0:00

Around the NFL Podcast.

0:05

He is traveling to the drama. Welcome,

0:09

hell no, not, Welcome

0:11

to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.

0:14

My name is Dan has I come to you

0:16

from a virtual room. Phillisum Heroes, Mark

0:19

Sessler, Greg Rosenthal,

0:23

you know had the I

0:26

had the good fortune to spend the Easter Sunday

0:28

and a part of it with Lukisha and

0:31

her mother uh Nana as

0:33

we call her and Link. That

0:36

was very nice. It was great to see

0:38

you know, you know, it's East. It was Easter weekend. We hope

0:40

everybody that celebrates had a good one. And

0:43

I actually, for the first time, I was trying

0:45

to explain the basics

0:47

of what Easter is to the boys, beyond um

0:50

the Easter bunny, which is the only thing that matters

0:52

in their world, and this idea of Jesus

0:54

and God was the Father and Jesus

0:57

died, and the boys naturally asked, well, if God

0:59

is Jesus Father, why was he why

1:02

why did he die? And then that gets

1:04

me thinking about West and how how did that

1:06

happen? Such a good person go And then you get

1:08

to see Link on Sunday and see

1:10

him happy and holding Easter

1:12

eggs and my boys showing Link

1:15

had to find eggs and oh it was nice

1:17

boys, I have. I saw some photos of

1:19

Link dressed up in the little

1:21

Bunny costume, and I

1:23

am, I'm it's not an overstatement

1:25

to say is one of the most um majestically

1:28

cute babies I've ever witnessed.

1:30

I really, it's also just having spent a little time with

1:32

him, his eyes when he looks at you. But that's cool. Um,

1:35

you dove into the theology side of things.

1:37

I think you did a little bit of job with your summary

1:39

there. You might have missed a

1:41

few little pointers, but it's tough to get

1:44

wrap your head around that when you're like five years

1:46

that's for the theology podcast Shark. And

1:48

if we're gonna do a deep out dive on the

1:51

Son of God, that's something that we need

1:53

to unpack in full over several hours.

1:55

I would guess. Yeah, Link um

1:58

looks more like Chris

2:00

I think every day. Um,

2:03

you just you just see it. And Chris's

2:06

brother Phil sent us

2:08

a picture of Chris dressed up as

2:10

a Maleman. I believe it was for Halloween, or

2:12

maybe it was just for fun. Why not dress up as a male man

2:14

as a little as a little boy, and I could just you

2:16

can just see you can see link, you

2:19

can see links facing West, and um

2:21

that that same Easter question came

2:23

up in my house to Dan, which is even more complicated

2:26

because you know, my kids went to a

2:29

Methodist church for preschool, and so I was

2:31

like, you know you learned, you learned there? Like what

2:33

that was God in the roach? And I said Jesus,

2:35

And She's like, he's the one with the beard,

2:37

right. I was like, yeah, that's that's him.

2:40

Um, but it is it is gonna. I'm like, this is

2:42

the day he came back. Well where was he? Okay,

2:44

well, I like the idea of ever

2:46

the contrarian, like Jesus, he's the one with the

2:48

beard. And Greg's like, well, we don't really know of youesthetically,

2:56

right, it was great

2:58

and and then you oh again

3:00

this is not the theology podcast, But you don't know where

3:02

West is right now. But the

3:04

one thing we do know is that Link was

3:07

in the backyard yesterday and and West

3:09

is all over his face and it's just like West

3:12

is here, He's here on this earth

3:14

in his son, and that is was we've

3:16

talked about with Lakisha like the miracle

3:19

of that that small gap where West

3:21

got sick, he got better and in

3:23

that gap he got married and Link

3:25

came into the world and then sadly West left.

3:28

But the boy is here and

3:30

uh, he's our responsibility in a lot of ways

3:32

to help raise because West

3:34

unfortunately can't do it. So oh

3:37

man, it was nice though. Um,

3:40

welcome to the podcast. Big

3:42

show coming up. I actually, after I

3:44

had a couple of Tito's hanging out with

3:47

the Westlings, I texted the boys,

3:49

uh, Mark and Greg and say, hey, would

3:52

you indulge me and let

3:54

us have a little jet segment, a formal

3:57

jet segment. All segments sometimes become jet

3:59

segments on the show. I apologize for that, but this one

4:01

is gonna be a Jets related

4:04

one. With the number two overall pick there in the catbird

4:06

seat, a lot of people feel with this draft and where

4:08

are they gonna go with that pick? And where Sam Donald

4:10

gonna go? Rich Zamini, one

4:12

of my favorites, uh in the history

4:15

of NFL Beat reporting will

4:17

be on the show a little bit later, but

4:19

before that, what's this

4:21

news? Um,

4:25

April fools? Come on, man,

4:28

the gap it's here to stay

4:31

for a little while. I'm not going anywhere

4:33

anytime soon. So April Fool,

4:35

everybody

4:40

mark one word disgrace. Well,

4:44

you know something that you've brought been real hot

4:46

on over the last week, um, as

4:48

we entered April was the concept

4:50

of like poorly done April Fools

4:52

Days jokes. And I couldn't be more um

4:55

in agreement with you that this prank began

4:58

before April Fools, taking us all to a

5:00

totally different world, thinking like, you know,

5:02

your friend with the gap too suddenly feeling he's

5:04

been you know, edged out and doesn't have someone to look

5:07

up to. It was all a fraud. Um, I didn't

5:09

find it that hilarious. Um.

5:12

You know, these April Fools jokes, a lot of

5:14

them are real suspect. I mean, I

5:16

on one hand, I'm with you. On the other hand, most

5:18

of people annoyed at April fool is just because they

5:21

felt for it. I mean immediately

5:23

half the responses to this tweet was

5:25

April fool. Isn't it true? As you're you were hurt

5:27

a little bit, it was incredibly successful,

5:30

you know much twenty nine

5:32

or something though. That's yeah, it was I

5:35

think nine and right, But a lot of people were

5:37

responding saying April Fools. I was like, it couldn't

5:39

be right because it was an ad and it's a paid ad

5:41

and all this stuff. Um, but more

5:43

power to straight hand. He got paid a lot of money

5:46

to not fix his teeth, like he

5:48

got paid a lot of money to do in April Fool

5:50

because it was still a paid ad. Are we talking about

5:52

you? Are you still talking about the paid aspect

5:55

that I'm saying that, But

5:57

I'm just saying that's the only reason he did it.

5:59

It's not like Straighthand was like, I'm gonna have some

6:01

fun with the guys. No, this this company

6:04

presented like a five hundred

6:06

thousand dollar thing you can do and you're gonna get a lot of

6:08

attention and this and that and here's what we're gonna

6:10

do. And he did it, and we all

6:12

fell for it, and hang

6:14

on, not everyone. A lot of people what I

6:16

mentioned on the minute it happened, saying it

6:18

was fake. So I guess he put it onto it.

6:21

Yes, I guess we quote unquote fell for it.

6:24

But if if if you're doing an April Fools

6:26

prank before April Fools, it

6:28

goes beyond prank. And it's just lying.

6:30

He lied, And you know, I got banged to the biggest

6:33

of all spots because we did like nineteen minutes

6:35

on the podcast last week on it.

6:37

But you know what, if you're gonna do an April fool's joke

6:39

to really be a craftsman, to be someone

6:41

who understands the nature of it, and to

6:44

really be skillful at it, that's cheating.

6:46

That's like starting a race and getting a three second

6:48

head start. Right. Why should we not take him

6:50

at his word on March twenty nine or whatever

6:52

it was. If it were on April at first, it's like,

6:54

okay, we this is clearly But if it was on

6:56

like June fifteenth, then he just did it as

6:59

a prank, would be okay, it's no

7:01

different. Little dirty in June

7:04

is all the same because it's not. But anyway,

7:07

for the record, and you know, I'm

7:09

hot about Strayhand because of the Sack record.

7:11

Now you got this on top of it, I'm doing it,

7:13

Ricky. I declare vengeance on

7:16

Michael straight like you

7:18

know, I just you you know, I'm

7:20

trying to be positive in the world

7:23

and and and and not be

7:25

you know, so negative of things. But in this case,

7:28

I have to I declare what

7:31

that means, Nebulos. I

7:33

mean he deserves some bad luck.

7:35

He's been on a winning streak like no other.

7:38

Remember when it was him versus Tiki,

7:41

Yes, I mean that was that was how it makes

7:43

Michael Strahan came to the national consciousness.

7:46

Was a schism in the locker room in

7:49

all of New York took

7:51

Tiki Barber's side at the time a little bit,

7:53

which is funny to think about. Inspect

7:55

They're like, I don't know about the strayhand guy. Let's

7:59

get to some news. Vengeance has been declared upon

8:01

Michael Strahan in the biggest of all spots,

8:04

UH, Deshaun Watson. It is now really

8:07

when you look at the big picture of everything

8:09

and what this who this player is, and where he

8:11

stacks up in the landscape of top quarterbacks

8:13

in the league, and where his standing was with his team, and

8:15

where he could be going. The fact that it is all

8:18

in the back burner with a

8:20

civil lawsuits twenty of them, and now

8:22

a criminal investigation. This is sadly

8:25

the biggest story of the offseason. The Houston

8:27

Police Department has opened an investigation on

8:29

Deshaun Watson. UH Jane Doe

8:31

has officially filed a police report on

8:34

Watson that leads to the police department

8:37

now launching an investigation into the allegations.

8:40

So we'll see where that goes. Um,

8:44

what that means for his immediate future

8:46

as a player, we don't know. But Greg, just

8:48

the fact that there is now an active criminal

8:50

investigation could open the door

8:53

for a move

8:55

by the NFL that takes Watson off the field no matter

8:57

where he ends up. Yeah, I think raises

9:00

that chance. And I don't even think it was necessary

9:03

for him to potentially be suspended, but

9:06

it opens up the possibility of a commissioner's

9:08

exemp lift that the NFL has seemed

9:10

to make

9:12

some sort of separation between a civil case

9:15

and in a criminal case, and so now Watson's

9:18

playing facing both and

9:20

and a lot of people will say, well, this has to play out.

9:22

That that's absolutely true. But

9:25

even like Ben Roethlisberger, who

9:27

ultimately was not, you know, convicted

9:29

of anything, was suspended, Um

9:32

after all that play out, and it took a long time,

9:34

But that's just so that's just something to keep in mind with

9:36

what's probably the most similar case with

9:38

a high profile quarterback. Yeah,

9:41

I just I mean, you know, I think where we were six

9:43

weeks ago with this or whatever, and where

9:45

we are now that it's

9:47

you know, people reach out to us and say, why

9:49

didn't you take a stronger stance on this or

9:51

that, It's like you really do. I mean, I think

9:54

day by day have to let the facts

9:57

come in and I'm at the point now we're just as

9:59

a human being. I'm looking at the

10:01

fact that he UM. I think that

10:03

just someone someone pointed out that idea

10:06

that someone would visit so many different

10:08

UM massage therapists. It's just a little weird,

10:10

like there's there's just something about that that

10:13

that is UM unusual,

10:15

especially unusual for athletes UM according

10:17

to people that would that are in the nose. So you know,

10:20

it starts to just stand out more and more to

10:22

me UM as something that could

10:24

deeply impact, you

10:26

know, his career, and it impacted if there

10:28

were If all this is is as

10:30

stated, UM, there's just an incredible list

10:32

of victims. It's so disappointing,

10:35

right, It's disappointing in a

10:37

way because it's Deshaun Watson and

10:39

we don't need to get too deep. But I

10:41

do think that Jenny Rent this article in mm

10:44

QB was a case of reporting that I

10:46

think is going to have an impact

10:48

in the NFL office is among other places

10:50

too, because that was not from a woman

10:53

that was looking for any financial

10:56

re enumeration or anything like that. It was

10:58

just it was just report that really

11:00

stood out to me too. I'm with you, Greg, and I

11:02

think that it's it's just shifted where um

11:05

this is potentially very very serious

11:07

and the we'll hang

11:09

on and see. Um. Greg,

11:12

you had mentioned Nikos Sario in a recent

11:14

podcast interview with Albert Brier. Yeah.

11:18

He he was on last week with Brier.

11:20

And you know Albert Brier, who I

11:22

think has is pretty tied in with Cassario from

11:24

their days in New England together. Um.

11:28

You know thought that Cassario was making a pointed

11:31

pivot in how he was addressing

11:33

Watson, whereas in the past

11:35

he basically was saying, we're not listening.

11:38

That's our quarterback. We're not We're not he's

11:40

going to be our quarterback. That's how they were playing it publicly.

11:43

And now when he was asked about it last Monday,

11:45

he said, we're gonna have to look at all options. You

11:47

know, this is essentially saying

11:50

that this is a different situation and what

11:52

that remains to be you know. What happens with that, we'll

11:55

see. But it Breer who seems

11:57

pretty tied into maybe how they could possibly

11:59

be feeling, thought they that they'd be more

12:01

open now, um because of

12:04

this to trade him, whether

12:06

that was before after the draft, who knows, all

12:09

right. In other news,

12:12

Aaron Rodgers UH spoke

12:14

to ESPN in a video interview. He had

12:16

this to say, so far, it's definitely been my

12:18

team, I said, I said last year, I

12:21

didn't know if that was actually possible, uh,

12:24

to be able to finish there. I still feel like that's that's

12:27

kind of where we're at. I mean, I don't I

12:29

don't know that A lot of that's in my hands,

12:31

but I guess we'll just

12:33

kind of see as we go. It's so different though,

12:36

you know, the difference mark

12:38

between where Aaron Rodgers was after

12:40

the draft draft last year to

12:43

where he is now. He's coming from a position

12:45

of power. He's the reigning m v P. So you

12:48

don't feel him speaking defensively here, rather

12:50

more like, hey, that's something they gotta figure

12:52

out. I'm cool if they want to keep the m

12:54

v P. That's good for them. If they want to

12:56

get me out of here, I'm gonna make someone great. Uh.

12:59

It feels different it with Rodgers now, Yeah,

13:01

No, I I think last year felt um,

13:05

you know, there are people that know him,

13:07

knew that felt that he was genuinely annoyed. But he

13:09

is in a position of internal power

13:11

and external power. He's also signed through three

13:15

and there were no whispers at any point during

13:17

the year that anything anyone saw from Jordan's

13:19

love, even in Packers practices, would

13:22

suggest that you deep six the

13:24

m v P for him. I mean, I think he's just sort of being

13:26

philosophical about it. Anything could

13:28

happen, and we're in an environment now where,

13:30

like the idea of a big name quarterback

13:33

leaving Team A for Team B was

13:35

prohibitive for so long, it just seems like it's

13:37

in the air. It's more possible for

13:39

people like Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgerson

13:41

never before. But I don't take it

13:43

doesn't to me. It's like, cool, let's see what happens.

13:46

But I don't like it doesn't shake my foundation

13:49

um as a football analyst or fan

13:51

that anything is gonna happen anytime soon. I

13:53

mean, last season should have completely

13:56

taken that mystery out of it. And

13:59

he media because he's hosting Jeopardy

14:01

the next two weeks, starting Monday,

14:04

the day we're taping this, and UH,

14:06

so he has to answer these questions.

14:09

I don't think he's going out of his way

14:11

too, but I do think the

14:13

way he answers them um

14:15

is in such a way that the packers,

14:17

by adding some guaranteed money to a

14:20

UH to his contract, by adding essentially

14:22

another year of guaranteed money, maybe at the

14:24

least would maybe have him answering these

14:27

questions differently. If that's important to the

14:29

packers, I think, and I kind of think

14:31

it will be. I think they'll address it in the summertime

14:33

between Usually these things happened

14:35

between O T A S and training camp.

14:38

Speaking of Aaron Rodgers and Jeopardy, hit

14:40

it, Ricky now

14:43

Here is the guest host the Jeopardy

14:46

Aaron Rockery.

14:48

Thank you, Johnny Gilbert, Welcome to Jeopardy.

14:51

As a lifelong fan of Jeopardy, it is an

14:53

incredible honor to guest host. I've

14:56

had the opportunity to do a lot of amazing things, but winning

14:58

Celebrity Jeopardy and getting to share

15:01

the stage with the legend Alex Trebek

15:03

is something I will never forget. Alex

15:06

was such a gentleman, so smart, so precise.

15:09

I was in awe and I will

15:11

work hard to honor his legacy.

15:13

Scott Brandon, Joe Beth, Let's

15:15

get to the Jeopardy around with these categories.

15:21

That the first episode of Alix

15:23

Trebeck on Jeopardy, which I love Jeopardy. I've always

15:25

loved Jeopardy, and it was very sad that

15:28

evil bastard the Big sea um

15:30

got Alex Trebek earlier this year

15:32

or late last year, and now they have had

15:35

they've been putting different guest

15:37

hosts in there. That's actually the first time, and he

15:39

did a nice shot with it. But I actually got the

15:41

vibe that Aaron Rodgers was nervous, and

15:43

I imagine that for anybody, even a guy

15:46

as cool as Aaron Rodgers is, and he's kind

15:48

of famous for being like cool under pressure. You

15:50

could see it in the bit of a nervous shuffle

15:53

to him. Maybe you know, a little nervous,

15:55

little nervous farts popped out there on the way to

15:57

the main stage. I don't know, what do you guys

15:59

think? Well, also I'd say, like Trebec

16:01

certainly had reps, and by the time we

16:04

you know, we're watching Jeopardy Trebek, it was

16:06

like, you know, basically making a cup of coffee

16:08

for him. But I think he was a little nervous. I still

16:10

think he did a really good job. I think you'll see

16:12

him get better. This is Aaron Rodgers. I bet he gets

16:14

a lot better um from episode

16:16

to episode. I would more say, what if you're

16:18

like a Packers fan who has been

16:21

installed as a guest on Jeopardy, Um,

16:23

how my performance would suffer because I'd

16:25

be like, I'm not Rebecca. Would be surreal

16:28

to begin with, But like, what if you were a huge

16:30

football fan and you're fielding these questions from

16:32

Aaron Rodgers, like we've you know, go back

16:34

to win West's toast or even trying to um

16:37

win stuff on the fly. It's a whole different world

16:39

and you need the most calm environment

16:41

you can get. He's gonna jack some people up. What was her

16:43

name, Joe Beth. I wonder what Joe Beth is thinking. Yeah,

16:46

handling the pressure. I think it's gotta be a huge, maybe

16:49

the biggest part of being being on jepard. I'm

16:51

with you. I was thinking of Aaron. Aaron Rodgers

16:53

not seem like the type to be watching the social media

16:55

clips, but when I was watching that,

16:57

I was imagining myself as Aaron Rodgers,

17:00

being like, how couldn't you pick something from the second

17:02

week? You know, I'm sure I had a

17:04

bunch of good jokes in the second week. That was like my

17:06

cold open to the whole thing when I'm

17:08

and I was definitely nervous. That's yeah, that's

17:10

like if what's the award

17:13

that we're nominated for the OMNI.

17:15

I don't know what it is anymore. I forgot, but imagine

17:18

if they said, oh, yeah, you have to send one episode

17:20

to the OMNIS uh for the

17:22

nomination. It's like, oh yeah, send the first episode

17:25

from July's like no,

17:27

no, no, no, no, no no, under no circumstances

17:30

are gonna do something like that. Um, anyway,

17:32

good luck, good luck to Rogers. I will be watching if it's

17:34

on the DVR, actually a DVR Jeopardy And

17:36

I thought Dr Oz did tremendous work

17:39

and his guest hosting stint justin

17:41

please, that guy's a quack. I can't be That's

17:44

fine. I'm talking about anything COVID

17:46

related or anything else. I'm just saying

17:49

he did a very nice job in the Jeopardy chair. That's

17:51

all. And other news,

17:54

we know the international series is building

17:57

up in the NFL. All thirty two teams

17:59

are gonna play an international game in

18:01

the next decade. Uh.

18:03

We've seen games in Mexico City, we've seen

18:05

them in London and German.

18:08

Germany is up next. Deutsche Land, as

18:10

they say, German games

18:13

coming soon, maybe as soon as

18:14

twenty two. And

18:17

you know what that means, boys, we

18:19

have a furban audience overseas,

18:22

including in the Deutsche Land. Perhaps

18:24

we're going to get to go there. That sounds nice.

18:28

Yeah, that should be the new hashtag onto

18:30

Berlin or onto Germany.

18:32

We don't know it'll if it'll be in Berlin, but yeah.

18:35

Peter King reported that that basically I think

18:37

they're hoping, you

18:39

know, four minimum international games a year.

18:42

That I think one's gonna

18:45

be Mexico and one's gonna

18:47

be Germany. There actually might be the

18:49

UK fans might be a

18:52

little upset because there might be fewer UK games

18:54

potentially, just doing the math that maybe there's

18:56

only gonna be two or three. They could have more

18:58

than four, but I'm excited. Ratings like

19:00

in Germany for football is really

19:03

high. A lot of people fly in from Germany

19:05

to see those UK games. I'm

19:08

first generation. You know, my my dad

19:10

was born in Germany, So send me to the homeland,

19:13

bring me back. Dad was born in Germany. That is

19:15

a new slash developing news. I

19:17

had no idea. My

19:20

my brother is a German citizen. Weirdly

19:22

enough, because you could, you could

19:24

fill out some paperwork as part

19:27

of reparations, you know. He you know, my

19:29

dad was a Jew born pretty

19:31

deep into World War Two in Germany. So

19:33

they did they flee

19:35

during they were able to get out in. Why

19:39

would you not? Why would you not

19:41

be allowed to be a citizen to just your brother?

19:44

Oh no, I could have. I could have gone through it. It's it

19:46

was like a multi year, a lot of work process.

19:48

He was there. I don't know what the benefits

19:51

would be totally. Well, my follow up question would be, you want

19:53

to be the the ambassador

19:55

to the German game, but you're you had

19:57

a chance to become a citizen in

20:00

It's not like they were calling the phone.

20:02

I mean, my my brother investigated

20:04

this and you know, he found something out and he put

20:07

he put in the hard work. He's he's stayed, he spent

20:09

a lot of time over there and stuff. I have not

20:11

done that, but I want to go by the way I was

20:13

there just a few years ago. So if you need any pointers

20:16

at all, we're sending the whole pot. We're

20:18

sending in the whole pot. We're not doing all right play the marketing.

20:22

No no, no, But I mean here's the other thing, like

20:24

not everyone, So are you going to would

20:26

any would we take any pains to learn

20:29

the German language? Or do we just roll

20:31

in there assuming everyone just cozy's

20:34

up and speaks our version of English.

20:37

So you want to well,

20:40

it's a different than going to England, where it's like, hey,

20:42

we're up on stage and we all speak to say. It's

20:44

like, you know, you go to Germany. You can't just assume

20:46

that everyone is going to be like, will speak

20:48

the King's English to make these you

20:50

know, chaps from Los Angeles

20:53

comfortable during their stay here. I

20:55

mean, we've also been invited yet, but it just

20:57

doesn't seem realistic that the three of us are going

20:59

to speak fluent German by the time

21:01

of these games. So maybe we need to find

21:04

out how because I know, uh

21:06

kings English as you put it, for a lot of countries

21:09

is a second language. I don't know if it's

21:11

got big pop in Germany if our audience

21:14

there obviously they know English if they're a

21:16

fan of our show, So we should have a pocket let

21:18

us let us know pop. We just need to know how much.

21:20

Let's hear from the German listeners. Maybe we'll just

21:22

bring like Sebastian Volmer around with

21:25

us everywhere. He seems very involved, um

21:28

with the international NFL efforts,

21:30

you know, former patriots. He

21:33

can he can just escort us and translate

21:35

and and it would be cool to have like a six eleven

21:37

German dude with us the whole time. And

21:40

obviously the halftime show has to be the band

21:42

that does the keeping up with bo Ringer, So I don't

21:44

think there's any question like who it has

21:46

to be German cold Play. That's

21:52

what's happening in the news, all right, up

21:54

next, Yes, we're talking with Rich Zemini the state

21:57

of the Jets and full disclosure.

21:59

Um. Right after we finished this interview,

22:02

uh, the Sam Donald news went

22:04

down. So check out this interview with Rich Tomini

22:06

where we talk about it actually sets it up nicely, boys

22:08

with some context of what the decision

22:11

was in front of the Jets. And on the back end

22:13

of this conversation, we'll dig in on the

22:15

trade details of Sam Donald going to the Panthers

22:18

and now a very special guest. One of my absolute

22:21

favorites as as a Jets fan. He

22:23

is the source uh for me

22:25

for Jets reporting and just knowing what's going on with the

22:28

team, and now he joins the Around the NFL

22:30

podcast maybe for the first time ever, I'm not sure.

22:32

Rich Tomini, welcome to the show. Yes,

22:35

I'm a rookie, so the

22:37

first time ever. Thanks for having me, guys, I

22:39

have I have to say I've met rich

22:42

multiple times. He's helped me out with some stuff I've written

22:44

in the past, and I always kissed the ring when I

22:46

see Richard the combine. Uh. He's

22:48

a New York guy. I think you're a Hall

22:50

of Famer and your your local high school? Is

22:52

that so as well? That's a big one. Yeah,

22:55

crazy right, But your Jets

22:57

stuff, Dan, I know I could feel the passion in

22:59

the know the frustration

23:01

comes pouring out in some of your writing. I

23:04

know, I know, I try not to, but market Market

23:06

said it's hard to hold it all inside, and and and

23:08

rich like. This is a fascinating,

23:11

fascinating time in Jets history, of course,

23:13

and it also feels it's the whiff of

23:16

um you're thinking of three years ago, because

23:19

it was supposed to be Sam was Sam

23:21

Donald, supposed to be the reboot of this team, and everything was

23:23

supposed to be going upward from there. Does

23:25

feel like we lost three years and

23:28

and now the Jets are trying to figure it out again,

23:30

and the and the forty nineers make that blockbuster trade

23:32

ten days ago to get to number three. A

23:35

lot of people connecting dots. Well, if the Jets aren't involved

23:37

with that trade, they must be locked and loaded

23:39

on, Zack Wilson. Is that how you see it as

23:41

we approach draft day? You know? It's funny

23:44

lest For a few days ago on Friday, I was

23:46

having a conversation with a scout who loves

23:48

in the western part of the country, and I usually

23:50

go to him with quarterback questions because he's

23:53

that's his area of expertise. And

23:55

I was just talking to the scout the other day. He goes,

23:57

were are you asking me the same questions? Three years

23:59

of Donald and

24:02

Rosen and Josh Allen were coming out, and I

24:04

said, you're absolutely right, deja vu

24:06

all over again. Uh yeah,

24:08

I mean here we are again. And uh, I

24:11

certainly think the Jets will be replacing

24:13

Sam Donald with the draft pick. And

24:15

I do believe everything I've heard

24:18

is that Zack Wilson will be that pick

24:20

at number two. Mm hm do

24:23

you? Um? I

24:25

think when you're looking at Wilson or what you've

24:27

heard about Wilson as a prospect sometimes

24:29

that he is a little

24:31

reminiscent of Sam Donald too as

24:33

a prospect, where like maybe the

24:35

weaknesses, you know, not as many

24:37

snaps as a call as a college quarterback,

24:40

um can miss some throws like the crazy

24:43

arm, the crazy athleticism. Like

24:45

when I when I've heard people talk about him

24:47

and I'm not like a draft nick. He

24:50

kind of reminds me of Donald coming out as

24:52

a prospect, which, if only

24:54

just because it's the Jets would maybe like freak me

24:56

out slightly. They are really

24:58

similar. In fact, of the throws that

25:00

Zach made in his pro day that that rolling

25:03

left fade away throwing

25:05

to the right hash which was an incredible throw,

25:08

was was similar to some of Donald's

25:10

throws that he's made in his career,

25:12

and they're saying there's the same in that you

25:14

know there there. They can make the off platform

25:17

throws, they can use different arm angles.

25:19

That's what everyone was talking about with Sam when

25:21

he came out, and uh, you

25:23

know there are some similarities, you know. It's

25:26

it's an intriguing decision in all

25:28

my years of covering the Jets, and and that's

25:30

many as Dan would attest to, I

25:32

think this is the most polarizing decision

25:35

that they've had to make, just in terms of I

25:37

think the fan base is completely split.

25:40

You know, you have half let's keep Sam

25:42

and build around him, and the other half is ready

25:44

to move on and draft someone else. So as

25:47

a journalist, it makes for great copy

25:50

and talking points, you know, for a few few

25:52

months, I guess. But

25:54

when I look at the Jets, I mean in Sam

25:57

Donald is they're a tougher quarterback. To really evaluate

26:00

Um the wreckage that he's been through the past

26:02

couple of years, so much of it feels like I

26:04

don't really put that on Sam Donald. And if

26:07

you're the Jets Um and we're talking about the

26:09

similarities between him and Zach Wilson.

26:11

Is it more just in a matter of we

26:13

have to move on and refresh the quarterback

26:16

position, but more than worse

26:18

certain that Sam Donald We've seen

26:20

the best stuff. How can they really like ascertain

26:23

who Sam Donald is at this point as

26:26

a player in terms of being put in the right system,

26:28

in the right position, especially with like the new

26:30

offensive group they've got coming in. I mean, you

26:33

think you get a much better version of Sam Donald. You

26:35

can sell that draft pick for so much. I just

26:37

won't if there's any thought to that. Maybe

26:39

keeping him and pulling a stunner. Yeah,

26:43

personally, that's I've been kind of vocal

26:45

about that. I know I've been annoying some Jet

26:47

fans. That's what I would do. I would keep

26:49

Sam and and and bet on him

26:52

in this new offense, very quarterback

26:54

friendly offense. We've seen what Shanahan could

26:56

do with it. Now they have MICHAELA. Fleur as the O. C uh,

26:59

it'll be better coaching. I feel he wasn't

27:01

coached well the last two years. He regressed

27:04

under Adam Gaze. You saw at the end

27:06

of Sam's rookie year when he was in

27:08

a similar type system under Jeremy

27:10

Bates. You know, he showed promise at the end

27:12

of that year. He went toe to toe in a couple

27:14

of games with Aaron Rodgers and Deshaun Watson

27:16

at the end of the year, and there was reason to hope.

27:19

But since then he's it's been a decline.

27:22

And I'm not making excuses for the guy.

27:24

He has not been a good quarterback over the last

27:26

three years. In fact, he is the lowest

27:28

rated passer over the last three years

27:31

combined in the league. I think it's thirty

27:33

nine that a thirty nine quarter qualifying

27:35

passers. But you coaching

27:38

supporting cast has been been shaky

27:40

at best. He's had no running game, and so

27:42

it's really difficult to do an evaluation.

27:45

But I think the point you bring up is excellent. It's

27:47

the financial part that's a really big

27:49

part of this decision, which is why I think the Jets

27:52

will lean towards starting fresh with the rookie

27:54

quarterback contract. Well, what about rich

27:57

with the kind of a half measure here, because

28:00

and you've written about this, the Jets had a window

28:02

earlier in this offseason where maybe they could have

28:05

been aggressive in moving Donald and try to get

28:07

a second third round pick whatever, and

28:09

then a lot of these starting jobs filled

28:11

up, so his trade market, you would think, is depressed

28:13

at this point. Wouldn't it just make

28:16

more sense at this point if you really you love

28:18

Zach Wilson, he's your guy that you

28:21

decline Donald's fifth year option, you

28:23

keep him in the building and then maybe

28:26

have them, you know, actually being

28:28

a competition this this summer. And if Donald

28:30

is clicking in this offense and all of a sudden he realizes

28:32

potential, you have a great problem at the

28:34

end of the season. And if he can't play and he struggles

28:37

and and Wilson takes over very quickly.

28:39

Yes, Donald leaves as a free agent, and

28:42

that's and you don't get that draft asset. But to

28:44

me, that's a willing that's a good gamble to

28:47

take then and then you finally get a chance to

28:49

get that one last evaluation of Donald in there,

28:51

and you still get the guy that you see is the future

28:53

potential. Well, I do know if there are

28:55

some people in the building who are in the Donald

28:58

camp, and I think this coaching half,

29:00

I've said this before. I think Michael Floor and Robert

29:02

Salo really thinks they can make it work with

29:04

Sam Uh So you

29:07

could get the best of both worlds the way

29:09

you described it. And in fact, I talked to Josh McCown

29:11

the other day and he is he is very

29:13

close with Sam. They're talking and texting all

29:16

the time, and he thinks that scenario

29:18

can work. Um, I personally

29:20

am not a huge fan of that scenario because

29:23

in a year Donald can walk as a free

29:25

agent. At least now if you trade him for maybe

29:28

a low two or three, you can get

29:30

compensation for this year. So that's

29:33

another thing. And do you want to saddle a

29:36

rookie head coach Robert Sala with the

29:38

quarterback controversy? You guys know

29:40

how we are in New York. But if he's good rich,

29:42

if Sala is the real deal, he can handle

29:45

that. And if he's not the r deal, he can

29:47

so to me that that's not a

29:49

good enough excuse to not give out

29:51

a chance. I don't know, you know, Sam

29:54

would win that job. I mean Sam would

29:56

be the starter. There's no way a rookie, in spite

29:58

of all of sam struggles, he would be heading

30:00

shoulders above a rookie coming in. And

30:03

actually, from Sam Donald's perspective, I think

30:05

there is upside to that scenario because

30:07

he's a free agent a year from now. He has

30:09

to do whatever he can to improve his value,

30:12

and I think the Jets would probably afford

30:14

him the best opportunity to play. Where

30:16

else is he gonna go and be a

30:19

week one starter, Probably nowhere else,

30:21

and so he could increase

30:23

his free agent value. I would just take the compensation.

30:26

Now, I think it's a very awkward situation.

30:29

Then you're almost putting off the inevitable

30:31

for a year. You're a two and fourteen

30:33

team, you have the second pick in the

30:35

draft. I would try to get that guy in

30:38

there as quickly as possible. I would use Miami

30:40

last year as a model for that. Now, too, it didn't

30:43

start right away they you

30:45

know what, it was like week six or seven that

30:47

they eventually brought him in and then they took

30:50

him out and brought him in a little bit. I would

30:52

do something like that. You're two and fourteen.

30:54

You're not gonna go to the playoffs this year in all

30:56

likelihood, and so I think you're prolonging

30:59

the inevitable by keeping Donald around

31:01

for a year. One more question, Rich, I have

31:03

to I have to ask, I have to ask you to share this

31:05

with the audience. It's my favorite. You've been covering

31:07

the team since what I believe it was,

31:11

and uh, and you've been through

31:13

a lot of dysfunction as a beat reporter

31:16

or covering coaches that were in over their head, and

31:19

Adam Gates that era has to stack up against

31:21

any of them. But the rich co tight era for

31:24

Jets fans of a certain age is still kind

31:26

of the gold standard. With Gaye right there, can

31:28

you please share the Keyshawn

31:31

Johnson hurts his knee in his

31:33

first rookie camp and you trying to get the

31:35

scoop on on what's going on, and

31:37

there may be being a rich code tight disappearance

31:40

involved. Yeah, it was actually not. It

31:42

was the regular season. It wasn't even real it

31:45

was his rookie year, and so Keyshawn

31:47

hurts his knee in practice and they said they were taking him

31:49

for an m r R. In those days,

31:51

we had a free run of the place you know now there.

31:54

This was at Hofstra by the way on Long Island,

31:57

and then reporters could go into

31:59

the parking lot and talked to players after practice

32:01

at their cars, which, of course, when parcels

32:04

came in, he put everything off limits. So

32:06

like it I mean, this is the star

32:09

rookie players. So I went outside the locker room,

32:11

probably late afternoon, and

32:14

sat outside the locker room for

32:17

Kishan to come back from his m RI. And

32:19

while I'm sitting there, at about five o'clock

32:21

in the afternoon, rich Coke tight ambles

32:23

out of the locker room and he

32:26

about to step into his Mercedes coupe

32:28

is really snazzy two door Mercedes,

32:32

and he goes, He goes, I'll be back in a little bit. I'm

32:34

just going out to grab a bite to eat. I'm

32:36

like, okay, I see you later, rich Well,

32:38

I said, on the same

32:40

stool until about eight or eight thirty until

32:43

it was dark and Kishan came back.

32:45

Rich co Tighte never came back. He

32:48

was done, he was done. He worked bankers

32:51

hours as an NFL coach, which we all

32:53

know is is unheard of. He

32:55

never came back. And I could I

32:57

could vouch because I was there the

33:00

whole time and back and I got my

33:02

story, even though I waited three or four hours.

33:04

And he did have a minor knee injury, and I think

33:06

he had a scope and missed three or four games.

33:09

But uh yeah, so and I was later

33:12

learned that Rich co Tight and actually boom

33:14

Riscius and tells a very funny story that co

33:16

Tight actually kept a car, another

33:19

secret car in the back of the building so

33:21

he could step out during the day and no one

33:23

would know he was gone. And yeah,

33:32

day where he used the front door a

33:34

car and that

33:37

was that was part of the rich co Tight era. Yes,

33:39

that's my team, everybody, Um, Rich,

33:42

thank you for joining us and and

33:45

and I wish you the best and also you deserve

33:47

it. Beat this long to cover

33:49

a champion, So as Rich Bningo

33:52

U is known to say, from my lips

33:54

to God's is And the other thing I

33:57

wish for you is that Carl Lawson or someone

33:59

else from this draft ask gets to the quarterback with

34:01

the regular regularity, so you never again

34:03

have to write the lead. The Jets haven't had a premier

34:05

pass rusher since John Abraham left in two

34:08

thousand. Hey like, nothing

34:10

more to cover a championship team. Alright,

34:12

great, there he goes and check out the flight deck. That's

34:14

Rich to mean he's podcast covering the Jets and all

34:17

of his great work on ESPN dot com. Thank

34:20

you all

34:24

right, yes, thank you the great Rich Simini all

34:27

that conversation about Sam Donald and what the Jets

34:29

are gonna do. Well, they made the decision on Monday,

34:32

trading the former number three overall

34:35

pick to the Carolina Panthers

34:37

and head coach Matt Rule. The Jets

34:39

get three draft picks UH

34:42

in return, UH, including

34:44

a second rounder in so

34:48

Sam Donald heads to the Panthers.

34:50

Another domino falls there. Teddy Bridgewater

34:53

was the incumbent in Carolina

34:55

and he's either now gonna be the backup or be moved

34:57

else are you would think maybe we'll

35:00

into that and the Jets. Now everything

35:02

is cleared the runway as it were cleared

35:05

for the Jets, who now have no quarterback in

35:07

the building, but the number two overall

35:09

pick and Zach Wilson will be sitting

35:11

there. So connect all those. That's that's where

35:13

this is going. Mark your

35:15

initial thoughts on the trade Sam Donald

35:17

to the Carolina Panthers. So

35:20

my initial thoughts so that this doesn't

35:23

always happen or or perceived perceptionally

35:25

seemed to happen. But I think both teams um

35:28

got value. I think the Panthers were

35:31

in hot water on the Deshaun Watson front,

35:33

and that's who they wanted I think they were going to do and

35:35

sell the moon for that, you get Donald.

35:38

Um, they picked up his fifth year option. The

35:40

Jets got picked. We just talked to Saminy that

35:42

like, look at if people had wanted Sam Donald,

35:44

if there's been some sort of bum rush for Sam Donald,

35:47

there would have been more value. But that just wasn't

35:49

the case. And Joe Douglas over

35:51

and over has not been fleeced in deals.

35:53

Um they have. I think twenty one draft

35:56

picks over the next two years was

35:58

seven and in the in the first two rounds, so

36:00

the Jets are still in good position. I think they cleaned

36:03

up um what would have been intentionally

36:05

been a little bit messy to have Donald

36:07

and Zach Wilson there. I know some people feel differently,

36:09

But for the Panthers, I love the idea of

36:12

offensive coordinator Joe Brady Um

36:14

showing that he can do what Adam Gates

36:16

and others have not been able to do. And it's a good start

36:18

for a fresh start for Sam Donald on an

36:21

offense that is much

36:23

better and much better place than the Jets had

36:25

been the last couple of years. And with that number

36:27

eight pick, you can go offensive line, you

36:30

can do what you need to fortify the offense. They went

36:32

all defense last year, So I think it's

36:34

a you know, it's a it's maybe a two year window

36:36

to find out what you have in this guy, and if it works, it's

36:38

a great story for Sam Donald, right, And it could

36:40

be a one year window. Even picking up the option,

36:43

it's only guaranteed for injury only.

36:45

I'm always surprised teams don't pick up those options

36:47

because it's not that big of a risk. You're just you're

36:50

just hoping it doesn't have a major injury. I

36:53

love it if I'm you know, Daniel

36:55

Jeremiah or the people that were banging

36:58

the drums saying Sam Donald's one of the best

37:01

quarterback prospects they've ever seen,

37:03

um which so far hasn't looked good, and

37:07

he is now going to I think, what's

37:09

a pretty quarterback friendly system.

37:11

You know, we were, you know, I I was

37:13

much higher on Teddy in general than you guys

37:16

last year. But you still could look at

37:19

the numbers, like if the floor here is Teddy

37:21

Bridgewater thrown for four thousand yards

37:23

and and going up and down the field and and

37:26

moving the ball like you would think Sam

37:29

Donald could do that. If if, as Danny

37:31

would say, he can play the guitar. I

37:33

don't necessarily think they'll just hand hand

37:35

him, uh the starting job

37:38

just because Teddy's do so much

37:40

guaranteed money that it doesn't make

37:42

sense to me for them to dump

37:45

Teddy unless they have a somewhere

37:47

to dump them, like someone wants them or

37:49

an upgrade, which would have been Deshaun Watson. That

37:52

doesn't look like it's happening now. So I kind

37:54

of expect that both Donald

37:56

and Teddy will have a chance here to play. But

37:58

you would assume Donald is the favorite.

38:01

Yeah, I would say Donald's the heavy favorite,

38:03

but we will see how it plays out. It gives

38:05

them options and it is the and we talked

38:07

about at the top top of the show. What's that that

38:10

I was just because say, But to be fair, Teddy's played

38:12

at a higher level and we've seen it than Sam Donald

38:14

ever has, including including in his

38:16

first couple of seasons. I'm just saying we do, Greg,

38:18

But I mean everything the Carolina

38:20

Panthers have said and done this offseason told us

38:23

they're not He was with Teddy Bridgewater, he

38:25

was in the building, but they gave up a second round pick,

38:27

not not this year's pick though, that's

38:29

what got it done when they gave up a second round pick, but

38:31

it's next year's second you know

38:33

that that's putting a certain value. You

38:35

know, that's where Jalen Hurts gets

38:38

drafted or different guys get drafted. Those

38:40

are not guys you necessarily think are going to be

38:42

your franchise quarterback. That's all the reason

38:44

I think it's clearly Donald and Caroline is

38:46

because Matt Rule has Teddy Bridgewater

38:48

in the building for a year running his

38:50

offense with Brady, and clearly,

38:53

I mean they made it very clear as we're we've been talking

38:55

about they weren't thrilled with the results. So

38:58

I guess they could all back on

39:00

Teddy if Donald disappoints, but

39:03

I would think maybe they're looking for a fresh

39:05

start, just like the Jets. And and for

39:08

me it is I did have a lot

39:10

invested in Sam Donald. All Jets fans

39:12

did, because he was the highest draft

39:14

pick by the Jets since Joe Namath,

39:17

and everything pointed to him being

39:19

the real deal. But you know, as has been talked

39:22

about ad nauseum, it was you

39:24

know, the circumstances that that he he

39:26

was forced into as a Jet were unholy.

39:29

It was really between the coaching and

39:31

the personnel and issues in the front office.

39:34

It felt like he never had a chance. So do

39:37

I have a Do I have a fear a

39:39

deep down that he still can

39:41

be a really good player and maybe even better than Zach

39:44

Wilson in a more healthy setup.

39:46

Yeah, And that's why I said, That's why I said

39:48

to Rich, I said, what what's

39:50

the harm in keeping him in the building and seeing if he

39:52

actually can realize that potential. But

39:55

at the same time, I do trust the process,

39:57

and I do think that, um, if

40:00

they really do love Zack Wilson, uh,

40:02

and you restart that rookie contract clock.

40:05

And you know, I heard a lot of people

40:07

in my mentions on this podcast saying

40:10

you're crazy about the Jets even getting a second

40:12

rounder for Sam Donald. There are people that believe this

40:14

guy can play. So the Jets now can get

40:17

that's a premium draft pick down the line,

40:19

and maybe you turn that into something and now

40:22

you just hope, you hope that

40:24

Zack Wilson is a big time player. There is the

40:27

nuclear um bomb scenario

40:29

where Wilson can't play and Donald becomes

40:31

a star in Carolina what what I

40:34

want for Sam Donald is

40:36

for Sam Donald. And it's not gonna be happening,

40:38

Greg, and you still love Cam Newton as your quarterback.

40:40

What what I think is going to happen here

40:43

is he becomes a rich

40:46

Man Zandy Dalton. Is is Sam Donald

40:48

ceiling? And I hope he gets there, And

40:50

I just hope the Jets pick a quarterback

40:53

doesn't bomb out like the rest of him. It is as

40:55

Rich said, it's it's a fascinating

40:58

decision. And and there were fans

41:00

of Donald in the building for the Jets

41:02

that wanted to keep them there. They made this decision.

41:04

And it's a big roll of the dice. Either way, it would have been

41:06

a big roll of the dice. I mean, the Jets are

41:09

the first team in the modern era

41:11

to pick two to pick ostensibly

41:14

a quarterback in the course

41:16

of three years in the top three. Um,

41:19

to pick two of them, I could have I could have made you

41:23

know, it's the first thing I didn't the Browns

41:25

do that like four times and like they didn't,

41:28

but it wasn't top three. That was the difference,

41:30

you know, right, It's um,

41:33

it's worth the shot for the Panthers. I haven't been

41:35

high on Donald. So I'm

41:37

of two minds. Like when everyone

41:40

defends Donald and puts the context of

41:43

what he did, I think of you know, the

41:45

Facebook, the social network. When

41:48

Zuckerberg says to the you know, the the Winklevoss

41:51

twins, like, if you'd invented Facebook, you didn't,

41:53

you'd have invented Facebook. And it's like if Sam

41:55

Donald was the Shawn Watson or Patrick Boams,

41:58

he would be one of those guys like you would

42:00

overcome your surroundings. Um, but

42:02

does he have a higher upside than when he saw of course?

42:05

And so I kind of think it makes sense for the Panther because

42:07

I'm always banging the drum that when you don't have a quarterback

42:10

you should just keep taking swings, like stop being so

42:12

precious about it, Like take a million swings.

42:15

You don't know which is gonna stick. You

42:17

only had to give up next year's you

42:20

know, second round pick and in a fourth and

42:22

a six, So it's not it's not a crazy

42:25

uh high pick to give up and

42:27

you get to evaluate him for a year or two unless

42:30

these things and that's a nice second round pick. It's there's

42:33

there's there's a bit of a gamble here and and it tells

42:35

you how what a the Deshaun

42:37

Watson situation, how that's changed so

42:39

much, and how it's led to the dominoes falling in a different

42:41

way, because really it feels

42:44

like Watson was uh, there was

42:46

a tractor being pointing towards Charlotte with him

42:48

and they had to scramble and adjust. You

42:51

have to call the Panthers in terms of

42:53

the overall offseason chase for a quarterback.

42:56

I put him in the loser's bracket because what

42:59

they were shooting four was so high

43:01

and they're not sitting down at in the draft.

43:03

They have the eighth pick, but there's just too many other

43:05

teams with the Niners trade that had crept ahead

43:08

of them, and they're in a bit of a fix.

43:10

So yeah, this is this is a potentially

43:12

good um scenario for

43:14

them, but it's no home run. It's

43:17

like we're waiting to see in year

43:19

four if Sam Donald is

43:21

actually as good as everyone's been saying he

43:23

is. Isn't it like Teddy all over again? A

43:26

different circumstances, But they that's what

43:28

it was last year for the Panthers. We know Teddy Bridge order

43:30

has never really proven that he was a real

43:32

franchise quarterback, but we believe in his potential.

43:34

It didn't work out. Now it's Donald's turn to

43:37

be in that role under that rule. It

43:39

is disappointed. I think you're right the what

43:42

that I hadn't thought about the Watson news.

43:46

Maybe that informed the forty Niners trade, maybe

43:48

it didn't. But either way, the combination of

43:50

the Watson um news

43:53

that's been we've talked about and the

43:55

trade had to leave the Panthers thinking they're not getting

43:58

who they want at eight or it's going to be tough to

44:00

trade up, like because because I was thinking they still

44:02

were a candidate to trade up to four or five, they didn't.

44:04

It wouldn't have had to go too far. But

44:06

now now that they know it's going one to

44:09

three at quarterback, Jets are taking

44:11

Wilson, forty Niners will take who they

44:13

want that It's like they gotta have another

44:15

option because they they clearly Teddy

44:17

was not enough for them. It's

44:20

too bad, that's too

44:22

bad. It's it's it's too bad with Donald

44:24

two. I really, oh man, I really wanted

44:26

that to work, and but it is exciting

44:29

at the same time when you watch

44:31

this Zach Wilson foot just now it's started to buy

44:33

into another quarterback, by into

44:35

another jersey for my son's. It's it

44:38

goes on and on and on the

44:41

search for the true successor

44:43

to Joe Namath. All right, before

44:45

we go, you know, we're

44:48

in the off season here kind

44:51

of it is the Greg you pointed out on TEXTA

44:53

this morning. It's definitely

44:56

a bit of a dead area when you get

44:58

out of the free agency on and

45:00

before the draft really hits fever

45:03

pitch. That's where we are right now, right, no

45:05

pro days, no more signings,

45:08

the phantom owners meetings or the talk

45:10

about that was in theory last week

45:13

that was the seven. Yeah, it's as quiet as there is

45:15

three weeks in a row on the NFL schedule except

45:17

for July. I would say that's the only time that's quieter.

45:20

Um And Mark,

45:22

did you hear about this talk that they're going to potentially

45:25

I don't think this has written down yet, uh,

45:27

for any of the teams that aren't involved with the Hall

45:30

of Fame game. Um Or I

45:32

think the Thursday night opener, everyone's

45:34

gonna launch the same day and it might be a

45:36

blowout like uh

45:39

training camp open spectacular kind

45:43

Yeah, excited

45:45

about that will be that we're

45:48

gonna put We're gonna put Mark out by

45:50

the RAMS facility as

45:53

it opens at six am live

45:55

on the scene. I find

45:59

the RAMS a little spice here at this point. Um

46:01

then in then in years past. But Dan is

46:03

absolutely um on point with that. It's

46:05

going to be treated like you know, uh,

46:07

we've we've landed on Mars and started a new

46:09

colony, will be treated with that level of groundbreaking

46:13

verve got to own July. Um,

46:16

but I wanted to see since since it's been a little quieter,

46:18

what are you guys into? And Ricky jump on right now? What's

46:20

the pop culture uh that that you're

46:23

into? I'll start I I watched

46:25

a movie on Netflix and I needed a

46:27

laugh. We all need a laugh, um, even

46:29

as things in the COVID world get

46:31

better. But it's you know, been a tough twelve months on

46:35

a lot of levels. Bad trip, Eric

46:37

Andre, that movie absolutely

46:40

destroyed me. Slave me and full disclosure,

46:42

I've met him a couple of times. He was in Bob, my

46:44

friend Bob and Jason's movie

46:47

a few years back. He's a very nice guy

46:49

and I've always loved the Eric Andre show on adult

46:51

swim um, it's absurdest

46:54

brilliance. And he took like the elements

46:56

of what makes that show uh funny

46:59

and gray and then somehow tied it to

47:02

a narrative structure on so, I mean, it's

47:04

not Citizen Kane, but like there's an actual movie

47:06

connected to his uh, the

47:09

Eric Andre Greatness for people that

47:11

are fans of him. And then there are scenes in that

47:13

Ricky and I know it sounds like you watch it that

47:15

had me laughing at my our

47:18

solve and

47:20

Tiffany hash I

47:24

um, I do uh. Another

47:27

podcast, as you guys know, that Jessell Nick and Rosenthal

47:30

Vanity Project, and that was Anthony. We do

47:32

recommendation station every week and that was his

47:34

recommendation last week. So this is back to back

47:36

the podcast I've been on and

47:38

he gave it a hard recommend and he's a he's

47:41

a tough judge for sure. On the comedy.

47:43

By the way, we have a live show on Tuesday night.

47:46

Listeners should check out for tickets

47:48

on that. How about that while we're here comfortable

47:51

pitch, he's plugging himself. Just just own

47:54

it. It's cool. Where

47:56

is it? Where is it? I mean, no, no, it's not in person.

47:59

It's just like a zoom where you can you can pay

48:02

to watch it. It's like a assume. Ricky

48:04

would be, oh yeah, she's a big

48:06

she's a huge part of it, and making them pay

48:08

for it. We're making them pay for it as

48:10

just you know, a special, little different show.

48:13

You know you can talk with us afterwards. It's good.

48:16

You think Craig would ever do that for free?

48:22

Um? How much does it cost? How much does

48:24

it cost for people to watch on

48:27

a video screen? This

48:29

will be you'll appreciate this. Fifteen dollars

48:31

for the normal show, which will

48:33

be longer than normal. Um, but you can

48:35

for seventy five. You can get

48:38

v I P tickets and stay like an extra

48:40

hour and ask questions and stuff. How

48:42

many people have snatch stuff? A

48:45

surprising amount of people have bought

48:47

it. I too had nothing. I had nothing

48:49

to do with us setting all this off. I was like, what,

48:52

really are you giving Ricky cut of the proceeds?

48:54

Of course, of course I

48:56

got your back, Ricky. Don't let them push

48:58

you. I'm gonna wreck a man. I'm just gonna

49:01

jump in and do um the latest

49:03

season of Last Chance You just because I feel

49:05

like our listeners, maybe there's some cross over here.

49:07

They did basketball this year and it was

49:10

East Della. I know I've given a lot of last Chance

49:12

you love on this show. I

49:14

know because I do think it's one of the better

49:17

like documentary documentary shows,

49:19

like showing a certain slice of life right

49:22

now out there, like it's really well done.

49:24

Um And this time it was a basketball team. It was East

49:27

l A. So there's a little bit of an l A vibe

49:29

having this awesome season and somewhat

49:32

of a spoiler alert, you know, the it's last

49:34

season, so the world obviously with

49:36

covid um infringes

49:38

by the end. But man, the characters and

49:41

just how they do it is really compelling to

49:43

me. Like, to me, it's a good if you love sports,

49:45

like it's partly why I I

49:48

it makes me like love sports more because it's

49:50

the people that are really doing it for the love

49:52

of the of the game, and you see what they go

49:54

through to try to get to their dreams. I'm

49:57

behind on that show. I haven't watched it, so, like where

49:59

would be a good jump in season? I think the bat this

50:01

one is the first time it's a basketball season. It's

50:03

a totally different vibe because of that. But I think

50:06

this would be a good one to jump in. All right, good

50:08

to know I'm writing it down, Mark, Um,

50:11

So I know I'm supposed to pop culture suggests.

50:13

It needs to be something that has been created recently.

50:16

So I will give you, um one thing

50:18

in that category. You know when you're you're married. It's

50:21

season tweet last

50:23

night that animals are not from Earth?

50:26

Like, are you okay? That's just sort

50:28

of thinking that there's there's a possibility

50:31

that that's true. Another big social weekend,

50:34

social media weekend for Mark, Mark, I really unpack

50:38

that. I hadn't seen that. What's

50:40

the how do you? How is that possible? First

50:43

of all, I'm not convinced that everything

50:46

that's on Earth, our

50:48

planet, originated on Earth.

50:51

Um, this isn't a strong theory based

50:53

on I've had some biologists coming at

50:55

me saying, that's an absurd thing that you wrote, and I agree

50:57

that it probably sounds absurd, but it's a little flatter

51:00

third in its own way. No, I

51:02

don't believe in that theory. I just think that there

51:04

are various life

51:06

beings that maybe came from somewhere

51:09

or something else, and if it were all animals,

51:11

I'd be like, hmm, that kind of makes sense to me. It

51:13

also makes no sense, so you know, the

51:15

animal my pop culture reference. The animals

51:18

are underrated though, I mean they are amazing.

51:20

We've just been watching live cams of animals.

51:22

There's another recommendation. Uh, there's

51:24

a good critter cam out there, and I gotta say,

51:27

like, it's it's better than TV, Like

51:29

we just have it on in the background. It's pretty fascinating.

51:32

So if they're coming from other planets,

51:34

but I'm into it. We have a ring camera

51:37

or whatever in our backyard and Emily

51:40

has its set up to get don't worry Mark, We're gett into

51:42

your pop culture. It has its set

51:44

up for like notifications whenever there's movement, and

51:46

there's like an entire family reunion

51:50

of raccoons like every night, just chilling out there

51:52

on the couch and crawling on things. And it's just like, guys,

51:55

can we can we have some respect for the property.

51:58

I'm a homeowner now, I don't I don't wanta

52:00

have to shoot you. I don't have to put you in a cage or

52:02

get an exterminator, just like, show some respect.

52:05

Raccoons prints on my outdoor

52:07

furniture. Critter Vision has a lot of raccoons

52:09

too. It's got it's got DearS, POWs some

52:11

stuff like that. But critic, raccoons are weird

52:14

because they stand on their hind legs and then they use their

52:16

two hands, kind of like humans, and there's something

52:18

a little freaky about I. I don't agree that all

52:20

animals are underrated, though, greg some are definitely

52:23

getting a little too much attention or properly

52:26

rated. All right, mark your pop culture. So

52:28

I was just gonna mention I think it songs sometimes

52:30

like what I would go watch on my own and what simone we

52:32

go watch would be two different shows. So when we can ven

52:34

diagram that and find um a

52:36

show that we like, it's very successful. And we've

52:38

been watching the show Jinny and Georgia UM,

52:41

which is essentially like a mom that

52:44

had no

52:47

I don't know the names of the people in it, but I'll

52:49

help you out with that. Yeah, she had a daughter when she was

52:51

like fifteen, but now the daughter is fifteen and the mom

52:53

is thirty, and it's there. You know, she's

52:56

not ready to be she's not happy that she's thirty

52:58

with it, like probably you know, no love

53:00

life and stuff. So anyways, it takes some twists

53:02

and turns, but we've enjoyed it. But the thing I really

53:04

wanted to want to mention um is this

53:07

film that I watched recently from ninety

53:09

seven, directed by Paul Schrader

53:12

called Rolling Thunder Um. This is

53:14

hard to find, but there are one or two little services

53:16

out there that have it. It was. It has

53:18

a very young Tommy Lee Jones and

53:21

William Devane, who William Devane

53:23

is someone that I think no one would

53:25

be like, oh, I get that, I know who that is. But if you

53:27

go and look at the actor in his face, you're like, I've

53:29

seen if you have a certain age, you've seen him in a thousand different

53:31

things. He was the junk ball starter for Major

53:33

League. He was awesome in that name. He was the head coach

53:36

and Rudy exactly so he everything

53:38

he does, he does well. And this is um raw

53:41

late seventies cinema about

53:43

um these guys returning from Vietnam,

53:46

and it goes totally haywire. It is listed

53:48

as one of Tarantino's top five films,

53:51

and within ten minutes of watching it, it

53:53

made it so clear the influence that

53:55

he had on him and other genre cinema in general.

53:58

So, um, it's not for everyone. I'd think it's

54:00

a pack a minute the mall or show it to your nine

54:02

year old type of film. But you could show

54:04

it to yourself if you've so so pleased.

54:07

Mm hmm. I

54:10

I have to apologize the coach and Rudy

54:12

was not William Devane. Okay. I

54:15

think it was like Dan Divine, so close,

54:18

so close, Ricky. Um. So he

54:20

also he was not the junk ball pitcher in Major.

54:24

I was like, but

54:26

that's also Dan Devine to

54:29

that guy because I remember that guy and he

54:32

was a goofball. Um.

54:35

Anyway, Um, Ricky, your

54:37

pop culture recommendation, I think I messed that up again

54:39

too, So I'm gonna circle back around on

54:41

the divine Divine issue, William Devane

54:44

just for your reference. Um

54:47

yeah, the Demilovado doc. She released

54:49

her own documentary. Um,

54:51

it's on YouTube. It's for free. There's only

54:53

four episodes, and it talks

54:55

about her overdose, um

54:58

and all the kind of stuff she went through and like I remember

55:00

following it and pulp, you know, pop

55:02

culture and everything, but to actually

55:05

hear what actually happened,

55:07

like her friends were like, oh, we're really talking about

55:09

it, Like she was pretty much

55:11

legally blind when she woke up. She

55:13

was blue when they found her, like heroin

55:16

all this kind of stuff, Like I had no idea how

55:18

bad it was. Well, that's

55:20

it's in the it's just her public record. Um.

55:24

But it even shows her singing

55:26

at the super Bowl in Miami the national

55:28

anthem and sort of her coming back

55:31

to life literally and

55:34

sort of her career, and it was it was really

55:37

really chilling. But then also to

55:40

be like, oh, we were there at that super Bowl

55:42

that was the last one before you know,

55:44

we were all locked inside. But I remember

55:47

people on Twitter being like, oh

55:49

my gosh, look at Demi totally killed

55:52

the national anthem when you

55:54

know she's gone through all this stuff. And I didn't really know because

55:56

I like followed it, but like it wasn't

55:59

super like didn't keep me up at night. I'm not

56:01

like a huge Demi love Auto fan. But it was

56:03

really really really heartbreaking

56:06

and powerful and worth a watch. Very

56:10

good. Yeah, uh, I want

56:12

to see that. Thank you for reminding me. I'm marking that as

56:14

well. Last chance you, um

56:17

you're not going to be watching. I

56:23

would watch a little Rolling Thunder. I like I

56:25

like that Paul Steger movie he just released

56:28

with the Ethan Hawk. I guess it was a few years ago.

56:30

First Reformed Steger has Got some

56:32

bombs. The junk

56:36

ball Hurler in Major League The

56:38

character was Eddie Harris. The same

56:41

actor played Dan Divine, the head coach

56:43

of Notre Dame and Rudy. But the actor's

56:45

name is Chelsea Ross. So now

56:47

you got everything you need to know. Not Mark's

56:50

actor, not even close to the same name, but coach

56:53

that he played in a movie has a similar

56:55

name to that real person's name.

56:57

Nailed it. That's fascinating. Why

57:00

you're the host just circling back these

57:02

big issues? Um?

57:05

All right, that's it for

57:08

today's edition of the Around the NFL Podcast. We'll be

57:10

back Thursday with another

57:12

episode of The Pot and then the TV show is back

57:14

once again on Friday on NFL Network.

57:17

Please check that out. Um, but

57:20

until then, Mrs Dan hands until Thursday, should

57:22

say, uh? Signing off for the plot storm the

57:24

Old Boston Rickey, Hollywood sap it

57:26

All