Transcript of 2024 NFL Draft Winners and ... | Happy Scribe (2024)

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The Around the NFL podcast is, Sorry You Didn't Get That Quarterback You Wanted. Welcome to another edition of Around the NFL, a very special edition of Around the NFL, the post-draft edition of Around the NFL, 7 Rounds in the Books. And now we're going to talk about it. Dan Hans is here. Greg Rosen golf, Mark Sesler. It really does feel, finally, finally, Mark, the end of the yellow brick road. We're going to have a great episode today. We're going to dig in on winners and losers. We're going to go check in on our sandwich props. We're just going to really put this draft to bed, and then we are, on some level, set free until training camp.

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Yeah, it's interesting because I think day three of the draft, it's a long haul. But I was thinking today as we were creeping from the six round into the seventh, that back in the days in Old Culver in the old newsroom, when the four of us would be together in our cube farm waiting for it to end, that the minute the show would end, West would lead the way out of the newsroom to a local tavern somewhere in Culver City, downtown Culver.

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We would-Typical, it would be Rocco's.

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Rocco's. It was often. We would sell or the Cozy, but we would celebrate what you're just mentioning, that this is a pivot point, a turning in what is an offseason that barely exists until now.

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I don't know, Dan. We got around the AFC and NFC coming up this week. We got Projected Starter Series is coming back.

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You know exactly what I mean, Greg Rosenthal.

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No, and I love it. I do love the feeling, and I could feel it on day two once you start seeing these rosters because after day two, it's guys you're not expecting to play much. You get filled in and you have enough of your answers, and it's like, okay, now we've got the talking points. We've got the teams that we're going to be talking about, and I'm ready to go.

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Yeah, of course. The show will continue throughout the rest of the spring and into the summer, and we're going to have a lot of fun. But in terms of what's coming up, what lies ahead, the draft was the end of the beginning of the end. That sounds right. Now we're going to talk about it. We have a tradition on this Saturday show. We do it winners and losers style. Why don't we get it going? Greg, why don't you get us started?

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Okay, I'm going to with the Washington Commanders who... I don't know if we gave full, like, throated enthusiasm because we knew Jaden Daniels was going to be the pick there at two. It is a really exciting time for their franchise to totally restart with a quarterback that that's that exciting. And then you look at what they did on day two of the draft, and you had so many picks. And you know I was going to make the first winner, the team that finally stopped the slide of my boy, Johnny Newton, who, yeah, maybe he fell because of that foot surgery, but I think they got a great value. He's going to be ready, apparently, for the offseason at 36. They get another player who I think can play right away in the slot cornerback from Michigan, Mike Sanrish still. And again, it's a reminder, they loaded up on draft picks. I'm not going to pretend I have a ton of hot takes for their other third and fourth round picks. They get a blocking tight end in the second round, but a bunch of day two picks. And you remember, oh, yeah, they gave up Chase Young, they gave up Monte Sweat.

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Their owner, Josh Harris, stepped in with the idea of like, this season with Ron Vera is unimportant. Everything is about the future. They have a ton of day one and two picks. Jaden Daniels is going to be exciting. I love these second round picks, and it's just like a lot of young guys. It's a nice start. And I think the idea that they had of trading sweat and young, it made sense for that team ultimately, and they're going to bear the fruits of it after this draft.

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I love that you went here first. I'm totally with you. Mike Sanders still the nickelback. Nick Saban called him pound for pound, the best football player in the entire draft. And that's not someone that's going to heap false praise on someone. They got Newton. It definitely comes down to how Jaden Daniels winds up. But I thought it was a big victory for Adam Peters, the GM, too, because this is a team that's been in chaos and in the abyss for a long time. And he did a number of interviews. He was willing to go on with Bill Belichick and friends on ESPN and others beyond that. And I thought he laid out to plan well. You get a sense because I think when you're a fan, we're in a savvier time. We're like, you want to know that your GM is not a head case. And he came across as someone with a clear direction, and that's something this team has been missing for a long time. They feel like a completely different team. I think when you come out of the offseason process, whether it's free agency in the draft and you feel like, wait a minute, this is a completely different experience.

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That's a victory, at least emotionally for now.

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Took a third round guard, by the way, but the offensive line still needs some work. It's a shaky offensive line, and Cliff Kingsbury is your OC. That's the only concern. But It's exciting.

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Those are pretty big concerns. I think it's good that you added that part of it, but I agree with what you said. In fact, the commanders were going to be my first choice as well. I was going to then mention Adam Peters because he does also benefit from, we all get sometimes lucky or unlucky in life with timing. He's absolutely a benefactor of some fortuitous timing. When he gets to the Washington football team, post Dan Snyder, post that messy transition Rivera year, and now they can really start this thing up. It does feel like such a fresh start for the organization. Daniel is the way it all worked out. They feel very excited about him. Maybe he was a little sloppy that week leading up to the draft, but it already feels like an ancient story now about the way they handled the visits near the end. Now he's their quarterback. Newton is a highly regarded guy as a second-round pick. They are a team that They're going to be worth watching now. There's been a few teams in the league that have been very hard to watch for many years in a row. And this draft, you come out of it, and the commanders are one of those teams.

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We're like, Okay, this is going to be fun now. There's a reason when we do our draft on Thursday for games each Sunday, why you're not going to avoid the commanders? And credit to Peters and the organization and Josh Harris, who I don't think is going to walk into any restaurant and take someone else's hat off and tell them what I mean, that guy seems to have his act together as well. So good job by the commanders. Good job, fans. This could be an exciting era for the team about to commence.

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Yeah. I think the other team that you'd mentioned, Dan, you talk about like, snooze fest for years in a row that you just simply avoid unless they were playing a sexy operation on the other side. The bears, I mean, they've been a problematic watch for so long. I was thinking about when you go to a pro football reference and you look at a draft from four or five years ago, and it's like either the name is highlighted and bold because they're still active or it's not because they're not playing football anymore. And I really don't care what happened. They didn't have a lot of pics in this draft. But if you get to a point a couple of years from now that Caleb Williams and Roma Dunzé are still operating for Chicago and doing what you hope they're doing, this is a completely different team. And they have just as much as Washington, but over the course of two off seasons, are completely transformed. And I think Caleb Williams is a big winner because there were these floating questions about the millennial nature of him and all this stuff that I think is garbage that he put to bed, I think, with his own personality.

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He did a great job right when he was drafted. He seemed so proud to be a quarterback for the Chicago Bears. That's been a long time coming. And you found this wide receiver at number nine that was like, this is ideal. And so I think the combination of them but the rest of the roster, When Matt Iberfluss was a largely anonymous coach two off seasons ago, you're starting to realize this GM and coach together, the whole Chicago Bear situation looks so much more promising that I put them right there with Washington as a team that you feel completely different about. It's like, I'll be annoyed if Greg is drafting the bears early on in week one or week two next year, because I want to watch them now. I've not felt that way about the former Mitch Trubisky-led bears in a billion years. So that's new territory for me.

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It's fine. If you're going to put them in primed time five or six times, like they seem to with the bears every year, now we get Caleb Williams and Roma Dunze. I'm with you. I also like that they had this third-round tackle. A lot of times, players say they're always a fan with the team growing up. I was always a fan. Now, in the age of Twitter, you can go and see it. His name is Kieran Omagadjai, a tackle from Yale, and they found his tweets just railing the play calling from four years ago, saying, I love watching both our tackles get beat at the same time as nick Foles got rocked. Our leading rusher is a linebacker for 11 yards. Make the pain stop, please. How come no one can call plays on this team? I just love seeing... Now a player on the team can see if he wants to complain about the play calling, but I like their play calling. I like Shane Walsh.

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So winners, commanders. Mark, yours was...

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The bears.

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Right. You guys are killing me because you've now hit the both the ones I was going to talk about.

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The The bears was almost too obvious.

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But you got to lead with those two, I think.

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The bears is like, How could you do better than they did?

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What are you saying? You're saying that Mark shouldn't have brought it up?

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No, it was my two. I just mean anyone is getting too cute mentioning teams before the bears. Maybe I was too cute even. It's like, How can you win it more than Caleb Williams?

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I think it's especially- Do you not, Dan, do you not have a third winner in this selection process?

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I would say I'm definitely a loser in the winner's section in terms of the timing, but I'll find a way to get even. I'll say that it's It's so striking the difference a difference one year makes. What happened with Bryce Young in Carolina as the number one overall pick and the way I hope teams learn from that and putting a kid into the starting lineup with nothing around him is a recipe for disaster. That was a perfect storm of poop for the Panthers because to get to that number one pick, you had to trade your number one wide receiver when you didn't have much behind him at all. So you took away this gifted young player, DJ Moore, and then you get the number one guy you want. Forget about the CJ Stroud component, but just the idea of not having any help around. And I'm blown away by the difference for Caleb Williams, who has Shane Waldron coaching him. He has DJ Moore, as I said, on the outside. You have this fantastically exciting rookie prospect on Roma Dunesday. We know that wide receivers can hit the ground running as big-time producers. That's a possibility here that DJ Moore, who I think was a 1,500-yard receiver with a ton of touch downs, now has a potential superstar joining him.

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And oh, by the way, Keenan Allen is on this team. Keenan Allen, before he got injured last year, was on pace for like 130 catches. So that's how you do it. And they'll have to block for him, obviously, and the running game will have to do its work. But he is so set up well. I should mention, DeAndre Swift also was added to this team, and that's a guy who can make plays out of the backfield as a pass receiver, too. I think from number one overall pick, confidence in a player hitting the ground running when you combined his pedigree and what we think that this player is, Caleb Williams, now with what he's joining, the bears can instantly be a threat in the NFC. That's an exciting thought, I know, for bears fans.

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Maybe the best division in football now. That packers-beers game, that could be Sunday night, week one, I feel like.

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Let's flip it over to losers, and I'll start with the Dallas Cowboys. It's been a tough offseason for the Dallas Cowboys, and I thought there was a chance here that they would hit on the draft in a way that was exciting. It doesn't really matter if it's buzzy, ultimately. The guys that they pick have to play. With Tyler Guighton, their offensive tackle out of Oklahoma. They take an edge rusher, Marshawn Neeland out of Western Michigan with their second-round pick. They take another lineman, Cooper Beebe, with their third-round pick. But there is a significant lack of sizzle here around the Dallas Cowboys and a team that needed to find a way to get better this offseason, and I just don't see it. Then you have these... I don't know. I think it's fair to say if you're a Cowboys fan, that you're a little bit nervous about Jerry Jones as we enter these next years going ahead. He's an aging owner, and they are... Obviously, he has a huge voice in that room. The press conference heading into round two For a team that was desperate for runningback help, let's listen to Jerry Jones here when he talks about a runningback prospect and does not do it after they take the prospect.

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They do it before.

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I was curious if you Can you give some assessment about Jonathan Brokes as an NFL prospect and how his recovery is coming from ACL surgery?

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In my 30 years, I thought it was the best interview that I've ever interviewed with a player.

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He's outstanding.

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He's just outstanding. He's a great football player. We got him high, high, high. He's a good player. He's on the board. Well, I got it out of here. I'm sorry. Who's on the far right on that dais?

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I had the same question.

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That's Wilma Clay, their personnel director.

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Okay, great. That's important. If you play the rest of that clip, I'll just tell you, Steven Jones is next to him, Jerry's son, who literally elbows him and says, Hey, show him the whole board while you're at it. You have Mike McCarthy just sitting there essentially like a corpse, like, I cannot believe this is what's happening. Then you have the personnel director who ends the interaction with media with, and there's a lot of other guys we like, too. You basically give away how desperate you are for Jonathan Brooks, who then, of course, goes to another team. I don't know if it's direct, if there's a correlation, but they take Jonathan Brooks 46th in the 2024 draft. So the Panthers jump up and get Brooks. I just thought that was a snapshot into the world of the Cowboys right now and the reporting that's coming out today that the Cowboys are now interested in a reunion with Ezekiel Elliott, tells me everything about an organization that needs to find a way to get over the pump. But if anything, I feel like they've backslid a little bit this offseason.

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I am with you. I think the Ezequiel Elliott part of it is uncreative. It is embarrassing because you... Here's the thing. I think Jerry Jones, over the last five, six plus years and his team, quieted some of the criticism about it being a bit of a Wild West operation because they They drafted really well, and they made good decisions. I know in the past, he always over extended his own players and paid them too much. But they were a team that drafted well. This offseason has been a complete disaster. When it I saw two months ago.

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I mean, complete disaster. That feels a little...

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I don't want to go I don't think it's... Here's the thing, because this is a team, this is one of the five or six teams that went into the offseason viewing themselves as a Super Bowl team and verbalized, because here's what That annoys me because you don't have to say anything. You don't have to say what you just said in that press conference. You don't have to say what you said months ago where Jerry Jones is telling the world, and everyone's going to listen and talk about it. We're all in. We're going to do everything. I'm tired of talking about the subject at this point, too. But it's like, you're going to say that, and then you do nothing.

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Look, I think they ended up with a guy in Tyler Guighton that might not be ready to play right away, and yet they need him to play right away after trading down five. But to give them some credit, they picked up an extra third-round pick because they might need another starter to start this year, and that's Cooper Beebe. So it's like, okay, you traded down, you maybe did get an extra potential starter at guard in the third round. We'll see if that works out or not. But the Brooks thing is crazy to me. Not only did that lose me a sandwich, my Jonathan Brooks, Cowboys, direct hit which I thought was going to happen. That was before the draft I made that pick, and then he said that the Panthers traded up. Of course, they're aware of that. And they're probably aware that the Cowboys are heat seeking a running back anyways. And Jonathan And then, Brooks, if he wasn't coming off a torn ACL, I mean, his tape as a receiver and just how he can move his feet as a big guy is pretty great. He could have been a potential first-round running back, if not for the injury.

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And yeah, you gave away the game and you don't end up with your guy in the second round.

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Jero turns 82 later this year. If you haven't seen it, and you could check it out on YouTube, if you'd like, where this show also lives, just seeing the way Steven Jones, especially, was reacting. And Mike McCarthy, I think was in a catatonic shock at that point, how they reacted to the Cowboys credit. This is to Jara's credit, to Steven Jones, to Mike McCarthy. The last three seasons, 12 and 5, 12 and 5, 12 and 5. A lot of that has been going back to strong drafting, and they've been able to become a top team in the NFC. I can't shake that feeling. Now, I don't want to step on around the NFC in 48 minutes, but my overall thought is the window was the window, and now they missed it with Dak and CeeD and Michael when they were younger before second contracts. And now they're stuck in this, I don't know, purgatory. They can't really improve the team because if they want to keep the core together, they're going to have to pay all those guys. You're stuck in between, and then you have to... And you're picking late in the draft because you keep on having a great regular season record.

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They're caught in this twilight zone. It'll be interesting to see what Cowboys team we get in September.

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Yeah, the biggest concern for me is the change of tone in the Dak Prescott talks that the Cowboys are putting it all off. And Dak, when asked about it, these charity events and stuff, has a very different tone, too. That's an awkward situation. He has a no-tag clause in his contract, which is massive as he hits free agency. Yeah, they could decide to just rip the bandaid off. You're right, they've drafted well, but they didn't last year when I thought they reached for need. I think if you look at this draft, they reached for need, Let me just final point when you look at their death chart, because I really thought they needed to add a playmaker to their offense, they don't get the running back they wanted.

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You still obviously have CeeDee there, although you have contract drama around them. You still have Brandon Cooke, who's a very solid guy who found his footing. Right now, you have Jalen Tolbert as a starter. You have a six-round pick, Ryan Flournoy taken. You have a seventh-round pick last year, Jalen Brooks on the roster. Kavante Turpen is there as an option. It's not hot. It ain't hot on that depth chart once you get past the Super Dupre Star and Brooks. Cooke's I should say. All right. How about another winner or loser? Anything you want, Greg.

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Well, just because you mentioned it with Jonathan Brooks, just a quick winner on Bryce Young. I thought the first round pick, moving up to take Xavier Laguette was a little risky. He's a risky prospect. He reminds me of Jonathan Mingo, the guy they took at 40th overall last year. He's not really a guy that gets open, but when you see him running in the open field, he is just like a sight to behold. I would like guys that could get open. I know that they're hoping the offense helps you out a little bit more. But then in the second round, you get the best running back in the class with Jonathan Brooks. You get a tight end in J'Tavian Sanders. You spent all that money in the offseason on the offensive line, just an exorbitant amount of money. It's like, Okay, we're trying here. They went into this draft trying to help Bryce Young out as much as they could. J'tavian Sanders is a pretty explosive tight end. Maybe it takes them a year to get ready. But like, Okay, three more offensive pieces. We spent much on the line. It's like, At least they're trying.

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Go, Bryce Young. Don't give up.

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I'm with you. I thought they had a good draft. I think it makes sense because we saw the Bills do this with Josh Allen in a hurry. This was the Kyle Shanaher thing wherever he went, was like, amass weapons and get your offense together quickly. I like what they've done for Bryce Young this offseason. Yes, there's some question marks about parts of it, but it is wholly better than where it was a year ago. It's like, you're going to get a better read because I don't give him a total mulligan for last season, but it's just hard to assess who the player is going forward based on a total mess of a campaign where the coach is getting fired. You're already on your second. I like the idea of you're bringing a quarterback in Canales, the guy that's saved two quarterbacks in a row. I That's a good fit. And then they're putting him in a position where we can assess what Bryce Young is. And then you got to make a hard decision if he's not improved.

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All right. Give us another one, Mark.

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I'll give you a winner with a loser folded inside of it. I thought the Bengals had a good draft. Maybe you don't love all of it because I know we're communicating and we're hearing from the Wesleyan brothers, and they seem hot and cold with certain stuff. But if you get the right version, You weren't big on Amarius Mims, which I thought was a shot worth taking at the spot they did. I'm with you. That's the thing. I think if you get the upside, and I think they trust that they can do that, then that's a good pick.

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All right, let's take a break, and we'll do some more Winners and Losers. Just getting warmed up here. We'll be right back.

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Welcome back. We're going to do some Winners and Losers coming up in this second.

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What was that? Why are you talking so fast? I don't know. Why are rotating in the chair, too? You were giving a little audio fantasia there for us. I like that.

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I don't know what fantasia means, but I love it.

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Welcome back, everybody. We are going to get back into Winners and Losers. Let's talk about a guy that's... He's been in our life for a while now. He's always struck me as a unique individual. It's hard to It's hard to really put your finger on it, what it is that makes him such a unique individual. What makes Chris Ballard tick, Indianapolis Colts general manager since 2017? I guess I will say that it's good to have Chris Ballard in the league because he is going to come at you and he's going to surprise you sometimes. Sometimes we'll be, by the way he looks, he's growing his hair out, like 2011 era Tom Cruise right now. Tom Cruise, Scientology video, Leaks era hair.

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Or 2011 Tom braided. I feel like he's That, I don't know.

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Which is by far my least favorite Tom braided hair era. That one threw me for a loop. But anyway, with Ballard, it's like, okay, you're always going to keep us on our toes. With that said, he kept the entire media on their toes when he sat down after the Friday drafting of a wide receiver, Adani Mitchell, who is a very talented player who, I guess, fell down or fell off some Draft Boards because of reports. This is important. Reports of character concerns. A lot of these reports were not necessarily strongly sourced, but it stuck to Mitchell. Whether he deserved to or not, I don't have the data or the research to tell you whether this man should have been getting dinged with character concern reports. But what Chris Ballard doesn't like are people throwing it out there and not putting their names behind it. So hit it, Chris. I don't know. I mean, I read some of the bullsh*t that was said on T. I mean, just the typical...

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Excuse my language.

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Our typical league, unnamed sources, bad interview. That's such bullsh*t. I mean, it f*cking is. It's bullsh*t.

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Put your name on it.

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I'm tired of...

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We tear these young men down.

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These are 21, 22 young men. If people out there can tell me they're perfect in their lives, it's crap.

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It's crap. This is a good kid.

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For those reports to come out, I said it last year.

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It's bullsh*t.

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I'm sorry. I apologize for the language. I don't, but I do. He obviously, that's mad. He's big mad there about it. We'll learn more about Mitchell in his NFL journey here now. But he was asked, Mitchell, the receiver, was asked to describe his game later that same day, and this was good. His response, the best. That's like a Liam Galliger type response.

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That is a wild journey there. And look, I think it worked out for Ballard. He ends up taking Liaty Latu in the first round, the top defensive player on his board, clearly, because he was the first one-off the board. And knowing this is a deep receiver class and to have a guy like AD Mitchell who everyone expected to go in the first round and had some real number one receiver type traits fall to him, it worked out well. And Ballard's mad. I mean, that's a close... It's a friend of Lance Zerline, who's a friend of the show, so that's a strong character connection there. I think the issue with Mitchell, though, and I'll put my name on it, and I don't know about the character stuff. There probably was stuff out there I didn't see. But my issue was when you watched him, it just looked like he was going half speed a lot of the time. He just didn't go all out every route. That's not a character issue. There could be conversations about why that happened, why that didn't. But that's going to take him off some people's boards of a guy that you didn't feel was giving all 100% every single snap in college.

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There might be reasons for that, and clearly, the cults don't mind. He's probably going to play right away over Alec pierce. He's a better version of Alec pierce.

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Valard, definitely. We've got a lot of track record with him. He certainly likes traits and players. He wants big, strong, lanky, tall guys, and the cults are built around him. In other organizations, I'm not sure he would have survived because they misfired on the quarterback situation post Andrew luck so many times. But I will say this about Dan. He looks about 12 years younger to me right now. The hair, the skin, I don't know what's going on. It's like there's a bit of a glow up happening there. I know you've had Ballard personality. I don't know what it is. Or just the overall vibe of him, the favorite type of frog thing, too. That's out there. But he, to me, looks about as good as he's ever looked.

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He's had an incredible-What was that? What was the frog thing?

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What's your favorite type of frog?

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What's your favorite type of frog? We know.

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We should just gaslight Mark and say, We have no idea what you're talking about. No.

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That was the answer.

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Two of you were on that hill together because of a combine experience. I understand.

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But would you- He did famously ask that.

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Would you say that he... Do you not agree that he looks younger and fresher. This is one of the biggest takeaways I have from one of the biggest takeaways I have from the draft.

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Sure. Yeah, I think he looks good for his age. I think going back to that standing Indianapolis, Greg, you and I next to each other and watching him address the media for the first time all those years ago. What happened today is hammering home that initial observation. This guy just feels a little different. He's got a little something to him, a little piss and vinegar, a little bit of an unpredictable nature to him. Maybe he's a perfect GM for ownership with Jim Irsay.

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Something you can't quite put a finger on. Can't do it. But Eric Ebron did this This story got passed around so long that Eric Ebron responded to it and said, This is the same dude that trashed my name throughout the league, said, I quit after I played knowing I needed surgery. This is Cap. He saying that Ballard is just grandstanding about AD Mitchell, and I think he's the worst GM ever. That's Eric E. Brown's opinion. Okay. I was just like, Okay, I didn't know this was a thing, but I guess it was a thing.

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All right.

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I have one connected to that, the Colts team, because I thought they were connected, that the Colts and Chargers were winners for the same reason, just that they passed on wide receivers at spots that they absolutely could have. If the Chargers had Malik Nabors or the Colts took Brian Thomas Jr. I would have liked those picks. But if you look at the combination of what they got, the Colts got Latou and Mitchell, and then the chargers got Joe Alt, a really great tackle prospect, and you get Lad McConkey in the second round. You make those decisions not in a vacuum, knowing that receiver is deeper this year, that the two-pack you're getting with your two premium picks is going to be better, perhaps, if you pass on the wide receiver early. And I just think the chargers had a nice week. They also got Junior Colson, who's probably going to start right away. Just a David Harris clone is his MO, and he played for Jim Harbaugh. And it's just so nice to have Harbaugh. I mentioned the quote the other day, Randy, behind the virtual glass. Let's play the other Jim Harbaugh quote, talking about his brother texting him during the draft.

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My brother texted me after the pick, and he said, That's who I would have taken if he was at that pick. What was your response to your brother's text?

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Checking the phone.

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Let's see.

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Checking the phone.

[00:31:01]

I haven't texted him back yet. What would be an appropriate response there? Thumbs up. Thumbs up. I'll just go with the thumb. Joe, you got it. I'll give him a pound. I'll give him a pound of emojis. Oh, wow. That's cool. My dad, Keith Hansis, I feel like in the last 18 months or so started rocking with emojis for the first time, and it's a jarring moment. I think Jim Harbaugh using emojis is not something I could ever admit. I think he was playing along there. He had no idea what they were talking about in terms of putting a thumbs up. He probably wrote thumbs up. That would be a move. That feels like a Jim Harbaugh move. I'm glad you brought up the chargers there, too, because I agree. I think the only thing I was nervous with the Harbaugh higher was that he's such a huge personality and character at this point, that he's almost too big for a team like the chargers, and it could lead to some chaos with him being unchecked power-wise and some strange stuff going on. For instance, answering the phone when the Patriots called about a trade of Justin Herbert.

[00:32:09]

I just feel like it's been a sensible... I know it was a little dicey there in free agency when they essentially dumped their top two wide receivers. But that's also there's a logic behind that. Those are 30-something receivers with injury histories. To take the best offensive lineman prospect in a couple of years, number one, McConkey feels like a Jim Harbaugh guy. As much as we all can argue about Justin Herbert, about at what level and how special truly is Herbert entering year five, give him weapons and give him stability and give him a good offensive line, and you're going to get some real hard answers. I think the chargers are set up well here.

[00:32:51]

Yeah, it's like we talked about the commanders and the bears feeling different to us. And the chargers, to me, year after year, no matter who was in charge, seemed to be snake-bit by the same football God ill luck and misfortunes. They just seemed the same to me always. And it's like, they feel very different to me now. I think like Lad McConkey, and we've talked about him a little bit before on the show, I mean, Justin Herbert is going to love him. I think that Alt is an absolute home run pick. It's like the chargers to me, there's some different energy. I think the Harbaugh thing is not just a bunch of headlines and a bunch of personality. There's a real plan here.

[00:33:29]

I identified as an aging man who very often sees a text I enjoy, look at it, laugh, but I'm in the middle of something, and then I completely forget to ever respond. And then you're just... I just figured, well, I guess don't ever respond. It's fine. People, they're going to have to understand it. It's a totally different vibe with the chargers, though. Jim Harbot, and we got to get to this at some point in the offseason, is living in an RV park next to Greg Roman. I mean, that is just amazing content, and the chargers have built out some content.

[00:33:59]

I think we discussed it actually when you were on vacation. Yeah, we did bring that up.

[00:34:02]

Oh, you did. But that doesn't mean that we can't dig deeper into that topic. I have a winner that I'm a little hesitant or flat out scared to bring up on this show. I don't know if I should or not, but it's up to you guys.

[00:34:17]

Please. I mean, now you have to.

[00:34:19]

I know it's a little on the nose, but if you're the Eagles and you get Quinian Mitchell falls to you.

[00:34:29]

But we already did this. I already remember I preemptively named them winners on Wednesday.

[00:34:34]

But there's more to it, I would say. I think that, for instance, some of their other picks, like Will Shipply is a very interesting running back. Cooper Dajine, who I think is a loser in terms of money because I had him going like a 20. That's not nice, Mark. And a lot of people had him going in the 20s, but he falls to the second round. He goes at 40. But it's a great landing spot. So he's a winner. It's if you ever were younger and you took a job that felt better to you that had a little bit less You had money attached to it, and you made a good decision. On top of that, they re-signed Ajay Brown. We talked about that. But Jeremiah Trotter, we've mentioned that. We'll get the-The Sesler move of the draft. But it's like they didn't over, they didn't trade up to get stuff that they had to overspend for. Quality fell to them. So there's some luck there. It's not all Howie Roseman is a demigod from a different part of the solar system, but it's like luck, but smart decision making. They got better. Their secondary quietly needed a lot of work, I thought, and they addressed it.

[00:35:31]

And so it was just a very solid draft for the Eagles, where you're walking away thinking, this was a chaotic end of the last season, but we've reset the board to some degree at this point.

[00:35:43]

There's two conversations, and they're separate conversations. That's important. My take that I've shared that I feel like NFL media in general is filled with a lot of copycats and people that just cribbed the notes off people who are seen as pacemakers in terms of opinion. I think that is an epidemic that as somebody who... Listen, you may think Dan gets a lot of things right, a lot of things wrong. But I tell you, every opinion I have is my opinion. Sometimes I think, and it's something that actually comes from how I feel and I share it, there's too much out there of people aligning themselves with people whose opinions are respected on a higher level. Greg's part I'm not a part of the problem with this. No, you're not a part of the problem. But, Greg, you are one of the tastemakers, by the way, and that's a credit I'll give to you. I know that's why it makes you a little uncomfortable I bring it up because Greg has-I don't think people are consciously thinking like this.

[00:36:43]

They just like the same team building that Howie is into. We've been honking about the eagles since 2017.

[00:36:50]

But, Greg, Dan is right about it. There is a Howie hero worship element that I'm not even on Twitter. I don't Twitter, but I do check it out once in a while. I I think Dan has got a point there.

[00:37:00]

You have a platform, Greg, within the football cognizante, and you're not alone. There are other people that think Howie and his team are really sharp. That's part one of this. Now, part two is a theory I have, and I think why this keeps happening every year. I believe the Eagles are very online. This is a theory I have. When all these boards come out, these draft boards, about who's a good value, these mocks. Isn't it funny that the guys that are widely mocked in the first round then fall to the later rounds? It's always the eagles that are the ones that get those guys. I think the Eagles are the decisions they make are very similar to the mock draft community, the top mock draft community people. Then when they take that guy that, Oh, wait, he was supposed to go 23, but he's going 38. Everybody's like, Oh, my God, the eagles done it again. Maybe the eagles aren't doing any work at all. They are just basically studying Daniel Jeremiah's top 50 or Mel Kiper's big board, and they're taking whoever's the highest left pick. It's like the guy in your fantasy league who doesn't know anything but just takes best available player.

[00:38:14]

Then you're like, Whoa, how did that person last into the third round? I think that's a little thing that's going on with the Eagles. I got multiple theories out there. Greg, I respect your football knowledge. I'm not saying you're part of the problem, but it's people that then follow the the people that are deemed the intellectual tastemakers of football universe that are on my radar. Good job, Eagles. It looks like you got better.

[00:38:39]

You better get better. I love this theory because it just shows what a boondoggle it is for the roughly 37 men and women, mostly men, let's be real, in suits in a white shirt with no tie. There's an Eagles uniform. That is the most crowded draft room I've ever seen. There's 30 dudes with with suits on, but all they're doing is printing out the consensus big board. You know what? There's actually a real answer to that. You might be onto something here in reality, because the Ravens and the bangles are like this, too. There are a lot of analytical thinking that is If you go by the consensus big board, if you go way off, for instance, the consensus big board, over time, it's been proven production-wise, the consensus big board actually does outperform basically anything else that you could do. You really could draft up. The consensus big board, Arif Faussan, who's been on our show, he puts it together, is from 100 big boards. And you're right that if you do go off that, over time, it's been proven that's pretty effective to maybe not be like the jaguars who are always taking guys 50 spots before they were supposed to go.

[00:39:48]

I think you make a compelling point, Dan, with your theory. And there is probably an element of truth to everything you're saying. But the other way you can go in the draft is be a team like... We We talked about this a bunch the other night, but the Falcons that takes Michael Pennix when no one thought you would take them there. And then they took a defensive tackle next that people were saying, Wait a minute, that guy's meant to go in the fourth or fifth round. And it's suddenly things start to look nonsensical, slightly dark, slightly crazy. It's like that fan base, that front office is thinking differently and not thinking the way the public thinks. But do we like that?

[00:40:24]

I think I've made my point on the Falcons clear, but I think the Eagles are very well run and not overth things, I think, helps you a lot. I also think there's the NFL. Now, forget about the cognizante. The NFL is also a copycat league in thinking a lot. When a player starts dropping down the board, I think there's a lot of teams that go like, Oh, if so and so doesn't like them, why should we like them? To the eagles credit, I don't think they think the same way. I think if they like a player, they go and get them. I guess the overarching theory here is that the reason why they keep on being the bell of the ball is their draft style and their draft methods and methodology, methodology, connects with what everyone's obsessing about for four months and with their mocks and all the things that they're obsessed with. So when the Eagles make the pick that everyone's been spending weeks and weeks about these certain players, it's like, yes, the f*cking Eagles, they did it. They've legitimized not just their roster, but me.

[00:41:31]

You're right. But, Greg, I'd ask you a question. Why do you think that Cooper Dujine fell? I think that was a genuine surprise that he fell even that far into the second round. I think he can do a lot. He's a good return man, which matters a lot. This at least this season. In today's NFL, it's like, he seemed like almost any team could use him, and it's like a lot of teams did not agree with the value.

[00:41:53]

I think that maybe people viewed him as a tweener, and they didn't quite know where to put him. And honestly, being a white cornerback, I honestly think that's an issue. Bomani Jones talks about it a lot, joking. It's like, white coaches, let your athlete stay at cornerback. They always end up moving them to safety. They never end up getting a chance to stay and play at safety. This is a crazy athlete, but he did show versatility, and maybe just people didn't quite... He didn't fit the profile, and they saw him as a safety and a guy you move inside who goes later. By the way, you share your opinion, Dan, with Bill Barnwell, who said he responded to something I said about Howie that How he's done it again was trending on Twitter. My curse with Howie is he could... And I think he's basically saying the same thing as you in a different way, that I think he's consistently a B plus GM. When he's down, people don't like him because he's defending him. But mostly when he's good, people are mad at him because he points out the bad pics, like the Andre Dillard pick and the Jordan Davis pick, which he got a lot of credit for, the Keely Ringo pick last year.

[00:42:54]

He got a lot of credit. He has plenty of misses, too.

[00:42:57]

You mentioned it last week, he was hot for Zack Wilson. I mean, some of this stuff.

[00:43:01]

You know who's going to be coming the Eagles? And just a quick winner is the Lions. The Lions's secondary and the Lions confidence. Like their chutzpa right now that you trade up for Arnold. That was a great pick, Terry and Arnold. And then You stick and you take another corner who was by far the highest guy on the board for Daniel Jeremiah's big board, Enus Raekstrass Jr. And you just take the value. And between those two guys and Carlton Davis, you've really remade your cornerback group, and that's great. But the thing that makes me realize, they're a little getting high on their own supply in a good way. They've been confident to take bold pips is they traded a third round pick next year to draft Giovanni Manu, a player that was not invited to the scouting combine with pick 126. So they paid a third next year for pick 126, a 360-pound tackle from the University of British Columbia. And they think it's like they're Jordan Mylata and that he wasn't going to necessarily that much further. And that's great. They have conviction about it, and they believe they are the team to turn them into gold.

[00:44:06]

But that's a gutsy pick to trade a third for a guy that was playing in Canada.Mark, you got one?

[00:44:15]

I do. It's a player who's already in the league, and I think it's Brock Purdy because we were in this 48-hour window where I think if the right situation had been presented, either Debo Samuel or Brandon Ayuk are not on the team. Team anymore. Instead, they're both on the team. They're not going to get traded. And you add Ricky Parisol. So it's like you actually just added a weapon during a weekend when cap money, whatever situations, relationships could have taken Brock Purdy in a very critical third year with a Super Bowl window open and taken one of his biggest weapons away. So some of this stuff that we had talked about for 40 days, like Iuk and Samuel came up more recently. But it's like, in the end, the move that doesn't happen could end up being the biggest move for one of the best teams in the league.

[00:45:01]

Did you see how you texted the Niners? Maybe it was Lynch or Shana Henn after the Pierre Saul pick. He's like, That pick was fire, not going to lie. And then I saw somebody on Twitter pointed out, that's a text sent from a guy that feels confident he's not the guy that's going to be traded if a trade gets made.

[00:45:20]

Exactly. He sent an IG story, too, like dancing around this week, and I think he is going to get paid. But Debo spoke to Diana Rossini and said the team He didn't say that the team told him about possibly trading him or not, but she asked about the reports, and he just said, I know what's going on. It is what it is. I'm good with staying with them. I'm chilling. The way the 49ers talked about it afterwards, I think they were probably open with him that, Hey, we did have these conversations. The way they spoke publicly, it sounded like that door is closed now and that they're all going to be there. You're right, Purdy is a big winner.

[00:45:53]

This one's tough to classify. Tony Khan, who's the right-hand man of Shad Khan, Jaguar's owner. First of all, I believe he's still wearing the neck brace. That doesn't surprise me. Let's start here.

[00:46:16]

He was today.

[00:46:17]

Yeah, because when you suffer a neck injury on a pile driver- You're still pedaling this one. It's not the idea that you're going to get better in a day. It It could be months. It could be years. I hope Tony's okay because despite Greg following tens of thousands of people that are wrestling fanatics, you seem to not understand that The bumps are very real.

[00:46:46]

Well, here's another one. It still will to be damaged. On the Pat McAfee show, he was getting on Tony Khan. He said, If you're going to wear the neck brace and sell it, stop moving your neck around and walking around as if you're not injured at all. While he's wearing the neck brace, Tony Khan is just looking around and having a normal take. So Pat McAfee, a wrestling enthusiast, employee, was saying, You got to sell the neck brace better.

[00:47:11]

See, this is when, and I was just throwing you flowers, Greg, for saying that you are part of the Illuminati of the NFL media sphere. But now I'm going to have to give it to you a little bit the other way. You're coming off a little uninformed because Tony Khan is with, I believe, the AEW, which is a upstart wrestling federation.

[00:47:28]

I know the rival thing, but it doesn't change the point.

[00:47:32]

Let me throw it to our own network. This was wild. Mike Arrefolo and Steve Weish with Tony Khan talking about all matters of not really Jaguars, just Tony Khan which is part of my greater point. Let's listen in. And we're up against a really evil juggernaut. Wwee is our competitor. That's who we're facing. Aew, like the Pepsi of pro wrestling, WW is like the Harvey Weinstein of pro wrestling. I'm really proud of what we do down here. All right, Tony. Hold on, real quick. What's the prognosis? What are the doctors telling you? Well, to be honest, I think you're going to have to tune in to AEW to find out what they have to say. There we go. There we go. Yeah.

[00:48:20]

That was Mike Garafolo and Steve Weiss, our friends with him.

[00:48:24]

Steve Weiss, so uncomfortable in that moment. I don't think Harvey Weinstein's name has ever been uttered on NFL Network in any capacity. So you see on live television, Steve, the bells going off there. So yeah, Pat McAfee is paid by Vince McMahon. I'm just saying, obviously, he's going to be critical of Tony Khan and not try to legitimize his injury, which seems very possible that.

[00:48:49]

I think it was good scouting when I watched Tony just chilling there.

[00:48:53]

Thank you, sir. One last thing, Mark, I want to throw to you on this. Now, let's say for a second that it is all a work, right? And there's no neck injury, and it's just a promotional tool. How does this make the Jaguars look? I'm not the I like fun stuff. I love when people in football don't take themselves too seriously. There are on some levels limits, and when he's in the war room with the neck brace, and then he's giving interviews and dropping Weinstein on NFL Network, and it almost starts to I feel like, are we... I don't know, man. What were your thoughts, Mark?

[00:49:35]

Yeah, because I thought some of the more notable images from the weekend when he's sitting there, and I'm with Greg, that there's a lot of neck movement underneath that neck brace. But he's turning to his right.

[00:49:45]

Maybe he's getting better.

[00:49:47]

Yeah, he's turning to his right. But to his right is Doug Peterson, former NFL quarterback and head coach, a large man who's serious. It's a very serious pivot point in the organization's history. His career is on the line. Yeah, and you got Trent Balke, who's trying But men fences after what happened to him in a press conference a couple of days ago. It's like the looks on their faces were my favorite part of the draft on one level because it's like, wait a minute, what's going on with the son of the owner in a neck bracelet? We've had him on the show and he's entertaining. I think it's all for sport on some level. I'm not sure of the accuracy of the injury. Based on the industry that he's trying to apply to us. I tend to side with Greg that it's not accurate.

[00:50:28]

For his Vanity Project, which is this wrestling federation, it's gold, obviously, but it almost overshadowed everything the Jaguars were doing. It just that felt tonally, I would think, maybe a little off amongst Jaguars fans at the very least. Jags fans let us know.

[00:50:44]

I would point out that we're only a couple of years removed from Mike Rable's teenage or 20-something-year-old son during the Corona draft, dressing in a full body onesie that was quite revealing and strange. And happened on national television, too.

[00:51:03]

Was that during COVID?

[00:51:04]

Yes.

[00:51:04]

It was like when they were going to- Nothing counts during COVID.

[00:51:06]

Yeah. No. Nothing counts.

[00:51:07]

Maybe that's the-Felicek's dog was taking pics.

[00:51:09]

He drafted Taekwan Thornton, I believe.

[00:51:12]

I have one last loser, and then I'm going to throw it to you guys for your last ones, and then we got to get to our sandwich props. Oh, my God. This one's quite serious. We were just having a little bit of fun, but this is serious. I feel weird even saying it because I've been a defender of this individual, which a lot of people have found ironic. It's going to be misleading at first or seen that way. Bill Belichick was a loser, and I don't like it. I don't like anything about it because I think that you guys did this to him, and I point to everyone. You put him on a television set this weekend with a fake Mel Kiper. You have him asking Adam Peter's questions about his day two draft plans. Like, ask Bill Belichick, so what do you think you're going to do tomorrow? You want to tell us? The exact type of inane and sepid queries that Belichick would dismiss in his heyday. I believe this is crass. This is beneath him. This is tragic theater is what it is. Is this what you meant when you said the greatest coach of all time needs to take a year off to better understand the modern game?

[00:52:29]

Does this tap entertain you? Because I see a legendary figure in our game debasing himself at the altar of Lazy Groove, I think. Stay in the picture, they say. Show a different side of yourself. Smile. Or else, imagine putting Vince Lombardi through these same paces. Imagine asking Bear Bryant to sing for his supper. Shame on you. Shame on all of you. That's it.

[00:52:57]

I love what you said there, but I But you didn't. On Saturday morning, I went back and watched about two and a half, three hours of that Belichick performance. You are right that it was a bit of... There were a lot of antics on that set, and at times, he seemed a little disembodied from it. But I thought in a different way, it helped Bill Belichick because he was awesome in his analysis. I thought he looked up to Pat McAfee and gave McAfee his correct spot on that show, doing it for the first time. I see where you're coming from, but I thought Belichick, he shone bright. I thought he did a wonderful job in a tough setting, though, because it was weird to have Belichick sit there and have to... It's not unlike a young boy in a neck brace with the coach two feet away. It was like, he's having to deal with the second best Mel Kiper pareter out there on the scene. So that It might be real.

[00:54:00]

Are you referring to Frank Caliendo as number one?

[00:54:03]

Well, I think Joey does the best Mel Kiper for my money. I love Joey Molinauro, I think his last name is, but he's incredible.

[00:54:11]

Oh, wow. He called him by his first name alone. That was pretty good.

[00:54:14]

Well, he does all sorts of stuff, but he's a... In a way, Mel Kiper is a winner. You're on your own network, and people are trying to do impressions of you on your own network. I thought that was like a Mel Kiper fanboy session.

[00:54:28]

We're a show That appreciates the lighter side of the game. We can get a little wacky. The fact that Belichick could do that, I think it's great. And look, those breakdowns were serious. No other broadcast is going to let Bill Belichick just go for three and a half minutes on every prospect. I've been trained to watch these broadcasts and just TV in general, that once he got through about 45 seconds to a minute of it, I was like, Oh, wow, this is going on a while. It's going on and going on. But it was cool. It's cool to hear Belichick. If you were dorking enough to just want to hear him dive deep on all these players, they gave him the runway to do it. I'm sure they gave him a massive bag of cash, so I don't feel bad for him. He seemed to be having fun. There were some bad... Let's call it for what it is. Not every editorial decision we've ever made has worked. Not every bit we've ever made is great. The fake Mel Kiper was a disastrous idea. It's not good. It's not funny.

[00:55:25]

There's a song by the Who called Behind Blue Eyes. I I guess while everybody saw Bill tapdance in there, I was looking behind those blue eyes and I saw a guy in his own prison that could not believe he wasn't in a war room trying to find a way to win yet another Lombardi trophy. I'll stand on that.

[00:55:44]

I thought he was having fun.

[00:55:45]

I'll stand on it. All right, guys, what do you got before we move on?

[00:55:52]

I have so much. I'm going to go speed round.I'll stand on it. I'm going to go speed round. Winner's speed round. I'm going to do a loser's speed round, too, after I don't care.

[00:56:01]

Singing for his supper.

[00:56:03]

Cardinal's Hope. Seven picks in the top 90. They're the first team since the 1991 Cowboys to have that many picks. They quietly had a really solid, I would say B plus, A minus, considering where the pics were last year in terms of their rookie class, four real contributors, seven picks. I don't know if they're all going to work or not. I'm not going to break down if Darius Robinson is a day one great player, but Marvin Harrison Jr. Adds juice and just a lot of guys in the top three. There's a lot of hope. I like the packers always take guys that don't have a lot of pop. It's meat and potatoes, but they end up playing right away. Jordan Morgan is going to play right away. Their offensive lineman, their offensive lineman. Their linebacker, Edger and Cooper, second round, probably plays right as well. They had another second round pick at safety. Javan Buller is probably going to play right away. Marsha Lloyd, I liked him. He was DJ's top running back. He's a little buried at that position, but he'll play eventually. And then they make the pick of the draft. I don't know how Michael Pratt from Tulane fell this far.

[00:56:58]

He changed the entire program, maybe the greatest player in the history of the program and a legit quarterback. I will put sandwiches on it that he will outlast at least one of these first-round quarterbacks in the NFL, that he's going to have a 10-year plus career. I get why he doesn't have a big arm. Maybe there was medical stuff. I'm shocked he fell to the seventh round, but at least a team that knows quarterbacks well, picked him up. So all around, I think a nice meat and potatoes draft by the packers.

[00:57:28]

That's good. That's what they needed, This is a team that's really loading up now, and they're ready to make a real attack in the NFC. You don't need to take big swings. Just continue to build the roster in a sensible way.

[00:57:40]

Yeah, I think their running back stable looks really interesting right now. I'm going to give you a TBD because there are open questions about this team. But you mentioned the Cardinals, and I'm with you. There's a whole different feeling around them. They had eight picks at one point when the Browns had made only two. And The one thing that did pass with the ending of the seventh round is that from a draft pick angle, not a money angle, we get that. But from a draft pick angle, the Browns are free of the Deshaun Watson trade. I think Andrew Berry is a winner outside of the Deshaun Watson situation, that through these seasons where they've been hamstrung without first-round picks, that they've had good draughts. I think that they took a defensive tackle, Michael Hall out of Ohio State, who's got a lot of upside. They took a guard, Zack Zinter out of Michigan, who looks like a badass to me. But then they had no fourth-round pick, and then they're picking a bunch in the sixth and seventh round. The cost comes home at some point, not only for Deshaun Watson's contract, but the fact that you're one of the few teams in the league that for seasons in a row cannot build through the draft correctly.

[00:58:52]

I think Barry has done a good job navigating that in free agency and through the draft itself. But I still wonder if this is one of the biggest mistakes an organization that has a lot of mistakes on its resume has ever made. And a lot has to happen this season with that quarterback for people to feel differently about him. There's some weird stuff going on with the whole experience. But from a draft angle, it It's not fun to follow a team that has nothing going on in the draft. And the reason for it isn't because of something that you can really get behind.

[00:59:23]

Well, especially on a weekend where you're watching the Steelers, I think they've added a lot A lot of good draft picks over. They sneaked out a great draft last year. They added two offensive linemen early, too, that I happened to like higher than others. They take Payton Wilson, this linebacker, and Roman Wilson, like another good mid-round. It's like you're watching the other guys in your division add quality players while the Browns have been sitting it out for a couple of years.

[00:59:46]

It's over, though. Here's the good news. At least from this portion of the NFL calendar, it's over. The draft compensation now is all rolled through with the Texans and Browns. Now Now you just have the quite messy issue of Deshaun Watson himself, who is entering year three now. The idea was we were going to be able to stomach these couple of draughts of just being wiped out because we got this guy that was going to be warts and all, a franchise star at quarterback, and he hasn't been. He's been an injury riddled mess, and he's been inconsistent when he's been on the field. I think where things stand right now, if things don't change, I think it becomes the worst trade of all time. And he's off to a huge head start, the Browns are in that race.

[01:00:34]

All right, one more speed round here. Yes. Winner, Drake May. Next five picks after him were all offense. They didn't mess around, including two receivers, James.

[01:00:45]

I love when teams do that. One of my favorite draft tropes, team that needs, needs, doesn't actually do the best player available. They just say, We are only drafting one side of the ball. It's a little dunder headed, but also I love it. It makes sense as well.

[01:00:58]

Yeah, Gerard Mayo was like, We feel pretty good about our defense. So they added receivers and they added offensive line. The Rams are just a tougher team. They add your guy, Blake Coram, in terms of in the running game, and then they pair their first round pick with another Florida State run stopper. So it's just better on the run on both sides of the ball. Brian Flores is a sneaky winner. They've really added a lot on their defense all offseason. He was playing without really a full deck last year. Aiden O'Kannell, winner. Somehow they didn't draft a quarterback, and I do not believe in any world where Garder to start 17 games. So Aiden O'Kannell will be back in our lives. Wouldn't surprise me if he plays quite about. Looser, Saints fans who have to be worried about Marsha and Latamor getting traded again because they drafted a cornerback high, although it was a good pick, Julian McKinstry. And then I I think the Bills taking Kean Coleman with the first pick of the second round, they just have a bunch of guys who all win over the middle of the field. He looks like a slot receiver, and Kincaid is that, and Shaqir is that, and Samuel is that, and that would be a good spot for O Darren Waller's chances of returning, that's a loser.

[01:02:04]

They drafted a tight end. It really seems like he is going to retire. And then people who drafted Devon Achan in way too early fantasy league, loser because they drafted yet another speed demon at running back Jalen Wright in Miami.

[01:02:17]

Greg, why are people drafting fantasy teams in late April?

[01:02:22]

They're crazy. These best ball league, I don't know. People are talking about average draft positions. I don't know. They just can't stop doing it. I don't know what it is. Best ball league, I I hope everything's okay with Darren Waller because not only has he having this moment where it looks like he's ending his NFL career.

[01:02:38]

I saw a report out there that he suddenly ended his marriage. It seems to be a lot going on with Darren Waller, a guy who's had issues in his past in terms of his personal life. It looks like the Giants are ready to move on, and that was not a good trade either. All right, let's take one more break. We come back and we're going to do some go get my lunch recap. Stay right there. All right, we We are back. Let's close this thing up. Let's empty out. We had some odds and ends just from the draft. There was a fan, a super fan. I feel like there's a good chance he listens to the show. Mark, if we could get his name because our international listenership is strong. He got to announce a Panthers pick in the draft from Detroit. Let's listen to how he ended that. Detroit from Germany.

[01:03:30]

With a one out and first pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, the Carolina Panthers Select, Jertavian Sanders, tight-end, Texas.

[01:03:39]

Keep pounding. I mean, I just love that guy. Love everything about him.

[01:03:44]

I love them, too.

[01:03:46]

I love that as a nice supplemental keep pounding drop for the show going forward. Keep pounding. I also have Brandon Graham. I love teams hate each other. I love division rivals just talking-ish because they have an opportunity to, and they don't care if it's going to be offensive. Here's Brandon Graham announcing a pick in Detroit. A, E, A, G, L, E, S, eagles. You all already know, all day, Dallas sucks all day. Let's go. Let's go. I I always enjoy it. Greg, you have one as well?

[01:04:33]

I do. C. J. Stroud is a revelation. Incredible analysis on a live first-round reaction show for Bleacher Report. It was hosted by Adam Lefko, who I got a chance to meet once. Great guy. C. J. Stroud seems like an incredible football analyst. He was breaking down the Ricky Pearsall pick, wishing why he had it and just explaining all this stuff. But I especially liked when he was not afraid to confront another analyst on the desk there, which was Micah Parsons talking about the best division in the league.

[01:05:04]

Everyone was a playoff team. Afc North was the best division of football. Washington was argued that Washington was in nothing. What are you talking about? That meant the Giants. Giants either. What are you talking about? What do you mean? They lost to the Eagles. That was two years ago. Yeah, but I'm saying going into it, fam, you don't know what you're talking about. Going into last year, the NFC North was argued. No one in the planet, except for Micah Parsons, thought the NFC East was better than the AFC North. You can't argue that. I can, bro. I love it.

[01:05:32]

That was just a snippet. That went on for about a minute 45, and he just flared him. In Parsons defense, he was talking about going into last season, but he was off base, and Stroud was on point with all this stuff. You can tell how much that guy knows ball and loves ball.

[01:05:48]

Well, I also think also what I love about him is he... Michael Parsons is an incredible player, but there was absolutely zero willingness to play ball with his comments. It's like Stroud reminds me of My son, Colton, is a huge soccer fan and a soccer player. If you bring the wrong take or mention the wrong player, he's just like, No, you're wrong. You're completely wrong. I love it. I totally think he was on point. Big loser, the C2 test that a year ago were telling us that C. J. Stroud didn't have the acumen or the wherewithal to lead an NFL team. It's like, Check you later, test.

[01:06:22]

Well, it should be noted. I haven't heard much at all about that in this draft process.

[01:06:27]

It lost so much. It changed to the C2 test. It was the I have an S2 test, I believe. Oh, the S2. The Tesla can't even remember. But you're right, it didn't come up one time this year. It's dead. It's dead.

[01:06:36]

They took a dirt nap.

[01:06:38]

While we're on Suncorner here, before we started recording today, we have the Royals, the AA Royals that my son plays on. I'm one of the coaches on the team, and we were a little shorthanded getting warmed up, so I jogged over there. It's only a block away from the house. And thank you guys for bearing with me during that. So I got the team ready for the game. And then my son, Harrison, was starting on the mound. So I was like, All right, I got to watch the first half-inning. And I don't know where he gets it. I can't imagine where he gets a maniacal competitive streak in him, but he struck out the side for starters. So good job by you, Harry, in a big spot. But also the other team that we were playing, the Expos, who somehow the Expos are in this league. They're not the Nationals. The team was chanting. They were doing a chant from the opposing dugout that went, Pitcher, pitcher, look at me. I'm a monkey in a tree. I kept on seeing Harrison his eyes darting over. He didn't like that they were doing that chant. After he struck out the third batter, this is a memory that will stay with me forever, he walks off the mound just staring at the dugout of the opposing team to the point where he starts just pedaling back toward our dugout, staring at them at the striking of the side.

[01:08:04]

No smile, dead-eye, like Max Scherzer. It was an incredible moment that showed that he might be as nuts as his dad, and I love him for it. Shout out to Harry, my co-coach Jeff Grondale, and the rest of the staff. We've been fighting through it this year, but that was a nice moment.

[01:08:26]

You shut that other team up. That's what I like. Maybe he's like a young Albert Bell in the That would be wonderful.

[01:08:31]

I'm a big celebrations guy. I'm always loving the celebrations, and it is fun. I feel like Walker played his basketball game today, and there is a fine line of, When do you get too old to be... Because if they hit a couple of shots early, some of the players in the 8, 9, 10 age, it's like, Oh, they're going to show the other team up. They're going to do a little... They're going to do some celebrations. They're going to do some dancing. At some point, the other team is That other team might come charge Jack. Who knows? At some point, you have to maybe dial it back. But it's fun to watch little kids do that.

[01:09:08]

I would not pick against Jack, even if nine kids ran at him, if he is fired up, he's got a wonderful temper on them. It's the one thing, a difference between when we were 8, 9, 10 and kids now, they all know how to dance because they all play Fortnite and stuff, and they're all like Fred Astaire now. It's absurd. I I can imagine, especially in basketball, if you hit an 18-footer and you're 10, you're going to be doing something completely elaborate. All right. Shall we turn our attention to the annual game of chance, skill, go get my lunch, you nothing burger. Pitcher, pitcher, look at me. I'm a monkey in a tree. Unbelievable. All All right, this year we had some success, but as usual, not a ton overall. Let's start with Mark Sesler. Mark, you did not hit on a prop this year. Let's go through them. Eagles, Select Jeremiah Trotter Jr. Got that. I feel like, Mark, we tried to warn you on this. You don't have to make it two parts. We can't give you credit for having half This is not Horseshoes. This is not Hand Grenades because you also added, and the Chargers select, Blake Hormel, who did go to Sofi Stadium, but to the Rams.

[01:10:40]

Well, I went in knowing this is hyper-specific and that I would pay the price. I still felt, I'm not saying it from a sandwich angle, but when Trotter went to the Eagles, I felt good about that because it came from instinct and also a little bit of listening to some whispers. So there you go.

[01:10:59]

You deserve to be happy with yourself. That's good. You've done it two years in a row. Porter last year, Trotter, it's a thing, especially in day three when teams are... If they're stuck between Son of Franchize legend and Joe Blow, they're probably going to take the legend. It's just smart thinking. You just went too hard. You went too specific, but maybe next year.

[01:11:21]

You didn't know Sean McVay was going to sweep in and annoy Jim Harbaugh and annoy Kyren Williams' fantasy owners next year.

[01:11:28]

The Cowboys Select Did they take a quarterback within the first two rounds. This was Saucy. We took you on it. They ended up taking, I believe, a tackle and a defensive lineman, was it? Yeah. Did they take a quarterback, period?

[01:11:42]

I don't think so. I don't believe so. I was hoping they would be a spot for my guy Pratt in the later rounds, but didn't happen. They got Trey Lance, their quarterback of the future.

[01:11:52]

Oh, my goodness. Let's see. They took Gaiton, the tackle at Oklahoma, Neelen, the Edge, Cooper, Bibi, the They did not take a quarterback.

[01:12:02]

Yeah, they didn't take a quarterback.

[01:12:04]

All right. Up next.

[01:12:09]

Well, I had a third one there, I believe.

[01:12:11]

A major nonsports-related news story takes, quote, wholesale wholesale precedence, close quote, over the draft. There are a lot of important issues going on in the world right now. A lot of troubling stories out there. I believe the the Republican presidential nominee is currently on trial, for instance. There's just stuff going on. But no, nothing seemed to pop up over the last three days.

[01:12:41]

No, I think I might retire that personal flavor of major news story overtakes what we're attempting to do with our work because it doesn't seem to ever occur.

[01:12:52]

It's going to happen in one of these years, and then you'll be sad you didn't.

[01:12:57]

All right, Greg, so you went 0 for 3. Greg.

[01:13:02]

You went 4-9 overall, according to gogetmylunch. Org.

[01:13:05]

Yeah, with all the takes and non-takes. You'd say Patriot Select, Drake May. Did you do this on Monday or was this an older one?

[01:13:15]

We did it on Monday, right?

[01:13:17]

No, but I don't remember this. Oh, yeah, that's what you said. You're going to go straightforward with it. That was very chalky. In fact, only Mark took you on it. I did not take you. So you make one saying.

[01:13:27]

Throughout the process, he was plus money, less than 50/50 to go third. People just thought, I don't know what they thought. Exactly to the Patriots. Even as late as Monday, it's funny that by the time we got to Wednesday, then it was totally expected.

[01:13:41]

Why did I take you on that when in my own mock draft, which I, in theory, believed in, had him going to the Patriots? Absurd.

[01:13:49]

Yeah, that was a tough one. That's a bad beat. Also a bad beat. The owner of the Cowboys letting every team in the league know, You better go get Jonathan Brooks because we're in love with him and we're going take him in the second round of the draft. So the Cowboys select Jonathan Brooks with pick number 56. He went about 10 picks before when the Panthers traded up. Your thinking was very sound, Greg. In fact, Jerez Speech, monolog, while misguided, makes you look good because it tells you that that's exactly what they're thinking. However, it cost you sandwiches in a big spot, two sandwiches down.

[01:14:27]

I think only two runningbacks got taken in the first three rounds. That was Brooks mid-2, Trey Benson went early three, and that was it to the cardinal scene.

[01:14:38]

This one, Mark, we're going to have to just dissect this one a little bit because there's elements of it that are straightforward We're all having fun. It's just a game. Then there's some more troubling aspects to this. Jerson, Johnny Newton is selected within the first 31 picks. That was a sandwich prop that Greg put out there. He I really loved this defender, and Dan and Mark took him on it. We were caught off guard by the Newton prediction. Here was an explanation from Ian Rappaport on Friday why Newton fell out of the first round. Let's start here, which caused Greg the Sandwiches. Johnny Newton, considered by many to be a first-round talent. That is a guy like that, fall to the second round. Still dealing with the effects of a Jones fracture at surgery in January. He's got any medical red flags? Got any off-the-field issues? No. No. No.

[01:15:41]

Whoa, wait a minute, though. You mentioned the Jones fracture. You and I dug in on our laptops after we did... Remember, we wanted to go do our own homework.

[01:15:50]

Well, that was after that.

[01:15:54]

What is the suggestion that we take this off the board?

[01:15:57]

Maybe a plane fast and loose.

[01:15:59]

What I'm trying to say is, first of all, it was a rainmaker, too. So you're costing people money and you're costing Susie braces. But you also threw out that prop. When we asked you if there were any medical red flags, you told us no. So you fed us erroneous information. But I just want to say that's a little bit dirty pool on top of everything else.

[01:16:28]

I'd agree.

[01:16:30]

But I fed you erroneous information that hurt me. I made it more likely that you wouldn't take it when I clearly was operating from a position of ignorance about his foot injury or else I wouldn't have done the thing in the first place. You're correct to point out I was an idiot, but I was not being a devious idiot. I put myself in. You think I would have gotten that pick? I just watched the tape and I was like, This guy's a top 10 pick.

[01:16:58]

When Mark and I are trying to decide whether to take you on the idea of him going top 31, if he does have a red flag medically, that's going to make Mark and I more confident that we'll take you on the wager. Oh, I see. You did take him on it. Only after Mark and I did some research on the fly. But if we would have, as I typically do with what you say, Greg, by your word, we would have been cost sandwiches we would have been misled. I think there's something else going on here, potentially.

[01:17:35]

The worst aspect to it is then you have to start to dial back through time. In fact, this very episode is starting and wonder what Greg has said about anything. It's like, do we have to go do our own research on when he picks a winner or loser? We should, but we have to go check those facts, too, Greg. It's a troubling-This is some Kaiser Soze stuff going on here.

[01:17:58]

I mean, I own up to my mistakes. This was a space. I think I knew that at some point, and somehow it was totally gone. I would not have put Little Ollie in Worcestershire in England's Christmas. Gift on the line if I had known about that necessarily, but I still can't believe it. And history is going to prove me right. All the NFL teams are wrong. Johnny Newton is going to have a great career. How did you let this guy go?

[01:18:30]

You finish six and six when you factor in all the sandwiches with one right. Finally, I almost had one of the all-time sandwich weekends. Let's start with almost. First round selection order. I thought it would be QB, QB, QB, wide receiver, wide receiver, wide receiver, tackle. It ended up being QB, QB, QB, wide receiver, tackle, wide receiver, tackle. So was Jim Harbaugh in the charges? Only one-off. Yeah, one-off. Not trading out of the pick and then a team, or not picking a wide receiver or a team trading in and taking a wide receiver. That ultimately cost me. I got six out of seven, but I had to get them all. So it cost me two sanguages. I had the Chiefs trade up for a wide receiver. They indeed did do that and took, I believe, Xavier worthy. That trade, in my mind, I saw them moving up to the middle of the first round or even getting really bold and moving up into the top 10. But they only moved up a few spots, but it was within the realm of the wager. And they went and they got their man. So I got two sandwiches there.

[01:19:33]

A Pro Bowl player, all pro, all PFF team player is traded prior to Midnight Friday, April 26, 2024. The San Francisco 49ers stuff was very interesting, but I also... I should have kept it open for the entire draft process. It wouldn't have mattered anyway, but nothing was done by the end of night one, so I lost two sandwiches. And then At the end of our Thursday podcast, when we recap night one, I actually... Excuse me, I had one extra one. Detroit draughts a player present at the draft. I said, There's no way, given the amount of people that were going to be there, the celebration that the lions were going to throw it to someone's living room in central Arkansas. I was proven absolutely correct because they made... Who were they picking that?

[01:20:28]

Terry and Arnold.

[01:20:29]

And Arnold, and he walked, and the lions fans went mad, and we had a great moment for everyone there, and I got two sandwiches there.

[01:20:38]

That is an example of... People can pick apart what we get right or wrong here there, but that is an example of you having a hand on the pulse of not only the league, but how show business works and how this was the biggest crowd ever, live crowd ever. Detroit can own that. And there's no way you disappoint the biggest crowd ever. And you were absolutely correct about that. Well done.

[01:21:03]

That was pretty savvy. And they needed a little luck for Arnold to drop down. I guess they could have taken Darius Robinson. My guess is by the time they... And they traded up for that pick, I think there were only two players left, him and Darius Robinson. But maybe they just would have, just for showman's sake, taken Robinson no matter what. That is an impressive two-pack of ones you got right there, Dan.I went nine and four.You are the winner.I.

[01:21:28]

Went nine and four.You.

[01:21:29]

Are the winner. You could have helped you out. There was one trade. Trades were the loser. We talked so much about trades leading up to the draft and nothing happened. But your Jets traded Jonathan Franklin Myers to the Broncos for his future six. That was the only veteran trade I can think of.

[01:21:45]

nick Fortier does awesome work on gogetmylunch. Org, which is a living document of the history of this podcast in many ways, has changed some of the layout to the all-time standings and clarified it a bit. I don't know if these standings are updated, the all-time standings, Greg, but I am now five games clear of you in the win column, 235 and 2:05 all-time, 53.41%, your second, 52.51%, 2:30 and 208. That's crazy. We miss Wes always, especially on weekends like this. He finished 163 and 155, so he finished 51.26%. And Mark, you are at 196 You're sitting at 46.56%..

[01:22:33]

Okay, but I think if we were to track why that's happening to me on some level, I always have to parse this, but I never took anyone on sandwiches early on in this, and that's a bad strategy that's on me. Then some of mine are just you're shooting for the moon.

[01:22:50]

To be fair, in this particular edition, you came in last.

[01:22:57]

I think I've almost regularly come in last I think you'd have to question my overall team building and strategy. I'm not above that.

[01:23:05]

I'll just do this will be a nice roll call as we wrap up another season in a lot of ways of around the NFL, that here are the guest pickers through the years. By the way, Eric Roberts, who's correct, he's 3-0 in ETP, and he doesn't want to pick because he doesn't want to mess with his perfect record. But he's not the only perfect record. Lakisha Westling, the wonderful, beautiful La Keisha, wife of Chris, 5 and 0 all time. Did anybody know? 5 and 0 lifetime. Here are the other names who have made Sandwich Props through the years, and people that go back all the way to 2013 with us know all these names. La Keisha, Roberts, Cynthia Freeland, Patra, the Irishman, Connie Fox, and even 25 and 25 all time in the Sandwich Props. Connor Orr, Handsome, Hank, Kyle Brandt is 3 and 3 in the Sandwich Props. Claybon, TD, our original producer, Erika Tamposi, The Gold Standard, Ali Bumpari is 0-1 lifetime. Kevin Danger, Hansus, my brother, 0-1 lifetime. Spice Rack, Z Drizzle, Zack Dressler. I love Zack. If you know, you know. Gravedigger went '01 '07. And Sydney Carlson, the great iconic Lassid, 0-9 lifetime.

[01:24:22]

We might have to get her out of Utah just to get one right to get her off the.

[01:24:26]

I mean, 0-7 and 0-9 is somehow better than 1 in 13 from the gold standard. One in 13 is just a preposterous record. I had lunch with the gold standard recently. Good guy. Good buddy.

[01:24:40]

Love that dude, too. We've been very lucky to work with great people. Speaking of which, you might have heard or read that Andrew Siciliano is no longer with NFL Media, which is a major loss for the company. Whatever comes next for Andrew, that company gets better. While our company didn't. Shout out to Andrew and hope to see him in Hermosa Beach in the near future. James Palmer, also, who's been on the show. He'll no longer be with the company, and bigger and brighter things ahead for him as well. It's been a long year. It's been, at times, a difficult year for NFL Media. But those are two names we wanted to mention on the show because they were obviously huge contributors to what we did.

[01:25:30]

I think also, any fan out there has logged hours watching both of those gentlemen and Andrew on every type of football show there is all season long. And a lot of times you're wondering, who are these media people? Are they good people behind the scenes? Are they quality people? Or is it just all the way the negative stories you hear? It's like, no, Andrew Siciliano is one of the kindest, nicest people that's ever walked through our newsroom and literally knows everyone's name, talk to everyone, treats everyone equal. And James Palmer, who was often not in our newsroom, but whenever you'd see him at events, the same goes for him. And it's like, you're losing not just incredible professionals, but high-quality people. And you can't just replace these people. You don't replace them. They're just not there.

[01:26:21]

I've watched a lot of NFL Network over the years. Rich Eisen obviously had the massive lead of just hours logged on NFL Network for a decade. I bet Andrew passed them at some point. Andrew Siciliano has literally been on our air more than any person, I would guess, ever. Part of it is because of the name of our show. Remember, we changed from Around the League to Around the NFL to synchronize with the show that Andrew was hosting around the NFL, which lasted a year or two, and then they changed the name to NFL Now. As it happens, we got our name, and he was so welcoming on that. I told him this, and it's true. There's no one I respected more at the entire company in terms of the way he does his job and what a good job he does. You heard that echoed from so many people. It was just an awesome host. Just an awesome guy.

[01:27:11]

All right. Okay. We'll be back Tuesday and Thursday. It's our Around the AFC and around the NFC specials, and we'll hit, obviously, on every team and where they look and how they stand as they come out of free agency. Now, they've come out of the draft, and they head into the offseason in the programs, and then the wheel turns and turns and turns. Thank you to everybody for listening. He's the call.