The Around the NFL podcast has no dead camp money. From the Chris Wesling podcast studio, it's Around the NFL. I am Dan Hansis. I have heroes here, Greg Rosenthal and Mark Sesler. It is the second day of the new league year. Kudos to us for finally cutting through all the red tape. Don't tell me the league year starting Wednesday is this big, important entree the whole week. It's the beginning of the week, and now here later in the week. So he took Wednesday off. Now we have a much clearer picture of everything. Huzzah.

I mean, to me, there is no larger farce, I should say, in all of pro sports than the NFL calendar in March. It's like, Don't try to tell me that anything starts at a certain time. I won't buy it because it's day two of what? We've been grinding since Sunday mid-afternoon.

If iHeart is not going to give us any credit, at least Dan did right to start off the show. Nailed it.

We're good at that. This is, yes, really, in reality, the fourth day of the league here. Don't listen to them. Listen to us. That means many, many of the big players that were going into free agency, looking for homes or looking to stay with their team, just looking to do business, have done that business. In fact, Greggy, of your top 101, what number is the highest ranking player left?

Well, Tyron Smith has a four next to his name, but on the original list-On the original, yeah.he would have been, I think, 14. He also would have been the only player on the original list of even the top 20 that's unaccounted for, the only one.

Yeah, so one out of the top four.

Kendall Fuller, who I apparently valued a lot higher than NFL teams actually just came off the board. He would have been 13th on the list that went final on Monday as the negotiating period started. He just went off the board to the Dolphins, who have actually made a quietly a bunch of nice little moves.

We're still working on our list, and I think there's-Yeah, that's a lot of questions. No, it's more like we exhibit patience. The list will come when we feel it's time for it to show us.

I mean, what are we doing? The horse is out of the barn. It's on the highway.

Relax. Mark, I did not tell you that we did release it.

Oh, well, that's good. Okay.

Glad to hear that. It's on the internet.

Okay. Why was I not brought into that process? Because it was top secret, we dropped it as an Easter egg on the internet.

It was actually...

If you could find the URL.

Right. Put out on the company. You could read it. That company was recently bought by European investors, and they told everyone that they're...

What I do love is that-We published it on Deadspin, and it was immediately That's not our fault.

I love that Greg, underneath the layers of deciding whether or not this was a real project, Greg is a little annoyed that we continue to pump up a little bit our list. Just a little... You never know.

I love it because it's showing how tough it is to make that list. Where is your list? I don't see it.

It's always surprising what actually annoys Greg. Like talking about the pick standings or that football that the charity gave me.

It doesn't like the football from...

Or for some reason, the free agency 213, you could tell there's just a little bit of agitation. Why is that, Greg? Why is it certain things? And then other things, it's like, nothing really matters.

The only thing that's bothering me about this is that you actually believe what you just said.

I do. I believe 100%. Like Aaron Rodgers, I believe everything I say, and I believe it to be correct.

You just don't believe anything anyone else says, at least from a large organizational or societal standpoint. I don't.

Now, I don't know what you're talking about. We are going to be getting Going deep into a look back in terms of what has happened this week, and also, of course, looking ahead to what's still to come with the great Bill Barnwell, who is a great person to talk to this time or year, really any time of year, but this time of year, especially. That's coming up a little bit later. But first, let's get caught up on the news since we last spoke with you. Someone's going to ask you, so have you had the little ass boy conversation with Max Chitt? Yeah, sure enough. I saw him. He's a big ass boy.

He's what he is.

He got I did not even connect the dots on that. Garner Minchou signs with the Las Vegas Raiders. Do we have that original sound anywhere? For context, that Minchou in a game last year was repeatedly belittled by Crosby on the field for his stature, to the point where he cut to Minchou in the second half, and he was like, I'm not that small. Maybe for according to the football world. Full last point. Little Ass Boy.

Dude, Max Crosby is so damn angry.

Bro, he just- The thing is, he's not really that angry.

I know, right?

He just keeps calling everybody little ass boy.

Hey, little ass boy.

I'm like, I'm little out here, but not always.

Garner, Minchou.

The way he says it, he's really got a McConahe vibe to him. I got to say, I think that's what you want out of your quarterback. He could be pointing out John Candy in the crowd right before he goes and has a game-winning Super Bowl. Well, let's calm down with any Garner-Minchu Joe Montana parallels. If he beats out Aiden O'Kano, maybe that'll happen. He's still...

Perfect landing spot for Minchu. Let's see if he can squeeze some more starts out of this. All right, let's start, though, in Tennessee, where a surprise on Wednesday, the Calvin Ridley we had talked about in our previous show, and in general, all the arrows seem to be pointing to him returning to Jacksonville and circumventing that the trade terms with Atlanta to avoid giving up a second round pick, that he would just sign with the Jags who he spent last year with on the first day of the league here. No, all that erroneous. Ridley signs a four-year, $92 million contract with the Titans. That includes He's 50 million guaranteed. He's now, in terms of average value of salary at that position, a top 10, which really jumps out to me. Mark is a little rich for my blood with Calvin Ridley, a guy that's 29 years old. He's got a suspension on the ledger. He fated a little bit last year. It was a little hot and cold in general, and you're paying him as a number one. Once again, the Dalton scale of wide receiver. That is an offseason episode that is screaming at us.

Where would Rudley fall? I think on the other side of that. Let's talk about it because he's not being paid like that.

These wide receiver deals for a number of years in a row have been wild. I would say this, though, about the Titans in general. I don't know if Calvin Ridley is... I'm with you. I think the money is more than the man in this situation. But this was a team that desperately needed to-Not the man. Well, the-The player. The player. Okay. Okay. That's important. I don't know him personally, so that was out of bounds by me.

Not since you took down the entire insider culture, have I thought that you really made such a personal attack?

More on that. That was only a couple of days ago. But now you add Ridley to DeAndre Hopkins, Trayland Birks, nick Westbrook-Akina. It's like Will Levis is coming out of this as somewhat of a winner because A, they didn't-Can you say those again?

Say those names again.

Calvin Ridley, DeAndre Hopkins, Trayland Birks, nick Westbrook-Akina. It's not that they couldn't go draft someone else, too. It's just that-Is that good? I'm just saying they They were bottom of the barrel, one of the worst wide receiver groups in the league at times last year. It's like, if Hopkins can still play, I don't hate Ridley and Hopkins as a duo. They added Tony Pollard, Lloyd Cush and Barry. It's like, they are at least active. They needed to take steps, and they're taking steps.

It was one of the only contracts this offseason that when they reported, I was like, Wow, I did not expect him to be that far above the rest of the class of receivers that even got to free agency. Marquise Brown, for instance, hasn't even signed yet, though, so we'll see what he gets, but it's not going to be anything close to this. When it was $50 million guaranteed. So you mentioned the average contract. I think that actually does favors to the Titan. So unless the reporting is extremely misleading, it's $50 million guaranteed, which I would assume is basically over the first two years of his contract. So that's more like $25. It's actually backloaded. I don't think he gets to that third year anyways. And that guaranteed money would be second among all wide receivers, only behind Tyree Kille. Now, the The cap goes up. Our friend Justin Graver and Titans fans are in their feelings. People criticizing this move immediately pointed out off a tweet I wrote of like, well, the percentage of the cap is a lot less. If you average out what A. J. Brown's contract actually would have been now. That's a bigger percentage of the cap from when it was signed.

It's like, and all these Titans fans who are all comparing it and it's like, Yeah, this is going to look like a bargain when Ayuk signs and Higgins signs and all these top players. My My thing is like, Yeah, but really, he's not anywhere close to the category of those players. That's our point. That's like, Yeah, of course, A. J. Brown takes up a bigger percentage of the cap, although he got less guaranteed money, which, again, is a little crazy. Really, he's just a good player that's getting paid as a great player, which is how teams historically have gotten into trouble in free agency. He's not a young player anymore either. He's 29. He's a little inconsistent last.

He's like an older version He had a little more background than Christian Kirk. Remember a few years ago when everybody was getting 19 million a year at the time?

That was-That aged well.

It did. You can look at it that way. Listen, if he has 100 catches next year and 1,300 yards and eight touch downs, that's fine. But you need him to be that guy. He hasn't really, other than very early in his career, been on a trajectory as a star/superstar player.

But I don't want to-I don't want to bury it. I don't want to bury-They had so much capacity.

Because on the surface. What you're saying, are the Titans, at least on paper, better than they were four days ago? I think so. Is Will Levis the guy? I have some doubts about that, too, but they're at least giving him a chance and a core around him, and we'll see what happens.

I do wonder if they had to pay what they paid because along with the Jaguars, the Patriots were talked about as looking after Ridley as well. There's maybe some a bidding war behind the scenes where you're having to pay this money.

Now, I don't want to get all Aaron Rodgers here, but I do have a conspiracy here in all this.Go ahead.That no one's been reporting or been out there.

Or that you heard from me.

No one's reporting your conspiracy theories.

No, it's just in my head. Yes. At no point did we ever hear the Titans were in the mix. It was a little strange. It was like, hardcore, 17 different inside, Patriots, Patriots, Patriots, Jaguars, Jaguars, blah, blah, blah. He wants to see with the Jaguars. My conspiracy theory is he maybe had a little bit of a wink, wink, nod, nod agreement with the Jaguars that he wasn't going to sign until after that Wednesday to help them with the draft picks in general. But all along, the Titans had this offer there, and they were probably the favorite. And again, he's just doing the Jaguars a favor by basically waiting till Wednesday, and then they get the better draft pick. I don't believe that they just suddenly came into the mix in the last second and then blew everyone out of the water with a huge offer. And Jacksonville fans, and this is to Calvin Really's credit, are mad, even though they weren't too happy with him during the year when he ran a lot of weird routes and had a lot of drops. The Jaguars did really want him, and the only reason that they couldn't keep him was because they had to use the tag on Josh Allen, which they should have signed him to a long-term deal before.

But that also... That seems very plausible, but that also tells you that even more of a fraudulent entity is this legal tamper.

Oh, yeah, that's part of my whole theory.

Because it's like this stuff have been going on long before the legal tampering window opened so wide.

Please. I'll tell you something about a wild free agent spirit. But I'll put a pin in that. We can I'm going to think about that with Bill.

Yeah. I don't know if we mentioned Mason Rudolf also signed with the team, so he will back up Will Levis and light guard and mid-shoe. I think that's a good spot for Rudolf because I think there's an opportunity to play there, potentially.

He was almost out of the league before those last couple of starts.

Isn't it ironic that When he did close the season well, or at least better than Kenny Picket, and finally played at a pretty solid level for the Steelers, and then they get rid of him, finally?

I am happy to see him not on the Steelers anymore.

I'm certainly not vouching for him staying in Pittsburgh, but just the way it felt like he was on the team for 14 years and did nothing. Then finally did a little bit of something. They were like, All right, bye.

Now you're gone. He appeared in four games. If it had qualified, he would have been third in the NFL in QBR. It will long be forgotten.

Do we really need that stat twice?

Mason Rudolf.

He gave that to us last time.

I had to check this on Pro Football Reference right now just to make sure. He wasn't good. Even though it was only two months ago, no, that Mason Rudolf started a playoff game in the year 2024. The NFL started the playoff, so all the teams got to choose their starting quarter. Mason Rudolf was one of those quarterbacks.

You remember that? One of the more low-wadage playoff games I've ever witnessed. That was only two months ago.

I can't believe it.

Rudolf throwing for 945 yards, five touch downs, and two picks in his final four games has a Real hardy whiff of Desmond Ritter's last four games in Atlanta and people being like, Hey, he was pretty good. He was pretty good, actually. Speaking of Desmond Ritter, the former Falcons' starting quarterback is on the move. He was traded. How about this? Ron Delmore. Once upon a second round pick, I believe, once upon a time? Yep. So the Cardinal send Ron Delmore, their former second round pick, to The Falcons for Ritter. So a one for one swap. Love these. It's fun. It's like old school, player for player. So the cards get a new backup, and the Falcons add another wide receiver.

I think the Falcons, and I know they're going to be the sexy NFC South pick, and they should be. This is another team that has recrafted their offense in a couple of off-seasons. You have Drake London, Darnell Mooney. I like him in your wide receiver group. Ron Delmore, Kaderil Hodge, who's more helpful than I think people realize. Then maybe you got Kyle Pitz finally emerging, B. John Robinson and Kerr Cousins. This offense on paper looks dangerous.

By the way, I'm so fantasy The chefs aren't for months, but I am one of the many, many thousands who will be backing on Kyle Pitz with Kerr Cousins.

It feels like a shaky fantasy situation, the Falcons in general, because who's-I'm not going to be in.

I'm back, baby. There's a lot of people to-I was in I found him in year one. In year two, I took year three off, and I'm all the way back in year four.

Then we know what happens with you. Then he doesn't perform, and then you write him off as a person, as a man.

I'm on this like, Kyle Pitz has this idea-Don't cross me.that is not a reality. If Kyle Pitz was who we thought Kyle Pitz was, I think we would know more by now. I don't think he's as explosive as he looked. Let's play through some injuries. He had some injuries. Blaming everything on Arthur Smith and Ritter, I think, is a little too simple. It's pretty rare that you have a challenge trade. These are both players that were a little disappointing, I think, to their team. Ritter, maybe more than a little. But he was a third-round pick. If he turns into a decent backup quarterback, that's what you expect out of a third-round pick. Ritter got his coach fired. More can make people miss. He is now the third wide receiver on the Falcons' roster that has caught a pass in the NFL in the last three years. They only had one before Darnell Mooney, and then they had two, and now they have three. So they needed toProgress. Yes.

The Chargers making moves. They say goodbye. And this one, as a team, I follow a team that needs wide receiver help and maybe a playmaker that could stretch the defense. Mike Williams is on the market. The chargers release Williams. The bolts pushed a lot of pain into this offseason with some restructures last year, and now they have to pay the bill. That's why Mike Williams is no longer on the team. That comes after he signed a three-year, $60 million contract, $60 million contract after 2021. He was having an awesome start to last season before he tore his ACL. Of course, Mark, injuries and Mike Williams, they are no strangers. Any team that does sign on, I'm very curious to see what his market is. I think there'll be a lot of teams interested in him, but how much money he gets, considering his injury history. But he's still a pretty young guy, too. I think he's sneaky young? Yeah, 29. But maybe his body's sneaky old. Will be an interesting test in free agent.

Yeah, he's a juicy free agent wide out sitting out there, but it is like, how many games you're going to get out of him year after year? I know this team is going to look so different, but when Mike Williams was not on the field for the chargers during this Justin Herbert era, they looked a lot different. I think he certainly made defenses have to pay attention to him. Now they're down to Keenan Allen, Josh Palmer, and Quentin Johnson. I think Quentin Johnson has got a lot of pressure on him to be what they thought he could be at this point.

I think Harbaugh is stripping it down a little bit. It's going to be this year, we'll see what happens this year, but I think this whole thing is starting to be stripped down to build back up. Like Gus Edwards. What do they call it? A controlled rebuild? Is that what they call him? Something like that.

I mean, you could call it. It makes sense.

Call it whatever you want.

No, I'm saying I feel like that's a term that's out there.

I am not sure because some of the reporting around this right when it happened was they actually would maybe try to get him back at a lower price. They also renegotiated a deal for Cleo Mac to keep them.

Then there's these-And Joey Bosa.

Has that happened?

Well, they're working on his... He's restructuring his deal, too.

It's a controlled read.

But I know Greg was working behind the scenes because yesterday when we were deciding, is there enough to do a show? Greg kept being like, I think there's going to be big chargers moves in eight minutes later. I'm pretty sure some big chargers moves are coming in.

Ian is trying to work.

He just keeps getting texted by Rosenthal. I wasn't bugging him at all. It was obvious. They had like the four... Everyone was reporting that for weeks, that something had to happen here. No, but it just was like... You broke that boasting news to me. I got to admit. Is there boasting news here? Yeah, that he restructured it to stay.

What do you mean you have to admit? That's what I do. I operate in the news.

I'm saying I have to admit that I was a little off the grid on the way in. I ate a little lunch. I missed that.

Do you really get beat on aggregated news? When you're not actually a reporter? You're saying he beat you on that?

I'm not saying he beat. I'm saying I entered the show-He has to admit that I actually was productive.

That's not for him to do.

It has nothing to do with Mark. I'm saying-The insider, Mark Sesler. I entered the show without a key bit of information related to something, and I don't feel good about it.

I guess who was there for you?

I'm surprised. Mark.

Edward Sesler.

Who was there for the freaking listeners of the Around the NFL podcast. I'm actually very surprised by that. That boasts his staying, considering how little he's played. But Mike Williams, would you rather have him or Calvin Ridley?

If they're healthy, Mike Williams.

If they're healthy, Mike Williams. I put Mike Williams as number 12 now in the new 101, which is confusing because half the people are off it. How about this? It's like I'm ranking him against people that are already signed. But to me, he's a true X receiver, a true difference maker when he's out there.

Coming off an ACL, he might have to sign a prove it deal. But let's say he gets a Fugazi deal. Let's say it's a three-year deal or four-year deal, but it's really a two-year deal. So two for 50 for Ridley or two for 35 for Mike Williams. Give me Mike Williams.

All day long. Oh, yeah. All right. If I had to guess, I'm going to go one for 14 is like what?I.

Think so, too.

Something like that. Decent money, but just one year.

If I were Joe D, I would be all over that, especially if you're a team in a win-now window.

You take a chance on the guy like Mike Williams. We have predictions coming up later, I believe, in the show with Bill Barnwell, and I have a prediction that's tied to Mike Williams. Great.

Okay, so we'll just move on.

In fact, if you're listening, just fast forward to that.

Yes. All right. Joe Flacko got a job. We were just talking about Joe Flacko last show. I was trying to wrap my head around why you would ever sign Jameis Winston in general, but to sign him to replace Joe Flacko, who was one of the great stories of the NFL season as Deshaun Watson's backup took the Browns to the playoff. The Browns say bye-bye. Flacko needs a job, and he lands with the Colts, a one-year, $8.7 million dollar contract. How much of that? All right, 4.5 is guaranteed, according to Shefti. Listen, a nice landing spot for Flacko. He is backing up a second-year quarterback who is a top five draft pick. Unless Anthony Richardson gets injured again, Joe's not going to see the field. I want to see Joe take the field again, but I also want to see Anthony Richardson stay on the field this year. If anybody was invested in the arc of this Joe Flacko end of his career renaissance, this could end up be something that puts him in Mothballs. But good for him. He's in the league, and he's still making millions of dollars.

I just like that Anthony Richardson is a Shane Steigen quarterback, and Joe Flacko is a Shane Steigen quarterback, and Garner Minchou is a Shane Steigen quarterback. Get you a coach that could do both. It's like, Okay, let's just get the guy who's exactly the same as the backup. No, we've seen Shane Steigen work with nick Foles to the tune of one of the greatest Super Bowl performances of all time. He was on that staff somewhere, wasn't he? I don't Flacko will be the starter, though, during some of the offseason while Richardson recovers from a torn ACL. Yeah, you would think he probably will end up taking some snaps this year just because Richardson had multiple injuries in those four.

Well, and Richardson had concussion issues. It's like the way that he plays, you just have to wonder.

He's a wild man in that month that he played. He really was.

It's important to have a good backup. Yeah, I think we could see Flacko. I'd say from the Browns' perspective, and I mentioned this the other day, they're operating in fear. It It was too much of a distraction to have a fan favorite emerge behind the quarterback who's the worst free agent.

It wasn't about money because his base salary is basically the same as Winston got a little-He was too popular.

I think that's just another chapter in a team stuck in a very dark situation at Under Center.

They might say that Flacko is potentially a fluco. If you asked them why they did it, they'd say, Oh, yeah.

Sure, but you went and got Jameis Winston. It's not like you have an absolute... I know Greg is higher than Jameis Winston than some, but it's like, Jameis Winston is about as hot and cold as it gets.

But his play was at such a high level that they said, Maybe more of a fluco.

I know, but it's like... I know where you're going.

I think what you're missing here is Dan's 745th ranked bit, Flacko Fluco, over the last 10 years. It's having quite a renaissance.

It is.

I'm just trying to do the bit, and Mark on debating me.

I know, but it's like whenever we go down Jets Avenue and you spin the yarn about how everyone's against the Jets and it's always constant jokes. This is my so-called, right? This is what I liked about my team last year, and they got rid of it.

But what he's saying, though, is he got that Comeback Player of the Year award.Go.

Ahead.he.

Deserved it. But he could be a fluco.

Could be a bit of a fluco.

I mean, I get it. Am I supposed to find it as funny as the two of you at the moment?

I mean, it's the apex of Bobby Wagner, his homecoming with the Seahawks was brief after one season.

We have a middle school watching us right now.

Still played at a high level. I just don't look outside the fishbowl.

I can't help it. They're all taking photos and stuff. They're outside the windows.

He goes to that place, Washington. Man, the commander has been active. Accredited terms with Bobby Wagner, formerly the Seahawks, and before that, the Rams, and before that, the Seahawks. On a one-year deal, 6 million guaranteed money, worth up to eight and a half. There you go. A veteran hammer in the middle of that defense. Greg, dare I say, at the risk of offending you, future Hall of Famer.

I think that's a safe one. You're not going to offend me on that one.

All right, Dave. Other news. Anything on that? Nice solid signing.

Dan Quinn has added a lot. They've added a lot of players to a defense that's going to look very different. For the price, it's fine.

They aren't making long-term commitments with most of their players. They've been as active as any team. I like that. 49ers fans have pointed out it's a little similar to what the 49ers did when Shanehan showed up there. Just raise the base level with a bunch of professionals for a year or two while you start figuring out who are the core guys.

The lines announced four-year contract extensions for GM Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell. That's a no-brainer. Finally, before we take a break, and then we're going to welcome in Bill Barnwell.

I've got Control Furie.

Thank you, Dan. Kirk Cousins was officially introduced as the quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons, and he looking sharp in his suit in the Falcon's car. I feel like we all slept on a couple of things. You had Florio getting into it with people in the media because he had a source that said that Kirk was doing some real estate shopping in Atlanta. But he also, what We read after the signing, I didn't know this, I guess this is probably out there, too, that his wife's from there.

Yeah, we talked about- They got married there.

We literally talked about it on this podcast. The kid was born there.

I maybe missed that show, or maybe I wasn't listening to you. There were a lot of tea leaves there, and he went there. Here's Kirk Cousins talking about why he decided to move on from Minnesota.

In Minnesota, it was trending over the last couple off seasons to be in somewhat year to year. As we talked with Atlanta, it felt like this was a place where if I play at the level I expect to play, that I can retire a Falcon. And that was something that really excited me. And that's certainly the goal.

Kirk has also been number eight, I believe, his whole career. That's Kyle Pitz's number. Here's a fun little Waka Waka conversation about that.

He was funny about it.

I said, I'll write a check, whatever, foundation. I'm not going to let you just give me the number. I want to make it worth your while.

What a nice guy. Make a donation, whatever it needs to be. And he said, I just want targets every game.

He said he was joking. He winked. So I joked with him. I said, Good answer.

He winked.

I'm telling you, Kyle Pitz, there was no joke about that. He's like, You can throw it straight, right? You could hit me in the chest with passes. I love you. I will give you anything, including the shirt off my back.

I got to say, Kirk Cousin is looking sharp in that suit.

It does look good. I think the Falcons have really leaned into the whole chain's thing. I think you got to leave that in Minnesota and come up with your own new stuff. If I'm the Viking scene, he's bringing the Kirko chain things here. He's like, That was our thing. Come up with something new. He did drop a little bit of news, though, though, too, which has been supported by reporting that the Vikings really weren't committing to him long term in the same way that there was a-Even within these negotiations. Yeah, I think they were offering him good money, but after the first year, it maybe was going to be a little year to year, and the Falcons were going to make it two plus. They're really committing two and a half, really, three years, probably, to Kirk Cousins.

It does lead me wondering, Kevin O'Kunal, who on multiple occasions came out very strongly saying, We believe Kirk Cousins should be our quarterback. I came here because of him. We're working hard to get him back here. Then in the end, all that's true is the money. They weren't.

Well, they-Yeah. Not in terms of-He's not up to Kevin O'Kunal. I think that is being pointed out, that it's Quesi.

Well, yeah. I don't know. If you're Kevin O'Kunal, and I know we're big on Sam Darnold, but it's like you have a challenge at quarterback now.

Is that a royal way? Are you guys in now?

I don't hate the landing spot for Sam Darnold, but I think you're talking about someone who's a...

A little team of ATN vibes to you?

No. Save it for Bill, who's been listening to this entire segment and tells me over text that he's actually talking over our points, making his points.

All right, so let's take a break because that sounds saucy. He might come on mad. We might have said something that offended Bill, and now we're going to find out. That's good podcasting.

I hope so.

All right, we'll take a break. We'll be right back. Welcome back. Our next guest, really at this point, needs no introduction, but I'm going to give it to you anyway. Espn star, podcaster, expert analyst, future general manager. I see it as a possibility if he wants that path. Bill Barnwell. What's up, Bill? What? You could do it.

I'm very skeptical. There are a lot of people I would put ahead of me on the future general manager list, including several people who watch the show.

Wow, several. Several, not all.

Several, not all. I want you to look in the mirror tonight.

You don't want me as a GM on your team.

I want you to look in the mirror tonight and say, Was it me?

Oh, I'll be thinking about this for probably months.

But he has no idea what you did to Mark Psych just now.

He is a TV star. He's actually between SportsCenter hits right now. Hell, yeah. Insider information. You see him on around the Horn more now. They're using him there since all I was out on the town.

In in the afternoon, a couple of weeks ago.

As Mark Sessler often.

Well, no, just like an up on the television for all the place to see was Bill Barnwell, chopping it up. But of course, no sound. Then they don't put the closed captions. That's a problem. I spoke to management about that?

I try to be so eloquent and so overly verbose or so underly verbose, maybe, that you can read my lips, even if you're not a natural lipid.

No, it's a service to the viewer.

Did you Anything in our news segment that you jumped on when you're getting set up that offended you?We seem to be getting someOh, yeah.

Yeah. Yes, absolutely. Multiple things, frankly.

What does that mean? We made you wait? Or what else?

No, I would have just watched the show. That would have been, frankly, my dream appearance, just be to watch the show from behind the door, not have to come up with original thoughts and just be like, Yeah, I contributed. I was a part of that show. I was like, The guy at the All-Star Game, we never got to play. Still an All-Star, just because I didn't get on the field does not matter. Two things I want to ask.

Yeah, go ahead.

Let's get going. Number one, the idea that Kirk Cousins needs to leave the Kirko chains in Minneapolis. I'm not saying you're wrong necessarily, but it's not like Kirk left You Like That in Washington. He brought that to Minnesota. I think as someone who does not have a lot of bits, Kirk has two or three things, and that's it. The things you know about Kirk Cousins, the chains, we know you like that, and that he does not know how to grill food. Those are the three things he has to bring from stop to stop because he doesn't have anything else.

That's true.

That's like theDon't abandon the bits.

Yeah, like the certain dad bits, if you leave your keys behind and then Dad's like, Hey, you're not going to get too far without these. He needs to have some of his greatest hits.

Don't take away.Okay, maybe it's the Falcon social media giving me a shirtless, Kerco chain this morning with a caption, Woke up, dripping. It's just like, okay.

Well, these social media handles We just need to in general content.

That was last year. To Kirk's credit, he pointed out the chains aren't going to be so cute if we're not winning games. If he actually looks like a 36-year-old coming off a tour in Achilles, then the bits are going to die.

All right. What we're going to do is we're going to Unless there was another thing that you took. I thought something else. Oh, there is.

Keep going.

Let's go. Let's chop it up. Let's figure things out.

The universal Sam Darnold love. I wanted to make it clear that even though I am a guest and respect the opinions of the Around the NFL broadcasters on the Around the NFL show, I do not want to be included as one of the Sam Darnold supporters.

You want to be excluded from that narrative, a la Taylor Swift.

Very much, I am on the other side of this line. History will prove me right.

Do you know what's good about that? Because I am, I don't know if you know, Well, very much on the other side with your colleague and friend, Mina Kimes, amongst others. Of course. That I think it's good because I don't need... The one thing the Sam Donald Hyve doesn't need is it to become a title wave of everyone expecting him to be good. We still People need prominent voices like Barnwell, like Rosenthal, like the Sess Dog. See, you were wondering if I was going to leave you out. Saying, no, he sucks because that will make it all the sweeter. So that is great news. No issue here. No issue here.

I agree. There's a lot of times where people will... Like the lions, for example. There were no lions haters the last couple of years. Everyone thought the lions were going to get better. Everyone was excited about what they were doing. I think that there's this false hater thing that comes up, and people It was like, no one believed in us. No, everyone believed in you to get better. Maybe you exceeded expectations, which is good for you, but everyone thought you were going to be better. Everyone thought you did a lot to improve. Nobody was like, this team is going to be terrible. I feel like you want to have some actual haters to just make your point, make it feel a little more valid.

Bill, you are in a fine form. I could tell, like us, you've been doing a lot of podcasts this week, a lot of appearances. You should check out the Bill Barnwell podcast in addition to this show, and you'll be all caught Let's get into some categories. I know you did some superlatives on your show. This will be slightly different, but the same. Well, maybe we'll make it different. That's different humans talking about football. I'll start with the move that made the biggest impact, and the The reason I want to start with that one is because I'll take the easy one because I think Kirk Cousins is that pick for me because of, obviously, the position he plays, but also the recent history of the Falcons. I don't even really need to dig in too far because you know how important just having a stabilizing force at that position can be for a Falcons team that might be ready to make the leap. Your thoughts, Bill, on the Cousins, Falcons fit, and then maybe if you want to throw in one of your own biggest impact, guys.

I do like the fit. I think the price matters when we talk about free agency, I think, especially when you get the actual money here. And I think Greg pointed this out, I believe, on social media. It's not that big of a deal. It It's still big, and it's two guaranteed years. But this is basically the Daniel Jones deal, but with inflation making up most of the difference. Daniel Jones got $82 million guaranteed. With inflation from the cap, that's up to $93 million over two years. I got 100. I don't think that is an exorbitant amount for a player who was, I mean, what, top 10, would you guys say, last year before he got hurt in terms of quarterbacks around the league? Lower half of the top 10 for sure. I think that's fair. But it's like 8, 9, 10?

Yeah, sure.

That's a good deal. To me, I think that's a really solid price for a quarterback who, even if he's coming off the Achilles, he's not a mobile quarterback anyway. I don't think you're going to be asking him to run around a lot. A player who had a great injury history before suffering the Achilles, had not even been on the injury report for many years before suffering that injury last year. I like the fit in Zack Robinson's offense. I think the personnel they've added, not only who they had in place, but also the guys they've added over the past few days, Dernal Mooney. They trade for Ron Dale more today. I think those are exciting pieces to work with. They play indoors again. Maybe he doesn't give you the ceiling you're looking for. Maybe you don't get the rookie quarterback ceiling. But I think if their goal is to win the NFC South, This was a logical move.

Yeah, I think so, too. I just think people have this idea that they're this ready-made team, and it's a totally different coaching staff. People often project forward of like, How is this offensive line going to be, for instance? It actually was pretty disappointing last year. It's one of the reasons I think they fell short. How is their defense going to be? Some of the numbers look pretty good for the Falcons, but DVOA, they were 24th because they played such an easy schedule. That was artificially inflated. You look at their defense, the front sevens, especially the edge rushing positions, pretty lackluster. It helps. They look like the best team in that division, but that's doing a lot of the work here. If you're just lining up who's got the best roster in the NFC, they're right in the middle, and they might be They're behind the Minnesota Vikings. I don't think they're some great ready-made team. They're just in a bad division.

Yeah, but we'll take that. Sure. Play it as it lays. You are not going to be stuck in the NFC West anytime soon. You have an owner who's in his '80s. You have a roster that's not one of the younger rosters in football, especially after all the free agent signings they made last year on defense. If you want to go in 10, 11 games, I think Kirk can do that for you.

The biggest impact for you, other Or maybe it is Cousins, or is it someone else?

I would say Cousins, but I'm trying to think of a second person. I don't know if you could hear me trying to stall as I was getting that answer.

We could pivot, too. You don't have to force another impact answer.

No, because I think there's a conversation to be had here. What about Saquon Barkley? Should we have the Saquon Barkley conversation? Because I think it implies a couple of things. Number one, there's the economic impact of, Okay, we have found the point where even teams like the Eagles, who are not typically investing in runningbacks, are willing to go out and pay for a premium runningback. We saw that price tag makes sense. He's getting less than Gabe Davis, which at the end of the day, I have to believe if you pulled 32 NFL different from coordinators and said, Are you more worried about Gabe Davis or Saquon Barkley? If you're playing them next week, I have to imagine most of them would say Saquon Barkley. I think it raises this really fascinating question about what this Eagles's offense is going to look like post Jason Kelsi retiring, and after they've now hired Kelen Moore to be the offensive coordinator. Are they going to be a team that throws to the running back more the way more as offense is did with Tony Pollard and Austin, because they didn't do that much over the past couple of years with Jalen Hertz.

Is Jelen Hertz going to run less? Is he going to be less a part of the designated running back or quarterback running game? Is he going to be the guy who was the push-push? Are they going to put Saquon in the push-push spot? I think is a viable possibility. I think there's all these There's a lot of different questions about what Saquon is going to do in that offense, and it may work out that he's just a typical running back. He gets 30 catches a year, and that's a pretty boring answer. But I think there's a lot of exciting possibilities for how the Eagles offense could evolve with Kelen Moore and now with a different focal point in Saquon Barkley.

I love the fit. I'm with you. I think that if you look at Saquon Barkley, A, durability was an issue in New York, but also the cast around him and the quarterback's durability and the wideout's durability and the tight-end's durability and the offensive line being a shambles. He's in a much better spot. I think the Eagles have found a way, even though their season ended in total chaos, to flip the switch a little bit where some of that goes away. I think Saquon Barkley is a new face. You're right, it changes the versatility of what the offense can do. I feel a little bit different about the Eagles. Him going to another place, I wouldn't have been big on. I like it in Philadelphia for the NFC East rivalry side of it, too.

I absolutely do, too, because I think my answer for biggest impact, a lot of the options would be on the Eagles. I I think Bryce Huff, for them, is going to be perfect. I think Chauncey Gardner Johnson is in that secondary that just absolutely needed something. I think that is an undervalued position, having that versatility where you can play slot, you can play safety, and they absolutely needed someone back there, and they know what they're getting in Chauncey Gardner Johnson. I look at a lot of the moves this week, and a lot of my favorite moves are the Philadelphia Eagles. I'm back in.

Everybody's back in on the Eagles. How What about this pivot? Here's my-Yes, go ahead, Bill.

Here's my question about the Eagles. This is the only part that worries me about the Eagles in Chauncey Garner Johnson. So they could have signed him to a multi-year deal last year. Did not do it. He misses the entire season, basically, because of injury. And now they want to bring him back on a multi-year deal? Does that seem a little worrisome to you? Maybe they're just trying to erase what happened last year and just bring back, try to just bring back the 2022 team at all costs.

I think he just had a certain number that he wanted to reach last year, and no one gave it to him. And the reporting was just that they were going to spend that money somewhere, but it's the first few hours of free agency. He wasn't taking it, and they pivoted to Bradbury, and that turned to be a disastrous contract. They were not expecting to keep Bradbury or pay him that much money. Then Chauncey Garner-Jonesy got left out in the cold. I mean, he did this year, too. None of these safeties got paid like monster money, but he did better.

I like it better than the relationship between Chauncey Garner and Dennis Allen, which was one of the funnier subplots in in the NFC a couple of years ago?

Somebody, I'm looking for it on Twitter. Somebody sent it to me. We've been talking. It's come up a couple of times on the shows this week, the idea of being careful with your friend that breaks up with the girl, and then you say something bad about the girl, and then the friend gets back with the girl. Yeah. Troubled daughters. Apparently, on the way out the door, Garner Johnson buried the city of Philadelphia and their fans. That's a tricky one.

I think he sent some tweets out to make up.

It's like the The worst part of playing there were the fans. Well, welcome back. If I could find that quote, I'll do it. Pivot. Greggy, what is the move where you were scratching your head? Like, Come on. What?

All right. Titans fans aren't going to love this, but they made a couple just swaps that to me, didn't make a lot of sense. One of them was, Aziz Al-Shahir goes to Houston, and they bring in Kenneth Murray from the Chargers, which feels like a downgrade, and they paid more money for it. Another one was, Derek Henry leaves the building, and you bring in Tony Pollard, which is fine. I like Tony Pollard, so I'm not really killing this one. But it's just like a swap. Is this an upgrade, again, for the same amount of money. There's just a lot going on there. If you look at each move, I don't think one by one that they were terrible moves by the Titans, like Lloyd Cushenberry gets a lot of money at center, but they all scream to me of a team a little bit like the Patriots, although they spend on their own guys. At some point, you have too much cap space, and you just feel like you have to spend it, and you make marginal upgrades. They went from Aaron Brewer to Cushenberry at center and just spent twice as much money. It's like, historically, It's a bad process, and that process doesn't work out.

It's more of the Titans process in general, but especially that Murray contract seemed bizarre to me because he was a fiasco with the chargers.

Yeah, I had no idea what that market was like. That was going to be my pick as well.

I've got a situation that irks me.

Okay, go ahead.

It's more about just inactivity. The way this works, probably by the time people are listening to this, this could change. But the chief They just needed a wide receiver. They needed to look for something. And they've added Irv Smith, a largely forgettable tight-end, and nothing else. I know they're restructured, the Mahomes deal, and I think that, to me, suggests or hints at a bigger move to come. I hope it does, but it's I feel like the draft is helpful, too, but their draft position isn't great. You need to look around for something because you can't run. Don't get someone, though. I think they will, but it's like they have done nothing yet. And yet I speak against myself because I trust no team more to figure out their That's the one issue.

Still players. We just talked about Mike Williams in the news, Odell's out there, and there's the draft ahead.

It could be trades.

I'd like Mike Williams. That would be interesting.

Hollywood grounds out there. Were the Bengals ever trade Tee Higgins to them? I forgot to mention. Are the Chiefs? By the way, for the Titans. There was a contract I liked even less on the Titans, which we never talked about in the pod, which is Chinobia Whozie, which I just didn't get because he was coming off a torn ACL last year and struggled pretty badly for the Bengals, got benched, more or less, during that stretch run, and they want to establish a veteran culture, and they give all this money to them. That's curious.

During a live stream on Twitch last July, C. J. G. Garner Johnson was asked about his favorite and least favorite part of his time in Philadelphia. Here's a quote. Philadelphia, Colleen Wolf. This is not me. This is the quote. My least favorite thing is the people. They're fucking obnoxious. I fucking can't stand the motherfuck.

All the people, not even just the fans.

Is that the right context?

I think that could be like a... Out of context, that could read differently.

Randy Chavez, behind the Glass, big fun. Can you check in on the context? That's important. Bill's a journo at his heart.Irotically, though.The northeastern grad like myself.

Maybe it's like, if the Eagles fans read that, wouldn't they recognize one of their own? No. That is someone...

I don't think so.

That is hilarious because he tweeted out flying home and put an Eagle thing up. I don't think he's addressed these comments yet.

All right. How about that?

Yeah, go ahead. I just have a question. Can we also find out what his favorite thing was? If the least favorite thing was people. That's a really vague one.

There's a lot of them, too. He does say, I do owe the fans of Philly an apology. Regardless, this is an amazing place, and we had some memories together. Let's go get us one. All right. We had some-Let bygones be bygones, as they say.

I don't know what that means, really. How about this one? The Vince Lombardi Memorial. What the hell is going on around here? Bill, for you, the signing that really left you a trade or whatever that left you scratch in your head. What the hell is going on out here?

I would say the Vikings with Sam. I don't want to have to rehash I'm not sure what to say on that, though, because I really don't understand what's going on there. Maybe can we talk about the Raiders and Christian Wilkins? Because on one hand, it makes total sense, and on the other, I don't think it makes sense. From the perspective of We need to upgrade this roster. They needed an interior pass rusher, and I think that makes total sense. But in the big picture, I think they're a lot closer to contention than they actually are. I really think they need to take a step backwards on a forward. It feels like they're just making the same mistake that 20 years of Raiders teams have done in years past. But I don't know. Do you guys feel like there's an obvious one that I'm missing? Because I feel like that's cheating.

Does it strike you as the Dominican suit of the Dolphins back when that happened and everyone thought that Miami was winning the offseason?

That is a great, great comparison.

Wilkins is a great player, and I was surprised he got to free agency in the first place. That was one of the most surprising things. I do like what they're building. Winning with defense His first, though, and you get $57 million guaranteed to a defensive tackle in the same year that you signed Garner Minchou as your presumptive starting quarterback. It's weird process, but he was one of the best players available.

I offer my theory on this. I think this is a power of his personality, cult of personality. Antonio pierce has an organization whipped up into an uproar. They got him puffing out their chest. You heard the comments about the chiefs. We can't wait to give them the Jordan rules. They go and they're... And you know Antonio pierce, a former linebacker. He's like, Yeah, give me that Max Crosby chest piece to pair with him, and we're going to kick some more ass. And he's like, Bring us in this guy and that guy. Even though it makes all the sense in the world to trade Devante Adams and reset for the future, we're keeping him because we're going to continue to... And I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. I think there's something to be said for just positive vibes. And why not? They could win nine games next year and make the playoffs. But at the same time, maybe the pierce and the energy around the end of that season him getting hired is affecting more than just where they went as a head coach.

No question. I think that is absolutely what's happening there. I'll throw out two more. I'll let you guys decide which one you think is more interesting. I will say the packers swapping out Aaron Jones for Josh Jacobs. I don't know what you guys feel. I think Aaron Jones is the better running back of the two. And the Patriots, where they came out this offseason and they said, We got money to burn. Gerard Mayo was excited to spend money. And they've just run it back with the old Patriots. They haven't really made too many additions outside of what they had previously. So a little intrigued as to what their short term plan is.

I like those. I think for me, because the Vikings, you move on with Daneel Hunter and you replace them with someone else. But it's like the Aaron Jones to the Vikings was one of my favorite moves, and I couldn't be more with you. I'm just not as high on Josh Jacobs as some others have been. It's really hot and cold season to season. And I absolutely think that was a steal from Minnesota, and Green Bay got worse at running back.

I've actually liked what the Patriots have done. I'm glad you brought that up because I think it's almost been a little under the radar what a sea change it is that Elliott Wolf is running their team now, and The philosophy that he brings from Green Bay is totally different. He even said they're changing their entire scouting language that they've had, so everything's going to be different. That's just not a team that goes out there and spends crazy. So yes, Gerard Mayo said that they had all this cap space to spend. I think they wanted to. Now look, when we got a very competitive good market, those are the types of deals, actually, I would not have expected Bill Belichick to get done. It did feel a little different that these players were coming back. Then the Uche move, just because we haven't hit it on this podcast, is one of the craziest reported stories we've seen, that he literally had $11 million guaranteed in a two-year contract that he passed on for a one-year, $3 million contract that He can go up to eight incentives, which is wild. You're seeing some buy-in from the defense of players, especially on this team, of maybe what Mayo is going to do.

But I think it's an ultimate bet on yourself moment, that he's literally taking less money because he thinks he's going to hit those incentives, and more importantly, that he'll get to free agency next year. People say, Bet on yourself. Passing on $8 million guaranteed bet on yourself. I literally can't remember that happening, especially for a second round pick who's probably made, what, $2, $3 million in his entire career. It's almost unprecedented. So now I'm rooting a little extra for Josh Uche. I think it was a good movie at 12 and a half Sacks two years ago.

Good luck to him.

Good luck. Yeah. If I was his agent, I'm sure his agent wasn't thrilled.

Does he have an agent? That might be missing an ingredient.

Yes, because you could tell the way Tom Pea, the Pelraiser, tweeted it out, you could tell this is a rare case where a player went on their own and made the decision. Essentially, he went against his agent's advice and did what he wanted to. I'm fine with the page. They were in on, really, but they had a number. They weren't going to go too high. What are they going to do?

Seven and 10.

We just came off a season where we were like, Okay, the Patriots need speed. They desperately need pieces wherever their new quarterback is going to be. The guy they've added is Antonio Gibson. I don't know.

It's early.

A couple more minutes with Bill. He's a busy man. Early is right. I'm going to combine two categories here. So best remaining player, in your opinion, and let's tie that together with predictions for what's next. Bill Barn Bill, who's a player that you're quite fond of that's on the market and a team that should be very interested in going after said player?

Okay, so let's go.

Maybe not even a prediction, Bill, more just in your mind, what just makes so much sense for you.

I'll throw a prediction out there.Go ahead.I'm not scared.Go for it. I'm willing to put a team out there. I think Eric Armstead makes a lot of sense. A player who is really talented, it's a free technique. San Francisco, it wasn't like he had some playing well. He had some injury issues, but still was playing at a high level. I think they had some cap concerns. Maybe they could be a little less expensive after adding Hargrave on the defensive line. Nick Bosa's deal is hitting, and that's a significant contract. So maybe they're cutting back a bit.

Iput a pin in this for one second, Bill. I hate to interrupt you. We actually have developing news on the Armstead situation. You are not allowed to look at your computer because it sounds like we know where he's going to go. If you can guess what an opportunity where he ends up landing. You actually win around the NFL podcast 2024. You're the winner.

Those shows you're on ESPN, you win the game. Here we go.

I don't win very often. The team I was going to put out there was the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Whoa, are you serious? Stop.

Did he get it?

He got it right. He wins the award in the podcast.

He won the podcast. I told you this guy should be a GM.What a moment in He sees things.

I'm not kidding. I'm not kidding. I did not look. They were my pick. I figured if they got Calvin Reveal, you weren't going to go for that move. No, he's got integrity. I swear.

He's a Northeastern graduate. He's got integrity for Dane.

You don't have a television directly in front of you that's off to the side? No. Okay, and I believe you. I believe you because that's the ilke of the type of journalist that you are. You've nailed that. Wonderful job.

No. I would rather have made a funny pick that was wrong as opposed to a quick- All right.

Why is that such a great move now for the Jacks?

They made a couple of cuts. They let Fota Kasi go. They needed some pieces up front. They needed to make an addition to the defensive side of the ball. They're set on the edge with Walker and Josh Allen. They cut Darius Williams. I think they're going to maybe address corner in the draft, but it felt like once they lost Calvin Ridley, they had money to burn. I think they were budgeting to bring him back. And once they lost him to Tennessee, they had this big chunk of money. Didn't really have a lot to do with it. There wasn't really any replacement for Ridley on the offensive side of the ball. That made sense. They already signed Gabe Davis. I think they'll probably draft a wide receiver. But Armstead was the best player left and addressed the position of need for them. I think they were weak up front. I think they needed another piece on the interior. Armstead's a great player. Thought it made a lot of sense. I love him.

He's like 6'8, could barely walk to fit through a door.

Still playing well. He was actually the- Very large. Fifth-highest graded interior pass rusher last year, according to PFF, just missed snaps for the first time and missed 13 games over the last two years. It does remind me a little bit of, though, the Rams signing Allen Robinson just because they had so much money when they couldn't get Von Miller that they just were like, Well, we got to spend that money the next day. That's what the Jaguars do this with the Calvin Ridley money, but Armstead is a good player.

Was Trent Balki, the guy who drafted Eric Armstead? Was he still there when they drafted Armstein?

I believe he was.

That was back in 2015. 2015, 17th overall.

I think Trent Balke lasted until '15 or '16. You've really sleothed it. Once again, you win. Yeah, in 2016, he was there until... So he did draft Eric Armstein. You can often connect these little dots.

Well, he can.

Yeah, I can't.

Bill, before we let you go, a little heat check on you because you've already won this podcast. But did you also win? Well, you can't win it outright because F and Rosenthal went 4 and 0. What a year Rosenthal had in his predictions. Bill, I don't know if you were plugged in on that.

I heard. It was infuriating. A source texted me about this very topic.

It was a constant thorn in the side of the other two people on this show.

He had a great year in his predictions, including his over-unders where he went 4 and 0. Now we're going to check back. Back in August, you were on the show, Bill. Let's go over your over-unders. Here we go. You had the Rams over six and a half.

That was a home run.

Give him a ding. Off to a good start. Give him a big old ding.

You had that by about week 14. That was-En and seven.

Yeah. You had the Lions under nine and a half.

They had twelve. You were that team that didn't believe in them. You were the haters. I was.

You were the hater. I thought there would be nine and eight.

You had the Broncos over eight and a half.

This is no way to send him out of the episode.

This is accountability. The Broncos went eight and nine. Wow. I didn't realize they got to 8.

You almost had it. Half game short. Yeah.

The Eagles under eleven and a half, and that was looking was in a lot of trouble, and then they went in the tank and finished at 11:06 after they were 11:01, I believe.

We got hot at the end of the year.

We won't say what Mark did in that competition.

Oh, it's a disaster.

My source also texted what Mark did as well.

Oh, I'm not surprised.

Now, you gave him another thing to think about as he lays in bed with his eyes wide open staring at the ceiling. Bill, come on. Mental health.

That's nice ceiling.

Bill Barnwell, you've said it all. Please, what do you got out there? Give people avenues to get to more Barnwell.

Bill Barnwell-ridden Content at espn. Com. Espn's Bill Barnwell Show podcast. I think I'll be on NFL Live sometime next week. Just watch NFL Live every day, and maybe I'll hop on there. Some sports centers here and there, around the Horn here and there.

That sports center in 45 minutes here.

I'm trying a new thing as host. I'm doing the Hot Ones thing, the host of Hot Ones, where he's like, Look in this camera, that camera, and that camera, and tell us what you got going on. I think you did a great job with it just there, Bill.

I've only got one camera, unfortunately. I'm just going to stare at that camera until proven otherwise.

Ladies and gentlemen, Bill Barnwell.Thanks.

Bill.thanks, bud.Thank you.

Mount Rushmore.

Well, I mean, that was a stunt. That was a nice look into the skills of Bill Barnwell. Just a nail of 32 teams.

Ian called them a dark horse, so he managed to pick a dark horse.

Pretty good. Let's take a break and let's finish up the news. Nfl Media Insiders. Do they even like each other?

Greg, can we get your media reaction to something that just happened here?

Sorry, Tom. We need to get your reaction.

Tom and I are reporting. We have a trade. It's always confusing to me which tweets you put both names, and then some tweets, it's only one name. I don't know how that all works. There we go. It's really He was second. I was first. Yes, Greg.

Greg Rosenthal on the air, NFL Network, saying what needs to be shared, that there's heat.

I don't even need to say it. That clip, if you relisten to it on the podcast or you watch it on YouTube, Tom starts to break the news. He has a half second where he starts speaking, and Ian literally cuts him off.

That's the game, man. When we went down this avenue-That's the game.back in Austin, I said that there is a bit of a flashpoint focus element in the Insiders, and it's just mounting and growing and bubbling.

We're just heading into draft season. This is all coming to a head. That's what flash point focus is all about. Do we have another clip?

We do.

Listen to that. That's soul right there. All right, let's listen to the other one.

Greg, really quick before we let you go. I don't want to be too harsh on your backdrop. Are you aware it looks like you've got antlers just with there's a break in the wall or something back there.

Move your head a little bit. Bunt and burner.

A producer also wants to see what the sign says behind you since we're only getting every third letter. So as long as it's not dirty or something. Be nice or leave. If you're a New Orleans fan, you'll recognize that artist, Simon, who does a lot of stuff. That was a wedding gift. And you can also see my lock trophy here as the back-to-back champion of the around the NFL lock competition. It's a dynasty, people are saying.

What a dick. There is no greater self-promoter in the entire building, Greg.

No, he's there. If he's got a platform, he will be pumping himself.

It's like a politician's thing. Don't answer the question that they ask. Answer the question you wish that they asked. I pivoted right off that antler You know what? You might want to-Right into what was important. You should run for vice president.

We would be comfortable if you want to join RFK. Take just a sabbatical here.

We'd be...

It's like antlers, by the way. While I was saying that, I was like, Oh, I'm clipping this for the show.

Good work. I like it all. Pelraiser coming after you. He's trying to make a fool of you on live television.

I could work on that backdrop. There's a lot going on. It's not It's not as smooth as some out there. Dance looks great. Marks is good.

Mine is about as stark as it gets. I'm still working on that space.

The key to a good background, I find, is to have more depth, but it's hard I did have depth of space here in Los Angeles.

I tried to talk Emika into... I would set it up that the camera would be showing the whole rest of the garage, and she thought that looked insane to show the back of a garage. It's like, Greg, we get it. Then there would be depth. It's like, Greg, we get it.

You're a feminist. Liz Farris CD sitting on the shelf. We get it, dude.Well.

That's signed.You're a champion of women. That was a birthday present from Liz. It says, Happy birthday, Greg.

It used to be in your bedroom. You could have switched that.

Wait, that's a signed Liz Farris CD?

Not only individually signed when she was a guest of the Tonight Show, and I was a page there.

I thought maybe she went to your wedding, too.

I'm going to give you a little bit of a pass there because there's more to it than just Look at me.

I mean, give me a look.

I'm a champion.

Also, Gabe Kapler is in the mix there, back there. That's signed as-I like that.

He is a Jewish star of a Boston sports team.

You got to take advantage of that. Who was batting, I believe, eighth for some team in Japan. I guess you could call it be the first time I really ever met my wife, Emeka.

How about that? Greg is real into autografs, apparently. I didn't realize that about him. Autograph hunting.

I've seen him with a combine. That was a present. El throwing sharp elbows to children.

You also get a lot of presents, it seems like. A lot of people are giving you gifts left.

Well, that was from the best man in our wedding. He got his hand out a lot. He brought us to that game. It was when we first met at all. It was your cousin who was stunned by 120 bees at the wedding. What did he give you? That was not at the wedding, that was when we were 10 years old in the-Breaking news. Forest of Wilbraham.

Breaking news. What was it again? I forgot.

The Seahawks are acquiring Sam Howell from the Washington Commanders. They also get a fourth round and a sixth round pick in the deal. The Commanders actually move up. I mean, man, if I'm Sam Howell, I'm like, Wait, it's only a move up? The Commanders move up to the third and the fifth round of the draft. So essentially two pick swaps where the Commanders move up one round and the Seahawks get Sam Howell for, I'll say it, virtually nothing. Yeah.

I love it for Seattle.

Well, it depends on your opinion of Sam Howell.

I actually think that-I think it's good business. I know that Gino Smith is just likely your star at this point, but Mike McDonald.

Good news for Gino Smith.

It is good news. Gino could have had a tougher competitor. I still think actually a rookie will be there, too, and it might be one of those three-headed battles where it was, remember, it was like a Whitehurst, Russell Wilson, and was Matt Flynn there.

Matt Flynn had been the big free agent signing, then lost his job.

But if this is the veteran competition for Gino, he's going to be over Sam Howell, certainly. Look, if you could just get a third-year quarterback who's shown that he's decent, and all you had to do was move down 24 spots from the third to the fourth round. I mean, any cheap way to get a quarterback, I'll take it. It's a solid trade.

It's easy to forget now because he had such a disaster second half. There There were real conversations about how being the answer there in Washington, now a regime change occurs, so all of a sudden, he's no longer a favored son, but he absolutely torpedoed his future there with some reckless bad play. He's looking to become a more consistent player. Maybe he can get... He's got a little bit of Ryan Fitzpatrick DNA, and then maybe he can have opportunities along the way like Fitzpatrick did.

And thanks to his late season swoon, they won four games and are in position to get a new quarterback, which is obviously Greggy in the pats there.

It was a good... I had to... It was a lesson on stats don't lie, but they need context. I believe he was benched at the time that he was leading the NFL in passing yards. We're close to it. Closer to, right. Because my son walked, or maybe it was fantasy points or something among quarter because Walker was blown away. He was like, How could they bench the guy that is leading the NFL in passing?

He was throwing for an ass ton of passing yards. I remember that. All right, let's finish off the news.How.

Many passing yards?

An ass ton. He was on pace for like a 5,000-yard season.

I love dirty words or phrases that are spun that way where it's like, that's not it. You just created the term for the most part.

Thank you, Randy, for letting me know that Kapler was playing for the Yomi Yuri giant.Heavens to Betsey. By the way, struggled badly. What's that, Mark?

I didn't say that. Heavens to Betsey. My grandmother used to say that, so that's right before that.

Yes, everyone that was born in 1898 used to say that. All right, here we go. Let's spin through the rest of the news here. The Cowboys finally get in the mix. They sign Eric Kendricks to a deal. Kendricks had backed out of an agreement or was heading toward where was that?

Yeah, he had agreed with the 49ers.

Nineers, and he changes his mind and goes to the Cowboys. The Raiders, finally, this feels like it's been something that's been percolating for a couple of years now. They say goodbye to Hunter Renfro, so they cut ties with the slot receiver. And Roni Stanley, stays with Baltimore, the guard, gets a haircut, which means a pay cut, and they trade Morgan Moses to the Jets for a late pick swap. Actually, I like that trade for the Jets as well. He was on the Jets then signed with the Ravens. Now the Jets get him back for some late round picks. Anything on those? Moves.

I like Stanley staying in Baltimore because they've lost offensive lineman, they've lost Patrick Queen, they've lost Geno Stone, they've lost Ronald Darby. Odal Beckham's out the door. You mentioned the Cowboys. We haven't really talked about it. I feel like everyone is, so it's like we get it. But for the Jerry Jones telling us that this is going to be the all-in team that gets super active, they've lost almost 4,500 snaps in terms of personnel off the roster and some of those in key positions.

They're in a tricky financial place, and I think that's playing into... They got this Dack thing hanging over the team. You got the CD-Lam contract hanging over the team. You got Micah Parsons down on the road. I think they're in a tough spot a little bit. Yeah.

They also had-Buy into us. I don't know if it was ever confirmed that it was actually Tyron Smith in a Twitter account that was saying, Call me up, Cowboys. I don't really want to leave. I also think, though, the Cowboys do have a heart. There is a draft analyst out there by the name of Connor, Connor NFL draft analyst, and he said he's a big Cowboys fan, apparently, that he would start doing meth if the Cowboys don't freaking sign a free agent in the next hour. Within that hour, they sign Eric Hendrix. I think they saw that out there and they wanted to say that. They saved somebody.

Yeah, that's a caring move.

Tyron Smith, by the way, veteran left tackle, 33 years old, coming off a big season with him. He's always been a really talented, borderline Hall of Fame level talent for the Cowboys. I'm surprised he doesn't have a hotter market. He's hanging out there still. Maybe he does have a hot market. He's just taking his time to make the decisions, but nudging the Cowboys and be like, Hey, guys, you want to think this over? Two weeks after it was widely reported that they were moving on. I don't know if there's some type of red flags, some medical history.

He's not getting the contract that he was hoping for, some big guaranteed money. Teams must be worried about the injuries.

Can you understand? I do get the... I want to just stay with the Cowboys in Dallas because it's annoying to move, first of all. I'm sure he could get a move.

It also seems fun to play for the Cowboys. I know cowboys. Other years. People that hate the Cowboys don't want to hear that, but you're on prime time all the time. You're treated well by ownership. You're in a beautiful stadium. Everybody's always watching you.

Probably live on a ranch.

Although Dalton Schultz pointed out how...

No state income tax.

Dalton Schultz pointed out how sometimes when you're working out, they are taking tours past you and they can see through the glass to you working out. He was just like, what's... It reminded me of your situation, Mark.Yeah, my desk. Where the tours are going by your... Now, imagine that, except you're doing squats and whatnot. The last thing I think you would want is...

Yeah, but there's a little difference between me doing squats and Dalton Schultz.

Sure, it would be impressive.

You're saying you're concerned, you might beef or something when you're doing squats and someone's...

No, I just mean you don't want people staring at you while you're doing weights and stuff. That's certainly a consequence as well, potentially.

Yeah, you're right. That's that It would happen to you. That would be problematic.

Go to Terry Blacks right before.

You had a middle school class. They must have nowhere else to go because they've gone back and forth.

I should add, journalistically, a downside of playing for the Cowboys is that you physically cannot advance past the divisional round of the playoffs. But there's a little bit of a...

Yeah, but your offseason starts sooner.

Glass ceiling as well.

It's true. You don't really get paid extra for the playoffs. That's true. I mean, a little bit.

In other news, Willie Gay goes to the Saints. The Bucks to bring Jordan White, had the safety back home after a couple of years with the Jets. The bangles get Sheldon Rankins, who I've always liked. Von Bell, they cut ties with nick Scott.

Also, while we were taping, the Lions picked up DJ Reader, who is coming off a torn quad, but it was a very good play. I like Reader. When he is healthy to a pretty sizey contract. Some of these contracts for defensive linemen, Rankins is a good example, went way up.He's.

A guy that had beenIs that the Jamal Williams injury?

That had been signing One year. Yeah, I know. Torn quads. I'm surprised that I want to look at the particulars if they have some protection injury-wise because you're often not the same player off a torn quad. But Rankin's got two for 26. That just shows how much cap space is out there because he's the same player. He's a very good player, the same player as he's been the last couple of years, but now he's getting almost like double the money that he was getting from Houston or from the Jets.

It should be clear that Adams had a torn quad tendon, which is different than the muscle. I think the tendon is the one where it's like, Uh-oh, maybe the muscle tear is not quite as foreboding. All right, that's what's happening in the news. Did you get everything?

Well, I think we had a couple of predictions that were out there.

Oh, yeah, let's cycle back to that. I asked the Bill to offer a prediction, and not only in real-time did he offer a sound one, it was confirmed via the news seconds later that he was correct in getting... Who was it? It was to the Jaguar. Eric Armstead. Eric Armstead. Eric Armstead. I just had a stroke. Mark, I don't know who Brian is. Mark, who?I could be Brian. Give us a prediction.

Mike Williams. I've been looking around at a couple of these wide-out rooms, and I think Mike Williams, I think the former owner of this team would have liked the Mike Williams concept a lot. But the Las Vegas Raiders right now have Devante Adams, who they're obviously at this I don't think the idea of trading him is gone because they got it behind them. Jacobi Myers. Jacobi Meyers. Then you got guys like Trey Tucker, DJ Turner, and Christian Wilkerson. They have nothing at wide receiver. I feel like Mike Williams to Las Vegas in the same division, it takes away from the chargers, adds to the Raiders. They need a wide receiver.Right church, wrong pew.Why so?

It's so on brand for where this team is right now and this player. Odell wants to Vegas. Odell Beckham to the Raiders.

I guess. A little more money than you would think. If you're Odell, though, and you literally shredded your relationship in Cleveland because of what you can deem to be and your father deemed to be shaky quarterback play, do you sign up with a That's the name that right now is Garner Minchou and Aiden O'Kunal?

He'll go who offers them money at this point. I could just see the Raiders wanting to get in the Odell business, put it that way. I mean, it makes sense from the...We went to the Super Bowl in Vegas this year Did the walk around the Concourse. I always like to do that and see what these stadiums look at. A beautiful facility, Allegiant Stadium. But the Raiders are insane with who they retire, the numbers they retire. They retired Randy Moss's number.

They didn't retire his number.

He's in the ring of whatever the fuck.

No, they had... I guess what it was... That didn't even go well. It was like any Raider that has ever made the Hall of Fame gets their picture. Even though they counted Randy Moss. They counted Jerry Rice as a Raider, too. Come on.

Well, that's actually tricky because Beckham, he should be. He should be going to the Hall of Fame, but he just got his career. Injuries played a role, but he never reached the full potential of what he was, which was a beautiful, perfect wide receiver early in his career. But they love big name brands. They always have. Al loved it. His son, Mark, loves it. So that's my prediction.

I'm going to go with a trade. I'm going to go with Marshawn Latamore, go into the New England Patriots in a deal. I think Ron Wolf, I feel better. It feels like there's an adult in the room now with the Patriots in terms of how to run a team. I think their defense looks quite good on paper, and they're going to look for any value, and they can afford it. They didn't find the right players to spend a lot of money, but Marsha and Latamor, let's say you give a second wrap.

When there's some buzz about Latamor hitting the road.

I think Latamor is going to get traded at some point. Maybe it would happen the next week. Maybe it would happen closer to the draft, but you might be able to get away with giving up a third round pick for Lattemore, or maybe...

I don't know. You know what's good. You know Greg is going to nail this, and then ours are going to go by the wayside.

That's all the Earth is. It's a new year. It's a new year. It's a new chance for us. How about, I believe it was a draft classmate. Was Alvin Kamara and Latamor in that same class? I think that's right. Both that mega 2017 class that revitalized Sean Payton's career in New Orleans. How How about another Saints one, Kamara up to Denver? Reteamed with Sean Payton. Payton trying to get some elements that are familiar to him as he looks to reboot the machine, post Russ truly in his vision. It's not going to cost you much because I think Kamara at this stage won't command something big. So like Kamara for a fifth round or something like that.

Fourth rounder, maybe.

How about this one? The G-men and Justin Fields. After a bunch of no one really wants them, we get it. At this point, I'm wondering if the bears just hold onto him. It's like he's not a child. If they draft a rookie, they can coexist. Then when a team has their star quarterback have his knee destroyed, in week three, Justin Fields' value goes up because right now his value is very low. But the G-men feel or even the Patriots feel like a potential fit.

I'm with you. If I was the bears and I don't get offered anything better than a fourth-That feels shrieky right now. During the draft, then I would rather just keep Justin Fields and make everyone be a grown up, and maybe he'll get traded later on.

I think that's a good one. I don't know about to the Giants because-There aren't that many teams that make sense for Justin Fields.

The Giants are done with Daniel Jones after this season.

They got Drew Lock.

But Drew Lock is it.

But if you hold on to him, yeah, that makes sense. I think we'll be telling if you see the bears add another backup to the room in the coming days and weeks that they might be thinking about keeping Fields and then having someone in the building when they move Fields maybe in October.

You just can't have... I think Justin Fields is a tricky QB2 because I think fans love him. I know these teams don't seem to love him or something about him, but like-Teammates do. Teammates do. But if Justin Fields is sitting behind any quarterback that's struggling on any level, it's like there's going to be a problem for the coaching staff.

We still got stuff out there, but not as much. It was fast. The insiders were talking as part of their program.

When you were on the program today, did they seem to let you in, or was there any coldness to it? How was it?

They let me in, certainly. They were friendly. It was pretty much whatever interactions we had was on the air because it wasn't too much before that. But yes, they were great. They were talking about how this really was the fastest moving. I don't know how they could prove this, but the The fastest moving free agency that had ever happened in terms of the most players and the most signings coming off the board the faster.

Yeah, because people have been tampering for like 45 days. I don't want to hear about this idea that that's cone of silence until this false deadline is ushered in.

I've got 11 players left off of my top 101, and that was the top 101 for Monday. If you had gone back to the original list, it'd be way, way, way people are tracking it at this pace, Greg.

I know they're looking at every transaction on the nfl. Com website.

Didn't get them a chip. Should have gotten to a Super Bowl, but they got robbed by the officials. But that 2017 Saints draft class, Marshawn Latamor, first round, Ryan Ramcheck, first round, Marcus Williams, second round, Alvin Kamara, third round, Dre Hendrickson, third round, Alex Anzaloni, and the sixth pick.

The Saints have also had a couple of disastrous first round selections in zero sense.

That it really is an all-time draft. All time.

Reset that whole organization with Drew Brees as the final user.

I mean, Hendriksen is the third-round pick. Muhammad, actually, you just mentioned, even the sixth-round pick had a nice career. He ended up being in Indianapolis. But that's a crazy draft.

It's like Mickey Loomis actually is focused on the team at various junctions.

It was back then. You know who's playing well right now? The Pelicans. I guess that's our time to believe.

Whenever the Pelicans come up. All right. Thank you, everybody. We'll be back on Friday if something warrants it, but don't hold your breath. It's got to be big.

Got to be Greg running for President. We had a Deshawn Watson one a couple of years ago.

He's not stealing my Friday.

He's the call..