The Around the NFL podcast. Wants to get a haircut with Tom braided. From the Chris Wesling podcast studio, it's Around the NFL. I am Mystic Dan Hansis, and I'm joined by heroes, Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sesler. Right before we started, Mark was making a joke. Instead of Cabo, he said Cabo, and everyone flicked behind the and in front of it.

Sorry, I'm not three times a month traveling outside of the country for some flighty vacation.

There is this some type of internal gathering here where I think they're going to Cabo, but we weren't even invited. That does not surprise. We have now aged out, been out of the mix enough within this building that no one's even checking and kicking the tires on the old heroes, whether they want to be involved.

I don't have any problem with not being invited because makes too much sense. But the assumption is that we wouldn't be any fun. I don't find that assumption correct. If you put us down in, you can fill in the blank island or local, I think we could bring fun.

Mark trying to rebuild his reputation.Rebuild. That's the rebound from the tough start of the show.

I say some words differently.Cabo.Constantly critiqued for it.

It feels like a lot's gone on since we last did a show. It's one of those type things. Jordan Rodriegue was a huge hit on around the NFC. We kept telling her, Gill, you're doing great. Listeners are going to love you. Sure enough, a huge outpouring out there in the internet that Jordan is a killer in studio guest, and we should have her again soon. A groundswell. I believe we will in time. Let's see, what else happened? Mark went to the Tom braided roast. We're going to get to that in a little bit. Greggy, I know you like rap. Drake and Kendrick Lamar. They've been feuding for days. We missed that. We missed that window. We could have had so much discourse.

For weeks, but we didn't miss it. It was still going as of last night, so this would be well.

See how he subtly corrected me to let the rap heads know that he gets it?

I'm just saying, it did feel like last night was maybe the end of it, so now it's a solid-I feel like we missed, but maybe it's been for weeks, but I feel like right after the show ended, Drake and Kendra. Yes, Thursday night.

It went wild. Yeah, let's turn this into a wildfire and put the guys in a tough spot, as happens with the news sometimes.

That was their main motivation.

I was like, Where are you going with this? Because not much football news happened in between. But yes.

Now the free agency is in the rear view. The draft is in the rear view. Rookey camps underway, OTAs, and all that other stuff is coming up. What's left? With these teams, when you look at these rosters, you They now had their opportunity, these teams. They had their opportunity to plug all the holes, but have they? That's the question. And we're going to get into teams where there's still stuff hanging out there. There's still question marks around these rosters. So we'll get into that. But first, but first. Anything, Greg? I got you in the corner of my eye doing a look over.

No, I'm good.

Let's do some news. I've been watching on Fox NFL Sunday, and I'm begging you, please stop doing your job. Bill Belichick at the Tom braided Roast. That's courtesy of Netflix. Mark, what was the vibe there at the Fabulous Forum?

It's pretty wild. I was telling Greg beforehand that it reminded me of even when we've gone to, whether it's Thursday night football here at Sofi or the Super Bowl, where when you watch it, the television copy later, the halftime show looks completely different. Parts of the game look completely different. Things that you just wouldn't see being there as a human. I had that feeling with this because it was a wild, raucous setting. I was up in not the cheap seats, but close. So you couldn't really see very well.

You got these as a gift, right? The tickets? Yes. What are your thoughts on maybe whoever got them for you not going that extra mile, getting a little closer to the stage? Let's stop down just to talk about that a little bit.

That wasn't my main takeaway. I liked, I think, the pricing has increased drastically as you tried to get closer to the stage.

All right, I'm sorry.

Go on. But yeah, okay, I'll think about that.

You could have definitely pulled some favors here, gotten probably a free ticket. It's not his thing.

I was actually asked in reverse why that didn't happen. It was not a critique. It was more just an ample question. It's like, I don't know anyone at this company anymore. Let's start there. I've met six people here.

Mark, not this company.

Think bigger.

If you get a surprise, you don't want to then try to upgrade it and change it.

That makes more sense. It was an I think the one thing that I noticed was I was like, What?

Is this going to be a bunch of transplanted Patriots fans? We were sitting near a flock of drunk and angry Giants fans who were razzing Tom braided from the Bleachers and the States. It was a wild crowd up where we were. Then I think it got richer and more wealthy as you got closer to the stage. Nice.

Fun time.

It was three hours long. There wasn't a down moment. I thought that those things were typically good, but they nailed it over and over. I thought the one thing I thought I thought, it was good for the Patriots, too, because suddenly you're in this moment where it's like Bill Belichick and braided were coaxed up to do a shot together. Robert Kraft, who took a number of strays early in the show.

Including one that led Tom braided to actually threaten the roastmaster general, Jeff Ross. Yeah.

I mean, I assume that's the thing we didn't catch sitting where we were seeing it on TV. I realized it caused a big stir. But all these patriots were there. After the documentary that came out and stuff, it It seemed to do a lot more to honor the Patriots in a weird roundabout way than that documentary. They all seemed much happier to do this, even though at the times, the look on Tom Brady's face seemed like, maybe stop mentioning Giselle for the 400th time and what's been taken from either of our fortunes.

I think that's part of the reason why I wasn't interested in watching it live, because I think Claybon made the point, and I did, too. I've avoided a lot of this post-Patriots afterglow, the productions, because I just don't need more the Patriots. If you're a Patriots fan, you're all over it. If you don't have any type of complicated relationship with the Patriots, maybe you just love it because it's football content. I was perfectly fine with seeing what came out on Twitter, and there were some good stuff out there, some funny lines. I thought Belichick, he had a good one or one written for him where he talked about he was at this roast, and he mentioned that that after mentioned Patriots 10-part documentary was also the Bill Belichick roast, which the crowd got into. I have some insider reporting I want to get out there. Ata. Ata. Media Insider. Insider. Insider. Dan. Hands-of-hand. Answers. For the truth, go to the Zoos. Zoos are in the morning. Except no substitutes. All right, so being an insider comes with responsibility. It comes with important and necessary guardrails. Knowing what to report, knowing what to holster. The best of us have a whole notepad filled of scoops that we never share.

Yeah, it's a dance, I would imagine.

That's for relationships and so much more. I say this because I want to report something that touches on this. I have multiple sources sources connected to this event that said when Greg reported, Bill Belichick would be on the roast, which is, by the way, information I also had, but had holstered. The producers were so upset because Bill Belichick contemplated dropping out of the event because he wanted it to be a surprise. And thank God he was talked into appearing on the the program because it was one of the hits of the night having him there. I just want to put it out there. He was there, but it went from him doing it to him, we might be losing Bill because of Greggy, his reporting, putting it out there and making it no longer a surprise, which Bill desperately, according to my sources, multiple sources, very close to the event, had said that Bill did not want this to get out beforehand. So on one level, Greg, yes, you have the scoopage, and that's great.

You want the truth, you go to the Rosenthal.

On the other hand-It doesn't ring as poetically. It came very close to #gregieruinseverything. So we got to talk about What matters ultimately in the world?

Ultimately, the truth matters. I believe getting it out there matters. But also you're getting it from a source, maybe also inside the production that wanted it out there.In fact, triple source.Right. The one that wanted the information out there, that maybe it'd be good for Buzz, that would be happy with it being out there. So maybe they calculated what could happen based on that, and they realized in the end, Bill Belichick was out there. So I'm not protecting the fat cats up there in the high fluten offices, making all the money. I go to the truth. And then he got out there. He was up there. I think you have it the other way around.

You were protecting the fat cats and doing their work for them. You were carrying their water in promoting the event. I just thought it was interesting. Whereas Bill himself was the one that was, I didn't want that out there. And then the audience, us, Average Joe's, we almost missed having Bill there and all the fun from the event. Listen, this isn't me throwing daggers at you, Greg. I know we're now competitors. I see you in some ways as a hungry young apprentice in this game. So I don't want to come down on you hard. I'm just letting you know this was what was happening around the story.

It's like an onion. It bothers me that Belichick, if he even contemplated in the 11th hour not attending this, that if he's that sensitive, I don't believe that.

I could believe that he would be unhappy. I don't think he really was about to...

Also, by the way, it would have had The whole thing's written and it's on teleprompter. It would have had to cause everyone to wipe out 700 other-That happens all the time. Live television, that happens.

Now, that said, I-Thank you.

I don't need to be taught that. I understand that it would have been an annoyance. I thank you, television man. But it's just that it would have been hyper annoying. He was the centerpiece of the show.

My point exactly. He was. We almost lost him. There's this guy over here.

I mean, you're trying to seek truth. I get it, Greg. But at what expense?

But also there's different agendas. Maybe they calculate. I don't think Bill Belichick would have been so sensitive. As for the surprise aspect, I have to guess for 95% of the people watching that, they did not know Belichick was going to be on that anyways. Not everyone is living on.

But then when he's on it, it also wasn't a surprise. What do you mean? I didn't find it surprising. I thought that either Belichick or Giselle, one of the two would somehow get their way onto this show.

Giselle would have been shocking to me, and I'm with you that Tom braided.

Belichick is doing a ton of media right now.

Tom braided looked... Those were hard because it's his family. It's painful. He's getting all these karate jokes. I haven't seen the whole thing, but I watched the beginning, and Belichick and enough so far just because I was out. That's got to be painful. It reminded me of the timing of this because it's like, Why is Tom braided doing this? I saw some people say, Who would you want to roast next set of athletes? I just can't imagine, A, there's enough people that are important enough that it would be this compelling. Then, of the people important enough, why would you even really want to do that? It got me thinking of the gestation project of this because we know through our original reporting, this was supposed to be a couple of years ago before he ever got divorced. We thought he might be retiring in part because this was cautiously on an upcoming docket of what he was planning to do in his post life. At that point, it was too late to back out. Although he's Tom braided, he could have backed out. He came off great in it, and he took the jokes, and he did fine when he had to be- Except for the crap.

That was getting up on the dais and throwing out a threat.

That made me wonder, and this I have no information, but knowing how these things work, there are things that are off limits. Oh, absolutely.

That made me wonder if that-Not much was off limits in terms of how Tom braided was treated.

That made me wonder if that was off limits.

Without delving into it, I would imagine that was one of the agreements for the owner to come on this show. Do not involve certain conversations, and they did. While he's 12. And braided was very steadfast about that. He was probably furious about it. Actually, he was furious enough to get up and on my television.

And do an angry whisper in the I do love that Belichick spent, weirdly, a minute doing three Matt light jokes, which was like, what?

That was one takeaway on a night. That was great, I think, for Patriots fans. It did feel like a little bit of closure. Seeing Belichick and Katie go back and forth was awesome as a Patriot fan.

That I love. Even Yeah, and I totally could see that being the case. I could see why even as the way things end, it's never fun when things end. But Bill and Tom ultimately being cool makes sense to me. They went through so much together. They're linked forever in history. They love Love each other, I'm sure. The owner and the coach situation.

Well, that's recent. Yeah.

And the way if I were Bill, the way that Apple documentary, played out, it wouldn't go down so easy. So he wasn't down to play ball in that respect. Let's get to the news.

Great job by the writers, by the way.

They nailed it. The one Tony Hinchcliff, who has his own show, these guys that probably Tom braided has never heard of for the most part, he came up and thanked Grong for Chris Cliff.

He's pretty big.

He is in that world, in the roast world. But he thanked Grong for taking a break from writing letters to Santa to join them. Grong took about 800 verbal fins to the face.

A friend of the show, Nikki Glazer, had a great line making fun of Tom losing 30 A Million in crypto. He's like, Even Grank knows that you don't mess with crypto. No real money. Grank no due. I was like, Yes.

Good joke. A friend of the show, our former cowork, Chris Brockman, his partner, Sara Tiana, was one of the writers, Megan Galey, who It was a show with Dave Damoschick, was one of the writers. It was all connected.

My throwback podcast partner and bosom buddy, Bob Cashone, worked on the project as well. Fun. Good stuff. All fun. Let us now...

I think it was a big success, too. Good job.

Seemed like it. But also, never underestimate dropping something at the right time. The greatest example will always be the last dance with Michael Jordan in the middle of COVID. But if you drop something like this on Sunday night, May fifth, it's going to do well.

The one mistake I made, this was a grave mistake, I realized about 82 seconds into the affair was that I texted Luke and Colton, my children who are still young. I was like, Dad's going to be watching this Tom braided event at the forum. Check it out. Within about a minute into it, every body part had been mentioned, every swear that you could come up with.

Daddy, who's Aaron Hernandez?

That would have been the least of my worries.Evans to Betsey.I'm.

Sure you got a sharply-worded tweet. I got no response. From other parties involved, I meant. All right, let's get into it. Odell Beckham. I'm pretty sure I mentioned this. This is definitely where he's going to end up. He was always going to end up in Miami playing for the Dolphins at some point in his life, and now it is upon us. Rapp sheet reported that Miami He's expected to sign veteran wideout Odell Beckham one-year deal up to 8.25 million. So that's- Miami. His base salary is 3 million here. Now, this was a guy who I think he made 15 guaranteed with Baltimore. That was one of the worst free agency signings of last year. So this is now more in line with where Odell Beckham is now. I mean, I would assume he's finally in his 30s, probably about 31 now. It feels like he's been around forever, obviously. But yeah, he's not an old wide receiver, but he's had some major serious injuries. It should be pointed out that in addition to the injuries, Greggy, Baltimore phased him out of the offense down the stretch and did not show interest in bringing him back.

But if you want to spend positive, if you want to talk yourself into Odell Beckham yet again in the offseason, going there as the third banana in the offense maybe gives him something in South Beach.

I think he's a role player right now. He's getting paid as a low-level wide receiver role player. Maybe we're going to mention the DJ Shark signing. I don't know.

He went to-Go ahead.Let.

It rip.the chargers. It's time. Those guys are making similar money. I think Shark is actually making more. That's That's part of the level I'm talking about, which is a third, fourth receiver. When he was on the field last year, he was a potentially useful player just in that role. Being on an offense with Waddle and with Tyree Kill, He's going to be in really ideal circumstances. He could be helpful in that role because going through their lineup, they have a big drop off after those two. They have Braxton Berrios as their three. They don't really have a three. So he could contribute, but he just can't stay on the field. That was his biggest issue in Baltimore is like, he couldn't stay healthy for more than three games in a row.

Since maybe his fourth year at this point.

Because he can't stay healthy. Right. There was a couple of crossing patterns with Baltimore where he actually got the ball in the open field. He still was pretty explosive, but he just couldn't stay healthy or consistent.

They drafted Malik Washington. I think what I like about it is that the ceiling... There was only a handful of teams with an absolutely locked and loaded one and two at wide receiver. So clearly, yes, he's the third guy there. But I trust Mike McDaniel to get the most out of almost any player on that side of the ball. More than I do Todd Munkin in the first year with a Ravens team that was trying to amp up and become more balanced. But it's like, Odell did get better down the stretch, but then they limited his role. I think this is a perfect landing spot. It always made sense.

Devil's Advocate. I mean, the thing that the Dolphins need to get better at is being a late-season football team, being a a badass team when the elements turn against you. And Odell Beckham wearing 17 layers of clothing and his entire face covered up except for his eyes. In January, something I could picture. Don't imagine he's that guy that's that rough and tumble guy to take you to the prom.

That's also one of about eight players on offense that I don't trust to fare well in negative 23 degrees temperatures no matter what.

Right. They need to get some home games, finally. But yeah, he was frustrated. We were at that game in London. It was a disaster. There were a couple of games where Lamar Jackson just didn't feel like he could trust that Odel would be in the right spot at the right time.

That's why I think Odel had a major staff in that game against the He was very bad the first half of the season.

Seemed to find his footing in the back half of the regular season, but then lost his role in the offense down the stretch. Not the same type of player, but another high-profile veteran receiver that hung on for a while. Deshaun Jackson. Remember, at the end of his career, he would pop up every once in a while and still be making big plays, but was no longer a consistent player in an offense. I could see Odell being that for Miami. We shall see in other news. It is light out there, by the way, as you would think. So not a ton of news. So let's do some 50-year rookie deal options. The roundup, Najee Harris, Steeler's running back declined. The Cowboys, not a surprise here. They declined Trey Lance's 50-year option. Of course, he was drafted number three overall a few years back. The Broncos do the same with the number two overall pick in that draft, Zack Wilson. Not a surprise there. Greg Newsom, Ota Oua, and Katie Pay, among the options, picked up for the fifth year.

I thought that the Najee Harris was not surprising. I think Jalen Warren is going to have a much bigger role, and I think they want to get faster. Greg Newsom was dangled in trade talks going back to last off season and throughout around the trade deadline last year a little bit. I like that. I think Greg Newsom is quietly an extremely solid cornerback. If I'm the Browns and Jim Schwartz, don't take anything away. Just keep it going for as long as you can.

I was actually a little surprised by the Naja Harris declining because it's running back. It's only $6.8 million. They didn't want to lock into a one-year $6.8 million contract. He's not going to be thrilled about that. Right behind him, for instance, Travis ETN making us slightly less money because he's one pick later. They picked up his option. I think you look at some of the players that Owe was a little surprising to me. 13.3 million, he's slowly getting better. There were some nos out there. Tryon Shayanca got a no. Payton Turner, Eric Stokes, those guys just haven't been on the field enough. Remember Alex Leatherwood, not eligible in this draft, no longer in the NFL. Zaelin Collins got a no. But Justin Fields was another one. Just checking a box. Of course, they're not picking it up, I guess. It's one year, 25.7 million, but it just shows what a weird situation that bears. I mean, that Steeler's team.

One little note with Fields, because remember we were talking about this thing that's floated out that they could use fields as a return man. That's possible, and I think it's an interesting concept, but they have Cordero and Patterson, too. They got them specifically soon after that whole kickoff thing changed.

Wait, to only one of those quarterbacks that's hitting me now of the five taken got their option.

2021 draft. Messy. Not for nothing was the first draft after COVID shut down the entire world and most of college football.

Kaderius, Tony, was a big no, too. Not a surprise again, but just checking boxes You mentioned Alex Leatherwood.

I was thinking when the Michael Pennix pick went down with Atlanta, and I was like, When's the last time there was a pick that was so head scratching or was immediately panned at such a high level? It was the Raiders taking Alex Leatherwood, I think around 20 or so, 21 in that realm. Immediately, I remember all the guys on the day as for NFL Network and everywhere else were like, they're going through their notes. It's like, I had him as maybe a third-round guy. He might be the ultimate He's a great example, and of course, he flamed out immediately with the Raiders. He might be the ultimate example of why you don't just draft for a position or a need. You have to go best available player. The Raiders, I think with Mike Mayock, made that mistake.

Well, there's a study out there that over the last 10 years shows where teams drafted and how much value, according to consensus big boards, even out. The best teams get the best value where they draft, and the Raiders were dead last over the last 10 years. They made a lot of zigging, zagging pics that didn't work.

The other one I thought of actually wasn't quite as big as FedEx, but in terms of a top pick, shocking everyone was Cleveland Faro, which was also Mayak. It's actually his first pick. It was the number 4 overall pick. Everyone was like, Wait, really? He's a solid player, but no one thought he was a top 15 player.

They had multiple number ones in that draft, and none of them were with the team anymore.

We talked about Jordan did that great deep dive of the Rams draft. The teams like the Raiders, for instance, that keep churning and starting over, not just at head coach. Sometimes you think, Oh, they fired a GM. They hired a new GM. In a lot of cases, you're bringing an entire new football language. Before you could even install a new one and even know if it works, that guy's out and you're starting again. I guess these are examples of teams. When's the last time the Raiders were in the Super Bowl? 25 years ago, 23 years ago.Not a lot of success.It.

Went to playoff game first.

Yeah. All right, let's talk about the Saints. Mickey Loomis, the GM. They made a move at the draft, drafting Kool-Aid Kool-Aid McKinstry, who is a very toolsy cornerback. A lot of people believe Kool-Aid has a chance to be a star at corner. Then there's this situation with a veteran, Marshawn Latimar, once upon a time, a big-time draft pick by the Saints back in 2017. Now the idea is, are they looking to move Latimar with McKinstry in the house? Here's what Loomis had to say on Mad Dog Sports Radio. Yeah, it doesn't mean anything. Marshawn has been a really good player for us for a good period of time. He's one of the leaders members of our team. It's just like I said, we can use as many corners as we can get. We've got a good group, a really good group, and they're going to help each other, and they're going to help our team win. Greg, they have a very talented cornerback room? What is the idea of why they would move Vladimir? Is it their perpetual issues with cap space and trying to finally gain some level of financial freedom?

There was some reporting It's just last year that he wasn't happy, and it was personal maybe between him and the coaching staff, and that's popped up. I think when it comes to trades, though, and I've seen a lot of people just throw it out like, Oh, what could be some trades that could come up this It's like, trades aren't happening at this point. What is the point of getting a draft pick in a trade in the middle of the summer that you could just get after the season? Now, if injuries happen and you're in training camp, that's where It's possible where a guy like a Seedy Deuce, shook loose from the Saints. I could see Latamor being a guy, maybe in training camp, once you get to the middle to later, once you get closer to cut days. But from now until then, those big name receivers, they're not going anywhere. The window passed.

I might also say that if you lose Latamor because of Dennis Allen's second very notable internal tiff with the player, that's how you lost Garner Johnson. These are both from your secondary. You If you trade them post-June 1 or cut them, you still are dealing with a lot of dead cat money. It would only save them about 4 million this year. Cost them 10 plus in dead cat money, 10 plus in dead cat money the year after, seven plus the year after that, and then still the year after that. It's not financial wizardry necessary.

I believe he might have been an ex-saint if they got a nice offer. But people are just so anxious about trading these pics for veterans, which is crazy because then they get in the draft and throwing future pics around willy-nilly to move up 10 spots. But that's just how the game goes.

But they gave up. Yeah. And again, the veteran trade tax. You're right. Latamor. It's like, Oh, man, I would love to have Latamor on my team, but it would cost It's like a second-round pick, maybe. No. I don't buy into that. You can get them for a fourth. Go get them if your team needs a corner. We're going to talk about needs in a little bit.

You're also hoping. It's nice to say Coolie and McKinstry fills the needs. Okay, a lot of cornerbacks don't It's not going to work.

I just want to say about two minutes ago, I want to apologize to the listeners, to you guys as well. But I'm working with an alternate laptop today. Couldn't locate my work laptop.

The biggest concerning development with one of our laptops since I spilled coffee on mine twice in six months.

I know you know me, but those who know me on a truly personal at-home level, I lose stuff all the time.Okay.It.

Usually turns out.Like.

A laptop Yeah, stuff that you would never think, how could that be lost?

You wouldn't just have left it at a coffee bean or something.

Possible. I went to the car wash after the show as a true working man on Thursday and took the bag out of the car when I was vacuuming. Put the bag back in. How would the laptop get out? It doesn't matter. The point being, I'm using a laptop and I had the volume up. Then I got a text from a friend, and it can't be scrubbed out by 8:00 to because I was talking at the time of the ding. Now, about three minutes ago, there's tens of thousands of listeners who are going to hear that ding, and they're going to go check their phones, and then they're going to look at it, and there's not going to be a text. It's because of me and my failure to hit the mute button on a rogue laptop.I.

Think your apologyI'm sorry. Will go a long way to the tens of thousands that will obviously... But I'm glad you mentioned it because That's the same, a similar sound effect we use when someone says something that's very factual or astute or next level. Or really anything at all. Well, yeah. You were rolling through a setup point and then got a ding, and I'm like, why did Eric... Why did you get that sound effect? You said nothing out of the ordinary. It makes me feel better.

That would really mess with the listeners if Eric replaces his ding with the traditional Apple text ding. Don't do it.

The accountability is off the charts here. I love it.Thank you.

What else is the news, quote, unquote news. Jj Watt. He retired. I think I lost the sandwich because I thought Watt would come back last year. I thought he'd end up playing with his brother, TJ in Pittsburgh. But he stayed out of football last year, did some TV work. But JJ Watt says if his original football team, the Houston Texans, and their head coach, pick up the phone, he'd answer. Let's listen to us. I've had 12 great years in this league, and I'm very thankful to have walked away healthy and playing great. I mean, I told D'Amico last year. I said, Don't call unless you absolutely need it. But if you ever do call, I'll be there. But he knows not to call unless he absolutely needs it. This is the last year I'll tell him that because I'm not going to keep training the way I've been training. But he knows that if he ever truly does need it, I'll be there for him. Notable. Brandon K. Scott with a credit there on Twitter. Before he made that last comment, I was going to say for a guy who's been out of football now for over a year, he looks exactly like JJ Watt many, many times, and you could figure out why.

It's natural. When they step away from the game, they stop training at the same level and their physique gets slimmer or whatever. He looks like he's still, what was he, 6'6, 260 or whatever.

We saw him at the Super Bowl, and he's not like a normal human.

He's saying he's training to... He's football ready right now still. That is notable to me.

It's something to keep in mind. I saw a thing where he went through, and I love finding out about this stuff. He went through what his diet is to maintain the Watt shape. It's so much work. It's like 7,000 plus calories a day. But still? Yeah. Well, I mean, that's what he was doing when he was a player. If he looks exactly the same, it's got to be in the realm of that if he wants to. This is the power of C. J. Stroud to me because he left the Texans with some issues with ownership and all that stuff. But it's like suddenly this team looks like a Super Bowl team.

I'll also say the power of Dimeco Ryans, who is JJ Watt's former teammate with Houston. They were once the stallworts of a defense together, and now he is the head coach, and he's got, obviously, the respect of JJ.

Justin James. The offseason news moves slow in some ways, but whenever you just get a little bite, suddenly it moves fast. Actually, someone tracked down Dimeco Ryans, who was at a Texan event today. He says, I need him now. Anytime JJ is ready to go, I'm ready to go.

I mean, there's a situational pass rusher. It would be incredible. But yeah, we're not going to get sucked into the May sixth rumor mill, but it's good to relate.

He should do it. And part of the I think it was interesting to talk about is less need throughout this on the Rich Eisen show last week, too, just that Aaron Donald like, Hey, I had mentioned to Aaron when he retired. We had a guy in Eric Weddell who just jumped off the couch to join the playoff. So maybe if you'd want to do that, it'd be an option for you. He said he doubts Aaron Donald would actually do that. I don't know.

I could see that happening.

The Rams might ask, and they actually structured his contract in retirement in a way that that would be very doable. If Aaron Donald would want to. But he says that they might try to tempt him, but they don't know.

They should do more of these like, veterans with special powers are brought onto the scene like Joe Flacko. In November, in December, don't make them go through all this nonsense leading up to it. If the team's in position, you bring Aaron Donald back in for 60 days, and he dominates, and they get a Super Bowl ring. Do it. Love to see it. There's just a category of players like that.

Justin James Watt turned 35 years old in March. All right, that's what's happening in the news. Let's take a break and talk about some outstanding team needs. I don't mean outstanding like, Oh, it's outstanding. I mean, outstanding, like a debt, like a tax bill. Okay, we'll be right back.

And we are back. We're back. The show is continuing. I mean, the only upside here is that I didn't somehow verbalize a third version of that over the double version that already exists. It could happen, though.

It could happen. It wouldn't be... That wasn't on purpose either. If it did happen again, it would have the trip to trial.

It only happened that time because your directions were fuzzy. Compared to the directions you gave a Jordan on our last show or a Coleen, the ones given to me were fuzzy, and I faltered, and I don't blame myself.

I don't know why I love it so much. Unfinished business. See, that was the one I was trying to get that out at the top of the show. Segment, Unfinished business. Teams are now pretty much, and they're still, Greggy, there are still roster moves to be made. There's not a lot of options out there, but there are options. There are players out there, and there will be cuts and all that stuff, and maybe JJ Walk comes out of retirement. You never know. But as things stand now, Greggy, there's going to be teams that enter the season with void. So let's get into them. Let's talk about them. Maybe they're not. Maybe they only seem like a roster issue, and we'll have a conversation, and it won't be that way. I'll get this one going, and I will start with a team that I think everyone agrees is a bit of an intellectual curiosity right now. It is ETP's favorite team. It is the Buffalo Bills. You could go in maybe a couple of different directions for this team that's been so close to getting over the pump, but they haven't yet. I was going to say, did they make it to the AFC title game yet with Josh Allen once?

Yeah. One trip to the game.

Stefan Diggs staring at the confetti. Rough.

And now they're trying to go at it in a different angle with some turnover on the roster. I'll talk about the wide receiver because I'm curious in general here, this is not just this offseason, but when you look at their death chart, where has the investment been at this position during the Stefan Diggs and now the post Diggs era? We know the bills traded back twice out of the first round. They took Keion Coleman last month in the second round. We'll see how he turns out. But I always think that with wide receivers, in most cases, there are special cases, and there could be a couple of special cases at the top of this draft with Marvin Harrison and neighbors and Adunze, but banking on a first-year wide receiver to fill your void, if you have a big one at wide receiver, is risky business. They're asking that of Keion Coleman right now. However, Coleman, he looks like a lottery pick as a second rounder compared to the rest of the depth chart. Gabe Davis was a fourth round pick in 2020. He's in Jacksonville now. Khalil Shakir was a fifth rounder in '22. Justin Shorter, a fifth rounder in '23.

Then you look at who else they have their free agent acquisitions, Curtis Samuel, K. J. Hamler, Chase Claypool. Those guys were all second round picks, but on other teams, and they're to varying degrees, in my opinion, depreciated assets. Former fourth round pick, Mac Holland is also on this team now. Cool.

It's a lot of guys, a lot of names.

Listen, I love Josh Allen. Actually, Josh and I are spirit canines, as Jordan pointed out last week. But I don't want to watch number 17 throwing to a bunch of second-rate playmakers like Patrick Mahomes was a year ago. I'll end with a movie quote here, Marquis. Like Basher, Don Sheetle's character in Oceans 11 said, It will be nice working with proper villains. Actually said it in a terrible English accent, and I have a terrible English accent, so I'll do it. It'll be nice working with proper villains again. Allen will have to wait at least another year for the dawn of that reality, because right now, these are not proper villains, in my opinion, at the wide rest of the-Yeah, they did such a good job early in Alan's career, building up around him quickly, and they're having to move through a different phase of all that.

Dalton Kincaid is a big factor, though. I think you know what you've got a real weapon in him at tight end. But you're right. It's a bunch of dudes that are names alone. Andy Isabella, you've got a Keion Coleman, you're hoping right away contributes. They've already said he has to, and Josh Allen knows he has to. I don't love that for any first-year wide receiver, especially early on, because it's like going from college to pros in different playbooks, different schemes. There is an adjustment there. But I also don't just like wide-out rooms where if you get one injury here to a key figure, you are staring at bottom of the barrel talent around Josh Allen.

I like this group more than you guys do, just because I like Curtis Samuel.I.

Can't get him to say that.I do, too. I would say I felt even when I was in that setup that he's not much of a depreciated asset, but he has bounced around the league a little bit.

He's a role player. You guys are right that there's a bunch of role players. Coleman It was a divisive draft prospect. Some people had him as a third or fourth-round guy. Others, Bucky Brooks and plenty of other people had him as a top five receiver in this class, a physical guy who I thought would make more sense in the slot. My problem is, I like Shaqir. He's shown he's an NFL player.

But as a guy next to a one and someone else?

Yeah, exactly. That's like a three, as an inside player who's going to get open. Samuel's profile is a little similar to me, to Shaqir. Then you have Coleman, who I thought would do his best work on the inside. You have Kincaid, who to me is part of this, and Dawson Knox is part of this. That's what you're hoping for, is that an offensive line and the tight ends and the running backs essentially make up for these receivers. But yeah, you mentioned, I didn't even realize how many Oh, he's on this team. Claypool, Matt Collins. Matt Collins can play. He's a fourth receiver. He was a special team. Andy Isabella is probably not making this team, but he is on this team. Kj Hamler, I loved for a few minutes, and then he's had devastating injuries, unfortunately. There's just a lot of names, a lot of guys.

I don't want to put you on the spot, Eric, unless you know, but I'm going to check, when's the last time they used a first-round pick on a wide receiver? Diggs, they traded for. They traded a first-round pick to get Diggs.

I mean, off top of my head, are we going back to Stevie Watkins?

Okay, Sammie Watkins. There it is. You're right. They traded up. They traded a bundle to get, and maybe that's a reason why, organizationally, because Watkins never really came through. But they traded up to get Watkins in 2014, which was the dark ages of the Buffalo Bills. But that's the last time that they've gone in that direction. All right. Mark, you want to go next?

Yeah. For me, looking around, I like this exercise because you're looking at our lads and seeing where things just do not work.

Can we hit the big funk music in a second?

That's a cup of water is being brought to Dan.

Everyone, really, you got to subscribe on YouTube. Check us out to see big funk stepping.

Big Funk stepping into this video.

Big Funk does it all.

Big funk is not only a gifted producer and social man. When Mystic Dan forgets to get some water.

Wait, you're now Mystic Dan? That's pretty good, actually. I like that.

Big Funk does it all. Gets the water. He does it all. Sorry, Mark.

What are the odds that I'd get eight words into my segment point here? And not only is fluid being brought into the room, but we're breaking into song and dance.

I was parched, and I thought it was affecting my performance.It.

Was an emergency.It was in a psychic connection that allowed that to happen?

But Mark has a point here. It's obviously not going to be you that's getting interrupted by Randy.

I interrupt myself all the time.

Coming in, though, I mean, in doing this song. But for some reason, if it was me or Mark, who's going to, it's just by chance, who's going to get interrupted, I would put my life savings that it's Mark.

One's pretty good radio. The timing is a lever pull. I understand that.

But to see it as a lever pull, at least on the surface, is incorrect. But if you're saying if I'm subconsciously pulling the lever-It's not that deep in the subconscious. It's certainly within the realm of reason.

Yes, I don't think it's miles into the subconscious. Listen to that fluke.

Can you just turn this up a little bit? That is a nice fluke. Funk, you need to use this in your personal life, if you know what I'd love to discover that when we pass off the Earth and you can see all different periods of human times, that whenever you think of the medieval ages and you have a flutist who's like…

That it's a very boring music, but what if it was just this? We think we created this, but this was what was happening in deep rants.

The soulful flutist is an underrated musician.

All right.

Without further ado, Mark Sessler.

This feels like it's also not following it up with some mundane football comment is absurd. A lot of these running back rooms have a bunch of guys. I don't know why the New York Giants, they already have issues, think that Devon Singletary is going to be a capable post-Saquan Barkley lead horse. I think he's a fine guy to have as part of your running back room. They drafted Tyrone Tracy. That's a fifth rounder. They got Deion Jackson, Eric gray. One of these guys is going to go down with it, some an injury or malady. It's like suddenly you're taking a quarterback you don't trust who's injury prone in Daniel Jones or fill in the blank there and say, We're not sure, even if they stay healthy, you've got a capable running game. I will add to that that we don't know what's happening with Darren Waller at tight end. You've got Daniel Bellinger.

He doesn't retire. Exactly. That's no other real breaking news. Right.

But how many other players are like, it's like we're into month three of whispers that Darren Waller doesn't maybe want to play football again. There's a lot of other stuff going on there.

We're never seeing That man on a football field ever again. I'll put a sandwich on it.

Also last year when he was public about it, he said he's on record saying I'm not.

This also just isn't the same version. I think we were like, What version of Darren Wall you're going to get? We're one year later into not being convinced since that guy.Sunken.

Cost.they.

Drafted Theo Johnson at tight end, who some people were talking up. But you just are taking your running back position, your tight end position. You have very little wide receiver before Malik Nabors. It's like this offense, this is the crew that built up around Josh Allen. I mean, these were connected to that growth period, and we saw what the coaching staff could do with that. It's not happening around whatever quarterback they actually want to play because there's questions about that, too.

Yeah, wait a second. Can I just say, they took one of the big three wide receiver, though.

I like that, but I didn't list wide receiver. I'm just saying that if the wide receiver was a burning need, and so they did address that, you can't address everything. But if you're going to lose Saquon Barkley, who, frankly, when they go to the playoffs two seasons ago, and that was smoking mirrors to some degree, but Saquon He had one of those seasons.

Can I say I don't think that was a terrible move to pay a veteran running back with injury?

No, but you're now telling us that if Devon Singletary is your lead guy and question marks behind him, that's risk.

I guess my counter would be Devon Singletary, while not flashy and certainly not have the name brand value of Saquon Barkley, he might actually be a better investment for what he gives you and what he costs compared to what the Eagles just paid for Barkley.

I don't think the argument is, I think you should have turned around and overpaid for a running back that has durability issues.

But you would have had to to keep him in the building.

So you don't do that. But there was months and months and chances to get other teams like the wide receiver room in Buffalo. You're throwing a lot of darts. We'll see what works. There's not a lot of reliable darts.

They got caught flat-footed, I think, at running back because they gave Devon Singletary nine and a half million guaranteed. It's like, what?

That's a lot. And that's a fair point when you factor in how much he paid. I had no idea he was getting that much guaranteed. But my only point is, at At least how I looked at the exercise, if I see the team actually actively trying to address it, I'm going to give them a little bit of a pass. Like the Bills, I feel like they weren't aggressive enough with their wide receivers. The Giants are trying to do it, but it's not going to happen in one day.

I don't know what they're trying to do at Running Back. They signed a little bit. Every one of these position groups, they've added someone somewhere.

They got a lot of work to do. I agree with you. That's a position you can usually find some free agents late in the game. But again, they went quite quickly. I'm not sure who that would be. Maybe a Kareem Hunt, maybe a Latavius Murray, but you're not going to get excited.

Let's see. Devin Singletari got nine and a half guaranteed. Devin Singletari. Rich.

Where am I missing there? Had some nice metrics last year in terms of making people miss. Tony Pollard got. Tony Pollard got similar, maybe a little more.

All right. If Nabors is a stud, though, they're going to be a lot He gets better on offense if the quarterback can get it to them.

Pollard got 10.4 million guaranteed. Pretty similar.

Yeah.

All right. Maybe we should stop crying poverty for the runningbacks. It's all turning around now.

Okay. I might have missed has understood this exercise. No, I don't think so. It's unfinished business. It's unfinished business. I didn't look at it from a team perspective. I looked at more like league-wide. I'm into the contract. Let's start with... I could divide this up into wide receiver receiver deals and quarterback deals, but let's go wide receiver first. I made little categories. I like it. All right, here are some wide receiver deals I expect. Justin Jefferson. We might have to wait around till August for this, but I think it's going to happen the way they've positioned it publicly.

Why wait another six months?

This is quite literally unfinished business.

I think Justin Jefferson, Brandon Ayuk, Nico Collins, those would be three wide receivers I think are going to get good contracts this offseason. One I I want to put in this category, but I don't rule out the Cowboys for messing it up, is CeeDee Lamb, who's also a free agent next year. You got to do this, right? I think they will do it, but now at this point- They buy into us. I don't know. I don't know what's going on in Dallas. Then another category is my Don't wait around for it to get too late, and that would be next year's crew, which is Jalen Waddle, Jamar Chase, and Drake London. The teams that are getting it done early, we've talked about it, save a little money. That's It's like the unfinished wide receiver business. There's been a lot of chatter, especially with JJ and Ayuk, but in the end, I think those deals get done. That's my unfinished business.

That's a little like housekeeping, if you will. I like that. Who's out there? What's the one that The least likely of that group, you think, to get a deal?

Where it could go. Ceed, I think, because...

What are they doing? What are they doing?

They never let him out the door.

I don't know because they've waited too long. You should try to get it in before Jefferson does it.

I think they're keeping Seedy before Dak at this point.

Yeah, I agree.

Kind of like some of the breadcrumbs going on around here.

Nico Collins, maybe just because he's not quite at that level, but I think they know what they have, and they have a ton of cap space, so he would make a lot of sense. Let's do the quarterback, too, while I'm on the contract beat. These might be more interesting. I've seen people push back that, Is Goff actually going to get this deal? I still expect Goff.

Did you hear those lines fans in Detroit? You can't let that guy go on.

It is a tricky contract, perhaps, I don't know of how many years of guaranteed money you're going to give, but he'll get a nice raise. Goff, Tua, and I think Jordan Love gets paid this year because I think Green Bay is smart. I think the contract they gave him last year was a sneaky great contract. A two-year deal gave him a little cushion. They didn't give him his fifth-year option, but I think they get contracts. Dak, it looks like is a big fat no, which is crazy. Then just keep an eye out on Trevor. Maybe they just wait for him to get to his fifth-year option, which is He's not a free agent next year. Trevor and Purdy, my unfortunate, what did you call it? Avatar? I am now Brock Purdy. And Brock Purdy might be the most underpaid player in the league. Whether you're a huge Brock Purdy guy or a middle Brock Purdy guy, he's getting paid a seventh-round pick for starting quarterback on one of the best teams in the NFL. Those are two to watch.

I think the one in there that... A couple of things happening because there's a world where Dak Prescott doesn't stay the Cowboys after this upcoming season. And then you're the Dolphins, and you're trying to figure out, if you're Mike McDaniel, how much you really want to invest in Tua. Contract for Tua when maybe a quarterback becomes available in the offseason. I'm still confounded by what to do with Tua. I know that from certain metrics, he looks pristine, but watching Tua, it's like, Am I going to give this guy a giant contract?

They just seem like they are very positive about it, and he's positive about it. It just says to me they've made progress in I bet they both think it's going to happen.

All right, so you rock my world about that single-tarry thing. I did some digging in here. The running back mark is-You're just not interested in what's a rock party?

It was good. Got to be. That's a tricky contract, Dan.

It's a tricky one.I also think that you-Is it he worth more than...

He would never get more money than Trevor, by the way.

I don't want to say anything about Brock because I don't want to get Mark upset that I'm still not totally sold on Brock. Maybe the Niners aren't either.

You should be worried about getting me upset. It kept me up.

That wasn't my comparison. I love that it was because it got you fired up, but that was Jordan saying that you were Brock Birdy.

That really stuck with Greg. Because as we were leaving the studio, you were still parsing that in your mind and verbally with us.

Just give me Philip Rivers, someone that's fun, at least.

Well, I think it was all active QBs, though. Anyway, so you're right. You're absolutely right. Devin got nine and a half fully guaranteed, which was more than what Derek Henry got fully guaranteed. I'll just throw one more out there. To the point, though, nine and a half is nine and a half. But Saquon got 25 and a half.

He got the contract.

25 and a half, fully guaranteed.

Not to rehash it, but you're looking at it through the lens of, should they have resigned Saquon Barkley? No.

We've moved on from that conversation, and at least I have. I'm more just looking at how that market shook out in hindsight now. Let's move on. Let's go through another round. Let's do it. Here we go. Where do I want to go? Where do I want to go? Where do I want to go? All right, let's stack it wide receiver and let's talk about the Ravens. They addressed cornerback, offensive guard in the first and second rounds. I trust the process, and Baltimore always will. But I don't like how it all ended up for Lamar here, because Because there's a lot being put on Rashaad Bateman, finally becoming that dude, first-round pick back in 2021. Do I trust Zé flowers? Yeah. Do I think Zé flowers can progress and even become a star? Yes. But then after Zé and After, of course, Mark Andrews, you have, again, Bateman, you have Nelson Aguilar, you have a fourth-round pick, Devante Walker, Darthro, Deontay Hardy, Tyler Wallace. You have a bunch of guys, just a bunch of dudes.

Back where you were.

Here's the issue. I'm not going to go crazy in the sense that if you have what Lamar brings to the table, and you have Mark Andrews, who is one of the best playmaking tight ends in the sport, and Zahoo, who could become an all-pro type player if things go the right way. But this team, to me, is still one injury away to either of those guys, to being right back to where they always seem to be, where they are shorthanded and struggling, perhaps in January, to find a way to make the offense go. Why are we not learning? To me, the Miami Dolphins is another example from what happened in their last game moving forward. I just don't get it.

I'm with you. I do wonder if they felt like there was a receiver drop off before they ended up taking Nate Wiggens with the 30th pick. He was a cornerback, and they were pretty interesting receivers on the board, Kean Coleman, and we saw Laguette and who went in the second round. But I would have thought they would have liked to get out of that pick with the receiver because it's not a great group. You're going into the season with major questions there and on the offensive line where the guard positions and right tackle or shaky. They weirdly have more questions to me than a lot of the AFC good teams. And yet I see that they're over under, and it's not showing up in Vegas yet. They're being seen as this, We're coming off a one seed, and we're the favorite in the AFC North, and our over under is 11.5. I'm not so sure. They have a lot of questions.

They're always a team, though, that's going to find two or three guys between now and the start of the season that plug some holes. But I think it's with offensive line, where are some of these guys going to go? They drafted Roger Rosengarden. Andrew Voorheys, who was a pick last year, was injured, is coming back and getting fairly well praised by the coaching staff. But it's like there are a lot of departures here. There were 14 key figures that left, and suddenly the Ravens are back. I think just back where you were at wide receiver, where you appeased Lamar a year ago. I'm with you on Rashaad Beatman. It's like there's moments where you see it, but there's no evidence that this guy is going to suddenly make a major leap here.

I want to call him a sunken cost, but at a certain point, you have to stop seeing him as the guy that you wanted him to be. I'm just looking at his three years in the league. He finally played close to a full season last year, 16 games, and did not produce at a very high at all, 32 for 367. One, the season before was injuries, wiped out most of the year. He only started four games as a rookie in '21. You're really banking on his development in this offense. If not, it's a problem. Greg, who's that? Mark, you're next.

A team that I always feel I'm picking on these guys, and I'm not trying to, but it's just it's hard to see what's happening here with the Raiders because... Fine, even if you like Garner-Minshuh, there's a quarter... This is one of the weirder quarterback situations generations in the league, where it's like you have an interim coach that became the full-time coach, and you're going into this new campaign, and there was all this like, I like Antonio pierce more than you, Dan, but I think that the Raiders players like him. But you're going into a tough AFC West campaign with, at best, a C plus situation, a quarterback, if not a lot worse, especially if there's any injury there. They're running back room. Alexander Madison, not in love with Alexander Madison. Zamir White, Amir Abdullah right now is listed as their starter by Steph. I know that's just... I'm not one to laughing at that, that that's funny, that that's how that roster looks.

Got to be Zamir White as the starter. Sure.

He's fine, but I'm not in love with that. But then they're a cornerback. They didn't have a chance because you're going pad your tight end room. Now, I don't... Rock Bauer makes sense. But beyond Jack Jones, they are very inexperienced at corner. You're in a division with Justin Herbert. I understand it might be Justin Herbert handing the ball off 10 more times a game, but you can't get out of the West without a loaded secondary. It's guys like Nate Hobbs and Jacori and Bennett. They took a fifth-round flyer onto Kamari and Richardson there, but it's like that was a need. They didn't address it correctly because they have so many other needs. The Raiders, to me, don't look a lot any better than they did at the end of last season.

They didn't want to pay Josh Jacobs. I get that.

I think actually-No problem with that. It was a wise move. No problem with that.

They got Garner-Minchu, who played pretty well for the Colts last year, and there's a pretty decent chance. It sounds like if Michael Penix or one of those other quarterbacks was still on the board when the Raiders picked, It would have went in that direction, but at least they have a guy in Minchu that could hold the fort. I'm not even going really crazy there, even if it's not exciting. But you mentioned if you have a huge weakness on your team and you have an entire offseason to address it in the back end of their defense, it seems like they are very vulnerable.

I'm always wary of the defense. You close really strong, you finish on a streak, and you just think like, That's our defense now. It usually doesn't carry over like that. Because on paper, you're right, Mark. Talented up front, but the back end is not a very talented group. The bears are the other team that stick with me a little bit about that. They're just assuming that their defense totally carries over, but they've at least invested more in terms of picks than the Raiders have.

All right. The bears. Greggy.

All right. I'm going to dip into the free agency zone again and ask, where do the cornerbacks go? Maybe where do the tackles go? Because I think these are the only positions where there's actually some players available that are worth caring about. Stefan Gilmore can still play. I mentioned the packers as a possibility, and every packers fan that apparently has a Twitter account was like, We roast him. No, thanks. He had a bad postseason game against the packers. I think it was Duntavia and Wix, cooked them up. Gilmore was a little banged up by the end of the year, and that's a risk for an older player, but he was a good player last year. He was a plus starter, so he'll help some team somewhere. A Dory Jackson is available. He can still play, I think, when he's healthy. Steven Nelson is just the guy who fills out like a thousand snaps every year and can play a little bit. Akela Witherspoon was a late signing from the Rams last year and played quite well. Those are four guys who, to me, can play some ball and are still out there. And then almost any team could use cornerbacks, but some of the most interesting ones to me would be packers, colts, Texans, Jags, chargers.

I would throw in there, Falcons, 49ers, Cardinals, Panthers. I mean, there's so many teams that could cornerbacks, but those guys could go in and actually help you, I think, sooner than later, actually step in and help.

I feel like some of those guys are waiting till whether they can up their contract big time if there's injuries or it's like the right team suddenly needs them at the close to the camp.

Right. Gilmore, and especially Gilmore there, I think actually will get decent money. By decent, I mean like 8 million or something like that.

Yeah, I'll handcuff that with the last one I had since it's right in this category. They had the Jaguars in their secondary. I reached out to our original boss, Mark Sesler, Justin Hathaway, now working up there in the Bay Area for NBC. And despite... Well, he is a Florida fan.

Jaguar's fan. Right.

He's from Florida, Justin?

I feel like every city you ever mentioned, he knows.

Yeah, he's been there at some point. Anyway, Justin, a huge Jacks fan, and I asked him, What were your thoughts about their team and what the holes were? And he was not thrilled that they traded back in the first round when When they had a chance to grab both of those top cornerbacks. And then when they trade back to 23, the Eagles took one of the big cornerbacks right in front of them. But then you still had, well, Quinian Mitchell was in the Eagles. You had Terry and Arnold still there. They went with the wide receiver, and we've talked about that, that it felt like the Jags had got boxed in a little bit after what happened with Calvin Ridley. So you can't kill them for that. But then they waited until the third round to take a corner. And then you look at their depth chart and you look at a team that's coming off very disappointed training ending, especially on defense. Ronald Darby, they brought in who's a veteran guy, but they're asking him to anchor things back there.

He's been a journey. He's the definition of a journey right now.

Where he did a one and done wear in Baltimore last year. We'll see what happens with the Jags, but that felt like a place that maybe should have been more aggressive, and now they are perhaps vulnerable.

It's like another one of those teams where so many mocks had this type of position, cornerback going to Jacksonville, then it doesn't happen. It It's like, Well, that was a burning knee. That's why people were saying that.

There's only so many of these guys out there, too. I do feel like it was a thing this year that free agency went faster. There's less guys maybe that are still out there, but I look at these three or four guys and think they could help them. They are maybe the number one team.

Then maybe on the old a little more connective tissue here, you could also with the Jags and their defense, obviously, they have Josh Allen, and he's awesome. But I don't know if there's some with Trayvon Walker, some Rashaad Bateman, There's a DNA there where they're not willing to admit that he's not going to be the other guy on the side across from Allen. So they're rolling with him and hoping he's going to develop, which makes sense. He's entering what is third year, but they might not have enough pass rush either. And these are problems in a division where it could be tough to defend with some of the exciting players in really all everywhere in that division now with C. J. Stroud's rise, Richardson coming back, of course, we shall see.

They also have a new defensive coordinator, Ryan Nielsen. They fired Mike Caldwell. Nielsen, strong mustache game. If you check out his profile on the Jaguar's website, was one of those guys that everyone who's a tapehead was like, Wow, I love what Ryan Nielsen did with the Falcons last year. Really creative, really maxed out, did a good job. I don't really doubt it, but they were a bad defense, so I don't know what to make of that.

I'm looking at this mustache on your laptop here, Greg. It is not to intrude here, but that's nice.

It's really something. Speaking of a-He's from Seamy Valley, which is known as the home of cops in Southern California, and he looks like a cop.

What?

The home of the TV show? No, a lot of cops live in Seamy Valley. It's like a cop haven. Oh, yeah.

He looks like a 12-year veteran.

Got a lot of cops in El Segundo, too. Do we?

I guess we-Well, Eric gave me a good point as a real SoCal guy.

There you go. Yeah, that's good. My old hometown of Pearl River, New York. A lot of cops and firefighters. Took that Metro north into the city. You had to be within a certain... You had to be within a certain in terms of mileage from the city. My town was just within that limit and had mass transportation. It's all part of it, too, Mark.

I've rid Metro north probably 600 times, and I miss it. It's wonderful. It's a wonderful way to get around town.

Shout out to the NYPD and New York Fire Department. Absolutely.for what they do.

Shout out to the Metro North workers, too. That's one thing we all have in common. I was taking the Metro North on an almost daily basis when I was working up at Rota World.

At hell. Shout out to New Jersey transit. And MBC. They've also dealt with a lot of drunk people over the years. An angry businessman going home to a house that no longer feels like a home.

Everyone would always talk about the bar car because the bar car was still there when I was there. Shout out to the bar car.The actual bar car was there, but there was no more bar. You were allowed to drink there, but people would talk about the good old days.

You'd sit there with a beer with a napkin around it, a canned beer, and just stare out as the towns float by you. It's a nice... With your friends, That's a wonderful thing.

Anybody get a PBA card from a friend of a friend? Yes.

I had it throughout my New York stay.

Got an old guy. What does it stand for?

Pro Bowlers Association.

I think it's Policeman's Benevolent Association?

Well, here's the move back then. I remember my dad did this, and it was savvy because you get one of those... You do donate to the police, so you've done it, but you get the sticker that you put on your windshield or on the side. Then when you get pulled over invariably for speeding. The first thing the cops see is that you donate to the police forces, and you're on your way.Well.

The other one...Even if you're a guy, you're on your way. It's a little bit of a tricky move. For people that don't know what we're talking about, a PBA card. If you know someone that's a cop or is connected to a cop, you get one of these cards. And then the idea is, if you ever get pulled over, when they ask for a license and registration, you can hand that over, but also hand this card or flash the card. And if a cop is cool with it, he'll be like, All right, slow down.

It's the same as the sticker. Take it easy. This is even the sticker is even more subtle. But then you have to make sure it's a window that doesn't-How about the sticker?

Is it subtle, the sticker? I don't know.

Well, you also can't have it on a window that rolls down if the cop's pulling you. It's got to be some roll. Yeah. Classic. They know where to look.

Put it on the windshield. But he's coming from the All right, let's focus up. I was going to mention, we mentioned the Texans. I know, Greg, you've been following this. You are connected to Mother Japan in all ways. Cj Stroud and Micah Parson is doing their world tour. The new video that's out there now is Micah Parsons' sumo wrestling. The first round, the sumo wrestling. Did you guys see this? Yeah. The sumo wrestler thrashes him and then does a Rock in the Baby thing to Micah.

But as C. J. Stroud encourages the sumo wrestler to do that to Parsons.

They definitely seem like frenemies, Micah and C. J.

Then Micah hulks up. The sumo wrestler doesn't realize that Micah Parsons is one of the greatest athletes known to man.

Does He doesn't need to recognize it. He beat him up.

Even with no experience, he takes out the sumo wrestler in the second round. I don't know how that ended, but I saw Micah get even. All right. Let's take a break and we'll close things out. All right, we are back. We are closing up shop. We got one more show coming up on a Thursday, so make sure you tune in for that. One more thing I wanted to throw up here. We have our old friend. We remember we had a spirited conversation about Dob Kleinman when we were in Austin for the iHeart Awards. Yeah. There were a few drinks that were had that evening, as I recall, and I came out in casual conversation as a very pro-Dob Kleinman.

Well, because everyone everywhere was piling on, so I think you-I was trying to...

Okay, that's what it was. You were his shepherd.

I couldn't remember what it was. You were living your contrarian spirit, which comes out in Dan sometimes.

Well, sitting next to you for 13 years will do that. Let's throw up a tweet from Dov Kleinman. This is great. The eagles are looking scary. Emoji of someone putting their hands over their face. Super Bowl incoming. And then it's just a bunch of the eagles working out in the gym.

No one has thought to to lift weights yet. The funny thing is that these aren't overly advanced workouts. They look like what you would see young men and women doing in the gym. I think the-Certainly, they're stronger than your average look.

They look different than any other NFL team based on the video evidence.

I think Dov, on some ways, his Twitter feed, and Dov was really pumped up about the Tom braided roast, by the way, also. He's all over my feet.

You got to mute him.

Chill out. You're spamming me on this. But Dov, with this This tweet, again, I have to give credit to what the Eagles have been able to pull off. The brainwashing is complete. Of public, it's to the point now where someone could send that tweet out It's not even thought to be strange that they had maybe the worst collapse in the history.

Well, he's getting dug on for this tweet. That like, why are you saying...

It's been so forgotten that Dav could send that out without even thinking that something bad happened at the end of the previous season that would maybe cause one to think that they wouldn't be obvious Super Bowl favorites.

Well, in a way, you had to love this.

Thank you to literally everyone who sent that to me, which is everyone on Twitter, I felt like, sent me that Dav tweet.

You have to adore this because it backs up your general offseason theory about the whole operation.

The theory has become so hardened now that it's bulletproof. Nothing can get through it.

I did love, first of all, the Howie comments that, look, when they sign Saquon Barkley, we're zigging when the rest of the league is zagging. I like that.

But I... Giving a 30-year-old running back with one knee, 25 million guaranteed. What a zig.

First of all, brilliant. Howie, First of all, Saquad Barkley is 27 years old. Let's not get crazy. There is a Running back tax plus three. Video put together that's part of the Eagles's behind-the-scenes draft room of it's It's almost like Howie Porn, essentially. Which is seriously the last porn one would ever want to watch.

I would agree.

It's a behind the scenes, and people just were loving it. Our friend Evan Silva, quote, retweeted. You could check it out on his Twitter. Watch Howie Cook. Smartest GM in the NFL. It's just him. He even got-In behind the scenes. To my point. Selecting Cooper Dzean.

He even got Evan Silva. That's where it gets scary.

He's talked him up a number. But this is not the first year that he's been fascinated with the eagles.

The only thing I need now is for Joel and B to guarantee the eagles go to the Super Bowl and that it is complete. The circle has been completed.

Well, you don't have to worry about it.

You are flush with personal vendettas.

You got it.

I've been sitting next to you for 13 years.

I just see how... I think we see how you operate.

You do? Yeah. And you love it. You love me for it.

I almost wonder. They've asked if Shakespeare there was quietly 12 incredible authors, not one. I don't buy into that at all. I think that's nonsense. But maybe Dov Climen is a group of people because the tweeting is happening 24/7.

Yeah. He's a shadowy figure, I think, based in Israel, we've been told.Right.

Across the Sea.

All right, let's book him on the show immediately, Eric.Let's get to work on that.This.

Is really close.

All right. Why are you uncomfortable with Dav talk?

If you haven't muted or blocked him, that's on you. You can't complain.

Why?

You enjoy him.

Dav's out there. He's out there doing the Lord's work, aggregating away. You came from pro football talk, Greg. That's why. An aggregator yourself.

I came from Rota World, the original.

The originators of aggregation. All right, that's it. Let's wrap it up. We had a code. Final thought for you, Greg.

We had a code.

We had a code. That's it. Important a man has a code. It's important. Insiders have a code. Tying it all together.

I have no regrets.

All right, till Thursday. Be the call.Call..