Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Drama at the Franchise Tag Deadline and Combine Reactions

Episode Date: March 8, 2023

Geoff is back with Matt to break down every team's decisions at the franchise tag deadline. Plus, the boys share their takeaways from the combine, and debate whether adding Aaron Rodgers would make the Jets a contender.Be sure to rate, comment, and follow the pod for a new episode each week during the offseason.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

it's wednesday march 8th i'm jeff schwartz alongside matt ford this jeff schwartz is smarter than you and whoa buddy we got a lot happening we got quarterback movements we got tags and no tags and non-exclusive tags and exclusive tags and we got quarterbacks getting paid too much and quarterbacks getting paid too little and as we're recording this right now we're getting quarterbacks getting tagged and not tagged we have have combine. We're going to recap to do, Matt, and a very interesting survey that came out from 2021, NFL players rating their teams, weight rooms, and facilities, all this stuff, very interesting things. I'm back from vacation.

Happy to talk some sports with you, Matt. How are you, buddy? Welcome back, buddy. I hope you're not too sore from those combine drills you and meredith did on the beach um how was your trip um it is it was fantastic um i'm glad to be back like five days is um is enough like five days is enough yeah um i'm good of not working you just need you just need to get back to talk not exclusive franchise tags much faster right i was excited to get back i don't do like relaxation well i'm just just don't just don't i don't like i just don't do it well my wife does it well she's a much more stressful job

she needs the break i just don't i talk about football man like i'm i'm very happy to travel with my wife and have alone time away from the kids i think it's important when you have children obviously if you can afford to do this to like have alone time with your spouse to still date your spouse right like it's great but i'm going to talk football again with you buddy and there's a lot to get into because lamar jackson news a Rodgers news, Derek Carr, and Geno Smith, and maybe Daniel Jones. There's just a lot to talk about. And let's start with Lamar Jackson. Yeah, for sure.

So we're taping this about 45 minutes before the franchise tag deadline on Tuesday. So there might be some breaking news during the show. deadline on Tuesday. So there might be some breaking news during the show. And moments before we recorded, we heard that Lamar Jackson has been tagged with the non-exclusive franchise tag for the Ravens. I'm sure everyone will be an expert on what this means by tomorrow. So Jeff, maybe you can quickly explain this and what's your initial take on why the non-exclusive instead of the full-blown franchise okay so we've gone over this um many times lamar jackson wants the sean watson money he should absolutely ask for that money 230 million dollars guaranteed since that contract has has been signed by the sean watson no quarterback has gone that calum murray didn't get it russell wilson thinking obviously

there's been other lower contracts signed since then the ravens aren't giving him that deal right they've offered like 133 million dollars his camp wants two or three million dollars and they're basically saying like yeah like we'll keep you if you want i guess but we're also open to trading you this is like the best way to do for for compensation. Like, hey, man, like, we want to give you this money. We'll pay you, sure. But let's see what the market will set for you. Maybe we're wrong. Maybe the market does want to give you $2 or $3 million guaranteed,

and we have to suck it up and pay you that money. Or we'll trade you away for two first-round draft picks and move it along, right? Like, the Ravenvens have never seemed overly committed to lamar jackson right they just they have it matt for whatever reason he's not finished the last two seasons healthy right we know that but they just don't seem as connected to him as one would think they should be and this this tag that allows them to basically say like, hey, man, like, just yeah, yeah, go shop. Like, go have fun. Do what you want to do.

And we still get competition back if we decide on a trade. Feels like you're letting them know like, all right, buddy, like, see you later. But we want some competition on the back end. Yeah. Well, it's so interesting. This tag is so rarely used in the NFL. And it's such an interesting strategic move by baltimore because now they as you mentioned they have the ability to get two first round picks back

for lamar and it's open season like now there's going to be all these other teams in the fray which would have just happened in free agency and if the ravens had just you know let lamar walk obviously that would have been super detrimental the team they wouldn't have gotten anything back but you'd have to think that lamar jackson would fetch more than two first round picks right like give cleveland's package for deshaun watson what the jets may end up offering for someone like aaron rogers who's way older um i have a feeling like on one hand i think this is the ravens essentially waving the white flag with lamar right saying like hey i don't think this is ever going to work. Let's at least get something for him, give him a chance to negotiate,

while also giving themselves a contingency of like, well, if it does somehow manage to work out, we have an out. But this is fascinating. I mean, I can't remember this ever happening with a quarterback, right? Like I remember Sean Gilbert, Washington legend and Panthers legend, having this happen in the early 2000s. But it seems pretty rare that this happens in the NFL. And maybe it's going to start happening more based on this. I just think the NFL said we're just not giving anyone

that money. Like the NFL is like we're ignoring that contract because we know next up right next up that person always gets like two percent more and nfl's like now we're not we're just not doing that we're ignoring that contract and lamar's testing whether or not the nfl is going to hold tight to that i mean look there are plenty of teams man i think that'll pay lamar all the money that he wants completely great agree. And whether it's your commanders, whether it's the Dolphins, whether it's the Falcons, whether it's the Panthers,

like there are teams that say, you know what, buddy? Here you go. 230. Here you go, buddy. All the money you want. Take it. Even $200 million guaranteed.

Here you go. Take the money. 180. Here you go, buddy. Like, and I saw someone tweet me like, well, this means the ravens could match but the ravens have their price like why would they match if a team comes in over what they're willing to pay why are they going to match like they've already told you what they're going

to pay lamar they've had negotiations lamar knows what that number is he's going to go tell someone else the ravens are offering me this much money give me more money you know like you know give me more obviously now the trade compensation is an issue right how much is the trade compensation well you have to pay lamar all this money and then trade a whole bunch of draft picks so how many teams are in the position to do that and then we still win but that's the important part of this right you're gonna pay a quarterback all that money trade away assets and then still win that's the question as well i think there are a few i think there are a few that really talk themselves into it i think you know and it also depends on a team like could atlanta talk themselves into something like that i think they probably could you mentioned miami which is fascinating i mean they certainly seem

like they're built for something i think a team like washington could certainly do it if they didn't have an ownership question sort of looming over them carolina is a very good example actually i feel like they have this good young defense uh you know a coaching staff that they're really excited about like i could absolutely aggressive owner could see them forking up for for a huge package here it's just fascinating because i think the question has moved from is lamar staying with the ravens to who is willing to pay this much for lamar and is he going to be worth it and i think the answer is like unequivocally yes there is just not ever this level of talent available for trade i mean he is a unanimous mous MVP just a few years ago. He's super young. He's never had

a great complement of weapons around him. He's a proven winner in this league. Like every single time he's on the field, his team has succeeded. It dates back to college. I would have no hesitation going all in for this guy, way more so than Deshaun Watson, obviously based on his character issues, but even just on the field i'm curious if you're with me there if you think he would be worth going double all in for uh if you had the chance um yes i i think your point about like he's just one of much of football games um and if you're a team and and this is maybe the the time to talk about this topic is look derrick carr got paid by the, look, Derek Carr got paid by the Saints.

Geno Smith got paid by the Seahawks. Now, they're two different deals. Derek Carr basically got a two-year deal. Geno Smith got a one-year deal, right? And if you're a team, you're kind of like in sort of three, really four quarterback buckets, right? You're a quarterback where you're going for it all, right? We know those seven, eight, nine teams. You're sort of the Saints and Seahawks this season, where, you know, you're 9 and 7.

Like, you're competitive, right? Like, if you're a fan of the Saints and Seahawks, you are competitive. You're a Commander's fan, man. Like, I'm sure you would love your team to be competitive each season. But, like, what is that really getting? If you're a Saints fan, like, what are you really getting from Derek Carr? Like, you're not winning. You're the best quarterback in the division. Give you that. But you're not really winning the Super Bowl. Like, what are you doing with that deal?

Does Seattle structure their deal to draft a quarterback this year or next year and get out of the Geno deal after one year? They did a great job, I think. But again, you're selling that for nine and seven. Okay. Then you have the quarterbacks that are young and, like, you know, kind of like the Justin Fields, right? You don't know what you have with them yet.

And then you have the teams that stink and are trying to get a quarterback. Like if you're a fan of one of those teams, I think that kind of is in the middle range. I think you'd rather have Lamar than Derek Carr or Geno Smith. Oh yeah. And then you, and then I, but the question is, would you rather, if you're the Saints, if you're a Saints fan, would you rather stink this season,

tear it all down for the possibility to get a quarterback next year, and then in two or three years be really good again, or are you okay with this sort of like kind of we're in it every year but never winning a championship? That's the question as a fan that I think is the hard part. Because like, no, I've ruined my life for bad teams. You have as well like what do you want as a fan and if you're like if you're one of these teams that can get lamar jackson right now you immediately move out of like most of those bottom three categories up to the

top category right now 100 i mean lots to react to there first i want to give you an opinion on the uh the the saints thing that I haven't heard yet, but this is genuinely how I feel, Jeff. I think the Saints might now have the second best quarterback in the NFC. If you actually think about it, they legitimately, Kirk Cousins and the Vikings went 13-4 this season. And the next year, the Saints are going to be able to play the Panthers twice. They're going to play the Bucs twice, who might end up being the worst team in the league, the way are going to be able to play the Panthers twice they're going to play

the Bucks twice who might end up being like the worst team in the league the way that things are looking right now and they're going to have the Falcons twice who are you know a complete mess again maybe Lamar Jackson goes to one of these teams the Vikings went 13 and 4 obviously they have more to their team than than Kirkousins, but they had a rookie coach who didn't totally seem to know what he was doing. Of course, they got super lucky. But a team like that, a couple of things change, and they honestly could have ended up in the NFC Championship or the Super Bowl.

Honestly, a couple of different things break towards the end of the season. I feel like the Saints, everyone saw the numbers and they were like, oh my God, they went all in on this guy, Derek Carr, who stinks. But when you look at the NFC, there just isn't that much in the way for them to compete.

Like they've basically, it would be an upset if they didn't win the division at this point. If you're talking yourself into this, it would be an upset to think they're not winning the division. It would be an upset

to think that they're not going to host a playoff game then, maybe two. Like, i kind of feel like it's smart and the geno thing they still have the number five pick in the draft like their rebuild they can do the warriors thing where they can reload while they're still being sort of competent this year which i think is the best of both worlds for from a fan perspective even though they're probably not going to go anywhere for a while i think the car take is sort of valid because the nfc is just best of both worlds for, from a fan perspective, even though they're probably not going to go anywhere. I think the car take is sort of valid because the NFC is just kind of down on quarterbacks right now. Like,

especially if Rogers leaves, which was the lead of our podcast before everything changed. Yeah. With the Rogers. Yeah. Um, is, um,

cars definitely up there, but again, like the saints are so over the cat and I, they keep cutting talent, right? Like at some point you, you have to have like talent to now, they keep cutting talent, right? Like at some point, you have to have like talent to win. And they keep cutting talent because they're so over leveraged.

The Seahawks have done it the absolute right way. Geno Smith's deal is a one-year deal, essentially, for $40 million. And they're out. So they have the fifth pick overall, drafted quarterback this year, or maybe your guy's gone. And you say, okay, we'll draft a pass rusher at five. We'll draft someone else at five.

And let's say you bomb this season. Cause you know, Smith kind of regresses back down and you're picking the top 10 next year. And there's four more quarterbacks. Again, you draft the quarterback next year. And you're, you're in the way of Gino. And the best part of this deal too, is that Gino gets paid. Great for Gino, right? What a story story right yeah you're persevering through the jets you meander through

the quarterback ecosystem in the nfl you find a home you play well for people you play well for like 12 weeks of the season didn't play well last month of the year terribly well you have 40 million dollars great like awesome right good for gino and this is a situation where this works for both parties right gino gets paid seahawks have a little out after one season but the saints didn't do that like the saints continually are striving for something that's not really there now again they had the best quarterback in the division as of right now it by by the way dan ever seen he tweets out the falcons are not going to go after lamar jackson whatever that's worth um huh right now so cross one off the list thing but this this does scream like carolina panthers i agree their owners desperate for a quarterback jim ursae you don't think jim

ursae is calling over the ravens hey man like what do you what do you want for for lamar i'm there's i think there's like a ton of teams that are going to call over there with Kaepernick. Are the Texans not going to call over there? The Texans are a great point. Are we sure the Texans aren't going to call over there? Imagine the franchise, how that changed their franchise immediately. Bryce Young may or may not be good.

TJ Stroud. Lamar Jackson's good now. Now, right now, he's good now. Now, right now. And then the Ravens, for them, they get the second pick in the draft presumably quarterback like boom like you're right back in this thing right so um i just think that i just think the ravens are going to get i think lamar's going to get more than the ravens are willing to give them and like i just think this is a sign of of that if houston were involved they could trade two picks this year and be clear this it's actually a really good call um they obviously have way more to do on their roster

but there's so many teams that could sneak into this sweepstakes that we would never even think about like for instance what if the giants decide not to franchise uh daniel jones in the next half an hour they would be a fascinating team, right? Like they're a team that he's, Lamar is everything Daniel Jones is, but a hundred times better at every single one of those things. Like every single team that doesn't have one of those automatic top six, seven guys is going to have to at least have the conversation with themselves.

Like who's not having this conversation? Like any team can figure out a way to sort of, you know, unless they're stuck like a Cardinals with Kyler and his contract. Like, you know, what happens if the Packers ship Rodgers to the Jets? Like, they're going to have a conversation. Everybody has to. This guy is an unbelievable talent, and it's going to be fascinating to see who's going to pony up.

Yeah. So it's two first round picks no matter what so that yeah that's what it is i thought it was more than that it's two first round picks but do they do the ravens get to choose which offer they take or is it and could there be more like could someone say we'll actually do three or is two just like the the minimum um i think i think two is all you can do. Interesting. So in theory, a team like Houston.

Houston would be the perfect fit then. Because Baltimore could draft their quarterback. And get another first round pick this year. In theory. But man. This is going to be wild. Do you have first gut instinct? Is your gut instinct the Panthers? Is that where he ends up?

Are you telling me Jim Irsay is not like going calling them right now call his chris ballard right now like give me lamar jackson it's a great point a hundred percent i mean i think that i think there's like 10 teams with their hair on fire right now of course i think the commanders are doing that like i definitely think you know what about what about Mark Davis and the Raiders? Like, that would be such a perfect Raiders move. There's so many teams that could do this. This is going to be, like, the most fun offseason sweepstakes in a while. I know.

And to be honest, thank God, because we were just going to have to spend another podcast talking about Aaron Rodgers and whether he's going to go to the Jets. But finally, that doesn't feel like's going to go to the jets. But finally, that doesn't feel like the most important thing in the NFL. That's tough beat for Aaron Rodgers, a constant publicity hound. So why don't we switch gears to that? Our friend Trey Wingo reported that we,

that was the guy from that restaurant in LA, right? That same guy. Yeah. Yeah. I think so. I think it was the same guy. So looks like Rodgers and the jets are meeting up the,

the Nathaniel Hackett reunion with Aaron Rodgers could take place soon. Are they a contender if Aaron Rodgers goes to the Jets? Contender for what? No. No. Like, what are they contender for? I mean, this guy was the MVP a year ago. Like, you would think with that level of offensive talent

around him that they could actually be kind of kind of a meaningful team no here's what i don't here's what i don't get about this whole negotiation i think i'm right on this part aaron rogers does not have a no trade clause they can trade him no he doesn't have to have the jets brass fly a lot california to me with him they could just trade him like what what are the Packers continuing why are they letting him hold hold them hostage just trade his ass call the Jets up Joe Douglas hey hey hey what are you giving us for Aaron Rodgers okay great hang up the phone okay Aaron hey buddy you're going to New York see you later like what is what are they doing like what why can't they just get rid of him?

Like, why does it have to be this? I guess the problem is he retires, right? If he just retires, the Packers are on the hook, I guess, for the dead cap hit. That's the problem, I think, in this situation. That's my guess. I think the Packers just can't ship him out. But, like, I'm unexcited. This is not an exciting story to me.

I don't – am I supposed to be excited for this, Matt? I don't know, man. We just spent 17 minutes on Lamar Jackson. Like he's just more exciting to me as a story, as a player, as a NFL decision probably meeting with Rodgers, not because Rodgers is demanding it, but because I think they need to know what his deal is before they may even make that call with the Packers, with Gutekunst and the Packers brass. Like, if it were me and I was if I was going to ship out a first round pick and maybe some more Byron Rogers. Like I'd want to get a sense of where his head was. If he, because he's, he's insane. Like we've, we've seen this with Aaron Rogers, like his,

his whims are all over the place. I bet they're going out there to say like, do you want to do this? Do you want to live in New York? Do you want to play in the AFC? Like, I think that part of the problem for Rogers is he's going to have to move out of the NFC North.

And think about what that means. Like the Dolphins, tough team. The Bills, you know, second or third favorite to win the Super Bowl next year. He's going to have to play against Bill Belichick twice a year. Like these are really like it will not be easy for him. He will not have the Lions and the Bears twice a year. Like it's going to get a lot harder and he's going to be in a conference with what four of the best five quarterbacks at least so

i have a feeling like everyone's gonna i mean the jets fans are going to be out of their minds jeff they're going to just be unhinged with joy this will be their best quarterback in so long i don't see them actually mattering with Rodgers or without. But if they were in the NFC, they probably would, which is crazy. I just think that's a tough spot to succeed, given the level of talent in the rest of the conference. In the AFC East, you have Allen, Jones, obviously, and Tua, let's say. Lamar might be there. Who knows? It's a tough division to even win.

It's not Kirk Cousins, Jared Goff, and Justin Fields anymore. Exactly. And then you have to deal with the rest of the division. tough division to even win it's not kurt cousins jared goff and justin fields anymore exactly and then you have deal with the rest of the division he's gonna play one more year two more years i just don't care i i just matt it doesn't excite me man it also it kind of reminds me of the the you know the calculus people were doing last year with russell wilson going to denver where they're like wow look at all the weapons that he's gonna to have in Denver and it turns out the weapons in Seattle were way better so obviously what Rodgers has in uh Green Bay is is not much but that's a lot of faith to be putting in Garrett Wilson and Brees Hall coming off of an injury and that offensive line you know

with Dwayne Brown coming back for year 17 possibly and mckay beckton who's never on the field like with nathaniel hackett like this isn't him stepping into this isn't brady going to the bucks with evans and godwin and fournette and a great offensive line like this is a much different thing so i don't know i'm i think the jets would be like the perfect thing story-wise it's a new york, so everyone will talk about it all the time. It's Favre again, which is insane. It's been silly to go to New York. It's so strange.

See, okay, here's even more fun with Lamar Jackson. As we're going through this, there's more updates. Bill Barnwell tweets out, my favorite researcher of Jets who works smarter than you, tweets out, writing a long piece about this, but remember that if a team wants to sign jackson lamar jackson they can negotiate a deal with the ravens and do it as a sign and trade as opposed to going the offer sheet route giving up two first round picks usually this means

something less than two first rounders like when the seahawks signed and traded frank clark to the chiefs a few years ago but it could be Matt, I think there's so many options here. I saw, I think Ben Solak tweeted out, like, what if the Niners come calling? Yeah. It's very possible. I mean, they can't do a trade with, I think because of Lance, there's some reason that they can't do it, which is insane. But, like, I mean, how many times does a quarterback like this come available?

Never. Never. Never. Unless there's some sort of condition like Watson with all of his stuff. I have him as probably number five in the league. He is one of the few people who, if he's on the field, your team can win the Super Bowl. Any team he goes to automatically matters. So I have a feeling.

I mean, man, imagine him on. I mean, the Colts are a really interesting one, actually imagine him on i mean the colts are really interesting one actually right the colts colts would be a really nice fit i mean like jim ursa is not like calling right now give me give me a like no i just would i would think it'd be nfc no matter what i just feel like if there's a world where like there's an nfc west team or something like not you know the commanders went with him right down the road i feel like the ravens would hate i don't know how much control they have in this situation depending on the offers but it's you know even carolina feels a little bit close i feel like they want

to send him like as far away as possible like you know it's uh somewhere just where they don't ever have to sort of come across this because it would be you know if he has a hall of fame career it's it's a failure to let a guy like that get away no matter no matter what the deal is well the ravens again like i they just matt they just have not seemed interested in in doing this long-term deal with him i i don't know why it's very odd right yeah yeah i don't know yeah it's just it's so insane i'm looking at at Twitter to Warren sharp. Just, he tweeted out a few minutes ago,

the projected starting quarterbacks, the NFC and Lamar Jackson would so be the number one quarterback in this conference. But like, you look at these names and it's, you know, it's, it's Jalen hurts.

And then it's Daniel Jones, Dak Prescott, Sam, how Jared golf, Jordan love, like these PJ Walker, Kyle Trask, Sam Howell, Jared Goff, Jordan Love, like these PJ Walker, Kyle Trask. Like these names are just unbelievable how bad the NFC is. Like, especially if Lamar goes there, this, this, the whole,

the whole situation shakes up next year. It's a, it's great for the league. I love it so much. It's like so much fun. I mean, this is why we love, this is why football is the best man. Like it is getting more drama it's getting like there's more attention it's just getting it's just getting better man it's fantastic it is it really is the best where do you want to go next we can keep talking about this we can uh we we can talk about the team surveys last week since you we didn't get a rip at that when you were gone i feel. I feel like transitioning a little bit to the combine would be good now because of the quarterback situation. Maybe we can head back to team surveys afterwards. Cool.

Let's do that. So let's talk about the combine. One of the most interesting stories out of it. I mean, why don't we just start there? Give me just some thoughts on the combine overall. There are a lot of stories that came out of it. Most of all, Will Levis and his fear of dairy but we can get to that later talk to me about what you saw and hopefully you didn't watch a bunch of guys in

uh in shorts while you were on the beach okay so i have a i'm not an anti-combine take but i feel like an old man saying this i just i don't care as much anymore about the combine. No. Like, do you care as much anymore? I've never watched it. I've never. Who do I think I am? Do I think I'm an assistant GM and I'm going to be there watching the corners and be like, man, this guy in the third round.

This guy is a great piece for my fake team. I like going to Dallas and like hanging out with the guys during combine training. I like being in person with them. But the combine, the drills, I watch them. I didn't watch them in Mexico because I couldn't get streaming to work on my phone. I might have watched the offensive line guys I would have watched. They're the only group I really care to watch anyways. That's good.

The offensive line guys I would have watched. They're the only group I really care to watch anyways. My takeaway every year is slowly becoming, you know, that the training is so good that the numbers continue to get better each season, and I feel like they just are less important to me. Yeah, guys run fast. I don't know. I mean, yeah, they train for months to run fast.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Like, guys will continue to break records. Now, casting Anthony Richardson, the quarterback out of Florida, when you have the best quarterback combine ever, okay, you perk my interest a little bit, right? We talked about the Raz scores. Hopefully you guys pay attention to those.

I know you guys, I know that people, at least you two listen to my podcast, sending the scores. Like, yeah, some guys are physical freaks. We sort of knew that. Like we knew Anthony Richland was a physical freak. Then he shows up and has the highest vert ever for a quarterback and longest broad jump and runs really fast, all those great things.

But my takeaway is the buzz in Indianapolis appears to be a couple things. One, I saw two mock drafts today. Todd McShay, Dane Brugler, who are two trusted sources in the industry, that have the Colts trading up to number one, Matt, for quarterback. Both of them have that Colts to one. And Anthony Richardson, like, in the top seven now.

Like, just Anthony Richardson's, like, zooming on up. Those are the two takeaways and then jalen carter kind of out of the top 10 that's like the three to get the three takeaways from everything else the same like the same players are where they are except richardson has moved up and jalen carter has gone down and the colts appear to want to do a trade yeah which you know certainly makes sense i it's funny i i don't watch a lot of college football as you know um but i am friends with a lot of people who went to university of florida and i asked them on a group text as my research for this podcast i was like hey give me the scoop on this

guy richardson like he had this freak freak combine he might go number one overall what's your take and they all said some version of the best text that i got from this group shout out to my to my guy ronnie he said uh he can't throw a swing pass and he's super injury prone but at least he can jump high okay and it's like sometimes i sort of think we got to make this a little bit less complicated and And yes, amazing athlete, maybe with the right coaching, you know, God bless him. I'm rooting for him. Having said all of that, sometimes you just got to like know if this guy's a good football player or not and not get so blown away by a great weekend where, you know, whether you're a good athlete or not, like, of course it can matter. But there are plenty of good athletes

who never made it at quarterback. You're absolutely correct. Okay. So the thing about it is, like, coaches are better at extracting, like, the best from a quarterback now, right? Like, they don't just, like, throw quarterbacks in offense and say,

here's my offense, this is what we're doing, make it happen. And Richards is so talented that there's an idea that you get him more quarterbacks need an offense to say, here's my offense, this is what we're doing, make it happen. And Richards is so talented that there's an idea that you get him with the right coach, the right system, they can maximize the potential. But yes, there's not the tape of a quarterback that you would take maybe in the top five. There are glimpses.

Makes him great plays. Very athletic, of course. Has a rock and art. Like, there's, again, good things on tape, but not the consistency. And you hope when you get him into an NFL offense with better coaching staff, better players around him,

Florida had a bunch of drops this season, that that's when he flourishes, Matt. But it's a big risk. It's a huge boom or bust. Yeah. Which I think, you know know i think big swings are allowed like i actually think in the wake of this lamar jackson thing it's it's sort of one school of thought is don't ever go for the derrick cars or for the geno smiths like swing like go for the

guy who could be the face of the nfl and hope for the best and it's you know it's worked in the case of you know a few quarterbacks but you never want to be stuck in that purgatory i best and it's you know it's worked in the case of you know a few quarterbacks but you never want to be stuck in that purgatory i guess but it's funny i mean the trey lance thing is i can't tell if i feel like the 49ers are getting such a like incomplete grade on the trey lance thing because he is kind of the only comp for someone like this where you take somebody who has some major red flags in terms of their performance in school and lance's case and richardson's case were very different because sec and division 1a or whatever but picking someone that risky at the top of the draft like

we haven't even gotten a real referendum on it because of lance's injury problems but and i feel like you know if if we had sort of played that thing out, maybe it'd be a little bit different with Richardson because I just feel like someone's going to talk themselves into it. As a matter of fact, he is the third highest favorite for the number one pick. Or no, the second highest favorite. Him and C.J. Stroud are tied.

Bryce Young is still the heavy favorite at almost minus 200. But I don't know. It's like someone's going to talk themselves into a guy who was not a good college quarterback being the face of their franchise. And it's just bizarre to me. It is. I think the Josh Allen thing has made everyone really scared to say guys are going to stink. Right?

Because he defied logic and he made everyone, including myself, look stupid. And also, too, when the Titans report this week came out that they wanted to move on from Derrick Henry, it may or may not be true. I don't know. They were conflicting reports. My first thought was, yeah, I was right. I said when the Titans signed Derrick Henry and Ryan Tannehill that it was stupid and they're never going to win anything. And they didn't win anything. Okay?

But, like, no one comes to my Twitter and is like, you know what, Jeff Schwartz, you were right. I'm sorry, man. I'm sorry. You were right. I shouldn't have sent you a nasty direct message. You ended up being correct. If I say Anthony Richards is going to be a bust,

like, what does that get me? Nothing, right? Like, nothing. Nothing whatsoever. I mean, I said Justin Herbert was going to be good. What does that get me? nothing right like nothing yeah nothing whatsoever i mean i said justin herbert was going to be good what is it what does that get me nothing yeah nothing yeah you're right you're one of the few so like what is it what good does it do to go on social media and say you know what guys i want you to the anthony rich in play. Kid doesn't have it. Never going to make you in the NFL.

Like, this is no point. It's like unimportant. Can I talk about his play in Florida? Absolutely. But making like big declarative statements about players just feels like not what I should be doing anymore. I don't know. Like, I'll do it about teams.

I have no problem saying like, guys, if the Giants sign Daniel Jones to a $40 million deal a season, they're stupid. I can say that. Like, that feels okay. And I said this year I don't think Daniel Jones should, or rather than win a Super Bowl with Daniel Jones, like, I thought I was saying some declarative statements.

But, like, I just, it's just not worth my time to be like hey man like yeah richard's gonna be a bust uh see he might not be i don't know man if you did have the number one pick which of the quarterbacks would you would you uh would you go in on because there's some questions about you know there's some questions about the height of bryce young who's still the favorite you know everyone's saying well kyler well russ you know, there's some questions about the height of Bryce Young, who's still the favorite. You know, everyone's saying, well, Kyler, well, Russ, you know, both of them kind of stink at the moment. You know, and CJ Stroud, obviously, none of these guys are perfect. There's no, you know, burrow this class. But I'm curious, who's your guy of the three? The most ready to play is Bryce

Young. I mean, the size is a real concern, right? young i mean the size is is a real concern right i mean the weight thing is so funny right he weighed 204 at the combine all right well he probably ate a bunch before weigh-in NFL teams know what he played at this season yeah and there's a real lack of history and the reason why all these drills are run and the reason why we height and weight and measure guys is because there's comparables to other players that have had success in the league and you say look this player's had success well we haven't seen a lot of players of bryce's size have success for obvious reasons one just the height of the quarterback can you see right and if you're gonna be that player are you gonna have like

the best be the best running quarterback of all time michael vick right are you gonna be like that quick are you gonna be drew breeze the most accurate quarterback maybe of all time, Michael Vick, right? Are you going to be like that quick? Are you going to be Drew Brees, the most accurate quarterback maybe of all time, right? Like is Bryce Young either of those guys? He's not yet. He can move map. He's not Michael Vick, right? He's not.

And Kyler Murray, is that the best example you have for me? Kyler Murray of what Bryce Young is going to be? Exactly. So the intriguing one for me isler murray of what bryce young's gonna be exactly so the intriguing one for me is cj stroud because his georgia game was so good his other 20 starts was not the georgia game so which guy is he and you can't draft the kid who doesn't trust milk so will levis is out can't do it yeah i it's just so funny too because with both stroud and young there's these i think there's so much anti-ohio state bias that no matter how like no matter how disciplined you

are and how you look at these people like you go back you know decades and you say like well wait a second when's the last ohio state quarterback you can do this with richardson too when's the last good florida quarterback? I don't care about that stuff. But I do really think that it's a thing. Like, for some people. People tried that at Oregon. And exactly. Look what happened.

If Ohio State didn't have the stigma attached to it, I think Stroud would be the number one choice. I just do. Like, you look at everything from, you know, I can't claim I've watched every game, but he played outstanding competition. He was on his numbers are just out of control. Eighty one touchdowns, 12 picks in two years.

I mean, obviously, you know, Young's are really good, too, but he's got the size. He's a great athlete. He's super young. Like, I just feel like he's he would be the guy if it weren't for the Ohio State stuff. I really do. It's going to be fun, man. Draft's going to be a ton of fun. Yeah.

Well, we're 10 minutes out from the deadline here. And I think we, we didn't really talk about there's, there's one team that's sort of looming right now that we haven't talked about, and they're probably sweating the most as we're recording this, your former team, the New York giants who have two guys who they could franchise tag, probably going to tag one of them it's either going to be daniel jones or saquon barkley well they're not they're not they're not tagging saquon in my opinion not even if they figure out this extension with jones which some people think is going to happen but it's we're running out of time here no declarative

statements right no definitive statements from jeff schwartz um i don't think the giants are i don't think they're smartly i don't think they're very interested in, like, making a long-term deal with Barkley. It doesn't seem that way, right? Unless it's for, like, the exact price they want. Daniel Jones... I saw this from Warren Sharp. Here it is right here.

Okay. If Daniel Jones reaches a deal with the Giants, he'll become the first quarterback in NFL history to sign for $20 million plus a season after playing 15-plus games at 30 for less than 20 touchdowns. I just, I don't, I don't get it. Here's the thing. Like.

Who are they bidding against right now? That, and that's my tweet. That's what my tweet was earlier. Is who are they, who, who is giving Daniel Jones, let alone $30 million a season? Who's giving him $30 million a season? Is it Washington? No. Or the Jets?

Well, now that Lamar is a possibility, between Lamar and Rodgers and these guys at the top of the draft, what are we talking about? Let's say previous to Lamar. Are the Panthers paying him $30 million dollars a year i don't think so i don't think he's a good enough answer are was washington i don't think so jets no tampa tampa raiders maybe raiders no why wouldn't they keep car then yeah it's like so who are they bidding against okay yeah the franchise tag to put it against that but here's my point about it's what the ravers are doing basically they're like all right jones well that's what i would say to jones we'll give you 30 million dollars a year for two years we'll attack on the third year why not for cash purposes go find a better deal and come back to us it's a risk the risk matt i get it wouldn't they be what why wouldn't they do the thing that the

ravens just did with lamar and just give him the one-year deal and say yeah if you can find a team that's willing to give you give us two firsts go for it because no one will but to have a quarterback on a one-year 30, especially him, why not? I actually feel like they should do that. I'm curious if that happens. We're seven minutes away. We're actually just going to let this podcast keep going

for seven more minutes. We're going to just talk about something. College basketball. Let's talk about college basketball. Well, there's so much more football to talk about including saquon by the way because yeah if saquon were to if they were to franchise saquon i mean that if you look at the running back market now there's pollard just like just get like a fourth round pick at running back you'll be just fine well i mean obviously that's that's your famous anti-running back take despite playing with adrian peterson in russian and jamal charles and and jamal and then we set the record for

for uh two 1100 rushers nfl history in carolina i saw my brightly watch from that thank you jonathan stewart jenny williams i actually didn't know that that was that you were part of that one i guess i've been part of of course like multiple record-setting offensive lines and i'm like anti-running back well maybe that's telling because uh no one would know more about that success of a running game than the guys who do the blocking but i i do think if you look at the list saquon is so by far the next guy is is like miles sanders so if you're the giants i actually do feel like there's such a scarcity like someone would i think actually overpay for barkley and if the giants lose barkley i know i

know the thing about renee max i know that barkley's injury prone you can't pay him this is what the franchise tag is for there he is such a huge piece of their offense he is the guy that they should be franchise tagging because if they don't have him what do they have on offense well i certainly think that that franchise tagging barkley is better than francis has in day on jones of course and the number is super low for running backs it's 10 million dollars like the like the cowboys are paying zeke more than that to suck to be a backup to the guy they already franchised yeah i i just feel like it would be such a it would be such a crime if they ended up losing barkley because they they dicked around with daniel jones

who isn't even good um i'm i'm with you so we keep refreshing Twitter here. Five minutes. Five minutes to go. Do you want to get into the... Oh. All right. Well... News break? Yeah. They have a long-term deal.

There's no numbers out yet. Wow. Garofalo. Mike Garofalo, former Giants beat reporter. I love it. They said he had six fourth quarter comebacks in his career and make it seven.

God. That's great. He's only had six in his career and he's in his fourth season. Oh boy. What is his number? How bad is his number going to be? Wow. Oh boy.

Oh boy. Man. So this is it for so daniel jones back in uh it's a four year it's a four year extension in new york four year extension it's gonna be like 160 right just a basic 160 probably four years i'm reading the same god that's probably two years i bet in the end it's gonna be a two-year deal. Like Geno Smith's deal ended up being, it was announced like a three-year 105. It ended up being one year for $40 million, essentially. So, all right, well. Wow.

I mean, they've just locked in on the third best quarterback in their own division for four years and top of market. That's tough. That's, that's tough. That is a tough, that's tough news for the giants. So now they're going to stare. I assume they're going to franchise Saquon in the next three minutes.

Yeah. That would be dumb. Not to. Yeah. I'm curious. Do you want to say this is great. The survey for next time then, buddy,

I don't know. Bold predictions. I mean, you can push basically guys, a survey came out. Uh, the NFL PA basically guys a survey came out uh the nflpa put out a survey of uh where they ranked a bunch of stuff and it was pretty funny and i don't know i mean what i feel like we've consumed with court okay four year 160 yeah so four year 160 the basic uh and they will attack saquon barkley yeah yep that's right wow all right so we got

there we've we got it so there are there wow interesting so they're basically saying you know what we loved getting to uh getting beating the vikings in a playoff game and getting absolutely pounded in the second rounds that's our future we're gonna stick around with that That's a winning formula here in New York. Let's, let's, let's log in for four more years of that big blue. I just got whatever. I mean, okay. Yeah.

I don't think we need to talk about the surveys. Everyone knows the Cardinals suck. The commanders are worse. We'll get back to that. I wonder why, how long the rats in Jacksonville lasted. We're going to get more good. We're going to get deeper into that.

We're not going to talk about being afraid of milk in the Kentucky quarterback. I just don't think we have time. Are you a March Madness guy, though? Do you get into March Madness? Yeah, my point of entry is my Maryland Terrapins. If they're good, I tend to check in. Are they one of the 18 Big Ten schools

that are making the postseason every year? They sure are, because it's a real conference with real good teams and all kinds of sports penn state is like net 67 and oregon's like net 44 and penn state's in oregon's out like awesome i love from beating maryland yeah what because they just beat maryland is that why it's like you just want to use two best wins arizona and m and Maryland this season. Yeah, I like UCLA. They're good.

Yeah, they lost, but their best defensive player, defensive player of the year, might have tore his Achilles this past weekend. Yeah, that's tough. Can I give you one quick gambling Pac-12? Please. So Oregon is the fourth seed in the Pac-12 tournament.

They're plus like 1,200 to win the Pac-12 tournament. Oregon's the only team outside of UCLA and Arizona that can win this thing. They have a good team. They just don't play well for 40 minutes. They can be really good. Small problem. They've beaten Arizona.

They played the Bruins close twice, but they have a bye. They'll play Washington State on Thursday because they'll beat Cal because Cal's 3-27. And then they play UCLA without Jalen Clark, probably. He's not going to play this weekend, Mick Cronin said. And if they beat UCLA, they get Arizona most likely. Like, for that value, it's pretty good.

You can also hedge out of it at some point. I know. I kind of like Oregon in that spot. So, this Daniel Jones contract, just boom. pretty good you also hedge out of it at some point like i know i kind of like organ in that spot um so this daniel jones contract just i know i feel like we keep like trying to move the conversation and then it's like just back to jones back to lamar i just oh geez it does this is such this isn't even a time of the nfl calendar that usually matters like we're pre-free agency pre-draft like usually this is sort of like oh yeah like you know somebody quarterback gets tagged gert cousins gets tagged like somebody gets tagged like it's not a big deal but this was a crazy day like this was a frenzy

yeah it's fun man oh man the jones thing i just like 40 million dollars tough spot to be in for the giants right like this is the best quarterback you've had since not that long five years like dude eli was last good they went to play for 2016 it's been like seven years yeah i mean you're talking to a commanders fan we're we're looking at 35 years but it you're right i mean i i don. I mean, is there more room for him to go? I think if you're talking yourselves into Jones, like they didn't have any good receivers. Now they, you know, they can go build. Jeremy Fowler says comparisons for Dale Jones deal

or Dak Prescott and Matt Stafford with high guarantees. So that's like 120, 130 guaranteed. I mean, Dak and Dak and Jones are, I think about the same level. So that's, that's good for, that's good for Jones. Yeah.

But what is he? I mean, what is Jones? Like the 14th best quarterback in the league. Is that about right? Like that's, that's a lot of money to be spending. Maybe not even.

Okay. So 18th. Okay. So let's just, okay. So Josh Allen's better, right? Okay.

Is two, two is better, okay is two two is better right healthy two is better it's a question i mean okay toss up okay mac jones yes or no that's a good question still if we're just saying like at their best if daniel jones is best mac jones is best who are you taking to start your team with? I'd say I'd take Daniel Jones, I guess. Dak Prescott's better. Jalen Hurts is better. That's three, okay? Commander is who knows. Okay.

Are you taking Justin Fields or Daniel Jones? I think Fields. Okay. Cousins is better. Now, you might not take him to start your team right now, but Cousins is better than Jones. Yeah. Okay.

So is Goff. You put Goff up there? Better than Jones after than Jones. Yeah. Okay. So is Goff. You put Goff up there? Better than Jones after last year, yeah. Okay. That's now six. We're only in the NFC right now, by the way. Six in the NFC. Derek Carr, better.

Okay. So now we have seven quarterbacks alone in the NFC. Did you have... No, sorry. Right. I did the AFC already. I'm sorry. I haven't gone through the NFC.

I did one AFC division. Okay. That's seven. Okay. Geno Smith? I don't AFC already. I'm sorry. I haven't gone through the AFC. I did one AFC division. Okay. That's seven. Okay. Geno Smith? I don't know. Question. You're not doing any one of the Rams, Cardinals.

I mean, you're going through them all, but it's like, if you can name 12, we can name 10 that are obviously not even a question. So he's like 18th in the NFL. Yeah. You're paying him. Pat Mahomes makes $45 million a year, Matt. Right. Yeah.

Yeah, I know. It's insane. I mean, he's the third best quarterback in a division with Dak Prescott and Sam Howell. Like, that's what we're talking about. Like, this is not a franchise quarterback. Yeah. It's crazy, man i i don't know it's like i get it because it's your guy you drafted him he took some big strides

dable obviously he seems to click with him but i don't know man pretty wild all right what a day what a day jeff what a roller coaster i feel like we were all over the map. We just tore up our rundown. Yeah, Lamar came in first. Yeah, this was fun. Just on the fly. It's like a radio show. You just tear the rundown up as news happens. I love it.

All right. All right, we're back next week. Free agency next week. Back to Mexico. Well, no, I'm not going back to Mexico. I like working. I'm back at work. My wife doesn't sometimes.

I like being back. I like talking sports born to talk it's the best man alright Powered by the Varsity Podcast Network talk to you guys next week have a great one everybody