OverDrive - Graziano on Kelce’s future, similarities between the Torre Yankees and the Mahomes Chiefs, and why he is not high on Rodgers elevating the Steelers

Episode Date: August 15, 2025

ESPN NFL Reporter Dan Graziano on Travis Kelce’s future, similarities between the Joe Torre Yankees and the Patrick Mahomes Chiefs, and why he is not high on Aaron Rodgers elevating the Steelers.

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Dan Grotziano are you preparing for that Dan you and Taylor Swift at some point in studio up in Bristol I think if Taylor once in I'm not sure what any of us could do about it she's a force yeah I don't think that Kelsey brothers would mind you calling it the Taylor Swift podcast if she's going to bring 1.2 million Live viewers. I think they're fine with that. No kidding, man. What a scene.

And, you know, I don't know how often you're talking with people within NFL. I know you do all the time about NFL and players and personnel and games and wins and losses. But in terms of her value to the league, you know, like, are they basically praying that Travis Kelsey plays another three or four years or what? It's free money. It's unbelievable. When it started a couple years ago, I remember people like, is this a, is this a, set up is this real like the NFL if it is then whoever at the NFL came up with it deserves a massive

raise because just bringing in viewers that the NFL could have never imagined pursuing just I mean Taylor Swift fans so yeah it's been there it's a happy accident but their head over heels about it at the league offices for sure

no it's incredible let's talk about Kelsey I mean obviously you know he's been getting a lot of publicly not only because he's dating the most famous celebrity on the planet, but because he's kind of going through this reset, I guess you could call it,

with the GQ cover and talking about how he slimmed down. He wasn't happy with the way he's played these past couple of years. Damn, but he is 35 years old. He is coming off a Super Bowl where he was essentially a non-entity out there, as were many chiefs, as they got drilled by the

Eagles, but do you think like a career rebirth is a legitimate hope for Travis Kelsey at this stage? So I think at this stage, if you're Travis Kelsey, you're operating year to year and see how I feel at the end of the year. And I think, look, you see the pivot his brother has made. He's with us now and he's doing Monday night countdown.

And if you're down here watching football, he's on every other commercial. I'm sure Travis has big plans in mind for when he's done playing football. But I also think he didn't want to go out like that. Like the Chiefs got embarrassed by the Eagles, I think he wants to take another run at it. goes well maybe he feels good enough at the end of this coming season to do it again but but yeah i think i think you have a guy here who is they say he has slimmed down and is in better shape this year we'll see i mean you know father time undefeated especially when we're talking about this sport that wears you down and the position he plays and the way he's played it wears you down so maybe he's a great player

hall of fame player maybe he has one great run left in him with the greatest quarterback we've seen and and uh and they can they can go out on tour he can go out on top but yeah we're We're looking at a guy who's much closer to the end than the beginning, and, you know, GQ, the podcast, like, you know, there's stuff he's going to want to do when he's done. He's not going to be, like, sick of money. No, he won't be, and it will be thrown at him left, right, and center. There's no questioning that. And when he does retire, though, you mentioned Mahomes, like, he'll still be around. Patrick's 29 years old.

He's going to play for another decade, you presume, and at a very high level. And, you know, for my money, he's the best player in football. you know, some might argue Alan, maybe Jackson, maybe Burrow, I don't know, maybe there's defensive players that could put their hands up, but for me it's Mahomes. But I'm curious where you think his mindset is moving forward. Like, has he transitioned away from regular season stats, chasing regular season MVP? Do you think that's still a part of his future, or is he just hyper-focused on Super Bowls?

You know, earlier in my career, I covered baseball. I covered the Yankees, the Joe Tori, Derek Jeter Yankees. And they got to a point where if they didn't win the World Series, they considered the season of failure. I think that's a rotten thing to put on yourself. But I also think it's a natural outgrowth of this level of success. Patrick Mahomes, they traded away Tyreek Hill. And what Patrick Mahomes did was change his game, elevate his leadership, bring up a lesser group of receivers, and go to the next three Super Bowls and win two of them. So this is a player who has had to make pivots throughout his career.

When you look at what they had on offense last year, particularly on the offensive line, particularly at the tackle spots, the fact they won 15 games in the regular season and got to the Super Bowl is a testament to his greatness. He elevated that group. And I think he sees himself as that kind of player, justifiably. So there are going to be years where they have better groups around him, and I think this coming year should be one of them. And they're going to be years where it's more on him to elevate,

more of a substandard group, which is what happened last year. So, but yeah, I think he's, he's a guy that when you've won multiple MVP's, multiple Super Bowls, before you turn 30, you're thinking about how far can I take this? Can I get to Brady? Can I be the greatest ever to do it? And I think those are the things that you're Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, the folks that run the chiefs, I think those are the things you think about right now. And obviously, you know, this area that we preside.

in a lot of Bill's interest a little bit north of the border You know The Chiefs are a big reason why they haven't fulfilled The potential that they clearly Have shown in the Josh Allen era With the Chiefs Going to five Super Bowls

And being in seven Straight Conference Finals What are the What is the kind of the path in your mind If there is one, if you're being a Bill's optimist What is the path to the bills Finally getting to that elusive Super Bowl in the Chiefs era.

There's an old gag in the Charlie Brown comic strips where Charlie would try to kick the football and Lucy would just yank it away at the end and then like he'd go back later and try it again and this time I'm going to get it and she always pulled it away at the end like the Chiefs are Lucy and when one of these days the bills feel like

I'm going to kick that football and look they have every reason to feel that way their program is in a great place look at what they did this off season They just extended guys. We have our core. We have our team. We know we're good.

We just keep doing one of these years. The ball will bounce our way in that January chiefs game. They know they can beat them. They beat them in the regular season every year. So they're not scared of them. So I think that's right. I think they're doing the right thing. I don't think it would be a good decision for the bills to kind of change what they do

because they keep losing this one game every year. Maybe I'm naive. but I think they're clearly one of the very best teams. They're clearly one of the very best organizations, which amazing. I mean, you go back and think about before Sean McDermott, Brendan being got there, you know, 17 years without the playoffs. Who would have thought that we'd be talking about the bills this way? But they've built a culture.

They've built an organization that is the envy of the league in a lot of ways. People hire their guys to be GMs and head coaches elsewhere. So I think they feel good about where they are. I was at the game, Kansas City, the AFC Cheney. championship game last year. And I saw Brandon being on his way out of the stadium for the game. And he was devastated, of course. And it's just, you know, he's sitting at that moment thinking,

are we ever going to do this? The Chiefs are on one of the all-time runs. Like the bills have the misfortune of having arrived at a time when this version of the Chiefs is also there. So I think the schedule looks good. They could be the one seed, get a buy,

have a conference championship game at their building. It would be the last game in that stadium. Like, you What a story it would be, and I think they have every reason to dream big dreams. With Dan Gratziano of ESPN, if I were to ask you, which of these two teams would you apply the label, Super Bowl or Bust to more? Bills or Ravens, which one would get that label first? So I'm going to ask you first what Bust means. You mean like somebody gets fired?

Yeah, I guess you could go that far. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think either, we had this conversation on. on our radio show this morning, on sportsmen like, and that was the definition they applied. And they said the bills were the one at greatest risk because the Raven is not going to fire a harbour.

But I don't think that Sean McDermott is like a hot seat coach to the extent that sometimes he seems to be perceived to me. I have never heard anything from inside the bill's building that reflected discontent or disappointment with Sean McDermott. He has built a culture there. And I think ownership appreciates what he's done there in a place where it had to be built from scratch. So I think he gets a lot of rope.

Now, look, if it gets ugly, right? Like, they have a bad year. If they drastically, Andy Reid's last couple of years in Philadelphia, those teams were a lot was expected and they didn't win enough games. But if you go 13 and 4 and get to the conference championship game, you know, I don't know. I mean, like, bust. Like, what, I still don't agree with the idea of making major changes for the sake of change. If you could, if you could show me the proof that a head coaching change would fix it.

then fair enough, but I don't know that you're going to be able to have those data points. Yeah, and again, it comes down in Kansas City standing in the way of the bills. No, I hear you. Well, and some of it is simply hypothetical. I guess, you know, it's a figure of speed, Super Bowl or Buzz. The point being, like, what's the mentality in the room? Like, where is it more palpable? Like, you've got to win.

I would argue it's Buffalo because, again, Harbaugh's got a ring. Like, Lamar doesn't, but the Ravens have won two Super Bowls this century. The bills have never won one. and it's only the cheese in their way where the Ravens, they've got the bills in their way, too. They can't beat them either in the playoffs. But they're feeling in Baltimore, too. I was just at their training camp a couple of weeks ago

talking to John Harbaugh. And he was saying, like, after the season, after they lost in Buffalo, he was talking to the owner, and he was like, we've got to do something. We got to do. And the owner said to him, it was one lousy game. Don't beat yourself up. But Harbaugh feels it.

He's like, you know, look, I got to figure out a way to play the game in January, the way we play it in September, October, November, December. And so that's driving them nuts just as much as it's driving the bills nuts. Dan, when you look at the league in full, we just had Davis Sanchez in here former NFL, and he was basically making the case that it's, you know, Philly as the prohibitive favorite to repeat just because of the way they've sort of set themselves up as the gold standard. And then he sees Baltimore as the second best team.

How do you see it? I think repeating is very difficult. There's no reason not to like Philadelphia, but there's change on defense. There's a new offensive coordinator. Sequin Barclay had 482 touches, regular season and postseason combined. Like that's a ton. And we have a lot of data on running backs with 400 plus touches and the way they drop off the next year. So there are some challenges that await them.

But, yeah, on paper, look at their roster, nothing not to like. Baltimore, same way, loaded, stacked at every position. It feels like there are a lot fewer questions heading into this season. about the Ravens roster than there were even just a year ago. I would put Buffalo in that group with the elite contenders, and I think they belong there, and of course you have to say Kansas City, they've been to the last three Super Bowls. So, yeah, I think that's the group.

But Baltimore is a very popular pick. People really like their roster, really like their team, obviously like their coaching. When Lamar Jackson has played a fully healthy season, he has generally been MVP or close to it of the league, and the Ravens have generally been one of the very best teams in a league. So as long as he stays healthy, they have every reason to believe they're in that conversation. Contending teams, like I say Buffalo, Cincinnati, if they get the defense fix, that NFC North with Detroit and Green Bay,

I wouldn't be surprised to either one of those teams got to the Super Bowl. And, you know, we'll see. I mean, the Eagles look fantastic, but no one has repeated as division champions in the NFC East in 21 years. something weird always seems to happen there always does and I'm curious about the other team in that state and that being the Pittsburgh Steelers and where you stand on Aaron Rogers as their quarterback and the chances of them having success this year the list of NFL quarterbacks that have had championship caliber success past the age of 40 has exactly one name on it and it's Tom Brady and Aaron Rogers will turn 42 before the end of this season it is a long

shot to think that he can elevate the Pittsburgh Steelers beyond where they've been, which is, you know, nine, ten wins, first round exit. He himself doesn't have a great history of postseason success, and what he does have is very early in his career, so it's a very long time ago. I'm a skeptic. Now, Mike Tomlin deserves a benefit of the doubt. He puts together a good team. His team's always pete, and I know their fan base gets frustrated that they don't win more in the postseason. Fair enough. But I think his teams get at least as many wins as their talent level dictates they should, and oftentimes more. So we'll see.

I've talked to people there. The vibe in the building sounds good. They have to figure out their young offensive line. If that doesn't come together, it's going to be a rough year for everybody, Aaron, in particular. Defense has a little bit of age on it. We'll see that tends to be pretty consistent, but one of these years, you might cease to decline from some of these key guys. They have to put a running game together.

You know, I have to figure out their receiving group around D.K. Metcalfe. I think they have a lot of questions to answer. Mike Tomlin is very good. at answering questions and solving problems as season goes along, so we'll see. I'm a little skeptical that a 41-year-old Aaron Rogers can elevate them beyond where they've been. What's your level of skepticism around the Cowboys, Dan? I mean, coming out the seven-win season, and in the middle, yeah, and in the middle of the circus. One word answer.

The Jerry ringmaster circus, the counterpoint would be they won 12 games, three straight years before last year's seven games. the Bockel, and Jerry's done this before and they've been able to overcome it. Yes, and when Dak Prescott has been healthy, this is like what I said about Baltimore a couple minutes ago. When Dak Prescott's been healthy, they've generally been a very good team. They've been a division champion, playoff caliber team. If you look at the seasons, he has started and finished healthy. So if that happens, they have the right to expect big things. They've had offensive line injuries in camp. That's always a red flag. Can they get that unit healthy in time to start fat?

I mean, they have three weeks from tonight they're playing the Eagles in Philadelphia. I mean, that's, you know, let's go, guys. There's no easing into this thing. They don't, you know, their running back room is new. Is there going to be some high-level producer out of that? And then the defense, if Michael Parsons is going to sit out games, which it sounds like he says he is, we'll find out, you know, can they generate a pass rush? Do they have enough on the back end?

They have some key guys coming back from injury on defense, but some of them might not be back week one. So I think when DAC is there, I think you have the right to expect the offense to be high-powered and the team to be good. New defensive coordinator, Matt Iberfluse, I think they'll upgrade in terms of their production on that side of the ball. But the question is, do they have enough to overtake Washington and Philly? I think it's fair to be skeptical and so we see it. Yep. I'm with you on that. Always great catching up with you. Dan. We're almost there. A couple weeks in its go time. Thank you for doing this. It's my pleasure, guys.

Thank you for having me. There he is, Dan Graciano of ESPN, joining us here on the... Unmistakably Canadian. It's the music that raised you. The artists raising the bar. Hi, this is Brian Adams. Hey, my name's Brett Emmons. I'm from the glorious sons. Hi, I'm Nellie Furtado. Made in Canada, the station that champions Canadian music.

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