Tag: Around the NFL

NFL shockingly ends the ‘Around the NFL’ podcast

‘Around the NFL’ is being closed up by the league.

It was a dark Sunday for NFL fans as the plug was pulled on the ‘Around the NFL‘ podcast.

The highly popular podcast, which was housed on the NFL’s digital platforms, featured the trio of Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal and Marc Sessler. The show was updated three times a week and was available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts among other outlets.

The last show aired on May 23 after 11 years and 1,600 episodes.

‘Around the NFL’ was a rare breath of fresh air from the content mill that covers the league. Conversational in tone, Hanzus, Rosenthal and Sessler provided depth in their reporting about the NFL without sounding preachy.

They provided actual analysis and perhaps, most of all, context, for all the league’s major decisions and moves.

In an era of shocking headlines and clickbait journalism, the podcast truly stood out for its quality and depth of work offered.

 

The show will be truly missed.

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Perhaps fans who have never heard the show should flood the league’s platforms to send a message to the NFL that ‘Around the NFL’ shouldn’t be leaving the airwaves.

 

NFL Media podcast calls out Saints’ lack of plans for fans at California training camp

The long-running Around the NFL podcast called out the Saints’ lack of plans for fans at this summer’s California training camp:

The New Orleans Saints are moving their 2024 training camp to Irvine, California, and their plans for inviting fans to attend practices are still unclear. That ambiguity became a target for NFL Media’s long-running Around the NFL Podcast, where co-host Gregg Rosenthal criticized multiple parties for their approach to the topic.

The Saints are one of five teams holding camp in Southern California this summer, which is the home market of the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers. NFL marketing rules don’t allow teams to host fan events in competing markets, but while the Dallas Cowboys already have an arrangement and the Las Vegas Raiders are working on one, there hasn’t been much clarity on the topic out of New Orleans.

“The Saints aren’t really answering questions,” Rosenthal began. “And I just feel like going to a training camp is such an outstanding way to grow the support of your team and have young fans go there for nothing, just being around football, having training camps without fans doesn’t feel like training camp at all. And yes I know it’s the Saints in Southern California, how many people are really going to be showing up there every day, I’m sure people would be showing up.

“And so I hope they push to make that happen. I hope it’s not something where either the Rams and Chargers don’t allow it or the teams really don’t even want it, to me that’s not training camp. And if they do keep fans out, fans should let them know. You’re trying to grow your brand. The Raiders have done a great job over that, Saints, you’re trying to grow fans, don’t keep them out.”

One of Rosenthal’s co-hosts, Dan Hanzus, quoted from our article on Saints team president Dennis Lauscha saying that onsite logistics, not NFL marketing rules, were the bigger hurdle to inviting fans for camp this year. And that claim led to derision around the room.

Rosenthal replied: “Okay, I read that too, but I went to multiple great training camps (at UC Irvine) with the Rams. Like my kids had a blast the day they went, and that was the same facility, just saying. It was all happening.”

“With fans,” added co-host Colleen Wolfe, “And they had like food trucks and stuff out there.”

The Rams hosted fans for seven practices at UC Irvine’s campus last summer (and in several years preceding it), all free and open to the public. As is the case in New Orleans, and as Rosenthal noted, these are great opportunities for fans to meet their favorite players and cheer them on at little cost compared to expensive game tickets. The Rams estimated that almost 100,000 fans attended practice at UC Irvine in 2022, so there are clear blueprints for the Saints to work from. They just need to ask the Rams for some tips about where to park the food trucks and fence off the bleachers. Hopefully they’ll do the right thing and invite their West Coast fans out for at least a few days of practice.

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Cameron Jordan on Saints’ controversial TD vs. Falcons: ‘Say sorry we didn’t go for 50’

Cameron Jordan doesn’t see the problem with running up the score on the Falcons, much less apologizing for it: ‘Say sorry we didn’t go for 50’

The New Orleans Saints ended their season with a flourish — and then some controversy. When the second-string offense and backup quarterback Jameis Winston went rogue to get Jamaal Williams a late touchdown run over the Atlanta Falcons, Saints head coach Dennis Allen responded by apologizing to the other team for their actions.

It was a move that got him lambasted by the Saints fanbase. And one of Allen’s captains and the longest-tenured player on the team, Cameron Jordan, wants it known that he disagreed with Allen’s decision to apologize for scoring too many points on their greatest rival.

“I’m so sorry the locker room really enjoys being a brotherhood,” Jordan joked during an appearance on the Around the NFL podcast this week. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry we punished a rival team. I would do it again. In fact, I would’ve gone for two. The only thing I’m gonna have a discrepancy with is I didn’t understand the ramifications of like, ‘No, they were taking victory formation.’ The ‘Can’tlanta Failcons’ had already acquiesced. They were just trying to get it out there just like their head coach was about to get out there.”

Already unpopular among Saints fans, Allen’s determination to take a stand and tell them to stop enjoying themselves rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Whatever goodwill he earned for his first winning season in five years as a head coach went with the wind. He has more work to do to convince the team’s supporters that he’s the right man for the job, even as general manager Mickey Loomis continues to cook up bad arguments favoring Allen.

But this isn’t going away. Jordan finished his piece with “Half of my gripe was Dennis ended up saying sorry. And I’m like why would you say sorry? Say sorry we didn’t go for 50.”

It’s unfortunate, but it makes sense that Allen still doesn’t get this rivalry. He doesn’t understand why Saints players and fans dislike the Falcons because his heart’s not in it. He was born in Atlanta as the son of former Falcons linebacker Grady Allen. He grew up and into life with Texas A&M as a student, college football player, and assistant coach; the Aggies have built an unhinged program with strange culture and ideas of sportsmanship, which has defined its relationship with its biggest in-state rival by running from the Texas Longhorns to join a new conference (only for Texas to get the jump on them anyway in the expanding SEC). The sense of rivalry and bone-deep hate isn’t in him.

And Allen’s reluctance to lean into that rivalry and engage with Saints fans (and, apparently, his own players) is going to be a storyline until something bigger happens to overshadow it. Hiring an entirely new offensive coaching staff will help. But Allen has a lot of work to do to convince fans the team he’s leading is worth lending their time and money to support. All we can do is it and see whether he can deliver.

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Ravens’ 2022 rookie class earns high marks from NFL.com

The Ravens 2022 Draft class earned high marks from NFL.com

The Baltimore Ravens’ 2022 Draft could shape up to be one of the best in franchise history. Baltimore drafted 11 players and out of those selections, only one didn’t play a game for the Ravens, and that was six-round pick Tyler Badie who was released from the practice squad.

Nick Shook of NFL.com  graded each AFC North team’s 2022 draft class after the season. Baltimore received the highest grade out of the other AFC North teams with a B+ grade. The Pittsburgh Steelers also received a B+ grade, followed by the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns with C+ grades.

If the Ravens hit on at least five of the players drafted in 2022, it just shows how great of a scouting department general manager Eric DeCosta has in the organization.  With only five current selections in the 2023 draft, the team will need to hit on all of them this year or make some moves to acquire more during the draft.

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Dan Hanzus predicts the Bucs’ MVP for 2020

Dan Hanzus selected an MVP for each NFC team in 2020. See who he predicted would be the Buccaneers’ MVP.

It’s Super Bowl or bust for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this season, a statement that would’ve sounded outrageous a year ago. But when you sign a six-time Super Bowl champion, and arguably the greatest quarterback to ever lace up a pair of cleats, championship expectations become the norm.

The Bucs finished 7-9 last season, but clearly have the talent and drive to get back to the postseason for the first time since 2007. It won’t be an easy road to the playoffs, as the Bucs will have to contend with tough divisional opponents in the NFC South on top of a schedule that includes matchups against the Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers and Los Angeles Rams.

But Dan Hanzus over at NFL.com believes Brady is the savior the Bucs have been looking for, which is why he predicted Brady to be the Bucs’ MVP in 2020.

Per Hanzus:

“I will readily admit I’ve been consumed by the hype. We have significant circumstantial evidence, from both last season and the season before, that Brady — set to turn 43 in about six weeks — is in the midst of a gradual and irreversible decline. And yet … and yet! … I can’t help but buy into the setup in Tampa. A vastly improved supporting cast (including Gronk!), a proven offensive mind and veteran QB whisperer in head coach Bruce Arians, and yes, that impossible-to-measure competitive fire that rages inside the old man. They can spin it along Patriot Place all they please, but Tom Brady was booted out of town. Even if I’m wrong (I’m not), you know Brady’s mindset is tuned that way. Bill doesn’t think he needs me. Bill believes he already got the best of me. Bill thinks he’s better off with … JARRETT STIDHAM. I must destroy everything and everyone.”

It’s no surprise that Hanzus picked Brady as the Bucs’ MVP. If that competitive fire in Brady rages like we all believe, then the Bucs could take the league by storm this season. Getting Tampa Bay back to the playoffs would be a huge win for Brady, especially if the Bucs make it and the Patriots don’t.

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John Schneider lands at No. 7 in NFL general manager power rankings

Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider has landed at No. 7 in Around the NFL editor Gregg Rosenthal’s annual GM power rankings.

The 2020 NFL Draft will take place in just under a week amidst the lockdown around the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite airing in a completely virtual format this season, and relatively no contact allowed with NFL hopefuls, coaches and general managers are still tasked with finding the best prospects to fit their team needs.

Ahead of the draft, Around the NFL editor Gregg Rosenthal has compiled his annual list, ranking all the general managers throughout the league. Seahawks GM John Schneider has landed at No. 7 overall.

“Schneider and Pete Carroll have done an incredible job staying competitive, even as their defensive identity has eroded,” Rosenthal writes. Wide receiver D.K. Metcalf helped to end what’s been a rough stretch of drafts, however, and the team’s offensive line improvement in 2018 fell back to bad form a year ago.”

“Schneider does a great job finding the types of players Carroll wants, but this still feels like a roster that doesn’t fully maximize Russell Wilson’s gifts or Carroll’s coaching strengths.”

Schneider will have another shot to prove he’s one of the best in the league when this year’s NFL virtual draft kicks off on April 23.

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