NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 16 Things We Learned: Aaron Rodgers Returns, Saints Priorities and Boutte in A.J. Brown Trade?

Episode Date: May 18, 2026

Gregg Rosenthal and Nick Shook get you caught up on everything from around the NFL with 16 things they've learned since the last NFL Daily. Gregg and Nick cover the return of Aaron Rodgers and discuss what it means for the other three quarterbacks in the Steelers QB room, whether or not Kayshon Boutte could be a piece in a Patriots trade for A.J. Brown, the state of the Buccaneers running backs room, Alvin Kamara's future with the Saints, the QB1 spot for the Browns, Nashville hosting a Super Bowl and more! NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're kind of sort of thinking football is a little back. There's eight teams practicing on a football field on Monday. OTAs starting a couple more teams starting later in this week. And you know the week is back when we're finding out things we learned. We got 16 things we learned this week, Chuck. That's actually a few less things than last weekend when we did this Monday.

show. Nobody is better at finding things we learned at this time of year than you, the sicko himself, Greg Rosenthal. Okay. I mean, I know you were busy celebrating the Cavs game seven victory, but I'm out here in the streets. And yeah, we got a lot of responses last week that people like these offseason shows. Most people, they kind of want to tune out from football. So it's just going to be a quick and dirty way to kind of get up to speed on what's going on in the NFL. We might do another show just like this later this week, me and you Shuki. But we had some big news over the weekend. Not a surprise that Aaron Rogers is back with the Steelers,

but he officially signed with Pittsburgh in advance of their first OTA. So the timing of it, not a coincidence there. He is on the field taking first team reps. More on that in a second. I thought the finances were interesting. He does get a pretty significant raise over what he had last year. The base salary is about $22, $23 million. dollars. Incentives can go up to $25 million. We have reached the end of the Aaron Rogers,

Willie or Wonty section of the offseason. And that's, again, another reason why you can indicate football is back. This is what I now like to refer to as our great long national perennial nightmare is over. Finally, we can stop spending weeks, months, asking Steelers ownership and, you know, general manager, Omar Khan and now Mike McCarthy, the new coach, is Aaron Rogers going to be there? What's the timeline look like? We can stop filling some time with is he going to come back and play football or is he done? It always felt like this was the case. This is how they always planned it. They kind of hedged against it a little bit by drafting Drew Aller, which kind of creates a log jam now that Aaron Rogers is there that I'm sure we're going to

get into. But ultimately, we get the solution that we needed so that we can all move forward. I wouldn't call it closure. I would say we finally checked the box. We buckled our seatbelt. Now, let's drive down the road already. Yeah. And I think it's a bad idea. I thought it was a bad idea last year. He was a little better a year ago than I expected. And that's why I thought it was a bad idea, because even though he was a little better, he was so limited. Some stats for you, Shook. And Steelers fans, and especially the guys who seem to be closer to Rogers and the Steelers media, keep making the case that he's like an average starting quarterback or better, that he did a lot of good things for them last year. And I'm like, he just didn't want his career to

end with a pick six against the Texans. Here are some of his stats. 33rd in the league in average depth of target. So just a limited, you know, menu of how he's going to throw the ball. 23rd in the league in EPA per play. 26th in success rate. Here's the one that really stuck out to me. This was from Ben Solac. When pressured, his off-target rate, was the fourth worst of any quarterback in any season in five years. And those were the numbers that I really went to. When pressured his EPA per play, any other stat success rate, was down there with Flacco and Cam Ward as the worst two quarterbacks in the league.

So do you think ultimately that the Steelers are making a mistake by making this their offseason plan? No. And it's because they back themselves into this corner. and this was their only option. I thought that they should have made a push for Malik Willis that obviously didn't pan out. I thought that would be a better long-term play for them than going back to Aaron Rogers,

but I felt like this was always going to be what they were going to do. And I understand why... Kyler was out there. I felt that I don't think that there was a real shot at that either. I think that the Kyler, Kevin O'Connell connection, he was on a one-way track to Minnesota. That happened really quickly too.

I understand why Steelers fans and maybe some of the beat think that he was an average quarterback because their frame of reference is not great. They had to deal with Kenny Pickett. They had to deal with the Russell Wilson and Justin Fields experience. And Rogers was better than all of those guys. And he played well enough for me to think he could probably do it one more time. It's not that he's elevating them to some new level, though.

He's just bringing them up to competence offensively. And the bar was very low. So I understand why they looked at this market. They looked at this draft class. And they thought, all right, well, let's run it back with him one more year if there's mutual interest. Plus, do you have the history with Mike McCarthy? Do I think it's actually going to produce anything better than what they got last year?

No, I don't. And it's because of what you just explained. You talk about how bad he was when he was pressured. He never was pressured, though. And when he was pressured, it was only because there was nobody open. He was doing the get the ball out in like 2.3 seconds consistently. I was just actually pulling up the next-gen stats because I wanted to see time to throw. And I know he was near the top of the league when he came to shortest time to throw.

And it's because that was the way their entire offense was designed, which I think if you look at last season, you probably feel, well, they kind of underutilized D.K. Metcalf saved for that game in Dublin. And that's because they never gave him time to get down the field, really, unless it was third and long and they had to because they were such a quick get the ball out offense because they knew he was limited in how he was able to navigate the pocket like he used to do with the Packers. So again, lower ceiling.

But I understand, given the circumstances around this, why they do it, I just don't think it's going to be any better than it was last year. Here's the case for it. Obviously, he'd have to just play better at, what, 43 years old, which is, is, hard to do. The offensive line could be pretty promising. It's a young, improving offensive line. Max Ihanachor might be stepping in there at one of the tackle spots. You have Fautano. Frazier in the middle. It's intriguing. Michael Pittman is now your wide receiver too. That is a huge upgrade on Calvin Austin or whoever they were throwing out there last year.

Jeremy Bernard. It's a rookie from Alabama that you never know. But at least in terms of his draft profile and what he does, seems like a pretty good fit with Aaron Rogers, like a reliable going to be in the right spot player that you can throw to over the middle. So the other argument would be the defense is just better, which kind of gets me at my point about the Steelers. Like, I almost see the win now vision. They just need a quarterback.

Like when Mike McCarthy was hired, I think he sold them on like, we can win with this team. And if they actually, let's say you put Jordan Love on this team, just while I'm thinking of former Rogers teammates. It's like, yeah, I could see that team making some real noise. And the defense could be better. And Mike McCarthy could be a better offensive coach to help get the most out of Aaron Rogers. It's just wild to me that it's 2026. And we're doing Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rogers again.

And the only man quoted in the Pittsburgh press release about this, was not Mike McCarthy, he was not Aaron Rogers. It was a man by the name of Tom Arth. Areth? Are you familiar with Tom Arth? I am very familiar with Tom Arth. Tom Arth went to Cleveland St. Ignatius High School,

played football at John Carroll University, which is in University Heights just outside of Cleveland, and was the head coach at the University of Akron for three years before he went to the NFL. He was once on the roster with Aaron Rogers, which I don't remember. He was like the fourth. I don't remember that either.

I think he was in a training camp or something like that. And so a former teammate, we should have known this, you know, a former teammate of Aaron Rogers, who I don't even think made the Packers. He was like a practice squad or got cut type of guy back with McCarthy. And that is the guy who's given quotes about how great Roger is going to be. And yeah, I think they have a chance to be competitive because I think if Rogers just plays about at the level that he was a year ago, the defense has a chance to be better. And I do think McCarthy is actually an upgrade on Arthur Smith.

So we'll see. Someone's going to be the odd man out, though. You mentioned the quarterback situation. Will Howard was taking QB2 reps. This is how I know football's back. They were telling me the order of the reps at Monday's OTAs. I don't put anything into that. But Will Howard was two and Mason Rudolph was three.

And then Drew Aller, the rookie, was four. So actually that kind of maybe tells me a little bit of something that Mason Rudolph is not long for this roster. I just feel like he's probably the odd man out. I think it depends on who you talk to who follows the Steelers closely because there's, I think, a split in that group right now between Will Howard and Mason Rudolph. Because you think about if it's a win now approach, then you want a veteran like Mason Rudolph behind Aaron Rogers in case of emergency. You don't want to have to lean on a sixth round pick who didn't see the field last year

or a rookie third round pick as your backups to Aaron Rogers. But I also believe that the Steelers are looking at this in the longer term picture because they have their stop gap at quarterback in Rogers. They understand this is the best that they could do. But they talked very highly about Will Howard, and they really pumped them up, and I didn't buy it. And drafting Drew Aller tells me that maybe it was kind of a little bit of smoke. But I think that when they look at their franchise planning,

they would like to have both of those options to develop, especially under McCarthy, as opposed to keeping Mason Rudolph. So as it stands right now, if I had to lean in one direction, I would say that they're going to try to find a trade partner for Mason Rudolph at one point this summer, unless Will Howard is just terrible in camp because Aller's not going anywhere. By the way, also, I looked it up real quick. Rogers last year, time to throw,

the fastest of any quarterback with 200 or more dropbacks, 2.59 seconds. That was their shortened offense right there. So maybe with the improved offensive line, they could be a little bit longer, but I think they're still limited. Well, and the reason why his numbers were so bad when pressured, because for the most part, he just wasn't even trying.

He just throwing them all away. I mean, he would kind of throw it somewhat near someone, occasionally. And there were times when he would try to make plays. And that was where he kind of had the, oh, I'm older. And then he kind of just stopped even trying. And so there's a route to this team being competitive and being interesting. It's just a smaller route than you want. Mason Rudolph's about $3 million this year. I could see them putting him on the practice squad and seeing if anyone doesn't take them and then they can just keep four quarterbacks. That way wouldn't surprise me.

All right. So that was our second point, just that someone would be the odd man out. That's one thing we learned. And I kind of mentioned our first point at top. It was just a larger global league point. For people wondering where we are on the schedule, like I mentioned, 10 teams doing OTAs this week. Eight are starting on Monday. We're going to have some more action, have some more quotes.

Basically, the next five weeks is OTA season. Almost all the teams will be back. by next week. And so that that's just where we're at. And I just wanted to get your thoughts of the fact that Kid Cuddy is at the Bengals OTAs today. I'm odd. Of all of all days to show up, first day of OTAs, Kid Cuddy. I don't know why.

Maybe he's in there for concerts. Kid Cuddy, notably a Shaker Heights resident, or not resident, but a native. That's a neighborhood just outside of Cleveland, a very diverse neighborhood. He's proud of that. He talks about the land all the time. And then he decides to go to Bengals OTA and a Bengals jersey, which makes no. no sense. So I looked up his tour thinking, well, maybe he's playing a show in Cincinnati. It's

crossed from. Well, sure. Now, his next show is in St. Louis tomorrow. This makes no sense. I don't know why he's there. And he's wearing an 84 jersey? Yeah. Okay. He's 84? I don't know. I can't even recognize the name on the back. It makes no sense to me. I should have done a little more research there, but 84, I don't know. 84 is Jack injuries, tight end from Texas, a rookie. Oh, you know, oh, it's Hushmanzada, of course. Okay. It's a new Hushmanzada jersey.

They didn't wear that style of jersey. Yeah, it's an old school Hush jersey. So we're back. And like I mentioned, the Steelers are practicing our fourth nugget that we learned. Just was that. Project Jones, who's had these neck back injuries that could potentially sideline him going into the season. And he's not doing everything at their OTAs,

but he's out there doing little warm-ups and moving around. So that's a good sign for Project Jones. For now, Ihanichar, who is their first-round pick, they have him on the third team. But that's a battle. We'll be talking about a little more as we get to training. And a position change because he spent his entire career

at Arizona State on the right side and Jones's left tackle. So something to Mon-that's actually very intriguing in OTAs. Yeah, so we'll see where he ends up landing. Kishon Booty. not at Patriots workouts over the last few weeks. That was, according to Mike Reese of ESPN, who just noted that all the Patriots receivers have been there, helping Romeo Dobbs get up to speed.

They're just about to get onto the field, but they're not even on the field. They're just lifting weights. Normally, I wouldn't bother to mention this. But the fact that Kashan Booty is the only receiver not there, it does have me wondering if he's in this AJ Brown trade. I'm going to put you on the spot. What do you think the AJ Brown?

brown trade terms are. Now, I mean, it could be because Kayshan Bouti wants a new contract. It could just be because he wants to participate elsewhere. But I'm not usually a conspiracy theorist, shook. I wouldn't be surprised if they told them like, hey, man, you know, if you don't want to come, you don't have to come. Work out on your own because we're going to trade you on June 1st. If you want, you know, like, they just gave him the score.

And then he was like, okay, I'm not going to come. So this is a weird trade. I think if there was some sort of like time element to it, like an urgency, that I think the Eagles would probably get more for it in an AJ Brown trade to the Patriots. And yet I feel like this has been so drawn out that that they probably lose a little bit of leverage still. I would, I mean, if it's me, I'm giving up a first rounder. I don't know if they get a first rounder for him.

And if you were to consider throwing booty into a trade there, which the Eagles really don't have all that much room in their receiver room after what they've done this offseason. But they could use him. You would like to take him, of course. Then I think that that pick drops to a second rounder or something like that. I mean, AJ Brown is still a highly valuable receiver. It's just that he and the Eagles can't work things out. So I'm going to eliminate a first rounder from the discussion.

And it's going to disappoint me. And I don't know though how he's involved. This is tough. This is tough because I feel like how he would extract maximum value and you would get a first rounder. We're in that range. I think it's a 28 first rounder. So it's like you have to,

You have to wait for the future and booty going on. Because, like, Booty's in a contract year. I think him and Brown are a little duplicative as ball winners. He's a good player. He's never put up, like, monster stats in a season. But I think he's better than the numbers indicate at the end of last season. Me and Ali Connolly had him on our kind of all underrated type of team or just, like, hidden gems.

Like, he's a good player. And which is why I think the Eagles could absolutely use him. Yes, they have Mackay Lemon and Dantavian Wicks and Hollywood Brown behind Devante Smith. None of those guys are really, you know, sideline X kind of one-on-one winners, good Red Zone guy. And so Booty, I think, who makes a lot of contested catches could fill a nice role for them. By the way, AJ Brown, back when he was traded to the Eagles, it was for the 18th and the 101st pick. remember they took Traylon Burks for that 18th pick but that was like for the current draft

so I think just kicking it out into the future I'm guessing how he gets that first it's 2028 plus just a little extra for Cajon Booty and the I like pushing it on an extra year it increases the likelihood of getting a first round pick so I like that number six on our list things we learn Jason Light spoke

to the media and that's the Bucks GM and talked about their running back situation and said that Bucky Irving will be, quote, the chair of the Buccaneers running back committee, which also includes Kenny Gainwell and Sean Tucker. Something I don't think I've talked about on the show. I'm curious if you had any thoughts. Like, Bucky Irving had a bad year last year. His numbers were just not as effective on a per snap basis. Success rate, yards per carry, as Rashad White or Sean Tucker, actually, in that backfield. So what do you think about the Buccaneers backfield? So what do you think about

the Buccaneers backfield, Irving, Gainwell, and Tucker. This is also a Buccaneers offense that relied heavily on Baker-Mayfield early in the season for explosives. And then once that fell off a cliff, they just had nowhere to go. They finished 21st in total yards

and 21st in rushing. So, like, that doesn't surprise me that Bucky was part of it. Bucky was also kind of dinged up at times, right? So it's difficult to really distill exactly what last season meant for him. But I think he's earned the chair. I like the use of the term chair of the committee.

We talk about backfield committees all the time. Not often that we have somebody anointed with the chair. So congrats. It's not thrown. It's a chair. Buck Irving gets the chair. I also like this backfield for the addition of Kenny Gainwell. We both love Kenny Gainwell.

We love what he did for the Steelers last year, especially even as a pass catcher, which I think is a very underrated element in his game. I'm a big fan of Sean Tucker. He's a bit of a throwback. He's a hard runner. And I like the diversity of this backfield, but it's got to start with Bucking Irving. Making a sneaky amount of money, Sean Tucker, because if you remember, there was interest in him as a,

restricted free agent elsewhere, I believe it was Seattle. And so he ends up getting $3.5 million, and they decided to pay that up. He had seven touchdowns a year ago. And so he's going to be used in short yardage. To me, that's a fantasy, stay away type of situation. But I go to the money and I go to what I saw on the field. Kenny Gainwell was a better player than Bucky Irving last year. Bucky was such a creative, exciting rookie player.

I think he can get it back. but it seemed like he was just like looking for big plays and, you know, Todd Bowles and then the offense that they're running, they might be looking for someone who's a little more consistent and that, to me, is Gainwell and Tucker. So I would be selling my, my Bucky Irving as the chair of the committee stock, or definitely selling, but getting him in fantasy. I'd sell his fantasy stock, definitely. Also in that division, Bryce Young got his fifth year option picked up the fifth year, not this

year. It's not until 2027. Joseph Person of the Athletic said more clearly and confirmed what I expected, but that we haven't heard from the team, which is that do not expect a Bryce Young extension this offseason. He doesn't think the Panthers are going to seriously consider or negotiate with Bryce. What do you think about Bryce Young, kind of getting set up for a prove it 2026 season in terms of a long-term contract?

I think this is exactly where he's. he is on his career path. We're still not that far removed from him getting benched and then reclaiming his role. Last year, he was just very up and down. It's just dependent on the week, whether you got the Bryce Young that would throw for 400 in an overtime went over the Falcons or the Bryce Young who couldn't crack 200 the next week or the week prior. It's just too inconsistent.

And I think that before they're going to commit any sort of long-term money outside of the rookie deal and you have that fifth-year option at your disposal, they just need to see more. So this is absolutely a provo year for him. The fifth-year option was always going to be picked up. And no extension expected before the season. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't do one at all this year and just let him figure out and then attack it next year.

I think the only way he gets one this year is if he is playing at a Pro Bowl or top 10, 12 quarterback level. And that's a pretty big jump. Yeah, which is possible. And then he gets it sometime in November or anything. You know, the awkward situation is if it doesn't work out and then he's making $25 million, which is the,

bottom end of starting quarterback money. It's what Aaron Rogers is making essentially, but they're starting to kind of look at other options next offseason. By the way, people that said that like Aaron Rogers is making too much money, like that's the one part of that deal I have no problem with. I think he actually went out of his way. I want to see the number to get just over Malik Willis

in terms of average salary so that he is not the lowest paid veteran starting quarterback for week one. I guess you got to include Jacoby Brissette or Gardner Minchu. We don't know who they're going to make. But other than that, if you're talking about guys on veteran contracts,

the two lowest paid starting week one quarterbacks are actually Malik Willis and Aaron Rogers. And they're pretty far below number three on that list, which is like Baker or something. No, wait. What's Rogers annual value? Yeah, now it's like 22.5, 23. Yeah, you're right.

Baker's a 33. Which that contract looks great now, by the way. And he might get a contract this offseason. We will see. All right. So that's our seventh point. Eight through 10 are some owners meeting points. It's kind of a lighter owner's meetings this week.

It includes voting on international games. The owners are going to vote to expand the maximum amount of international games up to 11. This year it was eight plus one includes the Jaguars Wembley game, which I didn't even realize. The Jaguars just run that themselves. It's not technically run by the NFL as an international game. So it's eight plus one, and they're voting to make it 10 plus one. By the way, next year, the Jaguars might be playing three home games in London. I actually expect that to happen because they're going to be moving stadiums.

And so that'll just be a weird wrinkle of the season. And so 11 international games next year potentially, and I assume they would vote for that. They're also voting to make Nashville the host of the 2030. Super Bowl shook. What do you think about Nashville? Getting the Super Bowl potential. I think it's interesting to designate a not yet completed stadium as a

host site of a Super Bowl game like in the future because we did run into problems with this with SOFI and their delayed construction by a year which is how Tampa got back into the rotation because it was too rainy in LA that year which is hilarious because how often is it ever rainy in L.A. But based

on the renderings and the projections and everything else from Nashville which is a city that is exploding with It makes all the sense in the world. Do you build a new stadium, build a state-of-the-art dome where you're not worried about the weather? Come on, get a Super Bowl. That's people here in Cleveland, they broke around on the Browns New Stadium,

and they're like, we're going to get a Super Bowl. And I'm like, you need more hotels first. So Nashville's already got that part covered. Also, it's cold. Well, they could give it to them once, I guess. You know, if everybody gets one, right? I don't know. I don't know if Buffalo is going to get one.

I don't think Buffalo is going to get one. But, yeah, Nashville. That gives us a new goal. You know, initially when I first started working at Pro Football Talk, NBCSports.com. It was my goal to get to the 2012 Super Bowl. Stay in the business, keep my job long enough to get to go to the Super Bowl in New

Orleans where I went to school. And then it was kind of like Sean McVe felt after winning the Super Bowl. I was like, oh, well, now what do I do? It was like, I've already achieved my greatest goal. And then we got back to New Orleans. So maybe now our new goal shook me and you, NFL Daily, 2030, Nashville. I've never been in Nashville. Okay, I can get down with that.

And, you know, we talked about the international games. I feel like we're going to expand that schedule out further to the point of like every team is going to get an international game before long. And your target date on Nashville is 2030. The target date on what's the type is, what is it, not supersonic or whatever it is, the flight, you know, the Concord. Remember that old plan that they stopped running? The target for those to be reintroduced into commercial flight is 2029. So we got a lot of goals for the end of this decade. Because if that's introduced, then it makes the international.

National games a lot more feasible. Yes. I might be making a campaign on to Munich this year. It might be pushing for a Munich thing. And yeah, it would be great if you could make that like a trip to Vegas. Okay. I love it. Never been to Germany.

Great, great city. We'll see. We'll see. But yeah, they're going to keep expanding those. And I'm always surprised by the people. It's like, you know, JJ Watt is like, well, we've turned this into, you know, instead of like just an occasional, you know, trip overseas. now it's like a traveling circus.

It's like nine games out of 270. And you're just watching everything on TV? Like spread the love. It's not that big. We have enough football. It's not that big of a deal for you, JJ. Nobody hates change more than old football guys. It's fine.

It's fine. It's like a tiny fraction. Just let them have some fun. By the way, we did the schedule. Last week, the release. One thing I didn't know, which I wish I, I wish I had when I said how the Saints and the Falcons had a prime time game in week four, which caught my eye.

I thought it was like surprising. I did say, okay, well, the Falcons got one. That's cool. The only Saints prime time game. That is close to the 20th anniversary of the Steve Gleason game, which the Falcons did not want to be a part of. They did not want this to be in Monday Night Football. Because they're essentially like the opponent for the Harlem Globetrotters on that night,

But I tell you this, Falcons, chance for a little revenge. But very cool that Roger Goodell reportedly kind of stood on the table and said, like, we're doing this game. I don't care. ESPN or whoever, what you want. Like, we're going to do this game around the anniversary of the Steve Gleason moment, which was maybe the best moment of Paul Tagliu's run because he helped keep that team in New Orleans, maybe even more than the owner, Tom Benson.

So very cool that they're doing a member. of that game and I'm sure they're going to blow it out and Steve Gleason will be there and that'll be really cool night. Yeah. One thing that I think among the many things that the NFL has been very good at over the last 10 years in terms of growth is capitalizing on anniversaries and holidays and really like blowing it out and making it a spectacle and not avoiding it or just having it as like a tertiary detail but like that is the focus of it. Like we're playing a football game and it's on this date and it's important because of this and we're going to run head first into it and really expand it and, you know, popularize it. They're great at, the league is

great at tent pole events. They're great at doing everything like that. The spectacle has never been bigger than it is right now in this league. And that, of course, was the first game for the Saints at home after Hurricane Katrina, which was a Monday night football game. And I believe was it, was it Torrico on the call for ESPN back then. And very cool. I'm looking forward to that. So Those were points eight through 10, just some allotted stuff. And while we're talking Saints, I'm going to move a couple of my Saints ones up in the order. And we're going 11 and 12 for some Mickey Loomis, Kellyn Moore talk from Monday. They're back on the field.

And they answered some questions. Number one, non-committal about Alvin Camara, but said something is coming soon. June 1st is an important date there. My guess is that they're cutting Alvin Camer. Kellyn Moore said, we're getting close to an answer when it comes to Alvin Camara. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm right. But June 1st is a date where they would more easily be able to cut him.

They changed his contract up a little bit. So just something to watch there. Also, Mickey Loomis said there is an offer out to Cam Jordan. They are interested in him coming back. Cam Jordan's made it clear that he's not happy with what they are offering. And he remains unsigned. And Tassum Hill, there is no offer out to him. I think Taysom Hill's career is probably over.

And so that just a lot of changes coming with the saints. Those are three guys that have been there a long time. We'll see about Camara. But one thing that might not be changing, this would be my next point, would be Lomis said that they want a contract done with Chris Olavé, quote, sooner than later. When they say that, that's a really good sign that actually something could get done. And Olavé is in the building participating in all the off-season activities.

So what do you think about like giving Olavre big long-term money after the injuries, the concussions and everything he's gone through as a same thing? Yeah, and it's mostly been concussions, which is just really unfortunate. And you also know that with concussions, your career timeline is usually a little bit shortened because, you know, the risk of the next one could be the one that you're like, all right, I'm done. So it's interesting that they would offer or at least consider such a contract at him. But when he's healthy, he's an excellent player. He's been an excellent player since he was at Ohio State. I thought he was neck and neck with Garrett Wilson coming out of Ohio State. and he just hasn't been able to stay on the field consistently,

especially in 2024. I mean, when he's played, you know, 15, 16 games, he's broken 1,000 receiving yards every year. And that's with, you know, the constant turnover a quarterback in the post-Drewbree's era with the Saints. And it's funny because all these things are connected with this team. You know, this is a Saints team that for the longest time, as a franchise, they were hanging on to being competitive with Drew Breeze and Sean Payton,

and they finally had to let it go. And now they're under this, you know, new leadership, still same GM with Mickey Loomis, you know, made of Teflon. going to be there forever. But Kellyn Moore, the coach, has kind of invigorated this group, and Tyler Shuck has a lot to do with that. So it makes sense to, you know, secure the players around Tyler Shuck,

guys like Chris Olav. You spend a risky first round pick on Jordan Tyson, but if everything goes right, you got two really good receivers in that room, and you continue to work toward your ultimate goal. So it makes sense, but I just hope that Olave can find a way to stay available more often than he's been able to. I mean, for the most of his career, he's still played double digits in three. of his four seasons, but it just feels like he's missed a lot of time.

Yeah, he said it took a while to get over that concussion, but that helps to explain why his numbers were way better with Chuck. He had 300-yard games last season. They're all with Chuck. He had 156 targets, but they were a great combination and kind of seeing proof of concept there, I think is going to help Olavi get paid. And yeah, like I mentioned, if he's there, he's feeling good about that. A favorite son of New Orleans, Eli Manning went out of podcast. We're going back to the Eli Manning draft. That's when maybe we're not learning as many things about the current teams. But I found this interesting, Shook, that he said, and this was as honest as he's ever been about this,

that it was really him that essentially chose not to go to the Chargers back in his draft of 2004. Not Archie. Archie got totally blamed for it as like the father who was just steering his kind of quiet son away from that situation. And Eli Manning talked about a weird dinner with the Chargers where it seemed like the GM, A.J. Smith at the time and Marty Schottenheimer were like fighting at the dinner and they ate at a restaurant in the Marriott in New Orleans. And part of the reason they were fighting was Schottenheimer being like, we're in New Orleans and we're eating at a restaurant in the Marriott Hotel. And him and A.J. Smith are bickering. And he and he, and he, and he, and he,

Eli just got the vibe, and he was right, that there wasn't a lot of synchronicity between ownership, GM, and the coach. And they did hate each other back then. And Schaenheimer got fired after they had like a one seed. And so he said Eli Manning was really the one that wanted no part of the San Diego Chargers. And like a good dad, I respect Archie Manning, who decided to kind of take the public hits to, you know, really reduce the negativity on Eli. by manning. And it was pretty significant back then of like, who does this kid think he is? He got his way to the Giants. I think everyone ended up happy. Yeah, I mean, Philip Rivers ends up with the Chargers. I think that season, the Schottenheimer got fired. They went 14 and 2. But they just

couldn't get over the hump to the Super Bowl because they kept running into, you know, the Patriots. And yeah, it all worked out for everybody. Eli's got a couple of rings, Rivers, you know, had a great career. And, you know, Eli is a favorite son in New York as well for his time with the Giants who loved him so much that they tried to draft his carbon copy clone and Daniel Jones to replace him. That was on Bustin with the boys, by the way, the podcast. I wanted to give them credit for getting a little bit of a scoop there. I was thinking back, like it worked out for everyone.

The only exception, Philip Rivers would totally disagree. He was so good. He could have won some Super Bowls with the Giants. I know the Chargers team was actually more talent. The Chargers team. The funny thing is the Chargers team was pretty loaded in the long run and won a lot with the Chargers. But the ownership, coach, GM, all the dynamics Eli was right about. I think if you had put Rivers with the Giants, I think they have more regular season success.

Maybe he gets a title too. If you put Eli with the Chargers, I don't know if Eli is going to be good enough to overcome some of the things that Rivers did. Speaking of quarterbacks, who some people think are a little overrated, Deshawn Watson, Todd Munkin, reportedly these two men have hit it off, according to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. This is on the heels of a couple reports that kind of indicated that Watson was now the favorite. It just feels like at the very least, Watson's camp is maybe putting this out there, that Watson and Munkin kind of hit it off.

If you do look at what Monkin has done in the past, it fits pretty well with the best version of Deshawn Watson that we saw in the NFL. The problem is we haven't seen that version in so long. I can't believe that it still exists, but that these two men have hit it off. How does that make you feel as a brand? Not at all surprised, also not excited by it

because this is just another step in their PR campaign to make Browns fans convinced that Watson is their guy and to forget about Chodor Sanders and relegate him to back up status. This has been an effort that this club has undertaken since they hired Todd Munkin. So this stuff's going to continue to come out. Four months, the whole preseason training camp, it's going to be all about Deshaun Watson looking the best he's been in Cleveland and everything else.

But here's the thing. You're absolutely right. We haven't seen that version of him. And we don't know if the Houston version of him can ever show up again, partly because the glenoid fracture that he suffered in his shoulder is a really difficult injury to come back from. And his arm did not look good the last time he was on the field, not to mention the Achilles that had a couple of repairs.

associated but the browns are in a position now where they got watson on one year left in that deal they've restructured it multiple years into the future they got to get something out of it i don't they don't they don't i mean i'm already cringing at the source off between the shudor sanders camp and the watson camp you have dion sanders talking about how shudor's life was hell and how he wants to talk to todd my it's just too much the browns are really good at inviting drama that's completely avoidable. All right. That was our number 14 point of the things we learned over the weekend.

Number 15 was a sad item of news. Just rest in peace to Shirm Lewis, if you're not familiar. Long time assistant was a great player as a collegiate at Michigan State, but really got known more as an assistant with the Bill Walsh 49ers. He was also the offensive coordinator for Mike Holmgren and the Green Bay Packers when they won that Super Bowl with Brett. So he won four Super Bowls as an assistant. Unfortunately, I think, I think of him used as an example of the type of coach

that never got a chance and helped to push the league to enact the Rooney Rule back in the day. Really well respected and beloved coach for those old 49ers teams. And then the Packers. So rest in peace to Sherm Lewis. And we finish on a weird note. But one that feels just, Nick. Urban Meyer has lost. A $30 million lawsuit against the Jaguars.

Looking for all the money, they never paid him because they fired him with cause. And he says that was unfair. He wanted his $30 million back. It's weird to be on the side of a billionaire in this case and say, no, the Jaguars should keep this money. But the arbitration ultimately lost for Urban Meyer. They do not have to pay him $30 million. The reason it made this show is because there was a like a trial essentially and the witnesses included Urban Meyer, Jaguars long snapper Russ Matasick, Jaguars punter Logan Cook, former Jaguars kicker Josh Lambo who Urban Meyer was accused of kicking after calling him a couple bad words and just being upset that he kicked. I'm trying to avoid Eric, you know, having to use any.

and he beeps here on a day he just wants to get out of the office and watch Game 7 of the Savers. And Trent Balke also in this trial, I would have paid $20 to watch this trial. This would have been fun. Court TV, where you at? Yeah. I was like, I'm not going higher than $20,

but I would have loved to watch this trial of why Urban Meyer was such a piece of garbage as the coach of the Jaguar. And the testimony would have just been riveting to hear from these former players who clearly disliked him. look, when they made this hire, I was like, that's a terrible decision. I think it was a desperation move at the time. And Urban Meyer very quickly presented himself as the opposite of a sympathetic figure with the Jaguars.

And this is one of those rare instances in which you're right. You do side on the side of a billionaire because that's how bad Urban Meyer was as a coach with the Jaguars. He's much better on television than he is coaching in the NFL. He's not good on television. He's terrible. I hate the fact that he immediately. I don't really watch. I just don't love the fact that he immediately gets a job, a cushy gig after kind of showing himself to be not knowing ball.

Like he didn't know players in the NFL. He didn't know his players. He didn't even travel home with the team one time. He didn't know Aaron Donald. Yes, when not traveling home with the team and then being caught on camera grinding on some co-ed at a college bar was fairly low on the objectionable things that you did as a head coach. You know it was a rough tenure. So good on the Jaguars for winning that one. That was the 16th thing we learned over the weekend.

Shuki, I want you back later in the week. I haven't even told you this. Are you available on Wednesday? We need you, buddy. Of course. We'll talk. I always make myself available. Come on.

I put some pressure on them. We will be back in the studio, though, on Tuesday. Be myself. It'll be everyone's favorite co-host, at least for that thing. It's Patrick Claibon. Back in the studio. So we're going to do underrated players in the AFC. We will see you then.

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