Anyone who has paid attention to my posts over the years would know that I am an avid listener of the Around the NFL Podcast. I know UT and Todd are listeners as well and we've referenced the show numerous times but I've always wanted to create a PW thread/passion project dedicated to the show. 

I started listening to ATN during the 2016 season and instantly fell in love with their mix of analysis and humour. I've barely missed an episode since (think that's probably about 700) and it's kept me company over the years on numerous work commutes, dog walks and lazy weekends. The podcast has been central to expanding my football fandom, I always enjoyed following the NFL but in recent years it's really taken over from soccer as my #1 sport. A lot of ATN fans describe the listening experience as like being talking ball with friends - and while that sounds a bit dorky considering we've never met the heroes in person, if you get into the show I think you'd understand. I don't have anyone in real life to talk about the NFL with so Dan, Marc, Gregg & Chris have really filled that void for me. There are countless football podcasts these days but none of them come remotely close to being as fun or engaging. I've tried out a bunch and aside from ATN I'm only subscribed to Mina Kimes' show and even hers is only a "if I've got the spare time" rather than being a must listen affair. 

Sadly the podcast changed irrevocably earlier this year when Chris Wesseling passed away following his battle with cancer. Wess' death affected me in a way that no other "celebrity" death has done (listening to someone three times a week for years makes you feel incredibly close to someone, even if you've never met) and I can feel myself getting emotional again just typing about it. While the three remaining heroes are all fantastic individually and together, and I'm very glad they've continued on with the show, Chris's absence has left an simply unfillable void. I've been reading about fans who have been going back through the archives to listen to old shows to remember the good old days with Wess, and now that I'm back to driving an hour each way to my office, I've got the time to do the same. 

I'm looking forward to running back through the archives and listening to the first couple of years of the show, particularly to hear Wess again. I thought about sharing on here because I know we have a few PWers who are avid football historians so hopefully you'll enjoy the news nuggets from back in the day. ATN started as it's own standalone show in the 2013 preseason (they previously had their own segment on Dave Dameshek's podcast) so that's where we begin...

July 24th 2013
The big story in the NFL today was Bill Belichick commenting publicly for the first time on Aaron Hernandez's arrest for murder. The Patriots HC hadn't spoken to the media about the topic for nearly a month following Hernandez's arrest, but he garnered praise for the openness and vulnerability he showed whilst reading a prepared statement.

Additionally, Von Miller was handed a four game suspension for trying to cheat a drug test. Combined with the Elvis Dumervil late-fax saga leading to his departure to the Ravens, it was seen as a bit of a disaster for the Broncos, but as we know the season turned out alright for them in the end. 

In their division previews, Gregg & Marc took a look at some of the QB camp battles between Michael Vick and Nick Foles in Philadelphia, and Matt Cassell and Christian Ponder (oof!) in Minnesota. Dan very accurately predicted a dramatic fall off for the Vikings who he described as a lucky 10-6 team from the previous season - they did in fact finish bottom of the NFC North at 5-10-1, even below the Lions which Gregg also predicted but Marc wasn't keen on.

July 26th 2013
Percy Harvin was the news of the day - the Seattle Seahawks had traded away a first round draft pick to the Vikings for the dynamic receiver only for him to suffer a hip injury in workouts. The heroes wondered how potentially losing their big offseason acquisition could impact Seattle's contending. Turns out it didn't matter too much, but Harvin wouldn't see the field until Week 11 and did next to nothing as a Seahawk. 

Aaron Rodgers was in the news, after commenting on how his friend Ryan Braun had lied to him about his use of PEDs. It was interesting to hear a discussion of how Rodgers testiness with the media and his sensitivity regarding the public's perception of him - considering what has happened this season.

In typical Dan fashion, he'd been writing articles about a Nat Geo show where they'd got Devin Hester and Chris Johnson to race a cheetah. :lol: This would make a lot more sense these days with Tyreek Hill, but Gregg questioned why they picked Hester given he was on the downswing of his career, and thought it should have been someone like TY Hilton instead. 

Love this project @admin and looking forward to reading through the archives as you present them. I found them in their ATL days and initially hated the change to ATN even though it made much more sense.

I’ve listened a little less since Wess passed away , it’s still great but there is a void without that fourth voice - especially one as unique and seasoned as Wess’s who’s historical perspective I always enjoyed.

Oddly enough I probably enjoy their show more in the off-season where their quirkiness and chemistry are on full display and the news is the slowest.

I also love their bits. Go Get My Lunch and Onion Hangers are always a blast. I really miss Win Wess’s Toaster - a segment I usually killed and think I had a fighters chance of winning if I would have gotten an opportunity.

Also kind of adopted the Team of ATL(N) in my own ways. I generally pick a team each year I like to follow aside from the Packers. A team that might not be really a contender but one that is fun to follow. Last year it was the Panthers(and the Chargers) this year it’s ironically Wess’s Bengals.

Also can’t forget the money drops. Hope you include those as much as possible in the recaps. Some tend to get a real chuckle out of me.

I never listened to this podcast but one of the people from FantasyPros died not too long ago too from COVID. Sucks and feels weird to watch without him on it. He was SUPER HIGH on Mike Williams this season too and he was right.

Wess’s death was really hard. As @admin said - these guys do a great job of making it feel like bullshitting with friends and trickling just enough of their life outside the NFL where you felt you know them.

I remember exactly what I was doing when they announced Wess’s diagnosis and also when Twitter announced he died. It’s weird to have that connection to a podcast host but that’s also what I love about the medium.


There might be only one other podcast I have that kind of connection to , and that’s because I’ve went to live shows and met the hosts a few times.

He seemed like such a fantastic and genuine guy who no one could ever possibly say anything bad about, and having recently found his partner and had their son together, it all just seemed so sad and unfair. I don't tweet but I was compelled to send him a message when he returned to the podcast after one of his absences because of his treatment and he replied thanking me for my support. I've read a lot of stories from other fans who he used to communicate with regularly - not many people in his position would do stuff like that.

Unfortunately he wasn't on these first episodes because he was away on vacation, looking forward to him joining when the preseason starts.

The one thing I did notice about the dynamic from these first couple of shows was that Gregg was more involved in the hosting that he is now - as he was their editor at NFL.com at the time. Dan still references that today calling him "the old boss". There's no drops or any in-jokes at this stage (just some pretty terrible intro music!) but I'll definitely include those details when they start.

This has hugely affected my ability to enjoy football and I don’t know if I see it going back. Obviously the Texans being bad is a huge factor and I do slog through Redzone most weekends but this podcast was huge influential in getting me into the sport. It was listenable even when I didn’t understand the rules at the beginning of my fandom. And it isn’t the same now. I love the guys but I feel like Wess kept particular things in check, Dan’s homerism
and Greg’s hyperbole in particular would have been called out by Wess numerous times this season. I still love the pod and haven’t missed a single episode but I’m missing Wess big time.

I think part of the problem with me is when they try to go to four guests and it just doesn't work the same. I love Colleen Wolfe and even her chemistry on the show works (in limited fashion) but thats about it.

Patrick Claybon is a talking head and terrible fit given his lack of personality and actual insight. Exactly the opposite of what made the show special over the years. Steve Wyche as well , to an extent.

I've never considered Dan much of a homer , that's interesting. Probably more when the Jets were relevant but hopelessly optimistic for the most part and even realistic at times.

It’s not a knock on Dan or the others, they’re all great personalities I just feel like Wess kept a lot of it in check. For example the other week Dan suggested a trade between Seahawks and Jets - Zach and a first for Russell. And Marc and Gregg kind of went oh yeah Dan great idea, where Wess would have called it what it was, fucking stupid. :lol:

I don’t think that’s all that stupid. Might need a little more but it’s not ridiculous,

July 29th 2013
There were a couple of big injuries today, #100 on the NFL Top 100 in 2013, Ravens TE Dennis Pitta was presumed to be lost for the season (he returned in the Super Bowl!) with a fractured hip which sparked a "is Joe Flacco elite?" conversation. Elsewhere Eagles WR Jeremy Maclin tore his ACL, complicating Chip Kelly's first preseason in Philadelphia. The heroes speculated who could step up in his absence as the #2, with FA Brandon Lloyd mentioned, along with already rostered Riley Cooper, in what would turn out to be a fairly incredible piece of foreshadowing. Wess also joined the show for the first time, via phone from the film room where he was studying the Arizona Cardinals. Apparently Patrick Peterson had been taking reps at wide receiver - which I couldn't find anything about online!

July 31st 2013
The aforementioned Riley Cooper went from buried on the Eagles depth chart to front page news across America overnight with the video of him using the n word at a Kenny Chesney concert. Wess was back in the studio while Gregg was off in Canton covering the Hall of Fame week - and he had a bone to pick with Rex Ryan who had been talking about the wildcat being the future of NFL offences despite it being essentially useless aside from that one Ronnie Brown game back in 2006. Marc wondered whether Rex was really referring to the read option but Wess didn't think that could be the case as they had been running wildcat packages with Tim Tebow. He compared Ryan to Don Coryell for his excellence on one side of the ball but complete ineptitude with the other. Dan compared offensive trends with the return to popularity of the skinny tie. :lol:
 
August 2nd 2013
A Hanzus/Wesseling double hander this time where LeSean McCoy had put the cat among the pigeons by criticising Riley Cooper, who initially had received support from other Eagles teammates. As a result Philadelphia excused Cooper from team activities but Dan and Wess thought that might backfire and just drag the story out further. They then talked about the three "forgotten" NFL teams which included Carolina who they were both high on and (correctly) predicted a playoff appearance for. Gregg joined via phone from Canton where he was struggling with computer issues having lost the T key from his keyboard. :lol:

@admin - www.azcardinals.com/video/patrick-peterson-lines-up-on-offense-10858443

There also an article on Bleacher Report.

I totally forgot Riley Cooper ever existed and I don’t forget a lot. Such a weird story.

Dennis Pitta. Top 100.

Just remembered that aside from that one play against the Bears being one of my favorite memories - one of my least favorite seasons. Rodgers broken collarbone - Matt Flynn running wild. Ugh.

Then losing to fucking Kaepernick. Ugh. We had a good team too.

August 5th 2013
The latest big preseason injury was to Packers LT Bryan Bulaga who'd tore his ACL. Wess mentioned they liked the look of their fourth round rookie David Bak-ti-ar-i and he could be an option to replace Bulaga, or they also have Marshall Newhouse. I wonder who they chose? Gregg talked about how the loss doesn't much of a difference to his feelings about the Packers and they'd be his Super Bowl pick for the fourth straight season (we're still waiting).

Gregg recaps the "sleepy" Hall of Fame game but spent most of his time explaining how he didn't investigate the Canton nightlife because the NFL media crew he was with (including Adam Rank who is still around being annoying) weren't exactly the guys he wanted to spend time with. Finally the guys call Dan who was downstairs working on the Colts depth chart trying to figure out who their #2 receiver would be behind Reggie Wayne (although he too would tear his ACL midway through the season).

August 7th 2013
Dan was back as host today and this also marked the first appearance of the original ATN fifth man Kevin Patra. The show had finally got a professional looking logo so Dan wanted to upgrade the intro music from the very generic guitar riff they were using over the first few shoes. Producer Wilk teed up three options from the library they could use while they got Dave Dameshek's music guy to record them something properly - "Barry White" which was Gregg's favourite, "Renaissance" which Dan liked the regal nature of, and "Batman" which amusingly got a very muted response considering it's the one they went on to use for the next 9 years.

Hard Knocks debuted with James Harrison being the clear highlight (I completely forgot about his brief run with the Bengals) although Wess hadn't seen the episode because he was operating under a "no TV at home" rule. Finally, the Saints were dealt an injury blow with Kenyon Coleman being ruled out for the season - giving the heroes doubt as to how new DC Rob Ryan's first season would go. Much fun was poked at the hype around Junior Galette (but he went on to have 12 sacks and New Orleans finished fourth in PPG allowed).

August 9th 2013
Preseason got underway with Denver unleashing some Peyton in the pistol formation on the 49ers to significant effect. Wess predicted the emergence of third year TE Julius Thomas as another weapon in the Broncos offence - he would indeed explode onto the scene and score 12 touchdowns. The heroes weren't too panicked about San Francisco's performance, and instead chose to focus on Colin Kaepernick debuting his new "fluffy" beard. 

Gregg was concerned that Dan wouldn't be happy that the start of the show was too football heavy, so they called him up in Texas where he was holidaying on the side of Lake LBJ in what Rosenthal called his "ninth vacation of the year".

Everyone was sceptical of how the Rams heading into another season with Brian Schottenheimer as OC - especially after there was no sign of rookie Tavon Austin out of the gate. In the kind of insight we desperately miss from Wess, he pointed out that the Rams needed a coach who could scheme their receivers open because they had a lot of "space" guys on offence rather than thumpers who could break tackles, and he didn't think that Schottenheimer was the type of creative mind that could make that happen. 

Finally, the heroes said farewell to Plaxico Burress who had torn his rotator cuff, an injury that was presumed to end his career (and indeed did). Of course the self shooting was mentioned, but Gregg rightfully gave Plax his flowers for his 11/154 game against the Packers in the 2007 NFC Championship game - although somehow his Super Bowl winning TD catch wasn't mentioned!

August 11th 2013
Wess had been "watching more preseason games that anyone else in America" so he dug in on some of the QB battles around the league - including Mark Sanchez putting a bit of distance between himself and Geno Smith for the Jets, and the first mention of the Gabbert Zone as Blaine had 1.9YPA as he attempted to win the starting job against Chad Henne for the Jaguars.

Rich Eisen joined the show as the first ever official guest - and proceeded to turn in a fairly boring performance where he talked nearly nonstop for about 30 minutes about himself and NFL Network. The most interesting nugget was that Larry David was ahead of the curve as a "go for it on fourth down" guy.

August 14th 2013
Episode 2 of Hard Knocks aired and it proved even more popular than the premiere. Highlights were John Skelton not being the sharpest tool in the shed, Margus Hunt's incredibly tall girlfriend, and his Estonianness making him the target of some ribbing from his teammates. There was a scare at Patriots training when Tom Brady went down with a knee injury when LT Nate Solder was pushed back into the QB, but in typical Gregg fashion he brushed it off as no big deal.

In the first division preview, the heroes looked at the AFC East where the Patriots were unanimous picks to repeat as winners, although there was some minor concerns about the weapons Brady would have to work with. The Bills and Jets QB situations were too in flux, and Wess believed that Miami's failure to address their offensive line would negate some of the big FA signings they had made to improve their offence.

Dan's random baseball player of the day: Raul Ibanez

August 16th 2013
We've got our first ever Money tag: "The Around the League podcast would follow Mike Tomlin anywhere". After a quick roundup of the Thursday night preseason action where the Brandon Weeden hype train was reaching top speed, Dave Dameshek joined the show for the AFC North preview. Dave is usually good for one terrible Steelers take, and this time was no different as he expressed doubt over Antonio Brown's ability to be a true #1 receiver. He'd had Ike Taylor on his show who said AB could stack up with any receiver in the league, including AJ Green, but Dameshek just wasn't buying it. In his defence, he thought that the Bengals would win the division with the Steelers at .500 - which proved to be very accurate, although Cincinnatti were eliminated in the first round rather than making it to the Super Bowl as he predicted.

In another first for the pod, we got the debut (as yet unnamed) Dalton Scale conversation with Dave and Dan carrying the water for Andy, while Gregg and Wess believed there were at least 20 quarterbacks in the league better. This transitioned very smoothly into a pseudo "Is Joe Flacco elite?" chat.

August 19 2013

Today's breaking news was the blockbuster trade between the 49ers and Chiefs as they exchanged bust first round wide receivers AJ Jenkins and Jon Baldwin. Jenkins would go on to have 17 catches for the Chiefs, Baldwin 3 for the 49ers - this was essentially a waste of time. Preseason rolled in to Week 2 and Marc was worried about what the Jets defence looked like, Wess wasn't buying anyone who thought that a decent game from Blaine Gabbert meant anything, and Dan was disappointed about former Jet Dustin Keller injuring his knee in what turned out to be a career ender.

Previewing the AFC South, Wess was wary of the Texans prospects considering Arian Foster's injury status (and he would only make it through the first half of the season before succumbing) and was sceptical of Indianapolis ability to win the division considering some of their unsustainable results from 2012. It was interesting to hear about just how highly regarded Andrew Luck was at this point though, the discussion about him overcoming a bad offensive line with his pocket presence reminded me a lot of the narrative surrounding Joe Burrow today.

August 21 2013

We start with a Fantasy preview section in the light of the news that Michael Vick was announced starter for the Eagles. Gregg hyped up Jermichael Finley as a good option in a tight end position lacking with top end options. Marc and Dan talked about their co-managed team "Alison Brie" and how Dan not paying attention during the previous season's draft led to them autodrafting Shane Vereen who turned out to be one of their best contributors. Wess and Gregg both agreed that fantasy players shouldn't pay too much attention to the "experts" and their groupthink as end of season results are often so different to how the preseason rankings predicted. Wess went on a hilarious rant about people asking him for advice on whether they should draft a particular player: "Do you want me to wine and dine your wife for you as well?!"

In the AFC West it was universally believed that the Broncos would repeat as division winners and highly likely to earn a playoff bye, even with the absence of Von Miller through suspension to start the season. It was surprising to hear a fairly mixed reaction ahead of Andy Reid's first season as Chiefs head coach, only Gregg was really going into bat for Reid while Wess had lost faith in his ability to be a difference maker for his offence. The Raiders were predicted to be battling it out with the Jags for worst team in the league, and Marc brought up the bet that Wess had made - that he'd eat his softball pants if Oakland were able to win six games. Gregg thought that if they were able to reach that mark then Dennis Allen deserved to win coach of the year.

August 23rd 2013

Handsome Hank joined Gregg, Marc and Chris while Dan was off on a Nevada Business Trip. Today's lead news story was Felix Jones being traded from Dallas to Pittsburgh following Le'Veon Bell's foot injury. Jones was still one of the leading active running backs in YPC at the time, but there was doubt whether he'd make the 53 for the Steelers. (He started the first two games before being benched) In preseason action the Patriots lost 40-9 and while no one was panicking, there was starting to be a little bit of doubt whether Brady would be able to make the offence successful with so many unproven weapons. Elsewhere, Luke Kuechly was receiving rave reviews with some of the plays he was making for the Panthers and was already being compared to Brian Urlacher heading into his second season.

The NFC East was the previewed division this week and Gregg received much praise from producer Krystle for being the only one to pick the Eagles to win against the more favoured Cowboys.

August 26 2013

Hanzus was back from Las Vegas and called Gregg's hosting effort which saw the previous episode go for 40 minutes as Peter Jackson esque. There were some quarterback shakeups around the league, with the Raiders making the clear move to install Terrelle Pryor over Matt Flynn as their starter, the Bills were in rough shape with Kevin Kolb suffering (what turned out to be a career-ending) concussion paving the way for EJ Manuel to start the season (they also lost Stephon Gilmore), and a shoulder injury to Mark Sanchez freed up the runway for Geno Smith to take over for the Jets.

The NFC North was previewed with a near-unanimous prediction that the Packers would win the division, only Marc didn't believe in them and thought the Bears would surpass their rivals. Everyone thought that the Vikings were set for disaster, but still underestimated how quickly Christian Ponder would get benched.

Finally, a debate in the newsroom amongst the heroes and Dameshek about the best cereal spilt over onto Twitter, and led to General Mills sending Dan a pallet worth of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. He was in such a good mood about it that he signed off the show with everyone's nicknames for the first time - the Mailman, the Sizzler and the Boss.