Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Is Shedeur Sanders Getting A Fair Shot And More Nfl Headlines

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

Geoff Schwartz is back to shine some light on the TRUTH about Shedeur Sanders. Are the Browns setting him up to fail, or is he just not good enough (yet)? Also, Terry McLaurin and Trey Hendrickson get new deals. but Micah Parsons is still waiting... and Jerry Jones is still a scumbag. Joe Burrow has a new mentor, Justin Herbert has a new boo, the Giants have a new savior, and the Banned Topics List has two new entries. All that and more on Geoff Schwartz is Smarter Than You. Be sure to follow the podcast on whatever listening platform you prefer to be notified whenever a new episode is released, subscribe to @FootballAmericaShow on YouTube to watch video episodes, and leave a rating, comment, or tweet @GeoffSchwartz to let him know what you think of the show! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, welcome with Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you. Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you. It's presented by Draft Kings, Draftings. The Crown is yours. Today is Tuesday, August 26th. I am Jeff Schwartz alongside Gabe Goodwin and Gabe. We have finished the preseason. We have takes abound.

College football regular season starts this week. I am going to Eugene Oregon to watch Morgan Ducks play. Taking the kids, I know you are going to the Coliseum, unfortunately, to watch USC. Is this the first game of USC's ever played against an FCS opponent? I don't, don't pop quiz me like that, man. FBS opponent? Saying hello to you first thing in the week and you're trying to give me trivia questions?

I don't know. Straight to USC slander immediately. So we'll cover a little bit of college football at the end of the show. But first, we have to start with the National Football League. And Gabe, you're going to make me very angry, I think. We have a passion of George today about some of these topics. Because there are some fools on the internet that are saying some things that they know better. They know better, Gabe.

Well, I was going to dance around it. I was going to be coy, but I think let's get right to it. It's not the greatest college football player of all time. We decided that. The people have spoken, that's Tim Tebow. But one of the maybe the top 10 college football quarterbacks of all time has become an analyst and a bit of a foil to you at times. I know we both respect a great deal of his career, but he has some takes you disagree with, including this one. Shador Sanders is set up for failure in Cleveland because he's playing with fifth string linemen out there in preseason.

He has no chance to succeed because who are these guys fifth stringers trying to block for him? Okay. So, Gabe, the number one problem I have, all right, with a lot of things we've seen in social media, it stems from this, is people saying easily disprovable things as fact. Okay? Like, that's a problem we have on the internet now. And it started about eight years ago, maybe nine years ago now, we just say things that are false as truths,

knowing that they're false, just hoping no one either facts checked you or no one decides to take the time to prove you're wrong. I had time yesterday to prove this person wrong. In the entire rant that we saw on social media, which is then, of course, linked to a YouTube of a longer podcast episode, this person said many things that were just obviously wrong, okay? We'll get to the stuff about putting the fistering offensive lineman,

but the things that were said in there, like, for example, that Chedur Sanders played in the highest rated preseason game in the last 10 years is easily false because the Hall of Fame game this season was rated higher than the Browns game against the Panthers, the NFL network. I would imagine even that there were some games shown in this preseason on major networks, NBC, CBS, Fox, they were rated higher than a game on NFL network on like a Friday night. Okay. So like easily, things that are easily false, easily disprovable as lies used as facts.

That's a problem in our country. It's a problem in sports media. It's a problem all over the place, right? So when you start from that premise of multiple things that are wrong in the take that you're trying to give, I discredit you almost immediately. So let's get to the issue at hand that everyone seems to have. Shoulder Sanders didn't play with the proper personnel.

Sugar Sanders is a fifth round pick, game. A fifth round pick. That's what he is. Whether you disagree with that, we can have a debate on that. I thought he should be drafted higher. Maybe he shouldn't have based off his play. But fifth round pick is where he's at.

And in the depth chart, in the hierarchy of the Browns, Joe Flacco is one. Now, Kenny Pickett was two. He got traded. Dylan Gabriel was three because he was drafted ahead of Sanders and Sanders was four. And during training camp, the Browns handled Shreder Sanders reps no differently than anyone else in the National Football League for a fifth round pick and a four-string quarterback. This idea of open competition is a myth. We've talked many times about this.

There's no such thing as an open competition. It's not a thing, okay? NFL coaches say this all the time. There's no such thing as a competition. Now, I take that back. No one said to be absolute. There are times, there are competitions. But when in fact, you have a young player and you're drafted in the fifth round,

you're not ahead of a third round pick. And you have to do something that is so extraordinarily better, right, that's better than the third round pick to pass him. And Dylan Gabriel, just the way he plays, who's the third round pick, by the way, is never going to be bad enough, really, to pass. Now, you might be more talented at some point. That talent overtakes, Gabriel, which I think is certainly going to happen,

maybe at some point here. but they did nothing differently than any other team did for any quarterback in national football league. Open competition, coaches say it all the time. It's not a real thing because of salary, right? Certain guys are paid to start. Some guys are drafted to start. It's not a thing.

And for RG3 to pretend that competition's a real thing and then pretend the coach actually means it, it's just so disingenuous. Okay. Now, as far as who he played with, okay, he played with the guys that are on the string he plays with. He's a third string quarterback. He played with third string players.

Guess what? So, for example, to Tommy DeVito, who went like 17 of 20 in the preseason game in game three with the third string. There are plenty of opportunity centers had to make plays with the third string. He just didn't do it. You can watch the film. There's no way that RG threw any of these guys watch the actual film. There's plenty of opportunity.

Dan Rolovsky, go check out of social media. I haven't broken it down. Like he has, he shows like seven plays. Not seven plays. Five plays. Like he's open here, he's open here, it's open. Get rid of the ball, man. It's not very hard.

And also, too, the same people that say Sanders is being screwed, right? He's being screwed by the Brown. It's a conspiracy. Are the same people who said, who think, by the way, that Sanders is really a better player than he's shown so far. And by the way, Sanders is a fifth round. Again, I'm going to repeat this many times. Fifth round pick. He looks like a fifth round pick.

Totally fine. A good game, game one. A bad game, game. three, that's what a worky season is. It's what a preseason is. But the same people who think he's this good of a player, right? He's in this pedestal up here. If he's that good, guess what, Gabe, he should play well against backups playing with backups. Like, he should be elevating everyone around him and himself if he, in fact, is this good as you think he is, right? But he didn't, he didn't play well. And that's okay. It's okay to say standards has things to work on,

which is certainly the case for a lot of rookie football players. But the easily disprovable things of like fifth round fifth fifth fifth string offense alignment there's no such thing there's three units okay most in camp you have like 17 18 offense alignment most often you rotate guys through there's a first string a second thing and a third string a couple stragglers that they're pop in the third string and rg three saying things like he played with the ninth and tenth interior offense alignment those are the fifth string guys buddy there's three interior alignment that play every single snap a center and two guards 10 of those guys that equals three strings Plus one extra.

There's no fist. So those are the things, Gabe, that drive me crazy about any of these arguments. It's like easily disprovable things that you can say someone should know better to put into an argument. It makes you look dumb and it makes it look like a weak argument, which it is anyways. And the fact is that Shadur Sanders was treated no differently than anyone else in the same position. If his name was Joe Smith, Jeff Schwartz, Gabe Goodwin, we would never talk about it. Never talk about it. We're talking about essentially Dwight Shrut, okay?

We're talking about the assistant to the assistant, okay? We're talking about a guy who is fighting to be third string. It was at the moment, right? Third string. He's now obviously fighting for a backup job because he pick is cut. We were arguing about a fifth round pick who was fighting to be the third quarterback on the depth chart. Like, come on. It's so silly, Gabe.

No question. You're also leaving out to be the third string quarterback of the best. rounds. So we're talking about really not that high on the relevance chart as soon as the season gets going. But I will say this and I want to throw something back at you. You have sort of preached to me that, you know, where a quarterback gets taken or really any player gets taken, kind of seals their fate for at least one contract. You kind of, for better and for worse, you kind of can't outlive where you were taken until it's time to get that next deal. And for some guys and Kenny Pickett may be an example, you are given certain opportunities or benefit of the

doubt that you're playing doesn't really actually warrant. And so- Absolutely. So Shador slipped to the fifth for reasons that may not have had to do with his play. And why should we have to box him into that area instead of just saying, guys, clearly better than Dylan Gabriel? Well, but he's clearly not at the moment, right? All right. No, first round bias is a thing I've talked about.

I'm a seventh-round pick, buddy. I live first round bias. Like first round bias lasts forever. Like there are guys, I remember at the end of my career looking at like rosters and being like, this guy stinks. Why he's on a roster? Oh, he's the first round pick.

Right. Like they continually have these options. Kenny Pickett's on his third. Kenny Pickett took a knee in the Super Bowl. He ended the game with the ball in his hand. And he's on his third team now since February. Kenny Pickett also cost me some money because I bet under two and enough quarterbacks will attempt to pass.

And he attempted a pass on fourth down, believe it or complete a pass on fourth down. which is hilarious, but nonetheless, I digress. He's on his third team now. Like, if that was a fifth round pick, seventh round pick, he would not be on his third team. And if he was, he would be a fourth round, excuse me a fourth string guy, third string guy, right?

Like, he's not a priority backup like he is in the NFL now. So draft slot bias matters. But again, like, if you just look at the competition of any third round pick against a fifth round pick, right? In the same position. It's different on the offensive line where you might be a third round pick to play left tackle and the fifth round pick might play right guard. That guy might play so well right guard

He starts and the third round pick doesn't They're not the same position right So we're talking about the exact Which really only happens Maybe running back right Who do they rotate though right Tight end rotates But quarterback where it's specifically

One guy's on the field So Sanders have to do so much more Than Gabriel to overcome him Early in his career And the fact is Dylan Gabriel Is not a quarterback Who's going to do a lot of things bad

Okay just not what he is He's an older quarterback, put a ton of football. Oregon, for as much as we talk about the up-tempo they have and maybe the way to play, the style of offense they have. It's a very pro-style offense. What Will Stein does there, passing game attack, very pro-style, quarterbacks in charge of protections, very West Coast offensive-based. Sanders at Colorado, what he did at Colorado, the offense they had, I don't even know what

you can call it offense. It was basically, hey, Shadur, make us a play and throw it up to Travis Hunter offense. It terribly designed offense. So Sanders is coming in the NFL, I think, really behind when it comes to just offense, knowing offense, learning offense, running offense. So Gabriel was never going to be bad enough to be overtaken. Now, I thought that Sanders could play better in the preseason when given the sort of the green light is on, like go play buddy and would be better than Gabriel.

And I think game one, he was really good. He was. Game three, he wasn't very good. Gabriel was fine in game two. In game two, he was okay through bad interception, right? Like, not terribly good. And then he played better in game three. So nothing Sanders did.

And again, he has to be almost extraordinary to pass the guy in front of you as a rookie. And that's just the way the cookie crumbles. If you're upset, he's a fifth round pick. Certainly fine to be upset. But that's over now. That happened. You got to give it up. You got to move on.

And for people like RG3 and others, that, you know, a random Twitter follower with 200 people, I got off a great tweet. It's like 5 million impressions. I knew what I was doing. Like, look, come on. That person knows nothing. I just wanted to be funny. be sarcastic. But the people that should know better that continually perpetuate this idea that

he was screwed and it was sabotaged, Gabe, the head coach of the Browns, who we all think is a good coach, two-time coach of the year, took Baker Mayfield to the playoffs, Joe Flocko the playoffs. He had to answer actual question about whether or not he sabotaged a fifth-round quarterback and the ability for him to play at a high level. Like, this is the reason why people said these distractions or why should they do not get drafted? I don't know if I buy into all of that, but the fact that a coach has to answer a question about a fistring quarterback and whether you're sabotaging him is ridiculous.

It's why coaches don't want to deal with these type of distractions, right? You don't want to be asked that question that you're preparing now, obviously, for the regular season. So, yeah, first round bias back to the point is absolutely a thing. We know it is. But again, Senators, I want to make this point for the 100th time, was treated no differently. Dylan Gabriel will play with three of those five offense alignment as well. You know, like you play with a lot of the same wide outs and running backs and tight ends. The chart is up there.

Archie, do you put a chart up there that showed all these things and they claimed it wasn't what we were looking at? And so, I think that we have to stop doing this. And also, too, what I think it kind of stinks for Shadur is he's not doing this himself. His dad's not doing this. Like Deion said nothing. We don't hear anything from the family about Chudor, right? Deon's preparing to play this weekend against Georgia Tech. um you know should sure said everything like he should he's been a total pro through his whole process

and yet now people are speaking for him and for his family and it makes shoulder look bad even though it's not his fault right Gabe he said nothing but you have to listen to all these people defend him for some odd reason and feel a need to to go either way like i mean the joseny Anderson tweet like these are just just even even so far as is as people that were saying that Shiloh, his brother, shouldn't have been ejected for throwing a punch. What universe are we living in? He threw a punch. That's an injectable thing in the NFL.

You get thrown at the end of a little bit of a thing, a tussle back and forth. As the reps are looking at you that plays over, you swing and hit someone in the helmet. You are out of the game. That is a universal NFL rule. Tom Brady, your boy, Tom Brady could do it. He's being thrown out of the game. You're out of the game. You're done.

Patrick Mahomes could do it. You're out of the game. So like the pandering, I don't get it because the draft is over now, right? And again, I give Dion Sanders credit. He has been totally quiet about any of this stuff. He has not raised an issue. He's been a total pro about it. And I don't get like the pandering to the Sanders family.

Why are we pandering to Deon over this? Like just call like it is. Just talk about his son's play like you would anyone else. He's the same as every fifth round pick. Okay. I can tell you're kind of hot right now. Should I turn the temperature up a little bit more? Let me let me hear what you're going to do now.

Let's hear. Well, I'm just, you know, that was great. The whole point of this show is that you take the takes out there from people who maybe got a little over their skis, maybe forgot a fact or two. It might be friends of ours, might be people we like in general, but they get something a little wrong. Now, one of the guys I like to bring up around here, my friend, I think he's one of the smarter guys in the business. But for some reason, you take issue with a lot of what Kurt Benkirt says. all right and he's he's hot on jackson dart so we just talked about one kind of irrelevant rookie quarterback now it's time to talk about jackson dart a very

busy quarterback room with the giants i would add uh three four ish guys that could be the starter kurt's going all in on jackson dart based on preseason film uh can preseason film be how you turn a guy who's what third or fourth on the depth chart into the starter does that work the way he wants it to work? It always does. You know, we know preseason translates very well to the regular season. That we know is,

look, Jackson's daughter's looked apart so far, but he hasn't really been tested in the way that you, we need to be tested to start national football like immediately. But part of this too is that, is that priors matter a lot, right?

If you think Jackson Dart, I don't follow Kirk, I have no idea what his pre-draft, you know, thought on, on Jackson Dartwood. Well, he nailed Jaden Daniels last year. Let's just give him his flowers.

He absolutely nailed it. He was out on the limb when everyone else was trashed him and obviously that pick worked out. I mean, I don't think people were trashing. I think they said Caleb Williams was going to be better than him. I don't know if trash is the right word, but sure. Fair enough.

But Jackson Dart, I mean, okay, he's not going to start, though, so he can say all those things he wants. Russell Wilson is going to start. And they kept James Winston, which I thought they weren't going to do. So it looks like Jackson Dart's third on the job chart, which is interesting to me. And I don't know if I agree with that. I think that Winston doesn't provide you very much if Russell gets hurt,

unless the goal is obviously to basically wait to play dark you have to play at some point to see he's got to play at some point um but maybe the idea is give him half a year to just learn how to be a pro um look i mean it's simple as like just learning how to prepare for a game week in the NFL jacks darts never done him before cam warr can't have to do it now like he's playing immediately as a rookie that's that's a lot of pressure to do that now and can and jackson dart and jackson dart and can't and jackson dart and i didn't i have not watch enough about him to give a proclamation of whether or not he's going to be the next great quarterback national football league. But he's not going to start. So Russell Wilson starting and James will be the backup and he'll get a jersey on Sundays and he'll play if

those two guys get hurt in front of him. So I have not, I guess I'll defer to Kirk here. He's the best quarterback in Giants history. Okay. That's very kind of you to give Kurt the difference. I don't follow him. I have done a good job of ignoring. I like when you, I kind of like when you guys go back and forth. I like to say more of that. I try not to do it as much. I just couldn't help myself with RG3 thing. I just couldn't. I bit my tongue long enough with some of this stuff. I couldn't help myself. I was just sitting at home by myself. My kids this weekend, we're at the beach. I just was sitting there on Sunday just going back and forth with people. Well, I'm going to just encourage the fans of this show, especially those now watching on YouTube.

Just leave a little something in the comment section. I like spicy Jeff. Give me some ammo. I'd like to spice them up every now. You see something that you think's going to trigger him? Give it to us because in truth, I'm messing with him, but in truth, we do get smarter when we show Jeff these flawed takes. And then he teaches us something about football. So here we go. Holdouts.

They're always the off-season storyline. Yeah, yeah. They're always a little too simplified, a little too basic. We've got two holdout stories with stars. One is concluding nicely. I guess if you're a fan of the commanders, Scary Terry's back three-year, $96 million dollar deal. Obviously, that offense added Debo,

Samuel, now they got Terry back. They look scary as hell. Yeah. What do you think we should expect from them now that he's back and did missing preseason matter? So I'm actually surprised that our text thread that we have with, I think it's five total people, two are commanders fans and no one text the threat about, about Terry McLaurin's deal. I was kind of stunned.

I'm not going to lie there. I thought we'd be celebrating in the streets with two of our members. Look, this makes sense to do this deal. It's basically what it will amount to be a two-year deal, I would imagine, right? Most of these deals end up not being as big as we think. They gave him one less year than I think they would like, and he got a little less money, but he'll have Freedency much sooner now. He's 30 years old, 31, 32, like this is sort of the perfect amount.

They need him, in my opinion. You want to grow Jan and Daniels and to becoming the superstar that we think he can become. I'm very high. I think Daniels is legitimately going to be a superstar in this league. You would Kurt Benkert think that. That's right. Yeah, I mean, I'll line with him there. I do actually think his football that he sells is kind of interesting.

I kind of want to buy one and see him like a football that throws well on the beach. I'll give him a shout out to that. There's a good idea. Good idea for him. So nonetheless, his ads are, I like his ads on the internet. I see them all the time. Like I'm like, oh, cool, I want to buy that football. Nonetheless, back Jane Daniels.

I think he's legitimately going to be a superstar. I don't buy this second year, sophomore slump. thing that we've been seeing around the internet. And having McLaren there, while Jane Daniels is cheap, right, he's still on a working contract is a win-win for everyone. They handled it both well, right? Terry McLaurin did the hold in and my ankle was hurt for a little bit. No really animosity.

They work it out. I will say this, though. We see guys that miss the preseason, their injury rate ticks up a tiny bit. So I think there's a concern just naturally about that, right? If you miss training camp, Michael Parsons, Dr. Hendrickson, Terry McClearns, and, Terry McLaren, is there a chance of injury risk a little bit higher? Yeah, I think so. But you have two weeks to prepare, though, right?

You have this week. You have next week. So that to me is not a concern. And I, no, no, they play Thursday night, so less time to prepare than you wouldn't. Because they play Eagles, right? Thursday night, that's the first game of the year. That's disprovable comment you made, but I don't have the ability to disprove it. I think they play the Eagles week one.

No, Giants week one. They play NFC East opponent week one. All right. I'm going to, you keep talking. I'm going to double-check this. He has plenty of time to prepare, I think, to be ready to play. It works out for both sides, and I'm happy they got. Now, Trey Hendrickson, obviously.

They sign with the Bengals. They open at home against the Giants one o'clock game. There we go. So he has two weeks to prepare. Trenner's sign with the Bengals. The Bengals do this thing where they do not guarantee the second year or even the third year of a deal. I believe they did, they did do that for Chase, for Jamar Chase. and Joe Burrough, extraordinary circumstances.

I think Trahandson was one of those guys. They would refuse to do it. So he took his salary this year from, I think, 15 up to about $30 million for one-year deal. He becomes a free agent again next season. And if he gives you another 17 sacks, he's probably gone. I don't know what you're going to do about it. He's going to want even more money. And paying him a two-year deal, let's say, for $60 million,

feels like something you should do if you want to win a championship. If you're really committed to be. to being the best team you can be, having a guy who's had 17 sacks two years in a row, and mind you, before that, I think he had seven in an injury year that had 13 to 14 the year before that, so five straight years of,

four and a half years of straight production. You pay for that, right? And you want the on your team, especially with the defense, isn't very good. And having committed more than one year, in my mind, would be worth it. Obviously, for the Bengals, it wasn't. But he's back in the building

and any help they can get on defense. Yeah, I mean, except they are cheap and they don't want to pay good players. And who knows if this will make the difference for them, as you've pointed out, they can't block. So, you know, nice that they're going to chase a quarterback around. But this might not make any difference in Cincinnati in a current AFC. Let's go to a couple other names, though, that you brought up. First of all, does getting Terry back put him and Debo in the correct positions, X and Y? Like, what does that mean for that offense?

Make me a little bit smarter there. And then I want to, yeah. Actually, why? Are you, are you okay this morning? What do you? I know. Well, I'm just thinking Debo plays a very specific way, which is to say very versatility, but I don't know that everyone does that. So does this get him into the right place? Well, yeah, I mean, I think you on Devo is sort of that intermediate target, right, middle of the field. Yeah. Sort of slash-ish guy, play the slot.

You'll come out of the backfield a little bit. Confused defense. And Teram Corn, obviously, is your outside, your burner guy, right? like down the field making play. So it allows you to pair them together on the same side. It really costs fits for a defense. So having those guys together, well, I think free up maybe Debo even more.

We're going to double McLaurin or literally bracket him or have eyes to him. It allows Debo, my mind, to have more opportunities for one-on-ones. Beautiful. See, I kind of inspired that smart comment. I didn't say it myself, but I kind of, that was like a nice bump set and then you spiked it. That was great.

All right. Let's talk about the other holdout. that everyone wants to get into. Micah Parsons was, I think, literally asleep on a trainer's table in the last preseason game. This seemed a bit performative to me, but maybe he fell asleep here. Point he's trying to make is like, I ain't part of this, guys. So seemingly not much has gotten better in Dallas.

I know how people on first take might view something like this, but how would a teammate view something like this? Everyone understands contract situations. People don't tend to touch each other's money. But when you make it this obvious and you basically tell everyone to go F themselves, do teammates start to get rubbed the wrong way? No. I think teammates want him on the field to play and they want Jerry to pay Michael Parsons. So this is over.

That's my guess. Because look, in the end, we don't care about much except can you help us win on Sundays? Because if you help us win on Sundays, we all make money and we're all happy. The thing that makes everyone happy in the building is the ability to win. And when you win, not only are you happy, it feels like the week of work you put in paid off, right? And even, by the way, like everyone in the building feels better. The ticket sales department, the finance department, like the marketing, the PR people, the chefs. Like, everyone's happier when you win, right?

You put all this work in to accomplish that goal every week. And so you want all the best players there. And a lot of players support their teammates when it comes to getting the money to get them on the field. And at some point, players would want Walt Parsons back. I would imagine after this week they say, hey man, like come back and let's try to win. But I think a lot more on the other side here. Because look, not only is Dallas not paying him an extension.

Jerry's going about this in a pretty slimy way, right, Gabe? Where Jerry Jones said, we agreed on this deal in this meeting. And Michael Parsons said, no, we did not. You have to talk to my agent. And Jerry refused to talk to his agent. which is probably illegal to negotiate without the agent who is in charge of his contract negotiation. Illegal, by the way, like in the CBA, not like he's not getting arrested for that. Right.

But not allowed the CBA. But currently the NFLPA has no president. Our lawyers got fired just a complete dumpster fire. So who knows if they're paying attention right now. But, you know, Jerry essentially thinking that Parsons is dumb enough to not include his agent and do a handshake deal to me is the big story here. is that Jerry's refusal to acknowledging good faith negotiations is the problem here. And that the fact is that Jerry continues to try to be cute about this. No, we got to where I come from, we have a handshake deal.

What is that even, Jerry? He has an agent. You got to talk to the agent. This is the way it works. The commanders figured this out. The Bengals figured this out. Talk to the freaking agent. Get the deal done.

Side note, Cowboys, Docker, Netflix, very good. Recommend it. It's awesome. It's fantastic. But, like, also, too, it's kind of funny because when you watch the documentary and you look at the roster that Cowboys had, best quarterback, best running back, best offensive line, line, receiver, best quarterback. It's like, no shit. Don't you want to keep the best pass rusher? Like, this is how you win championships.

Keeping the better players. How you win championships. How you won in Dallas first time around? it wasn't a big, a big, you know, magic act. You traded Walker, you draft all these guys. They ended up being really good. You went and got, you went and got Dion, you went to got Charles Haley, and boom, your team was much better. That's what you're, you're stunting your growth by not paying Parsons, and you're doing it in really a scumbag way.

So I don't know what happens here. I don't, does Parsons have the stones to sit out for the first month of the season? At what point does he need to come back to make sure he accrues his years to first. free agency towards pension. At what time does Brian Schoenheimer, the new head coach there? Like hey, hey, come on, Michael, we need you in the building, right? We need you to play. We need to help us win. So many questions there, but the number one point I want to make here is that Jerry is being a comeback. Okay, that's come across loud and clear. I don't, I think that's kind of an evergreen statement. And, you know, my years as a fan, that's a safe take on any contract dispute

that involves the Cowboys. If you say what you just said, I think you're going to be right at least half the time. Yeah. I'm just glad to hear that the players, you gave me a player's perspective, which is like, we're not resentful of Micah Parsons. We want him on the team. Like we want him to get paid. They're not seeing it as a zero sum game or why is he being treated differently.

They know he's different and they want him out there and they want him to get paid. Absolutely. Again, if it was Jeff Schwartz doing this, they'd be like, bro, like, fuck, man. Don't laugh too hard, Gabe. Geez, that was, that was me. Well, I just, the idea of you asleep on a trainer's table, it's just funny to me. But I think, and look, I mean, look, Parsons has like no leverage, right? Because he's under contract.

So the leverage of laying on the table and sleeping and looking like miserable is just another, another way to, I think, make your point. So, yeah, I don't know what happens. I have no idea what happens in the end of this saga. For close listeners of the show, you know, when you mentioned the idea of you doing that, You know, that looked, if you were lying down on a table like that, that's what I imagine you looking like at an EDM concert. You're just laying down, tired. I sit.

I have many photos that me sitting on couches at EDM. I think my wife's done with those, though. I think we, she went to EDC this year in May. Oh. And that might have been like the end of like, she only made it to one night out of two. She, I think that's the end of the EDM concert. Look, we got older kids now. We can't be, I don't if we go to EDM concerts.

I mean, we got, we got sporting events to go. But we had this new school game. I'll tell you, I went to my son, is at a new school. I went to the first football game. It's like a football factory high school. Like it's Providence Day, like we're really good. And it was interesting to be at the football game Friday night.

And just, it's just a different way of football than I grew up with in my, my palisades high school. Look at, you reach the highest heights professional football all the way from SoCal, where, you know, people are, at your high school,

people were more known for acting and singing and making big movies. And then you become this NFL guy. Yeah. I was a Steve, also basketball, Steve Kerr, right? We have an interesting sports. It's Amy Tras,

Steve Kerr, my brother and I, Kiki Vandaway, Mike Silver, works for Sports Illustrated. It's like an interesting little sports group there, former Palisades High School. Taco from the show, Dave.

Really? Yeah. LMFAO. I think everyone from the LMFO went to, It's a Forrest Whitaker. Like it's like, it's like an interesting. Yeah. Yeah.

Genie Bus. Jeannie Bus is a Palisades grad as well. So that's enough Palisades high school history. If you're on YouTube, we're not going anywhere. If you're part of audience, we'll be right back to cover some more, some more sports topics. All right. Is this when I bring us back or are you bringing us back, Jeff? Because I'm on camera right now for the YouTube audience.

Look at me. You drink in my coffee. It doesn't matter. We're back. Okay. Yeah, baby. We're back from break. It's very early for Gabe.

I'm glad he made it up early, got his hair done. Thank you. I know we've talked before Gabe getting away from the morning routine. Very lovely. All right, Gabe. What do we got next? It took us too long. I've done a couple of these now in the preseason with you.

We really have not spoken about the Chiefs, but Pat and the podcaster actually played in preseason. Some might question the intelligence of such a decision. What did you? I was surprised to see. them out there together in preseason. What did you make of those guys playing in preseason for the Chiefs? They played three drives in game three. Pat, the podcast, are so funny. I'll tell you what, man, again, preseason, it is what it is, but the structure of the chief offense look completely

different. They're taking shots down the field. They hit a long home run. They're working the running back out of the backfield. Then they drafted this young kid Smith who can do that. Travis Kelsey, look good, the offense. That was a very good performance for the preseason. If that's what the offense is striving to be this season, it will be, they're trying to be basically the pre-COVID offense, the big Tyree Kill offense, the down-the-field offense. If they can do that this season, watch out.

Like, they're going to be really good again. And they were good last season, but it would be a different style of why they're good this year. And that's what I took away from that. That's it. They threw the ball down the field. They play action pass, big home run shot. I like seeing it and that is what they're going to try to do this. He's and can execute a high level.

They're going to be really good. Okay. So you don't think that this may be as a sign that they're a little disappointed or nervous about the way things ended last year, that they have some ground to make up, that maybe that podcast host is, you know, not the weapon he was just two years ago. Like, they're a little nervous. Well, the podcast host admitted that he might have been a little bit. little bit a little bit chubby importantly for his figure last year he said you know last

season he was a little bit you you missed us didn't you um he spent two summers ago i guess i missed it hanging out hanging out with his with his girlfriend as anyone would i don't blame him for that and then this year he looks a lot better he looks in better shape and it looks a little thinner i've by way caught up now on the justin herbert madison beer stuff i'm now fully caught up so good for just for just we covered that i think last show didn't we i would like to cover it more. Are we ready to do that? You're saying we're good on the chief. So here we are. Here we go. Justin Herbert and his beautiful girlfriend, Madison Beer, who we did not know who she was a week ago. Now I'm fully, fully up to speak. I'm in. It's been really, it's been a really

hard research. I'm not going to lie. It's been pretty tough, but I've been able to do it. Um, okay. So my favorite thing about this picture is that in the comments, people are talking about the leg sleeve, okay? And they think it's like a swag thing when it's just to prevent swelling in a body part during training camp. That's my favorite thing about this is the leg sleeve column. It's like it's not accessory. He's just wearing it because maybe his knee is swollen or his hamstring hurts or his, you know, his calf needs swelling a little bit.

Like that's all it is. It's not the one that people have eaten up the leg. Like they're like talking about this swag thing. Is it a, no. It's just like, how can she date a guy who wears a leg sleeve? It's my favorite part with the whole thing. And so, um, Good for Justin.

You know, $40 million back in Madison beer. And it feels like what you should be doing if you're an L.A. celebrity like that. No question. It's what you should be doing. Ready for a big brain take? Yeah. All right. Here's an original.

Hank and I were talking about this right before this show. You mentioned the comments. She's got a pretty active fan base. They're pretty online. They get the conversation going. Yeah. Apparently, they're watching ball now. Sort of like the Swifties.

There's probably some cool nickname for someone who's last name is beer. I'm sure beer drinkers or some nickname they have. Those people are watching Chargers football. They're going to have takes. Those takes are not going to be as smart as your takes, but they're going to be honest. They're going to be fan takes. Those takes get filtered into the media. The media brings them to coach.

Coach has a little bit of pressure to think about things a little bit differently. Is it possible that Justin is using her fans to get more of what he wants on the field? personnel ideas. Could this all be Justin using that 5D chess? What is wrong with you? Who thinks I just don't have this brain capacity to think about these web moves like this? Okay. No, none of that. No, he's not using her fans. He's a Jim Harbaugh. He's an intimidating guy. It's a little scary to go in and say, hey, coach, I got some ideas. Maybe I was thinking about this. Yeah, but do you think Jim Harbaugh is going to listen to some internet fans of Madison beer, give him ideas?

You weren't listening. He's not going to listen to Internet goobers. Internet goobers are the ones who set the pace for the media these days. You know that. And the media is going to ask them questions. That's right. You see how it gets laundered on its way back to Coach. We just did it with the Shador stuff. That's how this works now.

Yeah, I guess that's fair. Come back to me on this one. I don't think the reporters who cover the charges are plugged into Madison Beer fans. Beer stands, beer fans, beer drinkers. Beer steins? Do you think they're actually, do you think her fans will be like Swifties and start watching football now?

I think no. It's the Chargers. No one's watching the Chargers play. Reportedly, Hank, that's already happening. Reportedly, these are, these fans are already commenting on the personnel that they get out there with Justin. They have thoughts. Our, is it Gen X?

What is Hank? Gen Z. He's Z, he's squarely in Z. Our Gen Z producer. would know such a thing. I would even know where to begin looking up Madison Beer fans and stands and what their thoughts are

other than the tweet about the leg, the leg sleeve is just throwing me here. So good for Justin, you know. Do you think any legs to this? Is this going to be like a love story that a couple years from now you get a big engagement

and a people spread like Josh Allen and Haley Steinfeld for their wedding? Is that the direction we're going here? What do you think? I sure hope so. I'm a Justin fan. I'm now a Madison. beer fan. I don't know what she does, but I'm a fan. Yes, I hope we're headed towards a wedding

what does she do. Doesn't matter. Who cares? You know what? She's she's the opposite of the band list. This show introduced a band list this season. I have a name. I want to add to the band list. Okay. Actually, two. First up on the band list preemptively, Tyler Loop. Who's Tyler Loop? Who's Tyler Loop? you said. Who's that? Yeah, exactly. Guess what? He's the kicker on the Ravens who everyone is going to try to hype up and talk about because of the previous kicker is no longer

there and the storyline of like let's care about a kicker in Baltimore is going to try to be a thing. It's not a thing. It's not allowed on this show. We're not talking about kickers. We're not talking about Tyler Loop. Band. Fair. Fair enough. I told someone by the way about our band list who's talking about the

Colts and they said they should add them to their band list as well. So I think we're making progress of making this the thing in the media. Absolutely, we are. Good segue. Another name that had previously been on the band list that's being banned again. Carson Wentz, I don't care which team he signed with.

It doesn't matter who he played for, what he did. I don't care. Viking second third stringer, doesn't matter. Carson Wentz, banned. Jeff, I know you love talking about him,

not allowed on this show. Last year was really hard for me because I had to root for Carson Wentz as a chief fan. He was previously on the band list. So for those who don't know, the band list, what's, it's Jordan Hudson, Colts, Kyle Pitts jokes, which will be over soon, I think. Trevor Lawrence, Tyler Loweop and Carson Wentz is our band topics at the moment. Of course, you can get off the band list for doing something extraordinary. No, not a few of those people. No.

I mean, are you going to watch the new Hulu documentary for Belichick and North Carolina? They're doing like hard knocks, but for North Carolina? I don't know about that. We'll see. We'll see what the first, you know, reviews are like on that one. That's going to take a little bit extra for me to watch. But can we talk about a guy who probably has six Hulu docs made about him right now?

I feel like every time I turn around, some thing is promoting him. Okay. Joe Burrow apparently has a new buddy, maybe mentor we could call him. As far as I know, this is real, he has struck up a friendship with Kevin Durant, and he is picking his brain.

on how to discuss his process and staying consistent and getting the most out of his teammates. This is what Joe Burrow is hoping to get from Kevin Durant. Jeff, I think this is a bad idea, but what do you think?

Good question. I don't know what to make of this. He's been a nice resource for me. I don't know, Gabe. I mean, I don't like it because I'll just say it because if I'm Joe Burrow to me is at risk of being the Kevin Durant of this era in the NFL and I don't say that as a good thing. Obviously he's talented.

Yeah. Like the best player but then eventually has to leave to go win a championship somewhere else type of thing. Yes. And like nobody really thinks actually there's a case to make that he's the best player of his generation. there's always going to be a guy ahead of him. And so I'm not sure. Yeah. And it could be other.

It's like Lamar and others are like in the conversation too. So I don't know if you want to be comparing yourself or your process to the guy who famously did that in the other league. Which great player, Kevin Durant. Yeah, he's the whole favorite. Maybe Joe Burrow was plotting his exit from the Bengals. He's talking to KD about how he left OKC. Oh, wow. How do you get out?

But see, the thing is, as a quarterback. I just went Gabe there. I just went Gabe. I like that. As a quarterback, though, you can't, like, there can't be two great quarterbacks.

He can't do what he did and, like, join the stuff of quarterback. He can't be the chief's backup. That wouldn't get him anywhere. But what if, like, what if a team, I'm telling what team is like sort of quarterback needy that would need a corner.

Like close to winning, but needs it one more piece of a quarterback. I'm sure we're going to come up with a team at some point. No, you're right. about that. He can't join a super team. Cleveland. Who means a lot of quarterbacks. He can't join a super team like that. I think, look, obviously, superstars like being around other superstars, I think.

That's why I hang out with you, with you. Just like, we're two superstars in our industries and we want to hang out together. All right, Gabe, we'll take one more break. Video viewers don't go anywhere. We're taking one more break for the podcast. Be back in a second. All right, Gabe, the camera's on me. So I guess that means I bring us back in. Let's talk some college football for a few minutes.

College football was back this weekend. Did you be a college football fan watch any minutes of college football this past weekend? I'm not answering that question. I plead the fifth, but I will tell you this. I'm making one exception to the band kickers rule. We are allowed to, in fact, we are mandated henceforth to speak about consee Matsuzaya. I don't know how to say his last name.

Matsuzawa. Matsuzawa. Hawaii's kicker. Okay. Apparently this guy from Japan taught himself how to kick on YouTube and then bombed a game winner in week zero for Hawaii. And so I support this man because what he is doing is pointing out how ridiculous kicking is that he comes from another faraway country with no football obsession that.

he just was on YouTube and was like, I don't know, that looks doable. And now is winning games as a kicker. It's invalidating the whole art of kicking. Go Matsuzawa. So what an incredible opening weekend of college football because we got everything the college football is. We had a game in Dublin that featured a ton of turnovers, okay? And then a weird ending because why not?

But also the first pass completion for Kansas State this season was to the right tackle. Okay, the ball was tipped and he caught it. That's forever going to be in the record book. We had a game, how about this game? We had a game between UC Davis and Mercer, okay? It was actually a big ESPN. It's an FCS kickoff classic. It was in Birmingham.

It was in the fourth quarter. It was 2317. There was a lightning delay. They scrapped the whole game. Both teams just went home. So the game just zero, zero. Just ended the game, never finished. It just like ended the game.

So college football. Game's over. Everyone has to get home. There's no, probably can't afford to change our flights. We're at FCS team. They just left. 90-minute delay. Game was over.

You mentioned Stanford, Hawaii ends. Hawaii's quarterback is limping. Literally limping on, Willis Reed, could not run off the field. Zika was that bad. Leeds him on a comeback. A kid who learned how to kick on YouTube, kicks a game winner against Stanford. Like a perfect start to coach football weekend.

And then this weekend, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, wall to wall. I will give you my picks for college football on Thursday with episode with Matt. I've locked in four wait, three wagers so far. I think I'll have a fourth for college football for the opening weekend. Try to keep your portfolio small. Don't want to have a ton to bet on. I won't probably bet in game and do some dumb stuff as well.

But that's my week zero cultural ball recap. Okay. I can't help myself but ask this question, though. We were talking about a kicker who taught himself how to play on YouTube. To the extent that that's true, are there any other positions on a football field that you can teach yourself on YouTube? I have one. A long snapper?

Yes. So, Jeff, since that's the case, I have to ask. I don't know how I've never asked you this. Did you ever consider just being the long snapper? I mean, you might have 10 more years left in your career. Okay. I was a long snapper in high school. Okay.

I did punt, field goal, everything. I was the backup in college, my entire four years, first stream backup for four years in college. I was a one-handed long snapper. Like one hand, like one hand, and they hate that because you want to do with two hands, but I was very good at the job. Like I was legit.

Like I practiced, I was a second string. I'd snap the ball and run down and try to make plays. I remember one time in college, I was, you know, When you snap the ball off and you're the first guy down in college, it's just the way it is with these kind of spread formations. You just happened to be first. And I was first down there.

And the guy caught the punt and then tried to juke me out. But I can't be jukeed. I can't move. I'm running in one straight line and not stopping at all. And I made the tackle. I actually tackled the guy in college because he was like trying to juke me out. And I just ran out. You're like, dude, I can't go for the fake.

I'm going this way. I'm like, correct. I'm running straight down. I joke him out with you. Buddy, you just just run away from me. So I got to do. But jukeying in place. I can't go.

I can't move anywhere. I'm in a straight line like a freight train, but he ain't going anywhere. But I was the backup for all four years. My offensive line coach in college hated it because I would always go out before games early with the long snappers just to kind of just hang out on the field essentially.

It wasn't going to snap in the game. And he hated that went out early. He hated so much. But I was a long snapper for, yeah, I got a video. During COVID, I decided to just try it again. I was bored. I have a great video of me longstop.

snapping, like into a net. I, I could do it pretty well. Okay. That's ringing some bells, but I feel like you haven't told this audience any of what you just said. So I now have follow-up questions. This is not how I meant to spend the time. We could be talking about this great week one of college football or Tim Tebow being named greatest college football player of all time. He's a saint. Instead, let's stick with this, this punt or long snapping. Did any coach in the NFL ever suggest that maybe that would be helpful for you or maybe you should work out with those guys

and did you ever consider that your career would be indefinite if you had had that skill? No, I can't cover kicks. I'm too fat and slow. So I couldn't do that. So that's a no. So you're saying every long snapper in the league can be very precise with the snap

and they cover kicks well and that that was what held you back? They better than, well, think about it. So, I'll tell you something. So, too, like I, you know, in the NFL, dude, I tape my fingers like this on this hand. My fingers were taped like this together, okay? I wore a big glove and then I wore an actual like hard cast that we took on and off. It was a slit down the side took on and off.

I can't snap like with a cast that goes to here and my fingers tape like this. I can't hold the ball. So I would have to cut that all off to like snap and then put it all. back on. So like I was never going to do to the. If I there were some teams I just like told them I could do it and during training camp they're like hey come out and like show me your you can long stop. I did fine but not good enough to obviously ever have a job doing it. I'm saying if you just gave up on playing guard and we're like hi Jeff Schwartz long snapper reporting for duty. Still still still still too fat to do that I think too fat okay got it got to be one

of those long snappers not not not not not ad job enough I'm going to find you the video I'm going to finance into you of my beautiful long snap I had. It was during like, I think I did it during COVID. I just fell myself outside doing a beautiful long snap in the front yard. Okay. All right. I look forward to seeing that while we have maybe five more minutes, let's just pay some bills here with some real college football talk.

I have a theory. And it's not a very well researched theory, but as we started the show, one does not have to research their takes every now and then. Here goes. In a college football world dominated by the portal. I believe that the key to being a real contender is having a guy at quarterback who's been with your program for a few years or grows with your program under the same coaching staff. And that the portal is a great solution to be relevant.

It might even make you very good. It can certainly win you a Heisman. But the way for a program to win is to bet on a guy and stick with him. and our preseason top 10 kind of looks like that to me. So punch holes in that take, but I feel like the portal has been really successful in many ways, and we're getting a little carried away at the quarterback position, and guys are starting to re-correct that.

Okay, so I know that we joke sometimes that your takes are just sort of to get me going. You do know college football, I think, pretty well. This is actual like a real game take about college football. You're exactly right, by the way. I did not see that coming. Look, the portal at the top, okay, is used in my mind, and we're seeing it now, is used to fill specific needs, okay? And that's about it.

Like the top program in the country, they're not bringing in portal players to be backups, right? To bring them to be, to fill in certain roles here and there. But we're seeing the top programs in the country still relying on high school. recruiting, building those players up, and those players becoming the core of your program. It's happening all over the country. And we're seeing even with like new coaches, we're like, you know, organ's a great example, right, Dan Lennan, in his fourth season. Every year, the portal numbers go down and down and down. Now, this year they're using a portal quarterback, but he was in the program last year, right? They got him as a true freshman from UCLA. It's his third year and

in the college football second year in the program. You're also just not going to find, I think, the quality quarterbacks as much anymore because those guys are getting paid to stay where they are, right? You're not going to find these, like Oregon got lucky. Chuck Kelly left and they had a relationship with,

with Dante Moore, and they went out and got him. And he's a five-star kid who was committed to Oregon and Dan Lannning for many, many years, and then a really year, essentially, then left, right? And then what's UCLA?

So like, there was a prehist relationship there, but you look around the country and you're right. A lot of the teams that are at the top are starting quarterbacks, they brought in and developed. You look at obviously Ohio State at the top of doing that. Texas is doing that as well, right? You know, Notre Dame is doing that.

Oregon's not. But again, they got a young kid. I don't know if that really counts as like a portal player. He is, right? Penn State, young player. Miami's not. They got Carson Beck after they got Cam Ward. So they're not programming that's doing that.

But you're right. But look at Miami's roster. Their roster is what I'm talking about. It's now the fourth year of Mario and all these guys, especially in the trenches that they've built up over the years are now becoming the stars of the team. Yes, you might go get a portal player here and there, but you're not relying on the portal.

And I think you're seeing that actually your favorite program at USC, looking rightly realized we can't build this team in the portal anymore. We just can't. We're not going to get the best players. It's too many portal players. We need to bring in young players and have them rise through our ranks. The best players of USC right now are those guys, right Gabe? No, Kamari Ramsey is a transfer.

He's maybe the best player on the team. general. He's a transfer. But think about the offensive players. And the offensive, like Elijah Page is really good, the left tackle. Like, he's a legitimate good player. Brought him in, developed him. And we're seeing a shift from a program like USC into developing those high school players.

If you see, like, that's why I'm down on Colorado to be honest with you. Like Colorado went heavy portal again for a third year in a row. Eventually you can't do that, man. You just can't. You can target individual players here and there. Oregon's done that. Ohio State's done that. right Caleb Downs like we're targeted we want a safety one Caleb Downs there was a roster

I mean a coaching change there let's get Caleb Downs but a lot of times man those core players I think have got to be guys you've you've developed essentially in your program okay great I'm not gonna keep talking then because I got one right and you just made us smarter to end this show we're pushing an hour I think we wrap here Jeff we'll come back to some of the things we talked about today and you've got picks to make with Matt in a couple days I do we will do the the south we will do the south. Would you like, would you like to see Gabe my video, my long sapping video before we end here? Let me see it as we as we play ourselves off. Bring out the outro music and let me see the snap. That's it. For our episode, we back next Tuesday with Gabe Matt on Thursday. Thank you, Gabe.

Thank you, Draft Kings. We'll see you guys. As we remember, rate, review, subscribe really helps our program here as we get my beautiful long sapping video up from 2020 COVID outside. It's a beautiful snap game. You're going to be pretty impressed. I have a feeling. Thank you. All right. Bye, guys. Thanks, Jeff.