JJ Watt To Cardinals & Top 101 Free Agents

and then having kids and settling down I believe in Cincinnati. Um. But the fact that West told the story so often, uh and mentioned it so often it tickled him to no end. So it kind of hit. It hit on two levels. So you know, another great reminder of Chris Westling. I never knew that woman's real name. I just knew her by that tagline she engaged yourself to me. M Uh today, any thoughts that I can go? I thought you, I thought you said it. Well. I don't know much

about her, No nobody does. She was basically that woman for many years in the lore of the Around the NFL podcast. Uh. Speaking of West, this is um a bittersweet episode, uh for us because Greg rolled out his top one oh one NFL free Agents of one And if you have any knowledge in back history of the show, and I'll speak personally on this, I loved the Top one oh one because it's it's really the the the

beginnings of the Scientists Lab. Something I pumped up to no end was about the Top one oh one where Greg and West would come up with their own lists and then kind of work together to figure out a final one oh one. Mark and I even countered with our own like underground list that people really seemed to enjoy, um and maybe in some levels on some level with superior. But the one that was the cannon for NFL media was the West Greg addition, and we're gonna get to

that today. Um, in addition to some news in the NFL, including a big decision by one of the great defensive players of the last twenty five years. But Greg, you did, I thought you really, uh you know, well written and well thought out the intro for the Top one on one. Uh you you kind of reminisced about the exercise and doing it with West all those years. Yeah, this is one of you know, many times of year, and you know, just things in the last three or four weeks, it's

been tough. It's tricky, Like I don't know, you know, I I know you guys are dealing with the same thing, like we're podcasting and like we're we're going through it as as friends and co workers together and I don't know, there's no right answer, but it was really emotional for me last week, UM doing this and just everything like it's still so fresh, you know what I mean. Um, But I did think about how West and I's relationship

was so much about like arguing. It started that way, like on AOL instant messenger at Rooda World, that fantasy rankings, just like going back and forth and uh, and that continued here for the last seven years, doing this And I do think it mellowed out in the last few years. And I think that I think West's cancer battle was part of that, and maybe just us getting older, like it was like less it was almost like we didn't want to waste their time arguing about football rankings um

as much. But um, but I still and I wrote about that, I still thought about how you know, this fall um driving back from chemo. You know, football was certainly still a big part of the conversation. And that's like, you know, that's a huge part of your friendship because that that's like, um, I don't know, it's just like a nice dose of normality and uh in what was such a brutal which is such a bad year overall, Um to just like talk football and go back and forth.

I remember us like trying to rank where Justin Herbert fit um like among all time rookie quarterbacks because we both sort of loved him, and that's you know, that's

there is something uh about that. Um. Seth Payne was on our show not to keep going on, but uh that I remember he said, he you know, and this was you know, before West past, but he thought I thought it was interesting to hear from a listener that he thought the way that we interacted and and showed our love for West during the season he thought was you know, really affected him. And because that's sort of

like how guys love each other. And that's sort of what I think about when with these rankings and stuff like that, that is part of how you show you love each other is because it means it means everything and it means nothing. And we sort of like understood that that this stuff. It didn't really mean everything, but it was like also how we found joy and like

friendship and in love. Absolutely, Yeah, I love the way you put that, and that is it is a very a guy thing because sometimes guys, you know, struggle to um show how much they mean to each other, and then it will come out and something as passionate as an argument about where Marcus Mariotta belongs on a list. And you and West um both respected each other so much as well in terms of your football knowledge, and that's why you were the scientists. So it was always

great theater on the show. And not to mention, I think it also made the best type of this exercise what you see on every other website. Um, this one I think you could stack up against any other. So, Greg, you know, this is a a different world for us now as a trio without West, but they are all all these little micro things as well that I guess some of us go through individually. You doing this without him, Um,

that certainly qualifies. So yeah, it's tricky because it's like like and I know Mark, I'm looking at Mark and he making me emotional and it thinks I don't know,

like aren't you guys struggling with this? Like the public part of it is like I don't know, it's it's tricky because like everything we're doing is like we're celebrating my thought damage, like so many people have spoken so well and we've done our best too, and I love that too, but um, it's like part of me is just like sad, you know, and piste off to a little bit, and like that doesn't necessarily make like good podcasting, but podcasting is like you know, our job too, Like

it's just very it's very hard to navigate. I I have been really struggling struggling with that part of it, like the podcast part of it. And you don't need

to comment on that. I don't know. I'm just getting it off my check us kind of because there's part of me that's just like piss still too, like piss that he now like like he's he would like not to do the whole like what he would do sorry to come up as like a little bit of me is indignant, like West would be indignant, you know what I mean, like he we didn't see this coming, not not now, you know that's still we have to let ourselves feel that too. We we do something as a group.

It's just an organic thing. But like I feel like every few days will be on a group text chat and we'll be sharing photos of Wes and you go, um, the way things are now and everybody has them, like you have a photo cloud that and for all of us, we're lucky enough we have families and we have all these like treasured men, memories of our kids and times with our wives and families and friends, and we're all kind of looking back and and reminiscing about the past um,

which feels like a romantic out when you look back at the four of us together and some of the amazing things that we got to do together. And when on Friday night when I went, I was looking for um, just going back in time at different combines and to see last year we were in that luxury suite at UM.

I was called it the Hoosier Dome. I'm like a hundred years old at Lucas Oil Stadium and uh, it was Mark wearing a ridiculous terry cloth robe from the hotel, and it was Daniel Jeremiah sitting with us talking about you know, justin Herbert and the incoming QB Prospects and Joe Burrow and it was me Greg and West, and West could not look any healthier, he couldn't look anymore

alive or vibrant. And it just struck me. And I think that's part of the thing that's that sucks and makes me mad, is like how quickly it all changed. And it went from West with us looking better, looking frankly better than all of us sitting in that suite, to being gone one year later when the combines should have been happening. Um, that gets me mad, and I know, um,

we're all on the same page. They're just that he was taken from us, and in such a sudden way, not in the way like someone can lose a loved one in an accident or an act of violence or whatever, but the ravage of the second cancer. I don't think any of us are ready for anything like this. So it's it is a process. And I'm with you Greg that it's been strange doing this. It really is. Yeah, And don't take my silence for a lack of thoughts. I just, um, you know, we all were together this

weekend too, and that's hard. It's okay, Like I I think that's it's Okay, like I, you know, the thing I just mentioned anger, Like I tried to even you know, it's like you gotta I I want to let myself feel that too, Like it's so it is so recent. It's like on on some level are like the natural human instinct is like to start moving forward, and it's it feels like it's been along. It hasn't been long. It's been like less than man, it's been less than

a month. And uh, and so we thank our listeners to you know, obviously they are like part of this too, but they I think, you know, they get you guys get that we're going along through it and like you know, sometimes it will be like I, I can I can do like a normal show and and put my mind into that because we're professionals and like I enjoyed doing a normal show that has nothing to do with you know, that doesn't have to do with West necessarily because we

we've been doing that and that's what we do and we love doing that. Um. But the the whole like thing where it's combined, there's no avoiding that, I guess, you know, like it's he is our friend privately, but there's no avoiding like how it's all mixed in together. So that's just something we're gonna have to figure out figure out as we go. Yeah, I was just gonna say, like what Mark was saying is like, we were all together this weekend, and it was so happy to be

with you guys and all of us be together. But it was in sort of that moment that I was like, oh my god, like he is supposed to be here, and that was like so hard. Yeah, it has been nice to have each other and we got everyone, we got together at Connie and Gonzos and yeah, Lakisha was there with Link and Rhoda, Kisha's mother, and that that is all great, but it does like, like you guys are saying everything, you're doing that, and you're doing it.

You feel like it's the right thing to do to get together and and and spend time with each other, especially after realizing how things can be taken from you so quickly. But then at the same time, there's just this like, yeah, but this is the exact type of setup that the one person above all of us would have enjoyed. And it's him. It's him and throwing cornhole with Gonzo, and I'm thinking to myself Oh my god, Les taught me about cornhole. This guy would have been

playing I have been playing against him right now. So man, it's tough and we're doing our best. And again we thank all the listeners UM for being so supportive and being cool uh during this time. And we know it was a loss to you guys too, So UM, just three and a half weeks out and uh we're figuring things out. So today's show, Yes, the free Agen free

agency one on one, we're gonna hit that. But let's do some news first, including yes, big news involving UM an all time great I'm being burrito is bigger than your ass. So you would think that's an awkward transition, but no, West I think would have gotten a kick out of J. J. Watt saying I've eaten Burrito's bigger than your ass. Um. All right, the Cardinals are the team that lends J J. Watt what's that all about? Arizona Cardinals signed the former text into a two year,

thirty one million dollar UH contract. This comes after weeks a speculation that what would land elsewhere? The Packers, the Browns, the Bills, the Steelers, all teams that a lot of people thought I mean to that point, um our TV producer,

and he does a wonderful job for us. Jason Kleinman uh had sent me a text um just this morning before the news went down that J. J. Watt apparently he's on Peloton and he had listed under his bio s B fifty six super Bowl fifty six ellipses g B ellipses c L E ellipses b UF, so like a little Easter egg buried within his exercise bike apparatus.

And then he goes and signs of the cardinal. So Mark, I know you're probably I would guess a without putting words in your mouth, you're disappointed because the Browns would have been a nice fit. Uh B. What do you think about where he ends up going? I kind of loved the landing spot for him. Um that's assuming that you get um, you know, Dler Jones playing at Chandler

Jones levels. But that defense I thought made some strides and were interesting at times last year, and it was guys like you know, Buddha Baker, Um Hassan Reddick who you know, blew up in the wake of Chandler Jones not being out there. And so I love the idea of of J. J. Watt being added to that, You're you have a ferocious pass rush and it it compliments you know, what they're trying to do while growing on offense. Um,

to me, it's a good landing spot. And I disappointed from a Browns angle, No, but I never really bought the idea that he was going to take like because just no, no humans seemed to do this fre agency, less money to play. What he saw was a super Bowl contender. I think this is this is a contender. I think that they were a bit of a disappointing uneven team a year ago, but it brings um a total new, uh intriguing angle to the defense. And I think that if you're Russell Wilson and people like that

in that division, you're thinking, WHOA, what happened here? This is an ugly development for the rest of that division. Yeah, Greg, we don't know. We like us On Reddick as an example of this guy had what seven sacks in the game last season. Uh, he's he's on your free agency one on one list, Chandler Jones, You're lost to injury. We don't know if all these guys end up with J. J. Watt, but if they do. That is an interesting wrinkle to this team that maybe you have this like three headed

goodora pass rush. Uh Jones and Watt you know are two of the best you know, pass rushers defensive lineman in the last decade, so it's pretty interesting to have them playing together. They're both in their thirties now. But you put up the hour lads list of like there, you know, depth chart, and it's all red and red means you're a free agent. So it's not just Reddick, but um, you know Corey Peters who was started early and then got hurt for them, Devondre Campbell, Patrick Peterson,

Drake or Patrick. They have a lot to do on defense in terms of free agency. But that's a fun that's a fun combo Jones and uh j j Y and I think it speaks to them feeling like now is a time to push, like that they could not afford a six and ten season necessarily in a very tough vision, or that maybe Kimbom who's had a lot of chances there and Kingsbury, you know, I think they're feeling pressure to to keep the ball moving forward. And Mark you made the good point on you know, taking

less money. I mean it just it just goes to show. I think these other teams that that we're more obvious super Bowl contenders, were just not going to offer that much money. So it does come down to that he got twenty three million guaranteed, he's gonna get fifteen uh per year. Uh. It's basically a two year, thirty one million dollar deal that will probably see both years. And that's that's good money. That's like, that's pretty good money. I was gonna say, that's good money, but that's not

break the bank money. What have you heard Mark something about what the Browns offer or if they ever made an offer, like what were they prepared to pay? I didn't, but their caps situation isn't terrible. I would imagine they would have been competitive, and maybe, you know, maybe some of these teams did offer that, and he chose Arizona for a specific reason. I like the idea of him having not been the only guy on that line, because in Cleveland you would have had Miles Garrett and J. J. Watt.

I mean, you know, the metrics show how incredibly effective he was as an internal inside inside pass rusher two you know, last year, and he played a ton for them, So I just think it's it's the versatility is there. And I mean, I guess you could have he could have looked at other teams, but I don't know what the what the Browns opery that's that's the thing is, you know he is he is an older pass rusher. You know, those guys don't necessarily get break the bank money.

It's like Clowney last year probably regrets not taking an early deal because he ended up accepting like one for nine. So sometimes things changed fast. And my guess is the Cardinals were financially a lot more aggressive than some of the teams like the Bills and the Browns who who wanted him, but wanted him at their price to be two for twenty and like twelve guaranteed or something like that,

if I had to guess. By the way, though, dan Um not to throw Klineman under the bus here, But that was a fake J. J. Watt Peloton, right, and it's and it was it was kJ Watt. And you know, I am a novice compared to you at Peloton, damn. But I I found it suspicious um when I took a look at the the overall presentation, A little Peloton prankster was up to his tricks. Oh no, Field, Yates

was the one that tweeted it out. Yeah, I mean, in in fairness, like a lot of NFL media, what a snake pit, who would just you know, should have their journal hats on and maybe not just accept every um. You know what I'm gonna out there, I'm gonna put it on Yates because I don't know him personally, and let Jason off the hook on that. Okay, I do interesting approach, I feel, but you know him. But I'm a nice guy. He listens to the show. At least he said that. I believe him. I listened. I'm not

burying for old. I'm just saying I'm not gonna take blame for it, even though I spoke the words into the microphone. So if then I have to assign blame to someone, am I going to do the guy Jason who does great work with our show, or Field? They perfectly Um a good man, I understand in a great NFL reporter. I gotta I gotta very Field in the biggest of all spots. It's a very interesting process that

you're going through here. During the show, Dan he Um Field did do the like Homer Simpson walking back into the bush thing after it, he didn't delete. It was too late. People people knew he had he had done it. He had well j J shot it down too. He said, I don't even have a bike. Everyone on pallets on bike would he would? He would just look like he would. Yeah, I don't know. He looked like too large of a man. And to the money thing, the fact that the Cardinals

probably just you know, offered far more conversation. It's not really a chase of the ring destination. And you could I gets squint and say, oh, Kyler Murray, you're three, and you know you could look at things, maybe the Cliff Kings very thing clicks and the defense with this monster pass rush, I guess. But to me, a team like Buffalo or Pittsburgh that would have been where I would have guessed. And then Cleveland because Cleveland's buzzy now. So this is to me a big surprise that he

went there. But good for him, get that money and playing in and it's a nice place to play and live. People love Arizona professionally, athletes especially, so rings are great. But your last, you know, monster payday of your lifetime. I usually end yeah, way way and larger. Not maybe not for everyone, but I guess that I think that normally weighs larger. All right, let's say, let me just

to have this right. I want to look it up spot rack, how you say it, spow track, I like over the cap dot com, but they both work, all right. I just want to know how much he's made career earnings. So I prepared to bury JJ. We hang on a second career world. Okay, he's made over a hundred million in total cash. Uh. If you said to j J, how much is it getting guaranteed? Here? You get twenty three million and you go to the Cardinals and you

have a chance from the super Bowl. Or I can give you a twelve million guaranteed and you have a seventy chance to get into the super Bowl. What do you pick? You take the money, you take the glop, or you take a better chance in a ring. Because I think he's telling us what he picks, you know, he's telling us, And like I am a little surprised by the landing spot. But I think you know you've got a quarterback on a rookie contract. So the Cardinals, two off scenes in a row have taken the best

player away not named Shaun Watson from the Texans. So, uh, you know, I like that the Hopkins mixed And to play Devil's argument, you know, if you're why and I don't think he's thinking this way? Is I like Devil's argument better than Devil's advocate? Oh yeah, well it would be like it's impossible to know who's going to the super Bowl anyways, no one, you know, none of these

teams have more than like an eight percent chance. And so if the difference between the Browns and the Cardinals worth like getting excited about or even even build, like really almost any team other than maybe like the Chiefs or something. Uh, you know, it's like who really knows? Yeah, because I wanted to have the same issue if he went to the Browns, I would be like, this is a smart move for a team on the rise. But like, what's the difference ultimately between the Cardinals and the Browns

right now in terms of Super Bowl hopes? Maybe not that different? Much can change start to get there right? Uh? In other news, other quarterback news, this, according to The Athletic, the forty honors have connected with the Panthers checking in

on Teddy Bridgewater. The latest sign if this is indeed the case, Greg, that San Francisco is looking to either replace Jimmy Garoppolo quarterback or bringing someone else is an option, because even when Jimmy G's on the field, uh, I mean, even when Jimmy G's on the team, you can't guarantee is on the field because he's injured all the time.

So it makes sense to have somebody back there. But yet another sign here, Greg, that San Francisco is very curious about what else they could have behind center, and that you know, Carolina seems, you know, dead set on moving on from Teddy Bridgewater. This was kind of buried in a Carolina article of what they might do, and it sounded like the forty Niners checked in maybe early in the off season, especially when you're getting all these Panthers want to do this and that reports um, you know,

including this. You know they went hard after stafford um and since nothing had happened since then, John Lynch and Shanahana kind of come out pretty strong for Jimmy G. It makes me think maybe they were just checking in to say, hey, if you want to give Teddy away, like we take them. But you know, they're just they're poking around. I'm with you, Dad, I think they're gonna bring into My guess is that they're bringing someone with Jimmy G. And maybe it'll be a Teddy type or

maybe it'll be like a rookie what we'll see. I mean, John Lynch has sort of been vocal about the fact that they needed to upgrade the backup quarterback position. And if you're if you want to go back to the what ifs had this had the Patriots signed Jimmy G and um, you know, a little bit earlier and and not allowed Tom Brady to stay there as long, I mean, which would have been a nonsensical move. I mean, Jimmy G is what Tom and Brady is not in the

sense that he's not stayed healthy. And you've got these quarterbacks that you know, maybe they are not elite, but they are giving you availability week after week, and they we've seen two seasons under Kyle Shanahan go totally haywire because Jimmy G got hurt and he get he gets more out of backup quarterbacks than anyone in the league, I'd say, And so maybe if it's Teddy, not as a clear competitor, but someone that comes in and can prevent the Niners, who would have been a playoff team

last year minus the health issues. UM more security at the most important position. UM. In other orter back news, rap sheet reported that the Washington football team is ready to part ways with Alex Smith, a thirty six year old reigning comeback Player of the Year. We know his story. It's inspirational, aspirational. Is it both inspirational and aspirational? You

could aspire to do the same thing. I I don't think many athletes would want to duplicate what happened to Alex Smith so far, Tiger Woods would like to he aspires to have a similar path. Anyway, He's owed twenty six million this year and Washington saves a substantial amount of money if they cut him before June one. Uh so, Mark, it looks like the end of the road for Alex

Smith and Washington. Uh it feels like a guy, if he still wants to play, that would be an excellent backup somewhere, right, Yeah, I mean, I I don't know. At this point, we just don't have like eight or nine quarterback positions UM that are like dangerously vacant. So I don't know where that landing spot would be people who mentioned the Jaguars because there's a relationship with her Ad Meyer. Um, and they'll have a rookie and it could be like, you know, he could go play. I

think it does make sense. And I mean even Alex Smith, um, you know, because he's one of the better guys out there too, said look, I know that. I what happened last year in Washington totally upended their process of looking for like a long term quarterback. So I think if you're a Washington fan, um, this was the desired result. You don't go back into next season with that same situation. You've got Taylor Heineke and you've gotta you draft someone if you're not going to make a trade for someone

of name of note. Smith sent that a very like honest interview with Esquire. You know, he said they kind of messed he messed up their plans and this it made me annoyed with the whole like sports blog of blog of sphere. And you know we were part of it too. I worked at PFT. It was part of you know, and I see what you're doing with the headline, like Alex Smith, Colin, like I messed up Washington's plans.

But it's like, that's not He's like, we we want our athletes to be honest in an interview, Like and I you exactly what is saying. It was interested hearing it from him that they basically thought he wasn't ever gonna make it back and that they were going to get the some of the cap space for him last year and not have to pay him all this guaranteed money.

It's like, well, of course they thought that, Like, it wasn't a crazy come back, and and the only reason he even ended up on the field is because Kyle Allen and Dwayne Haskins either Stunker got hurt. You know that that was why he got on the field. I was just I was actually impressed with how he played. I thought he absolutely deserves a job. No, I'm not saying he's like a top forty quarterback, but he's like

a backup type. And like those guys like him who are so good with young quarterbacks, they last till they're like thirty eight or thirty nine. Like so, I think he does deserve a roster spot somewhere. If you're a coach, If you're a coach, think how much it would mean to have Alex Smith on your team if you're not leaning on him to be your starter. I mean sometimes the quarterback rooms are decided by the veterans that are in there helping the younger starters to see things that

they never would otherwise. It's like Alex Smith ripped Ron Rivera. No, I mean was and while you could connect the dots and that's how this this stuff goes often in our league and you can say, Okay, send him to Jacksonville. Is the backup? I don't know, Alex Smith. He's not playing if Trevor Lawrence is healthy, I'll never get on

the field unless something terrible happened. I don't think he's gonna have a chance to really compete for a starting If that's maybe he will retire, Yeah, maybe he'll retire them. Here's the second part of this, because I think he

would have value um as a backup. I wonder if he's looking at some of these jobs where if I have a path to get on the field, like Ryan Fitzpatrick in Miami last year, Fitzpatrick's a free agent, UH Pittsburgh with Big Ben there, now, like maybe go go in there and you you're the in case of emergency there. Uh yeah, it is. And how about the Eagles. You know, you go in there behind Jalen Hurts. If Jalen Hurts doesn't progress, all of a sudden, you're you're on the

field again as the starter. I would think that he's probably unless he wants to be a backup the rest of his career. Would would want maybe got go on a team where you had a chance to play here. I'm with you. I just think it'll be a hard market for I. You know, I go on one hand is saying I was impressed how well he played, you know, relatively, and they won a lot of games with him. But when you look at the free agent market, I don't even think he's gonna crack my top one on one.

There's some pretty good backups out there, you know, Jamis if you consider him a backup, whatever cam Is Fitzpatrick Tyrod to me, I would take over Alex Smith at this point probably What about the quarterback that you have at one oh one? Oh yes, way, but sticking it. We're getting there, getting there, We're getting there, all right. And other news. Peter King read it during the off season, read during the season too, but his Monday Morning Quarterback column.

UM had a nugget in it that a seventeen game NFL regular season is quote highly likely this year. UH one bye week, so it's wouldn't be two bye weeks the playoffs. Everything gets bumped back a week, so the super Bowl hypothetically, which is played here in Los Angeles February February six. You ask me, all, this is inevitable

and there's no sense fighting it. Although Mark, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, Um, I would say, if you're gonna really start moving around the schedule in February is a dead sports month, you might as well just back it up and connect it with the weekend after, which is President's Day weekend, and then do what we should have had in this country for the last forty years that the day after the Super Bowl is a holiday where you don't have school and work for many people,

and all of a sudden, Sunday becomes this big party where you have to get up in the morning for work and school. That would be my only tweek. But I also don't need, Mark, I tell you this. I don't need another extra week in the season and another extra bye week. It already is very long for folks like us, well it's of us. Yeah, I don't know.

I don't know if like for some of these teams when you get into you know, post November, where yes, these certain champions are being forged, but other teams are like wandering in total darkness. There's just a I could think of a number of teams every year where it's like, I don't it's a it's a it's not a joy to watch them at this point, and I and and their journey needs to end soon or not not later. Um. But like I will say this that it was inevitable.

It's not a surprise at all. And based on what King reported, looking at what that um Extra game would be, it's a f C versus NFC with a different division than you'd face that that year. So next year they already have like the a f C North will be battling on that that eight seventeen game against the NFC West, and it creates some really spicy UM Extra matchups. So that's a positive. They talked about, you know, Cleveland, based

on what I'm looking at here would play Arizona. So here comes J. J. Watt to Cleveland to find out which one of those two teams were the real super Bowl contender. But then they're talking about, you know, the wild Card weekend, which was, um, you know, there was a lot going on wild Card Weekend with so many matchups, but one of them would be moved to Monday night potentially, so you know they are going to continue to put as they can well, but you know, in a short week.

But the other here's the flip side of that, the team that that plays that Monday night would have an extra day or two of rest, um, coming out of a really long regular season. So King was suggesting that a lot of coaches would like that. But you're right, that's it's it's new territory. So on the other's end of it, you're getting that extra okay, all right, I mean this is or you're getting an entire off season depending on who loses. We've been doing this too long

and this is very inside uh football or whatever. But my first reaction to seeing this story takeoff was like e n being like, well, it's like we've known this for a long time. Why is he getting all the credit for breaking this? You know, like because we I guess we kind of had. But he was just like putting the box around it. It's something I feel like we've forgotten that this has been coming and and Goodell

has kind mentioned it, um, but here it is. It does show the the power of the NFL that, like all these TV deals are getting signed after the pandemic with no problem, like doubling the money and rising the money in the seventeenth week. I like the President's Day idea, Dan, that's a really good idea, Um, but I don't want Yeah, even one extra week seems like a lot right now. I mean that that they're they're playing with fire. I know it'll be fine, but I am one that believes

sixteen is a lot to ask. It's just different than other sports. You know. That's why the players have had issues. Uh, when you just think about the state that these teams are in, like Mark said, it's it's just a lot to ask on the body to make these guys play anymore. It's just it's not like it's not like Baseball or whatever.

We can just throw extra games here there right in the NBA, it's like there's all these discussions and you know that I have my takes about the length of regular seasons and other sports, but um, it's like, well, well, let's rest Lebron for like ten games in a row, because because I guess every game this year, I know that's just utterly meaningless. But football isn't that way, and you can't do that. But one little thing that I that will annoy me um a lot visually and in

terms of just the way I think about teams. We will never have an eight and eight team again. I think that eight and eight sometimes perfectly describes what a team is. And there are no five records, um, and and unless what they'll probably do is turn it into eighteen games. A few years from now, we've got nine and nine teams, which also sits poorly with me. It doesn't Jason garrett'shle legacy, like eight and eight was thank you for a long time. An odd number. An odd

number is weird. But if you want to look at it, half glass, glass full, and coaches will love this. It's like, at the end of the season, you're either above five or you're below. Which side do you pick? Like they're gonna get a lot of miles out of that. Well you're right about that, um, all right. And by the way, just looking at not the NFL calendar, straight up earth calendar. Be aware that Christmas this year falls on a Saturday.

It will likely be two games on Saturday. So just keep that in mind because I know we have young children and families and lives and then and this speaks mark, you and I have been doing this a long time in NFL media. Greg. I think you might have even been here the last time it happened. Sunday falls on Christmas Day, So what are they gonna do? Just a full slate of Saturday games. I think that's what they do left, and that's why they did last time. Yeah, no,

I was there. I think that would have been. I think it happened two years in a row for us, didn't moved to Saturday, and then one day have to move it back. You're right, we're in a bad little a little couple of years here. We had a nice little run there where it was the holidays are falling in the beginning of the week. Now it's banged time. So just buckle up. Uh, the last little thing. I hope all this Uh you know, we're kicking everything and

to overdrive here with the schedule. Are we still gonna make one team play five preseason games? Can that part if that isn't corrected to some degree back at least one game that right there, they're chopping one game off. But I think can we come out having learned anything from this past season though? And I'm talking about O T A s all this business. Can we be a little bit less frenetic? Okay preseason? I mean, I think O T s in the off season program are important.

Maybe we don't need to be so, you know, like slaves to the coverage of it as much. But I think that especially for the younger players the preseason, I'm with you. How about this two preseason games case closed? Okay? All right? Deshaun Watson, you know we touched on it briefly on our last show that the Texans seems so behind the times right now and not understanding, uh really anything, having any awareness of what's happening in their building outside

their building. Rap Sheet reported um last week that no one believes Deshaun Watson will be traded, and uh p f T wrote something this week that Watson would lose over twenty million if he sits out the season, and this idea of Greg that the Texans, yes, all these teams are trying to figure out there twenty plans and and plants, and ostensibly so too are the Texans. But at the same time, they're on their own timetable right now and they're not even answering the phone when Deshaun

Watson calls come in. So the idea that this is going to maybe go pass the draft, whether or not Watson comes or goes, and how does that impact landing spots and an interest in a trade. They're probably gonna end up greg to screwing themselves on this and they'll get value. Maybe that isn't at the same level if they would have just accepted it now make the move ahead of this draft. Uh, this could end up backfiring

on them. Well, I just think, like, what's the intent of putting this all out there and so and answering the phone, which is which to me is really interesting. The Panthers reporters said that, you know, like there's that's how they're deciding to play. I mean, they know what they're doing. They know there's a chance that he might not be there. But their strategy is we're not gonna answer the phone. We're gonna put out there that we

got no timeline. We're digging in so that I take out of that that a trade is you know, less likely to happen before free agency. You know, when we hear this about the deadlines, I don't think it's impossible.

I think if like the Panthers picked up the phone and like before Nicki Casario could hang up there like five first round picks or you know what I mean, it's like, I don't know, I think they would, they would listen, but they're trying to drive the price up, and it feels like the draft is more of the flash point. But I'm not ruling out that the draft

could could be in play. I think something that's just you know, poisonous concern and concerning if you're David Culley, the head coach who walked into this beast nest, and I understand wanting the opportunity, and coaches have a mindset where, you know, we don't we don't um dwell on the negative. We were gonna go in and succeed and come and go around obstacles. But this is the biggest obstacle any team in the NFL has faced in a long time.

And Watson is basically said to Collie when they talked, like my issues aren't with you, and they're not with Nikissarios. So those two making good with him has no impact on this decision. It's it's much deeper. It's with the owner. It's with the journey, the loss of trust and I and and here's the problem, like what other core if let's say they move on from Watson and this will

be for another day. But whether it's you're drafting a rookie or bringing in another another young quarterback, like these guys talk to each other. Um they all see what Deshaun Watson has gone through, what he is um intending to do with his career. They're not gonna be happy to be there either. It's a mess. That's what's happening in the news. All right, let's get to it. The top one oh one, Greg, Where does this one stack up in terms of pure talent in the top twenty

talent overall? Is this a good fridgent class a bad one in the middle somewhere where would I? My instinct

was it wasn't as good as the last couple. But then I went and looked back at these lists, and man, there were some dark years, like in two thousand and thirteen fifteen, where It's like Jariss Bird is number one and it gets pretty So that's sort of what normally happens because I'm anticipated so many of these top twenty players are going to get the franchise tag, so you know, you know Dak Allen Robinson, Leonard Williams, possibly Justin Simmons,

Chris Godwin, uh, so many Taylor Mote and maybe Brandon Shuff like so many of these guys that Goladay that are in the top fifteen that you're like, oh, those would be cool. Those will get tagged and then it's not as spicy. But there's there's good depth I think in the past Rush. I think there's good depth at safety. Uh, it's not as many good wide receivers, I don't think. I think there's more quarterbacks that are available than usual,

even though no one seems too excited about them. I mean it's better than normal, like guys who can actually be competent. Who was that again? You have the example Gyrus? Yes? Um alright, So with that said, good little set up there, Greg, I'm gonna read off one through ten just if you curious and check out the whole thing at NFL dot com.

Slash to top one on one. That's easy. You have doc at one, Trent Williams at two, Allen Robinson three, Leonard Williams look at you, buddy, all the way up at number four, Justin Simmons five, Chris Godwin six, J. J. Watts seven already off the board. So we're down to a top one in a way almost to the point where it happened so close to the published Greg that maybe what comes out and then you give it a true one on one vibe again. But then again you're

taking out some major name brand appeal there. I understand that's not up to me, but yeah, once these guys get tagged, they're gonna get taken out. So you have to write up some extra ones. There's gonna be cut guys at it. In this is living, breathing document. I would imagine that this the what news development maybe even shook up some some art attached with it if they were to publish in certain ways that probably those sorts

of chaos for the people behind the scenes. Shack Barrett much to Mark ster Grin up at number eight, Aaron Jones The Running Back nine, and Taylor Morten um number ten. Okay, so let's have some fun with this. First of all, let's get Ricky involved. Um at some point, Ricky, I want you to jump in and we'll do a random pick generator and you just you're gonna throw number out there, and then we're gonna talk about whoever that is. You want to do it. As an example, do one right

off the bat. Okay, let's say hold on the wheel or anything. Yeah, I'm gonna pull up Google. Let's say, let's check out our search history here. Oh, Ricky gotta use incognito. Ricky gotta use alright, number twelve, Okay, right off the top. Bud Dupree. That's a good one. All right, So you got bud Dupre the edge rusher uh with the Steelers age twenty eight, blew out his A C L which was a major bummer and setback for the Steelers. I like that one. I like the generator Greg right

off the bat, going with some intrigue. I like him as a kind of a tough decision whether to go all in on a guy like him. I do too, because I think it gets at what to me was the hardest part of ranking this class and the best part of this class, which are the pass rushers. I and I kept resorting, how you know, and Dupri was lower for a while, and then I thought, you know, e c ls are as big a deal as it used to be, and it's more of like a three year deal. And he's you know, really um diverse in

terms of his skill set. And so there's a whole bunch of guys that I talked, you know, Shack Barrett wats now off the board, but Shack Barrett, Dupre, Carl Lawson, who I really like from Cincinnati, uh In gock Way is out there, Matthew Judean is out there. How how is the market going to value all these guys? They're

all pretty good pass rushers. I ultimately put do pretty pretty high despite the torny cl because Trey Hendrickson is another guy from New Orleans like him Dupre, we ended up going up above all those guys because I just I know, I think I know what I'm getting with him, even coming off an injury. I think he's a little

more complete than the rest of those guys. Um. I just want to get this out of the way because, uh, you know, if West was involved with the list this year, he'd definitely be lower by by virtue of the averaging of the numbers. I cannot believe you have Jameis Winston at twenty three on this list. I mean that is You're it's almost like you're punking, Uh the audience here, Greg,

You're you're right up reads. It will take the right coach, but Winston can improve a handful of starting quarterback situations. Don't be surprised if that happens. Neron's first of all, I like to know which which situations he's improving, and Mark mentioned earlier one oh one one oh one? Is is Mitch Trabinsky? Uh? And I am not a Mitch Robinsky fan, but can you honestly tell me that these

men should be separated by seventy plus spots? Or you've been drinking this Winston juice for so long and now on top of you digging in your hills back with West during the times of Mariotta, Winston back at draft time.

Now he's got that New Orleans Saints like slickness on him, and you love that too, Like, why, how in the hell is Jamis Winston a top twenty five free agent based on the tape he's put out there in his entire NFL career, Come all right, I did put in the intro how I heard West's voice often while doing these, and you know, one of it was like you gotta be kindding me with Jamis? Was I mean he would

have put him at UH. And then I did bump up guys like Mike Hilton, who I know West loves to you know, for but uh, I look at quarterback differently here where to me, if you have a chance to even be an average starting quarterback, you get a huge bump. I just think the position is worth so much that that's why Winston cam Fitzpatrick's fairly high in the top forty. UH. But Winston is the one out of all of those uh that I would I think has has a real chance to have a good second

part of his career. I know you're burying him, but it's like, imagine if like Sam Donald had a third of the stats that Jamis Winston did in his first three years like he has produced. And here are the teams he could upgrade as a starter, The Patriots, the Saints. Um, I'd have to keep going through to find some more. I mean, it's not but I think he could be a starter. And he's my favorite of all the free agent quarterbacks him with Sean Payton, though I would be intrigued.

I would be intrigued to see what that what that could be. And um he I am with you that. Like for me, if I were if like you know, eighty five people quit NFL dot Com and they had me do this list, I would probably also put quarterbacks just much higher than other positions. But that does beg the question. And I couldn't be more down on Mitch Drabinsky sitting him down at one oh one. Um, I mean it's also kind of an intriguing number just to put a quarterback. Apt We've done it in the past.

I know you have with Gino Smith and others, but I mean he's being a little devalued than at one oh one because he could be a starter in certain situations depending on what happens. Well as I can't believe I'm defending you guys know this, but if there's any new listeners, one on one is a special honor that we we usually spend more time kind of debating who's going to be the one on one This year. It's

got to have some pop. It had got it. Actually, it doesn't even make sense because as guys come on and off the list with franchise tags and cuts, and we still leave the anchor at one oh one, like Travisky really would be moving up for a while, but he just felt he felt good. That's that's my evaluation that I don't think he I don't think he's good. I I think he's just a an okay backup and with limited upside. I have them lower than Tyrode, for instance.

And I get it, Greg, I mean, it's part of this and it's why you're being paid is to project. And you see Jamis Winston at sometimes and at some time becoming because yes, I'm sure he put up numbers that you could look back and say, oh, these pretty good numbers, but he just never There's a reason Tampa Bay got rid of him, um and he barely saw the field last year, of course. And like, for instance,

you have Andy Dalton down. I mean, and and I'm not saying Andy Dalton is anyone's like an example of a star quarterback at this stage, but like, who would I rather have as my backup or a fringe starter? I would take Andy, even Ryan Fitzpatrick who you have, which I was pleasantly surprised you have him higher than I would have expected at the um. It just to me again points out like what has Jamis Winston done,

uh in his career? I mean the sentience clearly Patrick never been to the playoffs, but he's very clearly above your Dalton line. Then Greg Jameis Winston, Oh, well he's above Dalton. It's a good question. Uh, Like these are all these quarterbacks and I'm throwing Cam in there, who I haven't totally given up on either, Uh that I would put below the Dalton scale. Actually, you know, in terms of are they a franchise guy right now? Are they better than average? But I think you could like

survive Jamis is twenty seven. That's part of it is I do think there's a chance here he can have this uh pretty good second back half of his career. It's like think of Fitzpatrick at seven. I do think that that there's there's a route here where he is a a mid level starting quarterback. And I guess it depends on how much you value that, Like was that is that more than? Do you want that more than

Romeo Aquara? On these rankings, Like, I don't know, there's no right answer you have Jake Briskett at sixty three. I feel like in the sixties would have been my spot, uh for Jameis Winston. But that that's it's over. Let's I want to throw a couple out there. Why don't you do the Generator again? Yeah, let's hit the Generator podcast to talk about him one. I'm sure I'll have no end to the recently the Cowboys, Um, he was

a big comeback story. Uh. Is that somebody you want on your team mark if you're looking first and pass rush. I know what the Cowboys were trying like, they were trying to do what I think another team could do, is like you add them to what they thought would be a spicy defense. I think it's just hard to evaluate almost anyone from that Cowboys defense last year because they were so disorganized that I mean, there were complaints

about the coordinator right away. Alton Smith, I thought, had moments where you saw it and I mean, this is still one of the most mesmerizing edge rushing UM athletes and just physical presences that I can recall, like covering in the NFL. He was so incredibly um ferocious with the Niners and created such havoc for him to go away and go through all he did and come back and look at times really productive for the Cowboys. I

would take a shot. I also think that like part of free agency this time around is going to be trying to get guys on lower money UM, shorter term deals that might have a little upside. And this someone you have to it's gonna be the right environment, the right coach, the right situation. But why not he could add a little pop to a team. I mean, I don't think it's it's just you know, the teams are gonna be core cap strapped. I kind of liked the

idea of him going somewhere and contributing. UM could have been a comeback player of the year in a normal year potentially, but he faded hard down the stretch. That was why he got buried a little bit in these rankings. I want to share some buyer bewares UM. When I looked at your list, so maybe I disagree a little bit with the placement, but not even so much about where you have the place, but just thoughts about where these guys are going forward. You have Corey Davis, He's

ranked number thirty two. UM. You know, once by time a first round bust um and then he finally broke out this past season and had almost a thousand yards

in four team games. I do have concerns Greg that a team looks looks at that fifth season and says, Okay, that's the guy that the Titans thought they were getting, and then he moved him out of a situation where you have the two thousand yard rusher and Derrick Henry and A. J. Brown, the monster wide receiver on the outside, and you put him into a situation where it's not

so and a really fine quarterback in Ryan Tannehill. If you don't put him into a situation where he's just a piece of the puzzle, I feel like that could go sideways. Yeah, I'm with you. I thought that was having him fairly low, like guys like Curtis Samuel and Juju and are ahead of him. He uh, he would have been a fifth year option type and they didn't.

They like declined it. To me, that's that's a red flag, like they I know he had a nice year, but they valued him so little a year ago that you didn't even give him that, which is its own conversation. They've down done that back to back years with Conklin and Corey Davis, and I don't know if that's really paid off for them, but I'm with you, I I would be a little worried about him just because he's like young coming off a good season, doesn't mean he's

worth huge money. Their offense too, seems like it clicks because all those parts fit together so well. And like I'm with you that if he goes somewhere else and it's just an add on, like I would much prefer like Curtis Samuel for instance, I think he could kind

of do it all for anyone. They got a lot out of him last year, like you had, I believe at number one hundred, my boy Brashad Perryman another example, like if you're gonna go get Berryman, don't do what the Jets did last year, which is hope he's going to be your big deep threat on the outside and really need a big presence. You gotta kind of slot him in the way he was in Tampa his last season there where he's just the piece of the puzzle and then he could give you things. It's about, um,

what you're asking for. Certain guys. Richard Sherman at fifty nine, um more like an age thing that you could get sucked into the name brand side of things. And I don't know what you're gonna how many thirty three year old cornerbacks play the game at a high level. I know he's a legend, or maybe not a legend, but a Hall of Famer most likely. Um. That one was

on my radar Antonio Brown at sixty four. I think you kind of wrote about it, Greg, But I don't like him anywhere but under you know, Tom Brady's thumb and having that situation under control. Um, Hassan Reddick, he's interesting. We talked about him earlier with UM with the news of J. J. Watt. I would like something, Greg, Maybe I'd be interested in your inside on this one, because he had that historic level game last November or December

whatever it was that spiked his numbers. But is is he a guy that, oh, I'm I'm a team desperate for a pass Rushes Reddick gonna be actually the guy you want? Or was that a bit of an inflated situation. A guy that hadn't done a ton in his first few years, right, another guy that would could have been a fifth year option and they didn't even put like he was on my potential cuts list going into last season.

That's how much he transformed his career. I always am wary of those guys that just have you gotta look at the last four years, not just like the one year, like where they suddenly pop. Sometimes it sticks though, you know, sometimes it sticks and they change their career. But I would be wary. He reminds me a little bit of he's not, you know, nearly the player, but de Ford

a few years ago. We're kind of popped up and had one good year after having a lot of hype, and that has not worked out for the four well. A friend of the show, Jason Zumwald, who is a Cardinals super fan, also felt like Reddick last year was used correctly for the first time, and with with Jones out of the lineup, we kind of saw what he could do. But you're right, and it kind of if I could throw one buyer beware in there too, someone

like Matt jude On for instance. I just am weary of Ravens guys and it's sort of is the Paul Krueger type thing that happened where he was massively overpaid, went to Cleveland and never really was the same guy that like, is this because of the Ravens with some of these players or is it because they could do that anywhere and they're a defense that they're big free agents to come out of there. Um, I'm always a little bit suspective. McPhee was another one. Zadarius Smith is

kind of the one exception. But I'm totally with you, Like he he is a guy, Jude, and I think there's a lot of respect. Is like try hard guy, lunch pale guy, and he's gonna do all that you want him on your team. But is he like something like awesome d Drasher outside of Baltimore. I don't know. Nobody's even using. Like children don't even know what lunch pails are at this point. My kids, Uh, they bring

in they bring in school lunch. You're right, it's not I think he had I should introduce my children to lunch boxes. It's not a thing in our house. I'll speak only for my children. And Ricky hit the generator L six in the deep breaches of the top one oh one, sing that will be Dan Arnold the tight end out of Arizona. Five minutes at Dan Arnold, Dan, I really don't have much to say at all on Dan Arnold, and it looks like neither to you because

you just have basically his weight. And wait, yeah, he made some big plays for them, but I think he could get him at a good value and need over, he'd exceed what you what you might be guessing, I mean that dead light. No, I like it. First of all, Dan Arnold. It's Kevin Arnold's dad on The Wonder Years, so that's something. Well it's but here he's he's The one point I want to make on Dan Arnold would

be is you know he's only two pounds. If you're two pounds, just like be a tight end, call yourself a tight end, and suddenly you're like one of the most athletic pass catching tight ends in the league. I don't know why he's a tight end and not a wide receiver what it is exactly, because he is like unbelievably athletic. But it's like if then if he's a receiver, you wouldn't be then impressed by the way. The actor that portrayed Kevin Arnold's father was Dan Laura Um and

his name on the show was John or Jack Arnold. Well, certain you can stay can absolutely absolutely all right, generate me a Okay, this is better. Let's get into the top thirty again. Number twenty eight. It falls on Hunter Henry, another tight end. Okay, you know, I I think you you had this one uh hit well, Greg that he's a guy that's battled a lot of injuries, obviously, and

that's something to keep in mind. But he's still just twenty six and who knows, maybe his best football is ahead and he becomes the guy that the Chargers thought he was out of college, which is like a true star um guy that would take the crown from Antonio Gates and just pile up on thousand yard seasons. Maybe he's not that guy, but if he stays healthy, he's a perfectly uh serviceable six hundred to seven and fifty yard guy with a handful of touchdowns and teams will

take that. Yeah. I think of those games where he helped win up at the end with Herbert and Rivers over the last few years. How many of those like game winning drives they had where it included a twenty yards shot up to seem to Henry. They might tag him the second straight year. He would be like the second highest paid tight end in the league. It gets into a weird situation, but it's possible. I like him

and Johnny Smith. I put Johnny Smith one spot ahead of Henry, but both those guys are are pretty good tight ends to be available. And I had to also say like because of the injuries and in some you know, changes on on a team too, it's like tight ends, it's not unusual that they really start to find their

way in year three or four. And he hasn't really had like these consistent starts, So I think he'd be a good signing, but I'd like to see him stay with the Chargers and not pull weapons away from Justin Herbert. Now I'm worried about Herbert the whole, Like you just hired Joe Lombardi to be their offensive coordinator. I feel like has been under the radar and is concerning Austin Hooper, who was a big tight end signing last year in

free agency that the Browns got four forty two. I wonder if that kind of and I don't think he I don't think that he did what they thought he would. So you've gotta you gotta be careful what you're paying some of these guys. Uh hit the generator again, right, make up play Hooper. I finally made a play right at the end of Alright, let's move down to spot Curtis Samuel wide Receiver. I like this one. Greg. You

you sumthing up well in your blurb. Speaking of things we miss with West, we used to play the game where we would guess Mark and I who wrote which blurb? Obvious, very obvious. But the best were when West would uh kind of drift off and get a little bit more philosophical about something, and the blurb would just be like, WHOA, where did this come from? Um? None of those, but if you want to read some of the older one oh ones, the blurbs were a thing, uh piece of

art itself. Not to take anything away from your blurbs, Greg, which are very good as well. Now they were, you know those like one liners and Dan Arnold at like eight pm on a Friday, think what the am I doing here? Uh? You're a master of brevity, though, I will say that's some very tough skill in writing. And you and you find a way to say something in one or two sentences that UM grows upon. Maybe that's

the old editor. I do try to go back and and and and take out a lot on this on the edit, how we built him back up there, Mark, I mean, that's not great. I'm not I'm not taking anything, but I do try to knock out a lot of words on the edit. Uh. My favorite thing on the one oh one rite ups that we're when west Complete, especially in the early years, completely disagreed with my ranking, and then even then when it averaged out and then he got a sign that guy and it'd be like, yeah,

let's say it was Jamis. Let's say you gotta sign Jamis. He would just bury it and it would make no sense and be like number one player Jenevi and Connie. This guy is a trash. He did a little with Brady last year, um a Brady and Breeze. He thought we're way too high and he just kind of like buried them. Anyways, these old guys can barely get out of bed. It's like, Curtis Samuel. What I was getting at was that your blurb points out that he's a perfect type of receiver for a lot of the way

football has played on offense right now. He's awesome, And it just goes to show how much a coach can change your value because now you see all the different things that he could do under Matt Rule, and I was so excited when they would give him carries. He was such a good running back. He was a good inside running back. It really showed a skill set that was unique. A hundred you don't want to do it

too much. He's a hundred hundred pounds, but he had this weird mix kind of like Antonio Gibson with Washington, although you know he's obviously not as much of a round where he's like your speed guy on end a rounds, but also can be like a power runner who breaks tackles. I don't know, they just didn't used to have players like that. It's pretty cool they. I mean, I think it helped have Christian McCaffrey out of the X and

you saw more we could do. And I think he gets paid well because you could see him fitting with so many different teams to your point in and it just fits what offenses today. And I think, if anything, you'd have to thank Matt Rule and friends for really um showcasing him last weeks a huge money. I'm I'm totally with you, all right, Um, I had some value buys here, so I'm gonna throw a few out there you have t Y Hilton at forty seven. We saw

what he did at the end of the season. Has to go to the right location, right team if he doesn't stay in Indy, but I like the idea of him have another year in the tank. I had mentioned Dalton at forty eight. I think he's a great backup, fringe starter guy. Chris Carson the running back at fifty three, Nelson agil Are you have at fifty six, and Marvin Jones at fifty seven, two veteran receivers agl are finally

broke out. I think both of those guys are far better options than Sammy Watkins, who you have at sixty. And then two guys coming off Achilles with Indie that I would think would be well worth a flyer, Marlon Mack at eighty four and Malik Hooker at ninety two. I think any of those guys, if things fall the right way, you might get um nice production at a

deflated cost. Yeah. I always think injured guys are an undervalued part of the market, like so so many of the best value deals over the years, like Jason Varette last year. Granted the forty Niners had to do it a couple of times to get it to pop. But are just guys coming off injuries that end up being like great players, but their their value. I like, I like Marlon Mack, I'm with you. There isn't that shortsighted?

I mean, shouldn't front offices have that same view. It's like we only forget, we only really remember what people have done so recently that the injury kind of takes so much money away from these guys. Yeah, like the one year deal, Like Sammy Watkins is a guy that at this point it's been so often that it makes sense you're gonna he's gonna get discounted. But even he, like Sammy Watkins, is the ultimate, Like he's how old? How is he only twenty seven or eight? Still, it's

like it's it doesn't make anything. Well it's finally yeah, I don't know. He still is twenty seven seven for seven years, um, but he's final. And now he's twenty eight and he's back in free agency. I think he needs to now hand the crown over to Juju Smith Schuster for wait, this guy is still only twenty seven, Like Juju in three years will only be twenty seven. It feels like he's been in the league for fifteen years,

so maybe he gets the crew. Fo. Wow, that's true. Yeah, I'll be interested how he gets paid because he's like maybe not what people are looking for, like a Curtis Samuel type, but he is. I think you shouldn't just sleep on like a good physical number two receiver. He should still do fine, especially for the Steelers and you just you're bringing back Big Ben. He's perfect for Ben if you're serious about, you know, having some kind of talk about a bunch pale guy. Ever, people get on

This is why he annoys me. People get on Juju for the social media stuff. It's like, if there's someone in the NFL that has the spirit of like heinz Ward or these like these rugged like blocking gonna like take the hardest hit possible over the middle guy that you would think would you know people would like that toughness. That's Juju. He sort of as a weirdly cast as this like you know, flaky guy, but that's how he plays football. He's a studying contrast, is what he is.

One more time with the Generator and then we'll say, Generators, we're getting our money's worth from this thing. We paid like seven thousand dollars for its sixty seven. Uh, Mark go sixty seven, Mark Sessler, Kawan Williams, You know, I think Kwan Williams um, you know, another guy that's gone through so much with injuries, but was such um a signature type Robert Slid guy last year who just they

got the most out of it. When you look at the Niners, Chris steven Tart, it's Richard Sherman, Slid has gone. Kawan Williams has gone a lot of issues with like theyn't have to do They're gonna their defense is gonna look and feel so much different. But Kwan Williams was an old Mike Petton dude. And even too, I think he's um, he's a good player. It's just been durability.

I think you know when he's when he's not been available, But um, he played well for the Niners when he was on the Why do you disagree with sixty seven because I know you do. No, Because I think, first of all, and this is why I think that there's a real skill to the way that Greg and West did this list. Is that to me, when you get past like sixty, I kind of just see them all

the same for the most part. It's like they're to me like there's no difference between sixty seven and seventy seven, So you're not you know, I can manufacture a hot take. How about put him at sixty one on our list? And I think we had him up at maybe sixty five, which is you know, that shows that we think a little bit more about him, but we're keeping our list under wraps this time around. Um, you know, no reason for for controversy. I think that's a smart thing right

now where we are as a podcast. But mark Um, off the top of your head, where should Jamis Winston be on the top one a one free agent list? I put him at I put him on in the low forties. I But here's the thing. I'm completely with Greg that if you're going to sign up for a quarterback that's in the start fourteen games andy and he's serviceable, he's good. He's much more valuable than than almost anyone else on this list. Maybe I'm the only one that

remembers the game in London that we attended. H Jameis Winston only had seventeen turnovers. I think it's if you put them with Sean Payton, I that's the thing. If you put them, if you put him with you know, Pat Shermer, no, thank you. So it's like I to me, it's about worry Lands. It's one of those things he started out probably around forty and then it's like you do it again. You move I like we need to move them up a little bar. You move them up

a little bar. But now, if like the file was due after this podcast, I would move them just back to form, just from your just from your influence, Rickey. We need like a bell now whenever Mark gets in one of his Pat Shermer digs, we gotta have just like a little bell that rings. It's like, does anyone else not see a difference between Sean Payton and right, I think that No, I think you nailed it. I'm just saying that you do find a way to bring that man up in a negative context very often on

this program. That's all. Is he still the Broncos offensive coordinator? By the way, I think he is? Right? They never yes fire him because he ultimately listened. The thing about him is like I get it, Mark, like he was a bust in Cleveland. But you could have put you know, a peak Lombardi in there at that time, and no head coach is going to come out of that alive. Well,

it was more than um, there was. I believe it was Mike Lombardi who wrote that he had was getting phone calls sort of you know, unasked for from people saying that whenever we watched patch s Turmer's offense, we know what the play is before the snap. Didn't consider the source there, but yeah, well I am, but I just that stuck out to me. And then when I watched them play, it was like they do seem kind of milk toast and predictable, and I don't think that

he's disproven that with the Giants and the Broncos. One of those guys though that when I saw in person, I remember after the Vikings lost in the NFC Championship, UM, more swollen than you would expect, like very good and uh and a good looking guy in his forties, more than I really would have thought. You know, it kind of seemed like a forgettable guy, but he was like he was. He was pretty jacked, and I conveniently forgot the Vikings um part of his career, which was spectacular.

So consider the source on that front. It was like case king and running around and like throwing like up in the air, and it seemed a little wild. It seemed a little wild. Yeah he got I mean what, he got a lot. He got a head coaching job out of it, so I don't feel too it doesn't matter. He went to the Giants and he got old Man Eli and the first year of Daniel Jones and the two thousand and eleven and twelve Browns, Like, what's going

on there? I think that's Manzell and maybe Josh m it was it was Cult McCoy and to Brandon Weed and we're past cut to my text before the show, and I'm like, hey, if we if we have a forty minute show, there's no hard there's no crime in that cut to you know, minute seventy two where we've talked Pat Sherman for five stream. That's why it's gotten to the point where I don't usually reply to to those not out of it againy like animosity or anything. I'm just like, okay, it's if that ever happens, I

will be happily stunned. Hey, hit us up on Twitter if you think the show is too long. We'll reconvene and restrategize. Um, Greg, good work, buddy, that is at all serious. It's not. That's a tough one. Um, as we go through this, and you guys are so linked on that top one oh one, so you did it alone as you had to, and uh, it's good stuff. So check it out NFL dot com slash top one oh one. Um, next time you hear from us will

be Thursday, and we will have a special guest lined up. UM, so make sure you a former general manager in the NFL. He actually is. He's been on our show one other time, if you if people really wanted to try to show. Yeah, he was actually on our show when they were like redoing the podcast studio at our old office, which we haven't seen in a year now. So this particular person, um was we were like almost in like a closet, utility closet, and he couldn't have been more of a

professional at that time. And it was also it was um it was a part of the studio, the television studio where we were doing it, and I think it was about twenty five degrees and there were I remember us complaining heavily because we're two or three shows in that room that it was untenable to conditions. This is why I really wonder, like, what, what what has happened to me? Because I really don't remember this. I mean, I remember that studio set up, but I don't remember

this guest being us with us there. But I'm gonna just trust you. I do. Yeah. I have some theories why the short term memories not there, But then we'll we'll we'll get to that in another show, all right, Yes, so we'll be back thursday. Uh, this is Dan Hansons signing off for the old Boss, the Quiet Storm, Ricky Hollywood behind the virtual glass. Until then, he'd the call. How about that