Training Camp Fly on the Wall

the Springsteen music for this. I assumed it was something that like major players stronger or better. Instead, it's just a way to download the actual game, which I should have deduced, but I didn't. It's like back in my day, we used to have to go up hills both ways, go up up, up, down down b A B A start start to make our players better. We did like when you guys, the four of you get together to talk about video games, which games do you talk about?

And I had to bring it to them. This is not exactly not actually a gamer quartet if we've ever done that when I talked about sure, but I don't appreciate, and you know, I understand the money tag isn't allowed to go on and on and clarify and be nuanced. It's got to be clipped and you're gonna get to the point. But it makes us all look like we don't understand that. I'm I understand how how the codes were here? This Mark Sessler is with me, Well, he's hip.

It's the Friday Show. Get excited a little bit of drama. Yesterday Thursday, Ricky came after our own listeners on Twitter, demanding that they stopped sending money tags, which you know, I that rubbed me a little wrong way. I gotta say, because the listeners are by we asked them to do that, and Erica had no problem on the show saying yes, send them to at Erica, tamp post the NFL whatever, tamp post the NFL. And then you're telling the listeners

don't dare send me any more money tags. What's where's the breakdown here? Okay? First of all, you just said send them to me and said up, let's make a thread or anything. I've had people continue to send more and more. I mean sending that out. It's only asking for more, So send money hashtag money tags to Erica team post No, send them all to Greg Rosenthal. Help mute you all like you already are? Who is there? All right? Maybe what where the breakdown is? Here? Is?

You know? Is there a different handle to send it to? How can we make this better for you? Because I was snapping at the listeners not the right way to go about this. What can we do snapping at the listeners? I feel like it's kind of a bit though. It's like, hey, engagement, You actually know that, like forty people are going to respond to them when you do that, so it's all

like fun in games. Yeah, I'm not. I mean, you know how you get mad about like two tweets about something on the show, Imagine hundreds and hundreds of them separately. My phone is going off saying around the nf BO like lakes hot peppers, I've gotten that four hundredfications. By the way, where you clear? He actually I had a suggestion. Doesn't the hashtag eliminate the need for anybody to send it to you? You can just click on the hashtag, right,

But they're tagging me, they're sending them to me. I think he showed great documents how this could be improved, and I should. Here was the tweet sent nineteen hours. Back in my day, we didn't have hashtags. We just wrote. We just wrote on other people's backs. That's a tic tac toe symbol. Actually at Tampos, the NFL stop tweeting money text to me. I am not in the mood.

I mean, that's a little bit. It had been a whole It had been five days of tweets, Instagram messages, d I'm getting d ms about my what you guys wanted and no offense. They're all really terrible, bad. I saw a couple of good ones. But here's the thing. You're you're savvy enough that you literally know that sending that out will get more back. I have my notification off too. I'm just telling it's constant. All right. Well, so I think what I think Wes's idea is a

good one. But I also kind of like this level of rage in you that's bubbling out, and that's kind of funny to me. So I don't know, it's kind of like, is it is this your first career? Is this your first career rant on the podcast? I don't have any ran. This was a rant. They're terrible stop Okay, we have literally people being like oh man Mark Susler word he go, hashtag money, tag like times like be creative, no offense. So you're frustration if I'm getting let me

see if I got this right. Your frustration isn't so much that you're getting a lot of these tags. The more of the issue is you're unimpressed with the imagination by the content creators in this case. Right, you just want people to be better, be better, and also tag all the guys too. Let's see how you how you like negative on the second part of that. But she's not wrong. Oh, you don't want to be tagged in it. You don't want to get all those notifications. But I

think it seems really annoying. You've got a clear channel when it's going through one. Right, some of these are out of them. Some of these are going around the NFL podcast, the Dan Hands, this vanity project. That's that's funny. That's pretty good, too far off. I wonder why you like that one. It's funny. It's funny, all right, Ricky. I don't like to see you upset, but I'm actually surprised. I kind of bringing up kind of as a joke and then you're really really upset about the NFL podcast

Erica's apartment on fire Ranty Hollywood. It's called a solid ranty Thank you, Mark. I mean, I could imagine just from I think we all know that you tweet something out and it get it billion is it full of hard from start to finish. The next time I see that, I'm gonna like literally set a car on fire. I don't.

It is just not funny at this point anymore. And she started, because you're a big fan of film, you've actually gotten into you become a real cinephile, Mark, I'm not becoming like I know you, like you know what I gotta fill I gotta fill the time with something. But it's like that is like eight people every time, and it's like blow me up. Is as the Browns get better and as Baker's career takes off, like Draft Day, I think has more resonance and stay in power than

we ever imagined. Just sort of how they're now following the path that Kevin Costner did. I think, like when it's the tenure anniversary in a few years, like that's gonna be I mean, it's got that that timeless clip with Joe Banner in it, and the three other people from the front office that are no longer there. That's always been on your radar. Um as as I've said many times, Draft I stinks, and the fact that no good football movies exist. People are now lifting that up

as a cult classic. But re watch it. Go watch the most scenes with Costner and the capologist Jennifer Garner, and tell me if that's a good movie. Let me come on. I would I would change my review if I could do it again. I regret that that typing in that text. I vastly regret it. I love this

show already. Uh oh, we're bringing it back. We did it last summer, and yes, with training camp in full swing and players moving making their move into dog houses out of doghouses, and maybe they're far away from even the idea of the doghouse. Well, you want to hear what these conversations are behind closed doors. So how about we're flies on the wall, fly on the wall, and we're gonna be stationed inside training camps. We're gonna report back what we hear in these closed door meetings between

NFL teams. But before that, oh, also, um our buddy, uh Gil Brandt Dallas Cowboys. Great is going into the Hall of Fame UH this weekend, and we are going to talk about that as well. But before we get to that, it's time for what we're hearing presented by serious exam. Let's do some news. Ricky deep jam came detacking Detacking Deecher vox by Jason Zammal. I was gonna say that sounded like all out that we do. Why did you fall out of the card new deed oh

geme deep choom. It hasn't been picked up yet, Jason. You can tell you put his heart into that. As a Cardinals fan, you forget, so it hits a little harder when the former first round pick washes out. Let's start the news by talking about the Hall of Fame game. A ten win by the Denver Broncos. And yeah, when you when you get out into that one and O start UH in the preseason and you're playing the extra game, we'll do the math. You're ahead, You're ahead of the

entire league. And if you win out no, there's no tie, you win the preseason super Bowl. So a big win by the Broncos. Here Um, there were some things that take away from the game. The first past interference challenge, which we'll get to in a second, but West, I'll start with you. Obviously, you're not gonna see a lot of starters. We did not see Joe Flacco, we did not see Matt Ryan. But we gotta look at some

these two rosters. What were some things that stood out from you at the Hall of Fame game in Canton? I had two takeaways on two different quarterbacks. Kurt Benkert, Falcon's third stringer, undrafted free agent in two thousand eighteen, outplayed match. Shop looked like a legitimate backup quarterback in the NFL, has the tools, and to me, the Falcons would benefit from having him as their number two. Above Shop. It's only one game, so we'll see. And then um

Locke was terrible. He was what Fongio basically said he was. Footwork was awful. Um he has a goofy slingshot delivery that I wasn't expecting to see and his accuracy was a little off. I mean, again, only one game is the Hall of Fame game. Let's not overreact. But um, I would not expect to see much of Drew Lock

this year. I ply Fongio has come out with some of the strongest quarterback comments by any coach in the league this summer, and so I really wanted to see what Drew Lock would do in response to that, Like, was he kind of trying to do the thing where you twist in Drew Locks whatever a little bit to get him to go play well? And then like he what do you want to twist? I don't know, like if you were like like one of those little dolls with a little do ye nipples there, that's not what

this is. Fongio's choice. I don't know what he's doing, but like, but then after the game, he dropped a bomb on him again, and it's just like, what point is this? Is it great for a rookie quarterback to be demoralized through the press by your head coach over and over, except that the assessment is correct from what we've seen. So I was hoping for more, but I'm not surprised. But I think I'm no. It's a continuing theme of zero zero appreciation for the player, even saying

he's working hard. I don't know what's going on. I took nothing from the game, but I come I like that we're taking bio experience is gonna be fun. This guy's passing kidney stones, he's shooting from the hip. Not yeah. I think he's just a defensive coach who looks snacks in the hip. And it's just like, man, I would love to go against your lot because I would destroy

that guy. He's a defensive coach, and I think it's They brought up some interesting things that he's calling the plays as a defensive coordinator, which almost never sees the head coach. He's never been on the sideline calling a play in his life, so that that's a lot going on, and he's I just I'm in on the Vick Fondio experience, just being a little different. Can we clarify what Vic Pongio said about Drew Lock after the game. He said his accuracy wasn't clean all the time, along with his reads.

Then he looked into the camera with a very um understanding, sympathetic look and said, but you know it's to be expected. We've got four more games, so it's not I would not clear the first one I thought was the first round of comments were strong. He said he that he started it by saying I was hoping for more, but I'm not surprised. He just keep it a real yes, coddling these guys. Fagio also became the first NFL coach ever to throw a flag to challenge a past interference call.

Late in the first half, Lyndon Stevens called for forty three yards penalty. Uh, they go upstairs. After a brief halt in action, they upheld the call. Um, So there it is. It was an easy one. I I the Hall of Fame game isn't really about football. It's more just like, hey, Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth are back in our lives, and hey, there's like Ed Reid. Is he like the most like likable former, you know, player

like Hall of Famer that we have. I could listen to Ed Reid just like ramble on about whatever all night. I like here in ty Law talking about his career. It's like that's that's sort of It's just like, look at these nice people playing football again. It's like nice wallpaper, you you know. But I didn't love the drive by of our boy Charlie Casserly. Uh, you know, the second

quarter interview with Michelle Tooy. I believe that didn't feel necessary, but is kind of that's what Ed Reid brings you just like totally random like drive by against a former analysts he named the Heat. She pointed out an article or two. That's how she framed this. This They thought when you were drafted that this was an underwhelming pick. He remembered the name of the author. He then dropped castilely a bomb on him. That was a real bomb. West and like, I just like he remembers this guy.

It's stuck in his mind if you crossed him. Ed Reid, I I was lucky enough. This is right after the Super Bowl out there of the Ravens one. I got sent randomly as part of the Rich Eisen podcast to cover the red carpet of the Oscars and Uh Gronk was supposed to be the red carpet um UH interviewer guy. And it was me and Chris Brockman who works with Eyes and Chris Law and we were packed next in this foreign press area against the railing, right on the

red carpet. It's pretty surreal experience. But Gronk kind of drop out at the last moment and was replaced by Ed Reid. And Ed Reid is a funny guy and he is a totally different type of dude, and he had a lot of fun. It was really good experience. And then right as the ceremony started, because when you're Ed Reid, you know people, he was able to slip right into the oscars and just hung out backstage for the entire show. Uh. It was. It was a great memory.

I had some photos. Maybe I'll find someone tweet them at but that was cool seeing had read going into the Hall and we'll get to the Hall more and a little bit. That was an ugly game, by the way,

and it's first game. People get really excited, like football's bags, Like that's not football, that's a that is that is the game of football being played, but not at any level that you would want to introduce people to this point at the NFL really, I mean I was trying to like explain to Ellis like because she was asking my daughter about the preseason and like sort of treating it like, Okay, these are real games. I was like, well,

they don't really count. Like your team, the Rams, They're not gonna play any of their good players, just like, well, why would you even play them? Then it's asked about the like I just find it funny that the game actually somewhat still exists that they're actually he's flying two teams to play the game. The weekend is and having been to cant In a couple times, that weekend is the best thing you can do as a football fan. The game, though, is it does not seem to fit

with the with the NFL. I think after the new cb A maybe they'll knock the preseason down to about three games and maybe that Hall of Fame game has some more, has better players in it or something. The best one was when it was canceled for I believe hail or heavy rain or something because the paint didn't try on the field. It resulted in all that. UM and by the way, make sure you check out these Falcons preseason games. It might be your last chance to see a match Shop should be if you're a shop

fan years old. I'm talking about former Pro Bowl m v P match Shop. He's a survivor. I don't know how Um. All right, let's move into the news. The Jets made a surprise move on UM Thursday, studding. Really they bring Ryan Khalil, the former Pro Bowl center of the Panthers, out of retirement. Khalil thirty four years old. Uh a one year, eight point four million dollar contract, which is good money, but the Jets had plenty of it.

They need. They had a serious needed center, and now you have a veteran who, while not quite at his peak, Greg is a guy that's still kind of graded out middle of the pack on PFF, has been an All Pro in his past, he was healthy last season, and more importantly, the guy's a legit leader who knows how to read defenses everything that Jonathan Harrison, who was supposed to be the Jets center uh and Spencer Long last year was the worst center in football before Harrison took her.

I mean, it was an absolute eyesore and there was not a bigger indictment of Mike mccagnan than ignoring the center position with a young quarterback. It was almost malpractice. So the Jets make a surprise move. Shouts to Joe Douglas who who saw the need and made an aggressive move. This is not a guy you build around, but he is a nice band aid and a great spot to Sam Donald with three year two yeah, I think, oh yeah,

it is on in New York City. Everything clear saleing right now, though Gayson Williams are kind of going at each other in practice. Khalil I think makes a bigger impact on stuff that will never show up really, you know, on on teach helping to teach the guards next to him, the game, on helping to make the calls and help teach Sam Donald the game to make life easier on Sam Donald. So none of that will show up on

a PF staff. I mean the PF grades actually at Jonathan Harrison, the jets uh presumptive starter, higher than Khalil a year ago. So Khalil is not in one phase of the game. Yea in um Kalil was in the red on pass and run. But it's fine, He's fine. The point is that that's not what you're bringing him in for. I think you could see on all or nothing. Although I think he's a quiet leader. I mean, he was about as important a leader as anyone the Panthers had.

It's such a surprise because last year was his hirement tour. Basically, like we knew before last season he was retiring and he was a free agent, which is why the Panthers don't control his rights. He could sign with anyone, but he chose to retire. And now, if I'm a Jets fan, the first Your first impression of Joe Douglas is great.

This was his personal passion project. I mean, after years of mcagnet ignoring the offensive line what you cannot do in the NFL, and it was maddening to see his replacement, who played offensive line of college immediately identify it. The next thing I want to see the Jets do is go after Trent Williams. Why not? You're obviously you can. You fancy yourself in that building as a team that can make the playoffs this year. Go make another move. Maybe when you get one of those Madden codes, you

can pull that off. I mean, it's not that hard. What is Trent Williams gonna cost? Honestly, we don't know, undetermined. It's usually surprising in these situations what they what they have, probably less than you think. But I like when I are different. If you're Jonathan Harrison, here's why you're struggling

right out of the gate. Here's how you have been um brought to earth with the spelling of the name Jonathan j O n oh Hang with me here, j O n O T T h A N. It's probably been issues from the very beginning, trying to decipher that amongst you've just been benched. It's like John not fan. It's unusual, that's for sure. But I was thrilled about his signing. Uh, and I'm starting to get more and more excited about the season here before, but I'm getting

it more and more excited. Moving on the Denver Broncos, UH make a move signing running back Theo Riddick who had just been released by the Lions and now he joins the Broncos. Uh. He can catch the ball, you can run the ball a little bit um, but looks like he'll He's more depth signing with a little bit of upside. What are your thoughts on the signing West? Well, running backs aren't really all running backs. They played different positions.

Theo Riddick plays a different position than Royce Freeman. He plays basically wide receiver running back hybrid, same thing James White plays for the Patriots, and they needed this on their team. So I think the Broncos have a lot of question marks. But if Philip Lindsay and Royce Freeman are a the same kind of one two they were last year, and then if Emmanuel Sanders comes back healthy of Courtland Sutton develops like you think you can, he

think you think he can? No offense what you think he is theoretics there, You've got a lot more weapons in the passing game than than people think. Well, Rick's gotta make the team. I mean to me, it's probably a toss up between him and DeVante bucker to And the thing, the thing that I that they keep talking about in Denver camp is that they really are going to give Royce Freeman, who showed up two forty pounds and is having a big camp and sort of fits

in that offense. I really think they are going to give him more carries compared to Philip Lindsay, at least compared to a year ago, that it'll be closer to a a split, and whoever else they have will be a distant third behind those two. And that could be a pretty good comments second Max because getting to play when Lindsay wasn't ready to be in there. But but are you is there a push like to give Lindsay less touches? It's only easy to say that in August.

Once the games start, and by October and Philip Lindsay is playing circles around everybody, you're gonna give it to your best, he's going to get the ball two hundred fifty times. I think the idea is that they put on pads that Freeman is a really good fit for this offense, that he's a second year guy who's a third round pick, who was certainly solid as a rookie, and that he looks better and that's a good problem. That they don't want to give a guy that small.

Philip Lindsay touches that you kind of have to do that. I think the Eagles and Patriot the teams, even the Rams now like you have to have two guys buckle up. Trey Boston and the Panthers have reunited the twenty seven year old safety signs a one year? Is that like a subtle like did we need to put this in news? So like I wouldn't disagree. I wouldn't disagree. I'm not putting the news together. I wouldn't disagree, you know. I like West jumped in and sent out a full news

rundown yesterday, which I really appreciated. Well. I got a text from someone associate with the show saying, if we have early Friday shows, we should plan out the show ahead of time. And it didn't feel like there was an outline by the time I was going to best Wes. What good did it do you? In the end, I got well, I took a pot shot from Dan on Trey Boston, which you know what, that's what friends do. You know what I would have called a pot shot.

But yeah, Trey Boston, he watched out with the Chargers and Cardinals. Hell, he washed out with the Panthers, but now he's back. I thought it was interesting based on the Dante Jackson factor from UM All or Nothing, where Mike Adams and UM captain Munterland were in his face quite often, basically telling him he needs to be a better player, He needed to stop making excuses for himself, he need to stop coasting on his defensive Rookie of the Month award and now bring in a different kind

of leadership. So we'll see what how Trey Boston UM relationship with Dante Jackson goes. Good luck to you, Trey. Moving on, Melvin Gordon holdout Chargers no end in sight. ESPN is Josina Anderson reports Gordon's agent requested a trade last week and here's a deal. I mean once ten million dollars a year. Well, that's what the Charger charges on ten million dollars a year. Chargers, you know that's what they think he's worth. He thinks he's worth Todd

Gurley Zike Zike Elliot type money. Well, that's quite an impass. So what's gonna happen here? I think this could go into the season. I I wrote an article, not a banger, an article for Friday, just like ranking like which players had the most leverage of all these backs, of all these holdouts, and Gordon was has the least leverage just about. I mean, I'm not really counting Jadev and Clowney is unsigned because I don't. I think the just think they

can win without him With Justin Jackson, Austin Ekeler. He's in the fifth year of his contract, so that means he has to show up eventually. And I don't think they're gonna trade him because I don't think there would be a good enough market for him. And this is the only hold out that I think is maybe fifty fifth or grader to go into the regular season. This

is one of the most one sided holdouts I've ever seen. Right, he and his agent keep releasing these statements and quotes and the charge it just pat him on the head and say that's nice. Worth four, Fine, don't worry about it. It's interesting though, like he's friends with Levy on Bell. He he believes in like the higher purpose of that running but he says the running back for the second

are the second most valuable position in sports. And then I'm not showing up unless he and I just think I don't know where the middle ground is because I don't think they'll trade him. If someone comes to them and says we'll give you, like a bad team says we'll give you a second round pick for him. Maybe they do it, but I don't think that's gonna happen.

And you pointed out well in your article, did he he if he's taking a page out of the Levy on Bell best selling book from last season, that it's not the same thing, because you don't you're not moving into free agency after this. He's not on his second straight franchise, nag. It's totally different and he's not. And more importantly, he's not Levian Bell. If he was Levian Bell, they would just give him Todd Gurley money. Reality. Can you imagine a world? And I like Melvin Gordon with

the Chargers where like it's they're very offensive. They're all an offensive powerhouse today with all these pieces are on the field. But let's say Melvin Gordon is not there a year from now, and yes, like the depth of running back, but Melvin Gordon is a good player. And then Philip Rivers walks away, You're suddenly a team based around a strong defense and not your offense. If they have leverage, if if they think they have leverage, that's it is that this is a win now team that

needs him. But he'll be back at some point. I think they they're calling his bluff. April I wrote an article on Melvin Gordon quotes and the title of the article is Saved the running Back. I'm coming into the league to make sure running backs get paid by running back so hung up on being the heroes that will get all the other running backs paid. It's like their version of being the deal the wide receivers or divas in their own way. The dB, they're like the podcasters

of the NFL media group. They're like, we do not get paid, are you know like the rest of the quote unquote you know talent, Let's let's stand up, Like I like i'like them though, they like they have more of a backbone than us, though, rage against the dying of They don't want to become fullbacks. They don't want to become extinct. Now they're like getting towards endangered species status. You know, the running backs that are gonna disappear, They just not gonna get paid. I mean, I feel like

the running game is always gonna be impartant. Well, every year they run less and less and and um, there are fewer and fewer workhorse backs. There are a fewer and fewer backs who are worthy of huge contracts because you could just pick anyone undrafted guys late late draft picked, throw them in and have a good rushing. Evan Silva's gonna officially take out any coach that runs on first or second down. So you know things are heading in

the wrong direction. Uh. Moving on, Yahoo Sports put out a piece entitled most Tortured NFL fan Bases, and it was sent to me by quite a few people on Twitter who like a Dan this guy's you know, biting off your bit and yes, when the pain rankings were released, that was a fairly unique piece of content in the NFL sphere. I wouldn't say this man stole my idea. It's it's a fun topic. Anybody can get into it. What I do have an issue with is the actual rankings.

J bust absurd. Let's go through it real quick. Number ten the Raiders, nine the Packers and come on down there, Brett Farve to Aaron Rodgers, and I don't want to hear this is this is how you get the clicks. Well, when you have greater expectations, it hurts even more. Now, how about just sucking forever and never having quarterback? That's worse.

Eight the Vikings seven forty niners, one of the most successful franchises in his three of the NFL UH six the Cincinnati Bengals, five the Detroit Lions for the Atlanta Falcons, three the Washington Redskins to the New York Jets, and the number one most tortured NFL fan base, the New York Giants. The New York Giants four times Super Bowl champion, one of the most highly regarded NFL franchises in the history of professional football. They have the most tortured fan base.

Come back to us, come back to us. I'm not even it doesn't even deserve a comment that the Browns aren't in here because they have had won seven win season, you know, in the last twenties something years. Okay, but is this I need to clarify or know what this is about. Is this what's fans that are tortured over the last three or four months like days? Is that qualify as torture? That's I mean, you've got to best that.

It's kind of both lived in the moment and then it has teams that has none of us read the article and uh well, I mean I'm just looking at the list. I'm just looking at the list. I did read the article. Was there a logic to that, yes, it would just based on this offseason or something. No, it was. I can't tell you it was based on good logic. It's just I mean, I'm I'm not really arguing with that. It's an insane It just kind of

blew my mind to see the Giants. I mean, if you grew up in the New York, New Jersey area and you think the Giants have a more painful history than the Jets, does it bother you that the Browns are not on in the top ten of this They probably should be. I mean, you know, why because no teams is hyped. I mean, who wants to be I mean, who's lucked into more Super Bowls than the Giants. They're the opposite. They're like, you know, sprinkled with good fortune.

Here's a nine win team winning a Super Bowl. It's like, you know, overall, I agree. I don't think the author understands what the word tortured means. Go through, go through it, and then write the article. Um, all right, let's hit some eight o'clock to light Oh Mark, sorry, bro. Phil Dawson announced his retirement after twenty years, an inaugural member of the Dog Pound when it was revived. Kind of hoping he would come back to the Browns, maybe this

one final season. But the one kick if his will never forget, was this insane snow game against the Bills. They beat Buffalo eight nothing to move to nine and five back in two thousand and seven, and Phil Dawson hit this kick in the middle of a blinding snowstorm. I love the guy. The most famous blizzard kick of that decade, I say. Moving on. Tom Brady th h i C C. Patriots quarterback bolt up to two pounds

this offseason, turning forty two next week. Twenty years in the league and that boy Vick Mark Yep, why not Baron Winner? But you know, I think it's supervent those injuries. A lot of sense of Really Brady has played with little stuff that you never even hear about. Uh. Brady can make you a lot slower too. I would think you want to be nibble. Where are we just told?

For the best seven years of Tom Brady. He's been able to extend his career because he's so limber for this with his body seems to have mastered that open the brandic scenario. Antonio Callaway consistently been part of the second team in training camp for the Browns. According to the Cleveland Plane Plane Dealer at a shape West Callaway he showed flashes last year, but he's got to get it together. This feels like a message being sent. I think Richard Higgins has running ahead of him with the

starters and three wide receiver sets. Antonio Callaway is way more talented than Richard Higgins. I expect to see Callaway eventually get back in the starting lineup. This doesn't sound good. Greg Rossetal. Speaking Thursday, Pete Carroll, Seahawks coach, said that first round. That's a been LJ. Collier's ankle spraying is quote rare. It's not a garden variety sprain at all. It's a huge problem. He was already running with the

third team. Zigianza hasn't practiced. Jarn Reed is suspended, and they have a bunch of guys who have barely produced at the NFL level starting up and down their defensive line. More bad news for rookies. Jaguars third round linebacker Quincy william he's done four to six weeks, has a slight tear in his meniscus. This is just killer West. When a rookie goes down, it's your boy, Quinnin Williams. Brother,

what yeah, brother? And he the coaches have said that Quincy Williams, we don't want to offend any of you wide receivers, but this is the fastest player on the field for the jam he was starting, He was their starter. He was gonna step in and take over for Telvin Smith. Finally, free agent wider super Brandon Marshall working out for the Cults up Friday. Last chance to get in the playoffs. Marked. I mean, I thought the guy wanted to get on television.

Good job, eight o'clock to light. Do you want to finish that point? You really didn't have much more to say. I didn't even know that was in eight o'clock to light, so I was glad to hear the music stopping. It. Did a great job by Erica. Brandon Marshall. He has never been to the playoffs. The Colts. They're playing in January West. If I was trying to get on a team and I was Brandon Marshall, the Colts would rank near the bottom. Considering they already have They're already gonna

have tough cuts at wide receiver without Brandon Marshall. One of the best interviews we ever had on our podcast. I don't know thou bringing in Brandon Marshall is a sign that they're maybe not too happy with their No, it's not was it the was it the other Brandon Marshalls. No, it's not. It's wide receiver. Brandon Marshall. We had a lot of shows, a lot of shows, um before we

get to fly on the wall. Congratulations in order for NFL media colleague Gil Brandt, who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, and Canton the Pro Football Hall of Fame. This Weekend. Gil has been really for a decade with NFL Network and NFL dot Com is um, you know, uh, one of our lead scouts and kind of a senior writer type position. But if you are not aware of what Gil was all about before that, um, he was a architect of those Dallas Cowboy great teams

in the nineteen seventies along with Tom Landry. Um he was the guy. He was the guy behind the scenes for twenty nine years. He was their personnel guru, working with Landry and Tex Shram Uh their GM as the organization built itself up from uh Nowheresville. They didn't even win a game in their expansion year and they became America's team. And that was all Gil Gerald. Jones came on board and swept everybody out, including Gil. So consider it someone ironic that is Jerry Jones that is inducting

Gil brand into the Hall of Fame. But you know how the Cowboys are West. The Cowboys are a big family. They love their guys who are the legendary figures. They take care of the So that's kind of a nice way to close the book. Uh, not close the book,

but to put him into canon. Andy thoughts about gil as a historian, west Well, I think one of the most valuable aspects of learning history is seeing that everything isn't a new idea just because it's happening now, so that not everything is a revolution that gil Brandt was a draft nick uh in nineteen nineteen fifties, when gms are still selecting players out of street in Smith magazine that he had he and tex Stram developed a huge

network of informants and they had computerized scouting analytics. In the early sixties. Basically, the Cowboys refined the art and science of scouting as we know it today. They were doing things in the sixties like um the trend towards basketball playing tight ends. They were looking for basketball players who were tweeners, not tall enough to play forward but a little too tall to play guard, and seeing if

they could turn them into football players. In the nineteen seventies, gil Brandt said, had I wish there was a way to stick a needle in a guy's arm and find out whether he wants to play football or not. That will be the next breakthrough and scouting. And you've seen just in the last five years that that that's been. I think Daniel Jeremiah has said, you know, twenty years ago the off field stuff, the human element was of scouting, and now it's seventy percent of scouting. Gil Brandt saw

that in the nineteen seventies. I thought the piece that Andy Fenelon wrote on him shows another side too, and that one of the reasons that Jerry Jones is introing Gil brand at the Hall of Fame is because it wouldn't have been unusual for gil Brandt, who worked closely with Hollywood Henderson of Cowboys Great when he was going through really tough stuff in life too and had so many friends um as players, to pick a player to

intro him. But he had so many close friends and it would have annoyed or agitated anyone he didn't pick. So Jerry Jones became the guy. But we have known Gil Brandt by working here for a decade, and there's one thing about him. Every time he sees you, he it's not a you know these days everyone's all about themselves. He stops, he sits down, he wants to talk. He must asked about your family. He'll drop a major NFL nugget on you that kind of leaves you devastated. And

then he'll go on his way. I mean he's gotten, he's got no end of the stories. But I just think that he's one of these guys that always made the personal connection with the player. It wasn't just about the football player, it was the person. And that's that is increasingly rare with a lot of front office types

in general. Yeah, the PC Andy rote is uh NFL dot com slash Scout's honor vanity you r l And I mean he showed some tough love with Hollywood Henderson, who is who is a great Cowboys running back who ran into the drug and legal problems. And I think his relationship with these guys was unique because he found them in strange places. That's what the computer kind of did. And Gil talked about it with Michelle Defoya during the

Hall of Fame game. He found Bob Hayes at Florida and m he found Rayfield right at Fort Valley State. You found Cliff Harris, watch it, watch it a Baptist,

uh ed two Tall Jones at Tennessee State. These are all these guys that are Pro Bowlers or Hall of Famers and other teams were not kind of beating down the doors at these really small schools or historically black schools, or D two, D three schools, and Gil, who had kind of revolutionized the scouting game with that computer, was trust in it and and that's where they found these guys. And I mean he has seen the NFL from a unique manage point about is as much as anyone living.

And you can always get like a great story from him because of that. I mean, he's seen it when the NFL was was an afterthought as a professional league. I have a friend who's a doctor, and he told me once that when you save someone's life, you they become like family to you, like kids, because you gave them an opportunity to do something, and it makes up for the ones you lost. So when they take advantage of that opportunity, you're giving them time that they wouldn't

have had. And in the quote from from Gil where he says, as much as Thomas Henderson did wrong, I never lost faith in him. I still consider him like one of my children because I scouted him, I drafted him, I signed him. He was and still is part of my family. You gave that guy the opportunity, and when you give somebody an opportunity, you want to see them make the most out of it. Gil eighty six years old now by the way, but still got the motor. We see him at every big event. He's always up

and around, moving around talking to people. Uh he did a seven city training camp tour. That's insane. It's incredible. I'm marking our early days in NFL dot com. One of our jobs would be to talk to Gil as he went through hundreds of you know players that he was scouting and helping put together the pieces uh Gil scouting reports and NFL dot Com. That was one of the first jobs we had. Um. So it's it's fun to now see that same guy and be able to talk to on the phone at his house in Texas

and now he's in the hall and knew it. And to be honest that it's not the easiest process because Gil would call you up with a bundle of verbal information, so you are typing as fast as you can. And Dan and I were we were we were came in from other jobs and started the NFL is three day a week or is trying we had we were married, trying to just get by. So you're working your butt off to show that you're better than the clown next

to you. And the problem with those guil things was we got a little too good at them and like us, I want Dan, I want that guy mock like that. He didn't want it. It's like another one of these hour and a half like pro days from East western Texas state. Well he also he also this is how he submitted it. When he would write some stuff out, he would write it in longhand and then facts the longhand. That is alright, So Gilbert Brand, congratulations, well deserved. All right,

so let's move on. Everybody wants to be a fly on the wall sometimes, and what we're gonna do is turn into not human flies. I remember there was little uh disconnect their confusion last year. I want to make this abundantly clear. This is not a Jeff Goldblum situation. We're not turning into hideous monsters. You're actually going to be and you won't have the brain of a fly. Okay. I just want you to understand you're the size of

a customary house fly. Uh. And it gives you access that you can then I guess turned back into human and then share the info. Are there any questions in this room before we go on? Yeah? I have a few, but I like, I just I'd love to see someone else try first, because I completely missed the assignment. Okay, we're gonna make you think that the metaphor you don't need to think about, like do I have like a fly wife? Now? No, I mean, just let's he did. It was I'm very afraid how the segment is going

to go now. I thought it's pretty clear. I think going once around the horse, I would like to be a fly in the wall in Carolina, in the coaches room, in the quarterbacks room, and to hear the conversations that are going on between Cam Newton and his coaches and between the coaches talking about Cam Newton, because I think right now and and yeah, there were cameras there last year, and that's that's kind of where I feel like you have a little better sense of the way that Cam

Newton is a leader and the kind of just the atmosphere he creates yea with all his chat and all his talking, and some of that seems to be gone right now, and he seems to be a little down, and he has missed three of the first seven practices. He is saying he is getting used to a new normal that he realizes he may never be a hundred percent again, and he's not chirping as much on the practice yield. Uh And when he spoke like on Thursday,

it it raised some alarms for me. Uh if I was a Panthers fan just about how mortal and how down he felt right now. In fact, I would be very interested to be that fly on that wall to see. Is is that behind the scenes too? And are the coaches thinking, Okay, we're gonna adapt some things to this new Cam Newton. That's fair, It's a good question. That's fair. You you wonder that, I think Peter King wrote about it this week that you know Cam Newton is putting

away his cape? Is it? Is it? Obviously Christian McCaffrey took on a bigger role that offense last year. Is that essentially the new normal now? But that team and if you watched All or Nothing, that one thing with the All or Nothing, Amazon needs to an NFL Films

needs to get it right with the release date. They released it during the draft last year, which got snowed under, and then it was a little too close to training camps this year, So I don't know if and once training camp starts every he turns the page from what happens in especially if the team featured had a depressing end. You know. So I don't know how many people saw all or nothing. I still think it's well worth it. I really, I really enjoyed it um and the things

that I took out of it. It's interesting is they're coming up in the show. Ryan Khalil came out, came off to me as a great leader and a guy that you would want in an offensive Lineman meeting room. Cam Newton came off to me as a different dude, an eccentric guy, a guy that some people too. Yeah, I thought he came off well, and I was surprised by, you know, kind of he's a little bit out there and and but he's so carefree and you see the way he operated in practice. If if he's not like

that now, maybe it's just a matter of time. It's still early. It is, it is still early. But the the quote that really struck me too was I don't want people out there to just think that Cam is back. I'm that that etha and I'm not back, and and and the reporters saying that it's so much quieter there, and he said, it's partly because I don't have Thomas

Davis or Josh Norman honking at me. So I'm not honking at them, but they're just saying it's just been a different it's been a different m O and the fact that he's not really practicing that much now just is worth I think monitoring. We saw that, We've seen this with quarterbacks coming off shoulder injuries. Yeah, it feels a lot like Andrew Luck last year. Uh, let us go to Seattle. Let's let's let's fly on into the Seahawks facility. Let's get on Jamie Graham's plane. What's that?

Remember when Jimmy Graham used to fly to practice on his plane. Yeah, he was at best. By the way, this is the forty year anniversary of therm events and the Yankee Great Catcher's plane crash. I would always be spooked if my favorite player friend was flying around in a little prop plane. We've lost a lot of athletes to musicians. Corey Littel, Harrison Ford has crashed twice and lived twice. YEA, let's calm down, Indy, get out of the plane. He cat He crashed on a golf course,

right next to Andrews Siciliano, who was Santa Monica. Santa Monica. He just went in an autograph. Anyway, the fly has now proceeded to Seahawks. Uh, the Seahawks facility and listen, this is great. I mean, if you're if you trust the evaluation talents of John Schneider, Pete Carre all the people in that building, there's no reason not to. That's been a very that's been a highly functional, high functioning

organization for years. Now. Um, you feel good about the positive news around DK Metcalf there, Uh, second round pick wide receiver, it's it's glowing. I mean, he was drafted sixty four overall. This is a guy who was thought to be um a first round pick, but then there was some red flags. People got a little worked up over his inability to stay on the field, maybe some questioning his ability in terms of, you know, his hands.

So he almost falls out of the second round. The Seahawks get him, and all through so far spring and summer, we we are hearing raves about Metcalf, who was working with the first team, and they it seems like they want to install him right off the bat as the guy and I just wonder, uh, if behind the scenes, if it's as glowing as it is on the outside, if they really want this guy to step in and immediately be a pro and a playmaker and a guy that can give you what you need from a number

two wide receiver for a contender, which is you know, close to a thousand yards. You want a guy that's get finding the end zone, that's making an instant impact. So Tyler Lockett with Doug Baldwin gone, that's gonna be he has to step up and you're gonna need an immediate impact from Metcalf. So I'm interested how that's gonna play out. You have David Moore there, Geron Brown, you

can get excited. I guess about some other guys. I you know, you guys tell me, but I feel like a lot the eggs in the Metcalf basket are vast, and you hope it works out. You trust that organization, but I'd like to know what's going on by the scenes, if they really believe they've found something special here. Deep in the second round, there were some bizarre reports whispers coming out of that camp that he was starting to

annoy people by his behavior on the field. He was having the wide receivers line up and pose according to height, and he was doing other things on the field that was like taking away from the concentration on football. It was it was a bizarre, bizarre report. It does seem like a team that would be content to run the ball seventy one times a game, but that's you can't just dictate that you're gonna do that. It's a huge question. And the four guys you mentioned, I think you know,

David Moore, John Brown, DK Metcalf behind Locke. It seems like that's kind of lot. That is their top four um and Metcalf is a huge factor, and I think they're gonna they think they're running game is in a better shape than it's been in a few years with Carson and Rashad Penny. But it's a weird time in Seattle because man, this defensive rock I know they can magic, but it looks worse than it did a year ago. And they're an offense first team now, which is really strange.

I mean, their offense was better than their defensive year ago, and I think it's gonna have to be even better this year because the defense, I think it's just they I don't have the players, so they need guys like mccaff It's a weird situation because Russell Wilson is a Hall of Fame talent who just seems to get better every year. Um, so you want him to be throwing the ball as much as possible because he's that good.

But then you have the offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, who doesn't seem to love to throw the ball a lot. And then you have the skill position players, which maybe it makes more sense to have the running game a little heavier than so it's they're kind of caught in between a little bit. I'm really interesting to see how the this offense looks this season, and it's a little bit distracting. I think the fly would you know probably here this just like how much everyone is just talking

about the Geno Smith Paxson Lynch competition. It's just like everyone can't you know, Okay, let's focus on the starters here. You know, that's only the rampant topic. Shout out to Gino Smith's agent Greg Rosithal, because if you want to land a backup job, go to Seattle where you're definitely not gonna play, so you get to keep your body Clean. You make three million dollars, You're a winner. You're a winner.

You could get a ring for Christ's sake. And all you have to beat out is one of the worst first round picks at quarterback of this decade in Paxton Lynch. So I like your odds and I like your spot of you know, buying buying that house. All right, the fly now moves where it was East Rutherford, New Jersey. Okay, flying up there. You ever watch a nature documentary and you can't wait for like the waterhole scene, That's where all the drama happens. That's where that's where the power

played dynamics. Well, the the water hole and giants camp is filled with kool aid. It's a kool aid hole, and I want to see how the animals. I want to study the behavior of the animals as they go up to the kool aid hole. It's like hot kool aid. Yeah, it's like the wide receivers. You can see that they're like the gazelles. They kind of tiptoe up with twitchy

ears and nervous eyes. They slowly bend over and take a little sip out of the kool aid, and they explode supposed they exposed their blindside a little in the room at the Giants complex. This is in the room. The outside, I guess it applies outside. Okay, did you see the wide receivers are like the gazelles and then you see this procession. It's like a Depression era baptism in backwoods Mississippi. It's just the media slowly wading into the waters to get their baptism in the kool aid.

That's the scene I want to see in training camp. The kool aid drinking at Giants camp. Wow. I mean, I knew it would be negative. It was just a matter of which direction it was going. It's like Gentleman's the hippo in there controlling the whole thing. Hippos are bad tempers. Hippos are the most danger gets a new swimsuit, beach chair watching the whole thing chuckling. That's I have to say it. So you just want to see I want to see the giants exactly who is drinking the

kool aid and how are they drinking. The wide receivers are just sipping it because they're not sure what's going on. They're not sure if this is good for their careers. They don't know what's going on, but the media they're going in and they're getting baptized in that kool aid. I want to see all of that, all right. I don't know where else to take that. I still I am not completely sure what we're talking about. I want to see why everybody buys into Doin, buys into everything

the Giants say. There's some sort of metaphysics. You do understand that they don't want to drink and he wants to drink something different exactly. I want to see if there's anybody there who refuses to drink the component Jordan rain On, the ESPN guy who covers the Giants, he seems he'd never seen. He always seems very critical. You know, there's a critical component to the New York media of this Giants offseason, right. They've been getting slaughtered all offseason,

the local New York media. They have been killed, not Ralph. I know that. I would like to see the descending voice forget the media inside the building too, If if, when, when? If you're Patch Shermer, do you say, excuse me, I want to start the quarterback. I want we don't know, We'll find out, all right, close it out marks. All right, this little fly is gonna this is a long arm all the way down. You know, you know you have

to take the highways of the roads. You can fly straight, but all the way down to Miami, Florida jumping in the fish tank. I am jumping in the fish tank. And it's no surprise that Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh Rosen are they one of the only real quarterback battles out there. But this is a team that we thought was unified a few months ago with the organic fish tanking of blow up the season and do what you can to cut costs and get in position to get our quarterback

in the next draft. Get draft capital, dooever it takes to get our Sam Donald are Baker Mayfield. This team has not had one for a long time. Let's get it done. So you now go out and get Josh Rosen. What I'd like to be on that little with that fly and you can fly into this little Miami Dolphins compound. I think I'd sit on like a cinnamon bun or something like a little sweetness under me while I listened

into this conversation. They're not paying attention to the cinnamon bun because there might be some descending voices in this room, because you've got Brian flora is the first year coach. Who does he want to roll into the season with and start and go into this journey with and not he doesn't Coaches don't want to be oh and eight or one in seven and look like they they're the next guy that comes from and comes from New England

and can't do what Belichick did. You've got Chris Greer that might have a completely different game plan on how he wants the season to play out, and he has got to see Josh Rosen. He can't wait till week seventeen. Oh, then we'll give Josh Rosen one start and then we'll build our evaluation off of some our outrageous you know, sixteen passes against the Bills in week seventeen. You gotta see him earlier. You gotta see a real body of work when the games matter against teams that aren't beaten

up late in the year. And what about Steven Ross, who might say this is my product. I'm paying all this money, and I kind of believe in this plan and the tanking, but I don't like me on my name being attached to that. He was with Blockbuster, Right, Am I wrong? That thing tanked? But maybe it wasn't him. But anyways that that wasn't Steven Ross was well, He's like, I don't want to do it the way the last guy did it with Blockbusters, So I'm gonna do business

my way. The Dolphins aren't going away of that hideous video store. So all these different voices, what's the conversation. I'd want to fly out of there knowing I know next time I hear about quarterback A or B is is thriving? Or the coach says this or the GM says this. When he has once in a while a press conference, what's in their heads? What do they really want to accomplish? When we get to florest the show?

And that's why I would be Ryan Fitzpatrick's show. Yeah, for a few weeks maybe, but you have to eventually see what you have In Josh Rosen, I think you have them too soon. I would start him even if he lost the quarterback competition. What are the Dolphins trying to? What do they need to do this year? I guess Flora that though he's they're out there, they're working as hard, of course, but they're working as hard as they can to go to win games, and they're not gonna if

Fitzpatrick's way better. It just sets a strange message. I found it interesting. He's gonna play the best players. Like we're out there in NFL Network interviewing Keiko Alonso. It's like Kiko Alonso make the team. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he gets cut in. Some guys like that don't even make Brian Flores's team. He's gonna turn this roster over. Do you you have a quick one,

Greg before we go? I do. Uh. I'd like to be a fly on the wall when Matt Patricia and Bobby Quinn are talking in Detroit and hearing what they really think about Matthew Stafford a couple of geniuses whether he is. I wish I had gone with that first that though we had to with two around just what what they think about Matthew behind his strengths weaknesses, because they're gonna evaluate him. Honestly, he hasn't had his starters out there really next to him. It's a new offense

with Darryl Bevil. It's it's a tough situation for Stafford. And then but you know that it's got, it's it's blank, or get off the pot time. I think, well, you heard what Golden Tate said, Matthew Stafford's the best quarterback he's played with. Maybe it's that simple. I would that's the thing. I was like, I would like to hear Patrician Quinn talking about man this guy, if we can just get the right pieces around him, he is our guy. But I'd be interested. I don't know, so, I really

don't know. He believes Stafford to be superior to Russell Wilson. He doesn't interesting. Well, there's a lot going on personally. Golden Tate has had a lot of just fairness. He hasn't played with Eli Manning yet. He's that that's just beginning. Well, so Rustle is about to fall to the bronze medal potentially. I mean, Goldy Harvin involved in one of the most

weirdly almost underreported scandals in Super Bowl history. What a great it all we I don't know if we can really dig into because it's all kind of hearsay, But google it, baby, it's worth of Google might have impacted his answer on the quarterback rankings his personal quarterback, right, do do we think that there's a chance that Matt Stafford's played his last season in Detroit. I mean they talked about maybe drafting a quarterback this last right, but

like that playing for a different team next year. I could see it. I think there's a chance, yes, yeah, not a huge one, but I think there's a chance because you could certainly he could certainly be someone that you would be attractive in a trade. What a market that would be, right, So that's the thing. They're going to coldly evaluate it. And if they think it's time, it's gonna be on the Patriots, you know, if they trade out. Now, I don't think that. You now I'm

doing the thing. Dan's already scared. You connect the start of the Patriots immediately because Tom Brady now he's on a yo yo diet. You know, it's just you know that is not what he's on. It's gonna go thirteen and three. He's his bird day today, Happy birthday, forty three years old, right, forty two? Today's birth that's this outrageous congratulations Tommy, Yeah, it is today. It is they were sitting you know, would be my birthday gift to him.

It's actually tomorrow, August three. You think you should walk away now, just no one to walk away, you know, go out high. You know, why are they singing it to today? Maybe they don't have practice tomorrow. You can they're celebrating right now. Retire a hero or live long enough to be a washed up bump. I mean you

can take a two runs at least. It's a very fresh theme from you, Dan, I mean, I'm this is one where we find common ground on the Patriots that I I would have totally been down with Tom Brady and Gronks just going out on top with that title. It just that's what you said, like two Super Bowl wins ago though, right Like Patriots fans are glad you're

not getting your way on this front. Tom's children, by the way, he end's got a cat a plane, Vivian Lake Brady, Benjamin Brady, that's a great name, Ben Brady, and John Edward Thomas moynihan. Little nugget on the eve of his kid's last name is yeah, that's a middle name. I think let's not get into that either way. Worth a google easily find a bill on the internet. All right, before we go, I'll be out Monday, by the way, heading back east doing the weekend thing with the family.

Maybe we can get Steve weishback in, get step in here. He did such a great job last time in your absence. He was just sensational. He was now he was. He's always great. He's great, he's great. I just like to put Dan on that airplane with a little bit of hesitation. He certainly will not. Uh, good luck to you. I won't be here on Monday, but I'll be back on Wednesday before we go um mark, speaking of familiar themes

of meditation, a little weekend meditation. Here we are once again at the end of another busy week, maybe a week in which you barely even thought about your own needs. So now making yourself comfortable, take a deep breath in, and as you breathe out, close your eyes and begin to relax. As you continue to breathe, imagine yourself walking through a beautiful midnight garden, the stars shining above, the

moon's light illuminating the soft grass below your feet. As you wander the garden, you can smell a scent of rose bushes swaying in the night breeze, So peaceful, so far away from all your stresses, and at the edge of the garden, you reach an elegant patio that peers down into a lush valley. In the middle of the valley you see a tennis court, and down the court a young man dressed in white shorts, white socks, white sneakers,

a white polo, and a white headband. It is Greg frozen Thal, working tirelessly against one of those little robot ball machines in the middle of the night. Forehand, backhand, forehand, MHM, backhand, forehand, backhand, forehand, backhand, forehead, backhand, forehand, backhand, forehand, back end, forehand, backhand, forehand, backhand, sea crest out a