The Around the NFL podcast.

Great additional crew work, Greg.

Welcome to another edition of Around the NFL. He is. He's working his way up the ranks, and people are noticing. He's turning heads. But is there a glass ceiling?

Yeah, it's been marginally impressive by Greg, the second career of his.

Dan Hans is here with, you heard, Mark Sesler. And Greg Rosenthal. That's in reference, of course, to the Flash Point Focus series, which... Here's the thing about the Flash Point Focus series. You don't just pencil an episode date where it's like, this is the next episode. It's when it comes into focus, and I just have a feeling there's something in the air that there could be one coming up soon. That's all I can say. Does anybody else have that feeling?

Is this a A flashpoint focus about a flashpoint focus?

Sounds about right. How's everybody doing? Great job holding it down with the great Patrick Claibon on Tuesday. Is the combine kicked off. I spent some good time with my parents who were visiting in town, and now I am locked in as well. The Underwear Olympics roll on or are getting going in Indianapolis, and we'll continue to comb the desert there and find some news coming out of Indy and the Lucas Oil Stadium. But we're also going to dig into some free agency and team transaction talk, Greggy. In fact, we're going to try to put together some realistic trades a little bit later with the great Roto Pat, Pat Dardy.

I'm looking forward to it. This is my time of year. Well, as we finish taping this, the on field drills start at the combine, and we'll wrap all those up on Monday and talk about them next week. But it's almost like, I enjoy this part. It's good to learn about all the prospects. It's like, get it out of the way, and then the fun starts for a couple of weeks.

And then we chill for months.Your thoughts, Mark?Do we?

I was just reflecting back on the flashpoint focus update that you provided, and I am with you that it feels inevitable that there's some tipping point coming, but it is mysterious at this point. I just can sense it like an air dirigible in the skies coming closer to our city, to our home.

It is a funky time of the NFL calendar, I find, because you do have this big event, this tent pole event of the combine, and you have all the or many or most of the GMs and coaches there, and they're talking. So it makes you feel like this is a very big time of year newswise, but it's still, as you guys definitely handled on Tuesday, there's a lot of Fugazi stuff out there right now. The real meat and potatoes of the news is coming up as the free agency kicks off in earnest, I believe next week.Couple of weeks.Couple of weeks, two weeks. And of course, then the draft starts getting closer. So we're going to get you up to date on everything that's going on. And do you want to start where we usually start, which is the latest news?

Please.

Let's do it. Playing press on the outside. Mahomes will throw it in the pocket.

He's launching one long. Marquets Valdas scantling, catches the at the Raven 30 on his backside.

Shades of the catch he had against Cincinnati in the end zone last year in the AFC Championship Game.

There's the call, of course, of Mich Holtes in the AFC title game. Marquez Valdas, Scantling, one of the more frustrating wide receivers in the league, a guy that has always gotten open, has always had premium quarterback talent around him, but has never Really broken through, but has made big plays, as you just heard, there was one of them also scored in the Super Bowl, the recent Chiefs went over the Niners. But now it looks like MBS will be once again looking for a new team because the Kansas City Chiefs are releasing the wide receiver who was headed into the final season of his three-year deal. It gives the Chiefs much-needed cap help. It provides 12 million in cap savings per over the cap. So on the week where we learned that the Chiefs were going to tag LeJarrius Sneed and be open to a trade of him, and they are obviously all in, it seems, on trying to get Chris Jones signed to a long-term deal, this is some house cleaning that is much necessary. Also, love him or hate him or who loved him. But MVS did serve a role in a pared down offensive attack down the stretch for the Chiefs, and now they have to find a replacement for him.

So the Chiefs have a lot of work to do.

Well, I think they're going to spend money and/or draft picks at receiver. We're talking trades later. To me, they're a candidate for a wide receiver trade, if any team out there is. So they're clearing money to do it. And yet, I'm not sure if they win back-to-back Super Bowl without MVS, or without some MVS MBS-like character. There is something funny, and I identify it with a little bit as a Patriots fan. If a bad move that you made results in a couple of big-time postseason plays that leads to your championship, it all feels MBS had a monster AFC Championship game a year ago, 116 yards. Then in the playoffs, in the AFC playoffs, he had the biggest catches in each of the divisional round in the Conference Championship. If you're a Chiefs fan, it's like, Okay, that was a waste of money, but we wouldn't have won a Super Bowl without it. It reminds me of when the Patriots drafted Soni Michel over Lamar Jackson. Still a little salty about that, but they did get a title out of it, I guess, in 2018.

I mean, Dan, you're right to call him a He was a frustrating overall experience, but it's like he was until he wasn't. The whole offense was a tough watch, and then suddenly, MVS made absolutely monster plays down the short. I think you're right, Greg. They don't reach the Super Bowl or win it without a couple of those plays, but they are a strong candidate to re-imagine the entire wideout room. And I'm with you that I think when you think about a team that would be prepared to make a trade for a veteran wideout who you can plug in right away, you know what you're getting because they're sitting down number 32 in the draft. I mean, there's a lot of good wide receivers, but you're not going to get one of the premier guys necessarily there. It's like they just feel like a trade candidate big time to me.

They're just so interesting because I said this last week that for a team that's coming off a Super Bowl, they have big decisions to make, and they could go in two very different directions. They could build around Mahomes and try to become a 500-point team again and get back to the glory days there, or they could dig in around Jones Sneed and keep that defense with Spags intact and find a way on offense. Maybe what this is, is they're trying to thread the needle here because if they do look to trade Sneed and obviously develop a new cornerback through the draft or a cheaper signing or someone already on the roster, then you can keep Chris Jones. He's the heart and soul of that defense. You have the coordinator, you find a way, and then you go and attack that offense. It's a scary thought for the rest of the league because the Chiefs, I still think, won the Super Bowl this this year as a compromised team that still found a way. They could be the rare Super Bowl team where they get a lot better in the offseason, and it's actually real, not like fake better, real better.

I think that's how they'll spend their money. You mentioned Sneed getting tagged, which we had breaking news right at the end of our show, Dan, but we didn't have the information that they'd give him permission to seek a trade right away, which the fact that that came with the news This indicates to me he's very likely on the move if they get a good offer. I don't see why they wouldn't get a good offer for a second team all pro entering his prime.

He'll have a great market. He is a decorated cover corner, a versatile guy. Just came off a Super Bowl. I think the Chiefs are set up potentially for a monster offseason. We'll see what happens. In other news, the Bangles, they're looking to get back to the realm of the AFC elite. It's increasingly apparent that they think Tee Higgins being on the team is necessary toward that goal. The Cincinnati Enquire, Charlie Goldsmith reported, The Bangles have, No plans to trade Tee Higgins. That echoes what Duke Tobin, their director of player personnel, said that they plan to keep Higgins on the roster. So T. Higgins, who is a perfect complement, obviously to Jamar Chase, and it looks like Tyler Boyd is going to reach free agency. But if you have those two guys as your dogs with Joe Burrow, as long as you could protect the quarterback, they're going to score a lot of points.

This felt like a completely necessary move, and we touched on it a little on our last episode, but the news did firm up about what might happen with a tag T. Higgins. Would they tag and trade him with the sneaker? And that's just not going to happen. I just cannot imagine a world where you take weapons away from Joe Burrow, and you're already going to lose potentially Tyler Boyd as well. It's like, this is your window. Just don't make false mistakes here and strip them away of a totally Thomas scene. They have two number one wide receivers. That's how you get back to the AFC title game.

I don't know if it's bold, and I like it. It's not surprising because it's just a banglesy thing to do. They let Jesse Bates play out the last year. They're like, We're going to get one more good year out of Bates. They almost won the Super Bowl. We're going to get one more year out of Tee Higgins. We're not worried about what we get. Because unlike I've seen some analysts out there say, The wide receiver market, I don't know if it's going to be as strong. You have to give them the huge contract. I was like, no, I think Tee Higgins, they could get a late first round pick for Tee Higgins. I don't hate that they're not going to do it. You only have so many years where you're going to have two great wide receivers like that. And I would not expect them to be back on the team. And they've done this before. They did it with Bates. They actually did it with AJ Green during the COVID year, which was a bad decision. They just had him stay one more year, and he suddenly turned really old in that season. They've done it in the past, and it's fine.

Go do it right now while everyone's around.

In other news, I get it. I've said it in this podcast, I get it. My Favorite Team is a source of fail sun entertainment for everyone else, and I get it. They're delivering, I feel like, a lot of good content lately, and this year should be interesting. New York Jets had a wide receiver named Nicole Hardman, who was formerly of the Chiefs, that they brought in in in the offseason, who was supposed to be a good complement and add a big play element to their offense. It never happened. He barely was seeing the field. And eventually, he was traded back to the Chiefs, where, yes, he had the walk-off countdown in the Super Bowl. Isn't that funny? Isn't that so cool?

Anyway-he also almost lost them, ended their season before that with his terrible play.

He's a dummy. But let's focus on the news that came out this week that Nicole Hardman, and this is according to some reporting from Connor Hughes, That Hardman, frustrated by his lack of usage with the Jets, leaked game plans to the opposition. It was implied by several players on social media, amongst them, Sauce Gardner. He leaked game plan details to the Eagles and also the Chiefs. Ironically, games in which the Jets had their high point of their season, a victory over the Eagles when we were in London, as you may recall, gentlemen. And then a Sunday night game with the Chiefs that went down to the final minutes that they lost, and also a commentary that Nicole Hardman made at some point before his trade saying that he had been in contact with both Patrick Mahomes and Brett Veach, the GM, Come get me. So the Jets are potentially a report out there investigating tampering. So at the end of the day, just a really good move to bring Nicole Hardman into the organization.

It worked almost perfectly. I mean, it is of a reminder, though, that some of these offseason bolstering of rosters and moves that get treated with a lot of grandeour because it was like Robert Salah that last offseason was gushing about Nicole Hardman in his speed and called him Gas, I think, and just It seemed like it all was going to work, and it couldn't have gone worse. But my thing is, if this can be proven that he's sharing game plans, I'm not saying that unleashing the Jets game plan to the opponent was a lot of top secret stuff to begin with when you have Nate Hackett running the offense, but that's suspension territory.How does he not getWell, how is that different to your point?

How is that... We come down very hard on gambling as our league makes millions upon millions of dollars off it. And the idea it's all about the integrity of the game. They're digging through players' phones and emails and things to find out evidence of that. If they have evidence on his phone or wherever else that he was leaking the game plan of his own team, first of all, he be out of the league forever. Why would anyone want that guy on their team? Secondly, why wouldn't the league come down hard? I agree 100% with you. That was the first thought I had. Yeah.

Yeah, I don't know. Just based on the reporting, I don't know if there is a smoking gun. It might be one of those things that got talked He was walked around by the other players. He is certainly not a popular man in the Jets locker room. I'm sure the way it all ended. This partly came about because he went on a podcast. I think it was Ryan Clark's podcast. He said how he was completely He completely checked out of the Jets, admitted that he refused to return punts for them one game because he felt like he had been lied to about having the punt return job or whatever, and then was just not giving any effort whatsoever. He admitted in the middle of his career, which is not something you probably want to put out there because I don't know if the chiefs are that interested in keeping him either. I mean, it was a nice... He'll always have his moment. I mean, he's not quite Malcolm Butler, but he'll always be part of history, but that might be about it for his career.

This is going to sound like Sourdain with the Jets, but I just think if you watch Hard Knocks, and I talked about it with Colleen at the time, if you feel you must go check the tape, that he was one of the only people that didn't come off well on Hard Knocks. He walked around with aviators indoors and carried himself in a different way than everyone else in all the player bonding activities. It was just like, What's Hardman all about? So it seems to be a premium knucklehead, but congratulations on that Super Bowl and all the glory that came with it. All right. Also, Zack Wilson has been given permission to seek a trade. Good luck. I saw a report out there connecting him to Sean McVay and the Rams. Okay, we'll see.

Put a pin in that. I actually have seven different Zack Wilson trade proposals coming up as part of the show.

I actually do have a Zack Wilson one. It's one of about 60 that I concocted.

I know it drives you guys and some listeners It's crazy that I believe that Sam Darnold is an NFL player that could be successful in this league. You will not hear me saying about Zack Wilson. That always had a funky smell to it, and I don't believe he has a future in the league. Finally, let's spin I'll do a couple of things real quick. Janu Smith, the well-traveled tight-end. He has been released by the Falcons, so he was cut. Geno Smith locked in after a contract restructure. Those two items are out there. I thought you know Smith was actually pretty good last year.

Janu, yeah. He was the guy that was on top of the- Did you do the thing where it's like you're saying the first name long, so you're going to correct it before you go into your point?

Thank you. I appreciate it.

I guess so. I don't know what's the best-John, yeah.

He had a pretty good year.

Former Patriot great, John Smith. Look, he was the guy was always at the top of your free agent waiver wire if you play fantasy and you're like, he does have like 500 yards this season and 50 catches. Should I pick up John Smith? But you don't want to get the ultimate, like the week where he goes one for eight, which is probably what's going to happen next. You just put him in Pittsburgh. He can follow with Arthur Smith. But it was interesting at the combine that the Seahawks essentially said, I think they were a little misleading in the way they said. They were like, Oh, yeah, Gino was always coming back. It was just a question of timing. I think they went through the process. They decided he is coming back. But the way they moved the money around in his contract, he is locked in now as a Seahawks, so he's not going anywhere. I think it'll be Gino and some rookie to be named later.

And finally in the news.

Warner goes under stuff. He's going to go back in He's got a shotgun first and goal at the two.

Sidecar to his left.

Steeler show blitz.

He throws the pass up.

But if he kicks off James Harrison in, he's leading up the sideline.

25, 30, 35, 40. Still on his feet at the 45 and down. No, he's still on his feet. Here comes Harrison jumping over people to the 20, the 15, the 10, the 5. And that's a touch down from Pittsburgh.

An amazing play. An amazing play. I still think the most amazing play in NFL Super Bowl history, at least in a not end of game scenario. Wdve, that is Bill Hillgrove with the call of James Harrison's pick six of Kurt Warner of the Cardinals in Super Bowl 53, took it back 100 yards, and they needed every one of those points because the Steelers were actually down in the final minutes. Warner was playing out of his mind with Larry Fitzgerald, and then Big Ben to Santonio Holmes in the back of the end zone. Another classic Hill Grove call, and the Venerable play-by-play man is stepping down. The team made the announcement on Thursday that the 84-year-old is out, retiring as the play-by-play voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers. After three decades on the job, he took over in 1994 from Jack Fleming. And now it is Hillgrove stepping aside. And people that listen to this podcast know we have quite an affinity for local play-by-play men and how they serve as the voice of the fans. And it is a passing of the torch moment for Steelers fans because there's been a lot of big-time moments in the last 30 years.

Yeah, I think the special thing about radio is that most of your memories, obviously, you're creating these images in your mind while you're driving around. I'm not a big baseball fan, but I love driving around listening to a Dodgers game once in a while. It just creates this texture. His name, his voice has been in our lives as long as we've been fans for the most part. And I think the way you judge these guys is in the biggest moments, do they nail that call? And that's a great example of how precise and entertaining and verbally talented he was.

He's a man. It actually was making me think they might be the most beloved positions in the media. Columnists, everyone turns on columnists if they ever like them to begin with. They get mixed reactions. National broadcasters, they'll have their fans, but they get a ton of hate. Even podcasts, you stick around long enough, people start turning on you, too. But the local legend radio host is beloved. Our friend J. B. Long is going to be that guy someday. People are going listening to that call he made when they won the Super Bowl forever.

Greg, do you think that at this point, at this stage, and there is online evidence that this is possibly the case, that the listeners are starting to turn on us to varying degrees?

Well, I mean, we've probably never All of us haven't been equally beloved the whole time. But yeah, I would think there's some haters out there. But the good thing with podcasts is just stop listening.

That part I don't get. You do have that power.

Take a walk, loser. Yeah, if I a podcast memoir in a few years, it would be Die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. I feel like that is forward by Sir Anthony Hopkins. Got a nice ring to it.

You're absolutely right, Mark. Me and a couple of friends, actually, we're, and this is a sad Patriots fan thing to do at this point, we're texting the Gil Santos call of Adam Binetari winning the first Super Bowl with him, which he absolutely nailed. Just the way the octaves in his voice It goes up, like sticks with me forever and gives me chose. I only played it because Walker wanted to listen to it, and he absolutely nailed that call. And like, Gil Santos, rest in peace. He'll be a legend forever in New England for that.

Yes. Walker was told, If you want my love and a new baseball bat for the season, you will listen to this call.

No, he asked about it. He asked about it. He's like, Daddy, tell me when they weren't embarrassing, when they weren't getting F minuses on the NFLPA report or whatever.

That's right. Let's talk about that in a second. But I know you guys mentioned Peter King, but Peter King retiring after decades and decades as the voice of the League as a columnist. Hillgrobe moving on. We've been doing this long enough now where we've been covering the football for what feels like a mini-generation of the League's history, and now everything changes. You know what? Somebody's going to come for us one day, too. So let's just enjoy it while we have it. Yeah, they did put out the grades. That's one more item. The NFL LPA, like this move. And by the way, what I was saying at the top of the show, this is a perfect example. The machine wants you to think this is a massive week or two on the calendar right now, but in reality, it's a lot of flotsam and jetsam. So that's when the union says, this is where we'll drop in our grades of coaches, facilities, and the survey of their players, and three head coaches got A plus grades when their players were surveyed. Andy Reid. Well, you knew it would be Reid. Can you guess who the other two were?

If you didn't see this.

I didn't. A plus.

I saw him. I knew Shane O'Chanel got one of the A pluses.

I don't know if he got an A plus.

Kevin O'Chanel and Dan Campbell, the only three coaches that get an A plus. Now, Reid might have gotten an A plus. However, the Chiefs, and this was the case, I believe, last year as well, didn't fare so well in other voting. Their facilities were, I think, at the bottom of the list, and GM Brett Veatch did not get graded well at all either, which they're back-to-back champions. So take that with a grain of salt or see it as a La Ravio Magnifico of the entire experience. Anything else that jumped out from the Union list here?

I think the timing of the vote mattered because they pointed out that nick Siriani received an A, but these holes were done in November before where they went off at the side of a cliff. So I wonder what even a six-week difference would have made for some of these marks.

I think it was mostly about communication and following through on your words. So the Veatch thing, maybe he doesn't have a great interpersonal skills. But the ownership of stuff. Clark Hunt going 31st out of 32 owners because they feel like he's been selling them a bill of goods about their cheap facility, which is fairly well known as one of the most run-down old facilities, and that basically he's repeatedly promised to fix it. Then they were like, You guys keep going on these long playoff runs. We didn't have time to fix it. It is a little interesting. It has worked. They banged on the card.

Is that what he actually says, Greg, or you just project what he might say?

What?

In terms of the facility. Oh, your playoff run was too long. We didn't have time this year.

No, that was. That was one of the things that apparently he said to them after last season or something. It did work, though. Remember last year, the floors were uneven in Arizona or Cincinnati, and a bunch of stuff were cheap. Those teams were so embarrassed, and Tampa was another one, that they did fix this relatively small-scale stuff, like the Cardinals no longer charge money for people to eat there. I would like this. If we had this at our work, we could try to improve what you can improve. I bet they're going to fix those facilities in Kansas City. I bet he doesn't like it on ESPN. This is like a lead story that Clark Hunt, one of the worst owners in sports.

Well, it caused a total firestorm for the Cardinals a year ago. You're right. The one that I kept seeing people going nuts about was at the Chargers. I I think you get the feeling that the chargers cut some corners here and there in general, but they charge their players for game day day care for their children. It's $75 for the first child and 50 for each additional child. Now, look, I don't know what the other teams are doing on that front, but this became a fiery talking point on Twitter yesterday.

Yeah. The Bucks is another example on why this is a really smart idea by the union, even if it probably ruffles some feathers in terms of relationship between the two sides. The Bucks felt compelled to release an organizational statement after they got slammed for having an unclean and smelly locker. Anyway, yeah, that's good.

It's good stuff. What if we were just like, Can we get some red apples in the little jar outside?

Yeah, give me some Rojos.

It's like those green. They're flavorless, the green ones.

I like the tang of the green. I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. By the way, for younger people out there, when they have those town halls for your job, and one of the people on the show needs to I'm going to fall in line in this, too. Don't fall into the trap of thinking you can speak your mind. Certain members of management will use it against you if you try to embarrass them.

We've seen multiple, and I know you're talking about me, and I'm I take that note. I accept it.

It's a classic shadowy leek figure trap move. Never stand up.

We've seen multiple former NFL employees contribute to their status as former NFL media employees by stepping up in those big spots.

Yes, yes, yes. Mark?

I have learned to say nothing, except then I do say something, and then I wish I didn't. That's how it typically works.

And that's what's happening in the news. Let's take a break, and when we get back, we will welcome in the great Rodo Pat. Welcome back. Our next guest is a favorite, a personal favorite. Mark loves him. Greg, Hot and Cold. He is one of the great NFL writers.

Give me a break.

For MBC Sports. He is a Jeff Fisher scholar. If you have any questions about Joe Flacko talking Roger Federer's poise, you know where to go. Rodo Pat, Patrick Daherty. Welcome back to Around the NFL.

Pointing out all my truly terrible Twitter memes that I keep on my account for seven years at a time. Should probably change my Joe Flacko Bronco's header, especially since he's good again. He's the Comeback Player of the Year.

There you go. It's relevant.

So good that everyone pointed out it was better than literally coming back to life.

Does anyone remember Joe Flacko on the Broncos at this point? I certainly don't.

Roger Federer does.

Greg, do you want to hash out the beef there with Rota Pat?

Well, there was no beef, although I'm not even actually sure if I did hire Rota Pat, but I remember I was a big supporter of him back in the days at Rota World while we were laying brick by brick. I shouldn't take credit for you if hired you. He probably did.

So you can't claim credit. It was Evan. He actually... Evan stole me in the night from the baseball side of the site, too. I was going to do a baseball test shift, and he immediately got me installed in a football test shift. This is not a joke. I did both sports for about 18 months. And the one day, one of our other bosses, Greg, Brett Randermark, just called me. He's like, Evan said you're not doing baseball anymore.

I was like, All right.

I've thought about that often, and I know we will get to the trade. The The first six months at Rota, where I loved baseball. Base was my favorite sport at the time. I wrote the baseball magazine. I worked in both baseball and football. I often think if I had just not been assigned to cover football, how much worse my life would be. Wouldn't be here.

One of those great sliding doors moments.

We were like Oakeys in the '30s and '40s.

Not as many opportunities, I'm just saying. The NFL has been very, very good to me.

We were like Oakeys in the '30s and '40s. Just get all the way to California. Don't on the way there, skip over baseball and just get to football. That's where the Almighty American dollar is.

I have always wondered, Pat, if you suddenly switched gears, developed a new interest, became a tax accountant or something, you'd have to rebrand your entire handle. The Roto part of it would make no sense at that point.

But the wardrobe would be ready to go, I think, right now.

What do you guys think of my tasteful wardrobe? You guys have the really tasteful backdrops. I have the tasteful wardrobe. I need to work on my backdrop still.

But they used to before Before Musk came along, they used to hold it above your head like an Anvil, do not change your handle or you lose your verified checkmark. Now we all lost our verified checkmark, so I think he could change the handle. Now, some people will be confused. Followers of Pat will be confused if all of a sudden he's talking about advanced accounting around tax season after 15 years of talking baseball and football, but they'll figure it out. He'll keep some, he'll lose some.

That's good. I have so much podcast I've been a nice-dating experience, too. I'm sure I could BS being an accountant. Just don't cheat on your taxes. You should be pretty good. Even if you cheat a little bit, you're probably all right.

All right. We want to get-Tax podcast would carry much weight. You know what?

Once you define what your audience is, and then you just go for it. I think Pat would have a chance. Here we are. We're going to talk about, yes, while the combine is kicking off, we're going to really be digging into the draft side of things once those activities have ceased in Indianapolis. But for now, we're going to keep our eyes on the players currently on rosters with free agency a couple of weeks away and players under contract and teams trying to figure out how financially they want to attack, so trades could happen. In fact, I believe it was around this time last year or maybe the year before, the Russell Wilson trade went down as an example, two years ago. Now. And so we could get a big one as teams set up for free agency. So why not? Let's throw out some trades. Let's try to keep them in the realm of reality, things that could make sense. Now, I know we said before we started that Rotopat has a hammer drop to end all hammer drops as we build it up to a level and expectations it cannot possibly meet. But that's how we'll end.

But we're also going to start with our guest, Patrick. Get us going with the trade.

First of all, you're right. You're actually late on a big trade. The new league year, when it begins March 13th, that has never stopped people from announcing trades on January 18th, like Matthew Stafford to the Rams, wondering why the rules even in place at all when that stuff can happen. I'll start You're promising a hammer drop. I'll start as normy as possible. The normy trade I want to happen is Justin Fields to the Atlanta Falcons for a pair of second-round picks. Some people will say he won't fetch that much. I call two second-rounders like the gentleman his first rounder, where you can't be seen valuing him at a first round level. I feel like for toxic fan purposes, he's not worth the first rounder, but he could be worth two second rounders. It's not an all-in move. It won't cripple the franchise. You going to have to make an all-in move in the NFC South. It's a similar roster to the bears, where it's made to have a high octane rushing attack. It's got a solid defense. He's proven despite his passing limitations, he can at least strike up. One of those amazing alpha wide receiver connections as he did last year with DJ Moore.

I just think it's a good... It's more than a hold serve move, but it's like the Falcon finally trying to actually get serious about a quarterback without having to make some totally frantic. Maybe it turns into a franchise altering move, but it's not like the Sean Watson where totally altars the franchise with three first rounders gone. I think of all the Justin Fields potential destinations, I want it to be the Falcon.

I think that's a good way to get going here because I'm sure you're not the only one that has a Fields trade. So why don't we talk about that one? And if anyone wants to add a Fields, Mark, go ahead.

What are you- Well, I was going to say I did a couple Justin Fields scenarios, but Falcons, it's like, cool. It's the missing piece. It's what they were so frustrating. If they were for years in a row, it's just like, put a quarterback here, and we got a lot going on. And I had the same thing as you. I had fields, though, for a second. And on this show, we have our guys, dudes that we really just have a bit of a fetish with early in their careers. They can't be stars. And like, Tyler Tyler Algier was my dude two years ago, and I think it would help if they sent Tyler Algier in a second back to the bears. It frees him up for a big career in Chicago, and it un clogs the whole Béjon Robinson thing, too. So I think The Falcons just seem to be using the wrong players at different times of the season ago.

So he's a weird trade evaluation because you're saying two seconds, so that would have to be, I think it's the 43rd pick of the draft, and then I guess next year's second. We're trying to be specific here. You could even get NBA-like and trade a 26 second once I think we get to the draft.

The second second can maybe be a conditional third. It can turn into a third or something like that.

Sure. They do have an extra third round pick this year if they wanted to do that. His contract makes him more tradable, more valuable. He's getting paid nothing this year. And then he's on a fifth-year option next year, which for a starting quarterback, is essentially nothing. I mean, it's going to be like $20 million, but that's a bargain if you actually are a team that's going to want to pay it. Whereas this year, I think you're literally paying them like $5 million, something crazy. A base salary, $1.6 million, $1.6 million roster bonus. You're paying them what Sam Darnold made in San Francisco last year, what a backup is going to make or less than a decent backup. That's why I think he might have a better market than people think. I'm not sending him to Atlanta, though. I think they're on a weird timeline because Terry Fontenou is like, he's been around for a while. They're GM, but the coach is new. I think they might rather just go with a franchise draft pick, which Arthur Blank seems to be all over. So that's why I'm sending him to the Raiders for the 44th pick.

And the bears did like getting a veteran back. So they're going to get back Tyree Wilson, who had one of the worst seasons out of a top 10 pick that we've seen in a long time last year. But he was a top 10 pick. So it's like, okay, give us someone we can play with a little bit that has some talent. What a year ago, 44th pick overall in Tyree Wilson to the Raiders. I think they're the most likely team that would actually do this.

I think that's a good one. Go ahead, Pat.

I was going to say I love the idea. If it's the Falcons, I love the idea of including Algier because he's like a loaded gun laying around. He's going to go off if he's on the roster. Coaches cannot quit him. They let him being good be the enemy of Bajon being great. He's just got to get off the roster. They're going to be too thin to use him if he's on the roster.

It's not fair to Algier to call him a progress stopper, to use a Parcellsism, because he's actually a young, talented player. But he is in terms of letting Béjan be the guy what he wants to be, and that's a 2,000-yard rusher. You got to give him the ball. You got to give him the rock. I like all these are all places that make sense for fields. I also have a fields trade, but I have to tell you, in terms of BS detectors, there has been very few story lines that have popped up post-Super Bowl in the last few years that smelled as funky as the Steelers saying they were good with their quarterback room. It actually brings to mind my first year, and Mark, your first year at NFL Media when we were doing write-ups with Mike Shanahan, not Kyle, Mike Shanahan stating that he would stake his reputation on Rex Grossman and John Beck, that quarterback room. That's how it feels in Pittsburgh right now. I think about Mike Tomlin, what have they been missing since Ben got old? Just a true two-way threat quarterback who can make plays, who can avoid the rush.

I think fields to the Steelers That makes a lot of sense. I'm going to send the 2024 second round pick, 51 overall, 2024, fourth round pick, and a 2025 conditional third. That becomes a second if fields hit certain performance and durability escalators. Get it done. Do not. I smell the BS, so stop trying to serve it, Stealers.

Not trying to dominate the talking, but amazing stylistic bit in Pittsburgh. And you make it a great point with the Stealers and the BS detector and the quarterbacks. I loved how Raheem Morris in Atlanta was just like, he didn't do that at all. I literally wouldn't even be here. The quarterback was in any way walking. I would still be in LA. Let's just be real. That was some admirable honesty from New Southern.

With these guys that are actually still on a roster. The Steelers would have to go against what they've been for a long time. There's some indication that they are- It's time, Greg.

It's time to maybe mix It brings up in Pittsburgh.

And there's some indication that they are and that they will. It is a different general manager, Omar Khan, than Kevin Colbert, who was there for a couple of decades. But I don't know. Three picks might get it done. I think there's be a bigger market. I think it might be something close to that trade than people realize. The trick is, I almost know the Raiders would be in on this, but maybe the Falcons, there's actually not that many teams that are logical destinations for Justin Fields because most of the most logical ones have picks in the top three, the Patriots, Commanders, and Bears.

Yeah, but we just named three teams that make sense. The Giants are out there. They've been connected to Fields, at least in terms of chatter. That's four right there. I think he's going to have a market. Like you said, the difference between him and, say, Sam Darnold when the Panthers gave up a pretty good bounty. Fields has actually shown something. He's shown he has a potential high-level play in him.

And the contract is a real great sweet spot. That's almost perfect. It's not too long in the future. It's two years at a very low rate. That helps.

All right, We'll stick with the Raiders. I'll throw one out here. Another thing that I don't quite buy. Now, I do buy that with all the bravado and excitement around the Raiders with Antonio pierce, that they want to win now. And maybe you're right. Maybe they go and they hunt and get a quarterback that they could believe they could be a playoff team with. But I still... The Devante Adams thing, I'm not there. I'm not there believing that he is definitely on that team given his age and where they are as a team. I've always thought that the Jets were going to make a big play for him. You know Rodgers wants to make a big play. You know, Rodgers is calling the shots for the Jets at this point. If the Jets picked up the phone and called up the Raiders, what would it take? I'm saying, tell me if this is crazy or this makes sense. The Raiders would give up their first round pick, the 13th overall pick. The Jets give them back their first round pick, which is a 10th overall pick. So the Raiders move into the top 10. The Jets also give them a second-round pick in 2025, which, given the state of the Jets' roster and the boomer-bus nature, could be a pick in the low 30s, potentially, or in the 30s.

Would that be enough to get Adams and his big contract out of Vegas?

No. I think so. I'm with you. I think the Raiders, especially under Josh McDaniels, Devante Adams, would have been history very quick. But new coaching staff, he likes as a coach, I could see pierce not wanting to move a player like that this offseason. But I just feel like if someone calls, I think they'd be listening to this. I cooked up one, and maybe this is too high of a price for the cults to give up. But I thought that the cults who are also in, let's surround our young quarterback with weapons now, would be willing to give for a Devante Adams in his prime, the 15th overall pick. And what I love about it for the Raiders, that may be a little rich, but in this world, the Raiders who need a lot of pieces could turn around and redo their wide out room and have more as well, because they'd have the 13th pick and the 15th pick. But maybe that's a little expensive for Devante Adams. I don't think it would have been a year or two ago.

I've got a non-official Devante Adams one, by the way. He really was as good as gone as any player has ever been when it was Josh Medina, where he would basically go up to the Monday night football camera, like right in Sharpie, like, I want to be traded. And then that didn't happen. I think pierce loves him a little too much. When I was in Vegas, Antonio pierce walked by me in the lobby. His dog levels, just walking in a lobby were so off the charts. I feel like he's not going to trade a dog levels guy like Devante Adams. But this isn't one of my official three. I want Devante Adams to the bills. I think a first rounder is too rich for Devante at this point. I think I'm going back to my gentleman's first rounder. Two twos from the all-in bills for Devante. I don't know if he's too redundant to Stefan Diggs. Their salary cap situation is probably too messed up, too. Stefan and Devante can both do everything on the football field. They're so all in that I really want Devante Adams on the bills instead of the Jets. Plus two for the storyline of him playing Rogers twice.

Put a pin in that. I could see you bring in Adams, and then you get rid of Diggs or whatever. But I don't think that's too much. They sent a first and a second round pick for him just two years ago. I don't understand. I don't think there's much of a chance Devante Adams gets traded. Why would they trade one of their best players? They're also not to get any real cap relief out of it in the short term. They get a very much... And they don't need cap relief. They need to be filling that stadium and win some games. I guess I don't get why they would- I guess the answer to that, too, Greg, is that, at least in how the league typically works, big ticket guy for a team that's rebuilding, reloading, that was a different regime brought him in, there's always that chance.

Now, have we heard Adams on record say he definitely wants to stay with Las Because if I'm Adams, I'm like, How many big time years do I have? One or two. I don't know who my quarterback here is. I just think there's as much as the Raiders want to put it out there. I think the GM said he's a Raider a couple of days ago. They're really pushing that hard, but that's also leverage. I think given there would be a market for him and some teams like the Bills are a great example, too. The Bills and Jets are both very desperate teams in different ways that maybe you can get that first rounder. Now, mine was moving up in the first round and then a second. But the trade, famously, that got Stefan Diggs to Buffalo was just Diggs for a first. And that worked out for everyone because the Vikings then got Justin Jefferson.

So could Adams command that? Adam is 32 years old, which has snuck up on me a little bit. That's part of it, too. A little bit. I just think they can get even more cap relief. If they were going to trade him, they're going to trade him during the season or see how everything goes in a way. I do have a Diggs trade, though. While he's not up there. I'm sending Diggs, and I think Diggs is eminently tradable. I think this wide receiver market has not finished expanding. Teams are going to be ready to pay wide receivers as quarterbacks, whether it's contracts or in trade terms. And so even though Diggs is coming off a down year, he's young enough, I think he could get a first-round pick back. I thought about the Browns. There's some whispers. They want to bring in a wide receiver. Tony Paulina, the Cowboys, maybe with the brother thing. But who's got an extra first-round pick this year? It's the Arizona Cardinals with the 27th pick overall. To send them over to Buffalo. For some reason, I think Stefan Diggs would be happy to be in Arizona where it's just chill and he could just put up big numbers.

Who knows? Maybe you get a wide receiver in the draft. You got him, you got Wilson, you got Kyler Murray. Let's fly. I think the Bills would do that, too.

Greg, I had a duplicate in exactly the same trade.

That means it's happening.

I hate I hate the idea of a declining physically, but his ego higher and more powerful than ever. Stefan Diggs going to the Arizona Cardinals, that zoo, and seeing how that turns out while Kyler either freezes him out of the game plan or is forcing targets. That smells like a disaster.

I think he would either embrace the retirement home aspect or he would just be, I'm going to retire. He just immediately retire after they traded him.

He's only 30. He wasn't that He wasn't thrilled last year.

He played old last year.

He did. He did finish with 1180 yards and 107 catches. I know it fell off a lot during the season, but it's not like he was a disaster. I just feel like both those teams would do that trade. The Cardinals, they have a surplus of picks. They're one of the teams that could actually give it up, although that's the Texans pick, which we thought at the time was going to be a top five pick. There was a week in the season where we were like, The Cardinals could have the top two picks of the draft, and it ended up being the 27th because the Texans got into the divisional round.

If you do the math on it, to get to 1,100 yards, if you play every week, is like 65 yards a game. That's what his ceiling was this year. I just wonder if he is... Because people know, I'm not going to say he's a diva or anything like that, but people know he's a lot, and you got to make sure Stefan's in a good place. If a guy that's coming off a red flag season season, and you know he's a little bit of a handful potentially in the locker room, what is his market as strong as maybe you might think it should be strong because he's been a top 10 receiver for the last five years, or at least before last year. I think he's an interesting one in terms of trying to figure out how much he can command. I'm sure Brandon Beane and McDermann are thinking the same thing.

The amount of screaming between Kyler and Stefan Diggs would maybe set a single season.

It would be great, though. Receivers are like-Off the charts. I don't know what the comparison is, but I think a I think this has happened with a lot of receivers. Their expiration date with some of them happens in after about three years. But that first year is great. The second year is pretty good, and then it starts getting sour. So it's time. You're going to get one nice year where he looks great.

All right, Pat, give us another one.

This isn't the hammer drop. No hammer drop. This one is for pure functionality. This is like buying a couch. You got to get the couch in the house. It's not flashy, but it is quite comfortable. The Kansas City Chiefs. I originally said conditional, fourth rounder. I think it could probably be a conditional, fifth rounder to the New York Giants for Darius Slayton, who just, for some reason, every year, the Giants hate Darius Slayton, even though all he ever does is get like 700 yards on limited targets. He's cleared 700 yards in four or five seasons. Something MBS has never done for the Chiefs just cut. Get a legitimate field stretcher who actually has like half a decade of proven production. He could be a role player in this offense for the Chiefs. I think he's better than he's ever been allowed to be in New York, which maybe is not really a thing after five years.

Pat, everything you're saying right now is exactly how we would have explained the Kaderia's Tony trade two years ago.

Except for on like a Darius Tony, he's actually produced.

He's actually produced. Clayton's solid, but this is a perfunctury trade. It feels very like a couple that's no longer really feeling the magic, but let's just knock it out every other week.

He's done 700 yards.

I want more. This is like when Mark or... Actually, I don't even remember if it was Mark or Wes or who was it, where we have to drop a big ticket, like hammer drop of an item. And they talked about geo Bernard's impact on the 2021 box.

By the way, this isn't the hammer drop, of course. And this is part of a larger... This is part of a larger Chief's receiver core overhaul because this is also part of the Chief's trading for Justin Jefferson, of course, which we're not even going to get into on the show. But they got to remake the receiver. The fact that they won back to back Super Bowl, the definition of like, League replacement receiver. They're not going to do it a third time. Famous last words. He's had a League worst quarterback play for half a decade, man. Darius Slateon, get him at the real quarterback, get the Chiefs the real field stretcher, and watch magic happen.

I also think the Chiefs, with that 30-second pick, it's in that closer to gentleman's terms where if it's not a Slate, but you want to go try and swing for the fences on someone else, you can essentially offer a first-round pick that to the Chiefs looks like a second-round pick and maybe get out of there. Because I'm with you. I think it has to be multiple pieces. But it can't just be a bunch of B minus ham and eggs like last season.

This is a great wide receiver class. There's going to be... Look, The top six could be all quarterbacks and receivers, which is crazy. But then the first round could be six or seven receiver. So there might be a spicy guy available there, too.

I said that the Steeler's offense to me feels like the girl in the closet in all summer in a day. I tip my cap to what the Chiefs were able to do. All apologies to the Union and their incredibly comprehensive survey. But I can't watch another season of Patrick Wilhomes checking down for four quarters.

It's the worst thing that's ever happened in the history of.

I want my bomber back. I want the God of all gods airing it out to a talented group of wide receivers. So, yeah, that's why I push back against Slate because I agree. I think everyone agrees that Slate and seems there's something there to unlock, and maybe that's it. If he's a piece of that pie, he's a piece. But I need a big-time draft pick. I need a big-time number one wide receiver to pair with Mahomes and let him fly again. Because, you know, Kelsi is also going to keep on getting more and more lumbling as he's getting older. They can't wait another year. And we shouldn't be burning Patrick Mahomes 20s prime with him as a game general. We just can't do that. We shouldn't. It's a shame.

He needed to prove something to himself. You proved it, man. We get it. You can win with literally anyone.

This is coming from the fantasy guy and then the guy who drafted Mahomes in fantasy. That's true. Everyone's so mad that they won the Super Bowl with him having Alex Smith, sub Alex Smith stat.

This checks both boxes, though, as a fantasy fan, sure, that you have them, but also just... I like watching Mahomes be Mahomes. It's almost like when Jordan at the end of his run, when the NBA was in a in a much different place, when he was winning. You're watching that Jordan documentary, and they're showing the highlights, and they have the big music, and they have the single cam on Jordan talking like, Oh, and he disrespected me. So I had to put him under the ground. And then he makes the big shot at the end in slow motion, and then they put up the final score, and it was like 72 to 65, Bull's win. It doesn't take away from Jordan's greatness, but I want Mahomes to be 1989, '90 when he's putting up 35 a game and soaring through the air. It's embarrassing for the league.

You watch the Super Bowl and your mom is like, I was told Patrick Mahomes threw the ball deep.

I literally did get a text from my mom during the game that the game was boring. It was like mid-third quarter. I was like, Yeah, you're not wrong, mom.

You're not wrong. I mean, Dev Rosenthal is the conscience of the National Football League, and people have to understand that. Greg, throw out another one.

Okay, I'm going to stick with the Chiefs, but on the defensive side, we mentioned Lejarious Sneed. I I think he's getting traded. You wouldn't put that out there unless you were expecting to. A bit of a risk, but they did let Charvarius Ward go for nothing, basically, and that worked out fine for them. So who needs a cornerback? There's a lot of teams, but who's going to be willing to give up something? The Detroit Lions. And I think the market for Sneed in a trade, the terms might not be that high because you have to make him one of the highest paid cornerbacks in the league, if not the highest, along with it. So that's going to temper the But I'm going to say number 73 this season, and a 20, 25 third gets it done. So that's just next season's third. I think we need to get more into trading future picks like the NBA. They'll spend three months of podcasts talking about, oh, the Lakers' 2029 first-round pick is now available. They can trade that. It's like, the NFL team should get into that more. I don't like that. It's time for the lines to push forward.

I I don't like it.

You know why? Because those NBA trades, they don't feel tangible at a certain point. It's like a trade 10 years in advance. I like that the NFL, everything's a little more, everything's within the three-year window of reality.

Okay, but at least just send a future pick. So the lines, they give up 73. They're already short of pick, I believe. Then, yeah, I'm getting either a second or a third next year.

I think it's a cunning move, too, because if you trade picks way down the road and things go awry, you get Cahn. It's the next general manager that has to deal with that. That's savvy.

The lines don't want to be the new Hills, which is the lovable losers that become the big-time team that then can't get over the hump. So this is a sneaky, important year in terms of continuing the franchise progress. That's why I'm with you. They're going to aggressively look to get better this offseason. When I was getting ready for this exercise, I was like, All right, what are the playoff teams that lost? What do they need? And the lions jumped out to me, and everyone knows Aiden Hutchinson is a big-time player for them. Give him a little help. So I'm going to in the front seven. And there's two options, both from the same team, the chargers. And what I like about it is that the lions, and really any team that is looking for help in this realm, they can either go big ticket or they can get a slightly discount item. So you have obviously Joey Bosa. I think he, with his age, his track record, I know the injuries, but because of the position he plays, a premium proven pass I think he's going to cost a first-round pick. The Lions give up their 29th pick for Joey Bosa, and all of a sudden, they have these dogs on the opposite ends of each other.

If they don't want to go that hard, if they want to keep that first-round pick, Kaleil Max there. I Khalil Mack. I think Kaleel Mack, I think second-round pick, 61st overall, seems fair for a guy. He's a little older, but he's coming off like an 18-sack season. Would you give up a late second to get Mack? So they have two paths to go there depending on how rich they want to be.

I really like this because the chargers, I think if there's a time to part with Bosa, this came to my mind, too, that post-Brandon Staley, different situation, new vibe. And they're 25 million in the red right now. They've got a lot of changes they've got to make. They have the most expensive defense for a number of years under Staley, and they were a disaster. So it's like you could move Bosa. And it is a player that I think has missed so much time that the lions are taking a risk there, but it's time for the charger to think about a fresh new start, I think.

Bosa was at a pistachio eating competition in my hometown of Santa Monica last week. Why? I learned this information. I don't know why. Some sponsorship.

How much money could he be possibly making off that, that it was worth going?

I don't think he was in the competition, but it was some sponsor event, and he was eating. They asked him about Jim Harbaugh, and he said he loved the sound of it. I was like, I don't know if he's going to be on that team. I'm with you, Dan. I think he gets I think that chargers would throw a parade if they could get a first-round pick for him. They might cut him. I'm with you. They should explore a possible trade, and I think they'd take what they can get, whether it's a first, a second, whatever it is. He just hasn't been able to stay on the field. When he's on the field, he's freaking awesome. So he makes sense for a team like the lions that would just take a big swing. But he also would be a huge risk. The pistachio thing is a bit of a red flag, too.

I do like pistachios, by the way.

Good. How much are you eating, though, in a pistachio-eating contest?

I'll find out more information. This came across my Santa Monica account that I follow, and I was like, What is happening here? Joey Bosa is at Third Street or something eating pistachios.

All right, Mark, do you have one more before we go to the hammer drop?

I do. I'm going to use a roto pat word, wishcasting. This is probably more something I would like to see happen, and it's very unlikely. But I do see I see two teams with quarterbacks that I think behind closed doors, they're like, What are we doing with this guy? And this guy is overpaid and not producing. I see two quarterbacks like that. So I think you flip the script here, and Just hear me out. The Cleveland Browns take to Sean Watson, and they look back on this season and say, You know what? This is not probably going to get a lot better. And we can either be an organization, Andrew Berry is a forward-thinking general manager, that we can sit in our mistake if that's how we feel about it, or we can move on. And I think that the New York Giants feel the same way about Daniel Jones and his absurd contract. And so the Browns and Giants flip quarterbacks. But I think in that world, that the Deshawn Watson return to the NFL was about as toxic as it could be off the field, obviously. But to him to go to another team after the Browns, I think it's more palatable, probably for the Giants to take that experience at this point.

And I think if you're Brian Dayball, you can look at Deshawn Watson and say, There's a lot we can do there. And if you're the Cleveland Browns, you're back in the world of reorganizing a quarterback. But Daniel Jones could get you through a season or two.

Whoa. Wait, can I just say that- This is wild? I mean, this is impossible. Although it's fun because any idea that gets the Browns detached from that quarterback is great. Nobody wants that guy. Nobody wants the guaranteed money connected to him at this point. And certainly a Tiffany franchise like the New York Giants with the Maras and the Roonies, they would never, ever take on Watson. So I think it stops because of the baggage. Forget about any of the other stuff. In my opinion, I don't think the Giants even pick up the phone.

Right. I get it that the Jones is a distressed asset, so he's like a negative asset, too. But no one would give up, I don't think a condition. No one would take Deshaun Watson on their team. I don't think right now, the other 31 teams with that contract.

But do you think there's a speck of possibility inside the Browns building? They're like, It would be nice to move on from this player if we're doing it.Of course.

They're done. Yes. I think the Browns would do this in a second. I'm with you, but I don't think any other team would do it. Why don't you reach...

This is a... And people forget about this, and the Browns, they deserve it. They got buried. But there were a lot of other teams that wanted Watson, too, and they were reported out there. You could look it up. Go check in on some of those teams. I do have an important update before the hammer dropped.

Joey Bosa finished seventh out of eight competitors in a pistachio wonderful pistachio get crack and Eat in competition. The world champion, some guy named Webb, destroyed him with 221. Joey Chesnet was there, tied for fifth. Bosa finished 152 pistachios. He did beat one other person in the competition. He came with 7 out of 8.

He's got a red flag. Yeah, someone's an actual competitive eater, and they couldn't beat the athlete that was just messing around there.

I think it's right. You're an edge rusher. You should be able to get off the bus and eat turns.

They build it as Joey versus Joey, Bosa versus Chesnet. There appears to be about 17 people in hoodies watching this thing.

Finishing seventh out of eight makes me think that, yeah, he doesn't have that dog in him. He's a dog in his side. I'm dropping that, too. That's a third-round pick now going from Detroit. All right, it's time now to do what we must, which is clear the decks, because Patrick Daherty, Roto Pat, is about to share a hammer drop, a panty dropper, and everything that could drop is dropping. Here we go.

I think it ties together everything we've been talking about so far. Listen, to Sean Watson, he got three first-round pics, right? Rg3 got three first-round pics. Site Unseen in 2012, Washington traded three first-round picks for the right-to-trade- Yeah, but Rex Grossman and John Beck, Mike Shannon, was ready to stake his reputation upon them. So three first-round picks has been the going rate for the stunning quarterback trade and acquisition. I think it needs to be up to four first-round picks. It's like someone's going to always break new ground in this territory. It ties into Greg, too. Who cares about future first-round? Just keep trading them. No one cares with the Brooklyn Nets 2028 first-round pick. Just get them out there. It's four first-round pics for an elite quarterback. The commanders, the new guy, he tried to lay low for a year. He's like, It's a new day in Washington. And January first, rolled around. I was like, Okay, never mind. He's sitting in on meetings with the combine. He's starting feuds with other assistant coaches in the league. He spent his whole offseason leaking anti-Ben Johnson dirt. He's ready to ascend to the throne of the crazy new owner.

I think it was Dan said, The Los Angeles Chargers, they need a fresh new start. Jim Harbaugh, all he wants... He doesn't care about passing the ball. He's not going to pass. He doesn't need to pass. Alex Smith, Colin Kaepernick. It's the NFC Championship Game every year. Trade Justin Herbert to the Washington Commanders for four first-round pics. Blow up and restart two organizations a new. Remake a bold new NFL. It's a new era. The going rate is now four first-round pics. Everyone's happy, and we get something to write about for months and months and months.

I love it.

It's insane. Including the number two overall pick, I'm assuming, is one of those? Yeah, sure. Who cares? It's a steep price. That is a steep price. I think the charges They would have to think about it.

They would have to think about it. Give them something to think about Josh Harris. That's his name, right? Josh.

Yeah, that's it.

Give them something to think about.

George Bluth, an Arrested Development, once taught us that you never promise crazy a baby. I would say when it comes to the NFL, always pick up the phone with crazy when it comes to trades. I think Jim Harbaugh, he's just crazy enough to do it. I think Jim, you're already hearing some stories behind the scenes. Jim is a wild man. Jim is going to build this organization in his likeness. Justin's not his guy. Maybe he doesn't love him like the media loves him. Maybe he thinks he's got a bit of a ceiling on him. I don't think that's his career. It's a hammer drop, but I don't think it's insane that Harbaugh might want to build this thing.

You trade back from two and take JJ McCarthy.

My guy, I could see Harbaugh are doing something a mega splash, and that would be a mega splash.

Spicy.

Yeah. Justin Herbert, the stat guy, we all love him. We love the empty stats, except for they didn't even come with any touch downs in 2023. So didn't love him that much last year. But he can take his empty volume somewhere else. Jim Harbaugh gets his character building rushing attack. Be careful with that Justin Herbert slander.

The wrong media member could hear you and cut ear to ear.

I draft him literally every year. I love him. Take your empty stats elsewhere. I love the empty stats. He's not going to have them anymore in LA. He'll have them for days in Washington, for days and days. So that's why we need this to happen actually as a fantasy community.

Greg, your thoughts on that before we say goodbye to Patrick?

I don't like it. I think Jim Harbaugh... I believe in love. I believe Jim Harbaugh loves this man, Justin Herbert. But I do think if they offer the number two overall pick and multiple more first-round picks, I think they would take it, the charter, as crazy as that seems. Jim Harbaugh would believe that he could just turn that pick into gold and rebuild the whole ship and it's cheaper. It's not that crazy.

You know the other thing is it's not going to It's not a fan base here in LA where you're going to get a ton of negative reaction to it. There might be no reaction. It's struggling to have any imprint in this city. If you traded Justin Herbert away from the Dallas Cowboys, people are going to go freaking nuts. I think chargers, it's off the radar. It could be done without too much too much cantankerous nature to it.

Patrick, you've said it all. You never promise crazy a baby, but I would promise you a baby. That's how strong I don't need any more babies.

Let's be real.

How many you got?

We have four folks.

Wow. That's enough. But you're in St. Louis. It's a little bit of a different vibe there.

It cost the livings lower, too. It's a strong Irish Catholic German town. Long lineage. We actually have a small family by German, Missouri standards. Oh, wow, four. When are you getting started for real?

Pat probably lives in a home that is bigger than our homes combined when you get that Missouri Bump rolling.

There's a Missouri Bump. I can confirm. There's a Missouri Bump.

Should we take our podcast and relocate to Missouri? I feel like that would be an energy share.

We'll give you a tax break. I'm sure.

He and Lincoln are there. It really adds up.

What about your wife, though, Greg? What would she do to you? I mean, your wife, Greg, has been vengeful about certain elements of the move from New York to LA. If you took her to middle America, then what happens?

Yeah, I think she just goes to Tokyo.

You're equidistant to both coasts here in St. Louis, guys. That's it. Actually, you're a little closer to the East Coast.

Oh, man. Honey, ATN is moving to Missouri. Honey, I'm moving to Japan.

You had a good run.

All right, good stuff, Pat. Thank you so much. You could check out Rota Pat's work over at Rota World or NBC Sports. I know you have a comprehensive banger you put out a couple of weeks ago going over each team's season, and I'm sure there's more to come in the near future. So thank you, buddy.

There is. Thank you very much. I've committed, I believe, the ultimate industry faux pas where I'm late for my own podcast.

Right. People should check out the Road to World football show because we've made him late for it today. So please check them out.

You could bang us for that. Go ahead.

That's how much I love the show. I would not miss the show, even for my own show. So thank you very much for having me.

Or you could trash us in the open of that one, and then we could do a little Fugazi podcast war, and then everybody wins. Metric Soar. That's true. That's true. All right, Matt. Thanks, bud. It was my pleasure. Thank you. There he goes. Rodo Pat. Yes. One of our favorites. Man, that Herbert thing really does get me thinking. I know it's absurd, blah, blah, blah. But Harba really is people that don't know. People don't realize that that's a different cat. The chargers are not a team that's overly comfortable with paying massive bucks for anybody. If they had an opportunity where the coach got what he wanted, which is complete control of building the roster in his own vision, and all of a sudden there was plenty of money freed up, that would be fun.

I think it's very tempting.

I also it's the closest thing you get to the shocking nature of the Herschel-Waaker trade. But the smarter team completely rebuild from scratch there in one multiple Super Bowl.

It would be fun, but I think the way Jim Harbaugh talks about Justin Herbert, he's ready to build a statue of Justin Herbert. I think he's everything that... Justin Herbert's everything Jim Harba has ever wanted out of a quarterback. He's been searching for this quarterback forever, and he is so confident that he's like, We need nothing more than a stud like this in me, and we're going to freaking roll.

I think ultimately, I'm with you on that. I think the hardest thing to do is to locate a high-end quarterback, and he's got one that's 25 years old. So maybe you don't want to overthink things, ultimately.

I think we'll get some fun trades, though, some that we haven't even thought of, because if they were that big of a surprise, we wouldn't be able to think of them. But it feels like there's a lot of cap space out there. And so we actually will get some fun trades, I think, in the next two weeks.

All right. So there you go. That's it for another show. We will be back on Monday. I think we're going to go back to three a week, starting next week. So as free agency gets closer, we're going to really be digging in. And also, like we said, the combine will be wrapping up by the time you hear from us again. We'll be welcoming them on some draft guests and looking at how teams will improve on that end. So, yes, it is the beginning of a new journey, 2024. We're here. Mark, do you have anything you want to add before we say goodbye?

I think I just felt an earthquake in my apartment.

Really?

Yeah. Or it was... I don't know. Or an aircraft flew into the side of the apartment, but there was a major jolt right there. So I'm going to be checking that out.

Post-haste. That's it. All right. Until Monday. Thanks for listening. You know what you got to do. Heed the car.