0:01

Thursday's week side podcast,

0:04

I'm connor Or alongside Jenny Rerentis, will

0:06

begin with, UM, a

0:08

little bit of what we left off the

0:10

earlier podcast this week with because

0:12

Jenny, we just got an audience submission that

0:15

was so good that I had to read

0:17

it off the top of the show. And this

0:19

was if anyone remembers

0:21

from our last episode, we asked

0:24

all of our loyal Instagram

0:26

followers for their favorite Cam

0:28

Newton to New England Patriots

0:31

conspiracy theory. Jenny and I are both

0:33

conspiracy theory enthusiasts,

0:36

as many of you know. Jenny just

0:38

finished Oliver Stones JFK

0:41

for just a little bit of a window into uh

0:43

our mindset. Um, and uh

0:46

that's a true story, right, I'm not true.

0:48

It's rare that I've watched a movie, but I really

0:50

got into it. Yeah. Um, so

0:53

we put the call off for the best Cam Newton

0:55

to Patriots conspiracy theory. We got

0:57

a lot of good submissions that we read on the

0:59

show, but one that we got

1:01

after recording that was so

1:03

good that I just have to lead

1:05

off this week's episode

1:08

with it. So I just want to thank Heidi

1:10

underscore Win. Uh

1:14

who just I mean this

1:16

is phenomenal, and I replied, oh,

1:18

hell yeah. From the mm QB account, this is

1:21

how good it was. So without further

1:23

ado, Heidi wind says that Cam

1:26

Newton going to the Patriots to

1:28

finish out his illustrious

1:30

career was a reward from

1:32

the NFL for laying down

1:35

to Peyton Manning in the Super

1:38

Bowl and allowing him to escape

1:41

with his second ring, tying

1:43

a bow on the Peyton Eli both

1:45

rings Hall of Fame, YadA YadA,

1:48

Jenny, this was just I mean, it touched

1:51

so many buttons. Uh

1:53

for me? Uh that it was

1:55

just it was perfect. I can't believe I didn't

1:57

think of it, to be honest, it sounds like

2:00

something that came out of your brain. To

2:02

be honest with you. When you first texted about

2:04

it, I thought that you just had written it, because

2:06

you know the text sometimes read out of order on your

2:09

screen or or earliest to last, you see

2:11

the last ones first. And then when

2:13

you said it was a reader submission, I was like,

2:16

does this person live in your brain? It was very

2:19

It was very disorienting, I have

2:21

to say, because this is exactly up your

2:23

Alley conspiracy theory somehow

2:26

involving Peyton Manning and these

2:28

other forces outside

2:31

of our understanding. I mean, it

2:33

was just hit on a lot of levels. I have to stay

2:36

Yeah. I mean, this is what I love about

2:38

the weak Side podcast community.

2:41

They are we're cultivating

2:44

a I don't know, we're we're

2:46

cultivating a group of people that, um,

2:49

I don't want to say like minded because I don't

2:51

think that we're like minded, but

2:53

um, I don't know, a niche audience.

2:56

A niche audience, yeah, I mean like

2:58

people that are really fitting in here. So way

3:00

to go, Heidi. That was awesome.

3:03

Thank you again to everybody who

3:05

who submitted answers. We've got a great

3:08

um user submission, uh

3:10

for the end of this show. Um that we're

3:12

going to get to a little bit later on. But

3:15

um let's hop Jenny right into

3:17

the news of the week, and news

3:20

topic number one is. Earlier

3:22

this week, Ron Rivera, the head coach

3:24

there in Washington, defended the team's football

3:26

mascot by saying, Hey, this is what it's always

3:28

been. Um, it was this way when

3:31

I was playing, it was this way when I was growing up.

3:33

Um. That response drew a little bit

3:35

of criticism from longtime NFL coach

3:37

Tony Dungee, who recently told ESPN

3:39

is The Undefeated that it is not that

3:42

hard to change a name. Um,

3:44

as everyone knows, we're in this moment of societal

3:46

recording. There are monuments coming down, there

3:49

are names of things being changed.

3:51

Uh. Washington has participated

3:54

in various aspects of

3:56

this um social justice

3:58

movement, but it renders sort of, um

4:01

like a little bit of a false sense

4:05

of caring when

4:07

your name is racist on

4:09

its on its head. So I'm curious,

4:12

do you think that anything comes of this or do

4:14

you think Daniel Snyder is just bracing for

4:16

the storm and hopes that he can weather

4:18

it. Okay, you know, I think

4:21

now really is the easiest time that Snyder

4:23

would ever have to change the name Connor.

4:26

There is such a momentum to change

4:28

so many things in our country that have long

4:30

been accepted despite being racism

4:33

or despiping racist. You know, we've

4:35

seen monnuments coming down that we just

4:37

assumed no one would ever push

4:40

for them to come down. We've seen you

4:42

know, schools and colleges at universities

4:44

be renamed. Woodrow Wilson and John

4:46

Calhoun are names that have come off prominent

4:49

institutions at universities, and

4:52

so now would be the time

4:54

when Snyder could say, yes,

4:56

I'm going to change the name, and it would

4:59

be beneficial him to do so. I mean

5:01

that's what's kind of wild now. Is like for

5:03

a long time we've said,

5:05

well, he won't do it unless he's

5:07

their financial motivations, and

5:10

he won't do it until it affects him in the pocket

5:13

book. And I think now is a time when it could

5:15

it could be in his favor to change the name. And

5:17

so if he continues to dig in his heels,

5:20

then just really like not

5:22

a lot to say, And I think it would get

5:24

to the point where some

5:27

players would not want to play for him,

5:29

or they would lose fan support,

5:31

or they could lose some of the sponsors

5:34

that really opposed

5:36

that decision making. I don't know, Connor,

5:38

it just feels like for him to continue

5:41

to dig his heels in this moment um

5:43

is not just wrong, but it's also idiotic.

5:47

Yeah, I agree. I mean I went to a school

5:49

that changed its name twice. Um

5:52

it's nickname twice. Syracuse was originally

5:54

the Saltine Warriors, before they

5:56

were the Orangeman, and now they are the Orange

5:59

And I don't remember anybody

6:01

really having that heart of a time about

6:03

it. St. John's used to

6:05

be another name before they

6:07

changed to the Red Storm UM.

6:10

And I don't think that affected in any

6:12

way, shape or form the historic nature

6:15

of that program. And I wonder if it's

6:17

a little bit like, you

6:19

know, I think that at

6:21

some point you're going to

6:24

end up uh caught losing

6:26

more than you gain by

6:28

this. And you know, I think that

6:31

maybe the President is a good example. People

6:33

have said that he has tried so hard to

6:35

pacify his hardcore fan

6:37

base that you end up kind of distancing

6:40

yourself from the rest

6:42

of America, you know, and maybe a majority

6:44

percentage of of football

6:46

fans or people who are going to go to games and stuff

6:49

like that. And I think that this is

6:51

a great time for Daniel Snyder to at

6:53

least explore it. I mean, you know, it's

6:55

like, what what does it hurt

6:57

to bring in UM, you know,

7:00

a branding group, take

7:02

some specs, look at some new uniforms.

7:04

I mean, you have a potential to

7:07

you know, create an entirely new identity

7:10

UM with a classic big

7:13

city franchise. And I think that that should

7:15

be energizing for someone, you know, and

7:18

it could rewrite a little bit of his own narrative

7:20

as an owner, which has been spotty at

7:22

best so far. I would say, yeah. I

7:24

think someone mentioned to me that the fans

7:26

site hogs Haven was coming up with

7:28

different shirts with different mascots

7:31

on it, and so I think the fan base is certainly

7:33

ready for a change. Everyone's ready to embrace

7:35

a new chapter and try to have

7:38

a more accurate representation of our

7:40

country's history for for what it is.

7:42

I think it will be interesting to see

7:45

the stance that the league takes on it.

7:49

In the past, they've said it's up to

7:51

Washington, it's up to Snyder, we can't

7:53

put any pressure on them. But

7:55

will Goodell get more involved, will

7:59

local government figures

8:01

getting more involved with things like stadium

8:03

funding or whatever um influence

8:06

they could exert exert over the team,

8:09

um? And so I'm interested to see

8:11

how that plays out. But this certainly

8:13

was a chance where the newly hired head

8:15

coach could have taken a stand against it,

8:18

and I thought it was notable, and

8:20

if I'm being honest, disappointing that he

8:22

did not. Yeah. I mean, we're at

8:24

the point now where the Mississippi

8:27

state flag is being changed

8:29

you know what I mean, Like, this is a

8:31

state flag. Uh.

8:35

On the other hand, Washington is

8:38

a football franchise that has existed

8:40

for you know, a quarter of that

8:42

time. And while every NFL

8:44

team believes that they're the most important

8:47

thing in the world, does not have nearly

8:49

the longevity of you know, the Mississippi

8:52

state flag or a statue

8:54

of a Confederate general or anything

8:56

like that. And these things it moves

8:59

on. I'm moves on. Things

9:01

change, and you know, I

9:04

just think, A, you're

9:07

in Washington, d c. And if

9:09

you want to capitalize on this,

9:11

you know, I don't know, groundswell of

9:13

patriotism. There's no better

9:16

set of nicknames to explore than the ones

9:18

that are sitting in the nation's capital that could

9:20

have something to do with America or

9:23

you know, our nation or anything like

9:25

that. But I don't know, I just feel like,

9:27

A, it's it's disappointing

9:29

that they just seem to be hiding and saying go away,

9:32

go away, go away, don't pay attention to us.

9:34

But be I don't know, I think it's a missed

9:36

opportunity business wise too. And this

9:38

is not the way we're supposed to think about it. But it's

9:40

just the way that they think about it, and you

9:42

know, it's just surprising to me that that

9:44

thought has not crossed their mind. I guess

9:47

I agree, Connor. I think that's really

9:49

well said. I mean, you

9:51

you hope that people do things for

9:53

other than business reasons, but the reality is

9:55

business reasons and money are generally

9:58

the driving force in American culture, and

10:00

I think this is a miss business business

10:03

opportunity as well. So, UM,

10:06

that's another factor that we should consider

10:08

moving forward. But there

10:11

have been no indications that he's willing to bodge.

10:13

I hope you're wrong on that me too.

10:16

UM. I'm gonna introduce the second news topic because

10:18

I want you to read the next two news

10:20

topics, mostly because and you'll see

10:22

why in a second. But news topic number two,

10:25

Chief's defensive tackle Chris Jones made

10:27

one thing clear. He will not play with that a

10:29

long term deal this year, citing Levian

10:31

Bell as a mentor. And I wanted to introduce

10:33

this because Jenny is a resident Levan

10:36

Bell expert wrote a excellent cover

10:38

story on Levan Bell last

10:41

year when he signed with the Jets, and

10:43

it was the interview with Bell that

10:46

explained everything that was going on the

10:48

entire process. So we have the

10:50

holdout expert on this podcast,

10:52

Jennie rerentis, So what is Chris Jones

10:55

getting into? And uh is

10:57

this uh, you know, I don't know, based on your experience

10:59

with Levy on Bell, is this worthwhile

11:01

experience for someone to try to go through to stand

11:03

their ground. I

11:06

was really surprised to see his

11:08

tweet Connor was kind of one of those were scrolling

11:10

through and I did a double take and

11:12

I clicked on it to make sure it was actually a verified

11:15

account. Um. I was just surprised to see

11:17

that kind of like reply that said something

11:19

as big as it did, and just like a casual reply

11:21

to a random tweet on Twitter.

11:24

I don't know. That kind of caught me off guard a little

11:26

bit. Um. I don't

11:28

know that Bell's path was a smooth

11:30

one. I mean it was. It was definitely bumpy,

11:33

you know, that first year he played on the franchise tag,

11:35

and then the second year they made

11:37

a deal, a long term deal offer

11:39

that was better than they had offered one year before,

11:42

and he almost signed it, and then he decided

11:44

not to. And he didn't

11:46

really have a concrete plan heading into

11:49

that year. I remember he said he first

11:51

planned to show up after Week one, then

11:53

his target shifted to the week seven

11:55

by and then there were other factors

11:58

that he said at the time, the Steelers wouldn't

12:00

assure his agent that they wouldn't trade him or

12:03

use the transition tag on him for the following

12:06

season, and uh,

12:08

he thought he was going to still go back to play,

12:11

and then he decided not to. And so

12:13

I don't think things exactly worked out

12:15

the way that he wanted them to. You know, we met with

12:17

him in Miami right after he signed his Jets deal,

12:20

and you know, he said he got the guaranteed

12:22

money that he wanted, that that was more important

12:24

for him. He also detailed important

12:27

factor here to Connor is that there were other

12:29

reasons, he said besides the money. You

12:31

know, I think he felt he had a kind of a fracturing

12:35

relationship with Ben and Ben Roethlisberger

12:38

um, which he cited as one factor,

12:40

and he was kind of looking for a fresh

12:42

start. And I don't know if those are factors for

12:44

Chris Jones. I mean, it doesn't seem it

12:47

doesn't seem like that that is. I mean, it seems

12:49

like this is just a kind of a solely

12:51

the contract situation, and I certainly

12:53

understand his his stance, and I'm always

12:55

in favor of players pushing to get as much

12:58

money as they can and um

13:00

to get the contract that they

13:02

deserve since they have such a small window for

13:04

earnings. UM, But going the

13:06

route that Bell did is a bumpy one

13:09

and it might not work out the way that you wanted

13:11

to. I think one difference here

13:13

is the positions that they play,

13:16

right, Chris Jones is somebody that you

13:19

would give a long term contract too because

13:21

he plays a position that can be a cornerstone

13:24

piece of your team, whereas generally in today's

13:26

NFL running back isn't

13:28

looked at as that Necessarily, if you give

13:30

a second contract to a running back, a

13:33

second big contract, it's it's a big risk.

13:35

And I think the Steelers were willing

13:37

to give him a long term second

13:39

deal, but he obviously

13:42

wanted a different number than they were willing to give.

13:45

I. UM, I wonder what

13:47

your favorite you know, in reporting at

13:49

all the Bell stuff, what was the one thing, maybe,

13:52

um, from Levian's perspective, that caught

13:54

you by surprise? UM, if anything

13:56

caught you by surprise, and just something

13:58

that was maybe a little bit eye opening to you. And

14:01

for as long as you've covered the business

14:03

side of the NFL, I don't know anything that

14:05

sort of stood out is like that is

14:08

something that I never would have expected.

14:11

Well, I think what stood out to me was

14:13

that one that he almost signed

14:15

the deal with the Steelers, that in the summer

14:18

that he was this close he said

14:20

to signing it um and that certainly

14:22

others around him wanted him to sign that deal.

14:25

And I think the other one was that his sort

14:28

of his plan for the hold out was a little

14:30

bit of a moving target, and I think,

14:32

you know, him being open about that was was

14:34

helpful to hear, because if

14:36

you choose to sit out for a season, that's

14:38

a difficult decision. And you

14:40

know, I think he was kind of not sure how

14:43

how long he would be able

14:45

to do that, how long he would be okay

14:47

staying away from the game that he loved um

14:51

And I think there's obviously a lot of

14:53

factors that shift. You know.

14:55

Then there there there ended up being a little

14:57

bit of a back and forth. You know, I know some of his teammate

15:00

to express their frustrations that he

15:02

wasn't in the locker room and then there

15:04

was certain other factors that changed,

15:06

including you know, the teams that it wouldn't

15:08

trade him, and then you get to a certain point in the season

15:11

where they could use the transition tag, and um

15:13

that the money wouldn't there

15:15

were some money

15:18

calculations that didn't work out after a certain

15:20

point in the year. So but

15:23

I think I just thought, I think you hear, oh

15:25

player sits out the whole season. You think they

15:27

have this master plan, And it was

15:29

just a very human look I think at

15:31

it, and that he was pushed and pulled in

15:33

a lot of different ways, which I think most

15:36

of us could relate to. Yeah,

15:38

I mean not not holding out for

15:41

a large contract. I've never I've

15:43

never held out for for millions,

15:46

but um, you know, just the general situation

15:48

of being conflicted, I would say that

15:50

I've held out for

15:53

uh. You know. Jenny and I used to work

15:55

on the seventh floor of

15:58

the I don't know whatever you call it,

16:00

um, I don't I forget what our building is

16:02

called. But we always had the restocked

16:04

eminem's and period

16:07

of time when the eminem's

16:09

were not being restocked, and I would go

16:11

into the office on Tuesdays looking forward

16:13

to it and I would say, yeah, you know what, I don't

16:15

know how much work is going to get done without

16:18

without my favorite dark chocolate Eminem's. Uh

16:21

turns out healthy

16:23

life choice to end up kind of circumnavigating

16:25

that and not eating the Eminem's. But you know

16:28

that that that's a story for another day. I

16:30

mean, I have not eaten eminem

16:32

since our last day in the office early

16:35

March, and I feel like this has been a positive

16:37

life development. So if I never see another

16:40

eminem again, I think I'll be in good shape.

16:42

But so you know Eminem's.

16:44

What did what? Did Bell get? Twenty

16:47

five million fully guaranteed? Which

16:49

was a record for the position. Similar

16:52

similar similar items

16:54

here Connor. So we're we're in in

16:56

the clear and on on the good

16:58

side of shaper min the women's

17:01

shapewear for a possible sponsor,

17:04

M and M's. On the other side, gotta get

17:06

banged by the chocolate giant. Uh.

17:08

You know, we'll we'll take that as we come. All right,

17:10

what do we have for for news topic

17:12

number three? Al Right? A. J. Bouyer

17:15

recently told Serious

17:17

x M that he'd never seen anything like

17:19

what happened in Jacksonville from fights

17:21

in the locker room, two players feeling to get

17:24

along with coaches to people trying

17:26

to jettison their way out of town. Is

17:28

it possible we may have underplayed just how

17:31

dysfunctional the Jaguars team was.

17:33

Oh I know why you gave me this sharp words

17:36

from the classic Jaguars

17:38

critic Jenny rerentis. My god, jeez,

17:43

really set me up, the script writer,

17:45

really set me up for the record there, that

17:48

was good. Um I do I

17:50

mean, you know, I think that, Um,

17:53

with the perspective of time, we might

17:55

look back and say, holy crap, how did this team

17:57

come within a few plays of the Super Bowl?

18:00

You know that's a really

18:02

um that's a really crazy thing to think about.

18:05

Yeah. Yeah, I think it has

18:07

been pretty eye opening looking back. But I think

18:10

we also expected that there probably was

18:12

a lot more to the story. Just seeing the

18:14

way that things disintegrated so

18:16

quickly, Um, you figured

18:18

that there probably was a lot bubbling underneath

18:21

the surface. It is interesting in other cities

18:24

like Jacksonville, where like the media traffic

18:26

is lower and the national

18:28

attention is a lot lower. It's different

18:30

than like something in New York, Like I

18:33

just can't imagine a fight

18:35

in the locker room being kept under

18:37

wraps for like more than a couple of days

18:40

on a team in like the New York Market.

18:42

Can you connor? Oh my god,

18:44

if if that happened, I

18:47

mean, just think about all the things.

18:49

Let's let's let's take a minute to brainstorm

18:52

all of the minutia that

18:54

ended up becoming an

18:56

insanely large scale story

18:59

in the New York Market. Um

19:01

you know, off the top of my head, I'm thinking about

19:03

a boat a boat trip um

19:06

uh with friends that ended up becoming

19:09

an issue. Uh that I remember a Mari

19:11

Stodemeyer right punched a

19:14

fire hydrant or a like a

19:16

fire extinguisher, um

19:19

uh, something or other? Um

19:21

Manora left practice early once

19:23

after a little bit of a disagreement with Bill

19:25

Sheridan, the new defensive coordinator. That

19:30

only lasted a couple of hours. Odell

19:32

Beckham uh wasn't

19:35

practicing for a while with a hamstring injury

19:37

as a rookie, and Tom Coughlin was

19:40

upset. That was like two weeks

19:42

of New York Post back pages. Um.

19:45

Let me think there's got to be a good one from

19:47

our jets time. That was, like, my god, why

19:49

are we even talking about this. Um

19:52

yeah, I know, we generally have

19:54

a jet story to uh

19:56

to plug at every opportunity, so it's

19:58

a little surprising that we are, uh, we're

20:01

coming up a little empty right now. Connor,

20:03

Yeah, something will come to us by the end of the

20:05

show. But um yeah. Interesting

20:08

in a call maybe to put out to all

20:10

you prospective documentary

20:12

filmmakers that it's time to dig in

20:15

to the Jaguars and we need to find

20:17

out what's really going on. All right,

20:19

Uh, this one, this next one is uh, if

20:22

not completely self serving, a

20:24

little bit fun to talk about. So I think

20:26

I don't know what do we have for number four? All Right? The

20:29

Sports Illustrated Fantasy Football issues

20:31

on news stands now with a coverur

20:33

story by our very own Connor or.

20:36

This is very exciting on the future

20:38

prospects of Raven's quarterback Lamar Jackson,

20:40

we wonder what is on the mind of almost

20:43

all fantasy footballers hoping to

20:45

win a repeat title. Can

20:47

Lamar Jackson do it again? I

20:50

turned the question around and

20:52

I said that Lamar Jackson last

20:55

year showed everybody that he can do

20:57

it, and I think that we should not

20:59

be thinking about it that way, even though we

21:01

will right, and I think the way

21:03

that we should be thinking about it is can the Ravens

21:06

coaching staff continue to evolve

21:08

the scheme to the point where Lamar

21:11

Jackson can play up to his ability.

21:13

I think that that is the question that

21:16

is facing Baltimore and any other team,

21:18

the Chiefs, any other team that has achieved

21:21

great success with the quarterback and

21:23

then is battling that UM tendency

21:25

to become stagnant. Yeah.

21:28

No, absolutely, And it's interesting, of course

21:30

because this offseason has been strange.

21:32

But Lamar Jackson had a group of receivers

21:35

down in the South Florida

21:37

area Fort Lauderdale, I believe,

21:39

and they worked out on the things

21:42

that you would think he'd be looking to make gains

21:44

in this year. So throws outside the numbers,

21:46

making sure to use his whole body and not using

21:49

just his arm on those UM also

21:51

the deep ball, and I think one interesting

21:53

thing will be to see Marcus Brown

21:56

was not fully healthy last year, so I

21:58

feel like the deep in actions

22:00

between him and Lamar Jackson will be another

22:04

area in which the offense could take a you

22:06

know, another fruitful

22:09

area I guess to take a step forward

22:11

this season as well. So UM

22:13

I think it's a smart way to look at a Connor. I think people

22:15

should check out your cover story.

22:19

You know last year when John

22:22

Harbaugh had you know, Paul Johnson

22:24

come in from Navy, and you know, I

22:27

think that that was the sort

22:29

of the the point where everything

22:31

went to a boil. I mean, there's a lot of smart

22:33

things going on in their front of their front

22:36

office that obviously, um, you

22:38

covered wonderfully too in in a

22:40

story that you did as well, And just like some

22:43

ideas that like they were coming

22:45

up with that nobody was thinking

22:47

of at the time. And I think it was all this energy

22:49

and momentum that was running downhill to

22:51

the point where it set up Lamar

22:54

Jackson to be successful. But I

22:56

just hate the

22:58

the idea that, you know, maybe he's

23:00

not going to score as many touchdowns as he did

23:03

last year, and we're all just we

23:05

all just say, well, the NFL caught up to him and

23:07

figured him out. They didn't figure him

23:09

out, they figured out the plays that were being

23:11

called for him, you know what I'm saying. And I feel

23:13

like it's always such a backwards way of

23:15

of looking at things. Yeah,

23:17

I would also say the biggest hurdle

23:20

to Lamar Jackson doing it again

23:22

in is

23:25

there being a full football season? And so

23:29

will you have a fantasy team in tb

23:34

D. I had Lamar Jackson

23:36

on my fantasy football team this year, in

23:38

the last year in the league that Jenny and I were

23:40

in, and um, yes, I did

23:43

win the league, which was a

23:45

very nice and fun thing um

23:47

to have happened. But um, if

23:49

anybody looks back the general manager

23:52

of my team, my wife will quickly

23:54

point out to anyone that I did not start

23:56

Lamar Jackson until Week six of

23:59

the fantasy football season. Um,

24:02

some other quarterbacks I started instead of Lamar

24:04

Jackson Week one, Kirk

24:07

Cousins. That was over Lamar

24:09

Jackson, which was a major regret of

24:11

mine. So you know what, I'm not. We're

24:13

not perfect, and I'm not going to say that I'm

24:16

clairvoyant enough to predict

24:19

the future here, but I don't know. I like Lamar

24:21

Jackson's prospects in because I like

24:24

Um, I like the offensive staff

24:26

in Baltimore, and I think they're creative. So who

24:28

knows not you

24:31

were not using the talent that you had on your roster

24:33

actively the first six weeks of the season. I

24:36

was not last year was my great

24:38

auto draft fail, and I forgot about

24:40

the draft until round seven, I

24:43

think. So I did not underestimate

24:46

Lamar Jackson's talent, but the

24:48

Yahoo Auto draft system may

24:51

have. So that's

24:53

always say, that's a safe one to blame that. You

24:55

know, I just got to get that out there. So

24:58

I agree, And you know what, I am

25:00

terrified of the prospects if you storming

25:03

back into the league this year with

25:05

your full drafting capabilities

25:07

um at hand. That is very that is very intimidating.

25:10

You know, I liked it better

25:12

when I was just on your staff as a quality

25:14

control assistant. Well, I think you

25:16

said, there's only like four people in our league

25:18

who really kind of make outside

25:20

the box picks, You and I,

25:22

and there's two others, And so with

25:25

me out of the mix, there were only three

25:27

who were kind of making out of the box picks

25:29

for the first six rounds. And then by the time I entered

25:31

it in round seven or whatever it was, it's

25:34

kind of over it because I had missed the

25:36

six most important rounds. So although

25:39

listen, you can get sleepers anywhere in the draft.

25:41

Connor, so I was probably looking at it wrong. Needs

25:43

to stay in the mental game a little bit. Um.

25:46

Okay, last topic, Connor, let's

25:48

do it. Um. So later this week, Sports

25:51

Illustrating will publish our list of

25:53

the ten biggest what ifs of

25:55

the last ten years in the NFL.

25:57

UM. Before you and I get to it, I'll read a

25:59

few from our Instagram page. Uh

26:03

my. The first one, which I just got a chuckle

26:05

out of, was what if the Browns didn't suck?

26:08

Um, which not really imprompt

26:11

Christina h

26:13

Rend's but still very funny. UM.

26:16

I would say, Drew Brees to Miami that's

26:18

almost fits into the that doesn't really fit into the

26:21

tenure window. Um. And the Niners drafting

26:23

Aaron Rodgers that doesn't fit into the tenure

26:25

window. UM. What if

26:27

Andrew luck had never retired and Bill Pollion

26:30

had never retired from the Colts, which I think

26:32

um is an interesting one. What if the refs ruled

26:34

Jericho contrees drop in the Panthers

26:37

first drive of Super Bowl fifty and catch another

26:39

interesting one A little bit deep there

26:42

on that one, probably a Panthers

26:44

fan just emerging from from there. Um.

26:47

What if the Patriots would get punished accordingly

26:49

for all of their cheating? Um?

26:52

And what if the Seahawks ran that damn

26:54

football. So a lot of good uh, a lot of

26:56

good what ifs there, But um, I don't know what's

26:58

your favorite one. The just kind of

27:01

keeps you up at night thinking about sometimes.

27:03

Um, this was one that I

27:05

pitched for the what If issue a couple of years

27:07

ago, but I think former editor Jack

27:09

Dickey ended up writing it for the

27:12

issue. But what if

27:14

Donald Trump actually bought the Buffalo

27:16

bills? There

27:20

wouldn't be a bill's right, that

27:23

would be a safe assessment, right, it

27:25

would have been like a Trump Water

27:27

or Trump Steaks or Trump magazine.

27:29

Right. Can you run a franchise

27:31

into insolvency? Is good

27:35

question. The Raiders

27:37

are making a run for it. Um, So I

27:40

don't know. I think it's interesting.

27:42

I mean, I don't know what was when you thought of

27:44

that, Like, I don't know where where did your thought process

27:46

go there? That would have been fascinating. I mean, the world would

27:49

be different that. I think. That's

27:51

the thing, right, is not only

27:54

how does it play out with the bills and

27:56

do they move etcetera, etcetera.

27:59

M that's all you

28:01

know, That's all paltrick compared to the bigger

28:04

questions. Of does

28:06

he been not end up as president? Yeah?

28:09

I think that would be. Uh, that's definitely

28:12

one worth ree visiting. You know, you can't

28:14

blame Buffalo for everything, but you know,

28:17

come on, guys, why didn't you just give him a football

28:19

team and then I think everything? You know, it would have been

28:21

okay, just kidding. Um. So I

28:23

one of the ones that legitimately does keep

28:26

me up at night consistently as a

28:28

as big of a Chip Kelly Truther as

28:30

I am, is what if the Titans had

28:32

taken the trade for Marcus

28:34

Mariota. Chip Kelly remember that year was

28:36

desperately trying to get up to number two. Jameis

28:39

Winston was going at number one. Kelly had coached

28:41

Mariota at Oregon. He was creating

28:43

this entire offense for Marcus Mariota.

28:46

I don't know, well, we obviously he would

28:48

have gotten more time. I think in Philly, Doug

28:50

Peterson would have never gone um

28:53

gone there and won that Super Bowl, developed that

28:56

relationship with Carson Wentzon, Nick Foles.

28:58

I like that one a lot. I don't know, that's one of my favorite

29:00

wife. That's a that's a fun one to game

29:03

out because that was really intriguing at

29:05

the time, just the possibility

29:07

of that happening. So that's

29:09

another good one. Connor, Yeah,

29:11

that's my favorite one. And I like to imagine

29:13

a world where, you know, if you subscribe

29:16

to the parallel universe theory, that there is

29:18

a you know, Chip Kelly belichickien

29:21

NFL thread where he's won like thirty

29:23

one straight Super Bowls and is constantly

29:26

on the cutting edge of sports science. You

29:28

know, that's the world I want to live in, right there. Yeah,

29:32

yeah, I mean the Breathe Miami one is

29:34

is another good one because does

29:36

it change Saban's trajectory in the NFL?

29:39

And you know, would he

29:41

and Belichick of state in the same

29:43

division, and how would that have affected

29:45

each of their careers rather than each

29:47

of them becoming the greatest coach on these

29:50

parallel tracks? Right? So another

29:54

great um Jenny Renis story

29:56

by the way, on the relationship between

29:58

Belichick and Saban, which everyone's to check

30:00

out. Um So yeah, I

30:02

mean, yeah, I think that if you want

30:04

a great way to get in touch with us

30:07

is through our MMQB Instagram Before

30:09

shows, we are posting some fun

30:12

things. You know, we want to hear your feedback.

30:14

It's a long summer, but we're going to get through it

30:16

with all of you together, and if not, messages

30:19

at weak side Pod at gmail

30:21

dot com. That's weak side Pod at

30:24

gmail dot com. So all right,

30:26

we're gonna go into the

30:29

last little portion of the show with

30:31

a fun little oracle prediction.

30:34

And I don't know. I

30:37

think that I went

30:39

back and I was rereading a

30:41

lot of I was rereading our Fantasy football

30:44

um issue, I was rereading my own

30:46

predictions, and I

30:48

think that my uh prediction

30:50

is that I'm a little embarrassed that I assumed

30:53

that Miles Sanders was outside

30:56

of the radar. So I will now make

30:58

a formal prediction that Miles

31:00

Sanders will be a top five

31:03

rushing back in should

31:05

we have a full time season. And

31:07

I will also apologize formally

31:10

for in that Fantasy Football issue me saying

31:12

that he was an under the radar talent,

31:15

UH, when in reality you're probably not going to be able

31:17

to draft him past the second round. So my

31:19

apologies to Miles Sanders. I

31:21

think you're going to have a great season in Okay.

31:24

What spurred that just a little bit

31:26

of feedback, Yeah,

31:28

I would say feed feedback is a

31:30

really nice word for it. Um. Yeah,

31:33

and and reading rereading

31:35

the issue, and you know, there are a lot of people who

31:37

do UM, who do this for a living

31:39

fantasy football, and some

31:41

of the people that I really respect. UM

31:43

and seeing how high he was on a lot

31:45

of their um A DP is what they call

31:48

it, at average draft position. UM,

31:50

I was like, WHOA. So I think it was

31:52

a little bit of a mistake on my

31:55

part to advise our readers

31:57

of the Sports Illustrated Fantasy Football issue

31:59

that this is a guy you might be able to achieve some

32:01

value from because I don't think he's going

32:03

to be available much past the second round.

32:06

So all right, yeah,

32:08

I think that was That's a that's a solid prediction,

32:11

fellow penns Stater, always a good topic

32:13

of discussion A Penn Stater, Um,

32:17

alright, so franis consensus

32:19

time. So the latest report

32:22

that the teams

32:24

are thinking about going

32:26

to and from road games

32:29

the same day. Connor, this

32:32

sounds like a bad idea to me.

32:35

Yea, if anything, you should do it

32:37

the other way, right, Like,

32:40

wouldn't you want to wait to

32:43

see at least like a little bit of time to see

32:45

if anyone becomes symptomatic?

32:48

Where you already are before

32:50

then bussing them immediately

32:52

back home as unknown carriers

32:55

and letting them come in contact with their family

32:57

and restaurants and people and all that kind of stuff.

32:59

I don't know. Yeah, I mean, I'm not sure

33:01

it makes a huge difference either way, because

33:03

I feel like there's just so many unknown variables.

33:06

I just think, man, that seems

33:08

like a that seems like a lot of

33:10

a physical toll to put

33:12

on someone I don't know. Traveling always takes

33:14

it out of you anyway, So I just can't imagine

33:17

making the flights to and from

33:19

and then also playing for our football

33:21

game, which I have no idea what that feels like.

33:24

Um. I mean, we know players get on

33:26

on the planes right after

33:28

games anyway, and you

33:31

know that sometimes creates issues if

33:33

you're injured or swelling and all those

33:35

things. So I guess that's that's all the same.

33:37

But it just feels like a lot to cram

33:39

into one day, and it seems like it

33:42

would increase

33:44

the home field advantage. Now I get

33:46

the point of, you know, logistically,

33:49

the complications of staying in hotels

33:52

and being exposed over extra

33:54

time because of that, um,

33:56

but the fact that this is coming

33:58

up now, but doesn't seem like a great idea.

34:01

Just reinforces the fact that there's just a

34:03

lot about playing a football

34:05

season in a pandemic that has not really

34:08

been vetted out. So yeah,

34:10

I guess the consensus here is just, you know, just

34:13

wear a mask and uh, I

34:15

hope things that are sometimes are

34:19

under control at some point soon. What's

34:21

your mask? Um? What's your mask style?

34:23

Like right now? Like? What do you what do you know? Mine

34:25

are just like I have this, like a typical New Yorker,

34:28

I just have a black I have a black mask. I've

34:30

one that I pop a filter

34:32

in or whatever cloth that I put

34:34

a filter And how about you, Connor? So my

34:37

big ups to my wife's place of

34:39

business who sent us home with

34:42

some which was very

34:44

nice. Sweech have one of those that we clean

34:47

regularly. Um, we have, UM

34:50

when we're looking to sort of have a

34:52

little bit of a sleeker style, there

34:54

are black ones that we've made out of

34:57

like T shirt, UM material.

34:59

UM. I don't know. I'm trying

35:01

to figure out where I stand on the

35:03

vanity mask experience. Um,

35:06

I'm I'm definitely learning

35:08

a lot about myself based on the

35:11

content of the targeted Instagram

35:13

ads that I receive. Um. One

35:16

that nailed it on the head was a

35:19

grateful dead Tide mask

35:22

that I could wash and wear out. Um.

35:24

I wear a lot of ti Edie in addition to

35:27

camo, a lot of complicated patterns.

35:29

Uh that UM just don't go well with anything.

35:32

But I was like, you know, should I

35:35

should I go there? Am I ready

35:37

for a vanity mank Am? I? Am I ready

35:39

for a vanity mask experience? Or?

35:42

Is am I against that? You know? I

35:44

haven't decided yet whether I'm pro or anti

35:47

vanity mask? Okay, I don't think

35:49

there's any reason to be anti vanity mask.

35:51

No, No, I think it's a fun spin

35:53

on, you know, a difficult situation.

35:56

Yeah, I agree, I like it. I think you should go

35:58

for it. You could treat yourself, Connor, Yeah,

36:01

we all need to take care of ourselves during this

36:03

time, you know. I think that's I think that's most

36:05

important. Alright,

36:08

Well, thanks for writing up the topics, Connor.

36:10

As usual, it was a It's a good

36:12

slate on Tap and

36:15

hopefully we continue to get mail

36:18

from our great and loyal listeners.

36:20

We appreciate everyone joining us on this week's

36:22

episode of the week Side podcast. The

36:25

podcast is me, Jenny Rerentis

36:27

and Connor Or. We are produced by Shelby

36:30

Royston Sizes. Executive producer of podcasts

36:32

is Scott Brody, Ben Eagles, Director

36:34

of Editorial Projects and product Mark

36:36

Marivik is a meritus executive director of

36:39

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