The Six NFL Teams No One Is Talking About

hey welcome to heed the call an nfl podcast i'm dan hanses joined as always by the great mark sesler connor or deep in blizzard conditions in central new jersey oh and Justin Graver on the ones and twos. Sessy, big show coming up. Combine this week in Indianapolis. It probably is hyper annoying for a lot of these journos to get to Indianapolis, I would imagine. So, good luck to you guys. We'll be in the safe confines of our home studios, but coming up later on this show. We thought about this one. We had a little conference call this morning, Sessy. Yes, we did. What do we want to do? How do we want to get into the serious football conversation? And we thought about all the podcasters out there, all the bloggers, all the webmasters, all the Dungeons and Dragons, Star Wars types that just, they just, they talk about the same teams over and over and over. So why don't we use this show as a prep for, you know, the coming of Combine free agency draft to talk about some teams that have not been getting the shine or the proper shine with pivotal off-seasons coming up. It's our responsibility, and it's what we do, and we don't ever not provide a packed show. And even if you are someone that spends 80% of your content aimed free time watching Mad Men and listening to Bruce Springsteen, you also might be able to come up with some lesser-discussed topics. I did finish Mad Men, by the way. we know no no you don't know i had been giving you uh you finished it 12 years ago but you finished it again i re-watched it because it is an important important piece of prestige television from the golden age uh of that era um of entertainment and uh yes i learned a lot from it i always pick up new things but we're gonna save that because we're gonna have a serious football show today connor yeah no no f***ing around this is straight ball and it's like the greatest answer to so I did 32 bold predictions a couple weeks ago or last week right and for the Panthers one I just wrote this thing about like imagining Sir Per as an actual Panther and writing about how he's 10 years past the lifespan of a Panther and so he's theoretically dying and how would you comfort and take care of like a dying Panther and a lot of Panthers fans like rip me apart because like everybody else gets conversation related to the team well here's your conversation so this is like the i don't want to hear your shit episode which is great i can't you're not emptying the holster when you go down the surper avenue and i like that right right deal with it webmasters no one cares um that franchises move by the way was to dress up the dying panther and stick him along the sideline of a perennially struggling frustrating team outside of sneaking into the playoffs with eight wins. That's how you save animals in Carolina, apparently. And since you asked, Mark, the top three Bruce Springsteen albums. Did not ask. Number three, Born in the USA. Number two, Born to Run. Number one, in an upset, Darkness on the Edge of Town. Well, I was actually born when the first of those albums came out, so I listened to it while listening to Men Mow Lawns outside. I was a child, but that album came out, And it was quite a revolution. Way to paint a picture, Mark, as you always do. By the way, before we get into all that serious football talk, yesterday, Sunday, usually one of the underrated perks of living on the West Coast of the United States is the start time of games. So in the NFL, on Sundays, you have the 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. window. Out here, it's the 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. window that helps us also for podcasting. Connor, not so much. He's up at midnight recording with us on Sunday nights for us. We're spinning in the 8 o'clock hour on a Sunday night, which I think is helpful for the program. Got dinged a little bit in the biggest of all spots, though, on Sunday because the United States of America faced off against their hated rival, Canada, in the gold medal game of ice hockey, men's ice hockey. And it was a classic game. And Zuzzer was talking to some dads, Little League opening day weekend. And we kind of got in. We got the idea. Why don't we open up the local sports bar here in town, the Standard, and watch the game? And a lot of talk went about it. But, yeah, talk is talk. But once we call the Standard and ask them to open up the bar, if they agree to it, we got to be there. So we did. And we all rolled in around 5 a.m. and watched the game, and it was a beautifully played contest, highly competitive, 1-1 into overtime and then in three-on-three in overtime per the Olympic rules. The U.S. scores the goal. Celebration ensues. And it was an incredible moment. And it was like the USA, I don't like, there's a lot of discourse and conversation about like, you know, that intermixed like politics and what's going on with our country with the Olympic Games. And like, oh, I don't want to root for the USA, blah, blah, blah. It's like, I can separate that. And I was just, I loved like the patriotic moment in the bar and celebrating it as a group. I was curious and it was in my, I thought about what were the best, what were like the best moments I've ever had for a sporting event in a bar. And this is top three. Like, I think this was incredible when the goal hits the back of the net and just the huge celebration that ensued. I was in a New York City sports bar when Donovan, Lennon Donovan, scored the goal against Algeria to put the U.S. through to the next stage in the 2010 World Cup, which was a big deal for our country and that soccer program. But, you know, I would say, like, that's probably my number one because that was an insane scene as well. I was wondering what you guys like. Do you have a memory of a sporting event in a bar in that type of environment that stands out above any other? Connor, I would say my first two World Cups in New Jersey in 2010, I was an intern. And so my assignment was like almost day by day because we were trying to like write live and be a little more webby at that point was to find bars associated with different nationalities. And so in the ironbound in Newark, it was a lot of Brazilian in Spain, Spain. And so I think Brazil played Spain at that point and saw that live in the ironbound with a bunch of nationals there. England, there was like a big English section and getting to go watch England and U.S., the 1-1 tie that we won in that game was amazing. And then in 2014, my wife was from a part of New Jersey that just had a lot of Central American people. And so watching like Honduras and watching all those teams down there at bars down there for people who are from there. And it's just like watching them weeping and stuff. And it's like, yeah, I mean, I suddenly give a f*** about Honduras. Like I'm all in. And it's like this amazing moment where you just that you get adopted and you get to become part of another country for a minute. I think, Dan, we had a we certainly had a World Cup experience with our friend Wes way back in the day on what would have been. And I think people responsibly left at various points, but this was in walking distance of my home, this sports bar. And it just became an experiment in new waves of separating from reality. And I will never forget Wes on that day who just flat out lost his iPad at the bar. And one of our coworkers got into a fist fight with someone. It was a white day. I mean, I remember all the specifics of that day. Do you remember what the actual event was that we were watching? Well, when I was coming up with this exercise, I did not pick that because it was like – I believe it was the Women's World Cup. It was the Women's World Cup final against maybe Japan, but yes, the Women's World Cup final that they won. They won a couple in a row, I believe, but that was one of them as well. Yeah. What's yours? So mine – I think your mind goes to something where everyone felt victory and a common unity. The one that I just could not put anywhere else but number one caused unity in absolute. It was a meltdown situation. This is December 16, 2001. I had spent the weekend at the house of someone who had rented this ski house up in the mountains to a bunch of us. And I was relatively responsible and left early, but apparently the house was destroyed. But let's just start there. But then we were traveling down the mountainscape. I got my friend Keith who had a truck. I had no vehicle at the time. It was months after 9-11, and I had gotten into a car accident on 9-11, and my car was gone. So this was me without a vehicle getting driven by a non-Browns fan, Keith, to a Browns bar in Denver. They had – the Browns backers are – and I know anyone can say, how do you track this? At that moment, they were the number one registered fan base in the United States with bars everywhere. And the Denver one, here's a picture of them more recently. These people were younger when I was there. 2001, December 16th, we roll into this place because in Denver, unlike the game started at 11 a.m., so people have been drinking early in the morning. It had a big tailgate situation. And the Browns were 6-6 with Tim Couch, Butch Davis, and crew. They were veering towards the playoffs if they could just eke out a couple wins. And they had the four-win Jaguars on tap. And the Cleveland Browns, every one of these games that season, seemed to go down in infamy or glory in the final minute or two. And with 1-0-8 remaining, they had a fourth and two at the Jaguars' 12-yard line. They're down 15-10. Season on the line, playoffs on the line. They had to win this game. And Tim Couch throws a short pass to Quincy Morgan that converts. The stadium is going out. Cleveland Stadium is going absolutely crazy because it's now first and goal. The Tim Couch game. Couch just had these moments where you believed, and this was a big, like a scrappy group without a lot of stars. Couch runs up to the line of scrimmage and spikes the ball with 48 seconds. Now, we all know what that means. You keep possession, and we march on for what happens next. Instead, the gaggle of refs stops the game for a disorganized amount of time and announces they're going to go back and replay the completion from two snaps ago. And the bar that I'm in is like, I'm sorry, what? And these are big, burly, angry Browns fans with angry wives, big, burly wives too. So it's a certain type of crowd. The refs come out and announce that it is not a catch two plays later, and the place goes nuts, and we know it is Bottlegate. Like hundreds of Browns fans threw plastic beer bottles at the refs. They threw garbage cans that they could find on the mezzanine level down onto the field. It was an absolute disaster for the NFL. The referees come out then and just say the game is over with 48 seconds, and this bar that I'm in. I mean now stuff is being thrown in the bar at the television. Like people are hammered. And like the NFL called up and said, you've got to finish the game. So the Jaguars come out and down the ball twice. And everyone leaving the field, including Browns personnel and players, are being pelted with foreign objects. Dog pound at its height of fury. And I don't remember what happened for the rest of that day, but it set everyone into a tizzy that I don't think – I think it was the quintessential Browns bar moment where you're on the edge of the playoffs and instead you will be through a rule that the NFL cannot explain the next Monday, the following Monday. You will be turned into a hellscape. Two things that were stunning to me about this. One, that a Cleveland Browns story had a sad ending. Sure. Two, that Mark was involved in a car accident on 9-11. like not you being in a car accident is not a surprising thing it happens every 12 months or so but on 9-11 that's a new one i didn't know that one and i guess the third thing that's not a surprise but was welcome is that if mark's telling a story and involves something about women there will be some type of adjective describing them as large or or big barreled or burly well it's true in this in this case it's the most at one of the more accurate descriptions i can boil i just wonder Yeah, I guess I wonder, Connor, if as as the memory recedes, if someone naturally will just remember certain aspects that they shade in, like if it marks memory, the women have gotten burlier as the years have gotten away. That's in your mind in a way like that's how you like to remember it, that they're all just like big tattoos and just like crazy. Again, in this case, some definitely were that, but maybe I'm shading the few that were not. Yeah, man, watching games and bars. It's crazy. Actually, I was also thinking, like, moving out to L.A. and having no connection to, like, the local teams. Everyone in my town loves the Dodgers, okay, who kicked the Yankees' ass in the World Series two years ago. Obviously, there's no Jets fans out here, like, or Knicks fans. Like, having something where I'm rooting along with everyone else, I miss that. I legitimately miss that. And that's why those bars in different cities are great for that reason. It's kind of a communal thing where all the stragglers and misfits can get together. Okay. Let's have our football conversation now. Okay? And it was Japan, Mark. It was United States 5, the women. Japan 2 in the 2015 World Cup final. Carly Lloyd with a hat trick in the biggest of all spots. Yeah, that place was on fire. I'd never seen it like that. All right. So we went through the NFL, 32 teams, and we eliminated all the teams that seemed to be getting, you know, a lot of conversation either during the season or even in the early stages of the offseason. And then we whittled it down to the teams that deserve conversation because they have some interesting subplots, right? So I'll get us going here. Let's talk about the Falcons a little bit. Because, guys, good news, the Falcons, they finally have figured it out. I know I've been down on the Falcons in past years, but Kyle Pitts reportedly is getting the franchise tag. And in all seriousness, that's actually not a bad move. It makes sense. You tag him, and what does that pay him amongst the average of the top five tight ends in the league, which he earns. He deserves that paycheck. He had a nice year last year. the Falcons move would be now to turn that franchise tag into a big multi-year contract extension I just hope they don't do that that's kind of the Falcons move and then also we talked about it before the show David Njoku then getting the biggest contract for a tight end in NFL history and Stefanski bringing them over and it's like we're gonna we're gonna run two tight ends and we're gonna take over the league that way just don't Falcons it's okay to franchise Kyle Pitts but then just chill the f*** out. Just chill. And if Kevin Stefanski unlocks Kyle Pitts and he becomes a consistent all-pro level talent, then give him the bag next year. That's my take. But the reason I bring them up is not just because of that. They have an offseason that is very – it's a very interesting place for their organization. I feel like they're right. Like a 10-7 or even an 11-6 or a 6-11, It can go either way here. The quarterback situation obviously is real, and you're dealing with a situation where Michael Penix is coming off a week 11 ACL injury, so the timeline's murky on his availability. Kirk Cousins is still in the picture. He's wondering if Kevin Stefanski, the new head coach, wants to see him in some tight jeans. That's an expression. It's a new expression, but it's an expression. And I think you know what it means, right? Absolutely. Work it. You're going to bring me back. Currently not on his contract, but maybe on a different contract. And I just wonder, by the way, it is the offseason for Kirk Cousins, and it made me think of that Kirk Cousins conversation he had with his buddies at the country club. He's able to have his favorite beverage again, put it that way. Just water for me. But if it was the offseason, I would definitely join them in having a Roy Rogers. It's my favorite beverage, a Roy Rogers. It's the best beverage there is. We drink it for him. Yeah. Okay. What was the Roy Rogers comprised of again? It's a Coke with grenadine. I don't know. Is it just a cherry Coke, essentially? It's a cherry Coke. It's a Coke. It's a Coca-Cola with a splash of grenadine in ice. Maybe he's going with... He couldn't have one. It was in season. Is he like a non-gluten or strict? It's like everything you ever need to know. Is it like super strict diet or non-gluten or some sort of thing that says soda's off, too? Knowing Curry Cousins, it's satanic, potentially, in his viewpoint. I don't know. But anyway, yeah, so figuring out, and obviously you have in what's going on with the Falcons right now, they have new leadership all over the place. Cunningham, the GM, Matt Ryan as the, what's the job, the CEO? President of football. President of football. All of it, the whole sport. I love that. So we're going to see what they're going to do with the QB situation. They also finally seem to figure out their pass rush with those picks those two first picks last year and really made progress there And then of course we saw the unfortunate domestic apocalypse for James Pierce Jr And you know he is facing by the way it was a really ugly domestic violence incident that also included a race with police and an automobile. He is facing a maximum sentence of 70 years and a minimum of eight years and 21 months per reports. So we do not know on a series of felony charges, I mean, including first degree aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer during an attempt to escape. So, you know, he might be out of the picture now. And then how do they handle that with their pass rush, which they just figured out? So the Falcons, I'll throw them out there as a team that I find interesting and have some difficult decisions in a division that is eminently winnable if they have a sensible, smart offseason and don't do anything dumb. No first round pick. You're looking at a little bit of a difficult slide there. But at the same time, if they can stay healthy, I don't see a ton of holes here. Right. I mean, like you'd want to bolster the back end of the secondary a little bit. But otherwise, I mean, that defense really came around. You'd want someone to help Kyle Pitts is more of a functional. I mean, Kyle Pitts is an awful run blocker. Right. And you have someone like B. John Robinson. And if you're going to run 11 personnel or with Stefanski, maybe 12 personnel, you need someone out there who's going to get B. John to the edge and to help set him free a little bit. And so for me, like Atlanta is really in this place where it reminds me a lot of the Jaguars before Liam Cohen came there. We always knew this team was good. We always knew they were talented. And now there's the right coach that's going to be able to put everything in its correct order. And it's just that one good functional offseason where it's like I need guys who can block in this way. I need defensive tackles who can penetrate in this way. And all of a sudden, you turn from an 8-win team into maybe like an 11- or 12-win team. Yeah, I think what they're looking at themselves as is with Kevin Stefanski, we don't have to pack him into some of the frustrating elements of Kyle Pitts and the previous regimes, which I think they've just been essentially driving fantasy players nuts. They've been driving fans nuts because you can see all this talent on the roster, and you hire Stefanski to unlock all that, and they've got the pieces. And I don't hate the Pitts thing just to say we aren't what he was before. Can he go do what he did last year again? And that fits right into a Kevin Stefanski steam. And so does like the best running back in the league. I think he'd probably lose Tyler Algier this offseason, which I actually quietly think he makes a big impact in this offense, especially late in games when he'll go on a eight run kind of hammering stretch. But there's a lot to like here. It's kind of just like don't be falcony. They're almost like the NFC way we felt about the Chargers. It's kind of like the fun game is what would be the Falcon-y move that would leave us all scratching our heads this offseason that seems to happen a lot with them. Like I joke, but I'm serious about a long-term deal for Pitts or adding another tight end on a high contract. Also like, I don't know, trading for Deshaun Watson. I think the Falcons were hot for him once by the time. I don't think Kevin Stefanski is going to want to do that. That's what I like about the Falcons and also loathe about them that they just do things every year that's like, what? uh okay and then we have to talk ourselves into it um and yeah you mentioned you mentioned b john like we are entering i believe year four of having a generational talent at running back and nothing yet to show for it in terms of tangible team success uh maybe this regime of ownership or of front office and head coach will finally get this team where it is because i look at the nfc south you look at that division i mean the bucks seem to be trending in the wrong direction um and And the Falcons seem to have, to me, the most talent. The quarterback position, obviously, is the big question and where they go from there. So the Falcons. Why don't we do one more, then we'll take a break. Mark. I know that a year ago, the Detroit Lions would not have fit into this exercise because they were darlings and they're fun to talk about. And from head coach on down, there's a lot to like. But I think they're just in a they're in a self introspective phase right now, because what was their identity was we're going to run the ball behind a punishing five, six man, seven man offensive line that just basically enforces our will on you. And they're at a they're at a turning point. Jared Goff is going to have in Drew Petsing his third straight offensive coordinator in three years. I think Drew Petsing is a fit for this offense with what he wants to do. He wants to run the ball really well. He wants to have heavy sets, play action. It all seems like it could work for Jared Goff. And Ben Johnson, of all people, Justin pointed this out today, came out of the woodwork to say that he thought that Drew Petsing and Dan Campbell were two peas in a pod, that it would just work, that they have a similar vision, which helps from where you were with John Morton maybe a year ago. But the other problem for them, and it's a big offseason to do, is that your left tackle, Taylor Decker, he's 33, mulling retirement. Graham Glasgow is considering to retire, and that would leave you need a new center. Dan Skipper, who was such a help at various points along the line, has left the team to become – he's left the roster to become on the coaching staff. So I think this is a team you really look at and say if they want to keep the identity, they're going to have to do more than just lean on the draft. I think they're going to shop in free agency. Daniel Jeremiah, of all people, said that they were a real target. Detroit to go look for specifically tackles in free agency. I wonder if Tyler Linderbaum at center is someone they want. But there's a lot to do if you want to keep the Lions' identity intact. Because we see what teams are rising up. It's these teams with strong, mighty offensive lines that can beat you in tough points in the season late in games. And right now they're looking at missing three to four people that they had two years ago. It's a different line. And we get into trouble when we say Team X's offensive line has been awesome. This happened with the Cowboys. But if you look at it, they were actually down three people at one point, and they didn't look like an offensive line that was supreme on any level. And Detroit can't get into that, so it's like, what's your way out of that? And it starts right here this week. It's the elixir, right? And we as much as you say you're going to be smart about it and you're going to feather in draft picks and you're going to keep it strong. I mean, the Eagles were the consummate example of that. Oh, we'll have a replacement for Jason Kelsey that Jason Kelsey helps pick. It doesn't matter. Sometimes you just have a generational group of offensive linemen that are awesome. They make excuses for everything else on the team. They cover it up like spackle. And then all of a sudden you can get a quarterback like Jalen Hurts winning the Super Bowl. The same thing with the Lions where Ben Johnson could be Ben Johnson because he had that offensive line. Then he went to Chicago, signed three free agents on the offensive line that offseason, and they all miraculously stayed healthy all throughout that season. So, again, he could be Ben Johnson. That's why John Morton wasn't John Morton last year or even a clone of Ben Johnson. And no matter what Drew Petsing does, no matter how creative he is, we've seen the limitations of what he's been able to do in Arizona because you don't have that road grading, powerful offensive line. I think this is going to be – they did a lot of three tight end stuff, so Detroit's going to have to switch up some of their own personnel. They're going to have to get some bodies in there, but you're right, Mark. It's about really hardcore, talented offensive line play because that's what makes everything else go in this offense. yeah and you look at offensive lines in general the chargers are a perfect example like you can go into a season like oh that's going to be a mauling unit but you need depth every nfl team every once in a while or every year there's usually one or two of the playoff teams like this team's offensive line the five guys have played 98 of snaps but it's more often you're going to lose key guys a tackle a center guard like and you have to have that depth they haven't And I don't know, are the Lions near a power station? Because that's back-to-back years where their Super Bowl window has been impacted severely by injuries. Nice power station, ref, by the way. Yeah, thank you very much. Farewell, mauling unit. Also, speaking of mauling units and a good one, you mentioned mulling retirement. Do we mull anything else besides retirement? I think large relationship. Changes would be mulled to some degree. Well, I know it does fit there in that context, but I feel like mulling and retirement have become fused. You mull wine. Yeah, it's a little bit different. You're despised. Yeah, I can see you doing that. You do when you're under three feet of snow. All right, let's take a break, and we will continue on talking about the teams they, the webmasters, are not talking about. Stay right there. All right, we are back. Before we get into our third team, Connor, we should talk about your weekend because a massive blizzard Nor'easter thing went down in New Jersey. My parents sent me photos and videos from their place on the Jersey Shore, and they were getting the thunder and lightning snow. I think we all want to know, are you okay right now? Are you safe? Are you trapped? Like, how many children are in the house right now? anywhere from one to three uh and and it's just sort of a rotating number at this point so yeah this morning it's funny like i went out to go shovel and my wife pulled the thing where i go out there and you just open the door and it's basically like up to your groin at that point yeah i don't miss this she takes a look at it and she goes oh that looks light you'll just be able to flick all that the snow she's looking at yeah and i said flick it like you know just i'm just going to be able to flick this you know this is like every single scoop of this is like curling 45 pounds look at you can see that holy shit is that the tnc under there totally buried yeah oh there is no chance that tnc is going to be able to handle that pressure rate of the accumulation of snow if we thought that thing was a death mobile before maybe this is the bet maybe the whole thing just collapses and pancakes connor and that will force you to buy a vehicle that could actually safely transport your family i do know for a fact that there's no way uh like i've shredded my tires there is a zero percent chance um that that car is getting out of the driveway right now so if there's an emergency does it bother you connor that dan preferably wants this car to implode or somehow find complete destruction simply for show content i yeah i mean and i think it's Sort of a double-edged sword there. Probably with Connor not in it and his family not in it. Let me just make that very clear as well. That's very fair. Like a zany destruction of the 2016 TNC is what I'm looking for. It does feel flimsy, and this is going to be a gigantic challenge. Yeah, for sure. It will be. Are you even going to dig it out? We should leave it there until spring. So I sent you guys the little – that was the initial kind of video when I was walking out this morning of just kind of the situation that I was in, shoveled for about an hour and a half, and then my son came out to air quotes help, but he just kept taking giant handfuls of snow and dropping them right where I just shoveled, so he had to go in. Well, it's a magical morning for him. No school. Yeah. Being 15 years clear of my East Coast life, I really miss and love the idea of snow. Yeah. Like when my parents send the photo of the front yard covered and the limbs of the trees covered, and I think about, oh, then you close the door and Deb and Keith make a fire and they Netflix and chill. That sounds cozy and warm. But there is the actual work to be done as a man and as a father, which is backbreaking, heart attack-inducing, shoveling of metric tons of snow off your damn sidewalk, your driveway. Then the plow comes through and it reburies your driveway and you're raging out and there's nothing you could do about it. Bad memories of that. And here's where – and this is going to kind of take a hard left turn before I bring it back. But here's why shows like Bluey are just totally fucking bullshit. Go ahead. Because they – Bluey, for the people who are in my realm of parenthood right now, like these parents don't have any careers. Their entire day is existed to create imaginative play scenarios for their children, and it makes us all feel like dog shit when we watch this. Like we're not stepping up our A-game. So you have all these kids outside, and it's just like, oh, dad, can you be a polar bear? And it's like I got to shovel a fucking like miles worth of snow out of the driveway. Like, no, I can't be a polar bear right now, and it's just not in the cards. So that's what makes these snow days extra frustrating, right? Can't be a polar bear right now. If I could ask, I don't want to be invasive, but so you're outside handling, as Dan mentioned, extremely manly work. The children are sort of in your way. You do have a very wonderful spouse. What is she not involved in maybe keeping them in the house? Mark's trying to turn your wife burly. Here comes the fantasy creeping in again. No, it's just like 9 a.m. martini time. Let's get those four arms to find. Well, there's a baby in there, too, that can't be out in the snow. And so I think probably just too many kids, honestly. I mean, while we got Conor's blood pressure going up, talking about his domestic life per usual, might as well use this opportunity to tee the con man up on the latest subplot involving brown star Miles Garrett. Of course. And his girlfriend, Olympic girlfriend, Chloe Kim, and Miles shoehorning himself into the narrative around his girlfriend and what should be her moment. What was the latest thing that had you fired up, Connor? No, it's like this is like Miles Garrett. The entire Olympics were basically a vehicle for all of Miles Garrett's superfluous interests, which then got railroaded ahead of – like does anyone know how Chloe Kim did? And can anyone in this quad box tell me how Chloe Kim did in the Olympics? I think she's silvered, if I'm not mistaken. I have no idea. Like we don't know for sure. Right. And so this is the equivalent of like when Miles Garrett was about to break the sack record, Chloe Kim building a half pipe and then doing like a 360 over the field while he's trying to sack someone and being like, don't you know what I do? And it's like just like these guys – and maybe it's us and we do the famous couple thing. But like the NFL just suffocates the life out of every other sport, and it's like just let these poor people have 30 seconds that aren't about you. It's just painful. But Connor, wait. Hold on though. Hold on. Hold on because it's a Browns player, so we're going to go to town on them. But like it like you don't know. Wait, you you if you wanted to back up your conviction here, you would have sat down, wiped out the white noise, watch Chloe Kim's race and know exactly how she finished and how she fared. But if you don't know, you're not even taking or putting in time or effort to counter this evil that you've that you're announcing. I know how she did. She was a silver in the half pipe. I know how she did. But that's what I just said, too. Like, she's silvered, but like, all right. All right. So I guess my take is because I was inundated with Miles Garrett content around his girlfriend, I tried. It repelled me from learning anything more about her as an Olympic athlete. I don't know that she's silvered, but I knew that Miles Garrett wrote a poem about his girlfriend that he recited on television. I don't know. Go ahead. He said he didn't lighten you off the hook. He said you owe us a line of poetry. You don't remember the poem I wrote for you? Why don't you got a line? I'm looking for it. Oh boy, she knows she's in trouble. She doesn't find it. You found it? Do you want to see it? Sure. To attend? You cry easily. Oh my god. You enraptured fools the kings and exist without a peer. put on this earth for many things but our love is why you're here you really are I mean the video production team that did this second to none there was a full episode SI on the credit sports illustrated Connor's primary employer Miles Garrett is on the cover of this month's issue I should say that maybe we should pivot out of the entire conversation no but it's just like you know i i i just feel bad because and and maybe this gets me finally i mean this is and maybe we'll text jordan and and see if she can weigh in here i've long awaited the cover of feminist weekly and i feel like like women's sports is always at such a disadvantage and here's this just bright american star you know what i mean that just you know we just can't bravo can't not give a shit about the nfl for 48 seconds to let her do the half pipe routine you know what you know you know what give me a pose you are you are the march cover athlete uh cover reporter of feminists monthly or weekly whatever we are i don't know what the circulation's at we're into like a george like tailspin in terms of circulation and ad space spies by the way that's my new show i was watching uh i'm watching the john and carolyn love story uh tremendous by the way is it does it feel accurate it feels very of the time both actors are great uh the woman that plays carolyn is absolutely um mesmerizing uh as people that knew uh john john's wife said she was jfk jr the dude is a total hottie mark you'll like that and he's he looks like him and has the voice inflection and like the whole thing what i mean i don't know Like we're packed within any paragraph you speak verbally or like eight semi jabs at what you believe I doing with my life I not even done with the miles Garrett thing but I table it for another day But what absurdity Anyway great show It I think like a six series by the Ryan Murphy dude. And growing up in New York in the tri-state area, as you boys did as well, great snapshot of the 90s and what New York City was like. And if you were following New York City, if you didn't live in the city, but like you got the New York Post and you watched TV and all the coverage of him the music of the era the fashion of the era a very cool snapshot of that time it's well like every third every third like new york post had john kennedy jr like riding shirtless on a 10 speed through manhattan like he was that guy and mocking him for failing the bar like the hunk flunks and and then just his personal life just a crazy crazy uh life he led as the son of John F. Kennedy, and then, of course, he dies in a plane crash at 38 years old with his wife and his wife's sister, which is a really tragic ending, and the Kennedy curse and all that stuff. We haven't gotten there in the story yet, but we know how it ends. It's a sad ending, but the actual story so far has been really fun and light. Check it out. That's my recommendation. All right. You'd love it, Mark. You seriously would. I think it's right up your alley. I'm not averse to watching it. I just got to clear my schedule. Gotcha. Gotcha. All right. Let's move on to the next team that needs to be talked about as we head into the new league year. Connor. All right. Let's start with the Carolina Panthers, and I won't talk about the fact that Sir Per is 30 years old and probably in need of some medical help. Like, do we have a vet there? Is there a vet in Carolina that can even treat dying Panthers? I don't know. At the very least, a colonoscopy is in order at this stage. Yeah, like a Panther colonoscopy. So the Panthers have a really interesting offseason. we're coming up on they're gonna uh i think they're gonna pick up uh bryce young's fifth year option and so basically a two-year runway remaining on this experiment they seem hellbent on continuing that experiment but some interesting sort of situation for them rico daddle is hitting free agency and we just had the javante williams deal in dallas at three years and 24 million so you're kind of setting the groundwork for that rico daddle contract if you want him back is he's part of this or was it just lightning in a bottle for this team i don't know what they're going to do there it sounds like he didn't want to be back right connor like that he was he wasn't down with the timeshare when he thinks maybe he could be the dog somewhere else i kind of see him going elsewhere yeah and and remember chuba hubbard was that one of those first david canales players to get the extension because he was one of those i'm going to sign the clubhouse guy the guy who exists and kind of does the things um that i want to do and that's why that created that issue with the timeshare in the first place. Oddly enough, the storyline around the Panthers this offseason, I feel like is really granular. You're going to need to bolster your front seven around Derek Brown. Like this is about especially linebacker play. I mean, their off ball linebacker play was atrocious last year. And it's interesting because you have guys like Devin Lloyd on the market. Dan Morgan has not been averse to making some splashes in free agency. Last year, you took Tett McMillan, but then edge rushers after that in Nick Skurton and and princely. And so do you add to the edge, too? I mean, some of those guys, the second round picks, they came around towards the end of the year. But I think you still need edge help. I mean, you really I mean, Everill has been doing unbelievable work with sort of the bare bones play that he's gotten in the corners are good. But this is about upgrading the defense and maybe adding one more fringe playmaker and then really setting the table for, hey, we've got to win this division outright. We can't back into it. No one else needs to collapse. Bryce Young needs to be consistent. And that's the other thing, too, because you don't want to make it all about the quarterback. But everything that you've heard from management this offseason has been, we like Bryce Young, but he needs to be consistent. And so can you set the table for that to happen? I think part of it is any regime, year three, and it's happening quicker for some teams now. You could look at the Rams and the Seahawks and say it's maybe more two years but by year three and they certainly made progress last year like you want to see the full picture um come into focus here and i think that what does it mean with dave canales and this quarterback in year three what what do you add to the offense like how do you become a more complete team we just talked about the falcons is saying we kind of don't get why they're only winning as many games as they are because they were complete kind of all over the place and the panthers to me feel like an off season this off season away from being looked at if they attack the right spaces. But it's like you've got to make sure that you don't regress in the most winnable division in football. And so you've got to be smart. They have, I think, 12 million or so in cap space, which is certainly on the lower sector for these teams. But they can fiddle with all that business. But it's a huge off season for them to become kind of a team that we take much more seriously in November and December versus an 8-9 wildcard team. And isn't it funny that Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud forever tied together as the one and two pick. And after year one, Stroud was seen as a clear rising star in the league and the Panthers struggled mightily. It felt like, oh, what a what a mess up by Carolina going into year four for each guy. Like where it's like, I think they get their fifth year option picked up. We have no idea right now if they're the future of the organization. They're kind of they have been on similar paths. and obviously Stroud has been to the playoffs a couple times, but both teams don't really know if that's their guy. And when you think about the trajectories of their career and the peaks and valleys, it's been very interesting rides for them both to kind of be in the same place entering 2026. And Young has the coach that you want for a young quarterback, which is the offensive QB guru, whisper, whatever that means these days. And Stroud has the team, right? He has the team around him that you would want for a young quarterback. and to say nothing negative about their coaching staff and the decisions they're making about his development. But he hasn't developed the way they wanted to. So big, big questions. Let me spin to the Colts. If I'm a Colts fan, I am relieved we can return from yet another trip to Fantasyland with this organization. From the team that brought you Jeff Saturday as my beer-drinking buddy, maybe he could be my head coach, and the sequel oh man philip rivers he's cool let's see if he's still alive and could be our qb1 for a playoff run years out of retirement um now we can get back to all right how do we find a way to get this team back to what what were they seven and one at one point uh before the wheels came off and daniel jones obviously is at the center of that collapse of the team he broke his leg played through a broken leg and then tore his achilles right um so we we don't know where he's at he's also an impending free agent and it sounds like the colts are committed to bringing him back in some capacity but you have to figure out how you want to do that and financially what what is the move there because if we're going to be at the combine last year when when we heard uh chris ballard who by the way is still there uh say well we need to find another option with anthony richardson because he can't stay healthy you can't go into the press conference this week in Indianapolis and not say the same thing about Daniel Jones, who has now been in the NFL for seven seasons, and he's stayed healthy for one of them. And his whole body broke down in the bottom half coming out of this season. So that's big, the quarterback situation. But there's more to discuss here. The Colts are, in general, in a precarious situation where things can go either way. They do not have a first-round pick this year or next year because of the Sauce Gardner trade. They don't pick till 47th overall in the second round. And while the sauce trade did nothing to help them, obviously in 2025, not all his fault, he got hurt. And obviously the offense cratered after the Daniel Jones injury, but his presence here is actually more important than they even realized because Charverius Ward is a major question mark for this team. When, when they traded for sauce, they envisioned having these two all pro level cornerbacks locking down the back end. Then Ward has three concussions last season, and he is, wait for it, mulling retirement at age 29. Here's a little clip from him from his locker clean-out day where he was talking about mulling. You know what? My daddy told me to retire, but I don't know. I don't think I'm going to do it. I just got to sit down high for the last season. I know going into next season, if I do come back and play again, if I get one more, I for sure probably retire if I get one more concussion. But hopefully, like I'm with, I don't get no more because I don't have to deal with that anymore. But it was crazy, though, just dealing with all those headaches all season. It's a painful, frustrating thing. Hopefully, you know I don't have to go through that again. I mean, it might have been a little hard to understand there, but he said, my daddy told me to retire. And, yeah, he's had ongoing headaches, three concussions. It could be if he does come back, which it sounds like he's leaning toward unless he has a setback, He's one hit away, of course, from maybe it being over. So you have to figure out that situation. Their defensive line was a major issue for them last year. They could not get to the quarterback. They're going to do a total overhaul for the most part of that line. But again, they don't have the draft pick to build from the top of the draft. And their salary cap is tricky because of the quarterback situation. There's just a lot of stuff to deal with here for a team that thought it was a Super Bowl contender just a few months ago. and we don't know what they are. So it's going to be a very interesting and really difficult terrain for Ballard and the Colts, the Ursaes, to navigate this season. It feels like Chris Ballard has survived more than any GM we could point to at this stage in terms of never really identifying the right quarterback post-Andrew Luck. I think the Sauce Gardner thing, you can look at it a couple different ways, But any team thinking without a lot of runway beyond their record, which was a little suspicious, we're a cornerback away from being a Super Bowl champion, and we're going to sell the farm for it. My one note would be that the reason that you got Phillip Rivers there, even if it was quirky would be a nice way to put it, but a little bit lunatic, even if it was fun to watch, that Shane Steichen and Rivers are literally best friends. And like there was total buy-in from the coach with the Daniel Jones thing because we've seen another team think too highly of Daniel Jones and it goes south. It costs jobs. Like I don't want Chris Ballard really making this decision. I want to know that Shane Steichen is 100 percent on the direction at quarterback because I think their biggest asset is Shane Steichen. I agree. I think their second biggest asset and, you know, kudos to Jordan again for her profile of Carly Gordon, which I think you should read. She is fearless and she is like her dad in many ways, but I think believes in Chris, believes in Shane to a level that maybe not a lot of owners would believe in a coaching staff that hasn't in a GM that hasn't delivered a playoff victory. And I'm looking at this team in a different way where I think they're going after like Trey Hendrickson. Like, I think there's still going to be big game hunting with whatever capital they have left, because that is the nature of what these things take on. Like, if you're Chris Ballard, you know, like you got lucky last year and probably the year before that. If you don't make the playoffs and win a playoff game, you're absolutely not coming back next year. And so how do you say no to like giving away what's left of your draft equity to go get Trey Hendrickson who pair him with Lou Anarumo again and try to fix that and reimagine the defense in a different way? How do you say no to a multi-year extension for Daniel Jones that you're not going to be around to deal with when you know what hits the fans? So I like it, though. I mean, I think that teams should operate this way. owners should be fans of their coaching staff and their team because the other thing is this perpetual like over intellectualized tanking bullshit which never comes to fruition and helps anyway so i don't know i'm excited about the colts i think you'll get it in general the daniel jones free agency situation is fascinating to me like what kind of contract do you give daniel jones i don't think you put the franchise tag on him right he doesn't that's that's a huge number for a guy that we don't even know if he's going to be healthy enough to be a big-time player for you this year. So then you say, okay, then let's give him a deal. But if it reaches free agency, there might be a desperate team that says, okay, we're going to outbid the Colts if the Colts want to do something a little bit more protection-wise for them, like something a little safer. Open market could get tricky for him, right? So I wonder where that goes. But it sounds like they are in on jones i also want to just mention anthony richardson obviously the the former top five pick is still here um there was james boyd of the athletic uh something he just mentioned in passing but like stopped me in my tracks a little bit of course he richardson had the injuries last year and then he suffered the the freak injury with the orbital eye injury with the stretching band that snapped that's got lawsuit written all over it by the way but he's 23 years old he's still just 23 Richardson, but he still does not know, although he is optimistic. Boyd wrote, Anthony Richardson is optimistic his full sight will return. They don't even know if this guy is going to be disabled in terms of his vision. And if that's the case, on top of all the other challenges at the front of his career, that could be a career-ending issue for him. So keep an eye on that. I guess this would be the perfect time, Ceci, just to check in real quick. And this is something we're going to look to do maybe later in the week. But when you look at free agency, and this ties into my other team that I talked about, the Falcons as well, like who's out there as other options at quarterback? So you're not going to find like a star. There's no Peyton Manning here that you can go after. Daniel Jones might be the best available player if he gets to the open market. After that, it's like Tua. I mean, if you want to make a splash, if you're the Colts or the Falcons, bring Tua. You want Jimmy G, Aaron Rodgers? Someone's going to buy in on the Malik Willis hype. Is it going to be the Colts? Is that a move the Colts might do? Justin, you're not in your head. You think Willis could be the guy for them? It does feel like a Colts move. To your point, Connor, and Jordan and her excellent profile on Carly Ursae Gordon, she lives and breathes this shit. She works as hard as any owner in the league. they're going to do their homework and maybe it is it is Willis that they go after if the Jones thing doesn't happen yeah I do think like the latest reports are that Daniel Jones is trending towards negotiating a multi-year extension that seems like the most likely right case but I do think like of the open market quarterbacks somebody's going to overpay Malik Willis and like I think we're looking at like a Matt Flynn situation for a decade-old callback to a Packers quarterback who flashed in a handful or it was one start for him but a handful for Willis and then like we're gonna like we're just gonna project monetary salary wise this guy's a true franchise quarterback now I did see some reports that are linking him to the Cardinals but like if they strike out on Daniel Jones or it doesn't work for whatever reason Ballard has to nail this this is like his last chance to get a competent quarterback in the building why can I ask a dumb question why Why do we keep saying last chance? Because he's had the last chance four times. Because in her end-of-season press conference, Carly Ursae-Gordon basically said, like, I told Shane and Chris that this wasn't good enough and that next year we need to see the results on the field or else. Like she didn't say that, but it very much felt like this is your last chance. There's context to how you'd miss the playoffs, and it could encourage different types of patience. Like, you know, they lost their quarterback and things fell apart. And I don't I feel like in a way that the whole it's Ballard's last stand to me. It is a year where every one of these teams that need a quarterback to what we just talked about. It's kind of a stopgap. And it's hard to judge some of these coaches in front offices when beyond an untested Malik Willis past five or six starts in the right system. Like we're hanging our hat on and saying we have to win the division. Now, at least with Daniel Jones, they know the upside or that it works in this offense. But it's a terrible year to press a coaching staff to figure out quarterback. But also, I think they use – not they, but the Daniel Jones injury is being used a little bit as an excuse or a reason why the Colts' season fell apart. Before his injury, they were on – they had started to trend downward, and they had moments where they barely escaped the fourth quarter. Well, he was also playing with a broken leg when they began that – I think that was directly connected. Daniel Jones, but it's the highs he played out at one point. The ceiling was there at some point in the soccer. To that point, Connor, to that point, the whole idea of saying, okay, we're going to – the smart move here is to bring back Daniel Jones. And it's like, okay, this guy cannot stay healthy. What's your plan B when he gets hurt again? So I don't think he's – I think the quote-unquote easy move is just bring him back because it proved it worked. But he's proven time and time again he's probably not someone to be trusted as your franchise quarterback. They're in a tough spot. I mean, Justin mentioned the Russell Wilson thing. Do you give Shane Steichen a special assignment to say this is beyond the first two quarterbacks, maybe not. It's sort of a choose your flavor class. In the third round, you are taking someone that you believe you can make take snaps, right, that you can get to take snaps. And maybe that's Riley Leonard, too. Maybe they even though they got Philip Rivers instead of Riley Leonard last year, I think that speaks to their confidence in him. But just to go back to Malik Willis for one second, like think about the inter the ingrained run pass system that Shane had for Anthony Richardson and how many open receivers were in that offense and what you could do with Malik Willis, a quarterback who's actually going to hit those open wide receivers like that is appetizing to me. I'm just saying like I'm I was I was I was in on the Colts last year and I realize I'm compromised in this scenario. but i i like the sound of that you know i hate to use this expression because i think first of all i'm too old to use it but like tired is just bringing back daniel jones wired is go getting malik willis and really rolling the dice i don't think you're too tired for tired wired because i think that was about almost a decade ago that that was a hot turn of phrase i was worried that you were gonna say i was glazed speaker Speaker of the youth industrial complex I not speaking for the youth but Tired Wired has been around the block Update me with what's the new Tired Wired then, please. You do a third line that says inspired, and it's like something totally galaxy-brained. Has that been, that's the update? Yeah. Well, that's even like a five-year-old update, but yeah. Okay. That's a problem. That's problematic. All right, Mark, what do you got? What's your next one? What's Tired Wired inspired? fired it's one of them i i think um washington kind of just vanished from consciousness because they were unfun unwatchable your exciting quarterback is gone due to injury your offensive coordinators being scapegoated for everything that's happening on a banged up roster you're not winning and the great story from a year ago um went up in smoke and we've got questions around the owner all over again for stuff off the field um but i say what's i think a big transition for an offense as big as almost any in the league right now is that you've got our boy, David Blau of the BlauHards, coming in as a first-time play caller. And he's been in the system as quarterback coach and knows Jaden Daniels really well. They get along really well. I think that was a really smart job by Dan Quinn to pair him with someone not totally new. The system will be similar in concepts, but in his introductory press conference, Blau made it clear that he wanted, and this comes from Dan Quinn too, I believe, Jaden Daniels under center. It's going to be a much different looking offense for big portions of snaps. And I think they're looking at the way that even Seattle helped Sam Darnold in this season, right? Which is Washington quietly had the fifth most effective run game in the league last year by certain metrics. That kind of blows me away because you kind of just stopped paying attention to them. But they've got a good offensive line in certain parts. I think they want to run the ball. They want to control people at the line of scrimmage and not put Jaden Daniels as like a Jesus type savior in certain situations, but to use play action and the run to create a more balanced offense. I mean, I think Quinn was talking about that a year ago. but how do you make sure that we get the best version of jade and daniels and a play caller and david blau who i mean i believe in spiritually as a as a topic but it's tough to be a first time play caller it's very tough and it's kind of like you feel like i just think i would close with this for now it's like they're under a lot of pressure to turn it around i think dan quinn is a is a hot seat candidate one of the top ones if they have a flat line type season so there's a lot on a first team play caller a quarterback on that coming back from injury in a new system and they've got a new first team to first time defensive play caller too so there's a lot happening here this is a pretty satisfying position for me to find washington in after last year took the under on the commanders said on the show that they were microwaving their rebuild and then a washington area radio hosted like five poorly lit uh videos about me uh and like a little manifesto that i I'm not going to bring up out of class, but I'm just saying. And I think the one thing that they should do for Jaden Daniels, and I think that they are doing, is what we said they should do last year, is that this needs to be organic. And the players that he grows with are the – like it can't be Debo Samuel and Zach Ertz. Like it can't be 38-year-old men. It can't be guys with a massive injury history. It has to be players that you draft that get to hang out with Jaden Daniels, that get to play catch with him after practice, that want to be there, all that kind of stuff. But I think that Blau is the perfect example that where if Cliff Kingsbury was not going to be there, that was going to be the guy that Jaden wanted. And if you ever hear this guy speak, which I have, I've gotten the chance to meet him and talk to him as well. This guy is going to be interviewing for head coaching jobs next year. I'm just telling you that. He is that smart. He is that good at his job. And so I think that they're back on the right path. Like they misinterpreted all of the signs of the NFC title run from a year ago. And I think they're getting back to the point where like this has to be something that's a little bit more foundational and sustainable under Jaden. Yeah, I thought you put that well, that it was kind of a microwaved offseason. To me, it was it was very paint by numbers. Washington's last offseason ago, oh, we are the team that's on the rise with the young quarterback. We made the final four. So we're going to go get this guy to play left tackle. We're going to add this guy. We're going to add this guy. A bunch of veterans, and then you say, now we plugged every quote-unquote hole, and it didn't feel as organic as you'd like, and then they couldn't stay healthy. The wide receiver one couldn't stay healthy. The QB, of course, couldn't stay healthy. So big season, and Quinn very much on the hot seat. If it makes you feel any better, Connor, I got aggregated a little bit for my Puka Nakua. We all got sideswiped in that bad boy. Yeah, and it's stunning, stunning to be taken out of context by area blogs about Puka Nakua. It's like a podcast host says Puka Nakua needs to be traded. It's like, well, not exactly what I said, but that will do for your click. So go ahead and crucify me. Well, it's the headline that puts you underwater. Yeah. I will go up on this cross if you need me to go up on this cross for your content. But how about we listen? I have noticed one thing about our friend Connor. No one more in the crosshairs than Sean Payton, and for good reason, because Sean Payton is the only NFL coach that I've ever experienced where, like we've talked about, he would call your newsroom and chew someone out at like Saturday at 10 a.m. Pacific time. He notoriously knows everything that's written about him. I once heard someone say that Ozzie Newsom didn't want a single article written about him until after the season was fully completed. He didn't want to be influenced, angered, infuriated, none of it. Not unlike Sean Payton, Conor has an incredible radar for anyone that crosses his path that doesn't have pro-Conor things to say. He knows that this guy created five guerrilla videos about him. Like, that's amazing. Like, I'm not surprised that you would know that. But, like, he's got this in the psyche as, like, I will attack at some point. In Connor's defense, we all are that way, right? It's only natural if somebody sends you something. To degrees. And you're getting attacked for something, especially when you're taken out of context on top of it. It's like, come on, man. But don't forget, Connor has also confessed to Command F searching his own name in our YouTube comments. And he's probably typing Connor or without the at into Twitter to see what people are saying about him there too, right? I have a Google alert set up for myself, yes. There you go. I just want to get – give me one mic'd up Connor at confession with the priest, and I just want to hear some things that are happening there. Yeah. Well, that's not allowed. Yeah, you can't – I'll tell you whatever you need to know, but just don't go in there. We don't want to go in there. Don't get caught inside a Catholic church doing something like that, Dan. It's not a good idea. Don't mic up the confession booth at St. Margaret's. Do you know, by the way, so just very quickly, my daughter had to do her first reconciliation a couple of weeks ago. And you do it now in front of the whole church. So she's sitting there like hyperventilating, like, I don't want to do this. And I was like, I don't blame you, you know, because I'm about to go tell this guy all the things that I've done wrong. What if everyone can hear that? And I was like, that's a good point. I just feel like one of the one of the problems with me is I just get too driven by the job. I'm too obsessed with my work. Like, that's the only fault I have, church. But then you're lying during the reconciliation. Right. And then you're going to hell for that, too. It's just like it's a lot. It's a lot. And I feel like we should bring down the shame level. Turn the temperature down. In the Catholic Church. That would be one thing that I would suggest if I get – if the pope from Chicago asked me, what can we do? Let's put the constituency in the worshippers in position to feel less shame. That's a great off-season project for you. It would be a 200 to 250-page thesis. Justin, contact the pope. Yeah, and how to fix the core issues of the Catholic Church by Dan Hanses from Heed the Call. And it's like – He the call is a basis in human faith to some degree. That is very true. Yeah, let's think about that. All right, let's take a break and we'll close out the show. All right, we are back. One more. Connor, what's a team that needs a little more pop right now? How about the Jacksonville Jaguars because – Perfect. Shocker, they didn't change football. last year. So, you know, even though they tried. That was another thing we talked about. Connor got nervous he might not be able to land this plane in February about six weeks ago, but it turns out the runway is clear. You're all clear for a landing. The fog is lifted. Travis Hunter is going to be a full-time cornerback next year, so you just traded a first round and an extra one for a full-time cornerback. Oh, boy. The Colts just traded two. Can I – wait. Can I just say real quick on that point not to get bogged down with it? But you give that press conference saying this kid is going to change the sport and then you bail on it in 12 months. It's like it does – Not even. Yeah, it does beg the question about the overall vision of the organization. But they're also coming off a largely highly successful 2025 season. So the Jets fan is going to shut the f*** up. Go ahead. um big off season for the jaguars uh etn and devin lloyd uh who those urban meyer era first round picks those guys are free agents um what was really interesting and i think deserves mentioning uh anthony campanale is another guy that i think is going to be a head coach again next year um they passed and my big thing i was critical of them last year with the hunter pick for passing up a defensive tackle that i thought was really good and who ended up going to the Browns. But despite the fact that they didn't have a lot of infrastructure at that position, they were seventh against the run in terms of EPA and I think third against the run in terms of success rate. But they still kind of land back here in a spot where I think that they could use some upgrades at defensive tackle. They got to decide whether Devin Lloyd's market, I mean, he's second team all pro this year. Is that going to take him out of their plans? Can they move on And can they create that kind of run defense without Devin Lloyd? They have guys like Monteric Brown, another guy. He led the team in passes defense. You have Andrew Wingard, who was a really good run defender for them, not as good against the pass. But he's a free agent as well. So you have a lot of decisions to make there in terms of your defensive minutia, how you want to rebuild it. Does Campanale get a better, bigger say in it, which I think he should. And the flip side of that is with Travis Hunter moving to defense essentially full time, He's going to be like a package player on offense. Brian Thomas got basically pushed to the outside over the back half of last year. He's going to be more of a table setter player in Liam Cohen's offense if he's not traded. Maybe they find a trade partner for him. But I do think like ancillary weapons here, like you might lose ETN to the market. I don't know what that looks like. But you're going to have to come up with some more playmakers here next to Trevor Lawrence, who was good with like Parker Washington and good with Jacoby Myers when they got him last year. But I think that's part B to this is like, how are you going to fill out this roster with playmakers? And you talk about a team interpreting the signals from a year ago. This was a massively successful campaign. Are you punching the accelerator? Are you doing what the commanders did last year? Or are you taking pause and kind of taking stock of what you have? Yeah, like the Jacoby Myers move worked. There's Rashid Shahid. But of the wide receivers that were picked up kind of midway, like that worked really, really well. And I think if you're the Gladstone-Cohen combination, to avoid some of our verbal slings and arrows at times, like don't believe that you're there already. To me, it was – I'm not saying it wasn't legit. They grew – I think they've got a great coaching staff and there's a lot to love. But it was a softer 13-win season than you'd imagine that in general for me. Don't stop. Don't take your foot off the pedal. But you finally got your quarterback looking the way you want. And under Doug Peterson, it's a different situation. But we had those heights at the end of the Doug Peterson season. Then it all went away. So it's like protect at any cost the fact that your quarterback picks up where he left off. And don't lose a star running back and not replace him with the right person. or trade away your wide receiver. And then the guy that you drafted to be a wide receiver last year is now just a cornerback with a couple, like, look at me plays on offense twice a game. So it's an important time. And I don't think you can be losing talent. You've got to be adding stuff everywhere around Trevor Lawrence. Yeah, I think the, if you would ask him, he'd probably privately tell you, James Gladstone, that he probably learned from last year and that press conference and knowing you don't need to go out of your way to to put the spotlight on yourself and the player the way he he did in fact we're not going to hear anything from james gladstone and liam cohen at the combine this week because they are not attending they're skipping which um i do like i do like that as a flex it's now like the cool thing to do um there's a there's there's a growing um group of high high ranking team officials across the league that say we're not doing the press conferences where we're sending just our guys to the combine to do the business and the jaguars uh are one of those teams michael doraco of espn.com said the jaguars plan to do no face-to-face visits with players at the combine or at the team's facility um through the so-called top 30 visits so okay yeah but like what are you supplanting with that like i think sometimes that we we fool ourselves into thinking like we're smart and we're doing things differently when it's like you should pick up every dime that you find on the street. You know what I mean? Let me give you the quote from Duraco, his reporting. Well, the Jaguars don't want to conduct any of those, and they don't want to conduct any top 30 visits either because they don't want their opinion of a player to be changed or altered in any way based on a 15 to 20-minute visit. This is a system that the Rams use, and they've used it quite successfully, as you can see by their success over the last decade or so. I don't know, man. I know what you're saying though. Like, yeah. You hear some of the stories. To your point though, Connor, like I think this is crazy because I've always believed that like scouting is more about who is this person and is he going to be the dedicated player we need him to be to reach his potential. But regardless. In 15 or 20 minutes. I know. But they're all touch points, right? And they all come together to build a profile on a person, and they go along with what the Jags are now going to be relying solely on, which is accounts from people who know these players that their area scouts are talking to or the college coaches that they have a chance to speak with. That's what they believe in. That's what they say we're going to hang our shingle on. But these college coaches have all the incentive in the world to say, my guy's incredible, you should draft him as high as you can because then they can turn around to their next recruiting class and say, see, I got that guy drafted in the first round, so come play for me. Whereas, like, I think it's a faulty system, but we'll see if it works out for them. I don't know. Connor, I'd say it's also in the take of, like, why not just do it. It's also to the discretion of the team how much to take out of those 15 to 20 minutes. Like, you can decide that you're not going to bury a guy. And, like, it's almost like you're hiding your head in the sand, hoping not to see something you don't like in that interview. And it's like, I don't know if that's the most the most the best way to go about things, but that's how they're doing it. It's like my wife and I just finished season six of Love is Blind, which was phenomenal. I enjoyed every minute of it. And if I was in that reality show and they were like, we're going to offer you 15 minutes to actually see the person before you propose and talk to them. Of course, you're going to take it and you're not going to change your entire opinion based on it. But you're going to put that into the algorithm of the things that you use to make your decision. I don't know. I just feel like you're leaving. Not James Gladstone. Well, and it became counterpoint. Liam Cohen was with the Rams. Liam Cohen has probably had immense conversations about why the Rams go this route, go this way. And it's not 1986 right now. It's like you can spend time with players and learn about players in different ways. I would do it too because being in a real interview or a meeting, someone's body language, little things that you can detect matter. But that alone in 15 minutes is a pretty severe judgment if it would change your opinion of a player. People are never more false sometimes in interviews, but they give reveals. I'll just say this. I there's a funny like there's one funny story, but I'll just say like the amount of stuff that you hear from these guys in 15 minutes is mind blowing sometimes. And one example that was like Jason Pierre Paul did a pre draft visit once and a team had 15 minutes with him and he just started talking about a fight that he got in. And the 15 minutes was up and the GM said, I almost had him back for a top 30 visit just to hear if he won the fight or not. Because like the whole – like we learned nothing about him except for the fact that there was this 15-minute story about a fight that he got in junior college or whatever it was. So I don't know. All right. We'll be back covering day one of the press conferences of the coaches, the GMs from Indianapolis, trying to get what we can get out of that in terms of evasive answers and what they might mean. So make sure you're there for our next step and another one coming after that to button up everything. So big week for Heed the Call. Thank you to everybody for your support, and we'll see you. Until then, do what you must. Yes, Heed the Call.