25 Players in 25 Years: Kevin Harlan on Nos. 7-4

00:00:02
Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily's Top twenty five players of the last twenty five years. Yes, this is episode five of our six part series going through all the greats of the twenty first century. And we've talked with some great guests, but this time we're actually going to have one of the greats of the last twenty five years on the show to go through players number seven through four. And I'm talking about Kevin Harlan. When we decided to do this, Kevin, you were the first name we thought of in terms of who has announced more of these games, who has helped us enjoy the game more than Kevin Harlan. He's been broadcasting the NFL for forty years. National Broadcaster of the Year three times. I would have given it to more. I feel like he was snubbed a few times. There also NBA on TNT. Of course, he wrapped up that great run there in the NBA playoffs.

00:01:07
Speaker 2: Welcome Kevin, appreciate having you.

00:01:09
Speaker 3: Thank you for your kind words. Greg, great to be on. Flattered you to ask me. And it's it's NFL season three sixty five a year. It never goes away, and thank goodness, it doesn't.

00:01:20
Speaker 2: No, it doesn't.

00:01:21
Speaker 1: This is basically the dead time of the year, and yet people we've heard like they want more this time year.

00:01:26
Speaker 2: So we're giving it to him.

00:01:27
Speaker 1: And we're doing something that I love to do, which is talking about some of the greats of the game. And as you might have heard, Kevin, we've already gone through a lot of our lists, so you're getting some of the cream of the crop.

00:01:40
Speaker 2: Let's go to our next player on the list.

00:01:44
Speaker 4: Number seven, Ed Freed.

00:01:48
Speaker 3: He's got it first and ten. He gets the snappy fakes the hand off, he drops back hest those a long pass down the middle of tenn and second picked off on me with the forty faults off is outstretched on to keep his talent because he was spending. He's down at the thirty seven.

00:02:00
Speaker 5: You're the best free safety that's ever played this game in Austin.

00:02:02
Speaker 4: You're awesome.

00:02:03
Speaker 3: Prop's gonna pass forward now.

00:02:05
Speaker 4: Brock's back throws intercepted in the episode, intercepted by Baltimore's at raid who's going.

00:02:13
Speaker 2: Down the sideline.

00:02:15
Speaker 4: He took go all away. He's at the ten. He's at the.

00:02:20
Speaker 5: Five, one hundred and eight yard interceptor.

00:02:24
Speaker 4: Great turn by Raid.

00:02:27
Speaker 6: Hey Baltimore, the best team.

00:02:32
Speaker 2: The best team in the world is right.

00:02:34
Speaker 1: Here, Oh Ed Reid, one of the best safeties of all time, one of the best Hall of Fame busts of all time. If you ever get a chance to be in Canton and catch out that beautiful hair that Ed Reid has there and yes he's got the cigar in the biggest of moments, and Kevin, you're the first guest we've had that's called one of those highlights. That was the Super Bowl between the and the forty nine ers, and Ed Reid in that game did what Ed Reid does all time leader in interceptions in the playoffs. You saw one of the crowning moments of his career.

00:03:12
Speaker 3: He always came with his a game. I always thought Greg he constantly made himself not only physically prepared, but what I always admired is just his work away from the field, his film work. He was constantly there was a great feature. In fact, it may have been something you guys referred to earlier on. I think Bill Belichick was asked one of the greatest defensive plays he had ever seen, and it was a play involving Peyton Manning then quarterbacking the Colts, and Reid with Baltimore and how Reid seduced Manning into looking one way with what Reid thought was coverage, they could camouflage what he was doing. Manning bit through Reid picked off the pass deep in Baltimore territory went the other way. And what I believe Belichick was talking about was his ability to play the mind game as bell as maybe the best maestro we've ever seen under center. I always thought, and people that I work with always confirmed that Peyton Manning could manipulate a game with cadence and the way he would maneuver his players before the snap is pre snap reed was always so great. Reid was the great counterpart on the other side. He had that same Manning esque feel about the way that he would camouflage coverage, seduce quarterbacks or receivers into thinking one way when he would actually be thinking, I'm going to meet him at the intersection. He was so good at that, of course, being an eight time All Pro player, a Super Bowl champion, a Defensive Player of the Year, one of the top one hundred players that we've ever seen play, and certainly one of the best safeties ever to play. Decorated safeties in the history of the game. His film work in his preparation, in addition to his on field skills and his ball skills were just I thought what made him different, made him in a class by himself.

00:05:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's I'm so glad you started there.

00:05:10
Speaker 1: And I'll get to all of Ed Reid's accomplishments and you mentioned some of them, but talking about the mental side of it, that is a great clip by Belichick. I think Bill Belichick has helped to get Ed Reid onto this ranking at number seven for me because he could explain in a way that few people would really understand his genius. And that play that you talked about was he was thinking what Manning was thinking, and he knew what Manning would be thinking that Ed Reid was thinking, and he was one step ahead. And that's to me what stands out about Ed Reed. That the greatest of the greats that he played against Aaron Rodgers, I mean, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning always talked about Reid. Brady actually had a little thing written on his wristband during games against Baltimore. Find twenty on every play and okay, I.

00:06:01
Speaker 3: Did not know that's that's a great note.

00:06:04
Speaker 2: It's unbelievable.

00:06:06
Speaker 1: And the thing is, and you pointed out really well and talking about that Manning play, that if you took his your eyes off him. I was a Patriots fan at the time watching all this, he still got Brady all the time. If you took your eyes off him during a play, his eyes were on you as a quarterback, and he would end up getting the winning edge.

00:06:26
Speaker 3: And you know, he could he could translate what he was thinking is you know, Greg into how he did it physically on the field. First of all, back in Louisiana. He was an incredible track and field a very fast, very quick twitch which I don't think we really relate to him. He was more he was built more like a about five or eleven six foot over two hundred pounds like he was a He was a strong canon he was He was a guy that that that that could clearly vault in and and and and definitely accelerate the where he needed to be. But the fact that his mind got his body there, I thought was such a great partnership. A lot of guys can think it physically, they can't do it physically. They can do it mentally, they don't see it. He had the great combination of both keen eyesight, great preparation. Every time we would talk with you know, whoever was coaching John Harbaugh most recently and Brian Billick before him in Baltimore, they would always talk about his brain and his vision and all the greats in any sport you just mentioned the NBA, they always talk about court vision. His field vision was so superb. His ability to read, his ability to jump ahead and even gamble successfully more times than not, made him one of the great safeties. If there was ever a quarterback on defense, it is that position and Ed Reid really epitomized it more than anyone.

00:07:55
Speaker 2: Absolutely.

00:07:56
Speaker 1: And you mentioned the All Pro so for five first teams, three second teams, he is the first all time. And you mentioned the athleticism in interception yards, and it's by a mile. He is more than double the interception yards in his career than whoever is in third place. During his career, he had seventy three interceptions including the playoffs, the all time leader in the playoffs. That's thirteen more than any other player during his career.

00:08:23
Speaker 2: And you say all this about how smart he was.

00:08:26
Speaker 1: One thing that really stands out to me, and I'm wondering what it was like talking to him and talking to the coaches about him. Is that for all that preparation, in the end, a lot of times it led him not do what the coaches told him to do. A lot of his genius was ultimately freelancing and sort of coaching himself and doing whatever he wanted to do on the field.

00:08:49
Speaker 3: Kevin, you're right, Greg, And he always absorbed the game play and was probably the first guy to request it when it came out of the out of you know, from headquarters on Tuesday night or Wednesday and that. And he had some terrific defensive court Rex, Ryan Madison, I mean, Chuck Pmcgonnell, like, he had some great coaches with Baltimore. Every one of them said, you know, Reid gets us set right. Reid always played guys in the right place, truly an extension on the field, but his preparation led I think there there's been a tradition in Baltimore with with smart defensive players regardless of position. I would like to think with him and ray Lewis established back in the early two thousands and and continued on were things and staples of that defense with great defensive masterminds that guided these players and all the people that would join in over the years every season to that defense. And that's why they're so highly ranked. Their preparation, their practice habits, the way they saw the game, the things they discussed in meetings, the carryover from the back end of the front, all of it just really was so cohesive. And so you wonder why a team like Baltimore and a defense like the Ravens is always like that. That's tradition and that was set by Reid and ray Lewis. So I'm sure you've talked about will because of the way they saw the game, processed it, and then carried out what they had to do and reacted so well even if something would not materialize the way they may had planned for or thought what happened. Their adjustments were some of the best. I saw adjustments in that Super Bowl that clip we just showed, But every time we would do it a Baltimore game. I love the Brady number twenty. Where is he find him? And he would decoy so well where he would be. He would end up maybe playing in a linebacker, dropping down into that level, but then quickly go back or go back and then come up like he just he just had a knack and a feel for the game that was unparalleled.

00:10:55
Speaker 2: It really was.

00:10:56
Speaker 1: And yes you're coming in the episode right after we did. Ray Lew's really hard time doing these ranks. I mean, who can decide between This part of it was ray Lewis started his career technically, you know, before two thousand ohther the best part of it was in the last twenty five years. And I think about what ball knowers when you talk to people that are just inside the game and what they say about Ed Reid. To me, that just really stands out. And so for any Steelers fans that are out there part of the rankings, Kevin, with each player we're bringing up kind of like who didn't make the list or who did we have him over? I did have Ed Reid this high. I did not have Troy Polamalo quite make the list. He was one of the very few people that got cut off. There were some reasons for that that the Hall of Fame, you know, all two thousand's team, for instance, Ed Reid was a first team. Palamlo actually wasn't on it. He was behind guys like Brian Dawkins, John Lynch for what it's worth. Paulamlow an outstanding, outstanding player, but you have to make decisions on this. Are you mad at me for not putting Paula Malo on this list?

00:12:02
Speaker 3: Now? Because I respect you so much, I will I will sometimes tend to trend in your direction as opposed to what I might be thinking. But you've you know, nailed just the krem de la creme at that position. I don't know even as is people Greg, like you and I and all the people that are associated with the show and NFL Network and cover this league and have covered it for a long time, can truly appreciate. And I've always thought this, and these are conversations really kind of coming from the Belichick days and other coaches who have been so forthright with information about about the key to preparing and the key to knowing your opponent and not just dropping in and taking a look at some film, but going in there and really talking it out with guys at your position in the secondary in this case, and I know that Troy Paulamalu did the same tension Dawkins with his length and his reach and his leaping ability like he did so much. Lynch was a he was a rocket who came out of the secondary, but again saw the game process. The game to me, I think you've got Red perfectly placed.

00:13:15
Speaker 1: Oh, thank you so much. And yeah, the very last play and I found this out. Did not realize this researching. Ed Reid the very last play of his Raven's career, because he did play one more year with the Texans and the Jets. The very last play of his Raven's career, he was supposed to blitz the forty nine ers in one of the most tense plays of all time. Need to get a touchdown to take the lead to essentially win the Super Bowl wasn't going to be much time left. Ed Reid is supposed to blitz on that play. He reads his keys, he goes off of his instincts, and it would have made the coaches absolutely furious if he was wrong. But he chooses not to blitz on that play. He chooses to provide a little extra help on Michael Crabtree and make a double team and it ends up being an incomplete past Kevin and that ended his Raven's career, but it gave them his Super Bowl championship.

00:14:13
Speaker 3: It was and I'm so glad he was a champion. We know he was individually decorated to go out and play with Lewis and that team and that defense was so terrific. We know we both have missed one key thing about Ed Reid. He could block kicks about as well as anybody in this league. He had a succession of him. He scored on some and he took as much pride in his team's work and his special teams play and finding those nooks and crannies and gaps where he could volt over and make a block, make a play on special teams. He was exquisite doing that. And you don't see that kind of effort and probably study habits regarding special teams for a position player like Reed. But by god, he made sure that he was even more valuable, and not just on defense, but on teams as well, and it showed he's I can't tell you how many times I remember watching what he would do. Paula Malo had that same knack too. Write that spectacular diving over a group and making a play and maybe the flare for Paula Malo. And of course he played with a great contingent of Steeler defensive players. But I always thought too Greg that the great players and Reid is and Troy and Dawkins and Lynch, and we go on and on. But they they would grasp the game plan like. They didn't shoo it away, they didn't freelance. They were constantly burying them their their interest and focus in the way the coaches had prepared all week. And the one thing I do remember, and I think it was Pagano, but it may have been Rex Ryan. They said they're always asking questions. And my guess is Reid asked about as many questions as anybody and then was answering questions from the younger players in that secondary defensive room for Baltimore.

00:16:03
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and yeah, when he read those plays you mentioned the blocks on the returns, he would tend to take him to the house. Three times he led the league in interceptions. Twice he had return over one hundred and five yards. So those guys from the U, he would always talk about it. They teach him not just to pick it off, but to score. Okay, we've talked ed Reid, we are going to number six on the list.

00:16:28
Speaker 2: Another guy who scored plenty.

00:16:30
Speaker 4: Number six, Aaron Rodgers.

00:16:33
Speaker 6: Rogers rolls to the left up third down the long and sets up rolling still flock wanding seven seconds to play.

00:16:39
Speaker 2: He rows to the far side and it is a kid.

00:16:42
Speaker 4: Oh my, they're in field goal rains. You got to be kidding me, snapped to Rogers.

00:16:48
Speaker 6: Scrambles to his left under pressure, rolling right, escapes right side, looking rainbows high and deep.

00:16:56
Speaker 4: Come into the end zone and it is God for a touchdown.

00:17:02
Speaker 6: A leaping touchdown catches made of the Packers at one.

00:17:07
Speaker 4: Unbelievable. He's gonna roall away, throws it up in the air, says.

00:17:12
Speaker 6: A prayer, and the Jenish is on a snuff at all loose?

00:17:17
Speaker 4: What a cat is in Shane?

00:17:20
Speaker 6: Oh my, that may be one of the great pros ever made. Moving to his left, falling away and launching a perfect throw every week every year, does things and other quarterbacks.

00:17:33
Speaker 3: Just can't do.

00:17:34
Speaker 6: Rogers is inside the bolon touchdown Packers.

00:17:39
Speaker 4: It's Rogers running for the store right off you, Joe.

00:17:48
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers telling the Bears faithful, as if they didn't know that he owns them. That was Aaron Rodgers making plays that maybe no quarterback in the history of football could make before him, and then adding a little extra sauce and telling you about it right afterwards, Kevin, what stands out to you first when when you think about the games that you've covered of Aaron Rodgers so.

00:18:11
Speaker 3: Many The Super Bowl against Pittsburgh down down in Texas one of many examples of his greatness. He had a big pass play in that game down the middle into a seam and hit his open receiver. I'll probably bring up things that maybe is a little bit deep, and I'm going to get in the weak because Mike McCarthy showed me a film one time of a still picture that was taken frame by frame of Aaron Rodgers' ability when he would wind up to throw, how his arm in his hand were almost pointed into the ground backwards, so it's almost as if you were double jointed the way he throws. I'd never asked Aaron that I would love to if I get the chance, And of course now he's a stealer and there there may be that chance. But Mike said, he goes, I've never seen this with anybody that that has that kind of arm flexibility. He said. Mahomes, I think may have it, but Mahomes may do it in kind of a different way. Rogers had the classic throw. And then as the years went by, I always thought he developed that nice side arm Brett Barv delivery. He became I thought a lot like Farv as time went on, borrowed things that he had seen in practice, maybe talked about with bretton is his ability to improvise and play off off schedule plays. But his arm ability was so special and we just saw it with that that wonderful array of of plays we just saw and heard, But that that stands out. The other thing that Mike would always talk about when he coached Rogers in Green Bay was his footwork. He said, I can sit there and what and just be zeroed in on what he does with his feet, how he can move, you know, eight inches this way to buy extra time, a foot this way, backpedal, move up. What he was so good and his footwork I still think is impeccable, even at this age, even coming off the torn achilles, which I do want to get into that topic in just a second. But but his footwork greg Uh was textbook and he worked on it a lot. And before we got the new rules with the Players Association in the league about off season time in the building, they would have these quarterback schools in Green Bay, and and and they would go. They would they would basically tear the thing down to the studs and they would work on the basics. How to get the correct snap under center, where to place your feet, and how far where your hands should be when you got the shotgun snap, What where where your head should turn on the very first moment that ball is about ready to come into your hands. How your first step should be a certain way, how you need to plant, where the weight distribution, the torque to spin, all these things. And that's where I think with Rogers, the arm talent is just mesmerizing.

00:21:12
Speaker 6: And his.

00:21:13
Speaker 3: Game playing and all those things are just I mean, he's a first ballant Canton Hall of Famer, but it's all these little things that have made him what he is. He'd probably say, you know, I had to come out of junior college to get a major college scholarship. I had to wait till late in the first round and get overlooked by a lot of teams to get drafted. I had to sit on the bench for three years and back of a Hall of Fame quarterback understood. But nonetheless, he didn't just go right in there and assume the number one position. Everything he's done to become what he is has been because of attention to detail. I think he is a stickler for it. We know mentally he is about as smart a quarterback, just just just by brain power alone, that the position has ever seen. But he has taken that to a whole new level with the way he has gotten the rest of him to match what he's got upstairs. His IQ is off the charts, but I think his attention to detail, his footwork, the angles, the way he reads, the way he would position like. We could go on and on about Rogers. I think he's he's truly one of the top ten quarterbacks of all time, and that may not even be fair.

00:22:25
Speaker 1: To him, right I'm already wondering if I don't have him high enough on this list. Of course, a four time MVP at his very best, and I tried to rank these players somewhat about their sustained greatness when they were at their best. At his very best, to me, he was playing the position at a level and away we just hadn't seen before, and I think he was very influential. You look at a Patrick Mahomes and you ask him like, who is your hero growing up, but it was Aaron Rodgers because that was what the next generation wanted to be like. And I'm so glad you have the perspective of all that detail that he put into it, because that is maybe somewhere where he is different in terms of the footwork. All these players, great players, are different, but I think in terms of the footwork and all that, he's at a different level than let's say a Josh Allen or a Patrick Mahomes. And for all the grief that Mike McCarthy took maybe later in his career by some Packers fans in terms of his play calling everything, Man, that combination of McCarthy and the quarterbacks coach Tom Clements was a perfect coach because Aaron Rodgers really changed who he was as a thrower, as a player from where he was coming out of college. Now, Kevin, you mentioned a play in the Super Bowl. You called it. We have that play ready, so let's actually listen to it.

00:23:44
Speaker 3: Rodgers is in the shotgun of running back at his side. He gets a high snappies in the shotgun.

00:23:48
Speaker 4: He catches right on.

00:23:49
Speaker 6: There's a line drive down the middle and leaping pack cuddling catch at the goal line, falling into the end zone down the middle. Jettings touchdown hot twenty one yard troll high back Aaron.

00:24:00
Speaker 3: Rodgers to Jennings.

00:24:02
Speaker 6: They beat pull them Alu right down the middle, just inside the goal line.

00:24:07
Speaker 3: Cream pays on top.

00:24:09
Speaker 4: Twenty to three.

00:24:11
Speaker 1: Great call, Kevin, And that play is so great by Rogers because it points out to me, sometimes the best throw there's no defense for it. That you got an underneath defender, you got another zone defender on the second level breaking in and Pallamlo is coming up, and it doesn't really matter because it's so perfectly placed with one of the biggest arms in NFL history.

00:24:31
Speaker 3: He had a great anticipation too, don't you think Greg like his prime his anticipator, His anticipatory skills were just so far advanced, and getting everybody around him on that same page was a constant shore for him. When he brought in young receivers, it took them a while to earn his trust that they would be where he wanted them to be inside outside the numbers, I mean, like whatever, And clearly he trusted Jenning on that play, threading the needle with three defenders converging. I mean, you can't those plays. Those are Hall of Fame, legendary plays that you just embrace and think. Just think of the precision and then everything else that had to go into that right. The blocking had to be right. The other receivers had to take as many guys away from the middle of the field as they could. There had to be a tell tale as he was dropping back and looking at the route and maybe seeing a kay over here and palam allo over here and a guy getting trailed over. And that's the thing about that position. But in particular with Rogers, his mind being so quick, he could pick up things to cipher, process and then act on it about as fast as any quarterback. There was no double hitch, and if there was, it was only to throw off the defense, even to buy his guy an extra five yards on a route, stemm it or whatever whatever they were going to do. I just think that it would be great to have him now. I mean, I'm gonna stop and put a period on that, and I'm gonna go. I did a two hour interview with the late Kobe Bryant talking about taking jump shots and positioning himself to be where he wanted to be on the floor and how even if he were an inch off, or if his foot wasn't aligned the way he wanted it, or if the elbow wasn't here and in his art and it wasn't flat here. I mean, like just all these things that went into a simple jump shot for Kobe Bryant, the technique and the attention to detail. We come up with that phrase again, Rogers is as close to any NFL player, even though he's in a completely different position in sport to I think, embrace those things. I would love someday someone and I think you're the perfect person to do it, to shit out with Rogers when his days are done and talk about just what we've talked about. Footwork, attention to detail, where he's placing his eyes, the double hitch, the fakes, the maneuvering of guys pre snap, what he saw as he was getting that ball and dropping back and trying to make a decision in two and a half seconds or less. You know, those are the things his vision and we talked about that with Edrie, but his vision was just unparallel. And then and then you've got the god given uncanny generational talent with his arm and his ability to do what he does side arm soft throw. It's like he's throwing darts. And and he's even learned how to throw off his the wrong foot, which I've watched him do in practice and just amazed that, Like it's he can do all the basics and of course throw it forward and all those things, but when he's throwing off the wrong foot, back pedaling off of one foot, it's the wrong foot. And like, these are things that are just uncanny and things that if you watch the game long enough, you really tend to appreciate and know you're seeing a one of one.

00:27:51
Speaker 1: Absolutely, he had such a interesting career art because, as you mentioned, he waited for Far and I was so impressed how he handled that too, and eight season when he takes over, because as you know, that was an absolute circus that summer when they were trying to get rid of Far, but they weren't sure and it was all up in the air, and Rogers came in, and I know they didn't win that much that season, but he came in and he was immediately one of the best quarterbacks in the league, and just quieted that all down. He ends his career leading all time in interception percentage. So that's the fewest interceptions per throw, leading all time in quarterback rating. Obviously that could change in his days coming up with the Steelers, but that's where he's at right now. Also leads in adjusted yards per attempt. He was on the All twenty ten Hall of Fame team. He was the second team for Pro Football Reference for the All twenty tens, behind Brady and you mentioned just the physical skills, And that's why I struggle even putting him this low because that throw that we showed to start the first clip of him running to his left to Jared Cook. I was in the building for that one against the Cowboys, and I really don't think there's another quarterback. Maybe Mahomes could make it where he's sprinting to the left and he can throw a frozen rope on the line in the perfect place to win the game. Same thing with one of those Hail Mary's he was running to the left. Kevin just an incredible physical talent. And I know he had a lot of tough losses in the playoffs, and there were a couple of them where I'm sure the offense would have liked to have some plays back. The forty nine Ers game in the Conference Championship stands out to me as one of them, but a lot of those games, whether it was the Falcons whereas defense just didn't show up the Buccaneers game, like a lot was going on in a few of those games. You look at his playoff record and he has forty five touchdowns and thirteen interceptions and some of the greatest performances in the playoffs as well. So to me that is not a knock to him, but certainly experience his of heartbreak. I think no bigger than that lead that they had over the Seahawks in the NFC Championship when they had a fourth quarter, twelve point lead with this five minutes to go. But again, it's a team sport, and to me that the greatest test is what you do over the course of a regular season, and he did that year after year after year in Green Bay for fifteen years.

00:30:21
Speaker 3: He did. And we talk about Marino won Super Bowl far two Super Bowls, one win, Rogers won Super Bowl one win. Sometimes the greats, for whatever reason can't rack him up, like the Bradshaws and the Brady's and Baiden Manning who made multiple appearances and won with two different teams. It's so incredibly as we all know, difficult to do, but it should not take away when the story is written about Rogers just what he accomplished. And I began talking about the injury. You know what he went through as a thirty nine year old quarterback when he snapped to Achilles and then came back as a forty year old quarterback, and his numbers, considering he was only one year removed from that at that age, with all those miles on his body, I thought it was remarkable. I personally think this year for Pittsburgh, I think he's gonna be terrific. I honestly got that. I think he's gonna and I would say the same thing about Kirk Cousins down in Atlanta too. I think when you went with that, Achilles for a quarterback is so tough. It's a two year rehab and for someone that old, maybe even a little longer. I think the best of Rogers at this stage of his career can still be seen, and the Steelers might be just the team to pull it off. So I'm so curious to watch what he does now. In my mind, nothing will ever take the place of some of the things I saw him do. I've still not even seen a quarterback do a lot of that. We saw some incredible hail Mary's thrown in there, the cook catch, the tied end making that grab was just bodies are They were doing things that should not have been able to be pulled off. And so I'm with the man. I'm feeling like, holy smokes, that has to be I'm sure he's got a personal catalog of his top ten throws that he could rattle off. If you were joining us right now, that would have to be one of them.

00:32:13
Speaker 1: Right.

00:32:13
Speaker 3: It wasn't for a score, but it was for a big play in a huge game, and of course they went on from there. So I respect him in so many ways. I think a lot of times we're diverted, our minds and attention are diverted to the outside stuff with him as a football player, as a lade, everyone's loved playing with him. He makes the room better, he made the position. He advanced the position, Manning advanced the position, Rogers advanced. Mahomes is advancing the position Rogers is. In that kind of conversation, I really believe it.

00:32:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm glad you say that, because I spent too much of our time on NFL Daily and then back on Around the NFL podcast talking about the off the field stuff, and it's been annoying the last few years. But this show is about thinking about all those moments, and I think of like tough moments.

00:33:04
Speaker 2: You're saying coming back from an injury.

00:33:06
Speaker 1: There was a calf injury he had against the Lions, who was twenty fourteen, and he comes back in the middle of that game to go win the division. He had a game where he had six touchdowns in a single half. He had an opener against the Bears Week one where he hurts his knee, he's knocked out of the game, he's questionable, he comes out of halftime, they have a seventeen point fourth quarter comeback.

00:33:30
Speaker 2: He won a division.

00:33:31
Speaker 1: Kevin on a fourth and eight against the Bears with like forty five seconds left in the season and he needs a first down to win it. Forget the first down. He ends up throwing for a touchdown. So he had so many great clutch moments. Last thing I'll ask you about with Rogers and then we'll take a break, just what was he like when you met him? You know what, you get to talk to these players before the games, or the day before the games as part of being on the broadcast cruise.

00:33:56
Speaker 3: What was he like, Well, I do have a lot of personal connection. My dad was with the Packers for thirty seven years when Ted Thompson he ran and was a CEO and president. And when Ted Thompson, then the general manager, pulled my dad aside and said, I need your permission to draft Aaron Rodgers, who's fallen at what number twenty four? I said, I think we're getting the steel of the draft. My dad had to base it you, not that it was his idea, but the buck had to stop someplace and they were going to spend a first round pick and reach I guess in some people's opinion on Aaron Rodgers, and it turned out to be one of the great draft choices in the history of the NFL, and certainly for the Packers. Same situation was true at Brett Fare. My dad had hired Ron Wolfe to be the general manager in Green Bay, and he brought him in just after Thanksgiving because he wanted Ron to be around the team, go in the locker room, travel with the team, watch practice, be in meetings, get a feel for what he was inheriting. So that when the off season came and if they made a change of coach, he could he could go appropriately knowing what he had to work with and how far he had to go. And the story my dad tells me is that they were going to the final game of the season at old Atlanta County Fulton County Stadium, and my dad and Ron Wolfe always sat together in the press box and wolf put down his briefcase and looked at my dad. So, I'm going to look at their backup quarterback and if he's as good as I remember him when I saw his pro day, I want to go after him, my dad. So he gets out the flip card and he's looking Brett far Brett farv, you know who would by at that time in Atlanta under Jerry Glanville had really had kind of a kind of a weird presence and it was not it was not working out. He goes down there, watches him throw, comes back up. They fly home that night to Green Bay and he said, that's our that's our quarterback of the future. So they went to the executive Committee, which is a seven man committee a couple of days later, telling them what they were going to do, and the executive committee said, that's the most ridiculous thing we've ever heard. Why we trade our number one pick for a backup in Atlanta who doesn't play and has got a lot of things going on off the field. And my dad said, Ron, could you leave the room? I second he did, He goes, we gave this guy full control of football. If we back out now, we will never hire another quality general manager in the history of this organization. We've got to let him make this move. So he comes back in. They okay, the trade, they make it with Atlanta, they get Brett Farb and the same basic scenario happened with Rogers. And it's interesting those are back to back Hall of Fame quarterbacks. So yeah, my dad and Rogers, my dad and far have had very good relationships, and by virtue of that, whenever I came across their paths, they were incredibly kind, wonderful men. I respect them both, and I've really enjoyed Aaron, who has been just terrific for our family and for the few times they've been around me personally.

00:37:04
Speaker 1: That's an incredible story. I'm really glad I asked that. And yes, there's no talking about Aaron Rodgers without talking a little bit about Brett Farv and if the listeners are interested, yeah, I thought about Farv for this list, and he was one of the quarterbacks that got cut off because ultimately those three straight MVPs are not in the last twenty five years. But if you just started his career in two thousand, he had a number of incredible seasons, including that Dynamite won with the Vikings, but he just did not make the cut Rogers did.

00:37:32
Speaker 2: We're going to take a quick break two more.

00:37:35
Speaker 1: We're into the top five here the NFL Daily Best twenty five players of the last twenty five years. Back on NFL Daily Best twenty five Players of the last twenty five years.

00:37:54
Speaker 2: Let's see our next.

00:37:56
Speaker 4: Player, Number five, JJ.

00:37:59
Speaker 5: Wat Fursten Tan Dalton throws and trying to throw that run at.

00:38:03
Speaker 2: A tennis technic.

00:38:04
Speaker 4: J J.

00:38:05
Speaker 6: Watt to the house touchdown, Houston, Texans from a rookie frog Wisconsin.

00:38:12
Speaker 4: He's regarded as one of the best defensive players of all time. That he sucked walked down by Watt.

00:38:17
Speaker 2: He's a Hailbraiser.

00:38:18
Speaker 4: You can't block him.

00:38:20
Speaker 3: Now, Jack starting third and fourth paston every third down.

00:38:23
Speaker 4: Today, here comes hot Till don shot.

00:38:26
Speaker 5: I don't think there's Anyboddy that's ever been better at it than he.

00:38:29
Speaker 4: Is about of down what you do it all.

00:38:32
Speaker 3: That's type of guy you're trying to chase.

00:38:35
Speaker 2: JJ Watt number five on our list. Yeah, I could have put Rogers higher. What we just want to have quarterbacks one through four. I didn't want to do that.

00:38:43
Speaker 1: When I watched JJ Watt in that stretch from twenty twelve through twenty and fourteen, I decided, this is the best player I have ever seen at what he does. I have never seen a defensive player play at a higher level.

00:39:00
Speaker 2: Than JJ Watt.

00:39:02
Speaker 1: In those seasons, he won three Defensive Players of the Year, the only other defensive players to do that Aaron Donald and Lawrence Taylor, five first team All pros. Obviously had some injuries in the middle of his career, but did bounce back and had one more truly standout season in twenty eighteen. He authored what I thought was the best defensive season of all time in twenty fourteen, at least that I've ever seen. When they did not give him the MVP in twenty fourteen, I said they should not be eligible be eligible for MVPs Furthermore, because if he did not win for that season, no one was ever gonna win. Aaron Rodgers in a great year won that year. Kevin, what are your first memories thinking about JJ Watt and covering his career?

00:39:47
Speaker 3: Well, Jeff, he was runner up for the MVP. I'd forgotten that in addition to all of his defensive Player of the Year awards and All Pro and Pro Bowl selections and complete dominations. I think he had, right greg a couple of twenty sacks seasons which had never been done before. Over twenty sacks for a couple of years, and he he was so dominant that when you talk to opposing offensive coordinators they would say, it always it always begins with JJ Watt, and how are we going to stop jj Watt? Everything tilted protection wise of that offense to knowing where he was lined up and who is going to be on him and where that help was going to be for you would never ever put him one on one with one of your tackles. You'd always have to have a chipper running back or a tight end or someone to come over there and duble them. Because he was just such a wrecking ball, and because of that, he affected offenses in a way that they could not operate maybe with their full portfolio plays, just because they knew the time wasn't going to be there to throw. You had to maybe speed up your delivery, you had to do more running or the other direction. You couldn't go to your favorite side of the line, you had to go to the opposite side because Watt was there. His ball skills were terrific, and that probably goes back to when he was playing receiver tight end in high school and then, if I'm not mistaken, his first year at Central Michigan, he was a tight end, but then they switched him when he walked on at Wisconsin to defensive linemen, and that was his God given place to be, right, That's where he was destined to go and become the player that he became. But there are a few players. Taylor was one of them, and you mentioned him and Aaron Donald, who I got to believe is somewhere coming up spoiler. But JJ Watt. The difference between what he could do to a game and what Lawrence Taylor or Aaron Donald, the difference with those three probably minuscule in how they would affect the game. I mean, he he did. His first five years six years in the league were just like wow. And then his body failed him a little bit. Came back finished with Arizona, but had a variety of injuries, and I know that he played through some significant injuries. He would gut it out and the team respected him for it.

00:42:25
Speaker 4: All.

00:42:25
Speaker 3: All the guys we talked to with the Texans before doing one of our games where CBS would always talk about what an inspiration he was, not just and and getting his body ready to play on Sunday, which in itself, for all these players is a week long process of treatment and rest and all the things that they go to just to get themselves on the field once a week. But his film study and his practice habits and and the way he led on that team, he he checked every box. There was no doubt one of the greatest linemen I've ever se and could wreck a game on any given play, and usually it was every series. His fingerprints were on that series being a three and out or a turnover. Every time. It was like you just watched him. You'd almost watch him more than the quarterback. And that's handsome because we're taught. When we're broadcasting these games, you watch the ball, you watch the quarterback. Your eyes would always drift to see him coming and would almost like, all, right, here comes what. There goes the drop back, as opposed to there he goes dropping back to throw. No, you would almost mention what before you'd even talk about what an offensive you know, mechanism going on was? It was, and it was. It was just it was so weird to switch your brain around to think that way as opposed to offense first. But with him, you always thought defense first because he was always affecting a play.

00:43:53
Speaker 2: That's it right there. I'm so glad you said that.

00:43:56
Speaker 1: So we started the Around the NFL podcast A long time go and me and Chris Westling this this studio is named for my late great friend. We would say that exact thing about JJ Watt and I had never you know, I'm I'm learning this game, but I don't know as much about it as the coaches and the players and how to watch it and everything. And what was transformative for me to understand how much fun it could be to watch a defensive player. He was the guy every single snap that I would keep my eyes on. And it was crazy because you never understood how he got to the eleventh pick of the draft. This is a six five, two hundred and ninety five pound guy who is so much quicker off the ball than anyone on the inside or the out. One he was one on one on a guard, it was like it was Curtains. That was really just his rookie season and then it was over the next year. He was already the best player in the league. But when he was outside, he was stronger than those guys. He was faster than those guys. He was so versatile. He was box office. And you mentioned the hand skills Kevin. All those passes defensed of his career, you know, from jumping up and blocking the ball, seventy passes defense and what makes me think of how he transformed that franchise. The very first playoff game in the history of the Houston Texans franchise a rookie. JJ Watt who only had five and a half sacks that year. Was a very good rookie, but was not defensive rookie of the year. He was kind of a slow starter. He jumped up. He had a pick six in that game along with the sack, and that was kind of his coming out moment. The following week in the divisional round, he had two and a half sacks. He actually had a career high in tackles in that game as a rookie. And from then on you realize this guy is playing the game in just a way that I personally have never seen before and haven't seen since.

00:45:45
Speaker 3: No, I think you've captured it right there. That story alone tells you exactly where he belongs and his effect on this game, where he stands with the greats that have ever played that position. You also noticed around the Texans if you had them on a Sunday, as we often did, that his getting ready, his preparation, his dealing with the media, is dealing with the fans like he got it right. He understood the game. He understood how to prepare the game and how to ready himself for the game. He understood how to be a winner, how to affect the game, and what he would have to do on any given day. And I'm sure there were challenges that he just savored and felt like like this is I want to go against the best. I need to be challenged. He never thought it was easy, clearly, but I know there were times where he said I could have a pretty big day. But there were other times you probably said, I got my work cutout for me, and thank goodness, I do. These are the kinds of things to keep me sharp. But if you watched him before a game hour and a half or so, he'd be out there and cut off t shirt, walking around, have a football, going through the mental side of his preparation. And my guess is, and I'm thinking that if I looked in my notes, I could probably find the quote he would say. He would play out the game in his head. What a first and ten, What a second and five? What a third and long third and short? What part of the field the offense was in What he would need to do to help the other part of the defense succeed in stopping that play. Like, I think he thought the game through about as well as anybody at that position. Now listen, it's a lot of God given skill and strength and technique and arm movement, and then you talk about the ball skills. If he deflect or it was in coverage and brought back whatever it would be. He was every place, and that's what made him so difficult. It was like it was like having a great and he could have played linebacker. There's no doubt in my mind he was picking up with the ball skills that he could have played a stand up linebacker, but they put him at a position where he was destined to go. And you mentioned the five sacks or whatever it was his rookiear and he was a slow starter in college to change positions build up his resume at the university Wasisconsin, became the best lineman out of that conference. And then we see what he's done in the NFL. It's a U Guys like him, Guys like Reid, others, You've you've covered Greg in this in this uh you know, litany of wonderful names, and in recent NFL history. These guys are wired differently, you know, they're they're just they see the game, they think the game, they prepare for the game, they play the game just so differently than just your average player. And listen, it takes everything to get to that level. To be an NFL player has got to be about his heart because a competition and the numbers and like, it's so intense. And but guys like him, they were just wired differently, and and it shows with their performance and and what they put on film and and certainly what they put on on that bust going into camp.

00:48:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, he he was a player where that the numbers are are just outrageous. I mentioned the slow is start as a rookie. Well, his second year, he's the defensive player of the year. He has twenty and a half sacks, leads the league, has thirty nine tackles for loss, which has not been topped since for those years, and even if you just use his whole career, he led the entire league in sacks, in tackles for loss. And it's not by a little by it's by a lot. And yeah, his body betrayed him after those first five years. But this exercise, to me was about who were the true greats when they were at their best?

00:49:28
Speaker 2: And what five?

00:49:29
Speaker 1: You know, five or six completely sensational years aren't enough for you.

00:49:32
Speaker 2: It's enough for me to put him here.

00:49:34
Speaker 1: So before we say goodbye to JJ Watt, I wanted to mention Wade Phillips. After his first year, he knew, like he already said, this guy is going to have a bust in Canton someday. That was on a guy that had only five and a half sacks his rookie year. And Wade Phillips is a seer. He played in a three four defense. We're actually gonna listen to one more call of JJ Watt from you, Kevin.

00:49:52
Speaker 3: First and ten, there comes that.

00:49:56
Speaker 4: J. J.

00:49:57
Speaker 3: Watt who cares if you lose your hat recorder sack that's number fifteen all time record for the Houston Texans.

00:50:05
Speaker 4: He's something else.

00:50:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was during that twenty and a half season. So he tacked on five more sacks that I liked. His helmet often came off. He had that play where he was he was bludody. He always had a little flair for the dramatic. Let's move on to our next player on the.

00:50:20
Speaker 4: List, number four. Aaron Donald.

00:50:26
Speaker 3: Rams creepy. They rushed four, rolled it flor forward.

00:50:28
Speaker 5: He's he's hit, he sacked, he frows it away, he flings it away on fourth down.

00:50:34
Speaker 4: Aaron Donald got there and you.

00:50:37
Speaker 6: Can build that man statue out so far stadium right now.

00:50:41
Speaker 5: I mean, Aaron Donald's as good as there is probably ever played in the National Football League at d line. He's an incredible player, explosive, quick, powerful. It's amazing the production he has even when people are a double team in him and triple team in him.

00:50:59
Speaker 4: And guess whom ninety nine again Oil Champions up the last game standing, were the best in the world. That's what it's about.

00:51:07
Speaker 1: Man.

00:51:08
Speaker 4: Look at this trophy right here. Look at it. This is for you guys. Listen for the city ahadline. We did it at home.

00:51:15
Speaker 1: That's Aaron Donald after winning the Super Bowl. I was somewhere there that day with my daughter Ellis, who's a huge RAMS fan, watching that and watching them have a great time on stage. I struggled, I admit Kevin, deciding who would be the top defensive player on this list. Initially I had JJ Watt there because I thought his absolute peak. I just I didn't think defense could be played at a higher level. But then I talked to more and more people, and I thought it is hard to argue with Aaron Donald's career eight first Team All pros, no One at defensive tackle. By the way, you know, during his career, I had more than three three defensive Players of the year, was in the top five four more times for defensive players of the year. And if we're picking between two players at their very heights, you could argue what argue Donald? You could do it either way, and I didn't want to just be about longevity, and yet he did it every single year of his career, so that consistency of just complete excellence put him over the top. He is the top defensive player. Did I get it right?

00:52:25
Speaker 2: Kevin?

00:52:26
Speaker 3: I love Donald and I would adding shoulder and his shoulder with you in that selection. I you know, Watt certainly played a position, but with a little bit more space, a little bit more maneuverability. I think what Donald did, by the way, in college at pitt I think he won the Lombardi ben Agerski, the outlet like he won like every major award for alignment, and then carry that success to the NFL. Could still be playing right now. He's only been gone a year, but he could have played. He got out while he was on up and he wanted he want a championship, which is great, the crowning glory to maybe the best interior alignment we've ever seen. But that's kind of my point, the interior line. Think of how congested it is in there, how hard it is to maneuver, and and really, I think right now the Badges will never appreciate an interior lineman because he gets kind of swallowed up with guards and centers and just the the the traffic in the middle of the field. You never really see them except for Donald. He's the one guy that would always break three cause he would he would cause havoc. He could take a double team, he could take on a triple team, and he would always find a way to blow up the play. And we know that quarterbacks love to move up in the pocket. Donald took that away. He would press that pocket so hard those you know, couple of yards yard and a half whatever, a quarterback would need to move up and not get pinched on the side by the JJ Watts of the world. That's where you found right your refuge. You'd move up a little bit, and then not with Donald, he made that whole thing just you could not go there and and to operate and put up the kind of numbers he did and affect the game as he did at that position, and to have him as your number one rated defensive player, I mean, that's just unheard of. I mean that is that is I get the linebacker, I get the safety, I get the defensive end, I get all those positions. You're talking about a guy in the middle who's disrupting, getting doubled every single play. Maybe the only maybe the only guy except for an elite receiver, that's going to draw coverage in the secondary by multiple guys, maybe the only guy on the defense that is constantly facing at least two guys that are going to try to block him and stop him every single snap.

00:54:57
Speaker 1: So we have stats to back that up at the next Gen Stats, and they can keep track of this. He was indeed double teamed at a higher percentage, more than any player in the NFL. And despite that, in his ten seasons he had more sacks than anyone by ten sacks. And so that's including all the great edge rushers, he still had more sacks than them by ten despite playing on the inside. But then the numbers get crazy. He has more quarterback hits than anyone in the NFL despite all those double teams by fifty one. He has more quarterback pressures than anyone in those ten years by one hundred and twenty four, and the most tackles for loss by anyone in those ten years by forty. So I started thinking about it, Kevin, and this is a guy who people would always say, well, the stats, you know, he's even better than the stats show.

00:55:47
Speaker 2: Well, the stats say he's.

00:55:48
Speaker 1: The greatest player maybe of all time at that position. So if anything, I feel bad having him four and you got to call his crowning moment that also helps put him over the top. Let's actually listen to Kevin Harlan's call of Aaron Donald calling game in the Super Bowl.

00:56:05
Speaker 6: Burrow will look at it three wide from the forty nine of the Rams fourth and one shotgun snap, blow, picks it up, let tackle block.

00:56:15
Speaker 2: Here comes Donald and he spins.

00:56:18
Speaker 6: Burrow round Don Trunk with throw it away, the Rams celebrating on the near side on Downes. It goes to LA only one time out for the Begels, and that made to it. That made to it, and that defense stands tough for LA.

00:56:39
Speaker 2: That gives me goosebumps. What do you think listening to that, Kevin Well?

00:56:43
Speaker 3: I love that play And that was Donald right when you needed the biggest play from your defense of the afternoon. He pressured the terrific Joe Burrow and he spun him around and the ball flies out and he's trying to make a miraculous throw or do whatever to you know, maybe hoping that a penalty has been called with a whole downfield or something, and uh, and that was it that closed the door, and Donald realized it and pointed to his finger. I'm going to get my ring. I can't think of a better guy to be the number one defensive player on your list. Great quite frankly, I just when you watched him, you just knew you were watching something that that is not common, Uh, once in a lifetime, generational and and and I think he's I think he's placed perfectly. I always I root for players that are at that stage of their career who have had such great individual decoration but have not gotten the team success, and not Gott. When he got that, it just felt like it was Stafford. I mean it felt right. Here are guys that have put their imprint on this league and and they they were able to get that that championship. Feel bad for the guys that didn't. Marino never got it. And we can go down the list, but but for Donald being the best defensive player that I've ever seen. And I loved Lawrence Taylor, and I called some of his games not in his prime, but later on he was great. And there's no denying he's one of the top two three defensive players ever. We've probably actually in this conversation, talked about the guys that I would put exactly. Reid did what he did on the back end. Watt was terrific, but Donald, Aaron Donald was he was special. And the fact that the multiple All Pro selections, which is really the defining measure of these guys. Pro Bowls are great all start. I get all that it's but that All Pro designation puts you in a category. And when he'd rack up as many as he did, it's a testament to his career and how we've only he's again one of one.

00:58:51
Speaker 1: He made first team All Pro. Kevin every first team every single year of his career except for two. Now here are the other two. He was a rookie who won Defensive Rookie of the Year, and it was in Saint Louis. That team stunk. It was a sad season, and I remember talking to people that year, the way he finished that season. Among ball knowers, there was a lot of support for him that he should have actually been first team All Pro that year.

00:59:20
Speaker 2: He was that good already. So that's one of the years.

00:59:23
Speaker 1: The other year was his ninth year in the league, where he got hurt at the end of the year. Missed five games before that, he essentially didn't miss a single game for injury. Missed a couple late late in another season, but he was a guy who you look at the playoff runs, he's playing eighty five ninety five percent snaps. So he reminds me if I had to come up with a confirm, just in terms of career, Jim Brown might be the guy I think of because every single season of Jim Brown's career he was essentially the best at what he did and retired the best to ever do it. I think you can say that about Aaron Donald super Bowl run. That wasn't the only game winning pressure he had. He had one against Jimmy Garoppolo too, So he came through in the absolute biggest moments.

01:00:08
Speaker 2: I don't know now, I'm now, I'm every one of these guys. I feel bad. I don't even rank them a little bit higher, but he is one of one.

01:00:14
Speaker 3: As you mentioned, and Greg, as you've you've covered the league for so long, you know, just sitting here talking with you in all the games you've seen practice as players you've interviewed, stories you've written, and things you've talked about, it gives you a moment of pause, doesn't it when you when you talk about the breath we're talking about, you know, two thousand to now in all the great players. Listen, if we went pre that, you know that that's a whole other conversation with the greatest of that position. But I think both of us could honestly say, if you took the greatest single player in the history of Pro football at every position quarterback, receiver, running back, and in the middle of the line, defensive tackle. However, you want to know that whatever you want to call them, Donald would be on that group of twenty two. He would be one of the eleven greatest of all time defensive players. Not saying that what or Reid or Rogers or anybody else we've talked about couldn't be under consideration. I feel pretty confident. I would think you would too, And you just rattled off the incredible ten year running Super Bowl champion. To me, he is one of the best twenty two players ever to play this game. And that's a lot of players and a lot of great players that have played on defense.

01:01:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, and very unique too.

01:01:36
Speaker 1: You know, It's one of the reasons I think he fell in the draft to thirteenth because you mentioned the honors he had in college, but shorter for a defensive lineman. Yes, said he played at two hundred and sixty pounds later in his career, and yet you know, we know he was the quickest guy out there.

01:01:52
Speaker 2: He was just too quick for everyone to handle.

01:01:54
Speaker 1: But despite being only you know, two hundred and sixty five to two hundred and eighty pounds, he was the strongest guy out there. Like, he wasn't as physically imposing until you saw him with the shirt off, and then it was just out outrageous.

01:02:07
Speaker 3: Well, I was first on NFL broadcast in nineteen eighty one, play by play began in eighty five. He is the best interior defensive lineman I've ever seen. And not that my word carries anything, but I've seen a lot of guys, a lot of games voted, and I just off the top of my head, I mean, we could probably have a whole nother show on pre two thousand defensive players. I don't know that anybody effected a game, played it in a higher level, and was as revered and decorated in every aspect than Aaron Donald. I have the highest regard never I've talked to him one time on a zoom when we had the Rams back in the day. I've never met him in person, but my respect for him is boundless. And some guys are just the greatest. Twenty two the top twenty two players of all time. Aaron Donald's name is on that list, and I have a feeling your number one guy is probably on that list to a quarterback. But they mentioned Jim Brown. Jim Brown may be the greatest. I never called any of his games, but in a short Gail Sayers, you know for that five or six years that he was healthy before he blew the n E. He may have been in that Brown conversation, but it's just how lucky have we been to see players like that? And in the four players here we've talked about in this segment with the quarterback Rogers and JJ Watt and Ed Reid and finishing up with Aaron Donald.

01:03:42
Speaker 1: Appreciate it, Kevin Harlan, and you're like, who am I to be ranking these guys? You've seen more of these games than anyone you are. The guests, my son was most excited when I told them that you're coming on the show today. My son Walker was like, what do you have Kevin Harlan And I was like, yeah, it's gonna be pretty cool. And your your enthusiasm, your love for the game really comes through to talking about these players but also in the game. So I thank you for our listeners, for my son too, of just helping our enjoyment of watching it.

01:04:10
Speaker 2: Really appreciate you, Kevin well.

01:04:12
Speaker 3: Thank you, Greg, and honor to be on with you. Privileged to be a part of this great listing of the most wonderful players dur in this quarter century.

01:04:20
Speaker 2: Yes, and it's not over yet.

01:04:22
Speaker 1: Our next episode will be the series finale. We are ranking the top three players. Yes, it's been twenty five players in twenty five years, only three to go and really looking forward to that finale for Kevin Harlan.

01:04:36
Speaker 2: I'm Greg Rosenthal.

01:04:37
Speaker 4: We'll see you next time.