NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Wide Receiver Draft with Phoebe Schecter

Episode Date: May 23, 2022

A virtual room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus and Gregg Rosenthal bring you all of the latest news in the NFL starting with Jadeveon Clowney re-signing with the Cleveland Browns (7:30). Greg Olsen has officially been awarded the number one FOX Sports NFL broadcasting role (15:30). Nick Foles has signed a two-year deal with the Colts, and Carson Wentz responded to Jim Irsay calling the Wentz trade a "mistake" (21:30). After that, Phoebe Schecter joins the program (33:30) to participate in a 5-round wide receiver draft with the goal of building the most complete, complementary wide receiver room, with a surprise twist: mystery categories! Tune in to find out who drafted the best team, and let us know your thoughts in our Instagram poll @theatnpodcast. Note: timecodes approximate.NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast. Won't wear a langer. Welcome to Around the NFL, the latest edition, deep in the off-season edition. I'm Dan Hansus, joined virtually by Greg Rosenthal. What's up, buddy? I mean, I'm just a little annoyed how much you're showing me up. We haven't done the whole virtual setup in a while, which is nice, especially because your setup, which already was a lot more professional than mine, now has a neon sign that says old Zeuser lit up in the background.

I'm not sure how I feel about this, but it's taken me aback. I'm a little disappointed that Mark is not here right now. Mark, somewhere on vacation. Maybe a vacation. Well, I don't know what's going on with Mark. We don't know. And hopefully he'll be back later this week. I think he just saw the amount of days that we've each had off so far this off season.

He counted him up and he's like, I need to even that out. I know. I knew that was coming, by the way. But that's fine. But that's good. That's good. The reason why I wish he was here for the unveiling of my old Zeus or neon sign was he would just be disgusted by it. And I feel like that would have been, I would have gotten some mileage out of that.

This is a gift from my brother, Kevin Danger Hanses. He got it for me for, I think, Christmas. And at first, I was a little sheepish about, should I put it in the background? It feels like maybe it's a little much. But maybe at this point in my career, it's time to just completely, completely lean in to the persona and let that consume, fully consume the man behind the persona. So that's where I'm at right now. This is, I'm going full WWE. I am no longer Dan Hansis.

I am now the old Zusser, here or two, forward. I mean, we've been on this journey together for a while here. I remember early on in the podcast days. I would often call you out for when you would go third person. And then at some point I stopped even calling you out because there were so many different third person nicknames you had made up for yourself, well, you know, the old blue eye. What is it, the old blue eyes?

The new old blue eyes. And that's a new with an umlot. Um, so I think this, I think this completes the circle. I like it. I mean, I kind of like, like it and don't like it at the same time. So that's what you. I think that's what you want is a reaction. That's what I'm looking for as a person.

And your background's fine. It's fine. It maybe could use a little. We don't have to use it anymore. So that's nice. Maybe it could use a little 2022 sprucing for the new season if we do end up here doing certain shows. We still will be doing remote shows during the season.

But even then it's podcasts. If we're not on TV anymore from home, I'm done with it. You know, I'm phoning it in. Hey, I don't, somebody should tell Greg that this is 2022. There's social media content. You're always on camera now, buddy. Right now you're on camera. Yeah, but I always look like trash at our podcast.

I'm fine with that. I spent the weekend in Nashville with my buddies from back east. I did not, as you can see, because I'm here, I did not get Chappellelled by a single Titans fan, which was nice. Great city. Had never been there before. shout out to CJ so many talented musicians down on Broadway there he was certainly among them and he's a big ATN fan and he appeared legitimately shocked to see me standing in the crowd like a big

old bozo and that's funny and perhaps understandable we had a nice conversation he had a theory why mark does not deserve sandwiches for the philly special but once again i got to keep that chambered because mark's not here so but that was great shout out to cj a long-time listener I love Nashville. With a crowd of what? What kind of crowd? Um, what kind of crowd? You said he saw you in the crowd?

What crowd? Oh, yeah, no. So if you're familiar at all with that main drag there in Nashville, there's bands that play, literally morning, tonight, through the night in every single establishment. And there's a, you know, it's a very crowded district. And so I was in the crowd watching C.J's band on Thursday night. And then I ended up seeing a- on Friday as well. It was a nice little thing. But yeah, if you're a music lover, if you like

good times, if you're like, if you're our age now, Greg, where maybe you want it, not that you're like, hey, guys trip, that's not really a Greg Rosenthal thing, but like if you went and you wanted to go to a city where you didn't feel like too old, like Nashville's perfect. It's got all ages. You know, it's a great, great fun American party city with a lot of history too. So West and Keisha hit it up on his sandwiches tour. He said, unbelievable. sandwiches in an unbelievable city. I remember they were both in love with it. And that was, yeah, that actually came to mind

while I was walking the streets of Nashville. This is right up Chris Wessling Alley. So that was nice. Anything to report on your weekend before we move into today's show? No, we were hunkered down. Walker got COVID last week, although you couldn't really tell.

So we're just hanging. Maybe I got it too. How are you, buddy? I'm okay. So we picked a good show. Me back from the Pack to Nashville, you, COVID in the house. Let's stay remote for the balance of the week.

Coming up on today's show. It's very exciting for the guests that we're going to have on today's show. Greg, you have done Super Bowl coverage with this woman who works with Sky Sports, works with the NFL, and now she's going to be joining us on today's show. Phoebe Schechter. That's good. She knows her stuff and she is going to add a lot of value for

a very impressive, a very important, I should say, draft we have coming up. That's all I'll say. What you're teasing the draft? I mean, it'll probably be in the title of the show if you want to just go check it out now,

but I like that. I'm excited for this. This is like great offseason content. And yeah, Phoebe's amazing. She was so good on the Super Bowl coverage we did. Also was a staff member under Sean McDermott. like a coaching intern there.

So that's exciting. It works at Sky with our friends there. So it'll be great. Let's get some Sean McDertment. You know what I mean? But before that, the news. What's your name? G-ray.

What you do? How you throw out my drawers? Chilling on the 7th floor. I got to let these chickens know. Be Greg is in the house. And I'm fin to make these. I'm a bitch. I'm my dick.

Quick on the face. I'm a stick my shit. between the bs, come on fellas, let's get weird, stick your up in the ear, all in the eyes. That's how we do it, son. Yes, of course, Greg Holson and the seventh floor crew from the Miami Hurricanes.

We'll get to Greg in a little bit. And yes, maybe the bleeps made it difficult to understand the message of the song that Greg and the rest of the seventh floor crew are trying to express. But that's for the best. This is a family show. at the end of the day, and also there's kids

that could be listening in the car and the entire female race. The beep the beeps threw me off that I haven't heard that in maybe 10 years and I totally forgot it ever existed. And that's exactly what Greg Olson wants. All right, let's get to the news. Start with the Cleveland Browns.

They have kept an important defensive player in the building after Dewey and Clowny's 14th unsuccessful trip to, agency. He's decided to stick with the Browns, return to the team on a one-year deal worth up to $11 million. So he'll start next to Miles Garrett, Clowny. And people that listen to the show know I've given Clowny a little bit of grief for not maybe being the guy that connects with how much we talk about Judavian Clowny in terms of production. He's never had 10 sacks in a season, for instance, but I feel like he's had nine sacks on a season, about six times now.

including last year. So Greg, a value add to keep him with the Browns and that defense should be able to make some noise the season. I mean, I'd like someone to say my trip to free agency was unsuccessful. If I could get, you know, $11 million at the end of it, he's doing fine. They needed him. They probably expected this to happen the whole time.

They have Chase Winovich right now as their third pass rusher, really, which I think is a nice role for him. I think could be a nice pickup. But when I was doing the projected starters at first and like I was Slotty and Winnevich as the starter and like no one really behind them, it was like they better signed Genevian Clownie. Ian reported that he turned down to multi-year offers worth $13 to $14 million a year. Okay. I'd like to see the guaranteed money on all that. Clowny got what he was going to.

My guess is there's only eight or nine real million dollars in this and that some of it is incentives. And that makes sense. He was a good value at even a lower price last year for Cleveland. A quality starter for that money is great. I mean, ultimately, we get all excited about the draft. The odds are all these defensive ends that were drafted in the first round. The average one is going to have a worse season in 2022 than Genevian Clowny. It's a big deal to go out of starter at this point in free agency.

Yeah. And I would say all the drama around the quarterback position aside. This is a roster that certainly, if you add high-level quarterback, has a chance to compete for the AFC title. And, you know, the next move I want to see for them is adding that wide receiver. There's still some names out there. I'm going to pound the table once more for Will Fuller. If you're going to bring Deshaun Watson to your team and everything that comes with it, why don't you bring the guy that he loved making plays with in Houston, basically his entire career there,

who's still out in the market who will be very affordable as long as everything checks out. behind the scenes. I don't know where Fuller's at, big picture wise. Odell Beckham, of course, is still out there. He talked his way out of Cleveland, or his dad talked his way out of Cleveland because of Baker Mayfield. And yes, Baker Mayfield's a Brown, but he's not really a Brown. Let's see if one of those guys ends up on that team. Because if you had one more really buzzy playmaker to this offense, yes, there's no denying that the Browns, if they do have the quarterback they want to have, play the majority of the games, you can make a case that they,

have a chance to win the whole thing. That's, I think, the ceiling with this team, like it or not. Yeah, I think, I don't think the roster is quite as good as it was two years ago, but I'm with you on Fuller would be a great idea. Just get a professional. Like Julio Jones, I don't know what he wants financially, just someone that can be there. Because right now you have Donovan People's Jones as your two. And probably a rookie, David Bell is your three, like, or Anthony Schwartz from a year ago.

Either way, you just, you need like one more pro that can just, maybe two, that can just catch 50 balls. Like if you get 50 for 600 out of Julio Jones, like that's probably better than the guys that are on their roster right now. And they probably will. They have enough cap space to do what they need to. So you're looking for a bro who's a pro?

That would work. I mean, there are guys out there. There's 17 guys in my top 101 still available, much more than normal at this time of year. Who is the highest out of curiosity? still. O'Dell Beckham, because I was kind of looking at him as like a long-term pickup that he would still make sense. Dwayne Brown, who still played at a pretty high level, Trey Flowers. Hakeem Hicks is out there. There's some decent start. J.C. Tredder, who was a Brown last year and played pretty

well. All right, let's move to the Washington commanders who, you know, for years now, there's just always a lot of things hanging over this organization. And so much of that is connected to ownership and Daniel Snyder and what's been going on behind the scenes there. There's just been scandals that have just marred the franchise. And USA Today's Jarrett Bell reports that NFL owners are, quote, counting votes on removing, potentially, Snyder from his role. The source is an anonymous NFL owner. So that is as high up on the chain as you can get.

And there are 32 teams. You need to get 24 teams. to vote an owner out. I mean, that would be unprecedented, Greg? Do we, do we, does this happen? You know, these are billionaires, it's a billionaire's boys club and these guys

tend to stick together, but Snyder has potentially made himself an outlier because of the latest controversy, which stems from an ongoing investigation that alleges the commanders cheated other teams out of ticket revenue, which should be shared amongst the franchises. That's a no-no. Right, which would be crazy

that's the thing that had, I mean, to review, since Daniel Snyder was removed from the day-to-day operations because of the workplace misconduct investigation that they had in terms of how poorly they've treated women, which is not, he's been called to Congress for more investigation, more accusations, and this report about him stealing money from, like, if he can't get kicked out right now, no owner ever will. And the whole idea was like, owners don't want to do this because it could potentially lead to the skeletons in their closet getting brought up. But, man, I would just feel better working for the NFL without Daniel Snyder in it. This isn't a new thing.

And the newsworthy part of this story to me is that someone's willing to go to USA Today. This is like a very direct person that they're going to. Jared Bell, who's a Pro Football Hall of Fame award winner in terms of the Spinks Award, the writer. Like, we're going to go to USA Today, the one that's the one that's the one that. that still get dropped off in the hotel. We're putting this out there. Like, that's a different step in the process. And it makes me hopeful, but I've been hopeful about this before that there could be

change. And in terms of the history of this type of situation, Panthers over. I don't think it's ever happened. Jerry Richardson walked away when he was feeling the pressure, but he, there was no vote. Like, he just left. Jerry Richardson, and that was coming in the wake of the Donald Sterling scandal involving the NBA Clippers franchise. and he was forced to sell.

So Richardson perhaps was trying to get ahead of that when he sold. But beyond that, this is uncharted territory if it goes down this road. And I would imagine there will be lawyers and the story will mushroom if the NFL owners ever banded together in the majority on Washington.

Do it, owners. All right. In other news, you heard Greg Olson at the top of the news. He has since moved past his time as a Miami area rapper into a very successful NFL career as a Pro Bowl tight end and then made the transition when his feet literally begged him to stop playing football to the broadcast booth where he's been very good. He's a really good rock solid guy with I think

potential to even be better than that. And even though Tom Brady has under contract for a mega deal with Fox with Fox once he finally retires, Greg Old Olson will be the one calling the Super Bowl on Fox next February. Of course, our boy Andrew Marchand, who was on the show last week, had this first. Olson and Fox Sports have a deal in place that will make him Kevin Burckhardt's partner for Super Bowl 57 from Glendale. So there you go. So at least in the short term, Burkhart and Olson are the number one team. There's also a Drew Brie scenario out there, Greggie, because Breeze in his weird cryptic text tweet last week.

Let it be known that he can go in a lot of different. directions. And then, of course, we don't know how much longer Tom Brady's playing. I think this is it for him. But Marshawn threw a little cold water on that on our show last week. So there we go. As the NFL broadcasting booth turns. Well, it would have been nice if Marshawn gave us that scoop. I mean, I thought the same thing, thought about it. Because he did it the day before and he kind of hinted around it. Maybe he didn't have it. Then I'm sure he didn't actually. Can I tell you something? I thought during the conversation, I saw it in his eyes. I think he almost did it. I think he almost did it.

And maybe that's on us. Maybe if we just would have just a little bit prodded a little bit more, he would have given it to us. But ultimately we failed. So that's just the way it is. I mean, I think he's got his employers to keep happy. So I get that. He sort of hinted around at it.

And he hinted around at the idea that like, I don't know if Tom Brady's going to take this job eventually, which that was what I found most intrigued. was like, okay, Tom Brady could play more. Like, Tom Brady could change his mind. Fox has got to move forward as if they don't know for sure when Tom Brady is coming. I think Olson will be like, like you said, rock solid. I think he's good.

I think you can learn something from it. I just don't want an announcer like taking away from my experience. And I thought you could tell with Marchand's report about Breeze that like this, he was saying that this is going to be Breeze's best chance to really get a foothold in the broadcasting business. And it almost felt like maybe that was coming from like the Fox side of things. It's like they're not going to pay top dollar for Drew Breeze necessarily be number two. Like if he's going to hold them over a barrel and like want to be that dude and like want that special attention that a Drew Breeze gets, it's like you got to put in your time, man. And the train might leave the station if you don't just take it.

I mean, yeah, that's why the whole thing struck me as a little bit odd. Like you had Drew Breeze doing Notre Dame games with Tor Rico, correct? on Saturdays, like, why not do that for three or four years and really, you know, learn the craft and get better. And if you really don't want to do the, um, studio NFL telecast, you don't have to. I mean, I'm sure you could work something out, um, and just stay on top of the NFL game. And then when the time comes, maybe you get an opportunity. But, uh, you know, but good, good for, uh, Greg Olson. I'm excited for that. There won't be as much Fox like number one team in our lives without TNF now, you know, we were getting

fucking Aikman twice a week last year, last couple years. So that'll be a little different, but we get them some big spots, I like it. All right, let's hold up right here. We'll take a quick, responsible break and be back with more news. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin, and this

is NFL cover zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that. What was that? Oh my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get.

Listen NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game. from scouting reports and player development to team building philosophies,

coaching trends in how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots, from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, analyze matchups,

and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture. If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, time now for roster news and notes

presented by Upwork where you can build the team that would build your business, learn more at Upwork. dot com oh nick nick foals on the move once again what a journeyman he's turned into a master journeyman this nick foals for a guy that had one of the great super bowl runs ever uh he signs with the colts so formerly of the bears a two-year contract it reunites uh foals with frank rike who coached the eagle's offense during that famous super bowl run in 2018 by the eagles He's 33 years old. He will not be supplanting Matt Ryan as a starter unless Ryan gets hurt. And he didn't do much last year, Greg, to make you think that going forward,

there's a lot left in the tank. But I think it's a sensible move by both sides. Yeah, they needed a backup quarterback badly. He did start one of the weirdest more memorable games for me. Like this was like a reminder of like why I like football, like his comeback. um in seattle for the bears was like a totally bizarre great uh moment of the 2021 season for me like he let a two touchdown come back in the fourth quarter where he made some throws and i was like what is happening here is like football can be entertaining in almost any scenario

like two totally dead teams and nick foals is making wild plays to get a game winner i've always believe falls had a chance yeah i feel like that happens i feel like it happens even more with kind of also ran teams. They're a little off the radar and they're starting a guy that had the season worked out differently. Maybe they didn't want to start him, but that guy turns out to be a former star or a dude who really slinged it earlier in his career. I remember Vinnie Testav already had some of those type of games or he was kind of a forgotten guy and then all a sudden he'd be like, or late period boomer Assize. And I remember throwing for 500 yards for the Cardinals once late in his career. Like these guys pop up with those big type of games.

But yeah, it's Matt Ryan's team. There's no doubt about it. And Foles now has transitioned into that like Joe Flacco, that stage of his career where you know where you are, you're not trying to be the guy anymore. You're just looking to collect some paychecks, be involved with the game as long as you can before it all goes away because time is finite, Greg, and everything, including for an NFL quarterback. Five different teams in seven years. So you're right about the journeyman. That was news and notes presented by Upwork, the world's work marketplace. Learn more at Upwork.com. Speaking of the cults and quarterbacks and veterans, and it not working out.

Carson Wentz was won and done an indie, despite the Colts giving up big draft assets to bring the former Eagles first round pick to the team last off season. And it was always a very kind of unique NFL story just by how open the team was that was getting rid of the quarterback was about not wanting to be with that quarterback anymore.

Erse had told reporters after Wentz was traded to the commanders for some draft picks. And Carson Wentz, by the way, in case you forgot, is a member of the commanders, and he is ready to take charge. As we all know, decided to really go ahead and start to take command.

Oh, sorry. He's ready to, you know. Don't blow the line. That's why he had to take it seven times. To start ready, getting ready to take him in anyway. Erse told reporters it was very obvious. The Colts had to move on from Wentz. And guess what?

Carson Wentz now, he's having his say. He's like, what? What? What? Yeah, I didn't expect that. I didn't expect that things unfold the way they did. And, you know, I thought things were in a pretty good place there. I had awesome relationships with every single person in that building. Can't say enough good things about the people over there.

And, yeah, kind of came out of left field. You know, he's entitled to his own opinion. And, you know, he's entitled to do what he wants with his football team. That was from the Colin Cowherd podcast. And write the video clip we just played, which you could check out on YouTube. right beneath Carson Wentz was just a big logo for manscaped and it just made me connect dots about Carson Wentz and how he's grooming himself and that was unpleasant to me. I just want to a little I'm speaking my thoughts out loud. I don't think you need to connect those dots. I don't think that's

necessarily the case there. I think I mean, he is a guy that likes to take a man. So maybe you're right. You know what? I kind of with you. Maybe he's not somebody that. subscribes to that level of self-care. By the way, like he said he had great relationships with everyone in that building. I'm sure that's what he believed. But there's just an indication that not a, you know, relationships go two ways. And like, if someone disagrees with you about that, then like they're, they're right to. Yeah, sometimes I feel like with the Went stuff, there's a tendency to pile on him a little bit,

even though there's not a lot of documented evidence that he's a bad guy. or a bad teammate. But yeah, it is one of those reading between the lines. There's just a disconnect with him and his teams that he plays for, which is not great at the game's most important position. Moving on, the game's most important position, San Francisco 49ers, they fashion themselves like a big time, top-level, top-tier Super Bowl contender in 2022,

but they don't know who their quarterback is. That's kind of a weird territory to be in. George Kittle made the media rounds ahead of his tight end university thing he does and he was on PFT Live with your old boss, Floreo Greggie. And he's not even hiding it. Nobody's hiding it. He calls Garapolo v. Lance a toss-up for him.

Let's listen into what Kittle had to say. That's a million dollar question, isn't it? I know that's one of the reason I'm glad I'm not the head coach of the 49ers. So that's all on coach, Shanahan. You know, like, and I'll give you both ways. It's like, you know, Jimmy G, awesome and the huddle, great leader, directs guys. People are, you know, go to attention when he's talking. He's got a quick release.

He knows the offense. You know, like I said, been to the two-NFC championship games. Who knows what he's doing? Trey Lance can run, extend plays, does all the play action stuff, incredible. It could throw the ball 70 yards. So it's just, it, I don't know. It's a toss-up for me. Oh, man.

Kittle is going to be definitely in the media, game in a few years, by the way. Yeah, he had a better background than me, too, which is a little at this point. I, um, I don't know right now, what are they going to say? What, what can he say? Kiddle loves Jimmy G. It's one of the awkward positions that they're putting themselves into by keeping them on the roster.

And yet the, the later we get into this, the more likely it is that they're just going to keep them on the roster. You know, maybe Carolina changes their mind or Seattle changes their mind. Seattle would be weird, but Carolina changes their mind at some point, but that's not going to be until mid-August, so they got to play this thing out. And maybe we should have seen this coming collectively when Garapolo's season ended immediately followed by shoulder surgery on his throwing shoulder, which is a big deal. But we don't know exactly how much that truly played into drying up his market.

I think you would speculate, yes, it probably had a big reason behind it and probably the only reason why I didn't get traded. And yet, it is pretty stunning to me. Yeah, this feels like it's the most likely scenario now that this is how. their season is going to the narrative around the season, at least heading towards training camp, is that they have these two guys in the building and Garoppolo might have a chance to hold off Trey Lance, which nobody was predicting in January. Ultimately, I don't think he's going to have much of a chance.

He could also have another move here where he doesn't want to stay with the 49ers. But it probably wouldn't happen because he's making so much money and I think they're willing to pay him his salary, even if he's the back. It's not too different from Jacoby Brissette when Andrew Luck came back a few years ago and had this huge salary and they just decided to keep just in case luck, luck gets hurt. And it's kind of similar. Like he's not going to make that money elsewhere, so he's got to kind of be a good soldier about it. And I don't think he'd have much of a chance to win the week one job, but he'd just be there lurking all handsome, you know, in Traylitz and shit. I don't know, man.

It feels a little more wide open to me that Traylitz is going to have to play well and the summer. and through training camp and even an expert like we might have those those training can't usually those preseason games don't mean mean much but they might mean a little bit more for san francisco we'll see we'll see finally in the news it's uh now where are we we're in the last week full week of may uh bill bell check has not revealed who will call plays for the patriots in 2022 we know it won't be josh macdainiels uh who got a head coaching job so it will be Who, who, who, who? He met with the media, Belichick,

and he downplayed the importance of the role. And he, you know, he just doesn't want to talk about it. And he doesn't want you ask him about it. Why do you care so much? Let's listen to the hooded one. And if you're asking about game plans, where they put it months away from that, months. Didn't get it, not a word.

Was that English? I heard grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble. Next question. To be fair, well, I don't know about to be fair. Well, I don't know about to be fair, but this isn't new for him, but the offensive side of it of like not knowing he was calling plays is a little new, especially with like a young quarterback like Mac Jones. Like when McDaniels left, it was mysterious. I think it was Daible was in there for a minute back in the late odds. You know, we still don't know who the defensive play caller is all of last year.

Like we understood it was some combination of Steve Belichick and Gerard Mayo and Bill Belichick. But it's weird because now everyone's watching these little mini-OTA practices and they're noticing Belichick doing some of the stuff. And as a Patriots fan who's like feeling a little bit like, you know, we're past the most exciting time of my Patriots fandom no matter what. I mean, it's over. Like, we just witnessed the greatest run in American professional sports history, I would argue. Like, it's on the downturn. You know what I would get my juices going? And I want Bill Belichick calling those plays.

And there's some thought maybe he's got to be the offensive play caller. Now that gets me a little more intrigued. I'm into that. I'm just happy you feel anything, Greg, about the Patriots. Or my other theory is that this has all been an elaborate move by you to play down your Patriots fan. I'm like, I don't really care anymore to gain some analyst pop. That's the worst theory that you have. Of course it's deep within.

I'm going to care more about them than other. teams, but it's not, it just can't get back to where it was. Like, you got to, you got to just realize where you're at. Did you enjoy it? Did you enjoy it as much as you should have now? Like now that it seems to be over. If you go back and like listen to our, not that you ever would, but. Uh, absolutely would. The Patriots Super Bowl championship when they beat the Seahawks and certainly the Falcons and Rams. I think all it was was like those whole runups was an appreciation of, I, all I wanted was that fourth one. You know, it was one more dot the eye. Uh, and And I did. I did appreciate it.

And now it's a new era with a mysterious play call. But they've done this a million times. Like when Flores supposedly took over the defense, we didn't know who was calling plays like three or four years ago. They won a Super Bowl that way, actually, that year. Like, this is his thing. It's stupid, but he's been doing it for 20 years. Right.

I guess the only way I feel like you would be concerned about this if Belichick was like 88 years old. and you were worrying about his ability to really keep up with everything. But I don't have those concerns, even though he's the second oldest coach in the league. I have a tiny bit of concern that there's only like four offensive coaches and two of them are Joe Judge and Patricia. And they're in charge of the offense. Like there's a little bit of concern. I'm not saying I'm not.

And there was a report out there from Bedard up in Boston that there was some grumbles and concerns about where things were, the state of the state. the Patriots right now, players concerned about the direction of the offensive coaching staff. Everybody should just calm down. I think it's going to be fine. But you don't want your players like concern. You don't want your players being put in this weird position of answering these questions. It's not the biggest concern, obviously. But I wouldn't be surprised that like there's some offensive players that like, wait, what? We don't know who the play callers? Wait, what? Judge and Patricia, what? My point being like, if this was a report coming out of the Panthers camp, and I know they're all set because they got their rock star offensive coordinator in the

building. But I would say, okay, Matt Rule doesn't have somebody in place, that players are concerned. But this is literally Bill Belichick. And it's just like, I'm not concerned. It's like me. That's what's happening in the news. Before we get, take a break and then get to our guest, I want to debut a new offseason recurring segment, Gregi. You know, as I go through as I go through my different process, getting ready. for each show. Sometimes I'll come across something on the World Wide Web and I'll say, oh, that will be a good little nug for the show. So why not just house it within this realm in its own little world? I call this segment, it came from the internet. This one via the NFL subreddit,

despite going three and 14 and having a quarterback on a rookie contract, The Jacksonville, Jaguars, have negative 18 million in cap space in 2023. Okay. That is a surprising nugget. That's it. That's all it is. Hit the music, Graver. It came from the internet.

Ah. You know, is that team being well? I mean, Trent Balke, guy keeps a job. Got to give him that. I mean, if I, yeah, I love that Trent Balchie knew he needed to get it done this year and just spent, Someone else's money. That's what I would do if I was about to be fired. That's always, yeah, that's the feeling you want to have as a fan base when you're heading towards the summer.

It's like, oh, the guy that knows he's going to get fired is just recklessly spending in an effort to go, you know, seven and ten this year. All right, let's take a break. And we'll bring on the great Phoebe Shetter. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL cover zero. here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel?

That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. com slash NFL now to learn more.

What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find anywhere else.

It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots, from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft. analyze matchups and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture.

If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back. Our next guest got a hell of a resume. Better than ours. A former coach on the Buffalo Bills where she was an offensive assistant.

The current Sky Sports pundit. Slash presenter. Depends what you want to call it. A former professional football player herself. And one hell of an analyst. Did I mention that? Yes, that falls under pundit slash presenter. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Phoebe Schechter.

Welcome to Around the NFL. Thank you so much for having me. I mean, the music just makes everything better. So I feel very honored. Yes, we're happy to have you. And Phoebe, like, in terms of background, let's start with the Bill's side of things. Like, how did that come about? And what kind of experience was that working under Sean McDermott?

Yeah. So I initially applied for the Bill Walsh Diversity Fellowship back in 2017. And that was my first training camp. So I was with DB's my first year. And then I just kept hounding them all throughout the year to have me back. And they asked me back the next year. so 2018 and it was a bit of a change of scene for me because I for the first time was on offense specifically with tight ends with coach Rob Boris and it was it was definitely

life changing for me in so many ways but also I was Rob Boris's first ever intern in his 13 years in the league so that within itself was its own challenge in terms of having to think five steps ahead of him, so I didn't make myself redundant, essentially. But yeah, it's been amazing and really being there from the beginning of Coach McDermott's journey. I mean, I had an amazing rookie class. You've got Josh Allen, Tramaine Edmund, Saran Neal, Trudevius White. I mean, the names go on and on. So super fortunate to be around incredible people. Yeah, we did. Phoebe and I were part of the talk sport coverage for the Super Bowl in the second half. And all I kept thinking, and I said this at one point, I was like, I should stop talking because every time

Phoebe makes like a- Greg, you know, that doesn't work when you say that to yourself. In the game, you know, it was good. It like makes you shut up as an analyst or whatever during the game. But I was like, I need to just like pop in a lot less because all the points that Phoebe are, is making on the broadcast were like so much better and so much more analytical from like an X's and O's standpoint than anything that I could say that I was like, the best thing I could do was be quiet. And Phoebe's still playing. She's part of the world championships coming up for Great Britain. She's on that team.

We're on the training squad there. So that's exciting. That's a rare feat for any of our guests. I don't think Neil Reynolds has ever been on a training squad ready to battle. Temeas tried out for dozens. He just, he wants that validation, but he keeps on getting turned away. Don't you know I'm the lead presenter for Sky Sports? Doesn't work.

I mean, your accent's spot on, really. Thank you. you. All right, let's get into it. Yeah, we teased it up top. We're going to do a kind of a fantasy draft of, no, not kind of, a fantasy draft of wide receivers. We're in a golden era of wide receiver play, aren't we, Phoebe? Like, it just feels like in addition to all the veteran stars out there every year now tends to bring a fresh superstar into the mix. And I don't mean just like a guy that has potential to be a superstar. I mean, a guy who by week three are like, oh, he's one of the top 10 receivers in the league.

In your opinion, why do these guys now, you're Jamar Chases, you're Justin Jeffersons, you can name the guys year by year. I remember Odell Beckham early in this podcast history immediately came back from a hamstring injury and he was like, oh, this is the most gifted playmaker in football. Why is it that some of these wide receivers just have that ability to immediately become superstars?

You know, I think there's a couple different things. I think one, we have a lot more multi-sport athletes and that changes the game completely. You know, just taking those different traits and skill sets from other sports that they've played growing up. And I think the other thing is actually, as youth have been growing up, there's been a bigger move away from contact for kids,

and there's been a lot more of seven-on-seven, essentially. And that's essentially just quarterback receiver and, you know, DB play. And for me, I think that's almost made the biggest difference. You know, you're looking at your Mahomes and your, Herberts, guys like that who've grown up playing seven-on-seven, I mean, imagine having Pascally every single week since you were 10 years old. Indefinitely, you're going to learn how to read a defense and be able to react. And I mean, and no doubt, that's not to take away from the unbelievable athleticism that we seem to be growing in this world.

Right. Like, I know you work with flag football. I know you're like traveling around, like helping to big build, you know, women playing flag football and in. and boys playing flag football is like a big thing. And I think that's a huge part of it. And that's like now that's where the money is. And the way NFL teams, Dan, I think, are being built. Like now, I think you really saw it. And Wes was early on this that the Kyle Shanahan Falcons were like a game-changing team.

Because I felt like he knew you needed four wide receivers. And I feel like now, now when I look at receiver groups, I'll even like see where there's two great ones or even three good ones and a big drop-off. That's too thin now. You kind of need four or five. Like you just need a ton. And that's like for this exercise, putting this list together. It's crazy.

So many people like you said, like you put, oh, they're a top 10 receiver. Oh, they're a top 15 receiver. All right. Go make that list because the top 20 at the very least, top 25, like you're going to have to start eliminating some really big names pretty early in that. So let's do some roster building then because we don't want to be too straightforward and just if we're, let's say we're built. What are we going to do?

Like five each. all right so if you're building out five here um and the three of us will each put together a team and let's have some fun with it uh let's uh grave digger once we have the teams together why don't we uh vote and we'll have the open it up to the instagram subscribers over there um at the ATN podcast and have them vote on what the best wide receiver group is i feel like i'm definitely going to win i just i feel like this that's a foregone conclusion but whoever comes in second place is going to be an interesting competition there. So let's make it a competition.

Love that with a sandwich on the line. And if, and Phoebe, if you are the victor, we'll just have Neil buy you a sandwich. That will work. I'm a little worried about competing against Phoebe here, though. She took that like McDermott, you know, time training here and was like the first guest ever to be actually on and ready like before we even started the show like 30 minutes early. So she's she's ready to take a job. That did rock my confidence a little bit.

But also, let's instead of just straight picking receivers, let's build a room, okay? So that means you're going to want your 1A guy, you're going to want your second banana, you're going to want a slot guy, and you're going to want to balance out the room and get to a good spot. So just know there's one other, there's just one other little niche to this exercise. You've got to be ready for. you'll be hit at some point with a special category when you hear that heart and that will at the very least and I'll leave it at this narrow down your options when you get to make a pick and I don't know you don't know when it's going to hit but it will and you'll hear what the mystery topic that is drawn I will be drawing it at random I don't know what it will be well the key is though that Dan knows about this whole idea and created the category so that's that's the key thing you need that That's not important. That's all you need to know is that there is a mystery category, and it could hit you at any time.

So let's get going. Phoebe, you are the guest. And I guess build out your roster however you want, but it is at the end of the day, a draft. Right. We got to do snake draft to make this fair here. So back and forth, back and forth. All right. So let's go, whatever, Greg, since I know the mystery categories, I will pick last unless you want to pick last.

No, they're all fine. You'll get three and four, so that's good. All right. So then Greg, Phoebe gets back to there, there, there, there. Okay. Here we go. One, two, three, four. This is very serious. Food is on the line. So I hope you guys understand the realness of this competition. It's real now. All right. So one, two, three, four. Okay. I think that's it. Okay. Here we go. Phoebe, you got the first pick. I would imagine you want to take a 1A receiver. You're not going to pick like a slot guy. You want to grab someone that's top of the line. But you know what? That's your call. You build your team, your wide receiver room, however you want. You're up first.

I am. I am actually going to go first with Tyrook Hill. Why Tyreek? You know what? He can stretch the field. He's got the speed. You have to literally game plan against him. So I'm already going to make that defensive coordinator have to think.

The way that he tracks the ball and he's able to keep that speed, I mean, he is a no-brainer to have on your offense. Not for the chiefs, though. Not for the chiefs. Traded this off season. Not that that was like a red flag, but it was like just like the slightest shading of red to me. That big red, Andy Reid was willing to give him up. He's like unique.

Like your offense obviously would be run so well, Phoebe. You would know just how to use him. You give him to some adults that are running offenses. Like I don't, you have to have the right person for Tyrake. I think Mike McDaniel is that person too. I know what you're saying about that and their decision they made, but when you give your quarterback a half a billion dollar contract, it's going to lead to some tough decisions

if you want to actually have a real roster, well-rounded roster. So they were, I think, maybe in a tough position. But he would have been much lower on my list. I'm taking Devante Adams with my pick here. Just feels like he's going to get. I'm looking at this for this year. We're building the room for this year, basically. And you just know, I think his numbers might go down with the Raiders,

but that's not what we're talking about. This isn't like fantasy stats. He can just do everything. You talked about like building the different room. I'm going to be looking at guys that can fit in every spot. And Devante Adams can do everything. He can help your pass protection because he can get open so quickly that your quarterback just needs to get rid of the ball.

Derek Carr is good at that, by the way. So I feel like he, it's not an easy two pick. There's a couple other guys, but I'm going Devante. Can't go wrong. Can't go wrong there. PFF, a good stat they had, that he had 96.1% of his catchable targets for receptions, second highest in the league. So if you put it on him, he's going to catch the ball.

He put it near him. He's going to catch the ball. And Derek Carr, while not Aaron Rogers, certainly as an accurate thrower of the football, do we, so just to make this totally clear, so we're looking at like not so much the resume or just 22 looking 2022 looking ahead how do we see this i'm i'm in the middle of the building my room for this year like a generic team which team which room i want yeah all right uh that now goes all right so we got tarry kill off the board we got devante i expected that to play out so very it works out great for the old zeuser i'll take cooper cup off the board uh from the rams just

an absolute production machine last year one of the best seasons ever by a wide receiver in 2021. And then you're going to say, oh, yeah, but this is 2022. I don't have any concerns. I don't know if the Rams are going to run it back, but I know Cooper Cup's going to be targeted like mad in that offense. I still think Matthew Stafford has big time years left in him. So even if he doesn't hit that same level in 2022,

I think he'll be an absolute monster. And then it's going to snake to me. And now it's getting tough. I love Debo, but I just don't know. Here's the thing about Debo. I don't want to bring it up. He'll come up soon enough. But I'm going to pass on him.

And then it becomes just like we were talking about. Should I go with the sensation from 2021 or the sensation from 2020? And I'll go with the 21 sensation. Jamar Chase will be my second player. I want that guy talked about Odell Beckham and what he did when he tore the league apart in 2013. I believe it was or 2014. Chase did that last year. I think he's just getting warmed up and he's teamed with a great quarterback that's ascended as well.

So Cup and Chase, hello, Dolly. They're kind of similar in some ways to me because, like, I don't know how exactly how Jamar Chase is so good at getting open. It's not just pure speed. It's not just pure strength. It's similar with Cup that I think he has an even higher ceiling, but how much higher could you get? Phoebe, we were, you know, that fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, how much more can you do than, basically put it on one receiver's back with absolutely no one else on the field for the Rams at that time. Like the whole idea of like, oh, Cups a system guy or he's a slot guy or he's this or that.

Like he put that to bed in the most like emphatic way you could possibly do it. Massively. I mean, he was he was that fourth quarter. He was he was pretty much the only reason the Rams. I mean, obviously Aaron Donald doing his thing, but that offense was able to do anything. And he made that fourth quarter so exciting to watch. All right, Greg. You now. make your second pick in the second round of the fantasy draft do i hear a harp no i don't though you have a clear runway no i mean this this guy i debated having either two or three on my board so i think stephan digs is like an absolute steel here and this is sort of like to my phoebe doesn't like it she's mad you took it i mean i want guys that can do everything like that's then you don't

have to worry about where you're like stevan dick can line up inside he can line up outside he can take the short routes and go along with them. He can run the medium routes. He can go deep for you. He can do everything. I love seeing his numbers pop up in 2020, but I felt like that was just confirming what he showed on film in Minnesota, that he is like as complete as any receiver. I think there would have been an argument to take him number one overall. He's kind of like the last guy of these five, and these would have been the five that I would have had, that you could have made the argument to take any one of these five, number one. The only quibble I'll have with this is that he was outrageous in 2020.

2021 still absolute stud, but maybe came down a little bit in the second half, especially there was kind of a downturn a little bit in his production. And now Brian Dable's out the door. We don't know how this offense is going to look. But these are minor quibbles ultimately. I think it's a safe choice for sure. Yeah. And you still have Josh Allen throwing him the ball.

Like, why were you mad at it? Why were you mad? I took him. Oh, no, I totally agree. I would have, I had him on my list. So I definitely agree. I think he's unbelievable and he's great effort. I mean, he doesn't, he's like a little energizer bunny out there.

So no. I mean, and the fact that he's proven he's done it in Minnesota. He's done it in Buffalo. It's not like a guy we don't know who can't handle that workload. All right. Now, Phoebe, you're up. This is tough, man. All right.

So I get my two, right? Yeah. Cool. I'm going to go, so not going to lie, heads up on to Adams on my list as well, but I'm going to replace him with DeAndre Hopkins, a guy we didn't see much of last year, but I think this year could really make an appearance again. You know, we've seen him throughout the year.

It's just the way that he goes after a contested ball. He's a big body, great hands. Again, similar traits to Adams in terms of winning that one-on-one, physical, great release, kind of what you want to have. as a nice compliment to Tyreek Hill in my offense. My next one is a... Wait a second. Just kidding.

Uh-oh. Of course. That heart means you need to get ready for the mystery category. Your next pick has to be a player who plays for a bird team. A player that plays for a bird team. Justin Graver, the Grave digger, please let. Phoebe know any explanations or suggestions that are necessary? Right.

So the five bird teams are the Seahawks, the Ravens, the Falcons, the Eagles, and the Cardinals. Perfect. So your options include players like AJ Brown. Yeah, we could figure it out. I already got one. I mean, it would have been nice if you had given her the bird team before she took nuke. Almost feels like that was intentional.

Yeah. Almost feels like that was intentional. Thanks, guys. It's randomized. It feels very random. selectively random. All right, I'm going to go for Had him over here in London this year.

Kyle Pitts. He is technically a tight end. Whoa, wait a second. Love this. Technically, but he plays more snaps at receiver. Yeah, I saw that. He was like the most effective outside receiver per route in the entire league.

And he played more outside than inside. So I think we got to allow it. I think we got to allow it. Thank you. Thank you. I mean, again, like just watching him, he is the way that he tracks a football and his body control, some of the catches that he's been making, I mean, a massive mismatch for any defense out there. I just love the way he creates separation.

He gets after it. He's young, so he's only going to get better. And for me, that's my bird man. You know, I'll give it. I'll give it to you because, listen, you get the whole Hopkins thing. I was tough with the Cardinals, bird team. But he is a tight end. I know what you're saying.

With the Falcons label them a tight end. I like you wanted to spice it up. I didn't see that coming. That's off the board. I mean, he's more of a wide receiver, like plain wide receiver than Devo Samuel. It's not even close. I mean, or Jalen Waddle or Tyree Kill in some way. Like, he, I don't know.

I like it. And I like that you threw us off base here. Plus, you left all the wide receivers for us. All right. How about this? Wait, I think I hear Greg's up and I think I hear the harp again. Wow. geez and this is this is going to annoy Greg because he thinks he's building this masterpiece squad

and now he has to contend with this he's like if mark was here it would be annoyed that you would put it on us and not yourself but I see what's going on you have to select a player who has won an SB what this is the dumbest thing I've ever heard no you have to select a player who has a Super Bowl ring. That's even worse. Oh, sorry. Pretty short list now that Dan took Cooper Cup and Tyreek Hill's gone. But you know, you got that whole Bucks team, Mike Evans and Odell back on last year.

Tough time. Sorry. Yeah, I'm looking at my list. The next 10 players have not won a Super Bowl trophy. I'll show you mercy. And it also does include players who have won an S. S.B. Tell me who's won an SB. I don't know. Does Justin know? He doesn't either. Nobody knows. Even the ESPN doesn't know. I'm like Googling has someone won an SB. Probably not. This is ridiculous. But you've forced me, well, now, now I'm going to just throw out maybe injury concerns too and just think like, think, you know, if you're going to go to New Hopkins who's suspended, you know, for the

beginning of the year, and I'm just thinking, like, when they're healthy and everyone's right and he needs to have a Super Bowl trophy, then Chris Godwin would actually be my next guy up. I think Chris Godwin is like so underrated. And especially with these two, I got Devante and Diggs. I like Godwin inside more than them, certainly. You can use them in any way you want um but you put me in a tough spot like i said the next the next 10 guys and you know you could could have you could have mike evans but i actually would rather have chris godwin's i think he's more valuable than mike evans all right fair enough sorry about that i'm sorry about that but that's a great pick i think he adds a lot of value to your room i did too it's a nice looking room i mean i

wouldn't have taken him in the third round here but uh all right all right that now goes to the old Zusser and Justin you could hit me with the harp anytime you want and you could pick the category that I get hit with about that okay Justin hit him trying to keep it fair here let's go with a player whose name has a repeating letter which is actually a much longer list than I would have thought putting this together Dan you have two already in Cooper Cup and Jamar Chase oh wow that leaves you with Justin Jefferson Debo Samuel It's almost like Dan fed you that this BS category was next because like the next two players on my list would have that. It's like pretty much every player left on my list has that almost.

Man, that's tough. And to be clear, a repeating letter is like back to back in their name. Not like they have two A's, but like actually. Yeah, I get it. But even then, even then, almost that's true for every player. My goal was to make you angry, Greg, and I've succeeded. Well, more just because you're like, oh, Justin can pick the category. And I know how this works.

Justin did not pick the category. Justin has no control. Justin? I did. He said, you can pick the category. You picked the dumb category then. I'm mad at you too. There are only two left, so I didn't know, I have a lot to choose for.

So now what we're saying here is, wait, there's two more categories left, which means that it's probably going to be Greg and I with the last two categories. All right, just just make your past. You guys got your categories. It was one each. You're in the clear now. I will go with Justin Jefferson. And I will also go with, hey, listen, I'll double it up.

I'll go with a, let's go to, let's go a guy. I kind of fell off the radar a little bit, CD Lam. Okay. Okay, I like him. Because one thing I like about Lamb is how he's versatile. Like my, my offensive coordinator, whoever that may be. Maybe Bill Belchuk can help me out with that as well. Lamb is a guy that can play inside or outside. He's done a lot of it. He's been a dominating

player. Last year wasn't as maybe impressive as his first year was in some ways. But I think the best of CD-LAM is yet to come. I think he's a superstar. I wouldn't put him in my superstar club on NFL.com just yet. Or maybe I would. I don't know. I have to think about it. But I think he has that, he has that window or that ability and could get on that level. And yeah, I didn't think Jefferson would still be around. Well, he wouldn't, he wouldn't have been if I had been allowed to pick probably. Oh, oh, oh, sorry about that. So Jefferson and Lamb are my selections. Why do you like Lamb so much, Phoebe? I like, you know, I really liked him coming out of training camp last year. I thought that I loved watching his physicality, aggressiveness, the way he got

after the ball and the way he just gets after in practice in general. And then there were times throughout the season. I wanted to see him peak a bit more, especially with having such, you know, great percentages in training camp. But I do. I really like, I really like C.D. Lamb. And I think that he's got, still has a lot of potential. Yeah, I like that you brought up, like, his physicality.

And then he's a guy, I think, could be used more creatively. Like, that's not the first thing that you think of is, like, play strength with him. But he absolutely has it. he's so fat like his ceiling should be higher than debo samuel who's my next pick and could be used in a similar way i don't know if mike mccarthy um if i trust him to to use cd lamb in that way but i do trust kyle shan an so i'm excited to have dbo who like you know i can like i don't know what we're doing with this room but i want to get all these receivers on the field as much as possible maybe i'll go uh four wide or something or maybe i have three receivers and debos

you know offset in the backfield like sign me up i'm surprised you you let him sit there, Dan. I think that's where you made a big mistake. I see what you're saying. I like D, but I think I did put a little bit into his uncertainty going on. We're assuming that he's even going to be on the 49ers, which I guess he is. Well, he would show up to my team. I mean, he would be excited to play under my ownership and we would pay him what he deserves. Right. And would you, would you cater the playbook how he wants to be used, not how what would be best for the team, because I think that's been part of the storyline around him as well. If he gets his money, then he'll be happy however we use him.

It is something to think about that like all these guys are going to have a lot of mouse to feed, but I'm still taking the best players. What am I going to do here? Take Cordarelle Patterson. I guess that would be an option as like my fifth, but come on. Yeah, that would be an interesting move. Yeah, I think that's a great pick, especially at this part, point in the draft. Is he going to be able to continue to take the abuse as well?

Probably. but you never know it's football yeah thick skin he'll be fine yeah all right phoebe you got two more picks my last two oh my goodness all right i'm going to go for keenan allen i really like him as a slot guy uh you know he's pretty big for being a slot guy the way that he is able to read a defense and he can sit right in those zones he can still fight for the ball if it stays in man like that and also like more majorly is his yards after catch he's a guy that can actually big body the football and then continue to get that that yak so for me like that combined with his quickness i think he's got to be my fourth pick um any complaints on that we okay yeah i think

that's good i think it's a little a little older maybe not as explosive as some of the guys left but yeah yeah that would be my only take that is he might be the first guy we're met I don't know. See, you know, he's only 30, actually. I thought he was a little bit older. So, yeah, I'm thinking that he has, and he's obviously connected with a great quarterback. But if I had to pick two guys that I would be a little concerned

with some age-related decline, Hopkins would have been the other guy. So you're banking on like the veterans having a couple more. I'm Sean McVeighing this. Got it. We're going to win the Super Bowl this year. Got it. In it to win it.

F them draft picks. I like it. F them draft picks. Exactly. You close out your draft with. This one was tougher because most of my picks that I actually liked are gone. So I'm going to go for T. Higgins. Wow.

Yeah. Closing out. A little Bengals guy. Again, someone who I think, I mean, he did a great job with the Bengals. And I think considering, you know, he wasn't really looked at because they had so many other great players. but this year going into it, I think having another year under his belt, I just think he can really do a lot for adding to my offense with the other receivers I've gotten here.

I think he could do some damage for me. I love that. I wrote him down too in my top 15 thinking like maybe I'm not going to get to there, but I feel like he's so underrated. Like if you look at his stats last year, if you count the playoffs because he missed some of the regular season, he ended up with 1,400 yards and eight touchdowns in 18 games. So, like, one more than, like, he, I still people think, I think sleep a little bit on what he can do.

And he can be a little more complimentary, which I think maybe works. You have a bunch of ones. Maybe it's good to have a guy like a. That said, you left a lot of good players on the board. I did. One of these players, at the very least, isn't getting drafted. A.J. Brown, Terry McLaurin, D.K. Metcalf. I mean, we didn't even get to, like, a Michael Thomas or Mari, Cooper.

There's a lot going on here, Jalen Waddle. you put me in a tough spot because I've got Brown and McLaurin well ahead of the pack and DK actually that's not true not well ahead but I'm just thinking of my team I want guys who can do everything I'm actually going to take Terry McLaren even though I know the Instagram voters would probably be more excited if I took AJ Brown and that is just like a beastly crew but I'm going to be true to myself and not just pander for votes so just keep that in mind I love Terry McLaren I think if you put Terry McLaurin in a situation that was more healthy the last few years. For instance, let's say he was on the Titans like A.J. Brown, I think he would have absolutely similar production.

And again, what I'm looking for is guys that can do everything. AJ Brown is amazing. I have somewhat of a similar player in Debo Samuel already on the roster. Instead, I want movable guys for the rest of my receiver group. So as just filling out, I had A.J. Brown ranked a little higher, but I think McLaurin fits better with my crew now. I'm filling it out. It's cool because, like, you're saying McLaren not always in the best spot to perform, but now he has Carson went. So you're right. Like, this is, this is time to shine.

But I'm not picking fantasy stats for this year. I'm picking who do I want on my team. I think McLaren would be looked at the same as like a Debo and an A.J. Brown if he had been in a different situation. So in this realm, he's playing for a fictional Rosenthal team with a fictional quarterback. Are you the quarterback? Take me through the logic exercise. I mean, we're just picking, we're picking teams. We're picking teams of a team we would run.

No, I'm not the quarterback. I think I would have maybe Mac Jones thrown to him. Let's have no. A very bog standard. Yeah, like a middle of the pack. Yeah, just very. All right. So you went with Scary Terry, which takes it to the final pick.

And you know what? I don't know. Maybe this will make Grape Digger happy. since he's no longer a member of the safe team. But I am going to pass on A.J. Brown. Wow. I'm looking at my room. Again, we're building out a room.

And the one thing I'm missing right now, I got Cups, Cup, Chase, Jefferson, C.D. Lamb. I want like a real, a big guy, a guy that could just abuse cornerbacks just with his size and physicality and winning at the catch point. And that's D.K. Metcalfe for me. 6-3, a great.

Greek God in terms of his build and physique. He's a freak with a speed. So I think we've already got an imposing group. You put in a big man with speed like Metcalf to round out the group with the 15th overall pick. I just don't imagine how anyone ever stops this team with these wide receivers. I mean, yeah, if this was a real team, we would all, yeah, the rest of the NFL would be in trouble. Just the three of us competing against each other. It would be fun to watch, though.

It is wild, though, that A.J. Brown, for instance, didn't get a, didn't get take. Because what you were looking for, that's A.J. Brown, too, but that's also D.K. MacC.? Well, he's six one. I wanted somebody that was just a real, you know, a giant, a twin tower, as they say. He can be that guy. I wish he was on my team. Like, you hit me with the surprise category and otherwise Godwin would be gone. But it's just, it is crazy how deep, like, how many players.

we didn't even get to in the top 15. Yeah, who else was left out? Who are some of your feelings, Phoebe, that you didn't get to take here? I mean, I think, gosh, again, I really like, I know he's an older dude, but Mike Evans are really like him, Amari Cooper, Jalen Waddle. I mean, there's so many talented receivers. It's kind of insane. It's kind of scary to think how many are coming through.

And you can understand why corners and safeties are becoming such a big deal in the NFL. when you have to compete with guys like this. You, what's your, you kind of, what's your specialty when would you say as a, like, what position do you play? So I actually play at, like, nickel essentially when I play. But when I was with Buffalo, I was with tight ends. So for me, I had Charles Clay, who's amazing at the top of his route. You've got Dawson Knox, who's just been incredible for Josh Allen.

So you just appreciate the athleticism of these guys. and yeah I mean I remember we had this is my little antidote for the day in terms of we had to do these we had to do basically like paskelly so I'd go with the tight ends down to paskelly and coach Boris would take them in the run install and I remember you know we're going to run this route called a crossbow so I know what it is I've told dawson what to run in this situation I basically in the middle of field safety Dawson runs at me like he's running like across the field and then he plants his foot and he breaks it back out to the same way he's coming This is media day just to add injury to insult injury. So we're out there. I'm stood there, like flat foot in the middle of field. He comes at me. I know where he's going. I felt so fast on my face.

My feet just went dead, laying there, feeling super unathletic. And Dawson catches it. It was beautiful. That's the thing. Like I look at these guys too. Like so many of them are almost uncoverable that we didn't even talk about, Devante Smith, like Deante Johnson, who gets open quickly, DJ Moore, Jerry Judy. We didn't get OBJ, like, and then you have the vertical guys, Mike Williams, Alan Robinson.

It's just like, I don't know, man. It just seems like the safest thing ever to draft a wide receiver these days. And that's what we saw in the first round this year. Phoebe also the NFL flag ambassador. You are a busy woman. And we thank you for taking the time. Best of luck with everything, including on the field. and we really enjoyed having you.

Thank you guys so much for having me. It's been great to chat and compete. We'll see what social media really think. Right. I just realized, like, she's going to win. I just, knowing our listeners, I just feel like they'll look past the superior team that I put together, and they'll just, like, want to be nice to a new guest, which I get.

That was a very great way to go out with our guest, but let the best person win, I say, Phoebe. I agree. I agree. All right. There she goes. Phoebe Schechter. Thanks, Phoebe. Follow her on Twitter and on Instagram.

That's Phoebe underscore Schechter. Awesome guest. Greg, I do feel a little, I feel real guilty. Do you want to get Godwin out of the mix? Is that what you're trying to say? No, no, no. I think we can put a little, you know, Graver can put a little asterisk. If you listen to the show, which is most, that's most important.

People will hear the context of it. And Chris, I love Chris Godwin. So I don't want to be smirch any. Why do you want the asterisk? Well, it's coming off a torn ACL. That's the only like thing. I'm sort of like throwing that out of the mix here. All right.

So head over to the ATN podcast to cast your vote on who has the best wide receiver room in this weird universe where there's not really any other players or coaches or teams, but there are rooms of wide receivers. I mean, it's a universe I'd like to. living. I think it's going to get people angry. People are going to be mad that we didn't even mention certain guys or, you know, like, people are going to be mad about certain picks. This is, this is it. This is our recipe. The next 10 episodes, Dan, just drafting random rooms. It felt like a nice opportunity for a Mia Culpa for you to grab Hunter Renfro there. That would have been. I, I for some reason, had it in my head that you were going to throw a category that was like undersized slot receivers with like who are losing their hair. And you were just going to

like force me to take it. Damn it. That's a way better category than the ones I came up with. Hunter, I got you though, buddy. You're having a great career. I'm a huge fan. He would have been on my long list. I mean, that's the thing. You might have to get to 30 till you get to Renfro and he's a beast. I think you made the point. So I'll just kind of echo it that it makes sense. Why, given the recent results, why these teams are more comfortable taking the first rounder or taking the quarterback or the wide receiver early in the first and even second round, because just the odds are kind of playing in your favor that what you're seeing on tape, either in the games or with the various, you know, measurables, it will translate. So it is the golden era. The game has changed. Okay.

We'll be back on Thursday. I think Sessler's back on Thursday? yeah yeah good got mark back uh first show with three of us in a while so that'll be nice we'll have some fun we are in the middle of the off season so thank you to everybody that is listening and has followed along all right thank good stuff we'll see you on thursday uh and with mark and all the gang thank you again to phoebe shector until thursday heed the call You know, This is an IHeart podcast.