Team MVPs & Freaking Colleen Wolfe OUT (about the Eagles)

on your old DVR or wherever you catch NFL network programming. Hey, Ricky, give me a little um how about some fireplace, a crackling fireplace. It's a little fireside chat before we get into the show. Oh, very nice. And I just want you guys to know this is not gonna become a regular thing, and the TV show is not gonna substitute for the audio shows. Hate when podcasts do that. That's not gonna Actually, Ricky, give me not a fireplace, it's the summer. How about takes to the beach? Yeah, by

the sea. I like that. Now we're now we're in business. Yes, this is just kind of a one off thing, so please uh enjoy it. It's me. It's Mark. It's Colleen filling in for Greg, who's already started his vacation. Wow, way to go, Greg, uh So please check it out and again we'll be back. We're gonna take a little bit of a break here. It's been a long year for us at the show, so we're gonna spend some time with family. We'll be back with shows on the other side of the July four week so make sure

to come back while we go away. And for now, it's time to head to the sea. Enjoy it everybody, and have a great weekend. Me Around the NFL podcast needs more followers on Instagram. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL Broadcast. My name is Dan Hansas joined and he virtual room filled with some heroes. Mark Sessler and filling in for Greg Rosenthal on vacation. Colleague, whoof what's up? Gang? Hello? Hello, this is gonna be

a good one coming up on today's show. Connie the Eagles fan, We're gonna freak her out about the Eagles,

or try to anybody with a big season coming up. Mark, you get upset about certain things, the ponderous scale about high high mileage, offseason storylines and I know you're gonna have some things to get off your chest, I imagine, Mark, Yeah, absolutely no. It's we're at that point of the year where it's like the storylines have been frantically drilled into our minds, you know, over and over, and I'm slightly agitated. This feels like a cathartic exercise that will send you

into summer in a healthy place. But before that, let's get caught up on what's going on in the NFL to do some news, and we'll start, boys and girls with big news on a Steeler's offensive line that is continuing to evolve into an area of mystery. The Steelers cut long time guard David DeCastro. They then turned around and signed former charges guard Trey Turner um Connie. This one was a shock at first. DeCastro has been a

mainstay for the with the Steelers for a decade. But then when you started to peel back the layers here and made a little more sense, he's been such a staple, so I feel like it was kind of jarring when I saw that this happened. In nine years he spent in Pittsburgh, three time All Pro sixt time Pro bowler, but it's just the continuation of what we've been seeing on this offensive line. The turnover there. It's kind of wild.

This offensive line, it looks completely different now. And this for so long has been a strong, consistent group in Pittsburgh, and now you have so much influx. So you have Alejandro Villeneueva, he's now a raven, Matt Fire, he's now a Charger. Marquees Palty retired, so they bring in trade

Turner and they have a whole different looking group. Now, yeah, I mean, and the whole point here was if we're gonna do this one more time with Big Ben, you want to create an environment where he's going to succeed because he can't move Dan. We've we've used the term a million times. He's a stone age pony at this point. Is part of his game to degree, but I mean

part of it is relationship. You only have a certain amount of time and a dwindling amount of time until the season begins here, and they've got one guy coming back from last year's line, and it wasn't a good line to begin with, So there's a lot of meshing that needs to occur, otherwise this offense could be docked. Um in a hurry. Well that that's the positive spent spin too, though, because if this line was bad last year, well it needed to be overhauled anyway. So maybe you

trust and again, this is an organization mark. As a Browns fan, I know you struggle with this and I would too. Um, they seem to figure things out there, run in a smart way. There's a reason why they win eleven games every year, it seems, and you imagine they have some pieces in place that they trust and maybe they actually get better in on that point, Trey Turner, that's a nice pickup. Um. Turner's dealt with injuries himself.

Uh so he's a question mark, but I feel like I'm not gonna Maybe it softens the blow a little bit and the shock of decashtro all of a sudden being out of the picture that you're saying, Okay, again, I trust this front office. They know what they're doing. They bring in Turner, they believe in him that he can fill the shoes. But maybe, Connie, you could look at it another way. Turner was on the market for a long time and maybe it's a bit of another

desperation move for a team in transition. Right, We'll look at the look at where we are right now on the calendar too. It's not like they had their pick of the litter out there. This happened. They had to bring somebody in, so they have someone there and trade Turner now. But I feel like there are a lot of questions at least that I have with this team. Because Ben Roethlisberger, we know that you know what he

is at this point, he's getting older. This offensive line that is very different, and then I just feel like no one is really talking about this secondary and the questions that I have at cornerback. How are the Steelers going to replace both starting corner Steven Nelson and Mike Hilton in the back end there? And this was a top three passing defense last year, so they have Joe Hayden still, they have Ken Sutton, who's versatile. Then after that,

it's justin lane. There's really no insurance policies beyond that. So it's not necessarily a team in Pittsburgh that drafts and develops corner talent from within. Both Nelson and Hilton they were imports, and when you look at their schedule, guys, they got Mahomes, they got Josh Allen, Ryan Tattehill, Russell Wilson. I mean not to mention Jackson and Baker Mayfield twice. So this is kind of a problem. Conny, We're supposed to be freaking you about out about the Eagles later

on today, you're trying to freak out Steelers fans. Final thoughts, Cessler, I'm sorry, my apology. That's a Pennsylvania thing. I mean, I think they also our last impression of the Steelers, and as a Browns fan, you know I I I enjoyed this for a bit, was like a drunken flues he being taken out of a party in January. But you're right, then, the Steelers tend to figure things out. There's a lot of weapons on this offense too, And would it surprise anyone if they were a wild card

team or even won the division. No, it's the Pittsburgh Steelers. I'm gonna talk some team MVP picks and a piece that I'm writing for NFL dot com later. I love now Jay Harris the first round pick, but again, everything is kind of predicated on what happens up front. And my last thought is the Steelers. Is there another team that has a higher ceiling and a lower floor. The disparity between where this can go. I think they can go eleven and six or six and eleven. All Right,

that's enough good talk. In other news and historic news. In fact, I saw people. I'm Karl Massive. I'm at my house here in west Chester, Pennsylvania. I just want to take a quick moment to say that I'm gay. I've been meaning to do this for a while now, but I finally feel comfortable enough to get it off my chest. UM. I really have the best life. I got the best family, friends and job a guy could ask for. UM. I'm a pretty private person, so I hope you guys know that I'm really not doing this

for attention. UM. I just think that representation and visibility are so important. UM. I actually hope that, like one day, videos like this and the whole coming out process are just not necessary. UM. But until then, you know, I'm gonna do my best and do my part to cultivated culture that's accepting and that's compassionate. And I'm gonna start by donating one thousand dollars to the Trevor Project. They're

an incredibleganization. They're the number one suicider Vengure service for lgbt Q youth in America and they're truly doing incredible things and I'm very excited to be a part of it, helping any way that I can, and I'm really pumped to see what the future holds good for Carl Nassa, the first openly gay NFL player active player in history. And now we welcome in our wonderful producer, Erica tam Posey, openly gay herself and proud, and we're proud of her,

and I'm sure this is a proud moment for you, Ricky. Yeah, you guys, this is awesome. And for those that don't know our podcast, we did a Pride episode where we were all together, and it's such a difference from even where I thought I could be in my career, in my life from years ago. To have very you know, openly straight people with families and coming to do a Pride episode together and the support and love that you guys personally showed me is just incredible and I'm so

lucky to have you. But watching what is happening around the league with Carl and the outspoken um, just support from players and people all around, like it brought me to absolute tears and I sat down yesterday with Ryan Russell, who's a free agent who's also openly gay, yesterday and we we chatted for a while. But the comments, you guys, still, especially on the main NFL account, when you have this

huge group of people, they it's still not there. And it is so heartbreaking and and and this is why we need Pride Month, you know what I mean, Like when you see all these comments that are so hateful and who care? And it blows my mind that you can still read this kind of stuff out there. But there's a reason why we need to be talking about it.

And I know for a fact that there are young boys watching football at home saying, hey, you know what, I might, you know, love another boy, but I can still be still be a great football player and play in this league and I belong here. And we're very proud of that. Yeah, Erica, we're so proud of you. You you wrote an amazing piece on NFL dot com last year detailing your journey in sports media as a gay woman. And it just it seems like and Mark,

we've been doing this podcast forever. Mark that uh, Michael sam was seven years ago when he was drafted in the seventh round. Um, the first gay player to be drafted. His career never got off the ground as a player, but now you have. Nasa was an established guy drafted by your Browns, is on his third contract. Um. It's it's really, it's it's a great thing. And I think you're seeing progress just and how it's how things are

unfolding in the last few days compared to seven years ago. Yeah, and you hear Carl Nassa very honestly say that, you know, he agonized over this for fifteen years. So how many other players UM in the past and even today have also agonized over the authentic person they are. Um, not the not the you know, the outside one where you're looking, you're you're doing your job, but who you truly are inside. And I think this is a big step for other players.

And you know, we've had people reach out to us listeners of our show that say, I'm a guy, I love football, but I've always felt, UM that I can't really be who I am as a football fan or just as a person. And doing our episode with you Ricky up in Um West Hollywood, I think opened a door for even some people that listen to our show but really it's an NFL wide thing. It's it's um

it's a universe thing, it's an earth thing. I mean, we are becoming more who we really are, and I think it's a great step for Carl Nassa, it truly is.

I have so much respect for him, Erica. I mean, this was so courageous, so commendable for him to come out and do this and really brave to be able to to make himself so vulnerable and to open himself up, Erica, as you mentioned, to all of the ugliness of people who won't accept him, to be a voice of representation for people who are too afraid to use their own

to speak up. It's just so cool to see the Carl Nassa jersey's sales spiking, and it's like a lot of people that are you know, I don't need to walk around with a Pride flag to show that I'm accepting. You can be in the in the grocery store and see someone wearing a Carl now of jersey and you're like, Okay, that person respects people. If something were to happen to me,

I know that this person is okay with me. And it's like little things like that that get me so excited, and it's like my heart just wants to burst because it's like I can see masculine dudes in a Carl Nassa jersey and know that like they ride with me. And you wonder if maybe you know this announcement as brave as it as it is opens the door for other players to follow in Again, it's like going back to seven years ago and we had just started our own podcast at that point. I don't remember. Maybe my

memory is failing me. Michael Sam Jersey's flying off the shelf. And I know that's not necessarily indicative of everything, but it does tell you something. And and he also mentioned NASA, the Trevor Project, which provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to the l g B t Q community. Uh, look into that if you can help out, help out. Awesome stuff. And Ricky again, this is fun, this is good, this is progress. It's amazing. Guys, thank you so much

for even talking about it. And I feel like, you know, June is I don't want to just check a box. I don't want to just come on here and talk about this because it's June. But the support that I feel from my friends and family from you guys specifically, and the NFL matching the donation to the Trevor Project. It's like, we need to talk about this right now. Awesome.

We love you, Ricky Prett, and we're also happy that the Patriots are in decline, so you have to deal with that, but you have good things in your life as well. All right, coming up next on the broadcast. Yes, we've promised it. I think a little always sunny nod there. I like that the Gang freaks Connie out about her beloved Eagles. It's been a big season of upheaval for Philadelphia's NFL squad, and a native of Philadelphia is the great Colleen Wolf again sitting in for Greg Rosenthal today

and Connie listen. It's kind of a weird time, I imagine to be an Eagles fan, because there's in the division, the NFC East, which is obviously you know, mired and mediaocrity. You're here and hype about these other teams, but the Eagles not so much. I mean you do you sense that as well? Oh? I sense it. I live it. Um, It's just I wake up every morning and I feel it. So I'm trying to actually separate myself a little bit

from it, but I appreciate the segment for sure. All Right, So this is the sag and and this is what we're gonna do our attempt, Mark and I and we're gonna ping pong on this. We want to freak you out. We want you to be uncomfortable. We want you to by the end of this seg to think about the season ahead is something to dread because nothing goods coming out of it. But feel free to push back on us. Mark, get us going. I will, and what good friends we are.

I'm gonna just read this for you, Colleen. Does it concern you from a long game karma angle that the Eagles have a statue outside of their stadium featuring a coach they just fired and whose most memorable sound bite is I'm piste off Angelo. Well, you know what you brought be back in at the end, because Angelo was my old boss at w i P Sports Radio, first job. Ever, However, yes,

I think that is terrible karma. And it's like for a while in Philadelphia there was the Curse of Ben Franklin, so no team could win a championship because the Comcast tower was built higher than the Ben Franklin statue on top of city halls. We finally got over that, but at this point I feel like this is the new kind of hecks. Yeah, a lot is wrong with that. So you're pretty freaked out about that? Wow? If that all right? I'm feeling good about this segment al right

up next, everything freaks me out. I know, I know you, we know you will. The new head coach, Nick Sirianni. You know, a long search after they let go of Doug Peterson, they land on Sirianni and I just want to throw it. If anyone is not familiar with the look and sound of Mr Sirianni, here it is. It's competition in every position. Competition is great. Competition elevates everybody's go out there and compete. They're competing for the jobs.

I'm competing for my job, Shane's competing for his job. Gan is competing for his job. So we got to compete and to compete, and competition is never a bad thing. Okay. So, so I am staying at my parents place on the Jersey Shore right now. So I ask you this, Colleen, does it concern you at all? The new Eagles coach Nick Sirianni looks and sounds like every fist pumping bro getting down to the foghorn at DJ's in Belmar, Okay.

So everybody knows that Eagles fans and anyone from Philadelphia they go down the shore, but they go to South Jersey. So anything north of a C doesn't even count. Now, if you were saying that he was fist pumping like a bro, and say La Costa or the Princeton Wildwood, see, I'll avalon. I guess if you're one of those rich people, listen. Yes, it absolutely does concern me. However, he's not the only head coach in the NFL that looks like he could be fist pumping at a Jersey shore bar. I mean,

hello Sean McVeigh, Hello Matt Lafleur, Hello Dan Campbell. The list could go on and on and on. What does concern me is the fact that he's never been a head coach, he's never been a play caller before, and he brings in an offensive coordinator in Shane Steike and who has been a play caller before. Yet. No, Sirianni is going to do both jobs, and I'm very curious to see how it turns. Out. That's a good point.

I mean, there it feels like he's and I'm gonna get to it a little bit later, um, but it feels like he's in a very difficult position and doesn't have a lot of experience. Mark, you're up alright. I noticed, Colleen that you were taking pot shots at the Steelers secondary. Fair enough, but I look at what the Eagles have

right now. You have Darius Slay, good player. Your next sort of plugged in starter is Vonte Maddox, who, last year pf F graded is the one hundred and twenty first ranked cornerback out of a hundred and twenty one eligible cornerbacks. Number two was Erica Tamposey. You've got Patrick Mahomes coming into town. Next. Here you're dealing with Tom Brady. Um, You've got a bunch of great quarterbacks Matt Ryan coming

up against this Eagle secondary. Everything is fine? Correct? Well, when you put it like that, I mean, who wouldn't be concerned? I'm sweating at this point now I need to tear off my Eagles jacket. Uh listen. In fairness, having watched the Eagles my entire life, being concerned about cornerback depth, it kind of comes with the territory. It's basically a prerequisite of being an Eagles fan. So maybe it will help that the Eagles, Uh, you know that they did bring in some some new people on the

On the defense, they have a new defensive coordinator. Jim Schwartz has gone. Actually that makes me freaked out even more that he's gone and Jonathan Gannon is now the defensive coordinator. I feel like I'm not helping myself at all here. But you also think about the wide receivers in this division alone. You have Amari Cooper, Ceedee Lamb, Kenny Golladay, now Terry McLaurin. Yeah, this is a problem

for sure. Well, you know, let's close it with this, Connie, and I feel like you're on the ropes right now, So I'm going for the knockout. I'm not even gonna get into the head coach is dealing with all sorts of potential dysfunction behind the scenes, micromanagement, and the athletic put out a whole expose on the phone, and I'd be more concerned than seeing Ben Simmons at the foul line in the NBA playoffs. But where I'm gonna put

my focus here finally is Jalen Hurts. You send Carson Wentz out of town, you kick him out of town, and you have Jalen Hurts, a guy in his rookie season. You know, they went one in three in his starts and he completed just over fifty of his passes. Joe Flacco and Nick Mullins are behind him. A lot of eggs in the old Jalen Hurts basket. Concerned at all. Listen, We've seen what four starts from him, that's it. And he comes into a locker room that is obviously a

toxic situation. You have the head coach clashing with the higher ups there in the front office. The offensive line was completely decimated. They had the most starting offensive line combinations since three and then all of their skill position players were basically hurt. You had guys off the practice squad, You had undrafted free agents coming out of nowhere, Greg Ward, Travis Fulgum. I mean, this was a situation that was

a massive problem. However, I will say that when he did come in, despite all of those things and all of the adversity that he faced, he was able to really show some amazing running ability, some great things off of play action. So there is a foundation, and of course they bring in the Heisman Trophy winter winner Devanta Smith, and you have hopefully some more stability in that locker room now that Carson Wentz is gone and it's not divided.

You know what, Colleen, You've comported yourself very well. Mark. I'm disappointed. I thought there'd be makeup running down her face. I thought you'd just like fall out of the chair. But she's she really handled this. No, she's two points and she's been Remember remember Wiles, but Nick Foles caught that touchdown pass from Trey Burton. Always remember well, always have that. Fans can't take it away and they're not tearing down that statue, all right. Mac Jones the new

future at quarterback for the Patriots. At least the Patriots hope that Tom Brady went and went and won a Super Bowl down in Tampa and the Pat's limped to a seven and nine finish in So now there's a camp battle brewing here. Report from our old colleague Burt Breer. Mac Jones has done enough in the spring to merit a real competition with Cam Newton in the summer. Mark Jeff Howe of the athletic. Another respected mind on the Patriots beat said that Mac Jones looked better than Camp

in mini camp. Uh, where do you see this thing going? Is Mac gonna win this job outright heading into week one? Yeah? I mean I don't know how surprised I should be by pro athlete improves with practice, But I mean I didn't see nyone look at what Cam Newton did for the Patriots a year ago, and you've drafted a first round quarterback. I mean it should be a competition. This isn't what the Bears are doing, you know, whistling Dixie about justin Field sitting out week one or two. I mean,

let's just have a real competition. I do think Belichick has always had a little bit of a man crush on Cam Newton, which is an interesting um crush to have if you're Bill Belichick. Um, but I think the one it could be growing with Mac Jones as well. I mean he he has started to show more moxie and practice and he's getting better and better. And I always find it to be an upset if a first round drafted quarterback isn't starting by week three, if not

week one. I mean, also, is Mac Jones the first one in the building and the last one to leave. Is that the next headline we're going to be at this point in June. Of course there's going to be a quarterback competition, like this is a first round pick. Did you see the way that Mac Jones walked up to that stage. I thought that was gonna be the video shoot. It was incredibly He's ready to go. He's ready to take that job. But I do find it hard to believe just looking at the two players, just

watching them and the way that they are. I feel like Cam Newton should win this job. But then when I go back and watch Cam Newton from last year, of course there's questions. But it just when I see Cam Newton like working out and doing all this stuff at the gym, and then I see Mac Jones, I would think, Okay, yeah, Cam Newton is a quarterback. Maybe Mac Jones needs to work on some things a little

bit still because he's a rookie. He's gonna learn, but yeah, I think he'll be starting for sure at some point this season. You know what, Connie, I agree with everything you just said, but what is the deal with Belichick with the number fifty for your number one? Draft pick. It's like, grumble, grumble, umble. You gotta earn everything in this league, an hour league. Grumble grumble. I give the kid a number, give him a real quarterback. Never, I

don't know which point you're making, and just do. The other point I wanted to make was yeah, like Cam Newton. And if Greig was on the show, he would push back on this. He's like I rushed for forty top shows. No, Kim Newton was not good last season. I mean, he had some moments when he threw the ball well, and I know he didn't have a lot of parts to throw to and and the offense is better. But I think they see the writing on the wall here that

Cam Newton's best days likely behind him. And if you're a team that is kind of regrouping for the next phase, maybe the rookie makes more sense. That said Connie that said they have a great defense. They could have the best defense in football with Done how high tower back and a really good front seven. And you still got Gilmore leading the way in the back end. So you're kind of in a You're in a tricky spot there where do you want to stay with the steady guy,

you know, or is he the progress stoppers? Bill Parcels once said, and you put the kid in there. It's a great point that I mean. Honestly though, the most buzz that I've seen about mac Jones is the fact that Matt and twenty two was very off on their rendering of him. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out. It's not Christian McCaffrey level um bad with Madden,

but this one is kind of a doozy too. Doesn't he have like a flowing neck beard or something on the Madden version doesn't really look like him at all. I mean, number fifty, he's your first round pick quarterback Phil who you're trying to impress. You got forty ring, all right, Listen, everybody wants to win the big trophy League MVP, but there's also Team MVP trophies that are handed out internally. I think, whatever, it's the summer, and I wrote something on NFL dot com that's going up

next week picking Team m v PS. So now I'm gonna share some with you and feel free to agree or disagree. And I'm gonna start with you Mark Sessler, because you know it, you know him on the Wentz wagon. You know I think I'm thinking Carson Wentz, back reunited with his old boss Frank Reich, is gonna make magic with this Colts team. And I'll tell you this. Everyone thinks like he had a bad so now he's just

gonna be terrible forever. He was very good in twenty nineteen mark when he led that team, an injury ravage Eagles team to the playoffs. I think he could get that magic back with better coaching. I would say this, he's in a great situation compared to where he was a year ago. I mean they had what fourteen different line combinations in Philadelphia, good offensive line in Indianapolis. I think Jonathan Taylor is a chance to be a team m v P Darius Leonard. But if all goes right,

you'd have to look at Wentz number one. He's the quarterback, and I would say if that happens, he gets a Philip Rivers like comeback player of the year. Not as well because it was so dark and so low a season ago, that if he comes and spends magic under Frank Reich, I mean people will beginning they'll be going nuts. So I hear you did, Connie Well, I mean I want to hear you on this, everyone will be going nuts.

I'm sure of it. I will definitely be going nuts because my not so silent fears of Carson Wentz succeeding when he leaves Philadelphia like so many others before him have done, are very real and very loud. Charles Barkley, I mean, you have Will Smith left. He's not an athlete, but hey, people leave town and they thrive. You left town and you you're thriving, so part of the problem. That's all right, Colleen, You're up next, and we'll stay um with well, not the Eagles NFC East team, the Cowboys.

You know. Ceedee Lamb is a guy that who's rookie season kind of went under the radar because Dak Prescott was injured. Uh and it kind of knows Dive all the players on that offense. But this kid can play, and I think he's gonna have a huge second season m v P level though. I mean, listen, that's a big year two for Ceedee Lamb. I guess I could see he has some more experience now with Dak back healthy.

Maybe defenses are accounting for Amari Cooper and Ezekiel Elliott, but Dac and Lamb they only played five games together, and Lamb average seventeen points per game in those five. However, Dan, if Dak is back and he's picking up right where he left off as a passing machine, on pace to break the single season passing yards record after coming off that brutal ankle injury. Come on, he's getting the m v P. Yeah, I mean, Dan, I would say this. I am a huge proponent of humans who have last

names um that describe animals. But there are a lot of mouths to feed in Dallas, and I do think that Dak Prescott would probably get the NOD if they're all succeed. Yeah, but it's a boring exercise if you just pick all quarterbacks and just remember Ceedee Lamb was on pace for yards when Dak went went down as a rookie, and he still set the team record and catches for a rookie with seventy four. That guy's gonna

blow up this year. Mark my words, Take him in your fantasy drafts, All right, Mark, get excited because I got I think, well, last year, I think it was Baker in the same exercise. This year, I got Myles Garrett as the team MVP of the Browns and maybe he finally gets the defensive Player of the Year award. Yeah. I mean, you know, you look at Myles Garretty had twenty two sacks over the last two seasons while missing eight games. I think the Corona issue did effect him

last year. I know that was not a subplot, Dawn that you enjoyed, but um, he talked about it really affecting his play down the stretch. He was winded, he didn't look like himself. So I really think that now they have a rebuilt secondary. What helps the pass rush more than that. Uh, they were not a good secondary year ago. They have a chance now to make real I think trouble for offenses. Jadeveon Clowney if he shows up,

that helps as well. So Garrett to me, if he could lead the league in sacks, bang, you'd be the team m v P, no problem. You know I have said way too often on this podcast and on this television show that the Michael Strahan sack record gets on my nerves more than anything else. Mark Gastino should still have it. I am all for Miles Garrett taking that

sack record and he gets an extra game to do it. Now, Connie, about my pick for the Atlanta Falcons Calvin Ridley, who, by the way, and everybody's like, oh, now that, now that Julio Jones is in Tennessee, Calvin Ridley will become superstar wide receiver. Pay attention, bozos. He already was a superstar last year. It's just going to continue to go onward and upward your thoughts. You really really want this to happen. This is the second year that you picked

him as the Falcons team m VP. Look it up, everybody. I like that you're you're sticking with the plan here and you're consistent in your pick. And now that Julio is gone, he's got a much better chance. But it's a brand new offense with Arthur Smith. Maybe that's a good thing, but also that's an offense that emphasized tight end sets and obviously, oh, by the way, they drafted Kyle Pitts and also Arthur Smith. He really loved a

balanced offense. He really loved the run. So I don't know if that means it's a dip at all for Calvin Ridley. But there's a lot of new kind of moving parts with that offense and kind of new pieces in place now too. Oh I don't. I don't buy it. You're pushing back on it. But I think Arthur Smith is gonna unlock this man even more back to back Calvin Ridley years. That's fine, there's nothing wrong with that. Get off my case, Connie Fox. All right, now, Mark,

you are a man. You've covered football for a long time, over a decade now, and sometimes things get on your nerves that they become there, I say, ponderous. So we're we're creating something here for you. It's a ponderous scale and you get to give us and I want I want the one point scale, um, zero to ten. How ponderous these high mileage offseason storylines are to you? And I will get it going. And I know this one's gonna get you because I've done literally podcasts with you.

By now, Mark, Justin Fields, he is the Bear's future, but Andy Dalton is the present. Week one baby Sunday Night Football, Alright, gonna write these down for you. This is this is a hot one right out of the gate. I am going, um, let's see if I can get this on screen point one for me, because it's like zero to ten, but it's a hundred point scale, so maybe a nineties nine point nine is what you mean? Let's go nine point nine one? How about that we

were already making that's a good correction. It is. It is a hundred point scale, but one through zero through ten you you kind of point not. But this, this storyline is annoying to I think most anyone watching football because it's like the Bears have spent decades in the wilderness looking for an exciting quarterback. You get one, and then you're prancing out this verbal song and dance about Andy Dalton starting you know again it's the Rams in

week one? Why what is the point? By the way, what if like justin fields now that we have preseason games again, absolutely blows up in the preseason. It looks like the second coming. You're still gonna wheel out the glowing red ginger man Dan and I and I still love it's my favorite. My favorite tweet of the off season is still here's r QB one embarrass Fans were like, kill me now, umni you're up, Okay, I got one for you. This is cooked up specially for you, Sissler.

The Steelers offense is already looking different under Matt Canada on what is It June Okay, Um, I'm gonna go uh, let's see here. Seven point eight. Um, It's not something that keeps me up at night. Just because of the way the students ended last season. I feel like them looking different, Um doesn't necessarily mean better. We've discussed their changes on the offensive line. That's different. Does that mean it's better? Um? Big Ben looks a little different. Does

that just mean older? We don't know. And so for me, there's some open there the Browns fan of me that maybe this just sort of um points towards more chaos under Matt Canada's reign. Matt Canada, that's a great name. Even around fourth in July. You got to give it up to our neighbors to the north, and that's surname Mark. How about this one. I gotta know, I say, I know how to team Mark up on this type of exercise. All right here it is. Boy, the Browns look like

a Super super Bowl contender. But like Baker, m hm, you know, well a lot of times, Dan, you're the one offering this narrative. But I'm gonna just go flat out ten because this is absurd. This is a quarterback that number one under the Freddy Kitchens regime a few years ago. We get it, that was a coddled mess and everyone was complaining. Last year, they're organized. Kevin Stefanski looks like the second coming of George Clooney, who knows how to call football plays, and Baker totally thrived. I

would ask you to go watch this Chiefs game again. Yes, they lost. He had one bad interception. It was like the first pick he had thrown in like a thousand moons. He was crisp and cleaned down the stretch, and he has some he can make every throw. You don't have to worry about him that much. He's been a total team guy for like the last year plus. And I think I'm over all this other nonsense with Baker Mayfield. I mean, they found a good quarterback that can build

the offense around, no questions in my mind. All Right, I know you and Greg are all pumped up about his performance in that last playoff game, but he did go three and out in their last possession with the game on the line. I just gotta throw that out there, Derek camera point. All right, you're up, Colleen, I like I'm up here. We go. Let's go with this one. Mark Mobile Quarterbacks focusing on not being mobile so much.

So like the Lamar Jackson's trying to be more consistent with deep passing, Kyler Murray saying his legs should be luxury. What do you think of that? That is um that does hit me in the ponderous places. I'm going eight point four. I'm doing a terrible job with the paper here because I know, I know, I know it's this is you know, hey, but the mobile quarterback thing, it's

like Lamarge I and this is what you are. And like I think, if you're mobile, it just raises the floor of of who what you offer a team, Like if you're immobile. We've been talking about these guys. They don't fit into football anymore. So go be who you are and use it. Now. I get the injury concerns are an issue, but if the Ravens get into pinch, I mean they know what they're doing with Lamar Jackson. So I think it's just one of these things they

try to talk about. We're getting more cautious, we're more aware of it. But when the you know, when the when you get thrown in the fire, you're gonna go back to what you do, all right, Hey, last one Tim Tebow. All right, I threw my paper out, but well, i'll say it verbally, Tim Tebow, oh college, and you take it? Okay? All right? Uh? Tim Tebow not invited to George Kittle and Travis Kelsey's tight end university. What stupid? That's about a three point six. I don't find it

ponderous that he wasn't invited. I mean, they're also it's a younger group of guys at this point. They want to hang out and do what younger people do. And Tim Tebow's rolling in like a you know, a way older millennial type dude who hasn't played in eight years. I don't know if he needs to be at this university or this school. I wasn't aware that this thing was. You know, it's not a Kickers Club situation, damn. But

it sounds exclusive. I mean, but you also have to think about, like, you know, Tim, he's trying to resurrect nailed it his NFL career here, and I bet he was hurt a little bit. He's not gonna say it out loud, but he wishes he was invited to the cool kids table for lunch. All right, good stuff, good job, Mark, We're almost out of ponderous season alright time for weekend vibes.

This past weekend, the around the NFL Gang bunch of folks from Cincinnati, l A and all over, gathered in Tybee Island, Georgia, including our producer architemp Posey back with us to celebrate Chris Westling, our great friend and former podcast partner, who passed away in February due to cancer. And it was such an amazing weekend. We all celebrated it together. And here's just a little haste of it at a softball game in which the field of Tybee

Island was named in honor of west. I have never seen a man um more grateful for the life that he had, more um enjoying the moment, every moment that he had. That we we talked a lot about the median life, and and to him, the medium of life was just was this was this right here? I miss West's last that's right here in the quiet spaces. Um. I missed what he would say about like these two machines on the Red team that are about to detonate

Team Blue here where they came from. But I just love, like many of Sunday mornings, imagine West waking up, coming here, playing ball, going back to pood with his friends and uh, you know, watching football for eight hours and drinking and having a good time. And that's what we should all do to celebrate a brilliant man. And let's play ball. And I am scared of these two guys, but We're gonna do I best. It's my honor to do this. It is my honor. On the path of the city

of Tybee Island, Georgia. This field will now be called Let's play How about that? Connie? We love that mint. Oh. It was the best. And and being together in Tybee was so nice. It was so good for my soul. I'm sure it was good for yours too. And it felt like there was just so many waves of happiness of sadness. It was bitter sweet to be there. It felt like there was constantly one person missing, and obviously it was West and I could almost at certain times

like hear hear his laugh, hear him kind of there. Um. But being with you guys and having a big group house and just having so much fun is what exactly he would have wanted. So it was really nice. Yeah, it's been like it's been a long offseason for us on this front because we lost Um, a wonderful friend, one of the most unique friends any of us have had. Each of us had such a different friendship with him on the show with us too, and so it's just been um impossible to go an hour a minute without

thinking about him. But I think that when we went to Tybee, we went and did it the way he would want it, Um, and I came out of that weekend just lifted entirely. It was great. It was great to experience it. Yeah, I it was such a such a memorable weekend. And besides that unveiling that you just saw, that's when we really got emotional and we sort of talked, you know, about what he meant to all of those people there and to see everyone together. But besides that,

we did him proud. You know, he wouldn't want us to be there, you know, crying, and we we really made him proud. It really was. It was less of memorial and more a celebration of one of the most special people that any of us have known. And we will continue to remember a wonderful man. Chris Westling, Rest in peace wherever you are, our good friend, all right, We'll be back in a couple of weeks. Enjoy the holiday and everything else Buddy and Friends until thank h