Potential Surprise Cuts with Conor Orr

or at least nationally. J. J. Watt tweeted that five hours ago, and people are going nuts connecting dots trying to figure out what is the code in there, if any connecting him to any number of teams that are pursuing the future Hall Pass Rusher Um and you know you guys are educated men. I was wondering if there was anything you took out of that Micae Mito condrea is the powerhouse of the cell. Anybody got anything? There is a link to our show because our our friends

of the show. Seth Payne down in Houston, not being on the Jack easterby Beat for a minute, put up a post suggesting this that translocation of active mitochondria during Buffalo o sites in vitro maturation, fertilization and preimplantation embryo development some sort of science jargon, but he tied it to the bills, and people are thinking this could be a hint that he has headed to Western New York.

You know, there is there is somebody else that I He always seems to have a strong, uh unique take on things, and I I take what he says seriously at all times, and I'd like to know his thoughts on In fact, let's bring him in one of the all time friends of the Around the NFL podcast and now a big old star for s I in Monday and winning quarterback Connor or or you kidding me? Connor

Mido Condria is the powerhouse of the cell Buddy. I I don't I I don't see how you could take that any other way outside of the fact that he's going to Green Bay. He's going to be a packer, um and that this all goes back to you know, uh cow's milk production, uh Wisconsin mitochondria. It all folds in really neatly there. I think, Yeah, you know, Greg, I don't want to bore you with the science, but I think it's pretty easy to get from point A

to point be there. But I do enjoy U j j. Watt is doing like a I guess it's sort of a breaking bad thing right with the episode titles or the ozarks when they had the pictures at the beginning of every episode, he's he's having fun with it. He's like every other you know, kind of boring, boring, old white dude at this point. So I I'm I'm happy for him. I do like when he tweeted out something like free agency is wild and then people are just like, oh, man, J j WA's crazy, like a kind of like like

like what like this guy's hilarious. It's it's like the the baseline and this was an old old West is um um, you know. The baseline for like considering what's funny from an athlete is so low. It always drove him crazy that people thought like Peyton Manning was like the second coming of George Carlin or something that that's like you could just say the most basic thing possible and be like, these athletes they're wacky. They're really hilarious.

My problem with my problem with this whole thing though, is like so with Tampa Bay last year, I started running my mouth like the second the Tom Brady got there, and I was like, all these superstar like huge air quote acquisitions are so ridiculous and meaningless, like Rob Gronkowski, Leonard four Nett, And I was like, you guys think this is a dream team. This is just an absolute joke.

And then you know, of course, and one of my articles ended up on Tom Brady's postseason hype video and finger and so you know it, Uh it felt good, I guess to get my point there was I was gonna say that all these fans are getting excited to decipher these codes from like who is eventually going to be like a middling thirty three year old defensive end, but like, of course he's gonna have twenty four sacks next year and break Michael Strahan's record and make me

look like a huge idiot that I do love the idea of Tom Brady's you know, like circling around in his basement stewing over a Connor or Yeah, but that means Connor made it. I mean, I totally agree shows the visibility of his platform, uh, which is astounding. But you're right, I think, and there is only one Tom Brady obviously, but yeah, he does remind you that, you know, don't don't count out the old guys having another huge year in the tank. I think what certainly qualifies Connor

what what's going on? How are you? What's going What's what's going on in your world? Are you? Are you happy? Are you content? What's new? I just just making it through, you know. I think we're all we're all learning to swim in a little bit of a different way during these times. But uh, at the same time, it has made work. Uh Like, we all are very lucky to do this job and to talk about football. But I think we've sort of double and tripled down on that

appreciation over the last like ten months. You know, I have you know, people that I know who are like whatever, you know, you're doing something very granular. But we do get to in the middle of the day, even if it's a pandemic, be watching football, you know, And so I think that that, uh, that's sort of changed my perspective on a lot of stuff. But I still I get to write about uh I I get to write about all sorts of fun stuff about Pokemon today. So

that was so that was good. You know, we're gonna get into that a little bit later, because Pokemon is one of those things that whether it's because of age or just I've never been connected to sci fi and that culture or whatever that is. I don't even know what it is that I would like to know more about Pokemon and the NFL and how they connect. But Connor, you, of course, as a former NFL media employee, we go way back, and we got a big show. Connor is

gonna be with us. We're gonna get into the news and we're going to take a look ahead at UM surprise cuts, and there's gonna be a lot of them UM releases cuts, some that you expect, some that you don't. UM with the salary cap going down, and Greg, you've been h grinding it out on the old dot com with pieces the last few days. So we're gonna get

into all that and we're gonna do some news. But Connor, as we've been doing the last a couple of weeks now, uh, following the passing of Chris Westling, you are a former NFL media cohort, and we had a lot of times together. We still have great times together whenever we see each other at Tent Pole League events, although they haven't been happening for about a year now. But since you're on the show, Uh, have any memories you want to share about your time with West, either at the company or

before or even after. Oh my god, there's just so many. Um And you know, I was going through my phone after I had heard the awful news and it's so like West that our last conversation just left you with this beautiful feeling. And he's just such an incredible guy.

Like we were talking about he texted me in the middle of the day about like an Orioles game that he was watching from Mike Massina was pitching, and he knew that I liked the Orioles and so we're talking about that, we're talking about books and uh, just the way that a certain passage in a book made us both feel and you know, he was just talking about these these golden moments that we have in life and

that's really what life is all about. And I went back and I read the text, and you know, we've all, I think during the pandemic sort of looked for the big answer, like what are we doing here? And leave it to West to be able to just have dropped that in a text message, you know, to you in the middle of November, um at a time when he was hurting, you know, and that's just so like him. He was. He was such an example of a way that we should be living life. You know. It's just

so appreciative of every moment of every meal. And uh so you know that that really meant a lot to me that I got to go back and reflect on that. But I would say my favorite West memory. You know, when I first started working here, I was so intimidated by him because he was His football knowledge is just out of this world and he has a BS detector like nobody else. I think you guys know that. And I was like, you know, is he gonna like me?

Is he not gonna like me? And uh, you know, lo and behold fast forward to I think it was our first Super Bowl together and we're down in Arizona at the League Hotel after the Panthers lost to the Broncos, and that whole year we had a running bit about me picking against the Panthers and everybody getting you know, upset, and you yeah, so we started getting keep pounding and uh, you know, you guys were taping the podcast and So I was back at the hotel and I was arranging

for your arrival. I cleared out the uh the downstairs shop of any beer and he and Patron that they had, and I was getting ready for the gang to be back. And just remember sitting with West and we were in a big table, you know, in full view of the entire hotel, and we're just screaming keep pounding at the top of our lungs and like, but he he brought this like such a twang to it, and it still makes me laugh, Like I can hear it right now. He's like keep Yeah. There was a real base to

his delivery of keep pounding, for sure, my god. Yeah. And then you know, just I mean every time I came, you know, just him being oh warm, and you know, I remember going to the Cozy together um and just hanging out and having drinks, and we would always talk about Steely Dan together and I would I would always put on what if I knew that he was coming, I would put on, um, this must be the place by Talking Heads, which is one of his favorite songs, and and he would always turn to me and say

it's my favorite song. And it's I know because I put it on because I knew you were coming, and you know, but he uh yeah, God, I mean, you know, I just missed him every day and uh, you know, I just you know, I pray for Lakisha and Lincoln and know that there that I'm thinking of you guys all the time. So you mentioned that the post super bowls and there is like, uh, Mark and I were

texting about this yesterday. There's like an innocence, um that's kind of lost now with with West gone, and you look back at, you know, the times that we spent together, hundreds and hundreds of hours, thousands of hours not just with the mics in front of our faces, but just by the virtue of what our job obs where we're always together, whether it was in the newsroom, traveling together, and um, the super Bowl was always that culmination of

a long year of work. Even though as we all know, the football calendar doesn't really end at the Super Bowl. For a lot of people, super Bowl at the end of the season. As markus lamented, it's not the end of the season for us, but also it is when you get to the game, the long Super Bowl week at the city where you cover the game, and then you watch the game, you go through the long day of Super Bowl and then the way it always has worked out, then we would go and sometimes we go

to a radio station. In recent years we've done it from the stadium itself. Um, we would do the post

show podcast. Would usually be one of the last people out of the building on Super Bowl Sunday, and then you would get that release where we would all get together and Connor all time hero super Bowl fifty in San Francisco, when you you had us well stocked and we turned the lobby into a party and you're you're right that with West and the golden moments like he enjoyed those moments, like all right, we we worked hard, we did the job, and now we're gonna have fun together.

He I remember to the Seahawks Super Bowl, the the uh, the interception at the goal line, right. And I had come from, you know, a newspaper background, and so you're used to being in these just dead quiet press boxes and everybody so serious about themselves. They take themselves too seriously. And I remember that entire game that that was the first game I think I ever watched with West. And he is on his feet from the minute the game starts and he's yelling and he's like, oh, did you

just see that? You know? And he's like turning around and he's like you know, and I'm I'm like, oh my god, like what is going on here? And and but it was just this moment that hit me like, oh my god, like we are we're watching football for a living, and like this guy embodies that appreciation and that and that endless joy. And so that was like you never heard him complain about it once. He was

just this, uh, this beautiful soul. But that game too, in particular, just like every two seconds, yeah, did you see that catch? To see that you and just he was watching games with him was just unbelievable. I sent you Connor that picture of West in an easy chair in that hotel lobby after you and you know, when you say to Connor, go please if you wouldn't mind, would you would you fetch a couple of beers? He doesn't show up with a six pack. It was like

bottles of wine. Um, it was a massive assortment. Yeah, it was just like Connor was the absolute best person on the planet to do that job. But there's a

picture of West. We're all exhausted just sitting there and he had this big woolen cap because remember how cold and windy that's said that Super Bowl fifty was in San Francisco, and if I'm not mistaken, that was also the game that in the middle of it, Um West got yanked out of our ability to observe because Marshawn Lynch retired like minutes into the game, and suddenly West

was stuck writing this article. And that was you know, there were times when you could look I could, I was sitting next to West and you could feel the uh sometimes the irritation um in the timing of a situation coming off, and I was like thinking, my god, I'm glad I'm not writing that piece right now. But West is doing it, did a great job with it, and he celebrated after. He was a unique guy on

that front. Marshallsha Lynch didn't even have the common decency to stay retired at least, I mean, are you gonna deal with that? Make less deal with that? If if West is writing your retirement post, stay the hell retired. Well, now, Connor, you're taking his place as the guy that's gonna need to have the nick cap um at the Super Bowl because now you're going West style shaved head um, and it can get a little you know. He he often commented, you know, get a little cold and get a little

cold without that that hair as protection. I uh, I didn't realize how much just a light, thin dusting of hair on top of your head actually did for you until um I confronted the looming baldness, got rid of the hair, and then you know, I went outside one day and I was like, oh my god, it's cold. It's it's yeah. You know, there's a reason we were born with that stuff. You know, whatever it is there in the evolutionary train, there was a purpose for that.

When we were talking about like the the back and forth of having to shave your head frequently, like and and missing spots in the back, I mean, you have a lovely wife at home when she's shaved your head for you so that you don't have to deal with that, right.

It was Yeah, I would say it was one of those days where, like early on in COVID, where we just you know, nobody knew what the heck was going on, and it just felt like normal was never going to return, and so we were just like, you know what, we're gonna lean into this. We're gonna order, you know, our own haircutting kit off the internet, and we're gonna go outside and we're gonna shave Dad's head. Didn't it was? She's been great. She's been my barber ever since. And uh,

I wouldn't trade her for the world. I recently got the I made the decision, oh, this could save us potentially hundreds of dollars, and I got all the equipment to start giving my boys haircuts. And I gave one of the most insane looking haircuts to my eldest son, Jack. And now it's like, now I'm in the caught in this in between because Harrison's hair came out okay and

Jack's he looks like a child from an orphanage. And I'm like, should I Should I take that as practice and keep building toward it, or should I bail on this? I already have the equipment. I'm kind of a caught in between. Right now. You gotta go to Dan. I mean, we grew up with these, with this very vibrant company coming to age in our youth. Barbazon, remember you go there and get a few skills on on hair cutting

and maybe make as well. It's no different than going to you know, before my wife is cutting my hair. You would go to you know, super Cuts or one of these chains. And it's like I told people, it's like seeing an off Broadway show. You could get the next Picasso in that chair. You know, you could get the next star the Lynn want the Lynn Manuel something

thank you? Uh, or you could get you know, a horse Tony Danza and and you know, like they're times when somebody would give me the greatest haircut in my life and send me home feeling good. And then there's another time where you get a stylist who's talking about how she was like a roadie for alien Ant Farm and it's just here trying to get you know, a couple of bucks, get away from my head, you know. But you know, these chances we take Lynn Manuel Miranda's

sorry sorry uh. And one final thought before we before we get to news, um, because you mentioned the golden moments and I had a moment on Sunday night where I was sitting outside in southern California and for all California's ills right now and there are many, um, one of the great things about living here and it's cliche, but whatever if you grew up in the Northeast, you get it is the weather is so great and it's it was the middle of February, uh, middle of February

here and it was just you know, sixty five degrees and a perfect sunset. And I was grilling, and I was on my second Tito's, and I had music hanging out of the garage, and I thought, this is always usually when I would text West and I would have I would be a little bit loose and a song would come on, or I'd be grilling, and I've always you always think about West with with the big green egg and everything. And I shoot him a text about whatever,

and it actually that was one of like um. And then it happens occasionally like a sad moment where I got really sad because I like, go, I can't text um. But that at the same time, even though that was sad, it again kind of speaks to West. At that in that moment, which is like a perfect life moment, I was like, oh, I was thinking of West. That's when West and I would communicate, because West, that would he lived for those moments to uh truly special man. Chris Wesley. Um,

all right, let's get to it. Let's do some news. You know, very rarely what I get on. Um, I school kid getting buried by the national media. But yeah, the kid that came after Cam at Cam's camp to help other kids, that's a bad job by that kid. I'm happy at least someone got to him and had him do the old cliche take take out the notes app and write the apology and tweet it out. Hopefully he meant it. Um. But I truly you feel for Cam then, because then that goes viral and uh, and

Cam is ultimately right. At the end of the day, Cam is rich, even if he is a free agent. You know, I don't know about you guys, but we're all parents And I watched that and a couple of things stood out that the high school kids standing around the mouthy one were like their looks were one of awkwardness because they were like, wait, suddenly our friend who is our teammate, and you know we we like this guy is taking on Cam Newton, which makes which is sort of um hard to process. But then I, as

a parent, I'm just thinking it made me uneasy. I am praying that my children never approach anyone um with that someone of that stature and an accomplished person with that kind of um attitude, I would be I would run, I would I would fly to the farthest reaches of the world to get away from having to deal with that. It made me think of once that is St. Patrick's Day parade, uh in Scranton. Hillary Clinton was running in two thousand eight, and um, I didn't I wasn't nearly

as mean as this kid was to Cam Newton. But I remember like just being in the moment and seeing her like ten feet away from me and just being like, Harry Clinton, you know, And I'm thinking, like now, like as a thirties year old, I'm like, what was my plan if she had turned around and addressed me? And like,

thank god, she just kept walking. And it was one of those things where this kid probably didn't think that Cam Newton was going to turn around, like he thought he would be hilarious with his friends, and then as soon as Camp turned around, Uh, you just saw the

life drain out of his face. But I think it was amazing about it was Cam is such that boy did he turn the power of television production on that kid in a cocaine heartbeat and all of a sudden, this kid is like Cam, Cam gets the cameras around and it makes it a teaching moment, totally flips the narrative and just pins this kid under his thumb and makes him look like a little jerk. And uh, you know,

you know that I think Lesson learned that day. I would say if there was one misstep by Cam is that when he took to social media to address the incident, that would have been a good time, especially with the kids of America involved here and teaching lessons to drop that dopey font of his that he uses with his post right and standard point kings English. Let's let's roll forward as a society and accept that as a failed experiment, just like that kid failed in his attempt at garnering attention.

I don't know, is that, as Greg, is that unfair? You've been silent? Uh? Well, it just feels like if if if it's one of those stories that it was only a story because of the day it happened, It's like why or why is anyone talking about it? Is if this offense you go to any high school classroom in America for three minutes, like you will see something that offensive and like be a sixteen year old for

three minutes, like you you were. One of your friends will probably say something that offensive, like do we need to talk about it that much? Letting the kid off the hook? It sounds like letting well, I I said before the shows, like why is anyone talking about this? That's also to your point, though I do remember being

that age and the Hillary Clinton thing. Like my friend and I were in the Mets game and we were centered over like the outfield somewhere, and we spent seven straight innings um trying to get Kirk Gibson's attention, shouting at him, berating him, um, waving our hands and giving him the finger, and finally, like in the eighth inning, he finally looked up and he was like you and we were like, yes, we did it. You did it.

And that was like So it's like when you're that young, like you don't like you just want to get the famous person's attention. So not to stay sidetracked here, but now you're giving me memories. The Yankees had some truly dreadful teams in the early nineties, and there was a matinee game in August and they were probably twenty five games under five hundred. Me and my cousin Matt were in the upper deck and right field of the old Yankee Stadium, which was really now that it's it's gone

and there's a new stadium there. The old Yankee Stadium, the upper deck you st almost hang over the field, So if you were there in the front row and the place was empty and the right fielder was in the field, you were kind of on top of them. So me and my cousin Matt, we're probably both like eight oh no, we probably about nine or ten, just screaming at the top of our lungs for like three straight innings. No, ho, no, And finally like he just looks up and he's like what, We had nothing else

to say. We just wanted a reaction. I guess that kid wanted one to He got it every day of their lives for seventeen years. You know, if you had a long MLB career, it's just like every single day, every day, sneaky challenge of being a Major League Baseball assuather. All right, let's get into it. Uh, speaking of New York sports, we haven't touched on Sam Donald in a minute. Here. Sam Donald is the uh entering his fourth season in the league, very disappointing first three years in New York.

There are um different ways to look at it. It's Donald being um, not living up to the prospects of being a number three overall pick and not playing well, but then also the Adam Gates disaster in general, just Jets putting a lot of bad things around him. So with the Jets potentially ready for a fresh start, Donald

is reportedly allegedly on the trade block. NFL Networks Ian Rappaport reports the Jets have received quote real interest in Donald, and rapp Aboard added that the team would complete their evaluations of the top qu v's in the NFL Draft before making any decisions on what to do. Greg. So this is, uh, this all seems to be pointing in a certain direction that Donald will be moved. What are your thoughts about where this is and in general just

the subject of Donald and where his career goes from here. Yeah, I thought, you know, when some of the New York reporters said a second round pick is you know where it's starting for Donald? I took that to mean that's like what that's what the Jets want, and maybe they're not even getting that yet. And my reaction is similar to the Wentz thing. When I heard that they were getting offered two seconds, I was like, take it now

before anything changes. Trade Donald now, like his numbers over his last you know, sixteen games at football perspective, put this up today. It's like, are literally worse than Dwayne Haskins, and we we and Haskins is younger. We would never think to give Haskins like the benefit of the doubt that Donald has uh compared to Gardner Minshew, who's also younger.

It's like, of course, he's not even in that same ballpark, Like, yeah, the Gays thing was a disaster, but he's played a lot of football, and there's almost no historical precedent to be as bad as Donald's been and recover for anything more than oh then early average. That okay, maybe you'll have a couple of seasons where people are like, hey, this guy's an average or above average, Like take take

whatever you can get now. I think the longer you wait, and I just don't expect him to be with the Jets, I guess I've sort of thrown in the towel there on Donald. I would just ask, like, you know, we talked with Damna Check on our last show about the subjective quarterback saturation, which has not been the case for this podcast but the last couple of years. Like who's calling? I look around? It could be I guess maybe the Bears. That would make sense. I could really see Donald in

a Chicago Bears uniform. I mean the Panthers potentially. I doubt that. What if you what if you're the Jets and the only real um interest you got came from in the end based down you know, the stuff happening the New England Patriots? Would you ever move them? Just to move them if you were to land there? I like, I just seems like the anti Patriots quarterback though, like

I would say, take take a year ago. I think they would want like guys who are either athletic or like process quickly, like just the kind of mental mistakes that Donald's I guess shown and a great again. You have to give him some leeway with Gaye, but it's like, what are we hoping for if they if they could get a second round pick, take it while they can. It is what I would say. It's a great point

on saturation. I was talking to Jordan Palmer Carson's brother who trains draft prospects um and has Trevor Lawrence this year, and he had said, like, dude, I have clients now ten year old eleven year old kids in Germany. Like that's how many clients I have, and I'm treating them all to be NFL quarterbacks. Every single college in America is four deep with kids who are capable of starting

in the NFL. It's gotten that good, you know, And and teams on the flip side have gotten willing to bend their idea of a traditional offense to make something work. So once that all comes together, like, we're not going to you know, the game is going to be so saturated that we're done getting attached to this idea of a franchise quarterback. Like I think that they're going to be as replaceable as you know, maybe a really good wide receiver or defensive end, like you can move on

and you can make it work without them. I think it's been It's it's hard for Jets Vence because you really did invest in Donald and everything pointed to him being the right guy right down to like we talked about West West Uh saw good things from Donald. We talked about Tony Romo talked about how he saw special things and special trades and an a lot of smart football people. I think Donald's a player and and a lot of people still think you could be a player.

Dan Orlovski at ESPN is a vocal supporter of Donald Um. And he's actually younger than Gardner Minshew. You know, he's

twenty three still, which is insane. So there is there is this path where it's like, could he get straightened out in the right situation a la Tannehill ala Alex Smith, But at the same time with a new regime with the Jets, um with Joe Douglas now firmly in charge and handling all aspects of the roster building with Robert Solo there, it just makes too much sense, I think, at the number two pick to get a fresh start there. Soannehill is a good comp because he came into a

terrible situation in Miami and played receiver in college. And it's like you saw things like Tannehill was average from the jump, and I guess that's that's where you hope there's some GM like like a Lewis Riddick um if he was in charge of a team that like still believes in his college evaluation so much that he'll give up a pick for m I'm not even sure that guy is out there though, because because what he's shown on tape, it's just he's never shown to be like

average like Tannehill did. Right, That's my question, Just like I don't understand, like what where all this interest is coming from? But tbd um in other quarterback news check back in on this Russell Wilson situation. Wilson kicks started a lot of chatter and a lot of phone calls UH being made when he told a couple of different media outlets that he's sick of being hit and essentially that improvements need to be made with Seattle to get over the hump uh and get back to the super Bowl.

NFL Networks Tom Pelasero reported UM earlier this month. The teams have continued to call the Seahawks about Wilson's availability, and then Michael Silver, our own Michael Silver at the NFL Media reports the teams believe a deal with Wilson would start with three first round picks, and uh Connor like we we talked about this grag a little bit with Deshaun Watson as well, like, is there a limit with with when you're coming up with random trade cop

station packages for a true superstar quarterback? Is it where does it get ridiculous? Is it five first round picks? Ten first round picks? Like, at what point, uh do we not buy into this being feasible? And his three first round picks a worthy price for a thirty two year old quarterback like Russell Wilson. I would compare first round picks to Gin and Tonics, right, and that once you get past three, uh, you're in a realm of ridiculousness and trouble that doesn't uh doesn't offer any sort

of sound return for you. But yeah, I think that Russell Wilson is interesting in that none of this is unintentional. Right, this guy has his entire day planned out physically but also mentally. Every day. This is exactly what I'm going

to do. This is how I'm going to think. I mean, he has a mental processing coach that helps him along in this way and to go out and state, um, what he has to me feels planned and maybe he wasn't getting what he wanted On the other end of conversation sans with Seahawks management, whatever it is, but you know, this is a guy who knows exactly what he's doing.

You know, Aaron Rodgers gets a lot of credit for doing that in Green Bay, but Russell Wilson is not far behind in terms of someone with that power, that cash a and that knows how to sort of move the chess pieces around um on a on a sleepy afternoon in the NFL offseason. Yeah, I mean it also feels a bit quirky to me because the Seahawks don't value gin and Tonics. I mean, I don't think I can't think of a team that cares less about first round picks. So why why what is in this for

the Seahawks on any level to trade them? Like and again where right that Well, that's where it makes it. I think there'd be plenty of wares. But I mean, Denver for any of these teams. By the way, I three sure, four or five? I don't know. I think five I would give up, Like depending on who you are, people get so I think the first round picks are somewhat overrated. That you can you can, like look at

the last five Seahawks first round picks. Now that they're they're a unique team, They're used drafting late, but James Carpenter, Bruce Servant, Jermaine Effetti, Rashad Penny, L J. Collier, and Jordan Brooks. I would trade fifteen of those guys for Russell Wilson. What's the what's the difference? And you could do that with more teams than you think in those five would not app add up to me to to

Russell Wilson. So I I don't think for a team like like the Patriots or the Broncos, teams that literally have nothing right now, um that that that would be too much, because you should be able to figure out how to build a team other ways too, with the rest of your draft picks and free agency and trades and everything else. And that solves, like not only solves the biggest thing that you could have, but gives you a monster advantage at quarterback too. Here's something interesting I

learned from the latest Monday Morning Quarterback Peter King column. Uh. He was talking about Deshaun Watson and he was cooking up trade possibilities for the disgruntled Houston passer, and he said, keep it mind, teams cannot trade draft picks beyond right now.

So I guess that's that's the limit. I don't know if that's something that um is written in stone, but the way King wrote it, it it seems like it is, so you can't do more than three and then you have to guess get creative second unpicks and then already traded him. I guess if it was. I mean, you're just like you're shooting an arrow into a future GM. But what about this Mark? How about this is a move? What if you offered, um, let's use the Browns as

an example. If you offered ten first round picks between two thousand forty and two thousand forty nine, would you give that up for Russell Wilson? Hell? Yeah, Like that's the kind of GM me and I would do, which is like burry a few someone who's three, like four months old right now. But we'll grow up to be a general manager. They can deal with it. That Bill is gonna come do though. I mean, maybe we will ME for it. I hope we will. But it's not

that it's twenty years away. Imagine ten straight years without first round pick and the guy, imagine you're twenty years old at that point, you're like, why is my team always terrible? Oh? We made the worst trade ever twenty years ago and never got out of the divisional round. It's like a million dollars every year until you know

Jesus returns. I guess that's why they make those rules, because the NBA has running into this a little bit, like the thunder have like thirteen first round picks through seven or something like that, and the Pelicans have have a ton of them too, and it it there is something about it that it just feels ridiculous, but also

like an interesting experiment. That was always my favorite thing to do on Madden that day, Like before the draft, you would trade your entire roster for first round draft picks and then you would end up with picks like two through seventeen and you were just you were just on the clock for like fifty five straight minutes and just, uh, yeah, the fantasy is real. I've always and this goes all the way back to why not my not Days of the Around the NFL podcast, And you're, well, I believe

the college football game, um connor um. But you have always been a person that when you get into your sport video game, you dive deep, like you really get into the roster management and all that stuff. It's almost like actually playing the games a secondary for you. And I think there's a whole market of people that are like that. Yeah, it's funny, Like after that we did that whole bit, it really did take off. Like there are people who do that now, that's like what they

do on YouTube. I'm not saying that we we deserve credit for it, but when you're old and you don't have time for the franchise setting on a sports game now, like the only video games that I play, my wife and I play Family Feud for the Nintendo Switch at night when the kids go to and so you you

have to build. You have to build like a character archetype from like this just man and like you're just like, yeah, he's like a board businessman who's gonna moneyball family Feud and figure out a way to you know, and then the wheels are turning, even if I can't play mad necessarily. Um on the subject of games, before we get into the uh cuts and franchise tag players, Connor, you have a new feature up um on SI dot com about Pokemon, and I revealed my ignorance on this earlier. I referred

to it as as a science fiction game. Maybe I'm right. I don't know. Now you have a chance to really provide some clarity there. But Cassius marsh Um, the linebacker who also is such a fan of Pokemon that he's taken his love to the next level, do you want to share a little bit about uh, this piece that you've written, because it's very interesting. So yeah, I'm so, I'm standing. You can't see behind me as my entire Pokemon car collection. It's kind of like stacked at like

a big tower. Um, I can. I can send you a picture afterwards. But we had someone email okay, yeah, keep going. And so someone had emailed us at Science said, you know, there's a Steelers players thinking about opening a Pokemon card store, and there's someone in our off us that said that sounds like something that I'd be interested in. And then one of our editors said, if Connor doesn't do this story, he's going to have a heart attack, like he has to do it. Uh, And so everyone

called me and it was good, everything worked out. But yeah, Cashus marsh is incredible. Uh magic the gathering uh savant. Uh. He actually his car was broken into and he had twenty tho dollars worth of magic the gathering cards stolen when he was in Seattle, and then all of a sudden, the community kind of got turned onto the fact that he was into it. He became this sort of like athletes surrogate for trading card games. And he's like, you know what, I love this. I'm gonna open my own

store in the middle of the pandemic. I don't care what's going on. And so I got a tour of the store. It's just gonna open. Yeah, cash cards are limited,

just go open next week and it's legit like he has. Uh. It was just like surreal, like all the conversations that I've ever had with players about things that they don't want to talk about and things that really I don't want to talk out either, and then now here I am with like an NFL player being like, wait is that a Is that a first edition based up Blister pack right there? And he's like, oh yeah, that's like

can can you zoom in on that real quick? And I was like, oh, yeah, oh you've all the Team

Rockets sets. Okay, good, good good, you know, and uh so it was cool, but you know, they're really like I got to talk to some of the people who are kind of steeped in the magic the gathering world, and it's a really neat story, like parents are sending him thank you's uh for making it seem a little more mainstream, a little less like hard quote air quotes nerdy, and it does sort of bridge that classic divide between

the jock and the nerd. And I do think that there is like a cool thing that he's doing there. There is sort of like a you know, another step toward acceptance, if you if you will. I think also like I mean, if I were to pick an NFL player that would be operating in Pokemon realms, uh, Cassius Marsh wouldn't be the first. He's uh. He's like a giant, muscle bound figure with uh. His both arms are canvas with tattoos from shoulder to wrist, and here he is playing.

It's not a child's game at all. I guess it's collectors. I don't know how to describe it. You do it better than you send cards to my kids. They still remember you for that. M that's right. I'm uh, yeah, I'm I'm I'm cool in that way. I like you are still still collecting, still still trucking. I like this quote from marsh All, of this stuff, it's art for the new generation. These cards are similar to buying Picasso their high end collectibles, high end art. A lot of

these pieces are extremely rare. Some of these sports cards are one of one. It's like getting a personal piece from a famous artist. It's just in its infancy right now, do you have what kind of value do you have in that room here in right now? So I I started clearing out stuff that I had additional, um, additional things of during the pandemic, and uh, I was able

to sell cards for a pretty decent amount of money. UM. And I posted my entire collection and then I immediately like yanked it back off the bay because I was like, you know what am I gonna do? Like, you know, my kids aren't gonna care about this, And then I was like, but what if they do? And like so I all of a sudden like grabbed it, grabbed it and took it down offline. But it's it's fun, you know. That's that's something like got into when I was a

little kid, hardcore. And then cash Is March and I were talking about this. You go to college and you give everything away because you think God if anybody finds out that I do this, they're gonna make fun of me. And then you get to your dorm room and everybody has a game boy, Like there was ten people on my floor that we're all playing Pokemon, and I was like, wait, this is okay, Like why did I why did I

get rid of this? And uh So after once you have like a little bit of disposable income, you get back into it a little bit just to sort of have something to do help your zone out. Excellent, check it out. Um. You can go to Conor's Twitter page. Easiest way to find it um at c O N O R O r R. What a name it is? Also and it's on SI dot com. All right, let's stand is that's solve your science fiction issue here have you? Well,

I still don't know what they are. I don't know like what Pokemon is like a cartoon, but it's like a like an are the aliens or what? I still don't really know what they are. And the magic there's there's wizards involved in stuff. So I don't but I don't judge. I just don't understand it. It's a world that's strange to me. Like when I was in college, I had a a roommate. He was a senior. It was the first place dorm I got put into. So

it was just a mix of guys. And he would have like dungeons and dragons battles with these other guys, and they all looked like Gareth from the UK Office. Like I was like, all right, well, that's a whole thing that I'm not really plugged into, but I know it's got popularity. I would say that pokemon are more like animals that you would encounter uh in the wild and then domesticate, and then they help you along your adventure uh to uh fame and prominence, but also self discovery.

That would be the best way that I would get I like that. I mean, that's interesting. All right, let's get into uh. Let's move on now. And Greg, like I said, you've been busy. You've been pounded out bangers. That's what you do, You pound out bangers from your little home office behind closed doors. And um, let's let's dig into let's you made it sound so weird that and like animals, you meet in the forest and they advance your life along. A lot happening here, a lot

of it just sitting on the couch in the main room. Really, you know, you pound out bangers in the main couch. Okay, yeah, with just the madness going around me. There's something about like sitting back here, like at a desk, uh, you know, when you're not podcasting, that feels like it's too much, like it's even it's too close to go into the office. I'd rather just sit on the couch. All right, I'm

with you. All right, let's get into it. We'll start with some We're gonna get to some cuts, some surprise cuts. Um but um. And it should be known by the way that we have a little bit um of an issue here because Greg has been writing about this stuff on our website for years. Connor does the same thing for s I that means double the double the power. But there can only be one that truly sits the top the throne as the true master of this type

of article. And and Mark is going to let us know who that is at the end of the show. Perfect Um. Anyway, let's start with the two tho um NFL franchise slash transition tag Primer Colin, who are the no brainers? Debatable candidates? Headlines I never did a headliners sometimes I guess it's it's s c O. But there's a lot anyway. Um, all right, Greg, let's start with the no brainers, and UM, it should be known. Everybody should be aware that just because the team tags somebody

doesn't mean that player is gonna play for the team. UM. So I'm curious Greg setting it up that way. You have dac A top the list, Allen Robinson wide receiver the Bears, Chris Godwin wide receiver of the Bucks, uh Teller Moten of the the Panthers, Moton Moten, the tackle, Kenny Golladay wide receiver, Lions. Okay, of those guys, who's the most likely or who are the guys you see there that could get moved you think, and who's definitely

playing for their team. Ian's putting out a little bit of like watch Allen Robinson possibly get traded or maybe Gola Day, Like doesn't really make sense for them to be paying sixteen million dollars when they're rebuilding, so they could be possible trades. But it gets to the point of, like all these teams that are people spend so much time in January of like, these are the free agents

we want to get and a lot of them. Are these three receivers, you know, Robinson, Godwin and Golladay, and none of them are gonna be available except maybe in a trade that's gonna cost a lot. And I've been saying up the list, you know, the free agency list, and man, I think it's bad this year. Usually I'm kind of pumping it up, and especially at receiver, it's bad. So maybe some team I would give up a nice

pick for Allen Robinson and give him money. I would give up a second round pick at the least, So I think the Bears could get something. But the most likely outcome is they're all with their teams and they're all staying put because like, letting go of good guys is stupid. Allen Robinson seems, you know, there's a continued streak of um. He seems a little disenfranchised, and I don't blame him. I would love to see Allen Robinson with a functional quarterback for the first time in Earth history.

I'm not sure it's happening with the Bears, or I am sure it's not happening with the Bears all of a sudden, then he'll just end up back in Jacksonville. The circle of life. It always drops you back off in in northern Florida. I mean, if he gets paid. Yeah, he seems to be. He's the one that seems to be trying, it's grease the skids to get out of town. He's doing like pot different podcasts and he's making it

pretty clear. Yeah. We we mentioned on this podcast a few weeks ago that he's been dropping all sorts of hints into social media about where he might want to end up. Um, all right, you have the category say yes, what does that mean? Exactly great? It's just I think it was like an Elliott Smith reference from like eight years ago that just thought of apathy has just stayed there forever. But you know one of the all time Elliott Smith songs. Okay, and of that of that category, Um,

what's the name that jumps out to you? That's a kind of an interesting uh um case. Aaron Jones. I think the more I thought about it makes sense to keep for eight million dollars, which would be the franchise or less on a transition tech. This is another one where a little people around the league are like thinking, I just assumed he would be gone and they would let him go. But that would annoy little people. I don't know that. What is I caught that too? Yeah,

just me, you know, people like me a little catcher. Yeah, um, they that they don't think it makes sense to actually let him go. Aaron Rodgers would be piste connor. You don't want to piss off Aaron Rodgers. Like why not keep Aaron Jones for eight million dollars for one year? I think that's a bargain. If you make Aaron Rodgers mad, you're not going to get yelled at. It's like it's the it's the fear of what is going to happen, Like you're gonna make him mad, and then you're not

going to hear anything. And then like a month later you go to dinner at his house and the meal is totally poisoned, you know. And that's like the kind of person he is. And so yeah, I would a percent like to keep Aaron Rodgers happy. And it totally

makes sense. If you look at where running back contracts are headed, he could almost be getting sixty more than that on the open market if a team, you know, if there's a team that is going for it quote unquote this offseason, Like I could see him being a twelve million dollar a year, player for two for one or two years, um and so eight million makes a ton of sense to me. He cares if you drafted his replacement already, you're gonna need three or four good

running backs. The Athletics field Kapedia believes Aaron Jones could get up to fifteen million in a free agency per season. Have we have there been enough running back deals that have blown up in recent years that that market is not going to materialize for Jones. I know he's a special player. Well, I know he's a very good, slash great running back. But is he a special running back that would get that kind of money? I think? I

think so. It only takes one team and we've seen that time and time again the whole like running backs are gonna get paid because it's all gone poorly, And now even the Panthers are maybe trying to trade Christian McCaffrey. Like that's all true. But everyone got paid, like Mixing got paid, Camara got paid, Derrick Henry in his own way got paid. Like if you're that good that you usually do so getting like a one year contract seems nice. They have their cap issues, that's the problem. But they're

gonna cut some players. They're gonna cut Preston Smith. They think they've already cut Um, a couple of players like Christian Kirksey, and then you find a way to keep

the guys you want. So the Packers, you are in one world, are going to get J. J. Watt, but move on from one of the two past rushers they got and in the off season a couple of years ago that had become incredibly expensive for them at this point, I think so, I think I possibly play J. J. Wattt running back to replace ar that it could be okay, that would be a great experiment just to line him up back there for a whole year, and I would love just to see what his numbers would be like.

Does he run for five yards? I mean, do we have a little bit of a test case with Derek Watt? You know, as you know been in the league for a while. You know what, You've said it yourself. Why are you picking up I'm not. I'm just saying he's a running back. Watch that we've seen, you know, fullback. I guess, uh, what would J. J. Watt's longest run by over the course of a year, eight yards? I

don't see that happening. Although I mean you need like four smaller as Greg would say, little people, at most four of them to drag him down. I would. I would compare his output on a game by game basis

to what Levyan Bell did with the Jets. A lot of one to two yard runs and maybe a nine yard or when the in the crowd had like, oh yeah, he's we I was putting together, like I said, that free agency list and I'm doing the running backs or whatever, and I'm thinking like, oh, was Levyan Bell's career over? That was crazy? Like that was fast. It happens really fast. Like Levan Bell, who I thought was almost a bargain for the Jets, Like, I think there's a pretty decent

chance his career is over. I don't know, it's just like, don't don't have your kids to be running back. But he was so selfless to take the year off and and for all running backs, uh, you know, nothing but praise he came. Yeah, he came. He went away for that year and he came back a different guy. It just it wasn't there anymore a third of the guy. You could say that all right on the before we move on to surprise cuts, Greg so on the Leaning? No, is that an Elliott Smith song as well? No? No,

that's just like you know the Lean, Yes, the Lean? Now? Oh, okay, is that? What is that? You have Shaquille Griffin Griffin the cornerback for the Seahawks of the time, popitalist, Matt Milano the linebacker for the Bills. You've got a couple of linemen for the paths. Uh tell us about this listen? Is there anyone you would disagree with? Connor? Especially if you have a list that like Curtis Samuel is a guy I think we'll get paid a lot. Joe Tuney

is gonna get paid a lot. There's a chance. I think Bill Belichick will just eat the poop, as you would say, Dan, and just paid Joe Tuney like eighteen million dollars a year because he just feels like dumb for letting him go and having tagged him and not signing him to a long term deal a year ago. Otherwise he's gonna be like incredibly rich Joe Tuney. I mean,

I don't even think it's a sandwich prop Greg. I think if he's not on the Patriots that think the Jets would go all out for him because they were ready to make the move last year, and then Tuney was a surprise. Uh tag. I think some of them are interesting, like if you look in New Orleans at like Hendrickson and how insane their cap situation is, and it just it just goes to show that we are saying, right now, oh, this team will not use the salary cap. This team will not sign a guy to a end

fifteen million dollar deal. And then all of a sudden, like there's just this switch that flips, and it teaches us all what we learned every year is that none of our understanding of the cap is even close to what it needs to be, and it's all mysticism and it's just an excuse for teams not to pay players.

And then as soon as you go well, and then all of a sudden, you have twenty million dollars in cap space and you don't know how it happened, and like field Yates tweets, well, it was just a series of small corrections in the back end of the deal. If you you know, five cents here and there, and all of a sudden, you have a hundred million dollars in cass. That was not a Field Yates impression. That was like a please feel I'm a big fan of yours. Don't don't think that I was making fun of you.

But I would say it's just more like it's that and it's not just Field. It's like anybody who's corner it is a corner of his. Yeah that it would it be. It's sort of a collective voice of anybody in that corner who really nails the deep minutia of of contract. Mickey him as is the king of that. The Saints, I think there is something to that Connor that like they're trying harder. Yeah, shuffling. It's the same thing with the rant. Every year we hear the rant,

all the all the rams they've given it up. There goes their window like that they're in salary cap how It's like, no, you can if you especially if your owner has got enough money and to figure it out to just give people cash up front and keep just spreading out to the future, like it's always the spaceship is always going up. You can find a way. It's like your neighbor who you have said this on another podcast before, but like you're looking around and You're like,

I've sneakily googled how much you make? How is your house so much nicer than mine? You know? And you just start like and you just start like looking around, and then it's just like, well, if you reverse the mortgage and then you triple the mortgage, and then you have mortgage, you know, and then all of a sudden, they gave me a check for eighty million dollars, and it's like, how the how the hell does that work? Wait? How do you know how much your neighbors make? There's

a lot happening there. Connor, Oh boy, do we want to get curious? We're all curious. Uh, we're all reporters here. You're a you're a Yeah, you're a journal We haven't been doing great journal work lately, or at least aggressive journal work. But so is it? Go you find their tax reports or something? Is that what you do? Take us through it? Go ahead? Nobody's listening. Go ahead. I would just say that anything is possible if you put your mind to it, and if you're connected to the internet.

So we'll leave it at that. I feel like that's a comfortable way I will say. Speaking of journals, this one line from Greg. I was my favorite line in this entire article. The Associated Press reports that Matt Milano will test free agency COMMA and who am I to argue with such a monolith? This continues a b line of Greg's habits, still constantly bury the Associated Press whenever he has that's not a burrier. What is the problem

with the Associated I don't know this at all. We all have little biases that come out in our writing, and for Greg it's it's usually you're target at the AP. I don't even know what this is all about. I don't know how your words, but well, the monolith part, it just like when it's something it feels like, okay, well that's just a fact. There's no they are. They are the Associated Press. They cannot get it wrong. Who

who would we be to argue with that? If you're talking about way back in the day not wanting to use our AP articles. I mean, that's just because I liked Mark Sessler and Connor Or and Chris Westling and Dan hanss Is writing so much no order. I just remember when I came to the NFL, It's like you'd see all these AP articles on the front page. It's like, what are we doing here? Let's justify our paychecks. Mark

was the master of UH. If anybody has ever read an Associated Press article, right, it comes with the dateline and then the long M dash and then the date Yeah, the dateline in parentheses and then the long M dash and then the A P and then it gets into

the news. And when I first started working at NFL Network, Mark used to send And it's a tradition that I carried on UH to s I and I've got tweaked out a few teammates from time to time where he'll send, like UH an a p R. He'll work up like a four hundred word AP article and he would send it in our chat client of like, you know, Mark Sanchez arrested in high high octane you know, car Chase Sting or whatever, and like, but it looks so official because it's got that AP attachment on it, and so

you know, I UM, I did one not too long ago. I texted all my coworkers and I just said, oh MG and all caps, and I sent it to our group chat and then I did an a P out of New Orleans that Cooper Manning had been arrested for embezzling like millions of dollars um and and trying to like corner some like rubber market or something like that, and like they're like, oh my god. And the editor was like, all right, you know, let's uh, let's start mobilizing on this. You know, you're hoping to cause like

sheer panic. It's not gonna last for more than four seconds, but you just want that four second panic mode. You also don't want it to get out the door and get kicked upstairs, because then you have a problem. You know, that's true. It's like a very fine line, the needle of a threat. All right, let's uh, let's swing to the UM cut Candidates two thousand twenty one A f C slash NFC Cut Candidates Colin Viable Releases and Potential

Surprises by Greg Rosenthal. Um. Right at the top on the A f C side of things, you got von Miller. And it's kind of crazy to think about von Miller being elsewhere, but he gets paid a very high salary. He's not the same guy he was. Potentially, he's coming off a season that he had missed due to injury, and he's got some off the field stuff. Greg. It all feels like it's adding up to um a end

of the road with Denver. The has logic. Yeah, I think even before he got hurt and before the off the field stuff, they might have found it hard to pay, you know, to not try to save eighteen million against the cap. He seems like one of those guys though, that could have a nice little late season run, I mean late career run that he will have interests. Like usually these big name guys, they get overrated in free agency.

You know, Connor thinks so like the big names, but he seems like he could actually make a difference at some point. Still. Yeah, I mean he's one of those guys that still the game plan would be dictated to to you. And even if that's all you bring to the table, you are handing your defensive coordinator more tools in the tool belt, which I think is a valuable commodity. Greg Mark, what are you seeing here? Um? That jumped

out to you. You know the thing, it's not so much about a specific player, but watching what the Eagles and Saints are doing. The Eagles, Um, Greg, you mentioned like multiple wide receivers, and by the time the article was up, you were correct on ah Sean Jeffrey you're correct onto Sean Jackson and there could be more. Um, zach Ertz is someone that could go. And I just sort of like the Eagles are gonna look so different. But we talked about the cap not mattering and all

this other business. Um. I do think it matters if you're the Saints because I can't remember a team and quite the fix that they're in and just how different these two teams could look next season. The Chiefs are another one, like they're two tackles Mitchell Schwartz and Eric Fisher. You could cut them, but there it's all like cutting

guys that you would want to cut anyways. In the Saints case, they there, it's just like not resigning Um Trey Hendrickson and Marcus Williams maybe, but they Yeah, they're among the teams of the Patriots I would throw in there as a team that's kind of like look incredibly different. I've heard some like zach Ertz trade talk and feels like,

just like good luck with that. I'm not sure they're going to be able to get anything or get anyone to pay eight million dollars to zach Ertz after he had like three hundred yards and give up a draft pick for him. But like some of these teams that the Washington football teams, another one that feels like a year late of Rivera coming there that they could just blow up a machine Land and Collins, Alex Smith. It's

awkward to cut Alex Smith. They know they don't want to, but that's probably coming like it does feel because of the cap stuff. Like Connor said, people will just use it as an excuse to like release a ton of players, especially this year. There's you know, the it's amazing the Eagles, that Super Bowl team is basically gone, like they're totally

wiped out at this point. And Earth's, you know, he's interesting to me, and I know people that watching Eagles very closely, We'll tell you that he was not a guy that was resembled the playmaker and the guy that caught the game go ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. He doesn't seem like that guy anymore.

But you know, guys like Earth's and Anthony Barr who you have on your list as a potential surprise cut of the Vikings Chandler Jones, I would hesitate unless the team is having really um really difficult times with a cap and they need to find ways to get under and that certainly is the case this year with the cap going down, which was not something anybody could have predicted.

But when you have impact star players are coming off a year or they just weren't physically right, uh, that it could end up blown up in your face if they get healthy and get back to their old ways on a new team. And it was just like, maybe we should have been a little more patient here, especially with a realistic length preseason in some way, shape or form, right, Like, you know, some of these guys don't panic Mark. You know, Mark does not want to see that preseason. Neither do I,

so neither does any of us. Really, I gotta get out of it. I'm an outlier there now you're not. You're not, but it was your corner. I need to I need the preseason. I need to be at a Banal Jets minicamp practice in in April just to get outside. I gotta do it. I need to be there. So we all must suffer through. You know, we throwing the whole and that's five weeks. The Green and White scrimmage, practice, White Scrimmage, the Snoopy Bowl. Dan, how can you come on.

You know, let's they discontinue that, I believe, which is really a shame because it's it's cynical people like the Mark Susslers and the Greg Rosenthal's that probably caused the MetLife Inc. To put the trophy away for good instead of one game. That's one game that I did that I did um celebrate, I mean until you know Mark Sanchez had what was it just collar bone snapped like in the fourth quarter of the Snoopy Bowl. Totally it

was a shoulder injury. Was a shoulder injury that I mean, my AP report was not far off on Mark Sanchez that day followed the infamous bloodied Eli Manning from the Super Bowl. Do you remember the Snoopy Bowl? Do you remember that when Eli Manning was sacked by Calvin Pace and there was blood flying from his nose. And then the next year Rex Ryan put it on the cover of the game notes before the Super before the Snoopy Bowl. That was like the great like one of the great moments.

It's funny how like how small um and silly things can get and how high school things can get in the NFL when you cover it as closely as we have for years that year was yes, after the Giants I believe it won a Super Bowl or maybe not, but it was two thousand nine actually, and the new MetLife Stadium was opening and the Jets and Giants had both footed the bill for it together, and the Jets were no longer a tenant, and there was this idea like who gets to play the first preseason game in

the new stadium. And it was such an issue between the Jets and Giants that they were like, we need to move up the Jets Giants preseason game from Week three to week one, so they so both organizations get to have the honor of playing the first game at MetLife Stadium. How stupid is that sometimes that you could proudly say that you were the first team to play

in the ugliest stadium. There's no replacing the moment, where as a fan, um, you walk through the parking lot that was the old stadium to the stadium that seems exactly like the old stadium and was made forty years ago,

yet it's just like brand new. You can't replace the chills that that come about mat Life Stadium is like if you're a baseball fan, um, when the White Sox built their replacement for Comiskey Park in the early nineties, and it was a very traditional like seventies eighties style stadium.

And then a year later or two years later, Camden Yards shows up, as Connorwell knows, and that started the craze of the retro ballpark and people realizing, oh, we could like imprint our personality and make it like this like special place to go see a game. And the White Sox were like, what the hell, we don't get to be a part of this. Like I feel like that with a lot of these NFL stadiums that opened that when the Jets and Giants did their facility and

at the time a lot was made of it. Then there's a billion dollars and all this stuff like um, or maybe that was Geral World, but um that all the new stadiums are coming out now and we're gonna be working at the new Rams Chargers facility once this COVID thing wraps up. Um. It seems like these statiums are really cool now and like they like when we went to Minneapolis for that Super Bowl, Like that's an

amazing building. Uh with the vikings anyway, we digress. The architect like somebody that I had talked to you with the background and design once and not really in football, was like, did they realize that the most iconic skyline in in the country is like literally five minutes that way and they just they just they just directed the steel wall in front of it so that they would see it. You know, visionarias Conner visionarias. It feels like

us swinging a miss um. Anyway, Greg, before we go, well, let's put our focus where it needs. Anything else you wanted to kind of highlight here and of course go to NFL dot com slash Rosenthal to check out his writings in a more in depth way. But names that jump out to you that would be surprises, but also there it makes sense at something now. I was surprised how much Cowboys fans think Jalen Smith might get cut.

That does not seem like a Jerry Jones move to me, to like admit a mistake two years into a into a Monster extension. But I think that's kind of the levels of Jalen Smith's struggles last year, Like if they're gonna cut them, maybe they do it in August. John Smokey Brown h there's an old West favor. He's something to keep an eye on. I think the bills like wanna get aggressive and maybe need to open up some cap space to do that. And I like John Brown a lot, but he might be one guy who loses

his job because of that. Connor you had your own list. Do you anything like Greg has mentioned here or that you've seen that you disagree with vehemently and you have to call his competency into question. The only thing that I disagree with is that it wasn't up at eleven thirty last night when I was trying to finish. And sometimes you just you know, you don't copy, but you just make sure that you have everything kind of double check.

You double check your work. And you know, after getting two kids to bed, you just you know, two kids under the age of two, you just don't feel like, uh, you don't feel like being all that creative, you know, So take a peek, take a peek, just you know, it's like a cross cross checking makes sense. That's that's largely what it is. Yeah, and less plagiarism. Who would you take a peek? Ye? Right, I don't know if

those things were up. Yeah, I definitely look at like the free agency list before I sent in my one, just to make sure I didn't miss people. I don't know if there were other tag primers. I guess I didn't check that out. But you check out like the local guys who've really got, you know, the inside scoop on the ravens and the little people. Of course, the little people you ask around a little bit. You just say, hey, is this stupid? I mean, do you think to yourself, Greg,

what would Dan and Mark do in this situation? Who would they be zero in on? No, it's funny because good response. It's funny because Greg you you called out damage checks sources on our last podcast, Like, I think I know Greg's sources too, but I will not call them out. I know who's I know his birdies. Well there was multiple this time, but yeah, some are you know, insiders at our company. Certainly I'm not giving anything away there, but but but others as well. All right, good stuff, good,

good stuff. You've said it all, Connor, I thank you for it. Yeah, this was fun. We went so long. You have to grab your power chord in the middle of the last segment. How is my transition? I've been like I've been infamous for this now, like throughout COVID For some reason, I just don't bring it with me when I go down to the basement to do this. And um, before every show when we do our podcast, our producers like, do you have your power chord? Uh?

Because we need to, like we need to stop pausing the show forty five minutes in for you to run upstairs and get your power chord. Get another power chord would be what I'd say, s I step up to the play. Yeah, you gotta put that on s I. Speaking of monoliths, come on though, Hey, subscribe new online product which is launched. It's great access to some really cool stuff. And buy the magazine, you know, like it's still like it's great. I was. I was reading it

the other day and it's just awesome. So I mean, unless that's money that you would allocate to NFL media property, UM sure. How many covers you up to, Connor s I covers which is the holy grail of sports writing, um or has been for most of our lives. How many covers you got? Too good for you? So that's two more than I thought I would ever have. That's pretty awesome. Connors just yet another alumnus of NFL Media who went on to greater things, and yes, check them

out at SI dot com. Um, your podcast, I don't see you pluging your podcast in your Twitter profile, but I assume that's still happening. The weak Side Podcast with Jenny brentis. Uh, we just did a really fun season wrap up show. Uh. Got some some really good feedback from our listeners after, Like, I guess it's like our second full season. We have a logo now. Uh, it's it's fun. Yeah, cartoon like cartoon depictions of ourselves, which means you really have arrived in the podcast landscape. And

and I feel good about that. Yeah. I think the key was getting Brier out of it. You know, it was like it was a little bit of a wet blanket you just gotta have, like the good you have to have it. It's all about vibes. So once you got Breer off the pod, I just think why I left Albert When we were all in the podcast together. It was like making a soup with three really strong ingredients. And you know, maybe Albert is saffron or shallots and

they need to stand on their own. Uh. And so obviously the Albert Bruce Show is excellent, so you should and now you understand how Jenny and Connor delivered the news to Bert that he was no longer on their podcast. It's like the uh, the will goo uh poster behind you that I Am trying to Break your Heart documentary where Jeff Tweedy kicks him uh what's the name out of the band and he starts with every circle needs a center and uh and it's and it's basically not you,

you know, uh you it's me, but you do. And I don't know. I don't know why we tend to ramble a little bit more when Connor's on, but you know, it's a conversation. It's a free flowing conversation we did once upon a time. Uh. Go through our Twitter bios and then you critiqued each one and I just now have to deliver that critique to you, because, um, we all love Jenny and you do great work and you're a natural podcaster. Just having that your staff writer, it's

a little bit too minimalist. Let's get the plug for the podcast in there, and maybe the podcast numbers, will you know, shoot up a little. It's funny. I that was my initial banging as he's Greg, as you're still just football changed and then you know, that was one last great west memory was I didn't look at west As before I came on, and then I just like unwittingly ripped it to shreds. And then I felt awful

about it. And then you know, two years later at the Super Bowl, I did my list of things that I hate, didn't look at his instagram and just like ripped it to shreds unwittingly, and I felt, you know, he was a good sport about it, but I always I felt terrible about that. I think I was like all the people who cut their hamburger open and take a picture of it, and lest like I love doing that.

You know anyway, Connor, we really appreciate you've given us the time, and yes, you were another favorite of Chris Westlings, and that's what we've kind of been doing in these shows um since his untimely passing, having some of his favorite people on that have been either friends or connected to the show or to the company, and you qualified as all three. So thank you, buddy uh for coming on, share our memories and giving us your you know that

that Connor sizzle that you always bring. Well, thanks for having me on and again, you know, for anybody who sees the go fund me for Lakisha and Lincoln. You know, anything that you guys can do to help make a difference there, um, you know, please continue to do so, well said, Yes, check out the go fund me. It's um pinned on all of our Twitter pages. All right, we'll be back on Thursday with our second episode of

the week. Uh, thank you everybody for following along and we again appreciate all your support uh during this difficult time for the show. Uh. This is Dan Hanson signing off for a quiet storm for you kidding me? The old Boston Rickey, Ali and Red Cool last del Gar sac