32 Takeaways from AFC Coaches Breakfast and Dave Canales Steals the Show

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human The weather's warmer, the days are longer and the savings are even better in the Hillary's Spring Sale. Right now there's up to 40% off hundreds of made-to-measure styles. Plus, get an extra 10% off everything in our Flash event, including our total blackout blinds for complete darkness and a good night's sleep. And don't forget, with Hillary's, measuring and fitting is always included. So get window-wise and book your free in-home appointment today at hillarys.co.uk. But hurry, an extra 10% off everything ends the 13th of April. Conditions apply. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we were not invited to Jay Glazer's annual day drinking event with all the NFL coaches. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm in Los Angeles. I'm talking to my friend Nick Schuch in Cleveland. And we are going to be talking coaches, breakfast, takeaways. Are you ready? I'm so ready, although I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get a few really embarrassing early morning photos from Phoenix's. Like, sweaty Mike Tomlin. We didn't get sweaty Mike Tomlin this year. No. And that Jay Glazer get-together, which apparently is an annual event going on almost 20 years, apparently, and this is not surprising at all, if you know Mike Tomlin, kick-started with Glazer day drinking with Mike Tomlin at one of these owners' meetings. And then apparently it turned into a thing where he invites every coach to just hang out, relax. As Glazer said, sometimes the leaders need to be taken care of. Who's thinking about them and just let their proverbial hair down? He got 28 of the 32 head coaches to just hang out around the pool and have some beers and whatnot. Who are the squares, the four squares that didn't go? I want to find out. I could guess. Yeah. But I don't know. We also were going to talk about Dave Kanals. He's a candidate, maybe, for one of those that wouldn't be there. But I don't know. He seems like a regular dude who's going to talk what I thought was a fascinating insight into the coach's photo, which we talked about on Monday Show. But let's get to the news and who really is always a reliable quote this time of year, any time of year. It's Sean Payton, the Denver Broncos coach. First of all, this is as an aside. I thought it was very interesting that his experience with the flag football, which took place in Los Angeles playing against Team USA, he said was very humbling and he would be very surprised if there's even one single NFL player on the Olympics flag football team. So in 2028, I think that's an astute observation. So Joe Burrow, you might get disappointed. But let's get to the NFL of it all. I liked this back and forth. I'm going to get your thoughts on it right after. But it's Sean Payton and a reporter kind of talking about some of the articles that were in Denver about how come the Broncos aren't doing anything. This was, of course, before the Jalen Waddle trait. Yeah, I hear. I saw the stories. All right. And I don't believe it. And so it's not let's run it back. I hate that term. All right. It's not let's run it back. Let's understand one thing. It's anything but that when you win 11 of 13 one score games, like you saw the flip in just one season between Kansas City. It's how do you improve your team and the better you get the harder it is to improve your team. And so you just weren't patient enough for us to trade for Waddle. Your stories have been written. Oh, come on. You had 10 other suggestions too. And listen, you can come get one of these jobs. Apply for one. Well, I never feel good. I never feel good. I love that. What are your thoughts, Chuck? Come get one of these jobs, the job that you're totally unqualified for. And I'm just going to expose you for it by saying this right now because I'm feeling a little angry today because I didn't like how you wrote your stories. Well, I'm going to defend them real quick because it's not like they didn't do anything. They retained some of their own. They were able to keep their pair of linebackers and Alex Singleton and Justin Starnad. And yeah, I mean, this is a team that finished with the number one seed in the AFC. Maybe they like a lot of what they had and maybe their priorities were to keep a lot of what they had and then add a playmaker in Jalen Waddle. It is funny. If there's any coach I'm going to pick that's going to go after a reporter who wants that reporter asked that question about the content that they produced while the Broncos were perceived as sitting on their hands. It's Sean Payton. It is Sean Payton to a T. Nobody holds a vendetta like Sean Payton. And this is kind of, I guess the perfect place. It's casual enough for him to just go after the guy and set the record straight, at least in his mind. Here's the thing though. That's his love language. I think he's only doing it with someone. I don't think he's mad. I think he's having fun. I think this is how he interacts with the world. And I guess I feel like I share that with Sean Payton. I don't know if it's working out for me that going after people is my love language. I don't have that many people. No, I actually think that's one of my favorite attributes of you, Greg. Not to turn this into a Shower Greg with compliments session here. But I mean, once you figure out that when Greg comes at you, he's actually expressing love, it's the best thing in the world. You're no longer on the defensive. You're like, oh, we're bringing him in closer here. Let's hug. It gets tricky when you have kids though. Not every kid can be... Ty, you create dry humor. Yeah, parented the same way. I have my son here, Walker, who's playing the Wii in silence. I said, as long as he stayed quiet in the garage, he doesn't really respond to that. So, you know, I've changed course there. Sean Payton though loves it. And I do take a few things away from that. First of all, you hate the idea of running it back. And I agree that never works. And I've been worried about that when it comes to the Broncos, that you bring back the same team. It usually just doesn't work. George Payton, the GM, talked about how, look, we got rid of Dre Greenlock because we really liked those other two linebackers that you said. And they might use Jonah Ellis, by the way, at Linebacker as well. And I get it. Jaylen Waddle added something. They might change their number two quarterback. Sean Payton said that job could be Sam Elingers or Jared Stidham. And maybe Jared Stidham could still be traded. But the most telling thing was at the end when he just said, well, I'm never happy. Yeah, but well, because coaches know, I mean, they'll say this time and time again, but they especially know how hard it is to repeat success from year to year because so many things have to go right. You got to stay healthy. You got to have the schedule kind of play to your advantage. You got to catch a hot streak at the right time. Broncos did all of that. They also won a lot of close games by just waking up in the fourth quarter. And he understands how thin that margin is between victory and loss and how hard it is to repeat that. But I give them some credit. The only thing that I really worry about roster wise right now is that their running back room didn't get a lot better. Like, you have the idea of Dobbins back and everything else, but I would have really liked for them to make an addition there. And the draft is still ahead, so they still have time to make additions. But yeah, I agree with you that it's running it back as much as you like a team. I think there are some challenges that you can kind of project and some that you can't see coming. And it leads to some occasional disappointment. Not saying Broncos fans that I believe you're going to be disappointed. Okay, don't come after me. We're already on bad terms because of bonics. I get that. But this is just part of what they may be dealing with in 2026. But you were a little lucky last year and you don't have to take my words for it. Your head coach is saying it. I love a head coach kind of acknowledging that, that we weren't quite as good as the record or a lot of things went our way. But also, you know, Sean Payton is getting up there in years. He's got a great team. He has turned around a disastrous situation and he said he's never happy. And so, you know, life is short. I think he is finding happiness and he presses it in different ways. But I hope he can find some happiness also finding happiness as a first time head coach Jesse Minter. I've been talking about the Namdeh Madabuike situation all off season thinking that is the most important news for the Ravens. Either they get one of the best defensive tackles in the league back or they have a big hole in their defensive line. Minter did not say if Madabuike is coming back, but there was a report by ESPN last week that said signs are trending that way. And Minter did say that Madabuike is in a great place mentally. And so that just indicates to me it was about, I think the mentality of if Madabuike wanted to play again or not. And so that sounds great. He also mentioned when asked about fourth downs whether he'd be aggressive. He said, well Lamar Jackson is one of the best fourth down players in the NFL side. I love to hear that. Both good news for the Ravens. And he's done a little scouting of the roster he's about to coach. So good on Jesse Minter for that. He's done his research. You're right though. Madabuike is a huge part of this defense. They couldn't stop the run. They couldn't stop anything up front when they went on their losing streak in the middle of the season last year. And of course Lamar Jackson's injury coincided with that. Getting him back will be huge. Also the nature of the injury that he dealt with, the neck injury for an interior lineman is always frightening. It's for anybody, but especially for an interior lineman whose heads are just more involved on a per play basis. So you hope that he's able to come back. And I think upgrade from in a good place mentally to also a good place physically. We have months to determine whether that's the case. Yeah. And I'm watching that. I think it's really big for their team. I was surprised to see the Ravens have the highest projected so early over under wind total. You might take a look at that in an upcoming episode, but that getting a little over our skis, I think. One team that does not have a higher wind total than really an AFC team is your Cleveland Browns, Todd Monk, and Spoke. And I thought it was interesting. He said the reps in the quarterback battle won't be even. He said how last season ended matters a lot. And so he's going to favor some quarterbacks over others. On Deshaun Watson, he said he hasn't gone back and watched a lot of film in that he knows he's going to be on the roster. He knows he'll evaluate him. Said he'll give him a shot. But what are your takeaways from hearing this from Monk and early? So I collected an assortment of Todd Monk and responses. And what we got was, I don't know if it was a master class, but it was definitely a veteran example of how to give a bunch of non-answers and leave everybody guessing when it comes to the quarterback. OK. So first quote, what I've seen over the years, I'm hoping to tap into that. That's in relation to Deshaun Watson. Second quote, I know he's going to be on the roster. I know we're going to evaluate him. Third quote, we're excited to see what we have. He's part of our roster. These are all Watson related quotes. Then it shifts to who's getting reps, who starts out getting the most reps will be decided on quote, what I've seen in the past and where last year ended like you just said, right? Well, where was Deshaun Watson last year? Not on the field. Shador Sanders was on the field. And then he's asked about Shador and he talks about how last year mattered, but also that these reps are not going to be even. So what he's essentially saying, and he ends it here with the number of reps a player gets doesn't get doesn't eliminate competition and it's not in set in stone. In the last quote, we certainly want to allocate our reps to the players that gives us the best chance to win, which means this is all a work in progress and that they're not going to reveal anything because he even admitted that he hasn't really gone back and studied Watson's But he also understands who Watson was at his peak. The Browns are leaving everything open. Jimmy Haslam has even tried to pivot from the whole swing and MS to potential home run. He's pointed to Sam Darnall and Daniel Jones as examples of what Watson could be. I don't buy it. But what I do buy is that the Browns are just like, well, last year we had five options this year we have two and we're just going to figure it out as a go. Justice for Dylan Gabriel, you know, he's not in this mix. I think the most telling part was he hasn't gone back and watched a lot of Watson. Yes, I think the bromance is real with Shudder. I think they're going to try to give Shudder as many reps. You know what else I think is a real bromance though. What? Ty Simpson. Oh, keep an eye on it. You're buying that. I don't want to buy it, but I'm buying it. Yeah. It started to pick up in India and it's only gained a little bit of momentum with each week that's passed since then. And I just the longer we go on the more I'm like, I think they really like him. And I think there's going to be another player in that competition that is not on the roster right now. Where are their extra picks? I'm thinking out loud right now. They have four in the top 70. They have two in the first round. Okay. So they have 24 and 39 are the extra one. The extra one is 24 and 39 is their second. That's the range though that you would expect them to draft him specifically. 24. Too high. 39. Sure. 24. Too high. It is interesting because the GM, the head coach, like I know it's a new head coach, but I just feel like they don't have the longest timeline in the world. I think you would like to show his work in terms of what you could do with Port-A-Rex. That's really interesting. I like that thought. This is why Nick Schuck makes the big bucks. Who else makes big bucks? It's Matt LaFleur, not Mike LaFleur. Already confusing our producer who has to go look for LaFleur sound and things getting mixed up. Well, we didn't get mixed up here. We have some quotes that were actually from Monday, but I thought these were noteworthy and they were new to me Tuesday morning. It was Matt LaFleur talking about maybe what went wrong with the Packers a season ago. If I'm being honest about it, I think there were some guys that were upset about roles last year and I think that took a toll on our football team. So you need guys that bring great energy every day. I think from a coaching standpoint, role clarity is key. So we got to obviously do a better job communicating with our players. Hey, here's your role and if you're unhappy about your role, it's on you to do something about that, to carve out a bigger role on this football team. But yeah, the buy-in is absolutely critical. Getting guys in there that are juiced, that are ready to go to work each and every day is going to be critical for us. Heard some whispers about this that just like, the vibes weren't great. And you look at who's not on the roster anymore and who knows. There's no point in guessing who that was. I also thought it was interesting, he said they were going to strip down the offensive installations to studs, basically start all over. They have a bunch of new coaches, including on the offensive line throughout, you know, offensive coordinator and almost act like it's the first year for Matt LaFleur and start from scratch. I like just some interesting thoughts about the team that's trying to take the next step from being the seventh seed every year. Yeah, I think that was a little bit of usual coach speak with, well, if you don't like your role, go out and earn it and change it, that sort of thing. You could see this is cherry picking and that's fine, but I felt in those games that they lost the bears, you could see the lack of continuity just culture wise, like vibes wise. When things were falling apart around them, they were not able to get up off the mat and fight back. And I believe that in hindsight LaFleur has seen that, understood that and probably experienced that every day and is out to make sure that doesn't happen again, which is why you start from square one. And I mean, look, this is a guy who's been there and had a lot of success for a while now. So it's not like you're questioning his ability to get the job done. It's just a matter of bringing everybody together. This happens from time to time, even with established coaches, sometimes the vibes are just bad one year and you need that off season reset. So Packers fans are going to hope that they're able to reset and start off on a better foot. Obviously winning cures a lot of that. They have drafted really well at receiver, but it is tricky to build a receiver room where you're trying to get four or five guys fed. Look, the first round pick Matthew Golden didn't have a lot of time last year when Watson came back, maybe that Christian Watson came back, maybe that cut into what Romeo Dobbs. And so it's just it's tricky to keep everyone happy. One guy who's probably happy is Kirk Cousins because everyone seems to want him as their backup quarterback. It includes the Packers. Why are you pumping your fist? Because that's one of my notes that I just wrote on the side was in all caps. Everybody wants Kirk Cousins. Well, you you mentioned it in context with a guy who did speak Tuesday, Clint Kubiak. So why don't you why don't you talk about the Raiders are another team potentially in the mix and Matt LaFleur like volunteered Kirk Cousins name that like he would love him. Yeah. And he's not the only coach Sean McVeid did it yesterday as well. He was just like, oh yeah, by the way, for our backup job, it's Jamie G or maybe it's Kirk Cousins, which I thought, you know, was a little bit eyebrow raising. It just shows how much he's in demand. But Kubiak said that, you know, the Raiders, he wants to add a veteran quarterback to the room. Obviously, especially when you're anticipating, they'll select Fernando Mendoza number one. And, you know, Kirk seems to be a good fit there, although he didn't say that outright unlike the other two coaches, but we've projected them as a good fit as well. And and he's also talked about how the ideal situation in 2026 would be a rookie watching quote mature mature adult go and run an offense and run the team and quote. So I think he's a fan of sitting the young guy and letting a veteran get the job done and they just need to go find that veteran now. Right. And he went a little far saying like, you don't know if he's going to start week one of 2026 or week one of 2027. And I'm thinking, well, there's no way he's waiting till week one of 2027. But if you have Kirk Cousins start the beginning of the year, you think there's some benefit of that or whoever the veteran quarterback would be. We'll see. I think that depends more on how Fernando Mendoza adapts and what his summer is like. But it's good to have a fallback plan. Speaking of, you know, planning ahead in terms of contract, just a couple of little notes in Cunningham, the Falcons GM said that a Drake London contract extension is quote top of mind. Remember, he's in the same class as Garrett Wilson, who got paid a year ago as Chris Olave, who's trying to get paid now. I think that deal will happen. The Vikings exercise the fifth year option of Jordan Addison. Not a total lock there because of his off field stuff. And you just didn't know there were some trade rumors about him this offseason. The Jaguars will also exercise the fifth year option of Anton Harrison, just some fifth year option talk. And, you know, I think this is a big year for Addison in terms of getting paid and whether he'll have a future in Minnesota or not. I don't know, but he's under contract there for two more years. And when things are good, he's proven how special he can be as a receiver, whether he was at Pitt USC or with the Viking, right? But last season, it was kind of the whole evaluation just felt a little off. It felt a little polluted by the fact that they struggled offensively, that they had these issues at quarterback. When we talked to Justin Jefferson on Radio Row, he even admitted that there was a lot of frustration. And that alone would be fine. And I think they would still understand the potential and what Addison has done when things are good and feel confident in, you know, at least getting the fifth year option done, if not considering a long term deal. But you're right, it's the off field issues. It's three encounters with law enforcement. It's missing the walkthrough prior to the game against the Browns overseas, which is back in week five. These are signs that just make you think twice about giving that sort of guy a long term extension. When it comes to on field performance though, I mean, I think he's done enough, even though they struggled last year to deserve it. It's just a total picture. And they're also operating with an interim GM right now. So things are just a little, you know, they're not as settled as you would like them to be with decisions like that. So picking up the fifth year at least gives you the extra year to kind of explore whether you want to keep them long term. That was very subtle quality pro podcast reflect just referring back to our conversation with Justin Jefferson. I mean, it was a highlight of the year for both of us. So I have to go back. It was great. Justin Jefferson is the man. He appreciated. He appreciated the shout out that we gave him to on social, which I appreciated. And look, I should have remembered, yeah, that game in Dublin. It all blends together. That's why I said overseas. You know, he gets benched. You know, he's out late and then he has the game winning catch and he pretty much dominated on that drive. That was that was the one against the Browns. So that was in London and he got them the win in that game because I fully believe in his talent. I think he's one of the best number two wide receivers in the league very much, you know, not quite at the level of Devonte Smith in Jalen Waddle, but in terms of the contract that he would get, I see them in the same kind of bucket of players that maybe you're not a top 20 receiver. Those two guys might be, but you're pretty close to that. And man, that is worth a lot as long as he can stay on. And we I mentioned Anton Harrison. That was, you know, I wasn't sure that they would. He's had a very, I wouldn't say up and down career, but there's some years where he's looked great as a tackle. You also noticed that Liam Cohen said Travis Hunter very well ahead in recovery. This is that time of year where everyone's ahead in recovery, but good to hear. This was a fifth year option to that. I think is the product of all the vibes are good right now because we finished strong last year and we believe in our future. And yeah, with Harrison, yeah, because like, let's think about their offense and how explosive they became as a passing offense. Of course, you're going to at least, you know, pick up the fifth year guy or the fifth year option on a guy who is important to protecting your quarterback and continuing that explosive offense. So, I mean, his grades have kind of gone up and down at least according to PFF last year. He had his career best performance. Some of that, I believe, is related to the offense and success. And it's less than 20 million for the fifth year option on a former first rounder. So it makes sense, but it's not necessarily a sign that they're going to retain him long term. He's still going to have to earn that. I thought he was great two years ago. So that was what the 2023 season. And then, yeah, and then maybe it was a little bit of a dip, but good context. Sad for everyone that lost lost their jobs at PFF, by the way you mentioned, it just seems like they've completely given up on content, which sucks to see a lot of great people like Trevor Sigma over there. And so I know a lot of them will bounce back, but yeah, I might have to cancel that PFF subscription. Let's go to the Jets. It's just cracking me up. How much Aaron Glenn is just talking about like the Gino Smith is the answer to our prayers. Everything that we want to be all this stuff, they're using AI more in the building, which has me a little concerned. I don't know what you're talking about there. AI can make mistakes, folks. And then he was like, we're going to be a little more multiple. We're going to do more three, four, you know, four, three. We're not going to be as static. I just think that's one of the things to watch this season. Aaron Glenn has not really adjusted his defense for a while. He is now in charge of the defense. He has to make this thing work or else he's going to be gone and he's got to make it work early in the season. Let's go to the Dolphins, where John Eric Sullivan is the new Dolphins GM. I thought it was interesting. He's had some interesting quotes in general, but he mentioned that the three pillars of their roster are Devon H.N., not going to trade him. Jordan Brooks, the linebacker, and Aaron Brewer, the center. Those are the three pillars that they're building around. Not exactly the weight-bearing walls that the Rams talked about years ago, where it was like Aaron Donald and Stafford, of course. I'm trying to think who the other weight-bearing walls were. But yeah, maybe Cooper Cup at the time was, but then that wall fell apart. Yeah, but really good players. And I think just interesting that he mentioned those three. He also mentioned on the offensive line how they have two spots that they feel great about. Patrick Paul at left tackle and Aaron Brewer at center. And I'm thinking, oh, well, if I'm right tackle Austin Jackson, who they invested a lot of money in in the old regime, I'd be like, huh? Well, am I not long for this team? Interesting how the new regime views the roster they inherited. Not their guy. And it's funny because you look at this roster and how they've had to tear it down and this rebuild. And then you compare it to the stance that the new regime is taking, which is very optimistic and kind of trying to oversell a little bit. I believe Jeff Haffley was talking about how he still feels good about the roster and they have playmakers and everything else, but it's a work in progress. And I'm like, okay, first year honeymoon phase is going on right now. And you're trying to tell everybody and sell your plan that you have a long-term vision for what this team should be. But it's interesting that they're kind of doing a baseball team approach and building through the middle, like pitcher and middle infielder. They're going H and as an explosive running back Brewer is one of the best centers in the NFL, as a finalist to win the protector of the year. And then Jordan Brooks, who I have always really appreciated. I feel like he's been a little underrated in his career. Yeah, it makes some sense, but I just know that they are so far away that when I'm doing working on my first mock draft, right, which I believe will be up tomorrow. And I got to the dolphins and I'm thinking like, well, you could go in a number of different directions because they have needs all over the place. But me being trenches guy, I'm like, I'm looking back at offensive line, not telling you who, but I'm telling you that Aaron Brewer might have a new buddy lined up on one side of him as they continue this rebuild. They could use a guard. I think I can guess who it is, but we don't want to reveal anything too quickly. Let's go to Mike McCarthy. I just keep clocking this story to me that he can't believe how lucky he is to be the Steelers coach. I don't think it's the greatest sign in the world. He was like, it is just so surreal to him. I don't think he expected to get hired a third time, much less with the Steelers. I don't know if I like that vibe. I did think it was funny that he noted in his first ever coach's breakfast in, I think 2006, he was being asked the question about whether his quarterback then Brett Farr was going to come back or not. And now here he is 20 years later being asked about Aaron Rodgers, who he says he feels good about and texts multiple times a week. This is, it's obvious that this thing is happening and it's just annoying that it's, it's not official, but to me, it's official. But also maybe not like the best sign for your organization that your coaches, like you're just revisiting like what the Packers were going through 20 years ago with the same guy. I don't know, there's something strange about it. Well, it was, it was a break from convention when they hired him because usually they went with young and upcoming coaches and instead they go with a guy with a ton of experience that he can then lean on in situations like this, which I kind of think that maybe they needed in one way or another. And a lot of that has to do with the quarterback situation. Now, obviously when he was hired, the immediate connection was made to Aaron Rodgers and well, maybe this will convince Rodgers to come back. I don't know if it was really that deep, but it does help them at this point. But it is like funny that this is a guy who has coached at big time, you know, franchising, you know, he's coached the Packers, he's coached the Cowboys. He's been to a Super Bowl, he's won a Super Bowl. He's been in big time games and now he's just like walking around like, gee, Wiz, isn't this just the best I'm the coach of my hometown team? It's very endearing and likable in general. I just, and also, I think as you get older, and he is that, we are all that, I think you appreciate things maybe a little more. I think he's appreciating the hell out of this moment. Let's actually listen to McCarthy. I didn't realize we had sound. We got sound from McCarthy Roberts in the mills finding all the great sound on Tuesday. 2006 was my first time doing this and the first question was about a veteran quarterback, whether he's going to come back or not. So it was a big day's a voodoo. But no, it's going good. It's been very positive and we'll just continue to talk. So we talk regularly. All right. He talks regularly with Aaron Rodgers. Also talking regularly, Mike Vrable thought it was interesting. He really stressed how inefficient he believed they were running the football last year. He said the explosive plays they had hid how they really weren't that good running. Something that we were hitting a lot on this show. That's interesting in that their offseason moves were directed to try to pick that. I wonder if moving will Campbell inside could potentially be part of that. But they signed Julian Hill, who's a good tight end. They signed Reggie Gilliam, who's a fullback from the Bills. And so they've made some moves with thinking about the running game. Mike Vrable saying he wants all the tight ends quote unquote, and that is going to be geared. So something we were talking about was like people were saying that they had a good running game, but it was really boom or bust. Also asked about his old friend, AJ Brown. It's our daily AJ Brown update. Let's listen to what Mike Vrable had to say. We've talked about this since last January. We're going to try to do everything we can to strengthen our roster through the draft, through free agency, multiple ways of player acquisition. So anything that we can continue to do to strengthen the roster, we're going to try to do. OK. That's everyone knows at this time of the year. I know, but not shutting it down, not shutting it down. He's sick of answering that question. Also, apparently he just absolutely destroyed a orange juice while he was sitting there. So we've been saying, we've been noticing there's less breakfast being consumed during the coach's breakfast. But Vrable's down in that OJ. Didn't do it in one go, but puts it down pretty quickly, hits it again. The manly OJ drink. See this first off, shout out to Eric. My goodness, the collection of clips of him sipping this orange juice. And it's not sipping, it's gulping. Fantastic work on your part, Super Producer Eric Roberts. But also this makes me think it's yet another reason for why I would love to play for Mike Vrable and run through a brick wall for him because that's how I consume my beverages as well. So no shade on taking healthy gulps. Potentially dehydrated from the night before, but vitamin C. Let's talk about the lion's. I just wanted to note there was a story about how they made Frank Ragnow, who once played through like a punctured lung and all sorts of other fractured problems. Payback is signing bonus, which is a sign that he's going to be able to get a drink. Which has happened for many of these lions over the years. It was a day after a Taylor Decker story where the left tackle didn't feel like the lions really dealt with them. Delt with him on a fair level after he decided to return. I think they wanted him to take a pay cut and there was some misunderstanding between the two. Dan Campbell's done a great job. Brad Holmes has done a great job. But you know, the ownership structure hasn't changed. It was just a reminder that maybe Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes are still having to deal with some organizational issues that have led to the lions being who the lions have been over the last 30, 40 years. And that's the thing is as you turn the corner toward being a successful franchise, sometimes it's hard to shake those old habits. You might be able to pay for over them with victories, but small things like this still point toward, you know, some organizational deficiencies, weaknesses, whatever you might want to see them as. That's kind of crazy. I'm not going to lie. That's kind of crazy. But we are also in an NFL with old guard ownership and then new, much wealthier ownership. And we haven't quite cleared that gap yet. The last name is Ford. I mean... I know that. But still. Look, I know the auto industry. Old habits die hard. I get it, but... And that's how they've always operated. It's disappointing. And I know it's going to be on lions fans radars because they have a long history of, you know, loving their players, but not loving the ownership and seeing this, how they're treating some of their best players over the last handful of years is really disappointing. Speaking of ownership, Jed York, the 49ers owner on Sunday revealed that when asked about Christian Kirk that he didn't know Christian Kirk was on the roster. He also mentioned he hoped Brian, Brandon, IU could play for the team this year, which I honestly just think it's a little bit of a red flag that he is so disconnected from knowing what was happening because there's no way Brandon IU is playing for the team this year. And like, it's not great that that the average casual, maybe not casual NFL fan, casual 49ers fan would know that. And like a lot of people, I would say that followed the NFL would have already known that Christian Kirk is on the 49ers and the IU doesn't. There's two ways to look at this though, because you can either see it as, oh no, the owner is unplugged, this is a bad sign, but it's also a strong sign in how good your regime group is at doing their job at John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan managing everything so that Jed York doesn't have to get involved because conversely, you would have an owner that's meddling and messing up the operation. But I did think it was funny when our insiders did a hit on Good Morning Football this morning and they started talking about Brandon IU, there's still that Niners logo next to him because they haven't resolved it yet, but everybody knows that he's not going to be on that team. I was like, hmm, interesting that that's still, he's still associated with the 49ers and maybe that's just the world that Jed's living in right now. Yeah, maybe he watches GMFB with the sound off and just sees the name there. Yeah, that's our guy. I think this is great. The NFL announced that the Seahawks are going to be the hard-knocked teams this year and the Patriots are going to be the hard-knocked team next year. They've never announced it a year ahead. Very interesting that it's going to be the two Super Bowl teams from this year and that they get a year ahead on the Patriots. But pretty cool that the Seahawks did it. My theory is that this was a, I'm not going to say dying property for NFL films, but it's lost interest. Struggling. From the struggling. I think it gets OK ratings within HBO and everything, but in terms of conversation, like, I'll just admit I've kind of ducked out of watching the hard-knocked lately and it's almost like we're going to make you do this or the Seahawks were willing to do it. And yeah, a defending champ on hard-knocked. Pretty cool. Yeah. So I think that there's a couple of avenues with this that are kind of interesting. One, you have to acknowledge the fact that we live in a different world than we did when hard-knocked first debuted, you know, with the Ravens going on to win the Super Bowl and everything else, right? And all the captivating moments that came from that. We have more access now than we did then. I mean, exponentially more access now than we did then. So you know, you are dealing with players who are now properly trained in media to say all of the right things so that you don't get as many of those genuine candid moments that you would 10, 15, 20 years ago. So of course, the allure is going to decline a little bit, but I wonder and I worry a little bit about scheduling two teams in advance, the two Super Bowl teams, one this year and one next year, if that's going to be end up being a mistake the year after or if it's really not going to matter at all. Mike Rabeau be there, whether they're coming off a bad season or a good season. That's a compelling organization to hit because we've never really seen behind the scenes. And I think that part of it is fine. And look, I think that's a great point. Everyone's grown up now with reality TV. I just think there's so much football behind the scenes. There's so many documentaries. There's so many self-produced like team and if that just the market's flooded. And we all operate as if there's a camera present at all times like the authenticity of a big true authentic moment of 25 years ago is no longer there. No, you're you're getting raw. You're getting raw 60% G all the time. This is who I am. I'm not playing for the cameras at all. So let's finish with a guy who does play for the cameras. He admitted it. A fascinating moment from Dave Canalis on Good Morning Football reacting to Kyle Brandt, who did his annual look at the coach's photo and commenting just how nice Canalis shirt looked in terms of the thread count, how, you know, in shape he looked, hair looked great, like he was fresh from Barber. Here is Canalis's response to that. I do know there was some strategy to where you stand in the in the staff photo. So, you know, you got to position yourself next to people that may or may not make you look a little better. And certainly, strategically, like I'm far opposite side of Matt LaFleur. You know, there's like the guy so you can see Matt and I have at least 12 feet of distance, you know, there's so there's some framing in there. You know, I'm not going to say any names, but there's a little strategy behind it. Wow. I love it. Jordan and I talked after getting Canalis on the show. He's a really compelling guy on camera, very likable, but I always feel like there's like a real Canalis behind it all that I want to get to know like a little better. He presents publicly very well. And I thought that was really telling because he positioned himself like he said, there's some strategy of where you want to be. He is right next to between Mike McCarthy and Kellan Moore. That's so unfair. He's the one that said it, though. That's why this is amazing. You want to talk about, you know, Bolton board material. Coach is never talking any trash. If I'm McCarthy or the guy in his division, Kellan Moore and he's saying he's strategic. And then I was like, well, it'd be really interesting to find out the two he's next to. And then those were the two. I'm just, I think there was some intent behind it. I love this. I love this. Also, he did a great job of putting Kellan Moore between him and Demico Ryan's. So that, like, you essentially got, here's the crew of the guys. Here's the guys that stayed in shape. Here's the guys that drank too much and let themselves get, you know, let their physical state get away from them. Good on him. But you know what? That response, I'm going to go all the way back to the front of the show here. That response tells me that I think it was a little unfair that you thought Dave Canales might not have been at Jake Lazar's party because that guy who answers like that and is thinking that far ahead, he's down to hang. He's down to hang. He has like, he wrote a book. He has talked about recovery, right? He might be abstaining from the drinks, but hanging out. Yeah, that's fair. Just fascinating. I wish that we had the AFC coaches back. So someone could ask McCarthy, you know, what you think of Canales's comments, like, keep this going as a news cycle. And yeah, as a man who is in great shape check, I mean, I hate to think that in a similar situation like the NFL, you know, team photos, they used to take talent team photos that you were thinking about that in such a way. Oh, I got to position myself next to Rosenthal. No, no, God, I am the Kelly Moore in this scenario. No, you're not. No, the height difference would just not be good for the lineup. And plus they never put people with that difference in height. It'd be good for you. Of course. Yeah, but I don't need to do that. Okay. That's like when it comes to height, that's punching down. That's punching down. It is punching down a little bit, but I will say literally, I would make sure if I was in the coaches photo to put somebody between me and Robert Salah, because I would probably be wearing the same thing he was wearing. That man's got a better build than I did. Okay. That's fair. But this, this is absolutely a story I am going to track for the rest of the season, or if nothing else, just bring it up all the time, especially when the Panthers and the Insanes play. Let's take a break on the other side. Should have mentioned at the top of the show, we got a special guest. Yeah, it's one of our main hosts. It's Jordan Rodriguez. She's boots on the ground at the owners meetings. We'll talk about rule changes, everything else she's been hearing in Phoenix. Virgin Media gives you show stopping TV and broadband. You get the channels you love, including Netflix and now Sky Atlantic at no extra cost. That's epic entertainment. You can't stop watching a bit like an elephant cruising on a truck through the bright lights of Bangkok. Plus, you get lightning fast broadband too. Yeah, that's entertainment. The Virgin Media way. Visit virginmedia.com. New customers only. You know what you're getting with a bank holiday weekend? Traffic, drizzle, service station snacks, the sea, Pebbly beach, aggressive seagulls, drinks at a local cafe slash nightclub, a late night takeaway, chili, garlic. Sometimes in life, you just know what you're getting like a luxury bed and a great night's sleep. You know what you're getting the premiere in. Back on NFL Daily, one of my favorite annual segments. Jordan Rodriguez, buy a pool in a hotel or at a hotel that she could not afford to stay at. But the NFL owners can welcome Jordan. How are you doing? Hi, I'm great. I love the Phoenix Biltmore. It's fantastic. There are, it's a prime lurking area. If you're, if you do my job and you need to listen to other people talk to each other and then have meetings, you know, in various pockets by pools around the circle bar. Everybody watched the Duke game earlier this week. That caused quite the stir down at the circle bar when a lot of people missed their privileged sessions because of that game. Oh, wow. Yeah, it was a, it was a vibe. So yeah, it's, I'm happy to see you guys, but I am not unhappy to be sitting where I am currently. That's amazing. I don't, I don't envy you and yet I'm happy, I'm happy for you. Wait, what's the like lurking strategy? What are you getting out of this? Yeah. Are you meeting with some people? What, what, what is the Jordan Rodriguez strategy here? Yes, it's to never stay still for too long. First of all. There are a couple of areas I'll keep my favorite one private, but there are a couple of areas where you know you're always going to see people and where you're always going to run into people. A that you need to talk to or B that you need to get some FaceTime with or C that you maybe talk to on the phone a lot or text a lot, but don't get a lot of times to get FaceTime with. So I like to be out. This is my favorite one. This is better than the Orlando or Jacksonville or breakers or any Palm Beach ones because the layout is, is really simple. There's the pool where I never go because it's all the coaches partying and I just feel like I don't belong there. And then, and then there's the circle bar area and there's a lot of patio chairs and tables and everything and that's a great place to work. Then there's the lobby where people have no choice but to walk past you back and forth between their meetings. And then there's the walkway between the meeting session rooms and the lobby where is another again a good place in my last place is my favorite which I will not share. But let me just tell you, nobody would survive this event if not for this one particular spot on site. And that is where I park outside. So that's got to see everyone. They must go there. I can guess. Yeah. It's not like a lot of sizzle. Sorry. You jump in next but like the rules that they passed on Tuesday as we're going to be doing. Like the rules that they passed on Tuesday as we're taping. Not exciting. Like you can now do an onside kick anytime of the game. Like they're changing the team's incentive to when they kick off from the 50 yard line where they were just kicking it out about it's just like little small things they did expand, you know, replay in terms of obvious officiating mistakes. That could have a big impact. But like what's the buzz in terms just doesn't feel like there's a in terms of changing the league. It's not a season like that. No, it's been very calm and that's been kind of awesome. I would say too. It was not a really busy coaching cycle either. Not a busy hiring cycle. I was talking to a couple of people who thought the two kind of went hand in hand where there wasn't some like person or catalytic figure. Like causing buzz or some disruptor or anything like that, you know, it's kind of a very calm coaching cycle, a lot of retread coach with a couple very unknown kind of unproven guys. And then also it's been a quiet rule cycle. The tush push basically has not been mentioned other than people saying, Hey, remember last year when all we talked about was the tush push. And what I've both disliked and liked one it's been calmer. So the buzz of your stuff, you know, didn't even get a chance to hit the floor before I was rescinded. This is the draft picks proposal. But then, but then it's also like been just a lot of football talk, which is more my vibe. I don't really care as much about the rule stuff. The football talk has been cool because it's also a lot of guys that know each other. It's a very incestuous coaching landscape right now. A lot of siblings, like literal siblings and then a lot of like coaching siblings too from the same trees, interconnecting coaching trees. So everybody really knows each other for the most part and everybody it's one of those calm events where everybody's just actually talking a lot of football, which I have personally quite enjoyed, but it's also not super exciting for the news cycles. And one of those coaches that came from one of those trees that has now spawned his own tree and somebody that you know very well, obviously, Sean McVeigh. Is it me or did he seem like he was a little chattier this year than usual or maybe more just landed on my radar. Okay, here's the lore. This is my favorite thing about these meetings. The lore and yes, you're correct. A lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of chattier, awake and in good health in the morning, I'll just say. Because it used to be that the it used to be that the NFC coaches would go and do their table sessions in the morning at it's always been early as hell. And they would always do the sessions. First thing in the morning and NFC would always go the day after the big party that the league hosts, where they absolutely blow out the budget and they it's an open bar for hours. It's a band entertainment and it's, you know, there was a petting zoo and all this stuff. And like there's all the stuff that happens. And that's an open bar. That is a night that people kind of go a little bit harder. And then usually they'd make the NFC coaches for year over year over year over year. They'd make the NFC coaches go the next morning. The theory was that it was like a Tomlin thing that he was trolling. So yeah, like this can't be proven, but that was the theory that there was like a Tomlin thing or he's trolling the other coaches, especially the Shanahan guys who he's friends with and was kind of like trolling all of these NFC bros because he would make them go. When they were at their most in pain, basically, you'd see the Kyle Shanahan photos and the, and the Sean McVeigh looking a little green around the guild photos and videos and all those things. This year, I don't think it's a coincidence. Me personally, that Mike Tomlin is taking a break from coaching. All of a sudden the NFC West is in full power. And hey, by the way, the days flipped where AFC went Tuesday morning and NFC got to go Monday morning. So no, Nick, I don't think it's a coincidence that Sean McVeigh was feeling particularly chatty. Now the quality of some of the things he said is up for debate. But I think that, you know, it's it was definitely a healthier option. Up there. She goes. We have lost Jordan. We were we were warned that her phone was overheating. And so we say goodbye. He's doing great work out there for the athletic and giving us some reporting. Who knows? Maybe she just was trying to go and join that Jay Glazer. I mean, the Arizona side. No, she said she hasn't been uncomfortable by the point. No, for real. Her her phone overheated. I'm looking forward, by the way, next week, we're going to have a Jordan Nick Shook show. So this was a preview of that pairing while I go see my parents and take the early part of next week off. She did have some interesting takes from from Sean McVeigh, which she kind of alluded to earlier. And she can expound on this when she's on the show. But, you know, kind of the shorter version was that, you know, she she thought Sean McVeigh could have been a little stronger publicly, responding to what's going on in terms of Puka Nakua and everything that's been surrounding him and the civil allegations. But that look, it would not be a surprise to her who knows this organization. Well, if you know the concerns with everything going off the field with Puka is a conversation that does come up in the coming weeks, months, when it comes to, you know, contract negotiations and Puka's future. And, you know, this is an organization that is quickly pivoted and everything. So it just something that is is a big deal. It's not the media, quote unquote, you know, making a big deal. It's just something that's going to come up between the player and the team. But but heck, Jordan Jordan is the Rams expert. She can talk about that next week. I'm looking forward to to that show. Shookie. Yeah, time to shine for Shook. Kids are going to be back in charge. Mom and dad are out on date night. We rule the house. That's right. I've seen my literal mom and dad. Let's hit the music. Let's get out of here. Thank you, Shook, for going over all the coaches, all the new and of course, Jordan, Colin and their from Phoenix. We are not done here this week on the beach. The next time you'll hear from me, me myself Daniel Jeremiah, 40s and free agents. So going through a lot of the defensive prospects later in the week with Ali Connolly, we will see you then. 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