Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Tom Brady Returns to Football and Free Agency Kicks Off

Episode Date: March 15, 2022

Geoff is joined by Gabe to breakdown the implications from Tom Brady's sudden un-retirement. They take a look at other NFC teams, Deshaun Watson's potential landing spot, and start to break down some big free agency signings. In Moving the Line, Geoff shares a story about his free agency overlapping with his wedding day. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

it's tuesday march 15th i'm jeff schwartz alongside gabe goodwin this is jeff schwartz asmari you're powered by the varsity podcast network we have so much nfl as usual nfl franchise hit today as we are recording tom brady is back gabe's favorite human is back in the nfl deshaun watson news as well all over the nfl as usual because that is what we do on this show however next week we're going to dive into a little bit of college basketball. Okay, guys, just letting you know, a little heads up. If you like college basketball, we're talking about the tournament. We're doing this show.

But nevertheless, Gabe, we're always doing NFL. How are you doing, buddy? Shut up, first of all. I know you're just trying to butter me up to soften the blow of this Tom Brady news. You're being sarcastic here, asking me how I'm doing. You know exactly how I'm doing, Jeff. It was an awful Sunday. It carried into Monday.

It's probably not going to be till maybe the end of March that I feel even a little bit OK with any of this. But here we are talking about stupid ass Tom Brady. I'm surprised you were right. I was right.

Yeah, it doesn't bring me any joy to know that I was right, that the most self-involved, attention grabbing person in the world continues to be this way aaron rogers no the goat of being self-absorbed even greater at it than aaron rogers tom brady what bothers you about tom brady coming back so much what but stop just when i thought my sundays could be spared i get one month of a break from this guy and then he ruins another Sunday for me. And now he's going to ruin 18 or more Sundays in a few months. It's just brutal.

It never ends. And so sorry, Mitch Trubisky. You know, we can't talk about the great news that you got signed by the Steelers. Nobody cares about that right now. Okay. It doesn't make it. Hey, listen, 64 teams who just had your dreams come true to make the NCAA tournament. I'm sorry. We don't have time for that crap. Tom Brady wanted to tell us something on Twitter. We can't watch you guys. Hey, Kevin Garnett, sit back down. You and all of Boston, it's not about you. It's about Tom Brady.

So that's what we have to talk about, Jeff. So I'm on vacation right now as we record this because I am committed to the podcast. And I was at dinner last night or lunch lunch or dinner I forget which one it was oh no dinner because the March Madness had just been announced I'm at dinner with my wife and my phone keeps lighting up and I'm like all right well I might as well check it we're we're been together for five days on this trip it's okay to look at your phone at dinner by the fifth night and um I'm like oh oh Tom Tom Brady's back and then the uh the people next to us were like

Tom Brady's back I mean Gabe it it went through this restaurant very quickly and Tom Brady gave about 45 minutes uh to March Madness before he announced he's coming back and Tom Brady had always said he was going to retire when he thought he couldn't play anymore and last year was not that he was good last year so him announcing his retirement and the way it went down was a little surprising but I think a lot of us are like look his family had said enough is enough Tom you need to come home you need to to be a family guy I don't think this was um a thing where he was tired of his family after six weeks and went back to work I feel like he just understood he wasn't fulfilled enough with his career, which is wild to say considering all the winning he's done, but that he wants to come back and continue to play. His family does support him doing that.

Maybe his family was tired of him being around the house. I don't know. A friend of mine sent me an interesting text yesterday, and no one's talked about this, but I think it's a plausible situation that he tried to get traded to the 49ers or somewhere else. And Tampa said no. They said no. The retirement was basically a way to get Tampa's attention, that it was not going to play for them unless he got traded or just retire or get traded, I should say. And that was the play, Gabe, was that he tried to get traded and Tampa said no. And now he's back with Tampa because, look, his play last year did not dictate retiring.

He was good enough last year to win a Super Bowl. The rest of his team around him played well. The offensive line was obviously very beat up against the Rams. But he can still play football. So retiring didn't make a ton of sense. And now he's back for at least one more year, Gabe. All right, but wait a minute. So you just went to the place I wanted to get eventually.

Let's go there right away. I don't know why anyone would believe anything he says at face value, right? I mean, he literally just lied to us all. So now he's back. Why are you sure he won't still try to get traded? Are you sure he doesn't end up on one of these teams that we think he could be linked to? No, it's too late now because you have to build your roster. People say, why do you announce this now?

And the reason why is because it's recorded today on Monday. Free industry has started in the NFL. And so you need to have your team, your cap number, your cap space, everything in line before this regular season, excuse me, the league year starts, where you have to be under a certain number, right? So Tom Brady had to let the Bucs know, because then the Bucs went and re-signed

Ryan Jensen, their center. Alex Kappa, one of their guards, walked and he left the Bengals. They couldn't afford him anymore. They're restructuring contracts. They're extending guys. So the Bucs had to know what Tom was doing. And again, maybe he asked for a trade, maybe he didn't.

But the reason why he announced it today is he knows the business the reports are Peter King reported this that before Tom even announced publicly he was coming back he called Ryan Jensen and said hey his center hey you're coming back too right like we're gonna get a deal done and I had talked to Ryan and Ryan had said that you know that Tampa offer wasn't as great as I think it ended up being and Tom Brady was able to get him a better offer I think just because Tom was coming back and um so that's why it was announced now Gabe I don't think it has anything to do with with anything other than that he may or may not have tried to get traded he didn't and I do think that he there's obviously two scenarios here one it was a business move calculated he wanted to get traded or maybe he

just was like look this is the this is the right time to retire I've told my family I can I can retire I will retire I did retire and then after the last six weeks he's like yeah I'm I'm still got football left in me are you okay if I go back family and his family's like sure go ahead and do that but also I want to mention one more thing with football players and this is really hard and I didn't I luckily didn't have this problem because I was – I went on so many different teams over so many different years. And I didn't play football until I got to high school. Is a lot of people, their identities are a football player, right?

Tom Brady has played football – he's 44 years old, right, Gabe? For what? 40 – not 41 years. 38 years, 37 years of his life. Sure. what 40 not 41 years 38 years 37 years of his life sure he's been he's been in the nfl longer than he's been out of the nfl in his lifetime right and so his identity as much as it might be you know his advertising or being giselle's husband or being a father being a husband it's a football player and a lot of players struggle with the concept of no

longer being a football player. And as much as guys talk about, oh, I have a plan when I'm done. I know what I'm going to do. A lot of guys struggle a lot. And I never had that problem because, again, I was seventh round draft pick. I didn't play until high school. I was on five teams in six years. So I always knew the end was near. But for Tom Brady to just voluntarily walk away when he can still play good football, that gnaws at guys. And a lot of us don't get to walk away when we're still playing really good football. I think all of that contributed to him wanting to come back.

Okay. I think that's a really interesting way to look at it, human to human. I prefer not to think of him as a human the way that you are. I don't even want to guess what i don't think he ever was telling the truth to him to either to his family or us when he said he was walking away i don't think this was he fooled himself or he had an identity issue i think there was always a play involved i don't know what it was you're telling me it wasn't necessarily a money thing i would think ali marpet and others are gone because of this gap where they

thought they were in kind of a rebuild mode and he could have kept them around. Ali Marpet retired. Did he? I'm not trying to make a joke. Is he, are we sure? Are we?

Yeah. After they contacted him yesterday, he said he's still staying retired. Okay. He's staying retired. Alex Kappa's gone and Jensen's back. So that's why the timing of this news, Tom Brady broke this, again, before the window started to get some of these deals done.

So what's he going to insist they go get him now? Because remember, he won't play for anything less than a super team. It's not worth his time. It's a good question. So, look, they're up against the cap, right? Their cap number is not great. They're going to work on making that better. They're going to have to draft a guard in the first round.

They lost both guards to free agency and retirement. That's going to be a first-round need. It's a good draft for a guard, especially middle to end of first round. You look at Zion Johnson from Boston College. You look at Kenyon Green from A&M. Those guys will probably be there sitting in that opportunity. There's other guys that might move inside that you might draft. But those guys are going to be there sitting in that opportunity there's other guys that you know might move inside that you might draft but those guys are going to be there probably in that spot those are the top two guards I would imagine they have a chance to

go to Tampa Bay otherwise look again more wide receivers as of right now right Juju's still out there Godwin's franchise I imagine they'll do a deal with him mike evans is there they need to find a third run receiver whether it's juju whether it's someone else i don't know but as we're talking to him and christian kirk okay got 84 million dollars from the jaguars i don't know what they're doing ever there was a guy signed today look and i i pride myself on knowing obviously all the offense alignment and knowing most the nfl there was a guy signed today look and i i pride myself on knowing obviously all the offensive linemen and knowing most the nfl there was a player signed today that i had never heard his name before never in my entire life had heard zon jacksonville he's a linebacker congratulations getting the money but i have never have you i sent you guys the guy's name have you ever heard of him

jeff there's no football player on earth who you haven't heard of but i have i mean that would be insane fair enough of course i don't know who that guy is that i don't know what the jaguars are doing they're like the guy in your fantasy draft who you you have to ask after a few rounds like hey is that magazine from this year like what are you doing right now like they make no sense whatsoever so i i discount them we'll talk about them in our over under game do you think that brady will be able to get all the pieces that he will surely want on the line and to throw to um and is it realistic to think of them as a contender this year i know that i know i know brady never bet against brady blah blah blah like a lot of teams got better in the nf. We're still waiting to hear about some other news. Are we sure they're contenders even with him?

So the reason why they're contenders is because as of right now, the other quarterback in the NFC that's worth worrying about is one, Aaron Rodgers. That's it. We're going to talk about a quarterback in a second who might want to say that if he goes to the NFC. But as of right now, Gabe, there's no one else, right? Matt Stafford is back, but the Rams are losing players to free agency.

Obviously, Odell's hurt. I just don't expect them to have the same run they had last year. But if you were going to give somebody a discount, let's just say you're a veteran player who's like, alright, I made a bunch of money. I'd like to try to win a ring. Wouldn't you go to LA versus Tampa?

Depends. I mean, if Tom Brady wants you and reaches out to make it happen, it's probably unlikely you turn him down, right? Look at you grumbling. No state tax, and that matters in Florida versus California, where, what, 13% plus the federal tax. It makes a difference if the money's close. You make a lot more money going to Florida.

I think if Tom Brady were to call you personally and advocate for you, you would think about going to Tampa over Los Angeles. All right. This is not the president calling you and asking you to serve your country and be the secretary of state. I mean, come to take a few snaps a game at left guard isn't like let's not if if tom brady called the office i don't know your office number who would if someone called the office who would pick up is there an office number hell what decade do you do you have an office number i don't even have a phone what are you talking about i'm just curious if no you myself that's what you you call. Okay. So you call Gabe and it's ring, ring, ring.

And you pick it up. It's a, Hey, it's Tom Brady. First you would say, fuck off. It's not Tom Brady. Right. Excuse me. That's what I would say. And then, and then, and then say, no, it really is Tom Brady.

And I would still say fuck off, but okay. And then, and then you'd be like, Hey, I want you to produce my, my podcast. I want you to run all of my, of my, uh, my creative. You would say, yeah, sure, Tom. Sounds good. So you would also take the phone call from Tom Brady if he were to offer you a job on his team. Well, luckily, we will never have to put this to the test. But I'm going to say to you right now that I would perhaps not be as rude as I am when talking about him if I talked to him, but I would politely decline the offer to make his podcast.

I would say, thank you very much. I am busy working with Jeff Schwartz two times a week. It's quite fun. I don't need to work for you, Tom Brady. I feel good about what I'm doing. Sure, that's exactly what you would say. But yes, if Tom Brady calls you and you're a free agent, you're going to go.

And it's worth noting here about free agency. So we're seeing a bunch of numbers come in as we're doing this. And as this comes out tomorrow morning, you're going to listen to this on Tuesday and Wednesday. You're going to see these free agent numbers come out. A couple of things to consider. One is if you have not had a second contract. So a second contract is essentially the one after your rookie contract, right? Rookie contracts are four to five years, depending on where you're drafted, five years in the first round.

If the option's picked up, four years elsewhere. Players are all going for the money, the biggest money you could find in that second contract. Of course, there are situations where, like, you know, maybe, you know, Cousins went to the Vikings the first time. He had more money by $10 million elsewhere, but okay, fine. I'll take a little bit less for a fully guaranteed deal. All right. Like it's the guaranteed money. If you're looking for a third or fourth contract, then it changes, right? Ryan Jensen, I've mentioned before, he could have gotten more

money if he had gone elsewhere, but Tom called him and he got a good deal from Tampa and he went, he went back to Tampa, right? That's, way free agency works. Also, numbers reported typically are not numbers that are actual, right? So just make sure when you read these contracts, in a couple of days, the actual numbers will come out that are not with all the, you know, the unrealized bonuses and all the extra years added on the back end. So Christian Kirk's getting four years, $80 million, but it might be four years, $40 million or two year, $40 million deal, right? So just make sure as you see these deals, that's the way free agency works. Most of the time, money talks. It's that simple. I want to get more personal with free agency stories

in our next segment. For now, I want to stick to something you just sort of alluded to which was the second plan topic in the show so um obviously one guy who was like oh god uh when he saw the news on sunday besides me was aaron rogers aaron rogers thought he had just signed up for a pretty clear path back to the nfc championship game and maybe even a super bowl uh and a few chances at it if he sticks around. Now he's got Brady to contend with again. And one other problem potentially looming out there, what would have been the biggest headline in the offseason,

if not for all the craziness we've seen lately, Deshaun Watson was not indicted on criminal charges in that pretty complicated case that we've been hearing about for over a year. Civil charges are still on the board, but the expectation is that he will be eligible to play at some point this season. And so therefore the trade market has heated up already for him. Do you think Deshaun Watson ends up playing this season and where do you think he goes? I have some ones to throw at you. I absolutely do think he plays this season. Yeah, look, the civil cases are going to be settled at some point. Whether they go to court, I doubt it.

The NFL is still investigating Deshaun Watson themselves. I imagine at some point he will see a suspension. I don't know what it will be. I don't know how long it will be. But as soon as it was announced that there were no criminal charges being filed, it now became open season to go trade for him. Okay, we're just talking about Deshaun Watson as a player. I'm not passing judgment on his civil cases.

We've talked about those before in this podcast. You go back and find those. He's a football player. He's really good. And the Texans want three first-round draft picks. They're going to get three first round draft picks for Deshaun Watson. He's young. His contract's not that bad. And again, he's a good football player. So I live in Charlotte. The Panthers owner, David Tepper, it's been open secret that he wants Deshaun Watson for a year now. He's been waiting a year to get Deshaun

Watson. They're going to make a strong push, right? David Tepper wants to win. He wants a new stadium. Deshaun Watson helps all of that. The Saints are after Deshaun Watson. The difference with the Saints, though, is they don't quite have the cap room to make it work as the Panthers do. They have to move some things around. Obviously, a new coach in Dennis Allen is there. But Deshaun Watson gets to choose because he has a no trade clause,

which is very rare for the NFL. So he gets to decide whether or not he goes to the Saints, the Panthers, the Seahawks. There's talk about the Browns as well. I had a coach on the Browns send me a text after the Browns traded for Amari Cooper. I said, man, you know, can he play quarterback? And they said, he just said,

LMAO, just wait till what's announced later. So I mean, obviously he doesn't know if they're trading for Deshaun Watson, but I think there's an idea that the Browns are looking at Deshaun Watson. So he's taking meetings. The Texans have allowed him to take meetings with the Panthers and Saints so far. I think he's 100% on the move.

I think he'll play next year, maybe suspended, maybe not. But if you're the Panthers, he plays eight games for you. Man, you're looking pretty good for 2023, right? So they have a high draft pick as well. I think the Panthers are a really interesting spot for Watson. So is Seattle.

There's talk about Seattle, again, the Browns. But I think that the NFC is most likely where the Texans will trade him to. Okay. That was a lot of teams i wanted to ask you about you hit a few of them but can i go back to the seattle was the one that a few days ago when we talked about this seemed most interesting to me now you seem hotter in carolina for all the reasons you listed seattle to the dummy like me makes the most sense because deshaun sort of seems like younger better russ and they just lost Russ and no one actually

thinks they're going with the quarterbacks they currently have. And they've got maybe one last gasp here. But you're just saying that that's lower on the list. Is Indy more likely than Seattle? Well, I don't know if they're going to trade him. They're not trading him in divisions. In the division? You don't think so?

I don't think so. Oh, man. Carson Wentz. Oh, I not no we don't talk about I just want I have to get off my chest I didn't tweet about this but I would say this I that the quote that came out about him talking about the trade I understand playing for a higher power I understand you have a purpose in life. I've said this all along. Guys are very religious in the locker room. Totally fine with it.

But your job is to win football games and throw a bunch of touchdowns and be a good quarterback. You owe it to the team paying you, and you owe it to your teammates. The statement didn't really reflect that. And this is why he's having trouble in the locker room. Because guys are turned off by this, right? Like, we want to hear, yeah, I'll be better. That's it.

I'll be, I'm working on it. I'll be better. Not good enough. Not quite the statement he put out. I just, I got to get off my chest. I didn't tweet about it because Twitter would turn into a shit show if I said that, even though a lot of people would agree with me. It wasn't worth it.

But I read that statement and I'm like, okay, man, play for a higher power. Great. Do you. I'm fine with that. You got to take some responsibility though, because people are counting on you to win football games for them. Back to Deshaun Watson. No, not the Colts.

Seattle though, because here's the thing about Seattle, is Seattle chose Pete Carroll over Russell Wilson. They chose run the football, play defense over more of a high-powered open-up offense. Why would Watson want to go play in that offense? Like, if Wilson don't want to play in it, why would, so again, I think Seattle's probably not the best option. I think that it's – look, it was reported that John Watson wants, of course, what everyone wants, right? A good coach, a good offense on good defense, good weapons. I mean, the Browns fit all that, right?

Good offensive line now. They got rid of Jarvis Landry, but they have Amari Cooper there. I imagine they'll draft a wide receiver or go pick someone up. And the good coach could – like, they have all the parts. It's in the in the afc conference i don't know what houston wants to do yeah also i look if i not that deshaun watson can be as choosy as he could have been before all the problems he brought upon himself but if you get to just choose your spot the last place you want to be, I would say, is the AFC North or the AFC West, where you're guaranteed a whole bunch of L's every year. And if you're in the North, you're also taking L's in like cold weather and crummy towns like no offense to anyone, but like not places that stars are like lining up to live. You know, good football tradition, not not fancy places to be for a big, rich millionaire.

I would think that he would want to go NFC and go further west. He just may not have the choice. So I guess I'll end Deshaun's comments on this. You know, you talked about the possibility that Brady maybe was angling potentially for some sort of a trade to get himself to San Fran. Everyone seems to think being the quarterback for the Niners is the best situation available Brady maybe was angling potentially for some sort of a trade to get himself to San Fran. Everyone seems to think being the quarterback for the Niners is the best situation available because no one thinks it's Jimmy G. They're not ready for Trey. Could Deshaun end up in the Niners? They don't have any draft picks, right?

They traded them away for Trey Lance. Okay. And in Texas. Well, could you trade Trey Lance? You could. It's worth pointing out. This is very important to point out. That the Texans don't have to trade him.

So if they don't get what they want, they don't have to do it. And then they call his bluff. Okay, don't play. Okay, cool. Like, you know what I mean? Like, they don't have to. He didn't have to. So that's very important to note, right?

Like, the Texans also have to agree to trade compensation to make it work. Now, maybe they take a little bit less because they can get rid of Deshaun Watson. Fine. But they don't have to trade Watson. They can make him and call his bluff and make him play next season for them. And they want to trade him. It works better for everyone involved if they trade Deshaun Watson. But they're also going to sit back and say, hey, we want what we want.

You give it to us or we're not going to trade him. Yeah. Okay. Well, we'll see who sort of wins in that game of chicken. It's weird that we haven't really talked about a few of the names I'm about to bring up, given all the news going on. So let me take it here. And I'm framing this as a Chiefs topic.

It hasn't been a great few days for you and other Chiefs fans. So Russ is in the division with the Broncos. Khalil Mack is on my chargers. Frank Clark and that monster contract, whether it was ever a good idea or not, they appear to be gone. Tom Brady's back. Like, if I'm the Chiefs, I'm feeling a little uneasy right now. Are you?

Yeah, I mean, look, you obviously want to try to be players in a franchise and find certain guys to fit what you do. But most often, you're not going to win the Super Bowl being a team that is picking up a bunch of players in the first wave of franchise. Now, last year they brought in Joe Tooney. Great job. That was a must-need right away. They did that, and they're sitting back so far. The places. That was a must need right away. They did that. And they're

sitting back so far. The places they need help most are pass rusher. And you mentioned Frank Clark. And they're supposedly reworking his contract. Well, the reason why they're reworking his contract and not just cutting him out right is the dead money would hurt them. But who else? They have no other pass rushers. They have a choice. Now, I think that Z'Darrius Smith, who was released by the Packers, would make a ton of sense for Kansas City. That would be an immediate upgrade. Obviously, you have to pay him and whatnot. Then you can get rid of Frank Clark, right, if you get Z'Darrius Smith.

The Panthers cut a couple pounds. The pass rusher market is deep. They're going to be players, I think, in the second wave of free agency. They need a wide receiver. A couple of those guys still available. Jarvis Landrieu would fit great in Kansas City. I think the best option for the Chiefs would be Valdez Scantling. He could run.

They need someone who can run. A big wide receiver who can run. That feels like the best option for them. But yeah, I mean, there's work to be done. But here's the thing, Gabe, is that they have sat sat out of the way by in any offseason they have made moves to make this team better each year and right now yeah they haven't done anything yet but the first wave of free agency typically is not where you're going to make a lot of your money um and uh excuse me a lot of your wins look who's making who's making the big moves today Jacksonville

the Jets the Bengals picked up two guards who you know they kind of went on in my opinion a little bit cheap it's fine but you know they Jacksonville I think I mentioned them already right Jacksonville the Jets like the Dolphins teams aren't really good right so? So, um, it's okay, in my opinion, for them to sit out the first wave, but yes, they need to add cornerbacks, safeties, especially if honey badger walks, redo Frank Clark's deal, and they need to give themselves a pass rusher. Um, well, let me throw a name in there then. I'm not sure he checks any of those boxes specifically, but this is also just a weird story. bobby wagner great linebacker for years plays you

know 10 years plus uh in seattle and then according to him at least they just like sent him packing with no heads up no fanfare no no special treatment even though he's done so much for them is that common like to just strictly business like even a guy like bobby wagner who you associate with the franchise just do nothing to make it a guy like Bobby Wagner, who you associate with the franchise, just do nothing to make it a little easier on the guy as you get rid of him. Well, I think for Bobby Wagner's situation, it's unusual to not be called by Pete Carroll

and John Schneider before it happens. Right. That's unusual. The other stuff, no, like there's no farewell tour. Like you get cut, you go in, they tell you, all right, thank you for your 10 years. Goodbye. Like, that's it.

They're moving on. Now on now again they should call him and they should have done it respectfully and properly but but gabe no i mean there's no there's no there's no more it's not a more send-off like that's what it should be but again um they should they should um have called him first so does a guy like him fit with what the Chiefs need? Veteran can give you what you need in the right position. No, they're young at linebacker. They don't need that. That's not a match.

No, it's not. They have a gay and they drafted Bolton this past year, and they just cut Hitchens. So they don't need veteran linebacker. I don't know where he's going to go, but it's not going to be to Kansas City. Let's talk about, right? I got to guess.

Here's a wild one. Maybe Tom Brady will give him a call. Maybe he'll go play for pennies to just hang around Tom. Gabe, I don't hate a single person more in this life than you hate Tom Brady. That's impressive how much you hate this guy. I think you two would be good friends. You're both fathers. That's impressive how much you hate this guy.

I think you two would be good friends. You're both fathers. You're both into being fit and eating well and working out. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, I eat tomatoes. I drink alcohol. I suck down coffee like crazy. It's all I drink.

We have basically nothing in common. And I'll admit, sometimes I wish I had a few more things in common with him but but no we don't have anything in common all right i just you know we wouldn't be friends you don't like and talk to ronaldo in your spare time no i have nothing to do with ronaldo you know what my father-in-law is a manchester united fan maybe that's our one bond oh cool is he plays for manchester you know i went to my first soccer game a couple weekends ago, and oh my God, I'm not doing that again. No? It looked like you had fun. It was the pregame was fun,

and then it was 90 minutes of nothing happening. That's true. That's soccer, period. That's not just the MLS and the new franchise. That's the top teams in the world. Nothing happens. My kids had a blast, but I mean, I was sitting there like, okay, at least the clock's running. There's no stoppage of time for every first down

yeah it's not for everyone at least not in this part of the world uh jeff we got more football to talk about not soccer uh so let's take a quick break we'll come back we'll move the line hit a few more names we haven't gotten to yet and uh maybe get off football for a few minutes as well. Jeff, we're back. It's time to move the line. I got a few more things to throw at you, including a few personal things. So here we go. Over under four and a half meaningful free agency signings that happened before people even had a chance to listen to this. It's moving quick. Just clarify for people. We're not going to get to it all. listen to this it's moving quick just just clarify for people we're not going to get to it all uh no i mean no we're we're as we're recording this now the legal tampering period opened up three hours ago yes because so mexico doesn't do daylight savings until like two more weeks so like

we're not in the same time as i thought we would be so three hours it's happened three and a half hours ago um yeah so we've had some deals come in. That's it right now. We will see a lot more. We've already had over, we've had like 18 deals, 19, 20 deals be announced. So we've had a lot of them. But there's still a lot of big name for agents out there. So Chandler Jones, Allen Robinson, to name a few. It was Darius Smith, as I mentioned.

There's a ton of players still out there. Teron Armstead, I think, is going to the Dolphins for a lot of money. But that has not been announced yet. So there's a lot of players still available. All right. Well, so this would be a big few days for a lot of guys in the league. Jeff, you've teased a story. I've known you for a while. I've had a lot of fun with you away from microphones. I don't think I know this story, but you have a story about your wedding day and free agency. What is this? Yeah.

So today's the legal tampering window. Back in 2014, I was a free agent. I was leaving the Chiefs, going somewhere else. And the legal tampering window opened up on March 8th at 9 a.m. Pacific. March 8th is also a day I was getting married. I didn't plan that out, but just happened to be that day. So that morning, my wife and her and the bridesmaids are at the hotel. They're getting ready.

At my parents' house, because we got married in Santa Monica, so we were at my parents' house, they had an out-of-town brunch the morning of the wedding. So at 9 a.m., my agent, Derek Gilmore, filled a bunch of phone calls. Everyone started calling 9 o'clock in the morning. Humble brag, yes. About 20 minutes minutes later we're in the living room it's me Derek my brother uh my dad and my uncle we're all sitting there at the table and nine teams had contacted Derek and we were making a list of one through nine like what what are they what are they I think we

what are they offering what are the pros and cons i mean we crossed off like eight teams i mean not eight teams crossed off i think six or seven teams right away there were two teams at the top of the list it was the giants of the rams uh i knew what derrick wanted out of money he wanted at least four million a year um and we were kind of set on at least getting two of those years sort of guaranteed. So that's what, you know, two year deal for basically eight guaranteed, obviously four for 16. And that was it. So I went on my wedding day and we got married and Derek continued to work. After the wedding is over.

So the wedding is at, you know, five o'clock. It's over 530. We took some pictures and then we went up to reception. And the first person I went to see was Derek, the first person, I ran over to Derek, I was like, hey, it's like DG, like, and he looked at me and said, we got it, and like winked at me, and I was like, all right, well, we got what we wanted, and I went back to, it was the Giants, I mean, I knew the team we wanted, the money we wanted, and my wife had no idea, the entire, I didn't tell her. I didn't, I didn't, just no idea.

Because she always tells a story like, we got married and you were like broke and had no job. I'm like, I wasn't broke. You're right. I had no job at the time we got married. That is correct. Yes, no job. And yeah, dude, like I knew that that night

I was signing with the Giants for the money we asked for, around the money we asked for. We got a little bit more than $4 million a year. And which is wild because now I would make like $12 million a year, $13, $14 million a year. It's crazy. This is 2014. The cap was flat. We had just come off the brand new CPA negotiations. And yeah, so that night was, was wild. And then I flew. So we didn't schedule a honeymoon for this reason. So I knew that it was happening at this time. So two days later, I flew to the Giants to New York and signed my contract with them officially.

But yeah, we got married. I flew back to Charlotte. And I remember because my agent told me we were going with the Giants. He said, so actually right now, Gabe, the teams are not actually allowed to call the players. So even if they've announced you're signing a deal, Christian Kirk to the Jaguars, technically speaking,

Doug Peterson can't call him. Can't call him at all. So at 4 o'clock on when Franchisee officially opened up on that Tuesday, the Giants called me at four o'clock on when francie officially opened up on that tuesday the giants called me at four o'clock scheduled my flight i flew up that night to new york uh but the rams are still interested in me and derek's like ignore a number from st louis and it was jeff fisher jeff fisher called left a message and i just didn't answer i feel bad now i mean looking back on i guess that's kind of the way it works because i just don't take the call because you're not going there they're going to pressure you into going and it's let me do the work let me be the person to say no and um i was off and running so

yeah we know honeymoon um we never really have taken like official honeymoon i mean why we travel all the time i'm in mexico now i don't know what you're telling me that you've never taken an official honeymoon you're on vacation overlooking the ocean in mexico right now i mean you're it worked out okay there's a bird drinking from our pool in our in our hotel room outside our hotel room right now um yeah i've been watching like the man my wife likes a jet ski and i am i'm not like a a scaredy cat i mean i've done it before but like it's not my cup of tea let's say yeah so she's like can we go jet skiing uh and she goes fast like 60 miles an hour and I think she like zooms we went together in St. Thomas this past year and my son was behind my

wife and he was holding on for dear life and I had had my own. So we tandem the other day. Dude, it was so scary for 30 minutes of my life. I was like holding on to her for dear life as she was driving this thing around. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on. I am now picturing Meredith's driving and you're holding on for dear life. You're in the back. You're the big spoon. Yes.

Oh, man. That's great. Oh, i love picturing that i was i was i was behind yeah i was she's like do you want to switch i didn't know because what she would do is like she just doesn't care man she'll just like turn into a wave and i'm like my back can't handle the like the bouncing in like as you like go directly to waves and fly up in the air i can't do all that so yeah i was behind her for 30 minutes, uh, in a, in a jet ski, everyone, um, for, uh, it was, it was quite, it was quite the experience. We know the difference between on a jet ski and in the hotel room. We'll leave that there. Uh, okay. Well, that was a lot of, uh, a lot of visuals for me. I want to, I want to bring it

back to football for a minute. I said we weren't going to talk about this guy at the beginning of the show, but screw it. Let's talk about this guy. Over under nine and a half wins for the Steelers with Mitch Trubisky at quarterback. Oh, no. No? Under?

This is a good example of draft pick bias, right? Because he was not good for the first four years of his career. He goes to Buffalo. He threw eight passes last year. That was it. Because he went to a good organization. Oh, he's fixed. He's fine now.

Everything's totally good. It's like, no, it's not. No, he's not good. This shouldn't, and I was, I texted a joke on our buddy Dave Damaschek, and I was like, sorry, buddy. He's like, why This shouldn't – and I text our – I joked with our buddy Dave Damoshek, and I was like, sorry, buddy. He's like, why should I be sorry? I go, because you're wasting a season with Mitch Trubisky. That's why.

You're wasting a season trying to find a franchise quarterback. That's the reason why. So, supposedly, you know, people rumored he would get $10 million a year. Dude, third-round draft pick would not get $10 million a year. But because of his second pick overall, everyone thinks they can fix them. I don't think they're done at quarterback. I can't imagine their role in the season with Mason Rudolph and Mr. Biscay. Well, I hear you, except it seems like they must not love Kenny Pickett

or think he's going to get to them or they wouldn't. Well, that's my takeaway for the Carson Wentz trade. Because Washington had an opportunity to get themselves a quarterback in the draft, and they chose Carson Wentz instead. Yeah, that's true. I have a lot of questions about the quarterback class of the draft. I think we should do those a little closer to the draft. Because right now I'm like, the guy from Liberty is on number two on a mock draft?

Huh? I don't get it. But apparently people love drafting people no one's ever seen play against actual d1 talent so that's for that's for some time in the future uh let's talk about another signing that should have been big news but wasn't because of tom brady uh marie cooper's going to cleveland you mentioned it earlier over under 79 and a half grabs for amari with Baker this season. That's the qualifier with Baker.

I mean, he's currently the number one wide receiver now, right? Because they've got rid of Odell with the rest of them. Juice is gone. No more Odell, obviously. I would say probably over because there's no other option right now. I think Baker won't be as bad because he's healthy. But I don't think like – I think think they're gonna try to move off like if they have the opportunity to move on from him they most certainly will I just don't know if Deshaun Watson will give him the opportunity to

do that last season I mean last oh boy Amari was great for a few games and then disappeared Jarvis Lange Jarvis Ler had 52 catches last year much let's look at 2020 i'm kind of curious now how many you said 79 yeah 79 and a half we're all getting used to these numbers being a little different right jarvis ledger had 72 a couple years ago how would i go under under 79 and a half okay all right well so but you think amari's the clear number one there, and if Baker's healthy and stays, they're probably pretty good, and they're just caught in the middle of a very tough division.

So they maybe turn out to be the best team in that division, but they also maybe don't. They're where they've been the last two or three years, right? I think you're right there in a very tough division, yes. All right, back to the draft for a second. 99% chance the Jags use the first pick on an edge rusher over under. Oh, yeah, it's Aiden Hutchinson. So they signed a brand share from the Washington Commanders.

The other day, I went to dinner with my wife, and I mentioned something about the Washington Commanders. I forget in what reference. She's like, the Commanders? I was like, yeah. She goes, what do you mean? What are they commanding? And I'm like, they're the old Washington football team.

She goes, the football team's gone? They're not the Redskins? I said, nope, they're the Commanders. She's like, whatever. That's, I think, how everyone talked about the Washington Commanders. So he's left the Commanders. And they tagged, uh, Cam Robinson left tackle.

It drafted, uh, Walker little last season. They have a Taylor right tackle. So yeah, their, their indications point to pass rusher, probably eight Hutchinson number one right now.

Uh, well, I hope for their sake that it works out well because they keep getting number ones and I'm not sure all of them have worked out. And it feels like going with a top level pass rusher is what you need in the NFL these days. It's made a difference. So for the Jags sake, I hope they get a little good fortune finally. All right, next up, we're getting sort of to silly town now, but before then, so it turns out that Calvin Ridley story was reportedly placing more bets. You said,

of course, he's placing more bets. Now it's reported that there's evidence of him having placed more bets than we originally heard. I guess I'm wondering, like, 50-50 chance this keeps unspooling. And by, you know, another few weeks, we're going to hear Calvin Ridley was like in deep with a lot of different apps or a lot of different people. Do we think that the end is in sight here? Well, I mean, the end of his career? No, I guess what I'm – let me try to ask it differently. Your question is there's going to be more come out.

I don't know what it's going to be, but the idea that he just was wagering for five whole days and that was it, it's just not the truth. It's not going to change, I don't think, but I definitely don't think it's the going to change I don't think but I definitely don't think it's the first time he's ever gambled I've said that before I mean you just don't show up and do 18 parlays the first time you gamble right and I think there's gonna be more come out over the time but how he was possibly wagering more often and then begin the question becomes

obviously if he was wagering while he was playing he becomes a much bigger story right and then it becomes the integrity of the game and again he's making a lot of money. If he's wagering $1,500, he's not throwing games to make up the rest of that money. So let's get that out of the way right now, right? He's not going to a bookie and he's not in the hole for $200,000, okay? At least I don't think so. Maybe he is. But if it's found out that he was wagering on football, on his own team specifically, while he was playing, even if he was wagering on football, on his own team specifically, while he was playing. Even if he was wagering on them to win, which he probably was, then we start getting into questions, and rightfully so,

about the integrity of the game issues we talked about last week. So I think the NFL is going to hope not more comes out on this. But Gabe, this happened a week ago. An NFL player got caught wagering on the game wall an active player it was like the seventh biggest story heading into the recording of this podcast yeah it really barely made the show um I will add also though that he his defense of himself inelegant as it may have been on Twitter was to say I bet $1,500 when I was out of the game, I don't have a gambling problem.

But already that doesn't seem like the truth. So I'm not trying to accuse Calvin Ridley of anything, and we do have to remind people this all happened while he was on leave with what we understood to be mental health issues. So who the heck knows what's going on? I'm just saying it only took like a few days and we barely noticed but the story kept on going so we'll come back to that one last thing to end on it somehow has not come up even though we've talked about brady for too long in this show

that guy who bought his supposed last touchdown ball paid about a half a million dollars for it at auction well obviously not his last touchdown ball anymore. That poor guy got ripped off another time. Tom Brady didn't care about fans. What should Tom Brady do about it? Over under 1% chance he helps the guy. So this just happened like Saturday, right? The day before Tom Brady announced.

He just bought the ball. Then Tom Brady comes back. I mean, Tom Brady shouldn't have to pay for this. The auction house should be like, yeah, we'll give you your money back and we'll take the ball back. What does Tom Brady have to pay the guy back for? He doesn't have to do anything. It would be his choice to be a decent guy for once.

Tom Brady is not giving that guy $500,000. Sorry. Well, they come up with some fair amount. I don't know. Poor guy, man. I think the auction house should make it right. But the auction house might say, like, I think the auction house should make it right. But auction house might say like at the moment, that's what it was. Yeah. I don't think the auction house has any responsibility. I don't think anyone owes anyone anything. I just think

there's a chance here for Tom Brady to say, you know what, buddy, that would look nice on my trophy shelf. 500 grand steep. Don't know why you spent that much, but how's this much money? And to be fair, if you're spending $500,000 on a football, you probably don't need the money. You're fine. I'm assuming you're totally fine. But okay, so we're going to say Tom Brady, maybe we'll do something to help him out.

Let's hope. Jeff, you got a lot of stuff to think about while you're on vacation, including the tournament. I'm interested in hearing your picks with Matt in a few days. And we'll cover that for the next few weeks, as well as all the offseason moves, including free tournament. I'm interested in hearing your picks with Matt in a few days. And we'll cover that for the next few weeks, as well as all the offseason moves, including free agency. Yeah, so we'll be back later in the week to talk March Madness. Our favorite wagers, our favorite bets will be the fun madness.

If you're angry about your team seeding, sorry, get over it. We'll talk about all of that on our show Thursday. So we're back two times a week, at least through the end of March Madness. Looking forward to talking to you guys more throughout the week. We're powered by the Varsity Podcast Network. Talk to you guys in a couple of days. Take care, everybody.