32 Nuggets From OTAs

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28:57Back on NFL Daily, some breaking news as we're taping. Provided to us from our crack producer, Eric Roberts, who saw the news blast sent out from NFL media. We still got a newsroom. David Ealy sent it out. He also even slacked me to let me know that this news came across the pipe. Micah Parsons saying he still has four months to go in terms of his recovery, in part because he also had a cleanup procedure on his meniscus on his knee in the middle of this rehab on the torn ACL and that he is prioritizing longevity of his career. Please do. And he is targeting mid-October he was throwing out as a date to possibly return.

29:44So disappointing, obviously, that he had to go through that and have a second surgery. And it gives us a little clarity of when they could expect to have him back. And probably, honestly, a more realistic timeline. Hopefully he doesn't have any examinations in eight weeks from the Baltimore Ravens staff after getting his meniscus cleaned up. but he is, I think the ACL recovery, my question, like immediate questions on, you know, is this like a slight thing that they noticed as a part of recovery where he's doing the recovery from the other surgery anyway, so they've got the time and the availability, they might as well do it now, because instantly my reaction is, well, they were in there to do his crew ship.

30:26So like, was this something they didn't see before? But either way, time is good for Michael Parsons. Yeah, and he did clarify it. Yeah, it was to clean up his meniscus. My guess would be is if you're having a follow-up procedure, that's not something you wanted. I wouldn't imagine that it came as a total surprise, but maybe they thought they could get away without doing that. But yeah, that's disappointing. And I think it really spells out with Parsons. And how I've thought about him and players like him coming off an injury that serious in general is like if you're thinking about the Packers and them trying to win a Super Bowl I'm thinking about his best impact was very likely to be if it if it happens late in this season that you cannot be expecting like Micah Parsons to be full Micah Parsons or even on the field at all early in the season and now it might not be the first half of the season yeah if if the strike zone was going to be September October anyway right and you've noticed something that you can do that you feel is going to stabilize the joint in October, November, December, January, February.

31:34Yeah. Then you do it now. I think it would be more concerning if they're like, well, you know, that's a little floppy on the interior side of your knee, but like whatever. You're going to strengthen and stabilize the joint, or you take the time that's available to strengthen and stabilize the joint and you do as much of that as possible. Then you play professional football. Can we get Jadavion Clowney in there? Somebody. It's a bad edge group. On paper, I think it's one of the worst pass rushes on paper in the NFL. So Joey Bosa's out there. A little more on him later. He might be retiring. He could help.

32:15Cam Jordan's out there. Clowney's out there. I'm not saying these guys are going to change your entire season, but they are better than some of the guys that you're going to be giving a lot of snaps to. On a new defense, with a new defensive coordinator. A little worrisome about the Packers in general. All right, let's get into some more trade talk. Adam Schefter reports that Kayshawn Booty is interested in being traded. That's not exactly surprising or totally new, but Schefter throwing it out there this week specifically, I think just signifies to the rest of the league, hey, if you're interested in Kayshawn Booty entering the last year of his contract, he might be available, or at least he wants to be available.

32:54I'd like to know the dividing line between being interested in it and formally, because that's a thing that we've had in the past few years when you formally request a trade where I imagine like papyrus and a quill. So I'm wondering like... Or if you're Miles Garrett and he actually demanded a trade. That's the words that they used. Yeah. Demanded. I think Keishon Booty has to be realistic about where he's come from in his career and really proud of where he's come from and loves playing ball and understands that there might be a situation where it just doesn't happen, and he's going to be playing football for the Patriots if that happens.

33:26But he would like to have a place where maybe get some more snaps. You know where I'd like to see him? Where's that? Las Vegas. Would we get... I could see a circumstance where... It'd fit. You were very good at wide receiver, and your team went to the Super Bowl and then proceeded to do nothing but acquire wide receivers. Yeah. You may be interested in a trade. Yeah. Elliott Wolfe, by the way, talking about the A.J. Brown trade. he just had a quote that was hilarious to me that admitted, because, Hey, they went into this off season. We talked about this a little bit on Tuesday. Hey, we're not going to do anything.

34:01That's kind of like burning the future for the present. And then they spent a ton of money and they went after really good players. I think they had a good off season, but they admitted Wolf said that their strategy so far has not necessarily been sustainable. It's a hilarious quote. It's true. Like in terms of what you can do every single year, or will they be able to do this every single year? No. I've just never heard a GM say that his strategy is not necessarily sustainable. Well, you know how much of that is his strategy? Maybe it's a little sneak. Fair. A little sneak crit. Somebody who can't really respond to a lot of crit.

34:36I think in a world of Chad Brinkers, Elliott Wolfe is a Rob Brzezinski and knows how to get along. He's happy serving who's in charge there. 32 most adjacent Rob Brzezinski front office members. We are doing the GM rankings on our next show and I sent an email out that for the Patriots and for a few teams like we're we're not like I don't want to list Ellie Wolf. I'm listing Vrabel slash Wolf with Vrabel's name first. We're doing that for a few teams. You know one guy who's not getting traded. You know whose strategy has not been sustainable in general? Who is that? The Arizona football Cardinals for a long time.

35:17The strategy has not been good. Monty Austin for it. The drafts have been solid. I was once told, I believe this was at the Super Bowl or maybe it was the combine. It was the combine. You know, maybe lay off the Cardinals a little bit. We've been tough on the Cardinals. Austin Ford's drafts, his moves haven't been that bad. I think he's making the right decision by not trading Josh Sweat. Ian Rappaport says, definitively, they are not trading Josh Sweat. It has popped up in recent days that a bunch of teams, including the Packers actually, were interested, wanted Josh Sweat. Maybe Josh Sweat wants out, but it doesn't matter.

35:51They're not interested. That's an option. When there's a lot of trade speculation about a player and you'd like to limit that conversation, you could say that they're not trading. I didn't know teams could do that. Rap She always couches things. Even when he was talking about the A.J. Brown stuff, oh, maybe it's not totally fair. He always couches things. And so when he doesn't couch something to save himself and saying he will not be traded, no couching involved, that tells me something. Like the Cardinals said, put the word out on the street. This is not freaking happening. Just shut up about it.

36:26That's what it tells me. All right. Speaking of the Cardinals, Mike LaFleur was in front of a podium, and he got the fantasy heads excited talking about how he's going to use his wide receivers, including Marvin Harrison. It's a good question because I think, you know, like his profile, I guess you could say, would be that of a typical X receiver. What does that mean? Like, and again, they come in all shapes and sizes, but just kind of that lengthier body that can play on the outside. But what's unique about this system and not just the Arizona Cardinals, but the systems that run something similar is you can move them inside and outside on a whim, you know, just in terms of formations or motions, all that kind of stuff.

37:07So you don't want to say you can protect him by bringing people inside, but you can just utilize their skill sets in different ways. So, yeah, he is our X receiver. But, again, you can move him around that sometimes he is, sometimes he's not, if that makes sense. Are you guys not familiar with the tree is what Coach LeFleur is saying there. In the tree, X could mean a different thing. We could put some pounds on Marv, have him in there as a lead blocker. You know, we can do whatever we want. We're in the tree, baby. The McVay tree does get me a little excited. First of all, imagining Michael Wilson as the Puka type Z receiver is kind of fun.

37:48Michael Wilson's a beast. Good player. Got to have a trigger guy to throw these gentlemen the football. Fantasy football-wise, I just like hearing guys from the tree talking ball in the middle of June. And I think the way they use Marvin Harrison did not make sense. I think got to make him more flexible. That said, if Michael Wilson is the puka type of guy in this offense, he might be a higher volume guy. Might be the guy I'm taking in fantasy. And I don't even have a fantasy team. Maybe I will just to draft Michael Wilson. Yeah, I believe the Marfa. Obviously the talent is going to push his ADP up, but I think he's going to fall.

38:26He'll be a value because people are. People have been burned, burned. So it's a time of year where you kind of have these tropes of guys, you know, talking up each other, players. It's usually coaches talking up players, but sometimes it's the players talking about the coach. I had a couple good examples of this this week, including one from Jordan Mailata, one of our favorites from the Philadelphia Eagles, talking about his new offensive coordinator, Sean Mannion. Sean is an evil genius. That is my first impressions. He just knows ball. The guy knows ball. If I were to lock the three smartest people in the facility in one room, Sean would be there.

39:17And I think Sean would just be by himself. It would just be Sean. He's a wizard. and man, I'm super excited. As the year goes on, we get to display what is in that beautiful mind of his. I love Jordan Mailata. I think he could have a future in this business. Just has a great way with words. But I couldn't help but hear that quote and think what Nick Sirianni must be thinking here and be like, I can't get in that room? Yeah, that's exactly what Jordan realized as he was about to put two other people in the room, neither of which was going to be Nick Sirianni. So that's why you think the pivot was?

39:54Because he was going to name three. And yeah, Sirianni. He was like, wait, and Jalen Hurts is, he didn't, you know, it's like, do I want to put my quarterback in that? It's tricky. Yeah, because the media market prone to reactions to things that can have negative consequences for the person those reactions are toward. And so, yeah, I think Jordan elected, he realized he had went down a road and said that all three people would be Sean Mannion because there were some people who were not going to be in the room. And I don't know why you had to lock them in the room to begin with. If I could just lock three people in a room, why is that what you're looking to do?

40:32I do like the Sean Mannion excitement that's in Philadelphia. I don't know if it'll work out or not, but it's going to be different. There's a lot of Sean Mannion buzz from the players, from the reporters. A.J. Brown's obviously not there. And I just think, okay, that's not going to help them. But what I like is that, okay, we're running back these Eagles. there's a lot of familiar things, but this is kind of a new twist, and I'm curious just to see what it's all going on. The excitement of a new play caller coming in with Imaginate. This team has experience with this exact thing. That's true.

41:02Congratulations to Sean Mannion on his head coaching job in 2029. Good point. They cut Brandon Graham, I noticed, after June 1st, but the reporting was that it could just be a procedural move. If Brandon Graham wants to return at some point to the Eagles, they may bring Brandon Graham back. I found the quotes from Cooper DeGene talking about learning how to play safety. Pretty interesting that he really is looking at this as a bit of a position switch. Let's listen to the all-pro corner slash safety. You know, I've watched some Charles Woodson. He's been a guy I've watched this offseason a little bit.

41:48You know, and really just anytime I'm watching football on TV, you know, looking at all those positions and trying to see where I can fit in. But it was mostly, you know, watching and learning from the guys in our defense. I think that's the easiest way to learn just because I'm already in this defense. But I feel like I've learned a lot and, you know, prepared myself well to play that position. yeah if you're gonna watch uh someone maybe you know in terms of a hall of famer making the transition for quarterback to safety although uh charles and and rod oddly enough uh making that transition later uh in their careers we we got prime cooper de jean um just trying to be versatile and available but the tone makes it feel like uh it's a you know not like forrell prior having to stop playing quarterback, but it's a little bit of a loss.

42:42Oh, okay. You think he's going to miss? I don't know if it's that much of a change. Like, yes, he was playing outside cornerback in base defenses last year. He's barely ever in that. And ultimately, he is still their slot defender. So I think Charles Woodson is a great comp, and he's already playing like Charles Woodson. And I just think it's funny to think back on Cooper DeGene coming out, and there was a lot of sensitivities of like, oh, don't just put him there at safety because he's white. He's actually really athletic. And now you look at what he's done as a pro, he's basically been a slot cornerback and he's one of the most valuable defensive players in the league because of his athleticism and because of his versatility.

43:22But right now, because of the needs of their roster, that's what he's mostly going to do, but he's going to play safety. It's just interesting to look back on all that. And also there's significant financial implications as well with regards to the designations. I think that's important to remember. I think that will be changing, and I do think people are realizing slot weapon is a position which is maybe as, if not more, valuable than any cornerback position beyond. It is just as valuable as the very top cornerbacks, and you can't tell me that outside cornerbacks are worth any more than Cooper DeGene, other than maybe a couple, a handful, Stingley, Sertan, guys like that.

44:04So I mentioned the just building up of Sean Mannion in the Eagles building. A familiar and similar phenomenon is happening in Baltimore with Declan Doyle. Let's listen to Zay Flowers talk about his new offensive coordinator. Oh, no, he got stuff that I've never seen, like plays and routes and stuff to help you get open. And he teach you in a certain way where you remember the plays where there's not too much stress on you. But he give you a lot and top fives too. So he's like, hey, coach, chill, chill. But he's like, yeah, he's a genius though. I love it. We've been loving it so far. What do you think about the G word just being thrown out there?

44:47The G word typically is one that we get for new offensive coaches. And so I'm a little bit low on the G word. But I do see the excitement in terms of a guy who's had some changes at play caller where it's not a negative when somebody calls somebody a genius. Maybe we could get him to lock somebody in a room in Owings Mills. Maybe Zay would give us two more guys. Declan Doyle comes from that Ben Johnson coaching tree in Chicago. It was in New Orleans way back, I believe. Wait, you're giving him – Ben Johnson gets the tree. This is not a Peyton disciple. this is well Declan Doyle so young that I think his year with Ben Johnson was really important and now I'm going through the history of it I you know he was with Sean Payton much longer to be fair uh seven no and I don't I just but that's all one tree that's it's the Payton tree that Ben Johnson's continuing yes okay Ben Johnson's part of that tree well it's like McVeigh is getting his tree.

45:52We used to think of it as Kyle's tree. Maybe that's a source of beef. Trees. Lots of trees. They're important. We know this. Taping this show just half a mile away from the Intuit Dome. The site of some controversial lack of trees or trees. I don't know. Had to do with Kawhi Leonard. I also like that Declan Doyle said that he was not prepared for how twitchy Lamar Jackson is in person As much as he's watched Lamar Jackson on film and on TV, that Lamar Jackson is the twitchiest athlete he's ever seen, and he's excited to coach him, which makes me excited to watch him. I also view these building up of the new offensive coordinators as kind of a shot at the previous offensive coordinators, maybe back to Greg Roman.

46:38It feels a little bit more like, oh, this is what these guys are supposed to be. You know who showed up as a genius offensive coordinator and then capitalized on it? It was Liam Cohen in Jacksonville. He had a comment this week about Brian Thomas Jr. trying to stand up for Brian Thomas Jr.'s development in his second season. I think that any time you have a, I guess, quote-unquote setback, I don't know, I mean, I guess fantasy and people care a lot about that, but I know we won 13 games, so I'm sure if you're a competitor, I know you want your stats and your contributions to be at an all-time high.

47:19And I've been very pleased with how he's taken the things that we asked him to do to get better at and to be intentional about those reps. But, you know, I know everybody's, you know, it's down year and fantasy and this, that, and the third. I mean, when you're on a good team, I think that typically matters a little bit more. Love this. Nobody in football is more prepared to cut a promo on the haters. Yes. Than the master of perceived slights in Duval County, Florida, Liam Cohen. I love it. He's doing it for his players, too. He did the move I like to do a lot, which is just give a weird voice to the haters.

47:57He's like, oh, all the fantasy people out there saying, oh, what? And then you respond to the voice that's in your head. I've also read that Brian Thomas Jr. from the great beat reporter there, John Shipley, has looked good. It made some good plays early. And usually I wouldn't really care too much about OTAs, but I got to say Shipley was on the, Brian Thomas Jr. doesn't look that comfortable. It's dropping a lot of passes pretty early last off season. And it was kind of a sign that he wasn't as comfortable in this new offense. And this gives me some confidence. Maybe we can get the old Brian Thomas Jr.

48:28back. Yeah. And as the season went on, he started to do those things that we were more familiar with Brian Thomas being asked to do. And they had more success in that window. And I'm glad he's still there. I'm glad that the trade BTJ community, which wasn't a fantasy football, that was a football dude community, if we're going to silo. I mean, I was kind of part of that. Yeah, I put him up there. And you are a football dude. I mean, I thought he might be available, and he would be someone I would give up a lot for, some picks, I believe. Let's fly through the rest of these items, because we have an important end to the show.

49:11We are saying goodbye to our great producer, Chris Babona, today, who's moving on to full-time happier trails somewhere else. And so knowing that the big finish is coming, Eric has been in my ear telling me a lot, like how many minutes we've been talking, and that's his subtle way of being like, can you speed it up? Yeah, I'm over here honking. I do that for literally every episode. Okay, maybe you're not. That's how I'm taking it. It's literally my job. In the description. Caleb Williams is your Madden 27 cover. He's doing the throw where he's kind of like, his legs are all over the place, and he's doing it over the skyline in Chicago.

49:48I think it's a cool cover, and I think he's a cool choice for Madden 27. Yes. You know, had the moment of, you know, the Bears postseason for the past. Nobody's thinking about double doinks in Chicago right now. He earned it. It's a great opportunity to be excited and not have like expectations ruin any joy because I'm worried about the people. I wonder if they took that image exactly from one of his throws against Green Bay that everyone remembers or if he did it separately. But it's a great cover in my mind. I've seen a lot of a lot of hate towards it, which is that's why I'm defending it here.

50:26We had some news from Nick Bosa last weekend that he expects to practice early in training camp and be ready for week one. all signal systems go. He had that injury a little earlier. He's gone through it before. We'll see. He also indicated that his brother, Joey Bosa, is more concerned with his golf game than anything related to football. I have maybe just an inclination that Joey Bosa might be ready to stop playing football. He's made a lot of money. He's had some injuries. Struggled at the very end of last year. Who knows? So Joey Bosa might just not be coming back. Also, Isaac Garendo for the 49ers is going to be out through training camp, maybe even into the season with a torn pectoral muscle.

51:05He was going to be in the mix as one of the backup running backs there. The Patriots, who we talked about before, I mentioned glancingly that Julian Hill's out for the season. Very disappointing news for them. They gave him$7.5 million guaranteed, a tight end who was going to be their solid tight end too, maybe play just about as much as Hunter Henry. They were excited about him, and so that's devastating to lose him in the offseason. Also, Michael Awenu took a pretty dramatic pay cut just to stay on the team. Surprising. $7.5 million less money, which supports something I heard leading into the draft, which is that he was maybe available in a trade.

51:44That never happened. Why are they so down on Michael Awenu? I don't know. I don't really get it. And taking the cut. Seems like he's down on himself as well. Yeah, he's still making$10 million. You don't want to become a free agent right now, but I bet you could have done better. I don't know. Is there something I'm missing? It's one of their best players. Proverbial bird in the hand, you know? I guess so. Be a Brzezinski. Kellen Moore spoke in front of the media, and he's always a little awkward when he gets the tough questions. He said he did not expect Alvin Kamara to show up to OTAs this week, specifically Wednesday.

52:17But he did, because Kamara's been skipping offseason activities for a while. But they're glad he's here. He's still on the roster. June 1st has passed. Maybe this thing is still happening. It's been a strange situation, Kamara and the Saints. Yeah, and not to project because I haven't heard anything from anybody involved, but Alvin Kamara would probably like to make this not an easy separation if it's something that the folks plan to do. Kamara said publicly he wants to be on the Saints, and the Saints have made some signals that that necessarily wasn't going to happen. Maybe the fact that he's there and he's practicing, I mean, make a decision.

52:52Hopefully he's there. Get rid of the King of New Orleans if you want. Right. We'll see how that goes. Watch out. Patrick Sertan got a$5 million raise for 2026, and he would also get a$5 million raise in 2027 if he makes the Pro Bowl, which he has done four times. Yeah, if he's playing football, he's probably going to be there. I think it's the initial Pro Bowl. So continuing a trend of just guys getting raises, which I like. Nico Collins got that. Like, he's on a new contract. He's just, they're like, hey, you're a little underpaid, Sertan. Get more money. The Giants cut one of their kickers, Jason Sanders.

53:22They also signed Juju Smith-Schuster to a group, including Odell Beckham that's just fighting to make the team. I wouldn't overthink it. These are all minimum salaries. I've seen a lot of like, why would they do this about Odell? And then there's like video of neighbors running slowly in a charity softball game. And people are like, oh, disaster. It's like you're just seeing who sticks. And unfortunately, Odell and Juju are at that point in their career just trying to make a team. And good luck to them. Josh Jacobs, who is being accused of domestic violence, is back at Packers practice. So they're operating as if kind of nothing's happened and waiting to hear from the NFL on that.

53:58Thought it was interesting. Justin Herbert is taking a day off every week, throwing the football to just work on footwork with Mike McDaniel. And I got to say, I know it's the offseason, but some of the quotes coming out from the Chargers players about Mike McDaniel and Justin Herbert about McDaniel and some of the offensive linemen. That is making me look side eye at Greg Roman, but they can't believe it. They're so excited. all the offensive linemen is like, this is a whole new world. Like we are loving the Mike McDaniel era. Who could have seen it coming, Greg? Also, Mike McDaniel, just as a play caller and as an offensive coordinator, you're not just getting him from Miami where he had to deal with everything else.

54:37You're getting him kind of in this perfect scenario where that's all he's focused on. And you might get the best offensive coordinator in the entire NFL because he can just not be in the head coach. he can be freed up to do maybe what he does best, you know, what he does better. There's something to that. Yeah, and I think I would lean more positive, you know, if people are thinking about, you know, shoulder and other things, and this is a way to kind of manage. I purely think this is about Justin Herbert doing something he hasn't been able to do in a couple of years, where you get the start to throwing situation from the ground up, be able to get out of the way, and you're not waiting what feels like 20 seconds for guys to get 30 yards down the field before they start.

55:21I'm so in on this Herbert McDaniel combo. Nick Underhill, who covers the Saints, mentioned that Jonas Sanker is the leading candidate to play that Cooper de Gine role. The star position in the Staley type defense, Fangio defense. So he's the guy who's going to be the slot guy, it looks like, this year and had a good rookie season. I just thought that was interesting. The NFL has moved up cut day and waivers three days this season to Sunday, August 31st. And then, you know, they're going to, the waivers will run on Monday, September 1st. That's three days. The reason I bring this up is it could really impact our weekend.

56:02I know when Eric saw this, he was like, is Greg going to make us do a show that day? To be decided. We'll see. We'll see where I'm at. You definitely are. Are you kidding me? I mean, I kind of want to, but it is Labor Day weekend. It is our last time to take a breath before it all starts. But it's because of Australia. They're leaving for Australia so early, the 49ers and the Rams, that they've got to speed up the process by three days. So it's messing with us. Let's hit the Abdul-Carter and Jackson Dart quotes from last week just because I thought the way Abdul-Carter addressed the situation with Jackson Dart speaking at President Trump's rally and then him writing a tweet about it.

56:52And a lot of people getting upset was as mature and concise and excellent as just about any athlete statement I've seen on a serious topic. So I didn't want to let it slip past before we did hit it on the show. So we're kind of ending with this. But you're going to hear from Carter first talking to the media. Some things are bigger than football. and this is one of those things. Jackson is one of our leaders. He's the face of our franchise. He not only represents himself and what he does, but he represents all of us. And that goes for anybody who wears a Giants uniform. But if he chooses to align himself with a man like President Trump, it's my responsibility based on what I believe and what I stand on to not only show my teammates that I'm against that, but to show the world.

57:37And that doesn't mean that we have to spread hate. It doesn't mean that me and Jackson hate each other or we have beef. I sit next to Jackson every day. Every team meeting, we close, we talk. As long as we make sure we got the same goal as a team and our goals aligned, which they do, I feel like that's all that matters. I just want to move past this, and yeah, that's it. I just thought it was very clear. He wasn't looking at a prepared statement or anything. I thought he stood up. I just think of, it's hard not to think of these young men talking about things that get a lot of attention and think like that's pretty incredible for like a 22-year-old to be able to just be that clear.

58:16That clear and that aware of where he is and using the language of the people that he's talking to and placing those things before he ultimately gets to his point within the context that they are willing to engage and understand in talking about team leadership where if we're really having the discussion, like what does that mean? Representing the Giants, what does that mean? who gets to represent the Giants and who has the power to do that. But he's using the language of the people in that space to highlight some of the contradictions and questions that honestly, conversations they're not willing to have because otherwise, Abdul Carter saying this would not have been necessary.

58:57And Dart spoke for a while. It was tough to cut his quotes down. As tough as it was to listen to. He talked for a while. he said it was an opportunity he didn't want to miss and he was not comfortable up there kind of speaking about it but one thing that both of them said is how close the two of them are that like that they're both focused on the football team and i think they that was one thing they had in agreement was like this isn't going to be a distraction to us um we we know where each other's at i just appreciated that carter it like i i saw people say like that carter didn't back down it Back down from what?

59:39I want to hear what Carter said actually when he was asked about Jackson Dart, whether Jackson Dart said he was sorry. No, I don't want him to say he's sorry. Stand on what you believe in, but it can't be a problem when I stand on what I believe in. And that's all that matters to me. As long as we have that understanding, it's all good. Yeah, that's it. And that was my initial reaction. Exactly. And apologies to, you know, because I didn't have the opportunity to talk about this. But to be, right, openly and politically black in America, you are required to exist in circumstances with people that have the same exact views as Jackson Dart all the time.

1:00:22And the idea that it's going to be this distraction, like half of the league would be rendered inoperable. if they were unable to be successful athletically in the vicinity of these people when these people exist from sea to shining sea in every capacity. And so like that, and that's why it was important for him to start off saying what he said because the initial reaction was not like, oh, this is what Jackson believes needs to happen on the planet. It was, how's this gonna affect the New York Giants? Are those players who feel that way not gonna try as hard now? Which is a preposterous freaking idea that somebody's going to limit their personal success because of proximity to this type of person that they've literally had to be around their entire life.

1:01:04And that I don't, you know, multiple things can be true. I don't doubt that they are close and that they get along because they have a lot of things in common. Yeah, because one person has to think about certain things and the other doesn't, right? And they can be uncomfortable asking questions, but up there dancing on stage, doing whatever culture vulturing that you do with some YouTube or TikTok dance is uncomfortable to talk about it, but is not uncomfortable to do it. So, yeah, those quotes came down at the end of last week, but I didn't want to not kind of circle back after what we said. And yeah, what I said initially was similar to what you said.

1:01:38It's like every team, it's America. Every team is dealing with this at all times. They're dealing with it fine. Distraction is such a dumb word. Before Chris Babona comes and closes this show down with a fury, I did just want to say rest in peace to Raymond Berry. We like to honor those who came before us. And he's a name that I feel like younger listeners might not know at all. Gen X slash millennial listeners might think of him as the coach of the Patriots that made it to their first Super Bowl when the Bears beat him by quite a bit. But he's one of the greatest football players of all time.

1:02:17He was on the all-time 75th anniversary of the NFL team. He was on the all-time 100th anniversary of the NFL team. He was on the all-1950s team. In the quote-unquote greatest game of all time, which helped to build the sport that we cover up to what it is because it just blew up on television, Giants-Colts. He went 12 for 178, and one of the reasons people thought that football exploded in the way that it did was very much because Johnny Unitas and him started playing hurry up in a style that just people weren't familiar with the passing game Late in that game, they had to come back. And he goes three straight catches for 62 yards to set up and get that tying touchdown.

1:02:58They win in overtime. It was the original version of Brady to Gronk in the AFC Championship game, but way more dramatic because it was bigger plays. It was in a title game. And Dr. Z, Paul Zimmerman, who I believe to be the greatest football writer of all time, said that Barry was the best possession receiver he ever saw play. period. Didn't wear gloves. He's just back there in old days. And so just RIP to one of the greats, Raymond Berry, one of the best receivers of all time. Yeah, 74 catches in a year that Johnny United's had 190 completions. He was that passing offense, an unreal passing offense that if you adjust for era and rate and pace of play, they put up insane numbers in 1960.

1:03:47And the fact that he did it the biggest stage to a number of time with those Colts teams and one of the best players ever in Johnny Unitas, rest in peace, Raymond Berry. And also, yeah, made a seven year old Greg Rosendahl back in the day, thrilled with a surprise appearance in the Superbowl and the AFC championship. You know, the Superbowl, that was a tough one, 46 to 10, but what are you going to do? Yeah. We play one of the greatest teams of all time. We are wrapping up the show with Chris Babona. he has helped us out over the last couple of years in a innumerable ways. He stepped into a moving train at the time and immediately started helping us out here on the production side, on the social side.

1:04:31He is an ambitious guy. He always wanted to do more. He was always asking what he could do more. And he is going on to a greener pastures, a full-time job. That's what we want for all of our producers. at Baseball America. His first love, baseball. I won't hold that against him. And I know he likes to be on camera. Let's be honest. He likes to get his takes in. And I appreciate that. I'm the same way. And so we thought, what can we do for Chris on the way out, Patrick? Put him on. Give him some airtime. Chris Babona, you have one minute. We could talk to you a little bit, just men to men afterwards.

1:05:11But you have one minute right now to use however you see fit. But Eric is going to run a timer on this. Concision is important when I'm not talking. I got it. All right. You ready? It's going to be three lessons I learned at NFL Daily. Oh, yeah. Let's go. All right. Number one, AI is taking over the world. Oh. And not in a good way. Okay. Because in this job, I've had multiple times where AI has tested me. and ask Adam Thielen how far I have come because there have been some times when we got got, Greg has gotten got, AJ Brown got the whole world, it seemed like, this week. And I just think the IQ I've gotten to identify and avoid AI being on the show, numeral.

1:05:57Number two, don't ask permission, ask for forgiveness. And I think there are so many times in this job where I've just gone out and done things and sometimes you get the right results, sometimes you don't. but I don't think I've ever regretted going that extra mile, doing the extra work. And that's my number two lesson. And number three, Greg never loses an argument. So don't even bother. Oh, stop. It is impossible. Whether it's a title, description, creative decision, just it's Greg or the highway. And so I'll go out on that where Greg is the man. This is his show. His name is on the masthead.

1:06:34So that's number one. Chris and I had a great relationship. And by great, I mean, I was a little tough on Chris because here's the thing with your second point, Chris. I feel like you did ask for forgiveness a lot, which I, you know, you just grew it off and did some crazy things. And sometimes I was tough on you. We would go back and forth. Man, don't try to win an argument. That's not true. You got your W's, Chris. Now I feel bad. That doesn't reflect well on me. Because obviously I'm in the wrong many times. Yeah. And if it were like ultimately true, then we wouldn't be having this conversation.

1:07:16I'll admit I could be insubordinate at times and you are the boss. So no, Greg's in the right on this one. No, I am not. But when it comes to, yeah, titling the show or certain things like that, if I got to be in my bonnet about what it should be. The AI thing. Yeah, that's a lesson for all the producers out there. It's just more that like you're getting bad information a lot of times is what Chris is alluding to. And if you're recapping something or you're just doing research on something, don't trust it. Yeah, it's predictive text. It's advanced predictive text. People need to stop relying on it.

1:07:51People rely on it with things that they aren't good at. When you do it with something you're good at, you realize this is wrong and dumb and we shouldn't do it, nor should we invest half of the resources in our society. Three lessons. Wow. What a way to close. I think you won that last argument. You know what I mean? I appreciate it, Greg. You got it. The ask for permission, not forgiveness, you do have to have a little bit of a sliding scale on that and a feel of that. But I do think ultimately in life, in work life, that's a good way to be. I think he's also laid out a good example for, because we're not going to replace Chris Babbona.

1:08:34No. And I think in this opportunity, we've seen that the value of being affiliated with Greg Rosenthal is you get to be you in the capacity that you can be you. And so whoever comes in, yeah, you know, forgives us and not permission. But also, you know, don't try to don't try to be Chris because you can't do that. Chris, Chris, I see you're opening the card without asking permission. Chris, Chris gave us a couple of cards. We're going to we're going to open it. Are we allowed to read these on air? Yes, I would love that. I would love for Patrick to go first. Okay. First and foremost, he has drawn a shield robot on one side that says beep boop, which I also appreciate.

1:09:15Now I'm going to cry. Patrick, I wanted to say how much I appreciate working with you. The last two seasons, I'm going to miss your energy, human humor, and ability to stick it to the man. I wish the best for you and the fam. Cheers. Chris Pabona. Now I'm emotional. So thanks. Love you, Patrick. Love you too, man. Damn it. Chris says to me, Greg, thank you so much for entrusting me with NFL Daily these past two seasons. We've produced some really cool shit together, and I'm sad to have to move on. You're a hard man to please, but in the end, I appreciate you pushing me to be the best producer that I can be.

1:09:50Sorry for giving you a few extra gray hairs. Yes, Chris Vibona. Took a little shot there at the end. I appreciate it. And I do have more gray hairs, but not because of Chris. what you want in this job is like people that love what they do and are trying to just make the best show possible and chris always uh with that in mind he loves the show so much he's helping pre-produce our flag football show that he's not even gonna be here for but he believes in flag football so much he once asked roger goodell a question about flag football at like an employee summit and he had been here for, I don't know, two weeks, two weeks at that point.

1:10:29And he has the confidence to just stand up because he is passionate about flag and ask a big Raj. And so you're going to help out with that. It's the future. And I'm so glad you're investing in it. And I think Jordan is the perfect vessel for that too. As a co-host, she loves flag football. It's going to be a huge thing. 2028. I don't think the NFL is doing enough now. And I think really making forward about what they could do at a content perspective in flag football. There's some serious buy-in. And if I have a closing remark, it would be that think about flag football from a content perspective, because that's a goldmine.

1:11:00Veteran move there. That was totally not part of your minute. And yet, if someone gives you the mic, you have the control at that point and you can just take it. And you ran with it. And yeah, more in that space, by the way. We got our flag football extravaganza coming up in a couple of weeks with Jordan doing some some work. And Chris is going to do that. Let's get out of here. Let's do it. Thank you for running through all those nugs. A fun Wednesday here in the Chris Wessling Podcast Studio. It's been a busy week. We're going to wrap up the week the same way we've been wrapping up every week over the last month with our NFL 32 series.

1:11:37This time, it's the NFL GMs on the hot seat. 1 to 32. We'll see if Terry Fontenot makes the list, Patrick. Be a Brzezinski!

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