Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - NFL Offseason Recap with Pete Prisco

Episode Date: May 25, 2021

Geoff is joined this week by veteran NFL analyst Pete Prisco who has covered the NFL for over three decades. They discuss the current state of the NFL including Julio Jones' and Aaron Rodgers' futures, Tim Tebow on the Jaguars, the player's dispute over the offseason program, and Pac 12 football. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

it's tuesday may 25th and welcome back to jeff schwartz's smartly appreciate you joining me for the show we have a great show pete prisco senior writer for cbs sports joins us and we talk everything we talk the nfl offseason program julio jones aaron rogers tim tebow we talk a little bit of pac-12 action because guess what everyone we're pac-12 guys so stick with us long enough you hear a little pac-12 action how to get the conference back to rolling before we get going on that phase three of the NFL offseason program begins today this week it is the OTA portion of of the NFL offseason program we know we've talked a lot about this on the show the NFL players have fought very hard to not have an offseason program and um it seems like their fight might not be working because a lot of players did show up for the

offseason program today i want to go over kind of what the offseason program is at least now in phase three and why i think there is still some value in the offseason program i feel like the nfl players are fighting um in an odd fight for this i don't really know what i mean the end game is not have the opposite program which i get because um you know no other leagues have a sort of um physical nature to the program um so phase three six hour days and you have you have practice essentially right you're in your helmets that's it and you're supposed to limit essentially right you're in your helmets that's it and you're supposed to limit contact but you kind of go through the motions yeah you run some plays

you kind of get things going and this this really benefits younger players right older players especially established veterans the the the Austin program for us and I've been in all these shoes that we're going to go over the Austin offensive program for players like an established veteran, which I was with the Giants, is enjoyable because we're around our friends. We're around our teammates, our friends. It's a good opportunity to bond. It's a good opportunity to build that team camaraderie. That's where chemistry is built, in my opinion.

It's kind of the offensive program. It kind of carries into the season. Obviously, winning plays a big part in the chemistry. But if you like each other, you tend to play a little bit better. So that's just kind of the process with which that starts is in the offensive program, is with OTAs. You kind of get a little bit of work in. You know, you go home and handle your family, golf a little bit with your

friends. It's just fun to be in the work environment with no stress and no anxiety of playing. And when you're an established guy, you don't, again, like, again, it's just to get your work in, right? You know what you have to do to prepare for the season. It's just to get your work in. And it's no big concern of yours about making the team.

But, again, it's an enjoyable experience, typically, with your buddies. And you're just getting your work in plain and simple now for the rest of of the offseason program there's a real benefit for a lot of players let's say you're an established veteran but you're standing on the roster is not quite known right you're you're just with the team on a veteran deal maybe you're nearing the end of a deal um whatever it is you're just kind of not quite guaranteed a roster spot well it's an opportunity to a start learning the playbook right maybe it's a new team now if you sign that one year deal it's opportunity to start learning the playbook to kind of build the camaraderie with the coaching staff as well the coaching staff

needs to know they can trust you so you can make the team no one's going to sign someone uh excuse me keep us on a team who they don't trust. So it's an opportunity for you to show, hey, I can pick up the playbook. I can regurgitate it. I can go out and execute the plays in the OTAs. Look, training camp is very important to recover the season. It's not as important as you think to making the roster, okay? If there's 53 guys on the roster,

as you think to making the roster okay if there's 53 guys on the roster i would say six to seven spots are up for grabs when you start training camp it's that simple why well a because of contracts right if a guy is signed to a contract and they can't get out of that deal he's gonna play right they're not gonna sign someone to not play there's obviously draft picks there's priority for agents there's injuries there's many but for the most part six seven guys and that process begins at otas right it begins with the ability to get on a team for the coach to start trusting you to get in the playbook and to understand exactly what you need to do to make the team and then you kind of as you the lower rung you get in the nfl the more important that's the program is right for let's take for a,

an undrafted free agent, a young player, or maybe even a priority free agent or a seventh round draft pick like myself, the way you make the team, especially with a lot less time for practice is splash plays. And the splash play is, Hey,

we are, we're watching film as a coaching staff and they go oh wow look at that oh jeff schwartz man great block by jeff schwartz or great you know let's say i'm a wide receiver i'll use the kid from anthony schwartz from from auburn right another schwartz in the family he's a draft pick but this is not really relevant but let's say he's an undrafted kid say wow look at that schwartz kid with that great catch or that great blocker great run after catch whatever it is and the way you play fast and make those splash plays is knowing what you're doing and the first you know the understanding of knowing what you're doing is knowing your plays but it's not just knowing your play it's knowing the guy

next to you what they're doing it's knowing how the offense or defense will react to what your play call is and the reaction to that. And that all begins with the first time you get the playbook in the offseason program. So you start building that base to when you get to training camp or even in OTAs, making those splash plays, right? If you're able to learn something in a meeting early in the day and take it to your OTA practice, coaches, oh, okay. Oh, Schwartz, look at Schwartz. Schwartz can pick it up. He understands what we're doing. He gets it and you get more reps.

You get more confident and you make those splash plays. A lot of players around the NFL, whether you're an established veteran with a roster spot all the way to undrafted for agent kid, we learn a lot by doing walkthroughs. And you can draw on a board you have a zoom meeting you can draw a notebook but a lot of us learn best by doing it and the best way to do it when you're not actually practicing is a walkthrough and so the office and program allows you to walk things through with either your offensive line or your defense or your quarterback or receiver or entire team like a practice so

the ability to just be able to um to just visualize it happening in front of you is important part of the obviously program so all this i think ties into why the the program is important for younger players and it's why we're seeing a lot of players show up to offices and program against the PA's wishes. All right, enough of me. Let's get to Pete Prisco, senior writer of CBS Sports. All right, let's welcome in Pete Prisco, senior columnist for CBS Sports. Does it make you feel old when they call you senior columnist? I feel like that's wrong. Yeah, but look, I've been at that place for 20 years now.

So I'm the longest tenured guy at any site that covers the NFL. Think about that. It makes me really old. And I know that you are the strongest of all NFL columnists. I've seen you push a sled before. It's very impressive. Yeah, and that was about, what, about six, seven, five, six, seven years ago at Charles Bentley's place.

You know what's funny? He challenged me because he said, I put like three plates on each side and I pushed it. He goes, that's nothing. He goes, put more on there. And he put like 570, whatever it was, and I pushed it five yards because I had been really working out a lot. Yeah. Back in those days, I worked out a lot in terms of lifting. I don't lift as heavy anymore, but I was back then, and yeah, I pushed it.

Speaking about working out, the players are now in Phase 3 of the offseason program. A lot of teams reported today, and their players reported, at least for the most part. Obviously, there are some big holdouts. I've seen you tweet about it. You've seen you talk about it. I've talked about it as well. What is this fight the players are trying to have over the offseason program? I don't get it. It feels misguided.

You've covered the league now a long time. Where do you stand on the players fight to not have the offseason program be a thing anymore? I think the fight not to have it, Jeff, where you're going 11-on-11 and beating each other up like it's training camp makes sense.

I never quite understood that. The guys shouldn't be pounding on each other up like it's training camp makes sense. I never quite understood that. The guys shouldn't be pounding on each other without pads. And sometimes you'd go to those OTA practices and you know, they're almost like real practices without the pads. Yeah. It's lessened from when it was when I got in the NFL, but I mean, it's not that. My thing is when I hear them talk about the off season program,

like it's so physically strenuous. It's so different. I'm like, Ooh, guys, it's not like that hard. No, it isn't. And where are you going to – you're going to be working out and throwing. Let's just say you're a group of wide receivers with a quarterback. You're going to go to a field and throw together. So why not go to the facility and get to work in with the coaches there

and protect yourself? Because I'll be honest about it. Why would you risk what Juwan James just had to go through? I mean, that makes no sense. Why risk your money? It's all about making as much as you can. So go to the facility and work out and take part in the program. It's not that long.

And they have been given a lot of, you know, things back by the teams. And you're not really seeing a lot of 11 on 11 anymore. It's just getting used to the playbook, getting used to being around players again. Why not? What else do you have to do? But wouldn't I also argue that the NFL owners are totally fine with giving back some offseason programs

because they don't lose any money in this. They actually gain money from not having to pay out workout bonuses. And we get a small salary in the offseason. But now that it all gets saved, if you don't show up, like the owners don't care about this fight. No, they don't. And I remember when I first started, I covered the Jaguars from 95 to 2000. I was the beat guy.

And I remember those days, they'd have too many camps in the offseason, and that was it before the OTAs, and you know that. And then they'd come to camp, and they'd beat you up. And don't get me wrong, they were much more physical. You know, you had two-a-days. You don't have those wrong, they were much more physical. You know, you had two a days. You don't have those anymore. So I think the league has cut back to the point where it should. And everybody looks at last year and they say, well, there was no offseason program.

We can just go from there. It was COVID. It was a once in a lifetime epidemic. I mean, my God, you've got to step back and realize guys have to work out. They're going to work out somewhere. So why not let them work out the facility and bring the team together? I don't understand the pushback. And the union really has no leg to stand on here.

I mean, let's be real. They negotiated all this in into that collective bargaining agreement. And they didn't get a lot of the things the players wanted. And that's on them. So what is the end game for this? Do they want this eliminated in exchange for what? What are we willing to give up even more to get the offseason program eliminated? Because the owners just don't give us stuff, especially when it comes to money.

Well, if they said 18 games, because I still think that's a possibility. 100%. 18 games, no offseason program. Would the players go for that? We went to 17 games. I thought we should have fought harder for that. I feel like every game added on the season is no benefit for the players whatsoever.

I mean, maybe it's more money overall in the whole pool, which makes sense, right? More games, more TV revenue. But every opportunity we have to go out on the field is another opportunity to get hurt, in my opinion. It's only a downside. Like records aren't going to go out on the field is another opportunity to get hurt, in my opinion. It's only a downside. Like, records aren't going to change. The good teams are still going to be good.

The bad teams are going to be bad. The extra games are just revenue, and we hold all the risk in playing those games. As a starting player, the players wouldn't have the risk. As the guy that's 53, 52, And even if they expanded the rosters, if they go to eight games and increase the jobs, it's good for them. You know what I'm saying? If you're, if you're 57 and 58, 59, and now all of a sudden you have a job on an NFL roster, that's good for you.

Yeah. And the CBA appeal to younger players. I mean, it's how they got it past. A lot of older guys did not, did not go for the CBA this year, but the younger players did because they were like this. Like I said, there's kind of ways they snuck in, ways to help the younger guys out. I just, for me, I feel like the players, man, I feel like we fight for the wrong things. Does it feel that way to you too?

Well, I mean, look, I can see where if you're a veteran player, you don't want to play one more game. If you're a veteran player, you don't want to play one more game. If you're a star player, you don't want to play one more game. And now, do you want to play two? No. But, okay, Jeff, when you were playing at your height, what was your top salary? Say they added on $200,000 for each of those two games more a year. Would you have been okay with that? I was making about $200,000 per game when I was with the Giants.

Okay. Oh, man man i don't know i mean now when i was playing probably i wouldn't have cared but now i look back on it be like no probably wasn't worth it especially for how much i how hurt i got i mean that's the thing about it is like i think we take on all the risk here right and the risk is all on us because every opportunity that we have to play is fantastic. And trust me, I love playing on games. It's my favorite part of everything because everything else sucks. Games are the best. But again, all the risk comes to us, right? We're the ones who get hurt.

We're the ones whose careers can be shorn. We're the ones who – I get that. But you were still playing. Were you still having two days in training camp? Early part of my career. But in 2011, it was – I had John Fox in Carolina, so we had a bunch of two-a-days with Foxy.

They were not like the Coughlin two-a-days that you witnessed in Jacksonville, which – Oh, no. Coughlin. I mean, John Fox, though, we call it the Fox-hole. We were – we had, you know, two-and-a-half-hour practice twice a day in South Carolina in the heat. It was hard.

So, okay, so your body in December when you played for Fox compared to your body later on in your career when you weren't having those two days, was there a difference? It's a good question because I was so young when I had the two days versus when I was older. I think that's a big part of it. Right. Like when I was younger, two days, I look back on it. I just did it. We have another option. I was fine at the end of the season. As the older have another option. I was fine at the end of the season. As the older I get, the worse you get at the end of the season.

So I think that the – I know older players now, like Andrew Whitworth will tell you that, you know, the way the schedule is now, it's much easier on his body. It allows him to play much longer. But I was so young. Like when you're young, you feel great. It doesn't really matter how much you practice. You're going to be able to bounce back. But adding practices would be tough. Adding games games again, another two weeks of practice, another two games. I'd be tougher older players.

But you eliminate what I would do is eliminate the, you get down to two preseason games and make one of those just for the young kids. So the veterans play 20 snaps in the preseason and that's it. They're done. It's over with. You follow this long enough. I've argued at the preseason. There's not as much roster competition as we think there is. I think people view the preseason as like, Oh my God, there's 25 spots up for grabs. It's like six between 10 guys.

So I'm with you. If you lower the preseason, you still get that same competition just over one and a half games, but over four games. Well, here's the problem. If you do narrow the preseason down and you eliminate the off season, now you're talking about the evaluation process being a little bit different because I still think you can go into these OTAs and mini camps and stuff and have an idea of what guys are going to make the team.

And then when you go to training camp, like you said, there's a handful of jobs up for grabs. Well, if you don't have the off season and then you go to training camp, you only have those two weeks. It's hard to figure out who those jobs are going to go to. I think it makes it a lot tougher. So you're right though. I walk into training camp everywhere I go and I take my training camp tours

and I go, I can cut this team right now without the exception of a handful of guys. Yeah. Because of salaries handful of guys. It's easy to do. Yeah, because of salaries, of draft slot. It's pretty easy to figure out who you're keeping, who you're not, how much obviously you can move your roster. Obviously, injuries

play a big role in that. I'm curious if the NFL moves on from that. Again, I think that if there's more games, the trade-off is going to have to be less training camp. Do you lessen training camp even more? Do you hit even less? I mean, you wouldn't go to training camp now.

No one hits anymore. No, they don't hit. You know, remember the old nine-on-seven middle drill? Nobody does that anymore. We had a drill in Kansas City when I first got there in 2013 where we basically had a full-speed one-on-one. The offensive lineman gets a linebacker, like seven yards deep. And we would like, okay, you're running outside zone,

ball's going here, and you just meet like three yards from me, just meet and just boom. And like three guys got hurt in that drill on the first day, and that was the end of it. Like they don't hit it all now. And it's not an old man get off my lawn type of thing. It's just that the NFL is so different now that, you know, the evaluation period, as you mentioned, gets less and less get off my lawn type of thing. It's just that the NFL is so different now that if you

the evaluation period, as you mentioned, gets less and less if you don't practice anymore. And also, if you don't hit as much early in the season, particularly, I think the tackling is sloppy. I think the blocking is sloppy. The angles aren't there. The speed of the game is, you don't

feel it. You know that. If you don't hit for real in practice and you get into a game, even though the game speed is much more intense, you're still not used to that. So you're blocking angles and everything else. It's off and the tackling is terrible. So is this is less hitting less offseason program? Is it making the game worse though?

Because ratings are going up. I still enjoy watching it. Yeah. I mean, the quality is not as good, but I don't think fans care. Well, here's what's helping is the fact that all these wide receivers are now and quarterbacks are in seven-on-seven camps and teams their entire life. They weren't around when I was a kid. They weren't around when you were there in the summer.

Barely. It barely started when I was in high school. These receivers come out and they understand coverage. They don't have to think about it as much. They're reacting. They're much more reactive. You remember when a rookie receiver used to come into the league, his head would be spinning.

Oh, yeah. And he'd have barely any impact. And if they did, it was rare. He had to be rare. Now these guys come in and boom, they hit the ground running because they understand what's going on. And I think the 7-on-7 camps have helped that, which is why offenses are better, which is why the game

has more appeal to the masses. Is 7-on-7 camps a reason why young quarterbacks now seem to hit the ground running so much faster? I mean, if we look at the last five years, we've seen quarterbacks just like, I mean, as a rookie season, just take off. And we look at Herbert and Lamar Jackson and kind of both play kind of condensed season.

Even Joe Burrow last year, I thought, played really well. Kyler Murray is a rookie. I mean, all these guys come in. Carson Wentz is a rookie. And just is it the acceleration of the youth, kind of like their growth as a youth that helps them in these situations? We've never seen this before in NFL history. No, it's that because you're going all the seven-on-seven camps. But teams in high school, if you go to a high school game,

back in the day they ran the veer and the wishbone and everything, the winning tee and all that. Now they're all spread out. They're throwing it everywhere. Even if you have a quarterback that can only throw it 30 yards, they get the ball out and they go. So I think that's helped it. I think the college game has changed.

You know, as an offensive lineman, you know this. It's hard to evaluate offensive linemen when you watch the tape because they're all tapping. They're all passing, tapping, and they're not blocking. But it's helped the receivers. It's helped the quarterbacks. And that's why the passing game has accelerated so much. How are you the only person to see Josh Allen for what he was when he was

young? Cause everyone else like me was like, Josh, I was not going to make it. You were one of the loudest voices. Josh Allen's going to make it. What'd you see in him? Cause you were wrong for two years. You were wrong for two years. You got it right this year, but I'll give you your, I'll give you your credit. You said from the beginning, I wasn't wrong. Once he grew up a little bit and they grew, grew that team around them. This is what you were going to see.

Look, when watching his tape at Wyoming, if anybody really went back, and that's why I think teams missed on it too, I always say he was throwing to bouncers and bartenders. I mean, he had a rocket for an arm. Some of his mechanics were flawed and he fixed them, which is why the accuracy issues were there. But there were times when you looked at his game film and there were peasant doinking off guys face masks.

They didn't get their hands up. And that led to his bad incompletion percentage. You saw the athleticism and you can't teach that kind of arm strength. And so I thought all along with just a little massaging, he would be a star in this league. And I still think he will be. He was second. Yeah, but even more so. He was second in MVP voting.

Yeah, but even more so. Interesting. People think that's an aberration. People think it's an aberration. No, I don't think it's an aberration. I just think he's probably not as good as last year. Like, I think he comes down to earth a little bit. I don't think he's ever going back to what he was the first two years, though. I just, I don't think he, I don't know if he's going to be MVP level this year,

but I definitely think he's not going the other direction. Like, he's not going back to complete 58% of passes. See, I still think at times he leaves plays on the field with his arm that he will now make rather than take off and run. As much as I love to see his quarterbacks move, I still think that he's got to get better standing in there and going through his progressions before he gets out. It's the same with all these young quarterbacks. Oh, no,

it is. His passing numbers will go up and his rushing numbers will come down. That's the thing. That's what it should be. People get so enamored with the running quarterback part. I just don't understand it because that's not how you eventually win in the NFL. But we're seeing now quarterbacks come out of college that are

high-trade guys, right? And the high-trade guys end up doing the best very early in their careers. Does it worry you about a guy like Mac Jones, who's not a high trade guy? Can he succeed in the NFL? If you look even to next year, you're a Pac-12 guy. Keaton Slovis, and people have him going so high. I'm like, Keaton Slovis, he's not a high trade guy. No, and you mentioned Mac Jones.

There's a lot to like about Mac Jones. He's smart. And I've watched that kid since high school. He's in Jacksonville. He's been a, so I followed his career and I thought he was always better than the guy was going to sit on a bench at Alabama. But the whole notion that he became something that he's not with that whole talk of the 49ers taking him at three, it was weird to me. Cause here's why. Nobody said that. Nobody.

And then once the 49ers or whoever leaked that out that they were considering him, then everybody, oh, yeah, oh, Matt Jones, he should be the guy. 49ers say so, he should be the guy. I never thought he should be the guy. I never did. In fact, I don't think Trey Lance should have been the guy. I think Justin Fields would have been my pick. If I were the 49ers, I would have taken Justin Fields.

than the guy. I think Justin Fields would have been my pick. If I were the 49ers, I'm taking Justin Fields. So yeah, his traits are, you know, NFL old school quarterback. So a lot of people will sit there and say, well, now you got to be able to throw on the run and you got to be able to move. Yeah, you do. But Tom Brady just proved you can still win a Superbowl. I'm not saying he's Tom Brady, but he proved you can win a Superbowl by standing there in the pocket, getting the ball out, going through your reads, going through your progressions. You don't have to move. The game has always meant to be played in the pocket. If you can move from the pocket,

that's a bonus for you. But you don't need to run away a lot of these quarterbacks. No, you definitely don't. And that's why, and you're right about Tommy. Tom's just such an outlier, man. I feel like he's you can never use him in any argument because I mean, what he did last year, what he will continue to do, it feels like. And people hope Matt Jones is going to be him in New England.

I just don't see. Out of the five guys that were drafted in the first round, which one of those guys, you know, is going to be two or three busts? I know it's not fun to talk about that, but who are the guys that you're looking at as like, ah, I just don't think they have it? Well, here's how I ranked them. I think Lawrence was a clear one, and I don't think

it was close. I think Justin Fields would have been my two. I think Zach Wilson would have been my three. Then, I'm kind of Trey Lance has more upside than Mac Jones, so he would have been my four. And then Mac Jones, I tell you what, people are going to kill me for this, but I think Davis Mills is close to Mac Jones. I really did.

I said it throughout the entire draft process. I think he's going to be a steal if he ends up playing for the Texans. I think they're going to end up getting a good quarterback because you're a Pac-12 guy. He played very little football and he came there as a giant recruit. I know, five-star, yeah. Yeah. I think that those traits are going to start coming out. I worry a little bit about his knee. That's a concern, but I think he's got the NFL skill set to become a starting quarterback.

Well, if you're here to listen to us talk about Pac-12, you will get the chance. I promise we will talk a little bit about Pac-12. Sun Devils this year, baby. Yeah, that's one thing. We'll do it in a second because I've got to finish some NFL topics. Julio Jones went on, as we record this on Monday, he went on with, I guess Shannon Sharp called him on his show,

and he said he's out of Atlanta. It probably was planned. I think it was. It seemed like it was planned. What do you make of Julio Jones leaving Atlanta? Because to me, Pete, Atlanta drafted like they're going for it, right? They're keeping Matt Ryan. They got Pitts.

Trading Julio Jones does not feel like they're going for it. I don't understand their strategy here. Yeah, I don't understand getting rid of Julio Jones either. But remember, they can't even sign their draft picks now, Jeff. They need cap room, and they could create some cap room by getting rid of him. And it'll be a June 1 thing where they split it up a little bit. But so I look, I don't get it either. I would play on with Julio Jones.

I think if you look in that division, the Bucs are the team to beat. But Carolina's got uncertainty in New Orleans. If you look at that roster and what's happened to them over the course of the last year, they have major concerns. And people say, well, how can you say that? Well, look at their defense a little bit. They've had some guys they've lost there. They're going to count on some young players to play.

They better hope to do early draft picks. Turner and Werner are good players. They got to be big contributors right away. And on offense, you start a whole new quarterback. And everybody, oh, well, it doesn't matter. Yes, it matters. That was Drew Brees. So I think Atlanta has a real chance to be the number

two team in that division. So I get rid of them. I'm with you on that. I wouldn't get rid of them. I'd play on for another year. Who are the teams that you think will make the shot? People are saying the Colts. I've seen that. Ballard doesn't feel like a guy that's going to make this trade. Everyone says, oh, the Packers can save

their relationship with Aaron Rodgers doing this. The Niners haven't been talked about as being a team. Who do you think would be best suited to trade for him? Well, I think the Chiefs would look at it. And people say, well, how can you do that? You can give up a one because their one is going to be late anyways. It's like a two. And go get Dewey Jones.

Because you look at their receiving group, Tyreek Hill is special and he's different. But the rest of that group now is just okay. Yeah, they're okay. You know, you've got to hope that Harden becomes something, you know, and the rest of them are just average players. So add Julio to that offense. I think, you know, with that offensive line being reshuffled,

I think they're going line being reshuffled, I think they're going to be much better than they were at least in the Super Bowl. And so I think that's the team to keep an eye on. And Green Bay, you don't go get them to appease Aaron Rodgers. You go get them because your team is going to make a push to be the Super Bowl champion, and he might be the guy that takes you over the top. Is Julio Jones enough to get Aaron Rodgers to come back? I feel like he's not going anywhere.

The Packers just have no reason to trade him, honestly. I know people think that they need to get rid of him. They really don't have to. They have Jordan Love on the roster. And I just don't think – I think in the end, Rodgers doesn't want his legacy to be like, I left a two-time NFC Championship team to go be the host of Jeopardy possibly.

I just can't imagine he wants that to be his legacy in the end. Do you think he's back or not? Yes, he will be a Packer. Thank you. This is all about money. It's all about money. Anybody who says it's not about money doesn't, doesn't, isn't paying attention.

Yeah. He's not happy with what went on, but remember all the talk two summers ago, he didn't like Matt before when they mended their fences and they got along. He played one year on this contract. One year. So he was happy enough to go play the one year, and then they came within a whisker, go to the Super Bowl, and now he's not happy.

It's about money. He saw Prescott get his deal. He saw Mahomes get his deal. And now Deshaun Watson got his deal. And now all of a sudden he's sitting there saying, I'm the MVP. Bring my money into that category. And then also make sure that I'm here for a couple of years. Don't just leave me playing the, is it Jordan Love time now?

And that means they'd have to make a commitment to him, which means they probably won't get Jordan Love ever on the field, which I would do if I were the Green Bay Packers. So I think ultimately he signs a new deal and plays for Green Bay. So if they give him a new deal and they guarantee, let's say, two of the first three years of a new deal, they're basically saying Jordan Love is not going to play until minimum year four.

At that point, you try to offload Jordan Love because it feels like that's a waste of a draft pick. I mean, if you're just automatically saying, hey, no way he's going to play until year four, you wasted a first or you turned it up to get him and now you're not going to play him until year four? Those are the Packers have to either decide,

we made a mistake on Jordan Love or – You know what, though, Jeff? If they made a mistake on Jordan Love, in large part because they weren't sure what they were going to get from Rodgers. I think there were some people in that building that were wondering how much he had left. And that's fair because most quarterbacks go off the deep end when they get older.

And Rogers says he wants to play until he's 40. He's told me that many a time. So if he does play until he's 40, you can get three more years out of him. So, yeah, you wasted the pick. But you were covering yourself in case he wasn't able to play at this level. He can still play at a high level. In that offensive scheme, and they found that out last year. Why would you ever get rid of that?

If I'm the Packers, here's his options. You can play for me or you don't play. Does, does Rogers get a bad rap as far as personality? The guys I've talked to play with him said that his public rap is just not exactly what he's like. He said he's, he's a lot nicer, a lot more cool as a teammate, a good dude. Like, I feel like he gets a bad rap from a couple of guys who used to play for him in the media. Yeah, I would agree with that.

I mean, he can be difficult at times. Don't get me wrong. I like him. I really do. I think I love having conversations with him. I love talking to Paul about him. He's very competitive. When you start talking about other guys in the league and where he

ranks in there, he knows where he should be and what he thinks he should be. So I enjoy that. I like a guy with an edge. I really do. I don't mind that. So I've always had time with him and liked talking to him. So I can understand where some guys might get rubbed the wrong way,

but I never did. Because you're a guy with an edge. That's why you like it. Yeah, an edge with an edge. Yeah. I can sift through BS. That's part of it. I've always been able to do that. I can find the BS guy in the league. Which is why I like, you see, a lot of

journalists on Twitter are kind of trying to make nice, but you don't and I love it. I don't make nice on Twitter either. Why should you make nice to random people on Twitter? No. And sometimes I've gotten better at letting it slide off my shoulders because I just, you know, if you spend too much time on it, it's just not worth it.

But like when somebody insults me to the point that I get irritated, then I'm coming back at you. If you don't agree with my opinion, that's fine. I get it. And if you want to pull out old tweets where I said a certain player was going to be a good player and he wasn't, I get it. I can make fun of myself. I can make fun of myself. And look, I thought Christian Ponder would be better than Cam Newton.

I can admit it. I was wrong. We all make mistakes. And that's part of our business, though, right? You're going to make mistakes. You're asked to give predictions on draft picks, on games every week, on Super Bowl winners, on preseason stuff. I can barely find tweets that I did a week ago. I don't know how people find tweets

from like three, four, or five years ago. I don't either. They do it, though, and they'll go find them. And they always say, oh, you didn't play the game. How can you criticize a coach? You know why I can criticize a coach? Because that's my damn job. And then I can criticize when I watch enough tape. I know what I can see and what I can damn job. And then I can criticize, I watched enough tape.

I know what I can see and what I can't see. And here's the other thing. I always say this too. I go, I never directed a movie, but I know it's good on the big screen. I'm not a five-star chef. I know it tastes good going down my throat. I can tell you that. So, I mean, look, there's a lot of things out there that we can't, I can't tell you if a guy's good in brain surgery or any of't. I can't tell you if a guy's good in brain surgery or any of that. I can't tell you if a guy's good fixing a car. I've never been able to do it.

But I can tell you who can coach and who can't and who makes bad decisions and good decisions. Do NFL coaches respect that from you? Because, you know, I know they read all the media clippings. Anyone out there that's listening, they're lying to you if they don't read what people write about them. At least someone in the department is reading it. Do you run into that issue with coaches

that I feel coaches would respect you for being honest, though. If things are good, you say they're good. If they're bad, you say they're bad. Yeah, and look, I've had relationships with a lot of guys over the years, and some guys didn't like some of the things you said. I've had fights with guys. The guys have called me and yelled at me, and I've yelled back at them, and we mend the fences. And I think that's the thing.

You got to let it go. If you hold a grudge, then that's the worst part of it. And look, my arguments with Coughlin over the years were endless. He used to call me at home, screaming at me. But I've had other coaches in this league call and scream at me. It's just a matter, you got to respect the guy and i want my pushback i thought i always used to say if i was coaching and i was standing in front of the team and some guy asked me a question i'd answer the question and be fluent you got me on that one good one you got me and you have fun with it don't make it such an issue just let it go away you know what i mean if you keep can make let it fester it's going to become more of an issue. So yeah, look,

I was at the owners meetings one year and I was sitting around with Will Brinton who worked with me and a couple of days in line for a couple other guys. And we said, you know, I used to rank the coaches one through 32 and they said, you won't do it the day of the coach's breakfast. And I go, watch me. So I went in, went into the office and in my hotel room and ranked out, ranked the coaches one through 32 and then walked into the coach's breakfast the next morning.

And I know some of those guys knew where they were ranked. And then, you know, nobody really – I think there were a couple guys that said they got me or something, but nobody was really mad because they respected the fact that I had the big ones big enough to go into their thing and do it the day of that coach's breakfast. I absolutely love it. A coach you're going to have to talk with now is the coach of the team you cover, Jacksonville Jaguars and Urban Meyer.

I don't think he knows what he's doing, and then we'll get into all that. But did you see that they forgot to blur out their draft board grades in a video? Like, how do you – they keep making these rookie mistakes. How do you not blur out the grades that you gave? They keep making these rookie mistakes. How do you not blur out the grades that you gave? It's like those state secrets. You know what, though? It doesn't really matter. Yeah.

I'll tell you why it could matter. Because if Jalen Waddell ends up not being very good and you had him as the highest graded player in the draft, then... They got one wrong. I know. Look at the teams that get them wrong. How many teams got Justin Herber wrong last year? All of them, except me.

I was right on. I'm the only guy that was right on Herber. No, I was right on. Oh, you were? Okay, there you go. You watch the Pac-12 football. So let's talk about Tebow. Tell me about old tweets.

If Tebow is good, me and you are going to have a lot of old tweets that are going to be pulled up about this. I do not get this. There is no angle with which this makes sense. No one cares about his leadership in the locker room anymore. No one is going to follow him. He hasn't played for Urban Meyer in 12 years.

So building a culture around Tebow, who cares with a four-string tight end? He's not going to make the team. The media distraction doesn't help Trevor Lawrence, in my opinion. There's more cameras there. There's more media there. There's more questions there. Why did he sign Tim Tebow? It makes no sense to me.

It's a favor. I mean, that's the only thing I can think of, and it makes no sense to me either. He's not going to make the team. Look, he wasn't sudden when he was a player who ran around. He's just not a sudden player. He's not a big tight end. Think about that.

Everybody says, oh, he's 245, but he's 6'1 1⁄2 or whatever he is. He's not big. He's not sudden. He doesn't block. He's not going to be a guy who catches the ball in the passing game very well either. He won't make the team. And as far as the leadership, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life. Thank you. If you're roster number 53, number 51, nobody's going to pay attention to you.

They don't care. You don't play. You've been in locker rooms. And think about this. Star players get hurt. And they don't. In week two, they get hurt. They're leaders.

They're playing. But in week two, they're hurt. Does anybody pay any attention to them the rest of the season? No. They walk through like they're dead. Yes. They might not be dead. Gone.

Gone. It doesn't matter who you are either. Star player. You're a leader when you're playing. When you're not playing, you're dead. It's sad, but that's the way it is. My thought about why this could be done, and you talk about doing a favor,

he needs three games for his NFL pension to kick in. Remember, he's only played three accrued seasons. I think he's already got the accrued seasons. I think he's there. He's got three accrued. So far, he has 20, 10, 11, and 12. He didn't make it out of camp with New England, didn't make it out of camp with Philly.

I think this is fourth, officially fourth season in the NFL. I think he's accrued. I think he's accrued. Let's say he hasn't. But here's the other one though, Jeff. What about the whole notion, well, take the pressure off Trevor Lawrence. I disagree so much.

But if you're worried about Trevor Lawrence and pressure, you drafted the wrong guy. Agreed. Thank you. Someone said it to me. The dude was the forefront of leading college football back to play this season. And yet he's worried about the attention in Jacksonville, which is the 32nd media market in the NFL. Like, there's no – the idea that – and now, too, think about this. The first question every day at every Prince Coffin's training camp

is going to be asked is about Tim Tebow. Like, why is he talking about Tim Tebow? Who cares? Here's the other thing. If there's so much focus on Tebow, guys that actually deserve the focus and attention are going to get pissed off about it. 100%. I mean, why are we talking about him? He doesn't do anything. He's a stiff.

I mean, basically, and you know, this whole, he's a really good guy. So I hope nobody cares. And by the way, there are stories about him. I'm sure you've heard him over the years where he's charged for appearances that he shouldn't. You've been to a gym in Arizona before. Tebow used to work out at the same gym.

And I have a different opinion of Tim than others do, so I'll leave it at that. I'm not going to... There's no point in really getting into it. Like I'm not going to win any brownie points, but like a bunch of us that saw him work out have a different opinion of Tim. But I just don't really see like, what is the favor though? I kind of feel like, like someone has to tell him in his life, like, bro, you're done playing

team sports. Like it's done. You're done. You're not making the team. Like what is it? Wouldn't helping him out or have urban just tell him like hey man it's over like you're done playing team sports that's what i would have done and that's what he should have done i just don't think it's a good look they build up so much positive energy and optimism for an organization that's had none they've had none look i was there

in 95 when it all started. They were good and they were great for a couple years. In 99, I still think they were the best team. They choked it away. But think about that. Even then, there was no good national will. Now, you get Urban Meyer, you get Trevor Lawrence. People know those

people. They know those players. Now, all of a sudden, there's a tension. And then you go sign him. It makes no sense. None whatsoever. How do you think Urban will be as a coach? I mean, I think before a lot of the moves and a lot of things I've heard him say, I was kind of indifferent. Like, oh, we'll just see how

he does. I think people are so caught up in the college game and not realizing the NFL game is just so different, right? Now, Urban was a Hall of Fame college football coach. It's different in the NFL, but some of the moves, you know, drafting Travis Etienne and saying, oh, he's our third down back. The Tebow thing,

the Chris Doyle, which I little that's not as bad as I think, but nonetheless, like those, it just feels like he doesn't know what he's doing. Well, he's kind of feeling his way. I think he's going to be a good coach because he's been a smart coach and he's going to let his good coach because he's been a smart coach. And he's going to let his assistants coach. That's the thing.

You know this. How good are the assistants? And they have to be the good ones. They have to be guys. I really like Joe Cullen. I think Joe Cullen's a good defensive coach. I think he'll be a good coordinator. But he's never really dealt with the back end.

He's always been a front seven guy. And so that'll be an adjustment for him. And the offensive coordinators, what are you going to run? You know, he keeps talking about taking snaps and putting ETN in the wildcat. No! You're taking the ball out of your quarterback's hand.

You drafted him for a reason. So I think there's a lot of questions with Urban, but I think he's a smart guy and he's been a good football coach in terms of overseeing everything. That's what he's going to be. I think he's going to be more he's been a good football coach in terms of overseeing everything. That's what he's going to be. I think he's going to be more of an O-seer than an X is an O guy. Over under

six and a half wins for Jacksonville. I'm leaning hard under. Where are you at? I think they get to seven or eight. Really? Well, you got two on X against the Texans. Yes. I saw a report today that Deshaun Watson is not showing up for OTAs. Oh, yeah, you think?

Well, but okay, but if he made that decision not to show up for OTAs, he should be racing to go to OTAs if he's allowed to and wants to. Why? He doesn't want to play. What's his options? Does somebody trade

for him right now with all that stuff? Oh, no, but he can just wait until training camp to show up. I don't think he would show up. No, no one's trading for him now. I don't think they were trading for him. I don't think Houston was trading him anyways before the allegations came out. Neither did I. Why would you trade a 25-year-old franchise quarterback?

It makes no sense. Because people on Twitter want it to be done. That's why. Again, again, if I'm the detectives, you signed your contract in October of last year. You were happy enough with us in October of last year, and now you're not happy. Okay, fine. Too bad. You're playing with us or you're playing with nobody.

Sit down and pay me back my money. See, that's the other thing, Jeff. You played in the league. When you get your check, when you've got to give it back, it's a lot harder to give it back. I don't care how rich you are it back, it's a lot harder to give it back. I don't care how rich you are. Oh, it's – yes. Yeah, I would – if I had to write a check to a team and give back money, no, I would never – I was never in the spot to do that,

but I never would want to do that anyways. Think about like, okay, Aaron Rodgers would have to pay back $40 million, I think, if he quit, if he retired. Close to it. So I don't care how much money you have, $40 million, I think, if he quit, if he retired. Close to it. So, I don't care how much money you have, $40 million is a lot of money. Yeah, it's a lot of money. And remember, that money, by the way, you have to give back, I think, is post-tax money. Like, it's not the pre-tax.

Right. So, you're basically paying back. $55 million. Yeah, $55 million. All right. Giving back 55 million. Yeah, 55 million. Well, speaking about giving back money, our beloved conference, the Pac-12, needs to make some more money.

We've been giving away too much money. If you're still listening to this, thank you. Now you're going to hear some Pac-12 talk. George Klofkoff, the new commissioner, yay or nay on the hire. What do you think? I think it's good. I think it's creative. I don't mind that one. Look, they've been stale for a long

time. You can't even watch the Pac-12 network in some places. It's ridiculous. I do Pac-12 radio. It's my day job. I do not have Pac-12 network. I have DirecTV. I live in a building where I can get DirecTV, so I can't get

Pac-12 network. It's crazy. Your Arizona State Sun Devils, I have long contended, should be much better than they are in football. If anyone has been to Arizona State, to Tempe, and seen the scenery, both as far as

just the scenery. I'll leave it like that. I don't want to get in trouble with this podcast. Here's what you do. Go to the fountain on an afternoon day, and you'll understand what Jeff's saying. Yeah. I think they should recruit at a higher level. I know Herm's bringing some of that back a little bit. But where do you stand with your Sun Devils?

Because people are really high on them this year. I'm not. I don't really. Jay and Daniels is as good, I think. But I don't think they're talented enough to win the Pac-12. What do you say to your Sun Devils? They think they're talented enough to win the Pac-12. What are you saying to your son, Douglas? They should be good.

They'll win the Pac-12 South, I think. I think it's between them and USC. Utah. Then they'll beat them this year. They've got a better team. I'm telling you, ASU's got – Antonio Pearson and gang have been ripping it up on the West Coast recruiting, kind of like Oregon does on the West Coast. You guys go down to California. Yeah.

Well, you got Nike money. I mean, it's a big advantage. Oh, here we go. Yeah, that's the reason why. That's the reason why. Yes. Here we go. Wait, you don't think.

Look, when I went to ASU, Oregon was not a very good football. No, we were not. Okay. You had those ugly green uniforms with the yellow. How dare you? Do you remember those? The old ones? I wasn't there for those. But I know I've seen them before. Okay. You had those ugly green uniforms with the yellow. How dare you? Do you remember those? The old one? I wasn't there for those, but I know I've seen them before.

Yes. They had a quarterback named Reggie Ogburn. In fact, he was from Miami. He was the starting quarterback at Oregon when I was at ASU and they were bad. And then all of a sudden they were kind of floundering a little bit. And then all of a sudden the Nike money comes in and wow, they're a national powerhouse all of a sudden. How did that happen?

Oregon's been good since 1994. And that's what people don't understand about Oregon. People are like, oh, Oregon. I'm like, guys, they've been good for like 25 years. They have not been a, they were not good before that. They went to, they've been to like twice as many bowl games in the last. When was the first, in recent years, when was the first Pac-12, Pac-12 title?

Well, it was 94. They-12 title? It was 94. They went to Rose Bowl that season. Who was the quarterback that year? Danny O'Neill. Yeah. That was not a good Oregon team, though. I mean, that was an okay team. Yeah.

But these teams, in recent years, in the last 15 years, some of those teams were just stacked and loaded. Yeah. Well, the years, it was like 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, where I think Stanford won a couple of those couple of years. But it was the Mariota, Darren Thomas, like the Chip Kelly years. But now we're building through the trenches. Like we're loading up on draftable big fellas.

And that's ASU's problem. They never have, which is why I think they should go to the Midwest and take every big kid out of Chicago and Michigan and bring them down to Arizona in February and stick them in the middle of campus. They'll go. But here's the thing. You know this. And I tell,

I'm 100% honest about this. I tell Ray Anderson, he's the athletic director at ASU. I've known him. Remember, he was an agent. Ray, every time I see him, I see him at the combine. Ray, cheat me to a title in my lifetime. I don't care. Yes. I'm with you. I'm with you. Yes. I don't care if the kid goes to class. I don't care if he graduates.

I don't want to see a graduation. I just want to sit on a 50 at the national title game in my lifetime. I'm with you. People ask me all the time, well, Nike might be paying the kids. Who cares? Pay the kids. God bless them. I wish ASU had a Nike guy. I'm like, baby. I want to win. Oregon

plays Ohio State week two this year in Columbus. I think about this game like every other day. I want Oregon to be so good at football. I'm with you, man. Just cheat us to a championship. Anyone in the Pac-12. We need something to happen to change football out west. Yeah, and you're right about it, as you know.

The place is beautiful. The school is massive. It's the biggest school in the country now. They have a lot of money. And yet, for some reason, they can't put it all together and win. And I don't get it. I don't understand it. My last call in the Pac-12

and then we'll wrap up here. But to me, the commissioner's number one job is to bring money into our conference. Whether that's via a new TV deal or that's working with gambling, which obviously he didn't work on the sports wagering side of MGM, but obviously has connections in Vegas.

Whether it's digital streaming, whether it's partnership, whatever it is, is because I think that where the patchhole is lacking in other conferences is the money for assistant coaches and the money that we pay toward recruiting. Because it's all about it's a bodies game, right? It's getting the most bodies.

If you look at the best teams in the country, they always have top 10 classes. And that feels like money, right? We need money to Arizona State, to pay for coaches, to pay for recruiting, to get players in the right spot, to pay for upgrade, which they upgraded the facilities there recently with the stadium as well. I feel like that's the biggest issue is just getting money to our conference. Yeah, and getting it out into the right hands.

If there's a five-star recruit, make sure he gets a little something. I mean, dude, the starting quarterbacks this year for Oklahoma, Clemson, Ohio State, Alabama, and Georgia are all from Southern California. No, the

Rattler's from Arizona. He's even worse. Oh, he's from Arizona. Okay, sorry. The Pac-12 footprint then. The Pac-12 footprint. Okay. Yeah. And Oregon got Tom, the Ty Thompson kid from Arizona as well. Yeah.

That's bad. The five quarterbacks, the top five teams in the country are all from the footprint. Yeah. You've got to keep your – I always used to say if you kept some California kids at home, you'd win. No matter what school it is, you'd win. That's USC's fault though, right? Right. I mean, they haven't kept them all at home, you'd win. No matter what school it is, you'd win. That's USC's fault though, right? Right. They haven't kept them all at home lately. Because Oregon's got a bunch of them.

Yeah, but I'm okay with USC being bad because it makes Oregon better. I'm like, if USC ever hired the right coach, it'd be great for our conference, but bad for Oregon. Can UCLA ever get good again? I mean, they've never been good for long stretches, though. The Bob Toledo years, they had the Bob Toledo years.

They had two Rose Bowls in three years, I think, like 98-2000. They didn't win any of those. Durrell had a cup in one year, I think, with 10 wins. But they really haven't been good ever, right? You know what's interesting, too, is Utah's come to Florida and got a bunch of kids over the years, which is smart. You know, like the Zach Moss was a Florida kid. Yeah, the quarterback's from

Florida kid. Their high school recruited them. They came down and recruited. ASU used to recruit Florida back in the day. They used to get guys out of South Florida and they don't do it anymore. Is it just you just can't do it anymore? Like this South Florida now is just inundated with everyone.

The South has closed it down. Then you get the Big Ten, the Big Ten. So, I mean, the Big Ten gets guys. Ohio State gets a lot of guys out of Florida too. Oh man, the rampant cheating. And I love it. I mean, maybe when you're like this, they'll solve all this, right?

If it happens eventually. Yeah. Look, I just think, Herm Edwards might be the guy that would win there. He just might be because the players, but you know how you used to talk about Oregon getting big people? Yeah.

ASU still doesn't get the big guys. They don't get the really good, big, strong guys. The recruit that comes in like who's 6'5 and 3'15 and then he's going to be, or 6'5 and 300, he's going to be 6'5 and 330 by the time he gets out of there. They don't get those guys. So what Oregon

does, and I've talked to Mario about this, and he trusts his strength program a lot. And what they do is they just find body. They don't care how much a kid weighs. I mean, they have kids come in at, you know, came in at like 370. They have a couple of poly kids that came in like 415, 385.

And their deal is we just want a big body and we'll shape the big body into how we want it done with our nutrition, with our strength program, with our practice routine. And that's what sets them apart in my opinion is I think the other Pac-12 schools look for a specific fit. Okay, we want a guy that's 6'5", 300. Well, that guy's not leaving. I mean, he's leaving you. He's not going to be there anymore. Oregon doesn't care. They'll just get a big body and turn him into something else with their coaching.

Yeah, because at ASU, you're giving him hamburger helper at the training table. And at Oregon, Nike money's getting him to lay him in line. Of course you're going to be at our stage. Look, you just redid your stadium. You have money? What are you talking about? Your stadium is beautiful now. Not that it wasn't. No, but they don't have a brand spanking new stadium or anything

like some of these. It's nicer. Don't get me wrong. And I was there actually with this guy who's a hedge fund guy when he was in the office with Ray Anderson one day. I went to visit and we were standing there and he's talking about what they wanted to do with the stadium. And, and they had done a lot of it, but they haven't done all of it yet. You know, they, they, they need to get to doing all of it.

Here's part of the problem too. Now, ASU has gotten so big. Like if I went to ASU right now, I'd have to live in downtown Phoenix and go to the Cronkite school to do what I do. Think about that. That means you make your other classes, you have to take a train to come to Tempe to make your classes. I couldn't make my

classes from two blocks over on my bike. Yeah, I know. It's like 60,000, right? Undergrad, it's like the biggest in the country. More. It's more than that. I think it's more than that now. It's the biggest. And then UCF and Ohio State are the three biggest schools in the country.

No Oregon on the schedule this year. You have Southern Utah. Good luck on that one. UNLV at BYU. And then no Oregon this year. I was going to say we should go to a game together and find a way to – I'll get you some of that Nike money. I'll get you a sideline pass with it. You know, the last ASU game I went to was they played at Georgia

about seven, nine years ago, maybe. And I was going to Cincinnati. It was when I used to go and do games. I was flying to Cincinnati. So I brought my wife and we went to Georgia and got to, it poured the entire game. And of course, Georgia got, won the game because ASU is very good. But

you know, ASU's worst moment is 1996. The national championship was theirs. All they had to do was use the clock the right way at the end of the game, and Bruce Snyder, God rest his soul, because he's not alive anymore, choked by a call on timeout on third down.

They scored the go-ahead touchdown, left too much time on the clock, and David Boston got a touchdown pass to win it for us state. Remember that? And it was compounded by the fact that Florida won the national championship. And I lived in Jacksonville at the time, so I had to hear all that crap. Yeah. You know, the Pac-12s had, I mean, UCLA in 98,

they lost that hurricane rescheduled game to Miami. Otherwise, they would have played in the BCS championship. Even a couple years ago, I mean, Oregon beats Arizona State. They're probably not. They would have been, I think, smoked by LSU, but they would have been a playoff team if ago, Oregon beats Arizona State. They would have been smoked by LSU, but they would have been a playoff team if they don't lose Arizona State. The Packers just has full of these moments.

These are before USC was good, but just moments where we just can't push over that hurdle. We have to find a way to do that. I'd love for us to be good at football, man. Oh, God, it'd be so nice we don't get just trash for everybody. Well, I mean, let's be honest.

If there's four teams in the playoff next year, let's pick three right now. Yeah, it's Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State. And Georgia will probably be in the mix, too. They're really good. Yeah, but Georgia, they, Georgia and Alabama play each other every year. So that's right. And Georgia plays Clemson this year, too. You're right.

They have some good guys this week. It's in Charlotte. It's where I'm at. I'm not going to go to the game, but I'm sure it'll be great to see them. The Panthers go to artificial turf. Why are they doing that? They have beautiful grass. Why move to artificial turf?

Well, field turf, you mean. God forbid if they went back to artificial turf. I played the one game in my life, artificial turf, at Oregon State in 2004. They still had old school artificial turf. Oh, my God. And it was wet that night. It was like moist as usual. Moist is a terrible word.

But it was like, you know, a November game in Corvallis, a night game. It was – we lost – Derek Anderson kicked our ass. It was like 56 to 21. He was quarterback for Oregon State. And that field, like you just, if you fall down, your whole skin gets torn off your arms. Brutal. You, it's funny because all those rivalry games,

the underdog used to win those all the time, no matter which team it was. Yeah. Well, for 10 years straight, the home team won. And then since then, since 07, my last year, we lost at home to break that streak. And then since then,

Oregon State's won like twice, including last season. But yeah, it's a good rivalry. I mean, the Pac-12 is good football. I just wish that people watched us. And we've got to win big games. We've won one big game in five years. I was Oregon beating Wisconsin. The Pac-12 has not won Arizona State beating Michigan State

twice. Those were good wins. But they weren't like 10-7 though. It wasn't like a great game. It wasn't like in 96 when Nebraska came in on a winning streak and hadn't lost to anybody in ASU either. Right. No, I'm with you. That one game was 10-7, right?

And it was like they kept missing. They missed a field goal, made a field goal, timeout, penalty, and then they missed a field goal and it was over. Yeah, yeah. By the way, so ASU opens up 1-0 against Southern Utah, 2-0 against UNLV. Then they should beat BYU. That should be 3-0.

Then I think they play USC the week after that if I'm not wrong. No, it's Colorado at the Bruins, Stanford at Utah by week, Washington State, USC at home, Saturday, November 6th. That's the one you have to go to. I can't get to a game. I got to work on Sunday. Do you think that we'll get back to covering the NFL previously, like in person or do you think things have all changed now forever? They're going to use it somewhat to try and change it.

I think they'll limit the access a little bit, but you still got to have access to players. I'm sorry. You got to, they'll probably say, well, because of COVID, we're going to limit the locker room to one day a week instead of three. Something like that. They'll limit it. Like I'm actually going to go to Jacksonville D-Camp, I think,

and just to see Lawrence and do some stuff. You can't talk to players. You can only, you know, report from there, but you can't talk to players. Wait, there's not even like a Zoom press conference? Well, Zoom. Yeah, Zoom. But that's not, that's,

that's the one thing that's missing being able to walk up like your linemen. I used to love going to teams and walking up to linemen and talking to them. They gave you the best information, the best stories. You can't do that. Oh, I know.

And I remember in New York, man, we had so many media members in the walk room every day and we weren't even good. We were six and 10, two straight years. But like the media, yeah. I mean, you build a relationship with, and that's how, you know,

the media builds relationships with players is going to locker room and, you know, the media scrums over here, but you're talking, you're hanging back and talking to a guy and, and that's going to change if they don't let that come back. Yeah. Everybody will have the same access. It's not good. Yeah.

You want your special access. It'll come back. It'll come back. I appreciate come back, by the way. I appreciate you joining me. We got to a lot of topics. We better be right about Tebow, Max. If not, we're going to have the wolves attack us on Twitter. I promise you.

We'll be right. And by the way, the Tebow wolves have attacked me. I did drive time radio in Jacksonville for seven years, and they used to come at me like you wouldn't believe because I made a cottage industry out of ripping that crap. I mean, he won a game as a quarterback going

two for eight passing. Yeah, well, also the playoff game, they always say, and I go, it was a race accident in the history of the NFL, but then Nick Foles winning the Super Bowl, so that might overturn that. Except he flew for 500 yards. It's still one of the great outs of the ball time, though.

Oh, I'm with you. I think that we don't actually give him enough credit for what he did in those two games. He wasn't good against Atlanta. Terrible. Keanu Neal catches the ball. They win the game. Remember the interception? Yeah.

Threw it right into his stomach. Yeah. And Julio just, you know, the ball just went off his fingertips in the end zone to end that game. All right, Pete, I appreciate you joining me. You can follow him at Pete Prisco on Twitter. Take care, buddy. Thank you. You got it.

Take care. All right, thank you to Pete Prisco for joining us. That's a fabulous conversation. Hope you guys got a lot out of it. Appreciate all the listens, all the subscriptions, and the rate and review. We have a lot more of those lately. Appreciate it. Numbers are picking up. Love it. We're getting a little closer to the listens, all the subscriptions, and the rate and review. We have a lot more of those lately. Appreciate it.

Numbers are picking up. Love it. We're getting a little closer to the NFL, guys. Absolutely fantastic. Have a great week. Talk to you guys later. Peace.