Falcons QB Injuries, Hold-In Watch and Cowboys Looking To Make a Big Move?

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0:57Welcome to NFL Daily, the originator of the Holden. I'm Greg Rosenthal in the Chris Wesseling Podcast Studio with my friend Nick Shook, still recovering from LeBron James, spiting his hometown, Shook's hometown too, of Cleveland. He's in Cleveland. Hopefully we'll get him out to Los Angeles at some point. that would be amazing. This is a new type of show, Shook. It's a news only show on this Wednesday with the entire NFL practicing at training camp for the first time. Are you ready?

1:30Nick Shook:I am ready. I was hoping I could avoid you twisting my heart about LeBron, but we got it. I knew it was going to come eventually, so here we are. I don't know what's wrong with me. They blew it. Your love language. Yeah, it is, and it's not a good one. When I mentioned that this show is going to be a little different. We're just going to update you on the news. Because of how training camp is structured, we'll do this pretty often where it's just a news-only type of show. And then our longer, bigger segments, like our AFC North preview with Jordan Roderick, we'll drop it on a separate show. So look out for that one.

2:05But this is news-only. And there was a lot of it on Wednesday. Let's start with the Falcons, which had a no good, very bad, terrible, awful first day of training camp. Here's what happened to them on the first day. Bajon Robinson, not practicing. He's holding in. Did you know, Shook, that I believe I originated the term holding in. I only mention it like twice a year on this. Wait, wait, really? I started writing that and talking about it on Around the NFL. And I started writing it on NFL.com. I never seen it anywhere else. I know Florio, you know, people started picking it up other places. And I was like, I came up with a holding.

2:41And now it's everywhere.

2:42Nick Shook:I mean, I'm not surprised because you're a creative and innovative type. But I mean, I would love to cross-reference this because if we can actually confirm this... It's on an NFL.com article. I was like, we're going to call these hold-ins because it was after the new collective bargaining agreement became just a thing that people do. And what they do, Shook, is they want more money. They don't want to get the fines that the new collective bargaining agreement cost them by skipping camp. And so they just show up and they're there. They're going to the meetings. Kind of everyone's happy. The coaches are happier because at least they're there and not falling behind.

3:16The players not getting fine. And that's what Pajan is doing. So that's number one thing that happened to the Falcons today. Tua Tungavailoa is not ready for the start of camp. We don't know when he's going to be back. He has a back injury that we didn't know about, something that flared up. Michael Penix spoke to the media and said that he could be out up to four weeks. And then the one that hurt me personally is that they released Trevor Simeon with a non-football injury designation. Trevor Simeon, Team Trev, had a chance to be the starting quarterback on day one of camp, and he will not be.

3:47And it sounds like this might be like a career-ending type of thing. They decided to sign Cooper Rush to help in the meantime. Let's listen to Michael Penix talking about his rehab.

3:57Nick Shook:Right now, we're just seeing where I'm at, you know, and just trusting the process. You know, it's more seeing how my body is feeling, you know, with these practices. But I know I was told that like another four weeks, possibly going into that next stage. But at the same time, it could be earlier. You know, it just depends on how my body is doing throughout this whole camp process. So to be clear, Michael Penix is involved on the individual drills. He's doing some practice, maybe some of the seven on sevens. I'm not sure. But because he's not available to who's had a lot of injuries over the year, a back injury entering camp is a bad sign.

4:35He's not available. Cooper Rushley just signed today. I don't think he was available for today. Can you name the QB1 of the Atlanta Falcons on day one of training camp? I'm considering this a bad omen.

4:47Nick Shook:Because I live on the news desk when I'm not in the podcast studio virtually. His name is Jack Strand. He is not left-handed, and he is the man with the job right now. He went to Minnesota State Moorhead. Undrafted rookie. I'm not familiar with his work. They signed him back. In May, I'm going to consider it a bad omen for the season when Jack Strand is taking your first team rep at training camp and your best player is holding in, which no one particularly expected. This kind of came out of left field for John Robinson. Yeah, I don't want to sound the panic alarm too much, though, because neither of these quarterbacks are on PUP.

5:27Nick Shook:That's when you would really be concerned. The back flare-up thing, we'll see what happens with Tua. I mean, that could be a tricky thing. that could be a recurring thing. That was obviously what dominated Matthew Stafford's lead up to his eventual NFL MVP season last year. But it's not a good way to start the camp for sure. And I think I'm actually more concerned about Bajan. Like you're going to sign him eventually, but he's the most important part of this team, even beyond the quarterback. They'll get that deal done. So whether it's in a week, in two weeks, I don't think he is going to lose too much missing a chunk of training camp.

6:02So I'm not too worried. It is a new offense that you want to see him behind this new offensive line in terms of the offensive line coach. It's basically the same players, but it's going to be a different scheme. But this was always going to be the risk signing Tua along with Penix, like two injury risks together, like expecting eight games out of each of them. That's not really like a way to build a team. And it's just bad vibes. And I feel bad for Trevor Simeon, too. Who could have been that guy today? Okay.

6:30Nick Shook:I have a recommendation for Ian Cunningham, the GM of the Falcons, and for Matt Ryan, president of football at the Falcons. Okay. Pick up the phone and call Kevin Stefanski's former employer and kick the tires on Dylan Gabriel. Okay. That's all I'm saying. A little depressing. It is. So is Jack Strand. No offense. I could see that happening if Deshaun Watson doesn't have the biggest fiasco of a training camp ever and they're just like, hey, we'll give you a fifth for Dylan Gabriel. That's too much, honestly. if this thing isn't going well in a couple weeks. So Holdens were the order of the day.

7:04As we talked about on Tuesday's show, all the teams showed up to camp on Tuesday. Wednesday was the first day. They were all practicing. And so we learned about a lot of these Holdens. I'm going to go through them one by one. Jameer Gibbs, like Bajon Robinson. These two are, you know, two birds of a feather. They're affecting each other. It will be interesting to see who signs first. Jameer Gibbs, not practicing at Lions camp. Chris Olave is practicing on seven-on-sevens in individuals, but not doing teamwork. I noted earlier, Christian Gonzalez, for instance, for the Patriots, not only doing teamwork, but he's going to do the full padded everything.

7:40So he's not holding it at all. Olave kind of splitting the difference. Tuli Tuli Piloto, not practicing fully at Chargers training camp. Jim Harbaugh had said earlier in the day, the entire team was healthy and ready to go. So that would indicate that that is contract related. Jonathan Taylor of the Colts is practicing. He says he wants to approach it this way, and he's hoping for a new contract, and he's taking the route that maybe practicing will work out better. He had a very contentious holdout last time around. Maybe he doesn't want to go through that again. Before I get your take, Shook, think about which one you think is most significant, if any of them are.

8:21Let's listen to Dan Campbell talk about Jameer Gibbs.

8:24Nick Shook:Of course, you guys know how we feel about Gibbs and all of our guys, Laporta, Brent, you know. And so we'll take this as it comes. This is, you know, this will kind of continue. It'll come as it comes. I think that's the best way to say it. And so, you know, this is both sides working through something, and we'll take it as it comes. But that's where it is. I'm not putting that on a t-shirt it'll come as it comes but it's the first day of camp for everyone what is the answer to my question which was which of these matter if any of them gives matters even though they'll get that deal done eventually like Dan Campbell said not to repeat his catchphrase a third time but it will get done eventually Olave is in a contract year it makes sense Taylor I'm least concerned about that's to answer your question in reverse because in June, he basically anticipated this.

9:24Nick Shook:On June 10th, I wrote about it, and he said, last time, just understanding that, hey, some people are going to run with some of the media narratives, some people won't, but I know that true Indianapolis fans, they'll be able to see through the weeds and understand exactly what's going on and not just believe everything that they read. Basically, he's saying, I got caught in the drama last time. It got really ugly, and luckily we worked it out. I'm not interested in doing that again, and that's why he's participating, and that's why they'll figure out this contract eventually, so that's positive news over there.

9:50Nick Shook:I understand the security risk I think for Chris Olavi, a guy who has struggled to stay on the field because of health issues, going into a contract year you want an extension, we'll see what happens with that one. Tuli Tuli below two I think is a tricky one for them they have a lot of cap space, the Chargers but they're spending a lot up front, we'll see, that's one I could actually see of all of these lasting the longest, we'll see Kyle Shanahan spoke to the 49ers media, I did want to circle back to this before we got to some disappointing injury news around the NFL on this first full-scale day of training camp.

10:24And there's a very interesting headline to read, Shook, after we had updated it on our previous show that Kyle Shanahan wanted to correct the record, the record being the police write-up of his accident and clarify two local reporters who he gathered together to talk off camera that that the accident that he was involved in that wasn't reported on for 11 days was his fault. He said he dropped his phone, said he wasn't on his phone, but he dropped his phone while he was driving and was like looking for his phone while driving. He said he's going 20 miles an hour and he puts his head down and is like searching around for your phone.

11:08You know, sometimes you get it stuck between the seat and whatever. I don't know where he was looking for it. and he pulled his head up, he says, two seconds later, and the airbags are going off. Like, he drifted into the other lane and got into this collision with a woman who is reportedly doing okay, but he said it really made him sick to think about, you know, her seeing this, that she was at fault when that wasn't the case. So Shanahan and the way this has all come out, it being held for 10 or 11 days, and now you have to correct the police write-up of it at first. I just wanted the conspiracy theorists to just shut up.

11:51Not everything has to be a conspiracy theory, but they're kind of helping out the conspiracy theorists with just how all the information has come out in this unfortunate incident.

12:01Nick Shook:Yeah, you know, I tend to want to say good on Kyle for acknowledging that it was his fault in correcting the record to take responsibility for the action. but it's also like it's getting making things a little complicated um i mean look you don't ever want to take your eyes off of the road when you're driving first off and foremost but um yeah i i'm glad that everybody seems to be okay uh and that maybe he's learned his lesson but it's it got weirder than it needed to be i think it it's weird and yeah we'll see if there's any agreement between him and the victim here too like whether there's any financial we don't know but it's it's not something that law enforcement is dealing with and and the police confirmed it they said it was a mistake in terms of them they confirmed that they made an error and that they made a mistake and uh that it was like a i don't know they called it like a technical error entering the info very strange let's get to the disappointing injury news from the day brian brissy who is a defensive tackle for the Saints, a starter, one of their better pass rushers, although a little inconsistent, certainly against the run, but he's gotten a lot of sacks in his career as a defensive tackle, is feared to have a torn ACL.

13:20This is a thin defensive line. I did Mina Kimes' podcast this week. Check it out. It's the preview of the NFC South. We'll talk about the NFC South in an upcoming NFL Daily Show. But one of the things I talked about, Shook, was how, man, I don't think this defensive line has enough juice as, as much as I like chase young and Kim Jordan is back there. If you look at the interior, the edge, it, they are really asking the secondary to kind of prevent big plays. Cause I don't think they're going to have much of a pass rush. And now you lose for the season, maybe your biggest breakout potential young player, a fourth year guy who's had some production that it's a very painful injury, I think for this team.

14:03Yeah.

14:04Nick Shook:Yeah. Former first round pick and Percy, um, not your traditional down lineman in just the way that he wins. Um, and it look, when you build a team, it's difficult to fill out all three levels of a defense with depth and you're inevitably going to have some sort of weakness in one place or another. And you hope that you can get by without, you know, losing one of your key guys. This is a key guy. This, this is like behind him on the depth depth chart right now is John Ridgeway, who's spent a couple of years in Washington the last couple of years in New Orleans. There is a lack of depth here. Tyree Wilson is also existing on this depth chart.

14:35Nick Shook:Former high pick that's never really delivered, right? So you wonder if maybe they're going to be hitting the free agent market and checking on some veterans who might be available to fill in. I think they should. Yeah, I think there's a guy who tends to sign really late in the process, pretty much annually. Former high pick. He's out there. Who are you talking about, Clowney? Yep. Well, he's visiting the Browns today, and they're thinking about it. Let's throw that back. You spoiled an exciting Brown section coming up. But first, I'll just run through the other bigger injuries on the first day of training camp.

15:11We learned that Luke Musgrave, who is tight end two for the Packers, has a neck injury. It sounds serious, which most neck injuries are. The way Matt LaFleur talked about Luke Musgrave, who plays a lot for the Packers. This could be a while. So best wishes to him. That's always really scary. My guy from Tulane by way of Tennessee, Chris Brazel of the Panthers, is out with a torn LCL. That's usually about an eight-week injury for the Panthers. That hurts their receiver depth. We've been talking about they're quite thin. They've had a really injury-plagued week and a half now. Very disappointing for them.

15:47He's a rookie. They wanted to contribute. And then Shamar Stewart, who is an edge for the Bengals, their first-round pick from a year ago, was going to be part of a rotation potential starter, although I didn't think he was going to be carted off the field with what appeared to be a nasty injury. So some teams losing spots at positions that I already thought were relatively thin. Let's pivot to your Browns. They gave out some big contracts even before Jadavian Clowney hit the scene. We don't know if he's going to sign for sure yet. Denzel Ward, two years,$62 million. Grant Delpit, their safety, three years,$48 million.

16:24What do you think about the Browns investing long-term in these guys in the secondary?

16:28Nick Shook:Well, the talk after the miles Garrett trade was, is this the start of a fire sale is Denzel Ward going to be next on the trade block. And they quickly denied that at the time. And then they back it up with the dollars by extending Denzel Ward, making him the highest paid corner for the second time in his career. Uh, a deserved payday for Denzel in a corner market that tends to reset itself annually. Uh, probably the last time that he cashes in big time, He's a local product. It makes all the sense in the world. Grant Delpit, meanwhile, getting a deal that puts, what's that pay him an average of what?

17:00Nick Shook:19 a year or something like that. Yeah. Three for 48 on what the extension is. Yeah. That'd be really, it's top 10 money. That lands along the likes of Jesse Bates, Xavier McKinney, a little bit behind Buda Baker and Trevon Merrig. I mean, he's been a decent safety for them. He's a former second round pick who came in with pretty high expectation. He dealt with an injury early in his career. He's been pretty productive statistically, but he's never really taken that next step. But if you're going to look, you save a lot of money by moving on from miles, Garrett. If you're going to redistribute that wealth among your other key defenders, you start with Denzel Ward and then you go over to safety with Grant Delbert, who plays opposite Ronnie Hickman.

17:41Nick Shook:And I'm sure you're going to see Emmanuel McNeil Warren take over in that spot before long. So it makes sense. The way that they're distributing their money right now, defensively, they have a lot of young talent that's on rookie contracts. Jared verse Mason Graham Carson Schlesinger among them. So you can afford to do this now. I don't really know if the money necessarily matches the productivity. I think it's a little bit more than what he's produced the rate he's produced at, but good for him. Look, anytime somebody gets paid, he wants to pay on their key part of the defense. Go for it. That's fine.

18:09We love all our listeners. Everyone, you know, who listens on the podcast, give us a five-star review, leave us a comment. Everyone that watches on YouTube, subscribe, leave us a comment and enjoy the facial expression of Nick shook when he started to talk about grant Delpit that to me said more than him talking about the contract. I don't know how these contracts age. I have a question about Denzel word quickly. I don't want to spend too much time. Is he that good? The show, friend of the show, friend of the show, Denzel word. Is he that good? I sometimes want like he gets talked about like one of the best cornerbacks and maybe I'm missing something.

18:45I also want to see the details on this. it could just be a big one year raise and there's not that much guaranteed money into 27, which is, would make a lot of sense for me. I haven't seen all the guaranteed money. And so the devil's in the details sometimes with these, but do you think he's that good?

18:58Nick Shook:I think he's a blanket corner who has had some concussion issues throughout his career, which has robbed him of some opportunities to play. Um, I think he is a top tier corner, but I wouldn't necessarily call him quite an elite elite corner, but we're also in this weird period right now where like, if you look at the cornerback salaries, McDuffie's a top it sauce gardener behind it. Derek Stingley, JC Horn, Jalen Ramsey. There's kind of room to justify moving him to the top of that group because we're not at that point right now where we just have that absolute Pat Sertan's the absolute elite lockdown corner, right?

19:32Nick Shook:He's sixth on this list. So I have a hard time believing like Denzel Ward is worth as much as like a$30 million edge out there. These cornerbacks are getting paid, but I guess they have money to spend again. Yeah. So it's fair. and they might spend it on Jadavion Clowney. By the time you listen to this, he is visiting the team. I also thought it was noteworthy. Harold Fannin, their second year tight end, who was really good as a rookie, revealed that he had groin surgery, which the team had not revealed previously, but he was a full go for first day of practice. So ultimately, he is back. Also at Browns practice.