0:00

The Around the NFL podcast

0:04

as downgraded Mark two

0:06

questionable from

0:08

the Chris Wesley podcast studio. It's

0:11

Around the NFL. I am Dan hansis

0:15

Greg Rosenthal here, Mark Cesler. Now you did

0:17

take the serum? Is that

0:19

why the injury designation? You were a downgrade?

0:21

I don't know the reason.

0:22

These things are typically, you know, just dropped

0:24

out of thin air onto my into my lap.

0:26

I did learn that. Do

0:29

what?

0:29

How about that?

0:30

Like after a doctor tufflhammer

0:33

rest in peace. By the way, Wow, breaking

0:35

news.

0:36

Make it to today's show. Uh

0:38

we lost the good doctor. That

0:42

cough was as bad as it sounded. Baker

0:45

Mayfield dealing with a really nasty

0:47

case.

0:47

Of gigantism

0:49

in the head right now, so hopefully that comes down

0:52

by the opening of the legal tampering on

0:54

Monday.

0:55

I also liked the Baker Mayfield learned

0:58

from a reporter during the Truth

1:00

Serim interview that he was about to be

1:02

become a father. That seemed to catch him off

1:04

guard during the actual interview.

1:06

I don't know it caught him off guard or maybe he just

1:08

revealed that didn't care that much. He

1:10

was just like got the ou pair, I

1:13

got things, I got money, Baker's

1:16

still in the Baker' zone, you know what I mean.

1:19

But I don't think he knew that his unfair significant

1:21

other was pregnant. But based on how that interview.

1:23

I mean, he's got got his wife in those commercials too.

1:25

So this is this is a big spot for Baker

1:28

gigantism there.

1:29

That's that's a tough one. I think he did say

1:31

he expressed surprise. I think he said,

1:34

oh really, I mean, she's

1:36

like heavily pregnant. Right, So he's not very

1:38

observant during the off season. He's off on his own

1:40

doing his own thing, as you wrote, Greg, and you're

1:42

one oh one right up. He's been He's

1:45

gotten better with you know, quick decisions.

1:47

Maybe he's so quick now he has not

1:49

looked down and seen his wife extremely

1:52

pregnant.

1:53

I I worry about how he sees

1:55

the field.

1:55

Then that seems like traveling

1:58

as troubling as his career, which like as one

2:00

great year, one bad year.

2:01

You want him on the year with the.

2:02

One year, three million dollar contract, maybe not the

2:04

thirty five million dollar contract.

2:06

What's going to happen? I keep hearing he had a great seasons?

2:08

See was it great?

2:10

He had great moments actually has

2:13

been as strong, and we're going to get into

2:15

all the free agents. With the franchise

2:18

tag in the rear view and the transactions

2:20

now largely done, you would imagine his teams really

2:22

dig in this weekend to begin there

2:25

or finalize their plan of attack

2:27

for free agency, which will be all over next

2:29

week shows Monday,

2:32

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, if

2:34

necessary, Friday. A couple

2:36

of years back, we did a Deshaun

2:38

Watson lands with the Browns Friday

2:40

emergency podcast.

2:41

Another time when I was you know, it went

2:43

out to lunch and like thought that that would be a

2:45

calm afternoon and then bang, like a nuclear

2:48

bomb lands on your face.

2:49

Will also be taping the Face that Monday

2:51

show from you know, right before the iHeart

2:53

Podcast.

2:54

Yes, we're in the out and see if we win.

2:55

Hopping on a plane on Sunday and heading

2:57

to the iHeart Awards. More

2:59

and more, I think we're gonna win that.

3:00

By the way, really, I just feel like a

3:03

sort of an energy like we keep we just assume we're

3:06

gonna lose to the Kelsey's.

3:07

I think it's gonna go the other way. I'm predicting.

3:09

I think we're gonna win, like like dune

3:12

style disturbance in the forest type

3:14

situation.

3:15

I don't know what I don't.

3:16

I don't not a dune person, but like, isn't

3:18

that No, it's not and you know it's not stupid.

3:22

That's a stread, all right. So anyway to

3:24

talk about all that free agency stuff, we have one

3:26

of the man, let's be honest, one of the

3:28

biggest names in the game, Mina Chimes, who

3:31

does it all over to ESPN and she's been on our

3:34

show many times, and she'll be back on the show again

3:36

in a little bit talking over Greg's

3:39

list and free agency in general. But

3:41

before that, let us get caught up on some news

3:45

hopefully give us the.

3:46

Best chance to win the whole thing.

3:47

Gonna get a final let's ride for Broncos control

3:49

of course, bostri Let's right, Eric

3:52

keel Rut.

3:55

All right, So Russell Wilson, you've

3:58

heard of this guy, right? Oh? Yeah? He

4:01

now he no

4:02

longer. He once

4:06

upon a time was a huge star for the

4:09

Seattle Seahawks. He went to the Broncos where he's

4:11

expected to continue to be a huge star. That didn't

4:13

work out, and now he

4:15

is free to sign with any team. And

4:19

the Steelers are on that list of potential

4:21

teams. Beat writer Jerry Dulock, who's been there

4:23

for a long time, reports that the team

4:26

has interest in signing Wilson.

4:29

Wilson, according to Duloc, also

4:31

has interest in the Steelers.

4:34

We talk about right church wrong pew I

4:36

said last week when we're talking justin fields

4:38

with Rodo pat that it's

4:40

the worst smoke screen in Pittsburgh

4:43

since the then Redskins,

4:45

well then then Redskins. Then

4:47

coach Mike Shanahan said he was

4:51

deciding between John Beck and Rex Grossman,

4:53

and he's ready to stake his reputation up on it.

4:55

That's how it feels like with the quarterback room in Pittsburgh

4:57

right now. They have to bring somebody in or

5:00

we simply cannot take the Steelers seriously.

5:02

However, Mark Sessler, I'm

5:05

not sure if Russell Wilson joining the

5:08

gang that leads us to take them

5:10

seriously. But it would be an upgrade. Let's say

5:12

that.

5:12

It's and that's sort of what everyone's come

5:14

to agree on. It's an upgrade in

5:17

theory over Kenny Pickett. It's like

5:19

to me, I think it's a tough sell

5:22

inside the building. It's a tough

5:25

sell to your to us

5:27

fan base that you know is not

5:29

going to be have.

5:30

The wool puled over their eyes.

5:32

Like we've all watched Russell Wilson for two

5:34

years and it's you can spin last season is like he

5:36

was vastly improved.

5:37

Like No, he wasn't. Like he he.

5:40

Is a shell of what he used to be.

5:42

And I think it's a tough sell for Steelers fans to

5:44

say we're going this direction or it's the only

5:46

thing we're gonna look at, at least explore other options.

5:48

I disagree with that. I

5:51

think he was much improved from year

5:53

one in Denver in fact, and counting stats

5:56

are they can mislead, but look

5:58

at his counting stats with Hack getting

6:00

your one. In Denver, he threw for over three thousand yards.

6:02

He threw for twenty six touchdowns, just eight

6:04

interceptions got benched down the stretch, so he

6:06

could have flirted with a thirty touchdown season there

6:09

in Denver, which we kind of don't even think about

6:11

it that way because it didn't look so great. The

6:13

tape didn't quite match some of the good

6:15

production, but he had runs where

6:17

he did succeed, So yes, I

6:20

think I agree with you Mark that it's

6:22

a hard sell, but maybe maybe

6:24

it's a bigger upgrade than we

6:27

think, just because we're so down on Wilson

6:29

and the Wilson experience at this point.

6:31

I'm closer to Mark here in the two

6:33

polls, just because what's

6:36

that saying, don't let perfect

6:38

be the enemy of good? So that

6:40

would be a reason. Okay, well,

6:43

Russell Wilson's an incremental improvement.

6:45

I would say, do do let perfect

6:47

be the enemy of good? In this case, the whole

6:50

point of a front office

6:53

is to find a top ten to twelve

6:55

quarterback.

6:56

That's it.

6:56

That's the most important thing that

6:58

is in your entire organization. Until

7:01

you have one, you need to have a shot to

7:03

go find one, And signing Russell

7:05

Wilson is giving up on that shot.

7:07

To me, he's not a big

7:09

enough upgrade to me from Mason Rudolph.

7:12

To me, he is the Kenny Pickett

7:14

of like veteran quarterback options,

7:17

where Kenny Pickett was like this guy that no one

7:19

really wanted to take in the first round and he's

7:21

the twentieth pick in the first round. He wasn't like a

7:23

real exciting quarterback

7:26

prospect. It was like kind of aiming for the middle,

7:28

and that's Russell Wilson. There's no point in

7:30

signing a mid level quarterback

7:33

because that's gonna stop them from

7:35

going after a great quarterback,

7:37

which is what they need to do. Like they

7:39

need to spend all their resources on that.

7:41

Think. I think you might I

7:43

could have this wrong. But perfect

7:47

is the enemy of good would mean

7:49

that they are only going for the best possible.

7:52

And because they're only going for the best possible,

7:54

they're not looking at getting

7:57

something good or close to.

7:58

Me, like, don't ignore better.

8:00

I think Russell Wilson in theory is getting better. So I say

8:02

that does not apply here.

8:05

I want the words flipped. No, I say what

8:07

I've heard before is good is the enemy of great.

8:10

Well, that's it's all in the Saint don't know.

8:12

If you settle for Wilson, you're not going

8:15

for the great, which would be the top ten

8:17

quarterback. Yeah, perfect is the enemy

8:19

of good.

8:21

It's all in the same idea.

8:23

I'm more side with Mark on this side of the poll.

8:25

This is going full Tare is

8:28

the man who is most commonly attributed

8:31

to So.

8:32

I wish I wish we could dig it, dig him up and ask

8:34

him right.

8:34

I don't know where if bull Taire had Russell

8:37

Wilson on his free agency reagons, but it's

8:39

like, to me, it's not high, it's not enough, higher than

8:42

then Russell, than h Kenny

8:44

Pickett or or Mitchell Tribbat And well.

8:46

According to your race, you'd rather have Jacoby

8:48

percent.

8:49

Oh absolutely, we'll

8:52

get to that.

8:53

I mean, Russell Wilson also had one of the highest

8:55

sack percentages in the NFL in each of the last

8:57

two years. For attemph last year

8:59

were actually down from the year before.

9:03

I like Jake Brisky, but I mean, is

9:05

he going to be the new Teddy? Now We're gonna be talking

9:07

about him twelve years from now.

9:09

No great options, But my point is you'll

9:11

get me started.

9:12

Tyrod Taylor in your top eight we please.

9:14

He's top eight free agent

9:16

quarterbacks.

9:17

He played great last year in his limited time, so he's

9:19

a great back walks of the limp backups are

9:22

worth something. But ja Kobe, to

9:25

be fair, would kind of be in the same bucket

9:27

for me where you're not really trying for a great

9:29

quarterback either. I think it'd be a better option. But

9:33

the point is you need to be putting bigger

9:35

resources into taking a big swing. You're not gonna

9:37

win with defense and running.

9:38

In that division two. Please all right?

9:40

So yes, as we talked about

9:43

at the beginning of yesterday's show, the

9:46

decision to trade for

9:48

Russ Wilson and Denver and then give him the massive

9:50

contract will have continue

9:53

to reverberate with that organization

9:55

for years because they have eighty five million

9:57

dollars in dead cap money. A It

10:01

not to bum out, you know, my neighbor

10:04

or whatever, but.

10:05

It sounds like he's already going

10:07

some things.

10:08

They have no chance to win the Super Bowl in the next two years

10:10

in my opinion, and and I think

10:13

deep down they know too. So is it affecting

10:15

some roster decisions now as they look

10:17

ahead to the next season. The Broncos

10:19

release safety Justin Simmons. This man

10:21

was a second team All Pro in four

10:23

of his last five seasons. He's been to the Pro Bowl multiple

10:26

times. He's not young, but

10:28

he's not old. He's turning thirty at the start of next season.

10:31

Had another productive season last

10:33

year, but the Broncos

10:36

move on Greg. I think A. Simmons

10:39

got to be in a good place on the

10:42

one oh one and b Is

10:45

this a direct correlation to Russ.

10:48

I think it's a close correlation

10:50

to Russ. I think they viewed Simmons.

10:53

It was written by one of the Beat reporters as

10:55

a luxury that they could no longer afford.

10:58

I think it's a little more compated

11:00

in that he's turning thirty one this year and he's coming

11:02

off probably his worst season.

11:05

I know he got that second team All Pro that might have

11:07

been off a little bit off reputation if

11:09

you talk to some people, so like you saw

11:12

some decline and he's getting older

11:14

at a cheap position. Would

11:16

he have been released though, if they just had like eighty

11:18

million dollars in cap space, No, probably not. So

11:20

this is a rare case. I think it is

11:22

a cap cut. But if he was playing at

11:24

his very best level, he wouldn't be

11:26

cut every time these cuts happened.

11:28

Like some people point out to see, the cap

11:30

is real. All you people that say the CAP's not

11:32

real, it's real. I get

11:35

that.

11:36

But there's always

11:39

like context to it, which is these players

11:42

still never get released if the teams really want

11:44

to keep them. I don't think they really wanted to keep Justin Simmons.

11:46

They didn't really view him as a difference man.

11:47

Yeah, just against the combination of his age,

11:50

his position, and the fact that they like

11:52

they lived like legit did need to make some

11:54

tough decisions with the Russell Wilson situation and

11:57

fourteen point five in cap savings,

11:59

is that matters well?

12:00

And to Dan's you know, good point yesterday, take

12:03

all the medicine you can now. So it's like,

12:06

we're not winning the super Bowl this year. Justin

12:08

Simmons at most probably has one more year left

12:10

with us based on this contract. It's like through

12:13

the Patriots thing where maybe we'll risk

12:15

getting rid of them a year too early, but it's probably

12:18

not and just moving.

12:19

Because they can.

12:19

They can have it be a fifty three million dollar

12:22

price tag this year, and they'd have to make some

12:24

more cuts, but it's like they can they can make

12:26

it not just split down the middle for Russell

12:29

right right, and Russell's part of it, but that would

12:31

have that affects the rest of their financials.

12:33

But I'm I'm I totally agree with Dan.

12:34

It's like, use this year to get as

12:36

healthy as you can for next year.

12:38

So they I'm with you, they can't win a super Bowl

12:40

in the next two years kind of of course,

12:42

But I don't think it's not just because of Russell

12:45

Wilson. It's just because they had He's inheriting

12:47

a pretty bad roster. It

12:49

is crazy to me, and this is an anomaly.

12:52

Last year the Bucks had seventy six

12:54

million dollars in dead cassy seventy six.

12:56

The Rams had over seven. They

12:58

both made the playoffs.

13:00

The next two teams on that list were the Packers

13:02

in the Eagles, who had nice seasons, you know, because

13:05

they ate a lot for Aaron Rodgers over fifty

13:07

five. So I think there's a

13:09

route to being competitive. Not winning a Super

13:11

Bowl is certainly not this brother. Were those teams again,

13:13

the Rams, the Rams and the Bucks established

13:15

star quarterback bucks, sure, but over

13:18

under like win total was the lowest.

13:20

I guess what I'm saying is when we're a surprise.

13:22

Why I'm especially strong on that with Denver

13:24

is not only did that move backfiring

13:27

kill you? Financially, you're starting over again

13:29

at quarterback, so it's like unless

13:32

something falls into your lap, it's

13:34

it was a five year mistake.

13:35

Their route is the Baker in there.

13:37

It's the Baker route where they the Bucks stumbled

13:40

on Baker for that amount of money, got decent

13:42

quarterback play.

13:42

Could they do that certain Yes with Sean.

13:44

P or a rookie.

13:45

I mean they could do it with Baker, right.

13:48

The problem is the rest of the roster. I'm

13:50

with you, the Bucks, the Rams. Now,

13:53

in hindsight, the Packers had a lot more

13:55

going on.

13:55

We also spent about four off seasons in a

13:57

row suggesting that the Broncos looked

13:59

like an AFC title type roster and

14:02

it never panned out. None of these guys ever panned

14:05

out across the board.

14:06

Uh.

14:08

That always bothered West. West was always kind of

14:10

big on the Broncos. They just looked loaded

14:12

in the automate Joe Flaco Broncos. He

14:14

was like, thinking they might might turn

14:16

it around.

14:17

Yeah, I think we're done with a

14:20

off season hype pieces around Jerry, Judy

14:22

and Courtland's so yet, I think we got a little

14:24

tired. Yep, it's time. Uh

14:27

you know what else, It's time for mark Ezra

14:30

Cleveland update Bang. The

14:32

Jaguars signed the Guard to a three or twenty

14:34

eight and a half million dollar contract. Rap sheet

14:36

says that deal includes fourteen and a half

14:39

million in guaranteed money. So the Jags

14:41

who got Cleveland from the Vikings

14:43

at the deadline. They lock them up before he

14:45

reaches the open market.

14:48

Bullyed to them, and I'm sure bully

14:51

to you know, Trevor Lawrence.

14:53

A lot of guards are gonna get paid.

14:54

I don't think Jaguars fans are too excited about this, but

14:56

this is an indication that a lot of.

14:58

I've spoken to several and

15:00

they are over the moon. Greg.

15:01

I'm really thinking John Shipley,

15:04

who is a great reporter and his he

15:06

didn't seem too excited.

15:07

He's a reporter, not a writer.

15:09

But I think I just say, listen, I

15:11

just root for good storylines. Okay.

15:14

I mean when I was a kid, you

15:16

know, when I was a teenager, yeah, I had favorite

15:18

teams. But then I grew up and you know, I'm

15:21

not out of here rooting for laundry, I

15:23

feel, and you know, but the storylines

15:25

that that I root for, I root for the I root

15:27

for the players. You know. I root for certain players that are

15:29

good guys, but root for a team.

15:33

Why can I ask you one question?

15:35

Why do you take this so well? They

15:37

do what they want?

15:38

Are you asking me or that guy?

15:39

I'm asking you? As

15:41

the portrayal of that person. Every

15:43

time someone's coming up with a viewpoint

15:45

that you don't quite agree with, they like suddenly

15:48

barely passed high school from Hackensack, New

15:50

Jersey.

15:51

I'm saying that's that's just a very standard

15:54

block and tackle. Yeah, I mean explanation.

15:58

I feel I feel a little attack because

16:00

I almost feel like at this point I

16:02

have to I actually have to pretend

16:04

I'm more of a fan of the Patriots than

16:07

than I am. Just dissatisfied Dan's

16:09

cravy.

16:09

No, you've got a little bit of the diet, you got

16:11

a little bit of the Sessler in you where, yes, your

16:14

true feelings betray how

16:17

you're trying to put out sometimes depending on how

16:19

the Pats are playing, and you have a little more energy

16:21

about them still when you talk.

16:22

Absolutely I'm going to be following them and more

16:24

into them than any other team.

16:26

But it's just laundry.

16:27

But it's just the volume is so far down

16:29

than where it was that it's just it's tough.

16:31

Well, you're you're not a child at that.

16:32

I don't.

16:33

I'm a grown man. I don't root it. Colors

16:36

on, Oh, I like their colors.

16:37

Forget child.

16:38

Oh, I'm just a

16:41

front runner, because it's like I

16:43

was just as big a fan in sixteen and an

16:45

eighteen. It was just like, okay, we've we've accomplished

16:48

at all. What's the point.

16:49

You can't be taken seriously in this business

16:52

unless you really take a step back.

16:54

I can't take him seriously in this business.

16:56

That's how he performs.

16:58

I also feel bad, though, Dan, because sometimes

17:00

I realized I put the news run

17:03

down in the wrong order, and I and I

17:05

did edit in our

17:07

slack channel.

17:09

I did not intend to have Ezra Cleveland.

17:11

That that's true.

17:12

That's I moved it back down and later

17:15

edit. But I don't think you you saw that that probably

17:17

should have been. That was just that was an odds

17:19

and ends on me. It's in our pot now it

17:21

is. There's the latest UH

17:24

Bill's news.

17:25

UH. We talked about

17:28

Jordan Poyer being cut yesterday. I

17:31

don't think this falls on the wrong side of the vengeance

17:33

scale. But there was more

17:35

to come from Buffalo starting

17:37

yesterday. They also cut cornerback T

17:40

Davis White, big name Mitch Morse.

17:42

They rework Von Miller's deal. We talked about

17:44

how that was a mistake that they were living

17:46

with UH and they also bring back Mitch t

17:49

I mean that in all this like

17:51

news to get to Mit, gotta get

17:53

gotta get Mitch lockdown before the open market.

17:56

Uh really gets the size up where he fits

17:58

in. UH. And Tell Rap

18:00

also signed by Buffalo, So

18:03

a bunch of moves there. And you

18:06

know this is a team very clearly managing

18:09

their salary cap and also Mark

18:13

looking to take things in

18:15

a slightly different direction next year.

18:17

You know the coach is going to be there. You know there the

18:20

play caller, you know, the quarterback, and

18:23

but there's a lot of other things. You get

18:25

the idea that Buffalo is

18:28

a team to keep an eye on how they attack this

18:31

offseason. After yet another really

18:33

painful playoff Ouster.

18:35

Yeah, you saw this coming because

18:37

this was another case where we left the building

18:39

and then the Bills, you know, flooded the

18:41

newswire with additional cuts. But they

18:43

were like when we finished our show from

18:46

in terms of over the cap, like in the worst cap situation

18:48

in the league, they shaved thirty seven million

18:50

off of that.

18:51

That helps.

18:51

There's more work to do, but it is

18:54

interesting because reading some stuff from people

18:56

in Buffalo right now that like Sean McDermott

18:59

who is has not nothing but success if you go globally

19:02

compared to what the Bills were before. Sean McDermott

19:05

seems to be about on as big of a hot seat

19:07

as there is right now. I think, like fans are going absolutely

19:09

crazy. He just seems to be under a lot of pressure.

19:12

I know, and I get it.

19:15

There are some things about him that are frustrating

19:17

to me. And you know, the nine to eleven

19:19

story and how he runs that team

19:22

pointed out some of his weaknesses. But I

19:26

also think like you got to give teams credit

19:28

that are right in the mix every year, Like that's

19:30

the whole goal.

19:31

Right, he succeeded.

19:32

I know, we're in the season after the only

19:34

super Bowls matter. It's like, no, that twenty seventeen

19:37

season was magical when they first made

19:39

the playoffs, and then in the last four seasons

19:41

they've been right there and it's very frustrating.

19:44

But this was a I think a necessary

19:47

day for them where they had to change

19:49

eras a little bit. Poyer was part of that

19:51

era. Tredevious White made some All Pro teams,

19:53

but he just tore his achilles. He had a

19:55

torn acl Like this is a move they would have made

19:57

in any season. Mitch Morris I thought was interesting

20:00

because he's played like twelve hundred snaps the season for

20:02

four or five straight years, and he's a

20:04

solid center, but just maybe a little overpaid,

20:06

so that was a cap space thing. And then von

20:08

Miller only is keeping his job because he had all

20:10

this guaranteed money, and I was curious he actually

20:12

took less money in this deal. Why did that

20:14

happen? That's that's weird. Just and

20:17

someone inside the league text

20:19

and me he could

20:21

get suspended and this will the way they structured

20:23

it, He's going to get guaranteed that money.

20:26

So he took like three million dollars less,

20:28

but if he does get suspended, he'll end up

20:31

with more. So you know, it works

20:33

out for these players with a guaranteed.

20:35

I know that football is completely different

20:37

than basketball, but I

20:39

don't feel that Sean McDermott

20:42

hot takes on nine to eleven notwithstanding, should

20:45

be on the hot seat. I'm going to use

20:47

my own fandom parallel in

20:50

the NBA when Patrick

20:52

Ewing and Charles Oakley and John Starks

20:55

and whether it's Doc Rivers or Derek Harper

20:58

could not could not get over

21:01

the hump against the Bulls and Michael

21:04

Jordan, and I don't remember anybody

21:06

in that in that media

21:08

market ever saying we got to fire pat Riley because.

21:11

But pat Riley had won like five titles.

21:13

What I'm saying like it was it was I

21:15

understand that, but it's sometimes

21:17

my point being you

21:20

get good at the wrong time, and buffalo

21:22

running into the teeth of the Patrick

21:24

Mahomes era is really

21:26

tough, and I understand that, Like you could say, well,

21:28

then you got to bring somebody in that could figure out how to beat Pat

21:31

Mahomes and maybe that time will come. But I'm

21:33

just giving McDermott and the

21:35

Bills fans in general, and Eric Roberts

21:37

behind the glass, this is just a

21:39

very frot. I've been there in different way as a fan,

21:42

Like it's so frustrating to be here at

21:44

this moment because if there was

21:46

no Mahomes, yeah, the Bills probably get over the hump

21:48

once or even twice by now, but they haven't been able

21:50

to.

21:51

I guess Also, what I was noting was that

21:53

like Bills fans in

21:55

that region. I'm not saying, you know, high

21:57

thinking Bills fans from you know, other parts

21:59

of the country, but it's like there isn't a level

22:01

of agitation. I don't know, how do we how do

22:03

we decide if he's on the hot seat or not. He just I think

22:05

there's a fair amount of pressure and a

22:08

tightening vice around the Bill's experience.

22:10

And he he adds to that because he's just as

22:12

about as tightly wound as ever. I'm feeling

22:14

basketball reference closer.

22:16

I consider the Bills, the Lob City

22:18

Clippers and Patrick Mahomes Steph

22:21

Curry in the War yea, like you.

22:22

Can't even get out of the West.

22:23

They never even write they never even got to

22:25

a conference final. But that that's fair. I

22:26

I was thinking about, uh, my Celtics

22:29

right now. We've had a ton of success.

22:31

Fall is completely different than anything.

22:33

Sort of a championship has got to be disappointing

22:35

when you're the big there the sign BRender doctrine.

22:37

You must win the finals at this point

22:40

this season, which is which is not a great place to be. It's

22:42

not it's not great because if they lose to the Nuggets,

22:44

it's like, that's totally understandable.

22:46

And yet you know who found I.

22:48

Also sound like an idiot and that clip, by the way,

22:51

I don't think so. Football

22:54

is completely different than basketball. That is an

22:56

embarrassing sound.

22:57

But it's fine. It's

22:59

fine, You're fine. Now.

23:01

I forgot what he was gonna say, but it was probably trenching.

23:04

All right, that's what's happening in

23:06

the news. We'll take a break and then we'll

23:09

welcome in Mina Chimes.

23:25

Welcome back. Sausage fingers

23:27

getting a lot of use on the acts

23:30

recently cause we've been having a lot of great guests

23:32

and that role continues

23:34

for Around the NFL. Back for

23:36

another appearance. Oh, it seems like so long

23:39

ago that Mina Chimes was coming

23:41

into our old studio in Culver City.

23:44

We had stopped at a gas station and got

23:46

us some hip hop themed potato chips,

23:49

and it began a wonderful relationship

23:51

the ESPN Star and the NFL

23:54

heroes. So what's up, Mina Kimes.

23:56

Welcome back to around the NFL.

23:59

Hey know, if that was the beginning of our relationship,

24:01

I don't even know if that was my first close.

24:03

I think it was your first appearance.

24:05

And also I believe you'd had a rough and tumble

24:07

time at that seven eleven before picking up those

24:09

chips.

24:11

That is true, that is lore now in

24:13

our relationship that I was so determined

24:15

to make it that.

24:16

I mean, you'll you'll find out Dan likes

24:18

to create narratives, which over the years,

24:21

you know, just start forming into total fictions

24:23

that create narratives.

24:25

This is just storytelling me. You know,

24:27

pop quick pop quiz. What was the

24:30

the hip hop star who was on

24:32

those potato chips?

24:33

I think it was Cardi b.

24:35

Oh incorrect, Greg, Well,

24:38

I don't know if I'm right. This came up. We were talking

24:40

about it.

24:40

You spoke complently about it. I

24:42

thought it was mean egos chips. That sounds

24:45

potentially right, right, No,

24:48

but you spoke with confidence when we talked about it last

24:50

time.

24:50

One of your listeners, you guys have a very active,

24:53

engaged fan base. I'm sure

24:55

one of them. Good call and you know and remembers

24:58

your can dip go back into the archives.

25:00

Oh you got that right.

25:01

Let us know who is correct?

25:04

All right, Mina. You have taken some time

25:06

out of your busy schedule, and thank

25:08

you for that to help us dig

25:10

in on the updated rankings.

25:14

And by the way, just to put it on your radar, Mina,

25:16

because you're a major national personality. Mark

25:19

Sessler and I are going to be putting out our free agency

25:21

two thirteen at midnight

25:23

on Tuesday. So just let's

25:25

let if you want to us on one of your programs.

25:28

Yes, still working on it. Where where

25:30

available?

25:31

Uh, Tuesday seems like a bad time

25:34

for it. So it's like kind of all that happen.

25:35

Don't need it, don't need it here from are

25:38

we? Anyway? Greg's one oh one

25:40

is updated? So Greg, why don't you

25:42

get us going here? How do we want to attack

25:45

what's going?

25:45

All?

25:45

Right?

25:45

So I want to I thought it'd be fun we go through by

25:47

position. Now that all these free agent tags

25:50

have been you know, put on, we've had

25:52

some interesting players added to the list,

25:54

like Justin Simmons is now in the in the top fifty.

25:57

Uh, and maybe go through by positions?

25:59

Good, just to a quick run through of like a

26:01

top ten by positions and then you

26:03

guys throw out what you don't like

26:06

or any sleepers, any bus and he

26:08

fits that you like. I think defensive

26:10

end is probably still the deepest, even though the top

26:13

of the lot got taken

26:15

away. So at defensive end edge,

26:18

I have danil Hunter out there at number one.

26:20

Jonathan Garnard you boy Mina

26:22

at number two. I don't know if he's your Broy, Bryce

26:25

Huff, Chaise Young, for

26:27

Zideria Smith five, Andrew van

26:30

Ginkel six, Genevian Clowney, josh

26:32

Uch Dorns Armstrong, Marcus

26:34

Davenport. I mean, even guys like Shaq Beart

26:36

and Leonard Floyd Whor are good, good players, are

26:38

not on the list. This is a position where

26:41

you can still find some players in

26:43

free agency. I think Grenard especially had

26:45

a nice week that he's kind of the only guy in

26:48

the sweet spot that is hitting

26:50

free agency at this time, and there's going to be a

26:52

bidding war, and I think the Texans are comfortable

26:54

letting him go for whatever reason.

26:57

Gernard, I don't know if he's my boy. He's kind of like

26:59

an NFL Twitter sweetheart,

27:02

right. He

27:04

is well last Obo Camaranquo was

27:06

Jonathan Grenard before Jonathan Gard and incidentally

27:09

on the same team. He's like,

27:11

I'll watch the tape and you see how good he is, how complete

27:13

he is a good player. Though he is a good player. I

27:15

agree with you in Houston, especially since you got

27:17

Will Anderson Junior. They

27:20

do have a lot of cap space, so I

27:22

like this group, it's a lot of one

27:25

bees and two's hunters.

27:28

I think the only like real superstar,

27:31

a guy like Bryce Huff is

27:33

someone who you guys know, you know, small

27:36

sample size all star question.

27:39

Did New York just have too much

27:41

depth obviously they like to rotate their pass rushers

27:44

or did they feel he wasn't an

27:47

every down player. That's

27:49

the kind of question the acquiring team will have to

27:51

answer. Just looking at this

27:53

list, I think

27:56

that Andrew

27:58

Banking was like surprising great

28:00

last year. That's a player that I feel like could be

28:02

had at a reasonable price.

28:04

H He's a Mark favorite is.

28:07

It's not just his name. He sounds good, came

28:09

from a child's fable, but

28:11

like at the same time, like I feel like it's

28:13

years in a row when you're watching the Dolphins and

28:16

he pops up once a game or twice

28:18

a game doing something completely different. It's like Greg

28:21

notes in this that if Bill Belichick was still in New England,

28:23

he'd be going to the Patriots like today

28:26

right now.

28:26

But I think he can help.

28:27

He's a kind of free agent pick up I like because you don't

28:29

have to like blow your budget for him. But he always

28:31

seems to make a difference.

28:33

I think Huff is a guy

28:36

you want to take a swing on. I think as

28:38

a jetsman, I saw how constant

28:40

he was in terms as a pass rusher, and yeah,

28:43

like they didn't trust him against the run. So

28:45

that is you know, you got to watch your tape

28:47

and make a judgment on you on your own

28:49

outside the building. But twenty six years

28:51

old with like win rates that are

28:53

as good as like almost any player in the league,

28:56

if you can get him, he's

28:58

gonna be expensive. But if you can get him in a little

29:00

bit less than you know where the

29:02

top names are going, you might get the most productive,

29:05

you know, sax specialist of any of them. So I understand

29:08

why the Jets might be going walking away, But I also

29:10

could see it ended up being a big mistake.

29:11

It matters so much like when you hit free agency, because

29:14

like josh ushe coming off last year would

29:16

have been ye towards the top of the list, and

29:18

then the Patriots like, you never just played him

29:20

that much and he's still a good pass rusher, but

29:22

do you trust him? I have a little bit of like Chase

29:25

Winovich. I

29:27

don't know if fatigue is the right word or just remembering

29:29

how poorly his post Patriots

29:31

career went, and he was kind of a similar

29:33

type player.

29:34

But it is a position.

29:35

You need three edge players essentially

29:37

in the NFL, three good ones, and

29:40

and these guys can all be number twos. There's

29:42

guys who aren't even on the list, like you know, Engakway

29:45

is still out there at Panessa, Charles Harris like

29:47

that are decent. It's deeper than other positions.

29:49

You can actually find guys unlike receiver. Let's talk

29:51

receiver.

29:52

Wait, can we just I have one last idea for Jadavian

29:54

Clowney, who's coming off a really good year in Baltimore.

29:57

Can we you know how what's the name of the event

29:59

on NFL network where we come back to camp, back

30:01

to training camp or something.

30:03

Itc inside training camp.

30:05

But like the big launch day, I think it's like, we're all back together.

30:07

I get back together.

30:07

Saturday together that's what you guys call you.

30:09

Yeah, so we're never

30:11

actually back together there. We're

30:14

just stealed here.

30:15

Everybody, but atn back together Saturday. But

30:18

you you, Jadavin Clowney is at the event

30:20

wherever one of the camps and you get

30:22

a big wheel and whoever

30:24

it lands On gives him a one year, seven

30:26

million dollar contract.

30:27

Mmm.

30:27

Bang, I feel like he'll sign that and

30:30

everybody wins.

30:31

I would not mind him for

30:33

my Seahawks reunion with Mike

30:36

Mack, who I thought got the most out

30:38

of him. That was a tremendous marriage of defensive

30:41

coordinator with his skill set because he's so

30:43

versatile, he can cover, he's so athletic,

30:47

already has a jersey, right if you kind

30:49

of forget to David Clowney era in Seattle.

30:51

But yeah, either that's something that they

30:53

need to augment, and that strikes me as like you said,

30:56

like that one year, single

30:58

digit millions maybe high within tis

31:00

kind of deal, but the coach

31:02

already knows how.

31:03

To use in best good good news for you

31:05

under my Plan one and thirty two chips.

31:07

Right.

31:07

That is the way the value is an agency.

31:09

It's like you're not going to get stars

31:11

at good prices, but you can get especially these

31:14

older defensive linemen or older

31:16

defensive players in general, and you get them on

31:18

one year contract. The Browns loved it last

31:20

year with him in Zadarius Smith. Let's talk receiver

31:22

where there won't be cheap contracts. The top ten now

31:24

has been decimated and now Calvin Ridley's

31:27

the best receiver available. In my opinion, markis

31:29

Brown, who I

31:32

heard MINA you and our friend Patrick

31:34

Claybonn dismissing

31:36

on your podcast. It's a whole atn

31:40

Mina Times Crossover this week because you have

31:42

our regular Patrick on your show and

31:45

we'll have to check that out.

31:46

You know, when you have a player

31:49

that you and a friend or a colleague, the media

31:51

are obsessed with, and whenever they do something good,

31:54

you text it's I'm sure, like Greg

31:56

Rosenthal and Stephen Luiz anytime Gino

31:58

Smith did everything, I'm sure you guys got in touch

32:00

because he's your guy. So Marky

32:03

Sprown is like the opposite for me in

32:05

Playbo, and I think it's because we were

32:08

kind of Lamar Stands and we were constantly

32:10

let down by his drops, and

32:13

every time he would have a drop, instantly

32:16

I would pull up my phone and one of us would text the

32:18

other and upset be angry about

32:20

it. I look at the scrip of receivers

32:23

and I look at the draft, and I just

32:25

don't see why you would pay

32:27

a significant amount of money for them.

32:29

I think that you got the.

32:30

Guys at the top, you're Higgins Evans,

32:32

They're probably gonna you know, India has money and they can keep

32:34

Pittman Junior. We'll see for how much. But beyond

32:37

that, guys, wouldn't you rather

32:39

have a rookie on a cost controlled

32:41

contract given how well they've played in recent

32:43

years.

32:44

Yeah, So the rest of the listen, they are candidates

32:46

to get overpaid. Gabe Davis.

32:47

I have third Curtis Samuel, who will never

32:49

give up on it somehow, still only twenty eight years

32:51

old and is a great role player. Actually probably

32:53

won't cost that much, so I think he's not a bad

32:55

pick up. Darnell Mooney, kJ

32:58

Osborne, Odell Beckham, Tyler Boyd,

33:00

Michael Thomas, who we're going to get to a little later

33:03

for Flaming. It's a bunch of malcontact,

33:06

Jeff Duncan, Kendrick Bourne, who

33:08

I always think is good, and then Josh Reynold did it falls off

33:10

for there, So it's like a bunch of role players.

33:12

Brown Ridley and I think Gabe Davis

33:15

are probably going to be that guy you're talking about mina

33:17

where they get paid a ton of money without

33:20

you know, having had a ton of production.

33:21

I like Marky's Brown, Like he's like

33:23

you have to keep him happy.

33:24

Though it's like it's like, no matter what situation

33:27

he's in, like you're playing with one of the best quarterbacks

33:29

of our generation, and by the end of it,

33:31

he's like tweeting stuff and he's, you

33:33

know, just an adjutant. So it's

33:35

like, you can't. You gotta be careful if you're gonna go give him

33:37

a ton of money.

33:38

Is this the year where Odell's

33:41

market finally kind of matches up with where

33:44

he is or where

33:46

you know where is that he's still even

33:49

another year later and he's still only

33:51

he's thirty one. Like what

33:54

we did see some things mina from Odell,

33:57

but then he was also losing playing time down the stretch

33:59

in Baltimore and Greg

34:01

as you pointed out, and you're one on one right up, which I agree

34:03

with. I wonder if they, if they could do it over again,

34:05

would Baltimore get new Hopkins and maybe things

34:07

are different there? But that's the past. Where

34:10

do you think Odell's market is this

34:12

offseason?

34:13

I think this is the year that it drops off because

34:16

last year it was mystifying to me who

34:18

Baltimore was bidding against when they paid

34:20

him, what was it sixteen million if I remember correctly,

34:22

it actually almost felt

34:24

like like a Lamar cost

34:27

to get the deal with Lamar. That's total

34:30

speculation, but you remember at the time when they

34:32

signed Odell.

34:32

Then it was worth it.

34:33

But yeah, it was worth it.

34:36

They might have been they might have been negotiating

34:38

a little bit against Aaron Rodgers, general manager

34:40

of the Jets back then. He was reported

34:42

connected to them a lot. And then Baltimore went and got

34:44

him. That's how I remember that.

34:46

Maybe he'll be a Jet, but yeah,

34:48

I just again like I don't there

34:51

were moments where you saw with the ball in his hands,

34:53

still looks really good, but

34:57

he's so he was so inconsistent for Baltimore.

34:59

And then at the end, you know, you did just games where he

35:01

wasn't used at all.

35:02

Here at NFL Network, they've got paintings

35:05

all up and down the hallway of NFL Legends

35:07

and at one point they've painted

35:09

initially and this got on my radar, Salt the yarn

35:11

Well Odell Beckhan was painted as a Cleveland Brown

35:13

because that's when we kind of landed here in

35:16

theory. And then you know, by the end of the

35:18

season, someone, some painter to come in and change

35:20

him to a ram and then they just stopped changing the

35:22

outfit because it's like he's going to be on his you

35:24

know, multiple teams since then.

35:25

So they made the mistake. They should have just

35:28

used the image on the wall of him doing the one

35:30

head to catch the giant and away we go.

35:32

When I was writing that write up, I actually was thinking about,

35:35

you know, a theory which seems obvious

35:37

enough, but as I get older,

35:39

I think it's more and more true, Like how much money

35:42

would have how much money less would Odell

35:44

have made in his career if he wasn't so good

35:46

looking? This is coming up on you,

35:48

you know, your pet project love his Bland.

35:51

I think I think it really. I

35:53

think if he was like an unattractive guy

35:56

all along, he would have made like less money.

35:58

Okay, he's attracted a lot of attractive guys

36:00

in the NFL, but he also has I

36:03

think I just mentioned the catch. The catch

36:06

gave him a he made him electric

36:08

catch.

36:09

Yeah, it's the marketing aspect of the catch,

36:11

but again but.

36:12

That all contributed to it.

36:13

Good theory, Greg, great, Greg, though,

36:16

I feel like is as much of a looker

36:18

and he might get iced out here.

36:20

Although if you know, I think the Big Data

36:23

Bowl is over. But if someone who goes to MIT

36:25

Sloan wants to test Greg's theory

36:28

and see whether pretty privileged exists in

36:30

the NFL, obviously Jimmy G's gonna drag

36:32

up those averages, but beyond that you

36:34

might be onto something well.

36:35

And even Saquon maybe he wouldn't have been as

36:37

big a star coming out of college. You wouldn't have had as much

36:40

hype, like all feeds into it up, Let's talk running

36:42

backs while we're here that, by the way, I mean it.

36:43

Can you come back a Saturday night live

36:45

show at Jockxers Daily in Culver

36:48

City. Greg's gonna unveil his top ten babes

36:50

of the NFL. If you could join us for that

36:52

show, get a babysitter.

36:53

And you know, I'm looking at this free agent now

36:55

wondering who is going to be the pretty privileged

36:58

pick of this class.

37:00

Kirk's done pretty well in this career or two?

37:02

Okay, top ten running

37:04

back Saquon Derrick, Henry Josh

37:07

Jacobs, Tony Pollard, Austin Eckler,

37:09

DeAndre Swift, JK. Dobbins keeps

37:11

going Devin Singletary, AJ Dillon.

37:14

I'd go even Zach Moss is in my top ten. I

37:16

mean outside the ten is Antonio Gibson,

37:18

Gus Edwards.

37:19

This is one where.

37:20

The the veterans seem

37:22

like they're better than the

37:24

rookie class. So not like they're

37:27

gonna get paid because there's so many of them,

37:29

but this is the year. For instance, I would like to get

37:31

Tony Pollard. That would be the guy if I was a GM

37:33

out of that group, and maybe DeAndre Swift would

37:36

be a close second of Like he's not gonna cost that much,

37:38

but Tony Pollard a year removed from that injury.

37:40

People didn't really give him much leeway

37:44

for coming off the injury a year ago. I would

37:46

go after Tony Pollard.

37:49

No, I don't know. I like

37:51

your one B like you have like I don't

37:54

know.

37:54

Like for instance, the Patriots, they could they could put a

37:56

one B with Ramandre Stevenson and that's a nice

37:58

one two punch.

38:00

Increasingly amove the mind that that two

38:02

track sort of approach to running

38:04

back is the way to do it. You get a veteran who's

38:07

kind of a mid tier running back contract,

38:09

so not that much and then you draft your running back

38:12

in the mid to later rounds. So what Miami

38:14

has right with with Mostert and

38:16

a Chan for example.

38:19

So yeah, if you could grab like Apollard

38:22

on a reasonable deal to pair with a

38:24

rookie Henry and Spears and Tennessee

38:26

this past year as another team that did that, I think that makes

38:28

sense. I don't think any

38:30

of these guys are going to command huge contracts because as

38:33

you said, there's so many of them and

38:35

the draft is not great.

38:36

Can I throw out one

38:38

prediction there are some guys that are going

38:40

to up getting paid a little bit more than we're expecting.

38:43

I think Saquan of the guys

38:45

on this list, there might be a general manager

38:47

to that view him as a little different

38:50

and with a higher ceiling, and

38:52

then right offense they should it could be

38:54

better looking a little different Bronx

38:57

state of like that. Maybe he

38:59

can be somebody that gets a bigger deal, not a

39:01

monster contract, but a contract

39:03

where it's like, oh he got an extra year, it's some more

39:05

guaranteed than we expected. He's different.

39:08

I we mentioned this yesterday, Like, I love the idea

39:10

of him on the just plug him into the Houston

39:12

Texans who have like the most second third

39:14

most cap money in the league and are to come out of this.

39:17

Like some reporting they're not into him.

39:18

But I think they're gonna That team is gonna come

39:20

out of this like March to May process as like

39:23

the Darlings, the uprising Darlings.

39:25

But because the NFL probably is just a sigh

39:27

up, of course Saquon Barkley will wind up

39:29

in the the Dallas Cowboys them.

39:33

The nerd numbers actually liked Saquon

39:35

more than I thought this year. Obviously

39:38

super frustrating offense to watch. There

39:40

were still games this year where

39:42

Sequon would just take

39:44

over right and it was very

39:47

obvious he was still the best weapon in

39:49

New York, but bad

39:51

run blocking. The basic numbers

39:54

were not good. The next gen

39:56

stat metric that I like, return over rushing

39:58

yards over expected, which accounts for locking

40:00

and the position of the defenders,

40:02

still had Saquon as I believe,

40:05

the top ten back amongst the high volume

40:07

backs, which was actually better

40:09

than anyone else. I think

40:12

of these free agents when I looked it up, so

40:14

different. Yeah, yeah,

40:16

so I think he's not one of those guys.

40:18

But I'm saying, who's like all fluff and all

40:20

fame and looks. I do

40:22

think he's still a really good player.

40:24

I think he's better in some

40:26

ways than he was as a rookie and is

40:28

a smarter runner, like takes what's given.

40:31

I thought he ran really well last year.

40:32

Actually thought Josh Jacobs ran well

40:35

enough in the last month of the season that you were like, ooh,

40:37

that was Josh Jacobs again. That I was that he missed

40:39

the last month concerned or his last his

40:41

last games of the season. He finally started

40:44

making people miss it like he used to.

40:46

Okay, let's take a quick break here with Mina

40:48

and we'll be right back with more discussion

40:50

of the Greg one oh one, all

40:53

right, welcome back.

40:54

Let's let's go to safety.

40:55

I want to that's this is the deepest position,

40:58

just because teams don't care about it. There's so many

41:00

players available, it's kind of crazy. I

41:02

have Chauncey Gardner Johnson at

41:04

one I feel like. So I did check

41:06

out the rankings of other places after I put

41:08

mine up, and people are way down on Chauncey

41:11

Calder Johnson. Now he's no longer

41:13

like in the top fifties in any of these other lists.

41:15

So I guess I'm on a limb.

41:16

There, Zabry McKinney, who's great, Cam

41:18

Curl who's great, Julian Blackman who quietly

41:21

had a really nice season. Then Justin

41:23

Simmons, Jordan Fuller, Jeremy Chin,

41:25

Gino Stone, Jordan Whitehead, Lowhee,

41:28

Gilman. It goes on and on, your boy, Kwandrey

41:30

Diggs. Maybe he should be on this list too, mikel

41:32

Hyde. We're not sure if he's going to retire. There are

41:34

a million safeties out there. Mean

41:38

a pick, pick something you don't like about

41:40

my list. I just that's what is

41:42

my love language. I

41:44

miss Wes used to just at this point in the

41:46

show, just tell me what I had wrong.

41:48

Yeah, I mean CJD Like, I think

41:50

you're right. People are probably too low on him because because

41:53

last we saw of him when he did come back

41:55

from injury was very late the season, and he wasn't

41:57

quite himself. Still a really good player, but I

41:59

don't I would put him

42:02

outside of the top five, to

42:04

be honest. I mean, these are some really good

42:06

safeties, Like Justin Simmons. I know he's thirty

42:08

years old, he still plays

42:10

at such a high level and he's

42:13

so versatile. You look at I

42:16

really think he could probably play in any defense. But

42:18

I mentioned on Twitter

42:20

today that you know, the Packers are team that are going to be

42:22

linked with a lot of safeties. They're switching to new

42:25

scheme with their defensive coordinator Jeff

42:27

Hafley, more single high. Simmons

42:29

is a guy who can play the post, he can

42:32

drop down into the box. He's still

42:34

a really really good tackler. He's really really smart.

42:36

He called the defense to

42:39

me, Maybe McKinney and Curl

42:41

I would put above him just because they're young

42:43

and also very talented. But if

42:46

you're a team where you're just like McKinney's

42:48

really good, if you're just like a safety

42:50

away though, and you're kind of filling out the roster

42:53

like Green Bay, I would love like a Justin Simmonsons.

42:55

And Simmons is like a like Walter Payton

42:57

Man of the Year locker room guy, like is

42:59

the that you just anchor your defense around and

43:01

like you plug it into the screen.

43:02

Bay team that's on the rise.

43:04

I like that Green Bay does not have a safety

43:06

really on their roster oh right

43:09

now, because the and they struggled

43:11

last year at maybe they think they don't need one right

43:13

and the ones yeah, yeah, go ahead.

43:16

What doesn't it feel like that defense just they keep throwing

43:18

draft, first round draft picks at it and it just never

43:20

clicks. And there's always these coverage busts. And

43:22

I know they hate Joe Berry defensive coordinator, but the problems

43:25

precede that. Doesn't it feel like they

43:27

need that veteran

43:29

cerebral presence. I know

43:32

Gile Alexander is forever my honorary

43:34

captain of that defense, but a guy to really

43:36

be the leader of the defense't

43:39

like for me, like a guy you have a lot

43:41

of youth, bring in that sort of

43:43

veteran presence, super smart player,

43:45

a guy who's seen it all. And I feel like this

43:47

roster is so close.

43:48

Right they they should do what the best

43:50

thing to do in free agency is, which is just get role

43:52

players like that. That's the best free

43:55

agency is to fill role players like lower

43:57

level starters. You just it just made

43:59

me think, though we're everyone's gonna

44:02

be so high on the Packers this year, I just really I'm

44:04

gonna I'm going to be because there are pretty

44:06

easy fixes here. The coordinator on defense,

44:09

the safety position, like stuff you can actually

44:11

do to fix this team and

44:13

so many good things that every they are going to be

44:15

the trendy, like they make the Super Bowl

44:17

team in in September.

44:20

Let let's do.

44:22

Let's do uh, let's do quarterbacks. So

44:26

Kirk's actually gonna become a free agent. I

44:28

do wonder if Denver is sitting out there as

44:31

the team that like is getting no buzz,

44:33

which is often the team that actually sign makes

44:35

the big signing because they keep

44:37

it in house. And I just think Denver

44:39

Atlanta, in my mind, are the two most

44:41

likely places now with Minnesota, then it's Jacoby

44:44

Brissette, Baker, Tannehill, Russ

44:47

Jamis Winston, Minshew Tyrod.

44:50

I got Josh Dobbs and Sam Darnold.

44:51

There's a lot of people out there, Drew Lockes and even

44:54

Mason Rudolph.

44:54

There's a lot of backup quarterbacks available.

44:57

Do I have your Do I have Russell Wilson in the

44:59

right spot here, like I

45:01

Dan, I think.

45:02

I would put him

45:04

over Tannehill. Tannehill was really bad

45:06

last year.

45:07

It's fair really bad.

45:08

I mean Jacoby over Baker is so spicy

45:11

Craig.

45:12

That just stood out to all of us.

45:14

He just skated over.

45:15

He's like, yeah, then I got Jacoby, Then.

45:17

I got Baker.

45:17

Though we've been trying to reason

45:20

with Greg for years on this, I.

45:21

Don't think you totally disagree who has

45:23

been better when he I.

45:24

Mean I kind of think she does based on the way

45:26

she reacted.

45:27

Just I don't believe it. I don't believe it.

45:30

I would rather have Jacoby at

45:32

the contract that I think you'll command

45:34

relative to Baker. In a vacuum,

45:36

I would probably go with Baker. I thought he

45:39

put together some really nice performances last

45:42

year. But Baker at like thirty five versus

45:44

Jacoby at ten. Give me Jacoby all

45:46

day long.

45:47

I want to ask you a question, do in your world

45:49

do you think it matters at all that Kirk Cousin's

45:51

wife is from Georgia.

45:56

Uh. This was a concern with Mike mack

45:58

by the way in Seattle because his wife is from

46:00

Georgia and Seahawks Hans are very concerned

46:02

about the Falcons, the lure of

46:04

Atlanta,

46:07

I mean less so than that. To me is

46:09

the Zach Robinson offensive coordinator,

46:12

the ramsification of the Falcons. It

46:14

just seems like Kirk Cousins

46:16

is such a natural fit for what

46:18

they're gonna want to do on offense, and

46:20

they have the money to do so. I

46:23

feel like they have They're the obvious leader

46:26

in the clubhouse of Minnesota. Doesn't bring him

46:28

back. You mentioned Denver, I think, I mean they

46:30

would have to go full Saints cap to try to make that work.

46:33

Pittsburgh, to me, makes way more sense

46:36

than I don't think they're gonna do it because it seems like they

46:38

don't want to take a big swing. But that

46:40

to me makes a lot more sense than

46:42

any other team.

46:43

But Atlanta. I'm trying to wrap my head around.

46:46

We were just talking about how Denver just really

46:48

screwed the pooch with Russell Wilson. That's messed

46:50

them up in a lot of ways. We're gonna get now.

46:53

We're gonna break the bank for a thirty six

46:55

year old quarterback coming off in Achilles.

46:56

Okay, I

46:59

don't if.

47:00

I'm a dinner Van. I don't know if I like that. By the way, the top

47:02

eight of this list of quarterbacks Cousins,

47:05

Rossett, Baker, Tannehill,

47:07

Wilson, Jameis, Winston, Gardner,

47:10

Minshew Tyrod Taylor,

47:13

what about this guy?

47:14

Come on?

47:15

You know vic Fanjoe in the secondary as well,

47:18

he's been trying to just piece this defense together

47:20

as besty cats plant. You

47:23

can't take down Sam right. Oh he makes

47:25

a guy miss Thousan in space now

47:28

excel rates still going inside

47:30

ten for the record, Arnald,

47:36

that is all Sam Darnold.

47:37

I'm still so mad we were robbed

47:40

of Sam getting a real start

47:42

in Sam Francis goes the few

47:44

days where it looked like that might happen.

47:47

Thank you mean him, that's

47:50

all. I wanted me to just give him one

47:52

shot and see if he could light

47:54

it up. And I got these bozos

47:56

saying shut up about that. He stinks.

47:59

If he had a chance in San Francisco could

48:01

have been different maybe, but another year,

48:03

another chapter of frustration for

48:06

the Donald Hive Mark.

48:08

The discourse would have been.

48:10

Like they're out there, though they're all there, they're

48:13

a sleeper cell. They're waiting men as part of

48:15

it. I've noticed or Lavsky, Daniel

48:17

Jeremiah.

48:18

They're all out there.

48:19

Waiting, and that means there's some in front offices

48:22

somewhere, so you might you might get your wish,

48:24

but can't.

48:25

You just put it clearly a shot against

48:27

me that you couldn't just put him at eight that

48:29

that felt definitely personally.

48:31

He doesn't have pretty privilege. No offense to

48:33

say, but he doesn't. I

48:35

think I'm stealing some love. Somebody

48:38

pointed out he looks like a lego policeman, and I've

48:40

never that's pretty good. But he

48:42

does have a pretty pick privilege.

48:45

I mean, you just saw Mitched Trubisky resound

48:47

with Buffalo. I had a lot that in pretty

48:50

pick privilege.

48:51

Yeah, that's a real thing. That is more of a.

48:53

Thing than right.

48:54

We didn't We didn't get the dinosaur. I would have liked to see

48:56

that, just I would have been curious. We didn't get the Teddy

48:59

starting ted in Detroit, which I wanted.

49:01

Fine with up just.

49:02

Just one last one linebackers, very

49:04

deep. We'll do the top ten at that position. Frankie

49:06

Luvu. I went with number one, Patrick

49:09

Queen.

49:09

Who I see.

49:10

Patrick Queen's been so up and down in his career

49:13

that I don't even feel good about my own ranking

49:15

there. I got to

49:17

bring Roquan Swift with this one, I know, but then his coach,

49:19

so maybe if he if he's in Seattle, great,

49:22

but I don't know Roquan smith Man.

49:25

People just forget he was getting benched like a before

49:27

Roquand showed up. Jordan Brooks, Levante,

49:29

David Aziz, al Shaier who are

49:32

old producer Justin is

49:34

really high on how he played

49:36

in Tennessee, Drew Trankll, Devin

49:38

White, who a couple of years

49:40

ago was an All Pro, Bobby Wagner,

49:43

Willie Gay, Josie Jewel.

49:44

You can get a linebacker.

49:45

There's like a million two to three

49:48

round linebackers down linebackers. It

49:50

didn't even include Blake Cashman or

49:52

Tyrol Dotson or Kyle Vannoy if you want

49:54

to call him at linebackers. So there are a million linebackers

49:57

out there and none in the draft. And the

49:59

the top guys on this list, at least the top three. I think

50:01

we'll get a decent amount of money.

50:03

Who would you take out of that list as your number

50:05

one?

50:06

MINA Well, I.

50:07

Probably would have put Doddson and Cashman in

50:09

the top ten. I think they're both really

50:12

good ascending players. Lou

50:15

Vu to me like he is the other like NFL

50:18

hipster Fave. You

50:21

gotta have the right defense where you're asking him

50:23

to rush the passer and you know, cause

50:25

he's got kind of Swiss army knife type player.

50:27

I don't think he's a guy you just PLoP down and you're

50:29

like, all right, you're the mic, you're leader of the defense. We're gonna

50:31

build around you necessarily. I

50:35

am. I think you got the rankings correct.

50:39

It really depends on what your needs are on

50:42

defense. But I really like Patrick Queen.

50:44

I thought he played so well this year. And it wasn't

50:47

just when rokwand first came in. It was

50:49

like, okay, great, now Patrick Queen is this incredible athlete.

50:51

We can just point and shoot right. He can play fast, and

50:53

he can just get out. He can just play with his hair on fire.

50:56

But this year I think you saw him take

50:58

another step in coverage,

51:01

diagnosed, diagnosing routes, reading

51:03

the quarterback, reading the run so well. He's

51:07

sort of on that trajectory now we're seeing with linebackers

51:09

where it takes him three or four years to really learn how

51:11

to play the position.

51:12

I want to know what Mark Mark's questions for

51:14

me are. Mark is a is an ultra preparer.

51:18

He makes well pages and pages

51:20

and I know it might not have to do what the group we're talking about,

51:22

but I want to hear these questions.

51:24

And also Mina You should know that Mark usually

51:26

goes with Levi his UH jacket of

51:28

choice, but he was wearing the blazer today,

51:30

which is kind of out of season for him.

51:32

But I think it connects to you and the level of

51:34

steam that you bring.

51:35

That's not untrue.

51:36

But we are also leaving on Sunday

51:38

for Austin, Texas, and so I'm just wearing

51:41

I have to think I have to wear this in Austin.

51:42

So I'm just going to drive home. And that's

51:44

the move.

51:45

You're going to drive home all the way in a blazer?

51:47

Well, I mean to where I live in Los Angeles, but yeah,

51:49

yeah to that home.

51:50

Sure, I'll do that.

51:52

You want to take it off before the getty

51:54

in there.

51:54

I don't know, like you're it was a decision. I made

51:56

it, Like, so we have suits to this thing.

51:58

Well that's it.

51:58

I'm not I'm not order driving

52:01

a blazer. Then it's all stiff and you.

52:04

Stick it over the top of the passenger seat and

52:07

then when you get out of the car you put it

52:09

back on.

52:09

Do you think we're nominated for Best

52:11

Sports Podcast? Where the iHeartMedia Awards

52:13

are going to Austin on Monday for the show. If

52:16

we don't win, Mina, do you think we should do a

52:18

like Kanye Taylor

52:20

Swift? I

52:23

mean it's bad. It might be you. It's

52:26

Kelsey Brothers are involved like every

52:28

other.

52:30

It's hard Kelsey Brothers,

52:32

it's we are this I think probably

52:34

the least listen to of

52:36

the group. Pardon my take, I think is one

52:38

of them.

52:40

This is this is really the titans of the

52:42

industry.

52:42

We do have the We have pretty privilege, though.

52:45

We also don't know who's there's no proof for investigative

52:48

knowledge of who's voting for this. It's not just

52:50

out there in the public. And that that probably hurts

52:52

us because it's like.

52:53

You like, you're kind of like the Lions of.

52:56

Sure that I like that, and we're

52:58

hoping that if we attend, maybe they're like throw

53:00

them the bone. Hey, do you have questions?

53:02

Romina?

53:03

I want to talk about one team that I think has a lot

53:05

to do this offseason and with yes,

53:07

we know about the Dolphins, and are Blake Jeff

53:10

s Reebeck, who writes for The Athletic about the Ravens.

53:12

I want to read this paragraph. The Ravens unrestricted

53:15

free agent class is set to include their

53:17

twenty twenty three touchdown leader, their

53:19

top two backs, their most accomplished wide

53:21

receiver, they're two starting guards,

53:23

a Pro Bowl inside linebacker, excuse

53:26

me, their return specialist two.

53:28

And there's just a list of so long.

53:29

Two of their three leaders in sacks and the asc

53:31

leader in interceptions. It's like the Ravens

53:33

typically always find a way, and I just assume

53:35

they'll plug these pieces in with other players

53:38

and go, you know, ten and seven again.

53:39

But that's a laundry list. How do

53:42

you attack that?

53:43

And it's our you know, with the

53:45

brain drain and coaching too. It's one thing for us

53:47

to say, well, you know they're bringing defensive

53:50

veterans and they you know, Vanda Away has

53:52

a career Clowney has a career year. But

53:54

you lose not only Mike McDonald but also

53:56

Anthony Weavers now the defensive coordinator for Miami.

54:00

You know, they promoted internally, but there's

54:02

still some change there that make things hard. I

54:04

was just pulling up their cab because I wanted

54:06

to see what they could do from like, you know who,

54:08

they can already restructure. I

54:12

think Ronnie Stanley has a pretty

54:14

big contract because they tag them that a weekend,

54:16

and I think that They're going to try to get something

54:18

done with him. It seems like I haven't

54:20

really heard his name come up in trade requests,

54:23

and in doing so, they might be able to create some flexibility

54:26

there. Oh yeah, okay, yeah, you can restructure

54:28

some of these lamar. Anyways, I

54:32

think though, that the

54:34

bigger thing, more than the defense to me is the guards.

54:38

Simpson is because this offensive

54:40

line has sort of like kind of flown under the raider. What

54:42

a strength that they've been for this team, particularly

54:44

in the run game, and

54:47

I feel like you got to at least bring one of them back.

54:49

Right Both their starting guards are available,

54:51

and John Simpson is a guy that, if

54:55

I heard from people, that is going to get

54:57

paid. Kevin Zeitler is one

54:59

of sneaky all time bag getter. I

55:01

think he's gonna hit his fourth good

55:04

free agent contract, which is or fourth good

55:07

contract in the NFL, which is almost impossible.

55:10

Got a little bit for Lefel players.

55:14

They they could have a surprising cutter two here

55:16

before Monday. I don't know who it would be or

55:19

else it wouldn't be surprising. I guess Marlon

55:21

Humphrey would would be one that, like.

55:23

I'm playing with the spow Trek tool right now.

55:25

If you guys ever used this to where you restructure the contract,

55:27

it's so satisfying.

55:29

WHOA really? I mean, I use pow track

55:31

all the time. I'd only like it like that.

55:33

Ronnie Stanley could be another surprise

55:35

cut. Something could happen there. Let's wrap up

55:37

one last position. We'll get you out of there. Cornerback,

55:40

it is hard to get a cornerback and free agency.

55:43

A couple are off the board already. Kendall Fuller

55:46

is sort of my number one by default. He's a good player,

55:48

but he's twenty nine, and he's

55:50

probably better in the slot than outside, so it's

55:52

not like a number one corner. Stefan Gilmour is

55:55

a good example of what I was talking about before, where

55:57

like the best values in free agency are these short term

55:59

deals. He's still well, but he's thirty three.

56:01

Kennymore, Chadobi, a woozier who

56:04

coming off a bad year, Steven Nelson, Christian

56:06

Fulton, who I'm not going to give up on, who I just think

56:08

has some good ball in him, Adorri Jackson,

56:10

Kashawn Nixon, who's an all Pro returner,

56:12

a Kella Witherspoon in Tradevious White

56:15

coming off of injuries.

56:16

It's not a good list.

56:18

This is the worst group. Looking at your list,

56:20

Oh my god, looking at I mean, I

56:23

think Gilmore's the best player, but you know you

56:25

can play obviously man coverage.

56:27

You don't want to sign him to like a multi year deal

56:30

though, probably so your hope is that he's going to ring

56:32

Chase and maybe. I mean seeing

56:34

this list, my only talk takeaway

56:36

is the Chief should probably trade l Jerious

56:38

Need because some team is going to give up some

56:41

ridiculous for him because he's so much better than

56:43

most of these players.

56:44

They and they will, I think they

56:46

will.

56:46

It seems like they are certain like

56:49

that they're just allotting for

56:51

Chris Jones to get resigned and then them

56:53

to trade. But just corn if everywhere, if

56:55

all cornerbacks are bad, then they're not all and

56:57

then like guys like Steven Nelson are actually

56:59

good because they're just like

57:01

not the worst thing ever in the It's

57:04

just so hard to find cornerbacks.

57:07

All right, Mina, We're gonna let you go because

57:10

you got a lot to do. You get any plugs in there?

57:12

You got NFL LA what's with

57:14

Ron Rivera?

57:17

My NFL Live in fifty minutes with Ron

57:19

Rivera, as we discussed

57:21

check out the latest episode of the Minichime

57:23

Show featuring Lenny, featuring the great

57:26

Patrick Claiban, who is

57:28

always a delight talking about

57:30

free Agency. Yeah, you can also watch it on YouTube. Thank

57:32

you so much for having you guys.

57:33

Thank you, Mina. Remember Mark and I have our Free

57:36

Agency two thirteen coming out midnight Tuesday.

57:38

If you need us, let us know. Mina times everybody

57:42

there, She goes, thanks, Vienna, thank

57:44

you best that seeing

57:47

that cornerback route, my

57:49

god, well let's take a break and

57:52

when we get back, we'll wrap things up. It

58:03

will come back. Yes, you just heard the great Menac

58:05

Himes and seeing that cornerback group

58:07

reminded me that it won't be long before

58:10

Zuzzar will be putting together his graveyards

58:13

twenty twenty four roster. And it

58:15

is always the back end of the defense

58:17

that I feel I most worry about. And I'm

58:20

I'm feeling like I'm gonna be in a position

58:22

where I'll have I don't know, Antonio

58:24

Cramarti in the slot at this point on you once

58:26

the bones are picked from that group.

58:28

This is an old group. This is an older group

58:30

of I mean, you know that's how free agency works. Not

58:32

going to be twenty two.

58:33

But it just shows you how

58:36

it's so hard to find cornerbacks, Like

58:38

it just feels like it's like an impossible position.

58:40

I think about it too, when they do the combine. They're

58:43

the best athletes. I mean you could make an argument

58:45

for the defensive ends

58:48

or or the tight end like

58:50

in different ways.

58:51

But I think if it receivers, I think

58:53

if you're.

58:53

Judging just total athleticism, and

58:56

it's I think it's the hardest position. It's sort

58:58

of an impossible position. I think they

59:00

are the best at.

59:01

That's what I played in high school. By the way, there you

59:03

go under back. You played a little line too,

59:05

is that running back? But then they then it became

59:08

we would just take anyone that is of a certain size

59:11

and stick them at corner.

59:11

You like the corner like some cornerbacks they

59:14

get they you know, stick

59:16

their nose in it, and other cornerbacks is like, oh, they don't really

59:18

want to know.

59:19

I was the cornerback that they would do it all all

59:21

things under heaven to not put on the fields.

59:23

I'd love to play a little fly on the wall

59:25

with the coaching staff of camp happy

59:27

and is high and just be

59:30

like, you know hear them, be like with

59:32

Sessler's athleticism,

59:34

we got to get them in an impact position, number

59:37

one corner, shut down half

59:39

the field.

59:39

No, they were like, we've got to get them on the ridgefield press

59:42

beat instead of the actual playing beat as

59:44

fast as possible.

59:45

Speaking of Michael Thomas, by the way, we mentioned

59:47

that he's you know, he's

59:51

going to be out there and the Thomas

59:54

Saints marriage had some really

59:56

high highs. Second round pick in twenty sixteen,

59:59

three times Pro Bowl or two time first team

1:00:01

All Pro. I mean, this is a guy that once

1:00:04

had one hundred and forty nine catches in

1:00:06

one season, he got the bag because of

1:00:08

it, immediately suffered an ankle injury

1:00:10

his first game in the following season, and really ever

1:00:12

since that moment has never been the same. A

1:00:15

bit of a I don't think he qualifies

1:00:17

under locker room lawyer, which is always

1:00:20

something I love, but I think he does qualify

1:00:22

under the column of pain

1:00:25

in the ass and also

1:00:28

a guy that has opinions. I saw that Jeff

1:00:30

Duncan, I think, who had a report out there that

1:00:33

the Saints were done with Thomas. Michael

1:00:35

Thomas's reply under one of my

1:00:37

favorite Twitter handles. Of course, can't guard Mike.

1:00:40

I will read this verbatim and understand

1:00:42

in terms of lawyers out there somebody

1:00:45

looking to sue for libel or slander. This

1:00:47

is Michael Thomas, not Zuzzar.

1:00:50

Jeff Duncan is a hunt trying

1:00:52

to stay relevant, So let's speak on it. The

1:00:54

Saints leak information to him to try to ruin

1:00:56

players value. But see, I'm not broke,

1:00:58

so I can speak on it. He has broke,

1:01:01

so he needs clicks. Go look at all his articles

1:01:03

that never end up being true now

1:01:06

and Thomas's defense. You know there

1:01:08

there's a lot of business

1:01:10

being done by Beat reporters to get favors

1:01:13

and and and saddle up and

1:01:15

cozy up with front offices for

1:01:17

for work down the line. Now

1:01:20

is is he I don't know

1:01:22

that for sure. Is he broke? We

1:01:24

don't know Duncan's financial situation.

1:01:26

So I doubt it.

1:01:27

I mean, perhaps gainfully broke his strong

1:01:30

a little pot calling kettle black because

1:01:33

I'm not sure the reporting, specifically

1:01:36

the one about mister Duncan being ah can

1:01:39

be probrated without triple

1:01:41

sourcing it, well.

1:01:42

How do you feel about it? How you feel about it?

1:01:45

I don't know what what he

1:01:48

is upset about because the

1:01:51

article is only for digital subscribers.

1:01:54

But the news, you

1:01:56

know, they gotta make money, shout out to nola

1:01:58

dot com. But the news was

1:02:00

just that that the

1:02:02

Saints were releasing him, which I

1:02:05

gotta admit is a is a pretty big

1:02:07

fly in the ointment for the old top one to one

1:02:09

because Michael Thomas has been there at

1:02:11

one on one this old time and I was like, release him.

1:02:14

He's a free agent, and apparently

1:02:16

they had this insane contract

1:02:19

where there was sat insane contracts

1:02:22

and his agent was quoted saying it's a one year

1:02:24

deal, always has been. That's one hundred percent how its structured,

1:02:26

no two ways about it. He's an unrestricted free agent

1:02:28

like everyone else in March. But apparently he

1:02:30

had some bogus void year that

1:02:33

was like eighty million dollars in it and it

1:02:35

was just like total fantasy. So technically

1:02:38

he wasn't a free

1:02:40

agent yet and Jeff Duncan releasing that. Maybe

1:02:43

Michael Thomas thinks like he's putting

1:02:45

that out there to almost make him look bad that they're

1:02:47

not releasing him he was always a free agent

1:02:49

all along. I don't know if there's more to it than

1:02:51

that, other than he has been, you

1:02:54

know, down talking Derek

1:02:56

Carr's quarterback too for much of it.

1:02:58

Was nice of Michael Thomas at the end

1:03:00

of that tweet to say, you

1:03:02

know, not just he needs clicks, but go read.

1:03:04

I believe he said, go read all of his articles

1:03:07

and find out if they're true.

1:03:08

Like that's actually gonna help.

1:03:10

Jeff Duncan say, well,

1:03:12

you got to, like if you're a paywall person, otherwise,

1:03:15

you know, tough, that's gonna be a tough road.

1:03:16

He did put out an article and this might be what he was upset about

1:03:18

about a month ago, where he said it's time for them to move

1:03:20

on from Marshawn Lattimore and Michael

1:03:23

Thomas with some sort of vague, you

1:03:25

know, inside the locker room stuff, and

1:03:28

and uh, that brings up Latimore, who,

1:03:30

by the way, is like quietly

1:03:33

one of the more interesting stories in the NFL.

1:03:35

I think he's going to be traded, and yet no

1:03:37

one is reporting about how

1:03:39

he's going to be traded. Uh,

1:03:42

and that seems to be more of a Dennis Allen it.

1:03:45

Maybe you know, people don't want to be called a.

1:03:49

Marshall.

1:03:49

Lattimore is totally separate. He hasn't had

1:03:52

it too well. He hasn't had any major

1:03:55

issues other than there has been reporting

1:03:58

that, you know, him and Dennis Allen don't get

1:04:00

along, and Dennis kind of like this the Chauncey

1:04:02

Gardner Johns.

1:04:03

Every off season, Dennis Allen has stuff of falling

1:04:05

out with a key member of the secondary.

1:04:07

The difference is Latimore is a top tier

1:04:09

cornerback and if he truly was available,

1:04:13

very intriguing and I would think would

1:04:15

should get a high draft pick.

1:04:17

Mm hmm, absolutely, especially in this

1:04:19

market. Haamanahamana. All

1:04:22

right, good week of shows,

1:04:25

huge week of shows coming up next week. Like

1:04:28

we said, we'll be doing beginning of the week

1:04:30

in Texas, but we'll be very quickly

1:04:32

coming back to LA and doing a mixture

1:04:35

of shows from Texas

1:04:37

and mostly from here in Los Angeles in the studio starting

1:04:39

on Tuesday. So we'll be all over

1:04:41

the free agency picture

1:04:44

as it unfolds and how your favorite

1:04:46

team's fair

1:04:49

in what is sometimes an

1:04:51

unfair process free agency as a fan, because you

1:04:53

get yourself excited and then, like

1:04:55

I said, it don't always work out, but the excitement

1:04:58

of the signings, you could always spin

1:05:00

it in the moment, is a beautiful thing. And then draft

1:05:02

season comes and that's hope season, and

1:05:05

everybody's staring at a playoff roster at

1:05:07

the beginning of June. We're not there yet, but this is the

1:05:09

first step toward that.

1:05:11

I mean, it's ripe ground for heartbreak, and

1:05:13

like only at this point if you're above a

1:05:15

certain age in life or station

1:05:17

in life, you'd have to be almost

1:05:19

an ultra rube to fall for some of these

1:05:21

signings, because if you look at the vast majority

1:05:23

of them two or three years later, their roadkill.

1:05:25

They get well, they can help, They can help you

1:05:28

out as like.

1:05:28

Roll play, Mark, You're right, you're

1:05:30

a technical lighthouse.

1:05:32

Some of them, like the top tier, like

1:05:34

yes, like Siju Zama probably

1:05:36

got a little too much pop a couple of years ago

1:05:38

for well blocking tight end

1:05:40

to the offense.

1:05:41

But there's a lot of good role players that you pick up.

1:05:43

Mark. Let's close the week with something

1:05:48

that we touched down on Wednesday

1:05:50

Show, I believe, or maybe it was Monday Show. You

1:05:53

had an abrupt announcement retiring

1:05:56

from Twitter. The

1:05:58

nature of the tweets seem to be an attack at the

1:06:01

of the analytics community, as I recall,

1:06:03

followed by an abrupt

1:06:06

I believe the word only pull it up? Is it still alive?

1:06:09

I'd rather I we loss over

1:06:11

the actual wording. Well, it's in the it's

1:06:13

in the discord people can go find.

1:06:14

You couldn't delete it, Oh it's still there.

1:06:16

No, I didn't. I didn't need to delete it. I don't

1:06:18

need to read the thing. But the final I just the

1:06:21

reason why I'm saying this. Uh,

1:06:23

you ended it with this is my last

1:06:26

tweet ever and I believe in you. So

1:06:28

that was February twenty eighth. That is now March

1:06:30

seventh. I don't see another tweet.

1:06:33

Is it is need over then?

1:06:35

Yeah, because like it's a

1:06:37

personal thing for me. I

1:06:40

think if you go read the guts of the tweet,

1:06:42

or at least part of the guts, it's more

1:06:44

a little bit about how I feel that

1:06:46

sports in general has lost its I'm

1:06:49

I think that numbers and analytics are fine.

1:06:51

If I could edit it a little, I would have make taken some of

1:06:53

that acerbic out of it. But like

1:06:56

the like sports writing and everything

1:06:58

is just lost. It's like beauty from

1:07:00

the old days a little bit. And I

1:07:02

know Greg would sayble you then go write a sports article

1:07:04

that tries to bring that back.

1:07:05

But it's like, I just think.

1:07:06

That that is definitely not like the general

1:07:09

environment has become like so you.

1:07:11

Walk some dramatic music underneath this, go

1:07:13

ahead.

1:07:13

And here's the second part to it. Like I've noticed

1:07:16

that, Like you know, I'm a fifty

1:07:18

year old adult that's like gets every week they

1:07:20

give you that charge light and that thing on your phone about

1:07:22

how many hours you spent just sitting on your

1:07:24

phone.

1:07:25

And it's like when it comes to things like.

1:07:27

Twitter, I no longer feel

1:07:30

joy when I tweet something where I just sit

1:07:32

around and find out who likes it and who responds to

1:07:34

it for the vast majority of

1:07:36

those tweets, to the point where I'm like, I'm kind

1:07:38

of just post it in my life. Other people

1:07:41

enjoy it, use it, have fun, people can find

1:07:43

community on it. I'm not saying everyone should

1:07:45

follow me or anyone should, but I myself am

1:07:47

a post like sitting around looking at likes.

1:07:50

I want to carve that out of my life and it's gone.

1:07:52

I think I'm excited about this as

1:07:55

Mark's friend. We have been

1:07:58

on the end of many a

1:08:00

text in the last ten years,

1:08:02

furious about what other people are tweeting.

1:08:05

So it seemed like it was an unhealthy thing.

1:08:07

Not even so much whatever you wrote, but or when I

1:08:09

was tweeting was, but

1:08:11

more like what you were reading from other

1:08:14

people.

1:08:14

So if that is going to make your life healthier,

1:08:19

h and be out in the world

1:08:21

more. Yeah, interacting with the actual

1:08:23

world, I think that's a good thing.

1:08:24

I like Twitter.

1:08:25

But you know, yes,

1:08:28

I agree with everything everyone said. Mark.

1:08:30

We don't have to agree with me.

1:08:31

No, yeah, yeah, this is your journey right right,

1:08:33

and it's just simply like it's a personal

1:08:35

decision.

1:08:36

Could I have maybe crafted a more

1:08:38

graceful I.

1:08:39

Just hope you're not it still reading

1:08:41

all the tweets that annoy you.

1:08:43

No, only I would only go on if

1:08:45

there was like some something I had to link into that

1:08:48

I'd been.

1:08:48

Told is for the show or something like that.

1:08:50

You know, well, good

1:08:52

luck on this journey, thank you, and

1:08:55

I believe in you. What did you write?

1:08:57

You wrote, Well, it's I ended

1:08:59

with a puzz note like I could

1:09:01

have if there were an edit button, which people

1:09:04

have always asked for, Like I would have probably made a few

1:09:06

changes there, but I'm not going to

1:09:08

go delete it.

1:09:08

Five minutes later they did. They did add an

1:09:11

edit button, but you have to pay for it. I'm not doing and

1:09:13

then everyone can read your edits. Here's the

1:09:15

thing that's if you can read the edit, yeah,

1:09:17

it actually makes it work. You look

1:09:19

and then you just check what the edit

1:09:21

is and it's just stupid.

1:09:23

I this morning retweeted

1:09:26

a post from Adrian

1:09:28

Grenier, or the actor from Entourage. Nice,

1:09:31

and I think people should This is a good way.

1:09:33

This might be a good way to go out of here. This

1:09:35

exactly with the photo, so it's

1:09:37

a picture of the guy from Entourage.

1:09:40

Haven't been posting because I've been too present

1:09:42

distracted by the moment. Sorry, but

1:09:44

thank you. That's kind of what you're getting

1:09:47

at in a way. I don't know, like that's I

1:09:49

mean, go full Grenier is all I'm saying, Like,

1:09:51

do a goodbye post where you say that that's

1:09:53

that would be.

1:09:53

My Also, you'll miss out on opportunities to do

1:09:56

things like we can retweet. Our

1:09:58

friend John Gonzalez just launch his own

1:10:00

daily basketball.

1:10:02

Podcast transition, so but he

1:10:04

can't do that.

1:10:05

To check that out. Yeah, I'm doing it now that I see

1:10:07

it in my feet, I'm going to do that right now.

1:10:09

Yeah, I'm going to do it myself.

1:10:10

I could invite back to your the soccer owner

1:10:12

friend that you have like and he probably thinks I'm not thankful,

1:10:15

but I am.

1:10:15

If he were to dig this.

1:10:16

He's a listener. As I said, Chill, I think he would understand

1:10:19

that he's aware that you actually can't reply

1:10:21

right per ethics

1:10:24

off the hook with him. Yes, all

1:10:26

right, thank you everybody. I hope that

1:10:28

clarifies everyone, though, who's wondering

1:10:30

about that tweet? All

1:10:35

right? Till Monday, in the beginning of free

1:10:37

agency, here we go. He a call