The Bobby Bones Show - Lots to Say: NFL Red Zone's Scott Hanson and NFL Week 17!

Episode Date: December 24, 2025

Bobby Bones and Matt Cassel are getting ready for the holiday season and Matt recalls some of the gifts he gave to his offensive lineman.  What are some of the best (or less than best) QB gifts given?  While suits are regular gifts, Bobby reveals how he's bought some of his most expensive suits. NFL Red Zone's Scott Hanson drops by and explains how he broke into the business and met Matt a long time ago.   At the same time, Scott relives a laughably regrettable experience with Mike Vrabel.  Matt talks about his audition to host Red Zone and who he believes is one of the nicest people he's ever met in the NFL.  Plus, is there a bucket list event that Scott would like to cover? Bobby wraps up with the best three games coming in Week 17.  Have a Happy Holiday! Lots to Say with Bobby Bones and Matt Cassel is part of the NFL Podcast Network See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Search 40s and free agents and listen now. Lots to Say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle is a production of the NFL and IHeart Podcasts. We got lots to say. Yeah, we got lots to say. Now here's Bobby and Matt. Hey, Christmas week. Hey, everybody.

You know that the Netflix games are interesting this week because they're not that good anymore. Because the Chiefs are out. I know. And the Cowboys are out. Cowboys are out. Chiefs are out. The two biggest teams as far as what's going to get the biggest number,

which, by the way, the biggest number. But they'll still watch it. Yeah, because it's on. Right. But we watched the parade. That ain't good on Thanksgiving. That's true. But the biggest game ever, I believe, of regular season football

was the Chiefs and Cowboys when they played earlier this season. Was it really? I believe so. Ever? I think it was the highest regular season game of all time. Wow. That's crazy. Yeah, you may look up the official

because when there's like three channels, I don't know how that worked. That should have been way more than that because MASH got like a billion viewers. Right. But that was only because there were three channels back in the day. There's only three channels. What do you see?

Yeah, it's true. 57.23 million viewers. Wow. Dude, that's crazy. That's insane. So what's the official headline of that? Biggest of all time? Yeah, the most viewed NFL regular season game ever

was Thanksgiving matchup between the Cowboys and the Chiefs. You could have convinced me that it wasn't because again in the old days when there were three or four channels and they were just showing football on one of the channels but that's 57 million is a lot. 57 million's incredible.

So the Christmas games. Kevin, would you read me the Christmas games? They are. You got Cowboys at Commanders. What time? That's 12 o'clock central time. Thank goodness for fantasy and for draft kings.

Yeah. Okay? People will definitely go and watch that. Lions Viking. at 3.30. The Vikings. Now these games matter. JJ has been playing a little bit better.

But they're eliminated. Like they can't make the playoffs. That's true. It doesn't help. And there's a night game on Prime that is the Broncos and Chiefs. Lost it's Lester. Yeah, right. Like all three of those games on paper

at the beginning of the season, this is going to be a stacked Christmas card. Right. Oh, for sure. When they put these games together, like, oh, we're crushing. Yeah. Speaking of Christmas, the most memorable Christmas gifts given by quarterbacks over the past few years.

Which, by the way, when you were quarterback in your teams, what did you do? For the gifts? Yeah, would you get your linemen anything? Yeah, I got them TVs one year. I got them suits one year, like a custom suit that they could get.

Great gift. Yeah, they could go and meet the person. I'll give them a custom suit. So do you do like a gift certificate? Like, do you call and just say, here's like X amount of dollars, I need gift cards for eight? And do you have to get backup linemen in something?

Yes, that is part of it. If you're on the roster, you're getting the linemen something. So you're not talking about your five starters. You're talking about eight, nine guys. What about deep snapper? No, that's not, he doesn't work with me. He's with the punter.

They're called specialist. Got it, got, got, got, yeah. I like that gift, though. The suit gets a good one. I mean, when iPads first came out, that's, I'm dating myself, but that was kind of cool gift. Got everybody an iPad.

There's a few others in between there. Is the backup quarterback supposed to buy a gift for everybody? No, it's kind of like the starters deal to get maybe him something too. Oh, you have to get the backup. Yeah, but you don't have to get to the same extent that you do, the big boys, the offensive line. So my first year playing, though, was when Brady obviously went down. And at the end of that season, I was unaccustomed to being in that starting role, let alone the lead dog and Christmas gifts.

I still haven't got all my guys, my offensive linemen, a gift. And it's almost become an ongoing joke where, every time I see him like Castle wears our gift. It's just, I still feel bad, but I love you guys. I love you guys. It's in the mail. It's in the mail, babe. I was having a little PT, a little physical therapy on my ankle foot at surgery like eight

weeks ago or so, and maybe not that much, but it still hurts. And I was a little concerned that I re-injured it, although I've done nothing to re-injure it. And basically they say, you haven't used it in a couple months. So obviously it's going to hurt when you start to use it again. So all that aside, I was at my physical therapist's office. and he says, hey, you do a football podcast. I said, yeah. He said, what's called? I said, lots to say. And he said, you work with Matt Castle. I say, yeah. He said, I don't know him, but I have a lot of friends that

know him. I'm going to quote his question about you. Oh, gosh. He said, because of what I've heard, is he the nicest guy ever? And I say, yes, he is. Wow. That's exactly what he asked. I didn't know what to expect on that right there. He said, is he the nicest guy ever? And I said he is. He's the greatest dude. All right. Thank you. And he said, never met him.

But he's also worked with a lot of pro athletes here in the area. And he mentioned a few of them. They said, he's just here. He's the greatest. And I'm like, brother, you have no idea. Dude, I'm going into your next physical therapy. I'm going to fake a back injury. Oh, yeah.

Oh, thank you so much. Oh, you crack better than anybody. You do such a great job, man. You crack better than anybody. Never had a massage like this. I bet you got good massages, though, being a pro athlete. you know, you normally find one person that works with you, and then they kind of start to understand your dynamics of your body,

and you stick with them. And so everywhere I went, you kind of get one person to work on you, especially on like a Monday after you get the hell beat I have you on a Sunday. It just helps get the inflammation out, muscles going. So I would do that. But you know what's crazy is when you stop playing, I think I've had one, maybe two massages since I stopped playing. So that's within the, like, what, five years?

I don't and I miss them I honestly miss them I'm gonna tell Would the massages always be body work Or would you ever get a massage just for like relaxation Never relaxation It was always I'm not a pro athlete but never

The worst like deep tissue Grinded out IT bands where it's like Yeah kind of like bruising Yeah And I hate it the whole time And the SOAS when they do that Oh God

Yeah so it wasn't really an enjoyable Like put on the like light massage music And you just sit there and they kind of No it was like grind it out, get the massage in, elbows, the whole deal. So Christmas gifts, Joe Burrow gifted each one of his linemen, genuine, unique samurai swords. This is a couple years ago.

You guys remember this? Some of the swords dated back to the 16th century. So you're like about 1,500. These are like real samurai swords. That's pretty unique. Yeah, pretty cool. Brock Purdy. Now, there's been some revelation about this recently.

because at the time it was Brock Party got all his guys' trucks. But he had a sponsorship deal and it was part of the sponsorship deal. Not that it's not awesome to get a free truck but people, because Brock Pretty wasn't making any money then. He's in a deal now where he could buy everybody trucks. He wasn't in a deal then where he could buy everybody trucks.

Are you throwing shade? No, not at all. Part of his deal was him getting trucks for everybody? But in his rookie contract, he got his 10 linemen, either a Toyota Tundra or a Sequoia. In a rookie contract, by the way, rookie contract, last pick in the draft. You can't have, that sets a bad standard for other guys in a rookie contracts.

It does. But you know what league minimum is now? It's like, it's not going to afford that many trucks, but it's still like 750 grand or something. So just say it's 800,000. Yeah. But you're going to hit that tax, well, you're going to, 50% of it's gone. Right. So 400,000.

And let's say each truck is 40 grand. 10 trucks is 400,000. Yeah. So all your money just went to those 10 trucks. And that's what he did. He was living on the street. He did not. He stayed in the closet at the facility.

This is what makes it unique. He gave it all up for his linemen. He wanted to show the dedication. Okay. Just eating at the facility every day. Fair enough. It was like Rudy and the Notre Dame movie when he'd sleep in the janitor's closet.

Do you mean the movie Rudy? Yeah. It was like Rudy. In the movie, Rudy, I was like in the movie. He was like in the Notre Dame movie. The Rudy and the Rudy and Rudy. Yes. I was like, is it?

Yeah, the Notre Dame movie. Rudy and Rudy. Patrick Mahomes left each of his line in a gift package last year with a Rolex, Oakley's, a Yeti cooler, Lucchese boots, and recovery boots. All that says Rolex to me. All that is. It's just a Rolex and others. Yeah, the Rolex, but it goes back to what you just said about Brock. All those are sponsorship deals, maybe other than the Rolex.

But the Rolex is the main one. That's like, yeah. 60, 70 grand probably at each of those watches. Jalen Hertz and Seekwon is a joint gift. they bought each offensive lineman a personalized golf cart customized with the player's last name number and logos of both Hertz and Barkley. They gave them a golf cart with of themselves.

You know what? I hate to be a hater. I hate to be a hater. And they put a picture of Sequin and Hertz on the front like this. I don't like them putting their own logos on the gifts they're giving. Why'd they put their own logo? Why didn't they just do their like linemen's number? Yeah.

And they did that, but they added their own. Am I, am I a hater? No. No, not at all. There's no need for that. Yeah. You're already personalized it. This is something similar to what you did. Aaron Rogers on the Jets. Had a Taylor come in, measure the line for custom Tom Ford suits, complete with matching cologne and sunglasses. Mine was big and tall.

So, no, I'm just kidding. Men's warehouse. Miss warehouse. Big and tall. Shout out. Tom Ford, that's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. Oh, yeah. Those are five-dollar suits. Oh, you know. I know you got a few hanging in your closet, bro. Not anymore.

I have a couple hanging in my closet. Yeah, you do. You call up, Tom, when you need something. I do not. Tommy. I do not. No, not anymore. Hook it up, baby.

Those days have long gone where I'm spending money like that on suits. I had my face. But now I'm good, buddy. You still got some. I still have some of the old. But also, I used to get a ton of television money. Oh, they gave it. It was part of your deal.

Yeah. It was the greatest was when they were like, hey, just dressed yourself for these four things. And they'd put no budget on it. Oh, wow. Yeah. Instead of going, hey, we're going to give you an allowance. The allowance was always way significant per episode. Yeah. Like I can use as American Idol, for example, that network money is crazy. And they'd be like, okay, you got to do one episode. Here's $3,000 for this one episode. So what I would do is I would easily get all my clothes, probably two, we'll call them wardrobe's outfits, two of them for like a thousand and save the 2000. And then you'd have to use it all or it would just go away. You didn't get to keep the extra. So the next week I'd have like, $6,000, and then I would get me just a crazy awesome suit.

That's brilliant. See, that strategizing. It was amazing. That money, that clothes money was amazing. Missed that clothes money. I just wear cardigans all the time now. I know. But they're still got swag to it.

Let's be honest. But you don't even have to dress up to look dressed up in a cardigan sweater. That's right. Because people just think you're put together. Yeah. Now I just got a t-shirt and a cardigan on. It's just class. That's what it is.

It's a classy look. Like whatever you put on it or under it, I guess I should say. One time I want you to show up with no shirt on under it. Just rock it. Never would I. But when I was on dancing with the stars one week, I had to go dance with no shirt. Oh, yeah. All I had was a jacket, a jacket with no shirt underneath it.

And I thought to myself, I cannot. They were like, you have to do it. And they didn't make me, make me, but they really rooted me on. And they sprayed to him the crap out of me. I think I told this. How many abs did you do that week? That week? Like some planks, crunches?

Like getting it ready for stage. Oh, yeah. That week, the hour before. starved myself. The hour before, all I did were sit-ups and push-ups. Oh, for sure. Leading right into it.

I'm ready. And anytime I thought I was on camera, like at the beginning of they do an intro, and they're like, I flexed so hard when I thought I was on camera. I was like, I was like, where it messes with your smile? Yes.

I was like, I had to poop my pants. I was flexing so hard. Yeah. Okay. Scott Hanson coming up. We'll take a break. Red Zone Scott Hansen coming up next. The 2026 NFL draft is here.

And the NFL Daily podcast has it covered. from all angles. Join me, Greg Rosenthal, and Jordan Roderig, after night one on Thursday. Nick Shook joins me night two Friday and then Sunday to recap everything that went down over the three days in Pittsburgh. We'll tell you who won the draft and which players were my favorite picks. Listen to NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Daniel Jeremiah. And I'm Greg Rosenthal. And this is 40s and Free agents. The games may be over, but the NFL never stopped.

This is my favorite part of the calendar. Yeah, mine too, Greg, free agency, the combine, the NFL draft Pro Days, trades. This is where teams reshape their future. This is where Daniel Jeremiah makes his money. On 40s and free agents, we break down every move that actually matters. From my draft evaluations, mock drafts, and team fits. To my top 101 free agents and how real rosters are built, cap space, contracts, and all the tough decisions. included. You got quarterbacks on the move. We got teams rebuilding. It's hope season.

Yeah, absolutely. It's hope season. We'll tell you what's real, what's noise, and what it means for your favorite team. Smart analysis, real conversations every week. I don't know about the smart, but definitely analysis. Listen to 40s and free agents on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, let's go over now and talk with NFL Network host Scott Hanson. Scott is known for being my friend every Sunday, even though he does not know. that I am his best friend. He's my best friend, too. Yes.

He's known for hosting NFL Red Zone every Sunday during the season, but he also played college ball at Syracuse. He was at the same time as Marvin Harrison. And when you think of the NFL, at least for me, you think of Scott Hanson. He's awesome. Here he is. Clap your hand for Scott Hanson.

Yes. Bring him in. Hey, Scott. Bobby, Matt, good to see you guys. Good to be with you here. Thank you for having me into your living rooms or your living spaces each and every NFL Sunday. Yeah, for a long time.

I spend more time with Scott on the weekend than my pregnant wife. Oh my gosh. And it's not even at home. Like, I'm on the phone. On the phone. I was at my daughter's basketball game this weekend going like this. And I do have one B for the Red Zone. When you guys go Quad Box and I'm on my iPhone, I can't see anything.

I cannot see anything. Can't see a score. And you're talking about it, though. The reason I agreed to be on this podcast is because I wanted to exchange phone numbers so you can text me if you're on your phone as opposed to your big screen. And I will tell the staff, no quad box. No octobox. Matt needs to be able to see everything.

That's a high class problem to have, by the way. True statement. If that's the worst complaint, we'll live with that. Scott, have you met Matt before? Oh, I have. I have. Matt might not remember. Were we at a party or what?

I don't know about that. No, it wasn't that. I met you during your starting season for the New England Patriots. 208. So before Red Zone started in 2009, I was a roving reporter for the NFL. So I had covered you guys the great 2007 season. Of course, Brady gets hurt. Then 2008. And I was at the New England Buffalo Bills game late December. I want to say week. That was the final week. Week 16. It was week. It was week 17. But the 16th game. And do you remember what that game was like?

It was absolutely the worst conditions ever. The most miserable snowing. The winds were, what, 55, 60 miles an hour? The wind pushed the goalposts sideways. In fact, I don't know if you guys have capability to punch up an image or anything. But if you could, if one of your people Googles Patriots Bills 2008 in Buffalo, there are images of the goalposts going like this from the wind. that was swirling at then rich stadium, as it was called.

And it was unbelievable. Before you guys, so I'm doing pregame hits for NFL Network during the pregame show before you guys had even arrived at the stadium. And they're setting up the stadium and whatnot. And it was cold. So they had the heating benches, you know, the big white, like, heating benches, you know, the blow them. Those heating benches blew off of the sideline and were tumbling down the big of the car.

as I'm doing my hit. And so that was one of the most incredible games I had ever covered. And you guys were brilliant in the game. Patriots won the game. You led them to a 13-0-0 win. Gotskowski somehow hit a couple of field goals in that. I mean, if you look in the game book, it said like 30-mile-an-hour sustained wins. And the Gus were like 50.

And there's not a lot of people even listening that have stood in 50-mile-an-hour wins. It was insane. But you guys won. But the reason I get a smile on my face about it is I go to the postgame locker room. And so I'm interviewing all the individual players. And I'm representing NFL networks. So I can usually get one-on-one interviews as opposed to going into a big scrum with a bunch of microphones sticking in someone's face. So Matt, the winning quarterback was kind enough to give me a one-on-one interview.

We had a great interview. I'm like, man, I'm rooting for this guy. I go, I don't know what it's going to look like when Brady comes back and whatnot. So I'm thinking, you know, Matt Castle, Matt Castle, and I said, I'm going to get one more interview. And I go over to Mike Vrable. Now, I'm sure you've told Mike Vrable stories on this podcast several times. Mike does not suffer fools, right? And I had just interviewed you, and I go to Vrable and I go, hey, Matt, can I get you for a quick interview? I called him Matt, accident.

Oh, man. In my head. Oh, my gosh. And he literally goes to me, he looks, he goes, Matt, Matt, like I was a complete imbecile. I didn't know who he was. I can totally see him doing that. And walked away from me and all the other reporters heard it and saw it. And I just went, whew, we, like, oh, I felt so small.

It was my fault. But because you had played well in those ridiculous circumstances and won the game and gave me a one-on-one interview, I had mad on my brain. And I still have never talked to Vrable about it since. I want to apologize to him. Oh, don't apologize. He doesn't remember. But he, you know what? You got to be on your piece and cues when you're around Mike, not Matt Vrable.

Matt Vrable. Matt Vrable. I'm his long-lost son. Speaking of that, you just said that. Okay, so you're doing interviews, that type of situation. You go up and you call Mike Matt. When you're on the red zone, how many names are running through your head and how hard? is that to be able to translate that into on-air and not mess a name up?

It is difficult, and I am certainly not perfect, but to mix a sports metaphor, I want my free throw percentage to be high 90s. You know, I probably say on an average red zone episode, I mean, I probably say a couple hundred names, maybe 100, 200, probably a couple hundred names. And there's only 1700 players in the NFL at any given time. And I'm probably saying 200 names. And especially late in the season, as we're speaking now, where injuries have taken their toll and you've got practice squad guys getting up there and somebody picks off a quarterback. And I'm like, who is 23? I don't know who 23 is. and I've got a researcher and a spotter, Tim Galanians, Brian Larravee, my right-hand men, they're awesome.

They will fire up, you know, a roster real quick to get me the name and a pronunciation if I need it. But guys, we have done it and we're in the season right now. We've done that where, let's say, number 23 for whatever team picks off a guy. I'm like, who's 23? And then they're coming to me and they look at me and there's no 23 on the official website of the team. They literally just called the guy up or they got him off the street or whatever, slap the jersey on him and he's in the game and makes a play. And I'm like, I don't know who that is.

So a lot of times I'll just say, great job by the defense there. They turn them over and now the ball goes back over to the other quarterback, whatever. But it's difficult. And of course, social media is unforgiving if and when I mess up a name. After you left Syracuse, did you ever do the local news? Were you ever your own guy? you have to set up your own camera, do that. Can you talk about that first job?

Oh, that's a great story. So I'm an old man here, old-timer here. I'm 54. And so my first year out of Syracuse, working as the weekend sports anchor for WPBN, Traverse City, Michigan, which, so they ranked the television markets one to like, there's like 200 TV markets in the country, a little bit more than. 200 and they rank them one to 200 based on population. This was market 121. Okay, anything beyond 100 is tiny, okay? My annual salary at that place and my, the one year that I was there,

you want to guess, take it again, 1993 into 94. 93 local news. Okay. Local news. I was local, so I'm doing three days during the week, I was a sports reporter. On the weekends, I would anchor from the anchor desk, the sports report. 39,000. 39, Matt? 20,000. Try $15,000. Wow.

Was my salary in 1993. And like it was, it was, but I would have done it for 14,000. I remember reading in USA Today back when newspaper, physical newspapers were a thing. Remember how they used to have a graph in the front page of USA Today? They always had a kind of an interesting, like, like pie chart type thing. A little pie chart of graph at the bottom. They just saw people.

This one was percentage of people in the United States that live below the poverty line. And the poverty line was like 13-5 or something. And I'm like, I'm on television making $15,000. If I had made a grand less, I would have been below the poverty line and people think you're a big hot shot TV guy. So, yeah, I was, oh, dude, I was a one-man band literally setting up my own tripod. And this is not back in the days where everybody had a TV studio in their hand here. You know, camera was bulky. And you'd have people walking by at a high school game or something like,

where's your camera guy? And I'm like, oh, yeah, you know, you're looking at him. Or, oh, he's in the production truck right now. I'm sure he'll be back here in a second. So, yeah, I paid my dues like most people who have gone through any industry. Yeah, you definitely paid your dues. When did you feel like you had your big break? and got to a place where you're like,

I've kind of set myself up here. I can make a career out of this. Well, that's a good question. I've never really felt like, okay, I'm at the destination. Honestly, honestly. I don't mean to give you a cliche answer, but there were tent poles in my life as I went through from when I transitioned from being a weekend sports anchor

at like a local ABC NBC, NBC CBS station to when I went to an all sports network. My first gig at an all sports network was what was called Comcast SportsNet in Philadelphia, which was the original one. Now they call them NBC Sports, NBC Sports, Washington, NBC Sports, Bay Area, whatever. So this was Philadelphia. And that was a big deal because going to all sports, it was like I was going to be the lead story on the show. not me, but I was going to handle the lead story, as opposed to being the weekend sports guy,

where they give you three minutes to do a whole weekend worth of sports highlights. And then all of a sudden, I worked in Tampa at the ABC affiliate. And I remember a time where I had three minutes, and you've got to pack all of this stuff into three minutes. And then five minutes before I go on the air, the news director comes in and says, there's a water spout in the Gulf of Mexico right now. Weather needs four minutes. you're down to two minutes. Like right before, and I like my whole everything I had done.

So transitioning to all sports where that was it. It wasn't news. It wasn't weather involved. It wasn't anything else like that. That was a big deal. And then moving to the NFL, like becoming an employee of the NFL, which was now, gosh, 20 seasons ago. That was a big deal because you felt like you were at the mothership. And it gave you some gravitas to be able to get one-on-one interviews with.

Matt Castle and the starting quarterbacks of the NFL. And Matt Brayble. And Matt Braybill. And Matt Braybill. I'm going to put that back on my brain. I'm going to have to interview him again at some point in my life. And, oh, man. Yeah.

But now hosting Red Zone for 17 years, I feel very good. And I don't want to say settled because I'm always trying to get better like anyone. I want to perform with excellence. And you're only as good as your last show. But I feel like I'm on firm ground in this industry, and I'm very thankful, very blessed. Obviously, you played ball, but was your outlook you were going to cover just football? Because I imagine you have to have a Swiss Army knife of skills, especially as you're just a sports guy. Did you hope it went into just football, or was it all over?

Boy, you must have read my bio or something like that because that's 100% where I was. I would do any sport. And I covered being in like local affiliates. I covered eighth grade girls soft. I covered I covered you I covered the fishing tournaments. The national trout festival is is in northern Michigan. And I and I covered I interviewed Miss Trout as a matter of a beauty badge around this. So I've covered everything there is.

But football was always number one for me. I grew up in, I grew up in Michigan and grew up rooting for the Michigan Wolverines and the Detroit Lions and having, you know, Saturdays and Sundays with my dad, kind of our emotions pivot around did our team win or lose and then went on to play football throughout, you know, throughout college. So football was always number one. And of course, the NFL is the highest iteration of that. And so that this is this is where I've always wanted to be. Your energy is magnetic. And I want to know, how do you take care of yourself? Like, honestly, you bring it each and every Sunday, but even talking to you on the podcast,

I'm just like, dude, tell me what you're eating. Are you a coffee guy? What makes you tick and bring that type of energy? Believe it or not, this is natural. I think my late father, Dick Hansen, he had the juice back in his day. and I don't need anything to get going in the morning. I take a shower and I am ready to go. I hate coffee.

I don't have a lot of caffeine. I've had one cup of coffee in my life and that was on a dare and I hated it. So no caffeine. Literally, it's not to sound philosophical, but let's go philosophical for a second. We all have chosen our path in life to the to the options that, we've had presented to us, right? And I, if I was a school teacher or a doctor or a lawyer or a janitor, I would hope I would have enthusiasm in my life the way that I have it working in the toy department, right? Working in sports, working in football. We only get so many heartbeats on this

planet. And how are you going to spend them? And I try to have enthusiasm and passion for not only my life, but for other people. You guys ask me to be on this podcast. I'm going to give you the best that I have. People have an infinite number of choices. I'm referring over to my media wall over here at my place in Los Angeles. I don't know if that's going to show up. Yeah, we got it. We got it. On my media wall over there, when people turn on their TV on Sunday and you consider streaming options, infinite number of choices. If they come to NFL Red Zone, if they stop on me and our team, I'm going to give them everything I got. And that's really where the passion comes from.

And the last thing I would say on it is this. When you don't have talent, you better have enthusiasm. And that's the way I live my life as a football player, as a scrub walk-on at Syracuse. And that's the way I try and live my professional life as a broadcaster. I know you lived in Tampa and worked with the Bucks, at least alongside them. And I've been lucky to spend a little bit of time with Coach Dungy, and I love being around him. How did you feel working alongside Coach Dungy? And do you have a good Dungy story?

My single favorite person to deal with in sports is Tony Dungy. And Tony, for people who know him see him on broadcast or they've seen him interviewed, he's not the most, like, embulent, you know, like all the energy that I'm giving right now. that's not Tony is very understated. Everybody knows that about Tony and whatnot. And like, but I love coach. I love him. Maybe my favorite story was this. I happen to be a Christian and Coach Dungey's vocal about his Christian faith. And when I was getting the job in Tampa, he was in his, he was going into his second year as head coach of the Buccaneers. So he was building this thing, right? Sapp, John Lynch, you know, Dilfer was the quarterback. at the time, Warwick Dunn, Mike Allstad, Derek Brooks, you can, Ronde Barber came along, you could go through the list. But I was considering taking this job in Tampa, and I said, well, I think I know what my professional life would be like. Social life would probably be good,

right? It's the Sunshine State and all that. I'm like, I wonder how it is like spiritually down there. Like, what are the churches like down? What is it? So I said, I know their head coach, Tony Dungey, he's involved in a lot of Christian charities. It's like, that. I wonder if I could ask him. So I literally cold called the Tampa Bay Buccaneers headquarters and like literally to the number that I could find, this is even pre-Internet, I suppose, like the number that I found and and secretary passed me patched me through to another secretary and I said, is there any chance I could talk to coach Dungey? And he didn't know me from any of the local sports reporter or whatever. Two minutes later, he picks up the phone.

Wow. And he's like, hi, this is Coach Dungy. Now, I mean, who, what head coach in the NFL would or could ever do that? And he spent, I don't know, 10, 10, 15 minutes on the phone, which felt like an eternity for me. And I said, hey, coach, you know, we, you know, I'm getting offered to this job down at the ABC station in Tampa. But I want to know what it's like spiritually down there. Like, where do you go to church? What do you know? He talked, couldn't have been, couldn't have been kinder. And I covered him for. all of his years until 1999, and then I left Tampa, he left shortly thereafter. Of course, Gruden came in, but I followed him. I covered him with the Colts and bump into him now and his work on NBC.

I love Coach Dungey. I have since that moment, always will, and I try and emulate that in my life when someone I don't know asks for some of my time, a college student or something like that even as busy as I am, I try to give them some love and attention the way Dungey did to me back when I was cold calling him.

That's amazing. That's an awesome. That's a great story. The 2026 NFL draft is here and the NFL Daily podcast has it covered from all angles. Join me, Greg Rosenthal and Jordan Roderig after night one on Thursday. Nick Shook joins me night two Friday and then Sunday to run. recap everything that went down over the three days in Pittsburgh.

We'll tell you who won the draft and which players were my favorite picks. Listen to NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal on the IHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Daniel Jeremiah. And I'm Greg Rosenthal. And this

is 40s and free agents. The games may be over, but the NFL never stopped. This is my favorite part of the calendar. Yeah, mine too, Greg. Free agency, the combine. The NFL draft pro days, trades, this is where teams reshape their future. This is where Daniel Jeremiah makes his money. On 40s and free agents, we break down every move that actually matters.

From my draft evaluations, mock drafts, and team fits. To my top 101 free agents and how real rosters are built, cap space, contracts, and all the tough decisions included. You got quarterbacks on the move. We got teams rebuilding. It's hope season. Yeah, absolutely. It's hope season.

We'll tell you what's real, what's noise. and what it means for your favorite team. Smart analysis, real conversations every week. I don't know about the smart, but definitely analysis. Listen to 40s and free agents on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Take us back 17 years and the first conversation that you were approached with for the Red Zone. And how was it pitch? What went through your mind?

Yeah, so as I said, I was a roving reporter. they would send me to practices, games, do remote reports. But I always told the bosses at NFL Network, I said, guys, I think for my skill set, I feel better on the anchor desk than I do in the field. I like to keep all the knives in the drawer sharp. And I try to do it be excellent in whatever format I'm in. But I said, I would love to host something for you, to be the face and the voice of something. So the summer of 2009, I had heard that we were starting this channel, the Red Zone, NFL Red Zone. There had already existed on DirecTV, the Red Zone channel, which confuses a lot of viewers,

that there used to be two Red Zones. But they were basically going to kind of copy that format and have it themselves in-house for the NFL. So I called up the talent coordinator at that time. And I was like, wait a minute, wait a minute. This channel is going to be every touchdown from every game, seven hours straight through, give you the 10,000 foot view of the NFL. We can take you to whatever stadium, wherever, whenever, and there's going to be no commercials. And they were like, yep.

And I said, who you got to host this thing? And they said, well, we're looking at a few people. I said, is my name on the list? They said, yeah, your name is on the list. I said, I want this. So they had auditions for the short list of names that they had. And for your audience who might not know, a television audition usually lasts 10, 15 minutes, right? They put you up on set.

They put a microphone on you. They give you an earpiece. And they just want to see how you look, how you sound. And if it's a co-hosted show, they'll bring a co-anchor, so see if you can execute some cross-talk and whatnot. But it's 15 minutes, right? And it's kind of a formality. But because stamina, enthusiasm, knowledge of the game are all priorities for Red Zone. And stamina may be being number one is a seven-hour then commercial-free channel.

they they the audition was five hours long oh my gosh and this was like this was like June of 2009 right before we came out so it's the middle of the summer there's no there are no games going on or anything so what they did is they put me into a studio in los angeles at NFL media headquarters. And they took a random week from the season before, whatever, week seven of 2008. And this was they actually had videotapes. And they took eight videotapes of eight different games, queued them all up to the kickoff, pressed play simultaneously, and said, talk. Wow. And we rolled through. And I had a producer that was in my year trying to like, because they had, had to audition an entire television staff, right, a producer, director, technical director, audio, graphics, everything. And, and I'm going through it as best I can. You have no computers,

though, because there's not like live box scores that you can follow along to say, oh, okay, Randy Moss has 100 yards receiving now at the half or something like that, right? So you're doing it, you're flying by the seat of your pants. I was wearing a suit. I remember I sweated, I'm not a big sweater, but I sweated right through this suit. I mean, flop sweat. And I'm thinking in my head, just keep going, be enthusiastic, make the transitions, you know, nail as many things as you can. And I'm thinking, I'm either winning this job or I am ruining my career right here. There's like almost no, almost no in between. So the audition, we went through a whole set of games, three hours, then they put in another like four games and took us to like half time of those games.

It was a five hour audition. Finished up, I didn't have a real good vibe about it one way or another. I knew I did my best. But about two weeks later, the executive producer of NFL Network gives me a call. And I said, hey, Eric, how you doing? He's like, oh, good, Scott, good. He goes, I just want to let you know, we want to name you the host of NFL Red Zone. And I was like, oh, man, that is awesome.

I said, so you watched the five-hour audition, right? They recorded it for him and whatnot. He goes, Scott, I watched the first 15 minutes of it, and I knew you were my guy. You bring that energy, that passion. And I was like, oh, Eric, that is great. That's awesome. And in my brain, I'm thinking, then why in the, you have to do five hours ruin a perfectly good suit and stress like I never have? but all's well that ends well

and here we are 17 seasons later. That's a great story. Two final questions for you, Scott. I'll go first. Living in Nashville, I have a lot of friends that are artist singers or lead singers of bands. And so their whole week is revolving around

really the two shows that they're going to do on a Friday and Saturday night. And so a lot of people will think, wow, they're super famous. They probably party all night, the night before a show or the night after a show before another show. And they're actually going to bed at eight.

Like they're having to, their instrument is so delicate that they're having to treat it as such. And I wonder if you a bit live with that as well where you're famous Scott Hansen, everybody loves you, got high energy. But also, you got to shut it down so you can have it, right?

100%. So on, obviously we're on on Sunday. On a Saturday, on a football Saturday prior to Red Zone, I might see, I'm a bachelor. I live alone.

No kids. So I'm just here. And I'm researching. I'm grinding on every, fact, stat, storyline, injury updates, quotes that came out during the week to prepare for all 11, 12, 13 games that I have on Red Zone. The only live human beings that I see on a football Saturday are the DoorDash or Post-Macon delivery guy who brings me my food. And for those who are watching, not listening to the podcast, I showed you the media wall. I put up the best five, five college games on my media wall.

And that's way behind me. Those are like 60 inch TVs over there. But I put on the best five college games. I sit on my computer right over here, look through all my notes on the pros, watch the next generation of college coming up. And it's a beautiful football weekend for me. But no, I can't even tell you the last time I went out. I went out and did something on a Saturday.

one of my best friends moved his wedding to a Thursday so I could be best man in his wedding because they wanted to get married during a football. That's a good friend. True story. That's good. Darren Cuchera, shout out. Shout out, Darren Cucheras. Shut out.

My last one would be, you know, you said that you never feel completely settled. Is there a sporting event that you at some point would want to cover or an avenue in which you'd want to go with your career that is just on your bucket list? Yeah, I've, Matt, I've done a lot of things. I've been very blessed. I have been, I have covered obviously multiple, multiple Super Bowls, something like 17 Super Bowls. I've been to the college football national championship.

I've been to multiple final fours in college basketball, NBA finals, NHL finals, about the only stuff I've never covered. I've done the Olympics now. You may have heard that gold zone has begun for the Olympics, which is red zone for the Olympics. That's a lot of fun. I'll be doing the Milan Cortina Winter Games coming up here in February. A world heavyweight championship fight, boxing, or UFC, even. There is buzz like nothing else.

I would like to do that, cover that, and be ringside and maybe even call. it, if it's not my, entirely my world. I've done some boxing before. That would be something or, well, the World Cup is coming to the United States. I've never been to a World Cup match, but a World Cup final, depending on what countries make it to the final. I'm sure that's otherworldly. And I love the juice, man. You could tell that. I love the action. I couldn't tell me in the international tidley winks competition. And if, If you can tell me why it's dramatic, I will be all in. I've been to the Grand Sumo tournament in Japan.

I happened to be in Japan when the tournament was going on. I talked to the concierge at the hotel. I said, can you give me a ticket to the grand? I want to see it. I didn't understand anything that was going on, but I was like, I was right there. You take off your shoes. You sit in like cross-legged in, and they don't have like regular seats in the ancient arena that they held it in. You go to the concession stand.

Everything is in Japanese, and there's like the head of a fish, like, decad of a fish instead of a picture of a hot dog and popcorn. And you're like, yeah, I don't want that. I'll do one of those. So there is almost any major sporting event in the world that people find interesting. I can probably find interesting. Well, we appreciate the time. I think, again, you and I have what I would call a parisocial relationship.

I think where I know the relationship, but you do not. So I just really appreciate Not anymore, Bobby. Fair enough. Fair enough. We're there. Really appreciate the effort and the enthusiasm. And listen, I think Matt and I love how you do it and the way you do it

and you have such a positive attitude. You're an inspiration to many, Mr. Hanson. So thank you very much for your time and have a great weekend. And hopefully we'll see you sometime soon. I'll see you on Sunday, Scott. See you, Scott. See you, Scott.

Matt, Bobby, great to be with you. See you Sunday, boys. That was awesome. Thank you, Scott. The 2026, NFL draft is here and the NFL Daily podcast has it covered from all angles. Join me, Greg Rosenthal and Jordan Roderig after night one on Thursday. Nick Shook joins me night two Friday and then Sunday to recap everything that went down over the three days in Pittsburgh.

We'll tell you who won the draft and which players were my favorite picks. Listen to NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Daniel Jeremiah. And I'm Greg Rosenthal. And this is 40s and free agents. The games may be over, but the NFL never stopped. This is my favorite part of the calendar. Yeah, mine too, Greg.

Free agency, the combine. The NFL draft, Pro Days, trades. This is where teams reshape their future. This is where Daniel Jeremiah makes his money. On 40s and free agents, we break down every move that actually matters. From my draft evaluations, mock drafts, and team fits, to my top 101 free agents and how real rosters are built, cap space, contracts, and all the tough decisions included.

You got quarterbacks on the move. We got teams rebuilding. It's hope season. Yeah, absolutely. It's hope season. We'll tell you what's real, what's noise, and what it means for your favorite team. Smart analysis, real conversations every week. I don't know about the smart, but definitely analysis.

Listen to 40s and free agents on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. It's time for the week in preview presented by Draft Kings from first touchdown score to anytime touchdown props or the thrill of live in-game betting every snap is loaded with opportunity.

Okay, let's look at a few matchups from week 17 coming up. Why don't we start with the Buccaneers at Dolphins? The Bucks got to win this game to stay in so that next week's game is a do or die as they are trying to win that NFC South

against the Carolina Panthers. So I'm putting this on the list. because if the Bucks can win this game, then we're looking at that final four seed in the NFC going to the winner. But I am going with the Buccaneers. They need to win it. I don't know if Todd Boles is a good coach. I'm leaning on no.

Todd Boll is a heck of the first half of the season coach. So I'm going with the Bucks. And the last I checked, it was Bucks minus five. I'm taking the Bucks minus five. Eagles at Bills. We're looking at, man, I really love. late in-season matchup between the AFC and the NFC where the bills need Josh Allen to pretty much do it all.

And the Eagles are just trying to find themselves pretty much. Both teams already in the playoffs. It is in Buffalo. I'm going with the bills, winning that one, and the Bears and the 49ers. 49ers need to win. Bears need to win for them both to have a shot at that number one seat in the NFC. Seahawks still hold complete control of that number one seed,

but both these teams need to win to have a shot at the number one seat. I'm going with the 49ers over the Bears. That was the weekend preview, presented by Draft Kings. When your team hits the end zone, you can hit payout. Download the draft king sportsbook app, use the code to say. That's the code to say, like our show, T-O-S-A-Y. Bet five bucks, get $200 in bonus bets if your bet wins. In partnership with draft kings, the crown is yours.

Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler. In New York, call 877-8-Hopen Y or text Hope and Y at 467-369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. 7889-777 or visit ccpg.org. Police play responsibly. On behalf of Boot Hill Casinoin Resort in Kansas, 21 and over, age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario.

Bet must win to receive reward. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.com slash audio. All right, Merry Christmas, everybody. What are you guys doing for Christmas? We're going to be here. We're going to be here for Christmas.

And then I think we might be a least. and going up to Montana for a little bit. Oh, from cold to colder. Colder. I thought you may go to California. No, we did that for Thanksgiving. So this time, go around, we're going to get real cold. It's probably going to be like negatives up there where you're not even going to leave the house.

But there's going to be a little skiing, a little fun, you know, just fun winter stuff. I've never been skiing. Oh, dude, I went for the first time just a few years ago. And I did a little snowboarding when I was younger. But nothing. I'm a novice at best. So I go out to this hill. My kids are getting, it's their first time.

So they get a lesson. I come out, I was like, honey, I'm going to be snowboarding. She's like, you're a loser. Look at you. I mean, you're on a snowboard. Every person there is on skis. So I was like, fine. I'll try skiing.

So I go get this little lesson. Skiing is the greatest thing ever. Oh, it's fine. Oh, there's nothing like going down a mountain with the wind in your hair and little snowflakes hitting you. And you can control the skis. You've got these poles. There's no issues with balance. amazing. Did you not ski while you were playing because you were playing? Yeah, because I thought if I

did anything, I'd have to give them all the money back. That would be awful. And it was kind of in your contract if you put yourself at risk and you do have an injury like that. Do they list specifically what those activities are? Oh, yeah, they've got a whole section. Redlining, right? It could be motorcycle. It could be motorcycles. Yeah, motorcycle. Didn't Rothesbsterger like crash a motorcycle? Yeah, he did. He got hurt. Well, Merry Christmas, everybody. Merry Christmas to you, buddy. I hope you guys. He's now turned into the angel

gets his wings guy. You know, what's that movie about A Beautiful Life? I don't know. You know, it's called A Beautiful Life. That's so true. Thanks against Scott Hanson. That is Matt Castle.

That is Kickoff Kevin. That is Brandon Ray. We've had lots to say. We'll see you guys. Bye. Lots to say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle is a production of the NFL and IHeart Podcast.

For more podcasts from IHart Radio, visit the IHart, Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The 2026 NFL draft is here and the NFL Daily podcast has it covered from all angles. Join me, Greg Rosenthal and Jordan Roderig after night one on Thursday. Nick Shook joins me night two Friday and then Sunday to recap everything that went down over the three days in Pittsburgh. We'll tell you who won the draft and which players were my favorite picks.

Listen to NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast. or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Daniel Jeremiah. And I am Greg Rosenthal. I know that, Greg. We're teaming up on 40s and free agents, the podcast that owns the NFL off season. This is where teams are built.

Free agency, combine, pro days, trades. Every move matters. From my draft boards and mock drafts to my vaunted top 101 free agents and how rosters come together. Quarterback movement. Surprise signings. We'll tell you what it means and who really wins.

Open your free. Heart Radio app, search 40s and free agents, and listen now. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.