Patriots Texans Update; MiniCamp Takeaways Week 2

You smile immediately when you think of that as a last name. I like it. Um, Hi, everybody, Welcome to the Friday Show. How's everybody feeling in the studio? By the way, this is it, Mark You we talked about it all year long and you lament the fact that the end of certain you know, certain season benchmarks like the end of the regular season, the end of the playoffs, even the draft, and it's like, oh, well, it's offseason time now, and you're always saying not for us, it's

not you know, Well, guess what this is it. This is the last three show week before essentially the summer break of the NFL. This is the end of the road for us that started in late July of two. I mean, I have made I feel like if and you maybe no one has noticed, uh, because I haven't even noticed this half the time. But I've made a concerted effort to be less mouthy about that process because I think the complaint is a bit tiresome at this point. Um. But I will say that as soon as we hit

this pause. Looming in the distance for me is the avalanche of activity that is just with each day coming closer and close. Like when you were a kid and you had you know, summer vacation came, and then you could look at it two ways. When like August first hit, for instance, you could say, oh, we got another half of summer, or you're looking down the barrel, I'm taking it down. I'm like, we have got this is going to get Where who am I sitting next to in

third grade? This could go very good, this could go very bad. We haven't been tougher than a lot of like fifteen hour days over the last month. That's contributed to it. That's contributed. I've been I've been grinding a lot. I've been grinding a ton to know. Dan and I've gotten together to look at some odd games from Yeah, there was. There was one comment on Twitter today, actually it really on this topic, saying absolutely on fire this

season talking about the pod. Even Mark sounds interested. I mean it's someone's noticed. I appreciate that. As I've said many times before, this podcast is fine to be minus, that's solid. Be minus, but that's that's something to be proud of. I think to be not failing. Fine, Yeah,

at least we're not failing. UH. Today's show last Friday, West, while you were on your vacation after your honeymoon, we went around the NFL and UH and looked at all the new is coming out of the mandatory minicamps and um O t A s for the teams that were active last week. This week, even more teams were in

the mix. So a little later in the show, we are going to gonna go boomerang style back and forth throwing out some takeaways from the week that was whispers maybe, but more just generally things that we took from the week. You have a look. Well, if I use some of the guys you've already covered last week, just let me know and I'll move on to another guy. Oh, you haven't. I haven't sat down and really absorbed. It's fine, we

don't need to. We'll just mention it as if it think happened, just like when We'll work when Dan and Steve Weiss both had long um who was it? Sammy Watkins points and active, Actually no one said anything. It was fine. It was like, what's really the big difference? But before we get to that, let's hit a little

bit of news. And they said, so have you met an sp Justin Bieber came out on the record yesterday, I believe, and said he's only kidding about wanting to fight Tom Cruise, And uh, what you just heard there is a perfect reason why you would bail on any fight in an octagon, a potential fight to the death with the maniacal Tom Cruise. I mean, West was pointing out that he was older than Wilford Brimley by a

couple's five plus years. He's older than Wilford Brimley was when he was in Cocoon, which was an awesome nugget by West. But I always just pointed to the neck up factor that I just found Tom Cruise psychotic enough and wild enough that I wouldn't want to go anywhere near him in a fight. Here's just me. Here's a bieber said. It was a random tweet, it was I do that stuff sometimes. I think he would probably whoop my ass in a fight. He's got that dad strength.

But it's not even that. And and Cruiz isn't just the LSD has worn off. Cruiz is in phenomenal shape. But it's beyond that. It's beyond his physical fitness. It's that intensity. Well, he has trisity in his brain which is out of control. You here, that man, he is an actor. I mean he's acting when he does that. I don't know about that. He's a little out. I don't know. In his real life. He seems to be

venturing into some strange corners too, in interesting corners. I don't know him to be going around pummeling people in his free time outside of acting until he has to. All right, let's go get going. We'll start on the Throne of Sleeves, where we have some drama going on involving the Pats and the Texans and people that used to work together that no longer work together and drama. So here's the deal. And you know the history here with the Texans. Uh. They they're general manager Rick Smith

leaves the team after his wife fall zill. They go looking for a new GM. They knock on the door of Nick Cassero. Uh. They want to meet with Cassaro, who is the Patriots director of player personnel. Is correct, nailed it? Patriots say no, we don't, we're keeping Nick. Uh. So eventually the Texans land on Brian game that doesn't work out. They let him go after a year. Uh, and now they want to talk to Cassaro again. The Patriots don't like it, and they smell something off. So

what do they do? They file tampering charges against the Texans relead it related to their attempted GM higher of Casero, A source told NFL Network insider Ian Rappaport ESPN first

had this um, so we'll see where this goes. The Pats, obviously, Greg believe that the Texans have been trying to make this happen around what the NFL rules are in terms of the ability to communicate with someone that's not connected to your team, and they're going for draft picks and and and potentially fine to hit the Texans, And it's just so fascinating because of course Bill O'Brien is a Bill Belichick disciple, and I imagine no Christmas cards will

be extreme. Well, there's a lot going on here. Jack Easterby was the team pastor, their chaplain that they hired way back in two thousand thirteen in response to what was going on with Aaron Hernandez. And he did such a good job that he ended up staying with the

Patriots for the next five six years. And they called him the culture coach, So he wasn't he wasn't trying to push religion on them, but he was trying to, you know, work with them off the field, and he apparently kind of rose to a status where he was involved in the football operations. And he left the Patriots very soon after the Robert Craft uh drama from this offseason that we covered, and uh, it's been implied pretty

strongly that here's the culture coach. He basically left the Patriots upset about everything after Craft, and there was a bidding war between the Panthers, the Dolphins, and the Texans to get this guy Easterby. He is now the executive vice president of the Texans. He's second in charge of their front office right now. And he's supposedly leading this GM search along with O'Brien, who was at the ring

ceremony with his old buddy Cassario last Thursday night. I believe it was uh, you know, just hours before Brian Gaine gets hired, hours before they officially request UH to talk to Cassario. That was Jack Easterby who was up there. And you know, the Patriots are putting all this together. I don't know if they have any actual evidence or or what, but it's interesting. It also implies that Cassario

essentially wants to go. And I think that's what a lot of people have been missing in this story, is that if they're already if they're already bringing up draft picks and all this stuff in tampering, he's out the door. I mean, it's not like they're keeping it right. All these Patriots fans are like, well, you don't even know. Maybe he's the one that reported the Texans and he doesn't even want to. I was like, no, I don't. I don't know how they don't think that. I don't think.

I had a lot of responses in my tweet Twitter about that. It's like, maybe he's ratting out the Texans getting them now. I think I think he wants to go and get a big promotion h and work with his friend Bill O'Brien. Typically like a pastor, if they're doing their job correctly, would be based more on internal

power um as opposed to external power. But this, this is an interesting route for a New England based UM religious man to take, where he now is high octane involved with the Texans trying to pull away because SiO. I mean, that's what's ironic about it, and I think the Patriots are if you really want to get deep into it, maybe it's a little more personal for them after Easterby sort of let it be known why he left the Patriots that now they're getting the character coach

of the Texans in trouble for breaking rules. I don't know, it's a little that makes sense. I think I would look at Nikossario as someone that you know, you can say that Belichick and others are going to be there for the next twenty five years. I don't think so.

I think that there is something of a contingency plan in place, which from a distance I'd have to say has something to do with Josh McDaniels, has something to do with someone like Nick Assario handing over the team in a certain way that would not just drop everyone off a cliff and how many people can you pull

away from this organization? This might be more of the lynchpin type figure that New England's fighting for and saying, we also don't like the way it happened and this whole Bill O'Brien, you were one of our friends, someone we can trust. Well, you're out, buddy. Well. I always thought he sat at the right hand of the father,

alongside Josh McDaniels. Now it seems like he's the following angel like Mao O'Brien, O'Brian, you don't want to be on the bedside because Sario is really unique too, because there's no one in the league that has a job like his. He's a coach. I mean, he's out there on the field coaching the players every day and adjusted to being the GM. He's on the headset on Sundays talking strategy with Josh mc dan It's kind of a fascinating character in general. They said they had him working

a lot with Nikill Harry, their wide receiver. You know that you see him. There's no one quite like him, but they never gave him a nice title. There's something weird in New England where they never give you a big title or a big raise. And and if to me, it's like if this guy was the key to like, you know, the front office and the in their future, like they could have just given him a better title and a raised at any point, and they never wanted to say, I find a way to keep the people

that they don't want to let go. I mean, he's come close to some other jobs and it happen they could have given him a different title and and then the Texans would have no choice, and they just never did character on how people treat their family. And this guy Cassario has been with this organization since two thousand and one. He's been there forever. As Greg is saying, uh, he's not just a guy that works behind the scenes. He's been a wide receiver, coach, he's been He's a

guy that's involved with the on field action. He is such a key member of the organization. And now after and you know, with the pay and the job titles, I don't know anything about that, but at this point, this guy he's pretty underpaid. It's clear that he wants to take the next step in his career, try something new, understandable. He wants to become the general manager, which is one

of the most coveted gigs and all professional football. So the Patriots reaction to this is to what get but but hurt and try to launch with the NFL and investigation that will essentially when Cassario ends up in Texans with the Texans potentially put him in a tougher spot. I know this is we're not all best friends. This

is the NFL. You're trying to beat the other teams, but you're trying to hurt the guy on his way out the door and make this thing messy instead of just being like, hey, Nick, we love what you do, we'd love to keep you here, we'd love to try to keep hearing with a better title or better money. If we can't, best of luck to you and thanks for everything, instead of turning this into a whole thing

and it's just ugly and it's very Patriots. Well yeah, it's I think they they're feeling like they're taking out on the Texans, you know, in Easter b there they're trying to embarrass them, and they clearly don't like the way they think that it went about that maybe at one of their events that this was going on, and yeah, it's it is ridiculous because stop having ring ceremony. I mean they probably will at some point. Uh, it'll probably

it'll probably end up with like sixth round pick. I do not think like Casario is gonna be kneecapped here in terms of resources. I mean, you never know. It's a fairly unprecedented story, but I can't imagine this is gonna result in any major trade or anything. All Right, so we'll we'll keep an eye on this drama. Um, familiar drama. Uh. And let's now spin out of that topic and into camps and action on the field. This is it. This is the end of mandatory mini camp week.

There were also o t a s voluntary practice for teams, but now it's going to get a lot more in the NFL. So let's go around the horn a few times, uh and throw out some takeaways things that kind of caught our attention over the course of the past week. Greg, I'll start with you, alright. Uh, I'm gonna just start with kind of the news that popped up today since we haven't talked about it. At all yet from Mike Silver, some whispers are we doing that? Yeah? Why not? In Cleveland?

That Todd Monk and the offensive coordinator UH installation of his offense maybe hasn't gone as smoothly as they were planning. They haven't had a lot of their best players there, which I think would make it harder, and that Freddie Kitchens, the head coaches, had to kind of step in and become more active in installing the offense. And the only reason I wanted to bring that up today is we

haven't talked about that much at all. That Todd Monkin is coming in and Freddie Kitchens got this job because of what a good job he did with the offense. But Todd Monkin has been a very successful offensive coordinator with his own principles UH in different places over the last few years. And it's just like not a topic we've talked about, and you could see how there might be some issues there, and it's just an interesting thing for a first year head coach already to be dealing with.

I wondered how they would mesh because before last year, nobody really thought much of either of them in the NFL, that neither of them were play callers before last year, and they both impressed so much. Um Monken actually had his play calling duties takeaway. But at the time, the Bucks were I think number one in the NFL yards. So it was he impressed me by how open he was getting his receivers, and you could say the same thing about Freddie Kitchen. So to me, it was always

interesting which one would win out there. Is it a wait and see though, because it's not a big deal. It's just I think it's like it's just an interesting story to read and to hear. Like a first it's a probably a typical thing for a first year head coach to have to kind of manage when he's never

been a head coach before. But I I thought that when they hired Monk, and it's just like, this is a guy who was interviewing for coaching jobs everywhere, including Cleveland, and so that's always I don't know, that's always a little bit of a concern that you have two guys with two different philosophies and one that wants to be

the head coach. It's just something to deal with. It is a pretty severe left turn and a reminder that all the Cleveland hype is going to meet with realities in real life situations, because a month ago, Monk and who I think, I agree with you is probably going to be a head coach at some point in super talented.

Like It's just he was at it like a cherry on top of an offense that had so much talent and Freddie Kitchens and his ingenuity that Monk and who also would was someone who could relate to Baker Mayfield's college scheme and only add a positive. But then you have to work together and mix all this together, and it's you know, it's June, and maybe it's not going quite as swimmingly as one would have predicted. I thought

where you were going with that. By the way, Greg was the Mike Silver report today that quote several veteran Brown's players approached Baker Mayfield to register our displeasure with his kind. This was a two part tweet by Silver. I took. I chose the second part. You're going for the banger up top. Silver very popular with Browns fans

over the past couple of years. Anyway, So as you know, Baker was outspoken and expressed his um how disappointments not the word, but kind of just showed some bravado about called him out chastise Duke Johnson, who wants out, he wants to be traded, and Baker said, you could get out of the way, or you can join join us. It is what it is. Uh and uh. Apparently, according to Silver Brown's players, veterans came up to Baker and said, that's not how you should handle this situation. And UM,

I don't same thing. I don't I don't put a ton into it. But these it's interesting that after you know, weeks and weeks and months of nothing but positive, there are some issues to work through here. Um, and this ongoing issue with Duke Johnson is one of them. Well, I think this is one of the reasons why you don't see second year players as team leaders, because he hasn't gone through any of this contract stuff and he hasn't learned that in the NFL you don't mess with

another player's money. Right. It seems like a kind of we even talked about at the time that we wonder if Baker would say the same things like five years down the line. I would guess not because he's got some other guys in lack of just like, hey, leave Duke alone. Yeah, I'm not surprised that he at some point early on said something that was reigned in a little by the people around. But I will say I'd rather have that in a quarterback then a wil team

flower that never speaks and seems snapia leader at all. Yeah, you know, I'd rather add I guess I'd be curious how he reacted to that. I well, the the other thing that Silver mentioned, I don't want to miss quote him, but I was watching it on network and he sort of said that he felt that Baker might not agree with it, but he certainly listened to it and didn't. I only came back and argued, but he absorbed it, and you move on. Then he threw a punch and

knocked like Tackley knocked out or something. Uh, let's move away from the Browns. I'll throw one out there. Uh. You could say I'm going twice in a row. But that was kind of a piggyback. It was just adding

on to the Greg's things good strategy. It was just accentuated. Uh, all right, as we know, Doug Baldwin's done in Seattle, and I'm very interested because you trust what they do up there, You trust Uh, John Schneider, you trust Pete Carroll their talent evaluation going all the way back to remember, I remember being on a rooftop in downtown l A interviewing Pete Carroll when Matt Flynn was signed to be the supporter. By the way, location and job duty. Okay,

I'm gonna go on now. After the Seahawks signed Matt Flynn, uh, and the assumption was he would be the starter, and Pete cow kept on pounding the table about this kid, Russell Wilson, who they drafted uh in the mid rounds and and uh we all know what happened next with that. Now we're hearing a lot of pop about DK Metcalf, and I think it's very important for the Seattle offense that doesn't have a ton of uh fireworks around it right now, beyond their m VP quarterback, Uh, that Metcalf

steps up and makes an immediate impact. Uh. Here's what Russell Wilson said on Wednesday. Uh, Dk, it's great scene to make plays. I think he's looking really really special. He can do anything and everything, and he's tremendous. So this is a guy that got a lot of buzz for his size, his build, his speed. He showed up for the combine interview with a shirt off just to let the Seahawks coaching staff know how hard he is

working to be the best he can be physically. Uh, And I just want to be surprised knowing that organization and the fact that there's a superstar quarterback there if Metcalf is a player and they kind of need him to be. It's been interesting to follow this narrative around DK Metcalf since January. Someone who's not in the draft nick community, you would look at it and say, okay, that nobody really ever heard of this guy during the season. Then he takes his shirt off and everyone says he's

a stud at the combine. He's a stud the first day, and then the second day everyone's like, well, he can't really move laterally, and then you see everybody start to talk bad about him, that he's he's a product of hype, that he's a workout warrior, and now it's and then he falls in the draft like people thought he might be the first receiver taking and he almost around three. But now it's like, oh yeah, all that stuff about him being the best receiver in the draft may have

been true. After all he is getting he's one of the rookies to watch. I mean he partly, it's partly because of the fan base, but in the opportunity that's there. But I feel like more has been written about him on a day to day basis than just about any rookie in the league. Well maybe it's because of who the head coaches, but you're also seeing a lot of hype about David Moore. Pete Carroll said he was the

most im improved player in their mining camp. You hear a lot of stuff about Geron Brown, who looks like a totally different guy this year. So three of their odd receivers are getting incredible hype. Yeah, I mean in Russell Wilson, who probably is not the type to come out and call someone out, spend time talking about David Moore on Network Today. Gush, you knew over him, so you know we'll see West. That was a really good piggyback on my comments right into your own. Well, I'm

just there's a pattern here. I want everyone to realize there's a pattern. You must have something on the previous person's comment before you launch into your own or I'll break it. And I think Erica should jump into and and do a piggyback and have her own whisper. You have absolutely four minutes to get this ready. Erica absolutely

big breakout candidate this year. I'm trying to identify some guys if our listeners haven't been paying attention this offseason, some guys to keep in mind for training camp as breakout candidates for Fantasy And to me, the most obvious one is Marcus Valdes Scantling from the Packers vs. Who you here. He's picking up Matt Laflora's offense faster than anybody. Aaron Rodgers says, he's in every down layer. Their beat writers are saying, it's not Geronal moll Alison playing next

to Davante Adams into two wide receiver sets. It's mvs playing there. And this guy, I believe, at one point in his rookie year, had three yard games in a four week span. Um he can play, so to me, if Aaron Rodgers trusts him, and it sounds like he does, Aaron Rodgers is one of the guys saying that this guy is ready to take on this rule. You know that they didn't pick up anybody in the off season because we talked about it over and over again. Packers

need to pick somebody up. They must have a lot of confidence in MVS, who, to me looks like a huge breakout candidate. You want to piggyback, I'll give you one. Along with the fact that the offense fits him absolutely perfectly. It sounds like it just maximizes everything they like about him. And it's a speed based offense. And we know that. But Michael Silver, let's go back to He's been working hard,

he's been grinding his story. We know that Aaron Rodgers is a friend of Michael Silver and someone that speaks to Michael Silver. And it was Rogers asked about this offense, said that as just as Davante Adams has said, and MVS. And either way, his nickname is MVS. I discovered he was. He was quoted at in the in the show you weren't here. We said, if you're not using MVS as a nickname, you're an idiot. But he is. And we thought you might get in the way of Michael David

Smith the Pro Football Talk MDS. But apparently the Packers can see the difference between those two. Well we yes, we When we did the show last Friday, I talked about MVS and Aaron Ross supposed to interrupt, but he added, he added A L. Mark had a piggyback, and I didn't want to jump on his piggyback. Well, so let me let me finish this, then you can piggyback on this.

But Rogers, on top of saying that the defense would be stretched with speed and tempo and liking all that, did express concern for Silver about less of a chance to audible down out of a play at the line of scrimmage, which we know he has wont to do and one of the best in the league of doing, and actually had a quote that said, I don't think you want me to turn off eleven years of experience. So what will happen between and Aaron Rodgers? He calls

out players now and again. You know, if you're Baker Mayfield, tiss, tiss, but Aaron Rodgers, so you're going to the NFC Championship. But what happens between Aaron Rudds and head coach there in terms of when they you know, Aaron Rodgers wants to do what he does on every snap, which is like draw six people off sides by using his jargon at the line of scrimmage before the clock expires. What happens? Well, I this a Mondo piggy bank or is that your topic?

That is not my topic? I think this is. You know, let's mark down the day June thirteenth that Mark started turning against the two thousand nineteen Packers and trying to start drama. We got six months into the year. Al Right, Mark,

what do you got? I there wasn't a lot of news out of Cowboys camp, but there's something about it when you talk about whispers and mystery, and I have long for long periods of time outside of Zeke Elliott found the Cowboys offense to be somewhat dull, and you're exposed to it on a heavy basis because it's on there on Prime Time left and right, and the Dak you know, Dak Prescott experience I thought sunk a little bit last year where at times, until they kind of

got their judeticularly their groove together with the Marie Cooper, things were an issue. But now that Kellen Moore, their previous backup, is now their offensive coordinator, there are these amazing reports coming out about what they're planning to do with this offense, and it uses a lot of plays that they've had in place, even when Kellen Moore was the quarterback and Scott Lenahan was running a rather stale system.

But now Kellen Moore, who always was described as a coach his son who would be a future coach, is in that role. He is bringing huge elements of what he ran at Boise and basically what that means from a really nice report if you want to check it out. If you're listening to this, Joseph Farreolia of Inside the

Pylon dot Com went deep on this. It is a whisper packed piece, in my opinion, about an offense that is going to essentially do everything they can to f up the defense before the ball is snapped, with an array of formations, snap motions, shifts, all sorts of stuff where they're going to use disguises to keep the defense on their heels while deck presscot will get more time to look at coverage. Is all that sounds like what every team does, except it's not what the Cowboys were

doing before. They're adding all of this to the Cowboys offense. And the comment also was that Zeke Elliott has really looked good in this situation. Amari Cooper talked about it as being something we are running the same place, but we're disguising them, and he feels like he is in

a much better system for him as well. So it's a whisper because we're not seeing a lot of it today, but the Cowboys as a more exciting team, and when you pair it with their defense, which I think if we look at if you can pick up where you left off last year, hard to do. Don't just hand out the NFC East to someone else quite yet. I'm excited about that, aren't you, guys. I mean, I'm with Mark,

and they've been a tough offense to watch. Yeah, I agree, And it reminds me of a Freddie Kitchens quote from late in the two thousand eighteen season where he basically said, if you're not making the defense guests before the snap, you're not doing it in today's NFL. And Kellen Moore since he came, you know, since he's been on that staff for a couple of years as a quarterbacks coach, I was just I just hadn't put a lot of

thought into what changes he's gonna bring. I just sort of thought, maybe it'll be more of the same, but Dan Orlovsky, who who worked with Kellen Moore UH in Detroit, talked about this. I'm glad you brought it up Mike on the Mini Kinds podcast one time, saying he expects them to go for wide a lot. He expects Dac to be running the ball ball a lot like spread, a lot of movement all around, and that it will be more of those sort of I would explain why

they didn't cut Alan hearns right. They want to go for a while like boise and spread and just a lot more principles, which is totally different than what they Yeah, I agree it, Yeah, technically, what are you thinking about that? These Cowboys? You know, I don't know. I think that the Cowboys. You guys don't give them enough credit. But they got as far as they did last year, and you guys still aren't sold on them. I don't think they're especially exciting team, but they got to where they

were for the for a reason. I guess I can't argue with the numbers solid. I think that's good. You know, it is an exciting team. The Shield uh and a big match against the six and two Barneys Nooners and always a long time rival, our longest rival. This is like Steelers Ravens. We we didn't just beat Barney's Nooners. We embarrassed them. We humbled them, throttled, throttled, man handled, man handled. It was a humiliating affair in which we put up six runs in the top of the first

and really never looked back. There was never the game was never in doubt. It was ten nothing by the end of the second. We won twenty six to six. This is one of the teams we played in the playoffs when I was there. It's a team we beat in the finals the first year. They were reduced to rubble, to the point where they were grobbling about the umpire. They like to complain. Yeah, they were down runs and complaining about the strikes the umpire. Even after the game.

We were having a couple of rude dogs, so up ratings, enjoying ourselves, and the umpire, who is also working the second game of the night in between innings, leaned over to us and and basically cursed out out. The team was like, they're telling me that the strike zones off, You're losing by twenty runs. Terrible strategy by them. They'll see that ump again, I'm sure. And in related shield news, Ricky people did throw it out there. They floated the

possibility that are missing um female outfielder. Maybe there's some connected tissue between you starting the game that caused her to storm out with her dog and then the fire at your apartment day. It could have been it could have been some foul play. I mean, if you wanted to press charges, I'm not saying that. I I wouldn't go down to the police station with you. I don't think like after the softball game speculation counts as actual research on this. I get like a low level p

I on that though. Yeah, all right, let's go around the horn again. Let's be a little quicker this time. Let's kind of just make our points and we try to get around one more times. Yeah, summer break begins. I'm gonna mention the conversation Caroline about their new three four defense that Ron River has been there for seven years. He's running four three defense the whole time. You kind of think of them as this big four man front. They are a three four defense and they are like

hammering home pretty hard. Kwan Short is now a defensive end. Gerald McCoy is a defensive end. Uh. You know, Luke Kickley is going to be in a different role, and that's something that's kind of I think I saw it once early on, but it didn't really strike me as that big of a deal. But that is a pretty big change for them, and it's interesting that a coach that's been there for so long just wants to make

a change like that, and I think it's smart. I think you go with the personnel that you have and what you think is gonna be best. It sounds like the Patriots are also going to be doing more four linebackers on the field uh this year too, so to two teams that have been around a while and have gone back and forth because they have good linebackers. In New England, it makes Brian Burns one of the most important rookies in the league right because they need him

to be kind of that rusher that Yeah, it's standing up. Um. Everybody knows I love the Jets and I try not to talk about them too much. You'd be surprised to hear that I really do hold back. If I could do it, I would talk about them. Every episode would just be a Jets podcast. I I love the Jets. They're my favorite team. But you know what, it's it's been a rough you know, seven or eight years almost running in the entire span of my time working here.

But for the first time, I'm so excited. There's there's optimism in a way that um, I don't remember even with the Rex Ryan years that kind of snuck up on you when they got good and then before you could even like kind of get into the flow, but it was over. With the Jets. Now there just feels there's a bubbling in a sense that they're trending in the right direction and the higher of Joe Douglas. Uh,

this week is just the latest example of that. And um, Sam Donald, who I'm I'm very optimistic about making a big leap in year two and I'm not alone. Everyone that follows the game closely sees this guy is a great, great, um great potential water back and their Jets UM wide receivers coach had a great line at on Thursday at the Jets facility when he was asked to give an assessment of Donald's skills. Uh. Here is the quote. Excuse my French when I say this, but he's a dude.

He's a dude with a farm and he's accurate as so. Excuse that I don't know who the Sean Jefferson the guy is. I don't know if he can coach wide receivers an I like the cut of his gin that used to be the Titans wide receivers coach. I remember he used to say Justin Hunter was going to be the next Randy moss Um. So that's a piggyback. Yeah, that was like a piggyback and then you like the pigs neck open with a knife. He said other things too. I don't want to limit like the Sean Jefferson portfolio

to just hyping Justin Hunter. The rest of the guys in the room will don't worry, but I, I honestly believe that. Um, it's just a fun time to be a jeff fan and nobody's gonna pull the wind out of my sales right now. I'm enjoying and I'm excited, even like Greg Williams said his press conference, doing Greg Williams things again, like telling letting people know that he told Jamal Adams that he's coached much better players than him. What jimmal Adam, She said, I have half better coaches.

Thank you? Uh, well, you know, he's just tweaking. He's having fun. And again, everybody else can make fun of Adam Gaze and Greg Williams. I like the coach on the second. I don't think in this room that we're anti Jets at all. We'd be happy for you if they were competitive. Okay, well, I'm just are you anti Browns for instance, Well, then certainly it goes in reverse, like no one. I think we're reading into this little differently. You said everyone else in the room would pour oil

and salt and water and gas on something. I was talking about the chuckles over, Sean jeff It was I mostly want Erica to now make like one of those social videos where she has some good graphics with the image of Mark slidding a pig's Throaty kind of slipped under the radar thats who jumped on the pigs, but actually actually made a cutting motion for everyone that's not in the room of himself letting the works. It's called acting and performance. Did it look a little too natural anyway?

Sean Jefferson, you're the man, and um, all those Jets haters. It's going to be a tough couple of years because we are on the rise, Matchup Revenge, Mark Revenge. You can tell because Dan's little nugget was Baker Mayfield based, and Dan is quietly heat seeking the Browns. He does not want the Browns to succeed he at all. You can feel it. I like that we are we are. We are setting a little seven year old Dan right here, all the little childhood emotions coming out, and it is

overt and I love it. You're a sick man, No, you I am correct? Do you know it? We are did have some great plot lines, you know, because you are already annoyed by last year so much about what Baker may feel, Darnald the whole thing. Yes, you are, if I'm not, I mean this is this is a class accessor move. You're building things up in your brain. I want the Browns to be good. I want the Jets and the Browns to be playoff teams. I hope you'll feel the same way. I just expressed that I do.

But it's it's it's something about it feels a little raw from the Jets angle, a lot of straw men about all these people can't stand the Jets. It's like, just we're fine if they're good. I'm not talking about you specifically. Well, it's mind wants to make it that one. I would wonder what the other people in the room think. I think we finally have our answer to what happened if the Browns and Jets just became just a little bit interesting. No, I really do want the Browns. I

want you to be happy. I don't need that, but I appreciate you. I mean, you don't you don't want me to want you. I don't want. I don't want you railing on the week after week. That just simply lowers the enjoyment of certainly won't do that. I won't do that, I promise you. Why would I unless they deserve it, just like any other team. I will. We will see, all right, we will see. They both suck. We both argued about which which fan base has had it worse forever, and now we're now. If they both

get good, it's gonna get effine ugly. I can feel it, not a one side. It just Mark's acting crazy. I didn't think that until today to the skip to week two, opening week. Whoever they're playing right, Seriously, I don't know why they did that. Actually, I will say they have Cleveland playing Tennessee. On who the Jets are playing. They should have just paired them up there. That's the and that's where Monday n I thought about it started. Well, no,

but it's started there. Quit turking around here and put some sandwiches on the line. Uh sure, sure, the Jets will take our business. The Browns is gonna be a mess in September. So it's in New York. I mean, I think the Jets would be heavily favorite. I'm happy to Healy favorite. I'm happy to better say it would be at least at this very moment, I think they Yeah, I'm setting the line at Jets minus one. You thought

you thought, Hugh jetticks. I'm just saying I think I think the Browns would be favored at a neutral field. It's in New York. It's about Yeah, it's about a pick. You thought Hugh and and Todd Haley was bad. Just wait till Todd Monkin and Freddie Kitchen square off, no doubt, don't worry. Well, if we're gonna do it, let's have fun with it. Alright, Go ahead, West, that's gonna be hard to follow. Alright, We're sticking on the fantasy football beat.

Here alright, James Conner of the Steelers. Last year, we saw him used in the Levy on Bell three down roll, big pass catching volume and big running volume. And he is now saying the plan is to spread it around with Jaylen Samuel's and rookie Benny Snell. I'm saying, hold off on the panic button. If you're a James Conner devote football. Let's find out if Benny Snell is good enough to eat in to his workload. First, Let's find out if Jalen Samuels, who was barely used last year

and Tim Honor got injured, was not impressive. I would not say in the limited time looked like Marcel Reaese. I mean Marcel Reese made a Pro Bowl. He put him in the right role. Yeah, he's been of an h back fullback kind of kind of gut. These things work for about a week or two until the overt better player needs to be used in a pinch, and then the Steelers love Benny Snell. In the draft. Most draft nicks I heard thought he was entirely too slow

to be an NFL running back. Well, I get why they're thinking that way, because they have not made it to the mid halfway through December with a healthy running back and I don't know how long, you know, like they always load up their running backs and then they never quite make it healthy to the end of the year's with Levian Bell. Now Jim James Conner, can we get back? Well, I was just gonna say, that's a great June plan. And we hear this ald and then once the game start to coach says, my jobs on

the line. I'm playing my best player. By the way, Greg, you under sold You gave him credit like this guy could, but you undersold it. Four time Pro Bowler, second Team All Pro two thousand thirteen. Yeah. I didn't really know how to respond because I was saying, Jalen Samuels wasn't that good? And then you you hit me with Marcel Rosy played fullback but plays a position that is extinct

in the NFL. It was one of the It was one of those things like John qun is like a seventy four time Pro bowler, right exactly, but he had a nice couple of moments. Marcel. Well, there's Kyle Uschek

and no one else. You're not wrong, all right. I know that we've talked about the Cardinals a bunch, But I thought that there was some interesting new information about for me, why they drafted in, increased information, why they went after Kyler Murray and made the changes they did and didn't have Josh Rose and suddenly learning a new offense,

and it's because Kyler Murray. And this comes from Larry Fitzgerald to Steve Wish basically said has been in the driver's seat from day one, that he is teaching the offense, to Larry Fitzgerald, to all the other veterans that he basically has from the second he stepped in there showed total command to the point where the only issue that he not that he's been perfect, but the biggest issue that he faces is that this offense, which let's stop

even throw out all the Chip Kelly business because they're completely different schemes. It's just that they're both unknown going into the first year. But this is a completely different, speed based, four wide type deal that's going to force

defenders to make choices on every play. And the only thing that sort of slowed down Kyler Murray so far in camp has been that the veterans and other players who are not familiar familiar with Cliff Kingsbury's offense have been intellectually trying to figure out after the snap what

to do and where to go. Everyone else is catching up to the quarterback, which to me, whether this works or not, I have put to bed any concerns about the draft choice they made because they found the quarterback that is perfect for their system, which is, what do you want to do with every position in your offense? And if you're gonna make this thing work? And Cliff Kingsbury is not someone that probably would have been given

a ten your rope to make it work. If it has has hiccups along the way, you go and get the guy. And so far and athletically they said, he's been like amazing to watch as well. This feels like a home run. And I'm thinking of our friend Jason Zelmwalt, Dan's childhood friend or college friend or adult friend that who became our adult friend, a great guy who has had to go through a lot of nonsense, just as

much as us with the Cardinals. And I'll tell you what, he's going to be excited because this team is going to be fun to watch, I hope. So I think he he might lead all time. Podcast like mentions in terms of not just like not part of the been on the podcast, but he's got to be close, right, Bob's in the mix. Spice rack, spice Rack. There's some

this unnamed softball simone issue. This person. I can't name who the person on the softball team is, but alright, I want to go one more time around, even if you want to throw a double banger in there, just too quick. Now, I feel like I've just got a bunch of big s c pluses. So you know what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna go speed round and just say them all rapid fire. There is no more hyped player period from the O t A season than David Montgomery, the running back for the Bears. We've covered that a

little bit, but he is. He is number one in terms of hype. Marquis Goodwin no longer gonna be playing that many snaps. They're having him do less routes. He is clearly not going to be a starter anymore. In San Francisco, Travis Frederick, who is kind of the key to that Cowboys offensive line, still has not been on the field for team drills at all yet, and he's coming back from a shoulder surgery and the Guian bear syndrome, So I feel like that is a major thing to

watch in training camp. And then Titus Howard, who everyone assumed the Texans drafted to be their left tackle or right tackle, has played guard throughout training camp. And actually one more last one, how about Jarrett Stidham Patriots. Athletic Beat writer says Stidham looked better in his first couple of months than Jimmy g or Jacoby brist Do we have another quarterback to up? Jarretts did him their fourth round draft? Thank it's an athletic beat writer. What do

you for the athletic beat writer, he's no Connes? All right, let's go up to Western New York. Lashawn McCoy coming off his worst season of his career three point two yards to carry. Uh, well, here's a great Lashawn McCoy quote. I'm the type of guy I thrive off having a big name, So when guys come to my team, they're curious to see how is Lashawn McCoy. Is he a good player? I mean, I'm a dominant player. I think

that speaks for itself. But I'll be in the same role as last year, and I look forward to putting some numbers up and bouncing back from that last season. His accent. And by the way, you will not have the same role because now there's approximately forty seven veteran quarterbacks UH or running backs to compete with. Frank gor t j yelled in Devin Singletary, uh all on the roster. Singletary is the third round pick. He's gonna get some carries.

We'll see what's happening with that running back position. UH. Kicker update the Bears, because they've made the US into a you know, I'll wait for the Bears have made this a total you know to do it's it's just the biggest story around this team is trying to find a kicker. Well, it's finally some good news out of camp. Naggi called on Elliott's small fry and cousin Eddie Pinero to try forty yarders. Now they're just moving in closer

and closer, just looking for a win. It was forty two, now it's forty mrs would have meant conditioning work, makes practices over and they get started on their precamp break. While they nailed both the kicks, Snaggy, it was a win for them today. I feel like they've tried to do this thing where it's like creates a fun moment for the kicker like seven different times, and they finally work. They finally it was like a twelve yard field goal. I would hate going to work if I were a

kicker in their organization. And my final nugget is, uh, I love trope alerts. I love this time of season because you can always find the same story over and over. It's mad libs. So let's go trop alert. Two stories to her. Gabriel of the Bears sees a quote drastic change, and Mitchell Trabsky's confidence. Big trope alert around confidence and especially the quarterback position. And one more also the quarterback Lamar Jackson. He might be working with Tom House, the

QB whisperer before training camp. Not even definitely, he might be. Jimmy G's working with Tom House, he said in l A too, so they hang out together? He did, Yeah, he asked of of Lamar Jackson, and uh then got a some sort of a fist bump that they talked about endlessly on NFL Network. It sounds like it, but yes, insert young quarterback here to work with Tom House before training camp every year book at West Devantie Freeman healthy, looking like his old self and no longer his Tevin

Coleman to contend with for touches. Keep him on your radar and fantasy as a bounce back guy him he can play another guy carry on Johnson from the lines. Theo Riddic no lock to make this roster and they want to pass the ball to carry on Johnson more this year. He looked phenomenal before his season ending injury last year. Another interesting fantasy guy uh Trent Taylor of the forty nine ers, separating from Richie James for the slot receiver rule. Trent Taylor is gonna win that job

because he's a good player. Um Scott Miller of the Bucks rookie sixth rounder getting some John Brown buzz as the new John Brown and Bruce Arians offense. We'll keep an eye on that one in the preseason. Smokey Jr. Smokey Jr. And the Colts may have the most enviable tight end depth in the league. Jack Doyle back on

the field running routes after surgery. Eric Ebron coming off a record setting season for touchdowns in Indianapolis, and mo Ali Cox looks like he could be the new the next um basketball to tight end star cults are gonna be a problem. Close it out, Mark Hey. I thought it interesting that in Pittsburgh b reporters who were trying

to find out what Terrell Austin's role was. Terrell Austin's role was as coach there and that he's been hired a essentially to be someone that is that deals almost essentially with just on field challenges, to help Mike Tomlin with challenges, because Tomlin's had some issues with that in the past. In Minnesota, Kevin Stefanski, who was almost tired by the Browns to do that role that Todd Monkin is now in, is now there well also for head coach.

They say that Kirk Cousins essentially the minute that he became the o C last year Kevin Stefanski, the Cousins settled down and felt much better. They liked the relationship. People can see it. Obviously, Mike Zimmer's very happy because Gary Kubiak is probably running the entire thing like the

Emperor from Star Wars behind the scenes. And I thought this was interesting that they did an interview UM it was Tom Pellicero with Stefan Diggs and Adam Thealan and Adam Thealan, I love him, both very likable guys, would not stop talking. And Stefan Diggs did that thing where where there's two people on an interview and Digs is like, when am I going to get a chance to talk here?

And at one point he said one little thing and then theland jumped back in with another like two and a half minute long comment, and Diggs, who I think it is a pretty charismatic do, was like, I'm on NFL network. I want my due now. Maybe I read the entire thing wrong. If you're listening network, this is what we're looking for. I got to find a link to that Chris Hair. You remember him. He works for Chargers Weekly, the podcast and I've been on a Good Guy.

He also worked on our Pick Him show that went south after two seasons. But he told me that Gus Bradley down a Chargers camp has been talking up linebacker Drew Tranquil out of Notre Dame. And if you think I feel like the Chargers linebacker corps in years past, not talking about their pass rushers has been an issue, it's starting to get deep and that defense has very few weaknesses at all. Also another linebacker update in the

cults system. They could not be any better with Derris Leonard out right now linebacker Bobby Okariki if I'm saying that right has been dominant so far in camp activities. So nice, the rich get richer on that front. And the last one I have for you, said Jerry McDonald. I know it suddenly feels like a two minute sports update. Derry McDonald out of the Barry and newsgroups, We're like, Oh, Antonio Brownie's gonna fall off a cliff now that he's got Derek Carr's just gonna be over. He's just gonna

be annoying but not good. Said that the best training camp performers he's ever seen our quarterback Jeff George and running back Darren McFadden, largely because they cannot be hit or tackled in these camp practices. But the same goes for Antonio brown saying that he's never seen anything like it on the field. Cover cover the Raiders for a long time. Thank you make man back after this, um, Do you have anything else? Erica? No, No, I didn't

think so, a little disappointing. Yeah, way to bring the shadow of screeching. No I mean, I can't follow follow Mark. That was so good. I'm interested to see a lot of the quarterback battles. That's always that's good. Good Dan, your hair looks bad today, called for Goo'd like go to Vaga football analysis. That is you know how to hurt me and you have and it Actually, you're right, I'm not using my Redkin product. It's looking good. It's fine. It's like this show all right before we go, um,

it is the final show of the UM school year. Well, I caught that a long school year. It started late last July's come to close here. You see how they're doing this to us. By the way, when we started the NFL, there was there's defined boundaries. Now this our school year goes from late July to mid June. That's rough, and we're by the way, it's not we're in summer school also because it's not like we're going away. So now we'll be back with two shows next week, so yeah,

tune in for that. UM. Also, the NFL Media Talent Summit is next week and we're gonna try. We can't. This is not a promise, but that means everyone kind of they have everyone fly into Los Angeles and they're this big old meeting with all the suits and and

it's like an auditorium. It is kind of like being back in school, a summer school at a swanky Hoholt hotel on on the water here UM, and we play the role of kind of like the you know, the kind of the nerdy, like the creative nerdy guys in the back that everyone likes, but not really ultimately a part of the important power, right like when we got they did last year they did something I like those guys, you know, but ultimately not the big movie and shaking

last year or something. I don't know if it comes back, but they um organized some type of improv session where they're calling up all different you know, big stars and Kurt Warner and Shack and Colleen h we got called up to and I'm sure there was some internal monologue and going on with like a Michael Irvin by the for for one, Like is that basically yeah? So that will probably happen again, will be flooded with those same

feelings of insecurity. Dean Sanders did say hello to me, not because he knows who I am, just because I was simply in his way. Excuse me that young buck. All right, before we go, Mark, why don't you um do your thing and take us away with one of your famous Mark Sessler meditations. Take a deep breath in, and as you breathe out, close your eyes and begin to relax, bringing attention to your breath. Let go of your concerns, your day to day worries, and see yourself

as a being of light. Traveling now along a beautiful seaside cliff, your feet touching the sandy path below. Now you pause to sit and rest on a calm patch of green grass along the cliff. The air is salty and alive, the sea below crashing against the rocks. You feel your troubles flittering away in the ocean air. And then you see a figure approaching down the path, sturdy

and strong and caring. And now this figure is kneeling down beside you, smiling, and it is West, in a lush vacation cardigan picked out by Lakisha especially for you to enjoy. West smiles and calmly begins to tell you a wine Dan narrative about the Jerry Tarkanian let U n LV Running Rebels basketball dynasty of the early nineties. Stacy Agman was a key figure. He tells you you feel a sense of enormous piece with West sitting beside you, the feeling of almost being underwater in that ocean below,

surrounded by the endless sea. But also you are very wet. Your clothes are soaked, annoyingly so. And that is because, from high above, on a cliff way up Erica Tampos has launched a globe sized water balloon into the air, a balloon that landed point blank on your crown chakra. Never trade for Iranian arms, she shouts, never do it. Fell for meditation over