Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - The Browns' Bahamas Vacay, The Chiefs' Nightmare Schedule, and Recruiting Jordan Addison

Episode Date: May 18, 2022

Geoff is back with Gabe to talk through what's happening in the NFL this week, starting with Deshaun Watson taking the Browns on a vacation... without Baker Mayfield. Geoff isn't worried about the Chiefs' all-time difficult schedule this season, and Gabe asks Geoff if his Trojans are going to reel in the nation's top wide receiver transfer.On Moving the Line, Drew Brees won't be calling games next season, but Tom Brady might, and Geoff breaks down a dubious list of breakout QB candidates.Make sure to leave a rating and follow the pod if you enjoyed, and leave a comment or tweet @geoffschwartz to share your take.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 may 18th i'm jeff schwartz alongside gabe goodwin this jeff schwartz is smart you powered by the varsity podcast network a little team bonding trip and some more nil discussion and some schedule a release news and everything to do with the nfl we'll talk about that but gabe how you doing buddy how's it been how been? How's it hanging? Oh, man. Life is good, man. It's not as good as a member of the Browns heading down to the Bahamas for rest and relaxation, but it's pretty good on my end. Good, because we have a lot to talk about in the NFL. The news never stops, and we'll get a little NIL as usual, because I love talking about that.

There's some more news coming down down the road especially with that topic so let's start off with a little little vacationing little team bonding some forced team vacation time yeah so we both teased it obviously uh deshaun watson has a little bit of business to take care of before he can have a vacation with his teammates he's meeting with the league office this week we're still waiting to find out what kind of suspension he might face this coming season but right now he's focused on trying to get to know But right now he's focused on trying to get to know his new teammates. He's taken all the offensive weapons down to some sort of a resort for the weekend in the Bahamas before team OTAs next week. One guy who is not

invited or at least isn't going is Baker Mayfield. Duh. Jeff, this creates easy headlines in the offseason, but how much actual difference could this team bonding make for a guy like Deshaun Watson? I'm sure you've been part of trips like this. Explain what this actually is. I've never been on a trip like this before. So this is a term that we, that we've used in the past called like mandatory fun.

Like they're forcing you to have fun with each other, even though you might not want to, which, you know, a lot of times I'm sure if you listen and you're in a big corporation or a big business and they tell you, you have to go to an event and you're like, I just spent all day with my coworkers. Why am I going to an event with people I don't want to be with? And that's sort of the same principle here, right? Is it, you know, at times in the NFL, I remember, you know, we spent,

you know, all week at the facility and they're like, Hey, we have a, we have a golf event. Friday night. You're like, I just spent four days with everybody. Why do I need to golf everyone now, right? So a little mandatory fun here. So Deshaun Watts is taking the team to the Bahamas. Look, is it going to be fun? I'm sure it's going to be fun. Are there guys that would rather just hang out with their kids?

I'm sure. Will it make a difference this year? No. You know, the story that came out of this is Baker Mayfield's not going because he's still on the team. Remember? He hasn't gone anywhere. But it's interesting. The older I got, the more I just wanted to go home at night.

Like, we had some dinners every night. And I had no problem with eating dinner with the guys. But, you know, some nights we had dinner during the week. And you'd be like, you know, I'm there Sunday with you guys. I'm there Monday or Tuesdayuesday i'm with you guys all day wednesday all day thursday i don't want to go to dinner thursday i want to go home i see my family when now when i was young i was like sweet dinner let's do it but the older you get the less excited you are about some of these trips that that that you're with your buddies plus i didn't

drink either that's probably why i was just a lame-o. So maybe if I drank, I'd be more excited to take some of these trips. But it's just a nice gesture by Watson, but I don't think it changes much of the Browns' season, his relationship with any of the players. And it's a cool gesture. You got that money, right? You might as well spend it on your buddies on the team. But it won't change his relationship with many of the guys.

All right. So they made a point of, you know, stating that there's like a football field or some sort of facility they're going to work out on or practice on. Is that nonsense? I mean, I've been to the Bahamas.

You're not doing anything to do with football there. They said that. Yeah. And so some of the tweets made it clear that like, Oh, they reserve some space where they could work out. It feels like a very Russell Wilson thing, doesn't it?

Yes. That's right. That's exactly what it feels like It feels like a very Russell Wilson thing, doesn't it? Yes, that's right. That's exactly what it feels like. Yeah, like a Russell Wilson thing. Again, like, I'm kind of big on the idea of, like, you work when you work and you play when you play, right? And, like, you're at the facility all day working. And, yeah, if you have a team bonding experience, fine.

You want to talk about the playbook. But, like, don't make people go, like, run plays on a practice on the Bahamas like just like just enjoy yourself now I've always felt like again the team bonding part of things is important you have to in my opinion like the person at least respect the person you're playing with and that happens with casual conversations right and casual outings and and getting to know someone not Not just like, again, not forced mandatory fun. And so if you're doing this Bahamas trip, man, just like sit by the pool, get a cabana, drink a little bit, like just sit there and talk. And if you want to talk ball, fine, talk ball.

I'm sure it's ball will come up, but don't make the dudes go run routes at a football field in the Bahamas. Like just enjoy the weekend. Just have some beers, just drink it and relax and, and talk shop the force. This is, I just, I don't believe in that forced mandatory fun thing. Like just have fun, just go there, have fun. Don't worry about football. Yeah. And I'm not, I'm not trying to make a cheap joke or make light of the stuff that Watson is facing, but one thing they should definitely not do is be anywhere near any women at

this resort. Like truly, I'm honestly like if I was the comms guy at the team, I'd be like, fellas have fun. Keep to yourselves. We don't, I don't want a single picture,

a single rumor. I don't want to hear anything about you guys and women on this trip. Just play it cool. They surely, they certainly should not take a single picture of this trip. Right. No Instagram, no Snap. Maybe a picture before dinner.

One guy gives an iPhone to the waitress. The hostess takes a picture. But no Snap stories or Instagram stories. None of that. Just go there, enjoy your um and and just be done with it so we'll see what happens of it but again the interesting part is obviously baker still in the browns still on the browns so albert breer not known for hot takes had this interesting thought um when the news came out he said i'll say it again if i'm baker mayfield i'm showing up for

everything if you're not there out of sight of mind, no urgency to move you. If you show up, things are kind of awkward and it could motivate a trade. Plus, showing up sends the right message to other teams. Now, he's referring to OTAs, to everything the team might expect. That's not just showing up to the Bahamas, obviously. Oh, I thought it was the Bahamas part wouldn't be awkward at all. I think the dudes would be like, hey, man, have a beer. Like, enjoy yourself.

That's not all. That wouldn't be awkward. Baker seems like a good dudes would be like, hey, man, have a beer. Enjoy yourself. That's not awkward. That wouldn't be awkward. Baker seems like a good hang. I feel like he'd be fun to hang out with. Yeah. No, I guess showing up would be awkward. But it's also awkward for Baker, too. He's going through the motions.

Why would he want to do that? Why would he show up to the building, continue to learn the offense, and then just, what, sit on the sidelines during practice? They're not giving him any reps. They're not going to get him hurt out there. They don't want to do that. They're going to release him at some point, and he'll sign with the team. I imagine they're still trying to get some trade value for him,

or they're waiting until June 1st to cut him. But I think he ends up being know being a backup somewhere fringe starter but that doesn't make it really awkward it makes it awkward for baker too yeah uh one rumor that keeps bouncing around i saw siciliano tweeted this a few others have brought it up what about trading him to carolina and then you get a week one grudge match and wouldn't that be fun or just don't do that and the panthers play the quarterback they have on the roster and they just drafted like i mean all right i i don't think it's going to carolina anymore then i actually so the question i posed on on uh i was on fox bet live i was talking about baker mayfield where he ends up and the four you know the four teams are basically uh i believe they are what's

the four the odds here it's like se Seattle, Houston, Atlanta, and Carolina. They have the four best odds where Baker Mayfield's going to go. And my point was like, if you're those teams, why would you want Baker Mayfield? Baker Mayfield's good enough to win you eight to ten games, let's say if he's healthy, maybe less, seven to ten. But that doesn't really make you a playoff team. Wouldn't you want to rather stink and get a draft pick next year?

I think Baker Mayfield ends up being a high priced backup quarterback on a good team than he does than he does, you know, playing for the Seahawks. Yeah, no, you've been pretty clear about that. One little part of this that's probably been undercovered, and maybe that's because it's just boring and not that big a change. If I understand this correctly, Roger Goodell will not rule on Watson's personal conduct policy case. This is part of the new CBA that takes those types of disciplinary decisions out of the

commissioner's hands, and people have been very critical of too much, too little, why is it just one guy making his calls? What do you make of that? This is sort of a new era with him not being the governor. So who's deciding this now? It's in the hands of a committee. i wish i had the details jeff it's not goodell anymore i think it's better you know they have these policies in place and don't follow them and again like being the crime and punishment league is not i think it's not done the nfl well because again they're they're

just like they're either over-punishing or under-punishing players, I feel like, right? I've never felt that a punishment felt, you know, again, when you have Zeke Elliott and the lead investigator says, yeah, I don't really think he should be punished, six games, you know, Jameis Winston admits to something, three games.

It's like, what? I guess he got a plea deal? Like, what are we doing here? So, and again, like, the NFL doesn't have subpoena power, right? So they're not subpoenaing people under oath to get their statements. I would, I'd be fine if they were just like,

you know what, Deshaun, you seem like you're a scummy person, you get six games. I would like that better than being like, I investigated it without subpoena power and we gave you four games. I mean, like, again, the NFL, I think, is so uneven with how they do this you know the baseball was like you know what trevor bauer

we don't really like what you've done you get two years like it's like fuck it two years uh you know the nfl i don't know what they're gonna do here i have no idea again it's you have people that are in charge of investigating these crimes. They've decided not to, I believe I'm correcting this right, not to indict him at all. Now, the civil suits are going forward, different burden of proof, obviously. The NFL basically follows the burden of proof of the civil courts, right, which is just until over 50%.

It makes you, quote, unquote, guilty in a sense. So I don't know. I just, I just, I feel like they just, the process is not always right. So if it's someone else doing it, we'll see what,

what they end up with, with, with Watson. All right. Well, let's, let's talk a little bit more fun stuff in football. So if Twitter is correct,

and of course, Jeff, people on Twitter are always correct. Chiefs have the hardest schedule of all time and they're doomed. Oh yeah. Yeah. So they, you know, of course they're already in trouble. They lost Tyree Kill. Now they're in big time trouble because their schedule is impossible, including that first

eight game stretch where your favorite account pro football talk points out the Chiefs schedule makes NFL history. First eight opponents have had winning records last season. There are some very tough games on this. I took the liberty of giving them the wins that I can see on this schedule, but I got to be honest, a few of them I'm not so sure about. There's some definite losses and a few that could go either way. So how do you score the Chiefs schedule and what their record will look like this year? The Chiefs have won 11 or more games in seven of Andy Reid's nine seasons.

Their win total is 10.5. I would go over that win total. Pat Mahomes still and Andy Reid, obviously two very good players and coaches. Yes, you lost Tyreek Hill. The offense will start slower this year, but you have an offense now that's much deeper a wide receiver than it's ever been. It has guys that catch the football and get up the field, whether it's MVS or Juju or Skymore now,

or McCall Harmon is still there. Plus you have Travis Kelsey, and you drafted Noah Gray last year, a really good offensive line. Now defensively, obviously you've added George Koloftis, you've added Trent McDuffie, you've added Chanel, linebacker. I mean, there's still some things to be done

on the defensive line to rush the passer. But again, they've proven, and Andy Reid's proven everywhere he's been, that the offense will be fine, right? Whether it's Kevin Cobb or A.J. Feely, or obviously the better quarterbacks with McNabb and Smith and Vick and whoever else he's had. He's even won games with Matt Moore as a backup. Like, the offense is going to be fine. It will take a couple weeks to figure out.

Yeah, it will. But there also is something to be said about experience and playing close games, which they have, and just the attitude they have of understanding how important getting a high playoff seat is. They will have earned a home playoff game this year if they get one. But also, you look at last year, man. It's hard, I think, at times when you win so much

to continue to have the motivation to win. Not them. Not how after last year I did, man. They're going to come in this offseason ready to go because they want to avenge what happened in the last season. So I think they're going to get over their 10.5 wins. You mentioned it. They have a first-place schedule plus their crossover game game, I believe is Tampa Bay in the NFC, uh, which is, which

is very difficult. Um, they play the AFC West. Let me just read it off to you, Jeff. It's, it's an insane schedule. I mean, it's, yeah, you can go ahead. Give me a winner, a loss as I go through this at Arizona week one. I think they win that game. I agree.

Uh, home against the chargers. I. I think they win that game. I agree. Home against the Chargers. They can win that game, sure. But you could see that being a coin flip. At Indianapolis, we don't talk about Indy. They win that game. At Tampa Bay. It'll be tough. They will not be the favorite of that game. That's not an obvious win.

At home against Las Vegas, we know what you think about that. That's a win. At home against Las Vegas, we know what you think about that. Yes. That's a win. At home against Buffalo. They toss up. Coin toss. At San Francisco. They should win that game. I'm not ready to put that one in green on my little show.

Yeah, but the Niners are playing Trey Lance. They're winning that game. The Chiefs are winning that game. Then a bye. Then Tennessee. I'm going to give them a win, but a lot of people wouldn't. Well, we know that they play really well off a bye, too. So that'll give them a little bit of a boost there.

Jacksonville is another bye. Then at Chargers, you know, they're not going to win both those Chargers games. Probably not. It'd be very difficult to do that, yeah. Then Rams come to town. And they travel to Cincy. Yeah. Then Rams come to town and they travel to Cincy. Yeah. That's a tough stretch.

Dude, it's tough, man. And no one said it's not going to be tough, but they've had a tough schedule every year. It's not anything new. They have a first place schedule every single year. The difference is obviously the NFC West is just, let's be AFC West is just much better this year. Okay.

So then, so then let me, I'm interrupting you for this point. I've been alive long enough to see us spend the first half of the season questioning Pat Mahomes and Andy Reid and the Chiefs and is their defense good enough. I feel like every year for the last few, we've had that panic. You've said chill. Then somewhere around week 10 or 11 they get hot and they fly into the postseason and they look like the chiefs again so their last five games i have as five wins at

denver at houston seattle denver at las vegas i see them winning five in a row heading in as a 10 11 12 win team and then mashing the entire AFC. Do you agree? I don't know if they win all their last games, but I will because I thought last year they would do that too and they ended up obviously losing to the Bengals. I will say though that I think I nailed them last year too. I think they're going to start slow on offense,

again, kind of getting everyone sort of together and on the same page. And you're right. They will pick things up as the season continues. So I think there is a recipe there to see them excel at the end of the season. It would be wild if they ended up winning, obviously, or hosting another AFC championship game. I think the nod right now goes to Buffalo and AFC.

And obviously that game, when they play in the regular season, would be very important to determining who has home field advantage. And yeah, dude, it's hard, man. If they won nine games, I'd be super shocked. If they won 10, okay. 10 or 11, okay. All right, cool. 12 obviously is a lot, I think, for the schedule.

But anything lower than – They went until it was 10 and a half. I mean, 10 I think would be surprising. Yeah. Yeah, but I don't think 10 wins that division. I think the Chargers win that division. No, 10 definitely don't think 10 wins that division. I think the Chargers win. No, 10 definitely doesn't. No, it does not.

No. All right. I guess we'll have to wait and see, and we'll have plenty more chances to talk about the Chiefs before the season starts. Let's shift gears to college football, because I feel like you keep making us smarter on this topic. So we kind of discussed Jordan Addison

as though he were already on his way to USC in the last few weeks. I think it's probably important to take a beat and clarify that he hasn't actually transferred yet. He went into the transfer portal. There were reports of all the money he might make in NIL deals, especially at USC. We're still waiting to find out where this guy goes. He will be the best receiver in college football wherever he plays.

He will be a first-round pick, assuming he's healthy, wherever he goes. What do you make of the situation today, right now, after the last two or three weeks of coverage? I think he still goes to USC. Here's a question about the way they're building their roster. All right, so if – I don't know how much you follow do you follow usc closely like i mean i know you're usc family you follow them like do i follow them as closely as someone who covers the pack 12 for a living no well no no not as closely as me but here's my thing about addison so he doesn't change

their win total this season he doesn't they're They're going to be good on offense. That's not going to matter whether he's there or not. Now, does he help with recruiting in the future? Sure. Hey, we got Jordan Anderson. Come here. Look what he did. He's drafted, you know, 12th overall. He's a USC wide receiver.

All good. All makes sense. But let's say the reported $3 million is what he's getting. I think that's highly unlikely, but let's just say that's what he's getting. I can make the case that USC should say, you know what? We're not going to pay this kid. We're going to get $3 million and we're going to buy an offensive lineman, a defensive end, and a cornerback in recruiting. Give a five-star offensive lineman, five-star defensive end, and a five-star cornerback a million dollars each to come to our school. That feels like a better way to spend your money.

Now, obviously, I get why USC might offer Jordan Addison. I get that. But if you're paying a player who's not going to really change your fortunes this season, they're going to be good on offense, Gabe. Are they now going to win the Pac-12? No. They win the Pac-12, they can block

and they can go rush the passer. So to me, this doesn't make them that much better if they add Jordan Addison. And I think they will. I would try to add other players at more important positions. So you already have Mario Williams. And you have Brendan Rice. And you have Dye now.

You have enough weapons. It's not the issue at USC. But he's going to end up at USC, I think. I don't think he's going at Texas. Yeah, I mean, isn't the whole Lincoln Riley model of the last few years that he makes first round offensive picks and like you want to have a few of those for the the start the flywheel of recruitment and and transfers like isn't that he's just a headline I agree with you like he might not make a world of difference in terms of points scored over the course of a season. But if you get a top 10 pick to come out of your school, I mean, he might even be a Heisman contender in this offense.

So, yeah, but he probably not because he won't be just getting the ball every point like he was at Pittsburgh. Because you have Mario Williams and you're going to run the football at USC as well. The thing about, you know, Lincoln Riley. So it's interesting. I keep coming back to this. We talk about USC, like, all the time. So I talk about this is why I have to think about different things along the lines of USC. But what is the difference between Lincoln Riley at USC and Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma?

Like, he couldn't get over the hump at Oklahoma. Why will he do at USC? Well, if he builds his team differently, right? But he's not doing that so far. Like, the team he's building is the exact same way. And I just don't know what the difference will be at USC than it was at Oklahoma. I can't argue that it will be different, but I think people at USC would be thrilled to have had what Oklahoma's had the last few years.

Just get to the playoff and have a fighter's chance. You're going to be a seven-point dog to the SEC team you play in the playoff no matter what. But that's a hell of a lot more fun than what USC's been dealing with the last few years. Fair enough. No, you're exactly right. It's a spot they want to be in. They want to be back in. The U.S. is trying to win a championship, right?

They're not trying to. Well, they're at least trying to make the playoff. I don't know if they think they can beat a Georgia or an Alabama, but I think they'd like. I mean, I think that's the point, though. They'd like to make the playoff and beat those teams. Incrementally. I mean, you've got to do the first step first.

Let's talk about this because I know Hank will stop putting notes in this rundown for us if I don't at least bring this up. I can't even believe I'm reading this because it seems so ridiculous, but Addison, who has not committed to USC, was in Austin. He was hanging out with Bijan Robinson, their Heisman contender, Quinn Ewers, their quarterback transfer who's looked ridiculous but probably is going to be a good player. And Matthew McConaughey, because you can't, you know, stumble through Austin without bumping into him. Do you think that there's a possibility that somebody's star power could like woo this kid and that it isn't just a done deal? And also, what are the risks of like some tampering and some craziness at this point, since we're in the Wild West on the whole transfer portal era?

I mean, but USC offers the same thing that Texas does with star power, right? I mean, you're in Southern California. I would argue that. I think other people would say Texas is a better place to be if you want to play football. They both played in the last championship game together. They both played it. Hey, I'm not making that case.

No, I mean, if you want the celebrity status, you go to USC. They're basically a pro team in Los Angeles, even with the pro teams in Los Angeles. Like, if USC is at the highest level of football, they are more popular than the Rams and Chargers combined. Yes, that's correct. Even with the Rams off a championship.

Yes. Now, I remember, and you remember this too, you were not even in LA, right, during the Pete Carroll years? No, no, no. I was back east. My wife was at USC during those years and did not realize that's not how college football normally works. What years was she there?

She wanted to see me play. She was there for the Leinart Bush years. The first two years she was in school, they, like, didn't lose a game. She didn't understand. The 0-3-0-4? Yeah, she didn't school, they like didn't lose a game. She didn't understand. 0-3-0-4? Yeah. She didn't understand like, oh yeah, most even good teams lose a couple games a year.

Like, you know. It's like my dad being at UCLA during John Wooden, like 73 to 77. They lost like two games in four years. She didn't understand. So then the last bunch of years since I've known her, you know, they're playing, they're losing week two, you know, and coming up short against Fresno State and, you know, Utah State. And she's like, what the hell is going on here? They have four or five losses by the end of the year. It's a totally different world.

Yeah. Last year must have been tough for Ruta Waking to lose at home to Stanford, Oregon State and Utah. All of those things would confuse her. state in Utah. All of those things would confuse her. But anyway, I think that there are people who could argue successfully that Texas is an even better football town because you are the only show in town. I mean, Austin is a better, probably better football town. But the question is, what do you want from your experience in LA? You will be a celebrity. You will go to Hollywood things. You will go to the nightclubs you will go be with other celebrities like you will have if you want to be in a movie

they can make that happen like these things can happen that cannot happen in austin yeah all right well you go visit blue duck studios that's true you could come over to blue duck headquarters and hang out with me uh but then again, Blue Duck, our central time zone headquarters, you know, is over there at Hank's Ranch. So you could just go over there and hang out with Hank in Austin. That sounds exciting. Yeah, well, I don't know. Sixth Street's pretty fun.

All right, Jeff, let's take a quick break. We'll come back. We'll move the line. We'll hit on a few other headlines. Let's do it. All right, Jeff, we're back. Time to move the line our over under game uh over under one percent chance we break our brand new rule and discuss antonio brown's desire to retire a stealer no chance we're going under we're not talking about antonio brown sorry buddy good luck and and uh and c cW on the Commanders.

Those are two people that have been banned from the show. It's going to be very tough this year to have two Commanders fans on our staff and heavily contribute to the podcast during the season and not talk about them at all. I would say the guys who do the most lifting in terms of research for this show are massive DC fans. And I will refuse to speak about that team. But is it, but are they, I don't really, I never really understood.

So they're all like, are they full? Like, but Hank's not like a, a nationals and like capitals fan though. Right. I think that's the way it were. I don't know.

I was confused about that. You know, Hank is, Hank is, is still a young man. He's growing up to be like his big brother, Gabe here. I think he's just going to see that life is better if you're a bandwagon fan

and you pick and choose your teams as they suit you. Except you're now back on the Jets bandwagon, so we don't know what's happening with you. Briefly, we're going to get to the Jets in a moment here. But first, let me propose a name that also might end up on our never-to-be-spoken-of list. I think he might already be there. Over under one and a half seasons before Joe Judge

is a high-profile college football coach now that Bill Belichick has decided to rehab his former intern and give him a fake job in New England. So, supposedly Bill, the candidates for offensive coordinator right now in New England are

Matt Patricia and Joe Judge. Absurd. What is happening? It's like they're in this bubble up there, this absurd bubble. Joseph Judge. Oh, geez. Is it offensive coordinator?

Offensive assistant. No, no. There's talk about him being an offensive coordinator because they don't have one right now. Bill Belichick supposedly is the offensive coordinator right now. Oh, my God. That not be he will not be a college coach the next one in the next year i so i think belichick and saban both do this they rehab these guys and then they own them they rehab them though first is like an analyst

and then they become like a coordinator somewhere. But Belichick's taking a guy that's never been an OC before and making him an OC. That's a little different, I think. All right. This is all because Josh McDaniels finally got the nerve to leave New England again. He'll be the head coach in Las Vegas. Do you think that for all the talk of Las Vegas and Devontae Adams and all the weapons they've got, they're irrelevant, right, with or without McDaniels? Yes. Okay. All right. College ball, or at least recruiting

college ball. Arch Manning. Odds he wins a title at Georgia, where the latest rumors suggest he will end up one day. Over under 75% chance he gets a title at Georgia. I would say under. I think that's too high for a high school quarterback just to determine he's going to basically win a championship at Georgia. So he's going to spurn Ole Miss, Tennessee, and I don't know where Cooper went, but for Georgia. Interesting.

Cooper's at Ole Miss. He didn't play after a couple years. The thing about Arch Manning, too, it's pretty interesting because he's just more of a pocket quarterback well or is he like a can he move a little bit because i mean if you believe the internet the guy can do everything like pocket quarterbacks aren't really like doing as well anymore yeah um but i would say no you're gonna say no not because of anything to do with him just because winning a championship's hard

yes all right fair enough i mean but george is a good spot to be because i mean obviously they've Not because of anything to do with him, just because winning a championship is hard. Yes. All right. Fair enough. But Georgia is a good spot to be because, I mean, obviously they've done a good job there. They are very talented. Yeah. I mean, I think we're going to have to get used to seeing Arch Manning's name at the top of every headline stack for the next two years. And wherever he goes, we're going to be talking about how he played one way or the other. And my guess is he'll go to Georgia and he'll win because they had a walk-on win last year. Like, I don't, you know.

Walk-on win championship. Yeah, no, you're right. Walk-on win championship. Yeah. All right. Here come another few candidates for we don't need to talk about these guys ever again, but I'm going to bring them up here because your favorite account, PFF, brought this up. Rank these quote-unquote breakout quarterbacks from, I guess, maybe to no effing chance.

Breakout quarterbacks from, I guess, maybe to no effing chance. Justin Fields, Tua Tagovaiola, Daniel Jones, Zach Wilson, Mack Jones, or Trey Lance. Which of those guys is the most likely to break out and which of those guys has no hope? Give them an order. I mean, probably Tua because he has the better weapons and a good coach. When Dolphins fans with Tua, dude, are weirdly obsessive. Like, guys, he doesn't have that great of an arm.

Like, it's okay to admit that. Like, it's okay to be like, yeah, he doesn't have – like, they're so obsessive over every throw on social media that we see about Tua. But, you know, Fields has a new coach and really doesn't have any weapons. Daniel Jones has a new coach and I don't really know. Zach Wilson Jones is a new coach, and I don't really know. Zach Wilson's got better weapons, so maybe it's Zach Wilson. Mac Jones is who he is, and Trey Lance we don't know anything about right now.

So probably Tua just having Hill and Waddle and improved offensive line and Shanahan offense. I'd go with Tua. So Tua the most likely, you're saying, I guess, maybe. But I'm not even sure what breakout, even if a breakout year, he still will not be like top 12 in the NFL. So you think if he's got the best chances of all these six guys, he's still not a top 10 guy? Just this year. I think that in the future, like Wilson just is more physically gifted.

Fields, I think, is more physically gifted too. I just think this year Tua is going to be the best of those six guys. Okay. I mean, it's a pretty ugly list. Not great. I'm curious to see if Trey Lance gets the job week one, what happens with Jimmy G there. I think that team is too good for him not to have a bunch of wins.

Yeah. I obviously don't believe in Mac Jones. I haven't seen enough to believe in daniel jones and i firmly disbelieve in zach wilson so i think my list is similar to yours but i think i i reorder lance fields and tua uh as sort of your top three fields just doesn't have much help man i wish they gave him some more help it's just not there that's the problem with fields yeah i feel bad for him well Well, we'll find out. I have both those guys,

Lance Enfields as potential keepers this year. I'm not sure I'm going to use either. All right. Last one. More likely to be broadcasting in 2023 season.

Not this year. The following year. Tom Brady or Drew Brees? Tom Brady. Tom Brady, more likely to be broadcasting. Drew Brees is like, I'm not doing this anymore. He's out.

He seems out. I was, it wasn't very good. Do you think this is one of those like, wink, wink, like, we're not firing you, but you have to leave type of things? Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's still under contract. They're like, we don't have a job for you. We don't need you to be on the road doing these games. And he was like, okay okay but you have to pay

me they're like right right we'll do that but like you're not our guy and then that's why there were these weird tweets about what he was going to do so in the tweet where drew brees denied that he was fired essentially he pointed out that it's still his choice to make he's not sure what he's going to do and he hinted at the fact that he might come back and play he also made a bunch of jokes but that's ridiculous do you think he'll come back and play. He also made a bunch of jokes, but do you think he'll come back and play? What's more likely in 2023? I don't think he'll play, no. So he's out this year and he's out forever?

I don't know if he's going to do some sort of media work. He's just probably not calling games. Okay. The thing about it's, you know, I'm not trying to call games. That's not really a thing that I'm frustrated about, but, you know, they just keep, and it's not really a Tom Brady thing either

because I don't think Tom will be good at it, but they just kind of keep hiring the same people for these jobs like amazon they just hired herb street he already has a number one analyst job like we can't yet like new younger people to take some of these jobs yeah but kind of frustrates me from time i don't blame you i i think it it seems cost inefficient i i don't and i'm not up for that job either i'm just saying like in generally speaking like i feel like like like it's okay to young people have a chance sometimes. Yeah. Uh, I thought that ESPN could have learned something from what we would describe as Dan Orlovsky's success. It's a guy with a totally unremarkable playing career, but a very knowledgeable

guy, a guy who has some personality, a guy who works hard, a guy who most people seem to like, a guy who's good at Twitter and the things that you have to be plugged into in the modern world. I would think trying to find more Orlovskis would be the goal, not just hoping you can give a bunch of millions of dollars to Hall of Famers when they step away. But I don't know. Agreed. of millions of dollars to hall of famers when they step away but i don't know agreed i think at the highest levels of our industry jeff the trophies are people like drew brees and tom brady i'm not i'm i'm not a trophy that's disappointing here yeah you're not a trophy and neither's dan but um you know this is where we work so you're saying tom brady plays one more year and then we see him in the booth i think oh i think we might see him in the booth this Super Bowl if they don't win.

If they're not in the Super Bowl. I think Tom Brady will make an appearance during the Super Bowl on the Fox broadcast. What do you mean? He's so good that maybe he can play and call the game all at the same time. That would be incredible. But no, I think he will be on the Super Bowl broadcast this year. All right. That's a good guess.

All right, Jeff, anything we missed from the world of football this week? No, not really. It's kind of nice that we have some just like general tweets about football being back because we have OTAs and working minicamps. It was nice to see football in the minds of the people as we get ready for a summer. You know, today they announced the start times for the first college football games of the season, Labor Day weekend. Like, we are on track to be there pretty soon,

107 days away from college football starting. So I'm excited. Oregon, I'm so happy, very quickly. Oregon, Georgia is in Atlanta, so it's only four hours from me. And I was terrified the game would be 8 o'clock p.m. Eastern because i told my kids they really want to come like my son really wants to come emmy i she wants to come she says she does whatever um but like it's at 3 30 so i can take them it's great awesome i and

maybe my wife comes maybe she doesn't but like i get to go with them to the game i'm so pumped i gotta find like my kids outfits now to wear but it it's I cannot wait. So 3.30 PM Eastern Oregon, Georgia. Don't care if we lose. I'm excited to go. I never get to watch him play. It's just a lot of fun. So other than that, I'm good, man. I'm good. We're getting ready for football. I love it. Power of the Varsity Podcast Network and

we'll be back next week. Everyone have a great week, everyone. Please rate, review, subscribe at Jeff Schwartz on Twitter and talk to you guys next week. Take care, everybody.