Superstar Club and Al Bubba Baker - Sack King

next next week. At some point we are back on the network next week. That's kind of like our hard deadline. This These are some in between weeks where we're we're intoing our way back into the flow, but not not quite a full schedule. Next week, I feel like is when we strap ourselves into the chair. For about seven months. Claib has been there though claybron is in a suit and tie right now, that's gonna be on NFL network. He hasn't really left the chair. Yeah, it's it's the

same chair. I mean I occasionally go sit in a different chair, but but yeah, I hope Mark's doing all right. I know it's uh, you know, there's I just I do hope Mark's doing all right. Yeah, yeah, we'll we'll get marked back with us hopefully next time we all get together. And um, yes, you know we have taken a little bit more time off this summer, and uh, it's for a good reason and we feel good about it.

And we appreciate you, the listeners, not giving us too much shite about it, uh, because I know sometimes that can happen, um, with listeners becoming wary of the podcasters not working as hard. We're still working as hard, but we're just getting a little bit of a blow and

what's been a tumultuous last eighteen months. Um. And on that note, I've been looking for someone, uh and I really wish Mark was here for this, but I was looking for someone that could perfectly encapsulate um, how we're feeling this time of year as we look ahead to another season of the NFL football. And we found it on Twitter. Uh in my spirit animal Alec Baldwin take it away out. I try to take the summer off of my family, try not to work so we can go out and go to the beach and have a

good time. Because work is sometimes long hours, crazy schedules and so forth, so we try to have the summer be or um available. Um. During that time, I don't spend a lot of time, um, you know, dogging every news story. I only do the deep dive on something I think it's interesting. I love I love me some Alec Baldwin. He's he is the most ridiculous person on earth right now in my opinion. UM, And I like to spend the summer with my family. That's those are

my thoughts. Yeah, shout out to Alec Baldwin for having a family that he likes to he likes to spend time with. I do think right, It's it's applicable to you know, guys who worked really hard on a football podcast to take some time off away from a thing and caring about a game. Uh. I don't know how it applies to an actor like recognizing things that are

happening on the planet. But yeah, you know the best part of that that dispatch was after he does that long run up explaining why he's staying off social media. While he's on social media, he then um says, but I do want to talk about this big story on Cobalt Cobalt that's out there right now. And I'm sure you might know about that, because in the world of Alec Baldwin, everyone that's watching Alec Baldwin has the same taste in New York Times think pieces and reporting as

Alec Baldwin. It's a perfect cycle of Baldwin and I'm here for it. I just want to say, it has been a crazy um last eighteen months. But we're not you know, even if next year is a pretty smooth twelve months, We're not going back to the old schedule. We're not suddenly gonna keep cranking through this this this summer, a little bit of a break is something we're gonna We're gonna keep going. But this this this year especially,

I mean, here's the good news. If you are getting a little restless at this point, we got a show for you today. Obviously, next week we're back to two shows a week and the network show returns. Uh. And then once we get to training camp, it's full go and there is no uh. There are no reverse gears in this tank. It's three shows a week leading up to the season, four shows a week once a week. One kicks off and we have the Thursday night uh Football Mini Pod, So we have you covered. Thank you

for standing with us. Big show coming up today, the Superstar Club, Clay Von, you come in to pinch hit like show, Hey Otani and the biggest of all spots and you just walk into um It's Superstar Club episode of the Round the NFL Podcast Pinch yourself, buddy. Yeah, I'm just gonna try to bring a fair amount of analysis and and perhaps criticism of the club and its entrance and the decision that goes in to both of those things, because it's it's an institution, dan um it is.

It is something that that should be criticized, that should be held high as one of the pre eminent offseason pieces, uh, that that dot com has to offer checks in the mail head. Um, Yes, that's coming up, and uh, I think I've been doing it for like five years now, so uh it is something of a tradition on the site. And I look forward to asking you guys how you feel about my decisions this year. And yes, I do want that constructive criticism. It might even lead to a

copy change, you know, I'm you haven't filed yet. I have filed the rough copy to Ali bun Pari and the original content gang. But it doesn't mean they can't be changes if I'm very wrong about something. Uh. But before we get to that, let's get caught up on the news. It's the teenager tokay Osaka, one of the youngest players ever to play the European Championship. He's gonna school here to keep England alive. He doesn't know Champions Europe. They do it in a shoot. They did it the

hard way. He hired off to terminates it off to penalties in England foiled again. Oh trats. Italy defeated England an extra time to claim the euro Final, even though it's one uh. They lost on penalty kicks three to two, crushing loss for England. UM. I watched the match because I get in. I get into these like big time things, especially UM with England involved. UM and I went to a local bar and it was so packed to the

gills boys that I was being denied entrance. And that's when a hero, an honorary hero, tapped me on the shoulder, who was a man named Corey from San Diego, a Chargers fan and a huge fan of our show. And he invited me to sit at his table filled with England native people from England on on his wife's side. So Corey and his lovely wife had me at their table and watched the match and it was just a bummer how it ended. But it was exciting and soccer is good. I must say soccer is good and hear

the bar. Congratulations to UH football for clearing the hands. I mean some UK listeners might you know, take issue with you playing that moment. It would be like me, you know, playing the Grand Slam from Game seven of the two thousand four Alcs, you know, Red Sox Yankees, like right as you, right in the middle of like a totally different show. But what those you keep UK people don't understand is it's not all about you. We got Italian listeners too, and there was a great moment

for those Italian listeners. So it's it's too bad. Um. That was a tough one. That was a one even if you had nothing at steak. That was a tough one for my entire family to watch. You had nothing at steak whatsoever. And it's just like whichever team was

gonna lose that that's brutal. Yeah, it's the nature of of of of p k's right, Um, that it it makes it like that, And uh, it's something I always say with regards to a sometimes the ball just doesn't go in right, and we try to ascribe all these other things to like, oh what, Sometimes it just it doesn't go in. And that's one of the things about sports that's not rubbing it in. Greg. This is the

news portion of the show. That was huge news. Um. And you know, I when they when they got pale salt like a knife in the chest to some people who are trying to get over it, I'm sure, I mean this, this is just this is the news, Greg, And then this is part of the news. It was

a big sports story. And when England beat Denmark an extra time to advance to the finals, Um, I think I had a daddy had a couple of Tito's in him and I went on Twitter and and I posted the English flag emoji and that was a total storm. We had a lot of England fans saying that they loved me for it, and then a lot of people just filled with rage. And it really gave me a lot of perspective on what's going on and where England

fits in in the world of international soccer. They seem like a team people love to watch suffer, kind of like the Cowboys in the NFL. Here, and it's been over fifty years since they've won a major tournament, like like the euro Cup tweet that said they were the Boston of Europe, which you know in terms of sports fans, and that was like, that's that's pretty good. That's gonna

stick in my head there. Yeah, and and it's I just want to say to all those people that are angry with me, people saying they're on following me, not listening to a podcast anymore. First of all, calmdown, pull it together. Uh. Second of all, you need to understand this and a lot of people spent there are Irish fans getting on me because they know that I have Irish heritage my mother's side and Ireland and England. It's a tough sitch over there, but you haven't understand like

we have a very good relationship with the English. Uh, They've always been Everyone in that country has been exceedingly nice to us in this show. So that's why I was rooting for for the team, and it's unfortunate they didn't get it done because I feel like Italy has had plenty of glory. Uh, England was due but it didn't work out. Sorry, everybody, Italian fans, let us know you're out there. You know, there's gotta be a few. All right, let's get to it. We'll start with Um.

Bad news for the Kansas City Chiefs. Los Angeles prosecutors on Friday charged chief's defensive end Frank Clark with one felony weapons violation, stemming from his arrest on March thirteenth by the California Highway Patrol. Uh. The twenty eight year old Clark um was with another man when officers said they found two loaded firearms in the vehicle after a

traffic stop. Uh. This is a big time issue now. Uh. It's it's a heavy charge facing Clark, and it really does put um a lot of question marks around him. And he's a key figure greg for this team. He is. He's do eighteen um point five million dollars this season. He could be played paid, you know, placed on a paid leave list if the commissioner wanted to do that. You know, he's a guy who I think, if you just look at the production overall, hasn't quite been worth

this huge you know deal that they got for him. Uh. In the first place. So it's hard to guess. We've been a wrong over the years guessing what the NFL is going to do in terms of punishment. But it would seem to be it would seemed to be obvious that some is coming. It's just a matter of how much. And it depends on There's so many variables, right, because you take individual state laws into consideration, right, Um, there are two people in the car um, you know, who's

bearing responsibility for which individual weapons? What was the circumstance of the traffic stop? Um, It would it would seem to make sense to have one blanket NFL weapons rule,

but then can you really do that? So what what position is the NFL in with regards to you know, fifty states, uh, you know, a world of municipalities with regards to how they handle weapons charges, um, And so there's you would like to have uniformity, but then you recognize that there can't be uniformity, and so like, what position does the NFL actually want to take? Like we saw a previous position with regards to to marijuana enforcement right where you know they change that and there's just

you know, we're not necessarily testing for that anymore. Um, and so it's it's one of those things that's that's in the air. UM. But with regards to the way it impacts the team, I guess it's that classic situation. If they would like to pay him less or like to no longer have him on the team, then ultimately

they're going to make that decision based on how he's playing. UM. I'm not sure that that this reaches that that level of concern, right that his previous incidents, right involving violence against women uh or allegations of that uh in college. I don't think it reaches that that standard. Right, He's always had that in his background. He also, like you know, was a total jerk to put it lightly to like a female reporter on Twitter six years ago. I remember

that very well. UM. So it does make you wonder about how the Chiefs view them. But then you look at their depth chart and you think the NFL is a cynical place where it's a sliding scale for um, how these legal things play out. You only have to look at tyreek Hill's contract to know that, and you look at their defensive end position without Frank Clark, and I would say it would be the worst in the entire NFL. So yeah, for Frank Clark like like is vital to this team, and that makes me think he'll

beyond the team. That sliding scale applies to all realms of society, um, as unfortunate as that may be, including the criminal legal system in America right. Indeed, in other news, eight NFL teams have now exceeded the threshold for player vaccinations, the NFL Network reported on Tuesday. Monday was the NFL's deadline for players to get vaccinated to be cleared for full activity and avoid any restrictions when training camps open

on July twenty seven. UM that same network report, um as of Monday, players league wide have had at least one vaccination shop, and that's up from six and at June report from ESPN. What do you take out of all this data, Claib, Yes, I am glad that it's at I wish it were higher, right. I think nationally we're hovering at about but the access to the vaccines isn't the same as it is uh in the NFL, so I think we should be higher than seventy. I would I would assume as as time goes on, we'll

get closer to the threshold for everybody. But but I think it's a you know, if you would have asked me on on July, right, hey there's a vaccine and uh, seventy of the players have it, I would I would be in a much Uh that would have been some really good news a year ago. So I have to

celebrate it. But it could be better even a month ago, because you know, Tom palisera who's you know, turned into the Woodward and Bernstein in terms of vaccination rate percentages, Like Clayban noticed like like the second it got like he's got like an alarm and alert every time it goes over like a new percentage. It got the sixty nine, that was a big that was a big deal. Now it's over number. Yeah, people do, and uh it was a month ago it was just climbing above fifty. So

a lot of people got the message. A lot of players got the message when they've released all those rules of how tough life is going to be for unvaccinated players, and now suddenly eight teams are over and Dan you mentioned how in the MLB it's like three quarters of the team hit that number. So every team might not get there, but I would guess by the time camp starts, that number will be a lot higher even than eight teams.

And when life is really difficult for the teams that don't clear the threshold, that's when you go to wonder what's going to be on on in those locker rooms amongst players who are vaccinated and who are not vaccinated. It's a thorny issue. It also crosses over out of sports into real life here in our country. UM, we'll keep an eye on it as we move forward. In other news, the Washington football team will continue to be known as the Washington football team through the season, but

it's coming. The change is coming. If you're holding out thoughts and I don't get white people, I know Rosenthal's on this train and Mark is on about it. U oh' just keep it the Washington football team. Alright, that's that's fine. But let's be serious. They should have a nickname like everybody else. They don't get to be something special because they had a bad name before. Um, you don't get it. You don't get a W out of that. Um. If if you're saying it's a W, that's proven my point.

If you think it's so cool, I mean, in your opinion, I don't even think it's cool. I'm saying some people think it's awesome just because I guess it's different. Just that's an opinion to it. But anyway, it's coming. The Washington Post says a new name and logo will be revealed an early next year. The team's colors will remain burgundy and gold, and it will not be the Warriors that apparently has been ruled out. And uh, that's fine,

Washington Warriors. That sounds like a made up football team name in a bad nineties NFL team where the NFL movie where they couldn't get the rights to the logos and likenesses. We are we acent sure that they can't just keep the football team? Why do you? Why do you say that? Why can't Especially the report, I think I think it's coming. Greg. It's well, it said, yeah, they'll announce their permanent new team name. But I I I think the Washington football team could be the permanent

new team name. Uh. And I think the results of this year it could be a factor to like if again I said this going into last year, it's gonna be tough to change. If they sort of have a like a magical surprise, like make the playoffs type of deal, and it was like, oh, look what happened. They didn't make the playoffs. Now if they go a step further, let's say they get to the NFC Championship or get to the super Bowl, I think I think that would help them keep it. And I think I think it

could stay. Why why wouldn't that be an option? Yeah, it's unanimous. Other than Dan, I think at this point then it's not unanimous. I've I've maintained it since like Week three last season. It grew and it's stuck. They had uh Ron Rivera went through his medical tribulations, Alex Smith had an incredible comeback, They made the playoffs. Uh they had some great moments. They'll do that again. I think it's gonna be tough. I think it's to people

are gonna get atch. Plus, it does the whole thing on like Pro Football Reference where for two years, like the team you know, it goes from one bad team name, then another and then another. It's like, that's that's confusing. What is this like the nineteen forties and the Boston Braves changing their name around. It's like, let's get over it. Let's just stick with this. Dan, What is it? What? What about? What about the name doesn't meet the qualifications

for you? It's not a name? What do you mean what about the name? You can't You're not the Washington football team. That's the name. That's the name. That's ridiculous. Why because it's just it's not a name, it's a soccer teams have names like that all the time. And I understand why everybody's I guess it's like cool to say like this is this is the way they should be, because that's that's a hot take, I guess. But now it's I feel like it's been an avalanche of people

saying that, and I still don't understand. No one as yet explained to me why that's actually cool. They just say it's cool. Why is it something that it should be? Is there? What am I missing? That that's something special that they're the Washington football team. It's it's unique, it's different, it's there the Washington football team. They had a legacy and a heritage that was tied to a race hull

slur that needed to be changed. Uh. And in that process they came upon the Washington football team and Alex Smith came back from a broken leg. They handle things. Can we calm down about like the Washington football season being like this season will remember forever. It's It's simply

not the case. Yeah, this is an organization that has whatever whatever the opposite of like you know, a great tradition is you know, I know they won some games, but you know, going back even just a month ago, it's continued the first ownership, you know, George Preston Marshall to this current ownership who just you know, got punished by the league. Not a bad So I do think that, you know, the Washington football team like the name it

helps Wash. You know, it's like a new beginning. When did you happen to catch the news item last week about the Washington football team And that's what I just said, Well, that's true, that did happen that that happened when they were a new cleansing. I at what point do we cleanse every time there's a bad story in the news, Like, so once the team name changes, then it does actually cleanse everything. I think that's I think that's what they're hoping,

that it's a turning of the I don't know. It makes me sick the whole thing, all right, Speaking of pro Football Reference. Yeah, yeah, God bless you Pro Football Reference. I've always loved you, and I loved your friends over a Pro Baseball References reference. Pro Basketball Reference does it

great work as well. I'm sure there's a Pro Hockey Reference and a Pro this Reference and a Pro that Reference, But for me, Pro Football Reference is a bible if you cover this sport or just don't love the sport, because it has a detailed history, an incredible uh statistical breakdowns, and all sorts of history connected to our league. And with that in mind, did you know that the NFL only sanctioned the sack is an official statistic in nineteen

eighty two. That always seems so strange to me Night two, Like I was gonna make a Sessler age joke, but he's not here. I was gonna say he was graduating college that year, but he's not here. To get upset about it, but I said it anyway anyway, nineteen eighty two, um, which is crazy because NFL has been played for over

a hundred years. UM. And even crazier, the NFL has the ability, if they so desire, to go back much further and actually figure out the accurate statistics for sack which is one of the most um popular um stats there is, and maybe the most popular staff there is on the defensive side of the ball. So what Profitball Reference did is they went back to nineteen sixty and came up now with their own unofficial totals for sacks.

And guess what, Michael Strahan, you don't got the record no more, Mikey, that bastardized record, the one that you took from New York Jet star Mark Gastineau, when you conspired with Brett Farve who slid at your feet in a meaningless week seventeen game twenty years ago to steal the sack record. Well, guess what. For the people that

are in the know, that doesn't matter anymore. The sack record now belongs to the immortal Al Baker was rookie season with the Detroit Lions, had twenty three sacks and now joining us on the in the NFL podcast. Nobody knew, nobody knew, what a surprise it's Al Baker in the biggest of all spots. Al first of all, welcome to the Around the NFL Podcast, and congratulations on being the official sack champion for all time in the NFL. At least according to the people that know what the hell

they're talking about. Al Baker Baby, Hey, hey man, thank you guys, thank you for having me on. Man you must have been where were you when you found this news out? And like, what was your what was your reaction? Are you finding this news out now? I don't know, and being the unofficial sack King, Well, you know, I I meditate on my patio under the condo on the tenth floor, and I was sitting out there and I

never checked my emails or my chext until ten. For some reason, today I saw three one oh number and I thought it was a guy. I'm doing a script. I'm writing a script floor um, a legal drama series that you know during COVID, one of those things we all during COVID. I was creating a script and so I thought this was the guy that I've been working

with because he's in Los Angeles. I opened it up and I thought, okay, all right, and then, for some reason, and I'm not kidding you, without any prompting tears, you started running down my eyes and my wife was inside. I opened up a patio dos and my wife first thing she said was, what's wrong? When I said, nothing's wrong, and I said, come look at this, and you know, we hugged and then I lost about an hour and a half, two hours. It just you know, my daughter

h called, UM. It was really emotional for my family. You know. I guess at six ft eight, you know pounds, that doesn't sound really tough. But we're all crying like a little girls. You know. Somebody tells you you're the sad leader, and and what do you do? You start crying and and and I guess it's because none of us are really sad around like some players, and we want this and we want that. We hadn't thought about it for at least, you know, for at least. I'm

not kidding your twenty years. You know, I spent twenty If nobody says anything after team years, getting the elected a couple of times, um, you know, an honorable mentions for the Hall of Fame, you just you just assume, and you said to yourself, move on, you know, And that's what I did. I just went on with my life. I'm not the only conversation that I would have was when people would come up to me and they would say they talked about Michael Strahand's twenty second and a

half sacked. That was a problem for me the way that went out. One that was because Michael had a great year, you know, and and just to see that it had nothing to do with my three It just had to do it. Well, why does he need to do that? You know? Now? Now it's tame it in my opinion, And and that bothered me. Did you you know you did it as a key NFL defensive rookie

of the Year. How disappointing was it that the sacks were not even tabulated until four years into your career, because in addition to it, it uh costing you some level of notoriety and maybe even the Hall of Fame. Financially, I'm sure it had an impact as well, because guys that sack quarterbacks get paid in the league and it wasn't recognized the way it is now. So you kind of missed the boat there. So in a lot of ways,

I'm so happy to hear it. First of all, how happy you are about it, But also do you look back with some regret about the way this all played out? But the status, the timing of it all. You know what, I believe in being honest, and I think at that point at twenty think about it, twenty years old and all of a sudden, all this is going on. I am so relieved that I didn't get the kind of money that these guys got them because I was an

idiot like all other twenty year old. You know, every time you think about a young man at the age of twenty or twenty one in the NFL getting in trouble, that's a baby, her baby. And if you remember the song you guys are too young, there was a song by David Bowie called Fame. I am just blessed to be able to say to you guys, I survived being famous. That's that's the thing that I'm most proud of. I've been there, I've done that. I've seen what it does

to some people. And it's just for an example, I saw a player maybe about five years ago. His roster bonus was more than I made in my entire thirteen years and deepens running. And I don't want to mention his name because at the time he was at the peak and he deserved the new country. But he's been heard everything. If that were me when I was twenty, I might have brought myself a rocket ship who knows. I was just that goofy. You know, your baby, you just got out of college. You don't know how to

how do you figure out who your friends are? How do you figure out, you know, when your family is calling you and asking for money. I mean, these are the real things that happened, because people figure, um, then you're rich. And I gotta tell you, guys, my rookie contract was twenty five thousand and twenty five thousand dollar bonus. It was five thirty two and two dollars. And that was a problem because I signed it and the Lions were not going to extend it or change it. You know.

Anything I could do was make them trade. And that happened. No, no, no matter how much of the of the defensive league, that was the way the game was that good. And your final season in Detroit was two the first year the league kept SAX as an official stat And I just want everyone to know that you were a part of obviously the silver rush defense in Detroit, and you were the best pass rusher in the in the league

at that time. And you're three seasons. First three seasons you had twenty three, sixteen and seventeen and a half sacks you led the league in seventy eight and eighty, even if it was unofficial. Um, just an unbelievable rear And I just wanted to have you on the show and congratulate you on this and and and just hope that maybe the NFL recognizes this because pro football references widely respected UH entity in the league, and you get what you deserve and maybe even get a jacket out

of it when it's all said and done. Oh man, I'm all be glad, and I'm glad to be here and be real with you guys. I'm real comfortable with where I am right now and like to get that song by David Bowie. Not everybody to handle thing absolutely and you're you're in a McDonald's right now. Thank you for going the extra mile you stopped on the way. I mean, I consider myself someone who like pays attention

to football history and stuff. So I'm really excited about this because I didn't know about your career that much. In fifty six and a half sacks in your first three years is absolutely insane Like that I would I'd love to go back and look to see that compared to anyone else My guests would be you came in with a bigger sack force than anyone in the history of the NFL. Eventually J. J. Watt like came in pretty strong, but he didn't do fifty six sacks in

his first three years strong. So I'm I'm glad that the people know and you kept it going. A hundred and thirty one career sacks. It's it's an amazing achievement. I'm glad to learn about you today. Yeah, I was just gonna congratulate Al because I know you talked about the discrepancy in pay between now and then. What the owners and players and us right are making is is because of the work that you guys put in, uh

and making the league what it is today. Um. And I'm just I'm glad that people and like Greg said, I've had a chance to to learn more about your career through this decision, uh from from Pro Football Reference and and just appreciating right uh that you you you sacked the quarterback while they had the ball, right you You tackled and that was the thing that added value and there was nothing keeping us as a league from

recognizing those stats that happened before. Uh. So I'm glad that we're doing it today and I'm just glad that you're here. Um, and thanks, thanks for all the work you put in. I'm so flattered bout you guys. Thank you for having me on. I'm sorry about the delay and uh, you know, in any complications, but hey, guys, that's a part of like and yeah, that's what you prose us prose, that's what we do. We've worked through it and that's the essence of my career. Every year.

The thirteen years was a different year. Beautiful, all right, Bubba, Well, thank you very much for joining us, and uh and best of luck to you going forward with everything, whether it's your screenplay project or Bubba's Boneless ribs, uh your business over there which you can check out Bubba's Boneless Ribs dot com. Thank you, my man, and congratulations twenty three baby. Thanks Al, Thanks there, he goes Al Baker. How about that? How about effort? About that? How about effort?

How about that for a little surprise on today's Around the NFL podcast. Thanks for that surprise. Damn. Yeah that was amazing. Now I want to say this too, like I've so I have fun about that in the stray hand record and all that stuff, but uh and having having Alan was just gonna be something kind of fun playing off that. But then when he started talking about how much it meant to him, how he got choked up by it, it a makes a lot of sense, and uh, b was just really cool to have him

uh share that with us. And I hope, um, I hope other people learn a bit more about Bubba Baker because he had a really big career hundred and thirty one sacks. It's a lot more than some some pass

rushers that are in Canton. But just yeah, those looking at those the first three years, imagine I don't know, just imagine the profile of a guy who, uh, if he came into the league right now, went broke the record his rookie year one Rookie of the Year and then follow that up with sixteen sacks and then lead the league with seventeen and a half the year after that, imagine that guy's profile heading into year four. He'd be the biggest not you know, superstar in the entire league

that doesn't play quarterbacks. It's pretty amazing. And all of these games were recorded. We have video evidence of everything that took place. Uh, there's nothing keeping us from doing that, from recognizing the guys who were integral uh in making the league what it is today, and and him telling the story of crying with his family, it hit me too,

dan Um, you know who else are we? Who else is going underappreciated for their contributions just because we we we haven't adjusted some numbers around And I want to let them know. I want to let them know I'm a profile all Reference. I'm sure hopefully they hear this reaction too, because they did Yeoman's work, doing all the work to to find these numbers. Absolutely, and I I

hope that it doesn't stop here. I hope that what prop Football Reference getting the ball rolling on this the NFL, you know, maybe there's some teamwork here and they can really fill in the gaps on these they can make it official. All right, let's wrap up the news. It's gonna be hard to top that, but let's wrap up the news with Ben Roethlisberger, who is entering what almost certainly is his final season, but who knows. In the NFL,

he's thirty nine years old. He really did not play very well down the stretch for the Steelers, and a disappointing season for Pittsburgh after that eleven and no start. Uh. And there's a lot of questions about Roethlisberger. There's a lot of questions about his offensive line. Uh. Here is the latest on the quarterback and this from Ryan Burr on Twitter. Ben Camp says biggest concern is weight loss. He has been so driven since the season ended. Source

says has died. Is stricter than Brady. How about that? Roethlisberger's camp also said he's quote yep, here it comes in the best shape of his life. And that Roethlisberger, this,

I do believe. Here's everything everything this is. This is like the second time this happened this off season, by the way, where like a local Pittsburgh Steelers guy was like being like, hey, you know, this is just my source talk and Ben Ben would never put this out there himself, but he's noticing everything you're saying this summer and just this source says, and you know Ben Ben would never, you know, want to put this out here himself, but this source says that he's taking his diet more

seriously than Brady, Like how has been measuring that? Like is he does? He have a TV twelve book and he's like going one step beyond what the Brady method, Like, how does he know he's going one step beyond Brady? I mean when when people like throw out something like that's that big of an exaggeration, then you just start you start wondering what's true, what's true, what's too big? It could be possible, right if you read the TV

twelve Diet. There's a copy in our locker room. There's some contradictions in there that it's like, wait, you can't do both of these things at the same time. So you could, I guess conceivably if you're going by the book, Uh, take your diet more seriously than Tom Brady. Uh. The question is why why is there a need to say that, Yeah, you haven't been taking your diet seriously and that's the reason to blame for this. Or did you have you know,

reconstructive elbow surgery uh at at an advanced age. Um, I do wonder what's the purpose of these things? And he did. He looked big, even by big bend standards by the end of last season. And I know this, and there's millions and millions of Americans. I know this. The struggle is real with having your weight under control. For a lot of people. And I think this is something that's gonna be tough for him, especially as he

gets closer to forty, unless he completely changes his lifestyle. Um, but to use assesslersm he is a stone age pony right now in the pocket and sitting Dept. Duck and and and we're gonna bring up Big Ben a little bit later in our next segment, but he has to move better in the pocket if he's gonna survive the season, especially with that line. I like it just because in doing a little research, and by research, I mean just

like checking Ryan Burr. This guy's his other tweets. He knows Ben Roethlisberger, like going back to high school, like he covered him in high school. And and so I just do like the idea that Ben has his closer friends in the media and he is getting the word out that one is Ben with a vengeance tour and that's like, that's fun. That's like a whether it had,

whether it happens or not. I like it as a plot line because he is setting up this plot line as uh as someone who's you know, occasionally been a bit of a heel in terms of an underdog. We can all get behind right. I mean no, but I think sports needs uh, sports needs villains. I do. I

do like him as a player. I do want to, you know, before we move very quickly to give a rest in peace to Alex Gibbs, the former Broncos offensive line coach, just because he, you know, starting those zone running schemes with the Broncos back in the eighties truly influenced the future of the NFL in a schematic way. You know, more than a lot of like head coaches, like more than them that are in the Hall of

Fames or something. You can see the impact of what Alex Gibs did, not that he was the first person ever to do zone blocking, but the way he did it in such such a way that turned the Broncos into a juggernaut. You see it, You still see it. You see it all around the league, and it's because of him. Yeah, any innovation, right that opens up opportunity

for players who don't traditionally get it. Um. You know, the way that we evaluate lineman and look at that, you can definitely see a shift and a change, and it doesn't detract from the way that the other ways that people have had blocking schemes but it only adds and so anytime somebody contributes that to a game, especially this game, shout out to them. Rest in peace. Rest

in peace. And by the way, finally give it a rest to the Hillsboro River down there in Tampa, I mean the Super Bowl Trophy, the Lombardi Trophy gets tossed um by Tom Brady and almost kills somebody. Now the Stanley Cup because the Lightning won the Stanley Cup finals. Good for them, They're back to back champs over there in the NHL. They take their their big trophy out on that river and they dent the damn thing by throwing her around and rough housing with the most coveted

trophy in in the sport. I just want everybody just you know, I don't want to be the fun police here, but let's just take it easy and with the rough housing. Let's calm down, boys. Do I remember when the Stanley Cup came to Wilbraham, Massachusetts, my hometown Billy Garret in the New York New Jersey Devils, And it was like the biggest thing that ever happened to the town of Wilbraham,

that the Stanley Cup. It is the best trophy this is a Damascheck always said this, and I agree with them, even though I'm not a quarter or a tenth of the hockey fan that Damashi is one of the hockey fan of it is I think the best trophy right, well, I like the Lombardi trophy, um, but it does not hold a candle to Lord Stanley's Cup with you Patrick, the Patrick's got a take. No, I don't have a take.

Take it down, take it down to take down the Stanley Cup, the water Crystal college football, miss the Crystal football? Why they get rid of that? That was kind of speaking of unique branding, right. They wanted to brand this, this new thing that they were doing and sell it

more effectively, so they changed the trophy. Speaking of that, I and speaking of my Irish heritage, when I was sixteen back in ninety six, we went on a family pilgrimage to the Motherland and it involved a lot of driving around on a bus and visiting castles Um and driving through green, rolling hills under an overcast sky. That was my Ireland journey as a teenager. But we stopped at the factory where they made that trophy, and the woman who gave us the tour said this is the

super Bowl Trophy. And I was like, it's not the super Bowl Trophy, your mistaken, lady, And she said, no, you're mistaken. It's the super Bowl Trophy. And I said, I'm sixteen, but I'm right and you're wrong. I didn't say that, but remember thinking myself, I didn't even know that that was the college Trophy at that point. And then maybe like a year or two later, I saw it at the end of the game. It's like, Oh, she just doesn't know anything. It was. It was an

early introduction to like that facts can be debatable. You know that you can talk to someone who just won't recognize a fact even if even if it's true. I try to tell her, all right, that's what's happening in the news, all right, without further ado. Yes, the Superstar Club it's back. You could read all about it later this week on NFL dot com slash handsas um. It is my club that features only the best and brightest, and because it's just more fun, I focus on quarterbacks

and skill players on offense. There are places on the internet where you can go and dive deep and find out who the Superstar Trench Monsters are, Who's in the secondary linebackers, and I respect all that, but I just to keep things focused and have some fun. I stayed on the offensive side of the ball with skill players and uh, I have twenty seven names this year. Boys that span QB, running back, wide receiver, tight end. And the most important element of this the Superstar Club. Is

this a zero sum game? What does that mean? Patrick t You're either in or you're out? Not quite great? Does it mean I mean one goes in, one comes out? That number I guess is you know if someone if someone's coming in, someone's gotta get booted right. And then that's and that's really tough. And I struggle with it more than you would think. Like I was up at one thirty working on this piece yesterday in fact, and

I was like struggling with a certain wide receiver. I reached out to Gregor earlier in the day to get his thoughts on it, and I was thinking to myself, why do I Why am I so invested in this? Well, because it's a Superstar Club and I'm the bouncer and I take it seriously. So with that said, and speaking of trophies flying through the Hillsboro River, I bet you didn't know it was the Hillsboro river Boys, did you No, I actually did. I thought they were in the Bay.

So I appreciate that. And something's weird about Tampa being like the city of Champions, But that's where we are. That's where we're at. Um, I start with the miya kulpa, and I feel like I've been doing this for years. Tom Brady, welcome back, the first guy to ever leave the Superstar Club and return and return. I kicked out Tom Brady in this exercise following his ten season, and at that time I reasoned that while he was still an impact player, uh, it just won the Super Bowl.

A closer study, Yes, he had just won the Super Bowl, but a closer study of his game, and Greg, you always hang your hat on that playoff run, which was fine, but they did win like three to two in the Super Bowl, so let's calm down about They did put up of forty burger on the Chargers and then he outgunned Mahomes in overtime. Like mid thirties, right, still a big time quarterback, but um, his entire um look at his season made me think, Okay, this might be time

to get out. He was forty one as a superstar, not as a top quarterback or even a star. And then the next season came around around and I felt great about it because that was his last season in New England and his numbers, by his standards, flatlined a little bit. They were one and done in the playoffs, and I was like, all right, I've gotten so many things wrong with Tom Brady. This I got right. Um, However,

what has happened here is he goes to Tampa. Of course, wins the Super Bowl, plays an exceedingly high level, throws fifty touchdown over the course of the regular season and playoffs, and he is undeniably a pro football superstar at forty three years old. The mind boggles. Now, um, zero some game. So Tom's back in out, easy one to start. Drew Brees retired. I love those. Those are gimmes. And the truth of the the matter is I got it wrong last year because I should have taken Drew Brees out ahead

of his last season. I didn't do it, and that was a mistake. Mm hmm. I like the analysis. I think, um, it's important to have a critical window into into what happened in the past. And perhaps Dan, you were projecting a slight regression, which if we go back to the discussion at the time, that's what happened, and perhaps you could make the argument that it did happen, and then there was a shift in the other direction. You made

the same mistake that Sean Payton. Did you know, Sean Payton should have kicked Drew Brees to the curve last year and welcomed in Tom Brady. That's that's that's that's why Tom's throwing m F bombs. Uh. I think it was the Saints. I still think it was the Saints. Stuff real quick, a little housekeeping, um the my additions and substractions. Last year, I put Lamar Jackson in office MVP season. I took out Cam Newton. No regrets there on either front. I put in Dak Prescott. I took

out Andrew luck who retired. Of course, running back. I put in Dalvid Cook, took out Leve Bell. That one. Put in Derrick Henry, took out Todd Gurley. That was easy wide receiver. I put in t Tryreek Hill. I took out Antonio Brown. Feel good about that. I put in Amari Cooper, took out Juju Smith Schuster, which was a bad job, and me putting him in the first place, But you gotta take else sometimes in this game. That was last year. Now next quarterback Josh Allen Buffalo Bills

in what else needs to be said? Um, but I love this stat from PFF. He was six in the NFL last season with a seventy nine point one percent adjusted completion rate, and that's a massive jump from him. Uh, he was in the bottom He was in the thirties amongst quarterbacks in nineteen. So in one offseason he essentially went from this hyper athletic hass with a scatter shot shot arm to a complete package. It's one of the

great year to year leaps in recent years. So it's an easy move to put him in the superstar club, but one that I would not have predicted this time last year. No, and I think him him being able to back that up is one of the big stories of the year because there's every reason to believe that they can and should because almost more than any team other than the Bucks, they're all they're all back, they're all back in the coordinator's back, and Alan should feel

good about keeping that level up. But you do think about regression and anyone that's improved that much in one year, whether they can hold it. I have no doubt though that he should be in the Superstar Club. Yeah, it's in terms of holding it up, that's a question for everybody. That's why people leave the Superstar Club in the first place. But but to say, uh, I don't think it's gonna be repeatable. Maybe not ever in NFL history a guy is gonna go from completing or right or in the

high fifties of passes to to the low seventies. Right. It's just it's not it's not gonna happen a lot. But we are going to see people perhaps take shots on quarterbacks, uh, you know that have the arm, that have the ability and the mobility UM, and maybe completion percentage as perhaps it should, uh should should kind of fall down on the rankings of how we evaluate guys. And to what you were saying, Greg, one thing to

keep an eye on, um. There is a stat over on PFF turnover worthy plays not they not they don't necessarily turn into interceptions, UM, but plays that could have gone either way in the quarterback Uh, it went the quarterbacks way. Alan had a somewhat high number in that department. So if some of those plays go the other way. Maybe he's not quite as excellent as he was a year ago, but we'll see. We just talked about him

Ben Roethlisberger. Um, there's just there's just too much here telling me this could be UM a late period Dan Marino situation where he's just gonna not be able to move, He's not gonna be able to throw down field, and the whole thing is going to collapse. I think there's an alternate um storyline here where I think the Steelers are fine on offense, but I think the days of him being a superstar, uh if he ever was, and that opinions very there, but I I started, I I

obviously think he was. I think those days of him being an elite, top performer are over. M hmm. I mean he definitely was. He was a top five quarterback for a good chunk of his his career, and to me, didn't doesn't need those like super bowls to be a no doubt or Hall of Famer, just for how he's been year to year. And I wouldn't be surprised at all with these weapons around him if they have a pretty good offensive season. It's like a nice receiving corps.

Ben just getting rid of the ball quickly. He's definitely sharper than he used to be. If he's in a little better shape, Like I could totally see him having a very capable, like not top five, but solid season. It's it's tough to project it for me to see a comeback. Right when you look at you know, the surgery at the advanced stage, it's like we look at a Cam Newton, right. He he tried to do all of those things. He tried to change his diet, he became vegan. But but at a certain point, your body

goes through trauma and um. As much as it funds my existence, football isn't isn't good for you, Like it's tough to get healthier playing football. Uh and and I just I can't see it. Yeah, I don't think I'll be writing next season Mia Colpa about Big Ben, but you never know. Um. Finally, I have three quarterbacks entering the Superstar Clube. Kyler Murray. Now this one a little bit of and I understand that, um, but I just

want to say this. Last November fifteenth, Kyler Murray scrambled towards his own sideline near midfield, and he up a prayer. It was answered by DeAndre Hopkins. It was quickly dubbed the Hail Murray. It got the um obligatory Wikipedia entry.

It was a truly special moment, and at that moment in time, the whole football world was buzzing about Kyler Murray taking this next step and being an m VP candidate, and the Cardinals, who are a flawed team, but we're five and three and um there soon should be excited about. A couple of weeks later, he hre at his shoulder. He's not the same guy with his legs or his arm the rest of the way, So it's a little bit of a leap of faith. But I think this

year he's gonna go nuts. And I really I don't know about the Cardinals because that's a tough division, and you can make the argument the fact that it's such a tough division will keep Murray from reaching an elevated level of play. But I think he's an absolute, stone cold MVP candidate and at the end of the season, we'll be seen as a top six or seven or

even top five guy this position fighting it's projection. I mean, he's not there yet, I don't think, but you know when you say superstar, that's more than just numbers, and he has that factor. I mean he's the most you know him in Lamar the two best runners I've ever seen, and he improved significantly in year two. So if he did that again, like he improved significantly as a runner, he improved significantly avoiding sacks um he was bet you know better as a passer. But is he a top

ten quarterback right now? To me, he's like on the edge of that, and so he will have to improve to live up to Daddy Zeus. Is that one of your nicknames? But that you're calling yourself daddy earlier, I'm like, you're not my daddy, you know. I was like, which daddy you're talking about? And that's not even factoring in the nickname. That's really started to build a little bit of heat. Down to Tybee Island tugboat. I mean that one's out there now too. I didn't I didn't know.

I didn't know about that one. I wasn't I wasn't you like that one though, Huh. None of these ever had anything to do with me. It's it's what connects with the people that That's what it's always been. Would you have put forth tug boat here in the circumstance if you did not like tug boat right, yes, because I think I literally never heard of other humans say the New Old Blue Eyes other than you. So I do feel like you put that forward. Listen, the triple

G or whatever you call yourself. I like, how you that's fine? You like to put that. Yeah, I've owned that all along. If the New Old Blue Eyes, if tug boat, if he throws out a name all of a sudden, it's like, oh my god, this guy is ridiculous. Listen is pretty out there too, And I like, but I'm just saying I own it that I'm the one throwing it out there. I just want to say that. Yesterday at three fifteen pm, Dan said it was my

forever destiny dash tug boat and all caps. So he said, I think it's I think it's it's okay Dan for you to like talk boat, for you to push talk Boat forward. I'm not pushing it. The tugboat only pulled. Yeah, you're pulling it. He leads, all right, let's let's keep going here. Uh this one, I'm taking another l here, Carson Wentz. I did put Carson Wentz in the Superstar Club. I thought this guy was awesome. I thought it was an awesome quarterback. And uh, he was not awesome last year.

In fact, he was quite bad. And even though I believe him to be a real bounceback candidate Indianapolis this year, if he is in the Superstar Club coming off the season where he was one of the worst quarterbacks in football, that would that would be devastating for our establishment. No, there's no way to remain a good standing. So I put pushed my chips into the center of the table twents last year. Still believed in him. These things don't always work out, but I've right it or wrong obviously.

Oh yeah, I mean the the amount of grief you're gonna take from Brady when he shows up being like, you know you had Wentz in here last year, man sitting here over over me last year, Like give me the entire corner of the club I own it or else I'm not coming in again for that sort of disrespect going wents over me. Perhaps it was this particular venue that that Brady was mentioning in his in his fame him every moment he was talking about Dan Hanson's

Superstar Club, Umbled Waters. I like it the updated QB membership, Alan Brady, Lamar Mahomes, Kyler, Dak Rogers, Ryan, Deshaun Russell Wilson. I have a little close calls category. Matt Ryan. I did think very hard about whether it's time to say goodbye one of the great pocket pastors of his generation, but also not been quite the same guy since Kyle Shanahan l But I just felt it was not the right time with Arthur Smith and this Kyle Pitt's character entering the fray too to bail on the guy. So

he's getting one more year running back. Nick Chubb's in Mark Sesler, I'll give him credit. He said, next year you will have Nick Chubb the Superstar Club, and now he is in the Superstar Club. Great pff stat leads the NFL over the past two seasons with a hundred and twenty four broken tackles on foight carries. He's a truck machine, but he's not just a lumbering bruiser. He has a bunch of home run place too. He's a badass um and out and this one is controversial voice.

This one I really debated as well. Zekiel Elliott, he gone and I and I tried not to succumb to recency bias on this because as bad as his was, and it was bad, he didn't he wasn't explosive, he was putting the ball on the carpet. He was a mess. He's still just twenty five. He's still in a really good offense, even if the line isn't what it used to be. Uh. He clearly, if he shows up in great shape like we're hearing, UH is a candidate to

have a big bounce back season. Um, but you can't ignore that he hasn't quite been the same guy the last couple of years. Uh. So I did throw it to I just said, let the people decide. I put it up there on Twitter late last night. Simple question, is Ezekiel Elliott a superstar? And guess what almost votes cast so far? And six of the people say no. So that's where I went. I went the people decided.

Do you guys agree with the people? Well, I, you know, if it's Tim versus Chubb, then then you made the right choice. I guess I gotta look at the whole list because I do think this one statistically could come back to haunt you. You know, he's been in the league what five years. In three of those years he went over sevred and fifty yards from scrimmage, and I kind of would put him over that. This year again,

I think, I think ruggle to this. I see it's gonna get one more, one more big year, and this smells like the year. The offensive line still looks great, the passing game is great. He's gonna be ready to go, and I think there's a decent chance he'll be more explosive and look a little better and and just rack up numbers because he's gonna get the all three fifty times and be a nice little fantasy You know, this is the time to buy in. I think on fantasy his value is at a low. You do have a

bylow opportunity I think was Zeke. But if we're talking about the Superstar Club, one thing that I'm seeing it's a trend where Dan is concerned about projecting into the next year, and those are the areas where I think we end up regretting inclusion into the Superstar clueing well, then Kyler could be a problem. He could be another after year to mistake, like Juju or something. In terms of if we're just looking at at Chub versus Zeke, Like anybody can can grant superstardom based on the past.

But but what this club seeks to do, in my opini as somebody who values it greatly, UM, is provide an accurate depiction of the value that this player adds to the sport. And and currently Nick Chubb doesn't get the love that he should, and we have rectified that in the Superstar Club. And Zeke did not perform well last year. So I think it's I think it's easy, perfectly said. I mean, this is why Claibron gets the prime Friday night DJ sets at the club. Um, it's

a second job. It pays well, he can hang out with the players. That is a good question. He just respects the respects the club so much. If if Claibron and that I do like. I like the idea, but I don't. I don't quite see it. If claib we're working at a high end, elite let's say nightclub, whether it's West Hollywood, let's just stick it in West Hollywood. Um, what what would be his position at said club general manager? I think I think he would just run the place

for you. You know, I don't know that's why you're the owner, though, Yeah, I don't. I'm you in a kind of a no fun job though, Claybone, I'm sorry. It's okay. I don't mind being a man of the people. What's the club, Ricky? Where? Where's where's Claybon working? It's One Oak. If you're going to be at a club, you gotta be at One Oak. Is that the trendy, fashionable establishment club. That's like you'll see bab You'll see Chris Brown like One Oak. There's l A and I

think Vegas one too. Can you get in that, Ricky? Where are you at? On the social letter? I have gotten in once, but it took took a lot of work. What did it take? Let me get it wasn't worth it? No, it wasn't um all right? So there you go. Uh. The updated running back membership is say Kwan Barkley, which I did give a little thought on. It's been a tough situation with him and that knee injury return tables murky, but I'm not going to do anything rash there Um Barkley, Chub,

Dalvin Cook, Derrick, Henry, Alvin Kamara, Christian McCaffrey. I had a little bit of a dilemma over Aaron Jones, but ultimately I think it was similar probably the one faced by the Packers before they gave that man his bag. He's really good, but you know, is he great? He's not in the club right He's not in right now? I think that is. I have a feeling that is the most solid, inarguably group on the list. I think you did well bringing Chubbin. Thanks all, right, wide receiver?

We have two wide receivers in and this was this was tough. So I put an A. J. Brown for starters. I mean a second round pick who was a star after year one and then took his game up a couple of notches in year two. So now he's entering year three. He's a yak monster. Um, he's fearless, uh over the middle, He's just a perfect guy you want

on your team. And Ryan Tannehill's in love with him. Uh. And now you put Julio Jones up, line him up opposite of him, and I just think that Brown is setting himself up to produce a level that few of his peers can match in year three. I just love the guy. Um, so I put him in And are you guys okay with a J. Brown. Yeah, he gets knocked out, but yeah, that makes sense. I took out Odell.

M hm. He I mean he continues backham to be a buzzy summertime pick here and as a guy that could deliver a big season reminiscent of the Giant States. But in truth, I just don't think his his game matches his name. And it's been a while since we saw that peak superstar type production. It's been a little bit messy here in Cleveland with Baker and then he blow blows out his knee. But even before he blew out the knee last year, Um, outside one game where

he exploded and showed that potential he's always had. Um, he just hasn't been the same guy since. Uh. Do I think he could have a monster season here? Um? Yes, it's certainly within the range of outcomes. But is it also more likely in my opinion, that his best days are behind him almost twenty nine years old. I think

that might be it? Mm hmm, I think can have we what's your your standard regarding can when lose membership in the Superstar Club due to injury specifically, Um, there's you don't get Yeah, you don't get any cookies for that. It's it's an unfortunate aspect of the game. And if you suffer devastating lower body injury, it needs to be taken into consideration. It's tough because like like Brady, he's just like unquestionably a superstar in in um, no matter

how long how many injuries he gets. And uh, he's still so young that you think, like all that talent and hasn't gone anywhere. It's on a relative scale, it's pretty young. I'm just saying it's turning twenty nine this season. He should have good years left. So it's dangerous. This is a dangerous one. It's very dangerous at and especially knowing some of the other wide receivers that are still in the club. And there was so much promise there, right.

You mentioned the breakout Week four against the Cowboys. I lose track of when that was, but it was an explosion, right And and even on the play where you know Baker underthrows and it gets picked off, he's he's being O'Dell, he's being extremely athletic, he's trying to make a tackle. He blows his cruise ship. Right, Um, it's there, right, O'Dell. Is was there at some point, But do we know, uh, the capacity to which this this guy is, this otherworldly

athlete who is able to do those things. Can he still do that now? And is he in the right place to do that even if he has that ability still it's and and wide receivers deeper with like you know, there's so many different guys that was like, hey, that's a top ten receiver, but you look around the league and it is deeper than it's ever been in terms of great wide outs. So Odell will have to bring back some two thousand and sixteen seventeen O'Dell to get

to that level. It's a better field than it was back then. That's fair. That's fair, all right, up next Stefon Diggs and what else needs to be said. Obviously he was a total monster and and in that offense that is unchanged with Brian Dave b all there, it's just going to continue. I think him along with Davante Adams, I don't have two wide receivers that are more you

lock it in, but put money in the bank. If this guy with with good health is gonna have a monster here, I trust him over just about anybody in the league. And I had to take out somebody. This one was real tough. I moved Mike Evans out of the Superstar Club. What do you guys think about that? Because I'm a struggle with that one. Well, is that it for receivers? Get here's you got a Marie Cooper

in there? Right? The updated membership is Davante, A. J. Brown, Cooper, Stefon Diggs, Tyree killed DeAndre Hopkins, Julio Jones, Michael Thomas. And that's it, no more, no more changes. Yeah, I would receivers where I have some bones to pick, I'd get Cooper out of there. I probably would have kept Odell in. I might put Alan Robinson in there too. I don't know who I would have to take it.

Maybe then I take out Evans at that point, Um, Cooper is a great player, you know, but I think you can be a great player and not a superstar. Like I get that his route running this and that and the other. Like to me, he is not he isn't. We've I've seen enough that I feel like I know he is. He is not that level Stefan Diggs, Davante Adams or even maybe a peak Mike Evans. I I don't think Amari Cooper is quite quite there. Yeah, it's it's that it's the question of what level do we

take production into what makes a superstar? Right? Um? Because there's that. You know, he plays in Dallas, right Mars the number one receiver on a loaded roster. But you can say the same argument for the Super Bowl champion and and Mike Evans. Um. But it is zero sums. I mean, he's been in the league. It's it's horrible to be picking on such a great player, and there are reasons for all of this, but he's been in the league for seven years and he hasn't top twelve

hundred yards. It's like, I don't know, last year, you might have making me think that the copy might have to shift on this one. I struggle that. Yeah, playing without Doak for most of the last season, he still went for two for eleven fourteen. He's great, He's great at football. But this is an exclusive club, Okay, And just and just so you know, I did struggle with this because we are enjoying an incredible boom at this position. You can make a case for you mentioned Allan Robinson,

Calvin Ridley. I thought about Justin Jefferson, uh coming off that rookie year DJ Metcalf. These are a lot of guys and and it makes me think, do I need to relax the zero some rule and and put more wide receivers in? I don't know. I can't decide. It's hard. There's there's there's a real case for DK I think as well, Um, yeah, I wouldn't have k Should I relax? Should I make an exemption because of the uh see

change at wide receiver? No? You basically with you better pick the right number of guys at that position at the first year. Yeah, yeah, I would uh, all right, fair enough. Finally, tight End. I haven't even written about tight End in recent years because there's just not enough

guys um, which is kind of weird. Because there's so many hyper athletic playmakers coming out of the college game every year, you would think there would be more guys that would be like a um Kyle Pitts coming into the league every year, and in some ways there is. There's always some tight End people are over the moon about, although pits of course a level of hype that we haven't seen, um really ever in my memory at tight end. But anyway, Darren Waller is a superstar for me. Now.

He set career highs across the board. And I know he's not the all around player that Travis Kelsey or George Kittle is, but I think there's just something to be said for a guy that plays tight end and can line up on the outside and beat cornerbacks uh down the down on the field and and make plays over the middle and be the security blanket that he was for Derek Carr. He was, if you look at

his last five games last season, uncoverable UM. And he's a really nice success story, a guy that overcame personal problems and addiction to become uh to me, a superstar at tight end. So it's a three man field. I took out Gronk, no disrespect to Gronk, but came out of retirement last season. He was very good, especially for somebody who hadn't played football in almost two years. But he's certainly not the game plan shredding force of nature he was in his younger years before all the injuries

caught up to him. But there he goes a three man crew. Kelsey, Kittle, Waller. He had to make that move. And that's even as someone who I think thinks Gronks was a little underrated and he ended up playing more snaps than almost any tight end the league coming off that back and if you count the playoffs, I think he was number two and snaps like he was on the field. He helped him, but he's he's not Darren Waller at the I mean in terms of a difference

maker right now, in no way. Yeah, it's those three and everybody else. It's it's clear and obvious, including grow. And it's funny, like, you know how easy it is to get sucked up by things this time of year is like should I just get get fun, get cute and put Kyle Pitts in and just ride the ride the wave and just hope everyone that knows more than me about the college game is right that this guy is a you know, put him in Canton, uh in

twenty years type talent. But no, the Superstar Club everything is earned. Uh So go fill up the water cooler, kid. I mean you're because your clientele is not just the the I don't know it's the public ever allowed into the super circle, but I guess not your clientsell are

the superstars. I think you would have some upset superstars, you know, justin Jefferson or some of these young players who aren't in and they're like, what, you just gave it to a rookie and we can't even get in, or the ones that have really had to earn their spots, or Nick Chubbs, like what, you just give this guy a free pass. You might have some upset superstars if yeah, I won't do that. It's a good call, it good point. I didn't really consider it that way, but you're absolutely true.

So the only thing, and thank you boys for this um. The only thing that I'm really hung up on. I kind of think, and I'm leaning towards Jefferson, but Ridley, Robinson and Metcalf all makes sense to maybe putting one of those dudes in and taking out Cooper. Who would you if I gave you those four players Jefferson, Calvin Ridley, Allen Robinson and d J. Metcalf Who would get in over a MARII I can only give. I can't. I can't take anybody else out. It just wouldn't make any sense.

It would defeat the entire exercise. I only have room for one that's tough. It's really hard. I would I would make the d K argument, Um, he meets the the external qualities of a superstar and he's he's got all the production, um, the plays, the splash of the ability. I think, I'm I think, I'm I think it's I think of those three, it's d K. I think Robinson has the best resume and deserves it. Um. But DK has got that genes se quad and he is a superstar.

And Jefferson deserves it too. But at least K has been in the league an extra year there and made that leap. I think I think it would be my pay. The irony with Allen Robinson is the very reason what

makes the case for him being a superstar. That he does it without good quarterback play ultimately is keeping him out because you imagine there's a better version of him potentially if he ever has a real quarterback, and maybe now he does with justin fields, but he kind of lives in this like football purgatory because of the Bears

middling ways in recent years. So I really struggle. I want to kind of give him, uh some type of honor for putting up with all this madness and nonsense in Chicago, and maybe you throw him in the Superstar Club and maybe he sees it just like Al Baker saw that, and he sits on his porch at his condo and looks out at this sea and a tier goes down his cheek. Maybe I don't know. I can't say whether or not that would happen, but ultimately yes, Okay, if you guys both say mecha, if he's going in

Cooper's coming out, I'm gonna just the copy. He's got the sizzle. I mean, the Superstar Club is not all about production either. Jefferson's got a lot of sizzle, great personality. DK's got the sizzle. I'm sorry, Alan Robinson fans. All Right, there you go. That's at the two thousand one Superstar Club. Also a superstar Al Bubba Baker. How about that joining us surprise appearance. You should have seen Greg's face? Oh my good, very very surprised. It was awesome. Thank you.

I don't know whether they're called Al or bubba Um. I gotta be completely honest, And this really does play into the whole conversation. I mean, if if the sack was a a stat that was kept back, then everyone knows he's a household name, and I would know whether he goes by Al or Bubba, but he predates me. His that season was a couple of years before I was born. Uh, you guys as well. So I'm glad

that he's getting some pop out of this. And hopefully if the football coagna Senti, I will say this, Ricky jump in a second. If the football coagna Centi is paying attention to our podcast, there's some news in that little uh interview, And maybe Ricky, you could tell our own NFL desk about that, and and and Al can get some pop off this pod. That would be nice to him. Yeah, I think this is gonna be great for him. He was so sweet, hard guy not to

root for. Super nice dude. Okay, good stuff, Patrick, you are well. You said it all start there. Second of all, you came in on short notice. You're wearing a tie, which means you have real work to do right after this. So we thank you so much from pinch hitting and uh you're the man. Thank you, Bud All. Thanks Thanks Patrick, get well soon, Mark Sessler. Our schedule, we're off the rest of the week. We'll be back nearly full tilt

Tilt start next week. We'll have a show Monday. We'll have a show Thursday, and then the network shows back Friday. So hang tight. Thank you for riding with us all these years, and we're gonna keep riding going forward like Bubba Baker riding right through an offensive line and destroying everything in this past. Until Monday, PETA call, h