(00:00) Roster reveal trends
(15:35) CeeDee Lamb on new contract
(41:17) Browns not committed to keeping 4 QBs
(48:02) Dolphins place Odell Beckham Jr. on PUP list
(53:34) Chiefs release WR Kadarius Toney
PFT Live with Mike Florio
CeeDee Lamb on new contract + Browns not committed to keeping 4 QBs (08/28 Hour 1)
Hey, Fidelity, what's it cost to invest with the Fidelity app? Start with as little as $1 with no account fees or trade commissions on US stocks and ETFs. Hmm, that's music to my ears. I can only talk. Investing involves risk including risk of loss. Zero account fees apply to retail brokerage accounts only. Sell or assessment fee not included. A limited number of ETFs are subject to a transaction-based service fee of $100. See full list at Fidelity.com/commissions. Fidelity brokerage services LLC member NYSE SIPC. The $5 meal deal at McDonald's means you get to pick between a McDouble or a McCchickens. Then get a small fry, a small drink, and a four-piece McNuggets. That's a lot of McDonald's for not a lot of money. Get the $5 meal deal today. Prices in the participation may vary for a limited time only. This episode is brought to you by Progressive. Most of you aren't just listening right now, you're multitasking, but what if you could also be saving money by switching to Progressive? Drivers you save by switching save nearly $750 on average and auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. So multitask right now. Get your quote now at Progressive.com. Progressive cash with the insurance company and affiliate's national average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. Man, it has put up with us. For all the team, we take a call from the court to the like, you know, everything. We're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, we're going to take a call from the court, I do have an idea, I do have an idea Miles, this might dispense with that awkward meeting that they have to have with the guys who are no longer going to be on the team, just post the video, and if you're in it, you're on it, and if you're not, pack your stuff and leave, maybe that, maybe that should be like the clue for everyone, you know, like when they have a list of who made whatever you run up and look at it, see what part you got in the play, like they don't come and tell you, they just post the video, and if you see yourself in it, or if you see your name flash across the screen, you got a spot on the team, I can get behind that. Do you ever, do you ever have that experience Mike, you know, when you were in middle school, high school, where you're trying out for something, and you do go up to the list, and you look for your name, and you see, you try to see where it is, and it's like uh oh, what part did I get, what part did I get, you know, do you ever have that? No I didn't, I never tried out for anything, you can't fail if you don't try, that was my motto, so I never failed, I never failed, why have you, have you had that experience while, yeah, I mean, oh yeah, I'm sure you have a great memory of the day that you ran up to the board and saw that you got the lead in Footloose. Yeah, well I feel like in certain situations, you know, like it's kind of like being the quarterback of a team, like the head coach is going to tell you that you're the starter before they tell everybody else, so I don't quite remember exactly the way I found out that I was going to be the Kevin Bacon character in Footloose, but I believe that the director told me privately before posting the cast list, because you know, if you're, I don't know, some supporting character that only has like two lines, like you're not going to get the same attention that the lead is going to get, like I said, it's like being a starter quarterback, so yeah, I believe that that's how it went, but before that, you know, like when I was in Little Shop of Horrors and I was Mr. Mushnick, or when we did Urine Town, those were situations I believe where they posted the cast list, and then I found out, and then it was a little bit more disappointing in certain situations, because you didn't get the lead, and that's when you didn't know, right, because when you're playing JV, you don't quite understand exactly how things go when you then step up to varsity, so yeah, once we got to rent when I was a junior, it was like, they pull you aside and they're like, hey, this is what we're going to do, you're going to be one of the leads, and then, you know, same thing with Footloose, and it's like, oh, okay, this is how you get treated a little bit differently when you're the starting quarterback here. First of all, is it a prize or a punishment to have the lead in Footloose, and second of all, where the hell did you go to school that they did Urine Town? Oh, well, how can school, baby, Gates Mills, Ohio, yeah, that was a terrible choice. I'm not, I'm not, the older I get, the more I'm like, why in the hell did we do that? That was, you know, and I hate to say it so much. That was the last show that that director did, actually, before they, you know, dismissed him, and then they brought in a new director, which, frankly, was a little bit better for me because he saw me more as a lead person than the previous director. Not that I have any issue with the previous director, but he had two folks that he was like, all right, this is our lead man, this is our lead woman, we're going to ride these two for, like, all four years, and then that plan got a little bit interrupted, and so then I became more of the lead person once we got a new director, you know? If Urine Town had been a smash, though, they would have done the sequel, Poopville. That's unfortunate they didn't, it didn't happen. Hey, one more thing too, pro tip, because you speak for a living, not all the time, but like at least once a week, or sometimes twice, depending upon the week. It's always important when you say the word horror to be clear when you enunciate that second syllable just so there's no misunderstanding, just so I don't need to be Ralph's vibrato. I'm used to being with Sims, who, you know, every once in a while, that word pops out. Oh, well, he usually does it intentionally. It wasn't an accident when he said it. So I have an extra little piece of the filter that's on the lookout for that. With Sims, it was intentional with you. It was a little bit, a little bit accidental, a little bit of a shot of horrors. Back to the Dolphin's roster release video. The caveat that we apply to all of this, you know, some of those guys that were in the video aren't going to be on the team today, potentially, because we're now in the roster. Yeah, churn. Yeah, we're in the roster churn phase of the 53 man roster now. It's not the final 53 man. It's the initial 53 man and waiver claims will happen today. And if you are successful in claiming a guy on waivers, you've got to go to one of the guys that didn't get the invitation to go see the coach yesterday. He's going to go see the coach today or tomorrow or the next day or it's going to be next week. There's going to be an injury issue that pops up that he's an extra player at this position. We got to cut a guy at another position. So the good news, though, is there are another up to 16 players, technically 17, if you have one of the international practice squad exemption guys, there's basically 70, not 53. Now you don't get paid as much, but you're still on the team. A couple of guys per week can be called up, you'll get an opportunity maybe at some point at a minimum in practice to get someone's attention. So the dream isn't dead. It's just kind of suspended. It's in limbo, but a decent number of the guys who got cut yesterday will be back either with their former team or with some other team and some of them will be claimed on waivers by another team and will end up potentially contributing to that other team. Yeah, you know, it's funny, Mike, I once had in, I don't want to call it an argument, but a discussion, let's call it with an editor because they kept trying to say, well, you need to use final 53 and I'm like, it's August, there is no final 53. It's the initial 53, like it's because that's what I wrote and they're like, no, but that's not it. And I'm like, yeah, it is. Like you can say that people use the term final 53, but we shouldn't be using that because it's completely inaccurate. Like there is no final 53 until at that time, you know, the end of week 17. Right. The roster locks and that's it. That's your final 53. Those are the final 53 guys that were on the roster when your season ended. Yeah, it makes sense. Exactly. Yes. Yeah. So the other thing I want to point out about that video is that, you know, obviously the Houston Oilers are no longer a thing, but this is the thing of the age of your, right? Like how certain college fight songs are the same. You know, the Miami Dolphins and the Houston Oilers fight song is literally exactly the same, which I think is funny. But you know, I don't think anybody in Tennessee is going to be like, oh, we should bring that back when we have Oilers. No, I don't know. You know, I mean, well, hey, but, but, you know, you know how the Oilers are cease and desist. I mean, that may be today's development. Now that the Oilers have been reminded of it because they're the Texans slash Oilers aren't afraid. No, the Titans slash Oilers aren't afraid. Yeah. The Titans. The Texans should be the ones who own the Oilers rights. That should have been something they negotiated in Houston when the Oilers left. I agree. The problem is that happened. Why we didn't agree logically before the Browns like the Browns got the idea to threaten litigation in order to keep the name in Houston when the Oilers left. They should have at least at least gotten butt Adams to leave the name behind or once he finally changes the name, Oilers reverse to Houston. That should have happened because, I mean, and I can't really fault the Titans for being protective of Oilers because they're intellectual property. Pretty much all they have, really. I mean, prove me wrong, but what I really have that they can brag about. We once were in Houston, we were the Oilers. I mean, they made it, I know, but I believe McNair was an Euler originally, they made it to a Super Bowl. They made it to a Super Bowl. He was an Euler originally too, although might have been a Tennessee Euler, but still, I mean, I'm just trying to be, I'm trying to. We were talking about the Titans and recently and the Titans have had a stretch of and it goes back to desecrating the terrible towel. They've had an extended stretch of irrelevance for the most part. They have flashes. They have moments. 2019. They were the top seed. Was it 2019? No. It was one of those years. 2020. 2020. They were the top seed. 2019 is the year they beat Kansas City. Had a double digit lead and lost to Kansas City, but they went to Baltimore and beat the crowd. Just like everybody else that year. Yeah. So anyway, I'm trying to just be a little funny and you're, you know, don't bother me with your facts. I mean, you know, I thought we were going to post truth society. Come on, man. Just let me say whatever I want to say with no repercussions, ramification or even scrutiny. It's a successful practice squad player of all time. I mean, the first, that's a question of Gary's poses we were talking about. My first thought was I can't think of one, but Kurt Warner probably was on a practice squad. I was trying to Google that at some point because I think they would have had practice squads in the nineties. I'm pretty sure they did. That was probably something that was created as part of the CBA 93, 94 and Warner was in that timeframe and he might have been on a practice squad in Green Bay at some point or elsewhere. In hell in 20, what was it, 25 years ago, 1999 we Trent Green gets his ACL torn by Rodney Harrison in the preseason and not that Rodney did it on purpose, but you got hit low back when you could hit quarterback's low and enter Kurt Warner and people just thought the Rams were done and Vermeals getting fired. He'd been there for a couple of years. They've been horrible and then just like the planets lined up for Kurt Warner. So I assume he was on a practice squad at some point. That would make him the most successful. I think practice squad player of all time. Yeah. Oh, here it is. Here it is. Here it is. Here it is. Here it is. Here it is. Here it is. Here it is. Here it is. Kurt Warner. Kurt Warner was indeed. Okay. Thank you back room. Kurt Warner was indeed control room on the practice squad in 1994. All right. Well, cool. James Harrison is another one that comes to mind just because I know he was an undrafted guy. Maybe he at some point was on a practice squad and then, you know, goes on to be one of the greatest dealers of all time. I think you're right. I think you're right. Was it wasn't he on the Ravens practice squad at one point? I think he was. I don't know. All right. Anyway, they had, they had a few pretty good quarterbacks in 1994 in Green Bay. They had Brett Favre. They had Mark Brunel. They had Kurt Warner. That's some good coaches on that staff too. Yes. Well, was that 92? 92? That was the year where like it was like John Gruden and Andy Reed and a bunch of others that I can't remember who are three people who have never been in my kitchen. Okay. You don't get that reverence. It was Eric Foster on a practice squad. I know he was undrafted by the Texans. Was he on a practice squad? I don't know. Undrafted and became the league, the league's leading rusher like within two years. Okay. We'll be talking more about our reactions to cut down day, although do I see this down here? I might deviate to this now, although we've already burned through 13 minutes. Oh, we'll talk about it later. I see it. I see it on the list. If we have time. Oh, that's a tease. If I shut up, if I shut up and don't consume like the first hour praddling about the Dolphins 53 man, final, I mean, initial and the pronunciation of horse. Yes, that's very important though, that's very important because we must always adhere to the standards of etiquette and proper language on this program as we always do. Okay. The Dallas Cowboys, speaking of a guy who didn't adhere to the standards of proper language, that interview Jerry Jones gave to Clarence Hill. Good Lord. I mean, and I know people talk like that all the time away from microphones. Real life is rated R, but Jerry Jones has been around for 35 years and I've never seen quotes from him littered with expletives. Now maybe that's just something, you know, wrong side of 80. The filter goes off completely and the expletives fly, but I, when I saw the first headline, I thought, and I think you, you texted this because I, I agree with this sentiment. I thought it was fake. Well, yeah, I mean, once, when you see that kind of language from an owner in a public setting and you know, kudos to Clarence for Clarence Hill for, for getting this out of Jerry Jones, right? You have to construct an interview environment that is extraordinarily comfortable in order to get F-bombs, S-bombs, a, you know, ASS, all these different things where it's like, my goodness, you know, what in the world is going on here? He doesn't usually talk like this in front of a microphone. So especially somebody like Jerry Jones, who is kind of the epitome of, you know, a media friendly owner. It's just not necessarily how usually you're a dog. Well, and based upon reporting that appeared in Mark Leibovich's book about the NFL some six years ago, you ain't getting Jerry drunk. That's not happening. Jerry's literally drinking you under the bus. He's drinking you under his bus. Yeah. With tumblers of Johnny Walker Blue, just tumblers full, Leibovich passed out on the bus. He could not keep up with Jerry Jones. I don't know that Clarence can keep up with Jerry Jones. So it wasn't a situation where they were three or four tumblers in to the Johnny Walker Blue. So well done by Clarence and anyway, hey, fidelity. What's it cost to invest with the fidelity app? Start with as little as $1 with no account fees or trade commissions on US stocks and ETFs. Hmm. That's music to my ears. I can only talk. Investing involved risk, including risk of loss, zero account fees apply to retail brokerage accounts only, seller or assessment fee not included, a limited number of ETFs are subject to a transaction based service fee of $100, see full list at fidelity.com/commissions, and the ability broker services LLC member NYSE SIPC. It's one thing falling in love with a house picturing yourself moving in and calling it home and quite another navigating the world of price negotiating, mortgage lenders and finding the budget that works best for you. An agent who's a realtor can make understanding that world easier. Realtors have the expertise, access to proprietary data and tools to help you get from imagining living somewhere, to actually doing it. 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Visit sling.com/play to learn more and get started. At sling.com/play, sling.com/play. We know that Jerry is capable of uttering some F-bombs, and he probably outed a few when he had to write that check, because you know he didn't want to write that check, but he's going to have to write some big checks to CD-LAM. That kind of got lost yesterday in the shuffle of all the roster moves. We had the full breakdown and still had the full breakdown. If you go to profootballtalk.com of the CD-LAM contract, 34 million per year in new money for your extension, not any phony crap on the back end. If anything, when you consider salary cap, where the market's going, by the time he gets to year three, four, five, he's going to be thinking, "Hey, I want to rip this up and do another deal if he's still playing at a high level." So it's a good deal for the team. It's a good deal for him, and there he is signing it yesterday officially. Under contract for five years with the Dallas Cowboys, Depp McCordi, and I talked yesterday about how those don't go both ways, that the team can tear it up at some point if they want to, usually after the first two years, sometimes after three years. I think this one's practically two years, fully guaranteed, and then in the year three, they could maybe, they'd have some guaranteed money. They don't have like seven million, but they'd be entitled to an offset. So it's two years and then year to year after that, but regardless, it's done and he's gotten his payday that he was looking for, and here he is from yesterday talking about his reaction to ending the hold out and finally getting his contract in the books. "My agent faced on me. It was actually kind of crazy because he hit me with a, "Yeah, man, this is going south out of the rock." I'm like, "What do you mean, it's going south, it's time." And then he and me, "Yeah, they're only going to try to pay you 34 a year." I'm like, "Well, where do I sign?" Well, I'm grateful to be here every moment of the day. Yeah, like this whole process, it was very crazy for me, as we all know, very bittersweet, enjoyed it all. Obviously had plenty of times to, you know, revamp myself, physically become more prepared for the season. Granted, I wish I would have had a camp, but it's okay though. I wanted to work out and then back in, but I'm very excited for the moment. Cheers every bit of it. It's just got to be so hard for a player because you're doing what's right for yourself financially. But you've been playing football your entire life. Now all of a sudden, when it's that time of year and you're ready to go to work and you want to go to work because you know that you need to put that work in in order to get better, in order to be prepared, in order to have an impact, in order to live up to that first team all pro billing from last year when you had over 1700 receiving yards, there's going to be a price to pay for not being there. You want to be there. You're feeling urgency that you need to be there, but in order to get the contract that you believe is fair, you have to put yourself in a position where it could be detrimental to your short-term interests and definitely go against what it is that you want to do. And that gets back to my point, why didn't they identify an earlier deadline? Because once we have an agreed-to deadline and the deadline approaches, the deal's getting done. Vikings identified right before the mandatory mini camp with Justin Jefferson and both sides were on the same page and they got it done then. I still for the life of me don't know why teams at the latest won't make the deadline to start a training camp because you're getting it done anyway. Once the two sides agree on the deadline, the deal's getting done before the deadline. Why on earth? I know why, or at least I think why Jerry Jones did, he wanted to be the center of attention through training camp in pre-season and stir it up a little bit, take a little attention away from week one of the pre-season. Oh, the Giants and the Patriots are playing in separate games tonight. Let's steal the attention from them. I'll say I have no urgency to sign CD Lam and it worked. It's not going to work from the standpoint of ensuring that CD Lam is ready to go. This is the exact problem I have with it from the Cowboys organization standpoint. When you are letting this linger for as long as they did, first of all, do you have to let it linger? Second of all, I think that it's just a bad thing, I mean it doesn't, yes, it is. Yes, it is. That's why I did that. Did you mean to do that? If you meant to do that, then that was very lame. If it's accidental, it's okay. Yes, I said linger, it just happened and I should have just moved past it, but I didn't. That's on me. One good wall later? I might. You never know. Maybe it'll be the thing that saves me, so I think what I'm trying to say about Jerry Jones and the Cowboys is that you need to be able to identify the things that are going to help your team in a better way than what they did. Because I think you brought up Justin Jefferson, I think it's a great example, but I would go back to like what Debo Samuel has said a couple years ago after he went through his contract situation and he was not in camp, you know, and he wasn't quite ready for the season, he said, and he said that he didn't want to ever put stuff like that on film ever again. So you're not setting up your player for the success that you ostensibly want to have. If you let something like this go all the way through training camp and you let it, you know, fester and whatnot until the last week of August, I don't like it, you know, it's just imagine if this whole thing with Justin Jefferson had been continuing on until now. I mean, yeah, it would be the top story, but, you know, especially if JJ McCarthy gets hurt, right? And you need him to be able to have those reps with Sam Darnold. Those are things that are really important. And even if the offense is the same, you know, the quarterback is the same and all that in CDLAM knows the offense, right? It's not that that's going to be new for him. But every single year you get your body ready, you get your mind ready, you get ready with all the new teammates you have around you so that you can be successful in the regular season. That happens most of the time in August, late July and August, it is an important time. And so because the Cowboys waited so long to get this done, now CDLAM can say all he wants, you know, that he exfully expects to have the same type of caliber season and all that, but I don't think that that's a fair expectation to put on him from all of the rest of us because we've seen what happens when players are not in camp and then they have to go out and try to execute. It's different. Being in football shape is different than being in shape. Just generally really is. And you mentioned the JJ McCarthy injury. This occurred to me yesterday when Devin and I were talking about it. And there was never a point to really bring it up because there were so many different things to unpack about the CDLAM contract, but they had the Dironne Bland injury over the weekend and they're not going to have one of their top defensive players for six to eight weeks with the stress fracture in his foot. I just wonder whether that caused any acceleration of this that they needed something positive. They need to, yeah, I don't know, maybe it was just enough to, to nudge them to, yeah, now all of a sudden there's a sense of urgency. I mean, I kind of sensed when Jerry Jones had nothing to say about CDLAM after the Chargers game on Saturday that maybe this is finally moving toward a conclusion because this is a guy that's never going to lost for words on any subject, profane or otherwise. And maybe you just feel that, you know, even though it's a different position, we lost a guy who's important to our success this year. You know, when you don't go all in to improve your team, you need all the guys that did well last year to do well this year and now Dironne Bland isn't going to be back until who knows when and is he going to be the same with the stress fracture in his foot. I mean, it's kind of an important part of the body when you're a defensive back and you're moving around and you're cutting all the time. So I don't know, maybe, maybe that accelerated the timetable by a little bit. Maybe this wasn't going to be a Monday thing. Maybe it was going to be a Friday thing because there isn't much of a difference. They'll have some practices this week. Yes, the full blown preparation for week one will happen, you know, kind of around the weekend and next week, but regardless, regardless, this, I think was the general timeframe all along and you and I agree and I think others feel the same way. It's a mistake. You're blowing an opportunity to get your guy ready. It helps the team. It helps you. And I don't know whether the Cowboys just didn't think he had the will to stay away. Did they misplay it by setting that deadline when they did because they thought he would show up? They don't know, but I think everybody would have been better off if they had done it earlier. And they knew, this wasn't a surprise, like Ezekiel Elliott, the year he held out, he was there for the entire off-season program and then didn't show up for training camp. CDI wasn't there for anything. They knew from the get-go. That was one of the first reports of guy plans to stay away until he gets his new contract that we had in the off-season. He stuck to it the whole time. He was disciplined the whole time. He didn't show up for anything. Off-season mandatory mini camp and then training camp rolls around. He doesn't show up and now he's there and off we go. He's got his contract. Here he is on the process and the long wait of finally getting the contract that he'd been trying to get. And it was near the end, quite honestly not ever got it done, I could tell you. So, I was like, "Bro, listen, we just need to get this done. I'm ready to go beat with my guys. I know we've missed out on so much time, like a month. Obviously, I'm training on my own, granted I can be prepared, but like timing, you can't teach that. You can't coach that. You can't. Like, the only thing you can do is rep that. And obviously avenues, bumps and alleyways of getting open and scoring touchdowns. You got to see it to believe it. Something and the fans are saying it's all about the money and you're telling us it's really not, I promise you, it's not about the money. But obviously it has a big part of continuing the situation, but man, I love playing football. When I get on the field, my performance is what makes the money. So if I get out there and show y'all what I can do, how much I love this sport, how much respect I can get to this sport by giving it my all, better answer all these questions. You know, there's another detriment to this, beyond not having the preparation that he would have had by being there for a normal camp, who's going to be a desire, an urgency, a passion to maybe overdo it. And maybe that's how you pop a hamstring, right? I got to go extra hard. I got to make up for lost time and it's going to be important for CD lamb and for the cowboys to understand, no, no, no, no, no, we're not going to try to simulate as if you were here for the last month. We're not going to try to do too much. Don't go out there week one and feel like you have to be Superman. Just be who you were last year, or at least work toward being who you were last year because when you're really not in peak shape and you try to wheel your body to do more than it's ready to do, that's when you start getting the soft tissue injuries. And that's one of the reasons why. You know, it sounds at times like coaches yelling at clouds, but Sims and I talked about this a few weeks ago regarding training camp holdouts. Jamal Anderson tears an ACL week two of the 1999 season, the year after he had that gigantic effort with the Falcons and Dan Reeves, coach of the Falcons at the time, made, you know, comment, linking injury to holdout. And there are plenty of coaches who think that, even though there's no bright line connection, if CD lamb would get injured, I guarantee you, people are going to just assume and declare that if he'd been there for all the training camp, this would have happened. Sure. But, you know, whose fault is that? Is that CD lambs fault or is it, you know, the person who said, yeah, I'm not saying you're blaming. I agree. I'm saying it's just another reason why let's set the deadline in time to let the guy get the camp. Yes. 100%. Yes. Exactly. It helps set the player up for success. And, you know, you listen and you look at CD lamb there. It's clear how much this, you know, staying away, at least to me, staying away from everything that is, you know, about the team and all that is kind of antithetical to everything that he has been taught about the game of football and everything he probably believes in when it comes to the game of football, you know, when you have to stay away from your teammates, when you have to train on your own. We always call football the ultimate team game, you know, it takes all 11 in order to do all the necessary things, you know, in order to score points in order to win ball games. And so when you're not with the team in that scenario and in that situation, it does it hurts. It's not right. It doesn't feel good. So I mean, that's one thing to it, but to a to his credit, you listen to his agent, you know, that he got good advice. And when you are, you know, getting a contract that is just below the mark set by Justin Jefferson in terms of annual average value, like that's good. So I think the fact that he listened to the advice that he got is a good thing, you know, when it comes to the business of football and that has set him up better for the rest of his life than maybe say the 2024 season. And I'd also say to the Cowboys credit, you know, they are ramping him up over the course of this week. Red out of Dallas yesterday that, you know, they had him participate in individual drills, but not much else, which is good because again, he's not been with the team. And so you can't pretend like he's been with the team over the last month. You start getting him his feet wet in the individuals, make sure he's fully integrated into all that stuff, increase it with seven on seven, then team drills, and then he should be all right by the time week one versus Cleveland rolls around. In late January, Jerry Jones uttered that notorious phrase, all in, in the usual sense, not in the sense that he tried to gaslight us into thinking that he was talking about. And it quickly became obvious they can't go all in. They can't go out and acquire veteran talent that was available in free agency because they had a three player contract log jam, CD lamb, quarterback, Dak Prescott, and linebacker, Michael Parsons, and months went by with no progress on any of those contracts. Finally, with lamb's deal done, maybe they turned to Dak Prescott. Maybe they don't. Here's lamb from yesterday, talking about Dak's contract situation, which has him entering the last year with the team having no ability to keep him from becoming a free agent in 2025. If you go look at our numbers together, they had the top of the charts and I have no doubt that they're going to get it all done. And we all know that I want Dak here, Jerry wants Dak here too. So let's just get this under control, kill this speculation, let's go in. Yeah, it's easy to say, but for the same reason, I'm repeating myself from yesterday, but it may be a new audience and it's definitely a different co-host for the same reason that Jerry Jones relished the attention that came from the CD lamb holdout for all of training camp in the preseason. At some level, Jerry Jones will relish the intensity of the coverage that will attach to the Cowboys and Dak Prescott when the season ends. And as the confetti is falling for whoever wins the Super Bowl and I would definitely take the field over the Cowboys for that proposition right now. Topic one is going to be Dak Prescott's future. They may not keep him, they might keep him, but in the interim, we're talking about the Cowboys and we're talking about Dak and that's going to be the thing that leads every show for that entirety of the process, especially because Jerry is going to know how to throw a little chum here and a little chum there to keep it going. So I feel like they want this to play out. They want this to become something that pushes to the brink next February because they get five months, six months out of coverage and attention that comes from the billion drama of whether or not Dak's going to stay. Look, I mean Dak Prescott might be one of the most high profile free agents ever, right? And that's kind of by virtue of his performance, but it's also by virtue of him playing for the Cowboys and the fact that the Cowboys simply draw media attention. So I mean, you look at Kirk Cousins and his free agency for a, I mean, that's a comparable quarterback in a lot of ways, right? But you look at Dak Prescott and the fact, the simple fact that he is the Cowboys quarterback is going to make him that much more interesting, you know, and the contract figures that he is going to be able to pursue on the open market is definitely going to make him that much more of an interesting story. So I think you're right. You know, it might not, it could even be during Super Bowl week, right? He got all of the car wash interviews that happened in the media center, imagine Jerry Jones going through some of those, right? Imagine if Dak Prescott starts going through some of those and he's representing whatever brand he's representing and people are going to ask him about, you know, what does he think he's going to do? Does he want to be back with the Cowboys? You want to test the open market, that, that, depending on who's in the Super Bowl and what kind of Super Bowl matchup we have, that could be the main story of Super Bowl week. So yeah, I mean, I think that if we look into the crystal ball into the future, like that is absolutely something that is going to dominate coverage in February, particularly after the Super Bowl, like that two week interval now that just feels so small between the inner, the end of the Super Bowl and the beginning of the combine, like that's just going to be Dak Prescott talk. Like I have no doubt about that unless, you know, Jerry Jones decides that he wants to give Dak Prescott, you know, $61, $62 million a year and it's sort of an offer that Dak Prescott cannot refuse, but I don't really see that happening either. And Miles, think of it this way too, because you have me trying to project forward with that week is going to be like, it's not just Dak, if he's there, whatever he's selling, it's not just Jerry Jones, if he would happen to be at Radio Row, which I don't think I've ever seen him there, but maybe this year he goes. It's anybody else on the Cowboys who's there plus it's any player from any other team that might be linked to Dak because we know what's going to happen once this season ends. And inevitably, there will be teams that fail. I'm sorry fan of any team out there, but there is a chance, there is a chance your team is going to stink this year, just kind of brace yourself for it. You might think they're going to be really good, there's a chance they're not. There will be teams that aren't good, change coaches, and they're taking a hard look at whether or not the quarterback they have is the quarterback they need. And oh, what's this Dak Prescott's available? So that's going to become part of the chatter for now it's not because for now every team is going to go undefeated and win the Super Bowl. But at some point when we know which teams are the ones that aren't in contention, that's when we start saying, hmm, and you can already kind of make a list if you wanted to. You could go through the divisions, you can look at the teams and you can project forward a year and say if they end up not being good this year, they could be a team that decides to bring in a new quarterback specifically at Dak Prescott Health. I always run this in my brain through AFC East, AFC North, AFC South, AFC West, and then do it for the NFC. And I started kind of doing that while I was saying it, the New York Jets, if they fail, you will fail. If they fail, if, and then I don't, I'm not trying to put a hex on the Jets, but there's somebody who will, if they do, and Aaron Rodgers has said it himself, if we fail this year, everybody's gone. Yeah. He'll likely be gone. Oh wait, here's Dak Prescott, he's available. Maybe he's the guy that can finally turn this mess around, this team that hasn't been to the playoffs since 2011, I think maybe 2010, one of those two years, I think 11. So yeah, there's going to be a whole host of teams. Yes. Not like half the league, but there will be more than a few that are going to be linked to Dak Prescott, and that's just going to add to that churn attention discussion. But the problem is, the problem is for the Cowboys, at some point it's too late, like, oh, we'd like to play this out and milk it for every amount of attention we can get and then keep him. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, because you can't keep him. There's nothing you can do to keep him. And you're worried about paying him 60. What if there's some other owner out there's willing to pay him 70? Uh oh. Bye bye, Jerry. Bye bye, Cowboys. Dak is leaving the nest. Yeah. I mean, you know what, all it takes is one, right? That's what we said about the Cleveland Browns and to Sean Watson and the fully guaranteed contract. All it takes is one. So you know what, maybe it's the Raiders, right? Go to Nevada, you replace Gardner, Minshew, and Aiden O'Connell. This is not necessarily supposed to be a very good quarterback draft coming up in 2025, at least if you listen to what folks say right now. So yeah, I mean, there's a lot of reasons why Dak Prescott should want to test the open market. And you know, like I said, unless he gets some crazy offer that he cannot refuse, I find it hard to believe that Dak Prescott wouldn't test the open market when he has the chance. Because like I said, he's going to be one of the most high profile free agents we have ever seen ever. You know, we need to move on, but I'm fascinated by this now. The way too early possible destinations for Dak Prescott, we've identified the Jets and the Raiders. The Pittsburgh Steelers are a potential destination. Are they not? They've got two guys under contract for this year. And there's no guarantee that at the end of the year, the Steelers are going to say we want one or both. Let's go get Dak. Let's pay Dak. Let's make him away from the Cowboys. The New York Giants, we know, thanks to hard knocks, we know that they aren't exactly in love with Daniel Jones. And what better way to stick it to the Cowboys than to take their quarterback? Good Lord. Now that is high drama. That would be something. Any others come to mind? I mean, the Saints, right? Yeah. Hard, this could be it for him, anyone else you're thinking of? I mean, the Panthers, who knows what's going to happen with Bryce Young, but if Bryce Young comes out and, you know, I apologize, Panthers fans, but if if they stink this year and Bryce Young doesn't look like anything close to a number one overall pick again, then I mean, the urgency ramps up for Carolina to do something to actually solidify that quarterback position. We know David Tepper wants to solidify the quarterback position. I mean, that's obvious. Yeah, but he would have to admit he was wrong about Bryce Young or find someone else to blame for Bryce Young before he can cut the court on Bryce Young because this is all about getting the most out of Bryce Young. But maybe after this year, maybe he decides, maybe he decides that, yeah, well, just here's Dak Prescott. I can go get him and I can bring him to town up the Seahawks, potentially, with Gino Smith on a year to year contract, Sam Howell, they kind of like him, but who knows what happens there? So there are some real possibilities. How the Rams, the Rams could move on from Matthew Stafford after this year and go get Dak Prescott, take him away from the Cowboys. So there will be, there will be some teams and it will be the biggest story of late January, into February and March until it's done. And you were mentioning biggest free agent ever, probably the biggest free agent since the original free agent, Reggie White, because he was exempt from the franchise tag. He was one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that sparked the current model of franchise tags, salary cap, free agency, and the name plaintiffs had a lifetime exemption from the franchise tag. That was their bonus for putting their name on the lawsuit. So he wasn't tagged by the Eagles and was able to go wherever he wanted and God told him to go to Green Bay and that was that. So we'll see where God tells Dak Prescott to go. And if God can actually overrule Jerry Jones, we'll see. Okay. Cut down day, big takeaways, Miles, let's start with your favorite team, your hometown team. They made a little news, didn't they? They did make the little news in terms of keeping four quarterbacks on the roster currently, which, yeah, I mean, like, that's fine. And the, the reporting from air cake cabinet of Cleveland.com was that they're going to try to trade either James Winston or Snoop Huntley, which, and they're going to keep DTR behind to Sean Watson. But I mean, if it's me, I'm not getting rid of James Winston because number four right now is an unreliable quarterback. You don't know if he's going to be available, first of all. And you also don't know if he's going to play well. So if you have somebody like a James Winston who we know is a good veteran backup, right, James Winston can at least run an offense. Well, last time we saw Dorian Thompson Robinson, he really couldn't run an NFL style offense, which is why the Browns had to go get Joe Flacco, who while he played great in spurts, right, also had a turnover problem. So if you're at least, if you're going to play it every quarterback and it happens to be James Winston, hell, at least you're dealing with turnover problems again, right? You're not, you're not unused to doing something like that. So I just, I would not really understand the thought process behind moving on from James Winston, especially given how well he's done as a cheerleader for Deshawn Watson. There's been nobody, but a better cheerleader referred to Sean Watson throughout the course of the offseason. And I think that that presence would be really good to have in the Browns quarterback room. Is there a point that where that's too much? I know that people love James Winston because he's a little kooky. Is it a little over the top? Is it a little passive aggressive? Is it almost like that's his way of saying, you will fail like this guy, this guy, this guy, this guy was, think about Sean Watson, 17, 18, 19, 20, he was on track, not just to be offensive rookie of the year, but maybe an MVP candidate before his ACL went in November of 2017. He was spectacular on a crap team in 2020, 4800 passing yards, would have been an MVP finalist if the Texans hadn't been horrible that year. He doesn't need to be propped up by James Winston. So I don't know, it was a weird turn because not that long ago it was, hey, maybe they're going to trade DTR during Thompson Robinson second year player that, you know, showed some flashes in the preseason last year and when it was time to play, it wasn't quite as flashy and then it pivots to, well, maybe we'll trade James Winston or Tyler Huntley. So they've got, they've got three quarterbacks on the roster who have made it to a pro ball, which is kind of weird because remember, Huntley was like the 17th alternate. Nobody wanted to go to the, the pro ball games that year and he ended up making the team, but clearly they're not going to take four into the regular season. When Kevin Stafansky was asked about it yesterday, it's clear and he did not do a good job. We could play a little poker with Kevin Stafansky. He did not do a good job of concealing the intention. One of these guys isn't going to be there. Is he going to be traded or are they going to realize we can't trade any of them? We got to cut one of them. Yes. And that's the thing about the roster flexibility. And you know, if you have four quarterbacks, it is more likely that you're going to be able to trade one because it is a premium position, especially because if we're talking about Huntley or Winston, right, those guys have starting experience. And if you need a backup quarterback, that's one of the most important things that you can have. Starting experience. You've been on the field before. You understand what it means to run an NFL offense and to play in an NFL game. So that aspect, yeah, I get why the Browns did this because it means that they have a little bit of leverage. But again, I mean, Mike, I think we'll get you on the couch a little bit here, but like anytime somebody exudes positivity, you're like, I don't know about that. I don't know about that. James, what's it just exudes positivity? Like, not everything has to be cynical. It's just who he is. So, you know, I don't think it's, I don't think it's anything beyond that. It's just, he's a positive person, Mike. And that's okay. Okay. What you and I have had these conversations about balancing cynicism with naivete. These weird pregame, let's go win one for the gipper speeches that he does for pre-season game. That's that no, for pre-season games. I don't remember seeing any E to W's before pre-season games. It's ridiculous to do it before a pre-season game. Pre-season game is glorified practice. It's ridiculous. Well, then maybe the Browns have decided after six months with James Winston, this guy's a goofball and we don't want him on the team. Maybe that's why they're looking to trade him. Doesn't really fit with what we're trying to do here. A little over the top, a little too kooky. You know, think about the Deshawn Watson, James Winston vibe. Maybe Deshawn Watson's decided, get this guy the hell out of here. I can't take this guy. He's making me nervous. I mean, this guy won't shut the F up because Deshawn Watson's not that way. I mean, when you're kind of quiet and reserved and you're constantly around somebody who won't shut the hell up, you get to a point where you're like, tell that guy to shut the hell up. There's one way to shut him up. I'm just trying to understand. I'm trying to understand what's going on. That's all. I know. And James Winston is a character and we embrace characters, but we're trying to win football games. Sometimes that kid that won't shut his damn mouth is getting in the way of what we're trying to do. But he's supposed to be there to help support the starting quarterback. I mean, if you can get, I think that, you know, when you're trying to motivate people, which is what he does, it's like I said, I think that you're, you're taking a very cynical view of something and that doesn't surprise me, but he's just a person that exudes positivity. And yeah, he's cool. But that's just James Winston. If you did know James Winston was kooky before signing him in March, where have you been since he was at Florida State a decade ago? Well, and let's be extra cynical. They couldn't bring back Joe Flacco because the fans would be chanting, we want Flacco week one. Absolutely now, boy. Yes. Yes. Well, that I agree with you. We cover a sport where bullshit is everywhere. So it's not cynicism. It's reality. Things are always not what they seem. There's always something that's percolating below the surface. So anyway, it's an interesting conversation. I'd expect to have that today. I want to touch on one more thing since the cynicism gene is in full gear. Something's going on with Odell Beckham Jr. in the dolphins and they can try to downplay it all they want. But the guy signs late in the off season, one year, $3 million contract. He participates in some of the off season program. He passed a physical on the way through the door. You have to pass the physical to sign the contract. You have to pass the physical to be on the practice field for OTAs, mandatory mini camp, whatever. But then here comes training camp and here I'm passed a physical and we don't know what the injury is. They don't have to tell us. They haven't told us. And we go all through training camp, all through the preseason and there's no sign of Odell Beckham Jr. on a practice field. And we've heard a couple of times from two at Tonga by low, well, I can't really establish chemistry with a guy that's not out on the field. So something weird is happening and it became officially nutty when he stays on the pup list, going into the initial slash final 53 man roster. And that requires him by rule to miss at least four games. Something is going on here. Something weird is happening here. I don't know what it is, but I will say it's weird and they don't want us to know what the truth is. Well, yes. Now that, I mean, you know, your cynicism gene here, I think actually is spot on. I mean, it is, it's odd because in a film media reported yesterday that there was some sort of off season procedure, which I mean, that's kind of the first I remember hearing of it. But it's still an undisclosed injury, which again, Miami has every right to do that, you know, it's not like he's on the roster and it's not game week. So they don't have to tell us what the injury is. But I mean, usually in the off season, there is some sort of idea. Oh, it's a knee. It's a hamstring. It's an abdomen. Ah, he did a quad. We think he'll be back in X amount of time. And it's always kind of been this nebulous thing with Beckham and the dolphins throughout training game. I mean, even the other day when Mike McDaniel was talking about the roster and they asked, okay, is Beckham going to be there for week one? Is there, or he's going to stay on pop that he said, oh, it's to be determined. You know, we don't know like that, da, da, da, da. So I mean, it didn't seem like, oh, this is something that's going to last another four weeks. I mean, you know, if you want to interpret Mike McDaniel's tone, try and do that. Go ahead. It's a little confusing sometimes. But like I do think that this is odd and it's simply odd that we don't know what the injury is, even though they don't have to tell us at a certain point, usually we figure these things out. Well, and when there's this nebulous reporting of some sort of procedure in the off season, first of all, the off season is eight months. Again, was it in the off season? Was it before he signed with the dolphins and then they missed it on the physical? Were they duped and they're not going to admit they were duped because they look foolish if they passed him on the physical and didn't know he had this procedure or was the procedure something that was done after some sort of injury that happened during OTAs. That's what's weird about this because physically unable to perform list implies it's a football injury that happened with them, otherwise it would be NFI. Even though it could be a football injury, if it's something that happened playing football with another team, and I don't know enough about the nuances of NFI and pop. The idea that, you know, if he had an injury lingering from the Ravens last year, so once you pass the physical, that's all wiped clean. Once you're with a new team and you've passed the physical, how do you end up on the pup list unless they just missed whatever it was? And he passed the physical then and then based upon whatever he did in the off season, can't pass the physical now. The whole thing is weird and it's just, and this is a, this is a guy who is a vastly fallen star in the NFL. I don't know why in the hell the Ravens paid him 15 million last year unless it was like, hey, maybe if we sign him, we'll get Lamar Jackson to sign his contract and I'm only a little bit kidding about that. But he gets three million this year. He's got jail in water at 28, he got tirey kill at a real 30 now. Where do I fit in this picture? Do I even really want to be here? I don't know. Just something is weird and off about all of it. Well, I think, you know, if Kirk Cousins would have had to be on the pup list, you know, if they hadn't cleared as a killies, he still would have been on the pup list, I believe. And I don't think I'm too far off there. Well, he passed his physical, I think you're right. I think you're right. That's a good point. But he passed his physical on the way in and there was a caveat on the physical for the Achilles. There was a caveat on the physical for the Achilles. So there could have been a caveat, whatever this is for Odell Beckham, Jr. potentially, you know, but we don't know, we didn't even know he was injured last year. We didn't even know he was injured. That's what's weird. Chuck, guys, go through all these procedures all the time. Yeah. It is right. But it's just weird because usually we know what's going on. We know. And we don't. And nobody wants to share the truth and it's a little bits and pieces and flashes. And maybe what will happen is by us pointing out how weird it is, the truth will bubble up somewhere somehow. All right. There was plenty of other news yesterday. We have all of it at pro football talk.com. Not a surprise. Get areas. Tony was released by the Chiefs. They tried to trade them in the off season and maybe they did. He's got a fully guaranteed salary this year. It's the fourth year of his contract. I don't think anybody's claiming them on waivers. He'll pass through waivers. And I mean, look, I understand that the information robots feel compelled to say nice things about players as a favor to the agent who gave them the information. Sometimes it does get a little ridiculous. And some of the superlatives that were thrown out there about cadreas Tony yesterday were a little ridiculous. You got to the point three plus years into his career where you can reasonably conclude that something is holding him back from being this tremendous playmaker that they thought he was coming out of college. Well, I mean, shout out to him in the Super Bowl against Eagles, right? You know, catches the first corn dog play. And then he gets that 65 yard putt return sets up the second touchdown. So that was about it for the positive plays when it comes to Darius Tony or on the Chiefs. You know, after that point, you my gosh, holy smokes, it was from week one on, you know, drop passes, interceptions. And that last one that he had against the Patriots in December was about the last time we ever saw him on the field for the Chiefs. So yeah, and looking at this way, if Andy Reed can't coach a player into the best version of himself, especially if there's been some issues and distractions or whatever, I don't think anybody can. There's always a coach that thinks he can be the one. If Andy Reed hasn't gotten it done, buyer beware exclamation point. If you're going to be the one that gives Kid areas Tony another shot, maybe somebody tries on a practice squad, try to humble them a little bit, get them to really commit, really show that he loves football and he's willing to be focused all the time and do everything necessary to get the most out of his talent. Because I think the talent's still there. There's just something that's kept manifesting itself on a regular basis. All right. All the other moves at PFT, not a ton of oh crap surprises. But you know, hey, when you cut down to the final or initial 53, there's going to be some names that are kind of, you know, nudged out of football, never to return again. Okay, let's take a break. When we return the San Francisco 49ers start their season in only 12 days, there's a chance they won't have a pair of key players, but don't tell that to Jets head coach Robert Salah who faces his former team when their regular season gets started. We'll discuss that next year on PFT Live. Hey, Fidelity, what's it cost to invest with the Fidelity app? Start with as little as $1 with no account fees or trade commissions on US stocks and ETFs. Hmm, that's music to my ears. 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