← Scoop City: Inside The NFL
Scoop City: Inside The NFL
Can Josh Allen and the Bills capitalize on an open AFC + the latest coaching carousel news
01:18:14
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- [00:01]
Diana Rossini
Oh.
- [00:01]
Jennifer
Could this vintage store be any cuter? Right.
- [00:04]
Diana Rossini
And the best part, they accept Discover.
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Jennifer
Except Discover in a little place like this. I don't think so, Jennifer.
- [00:10]
Diana Rossini
Oh, yeah.
- [00:11]
Jennifer
Huh.
- [00:11]
Diana Rossini
Discover's accepted where I like to shop. Come on, baby, get with the times.
- [00:16]
Jennifer
Right. So we shouldn't get the parachute pants.
- [00:19]
Diana Rossini
These are making a comeback, I think.
- [00:23]
Unknown Advertiser Voice 1
Discover is accepted at 99% of places.
- [00:26]
Unknown Advertiser Voice 2
That take credit cards nationwide.
- [00:28]
James Palmer
Based on the February 2025 Nielsen report.
- [00:33]
Diana Rossini
Today'S trivia quiz is on mobile games.
- [00:35]
Jennifer
All right, I'm very excited about this one.
- [00:38]
Diana Rossini
I'm going to give you a few hints. Ready?
- [00:40]
Jennifer
Ready.
- [00:41]
Diana Rossini
This game has no ads and no need for WI Fi to play.
- [00:46]
Jennifer
Wait, so does it cost a lot of money?
- [00:47]
Diana Rossini
Nope. It's completely free to play.
- [00:50]
Jennifer
What? No way.
- [00:52]
Diana Rossini
It has amazing graphics and they recently added a bunch of new minigames.
- [00:57]
Jennifer
Hold on. Is that Royal Kingdom?
- [00:59]
Diana Rossini
Yes. Bingo. So if you haven't played Royal Kingdom yet, go to the app store or Google Play and download it for free.
- [01:08]
James Palmer
Hey, Sal.
- [01:09]
Chase Daniel
Hank. What's going on? We haven't worked a case in years.
- [01:12]
James Palmer
I just bought my car at Carvana and it was so easy. Too easy.
- [01:16]
Chase Daniel
Think something's up.
- [01:17]
James Palmer
You tell me. They got thousands of options. Found a great car at a great price.
- [01:22]
Chase Daniel
Uh huh.
- [01:23]
James Palmer
It got delivered the next day.
- [01:24]
Chase Daniel
It sounds like Carvana just makes it easy to buy your car, Hank.
- [01:29]
Zach Jackson
Yeah, you're right.
- [01:30]
James Palmer
Case closed.
- [01:32]
Diana Rossini
Buy your car today on Carvana. Delivery fees may apply.
- [01:40]
Zach Jackson
Oh.
- [01:40]
James Palmer
Welcome into a live. Listen to it. Diana and Chase. A live scoop city. I'm James Palmer. That's Diana Rossini. Chase, Daniel with us as well. We're going to break down everything for you in terms of what's going on in this head coaching cycle. Diana is going to take us behind the scenes. She's been working the phone. She hasn't slept, but she looks great. To find out really what happened in these buildings, what's next for these specific teams? Maybe we'll get to some teams that held onto their coaches and why. We'll also start breaking down this first round of wild card weekend. Chase is going to be on the call there, I believe at ESPN on Monday.
- [02:14]
Chase Daniel
Right.
- [02:14]
James Palmer
Chase for the Steelers and the Texans. We'll get to that. We'll also take you inside these facilities with some of our great writers on our athletic staff here about what went on in Atlanta and in Vegas and in Cleveland. And we'll get to all of that. So stay with us. But we're going to start right here. Welcome everybody. Please like and subscribe Diana, we're going to start with you and we're going to lean on you heavy right now because you have all the good.
- [02:38]
Diana Rossini
Happy New Year, James.
- [02:40]
James Palmer
No, no. Larry David says it's too far. Larry David, Happy New Year.
- [02:45]
Chase Daniel
Oh, you get two days with here.
- [02:47]
James Palmer
Chase is even more of a stickler than Larry David. He goes to. Larry says three.
- [02:50]
Chase Daniel
Happy New Year.
- [02:51]
Zach Jackson
Okay.
- [02:52]
James Palmer
No, Happy New Year's. We won't say it. We'll get right into it. Diana. We have a one and done head coach in Pete Carroll. We had two last year that were one and done. We had seven that were hired heading into this season. Pete is the one that is one and done. After they go three and 14 in Vegas, this felt like one that we knew was coming. It was brewing. But oftentimes, and I want to know about the timing because Mark Davis usually, and he's been through this a lot, takes a day or two to kind of go through it, sort it out, and then makes his announcement. This happened rather quickly.
- [03:27]
Diana Rossini
Yeah. So to me, the takeaway from just those moments of when this all went down wasn't the firing of Pete Carroll. Because I think we all saw this coming. We knew this was coming. We reported, we've discussed it, especially here on the show. To me, it was the statement. They put out Tom Brady's name in it. Right. Like, yes, it's been like this kept, not very well kept secret that Tom's part of everything in Las Vegas. And. And when he initially came on as minority owner, I think everyone was uncomfortable by it in general around the league, especially because he has other responsibilities with Fox. And I'm sure for him, like, he was a little hesitant to being like, I'm going to come in here and. And run things. Well, maybe that's a good thing. Right. Because now Tom Brady was in this press release with John Spytech as being, you know, the two guys are going to be in charge of this head coaching search. Now, that doesn't mean that Brady hadn't been involved before. Right. Because remember last year he was getting Ben Johnson's attention. There was like a good 24, 48 hour period where some people thought that that was actually going to happen. Like, Tom, if Tom Brady calls you, you answer, right. And you're listen. And he's pretty convincing that because he's the greatest to do it. So it makes a lot of sense. But to me, that was. I was happy to see it, actually. I think it's good for the Raiders that Tom's going, all right, I'm going to grab this thing. I'm sticking my name on it for real. No more hiding in the shadows, you know? And look, they've got the number one overall pick here, a brand new head coach. There, there's a lot to be discussed with the Raiders, but there's also so many other openings right now that I, I, I wouldn't put Vegas as a top landing spot for coaches that are looking for jobs in terms of that being high on their list. So we can get into that too.
- [05:09]
James Palmer
Okay, Chase, what I want to ask you then is when you look at it on the field.
- [05:13]
Chase Daniel
Yeah.
- [05:14]
James Palmer
What's the first things that you need to point out and fix or correct or change if you're this new head coach, when you're sitting in that chair across from Tom Brady saying this is what we need to do.
- [05:26]
Chase Daniel
Well, I think it's got to be offensive head coach. And to be honest with that, you look at who they're going to pick and select with the number one pick, and that without a doubt, in my opinion is Fernando Mendoza. When you do what you've done against Ohio State and then I literally just watched both of his games, this Ohio State game and then the Big 12 Big 10 championship game and then the Rose bowl against Alabama, there's a lot of things to like. And so obviously every head coach candidate coming in, every OC, every D.C. like, man, we're going quarterback with one. And that quarterback, without a doubt, should be Fernando Mendoza. Fernando Mendoza will be tasked with trying to turn this franchise around. And you look at who they have offensively, they have really, really good young pieces. Ashen Genti, Brock Bowers. Defensively, no clue. Like they gotta fix that. Offensively, they, they have a legitimate, all probably tight end and they have a legitimate, in my opinion, a ceiling guy of all pro and running back. And if you can get a quarterback to play here, here's my thing, Diana. You say that it's gonna, you know, they fired Pete Carroll and all this stuff is because of Tom Brady Search. Do you see like a Foxborough reunite? Like people like Brian Flores.
- [06:51]
Diana Rossini
Brian Flores, Brian Dable. Back in.
- [06:54]
Chase Daniel
Come in.
- [06:54]
Diana Rossini
I tried the Patriot way there. Remember with Josh McDaniels, they've done that. So I'd be interested to see if the owner would be okay with attempting that chapter. But I think we've also learned, yes, there's a copycat league, but when you try to go about that, it, it doesn't always work. It, in fact, most of the time it doesn't. I think if anyone that's going to walk into the interview and say they're going to do it the New England way. I, I don't know if that really hits. I. I'm not. I think they need to be original to what they are. And one of the things that they need to probably make a priority is fixing what's going on with Max Crosby. Right. So we know that Max is very frustrated and I'd use stronger words, is beyond angry about the way they shut him down. Obviously, we know as Max being one of the most competitive people and them saying that it was because of injury and, and players don't want to be told in chase, this is your lane. But I've talked to enough over the years to know, like, no player wants to be told he's got to sit down. Especially a player who, who thinks that maybe it's for us.
- [08:01]
Unknown Advertiser Voice 1
Player.
- [08:02]
Diana Rossini
Right. Oh, especially that. Right. That lunatic. And then they say there's a compliment. So, you know, I'm interested to see how that's going to play out. Right. Because they gotta have. Tom Brady is gonna have to be in that building more because he, he does have a good effect. I think that's. I think it's important to make that point of. I don't think we're saying like Tom should be hands off and allow spy tech to this. I'm saying like more Tom Brady. Like, I'm okay with that. I think it's worth a shot because anyone in years past has proven that they haven't been able to get it right.
- [08:33]
Chase Daniel
Who's going to get final say, though? Is Brady gonna get final say?
- [08:36]
Diana Rossini
Oh, yeah. I mean, yes, of course. Of course he is. He's gonna have a big hand in this. And then of course, and him and Spytech have a really good relationship. But again, this always goes back to where Brady is on all this. He lives in Florida. He's working for Fox. He's not there every day. He's there today, which is good. But obviously they're doing that because they had to give the news to Pete Carroll, who you respect at 74 years old trying to do what he did this year. And it just didn't work. They got to get a quarterback. And I, and I can tell you candidates that are out there are asking what is that owner like to work for? You know, and you get a mixed bag. You get. Some people are like, look, Mark just wants to win. He'll give you what you want. And you have. Others are like all void.
- [09:16]
Chase Daniel
Well, how many head coaches have they had since 20. 20 is it 6? Right. Including interim. Is it 5? It's 5.
- [09:21]
Diana Rossini
John Gruden, Josh McDaniels, Antonio Pierce and. And now. And now Carol. Right. But you got this attachment.
- [09:28]
Chase Daniel
You forget Rich.
- [09:33]
Diana Rossini
Yeah.
- [09:33]
Chase Daniel
So there'll be. This will be their sixth head coach. Like, like how do you get out of what the Raiders. That's my thing is like, okay, is it a head coach? Okay. It's not great. It's like some franchises are just, you just need too much, especially if they're losing Max Crosby. I just don't get it. Like, this, to me, is not a good job.
- [09:51]
Diana Rossini
The word of the season for Scoop City was program. Right. We always say who's got the good programs. And you look at who's playing right now. Right. And you look at the teams that are out and the first thing that, that stands out to me of the teams that are playing is they've got good programs. Programs, they know what they are. They've got the right head coach, they've got hands off ownership. And if the owner is part of it and Mark isn't, Mark's not one of these like walking around like, you must do this. He's not from what I understand, you know, so if you're Tom Brady, who are you going after? You have to figure you're the quarterback. You probably want an offensive minded guy. If you're drafting a quarterback number one overall, who is that? Who's on the market right now? You got Kevin Stefanski now, who was just fired from Cleveland, which I know we're going to get to next. Yes. Brian Dables out there as well. He was fired from the New York Giants. Of course, Clint Kubiak in Seattle is going to get some attention. Matt Nagy from the Kansas City Chiefs. And by the way, I'm just throwing out offensive minded coaches, but if that's the direction they go in. But, but to me, this is the first time where we're going to see how is Tom Brady going to make this thing go.
- [11:00]
James Palmer
Yeah, I think that's the biggest aspect of what Chase is asking, right, Diana? Because when you talk to sources, and I've talked to sources, they're coming back saying in the last several weeks that the Raiders are, quote, a mess. Right. So how do you fix and clean all of that up? You go read Mike Silver's article on the Athletic and he will tell you that Tom Brady needs to be more involved. I'm assuming maybe Mark Davis read that, Diana, and just said, okay, Tom, we got to put you in the press release. And now You're a big part of it. I will say this if you and I live here in Denver. And there was a period of time where John Elway was on top of the world as the acting general manager here with the Denver Broncos. And one of the things that I was always told by free agents that came and he had one of the best free agent classes we've ever seen, where he brought in DeMarcus Ware and Peyton Manning and Emmanuel Sanders and all these guys. It was said to me this way, if you look at your phone and it's John Elway and it's John Bleeping Elway, you pick up the phone as a free agent. Tom Brady can have the exact same impact for the Las Vegas Raiders if he is, as Diana's describing it, completely. All in. So that's what we're going to see. If there is a change in the perception of what candidates have for the Raiders job, whether it's the facilities are top notch, they have a lot of cap space, you'd be able to control the number one overall pick. And do you have a functioning relationship with Tom Brady? Possibly. It could be appealing, but I think they need to sell that in some sense. Diana.
- [12:15]
Chase Daniel
Right.
- [12:15]
James Palmer
To, to the candidate.
- [12:16]
Diana Rossini
Yeah. And James, I'm getting a sense around the league that this organization is open to taking calls on Max Crosby when, when they're able to do that in the, in the new year.
- [12:27]
James Palmer
I think that's a big.
- [12:28]
Diana Rossini
Max is gonna be 29 in August. Right. So he's given a lot to the Raiders. They're. They're pretty far from being a team that can contend. Right. Like at some point here you have to say we probably need to do the right thing here and let him go compete somewhere and win.
- [12:45]
James Palmer
Yep. All right. We got to move on. But I will say this. The two things I was always told about Max Crosby is this. He is the culture setter and the Pied Piper for the way that organization works inside the weight room, inside the locker room, all these things that they would entertain it when he's ready to possibly entertain. It was always something that was kind of said behind the scenes. We'll see if that's the case. And things have kind of changed in a sense and maybe they can continue in terms of rebuilding us in a different direction. Okay. Diana mentioned Kevin Stefanski, the two time coach of the year is out with the Cleveland Browns. Andrew Barry will remain. He will be a part of the search for, for the next head coach. They don't know who the quarterback is going to be in 2026. Andrew Barry. In his press conference, Dynast said, that player may not be on our roster right now. They still do have DeSean Watson for one more year. Stefanski finished with a 512 record this season, 45 and 56 and one playoff win, but included two 11 win seasons. I'll say this organization went sideways a few times. I know. Why is Kevin out first off? And then we'll get to how much of. Of a. Of a candidate he is now that everybody was curious if he'd be available and he officially is now.
- [13:50]
Diana Rossini
Yeah, I don't think it was an easy decision. I don't think this was something where they said, you know, in week 13, like, all right, we're done. We got to move on from him. I know that there were some conversations at the end of last year about the future of what they wanted to do and they, they gave Andrew Barry and Kevin Stefanski that moment to explain what. How they were going to make this better. So they were definitely looking at this closer this season. I don't think there was. He was given a lot of grace. It was just, you better go in and. And he didn't in the end. Right. And I do think they want to see a more functioning offense, even though we've seen it in the past. And you could argue we could do a whole show about this. Like, Kevin did his best in some regard with what he was given as well. Right. Like, there was also some, some things that I think aren't. He's at fault as well. But you take a look, it's their quarterback situation and it's, it's. It's been a graveyard in a sense. Right. And he's done his best and that's why he was coach of the year two times of, of trying to make it work. Now, from, from Stefanski's perspective, from everything I gather, like, he's not taking time off. He's not doing one of these. Like, I'm getting paid so I can just go chill. Like, he wants back in and he wants to be a head coach again and he wants to be a head.
- [15:01]
Chase Daniel
Coach right now, he's automatically the number one candidate. Like, like it's not. It's not even a question in my mind.
- [15:07]
Diana Rossini
And by the way, coming, like, talk about attacking this thing from a place of power, right? Like Kevin Stefanski, who I is very well respected around football in terms of. Of how he can call an offense, and now he's somebody with really good experience. He worked in Cleveland and I think Cleveland's a market. I know we don't talk about them the way we talk about Philly James and the way we talk about New York.
- [15:30]
James Palmer
Kevin's from Philly.
- [15:32]
Diana Rossini
But it's brutal, right? And I think when you, when I, and I say brutal as a compliment to Cleveland, right. They care so much.
- [15:41]
Chase Daniel
It's just so hard to win.
- [15:42]
Diana Rossini
It's. And it's just, it's been really tough. And so I think from, in terms of like, I don't want to say like preparing Kevin for the next job, but just think about how well equipped he's going to be in these next gigs.
- [15:53]
James Palmer
You know, I do need, I do need to ask you this, Dana, because you're exactly right. And how he's equipped. But, but as you know, we're having a thousand text messages with executives across the league, coaches across the league. Everybody's cur.
- [16:04]
Chase Daniel
Right?
- [16:04]
James Palmer
That's what today is to kind of pull back the curtain. Everybody, even if they're not involved, is curious and texting Diana or texting myself or texting other people going, you know, what are you hearing? What are you seeing? There is multiple executives chase that have, that have texted me going, how is it only Kevin Stefanski and not Andrew Barry? That is a curious question that has been asked by a number of people. Maybe this is better suited for you, Diana, in terms of why that question is being asked around the league. That's for two reasons. One, because this thing has gone sideways in a variety of ways. The desean Watson one being number one, which kind of threw a monkey wrench in the middle of what they were building with Baker Mayfield in that first group with Odell Beckham Jr. And everybody. And then this new group that they've had to, in terms of finances, try to build something with the contract of desean Watson. Why is it only a two time coach of the year and Kevin Stefanski losing his job and not Andrew Barry?
- [16:55]
Diana Rossini
First of all, I think it's important to point out that most owners do not like going through a head coaching search alone without somebody sort of running.
- [17:03]
James Palmer
Point, which I can hire multiple firms. I think Atlanta is doing that.
- [17:09]
Diana Rossini
There's like five of them.
- [17:10]
Chase Daniel
Conflict of interest.
- [17:11]
Diana Rossini
Well, it's like Matt Ryan, who do you want? Just tell us.
- [17:13]
James Palmer
Yeah, we'll get to that.
- [17:15]
Diana Rossini
So I, I, I do think we'll start there. That that's just a thing in football. It's a good, it's a thing in sports. You know, not a lot of owners like to deal with the coaching hiring because it is Difficult to figure this out. Obviously look how bad some of these hires have been over the years. So I think that, that that's part of it. I think they were happy with this last draft class. I think they thought Andrew Barry did well. I do think around the league, Andrew's very respected. He's a very good communicator. He's thoughtful. In terms of what you want representing your organization, it makes a lot of sense that you'd want an Andrew Berry. I'm curious to see if the role changes at all or evolves. For now, they're saying he's going to be running this coaching search and he's in the position he's in. We'll see how this kind of plays out. I, I don't know either way, but I, I think I just lean towards. They wanted to change and, and coaches just tend to, to be the ones to go. Right.
- [18:16]
Chase Daniel
You gotta imagine though that Stefanski is screaming at the top of his lungs like so excited to get out of Cleveland. Like two time coach of the year.
- [18:24]
Diana Rossini
He's not like this and he's not.
- [18:25]
Chase Daniel
He'S not gonna scream.
- [18:26]
Diana Rossini
He's just like this at all times. Like maybe a little outstanding strength. Yeah. In. You've seen him on the sidelines, right? Like nothing really shakes Kevin. Although I will say I talked to some people really close to him. He was fired up about that win against the Bengals and carrying off Miles Garrett and the kicker that just the. Just think about how he's. Think about what his lasting memory of Cleveland is and Pittsburgh playing with that guy with those guys. Right.
- [18:54]
Chase Daniel
Like, I mean six seasons in Cleveland is no hard feat. I mean I will say though, I, I like and I'll. I do think he's definitely the number one candidate because of what he went through, but also like just his offensive acumen. He's never had the players in, in Cleveland. Like obviously, you know, we can go back and forth about the Sean Watson thing. That was the undoing of his time there. They just never got that right. Whether he wanted them or he didn't want them. And the Cleveland will never be the same until they get another quarterback. Like it's just so hard. And they have two first round picks. It's so hard to win in Cleveland. I mean look at the division they're in. I mean it seems like every quarterback they have that they get rid of then goes on and is really good elsewhere.
- [19:37]
James Palmer
So Chase, let's go to your expertise here. Let's go to your expertise here. What growth did you see in Shador Sanders this year. I know Kevin Stefanski played a role in that and he is now out of the building. Did you see enough growth from Shador Sanders that he has a legitimate shot or discussion to be their starter in 2026, or should they be looking with one of those two first round picks in the draft for their next quarterback?
- [20:03]
Chase Daniel
Yeah, I mean, that's a great question. And I just. I literally just broke down his game versus, you know, the Bengals, and it's just okay. Like, he played, I will say the growth from when he first started to then now where he is, that has grown a lot. But you look at the interceptions to the touchdowns and the completions. In my opinion, like, Chidor has the chance to be a good player. He doesn't see it fast enough right now, so he doesn't operate fast enough. So it looks like he's moving in slow motion and that's fine. You know, you get six or seven games to do that with. I just can't see any world where a new head coach comes in and decides Shador is going to be the starter just right away. Is he in the conversation? Sure. Right. But you look at what's coming out in college and. And, you know, does Dante Moore come out? Garrett Nussmeier just got invited to the Senior Bowl. He's going to be up there. Ty Simpson is going to be up there. Like, where does your head go? Or do you wait potentially until the following year where, you know, you could have Arch Manning or you could have Drew Aller, you could have some of these other guys that are coming out. It's going to be really interesting to see. Or, you know, I keep hearing, like, is desean Watson done there? I mean, he still has a ton.
- [21:13]
James Palmer
Of money out one more year. This is entering the last year of that contract and.
- [21:18]
Chase Daniel
And so he's going to be healthy. Where does he fall? I just don't know if you can go into the year saying, hey, Shador is our guy.
- [21:23]
James Palmer
Yeah, I think there's going to be a lot to be sorted out. And that's what some of these candidates have to do when they speak to Andrew Berry and Jimmy Haslam and D. Haslam about what they plan to do with this organization. I will make this note as well. They're not entirely sure. Right. Dana, what they're going to do with Baldi, but says left and. And there isn't a unique structure that's in Cleveland, and that's still kind of up in the air a little bit about how that's going to fall in line as they're going through all of this.
- [21:48]
Diana Rossini
James, I know this isn't the deepest thought, and I'm always Jack Handy right here. I'm not surpr. Okay, I'm not surprised by this, but, you know, whenever you talk to coaches who are trying to either get in this cycle or were recently fired, you know, you have conversations about, well, what are you looking for next? Like, what do you need based on what you just went through or what you've seen from being in the league a long time? You know, when you finally get in and break in as a head coach and Chase, it's the most basic response ever. It's, I just want a quarterback and a good owner. And I can't tell you how many times it takes head coaches.
- [22:24]
James Palmer
You can change the quarterback.
- [22:26]
Diana Rossini
That answer, like, yeah, it's, it's so. It's. It's not the facilities. It's not the cafeteria. It's not the city, the fan base, the division. It's, do I have a quarterback and do I have a good owner?
- [22:38]
Chase Daniel
Give me an owner that says out of. Why do you.
- [22:42]
Zach Jackson
Why do you think the.
- [22:43]
Chase Daniel
The same 10 teams are in play every single year? I mean, there's 10 to 12 teams that, you know, Sean Payton always say, like, serviceable, like, that are serviceable and that, like, actually have a chance to compete. If you don't have an owner, that's the one that gets to me. Like, I, I get the quarterback. And it's really hard to find a quarterback if you don't have. If you're an owner and you're like, well, what's going wrong? Well, am I too into it? Do I just need to give up some? Like, I don't, I don't understand the owners.
- [23:10]
James Palmer
Some.
- [23:10]
Chase Daniel
The owner situation.
- [23:12]
James Palmer
Well, most of the time, Chase, the owner's not changing. Those are going to remain the same. You can find a quarterback, but the owner is going to more or less stay there with, with the organization. No, you cannot fire the owner. I will say this before we move on that the number of texts that I got, I think Kevin Savantsi, a very good coach, oftentimes, and I don't know about you, but I'm getting corrected. Like, no, he's better than a very good coach. Like, he's an outstanding coach. That's what other coaches say. Back when you have conversations about Kevin Stefanski and with the ownership aspect. Jason, I will say this. I think Diane and I have both been in every single facility in the NFL and when you Spend time in ones that have very good ownership or very poor ownership. You can tell, you can just feel it right wherever you're sitting in the building. You can feel good ownership, you can feel bad. It doesn't always equate to wins, but it does chase.
- [23:58]
Diana Rossini
You know that from being in so many locker rooms.
- [24:00]
Chase Daniel
I've been in a lot of locker.
- [24:01]
Diana Rossini
Rooms and you know it like, you're just like, this is not right. So speaking of owners, that I think, look, he doesn't have like the best reputation, but he made a decision today that, that I do think a lot of people were surprised. A lot of coaches in the league were not expecting what happened in Arizona. James.
- [24:18]
Chase Daniel
Yep.
- [24:19]
James Palmer
Jonathan Garon is let go. This was a kind of a slow build we were seeing over the last couple of seasons. Spent some time with them during training camp, had some time to talk to JG a little bit. And, you know, they really liked the direction they were heading. I think it was what, like, it was like four wins the first year and then like eight and nine or whatever it was the second year. And then this year they, they lose 14 games, which is a franchise record. They end the season on a nine game losing streak. They thought going into this year, this is the first time with, you know, Monty Ozafort and Jonathan Gannon, we can start building it our way. I was told we can start doing some things in free agency that we couldn't do in those early aspects, but we did see a crucial hug that happened at midfield of week 18.
- [25:00]
Chase Daniel
Embrace.
- [25:01]
James Palmer
And it was more than a hug. It was an embrace. It was. And. But it was not enough. It was a kiss of death. Jonathan Gannon had a chance to apparently, what I'm told, Diana, have a very powerful speech to his team on Monday morning after he was let go, to let them, let them know this one kind of went like this and then like this and then like this and then we're here.
- [25:22]
Diana Rossini
I, I think why? The reason. What did you. Are you saying why? Like, why or like 9 losses will do it to you? You know, to finish up the season, you cannot. And it's funny because we just brought up Atlanta, who went the other way, right. They started terrible and they got better.
- [25:38]
James Palmer
And these finishes matter to owners. They matter to owners.
- [25:42]
Diana Rossini
And we'll, we'll get to that in a second here. But look how this ended for him. I think gannon was definitely 50, 50 head into this game. And, you know, really, I, maybe the.
- [25:56]
James Palmer
Hug was an encouraging hug. Then Diana, it was like, come on.
- [25:58]
Diana Rossini
A lot of people telling me they think Gannon was safe. And then boom, that happened even early this. I. I only knew he was out. It had to be. So he got far. Like, it was probably like nine this morning. I got a change of vibe. I'm like, wait, wait, wait. What? Now he's out? Like, it was like leaning towards safe. And look, leaning is like. And James, you know, this leaning is more like, no one's giving you the clearest of safe or not, right? It's like, we like them, but we gotta talk. We're not sure, you know, so it was leaning that way because I was hearing good things. But then obviously they decided to move on, which, you know, they just. They just finished paying Cliff Kingsbury, right? Like, they just finished that, and now he's got to pay for this. You know, and that's a factor, too. Guys, like, did they just do a new deal? You know, when you look around the league, we could probably go through some coaches right now. And, I mean, the jets and Aaron Glenner is a great example. They definitely want to give him more time, but they don't want to fire him after just giving him a new contract and paying all that money, which I'm sure we could also have a conversation if we think that they're doing the right thing there in New York, because a lot of people have strong opinions about it. But. So the future is really going to be about Kyler Murray. Like, what are they going to do there? And. And I just. From. From looking at the situation, it looks like that's going to be. That's going to probably be it for Kyler in Arizona.
- [27:25]
James Palmer
Chase, what do you think about Kyler Murray's future? Just so you know, Diana's, you know, what she said is what is kind of the general consensus we're hearing around the league. 36.8 million guaranteed this next year. In 2026, another 19.5 is guaranteed if he's on the roster on March 15. So a decision does have to be made. I'm curious, because when I ask around the league, it's, can Kyler be a backup? What's his future after this? Is he a bridge quarterback? How do you see Kyler Murray's future playing out?
- [27:54]
Chase Daniel
I think Kyler deserves one more chance. And look, I think it's right in the way because it's not only.
- [28:01]
Zach Jackson
How do I put this?
- [28:02]
Chase Daniel
It's only, like, what he does on the field, it's what he does off the field. And there's been plenty of documented stuff about his leadership ability. And how guys see him in the locker room, is he, you know, helping or hurting? And, and look, what I've seen is you want to be a guy that you're trusted no matter what happens on the field. You know, the Call of Duty stuff was like, all this stuff is out there.
- [28:27]
Vic Tafer
There's.
- [28:28]
Chase Daniel
Who knows if it's all true, but there's, there's definitely smoke there. And I think too, I think the, the Cardinals just sort of soured on them. Like, here's the thing, though. There's been times even this past year where Kyler Murray has played like a top 10 quarterback.
- [28:42]
Zach Jackson
Oh.
- [28:42]
Chase Daniel
And it's just, it's just the consistency level of his play. And there's, you look at even some of his better seasons. I mean, it's top five quarterback stuff. It's just, how is he with the consistency level? I think because we are in a deficit of good starting quarterback, that Kyler Murray will get a one or two year deal if he's released.
- [29:03]
James Palmer
Okay.
- [29:03]
Chase Daniel
Like, I do think that he's going to have a chance to start. It's just, is he a bridge guy? Do you draft someone? I, I, I think it's smart for them to just sort of, I mean, let go of the head coach, move on from the quarterback. 36 million is not that much. Like, if, you know, if you, but like, think about it.
- [29:20]
James Palmer
I know what you mean, though.
- [29:23]
Chase Daniel
You know, he's not going to be your guy. Let's start the process.
- [29:26]
Diana Rossini
You're this new coach and you're coming in and you're looking at the NFC west right now. And you're like.
- [29:32]
James Palmer
Charlie, Yeah, that's an uphill battle, I'll say that. I just remember an early conversation as we move on to Raheem Morris that I had when I was talking to people in Arizona. It was, we think we're at this. I think we have that. I think we're heading the right direction. The quarterback is always a wild card. We'll see how it goes. And that was kind of what ended up kind of being a part in this. Okay, Raheem Morris, this was one that was a bit of a shocker. This was different than the other ones we've talked about because they have relieved the duties of, of both Terry Fontenot and Raheem Morris. Now, I was talking to some people this morning, Diane. I'm curious if you've heard something similar. It was much more. There's thoughts in the building of this was we knew Terry was going to go and then Arthur Blank kind of pivoted after these firms have been in there for two months to where. Oh, you know what? We're just going to decide to. With Terry, get rid of everything else on top of it, which is Raheem Morris, and restructure everything with a new football. Was President of football, it's going to be called. That will be a part of the hiring process for the new head coach and the new general manager. And then after that happens, they will work in collaborate, collaboration, collaboration together, the three of us.
- [30:38]
Chase Daniel
But the.
- [30:38]
Diana Rossini
But.
- [30:39]
James Palmer
But the president of football will have.
- [30:41]
Diana Rossini
The final thing that you just did was fall on the president of football. Because I have been struggling with it all day because there's no other title I can find. It's only one in the NFL that's like that. Right. Like Thomas.
- [30:54]
James Palmer
Tony Boseli.
- [30:55]
Diana Rossini
Tony Boseli. Thank you. Like he. Is that his title too? Because he does something like that.
- [31:01]
James Palmer
It's similar. It's not the same title. But I did use that as a reference talking to somebody. Atlanta going, you know, this James Gladstone and Tony Boselli merger. The face of the franchise, the hall of Famer that's done everything in that building and the former player now with his perspective alongside James Gladstone and the Jaguars think it's worked really well.
- [31:17]
Diana Rossini
Yeah. Is going to be joining an organization soon because that's the hot thing right now.
- [31:22]
James Palmer
Yeah.
- [31:22]
Diana Rossini
And you're in media. You could do both.
- [31:25]
James Palmer
Yeah. Troy Aikman, Matt Ryan. Let's go. Used to be a broadcaster for the Jags. When did you finally see that things turned on Raheemors because you and I were going back and forth about this as well on Sunday.
- [31:40]
Diana Rossini
So I had got into this game thinking, okay, if they win, then Raheem will probably be okay. Because most around the league didn't think that. That Raheem was going to get cut because he has such a good relationship with the owner. And you bring up this search firm. And I think it's important because I know Arthur Blank really wanted this firm to take the lead on all of this. And so he listened to them. And what it tells me is this firm obviously collects enough information to tell him this is probably what you should do. This is the advice we're giving you. Despite the fact that they ended the season so well and were so competitive, I think even Raheem was really surprised. Maybe really surprised. His dramatic. I think he was. He was a bit caught off guard because he assumed because they'd finished strong and it only been two years. The Terry Fano thing, we kind of all we've all known for a while.
- [32:39]
James Palmer
Yep.
- [32:40]
Diana Rossini
So now I'm just interested in how this works because you're right. Like, there's a lot going on there. This is an owner going, I need people to make these decisions for me. I need people with experience. And you look at some of the connections here you have Rick Smith, the former Texans gm, who's part of this search firm, Chase. So he's in this group. So he's got. By the way, he was up for the job when Terry Fotno got.
- [33:05]
James Palmer
I remember that.
- [33:06]
Chase Daniel
Sportsology.
- [33:07]
Diana Rossini
Yes. So it's like, I kind of think it's bizarre. But if they think that this is very weird, works for them, like, weird, then that's fine. It'd be like having the person that auditioned for Scoop City that didn't get the job and then having them come in and say, is Chase good, by the way? Chase. Kevin o' Connell thinks that's him all the time. He's always like, I can't believe you picked Chase over me. I'm like, yeah, you wanted to do a podcast.
- [33:35]
Chase Daniel
Yeah.
- [33:35]
James Palmer
We'd welcome. We'd add a seat for. For Kevin o'. Connell. And to clarify what Diana's saying to Chase. And I'm kind of curious what you would think about this in a building. Diana's mentioning this. This. This firm with Sports Ology, that is for the general manager. A different firm, zr, zrg, is going to be heading the search for the new head coach. Separate firms for the two positions.
- [33:58]
Chase Daniel
And it's going to happen at the same time concurrently.
- [34:01]
James Palmer
And they want the president of football to be hired so then they can be a part with both firms about hiring both individuals.
- [34:08]
Chase Daniel
So is Matt Ryan going to be the president of football?
- [34:11]
James Palmer
That's most likely assumed. Yes.
- [34:13]
Diana Rossini
Yes.
- [34:13]
Chase Daniel
So he's going to be taking a job that he's never done and involved in a process. I love Matt Ryan with two different firms, yet Matt Ryan gets the final say. So why are we hiring two firms at the same. And what happens if the firm with the head coach comes to an agreement? This should be your head coach before the firm with the gm.
- [34:35]
James Palmer
It's a very much an arranged marriage.
- [34:37]
Vic Tafer
Yes.
- [34:37]
Chase Daniel
Shouldn't the g. Shouldn't they, like, fit together? I'm just very confused.
- [34:42]
Diana Rossini
So the order of this is a little peculiar to me right now as well, because Matt Ryan does not have the job yet. Okay. They have to still abide by the Rooney rule because he's an executive. Right. So he.
- [34:55]
James Palmer
Great point.
- [34:56]
Diana Rossini
They. They need to. Then go interview other people for this. And then once Matt gets the job officially, then they can start beginning the interview process. So they want to get moving on this. Now this being that being said, they have put out slips to teams like Seattle for Clint Kubiak to come in to interview Anthony Weaver, the Miami Dolphins DC to interview. So it's almost like they're moving without anything really being official just yet, which tells me there was a lot more work being done behind the scenes before we got here. Like I say, like, yes, we were all a little surprised about Raheem. This tells me that they, they probably made this decision a while ago and it just was unfortunate that Raheem finished so strong.
- [35:42]
Chase Daniel
Is Raheem gonna get other interviews? Because.
- [35:44]
Diana Rossini
Good question.
- [35:45]
James Palmer
He's gotta be is up there.
- [35:47]
Diana Rossini
From what I gather, Raheem is going to get some more opportunities. He still wants to coach. He had an opportunity to talk to his team as well and, and let them know like he appreciate all their efforts. And you know, he's such a players coach so I can't imagine that that was an easy thing for him. But he's, you know, he's been through it before. He I'm not worried about Rahim or is getting another opportunity whether that's coordinator, but I definitely could see him getting some head coaching interviews coming up here as I think more opening than I expected. You know, now that this is how.
- [36:20]
Chase Daniel
Many more do you think there's gonna be?
- [36:21]
James Palmer
Yeah, before I know you gotta run, Diana. So before you bounce, is there anything else we should keep our eye on? We it's been at least five openings every year since 2004. We've reached that again. Are there any other teams we should be keeping an eye on? And again you mentioned it, they still do have to meet. Player exit interviews are a lot of them are today. So some things are pushed back a day.
- [36:43]
Diana Rossini
Coaches Tuesday, Detroit just had their their team meeting. We're to see what they decide to do. Obviously John Morton's play calling was taken away from him this year. Dan Campbell's been doing that. We'll see if they decide to try to run that back. History shows you usually when you get your play calling taken away from you, the team moves on. I'm waiting to see what happens in Washington. This is my big question mark about what's going to happen there with Kingsbury. Joe Witt.
- [37:12]
James Palmer
Well, they've already relieved their defensive coordinator of duties of essentially play calling and Quinn has taken over the play calling.
- [37:18]
Diana Rossini
Yeah. So we'll find out more officially in that. But then what's going to happen at offensive coordinator. Right. So Cliff Kingsberry is going to get some opportunity for some head coaching interviews coming up here and whether or not they decide to sit with him. So I'm curious to see what they actually decide to do after taking a little time to think about and. And really take. Taking a look at the landscape of the coaches that are out there because that. That's a part of this. Of, okay, we're going to move on from this person. But do we have a replacement placement that we want and are they available? But from. From everything I gather there's been a bit of a disconnect between the way the offense has been run and what they want to do. So we'll see what they decide to do. And then we have Dallas with Matt Eberflu. They're going to meet with coaches tomorrow in. In Dallas. But th. Those are the. Oh, and of course Baltimore.
- [38:09]
Vic Tafer
Okay.
- [38:10]
Diana Rossini
That's the big one.
- [38:11]
James Palmer
Before you run three names that you haven't mentioned yet that are pretty high on some teams list possibly in terms of candidates. I know we've already mentioned, you know, Stefanski and we've already mentioned some interviews.
- [38:22]
Diana Rossini
It's not even. The post is on everyone's list now. He. He's. I'm curious to see what he picks because he's gonna have so many choices and I'm gonna guess someone that didn't have a quarterback wants to go somewhere with the quarterback. Right.
- [38:36]
Chase Daniel
So exactly where.
- [38:40]
James Palmer
Oh, look at this guy.
- [38:42]
Diana Rossini
Really, Scoop?
- [38:43]
Chase Daniel
Well, it's a.
- [38:43]
James Palmer
It's.
- [38:44]
Chase Daniel
It's the. It's the next question.
- [38:45]
Diana Rossini
All right. If you're Kevin, where are you going?
- [38:47]
James Palmer
Going?
- [38:47]
Chase Daniel
Oh, Giants.
- [38:49]
Diana Rossini
You're not going to Nashville?
- [38:51]
Chase Daniel
No, Giants.
- [38:53]
Vic Tafer
Okay.
- [38:53]
Diana Rossini
Interesting. Lou Anarumo is a name I'm. I'm interested to see how this goes and where he lands. And Matt Nagy. These are the names that I just continue to hear.
- [39:05]
James Palmer
Okay.
- [39:05]
Chase Daniel
I am any Joe Brady.
- [39:08]
Diana Rossini
I have not heard Joe Brady as. As much as I thought it was going to.
- [39:15]
James Palmer
I'll throw another one in there, Dinah, because I was in the locker room and there was definitely players asking me about it. Is Vance Joseph in Denver who now has an interview lined up with the buy with the Titans. And I believe the Giants are interested in Vijay as well.
- [39:29]
Diana Rossini
Yes. Also before we go, I just submitted my mvp. Hey, Coach of the year, Assistant of the year, Defensive player of the year, all that stuff.
- [39:39]
James Palmer
Hey, Diana. They're public. Just so you know.
- [39:42]
Chase Daniel
Those are public vote or you're never.
- [39:44]
Diana Rossini
Gonna let that go. You're never gonna let my complaining about it being public go?
- [39:49]
Chase Daniel
Yeah.
- [39:49]
James Palmer
No, I love you.
- [39:51]
Diana Rossini
I still did the same thing. By the way, do you know how many players I texted today and told them I voted for them and I didn't. But they're gonna know they voted.
- [39:59]
Chase Daniel
I voted.
- [39:59]
Vic Tafer
I voted.
- [40:00]
Diana Rossini
My favorite thing to do and, and I started doing it last year was to call players like superstar players and be like, they love doing this. They. Look, here's who I think are the top. Why wouldn't you think about us if we had to like rank reporters and adults?
- [40:15]
James Palmer
I do it all the time. There's a board right over here. Did you make the cut this week?
- [40:20]
Diana Rossini
Real quick though, Chase, your MVP is.
- [40:24]
James Palmer
It's.
- [40:24]
Chase Daniel
It's. I, I think that if Drake May doesn't win it this year, I don't know if he's ever going to win it. But I do think that it's going to be Matthew Stack.
- [40:33]
Diana Rossini
You think Matthew Stafford's gonna win? James, did you have any thought there?
- [40:36]
James Palmer
I think Matthew Stafford's gonna win. Yeah. Yeah, I do.
- [40:40]
Chase Daniel
I hope Drake May wins. I just think. I think.
- [40:44]
Diana Rossini
All right, guys, I will hop back in if something happens between now and the end of the show, but otherwise I will talk to you guys later.
- [40:50]
James Palmer
Awesome. You're the best, Diana. Scene. The great. The great diners, you know, great. As she departs us here. We have five minutes before Vic Tafer is going to. To join us. Who's going to talk about the Raiders? And I have five more minutes with you. So I want to use that five minutes for you to tell me this weekend. I know you're going to be involved in that Steelers and Texans game. Is there a wild card team in your mind that can make the most noise that you're looking at this weekend going, that wild card team can make a run.
- [41:19]
Chase Daniel
That's the game I'm calling at espn. I think it's the Texans. I, I just, I love what d' Amico Ryan's has done with the, with the Texans. Kaylee. Offensive Coordinator C.J.
- [41:30]
Vic Tafer
Stroud.
- [41:31]
Chase Daniel
I mean you look at really the second half of the year, obviously the defense has always been good. I think it's one of the better defensive lines in football. But you look at what C.J. stroud and the offensive coordinator have been able to do and, and he looks. CJ Stroud looks like the CJ Stroud we know and love and I think that's sort of the biggest thing is.
- [41:48]
James Palmer
The ceiling is up there, man.
- [41:50]
Chase Daniel
It's up there. Yeah. And the reason is I think this offensive line is extremely improved. A lot more under center play action, a lot more throwing the football down the field. They still have some really good receivers. They have a decent run game as well. They have that defense where it's not always feeling like you have to score 28 points in a game. And I just, I like how C.J. stroud, the last like probably five or six weeks has really played and taken over. It's like the CJ Stroud we saw rookie year toward the middle beginning of last year. And it's just, man, if they win this game, which I think they can like, I don't know if anyone wants to see that defense and especially the offense if they continue rolling like that. It's. It's good, man.
- [42:33]
James Palmer
Yeah, I, I don't think anybody wants to face that defense. I also want to say this and Diana didn't bring his name up. Matt Burke's name has come up to a few people. I've talked to the defensive coordinator there in Houston. Remember d'? Amico. Ryan's gave him the play calling duties I think at about week three or four, Chase, and he's been running that entire defense. Talking to people actually in Houston this morning I was, I was curious. I know Matt a little bit and I was like, is he head coaching material? And they were like, you have no idea. Our building knows these players love Matt and he's the name that some teams are interested in. He's taken that, that, that, you know, running, running that defense for d' Amico so he can kind of have more of that oversee everything side of things and, and really run with it. Yeah, the. Ted, the, the Texans are a very, very scary team. Is there a team before you go, I have like two minutes that won a division that you have the most fear for a division winner in this first week that you have the most fear of going. They could be one and done and I could see it happening.
- [43:32]
Diana Rossini
Thy ticket lady Jennifer of Coolidge. Well, many thanks, good sir. Here is my discipline Discover card.
- [43:40]
Jennifer
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- [43:43]
Diana Rossini
Yeah, they do here. Discover is accepted at the places I love to shop. Get it with the times.
- [43:49]
Zach Jackson
With the times.
- [43:51]
Diana Rossini
You're playing the loot. Yeah. And it sounds pretty good, right?
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- [43:59]
James Palmer
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- [45:03]
Chase Daniel
Man, I don't want to say it, but I, I sort of have to. The Chicago Bears. Like, I, I think it's the Bears, man. Look, the defense, they're really good at getting takeaways. They're not great at stopping people from scoring. So they're. It's like a feast or famine, right? It's like if you get some takeaways and you get extra, extra possessions for your quarterback. I, I just don't like how. I mean, they've lost two in a row, but I don't, I don't like how they feel the need to wait until the fourth quarter to play their best ball. Like that'll get you beat.
- [45:34]
James Palmer
How long can you live that way?
- [45:35]
Chase Daniel
Yeah, exactly. Like, look, I do love the fact that they, they run the football and they need to get back to it better than a lot of people in the league. They run for a lot of yards. The scheme is excellent. It reminds me of what Ben Johnson did in Detroit. But their defense is sort of hit or miss. If they're, if they're getting takeaways, they're really good. But if not, teams are moving the football on them. And the packers match up really well with them. I just, I really hope this. And that's weird to say about the two seed. Yeah, right. It's the two seed in the nfc.
- [46:06]
James Palmer
It is. You're right. And listen, I was texting with a bunch of different people. They're like, the packers can beat anybody in this postseason.
- [46:13]
Chase Daniel
I agree.
- [46:14]
James Palmer
And I think that's part of in play with this. I was curious if you were going to say Philly hosting San Francisco. I just think Philly's defense is Very, very good. And, and, and San Francisco is going to have to score some points with what Brock Purdy and company are capable of doing. But that defense in Philly is starting to play very good now that Jalen Carter's back and that entire group. I know we could have said the Panthers who are hosting the Rams too easy. But I get, I understand the Bears, Bears look of it. Okay. You know Sean Payton very, very well. I want to get to this very quickly. They fought and clawed and just found a way to get that one seed. And I. And talking to people around league, it was, you know, Jacksonville wanted it. You know, New England wanted it. With the way the AFC is slated, almost anybody can beat anybody out of that entire conference with them. And then with Seattle, which number one team do you have more faith in when you've watched them play 18 games?
- [47:10]
Zach Jackson
Or.
- [47:11]
Chase Daniel
I mean, look, I, I like the Broncos. I like Bo Nix. I just don't know if there's enough offensive firepower. If they do get in the shootout and we've seen it back and forth if they can handle it. I'm going to go with Seattle and, and the reason I'm going to go with Seattle, one, they. They're going to be at home to that defense at home with the Twelves.
- [47:30]
Vic Tafer
How.
- [47:30]
Chase Daniel
And look, I know the Denver's defense is just. They're. They're great too.
- [47:33]
Zach Jackson
Very good.
- [47:33]
Chase Daniel
I just watched. I just watched the Seattle game versus Brock Purdy, the Saturday night game, and there's. There's nothing. I mean, this is a San Fran team that have been putting up a ton of. There is nothing.
- [47:46]
James Palmer
We're talking about it.
- [47:47]
Chase Daniel
We're just like, you watch it, how they match coverages, how they're always in the right spot, how McDonald is like blitz versus not. And it just seems to. To put the right plays at the right time. And then look, I actually liked how Sam Darnold played versus Sam Fran. It wasn't anything crazy. He was very, just like by the book delivered. He led those guys. It's like Donald said, if, if you can get that Darnold throughout where you just sort of just say, don't make any big mistakes, make some good plays along with Clint Kubiak dialing up these plays. I mean, they're.
- [48:20]
James Palmer
They look good, man. They look really good. They got two running backs. A run game in the playoffs is always outstanding. I think Nicki Minori has been just a linchpin to that defense, just playing that bigger corner, that bigger safety slot, those three safeties, that kind of Play in that defense and their interior three on the defensive line is. Is outstanding. Chase, appreciate it. I know you got to run. Make sure everybody watches Chase or listens to Chase, whichever way you want to do it. On Monday night when he's on that call for the next Gen X gen stats call center for ESPN with Texans and Steelers. Appreciate it, brother. I will see you soon. Okay. All right, let's see this playoff picture right here. We're going to welcome in now a couple of different writers that we have. Outstanding stable of writers we have here at the Athletic. And this is where things look in terms of the playoff picture. That's why we're talking about the 21 seeds. We look at the AFC. Everybody I've talked to around the league, it is wide open and there's a lot of inexperienced quarterbacks, which I think is making that conference so fascinating. I think you have seven wins for Josh Allen. You have 11 playoff wins, I believe, for Aaron Rodgers. After that, the Next one is C.J. stroud, who's two and two in the postseason. The other quarterbacks have not won a playoff game or, you know, have won. Let's bring in Vic Taper right now. And he has spent so much time over the years, and I used to spend time with Vic up in Oakland when he was covering the Raiders. He covered them in Vegas. He's been with them forever. Vic knows everything about what's going on with Mark Davis and that entire organization. Vic, the first question I have for you, sometimes Mark waits a couple of days. This one was a little bit quicker. You've been through a lot of them. How does this one feel compared to the other ones you've covered with the Raiders and Mark Davis?
- [49:55]
Vic Tafer
Yeah, I think it's different because I think this is maybe the first time that Mark's going to take a backseat. I don't think he's driving the ship this time. I think he wants, you know, Tom Brady and John Spytek and the other minority owners in place to kind of run the show now, I think. So if you're a Raiders fan and you're like, you know, here we go again. You're gonna have your sixth coach in six years. And. But I think the difference this time is maybe you've truly hit bottom where now you're at the first pick in the draft, a lot of cap space, and ideally there's a longer plan in place now, so maybe that's the hope if you're. If you're a Raiders fan.
- [50:30]
James Palmer
Yeah. Does. Is it just the machismo Vic of, of Tom Brady, the pelts on the wall. Obviously in many minds, considering the greatest player ever, that allows Mark to have a change of.
- [50:40]
Chase Daniel
Of.
- [50:40]
James Palmer
Of thought or what do you think is in play with him taking maybe a little bit of a step back like you mentioned?
- [50:48]
Vic Tafer
Yeah, there's definitely a fanboy aspect to it. And I also think that you look at Mark, I mean, he's tried everything. I think fans, you know, they can have a lot of complaints about him, obviously, but he's trying. I mean, he spends a lot of money, he tries every year to get this right. He just hasn't figured out how. So I think he's convinced at this point, maybe you hope that Tom Brady's winning ways is a quarterback rub off. He knows how to get guys. I mean, last year he really wanted. Ben John didn't get him. Really wanted, you know, Matt Stafford didn't get him. So I think he was, you know, he had the right plan. I mean, it didn't work out, but I think, I don't know where exactly from there it kind of went off the track where they got, you know, Pete Carroll 74 and, and Chip Kelly. There's some weird hire. I don't know who hired those guys. No one's going to take credit for it now, I'm sure. But I think, you know, ideally Brady knows enough about the game where you can have a plan in place where you're confident that okay, now we're actually going in the right direction.
- [51:42]
James Palmer
Yeah, it's nice to say, hey guys, I wanted to bring in who could be the MVP of the season. I wanted to bring in the guy who maybe will win coach of the year, but we didn't land either one of them. You mentioned what the money that has been poured in and now with the minority owners, with Tom Brady and the rest of that group. Vic, obviously we know that there's a lot more cash like liquid there for the, for the Raiders in terms of what they want to do moving forward. The cap situation I believe is pretty good for them. You get a chance to pick your quarterback with the number one overall pick. You have really, really good facilities. We've both been in there, we've hung out there together. How appealing is this job in your opinion, with the new kind of setup it has and everything else I just mentioned?
- [52:22]
Vic Tafer
Yeah, it should be. I think in the past maybe it wasn't. But like you said, now the Raiders actually have cash besides cap space. They actually have cardhold, you know, cold hard cash now. So I think the stadium Is a, you know, so it's a money printing machine. So I think if you are coming in, you got to know that like I said, you have the cap space, you have the cash, you have the first draft pick if there's a guy you really want. And so I think now it is an attractive job. Whereas in the past maybe you realize this place is kind of a mess and I think now you hope that, okay, I can be the guy turns it around with the right, you know, framework in place.
- [52:54]
James Palmer
Yeah. And you're going to turn around most likely with John Spyteku. If everybody remembers he signed a five year deal. Vic and Pete Carroll signed a three year deal. We knew John was going to be there in his relationship with Tom going back to Michigan and all those things. Do you have any idea in terms of candidates who they could be looking at in terms of, if you don't know, names, maybe traits that would be valued for what Tom Brady and John Spytek and Mark Davis are looking for.
- [53:17]
Unknown Advertiser Voice 1
Right.
- [53:17]
Vic Tafer
I think someone younger than 74 is probably top of the list. That's a big thing. Looking at rebuild. I think Robert Silas, the guy whose name got some, some definite, you know, pull last year. I think we've been in the mix looking for young guys like a Ben John. It's not Ben Johnson type but you want someone, a younger coach, you can kind of have some that, you know, be dynamic and kind of give fans and players hope. So I think those are the kind of guys you're looking at. We can look at a long term picture. I think so. I mean, John's going to talk to the media today. It's the first time he's talked in a long time. He's kind of been hiding, which I don't blame him. It's been a mess and wasn't a great draft class. Wasn't a great freezing signings on his part part either last year. So I know Pete takes the fall, but definitely was a collective effort to kind of get to, to three wins.
- [54:02]
James Palmer
Yeah, for sure. Vic, before I let you go, you mentioned the draft class. You mentioned free agency. You have Brock Bowers, who many consider might be the best tight end in all of football. Depends on who you ask. You have Ashton Gentry, who's a top running back on a rookie contract, which is always valuable in some aspect. You don't have a quarterback, but you also on the other side of the ball you have Max Crosby. The sense that I always got, and I was saying this to Diana Rossini and chasing earlier was they were Never going to trade Max until Max was ready to be traded in some sense. Do you think that time is now? Do you think we've seen the end of Max Crosby as. As a writer, he takes so much pride in being a part of that organization. But it seems like the way the season ended, it was far different than we even seen that anything Max has been through, and he's been through a lot.
- [54:49]
Vic Tafer
Yeah, I. I'm gonna say no. I think they're gonna keep Max. I think mentioned Brady. You mentioned Jim Gray is also in the mix a lot. He and Max do a podcast together or something. So I think he's got some ties there. I think he definitely is a guy who you can hold out for the fans and say, hey, we still got your guy. We're still trying to win at some point now. It's not take forever because he. He wouldn't be here if we were going to take five years. So I think. And he bravado that the Raiders that, you know, the fans love, I think that's just going to be part of the makeup still. So I think every time they've had a new regime, Max has definitely gotten a new deal and got benefited. So I think. I think my sense is he's there for the long, long haul, but I could be wrong, but I think he. He may be frustrated they benched him, but it was the right move. I mean, I think you got to secure the first pick and we can't risk. You know, I think he's a little hurt. And Buck Bowers also got shut down, so I think this is the first time since he's been there they took a big picture look at. But you know what, this makes sense. When's this. This point in the year don't really matter. So I like that approach. I think he'll probably see the light at some point, and my. My gut feeling is he'll be around.
- [55:48]
James Palmer
Yeah, makes sense. And he was, for everybody, legitimately injured. Like there was an injury there. It wasn't like it was just one of those. Those phantom ones in a sense. And you're right, Vic, because he is also the one, if you ask anybody there, that leads everything in the weight room, leads everything that's going on in terms of the group. He is the tone setter, the culture setter. And if you're going to change the culture, you need guy to lead it it. And he still is very, very good at that, even though wins haven't been there. I have to ask you before you go, Vic, are you In a, a, a, a kindergarten classroom or what's. What's behind. What's behind you? What do we got going on here?
- [56:17]
Vic Tafer
That's pretty funny. It's my mom's place and my daughter has given her all these things over the years to kind of. So it's. I like the color, the yellow thing. I gotta find a better background, but I like the yellow background and I think the flowers. The background has the setup. So I'm a unique. I'm a trendsetter.
- [56:37]
James Palmer
It's unique. Like you, brother. Can't wait to see you soon. Hopefully we can hang out at the combine. I like it because it means something to you. That's what matters. Appreciate you jumping on, Vic.
- [56:46]
Zach Jackson
Thanks.
- [56:46]
Vic Tafer
All right, boss. Take care.
- [56:50]
Jennifer
Oh, could this vintage store be any cuter?
- [56:53]
Diana Rossini
Right? And the best part, they accept Discover.
- [56:56]
Jennifer
Except Discover in a. A little place like this. I don't think so, Jennifer.
- [57:00]
Diana Rossini
Oh, yeah.
- [57:01]
Jennifer
Huh?
- [57:01]
Diana Rossini
Discovers Accepted where I like to shop. Come on, baby. Get with the times.
- [57:06]
Jennifer
Right? So we shouldn't get the parachute pants.
- [57:09]
Diana Rossini
These are making a comeback, I think.
- [57:13]
Unknown Advertiser Voice 1
Discover is accepted at 99 of places.
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Unknown Advertiser Voice 2
That take credit cards nationwide.
- [57:18]
James Palmer
Based on the February 2025 Nielsen report.
- [57:20]
Unknown Advertiser Voice 2
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- [57:50]
Zach Jackson
Amazon One Medical presents Painful Thoughts.
- [57:55]
James Palmer
Do they ever actually clean the ball.
- [57:57]
Zach Jackson
Pit at these kids play gyms?
- [57:59]
James Palmer
Or is my kid just swimming in.
- [58:01]
Zach Jackson
A vat of bacteria catching whatever cootie.
- [58:03]
James Palmer
Of the day is breeding in there? A cootie that'll probably take down our whole family.
- [58:10]
Zach Jackson
Luckily, with Amazon One Medical 24. 7 Virtual Care, you can get checked out for whatever ball pittitis you've contracted. Amazon One Medical Healthcare just got less painful.
- [58:23]
James Palmer
All right, Kevin Stefanski also was let go today. And. And this was one that maybe surprised some people. Didn't surprise Kevin Stefanski, but Andrew Barry retains his role as general manager. Be a part of finding that new head coach for him and Jimmy Haslam and D. Haslam. And there was a press Conference with Andrew Barry today. And I believe Zach Jackson was there and Jack. There he is. Wow. Okay.
- [58:49]
Zach Jackson
Okay.
- [58:49]
James Palmer
What's shaking? What, what transpired today? Being in that room that made you kind of think one way or another in which direction we're possibly headed?
- [59:01]
Zach Jackson
Well, I don't know that there's an answer to that, James. You know, there had been indications obviously that Stefanski was out and the Berry might stay. I didn't believe it because really this thing has sunk, right? Eight wins in two years. And so it gives off the feeling that one half of the building was held to a results matter standard, which this is the NFL and the other half wasn't. Right. So it's just a strange vibe. It has been there for a long time. I think over the course of their six years that Barry and Stefanski provided some stability, certainly some success that had been missing. I think the bar started to creep towards getting as low as it was before and the offense just completely crashed. So it's not a surprise that Kevin Stanford Stefanski's out the offense for two years was bad. You know, things were always in an awkward transition phase and they didn't get a lot better. But this front office did the worst trade in the history of the NFL and gets to stay after eight wins in two years. So everybody is kind of scratching their head and what's next? You just say, this is the Cleveland Browns. And I don't know that for sure. I'm sure there's more nuanced questions you have than that. But like that, that's. That's the answer right there.
- [60:07]
James Palmer
Yeah, that is the answer right now. And you're right. And that's the question that I've gotten from a number of coaches or executives that I've exchanged text messages with over the last couple days. Why is it just the two time coach of the year and Kevin Sapanski and not Andrew Barry? And I know a lot of people say, well, you'd like to have that GM as part of what you're doing in terms of the search. I will also say this, just covering the league for as long as I have, and you probably know this as well, when a coach is coaching on the sideline and a general manager gets an opportunity to sit up in the owner's box next to the owner, it is a massive advantage for the general manager over the head coach. And I have had that told to me by a numerous head coaches over the course of the years going, I'm down here working and they're up there more or Less saying, well, you know, what we could have done if, you know, it's a very different seat that both of them are sitting in on game day in terms of where they're at. And we know how this rookie class performed and it's the first time we've seen a rookie class have a leader in receiving, rushing, tackles, passing. That's somewhat of a bright spot, you could say. And you have two picks in the first round coming up after you traded out of the number two spot and traded down with Jacksonville for Travis Hunter. The quarterback spot is what everybody's looking at. And you mentioned the trade for desean Watson. You got one year left on that, right?
- [61:22]
Zach Jackson
Yeah. One year of contract. A lot of money.
- [61:25]
James Palmer
Yes, a lot of money. A lot of money. You got one more year left. Where do you think they go at that point, that position? And I know Andrew talked about it a little bit, but it didn't seem like he had a whole lot of answers for him.
- [61:35]
Zach Jackson
Yeah, because. Because there isn't an answer on the roster. Right. I think Shadow Sanders is worth further development. I don't think anybody's putting their job on the line with, with Shador Sanders right now, you know, and if he develops and becomes that find, then that has always been the most direct way out of this mess. Desean is under contract. Deshaun is almost certainly going to be on the team after they restructure his contract again and take his salary cap number from over 80 million to around 40 million. But I can't imagine he's in the plans. He's performed poorly when he's in and he's the reason that they're here. So they're going to look James and they have potentially the ammo to move up for the quarterback in this draft. I don't know that that guy's there. I don't know that that trade is there. You know, if they think the defense is this good and they think they need to win next year, then you'll see a move for a veteran quarterback. Who that is? Could they, you know, would they give a top of the second round pick for Mac Jones and try to do it that way? I don't know. They're still working under limited resources like they are. You know, last year they only had so much money they could devote to quarterback picket. Didn't cost them anything. Flacco didn't cost him anything relatively. And they ended up with, with this mess. So they went to camp last year with six of the 90 quarterbacks or six of the 90 guys being quarterbacks.
- [62:43]
James Palmer
Yeah.
- [62:43]
Zach Jackson
Three of those guys started for other teams. Right. Three failed in their own ways. For the Browns, Shador provides a little bit of intrigue, but not much past that. So DeSean didn't play at all. He was around. They've said all the right things. He didn't talk to the media. Desean Watson's the reason the Browns are here. And every day that he's on the roster, it just remains embarrassing. It remains a reminder of what's been and it makes it even more mystifying that Andrew Barry remains employed here on January 5th of 2026.
- [63:08]
James Palmer
Interesting. Do you think there's any sort of restructure from that side of things in terms of Andrew slide up into some other, different role? Do you see anything happening from that side? Because there's been a couple of rumblings that I've heard. Do you think it all stays status quo? Because obviously Paul leaves and that's something that plays a part in this as well because they have a unique structure. Do you think the structure of things maybe changes and Andrew's elevated into maybe a different role and you have somebody more as an acting GM slide in as well.
- [63:35]
Zach Jackson
You know, no indications today gave us that right now. He did directly address, say Paul's role will not be filled specifically. They have other people, people. This is the biggest front office in the league, biggest scouting department, biggest analytics department. And like all this spending is supposed to be an advantage. Right? So, I mean, they're going to bring in another consultant. They already got about six of them. They got former GMs on the staff. You know, who knows where's what's going to go with this coach. I, I think it's a long shot possibility, but a possibility that the Haslams change their mind again. I think Andrew Berry is going to be the GM of this team. If some titles get shuffled, if another former executive gets moved in, if someone gets moved out, that's. That's part of the game. Right? But I think they were my indication right now is that they're willing to give this one more go. They're willing to triple down on last year's draft class, you know, being. Being the breakthrough one. And it was good. It is good. And that is reason. However, like, I can't give it an A plus when it involved two quarterbacks who probably can't play, two running backs and no offensive linemen. Their top five offensive linemen are walking out the door to free agency, you know, leaving dead money behind. So the Browns are headed nowhere fast. They're still 18 months from really showing something. But obviously in the next four months, with the right decisions, they could, they can pave the way. And the only case you could have made in the last few weeks, James, was that this draft class, hey, this was good. In his previous five drafts, they never got more than three full time starters. And those aren't exactly guys that knock your, your socks off.
- [65:05]
Diana Rossini
Right.
- [65:05]
Zach Jackson
We're in the, we're in the Jordan Elliott territory. You know, Jerome Ford played well for a few years and then this year he couldn't play at all. And it was just like, okay, you know, this is, it's not good. They, they, they gave all the money to Watson, they pushed all the money forward on the offensive line. I could go for an hour. Yeah, the roster's in bad, bad shape.
- [65:20]
James Palmer
Yeah, it is. And you're right because we, it's so funny because I remember and you were when, when they got this group and Kevin comes in, you had Baker Mayfield and you had this, this core that ended up getting ripped apart and shifted once the DeSean Watson trade and contract happened and that took that core and kind of broke it up entirely. And then you lost the first round picks as a part of the trade. Then financially you ended up changing and then, oh, wow, surprise, what happens. Also, a lot of those players that stayed on the roster got a lot older and, and you were stuck in some of those deals that you were a part of. I, I don't think your job is to sell this as our conversation is going on as a great opening.
- [65:57]
Zach Jackson
Yeah.
- [65:58]
James Palmer
What kind of, of candidates do you think Andrew Barry and the Hasms will be looking at that can help if they can turn this around? Who's a, who's a candidate in terms of traits that needs to come in there? Because there are plenty of people around this league that still believe Kevin Stefanski is an outstanding football coach. It was meant to part ways, but now what happens?
- [66:19]
Zach Jackson
Well, I think the bulk of the list is who you think it's the coordinators who are the hot names. You know, I think there's something to be said for somebody who's been a head coach before, but, you know, I'm trying to get a little too far in their heads. I, I do expect some young up and comers and I do expect them to lean offense. Now as I sat here there this afternoon and made a list, you know, based on people I talked to and names that have been floated on other lists and all that things like there's, it's a pretty skews defensive heavy. So, yeah, so we'll see. Josh McCown has interviewed for head coaching jobs. Josh McCown has worked in the Browns building before. He's very respected. It. That's one I would circle. You know, all these hot young defensive coordinators, I think they're at least going to get an interview. You know, I don't think they're going to hire John Gannon. He's from Cleveland. He's now available. You know, Salah is another guy on that. He's done this before kind of list. So it's a little bit of a tough sell, obviously, not having a quarterback, but you're looking for somebody who's not afraid of the challenge. I think naturally you're probably looking for a little more edgy, in your face guy than Stefanski was that. That wasn't him. So I think it's a long list. I think it'll be a long search. And like, put it this way, I think at the end we'll be 80% unsurprised. It'll be who everybody else interviews and there will be a couple of names in there that makes you raise an eyebrow.
- [67:33]
Chase Daniel
Interesting.
- [67:34]
James Palmer
Okay, I'll keep an eye out for that. You mentioned Kevin, and I think we all know his demeanor in the way he operates, right. He's just that level guy all the time, outstanding sneaker game. But outside of that, I just. In terms of personality and. And then looking to, you know, oftentimes you shift and you go the opposite of what you've had. That's usually what happens in a lot of these searches. But that doesn't discredit Kevin as a coach. It's just the way he is wired as an individual and oftentimes it plays as a benefit for how he operates. What do you see in terms of his prospects? Being around him so much, it seems like the most of the people I talk to, he's at now the top of the list in terms of this candidate pool. Do you think that's accurate and where do you think he would be interested in go?
- [68:13]
Zach Jackson
I think if he wants a job, he certainly should be on everybody's list because he has succeeded. Right. And these jobs are open 80% of the time, James. Because organizations are a mess and he just worked for an organization that's been a mess for 26 years.
- [68:27]
Vic Tafer
So.
- [68:28]
Zach Jackson
But you know where Kevin is in his career, he certainly had years on his contract. He's got children in school. He's got roots to some extent in Cleveland. He doesn't need to take a job to say he wants to, to take a job if he feels like it's the right fit and the right situation and he can win games and maybe, you know, make up for some of the errors or do some things differently, then obviously I think he will jump on it. But I don't think he needs to be in a hurry. So I would be completely unsurprised to hear and see him interviewing in different places the next couple of weeks. But I think before we know what the teams think of him, I think it would have to be a really, really good job because he's, like I said, years on the contract. And I could see Kevin Stefanski doing some part time TV next year, showing off the personality that he truly has that he for six years would never share in front of the microphones and cameras.
- [69:15]
James Palmer
I love that, you know, setting right.
- [69:17]
Zach Jackson
And then he's the hot candidate, right? Because then the next batch of messy coaching candidates, which again, could include the Browns, people are like, man, that guy fought nine fires a day for Cleveland six years. Like, he's, he's, he's rehabbed, he's rested, he looks good to go. Like, let's, let's talk to him then. So again, I think there are people out there, starting with Diana, who would have more direct knowledge of his intentions as of today. But I think he would have to be a near perfect fit for three, four weeks from now, Kevin Stefanski, to be back in the NFL in the head coaching role.
- [69:49]
James Palmer
And I think if you have the pelts on the wall that he has, you have the ability to think that way in time. So I think you're accurate in that sense. And the other part that I would throw in there, because I have kind of heard a little bit similarly to what you've said, and that's from other people, that's not from Kevin, but other people thinking he could do this. He is very close to Mike Vrabel and Mike took a year off and look what that did for Mike Rabel in terms of, you know, what he got out of taking a year away. Spending time in that building, actually, and doing pretty much everything under the sun and then lands with, with New England. So we'll see what ends up happening with Kevin Sapanski. Man, we could talk for hours. We could, we could do it. I appreciate it, Zach. Thank you so much. And, and enjoy this search the best you can.
- [70:35]
Zach Jackson
Both Mike and Kevin looked real young and full of energy before they came in that Browns building. And they left a little grayer, like.
- [70:41]
James Palmer
A Kyle Shanahan Transformation.
- [70:43]
Chase Daniel
Yeah.
- [70:43]
Vic Tafer
Yeah.
- [70:44]
Zach Jackson
Thanks, James.
- [70:45]
James Palmer
Thanks, brother.
- [70:45]
Vic Tafer
Appreciate it.
- [70:46]
James Palmer
We also had a change, not just with the head coach, but, but also the head coach and the general manager in Atlanta. It was Terry Fontenot. With making calls around the league over the last week or so, there was a lot of thought that that was certainly going to happen. There was a shift in terms of Raheem Morris. When I talked to members of that staff, different people around the league, it was, are they playing in a manner to save their jobs? When you win games that are standalone, like they did against the Rams, when all the NFL is watching, those matter to owners. And they finished with four consecutive wins. But there was a firm there for two months, sportsology sitting there going over everything in terms of the health of that organization. And they end up parting ways with both Raheem Morris and Terry Fontenot. Now, Josh Kendall's going to join us now from his car, which I appreciate it. What are we driving in here, Joe? What do we got?
- [71:34]
Unknown Advertiser Voice 1
Subaru. I'm just a boy. I'm a cliche. I apologize. I always hate doing these here, but it's been a hectic day. I feel like I look like I'm going to explain some weird conspiracy theory to you, but I'm not. Unless. Unless you consider the Falcons just a lot, you know, a huge conspiracy theory which, you know, we could get, you know, that's another time.
- [71:51]
James Palmer
We'll get to the bottom of that. My wife drives a Subaru. I love riding in it. They're an outstanding vehicle. This is no sponsor of ours, by the way, at Scoop City. This is just a mutual admiration for the Subaru. Josh, how I, I set it up a little bit there, that there was a lot of talk about Terry Fonteno around the league and there was thought that, you know, he only had one year left in his contract of that six year deal he signed and that maybe Raheem Morris was safe. Safe. When did you get the sense that it had shifted from Raheem and his staff not being so safe to being let go?
- [72:21]
Unknown Advertiser Voice 1
Well, I, I didn't get that sense until. About halftime. Yes, about halftime. Yesterday I started hearing, you know, the more you hear about the Matt Ryan situation, the more you think, you know, they are intent on on a hold. Organizational and structural change is sort of a complete clean house. So that turned out to be the case. And clearly I was behind the curve because Arthur Blank didn't make this decision at halftime yesterday because they had their ducks in a row. They were ready to go. He releases a very well planned letter to the fan base today, this morning, in which he outlines a really a new structure for the, for the whole team. So the Rams game didn't do any good. Beating the Bucks on Thursday night football, an exciting game, didn't do Raheem Morris any good. His. His fate was sealed, I think, well before they got into this, into this winning streak.
- [73:17]
James Palmer
Yeah. You mentioned the length of the statement from Arthur Blank. I compare that to what the Cardinals put out, which was very brief. Arthur goes out and, and tells us the entire restructure of what they're going to do in terms of their football, football operations. I've never heard of president of football before, Josh. Honestly, that's a title that is now going to be here. I, I want to know how this works. If you can tell me that the president of football is going to be. And a lot of people assume Matt Ryan, that's going to be in conjunction working with the new general manager and the new head coach. Now, all three of them will work together, but the president of football will have the final say in a different search firm will be working on the head coach and the general manager search. How does that work?
- [74:01]
Unknown Advertiser Voice 1
Simple, right? I mean, it feels very straightforward, doesn't it? There are only about eight moving parts. Yeah. I mean, the president of football and, you know, I've been told not to call it. It's not president of football operations, it's president of football. So I'm not sure. I feel like we have to stand, you know, when that person, whoever this person is, enters the room every time. It feels way too formal. Falcons fans for years have been throwing things at their television or their computer or their podcast player every time they heard the words collaborative approach, because that's been Arthur Blank's whole thing. It's a collaborative approach. Falcons fans have wanted somebody to blame for this for a long time. And the Falcons keep saying, well, it's all of us. It's not really one person. The statement seems to be saying there's going to be one person now. There's going to be a president of football. They will be the final say on all football decisions. The head coach and GM will be under them, but there's going to be one guy in charge. Yes, it certainly sounds like Matt Ryan. It would be a PR home run for the Falcons. They would win the press conference if it's Matt Ryan. But the Falcons and Arthur Blank even alluded to this in his letter to the fans. They've sort of felt, feel like they've heard all this before. Rich McKay has been kicked out of the football building 12 times, and, you know, he just rolls right back in the next year. He is. He is, in theory, now completely over to the other side of Arthur's businesses. We'll see how that goes. Until the Falcons follow through on this plan where they have one voice and one decision maker, Falcons fans will be skeptical.
- [75:35]
James Palmer
Makes sense. Listen, you can lose a press conference and do very well. Just ask Liam Cohen right there. Down there, Southeast right now. That was an abysmal look at where they've played throughout the course of this season. I won't even attempt to say a Duval. I want to know what role this last draft played in Josh, because I did hear some things about the way things transpired in the first round, about maybe not everybody being on the same page, about how some of those picks transpired. Was that assigned to you at all? About where things were with some of the infighting that kind of, I was told, occurred with way they made some.
- [76:13]
Unknown Advertiser Voice 1
Of these picks publicly at the time and throughout the season, you know, they were 100% behind Michael Penix. Again, it was back to this collaborative approach. We all love this. You know, we got our guy. We've got a diamond in the rough. Well, y' all see this kid? When it started going downhill late in the season, you started seeing people on either side of the fence sort of carving out ground. You know, I can't believe they haven't done more with that kid or, you know, this kid. This is what happens when these things start to go downhill. People start looking for some dry land. And you saw that in Atlanta's building just like you would see it anywhere else. I think that that's very natural. I think that's one benefit of saying, from the ownership perspective, saying, okay, everybody's gone. We're starting anew.
- [77:08]
James Palmer
That makes sense. And before we go, there's all these openings that we're talking about, and in all of them, except this one, the general manager is still in place. I know oftentimes there's a lot of candidates that are, throughout the course of the back end of a season, whether it's a coordinator and an assistant general manager, they're. They're in cahoots in some capacity, talking about how do we pair up to go to a certain job if that ends up being a possibility for us. So Atlanta is in a little bit of a different territory in terms of looking at both of these. Is the timing of the general manager or the head coach hiring in your mind matter in any sense? Could they be looking for, you know, somebody coming as a package thought process. There are candidates that think that way. What's your take on, on how this could go down in terms of how they're hiring both these positions? Do you think there's a preference that one gets hired before the other?
- [78:00]
Unknown Advertiser Voice 1
No, I don't think so. Although I'll say this. If Matt Ryan is the president of football, I think that the head coach hire becomes the first priority and I think that that person would be, I think it would be good for the Falcons if that person was a guy like Kevin Stefanski. You know, the Falcons dream candidates, probably Matt LaFleur. They're, they're hoping the packers lose by 42, you know, this week and Matt LaFleur becomes available because, you know, if you're going to start fresh, you don't necessarily. Matt Ryan would be walking into this as a complete rookie. You don't necessarily need as good a candidate as Clint Kubiak is. And I think he might be a. Might he. He might end up being the home run higher in this cycle. But if you've got a new guy on both sides of the, of the scale, that could get tricky. So I think that probably you see the head coach hire, you know, become sort of the dominant. That's going to carry the. Carry the most weight is my expectation.
- [79:02]
James Palmer
Okay. All right, that makes sense. And you're right, that happens a lot of times. When you mention Clint Kubiak or other guys that are in their first go of it, they oftentimes hire a experienced defensive coordinator if on the offensive side of the ball that has head coaching experience so they can kind of lighten the load in some aspect. And you're mentioning there could be a lot of new in what's going on for Arthur Blank at 83 years old in terms of changing this entire structure with a first time head coach, potentially a first time president of football. In terms of Matt Ryan. Would you want the general manager to have some experience? The more you've said it, by the way, the more I've thought is like president of football. Does that mean you're like president of an entire sport? It's just fascinating kind of title that it is.
- [79:40]
Unknown Advertiser Voice 1
He needs a robe and a little scepter. What's the thing?
- [79:42]
James Palmer
I. I totally think so and maybe, who knows, we'll see if something like that happens in in Flowery Branch.
- [79:48]
Zach Jackson
Do you.
- [79:48]
James Palmer
Have you mentioned a couple candidates and you mentioned Matt Leflore? Remember everybody that he has not been extended by ed policy. So him and Brian Kunikust are kind of working into that last year in 2026. So a lot of eyes are on Green Bay. Is there anybody else that. That might be on your radar that's not Clint Kubiak or Matt Floor or. I think everybody would love maybe a crack at Kevin Stefanski.
- [80:08]
Unknown Advertiser Voice 1
Yeah, I mean, if you're going into the pool of, you know, first time guys, I do think Clint Kubiak is, is going to get a job and I do think he probably, he could do very well. I think Chris Shula checks two of the NFL's favorite boxes, which he's got the name and he comes from the Rams. But the Falcons, I don't think have the guts to hire two Rams defensive coordinators back to back. Jeff Halfley, a lot of people connect him to the Giants because of the Boston College stuff, but Matt Ryan's got a pretty strong connection to Boston College, too. I could see him having some comfort level there, so I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a little further down the thing. But I do think that the Falcons are coming in with pretty wide eyes and, you know, we're gonna have to let it play out for just a little bit.
- [80:53]
James Palmer
I love it. Outstanding stuff. Just appreciate it so much.
- [80:56]
Chase Daniel
I love the.
- [80:57]
James Palmer
I didn't even equate the Matt Ryan to Boston College with Jeff Halfley. I love that. Appreciate. That's the stuff we do this time of year, right? Like, how does this fit? How does this fit together? Could this be a way. Because everybody loves comfort in some capacity. Enjoy. Enjoy the Subaru. Enjoy the search. And we're, we're gonna have you back on real soon because I want to hear what's happening down there as they try to go through this because I've never seen in all honesty, a search that is set up the way Atlanta is setting up this search.
- [81:25]
Unknown Advertiser Voice 1
This is, this is the Falcons.
- [81:28]
James Palmer
Appreciate it, man. Thank you so much. Here's our. Appreciate it.
- [81:32]
Vic Tafer
John.
- [81:32]
James Palmer
He was outstanding. Josh was great. It was this, this was, this was a, a really fun live show for me for Diana Rossini, for Chase Daniel, for, for Josh Kendall and for Zach Jackson and, and for Vic Tafer. You saw there was the, was the playoff picture. We're going to get into that further in our show on Wednesday and our show on on Thursday. We're going to do our Thursday road trip where we talk to writers across the league about what could happen in this wild card round. So make sure you tune into both of those both Wednesday and both Thursday when we break down everything we can in terms of the playoffs and if anything else happens in one of these locations where coaches are still yet to meet with ownership and maybe something else could transpire, a couple of coordinator positions we have our eye on. Before I go, Matt Eberfluz. Remember, with the Cowboys you have an opening potentially at the offensive coordinator spot. With Matt Nagy no longer being under contract, could that be talking to some people around the league? Eric B. Enemy returning? Could that be Mike Kafka returning? We'll see what they do. If Matt Nagy ends up departing Kansas City for somewhere else to call plays because Andy Reid's so prevalent or takes a head coaching job, those are things to keep an eye on. What happens up there in Detroit with an offensive coordinator as Johnny Morton was fired, was how happening with Robert Solid? You need to replace him if he ends up getting a job, there's a lot of moving parts that could be going on across the NFL. We'll have that covered for you on Scoop City both Wednesday and Thursday. So appreciate everybody tuning in, everybody watching. I will see you later this week on Scoop City.
- [82:56]
Chase Daniel
Take it easy.
- [83:04]
Jennifer
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James Palmer
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