Franchise Tag Primer & Connie Fox Sweepstakes

the show, see how long it goes. But you know, Mark, look at me, Well, no, that is not I'm the one that you know. I moved out of my normal seat for the first time in what terrible sitting here. I don't feel comfortable at all. You really don't have to. This is an audio program today, We're not. No, it's

not that. Because I always discover that, you know, and because we have a very creative producer in Erica that you know an hour later, if someone does anything uh unsettling, it's going to be there will be on which as it should be. Our last episode, Thursday episode, I had no idea it was on camera and then I see a link. In an hour and seven minute podcast was uploaded onto the internet. I didn't know that. You never know.

You always have to be well, you're wearing a you have a very fashionable jacket on Greg, so you do. You had some inklings like Greg cut back, the Greg's like get me into this war. I I got it. Greg's clothing budget is probably worth a seg of its own. This offseason, it was constantly like I'm loving like a hundred and forty dollar sneakers appearing left and right that no one's worn before. I've been told jacket was a twenty seven dollar on clearance at Zara, who were told

by by Amica who bought it for me. You know see that's the missing link. I'm not is anyone buying you clothing? Do you have a significantly buying My wife would like to do it for me, but I just feels personal to me. It's not happening to my house. I'd not that. I would like to actually see what would be purchased. The money drop said that we are not injury prone. I went to a big Bear Mountain, which is a great getaway if you're a southern California person.

Great Uh, great, you know, scenic, family type vibe. We went there for West's bachelor party once up time time. Um was the bachelor party? No, what was it? It was just a getaway. It was a getaway. I don't recall a family vibe. And I drove past the very log cabin resort that we stayed across from a micro brewery,

and I just remembered, Um. It gave me fond memories of Mr Cesler and I carrying West back to the lodge, putting him in bed, giving him a glass of water, and then going into this little mini kitchen and listening to the County crows at like three am. And then since West isn't here, I'll play his party. That's not how it happened at all. Yeah, you guys are exaggerate.

It's a forgiving retelling. And then after probably like midway through recovering the satellites, maybe this desert life the crows offering, we went to check on West as he breathing, as he sleeping on the side, and he had at some point picked up the water glass of water that we had given him and then spilled it over his entire body, and were like, did West, did he urinate on himself. That was the first concern. Well, first you know, what is the stampness, Oh, it's it's is a urine. No, oh,

it's the water. And then he just he remained passed out for the rest of the night and he lived. And now he's married and he's got a kid on the way. A different times. He's in Hawaii right now on a baby moon that seems to be going very well according to the Graham. Ever, everyone's got a friend that pisses themselves, well in this case, in this case up, No, he just saying that's why he had to check, right, because everyone it was an immense amount of water, So

you had that come out of his body. I would have been impressed from a whole different that's true. But I was gonna say that I went snow tubing with my my boys and um some friends, and the shoulders barking at the old juicer right now. And it's not because I took up spill or anything. It's just it was rotated in a way that for a man that's nearing forty years old, it's it's the shoulders saying, hey, I'm barking at you because I'm gonna need a few days.

You're trying to hold onto two tubes on a snow hill at once. The hold I'm hooking. Maybe Jack's arms were going down on and it's barking. We're checking all the dad boxes here, counting crows barking shoulders. Today's show, Greg wrote a banger. Didn't get a chance to read it, so it's gonna be a real time situation. I think it went up fifteen minutes before the show started. So right, it's depresion email, right and have been good. I'm covered.

So it's essentially a franchise tag primer. That's perfect because uh, I have found and I've been told for the algorithm on the dot com side. As writers from this website, the more teams that you could write about in a piece, the more eyeballs and clicks and and mark. You know, Greg is plugged in on this stuff. So I'm sure you were excited to write this piece knowing that your numbers would spike. That's some I'm all about the number. There was a time there was a time when I

was when it was part of my job. Now I'm I'm blissfully unaware. Well, there was a time when the shadowy leaguers were observing it too, and I was why was one of those shadowy league figures. On some level, it always made me slightly uneasy getting like the eighth most attractive writing assignment in the room that probably you're not going to dominate metrics. It's you know, so we're gonna take a look at that. And UH. Also, as I teased last week the Connie Fox Sweepstakes, it's a

theme song. We're looking to get it out there. Get one that that really defines the essence of Colleen Wolf and it will become essentially tied to her for the rest of her time on this earth. And I am excited to tell you guys that when I checked in at the submission UH site, which is the A t M podcast at gmail dot com, over thirty submissions in less than a week, some great, some not so great. Some okay, you listen to them all. I listened to every single one this morning, and Erica did as well.

And um, and we'll get to that later, playing just a few of the ones that stood out to us. Erica had the power here to choose the ones that maybe advanced to the next time. We're gonna do this for the rest of the rest of the week is your this in terms to get your submission in thirty seconds or less Colleen Wolf theme song, and then we'll close it on Friday after Friday, and then who decides the people, right, I don't know if we try, I don't know. I think we should put them on our

Instagram page. We'll we'll let people vote or maybe Twitter, and I think there there will be vote. Yeah, I feel like bow sceno, they will be taken into consider erration. But if if we all feel strongly in another way, but it it does seem clear that Colleen has no choice and should probably should not have a choice. She doesn't get a choice, but she does get to hear it, I think unless Yeah, And in fact, we're gonna get her on the phone a little bit later for that.

But before any of that, let's do some news. What does this team need to do on offense to get something going here? We need to change the whole entire game plan at halftime. Okay, what do you need to change about the game plan? What are your changing about? There's just a lot going on right now. It's embarrassing for us, hero us and offense. So a lot of things we want to fix and press. Thanks wow. I mean this will be the full of our XFL coverage

for today's show. If I just want to, I want to know where was this Matt mcgloyn in the NFL, because I love this guy. He is he's leaning into it and this caused quite a stir and I think it is one of the XFL's advantages because I watched a little bit this past weekend and they're just grabbing guys like two seconds after they throw like an awful interception and getting like the raw motion of their commentary.

And that one he just you know, took the offensive cordiner and just like flung him under a moving bust and then he got you know, bench, I believe he paid the price and the and the head coach of the team that Matt mcgloyne plays where I believe this is the New York Guardians. Uh, my hometown team, uh is Kevin Gilbride. So for the second time in twenty five years, Kevin Kevin Gilbride was sucker punched on television. Good one. He brought it all back together, super Bowl champion.

Uh Kevin Gilbride. A lot of spags love, but wasn't he nice? You know, here a lot of Kevin Gilbride love. He was the O C of the Giants beats the oh twelve, of the two thousand and eleven Giants team that will beat the Patriots and the Super Bowl. Didn't we interview him? And wasn't he a super nice guy? Gilbride? Or was he not nice? He? No, he's very nice guy. I don't want to make it up. It's all haze.

I don't remember. And he sat down at a table, interviewed him, and you kind of wanted him to be a jerk because Buddy Ryan fought him, and and everybody wanted to decide with Buddy Ryan. But Gilbride seemed like a great dude, So Buddy like the ornery more ornery aspect of that fight. I'd go, Buddy Ryan, Well, I'm not sure was ever in a good mood? All right, let's get into it. Drew Brees is coming back. The Saints quarterback, the NFL's career passing leader. He will return

for a twentieth season. After an Instagram post today Tuesday, uh class accessler move just to post it a photo of a horizon and a beautiful um some type of beautiful location, hike at the top of a mountain, and he said it's gonna make another run at it. He turned forty one last month, scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent on March eighth, but he wants to stay with the Saints or stay nowhere. So now, uh, it's just a matter of getting the money side of it done.

And I don't think that's quite as simple as probably everyone just reading the coverage of this is just like, Okay, Drew Brees back with the Saints. Yes, he will be back with the Saints. I'm not doubting that, But it's just complicated his his previous contract negotiatings have been very protracted and complicated, and this one is especially complicated because of all this money that he signed on his last deal. It was these it was these voids that push kind

of your salary cap pain into the future. And now they're probably gonna have to do it again. But whatever he plays for, add fifteen million dollars to that and that's what the cap it's gonna be. So there's no like, oh, he's gonna help the Saints out this year and take a little less mind. I mean, maybe he'll figure out as best he can, but there's he's probably gonna have one of the highest cap figures, if not the highest, of any player in the entire NFL. Saints have nine

million in kap room right now. Only five teams have less. I know that that will change drastically, and you can make some moves, but they don't. They're not gonna be able to change it that drastically. Yeah, they don't have as much flexibility as some other teams out there, and there are some moves that can make Genoros Jenkins. They'll they'll probably figure out there's some guys that they can cut.

But they have a lot of pretty good free agents, von Bell being one of them, and they're a team you would think would want to be loading up this offseason. I don't think it's gonna happen. You basically got to bring back what you have, and especially on defense, there's some holes there. But why ring, I mean, you bring Breeze back because he's true Breeze. But it feels like if you're not going to make the biggest push possible, right, they do this whole thing where they push all this

pain into the future. It's kind of the old Cowboys move and the cap keeps going up, so it's not even that bad, but they're gonna have to do it even more this year. The whole uncap situation is confusing, and it also spells the end of Teddy Bridgewater. Not that we thought he was going to be back, but I think the the odds are you have Breeze, and you have Taysom Hill, who will be back on a one year restricted free agent contract most likely, and away

you go. Yeah, and Tom Pelisero, who you know Rotor World described as NFL dot COM's Tom pelliser I feel like he does work there, but I constantly see him an NFL network, so it feels more of a network guy, a little bit of a slight on their I think it was just an error. We'll clean that up, please. You can clean back into the content management system in Rhoto. Pass that dirty. If you're out there, let's go Rhoto. Are you are the man now? Is he? Well? We

don't know that officially, HB. I mean he's been there the longest. He's one of the greatest fantasy writers in the game, great at Twitter, and he writes the rankings. So that to me, who who does the rankings. That's kind of how you know, Yes, I's not come here, So that's that's where it starts, the change going on down. Yeah, it's a similar thing in the word world. Okay, well that floated away. Let's move on. Uh. I'm not at all surprised we got to that point, but we got

there quickly. And I just want my final thought on Drew Brees is good job by everybody involved, assuming the deal gets done. It's smart from a business perspective in the NFL or any sport to get out a year too soon rather than a year too late. But Drew Brees,

like Tom Brady, these are special cases, I think. And if they showed anything in the most recent season and you still think you can get one more year out of this amazing player, just do it and and push all your chips into the center and then make figure things out later. I kind of that's where I saw of this. I'm much I would be very disappointed. I was a Saints fan and they kind of got cute and said, all right, Taysom, you're our man, or who

am whoever else? It would have been totally agree. I argue that two of the best three or two of the best four Saints teams of the entire breeze there are. The last two years they've had some bad playoffs, but

those teams have been great. And one thing Pelicero noted though, with Taysom Hill first or second round tender, seems to be what they're gonna do with him, So you're not I just don't see another team coming in again them, so you're gonna get them both and they both both quarterbacks have talked about using on game days that that Taysom Hill would be used a lot more than last year. That's one of the only things I care about in free agency is what happens to Taysom Hill. The rest

of it is just a big flood of non essential information. Well, it depends what to fired at me. It's a lot like programming over the next these players will Ta Hills. Agency is the only thing that matters to you in the NFL. It's the there's it's like you have to come with things I'm excited about, but it's like that's number one, and then it's a nothing about the Browns,

your favorite team. It's just only whether anything I have extra armor up after last offseason to not even look at what they do, and I hope they do nothing. I would like to see them do literally nothing. I saw Steve saw Steve Weiss day and he was he was kind of grumby. It's like, well, just talking about Taysom Hill. It's like, we can't talk about Taysom Hill enough.

But it's because of people like you out there. I am hardly behind generating more hoopla that is, that is the new Steve Young, Taysom Hill um Teddy Bridgewater, by the way, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported, Bridgewater expected I have a quote strong market in free agency, which I guess makes sense. But even then, I'm just like, is it is it gonna be that strong for Teddy? And he could land a multi year deal paying him this where

it gets crazy, paying him around thirty million per year. Now, just to put that in perspective, Drew Brees the last contract he's signed with the Saints and maybe slightly below value, but two years, fifty million, that's doing the math nailed it. So, Teddy Bridgewater, what have I What have I seen? What have you seen? Was anybody seen that this guy should be paid like a star quarterback? Because thirty million star money tough situation for Fowler and the reporter and Bridgewater

because the secondness came out immediately. Everyone's response was just like, don't believe it. Stop it. I don't believe. I mean, Fowler's nailed like one thing after the now he's been right about so and he's getting this in the nail on his foot on this one. He's he's getting the

information from somewhere. So maybe he does. Maybe there is one team out there and the price seems awfully high, but maybe there's one team out there that is truly very interested in Teddy, some some mystery team out there, right. I think it's gotta be like the strong market does not mean eight teams because there's a supply and demand issue.

And I think you the best case thing for him is if the Breeze and Brady stay home with their current teams, and then Rivers goes somewhere that had no interest in Teddy Bridgewater, and then there's there's still three or four teams out really though, but what about the Charles unless someone wanted to replace the guy that's there. Maybe it's you know, maybe it's a like if Tampa just for you know, for some reason, they loved Teddy bridge Water and no one knows it. Maybe maybe that's

possible the Patriots. I thought he would be the perfect guy. Uh you know, Foxborough fans would be tough on him, but I thought he would make sense of if Brady actually left. But this number is so high. He was a free agent last year and no one really wanted him. Everyone's like, whoa, he got one of the highest backup Yeah, that was for seven million dollars. It's like no one really wanted him last year and now they're gonna want him.

Just like a job with the Saints. But what they asked him to do in that offense doesn't suddenly tell me he's worth five more than he was. He's possibly the new Alex Smith, and Alex Smith eventually did get some big contracts, but I feel like Teddy's not there where he would What if the Panthers moved on from

cam Newton had nothing under center? Go ahead? I mean last week, it's like, so you're gonna you're so you're so anxious to get rid of cam Newton and Charlotte that I'm gonna now give Teddy Bridgewater two years for fifty. I think it hit us all the same way, just like Teddy is a very good NFL quarterback in the sense that it's hard to find guys who hit guys that are open and don't make mistakes. You could squint and you could see at worst he's Andy Dalton, and

Andy Dalton's getting paid. But it's thirty millions. Seems outrageous, all right, Uh, speaking of thirty million dollar contracts. Larry Fitzgerald Sr. We know Larry Senior in him. A few times the Super Bowls. I've seen him just sitting on a chair folding chair in the middle of the winning team locker room, waiting for the story to come to him. Because Larry maybe that's he's been in the game for a long time. He pops up. It's like every nine months there's like a you know, they have the woas

bombs you gotta fit Senior bomb. I mean it's more like because would bombs alway Land and you know, I don't know, you know, apparently in the background of lar fit. We've been covering this sport for a long time, all of us, and I feel like there's about one Larry fitz bomb a year. Doesn't the trajectory. There's definitely definitely a mouthpiece somewhere coming to him, because if I sat or you set in the middle of the Super Bowl winning locker room on a folding chair, no one's coming

to me with a game breaking story. It seems to happen to him. I feel like we all have to do a little more more research. Greg. You need to find out if these bombs hit. I need to go read some of these gamers from these super bowls where he was just sitting in the middle of the locker room. Maybe he ended up with an amazing piece out of it.

I wouldn't doubt that at all. Anyway, Lara fitz sr Um he has been quote told the Raiders are prepared to offer Tom Brady a two year, sixty million dollar contracts so Teddy Bridgewater money uh for Tom Brady potentially from the Raiders um. But again Larry Fits not known as senior, not known as a newsbreaker. But like Mark said, maybe somebody's you know, getting something out there through the old man. I don't know, am I buying this off? Buying this at all? ESPN? Who you know? They try?

You try to save your best stuff for like super Bowl morning. If you've got any good uh, you know, colonel's out there. What was that old come back colonel when we did come back colonels and wish we had that on the board. We have that on the board by any chance. All right, let's add that in post come back colonels with Barccesslers, come bas Colonels Barcessler come Baskertinals with bark Cessler. Come back colonels with bar Sisler, come back colonels with bar Sessler, come back Colonel with

barcess thirty. You know, Adam Schefter reported Super Bowl morning that the Raiders would be the team that would go in on on Tom Brady. So it's not totally out of left field. But the Patriots, I think one thing that's been lost in Tom Kurran wrote a good piece this week and about it. They're not worried about other teams kind of dipping in on Tom Brady because if

he reaches free agency, I think it's already over. And I don't I think they're not going to get in some crazy bit bidding war with any team out there, no matter what these floating reports are. I buy the Raiders thing whenever, you know, seems to trickle up into the news because it makes if you're at any team shifting to new locations and and Derek Carr is perfectly serviceable and works, but it's hard to market around a

bunch of the NFL quarterbacks out there. Derek Carry would say, it's just tough to market around to a new Las Vegas fan base. Brady, if you're an owner Tom Brady, Gruden seems like he digged Tom Brady in the experience of coaching of number one, and it just automatically guarantees NonStop sellouts and endless attention in a new market, which the Raiders probably get anyways, because that fan base will

go anywhere. I always anytime these pop up, I just think of Derek Carr's reaction to them, because he did it.

He didn't event um. I think one week after the Super Bowl, there's a couple of days of it was sort of under the radar, but I'm gonna remember this where he spoke with a bunch of other Raiders players and Mark Davis at the opening of the stadium, and he was very open about how annoyed he was and was blaming the media, being like, you know what, what more do you gotta do basically to to have this stuff stopped coming out, and like every time this comes out,

he's getting more and more annoying. Sounds like a great opportunity for a the Player's Tribune column, just blasting the media. This is me speaking to you, the fans, the real story, the real story from me. You know, athlete, you could have signed that associate editor Derek Jeter. You think he's doling out stories to be like on this. He's been there at the nine o'clock media all right, what what's our planning today for the car story nine o'clock? Now

he's in at six am, the big cup of coffee? Um, alright? Uh speaking all right? So those are some quarterbacks, uh in the end of their careers, Brady and Brees, Uh, Teddy not so much. But one guy just starting as Joe Burrow, the l s U star, the coming off the undefeated season, the national championship, the Heisman Trophy. Well, he was receiving another award, the Davey O'Brien Davey O'Brien Award in Texas and was asked about what's happening with

the draft. He's widely expected to be the number one overall picks Cincinnati Bengals pick number one. Burrow said this, I do have leverage, uh per the Fort Worth Star Telegram. They have their process and I have my process. We haven't even gotten to the Combine yet. There's a lot of things that happened leading up to the draft and a lot of information gathered. Right now, I'm focused on being the best football player I can be. I'm in

this unique spot. You can go watch my film. I don't have to prove myself a Pro Day and at the Combine, so I'm in a unique spot where i can focus on getting ready for the year. Um, we have not this has not happened a player that was expected to go number one, forcing him his way out of that destination since Eli Manning and the Chargers uh, seventeen years ago. It feels like we're a little overdue

for something like this. And if I'm a Bengals fan, and that's unfortunate West is in Hawaii right now, because I'd be interested what he would say, but I kind of do. UM. I feel like I know what he would say is uh if I'm a Bengals and I am terrified right now because just the fact that Burrow would put this out there that starts the medium machine going nuts. Now, then you got a guy like Carson

Palmer even predates us at the Super Bowl. He did the media tour just basically warning Joe Burrow to to watch out about going to Cincinnati. Sally Wilcox coming comes in another former Bengals great doubles down says the same thing that part Carson Palmer has done dirty. Uh, and Joe Burrow needs to be careful with this. I'm nervous

of I'm a Cincinnati fan right now. Well, I think the the minute that Joe Burrow was attached to Jordan Palmer as his you know, pre draft quarterback guru, and obviously Jordan Palmer has feelings and Carson Palmer's probably been in conversations with them, and Carson Palmer's Palmer, right, and can Carson Palmer's end with the Bengals was about as

negative and uh, you know, antagonistic as retire right. He's like, I'm willing to put my career into you know, the dead box, whatever that means, like to not play for the Bengals anymore. Well, it's like you're throwing away millions of dollars and you're likely not be part of an organization when you spend words like mark, you gotta just throw some crazy ones out there so they don't know end.

Haven't you ever, I've had a job or two where I thought I'm making okay money at this um hideous corporation. But not making money and having to start all over again is preferable because it's so dreary and so awful here and there's no future that you can feel that way.

Sometimes it feels like you're in a dead box. You are, you are, You're getting closer, you feel it, and I think if you're if you're borrow though, Like it is weird to me that we haven't seen another player UM do as much as they can with draftable number one talent and power, like more Eli manning situations because it just seems like players have more leverage and power than

they have before. He could just simply say I'm not going to play for you and so one of the things do Yeah, And even Eli, you went into draft, they still not knowing how it was gonna work out. Uh, and the Chargers did a good job I think of of handling that. But you aren't even sure if Eli had the leverage when that draft started, you still thought they might take them. They end up getting you know, a fair, fair compensation for that number one pick. But

it's a nightmare. And uh it's different because, yeah, Burrow, I mean, the fact that Jordan Palmer's in there in his ears and has all this in exitutional knowledge is is kind of a worst case scenario. And these these comments were we're eye opening. I it doesn't seem like, um, it's so far fetched that this could be something we're talking about for months now, and while he's from Ohio and stuff, and people want to link him to the Bengal says a he grew up a Saints fan, Joe

bro He. I don't think there's any there is no share DNA with the Bengals. It's it's anti d NA um just so we have this cover. This is what Carson Palmer said during one of his media stops. UM during Super Bowl week, That's why I wanted out. I never felt like the Bengals organization was really trying to win a Super Bowl and and really chasing the Super Bowl, he told CBS Sports Radio. And a lot has changed, a lot of people have come and gone in Cincinnati

since Palmer was there. But Mike Brown is still the owner, and there's a lot of bad blood there obviously. Alright, let's do a little eight o'clock the light. The Detroit lines are reportedly trying to slip a Darius Slay at the cornerback. This is not the first time it's popped up, but he's entering the final year of his deal. Pretty tasty trademark, and I think we're gonna have in the next couple of weeks, and Slay Slay is a good one.

The Redskins have formerly released quarterback Josh Norman after four seasons. He was once the highest paid cornerback in football, but didn't play like an especially last year Mark who I don't I hate when bad teams signed like one star player in the secondary and you're expecting a lot to pivot around that. No, didn't work out. You didn't say that to him to his face when you did sky Sports.

I liked the man personally, seems delightful, but you know I'm gonna play last year, Paul Rich I'm up in a high paid wide receiver signed a five year, forty million dollar contract in two thousand eighteen Egon as well. So some of these Redskins signings I think it could be the next one to go. Your old buddy George still in concussion protocol. Tyrod Taylor, Uh could be the starter, the Charger, says Anthony Lynn. That's that's b s right, Greg. Nobody believes us. I think he could be if things

don't work out. Oh, that will fill up the stadium. All right? You draft a guy number six and the week one starter and he's not. It's exactly what happened in Cleveland. Talk about Tyrod Taylor all off season. He'll be a nice one and a half game play sold until the rookie begins his career, which to me, and he reports, at Leed Bell got fat last season and the Cardinals give big money to No, we can't start the music over. There's only two left. Just ran out

of time. But I want we're gonna move out. Yeah, leave Bell got fat and lost explosiveness. Is the season? War on? Rich to me, and he said, according to the Jets and rich me and he is plugged into the Jets, so good contract. They're speaking of good contracts, and um make him tougher to trade. He was already he's already tough to trade. And I just wanna throw this out there about let Bell remember when he sat out a whole year of his prime and said, I'm

doing this for all the running backs. Then he got an okay contract with the Jets, not a great contract, but actually playing well after you signed the contract. That's how you would have helped out the other running backs. You killed the other running backs of this whole thing. Not exactly a visionary approach. And the Cardinals yes, agreed to a three year deal with offensive tackle DJ Humphries three years, forty five million Mike Garafolo reported uh million

dollars guaranteed. This is just something to know if you're looking for a tackle. It is impossible to get tackles on the free agent market. When DJ Humphreys is making fifteen a year, it's just like the hardest position to fill. All right, let's get into it. Franchise tag, that's what's happening in the news, UH franchise. The headline is two thousand, twenty NFL franchise slash transition tag. Primer cole in no brainer candidates. I don't do the headlines. I don't even work.

What the hell is that? There's a lot happening. Hey, take it to UH I'm gonna go straight to to slack O. I'm not supposed to say that we can beat er. Um. I'll go straight to our editor, who you have a good relationship with, and say you took some shots, Well could you? Could you also ask why they make the headline in that fashion. I think that it's a fair question. It's very fair, all right, Franchise

tag Greg. You know, this is just Greg flex in here because he knows he's gonna have a lot of eyeballs in this one, because there's gonna be a lot of players. This is. This is one of your season narratives that I'm like fishing for for hits in the off season. I don't know if this one is technically a banger in terms of like people like the cuts, people like the trades. I'm not sure people are super

into the tags. Yeah, but this is the one that gets you, Like when like Peter Schrieger's like, I respect Gregg the most, Like on the summertime, It's like this is the article that he's like, yeah, Dan, Mark and well West, Yeah, well he probably respects West. Second, he's like Dan and Mark probably aren't writing franchise tag. Going deeper into Mark's mind. As the sentence continues, Um the respect Greg, the most yahn um, way to go, Pete,

way to be honest, team saying the bait. You know, teams can first designate franchise or transition players on February that's next week, and must do so by March tenth. March tenth, so that's the window. And as I was saying in the intro, which Greg knew that Traeger is going to read this, so he's like, oh, I must be professional and make it clear what these things are. Franchise tag a one year guaranteed contract that prevents a

player from hitting unrestricted free agency. The salaries based on the five year average cap percentage for the TAG at each position, stemming from the top five salaries position at each position. Now switch up that language each year because you've done this, like this is interesting. Of the transition tag.

It's also a one year guaranteed contract based on the five year average cap percentage for the TAG at each position, but the transition tag stems from the top ten, not the top five salaries at each Like it's like slightly the only thing a bit cheaper. Well, the thing that's really interesting this year and I don't think a lot of people know it because it's never happened before. His teams can use a franchise tag and a transition tag.

They made up these strange rules for this final year of the collective bargaining Agreement, which is right now, and these rules could even change if the NFL and the players agree in the next couple of weeks. I'm not holding my breath for that. So right now, there's there's three teams in particular to me, that's like the headline with this whole season. But can I just before you go on, because Schreeger might be listening right now and

he's like, WHOA. Greg has that whole interest intro set up, but he didn't clearly lay out what the biggest differences with the transition tag. That's the tag allows players to sign offer sheets with other teams, but the original club has five days to match. So if Pete hadn't read this yet but was listening now, like, how did Greg leave that out? I'm losing respect. Here's here's Mark coming

up the power ranking. I think Schreegor understands the rules on his own, but if Greg didn't submit, that would have been Yeah, well, why is Mark moving well, just because you're leaving a void like and we were just you know, it's like Greg suddenly has lost his edge, so Marcus, right, let's go through. Let's let's just go through it. Then the Peter Schrager Power rankings, Gregg he's stated number one West West of football Head, so he's

probably number two. I would think through my weekly good Morning football Um interactions with him and some direct messaging, me and him have gotten to know each other better. So I'm gonna put myself in and the bronze medal. Yeah, I I don't Erica because he's worked with it. He's stated constantly how she does such great work on the video side of things, and he's a champion of women Pete.

So I would say Eric is for and the like the lone thing that I created front offl network Operation dirt Nap confused him on an airplane trip and probably lowered me below fit. There's probably some other hands behind the glass that he well, he has interacted with some of our shadowy League figures like Mark Mark Brady five Brady. I you know sometimes because I everything I think about him,

I seem seems like a wonderful guy. But sometimes like when you have I don't know if i'd call it a French up someone that you work with that you just can't get it right every time you interact like you kind of do something wrong. That's sort of how the position that I'm in, it's gonna take a long way to dig out from this. I'm on the bottom

of an ant hill at this point. Right, Maybe we can get him on at the content if we can work this out, get Peter, But it's not worked out until he respects me the most about third place because you appeared on a morning show to get on the podium. Dude, Well, it's gonna touch I'm saying, there's a lot of work that needs to be done here, but probably my entire think whatever one is too much of an ask. I

think I don't think he's ever gonna like you the best. Well, that's that's the goal, though, I'm just saying I don't care about you. Try to get my spot. If you can get third, that's not a challenge. We should have every guest come on Power rank us. That'll be great content. All right, let's get into it. The no brainers. Greg, Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna throw out one idea here, kind of an overarching thing that I wish I I talked about you know when we when we talked about it elsewhere.

It's like, there's three teams and they've got some of the biggest names out there that I think this hole using the double tag scenario comes up with. And it's pretty fascinating if you just think about how they're gonna use it. And that's the Titans with Ryan Tannehill and

Derrick Henry. That's the Bucks with Shack Barrett and Jamis Winston, and then that's the Cowboys with Dak Prescott and Marie Cooper and all these fans out there, especially the Cowboys fans, probably the Titans too, thinking oh, all right, we're gonna keep these guys. It's not gonna be that simple. At this point, it's almost impossible to get these signed guys signed to a long term deal. It happens, but it's really hard, and so then you gotta start making choices.

The Cowboys choices obvious, you're gonna franchise DAC, but that might mean that a Marie Cooper's bye bye. You can't you can't. You can't count on the fact that that some team out there is not gonna just frontload a crazy Hues huge contract from Marie Cooper, and then I think Jerry Jones should be facing some heat from not getting this Dack thing done earlier. I think that's a

good point. And I think Mari Coop, if he was given the transition tag and left that that door was open, there will be a team because there's a lot of money to be spent and the cap keeps getting higher, and if you look at the teams that are willing to spend, in the teams that need playmakers, he would almost certainly fetch a huge offer. Not almost certainly, he

certainly would fetch a huge offer. And then that would put the Cowboys in a spot where we might not even have the option, And you basically then will have chosen Dac over a Marii when these guys should have

been tied together. So I'm totally with you that that Dallas potentially has put themselves in a position they could can Ezekiel Elliott over all of them when they when they got that done, you basically have until March tenth to try to get a deal done with one of those And I I kind of subscribed to the theory you should almost have if you're a free agent at this point, why you know, and you're actually interested in leaving town? Yeah, why not let all these teams been

on you, Like with the Titans. You know, Jerry Jones deserves critique if that unfolds, and that and so I

put Doc as a no brainer. And then I put a Maori below just to be clear and saying they probably used the transition tag and that I think the Titans, though you know all of this happened to them in the last couple of months, they didn't know they were going to be in the situation with Ryan Tannehill or even just to some degree, Derrick Henry and Derrick Henry I think is a tough one to figure out contract wise, as much as any free agent out there, because do

you pay him for what he's been or what you think he'll be three years from now? Like I I agree with you that they just have to probably use both of these options on Tannehill and Henry, and you also have Jack Conklin if you're them, I probably I put Tanna as a no brainer because what you just can't let him leave? I mean, it's just he finished you know his top you know, number one in yards per TEP, number one in completion percentage, number one in

completion percentage over expected, like pretty high and QB. You just can't let him leave. So at this point, I think a one year franchise tag makes sense for them. And then it makes it really interesting. A one year, ten million dollar contract for Henry. That's what it would be. With a transition tag. That sounds about right if you're the Titans. But it would be a great test of, Okay, how much are running backs? You know this this conversation

we have too much about running back value. This would kind of be the ultimate test of it. Is Derrick Henry just out there after the run that he had, Will any team sign him to a Todd Gurley like try to deal? I kind of doubt it, but it really scared like, no matter what Derrick Henry is, but get some sort of good deal, you would think. And then the Titans, you know, will they give him a

monster contract? Now? Are they just kind of happy to go on the one year I would like to see like the next wave of forget this Levy on Bell you know campaign anti campaign that went totally south, like the way that paid them, but give running backs like Monster two year deals because they all go bad. Like,

none of these things seem to work out. And on the Ryan Tannehill topic, I would think I think it would be equally crazy to give him a long term deal making him one of the highest paid quarterbacks in the league or in the top five even um he makes perfect sense to hold that. Give him the juicy one year franchise tag deal. And if you do it again and you now have nearly two seasons or season and a half of evidence that he finally turned the corner,

then you pay him. Yeah, I agree, and that that sort of leaves the Bucks as the as the toughest team to predict. I think Ian, based on his reporting on air, would disagree with me that I put Shack Barrett in as the no no brainer because Bruce arians is just saying he's not going anywhere. Here's the guy who got a voter to for Defensive Player of the Year. I just I just don't see any scenario where they let him leave. Maybe they can figure out a contract.

This is the guy who's been in the legal while and hasn't made a ton of money. Maybe they can actually figure out a long term deal and then you use the franchise tag on Jamis and and that just works out. But if it came down to one or the other, I kind of think they may go the Shack Barrett route. And then you put the transition tag on Jamis and you say, okay, is another team out there.

And this is just think of the timing of it all, because if you put the transition tag, he still has to wait till he gets into free agency, has to wait till March. Is our team's gonna wait around that long and give Jamis Winston a big offer. He it seems to think that could happen, but I don't know who. But again, what team, because we can say there's a huge market for Teddy Bridgewater. What team and what team is going to go down this Jamis Winston trap door.

I mean the other thing about Shack Barrett. He basically said he would be open to giving the Bucks a discount. Now I don't really believe any of that until it happens, but this stuck with me. He hates moving, He does not want to move. He Jack Barrett. I read this whole article. He went off out. He hates relocating. He has a family, all this stuff. He wants to stay in Florida. He wants to the tax at Florida situation and not be you know, not taking down a notch.

He doesn't want to get in a caravan, have to move the whole family across the country. So a lot of this is sort of the stars aligning. They believe Shack Bartt, who I believed in from the beginning, by the way, and they believed in him. I don't fit well with Todd Bowles the Todd bowls. Todd kept his job. That was good because we're pup them up pretty good. They finished them very strong. They finished very strong on defense.

The Bucks for the record, according to over the cap dot com of the fourth highest level of cap space entering thinking the fourty agency, another Florida team mark. Since you're plugged in on this moving thing, the Dolphins at number one, It would make sense to me, given they have a ton of money, a ton of dough and given what Arian said that Shack is going ain't going nowhere. Just back up the brinks truck, pay the dude for the next you know, few years, and then and then

you franchise tag on Jamis. Yeah, that would I think be the ideal scenario. It would be interesting if Jamis had the transition, though that's one year, four million dollars. It's a good way to save some money because I don't I think I agree with Mark that I don't know if he's going to have a robust market a team that would be willing to get kind of like a stair down where it's like you think you can really do better than me now, and like can the

Bucks really do better than Jamie's Probably not. It's like, you know, they asked us to do these these hits on NFL now, and you know we've been wanting a bigger role, you know, move maybe move up in the hour, and it's like now it just seems like it's a good situation for both. We're the best that they can do. We're available, They're the best we can do. You know. It's just it's just fine. What a setup it is?

UH rounding up your no brainers list, So you said Dac Tannehill, Chris Jones, UH the defensive tackle the Chiefs, Justin Simmons Broncos safety. You mentioned Barrett and then A. J. Green. I guess we'll see. I feel like this is the Bengals. Our team are tough to figure out. Now. Green said he would be okay with staying with Cincinnati on the franchise tag. The Bengals probably don't want to give him a multi year deal given his age and injury history.

Uh So this kind of makes sense that it would just be a situation where you know, you do it, pull the trigger. Maybe I'm just like a Patriots fan that was hopeful he would be available, and I think there's a lot of fans out there, Ravens fans, Eagles fans, a lot of teams that need a big wide receiver thing. Oh a j I've read these like free agent articles where other beat writers are always projecting there. They always are like, well then you can just sign a J.

Green and Chris Jones. It's like, well, it doesn't really usually work work that way. I don't think he's gonna be available. Ian Ian really feel strongly. He basically says it's not happening, so that I'm just trust that he's that he's gonna get the tag, that he's going to be tagged, he's not going to be available, that the Bengals keep their guys and they're happy to just and you know what, maybe that that acts as a preemptive alive branch to Mr Joe Burrow or you're one of

the best wide receivers in the last twenty years. How about coach who didn't have a j Green all last year on and that total you know, Dog and Pony show that you kept thinking he might come back. He's not coming back. It's like, if Jack Taylor has any power, you have to be able to suggest that you don't like the Bengals who are allergic to signing anyone in free agency, can you at least keep your own players right? They keep their own players better than any team in

the league. They are They are the most homegrown talent team year after year. It's a pretty nice group of players around Joe Burrow if if he gets there, Tyler Boyd, a j Green, Joe Mixing, John Right, I would I would like to see any of their draft picks work out on the offensive line. Their line is just simply not developed. Anything else want to hit on this grid before we move No, I think that's good. Justin Simmons

is is a tricky one. He fit with what Vic Fangio did and their defense is was got a little worse under Fongio. Well that went to a place that and they're possibly losing Chris Harris, Derek Wolfe, Shelby Harris. It's like, you gotta build around some people, so you should keep you know, one of the one difference you know, a few difference makers you got all right, And I just I like this one because this usually means the guys are moving on. Unlikely to be Devin mccordy and

Joe Tuney from the Pats. Uh, you have Von Bell, the Saints, Austin Hooper, Falcons tight end, Jack Conklin, we talked about Byron Jones, Dallas cornerback. Those are all really good players and usually, uh, it means that there's something going on with the team and all of those teams that the Falcons don't have a lot of cap room relatively, so I think Hooper could actually be available, and the Saints don't have a lot of cap room, especially after the breeze. Thinks I think Bell could be and the

Patriots they just they don't like using the tag. And Joe Tuney, their guard is very good. I mean it would cost like sixteen million dollars. He's gotten better and better every year. Why aren't they paying him? I know he's gonna be overpaid, but that's just the nature of the market. If you, especially if you're bringing back Tom Brady, you're gonna take away one of his best offensive linement

that that might not be a good match. I don't know. Oh, it's so tricky in New England right now, there's a lot they have a lot of free yet Conklin's kind of it and boxed out for the tags. Possibly, I think they could work out a long term deal with Tuny though on the with Conklin rather with Tuny. They already paid Shack Mason, who's their guard, a lot of money, said, do you want to be paying too guards? Big time? But how do you get to Tom Brady? How do you get him out of whack? How do you cause

him to struggle? Especially this upcoming Prussia up the middle? Every time Senna, God, God, Bang, you gotta be worried in the in the post Dante Scarneckia world at the offensive line, there's New England. I mean, he's gonna make He's gonna make a lot of money. He's gonna make a lot of money. Can you imagine Tom Brady trying to move another nine months from now. He's just gonna get keep getting slower. You're not wrong, you're loving this. There it is Greg You you did it. NFL franchise

Slash Transition, tag Primer and no brain Er candidates. Check it out. NFL dot com Slash Rosenthal. All right, we promised her, We promised you the listener, that she would be here, and sure enough, Erica is on the phone right now, connecting with Colleen. And now Eric is moving over. She seems to be connecting doing something. A lot of buttons. They're talking. I mean, I don't think. Hey, we just heard you're nervous. What are you nervous? For? The listeners?

Colleen Wolf? What's up? Hello? What are you guys doing? Podcast? Barn storming another day off of your Yeah, I've just been like puzzling for the last five hours. I gotta get out of here. Yeah, the Life of Connie in the off season is away. Explain that please have this puzzle and I gotta finish it. I can't leave before it finished. So what is the pick? Your's the puzzle? Image of Uh, it's a it's a bunch of weird like animals smiling else is going on there. But uh,

all right, let's just let's just move forward. The Connie Fox Theme Song Sweepstakes. Uh I, I laid it out last week. Send in a thirty second or less submission a theme song that will introduce Colleen whenever she's on the show. The contest will run through this week, so send in your submissions the A T N Podcast at gmail dot com and Erica. When I opened up, uh the Gmail account this morning, I was so happy to see incredible amount of entries. People are excited about this.

We had a ton it was. It was actually pretty cool. A lot of them are really good. Um, so we're gonna play a few favorites right now. And Connie just understand that you I just thought you would like to be on the phone while we were playing these. Don't think you would need to pass judgment, but you can if you want, or decide which one you would want to to be or though you can. Uh, I just want you to be part of the process, and we're gonna figure out a part. The listeners will have a voice,

and and this room will have a voice. Erica will have a voice, and perhaps you as well. But for now, it's more just like absorbing some of the ones that stood out amongst the initial batch. And if your song is not played today, don't think you're out of the running. This is more. I starred some that I liked, and then I said, Erica, wantn't you pick a few that you like? So it's a good sign if you're played today, But it doesn't mean you're out. Just understanding. I feel

like they're all from Erica. Yeah, exactly now, but Erica will be posting for our our listeners. Uh, the puzzle you are putting together on the around the NFL podcast Instagram handle, where these these maniacal looking Um, what is going on? Animals? Um? It's frightening, frankly, and so we'll put that up on it. There is also maybe maybe twenty more pieces until you finished. I feel almost gon

it's many. It's many years and decades away, Colleen, But you're going to be a fascinating old person, like an old lady. You're not the first person who told me that, Like, you're gonna have like wacky glasses and there's gonna be a lot going on. Well I can't wait. All right, let's all right, let's here's the first one that that Erica selected for today's show. Let's listen in. Who is it from? UM? I did not disclose that information? You don't, Yes, okay,

that's a that's good. I think America. Yeah, essentially an Erica creation. Yeah, ok, here we go. Her hearts is big, silly, she likes to act so silly. To cover signy, what do make your reach excellent? Start? Wow? Got in under a thirty too, really breaks down nice and it fades out on a guitar, so it's like it's Bohemian rhapsody. Uh involved. I love that one, bouncy melodic U that that one is very strong? What else? Let's hear another one. I'm lazy. I would hear that and just be like, Okay,

that's it. Here we go. Sh wow. Mark your thoughts. The mood is different than I was expecting for for most of these entries, but it feels like a lot of UM drug induced inspiration. There slow motion, more slow motion entry. I enjoyed it. I like the end when it went uh yeah, another one. Good production. Lyricism not as strong, maybe not not as strong, I agree with you, but I did. It did take me somewhere as Marcus. It has like some st Lucia vibe. Yes, it did.

That's good. I appreciate it. Er, what do you like that one? Yeah? That one was good? So all right, well let's hear another one. History you I got that one ended sitcom theme. I love the show rich or famous soon in that lyrics? Right, that could get out of date, That could get out of date quick. I would say it already has um but you know in

three or four years that will that hold up? You know when she is One thing I did notice Gregg makes a good point there that so Colleen famously on last week's shows she would rather be famous than rich. And I did happen to notice a lot of the entries worked that into the lyrics, and that is a risk. And I think the people that win this contest, or the person that wins the contest, it might be someone that takes a look at it from a broader viewpoint of her seven years on the show, not just on

the past. Have the newest information available, but have it be timeless or that becomes timeless that that that's what Colleen cares about, is just fame. I don't know, maybe we don't know. It's too soon to say. All right, we got two. Here we go. I like this, said you wanted the theme song, so I made you a rap. At least I know that Greg will like this even

if it is crap. Let's get serious now because we're talking. Colleen, host of Thursday Night Football Philadelphia Queen said, the history is rich, but you'd rather be famous ever since t n F. Do you think this podcast is heinous? But don't worry, Colleen, because I still wish you well. But you ain't a hero no more. Just upon a goodell. That one turned into a distrap and a handle. Well,

that's definitely a plan again at some point. Well, I'm glad that went full heel so that we could, you know, summarily summarily dismissed that terrible rapping and we're not gonna listen to We're not gonna listen to that ever, so disappointed that. Yeah, I don't like that he's coming after Colleen. So now we can just speak the truth that this does not speak well for our listeners that someone would

have that core of a of a flow. Yeah, I did not feel that strongly against That's not mean he's coming, he was. I think it was all in fun. First of all, I kind of feel like this person really knows me because they know that I'm an apicus and they know that I would actually like that in a weird way. And I mean, there's no way he finished taping that and was like, nailed it. You know that

really can rap. I think I wouldn't say he's I wouldn't say he's gifted in terms of the flow as a rapper, but I will say that in the in the history and the and the rich, the history is rich of hip hop culture, the dis track is sometimes a sign of respect, and that's and that's why I think that was a nod to came out of left field in a good way. That's how I'm respect Alright. How that to Cannabis and l L Cool J. Not a lot of respect between those two, all right, last one.

I think Cannabis said that L cool cannot wait to get of his fans wore high heels, and then L cool J comes back and says, of your fans don't exist, ladies, Love Cool Jay should never take it. The crammy's away from him. All right, here we go, all right? Last m hmm, Like yeah, because it's a wolf, there's a wolf. There's a wolf. There's a wolf. That's a wolf. Don't don't do it, don't do stupid, don't don't do it,

don't don't stupid. That's pretty good. That's pretty good, And I would love it if that was taking a totally different angle. I love it. The title of that is there's a wolf parentheses stupid. I kind of liked, although it's not in this gentleman's version. I like just hearing Colleen cackling over the year. Yeah we should, Yeah, can work that in. I don't know if you're allowed to use the mother Goose lyrics as freely as he did, but I'm assuming that's past copyright at this point, you know.

And that does remind me. We did get a bunch of submissions that were either taking the melody of a different song or just using the beat out right. No, no, this is all They all have to be original compositions. That's the way he did it, though, was good. You

can do that for Yeah. I feel like there could be different, different Colleen songs that like one in the morning She's like roaming down the street like that's plain not one of the first More, that's the nighttime, sugar and Sweet, what's the puzzle is built, and now Connie's got you know, she's built that puzzle. And I know we're not choosing today, but I think we had to particularly strong the first and the last entries we heard today.

We're both fantastic. Yeah, the book ends were my favorite, Like I might add those to my airport playlist, so then when I'm walking through to essay, they know it's up. Okay, I'm on board with you on the first and last as maybe the early favorites. No debate and uh, Erica, we'll figure this out how we want to work it out. But we can u with whittle the list down essentially

to maybe five choices, but let's move. Let's move the first song of the fifth song into THESS and maybe we're not sure yet, maybe one of those other songs will make the finals as well for a voting process. But that's good to know. Colle you think the distract should advantage I am too. I'm with Colleen, but we have to listen. We have to listen to it. It just was a greg you have a particular issue with it that I don't think the rest of the group necessarily.

That's fine, but uh, you want the person killed I'm not sure that strong. I just it doesn't speak well for our listenership if that's what we choose. All right, we'll speak privately about this well being so on musical. It was set up with like a gonna have it be good music. I think Greg likes Rapp and he's hitting out a little bit about against that as well, that you're if it's going to be a song, that's got to be better than that. You Immediately I thought,

oh well, let's just quietly bury this. But then he buried Colleen and it was open season for me to just I just posted the photo of your puzzle calling on Instagram and I made the caption only die hard fans will get it. But the podcast hasn't gone out yet, so I'm interested to see people's comments being like, like, it should be done. I've almost finished it during this call, I hope. So you had like twelve pieces left, but a life the Life of Connie again, if you had

a submission. If you have a submission you want to send in, you have to do it by close of business Friday, has to be thirty seconds or less. It has to be an original composition, and as we said, having the history is rich with Colleen if you on lyrically work in some different elements from her past, don't just focus it all on what's happened in the past week. But that's really up to you. I mentioned of Gonzo in any of those but but then again, you're right,

it doesn't. But it also doesn't have to be like a history of her. The last one went on a totally esoteric level and it worked beautifully. That's true. That's very true. All right, really strong first round the A t N Podcast at gmail dot com. If you want, are you getting other letters in that? I mean other people? Are there people that are using this to connect with us in other ways? And with all due respect, that's

not what this is about. So maybe we'll keep We're gonna keep that Gmail open in perpetuity, and if you want to connect with us, Erica will comb through that on a daily basis. I'm gonna add that to her workflow, but for now we're only focusing on songs. All right, Cally, thank you for your time. I know you're very busy. So the fact that you can carve out these ten minutes is it really once again tells us a lot

about you as a woman. I mean, thank the fact that you're rich and famous enough now to call into our show. Is this is a big step? Will we get her back in the studio? Get her? Well, that's see again, Greg, you're connecting on that the this track. Yeah, that she's no longer a hero, she's a what is? I think you can't handle the truth of that? Are we sure? Greg didn't make that one? Yeah? The man doth protest too much? All right, let's let's let's get

out of here. Thank you, Connie, all right, by guy bye? All right, we'll be back on Thursday. I think West will be back with us too, right, that's right, excellent. And then starting next week, um, well we're heading to the combine next right, unbelievable, It just happens. The wheel keeps turning. There is an extra week this year between the end of the super Bowl and the start of free agency, and good I wish there were an extra twelve to last year, so it's a little more stretched out.

That's that's what they're going for. Before our time of this company is through that dead period in June into July that won't exist. They'll figure something out that could be a deal breaker in my world, all right, this is Dan Hansis signing off four Quiet Storm, the old Boss, the tiny Box calling in, and the great Rick Hollywood behind the glass Wreck stil Thursday to talk to