Justin Fields Traded, Aaron Donald Retires and Broadcast Talk with Andrew Marchand

The latest ep is a Hanzus-Rosenthal joint. This is like two wine masters, sommeliers, talking about wine, not necessarily you or me arguing if I like Burgundy or Bordeaux better. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Around the NFL podcast. Here's a technical lighthouse from.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
The Chris Westling podcast studio. It's around the NFL. I
am Dan Hansis got a hero here, Greg Rosenthal. The
technical lighthouse is Mark referred to Greg Olsen Fox play
by play man.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
That will be a conversation point. I am begging you
to shut up.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Later in today's show, Mark simmer down, because we will
have the great Andrew Marshawn late of the New York
Post now of the Athletic breaking down the NFL media landscape.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
So that's gonna be cool. Gregy, how are you?

Speaker 3 (00:43):
I'm doing great. This is an exciting show. A lot
of guests. JB Long to talk, Aaron Donald. It is
a sneaky, frisky weekend by the NFL. The NFL said, Oh,
you thought Freed Andcy was done. We're gonna give you
a little frisky news items to find out while you're
like at your son's nerf gun party on Saturday afternoon.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Oh, Colleen relaxed, Yeah, it was. In general, this feels
like twenty twenty four was the year that the the week,
the free agency kickoff week. It just changed like annoyingly,
and I'm sure this happens. It's a thing that happens
based on the calendar, the way the calendar shifts. But

(01:23):
I always used to love, especially when I lived in
New York, the March sixteenth, Saint Patrick's Day, March seventeenth,
living on the Upper West Side, and just like parking
at a bar and watching the first two days in
March madness. You used to love that. That was two
of the best days of the year. And now there
were no games. It was just selection Sunday on Sunday,
and that was different, and I don't like change this

(01:46):
year for free agency.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
I feel like it used to.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Be, you know, Sunday quiet, Monday, crazy, Tuesday, crazy, Wednesday,
big stuff going on Thursday, little quieter, Friday, pretty dead.
But this year it just felt like wall to wall
news maybe except for Wednesday, ironically, which was the start
of the new league year, but it was there was
a lot to digest.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
And we're going to get into all of it. Everything's
moved faster.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
As of Sunday night, I think there was only twenty
seven players left off the one on one, and that
was the one on one for Monday. The original one
was down to like fourteen to fifteen players, So team's
just moving faster and yeah to the Bearess credit. I
guess like not letting some of the stories in the
Chargers with Keenan Allen, we'll get to like linger that
could be lingering for a long time.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
And if you're wondering why you haven't heard much from
Mark Sessler yet, he is not with us today and
I in retrospect when his Instagram was on fire with
nineteen ninety two photos.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
Whenever Camp Happiness.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Whenever Camp Happiness is at the forefront of the Mark socials.
In some ways, he's in nineteen ninety two and it's
hard to get back to twenty twenty four.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
You know what I mean, right, it's a jet lag
for thirty thirty two year journey back to twenty twenty four.
But he'll be back on Wednesday and Thursday for a
big around the AFC and NFC week.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
But for our for our knowledge in the future, when
Camp Happiness is going off on the feed, we should
plan ahead.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Okay. I think that's just a good way to get
ahead of things. Fair. I want to go to Camp Happy.
Sounds nice. It's hard to leave though, once you go there.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
I did go to Camp Wilder as a kid, which
has a probably a similar vibe.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
But that wasn't like a stay over with you.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Yeah, Nicoletown, there's no going to camps, So you go
to grandma's house and kill eight hours.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
See you when I get home from work, it's tough.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
You know. I was playing these whiffle ball and taking
a walk up to seven to eleven up there in
North Middletown Road.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
Like just can you carry this brick up the stairs
and then bring it back? You're like, why, I'm just
gonna return the brick back to where it was.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
Just do it, Danny. They gave it a dollar fifty
in your hand.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
You went up to you went up to that seven
eleven and you grabbed a slurpee and then if you
were lucky, a couple of pieces of that five cent
to Zuka.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
Joe bubble Gum. I do have guilt. That was summer
and whiffle ball same and except ours.

Speaker 3 (04:16):
There was like a forest behind our house and you
could cut through the forest. It was about a mile
plus two sounds murdery to get to the Variety store
it was called. And you know, in hindsight, I feel
regrettable that we would steal a decent amount from that
variety store because we didn't have any money. Yeah, you
pay fit, you know, you maybe buy a little bit
and put's more in your pocket.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Well, that's that's rogue delinquent behavior. We would never think
that do that at the local seven eleven. But that's
a difference between Western Massachusetts in New York and Rockland County,
hard working people that would never steal from a man
trying to make ends meet.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
I have regrets.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
It's not too late to make a phone call. Okay,
and probably did, but it's probably not in business anymore.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
Probably put him underground from the stress of his financial
failings as a result of your malfeasance. Let's get let's
focus on. Come on, Mark, let's get to Let's do
some news and shout.

Speaker 4 (05:12):
Out to all the other sports podcasts out there. Making
a banger man around the NFL. Part of my take
is always good. And then the Dan Levtard Show. I mean,
Dan's always killing it, so he's been doing it for
a long long time.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
A couple of notes there. It's the New Heights podcast.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Of course, the Kelsey Brothers, winner of Best Overall Podcast
at the iHeart Podcast Awards. Shout out to David Singer,
our gifted talent booker here at NFL Media who put
that on my radar. And I little Mia Koppa from
Old Zeusser, who you know is a little, a little snarly,
a little a little bitter, maybe took a shot at

(05:54):
the Kelsey Brothers acceptance speech the video pre recorded acceptance
speech at the awards show. We attended in person. We're
lost in person. Well they won and delivered the pre
recorded speech. Now I feel bad because that was a
class class move or from their podcast. That was from
what the acceptance speeches. I think that was recorded separately

(06:16):
as a part of the iHeart Okay awards exciting, I mean,
but what we just listened to was from their most recently.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
He was like.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
Looking down, So I don't know how familiar he is
with the program, but I do appreciate the thought, the uh,
the shout out, and we were mentioned first ahead of
pardon my take in Levatard, And.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
I think there's something to take out of that. I
think there's absolutely something to take out of that.

Speaker 3 (06:39):
We are getting to the age where there was a
chance some of these guys, if they were into podcasts,
were listening to the podcast, you know when they were.

Speaker 1 (06:47):
Getting to the age.

Speaker 3 (06:49):
Well, I just mean like we're going to talk Aaron
Donald later and his retirement, right, but we were there
talking about his draft day. Yes, So that means people
coming into the league now, they were like ten years old.

Speaker 1 (06:59):
Maybe they were listening to our podcast or something. Oh,
you're dating me.

Speaker 2 (07:04):
Let's get to it. Justin Fields on the move. By
the way I called this one. We had rotopad on,
we did our and we all throughout. Justin Fields trade options.
I said the Steelers, good Jeff, so bully for me.
Justin Field has gone to the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange

(07:26):
for a conditional twenty twenty five sixth round pick. Now
that can elevate to a fourth round pick if Fields
plays a bunch for Pittsburgh this year. But that is
very much up in the air because, of course, Greggie.
A week previous, the Steelers traded for Russell Wilson. We're

(07:48):
going to get to Kenny Picken in a second too.
He exits the picture. But what we're hearing, what's being
reported is that Mike Tomlin has told Russell Wilson that
he is indeed going to be the guy they see
as their Week one starter. That's what he's saying right
now anyway. But Fields now joins that totally remade quarterback

(08:09):
room in Pittsburgh, and the Bears are left wondering how
we handled this and whether we botched an opportunity to
get much more bang for their buck with Fields, who
you know, as recently as the end of the regular season,
a lot of people, including myself, thought they could fetch
a high pick, maybe a second rounder.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
It ends up being as low as potentially a Day
three pick.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
Yeah, it's a Day three pick regardless, right, sixth round,
fourth round, and it's not even this year. I don't
think they could have gotten more unless they potentially waited
until draft day or potentially waited until the fall. So
when Ryan Poles, their general manager, is kind of putting
out there, the Bears have put out there through sources,

(08:51):
there's so many angles to this. I want to get
to the on field stuff. But while we're talking trade
terms that you know, they could have maybe gotten a
little better of a deal, but they wanted to do
right by an.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
I don't need to hear all that stuff that's so phony.

Speaker 3 (09:02):
It might be vaguely true, but the terms would only
be like slightly better. Maybe it was like a hard
fifth or a hard fourth, something like that, doesn't matter.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
They weren't getting what they wanted.

Speaker 3 (09:14):
And the reporting is they started with a framework of
the Sam Darnold trade.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
Again, good job by you, Dan, you mentioned that trade.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
I believe in this very context, and that was what
they were looking for, which was like maybe a couple
of late round picks or pick swaps this year and
a second round pick in the future. And they found
out this offseason that offer wasn't coming. And as the
free agency took off and guys like Sam Bradford got

(09:41):
jobs and we're seeing these other backup spots get jobs,
it became clear no one was giving Justin Fields an
opportunity to start right now at least, and so teams
were just looking at him for a backup. And I
think his contract played a bigger role than everyone you know.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
Is making out to be in this. No one was
going to pick up his fifth year out.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
Now, I'm a little you know, I think there could
have been a case to be made that, hey, let's
pick up Justin Field, let's pick up the fifth year option,
let's commit to him. That's two years for like twenty
five million, that's pretty reasonable, and he's our guy.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
The next no one was looking at him that way.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
And then once they got to that point and realized
no one was looking at him that way, no one's
going to give up a good pick for one year
of a guy who's a backup or competing. And the
one little thing I do believe the Bear is on
is he they probably had a bunch of like lackluster options,
And whether he said the Steelers were the choice that
he wanted, that's what I would suspect him and his agent,

(10:36):
or that they just said, like, look, this is this
is probably the best chance with a good organization and
a potential chance to play sooner than later, of all
the choices, including it it's been reported the Eagles were
one of them. At least you have a pathway here?
Where will send you to the best pathway?

Speaker 2 (10:49):
I guess I'm still a little bit surprised how it
all ended up playing out, because I just.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
Thought, I am too, Oh, I am too.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
To be clear, I thought, while he certainly hasn't, he'd
still be a member of the Bears if he had
truly fulfilled his potential there or what they believed he
could be, but I thought he's shown enough that there
would be a team that would really Yeah, like that
Donald trade. The Panthers traded for Donald thinking he was
a depreciated asset that could be a big time player potentially,
and nobody saw him that way, apparently based on this

(11:15):
and that ESPN reporting from Courtney Cronin was an additional
the Bears had an additional offer with stronger draft capital
from a team with an established starter, but the team
decided they wanted to put Fields in quote a position
to continue his development. And what rubs me the wrong
way about that type of not the reporting. The reporting
is fine, but the way the spin is like, if

(11:39):
you really cared about Justin Field's development, you could have
you know, had a much more cohesive plan when he
was in your building and you saw him as the future.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
And now you're going to on the way out the
door and be like, oh, you.

Speaker 2 (11:51):
Know, we're gonna make sure we take care of you
screwed up his development with the way you handled the
first three years of his career, four years of his career.
So I don't that whole thing that me the wrong way,
But in general, I think Fields in terms of his future,
I think it's it is a pretty decent spot.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
And I'll give the Steelers credit.

Speaker 2 (12:08):
I have to say, like, do I love Russell Wilson
or Justin Fields. No, But if they're going this route
in terms of trying to figure out the position, they
could have done a lot worse when you look at
what they gave up to get both Wilson or what
they paid for Wilson, which is nothing, what they gave
up for Fields, which is close to nothing, and now
they're kind of two lottery tickets and you see what happens.

Speaker 1 (12:30):
I think they did a great job.

Speaker 3 (12:32):
I think omark in terms of where they were and
what they could do, they did the best that they
could do. Now they probably don't have a long term
change quarterback, but I think Fields has a better chance
than probably anyone else was going to be. And I
think it's important to remember with Chicago Ryan Poles, their
GM did not draft Justin Fields, and that it's been
mentioned a lot, and that's just how it goes. Like

(12:54):
when you when they messed up his development, but it
was like Matt Naggy to start and a different GM
to start and ownership all that stuff.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
The Steelers basically.

Speaker 3 (13:06):
Gave up nothing to get an upgrade from Kenny Pickett
and Mason Rudolph. It's kind of amazing how little that
they had to give up. Now, if Justin Fields balls
out and ends up improving that draft pick from the
sixth to the fourth round because he does play more
than fifty one percent of his steps by the way,
I would, I would guess he would because I think

(13:27):
I think Justin Fields right now is a is a
better player than Russell Wilson. And I understand why you
told Russell Wilson he's the starter. And Russell Wilson's already
sending out tweets like welcome aboard Justin Fields and hopefully
that that's all you know, a good relationship. You're gonna
let those two guys compete. They're so similar though. Justin

(13:48):
Fields holds the ball a long time, isn't known for
reading the middle of the field that great, is incredible
making plays on his own, is one of the better
quarterbacks in the league in terms of his deep accuracy,
and can spin the ball like, who does that sound
like a young Russell Wilson and Russell Wilson's an old
Russell Wilson. I'm not saying Justin Fields is going to

(14:09):
reach the level that Russell Wilson at was early in
his career. He's obviously behind compared to where Russell Wilson
was in his third year, but the athleticism is there,
and I just I don't know, I can't imagine in
a fair competition actually that Justin Fields doesn't get a
chance eventually.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
Plus they're going to want to get a look at him,
right because he's under a contract for one more year.
So yeah, I would think Wilson has to play extremely
well well to keep Fields off the field, and we'll
see if he can do it. I do have my doubts,
but in general, I give them high grades. Now, we
mentioned Picketts, so why don't we just talk about him here.
So the Eagles go and they do business with the Steelers.

(14:46):
They acquire the former first round pick an exchange for
let's see, the Eagles send the number ninety eight pick
in this year's draft end a seventh round pick next year,
and it's Pickett and the one hundred and twentieth overall
pick of this draft underd and twentieth overall pick.

Speaker 3 (15:01):
Was a four fifth, fourth fourth, So it's worth around
up of twenty two spots and they had to give
up a seventh, so they didn't even pick up an
extra pick the Steelers to get rid of pig.

Speaker 2 (15:12):
It so and there are reports out there and pick
Ittt spoke on it today as introductory press conference, which
is interesting. He spoke for the you know, on behalf
of his new team or with his new team, that
he did not take the Russell Wilson move well and
kind of shut down some workouts that were planned and
basically said get me out of here. And maybe Pittsburgh
was like, yeah, you got it, buddy. But in the end,

(15:34):
I feel like he is a cautionary tale about when
we talk about the draft coming up, like that draft
famously was not loaded with quarterback talent, as I recall.

Speaker 3 (15:43):
Yeah, it was Desmond Ritter and Malik Willis and but
then there really wasn't a winner.

Speaker 1 (15:47):
These three quarterbacks pretty in the sun.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
Right, all those guys, and but teams cannot help themselves.
It seems there's always going to be even in a
quote unquote bad quarterback year, the teams they're like, well,
we'll be the first one to take a guy. And
it's later in the first round, but you still end
up you still end up turning over like two years
of your franchise to the guy, and the Steelers ultimately
set themselves back with a really middling prospect in the

(16:13):
big picture.

Speaker 3 (16:13):
And that's how we played, right. I was never excited
about can you Pickett? A lot people weren't. People had third,
fourth round greens out of something. But he knew the facility.
Remember that he knew where the bathroom, which is why
this reporting and people got upset with the reporting that
now it's been convenient that it comes out from like
local reporters that he didn't want to dress as an
emergency quarterback last year in Week eighteen, that he felt

(16:35):
like it was sort of insulting and there's a question
of whether he was truly healthy or not. The Steelers
did him wrong no matter what, because Matt Canada was
his offensive coordinator.

Speaker 1 (16:45):
It's a really crazy tenure in.

Speaker 3 (16:47):
Pittsburgh if you think about it, because Matt Canada was
his coordinator, then they fire him and then if you remember,
Kenny Pickett had the very best game of his career
in the game after they fired Mike Canada, and everybody
was like, wow, they got rid of Canada. Picket's great,
and then Pickett got hurt the very next game, never
played for the Pittsburgh Steelers ever. Again, Mason Rudolph comes in,
looks pretty good. They decide not to give Pickett the

(17:09):
job back in week eighteen and for the playoffs, and
yet they get rid of Mason Rudolph too. Anyways, at
that point it was clear Mike Tomlin and then we're
probably just out on Kenny Pickett. And so they did
a bad job. But I kind of can't kill them
because I'm the guy. And I've talked about this with
Dave Danishek on his Minus three podcasts. He's been killing this.
My thing is flood the zone with quarterbacks until you

(17:31):
get one. Just keep taking them, keep taking them. Now,
the better process would have been take Picket in the
second or third round. He was not worth a first
round pick. But if you don't have one, keep taking them.
And I think they're doing it.

Speaker 1 (17:40):
That's kind of what I.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
Meant, right, don't just because it's a back end of
the first round and nobody's been picked yet at that position,
Like I feel like that sometimes clouds the thoughts.

Speaker 3 (17:48):
Of yes, they kind of take themselves into it. It
reminds me of J. P. Lossman.

Speaker 1 (17:52):
It reminds me of EJ. Manuel. These like late first
round picks at quarterback.

Speaker 3 (17:55):
You know, other than I guess Aaron Rodgers that was
pretty good in Lamar Jackson.

Speaker 1 (17:59):
I am really you know, runing myself.

Speaker 3 (18:01):
From those were like really late picks. But there were
other quarterbacks in those draft class. No, No, I know.
What I'm trying to say on the Steelers though, is
they're kind of doing that flood the zone thing right
now in a great way. So the Eagles get a
backup quarterback. They used to say they wanted to be
a quarterback factory. They basically gave up nothing to get
a decent backup quarterback in Kenny Pickett.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
So it's good process for them.

Speaker 3 (18:24):
But I would not, if I was the Steelers, rule
out taking a second or third round quarterback this year too.
I don't think it's that crazy. This is a good
quarterback class. Next year is supposed to be bad. There's
seven eight guys. Now, you're probably not going to use
your first round pick in it. But uh, there's some
guys that people are pretty intrigued about that could end
up going in the third round, and it reminds me

(18:44):
a little bit of when Russell Wilson was drafted.

Speaker 1 (18:47):
That was a three tiered battle.

Speaker 3 (18:49):
I believe it was Whitehurst, who was a trade tar acquisition,
Matt Flynn, who was a previous free agent pickup that
wasn't really working out.

Speaker 1 (18:57):
No, that was Flynn's first season.

Speaker 3 (18:59):
That was his It was Sason Ann, Russell Wilson, and
it ended up being the third round pick that worked out.
And they didn't think Russell Wilson was gonna be who
he turned out to be, or else they would have
taken him earlier.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
So I just keep trying them. You know, no, you
might hit one.

Speaker 2 (19:11):
I've said, I've talked about it on the show before,
but remember having a conversation on the rooftop of a downtown,
LA like elementary school and being taken aback by how
much Carol was talking about Russell Wilson, even though we
had done all this writing and reporting about Matt Flynn
signing with the team earlier in the off season.

Speaker 1 (19:28):
It was like, oh okay.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
Also, the Eagles, by the way, did some business on
the defensive side of the ball. They signed former Buccaneers
linebacker Devin White to a one year contract. So that
is a former first round pick White as I recall,
second team All Pro and Worth a flyer there and.

Speaker 3 (19:46):
People were talking, you know, talking about him. It was like,
could he be super Bowl MVP? He had a monster
playoffrom Worth a flyer, but really shows he's the type
of guy that color announcers were. I always used to
be like, oh, he's one of the best linebackers. Linking
against the free agency and nobody wanted. They also signed
you boy, Jake Elliott to a nice big contract. Kickers
make it the great money's these days. Finally, well, what
is it relative to the cap percentage?

Speaker 1 (20:09):
Well, you're right, it's not much.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
It's time for kickers to really take a bite into
the salary cap. That's what I want, not just more
money because there's more money being spent for a year.

Speaker 3 (20:17):
You're doing twenty four million dollar contract. It's pretty good though.
That's that's the highest. Now we would actually have to
stay on the team that whole time to get the end.

Speaker 1 (20:25):
I'm sure it's backloaded.

Speaker 3 (20:27):
But the way he's kicked, he's been as consistent as
anyone in the league since he started. Other than like
Justin Ducker, he could actually get all that money.

Speaker 2 (20:32):
He's a badass. He certainly is also Keenan Allen badass?
Did you know Allen? Last year? He was the one
consistent threat on that offense after Austin Eckler went into
a quick decline and Mike Williams blew out his acl
Keenan Allen with Justin Herbert last season just kept chugging along.

(20:54):
He had one hundred and eight catches, then gets injured.
He missed the last almost quarter of the sea and
he finished with one hundred and eight catches for twelve
hundred yards, seven or eight touchdowns. So obviously a premier producer.
And now he's on the move because the Chargers, still
dealing with cap Hell, send Allen to the Bears. So

(21:20):
he is entering the final year of a four year
extension he signed with the Chargers before the start of
the twenty twenty seasons. Now, the thirty two year old
joins a Bears wide receiver group that GREGI is starting
to look pretty frisky, especially with Caleb Williams obviously on
his way in it seems.

Speaker 3 (21:38):
And the number nine overall draft pick, which is their
own draft pick. And I don't think they're necessarily done.
This is such a good class at receiver. Some people
have mentioned them because they've they've still got extra picks.

Speaker 1 (21:49):
They just picked up another one.

Speaker 3 (21:50):
I guess it's in the future for fields, but could
they move up for one of these three wide receivers
at nine and really complete that group? Because Alan he
raises the floor. But he's thirty two years old on
the last year of his contract. Whether he's there long
term or not, we'll see, he said, you know in
the opening press conference. Look, I'm I'm very open to
signing long term here. I wouldn't have come here otherwise.

(22:12):
I loved what he said about not taking a pay cut.
I do want to circle back to what the Chargers
are doing after we talk Alt with because they got
Bosa and Mac to take a pay cup and he
was just like, that was the best year of my career.
I was the best player on the team. I'm not
taking a tay cut. And he is due twenty three
million dollars this year and the Bears are going to
pay it to him. So it's like it's almost like

(22:34):
he's he's getting a franchise tag plus from the Bears
and he deserves it right now. But I get why
the Chargers, in such cap straits were asking him to
take a pay cut, and I get why the Bears
are doing this. It's a fun It's a fun group
to me. Him and DJ Moore are a great tandem
because they have similar traits where it's just gonna be

(22:56):
very tough for defenses guys that get open. I do
think you kind of want what bigger, physical, maybe vertical
guy to fill out the group.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
But it's a great tandem and that could happen with
that draft pick.

Speaker 3 (23:08):
Let's see in the Chargers by the way, yeah sore.
More details came out on what they did with back
with Mac and Bosa. I just found it interesting. Those
guys took significant pay cuts, but they really set up
the new contracts that they were like our one year contracts.

Speaker 1 (23:22):
It was really a win win.

Speaker 3 (23:23):
I give them a lot of credit the player and
the team where they really reduced their cap hits. They're
gonna have some cap pain next year getting rid of them,
but they're almost certainly gone after this year, but not
nearly as much as it would have been this year,
so they get one more year out of them.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
They convinced them to take pretty good pay cuts, and so.

Speaker 3 (23:38):
It wasn't hey, we're gonna blow everything up right now,
let's let's try to keep you know, playing at a
high level. Alan didn't want to do it, but they
convinced those two guys to do it. And those two
guys are almost certainly gonna move on after this year,
but they get one more year of them.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
Yeah, I like, I like the way they handled it.
So we'll see what happens. But if Mike Williams doesn't
come back and he's visiting with the Panthers, the Jets,
I believe, the Eagles, so that move could.

Speaker 3 (24:02):
Be Steelers Steelers, which is that would be a frisky
one if he went to the Jets.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
Are the Steelers makes a lot of sense, But there's.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
Also been talk that he might the Chargers. Now if
they've moved, Allen might be open to bringing him back
on a more cap friendly deal they do have. If
that doesn't happen, they got a lot of work to
do in terms of building an acceptable stable around justin Herbert.
But yeah, it does feel like a two year plan
here for Harbaugh. All right, let's talk about the Jets,

(24:31):
who make a big signing this weekend. They sign left
tackle Tyron Smith, formerly of the Cowboys, to a one
year contract. It's a deal that's worth with incentives up
to twenty million, which is obviously big time money for
a left tackle, but he's got to hit a bunch
of incentives to get He's got to stay healthy, which
has been part of his story at thirty three years old. However,

(24:54):
GREGI for a guy that has consistently graded out Pro
Football Focus and elsewhere as one of the top blind
side protectors in the league, I feel like this was
a home run for the Jets to get him on
a one year deal, and you just hope and this
has not been something they've been connected to with health

(25:14):
on their offensive line. But if he stays healthy, this
is a big signing for the Jets, who have now
remade their offensive line ahead of the draft, which means
that opens up their options in that avenue.

Speaker 3 (25:26):
Yeah, it's huge for them, and I think the base
salary is only like six and a half million.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
Which I was like, Wow, Tyrone Smiths only getting He
must have been super annoyed about his market to sign this.

Speaker 3 (25:36):
Right, And the reporting is that the Jets were a
little surprised that he took the deal in the end
because he just stop me, we're going to be out
on him. And whether he was annoyed at the Cowboys
and just wanted to move on from them, or the
Jets were just a better opportunity. The Patriots were reportedly
maybe maybe in on this and Patriots don't really have
a path, a great path to being great this year,

(25:58):
and maybe the Jets structured it in a way where
like they were the only team that was like, well,
you can make twenty million if you actually play and
you ball out.

Speaker 1 (26:04):
I think it's a game changing move for them.

Speaker 3 (26:07):
It's a boomer Boss move, but this is the ultimate
boomer Bus season for them, so I think it's great.
Next Gen stats had him as the number one tackle
in the league last year when he was just in
one on one matchup, so it's just single, I'm blocking you.
He had the third most snaps of any tackle in
the league, so he's not getting help. It's like, I'm
just blocking you. No one's helping me. And according to them,

(26:29):
he gave up the fewest amount of pressures per snap
of any freaking tackle in the league, so he was
playing an elite level. I kind of think he is
a Hall of Famer. He's not that old, but he
has had pretty serious back injuries. Look, their process hasn't
been great because Joe Douglas said he's the old line guy.
And they went into this offseason needing to fill three
offensive line starters. And like history tells you between Tyrone Smith,

(26:51):
John Simpson, and Morgan Moses, like one or two of
those probably won't work out.

Speaker 1 (26:54):
That's what history would.

Speaker 3 (26:56):
But on paper, they did about as well as they
possibly could have going into this offseason.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah, they And here's the thing, I was texting with
my Jet fan buddies and and I've been saying, I've
I'm pessimistic about this year. Just seems there's too many
red flags flapping around this team with Aaron Rodgers, even though,
according to a report, now will not be chosen as
the VP candidate of RFK.

Speaker 3 (27:17):
But which is funny because supposedly it was rfk's donors
believing that like he wasn't a good choice.

Speaker 1 (27:23):
And it's also like when they chose a billionaire woman
instead who can pay.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
Yeah, not to get sidetracked, but also all the all
the we got it. We need to start to realize
with this Rogers stuff, like he loves it, like the
fact that it was never a real thing.

Speaker 1 (27:39):
It was never gonna happen.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
Yeah, but as long as we're all like our mouths
agape and we're talking about it, that's what he likes.
He likes people being either offended or annoyed with him
or just talking about him. And that is part of
the Rogers deal and it's frustrating, but like he got
what he wanted out of that.

Speaker 1 (28:00):
I don't know, man about a and Rodgers on TV
is a lie.

Speaker 3 (28:04):
He just might want to be the vice president of
the United States. I wouldn't doubt that.

Speaker 2 (28:08):
I mean, in this moment in time, I honestly think
it was more about look at me, how I'm connected
to this powerful figure, you know, ostensibly powerful figure. I
think one thing at Rogers did not and maybe this
is something with Andrew Moore shan in a bit. One
thing that Aaran Rodgers did not take into account is
when you are saying weird stuff allegedly or crazy conspiracy

(28:33):
theory stuff as a football player, it might not get
picked up. But once you are all of a sudden
connected to a presidential candidate, people might care about alleged
comments about Sandy Hook and maybe he learned something, but
I don't know if he learns anything, honestly. But the
Jets offensive line back to that I think will be good.
I was texting with my Jet fan buddies. It only

(28:53):
has to like once, just like one year, Like these
guys got to stay healthy and everything has to work.
Like every other team, it happens like once, like like once,
like look at look at their team with the Rogers
and the left tackle now there and Breece Hall and
Wilson in that defense. Like we just need one year

(29:15):
where things kind of go right.

Speaker 3 (29:17):
I have I can't remember just once a team on
like a now or else year more than the twenty
twenty four Jets, and those usually don't go well.

Speaker 1 (29:25):
Let that be said general, not in I don't believe.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
But I'm just thinking myself, Oh, just once, just once,
it has to work.

Speaker 1 (29:37):
You're the most optimist Jets fan I know, and I
love you for that.

Speaker 2 (29:41):
All right, let's take a break and then we'll continue
the news, right, Welcome back, We welcome back. We have
more news to hit, so let's spin through it before
we welcome Andrew Marshaan.

Speaker 3 (29:58):
When I hosted the show When You missed one, and
we came back with did you do it? Aside, I
didn't do it, and some of our listeners got on
me that they were saying that showed a lack of
confidence to not even give it a shot. But I
thought it was your ip. But now that I've heard
that note, I was like, Okay, I'll give it a shot.

Speaker 1 (30:12):
Next time. I'll give it. Oh.

Speaker 2 (30:14):
I think your first instinct was right that it'd be
cool to check with me. But I'm totally on board
with it being more a uh, it's of the podcast
as a whole, like no I P I also would
like to hear you try it, actually try it.

Speaker 1 (30:26):
Here I hit it, and let's hear Greggi's version of
the all right, all right, welcome back, all right, I
need that we're working show. That's good.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
It's good, all right, last one, and I'll do it
just so you can get it in your head for
the next shot.

Speaker 1 (30:46):
We'll do it one more at the end of the shot.
All right, welcome back.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
It's like a there's like a descending It's like a
staircase of anticipation.

Speaker 1 (30:58):
Let's get back to the news. M mmmm.

Speaker 2 (31:00):
Marque's Hollywood Brown got a job and it's the best.
I think it's the best possible job in sports, or
at least in the NFL right now, wide receiver of
the Kansas City Chiefs a one year contract worth up
to eleven million, and this.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
Was overdue, I thought, for kid, it's very you.

Speaker 2 (31:18):
Know, again, we talked about all the time, teams make
a lot of mistakes and free agency handing out too
much money to try to upgrade, maybe just a little bit.
But still with the Chiefs after watching them for four months,
even during their Super Bowl run, and you're like, God,
stop wasting Patrick Mahomes brilliant with all these haminaggers. Do
I come out of the first week of free agency
feeling like incredibly bullish because Hollywood Brown is that guy. No,

(31:43):
not personally, but again, maybe he clicks with Mahomes and
becomes a true star, which he is. There have been
moments where he has displayed that, But the Ravens thought
enough to get rid of him, right, and so did
the second team he was with, the Cardinals. So yeah,
it's just kind of a bit of a math for me.

Speaker 1 (32:03):
Too many drops out of mark.

Speaker 3 (32:04):
Brown does have a unique skill set and that he
gets opened deep down the field. And there's only so
many of those guys that do it. I mean, he's
an absolute upgrade from Marcus valdiscounting for less money. So
I think they did smart business based on the cap
space that they have. The base salaries only seven million.
I haven't seen what the incentives were, but I saw

(32:25):
them referred to as relatively easy to reach, like a
four million dollar incentive. So if he goes and has
a nice season, but even then, one million, eleven one year,
eleven million is nothing for receivers in this market. So
comparing him to Calvin really, yes, I'd rather have Calvin Ridley,
of course, but for the money that they were at,
I don't think there's that big of a gap between

(32:45):
those two guys. I think they're they're nice players, and
Kansas City still has to get someone in the draft,
and I think they will.

Speaker 2 (32:53):
I'll throw this out there just in it also buttons
up the last topic. We didn't touch on it, but
everyone pegging the Jets at ten to take a tackle,
and now that they went and got Tyron Smith, they
can potentially go in another direction.

Speaker 1 (33:07):
They could also trade down.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
What you're hearing reports that Joe Douglas is looking to
trade down like I would love again as a football fan,
Chiefs come up and get a monster wide receiver prospect,
and let's see if you could build another Tyreek Hill
type connection with Patrick Mahomes.

Speaker 1 (33:22):
I'm hoping. I guess what I'm saying is that they have.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
A big move ahead of them still that hasn't occurred yet,
because then you got Rashid Rice, Hollywood Brown, Kelsey in
the latter stage of his career.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
They see it.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
To me, there's still that one piece missing. You get
that offense back where it needs or should be, and
we'll see if they get it done.

Speaker 3 (33:40):
Brown is a good two slash three. Rice is going
to be I think a good two in the long run.
But yeah, they need one to kind of push those
two guys down this class and you never know, but man,
these classes have been so.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
Good at receiver lately.

Speaker 3 (33:56):
Is so deep that you know, the Draftnicks, the Jeremias
would say they might not even need to move up
really to take a pretty exciting prospect there late in
the first gear.

Speaker 1 (34:06):
You know my feeling on Jeremiah.

Speaker 2 (34:08):
And his takes and how Jeremiah all right, The Bills
agreed to terms with the wide receiver Curtis Samuel, your
guy you like yourself from Curtis Samuel, formerly of the Commanders,
on a three year, twenty four million dollar contract. Again
a lot of funny money here, it's worth up to
thirty million.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
But anyway, I like this one. Greg, I'm kind of
with you.

Speaker 2 (34:30):
I think Curtis Samuel, in the right setup, can really
be a dangerous player.

Speaker 1 (34:36):
Man.

Speaker 3 (34:36):
The right setup was with Josh Allen in Buffalo. I
like this one, no doubt. He's only twenty seven years old.
Somehow it feels like he's been in the league forever.
I don't know how that really computes. I guess he
turns twenty eight.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
He must have been in the league when he was nineteen.
That's insane.

Speaker 3 (34:53):
They will know how to use him. Joe Brady, though,
actually gets a little too cute sometimes. But I can
imagine a lot of getting too cute with Dalton k
James Cook.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
And we'll see.

Speaker 3 (35:01):
There hasn't been any buzz whatsoever about getting rid of
step On Diggs. I think that would be more on
draft weekend, if that ever would happen. But the fact
that it's been so quiet and now you have Diggs,
Shakir Samuel. That's a versatile groups. It's not incredible, but
it's it's good enough to go.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
Win all right.

Speaker 2 (35:17):
In other news, the Los Angeles Rams doing more business.
They add a backup quarterback to their room, Jimmy Garoppolo. Uh,
he may have heard of Jimmy G. You may know
that guy. He now lands as a first time Well
I'm trying to think, Actually, shouldn't say that, because obviously
he was famously and trenches a backup early on, But

(35:39):
is this the first contract he has signed now where
he is the backup?

Speaker 3 (35:43):
I mean, for a minute, he was the highest paid
quarterback in the league with San Francisco Predictions. Yeah, they
bet on him big and he had that early stretch
and then the Raiders and yeah, what a the decline
in terms of his like the types of contracts he
was getting from this year to last year.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
So he lands now behind Matthew Stafford in Los Angeles.

Speaker 1 (36:00):
A nice.

Speaker 2 (36:01):
It feels like Jimmy G just hanging out in LA
like in Malibu.

Speaker 1 (36:06):
It feels like it makes sense. It makes sense.

Speaker 2 (36:09):
But it's a deal, a one year contract, which is
you know, very different from the three year, seventy three
million dollar deal. He signed last offseason and then played
only seven games and then the Raiders got the hell
out of that deal. So he lands there as they're backup.
They also make a sign signing and we're going to
get to the Rams defense, which is now going to
be very different because of one missing defensive lineman. But

(36:30):
they assigned safety Cameron Curl formerly of Washington, to a
two year contract. Former seventh round pick who did some
good things.

Speaker 3 (36:40):
With Washington right quite highly ranked in my top one
to one and other top one, you know, hundreds in
terms of free agents, top fifty type player, one of
the better safeties that was available. Kind of calms down
a trouble spot, I believe for them. It's interesting that
they've now become the Rams, like the home for Way
were quarterbacks. You get Baker in twenty twenty two, Carson

(37:03):
Wentz quietly started a game or did he just come in,
but he played most of that Week eighteen game that
no one, no one watched. He was actually okay in
that game. He hasn't gotten a job yet. And now
you get Jimmy g. It's a there's something about Stafford
and Jimmy G.

Speaker 1 (37:17):
There's a lot.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
It's the it's again pretty pick privilege, right, that these
these wonder kinds, they they believe they could fix what
was wrong.

Speaker 1 (37:27):
With the case.

Speaker 3 (37:28):
It's almost like pretty McVeigh privilege that everyone wants to
go play for him at a discount when their career
is kind of at a talented player is at a
crossroads because McVeigh can make you go look good. So
it's a smart move by Jimmy G. For some reason,
Jimmy G feels like a guy. I'm not taking a
shot here, but like you know, you hear sometimes like,
well he maybe it wouldn't mind being a backup for

(37:50):
a little while.

Speaker 1 (37:50):
He's had it, like it's a lot going on.

Speaker 3 (37:52):
A lot of injuries, Yeah, but a lot say that
if he wasn't so like smoking hot, right, but if
he was busted up, dude, that's probably not your take here.
He was at the center of a power struggle, Colleen,
that that helped divide the greatest dynasty in the history

(38:13):
of the sport. After that, he was like the highest
paid play You say, his role in that was he
was at the center of him.

Speaker 1 (38:20):
He had nothing to do with it. He just got
drafted by that.

Speaker 3 (38:22):
But he was there and Robert Kraft had had one opinion.
Bill Belichick, I think would have moved forward with Jimmy
G's sooner.

Speaker 1 (38:30):
And then it became this whole thing. Tie this to
your take, go ahead.

Speaker 3 (38:34):
I just mean that he's been through a lot. Then
he goes to San Francisco. It's massive injuries, huge ups,
two huge downs, letdowns in the playoffs, gets bench for
a seventh rounder in the end, it makes a huge
kind the Raiders things a face like, Hey, let's just
go as you said, hang out in Malabu. Maybe let's
chill a little bit for a nice organization. Let's take
a little research.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
I guess maybe we're kind of in this. We're landing
in the silver place. But I don't get the vibe
that like he doesn't really want. I feel like you're
insinuating that, like he's he's.

Speaker 1 (39:02):
Just said it's a good time. He also had surgery
on his foot. He's a lot of injury.

Speaker 3 (39:05):
It's just been through a lot and has famously gone
on some big time dates in La Oh yeah, mister.

Speaker 2 (39:12):
Chow crazy one. That's one of the craziest stories in
the last ten years.

Speaker 1 (39:16):
No longer with us. Look it up. The restaurant in
the state.

Speaker 3 (39:20):
I was like, no, I think she's They die young sometimes,
like wrestlers.

Speaker 2 (39:26):
Very similar. The Vikings make a big move in the draft.
They agree with the Texans on a trade that nets
Minnesota and an additional first round pick in the twenty
twenty four draft. Rap Sheet and pell Saro had this
on Friday. In the deal, the Vikings acquired the number
twenty three overall pick in the first round and number
two thirty two in the seventh. The Texans get the

(39:48):
number forty two pick in the second round, a number
eighty eight one eighty eight pick in the sixth round,
and an additional second round pick in twenty twenty five.
So the Texans and everybody loves team builders love second
round picks. Never forget that. They love it. They love
the financial flexibility they bring. They trust their internal process
to find a guy that's really a first rounder in

(40:10):
their mind in the second round. So the Texans like,
we'll move a little bit back, we'll get some extra
assets after day one. And now the Minnesota Vikings, and
I don't love this, Greg, you know, I love my
storyline here about Darnold getting a chance, a true chance
to be a starter this year. But now that they
are armed with two first round picks, they have the

(40:30):
ammunition to move up to the top of the first round.

Speaker 1 (40:33):
Let's see if Minnesota does it.

Speaker 3 (40:35):
Yeah, I think it was Quessi who or maybe it
was Kevin O'Connell who even admitted, Look, we made this
deal with kind of an idea of what our ideal
path here is. We'll see if we can execute it
or whether to hop it or not. But either way,
we're happy to have this pick. It's very clear the
entire NFL knows they're making this pick to have a

(40:56):
chance to go take a quarterback, to go package that
eleventh and maybe twenty third pick, or or just be
in a position where they can take that quarterback.

Speaker 1 (41:06):
You're gonna have to move up.

Speaker 3 (41:08):
There's gonna be a lot of speculation whether the Patriots
move out of three or not. A lot of people
believe they're gonna stay put and take a quarterback there,
and then it would be on Minnesota to trade up
and draft the fourth quarterback, who everyone presumes is JJ McCarthy. Intrigue,
but it's a lot of presumption. I don't know A

(41:29):
lot of times these like logic. I went back and
listen to one of our Like a lot of times,
no one knows what's gonna Like, no one knew they
were trading up for Trubisky, no one knew they were
taking it, you know, taking Blake Portos Like literally no
one said any.

Speaker 1 (41:44):
Of that stuff. So who knows.

Speaker 3 (41:46):
Maybe maybe Minnesota has a different idea, maybe New England
has a different idea. But it's spicy because according to
the little pick chart, the Texans won this trade pretty significantly.
I mean, it is a good deal of business for
them in what's believed to be the deepest draft in
a law long time. To just move down eighteen spots
and you get a whole second round pick for next year.
That's a nice job by the Texans.

Speaker 2 (42:06):
I mean the Texan I mean, I'm pushing hard and
I know there's millions of listeners that want this as well.
For the Vikings to run it back his team around
the NFL man the Texans futures seemingly suddenly so bright.

Speaker 3 (42:20):
Both in there you would point out maybe last year
was their chance.

Speaker 1 (42:24):
But you know for the Texans where they're really like
a fresh new bi ale young option, new bile young option. Yeah,
well that ship sailed it.

Speaker 3 (42:35):
Would be fun, though I'm in on it. It would
be still be fun. Eight o'clock to light.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
Curse of atn Lton vander Ash retires after getting cut
by the Cowboys. Michael Gallup, Both Gallup, Gregie and Vandersh
guests on Around the NFL Live from Cowboys camp last summer.

Speaker 3 (42:53):
Yeah, vander Ash neck injuries. We'll always remember what a
player he was early in his career. One of Chris
Wesleyan's favorites. All the best to him because he would
have had a much different career if not for these
neck injuries.

Speaker 2 (43:04):
Unfortunately, And how about Gallups knee injury. He was really
on a great path and now he has to start
over somewhere else. Patriots signed Rogers Rover kJ Osborne and
the Browns hire Mike Rabel as a consultant, h and
sign another quarterback, Tyler Huntley. Devondre Campbell signs with the Niners.
Jordan Fuller, DJ Wannham and Dane Jackson end up with Carolina.

Speaker 3 (43:24):
What a weird quarterback room for the Browns. They got
a lot of quarterbacks. Just makes you wonder I do
the Four Horsemen. Aj Dillon returns to the Packers.

Speaker 1 (43:32):
Interesting.

Speaker 2 (43:33):
Joe Mixon gets a big new contract with the Texans.
Titans cut free agent bust Andre Dillard. Steelers signed Van Jefferson.

Speaker 3 (43:40):
I love that they are moving on quickly when the
Titans make a mistake and Andre Dillard and I love
that combo aj Dillon and.

Speaker 1 (43:47):
Josh Jake was a frisky, big old combo in the backfield.

Speaker 2 (43:51):
Cardinals signed Jonah Williams the thirty million, two year deal.
Jake Elliott we mentioned gets a new deal. Seahawks signed
linebacker Jerome Baker and Nathan Peterman.

Speaker 1 (43:57):
Lands with the Saints. Saints doing let's take a break
and then welcome in our first guest.

Speaker 5 (44:11):
Realistically need at least twenty five yards.

Speaker 6 (44:14):
Love pressure up the middle, runs away, throws across.

Speaker 1 (44:19):
His body and not his picks. Footy dunners have it.
Green Law still up. He needs to get down. Green
Law is still on us. He's gotta go down, Just
go down and goes to the number. San Francisco takes over.

Speaker 7 (44:38):
Well, it's kind of fitting. Jordan Love told us this week.
He goes, listen, there's some throws I've made that I
know breage kind of the cardinal rules of quarterback and
the one at the top of the list is you
never throw the ball late back across the field.

Speaker 2 (44:55):
There's the call from Kevin Burckhart and Greg Glson, who
you know, really quick rise in the industry in terms
of being seen as maybe the best or if not,
in the conversation in terms of broadcast teams, and yet
their time as at the top of the food chain
with Fox could be over with the arrival of Tom Brady.

Speaker 1 (45:14):
And that's why it's time to talk to This is
our dude.

Speaker 2 (45:18):
This is the guy that you want to go to
on all matters sports media, perhaps beyond. We haven't had
personal conversations about life and things of that nature yet,
but maybe down the road that occurs as well. Andrew Marshawn,
formerly of The New York Post, now with The Athletics,
senior writer covering sports media. Welcome back to Around the NFL.

Speaker 8 (45:37):
Andrew, Yeah, thanks guys, thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (45:41):
Yeah, so we just played that clip.

Speaker 2 (45:43):
I think this is where we got to start, Greggie,
because I think everyone wants to know what's gonna happen,
Andrew at the with Tom Brady signs this massive deal
with Fox, it's been a we've talked about it.

Speaker 3 (45:56):
On the show. There's been some doubts is he ever
actually gonna do it? I'm going to lose a sandwich
on it.

Speaker 1 (46:01):
Yeah, we have a sandwich prop on this. I said,
he's gonna do it.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
Look at the money and he's taking the year off
to prepare and all that.

Speaker 1 (46:07):
And now here we are heading into that season.

Speaker 2 (46:09):
What happens with Greg Olsen, who's obviously emerged as a
superstar in this field, who's under contract If I'm not mistaken.

Speaker 9 (46:17):
Yeah, Greg Olsen will move to the number two booth
with Joe Davis. The way his contract was structured. When
he's number one, he's making around ten million. At number two,
he'll make around three million. Brady comes in his salary.
I also reported thirty seven and a half million dollars
on season.

Speaker 1 (46:37):
Crazy.

Speaker 9 (46:38):
Yeah, it's Liverpool, and so he he's been working hard,
talking to a lot of people. Everyone I speak to
every time I speak to, you know, at Joe Bunck
or Mike Turko, Whoever's like, oh yeah, Brady fucked.

Speaker 8 (46:51):
So he's talking to everybody.

Speaker 9 (46:52):
He called Payton up and so he's trying to to
figure out how.

Speaker 1 (46:57):
To do this.

Speaker 8 (46:58):
And we all know Tom Brady.

Speaker 9 (46:59):
So the expectation he's he is working hard, which I've
already heard, and he's gonna work hard and try to
be really good at this.

Speaker 3 (47:07):
I'm I'm I guess I don't know why I'm surprised
by this. I shouldn't be. He's got the time. He
must love that. There's some doubt about like whether he's
going to be good, But I just figured a year
away from the game, is it normal for a guy
to be preparing this? But I guess no one's ever
had an opportunity like this, But no one's ever been
paid like this either. I mean he is he has

(47:29):
a bigger cap hit than almost any player in the NFL.
I mean he is making more money to broadcast than
every player in the NFL, minus like nine quarterbacks.

Speaker 1 (47:42):
And that's about it. Like he it is crazy to me.

Speaker 3 (47:46):
Was there any doubt, like through this process from the
Fox side of things, that he would follow through with this?
And like, what what does it entail that he's working
on it? Is this just kind of like smoke to
make people quiet down?

Speaker 9 (47:58):
If Fox has had no doubt that he's gonna do it,
it's other voices that have thought that, you know, what
this is a hedge, And let me just say one thing,
and I think he's gonna do it.

Speaker 8 (48:07):
I want to be clear.

Speaker 9 (48:09):
On the podcast they used to do with John Oran,
we had the Brady Meter where I did percentages of
him doing it, and it was always above fifty percent,
except for one episode where I went.

Speaker 8 (48:18):
To forty nine.

Speaker 9 (48:19):
I think when the Raider ownership came about, and that
caused a lot of waves and Brady even ended up responding,
I write a whatever anyways to you directly, Well, what
happened is I don't like to go on these podcasts
and blame and blame aggregators, but the aggregators got it.

Speaker 8 (48:37):
It was just an opinion. It was fun, It wasn't
really a serious thing. And then.

Speaker 9 (48:43):
The aggregators got it and it was like I was
reporting it, which I wasn't. Uh, And then Brady responded
to an SI tweet and so any long story short
that I had to write a column.

Speaker 8 (48:54):
It was just a pain. The whole thing. I wish
I've never said it.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
I love that, you know.

Speaker 9 (48:59):
So the question, though, the thing I would say is
that if he doesn't do it, he's not gonna He'll
say no at the end right, like he's gonna go
through the process and let's just say behind the scenes
when he's practicing, he doesn't think he's good. He's gonna
embarrass himself. I don't think that's gonna happen. I think
he's gonna do it. Let's it say that's the case
or something else comes up. I don't think. I wouldn't.

(49:20):
I wouldn't start saving up for that sandwich who owe, whoever.

Speaker 8 (49:23):
You owe just yet.

Speaker 9 (49:26):
I would wait because I think, you know, if he
if he does bow out, it's gonna be he's gonna
it's gonna show his intentions that he's that he wants
to do it.

Speaker 8 (49:33):
Until he does it.

Speaker 9 (49:34):
I still I'm more like the Brady meter now is
in the high nineties, but still not a one hundred.
Hasn't hit a hundred hill a hundred that day that
he does it. But I think he'll be pretty good.

Speaker 2 (49:45):
Not to conflate to sectors and two things you've recently
reported on, but you also did that deep diving again.
Now he's at the athletic Oh yeah, Andrew, you know,
he gets to really spread out and write a little
deeper pieces. I feel like we're reading the nepotism p
and it made me think. I was reading about you know,
Jack Collinsworth and how they installed him on the Notre

(50:06):
Dame Games and after a couple of years they're like, whoa,
I don't know about this. So they had to pivot
of course, son of Chris Collinsworth with this situation, like
in terms of risk for Fox, because let's say.

Speaker 1 (50:21):
Tom does it. Let's say Tom stinks, because it happens.

Speaker 2 (50:25):
We know what happens is that there's a long history
of superstar legendary players. It's like we're talking about pretty
pick privilege. It's like pretty legend privilege here, Like you
go right to this number one spot.

Speaker 1 (50:36):
What if he stinks? Do they end up in a
spot potentially.

Speaker 2 (50:39):
Where Brady he's not doing well, either removes himself from
the equation or they have to make a move and
then Olsen's out the door. Because the way they handle it,
How big a risk are we talking here for Fox?

Speaker 1 (50:49):
Could they lose everything?

Speaker 8 (50:52):
Well?

Speaker 9 (50:53):
Number one TV contracts are not like NFL contracts, so
it would have to be Brady's decision is not gonna
go eat you know, thirty seven and a half million
dollars a year for ten years work with him.

Speaker 1 (51:07):
Yeah, it's ten years old myself.

Speaker 9 (51:10):
So Brady would have to feel like, you know what,
I don't want to do this. I think for them
for him not to be it, it's like it's all like.
And that's why when he signed the contract. That's why
why there's so many people saying it's a hedge, because
you know, he did it because they kept offering more
and more money. And then I got to a point
where he said, you know what, let me try this.
And I'm not saying he's not into it now, but
this isn't some love of being a game analyst that

(51:34):
he has. I mean, that's hard to believe. He did
a story a couple of years ago with the Wall
Street Journals Jason Gay where he was asked about the
broadcast booth and basically said he had no interest and
so the money got so high. So it's not gonna
be Fox pulling the plug. It would have to be
Brady saying I don't want to do it. And so look,
I think he'll be good. But if your doomsday scenario.

Speaker 8 (51:57):
Yeah, I mean I listen.

Speaker 9 (51:59):
I always for the best stories that would be interesting.
Let's put that'd be fascinating.

Speaker 8 (52:03):
If he were not good but still wanted to.

Speaker 9 (52:06):
Do it, that would be an interesting story to see
how that played out.

Speaker 3 (52:09):
Yeah, I look at it like through the podcast Lens too.
He's done a podcast with Jim Gray, the Let's Go Podcast,
but it's like he's just sort of kind of doing it.
You know, he's on vacation, he's not putting his all
into it. It's like Jim Gray just asking him questions
like they were on the radio or so. So it's
like he's not trying to make the best podcast possible.

(52:30):
He's just like tipping his toe into it. Every once
in a while he says something interesting and that gets
picked up or whatever. But it's not like an overly
successful podcast, largely because he doesn't put that much into it,
and so people will catch on if that happens at
the NFL, you know, at the Fox level. But the
thing that's crazy to me is the Greg Olsen part

(52:50):
of it is that Tom Brady is now Drew Bledsoe.
Our friend Tom Curran used to call Drew Bledsoe in
his contract the hood Ornament, because they signed him to
this huge hundred million dollar contract and said, look, we're
a good organization. We have the highest paid quarterback in
the league, and Drew Bledsoe immediately started declining. They call
him the hood ornament, and every Belichick knew he kind
of couldn't play. And Tom Brady is now the hood ornament.

(53:13):
And if he doesn't deliver on a level that's even
somewhat close to Greg Olsen at least. I don't know
if he cares about people like us, but it's gonna
be in you know, the athletic and other places like that,
that like he is inferior to the guy who's number
two and is making what won twelfth of his money,
and that's gonna get back to him, Like he's gotta

(53:36):
be a little concerned that, like this guy who's already
proven he's great at it is in his same building.
What do you think that the dynamic's gonna be when
they show up to like the Fox, you know, let's
take pictures and all pretend like we're laughing and throw
a football between each other sessions.

Speaker 8 (53:52):
Well, I think a couple of things.

Speaker 9 (53:54):
Number One, you know, the way these guys are judged
is subjective. You know, when you're a quarterback, you your
team wins or loses, you throw for three hundred yards.
You don't throw for three hundred yards, and so it's
a little bit more cut and dry. I think the
what you're pointing out is if Brady's like really bad,
like if he's there's gonna be people who don't like
Tom Brady just because they don't like Tom Brady. No

(54:15):
matter what he does, they won't like him. But I
do think you can win over the audience. And the
one thing about it calling a football game maybe it's
one of the hardest things to do in sportscasting, you know,
doing a podcast, you know, he's not the same thing.

Speaker 8 (54:32):
You know, it's he's controlled environment.

Speaker 9 (54:35):
You're just talking to another person, Like you said, in
the setup that Tom has, you know, Jim Gray is
really the one orchestrating everything and doing kind of the
hard work to pilot everything, and you know Kevin Burkhart
will do that in the Fox booth, but just knowing
how to get in and out, how to translate. Obviously
he has high level thoughts about football. But can you
say that so you know, I can understand, so the

(54:57):
average fan can understand and simplify it. You know, that's
a question that until you do it, you don't know,
and it has to be natural, like Romo's success at
the beginning was because he did come off as very natural,
very relaxed, and like he was just talking to you
in your living room, as opposed to being like, you know,
trying to be a broadcaster, trying to be somebody else.

Speaker 3 (55:17):
I I agree with you, and yet I remember when
Olsen did it as an active player, and he was good,
like the first game, and a lot of times, like
when we hear like Adjason Whitten or someone that's not
good the first game, the first yeah, you can kind
of tell right away sometimes and it never changed, like
Olsen was good. I know he's gotten better, but he
was good the first game. I want to know what
your Olsen meter is, though, Like what's the chances he's

(55:39):
not at Fox to start the year? And I guess
what would be the other options because I can't I
can't imagine. He's too excited to be taking that big
of a pig. I know he's made a lot of
money in his life and everything, but like he's he's
competitive as hell.

Speaker 2 (55:55):
But imagine imagine the place where he must be because
you're you have having this great success. Everyone loves you
now it's like seven million dollar haircut, and now you're
no longer the a guy has to be really tricky
more morale wise.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
For him right now it is.

Speaker 9 (56:11):
I think he'll be at Fox, he'll do the number
two games, and then I think he'll reevaluate everything and
see what's up there. I would say, though, I don't
really feel that bad for Greg Olsen. I you know,
look at him, as he's in a great spot. He's
thirty six, thirty seven years old, and these jobs are
now paying thirty seven a half million or eighteen million.

Speaker 3 (56:31):
Dollars right here, Brady rose the ceiling here for guys exactly.

Speaker 9 (56:38):
And there's only a small group of people who are
going to be offered these jobs, and they're mostly Hall
of Fame quarterbacks or legendary quarterbacks. And they tried to
get Peyton for you know, the salary structure, you know, partly,
you know, the biggest reason was ESPN couldn't get money
in a football correct, But that was in part because
Peyton kept saying no. He said no, no, no, no,
and so and then Romo had the you know, free

(56:59):
agent and see where he had ESPN and CBS both
wanting him, and the NFL contracts with the networks were up,
and so that's why they got to that level. But
it's just a small group that's in there for these
jobs and they don't open that often because they're great
jobs and they pay so well. But Greg Olsen will
get the opportunity to be a number one. I think,
I don't know where exactly some ideas, but I'm not

(57:21):
going to.

Speaker 8 (57:21):
Say it on your podcast, No offense.

Speaker 1 (57:24):
I'll get save those, but well there's only so many.

Speaker 3 (57:27):
What do you think about you think Amazon is bringing
back the same group this year?

Speaker 1 (57:32):
What's that meter? They are?

Speaker 3 (57:33):
Okay, he's saving his March bombs for no I get it,
but that's a separate issue. So I was just kiddious
if they respect March bombs, if they would think about
shaking it up, whether it was herb Street or how
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (57:46):
Let's finish here because you mentioned Romo always a subject
of fascination. I loved Andrew going out the door at
the post after a huge run there with Tony Romo.
I know you didn't write the headline, but Tony and
Jim Nantz are a mess. With Super Bowl twenty twenty four,
barreling toward them on a headline, What did you think

(58:09):
about the Super Bowl performance by the pair and what
is their future in your mind? Where do you kind
of see there? You know, is that a pair that's
going to stay together? Will they be broken up? Do
you think your feelings which are strong and on their
struggles in recent years, you think that shared inside the
building A year after, you know, some of the criticism
really started to build and the report had come to

(58:32):
Jesus conversation that was held after the previous year.

Speaker 9 (58:36):
So yeah, my post super Bowl column for the Athletic,
I think their headline was a little maybe a little softer.

Speaker 8 (58:44):
But it was pretty strong column.

Speaker 9 (58:47):
You know, they kind of messed up that final call,
especially you know, Nance calls the touchdown and then for
whatever reason, you know.

Speaker 8 (58:55):
Didn't was they able to finish the call.

Speaker 9 (58:56):
Because Tony was going in about the Andy Reid play
and he always like loves to say, this is the
play of the game, this is that's the play of
the game. You're this is your chance to actually say
that that won the Super Bowl. That's what it should
be and better he probably should have let silence happen,
let the crowd take it over and then give your
analysis a little bit after. So they struggled in that

(59:18):
Super Bowl. I think there is an issue in terms
of that chemistry between the two of them. I think
that showed up in terms of, you know, the fundamentals
that you have in a broadcast, especially they've been together,
I think six years now, five or six years, they
should be.

Speaker 8 (59:36):
They should know, they should have it down. When you're
a team. You guys know, you guys have done a
podcast together.

Speaker 9 (59:41):
You know when you're going in and out, and you
know the Super Bowl is not when you want to
mess up, especially that final call. And so yeah, I
do think they have an issue.

Speaker 8 (59:50):
Do they know it?

Speaker 9 (59:52):
I think at some level that they know that there's
there's problems there. Will they do anything about it? Maybe
you know at some point, but you know, not the moment.

Speaker 1 (01:00:02):
All right.

Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
Andrew marshaw on check him out on the Athletic Now.
His latest, by the way, is a banger about Lebron
James and JJ Reddick teaming up for a podcast that
all about ball, all about ball, and it has one
of the best quotes. This is what we need, Greg,
We need someone that vouches for us the way Maverick

(01:00:24):
Carter This is this quote that Andrew.

Speaker 3 (01:00:25):
We need inside sources with our next this is what
he says about Reddick and Lebron. This is like two
wine masters. Somalier's talking about wine, not necessarily you or
me arguing if I like Burgundy or Bordeaux better whoa.
That is amazing to be called a Somalier. And you
got that quote, and that's what we need. We need

(01:00:46):
support like that. That's what we needed.

Speaker 8 (01:00:49):
I can do.

Speaker 1 (01:00:49):
I gotta do it about it.

Speaker 9 (01:00:52):
What would be like the like the analogy that somebody
might use for you guys.

Speaker 3 (01:00:57):
Oh man, I don't know, you know that that we're
setting each other up like Shaq and Kobe or something
like that.

Speaker 1 (01:01:04):
Great Shack and Kobe feels strong.

Speaker 2 (01:01:05):
It's like Brian Big Country Reeves and whoever else was
on the Vancouver Gress.

Speaker 1 (01:01:11):
All right, thank you very much, Andrew. You're the best.

Speaker 2 (01:01:14):
Say hi to your brother for us.

Speaker 1 (01:01:17):
The show and you didn't even.

Speaker 8 (01:01:19):
Tell them.

Speaker 1 (01:01:22):
Great, excellent, all right, Andrew Man, Shawn, thank you for everything.
Thanks Andrew.

Speaker 8 (01:01:26):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:01:30):
There he goes, Yeah, I mean, geez, we need a
Maverick Carter. That's that's kind of the big takeaway.

Speaker 1 (01:01:41):
But in terms.

Speaker 2 (01:01:43):
Of of what we just heard from Andrew.

Speaker 1 (01:01:46):
I hadn't heard that. I don't know if that was
out there.

Speaker 2 (01:01:47):
I'm sure it was, but that Olso in addition to
taking that step down to the number two teams losing
seven million a year, but the good job also by
Andrew adding the necessary uh, you know, take a step back,
that he's Olsen has set up so well in the
long term that even if this is a little bit
of a slice of humble pie. First of all, everyone

(01:02:08):
knows it's not his fault. It's just the circumstances of
the situation. And whether it's Fox or someone else, he
is now put enough on tape where he is going
to be taking care of down the line.

Speaker 3 (01:02:18):
There's I mean, there's only so many someone else's so
it's you know, CBS or Amazon, and you know, Andrew
isn't gonna want to do a Marsh Marsh bomb on
our show, and maybe we can get to this he says, yeah,
there's no chance, or he just said, you know, Amazon's
bringing back the same too, which I have no reason
to doubt, I believe. Though it was reported that that
was initially a three year contract for those two guys,

(01:02:40):
so this might be there. Finally your feet feels like
they would want to shake that up. Man, he could
do even just keep out.

Speaker 2 (01:02:46):
And I have an idea as we go to break
better than Herb Street. Eric Roberts for the You know
how every episode, you guys write like a little recap
underneath the headline.

Speaker 1 (01:02:58):
Or the title of the podcast. Just do this.

Speaker 2 (01:03:01):
You know, it's Dan and Greg on today's show. And
then right, this is like two wine masters. Somalia's talking
about wine. Not necessarily you are me arguing if I
like Burgundy, your Bordeaux better.

Speaker 1 (01:03:13):
That's all. That's all it is. That's it. That's it, okay,
and just see where the metrics go on. I think
it'll have a massive impact.

Speaker 2 (01:03:21):
All right, Let's take a break and then welcome in
another guest.

Speaker 1 (01:03:25):
Oh nice guest. Heavy show today.

Speaker 6 (01:03:29):
Less than they are to gain on fourth down, the
forty three seconds remaining rams creepy on.

Speaker 10 (01:03:33):
They rush forward, Burrow to frow Ford.

Speaker 6 (01:03:35):
He's hit, Peace sacked, he throws it away, He flings
it away on fourth down. Aaron Donald got there. Donald
takes his helmet off in celebration. He flips Burrow to
the turf and forces the incompletion on fourth and one.

Speaker 10 (01:03:51):
He singles to his ring.

Speaker 6 (01:03:53):
Finger on his left hand, and you can build that
man statue out so far stadium right now, the greatest
of all time on defense does it in the biggest
moment of Super Bowl fifty.

Speaker 1 (01:04:06):
Six, a brilliant call from JB. Long, the voice of.

Speaker 2 (01:04:11):
The Los Angeles Rams, the Super Bowl winning takedown a
burrow that led to Los Angeles' close, narrow win over
the Bengals a couple of years back. And now Aaron
Donald is done with football. He announced his retirement Friday
after ten absolutely dominant seasons. So why don't we welcome

(01:04:31):
in the great voice of the Rams, JB. Long, friend
of the show who called every game of Rams of
Donald's La Rams career, and now Los Angeles moves into
an uncertain place without their stud JB.

Speaker 1 (01:04:48):
Welcome back to her on the NFL.

Speaker 10 (01:04:50):
Danny Greg, It's great to see you both. Thank you
for the invitation. You know how much I'd love to
talk about Aaron Donald, and he's done so much for me,
including getting the couple appearances on around the NFL. So
thank you bring and I'm thankful for that honor.

Speaker 1 (01:05:04):
What was it like? You know you this is a guy.

Speaker 2 (01:05:08):
And just to put it into context, there's been maybe
no other player in the history of the sport that
was as consistently dominating as Donald, you know, maybe barrs Anders.
And it's fitting because they both kind of retired after
ten years at the top of their league from the
time they entered to the time they exit. Three time
Defensive Player of the Year, eight time First Team All Pro,
ten time Pro Bowl selection every year of his career,

(01:05:31):
former Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Speaker 1 (01:05:32):
When he started in Saint Louis.

Speaker 2 (01:05:34):
What was it like watching this guy and essentially covering
him on a day by day, weekly basis. How quickly
did you realize you were watching an all timer immediately?

Speaker 10 (01:05:44):
I mean it was a privilege, it was an honor.
I remember my first training camp. Many of others have
shared this anecdote. But it's tough to practice when Aaron's
on the field. Oftentimes, when Sean McVay was calling plays,
even against his own defense, he would wait to take
a shot until Aaron subbed out for just that one rep,
because otherwise the play wouldn't get off, whether they were
in pads or not. But yeah, I was watching a

(01:06:06):
living legend. The play that you just talked about. To
me was like the culmination was his mountaintop, the fact
that he got hands on Jimmy Garoppolo in the NFC
Championship game as well to essentially have walkoff hits in
back games at Sofi Stadium, the biggest in RAMS history.
I know you guys that around the NFL are very
careful and draw strict boundaries when comparing sports, but like,

(01:06:29):
what is the equivalence, what is the equivalent of that
like yard in game six? I'm sure, but like to me,
it's almost more like especially for a defensive player. Can
you imagine robbing a home run in Game seven of
the NLCS and then coming back and doing it again
in the World Series for a second last out. Like
so much of that twenty one year orbited around Aaron.

(01:06:51):
So much of what the RAMS have done during my
tenure have been driven by maximizing the prime of the
greatest defensive player that I've ever seen walk the planet,
whether it's trading those picks, like what has flipped those picks?
You know, to use a euphemism, really mean in the
context of the Rams, it's about using every resource that
you have to get the most out of Aaron Donald's prime,

(01:07:11):
because whether they were a four or five win team,
which they have been during my tenure, or a championship
winning team, every game that Aaron played, you felt like
you had a chance to win. He was that influential
a defensive force.

Speaker 3 (01:07:23):
He's the greatest defensive player I believe I've ever seen.

Speaker 1 (01:07:29):
I think the only other.

Speaker 3 (01:07:31):
Person that would be in the mix would be JJ Watt,
who at his very peak, which was also during this show,
and he's the guy, along with Aaron Donald and Lawrence Taylor,
who have the only ones that have won three Defensive
Player Dependsive Player of the years. At his very peak,
JJ Watt was at such a high level I have
a hard time putting anyone in front of him. But
you can make your argument for Donald that they're certainly

(01:07:54):
right there in the same area at their very peak.
It's just different positions. But did you say Donald? I
did Donald back? But JJ what Like? That's why Donald?
When you're trying to compare him to other people, the
only other person that comes up to me is actually
Jim Brown because he played nine seasons and that's the
only other person I can think of that from the
minute he entered the league to the minute he left.

Speaker 1 (01:08:16):
Essentially he was.

Speaker 3 (01:08:17):
At the very very top of what he did, which
is that's what Aaron Donald did too.

Speaker 1 (01:08:23):
Eight as you mentioned, eight first team All Pros.

Speaker 3 (01:08:24):
He could have been first team, but he ended that
twenty twenty two season a little early. He could have
maybe gotten at his rookie year too. It's just like
people didn't know Aaron Donald. He did come back that
second year next level, but unlike those guys you're right, like,
who combines all of that with having that moment? It's
so rare in sports to have the greatest player in

(01:08:48):
the sport at.

Speaker 1 (01:08:49):
What he does have, Like what is a walk off?

Speaker 3 (01:08:53):
It's literally unprecedented in football history. There is no one
that's actually checked off all those sort of boxes exactly
in the same way that Aaron Donald did. And he's
such a humble guy and quiet guy that I think
he probably got less attention because of that and the
position that he plays. He got a little less attention
because of that because it takes ball Knower's like you

(01:09:14):
JB to recognize it. You wrote about him on the
RAMS website this week, and I thought it was interesting.
You really talked about how glad you were he came
back for these last two years, So I did want
to ask you about that, what these last two years
were like after he openly considered retiring and he's passing
up what thirty million dollars this year to retire, And
then also you didn't seem as surprised. I don't think

(01:09:35):
about this decision as most people on the outside. So
I guess just I'm curious about how this retirement came
into view this offseason.

Speaker 1 (01:09:45):
Two.

Speaker 10 (01:09:46):
Well, I'm sure you both remember the conversation that was
being had in and around the Super Bowl and certainly
after the Rams won, leading up to the parade about
you know, whether or not he would be back, whether
he would just go out on top of the world,
quite literally in professional football. And I had the distinct
honor of hosting that championship parade outside the LM Memorial Coliseum, and.

Speaker 1 (01:10:07):
I was there with the kids, We got the pictures,
we were there.

Speaker 10 (01:10:11):
Great Rams fans that you are, And maybe you can
echo back to me your sensation when you heard that
he was willing to run it back and just to
kind of go behind the curtain a little bit. As
a team employee, I was instructed not to go down
the pathway of Aaron's future when he took his turn
at the micro understandably so, because that was an unresolved issue.
But I'm standing between him and Sean McVay. Shawn's kind

(01:10:34):
of jabbing me in the ribs, daring me to go
ahead and ask if he's willing to run it back,
and so talk about being between a rock and a
hard place. I had what second decision, and I really
appreciate the grace with which Aaron handled that, but it
started a two year clock. I didn't know that I
was going to run for two years, but it started
the preparation process of this is not going to last forever.

(01:10:56):
And run it back did not go well, as you know.
The Rams fell to the depths of five and twelve,
and Aaron missed games in that twenty twenty two season
because of injury for the first time in his career,
and that prepared me mentally, emotionally for what life was
going to be like after Aaron Donald. And we always
knew it was going to be a challenge because he
spoiled us, but whether it was like Baker Mayfield beating

(01:11:19):
the Raiders on Thursday Night football at SOFI Stadium or
some of the other uplifting moments. It was a good
preview that the future is possible. And then I'm especially
glad for this past season when he welcomed a group
of fourteen drafted rookies, including Kobe Turner and passed the
baton in a way. I think this past season goes
down as one of the most enjoyable for Rams fans

(01:11:40):
outside of their championship seasons, because they overachieved and because
you can see now the path into the future. And
that includes for their head coach Sean McVay, who's spoken
openly about how the greatest defensive player of all time
has helped him course correct and start this second book
of his I assume Hall of Fame career eventually, just
like Aaron.

Speaker 2 (01:11:59):
Do you think internally, like you said, a really fun
season for the Rams. They nearly knock off the Lions
and the playoffs and that great wild card game. Do
you think the Rams have been preparing for this really
since that game ended or was there any internal hope
or belief that he would be back.

Speaker 1 (01:12:18):
How much of a surprise was it in the building.

Speaker 10 (01:12:20):
I don't think it was a surprise. And even going
back to like three and six at the bye I
think some of the moves they made, even as subtle
as signing Carson Wentz to make sure that there was
a backup to Matthew Stafford down the stretch run even
hinted at the fact that we don't know if we're
going to get another crack at this with Aaron Donald
in his prime or ever. And so while the NFC

(01:12:41):
is wide open, while we do think there is a
path to a playoff spot slim though the odds may be,
let's make sure we're doing everything we can to get
him in the dance one more time. Because at the
end of the last regular season, I think on the show,
you guys said as much they were the team that
no one wanted to play. Now Detroit got to play them,
and Jarrett had his moment and they handled that, And
good on them for knocking the Rams out of the postseason.

(01:13:02):
But who among us would have been surprised if, led
by Aaron and Matthew and whukn nakua, they had made
another run to an NFC championship or maybe beyond. I
think all of those thoughts have been in the back
of Ram's executive minds for many, many years, because the
window is always closing in the National Football League, especially
when you have someone beyond thirty years old.

Speaker 3 (01:13:22):
Yeah, I've been reading a little bit and it's fascinating
they've had to prepare umbellbreg about reading. I just been
on the Donald contract, and we don't need to get
too deep into that, but it is interesting that they
structured this restructure in a way that kind of showed
maybe they knew this retirement could have been coming, but also.

Speaker 1 (01:13:43):
Leaves the door open just a little bit.

Speaker 3 (01:13:45):
If he changes his mind at some point in the future,
because look, he already changes his mind once. You just
never know, and they would want to leave room for
that to happen. They've got a lot to do to
replace him. They certainly got out to a great start
with that last year with Kobe Turner and what they
were gonna do, Like, what do you think they're gonna

(01:14:08):
do next?

Speaker 1 (01:14:09):
Do you think they're gonna take some big swings?

Speaker 3 (01:14:11):
Maybe this offseason, having with this having happened, they've been
a little quieter, but I think making smart moves and
certainly spending money at the guard position and everything that
I expected this offseason well.

Speaker 10 (01:14:23):
Greg, let me start by stating the obvious, which you
both know as well as anyone. There is no such
thing as replacing Aaron Donald offseason or ever. So that's
your starting point. But bracing for that impact, can you
do certain things to try and absorb the loss just
this gaping cavity that you have in the middle of
your defensive line?

Speaker 1 (01:14:41):
Yeah?

Speaker 10 (01:14:42):
Sure, I mean I think Kobe Turner having a borderline
defensive Rookie of the Year season helps. But for so
many years we've seen so many defensive players benefit from
the Aaron Donald bump, right, whether it's Von Miller at
the end of that season, Leonard Floyd, Dante Fowler, like
even players in the secondary really benefited.

Speaker 1 (01:15:01):
Get people paid.

Speaker 10 (01:15:03):
He gets people paid, that's right. He pushed the market
for defensive tackles into the twenty million per dollar range
and then the thirty million dollar per range. Like you know,
I said that, He's both a driving force behind the
way that current NFL offensive football is played and then
the perfect antidote to that. Right when you talk about
quick game and efficiency and getting the ball out of
your hands, interior pressure that he created, the way that

(01:15:25):
he punctured pockets faster than anyone else. It's irreplaceable, but
that doesn't mean that you can't win games. And if
you've seen the Rams, you know subtly invest in their
offensive line for a couple of years now to try
and build that wall, especially guard to guard in front
of Matthew Stafford so that he can't step up in
the pocket, take that extra hitch and go through his
full field reads. Or making sure that DeMarcus Robinson is back. Now,

(01:15:50):
all these things that whether or not you have to
improve on offense and or special teams to compensate for
what you're losing inevitably on defense. I think those things
all go hand in hand. But I don't think anyone
was caught flat footed within the Rams organization that this
offseason Aaron could do something like this.

Speaker 3 (01:16:08):
I want to pat myself on the back right now.
I mean, that's what I love.

Speaker 1 (01:16:13):
Is that portion of the show already it is.

Speaker 3 (01:16:15):
And I only know this because one of our listeners
sent me this tweet earlier this offseason, not related to
Aaron Donald's retirement. They had been going through the old
archives of all the shows we did. We did the
Aaron Donald Draft. Of course, we were already doing our show.
Then Dan and Mark were in New York for the

(01:16:38):
Johnny Manzel draft. Chris and I were back here with
Kevin Patrick coming at you in the studio with us,
And here was my reaction when we did a little
segment favorite pick. I'm gonna give my favorite pick of
the round to the Saint Louis Rams, even though I

(01:16:58):
wanted them to take a quarterback because I just think
they're sticking with Sam Bradford too long. Ultimately, you have
to like the team they're putting together with Aaron Donald
on that defensive line, Donald, Michael Brockers, Robert Quinn and
Chris Long is the most insane pass rush defensive line

(01:17:18):
in the league.

Speaker 1 (01:17:18):
Right now, there we go.

Speaker 2 (01:17:20):
I'm sorry you had to be here for there, there
for you, but that's just part of the show and
some of the mechanics of how the sausage.

Speaker 3 (01:17:25):
I enjoyed listening to this so much because there was
then there was a huge debate. We were really fired
up back and forth, kind of killing the Ram. A
lot of us were killing the Rams for not taking
Johnny Manziel, But I did, like Mark had a fun
statement to about the drafting of it.

Speaker 5 (01:17:40):
There have been twenty two men in NFL draft history
that have been drafted with a combination of two first
names in their name, Aaron Donald being one of them.
None of them have lasted more than three years.

Speaker 1 (01:17:54):
Making things up, just making things up, no one.

Speaker 9 (01:17:56):
Ryan had a pretty good career in Major League Baseball,
well Worth.

Speaker 5 (01:18:00):
That does not move the needle on this podcast to.

Speaker 1 (01:18:05):
Sleep, I just put a hecks on the rams.

Speaker 9 (01:18:07):
They are doomed to go seven and nine every single
year for the rest of eternity.

Speaker 2 (01:18:12):
Oh Man, Well, Wes often was right and not in
that case, and I could tell you they had.

Speaker 1 (01:18:17):
Some more seven nine ninees. I think yeah at that point, JB.

Speaker 2 (01:18:20):
I remember being in that hotel room with Mark in
New York City with I think it was a twelver
of amstelt Light, just doing that podcast Greg the Boss
across the country, you know, unaware that we were imbibing
at the time.

Speaker 10 (01:18:35):
Well, I know, Dan that you and Mark have really
cornered the market when it comes to free agency, that
you've become the foremost authorities. And Greg has tried to
dip his toe into those waters. What has really seen
for his niche And so it's a good callback that
He's always been kind of the draftnick on the show,
and that's where he should can.

Speaker 1 (01:18:53):
Give ws, can give his ws where you can get him.

Speaker 3 (01:18:56):
What a what a player though, I mean, just just
insane to see him change games the way that he
did from really his second year he was greatest first year.
But I even found some tweets back from his first
game a second year where I tweeted, but a lot
of people it's like, holy cow, Aaron Donald is suddenly
like the best player in the league right now, and

(01:19:17):
then just to stay that way from from there through
all these playoff runs a legend, legend we got to
see here in Lost Ange.

Speaker 10 (01:19:25):
Do you ever hear anyone say a bad thing about him?

Speaker 3 (01:19:28):
I didn't, No, I am kind of curious, but it
seems like there's never any like stories about what he's
like behind the scenes other than like he's just like
a nice.

Speaker 2 (01:19:36):
Feel Like all I ever heard was like he has
that dog in him. He's an intense guy. Like what
was it like kind of dealing with him in one
on one.

Speaker 10 (01:19:44):
Capacity professional respects? You could feel the presence of greatness
when you walk past him in the hallway, and if
you saw him smile, I mean, the guy lights up
a room, and there's so much for him beyond football
that I can understand he kept it to a decade.
But also, given what you said, would I be shocked

(01:20:04):
if if we see him again in Horns. Maybe it's
just naivete on my part or a hopeful ignorance, but
I would love to see that happen. But yeah, he
was one of a kind, you know, eighty ninety nine forever,
He's one of one. And I'm just so thankful for
how easy he made my job because it always gave
you the opportunity to ask his peers, what's it like

(01:20:26):
to work with this guy? Right, Like as someone who
asked questions and interviews players and coaches for a living,
Like how many coach McVeigh shows did I do following
a loss where there was like, you know, a shrinking
number of things where we could actually talk about to
get through our twenty minutes, But there was always well,
Aaron played well right, and he could wax poet about
what a unique talent Aaron was. And you know, the

(01:20:47):
only criticism I ever heard from him is that he
would occasionally freelance and like violate an assignment or a
gap right, and even those who would say such a
thing had to acknowledge that while that may be a
risk on film, it really wasn't when who had put
in the study and you had the competitive greatness that
Aaron did because he wasn't playing the same game that
the other ten players were on defense, so that anyone
who's ever played the defensive tackle position ever has he

(01:21:10):
perfected it in a very unique way. And even going
back to the draft, for someone who had question marks
about length size, the fact that he turned those question
marks into the exclamation points that made him a first
ballot Hall of Famer someday is what I'll always appreciate
about covering his career.

Speaker 3 (01:21:26):
Well, he's a connection from Saint Louis. He's the connection
between Saint Louis and these La Rams teams. I mean,
he was fourteenth pick overall in the draft that they
had the second overall pick, so like less Need is
the one that took him. It's funny because you had
a whole bit on that show about Lesned's high cheek
bones and beautiful flowing hair, and they were like, asome,

(01:21:46):
you better have a good draft here if they're going
to pass on Manzell they'd better be a good draft
still there. One for two is plenty good enough when
the one is the greatest of all time or you know,
LT's in that mix.

Speaker 1 (01:21:58):
But you know, we use that term to really stay
the top.

Speaker 2 (01:22:01):
At least in the in the analytics era and the
there's nobody that grades out like this man and so
football in the last fifteen years. May and we mentioned
what but what part of Donald's greatness and his magnificence
is that he he kept his prime throughout his entire career,
just like JB. Long, Who's who will continue to thrive

(01:22:21):
as the play by play man. Whenever the next great
ram arrives, he'll be there as well.

Speaker 10 (01:22:28):
I sure hope so. And for all of your friendship
and integrity on the Around the NFL podcast, I.

Speaker 1 (01:22:34):
Commendet wow let him to my next conversation. You're the man.

Speaker 10 (01:22:39):
Gion producer Eric whispered something to me along the way
in preparation for this interview. I wish you all well.

Speaker 2 (01:22:46):
Thank you Jamie great JB along with the insight that
we needed, delivered.

Speaker 3 (01:22:53):
Part of the family, I mean, Keisha the remily well
I was, I meant more of the Around the NFL
family I mean Keisha when she comes to town. Yeah,
she's got a lot of people she wants to see,
needs to see. She she goes and sees her old,
her old neighbor.

Speaker 1 (01:23:07):
Unless we forget Ricky Hollywood do.

Speaker 2 (01:23:09):
I meant to tell JB Long to keep an eye
on Hollywood, just to keep her in keep her in line.
In general, Erica needs that, and I think JB is
a guiding force for many.

Speaker 1 (01:23:20):
Take a break and we'll close things out right, everybody,
What do you guys think? Mind the glasses that better
or worse? Off? A little staccato in your I don't know,

(01:23:43):
not for me.

Speaker 2 (01:23:44):
There you go by the way, and I know what
you're saying, because you're talking about Donald had the walk off,
back to back walk off in the Super Bowl. But
it really is crazy to look at Barry Sanders' career
and look at Aaron Donald. Both played ten years, Both
were constant in the mix. Barry was a first or
second team All Pro all ten years, ten time pro bowler,

(01:24:08):
won the Big Accoleates, two time NFL Offensive Player of
the Year. He won the MVP once, which Donald I
don't think ever got. But that's they don't give it
to defensive players. But that's the level of player. And
I think Barry, if you were old enough to see Sanders,
you wish he got what Donald got, which was that
chance on the biggest stage, and Sanders never did. So

(01:24:30):
the Lions never could get out of the second round.
I think they made to one NFC title game that
didn't go their way, but otherwise, you know, we're held
out of the Super Bowls. They've been for the entirety
of their history. But Donald getting that opportunity and us
being there for it, We've now been sneaky at a
lot of huge moments in NFL history.

Speaker 1 (01:24:48):
This is not lost on me. I'm sure it's not
lost on you, Gregy.

Speaker 2 (01:24:51):
We're very lucky to have seen Aaron Donald in person
make that play Joe Burrow midfield, and that's a special
Joe Burrow year.

Speaker 1 (01:24:59):
That was a secial Cincinnati year.

Speaker 2 (01:25:01):
They had the Pixie dust all over them, and they're
down a field goal at midfield with fourth down in
the final minute of the Super Bowl, and it's Donald
who blows up the play because don't you get the feeling,
if Barrow gets protected, he's probably finding somebody and they're
continuing to march with.

Speaker 1 (01:25:16):
The field March chase.

Speaker 3 (01:25:17):
He was open on that play if he had some time,
but he didn't have time.

Speaker 2 (01:25:20):
And they had Evan McPherson, who's like having an all
time season as a young.

Speaker 1 (01:25:24):
Kicker the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (01:25:25):
He was really the start of the playoffs with them,
and yet Aaron Donald said no, and he pointed to
the ring finger. So a reminder, we'll be back Wednesday
with are always check in with all the team's post
free agency first wave around the AFC on Wednesday, with
a guest to be named later around the NFC on Thursday.

Speaker 1 (01:25:48):
I think we're getting clay bound on Thursday. Patrick will
be excellent. So that is great.

Speaker 2 (01:25:52):
And a note for Behind the Glass Eric I was
thinking about this some more so for the episode recap.
Let's let's take this down verbatim. The latest e f EP.
The latest EP is a hands of Rosenthal joint period.
This is like two wine masters. Somalia's talking about wine,

(01:26:13):
not necessarily you or me arguing if I like Burgundy
or Bordeo better, nothing else.

Speaker 1 (01:26:18):
Got it makes my job here as an editor.

Speaker 3 (01:26:21):
Any thoughts of just ending it right right at talking
about wine or no.

Speaker 1 (01:26:26):
You like the rest of it? I Ordo. I like that.

Speaker 2 (01:26:32):
I like that, like because there's a there's a way
what Maverick did there. In his conversation with Marshaun, he
was like, everyone else are pissons like that are, but
these two people are Smalia's like, don't even try to
be like that. I think that's you need that a
little more depth anything else.

Speaker 3 (01:26:53):
That's fired really at the rest of the industry, just
like Travis Kelcey did for us.

Speaker 1 (01:26:57):
Give him pop I get you know.

Speaker 2 (01:26:59):
I again, I apologize for being a little flippant about
Travis's acceptance speech now that he gave us such job.

Speaker 1 (01:27:07):
If you want to talk, you talk Yoh.

Speaker 2 (01:27:09):
Hey, you got it all. Travis has got it all,
and you know he's got some class.

Speaker 3 (01:27:14):
Let's see if they're still doing that podcast ten years
from now, you know, or if we are should we.

Speaker 1 (01:27:20):
Have quit after ten years? These are all questions. We
don't have that money that AD's got, all right till Wednesday,
Heed the call.