Graybeards 2022 with Evan Silva

We went back to Massachusetts, saw the fam saw the Celtics put up one four in a game, went back forty two. Some nice seats, you know, two seeds in the east. That's good. I'm not they're gonna probably have

to play the nets, but we'll find out. We'll find out. Um. I do want to touch on We did check in on your social media while you were gone, and there was a Instagram story of you looking out into the abyss, into the enjoying nature, and we're like, oh, that wasn't very like Greg to really put himself out there like that on social media, and we're just wondering what headspace you were in at that moment. Uh, you clearly didn't actually listen to it. It was just sort of a joke.

It was like peace and quiet. It was this pretty view. But then seven seconds in Walker's voice pops up and it's like, mommy, where are you? So you didn't you didn't have It was just like a bit. Oh I see, all right, well then, uh, what's your bit here? Oh no, we thought it was tied to, you know, recreational. Unfortunately not that day, but certainly certainly that's in the mix on a family vacation. Alright, good, well, I'm glad you

had a nice vago. No no, no, no, no, no, no, no no no no. Oh my goll oh my goll is that it's Connor. We can't hear you because you're not wearing a microphone. The first thing the turn her up, collegue, do you look like you worked on that walk in? I did check out check us out chair. Now it's gotten to the point where the Colleen walking is leading to Connie shooting me the bird from behind the glass.

But I think it's brand building. I think you'll look back one day and say thank you, Dan for trying to get this bit off the ground because it's gonna pay off in spades with some type a major sponsorship or something down the line. That's great, I hope. So I am wonderful. I just finished a little mock draft live. You guys can check that out on NFL Network. Lands ser Line just released his latest mock, I'm all warmed

up right now. I also sprinted up the steps in heels with my asthma um, and I don't have it inhaler, so it's gonna be fine. All right, take a deep breath. You actually you were in Tybee Island this weekend with Joel. I was so. We had a wedding in Savannah. One of my best friends from college got married there, and Tybee's obviously like twenty minutes away from Tybee. So I stayed an extra day and I got my friend to come to Ka Boos with me, and it was so nice.

It was a gorgeous day, first of all, but it was just so nice because I felt like I was hanging out with West and I got to our good friends Rosie and Wayne, who know West very well. They came and met up with us, and then they randomly pulled like two gigantic collages out of nowhere, like from behind a booth and dusted them off, and it was all of these photos of West from years and years ago from Ka Boos with all of the characters. I had never seen it multiple It was amazing. It was

such a great time. Yeah. And then um our buddy Wayne, he has a Pontiac gt O which I did not know about, so he took us first spin and that I had a wonderful time. That is. That's a great I always thought that Tybee was always add twenty degrees with humidity, but you're saying there's actually just nice chill weather there too. Well. The wedding that I had on Saturday was on a dock with no heaters and it dipped down to about forty degree and major wind gusts.

So yeah, um, I didn't do it. I was home. I was home this weekend. Big time loser took the Suns to see Sonic too. How was that? You know what it is? It's two hours and two minutes long? And you know what the next day or that night, I was scanning through Netflix and uh, full Metal Jacket, the great Stanley Kubrick masterpiece was on. So what did you do one hour and fifty six minutes long. It's a lot of movies. Oh yeah in a world. Oh, this is not the time for the Mark Pot. I

know he's on vacation, but I'm annoyed. Now, Okay, you're seeing little Filler and Sonic time. I'm just saying they maybe it's time for all of Hollywood to take a good look in the mirror. That's all I agree with it. I can't sit still. It's really difficult for me to watch a movie in general, so I would much rather show I went and saw that movie Drive My Car in the theater because I knew I would never be able to sit through it at home. Two hours and

fifty minutes. That the New Batman's three hours. That's way too much. It's too much. Today's show great to have the crew here. Mark getting his much deserve vacation, so we'll try to leave him alone. That's very important coming up on today's show. Yes, it is the unveiling on the podcast of the Graybeards with very special guests, uh My Roster Consigliari, Evan Silva of Established So that's coming up a little later, but first we have to get

caught up on the news. It's funny. Some people see him and they see him as rapper, but to me, he's a story teller. That's where I feel about myself. I'm holding this guitar anyway, Look at me going on and on here, Satellite. These are the messages I get from Dan Hansas on a regular basis. No context for this, I don't need it. We had a brief conversation. You should have context for my own uh, if you have any respect for me? Um No, we uh. I talked

about we're talking about guitar play. I asked if you knew how to play guitar. I don't know how to play guitar. And I said, if I didn't know how to play guitar, I would have been a great dorm douche back in college because that's endless game. I mean, it's it would be a shooting fish in a barrel. That would be an example of dialogue. I would share. We were trying to do like a live performance of a bit coming up, but you know that didn't work out.

I think it worked out better though. Yeah. And Satellite, of course is Dave Matthews Band. Because if you had songs in your back pocket with the acoustic guitar in the dorm. You're crushing it at Northeastern with you if I had a guitar, but I didn't, so I wasn't. All right, let's get into the news. Let's start with something really said, really tragic. Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins died Saturday morning after he was hit by a vehicle in

South Florida, twenty four years old. Unbelievable tragedy. Here stand out at Ohio State star there, helped them win a championship, all Big Ten honors, went to the NFL. Did not go um as well in the pros. But uh, it's hard to believe, Greg, that we would lose Dwayne Haskins at this age years old, when a tragedy. Yeah, it's really sad. You know, he was he was expected to return to the Steelers this year play play a backup role there. And when you follow these players, you you

don't know them. And unfortunately sometimes it takes something like this to learn more about Dwayne Haskins, like the man and the friend. And you just heard so much from his teammates both in Washington and Pittsburgh of like what he meant to them, that he was always looking to improve, looking to get better, that he was a very um passionate like person and impacted so many people. All we know about is like what we see on the field,

and I don't know, it's it's it's tough. All these early deaths they always like hit hard, but it hits even harder after West for some reason, that just like whenever a life is lost too soon, and the way our world is now that we're bombarded with social you know, media and just information all the time, like it's all

was happening, but it just makes you think. It definitely hit me different because I was already feeling nostalgic for West when I was in Georgia, and then I got the news of Dwayne Haskins and I had a chance to talk with him a lot at the combine, and he was so sweet before he was coming out like he We talked about so many different things just about him and his life and and what he what he liked. He we had this shared love for Alan Iverson, who that was the first person who got me into sports.

And he also just had this love for cooking and this infectious smile and had an entire Instagram dedicated to the dogs. That he and his girlfriend shared together. So we talked about so many different things. I remember he had thrown at a special needs football camp and that was something that was really special and important to him.

And he also had this eighth grade science project that he did because everybody always brings up the fact that he wanted to go to Ohio State, and he talked about it and he uh, he had basically said that he was going to go there and then it happened.

But I thought that this was interesting. He had this eighth grade science project that he did and he was able to determine that over the top throwing motion produces the cleanest release, the tightest firals, and the highest velocity and he got an A on the project and he was so proud of that. So it's just so tragic the entire situation. He was so young, and it's just

so so sad. And it did because you learn, you learn more about someone um after they passed, somebody that's the celebrity or someone that's a notable figure sometimes And for me, as someone who didn't doesn't follow college closely, I didn't know any of that. Dwayne Haskins as a college star, legend, a legend at Ohio State, that guy that was born to play there and then took the

team UH to Rose Bowl greatness. So from me, it was a a ball As a professional, I only knew the guy that wasn't ready for the NFL, that didn't play well in Washington and now was hoping to make it and stick around at Pittsburgh as a backup. So it's just it's a reminder that these people, um, people are more than what they do just on the field. When you get to the NFL, there's a there's a whole person behind it. It's just it's a tragic thing. Everyone who was getting passed around. Of course on on

social media. His last Instagram post or he was just messing around having fun with different Steelers players they're working out in Florida when this accident occurred. Just very sad and um our hearts go out to his family. So Dwayne Haskins passes away at hard to believe. Moving on class, Campbell and the Ravens are back in business two years,

twelve and a half million dollar deal. UH makes too much sense because Campbell has spent the last two years in Baltimore and has remained a really productive player greg both against the run and getting after the quarterback. There's a few Maybe he's not the same guy was five years ago, but still a big time productive talent. He

wouldn't be on the street. I mean he looks like the same guy that he was when you were sidling up to him at some The biggest man I've ever like been goes out it was all or nothing Premier in Downtown l A. I mean, the deep the deepest voice in the game. There's one of one. You know, they say that a lot when when when people pass or but Klis game in terms of what he does as a player is a one of one. There's really

kind of no one like him. His size, his ability and his um ability to not get any worse as he gets older. Like p F. If he goes to the Hall of Fame, and I think he'll have a chance, I think he'll be discussed. PFF will be part of the process because he's been one of the highest ranked like interior defensive lineman throughout the PF era, and I think that's I think that's helped the football COGNISCENTI really know and appreciate a player like him. He kind of

reminds me a little a different style. But an Aaron Smith, who was with Pittsburgh awhile back, also a PFF favorite. Bill Belichick loved him. Was like Richard Seymour type, doing a lot of the dirty work that doesn't get a lot of the publicity or the stats. But the football heads, no, I love that PF. Has there been a PF Hall of Famer yet? And if there hasn't, would Campbell be the first? I think Andrew Whitworth will be the first test.

I think he uh now became more famous later in his career because he joined the Rams and he started to get a few more All pros, and he ended how he ended. But I think for a while PF was kind of carrying the flag that hey, actually, I know there's Joe Thomas and Walter Jones and all these other guys, but Andrew Whitworth is one of the best

three or four tackles in the league. Year after year they were saying that, and eventually I think everyone caught up so he could be the first class continues to be so good. I really thought that he was going to retire. Having had a chance to work with him on game day morning, this year during the playoffs, just talking with him, he was saying that he was trying out some different things in media and he liked it. And first of all, he is just the nicest guy

in the world off the field. And yes, Dan, I can confirm he's the largest human being I've ever met. He's like a gentle giant. He's so cool too. I just had such a great time working with him. But he was so thoughtful in what we were doing for the show and the conversations that we were having. And I can tell that he is the same way on the field too. And you can see it when he plays the fact that he's known as a guy that gets after the quarterback, but these last few years he's

been really used as a run stopper. But I just I like with Baltimore did bringing him back. There were reports that he turned down offers elsewhere to go back to Baltimore. The Ravens just brought back Josh Binds on Friday, Wagner, I love, Yeah. I want to be picking the Ravens as a big comeback team because football outsiders said the step that they were the most injured team in the last twenty years. Like they they they track adjusted games

lost every year. It's just a number. And the Ravens were the least lucky, the most unlucky team in twenty years. And so to me, if you had added Bobby Wagner and all the players coming back in all this but even then Campbell, they brought back Michael Pierce, so they used to have who was in Minnesota too. You feel good about the Ravens right now. I'm so. I'm saying they're just a natural candidate to totally bounce back. They were very unlucky towards the end of last year, losing

all those close games, and we're just decimated by injuries. Uh. He was in conversation with Peter King recently and he believes Coasel that there could be five quarterbacks taken in the first round. Greggy this, well, I'm of two minds on this one, of course, because seth seems how it

always works out. But to this year is like the ultimate test, because back in February before the combine, everyone was of the opinion there might not be any quarterbacks there maybe one that would go in the first round. But what happens after the Combine, after the pro days, as teams figure out the lay of the land after the agency, there's always going to be that hunger at the signal caller position. It is the ultimate test of that.

I feel like the year that Christian Ponder and Jake Locker and all of them started going eight, ten, twelve was was where it got really crazy and they put all those guys on the cover with with Cam Newton on Sports Illustrated, and then this this draft is turning into a similar case. But it makes sense to me, first of all, when you go through all these players like they don't seem like that bad prospects. They seem

all like borderline first round picks, right. And so if you're the Panthers or you're the Seahawks, or you're these teams that are being talked up the Steelers to maybe take them in the first round, are you gonna wait for round two? Are you just gonna take them? Just

take them. I think that this year is so such a weird class with the quarterbacks though, and even the mock drafts that have come out from our guys here at NFL Network, like Bucky had one two weeks ago that came out had zero quarterbacks going in the first round. And that's something that I thought my actually be possible. But with the fifth year option, you know teams are

going to trade into the back end. But I just don't know about this quarterback class compared to years past, because just based on everything that I've heard from insiders and scouts and teams, it's not a good class. And it seems like teams are going to always talk themselves into just taking a chance on someone. But if you draft a first round quarterback, then you're beholden to that and if that player isn't as good as maybe the scrub that you already have on your roster, you're in

some trouble. Sam Donald does not need to be called too far, but that's they're the best example. And Josh Norris on Twitter to kind of pointed out they've traded back a ton in there at six, so they're a candidate to trade back and then take a Desmond or something. But like, are you really going to go through this quarterback and not go through this draft and not taking Are the Saints really getting out of this first round with those two picks without taking a quarter back? I

don't know the Saints. I think take one. I think the Steelers probably will because that makes a lot of sense, especially with the tragic news of Haskins and then Ben Roethlisberger not being there and having Mitchell. But I think the Lions are an interesting candidate to trade up because of that thirty second pick that they got from trading

Matthew Stafford. They don't have any long term out So those examples are all good examples of teams that if it makes sense, if they're in a position to take a quarterback and they feel comfortable doing it where they are in the draft, yes, take a swing. Like Greg you always say, just keep taking swings. But the Panthers are that perfect example of the team that might be they've backed themselves into a corner here and now they had they might have to take a swing they're not

even confident about, and that's usually when disaster strikes. But who knows. You Also, nobody knows anything, so they might hit on a guy that everyone roundly criticizes as being a bad pick, and then he becomes a good starter. Like the I don't know where guys get draft did so gets talked about a lot on draft weekend and

then it fades away. Chad Chad Reuter a router on our website has three going in the top twelve, which is like that that feels like and whether it's right or not, And a lot of times the pre draft buzzes is not right. But the buzz at this moment is that they keep creeping up. And I think, I think it kind of makes sense because when you actually hear about all these guys, to me, they they sound attractive, like they sound like good prospects depending on what you're

looking for, Like everyone looks at him differently. There's not some huge consensus, but I feel like each one you can make the case as a first round pick. Um. All right, We're about to take a break, but I just want to say something. Our YouTube page, which, by the way, Ricky, what is how do people get to our YouTube If you just type in NFL podcast. We have a full podcast page that just hit over twenty

thousand subscribers. Yeah, awesome. So if you want see every Colleen intro into the studio since this began, go to YouTube. You can go to YouTube. You can also go to our Instagram page at a t N if you want to see Greg getting aroused by the talk of Teddy in a nice spot down in Miami. Go to YouTube. If you want to see Mark getting redder and redder in the face and looking like he's about to kill us,

go to YouTube. Over twenty thousand subscribers. Our Instagram is also over twenty thousand, so go follow us on Instagram too. At the A T N podcast and uh, let's take a break, We'll be right back, all right back, Let's hit the rest of the news before we get to the graybeards and Evans Silva. Oh boy, I mean, what is going on down there? The U s. House Oversight Committee sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission saying it found evidence that the NFL's Washington Commanders engaged an

unlawful financial conduct. In a letter obtained by the Associated Press, the it he said the team withheld ticket revenue from visiting teams and refundable ticket deposits from season ticket holders.

The committee said emails this is all part of the Associated Press, documents and statements made by former employees indicate team executives and owner Dan Snyder engaged in a quote troubling, long running, and potentially unlawful pattern of financial conduct greg the Washington Football Team as they were known now the Commanders as they're currently known, have been connected to nefarious behavior UH for years now, and you wonder if something

that involves money coming out of owners pockets it would be the thing that changes things in Washington. Well, it's all very public. This letter that one Congressman UH sent out from the Oversight Committee is was being released, and

the NFL is not gonna say much. But I'm just reminded of Roger Goodell making it clear at the end of his last press conference that Dan Snyder was not running the Washington commanders and that he did not expect that to change anytime soon, which is I mean, a pretty drastic and um almost unprecedented situation for an NFL team owner. And all of this evidence that they're seeking and the accusations that they're making is all coming out of UH an investigation into their treatment in the workplace

of women. So it's it's multiple things happening, and it's affecting the NFL in a very serious way that they don't want to it's unprecedented. We're not going to guess what what happens here, but I think it's safe to say it absolutely has the NFL's attention. Who I think if the owners find out that they were duped out of money and a lot of money that should have been there's then they're actually going to do something about this. Like I don't know of many things that would and

a lot of shock waves to people. But when you take someone's money and you're like a billionaire, that's something that they care about. Right. You don't take money from billionaires and things will happen to you. Um, We'll see how this unfolds. Will continue to track it as more details come out. Some quickies before we wrap up the news. Wide receiver corner Brandon Cooks back to the Texans UH on a two year extension. I believe good for him,

hopefully let's get traded. That he's been a wildly productive receiver over the course. He's getting the benefit of this whole Like every wide receiver gets a lot of money. Brandon Cooks is like, hey man, I'm like, you know, he's the equivalent of the NBA players. Just like I'm a bucket, I'm a thousand yards, he's a bucket. He's a thousand yards. No matter what you can stick him

on the Texans, he's gonna get a thousand years. I like to what pet Hamilton's said that Brandon Cooks provides a level of paranoia for defensive I like that, Yeah, Brandon Cooks the selling point he could represent himself. I will give you exactly yards and six to seven touchdowns every year. Is that good enough for you? Does that? Is there a place on your roster for me? Brandon Cooks?

I the most interesting thing about that that the Texans like actually wanted to keep someone I've been waiting, like because there was this talk that they might end up trading Cooks, and I was starting to wonder, like, what is the point of the Texans here? That's bad for him? He is constantly like it's kind of the same thing. It's true with the the whole Seattle rumors of trading DK metcalf Or or even the AG But I don't

know where this stuff is coming from. But it's like, what is the point of the Seahawks if if you're just trying to trade away your best players? Because like that doesn't that doesn't work, that it's never worked. This isn't the NBA. Like you're not good at drafting right now, so you're saying and I'll use it. I'm just saying, like you want to have good young players. Russell Wilson, I can almost put him in a different boat. But you have a guy in your twenties, Why are you

trying to get rid of good players? I don't get that. Yeah, I'll use a baseball analogy. Before they were caught cheating, the Astros were famous for they stripped it down all the way down to the studs and over I'm saying, and then through good drafting built a superpower. Do we have any evidence that that works in the NFL. But there are teams that you're seeing it right now with the Jets for instance, so the Lions. But you still need to have the right leadership, and then you gotta

get lucky on several picks working out. It's a lot. It takes a lot to build a team from. I know that the Cowboys have done a really good job in the draft, uh these years past, what they've done in the first round, I mean they've gotten like seven of their last first round picks. Uh, seven of their eight last first round picks were all hertel Walker trade is a perfect example. But that was thirty years ago.

That was that was their one good asset on those Dallas teams and Jerry Jones first took over at Jimmy Johnson sent him to the Vikings and took those picks and built a dynasty. It can be done, but it's very difficult. But it's getting rid of good players doesn't

help you get other good players. That's the was my point. Yes, you can get extra a couple of you can, like you can get a couple of extra draft picks, but all you're hoping to do is somehow find a DK metcalf in that known commodity versus the draft, and what's

going to happen. It's kind of like if you look at the cap space in the league now, there's a lot less teams that are grolling in every year with way too much cap space because I think gms have realized partly due to the Rams and and Eagles and and Titans and Patriots and how some teams have run. It's like you're wasting money with cat What is the point of cap space? You should be maxing out to win every year or else you're gonna lose and you're

gonna get fired. It's like a two year league, So getting rid of good young players get greg what is the point of anything, really gonna get fired. Titans. Uh coach Mike Brabel says, when A J. Brown hits the trade block, I will not be the head coach. So that was struck down very hard. A J. Brown leaving Tennessee and Terry mclaura and your boy Greg not negotiating with Washington. Keep an eye on that. Everyone is talking about a J. Brown DK metcalf. But if there's a

wide receiver hungry team out there, we know there are several. Uh. Terry McLaurin is well respected by people that follow the game. Uh, where is this coming from? Is there any It doesn't sound like the Titans are at all intry. I think it's just this feels like it's just coming out of it from screen. Digger said that it wasn't serious. I took that as God. That's I've moved forward on that um.

And finally or two things. The Broncos, Texans, Jaguars, Raiders, Vikings, and Bucks all have started their voluntary workouts dead last on that list. Cincinnati Bengals by a wide margin, the last to start workouts. And you know, I think you can maybe look at the success they had last year, and I think Connie, this goes in all walks of life. You can't rest on your laurels. You can't just assume you're going to get back to that point or take the next step. And Cincinnati hunting on an early start

to voluntary workouts. Don't tell me they played May had a long playoff run. I don't care. That's in the past. Show me that you're serious about winning tomorrow, not yesterday. I would say rest and recovery is just as important as working out. It's all part of working out, really, and that's how you maximize things. So not work harder, work smarter, work that old bite. It is interesting though, that they're so far behind everyone, Like, I think they're

two weeks thank you behind everyone? Are you listening, Colleen? Greg's agreeing with me. They got to the Super Bowl. Greg. Tell Connie, because I don't think she's educated on this, tell her how they are. I'm looking through it. It's two weeks behind. Oh, I think I found why Connie is not dialing into this. So they're two weeks behind every team in the entire league, including the champion Rams. I mean, they're coming back to work. Are you going to let the man's plain to take them down? Listen?

Someone that doesn't enjoy working out. I completely co signed. I'm aligned with what the Bengals are doing right now, and I think they're doing a fabulous job and they could do whatever they whet out. Why not show up week one? Now it's the what month is it? Even? It's April? Like, who cares? They're gonna have other workouts. They're gonna have They're gonna have a whole check check back with me in October. Their first day is two weeks after everyone else except for one team. You know,

who else is changing the game? Who was actually taking the longest rest? You have? Any team in the NFL, Colleen's own Philadelphic exactly. This is this is what you do. You know, this is why Lyle Collins left Dallas and went to Cincinnati and immediately got a Bengals tattoo on them. So they're just working out though they're just they're not a actually out in the field. I watched when I watched the Eagles of the playoffs in January, my first thought was take a long break, You've earned it. I

thought maybe they could just stop after two quarters. Uh time Now for news and notes presented by up work, where you could build the team that will build your business. Learn more at upwork dot com. I want to hit on this. Travis a t N, a first round pick of the Jaguars. They had two last year. Trevor Lawrence at one a t N in the background to the back end of the first round. Uh. He gets injured in training camp. I believe it was an achilles. Uh

missed the entire season. He met with the media as part of voluntary workouts for Jacksonville, and he had a nice little funny line about, you know, the timing, the ill timing of his injury, but also there was a time to miss a year. I'm glad I don't have to go through that. No, not definitely, just that's just the human element of it. UH just sent the results. You definitely like, who if there was in a year

to miss, I missed a great one. Best of luck to Travis and everyone on the Jaguars that does never never has to look at Urban Meyer in the eye ever. Again. That was News and Notes presented by up work, the world's work marketplace. Learn more at upwork dot com. Let's take a break and then welcome to Evan Silva and hit the Gray Beards. Two gras, Great Beers were good. Save the day, Great Bears. Just give us one lesson. We're here today, gone tomorrow. Will you watch all follow

which don't mean I cannot play. He will see me the day, he will see me lee the way Grave Bears never go away, Graves never goes My hero. Watch him as he's going, I'm gonna kill you, Dan, I'm gonna kill you. There goes my hero. He's over thirted Gray Beards twenty two calling excellent backing box there all, I HOWD used the dry run you and I I understand that I didn't know that you were singing it. You thought I was asking you to sing the entire songs, and I was like, I don't know if I can

do that. I'm just wondering why am I up here? I feel so awkward. You should have had me leave the room sitting behind. We're gonna work on that together and we will redeem This was like I saw as part of the Great urn in It show that Lakisha j was featured on. All the preparation that went into Mary J. Black his halftime performance, just days and days of going over that a couple of minutes just to get it right, and that's what I felt like I

was with. This was like the Cincinnati Bengals version of that all right here he is patiently waiting Evan Silva the King the big Fish. And imagine Evan for the second straight year sitting through that song. I can't believe it. I I that is something I make sure to do. I want Evan to get into the feeling of the Gray Beards, my collection of thirty and over remaining free agents un rostered players to use some established the run parlance. Evan,

what's up? Buddy? What's this? Is definitely not only our second year doing this, because I remember when you first asked me. I think it was four or five years ago, Dan showing showing how memorable I am that you think it's only been two years. I was still at oh two with the song. Yes, I was still at I was still at wrote a world. When you first asked me,

I wrote out like all these burbs. I took like a single blurb, and I still four years later, I don't really know what my role here is, but I am I'm happy to cheer on this team because I think that this year's Gray gray Beards are going to score a lot of points. Okay, it depends just to help. As someone that's worked with Dan a long time, certain shows, it's just you're gonna be a puppet on a string.

He's the marionette guy, he's the master. It's not true that not every show, no no, but there's just some special Dan shows. This is it that well, this is what's important here. Thank you, Greg. What's important here for you to understand, Evan, If if I haven't made myself clear,

is you are. I look at you as like a consigliari my roster consigliari when it comes to the graybeards, and you are the compass to let me know if I've gone astray, if there are people that should be on the roster but aren't people, and vice versa, and uh. The article has been on NFL dot com since last week and because of the changing, shifting landscape of free

agency and how veterans um approach free agency. Quite frankly, there are more high quality players available now than I can ever remember in the eight years I've done this exercise. And even in the four or five days since this one Live Connie, only one player came off the free agent wire. It was Clais Campbell who so we have to replace Calais in the middle of our defense. But otherwise this roster is locked and loaded still, So Evan,

I hope that brings some clarity. And I do remember when I asked you, uh several years back to add some um blurbs and I thought I would get two lines and then you gave me like giant paragraphs. And remember thinking, I feel so bad because it was like a writing assignment and wasn't even your website. That was a miscommunication, just like Connie and I just now with that right, Well, I think what we need and I mean Colleen didn't in podcast appearances. Colleen didn't practice at all.

I think what we need to do is you got to send the lyrics over to Evan, and this segment needs to end with Evan seeing the backing the backing bat. How do you feel about that. I'm not gonna ask you to do anything beyond what we're doing, but what we could do, we could we could do a take two to close the epp. Oh we have to do it again. Well, you have to do it, you know, you have to redeem yourself. Well, I do want to issue an official apology. For being tone deaf. Just putting

that out there first and foremost. That reminds me of Chris Wessling, who, when he was in Catholic school on the West side of Cincinnati, struggled in chorus class so badly that the nun put his ear to the piano to learn tone. So West was not a practicing Catholic by the end of his life. I'll just say that. All right, let's get into it. That is an incredible story that I forgot about. He always leading into the fact that he was the least musical person he ever

met and rhythm, but he loved music. He just was not, Yes, he was not. He was not going to be ever singing backing box uh for graybeards. All right, let's get into it. Enough messing around. Evan's busy. Evan is the big fish for a reason. Established the run is uh. It has been a huge success, hasn't in Evan. It's been a fun ride, absolutely, that's established Run dot Com just established run on Twitter, alright, so check that out for really great analysis on the sport and on the

fantasy end of things. Let's get to the roster, and I do believe without a doubt and you guys can disagree. I know it's it's hard to kind of remember the past years, but this is the best roster ever. In fact, by far. I have them at ten and seven. I have them as going to the dance and look, Evans, Jake nodded his head, my consigliary. So let's see where we come down. We'll start at quarterback. Okay. That yeah, that's your first problem in terms of going and tenant seven.

It's a problem, but also there's some magic involved. It's fits magic. He is on he's on the wire still. He's aged thirty nine, turning forty in November, coming off obviously the hip injury that ruined his season last year, but fits its starter. And I can't believe it, Gino Smith over Cam Newton as my backup. Grag it through a little bone there. I know you love. This feels like coming full circle for you and your geno relationship. That you would unfairly maligned him for what happened in

New York. I think that's a lot of stretch. Is there anyone else, Evan, that you could think of a quarterback that's out there that might have been Would you put Cam ahead of Geno or even fits for instance. No, And you know I actually made my own gray beards without even reading your article, and these were the uh. And then I went back and reviewed and we wound up with seem two quarterbacks. My issue is that with Ryan Fitzpatrick, I just don't know what his health status is.

He's thirty nine, He's coming off a dislocated hip, you know why. I mean, he's generated very little buzz there, haven't haven't even been you know, any rumors of him doing anything. Is he's just gonna hang it up, you know, or signed with the team. Maybe during the season. Geno Smith could begin the season as our would would Ryan, we we have to put him on reserve pup in the year. Geno Smith in three starts for Seattle last year. Passer rated okay, so he could carry us through the

first few games. Well, he's going to be suspended to for a d U I probably, but in this world maybe you know, all right, that sets up nicely. Don't trust those TMZ cops sources. That's all I'm saying. You know, if you know the story, you know, uh, there's just a lot of bad, bad reporting out there. When it came to this, only Greg would dig in deep on the police report reporting on Genus This Rightan Fitzpatrick's a

thirty nine year old just had hip surgery. I sort of assumed he was just gonna walk away because uh, he he doesn't want to ruin the rest of his life. That seems like a tough way to go out, but it also seems like a warning not to play football again. The last report was that no immediate decision had been made, and then he he might try to stay ready and then see what he's thinking in like September, you know, like be on the call list, but telling teams like

and don't bother with me for now. I'm just I don't want to deal with the off season. So yes, there's some risk here at quarterbacks, but um, at the same time fits Magic Connie at running back. I like it. I like the group here. I don't love it. I like it this. This team is gonna get stronger as we as we go along. Jack McKinnon. Last time you saw him, he was getting snaps over former first round

pick Clyde Edwards Hilaire in the playoffs. In fact, he had over three total yards in a touch across three contests. He's my starter. Uh, and I have David Johnson. I don't know what's left with David Johnson at this point, but he's a guy who can catch the ball out of the backfield. He's a professional. You could do some handles and blitz is things of that nature. That's my

one too. There, what do you think, Connie? Look, this is going to be a position that no matter what year it is for the gray Beards, it's going to be a thin spot for them on the roster because running backs over thirty years old. Like, yeah, there's a decline there. So well, did you listen to the lyrics? I know you we the song? There's there's doubting of

people that tried to black the song out. The said though, like it's mentioned how you're over thirty, right, right, but you you have to then add in a little disclaimer inside the song. Jack McKinnon doesn't turn thirty into me. That's all these guys at thirty at some point. But here are the lyrics, and I know Evan has them committed to memory. But if you're not aware, age don't mean I cannot play. You will see me lead the way. Gray beards never go away. So the assumption that you're

making it that these guys can't hacken anymore. Maybe it's just team builders think that you turn thirty and you can't play running back anymore. And I don't think it's true. It's you know, it's not so much the age for me, it's really these two players. They don't get me that excited. I am actually really loving the wide receivers that we want to move to that let's hit the wide receivers. This is has been wrong about David Johnson too too long in his career, too many times. Probably that I'll

let you spee. I'm just saying, who further dis misinformation. I'm just saying David Johnson must have earned just about every fantasy head there for a couple of years. All at one point he looked like the guy, and uh, it's been it's been a steady series of underperformance. Basically, the thing is with with Jared McKinney David Johnson, they can both function in the passing game. It's a passing league.

And if you look at our wide receiver crew coming up and potentially our tight end corps, uh, we're gonna be throwing the ball a lot. But you don't want to be like Pete carrollood Gina. You want to let Jina throw the ball the wide receivers. Odell Beckham, who's turning thirty in November. Uh, Antonio Brown, listen, I know he's a knuckle head, but this is a fake team. And because it's a fake team, his knuckle head him can't hurt me. Jarvis Landry, also thirty in November, and

Julio Jones. That was kind of a tough decision. I thought maybe Julio would not be my fourth guy, could go with a J. Green for instance, or any number of other players that were out there. Uh, but I guess I just got sucked in a little bit by the name brand. What do you think of about this group coming? All right? I like that you have of Beckham and Jarvis Landry teaming back up again. That has

to happen. It's it's has to. But I mean Beckham, I think that what he was able to do with the Rams, the fact that he was able to latch on with them and have the playoffs that he did. Uh, despite the outcome in the Super Bowl, for him, Look, he increased his value. He's going to latch on with

the team. Obviously they have to wait because of the injury, but I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he ends up where um with Julio Jones old quarterback Matt Ryan with the Colts maybe um, But I love I love these wide receivers. It's a good team. Silva. What do you think? And I'm curious what your for were when you did the same exercise. Yeah, Odell Beckham, Julio Jones, Jarvis Landry, and Tonio Browns are the exact same four, and then

you mentioned a J. Green. We've also got t Y Hilton, who I think could be effective as like snapped player, and then Cole Beasley as our backup slot behind Jarvis Landry. All of a sudden, we've got some depth. We just barely missed on same Watkins, who is somehow still years old. Well that's actually progress because he was fifteen years exactly. And then Will Fuller we barely missed on. I couldn't

disagree with you guys more on this wide receiver. How is a j First of all, Beasley, you can't sign him, uh, even like as an option because the Gray Beards famously play a lot of their schedule in Canada. Uh, and so his vaccination status comes into play there. It's like it's like the seventies sixers Toronto. It's a trouble. It's troubling. Uh. How is a J. Green not on this team? A J. Green got eight hundred and sixty yards last year going deep.

He's a vertical receiver. If you bringing him to camp, all right, he's going to compete now. And I don't want Antonio Brown on my team. Uh. And if you add up Julio Jones and Odell Beckham's like production last year, it adds up to like a J. Green. I mean this a man that was out there producing. I mean he was okay, he was. He made some big plays and you're not going to get a lot of verticality on the gray Beard can go down the field. And

I don't want Antonio Brown. That's my thing. That all right, And that's great. But you know who did want to Antonio Brown and his team, Tom Brady. So I think I'm gonna go with the goats opinion. Not anymore. I mean not anymore. I do trust Antonio Brown is a deep He's a very versatile receiver, Antonio Brown, But I trust them more as a deep threat than a j

Grain or Julio Jones at this state. You don't think that the Antonio Brown situation with Bruce Arians kind of played at least a small role in the Tom Brady saga. What that that had the coach had absolutely no control over his players. I don't think Tom Brady has actually was looking. I think never wanted Antonio Brown there. He actually said that publicly, and then he was looking for a reason. I mean, I think Antonio Brown was hurt,

you know, I mean he didn't practice all that week. Uh. I don't think it was like some phantom and I think it was probably the like giving up in the middle of the game and then sending a bunch of Instagram posts that Tom Brady. I don't want to be the guy who's defending Antonio Brown, but I think that it may have played a little bit more of a rule Julio just pure player, uh, pure skill level of what we saw. He might be the guy that would

get the boot. I was gonna ask you that if you would swap, But I don't want Antonio Brown on the team anymore. Alright, let's finish off the offense. Then we'll take a break and hit the defense tight ends Gronk uh and Jared Cook and uh, I love I love this combo Gronk. You know he's saying he's not ready to commit about playing another season football, but we

know what he's doing here. He just doesn't want to be involved with boring Todd Bowles zoom calls and he'd rather be to play with the Gray Beards and Jared Cook. Evan he remains a compelling target who can get into a playmaker's groove every once in a while. Yeah, these are the same two tight ends that I ended up with. Uh just Smith on Eric Ebron who would have given us some depth, but he just turned twenty nine. One of these guys that has been around forever and you

know it's still really young. I think Cook is good to have on your team. You know you're in a red zone situation. Um, you're looking for someone that can just like drop a perfectly placed gino. Smith has or maybe or maybe have like an illegal procedure on a great play to one of your wide receiver area. That's Jared Cook in a big spot has had moments. Check out that playoff game. How many games do the Great

Beards have to play? We're playing a full schedule. It's a full games, so you don't okay, you don't cut the money breaks at all, just you know, because the age that's that's inappropriate. Offensive line. I got Dwayne Brown on the left side at the left tackle blindside spot, Quentin Spawn the cast off of Cincinnati, Matt Paradise at center, Darryl Williams at right guard, Eric Fisher at right tackle. I think this is another all time best positional group

to the gray Bear Gray Beards. Uh Evan, I don't think this is, you know, a group of all pros, but a bunch of steady guys and Dwayne Brown who has the resume to be all pro, you know, and also J. C. Trader is still out there at center, and um Riley Reef is still out there at right tackle. Like I know, this probably sounds like hyperbole, but I think that if we get with these seven guys or so that we've named, it could be better than some

of the offensive lines in the actual NFL. There's no question this is better than the Panther's offensive line right now by far? Is so sad? I mean preparative center? Yeah, maybe bringing Trader? What do you think, Dan though Trader NFL p a president um pushing. You know, he's pushing for a lot of players to ask for guaranteed. Are you a little worried about what he might bring in for players rights? Are you a player friendly owner of the group? Well, I don't know. I don't approve of

locker room lawyers. If here, he would be the definition of it. But at the same time, I value him. He's an educated guy. He's obviously, um well educated on these issues. So I don't I like bringing in people that have different thoughts. This team is very, very uh open minded on a lot of levels. Let's take a break at the defense. All right, here we go. It's hit the edge. Melvin Ingram, Justin Houston, Jerry Hughes, j p P. Here is a stat greggy that really jumps

out to me. I know we talked about how JPP disappeared down the stretch, but this guy was a Super Bowl champion in a huge part of that winning team. He ranked dead last among a hundred and eight qualified edge rushers according to PFF last year, dead last. I'm giving him the old fresh start reset button with the gray beards, but I cannot ignore that's that either Yeah,

he'd probably be the one. The other three great picks for the gray beards, Ingram, Houston, Hughes, those guys are in We're in my top one oh one, couple of them in my top fifty. Still still out there. I think I would replace jpp Um Everson Griffin maybe still out there. Throw him in there. Mario Addison good, good locker room guy. We know Mark has the relationship with him. Yeah, that's a good one. No shortage, no shortage of options here.

We we we did lose as you mentioned, Klais Campbell, and we it looks like we're about to lose Melvin Ingram potentially to the Dolphins. But I mean, look, there's a reason that all these guys are out there, and it's because of their age and their their production has been waning. Um, I'm not too optimistic about this d line. A lot, a lot of big names, but not a

lot of recent productions. Well, if I can get a few more guys, you know, rotationally here, maybe we can get We have to play this right the days of Jason Pierre Paul playing of the Snaps. We gotta we gotta max that way, we gotta minimalize that that can't feel like though you're hitting on like an inefficiency in the NFL market here. I mean Justin Houston and Hughes

now would I would throw into this mix. Keeps signing one year deals and they're worth a lot there end up playing better than a lot of these young guys who get the big country. I think that when we get to the interior defense of my chem Hicks is a guy that can still play, and he's he's in a but he's been hurt a lot, but he can still play. I just I don't know about Justin Houston and even Pure Paul. I mean, his production was way down. It's kind of the poster boy of what I'm talking about.

You can't tell me that he hasn't been one of the best values in the NFL the last couple of years. Just sits around. Yeah, you're worried about the edge. Yeah, on my interior, Chiem Hicks. As we said, we got to replace Calias Claias, Calias, lynn Vell, Joseph and uh Dominican Sue, who, by the way, also get to put on the cover of the media guide. That helps put some meat in the seats. Also these name brands, so it's good to meet in the seats in the seats

have they started offseason voluntary? Also, they're just working their asses off since February. A J. Johnson, Dante high Tower, Anthony barr My linebackers. Any thoughts on that group? Connie Silva? Silva, what do you think of them? I just pulled up this article. It's okay, it's all right, it's not it's not horrible, it's not embarrassing. I gotta say it wasn't overly familiar with A. J. Johnson's work before you brought it up, but he did start a lot of games

over the last few years. Donta hide Towers a leader in the locker room, no doubt. Maybe maybe he's looking for a new challenge team captain, do you have Well, that's a good question. A lot of leadership, of leadership would have been of leadership. Yeah. A J. Johnson has a checker in history. Um, but got into the league and got started late, but was a starter for Vic Fonzi a last year. But it's reminding me back into him back in on that that used to be like

a diamond and the rough type guy. Um, here's my secondary and it's this is very interesting too, because cornerback Greg you know, um has long been an achilles heel of the Graybeards because forgot about running back. You got these old corners that are just getting roasted. It's it's not good. But now we have Stephan Gilmore, who you put him in man coverage on the outside, put him on an island, let him do his thing, don't get out,

don't overcomplicated. Put him in the right scheme, and we will. Uh. He's a lockdown number one to me, Steven Nelson, he's an undersized grinder on the opposite side, he'll take care of business. Bryce Callahan put him in the slot. I'm feeling good about that. And then you rounded out with Jack Rabbit Jenkins and Joe Hayden is a veteran presence there.

I feel really good about the corners and I've never I think we're gonna be able to mask our upfront pass rush uh bereftness with our our coverage ability on the back end. I mean, Stephron Gilmore somehow made the Pro Bowl playing only nine. That was stupid. He was playing the last couple of weeks. He was good. He was good when he played. I mean he was good. Literally and he played like thirty snaps a game for seven games. And they had a bunch of young dudes

that they had there too, that they weren't mixing. Okay, but I think Stefan Gilmore can still play. Stephen Nelson is fine, you know. And I've always liked Bryce Callahan as a slot corners, just he can never stay healthy. I do not want to dig into our depth and have to rely on Jack Rabbit Jenkins, you know. So these guys gotta stay healthy. But I like how we're looking early in the year. Didn't you better watch out because Steven Nelson he reportedly visited the Texans, so you

might be losing him. I won't because once a gray beard, always a gray beard. Once it goes live on the site, it's over. You talked about on this pod. It's interesting to see Dan as a GM start to adopt some NFL philosophies here, like the Ravens, maybe the Dolphins in previous years, you know, building the defense back to front. This is this is it's a strong secondary umbrella. You're gonna have six guys out there every snap. This is this is. This is a better secondary than some in

the NFL. Thank you. For noticing that this is more corners than I've ever had in the roster. But I understand the way the least uh and this is this is Tyrone Matthew at safety. So you're telling me the Graybeards here in the middle of April have Honey Badger and Steph Gilmore on the roster. Pinch me, Evan pinched me? Yeah, pinch me, No, I agree with you. Look I like our back end. Actually have to pinch him. It's an expression. You're you're you're in Chicago. It's it's impossible even if

you were here, you wouldn't pinch me. Rodney McLeod our other safety just signed with someone that well not before this article went live. Always a gray Beard. Finally Special Team Sam Fiking. That's that's a dart throw. I wish I could sea bass in there, but that is with the cow the Colts. We should just put the people should be aware of that. And Thomas Morris dead is my punter. I believe he's been on the Gray Beards for like eight straight years and he just signed a

contract with the Dolphins. But it is what his coaching staff, Mike Zimmer get in that big chair. You deserve it, and I like his style. He's gray beards all the way. Peyton Manning got on the horn and called the old Zeuser and said, hey, this Adam Gaze. You want to give him another shot? And I did not want to down. I gotta put my foot down here. Man, we're not doing this, all right, Conia, We're not doing this Adam Gaze. No, no, Well, Peyton said that he's misunderstood and deserves a new chance

with a new roster. You don't think being nice? Okay? What does Peyton care about the gray beards like he cares our offensive coordinator? Oh okay, I'll get on the horn with him. Vic Fagio at d C. I love it. And then I always have Mike west Off as my special teams coordinator. Always Havny four years young. I think you could have a repeat of when the Houston Oilers coaches on the sideline was a Gilbride and and Buddy r Foio and Zimmer both China. At some point someone's

throwing a bunch. I love it, and think about you feed Zimmer a couple of beers on the team plane. The Kirk Cousins stories that you're gonna get. Oh, he's got a lot to tell. Final evaluation. Like I said, I have him a tenant seven. We're going to the dance, and uh, that's putting a lot of faith obviously in Ryan Fitzpatrick coming back from this hip injury. But I just think it's a really solid roster. And again, as I always say, and West used to be brutally honest,

and I was happy that he was. He would hit me with two and fourteens one in fifteens, very on the rag. I want everyone's seventeen game evaluation starting with you, Greg. All right, I'm gonna go four and I actually I think that's higher than most years. Maybe we'll go five and twelve. I think as always injuries four to five. I think injuries are always a concern. I think you're

very slow at the linebacker position, the front seven. I love Gino um building an offense, understand building an offense around Gino throwing the ball forty times a game. It's gonna have its ups and downs for sure. All Right, Connie, Okay, Greg, thank you for your honesty. I appreciate it. I'm going

to go is apologize from the outburst. Okay, I'm sorry that I think the gray Beards are going to have a losing record, but okay, they're going to go eight and nine, all right, I could live with eight nine. That would be the greatest Gray Beards record ever, I believe, so we should have. Yeah, Ricky, can you check pro football. I don't think anyone's even projected you to win eight games until you did ten this season, so that I think that's a record. All right, Evan, break the tie.

I have one one guy. Well, I got one guy saying it's a great team. It's me or a good team. Greg says they're going to be brutal team in the league. You're drafting like four, four and thirteen is top five draft pick. Yeah, you'll be top five, okay, and Connie's got me in the middle of the pack. But on the outside looking in, I'm giving you an extra win

that that was five and twelve. Where do you come down, Mr Silva, Well, you know, eight and nine in a league where almost half the damn teams make the playoffs, Like we could sneak in back door, put us, put us in the weakest division. We got a shot. But I think that I think the sports books would set are over under wind total at like four and a half maybe five maybe five, And I would absolutely take the over. And it sounds like all take the over, bang the over. Well Greg would say that it's not

the smart play. Yeah, I think Vegas had it nailed. They usually do. Uh for for an half seems about and you should and this if this affects you, grave digger behind the glass, we will. We were in Toronto this year. We're the Toronto Graybeards and we are in the a f C South little geography lesson. They're not great, but that's the way it is. And we have replaced the Texans because you know who's going to complain? Well, yeah, as Greg said, what's the point, Yeah, what's the point? Evan,

You've said it all. I mean, it's a tradition like no other. My roster Consigliari And you've said it all. And you can sing some too if you would like. No, no, no, no, no, check out Evan on Twitter at I believe it's even silver right. How do you do you feel guilty for helping to make like Adam Levitan obscenely wealthy and and

and talking about it a lot. You know, this is the monster you've helped create, Evan, Oh, I don't even know how to respond to that, but thanks so much for having me on the show, you guys every year, and hopefully you'll bring me back for the Fantasy Extravagant. You know, you know you will get the invite. We need the big fish. And notice how he did not He didn't deny that Levitan is very wealthy tweets about it. You know, he's he's running the game. And guess who

runs that site with Leviton, That's what I'm saying. So that must mean Silva himself is now extremely wealthy. Look at you, so what is your net income right now? At Evan? All right? Thanks again, You're not going to become like a crypto n f T bro like because I like at him so much, But I'm concerned. I'm concerned. I'm worried about that too when when it comes to him.

All right, there he goes, Evan Silva. It's very important that we keep an eye on the business side of things in our industry and uh owner talking the great darts right now, right, and if those guys are raking in the cash, that's something we need to be plugged in on. Just put it like that, I get it, all right, that was good. Now, Colleen, I think I'm

trying to think the best way to do this. I think what we should do is we're going to stop down for just a couple of seconds and I'm going to ask you or tell you where to actually jump in because it was a failure to community or I think we do it live right now and like SNL style, I just try and follow. No, we have to get that. That's what we did the first time, alright, And I think should we get Greg in the mix, Yes, you

have to do it. Okay, we're going to take a quick break here and going to come back and we're going to hit this all right, and we're gonna get it right. We're gonna knock out of the park and that will be our sign off for the app. Okay, here we go, Great beards, take to all right, Great bards. We're gonna say even the day, Ricky, you can get into great Bards. Just give us one last say we're here today, gone tomorrow. Will you watch your follow age?

Gonna mean I cannot play you will see me leither day. Oh okay, great bits, never go away? Great else, never go away. That's much better. We're getting there. We're getting there. Uh. I just gotta work on the actual words. I had three words, but I got two out of three. Was good. Then I'll feel like there's always next year. Thank you everybody for listening. Greg. I didn't hear any of your backing box, humble brag, my directing just now and I'm like,

take Colleen Fulla. Go to our instagram. Guys, you have to see it. Check it out on the gramak Strong. We'll be back on Thursday, check it out. Will be hitting the drafts and hopefully have a good draft guest and then the Friday shows back. Thank you everybody. Uh and also if you have how about this, have any musicians out there sending your version of the graveyards theme and maybe we'll use it down the line, maybe next year. That's it until Thursday. Heat the Call.