Quarterback Carousel Check-In + Combine News & Rumors

Hey, welcome to Heed the Call, an NFL podcast. Dan Hanses with Mark Sessler. Also, Connor Orr. We get Connor on the hat trick. Like Carly Lloyd in the 2015 Women's World Cup Final. Look at you. Against Japan. A lot like that. a callback. And Justin Graver on the ones and twos. Combine week. We're going to continue to peel through the news nuggets coming out of Indianapolis. And that's nice because this is a little bit of a gimme for us, Mark, this week. You don't have to overthink the show. This is a chance to just read and react to the news out there, offer our analysis, and then turn the page as we go back to my previous analogy. This is the big stew. We're chopping up the carrots and the onions and the tomatoes and throwing some beef in there. Maybe not for the sess dog, but for the rest of us. And away we go. I, as you know, I do eat all forms of food at this point. I will say that that's the preamble there. It makes it sound like we're potentially mailing it in, in terms of planning the show, but we're not. We're not at all. We're not. It's like, but I am, I am ready because we're getting to the end of this week, I am ready for these coaches and GMs like, just go home. We're good. We'll get through this all day. This is a bountiful amount of news and updates. Smash cut to James Gladstone on his couch with his hands back. One step ahead of you, quiet storm. I think he knows your nickname. Well, that would be stunning to me. Speaking of GMs, one of the GMs there, of course, and he's there proudly. One of my favorite combine traditions is when you see the defending Super Bowl or the newly crowned Super Bowl champions. They roll in and, you know, they are they are feeling no pain. They they are at the top of their profession. And then here's the first league tentpole event where you get to walk around and look at all of your colleagues, some of them who probably don't like very much looking at you with distaste and envy. That's got to be good. That's got to be great, by the way. which takes me to John Schneider, who here's a shot of John Schneider, the Seattle Seahawks general manager from Indianapolis this week. And you got to love it. You got to love what's going on here. Who had the music connection on this? Who called it? Connor. What do you see? And check it out on YouTube. The 2026 John Schneider I don't give a f*** look and image is reminding you of what? I mean, how is this not Tom York from Radiohead? Just like this is like this is like Burn the Witch era. Tom York. It is also like that's a great one. He's got a Tom York like for the audio audience. He's wearing like an old school flannel, like a grunge era flannel open over a black T-shirt. He's got his hair grown out on the top and slick back. No, kind of pushback. tight on the sides. He's got a beard and he does not look like your traditional general manager. I'll make another comparison in the music genre. This is like what Axl Rose would look like if he aged naturally and didn't use just absolutely heroic amounts of plastic surgery. Yeah. But also, Mark, it goes to show you, I think one of the good things in life when you find immense success like John Schneider has. But this goes across all walks of life, right? You start to feel like you could present as the most comfortable version of yourself because he got the pelts on the wall. And I just said, I asked Justin to pull up what John Schneider looked like, you know, before they started winning rings. And now after three trips to the Super Bowl and two wins, and here's a little side-by-side, if you're curious about that. So he went from very traditional look, kind of like the same outfit Mark wore in the ATN studios for like 38 straight shows. Well, probably covering up secrets and issues, but yeah. But that's cool. I feel like Connor is on that journey a little bit, Mark. Well, because if you're looking at this on YouTube, the 2014 John Schneider, you're right, is he would fit into my previous employer, Deloitte, where you could just march around an office looking in a blazer, you're white, with a certain type of haircut, and no one questions your presence there. I will give him this. He's 54. And to go with the new slicked-back hair look, to be able to have hair... It's pushed back. Pushed back. But to be able to have hair to make that choice at 54 is impressive. But the Tom York thing, he would need to go on a 14-week juice fast to look like Tom York to me. Just because Tom York looks like he's... And I love Radiohead. And I think Tom York is brilliant. But I don't know if there's a lot of people out there that are efforting to look like Tom York. Not efforting. Yeah. Tom York looks like Alan Cumming, the actor. This is like a, I wouldn't say a fat Tom York, but just a hell of, he feeds healthily. A well-fed York. Yeah. Yeah. Tom York, every photo you've ever seen of Tom York looks like a man that literally nothing good has ever happened to him. But I guess that's part of the creative engine from within. All right. Why don't we dive right into it? What is the latest news from around the NFL? On heed the call. How about that? It all ties together. Let's do it. Our organization. Get used to the mantra, all gas, no break. When we talk about all gas, no break, we're not talking about effort on the field. We're talking about the process at which we do things. All right, let's get into it. Let's start with a trade. How about that? A trade. A trade. People love trades. Robert Sully just heard his voice. All gas, no break. He's taking that mantra to Nashville. And I should have seen this coming, Justin, jumping here, Gravy. Our favorite teams, the Jets and Titans, are tied at the hip as trying to build up, rise up from the bottom of the league. The former Jets coach is now the Titans coach. Of course, he's going to want to bring some of, quote-unquote, his guys over via trade. And that's what happened on Thursday. The Jets and Titans agreed to a rare player-for-player trade. The Jets send pass rusher Jermaine Johnson to the Titans. defensive tackle to Vondre Sweat goes back to the Jets. Of course, this deal doesn't become official until the new league year begins on March 11th. But that is the state of the deal. From the Titans' point of view, Justin, in fact, I will say this. I think it's a good trade, a sensible trade for both teams. And I think you're getting a very good player who's coming back into a defense in which he thrived. He was a pro bowler with Robert Saul in 2023. He tears his Achilles in early 24. Last year, he fell out with the Steve Wilks defensive coaching staff and obviously was coming back from a major lower body injury. I would not be surprised if you get a very good edge rusher out of this. Yeah, I think, you know, going from the 3-4 where he didn't really fit back into Saul is going to run that 4-3 front most of the time. I mean, fronts are stupid nowadays because everyone's in a sub package. But yes, to be able to just rush upfield from the wide nine spot. And they always say like that second year off the Achilles is when you really start to get back to yourself. So hopefully that is the case for him. And it's not like a permanent sapping. I'll speak on Tavondre Sweat. There have been rumors and mumblings about Tavondre Sweat's culture fit with the Titans since Mike Borgonzio took over. Mike Borgonzio has undone a lot of the moves that Rand Carthon made as the GM, including trading away Jarvis Brownlee Jr. to the Jets right before the trade deadline last year when after that move was made everyone was like is Tavondre Sweat next and obviously he wasn't but now he is next I do think there's some like on the field fit concerns in the in the sense that Sala doesn't typically use a giant space eating nose tackle but I think you know he's a good player if you're a good corner you make good players work I think this is about culture fit Mike Borgonzi concerned about, does this guy love football? Is he all in, all football, all the time? That it's going to help bring other guys in the locker room along and set an example. I think that's why they shipped him off. That doesn't mean he won't be a great player for the Jets. And I think he fills a need that the Jets have. Again, in a 3-4 scheme, they do need that big space-eating nose tackle. It's interesting to me that someone can be shipped out of Tennessee and the issue is culture fit on a team that had the number one overall pick a year ago. I know that the culture is going to be different under Salah. If you're the Jets, though, it's like that draft, you're aiming for these drafts where you have three number one picks. It's Jermaine Johnson, Sauce Gardner, Garrett Wilson. Two of them are gone. I know you got picks back in a player, but it kind of is a lesson that these stockpiled first-round hauls look great, and you think everything's changing, but like three years later, you've changed the coach twice and everything is changing and the ex-coach is seeking to lure in the guy that you picked before. I don't know. It feels like two bored wives trading their husbands to me a little bit, but I wish well for both sides. Interesting. Do you want to explore that for a minute or should I just jump in to the next slide? No, go on, Con. Jump in. My thought here is two-pronged. I mean, if you're the Jets, are you really not interested in getting draft capital back at this point? Because that seems to be the whole theme of this rebuild. And I think the concern and we have mounting concerns with Aaron Glenn, right? This isn't a new thing or a fresh thing. But if Sauce Gardner didn't fit in your defense and Quinton Williams didn't fit in your defense and now Jermaine Johnson didn't fit in your defense. What is the archetype? What's the idea of it? And if the idea is turnover, I don't want a player back. I want a fifth round pick. If I'm really not going to use this guy, I want equity and I want capital for that 2027 draft where really your fortunes are going to hinge and turn around on. Well, let's talk about 2026 draft. Because what happened here is you have ever since they traded Quinn and Williams, the Jets had a major void in the middle of their defensive line. So they now plug that with Sweat, who graded out. And I don't know about the culture. Some of that stuff I always eyebrow up. Justin, when a guy gets traded, he's like, not for our team, not our culture. It's like, why don't you just keep that in your pocket rather than try to poison the wall to make the trade look better? But PFF graded him out as the sixth best run stopper amongst all defensive tackles in 2025. He is on a very cheap contract. The Jets get a lot of salary relief by sending a first-round pick back the other way, and the Jets have first-round picks in the draft. They're going to use one of those picks on an edge rusher. So what you're going to do here is follow the math. It kind of clarifies a little bit or follow the roster math. It clarifies a little bit more what the Jets are probably going to do. They're going to watch Fernando Mendoza go to the Raiders, and then they're going to take someone and put on the edge. And to your point, Mark, about like the draft, all this stuff feels like board house-wise because these teams aren't being taken seriously, and I get that. But I think Jermaine Johnson is a very good player. Sauce, I don't think Sauce was not deemed a culture fit. I think it was more like they had a great opportunity with the trade. But I think what really is the problem when you are a team that loses year after year after year, it does cause situations where you feel like you almost have to turn this thing over and get all these unhappy guys out of the building because you got to start fresh again. And that's very frustrating because they did trade talented players in these deals they've been doing. But it's almost necessary because the vibes are so ugly around the Jets. And your defensive coach is probably out of there by week 11, if not just the end of the season. And you've got a new regime coming in needing different types of players. It just feels like a turnstuff. I get all that. I get all that. And I'm not trying to be optimistic about the Jets. But you can't assume that that's what's going to happen if you're the Jets. Aaron Glenn said that I'm taking over play calling. I'm trying to save my job and get this team going in the right direction. All right, let's go all in on it. Like, who are the guys that you want? Let's bring them in. Let's use the draft to supplement. Now we have even more cap space and free agency. And give it a shot. Damn, I hope it works. I think there's one last lesson to take away, Mark. You almost hinted at it, but you didn't quite get to what I'm going to say, which is that. Thank you. Ooh, almost, Mark. You know what? To the real point. It's Thursday morning in Los Angeles, and that's what I needed to put a pep in my step. Thank you. I just meant you were making another point that touched closely to this and made me think of it, which is that if you constantly turn over your coaching staff and general management, then you're going to be constantly drafting players in the first round and the second round and then trading them before the end of their contract because they no longer fit your scheme because you have a new scheme in there. And all the reasons to have consistency at your leadership spots are exemplified by this trade ticket. Almost, Mark. We had to bring in Mariano Rivera for the close. Yeah, I could see the finish line. And then it was like lights out. It was like a guy that pitched eight in the third, gave up six hits, two runs, eight Ks, but 127 pitches just out of gas. So we had to come get you. But a nice ovation walking back to the dugout. Right, while your significant other is like French kissing someone else in the mezzanine section. That's the second reference from Sessler in about eight minutes about marriage has gone sideways. I've got a third example if you'd like, but we'll stop there. The rule of threes. I know there has to be another one coming by the end of the episode. Maybe the end of this segment. All right, so there's a trade. Don't be surprised if there's another one. These guys, they go somewhere and they want to go get their guys and bring them back in. How about this? Justin, I bet he's going to be a Pro Bowl pass rusher this year. I think you've got a good player. I really like him. All right. In other news, once upon a time, the Colts, the Colts, thought that they had their franchise quarterback in Anthony Richardson. That's clearly not the case anymore. In fact, he has now been granted permission to seek a trade, per Stephen Holder. The Athletics' James Boyd added that Richardson's eye, fractured that orbital socket with a bizarre stretching band injury is healed. The doctor says he he's now regained full vision. So that's great. Or maybe the timing's interesting there that that's now been put out there that the eye is no longer an issue now that they're trying to get a trade done. Anyway, Daniel Jones recovering from broken leg and Achilles is very much in the Colts plans in 2026 and onward, Connor. And now Richardson is most likely going to end up somewhere else, which adds another name to the mix for these QB needy teams. I think this is incredibly stupid and short-sighted on his part, for two things, right? On Richardson's part. On Richardson's part. As soon as this went live everyone posted the video of Kevin O hugging Richardson and giving him encouragement saying how much he likes him and saying oh well he might be able to thrive in one of these systems If you Chris Ballard who is hanging on to this job by a razor's edge, you're going to trade Anthony Richardson to one of the four or five best destinations for a quarterback in the NFL and watch him materialize into the player that you believed him to be? The f*** you are. And the second part to that is that Anthony Richardson is already in one of the six best places in the NFL to develop as a quarterback. Ask Daniel Jones about how good Shane Steichen is at reviving careers and, you know, resuscitating a situation where you might not have felt wanted in another place. This is an Anthony Richardson doesn't want to work here issue. It's like you've already pulled yourself out of games. You had one of the lowest completion percentages in NFL history in short to mid-range passes. Like this is a you issue. And what you're doing is you're leaving like Harvard and you're potentially, no offense, like getting shipped to the Jets. Like, and that's what I would do if I was Chris Ballard. It's like, if you're that confident in yourself, then go play for the Jets and go figure yourself out there. Because this is at least a place where quarterbacks can develop. I'm sorry that didn't happen for you. But to interrupt like what we've got going on here and say that this season is about me starting somewhere else or going somewhere else. Like, good luck to you, sir. I mean, the 49ers are closed. I'm not trading you there. I'm not trading you to the Vikings. I'm not giving you to Mike McDaniel and Chargers. I'm sending you to football Siberia and I'm letting you rock. Yeah, but don't you want to, if you're, if you do decide to trade them, I also, I only, I say this Connor, like I hear everything you're saying, but this presupposes that it's, it's all on Anthony Richardson, that he wants out of town, not the Colts looking to get rid of him at this point because they don't believe in them anymore. But let's say that the Colts do say, okay, fresh start. He doesn't want to be here. We're ready to move on. We think we found our guy anyway. Wouldn't it be more important to get the best possible assets back and get the best trade set up for your team rather than to be so worried that he's going to realize his potential in a better system that you'll take a worse trade to dump him off to a have-not in the NFL? Like, I feel like that's backward thinking to look at it from that perspective. I think it's two pronged, right? I mean, how good is the comp versus are you trading him to someone within the division? Is it a direct competitor? Is it someone that you expect to possibly see in the playoffs or in the conference championship game? Like, I think all that stuff matters and factors into it. But hell no, I'm not giving him to the. They don't think he can play, though, right? At this point, I think it's tough to have a play. It's tough to have a failed first round quarterback on your roster. There's a weight to that. And I do think that the fresh start is something we just see in the NFL all the time. Like there, I don't even think you could trade for him or make a move for him. It's suggesting that he's a reliable backup quarterback from what we've seen. Like, I get he's spicy. There's an element to his game that anyone would want to take on. But, like, is he even a reliable backup? Like, I don't think someone can trade for him thinking he's a starter. Connor, put a bow on this because we're going to talk quarterbacks later in the show. And we're going to come back to this in terms of potential fits and where he stands in the league. He takes up 3.5% of your salary cap. So my thought here is it doesn't matter. I mean, if the Vikings come and offer you a first-round pick, it's like, sure, yeah, I mean, I'll do that. because that outweighs any of the risk mitigation, but that ain't happening. I mean, this is going to be a fifth, sixth, seventh round pick, and you're going to have to be discerning about where you send him because I feel like the optics and the sort of the shattered damage outside of that are worse in certain situations. That's all. But, like, he's not expensive enough to be like, God, we've got to get this guy off the roster. Just tell him he doesn't have to come into work. Let's see, when did Daniel Jones tore his Achilles? On December 7th, 2025. Okay, we are just a couple months out of that surgery. I would much rather work with Anthony Richardson and say, man, you might be our quarterback week one through four here, and let's try to make this work. And if he plays well, then Daniel Jones comes back. You could either hold on to him. By the way, we just talked about this. Daniel Jones is the most injury prone starting quarterback, perhaps in the league right now. Maybe outside of Anthony Richardson. Unless, yeah, exactly. Unless you don't think Anthony Richardson can play, in which case, and you don't like him, and you think he might be immature and all this stuff, get him the hell out of Dodge for whatever you can get, even if it's a day three pick. But if you have any inkling, if you're Shane Steichen, that we could still work with this guy. Last year was a total disaster. It was nobody's fault. Then maybe use this offseason to take one more crack at it. But not to belabor it, but don't you think Shane Steichen would be the engine behind this decision? That we're done with this guy? Versus, wait a minute, there's so much potential here? I think they are. It's got to be your quarterback-driven head coach. In other news, trope alert. Hit it, Justin. Trope alert. Trope alert. Trope alert. Oh, baby. Trope alert. This is the year Justin Herbert fully goes nuclear. That is the trope alert that we've been talking about for years and years. This one's a little more funny just because he got a first place MVP vote this year, famously, and it cost Drake May the MVP that went to Matthew Stafford. So, like, I feel like there's a lot of talk about Justin Herbert realizing his potential this year. He just shit his pants in the playoffs again. But anyway, Chargers GM Joe Hortiz believes that Justin Herbert will take off in Mike McDaniel's offense, the new OC. Mike is a coach that will literally create his scheme, create his offense based around the players we have. And it's not that you go out and find this specific player. So I think his flexibility as an offense coordinator and play caller is one of the things that makes him great. And just knowing the offense, I think Justin's going to take off in it. And this was a PFT live with Mike Florio from Indianapolis. Connor, like, I get it. And we could go down this road and have this conversation because Mike McDaniel is a really gifted play caller. Herbert is incredibly talented as a quarterback. But I don't have to buy into all of a sudden this is now going to be an MVP quarterback because I still think he's in Jim Harbaugh's offense. I mean, I don't know what takeoff means, right? I mean, he threw for 5,000 yards and 40 touchdowns once, and the team was 9-8. You know, like there's bigger conversations to be had here about the Chargers, and I think that's what kind of drives me nuts about it. Like he has taken off. Like a 5,000-yard, 40-touchdown season is phenomenal among quarterbacks and is like a gold standard bar. So it's like, is he going to throw for 6,000 yards and 50 touchdowns? Like I don't understand what taking off means, I guess. I don't know. Well, it's interesting this week we find out or we know that Philly is open to adopting more of a Shanahan type offense, right? Elements, at least. They're changing what they do. And I think we are going to see that here with McDaniel. It's going to be a shift away from the Greg Roman Harbaugh scheme to some level. I think that's a plus. Like with O'Marrion Hampton and the rest, like if you can bring that run scheme and make that offense more balanced, they've got to add more weapons. I think Herbert is a tough MF-er. Like he is just physically one of the toughest guys in the league. I think he's already done all this. I don't know why we – to your point, Dan, I think it's exhaustion with pumping up the idea that this is finally the year that Justin Herbert turns into like the return of Jesus. Like he's already a great quarterback. Like he's been surrounded with some wonky stuff the last couple of years and injuries. But I think McDaniel is a significant change from Greg Roman. Right. He had his just going over stats, alluding to what Connor said. As a rookie, he blasts onto the scene, throws for 4,300 yards, 31 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, throws for nearly 300 yards a game. He's a tremendous player out of the gate. The next year, he goes off. He throws for 5,000 yards, 38 touchdowns, 15 picks, again, 7.5 yards per attempt, again, averaging around 300 yards a game, passer rating around 100. Now, in the last four years, he's been parked in very similar territory, which I think is what it's about. Like in the modern NFL, when you think about who are the real dogs out there, you're thinking about the 5,000 yards and the 40 touchdowns and that type of thing. But that's just not what he's been in this offense. In fact, he's been between 20 and 26 touchdowns each of the last four years passing. His yardage passing the last three years has been between 3,100 and 3,900 yards. He's settled in there. So I think the conversation that's fair to have, because McDaniel turned to a tongue of Iloa of all people into a massive statistical producer, is that what's going to happen with Justin Herbert and Mike McDaniel? I just like, again, not to belabor my point, it might be Mike McDaniel's offense, but it's Jim Harbaugh's team. And I think that's just going to dictate much more than what McDaniel brings to an organization. I do love that one of the most annoying nerd-centric Twitter slash X outpouring of nerdism was the Tua versus Herbert debate of a number of years ago. And now it's the same coach helming both. He did everything he could with Tua. now he'll try it with Herbert he at least can help us solve if we even care about the solution that absurd debate that drove me nuts there's nothing to solve there's nothing to solve it was some bonehead in the national media that was wagging his tail and eventually was proven wrong I'm not trying to be dismissive I don't remember who it was it was a guy, one of those guys on the TV who was the guy on the TV? Emmanuel Acho? It's hook'em horns. Emmanuel Acho hook'em horns in 2013. I had econ with him, 2013. Pretty cool, actually. Come on, that's pretty cool. That was his thing. It was Acho's corner. It was how he buttered his bread. He said that Tua was a better quarterback than Herbert, and I don't think anyone's hearing that anymore. I think he was sent off to Siberia for that take, I think. That trumpet has been quieted. I used to see him at the Fox Sports Studios all the time, and his show got canceled, and now he has his own, like, he's doing what we're doing, his own independent podcast. Well, there's a little more that went on with that whole situation. Good plug, Justin. Thanks. Right, yeah, you know, he just got let go. That was it. There was nothing off the field, so to speak. Listen to both shows, decide which one to continue to be subscribed to. Thank you, Justin. All right, let's take a break, and we'll continue to roll through Combine News. Everyone wants their money to do more, but without the stress, the jargon, or the confusion, that's why TELUS feels refreshing. Yeah, TELUS started out as a property management app, helping owners and managers collect rent, communicate with tenants, and stay organized. But now TELUS goes beyond that, helping everyday people grow their money. Yes, Mark, Tell Us is reimagining how everyday people can grow by offering a high-yield savings wallet powered by real estate. The app includes a digital wallet designed to help your money go to work for you while keeping everything simple and transparent. Exactly, Dan. You can move funds in and out easily, track your daily growth clearly, and access your money whenever you need it. And the best part? There are no processing fees, no locked up funds, and no fees to open or use TELUS. You can also earn better rates by building positive habits like learning through TELUS, daily trivia, or simply setting goals for yourself. Learn more at telusapp.com or just search TELUS, T-E-L-L-U-S, in the Apple App Store or Android Store. TELUS. Earn more daily. TELUS is not a bank. TELUS is not FDIC insured. All right, we are back. Oh, give me the kicker club theme. Listen, I just missed that song. You have a lot of our popular theme music, Mark, that we hear week after week during the regular season. That just goes away. Right. No, it's not fair to us. Not fair to Justin, putting him on the spot as he scrambles through his different folders. One's marked private with three X's. I took an economics class with fill in the blank. I got my clout all mixed up with personal and business. Anyway, welcome here to the Kicker Club, which dedicates an entire second floor balcony to Brandon Aubrey of the Dallas Cowboys. And I really find it interesting that Brandon Aubrey is in a position contractually where he might be able to do something that other kickers haven't really done, which is do not pay me like I'm just some guy that could be replaced. You have to pay me like I'm one of the best players in the league. And he is at his position. Show some respect. So, Brandon Aubrey's agent, according to Adam Schefter, has asked for a deal close to $10 million per season. Cowboys have offered a deal that is closer to a league-high 6.4 average per year. and Aubrey responded to an Instagram post from the fan that was discussing the report from the Dallas Morning News that the Cowboys have an offer to make him the highest paid kicker in the NFL. His response was short, fake. Anyway, I just find this interesting, Mark, because I think Aubrey really is a weapon for the Cowboys, and he's not alone. There's about five to six kickers that really make a big difference. I think he's near the front of the line. But if you're a team builder, there is just there's a salary cap. And do you think it's prudent to invest that much in a place kicker? I the cap is at an outrageous like total overall number right now. This is not a crazy concept. Kickers are winning and losing games every week more than ever before. And Brandon Aubrey has crossed a boundary that others are getting there, but he's done it before them. he's sort of like a Le'Veon Bell maybe in this situation. Four kickers, minus getting caught, what, bowling on game day? I was going to say, nobody wants to be compared to Le'Veon Bell. Well, no, but just like, I'm going to go do this. But this is half of what Justin Fields is set to make, or what he made last year too. So I think this is completely deserved. Someone's got to break the glass ceiling for kickers here. This would be the guy, and it would be great for the kickers club. It would be. Thank you. I don't know who's applauding it. Kickers. Yeah. Kickers. Yeah, I think, Connor, you put it well there, Mark. The glass ceiling. Do you foresee, Connor, it ever becoming that way? The kickers are better than ever. We talk about it. That maybe they start to be paid at a rate that more closely connects with their actual value to the team, which is way higher than they've gotten credit for. Yeah. Yeah. I was talking to Frank Ross, who's the special teams coordinator of the Texans, about this, where, you know, not only are kickers making longer field goals, but they're swinging field position more drastically than they ever have before with unique kickoffs in the new landing zone rules And what Frank said was interesting He drew the comparison between like Steph Curry where Steph Curry started doing things that no one else did and thus altered kind of the economics of the sport. And it's like, well, guys like that weren't really getting paid anymore. It was just big, long guys, and you're investing all your money there. And now all of a sudden, Steph Curry is changing. Steph Curry is like changing the way that you work your salary cap and your finances. And so Aubrey, who cares? Like, it's about gross impact. And last year, Brian Schottenheimer, on several occasions, we saw play to a situation where Aubrey would kick a 65-yard field goal. I mean, and put the Cowboys in a position where that was their best chance of scoring points on that draft. Even to Aubrey's detriment in terms of statistically, they sent him out for so many just bombs last year that it depressed some of his numbers, but it spoke to the amount of faith that they had in him. Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of breaking the glass ceiling, how has your life changed, Connor, since finally booking that feminist monthly cover? Oh, the victory lap. I mean, you talked about John Schneider going into the combine. There is nothing like your first cover of Feminist Weekly victory lap, but also like AGM at the combine. You're only one year away from looking and feeling like total shit again. And my fear is that my drop off from the cover of Feminist Weekly is going to be steep and violent. So you so you found that women in general, by the concept of you being on the cover, that they don't see that it's a complete ruse. Yeah, 100 percent. I think I've always struck large segments of the population as as as somebody deserving of that honor. I think it's fair to have that viewpoint That yeah, one month You're on the cover of Feminist Monthly By the way, we're two monthly Because it was weekly Now it's monthly because of circulation issues But the next month you could be on the cover Of Toxic Cis Male Quarterly You never know You never know So just live in the moment and enjoy It feels much easier to get on the cover of that magazine In our daily conversation in other news all right do we want to read between the lines we want to do some translation how about the las vegas raiders their running back room ashton jenty was a top 10 pick last year he should be the dog the sled dog of the offense right probably still will be but different leadership different coaching there uh now and here is new head coach clint kubiak on the idea of pairing his dynamic second-year player with a running mate in the backfield for the Raiders in 2026? Yeah, definitely want to have a two-minute show there, guys. I can try to load. It's a long season. You don't want to put all the carries and targets on one guy. Is he handcuffed? So right now we're identifying guys that are available here in the draft. Hold up the newspaper. Let us know if this is a recent video. Looking at our own roster and seeing who can take that. But it is important that Gentry has a wingman, and it's probably not going to be just one guy. So that'll be really important to identify. It's like a young JFK has come back to us. That's not what I was thinking, but yeah, he looked a little bit uncomfortable there. The lighting wasn't doing him any favors, but I'm sure he's been working long hours since taking over the Raiders. As to the contents of what he said, I mean, this is common sense. Anybody I think who is upset about it is just upset about the idea that it's not a common sense top 10 fantasy football draft pick anymore, right? It's that you're pairing Jameer Gibbs with David Montgomery. You're pairing RJ Harvey with JK Dobbins. You need a running mate for your elite backs. And then you need those backs to kind of slowly assume control of the entire offense like a young quarterback. This is the only thing that makes sense. The only thing that didn't make sense was the way that the Raiders were playing him last year. And it's it's it's B. John with Tyler Algier. And it's it's basically where he just was, which was Charbonnet paired with the Super Bowl MVP and Kenneth Walker. Like, I mean, the best backfield backfields have two guys. I would love an Ashton Gentry, Tyler Algier combo back there. I think Algier is a running back one going somewhere, and he's going to have a very quick 1,400-yard season. Whoa. I've never seen you as passionate about a player as you are about Tyler Algier. Going way back, it was like, he's my guy. I love the way he runs. He reminds me of the 1980s. He is just trapped behind someone else. I think you set him free, and he is absolutely the centerpiece of an offense on the ground. Your offense. How about your Cleveland Browns? Let's go. Somewhere. Taylor Algeir is officially your guy. Oh, I should have known. I should have. I completely forgot about that. And when I see Mark talking with such passion, there has to be more to the story. He was your guy from like three years ago, right? Yeah. Okay. I got it. He's a good player. 1,400 yards? Let's keep an eye on it. Mm-hmm. It's one of those things that there's a lot riding on it, Mark. I'm fully confident. Yeah. Here in February, late February. Your reputation on the line. If he gets that, like if he gets the bag, as they say, and then gets the number one spot in the backfield, all the eggs are in the Algier basket for the old sess dog. As if people are still carrying eggs around in baskets. But if they are, that's exactly what's happening here. In other news, Mark, speaking of eggs and baskets, all the eggs in the basket were turned into a mess of yolk when we attempted to interview Kayvon Thibodeau as a young player at the New York Giants several years back at the NFL Media Chris Wessling Podcast Studio. So if you forgot or you weren't around or weren't a listener back then, here is a little bit of Mark Sessler as the sled dog leading conversation with Thibodeau around the NFL. Just instinctually, do you think he's more of a front spoon or a back spoon when he is spooning someone? I don't answer those type of questions. That's a tough one. All right, let's see. How about this? Dan and Mark. Before you go, let's not ask any more personal questions about any other man. Because I'm a real man, and I don't answer questions that pertain to another man. Because I'm a true man. I'm a he-man. I thought it was a very pertinent question. Is Brian Dayball a front or back spoon? And like, he didn't want to respond. And later that day, simply, simply too macho. He was too, it was out of bounds for his macho, for his level of macho-ness. I came in, I came in hot with a couple of questions that I think threw the interview completely sideways and left Dan and Mark talking in their cars for two and a half hours after we had come home from, from taping. I think the NFL media was not thrilled with the performance. Let's put it that way. The postscript to all this that I'll never forget is not only did we get Kayvon for this interview, we also had him a request out to his people that we wanted to record a short of This Guy Gets It, I believe. Yes. with Mark Sessler. And after the big spoon, little spoon incident, having to then go behind the glass and ask Kavan, hey, do you still want to do this guy gets it? Which is, we should explain, like an absurdist, like minute and a half thing where I roll out like a 1986 era PSA about like, you know, health and football matters. And then we wanted him to sit in and be just sit there dumbfounded and as you could tell he's a great sport with an incredible sense of humor so i don't remember that going overly well either i can only imagine um his conversation with his own uh handler after uh that day at nfl media okay i'm pretty sure mark was also trying to ask like if dan and mark were in wrestling tights like that was the next setup that we did right as yeah as i recall it was like i don't want to talk about another man's body and They're like, well, how about the two doughy podcasters in here? Like, what if we were wrestling each other with oil? Like, I kind of understood on a certain that we went in. I respect you as a Barbara Walters of a new generation, Mark, that you were like, I need to. My line of questioning has to see through to the end. Yeah. Well, the employer did not see me as a Barbara Walters figure on that day or ultimately. All right. Anyway, the chatter, according to Graziano at the NFL Combine, indicates the Giants will try to trade Kayvon Thibodeau. Connor Hughes is also plugged in on the New York football scene. Also reported the Giants are listening to trade offers for pass rusher Kayvon Thibodeau. Other teams do think he will end up being traded out of New York. Connor, what is the, based on what we've seen in Thibodeau's, what, four seasons now in the NFL, what would be fair trade compensation? and would you want a guy like that on your team? These are fair questions. I don't know because it's one of those things where, and I was talking to someone who didn't work for the Giants but did evaluate Kayvon coming out of that draft and said like basically in a normal draft with a normal depth of pass rushers, he would have been maybe like the 20th pick or something like that. But this was a weird class where it was like Aiden Hutchinson, I believe at the top and Trayvon Walker. And then all of a sudden it was, if you missed out on one of those guys, you had to come up and you had to get him in the top five. And there was potential concerns. There was injury issues. There was all that kind of stuff. So, I mean, maybe like a third round pick or a fourth round pick just because I don't know how many people really viewed him as a consensus top 10 player, even during the draft that he came out in. and they've gone out and they go get Brian Burns and draft Abdul Carter. They're telling you the New York giants, we don't see him as the guy. Right. So like they're kind of, it's a tough trade sitch because they made it very clear that his value is not higher than one would expect. It's not a first round back. It's maybe a day two pick. I could see that a second or third rounder for Kayvon, still young guy has flashed very talented, but didn't live up to potential. Connor. And here's the other thing about it too, right? If they're telling you this at a time where, like, the way that the Seahawks succeeded this year, the way that the Broncos succeeded this year, like, you need those guys because you need your front to be amoebic. You don't want people to know what you're doing, and you want people who are athletic enough to rush or to drop back. If they're like, hey, we're good on this guy, I think that probably also speaks to an inability to kind of play in the orchestra with the modern NFL. Right. this point and so i think that that's concerning in another way too all right let's take a break and when we get back let's do it a little check on the qb carousel ahead of free agency and the draft stay right there welcome back the quarterback carousel in the nfl I was kind of, this was an interesting exercise for the old Zuzzer this morning, working in conjunction with the Grave Digger. Wanted to put together a list of where teams stand in terms of quarterback need and heading with free agency in the draft coming up. I was very surprised by the level of stability overall at the position and also was thinking to myself, man, if this would have been a loaded quarterback class, we would have come out of April with more teams feeling good about their position than I can ever really remember. Example. And I say this, the setup for this, by the way, is that we've heard Derek Carr is very serious. It's according to our old buddy Schultz, Ian Rappaport's sparring partner. Derek Carr is quote, very serious about unretiring and returning to the NFL in 2026. So I guess you throw Derek Carr's name in the list. of guys that are out there if you want one. So with that said, let's take a look. I want to start with, I'm going to throw up three boards here. If you're watching on YouTube, check us out on YouTube. If you're on YouTube, subscribe if you haven't. Give us a like. Give us a comment. Do all the things to help the hedonism movement. But anyway, here is the board, Sestog, of the teams and their quarterbacks where we good, okay? We good. And it's a long one, surprisingly long. And in fact, it's three-fourths of the league. I think I would say there's 24 teams that are going to enter 2026 at different levels, really confident. Bills, Patriots, Ravens, Bengals, Jaguars, Titans, Texans. Yes, it would be moronic, by the way, according to their general manager, to move on from CJ Stroud. Colts, Cowboys, Giants, Eagles, Commanders, Broncos, Chiefs, Chargers, Bears, Lions, Packers, Panthers. I know Bryce Young, they're not sure if he's their long-term answer, but he's their answer in 2026, and they feel good about it. Panthers, Saints, Bucs, Rams, 49ers, and of course, Sam Darnold and the Seahawks. That's a big group of names, Sessie, where there is really no question about who they feel is going to shepherd their offense. Yeah, it's a list that includes the Baker Mayfields, the Darnolds who failed elsewhere and have succeeded here. I think the upset of the group, because this is a huge list. This is like four-fifths of the league, it seems like. Three-fourths. 24 of 32. Three-fourths. Well, yes, you have corrected me mathematically. The Tyler Shuck thing, I think, is like a good story and the biggest surprise here, because they seemed like the team that was going to go do anything they could draft-wise or elsewhere to get a quarterback, and they may have a quarterback. That team heated up under Shuck. But look at them. These are young. All these people are like reaching a new contract or very young. And they're going to be the quarterbacks of these teams for a long time. It feels like if you look at the AFC quarterbacks in general, there's like 12 or 13 that are in their 20s. Not all of them are cemented starters, but their starters at the moment are young. So if they work like the AFC is going to be a beast quarterback wise for a long time. All right. Now let's move to the middle tier. And this would, I would label this, we okay. Okay, so you have the Browns with Shador Sanders and Deshaun Watson and maybe a mystery quarterback in the mix there. You have the Vikings with J.J. McCarthy and all the drama around him. You have the Falcons with Michael Penix. Kirk Cousins is no longer in the factor there. And then the Cardinals, of course, with Kyler Murray. this is the this is the four team list where um you know and i i included i guess by editorial decisioning here connor i could put the dolphins here because they technically do have to uh as an option but everything we hearing out of miami is that that a done deal and the cardinals is probably not far behind either in that category Yeah I like that list I would say that at least 75 of it these teams are going to add veteran competition at the very least, right? I mean, I think that that's fair to say, right? I don't think that outside of Shador Sanders and Deshaun Watson, and the Browns might want one of those two to get a prolonged look at the starting position. Like the Vikings aren't going to go into the season with McCarthy. The Falcons aren't going to go into the season with Penix, especially off the third ACL tear. And the Cardinals, I think, are very much up in the air with Kyler Murray, too. What are you hearing, Mark, around the Browns? Is the Deshaun Watson thing, like I could see them giving Sanders more run, but is Watson actually a figure that could end up being their starting quarterback, or are they just kind of going through the motions of a, of a terrible deal that went sideways? The biggest mistake they can make culturally and in every possible way is to put them back in the field. I agree with that. But my question is what, what's the reporting out coming out of this week? I feel like all they've talked about is we are going to have a competition at quarterback. I think everything could be focused towards the future, but Deshaun Watson, I believe from what we heard this week from Andrew Barry, from the coach, from other people, reporters, is that Watson is going to get a chance to beat out Shador Sanders. I don't think they see either of them as the number one starter right now at all, but Deshaun Watson is not going to be exiled the way that I would like them to do. I think he's entering the last year of that contract if i'm not mistaken right i mean it depends on what they do with yeah i mean there's there's a there is it depends what they do with the money but they're they he's got a dead money scenario right now that is so prohibitive that i can see why from like a money angle they'd want to play him more or just get a look at him i don't know why like what's the fifth year of the deal right yes yeah five years fully guaranteed and then the final list uh and this is the again so many teams were kind of taken care of um going into 2026 at least this is the final list there is no solution it's actually the molly you and danger girl list as we uh borrow that from the hot butt situation the dolphins who are obviously out on tua they got queen ewers there the jets who are obviously out in danger girl on justin fields and don't have another real in-house option at the moment the Steelers uh not I guess Mason Rudolph and maybe Aaron Rodgers but I feel like they don't have a an answer right now maybe they're in the they should be in the other category you tell me and the Raider and let's get rid of the Raiders because the Raiders we know are going to take Fernando Mendoza and they're going to feel very good about their quarterback situation in just a month or so so these are the three teams with really Connor the Dolphins and Jets stand out is really have to figure it out the Steelers seem to probably have a couple different options, especially if Rogers wants to come back. And again, it's just a really bad year to be in this particular situation. I thought I texted with a few agents about what they thought Malik Willis might cost before the combine started. Everybody said probably about 25 to 30 million. Now the report's coming out of the combine now that it's at least 30 million. So I think those projections might have been off by a little bit. But that is your low bar that you're going to have to clear. or it's draft compensation for Derek Carr, and we'll see how hardball the Saints want to play on something like that. They ended up going to bat for Sean Payton, and again, much less comp for Derek Carr in that situation. But all of this is going to cost you something that you don't want to give up for a solution that you know is nowhere close to permanent, which really blows. Let's see. I'm looking at this over the cap. So right now, by the way, if it was $30 million a year, that puts you about 3 million annually under Baker Mayfield and above a free fall to Justin Fields. Yeah, so if you look at overthecap.com, Dak is atop the list at 60 million per year. Burrow, Allen, Love all at 55 million average per year. Tua, this is the Dolphins mess. Tua's 53 million average per year is the contract they just signed him to in 2024. And then you get into that next tier. Jalen Hurts closes that group out at 51 million. That's the 50s club. And then Kyler Murray, another problem, obviously, with the Cardinals, 46. Deshaun Watson, 46. Kirk Cousins is no longer going to be an issue. 45 million he was making on average with that last contract. Mahomes, 45 million. Stafford, 40 million. Then you get into the 30s. So, yeah, this is, I guess, the Malik Williams, Malik Willis territory. It makes sense. Gino Smith was 37-5. Sam Darnold looks like a bargain now, but similar situation, 33-5. Baker, 33-3. And then you go into that next year with Justin Fields at 20. So, yeah, it does make sense, right? I don't think that's an unfair slotting for what people seem to think Malik Willis could be, but it's still a risk. Still a risk. Still a risk. and just the top free agents. Daniel Jones is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent, but we know he's going back to the Colts. Talked about Willis. Obviously, Aaron Rodgers is an option. Joe Flacco, Mitch Trubisky, Russell Wilson, Marcus Mariota, Tyrod Taylor, Tyler Huntley, Kenny Pickett. These are your choices. There are whispers that the Panthers want to bring in competition against Andy Dalton for QB2. I don't know how you find a better QB2 than Andy Dalton, but maybe he gets set free at some point. If you're Andy Dalton, you're like, I have a chance to start again. Yeah, I think he would. And that's what, if you're wondering why Derek Carr is coming out of the woodwork, he's like, look at these guys on this list that these teams have to choose from. Maybe somebody could talk themselves into me. Kirk Cousins, same thing. You want to force your way into the open market. Kirk Cousins is going to get another fully guaranteed contract. Now, it'll only be for a year, but it'll be another fully guaranteed contract. Ending a financial master class in the NFL. It's like he and Sam Bradford just go on vacation together. Yeah, and Aaron Rodgers, same thing. He's like, listen, this is not going to be an issue where I say I want to come back and then nobody wants me. Like, somebody's going to want me. Multiple teams are going to want me. So am I going to take their money? Should I take their money? according to the athletic by the way a projected Aaron Rodgers because he's really a unique case they project Malik Willis gets two for 46 on the open market Aaron Rodgers they predict one for 12 and a half which is interesting because as another example they project that Russell Wilson would get one for eight and a half which is similar money what they project Marcus Mariota gets yeah Imagine getting paid $8.5 million to be roughly as good at your job as Russell Wilson is. I don't know. Sounds great. Great work if you can get it. I've been looking for that unicorn for 15 years now. Keep looking. Yeah, that is something to look forward to. I would imagine you're off the clock on this one, Connor. But he Russell Wilson is going to sign somewhere and most likely a place where he thinks he could compete for a job, which will open the gates for more Russell Wilson quotes about turning back the clock. We get one more year. One more, Connor. My position on him, just to clarify, has always been that he is not great, but he is impossible to sit in front of and tell him that he's not. That has always been my position. Does someone have to do it? I mean, in every market. Okay, so I was in New York. When he came to the Giants, we had the relationship. I think that all was kismet. let's say that he goes to Las Vegas or he goes somewhere else. Someone will be playing catch with him in a park, just like me staring into those eyes and soulful eyes, absolutely being hypnotized into believing that this guy can throw for 3,500 yards and, and 35 touchdowns. I'm just telling you, like it's, I'm happy about it. I mean, time is moving too fast. I remember when that man came into the league, give me one more hot boy summer for Russell Wilson. Well, stay in New York where your celebrity songstress wife wants to be and go roll it out with the Jets. Oh, stop it. Send them to Cleveland. You want it for someone else. You want someone else to deal with it, but you don't want to deal with it. I'll tell Russell Wilson. You take them. You don't go to Cleveland if you've got a famous wife. You take them, sister. You don't take a famous wife to Cleveland. I'm Tom Boho, a developing nurse. our old buddy Cameron Wolf reports there is mutual interest between the Minnesota Vikings and Anthony Richardson on a potential trade okay is that the best solution is that who's the GM there now they have an intern running the show in Minnesota nobody right now do not pair J.J. McCarthy with Anthony Richardson unless you want the whole building cleared out in January. Connor? I'm sure according to Anthony Richardson's agent who wants him to go to Minnesota, there is mutual interest in Anthony Richardson going to Minnesota. I love Cameron. I'm not source guessing here, so maybe he has something else on this, so that's probably unfair to do. But at the same time, like, my God. This is not going to happen. That's a weird concept of a competition for J.J. McCarthy. That would be the oddest QB competition of the summer. But so here's the thing, like how the sausage gets made, Connor, like Cam Wolf, he's got pelts on the wall. He's a good reporter to say that there's mutual interest would would say that that he got someone on the record in Minnesota or off the record that said, yeah, we'd be interested in him. That's that's incredibly it was incredibly unfair of me to do that to Cam. Cam's a pro. And and I'm sure I'm sure that was the case. I mean, I wasn't teeing it up to feel like you had to apologize. Right. You had Connor going backwards on a bicycle. We didn't need that. I hate when people do that to me, and I think that was just like an off-the-cuff reaction on my behalf. But at the same time, there is no active general manager there, and so it's like, I don't know. How about this? How about we play the GM? Because there's a power vacuum right now in Minnesota. We play GM. I'm going to throw one out there. I'm going to send a third round pick third to the 49ers to get Mac Jones in the building. That's that's a good that's good. I need a veteran. I need somebody who I trust will play well in the system that has shown at any point in his career the ability to be successful. Mac Jones checks those boxes to varying degrees. What I can't have is someone completely raw and unproven and is flunked out of his previous spot. joining my quarterback who seems to be heading towards basically Anthony Richardson's exact arc in Indy outside of the exercise band almost taking out his eyeball. What about Kyler Murray? Not my cup of tea. Dead silence. No one's into that concept. I don't think he can play anymore. Can I play the 49ers, GM, when you call and just hang up the phone? Mac Jones is making $4 million next year. He's going to be one of the best bargains at the quarterback position in the NFL. They get very sexually aroused by day two draft picks. They don't want to give up. Also, Kwesi went to, he has joined the Niners organization. So he might get in there and say, don't help them out. Don't help out those Vikings. They just fired me. Also, you're going to get a third round comp pick for letting Mac Jones walk in free agency after this season. There you go. And so, you know, you would get that anyway. You'd get it back. So I don't know. Yeah, so why not keep him now? Because he's good for you in the moment. Kyle has a Mac fetish. I don't think he's exiting the building. They love those third-round picks. It was like, oh, yeah, they're very easily controllable, and we trust our guys in our building. We're going to get first-round value in the third round. You just like – it's almost like you're leveraging their own egos about how much they believe they've mastered football scouting against them in that spot. You know what you could do with a third-round pick. Come on. Now give us a quarterback so when J.J. McCarthy pulls a Barrett-Robbins and goes down to Mexico, like we have someone we can put in. That's not how the phone call goes. That's exactly how the phone call goes. Come on, give me this quarterback. You know you want to. Like, I don't know if that's – No, you definitely, you kind of just, you play to their hubris. Like, dude, you know what you could do with a third round pick? I could send this to the Jets and know nothing's going to come of it, but giving it to you, it's like giving you a top ten pick. You guys are magicians. You're magicians. You're unbelievable. This is me. I'm giving you a bag of candy. And John Lynch is like, yeah, I am unbelievable. Huh. Let's do it. All right. Anything else? I don't know imagine that imagine being Arif Hasan doing a podcast about the Anthony Richardson JJ McCarthy QB battle holy shit no one gets out alive that's a long summer buddy oh baby oh baby alright we will be back next week yes as we as we'll do anything that comes out of the combine in Indianapolis as they kick off all the various drills and grading portions. And maybe there's some hot stove news as well that we could talk about and dissect. And then we will really begin to in earnest turn our attention to free agency starting next week. So, Mark, as always, I want to just give you the last word for the audience. It's a bad idea. Because you gave us the two, by the way. It's typically a bad idea to give me that last word. I know, but just to kind of maybe put you in the right direction, you opened the show, you came out hot with two references to upside down pineapple, like wife swap, things of that nature. And then we've been waiting for the third. And now this is the last opportunity to the rule of three cash in. I think when it comes to swapping a mate, you've got to go in with the mindset of maybe something out there is delightful in a way that I never could have imagined I'd be part of. And maybe that would be true for the other person too. Goodbye. We'll see you next step. We'll, we'll see you next week, everybody. Goodbye. He the cock.