NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Who Is The Offseason Champion?

Episode Date: June 25, 2018

A room filled with some heroes - Gregg Rosenthal, Patrick Claybon, Marc Sessler & Chris Wesseling - dive deep into the offseason trenches to create another quality podcast. The heroes discuss some of the latest "news," including an interesting feud between Jabar Gaffney and Lito Shephard (14:00) and a podcast listener giving himself a permanent reminder of the Philly Special (24:00). After strenuous research and preparation, the heroes break down the official bracket to determine the "ATN Offseason Champion" (25:00). Who will be victorious?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. Never lost to Dallas. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. I'm Greg Rosenthal, joined by a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wesseling, and a little Patrick Claibon for you on a Monday. Hey, Greg. Hey, I don't know.

There we go. A little different. Dan Hansis, not in the house. Colleen Wolf also on vacation. I believe they're both on the East Coast. Dan hopefully, you know. Not together. Not together, no.

Dan can hopefully survive. Breaking news drop. The mean streets of Westchester County for a couple of weeks. And so we'll welcome him back when he does. I do like the minute Dan leaves. Greg digs right in on the childhood home front. After taking many shots himself. saying you know it's a tough town that he grew up on from what i hear and just want to make sure he's safe

slinging heat from the back of that strawberry truck what's going on what happened this this weekend with this group uh i did some more house stuff had henry over saturday yesterday with tiffany blackman came over and then we went to uh comedy club last night nice west is having a better summer than all of us yeah i'd say essentially you did a thousand percent more than i accomplished over the two days that we were on yeah i just sat with my child for two days nothing wrong with that watch soccer and he uh defecated and stuff like that yeah that sounds like sounds like my way he's 15 16 now how old is he'll be 18 by tomorrow we we should warn our listeners patrick claybon is doing us a solid doing this podcast uh during

an actual news anchor shift so if some crazy story happened not only would we go break news like we normally do in the show. Claibon would just have to leave. Yeah, I would have to leave, and we have to, you guys are doing me the solid. I mean, I get to come up here and hang out with you guys, whereas I would just be sitting in my chair waiting for nothing to happen because it's June 25th. Well, on what percentage of shifts where you think things are going smoothly, and let's put it just in the off season, because the regular season, we break everything.

Yes. Like a blade of grass could grow in Dallas and it's breaking news on our network. So, but in the off season, when it's quite like this, what percentage of any of your shifts or interrupted by real news. I would say 17%. Okay. It's in our favor. Greg would take the field here.

We're going 80. And that's why we're doing this. I'm taking the field and I'm also taking West, I got to admit, in a later part of the show. We mentioned how Wes has just been having a great offseason. And during this time of the off season, it's confusing for NFL fans out there. There's no scores. You don't know who won, who lost in the middle of June. Well, that's where we come in.

We're going to decide on this show the first time ever the off-season champion of the NFL. And a little spoiler alert, Wes is one of the factors in this tournament. My cup overflow with. I dare someone to try to take me down. There are some stiff challengers, though. Just hang around for that segment. It's a bracket-style tournament. People love the brackets, and we are going to choose who is the off-season champion.

We also have some news, a little James Winston update for you, some Jabbar Gaffney updates everyone's been looking for, especially Claibon. Yes. You're a huge old Florida fan. Just got to keep track of obscure SEC players from a couple decades ago. And then we'll have the latest from Mark's, you know, burgeoning social media accounts. Yes. Well said, Greg.

You really do have like the best social media game of the around the NFL podcast. I sort of, I've stopped using Twitter almost entirely outside of maybe a few retweets or one or two crafted tweets a week. So I would argue I do not. Instagram, though. Your competition isn't very fierce. If Claibon's included, then world-class data. We all know. I'm a volume shooter, but when you come and only drop like two tweets a week, but they're just murderous and quality?

I mean, I've been told by people to know that when you vanish to that extent, like, you're not even on their little algorithm. So it doesn't matter what heat you bring. You've got to keep tweeting to stay in people's worlds. A little tip for you there. Don't live your life to adjust to an algorithm. Oh, nor have I. Okay. I feel like you know the Instagram algorithm pretty well.

You got a lot going on there. Hammered into our head last week during the media summit. At least someone was listening. All right. Lindsay Fulton behind the glass has a lot of work to do today, a lot of music involved in this bracket showdown later. But first we'll do some news. I would call myself a loser.

I don't know where that's... That's not going away. That's from the winners and losers are saying. We start, unfortunately, with how we ended the show on Thursday. The news was just breaking then that James Winston is expected to be suspended three games from the NFL. We still have not heard from the NFL, the official suspension, but we have gotten a few updates on that story since we logged off, and it is the biggest story in the NFL right now.

First of all, Mike Garifolo of NFL Network reports that Ronald Darby, who originally kind of backed James Winston's story that he was in the Uber where Winston is alleged to have groped a female driver. Ultimately, the NFL decided it didn't hold water because there was another Uber car called Later in the Night in which Winston was reportedly by himself. That was also confirmed by E.S. SPNs outside the lines, who has another man who is in the car with Winston early in the night.

And apparently this confirms the Uber driver's story in which she filed a complaint to Uber that she was with Winston in the car. So some inconsistencies in what James Winston had said publicly. And I wanted to just put this out there, at least as an update for today. Because I do think it's important that the Buccaneers really back James Winston and what his side of the story was publicly. the first time around. And now the NFL has reportedly found that his story really wasn't consistent

or wasn't the full truth is significant, I think, in terms of how he's viewed in that organization. Yes, because like you said, the first Uber drive, Banks and Darby were in the car with him. Banks is the name of the man that ESPN spoke with you. There is a lawyer of him. Two in the morning Uber drive later in which allegedly James was out. acting like such a fool that everyone in the bar said, we got to put this guy in an Uber by himself and get him out of here because he's being such a fool. And then that's when the alleged incident happened. James Winston did not tell the NFL or the Buccaneers that he had

his Uber privileges revoked. He basically didn't tell anyone about this. And considering sexual assault allegation at Florida State in which the university paid $950,000 to his accuser and another assault allegation on top of it, I think there's enough here if you're the buccaneers you say can this guy be the face of our franchise when he's in need of a new contract and really any organization person that's involved in this incident or any this kind of incident the very first thing whether than like posturing or making statements in support of is to tell us what happened like 608 p.m. 9.07 p.m. what actually happened and build out the story of what happened based on reporting, based on your investigation,

based on what they say, based on what other people say, and then everything else can follow that. Right. But I feel like we're finding out so many new details now after the fact where why, obviously, if somebody has incentive to not provide the whole story, that's what they're going to do. Well, I think also... From the team?

Unruly was the words used to describe him at the end of the night of drinking out at this nightclub. And the people around them were part of that, too, it's certain sounds like. And so you can see why there would be, whenever that's the case, multiple points of view, multiple storylines. But when you're in the world of whether you were alone with an Uber driver or not, I can't think of a time ever not remembering how many people were in an Uber that I was in, especially if it was myself.

Like you can't have that part of the story breakdown into what appears to be dishonesty from point one on. And to be clear, the NFL hasn't said. said how many games, and Mike Arafolo and Ian Rappaport have said it's going to be several. They have not said three. Now, Mike reported that it could be more than three or more than people are expecting if James doesn't fulfill some sort of requirements that are going to be asked of him, and we don't know what that is. And so, again, it's a story that's still developing, but it really affects the Buccaneers.

We talked about the tough schedule, obviously, that they have to start the year. There's some talk that they're going to give Ryan Griffin at least a shot to beat out Ryan Fitzpatrick. But this is a big year for not just James Winston, who's in the fourth year of his rookie contract, but of Dirk Cutter, the coach and general manager, Jason Light. And so I'm sure it's not going to be the last time we talk about it. But let's move on to our old buddy, one of the men who's going to be on later in the show, not actually on the show, but we're going to talk about Al Riveron, who announced on Friday, you know, after flying high at our.

our talent summit got some bad news that Gene Stereator has decided to retire and expected to join CBS in their crew. And I'm sorry, I'm sad to hear it. Lost in Al Riveron's legendary performance at the Talent Summit was an anecdote he shared about the Super Bowl in which he said, Gene and I had a few choice words on the replay review. I think of it with the Corey Clement touchdown. He said that Riveron didn't see the right angle that Stereator saw. So he rolled opposite of Sterator until he saw a different angle. And he said, yeah, there were some choice words between the two of us. Well, and Sterator has been involved with multiple controversial moments in the NFL history.

He was the one who was on board when they decided that Des Bryant, Calvin Johnson, both did not make those catches, which, you know, that led us into a whirlwind, a year's worth of darkness on the field. It was just some of the ten pole moments there. I will note that as he does go on to CBS Sports, if that does not work out for some reason, he and his brother, Tony, also an NFL official, as I wrote this article, I did a little bit of a deep dive, own Sterator Sanitary Supplies in Washington, Pennsylvania.

So you have that in your back pocket if the broadcasting 4A crumbles. Are these toiletries? I would imagine it's the full service option. You know, anything you could ask for that they're involved with. Stereator was one of the best. best, though. I loved him. Just did that Super Bowl. I thought he had done a previous Super Bowl, but I guess he hadn't. I did.

This is the guy you want to hire and not triplet. He's decisive. Yeah, I think when you're doing the winners and losers of this, you know, you got to say Riveron, a little bit of a loser here because he's losing Stereotaur. CBS is the big winner that they got Stereotor and ESPN got Jeff Tripp. Well, there's a lot of talk about like an officiating crisis, which I think they're looking for something to write in June, but let's start there. I know Wes does not care to see Jeff Triplett on the field. He's happy that he's not. But you also lost Terry McCauley and Ed Hockley and Starratory. That's sort of like, how many referees do you cut?

When you watch games, you recognize their faces from years of service. It's like some big dudes are leaving. This too shall pass. I think we'll get over there. I agree with U.S. Nor does not keep me up at night. I think people, fans hold grudges, especially against officials. And when you have guys that have been calling games for 20, 30, 40, 40,

years it creates that extra angst that sometimes drives conversation so i'm glad that we've got some new faces but i do look forward to a future and i and i hope everybody in this country keeps a job but i look forward to the future where we we don't need former officials to clarify bad calls on tv like it never makes me happy it's like oh yeah i need to i need to see a friendly face oh it's one of the biggest growing businesses in the NFL like the economy's booming just for these jobs right but it's on the NFL for having such convoluted rules too And that started with the catch rule. Nobody could tell you what a catch was,

so you had to bring in Mike Pereira to tell you. I feel like Sterritor could have a little bit more personality than most. I mean, that little kind of impish smile he had when he did the index card last year. You liked that as a television quality. Yeah, I just think he's going to be playing to the kid. He knew what he was doing with the index card. He was having fun.

Well, his explanation... You're getting a little Sterator on. His explanation for that specific event afterwards was completely mind-bending and had everyone completely lost. So I hope, as he's being asked to come in, you know, brings sense to this that it's not going to be stuff like that because that felt like Russian propaganda

sense sideways the way he tried to describe that thing. Speaking of Russian, it's like the opposite of Pavlov's dog when I see these guys like, oh, let's go to let's go to, you know, whoever it is. Is it like Pavlov's cat or something else? Yeah, it was like Pavlov's cat's just pissed off that this dog gets to keep eating all this.

What the damn bell? And so like I see them and it means that something annoying has happened. Twitter's annoying. And I've got to watch this guy tell me why it's annoying. Like, yeah, I know it's annoying. That's why I'm looking at your stupid face right now. I just make the calls better.

Let's make the calls. Let's start there. That's a message for America to listen to closely. All right, Sterator making the number two spot in the news. Number three is Jabar Gaffna and Lido Shepard having a beef. It's late June, everybody. Old beef. Get excited.

Like Greg tracking down Mike Florio trying to throw hands with him. No, you know, me and Mike, you know, we kind of recently were at a wedding together. We really made whatever amends needed to be made. I joined his podcast a week and a half ago. We talked it out. It was like a therapy. Yeah, but it's bound to go wrong at some point. I think it's in a nice little, it's in a nice little area, but then something's going to, I just feel something's going to go wrong here.

I'm not a person that really holds grudges and has long beefs, I don't feel like. Did you have to enter like a dark room? Like he was Brando and the Godfather. and then you have to go in and, like, state your case, how the amends are going to be made? I think our wives, you know, helped really bring it all together. I can see Greg entering that conversation from a standpoint of, like, I don't need you.

I don't need you. Sorry for anything I've ever done to you. So, like, if you want to forgive me, okay, but you don't influence it at all. Yeah. We're worried about. I don't know that's true. Every time I've seen you with him, he's been cool to you. Yeah, we get along great.

We get along just fine. I didn't mean to bring up. I hope that Lido Shepard and Jabar Gaffney can, someday kind of reach that sort of truth that we did because these two former Florida players and this story really tipped off to me from Patrick Claibon's Twitter account so I'm going to go to him next first I'm going to explain the story which is that Lido Shepard former pro bowler little known fact that's not let's let's let's you know he's fine humble brag his vehicle was allegedly vandalized by Jabbar Gaffney the Jacksonville police department got a

call who said he was eating inside of the pier canteena in Jacksonville, a great place, when his vehicle was vandalized. Cameras showed that his former teammate, Jabar Gaffney, and Gaffney's long-time girlfriend, put something inside of Lido Shepard's gas tank. I mean, that's old school. They unknown female also, you know, by the way, walked around the vehicle and stabbed all of the tires with a sharp object. That's beef.

What's going on? That's real beef. And my favorite thing is if you go to Lido Shepard or Jabbar Gaffney's Pro Football Reference page, they're listed as cousins. These guys got huge. That could be at the heart of it. I think that girl is at the heart of it.

Oh, you think the woman's involved? People don't do. People don't do insane things like slash tires and pour stuff in gas tanks unless there's a woman involved. But it's a long-time feud. is that right yeah it said it's been going back or at least he said to the to the cops that the ongoing feud's been going since 2012 they also went to high school together at rains high school and then university of florida where uh patrick claibon's an all-time favorite player rex grossman oh it's just you know we just need a little rex we need somebody in the league maybe he can's just going to sling it deep uh not really feel too too bad about it the consequences whether it gets picked off or not you know just throw it as far as you can and uh and uh see what good stuff happens. I do agree with Wes that

the other party is huge in this. And maybe he was there to keep her from doing something even worse. Maybe it could be right. A car could have been in flames if he was not. What would you put, what would you be choosing to put into a gas tank? Wait, what's in the gas tank? Sugar? I don't know. Rocks, whatever's available. But it was a liquid. It was liquid, yeah. It poured something of liquid nature into the gas tank. Cars don't take too kindly to non-gas going in there. typically use, yeah, you can just use soda or something, that would be fine, urine, really anything.

There's a very cartoonish quality to this, like Riley, Coyote, and Run, or a little Tom and Jerry going on here. That's why I wanted to bring it up. That and, you know, it's like, it just felt really randomly. Like, he drove home fine. That's all I'm saying, whatever you put in the gas tank. He did not drive home fun. He had to get his BMW taken to the shop and they have $14,000 worth of damage according to him. Oh, inside the gas tank?

The gas tank. And the tires being slashed? What kind of tires did he have? It was a BMW. I don't know. I mean, Lido Shepard got that big. He got a big contract two years into his career, I remember. Him and Bobby Taylor.

So it was a 2007 BMW? I'm just saying he's got some cash. I wanted to ask you, and this is, you know, I didn't prep you guys for this question. But what is, do you guys have any ongoing long-term feuds that have lasted since 2000? I don't have the energy right now. I don't have the time in the day to allocate to a feud. And also, I just, you know, no. I don't have any like Grangerford's and Sheperfords

Or Grangerson's and Sheperfords Was that the two families in the Mark Twain books? Anyway, I don't have anything like that But I know You're well read than all of us You and Jim Glass of course Oh yeah, Jim Glass is a fucking But that's not as longstanding

He was a gentleman I met on Tybee. A gentleman I met on Tybee Island He was a perfect gentleman to Greg But I heard some things Claibon doesn't seem like a guy He would have feuds I don't know, you get into it with people on Twitter But I think it would be like when the sunsets it's over for you

Yeah, I don't think about them very much at all I mean I've got 700 people blocked Wes has probably got me way beat there I'd probably got like 10,000 But yeah, it's just because I don't really care about Anything to do with them Large chunks of the population It's like, all right, no need for you

Yeah, a feud requires a second side And you're not willing to even like communicate with that person Not at all I settled my feud, as you guys have mentioned. I really have no feuds going on. So I guess to wrap up the news, and we're really using that term loosely on this show

more than I think any other. Mark Sessler found a listener from the UK. Why don't you tell the story? Well, yeah, because... Who has a special tattoo, and I thought this was worthy of the news. This plays into our ongoing feud about whether or not I won the sandwich prop,

which I even somewhat agree. I did not about the name the Philly Special being the biggest Super Bowl nickname play of all time because the helmet catch still stands out as a bit more iconic. But my argument was, and I know I got some buy-in from at least West on this, that it wasn't instantly, obviously, that play, but it keep every once in a while,

and it's literally almost every week, some little thing happens to add to the Philly Special bucket. And I did not find this person. Sam Hoskins, a listener, found me, and send it to me over Instagram and said, here's my arm. And, you know, first time on my phone, I was like, I can't see what this is.

I clicked in and it was like, Sam Hoskins had the Philly special play design tattooed onto his arm. So I tweeted it out just thought it would be a nice little, in a zero NFL landscape in June. And I think they did a nice job with it. It's professionally done. It wasn't like it's something that just happened at the end of some drunken night where there's 14 men on the field or something.

This man was sober when he got the tattoo? I don't know, but the tattoo artist was, at least. Yes. It's well done. It looks good. And, you know. I don't know. There probably are some helmet catch tattoos.

Probably not of the X's and O's of the play. So that's maybe in your favorite. Like, the play design itself is famous. Yeah. And then Colleen Wolfe told us later that she was going to have the same tattoo tattooed onto her entire back. And then just walk around. So look out for that.

Walk around Philly and have drinks paid for her for the rest of her life. I would say, he'd never pay for drink again. aesthetically, as the X's and O's go of that play, it's nice and symmetrical. It's a beautiful play. The helmet catch would get kind of chaotic because either is like ducking under people and seven people running up.

Do you have the part where Eli Manning was being held by Ty Warren for like two seconds? Give me a break. You know what? This is totally off topic with the helmet catch. But watching the recap of the season that they showed us at that talent someone, it was a reminder in some of the plays that Al Rivron went over. how as great as the helmet catch was, the Corey Clement touchdown was unbelievable.

The Nick Foles, like, so many of his throws were unbelievable. And more than anything, the Zachert's third and seven touchdown to win the Super Bowl is strangely forgotten. Even by me, I'm a Patriots fan. I was like, wait, I forgot that was third and seven. Like, they were two plays away from winning the Super Bowl right there. A man scored, you know, a touchdown on that play.

And Zachertz basically is totally forgotten. You're totally right, but it's like the helmet catch. It won the Super Bowl. ball, though, the third and seven seconds. No, but there were so many plays in that that, like, when you, what your mind goes to is, like, Tom Brady dropping that wide open pass. It goes to other, the Philly special. It goes to other stuff that happened and just how well.

Bill Pellichick choking in the, in the biggest game. Elements like that, like, we were running back and forth between our booth and Sky Sports, and we'd go take the 10-minute walk down to the Sky Sports booth to chat with them, and like 10 to 12 to 14 points have been scored while we were gone. Yes. You know, major turnovers. So it was just, it was one of those games. the way we remember things

tends to get skewed just based on the conversations we have after the fact. Right. Yes. And so, like, so many things will be forgotten. Like, I, um, when Derek Barnett got the strip sack,

I picked up Malcolm and was running around the apartment singing Rocky Top. So, like, that's what I'll be. And people might forget the strip sack. People might forget that, hey, it was another Super Bowl where the Patriots had a Hail Mary that could have been caught. You know?

Yeah, it changed everything. And we wouldn't remember for the Phillies special and like history is just weird like that, but... Right, and I'm kind of glad the people will forget the Earth's play because one of my favorite patriots of all time, Devin McCordy, thankfully has kind of stayed

out of the, off the radar for that play where he basically just, you know, tripped, just kind of fell. Am I the only one? It was unfortunate. Am I the only one in here without a tattoo? No, no tattoos on me. Oh, okay.

Mark and I do. I do. It's a minor one, I would put it at that. Yeah, but it's mine. It is a tattoo. Mine's minor as well. I think we've gone over it at some point. What constitutes a major tattoo?

Just the size. I mean, mine's small and no one ever sees it because it's like on my shoulder blade, you know, in the back. Like a gaudy one where you have like a three-foot King Kong Bundy etched onto your butt or something. Bundy Bonds. And that's it for the news. Or is it? Patrick Claibon with some breaking news about the supplemental draft.

Michael Signora announcing the date for the 2018 supplemental draft. It is July 11th, 2018 at 1 o'clock p.m. Get your supplemental draft on the 11th of July. Thanks, Greg. Looking forward to Henry's annual mock supplemental draft. Well, we're going to be doing, since there's so little going on clearly, we're just going to do three shows previewing. all the possibilities of the supplemental.

And go pick by pick. You know, go pick by pick is what are potential options for teams looking for that one or two players that might come out of this, if not zero? That's how bare in the landscape is today. That was the off the top. That was your break, your news. Yeah, that really got. The on camera of our last news hit was the schedule for the supplemental draft.

All right. Well, that wraps up the news. And now we've got to the part of the show that people have been waiting for. You don't know who won. in the off-season yet. You don't know who is on top. Who's going to be crowned the off-season champion? But you're going to by the end of this show.

We're going through it. Bracket style. A committee of judges. The four people in this room, let's be honest, we're the committee. We decided on eight potential off-season champions. And it is an honor, I think, just to make it into this bracket on some level. Yeah, we've left hundreds of potential. storylines on the cutting room floor basically due to lack of time to prepare for this.

Right. Or, yeah, just total lack of professionalism. So we did a bracket. We figured it out. There's no seeds involved because that would sort of almost, we'd have to figure out who we'd like. More preparation. It's all just random. But if you're at home and you have a quarterfinal bracket that you want to fill out with us.

Why wouldn't you? I'm not going to stop you. Do it your way. Hit the pause on, hit the pause button right now. Go fill it out on a poster board. There are eight different entities. Pull over. Pull over.

We know you got some scrap paper. And should we announce the whole bracket at once and then go through it or just start going through each? I say announce the whole bracket so people have an overview of who's involved. They can kind of pick the team or the person. Imagine yourself to be like an audio version of like CBS Sports showing the bracket on TV or if this were some information we could have potentially tweeted out before the show. There we go.

Fans might choose who they want to be aligned with before it all gets started. I love the theme music. It makes me think of like Colombo's tripping. on acid, he's just traipsing through the streets of Los Angeles. Yeah, who is going to be the Charles Barkley of this bracket analysis who clearly has no idea

about any of the teams involved. Little NCAA tournament selection. I mean, I feel like I could slip into that role. I can always do it. All right, let's start at the top of the bracket. A lot of talk, a lot of heat on this podcast. The Chicago Bears open up their first round

matchup against the trade tsunami. Two chances to be off-season champions right there. Great-looking matchup there. In the same bracket, this is a loaded top half of the dry, I have to admit. The Los Angeles Rams, after being involved in that trade tsunami, adding so many different pieces, kind of an it team. But can they take out Chris Wesseling,

who has made it into the bracket as the off-season champion over Mark's objection? Mark, why did you not want to? We can dig into it, and we actually dig into that matchup. Believe me, it comes from a place of goodness. It's just about the segment itself. It was controversial. West getting in there. Can he take on entire organization?

We're going to find out. Unlike the CBS selection show, we're not going to draw this out and go on a commercial break or talk to the Big Ten Commissioner right now. Let's give you the next matchup. It's Zach Martin of the Dallas Cowboys. Why is he in this? I'm not totally sure.

but Clayman's going to explain it a little later. He's got a tough first-round matchup. The guy no one wanted to draw Al Riveron. Ouch, exactly. Bye-bye. Sorry. Curtains for Zerz. Well, it's going to be tough.

I'll see what I can do, man. You never know. And then finally, two entities near and dear to Mark Sessler's heart. The Cleveland Browns have made it into the bracket facing up against Kirk Cousins. An interesting, that's the late 11 p.m. East Coast game. You've got to be watching. that's like you got to stay up on the west coast it's late everyone's just kind of wild in the crowd that's that's that's that's a sneaky best match bill walton's calling the game right all right

let's start i guess uh with the chicago bears taking on oh yeah this is the chicago bears official introductory music taking on uh the trade tsunami and uh clearly the lack of preparation is going to come in, you know, very obvious here because Chris Wessling's going to tell us why the Chicago Bears are a strong candidate to advance past this round. Well, you start with the coaching change that you go from a much maligned in this studio, particularly John Fox, who is at the top of Greg's list of least favorite coaches during his tenure following the NFL. He's near it, yeah. You bring in that conservative, you take out that conservative voice and you bring in a a bright offensive mind who can make this team fun to watch,

work with their hand-chosen franchise quarterback, Mitchell Trubisky. Then you bring in a number one receiver in Allen Robinson, a move tight end in Trey Burton, one of my favorite draft picks in Anthony Miller, the second round-wide receiver, a gadget receiver who can burn you deep or allow you to use creative concepts in Taylor Gabriel. On defense, you get Roquan Smith,

who looks like a defensive rookie of the year favorite right off the back, that Aaron Lynch, who is underrated off-season signing early in his 49ers career when he was working with Nick Fongio, was supposed to be... I'd be going a bit too far, making a big deal out of Aaron Lynch, but yeah, continue. We'll talk about that in November. Well, yeah, basically, everything's going well for the Bears. They look like the best chance to go 2017 Rams on the NFL. And so much like the Rams. Like, I think Ryan Pace, you know, you burn through a coach.

There have been some ups and downs there. It wasn't getting along with the coaching staff before Fox left. that it was like, what's the Ryan Pace experience? I'm not totally sold because the bears have been one of the harder to watch teams in the league. But like Les Sneed, when you get that coach and if it works, and you suddenly have that quarterback, and they've done a nice job of adding players that fit the Negi scheme, if we don't want to go Nagy, we'll go Negi there. Well, that's another, I think, point in favor of the Bears.

The mysterious last name. The whole naggy, naggy thing. We liked him. We met him. Yeah. We're easily influenced. Yeah. Our resistance is very low after meeting him.

We've been won over. So Patrick, you can understand that. And he has no issue entertaining that conversation still, which is obviously a conversation he's had his entire life. I love it. You know, one of the things I think that's in the bear's favor is kind of what Wes mentioned in that they've been so, such a pox on the league for so long.

Wow. That's strong. A team you didn't have. Residual John Foxx. They're fans out of the first to say it. Not a pox, but you guys famously make fun of me that I'm like, oh, I'm excited to watch every game, every team. and that's for the most part true.

No one gets excited about bad games like you did. The mid-season, pretty much by week four or five, everyone was tired of watching the Bears too often over the last few years. And now we've got a team, even if they're winning a lot of games, they're going to be fun. And another thing that works out in Nagy's favor is the accumulation of bad that was with the franchise. Last year you saw some spots of hope that came before him,

but still because of so much of that pre-examination. previous bad, it still feels like the road is farther to go. Here's what we're overlooking, though, the trade tsunami, which, you know, we got to move through these things, but like trade tsunami was sort of created by someone in this room. Greg kind of came up with trade tsunami, and it went out, it got all over the internet, and so, you know, I kind of think that as a little, Greg's not going to quickly give up on the concept, and not going to have that thing washed away this quickly by the bears. There is.

Go ahead, Patrick. No, I was just going to say credit to Greg for not highlighting the fact that it was something that he birthed from his own loins that ended up happening. And then I don't know if the trade tsunami happens, if not for Greg Rosenthal. You think the Rams heard the term, and they just started making trades. You can't control a tsunami once it starts going. Timeline-wise, Greg, that's exactly what happened. Rams read the article and said we have to reorganize how we're thinking about this.

I like that. And one final point, or at least one point in the tsunami's favor, it's like the bears have been around forever. We always hear, oh, it's the 150. seventh meeting between the Bears and the Packers. It's the first time we've ever heard of the Trade Tsunami. It's fresh, it's new, it's destructive. That's the sound of an off-season champion. I still think the Bears are heavy favorites here, but one more point in the Trade Tsunami's favor.

After a rough season in the NFL with a lot of off-the-field issues, a lot of politicking, there were a lot of comparisons to, hey, the NBA is fun, and the NBA off-season is really fun. This was an NBA-style off-season for the NFL during March. That's a great point. We got a vote. It was big. I think big for the NFL to have that sort of pop. Are we going to vote?

I have a feeling it's going to be unanimous, but let's just go around the room here, Mark. I'm going trade tsunami. Oh, wow. Wow, I'm surprised there. I'm going to trade tsunami as well. I'm going to go bears, actually. I have to be totally fair in my viewpoint.

I mean, they kind of fit the profile. So we have something in this case, Mark, that you can. Yeah, so we have an option to do. as we build out the longest segment in podcast history. You'll be fine. You're so concerned about it. We can get on the phone and we're going to call. We're going to try to see if this person answers.

But just, you know, various friends of the show, let's try to call Emma VP and see if she might be able to weigh in on this with a deciding vote if she answers. All right, quick peek behind the curtain. We have tried to call Erica Tamposi and Emma VP. We didn't tell them ahead of time. Apparently it's the lunch hour at the NFL. I did warn them that a call could be coming,

so I'm quite annoyed with them. So let's try the NFL news desk. If they don't answer, what's going on? They have to answer. It's June 25th, 50-50 chance. News desk. Yeah, Matt. This is Greg with the Around the NFL podcast.

Can you put Austin Knoblock, aka El Chapo Blanco, on the line? Got you. Four yards and a touchdown. A seamless transition to Austin. Hello. All right, Austin. Hey, what's up, man? This is Greg of the Around the NFL podcast.

We saw each other earlier, had some free sandwiches. How are you doing? Oh, yeah, yeah, doing good. Yeah, those sandwiches were good. Yeah, we had a good time, yeah. One quick point I want to make. Are you upset at all, Austin, as probably the person who's been making big-time news decisions down there the longest that David Ely's gotten so much pop on this podcast where you have not. Yeah, well, you know, I'm doing fine.

Everything's good, you know. It's nothing. You know, we're trying to help Ely become Wes's best man. So, you know. Translation, he is furious. I've spoken with him offline. He's called El Chapo Blanco because he sounds all nice to you in person. And then he'll put a knife in your back when you're not looking.

Rip your cards out. All right, Austin, we're asking you to help us. We're trying to determine an off-season news champion on this podcast. Just an off-season champion. We have a tie vote. We need you to break the tie. Okay. Who do you think should advance in this tournament?

The Chicago Bears. or the trade tsunami, one or the other, which one is more of an off-season champion? Oh, trade tsunami. Thank you. El Chapo Blanco lowers the boom. He doesn't hesitate. That's why he's in the picture.

Thanks, Nabi. Yes, no problem, no problem. We'll see it. Bye. All right, let's now move on to our second of nine matchups. Let's not be so quick to move on from Nabi, who needs to be back on this podcast. More often.

Navi's amazing. Mark is so worried that this I'm not worried I have my own energy level to keep up We'll pick up the pace All right next is a matchup

That the odds makers Really got excited about When they first saw it No doubt The Los Angeles Rams Going up against one of Los Angeles's Adopted Sons

Chris Wesley This is the Los Angeles Rams They're adding new players They're getting all the paraphernalia in the party city above the grocery store that I go to. No chargers, paraphernalia, no Raiders, it's all Rams.

They're taking over. This is tough matchup because this is my fiancée's favorite team. She was a St. Louis Rams fan, moved to Los Angeles, now a huge Los Angeles Rams fan. And they do excite me more than any team in the league right now. But then again, it's got to be tough for you, too, because they're going up against Chris Wessling. Right.

For our new listeners to the show, he's a man who loves Emmy Lou Harris, and he's had a big offseason. Not only kicking the Big Sea all around the yard, got engaged, got a new house, and just been living it up around the country and around the town. I, to be totally frank, I used to weep. I would break down and weep over how grueling the cancer surgery, and the recovery was for months and mostly for how bleak the future looked

that I wasn't going to be able to live life to really live, not just to survive, but to have a glass of wine, to go out and watch the sunset. And now I weep because my cup overflow with. Life is good. I am happy. No matter whether I beat the Rams here or not,

I feel really good about my chances for sustained happiness. Let me tell you, this is a wrap for the Rams. Yeah, that's good. I mean, this is what was your issue, Mark, coming into it. I mean, listen, Wes has done a nice job. I think the Rams have done a nice job, too. But I don't know what kind of, how do I sell myself as Wes's friend? David Ely's trying to get into the best man scenario of his wedding.

I just would like to be invited. But if I knock him out of the first round of this tournament by going Rams, who already feel, I like the Rams, but it's like, I get it. I get it with the Rams. We, everyone NFL Network loves the Rams. We like them, though. we're going to roll right down and hang it on their campus, but it's like, let's be real, Wes over the Rams in this situation.

Yeah, it's an easy pull to Wes here. The Rams have benefited from other teams, you know, making some mistakes in my belief and more power too, but Wes overcame things on his own. He didn't need anybody else to spread up to. Well, I mean, you needed other people. I needed other people, yes. Absolutely, but those people were there because of, you know,

the things that you'd built up as a person. The house, yeah, and the house can't be underrated. The house that Wes has moved into can't be underrated in his chances to be the offseason champion. Oh, I'll say, you know what, you know what, likes houses, tsunamis. Just be careful. That's your second round matchup. It could be. I don't know.

I haven't totally. If we get there. I haven't totally counted out the Rams here. I mean, Wes, yeah, he added the pair more to the mix. What a big pickup. But the Rams, you know, they added a lot of people. Akeeb Taleb, Marcus Peter. just in terms of sheer numbers,

they brought a lot to their roster. Do they have an enjoy every sandwich hashtag? No. Or a list of the perfect food items I've been able to eat this year? I mean, I like the Rams, but they are not having the off-season. And Wes isn't, like, embellishing. There was a, not only, you're having such a good off-season

that you go out to the club now. We somehow after the NFL party on Thursday night, Mark West, the Paramore, and a handful of others ended up at some sort of dance, dance, uh, hole? I don't even know what's going on. And that's when I knew. And now in West and outside of it, he was, he was commenting his cup runneth over. Yeah.

It's life is just great. And I feel good no matter what happens if the Rams beat me, if the trade tsunami beats me. By the way, I've become such good friends with my neighbor in a week. We have a one, we have a one story house. I just go over to their roof next door because they've built it up. And then I'll just ride out the tsunami. Just keeps winning. The Rams have been, they're out.

So even though Mark did not want Wes in this tournament, he's moving West to the next round. I think the listener is familiar with half-baked narratives that this show tends to cook up. That is one of them. All right, all right. We're just going to move on Wes by imminent decree. Let's move on to the next matchup.

Zach Martin going up against the man no one wanted to face Al River. on. But first, Claibon, who suggested Zach Martin. Oh, here you go. See, I like the tech note for Zach Martin. Because you look at the 2014 NFL draft, Jadevian Clowney wants a new deal. Spectacular player hasn't gotten one. Odell Beckham, Jr., one of the best players in the league, hasn't gotten his deal. Aaron Donald, arguably the best football player in the National Football League. We're sitting there talking about West locking it up. Why don't have the ramp just go ahead and lock this up? But Zach Martin misses OTAs like two days, and all of a sudden Jerry and company are like, you know what, we got to give you $40 million.

Julio Jones, it's like, oh, how dare you, Julio missed? What is Julio doing? He's tearing the team apart. But Zach Martin, it's cool, baby. We got your money, man. You're playing guard. These other guys can't get paid. But hey, you know what?

40 million. Zach Martin moves the needle. He's not a man to be trifled with. They did not want to get on his bad side. I didn't know where you're going to go with the Zach Martin thing. And I'm pleased with where you went. It was a compelling argument. When you're a guy that, like, most people couldn't pick out of a lineup,

and you're suddenly one of the highest paid players in the NFL, you're a winner. I mean, I think he was an off-season champion the day he got drafted by the Dallas Cowboys. Because if you're going to get, if you're going to become a great player, that's a good team to get drafted by because you're going to get paid. You can just be even maybe a mediocre player and you're going to get paid. So if you're as good as Zach Martin, you're going to win off-season all over the place. But he's got a tough matchup. I mean, he's got Al River.

He's coming off of an epic performance. All right, Al's getting it. He's coming off an epic performance at the NFL Talent Summit and not just demonstrating to a room of us that he's a real man's man. But he helped solve the catch rule, perhaps? We're pretty confident in that these rule changes this off season they're going to last.

They got some pop. It's definitely an improvement. I think anyone could, almost anyone, who appreciates, like, a certain type of personality in this country or beyond, could look at Al Riverin's, say, yeah, I get why this guy captures a room. The one issue with Zach Martin is you're attached to a team that you're not,

you don't have casual Cowboys fans. Cowboys fans are highly annoying, and most people that aren't attached to the Cowboys can't stand the Cowboys and aren't that excited about one of their players just hitting bank. Al Riveron's sort of a man of the people who would elicit an entirely different type of reaction. And it's a tough matchup for your guy, Patrick Claibon, Zach Martin. Al is, I miss the performance. Oh, see, I don't even think you would even... I have huge FOMO from the Talent Summit.

I could try to simulate what happened with the Al Riveron. I can give you some quotes because I've written them down. Sure. And then try to explain how badass Al Riveron is. Starts with... He shows a video of play and the analysis is, not good, we want that out of the game. NFL, former NFL legends, all in the audience are, you know,

critiquing his viewpoint on this. They've got questions. Why is it out of the game? the game talking about the lowering the head rule which he really turned me around on now i'm i'm all in on everything he said we cannot ignore the data we have the video we've seen is his response it's about choices if you choose to make contact with your helmet you're out of the game dion quibble hang on a second there dion allow me to answer the second part of this question he's shutting down dion sanders he shuts down a hall of fame reporter a second later uh process of the catch is over he

says, pulls up the Des Bryant play and he goes, Des finally caught it. He's got the whole room working. And then he shows the gronk play. He needs to be tossed. We don't do it. It's not acceptable. He needs to be tossed. The best is he puts on the Danny Trevathen play where he's about to square up Devante Adams in the big Monday night football game. Trevathen gets two steps into his approach. He's still 10 feet away from Devonte Adams. Riveron hits the pause button says, we've seen enough. We've seen enough. We've seen enough. and walks off the stage.

He made his point. Two steps into that play, he knew Treveiton had bad intentions and was already lower in its helmet. I'm sold. And then Greg says, via text, after all this, that's my president. As far as an individual accomplishment, I can't fight that. You brought up a good challenger, but you just, you're not being there, hurt you here because you have, he has three, like, disciples in the room.

Well, the kickoff, the kickoff rule, I'm convinced is going to be interesting. And the lowering the head rule, which I know some people think, how is this going to be called? As he explained it, it made me feel better about it. Maybe they're going to tweak some things in the future, but it was certainly important, I think, to do that versus not doing anything. And the way that he really talked about, it convinced me that it is going to have changes, not just at the NFL, but down through the college and the high school and the youth level.

So I think we just, Riveron, in a walk right now. The line that really sold me on Al Riveron was, he said, at what point do you say no moss with replay? I don't have to tell you guys we are in the entertainment business. That was music to my ears that at least somebody knows that the momentum of the game of the sport

matters more than whether you get a 50-50 call right. Riveron is through to the semis and my favorite subplot of this game is watching Mark get more and more antsy about how long it is taken. It is. We are in minute 47 of this. We're fine. We're fine. And now we kick it.

I can just feel like the wave of text messages coming from Dan. Since he's not going to listen to us, is he? Probably not. Since we've already got to heard about all these candidates for off-season champion, I feel like the semis and the finals will go quick. But you've got two candidates here in the Cleveland Browns and Kirk Cousins. This is probably the toughest matchup to call of the first round. And why don't we start off with the Cleveland Brown?

Well, right. We each had two to pitch. and mine showed up against each other in the same match. It's kind of like, yes, screwed. But I think these are two clear contestants. We know what Cleveland's done this offseason, and we know the awful history. And all I'd ask you to do is when you go and you click

and you look at what they have added, but what they are at this point on offense and what they are on defense, now part of that is what they would need to be because there's question marks. And you took the name Cleveland Browns off the team, you put them in a totally different uniform, just said,

roster heading into this season. I think people might think of it a little bit more differently, that there's a lot of more balance here than there has been in the past. And Tyrod Taylor, I'm not calling him a patch, but he's obviously not the future, but they love him for this season. And if Baker Mayfield turns up to be, and this is the 18th rookie quarterback they've drafted, but he feels a little different to me. But I am too caught up in all this to even know. But I do like the pieces here. And I think the Cleveland versus a lot of hollow winning the offseason and things. I think a lot has happened here where they aren't last year's team. The problem is you've got no left tackle. What kind of year did he pick to retire with Joe Thomas?

Can you be an off-season champion when you lose your best player by far? That's a huge question, and you still have to find out if you have the right coaching staff when the answer right now veers towards no. So it's not perfect, but all these teams that won the off-season, like a few, like the Rams or Super Bowl contender, like the Browns, we had to look at teams that went from where they were to where they are now. They picked up a lot of ground barring disaster. And then with Kirk Cousins, give me a break. The guy has never won a playoff game. And I like Kirk Cousins a lot. And I like the player. He has made over a hundred and he's on tap to make over $130 million dollars having never won a playoff game as a quarterback. I don't think he's happy about that.

That's why I like Kirk Cousins a lot. But on paper in terms of family planning for the next 70 to 80 generations in the Cousins household, he is a winner. That family is winning. He also finally has an organization that would commit to him. I think he's got a good, right, two or three years. That's a Super Bowl level team, too, that made a commitment. You couldn't pick a more talented receiver group to join, and I think what West said is really important in that Jake Rudin always, it was like he had his arm around, Kirk, but he never really, like, gave him a big hug, you know?

I think it was a little ambivalent. That's revisionist history. Jake Bruden went out on a limb to say how great Kirk Cousins was, to say we have a franchise quarterback to say the front office should be locking him up to say so many teams in the NFL need quarterbacks. We have one. We need to lock him up. He loved Kirk Cousins until the moment it looked like Kirk Cousins wasn't going to sign with the Redskins. And then that day, you started to hear Jay Gruden say some stuff bad about Kirk Cust. One thing I've noticed is how Scott McLuhan after the fact says Jay Gruden has one of the best minds in terms of personnel of any coaches. And he's basically

implied that he's been the one calling the shot since the day McLuhan left. I just flat out do not believe that. There's no way. The stuff that Jay Gruden was saying about Kirk Cousins, he was telling the front office he wanted him signed publicly saying that. I just don't believe that. And I think that's what, but either way, that's one of the reasons.

I think Bruce Allen did not want to sign. Yes, I agree. I think we're the winner because we don't have to type any more Redskins, Kirk Cousin's stories or discuss it again. I think working there and speaking publicly about the situation there puts you in a tenuous spot. Yeah. And it's tough to extract a lot of what things mean, what people say about working there while

they're working there. If that makes sense. No, that makes total sense. And I think that's one of the reasons cousins could be seen as such a huge winner because I think the Vikings organization has been stable in terms of their front office. I think they have a coach that the players all love. Not that Jay Gruden is a coach that people don't like, but Mike Zimmer is a player's coach. And I think he's going to an organization where I think the players are treated well and it's

just a more stable organization. I would pick cousins over the Browns and I'm not trying to be cute. Just that with Cleveland, you really have to prove that all these things are real. And we saw that the Vikings, even without cousins with a different quarterback, were a Super Bowl level team. And I think they've filled the one question mark they had. I think the Browns have a seven or eight win roster, but they've had a coaching staff that is underachieved as much as any coaching staff in the league over the last two years. And since they're still there, I'm going cousins too. I've seen this episode so many times, the Brown's offseason episode. It's better this year. This is a good-looking team. That's great, but they still have an owner

who stepped in to make or nullify bad trades, who gets involved in the football operation, and they still have a head coach who's 1 in 31 and a defensive coordinator that has people scratching their heads about what he's doing. Yeah, the Brown's offseason is based on hope, but like that those checks are going to clear. Like that money is in Kirk's account. Wow. That's true. Looks like Cousins moves on. You know, some teams left left out of the might be wondering, maybe they should have gotten into this, you know, I don't know who could have been Titans, Ravens. They weren't really Eagles. I'm sure they're reeling. They are reeling right now trying to pick up the pieces, franchise what? We are into the semifinals. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, frankly.

Frankly, a matchup people did not see coming, the trade tsunami getting past the bears and going up against Chris Wesseling. And I think this really gets to the larger question here that Mark brought up. Can anyone vote against West? And I think the answer is this is the NFL's offseason championship, and it's supposed to be the NFL as a whole. It's not just our corner of it. And so that's why I think a trend like the trade tsunami, it's at least. got a shot. You got to give it a chance. At best, it has a shot. I mean, it barely got out of the first round. We had to call Austin Knoblock to settle the tie. Half the room did not believe

in trade tsunami over the bears. I don't see how a one time, not that it couldn't be happening down the road, but a two or three week, you know, spike in behavior amongst front office people tops Wes's scenario. Could be lasting though. Trade tsunami, maybe it's Here's the thing. The tsunami came in. It reeked habit. It did its damage for March. April and May, where are you been?

I've been out and joined life. Sunami took the past two months off. I mean, it's subsided, and here I am sitting high on Westchester Hill, dry as a bone. In defense of the tsunami, I view it as an accomplishment as a prediction by Greg Rosenwald, first and foremost. That's how I got here. And he crushed it. I voted for the bears. It got through for right for merit, but.

So are we just going to move West along to the finals? Unless both of you are picking tsunami and we're calling someone. It's clearly West. Wes is into the finals. And I think he's going to have a tough matchup in the finals, just looking at it. Whether it's Al Riveron or Kirk Cousins, I think it's going to be a tough matchup. But I think like you put those two guys in a room, Riveron and Cousins. Only one of them comes out.

I'm taking Riveron. I feel the exact same way. What we beheld, that performance. performance, to hold a room of that magnitude of those specific personalities in one hand and do whatever you want with it? That's what Riveron did. Well, let me ask you one of the things. Let's just say this is the pretext to Kirk Cousins being one of the richest athletes on the planet, winning a Super Bowl with the Vikings. Guaranteed money. Change the game with that country. There you go. And everyone thinks that the

Philly Super Bowl was a big deal, and it was because that city has not had anything like that ever. But what if you go do that for the city, the state of Minnesota, the city of Minneapolis, and those Vikings fans who have been through hell? I love Al Riveron, but Al Riveron is an official, and by nature, how much do we love officials? My thing is, there's so many conversations that we all have where we lay awake at night, like, I wish I would have said that. But Riveron does this on a stage where there's Hall of Famers, and he basically nails every conversation. But even then, if you're going to ask me, would I nail every conversation that I've ever had, or would I rather have 84 million? I'm going to take the money. Yeah.

I've got to go with Kirk. Wow, that's interesting. You know, cousins, you know, you mentioned what could happen, but that to me, that's the season. That's when they do. That hasn't happened yet. That's when they do keep score. And this is the off season. And I'm leaving this off season.

I'm thinking Riveron is a man of the off season, not only for the performance that he had, but for the change I think that he's going to bring. you know, lasting change. In a time of political gridlock, Riveron brings change. Riveron, 2020. Are we voting here? I think we're fine with Riveron. I'm voting Riveron.

You had cousins, but I think Riveron moves on three to one, and we're into the finals. And I think Wes has to be a little worried here. I am. Wes, what you vote for Riveron? I'm not sure who I'm voting for here. I think when we're determining the offseason champion, I don't know.

I mean, at first, when we thought of this exercise, it was going to be all teams. We're just going to decide which team. And now we get to the finals, and it's just two men standing there. And I think the case for Riveron at least includes that Wes has brought joy to everyone that knows him and his fans and certainly his friends, his family.

Al Riveron could be out there changing lives for young kids, playing football, making it the sport safer with some of these rule changes and changing thousands and thousands of lives into the future with some of the rules that he's helped to oversee. There's a line from a poem that has haunted me my entire adult life. All my life, my heart has sought something I cannot name. And before cancer, before I met Lakeisha, I didn't know what that thing was, but it was sense of peace.

and now I have that thing that my heart cannot name it's a sense of peace with myself I no longer rage against the world but here's the upset I have fewer insecurities now Ron Al-Rivron has zero insecurities he's a man walking around

happy full of life he doesn't have to question anything because he knows he's right there are no insecurities in that man and that's a fine way to walk through life well I don't know if we know that about El Riveron like that that's a bit of but there was a moment during the media summit

where the room was basically told whatever you think you've been through in the past year, look at Wes and that was from John Marvel down in the newsroom and the entire place stood up and clapped and they meant it, so I think that the room told you who won this. So that was the reason that you stood so strongly

against West getting into this tournament was that you just thought it would be a walk for them? I do think it's a walk, and that shouldn't be put through the wrong prism. It's like this story is more powerful than trades or Zach Martin making a bank and eating like Mexican food in Dallas and not having to pay for it.

Why doesn't he have to pay for it? Because it's like it just comes, he'll never, it's like at that point you're so rich. You're taking 20 people out to dinner and it doesn't even appear in your bank. Well, he's long gone. Riveron dispatched him and he's made it to the finals. Are we, is there any chance here Reveron can win?

I think so. Yeah, I do too. Well, no, you have to vote against him to make that happen. Yeah, I mean, you guys are going to have a big saying that. I can't imagine. I'm sure somebody might have had a better offseason than Wes in the world, but as far as in the NFL community, I, I, we would have heard about it. Yeah.

And you. Reveron's about to lose his fifth official. You're, you can we look at this objectively? You've made, and one thing about that Wes has done in, and the paramour is you've made sure to, I think, enjoy it each stop along the way. It's not just like flying you by where you're just having this great time and like you're kind of not, you know, totally appreciating it. It's like you're appreciate, you seem like you're appreciating every minute.

To the point where Mark talked about when they asked me to stand up at the talent summit, how do you cheer for a bon vivant? The way I've been living my life lately, I don't deserve the cheers. It's the guy in November and December who deserves the cheers. cheers you know but but yeah I'm I think you deserve them that's I am probably enjoying life a little too much where it seems a little like flagrant you're stealing yeah I'm I am in joy I am taking this off season away from whoever was gonna steal all right and this is it's Al Riveron yeah it's a strong case here I think Al Riveron's gonna sleep tonight despite the results

Mark again yeah who's your vote here my vote is Wes okay Wes yeah I think the fact that just going to be thoroughly, completely happy, regardless of the results, means that I'm the winner. Like, I don't even have to worry about who wins. Clayvonne, take us home. Chris Wesley. You know, I thought it would have been really funny if in the end Riveron took you out. Or even if, like, you know, it's like, yeah, you know, Wes, you've done well, but the Browns did add Jarvis Landry.

You know, it's like, we have to give it to them. But I guess, I guess that's it. We have to crown him off-season champion Chris Wesleyan. puts me on par with, like, the 2015 Browns. I think we learned a lot today. I think it was a great discussion. It was. And you're not eligible.

Well, I guess should we make a rule? He's not eligible for next office. If you could somehow top this office. Well, I don't want my mind to go where I would have to go in order to top it. Yeah. Okay. That's fair. I think it's going to be a tough title to defend, but we're bringing this one back.

I don't care what the list is. It's a special champion this year before. We've got a mocked. He's a very rich here. Can't wait till some British guy gets a tattoo of me on his arm. Yeah, someone, I want someone to get. That'll be happening by Saturday now that you've said it. I want someone to send out the tattoo of the bracket, the entire bracket.

So that would be, because it's been a special, it's been a special episode. Or at least some sort of Photoshop of the bracket. You should tweet your work that you've been keeping that. Okay, I will. Somebody will get that's out. I did a really bad bracket. Someone could just get a tattoo that says it's about me. That would be.

amazing. Well, we've done it. Claibon, thanks for coming in. Well, you're in, but thanks for coming up here, and thanks for preventing any breaking news from happening over the last few hours. Hey, yeah, you know, I did what I could. I got the supplemental draft stuff out of the way, and that's carried us. And, of course,

congratulations to Chris Wessling, the 2018. This is right up there with the Sheki Award champion. Let's play some music. Let's go out with this music. All right. For Mark Sessler, Chris Wesleyan and Patrick Claibond. I'm Greg Rosenthal.

We will be back on Thursday. See you there.