The Around the NFL podcast. Here's a technical lighthouse from.
The Chris Westling podcast studio. It's around the NFL. I am Dan Hansis got a hero here, Greg Rosenthal. The technical lighthouse is Mark referred to Greg Olsen Fox play by play man.
That will be a conversation point. I am begging you to shut up.
Later in today's show, Mark simmer down, because we will have the great Andrew Marshawn late of the New York Post now of the Athletic breaking down the NFL media landscape.
So that's gonna be cool. Gregy, how are you?
I'm doing great. This is an exciting show. A lot of guests. JB Long to talk, Aaron Donald. It is a sneaky, frisky weekend by the NFL. The NFL said, Oh, you thought Freed Andcy was done. We're gonna give you a little frisky news items to find out while you're like at your son's nerf gun party on Saturday afternoon.
Oh, Colleen relaxed, Yeah, it was. In general, this feels like twenty twenty four was the year that the the week, the free agency kickoff week. It just changed like annoyingly, and I'm sure this happens. It's a thing that happens
based on the calendar, the way the calendar shifts. But I always used to love, especially when I lived in New York, the March sixteenth, Saint Patrick's Day, March seventeenth, living on the Upper West Side, and just like parking at a bar and watching the first two days in March madness. You used to love that. That was two of the best days of the year. And now there were no games. It was just selection Sunday on Sunday, and that was different, and I don't like change this year for free agency.
I feel like it used to.
Be, you know, Sunday quiet, Monday, crazy, Tuesday, crazy, Wednesday, big stuff going on Thursday, little quieter, Friday, pretty dead. But this year it just felt like wall to wall news maybe except for Wednesday, ironically, which was the start of the new league year, but it was there was a lot to digest.
And we're going to get into all of it. Everything's moved faster.
As of Sunday night, I think there was only twenty seven players left off the one on one, and that was the one on one for Monday. The original one was down to like fourteen to fifteen players, So team's just moving faster and yeah to the Bearess credit. I guess like not letting some of the stories in the Chargers with Keenan Allen, we'll get to like linger that could be lingering for a long time.
And if you're wondering why you haven't heard much from Mark Sessler yet, he is not with us today and I in retrospect when his Instagram was on fire with nineteen ninety two photos.
Whenever Camp Happiness.
Whenever Camp Happiness is at the forefront of the Mark socials. In some ways, he's in nineteen ninety two and it's hard to get back to twenty twenty four.
You know what I mean, right, it's a jet lag for thirty thirty two year journey back to twenty twenty four. But he'll be back on Wednesday and Thursday for a big around the AFC and NFC week.
But for our for our knowledge in the future, when Camp Happiness is going off on the feed, we should plan ahead.
Okay. I think that's just a good way to get ahead of things. Fair. I want to go to Camp Happy. Sounds nice. It's hard to leave though, once you go there.
I did go to Camp Wilder as a kid, which has a probably a similar vibe.
But that wasn't like a stay over with you.
Yeah, Nicoletown, there's no going to camps, So you go to grandma's house and kill eight hours.
See you when I get home from work, it's tough.
You know. I was playing these whiffle ball and taking a walk up to seven to eleven up there in North Middletown Road.
Like just can you carry this brick up the stairs and then bring it back? You're like, why, I'm just gonna return the brick back to where it was.
Just do it, Danny. They gave it a dollar fifty in your hand.
You went up to you went up to that seven eleven and you grabbed a slurpee and then if you were lucky, a couple of pieces of that five cent to Zuka.
Joe bubble Gum. I do have guilt. That was summer and whiffle ball same and except ours.
There was like a forest behind our house and you could cut through the forest. It was about a mile plus two sounds murdery to get to the Variety store it was called. And you know, in hindsight, I feel regrettable that we would steal a decent amount from that variety store because we didn't have any money. Yeah, you pay fit, you know, you maybe buy a little bit and put's more in your pocket.
Well, that's that's rogue delinquent behavior. We would never think that do that at the local seven eleven. But that's a difference between Western Massachusetts in New York and Rockland County, hard working people that would never steal from a man trying to make ends meet.
I have regrets.
It's not too late to make a phone call. Okay, and probably did, but it's probably not in business anymore.
Probably put him underground from the stress of his financial failings as a result of your malfeasance. Let's get let's focus on. Come on, Mark, let's get to Let's do some news and shout.
Out to all the other sports podcasts out there. Making a banger man around the NFL. Part of my take is always good. And then the Dan Levtard Show. I mean, Dan's always killing it, so he's been doing it for a long long time.
A couple of notes there. It's the New Heights podcast.
Of course, the Kelsey Brothers, winner of Best Overall Podcast at the iHeart Podcast Awards. Shout out to David Singer, our gifted talent booker here at NFL Media who put that on my radar. And I little Mia Koppa from Old Zeusser, who you know is a little, a little snarly, a little a little bitter, maybe took a shot at the Kelsey Brothers acceptance speech the video pre recorded acceptance speech at the awards show. We attended in person. We're lost in person. Well they won and delivered the pre
recorded speech. Now I feel bad because that was a class class move or from their podcast. That was from what the acceptance speeches. I think that was recorded separately as a part of the iHeart Okay awards exciting, I mean, but what we just listened to was from their most recently.
He was like.
Looking down, So I don't know how familiar he is with the program, but I do appreciate the thought, the uh, the shout out, and we were mentioned first ahead of pardon my take in Levatard, And.
I think there's something to take out of that. I think there's absolutely something to take out of that.
We are getting to the age where there was a chance some of these guys, if they were into podcasts, were listening to the podcast, you know when they were.
Getting to the age.
Well, I just mean like we're going to talk Aaron Donald later and his retirement, right, but we were there talking about his draft day. Yes, So that means people coming into the league now, they were like ten years old.
Maybe they were listening to our podcast or something. Oh, you're dating me.
Let's get to it. Justin Fields on the move. By the way I called this one. We had rotopad on, we did our and we all throughout. Justin Fields trade options. I said the Steelers, good Jeff, so bully for me. Justin Field has gone to the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for a conditional twenty twenty five sixth round pick. Now that can elevate to a fourth round pick if Fields plays a bunch for Pittsburgh this year. But that is very much up in the air because, of course, Greggie.
A week previous, the Steelers traded for Russell Wilson. We're going to get to Kenny Picken in a second too. He exits the picture. But what we're hearing, what's being reported is that Mike Tomlin has told Russell Wilson that he is indeed going to be the guy they see as their Week one starter. That's what he's saying right
now anyway. But Fields now joins that totally remade quarterback room in Pittsburgh, and the Bears are left wondering how we handled this and whether we botched an opportunity to get much more bang for their buck with Fields, who you know, as recently as the end of the regular season, a lot of people, including myself, thought they could fetch a high pick, maybe a second rounder.
It ends up being as low as potentially a Day three pick.
Yeah, it's a Day three pick regardless, right, sixth round, fourth round, and it's not even this year. I don't think they could have gotten more unless they potentially waited until draft day or potentially waited until the fall. So when Ryan Poles, their general manager, is kind of putting out there, the Bears have put out there through sources, there's so many angles to this. I want to get
to the on field stuff. But while we're talking trade terms that you know, they could have maybe gotten a little better of a deal, but they wanted to do right by an.
I don't need to hear all that stuff that's so phony.
It might be vaguely true, but the terms would only be like slightly better. Maybe it was like a hard fifth or a hard fourth, something like that, doesn't matter.
They weren't getting what they wanted.
And the reporting is they started with a framework of the Sam Darnold trade.
Again, good job by you, Dan, you mentioned that trade.
I believe in this very context, and that was what they were looking for, which was like maybe a couple of late round picks or pick swaps this year and a second round pick in the future. And they found out this offseason that offer wasn't coming. And as the free agency took off and guys like Sam Bradford got jobs and we're seeing these other backup spots get jobs, it became clear no one was giving Justin Fields an opportunity to start right now at least, and so teams
were just looking at him for a backup. And I think his contract played a bigger role than everyone you know.
Is making out to be in this. No one was going to pick up his fifth year out.
Now, I'm a little you know, I think there could have been a case to be made that, hey, let's pick up Justin Field, let's pick up the fifth year option, let's commit to him. That's two years for like twenty five million, that's pretty reasonable, and he's our guy.
The next no one was looking at him that way.
And then once they got to that point and realized no one was looking at him that way, no one's going to give up a good pick for one year
of a guy who's a backup or competing. And the one little thing I do believe the Bear is on is he they probably had a bunch of like lackluster options, And whether he said the Steelers were the choice that he wanted, that's what I would suspect him and his agent, or that they just said, like, look, this is this is probably the best chance with a good organization and a potential chance to play sooner than later, of all the choices, including it it's been reported the Eagles were
one of them. At least you have a pathway here? Where will send you to the best pathway?
I guess I'm still a little bit surprised how it all ended up playing out, because I just.
Thought, I am too, Oh, I am too.
To be clear, I thought, while he certainly hasn't, he'd still be a member of the Bears if he had truly fulfilled his potential there or what they believed he could be, but I thought he's shown enough that there would be a team that would really Yeah, like that
Donald trade. The Panthers traded for Donald thinking he was a depreciated asset that could be a big time player potentially, and nobody saw him that way, apparently based on this and that ESPN reporting from Courtney Cronin was an additional the Bears had an additional offer with stronger draft capital from a team with an established starter, but the team decided they wanted to put Fields in quote a position to continue his development. And what rubs me the wrong
way about that type of not the reporting. The reporting is fine, but the way the spin is like, if you really cared about Justin Field's development, you could have you know, had a much more cohesive plan when he was in your building and you saw him as the future.
And now you're going to on the way out the door and be like, oh, you.
Know, we're gonna make sure we take care of you screwed up his development with the way you handled the first three years of his career, four years of his career. So I don't that whole thing that me the wrong way, But in general, I think Fields in terms of his future, I think it's it is a pretty decent spot.
And I'll give the Steelers credit.
I have to say, like, do I love Russell Wilson or Justin Fields. No, But if they're going this route in terms of trying to figure out the position, they could have done a lot worse when you look at what they gave up to get both Wilson or what they paid for Wilson, which is nothing, what they gave up for Fields, which is close to nothing, and now they're kind of two lottery tickets and you see what happens.
I think they did a great job.
I think omark in terms of where they were and what they could do, they did the best that they could do. Now they probably don't have a long term change quarterback, but I think Fields has a better chance than probably anyone else was going to be. And I think it's important to remember with Chicago Ryan Poles, their GM did not draft Justin Fields, and that it's been
mentioned a lot, and that's just how it goes. Like when you when they messed up his development, but it was like Matt Naggy to start and a different GM to start and ownership all that stuff.
The Steelers basically.
Gave up nothing to get an upgrade from Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph. It's kind of amazing how little that they had to give up. Now, if Justin Fields balls out and ends up improving that draft pick from the sixth to the fourth round because he does play more than fifty one percent of his steps by the way, I would, I would guess he would because I think I think Justin Fields right now is a is a better player than Russell Wilson. And I understand why you
told Russell Wilson he's the starter. And Russell Wilson's already sending out tweets like welcome aboard Justin Fields and hopefully that that's all you know, a good relationship. You're gonna
let those two guys compete. They're so similar though. Justin Fields holds the ball a long time, isn't known for reading the middle of the field that great, is incredible making plays on his own, is one of the better quarterbacks in the league in terms of his deep accuracy, and can spin the ball like, who does that sound like a young Russell Wilson and Russell Wilson's an old Russell Wilson. I'm not saying Justin Fields is going to reach the level that Russell Wilson at was early in
his career. He's obviously behind compared to where Russell Wilson was in his third year, but the athleticism is there, and I just I don't know, I can't imagine in a fair competition actually that Justin Fields doesn't get a chance eventually.
Plus they're going to want to get a look at him, right because he's under a contract for one more year. So yeah, I would think Wilson has to play extremely well well to keep Fields off the field, and we'll see if he can do it. I do have my doubts, but in general, I give them high grades. Now, we mentioned Picketts, so why don't we just talk about him here. So the Eagles go and they do business with the Steelers.
They acquire the former first round pick an exchange for let's see, the Eagles send the number ninety eight pick in this year's draft end a seventh round pick next year, and it's Pickett and the one hundred and twentieth overall pick of this draft underd and twentieth overall pick.
Was a four fifth, fourth fourth, So it's worth around up of twenty two spots and they had to give up a seventh, so they didn't even pick up an extra pick the Steelers to get rid of pig.
It so and there are reports out there and pick Ittt spoke on it today as introductory press conference, which is interesting. He spoke for the you know, on behalf of his new team or with his new team, that he did not take the Russell Wilson move well and kind of shut down some workouts that were planned and basically said get me out of here. And maybe Pittsburgh
was like, yeah, you got it, buddy. But in the end, I feel like he is a cautionary tale about when we talk about the draft coming up, like that draft famously was not loaded with quarterback talent, as I recall.
Yeah, it was Desmond Ritter and Malik Willis and but then there really wasn't a winner.
These three quarterbacks pretty in the sun.
Right, all those guys, and but teams cannot help themselves. It seems there's always going to be even in a quote unquote bad quarterback year, the teams they're like, well, we'll be the first one to take a guy. And it's later in the first round, but you still end up you still end up turning over like two years of your franchise to the guy, and the Steelers ultimately set themselves back with a really middling prospect in the big picture.
And that's how we played, right. I was never excited about can you Pickett? A lot people weren't. People had third, fourth round greens out of something. But he knew the facility.
Remember that he knew where the bathroom, which is why this reporting and people got upset with the reporting that now it's been convenient that it comes out from like local reporters that he didn't want to dress as an emergency quarterback last year in Week eighteen, that he felt like it was sort of insulting and there's a question of whether he was truly healthy or not. The Steelers did him wrong no matter what, because Matt Canada was his offensive coordinator.
It's a really crazy tenure in.
Pittsburgh if you think about it, because Matt Canada was his coordinator, then they fire him and then if you remember, Kenny Pickett had the very best game of his career in the game after they fired Mike Canada, and everybody was like, wow, they got rid of Canada. Picket's great, and then Pickett got hurt the very next game, never played for the Pittsburgh Steelers ever. Again, Mason Rudolph comes in,
looks pretty good. They decide not to give Pickett the job back in week eighteen and for the playoffs, and yet they get rid of Mason Rudolph too. Anyways, at that point it was clear Mike Tomlin and then we're probably just out on Kenny Pickett. And so they did a bad job. But I kind of can't kill them because I'm the guy. And I've talked about this with Dave Danishek on his Minus three podcasts. He's been killing this. My thing is flood the zone with quarterbacks until you
get one. Just keep taking them, keep taking them. Now, the better process would have been take Picket in the second or third round. He was not worth a first round pick. But if you don't have one, keep taking them. And I think they're doing it.
That's kind of what I.
Meant, right, don't just because it's a back end of the first round and nobody's been picked yet at that position, Like I feel like that sometimes clouds the thoughts.
Of yes, they kind of take themselves into it. It reminds me of J. P. Lossman.
It reminds me of EJ. Manuel. These like late first round picks at quarterback.
You know, other than I guess Aaron Rodgers that was pretty good in Lamar Jackson.
I am really you know, runing myself.
From those were like really late picks. But there were other quarterbacks in those draft class. No, No, I know. What I'm trying to say on the Steelers though, is they're kind of doing that flood the zone thing right now in a great way. So the Eagles get a backup quarterback. They used to say they wanted to be a quarterback factory. They basically gave up nothing to get a decent backup quarterback in Kenny Pickett.
So it's good process for them.
But I would not, if I was the Steelers, rule out taking a second or third round quarterback this year too. I don't think it's that crazy. This is a good quarterback class. Next year is supposed to be bad. There's seven eight guys. Now, you're probably not going to use your first round pick in it. But uh, there's some guys that people are pretty intrigued about that could end up going in the third round, and it reminds me a little bit of when Russell Wilson was drafted.
That was a three tiered battle.
I believe it was Whitehurst, who was a trade tar acquisition, Matt Flynn, who was a previous free agent pickup that wasn't really working out.
No, that was Flynn's first season.
That was his It was Sason Ann, Russell Wilson, and it ended up being the third round pick that worked out. And they didn't think Russell Wilson was gonna be who he turned out to be, or else they would have taken him earlier.
So I just keep trying them. You know, no, you might hit one.
I've said, I've talked about it on the show before, but remember having a conversation on the rooftop of a downtown, LA like elementary school and being taken aback by how much Carol was talking about Russell Wilson, even though we had done all this writing and reporting about Matt Flynn signing with the team earlier in the off season.
It was like, oh okay.
Also, the Eagles, by the way, did some business on the defensive side of the ball. They signed former Buccaneers linebacker Devin White to a one year contract. So that is a former first round pick White as I recall, second team All Pro and Worth a flyer there and.
People were talking, you know, talking about him. It was like, could he be super Bowl MVP? He had a monster playoffrom Worth a flyer, but really shows he's the type of guy that color announcers were. I always used to be like, oh, he's one of the best linebackers. Linking against the free agency and nobody wanted. They also signed you boy, Jake Elliott to a nice big contract. Kickers make it the great money's these days. Finally, well, what is it relative to the cap percentage?
Well, you're right, it's not much.
It's time for kickers to really take a bite into the salary cap. That's what I want, not just more money because there's more money being spent for a year.
You're doing twenty four million dollar contract. It's pretty good though. That's that's the highest. Now we would actually have to stay on the team that whole time to get the end.
I'm sure it's backloaded.
But the way he's kicked, he's been as consistent as anyone in the league since he started. Other than like Justin Ducker, he could actually get all that money.
He's a badass. He certainly is also Keenan Allen badass? Did you know Allen? Last year? He was the one consistent threat on that offense after Austin Eckler went into a quick decline and Mike Williams blew out his acl Keenan Allen with Justin Herbert last season just kept chugging along. He had one hundred and eight catches, then gets injured. He missed the last almost quarter of the sea and he finished with one hundred and eight catches for twelve
hundred yards, seven or eight touchdowns. So obviously a premier producer. And now he's on the move because the Chargers, still dealing with cap Hell, send Allen to the Bears. So he is entering the final year of a four year extension he signed with the Chargers before the start of the twenty twenty seasons. Now, the thirty two year old joins a Bears wide receiver group that GREGI is starting to look pretty frisky, especially with Caleb Williams obviously on his way in it seems.
And the number nine overall draft pick, which is their own draft pick. And I don't think they're necessarily done. This is such a good class at receiver. Some people have mentioned them because they've they've still got extra picks.
They just picked up another one.
I guess it's in the future for fields, but could they move up for one of these three wide receivers at nine and really complete that group? Because Alan he raises the floor. But he's thirty two years old on the last year of his contract. Whether he's there long term or not, we'll see, he said, you know in the opening press conference. Look, I'm I'm very open to signing long term here. I wouldn't have come here otherwise. I loved what he said about not taking a pay cut.
I do want to circle back to what the Chargers are doing after we talk Alt with because they got Bosa and Mac to take a pay cup and he was just like, that was the best year of my career. I was the best player on the team. I'm not taking a tay cut. And he is due twenty three million dollars this year and the Bears are going to pay it to him. So it's like it's almost like he's he's getting a franchise tag plus from the Bears
and he deserves it right now. But I get why the Chargers, in such cap straits were asking him to take a pay cut, and I get why the Bears are doing this. It's a fun It's a fun group to me. Him and DJ Moore are a great tandem because they have similar traits where it's just gonna be very tough for defenses guys that get open. I do think you kind of want what bigger, physical, maybe vertical guy to fill out the group.
But it's a great tandem and that could happen with that draft pick.
Let's see in the Chargers by the way, yeah sore. More details came out on what they did with back with Mac and Bosa. I just found it interesting. Those guys took significant pay cuts, but they really set up the new contracts that they were like our one year contracts.
It was really a win win.
I give them a lot of credit the player and the team where they really reduced their cap hits. They're gonna have some cap pain next year getting rid of them, but they're almost certainly gone after this year, but not nearly as much as it would have been this year, so they get one more year out of them.
They convinced them to take pretty good pay cuts, and so.
It wasn't hey, we're gonna blow everything up right now, let's let's try to keep you know, playing at a high level. Alan didn't want to do it, but they convinced those two guys to do it. And those two guys are almost certainly gonna move on after this year, but they get one more year of them.
Yeah, I like, I like the way they handled it. So we'll see what happens. But if Mike Williams doesn't come back and he's visiting with the Panthers, the Jets, I believe, the Eagles, so that move could.
Be Steelers Steelers, which is that would be a frisky one if he went to the Jets.
Are the Steelers makes a lot of sense, But there's.
Also been talk that he might the Chargers. Now if they've moved, Allen might be open to bringing him back on a more cap friendly deal they do have. If that doesn't happen, they got a lot of work to do in terms of building an acceptable stable around justin Herbert. But yeah, it does feel like a two year plan here for Harbaugh. All right, let's talk about the Jets, who make a big signing this weekend. They sign left tackle Tyron Smith, formerly of the Cowboys, to a one
year contract. It's a deal that's worth with incentives up to twenty million, which is obviously big time money for a left tackle, but he's got to hit a bunch of incentives to get He's got to stay healthy, which
has been part of his story at thirty three years old. However, GREGI for a guy that has consistently graded out Pro Football Focus and elsewhere as one of the top blind side protectors in the league, I feel like this was a home run for the Jets to get him on a one year deal, and you just hope and this has not been something they've been connected to with health
on their offensive line. But if he stays healthy, this is a big signing for the Jets, who have now remade their offensive line ahead of the draft, which means that opens up their options in that avenue.
Yeah, it's huge for them, and I think the base salary is only like six and a half million.
Which I was like, Wow, Tyrone Smiths only getting He must have been super annoyed about his market to sign this.
Right, And the reporting is that the Jets were a little surprised that he took the deal in the end because he just stop me, we're going to be out on him. And whether he was annoyed at the Cowboys and just wanted to move on from them, or the
Jets were just a better opportunity. The Patriots were reportedly maybe maybe in on this and Patriots don't really have a path, a great path to being great this year, and maybe the Jets structured it in a way where like they were the only team that was like, well, you can make twenty million if you actually play and you ball out.
I think it's a game changing move for them.
It's a boomer Boss move, but this is the ultimate boomer Bus season for them, so I think it's great. Next Gen stats had him as the number one tackle in the league last year when he was just in one on one matchup, so it's just single, I'm blocking you. He had the third most snaps of any tackle in the league, so he's not getting help. It's like, I'm
just blocking you. No one's helping me. And according to them, he gave up the fewest amount of pressures per snap of any freaking tackle in the league, so he was playing an elite level. I kind of think he is a Hall of Famer. He's not that old, but he has had pretty serious back injuries. Look, their process hasn't been great because Joe Douglas said he's the old line guy. And they went into this offseason needing to fill three
offensive line starters. And like history tells you between Tyrone Smith, John Simpson, and Morgan Moses, like one or two of those probably won't work out.
That's what history would.
But on paper, they did about as well as they possibly could have going into this offseason.
Yeah, they And here's the thing, I was texting with my Jet fan buddies and and I've been saying, I've I'm pessimistic about this year. Just seems there's too many red flags flapping around this team with Aaron Rodgers, even though, according to a report, now will not be chosen as the VP candidate of RFK.
But which is funny because supposedly it was rfk's donors believing that like he wasn't a good choice.
And it's also like when they chose a billionaire woman instead who can pay.
Yeah, not to get sidetracked, but also all the all the we got it. We need to start to realize with this Rogers stuff, like he loves it, like the fact that it was never a real thing.
It was never gonna happen.
Yeah, but as long as we're all like our mouths agape and we're talking about it, that's what he likes. He likes people being either offended or annoyed with him or just talking about him. And that is part of the Rogers deal and it's frustrating, but like he got what he wanted out of that.
I don't know, man about a and Rodgers on TV is a lie.
He just might want to be the vice president of the United States. I wouldn't doubt that.
I mean, in this moment in time, I honestly think it was more about look at me, how I'm connected to this powerful figure, you know, ostensibly powerful figure. I think one thing at Rogers did not and maybe this is something with Andrew Moore shan in a bit. One thing that Aaran Rodgers did not take into account is when you are saying weird stuff allegedly or crazy conspiracy theory stuff as a football player, it might not get
picked up. But once you are all of a sudden connected to a presidential candidate, people might care about alleged comments about Sandy Hook and maybe he learned something, but I don't know if he learns anything, honestly. But the Jets offensive line back to that I think will be good. I was texting with my Jet fan buddies. It only has to like once, just like one year, Like these guys got to stay healthy and everything has to work.
Like every other team, it happens like once, like like once, like look at look at their team with the Rogers and the left tackle now there and Breece Hall and Wilson in that defense. Like we just need one year where things kind of go right.
I have I can't remember just once a team on like a now or else year more than the twenty twenty four Jets, and those usually don't go well.
Let that be said general, not in I don't believe.
But I'm just thinking myself, Oh, just once, just once, it has to work.
You're the most optimist Jets fan I know, and I love you for that.
All right, let's take a break and then we'll continue the news, right, Welcome back, We welcome back. We have more news to hit, so let's spin through it before we welcome Andrew Marshaan.
When I hosted the show When You missed one, and we came back with did you do it? Aside, I didn't do it, and some of our listeners got on me that they were saying that showed a lack of confidence to not even give it a shot. But I thought it was your ip. But now that I've heard that note, I was like, Okay, I'll give it a shot.
Next time. I'll give it. Oh.
I think your first instinct was right that it'd be cool to check with me. But I'm totally on board with it being more a uh, it's of the podcast as a whole, like no I P I also would like to hear you try it, actually try it.
Here I hit it, and let's hear Greggi's version of the all right, all right, welcome back, all right, I need that we're working show. That's good.
It's good, all right, last one, and I'll do it just so you can get it in your head for the next shot.
We'll do it one more at the end of the shot. All right, welcome back.
It's like a there's like a descending It's like a staircase of anticipation.
Let's get back to the news. M mmmm.
Marque's Hollywood Brown got a job and it's the best. I think it's the best possible job in sports, or at least in the NFL right now, wide receiver of the Kansas City Chiefs a one year contract worth up to eleven million, and this.
Was overdue, I thought, for kid, it's very you.
Know, again, we talked about all the time, teams make a lot of mistakes and free agency handing out too much money to try to upgrade, maybe just a little bit. But still with the Chiefs after watching them for four months, even during their Super Bowl run, and you're like, God, stop wasting Patrick Mahomes brilliant with all these haminaggers. Do I come out of the first week of free agency
feeling like incredibly bullish because Hollywood Brown is that guy. No, not personally, but again, maybe he clicks with Mahomes and becomes a true star, which he is. There have been moments where he has displayed that, But the Ravens thought enough to get rid of him, right, and so did the second team he was with, the Cardinals. So yeah, it's just kind of a bit of a math for me.
Too many drops out of mark.
Brown does have a unique skill set and that he gets opened deep down the field. And there's only so many of those guys that do it. I mean, he's an absolute upgrade from Marcus valdiscounting for less money. So I think they did smart business based on the cap space that they have. The base salaries only seven million. I haven't seen what the incentives were, but I saw them referred to as relatively easy to reach, like a
four million dollar incentive. So if he goes and has a nice season, but even then, one million, eleven one year, eleven million is nothing for receivers in this market. So comparing him to Calvin really, yes, I'd rather have Calvin Ridley, of course, but for the money that they were at, I don't think there's that big of a gap between those two guys. I think they're they're nice players, and Kansas City still has to get someone in the draft, and I think they will.
I'll throw this out there just in it also buttons up the last topic. We didn't touch on it, but everyone pegging the Jets at ten to take a tackle, and now that they went and got Tyron Smith, they can potentially go in another direction.
They could also trade down.
What you're hearing reports that Joe Douglas is looking to trade down like I would love again as a football fan, Chiefs come up and get a monster wide receiver prospect, and let's see if you could build another Tyreek Hill type connection with Patrick Mahomes.
I'm hoping. I guess what I'm saying is that they have.
A big move ahead of them still that hasn't occurred yet, because then you got Rashid Rice, Hollywood Brown, Kelsey in the latter stage of his career.
They see it.
To me, there's still that one piece missing. You get that offense back where it needs or should be, and we'll see if they get it done.
Brown is a good two slash three. Rice is going to be I think a good two in the long run. But yeah, they need one to kind of push those two guys down this class and you never know, but man, these classes have been so.
Good at receiver lately.
Is so deep that you know, the Draftnicks, the Jeremias would say they might not even need to move up really to take a pretty exciting prospect there late in the first gear.
You know my feeling on Jeremiah.
And his takes and how Jeremiah all right, The Bills agreed to terms with the wide receiver Curtis Samuel, your guy you like yourself from Curtis Samuel, formerly of the Commanders, on a three year, twenty four million dollar contract. Again a lot of funny money here, it's worth up to thirty million.
But anyway, I like this one. Greg, I'm kind of with you.
I think Curtis Samuel, in the right setup, can really be a dangerous player.
Man.
The right setup was with Josh Allen in Buffalo. I like this one, no doubt. He's only twenty seven years old. Somehow it feels like he's been in the league forever. I don't know how that really computes. I guess he turns twenty eight.
He must have been in the league when he was nineteen. That's insane.
They will know how to use him. Joe Brady, though, actually gets a little too cute sometimes. But I can imagine a lot of getting too cute with Dalton k James Cook.
And we'll see.
There hasn't been any buzz whatsoever about getting rid of step On Diggs. I think that would be more on draft weekend, if that ever would happen. But the fact that it's been so quiet and now you have Diggs, Shakir Samuel. That's a versatile groups. It's not incredible, but it's it's good enough to go.
Win all right.
In other news, the Los Angeles Rams doing more business. They add a backup quarterback to their room, Jimmy Garoppolo. Uh, he may have heard of Jimmy G. You may know that guy. He now lands as a first time Well I'm trying to think, Actually, shouldn't say that, because obviously he was famously and trenches a backup early on, But is this the first contract he has signed now where he is the backup?
I mean, for a minute, he was the highest paid quarterback in the league with San Francisco Predictions. Yeah, they bet on him big and he had that early stretch and then the Raiders and yeah, what a the decline in terms of his like the types of contracts he was getting from this year to last year.
So he lands now behind Matthew Stafford in Los Angeles.
A nice.
It feels like Jimmy G just hanging out in LA like in Malibu.
It feels like it makes sense. It makes sense.
But it's a deal, a one year contract, which is you know, very different from the three year, seventy three million dollar deal. He signed last offseason and then played only seven games and then the Raiders got the hell out of that deal. So he lands there as they're backup. They also make a sign signing and we're going to get to the Rams defense, which is now going to be very different because of one missing defensive lineman. But they assigned safety Cameron Curl formerly of Washington, to a
two year contract. Former seventh round pick who did some good things.
With Washington right quite highly ranked in my top one to one and other top one, you know, hundreds in terms of free agents, top fifty type player, one of the better safeties that was available. Kind of calms down a trouble spot, I believe for them. It's interesting that they've now become the Rams, like the home for Way were quarterbacks. You get Baker in twenty twenty two, Carson Wentz quietly started a game or did he just come in, but he played most of that Week eighteen game that
no one, no one watched. He was actually okay in that game. He hasn't gotten a job yet. And now you get Jimmy g. It's a there's something about Stafford and Jimmy G.
There's a lot.
It's the it's again pretty pick privilege, right, that these these wonder kinds, they they believe they could fix what was wrong.
With the case.
It's almost like pretty McVeigh privilege that everyone wants to go play for him at a discount when their career is kind of at a talented player is at a crossroads because McVeigh can make you go look good. So it's a smart move by Jimmy G. For some reason, Jimmy G feels like a guy. I'm not taking a shot here, but like you know, you hear sometimes like, well he maybe it wouldn't mind being a backup for a little while.
He's had it, like it's a lot going on.
A lot of injuries, Yeah, but a lot say that if he wasn't so like smoking hot, right, but if he was busted up, dude, that's probably not your take here. He was at the center of a power struggle, Colleen, that that helped divide the greatest dynasty in the history of the sport. After that, he was like the highest paid play You say, his role in that was he was at the center of him.
He had nothing to do with it. He just got drafted by that.
But he was there and Robert Kraft had had one opinion. Bill Belichick, I think would have moved forward with Jimmy G's sooner.
And then it became this whole thing. Tie this to your take, go ahead.
I just mean that he's been through a lot. Then he goes to San Francisco. It's massive injuries, huge ups, two huge downs, letdowns in the playoffs, gets bench for a seventh rounder in the end, it makes a huge kind the Raiders things a face like, Hey, let's just go as you said, hang out in Malabu. Maybe let's chill a little bit for a nice organization. Let's take a little research.
I guess maybe we're kind of in this. We're landing in the silver place. But I don't get the vibe that like he doesn't really want. I feel like you're insinuating that, like he's he's.
Just said it's a good time. He also had surgery on his foot. He's a lot of injury.
It's just been through a lot and has famously gone on some big time dates in La Oh yeah, mister.
Chow crazy one. That's one of the craziest stories in the last ten years.
No longer with us. Look it up. The restaurant in the state.
I was like, no, I think she's They die young sometimes, like wrestlers.
Very similar. The Vikings make a big move in the draft. They agree with the Texans on a trade that nets Minnesota and an additional first round pick in the twenty twenty four draft. Rap Sheet and pell Saro had this on Friday. In the deal, the Vikings acquired the number twenty three overall pick in the first round and number
two thirty two in the seventh. The Texans get the number forty two pick in the second round, a number eighty eight one eighty eight pick in the sixth round, and an additional second round pick in twenty twenty five. So the Texans and everybody loves team builders love second round picks. Never forget that. They love it. They love the financial flexibility they bring. They trust their internal process to find a guy that's really a first rounder in
their mind in the second round. So the Texans like, we'll move a little bit back, we'll get some extra assets after day one. And now the Minnesota Vikings, and I don't love this, Greg, you know, I love my storyline here about Darnold getting a chance, a true chance to be a starter this year. But now that they are armed with two first round picks, they have the ammunition to move up to the top of the first round.
Let's see if Minnesota does it.
Yeah, I think it was Quessi who or maybe it was Kevin O'Connell who even admitted, Look, we made this deal with kind of an idea of what our ideal path here is. We'll see if we can execute it or whether to hop it or not. But either way, we're happy to have this pick. It's very clear the entire NFL knows they're making this pick to have a chance to go take a quarterback, to go package that eleventh and maybe twenty third pick, or or just be in a position where they can take that quarterback.
You're gonna have to move up.
There's gonna be a lot of speculation whether the Patriots move out of three or not. A lot of people believe they're gonna stay put and take a quarterback there, and then it would be on Minnesota to trade up and draft the fourth quarterback, who everyone presumes is JJ McCarthy. Intrigue, but it's a lot of presumption. I don't know A
lot of times these like logic. I went back and listen to one of our Like a lot of times, no one knows what's gonna Like, no one knew they were trading up for Trubisky, no one knew they were taking it, you know, taking Blake Portos Like literally no one said any.
Of that stuff. So who knows.
Maybe maybe Minnesota has a different idea, maybe New England has a different idea. But it's spicy because according to the little pick chart, the Texans won this trade pretty significantly. I mean, it is a good deal of business for them in what's believed to be the deepest draft in a law long time. To just move down eighteen spots and you get a whole second round pick for next year. That's a nice job by the Texans.
I mean the Texan I mean, I'm pushing hard and I know there's millions of listeners that want this as well. For the Vikings to run it back his team around the NFL man the Texans futures seemingly suddenly so bright.
Both in there you would point out maybe last year was their chance.
But you know for the Texans where they're really like a fresh new bi ale young option, new bile young option. Yeah, well that ship sailed it.
Would be fun, though I'm in on it. It would be still be fun. Eight o'clock to light.
Curse of atn Lton vander Ash retires after getting cut by the Cowboys. Michael Gallup, Both Gallup, Gregie and Vandersh guests on Around the NFL Live from Cowboys camp last summer.
Yeah, vander Ash neck injuries. We'll always remember what a player he was early in his career. One of Chris Wesleyan's favorites. All the best to him because he would have had a much different career if not for these neck injuries.
Unfortunately, And how about Gallups knee injury. He was really on a great path and now he has to start over somewhere else. Patriots signed Rogers Rover kJ Osborne and the Browns hire Mike Rabel as a consultant, h and sign another quarterback, Tyler Huntley. Devondre Campbell signs with the Niners. Jordan Fuller, DJ Wannham and Dane Jackson end up with Carolina.
What a weird quarterback room for the Browns. They got a lot of quarterbacks. Just makes you wonder I do the Four Horsemen. Aj Dillon returns to the Packers.
Interesting.
Joe Mixon gets a big new contract with the Texans. Titans cut free agent bust Andre Dillard. Steelers signed Van Jefferson.
I love that they are moving on quickly when the Titans make a mistake and Andre Dillard and I love that combo aj Dillon and.
Josh Jake was a frisky, big old combo in the backfield.
Cardinals signed Jonah Williams the thirty million, two year deal. Jake Elliott we mentioned gets a new deal. Seahawks signed linebacker Jerome Baker and Nathan Peterman.
Lands with the Saints. Saints doing let's take a break and then welcome in our first guest.
Realistically need at least twenty five yards.
Love pressure up the middle, runs away, throws across.
His body and not his picks. Footy dunners have it. Green Law still up. He needs to get down. Green Law is still on us. He's gotta go down, Just go down and goes to the number. San Francisco takes over.
Well, it's kind of fitting. Jordan Love told us this week. He goes, listen, there's some throws I've made that I know breage kind of the cardinal rules of quarterback and the one at the top of the list is you never throw the ball late back across the field.
There's the call from Kevin Burckhart and Greg Glson, who you know, really quick rise in the industry in terms of being seen as maybe the best or if not, in the conversation in terms of broadcast teams, and yet their time as at the top of the food chain with Fox could be over with the arrival of Tom Brady.
And that's why it's time to talk to This is our dude.
This is the guy that you want to go to on all matters sports media, perhaps beyond. We haven't had personal conversations about life and things of that nature yet, but maybe down the road that occurs as well. Andrew Marshawn, formerly of The New York Post, now with The Athletics, senior writer covering sports media. Welcome back to Around the NFL.
Andrew, Yeah, thanks guys, thanks for having me.
Yeah, so we just played that clip.
I think this is where we got to start, Greggie, because I think everyone wants to know what's gonna happen, Andrew at the with Tom Brady signs this massive deal with Fox, it's been a we've talked about it.
On the show. There's been some doubts is he ever actually gonna do it? I'm going to lose a sandwich on it.
Yeah, we have a sandwich prop on this. I said, he's gonna do it.
Look at the money and he's taking the year off to prepare and all that.
And now here we are heading into that season.
What happens with Greg Olsen, who's obviously emerged as a superstar in this field, who's under contract If I'm not mistaken.
Yeah, Greg Olsen will move to the number two booth with Joe Davis. The way his contract was structured. When he's number one, he's making around ten million. At number two, he'll make around three million. Brady comes in his salary. I also reported thirty seven and a half million dollars on season.
Crazy.
Yeah, it's Liverpool, and so he he's been working hard, talking to a lot of people. Everyone I speak to every time I speak to, you know, at Joe Bunck or Mike Turko, Whoever's like, oh yeah, Brady fucked.
So he's talking to everybody.
He called Payton up and so he's trying to to figure out how.
To do this.
And we all know Tom Brady.
So the expectation he's he is working hard, which I've already heard, and he's gonna work hard and try to be really good at this.
I'm I'm I guess I don't know why I'm surprised by this. I shouldn't be. He's got the time. He must love that. There's some doubt about like whether he's going to be good, But I just figured a year away from the game, is it normal for a guy to be preparing this? But I guess no one's ever had an opportunity like this, But no one's ever been paid like this either. I mean he is he has a bigger cap hit than almost any player in the NFL.
I mean he is making more money to broadcast than every player in the NFL, minus like nine quarterbacks.
And that's about it. Like he it is crazy to me.
Was there any doubt, like through this process from the Fox side of things, that he would follow through with this? And like, what what does it entail that he's working on it? Is this just kind of like smoke to make people quiet down?
If Fox has had no doubt that he's gonna do it, it's other voices that have thought that, you know, what this is a hedge, And let me just say one thing, and I think he's gonna do it.
I want to be clear.
On the podcast they used to do with John Oran, we had the Brady Meter where I did percentages of him doing it, and it was always above fifty percent, except for one episode where I went.
To forty nine.
I think when the Raider ownership came about, and that caused a lot of waves and Brady even ended up responding, I write a whatever anyways to you directly, Well, what happened is I don't like to go on these podcasts and blame and blame aggregators, but the aggregators got it.
It was just an opinion. It was fun, It wasn't really a serious thing. And then.
The aggregators got it and it was like I was reporting it, which I wasn't. Uh, And then Brady responded to an SI tweet and so any long story short that I had to write a column.
It was just a pain. The whole thing. I wish I've never said it.
I love that, you know.
So the question, though, the thing I would say is that if he doesn't do it, he's not gonna He'll say no at the end right, like he's gonna go through the process and let's just say behind the scenes when he's practicing, he doesn't think he's good. He's gonna embarrass himself. I don't think that's gonna happen. I think he's gonna do it. Let's it say that's the case or something else comes up. I don't think. I wouldn't. I wouldn't start saving up for that sandwich who owe, whoever.
You owe just yet.
I would wait because I think, you know, if he if he does bow out, it's gonna be he's gonna it's gonna show his intentions that he's that he wants to do it.
Until he does it.
I still I'm more like the Brady meter now is in the high nineties, but still not a one hundred. Hasn't hit a hundred hill a hundred that day that he does it. But I think he'll be pretty good.
Not to conflate to sectors and two things you've recently reported on, but you also did that deep diving again. Now he's at the athletic Oh yeah, Andrew, you know, he gets to really spread out and write a little deeper pieces. I feel like we're reading the nepotism p and it made me think. I was reading about you know, Jack Collinsworth and how they installed him on the Notre Dame Games and after a couple of years they're like, whoa,
I don't know about this. So they had to pivot of course, son of Chris Collinsworth with this situation, like in terms of risk for Fox, because let's say.
Tom does it. Let's say Tom stinks, because it happens.
We know what happens is that there's a long history of superstar legendary players. It's like we're talking about pretty pick privilege. It's like pretty legend privilege here, Like you go right to this number one spot.
What if he stinks? Do they end up in a spot potentially.
Where Brady he's not doing well, either removes himself from the equation or they have to make a move and then Olsen's out the door. Because the way they handle it, How big a risk are we talking here for Fox?
Could they lose everything?
Well?
Number one TV contracts are not like NFL contracts, so it would have to be Brady's decision is not gonna go eat you know, thirty seven and a half million dollars a year for ten years work with him.
Yeah, it's ten years old myself.
So Brady would have to feel like, you know what, I don't want to do this. I think for them for him not to be it, it's like it's all like. And that's why when he signed the contract. That's why why there's so many people saying it's a hedge, because you know, he did it because they kept offering more and more money. And then I got to a point where he said, you know what, let me try this. And I'm not saying he's not into it now, but this isn't some love of being a game analyst that
he has. I mean, that's hard to believe. He did a story a couple of years ago with the Wall Street Journals Jason Gay where he was asked about the broadcast booth and basically said he had no interest and so the money got so high. So it's not gonna be Fox pulling the plug. It would have to be Brady saying I don't want to do it. And so look, I think he'll be good. But if your doomsday scenario.
Yeah, I mean I listen.
I always for the best stories that would be interesting. Let's put that'd be fascinating.
If he were not good but still wanted to.
Do it, that would be an interesting story to see how that played out.
Yeah, I look at it like through the podcast Lens too. He's done a podcast with Jim Gray, the Let's Go Podcast, but it's like he's just sort of kind of doing it. You know, he's on vacation, he's not putting his all into it. It's like Jim Gray just asking him questions like they were on the radio or so. So it's like he's not trying to make the best podcast possible. He's just like tipping his toe into it. Every once in a while he says something interesting and that gets
picked up or whatever. But it's not like an overly successful podcast, largely because he doesn't put that much into it, and so people will catch on if that happens at the NFL, you know, at the Fox level. But the thing that's crazy to me is the Greg Olsen part of it is that Tom Brady is now Drew Bledsoe. Our friend Tom Curran used to call Drew Bledsoe in his contract the hood Ornament, because they signed him to this huge hundred million dollar contract and said, look, we're
a good organization. We have the highest paid quarterback in the league, and Drew Bledsoe immediately started declining. They call him the hood ornament, and every Belichick knew he kind of couldn't play. And Tom Brady is now the hood ornament. And if he doesn't deliver on a level that's even
somewhat close to Greg Olsen at least. I don't know if he cares about people like us, but it's gonna be in you know, the athletic and other places like that, that like he is inferior to the guy who's number two and is making what won twelfth of his money, and that's gonna get back to him, Like he's gotta be a little concerned that, like this guy who's already proven he's great at it is in his same building.
What do you think that the dynamic's gonna be when they show up to like the Fox, you know, let's take pictures and all pretend like we're laughing and throw a football between each other sessions.
Well, I think a couple of things.
Number One, you know, the way these guys are judged is subjective. You know, when you're a quarterback, you your team wins or loses, you throw for three hundred yards. You don't throw for three hundred yards, and so it's a little bit more cut and dry. I think the what you're pointing out is if Brady's like really bad, like if he's there's gonna be people who don't like Tom Brady just because they don't like Tom Brady. No matter what he does, they won't like him. But I
do think you can win over the audience. And the one thing about it calling a football game maybe it's one of the hardest things to do in sportscasting, you know, doing a podcast, you know, he's not the same thing.
You know, it's he's controlled environment.
You're just talking to another person, Like you said, in the setup that Tom has, you know, Jim Gray is really the one orchestrating everything and doing kind of the hard work to pilot everything, and you know Kevin Burkhart will do that in the Fox booth, but just knowing how to get in and out, how to translate. Obviously he has high level thoughts about football. But can you say that so you know, I can understand, so the
average fan can understand and simplify it. You know, that's a question that until you do it, you don't know, and it has to be natural, like Romo's success at the beginning was because he did come off as very natural, very relaxed, and like he was just talking to you in your living room, as opposed to being like, you know, trying to be a broadcaster, trying to be somebody else.
I I agree with you, and yet I remember when Olsen did it as an active player, and he was good, like the first game, and a lot of times, like when we hear like Adjason Whitten or someone that's not good the first game, the first yeah, you can kind of tell right away sometimes and it never changed, like Olsen was good. I know he's gotten better, but he was good the first game. I want to know what your Olsen meter is, though, Like what's the chances he's
not at Fox to start the year? And I guess what would be the other options because I can't I can't imagine. He's too excited to be taking that big of a pig. I know he's made a lot of money in his life and everything, but like he's he's competitive as hell.
But imagine imagine the place where he must be because you're you have having this great success. Everyone loves you now it's like seven million dollar haircut, and now you're no longer the a guy has to be really tricky more morale wise.
For him right now it is.
I think he'll be at Fox, he'll do the number two games, and then I think he'll reevaluate everything and see what's up there. I would say, though, I don't really feel that bad for Greg Olsen. I you know, look at him, as he's in a great spot. He's thirty six, thirty seven years old, and these jobs are now paying thirty seven a half million or eighteen million.
Dollars right here, Brady rose the ceiling here for guys exactly.
And there's only a small group of people who are going to be offered these jobs, and they're mostly Hall
of Fame quarterbacks or legendary quarterbacks. And they tried to get Peyton for you know, the salary structure, you know, partly, you know, the biggest reason was ESPN couldn't get money in a football correct, But that was in part because Peyton kept saying no. He said no, no, no, no, and so and then Romo had the you know, free agent and see where he had ESPN and CBS both wanting him, and the NFL contracts with the networks were up,
and so that's why they got to that level. But it's just a small group that's in there for these jobs and they don't open that often because they're great jobs and they pay so well. But Greg Olsen will get the opportunity to be a number one. I think, I don't know where exactly some ideas, but I'm not going to.
Say it on your podcast, No offense.
I'll get save those, but well there's only so many.
What do you think about you think Amazon is bringing back the same group this year?
What's that meter? They are?
Okay, he's saving his March bombs for no I get it, but that's a separate issue. So I was just kiddious if they respect March bombs, if they would think about shaking it up, whether it was herb Street or how I don't know.
Let's finish here because you mentioned Romo always a subject of fascination. I loved Andrew going out the door at the post after a huge run there with Tony Romo. I know you didn't write the headline, but Tony and Jim Nantz are a mess. With Super Bowl twenty twenty four, barreling toward them on a headline, What did you think about the Super Bowl performance by the pair and what is their future in your mind? Where do you kind of see there? You know, is that a pair that's
going to stay together? Will they be broken up? Do you think your feelings which are strong and on their struggles in recent years, you think that shared inside the building A year after, you know, some of the criticism really started to build and the report had come to Jesus conversation that was held after the previous year.
So yeah, my post super Bowl column for the Athletic, I think their headline was a little maybe a little softer.
But it was pretty strong column.
You know, they kind of messed up that final call, especially you know, Nance calls the touchdown and then for whatever reason, you know.
Didn't was they able to finish the call.
Because Tony was going in about the Andy Reid play and he always like loves to say, this is the play of the game, this is that's the play of the game. You're this is your chance to actually say that that won the Super Bowl. That's what it should be and better he probably should have let silence happen, let the crowd take it over and then give your analysis a little bit after. So they struggled in that Super Bowl. I think there is an issue in terms
of that chemistry between the two of them. I think that showed up in terms of, you know, the fundamentals that you have in a broadcast, especially they've been together, I think six years now, five or six years, they should be.
They should know, they should have it down. When you're a team. You guys know, you guys have done a podcast together.
You know when you're going in and out, and you know the Super Bowl is not when you want to mess up, especially that final call. And so yeah, I do think they have an issue.
Do they know it?
I think at some level that they know that there's there's problems there. Will they do anything about it? Maybe you know at some point, but you know, not the moment.
All right.
Andrew marshaw on check him out on the Athletic Now. His latest, by the way, is a banger about Lebron James and JJ Reddick teaming up for a podcast that all about ball, all about ball, and it has one of the best quotes. This is what we need, Greg, We need someone that vouches for us the way Maverick Carter This is this quote that Andrew.
We need inside sources with our next this is what he says about Reddick and Lebron. This is like two wine masters. Somalier's talking about wine, not necessarily you or me arguing if I like Burgundy or Bordeaux better whoa. That is amazing to be called a Somalier. And you got that quote, and that's what we need. We need support like that. That's what we needed.
I can do.
I gotta do it about it.
What would be like the like the analogy that somebody might use for you guys.
Oh man, I don't know, you know that that we're setting each other up like Shaq and Kobe or something like that.
Great Shack and Kobe feels strong.
It's like Brian Big Country Reeves and whoever else was on the Vancouver Gress.
All right, thank you very much, Andrew. You're the best.
Say hi to your brother for us.
The show and you didn't even.
Tell them.
Great, excellent, all right, Andrew Man, Shawn, thank you for everything. Thanks Andrew.
Thank you.
There he goes, Yeah, I mean, geez, we need a Maverick Carter. That's that's kind of the big takeaway.
But in terms.
Of of what we just heard from Andrew.
I hadn't heard that. I don't know if that was out there.
I'm sure it was, but that Olso in addition to taking that step down to the number two teams losing seven million a year, but the good job also by Andrew adding the necessary uh, you know, take a step back, that he's Olsen has set up so well in the long term that even if this is a little bit of a slice of humble pie. First of all, everyone knows it's not his fault. It's just the circumstances of
the situation. And whether it's Fox or someone else, he is now put enough on tape where he is going to be taking care of down the line.
There's I mean, there's only so many someone else's so it's you know, CBS or Amazon, and you know, Andrew isn't gonna want to do a Marsh Marsh bomb on our show, and maybe we can get to this he says, yeah, there's no chance, or he just said, you know, Amazon's bringing back the same too, which I have no reason to doubt, I believe. Though it was reported that that was initially a three year contract for those two guys, so this might be there. Finally your feet feels like
they would want to shake that up. Man, he could do even just keep out.
And I have an idea as we go to break better than Herb Street. Eric Roberts for the You know how every episode, you guys write like a little recap underneath the headline.
Or the title of the podcast. Just do this.
You know, it's Dan and Greg on today's show. And then right, this is like two wine masters. Somalia's talking about wine. Not necessarily you are me arguing if I like Burgundy, your Bordeaux better.
That's all. That's all it is. That's it. That's it, okay, and just see where the metrics go on. I think it'll have a massive impact.
All right, Let's take a break and then welcome in another guest.
Oh nice guest. Heavy show today.
Less than they are to gain on fourth down, the forty three seconds remaining rams creepy on.
They rush forward, Burrow to frow Ford.
He's hit, Peace sacked, he throws it away, He flings it away on fourth down. Aaron Donald got there. Donald takes his helmet off in celebration. He flips Burrow to the turf and forces the incompletion on fourth and one.
He singles to his ring.
Finger on his left hand, and you can build that man statue out so far stadium right now, the greatest of all time on defense does it in the biggest moment of Super Bowl fifty.
Six, a brilliant call from JB. Long, the voice of.
The Los Angeles Rams, the Super Bowl winning takedown a burrow that led to Los Angeles' close, narrow win over the Bengals a couple of years back. And now Aaron Donald is done with football. He announced his retirement Friday after ten absolutely dominant seasons. So why don't we welcome in the great voice of the Rams, JB. Long, friend of the show who called every game of Rams of Donald's La Rams career, and now Los Angeles moves into an uncertain place without their stud JB.
Welcome back to her on the NFL.
Danny Greg, It's great to see you both. Thank you for the invitation. You know how much I'd love to talk about Aaron Donald, and he's done so much for me, including getting the couple appearances on around the NFL. So thank you bring and I'm thankful for that honor.
What was it like? You know you this is a guy.
And just to put it into context, there's been maybe no other player in the history of the sport that was as consistently dominating as Donald, you know, maybe barrs Anders. And it's fitting because they both kind of retired after ten years at the top of their league from the time they entered to the time they exit. Three time Defensive Player of the Year, eight time First Team All Pro, ten time Pro Bowl selection every year of his career, former Defensive Rookie of the Year.
When he started in Saint Louis.
What was it like watching this guy and essentially covering him on a day by day, weekly basis. How quickly did you realize you were watching an all timer immediately?
I mean it was a privilege, it was an honor. I remember my first training camp. Many of others have shared this anecdote. But it's tough to practice when Aaron's on the field. Oftentimes, when Sean McVay was calling plays, even against his own defense, he would wait to take a shot until Aaron subbed out for just that one rep, because otherwise the play wouldn't get off, whether they were in pads or not. But yeah, I was watching a
living legend. The play that you just talked about. To me was like the culmination was his mountaintop, the fact that he got hands on Jimmy Garoppolo in the NFC Championship game as well to essentially have walkoff hits in back games at Sofi Stadium, the biggest in RAMS history. I know you guys that around the NFL are very careful and draw strict boundaries when comparing sports, but like, what is the equivalence, what is the equivalent of that like yard in game six? I'm sure, but like to me,
it's almost more like especially for a defensive player. Can you imagine robbing a home run in Game seven of the NLCS and then coming back and doing it again in the World Series for a second last out. Like so much of that twenty one year orbited around Aaron. So much of what the RAMS have done during my tenure have been driven by maximizing the prime of the greatest defensive player that I've ever seen walk the planet, whether it's trading those picks, like what has flipped those picks?
You know, to use a euphemism, really mean in the context of the Rams, it's about using every resource that you have to get the most out of Aaron Donald's prime, because whether they were a four or five win team, which they have been during my tenure, or a championship winning team, every game that Aaron played, you felt like you had a chance to win. He was that influential a defensive force.
He's the greatest defensive player I believe I've ever seen.
I think the only other.
Person that would be in the mix would be JJ Watt, who at his very peak, which was also during this show, and he's the guy, along with Aaron Donald and Lawrence Taylor, who have the only ones that have won three Defensive Player Dependsive Player of the years. At his very peak, JJ Watt was at such a high level I have a hard time putting anyone in front of him. But you can make your argument for Donald that they're certainly right there in the same area at their very peak.
It's just different positions. But did you say Donald? I did Donald back? But JJ what Like? That's why Donald? When you're trying to compare him to other people, the only other person that comes up to me is actually Jim Brown because he played nine seasons and that's the only other person I can think of that from the minute he entered the league to the minute he left.
Essentially he was.
At the very very top of what he did, which is that's what Aaron Donald did too.
Eight as you mentioned, eight first team All Pros.
He could have been first team, but he ended that twenty twenty two season a little early. He could have maybe gotten at his rookie year too. It's just like people didn't know Aaron Donald. He did come back that second year next level, but unlike those guys you're right, like, who combines all of that with having that moment? It's so rare in sports to have the greatest player in the sport at.
What he does have, Like what is a walk off?
It's literally unprecedented in football history. There is no one that's actually checked off all those sort of boxes exactly in the same way that Aaron Donald did. And he's such a humble guy and quiet guy that I think he probably got less attention because of that and the position that he plays. He got a little less attention because of that because it takes ball Knower's like you JB to recognize it. You wrote about him on the RAMS website this week, and I thought it was interesting.
You really talked about how glad you were he came back for these last two years, So I did want to ask you about that, what these last two years were like after he openly considered retiring and he's passing up what thirty million dollars this year to retire, And then also you didn't seem as surprised. I don't think about this decision as most people on the outside. So I guess just I'm curious about how this retirement came into view this offseason.
Two.
Well, I'm sure you both remember the conversation that was being had in and around the Super Bowl and certainly after the Rams won, leading up to the parade about you know, whether or not he would be back, whether he would just go out on top of the world, quite literally in professional football. And I had the distinct honor of hosting that championship parade outside the LM Memorial Coliseum, and.
I was there with the kids, We got the pictures, we were there.
Great Rams fans that you are, And maybe you can echo back to me your sensation when you heard that he was willing to run it back and just to kind of go behind the curtain a little bit. As a team employee, I was instructed not to go down the pathway of Aaron's future when he took his turn at the micro understandably so, because that was an unresolved issue.
But I'm standing between him and Sean McVay. Shawn's kind of jabbing me in the ribs, daring me to go ahead and ask if he's willing to run it back, and so talk about being between a rock and a hard place. I had what second decision, and I really appreciate the grace with which Aaron handled that, but it started a two year clock. I didn't know that I was going to run for two years, but it started the preparation process of this is not going to last forever.
And run it back did not go well, as you know. The Rams fell to the depths of five and twelve, and Aaron missed games in that twenty twenty two season because of injury for the first time in his career, and that prepared me mentally, emotionally for what life was going to be like after Aaron Donald. And we always knew it was going to be a challenge because he spoiled us, but whether it was like Baker Mayfield beating the Raiders on Thursday Night football at SOFI Stadium or
some of the other uplifting moments. It was a good preview that the future is possible. And then I'm especially glad for this past season when he welcomed a group of fourteen drafted rookies, including Kobe Turner and passed the baton in a way. I think this past season goes down as one of the most enjoyable for Rams fans outside of their championship seasons, because they overachieved and because
you can see now the path into the future. And that includes for their head coach Sean McVay, who's spoken openly about how the greatest defensive player of all time has helped him course correct and start this second book of his I assume Hall of Fame career eventually, just like Aaron.
Do you think internally, like you said, a really fun season for the Rams. They nearly knock off the Lions and the playoffs and that great wild card game. Do you think the Rams have been preparing for this really since that game ended or was there any internal hope or belief that he would be back.
How much of a surprise was it in the building.
I don't think it was a surprise. And even going back to like three and six at the bye I think some of the moves they made, even as subtle as signing Carson Wentz to make sure that there was a backup to Matthew Stafford down the stretch run even hinted at the fact that we don't know if we're going to get another crack at this with Aaron Donald
in his prime or ever. And so while the NFC is wide open, while we do think there is a path to a playoff spot slim though the odds may be, let's make sure we're doing everything we can to get him in the dance one more time. Because at the end of the last regular season, I think on the show, you guys said as much they were the team that
no one wanted to play. Now Detroit got to play them, and Jarrett had his moment and they handled that, And good on them for knocking the Rams out of the postseason. But who among us would have been surprised if, led by Aaron and Matthew and whukn nakua, they had made
another run to an NFC championship or maybe beyond. I think all of those thoughts have been in the back of Ram's executive minds for many, many years, because the window is always closing in the National Football League, especially when you have someone beyond thirty years old.
Yeah, I've been reading a little bit and it's fascinating they've had to prepare umbellbreg about reading. I just been on the Donald contract, and we don't need to get too deep into that, but it is interesting that they structured this restructure in a way that kind of showed maybe they knew this retirement could have been coming, but also.
Leaves the door open just a little bit.
If he changes his mind at some point in the future, because look, he already changes his mind once. You just never know, and they would want to leave room for that to happen. They've got a lot to do to replace him. They certainly got out to a great start with that last year with Kobe Turner and what they were gonna do, Like, what do you think they're gonna do next?
Do you think they're gonna take some big swings?
Maybe this offseason, having with this having happened, they've been a little quieter, but I think making smart moves and certainly spending money at the guard position and everything that I expected this offseason well.
Greg, let me start by stating the obvious, which you both know as well as anyone. There is no such thing as replacing Aaron Donald offseason or ever. So that's your starting point. But bracing for that impact, can you do certain things to try and absorb the loss just this gaping cavity that you have in the middle of your defensive line?
Yeah?
Sure, I mean I think Kobe Turner having a borderline defensive Rookie of the Year season helps. But for so many years we've seen so many defensive players benefit from the Aaron Donald bump, right, whether it's Von Miller at the end of that season, Leonard Floyd, Dante Fowler, like even players in the secondary really benefited.
Get people paid.
He gets people paid, that's right. He pushed the market for defensive tackles into the twenty million per dollar range and then the thirty million dollar per range. Like you know, I said that, He's both a driving force behind the way that current NFL offensive football is played and then the perfect antidote to that. Right when you talk about quick game and efficiency and getting the ball out of your hands, interior pressure that he created, the way that
he punctured pockets faster than anyone else. It's irreplaceable, but that doesn't mean that you can't win games. And if you've seen the Rams, you know subtly invest in their offensive line for a couple of years now to try and build that wall, especially guard to guard in front of Matthew Stafford so that he can't step up in the pocket, take that extra hitch and go through his
full field reads. Or making sure that DeMarcus Robinson is back. Now, all these things that whether or not you have to improve on offense and or special teams to compensate for what you're losing inevitably on defense. I think those things all go hand in hand. But I don't think anyone was caught flat footed within the Rams organization that this offseason Aaron could do something like this.
I want to pat myself on the back right now. I mean, that's what I love.
Is that portion of the show already it is.
And I only know this because one of our listeners sent me this tweet earlier this offseason, not related to Aaron Donald's retirement. They had been going through the old archives of all the shows we did. We did the Aaron Donald Draft. Of course, we were already doing our show. Then Dan and Mark were in New York for the Johnny Manzel draft. Chris and I were back here with Kevin Patrick coming at you in the studio with us, And here was my reaction when we did a little
segment favorite pick. I'm gonna give my favorite pick of the round to the Saint Louis Rams, even though I wanted them to take a quarterback because I just think they're sticking with Sam Bradford too long. Ultimately, you have to like the team they're putting together with Aaron Donald on that defensive line, Donald, Michael Brockers, Robert Quinn and Chris Long is the most insane pass rush defensive line in the league.
Right now, there we go.
I'm sorry you had to be here for there, there for you, but that's just part of the show and some of the mechanics of how the sausage.
I enjoyed listening to this so much because there was then there was a huge debate. We were really fired up back and forth, kind of killing the Ram. A lot of us were killing the Rams for not taking Johnny Manziel, But I did, like Mark had a fun statement to about the drafting of it.
There have been twenty two men in NFL draft history that have been drafted with a combination of two first names in their name, Aaron Donald being one of them. None of them have lasted more than three years.
Making things up, just making things up, no one.
Ryan had a pretty good career in Major League Baseball, well Worth.
That does not move the needle on this podcast to.
Sleep, I just put a hecks on the rams.
They are doomed to go seven and nine every single year for the rest of eternity.
Oh Man, Well, Wes often was right and not in that case, and I could tell you they had.
Some more seven nine ninees. I think yeah at that point, JB.
I remember being in that hotel room with Mark in New York City with I think it was a twelver of amstelt Light, just doing that podcast Greg the Boss across the country, you know, unaware that we were imbibing at the time.
Well, I know, Dan that you and Mark have really cornered the market when it comes to free agency, that you've become the foremost authorities. And Greg has tried to dip his toe into those waters. What has really seen for his niche And so it's a good callback that He's always been kind of the draftnick on the show, and that's where he should can.
Give ws, can give his ws where you can get him.
What a what a player though, I mean, just just insane to see him change games the way that he did from really his second year he was greatest first year. But I even found some tweets back from his first game a second year where I tweeted, but a lot of people it's like, holy cow, Aaron Donald is suddenly like the best player in the league right now, and then just to stay that way from from there through all these playoff runs a legend, legend we got to see here in Lost Ange.
Do you ever hear anyone say a bad thing about him?
I didn't, No, I am kind of curious, but it seems like there's never any like stories about what he's like behind the scenes other than like he's just like a nice.
Feel Like all I ever heard was like he has that dog in him. He's an intense guy. Like what was it like kind of dealing with him in one on one.
Capacity professional respects? You could feel the presence of greatness when you walk past him in the hallway, and if you saw him smile, I mean, the guy lights up a room, and there's so much for him beyond football that I can understand he kept it to a decade. But also, given what you said, would I be shocked if if we see him again in Horns. Maybe it's just naivete on my part or a hopeful ignorance, but
I would love to see that happen. But yeah, he was one of a kind, you know, eighty ninety nine forever, He's one of one. And I'm just so thankful for how easy he made my job because it always gave you the opportunity to ask his peers, what's it like
to work with this guy? Right, Like as someone who asked questions and interviews players and coaches for a living, Like how many coach McVeigh shows did I do following a loss where there was like, you know, a shrinking number of things where we could actually talk about to get through our twenty minutes, But there was always well, Aaron played well right, and he could wax poet about
what a unique talent Aaron was. And you know, the only criticism I ever heard from him is that he would occasionally freelance and like violate an assignment or a gap right, and even those who would say such a thing had to acknowledge that while that may be a risk on film, it really wasn't when who had put in the study and you had the competitive greatness that Aaron did because he wasn't playing the same game that the other ten players were on defense, so that anyone
who's ever played the defensive tackle position ever has he perfected it in a very unique way. And even going back to the draft, for someone who had question marks about length size, the fact that he turned those question marks into the exclamation points that made him a first ballot Hall of Famer someday is what I'll always appreciate about covering his career.
Well, he's a connection from Saint Louis. He's the connection between Saint Louis and these La Rams teams. I mean, he was fourteenth pick overall in the draft that they had the second overall pick, so like less Need is the one that took him. It's funny because you had a whole bit on that show about Lesned's high cheek bones and beautiful flowing hair, and they were like, asome, you better have a good draft here if they're going to pass on Manzell they'd better be a good draft
still there. One for two is plenty good enough when the one is the greatest of all time or you know, LT's in that mix.
But you know, we use that term to really stay the top.
At least in the in the analytics era and the there's nobody that grades out like this man and so football in the last fifteen years. May and we mentioned what but what part of Donald's greatness and his magnificence is that he he kept his prime throughout his entire career, just like JB. Long, Who's who will continue to thrive as the play by play man. Whenever the next great ram arrives, he'll be there as well.
I sure hope so. And for all of your friendship and integrity on the Around the NFL podcast, I.
Commendet wow let him to my next conversation. You're the man.
Gion producer Eric whispered something to me along the way in preparation for this interview. I wish you all well.
Thank you Jamie great JB along with the insight that we needed, delivered.
Part of the family, I mean, Keisha the remily well I was, I meant more of the Around the NFL family I mean Keisha when she comes to town. Yeah, she's got a lot of people she wants to see, needs to see. She she goes and sees her old, her old neighbor.
Unless we forget Ricky Hollywood do.
I meant to tell JB Long to keep an eye on Hollywood, just to keep her in keep her in line. In general, Erica needs that, and I think JB is a guiding force for many.
Take a break and we'll close things out right, everybody, What do you guys think? Mind the glasses that better or worse? Off? A little staccato in your I don't know, not for me.
There you go by the way, and I know what you're saying, because you're talking about Donald had the walk off, back to back walk off in the Super Bowl. But it really is crazy to look at Barry Sanders' career and look at Aaron Donald. Both played ten years, Both were constant in the mix. Barry was a first or second team All Pro all ten years, ten time pro bowler, won the Big Accoleates, two time NFL Offensive Player of the Year. He won the MVP once, which Donald I
don't think ever got. But that's they don't give it to defensive players. But that's the level of player. And I think Barry, if you were old enough to see Sanders, you wish he got what Donald got, which was that chance on the biggest stage, and Sanders never did. So the Lions never could get out of the second round. I think they made to one NFC title game that didn't go their way, but otherwise, you know, we're held out of the Super Bowls. They've been for the entirety
of their history. But Donald getting that opportunity and us being there for it, We've now been sneaky at a lot of huge moments in NFL history.
This is not lost on me. I'm sure it's not lost on you, Gregy.
We're very lucky to have seen Aaron Donald in person make that play Joe Burrow midfield, and that's a special Joe Burrow year.
That was a secial Cincinnati year.
They had the Pixie dust all over them, and they're down a field goal at midfield with fourth down in the final minute of the Super Bowl, and it's Donald who blows up the play because don't you get the feeling, if Barrow gets protected, he's probably finding somebody and they're continuing to march with.
The field March chase.
He was open on that play if he had some time, but he didn't have time.
And they had Evan McPherson, who's like having an all time season as a young.
Kicker the playoffs.
He was really the start of the playoffs with them, and yet Aaron Donald said no, and he pointed to the ring finger. So a reminder, we'll be back Wednesday with are always check in with all the team's post free agency first wave around the AFC on Wednesday, with a guest to be named later around the NFC on Thursday.
I think we're getting clay bound on Thursday. Patrick will be excellent. So that is great.
And a note for Behind the Glass Eric I was thinking about this some more so for the episode recap. Let's let's take this down verbatim. The latest e f EP. The latest EP is a hands of Rosenthal joint period. This is like two wine masters. Somalia's talking about wine, not necessarily you or me arguing if I like Burgundy or Bordeo better, nothing else.
Got it makes my job here as an editor.
Any thoughts of just ending it right right at talking about wine or no.
You like the rest of it? I Ordo. I like that.
I like that, like because there's a there's a way what Maverick did there. In his conversation with Marshaun, he was like, everyone else are pissons like that are, but these two people are Smalia's like, don't even try to be like that. I think that's you need that a little more depth anything else.
That's fired really at the rest of the industry, just like Travis Kelcey did for us.
Give him pop I get you know.
I again, I apologize for being a little flippant about Travis's acceptance speech now that he gave us such job.
If you want to talk, you talk Yoh.
Hey, you got it all. Travis has got it all, and you know he's got some class.
Let's see if they're still doing that podcast ten years from now, you know, or if we are should we.
Have quit after ten years? These are all questions. We don't have that money that AD's got, all right till Wednesday, Heed the call.