The around the NFL podcast already misses the luck competition. From the Chris Wessling podcast studio, it's around the NFL. I am Dan Hanzis. I have heroes here. Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler, and now, okay, now I'm starting to get the juice. We were placed on a nice little, carved out a nice spot on the old NFL media bench for the combine. So we were back here in LA for that and I felt that. But now everyone's back from Indy and free agency is on the horizon. Franchise tag deadlines coming up in a couple days. We are now, Gregy, on the precipice of the true new league year and everything that comes with it.

Like as we are taping more veterans losing their job, which we don't like to see just keep happening one after another. None that are going to change our lives or our rundown. But yeah, the combine is a nice little jolt. And now here we go.

It is an OD event, I think from our career perspective, to be watching it states away on television versus being there. And it was a different kind of event this year with crowds in the place going literally crazy when you're used to it being kind of like a golf match and so hushed in there. And I did watch a lot of NFL Network. When you're there, you can't really do it. And I'm not tooting our own network's horn. I often go in the opposite direction, but I thought they put together the most entertaining combine broadcast that they've ever achieved.

Wow. Examples.

I have a few examples that I can share with a little later in the show, but I thought that DJ Rich and the atmosphere.

Did you hit your head this weekend or something?

No.

I know it sounds like I wouldn't say that kind of thing, but I think the goal is to not be day three of the draft where you're just getting doused in data that starts to lose meaning. And I thought they brought a lot of interesting context and their homework paid off. But it was also a ton of guests and coaches more than in the past.

Yeah. Not to be a company man, but I think it is the best thing we do. When I was just getting started out in this industry and they put down the combine, I thought that it was like a fun football broadcast for like seven or 8 hours. It was good back when it was mayok. It's good with this new guy. I think he's going to work out now.

You have to compliment Jeremiah.

I'd love to be part of it one day.

Well, that's true.

By the way, I don't like it.

Shining during our absence. That doesn't make a lot of sense.

Had we been at the combine, Greg, you would have been in trouble, because, and this is, I think, one of the cute little tics about Greg, and we've known Greg for a long time.

Now, mark, he's got his binoculars, and.

Then Super Bowl Sunday, when we're up there in the auxiliary booth, he's got the binoculars, and he's all excited, and it's cute. It's adorable, actually.

I mean, it's not an abnormal.

It kind of is. Let's be honest. There's nobody else around us using them.

Well, that's because we're just by ourselves.

No, we're in the auxiliary. There's no reason to be.

You're not going to win.

Wait, do you see a lot of.

People taking out the binoculars?

I don't. I think it's a classic.

Maybe that's more in the regular press box.

Like, the first game I ever went to, I brought binoculars, and it was incredible. And in these days, I could use binoculars.

Yeah, depends where you're at, but it makes a big difference.

So, big funk, who's on a heater right now, because as we know, funk behind the glass Randy Chavez brought in, got you your ticket. Ticket, gate super bowl ticket did.

I'll never forget that.

Now, funk picks up Gregy's binoculars, which he left behind on the set at the Super bowl over there in Vegas. And if you want to say anything to Randy on Mike, I feel like that you're going to play cool because you don't want to act like you're too attached to your binoculars, but those things matter to you, and funk is the one that kept them in your life.

Randy is a great human being. He always cares about us as humans. He cares about our pets as pets, and I'm not surprised, of all people.

That he turned that up. I need that Funk.

There was a glow in Greg's eye when funk, more like hunk, came in the room and brought the binoculars.

Now, that said, I mean, I did pick it up on the way to the superdome for Raven. There comes 49 ers, Super bowl, big funk. And I feel like the performance level was going down, so I thought maybe it was time when I realized I.

Had lost nothing left behind.

I was like, why does Dan want to do this? And now I know big funk.

Hey, Funk, we gave you about a week and a half. That's right. I think it over. Those who listened a couple of weeks back know that we threw out this idea some shock jocks a few years back took a young and impressionable big funk and said, we're going to give you a return. You're going to sell out your fandom and get a Chicago Bears logo on your thigh. Even though you're a diehard packers fan. And we, the around the NFL podcast anti shock jack, or at least those shock jacks, decided to give you an option to a crowdsourced fundraiser to get some type of work done on that tattoo. To alterate it, maybe remove it your thoughts. But it was last time we left off. You big funk had the ball in your cork. So we didn't want to push anything on you like those shock jocks once upon a time. Where's your head at? Do you want to move forward with a procedure or are we going to leave it as is? Go ahead. After lots of consideration, I think I've determined that. I think I'm going to keep it. Okay.

I'm going to keep it up.

Turn his music up. He's going to keep it. It's part of his history. We all walk a path. We didn't force big punk.

We were freedom giving on that front.

Yeah, that's totally understandable. I respect that.

What about the idea someone had with the Ghostbusters? Sort of circle over it with an x with a new tattoo. So that's keeping it, but making it a little.

I ain't afraid of no bears. I'm down with that.

Ghostbusters.

Ghostbusters.

Totally changed. That's a new version.

Okay, so are you down to adjust it or not? Ghostbusters is my favorite movie.

I think what he's saying is he doesn't want it removed. But this idea that we're going now anti bears and putting the x through it, you'd be down with that, Walter.

You know what's funny?

For the longest time, I've said that the one thing I would do was write sucks underneath. Yeah, but that sounds like a thousand.

And he loves ghost bombs. All right, turn it up.

Turn it up again. How did I never think about that? He's changing his mind, clarifying his wants to alter that in.

And fair enough, he was not on this tweet that we saw from someone. I'll show you the mock up I think we're headed.

All right. Also, I did love Dan. Because you have no tattoos, right? No. It was so funny because you were thrown removal. And everyone I've talked to that's ever gotten tattoo removal says it's the most painful thing ever. I've heard that and it's like incredibly expensive. So I was like, I can't do removal. It's a pretty big tattoo. Yeah.

It's sizable to the credit of our, and I'm not surprised our listeners on the glorious subreddit and check that environment out. It couldn't be more pristine. They had hundreds of suggestions and ideas and concepts of what he could do or how he could solve the problem or alter it.

All right. Get us a price quote.

Right?

Sounds good. We'll do getting that price quote work with someone. Wrap your bow.

All right.

Progress made.

Are you mark?

What is these looks? We're doing important work here for?

What did I do?

You keep shooting glances at Greg.

I like to look at Greg during the show on occasion.

I guess I missed it because it.

Was not and I couldn't be more excited about how the show's opened. And I noted that the listeners were very involved and it's in a testament to them.

I'm excited and I even have a suggestion maybe of the tattoo artist, but we'll get to that later off Mike.

All right. We got a lot to get to, so, yeah, with the combine in the rear view mirror, we're going to have a guest come by. Know we do our best, we do our work, but we know where our limitations are. And when you're looking at prospects coming into the League, you want to get somebody that really is an expert in this realm. And Danny Kelly, who does great stuff with the Ringer and has a big time podcast, fantasy podcast, but really knows his stuff in this realm, is going to come on a little bit later and talk with us about what he saw. Some takeaways. We're going to share some of our own takeaways from over the weekend, but before that, let's do some news.

Jason Connor from si, how are you?

Hey, good, Connor. How are you?

I'm doing well, thanks. How's everything?

Good. Yeah. No, we won a lot more games than what he predicted us to get last year. Yes. You had us for two. I have it hanging up in my. No, that is from the Buccaneers social media and Connor, or you may recall one of his buzziest offseason stories he writes is I think he picks every game and then has final record picks for every team, which can go disastrously. I think he had the Patriots going to like the AFC title game.

Well, he likes to do it. He likes to have a little bit of spice in there.

Yeah. And I was with him, maybe not two and 15 with Connor, but I didn't think the Bucks were a playoff.

You went under, over under. Yeah.

But Jason Light remembers the general manager and what you heard just there is a nice little combine. See, that's the fun stuff at the combine. You start mixing up the journals with the coaches and the GMs.

Well, Connor also famously, back when it was a quieter environment, was during the tryouts in the 40s, down by the, you know, right on the edge of where the seats were and made some sort of enough noise or disturbance where like a fill in the blank, like, timer guy from the Steelers, I believe, turn around and is like, dude, stop making noise. I'm trying to concentrate. It's like Connor's always combining it up.

I do remember that, and I do, like, I have to preface that. Connor handled the whole interaction well. You should check it out.

And light didn't have a bad vibe about it.

He was more just like, hey, kind.

Of jabbed out of it.

Yeah, it was a jab.

It was all fun. But he did tell the social department of the Buccaneers, hey, let's come do this. That wasn't by. That was, that was fun. It was next level. He had a little idea for some content, give the GM some credit for that, or the social team had some idea for some content, and they went and executed.

And Connor, Connor's big boy, who can hold his own as well. So I think, I'm sure that interaction from that point onward went well. So you know what? Everyone's competitive in the sports, even the sports media, everyone's competitive. But the GMs, they read all that stuff, even when they say they don't. Yeah, they read it all or it's brought to them or it gets to them, you know, bullied up in his office. Yeah, that's great. All right, why don't we start with Tampa Bay? That's good how it worked out. Cool. Mike Evans, he's not going anywhere. He signs a two year, $52 million contract, which includes 35 million in guaranteed money to remain with the Bucks. The only team that he has ever known in the NFL. He's been ten years in the league, and I thought about, this is interesting to me. Ten years in the league for Mike Evans. I've talked about Texas with Nick Wesling about this, and he's like, he's a superstar. This is before last year, which was a great season for Evans. And I said I always felt he was just a touch below, and I don't know if he's ever been an all pro, Greg.

No, I know he's been a pro. Bowler five times. He has a historic start to his career. Ten years. Ten 1000 yard seasons. And sometimes it feels like despite his incredibly consistent, unique production, he flies a little bit under the radar. But here is an example of it paying off for him, this consistency. Maybe he doesn't get brought up in the same breath as the greatest wide receivers of his generation, Mark. But to get this type of contract this far into his career, it doesn't happen unless you do something truly historic, which is what he's done. It doesn't matter who the quarterback is. He's done it with Tom Brady. He's done it with Baker Mayfield. He's done it with. Who's the guy with the really long neck? Remember that guy, Mike Glennon, James Winston? He's done it with them all. The good, the bad, the greatest. And he's rewarded for that consistency with this deal.

Yeah, he's been QB proof. And I think if you go and look at Baker Mayfield's season and major comeback campaign, a lot of it has to do with Evans and how consistent Evans was after a bit of a strange campaign with Tom Brady the year before. And I think you're right. If you look at the age and if his production were hot and cold or he was an every other year type of guy, you wonder if he floats off somewhere else. But I think the Bucks, it's what needed to happen. I think also the second part of this is like Evans. There was reporting that Evans said he wanted to play with a premier quarterback. He wanted to be on a team that could compete. That is the case with the Bucs as a competitive team. Baker Mayfield cannot float away in this. It's almost like the Bucks and Jason Light have to. They can't lose the Baker Mayfield derby here without another plan. Because Kyle Trask and John Wolford are not premier quarterbacks.

Right. And they don't have a high draft pick and they haven't been mentioned in the Kirk Cousins sweepstakes, although they'd make a little sense. I think Baker's most likely outcome will get to that $26 million. This wide receiver market is not coming down. I've heard it posited by people that I usually agree with all the time that says all these receivers coming into the league, it always works. And there's so many great wide receivers like this wide receiver market is going to cool down. It's like, no, there's actually still not enough. I can think of so many teams where they don't have enough wide receivers. Passing game is the most important offense is the most important, it's going to go up, up and up. I was wrong. He was second team All Pro two different times, including this. Now they've added a slot receiver, too, which is nice. So six guys get it and I like that. So he was second team two times. 2016 2023. Incredible consistency. I know fantasy points isn't like the best way to measure receivers, but I think it does point something out. If you give him half point per reception, yards, touchdowns.

He's been top 15 in fantasy eight out of his ten years, and the other two he was top 25. Like that is just ridiculous. That's a top 15 receiver. But I give him credit. A lot of players say they want to stay at one place. They want to do this or that. I believe he took somewhat of a hometown discount here to stay, he told his agent. Just get the deal done with Tampa. At this point, I think he would have gotten more guaranteed money. The second year is not fully guaranteed. It's like half guaranteed. I think if he went out there, he would have made even more. Now how much more? It probably would have been like that much more. But he's putting his money where his mouth is. I think he said just get the best possible deal with Tampa. I don't want to deal with it. And credit to him.

That's smart. Yeah. Being comfortable and where he lives with his family and the fan base that loves him and just the familiarity of that team, that all makes sense. It's a very human decision.

All right.

Speaking of Baker, NFL Network's James Palmer, our bud believes the Falcons are a, quote, dark horse to sign Baker Mayfield. So Baker is not getting the franchise tag from the Bucks. That deadline's Thursday, correct? It's Tuesday, Tuesday tomorrow.

We'll be back and update it next show.

So don't expect that. So Baker, absent a similar surprise deal like we just saw with Evans, could hit the open market. And the Falcons are connected to a bunch of guys, Greg, but Baker is one of them, and he would represent an upgrade over what they had last year. I still think they need to swing a little bigger after the last few years, how they've handled the quarterback position, but it's good for Baker. He's got a market.

I keep seeing different reporters have different variations of these Baker reports, which is interesting coming out of Indianapolis, the agents doing his work, but I don't dispute it. Daniel Jeremiah said the Patriots might be in on Baker. Jeremy Fowler threw out there that the Falcons are going to get one of these guys basically cousins, fields or Baker, and it's going to end up being one of these three. And so now Tampa, who I think is still the most likely outcome for Baker, has competition and he's going to cost a lot. And I was wrong, I believe to say a month and a half ago that I didn't think he was going to get the Geno type contract. If he's got multiple teams bidding on him to become a starter, he is getting the genotype contract. Maybe a little more. We'll see. I think that'll be about what he gets.

I mean, I think that it just.

Seems logical and clear that Cousins is.

The first chip to fall and Baker has to be seen by someone like Atlanta as like a very solid fallback option versus having no option.

I do think unless the bucks just get it done first.

Well, I think it adds urgency to what Tampa's how they got to organize and I think that that's why the Evan things happened. Baker could be next. I do think in New England. It's interesting that Alex Van Pelt, who I think was a low wattage, higher as offensive coordinator, worked with Baker in Cleveland and knows him very well and has to be behind the scenes suggesting this guy can do it.

Yes. Bring Baker to New England next.

I don't want. I know they have a hundred million dollars in cap space. Get the guy when he's on the one year, $3 million contract, not the next year. It's just sort of obvious, right?

When I woke up this morning, I was feeling pretty dangerous. All right, so yes, Graziano of ESPN and also Jeremy Fowler put out an article this morning sharing all their kind of whispers and all the conversations they heard. Greg just shared one of those nugs about the Falcons game plan with the veteran quarterback. Graziano also reported in that piece that the, quote, top QB solution for the Falcons is Kirk Cousins, should he reach for free agency. And the Cousins free agency situation is very interesting because the Vikings, from what you're hearing out there, do want him back, but they also have a very complex, or they have a vision of how they want to handle this offseason. And number one is Justin Jefferson. And if top wide receivers beneath Jefferson are getting like 25 to 28 million, Justin Jefferson is going to get 30 to 35. Right. So Kirk Cousins has to agree to a deal that fits within the framework of their ability to really build a team around Cousins and Jefferson without maxing everything out. So they're kind of in a tough spot. But Cousins, ever the great businessman mark, doesn't sound like he's looking to give any type of hometown discount to Minnesota, which means it could get to the point where he's fielding offers and he's going to get paid either way.

Again, a lot of money.

He has a special talent to hit the market at a time that seems to benefit him in many, many mean.

And like Evans consistently produce and put himself in a people.

I think Cousins is very well liked throughout the league. You keep hearing that and I think that there more so than in years past a higher belief that he could come in and take a Falcons team and take them to the next level. The reporting from Graziano was also that Cousins has a very specific idea in quotes about what he wants and that the Vikings so far have been unwilling to match it. I do think Kevin O'Connell on NFL Network came out very strongly suggesting get I think we can get this like I think that Kevin O'Connell came to Minnesota largely because of Kirk Cousins and is a huge proponent. And if you're the Vikings, I know it's been a bit of a rebuild in terms of their cap and stuff. It's like you lose Kirk Cousins, you're the team suddenly wondering what is happening at the most important position.

It's hard to know which of these reports put a lot of stock in, but I thought this one was worth it because hearing that about the Falcons, it actually does make just there's something about this whole thing with the Vikings that to me I feel like they're going to be okay letting Kirk walk if some team actually blows the doors off in a huge contract and I think that could be the Falcons. They are the team that makes sense. And you're hearing all this stuff that the Justin Fields market isn't that great, that he's kind of going to be the backup plan maybe for a lot of these teams, and the Falcons and maybe the Broncos, although they haven't been mentioned to me, do feel like the one team that could just put the money on the table and that Minnesota is like, all right, we'll see you. We'll find out in a week. It'll probably be about one week from this time on Monday that we know.

I'd be curious and maybe there's something to check out ahead of next show, but how many teams currently have the set up and are successful teams with a quarterback on a top tier salary and a wide receiver on a top tier salary? That's so much of your cap tied up to two guys and it makes it very difficult to build a balanced roster.

One little note that not too long ago today on the Pat McAfee show. Schefter also mentioned that maybe the commanders could jump in on the Kirk Cousins thing, though they're kind of open where they sit. They're kind of open taking a couple of different directions.

The ultimate like we're no longer Dan Snyder move and we're just a new franchise.

The Cowboys, they're another one of those teams. See, they're trying to figure it out. They got Dak making all this money. They got CD Lamb's contract coming up and then they all right, we got to have a functional defense and Micah Parsons and then we got to get the offensive tackles taken care of. One of them, Tyron Smith according to rap sheet is, quote, unlikely to return to the Cowboys next season. And I think that's less about his ability. Even though he's 33, he's still very competent tackle. But it's all about Greg E. That big picture with them and all the money that they have to dole out. Are you going to really give a top of the market left tackle salary to Tyron Smith when you got the QV and the linebacker and the wide receiver all hanging out there?

Right? I think that's rap sheet hearing through the grapevine what Tyrone Smith's market was going to be at the combine and the Cowboys realized like, oh, we actually got him to take a pay cut last year because he kept getting hurt and now he's going to make $20 million a year or whatever it is and we're just out and he's hitting free agency at a perfect time. I mean, any tackle would be, but there's literally no one else like Michael Owenyu, who's bounced around guard and tackle, is a nice young player, but there aren't any good high level starting left. Is he? He must know already. He has contract offers from certain teams and the Cowboys.

It's gotta be a bit of a tough pill to swallow because the vibe I get from everything Dallas is saying and that's just Jerry Jones basically is just, it's kind of a Super bowl or bust all over again. And these players are not easy to replace. Although it is a pretty interesting draft class at tackle, guard and other lines.

It's very deep. We'll get to that. But yeah, it's the tackles and the receivers, which they say are the deepest here.

Buy into us in other news. You know I always will. Mike Darren Waller weird career for Darren Waller, who is currently with the Giants after his first season went in a disappointing, injury riddled manner. You could say about the last few seasons for Waller after he was briefly one of the most productive tight ends in football. There is a report out there, there was previously a report out there that Darren Waller, despite being, I think he's around 30 or 31, he's turning 32. He's 31 now, I believe, and there was a report that he was indeed coming back to the Giants for another season. But now an update to that report in the New York Post is that Waller is still undecided on whether he will continue playing or opt to retire. Giants gave up a third round pick mark for Waller, and I'm guessing they wish they didn't do that.

Well, yeah. I mean, last season for the Giants was riddled with curious decisions coming off a coach of the year campaign. It's just like they hurt themselves in multiple ways. I think we kept saying that the x factor for New York was like, which version of Waller you get? He had his lowest yards per reception of his entire career, and I think that offense also went through quarterback hell, and I think him not being around next season would not change their fortune.

I mean, 2020 is hindsight, too, right? It made sense when they made the trade I used to talk about all last summer. I never got a great vibe about Darren Waller and the Giants for some reason, and sure enough, it didn't go well.

But I feel like you didn't get a great vibe from him when he came in to do the broadcasting boot camp.

He seems like a wandering spirit, a almost is.

I don't think that performance is informative of what's going on here, but if I hear media summit, yeah, but if I'm hearing that he's not that into playing next year, and it might be a physical thing, too, I'm surprised that the Giants have been publicly saying like, oh, no, we want them, we're keeping them. We're not cutting them because they would actually save, with a post June 1 cut, $11.6 million in cap savings. But it goes back to a cliche. I say at this time of year, which is like, it's a lot easier to find cap space than it is good players. And I guess they just feel like they really need some good players. But if he's not that into it, I don't know, maybe let him.

This happens in every sport. He got the big contract and he's never been close to the same guy.

He's been hurt a lot, too, and.

There'S been questions about his desire, and it's not somebody you typically want to go to war with.

Oh, I would like to know that actual health situation, though, because that could be driving most of this. If you just don't feel like you can be what you were.

It's a lot of soft tissue injuries. I feel like that he's dealt with. Yeah.

To pass on eleven, $12 million just because you're done, that says a lot.

Well, you seem to pass on Mark and I's wisdom in that conference room.

Well, we also had to course correct our own presentation between not quite worth $12 million.

Although maybe you're the type of guy that tweeted out is like, would you rather have $1 million or 1 hour to pick Jay Z's brain? I'm taking the hour. It's like, no, take the money.

It was around the second seminar presentation where I did consider jumping out the window. That's what I recall.

You were put through a test and greg escapes, got free. I don't know. Where were you on skipping through Japan?

Skipping through Tokyo hand in hand with his beautiful wife. In other news, maybe. I don't know. I don't know what's going on in.

Tokyo with Greg now that I think the time maybe that she's beautiful. I think it was Hawaii. I think it was Hawaii. But yeah, I could be wrong.

Aaron Jones is a Packers running back. He's 29 years old. Yeah. Good and bad, 2023. But overall a very productive player in his time with the team. If he is going to stay with the packers, it's very likely he is going to need to take a pay cut for what it's worth. Match. Neyman reported that Brian Gutigans, the general manager, said the team, quote, absolutely expects Rogers to be there. And that makes sense to me because look at Jones to be there. Expects Aaron Jones to be there because look at the running back market, look at all these big names in free agency and you kind of get the feeling outside of maybe Barkley there all going to struggle to get the money they want. So Jones is not going to want to reenter that phrase, want to play out his contract because a four year, $48 million deal he signed in 2021, he's entering the final year. So even with a haircut, probably going to do a lot better than he would do on the open market.

That's something that's changed in just the last few years where if you saw the report that they will cut him if he doesn't take a pay cut, that guy almost always used to get cut and now, like Joe Mixon is a good example last year. Now when those reports come out, and especially at running back. You're probably right. If he can make more with them.

The Milwaukee Journal Senate also reported that they're not looking to bring back AJ Dillon. So if Jones goes, AJ Dillon goes. It's not the greatest draft for running backs by any like, that's going to look very different. I think Jones, when he was on the field, they were a much better offense.

He finished very strong.

All right, let's take a break and we'll continue through the news. All right, we're back. In other news, the 49 ers have found their new defensive coordinator. It is an in house move, and it is Nick Sorensen. Nick Sorensen, who will be promoted. He was the team's defensive pass game specialist and nickel cornerbacks coach. He takes over for Steve Wilkes, who was dismissed last month. They also are hiring former Chargers coach Brandon Staley as an assistant head coach. So going to two head monster, this thing, I guess, Mark, with Staley behind Sorensen.

Well, so Staley is replacing essentially the same position by another ex Chargers coach, Anthony Lin, who left to go to the commanders. I think this just is what, this is one of the least surprising hires in terms of Kyle Shanahan deciding, I'm absolutely picking from my in house crew because Wilkes, it didn't work. And I think a lot of it seemed like the energy around it, just not seeing an eye to eye and maybe the way the Niners want to do things. Like Sorensen, who is a longtime Pete Carroll protege underneath for years ago, has been with San Francisco for a while. He's done a lot of different things as a player and a coach, and it's like, cool. Makes sense.

Did you see the juicy side of this? In that same graziano Fowler write up, sources say the 49 ers explored the possibility of hiring Steve Spagnolo away from the Chiefs for their DC position shortly after their loss to Kansas City in the Super bowl. But then the Chiefs very quietly gave Spags a new deal that is reportedly worth 5 million.

Wow.

Which is big guap for a coordinator. But interesting that the old if you can't beat him, join him move was on the radar for lynch and Shanahan.

Well, they helped get him paid. Nothing wrong with that. He's got to be the highest paid coordinator in NFL history.

Quinn, I thought, was getting, what, three.

Or four last year?

And that was said to be.

It would make sense if someone was going to be, it would be the guy coming off two straight Super bowl titles and he's not going to get.

A job like a head coaching job. Yeah, you better pay him like that. In other news. Let's spin through this. All right, Greg, set it up. The competition committee, oh, my gosh. They are proposing some dramatic changes to the kickoff. We've talked about the kickoff and how it's kind of a wasted play right now. Greg, you talked about getting rid of it entirely. I said, I don't think so, Greg. I think it's football. It's got to be involved somehow. What is this pitch? What is this idea to fix the play?

We'll dive into this more in late March, but the fact that the competition committee is who's putting it up there. There's two different ways rules can get suggested. One, a team can just suggest it and it's like, okay, that's an idea. We'll see. Everyone's going to vote for it. They have this idea of only doing onside kicks if you're trailing in the fourth quarter. We'll see if that happens. That's a team suggestion. When it's from the competition community. They're already into it. They're trying to make it happen in the XFL model, which was created by former TNF recap guest Sam Schwartzein, who's on Amazon prime as the next gen stets guy. I had no idea. He created the rulebook for the XFL back in the day, which is kind of crazy.

Wait, he had the rule where the ball is at the 50 yard line and people sprint from opposite ends.

So that is essentially the rule.

The ACL destroyer.

No, not that. The kicker lines up at his own 30 yard line and ten members of the kickoff team line at the opponent's 35, five yards away from the returning team's block. Only the kicker and one returner are allowed to move before the ball sets. You kind of just got to watch it to see it's different, but it would result in a lot more kickoffs. In fact, I think the majority of kickoffs would be returned because otherwise it goes to the 35, which is great. I need to study this one. Maybe they.

But it seems to be messing with you a little bit.

But maybe this was prompted to some degree by your calls for it just to disappear entirely during our super.

That's what did it.

Good way to look at it.

Belichick was with that one. He was like, either do it or kill. Was. That was his idea, do it or kill it.

Quick cuts and then we gotta get going here. The Vikings cut ties with Alexander Madison, their running back. So year after Davin Cook goes, now Madison is out the door as well. The Patriots say goodbye again to JC Jackson, whose career has turned into a bit of an odyssey. Washington cuts ties with Logan Thomas, Charles Leno. The Eagles say goodbye to byard, Kevin Bayard, and the Saints cut safety Marcus May, and one other transaction, Jason Kelsey. Yes, indeed, is retiring. The Eagles Veteran center mainstay, a stalwart and now a media star, will be able to focus on other endeavors. Also, our competition, we got the old iHeartRadio podcast awards coming up next week in Austin, Texas. We'll be there. And they are in the same category as us, which is troubling with all the swift.

A little troubling, but honestly, right now he's coming off maybe the little bit nuclear hot right now, right. You said Mark was maybe the best retirement speech you've ever seen.

It was the longest, and so I saw many portions of it. Walking around the building here, I thought he did a great job.

All right, let's listen in.

I've been asked many times, why did I choose football? What drew me to the game? And I never have an answer that gets it right. The best way I can explain it is what draws you to your favorite song, your favorite book. It's what it makes you feel, the seriousness of it, the intensity of it. Stepping on the field was the most alive and free I had ever felt. There was a visceral feeling with football, unlike any other sport. The hairs on my arms would stand up. I could hit somebody, run around like a crazed lunatic and then get told, good job. I love football.

Nice.

I feel like Wes would have loved that also. I like that he show up in a sleeveless, you know, some guys wear, he's just suit, but that's on big. Some big shoes to fill a little game nugget.

Like the tush push is not going.

To be the same without Jason Kelsey.

Maybe that retires.

He kind of changed the game in terms of like, I think teams look for more Jason Kelsey types at center, the quickness, the athleticism. He's going to wind up being a hall of famer. He talked about how when essentially the chip Kelly years, he almost thought he was going to get out. He was of Philadelphia. His coach believed in him. We do. I think Eric also have him talking about the most famous play in Eagles history.

I won't forget Nick Foles having the game of his life on the biggest stage possible and the biggest dick on the team, going up to Doug Peterson and asking for the Philly special and Doug Peterson having the biggest balls in the stadium.

Do it. Say it.

Say, yeah, let's do it.

That's nice. One of the most memorable plays in Super bowl history.

The most, like second most.

The most.

Top ten.

Number one.

It is kind of crazy how you lost that on those sandwiches so close years ago.

If you would have said top ten.

It's not crazy. It's absurd.

If only it wasn't horseshoes, then you would have had it.

The most influential Super bowl play of all time.

Well, that's just silly.

That's incorrect.

It's not silly, but it meant something to that man. Look how much it meant. I do like that. A man sobbing there, talking about balls and big. That's a great, like, a lot of, like, pause breaks with tears in your eyes talking about big and balls. That is very on brand for that man.

Something for everyone.

No one's hit their retirement on this sort of momentum. I feel like since maybe Michael Strahan did it. Well, like, if you had told me, Michael Strahan, that's a good. Was kind of become like a monster media star for most of his career, I wouldn't have existed.

Tony Romo.

Tony Romo had an incredible.

But to go out on top, like.

Strahan went out, his playing career was kind of very depressing. He broke his back. It's funny, Kelsey.

Well, I was going to say Strahan went out on a title and I said Kelsey did, too. But no, he kind of became a member of the Chiefs in the last three weeks of the season. So I'll never forget. I think we're together, all three of us. I think we're together when Super Bowl Sunday morning, when he came, we were at the hotel. He came out of the elevator and he was wearing a onesie. It was like overalls, onesie, Chiefs logos all over it. And we saw him exit out the doors and it really was like a massive celebrity with everybody with their phones out and handlers, like taking him to the. He is. He's going to do okay, probably defeat us in the iHeart awards, but you never know.

You never know.

I wouldn't be surprised if he replaces Kirk Kerb street on Amazon. I think that was been suggested. I did pull one more clip from the Kelsey presser just because this guy was a pretty big talking point on.

The podcast for a bit.

And he did get mentioned. Big Dom in a hall of famers retirement speech.

Give me all the big Dom you got.

I'd like to thank Big Dom Desandro, truly the life force of this organization. No one gives more time and energy to this team at the drop of a hat. Dom is by your side. My family and I give our sincerest thank yous for always treating us with dignity and assistance.

I just say, can I help Big Dom? Can I offer it a little to that point, a little unsolicited advice? Just hire Big Dom as the coach. If everyone loves this guy so much.

Yeah.

Hire him as the coach. Build up a good assistant staff around him to help him with the x's and o's and be done with it. Get Sirianni out of the building. Can't even control himself without Big Dom there.

Sirianni is losing the pr contest day by day.

Christ. All right. And finally in the news, this is a sad item to end it on, but definitely something we should talk about. Award winning ESPN NFL reporter Chris Mortensen passed away on Sunday at the age of 72. Really sad. This is someone who battled stage four throat cancer in 2016, which cancer, obviously, is something that's very close to everyone, us as well. Wes battled esophageal cancer, a battle ultimately, he's no longer with us. And Mortensen, or Mort, as everyone knew him in the famous Mort report that I remember watching so many, so many Mort reports when he was the kind of insider in the. Into the hung around. He died suddenly on Sunday morning. And the way all the tributes mark poured out toward Mortensen, he was a different dude, because this business, especially the insider business, is kind of a nasty one at times, and it's competitive and as cutthroat as anything in this industry. And Mortensen was the guy who was known to help people along the way. And how do you do this job as a national reporter? How to get your foot in the door, how to succeed. So even while the young ones were coming up, he never stopped being a class act.

So he's a widely respected journalist. He actually grew up right in the backyard here in Torrance, I believe, but also someone who did it the right way in terms of helping younger reporters coming up. And it's really sad to see him go.

So, yeah, I mean, it's when you hear someone described uniformly by people that knew him very well, people that worked with him, people that just came into contact with him, it's like he was the gentle insider. I think that game now seems a little. It's cutthroat. It swallows up your personal life, your time. And Mortensen always had a different kind of vibe to him. And I think also he experienced the insider job at a time when pregame shows actually mattered, when he'd come on Sunday morning and give you news that no one else had. Now it's like a lot of rehashing of stuff that we heard on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. It's like he was a pre Twitter, but in Twitter, too. But he operated as this person who brought incredible context information to the football.

He was, he was doing it back when it was like John Clayton and Len Pascarelli at ESPN. And then I remember when they brought in Schefter and in theory, Schefter would be like, going on his turf and instead they made this great tandem and always just a kind man. He was really nice. He reached out to me a handful of times when I started at pro football talk. We would have conversations and, like, people, like, very generous and warm and helpful. Just like seeing someone coming up in the business. I know he reached out to Wes, too, when Wes was going through his battle and they had that to share. And so I think just on a human level, I also remember he reached out to Keisha after Wes died. So rest in peace. He was a classy guy. He got Daniel. Jeremiah started in this business, too, and it was tough seeing DJ deal with that on live tv and everything. And they were extremely close. So great, man.

Rest in peace, Chris Mortensen. All right, let's take a break. And when we return, Danny Kelly. Let's talk combine in the draft ahead. Welcome back. Our next guest is a senior staff writer for the Ringer, co host of the Ringer fantasy football show and the Ringer NFL draft show. And it is that last credit that we're going to dive into here with Danny Kelly. Welcome back to around the NFL, Danny.

Thank you so much. How are you guys doing?

Good fellow.

Dan.

Daniel. I was Danny from 80 birth until 92. And then I had a 7th grade. I had a heart to heart with my mom and I think I asked her for permission to go to a more stylized quote unquote cool Dan. And she rubber stamped it. But still to this day, my family calls me Danny. Are you Dan to anyone? Are you a Daniel on here or is it all Danny all the time? Let's get into it.

Yeah, I kind of went the opposite direction from you. From 82 to high school, I was Daniel. So, like, my parents still call me Daniel. In high school, I decided I wanted to be Dan. So a lot of my high school friends from that era still call me Dan. And then kind of as a bit, I decided to have everyone start calling me Danny and it just kind of stuck.

What do you mean as a bit? Because, yeah, this is your professional name. It's the only name you've been around on the interwebs, but you've been Danny Kelly the whole time.

But Greg, I mean, there's been a lot of ink spilled and audio spilled out from microphones about triple G and Greg and all the culture. Like you have to let him be on his Danny path. It's its own thing.

Absolutely. I don't get the bit part, that's all.

I will say that in the year 2000, and this whole segment is about this name. So everybody just dig in. In 2000, I worked at TGI Fridays before I went away to college and there were three dans and I went to Danny just for that summer. And I'm telling you, it was special. It made me consider staying with it, but ultimately I cowered out. And you are the Danny of the NFL media industry. So thank you for joining us. Budy, let's talk a little. The combine is over. We are spinning is, you know, a big picture thought coming out of this weekend for you. Danny Kelly.

I think first of all, a lot of guys are very fast. Obviously this is what we talk about in the combine. But it was especially fast combines for receivers, running backs, offensive linemen. There's a lot of really good athletes. I think in general, players are maybe just starting to get much better at these combine tests. Like the training is a lot better these days. Maybe the athletes are just better too, because of all the training involved in athletics and sports. So very fast players at the combine. I know this. I'm breaking news here.

This is exciting. Well, you mentioned that the wide receiver day stands out maybe the most because for our purposes, maybe the most interesting.

Receivers fast.

Okay.

At the combine.

The two deepest positions in this draft, and we haven't talked a lot of drafts, so I feel like we're starting out on this show. But for our listeners, the two of the deepest positions are tackle and wide receiver. There's sort of a discussion which position gets more in the first round. It could be upwards of eight to ten for either position, which is crazy. But one thing I noticed, danny, I heard Josh Norris, our friend, talk about this too, is all these receivers are big. It was supposed to be this trend that, oh, you don't have to be like a huge receiver anymore. And starting with Roma Dunze, your guy from the Pacific Northwest who's like a real deal ex receiver who know DJ, our guy at NFL Network has him as high as third or fourth overall, will go somewhere in the top eight. It could be all receivers and quarterbacks to start off, he shows up, he has a great workout. He's like a real deal x receiver, but he wasn't the only one. It just felt like they're deep as hell and they're big as hell. So I don't know if that's a trend or if it's just like random that we got some nice big men entering the league.

Calm down, Greg.

Honestly, last year there was a bunch of small receivers and that was kind of a thing that kind of felt more like a blip. I still think we're going to still see a lot of big receivers. You got Romo Dunze, Brian Thomas from LSU, who's like six foot three, Ad Mitchell from Texas, who's one of my favorites in this class. He was one of the most surprising and best athletes at the combine overall. Like you said, roma Dunze, there's a handful of other guys that have good size. So yeah, it's definitely nice to have some variation there, some variety, because last year it was just a bunch of guys who are like 178 pounds. And obviously the NFL is changing, but it is good to have these guys with size, too.

I mean, you could argue that some of these speed tests and there were more wide receivers under their 4440 than any other draft in history. So you're right. I think they're able to train for these better and prepare better. But like someone like Xavier Worthy, who is a very small guy and all that stuff, and it depends where he goes, but he made himself a lot of money by just running fast versus other players, where you kind of expected it. I would ask from a flip side, from the quarterback angle, because a bunch of quarterbacks did nothing and you kind of left wondering what the rest of this market looks like. Is there a quarterback that changed your perception, your mind? Can that happen at the combine?

Yeah, I think at the quarterback position, the one guy that stood out just from literally weighing in was JJ McCarthy because he came in at 219 pounds and I think everyone was expecting him to be about 205 or something like that. And obviously there's different ways to kind of bulk up right before the combine, but he looked pretty cut. Obviously they run around in really tight stuff. It wasn't like he just did a bunch of donuts and gained a bunch of weight before the combine to kind of get up that weight. It looked like pretty realistic weight. So JJ McCarthy coming in at 219 pounds was, I think, actually a pretty big news. Just because the rigors of the NFL, you get hit a lot. You have to have a little bit of bulk and I think especially relative to the fact that Jade Daniels did not weigh in and to my eye, just at the podium, looked extremely skinny. I think just that comparison, that contrast could be pretty important come draft time, especially because at the combine, just the buzz around McCarthy was palpable. And you didn't really feel that with JJ.

Well, there's some talk that it could go quarterback 1234. And so that fourth would be JJ McCarthy in theory. Although I don't like this whole thing where they clearly add weight going into the combine and then they don't run. Bryce Young did this last. They. And they do the know he was throwing the ball and then they lose the weight for their pro day. They don't weigh in there, but then they do do the speed stuff there. So it's all kind of like, what are we doing here?

Sneaky.

For what it's worth, McCarthy, I believe, did run the three cone.

Okay.

It was an elite time, so at least there's that. It was like six, eight five or something like that.

No one's worried about how he moves. He moves fantastic anyways. And so he might get a little bit of a Harbaugh bump, that Harbaugh likes him so much that he could go top that high.

I was going to, as a follow up to that, what is to you, the McCarthy NFL comp on the higher end and maybe on the more conservative end.

So I comped him to a more sprightly Kirk cousins. I think he's kind of a guy. He's not going to be super impressive physically. He's kind of just right down the middle average in terms of his arm strength, his size, his frame, his speed, everything. But he's very good attacking the middle of field. He is very good on third downs and in the red zone. Has a little bit of swagger to him. Plays with a very confident demeanor, obviously, and this is important to people in the NFL. He's a. He's. I think he lost like one game in college or something. Like, you know, got all those got, you know, again, an average frame in basically every way. And that's kind of like the Kirk Cousins line for me.

Are we going to get more first round offensive linemen than in any other draft in history?

We definitely might.

This is a class.

I have a very hard time stacking these offensive linemen because there's so many good ones.

Danny does a draft guide, by the way, for the ringer, which is extensive and is out there.

And a great read with some very snarky, hilarious lines in there from time to time.

Thank you. Yeah, it's a great class. When I was putting my board together, it struck me, like you said earlier, like you alluded to earlier, it's just all tackles and receivers. And the first, like, I could see like ten offensive players going off the board to start this draft and wouldn't be that surprised. So, yeah, it's a lot of offensive linemen. It's a great year to want to tackle. There's even a couple of good guard tackle combo type guys. There's a couple center guard combo type players. So great offensive line draft and overall, there's going to be a lot of them taken in the first round.

Well, especially because there's none in free agency. It doesn't seem like there's just enough in the NFL. And then a guy like Joe Alt goes out there and he's doing, I don't know what they call it, the mobility. Joe's like the three cone and everything and he's putting up lane Johnson type numbers. So it's like, okay, that guy is going to go very high. Did you have some favorites at receiver? You mentioned ad Mitchell, which. Yeah, so he's teammates with Xavier Worthy, who runs the four two one. And that's a great moment. The crowd goes crazy. I was kind of actually thinking just a little sidebar. Like, NFL Network has been building to that moment for like 20 years because he came out and was like, I've been watching the combine since I was a little kid and it'd been my dream to do this and I was like that literally. They could have sort of created this event as an event. And then he does it and the crowd goes crazy. The crowd actually cared enough to go crazy. I was like, and he's probably going to go in the first round now because of it.

That was a big win for NFL Network. It didn't exist before. But between those two guys, are they first round receivers? Ad Mitchell, Xavier and Worthy? Like, it just seems like there's so many Xavier worthy. It seems like there's so many guys who could or could not be first round receivers. Which makes me wonder if teams just wait a little bit on it. But answer that, and if you had any other receivers you want to throw out there as a big winner.

Yeah, I think so. Right now there's like the big three, Marvin Harrison Jr. Malik neighbors, Roman Dunze. And then after that, there's probably six to eight different receivers I think could go in the first round. You have the two you mentioned from the two Texas receivers. Ad Mitchell, Xavier worthy you got Brian Thomas Jr. From LSU. I'm a big lad. McConkey guy, I don't know if he has necessarily the size to go in the first round, but he ran a four three nine. He's like an all around receiver. I've comped him to Doug Baldwin. He's just a really good router and extraordinary acceleration. You have Keon Coleman, who is a confusing evaluation because he was actually one of the slowest receivers at the combine in terms of the 40. But then when he was running the gauntlet, they tracked their miles per hour, their speed. He was, like the fastest. So you get into the argument of field speed and game speed, and then there's a handful of other guys. Troy Franklin from Oregon is another player that I think a lot of people have put in the first round. I really like Jalen Polk from Washington, their second know, there's.

There's a couple other guys that could rise in the process. Roman Wilson, Ricky Pierceall from Florida. It's an incredible combine.

It's a big time for athletic, white outside receivers. Like, for real, it's like time. And you have Cooper de Jean, who's like this incredibly athletic cornerback. It is a little bit of a paradigm shift because McConkey and Pierce are both testing Pierce all, especially out of the roof. But McConkey might be like a first round white. This is in the minds of alert.

To the New England Patriots, right?

But it's in the minds of decision makers and stuff to sort of like, okay, that's something that's happening. Let's adjust for that.

And then we got to move to cornerback next. A bit of a drought there since Seahorne. Hey, on Brian Thomas. Interesting, right? Because everybody talked about worthy. He ran close to Worthy's speed, but I saw this reported somewhere four inches taller, 44 pounds heavier, and then I was like, who is a beast like that? But also fast as hell. And I was like, DK Metcalf. I know Metcalf was a little bigger. He was 228, and Thomas weighed in 209. But does he strike you? And he also led FBS, by the way, 17 touchdowns. Instant star. Is there anyone in the draft? And I'm using him as somebody that intrigues me as a potential hit the ground running. Like, number one potential guy is Thomas. Or someone else that you saw this weekend?

That guy?

Yeah, Thomas. So, Ad Mitchell and Brian Thomas Jr. Are kind of in that same vein and that same mold of receiver. Like a sort of raw but really explosive. And they have this frame where, like the 6364, 200 ish pound guys. That's not really been like a frame that has been super successful in the NFL prior to the last few years. Now you see guys like George Pickens CD lamb sort of is in that sort of vein where either these taller, skinny guys and I comp Brian Thompson Jr. To Christian Watson, I guess with hamstrings at work because he, to me, is just, again, there's a little bit of, I think, concern over his overall nuance as a route runner and all those things. He didn't run a ton of different routes for LSU. He was running a lot of slot fades, a lot of vertical routes, but he scores a ton of touchdowns. If you get him with a good quarterback who can lead him down the field, he has that field tilting ability. And so, yeah, I actually saw, speaking of these two guys, Ad Mitchell and Brian Thomas Jr. I saw a tweet from Warren Sharp.

There's two receivers since 2015 at the combine that have run four, three, five or better, and six two and 205 or more. That's DK Metcalf and Ad Mitchell. So Ad Mitchell, to me, I think, was one of the biggest winners because I think there were questions coming into the week whether he has that quote, unquote, long speed, that vertical take the top off a defense type speed. And I found it interesting at the podiums, he actually said something like, I don't ever run my routes full speed, which is simultaneously interesting and a red flag. I didn't really know what to make about it because the question was basically about him varying his route speed and lulling defenders to sleep and basically changing his speed. So it's not always just like he's running full speed at all times. But I think it just kind of came out a little bit wrong and a little misleading. But he, to me, was one of the biggest winners just because I, I even wrote in my report, I'm like, does he have the long speed? I don't know if he has that elite vertical speed, but it sure seems like he does after the way he tested.

It's pretty telling that we've gotten, like, we go this far into the q and A and we haven't even talked about a defensive player. But I do think, like Dallas Turner, watching him run his 40 and just like, the way he's built, his wingspan, his arms, to me, he's probably the first defensive guy off the board in a pretty thin class for defensive dudes.

Yeah.

83 inch wingspan, which is, I saw someone put, it's almost exactly the same as LeBron James, and he's only six foot two, I think. Six foot two. So obviously his frame is almost perfectly built to play like the edge. He's really long arms, but he's not tall and sort of skinny and lanky. He's just sort of perfectly constructed to rush the passer in a four, four, seven and a 40, 40 and a half inch vert.

Basically everything.

All his numbers are nintieth percentile and more from edge rushers of the combine. So he, I think, definitely made money. I kind of had him somewhere in the middle of the first round before this week. And I'm guessing based just on the way he tested, teams are going to be going back and looking at the tape and being like, this is a guy that we can mold, this is a guy that we can work with because of those athletic traits.

Right? I mean, there were different defensive players had nice week. Kenyon Mitchell, who's a cornerback, maybe the top corner, maybe Byron Murphy's defensive tackle. But it is something interesting about this class that there might not be any defensive players in the top ten. That's why there seems to be extreme classes based on positions like the defense. People are going to push cornerbacks up the board. But running back in tight end is also like, there might not be anyone other than Brock Bowers at tight end that gets taken in the first couple of rounds. There probably isn't any running backs that's getting taken in the first couple of rounds. You famously came at the King last year and missed by telling me that Luke Musgrave was going to be better than Sam Laporta. And all Sam Laporta did was have like the greatest.

You call yourself the king?

That's right. We went back and forth on this.

Wow.

And I stuck my flag on Sam Laporta's back and you went with Musgrave. Why did you do Greg? All Laporta did was carry a bunch of fantasy teams to title and the Lions to the NFC championship, put the.

Flag in the hill behind Sam Laporta, not in the center of his back.

I think Greg literally had you on the show just to get to that.

Self brag, but for some reason texting about this. Just one small take, Mr. Kelly, your.

Response to that assassination attempt.

So the way I remember it, this is all erroneous. First of all, I very lightly suggested that I like Luke Musgrave slightly more than Sam Laporte. I wasn't know planting a flag with Musgrave. By the way, you forget to mention my big sleeper on this show last year. The guy that I was willing to stake my career on. Was Devon a. Chan.

That's a good. That was. He. He was great in the six games he played.

Oh, stop it.

That was good. That was a good one.

Greg, this is our guest, literally the.

Guest of the show today.

That was a good one. He nailed Danny.

Apologies. Anything else we want to talk about?

Do you have any tight ends or running back just to hit those positions that you do like? Because they're not going to go high in the draft necessarily. Obviously Bowers will, but is there anyone that you like?

So my, I think, favorite running back this year is Trey Benson from Florida State. He reminds me a lot of Kenneth Walker, just stylistically, very quick feet, very explosive. He ran a four, three nine, which is exactly what Kenneth Walker ran last year or two years ago. He is a big game hunter, so he's, I think, a little bit unsure sometimes behind line of scrimmage. He'll try and bounce runs a little too often and trying to reverse the field kind of the way that Kenneth Walker does. It's same sort of style. But I love this guy. I think he's going to end up probably being a third rounder, but he, to me, is the most exciting running.

Back in this class.

I want to ask you, you were feet on the ground and there's this thing that keeps happening at these combines, and it's a civilian versus a player. And I don't think it's fair if we can bring up the video here.

All right, what are we looking at?

It is a player who is running a drill. And then there's this man in a red shirt, and here this guy's in a white sweatshirt holding like, the big giant bag smashing you. And you know it's not going to go well. But then they replayed this in slow motion of his, like, getting hit by. Punched by rocky, basically.

So they're doing like, swim drills and there's a young man getting. Absolutely, I mean, in this era, know, protecting the brain and the NFL's initiative. Put that guy in a helmet at the very least. Danny, your thoughts?

Is this a guy that lost his fantasy league last place, fantasy league punishment or whatever, go out there and hold the bags during these drills?

It's a little bit of a thankless job. You were there for all these questions by the bad job, by the guy who asked Caleb Williams as his first question, how come you don't want to compete or something like that? That's so bad.

You got to leave the building when you open like that.

I know you wanted to talk about Amerius Mims, Danny and his comparison between himself and the other prospects. And definitely the reporters in the building.

Yeah, there was a picture circulating from Ryan Fowler on Twitter that showed smims, like taking pictures of the sort of scene.

I don't know, he looks like a.

Check it out, twice as big as anybody else on that floor.

There's a little bit of like hobbit perspective filming technique going on there because they're about five or 6ft beyond. But no doubt he towers over any other human in the shot.

And then people were, someone commented they realized going to the combine for the first time, they didn't realize how many short reporters there are out there. And it is a short crew. I got to admit, there's a lot of short guys. Like if you're just average height, that.

Kind of look like the munchkins, right?

Then you're looking tall in that crew.

Oompa Loompas.

This picture is for anyone who thinks they could go play NFL football right now. Go try know Rush against that guy.

He had, by the way, an absolutely ridiculous, freakish workout and he's barely played at the pro level just because of injuries and then didn't have a starting job, but he might get taken extremely high.

All right, Washington's own Danny Kelly, check him out at the ringer, of course, check out his NFL draft show, his draft guide. And of course, fantasy football is always on the mind. He's on that, too. One other thought about Danny's because I said in TGIF Fridays, summer of 2000, at the Palisade center mall in west NiaC, New York, I found it to be. I weaponized it a little bit because when you're Danny with the opposite sex, know whomever you're attempting to mingle with. I found that being a Danny made you seem a little safer, a little sweeter, a little that guy. More fun loving and more kind of wholesome almost. Did that play a role at all in how others perceive you? In a sweet, wholesome way, a manner that would allow you to succeed in various endeavors?

Romantically especially?

Yes, absolutely. I think subtly my personality changed when I. Because your name is such a big.

Part of your identity, right.

Like Greg, you probably had a lot of issues with like two G's in your.

Yeah.

How was that growing up for you?

Yeah, people like, they still comment on it a, like you're, you're a married man, you have a believe, you know, he's a sweet Danny, but also, Greg.

Was a major swordsman in western Massachusetts in high school. So I think being AggG helped. But anyway, that was a memory I had of the TGI Fridays run in.

2000 special run for you.

Absolutely.

I agree fully with that.

Yeah. All right. Daniel's a little bit like, keep your eye on that guy. Can you keep him at arm's length?

Dan's leg.

Kind of a bad news situation. Danny. Danny. Thank you, buddy.

See you, Danny.

There he goes. Good one.

I wanted to bring up some great guests.

Thank you, Dan.

Closer to our show, and I opened the show. I want to be balanced in my coverage.

Got to be.

You got to be talking about another Daniel.

Yeah, another Daniel. This is a Daniel again, like I.

Said, keep Daniels at an arm's length. Whenever you kept.

Yeah, I think so. You know, I said they did a great job. They brought a bunch of guests on Joey Molinaro, who is like, this incredible impressionist. I think he's one of the best out there, a huge football fan. And he talked about growing up and coming to the combine, where you'd stand in that roped off area where you would just wait to see reporters and stuff coming by, like, was a big deal. He's like a football nerd.

There's always great fans there. There's always also the sketchy autograph collectible guy.

You know what?

Hate those guys. But that's not Joey.

No. Joey was quick.

Sidebar.

Right?

Because we've been to the combine many times. Can we calm down with the grown men with the helmets and the glossy? I think we could, like waiting for the teenagers to walk by. There's got to be something else to do.

Oh, no.

Yeah, there's got to be something.

But this is someone who went, Joey. And so we already know we can trust him on some level, but. So Joey sat with Rich Eisen and.

Those guys standing next to teenage boys sometimes that are fans.

It's their sons at, uh. But I'm with you.

I was at a women's tennis tournament just yesterday in San Diego. Walker goes up there. You buy, like, this big.

The big old ball.

The big ball. Love the big tennis. You know, he's getting swallowed up. I let him just go up there, and he's getting swallowed up by these adults, kind of. How old's Walker?

Seven.

He's eight.

You're going to give nine year old Walker Rosenthal Sharp elbows? No, it's over.

An autograph seems improper.

The size of a seven year old.

Grow up. Sidebar ended.

I will attempt to. I thought you would enjoy this, where Mullinero basically caught DJ not doing what.

He needed to be doing.

Ah, very good.

Let's be here today. Dream come true.

Hey, brother Jim, Chris Collinsworth is in the building. Romo, I like that was Romo. Let me be the straight man. Go ahead. Okay.

Go ahead.

Do the analysis. I'll be the straight man. Chris Collinsworth. Daniel Jeremiah. I think you got a career as a general manager. I don't know about a broadcaster too much. Who's that? Molinari. Yeah, I like that. Pyzan. I gotta go check out his next stand up show.

He's great Steelers fan.

I believe he listens to the show a little bit. Joey Molinari.

Molinari.

Molinaro, Molinaro.

Yeah.

I like him.

I bet there's a Molinari out there.

But, yeah, that's great. Good nug, Mark. You were all over the coverage this weekend. I love it.

I got here at.

Do you have anything else you want to get out of the comment? It is fun. Go ahead, Mark. Start the draft process.

Download that notebook, Mark. Go.

I would say next year, if we are not invited, there will be a strongly worded letter sent to everyone on the third floor. We will be there. I missed hanging out. I missed the fun. I missed the sights and the sounds. And yet we have soldiered on and done the best we possibly can.

That's in the note.

That's the notes.

No, I was just my.

Did you have any other.

That was my side note.

Okay, that's good. No, we covered wholeheartedly.

Player side, we covered. I am very interested to see more from the quarterback tape like Michael Pennix Jr. And the rest of these dudes.

Sure.

Yeah. There was this guy, Isaac Coronado from Louisville. This is sort of what the combine made for. He is the fastest 220 pound back in combine history. Our friend Bill Barnwell created someone called, something called the speed score back in the day, which kind of adjusted weight.

For speed before there was the reception perception.

Yes.

With Matt Harmon there was the speed score.

The speed score. And he's, I think, the highest in speed score history or close to the top next gen stats had him fifth all time in terms of athleticism. There was this other total workout score that had him fifth out of 1765 running backs. So a big man that can move and kind of bounced around at first, but he has the type of day where it's like, okay, now he went from being like some 7th round pick to like some team's going to give him a chance in the third round. I was going to say it's governor, a chain type of guy. He was just as fast as Devin H. Ann and Keaton Mitchell. Except he's like weighs 50 more pounds than them.

What was up with you getting aggro with Kelly about a couple of different things? There is that. Just mixing it up.

Isn't that just part and parcel with.

Greg the interviewer connector?

How do you not know this? This is how we show love in western Massachusetts. We're all just a bunch of jerks. Apparently I got. But Danny already has texted me and wanted an apology. A correction.

Yes.

Devin a. Chan erasure. He had almost 1000 scrimmage yards and eleven touchdowns. I demand a correction. So here it is. You got your correction.

We have an audience that's vast and there's a responsibility that comes with that. You try to totally. What did you say? He played six games. I think he did have like a.

He played eleven, but yeah, it felt.

Like it is weird. Not only do we have all these star running backs hitting free agency and nobody seems to be willing to pay them. You're going to have a draft now where it's possible it takes until round four, day two of the draft or day three of the draft for a running back to come off the board. Now somebody will probably jump up into the third or multiple guys, but there's no Bijeans this year.

It's a weird draft in terms of certain positions being slightly ghost.

Lamar Gibbs is no Bijeans. All right.

The world where DK Metcalf and AJ Brown, remember where they got drafted late.

Second.

Like that world doesn't exist anymore. People are taking their receivers.

All right, let's take a break and we'll finish up. Welcome back. What you're listening to right here is the official pre match theme song of none other than my favorite football squad. And I'm talking the other football West Bromich Albion football club. I've read it. I haven't actually said it out loud yet.

I'm leaning on you to understand the pronunciation here.

Yes, this is the liquidator you're hearing and there's an awesome chant that the fans do for the Baggies, as they're known. And it turns out that we talked about with Danny Kelly, the fantasy league move where the guy who finished in last place has to do some type of shameful act. One of the people in my fantasy league is someone I've known for 20 years, my league of record, Shalin Patel, who along with his family purchased West Brom just like they have the team now. And it's been a major, I mean, it's been blowing my mind and learning more about the culture of the Baggies and everything. Immediately, my favorite team, and we've been texting with John Gonzalez, Gonzo, Colleen's husband, who's a major soccer fan, and he's been shading in some context about the move. And I've been texting, of course, with Shalin about it and there's a lot of excitement. Very strange, this convergence.

It is an amazing thing. You definitely have a friend that is wealthier than any friend I have. Pretty good. I definitely don't have one that high or even close that is very successful. Incredible. And it's incredible. Now we can root for them because they're in the championship. I'm going to say something wrong, but they're in the level, in the league, below the Premier League. But they got a chance here. They got a chance, got a chance to get elevated. They're in the race. So we got something to root for the next Shalin. Also to get bumped up, make him some money.

A great guy. Seen him through the years. My buddy Greg, 50% g from the Super bowl, was roommates with him at Babson and I've known him for years. He's a great guy. And I sent out a tweet a couple of days ago, like congratulating him and saying that this is my new team. Dare I say this could be the team around the NFL, the football team around the NFL. Because Shalin is a major ATN fan listener.

Makes sense.

Anyway, so that little back and forth with me and Shalin gets picked up by a website out in England. A headline, West Brom takeover, colon. Actually, this is developing news, I think it's fair to say West Brom takeover Colon. Shalin Patel invites NFL media crew, that's us, to the Hawthorns as new Baggies fans ready for the lead, Shalin Patel has invited around the NFL host Dan Hanzas and his crew to the Hawthorns after his West Brom takeover was confirmed. Now I'm going to read the second graph as an englishman, the american replied via Twitter on 1 March after his compatriot announced he would now be a Baggies fan. From now on, after the announcement of 28 February that Guccan lies, time as majority shareholder was over. And then there's a pull quote, west Brom profile grows in the US already after Shalin Patel takeover. We're wagging a dog over here right now. ATN and our strength as a top international podcast, West Brom. This is the crossover that no one knew existed and here we are.

All I need was to have been included in the invitation. Well, that's what I'm saying.

You didn't reply to it, but you.

Did a wonderful job to that.

Shoot Shalin or reply. Let them know that you're into it.

What platform is it happening on?

It's on a platform you've retired from.

I'll write him personally.

I forgot. I'll let him know there's a reason you haven't replied.

Yeah, I'll write him personally.

You've stepped down from your twitter, dude.

I have.

I will find a pathway to reach him and thank him.

It'll be your ghost account.

Do you have any Jason Kelsey, like a press conference to give a tearful eulogy of your social media?

I'm crafting it.

I'm carving to. Are you actually going to delete your account? I have a friend that did that. They deleted it with big following, I don't think. Gone.

Let it sit there.

Let it sit there in space. It is very exciting. I heard from a listener who hosts a great tennis podcast. A tennis podcast? David Law. He said this takeover meant a lot to him. He's been a fan since. Very cool little boy. And now they were worried about the future of this team, and your friend is saving it now. I'm a little torn. I can root for multiple teams. Famously, I once wore a West Ham jersey.

Second time you've said famously about yourself.

It's supposed to be ironic. The point is, it's not famous.

Got it.

Got it. I wore a West Ham jersey and got booed off in London. So I have been a supporter of the Hammers, but I feel like I can support both. They're in different leagues. We're cool in the NFL. We're very casual.

Yes, that's true. It is your NFL move as well. You have to know what part of the country you're in, where to wear the kits and all that. But I proudly fly the flag boeing boing style. So congratulations.

We got to get there. We got to get to London and get to that stadium.

Who, by the way, is a great, like, I wouldn't even know that he was this business monster. And he's very smart and great at fantasy football for whatever that, like, where.

Did he finish this year in fantasy? I would want to know.

Oh, man. I should know roughly ballpark he had.

Soccer.

You know what I could tell you? I could tell you that he had the greatest regular season of all time. And I don't know if it paid off in the playoffs, but his management of the team was pristine. Let that know that this man knows what he's doing in terms of transactions. Anything else before we say goodbye? This is a great song, by the way, too.

We're back on Wednesday. We got Connie.

Connie Fox will be with us on Wednesday and we're going to do some pre free agency conversation. I feel like this should be the new theme when we have a guest coming on. All right.

I really like it. I like the segue I have coming up on Wednesday too.

Nice teeth.

Do you want to give how it.

Works, a Jason Kelsey Twitter retirement speech where you mentioned balls repeatedly amidst.

How about on Wednesday? I'm going to craft it even better.

A whole show built out now.

Okay.

Thank you, everybody. Oh, and thank you. Speaking of retirements and Philadelphia legends, Sean Kelly behind the glass, who we've talked about a lot on this show and is a great dude, is leaving for greener pastures and full time employment back in Philadelphia. So we want to say thank you to Sean Kelly. Bud.

Oh, thank you so much, guys. I didn't bring me on.

I appreciate it.

You guys are so nice.

Thank you.

You guys are the best. And anyone should check know Sean if you're looking for stand up. Yes. In the he is.

He's out there and he's been cutting his teeth on the LA comedy scene which is know hardcore as it gets. He's just going to rip Philadelphia wide open with his act in addition to his new job, which is separate from that.

Yes. It's going to be big.

I'm excited to do both.

New great production job in Philly and.

Then also take on that standup scene by storm.

Oh, yeah.

I'm going to be running Philadelphia, guys. It's going to be great.

All right, slow down.

Yeah, we have a pretty intimate crew of people behind the glass and to lose someone John Kelly is not easy. But onto greener it always stay.

You're a young man, Sean. How old are you?

Yes, 25.

25.

It's amazing to have this experience. I was working at a pr firm when I was 25 and I was like, what's happening? You are on a great path, budy. And thank you for everything you did for the show.

Thank you guys so much. It's been a pleasure. These last four seasons have been the most amazing couple of years. I've met so many amazing people, you guys included. It's been a pleasure.

Especially.

Real phrase top.

We might get another article written on this website. So if this becomes a little news tag on, we want to get the quote right about how great we are.

Oh, yeah.

No, you guys, the three greatest people.

I have ever met at the NFL.

There you go.

What order would the three of us.

Really give it to them?

Just give it to know.

I'm going to leave that one to mystery.

But you all are highly regarded. The first show I ever worked on was around the NFL.

And when I first got here, my first day working remote in New Jersey.

During the pandemic, and it was the first logo I ever saw. And it's been an amazing couple of seasons with you guys.

Bunch of seasons. Love you, bud.

Love you, too.

All right, that's it until Wednesday. You know what you got to do. I think this is going to work. Welcome back. Yeah, this is perfect. Till next time, heed the call.