NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Who might get cut & mailbag

Episode Date: July 30, 2015

A room filled with heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling and Marc Sessler -- discuss the latest news around the NFL including Tom Brady's lawsuit and much more. The guys then debate which veteran players are most likely to get cut before delving into your mailbag questions.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 would like to teach the world to sing. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis and I am joined by a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosethal. What is up, boys? Hey, Dan. I think we'd like to go on the Don Draper-esque road trip that preceded him coming up with that ad.

but instead we are in the whirlwind we're in training camp i mean don't you kind of feel like it you got some bruises from two a days this week a lot of podcasts a lot of writing it's like your little fun time is over you've been why you're looking specifically at you know that's very ominous well i don't know i've got a lot of responsibilities in and out of the office and you're dropping a hammer on me i'm just saying i think it's been a big it's back to work type of well it's true what about uh old rosy over on my right wearing his hot professor glasses what's that about It's up Bob Costas on the picks? How am I supposed to focus?

Yeah, my eye was bugging me a little bit this morning. I like to mix it up now and then, you know? I can do the professor look. Do you feel like people take you more seriously when you wear glasses? No one takes me seriously any time. Oh, Greg, don't tell you. That's not true. You're in charge of a lot of people's futures and fates.

Yeah, so we are back. Our third show of the week, very exciting. You know, Wes, I know you're a very busy man. And not only are you working with us in this new stuff, you're working on another high-octane long form. You have some big interviews coming up. You've been a busy man. I've interviewed several people.

Carl Mock, who played for the Oilers and was an offensive line coach for probably 20 years, was hilarious yesterday. He was. Well, tease what you're working on. It's Love You Blue. It's about the late 70s Houston Oilers, who, to my knowledge, no other professional team in any sport has ever been welcome home from a loss. by 50 or 60,000 fans.

And Dan Pesterini estimated 1979, 300,000 fans between who was lining the highways, who greeted them at the airport, and who was there at the Astrodome. And this was after back-to-back AFC championship losses to the Steelers. Two years in a row, the entire city turned out to greet them. So Wes has covered two AFC central teams of all the Bengals and the Oilers. The Browns have to be next, right? Well, I figured that would be your long-form debut. Oh, no, no.

I'm waiting for West to gush about the Browns in 8,000 words. Well, it'll probably be something about the pre-1964 Browns. How many thousands of people were outside the stadium after Johnny Mansell's starting debut last season? Well, a ton showed up after the fumble. There was like, read him at the airport. 17 people throwing empty beer cans at him. All right, that'll be fun. All right.

So keep an eye out for that West piece. It's going to come out sometime in 2018, I believe. It's going to come out sometime soon whenever I get around to writing it. All right, good. Well, that's important part of it. We have a very nice show today. We have a lot to get to. A lot of news, training camps.

Are they all open now? We're all in business now, right? No. Come on, get to work. Who's not working at this point? Zioch show up tomorrow. I believe. Scratch them off.

Anybody that is not reported to camp yet, scratch them out of contention in the NFL. Well, it's actually, they're not allowed to come in until two weeks before the preseason game starts. All right. Well, then I take that bad how they do it. So the Steelers and Vikings have the open. game? Exactly. Wow.

That makes all the sense of the world. So, yes, we will get into all the stuff that's cooking in camps right now. We will, I don't know if I played soccer in high school, not really something I'm proud of. I wish I would have played football. Don't beat yourself up about that. Yeah. I would have made fun of you. The beautiful game is a nice game, and our overseas listeners love football and soccer, so I'm not ashamed of it.

But the Oklahoma drill is something I never took part in. But we're going to, on some level, take part in the Oklahoma a drill where we're going to take veteran players. Now, stay with us here. You're going to take some veteran players who are on the roster bubble in camp and then put them up against each other and decide who survives. I don't know. It could be a fun segment.

Pretty intense. It's dastardly. I mean, it's almost like the Roman gladiators or anything, something. We're basically killing off a man's career. Was this segment outlawed in the 2011 CBA? I don't know. Did they get rid of the Oklahoma drill? No, they can still do it.

They still do it. Really? You did it, Wes, in high school, right? I played soccer. I'm the only one that played high school football here. And I was awful. I mean, if I could have gotten on a team, you guys, you two could have. I'm sure they got rid of Oklahoma drill in high school too.

Greg was a tennis star. I'm sure they got rid of the Oklahoma drill. You can't even play dodge ball anymore in our country's schools. Anyway. Soccer players. Whatever. We could also hit up the mailbag. We did a call out to you guys, and you definitely did not disappoint us.

We might have a little surprise at the end of the show. That's all I'm going to say. A little tease there. But before we do any of that, he got to check in behind the glass. He is the man. He's the myth. He's the legend. He is youngish Kobe.

And I'm also worn down from a crazy training camp. But what's up, guys? Oh, he's going to make it? We're making it, man. Sean and Witt and Sully, you know, and Brandon, you know. I think this week has taken a few years off of young Kobe's life. Yeah, you could tell. You can see it in his eyes.

Oh, he can relax in Texas this weekend or whatever. Pull back, pull back the curve. and a little bit, you know, we got a little tense before the show started. Which is becoming a normal thing. Yeah, this is a stressful time as we launched this now product where we're, you know, making the podcast also video. So, Tita, you're doing your best, and I think that's going to be good enough ultimate. We're all in the same team here, guys. Even like the Oklahoma drill guys, they're all in the same team.

Okay, let's do some of us. That was good. That was a good way to put a button on it. All right, gentlemen. Where else could we start? but with Greg's favorite team, the New England Patriots, and the latest news of Tom Brady and the Tom Brady Deflakeate Saga is the NFLPA and Brady have filed a suit to vacate their suspension in federal court.

This happened on Wednesday. They filed the suit against the NFL in Minnesota, asking Minnesota federal court for penalties against Brady to be vacated. The NFLPA announced Tuesday that they would be filing their appeal shortly thereafter. A judge ordered that the suit would not be held in Minnesota, which would be seem and Greg you know legal specifics of this you went to Tulane and studied law that it would be more player friendly pro Brady and you were on mock debate though pro Brady high school it's true but it's been moved back to New York which is pro league according to people

that know so that's what's going on right now the case continues and it's official right now it's paperwork and it's funny to me to hear some people react to these sort of news like someone and just, you know, scored a touchdown or they're just making, oh, wow, big score for the NFL. It's going back to New York. You should see this footnote in the brief from the Minnesota court because it really slams the union. It's like, all right, just wake me up when we know something because no one knows anything. Well, I did like their response. The judge basically was like, listen, let's get down with there's not one shred of a reason

that this case should take place in Minnesota. What are you doing here? Because it has been favorable in the past for the league. Right. That's why they, for the union, and that's why they filed there. It might be good for Dan and I, because we had a sandwich bet yesterday where our proposition. Proposition. Where we are propositioning that Brady's suspension will be upheld, where you offer that it won't.

This is probably better for us that it's in New York. Out of Tom Bradyville, Minnesota. There's a million X factors, and the league hasn't been winning in court very often. And then there's this whole injunction thing. He has to file for an injunction that would allow him to play, you know, while this goes through, and that's a whole separate thing. Get excited. I'm certainly excited.

On the field, the practice field where the Patriots started their prep officially for the 2015 season, the defense of their Super Bowl title. Let's not forget that, Greg. I know you haven't. Where Tom Brady took all first team reps over Jimmy Garoppolo, I guess you could make the argument. Well, technically right now he's not starting, so maybe we'll get Jimmy in there. But for now, Brady is the guy. And, of course, Belichick was tight-lipped when reporters tried.

to talk to him about it. He said, we only look at it today. We don't look in the future. So Brady is the first team guy. And one other bit of information from that practice, the Jets or Jets fans, I should say, is from a Jets fan site, flew a banner over Patriots practice with the message, Cheaters look up, which I thought ain't a nice burn by my team. They basically, Desquets fans have the sense of humor of a six-year-old. I'm sorry. You know, all we talk about is how. serious everyone's taking this and why you know we get back to football this is like lighthearted lie that banner

loser says what not only the sense of humor of a six year old but really the attention span and memory of a six year old jets fans have forgot their own cheating oh wow what do jets do well you got you tampered with uh darrell rivas then signed him oh please tampered with michael crabtree which i'm reading from an old pro football talk article before michael crabtree signed as a rookie it took so long because the jets were tampered tampering with that process. And this article has Greg Rosenthal's name on it, but he assures me he did not write it.

I didn't. There was a mix-up in the whole PFT main frame. This is clearly a Florio Post. A lot of Florio posts now have my name on it. This ended up going away because, quote, it's in the best interest of the league for the tampering allegations to go away. And it was. And the fact that this is all happening only a few weeks after the Jets were busted for cheating on the injury report.

I like Wes's new role as link mandated snitch and whistleblower Is out to every one that ever cheated ever Wes is going to call them to the carpet at this point Why not if everyone's going to call the Patriots cheaters? And everybody's trying to shoot from behind bulletproof glass When they have their own skeletons in their life So your statement, Wes is that everything the Patriots doing jets That's all the same level all that stuff

I'm saying that jets are cheaters too That's what I'm saying It's arguably the same level as the deflating footballs Yes. Well, it's called relativism, so everyone's right because everyone cheated. Nothing matters. No, I'm saying that making a ball easy to throw, which is the purpose of the sport, is probably not that offensive to me. There is one positive with the Jets, you know, the fans flying the cheaters.

I mean, it does make it fun to think about the Patriots going on the road this year and everyone's going to hate them. And the Jets Patriots' rivalry, the last few years has kind of fallen off. And all that stuff gets a little more heated and excited and emotional. Yeah, the Jets Pats Ravler has gone all the way back to when Curtis Martin came to the Jets from New England and it stayed that intermittently over the past 20 years. It's heated up. Well, hopefully this gets hot again. How do you feel about your best defensive player driving 143 miles an hour with a 12-year-old in the car? Ooh, that's also illegal.

Shelton Richardson. You know, he had to get somewhere. You had to be somewhere. All right, moving on. Let's talk about the Dallas Cowboys. You know, their backfield situation is by far the most, the biggest news right now at a Big D. Darren McFadden who they signed. They thought he'll be the big bounceback guy.

Perhaps he will be, but he's already dealing with hamstring issues. Greg, it was just yesterday we were talking about or earlier this week. Is he more known for being crappy now or being injured all the time? Well, he's injured. He's got a hamstring injury starting on the Pup list. So Darren McFadden out of the picture right. Well, I wish we could, if I had thought about it, I would roll back footage from way back on Monday.

Remember that when we played what's more likely if I thought ahead of time And we'd play your chump's answers where you said it's more likely that Darren McFadden practices every day of training camp than it was Sam Bradford. He didn't even make it to day one. I would double down on this and still say that Sam Bradford will miss more practice time than Darren McFad. Well, I didn't say that. I said which is more likely. Right now, Sam Bradford is O for O. That's 100% in my book.

So, yeah, so Darren McFadden had a picture, which gives Joseph Randall an even clearer path to the number one job. It just so happens that Jerry Jones, the Cowboys owner, spoke. out about how much he admires and views the potential of Joseph Randall. He had this to say today, we have a player that has the potential, and we base that on, not on what he did at Oklahoma State or how we drafted him, but by literally being a teammate around here for the last two years, but he has the potential to be the kind of back that would step in there and be your number one back. That's what I've been talking about.

All right, but I think if you look at what everyone said, because he goes on to say this is clearly a committee approach. Offensive coordinator, Scott Linnehan, said in June, clearly a, I think you have to look at this. It's not going to be Joseph Randall and running the ball the entire game. It's absolutely a committee approach. I don't even care who starts the game. The thing that really stuck out to me in this setup, and granted, it's probably just that Jones is realizing, oh, yeah, Darren McFadden's hurt again.

Like, this is our guy, we got a ride with him, is right after he talks up Randall as a number one back, he says, oh, and I think Darren McFadden could be. be useful in a situation. As long as you limit his carries, he could help with some big plays, making it clear that they seem kind of as a backup type of guy. He said limit as carries? He said as long as you

have them in the right goal. The right number of carries and the right number of carries and the right opportunity, not limit. And he talked about wanting to use Dunbar too. And the offensive coordinator has said repeatedly that it could be a different back each week that leads the way with carries. I don't think we know

the answer yet. McFadden does have some potential too. It's not even August yet. Let's see that. I agree. I'll throw DeMarco Murray last season, 392 carries 1845 and 13 touchdowns. Is there any way that the Randall McFadden combo

sniffed that type of production as a pairing? I think they're going to throw the ball more than they did last year, no matter what, if they get close, maybe, but not because one has some breakout season. I think Randall and McFadden are going to leave a lot of meat on that bone. Callback. All right. Moving on. So Junior Galette, we talked about him earlier this week.

He was released by the Saints after a magnificent wipeout with that team after signing a big extension. We wondered if he's going to get any work. We don't know if he's going to get signed, but it's a good sign for Junior Galette. He visited the Redskins on Thursday. According to NFL media's Albert Breer, team source says Galette will take a physical and meet with team officials. So, Wes, I'll start with you here. Junior Galette, obviously a talent. We talked about that on Monday.

Do you think the Redskins, a team that needs all the talent they can get, can take a shot on a guy like this or should? I'm shocked by this. We talked about it the other day. I didn't think any team would show interest in him. It just goes to show Greg's point. As long as you have talent, every other question about morals or anything else is just thrown out the window.

This guy has been a problem for two or three years, and frankly, doesn't seem like he's sane. But it's your question. And they've drafted guys early in the last couple of years to play outside linebacker. I think they should give those guys a shot, not Junior Gullet. And I think it says that maybe they feel that there is still a need there. But I look at also the GM, and I talked about him yesterday, Scott McLuhan, who has been bounced out of the league for his own ups and downs

and maybe sees things a little bit differently than the next guy when it comes to giving someone a second chance. That said, what we learned about Gellette post-release is crazy. Well, you know what's crazy is even since we, I think, last taped, Another thing came out about Galette. It's on TMZ, and he just can't stay out of the news right now. But Albert Breer was the one who broke this story, and he indicated it would be a surprise, I believe,

if Gillette doesn't wind up signing with the Redskins. They're going to give him a physical. They're going to meet with the team. And as long as when they sit down face-to-face, they determine he's sane enough. And maybe he won't be. Then I think they're going to sign him. There's something about Greg's glasses, too,

that when he speaks, it just comes out better. It seems like you're more articulate. You're just a smarter man with the glasses. Maybe I'll just start doing it every day. That's what it takes. Am I the only one that's noticing? Greg is on point right now? It's genuine and I can see it.

I think Wes can see it too. I have noticed my wife looks at me in a little different way. I think the right glasses on the right man at the right time. Yummy. Oh, by the way, Wes, good news. RG3 is back in the mix. Check it out. My focus now is to know.

not worry about the past and to focus on the future. And the future started, you know, today and walk through. And having a baby girl now made it really tough to leave to come to training camp. But right now it's time for daddy to go to work. Time for daddy to go to work, Wes. You excited? I don't understand. There's some kind of production meeting that I was supposed to be angry about this and I don't get it.

Well, anytime RG3 says something silly, you get angry. No, that's fine. I don't have any problem with what he said. No, I have a problem with, as LeBron told RG3 last year, make the main thing, the main thing. Stop worrying about social media. Stop throwing your teammates under the bus. Be a better quarterback, RG3. I have a problem with his comprehension of time, saying that the future started today.

The future inherently would be the next day. He said actually the future started at the walk through practice, which was completed. Well, isn't 30 seconds from now the future? By the way, this is all a way to talk about the best quarter of the offseason from RG3. And we'll resurface it here. This is from June's offseason camp. Coach Mike Clark's done a great job with us in the weight room. And then Coach Jay's done a great job taking care of us out of the practice field.

Some people like to call this the grind. You can call it the find because you figure out what you got. And I think we've got some good stuff. Oh! Hashtag movement. Everything's got to be a movement with this guy. Hashtag rise and find. Moving forward.

All right. Wes, this is something you'll be interested. You weren't interested in talking about that last. Keep T and Wes up on the false anger. Wes, this time, maybe we'll get you on this one. Get him talking about the wire on the back. That'll get that real anger. Unless anybody think that Wes is never being legitimate,

he would not even play along with the segment. He will torpedo it if he must to prove that that is not genuinely how he feels. So Wes keeps it real against all odds. Marvin Lewis says he'll walk away from the Bengals if they win a Super Bowl. This, of course, the Cincinnati Bengals, who aren't known for winning Super Bowls or winning playoff games. recently. Here's the quote. I want to hand Mike the trophy. Referring to Mike Brown, the owner, and then just walk away, Wes.

And Paul Doherty of the Cincinnati Inquirer, who was at this function, added that Marvin Lewis was not joking around about walking off into the sunset. If he wins, he's gone. And frankly, it would be the first playoff win in 25 years, the longest streak of basically failure in the NFL. Wes and I have a lot of bengal angst going on between the two of us, but I don't buy a word of this because, no, because listen, you win a Super Bowl. So you're a coach that doesn't want to take on the challenge of repeating and showing that you can do it again.

Love that. That's a great quality. Secondly, you finally might get actual money from the Bengals if you win a Super Bowl, or if you leave the Bengals, someone else is going to offer you a big bunch of cash. You're telling me his career is going to be over. He's not even that old. He's going to walk away from football. You're so angry.

because it seems absurd to me. Well, now we know what Mark's hot take would have been after Bill this is the same guy that told me at the annual meeting, straight face that Andy Dalton was his best chance to win a Super Bowl. So you know what? I'm not buying anything coming out of this guy's mouth. Forget waiting to win a Super Bowl to walk away and retire. I think if Marvin Lewis can get that, you know, wild card victory at home

against the, you know, upstart Buffalo Bills, he might retire right then, maybe not even go to the divisional route. That would be the ultimate. Don't bury the lead here. Marvin Lewis is in considerable danger right now because Mark is going to kill him. I am not. I just think it's like, I mean, this guy, just go do it. Just go do it.

Once a month we get the point or the finger wag for Mark. And I did not see it coming on this story, this particular conversation. I'm just annoyed with this team and this coach. Here's an interesting little tidbit from this story. Since the 1970 merger, only two coaches in the NFL have gone 12 straight years without a Super Bowl appearance for the same organization. Marvin Lewis and Chuck Knoll. Chuck Knoll had four Super Bowls in his pocket before then. Marvin Lewis shares the worst playoff record in NFL history.

But don't forget what Sally Wilkatz told me during the pain rankings. He raised a Titanic, Marvin Lewis did. Because he has brought the more success. Rickett West who carries around a binder with him because he couldn't have bared a route for the team. And now they're losing in the playoffs, but they go to the playoffs every single year. And that's an achievement.

I know nobody wants to give him that credit, but it is. It's kind of like the starting pitcher where they say, oh, he's got to be pretty good to lose 15 games. Like, you've got to be pretty good to last 12 years to not make the playoffs for all 12 years. And Mark, let me say. We can't have it both ways, by the way. You can't bury Marvin Lewis

and then spend all season burying Andy Dalton. If Marvin Lewis has a bad quarterback and he's getting in the playoffs every year, he's doing something, right? He's got a serviceable quarterback and an excellent roster. Well, as Hugh Jackson recently said, they're a different kind of laughing stock now.

Not the embarrassment to the entire league. Just kind of, it's funny that every January they lose. All right. Let's move on. Oklahoma drill time. Mark, you were the only one that played football. Tell us about your most memorable Oklahoma drill experience. I remember this directly, actually. It was in 1989, and they would line up similar-sized players.

So it was another smallish cornerback type like myself. And he rolled me. And then he got up and he goes, I'm Eric Metcalf. And I was like, number one, I'm a Browns fan and you better sit down. And they put us back in the road next time around. this is the best football hit I ever had, mulled him, just left him on the ground, and the position coach was like,

that's how you do it! But then it never happened again. I never materialized into a serviceable player and never started a game. This is why we're putting it on video. If anyone can someday watch the little shimmy that Mark did while imitating the I'm Eric Metcalfe. It's like, don't tell me that you're Eric Metcalfe.

Especially because he's a small returner, not the guy who's going to be winning. I just can't believe there were two Eric Metcass fans in suburban Connecticut. All right, I'm going to throw out the first Oklahoma drill lineup. So this was from an article I did 15 years ago. It could be surprise potential cuts. So they're kind of surprised. And I threw Vernon Davis in there. I heard a little

whisper from someone at the NFL media group that Vernon Davis was on the cutting block that the 49ers were planning going to try to sign Julius Thomas. They were going to cut Vernon Davis. So that shows that they weren't necessarily happy with him. They didn't get to sign Thomas, but maybe he's not safe. either Vernon Davis or Riley Cooper battling for the number four receiver spot in Philadelphia. Who stays?

Vernon Davis is one of the 49ers' only realistic chances of having a nice season this year. If he returns the form, I'm sure they see that in Wes. And your piece you did about Gore last week, I remember watching the video of Vernon Davis making that incredible play. They got wiped out by penalty. But it reminded me that this guy can still move and he can still play.

I know they see that. even though he might be a pain in the ass or whatever, I would think they want to hold on to him unless he's a complete headache. And, you know. They said he looked faster at OTAs. Yeah, I don't see why. And Riley Cooper, he was dead last in PFF's rankings this past year.

And he was one of the worst wide receivers in football. So I would think he has, and they just drafted a wide receiver. You've got Nelson Aguilar. You've got Jordan Matthews, Josh Huff. You've got a good young tight end. Riley Cooper is not a need in Philadelphia. What are you? Well, I didn't make up these matchups.

Well, what is it, Vance McDonald becomes your playmaking tight end in San Francisco from now until end of time? I'm not Marvin Lewis, Mark. Stop yelling at me. I think they both stay, but Riley Cooper, as Dan mentioned, the only wide receiver who played worse than him last year was Reggie Wayne. I mean, he was terrible last year. I don't think they cut him, but, you know, like Mark said, you've got Josh Huff, you've got Jordan Matthews, Nelson Aguilar. That's not really sweetening in the pot. I'm just saying if Cooper is not their number in the top three receivers coming out of camp. He doesn't play special teams.

You can get cut. And if you think about these two guys in a real Oklahoma drill, it's not too hard to. Part of the problem is you cut, you cut the, in Davis, that position group becomes nothing. You know what you got here? What? Curse of five for 25. Oh. Riley Cooper.

My favorite, my favorite sports curse. The Danny Tartable curse. Five years, $25 million contracts never work out. Unless you're Steve Kerr, who won an NBA title. Oh, it just threw the whole theory out. And Mike Tannenbaum signed him to that deal. All right. Next up, I'll throw one out there.

Here we go. Matt Castle. Or RG3 in the Oklahoma drill, our old friend, rise and grind, because you learn when you grind, and then you find RG3, whatever the hell he said. Who has a better chance to, you know, battle and win? I don't know what we're doing. I think this is where we're talking about RG3

because he's a nice topic, but this is absolutely easy. Castle, according to multiple beatwriters, look like the worst quarterback of a bad quarterback group. And a lot of those guys doing their roster projections, don't even have them making the team. RG3 has the owners buying. If anything is going, it's Jay Gruden who's going. They've already picked up his option for next year.

Well, that's not guaranteed, but $4 million of this year's salary is guaranteed. And that's why it's really hard to imagine RG3 getting cut. But I did have someone, you know, I was doing some research for this one, and people threw it out there that it wouldn't be that crazy if RG3 had a tough training game. I think it'd be more likely to get traded than cut.

Wouldn't it require the coach to win a battle with the owner to make that happen? I was going to say more like Matt Kielso versus Jay Gruden. Take RG3's picture. There you go. Put up Jay Gruden. By the way, some of, you know, sometimes we get too close to because we cover this league 365 days a year. If he had a bad off-season program,

I mean, what do you have seven bad practice? This is like Castle. You're right. To write him off before training cams even start. We've got like 12 years of game tape. Dude, Dan, we're filling time here. I was going to say, I mean, again, we can't use the double standard here because people keep citing the Patriots going 11 and 5 with Matt Castle,

but now you can't say he's always been garbage. He can play a little bit. There's been times in his career. 2006? Yeah, it's a year ago. 2008. Maybe they should sign Ledany and Tomlinson, too. He played well in Minnesota.

2010 with the Chiefs, but that's really the last time. He did not play well in Minnesota. He's had some moments of sustained. He's better than Matt Flynn just because his arm actually functions. All right, Wes, you're up. All right. You've got two running backs here. One's old.

One's young. Fred Jackson, 34 years old. They've got LaShawn McCoy. You've got Boobie Dixon. You've got Bryce Brown. Fred Jackson versus Trent Richardson. And you guys actually have something invested here. Isn't there a sandwich on the line?

Mark and I way back. This is early in the offseason wager. I said that this is before Richardson even signed with the Raiders. that he'd never play another snap in the NFL. And he signed with the Raiders. And Mark, you were excited, rightfully so. And I said, I'm still not worried because when he gets to camp, he's going to blow it because he can't play anymore.

And Mark, I'll let you have the honors. What was the report that came out? Let's go Chronicle this morning. Yeah, I screen capture this and send it to Dan and said, what kind of sandwich do you want? Because they said that the experiment, in quotes, is not going so well. Oh, yeah.

So I think it's if they ever cut him and he decided it's over, I'm going to go be a movie star instead. I don't know if that's going to be. You know, something else that was equally unsuccessful. I'm going to go T-Ritch here because I think that Fred Jackson sticks around in Buffalo. I think Rex Ryan likes his veterans. And if anyone's gone, I think it's Bryce Brown. That was another coaching staff that brought him in.

And he just seems like the odd man out because they have a rookie. I think they're going to keep around. Well, Doug Whaley is the one who traded a fourth-round pick for Bryce Brown, general manager. He's still there, so he might be invested. Yeah, and Brown's done nothing. People around the bills believe that Fred Jackson is going to stay, and the ownership stepped him to help keep him.

there but he is older and if you have it can't kill fred jackson he's resputing no i know i think it's definitely t rins fantasy guys have been writing him off for seven years now i just didn't think it'd be the craziest thing ever if he got cut t d behind the last team leader too i got myself a little bit of a uh sessler oh oh yeah oh yeah how do we not have the sessler ready to rip it's one of our favorite drops t d come we're not allowed to get your job game going we don't do drops All right. I'll do it. Doesn't have the same effect.

They're both gone. They're both going to cut. I don't want it to happen. I like Fred Jackson, especially 34 years old, loaded backfield. Rex likes him. He'll be one of the last cuts. And if it was on hard knocks, it would have been heartbreaking. And T. Rich sucks.

But since it's not on television, it's not heartbreaking? No, not. It's not nearly as heartbreaking. Finally, who has a gun? All right, I'll go. It's basically a good old cornerback battle. The sexiest one for last. Brandon Carr of the Cowboys, 29 years old, and Leon Hall, 30 years old of the Bengals.

Now, Brandon Carr was noticeably a disaster at times last season, but I'm thinking he might be the one who wins this battle because they said they're working on restructuring his deal. So he's going to make less money, but it sounds like there's some effort to keep him around. Leon Hall might be the odd man out in Cincey this time around. I think if they were going to cut Brandon Call, for money, they would have done it by now. He's already survived until now, so he's probably safe.

Leon Hall, they've talked about moving him to safety. They've got recent first-round picks in Drake, Kirkpatrick, and Darquez-Denard that they want to put in there. Pac-Man Jones is still around. I think Leon Hall is more likely to be cut than Brandon Carr. I think with most of these guys, not including Trent Richardson, but definitely with Hall and Carr, they are more likely to stay with the team. We're looking for potential guys that could get cut. You know, you never know if the rest of the Dallas secondary has a great.

camp and then the team keeps coming a car they're trying to get him to take less money because he has paid like a superstar too much you know jerry jones doesn't want to give up anyone that could help him in a year like this leon hall on the other hand he needs to be starting because he is paid like one of the top cornerbacks almost eight well no yeah cars getting eight and halls getting 7.7 and hall's got come out he's had two torn achilles is on the wrong side of 30 seems like the type of guy that could be cut at the end of camp uh a couple achilles tendon surgeries drakerpatrick patrick's coming on a little bit. Darkwez-Denard is a guy.

They took him the first round, so those guys are looking for more playing time. All right, the old goal drill's over. Ow! How did you like that second? I thought it was fun. It was good. He seemed to be a little suspicious of it before we taped it.

Well, yeah, because then I was like, well, what would happen if they actually battled? Like if Vernon Davis went against Riley Cooper, which I actually could kind of see happening who would win that fight. I think Riley would be in trouble. T. Rich versus Fred Jackson. T. Rich wouldn't even make it. Fred Jackson's got too much heart.

Yeah. Tevich wouldn't even make it to the ring. He'd be busy doing something else. Brandon Carr versus Leon Hall. Carr seems like he would be a guy who'd be a guy you'd want on your side in a fight. Hall would run right by him. Matt Castle versus RG3. No, RG3.

RG3 would quit or something. Hordermack's don't fight. Rise and grind. That's important. Grind to find your way to shine. And that's how you learn who you are. You can't tweet and fight at the same time. No.

All right. Final, let's move on. We've got a lot to get to. Big show today. Let's hit up the men. mailbag. We all liked to hit the mailbag. So we went through it. We called our way through. Is that, does that work? Do we, do we? You called all the tweets. Did you called our way through? Yeah, just you called the tweets. That works. I think people know what you mean. Some people. Anyway, so I've never called. I'll start this one. All right, Wes, get it going.

From at, well, from Jamie Wilson, whose Twitter handle is just his name backwards. I'm not about to try to pronounce that. All right. Do the Broncos have the highest ceiling, lowest floor? i.e. they could either win the Super Bowl or have a top 10 pick, draft pick, next year. That's a good question. I like that one. I would think the Broncos would be the, yes, to me, the most obvious because Peyton Manning, everything hinges on Peyton. So I'd put them at the top of the list.

That's a great question. I like that. I might look at the Dallas Cowboys because if everything goes right, they're right at the door in the NFC, but right back to where they got last year. but if everything goes wrong, there's a lot of weaknesses on that team on the defense, especially, and I wonder if the floor could fall out. I picked a couple of AFC East teams.

The Bills and the Jets also have high ceilings and low floors just because of their quarterback situation, but they both have a lot more talent this year than they had last year. But I think the right answer is the Bronco. Yeah. And you could even lump in the Dolphins there to me, but their ceilings, none of those teams to me, their ceilings are as high or as low as the Broncos is, you know. As much of the Broncos have lost this year, that is still one of the most talented teams in the league.

I don't know about Lowe's the low floor. But if Manning's arm doesn't cooperate, I could see them definitely getting a top 10 pick. Brock Osweiler fart in his way to 30-7-d-dust rating. Well, it would require, like, that second season where Farve was in Minnesota. Well, it's just a figure of speech. Oh, okay. I don't think he would actually have gas.

It would just be he would perform poorly. Oh, okay. What about the Giants? Yeah. They've shown they can win Super Bowls with a 9-and-7 record, and then also Eli never gets hurt. They've got the talent on offense. He's not going to fall off the cliff.

How about the Saints? You get some Spag's magic. Saints. Saints are perfect. Detroit Lions. Because any team with Drew Breeze has a chance to win the Super Bowl. I believe we've named every team in the NFL. We've got about 17 D.

Which tells you a lot about it. But I think Jamie nailed it, though. I think the Broncos are the answer. And Wes, you wanted to know how to pronounce Jamie's name backwards. It's Nassiliwamagie. Fascinating. Yeah. All right.

Next up. Also, God bless you. Yeah. This is from Dale at Dale Urfer, I-F-U-R. What is the Eagles record this year if Sam Bradford starts 16 games and plays to his potential? One thing I want to say, I don't know, are we all on the same page of what Sam Bradford's potential is? I'm not sure, but I guess he's a top 12 quarterback, maybe in the back end of the top 12 or something. I guess in Philadelphia's potential might be the guy who is the last quarterback to make the Pro Bowl or something like that.

He's a pro bowl replacement, something like that. Okay, so a very good quarterback. 12 and 4 is my answer. I'll go 11 and 5 because what, were they 10 and 6 last year? 10 and 6? So how about 11 and 5? They can, if they have an offense or a quarterback that's humming and playing at a really high level, they can blow through the league.

They can go 13 and 3. Yeah. I could put up 38 points a game with Chip Kelly. I expect their backfield to be much better this year and their defensive secondary to be much better this year. Their defense, to me, is a boomer bust type of defense. I'm going to go 12 and 4, too. I mean, I like the Eagles every year.

I pick them to win the United States. They're going to keep happening. We're not predicting these records. This is in a best case scenario with their quarterback. We're just answering a question. Answer the question. All right, here we go. Scott Lowry from the UK, baby.

Here he says, what were your first game you went to, first Super Bowl you watched, first players you loved. First kiss. No, not first kiss. Feel free to add others. Maybe just pick one. Pick one. From his list there.

Wes, you go first. First Super Bowl I watched was the Bengals 49ers. I think it was Super Bowl 16. I was probably like seven years old. I remember the Hoodee cheer started in Cincinnati that year, and there's a brewery in Cincinnati called Heutepal Brewery, and everybody called it a Hewty. So Hewdy made a Hootay beer.

So you would see all these orange and black beers called Hoos days, and they were sponsored by Hewdy. So I remember all that going on, and the Bengals should have won the game. I believe they had four turnovers, and there was a big fourth, big first and goal stand that they couldn't, they couldn't convert the fourth down, ran four times in a row and couldn't get in the end zone. You know, Mark, nostalgia is a powerful drug.

Well, I was told by TD that nostalgia is my thing. I don't even know what that means, but. It kind of, yeah, I think he actually, the exact quote was nostalgia is, you, that's what he said. But my first game that I went to was October 2nd, 1988. It was the Jets hosting the Kansas City Chiefs. and this was a fitting game for it to be my first game ever. It was in a driving rainstorm and a late kickoff. My dad took me.

I was obviously very excited about it. At a downpour of the game, the Jets blew a late lead in the fourth quarter, and then blew two golden scoring opportunities in overtime. Freeman McNeil had a fumble like inside the 20, I believe, when they were in field goal range. Final score, 1717, the last tie in Jets history. Mine was just like your Jets thing started typically. my throne of ease started, even back when the Patriots stunk.

First game I ever went to. Doug Flutie takes an end around, around the corner against the Colts to win one of their only wins all year and get a victory for the Patriots. Well, we're on out of time here. First Kiss, seventh grade movie theater, Robin Herman, romancing the stone, I believe. That wasn't even part of the question. It said feel free to add others. That's what I just did. You just wanted to jump in there.

All right. We got limited time. That was good. All right. Your turn, Greg. All right. Let's, we've looked into the past. I'm going into the future, because that's my thing, Mark.

I don't know if you knew that. What will the NFL look like in 25 years? This is from Ben Krellen. Will there be no helmets, no extra points, more than 32 teams, international teams? What's the future of the NFL going to be in 2040? There's laser beams involved. Okay. There are.

Let's group source this. Yeah, there's silver. jump suits with maybe just the logo over the chest and everyone's on discs. This question reminds me of an article I remember from the Sports Illustrated's old college and pro spectacular football

preview. From like 1983 or 84 someone asked, there was an article what would the NFL look like in the year 2000? And it looked like Odell Beckham. Every player would be that talented. You know, they got a few things wrong that Greg would like to have seen by now, like kind of like lasers on the goal line to

figure out of the ball. They thought there would be a computer chip in the ball. These things haven't happened yet. Stupid. What they did get right, the uniforms would be a lot more streamlined. The shoulder pads would be practically non-existent, and the padding in the legs would be a lot less. They got all of this right.

I mean, we're basically saying how much is the game changed from 1990 to today? A lot. And now to then. Yes, and Greg and I debated this downstairs. I mean, sadly, I think around 2038, massive cataclysmic event, apocalyptic downfall takes down America. There is no football. It's gone.

Wow. I should have seen that coming. I'm always upset with myself that I don't see Mark sending it down a dark humanity crater. I'm just glad you didn't have like all 32 starting quarterbacks. You know, torn ACLs on the same day to start the season in 20. No, Greg. It was actually torn Patelor is much harder to come back from. Well, look, you asked for an honest answer. The earth is wiped clean by that point.

More scoring, less, you know, less tackling, some international teams for sure, or at least one international team. What you've just said makes me re-evaluate my life. Greg, I'm going to have to quit. If we're all going to be wiped out, I'm going to have to start doing some other things with me. A long time, 23 years. I want to keep writing low-octane posts about hamstring strains.

So I'm staying right here. Greg, don't worry about you're in my spot. So you're my MVP. Let's hit a little lightning round, if you will. We'll hit a few more questions. This one from Anthony Phillips at Phillips underscore Anthon, which would be Anthony if you took out the Y. He would be known as Anthon.

Which producer survives the longest on a tropical island? TD, Sully, Gold Standard, or the Irishman, Brandon McGinnis. Because I have Irish heritage, I could tell you right away. Brandon's done. The sun would destroy him. His skin. It's too translucent. He's dead within a week.

So Brandon's out. Sorry, buddy. Because of the skin, that's all. I'm going Sully because, you know, he knows how to fish. We know that for a fact. He's got a dark side. I think he could. He literally came to shirt to,

work against I ain't a Fisher shirt. I'm going TD on this one. Okay. I've seen some workout videos. He's posted on social media. This guy's in excellent shape. He's going to survive. He's got a pretty hot body,

but it is also a little weird that he's posting workout videos. Do you think you'd handle it in the wild? That's why I've never brought it up before because it's a little uncomfortable. Yeah. That he would be posting workout videos on social media. That you're watching on repeat?

I'm going, I mean, Gold Standard. Love Gold Standard, but I've got to go TD because he's currently producing the show. You've got to build ally. Look at the Mark. Yeah, right. Right. You can't.

You know. The most desperate MVP grab yet there, Mark. Well, that would be absurd if I don't go TD, and I'm hearing about that for the next three months. Let's be political. What's the difference between the speed round and the rest of them? I don't know. Let's keep moving. He's like gold standard could be pretty resourceful.

He's the underdog. He's resourceful. McGinnis is really pissed at me, by the way, behind the glass. Next up from Frank Rich Walski. Oh, yeah. Mark, Wes, can you share a fond memory of BMB? being a Bengals fan in your youth. And can he do it quickly?

My dad, that would be, I lost my dad a couple of years ago. He was not a fan of the ownership in Cincinnati, which might surprise you guys. But he was a big fan of Rodney Holman, their tight end. He tried not to get excited for games, but every time he saw Rodney Holman catch the ball and just run over six or seven guys, he kind of get up and give a fist pump or something.

And he raised seven sons, so he deserved a little bit more winning than he got. He did. Football was the release for the old man. All right, next up. Big J. Powsky at Gigum Nation. Greg, this one's really for you. Please, can we have an update on the hashtag On to London campaign?

Well, you know, I'm going to put this on a shadowy league figure. He knows who he is listing out there. He said we're going. So I'm going to hold them to do that. I haven't seen any documents about it. I think we're going to go two by two by two. Kevin Patrick. Like Noah's Ark?

And Connor Orr will also go. And so we'll try to hit up each game. How about that? Really? Well, I think when a shadowy league figure says this is going to happen it's going to happen now it's on now it's on right wait so it doesn't mean does that mean it's a done deal that sounds that it's happening so we're all going but we're going to go in different shifts yeah we'll go to two two that sounds you get to go to the jets game oh that's very

exciting all right we got to get the pub set up for that next up this is from our friend neil dutton at end dutton 13 olox stay brid the old zeuser quiet storm the boss and the mailman what's the worst nickname you've ever had. Mark, you had one for that. I went through middle school with cesspool based off my last name. Also, Cessel B. DeMille, a little bit better than Cesspool. West, anything? North American Gaptooth Weasel.

Wow. Whoa. That's heavy. Unfair. But called that by my high school buddies, and they still bring it up every once in a while. It's now endearing. I don't know if it was at first. I had Stein in high school a lot, just because they were amazed at the

Jewish kid lived among a bunch of Irish Catholics. So that was just that. That was a bad one. I have a dear friend of mine, Brian, when we lived in Hollywood together, he would call me the spider pig. Well, that's sticking. Yeah, well, that was the type of. Wait, you've been looking for a nickname. Wait, that's better than the old user.

Spider pig. Spider pig. We might have a winner. We might have a winner. And finally, this one comes from downstairs, David Ely. he is our long time now editor he kind of runs the desk this is his question who is drake and who is meek mill in the la sean mccoy chip kelly feud now i know that this really a lot of people in this room right now don't know about any of these names or even

if they are names i know all about i saw the feud as it first came out all right all right classes well just i got ely actually from upstairs he's going to just put on the mic he's behind the glass to explain it to the 40-something crowd. Hey, Ely, how are you? Don't be nervous, buddy. I'm not nervous. It's a big spot. You've been talking about this for months.

Can I finally get on the podcast? And today's your day. By the way, a little pullback the curtain moment. One other time Ely was supposed to be on the show, this was about a couple of years ago. And he actually was in the studio and we started taping. And then the face of the network, Rich Eisen had to come in and he superseded us.

And we were just kicked out of the studio. And two years later, Ely finally makes it back. How does it feel? I like to think it's worth of wait. Yeah. All right. So can you explain to Wes and Mark, are you aware of this feud?

I would like an explanation. I'm not being insulting. I'm just saying you might not. No, no. It's not on my radio. I'm aware that a feud involving Drake exists. Oh, wow, good for you. All right.

Go ahead. All right. Well, Wes, this first started kind of out of the blue last week. Meek Mill randomly tweeted out. Stop comparing me to Drake, too. He don't write his own wraps. Now, this apparently was in response to the fact that Drake never tweeted out the release of meek mill's new album and then meek mill revealed that in his mind that drake on a featured track

had someone ghost write his own verse which is a big no-no you can't do that so i agree with that meek mill puts drake on blast drake's silent for a few days because why is drake going to go stoop down to meek mill's level and then over the weekend he hits out i'm charged up which was kind of a more of a slow melancholy disdrake put that out yes it was but the single the the art was Was Joe Carter being hoisted? No, no, there's two distracts. Oh, well, sorry. So first off was, I'm charged up, which again was a slow burn.

And then four days pass. And then this is where really Drake just owned it. He went up back to back with the Joe Carter one. And he just lit into Meek Mill, called him out. Wow. TV's never had more fun on this podcast. So now you're caught up. And now the question is, who is Drake?

So you think that Drake won this battle, this? Oh, hands down. He basically said, Nick Minaj, you better get that pre-enup. before she marries meek-mell. And that's devastating as well. Meek-Mill, of course, with the pop star. Who is Drake and who is Meek-Mill and the LaShawn McCoy? Chip Kelly feud.

Wes. Like, five seconds into Ely's explanation, I started thinking of a 25-year-old British girl I met over the weekend. And you just lost me the rest of the way. I don't even know what the explanation is over. I would rather hear, Greg, who claims to be very deeply woven into this controversy, your take, because I don't have a hot take necessarily. Well, I think Chip Kelly is ultimate. is ultimately Drake because he's coming out looking better off.

Yes, that's the correct thing. And it reminds me of my favorite disc track of all time, a long loss one, second round K.O. By cannabis on L.L. Cool J. And people listening out there know exactly what I was talking about. Yeah. Everyone thought he was going to have a great career after that. But it was just kind of like a one hit.

Under the old format, we could sample that right now. I would say, yeah, I would say I think you're referring to, he said 99% of your fans are in high heels. Yes. That was part of it. L.L. CoolJay came back, said 99% of your fans don't exist, which was a pretty good return. By the way. Cool Jal maybe didn't get killed there after.

The jerk store called. One thing, Dan set this up with Ely, and there was a tweet we got a week ago where someone said, because we mentioned Ely's rather wanting Tinder game, and someone was like, I like this Ely guy. I want to hear more from him, so we were giving the fans what they want right here. Good job, Dan. Do you have a girlfriend, Ely? No, I do not. All right.

Ladies. You will someday. He's single at David Ealy. David underscore Ely David underscore Ely See, that's why What are you doing with an underscore? He's single

All right By the way I had teased a surprise Dave you could stay on Actually no you got to give up the headset Sorry buddy Thank you David Thank you

I was gonna have you on Thank you man And Wes doesn't want to change his wire over So you can't be on the show anymore Wes gets the ratings up Not me Look I would love for my wire To be visible

And not to worry about it So don't put it on me Every year it is something. Last year it was the hat. Remember when Wes went nuts about having to take his hat off? This year it's the wire, the battle of the war. The wire's been there from the beginning. Oh, that's true, too. All right.

I teased a surprise. I was thinking of maybe Conoror get him on the air, but I guess it's not happening, Greg. It is not. We've had some, you know, breaking news that he's attending to. Sheldon Richardson, as Wes alluded to charged with the resisting arrest. So, Connor Orr is. I thought that was a joke, Wes. Getting that story right now.

Oh, Sheldon. so jerk he's busy doing his journal thing that's not good all right well maybe next week we'll bring back what are you kidding me um so that's it finally before we go usually uh t d you have to remind us about the MVP and well first of all i just got to say that i i didn't know we can talk hip hop on the show i know me and gregg have gone back and forth a couple of times you know i mean if we're talking we want to talk this tracks we can do it all day but you know that's a different podcast we have the theology podcast set up we had another podcast can't remember it the disc track podcast is also on it it'll naturally come up in our conversation maybe a mailbag in about three

and a half more years so just be ready when that happens ready to rock and then you can go all right so anyway i'm that was good though a little hip hop talk i know we were a little we leaned a little alternative rocky with our one hit wonder of the 90s thing so keeping it real all right all right guys before the end the show you know what time it is podcast MVP and today's the winner is my main man, my brother from another, Mr. Mark Sessler. Whoa! Wait, this is first time ever. This is it, man.

You know, he came with it. Good show. Before the show, like you said, Dan said it was kind of hot and heavy in here. But Mark was the only one who was holding it down. Well, deserved. Thank you. Was this because he blatantly pandered to you? Well, listen, I don't care how I get it.

Maybe. That's fine. This is an interesting move by Titi. It might be subverting his own segment that he, right and he's take he's taking out the one redeeming bit i i have to tell you t d i never came out against your podcast against your MVP segment because neither did i thought it was you know kind of added an edge when you never gave it to sessler you remove that which cags nicely is something i want to bring up for the listeners and to td i've started a poll um on a website it's the question

asked should we continue td's MVP segment and once we tweet this out we're going to send it out We're going to have the listeners decide, TD, whether the MVP segment continues. Your thoughts? A little behind the scene is fact. The reason Mark won it, because I feel like this might be the last one we did. Oh. I feel bad because. Do you have a mole?

Do you? That's not cool. I have sources. That's all. So this was just a ruse. I feel bad because I voted no on that poll. He had no sources. What did you guys vote?

I just voted a flat out no. And now I'm wondering if I did the right thing. I abstained because I was about to reel off six in a row. I'm not saying what I voted, but there were some yes. I will send out the poll, by the way. Let's see what the listeners think. Maybe TD, if it's a 90% yes, you'll be swayed to continue it, although you've ruined any dramatic element by giving.

Jim and Pam have now gotten together. Thank you. Yeah. So anyway, that's it for today's edition of the Around the NFL podcast. We will be back with three shows next week. Every week now, right? Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

For the rest of training camp. Till next June. And until next June. And it goes on. And on and on and on. So, signing off for the quiet start, the mailman, the old Zooser, the boss, and T-D behind the glass. Until next week. Thank you.