Russell Wilson to the Broncos - Aaron Rodgers to Stay Home

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Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL podcast. He's still explaining to Mark what the gritty is from the Chris west Link podcast studio. It's around the NFL. Dan Hans is here, Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler back from Indianapolis, and yes, the big news, the big news is obvious. Tomorrow the Flashpoint series returns from absolute well timed fleas po fless pop. Nothing else going on. Baker Mayfield gotta roll out a series that you could easily do in July, a series that we rebranded after one episode into a new version of People were listen, people were concerned the hiatus. How long does the hiatus left now? Free agency starts next week. Does it go back on hiatus? Most likely? But just know that's the big news right now. It's not ruggling to get out of the game. Just now that we still have like new listeners, maybe someone who's never heard the around the NFL Pike. Wow, what a good data to check in one of the biggest newsdays in NFL history. And they've already clicked off. Actually, they're like, whoa, these guys are funny, irreverent, different. I'm staying tuned. It's the other way to look at it. Somewhere in the middle. I don't I don't think we have them on that one. Holy there's so much going on right now, and we're gonna get into all of it, um because yes, one of the biggest trades in recent NFL history has gone down. The Aaron Rodgers soap opera. Uh, that seems to be going on hiatus for the time being, although you never know. Franchise deadline is passing in sixteen minutes exactly, and we're tracking it to the deadline. We're gonna get to all of it all the news. There's a dude that got suspended for gambling, one of the best wide receivers in the league. I'm gonna hit that. Greg's got some against the grain takes on that too. He's gonna put it all on the line. That's what I'm waiting for news to me. But yes, Calvin Ridley does feel like a bit of a d story now. It's like that was like we were leading with that. Greg's um side hobby and deep obsession clashing with his desire to be a company man all in one. The bigger gambling I've been I've been very careful since joining the NFL, and this news I have to say, made me happy of how careful I've been and even though we have so much news to get to. Yes, the last time you heard from us, we were in Indianapolis at the combine. We don't know much. We're learning as we go along here the prospect side of things. But you know who knows a lot, Shookie. Shookie's a rising star, rising talent here at NFL Media and he had a great right up on his all combined team Nick shook nice hook there like that. So we're gonna welcome and shooking a bit to talk to. But before we get to anything, Yes, let's get to the huge news involving a certain somebody. Yeah, we gotta dogs. I love the Russell Wilson smooth brother act. It's the best. I think. I think it was Danny Kelly who said it, Maybe it was maybe it was someone else that you know, he'll go down as one of the greatest players in Seahawk's history and definitely the horniest. Like that's that's been a big part of the Wilson experience and I enjoy it. That was a social media clip from when he signed his extension with Seattle in two thousand nineteen from his bed yes with his celebrity wife. Uh and it was announcing that he was staying with the Seahawks Hawks maybe for the long term, but it turns out history had other plans. NFL Networks Tom Pelicero reported Tuesday he broke It that the Seahawks and Broncos agreed in principle on a trade sending quarterback Russell Wilson to Denver the Broncos for a massive hall including multiple first round picks, plus additional picks and players. The full package, which also sent a fourth round picked Denver's way, two first rounders, two second rounders, a fifth rounder the centerpiece of the trade Drew Lock, defensive tackle Shelby Harris, and tight end no offense. That from rap Sheet Greggy. The trade is pending a physical and Wilson Wilson waving is no trade clause can't be finalized until the new league year next week. But it's happening, and it's a bombshell that rivals any trade in the history of this podcast, at least the history of the NFL. Oh he did it, I mean just baby through Mr a limited just in terms of where he is at his career, what it means for the Broncos certainly what it means for the Seahawks. I just start where I've been over the last couple of years on this, that this was coming, and that the Seahawks organization had a decision to make. Could they go with Russell Wilson or should they choose Pete Carroll? And all the twelves were in my mentions for last couple. Oh, that's not about that. It's not it's not about choosing one another. It's not some sort of power struggle. That's not the that's not the issue I really think it was. I think Russell Wilson made it clear he wanted out of Seattle a year ago, uh in January, and he ended up getting out one year later, and that ultimately Paul Allen, their owner, died. Jody Allen's sister took over. It's bit of an ownership vacuum, and Pete Carroll filled it. He has more power than anyone, So I don't want to hear anything about well as Pete Carroll really wanted. Gonna go through a rebook, Pete Carroll made this trade. He wanted to do the trade eight he felt the value was worth it. There's a million avenues to go through here, but he got such a good offer that he believe now is the time, and I'm gonna prove them all wrong. I'm seven years old, but Debbie Hanson still thinks I'm hot. I'm not going anywhere. I'm gonna try to compete this year and show that it's more about me, and I'm gonna try to compete next year. It's not about rebuilding, it's about making the Seahawks better. I think that's what he believes is going to happen here. That may be what he believes. Uh, And I don't just I don't disagree with you, Greg. I think that you know, we knew a year ago that there was this was the first chapter of quarterback discontentment. Uh. That has spread across the league like wildfire, and it's paid off. I mean, Russell Wilson is probably somewhere he much would rather be at this point. So I'm with you there. But if we're gonna look at it from a pro Seahawks angle and see that Pete Carroll and you know you're throwing John Schneider who's picking up the phone. At least got what they called a transformational deal. I don't see this is that to first two seconds and Shelby Harris, that's a nice player, Noah Fan big yawn and and Drew Lock, a player that they were trying to get rid of essentially for the past two seasons, or at least lodges their backup. I don't know how this transforms the Seahawks. If anything, I think it takes the legacy of Pete Carroll and John Schneider and puts it into a bit of a dark abyss because now you're suddenly essentially last year's Broncos, good team, nice parts looking for a quarterback. I think that is to me, the biggest, the biggest, big picture of viewpoint for Seattle now is that you went from having a Hall of Fame level quarterback who has probably anywhere between seven and ten eleven years who knows left in the tank, to joining that great underbelly of the NFL, the teams that are wandering looking for their guy. And yet I I also understand why they did it, and I think there could be some middle ground here Greg with It's not necessarily just like Pete Corroll is gonna win or Russell Wilson was gonna win and only one could survive and move forward. I think Seattle, in their internal conversations would not be surprising to me if they were like, we are kind of caught in between right now, and we have this guy who's getting paid at a huge premium quarterback. We have a roster that's not near Super Bowl ready. We've made some mistakes. We made that Jamal Adams trade that didn't work out for us, giving away a lot of assets to get back a guy that has not been transformational on defense. Now we need to figure out what we want to do as an organization going forward. Do we try to figure this out with Wilson or do we pull the pull the trigger on a trade that allows us to reset everything. And I think there's something to be said for that beyond just Carol wins and Wilson loses, or however you want to see this. I'm with you, and I'm someone that I feel I'm a little caught in the middle here that I don't think it was the worst trade ever for Seattle. Is it gonna work out? Probably not because they don't have a quarterback, but they have to make the picks count. I think what they got was significant, and people are saying, Oh, it's basically the same as Jamal Adams trade two ones. Well, no, you've got two ones, two twos. I like Noah Fan. I think that's a good young tight end and a and a player in Shelby Harris that can definitely help you. I don't care about lock To me, that's that's almost a negative. But that's six players that that's not nothing that's different than that's that's Jamal Adams trade. But I think they're gonna reset and try to use some of these resources to either draft a quarterback at nine they now have the number nine pick from Denver, or draft the quarterbacks somewhere else, or use some of this cap space and use some of the room to go get a quarterback. Because I don't think they're gonna try to rebuild. I think it says something about what they saw with Russell Wilson and that that to me, is the large, big part of this equation. You said he's probably got, you know, seven good years left in him. Maybe I have my doubts. He struggled in the second half of He was very up and down in He is not a top five quarterback to me, and I think if they believed he was a top five quarterback that was gonna age. Well, now he's someone that holds the ball forever and tries to rely on his athleticism to make those crazy plays. If they believed he was gonna evolve and and have the rest of his career like Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady did, I don't think they would make that trade. I don't think they quite believe that Russell Wilson was the reason why they've been good these last But so it's so it's a it's a power struggle, but be at aligns with their actual scouting thoughts Russell Wilson. I mean that would be that would be fortunate for the Seahawks that it isn't a power struggles. Clearly, it's an annoying process that he made it clear that he wanted out. But I think kind of like Aaron Rodgers, you suck it up because he's Aaron Rodgers. And I think if Russell Wilson was Aaron Rodgers, he'd still be on the Seahawks. As my point, if he won the m v P the last two years, he's not an ex Seahawk. He hasn't been that great. I think that's part of the equation. We've talked about this before in the show. I disagree with you heartily on that. I understand that he hasn't been as good in recent years. He also broke his finger last year or dislocated the finger needed the surgery, So I don't know what to take out of the last half of the last season, even though he even played better down the stretch. I still think he's a star. I think he's a superstar potentially still. And that's why you give it up to Broncos general manager Broncos general manager George Peyton, because this is the swing. Obviously, they had their eyes on Aaron Rodgers and we're gonna get to Rogers in a minute that wasn't in play, and he picked up the phone and aggressively got the guy. And I just think, if you're the Broncos and you're Broncos fans, you're over the moon right now because you've been You got the Super Bowl fifty win with Peyton, but it's been really tough sledding at quarterback, and you know that roster is locked and loaded. And if Russell Wilson is more the guy, I think he is. Mark thinks he is um. I still think he's an above average, maybe borderline top ten quarterback. I just don't think I mean you put people put him because he's so famous in that top shelf, Like, no, he's not justin Herbert. He's the third best quarterback in this devise us the transformational part of this trade. I think he is a potential still top five quarterback in league personally, and you take him and you feel the biggest area need on your team and you are flying now. And don't be surprised when von Miller now comes back to Denver, because that's kind of how the league in sports seems to work now. People like to build super teams. Denver just became a legit contender in the a f C and what and I don't care about anything else down the line. They are now they have a chance to win the Super Bowl, a very real chance, and it's a home run trade to me for that reason. I lived in Denver for years. I've got friends from Denver who are tweeting and it's like, look at this, look at the reaction from both fan bases. I get that fans maybe can gloss over things, so can we at times, but it's like the Denver Broncos fan base reaction says it all to me. They were a pretender last year and I you know, we're not going down the Teddy Bridgewater road. But the on you did not have the quarterback in a division with Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert and Derek Carr, the best division in the a f C. You're now locked and loaded as a real contender. Somewhere Vic Fonio is saying, what the f because where where was I when all this happened. They should re hire him as the defensive court It would be great. That doesn't happen in these days. But if you're Nathaniel hack It, I do wonder you're very close to Aaron Rodgers that maybe he tipped off Nathaniel Hackett at some point and said, bro, this saint happening, go chase something else, because they were right on this Russell Wilson deal two hours after the Aaron Rodgers news that was so called secrets. So if anything, though, I think that says that they were still hanging around and they and they put it out there through their insiders to make the pr of it all work better. That one thing had nothing to do with the other I don't buy that. I do totally buy that. They've been in these trade talks for the last two weeks setting up this deal, hoping to get it done and if if it could get done, great, but the timing of it clearly indicates they were still holding out and seeing what was up where Aaron Rodgers. They didn't want to make Russell Wilson feel like he was the second option. Why should they. I think all these things can be true. I agree with you guys that it's a home run for Denver, like you gotta make this move. To me, it's just more he's Matthew Stafford, like I, I put him in that tier, and it's worth it to go get a Matthew Stafford when you're stuck in the middle or the below the middle at quarterback, which they were like, I'm not doubting as much as they like Stafford, it's similar. It's in the same ballpark and young you still got Courtland Sutton, Tim Patrick, Jerry Judy Albert. I don't know where we settled. Albert. I thought I had aqua banam but then they changed it. Okay, but you're just going Nte Williams. That is an awesome offense. I don't know if the defense is gonna be good as good as the names look like, because we just don't have Vick Fondio there anymore, but they often should be incredible that that's the point that the Broncos did not give away pieces that would strip away from Russell Wilson. Surprising when I heard multiple first round picks and players and then it ended up when it ended up being Shelby Harris snow offense and Drew Lock, I was like, oh really, because I could have swore Jerry Judy, maybe Jounte Williams, maybe Sutton, one of those guys at least us to go back. So the fact now that Wilson goes and joins this offense that has remained intact after the deal, that makes it even more exciting if you're a Broncos fan. Fan's a good player, though, I mean at times he's looked like, but who's quarterback? No, I'm just saying gregy to me. He is a starting defensive end. He's it was a first round pick for a reason, with a ton of potential. He's not nothing like to meet him. And Javonte Williams, for instance, have a similar value the differences. He's on the fourth that what the fourth year of his contract. Shelby Aris is a nice player. I I I'm with you guys as much as I'm like, I'm not making the case for set I'm just trying to explain I think why it happened and why they thought it could make sense, and because of because of the way that they've run the organization the last handful of years, it would not surprise me if they figure some things out this season, are and are in the mix even without rest Well, how about this in the mix potentially for Deshaun Watson. You got ammunition now finally to do that in the mix. If you want to be spicy, go take Malik Willis at number nine, and don't go settle for a quarterback like a Drew Lock or fill in the blank that automatically has the fan base asleep at the wheel. You cannot come out of this with a dull option under center. Bad bad timing by the way for Geno Smith to show his whole ascid that d u I arrest well. Pete Carroll said at the combat they were planning to bring him back, but they wanted him back. Although I have to admit I can't imagine a Drew lock Gino competition, So I think Russell leaving might have been Gino's anybody, gig anybody happen to check out the police report on that Geno Smith arrest. It's a little worse than you might imagine. Anyway, I do quickly have just a little bit of doubts just about how hack It has succeeded in the NFL. Is with a quick passing, timing offense where you get the rid of the ball quickly plant And all I'm saying is that's that's where he made his name, whether it's in Buffalo with with with tyrod or certainly with Aaron Rodgers. And that's just not that's the opposite of what Russell Wilson is. Well, he he is a like they have tried to bring in West Coast style offensive coordinators, and always the coordinator got blamed as a bad fit. Like I just feel like Russell Wilson. No I'm not, but I'm just trying to like spin it forward to thinking about this season and what their offense is going to look like. And that's not a Russell Wilson that we've seen succeed, and I think that's what they tried to do with Shane Waldron. I mean it's very similar in terms of the offense they try to run and he he had some ups and down. I mean, Nathaniel Hackett came to the razor's edge of becoming a hip hop dance instructor. He said, he strikes me as versatile. I think he can ship, he can move some things around. In this offensive takeaway, at least from the studio right now, the Chris Westling podcast studio is Greg's insinuating that Russell Wilson might be Mr Lime in Denver. I think you've been saying something along those lines for a while, not limited. I'm just saying there's this feeling that I don't see him rebranding that that he's this you know, transcendent top of his game guy. He has turned in thirty four. I'm excited, though every one of these a f C West games is going to be in primetime. Patrick Mahomes justin Herbert, Russell Wilson, and Derek Greg has this as like the herschel Walker deal Part two that I completely think this is a win for an organization that for years we've been killing them a They had Russell Wilson in their building pre draft and took brock Osweiler instead in a way poetically, John Elway, you know, spears up in the sky spiritually, he's not I mean he's not part of he's not the day to day part of the organization, but probably still making like high, you know, seven figures. But they've got Russell Wilson back, the guy that beat them in the Super Bowl. And this is a team that went for it in a division where had they not, they would have been dead fodder. I think it's it's win win and the Broncos win more. If you have to pick on. I'm not trying to take the other side. I'm saying what percentage of Seahawks fans think that that it is also a win for Seattle right now on a team they tweeted out the cast away meme. Tom Hanks looking for Wilson the volleyball. You've been for many years, John Schneider's not getting this, sad. We've been tracking this for many years. These twenty four year old social media in turn running the team accounts that boy or girl, when has he ever seen cast away? It? Cast away Wilson floats away on the sea and Tom Hanks screams and agony that was his only friend on the island. You literally gave away this Wilson. So it just it doesn't even work like logical plot wise. It's a disastrous treat tweet because it's like you you clearly have not even tracked how that film operating. What else is a disaster? Uh, Ricky played Pete Carroll at the Combine last week. We have no intention of making any any move there. I just I like that we get to go to the Combine and hang out with our friends and eat steaks and everything and drink booze. But uh, these interviews with the coaches and the gm s, I mean, there's so much smoke screen and then we're reporting on it. We're trying to sift through it. But they shot it down like the idea of well, they said, we have no intention and they choose these words carefully. And my old boss Mike Florio wrote about that, like that that's the way of saying. That is the way of saying And I don't know why they even bother that, Like you can't say that I was lying before because we didn't have any intention, but when someone else was coming right that. They also did turn down the Washington commanders, who reportedly, we're gonna send high picks over the next three years, maybe a better deal and in hold than this deal from Denver. But they didn't have a choice because Russell Wilson had a no trade clause in Russell Wilson I thing ultimately chose the Denver Broncos over the Washington Commanders. If if they were getting better value, what do the Seahawks care about it? But Russell Wilson had a say in this, and that's to his credit to his agents as the shine off Pete Carol winning this power struggle when it came down to maybe taking the lesser deal because Russell Wilson and wife want to stay on what is essentially the West Coast. To somebody, I think the Seahawks made a huge mistake not blowing you when you say rebuild. Here's how they should have rebuild. That's geography pop there. I like, well, it's not the West Coast, but I mean there's a mountain then some degree closer than to Washington. They should have gotten rid of Carol and Schneider to start this offseason and they should have committed to Russell Wilson. If I was running the Seahawks, That's what I would have done. And I'm not trying to Wison out right, but yeah, you're not. You're not a Russell Wilson. I'm not saying. My point is once they already went down that road, that they're keeping Carol and Schneider. It's sort of as Dan was saying, didn't makes sense, as Carol was saying, it didn't make sense. What a time to be alive. Wow, all right, we have so much more to get to. Let's take a break and then continue with the news. All right, we're back Aaron Rodgers. This is all you know, dominoes. So the Broncos reportedly hot for Aaron Rodgers had their quarter had the quarterback coach Um Broncos did now as their head coach, and it seemed like a nice fit. But Aaron Rodgers decided to stay home, so Denver pivoted. Here's the details. Green Bay has agreed with the thirty eight year old Rogers on a four year extension worth two hundred million, including a hundred and fifty three million and guaranteed money. Rap Sheet reported Tuesday the deal makes Rodgers the highest paid player in NFL history on an annual basis, while also reducing his salary cap number for two thousand two. So the long saga that's built up forever, Uh, it feels like forever, but it's really been about a year and a half comes to some type of clothes. Aaron Rodgers, by the way, came out after the Russell Wilson story blew up. He got on Twitter and said, hey, hey, hey, just so you know the specifics of the contract monetary wise, Uh, not accurate, but I will say I'm happy to be in Green Bay, to which I say, Aaron Rodgers, No, just I don't care, alright, Ricky on fire, Um, there's a lot more going on there. You actually thought that I wanted I didn't kill my wife? Well, because you say that all the time. You always say that, So I thought it would be a nice tie in, but that I don't care, right, But I thought I made it clear on our instant messenge what I wanted just that one line. Yeah, okay, so you kind of okay, I think she added to the ship well, she added to the overall show I didn't kill my wife. Anyway, let's get back on track. Ricky, by the way, is not going to be with us next week. Ricky is going to be in Camcoon during free agent Well, that news passed like a buzz saw through the studio prior to our kickoff here. This is like the fourth year in a row she's been on a tropical island during the off seasons, most busy week. You can't talk to me like that. It's International Woman's Day today. I'm happy for you. I'm extremely It's fine. You don't appreciate what alright that Erica? When you know I was trying to talk to her. I was kidding on the square a little bit. It's like, Erica, we want you for free agency week. We want you in the studio. It's important. And she's like, no, you don't care who's behind the glass anyway. It's like, what does that mean? You're our producer, Ricky. We love Grave Digger and stabled In and the whole gang, but you're a producer. That's true. Yeah, No, I will send you guys a lot of ideas from from the beach. By the way, Gregg's disgusted about this, but that was like three weeks ago. You had a conversation and she mentioned it to you and you said, don't go. Yeah, and then what you do very defiant. I haven't gone yet, but it's the only time that we can go, because only has We don't want to hear it. This week doesn't matter. Those specifics for our show don't matter. I'm gonna get my nails one one. If she proposes that, I don't know what it is. Maybe I thought you were going to be doing maybe m If here's the thing, you better come back with the ring exactly. And if you don't come back with if you come back with the ring, you're absolved off. Yeah. If nobody's wearing a ring, it's going to be a major issue behind the scenes for the and and the upshot will be will be upset, She'll be upset, and she'll go to Cancun again next year. At this time, I mean, this is it has to be half a decade in a row. Well, I was going to try to do Cobo to see if I could get any stories. You know what breaks we are We are beyond that topic. Anyway. He is back Aaron Rodgers. Four years with the Packers. All's well, that ends well. He did play the game ultimately in a savvy manner, even if he turned most of the public against him over the past. Well I also called it at one point a categorical uh lie ar miss truth that he was seeking to become the highest paid quarterback. I'm not going to listen or believe anything anyone says ever again at this point in this sport, because that was absolute nonsense. This worked for him the same way things worked out for Russell Wilson. Be upset, be hyper annoying, and will holl will you know, will tag along with your melodrama for a year plus until this thing caps essentially in Aaron rodgers favor and the other dominant of falls that Davante Adams now sticks around as well. On the tag. The tweet to me speaks to what was annoying about this whole process that Aaron Rodgers just sent out. He said, reports about me signing a contract veron accurate. Actually no one reported that you signed the contracts said a contract was agreed to. So you're you're throwing in a falsity you know, uh, and you've done it, as are the supposed terms of the contact I quote signed. I'm very excited. Uh, where where do you think those terms are coming from. Where do you think, uh, an agent is putting out like those terms to advertise what a great deal that he got. You think it's the team. You think the team wants to advertise how much money they're paying. You know they don't. They're frankly the quarterback market and paying you more than any Frankly, they're embarrassed. They they're gonna have to answer to a lot of packers shareholders. Uh, you know who got that free, free sweet piece of paper? Uh and going to see that. Ultimately, he probably was never going anywhere, And they used the Broncos well for to maximize every bit of leverage this offseason. And that's fine. That's all players do that, all agents do that. Some media members participated a little more actively than others and really making the Broncos believable over the last week. But if you kind of noticed, the big names really didn't. And I think that was telling you is it isn't there any concern that you know it talked about him going away and meditating and thinking for hours on end about the fact that maybe I'll just retire, Like we've talked over and over about if your head is halfware half in the space of I might walk about that, but I think after this last year it was so clear he was all in, like it was all I thought it was all bogus this whole time. I mean, then I'm going off with what Ian was tweeting, saying that there was serious consideration about all things on the table by a one of them. I might leave the team that I'm now sticking around. Was saying how much I love Green Bay and all the sudden Ultimately, what had to come down to money. They paid me fifty million a year. Whenever it comes down to so, I am back until I'm forty two years old, unless I went another m v P and they annoy me, and then I'll cause Samorea rukis in about a year or so. Don't rule it out. This is the person we're dealing with at this point. The one thing, the only thing you could say about Rogers. Yes, he got everything he wanted in the end, He's still on a loaded team, He's better paid than anyone else in the history of the sport. But I do think he did take a hit in the public opinion over a lot of his and some of it much Well. Listen, there are a lot of people. Mark and I are among those people that had a lot of issues with Rogers before the fake vaccine stuff went down, just the way his general vibe and how he had kind of changed in some ways in terms of how he how he was front facing with the public, and it wasn't always flattering. It's all. None of it matters ultimately, And I don't care, as Timmy Lee Jones said, because he's under contract. I don't care about the money he's sticking there. Davante Adams is tagged, and this is still a Super Bowl contender, but a team that chokes in January, and that's something else for another conversation. And now they can operate this offseason with some clarity. We don't know what the salary cap number is going to be. It's go going to be less than the forty six million he was scheduled for, presumably a lot less and they're gonna franchise tag. They did franchise tag Davante Adams, and so you're putting that on that contract negotiation, and think's gonna be very difficult, near impossible to figure out over the next uh four or five months. He could hold out, I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see him until about the what the third week of training camp something like that, just because that's how things go, is it? Arias Smith, Preston Smith, Jayra Alexander might get a contract extension. Those those the Smith brothers could get cut. Like a lot's going to be happening with Green Bay in the next Well that said, if we want to say that shareholders with their piece of paper on the wall are going to be slightly miffed that the front office pulled the trigger on this. Now that was a joke. I mean, I mean the other option is, now you're sitting there with Jordan's love, you could baby trade Jordan Love away to someone at this point too. Yeah, at the dollar Ricky wanted to come in with a point. Should we let her come in? It's National Woman's Day, so I mean, you know, international of all countries. Okay, So now I remember why I included that I didn't kill my wife, not only because you say it all the time pre show, which you know screamed it at the holiday party. Yeah you're screaming a lot actually, But then I was thinking because when we were talking about that, Aaron Rodgers tweeted this because I think he was really pissed that the Russell Wilson News had taken over every channel. So I think in that little minute where he's like, I didn't kill my wife and he's like, I don't care, I was putting that bit together number one to the tie in number two because it's like, Aaron Rodgers, no one cares that you tweeted that. So I just wanted to defend myself. It's like an unsolved Mysteries update right there. Very you know, I see what you're saying. It's like a comedian explaining a joke. He never said. That's exactly right. Greg. I'm so glad you're a comedian and know exactly what's going on all the time. Actually, keep going. I'm enjoying that. Uh So there you go, Rogers, And yes, Jordan's love is a former first round picking. People are like I saw on Twitter some a couple of things that I didn't like on Twitter. One, Oh, Aaron Rodgers. He only cares about money. Now they won't be able to build a shut up. And this is a business. He got paid, he deserves that. He's one of the top five quarterbacks ever and he's off back to back m v ps. They'll make it work. Have you noticed a salary cap? It's way up this year. To people say, oh, the Packers, they blew it on Jordan's love. Yeah, I guess so they did. They took a first round pick at quarterback a couple of years ago, and then now it looks like he's never gonna play a meaningful snap for them. But you know what if the reason it didn't work out is because Aaron Rodgers one two straight MVPs. Hey, you live with it, you move on. I totally agree with you and Brian Gooda Kunst has made incredible draft picks. That's the thing. Like, go through the rest of that first round. There's a lot of wasted picks. None of them got Aaron Rodgers has fired up as Jordan loved to go win a couple of m vps. And if they can trade him, maybe you recoupa a third round pick. I like, I like the idea that the love pick and there's actually a lot of logic to it made Rogers better. Yeah, I think like Goody is a master. He's like a master of psychological warfare. It changed, I mean they still lost, you know, two straight January playoff games. I mean, everyone like wants to get on them. Oh, they could have taken this or that, okay, in the and they of course choose the best players. This is just a sample. Here are the rest of the first round after Jordan's Love. The other first round picks that were taken behind Jordan's Love Jordan Brooks, Patrick Queen, Isaiah Wilson, Noah Ig Monogamy, Jeff Gladney, and Clyde Edwards Hilaire. I'm just saying, it's like, come on, I mean, it gave us one of the more annoying dramas of our entire lifetime. I mean, among these, two of those guys aren't even in the league anymore, which is that's hard to do for a first round pick. Um all right, in other news, So those are the two huge stories to the biggest stories will get all year, happening in the same morning. So there you go, big story yesterday, then now it feels like it happened about ten years ago. Falcon's wide receiver Calvin Ridley has been suspended for at least season after gambling on games during the season. The NFL released a statement on Monday announcing the suspension. Saying that the receiver gambled on games over a five days stretch in November when he was on the non football injury list to address his mental health. Ridley, as you may remember, stepped away from the NFL in late October, saying he needed to get his personal life in order. H Ridley tweeted on Monday that he bets total and quote, I don't have a gambling problem. And uh, you know, this is a thorny issue for the league because on one hand, yes, people that are going hard and saying Calvin Rutley is getting screwed here and it shouldn't be this harsher penalty. I can't get behind that because at the end of the day, the game and the integrity of the game. I'll put air quotes on it if you want. That's that's tanema. That's so important to the league. And so yes, if a player is betting on the NFL, you have to come down hard on the guy. But there is this other part of it that gambling. The NFL is now opened up. It's gates to gambling and now it's all around the league, and it's fair to wonder if there could be more of this because now sports betting is no longer separated by a wall and legal. What happens next? It's legal, It was illegal in the past, and now it's legal, so that that's pretty different. And yet, my my response to everyone pointing out the NFL hypocrisy which exists, was Okay, so what what's your solution, Like, what would you do not suspend them? And so I guess they're saying, like, have less of a suspension. But every time in the history of the NFL a player has been caught gambling out a game, they've suspended them for a season, going back sixty years. One of the biggest, one of the biggest stories in NFL history, and it's one that I always think, like, wow, that story would be crazy now is when Paul Horning and Alex Carris got suspended for a year. That was the m v P of the league. Paul Horning in an All Pro defensive tackle. So it would be the equivalent of you know, Aaron Rodgers and Aaron Donald getting suspended for a league a year for gambling. They got suspended. Uh, some guy you never heard of, Joshaw got suspended a couple of years ago. Remember that, It's like, it's what do they got. What's the app I guess what's the alternative. You can kill them for getting into business with gambling, period, but that's been going on now for a season and that's not going away. Yeah, they strike me as two separate things, because, yeah, we can critique the NFL's um lust for money and their lust to get into bed with gambling houses left and right and do what they're doing with fantasy football and all adults. Secondly, to your point back in nineteen six is when Horning and Carriss were suspended. It has been crystal clear as day two, players, coaches, and league employees that you don't gamble on football. It's like there's no wiggle room there in the league. It's plastered on the walls, like you can be taking symposiums. They're teaching players like I don't care if you ever did this in the past, you don't do it here. It's like you have a special position inside the NFL. You don't do it here. And so I think, Greg, you nailed it. Like what is is there a middle ground where like we allow players to bet on this or that not because then it creates all sort of visual like they're already tweeting out plays of him, Calvin Ridley, where it looks like he's running in reverse and doing all this stuff to you know, I agree that it's stupid, but it's like, why even put that out there as a possibility. I'm yeah, I'm wondering if the league's plan internally is make an example of Ridley and then step up our communications with the players on why this will never fly and can never fly. But other than that, there's not much of the NFL. And they caught him, Like it's not like he's the first player to ever gamble on sports, and there haven't been many that have been caught. But they caught him, you know, because he did it through a league partner who reportedly reported it too, you know, an agency within the league that that investigated and and that was it. So it shows that you can't get caught. I do think it opens up you can get caught. It opens up some questions for people that work within that close to the league, like players can't bet, right and league employees can't bet, but journalists can bet, and journalists have a ton of information. And I think it's a little bit of a Pandora's box that like partners of the NFL every other media company are freely allowed to bet, and they have a ton of information. And then there's a lot of other inciliary people who are close to those companies or that work with NFL teams and also have information. I can think of a lot of different examples of way that ways that you could profit. And I do think that's something worth thinking about, because in the in the UK and places where they've embraced gambling at stadiums wholeheartedly, they've actually amped up regulations after having a lot of problems in the last decade or so, and I think that you don't want to go down that road. I think the other place that it looks really off putting to people, and I agree with this, is that we're still in a really weird place with issues like domestic violence where a player gets four or six games and then this was an automatic strict one year in definite band more than a year potentially. I think that looks weird to people because it's like, is what is what he did? Worse than that? No, but the NFL has been in a muddled place with their punishments and handing down authoritative punishments for years on that front. Do you want to know what the bets were? Yeah, I mean that was the thing. He definitely probably got bad bets. Yeah, he definitely confirmed that he wasn't like a gambling at. He placed bets involving three, five and eight games greg and eight game parlay. That is that is out of this world, isn't it? Within the industry. I mean that there are certain type spice racks one of them, who are all about parlays and you do eight, but you wouldn't be doing the way he did it, which is just like put down three bat. These tapes of people are doing, like, you know, a hundred different parlays hoping to get a couple of hits, and they do different variations on it. But yeah, it probably didn't make a lot of sense. And then I saw some people on Twitter with the old Pete Rose defense, Well he never bet against the Falcons. I just can't do it. You can't do it. It's not a it's a it's a murky issue, and it's getting more complicated seemingly by the month with the NFL. But I do think it's interesting though, like you can be an insider and you can be anything, and you can bet I sent is sort of turning green with jealousy that in any other you know, media house City worked for, he could be doing this. So we can't even step inside of sports book as NFL employees during the NFL like for instance, that we just had the comment we'll talk to Chook about it soon about three hours. All the times were really fast, right, and we found out during the combine that and you you probably could have found this out in a totally legal, normal way previously if you if you had your ears and if they had changed the turf there and so was a fast track. It was a different track. Like imagine like if you had that information, you could have changed, you know, changed your life, and I did. I think there is some things to that that's going on with this gambling stuff that is problematic. All right, let's move up. We're gonna speed up here. We got chooky coming up. As we said, there's a report out there. ESPN's David Newton reported that the Panthers would quote can Senter trading Christian McCaffrey for a first round pick and another player without a big salary cap number. Uh. This this would be in contrast to Carolina's vision of McCaffrey last offseason when they gave the star running back a contract extension. But then McCaffrey went and missed the past two years more or less twenty three games over two seasons with a variety of injuries. Uh. It basically shattered Carolina's offense. And yet, boys, I do think, and I know everybody says market's bad business to to dedicate a lot of money to the running back position and all that, if the deal was right and and Carolina was more in a place of I want to get out from under this contract, and you could kind of work them down a little bit in terms of what they're asking prices. I think McCaffrey at twenty six years old could be a huge guy that you could bring on a bounce back year. There's risk obviously on the contract and the injuries, but this dude is super talented and it can help transform it off. He is super talented when he's on the field. He's missed twenty three games over the past two seasons. He cost a ton of money. So for me, it's not like, Hey, this is our version of getting Matthew Stafford. I think if you're the Panthers you. If you're Matt Rule, you inherited some of this and they are a team and they keep failing at this quest that are heat seeking a franchise quarterback. They have been mentioned in the Deshaun Watson scenario as well. It's like their idea of freeing up money makes sense for what might be a bigger move down the stretch. I I would not. I would not really if I were a fan of a team, hope that they would chase after Christian McCaffrey. I saw that you were into that, Dan, I'm not as into it as you are. I think you could draft a running back and find I know everyone because I understand I'm not saying this is you, Mark, but the everyone's kind of now bought into this idea that running back doesn't have a lot of value and all that. But I think that McCaffrey is one of those exceptions that if you get him healthy, he could transform in offense. I think he is a Hall of Fame talent um as you've seen with him having a two thousand, one thousand, one thousand season. He's still young. There is risk involve but I wouldn't I wouldn't look past it if the guy was floated, and it's like his durability is as big of a red flag as Sequon Barkley is waving out there. Well, yeah, he's I mean, I would definitely rather have Christian McCaffrey. I'd rather give up a two, let's say, for McCaffrey than anything for sake Quan. But he's also the example of why you don't give the money to running backs because he's played ten games in the last two years. I mean, it's totally hamstrung their team. Right If you if your people think or you decide that his body is breaking down, obviously run from it. Or if you see it's more have been a little bit of bad luck that he's running two back to back years, then maybe you're talking like a Super Bowl competender where this is a tipping point move and he comes in and lights up the offer they're putting it out there. I mean this, just the fact this report exists, to me was very telling and interesting that they aren't looking to unload him, just like the Seahawks aren't looking to unload Russell Wilson, but they would consider if they got a first and another player. I don't think you're getting a first and another player for Christian McCaffrey. But could you get could you get a two? Could you get a two and another player? Could you get a late first? Maybe like a future late first. Maybe I could see that happening, And it just indicates that they are open to trading Christian McCaffrey and that it very well could could happen. By the way, I just googled Christian McAffrey looking for the original report. Do you know what the first headline that came up for Kristin McCaffrey was, Olivia Coppo can't wait for Christin McCaffrey reunion as trade rumors swirl, I was not aware that he is dating a swimsuit uh Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover star who's car right, who's currently overseas for Paris Fashion Week, and she can't wait to get back. Um and and she says her guy is hot. Yeah, I mean she he did well, He's done very well. She's got to spend a lot of time with him because he's not on the field very often. Whatever the list is, whatever category she falls into. I thought I had never felt older than when I bruised my ribs sledding up at Big Bear a couple of weeks ago. But actually that last little jack that I had about Olivia copy that made me alright. In other news, the Dallas Cowboys listen, the salary caps quite large and rod Ton these days, but they the Cowboys are proof that you still can run into issues at the Cap, and they're working hard to try to get under the captain, preparing themselves for a new league here. So the news that came out over the weekend, I believe, was that the team is ready to part ways with Amari Cooper actively seeking out a trade partner. UH so far according to reports, that market's not so hot, by the way, So I don't know what that says about a Mark Cooper or more about his price tag, which I believe is north the twenty million dollars um, so they might end up releasing Cooper. They've also restructured UH contracts with put it on drumroll please, I wrote it down somewhere. I believe it is Dak, Dak Prescott, Zack Martin. Thank you Dak Prescott and Zach Martin UH to get under the cap. And they also and we're gonna get to all the players that are tagged, but Dalton Schultz there tight end also got tagged. So the Cowboys doing a lot of work restructuring with stars. I bet they wish they had some flexibility with a segel Elliott that's neither here nor right. He's part of the reason they're in this mess. But I'm surprised they're going to give up on Cooper. Cooper is essentially an ex Cowboy at this point. Is this no matter if he's traded or cut. I'm a little surprised that a team wouldn't give up a fifth round pick or something to take on that contract, which doesn't seem that crazy. It's interesting two teams have soured on him, but the fact that they franchise tag Dalton Schultz was really interesting. That they're picking Schultz, trying to bring Gallop back get rid of Cooper. And then they asked to Marcus Lawrence to take a pay cup, which is usually a sign that they're ready to cut you, and he quote politely declined, which I think was the way to do and put you politely. He's amazing what it's kind of going on. I know he's set to earn nineteen million dollars, but like he is the best player on the Cowboys over the last five years on balance along with Dak Prescott, and was still playing at a really high level. So he should decline because when you get caught at this time of year, you're doing Lawrence or Cooper a favorite. Cooper is going to do better as a free agent that he would that he had with the Cowboys. They've talked about Tyrone Smith, Lyle Collins, Blake Jarwin his other guys who could take haircuts. Uh to use a Danis um right that is I mean, it's like they're trying to open up that cap money. And I just wonder with the Marie Cooper because Jerry Jones had, you know, some ill ward words for him during and after the season. Maybe you know, this is the second team that soured on him and will it tomorrow. Going on to that he that he sees himself as a true number one. He came across pretty well. I thought on hard knocks there are whispers that the Lions um are gonna go hard after wide receiver at in free agency. So that's like, I don't like it at all, but just keep to Marcus Lawrence and let someone else pay Randy Gregory. If That's what it comes down to. They're in sneaky cap hell. That's what it seems like. I got, you know, Kyle Brandt, who who was amazing on Good Morning Football. He was sick of all the all the attention kind of that we all shower on the Cowboys week after week. But I gotta say they are the most interesting team just in terms of the players that are available in the moves they have to make this offseason. No other team has three guys that were in my top thirty and then now two more guys that they might be cutting that could be in my top fifteen. It says they have more going on right now, I believe than any team in the NFL. You may recall Greg last spring, I had an impassioned monologue about being burnt out on the Cowboys, and we've all been there. We've all been there, and it's Kyle's turn to be burned out. But at least this year, the Cowboys are coming off being relevant, even if the playoffs went off an embarrassing fashion for the erstwhile America's team, Mark, Yeah, I don't. I don't consider them America's team, although they represent a lot of things that America seems to want to be represented by At the moment, I had a whole segment I was ready for an NFL now about the Cowboys blown up. Well that's that's smart. Greg. You go to the network and say I want to talk Cowboys, They'll roll out the carpet for you to say whatever you feel. Um In other news, the Patriots, I don't you know this one has got my my radar paying a little bit, Greg that the Patriots have one of the best young cornerbacks in the league and J C. Jack and Jackson a guy smack in the middle of his prime, and they don't feel like this seem like they want to do business with him. They don't hit him with a franchise tag, it doesn't seem like there's any real conversations between player and team. So it looks like he's gonna hit the open market. Someone's gonna pay him a ton of money. And I'll say this is as a fan of a team that's gotten burned by free agent deals for cornerbacks in the past, I'm always wary of them. Tremaine Johnson comes to mind. Durell Reeva's Part two comes to mind, but at the same time. Maybe there's something to be said for Belichick losing a little bit of the touch a little bit here. Doesn't this feel like somebody to keep in the building? Rosenthal, Well, this is very consistent with his previous touch. You know, he likes nothing more than saying goodbye to great players that leave, and that annoys the Patriots fan base. Sante Samuel very similar situation. Doesn't make sense to me because this guy, Jason J. C. Jackson's improved every single season of his career. He's he's had more interceptions since he entered the league than any other player in the entire NFL. He's up there in terms of historically the most interceptions in the first four years and he's become a complete corner. So it surprises me they didn't want to tag him, and he is going to be number two on the one oh one the post tag one oh one, and uh, I guess he's gone. You would love this article Dan in the Boston Sports Journal about other teams wondering what's going on in New England that they barely have anyone in their front office anymore, and that they barely have any coaches, like like right now, Joe Judge is working with quarterbacks, and Patricia's got to do the offensive light and Belichick might be calling plays. What is going on there? They've had one of the smaller coaching staffs for years and years and that was but it's like now it's a thing. Now I'll say it's hey here. And along those similar lines, Burt Brier wrote for Essay dot SI dot com and I did see this, Greg, I don't know if you saw this, that there was a general vibe um at the combine. Agents told him that they heard that the Patriots group might have been a bit disconnected with reality, was the quote. Uh. And the reason they were saying that is they were going and connected with agents and meaning like, listen, we're not gonna pay you the near the money you want your guy to have, but if the market creators come back to us, we'll give you a short, short term deal. And what's the disconnected from reality for the Patriots? According to some of these people that, yes, that logic was sound when you had Tom Brady and you're going to the super Bowl every year and it was Bell, Chick and Brady. But now the teams that can say those things are like the Chiefs and like the Bills. It's not the Patriots anymore, because the Patriots aren't still anymore. Uh, And that was a thing being buzzed about at the combat. I mean, the only thing is that last offseason they went wild and there was money being spent. But you know, maybe if you've been in a certain mindset for twenty plus years, it's taking you a little bit of time to shake into what would be reality, and they're in a very different one. One of the reasons they can't spend is because they have like eleven million dollars guaranteed for John new Smith this year, who would love to not have on their roster. And yet it was like, you shouldn't have paid a ton of money for two tight ends in the same free right. But they got one right, and they got a lot right in in those free agent moves. They were aggressive. They have a new GM Director of player Personnel, Matt grow Al grows Son, who has been in college scouting. That's a big jump to go from college to suddenly like you're kind of the GM. It's basically Belichick. They cut Kyle van Noy, they're probably not bringing back down to high tower. Devin mccordy might not be back like it is going to be a very different looking Reportedly interested in Robbie Anderson. I don't know if that guy's the solution to your wide receiver. Does he vide Patriot it way from what speed? I like that Matt rule. You know, you always say like Bill Purcel's Bill Bill check. They're my heroes. I like watch the Giants team. Hey, how about you really, you know, live out a real life like dream and trade with one of them, you know, just give us Robbie Anderson for nothing. He didn't he I think played seventeen games last year and didn't have a one hundred yard game, but he had all right. Uh, finally time for franchise tag news and notes presented by up work, where you can build a team that will build your business. Learn more at upwork dot com. Here are the players that were tagged and the boys helped me out if I'm missing anyone here, Packers wide receiver Davante Adams, Bucks wide receiver Chris Godwin, Chiefs tackle Orlando Brown, Bengals cornerback Jesse Bates, tight end run here Dalton Schultz of the Cowboys, Mike Jasecki and the Dolphins David and Joku of the Brownies and tackle Cam Robinson of the Wars. Anything jump out to you their godwin. By the way, they were trying to hammer out a long term deal right up to the deadline today, but it didn't happen. But he is not going anywhere. He'll be back with the Bucks. Whoever the quarterback the tight end signing the tight end tags to me makes sense. It's there under eleven million in Dalton Schultz. I liked them keeping him. If you're Mike McDaniel and you're gonna bring a Niners type offense, the tight end position matters. Mike Asiki has been a valuable piece for them. Now. Joku, I don't totally. I think they franchise they were gonna do, they were gonna keep. I think they wanted to keep them, but they if they do, and there's reports that they want to keep him and Hooper, and that puts you about twenty five millions into those two tight ends, which I think the ultimate move is they probably cut Hooper after the June one designation because otherwise he's got a ton of dead money attached to him, or try to trade him. You could do that now though you get the money later if you don't want. I don't know how much like interest there is. See how it goes. No big surprises. Five at the top ten and the one oh one are gone. I think the big gets surprised that J. C. Jackson didn't get tagged. And then the Saints, you know, have Marcus Williams their safety who they love, and Tehron Armstead, and because of their cap situation at least party they didn't tag either one of them. Would have been a second straight tag for Williams. So you gotta pay more. And that's a lot for a safety. But all those guys, Robert sal a little Armstead will be number one on the one oh one. Someone's gonna pay him huge. And Williams. There's a lot of great safeties out there, but he's he's right at the top of the list. Mark you want to feel old, why not, I'll feel old as well when we um the salary cap was said officially a two eight point two million per team. You and I started at this company in two thousand ten. That was an uncapped year when the owners opted out of the cb A two thousand eleven, the first year we were at the company with a salary cap. It was on point four million. Well it tells you that, you know football, football is a money magnet. None of it has trickled down to us um, but it has gone trickle down. Economics have not included inside these walls necessarily. Greg from Uh, I don't know what to say about all this. I mean, I would never have expected it to to trickle down that salary cap. That was franchise Tag News and Notes presented by up work, the world's work marketplace. Learn more at up work dot com. All right, let's Carlton Davis a free agent, by the way, because they couldn't sign Godwin. I think that's why they were trying so hard so that they could tag Davis and sign Godwin. And now Davis is gonna be making a lot of money. Bryan Jensen, they have two like super high paid wide receivers and no quarterback Ba ba bang. Before we take a break, let's hit eight o'clock to light. Mike Williams gets paid by the Chargers. It's a three year, sixty million dollar contract. Mark you'll like the deal. Williams is a field stretcher, playmaker. Absolutely, he was a tag candidate. You don't justin Herbert guy that was surprised. He's got some buzz and some heat and that Stafford could get up to forty five million a year. Greg is that too rich for the Super Bowl? Just what it's gonna be for all the quarterbacks. It's what Russell Wilson is gonna make two very soon. By the way, yes, when the Super Bowl, folks will get you a raised. Brian Greasy is going from the Monday Night football booth to the forty Niners joining their coaching staff. Tough sich for the old M and F team, Well, they never seemed to be in the winning column um from a point of public perception. But Greasy and Shanahan are old friends and I know that. Uh Greggy has a theory around He was a teammate of Tom Brady's at Michigan. Oh it's like, oh, hey, by the way, you probably don't feel good about your current job if you're willing to take a se pay cut to go become a quarterback coach, like for a much harder job. Hold off on those sandwiches. Tommy's coming back, baby von Miller. He said he wants to go to Denver, uh potentially, and he will now because Russell Wilson's quarterback at Jack Doyle retires really nice workingman like career for the tight end out of Indiana originally nine years of the cults. I believe the rest of that tight end group in Indianapolis right now has about thirty two catches for like two and eighty yards combined between six people. A lot of tight ends in free agency Mo Ali Cox, Ingram Gronk, O j Howard Ertz, Jared Cook. There's there's some Uzama, Gronk and Carson Wentz. I don't I don't love the sound of that tandem. All right, there you go. There is a very beefy news one of the beefiest news conversations in the history of the show. Let's take a break, and then let's turn our attention, uh to a post mortem on the combine with the great Nick Shook. Oh is it? Oh? My goal is that Nick Music. Let's welcome him in the man in the midth the legend from Cleveland, Ohio, the pipe he's known by some to all the rest, Mr Nick Shook, welcome back to the Round the NFL podcast. But hey, yeah, that's how you doing great? How are you fantastic? I'm standing right now in case you couldn't tell, because you know, staying deaths are good for your health, and um, yeah, well you're a mountain. You're a mountain of a man. So like some people, you can't tell. I mean, you were in that same room with all the bench press guys at the combine, did anyone ask the pipe for for any advice, considering considering, Like on receiver day and a few other days, guys just said they were willingly not benching and they were gonna bench with their pro day? Was there and then? And you know, we've been trying to figure this out for two years now, why did Chook go from NFL dot Com to a dream job for his boyhood team, the Browns? Pivot back to NFL dot com? You know, you could start reading between the lines that the Browns weren't comfortable with Shook being more us of physically than anyone on the team that checks out. I mean, I can't confirm or deny that, but that place all right, here we go. Shook, you did it. You've done it. Nick. You're a rising star at the media, NFL media, and you have the two all combined team, which is great. I p great IP. You know, like when I went and I got the power ranks. You know what I said, I'm getting the power ranks because I know what it is. It's great I P. Who cares is writing it? But you want to be the one writing it, because then that leads to opportunity. All Combined Team. I mean, that's it's just like that actually happened on our show. But okay, keep going, all right, Mark hanging there, buddy, So you have the All Combined Team. Listen, Mark, I've talked to you about this before you could grab some I P. There's I P two be had out there. I think the issue is a raging sense of apathy, um, you know, burning inside of me towards written stuff on our site. It personal fouls. You're gonna rough your help. If somebody hears that up, come come get me. All right, here we go. Shuck. You did You did it, the All Combined Team. You broke it down. You were an indy and you have what it looks to be a very interesting group of college prospects. I guess let's start at the quarterback position, where you had to make a decision. Who is the All Combined quarterback? A lot of people are into this. Malik Willis fellow from Liberty, especially after his incident after outside Saint Elmo where he helped the vagrant man uh with some clothing that was very nice. That was Malik Willis correct. Yes, it was nailed it, correct, nailed it. But you have Kenny Pickett as your guy, even though he has those tiny, tiny doll hands. Yeah, the tiny hands that dominated the conversation about him leading up to his workout and his measurement, Uh, tied with some of the smallest hands. Uh, probably last fifteen years. Eight and a half inches was was the measurement, but you know he put that to the side when he got on the field. And a lot of this team, I think is built on a combination of measurements, using the next in stats overall draft score, which takes in production and college and also measurements gives them an aggregate score and uh. And then also really for me, it's the on field workout, you know, sitting up there and Lucas Oil Stadium and kind of seeing if guys will separate themselves with their play. And Kenny Pickett didn't necessarily look like an elite quarterback of the future, but what he was was calm, composed, consistently accurate, looked like he was mentally ready for the moment, and did a good job. He did everything he really expected of him and asked of him. He didn't wow you with a massive arm or anything, but he hit throws of significant distance with accuracy, and he never looked like the situation was too high pressure for him. So that's why he ended up on my list. It's not the best quarterback class. We already know this. Malik Willis ended up being an honorable mention in my group. But I liked what I saw enough out of Kenny Pickett to see him get drafted somewhere in the first round. Just certainly not somebody I would necessarily trade up to the top three to sellect. But chook, I'm trying to think if I watched anything, the true more audible gas from the Lucas Soil Stadium crowd than the leak Willis his deep shots down field. Yeah, and he had crystal lava out there to chase them down, which I think the gass were about six lave Willis. Look, everybody loves the deep ball, right and it looks good on TV, and it looks good to everybody's sitting in the stands and and it when it's completed, it's very pretty. You know, big arm, big opportunity for him to show off that arm. Uh, there's some other questions that he's got to answer. I think a team's gonna try to maybe potentially be seen as a reach when they take him. But the physical tools are there. It's just a matter of consistency for him and experience somebody that maybe you put on the bench in year one, and eventually he ends up being a productive player. And we could all be wrong a few years from now and be like, why didn't that guy go number one overall or number two wherever um? But right now, you know that's all really Anybody curious, by the way, who has the smallest hands in the current NFL landscape amongst starting quarterbacks. Go ahead is not big. He's he's tied to Townehill and Borrow the smallest hands. He's kind of a fringe starter where tastes Hill at eight and three quarters inches, So he's he's bigger that trailed Borrow, though all played in Pittsburgh. That's the thing, is like in theory that the only time that this would really be a factor is like bad weather games or rainy games, like you amongst any starter, I go Lamar Jackson, Ricky, Mr Mr Mr Lamed Denver Broncos quarterback Russell I like that. I I don't buy that these quarterbacks are gonna fall. And I know that we're talking combine here, but it makes sense to me that Malik Willis would just like rear back and not worry about timing and just decided to throw the ball as far as he could, just to like show off, because that's that's what sells like every year. I feel like if at this point in the process you just did the over unders in Vegas and said all the top quarterbacks are gonna go higher than you expect, you would be a rich man right now. And Desmond Ritter, to me seemed like he checked a lot of boxes. Is a guy who improved a ton, was extreme, emily athletic, he could play quarterback. Everyone likes his leadership, and ultimately, like these three guys don't seem that different than other guys that get taken in the first round. They all feel like first rounders to me are close to it. Yeah, I put Ridder in his honorable mention behind Malik Willis because I liked what I saw of him. He had a couple of accuracy issues, but for the most part, um the size and everything, it all plays out and it makes sense. It's just a matter of I don't know how much teams value him. He looked good to me. He didn't look great, but he looked good among other good quarters. But you're sitting in the crowd though, you're you're not watching MTV. You're there. Um yeah, well look at that. I'm telling Oh, I'm in the sweet baby, you know, fancy living. You're at Lucas Oil. You're doing ground floor anyway. Hey, how about this, so the next Gen Stats draft score? You like that? By the way, you like the next Gen draft score thing? That's listen, Mark, are you making these up on your own? They're okay, they're from a computer. Okay, Chook, you have correct me. I'm wrong. In NFL dot Com a next gens Stats column as well, right, uh yeah, during the seasons position power rankings. Yes, listen to that, Mark, I have a column too. I'm just acknowledging total apathy tower rankings with the next gen's high end bang. I couldn't be high. I couldn't be happier for what you're accomplishing. But that doesn't mean that it's what I care about on any level at this age in my life. What do you care about? That's a whole different topic. I mean, we don't. That's not it's nothing to do with the combine. How about this? So I saw you have there because I'm fascinated by this man. He's connected to the Jets a lot, Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton's he had a nineties score best amongst safeties. Maybe didn't run as fast as some teams would have hoped, but overall, the guy's a complete package. And again it's the tape that matters more than anything, and he was a star for the Fighting Irish. But I want to focus on the running backs here because you have a running back, Breeze Hall out of Iowa State. He posted a ninety nine Next Gens Stats score, one of just six running backs to do that since next Gen had a score I think going back to two thousand three, I did reach out to Shook privately on Texas said who are the other running backs you? Because I read your excellent piece and you mentioned that there were five others but you didn't have who they were. But here are the names. Naj Harris, first round pick, big time player with the Steelers last year, Travis a t N who wasn't played yet, but the first round pick for the Jacks, Quan Derrick, Henry, Reggie Bush. So is this guy Breese Hall? I mean it sounds like based on his skill set, this could be an instant star. Is that how you feel about him? Well? I think that his workout backed up what we saw on the tape, which is a three down back I they can get the job done on first and second down on the ground and can catch passes out of the backfield. He's got soft hands and if you were concerned about his speed, it ran a four three nine forty. So everything's there, total package in terms of measurables, work out, everything else. He did all of his past catching drills well. There was only one mistake. He ran a Texas route and I had a little bit of a stumble, came back and ran in a second time and did it flawlessly. So everything that you expect from him, you saw him on the field do every thing well. He's gonna be the first running back off the board and he could be a fit for a team like the Jets. There's I had four other teams listed there in Miami being one, since they need a guy that they can rely on every down as well to jump start that running game. But I think whatever team drafts him is gonna be happy to have him. He's gonna be able to be a workhorse and a guy that can help you in every situation. I was very annoyed to see trail and Burke's not perform up to what you know people thought he might. He had a disappointed comment against keeps getting put in the loser columns. What's his background position in school wide receiver? He's Arkansas. He came out in like absolutely, he's the one that was wrestling pigs. Remember we talked about him with with land ceiling. But you do like sky Moore, who is you know, maybe coming a little bit more of a dark horse candidate school I lost to a girl in wrestling that is not current shook your comments on sky Moore, I know you put him in your honorables. Yes I did, Uh, you know I agree with the sentiment on Burke's. I thought I wanted him to come out and actually do some uh, some eye popping things in the workout, and he just didn't. He didn't really stand out to me, but sky More certainly did. This is a guy who dominated in the Mid American Conference in the passing game for Western Michigan, and he always think mid major football. Does that translate? Well, then you put him on the field with guys from Power five schools and he stood out. He was smooth, he was under control, he did everything correct, caught passes in every depth in every situation, flashed the ability to make a highlight play. I think he's a guy that doesn't last pass round two and whoever drafts him is gonna be really happy to have him and play a variety of roles. Uh And and you gonna be the latest MAC product. I think about a guy like Deonte Johnson, who, if he could get his hands together, would be even more productive than he already is. Uh. Matt continues to produce guys like that, and I think he's just the latest in that group. I love guys like that who are just so smooth and and can run round like that seems to translate better. And I love guys that. Steve Smith loves he he was so high on DJ Moore when DJ Moore was coming out, even before he was on the Panthers, he was loving sky More. He he feels like he has a very good feel of receivers that were somewhat like Steve Smith that can excel, and he was loving Sky Moore on the coverage just like an overarching question to Dudley Moore. He talked to Steve Smith about cinema. I'm a big fan of I'm a big fan of Steve Smith. We I ran into him when I had my kids with me bringing him to the NFL experience. And I don't know Steve Smith very well, but he's just like went out of his way to say something nice about me to my kids, even though I mean, who knows just how I do it. I do a great job on TV, Like they should put him on more and stuff like that. Why is this on our show? Right? I don't know, but I just he just seems like a nice human because that who knows if he even um has ever seen me or whatever, But he was just trying to hook me up in front of my kids. Checks out his authentic I thought these defensive edge players and defensive tackles all were so insane nick that like, you're looking at these mocks and it feels like anyone could go anywhere, and that more than most years, no one knows anything. And then there's a lot of copycatting going on with these mocks in general. But guys like Jermaine Johnson or guys like Travon Walker from Georgia who blew up the combine um but maybe he didn't get as much attention because Jordan Davis did it on the same day, but he's probably not going as high as him. It's like you could shake up this top five or six between the edge rushers and the tackles. It seems like going any direction, including the number one pick with the Jaguars who just tagged Cam Robinson their tackles, so maybe that's an edge player. Like, how many different players do you think could get taken number one after all these players showed out? I think it's probably one of three guys. It's either Kuon wu um Uh the kid out of Alabama the tackle as well, and then Uh and probably Aiden Hutchinson. Honestly, but why couldn't it be like Jermaine Johnson or Travon Walker and someone just like falls in love doesn't see feel like there's like some huge gap between all these dudes. Well, yeah, I feel like that. Throughout the top ten. I think you could go a number of different ways, um, which I think is why these mocks are gonna be all over the place as we get closer to the draft. You know Travon Walker, you want to use one descriptive term for him, it's athletic. I mean, the guy is an athletic freak. He was. He stood out in the drills for that reason. He went to he ran the hoop, you know, the drill that tests kind of your ability to get around the edge and your bend. It looked like he was at a forty five degree angle throughout the entire thing and did it with ease. I was stunned by that. He just really stood out there. And then you talk about you know, guys like even Jordan Davis, but you know, on the defensive interior. But Jermaine Johnson, I think is another one. What stood out to me and the drills was his power. You know, he's he's under control. This is a guy who could not crack the starting lineup consistently at Georgia transfers to Florida State and becomes a stud and makes question you know, makes teams raise their eyebrow. Well, why only one year, he said during his interview, lack of snaps, Maybe not the best fit. I go to Florida State, I find a home, and I want to be feared at the next level. The guys he models himself after, guys like Aaron Donald and Myles Garrett. Why Because they're feared and that's what I want to be. He believes in himself. He thinks he's the best edge rusher in this draft. So I guess it wouldn't be a massive surprise if he ended up being the first one off the board. But again, you know, with the copycatting, it's all Aid and Hudson a guy who and he's there in terms of frame measured pretty well, didn't quite stand out to me and the drills, but his strengths are technicality. He's he's got the full arsenal pass rushing moves, he's got the experience from playing at Michigan. That's where he's gonna succeed, and I think that's what makes it end up ends up making him probably a top two pick. I don't see him getting past Detroit, But I wouldn't be surprised to see any of these other guys go in the top five. I know the combine does this to these mock drafters. And I also noticed that Greg uh complimented Steve Smith, complimenting him, but then about fourteen seconds later took the mock draft industry and I don't disagree with this take and shredded them person to person. But is there too much Is it just for our eyes that the combined results um trigger these rise or fall among players, Because if you're a competent scouting staff, shouldn't it be like ninety five percent tape and you know, the combines a nice cherry on top if you go in and do what we think you're gonna do. Yeah. I think that's typically what most scouts will say is that the tape is the proof. And a lot of players will say that, especially if they're not going to test well. They just be like, we'll look at my tape, check my tapes. What if I'm not working out? The proof is in the tape. But there's a lot of value in the combine for guys who can elevate themselves. And I think there were a few that did that this week as well, some more confirming the under the judgment of them than others. But there, I mean, we see it every year where a guy just blows the doors off of everybody watching and suddenly they're way up high. I think about John Ross in that forty time that he ran and where he ended up getting drafted. Now, ultimately the tape kind of told us what we saw in the NFL, which is that he wasn't a complete receiver. But on the flip side, a lot of guys can make some money in Indianapolis. I don't care like Jordan Days, anyone that's anyone that's three pounds being able to like jump eleven feet, you should just put him on a football team and just do that every down and then people will just get confused and that the effect of it'll just stop, it'll stop them. Well, Choke, you've said it all, and make sure you check it out on NFL dot com. Uh Shooks breakdown is all combined team. And I'll say that the next step for you, Choke, now that you have you have the tie in with next gen stacks during the season, you have you all combined team. Now we've got to get at you a tab on the mock draft uh side of things, because that's an important little step. There's time of year you gotta basically check the boxes for each season here at the media group, Dan, do you have a background in law? Which are you trying to be an agent? Here? Is that when you're doing here, I'm just I'm just saying I see you as a rising star and I want to make sure we maximize your considerable talent. My goal for you is to gain forty five pounds of fat and then work your way out of it, like give yourself a physical challenge, let yourself go into the deep dimensions, and then come back. It's like a Yeah, Mark already did that. When I was nineteen, I lost sixty pounds in the summer, So I've already done that. I'm saying. And and Dan, he's never trained to be an agent, but he has become an expert at climbing the corporate ladder by grabbing onto that I p don't don't worry about who you step on on the way up, kick him, kicking with they're hanging out. It's a real lesson for the kids. I'll close the two things here real quick. I want you guys to pay attention to this name just because he jumped off the field for me. I know he's got some issues with tackling. He needs to clean up in terms of form and everything else. If you lead, if you read lances your zero lines bio on him and his scouting work on him, that's what he'll list. But there's a kid out of Nebraska, uh, Cam Taylor, let's see. I got my notes up right in front of you right now, Cam Taylor, Britt. I think that that kid is gonna end up being a stud at the next level. He has uh no, no fear, no regard for his physical well being. In terms of attacking ball carriers. He was very explosive on the field. I really liked him and the other sleeper. Going back to the I P thing, the Flashpoint series a t N flash Oh yeah, is this supposed to be a Bob Singer song on along? And I can't tell you shook how excited Greg is? So you are We're doing an extra show this week just so it didn't feel like we were shoehorning Flashpoint into another show that. I mean, the excitement is it. I just I could fear it bubbling off Greg and Shook. Obviously you're part of that group too, So don't worry. It's back this week after a one week hiatus, and then it's going back on hiatus next week because you know, we could save We have a long dead, like three month period. We could save these things. Yeah, but this is when you plant the seeds of a successful series. There. There is a lot of unrest in our world, but Flashpoints is returning this week to the show you want. This is like debuting the Voice after the Super Bowl, you know, flit And by the way, Shookie, it's on the Cleveland Browns and Baker Mayfield this week with Tony Grossy, long time scribe in that region. No tell Tony, I said, hello, I saw him last week. Look at that. I mean the guys an industry leader at this point. Shook later, Buddy, all right, Yes, it's back, it's back, and it's coming back tomorrow. That's where we end UH Today's show OMEGA a mega edition of the Round the NFL podcast, where we hit all the big stories, promoted UH the um Flashpoint series, and learned a little bit about Mark Seessler and his career aspirations. Anything else to share before we say goodbye from me. I think I've said probably once again too much depending on who's listening to the show. So nothing more for me. And yes, there is some tension Greg with the entire group and Erica with the cancoon revelation, but I didn't have any tension about that. That's part of the problem, is that tension. Well, you kept, you kept, he kept going back to me. He's like, well, we gotta move on. Greg's getting sick of this topic, and like, I hadn't had any thought about it. I was kind of enjoying the back and forth, the fun. Just because I'm silent doesn't mean I know you hate this, Greg, because you don't know what's ever going on in my head. I know you, Greg, I've been working, but in this particular case, I was just like sitting there sort of just enjoying it. And You're like, Greg's gotta gotta have us move on. I'm gonna tell you if you got it wrong, you got it wrong. You do you don't like the Flashpoint series though, I got that right. I mean I don't mind it. I don't. It's not a love. It just feels like, you know, Baker is not not on on top of like people's tongues in the well, let's see what happens over the next Actually, we do have teathmakers, though, Greg, we put it on the tongues. We we do have a quote from Baker Mayfield, though that could be just like a little bit of a tease for the Flashpoint series. Ricky is right now. He seems to be happy in his marriage. He's doing all those dopey commercials with the wife. He's doing the commercials with her. I mean, I'm not gonna I don't know, you know again, I feel like it's time for me to stop talking and we need to go. All right, Uh, get everybody for listening. Yes, a big show, big week for the show. We have three episodes back to back to back as we ramp up towards the new league year and free agency, and then the television show returned another show back from hiatus around the NFL broadcast on Friday. Check your local listings. Okay, let's go Ricky no matter what. By the way, my frustrations about the Camcoon trip, I love you now they're warranted completely, Like, yeah, I love Greaver is gonna do a great job, but you know I love it. He the call