Rodgers-Steelers Marriage Destined to Fail + Flashpoint Focus: Indianapolis Colts

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The Heed the Call Podcast

does plan to report to mandatory minicamp for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

We're there.

And we didn't go there to be a backup.

That's all we'll say.

Welcome to Heed the Call.

Heeding that Call.

New week, Dan Hansis here

with Mark Sesser

and Justin Graver on the ones and twos.

Heyo.

Mark, this is the

end of the off-season portion of the calendar.

We have a bunch of teams

reporting mandatory this week.

And then next week, a handful of teams are doing the same, including the Rams, of course, and Maui, for whatever reason, Mark.

Well, that always kind of grinds your gears a little bit.

Well, it's a little ridiculous.

It's a little on the nose, but fair enough.

But it does sound nice.

Maybe our friend Jordan gets to go to Maui on Los Angeles Rams dime.

I mean, these things would be good, or the athletics, but somebody.

So then it would be good.

But anyway, then things get real quiet in the NFL.

School is out until July.

So that's where we're at.

We're going to dig into all the mandatory minicamp news, including, yeah, that Rodgers guy, which we'll get to in a couple minutes.

Yeah, like I...

To me, it feels different when you get these rookies that were in street clothes throwing passes against air, and you get some veterans in there.

I think specifically of my Browns, like you've got the veteran passers playing with Shador Sanders now and all that business.

That amps it up for me a little bit in terms of my plugged-in level versus the old OT.

A couple weeks ago, it's like,

my level of give-a shit is very similar.

It's very low.

I am in a post caring about

off-season workouts world.

I've lived that life.

We get the news, and we'll we'll take the news out of it where we can get it.

But

am I gonna, like, when I read that Justin Fields is going to change the Jets' offense write-up that's gonna come from Rich Samini in two days, is it gonna really give me an extra skip of my step?

Not anymore.

Maybe it's just I'm a little battle-hardened over the years, Mark.

Yep, foot off the gas.

By the way, you know whose foot is on the gas?

This particular program.

Did you know, Mark, that in the past month, we have been

we have been the recipients of not one but two different awards

well our program

they said it wouldn't they said it wouldn't work sesi they said that it would be you know jefferson

uh spaceship turning into starship that's what they said they they said that it would be Oasis turning into BDI.

They said all sorts of nonsense.

I would ask you to give me another music analogy there, but

I don't think you're going to have my back on that one, but it's not your fault.

Yeah, well, you know, no,

we are, we're Nirvana turned into Foo Fighters.

That's what we are, because we are the proud winners of a silver telly.

The tele awards, the world's largest honor for video and television across all screens.

Look at this.

The winner of the 46th annual competition:

13,000 entries.

This is the real deal.

And we win it.

We got it in the non-broadcast general sports category.

And that's not all.

Don't forget about the motherfucking synopsis.

The synopsis.

Hello.

I call them the synopsis.

The signop.

Hit it.

Hit the bugle, baby.

The synopsis sports media awards.

Yeah.

We are the fing best.

That's a woman's fingernail holding that too.

I can't tell what's going on there entirely, but don't be a creep.

It is a woman's fingernail, it looks like.

Winner, new sports show.

How about that?

We got that one too.

And the Synopsos, as I call them, honors excellence across the sports industry, celebrating the standout achievements of those both in front of and behind the cameras.

Oh,

yeah.

So these feel like, and we did the necessary digging on this one, Mark.

This was not created by our platform host or anything.

These were the real deal honors in a moment of seriousness.

Like,

very, it's nice to be recognized by the Academy because we did put a lot of work and had the odds stacked against us when we left NFL.

And now we're off and running on this beautiful new

pirate ship.

And I'm very happy to do it with you, bud.

Well, I feel the same way.

There's an element of, it it pays off to do what we did, to go out on our own.

And we failed actual shows and other people.

We took down like true competitors.

And

I like to see who we beat sometimes.

Let's see if there's a name in there.

And just we'd knock them out.

But it's like, this just goes to show you.

And it was about 12 years ago.

The signal.

We won a

best new podcast award around 12 years ago or something like that, 12 or 13.

And we've done it again.

That is hard to do twice in one career.

And I'm just going to, I'm going to float on this for a little bit of a little bit of a test.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Maybe this, if anybody wants to pull any quotes here for

any write-up in the media, yeah, this is our press conference.

Yes, many believe that Dan and Mark didn't have another chapter in our podcasting careers after the NFL callously stabbed the Around the NFL podcast in the back and left us to die in a gutter.

And yet we carried on.

And now here we are.

We got a Synopso in our back pocket.

Oh, baby, we also got a Silvatelli.

You know what I love is that, like, had we not sussed this out through various channels, no one contacted us to tell us that we won these.

I think that's the funniest part.

Like, literally, no one reached out and said, hey, guys, just to let you know, you won a Synopsy.

Right.

That's all.

Yeah, it's just more fuel to the fire.

And just my last quote that people can use, because it's on the record,

all of our enemies

and all the people who stood in our way, and you know who you are,

suck our butts.

Thank you.

That's all we have to say.

All right, let's welcome in Amanda and Justin.

You're a big, huge part of it too.

So thank you so much.

Hopefully, we'll get another, we'll get three trophies.

We will, we will, and maybe four, because let's welcome in someone else as well.

He's got the T and C,

he's Connor Or, he's got the T and C.

We're begging for more.

He's got the T and C.

Eat kids with his wife.

He's got the T and C.

Dispatcher the high

Cause he's Connor Or.

Yeah.

Did that say eight kids with his wife?

Who gave that submission in?

Justin?

That was from Alex Byers.

Thanks, Alex.

Great job.

Thank you, Alex.

I don't know if we've ever had anyone related to any of our shows that has had more theme songs at this stage than Connor.

I mean, I think there might have been theme competition.

Theme songs to like episodes appeared.

Like that.

Yeah.

Well, just or the total mass count of how many Colleen had quite a few, but

Connor at this point is.

Yeah.

Connor, how are you, buddy?

Thank you for your help in bringing a Synopso and a big silver telltale.

Yeah, the Synops, man.

I can't believe you guys pulled that one, too.

I'm going to be a part of it.

Yeah.

And I'm very happy

to just be on the wagon

on route to the Oregon Trail together.

Thanks, buddy.

This is so nice.

The Four Horsemen.

Hey, coming up a little bit later, a longtime friend of the show, Zach Kiefer, who is now a national writer for the Athletic, but covered the Colts for many years, and

also someone who has a dear place in our heart because he wrote a beautiful piece about Chris Wesling in the weeks and months after Chris passed away in 2021.

But Zach is going to give us, we haven't done this in a while.

And if you know that, if you know this program, you know we don't do it unless there's a reason, and it's about getting ahead of the story.

It's called our Flashpoint Focus, colon

Indianapolis Cults.

How about that?

So we're going to get in on the Colts.

Well, I sit, everybody.

You know, and sometimes when you've got a segment that just got about a thousand percent track record of being on point when we do it, and people like, do it more, do it more.

It's like this requires a level of patience and sobriety.

We only do it when there is a flashpoint.

You don't just roll it out for hits

and pack them in at the mall.

Right.

And yes, we haven't, in the offseason, we don't tend to focus on singular teams.

But I think maybe as we get through during this dark period post-mini camps, as we approach training camp, maybe we'll dot the landscape with a couple of these for teams that really to us jump out as in a time of transition or a vulnerable place or a place of explosiveness in a good way.

Anyway, the Colts are an interesting team.

We're going to talk about them with Zach.

But before that, let's do some news.

Media Giants.

Is it true that Eagles fans are actually not smart?

No bullshit.

Like, I know you're one of them, so I get it.

Like, 2.2, I get it.

What do you think?

They're like statistics that you guys are like, literally.

I mean, can I?

Our old friend, friend of the show, Kayvon Thibodeau, with Kevin Hart on some program.

He's sitting in an ice tub and he's questioning the intelligence of Eagles fans, which is so out of bounds.

And just, you know, Thibodeau, he's just, he's out of pocket.

But I would like to see his data on that, like what his research is there, just to see if there's something to it.

Connor, fair or unfair?

I would also love to see the data in terms of writing checks that your ass can't cash.

I'm not sure if this is the kind of thing that Thibodeau should continue to lead the league in because

this has been a tremendous stretch for him over the last two or three years.

Yeah, Thibodeau, interesting figure, yes, in our show's history, although we've already maxed out our navel gazing for the program.

So we should probably try to control ourselves just a little bit.

But Thibodeau, he came on our show three times, once a week before the draft in an impromptu matter when he walked past the Chris Wesling podcast studio and then popped in, was

just a dream.

We had a lot of fun with him.

Then draft night, we're in Vegas, and he joins us immediately after he was, you know, what was he, a top 10 pick of the Giants.

And again, he was, yeah, number five overall.

Thank you, Justin.

And he was

fine.

He was good.

He was like, oh, good vibes.

I think a week or two later,

when I think Greg was out of town and it was me and Mark and Thibodeau was in NFL network doing the car wash and they asked if we wanted to have him on again.

And we're like, oh, yeah, that'll be fine.

Thibodeau will be fine.

Yeah, we'll have a good time.

It was, yeah, it was actually in June, so it was like the quietest portion of the NFL calendar.

We said, man, all right, let's have him on.

And it did lead to famously

this moment.

You know, you've just gotten to know Brian Dayball, your new coach.

Just instinctually, do you think he's more of a front spoon or a back spoon when he is spooning someone?

I don't answer those type of questions.

Awesome.

That's a tough one.

Absolutely.

I think that was.

All right, forget that I'm on the panel.

Next.

All right, let's see.

How about this?

Dan and Mark.

Before you go, let's not ask any more personal questions about any other man.

Let's just

ask questions about another man.

I don't ask anything.

No, no, it's like, let's say Dan and I were to appear in front of you in wrestling tights and attempt to wrestle you.

Could you talk about it?

Around the NFL.

So, what's the newest thing that's going on in the NFL?

All right,

I've heard.

Yeah.

He's one of those dudes that's like, he's so masculine.

Like, Kayvon Thibodeau is so hetero that it's like, I don't even talk about stuff like that.

I'll never forget.

Like, I don't, oh, you better keep that away from me.

Ew.

Yeah.

Ew.

You and I had about a three-hour phone call after this, that episode, where I was just in my car.

like, because it was like we had to explain to

Greg after what happened too.

I'm proud of that interview.

I am.

I actually think I picked it up from you guys somewhere along the way because it entered my vernacular.

But you guys were always great at complimenting in a very normal way, just like the bodies of other men.

And I started letting it.

Yeah, and I started letting it fly back home.

Like, I'd be like, you know, he's got a great bod, you know, he's total total hottie, you know, all that stuff.

And it's so liberating to just be able to say that about somebody else and

not feel so uptight about it, you know?

Kayvon can learn a lesson.

But in the case of the Kevin Hart interview,

I stand with him.

I think he made something.

We should hear him out, I think, more.

I would like to hear more on his thoughts on the Eagles fan base.

Strategically, though,

the team has effectively drafted your replacement.

Yes, they're going to pick up your fifth-year option.

Like, maybe just let's get through an eight-sack season here and let's see what happens.

Yeah, let's keep our options open.

The Steelers

kept their options open.

They waited and they waited and they waited and they waited.

And it was Aaron Rodgers as their only option in their mind.

You know, the only

and wasn't their first choice or their second choice or even their third choice.

And

Aaron Rodgers, the Steelers, it doesn't appear they were

his first choice or second choice or maybe even third choice.

But then this is where we end up, where Desperation, here on Desperation Boulevard, where the Steelers and Aaron Rodgers are officially in business.

It came down on Friday that Rodgers was going to sign a contract, one-year deal,

$10 million guaranteed up to $19.5 million with all incentives.

He plans to report to mandatory minicamp.

And let's be real, that's what this was always about.

He wanted nothing to do with anything that was voluntary.

Hell, he skipped the mandatory minicamp with the Jets last year, which got that season off on a terrible foot.

But in this case, he's going to show up for the start of mandatory minicamp.

And he has a lot of work to do, Mark Sessler, to get up to speed with a team that he does not have any familiarity with, with an offense coordinator in Arthur Smith that he has not worked with before, playing football at the age of 42 when there are obvious signs that maybe his body is telling him it might be time to move on, but he's going to try it.

One more year, Rodgers to the Steelers.

I like the landing spot.

We knew this was going to happen.

The Arthur Smith angle, to me, is absolutely critical, and it is a very open question to me on how that will work because he does not fit what typically an Arthur Smith offense or passing attack is.

So will this work?

How much autonomy will will Aaron Rodgers have?

He likes to be able to describe and create his own offenses and do things his own way.

And I think that was a problem with the Jets.

The offensive coordinator in the Jets situation was a disaster.

Like, the Arthur Smith and Aaron Rodgers parts of this really needs to work.

The one thing I do like, though, is that I think that Aaron Rodgers going back for years has been a big fan of Mike Tomlin.

I think Tomlin made this happen.

Does it make the Steelers a much better team?

I don't really know if it does.

I mean, except it gives them some stability at a position that's been very chaotic for five plus years post-Big Ben.

What confuses me now is that I get to see the money.

And there was the report over the weekend that the Steelers had actually preferred to have Justin Fields back instead of Aaron Rodgers, and that Rodgers was kind of their third choice.

But if you look at the money, if Rodgers hits the incentives on the contract, and statistically, he's still a good quarterback.

He still puts up numbers.

He will end up at about 19.5 from 13.5 for an average per year salary.

Justin Fields is a 20.

So it's not like, to me, that kind of works in the face of whatever this is reporting or theorizing or whatever, because I think if the Steelers knew that they could have Justin Fields back at 2 for 20, don't you think they would have done this a long time ago?

And they would have the upside.

They would have the familiarity.

I know Arthur Smith liked working with him.

And so I'm just interested in how this haul went down.

Yeah, I kind of on the opposite side of what you're saying there, Mark, that

the pairing of Rodgers and Tomlin, I think it's going to be a nightmare.

I think that Rodgers.

But they get along well together so far.

Really?

Have they played?

There's reporting that Rodgers for years.

Who gives teammates about that, though?

Honestly, who cares what Aaron Rodgers says?

Right?

Because

the honest thing and the real thing is wait till he's on the team and then that incredibly inflated ego of his starts to throw his weight around.

And he did it with the Packers at the end and the Packers got tired of it and said goodbye.

He did it with the Jets for two years and the Jets, even without another option of quarterback, said, you know what, we're moving on.

And now he's going to do it with the Steelers and he's going to keep going on McAfee and he's going to keep on throwing teammates under the bus and, you know, either leaking things to the media or trying to get coordinators fired.

Like, this is what Aaron Rodgers now does.

This is who he is.

And what I think with the Tomlin situation, Tomlin is all about the Steelers.

There's a culture and you have to abide by it.

I don't think Aaron Rodgers abides by anything but Aaron Rodgers.

And like, even when you look at this scheme, right, the Arthur Smith, which is a very traditionally run-heavy scheme, Rodgers loves to throw the ball.

He still fashions himself an old gunslinger.

He did it constantly in his two years, one year in New York, where he would check out of running plays into passing plays.

And all it takes is for

a couple games, a couple quarters to go sideways, and some bad blood to emerge.

And I just think it's inevitable.

And I'm wondering if the one good thing that could come out of this, Connor, is Rodgers ruins Tomlin in Pittsburgh, which you don't root for, but this thing goes so sideways that the Steelers do what they actually have to do eventually, which is just eat it and start to develop the program again in a different way.

And Rodgers, they're signing him because they think he can make them a team that goes deep in the playoffs.

I think the best thing that could come out of this is the the other operation where it blows up the whole thing and they finally have to hit reset.

And if that is,

if that's the best case scenario of a situation, you probably shouldn't have done the move.

But that's how many red flags are flapping around this whole signing to me at the end of the day.

I definitely understand your take on it.

I would ask you two questions that not to

take down the point or anything, but I'm curious what your response is.

And the first one is:

is what Aaron Rodgers is capable of doing in terms of a Machiavellian sort of thing any worse than Le'Veon Bell literally sitting out an entire season or Antonio Brown going completely haywire?

I'm honestly asking that.

Do you think that what he's capable of is worse than things that Mike Tomlin has already kind of tapped down pretty effectively?

I do think so because I think

with all due respect to Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell, who are all pro players at their height, it's different when it's the quarterback.

And it's not just any quarterback, it's Aaron Rodgers.

And the voice he has and the way he uses his voice and how he gets, tries to get what he wants, I think it's kind of insidious and, quite frankly, kind of cancerous to teams.

And that's, that's kind of, I think they are different situations.

But you're right.

And it's a fair point that part of the reason Tomlin has this incredible staying power and this great streak of never having a losing season is because he knows how to run a team.

He knows how to keep things under control.

But he's, he's never had to deal with this.

This is different.

Like, I would just say one thing that

there are bad quarterbacks, um, and that's a problem, but then there are, like, you don't, he's a weird guy, and he's grown more bizarre as the years have gone on.

And he's more outspoken, and it's hard to get a handle on who he is.

That is combustible, but I don't think that if you're the Steelers, you're surprised by any of it right now because he's been this guy pretty hardcore for, I'd say, three or four years, right?

Where it's like the Aaron Rodgers experience has grown more and more

flavorful in the wrong way, but the Steelers know what they're signing up for, and it's one year.

Yes.

No, that's,

yeah, thank God it's not a long-term investment, but I think the Steelers look at a team like the Jets and they say, well, the Jets are a joke.

We can handle this.

But I don't know if that's, I don't know if they can, because I don't know if anybody can handle what Rodgers brings to a team at this point.

And the one other, the last point I'll make is as a player, and I said it 50 times now, and I'll say say it again, because this isn't just some Jets fan sour grapes.

I watched him and I rooted for him last year, and there are many close games where it was like, okay, we got Aaron Rodgers.

He's going to win the games we used to lose.

And we didn't because while he was still proficient and at times good,

there were many times where he just was clearly not the same guy anymore.

And

what he's lost in athleticism.

as a

42-year-old passer coming off in Achilles two years ago, it really can't be slept on.

And also the fact that getting him through a season healthy, I think is going to be impossible.

So Mason Rudolph, be ready because I think you're going to see both these guys ultimately.

Again, I think it all comes down to, and you're right, Dan, right?

History has proven time and time and again that he will bury probably the most common sense solution, which is that, you know, Matt LaFleur made him an MVP again by embracing run action and the way that a run game can help him.

And then he left that behind with the Jets when he didn't have to deal with it anymore.

Art Smith is the same kind of guy.

It's run action heavy.

And so will Aaron Rodgers, you know, trust those impulses and say, like, no, I'm going to do it myself.

And if that's the case, I agree with you.

I don't know if it's necessarily going to work out.

All right, let's move on.

In other news.

Ya, boy, Sassy, Nick Chubb.

He's got a new home.

He agrees to a one-year deal with the Texans.

He was due to take a physical on Monday.

And if all that went well, it's a done deal.

Chubb, one of the best running backs in football in the past decade, suffered a terrible knee injury a couple years back, returned midway through the last Cleveland season.

Wasn't the same guy, but I would imagine the Texans are banking on getting further away from the injury and the level of work that man puts in to be the player he has been, that he could be a nice compliment to Joe Mixon.

I don't expect, Mark, you're asking for much more from that, more than that, from Nick Chubb at this stage.

But you know what?

In terms of team fit and where he is, I kind of like this move for both sides.

I like it for Nick Chubb.

I think it

de-emphasizes him having to suddenly have a major workload.

Because the player I saw at the end of last season, and it was one of the more depressing things to me, because

he wasn't the same guy, as you mentioned.

He's, you know, dating back to his days at Georgia, a lot of serious injuries.

And so you just wonder at this point where he's at.

I will say this move, when I heard this,

it reminded me that I still feel something

pretty deeply about the Browns and about Nick Chubb in general.

I cannot stand that I'll have to watch him in a different uniform.

I just wish that had not been the case ever.

I wanted him to be with Cleveland for all the days, and that's not how this works.

It's not how this works.

I'm a little surprised about that, too.

And according to Rap Sheet, the Browns and Chubb have discussions prior to the nfl draft but they couldn't agree on a deal i i mean i would imagine any deal with a you know a guy is he 30 is around 30 coming off that level of a knee injury also suffered another fairly significant knee injury in his college years that you it would have been probably a sensible like

incentive laden type contract, but it seemed like the Browns were ready to just move on.

Well, the draft made it very clear that they were ready to move on.

Yep.

One thing, though, that kind of puzzles me is that the Texans did kind of fall off.

And this goes back all the way to last combine when they were the runners-up in that Saquon Barkley sweepstakes.

Like, they badly wanted a dynamic running back to pair with C.J.

Stroud.

They end up settling for Joe Mixon, who takes off and plays really well.

But when he was hurt, that offense was lost.

And it wasn't just the offensive line.

It was minus Mixon.

And then to not take it back until the fourth round in what was a really front-loaded, talented running back draft class this year, and then to backstop Mixon him with Nick Chubb, who's, again, had some serious injuries.

I don't know if I think they're kind of undervaluing the position here a little bit.

In other news, the Packers have moved on from Jair Alexander, the cornerback, who the guy's a player, but he's struggled to stay healthy and he's got a personality to him.

But from, I heard rap sheet on

the McAfee show, and they said it's not that he's a bad guy or anything.

He's an interesting guy and a funny athlete.

The bigger issue with Jaira Alexander is they can't trust him to stay on the field.

And we have sound here.

Who do we have sound here from, Justin?

Packers president and CEO, Mark Murphy.

All right, here's Murphy on the decision to cut ties with the 28-year-old.

Well, first of all,

he's been a great player for us.

Obviously,

elite talent, and you know, unfortunately, just injured a lot.

And, you know, just Murphy on a golf course.

Unfortunately, this is very June NFL coverage right here.

Now, watching it.

Like out of driving range.

Let's leave Mark Murphy alone.

Let the guy hit a bucket, all right?

Okay, we don't need the Jair Alexander quote that badly.

He leaves behind Alexander dead cap hits of 7.5 and 25 and 9.5 and 26.

And he is not the only player, Connor, at this position.

That is interesting.

Alexander is going to draw interest on the open market.

Remember, Jalen Ramsey and the Dolphins are still trying to figure out their divorce.

He's going to be somewhere else new.

Also, former defensive player of the year, Stephon Gilmore, is still available.

So if you're in the market for a veteran corner, there are some good options.

And Alexander could be the best.

Yeah, Alexander and whatever happens with the Ramsey trade, obviously.

And I just think that Green Bay is so fascinating to me because, again, not a running back or a cornerback taken until I believe the seventh round of the draft when you knew that was a position to need.

You'd lost Eric Stokes, who was another attempt at solidifying that position in the first round.

And all offseason, you guys are talking about the team really talking about we need interior defensive pressure to help out the back end of that defense.

Well, you didn't really get interior defensive pressure in the draft, and you're not really helping out the back end of your defense either.

And so, I'm very curious if the plan is just to outscore at this point and have a defense that hangs on to a lead.

And I don't know, we'll see what happens there.

The Bills did,

there were whispers that the Bills attempted to trade for Jirek's Alexander.

Overtures.

Overtures.

So I want to make one.

This is going to sound weird, and I'm not, I'm not like

the Mark Murphy video, because I'm not saying he's very masculine and he's a man, and we get that, but like

there is a

striking resemblance.

In my youth, there was a rather large Irish girl that I knew.

I'm not going to say her name, but like

large

girls.

She had a

robust

facial structure, and she has the same face as Mark Murphy always.

A high-faced

Irish-American woman.

What the hell is even that?

Yeah, like I, you ever see a guy that's like, I know a girl that has, that looks like that guy crazy.

Right, I mean, though, I'm not a girl.

I typically just share it on

a national podcast.

Not always.

Sometimes we.

Not always.

Yeah, not always, but you can.

You have the option.

Yes.

Yes.

He's a top 10 football insider.

All right.

The Bengals release veteran linebacker Jermaine Pratt.

The guy knows how to bring down a ball carrier.

In fact, he's ranked in the top 10 in the NFL last season in tackles.

He was a team captain, but he clears some cap space.

Maybe that has something to do with the Trey Hendrickson ongoing contract beef in Cincinnati.

Maybe not.

And finally, Kirk Cousins.

He is expected to be in attendance at Falcons' mandatory minicap.

He has to be.

It's mandatory.

But I just want, I bring this up

because he is an oddity.

I embrace oddities at this time of year.

Everything, sometimes it's like, Mark, you just, everything's the same year to year and just plugging in different teams and players for the same storylines.

This one's a little strange.

It's a decorated veteran quarterback who signed a huge contract last year.

The same spring that the same team then used a top 10 pick on a quarterback, which created a tremendously difficult situation when Cousins faltered

while playing injured, according to Cousins, in his first year in Atlanta.

So they can't really move him, but he's still making a buttload of money, and he wants to go somewhere where he could start.

Diana Rossini reported he wants to be traded to a team where he can start.

Where is that team?

And is it at this point, Cesi?

Just in the best interests of the Falcons, and I know it's an eyesore.

like I can't believe we're paying our backup quarterback $90 million or whatever the number is in guaranteed money, that they'd just be better off keeping him at this point as insurance because you never know what could happen with Pennex, either performance or injury.

Yeah, I think at this point, it's I don't hate the situation for the Falcons because A, you could hang on to him.

He also hates the Falcons and doesn't want to be on the team.

It's not the best situation for him.

Here's one thing, though.

You're kind of siding with the the fact that catastrophe will strike somewhere and then maybe you can trade him for something that that's just the that's just the only other option but it's like dumping him i gotta go see what the dead money would be but it's like keep him around because if anything happens to penix you've got like you said the backup quarterback is so important and these teams that don't have one fall off a cliff and so that's why i don't hate it for atlanta that you've got incredible value and insurance at that position i would say that the teams to keep you know obviously New Orleans and Miami at this point would probably be two of the ones.

Miami specifically, because McDaniel has a background with Kirk Cousins and they value the quick processing skills.

But this jibes with what I've been hearing all along.

Teams have not been

I think teams that were interested in the chase felt that Atlanta was being incredibly unreasonable with their demands.

And unreasonable demands usually jibe with, well, we're going to wait for the Sam Bradford situation where someone breaks their leg and we can get a first-round pick in April or in August.

But I don't know that that necessarily exists anymore.

You know, that kind of desperation or a team preferring cousins over, let's say, like a third or fourth-round developmental guy that they've already put the whole offseason into.

So it'll be interesting.

I still can't believe he's not a starting quarterback in the league right now.

It is.

I just want to circle back to, you mentioned Miami.

I mean,

Tua signed a four-year, $212 million extension that included $167 million guaranteed last July with the Dolphins.

I find it very hard to believe, unless he was moved in some type of extended

that they would just, they would inherit another massively paid veteran quarterback.

And I guess the only way to do that is Cousins would become the starter.

And then what, Tua becomes your absurdly overpaid, unhappy veteran backup quarterback?

That one strikes me as unlikely, Connor.

I don't know if you've heard anything or reported anything on on that, but that one seems a little far-fetched to me.

I think I'm basing that off of the coach connection, and I wonder how the coach would feel if you had shot Truth Serum into his arm.

That would be my thought process there.

But I mean, if you're...

If you're cousins, I feel like that situation would be preferential to the Pennex thing could get uncomfortable, right?

Because we heard Joe Flacco say it, and I think we talked about it on the show.

I'm not here to be a backup, or, you know, I'm not here to teach people how to prepare.

Like, I'm here to start.

And I feel like if Kirk goes in with that attitude, imagine if you're Michael Penix and your head's spinning and you're trying to figure all this out, and there's already a guy in the other room with all the answers to the test.

That's incredibly intimidating.

And I don't even know if you want that environment if you're Atlanta, right?

Like just constantly this guy looking over his shoulder and saying, okay, what's the kid in the head of the class doing right now?

Listen, I wouldn't be the first person to get snowed under by

how someone presented themselves on like an NFL films program, but I get cousins, seems like a really good guy.

I find it hard to believe that he would freeze out Penix on a personal skill, on a personal side of things, but also I understand he's probably tremendously upset about how this is, you only get so, you know, a finite amount of time to be a professional quarterback.

And Cousins trusted the Falcons to take him through this final stage.

I can imagine he's furious with how this has all turned out, but

that's them breaks.

And that's what's happening in the news.

Let's take a break, and then we will welcome in Zach Kiefer to talk Flashpoint, Indianapolis Colts.

All right, we're taking a quick break to talk about the Patreon, patreon.com slash heed the call.

If you love our program but want more of it, if you want not just more but different, it's the Patreon where you find it all, Mark.

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And that Friday Fun Show that's free, go check it out.

Take a look at it.

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Absolutely.

So check it out.

The Friday Fun Show, one week only.

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Welcome back.

Yes, Flashpoint Focus, a recurring

series here

on Heed the Call, where we take a look at a team that is at a crossroads in some way.

We try to get ahead of the story before it lands.

And to do this,

this version on the Indianapolis Colts, we welcome in a good friend of the show, the senior writer at the Athletic, focusing on NFL coverage.

Before that, he covered the Indianapolis Colts for nine seasons, award-winning.

Hey, we win awards too.

We won a Synopso, in fact.

He's also an adjunct professor of journalism at Indiana U.

He is the great Zach Kiefer.

What's up, Zach?

How are we doing, guys?

It's an honor to be on Heed the Call.

I feel very privileged to join with you guys today.

It's very nice having you, Zach.

And

Zach, as I said at the top of the show,

also wrote a beautiful piece on Chris Wesling

shortly after he passed away in 2021.

So always a near and dear man to our hearts.

And before we get to, Zach, the

you know, the status at the quarterback position, everything else about the Colts, I think one thing, and it's the big story or the bigger picture around this team, is that Jim Ursa passed away last last month.

And Ursay was someone that I know you

covered closely and had many, many conversations.

You wrote a great piece in The Athletic about Ursa after he passed away.

I'm curious, what's your favorite personal story involving the late Colts owner?

Yeah, I mean, Dan, how much time do you have?

Because I could go for hours.

I'll keep it succinct for the sake of your audience and for you guys.

Well, covering Jim Merce was fascinating.

It was exhausting.

The last season, which everyone in the NFL kind of forgets, but like they hired an ESPN analyst to coach the team during the season.

That was a real thing that happened.

And that year took years off of my life.

I had so many late-night calls from Jim Merce.

I would be sitting there with my wife.

watching a movie or in bed and it's like 11 o'clock and I would get the no caller ID across my phone and I knew like I knew that the next three hours of my life was gone.

I might get in a question or two, two, but as you guys know from watching Jim Merce in press conferences, he rambled.

He was a legendary rambler.

And at the end of that season, I wrote this big story about how it all fell apart, right?

They hired Jeff Saturday.

They had Matt Ryan, who was on his last legs.

He forced Sam Ellinger into the lineup.

It was just a disaster from start to finish.

Jim Merce did not like my story.

And so we were essentially in a screaming match back and forth.

And my wife was like, are you yelling at Jim Merce?

And I'm like, yeah.

I mean, that was the beauty of Jim Ursai.

You always knew where he stood, and he appreciated local reporters more than I think most NFL owners did.

And to sort of put a bow on this, I have friends who cover teams around the NFL, and they would always say, you know, number one, the question I would get more than any other is, what is Ursay really like?

And then secondly, they'd say, I'm so jealous that you get to talk to the owner as much as you do.

Now, that came with pros and cons, but yeah, a screaming match with Jim Ursa in early January of 2023 was certainly a memorable night in the Kiefer household.

I'd love to ask you because, you know, he's handing over, the controls being handed over to the three daughters at this point.

But you just mentioned so many bullet points and examples of the fingerprints that Ursay had all over the team from a football side.

And, you know, there was a time when he once called Chris Ballard the GM, and in Battle GM, I think, to a lot of Colts fans, he compared him to Michael Jordan.

So he really loved Chris Ballard.

Like, what happens to the infrastructure?

Do you see big changes coming?

Or is it like status quo because we've got very new ownership and we want to keep Jim Merce's vision intact?

I don't think it's status quo, Mark.

I think things will change.

I don't think they will change right now.

You think about where we are in the NFL calendar.

This team has a mini camp starting tomorrow.

They have a quarterback who's hurt.

But look, Chris Ballard's resume is what it is.

nine years, two playoff trips, one playoff win.

And the quarterback during that win was Andrew Luck, who's been gone for a billion years.

So

that being said, Carly,

from my understanding, is not going to lead with the heart as much as her father.

I don't think very few owners would.

I think she's going to lead with her head.

And they've made a couple changes already.

These are not football moves, but people in the building have been let go that were close to Jim Ursay.

And I think you're going to see a real blueprint of what she envisions envisions for the future come January, right?

So Shane Steichen's entering year three, Chris Ballard's entering year nine or ten.

I've lost track.

But I think this is sort of an ultimatum season, right?

We're going to see, one, where this team is going.

And like, honestly, their week one starter right now looks to be Daniel Jones.

So like you guys could probably see how this ends.

But secondly, we're going to see how Carly Ursa Gordon is different from her father very, very quickly.

It's going to be about one season to get her feet wet.

She's already already been doing that in a lot of ways, but we're going to find out real quickly what this looks like.

Zach, there was the last time that when they hired Shane Steichen,

it seemed like the process was extremely robust.

There was a ton of candidates coming in and out.

Do you think that that was instructive for everyone who was not Jim?

I think to see something, the breadth of that.

One of the hardest things that owners have to do is hire a coach.

And did you get the sense that he was at that point starting to let other people in on how to look at things, how to view the business, all that kind of stuff?

Yeah,

he took the lessons from his father and he's paid it forward.

And by that, I mean Carly came back to the team, let's say 10 years ago.

She's the oldest of the three daughters, and she is by far the most involved on the football side.

So you don't see this very often, but a lot of coaches would ask me.

Carly has been on the sidelines during regular season games with a headset listening into the offensive play call.

She doesn't say anything, but I remember Jeff Saturday being like, is this normal?

Like, no, it's not normal.

But secondly, she's the owner.

So who's going to tell her to get lost?

So she's kind of had a boots on the ground training for the last several years.

I mean, look, we all know Jim Ursa's health history.

This was not a stunner.

The family expected this to happen at some point, and they've been preparing as such.

So she's been in draft meetings.

She's been in head coaching searches.

She was in all those rooms when they hired Shane Steichen.

She's as ready as you can get because he wanted that to be the case.

Yeah, and

to the point of like, what happens now?

How do they move forward with Ursa no longer or Jim no longer there?

I saw a report this morning that Morocco Brown, who had a key chief personnel executive there who played a big role, apparently, and Zach, you could back that up if it's true,

in bringing Anthony Richardson to Indianapolis.

Obviously, that has not worked out so far.

And

it seemed to me when the Jones move happened and then some of the quotes coming out of Colts OTAs and the Combine and whatnot, that it felt like the team was already edging away from the Richardson experiment.

Do you get that vibe as well?

And now with this move with Jim Gone and making changes in the front office, do you sense that Richardson isn't long for this team, even with, you know, whether he's healthy or not?

Obviously, he's got the shoulder issue now again.

Where do you you think they stand with Richardson as he enters year three?

Yeah, to put a bow on Morocco Brown, he's out, and he wasn't just big in the Richardson decision.

He was like the first guy to text Chris Ballard from Florida's practice and be like, we need to hone in on this guy.

So he kind of led that charge, was promoted just two years ago.

A little bit surprising, but again, this team hasn't produced results to keep that intact.

I feel like the writing's on the wall for Anthony Richardson, right?

This is the same shoulder that he hurt two years ago.

Chris Ballard is on the record saying he has to stay healthy.

We can't evaluate him until he stays healthy.

So he's not just an inaccurate quarterback.

He's an unavailable quarterback.

And Shane Seiken's not going to come out and say this, but Daniel Jones is probably the better option.

Like I know Daniel Jones doesn't get anybody excited in Indianapolis, but the reality is they can't trust Richardson.

And he was benched for two games this season because he wasn't preparing the right way.

I mean, think about that statement, right?

It wasn't just a quarterback tapping out of a game on the road against a divisional opponent that they need to beat, like they need to beat the Texans.

It was him afterwards saying, I was tired.

Like, can you guys remember that ever happening?

And that just kind of speaks to the bigger issue.

And my colleague James Boyd and I dug into this at the end of the season.

Like, what is going on?

And some of the veteran players told us some very damning things about

the direction of this team and how they feel like it's just running in circles every year.

And it starts with the quarterback position.

Everyone knows what happened in August of 2019.

They haven't figured it out.

But to answer your question, Dan, like Anthony Richardson needs to be on the field and he needs reps.

And he's not going to get those right now.

And he's going to be behind the eight ball and training camp.

And I just feel like Jones is going to be a step ahead in so many ways.

It's just going to be hard for him to unseat Jones because Jones is going to be so much more

consistent.

And that's the biggest, you know, knock on Richardson right now, other than his injuries.

Yeah, and just like to to follow on that, and if you could shed any more light on that, because it jumped at reading about the latest Richardson injury when I saw, you know, he missed the, you know, he had the AC joint, he had the concussion, he had the oblique,

and then benched two games for lack of game preparation.

What did that exactly entail?

I know we all know the, the, the story of him coming out of the game.

Was this a guy that just wasn't in the playbook and or wasn't plugged in in meetings?

Like, what does that mean exactly?

What did you get in your reporting on that?

it sounds really bad to say this about a starting quarterback but i want you guys to listen to this quote and i might be paraphrasing just a minute or just a little bit but like this is the gist of what he said after he came back you know he was like look if deforest buckner and the veterans want me to come in early and prepare more then i gotta do it like you're supposed to be the franchise quarterback and you're saying that now i know this isn't a fair comparison but like You know who played in this city?

Like the guy who fell asleep in the fill room because he was there for so late.

That was Dayton Manning.

And Andrew Andrew Luck was the same way.

And, like,

the standard is higher at that position and in this city.

And

when you're benched for two games for not being all in, I don't know if that's something you can change.

Like, yeah, he came back and he said all the right things and he played a little bit better, but not much.

I mean, they have a pretty good offense.

They have a pretty good line.

They've got some nice receivers.

They've got a good tight end in the draft and Tyler Warren.

But like a lot of people around here said, it doesn't matter if you're throwing the ball 15 yards over his head.

So I just feel like this is Jones' team.

I just feel like that sort of seems where everything is going, which is kind of disappointing.

But then again, Richardson's entering year three.

They don't have to make a decision necessarily this season on him.

And I think they're going to be patient.

As weird as that sounds, I don't think they're going to jump ship on Anthony Richardson if he's not the guy this year.

I mean, it just seems though if you're Shane Steichen, who I looking at him from a bird's eye view is a talented coach.

I think they've got something there with him.

But his patience with the

Anthony Richardson project has to be on edge because you're trying to lift up an entire coaching staff and keep them employed.

And it's been coach after coach in Indianapolis that has had quarterback issues post-Andrew Luck.

And

it's been a huge problem for them.

Like, where is the patience, do you think, organizationally?

And I get that this is in flux right now, with Shane Steichen.

Is it like a make-or-break year?

Or is it like we understand that he's not been given the tools?

Like, does he get along with Chris Ballard?

Like, are they in unison here?

Because I think these head coaches in Indianapolis over and over have not been given the quarterback to win.

And also Ballard, too.

Like,

how much rope does this guy get, sack?

I mean, it kind of boggles the longest rope in the league right now, right?

In terms of production versus time on task.

And look, I mean, the star quarterback retired in his prime in 2019, right?

How long is that leeway?

How much do you get for that, right?

Two, three years?

Right?

We're six years removed from that.

It's over.

It's done.

It's not an excuse anymore.

To answer your question, Mark, it's two-sided.

I mean, Steichen pushed for Anthony Richardson, like hard.

He sat with Jim Merce, and they went through it for an entire day of like eight hours worth of film.

And this is the guy I can win with.

And Steichen did a really good job the first year with Gardner Minshew.

Like they were one throw,

which was a good design play, away from a division title.

and a playoff berth.

And that would have been wonderful for Chris Ballard's resume because he needed that bad.

And James Steichen, too.

But they regressed last year because they didn't have the consistency at the quarterback position.

And I think at the end of the day, when it comes to Steichen, I think coaches, especially quarterback coaches, and I put him in that class, they want quarterbacks they can trust.

They want guys who are going to run their offense.

Sean Payton's this way.

That's why he had success with Bo Nicks and didn't have it with Russell Wilson.

Like, they want guys that are going to do what they say and what they know and what they expect.

Richardson's just a wild card.

He's just a wild card.

And Steichen deserves some of the blame.

I mean, he's

designed runs that take advantage of Richardson's greatest strength, but Richardson's getting hit every which way.

So I think it's twofold.

It's really an organizational failure.

It's an organizational failure.

And if you asked Chris Ballard point blank, should this guy have started from week one, his rookie year?

He would say no.

He would say no.

And yet they threw him in there and he got hurt and this spiral just started all of a sudden.

And it's just, if they could go back, they'd do it differently, but this is the NFL and patience is a hard thing to come by.

All right.

I'm going to put on my tinfoil hat.

You get Peyton Manning, 98.

Unbelievable.

Then Manning hurts his neck, and in one of the great breaks in this century of pro football, the Colts bottom out right when maybe the best quarterback prospect since Peyton Manning is there.

And Andrew Luck, the Colts get him, and they go back on a big run, right?

And now that dries up.

There is another Manning coming down the pipeline.

Is there?

I'm not saying the Colts are going to tank this year, but I wonder if that's in the back of some people's minds, that there's another potential generational prospect that could be available.

And I know, you know, how ridiculous is this, Zach?

Should I just shut up?

Should I just shut up?

Am I at my local coffee shop right now?

Because I got asked this same question last week.

It was me.

I flew to Indianapolis to ask Zach at a Starbucks.

Everyone's talking about the the Pacers right now.

Thank goodness they've been a nice distraction.

But we don't talk about the Pacers here, Zach.

All Indianapolis cares about is a quarterback.

And I feel like this is a pretty decent roster if you had the guy.

I think the worst thing that could happen is Daniel Jones goes 9-8, 10-7.

Maybe they sneak into the playoffs as a seven seed.

That'd be the worst thing because then you have to decide whether you want to pay Daniel Jones or not.

And secondly, you're not going to be at the top of the draft.

And gosh, could you imagine the pressure Arch Manning would face if he came into this city and wore that last name on his jersey?

I don't even know if he's going to be in the draft this year.

But look,

this is the other side.

This is the reality.

Chris Ballard has said this.

Like, now these fans are going to realize how hard it is to get one of those guys.

And like you said, Dan, like one of the greatest breaks in the history of this league.

You have one bad year in a span of 15 years, and you get the next Peyton Manning, essentially.

It was David Robinson, Tim Duncan type thing in the NFL.

It always stuck with me.

Yeah, and to his dying day, it will drive Jerm Ursay crazy that they didn't win with Luck, that they didn't win a Super Bowl or two with Andrew Luck because he knew how much of a lottery ticket that was.

And anyway,

I did a whole podcast series on what happened, so I don't need to rehash that.

Check it out.

It was excellent.

Zach is the king of Zach is the king of, and I think this is the best compliment I can give him.

When you're in the feature writing game game and you turn on Twitter and you see that he's posted something, you're just like, damn it.

It just ruins your whole day because it's so good.

Thank you, God.

It's the absolute worst.

Do you think that when

the vacuum created by Jim, I think, is unique in the fact that, like you said, there were so few owners with the interpersonal touch and that toe into old pro football.

Do you feel like you lose something?

And like you said, a lot of changes, are those something that you feel like are almost going to sterilize this organization a little bit?

The way that we're seeing it, like sort of status quo, things that maybe are popping up in other organizations around the league that the Colts have just decided not to do for a while.

That's a good way to put it.

And I agree with you.

On one hand, I feel like Indianapolis is lesser of a city without Jim Merce.

That might sound strange to you guys, but he was so ubiquitous here.

And the national perception of him as this rambling, incoherent weirdo

was true, but it was also

he was very instrumental in this city.

And remember, when I was growing up, man, there were rumors every day this team was moving to Los Angeles.

You draft Peyton Manning and Jim Mercy keeps him here, and that mattered a lot.

And

he was beloved here.

He really was.

And it's been a sad couple of weeks.

I went to his funeral a couple last Monday, actually.

I mean, there's 15 NFL owners that walk in and sit in the front row.

Roger Goodell is there.

John Mellencamp is there.

Stephen Stills is there.

Kenny Wayne Shepard.

They all performed.

It's like the best music at a funeral I've ever experienced, obviously.

But it spoke to how unique he was.

And that kind of hits on what you're asking about, Connor.

Like, now they're just a normal team.

And the daughters, I don't expect, are going to be as visible.

And one of the coolest things about Jim Merce, and this is what I love about this league, is the characters, is the people, and the different people you get to meet.

And among the many unique people I've met in this league, Jim Merce is right at the top.

And I learned so much about how football really works and how management works and how the league really grew up by talking to him over the years.

And that's not that I matter, but local reporters learned a lot about how the NFL works from him, directly from him, not in a press release, but from his own words.

And he would sit with us at training camp and talk to us and tell stories.

And yes, we would have mountains of transcriptions.

I mean, it would take days to transcribe everything he said.

But that's going to be cut off now.

And it's just going to feel more systemized, more sterile, like you said, and it's just not going to be as unpredictable and not going to be as fun.

Yeah, well said.

And we talked about that the week that he passed away.

That

all of us on the national side, and I'll speak for myself in our show, that maybe we focused too much on that

the wacky side of him.

And we didn't take this step back and say, look how different this guy was.

Look how he had a personality and how much he loved his team and how

the outreach he would do with the fans and he would be colorful and not be afraid to say what he feels.

And you set against the backdrop of all these stiff corporate

billionaires elsewhere.

There's a reason every national reporter went to Ursai at the owners' meetings because they knew he was going to light up their recorder.

Absolutely.

The NFL is a more boring landscape without Jim Ursai.

Jim Ursai, thank you, Zachie, for giving us the time and

check out all of Zach's work at the athletic.

He covers the NFL at large, but he's an indie guy at heart.

So we're so happy to have you on during this flashpoint in the Colts' history.

Thanks so much for having me, guys.

Thank you.

All right.

There he goes.

Love that guy, Zach Kiefer.

Yeah, you know, Connor.

I think we talked about it on the Friday fun show, so I'm glad we got a chance to talk a little more, Ursay, here this week.

And you could hear it in what Zach's saying.

Like, like he valued the reporters and he valued their opinions and he was interested in what they had to say and he would push back on them.

And that type of stuff is so rare in the modern football landscape.

You know that better than anybody.

So, yeah, I mean, imagine being able to have a screaming match with an owner on

the telephone.

And I think I'm like, it's for some people who like don't think about it this way and they think that this is still the 60s and we have these kind of dialogues.

I mean, I remember writing a story, um, and it had to do with football, but there was a team owner in another sport who was a billionaire and got a call from his personal cell.

And it was: if my name appears anywhere near this, you will be in court faster than you know, you can snap your fingers and you will cease to exist as a person, you know.

And so, you know, there's that end of the spectrum as well.

And so, I think that I have-who was that, by the way?

I have so much respect for people who are still willing to, I mean, the difficulty that owners have in interfacing with people at my income level

is like, it's staggering, you know, and it's painful for them in a lot of ways.

And so I think losing Jim is one of those, it's sad because it's kind of a last

of his kind kind of thing.

Like one little thing too, because we are in the era, and I'm not against this movement, of like nepotism is just absolutely shredded and frowned on.

And he was, by all accounts,

the son of an owner and a nepo baby

on the level.

But he went and made it his own.

And his father was, there are incredible stories about his father, and they're not all positive, let's put it that way.

But Jim Ursay went and did something which is unusual, which is he didn't just duplicate or try to be his dad.

He was completely his own person.

He did the opposite.

He used his dad as the roadmap of what not to do.

Right.

And that's what I love about him.

And I think, like, you made a good point, Dan.

I think that we got a little lost in the weeds at times.

I wouldn't say we did, but in general, from a national angle, like he had some addiction issues, he had some substance abuse issues, he had personal interpersonal issues.

It's like that's that comes along with being a very colorful character sometimes.

And he was this full experience.

And I think Zach said it so well: inside that city, he mattered so much.

And it's different.

It's the local is different than the national view on him.

Thanks for not booking him, Justin.

Now it's too late.

That's on Justin.

My bad.

I think that's a good way to button up this topic.

No, yes.

Rest in peace, Bob Ursay.

Or, well, Bob.

Well, rest in peace, Bob Ursay, but Jim also.

Right, both.

Yes.

All the Earth that have passed on.

Connor, last question before we say goodbye.

Where are you?

This is not your house.

That's that much we know.

It's true.

I'm in a conference room of a Marriott property looking out at a

properties.

You love Marriott properties.

I'm in a little, I'm beefing with them a little bit lately, but

what?

Yeah, thinking about thinking about exploring Hilton as an option.

Whoa.

I mean,

it's been, what, 14 years, 15 years of my life devoted to this one brand, and they've kind of stopped loving me back.

So we'll see.

Are you verbally arguing with Marriott staff members about items?

That's the Jim Ursay, Zach Kiefer dynamic only with Connor and a hotel that doesn't even know who he is.

I've had some qualms with the direction that we're going in.

And so I've started to talk to my wife about maybe exploring rewards opportunities with other hotels.

Do you know I recently

quiet quit my barber after

many years and um i hope he doesn't listen to the the show

and moved on and uh he's a great guy but it was just it was just time to to hit the reset you know and um perhaps for you as well connor so good luck with it But what are you doing?

Are you out to tell us?

I feel like you're on, are you on some type of secret journalism mission right now?

Can you give us any nugs or what?

I did spend the day at a team facility.

It's very exciting.

All these things are very nerve-wracking until they're done.

Because when you're putting together a story for the football preview issue, which is like an incredible honor and it's still like my favorite thing to do in the world, you know it has to be your absolute best.

And so very nervous flying into this locale, which I can't name until after the magazine comes out.

We don't know yet kind of what the situation is going to be with the story, but um i am uh i'm beyond jacked so this is

can you geo-track where connor is right now please please check his ip for us

we're a synopso award-winning podcast you know we could i don't i don't doubt the fact that like this background is only in one marriott suites and there's going to be some asshole out there that's like oh yeah some total dick on the subreddit is going to get you fired that's what's going to happen here no it's okay i could i mean if if push came to shove maybe the wear would not be a total disaster, but it's fun to keep it a secret, you know?

Okay, good.

Well, we look forward to it, and perhaps when it does land on newsstands, we could talk about it and get the real nitty-gritty on whatever it is that you are doing right now.

I got to find a newsstand.

They're not on every

Barnes and Noble.

There's no Barnes No.

Well, there are, that's true.

Barnes Noble's a big newsstand.

Do they still have those old newsstands in Hollywood?

They've,

well, there are a couple maybe here and there, but it's like.

I live in Hollywood.

This is a rant that is only associated to people who are in hard copy print media.

So I get it's a little niche, but it's just like the amount of people that I'm just, well, where would I even find such a thing?

Your fing grocery store, CVS, Walgreens, Barnes and Noble.

It's just pre-TNC, Connor.

It's just like, you know, look at the magazine section.

It's right there.

It's right there.

You want SI?

You can find SI.

Just open your eyes.

Or your mailbox.

You just sign up for it, and then you don't even have to go looking for it.

You guys still give out the football phone?

You still need the football phone.

I will get you a football phone if you subscribe.

How about that?

How about that?

That's a promise.

That's on the record.

That's legally binding.

Connor has to send 75,000 football phones.

If I get 75,000 subscribers, I could get them to make a football phone.

Do you know how much it costs to send a football phone to Scotland?

That's going to cost

Shout out, Glasgow.

All right.

That's it.

We'll be back on Thursday.

Thank you to everybody for your continued support.

As we said, yes, those awards might seem like silly things, but they're quite meaningful to us and the journey we've been on as we start to close in on the year anniversary of Heed the Call.

So thank you for that.

Thank you for everything.

And until next time, do what you must.

Heed the Call.

Where is Connor?