Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - The Saints and Eagles Swap Picks, and Don't Underestimate Lamar Jackson

Episode Date: April 6, 2022

Geoff is back with Gabe, March Madness is over, and draft season is in full swing. Geoff explains the quarterbacks and edge rushers at the top of teams' draft boards, and tells you what to take away from the Saints trading for an. extra pick in the first round. Then Gabe wonders why everyone thinks Lamar Jackson is making a mistake holding off negotiations for his next contract, and tests Geoff with another Tom Brady conspiracy theory (this one's about Bruce Arians). This week on Moving the Line, Gabe asks if Dan Snyder will be forced to sell the Commanders and Geoff reveals that. a certain quarterback is not as old as you think he is.Be sure to like, rate, and subscribe to the podcast, and leave a comment or tweet @geoffschwartz with what prospects you want Geoff's take on before the draft.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 april 6th i'm jeff schwartz alongside gabe goodwin this jeff schwartz is smarting you powered by the varsity podcast network it is time to talk about the nfl draft it's happening at the end of the month we have quarterback talk we have defensive end talk we'll talk off of the tackles we'll talk at all lamar jackson working on a new contract and so much more in the national football league i am sure that g Gabe will also mention Tom Brady at some point because he can't help himself. But Gabe, how we doing, buddy? Who can't help himself? Me or Tom Brady, the attention-grabbing

diva that he is? I can help myself. It's him who wants to always be in the headlines. You are secretly working for him. That's what I've determined. All right. Yeah, maybe. So then maybe I'm an employee of the Miami Dolphins. We're not doing this!

Talk about the quarterbacks in the draft. Let's go. We're not doing this. Alright, well there aren't many quarterbacks to talk about in the draft, and yet and yet an Eagle Saints trade that happened this week has everybody speculating about what it all means. So the really simple version of this deal is the Saints end up with two firsts

this year. Philly ends up with an extra first next year, which makes everyone think that this has something to do with Jalen Hurts' future in Philly. I'm not totally sure that's what this is about, but it's making everyone want to talk quarterbacks in this year's draft. It is, and very quickly, the Eagles 100% won this trade. They got a first round pick next year. And they still have two first round picks this year. So good for them.

And they got a first, a second and a third, by the way, they were able to wheel and deal. This is basically some of this was, was some of the Carson Wentz trade. Like they, they have dominated in the trademark.

Now they have to draft the right players. Obviously. What does it mean this year for the Eagles is they're going to build around Hertz. And what it does for next year is, oops, he's not good. Let's go trade up for C.J. Stroud or Bryce Young. I mean, I feel like there's multiple teams

setting up with multiple first round picks next year with opportunity to trade up to get C.J. Stroud or Bryce Young. Bryce Young, again, concerns his size a little bit. But C.J. Stroud or Bryce Young. Bryce Young, again, concerns his size a little bit, but C.J. Stroud, 6'3", 220. I mean, both these guys shined at their pro days for their outgoing players. They threw to the outgoing players. They'll be 1-2 next season. It feels like the Eagles are setting themselves up for that.

The Saints, man, I have no idea. Everyone says they're going for an offensive tackle. I love myself offensive tackles, Gabe, but if you're trading a first, a second, and a third for an offensive tackle, you're out of your freaking mind. So could they be posturing up for a new quarterback? I guess, but they're going to have to move up a little bit further than that, most likely.

I don't know what they're doing. But luckily for them, Gabe, they're paying $10 million to a backup tight end. So they have that figured out. But otherwise, no Gabe, they're paying $10 million to back up tight ends. They have that figured out. But otherwise, no idea what they're doing. If I work for Tom Brady, you work for Taysom Hill. Taysom Hill has nothing to do with this. You tried to squeeze that in there. No, it does because the Saints sometimes, I think, get credit for being smarter than everyone else

and actually are not. So I just thought I'd make that point clear. Okay, fair enough. So I guess i have a couple questions about the eagles side of this and then let's get to this you just threw it out there that you'll have to be higher than 16 to get a quarterback i'm not sure i agree but well well no but here's here's the thing about about this i argued this when it came to um i think it was the banker mayfield year or even last year with with the Niners did, when you trade up, there's no guarantee your guy's going to be there, right?

So unless you draft the day of, unless you trade up like the Chiefs did, right? We're going to get Pat Mahomes the day of the draft. There's no guarantee the Saints at 16 are going to get the guy they want. If they want that guy, they're going to have to move up to five or six to get him, right? Like you got to move up to to five or six to get him right like you're gonna move up and get him so that's what i mean by they're not guaranteed to have the the player that they want at that spot and i don't believe teams trade i mean i guess i'll take this back i do believe some do it but trading up hoping for two or three guys feels like bad evaluation because

two or three guys are never really ranked together you cluster those guys but we'll go through the quarterbacks in a second I'm not really sure they're clustered right they're all kind of different and so to move up to that spot and say hey we want Malik Wallace to fall here if not we'll be fine with Kenny Pickett if not we'll be fine with with with Desmond Ritter all right I All right. I don't know. And so I think that's why I say that I'm not certain they can get a quarterback they want right there. Well, okay, fine.

So let's take it here first then. We'll come back to the Eagles in a second. So Bucky Brooks, who I think we like and does a lot of work to try to explain football to people, he thinks there are no quarterbacks taken in the first round in his latest mock draft. So I actually kind of think I agree because most teams are locked into the quarterback they have happily or not. I don't see a lot of spots in my quick scan where there's a team that will desperately want a quarterback and sees a quarterback that they should absolutely go get. Hank, to his credit, it pains me to say,

points out the Lions are sitting there on the Rams pick at 32. The Lions would probably take a quarterback if all these guys fell to them at 32. But other than that, I don't see anyone going for the guy from Liberty or the kid who smells like cabbage. I don't get it. So you know the way this works, right you you can't win in this league unless you have a quarterback and this time of year people convince themselves certain guys are going to be good right we can fix them we can make them right um and you look at let's talk about

malik wills um look when you watch his film there definitely are flashes of his arm. He's an athletic player. Supposedly a great character guy, right? Nailed the interviews, like high character. Teams love all that stuff about him. Okay. But he wasn't asked to do very much in college, and there's a little bit of a time that's going to take him to translate his game to the NFL.

However, and he's not as big as some of the guys I'm about to mention, but we're seeing guys, whether it's Josh Allen or Herbert, who you question their ability to make the transition into the NFL, but their arm strength,

their size, Malik was only six feet tall. He's not Herbert and not quite Allen, but their traits were so large and the upside was so high that teams said, we're okay kind of working with the player and getting them as great as they can be. I think teams will look at Malik Wills and say the same thing.

The traits are there. Now, the size is not worth Herbert, not like Allen, but the traits are there. We'll get them in our offense and we'll get them right. Okay? I worry about that line of thinking. But that's, I think teams are convincing themselves of that. For most people that I've read and talked to,

it seems like Desmond Ritter is the most ready from Cincinnati. But not, you know, the traits and just the overall upside is not quite there. You know, Kenny Pickett did some good things as well, but he gets skittish in the pocket. I mean, there's also a conversation to be had about, you know, grades versus value, right? So we know that the way this is set up is there's a draft board, right? So you rank every player.

You just give them a grade. You rank them 1 through 300. And obviously you have positional value on that grade, right? So if you're a quarterback, you're positional value on that grade, right? So if you're a quarterback, you're valued more than a center is, right? So like they might have Tyler Lindenbaum from Iowa graded ahead of Kenny Pickett, the Panthers at six, right? But you're not drafting a center at six.

That's not positional value. So teams are going to have to take some swings here, Gabe, if they want a quarterback. And again, you're desperate to have them. If you're the Panthers, man, you have tried so hard to get a quarterback um and again you're desperate to have you're the panthers man you have tried so hard to get a quarterback in the future maybe it's kenny pickett maybe it's wills i mean let's talk about the lions at two taking a quarterback i agree with you though 32 is a much better spot for them to take a quarterback if they choose to do so i think there's going to be three taken in the first round maybe Maybe Matt Crowell sneaks in there at some point,

but there's not going to be three that have first-round grades. Yeah, okay, and that's why I'm thinking that this is going to be a strange draft, and it's going to be filled with big-name quarterbacks in the second and third round when every team thinks they're getting a bargain. And the first round is going to be dominated by the kinds of players who, again, Bucky Brooks and others, almost everyone everyone has some really good edge rushers defensive line players at the top you know two three four spots so do you think that people are evaluating this correctly when we see Aiden Hutchinson, Trayvon Walker, Kayvon Thibodeau guys like that coming off the board first are we is

that the right place for them I'm trying to think of like the last time a quarterback was not taking the first round we know in 2013 there was only not taking the first round. We know in 2013 there was only one in the first round. That was EJ Manuel. But I mean, they're going to be taking the first round, whether you like it or not. So defensive end is interesting. You have Aidan Hutchinson, who's the most polished

rusher right now. His hands are great. He works his butt off. He is I think, get him in the NFL and be really good. He's got shorter arms, and people do worry about that, that position, right? Because the point of longer arms is you keep someone away from you, right? If you have longer arms, if my arms are longer than the defenders, in theory, I should be able to grab them.

They can't get into my chest. That's why. So people worry about that with him. But his testing numbers were like Von Miller. I mean, he was unbelievable. He tested out of his mind. Then there's Kayvon Thibodeau from Oregon, who was looked at as the number one pick heading into this last college football season.

So there's two different things that play with Kayvon. One is the thing that I find pretty gross is people saying, well, he's got interest outside of football. All right, so do plenty of players interest outside of football. All right. So do plenty of players. He doesn't love the game. I fail to believe he doesn't love the game when he had an ankle injury, could have sat out the rest of the season and came back to play against Cal and Washington and Washington state.

He didn't have to come back. He could have sat out. We've been done for the year. He would have played one quarter game, really two drives, had a pressure and a strip sack. And then when done for the season against Fresno, if he wanted to be done, but he didn't, he came back and played. And then when done for the season against Fresno, if you want it to be done,

but he didn't, he came back and played. So there's lack of characters, not really like character, but like lack of effort and outside interest. And he's given some weird interview answers. I've been told he's worried about his brand. I mean,

there's guys that are in this draft that are, that have their own podcast. How come it's not talked about with them? It seems to me, Gabe, a lot of times West Coast kids get this label. I don't know what it is about Oregon players have gotten it, USC players, UCLA players have gotten it,

that they have interests outside of football, therefore they don't love football. I find that bullshit. I don't like it. And we don't use it for anyone else, right? It seems like a lot of West Coast players have this. Now, there's the on the field, okay? And, you know, there's a little bit of stiffness in his play and there's some concern that he

didn't play well against the better offensive lineman he went against and there's some concern about his and this is where the lack of effort i've been i've been sent clips basically it was he didn't run downfield to make plays like he would do his pass rush he would do his run his run defense and like if the ball was bouncing away from me he just wouldn't run downfield to make plays. Like he would do his pass rush, he would do his run defense, and like if the ball was bouncing away from him, he just wouldn't run down the field. And most of that was after his ankle injury, and it definitely looked like he was, you know, making business decisions.

The question is whether or not that's who he is, which he didn't do that two years ago or his freshman season. So that wasn't who he was. So it seems very clear he's making businesses. I get why that turns teams off. I'm all for that. I get why that turns teams off. As far as that I get why it turns teams off as far as his play on the field something to note here remember with Justin Herbert and I was completely right about Justin Herbert is that I said hey Oregon didn't

really do a good job of putting him in a position to succeed as far as tape for the NFL right the offense was very rudimentary a A lot of outbreaking routes. Just kind of, it was an offense set up to run, run. Third down, Herbert save us. Kayvon Thibodeau on the defense dropped into coverage 10 times against UCLA, against Washington. What are we doing?

He'd play the four-eye, which basically is the inside shade over the tackle and rundowns he would stand up and play sam linebacker he would drop into like they never just put him defensive end and let him rush the passer and when they did he was really good and so i think you have to look through the scheme he played in at times and look at herbert and say hey what can he be in a different scheme but i understand the concerns about his on the field effort as far as not running down the field and really not taking extra opportunities to make those effort plays after here to his ankle the off the field stuff bullshit don't like it I think it stinks

so the Walker kid from George is interesting because you're drafting a player based off measurables right Kayvon Thibodeau was much more productive in college. Walker has the numbers. Long arms, athletic, explosive. It's funny, people excuse, oh, in Georgia's defense, he was asked to do something else. But that doesn't stand for Kayvon in this situation. Walker's about 270, 272. KT's about 255, 250. has to do something else. But that doesn't stand for Kayvon in this situation.

Walker's about 270, 272. KT's about 255, 250. So you're drafting Walker off of what you hope he can be in the NFL without seeing so much of that in college. And that always worries me at that position. But it seems like we've seen more. We saw Charles Davis today, I saw. We saw Bucky Brooks. We've seen other mock drafts.

Todd McShay, I think, today had Walker either first or second. So there's a lot of talk now about Walker going as the first or second pick of the draft, which you told me three or four weeks ago, we told you you were nuts. So I don't understand this. I think that this is exactly what March and April are for, where we just sort of like get bored of saying the same thing. So we come up with different theories and different ways to do it. From my memory, he was not even the best player on the defense that we're talking about. And the guy who was unanimously considered the reason that defense was great is apparently a late first rounder.

But this guy now might be the number one pick. Like I just don't follow the logic where people, I think just get bored of admitting the obvious and have to talk themselves into something more clever. I mean, yeah, yeah, it certainly is. It certainly does feel that way. That, you know, you do get bored now. And you find, just remember, the scouting process is all about finding ways to not draft someone or sign someone, right?

It's to find value in saying, hey, we think Kayvon is the third best player, but let's get him at nine. Right? There's an inherent value to that. saying, hey, we think Kayvon is the third best player, but let's get him at nine. There's an inherent value to that. So people try to find ways to knock someone and bring someone up. And part of that is human nature. You go to the combine and you talk to Kayvon. I heard he gave some interesting answers about questions he was asked. Not bad answers, not scandalous answers, but things that coaches weren't prepared

or just didn't think he would say, put it like that. And at least be able to believe that he doesn't love football, which again is the stupidest thing ever. Of course he loves football. And so you convince yourself through this process of, okay, I talked to Kayvon Thibodeau. He gave me some weird answers. I talked to this Walker kid, man,

and he told me how much he loves football and how much it means to him. And blah, blah, blah. And you convince yourself, because you meet him in person, one guy's a bum and one guy's not, so we're going to elevate Walker over Kayvon Thibodeau. It's human nature, right?

In my opinion, that's just what, and this is why this is a human process. It's not computer. If it was a computer process, KT would go ahead of Walker. But we know that that's not the way the draft works and really it's not the way life works.

There is some part of this where you have to judge a person's character. You have to judge their love for the game. You have to judge will they be good fit in your locker room? Will they be a leader?

Will they work hard? All that stuff is part of it. Very quickly, by the way, breaking news, Tiger Woods is playing in the Masters. For now. We'll give him another 24 hours.

That could change again. I have wagered $10 whole dollars on him, but plus $5,000 just for fun. Makes sense. So nonetheless, you know, I think that's where we are with these three pass rushers. I've seen some mock drafts this week that have going 1, 2, 3. Hutchinson, Walker, Thibodeau.

So we'll find out. Can I ask you something, though? Here's what I don't understand. Which is it, scouts, GMs, NFL guys? Do you want a guy who thinks of his NFL career as a business and is doing everything he can in college to get ready for you? Or are you going to hold it against him and say that he isn't trying hard enough? Remember when Matt Corral got hurt

and everyone was like, what are you doing out there? You're screwing up your future in the NFL. Well, so is this good or bad for him? Does he not like football enough? I don't follow. I think that each situation is different. And if you want to dislike a guy, you'll find a way to dislike them. Fair enough.

If you want to like someone, you find a way to like them. And Walker, from all reports, is a great character kid, loves football, went to Georgia, went to an SEC school, won a championship, was hidden in the defense. We're looking at Kayvon Thibodeau. Kayvon, I said publicly, I went oregon because of the marketing opportunities instead of going alabama um and so you're like and so then you find ways oh well you know his film i don't i don't quite uh i don't know if i like it and and then you're like well then they said this things about

he doesn't really love football he chose to go somewhere that had a better marketing program for him. And then that's how this starts, right? That's how you end up finding yourself not liking someone. And that is, that's how it happens. Okay. Well, then I'm going to use that as a segue to the idea that, hey, everyone, maybe, just maybe a few of these guys are a hell of a lot smarter than you're giving them credit for. Maybe KT is just smarter than a lot of the guys who run NFL teams,

and their conventional wisdom doesn't apply to him. Just like this next guy, Lamar Jackson. Everyone is very confused about what's going on with Lamar Jackson. The owner of the Ravens said his approach to renegotiating his contract has been, quote, unique as hell. The implication is that because he doesn't have an agent and because he hasn't immediately agreed to a contract extension, that he's somehow a fool or a naive guy or doesn't know how to handle himself.

When in reality, he understands leverage. He knows that the longer he waits, the more money he's going to get paid. He's willing to risk the possibility of an injury injury but knows the market just keeps going up for quarterbacks so what's the rush why are guys so sure they're smarter than lamar jackson he obviously knows what he's doing yeah um yeah so i think this is a very complicated because we don't know what the ras have offered Lamar Jackson, right? Um,

he's obviously not enough. Well, it's, it's, they make it seem like he's not even engaged in contract talks. So we don't, we don't look a lot, a lot of times,

you know, owners and general manager used to talking to an agent. And by the way, the negotiation is not very long and it's not like days drawn out. It's, it can be very quick. Sometimes, you know, agents have the numbers they want. Oh, the, the team has numbers they want. Negotiation is not very long. It's not like days drawn out. It can be very quick sometimes. Agents have the numbers they want.

The team has numbers they want. And they make it happen. It's like that simple, right? And if it doesn't happen, then move on to the next team. It's not this complicated process. I've been with my agent before. I've seen the spreadsheet. Okay, you should make this much money.

I'm going to ask for this much money. Cool. You ask, you ask. you go back and forth boom done so that's the way it typically works now with lamar jackson or other players that don't have agents obviously it works differently because you're talking to the player themselves not the agent and i think that that ownership and general managers resent a little bit when players take control of their business like this um and it probably makes it a little awkward because the reason that the reason the agent is a good buffer game like

let's say that that me and you are negotiating right and i don't have an agent and you like me but you like sort of like don't like everything i do and you tell the agent that okay right you wouldn't tell me to my it's tougher to tell me to my face okay i don't like what you do jeff you tell the agent that right the agent would filter that out if he wants to when he talks to the player but without that agent there's not that buffer there right so if the ravens say hey we want to pay you x amount of money we think you're worth this directly to his face that makes the negotiation a little bit different than it would if you tell that to the agent who filters that out and gives it to the player, right?

So I think the ownership and general manager have tough time with that relationship where the player is not their agent. As far as the money, here's the question. So I think these numbers are sort of accurate, right? I think Lamar Jackson, if he played on the tag i believe next year he would get 43 million dollars and then 52 in 2024 i think he's making 23 this year so it's 116 million that are all guaranteed but they're all based on one year

contracts right josh allen signed a oh geez, why did I miss all my browsers? Josh Allen signed a deal that has 150 guaranteed. And I don't know if that is going to be over the, I think it's over four years it's guaranteed. So I guess the question becomes obviously you know how much would he get guaranteed now versus how much would he get obviously in three or four years if they play the franchise tag route i don't know right um if he gets a if they're offering him to sean watson deal like 230 million point one guaranteed he's got to sign that deal, man.

He's got to do it. Holding out for two franchise tags is silly, in my opinion. Deshaun Watson signed a four-year deal, right? Lamar will be a free agent again at like 28 years old, at 29 years old. If it's less than that, if it's what josh allen got or if it's what dac got or pat mahomes got maybe you and talk about guaranteed money by the way not just overall contract maybe you wait a couple years you put your franchise tags out but we don't know what the ravens are offering him so i i can't tell you whether or not it's the smart decision to not take

the money he is betting on himself surely doing that and he has not been hurt minus last year right so he's and wasn't really hurt in college so i get i get that like that he's betting on himself which is good but you're based you're turned down generational money now to hope get in a couple years which is probably gonna happen but a lot of guys just don't do that okay except that obviously it seems like the team thinks they can pull one over on him or they're smarter we don't know we don't know what's contrary they offered him i'm guessing that he's not an idiot i'm guessing he looked up and went huh this this other team um just paid a guy facing 22 civil counts and a horrible pr blowback for the second they're signing him in our division. He just got $230 million guaranteed. Hasn't played football in a year. And even at his best,

he and I were neck and neck. I want an MVP when, when people were waiting for him to become that good. Um, so I guess the number has to start there Ravens and until it's bigger than that number, you don't need to call me but that's also but that's also what everyone else will say to him like he's gonna if he wants to go anywhere else next year he'll say the same thing next year too so is that the ravens might not want to pay all that money they might they might not but the point is that he doesn't need an agent to say that for him and in fact an agent as we both know is incentivized the way you just said. They want to get a deal done because their commission is tied to it.

And they know he can't make them money once he gets hurt. So they're always going to go for the guaranteed money in the bank check. But Lamar can't make himself money either if he gets hurt. I mean, they're in the same spot, right? Fair enough. But the person whispering in his ear all the time wants that money right away. And we know this from working with agents in the past. What Lamar is doing is very unconventional. I hope it pays off for him.

But it is taking a big risk. And the Ravens, again, are having issues because most players are taking that $150 million guaranteed, right? And being fine with it. There's also a conversation to be had about, you know, the Ravens. So when I talk about with the franchise tag, I don't think teams like using the franchise tag because it eats up too much of the cap, right? And you can't plan for your future.

So if the Ravens are looking at this and saying, hey, man, we want to get you locked in. We want to set our cap and build our team around you. We can't do that until you sign a deal. And that, like, Pat Mahomes signed a deal. The Chiefs have built the roster around him. Josh Allen signed a deal. They built the roster.

Dak Prescott, all these guys. Deshaun Watson. Like, when you set that salary, whether you think the players should take it or not, it's now an opportunity to build the team around you. And Baltimore right now is looking at a $40 million cap it next year for the quarterback if it's franchise tag. They're thinking like, we can't sign three players because of it.

So that part of it might be just like, hey, man, we want to lock you in to build the team around you. And again, we have such scant data, right? We have their owner being a little peeved about it. Lamar Jackson saying, basically, I'm not going to do anything right now. But we don't know what they offered. I mean, Gabe, would you? Okay, here's the question.

Deshaun Watson got $230 million guaranteed, right? We should know that. If they offered you $200 guaranteed, would you take? $200 guaranteed plus, like, let's say the contract is $300 million, but $200 is guaranteed. Are you taking that deal or are you walking away? Well, I'm not wired like some of these guys. So I would probably make the rational choice, which is the one you're trying to lead me to.

But I'm also not a former MVP who's done all of this despite what everyone said. I'm not a guy who was taken at the end of the first round and won a job and became a superstar betting on himself. I'm not a guy who's seen this work for me over and over and over again. So I would take the easier money like you just said, but that's why I'm me and he's him. I just think people are taking him too lightly. I think they're assuming that he's dumb when in fact he's him. I just think people are taking him too lightly. I think they're assuming that he's dumb

when, in fact, he's probably very smart. It's that simple. Sure. I mean, maybe the Ravens are because a lot of people maybe don't turn down the money. That's why, right? Well, okay. So people have compared it to the Kirk Cousins situation

back in D.C. I don't know if every comparison there is accurate. Well, you break that down for me. Well, I mean, if they franchise tag. Well, you break that down for me. I mean, if they franchise tag him twice, it certainly would be. Okay. And would you say that Kirk Cousins has kind of done all right? Like he's gotten paid a lot more money than his play warrant.

Yeah. His agent should be in the Hall of Fame. I've talked about this. Okay. McCarty should be in the agent Hall of Fame. So imagine you could get the same result and not even give anyone 10%. That's what Lamar Jackson is basically banking on. on well the agent gets three percent it's not it's not entertainment three percent yeah um yeah i mean some agents get one percent now i don't know what what

negotiation he worked out no great but i mean cousins was obviously fine with doing that route and paying his agent three percent which i'm sure mike appreciated but nonetheless yes he's saving himself the money the question becomes obviously is it is it we don't know this now is whether that will hurt him in the end like what if the ravens are prepared to offer him 200 million dollars guaranteed but he doesn't well he won't negotiate with them right now i don't they they claim he's not negotiating with them at all. I don't know. So I don't know what is true and what's not. Not negotiating is a really good negotiating tactic.

They always say the guy who can step away from the table has the greatest power, right? So he stepped away from the table. What if he gets dinged up again this year? No, that's the risk. And the Ravens just are like, yeah, we've rebuilt before. We're going to find someone else and move on. It's always a risk, obviously.

He's also looked at this year's quarterback class and said, yeah, there ain't anyone there who's going to take my job. I'm fine. No, next year. Not this year. Maybe he doesn't think there's anyone for a couple years, which brings us all the way back

to that Eagles point you made. Why would a team who has Jalen Hurts, who was a great quarterback at Alabama, thrown to a bunch of NFL-caliber players with an NFL-caliber offensive line? People were like, oh, I'm not so sure. I don't know. Now he has the job. He plays pretty well in Philly. And everyone's like, I don't know if he's the guy. We've got to go get Bryce Young.

He's the same guy. What's the difference between Jalen hurts and Bryce Young? Well, I think CJ Stroud would be the guy that the teams are pining for. So I think that would be the one. Look, it feels, I've,

I've, I've mentioned this before, right? Josh Allen's the outlier, right? Just being able to make the changes in your career in year, in year three, essentially.

Right. It doesn't have very often. And now you have jalen hurts with his second year of starting and if he's not your guy after two years this is not your dude and teams are teams are are so you know game you remember like how they used to be like growing up right your favorite team my favorite team you draft the quarterback and you just stuck with it didn't matter how good or bad they were, you were going to eat your pride and stick it out. Now, these younger general managers, man, they do not care.

They want to win now and they'll get rid of dead weight as soon as possible. And if Jalen Hurts ends up being just okay and they think that a quarterback in next year's draft is better than him, they'll get rid of jalen hurts for someone else whether it's a whether it's a trade which seems unlikely i'm trying to think of who might be traded next year or whether it's a draft pick next year and if jalen hurts is good game you have

two first round picks next year and so you're able to build the roster around him so this gives him a buffer to do two different things right gives him aives them a buffer to, A, trade up in the draft next year. B, okay, we have two first-round picks, and we have a second-round pick and a third. Let's add more talent to help Jalen Hurts out. But my first read on that was it gives an opportunity to get out if they want to. All right, fair enough. Let's transition to another team.

They don't have draft issues. They have every other kind of issue. So something fishy going on in Tampa, Jeff. We haven't really had a chance to talk about this yet I'm not trying to troll you I'm not just giving you a bunch of nonsense I just want you to try to explain to me what's going on because Arians retires from coaching just days after Brady's sort of quote-unquote surprise on retirement now Gronk this week is saying yeah I'm not 100 sure i'm coming back even though he's always basically said if brady's there i'm there but he's not ready to commit you know i don't know exactly what's off here but it's a lot of strange things going on at once that all seem

to have something to do with tom brady coming back or not and i just want you to make sense of it for me on the record here because i'm not going to the Miami trade, that whole thing. I just want to know what the hell is going on in Tampa. Well, Kronk is old as fuck and gets hurt all the time. Maybe he doesn't want to play anymore. I think that's a simple answer, right? Guy's old. Obviously, football, he's old.

He did have a punctured lung and like a million other injuries. Might not want to play anymore. As far as the Bruce Arians, um look i think it's very clear that this was um a mutual decision right where well maybe not mutual but uh of like mutual between top rating ownership that that he's gonna he's gonna leave um there were it just seems all too uh the coincidence is too is too much right it's too strong that this is anything other than that. Now, a couple of things here. One is that, let's not forget, Bruce Arians has always been, and if he does decide to coach again, a fantastic offensive mind.

There's no doubt about it. He's been great. Do not let Tom Brady's years in Tampa convince you otherwise. Two, the reason why I feel like this is even more of a push out of the business is when you get fired as a coach, they pay you out. That's the way it works in the NFL. If you retire, I don't think they do. So I gave him one of these front office jobs.

I don't know Bruce Arians very well, but I feel pretty confident he's not a front office type of guy right this is a job you get which he's a lot in college right where they force out the football coach and they make him the athletic director and he gets paid two or three years walks out from the sunset there's a way for them to keep paying bruce arians as he's in the front office um i commend bruce aans for doing this and basically allowing Todd Bowles to have the job without being an open job essentially right

if you once you get past a certain date you don't have to comply with the Rooney rule which is comply with anyways here but nonetheless you don't have to comply with it so he was able to set up Todd Bowles with the head coach job who has earned the opportunity again to have this he's not wasn't handed the job

he's deserved to get the job. And Bruce Aaron said that he, and I believe him, because the way he's hired and the way he's talked about life and the way he's acted about life, I genuinely believe him when he said, hey, man, it's better to do this now than at the end, than like basically fight with Tom Brady for all, this whole season and get fired at the end of the season, right?

Like do it now. Be commendable. And then you get Todd Bull set up, and you get the family set up, and we're all good to go. That's what I think about it. I think Tom Brady certainly had a say in Bruce Arian's decision to go to the front office. Okay, so we, in this theory of yours, which sounds totally plausible,

we're accepting that Tom brady knifed bruce arians went around him to ownership and said like i'm done with this guy let me and byron handle the offense hire whoever the hell you want as a head coach i don't really give a damn get him out of here we're saying that probably is what happened i think i think it was it was it was uh broached the subject was broached i I don't know if it... Yeah, why? And yet, we're all convinced there's no way in the world, how dare you think, that he would ever have lied to Ryan Jensen,

the lineman who just got a $70 million deal. He wouldn't dare mislead Leonard Fournette. I've gone over this before. Why would he go to Dolphins, Gabe? I'm not saying the Dolphins. I'm just saying, why would we trust him? He knifed the quarterback who helped him win a Super Bowl. Look, the thing about conspiracy theories, Gabe, for me at least,

there has to be a why. I know we're in the day of age of like oh yeah the will smith slap was it was fake because i said so why why was it why why would they fake it who give me a benefit like give me a benefit right what is the benefit of tom brady going to miami this year i don't know other than he's obviously nuts and doesn't like or trust anyone he couldn't have a better situation now the guy he doesn't like is gone except he's not and look all i'm saying he's not going to be around he's in the front office air quotes front office tom brady has basically said with a smile on his face that everything he says to the media

is a lie he purposely misleads the media that's true so i don't know why we believe that sometimes his intentions are clear and pure and other times it's crazy to think he's nefarious i'm just saying i don't know i wanted to understand from you what happened here and you're telling me tom brady pushed bruce arians out that's what you're telling me that's my that's my best guess yeah okay but he's not capable of doing anything else did tom brady push you out of a podcasting deal because you're very upset about tom brady all the time I just don't know why people believe anything he ever does or says.

I don't understand it. I see no track record of honesty, but fine. But the Dolphins think he's out of nowhere and you just believe it. Tom Brady didn't say anything about it. No, there's more to the story than that. Mike Florio just made it up. No, there's plenty more to that. We'll just wait and see. Let me ask you about Todd

Bowles because good for him he got the job. But I remember him as Todd Bowles, the coach that was supposed to come save my then Jets. It didn't work out. I don't think I can blame Todd. That team was garbage. But he didn't exactly succeed as a head coach. So do we feel like he's set up for success here in Tampa? Yeah, he's got Tom Brady.

That's the biggest difference. Until Tom Brady doesn't like him, and then he's got tom brady um that's the biggest difference than like until tom brady doesn't like him and then he's out of it well so this really allows tom brady to just do his own thing on offense with byron left foot right and tom bowles runs the defense and the one thing that the one question i have about about this is that you know br and Tom Brady did get along with the idea of being aggressive, right? They were aggressive, going for it, throwing downfield, making things happen. Most defensive coaches on the more conservative side, right?

Run the football, punt the football, play for field goals. How's that going to play if that's what Todd Bowles does in Tampa Bay? That's my only question about it. Otherwise, I think it is a great place for Todd Bowles to be. Okay. And is there anything to read into why it was Bowles, not Lefwich? I would imagine just the coaching experience. Just experience. And just, I think it is, yeah. All right. Fair enough. Well, let's take a quick break. We experience. And just that's what I think it is, yeah. All right, fair enough.

Well, let's take a quick break. We'll come back. There's a few other stories to hit on, including there's a bit of trivia here that I think is going to blow your mind, blew my mind about the third-string quarterback in New Orleans. There's your tease. We'll come back in a minute. We'll move the line.

All right, Jeff, we're back. It's time to move the line a little over under betting game we like to play. First up, the Commanders may, may have been stealing money from the league. Go read it. It's a complicated story, but it seems like they were not sharing their portion of the revenue with the league. Over under 30% chance Dan Snyder is forced to sell the team in Hank's lifetime.

Hank is a child currently. Yes, he is. How about this story dropped in the middle of North Carolina UNC? He was skimming money basically off the visiting ticket prices. Allegedly. Well, unfortunately, you know, the NFL doesn't care about this way more than anything else he's done, right? Because now you're taking money out the owner's pockets.

And he will be gone as owner if this is true. And there's more, right? Like, there's a congressional investigation into him, right? Like, there's a lot happening. We were talking on the text chain about just the corruptness of NFL owners. And it was posed, the question was posed, like, do I think other owners are doing this?

The answer is no. I don't think they're doing this exact thing. Are they doing other things, Gabe? Possibly. But are they skimming money from that league? I don't think they're doing that. They want the league to succeed, right? They want everyone to make their money.

I don't think they're skimming profits off the top of the NFL. I think this is a Dan Snyder thing alone. So do you think that he will be forced to sell the team? If this is true, yes. Okay. So we're going to say within Hank's lifetime. Which is so shitty, right? Like, there's credible

allegations of sexual misconduct there, right? Like, and just some pervy shit he did. And that does not matter at all. but what matters to get him canned is he skimmed money off the top of a billion dollar organization it does make you wonder what matters most to some of these owners um all right adam schefter reporting that uh usc linebacker drake jackson has 13 visits over the next few weeks. Yes. 13 visits with NFL teams. Jeff, that seems like a lot,

given that we've already had combines and pro days. So over under four and a half team visits, you were asked to take as a prospect. Oh, zero. Oh, zero. Oh, okay. I wasn't trying to troll you. I just wasn't sure.

No, no, no. You only get those, like my brother went on a bunch. If you're a higher, teams get 30 visits, 30 visits. Oh, you're only allowed to get a certain number of visits well i don't know what the players are allowed to have but each team is allowed to only bring in 30 guys interesting okay so like aiden hutchinson was in jacksonville i think him and uh achy were in jacksonville together a couple days ago right so they bring all these guys for just like specific interviews uh you know jake jackson just specifically for him is a defensive end from

usc the questions i think are going to be asked is like he lost a bunch of weight at usc and didn't specific interviews. Jake Jackson, just specifically for him, is a defensive end from USC. The questions I think are going to be asked is, he lost a bunch of weight at USC and didn't play well. That's a kind of bold thing to say, but he just didn't play as well as he probably... Did he lose a bunch of weight or gain a... I think he lost a bunch of weight. He's put weight on now and then tries to ask him about his

thought process behind that stuff. But yeah, everyone takes visits. I did not take any. My brother took a bunch. And I was a 7-0 draft pick. Maybe what Drake should do is get on the DK Metcalf diet and eat three bags of candy a day. Dude, some of these guys eat – have really bad diets. I don't think people understand that.

Like some players who play at a high level of sports – and you hear guys talk about it all the time, right? When they're young and then all of a sudden when they get 27, they realize they can't eat like shit anymore and they figure it out and play much better the back half of their career. We hear that all the time with guys. But, yeah, man, he said he eats one meal a day and then just candy. Yeah, well, I mean, with a lot of guys you'd be like,

man, imagine how much better you could be if you just cleaned up your diet, if you went the Tom Brady route. With DK Metcalf, I would say if it ain't broke, don't fix it. You know, like that guy does not need to change his diet. He looks physically perfect. He's unbelievably athletic on the field. If that's what it takes, then eat the candy, brother. All right, Blake Bortles, opposite scenario. I would say does not look

physically perfect uh has never performed all that well on the field he is now asking for his release from the saints where apparently he was playing because he'd like to be a backup somewhere else i guess he would be the third stringer in new orleans here's the question guess blake bortles age over under 32 and a half i think you tweet this out he's only 29 right Guess Blake Bortles' age, over under 32 and a half. I think you tweeted this out. He's only 29, right? Blake Bortles is 29. How's that possible?

He does not look 29. I'm not even making fun of how he looks. How has he only been around for that long? My favorite is Kenny Stabler, who looks like, there's photos of him when he's 37 years old, and he looks like he's 98 years old, and Tom Brady looks like he's 24 right now. Yeah. Have you ever seen the Ken Stabler pictures?

I've seen. It's not great. It's unbelievable. Yeah. So, yeah, it's going to be Blake Bortles looking like this. 29. I thought we've had Blake Bortles in the league for 15 years. I would have put, if you said Blake Bortles and Chase Daniels

came into the league at the same time and are the same age, I would have said, yeah, of course, that sounds about right. But apparently Blake Bortles is like five years younger. Blake Bortles was drafted in 2014. When was Chase Jangles drafted? Oh, he was like 09, I think it was. I would have said they were. 09, yeah.

09, yeah. That's what I thought. I just put them in the same category of like, this guy's just going to be a backup my whole life. But I thought we were nearing the end. Oh, yeah. No, apparently not. So, Dave Bakhtiari, who we know likes to chug the beers every now and then got on twitter the

other day and just went off i don't even know how to describe it other than he decided he was just going to tee off on everyone endlessly so um some of the highlights wife is 35 weeks pregnant with our first any advice boctieri tooiari. Too late now. Funny. Did you have sex on your honeymoon? David Bakhtiari. No. Just a lot of 69. I feel weird even reading this. And then, why number 69? David Bakhtiari.

Ask your mother. So he was just going in. It seemed like he was bored and just decided that, or his wife was get it i'm tired of you bothering me like go leave the house and he just started to go on twitter and play and flame everyone he was he was a little he was a little wild okay so over under 68 chance that you ever go off on one of these would just get an uncorked jeff Twitter. I mean, sometimes I do. I write tweets a lot of times

and then just screenshot them and send them to my friends and they're like, don't do that. Yeah, good. Just don't press send. It's not worth it now. I've gotten to a point where I just... I flame people. I'll just be like, I'll say stuff like, ask your mother.

People will be like, oh, you're just so fat. I'm like, well, your mother didn't care or something. But it's not really worth it.'s a it's a kid's account okay very good uh last one you had a tweet that uh i really enjoyed and we used on some other shows um i'll use it to set this up so kansas wins uh this game was over under 15% more exciting simply because it happened in a football stadium. No, it sucked. Oh, really? I don't. I just.

It just looks weird in a football stadium. I'll put it like that. Now there's debate about the court's stability. Baycott sprained his ankle in like a soft spot. It looked like on the court. If you watch this slow motion film. I'm the conspiracy theorist? No saying i'm just telling you what people are saying i'm just saying what people are saying i'm just saying what people are saying so when he

when he sprained his ankle again which of course and he battled bad my most by the way my most viewed video ever on social media was bacon i posted a video of him when he got he got hurt against duke He came back and as he was coming back in, he turned to a teammate and just said, F it. And kind of like shrugged his shoulders.

I had to tweet that out. I was like, I love this attitude. Million views. I woke up in the morning. I was like, oh shit, where'd this video go?

And all it was was a bunch of whiny Duke fans saying he was faking it. A bunch of North Carolina fans saying, by the way, my neighbor, I live in Charlotte, by the way,

so I'm around a bunch of Duke and North Carolina fans. My neighbor yesterday, I was like, I was like, Ivan, how you doing, buddy? And he's like, oh, I was in a dark place Saturday night. He went to Duke. So he was having a rough one. Poor, poor, poor Duke fans. Because forever, man, they,

forever and ever and ever now, you lost to North Carolina in your final game. You can never take that away from that rivalry. Whew, that is a Coach K's home game, I should say. Whew, that's bad. It just looked weird in a football stadium. It didn't matter, obviously. But Kansas, look, there's a lot of talk about the tournament not finding the best team.

I say that quite often. But they were one seed. And they ended up being the better team in the end, right? They came back. They didn't cover, unfortunately. The guy stepped out of bounds. Like, he, I never had seen that before. He was taking inbounds.

And just, not only once, Gabe, twice. Stepped out of bounds twice. And obviously, look, North Carolina ran out of gas. They were, of course, they were. They have a short rotation. Love got to sprain his ankle. Baycott sprained his ankle again and Carolina ran out of gas. They were, of course, they were. They have a short rotation. Love got Sprenger's ankle. Baycott Sprenger's ankle again and just ran out of gas. Good run for them.

Hubert Davis would get a nice little contract extension in year one. And that was a good tournament. It was fun. It was exciting. Some good offense. Yeah, now we're moving on to next year. Preseason rankings. I think they have the Bruins number one.

So that's assuming UCLA has a bunch of players coming back. Yeah. Well, I don't usually spend a lot of time thinking about college basketball until about the Elite Eight. So I had fun with that little run. I was surprised. You said the short rotation. I think they only played six guys, UNC, and like half of them got hurt.

Well, they only played six guys, and one of them, they're Johnson who had a Puff, Puff Johnson. Yeah, good name. He normally averages like 2.8 points, and last night had 11. Like he doesn't really,

no, they play, they basically play, I think they play like seven guys I think one guy probably had to check in at the very end when Armando got hurt but I think they only had plates they just put Manic back in he was already hurt yeah

or they put Puff back in so they played seven guys last night they put a guy back in. Like, they just – so they played seven guys last night. They played a guy named McCoy for two minutes. But Puff got 18 and had 11 points. Yeah, they just don't play – the starters played 98 of 100 possible minutes in the second half against Duke. Yeah.

They just, like, ran out of steam. They ran out of steam. Yeah, and against Duke they played three bench guys for a total of 13 minutes. And they scored two whole points. And that was Puff hit two foul shots. Yeah, well, it's hard to say that it doesn't work if you get all the way to the final and you're within a couple shots of winning. But it is a strange strategy.

Well, it does if obviously if your depth gets challenged, right? If you get one injury, that's it um and uh that's they got him so yeah tournament's over uh draft season now and then baseball and masters tiger this week and baseball this week i haven't decided yet if i'm gonna daily wager on baseball yet like i did last year i actually had a winning record last year i was shocked matt asked me to do fantasy baseball. I was like, buddy, that might be hard. Fantasy baseball seems like a lot of work. I'm actually really, I feel good. I feel complimented. I feel loved that he did not try to ask me to be in that league. That's the last thing in the world I want to do is be in Are you going to be a Mets fan this year or are you a team of Dodgers?

No, I'm an Angels fan. The. Are you going to be a Mets fan this year or are you going to be a team of Dodgers? No, I'm an Angels fan. The Mets are going to be good. Oh, really? The Mets are Metsing before the season even starts. Well, they have Scherzer, though. Okay, give it two weeks before he's got some make-believe injury. DeGrom's already hurt.

Scherzer will be hurt soon. Lindor had a good spring. He looks healthy. Oh, cool. Lindor. I'm spring. He looks healthy. Oh, cool. Lindor. I'm not falling for the Mets. Listen, they'll probably win like 84, 85 games. Since 14 teams make the postseason now, they'll get a shot at it.

I'm not a Mets fan anymore. I'm done with that. I'm Angels and Chargers unless the Rams are going to win. I'm surprised you weren't a frontrunner for the Dodgers. No, that's disgusting. I would never root for the Dodgers. No, that's disgusting. I would never root for the Dodgers. Oh, good. All right.

How about in any other sport, could you have the two best players on your team and not make the playoffs as the Angels do every year? It's hard to do, but that's why it takes a lot of guys to win a World Series. And Trout was hurt last year. Trout was hurt last year. All right.

Well, we have gotten to the end of the show. If you're still here, please rate, review, subscribe. If you made it this long, you obviously like the show. Reviews are very helpful. Five stars, please, if you like the show. And we're back next week with some more draft talk, and then we'll have a mock draft as well. We're getting closer to that time of the year.

We'll bring you more draft coverage as we move forward. Have a great week, everyone. Talk to you all next week.