0:00

To be be Around the NFL podcast

0:04

attended every WrestleMania and

0:06

recalls very little. Welcome

0:09

to another edition to the Around the NFL Podcast.

0:12

My name is Dan Hansas. That

0:15

come to you from a virtual room filled

0:17

with some heroes. Mark Sessler, Greg

0:20

Rosenthal, Yes,

0:23

Whistlemanias. What events they were right there

0:25

by the sea, corn hole, big

0:28

green egg tunes,

0:31

good people, good vibes, and

0:33

many drinks. Not true though I remember

0:35

him because I made the mistake of bringing

0:39

my daughter Ellis to most of them. I

0:41

think at some point I finally realized there was

0:43

one where, um,

0:45

you know, jello shots and I think hard drugs

0:48

were like introduced to the mix, and I was

0:50

like, okay, no more, no more Ellis

0:52

coming to these. But I you know, I always had to drive

0:55

home from from Marina del Ray,

0:57

so it wasn't it sounds like I was getting

0:59

too wild in West's memory, Mark,

1:01

can you step in and clarify the hard drugs

1:03

comment about around Westlemania That was not something

1:06

that I don't know if I'd call that a tent believe

1:08

me, but Creig West would have nothing

1:10

to do with it. But there were narrow do wells.

1:13

West had a very open policy

1:15

of who wants to come and who doesn't.

1:17

And I can definitely confirm, Um,

1:20

some people were bringing in some things. West

1:23

may have no idea about it, and they may have been an

1:25

NFL employees. They may still be uh

1:27

like the dark side of these parties that Greg

1:30

was eyeing with his it was like it

1:32

was like the three in the afternoon. It's like

1:34

right lately

1:36

on you, Greg, like you you you're

1:39

at your third WrestleMania Westlemania.

1:41

You know, we all know what out and

1:43

what they devolve into. And you continually

1:45

bring small children. And I

1:48

viewed it as a wave too, as

1:50

an escape hatch to get out of there. I mean, of course

1:52

she's going to see crazy stuff. So I don't know what.

1:55

Well that was round two and three of

1:57

that. Uh see, I would disagree.

1:59

The first couple were pretty family friendly, especially

2:02

during the afternoon, and then it got wild later.

2:04

That was this whole thing that there were actually a

2:06

lot of kids at the first Westlemania

2:09

or two, and you're right, once we got to three,

2:11

Uh, there was no it used to be there

2:13

was like a two to five pm or

2:16

twelve to four pm pocket where it was a

2:18

little tamer and then you get out of there with the

2:20

kids. But but by three,

2:22

um, these individuals they weren't waiting

2:25

around. They were they were gonna hit it, running

2:28

right out hard

2:30

drugs like people

2:33

just like knotted out in the corner. Um

2:35

knowing those parties and the characters

2:37

involved always kept the children far away. But

2:39

you know, it's it's

2:41

it's tough being parents sometimes sometimes

2:43

the kids got to come when you can't. It was either that or

2:46

not go. You know, there was like an infinite

2:48

home and I wasn't. I wasn't allowed to leave the older

2:50

one. You know, it's a tough spot. Welcome

2:52

to the show. We have. We

2:56

are approaching the draft now and

2:59

and yes it pains me to say this,

3:01

but you know, Daniel Jeremiah is

3:04

kind of the guy in terms of

3:06

the NFL Draft and the walk up to it.

3:08

Uh, so we did. We booked him. We booked him on the show

3:10

today and he's gonna be on today's episode. We're gonna dive

3:13

deep on the draft.

3:15

Nice conversation I look forward to having

3:17

with DJ. We can maybe hopefully move past

3:20

our issues, uh and have a

3:22

civil conversation. Uh to look

3:24

forward to that also, you know, as

3:26

we are kind of in the afterglow of

3:29

the Sam Donald trade UM,

3:31

and that happened in the middle

3:33

of our recording on Monday, in fact,

3:36

right after it, and we you know, did some surgery

3:39

on the show, and so it all was happening

3:41

very quickly, and I was just like the last couple

3:43

of days, I've had a chance to reflect on

3:45

it a little bit because as you guys

3:47

know better than anyone that UM

3:50

had a lot invested in Donald, as

3:52

did all Jets fans, And it is kind of

3:54

shocking that it's over, that the

3:56

Sam Donald is over in New York.

3:59

And Joe Douglas spoke UM

4:02

to the media the day after the trade

4:04

to the Panthers, and he said

4:06

as much that it took a lot of things to fall

4:08

into place for it to end

4:11

after three years, and that's just the way it

4:13

happened, whether the regime change, the timing

4:16

on his contract, where they were picking

4:18

in the draft, and it's

4:21

just kind of hard to believe. And

4:23

and I still do believe Donald can

4:25

be better and even good in

4:28

an environment that that where it gives him

4:30

a real shot. But I have to say it is a relief

4:33

no longer having to ponder the chicken

4:36

or the egg nature of his entire career in the NFL.

4:38

That is now something the Panthers fans have

4:41

to work through and figure out because it was

4:43

very it was extremely stressful. So

4:46

while I I wish him well and I think he can

4:48

do well, that's as

4:51

a fan that was exhausting and it's off

4:53

my plate and I feel good about that. I mean, one of the factors

4:55

was, um, he didn't play well.

4:58

I mean, and and then it was that there

5:00

is a huge chunk of the media in general

5:03

that turns around and I think has

5:05

protected Sam Donald because of the environment

5:08

he was in as much as any quarterback in the

5:10

league. And so he's is that fair unfair? I Mean,

5:12

you can look at Donald from a couple of different viewpoints.

5:15

But the hardest thing as a Jets man, I

5:17

think was defending bad

5:19

quarterback play from a guy that everyone felt

5:21

should be so much better and making

5:23

the team better, right, I mean, it

5:26

was tough on Dan. He had for a while he was trying

5:28

to convince us like Sam Donald was super good

5:30

looking, Like that's how much he was bump bumping

5:32

him up. He is. I think he is a handsome He's fine,

5:35

He's fine, but he's

5:38

no Zack Wilson, who's like a young Efron

5:40

zac Efron. I feeling even better

5:43

about the Zac Efron slash Zach

5:45

Wilson. But if you if you like your men like

5:47

little boys, you know, you know,

5:52

I think we're just getting old. But he looks like he's

5:54

like fourteen years old, so I think we are certainly

5:57

getting old. Speaking of

5:59

Sam darn in the end of the road, I think

6:01

this is a good time to check in with Keith hanss

6:04

Now. His name

6:06

is Keith Dan. He'll

6:10

doubt about it. He's a big Jets

6:12

fan. Well is he gondaillpen

6:16

game to day? Well? Does he go?

6:19

Will happen game today?

6:22

The Sam Donald era is over. I

6:25

thought Sam Donald was the

6:28

kind of player that I think teammates

6:31

probably appreciated. He played through

6:33

pain, and he seemed to try hard,

6:36

uh and didn't seem to put throw

6:38

people under the bus or anything of that regard.

6:41

But as far as the way he progressed

6:44

in the three years he was with the Jets, I

6:47

you know, had lost faith in him

6:49

as a Jet fan. I don't

6:51

think he was gonna change much.

6:54

I agree he didn't have the team around

6:56

him the coaching around

6:59

him. But I seeing other young players

7:01

in recent years that have been drafted on other

7:03

teams come up with not the greatest

7:05

teams and have put up some

7:07

great numbers. Where Sam

7:10

Sam Donald, with all the

7:12

publicity he was getting and

7:14

a claim, he just never seemed

7:16

to improve and as a matter

7:18

of fact, just went down. As we all

7:21

know, last year was ranked dead last

7:23

among all active quarterbacks

7:26

UH in the ratings. And just hopefully

7:28

the Jets cel um

7:31

in the draft will come up and the quarterback

7:33

that they pick UH will

7:36

become the quarterback that they can work with.

7:38

I think it was a good move by the Jets. Good

7:41

luck Sam. Disclosure,

7:43

my dad was always out on

7:46

Sam Donald. This past year or so. There

7:48

was no on the fence. I'm on the fence and I'm

7:50

just trusting management to get this right. Keith

7:52

was ready to roll on

7:55

the Donald era and move on. So I

7:57

hope he's right. I hope he's right. Gonna

8:00

analysis is always though Anton Panthers

8:02

don't hope he's right. Um.

8:04

I think that was the thing that would think the thing that Donald

8:06

is We're just such a quick football

8:09

like COGNISCENTI to

8:11

move on like we didn't need

8:13

to wait to move on to from Dayne Haskins

8:16

and Josh Rosen. And I think when you really

8:18

look at it, that's that's the that's

8:20

the company Donald was keeping even

8:22

when he was protected and and and things

8:25

went well on a certain play. That's

8:27

that. It's like, we've done this long enough

8:29

to like assume anything. If Matt Rule

8:32

can fix him up nice and fancy, he

8:34

could be average there. And I think there's a

8:36

ceiling and I'm not a bit I'm not

8:38

really buying this um, but you know, maybe

8:40

he can be average. There is a bit of an irony here by

8:42

the way, as I say, I'm passing Donald

8:45

off to another fan base. Uh,

8:47

and there was a lot of stress to it. I'm kind of passing it off

8:49

the Sessler who's the

8:51

president of the Matt Rule Dynasty fan

8:53

club. He's now kind of your quarterback

8:55

in a lot of ways. Yeah. And I

8:58

think actually, like he goes to

9:00

a really one of the best, you know, scenarios

9:02

you could have picked for him. And if Joe

9:05

Brady is as brainy as they saying creative,

9:07

I think, you know, it'll help. And I think

9:09

that's good for Sam Donald. I wouldn't want him. See him

9:11

go somewhere where he was in a word, like a Jared Goff

9:13

type landing spot where things seem to

9:15

fall apart even further once you

9:18

get there. Um. But I

9:20

don't have any great faith that Sam Donald's

9:22

like a great quarterback, that's all. I just want to see it.

9:24

I don't have to have that he could be a backup. I

9:26

would be very interested if they drafted

9:29

someone at quarterback, I kind of, I think,

9:31

and this is something I thought about more. I'm convinced they

9:34

were in on mac Jones and

9:36

between striking out with Stafford

9:39

mac Jones potentially and Watson,

9:42

um, then Donald kind of became this fallback

9:44

land. But who knows, maybe mac Jones doesn't

9:46

get taken, or maybe they maybe tray Lance

9:49

falls and they decided to take a shot. Who knows. And

9:51

speaking of the Panthers, Teddy Bridgewater,

9:54

by the way, is now allowed or has

9:56

been given permission, to engage with trade partners,

9:58

So I know you would floated the he

10:01

might still be in the mix of the Panthers. The Panthers

10:03

are done with Teddy bridge want They're gonna

10:06

They're gonna take a financial uh semi

10:08

Bath to move on considering the investment

10:11

they made with him, which wasn't small. It

10:14

wasn't huge, but it wasn't small either. Then they're

10:16

gonna kind of hit the reset here. And I'm

10:18

with you, just like I thought. Ryan Fitzpatrick

10:20

would have been a lot of fun in Denver. Uh,

10:23

the Broncos job. If you were a quarterback

10:25

trying to figure out where you land

10:28

in the landscape and you're still looking for work. Uh,

10:30

and there aren't many quarterbacks in this category. Now

10:33

with Teddy, you gotta get up to Denver

10:35

and take on Drew lock with that good offense,

10:38

uh and really strong team all around.

10:40

Um. All right, lots to get

10:42

to before we get to DJ. And we'll talk to DJ

10:45

about some jet stuff at number

10:47

two because we know his connection

10:49

to Joe Douglas. Let's hit the news.

10:51

Could you believe a pick

10:54

in? It's

11:00

funny boys. That's uh the agent

11:02

of Ben Roethlisberger at the two thousand four

11:05

NFL draft, um

11:08

Lee Steinberg. Lee Steinberg and

11:11

one of the more famous agents in NFL

11:13

history. And uh

11:16

that pops up every once in a while. Stephen Ruey's

11:18

who does really good work. Uh.

11:21

Over at four, the Win. He's their lead writer. Uh

11:24

he really he put he floated that back up

11:26

onto Twitter. Uh this week, and

11:28

it's a whole behind the scenes

11:30

breakdown of the two thousand four draft, following

11:33

all the top picks everywhere there they were

11:35

mike them up at the draft tables, and

11:38

it just got me thinking how disappointing it is

11:40

that as the draft since in

11:42

those fifteen years twenty years has

11:44

gotten bigger, Uh, the access

11:47

has gotten tighter and tighter and more and more

11:49

controlled. Wouldn't that be great if we had this every year

11:51

and then you can look back on this stuff instead? Uh,

11:54

you know, you just get this recycled every year so

11:56

on social media, which I appreciate. But at

11:58

the same time, I wish we had this for

12:01

this draft or the Baker Mayfield Sam Donald

12:03

draft, like all that stuff. Uh No,

12:05

that's not how it works anymore. I prefer

12:07

less access, um, more sterile

12:09

coverage, more robotic, less

12:12

insight. That's what I'm so we're going. We're

12:14

heading in the right direction. Plus I feel like there's more.

12:16

Maybe maybe this is not true, but uh,

12:19

like that draft as Roethlisberger

12:21

was fallen, you really like you didn't

12:23

you weren't expecting that going in necessary.

12:25

You know, you really didn't have a good

12:27

feel of what was going to happen to Rivers

12:29

and Roethlisberger in that draft. You kind of knew what,

12:32

you know, probably what was happening with Eli, but like

12:34

as he's falling, that was great drama

12:36

in real time, just like Aaron Rodgers when

12:38

he was in the in the draft room. And Lee

12:40

Steinberg, by the way, is one of four hundred agents

12:43

who believes Jerry McGuire was made

12:46

about him. That's like a thing and behind the

12:48

scenes in agent world, they all think it was about them.

12:50

Also invites me to his Super Bowl party every

12:53

every year, by the way, and uh, I

12:57

went to one many many years back, and it's still

12:59

conflicted with other things that we were doing. But

13:01

um, he's continually nice enough to send

13:04

the invite because I think he knows he and I

13:06

could really chop it up if we were to

13:08

get in a room together. Look

13:12

at Greg's face, he's continue still eating

13:14

lemons, lemons and limes. All

13:16

right, let's get to the news, and we'll start

13:19

with sobering bit of news here. Two

13:21

of the twenty two women who have accused

13:24

Deshaun Watson of sexual assault and

13:26

harassment and separate lawsuits

13:28

publicly publicly spoke out on Tuesday

13:31

detailing their experiences

13:33

with the Texans quarterback. During that news

13:35

conference, Ashley soulis the

13:38

first woman to file a suit against Watson.

13:41

Um spoke up about her

13:44

allegations against the all pro. Here's

13:46

a little bit of what she had to say. No

13:49

longer practice the profession that I love

13:51

the most without shaking your decision,

13:56

my handshake whenever I pleased the one

13:58

client, and I'm a session short.

14:03

If you only knew how heartbreaking that is to

14:05

me. I

14:07

got into massagist therapy to heal people,

14:11

to heal their minds and bodies, to

14:15

bring peace to their souls. The

14:17

Shaun Watson has robbed me of that. He

14:20

took that away from me. He tainted

14:23

a profession in which I take enormous

14:25

pride. Lashes

14:28

of Watson space rushed to

14:30

me in the moment I'm

14:32

in counseling as a result of Shaun

14:35

Watson's actions. I

14:38

hope he knows how much pain he's affected

14:40

on me emotionally and physically, and

14:44

I hope he knows how much pain he is unlifted

14:47

on these other survivors. The

14:50

NFL released a statement on Tuesday

14:52

saying they are continuing to closely

14:54

monitor all developments in the

14:56

matter. My Carefolo of the NFL Network

14:59

reported the League office has been a contact UH

15:01

with Tony Buzby, the attorney

15:04

involved of this UM And

15:06

finally, the Houston Police Department said last

15:08

week it isn't investigating Watson

15:11

UM after a

15:13

complaint filed with them

15:16

last week. So the story continues

15:19

to develop. Very tough to see UM

15:21

one of these UM accusers

15:24

step up and speak out UM,

15:26

and it really adds um a level

15:28

of humanity to the situation. A

15:31

tough watch it

15:33

was. You know, it's been a I

15:36

think an important week in the in

15:38

the Watson story, with these women

15:41

coming out and then also kind of the business community

15:43

around Watson starting to pull back

15:45

from him. He's lost multiple

15:48

endorsements, UH, including

15:50

with Nike and in the NFL

15:52

sending out another statement on Tuesday, I think

15:54

was significant just because of the wording they used. They

15:56

did compare their first statement

15:59

about Watson, which was very business

16:01

like and this one, which which was of course as

16:03

well, but they you know, they did use the words how

16:06

the allegations were deeply disturbing,

16:08

how serious they take it.

16:10

And um, Stephanie Stradley is a really

16:12

good follow for Texans fans always,

16:15

but she's also a lawyer, and she sort of wrote a

16:17

frequently asked questions about the Watson

16:19

case that I found really informative.

16:21

Part of it was, you know, don't don't

16:24

know Pine on it. It's very hurtful. It's

16:26

it's very um difficult thing

16:28

for non lawyers or really anyone to talk

16:31

about. So but I do think it's important we just

16:33

follow this story. It's it's

16:35

so significant, and I do think I think the

16:37

NFL statement was was telling

16:40

and that he's going to be in a holding pattern

16:42

here for a while. I think the question, you know, just in

16:44

terms of football is just like, will he

16:46

played football in two thousand twenty one is

16:49

very much an open question. I think, Yeah,

16:51

I mean, I agree with everything you said, and

16:54

it right now it's looking like

16:56

Tyrod Taylor, you know, gets closer

16:58

and closer to being starting quarterback.

17:00

But all that is sort of just I don't

17:03

know, like when you go and watch these when

17:05

you listen to these voices, and um,

17:07

it's not just names or a number of names

17:10

or how many, and you listen to what they say.

17:12

I mean, I just think it brings a whole different wave

17:15

of reality to it. And uh,

17:17

you know, Deshaun Watson, who

17:19

knows what what will happen here? But I

17:22

I think the league and all of us and everyone

17:24

didn't know quite what to do with it a month

17:27

ago. Um it's changing now, Yeah,

17:30

it certainly is. In other

17:32

news, the Boston Herald reports it's

17:35

doubtful that Julian Edelman will

17:38

be able to play a full

17:40

season. In the

17:43

reports, I say, source familiar

17:45

with the Edelman situation. He's

17:48

got an a knee issue and

17:50

it's a type of situation and he could undergo

17:53

surgery on the knee, but it's only a temporary

17:55

solution. He only played six

17:57

games last season. And Greg, you are a

17:59

Boston's sports fan, it does make

18:01

me think another underdog,

18:04

little critter that you were your your

18:07

fan base as a fan of Dustin Petroia of

18:09

the Red Sox, similar situation, a

18:11

guy that was beloved by fans um

18:14

and had a knee issue that just would not get

18:16

better. Uh. Edelman seems to have a

18:18

similar situation here, and it puts the

18:21

Patriots in a tough spot because he is a

18:23

franchise legend. Let's face it, right,

18:25

I started wondering, why is Julian Edelman

18:27

still on this roster, just knowing the

18:29

Patriots? And then and I looked and

18:32

I realized he only has a

18:34

two point eight million dollar base salary

18:36

this year, and and that was the answer. Last

18:38

year he was still making kind of big money.

18:40

Now they have all this cap space.

18:42

They obviously love Edelman, and

18:45

so they're just not in a hurry. I kind

18:47

of buy the conspiracy theories

18:49

that I know is happening among Patriots

18:52

fans though, that a report like this

18:54

is maybe getting put out there because he

18:56

wants to get released. Like I could buy

18:58

that, you know what I mean, Like this

19:00

is this is what kind of market

19:03

does Julian Edelman have? Not not much

19:05

probably, but you know, he might like to choose,

19:07

you know, where he plays next Tampa,

19:10

you know, four oh, he wants to replace Antonio,

19:12

who knows.

19:15

I kind of buy it, though, I kind of. I also

19:17

buy that he won't be healthy, so that it's

19:19

not like I think it's it's wrong.

19:21

He's thirty five years old and

19:24

no one at his size. I've I've never

19:26

seen take a pounding that he has

19:28

throughout his career, from the first from

19:30

his first year. I was always amazing to

19:32

me um that he's lasted and

19:35

been as durable as he has until this point. In

19:38

other news, ESPN's Adam Schefter reports

19:40

that multiple teams have contacted

19:43

the Atlanta Falcons about acquiring the

19:45

number four pick in draft.

19:48

Schefter added that the team is open to moving

19:51

out of that spot as we know

19:53

the way the draft board is set up and almost certainly

19:55

will play out with QBS going one, two,

19:58

and three. The Falcon don't

20:00

have an immediate need at quarterback with

20:02

Matt Ryan, but he uh is

20:05

in his mid thirties. They could use a

20:07

guy that's the future. But

20:10

also makes sense Mark that they would

20:12

potentially trade away the pick

20:14

if they got a big time godfather offered,

20:16

because it looks like that's the highest available

20:19

pick. Uh. The Niners, Jets, and Jaguars

20:21

aren't going anywhere. Yeah, I mean, I guess

20:23

like why not take the calls? I mean there were

20:26

other whispers of the Falcons internally sort

20:28

of felt like, well, if we're going to take a

20:30

quarterback of our own, assuming

20:32

that you're gonna be at number four every year is

20:34

not the way you do business. So maybe that's

20:37

um there, They're in a valuable space themselves.

20:39

The only thing I think about if it's not quarterback, because

20:42

you've got the Bengals at number five, who obviously

20:44

have their quarterback. And if the Falcons

20:47

um took a quarterback of their own or someone else

20:49

did, that number five spot becomes

20:51

the first place where Cincinnati

20:54

can pick one of the incredible skill position

20:56

players, uh, the best available. And

20:58

so would someone ever want to hop scotch

21:01

Cincinnati knowing they're gonna do that, um

21:03

to get a wide receiver of their choice

21:05

or fill in the blank. That's all I mean. I'm assuming it's

21:07

quarterback. It's just a safe way to think, UM,

21:10

and that could be a number of teams. But with this

21:12

kind of stuff, like am I going to be up at three in the morning,

21:15

um, pondering this and you know,

21:17

fretting over it. Now, let's just see what happens.

21:19

You know, we'll know more a couple of weeks from now. It is

21:22

the It is kind of the intrigue with this draft,

21:24

I think, because I guess there's

21:26

a chance San Francisco doesn't take Matt mac

21:28

Jones, but it looks like the intrigue.

21:31

And you know, there was a report I'm was surprised by this

21:33

that the GM Chris Mortenson

21:35

said, the GM of Atlanta kind of likes

21:39

Trey Lance, I believe, you know, or is looking

21:41

at quarterback, whereas Arthur Smith is kind

21:43

of all in a like he's down with Matt

21:45

Ryan and and so they're trying to figure

21:47

that out. Them taking mac Jones at

21:50

three really would be wild because

21:53

I think in according to Chris Charlie

21:56

Castlele's poll of like executives

21:58

and then our friend DJ was coming on, Trey

22:01

Lance and Fields are ranked way ahead of those

22:03

guys. In most people's eyes. DJ has those

22:05

two in the top eight of all of his players.

22:07

So if you're a team like the Lions or the Panthers

22:10

or the Patriots, certainly you've got to

22:12

be looking at this like where do I need to move

22:14

up to get Fields or Lance? If if

22:16

I like those guys. Very intriguing.

22:19

In other news, the Rams uh

22:21

there general manager less Need said he

22:24

believes Matthew Stafford, their new quarterback,

22:26

is going to be there anywhere between five and eight

22:29

years. Seems nice. Thirty

22:31

three years old, Stafford is I mean if he

22:34

if he if he went on the long side of U

22:36

Sneed's uh projection,

22:38

he's the quarterback in his forties, which

22:41

this assumption that all quarterbacks now could

22:43

play in their forties just seems kind of silly to

22:45

me. Also silly the idea

22:47

of what the team. What's the famous

22:50

John Lennon quote, life is what happens

22:52

to you while you're busy making other plans.

22:55

The assumption here that Matthew Stafford

22:57

will stay healthy enough and his body will cooperate.

22:59

That what it comes down to. I think he'll

23:02

he has the skill set to thrive, and I think he

23:04

will in this Sean McVeigh system.

23:06

But any thoughts that he's a long term solution,

23:09

you're not gonna know until that body

23:11

where he's had back issues, he just had thumb

23:13

surgery. Um, is that

23:15

going to hold up in the long term. It's a it's

23:17

a dicey proposition and and Snead really

23:19

bet his job on it here. I think by bringing

23:22

in Stafford, I mean I would just say this though, in

23:24

terms of like how you really want to create like

23:26

a stunning headline. What if they traded

23:29

multiple picks in the third round pick and

23:31

their starting quarterback for Matthew Stafford and

23:33

less Snee said, we think he'll start here

23:35

for two years like people would

23:37

go nuts. So it's like over projecting

23:40

and saying he's got he's our guy,

23:42

um deep into the future. We've made the right choice.

23:44

Like you know, of course he's

23:46

gonna tilt towards the longevity. I

23:48

mean it is a two year deal. He's he they

23:50

inherited two years and forty three million on the contract,

23:53

right, But you know that feels like what the NFL is now.

23:55

Everything is just two year projection and then

23:57

you reevaluate. I'm

23:59

just you wouldn't pitch it that way to the to

24:01

to a like a a frisky

24:04

reporter. I mean, they re something else with it or

24:06

or and I'm sure that's what they're hoping for, or

24:08

to you know, season ticket holders. They're

24:10

trying to sell some tickets. Uh, you

24:12

know they want to think of Stafford

24:15

as their long term going. I'm sure that's what they want. I mean they also

24:17

said Jared Goff was there forever quarterback

24:20

like a lot that they that that McVeigh

24:23

and Goff were tied a hip. The only thing with like

24:25

thinking guys can play great into like their

24:27

late forties. Fitzpatrick is an exception,

24:29

but the other guys who have done all that are all

24:31

time greats. It's like, yeah, Tom Brady

24:34

and Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers are aging well,

24:36

but they were incredible. They were like coming

24:38

off of an incredible spot. Like you can't

24:41

expect the suping that all these guys. I mean, do

24:43

you could even make the case that if you were building

24:45

a roster of all time goods,

24:48

Matthew Staffords might be that quarterback? Like

24:51

so I think he is. He's proven over

24:53

his the first eleven twelve years of his career

24:55

that he's, you know, rock

24:57

solid, franchise started quarterback.

24:59

But is he one of the great players in

25:02

NFL history? Well not yet anyway.

25:05

UM. In other news,

25:07

Peter King's Monday Night UH Monday Morning

25:09

Quarterback column, he wrote about, uh

25:12

some of the uh new wrinkles

25:14

to the schedule after the c B A was

25:16

signed, sealed and delivered and the new TV Dale

25:18

new TV deals came

25:20

together. Uh this year. That

25:23

second game in Week one on

25:25

Monday Night is history, the one that

25:27

famously had for some reason, throwing

25:30

Chris Berman a bone and they were. They were having him

25:32

in the booth here and a big bowel bottom

25:34

and not knowing who anybody was. Um

25:37

that second game is off

25:39

the books now. But for ESPN,

25:41

who always hosted those games, it's

25:44

a win because what they did was

25:46

there's a Saturday Week eighteen

25:49

double header that ESPN gets,

25:51

and I believe those are flexible games,

25:54

which means they will have playoff ramifications.

25:57

And that feels like a big w because it's

25:59

good for us. You're in California. But that second

26:01

game on Monday night in week one was

26:04

starting at like ten fifteen at night for people

26:06

on the East coast exactly. I

26:09

always I liked them, but I A you

26:11

also were if it wasn't a

26:13

good game, you would you would

26:15

feel the effects, you

26:17

would feel the effects of the previous

26:19

day and a half. And you're like, you know, I've been waiting all

26:23

off season for one game, and now it's like I'm

26:25

just you know, it's too it's almost too much. That

26:27

Saturday night though, mid January.

26:29

That sounds fun. That sounds pretty good that

26:32

that that end of the season, Slate's gonna

26:34

be challenging. Um

26:36

an interest, like it's just gonna be a lot of Saturdays.

26:38

That's where NFL Network is gonna get in the mix too.

26:40

You know, some of the international games, but also the Saturday

26:43

games, but this little Saturday night doubleheader.

26:45

Get ready, Mark, say goodbye

26:47

to your family. I mean, I've been doing

26:50

this for long enough where I presume

26:52

that there's a massive chunk

26:54

of every year that is UM oriented

26:56

towards one thing football and football

26:58

is family. They tell me. I could argue that

27:01

it's not always that um, but it's

27:03

a it's a massive upgrade because

27:05

a lot of times, if you look at what the second Monday

27:07

night game has been, I think they know to

27:09

your point that half the country is, you

27:11

know, getting to bed at that point, that they've not been

27:14

marquee scenarios, but that's

27:16

Saturday scenario will be used

27:18

to make it into two contests

27:21

that no one can steer their eyes away from.

27:24

Finally, in the news,

27:28

this from the New York

27:30

Post, Daniel

27:33

Jones this

27:36

week, along with several Giants offensive

27:39

players, wide receivers, tight ends,

27:41

and even a few linemen, travel to Phoenix

27:44

for a few days of throwing sessions.

27:47

The Monday to Friday workouts organized

27:49

entirely by Daniel Jones will

27:51

be the first unofficial work on the field in advance.

27:54

Yeah, baby, that's also our first trope alert

27:58

offseason trop let trot

28:05

the trope alert, and this one is a

28:07

well worn uh the

28:10

veteran quarterback on maybe

28:12

shaky ground organizing a

28:14

throwing sessh uh and making

28:17

sure the media knows about it to show

28:19

that he's a leader on the rise and everything

28:21

is fine. I mean, isn't that technically

28:23

Giants West? If they were gonna name

28:25

Jets camps that happened west of

28:27

the Missisipi Mississippi Jets West for all

28:30

those they trademarked that the Giants

28:32

couldn't touch it. It was two. It was too perfect.

28:34

That's not how Jets Giants things work.

28:36

But I like it when there it's like a quarterback competition.

28:39

This isn't the case in New York, but when

28:41

there's the starting jobs up

28:43

for gaps of one of them does the

28:45

the off season thing like that's a power move,

28:47

and then the other quarters because it decides, like when

28:50

it was Santez Tebow. Tebow could just show

28:52

up, but you know when it when it's two guys are someone

28:54

equal, then the backup the other quarterback has to be like,

28:56

shoot, do I have to show up at this guy's

28:58

quarterback thing? I guess I do? Or else, like

29:02

the guys do you have to organize my own? And

29:04

if I realize my own will like, well,

29:06

Darius Layton come to mine.

29:09

And then you've got to pay for it. The quarterback pays

29:11

for a lot of this stuff. So that's that's why that's

29:14

the sneaky hidden value of signing Mike Glennon

29:16

as your backup. You know he's not throwing

29:18

any camp. It's like Mike will see you in July or

29:21

whatever. And

29:24

just if you if you're new to the podcast

29:26

or you know, just starting to understand

29:28

how the off season works when we get

29:31

to because it's gonna we're gonna have a return

29:33

of O t A s. It looks like in traditional

29:36

UH mini camps and rookie

29:38

camps and then of course training camp

29:40

in July, uh and August.

29:43

Some training camp tropes to look out

29:45

for Draft bust X looks

29:47

like he's ready to turn the corner. New

29:49

quarterback wide receiver tandem display,

29:51

undeniable chemistry player

29:54

X. I'm better now than I was before devastating

29:56

lower body injury. Second year

29:58

player X, the game has slowed down for me,

30:02

soft soft spoken star ready to take

30:04

on recently vacated leadership roles.

30:07

That's just a tease of what's

30:09

to come and what to keep an eye out on. And

30:11

my job to you, the listener, is

30:13

to make sure all of it is documented ahead of season.

30:17

You can count on me. That's

30:19

what's happening in the

30:22

news. Alright, Time for our special

30:24

guest. And you know, listen,

30:26

here's the thing. It's not just

30:29

that he knows it's his time of year. He

30:31

knows that we know it's his time of year.

30:33

And that's what hurts the most. Daniel Jeremiah.

30:36

We really we're

30:38

happy to have you. Well,

30:41

Dan, I'll tell you what. It's great to be with you.

30:43

Uh, Cessler, it's great to see if Pal. I do

30:45

appreciate Greg waking up three minutes before

30:47

this segment started. Greg, it's great to see you as well.

30:49

Pal. I've been here

30:52

the whole time. I've been you know, way in sharpening

30:54

my knives. I've been ready for this for a

30:57

year. This is this is Greg. This is either

30:59

like this Hollywood style, you

31:01

know, gesle neck influenced hairstyle

31:03

you're going with or it's I just woke up five

31:05

minutes ago and I think I'm leaning towards the ladder.

31:08

I showered. I wanted to be here for

31:10

your like last appearance on NFL Network

31:12

before you you know, you follow Mike Mayock

31:14

out the door. A lot

31:16

of speculation, a lot of speculation about

31:18

DJ and and that goes back when

31:21

Joe Douglas got hired as jam as of the Jets.

31:23

It was all over the place and DJ had to come

31:25

out and say no, no, no, no no, no no. I love

31:27

my job at NFL Network. I love

31:30

working for the Chargers. But that

31:32

you know, on that subject on Joe Douglas, and let's

31:35

get into it here, D j M. Because

31:38

you do have a relationship with Joe Douglas. You worked

31:40

in football circles with him, your buddies, and

31:42

he just made a huge move in this

31:44

draft where maybe he didn't make a huge move, and

31:46

there's a lot of ramifications there. Trade

31:48

Sam Donald, You're at number two, and

31:51

I have I have to ask this because

31:54

you don't make this trade, right, DJ, of

31:57

Sam Donald and then most likely to stay

31:59

at number two and less you're pretty sure Zach

32:02

Wilson or the quarterback you're gonna

32:04

take probably Zack Wilson is a can't

32:06

miss prospect because on the other side

32:08

of it, DJ, this is like a once in ten, once

32:10

or twenty years leverage situation in

32:12

the draft in terms of where he was.

32:15

How hard do you think this decision was to stay

32:17

it too, if that is indeed what ends

32:20

up happening. Well,

32:22

I don't necessarily think it was hard, because

32:24

when you have conviction on a player at

32:26

that position, there's really you're

32:29

not gonna be swayed. I mean to me, it would have taken

32:31

a monumental hall of picks,

32:34

uh, much more than even we saw take place

32:37

with that San Francisco Miami trade to consider

32:39

getting out of number two if you believe

32:41

in the quarterback, because not only do

32:43

you feel like you've got somebody with tremendous talent

32:45

coming in, you restart, you reset

32:48

the clock, and financially it's such a boon.

32:50

And it would be one thing if the Jets,

32:53

you know, just had their seven picks in this draft

32:55

and seven picks in next year's draft, and

32:57

you say, man, look at all the holes on this roster, how

33:00

are we ever going to fill all of them? But

33:02

they're in a situation due to to the trades. And you look

33:04

at Jamal Adams and Leonard Williams, some of the

33:06

trades they've made. The hall of

33:08

picks, I think it's twenty one picks over the next two years,

33:10

so they can get the quarterback at two.

33:13

Uh. Now you move on from Sam Donald

33:15

and you've got a ton of picks where you can fill in around

33:17

him. And I always like to, you know, point out

33:19

when we're talking about Sam like he did not get a fair

33:21

shake there. I'm a Sam Donald

33:23

believer. I loved him coming into the draft. You

33:25

guys know that, um and I still think he's

33:28

got a chance to be successful. But he didn't have

33:30

the infrastructure in place to succeed with the Jets.

33:32

And I think the focus for the Jets is to make

33:34

sure that that is in place for the

33:36

next quarterback who who you know, I really believe

33:38

it's gonna be Zack Wilson. All right, So DJ,

33:41

let's just say that you

33:43

were a GM, or let's

33:45

say you were inside the body of John

33:48

Lynch the GM, and

33:51

I would love that. I would I would swap.

33:53

I used to work out with John Lynch when I was

33:55

in college, when he was in the NFL,

33:57

John Lynch was there, Tony Boselli was there,

34:00

and I can tell you that was the peak of my athletic

34:02

existence. Um and uh,

34:04

I would say, John Lynch right now, after

34:06

you know, going into the Hall of Fame and been retired for several

34:09

years, it's still light years ahead of where I was at my

34:11

peak. So if you want to swap me out with John,

34:13

I'm happy to do that. It's still a little

34:15

weird, though. Now that's DJ's

34:17

way of always been working in that he was a QB

34:19

one of a D one program. He gets it into

34:21

every segment he does, got even get it.

34:24

But if I'm almatching

34:26

the lower third, really be impressed. I'm

34:28

thinking, like, you want to be inside John Lynch's

34:30

body, Like, I don't know, that just seems weird.

34:32

Be happy with who you are. I think in this case, let's

34:35

say you control his brain, all right, and

34:37

we we've got Trevor Lawrence going to

34:40

Jacksonville, Zack Wilson with his

34:42

nice little hair going to the Jets, and then we've

34:44

got number three. What do you do

34:46

do? What? Who do you pick as the forty Niners

34:48

quarterback? Who is the third best quarterback in this

34:50

draft. To me,

34:53

I think it's a it's a close call um

34:55

for me personally, between Trey Lance from North

34:57

Dakota State and Justin Fields from Ohio State. Um,

35:00

those to me are the next quarterbacks

35:03

in line. And I would have Mac Jones five. Now

35:05

in terms of who I would take, well, I have I

35:08

have Trey Lance one spot ahead of Justin

35:10

But they're gonna be, you know, afforded

35:13

the luxury I don't have, which is to spend a

35:15

ton of time with these two kids, uh,

35:17

to see you know, who they're most comfortable with. I

35:19

I don't know that there's a wrong decision between

35:21

those two because the upside is so tremendous.

35:24

And if I'm if I'm Kyle Shanahan and John

35:26

Lynch, I want to take my offense from where it is

35:29

and take it to New heights. And in order to do that,

35:31

I've got to get somebody that can expand what

35:33

we do. To me, that would be one of the one

35:35

of the two options between those two guys. But

35:38

everything we hear is everything

35:40

points towards Mac Jones. And that's how I

35:42

know do mock drafts and and uh,

35:44

and that's what you hear around the league is the

35:46

expectation is that will be Mac Jones with the

35:48

third pick, which I'll throw it back to you guys

35:51

because, uh, Dan, I know you've

35:53

heard this a million times. How many times you heard

35:55

the cliche if it's you know, it's about the Jimmy's and Joe's

35:57

not the exs and ohs, Well, this is

35:59

a decision. If they take Mac Jones, that is

36:01

the exact opposite. This is all about

36:04

their offense and their system versus the talent

36:06

of the player you're gonna select. To

36:09

say you shouldn't do though, are just supposed

36:11

to take the best out player and all that. Yeah,

36:15

yeah, I I That's what I would do, and that's how I was

36:17

brought up with with the Ravens way of doing business.

36:19

But you look at a team like the you

36:21

know, Greg's team, You look at what happened in New England.

36:24

They just draft players that fit them. And

36:26

if they take a guy in the second round that the rest of

36:28

the league thinks is a sixth round pick, they don't care

36:31

because they feel like he fits what we do and

36:33

he's gonna be able to do what we ask him to do. So

36:35

um, it's a little bit of that thought process.

36:38

I don't agree with that. It to me, I just want to get the most talented

36:40

people, and we're gonna work around what they do and not

36:42

be quite as married to everything that I've

36:44

traditionally done. Um. But that's that's

36:46

how they operate. It's partly

36:49

why I don't totally want to believe it. Like I

36:51

don't want to kill the forty niners for this pick or

36:53

think about it until I see it. We still

36:55

have another Justin Fields pro day. Um,

36:58

Trey Lance seems like you doing with Trey Lance

37:00

too right. I think they'll

37:03

he would kind of be perfect in that system,

37:05

especially for a for a situation

37:07

where maybe you play Jimmy garoppolo for a year

37:09

or see how that goes, and you have trade. Let

37:11

you have four quarterbacks in your top

37:14

eight, I mean, and Mac Jones is nowhere

37:16

near that? Does it? Does that mean in at least the

37:18

years you're doing this, this has to be the

37:20

best quarterback class you've ever seen. I can't

37:22

imagine you've ever had four quarterbacks

37:24

in your top eight. It's not like you think Trey Lance and

37:26

Justin Fields are interesting. You think

37:28

you're that you think there are two of the top eight players

37:30

in this draft. Yeah, I

37:33

think they're really talented. I think all four of

37:35

these guys at the top are are tremendously

37:37

talented. Now it's a little bit of a different year, Greg

37:39

and that you look at some of the other positions,

37:42

like we don't have you know, the edge rushers

37:44

that you would see, you know, typically eat

37:46

up spots in the top ten. We don't have that

37:48

this year. We've got some good corners

37:50

and some good tackles, but in my

37:52

opinion that the tackle group is not what it

37:54

was last year with that group. So um,

37:57

those are the positions that usually you know, secure

38:00

spots in the top ten and without those this

38:02

year, to me, you look at you see a bunch

38:05

of quarterbacks, you see a bunch of wide receivers.

38:07

That's just kind of what this draft has given us. But yeah,

38:09

I think these four quarterbacks and and pretty much

38:11

any draft year would would be highly

38:13

coveted because the again, the ceiling is

38:15

so high, because these guys are so athletic

38:18

and uh and just big time arm talents. So

38:20

um, yeah, that to me, mac is is behind

38:23

those guys. But if you know,

38:25

four and irons don't care what I think. They don't care what the other

38:27

thirty one teams things. They're just trying to find the guy that

38:29

best fits them, and everything you hear seems

38:31

to be pointing towards mac So

38:33

moving off the quarterbacks for

38:35

a moment here, So you have right now

38:38

Kyle Pitts the Florida tight end uh

38:40

going at number five, and it

38:42

seems like the way you wrote it up on NFL dot

38:44

Com, if the Bengals don't take them at five,

38:46

the Dolphins makes a lot of sense at

38:49

six. And then he do that research and and I'll

38:51

just name them right now. These are the first

38:53

round tight ends in the last

38:55

ten eleven years. T J. Hockinson,

38:57

Noah Fan, Hayden Hurst, O. J. Howard,

38:59

At, Evan Ingram, David and Joku, Eric

39:01

Ebron, Tyler Eifert, Jermaine Gresham,

39:04

who has taken twenty one picks ahead of

39:06

Grunk in two thousand ten. The one

39:08

thing they all have in common is none of those guys

39:10

are stars. And I guess my question

39:13

to you DJ, with pits

39:15

a a a hot draft prospect and

39:17

a unicorn and all that is like, how come

39:19

there's no can't miss tight ends or there hasn't

39:21

been in a long time. Well,

39:24

I would answer that a couple of ways. First of all, if you're uncomfortable

39:27

looking at that list of tight ends, fine

39:29

just put w R next to his name and draft Kyle

39:32

Pitch is a wide receiver, you play m at wide receiver,

39:34

you'd be happy with him at wide receiver. Is a top

39:36

fifteen type player. Uh. Second point

39:38

I would make is I have a higher grade on him

39:40

than all those those tight ends that you mentioned

39:42

so to me, and it's not even close with

39:45

with where he is in terms of the talent that he has.

39:48

And I would the third point that I would make

39:50

in Sessler, I know you can probably back me up

39:52

on this um and I know life

39:54

has taken a terrible turn for this person.

39:56

But if you go back and somebody who

39:58

wasn't doing popping leaves in a in a strip

40:01

mall parking lot as a tight end, we wouldn't

40:03

be talking about that type of impact of taking a

40:05

tight end in the top ten. Because this kid is

40:07

to me, he's he's a better receiver

40:10

and route runner uh than Kellen Winslow.

40:12

Kell Winslow maybe a little bit better blocker, but

40:14

he was to me he would have had a phenomenal career

40:16

until everything went way off course. I

40:19

mean, you remember that one season that Winslow

40:22

had, and that's an interesting comparison. I

40:24

have a little bit of an off the radar question for you. I just was

40:26

thinking about this. You're in touch with everyone.

40:29

Have you had like a one on one

40:31

phone conversation with Bill Belichick

40:34

or is he is that remained an untouchable

40:36

territory for you?

40:39

No? Well, first of all, if I had, I mean, I'm

40:41

sure I would not be allowed to divulge that I had, But honestly,

40:43

I haven't. So, Uh, the only talks I've

40:45

ever had with Coach Belichick is when he's coming to the

40:47

booth at the Combine, usually to

40:50

give Rich a check for St. Jude, and

40:52

uh, we visited a little bit, but that's uh, that

40:54

that's about it. So I've been

40:56

fortunate to make a lot of you know, new friends

40:58

and new contacts since they went over

41:00

the media side. But Coach Belichick

41:03

is still he's still outside of arms reached

41:05

for me here, So I'm bummed about that one. But

41:08

you're kind of wearing like a Belichick inspired

41:10

outfit here, just like a T shirt and like an

41:12

open and like, are you going to work out later

41:14

or what's going on here? Uh?

41:17

You know, Ricky Schroeder, I don't know. I mean, do

41:19

I go getta workout in later? Maybe?

41:21

Um, but I didn't cut the sleeves off. If I

41:23

would have cut the sleeves off, maybe I could go with that.

41:25

But um, you know, Look, Gregg does the

41:28

stylus, by the way, just to clear that up,

41:30

he doesn't. He didn't well, he didn't even give you. Remind

41:32

Gregg. I want to remind Gregg of one thing, Dan.

41:35

The structure has a thirty day return

41:37

policy, so if the jacket doesn't feel

41:39

great, you still have a few more days where you can return

41:41

it. I was gonna say classic, classic

41:44

DJ wholesome Zinger. They're

41:46

using a reference from like an eighties sitcom

41:48

that that no one except DJ

41:51

and his his twenty seven children. He had a

41:53

train that went around the family room. A great

41:55

show, A great show. Greg wasn't even playing that. Don't

41:57

worry about it. I call I called DJ

41:59

the wholesome Assassin for takedowns

42:01

just like that. And he didn't even let you go with Ricky Schroeder,

42:04

Greggy or Rick Schroder with his

42:06

NYPD Blue Days, he ding down the

42:08

Silver Spoons, Ricky Schroeder in the biggest

42:10

some of Alfonso Rivero's greatest work.

42:13

By the way, this is not just like an America's Funniest

42:15

Home Videos and Jason Bateman on that show

42:17

where it started. Jason Bateman, correct,

42:21

All right, let's move back into the two

42:23

thousand twenties. What out mark? You got something else

42:25

for DJ I would look at

42:27

when you look at guys like a J. C. Horne

42:30

and as Sante Samuel Jr. Are

42:32

we do these players get too much

42:34

attention because their legacies, their

42:37

sons of great players, or are they actually

42:39

like I am annoyed, for instance, when the

42:41

Browns passed up on Clay Matthews

42:44

and when they passed up on like J. J. Watts's

42:46

brother. It's like, shouldn't something about their

42:48

DNA tell us they're just gonna be ready for action?

42:51

And on top of it, if you were the son of a pro player,

42:53

you know the life, like why does some of

42:55

these teams pass up on what I think would

42:57

be more home run prospects? Or am I just

43:00

out and left field with that concept? Well? Not

43:02

not to go back to the eighties, before dj answers.

43:04

But remember jose Consaco. There

43:06

was Ozzi Conseco too. I

43:08

know it doesn't always work out. I would go father's

43:11

son, more of the Navy brother brother.

43:14

So it's I'm glad you guys brought that up because that

43:16

Ozzi Consaco's name has come up in the draft

43:19

room where we were talking about a player who

43:22

had who had a successful brother

43:25

father. Can't remember exactly what it was, and

43:27

this, and somebody in the draft room was making the case. You

43:29

know, it's the genes. You know, these guy's got the jeans da

43:31

da. And one of the other scouts in the room said, look, this guy

43:34

is a little more Azzi Consaco than he is Jose Can

43:36

And then another guy in the room piped up and said,

43:39

yeah, this is more Randy Quaid than Dennis Quaid.

43:41

Let's not get carried away here. I'm gon take

43:43

no offense. Be cousin. Eddie was a great role, but I

43:45

just think the acting Chops is a little different. Yeah

43:49

that's there, that's fair. But

43:51

you're but you're a fan of these corners. You're

43:53

a fan of these corps. I like them. Got it right

43:55

to me. Yeah, I look if if it's

43:57

close. That can be something that's a tiebreaker between

43:59

a couple players, because I know this guy's

44:01

he's just been taught how to be a professional. You know,

44:03

since he was a kid. He's been around it. I think

44:06

it's not specific just a football you know,

44:08

you see it in baseball with a lot of the great

44:10

players who are sons. I think you have Vladimir

44:12

Carrero Jr. You've got tattoos

44:14

Um, You've got Bishett, You've got b g

44:17

O. Like, there's all these sons of players now

44:19

that are in the major leagues, and I think you see the same thing

44:21

in the NFL. Um So, these guys, to

44:23

me, they've been around it, that there'll be a pro

44:26

um. The other thing I would point out is I think it's fascinating

44:28

some of the advice I've always tried to give young players,

44:31

like high school players going to college

44:33

is every year in the draft, we have

44:35

a wide receiver list. It's it's a

44:37

million names long, and you're trying to

44:39

cut off the list at some point time,

44:42

like there's just a million of them, and the DV list, the

44:44

corner list. We're trying to create guys to

44:46

push them up. Um. So if you've got

44:48

the option. As a high school athlete,

44:50

you're a five star athlete, you've got a choice. Go play defense.

44:52

Man, it's a it's an easier route to travel

44:55

if you're a big, tall athletic kid. Get

44:57

out of that long line in the wide receiver group and

44:59

go over to to the corner group. And all these

45:01

sons of athletes. You notice they're not dumb.

45:03

They're not They're not asking their kids to play wide receiver. Go

45:06

play corner um. And we're seeing him come

45:08

out and droves. Mmm.

45:10

That's why I'm teaching my son Walker at

45:13

the beach. He likes playing cornerback too. I don't know if

45:15

he's gonna be tall, but

45:17

he could be feisty, he could be mean.

45:23

Now that's like I'm getting like a nickel Robie

45:25

Coleman vibe here. Greg. I think that's what we're

45:27

working with. And that's great, man, let's do it. I

45:30

would take that, you know, nice NFL

45:32

career. Help his dad retire, that

45:34

would be terrific. There's like a lot

45:37

of small cornerbacks wide receivers

45:39

rather in this class too. I'm sort of struck by

45:41

how maybe the same physical

45:44

requirements aren't the same at the position. You

45:46

know, we know DeVante Smith, but even Jamar

45:48

Chase is a guy who has

45:50

talked about as sort of a can't miss I don't

45:52

know about generational, but kind of the guy in this

45:54

class. And yet he's not

45:57

a guy necessarily that you think is

46:00

big and tall. He's definitely

46:02

strong or is definitely gonna run like a fast

46:04

Bardy And really, this entire class, it seems like a lot

46:06

like how is that position and especially

46:09

the top how do you separate these guys when

46:11

maybe they're not as physically

46:13

dominant as some top receivers

46:16

in the past. Yeah, it's

46:18

a good point, I mean, and normally when you have guys

46:20

go in the top ten, you're talking about some heightweight,

46:23

speed, guys you know, big time check

46:25

all those boxes and prototype size. When you

46:27

think of DeAndre Johnson's, the Larry FitzGeralds,

46:29

that Calvin Johnson's, uh, those

46:31

type of players. And uh, this

46:33

year we have a bunch of really good receivers,

46:35

but we don't have many of the big guys. I mean even

46:38

last year you go back, you know, outside the first round,

46:40

you saw Michael Pittman, Uh, we

46:42

saw Claypool, you had Tee Higgins.

46:44

Like we had a MEM's there was a bunch of

46:46

those bigger, power forward type

46:48

receivers. Um this year, it's

46:50

more about speed and quickness, and Jamaar

46:53

Chase is unique to me because even though he's

46:55

a six footer pound

46:58

guy, he plays big like he

47:00

goes up and gets the football um and

47:02

plays above the rim, and then you

47:04

get the route running and the run after catch stuff that comes

47:06

along with it. So while that's not traditionally

47:09

what we see go in the top ten, to

47:11

me, he's he's a little bit of an outlier in

47:13

that regard and he's gonna come

47:15

off the board real quick. And then after him you

47:18

get kind of the debate between the Alabama guys

47:21

with Wattle and Smith. You know Smith,

47:23

much is made about the frame um,

47:25

But to me, when you look at the way the games played

47:27

right now at the NFL level, with the lack of you

47:29

know, contact in the middle of the field, it's

47:32

not as big of an issue. And

47:34

people say, oh, how's he gonna get off pressed he's not a

47:36

big strong guy. Well, you can't really get your hands

47:38

on him either, because he's so quick.

47:40

He's a real sliddery type athlete. So

47:42

he just there's not a lot of surface area to press.

47:45

Um, so I think he'll be fine. And then Waddle

47:47

is somebody that's gonna get over the top, and

47:50

somebody that's he's the fastest guy in college football.

47:52

So when you look at all the GPS numbers that

47:54

the teams have in terms of wide receivers,

47:56

I should say his GPS numbers were at the top

47:58

of the list. I have a little, tiny,

48:00

one word a question that will require a

48:03

one word answer, like what you you grind through this

48:05

tape at an impressive degree? Um?

48:07

Is there one position group? Because I know when I've watched

48:10

all twenty two sometimes I'm just being real here. It's

48:12

like I gotta turn some music on because it will

48:14

send me right into dreamland. If you're if

48:16

you allowed to go on for too long? Is there our position

48:18

group that puts you to sleep more

48:20

than any other? But you're just saying this is not as enticing

48:23

and engaging to watch. He only gets a

48:25

one word answer on this, so well, I mean I don't

48:27

want to you know, I don't know how long the segment is. You can answer

48:29

as long as you want. The time is valuable.

48:31

He's gonna start charging us per minute. Pretty soon

48:34

you're hilarious. Uh me, it's

48:37

different for everybody. Everybody has a different position

48:39

that they don't enjoy. For me, it's safety,

48:41

um, and really more so over the

48:43

last ten years when

48:45

you were first, when you first start scotting, I started,

48:48

oh three, there was a little bit more of traditional

48:50

offense in college, so you had a better you

48:52

just had a better sense. You saw a lot more things

48:55

developing down the field, um,

48:57

and you could see these guys read and

48:59

react well. The college game now you

49:01

see so much rpo game, You see

49:04

so many slants and bubble screens that

49:06

you can go through three games on a safety and

49:08

you're like, I don't know what this guy can do. He's you

49:11

know, fourteen yards deep and it's

49:13

just a bunch of slants and bubble screens.

49:15

Like and it literally you start

49:17

rolling through these guys and until

49:19

I got the ability with you know,

49:22

with the technology to be able to sort cut ups

49:24

where I can look at every play they're involved

49:26

in. So instead of just watching three games, I

49:28

can see every time they were kind

49:30

of in the vicinity of the football over an entire season.

49:33

Um. It makes it easier, but it still feels

49:35

like to give myself a I think this would

49:37

be a nineties reference, maybe early two

49:40

thousand's. You remember the eminem video

49:42

where there's just all the Eminem's like, you

49:44

know, walking around and stuff.

49:47

Yes, once you get outside the first two rounds

49:49

and you start watching safeties, like after the seventh

49:52

one, I'm like, what's the difference between this guy

49:54

and the previous four guys that I just watched? Uh?

49:56

I gets little challenging, that's

49:58

fair, and and thank you so much of your time,

50:00

DJ before you go. I just want to because you are the

50:02

son of a preacher and you're the wholesome

50:05

assassin and all that, But just be real with us.

50:07

Would you rather got thirty

50:09

two for thirty two in your mock

50:12

or have keyper or Mixshaye go o

50:14

for thirty two? Just be honest? Oh

50:17

wow, Uh you know what I would

50:19

say? I

50:22

would I would I would rather go thirty

50:24

two for thirty two. But the real answer

50:26

is I just don't care. I really don't care about

50:28

the mock draft and people get so worked up about

50:30

it. That's why I just kind of laugh. Man, Like I

50:33

miss on players and we have fun with them all the time

50:35

of the guys that I miss on in terms of my evaluation

50:38

and and you know, okay that that's like, okay, I

50:40

need to learn and get better from those mistakes. But like

50:42

mock drafts whatever.

50:45

Yeah, if you're listening to executives

50:47

like that, that sounds like a guy that might be doing

50:49

his last mock draft. And I'm

50:53

just saying, uh

50:56

no, you can want and turn into a pumpkin man once

50:58

we get through with this draft, not worried about mini camps

51:01

and sweating it. Whether this guy picked in the first round

51:03

is gonna come in here and look like a ball im

51:05

I'm going on vacation. Yeah, we won't see

51:07

DJ until he's in the booth at the stadium

51:10

in Inglewood. All right, you can watch DJ and

51:12

the entire NFL Draft on

51:14

NFL Network starting Thursday, April night

51:16

at eight p m. Eastern. Yeah it hurts,

51:19

but it made the show better. DJ. Thank

51:21

you for joining us. I

51:23

appreciate It's always great to be with you guys and Greg.

51:26

Don't forget it also comes with a coupon for

51:28

Express With that Jackets will get

51:30

your wife something nice. Good to know. Well,

51:32

thanks DJ, There he goes. D

51:36

J said it all even

51:38

though Structure they

51:40

rebranded and Structure became

51:42

Express for men. UM.

51:45

But you know, Greg, it was on his radar

51:48

some of your style. Let's just put it that way.

51:51

Yeah, I always I always worry, could

51:53

you know we're gonna place some of that on on the around

51:55

the NFL broadcast. People should check

51:57

out our show on Fridays as always.

52:00

And you know, I always wonder, like how how are those

52:02

clothing? You know, insults

52:04

gonna pop on a on a podcast. But I guess

52:06

it's just a sign that DJ doesn't really understand

52:09

the medium. You know, he's not a podcaster.

52:13

Well, maybe one day he will be. Yeah, it'd

52:15

be good, it definitely. Um. We

52:17

received a flurry of texts from Greg after

52:20

about the whole thing, so he was a

52:22

little annoyed. I think

52:25

he can go to your skin a little bit maybe and vice

52:27

versa. I'm not sure. Maybe

52:30

are you being serious? Not at all? Not,

52:33

We're not being serious at all. Everything

52:37

that we were discussing off the show is

52:39

now part of this show. UM. And I

52:41

will say keep in mind that maybe DJ

52:43

knows that referencing how

52:46

you looked. Greg won't play

52:48

for the podcast because he's secretly trying

52:50

to destroy. Yeah, look at that

52:52

too, because he's the son of the preacher. He's the

52:54

wholesome assassin, but he is

52:56

a killer man. He that's

52:59

why he's the wholesome sense. He's

53:01

competitive too, and that's why you know, coming

53:03

in you know, second or third

53:05

place behind us in terms of

53:08

like audience, that the

53:10

NFL, it kills him year after year. It's why

53:12

I think it's gonna be his last year. Listen to Greg

53:15

sharpening the dagger is returning fire

53:17

on DJ. I think it really did get to him

53:19

a little bit. Now. I think, you know, I can't there's

53:22

nothing I can add u there

53:24

to what Greg has just said. I think it's, you know,

53:26

he's it's so hard to get under gray

53:28

skin. It's it really is. I

53:31

can, like I can count a few times

53:33

I've done it, but like, even

53:35

if you do, he doesn't show it. Typically, I

53:39

tend to think that DJ and I get along well because

53:41

I'm of zero threat to him. That's

53:43

how I start to see it. So maybe

53:46

he feels threatened by all these other I

53:50

think DJ sees me as a as a kindred,

53:53

wholesome assassin spirit. Yeah,

53:56

you just you started the show by telling us you

53:58

bring your children to drug dens. Well,

54:01

I didn't know it was gonna be that way.

54:04

The first Westlemania two was

54:06

was pretty take in Hey, Ricky, get in

54:08

here, Get in here a second? Do you

54:10

think do you think DJ got

54:12

under Greg's skin at that during that segment?

54:16

You know him? Well, you just did your gentle Nick Rosenthal,

54:19

vanity projects, a live show and everything.

54:21

You know Greg very well, yeah, yeah,

54:23

he seems uh, pretty

54:25

pretty agitated today. I'm not gonna lie.

54:30

I don't know if there's other stuff going on behind

54:32

the scenes, but you know, Greg, you

54:34

you do seem pretty uptight.

54:38

Mm hmm. Interesting. Well,

54:41

I'm gonna need me to Greg, so you're not. It's not

54:43

just you Greg? You know, um I

54:45

noticed that as well. Mark. You

54:47

seem pretty piste off. What's up?

54:49

Guys? You want to talk about it? Both

54:52

seemed really uptight. I

54:55

don't know, um. I mean, we don't

54:57

have two more hours to get into it. So all

55:00

right, who doesn't

55:03

have anything to do with us? Smart? Yeah? Are you mad

55:05

at? No? No, no, no, no no not it

55:07

doesn't not not our little group here, not

55:09

this foursome now, okay,

55:12

are you mad at? It's it's the foresome

55:15

Now I'm not mad at anyone. All

55:17

Right, that's good, Okay, that's

55:19

good. All right, Well I'm glad we settled that. Yeah,

55:25

alright, good. We gotta get a get

55:28

rolling because our NFL network hit is on

55:30

UM every Thursday, check it out on NFL

55:32

Now with Andrew Siciliano or whoever

55:35

is in that host chair. We do a live hit

55:37

UM and like Greg alluded to, uh

55:40

NFL network, We're back on Friday

55:43

at a later time, actually, I believe. So check

55:45

out your local listings and please DVR

55:47

the show. Give us a support on that end of things,

55:49

and of course, on this end of things. If

55:51

you we haven't asked for this in a while, if you can leave some comments,

55:54

some five star ratings, that

55:56

would that's always a big deal. We're

55:58

trying to win a sole award. What is

56:00

it? What's the word? A Sony award?

56:04

You you bungling the

56:06

name show after show kind of indicates

56:09

it's not right on top of our price

56:11

Cyclops Award.

56:14

We're trying to win a Cyclops. That would be an awesome

56:16

trow Remember imagine if you won this

56:19

award and it was like a head,

56:21

like a Cyclops with a big.

56:24

I like, you know one of those characters Ricky what is

56:26

the name of the award, one

56:28

of those characters

56:31

the sign ops

56:37

you don't know it either wants this

56:40

is making me feel better? All right, good,

56:43

yeah, so make sure you check that out and then we'll be back Monday.

56:46

And remember, yes, we're going

56:48

multi times a week, two times a week with the podcast

56:50

and then the network show. Um right now,

56:52

but we'll be five days a week draft

56:55

weeks, so look forward to that as well. All Right, that's

56:57

it, everybody. We're almost

56:59

of the weekend. M but maybe'll take

57:01

the rest of this day. Maybe we all drop off the radar,

57:03

we take a deep breath, and we come back tomorrow for the network

57:05

show. Feeling great. That's a good plan,

57:08

A good stuff, all right. This Dan had the signing off

57:10

for a quiet storm the

57:13

old boss Ricky Hollywood

57:15

behind the virtual of glass. Be

57:17

good to each other. Everybody heat the call,

57:49

m M

57:58

m HM six