We have a 2021 NFL schedule in place, it's 17 games per team, and Jenny, Conor and Gary don't know what to do about it. A discussion on the optimism around more football, mourning the beautiful symmetry of 16 games, and whether or not Week 18 will bring unrivaled drama or bring a slate of games that look like the Sudfeld-fueled Eagles-WFT regular-season finale.
Plus, a probably-too-long discussion of Tim Tebow: 90th Man. Does it matter that he's going to spend the summer on the Jaguars roster? Is there a benefit to it? Is there a downside? And a mind-blowing Tebow poll result from the youth of America in 2013.
Finally, a conversation about Ja'Wuan James and the consequences of the Broncos' decision to cut ties with the veteran offensive tackle after he was injured during a workout away from the facility. And what’s the future of these minicamp gatherings anyway?
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Hello, and welcome to the m m Q, the Monday Morning NFL Podcast. I am Gary Grantling, I'm Jenny front of I'm Connor Or and we are talking about some schedule release madness this week. We're also gonna have a little bit on a the John James situation and and maybe the tight end depth chart in the in Jacksonville, depending on how things go. We'll see if we feel it by the end of this show. But we have we have a schedule, guys, and that's I think that qualifies as excitement in May. Uh. We we know who is going to play where and when, and I don't know, there's a certain sense of completion when that happens. But uh, I guess we'll start with some negativity and um, I'll just say a flat out this seventeen game thing. It bothers me for a lot of reasons, but especially bothers me because sixteen. I think I never really appreciated how how sort of just the beautiful symmetry the number sixteen being half the teams in the league. It is uh, you know, uh, the square root of sixcen is four, which is a very uh for those of us who are kind of I don't know, math obsessed despite ourselves. Uh, that is a very uh, it's just a very even number. It just kind of all built out beautifully. So that plus the combination of having to be like, oh, I think this team is in for a big season, They're gonna go twelve and five. I think it's just nothing, nothing matches up. It just feels like we are jamming uh, you know, the square and the children's puzzle into the triangular hole, and it's just not working. I could not agree more. Gary, Seventeen is just a very unsettling number. Obviously there's the player safety piece of this, and the fact that there's still only one bye week, but it was just so easy to plot out the schedule to if a team was playing an opponent, you knew exactly what the rest of the schedule looked like because everything has been the same for so long. And Yeah, I could not be more opposed to the seventeen game scheduled. See is this going to be a weird dynamic now where Jenny, you and I agreed on everything on each Side podcast, but now you're going to side with Gary, and then I'm kind of just gonna be lone wolfing it because so we just we disagree on this, right. So you wait, you like, seventy is a prime number, Connor, I don't know if you knew that, I'm well aware. Well I didn't. I don't know what a prime numbers are. But um, but so editor Mitch and I argued about this um a while back, and player safety is um a concern. Um. But I can't put away my own selfishness when it comes to this. I like football. I think this year, especially as opposed as I was to having a season go on, and and there were some really gross moments of what seemed like a lack of concern for everybody's safety, and you know, all that kind of stuff. It was cathartic, and you know, at the end of the day, I was like, I think I've decided that more football in my life is good, regardless of whether or not it is actually a good product. And so seventeen means like one more course on the meal. It means, you know, one more thing for me, and uh, you know, I know that's incredibly selfish, but I'm like, you know what it is, what it is, and and I understand all the other arguments players safety first and foremost, it's probably gonna be a bad game anyway. The seventeenth game is probably gonna be crappy no matter what. UM, all this stuff, totally get it. UM just can't shake my own selfishness here. I was gonna say, for the guy who was demanding huge punishment for the Eagles for that Week seventeen, Tobaccle, I'm just what I I'm just picturing Week eighteen right now, and uh, in my mind, in my very pessimistic mind, I'm picturing like sixteen versions of that Washington Eagle schame that wrap up the season that was. I mean, it was as close to unwatchable television as you can get. You know. What we could have though, is like you like, like, uh, Week eighteen could be Kyle Trask. You know, we could be blogging Kyle Trask. How fun would that be? Huh? Or um or who knows? I mean, if Jimmy Garoppolo gets on a heater or this year, that could be the Trey Lance debut. If Kyle Shanahan really wants to to spread this thing out. I uh, I'm not ready to give up on on Week eighteen yet. I'm not ready. And I think the Eagles taught everybody a valuable lesson, which is that you have to try hard. So I think that all the other teams are gonna start trying hard now. I think, Connor, you are hoping for a recreation of the Patrick Mahomes Week seventeen debut year, right, And it's very, uh that's very wishful thinking. I agree with. But um, you know what other? What other kind of thinking can you traffic in at this point? Like, you know, you've gotta stick with wishful thinking. I think you know that's that's it. So I think I think Week eighteen is gonna be uh magical, And Jenny are our fantasy league is gonna extend an extra week, and so there's always more hope. They're uh to get our our squads under control, waiver, you know, all all sorts of stuff like that. So I I just I'm I'm pro additional football, you know, Connor. Here's another change from the week Side podcast is that suddenly you've become very optimistic. I'm just saying it. Does it become infectious as we go on here as well? This is very very sunny side right here. We're all getting used to the new dynamic yeah, we're just feeling it out. Um. If I have to be the guy, you know, the shot of energy, you know, I'm I'm ready to do that. Um. But yeah, I mean, let's just give it. Let's just give it a chance. And how about Week eighteen. By then, hopefully no new COVID updates and everything like that, we can have a Week eight team party at my place, watch party. We can celebrate all the bustling storylines. The NFL always finds a way. You know that there will be something to watch in Week eighteen. They've already made sure of it. I know this, and I think that there's no way there can be one entirely trash week from start to finish. Well, that sounds lovely, Connor. We can record the Monday Morning podcast from your living room after after the Week eighteen games. Here, I'll make some finger foods. It'll be great, just people shrieking trash repeatedly for for three hours. And I like it. So let's look at the actual schedule. And now that we've uh, well, Jenny, I have eric grievances, and Connor has perhaps corrected us, and we'll keep an open mind going forward. Here. I just wish they had added two games. I just wish you there's no that's there's no quarter point anymore. There no quarter point. There's a half way point for each team. Uh, it's just gonna it's it's gonna just rack my brain for an entire season. But we'll move on. Let's look at the individual schedules. Connor, you are, Let's let's make you turn this around. Let's ruin your your morning here. And uh, you went through the teams who should be uh a little bit, a little bit miffed if we're being honest about how the schedule plays out. Yeah, this is uh, this is starting to become a death Taxes. Raiders get an awful schedule. Um. Uh, if you remember two years ago, they had to travel thirty thousand air miles throughout the course of the season, and then the Jets and Giants combined barely reached twenty UM and sou but they got the short end of the stick again. And I was looking at the Bears Raiders game the Khalil Mackbull part two, which is like week five, Um, but before that, so they start the season with Baltimore, then they go to Pittsburgh, then they get my Emmy. Then they go to the Chargers, they could be oh and four heading into that Khalil mack Bull and then what are the optics of getting smashed by the guy that you traded away and have yet to find the you know, replacement pass rusher um to sink to oh and five? Maybe that's just my wildest dreams. I'm just gamed out this scenario here. Um. But I think that but those two teams, the Raiders and the Chargers both um had really bad sort of dips in the schedule. Um so uh in the Raiders, so that I think that front four is really bad um for the Raiders. Um. And then after that you have to fly across the country to the Giants, then you get the Chiefs. Then you have to go to Dallas, then you get Washington, then you go to the Chiefs again, then you go to the Browns, then you go to Denver, and then you go to the Colts. That's brutal, Like, that's a really really really bad stretch of of schedule there. Um. So the beginning and end for them it just gets hammered. I don't see a lot of ways for them to pick up wins. And then the Chargers are similar just because they're playing the same teams. Um. But they have that really difficult schedule. There were really difficult part where they go to the Chiefs, Um, then they get the brown they play the Raiders, then they get the Browns at Ravens by Patriots. So like Browns or at Ravens by Patriots is a brutal stretch too, especially like I don't think anyone wants Belichick coming off of by um because normally you would view that as your chance to get ahead and and to self scout and to come up with something new. But to have the best coach after the bye, I think kind of stinks. Um. But yeah, so I think that they had a rough schedule. The Bears had a rough schedule, The Ravens had a rough schedule after an absolute cake walk last year, and then the Lions I think also got hosed. Um. But um, you know, the Bears are interesting just because there's gonna be a lot of prime time attention. Um, but is the team gonna be good enough? Um? And and where they come both slotting justin fields in and and and you know, does he start from week one? Like you know they start the season at l A against the Rams, do you want to play justin fields in that game? I don't know. Um, then you come home for the Bengals, which is maybe a perfect chance to do it, but then you go to the Browns, and so it's uh, I don't see a lot of soft spots. Um in that schedule. They get Tampa Bay on the road this year. Um, they get Green Bay on the road in the winter. UM, Seattle at the end of the season on the road, and then you close the season at Minnesota. UM. You know that seems like a pretty brutal schedule as well. But I will say in general, there weren't as many clear winners and losers as there have been in the past. And with that that extra game I think does is add a chance to sort of it's just a little bit extra room to move the puzzle pieces around where I don't see as many total destruction scenarios as we've seen in the past. As well, we have Week fourteen buys this year. It seems so late last year when the Bucks had Week thirteen. The Panthers did too, But uh, we have Week fourteen buys and and four teams It will be the Colts, Dolphins, Patriots, Eagles, the Patriots are really interesting there to me, because your offense with Matt Jones is going to be completely different than your offense with Cam Newton. So if let's say they do go into the season with Cam as their starter, which I think is more likely, I don't think it's completely out of the realm and possibility that mac Jones wins quarterback competition this summer. But uh, if they go into the season with Cams or starter, you figure that's the kind of transition where you need the bye week to make the switch to the younger quarterback because you need to completely redo your offense at that point. They're not gonna have a chance to do that with a bye week until like the week before Christmas would be mac Jones is first start in that scenario. And and look, if if Cam struggles, they'll they'll do it anyway. They'll figure it out. But uh, that was becoming a little overblown though. Like remember even when, uh, when Greg Roman was in San Francisco, they were transitioning to Kaepernick, you know, uh in little fits and starts throughout the first few weeks of the season. The Ravens, you know, maybe not as uh as seamlessly, but I think had some of that stuff. Like in training camp they were doing a lot of zone raid stuff. Like I think, Um, I think the Patriots will have essentially two offenses by the time, you know, ready to go that are just sort of branched out of the same terminology. Like I just don't think it's as crazy as it used to be, And coaches have already realized that you kind of have to have that instinct anyway. Um, But I don't know, it wouldn't be surprising to me to see them ready to go out of camp with with two offenses and be ready to pull the plug on Cam at a moment's notice. Connor, remember when we were covering the Jets and there was a big hullabaloo because Matt Slawson in the springtime mentioned that the Jets had two playbooks, one for Sanchez and one for their newly signed quarterback Tim Tebow. I do remember that, and it felt like time to mention that for no particular reason, and we saw so much that that playbook must have been about this thick And for those of you can't see my fingers, I'm holding them as close together as I can possibly hold them. Man Like not materialized it didn't And they didn't even like have him come in and just smash his way into the goal line from like three yards out. They didn't reach the goal line a lot. Well, that's a fair point, Connor. You know, if you if you're never in the red zone, you don't have much cause to use your goal line offense. And what Matt Slawson failed to mention was the third playbook run by Greg McElroy. Yeah, I mean I just had to cite that, but yes, I mean it is a pretty you are talking about two pretty different ends of the spectrum there um, between Cam Newton offense and to mac Jones offense. So it will be interesting to see how the Patriots navigate that, how they prepare for that, and if and when there is a transition from one to the other, how that is executed. I think it will be actually be really interesting to see how they do that because you have Belichick, you have McDaniels, two people that know how to coach the game and know how to do different things on offense week to week. I mean, we always hear about how the Patriots are so game planned specific based on their opponents, so this is sort of in the same vein just a completely different challenge. Yeah, he would it surprise you if would it shock you totally if there were games where Cam played a majority of the game and Mac Jones played a majority of the game throughout the season. I don't think that would surprise me very much. Now that's an interesting point, Connor, You know what I mean. I think that I think that the more that you open up that possibility, the less we'd like. It's going to seem weird at first, right, like who's starting this week? Who's starting this week? But in coaches have put such a singular focus on like the quarterback has to be the leader of the team. But what if you're a team that has Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels, Like it seems it feels like that matters less, right, Like it's you know, Bill Belichick has a handle on everything. So it's like, whoever is starting this week is who I say it's gonna start, and and it's it doesn't create a leadership vacuum. It's you already have the the greatest leader in modern sports history, So like who cares? And you know, some weeks you're gonna be playing teams that are smaller defensively maybe some you know, I I just hypothetically, I'm not looking at the Patriots schedule, like if you if you had a team that was against playing in the a f C West, for example, and they had a bunch of smaller defensive backs because they're worried about the Chiefs all the time, and that's how the rosters stacked. You play Cam Newton and you run it down their throats, and if you vice versa. You know, if you have a team that's a little bit bigger, you take Mac Jones and you throw the ball a little bit more. I don't know, I mean, but it just wouldn't shocked me. If Belichick is the kind of guy that would get into that a little bit more, well, this is a really interesting possibility because yeah, I mean we we see them with their offenses. They do whatever whatever the opponent that week is most vulnerable to. That has always been the trick. That's why the Patriots are very difficult team to get any fantasy football players from, because you have no idea who's going to be featured week to week. So then they'll feature the ground game when we will feature the air game. And it's all based on the opponent's deficiencies. So what Connor you're suggesting is week to week, if there's an opponent that's more vulnerable to a specific type of offense, or even at a certain point in the game. I don't know, what do you think, Gary, I think it's really interesting because we look back on these teams that have kind of sprinkled in the new quarterback, the young guy. As we go, this is stylistically reversed. Uh, you are theoretically going to have a more expansive passing offense with Mac Jones and yard Cam Newton because you need to have a more expensive passing offense with Mac Jones because that running element is now gone. That is more complicated than installing uh, you know, saying okay, well we're gonna mix in a package that is, you know, sort of a wildcat plus type of thing with our young uh you know, sort of raw mobile quarterback. I mean Mac Jones the opposite. So look, this is Mac Jones is kind of a kind of a throwback prospect anyway, and we'll see how it works out in the long run. But I don't know, I think it's really interesting that the thought of trying to install sort of bits and pieces, and look, maybe Mac Jones at this point is basically on the same level as Cam Newton. I mean, Cam obviously we've seen, has had big years as a passer. He's been the league for a long time, so maybe they're on the same level anyway. But uh, I think it's interesting to think how they are going to uh potentially sprinkle in Mac Jones and look, this is this is a team that they have coaches that solve problems, and uh, I will be interested to see how they solve these problems, and I will be willing to just throw my takes and criticisms at them if it doesn't work. I for instant Tigers have been doing this successfully in the IVY League for over a decade now, so as usual, the the IVY League is the hub of innovation, and uh we will soon see um, we will soon see that. At the NFL level, Bill Belichick did a lot of brain picking not too long ago, when I think it was Chad Kinoff the Princeton had a quarterback that made the uh that made the NFL for a hot second. Um, but I think Arizona. He was on the roster for Arizona. Maybe in the summer. That sounds right, awful lot of brain picking. During that meeting in Foxborough, I was told, so, just you know, he's always he's always scribbling stuff away. This this might be your greatest oracle yet. Well, uh for public consumption, yes, that's that it could be. Yes, okay, well yes, well Jenny very thoughtfully tried to transition us to Tim Tebow, who I guess we have to we have to say his name. I mean, we're contractually obligated due to Google trends and and uh social media h and all that, we have to say Tim Tebow on the show. We're gonna have to do so as long as he is a member of an NFL team. But uh, I don't know. Look, he's probably not going to uh compete with Trevor Lawrence at quarterback. It's it looks like he's going to play some tight end and be this sort of, I don't know, multi purpose type of move tight end guy. But realistically, I mean, look, it's a really thin depth chart for the Jaguars at tight end. But it's still, i mean really difficult to picture him actually making it out of the summer and being on the roster at any point during the regular season. Uh that said, is there a downside to having him in? Like, yes, you could bring in another player in your roster, but that guy is probably not making the roster either, So does it doesn't matter that it's sim Tebow. I think Jenny has a better perspective on this because back when we covered the Jets the Star Ledger only you know, Jenny went to the camp where Tebow is at and then I kind of picked up afterwards, so she would have a better idea of kind of the chaos surrounding Tebow initially at um uh At during the summer, during the training camp period. But I would say for my own thoughts, like guy in the roster had that position has been handed out like you know, like a political appointment for years. I mean, coaches have done that, you know, um coaches friends, you know. I mean how many how many teams have given Jim Kelly's nephew a chance with the nine guy on thester spot, you know, and you know it's probably him picking up the phone and saying, hey, can you please you know, bring him on here and and and see if you can do something with him or just get him through the summer whatever it is. These things are not like Sacer sanct And I think it's crazy because I don't think Tim Tebow is making the fifty three man roster. I don't think there's any chance. Um, But he can do a lot of things for you in the intern like he can he can wear a lot of hats. He's gonna walk around the field smiling and clapping the whole time. You know, he's going to uh kind of be the evangelist for your way of coaching in the locker room. And you know, I think it might be overrated a little bit, but I think that there are very few quarterbacks who understand what it's like to be Trevor Lawrence, and Tim Tebow is probably one of them. Like he's not from a physical gift standpoint, but from an attention expectations standpoint. And I think, why not? Like you're paying him nothing to sit in the locker room, and Trevor Lawrence is like, Hey, this is crazy. There's all these creeps out there who want my autograph and you know, it weirds me out, and Tim Tebow is the exact guy to be, Like, I totally get it, you know, I totally understand and I'm sure there's bigger problems than that that they can discuss. I don't know, but but I'm just saying, like, I think that there's a very unique fraternity of quarterbacks who have had that much pressure and attention on him, and one just happens to be willing to come to camp at age thirty three and bounce himself around like a tight end for six weeks. Go ahead, let him do it. Yeah, I mean, I do think the Tim Tebow frenzy that existed previously will be lessened for a couple of reasons. One, it's been a really long time too, He's not in the quarterback mix, and there's already a ton of excitement over Trevor Lawrence, and he's going to be the focus of anyone who visits Jacksonville. And I think Connor makes a really good point that he can he has that ability to mentor a Lawrence in an unique way to talk about the unusual level of attention he will receive. I think for urban Meyer, we talked a little bit about this on the week's side last week. He's that kind of shepherd who shows them the way of the new coaches program. We saw that with the Jets and Rex Ryan when he went out and signed Bart Scott and Jim Leonard. So a lot of coaches like to have somebody that can speak to how they've done things in the past. I will say, having been there for that Jets training camp Connor, it was a total circus. I mean, there was national media in town, like I think South Palontonio was there for the entire camp. They had daily updates on ESPN. There was that day where they pretended to wall off the practice, like they had the player's lineup in a wall so we couldn't see the Tebow wildcat package, which, as we mentioned earlier, really never came to fruition. Uh. There was also the day when it rained outside and Tebow took his shirt off and ran shirtless past all the photographers. And I do know that that raised a lot of eyebrows among coaches and other players. It didn't seem like a guy who was trying to lessen the attention on himself. And not to say, you know a lot of players do that. It's raining whatever, you know, not to say that there was any ill intent there, but knowing the commotion that surrounded him, that seemed to play into it. Um Wait, that this is going to sound incredibly naive. But the I don't like the shirt thing was on purpose, like popping it off and running past the cameras was like a calculated well I don't know if it was calculated or not, that's how it happened, but it wasn't calculated. Well. I think some people, some coaches on the players on the team, were like, what's going on here, Like, you know, this is just becoming a lot. Again, I can't speak to his intent, Connor and I it probably wasn't an intent, although there is a sort of under you know, there's a lack of maybe understanding if if there was no intent, that this would of course blow up, which it did so um, But you know, I think it's a different circumstance now. And we have seen him go other places. I mean, obviously he was with the Patriots very briefly. He was with Philly very briefly, and I think each time was a little bit lessening attention. So that's probably it's probably not going to be the same degree of focus, but it you know, and maybe that's good though for Lawrence. Maybe if there's a bunch of hoop law around, you know, any attention that's going to Tebow is taking a tiny bit off Lawrence, although I'm skeptical that any attention will be taken off Lawrence. But we, uh, while you guys working at the Star Ledger, I was. I was working at Sports Illustry Kids a decade ago, and when Tebow was two thirteen offseason he was with the Patriots, uh in training camp there and we, uh, you know, we had the daily poll on on SI kids dot com, wonderful website. Everyone should go there. Uh. We asked who should the Patriots start in quarterback? Be Tom Brady or Tim Tebow. Was not a curiosity knowing people loved Tim Tebow. Uh, it was it was. It was lopsided pole we had ever put up. It was some like nine percent voted for Tebow. And uh yeah. So I don't know. If Nickelodeon wants to take one step further with their broadcasts and let kids coach by pole, set the starting lineup by pole, maybe we'll maybe we'll see some more interesting games this year. Maybe Tebow does make some starts on the Nickelodeon broadcast. Gary, that's a stunning piece of information, Yes, but also no, if we we expect We knew t would win the pole, we just didn't think it would be uh ninety four percent to six froint And also it was I mean, Tom Brady had gone h multiple years without even winning a Super Bowl at that point, so maybe it was time to go. I will say this, Mike west Off, legendary special teams coordinators, still says Tim Tebow is the best pupil that he ever had. Came by Mike west Off's office late at night asking if what what can I do to get on the field, And I think one time they faked a punt and it worked, So you never know, always always the possibility there of a special team's threat. So lots to work with in Jacksonville training camp economy. We should start our training camp tour there again, Let's do it. I was gonna say, as long as it's not well, I love Courtland, uh and but they don't and they don't go there anymore. But um, I think that would feel too real. There'd be a there'll be too much of a real field there. But Jacksonville was a lovely spot for our training camp kickoff, So I'm I'm totally down for that. Football is back. It is especially because today, correct me if I'm wrong. I believe this is day one of phase two of of whatever we're calling this offseason workout phase. Uh. And you know we're gonna see over the course of the week how many players will show up, which teams will show up more than other teams. And I'm sure that will be uh a constant talking point that we won't really talk about because well, I don't know who knows. Maybe talk about it next week. But I did want to touch on specifically one guy here, and that is John James, the Denver Broncos off as a tackle and sort of what transpired. Uh, So he was working out, uh, you know, football related workouts, ends up rupturing his achilles because he was working out away from the Broncos facility, it qualifies as a non football injury, and the Broncos were able to essentially waving if if you're the Broncos, you would say it as they got out from under what was probably not a great contract at that point. Uh, James was a bit of an overpay when they signed him in free agency, and you know, I'm they were they were probably u in a way thankful to get out from under it. But as far as John James goes, he loses. I believe the numbers around eleven million guaranteed. Uh. And he is a free agent now and he's gonna He's thirty years old, he's trying to work his way back from a ruptured achilles, and he's a guy who didn't play last year. He opted out during the pandemic. So, UH, I guess I just want to to pose this. UH, let's just say ethically right or wrong? What do we what do you think the Broncos actions here? And UH, if they do ultimately want to move on from jun James and play younger player at that spot, I think that's that's reasonable. But uh, is this a little bit of I don't know, just distasteful to uh to act a guy for basically preparing for the season and getting injured. Yeah. I think J. C. Tratter, who is the president of the Players Union, had a really good point to Albert Brier in Monday Morning Quarterback that basically only a small section of the off season is actually a part of the off season program. And so any time that you're working away from this facility, even when there isn't a potential off season program to attend you're at risk for a non football injury, and so are you essentially going to disincentivize players from working out and staying in the best shape that they can when you take this step. I mean, I think it was a confluence of a bunch of circumstances. It it happened to happen during the off season program time of year. It was a player that the Broncos were probably looking to move on from to begin with, so it it resulted in this ugly outcome that people are using to kind of undercut the player's attempt to lessen the off season requirements. Um, but yeah, it could have happened at any other time of year, and I do think it's distasteful. I mean, of course, you know, management is going to do what they can what's within their rights, and they season an opportunity to get out of his contract here. But I do think it sends a bad message and I think it does contribute to distrust between players and management, which is already kind of at an all time high around the league. Yeah, it's just not surprising, you know. And that's the problem is, like teams are so callous and you know, and and they and they make these decisions, and then the problem is it kind of gives other teams cover, to other teams covered to make these decisions, and you know, they kind of just provide shields for one another to continue doing this sort of careless cold stuff. Um and I just don't see how from a management standpoint, I don't see how this makes your team any better. Like, yeah, you're gonna save some money, uh yeah, but like there's not a player that you can get this year with that money that's gonna dramatically change or alter the course of your season. And the flip side of that is you could make a very public show out of pledging your ability to take care of Juwan James. And I think that the goodwill that creates in the locker room goes way further than the ten million dollars that you're going to save and not be able to spend, because if you're an owner, you're going to spend that money anyway, So who cares, you know? Yeah, And I think there's an examination of this situation as a one off without speaking to exactly what Connor just said, both on the Broncos but also teams league wide. I mean, we're seeing players pressure management in ways we haven't seen them before. I mean, most notably with the quarterbacks obviously, and we'll see how that works out in certain situations. But maybe this is the best decision for them. The Broncos feel like this is the best decision for them and their salary cap in the moment, but it may have consequences down the line when you further fray the relationship between players and management, it might show up in a lot of other ways. And so I think they're probably not thinking of the long term effects that has when you see a player gets screwed out of this, especially on an issue that players league wide are are trying to activate on. Now, maybe the participation in the action that they were trying to take isn't um as you know, the percentages and as I is maybe like it to be. And we've seen some teams put out statements that they're not going to program workout programs, or some players on various teams putting out those statements but then going anyway. But this is an issue that players are going to push back on, and I don't think the owner, I don't think the Broncos management is considering the fact that taking this UM stand based on whatever is allowed contractually. I don't think they're thinking that this could have a much worse impact in the long term in the bigger picture. Yeah, in a way. On the on the James situation, I'm almost open to. Uh. I look at there's a salary cap impact, and that's almost part of that's part of the game, part of football, where you know, like, oh, okay, well we can now free up this money and do a B or C with it. And I understand that, uh, And I don't want to sit here and say that ten million dollars isn't a lot of money, even for a very wealthy organization. It is, but um, maybe you just pay that you're planning on paying an anyway, and uh, if you got hurt at your facility, you would have paid it. So again, I think there is an opportunity for sort of goodwill at this point. If they don't take it, we'll see, we'll see what, We'll see how it affects, uh, you know, perspective free agents going forward there. Uh. If if it's sort of a coin toss situation between the Broncos another organization, do you uh, do you end up going elsewhere? But I guess overall, this this whole the whole offseason workout thing is it's just fascinating to me because on one hand, owners don't care, like they really don't. This doesn't cost them money. Uh, it's not a financial issue, and therefore if they can sort of give away some of these things too players. Uh. And they're not negotiating the cb A right now. They already did that last year and we heard all about it, but uh, this is not something where it's hurting them financially, so they really this is not a priority for them. But the coaches kind of get caught in the middle of it because your base really like your your management, but you're not really management for the sake of you know, NFL ownership versus n f L p A, and they obviously they want these guys showing up and getting ready for the season and all that stuff, and it just they're in this weird middle ground and I just find it fascinating. Yeah, and they are in a strange spot too for the players to be origanizing around this issue, as you said, Gary, because they just struck a cb A last year, so it's not like they're in the middle of contract negotiations and this is something that they're going to address for the next period. I think everything comes down to management control. They want control over players because, as you said otherwise, it's not a money issue, it's it's it's not something that hits the owner's bottom lines. But I think they want control over players and also they know that it's important to the coaches. So because there is the c b A that's in place and it's not getting renegotiated, we have seen players work with the coaches to come up with team to team different ways around it. So Brian Flores and the Dolphins, the Cliff Kingsbury and the Cardinals, seems like they have come up with other arrangements just on a one off basis between the coach and the players, and perhaps that's something that we see a little bit more of league wide, but it is always this awkward thing. It's nothing is ever voluntary, and um, you know, the players have been pushing for less off season for a long time, but I think last year, having seen that a virtual off season program works just fine, now this issue is you know, even clearer in the players minds. The problem is they're currently locked into a c b A. That's my Unionist talk for the day kind of kind of set everyone straight. No one has anything to add on to that, because Janu already knows it better than us. It's so true, though, I could say that about a lot of topics. I know I was. I was going to add that as well. Well, we'll figure that out as we go on. Jenny's over the last ten years, Jenny has fixed life issues of mine, medical issues of mine, um countless work related issues. Like I'm not joking, Jenny once gave me advice for chronic stomach aches. I have not had a stomach ache since then. It's been three years. That's crazy. Well, we're really overstating my empire had a stomach ache in three years. We'll just make sure that Shelby doesn't go in the archives and put together real of all of my bad So we're trusting Shelby not to do so. Alright, guys, you have the finale of the week Side podcast come up this week, So you folks out there, if you're you missed it, you missed it. If you didn't subscribe, you blew it. Nothing else to be said at this point, but do make sure you go and listen to that show. It's going to be in all time or there. I do want to throw out it's that time of year on the NFL calendar where we want mail bad questions. So you can send your questions. You can send it via social media. You can tweet at us. We're all on Twitter. I mean, you guys all know how to use that stuff. If you want to email it, let's say, let's say do the mm QB at gmail dot com for now and put podcasts on the subject line and we'll come up with a new email address or something like that, because as Connor has pointed out that that email is uh, I don't know a lot of people have access to it. I don't know who has access to it these days. But just know that some random former m M m QB employee might see your question. That's it. That's my warning, that's the disclaimer. Send those questions in and we'll we'll see you guys next week. The mm QB Monday Morning NFL podcast is Jenny Brentis Connor or and me Gary Grammling. We are produced by Shelby Royson s Eys, Executive producer Podcasts A Scott Brody. Mark Rabick is a meritus editor of the mmqb Andy Benoit is the founder of the mmqb NFL podcast. Be sure to subscribe to this feed, as well as the feeds for the Week's Side podcast and our freer show. 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