. Right. But there is a part that we saw on Hard Knocks where James Winston did show incredible leadership skills. He did seem to be beloved by teammates.

And I do think that that part is all there too. It's a complex mixture. But this is part of the James Winston experience right now. Yeah, and the potential ban, you know, permanent ban that the NFL mentioned is going to be hanging over his heads. He's going to miss the first three games of the season. That's going to be kind of hanging over him and this team. As he moves forward, he still has two years left on his contract. Jerry Richardson, the former owner of the Carolina Panthers who actually will officially let go of his ownership of the team in the next couple of weeks.

He hasn't been banned lifetime by the NFL, but he essentially did it to himself. And the NFL announced on Thursday that he was fined $2.75 million after concluding an investigation by the league, which did find evidence that substantiated claims of workplace misconduct against the owner. As you know, if you've been following this story, he decided to sell the team pretty soon after sports. Illustrated first broke this story and that sale has been approved $2.25 billion. David Tepper will officially be the owner in July. But Richardson going out really in shame, a guy that was the only NFL owner who'd ever

played in the NFL, brought the NFL to Carolina. And I think ultimately this is what he's going to be remembered for is how he went out. how else would you like to see the NFL handle this? He lost his franchise. He did get over $2 billion for it, but he lost his franchise. He's now getting fined almost $3 million. Those fines,

that money is going to address race and gender-based issues in and out of the workplace. It's going to good causes. How else would we like to see this handle? I think this was handled appropriately outside the fact that we don't, again, we don't have a lot of information on what it is they found. Yeah, that's specifically the change that I would like to see in terms of handling it. I'd like to know, they said they found things that weren't included in the SI report.

I'd like to know specifically what those things are because I think if it's something that we want to address, if it's something that we want to donate to charities about, the very least we could do, is highlight instances of where these things happen and the results that come from them. And so I would prefer to know. I certainly understand the NFL's motivation to not know, but it does come across is a bit hypocritical to me. Yeah, you don't find out, and it is interesting in the light of that other owners have, you know, lightly defended Jerry Richardson or some have just come out and defended him straight out in the months since this story first happened. Like, how is he going to be treated? The question was even raised on our network, is there any mechanism in place to make him pay this money?

I would imagine he would pay the money because it would just seem insane. sane to me for him to make a deal out of not paying this money, but he's 81 years old and he can do whatever he wants to do. I can't imagine he wants to take on a public battle like that at this stage in his life. And I just think we should look back to the Sports Illustrated report, which kind of came out of nowhere. And it's a reminder journalism, it matters. Like, it does make changes. Him losing his franchise and everything that has come since then with the accusers in this case and everything else

wouldn't happen if they didn't like that story. No, and it gives them a voice where they would have had no voice when you're trying to go up against a billionaire. I'm curious if his statue outside the stadium stays there. Statue seems to be in a shaky place from a PR angle, I think. I wouldn't keep it up.

Yeah. Is it still there? Because it would seem like in the dark of night that it would be one of those things were... I don't know. Maybe it's not. I believe it is, but to your point, yeah, Wes,

unless there was some sort of legal matter that you could follow up with him, I mean, he's going to be living with this. He basically, everything that he built up over his years in the NFL are going to be tainted by this. I have to imagine that's something that would be haunting for someone at the later period of life. Not that it's not just punishment, but that's just, how it is. Yeah,

his money is still going to spend fine. You know, his family is still going to be able to benefit. And, you know, he was able to do things based on his position and that other people would have had real consequences for. And for that, he's going to,

instead of netting $1.6 billion, he's going to net $1.5,4 billion. So. It's all fair points. Someone, someone netting some money on a happy, your note. It's like Dan leaves and just the NFL just falls apart. Hey, it's the news. We're going to cover it. Daniel Hunter, getting paid. Five years, $72 million. I thought that the

highlight of his, you know, year would be John Gruden saying he had the perfect body of any player in the NFL. If he could be any one man, he would be a Daniel Hunter. But I would rather have the money that Daniel Hunter is making $15 million signing bonus, $40 million. You can chase that body, You could, Greg, if you wanted to start to put in the work, no, you could. Wouldn't matter. I could put in. You could go on a major, like, gain campaign. I could spend every minute for the rest of my life solely working on my body and nutrition,

and I would never be like DeNeil Hunter. I don't know about that. You'd be your version of him, though, and it would, you would, like, people that hadn't seen you in three years. What is my version of him get me? I'm saying if you went, if you went down a path where Greg Rosenthal was going to start to take, like, endless quantities of protein, lifting every day, major gains. Like, can you just disappear for two years?

No, what's it going to do for me? Like, that version of me is like Andrew Siciliano. It's not really going to make that big of a difference. I don't know. It's not going to make that big of a different. You never know. Let's give Dydia Hunter a little love. Mark, you used to love this Vikings team because they're a badass defense,

because they're homegrown, and this is kind of another one of those signings. Well, it reminds me that now, they did go out and spend a ton of money on Kirk Cousins, but at the Combine that their coach, their GM, everyone you talked to said, we are not going to forget about this team on a whole and what we are. We are not just going to be a team built around one quarterback and all the money dries up everywhere else.

It's a sign that they drafted this player. They developed him. And Danil Hunter is the kind of guy that a couple seasons ago, I felt like it showed who was watching game pass and who wasn't because he would pop in some games. And you would just be like, who is this dude? because he wasn't a star.

He hadn't been anointed by John Gruden is having an amazing physique yet. But they knew, and they knew what they had. And I think this is a good contract for a player that is a victory for the Vikings when you develop your own players this way. He's only 23. That's right.

That's outrageous. They keep hanging out these long-term deal. One after another, so many teams would love to have that problem. Yeah, you have to pay Harrison Smith. You've got to pay Evanson Griffin. You've got to pay Anthony Barr, Stefan Diggs. Eric Kendrick's got one. David Rose got one.

In bad teams. And we saw the Rams do this under Jeff Fisher before they changed the complexion of how they operate in a way to make it look like they're developing these players. They overpay mediocre talent and then suddenly you're in salary cap hell with a bad roster, not the Vikings. And I think we've seen teams starting to acknowledge the window, right?

And the Vikings have embraced this window and they're going to go at it. And what I love about DeNeil Hunter getting paid is guys that come in as edge rushers who are 6-4, 6-5, 230, 240, and teams are allowing them to be that player and not saying, well, here's what you need to do. You need to put on 30 pounds

and become absolutely immobile and bad and you'll be out of the league in three years. I appreciate that. I think it's good. Pay everybody. It's a lighter NFL, and this contract reminds me so much of the Everson Griffin contract

that they gave out. Not the third one, the second one. Before he was really a big name, people were like, wow, you're going to give Everson Griffin that kind of money. Because De Niel Hunter, he still needs to figure out how to finish plays. He was in the top 10 in the NFL in hurries,

but of the top 20 players in hurries he had the fewest amount of sacks and hits combined so he still needs to finish but he's disruptive he's great and like Griffin it's going to end up being a bargain like the Griffin contract by the end of it he's going to be the kind of guy like oh wow he's underpaid because the league will just keep going

because he's 23 years old and he's got 20 sacks in the last two years right yeah Levy on Bell looking for that kind of money it's a shame almost that running backs like Bell can't get efforts Griffin type of money. But he's trying to do so.

He has until July 16th to sign a long-term deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers. That's him and every franchise player before they have to put a wrap on any possible negotiations. He was on our air this week on the top 100 players of 2018 reaction show. And he did say that they're a little closer this year in terms of the money and the negotiations than he was a year ago. He did say, of course, he wants to sign a contract. He doesn't want to have a replication of what happened after last year,

but if it came down to that, that's what he's got to do. It's funny because he has been all over the map on this issue since January. At first, he and Art Rooney both came out and said they were optimistic about a deal. And then Bell kind of reversed course and threatened a rerun of last year where he sat out training camp. And now he's saying, I don't want to sit out training camp. I'm optimistic about a deal. but if I have to sit out training camp, that's what I'm going to do. They were talking about him wanting $17 million per season,

and the highest paid running back is Devonta Freeman, who's making $8.25 million. But if you're levy on bail, you look out there and say, Sequon Barkley is making $7.80 a year. You have got to pay like me more than just this low-level price tag from running backs, but he's in a position group with not a lot of leverage. I don't see the Steelers ever going anywhere close to $17 million, do you? And that's the thing.

Due to the violent nature of the game and the position itself, like, when are, when is a running back going to get a contract that sets the market that's reasonable? He could. He could. He turned down a contract that would have set the market. Right. He could. It's just what level.

And I don't blame him for going for it because he is worth it. You know, he had 400 touches. And if you're the Steelers, you're right. They'd probably live with him just showing up on. September 1st paying him $14 million and see how he looks a year from now. But he is worth so much more. And so I love him pushing for it because I think he is. He's worth what the market will give him. Sure. But you can say that about any position and a lot of the market dynamics are strange. In terms of value to a football team, I think a big time running back who doesn't leave the field

really tilts the field towards that team. And there's only about, there's about six, seven guys like that and Bell is one of them. How much do you think he would get if he hit the open market? 15 to 17 million? I don't. I do. Because I think people recognize

it's part of the reason why you're drafting Todd Gurley so early. Not what the workload he's had in his age. Well, it's a difficult hypothetical because he can't. Right, right.

But I guess I'm talking just sort of globally like is he worth more than Olivier Vernon to your football team? I believe that he is. I believe that this idea that pass rushers have to be worth. Is he worth more than Daniel Hunter?

Yes, he is. Like, he's worth more than those guys. And so just kind of cosmically, I think he's worth it. But your patch then would be that these other four or five backs that are almost as impactful need to be making more than they're making too. I think Zeke will get it on his second contract and girly. Because this is your last contract. I mean, if you're Leveon Bell, you're 26, this is your chance.

This is why you fight for this because you're not going to get this chance again. They're not going to redo your deal two years from now. And I think that the market from running backs for a player like him is, it's low, but it is what it is. The closest player to him is probably David Johnson, who also wants a new contract, so it'll be interesting. If I'm the Steelers and you're a little worried about the workload long term, you give him like 32 fully guaranteed over two years. Would he take that? Maybe he's not going to take that, or you give a fully guaranteed three-year deal, not get to. My one question is, does his own NFL journey lower his value in the sense that they got him at pick 48?

He's a second round player that has turned into a star. These running backs are going in the second and third round and turning into major fantasy stars and major real-life stars, but you can get that you don't have to use a top three pick to get Levi-on-Bell in the current draft scenario. And I think that's a difference between him and Olivier Vernon. It's easier to find running backs than pass rushers. It might, but it's not easy to find Levi-on-Bell.

Right. I don't know if it's... But teams are comfortable to pick in whatever running back they want and throw them in there. I guess I'm thinking in this current NFL with the passing the way it is not coming off the field and being that dynamic as a receiver, just the yards that he's put in. Having Gurley, Johnson, maybe Alvin Camara is going to be that kind of guy. Having one of those six or seven guys, it's like it's not like having a franchise quarterback,

but it's a difference maker that other teams do not have. I completely agree with you, but I feel like the teams have come up with a different conclusion here. Money-wise. That's fair. Nick Foles is not one of those quarterbacks that's making a lot of money. but he's making some headlines, and he caught Chris Wessling's eye in a performance on things first on Fox, and Chris was impressed by the message that Nick Foles was sending about kind of returning to life as a backup.

I think our listeners should find this article and read it because rarely is there an interview from an NFL football player that I want to hear that opens my eyes, that's enlightening. and Nick Fools just kind of like I've done a 180 on him I was wrong about who he was I killed him in the playoffs and I was dead wrong and his speech after the Super Bowl

was one of the most eloquent I've ever heard this was one of the most eloquent interviews on what on the nature of being a teammate means that I've ever heard and to me it explains I think the big issue of the off season a lot of people want to know what's going to happen with Nick Fools where is he going

and whether the eagle is going to get for him, will he stay there and back up Carson Wentz? And he says, this is why I'm staying here. This is why the Eagles want me here. This is why I'm okay with backing up Carson Wentz. I want him to become a legend. I'm happy with where I am with the Eagles. The opportunities that were given to me

could have led to toxic situations outside of the Eagles. I'm willing to do all this for 2018. We'll see what happens in 2019. I mean... Quality of life matters. Happiness and peace of mind matter. This is not... this is not someone who's full of fear because some players are wondering how long will their

career go on how do you make as much money how do you maximize and nick foals at one point admitted to losing his love for football entirely and wanting to retire and being comfortable with the idea of moving on to another phase of his life you come back it's not that everything's gravy but the story since for him is you're not alone west and thinking that the eagles were dead the minute nick foals took the field and it's one of those things jeff hostettler if you're nick Foles, these things happen every once in a while where the narrative of the quarterback and the person who is the quarterback completely changes the fate of a team. And Nick Folls, the person, was awesome.

And I totally agree with that Super Bowl interview. And I think he blew people away. And it confirmed what everyone inside the team had been saying about Nick Foles for a month that no one wanted to pay attention to. It is also, I will say, annoying that every time an athlete is even vaguely interesting, it's such a shock to us because 99.9% of them are hideously boring. They aren't when there's a microphone in front of them. They're trained not to say anything, not as people, but in front of the microphone.

And it's because nine out of ten times, they're going to get, they're going to get stung by saying something real. And sometimes the people asking them the questions are horribly boring as well. No doubt. And they're trying to cater it to a audience that some of them can be horrible. Right. And one of the reasons like, you wrote about this and you wrote happiness is contagious is because he can't speak eloquently about it. But there's also another world where, like, people almost, if he wasn't as elegant, almost criticize the notion that, like, oh, what, you don't want to, like, go lead your team?

Right. Absolutely. Which is silly. Well, how much of professional sports is peer pressure, peer pressure to come off of what makes you happy from agents, from competitions with your teammates to see who can earn the most money? Right. It's the trappings of success. And Nick Fools is saying, I don't care as much about the trappings as I do about my. My own inner peace. People get almost offended today that like if people don't try to max out their money.

But why not try to max out happiness instead? Right. And not saying you shouldn't try to max out your money, but it's up to that person to max out whatever he wants. Right. That's up to him. And the Eagles did take care of him. Right. Right.

Enjoy that honeymoon in Philly. He's a freaking hero. He is like, he's Rocky Balboa for the next year there. Carson Wentz is going to have to live in Philadelphia for the next decade and walk past a Nick Foll's statue at some point. I'm not really. Let's put the violins away for Carson Wins. Yeah. He's on top of the world himself.

He's doing great, but Nick Foles is always going to have this. Put up that statue. Knock down the Richardson statue and put it up, put up Nick Foll. By the way, he has not taken like a vow of poverty here, by the way. He has maximized and made a ton of money for what Nick Foles, the football player, has been. He's making an absolute ton of money. He's doing fine. He's doing fine.

He's in the right place for Nick Foles. And we can also start planning. perhaps a Ryan Switzer statue over in Oakland. We're going to wrap up the news. Dan's not here. So like a slow news day is like, well, it's not that slow, but it's like 35 minutes long. It's just the show is just going to go on and on forever.

We're going to wrap it up with a little bit of a trope alert. And I really enjoyed this. Troop alert. And it was from John Gruden, unprompted, saying Ryan Switzer's really caught my eye. He's coming here not only as a punt return. kick returner. He's been a force as a slot receiver. He's done really well. And this combines so many different tropes that I like, which is like small, skinny slot receiver impresses in the offseason. And then more importantly, it offers a new trope that people

forgot about. And that's John Gruden blows sunshine up some guys. You know what. In the off season, only to like ruthlessly release him in August. So it's like a trope alert that's lead. And that's what he did in Tampa. People forget. It wasn't just as an announcer. So you're calling this? This is a tropolar. You're 100% right. And it takes necessary attention away from the traded for Martavis, Brian, who could be suspended at any moment. Yeah, this is simple math. Super agile player and non-contact drills impresses the master of the hype bunny. I mean, that's just simple math. Of course it's going to happen. And it's rare that somebody is impressive, like that impressive, to elicit effusive praise in so many different things like pick the one thing that they're

impressive at and tell me about it like don't run over the entire list of things he does it's it's a nice little dig at the cowboys too potentially i mean if it does work out with him it's the cowboys dumped as bryant which i think we understand why that happened but you get rid of you get rid of him as well switzer and you have no real true lead receiver in dallas at all so you can't be rooting If you're Jerry Jones, you're not rooting for Switzer to do what Gruden says he's going to do. No, I just remember this in Tampa covering this, that he would, we would write a Road to World Post and be like, wow, this guy's going to be like the number one receiver. And then it'd be mundane and be like, Buck's cut, you know, Michael Clayton or whatever. Be like, oh, wait, what are you saying?

How does one perform as a bad punt returner or kick returner in practice? All you have to do is catch the ball. Cowboys were not in love with him. And there was, unfortunately, like, a moment in watching All or Nothing where I was like, that's when they decided they might be done with Ryan Switzer. He just had a tough, he had a tough spot in a big game. And I was thinking, like, okay, they were done with him right then. That's the news. 35 minutes of news in the middle of June.

So let's move on to our listener that Mark got a letter from. I'm excited about it. Yeah, I think this, like, you know, we hear from our listeners all the time, and they are creative. They are awesome. We love them. And this one stuck out to me, though. It is from a gentleman named Homero Meyer. Oh.

Okay? Like that name. A little letter I will read it to you. Thank you, Mark, for the past five years. I've been listening to the Around the NFL podcast. You guys have been such close friends to me. I live in Brazil. And as you may know, football around here isn't a common subject matter.

Even though I own a football team in Brazil. That's all right. Now you got my attention. Whoa. That's right. I'm nowhere. some sort of Jerry Jones, a moneyless one. It's been a long and dark journey through uncertainties,

and you guys ride alongside me since the first episode of the show, me, you, and my love for football. It may be hard for you to understand how important it is to me to hear you like talking football throughout the whole year. I needed to learn everything so fast. I needed to understand how far the strings go. I needed to drown myself in its culture. I created and run the moon howlers,

a Curitiba-based team in southern Brazil. And it goes on to basically explain. I just found him on Instagram. What a great name for a team, the moonhowers. I love it. I hope they have a picture of a wolf howling at the moonhawlers. Well, they have their own Instagram account at MoonHowlers. So follow it.

But yeah, if you go check out the photos, it is a legit football team. He started as a linebacker, then he became a coach, and now he's their general manager and owner. And he's also, the other thing I love is that because he acknowledges that it's not football. They want to grow it all over. This is the George Hallis of Brazil. He's a very, he's very industrious from what I can gather because, you know, none of this had to happen, and he's now helping working with other wannabe coaches and general managers around Brazil to grow the sport throughout the entire country. So what did you accomplish in the past

year? I haven't become a player, coach, thin owner, and then whatever. Is he running the league yet? I don't know. Check out. Check out, yeah, at Moon Howlers on Instagram. I got to get one of those uniforms. Those are fire right there. They're kind of like the old school Packers one, but more badass like black but it's an argument Greg to not go dark next week he's telling us he needs these shows all year round so you know what football team will not be born because we go on vacation for a week i feel like uh homera if you're listening out there let us know how we can buy some apparel i want to i want to wear some there's a store on the website oh okay there we're it's the wolf store how has no we're selling it for him how has no major american sports franchise ever

Never thought of moon hallowers as a name. Great name, too. Homero Meyer. It's like, you're like, okay, here's a Brazilian dude. And then you hear at the end, you're like, maybe he's Jewish too. I don't know. It's a lot.

It's a great combo. He's got many storylines, obviously. Wow. I'm glad you shared that with this. And now I feel guilty about my decision to take the show away next week. It wasn't my decision. It was Mark Brady, you know, the shadowy league figures. We're beholden to no one.

We have no sponsor tying. us down right now. We have one coming in July, but no sponsor to put up the show. So we move on. All right. We're back doing a segment that we completely forgot about. So I don't know if that's a sign that it, that it's not a great segment, but I think it's just, we had a lot of fun doing it. And once we heard from the listeners, I think it's, it's an amazing segment. It is a home run segment. That's going to be a celebration of football and different holidays to get excited for in the fall season. We are going to go through the rookie quarterbacks and we're going to pick each one of us what holiday they will start their NFL career as a starter. And I think we should just go in order

in terms of how they were drafted. So we're going to start right at the top. Everyone understand the rules. I mean, it's a little complicated. Well, the only question to have, I mean, we can also, we're not predicting injury, but it may not be that every case the starter's displaced, but But there are some... You can put whatever context you want with it. Let's start with Baker Mayfield, Mark. I have Baker Mayfield taking over the number one spot on November 4th. Now, I do believe the Browns, if Tyrod Taylor is...

What holiday is that? That is People's Unity Day, a very famous holiday on the Russian Orthodox calendar. November 4th, People's Unity, People's Unity Day, sorry. So I think this could be the product of an injury or... Hugh Jackson finds himself in a very tight spot, and the cry for Baker Mayfield, your number one first overall picks sitting there on the sideline is just too much for the coaching staff to with hold.

So what's their record roughly around then, do you think? Well, it can't be great. Under 500. But I do also think Tyrod Taylor, if you look at his career, he's sort of guaranteed to miss two games a season or something, you know, for some malady. I'm going to just jump in and go with Thanksgiving. Right after Thanksgiving, I believe it's week 13.

There's a little Thanksgiving music. Everyone associates Thanksgiving with music. Unlicensed Thanksgiving. Listen to the words. Wow. She nailed it. Nice. All over it.

I generally associate Thanksgiving with my birthday every year. And seeing as the Browns have that game against the Bengals on November 25th, which is, we'll be on a 35th birthday that my birthday that might be. birthday is the day that they'll use the bye week before that three november's to give uh baker a little that was my logic it was right before the by week i think tyrod will play well and they'll actually put up some offense get enough people excited but at best i'm going to give them a four and six record around then and so that'll be enough that four and six would be dreaming they're just going to see the kid oddly enough i also have patrick's birthday as the game and baker mayfield will take over 35 baby 35

Thanksgiving uh on top of the Got to track these. Someone out there, please track these. I love the bright and exuberant smile on Mark's face as he thought about four and six. Oh, are you kidding me? Exactly. You're back in the promise land. It's exactly four and six that he was like, Daddy like, Daddy, like me fine with that.

All right, let's move on to Sam Darnold. And why don't we start with you, Claibon? Sam Darnold, my early pick last year was Labor Day for Tom Savage. Okay. I'm not going Labor Day, I will go Columbus Day, which is just because it's a shame that it's a holiday in the first place. But I think... Columbus Day takes here. It's not even a hot take.

No. There's so much going on in the Jets quarterback room, but they did so much to get Darnold. And I think it only makes sense to just give him an opportunity, even though he might be the least ready of everybody. I don't think anybody would be mad, and I don't think Sam is going to wilt mentally. or something if it doesn't go well. Yeah, it's our, for people overseas, it's our national day to celebrate, you know, some guys getting lost on the way to go pick out some seasonings.

Hey, seasonings drove a lot. It's like, let's get some more spices. Oh, we got lost. Let's make a holiday. Wes, how about you? You know, I was going to go with Veterans Day, which is about a month later than Columbus Day, but Patrick made a good point.

You give up that much to get him. You're going to want to see him. and I know Josh McCown or Teddy Bridgewater could hold down the fort. I just don't think the Jets are good enough for those guys to look good holding down the fort. So I think they won't be able to resist the temptation. I'm going to stick with the Columbus Day. What week is Columbus Day? What week is Columbus Day roughly?

That's typically around October 10th or 11th? Week 4th or 5th? October 8th is... Well, that's the day after Josh McCown gets whacked by the day. Denver Broncos. Right. Columbus Day is one of those holidays that as an adult, you forget. Like, if you just convinced me it was in April, like, I would believe you.

Because we've never had Columbus Day off or anything. It has no meaning to us at this point. I don't remember. I don't remember. I have no idea when it is. I was a day off from school and it was typically October 10th or 11, so highly on my radar. I'm going earlier. I'm going Labor Day.

Put the Labor Day music on. Week one. Oh yeah, Labor Day. Everyone's chilling. He's having a great weekend. McCown and the family is maybe coming over, just having a couple, you know, this seems like a clean living type of quarterback room. So I think they're just going over in families and they're hanging out by the pool, getting ready for week one. Makes a lot of sense.

Definitely a quarterback room I'd like to hang out in and discuss things. I feel like between Teddy and Josh, yeah, good people. I think that's a good people room. But my thought is he's going to show enough in the preseason that they're just going to be like, why wait, why bother? This is obviously the guy, and we love him. I have September 16th, which is Wife Appreciation Day. And here's my thinking, because September 16th is the day of their week two game against the dolphins.

So what I see is the Jets trying to get a little cute with the Josh McCown thing. And they go in on a nationally televised game in week one in Detroit, get banged by the lions. And they suddenly hit the panic button because you've got a front office and a coach. coaching staff that they can say, you know, we're the guys that drafted Sam Darnold. And if he's good and we don't play him because we're all been fired by the end of the season, then the next guys get him. So we're going to try them out. And they're plan to like, let's sit him until, you know, the right time and get him in like week two.

So what day is that again? Wife Appreciation Day. Now, Greg, I don't understand why you wouldn't know that holiday. That seems like it would be important for you to know that. You're going to be here. What are you going to be doing that day? You're going to be here, you know, taping podcasts, watching football. There's 24 hours in a day.

There's plenty of time to appreciate the significant other. I hear what you're saying. You're saying at night. That's Mark and Simone, Tim. That is not what I, that's what you said. Let's go, Josh Allen of the bills. I'll kick us off. And I'm going off the board here.

I say he's starting on Dia de los Mueros. And for people that don't know, Day of the Dead. For people that don't know, that's the Mexican. holiday celebrating those who have those who have passed it's not Halloween I know it looks a little spooky it's the same time of year November 1st and 2nd and I just got to give a shout out the best baked goods with this holiday we got a Mexican bakery right next to us and the deal I look forward to it every year just just for that well I mean we back in Spanish class I don't know if I'm the only one we cooked dead bread yeah for this holiday that's what it's called the little sugar on top you got

the little the skull I mean this music you've got baked goods death sounds not as terrible as you think. Yeah, it's a delicious. Actually, it is a sweet holiday where it really is like a family holiday that they come together. And I think this is kind of the part of the year where the Bill's family will have realized

we just wasted eight weeks on A.J. McCarran and Nathan's Peter. The Bills aren't wasting eight weeks on... No, they're not. They're just going to give those two guys a chance because Josh Allen's not really ready, but they're just going to let them each out there see what happens and wait that long.

I'm going National Aviation Day. I didn't know. August. August 19th. Okay. It's going to take about two preseason games or three preseason games for them to say, Josh Allen has more talent in his middle, in his little finger than both of these quarterbacks having their entire bodies.

We cannot resist the obvious difference in talent between these guys. Josh Allen starts before the preseason is over. I like it. I'm not. I'm with you. Greg, two quarterbacks in front. We've seen their willingness to go to Nathan Peterman in the midst of a playoff race.

We're seeing positive Nathan Peterman quotes now. He's taking first team reps. They brought AJ in. I think Allen's going to have to wait for both of those guys to start. So I am choosing Veterans Day is my Josh Allen Day just to give Oh. Oh, yeah.

It's like a Toby Keats. Great holiday. America. November 11th this year, Veterans Day. So that's probably, that's even later. That's probably week... That's week 10 against the Jets. Week 10. Five weeks of AJ and Peterman. And they go the reverse. Then they

have a by week after, so he gets to rest after being thrown into the fire here. I'm going here with the very famous North Korean holiday of Party Foundation Day, which is October 10th, Greg, if you don't... I know the other two know when that is, but that's October 10th. I can't wait for Party Elimination

Day in this country. Well, listen, I think that puts them at week six, and I feel like Josh Allen is the, well, it's all going to depend what he does in the preseason. He can look really good. He can look very raw, but there's no way, this reminds me of last year's Denver quarterback room where we were saying it. All three of these guys are going to get a start, if not multiple starts. And it's not going to take till December 23rd to get Josh Allen in there. What was the holiday again? Party Foundation Day, Greg. North Korea. North Korea.

I was going to give a shout out to South Korea for quite a performance in the World Cup, and especially like the videos after where Mexicans are just hoisting random South Koreans on their shoulders. That's awesome. But I guess it's a little different. Well, you just did give a shout to it. I did. Yeah. I wanted to. Why not? You've done it.

It's your world. Let's do Josh Rosen. Actually, it's not wrapping it up because we got another fifth rookie quarterback. Josh Rosen might have to wait behind Sam Bradford, but how long will he have to wait? Patrick Claibon. I am extending the calendar. I believe in San Bradford for some reason. I'm going to go New Year's Day.

It's going to be 2019. Wow! I like it. Starts again. That's amazing. Well, I believe in San Bradford, but I don't believe in his ability to ward off injuries.

I'm going Halloween, but I do think he's going to win the job. And Christian Kirk, the rookie wide receiver, just said this week, based on what the coaches have said in the way it's looking, I'm pretty sure Sam Bradford is going to be the starter. I'm almost in lockstep with U.S.

because I have it on Journalist Day, November 8th. But without even looking at their schedule, that happens right during their byweek after Halloween. Halloween is also on their byweek. So, yeah, I think they throw them in against the Chiefs in week 10. I'm going to go with Yom Kippur. Got to. Josh Rosen.

Someone had to do it. We got to represent one of these holidays. Jewish holidays earlier. Yom Kippur, not Yom Kippur, I realized when I was trying to spell it out a little earlier. And this is more about Sam Bradford and his health. I'm not predicting an injury, but whether it's an injury or just that they start out O&2, I think Rosen's kind of competing against himself in camp, and if he looks as good as they hope, then Bradford's going to have a really short leash

or just, you know, might get hurt. Week three. I can totally see Abe Mahomes. That's after week, too, by the way, for those listeners who don't know. Mine is just, I'm looking at it in a Mahomesmith sort of way, and I think that the Cardinals aren't the team that the Chiefs were last year, so that hurts my cause a little bit, but in terms of the quarterbacks, healthy Sam, I just...

And they have a new coach. I think when you have a coach under fire who's not seen as being paired with the new quarterback, but maybe inheriting the new quarterback, I think those coaches have to use all resources that the team is not shining. There we go. We're going to go to our next quarterback. We're going to wrap it up.

We're going to wrap it up with Lamar Jackson, the last of the big five. I was going to say Kyle Laletta by Christmas, but we can, oh, no, we can, I was going to, you know, send it if anyone had any surprise options at the very end. The Giants are eliminated by them because their quarterback has held them back all year. and finally are forced to acknowledge that Eli Manning is past his prime and no longer able to elevate his teammates

and they want to get a look see at Kyle Laletta to figure out Put on the Christmas music, it's a Merry Christmas, not in the Manning household, your streak is done again. Do you have to flat out release Eli Manning this time when you make that kind of a decision? Wow, that's a good question. Well, just because it was such a disaster. What about Davis Webb, by the way? No.

I mean, if they believed in Davis Webb, why go get Kyle Aletta? Both Davis Webb fans would be really upset. And Charlie Casserly has guaranteed us all that Calauleta is the real deal. They've been talking up Davis Webb like the bills have been talking up Nathan Peterman. Yeah, don't trust either of them. I don't. All right, let's wrap it up with Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens. When does he start, Mark?

I have this at National Bicarbonate of Soda Day, which is December 30th. And that is Week 17 against the Browns. And what I view is the Ravens that put, I think the Ravens, going to be there till the end for the most part but get eliminated in week 16 and say why not roll with Lamar Jackson against a playoff bound Brown's team in week 17. Makes a lot of... Part of that was not true. You have that at what day?

December 30th, National Bicarbonate of Soda Day. I have the same day, but I was calling it New Year's Eve Eve. New Year's Eve. Your is probably a little more of the people. Eve Eve Eve? New Year's Eve Eve Eve. I like that. The Eve before New Year's Eve.

So have they clinched the spot in the playoffs or they're out? Joe Flacco played so well all year with its overhauled, really restocked Ravens' offense that they're coasting toward a playoff berth at this point. And also I hear that Joe Flacco because they got Lamar Jackson, he's trying harder now. Oh, yeah. Yes, he is. That's something I love to off. I don't know.

That's huge. That might actually be true. Right. Steve Smith was teammates with Joe Flacco. I think he hinted at it on our ear. So I don't know. I'm just reading between the lines there. My holiday is Russian Unity Day.

It was created. Oh, I almost wait with that. 2004 celebrates the liberation of Moscow from Polish troops in 1612. I think that the Ravens run into a string of unfortunate circumstances. They have the Titans, Saints, and the Panthers and then the Steelers on November 4th. And I think after that loss to the Panthers, they decide it's time after moving Joe Flacko further and further towards the sidelines. on these plays where Lamar is at quarterback, they finally just move him on to the sideline

and just the Lamar play. I think that makes a lot of... Wait a minute. This holiday that you mentioned was just created in 2000 and something and it celebrates something from the 1600s. It feels like they've missed their chance, their window there a little to maximize that day.

They've been through some things. Right, there's been a lot of regime change there, so different priorities of what they wanted to celebrate over the years. Okay, Russian historians. It's a little confusing. Let's in pulling Prussia at the time. History is very rich here. If you'd like to know more about that

in Joseph Stalin's vacation home, just watch the Fox's soccer coverage. Was there a Poland in 1612, or was that Prussia? I mean, the questions are good ones. Hey, officeholidays.com. All right, I'm wrapping it up with Lamar Jackson, and I'm going to say he starts playing

right near the last day of Hanukkah, which this year is December 10th. Partly because I believe it's going to happen, partly because I know Lindsay got Hanukkah music ready. We should just prepare it. Nicolns we should just play it. Unfortunately, Hanukkah wraps up this year on December 10th, which is always, I think, unfortunate for the Jewish kids out there.

It's just way, it's just way too early. You know what I mean? It's way too early. You want it to kind of seamlessly roll into Christmas? Well, you're not going to have the time off from school. It wasn't a practicing Jewish kids. so I didn't celebrate anything. But just for the ones that did,

it seemed like it's out of the way earlier, not you're in school. It's like everyone's getting excited for the fun weeks later. It's better when it's later. Well, what we've got to do is adjust the school calendar. Right. Well, that's not going to happen.

Quick update, by the way, Poland found it in 1025. Oh, okay. That goes back. I do appreciate that in L.A., there's way less traffic on Jewish holidays. So that's like a little gift that they give to all of us.

Greg, always seeing the silver lining. Mark, weep, not for Eli Manning. I have figured out his future. Yeah. Who? Playing for the Moonhalers, 2019. Ooh, I like that. Maybe Flacco.

Flacco's playing against his biggest rival because I didn't set up the scenario because it's a little controversial here. Ravens aren't out of it, actually. They're seven and six at the time, but they just make the decision now is the time. Kind of a Colin Kaepernick scenario. Like Flacco's been okay, not terrible, but not great, and they just want to see it. They think he can bring... The Harbaugh brothers like to do this.

Or he runs out his effort meter because he started trying harder. There's only so much you can go max. Or like four bones in his back are like, we're done. Harbath, in his heart, believes, because he needs a playoff spot to save his job, that Lamar Jackson actually is the guide to do it. It's a better story. To get him a contract. All right.

We've done it. Patrick Claibon, you've said it all. And we've done our best here without Dan, without Colleen this week. They're going to be enjoying their vacations. We're going to be enjoying our vacation next week. Mark has already put his computer into the bag. You've already set up your out-of-office email. I didn't know that you could schedule that.

You have to be a pro at these things. He said he scheduled the out-of-office email to start at 3 p.m. today. In over five years of working for NFL media, I've never used the out-of-office picture of the email. I'm an excellent worker that likes to keep my coworkers, you know, up-to-date. and where I am and when I'll be available to help them. Also very corporate friendly. Yeah, and you're never going to get cheated out of that big game.

Soon we'll be getting Cessler emails that start from the desk of Mark Sessler. So we will be back the week after July 4th, I believe that's, what is it, the 9th, I think, is the Monday. And we will be two shows that week and then quickly returning to three shows a week as we ramp up into training camp. I'm excited. Why don't we play some New Year's Eve music as we leave today? It's kind of like an end of our year because our offseason, it's short. It's three or four weeks long, but it's just about to start. And let's party.

For Mark Sessler, Chris Wesseling, and Patrick Claibon, I'm Greg Rosenthal. We'll see you on the other side. Thank you.