Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - NIL Talk, AD's Contract Demands, Plus Who is the Tom Cruise of the NFL?

Episode Date: June 1, 2022

Geoff is back with Gabe to preview the SEC summer meetings, where the debate over pay for play in college football is bound to boil over. Geoff reacts to Lane Kiffin's comments from this week, and Gabe breaks down where he'd like to be slotted in the head coaches seating chart. Also, Aaron Donald wants a new contract, but he's being way too nice about it, and Geoff explains what guys who aren't on teams are doing during OTAs.Then, in honor of Tom Cruise, the most versatile movie star, and "perfect movie" Top Gun: Maverick, Geoff and Gabe set out to find the most versatile star in the NFL. Geoff's front runner isn't a popular choice, and Gabe complains that they don't make 'em like Primetime anymore.If you enjoyed the podcast, be sure to leave a rating and follow for new. episodes every week during the offseason. Tweet @geoffshcwartz if he missed any of the league's most versatile players. Think Taysom Hill deserved a shoutout? Let Geoff hear about it!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

it's wednesday june 1st i'm jeff schwartz alongside gabe goodwin this is jeff schwartz of smart new power by the varsity podcast network we have more nil talk as the sec gets together for their meetings this week wayne kiffin as usual with some good quotes aaron donald needs a new contract what's happening at otas and we will talk about the most versatile nfl players some of those discussions will be real and some will be just for laughs. So we'll do all that. Gabe, how are you, buddy? I know that you saw Top Gun this weekend.

I might go to the movie theater for the first time since Uncut Gems to see this movie this week. Jeff, this was the first movie I saw in a theater since Uncut Gems. Yeah. So it was awesome. It's worth seeing in a theater. uncut gems yeah uh so it was awesome it's worth seeing in a theater i love everything about it we can we can talk at length about it after you've seen it i don't want to spoil it for you but everyone who listens to this show should go see that movie in a theater i've never seen more football people agree i'm not really putting you in the football people but like the people on twitter tend to be more football people and they

in agreement have liked this movie so I'm excited to watch it. Not only is it a great movie it is a chance and this is why we have this topic about versatility it is a chance to recognize finally that Tom Cruise is our most

versatile and talented movie star of all time. Everyone knows that he's great as an action star, but Tom Cruise can do everything and has for three decades. And yeah, he's kind of weird. And yeah, there's been some stories about him away from the big screen that maybe don't sit too well with some people. But as an actor, man, that dude does it all. He is so good. I've never heard anyone stand for Tom Cruise quite like this. This is now the Jeff Schwartz is Smiling You featuring Tom Cruise stander.

Well, you know, I feel as strongly pro Tom Cruise as I am anti-Tom Brady. That's just how the Toms work in my brain. You're going to be very upset when we get to most versatile NFL players then. So let's get to, uh, to the NIL discussion as we seem to have each every week on this show. Yeah. I thought,

you know, based on some things you said that, uh, we'd have a little bit of pause in the action on NIL conversation. A few weeks ago, it was, it was all anyone wanted to talk about. And then there was the high point of that was that blowout between Jimbo

Fisher and Nick Saban. And I thought, all right, well, it can't get any messier than that. But now, like you mentioned, Lane Kiffin is weighing in with some really crazy quotes, but maybe completely accurate quotes. So here's the take. This is from Lane. It's not the size of the stadium, not the head coach, not the campus or the conference. The number one thing will be money and how would you blame

them of players making their decisions to go to schools he has other quotes you have kids going to school now and some haven't even taken a visit because of their NILs you've got to think that this is here to stay to say that it's not sustainable why 10 years ago no one would have said schools were going to pay coaches 10 million a year. Well, they do now. I mean, it's a good take from Lane, but is it the right one? Yes and no. I mean, I think players are definitely going to school for money now, but I find it very hard to believe that's the only reason why, right, Gabe? So when you're being recruited, right, you are talking to coaches, you're talking to personnel there, you're being comfortable with your individual position coach.

And there's also a coach that recruits your area. Like for me, when I was recruited by Oregon, Don Pelham was a linebacker coach. He was from Los Angeles. He recruited Los Angeles. Then I got to know Neil Zumbaka, who's the offensive line coach. Then Mike Belotti, of course. And then you visit your school. And now these kids talk so much.

I mean, they know each other from camps. Like they're talking between each other and you have to be comfortable with the coaching staff, with the school, with the program, with the city, like all those things first before you're comfortable with the money, right? Because if you go somewhere for money only, Gabe, you're not gonna have a good college experience.

And I think these kids, some maybe, some might be going for the money explicitly, but I think a lot of them are going to places because the money and everything else I just mentioned, right? The relationship with the coaching staff, getting to the NFL, winning college games, and the money is just an extra part of this, right? So let's use some of the big numbers we've seen, right? So we talk about the player Tennessee bought for for eight million dollars okay the quarterback he's not going to Tennessee because they gave him eight million dollars solely right otherwise he would go maybe somewhere else for even more money he's going there because he likes the coaching staff he likes Knoxville he likes the

program and then they happen to pay him a certain amount of money I do not think kids are going explicitly just for the money anywhere game. I think there's a relationship there to be made with the coaching staff first. That's why Jimbo got so upset because when Nick Saban says, hey, they're just paying all the players, that diminishes, in his mind, and I agree with him,

that diminishes the work that he's put in to recruit these players. Yes, the money is a huge part of this. I'm not denying that. It's part of why these guys are going places, but it's not the only reason why. I think Lane Kiffin is exaggerating a little bit for the exact reasons players or high school kids

are going to these colleges. All right. I think they protest a little too much here. I think it's time to be honest with ourselves as head coaches. And when you look at the huge names and huge programs that are sitting around a table at the huge names and huge programs that are sitting around a table at the SEC meetings this week, I think it is fair for a guy like Lane

Kiffin to say, this is not really about all the old ways that somebody got recruited. Like you're saying it's maybe it's 50, 50. I think he's just saying it's 51% or more. I mean, I guess we never hear about the other offers. So I can't tell you like what, like, I don't, we didn't hear the other offer that Nico got from Oregon, for example, because it was between Oregon and Tennessee. Right. So I don't know, did Oregon offer him 8.1, 7.9, 7, 5, 6. Like we don't know the other offers, right? Jordan Aniston, I'm talking about Jordan Aniston from USC. What did he get? And I think the $3 million number is way too high and not true but three months did he get offered more

somewhere else Gabe like we don't know the other what Elaine does though that's the thing Elaine probably knows what the other kids are getting offered and I do think again the the players are going to schools because they're getting money but they're not going just because of that. It feels unlikely that parents and kids would just go somewhere without even having a connection to the staff at all. If you're that good of a player too, like you want to go to the NFL, but you're not going somewhere,

you know, if Columbia is paying you, you know, $10 million to go, but you're like, I don't know, I want to go to the NFL. That's probably a bad example because they're so smart. I don't even know why I came up with Columbia. I have no idea. I don't know. I want to go to the NFL. That's probably a bad example because they're so small. I don't even know why I came up with Columbia. I have no idea. I don't know.

Marcellus Wiley, I'd like a word with you, please. I think Columbia because I was looking at Pac-12 schedules earlier, and one team had a C. It's actually Colgate, not Columbia. Colgate plays Stanford in week one. But are you going to a smaller school because they offered you all that money with no chance to be developed, no chance to win. I don't, I don't see that happening. Part of it has to be the other reasons why you're going there. Yeah. But I don't think Lane Kiffin's talking about Colgate. I

let's, let's go to the sec. Like I'm looking at this seating chart. This got posted on Twitter. It's fun to look at. It looks like a giant, like drug cartel meeting among college coaches, but this is the seating chart for how all the big coaches in the SEC will be placed for a meeting that presumably is a closed-door meeting where they can still hash a few more things out. So to sort of combine parts of this, like, A, how wild does this meeting seem and where would you like to be seated? What fireworks should we expect will get reported out from this meeting?

But B, don't you think lane kiffin is saying look you're gonna have a pretty darn good chance to make the nfl if you go to play for brian kelly or jimbo fisher or nick saban or frankly him lane kiffin you're gonna be just fine but you'll make the choice between those three or four based on money and that I think that's a realistic thing to say. That's all. I think it's realistic to say that the final decision might be based off money. But I think the way that Lane put that quote, in my opinion, was more that the only decision is made off money.

It's not. And yeah, the seating chart, by the way, for the SEC meetings is this week. And what is it? I was looking for, obviously, Jimbo and Nick Saban. They're not near each other. The one interesting part about this meeting, too, by the way, is that the commissioner is Greg Sankey, and he's not in the middle.

He's at bottom left. That's kind of odd. Nick Saban is next to Herb Vincent, not a coach, probably an administrator. And then Sam Pittman is Arkansas' head coach. And Jimbo next to William King and David Cutliffe, Vincent, not a coach, probably an administrator. And then Sam Pittman, who's Arkansas' head coach. And Jimbo, next to William King and David Cutliffe, who used to be the former Duke head coach. I actually looked it up.

I didn't realize he was working. He's working like media relations or something for the SEC conference. That's why he's there now. Special assistant to the commissioner for football relations. He's the one that tutored the Manning brothers. So he's now at the SEC. So I think both Jimbo and Saban will have a drink this weekend and talk it out. Like I think they're going to be fine.

If I could sit anywhere in this room, I would want to sit right between Mike Leach and Lane Kiffin. Those are two guys with plenty of shit to say. Dude, Mike Leach is a trip, dude. We had him one time on our Pac-12 show, and we had him on a recruiting night, and he was calling us from –

he was clearly at one of the recruiting functions, and he just didn't want to talk to us. He made up that he had bad cell service. You can just tell. He just didn't want to be there. He was like, hey, tell us about this new player. You got Matt Ford, the quarterback. He's like, hey, tell us about this new player you got. You got Matt Ford, the quarterback. He's like,

yeah, Matt. I'm breaking up with you guys. They're calling me back inside. All right, bye. It was incredible. He just did not want to be there. I was like, why did the SID set him up for that? We don't have to have Mike Leach on. The show would be fine without Mike Leach.

We want Mike Leach, though. If you're going to have Mike Leach on, we'd like to have the full Mike Leach. Maybe that was the full Mike Leach. It was really funny, dude. He just didn't want to be at all in this interview about Recruiting Day. But he's a hoot, dude. He's a very different cat, but he's very bright. Do you think that in this meeting, you know, obviously they all run the risk of certain things being made public.

You know, they have to trust one another not to leak the contents of their conversation. I assume none of it is being broadcast. No, no, no. It's a private meeting, yeah. Does it worry you a little, though, that like there might be, I don't want to use the word collusion, but a little bit too much of like looking out for one another, agreeing on how things should go in trying to settle their disagreements, that they might sort of start to do things that are in the better interests of coaches and schools and not in the interest of the players.

Isn't that a little bit of a worry? The problem is the rules don't really allow that anymore, right? Because of transfer portal and, you know, being able to pay the players. Like you can't say, okay, we're going to do less nal because then what if one school says no no screw you guys we're going to do more of it right you know so just it's i think i think the discussion about this topic is okay well if we decide that we want to lead the fight to limit the transfer window which there's talk about doing to make a smaller transfer window. We want to lead the fight in trying to find a way to regulate these markets. Okay, let's be on the same page if we do so, right?

So we go out there and talk in public. We all sound the same, and we're not having this bickering. Because, look, the bickering between Saban and Jimbo Wall, good for us and our content creation. Not good for the conference, right? You want those coaches buttoned up, having the same message, and not ratting on each other, right? There was a kind of a quote-unquote code was broken.

We had this code-breaking stuff, by the way. The way we talk about it in sports has got to end. I can't take it anymore. There's just all these unwritten rules in sports that keep getting broken that aren't actual rules. Players need to stop being so sensitive. I agree. Let me give you a guy who probably is being a little too sensitive, frankly, for his own good.

That's Aaron Donald. So let's move it to the NFL. You know, almost everyone's unanimous choice for best player in football has been sort of like awkwardly and unconvincingly, in my opinion, flirting with the idea that he might retire. And that's sort of how he's trying to create some leverage with the rams who he'd like a new deal with i guess i guess i just want to say like stop going on podcasts and sort of loosely implying you might walk away and you'd be at peace with it aaron donald just tell them f you pay me and they will you're the best player of a generation they want to defend their title be a man about this go in there and tell them to go screw unless they pay you how hard is this jeff his problem and it's a huge problem is that he did not unfollow them on instagram and if he did ah yes that would be the reason i would tell them i want money give me money um yeah i mean look he's i think he's trying to do this in a diplomatic way where he doesn't

miss any of the activities right and which he which he did a couple of years ago. Remember he held out and they paid him a lot of money because they needed him. I think he's trying to do this as diplomatic as possible, right? He's just making references to it on certain podcasts and they're not like, they're national podcasts, but they're not like national radio shows, right? They're not things that are being picked up everywhere, being picked up on social media and just saying like, yeah, and the interview is like, well, my goal is eight years which is a random number no one chooses eight years i think um and i play my eight years and i'll be good if i walked away well no you just want to get paid and

and your point he has the leverage to say yeah just pay me like i'm not showing up till you pay me but i think that he doesn't want to be that guy i think a lot of players have trouble being the bad guy that's why we have agents sometimes that have trouble being the bad guy. That's why we have agents sometimes that they handle being the bad guy. I think Donald doesn't want to be seen as a guy who just came off a Super Bowl, who has been paid a lot of money over the years, as like ungrateful and unwilling to defend the title for the Rams by sitting out and asking for more money, even though again, Gabe, he deserves even more money. So I think he's trying to do both. He's trying to remain diplomatic, but also say, hey, look, guys, you need to pay me more money, even though again, Gabe, he deserves even more money. So I think he's trying to do both. He's trying to remain diplomatic, but also say, Hey, look guys, you need to pay me more money.

Yeah. I don't know. Maybe he should just take a walk down the hallway and say, Hey, Jalen Ramsey. How did you, uh, how'd you get everything you wanted? Hey, Odell. Hey, Odell. What did you, what did you do? Like half the star players on that team worked the system in their favor oh yeah I just I think an Aaron Donald unlike some of these other guys like it's undeniable he's worth it right 100 but I think it's different we're seeing again we're seeing someone doing it kind of the old school way which is you just kind of like slowly leak

this stuff out over the media you don't just go on Instagram and unfollow people and have your agent put out a press release. You just, you go, you go every day as he's doing, I believe. And you just kind of make your stink in the media. That's the way it used to be done game, right? You just, that's how we used to do it. Now guys are just more direct about it. Yeah. I liked the way you said it though. You know, sometimes that's what's what an agent is for. Like you want to maintain your relationships with your teammates, with your coaches, with the front office. You know, Aaron Donald wants to remain a good guy in the eyes of his colleagues. So he has an agent go be a jerk for him. I guess his agent just needs to start being a jerk because we got to know, is this team going to be whole when they try to defend their title?

Because if they have him, they have to be everyone's favorite. hole when they try to defend their title because if they if they have him they have to be everyone's favorite i mean this is why you know i think we're talking about lamar a little bit when it comes to most versatile athletes but you know why i've advocated for an agent at times and why it might hurt lamar's negotiations because you know teams probably don't want to be honest with players as much as they will with an agent so let's's say that, you know, the Ravens and Lamar are negotiating and the Ravens say, you know what? We value you as a $20 million player. I'm just throwing out numbers.

And the agents say, no, we want $40 million. And the Ravens are like, nah, you know, it's just like, now when you do that with a player, Gabe, it's much more personal talking face-to-face. Yeah, we just don't like you as you think we do. The agent filters that out a little bit, right, when they tell the player. So that sometimes can be a really big difference in how these deals get done. So that's why you have an agent.

My agent always told me, let me be your no guy. And I would refer people to him and he'd tell them no. It's good to have a no guy. And that's where Donald, I'm sure, is agent behind the scenes, is being the no guy. Where publicly, Donald is going out there and doing what he has to do to be part of the team still yeah so if he comes back he's motivated to win for another few years from your understanding of the way that roster is currently constructed

like are we talking about you know basically until matthew stafford can't do it anymore like it's kind of rams are one of top two, three teams in all of football? I was looking at the subtext. I was doing a future, I think, on the Lions, right? So Jared Goff outside of Sean McVay. So he's had one year with Jeff Fisher, one year in Detroit. He's 3-17-1 in those 21 games. He won 42 games over four years and made a Super Bowl in Los Angeles.

McVay can coach. And so they're always going to be good with Sean McVay. The question is, I think for them, is depth, right? They've spent so much money on the top end of their roster. If they have a couple guys get hurt game, they don't really have a lot of depth. And so they were very healthy last year.

They had Robert Woods get hurt, but luckily they had Odell there to fill in. Whitworth at times was beat up, but only missed a couple games so um I think that's that's my concern with them is depth is if a couple guys get hurt they have enough backups okay well that transitions us to this next topic that I think you have a really interesting perspective on now there's no big headline or big take that we're going to unpack here like we usually do I just really wanted you to make us a little smarter on this moment in time in an NFL players

calendar, right? So OTAs are happening, but you know, the headlines are more or less about guys who haven't signed yet or guys who are on supposedly on the trading block. And I just want you to help us better understand what are those guys doing to get ready for next season or to better their position while their current team is uncertain? What do you do? How do you do that without the benefit of a full team around you? You mean someone that's on a deal but holding out or just someone who has no –

I guess give us each example. I'm curious about guys like Jimmy G, guys like unsigned guys who may be lesser named guys. Yeah, well, I mean, Jimmy G is there because he's in the facility. He's getting rehab every day for his shoulder. And he even knows Trey Lance might be there. But, you know, he's getting that free rehab in San Francisco. And he's still on the roster. So they're still going to treat him as such and whatnot.

I mean, players right now, so it's organized team activities, OTAs. And you are in the building for, I believe it's four hours, phase one and phase two, phase three, six hours, and you have your mini camp. So you're there from like eight to 12 or nine to one. You lift, you meet, you do a lot of field work, and you get out of there. And so you do a rehab if you have to, and very lax time in the spring. I never understood the players' push to get rid of off-season workouts because they're easy.

You get workout bonuses and you hang out with your buddies all day. Like, it's like super. I never understood why, like, we would give up something else to get rid of these in CBA negotiations. If you're a player who's not on the team right now, you're just working out at home. Like, you're doing the same thing that the players would do at the facility. You're not studying a playbook, but you're trying to get in shape for a tryout,

for a workout. I mean, Colin Kaepernick just got a tryout with the Raiders. He's been doing this for six years now, right? You just work out. You find guys to throw with. You find dummies to hit. You find blocking dummies, I should say. You can hit a dummy if you'd like as well. You know, you just work out with your trainer. You eat well, and you get ready for your call.

And that's what everyone's doing right now, essentially. You're preparing your body for the season. You have to. Part of the reason you work out. I mean, there's many reasons to work out, right? Obviously, endurance and strength and flexibility and focus. All those things. But all the workouts.

All the lifting. It kind of hardens your body. So you have this shell on your body when you go play for the season. And you can withstand injuries a little bit better, those hits and those bumps and bruises. So this is an important time of year to build that shell up around your body. So if you're a guy who, obviously guys like Terry McLaurin

and Debo Samuel, they've eaten up plenty of our time this offseason. Where will they be? How happy are they? What do they need? But you're saying they're basically taking advantage of the the team they're currently with their facilities their staff yes so how hard is it to organize like i i don't mean to get too in the weeds but like the logistics of you're one of those guys who isn't on a team but you're still an nfl caliber player you have pretty high hopes

you're going to get signed and be a you know a bench player or something like is it money out of your own pocket does your agent help pay for it like how do you go get signed and be a, you know, a bench player or something like, is it money out of your own pocket? Does your agent help pay for it? Like, how do you go get all the work in that you need to get in? Once you become a pro it's on you, your agent's not paying for it anymore. So you might have a trainer, you might have your own program. Some guys just do it at home and they don't have a trainer. They, they just are able to get it done. Um, and so that's how you do it. Like you just, you just find ways to do it. That's what, you know, that's what it comes down to. And, you know, when I did this and I was under, how was I, was I not?

So I, you know, I'd been a free agent obviously a couple times, but like I would go, you know, to, was I a free agent before that? No, I was already, was I already working out? Like, yeah, I'd go down to Arizona and work out and I was still a free agent. And I would go then travel to a certain place and meet with a team and then go back and work out some more. You pay for your own training. Your body is your tool.

You have to be able to have your body ready to go. You mentioned Kaepernick. I think we've spent the last few off-seasons speculating about what could come of it. I'm probably at a point you were already at a year or two ago where i'm starting to feel bad like this guy's being invited places so that they could say they invited him i don't think anyone really thinks he's going to be a backup quarterback in the nfl anymore am i do i have a bad read on that did this raiders workout mean anything or was that just to show him a little respect see what he had and you know

keep a few friends in the business happy? What other point was there to that? So, interesting. I do radio with a guy named Steve Hartman, who's been in radio and TV for a long time now in Los Angeles. Do a weekend show. And he worked for Al Davis for a while. And he said that Al Davis would have totally signed Colin Kaepernick in like 2017. That's like, that's his person.

Yeah, he said he absolutely would have signed him. And so I wonder if some of that goes to his son, Mark. I wonder if there's a little bit with Josh McDaniels, just kind of, okay, well, let's see what Kaep has, right? But, you know, it's, I've made this very clear, I think, in the past, we've either, this show or social media, that, you know, Colin Kaepernick was blackballed. Like, that's not, it's no, it's, I've made this very clear, I think, in the past. We've either, this show or social media, that, you know, Concaver was blackballed. Like, that's not, it's no, it's what happened.

He got a settlement, too, for that. You know, did they explicitly email everyone around and say, hey, don't sign Concapernick? No, but I think we pretty much understand what happened there. But it's been six years since he played. And some people have just got to get over that. Like, I get it. He was wronged.

He got paid out. But, like, let's not change what happened on the field, though. Like, he got benched. His play was declining. He wasn't as good. And six years later now, he's going to be Mike Florio's tweet, better than Tua and four other starting quarterbacks in the NFL. Like, ooh, take a deep breath, everyone.

And the one thing I can't stand, too, is I see people, I'm going to single out someone who tweeted me, well, he's better than Nick Foles. Okay. But Nick Foles also signed to be the third-string quarterback in Indy. Kaepernick, I've mentioned this on the show many times, it bothers me how we talk about what job Kaepernick is up for. This would be a third-string job as well.

He's not going anywhere to be a starter. So I hope he gets a job. But he's 34, hasn't played in six years, He's not going anywhere to be a starter. So I hope he gets a job, but he's 34, hasn't played in six years, Gabe. Probably not going to get a job. No, I mean, it doesn't seem likely, especially when in his prime, which was only a couple of years before his decline, you know, he was unbelievably mobile.

I mean, he could just outrun people and nobody can do that for their whole career, especially if you stop playing for six years. So, you know, the politics aside, I don't I don't think we're going to be able to talk about him making the NFL for very much longer. Let's take a quick break. Come back. Instead of our normal over under game that we like to play, we got a different game pegged to Top Gun. So I'll explain it on the other side of the break. to play we got a a different game pegged to top gun so i'll explain it on the other side of the break jeff welcome back to uh your show jeff schwartz is smarter than you thank you yeah you're welcome in honor of top gun maverick being out and it being essentially let's call it what

it is a perfect movie um i would like to talk about players that remind us of tom cruise the most versatile star in history now i just want to tell you tom cruise besides being an incredible action star arguably featured in the best romantic comedy of all time jerry mcguire best drama of all time a few good men fantastic yes best road trip movie of all time rain man a number of other movies lots and lots of people love he has played villains in collateral he has played comedic genius in tropic thunder the guy can do it all oh yeah tropic thunder yeah i forgot about that yeah he was good yeah yeah all of this is separate for oh by the way and maybe the greatest action franchise of all time in the

mission series you know and none of this has anything to do with the 80s you you might be selling me on this a little bit okay good i sold you on that now let's apply it to football okay i want to talk about some guys who are equally versatile you have a list of names hank gave us a list of names i have a few names in mind. Who are your like peak, most versatile NFL players? Tom cruises of the NFL. Well, I guess there's many different ways you can go in this, in this direction, right? You're versatile on the field, versatile on the field in life. And the number one choice for this is obviously Tom Brady, right? What, what did we get there? He is one of the best quarterbacks of all time, and he is an excellent social media star.

No, no, no. He's a good golfer. He is a good teammate. He's a champion. He brings other players along for the championship. He is a versatile, versatile star in our football universe, and he will be soon my coworker at Fox Sports. So I would say that Tom Brady

versatile player of football all right I think you might have uh interpreted this a little differently than I did um I was thinking of talking about guys more like Debo Samuel oh okay but but fine um Tom Brady I let me ask you this. The real football question. So DK Metcalf, obviously very versatile kind of guy. Unbelievably fast. You know, we've seen him make these crazy plays that make I think serious people wonder, could this guy play both sides of the ball or could this guy play two sports? Or could this guy play two sports? Yeah. Whatever happened to the time of like the Dion days of a guy being valuable in two or three different positions? Yeah. Or maybe even playing another sport in his offseason?

Well, I mean, Dion's one of a kind. This is what I tell people very often about Hall of Fame players. They always ask me, like, what sets him apart? And they're just freak shows. Dion's a freak show. He would go from NFL games to playoff baseball games, like be starting for the Braves and also starting for the Cowboys at that point, I think it was, or Falcons, one of the two, right?

He would, I think it was Falcons. He might have been playing for the Falcons at the same time as the Braves. It didn't matter. He was doing both at the same time. Like, he wasn't playing like, you know, Bo Jackson played football then went to baseball, right? Right.

He was playing football and baseball at the same time in the playoffs. It was incredible. And I think that now, too, the money is so big, Gabe, there's no reason anyone would do that, right? Like, you just take one or the other. I mean, could Kyler Murray, for example, you know, he was a good baseball player. Could he just go play baseball in the spring, I guess? But the money's not worth it for him.

He's getting paid, not at the moment, but he's going to get paid a lot of money as a quarterback. So just, you know, Pat Mahomes, could he go play baseball? Sure. But he's making $500 million as a quarterback. Back in those days, the money wasn't as grand, even if you count for inflation. And again, Deion is an all-time great athlete um he's a far better football coach than I thought he would be as well a great recruiter um I don't listen I don't listen to much of his of his podcast I don't know how that goes but um yeah there's just

there's no incentive to do that and there's no one quite like dion but like dk metcalf could he play you know what could he run track or could he play the sports probably pretty well but i think there's a reason why guys don't do that all right but what so let's stick with dion though and apply dion within the world of football forget all the craziness of playing baseball simultaneously let's just talk about the fact that dion sanders for a time with the Cowboys was a weapon on offense. Deion Sanders at times, obviously, was the best kick returner in the game. Like the days when we saw when Tyreek Hill needed to make plays for the Chiefs late in the year, they would have him return punts. Like what happened to the days of guys being able to do more things on the football field within any given game or season yeah i mean it's almost like cordell patterson

now right who had he had 618 yards rushing 558 rushing uh receiving i mean and then he had a bunch of returning yards as well you know last year he had uh not as many last year, 434. The year before that, he had 1,000 in Chicago kickoff yards. I mean, Debo's that guy now, I guess, right? Debo's able to do multiple things on the football field like that. But again, I think the game is, it just gets, guys, when they get paid a certain amount of money, just don't want to do extra. Like, I'm not saying they're lazy,

but like when you get paid that money, you're not about to go kick off return like you're not gonna kick off return anymore you're just not there's no incentive to do that anymore so that's why i think less guys do that but but your point is like right when the chiefs need to play they put tyreek hill back there but that was only when they needed to play he wasn't there every day you know every down uh kick returner but couldn't he make more of a difference being a kick returner. But couldn't he make more of a difference being a kick returner and taking like eight snaps off a game? No. In situations where he's not needed on offense?

I think he's way more of a weapon as a wide receiver than a kick returner. But in certain downs and distances, he doesn't mean anything to the offense. You don't need him out there. Yeah, but I mean, if the idea is that he pulls defense away from other players, you certainly can use him on offense. Also, I think there's more of a chance to get hurt on special teams.

It's just not worth it to put him out there. Like the drop-off, let's say the drop-off from Tyreek Hill to McColl Hardman as a punt returner is far less than Tyreek Hill to back a wide receiver if Tyreek Hill gets hurt, right? Tyreek Hill to McColl Hardman as a receiver. Basically, yes. We'll find out what that is. Basically, yes.

Yeah, basically, yeah. So that's why I think guys don't do it. So it is hard to find actual versatile NFL players that aren't jokes. For example, Kirk Cousins is the best quarterback to make the most money that's never done anything. He's multi-talented, right? He has made $230 million. Sure.

No all pros, never been top five, never been in the Super Bowl. Like you talk about versatile, man. Mike McCartney, his agent, like unbelievable, versatile job of being a quarterback. He started a ton of games. And he's going to make $230 million and more before his career is up and then have a Super Bowl. At least Matt Ryan, I think he's made the third or fourth

most money in the NFL history. He has an MVP and a Super Bowl berth. Cousins have none of that. Okay, you're making a very good case. Your brother, a very versatile guy. He's a real renaissance man. He's an offensive lineman. Yes.

A podcaster, a chef, an Instagram personality, a contestant on The Voice. Is that true? When was he on The Voice? Who's on The Voice? Who put that in here? I'm seeing some notes from Hank. Hank's putting some bad info in there. Contestant on The Voice?

Allegedly. Unless that's news to me. No, not contestant on The Voice. Okay. So, I don't know where that would even come from. A couple other here that I think Hank brought up here that are pretty funny. Cole Beasley, wide receiver and noted medical expert. Also a rapper, by the way, Cole. Has a recording studio.

Oh, yeah, has a recording studio in his house. Andy Reed, the most versatile coach when it comes to discussing a offensive scheme and barbecue. Yes. He can wear a few hats. I agree with that. It's just hard to find the versatile players anymore because you're just not

playing a ton of positions, right? Like you, but what about if they weren't the superstars? Like you're obviously you're right. You're not going to have tired to kill paid. I mean, a guy like Matthew Slater,

right. Who is probably a hall of fame special teams player for New England. He doesn't even like play offense. I mean, he's versatile. He's on all special teams. All right. But remember years ago, I hate that I'm about to reference the Patriots. But remember a few years ago, many years ago, was it Edelman?

Yeah, I think it was Edelman was playing defensive back because they just needed him to because he could he knew he understood how the field worked. He was he was the right body type. They didn't need you know, they carried him as like a sixth receiver or something, but he could play defensive back. Like it was just he was versatile. You know, he's obviously the emergency quarterback, too. And Julian Edelman, until two thirds of the way through his career, was not a superstar. And Julian Edelman, until two-thirds of the way through his career, was not a superstar. So why aren't there more guys like that who come from some random-ass school,

who weren't really drafted and with a lot of money on their first contract, and they're just like, all right, I'll be like a nickel defensive back, a special teamer, and a trick play guy on offense. I don't know why that doesn't exist. Um, I think those guys, it's, it's just hard to give a roster spot to a player like that. I take it away from someone else. We can contribute right away.

Like you have to be like the Patriots at that point had a bunch of good players. I could take it. They could take their time to work on Edelman, right? Like they, they don't, it's hard to,

to do that. I think if you're a bad team. But also, Edelman, I think his first preseason game, like, returned a punt for a touchdown. Like, he had splash plays game. And those are important plays to make in the preseason to get your name out there, right? So, he was a versatile player who kind of, you know, did multiple things,

but also then had some impact plays where you're like, okay, if we give this guy more opportunity, he's going to make more plays. Like that's, again, is part of, in the end, is you got to just make plays. And I think that's, it's hard to find those guys, man. And now too, I think with the amount of film that's out there and the combines, like you're just not, no one's coming under the radar anymore. You're just not, you're not going to find a diamond in the rough. You can't, there's too much video out there,

too much data out there, too many combines, too many pro days. You're not just going to be like, oh yeah, here's a random dude I found who's really good, like Adam Thielen.

So in Minnesota, they have a thing, I don't know if they still do it, called the Wild. It was the first week after the draft game and they would take all the local colleges

and put together a mini camp, a tryout mini camp for all the local colleges in the area. And we would actually watch it sometimes after workouts on Fridays. We'd sit up on this hill that had the old practice facility and watch it. It was called Call the Wild. They found Adam Thielen doing that.

That's rare. You're not going to find a lot of guys doing that anymore. And so the scouting world has changed. Yeah. All right. Well, I live, I hope to see a day where just the way money ball sort of changed values of players in baseball. I hope in football, the notion of having, you know, everyone who isn't your superstar, highest paid at their position guy, become more versatile, make more exciting things happen. their position guy become more versatile make more exciting things happen like dk metcalf playing you know linebacker would be awesome to watch or safety yeah in the box like that'd be fun so i i'm rooting for that just for enjoyment um jeff before we end uh hank put a very um i think aggressive

attempt at uh putting words into your mouth in our rundown. He has asked if you'd like to read these words. I think you would not, but I'm happy to read them for you. No, no, no. I didn't apologize to Matt because I was in Baltimore last week and I text Matt or Matt saw a picture.

I put an Instagram and I had always assumed Matt was from Baltimore because I don't know. And he said, no, I'm from DC. I just don't tell people that. So I have to apologize to Matt because I feel like I should have known he's from DC,

even though I knew he was a DC sports fan, but I feel bad that I did not know Matt was from DC. But you're opting, you're opting out of apologizing to Hank for saying that he is not a real DC sports fan. You don't want to take that back. Well, he roots for the Longhorns, which is, it is not, not DC, but he's going to be a real DC sports fan. You don't want to take that back. Well, he roots for the Longhorns, which is not DC. He's got to be a Terrapin fan.

So I just can't do it. Okay, so it doesn't matter to you that he grew up in Montgomery County, Maryland. He's always rooted for the DC teams. He went to Texas, which is why he roots for Texas. He's even apparently something called the Mystics. He's a fan of them in D.C. You know, the guy. Yeah, sure.

He's a very loyal D.C. fan. And you don't want to acknowledge that on this show, your show. Probably not. And, you know, he had to he liked the graduation speaker of Texas, too. He was pumped about. Yeah, he was. His graduation stuff. Like, I'm happy that he's now done it at Texas.

But now maybe he can move back to D.C. and become a D.C. fan. Yeah, maybe one day that's what he'll do. I know he was raving about the graduation speech. It was cool. He had a big star show up, a guy tied to the sports world. Gabe, what do I have to do in my career in sports media to speak at the graduation of my high school? Not even Oregon, just my high school. Your high school.

I would think that if the invite were ever coming, it should happen by now, Jeff. You played about eight years in the NFL. What do I have to do? Do I have to start a non-profit and like be like do i have to give i think the problem is jeff you grew up in a in a town with a lot of famous people and a lot of rich people and a lot of connections like everyone in your school knows a guy who knows a guy to find very interesting people so you might you might be on a long list but the short list could involve some huge names in your school

well my my high school certainly yeah i mean you look at at at palisades i have a lot pulling up the list it's pretty fun to do it like jj abrams um genie buss um i'd take both of them over you sorry I know right like Susanna Huffs was a member of the Bengals Steve Kerr oh yeah yeah my brother obviously there's a lot of famous alums Will.I.Am

for Black Eyed Peas you went to the high school right off Sunset there in Palisades yeah I played basketball there the other night the Palisades High School the Dol the dolphins yeah oh nice great gym yeah okay katie siegel married married with children sons of anarchy i'm way down oh yeah you're not gonna get invited are you kidding me but forrest whitaker he's probably spoken there before he had to i don't know so i'm up soon i think they'd probably invite Forrest Whitaker back a second time before they invite you.

Amy Smart, the actress. Dude, this is no good. This is not. There's a DJ that I don't know. Is he still at K-Rock? I don't know. But there's a DJ that was famous that was at K-Rock forever. So, yeah, like it would be –

Yeah, not good. All right. Well, maybe you could be like the warm-up act for one of those people at your high school graduation one day. But a lot of these famous people though aren't – Like they're just like they're much older. Like there's not a new generation of famous people besides my brother and I.

So maybe you should go in there, warm up for Mitch and then just crush, be way better than them. And then they'll be like, screw Mitch, let's get Jeff back next year. Warm up for my brother. That'd be,

that'd be funny. Yeah. Oh wait, oh, and then also someone from LMFAO went to Palisades too. Wow. Red foo.

Yeah, you're missing a few. There's a lot of them. I'm really, geez, I'm never speaking at my school. So that means Oregon's out for sure. Yeah, I don't think it's going to happen at Oregon. When you,

I wouldn't want to speak at my graduation because no one would listen to me, but I just, I'm not like a speech person. I could do without a speech. Yeah. Does it fire you up? Like, have you heard that you were going to graduate somewhere? Like, if someone was coming to talk, who it fire you up like if you heard if you heard that you were gonna graduate somewhere and who like who if someone was coming to talk like who would who would fire you

up uh there's not that many people other than stand-up comics who i'd be interested in hearing do you know 15 minutes of talking and i don't think the i'd be incredible there's not much i really want to hear people just like stand up there and say to me especially graduation you're hung over you feel like all right man i did it can you just let me go now please i got i went to gw we had like some like four-star general talking about god knows what there was nothing interesting about it was burning hot as in a swamp all i wanted to do was go take a nap so i could get back up and go party again well so you're more you're more of a D.C. person than Hank is. Oh yeah, no question. That's right.

I've lived inside the district. He might as well be from Baltimore. Yeah, never has. Might as well be from Baltimore. Alright guys, Powered by the Varsity Podcast Network. Please rate, review, subscribe. We'll be back next week to make fun of Hank, but probably more than talk some more football as we get closer to the season.

Less than 100 days before the start of the football season. Cannot wait. I'll be here before we know it. Talk to you guys next week. Take care.