The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Monday Mailbag: The peak of fandom, breaking losing cycles, Bill and Ted for the NFL, and more

Episode Date: March 30, 2026

We opened up the TAFS mailbag, and ohhhh buddy did we find some great stuff in there? Like, when during a person's life is their fandom at its peak enjoyment level? Or, how can a team like the Cardinals stop being the Cardinals? Or, if you could Bill and Ted someone from the NFL's past and bring them to the present day, who would it be? Those are just three of the questions Robert Mays, Derrik Klassen and Dave Helman answered on this mailbag episode of The Athletic Football Show.Host: Robert MaysCo-Hosts: Derrik Klassen and Dave HelmanExecutive Producer: Michael BellerSenior Producer: Katy DuffySocial Producer: Scott KrinchFollow Robert on Bluesky: @robertmays.bsky.socialFollow Derrik on Bluesky: @qbklass.bsky.socialFollow Robert on X: @robertmaysFollow Derrik on X: @QBKlassTheme song: HauntedWritten by Dylan Slocum, Trevor Dietrich, Ruben Duarte, Kyle McAulay, and Meredith VanWoert / Performed by Spanish Love SongsCourtesy of Pure Noise / By arrangement with Bank Robber Music, LLC Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Athletic Football Show. I'm Robert Mays. It's Monday during the offseason, which means it's time for another mailbag Monday. As always, sincerely appreciate everyone who spent the time to send in questions. Got some good ones from Discord. Always get a bunch of great ones from our email. We're just going to be doing these every single week.

And so I'm going to solicit questions, but also, if you just want to send them in, Athletic Football Show at gmail.com, we will be checking that email periodically. We'll be cycling through it. And so do not hesitate if you have one. mind and you want us to answer it because we will be doing these every single Monday all throughout the offseason only with a couple exceptions. Another great set of questions, great set of conversations with me, Dave, Derek, and our producer

Michael Beller reading the questions. So let's get to it right now. It's another mailbag Monday here on the athletic football show. And after a week away, Beller's back to read the questions. I was very uncomfortable last week. It's like throwing with your left hand. You know, there was something about it that just made me. feel a little bit icky. So I'm glad you're back to help shepherd us through this.

I'm glad I'm back too. I missed last week because I always try to take off the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. And so I did that. And I was instantly sad with Wisconsin playing the fourth game, like fourth game of the day on Thursday and being the only one of the top five seats that lost in the first round. So maybe this is like the mailbag gods telling me that I should be here for all mailbag episodes going forward. It's been a good tournament though. I mean, it's been an entertaining tournament for the most part. Super entertaining. It's been great. I do not, I do not bemoan the lack of upsets. We've had a lot of very fun second sweet 16 games. It's been a great year, a great tourney other than my guys going down in the first time. I'm going to say,

not to be a jerk, Beller, but like the whole big 10 is in the elite eight and Wisconsin, you know, we don't need to talk about it. I'm sorry. Am I upset that of the three teams that have already qualified as we're sitting here recording us for the elite eight that Wisconsin went four and one against them in the regular season with three of those wins coming outside of I said, no, I'm not upset about that at all. In fact, I think we should just get to the show. So let's do it. Dylan Murphy has our first question, and he says, as a Seattle Seahawks fan when this year wrapped up, I tentatively felt that in terms of losing essential players, we were actually in pretty good shape for a team that just won at all. That said, I've been confused by the way we've handled the running back room since then. Even if I didn't like it, it was understood that Kenneth Walker would probably be out of the building with the JSN and Witherspoon contracts looming.

But with the Charbonnet injury in mind, I would have bet everything on Seattle ending up with. with one of the Algier, Daudal, white level backs after free agency. Now that we've seen how little some of those guys were paid, I'm even more confused by the lack of aggression here. Are we really going to head into next season, starting Emmanuel Wilson and George Halani, in the middle of our very real Super Bowl window? No Kubiak's only going to make things worse.

Am I crazy for thinking Seattle has kind of botched this with the lack of urgency at running back here? Is a third, fourth-round rookie really going to be enough to make this make sense? Robert, what do you got for us on this one? We talked about this on one of the shows that we did, just about wrapping up free agency and just the biggest questions we had left. And one of my questions was who's going to play running back for the Seahawks at the beginning of the season. But correct or not, I'm not like overly concerned about it.

I mean, Zach Charbonnet will be back at some point. It might not be for week one, but he will be back. And I think there are just some teams that look at running back. And even Seattle, who has drafted a lot of running backs relatively high, and they're just not going to get overly concerned about it. Hearing John Schneider talk about it on the radio last week, he was kind of like, you can find them. You can find them and I think we'll be able to find them. And the other part of this is, if you look at it, Seattle has $33 million in cap space currently, according to over the cap for 2026.

But right now, they're already top seven in cash spending. And if they give Devin Witherspoon a contract this year, let's just say hypothetically it's another $25 million in cash for $2026. And it might be more than that. That probably puts them like second and overall cash spending. So even though they're not totally up against the cap the amount of cash they've spent over the last calendar year when you throw in the Charles Cross contract, the JSN contract, the spoon deal that's about to happen, the Donald money from last year. There's a chance that there are just some areas where they're like, you know what, the 15 million, it may not seem like a lot, but for us right now, I'd rather try to get that player for next to free. Can they find them? The only good running back they've had in

a long time was Kenneth Walker, who they had to draft 41st overall. So I, like, I understand that that's like their kind of philosophy, but I'm not sure they can find them. I will say, I think at some part of me feels a little bit similar to, I can't remember what year this was, but it was either 2022 or 2023 when the Vikings went into the year with Alexander Madison as RB1. And I was like, that is an unserious approach to the position. This is a little bit different because like you said, Charbonnet is coming back. So it's like they will have a good player back at some point. But going into the season when you are in like a potential repeat window if you wanted to be going into it with Emmanuel Wilson who like I think is a

really good player probably not like a week one starter type and then George Halani who has always been like an RB3 RB4 type like it's it's a little bit unsurious but when you win the Super Bowl you you are afforded a little bit of time to be unsurious if you want to be so here's the thing though let's just say Emmanuel Wilson's there for week one through six is the starter and then as Zach Charbonnet gets back right if he comes back it's fun tolerable yeah it's a very real chance that happens the other point I would bring up is I think the playoffs are coloring the way that we look at a lot of this. Like Kenneth Walker was amazing in the postseason, but Seattle's run game was not this

overpowering force for most of last season. The Seahawks were 23rd in rushing success rate. They're 25th in EPA per carry. They were middle of the pack and explosive run rate. I can hear Seahawks fans saying, yeah, that's because Kenneth Walker didn't get the ball enough, but they still built a hell of a team with a running game that was. solid but nothing special for most of last season. And so if Charbonnet is back at some point, Halani is there, Emmanuel Wilson is there. Do I think you can get by? And by the way, I think this is worth saying too. We talked about it with Dane, Robert. This is not an amazing running back class. Like if you're not getting Jeremiah Love or maybe Judarian Price, you're probably not getting

a day one badass like workhorse running back. Does that mean you can't draft a guy to come in? and be your third back and potentially bring that explosive element. I don't think that's true. Plenty of people have talked about Mike Washington out of Arkansas. I think that's like the hot name to pair with the Seahawks. It makes a ton of sense. But you could also go after a guy like Nick Singleton out of Penn State who he's dealing with a broken foot right now, but I think he's supposed to be fine for the NFL draft.

Right up there in Seattle, a guy that I love a lot, Jonah Coleman. Like there are guys you can draft. outside of even like the top two rounds who, no, they're not going to be stars, but they can be pieces of the backfield. And I think it'll be fine. And one more thing I would throw in. If it's not fine, there are a lot of intriguing players that I think you might be able to get at the trade deadline, right? Like Seattle did that for Rashid Shaheed last November.

What if this year, if you're halfway through the year and it just sucks, maybe then you go after Devon H. and maybe the dolphins are more willing to do that deal in the middle of the season. Maybe you go after Tony Pollard is a guy. Like if, you know, if the Titans just feel like A, his deal's about to expire, B, maybe the Titans just aren't a very good team. Maybe this fifth free agent spending spree didn't work the way they wanted it to and they're willing to do that. Like, there are guys you can get in the middle of next year.

So I don't feel great about it right now. I really doubt it's going to be the reason why the Seahawks don't repeat. The small wrinkle with the draft thing, though, they don't have picks. They have four picks. They have one pick beyond the top 100. That's the problem here. Barring, barring draft day maneuvering, it's going to need to be pick 64 or pick 96. Totally.

Yeah, like it sucks, but you could still do it. Like, you could draft a running back with one of those picks if you feel really strongly about it. Or like I said, I mean, Halani and Emmanuel Wilson could probably get you through until Charbonnet is healthy. And if not, then we get to do some fun trade deadline shows about the Seahawks needing a running back. I've enjoyed that over, as we've talked more and more and as people have talked more and more about Jeremiah, I love potentially going to the Titans. Like, they just treat Tony Pollard like he's a corpse.

It's just like, he's fine. Just pretend he doesn't exist. In defense of my man, TP, like big veteran running back free agent deals often don't age well. He's been perfectly good since he got into. perfectly fine. Like in a horrible situation, he's been perfectly fine. So that's a great point. If the Titans draft Jeremiah Love on draft weekend,

then you could get Tony Pollard before training camp even starts, potentially. I'm just Tony Pollard making this year. Base salary. Six or seven million bucks. Yeah, it's seven million bucks. Yeah, it's fine. That's solid for a starting running back, though. That's not hurting you.

Barrow, what's our next one? Okay, Fox Daddy has the next one. reminder here with Fox Daddy. He sure does. Fox Daddy. Let's get into Discord. Discone comes to us from Discord, or the link to it in the show description. Assume for the sake of the question that the Dolphins absolutely nail this draft. All the players drafted in the first three rounds are solid starters and there's even a Pro Bowl player mixed in there. What positions would they have to have drafted for you to feel curious about their offense? What would they have to have drafted for you to feel like they can actually evaluate Malik Willis as the quarterback going forward?

We had a similar question to this one from Vince in our email. Derek, take this one away first. So I think the complicating factor with this is like, sure, they have a lot of picks, but like I would say more of those need to be spent on the defense. So then it's a matter of just like how many can you even afford to spend on the offense. I think when you trade away a player like Jalen Waddle, if we're assuming all these players are some caliber of good, one of those guys has to be receiver.

But I almost think even though receiver is a huge pressing need, tight end is a massive need for this team. Like they have not had players there really since Johnny Smith left. And even that was like a very specific role when he was there. And so. This is Julian Hill erasure. But we're talking catching passes. You know, we're not talking.

We're not talking blocking yet, which actually maybe the way this offense runs, maybe they do need a blocker. But I would say tight because right now a tight end is Greg Dulcich and Ben Sims, who they signed this year. Like that's not really a starting caliber tight end room. So I would say. probably those two spots and like they could try to swing at a guard again like jammari solier's probably not a long-term answer for you at guard but i would say like the offensive line

can probably get by as is assuming those young players take a step dave and dane just did a show this week about how there are a thousand tight ends in this draft i mean i assume with 43 75 87 90 94 or 130 you might be able to find a playable one and if mackay lemon is the 11th overall pick plus one of those tight ends and those guys are good i don't know I'll watch that. I love Jalen Waddle, right? He's a, he's a fantastic player.

I'm very excited about what he might do for Denver, but I do, I'm a little bemused by the idea that like three weeks ago, sickos like us were intrigued by the dolphins and like, oh, like, this could be all right. And then Jalen Waddle leaves and everybody's like,

this is a wasteland. It's not even worth looking at. Like, the dolphins are so terrible. And like Jalen Waddle is a good player. but I refuse to believe he was holding it up to that degree where they immediately become an uninteresting team because Jalen Waddle's not there.

Like I think it's about the alternatives though. It's not about losing Jalen Waddle. It's about the downgrade from Jalen Waddle to what is now left. I also, it was like to me I think it was a specific identity too, right? It's like Waddle A. Chan Willis is like, we are way faster than you all the time. And I don't know who they can draft that would accomplish that this year. I think that's perfectly fair.

But I agree with you, Derek. I mean, first of all, we got to do something with the secondary and, I mean, really, all levels of the defense. I do love, I just want to say this, though, like, if all seven of their first three round picks were solid starters, like, I'd be ready to put the dolphins in the wild card chase. Like, that would be amazing. If they added seven start-able players. Like, that is a crazy proposition. But for the purposes of being interested in the Dolphins offense, I'm right there with you. Like I said two pass catchers and maybe another offensive lineman.

That could be a guard. Maybe you drafted an heir to Austin Jackson at right tackle. But like, however you want to do it, I like as cool as Kenyon Sadiq is, I think I would draft a receiver first because there are 10 million tight ends. Like if I could get one of the three big receivers and then I'm drafting Dallin Bentley later on in the draft, I could get, I could get pretty into that. Or if you want to take Sadiq, that's a lot. fine, maybe we get Omar Cooper with pick 30 or Jeremy Bernard with pick 43.

Like two pass catchers, if we're assuming that they're both going to be good quickly, two pass catchers would have me pretty intrigued in the dolphins. The only problem with tight ends being good quickly, we've had a lot of them recently that have been instant contributors, but historically that's not the case. And a lot of the guys who've been instant contributors over the last few years, the only guy really drafted outside of the first two rounds who's been one of those players is Harold Fanon. Even Tucker Kraft as a rookie wasn't doing a ton.

And so the idea that we can find tight ends deep into this draft, even if AJ Barner is another good example, right? Like, AJ Barner's a solid player. He didn't do anything as a rookie. So you probably have to spend a little bit more to have an immediate impact player at that position. But maybe that happens in the second round. Who knows?

The other question, I wanted to just very briefly touch on this because the question we got by email was, do we overuse the phrase like, we can't evaluate the quarterback because of what's around him. And I was looking at other situations recently where have there been other examples of this where their supporting cast was so bad

where you didn't feel like you could evaluate the quarterback? And they're always complicating factors with it because every time that happens where the past catchers are terrible for young quarterbacks, it almost inevitably comes when the rest of the offensive ecosystem is so bad that it's hard to discern whether the past catchers or the play calling

was actually the problem. Like Jared Gough in 2016, Trevor Lawrence in 2021. Like there are so many examples of this. And I think there is a world where the past catchers cannot be good, but the ecosystem is solid enough where you can still evaluate the quarterback.

Like Mac Jones is a rookie is exactly this. And so I do think that... Drake May is a rookie. Well, yeah, and Drake, Drake May as a rookie is probably the same thing. But even they fired the staff after year one, right? And so it's, I do think we probably

overstayed it purely based on past catching talent. I think the overall health of the offense becomes the most important thing. And I guess it's up to you whether you believe Bobby Sloick clears that bar or not. I'm at least interested to see if he can. We've talked about this before. I think he probably does. I think he might. Like he was, listen, he was imperfect in Houston and like given the way that like they struggled to,

I think, adapt to some things in his second season. I understand why they moved on. But it didn't feel so offensive that he can't figure things out as he gets a little bit older. Do you all agree with me too that? And it's certainly not a perfect group, but the Dolphins offensive line gives me some degree of confidence that this could be fine. And you have age and, yeah, it's workable. It's really important. If we bake in a half step of progress from the left side, it's like, that's a pretty, that's a pretty solid unit.

Yeah, I mean, I am, I am assuming Patrick Paul's development is going to continue in a linear way, which would be a big part of this. And seven A too. 7A being like better than he was as a rookie I think also has to play. That's obviously not perfect logic, but there's reason for optimism that that can be true. And if it is, yeah, I mean, I do. You got to draft a pass catcher or two next month. And at least one of them has to be worth a shit. But if you do that, I, yeah, like I will be interested to watch the dolphins.

I'm not really, as long as we are cool with the idea that they're not ready to make the playoffs, which is fair. then I'm, I don't really get the hand-wringing. Like, I feel fine about the dolphins. I love that. To me, they're like 10 feet away from being like a total tear down, like a two-win team. And Dave is like trying to inch himself closer and closer toward, are they a playoff team? Maybe they are.

But like, there's, there's reason. I, there's reason for intrigue here. And the other point I would make, Robert, and it goes to the, I don't understand the hand-wringing. If you're not helping Malik Willis, like, I'm sorry if this sounds. callous, but so what? Like, it's not this huge, it's not this crazy contract that you're going to be buried under. Like, it's, I mean, Robert, you've said it like 10 times. It's just a step up from the Justin Fields deal. Like, I just, he's, he's getting paid a lot of money. If he can rise above it, that's really cool. If not, the dolphins aren't going to be in some terrible spot. So I just,

I'm just not spending a lot of time losing sleep about it. I'm in the same boat. I mean, you're not in a spot where you have to do everything you can to maximize him or it's like some sort of malpractice. I think having him as a dice roll is great. I think you should stay the course in every other aspect of team building rather than leveraging yourself to make sure you're giving the quarterback every single chance to succeed. What's the next one, Bellar? All right, Joe Yeoman takes us to Silly Town here. Joe says you are given the opportunity to Bill and Ted's excellent adventure, a former player, to come and be part of the 2026 NFL season. Shout out Socrates. Who are you grabbing and where are they going? For me, I want to see.

Percy Harvin placed as a do-it-all player with Kyle Shanahan and Brock Purdy. Dave, why don't you take this one first? So mine is really, it's more so about the players than it is about the specific teams, but obviously we can find, we can find some places to put these guys, but I'm just, I'm so enamored by the idea of like, I want to see how athleticism compares against different generations. And so I have, I have three names in mind, two, and. And they're all, like, special athletes for the times that they played.

One is Bob Hayes, who played wide receiver for the, like, original. No, I'm going way the hell back there, dude. Like, I don't, I don't give a damn about guys that played 10 years ago. I, like, I remember that. You, like, guys played 10 years ago in HD. I want to see, like, Bob Hayes or, and the other one, I watch, I actually watched a documentary about him on my flight back from the Super Bowl, I think. I want to know what Jim Thorpe would look like if he was a modern NFL player. Because like it's the stuff of legend about, and by the way, these are, these are the only two guys to be Olympic gold medalists and pro football hallfamers.

Like they were unreal track stars. What, what, Robert? I have questions about this. Okay. Are we like putting them through a speed run of like modern conditioning? because the answer of how good would Jim Thorpe be at in professional football is he'd be terrible. That is the answer. In this world that Jim Thorpe is like he exists today and he's like training for football.

At least for me. Okay. That's how I thought I'm just making sure that that's the case. I thought you meant we're taking like Jim Thorpe when he played and just dropping him in because that is the Bill and Ted's Exxone adventure situation. I mean, I guess that's fair. But no, in my mind, I just. mean like Jim Thorpe's athletic prowess molded for the modern day.

That's fair though. You're right. I mean, I'm just making sure that's how we're talking about this. In Bill and Ted, they really did just drop them in out of nowhere. But no, this would be like Jim Thorpe if he got some time to like be ready for the modern game of football. But I just, I want to see what those guys would look like. And like Kyle Shanahan could do some crazy shit with him or obviously Bob Hayes ran a tin flat in the 100 meter. Like Mike McDaniel would be all over that. It would be sick. And so I just, I would love to see what those guys would look like in the modern day. And the same goes for Gail Sayers. Like you see so many amazing clips of him just being this untackable, you know, unstoppable force. And I would just love to put those guys in modern

football. You're right. That is, it is a caveat. I'm not just dropping them in and out of nowhere. We'll give them a chance to wear like modern cleats and do modern football training. But I think it would be really fun. So you're taking baby. Jim Thorpe and putting him in the world 20 years ago and then we're seeing where he could go. I think that that's fair. I think that's a fun experiment. And we're not going to penalize him for ruining his amateurism, you know? This is like a Superman situation.

Like you're dropping a baby into the middle of Kansas and seeing where it goes. Let's take Jim Thorpe and put him at Ohio State. Yeah. Coming out of school or coming out of high school. Yeah. My answer for this is always Dan Marino. it's always going to be Dan Marino putting him on like this answer sucks because it's replacing like the coolest quarterback in the league

right now but like him in the McVeigh offense like replacing Matthew Stafford obviously I wouldn't want to take him out but I think that would look incredible so that he to me is always my answer of just like because we talk you you kind of said this Robert of like oh if we're taking a guy from like back thing could he hold up dude a Marino's arm could like there's zero question that dude could do it today

those guys physically I mean it's not quite the same level of training that it is now. But like, John Elway and Dan Marino in the modern NFL could survive. Like, I have a few questions about that. Mine is, so you, Dave went as far away as he possibly could have in terms of time. Derek went like two generations ago. Mine is I'm shoehorning in current events and it's a very specific answer for a very specific reason.

I want to go back to 2013, grab Levanti David and put him on the current modern Dallas Cowboys. so people could have an understanding of how good Levanti David was. Like, we're going to look back in 25 years and Levanti David is going to have made one Pro Bowl. He made, I think, three first or second team all pros. He had a career that he's going to be one of the all time.

If you do not watch him play, you will not understand people. And so I want to put him on the Cowboys simply because they have a need at linebacker. And he would be the most, it's the most visible team you could play for for an entire season. So I want 2013. Levanti David to just play like seven prime time games this year before retiring again. So we could actually remember how good Levanti David was.

Levante David as a cowboy would have been all pro like nine times. Like whatever the record is for all pro like because he just would, yeah, he would have had that benefit of playing for a team like that. That's every that's fun. Every sport has like someone whose numbers are just bonkers. But if you're not like a super like into the sport. you will see that. Like, you might, like, know some of the other names, like in top tens or whatever.

You're like, who the hell is that? And there is a chance that, like, 25 years from now, like, you see Levante David, like, top of the league ever in like TFLs and stops and all this stuff. And people are like, I don't, he played for the bucks. Like, what? They didn't do anything. Just crazy because they did win a Super Bowl with him. Yes, but that was eight years into his career, right?

And he was incredible that season. But he was also incredible for all of the seasons in between that. He's also a victim of, like, there are also sometimes players. at a position where it's like he was always the third or fourth best guy because there was always a Luke Keeckley or Fred Warner or Patrick, like all these guys and it was like that guy somehow always

gets forgotten and it's wrong because he was obviously incredible. Levi Wagner's in there too. He played in an era with multiple Hall of Fame linebackers and in reality he is a Hall of Fame talent who likely will not make the Hall of Fame because of a lack of postseason accolates. Levante David and Derek Brooks

is a hell of a that's a hell of a duo for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I don't know how I'd have to spend some time looking how it stacks up, but getting those guys not all that far apart from each other is pretty nice. It's a good of a linebacker history. I think the teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers

and the Chicago Bears might have something to say about it. Yeah, they also have like 80 extra years of history to fall back on. All right, we're going to take our first quick break and then come back and get through a few more of your guys' questions. All right, Bella, what's the next one here? Okay, we're going to break the Robert Derek Dave cycle here, just because the question that is on deck, I want Robert to take first.

So this one, we're going to go to Derek first. And speaking of breaking the cycle, St. 321 says, how does a team like the Cardinals actually break the cycle of being the Cardinals? It feels like bad teams stay bad because they are constantly resetting leadership, scheme, and timelines before anything has a chance to stabilize. Is there a real blueprint for escaping that tier long term? Or is it basically just get a top 5QB and don't mess? mess it up. Derek, what do you got? I don't even think it's that simple, right? Because there are plenty of other organizations who have had decent, like, chances that look at the Jaguars. I know the Jaguars had a good, they had a good year obviously last year, but they were in the cycle of like, in theory,

you go get the number one overall pick. You get this guy who could in theory be this top five superstar quarterback, but you are still the Jaguars and you like kind of nicks yourself and like ruin this opportunity. And he only ends up maybe not quite being that caliber of guy. And so I think that can happen a lot. And then these teams that get stuck in this cycle where it's like they're constantly moving the timelines or they don't know who they want to be, they're throwing funny money around and stuff like that. It often comes back to like the ownership deal is the same. Like the jets have kind of always been stuck in this cycle because it's all the same ownership. Cardinals are kind of in this tier. And so I think you just have those issues based on like going all the way,

all the way to the top. And so long as the Cardinals are kind of operated under the same regime and stuff. I just don't know how that would change unless, again, you happen to draft the guy and he just happens to be Patrick Mahomes. I think you can have transformational figures in your organization that are not the quarterback and that don't require an ownership change. Like, Sean McVeigh is one of those figures. Like, nothing else about the Rams really changed. They moved to L.A., but the ownership was the same.

The GM was the same. And then after Sean McVeigh got there, the Rams became one of the best franchises in professional football. I think coaches can do that. Like, I mean, that's what we're hoping for in Chicago. Like, nothing else changed. The GM's the same. The ownership is the same. But I think the right coach can really steer you in that direction. Cal Shanahan is another one of those people. And then quarterbacks, I'm with you. I think there's some quarterbacks who can do it a little bit. Like, I do think that Joe Burrow has been in ways like a transformational piece for the Bengals and even the way they operate. I think he's been able to put his finger on the scale a little bit. But obviously,

that you need more around you as a quarterback, just like you said with Lawrence. Josh Allen and the bills is a tough one because I think that McDermann and Bean were laying a little bit of a foundation before Josh Allen got there. And so those two things are kind of converging. When it comes to like wholesale,

how do you turn this thing around? I do think the Lions are probably the best recent example. But I think the underrated part about the Lions is along with getting Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell in there in the same year, Sheila Ford Hampt took that over. I think in June of 2020 is when she took control of the team.

And so they fire Patricia and Bob Quinn like four or five months later. They hire Chris Spielman that December is like a vice president and like a president and a, I think assistant to the chairman or something is what he was. And so there was a lot of change at the executive level for that team before they hired a new coach and GM. And so I think my answer is transformational figurehead coach or changing over ownership. I think those are the two options that get you. out of that sort of rut.

I'm glad you brought up Sheila Ford Ham because the other thing I would bring up to give her credit for is remember the very famous vote of confidence that she gave Dan and Brad Holmes like midway through 2022. They were still terrible. Like they were still not good.

And she came out and was like, you know, we had a vision for this. We're sticking by it. We're not changing. And then they spent the second half of the season going on that run and it's been all uphill ever since. So I do think a couple of things. Like the uncomfortable thing that nobody wants to acknowledge because there's nothing you can do about it is ownership has such a heavy weight in all of this.

And you have to, if ownership's not going to change, you have to find something that is so overwhelmingly good that ownership can't screw it up. Or in some cases, maybe ownership can at least have the patience to see it through. I feel like I bring this up a lot, but that's because I lived it as a fan. The other example I would point to is the Saints. I mean, the Saints were a disaster class of an organization. And on top of that, a natural disaster gave them, like, I mean, it could have been an out for them to leave the city entirely. And then in one stretch of time, you hire Sean Payton, you convince Drew Breeze to sign,

which by the way, almost never happened, because if the Dolphins had been more interested in him. He never goes there. And then a few months after you get Drew Breeze, you draft Reggie Bush, Roman Harper, Jari Evans, Zach Streif and Marcus Colston in one draft class. And you lay the foundation for a team that's going to be competitive and ultimately win a Super Bowl like four years later.

So even for an organization that's never experienced that and doesn't have the history of good decision making, you can still knock it out of the park to a degree that it's like almost undeniable. And the other interesting thing I would point out there is Mickey Loomis and Sean Payton weren't even brought in at the same time. Mickey Loomis was already there. You hire Sean Payton from Dallas and I mean, it's lightning in a bottle. I don't know how realistic it is to think the Cardinals or any other organization are going to do it, but it is possible to do. And so the right hire and the right talent brought onto your roster,

I do think it can overcome dysfunction, how realistic it is to hope, for that, that's probably a different question. You have two transformational figures at the same time there. Yeah, exactly. It takes one, the fact that they had two at the exact same time. All you have to do is hire one of those transformational head coaches and then stumble into the greatest free agent signing in the history of the sport. So that's easy to do.

It's like, it's not really a process. It's just like you kind of happen to hire a guy who's insane, which like you have to make that hire, but it's like, that doesn't feel like a step by step by step thing necessarily. Whereas like the lions do feel like that. Which and I was like going back to the lions real quick, Rob, but I think like the lions are a more. I think that's something you can emulate a little more. Like I say this all the time, but it's worth remembering that Jared Goff was a salary dump. That's what he was when he got there.

And then you draft enough other kickass players behind him and you believe in the guys that you brought in in Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes. And if you surround that guy with enough other badass talent, you can build a hell of a football team. That is, by the way, this conversation that we're having about the type of coach you need to drag yourself out of this situation is why that if you're a team that is just completely down in the shit, I just, it's hard for me to justify like some mid-tier retread head coach. It's just so hard for me to justify. I think that there are plenty of good arguments for retreads in specific situations. but if you're one of these teams and you're shooting just for like, let's just be competent for a little bit,

that to me, even if you can find competency, the chance that you find one of these transformational figures is just very, very low. What's the next one, Bellar? Okay, Dan Hula says, as a lifelong diehard Bears fan, I've gone through many phases of fandom. As a kid, I just enjoyed watching the games with my dad, diving into a pillow fort with a Nerf football

and pretending to be checks notes. Neil Anderson, which makes me and Dan roughly the same age. My teenage and college years turned me into a fanatic. Game watching was a social experience and a way to identify with not only friends, but the city of Chicago as part of my identity. It also involved most alcohol and most pain because of how intensely I took every game. As I got into my 30s, I became more cynical and started noticing the cracks in the foundation,

ownership, management, absurd local radio, more than the football itself. I live in Toronto now. I'm about to turn 40, and I just enjoy my eight-year-old becoming obsessed with the Bears. It's so much fun to share it with him, and the losses hurt less for me. partly because we finally have a fun quarterback. I feel like this is the pinnacle moment in my time in my Bears fandom, and I'm wondering what you all think is the best time along the human life spectrum to be a fan, or is it simply dependent on the team being good?

Robert, what do you got here? I think the team quality is hugely important, but, I mean, me and Dan are very similar in age, and so I think I've lived a pretty similar sequence in the way that he has. My favorite time being a sports fan and being a Bears fan specifically was my teenage and college years. That was my favorite time rooting for the team. I think that it's two different things. I think that you're like an adult.

So you have like adult thoughts, you know, like your brain works. You know how to, you're interacting with it in the way that you would as you become a fully formed person, but you also have no responsibilities. And so it can just completely consume your life in a way that's fun. I mean, my favorite year as a sports fan, so my freshman year of college. It was the 2006 Bears. They went to the Super Bowl. I was away from home. It allowed me to kind of feel close to home again.

And I remember talking to my dad every Monday about those games. 2010 when they went to the NFC championship game was my senior year. And so high school all the way through college was hugely important. Eight years old, I think, is another really good time to be a sports fan. Like that's when you become like a kid, right? Like, again, you know the stats. You know the players. Like our producer Scott, like his son is like around that age.

And you can feel like how cool it is to have a kid that's turning that age and the way that they interact with sports. And I assume, and I don't. know this yet, but being a dad and being able to interact with a kid that is engaging with sports for the first time that way has to be hugely valuable. So I would sequence it like teenager college when you first kind of have your consciousness awoken as a sports fan when you're like seven or eight years old. And then I assume being 40 with a kid that's at age or being 50 with a kid that's that age is really cool. Those are the three I would guess. do think there's and i mean i'm i'm not a father either but being around scott and his son during

this past bears season was like it was just special tangentially like to you know the the bears packers games and the way the bears won those games and you're just like man experiencing that with like your eight-year-old son and watching him get hooked is got to be the coolest thing in the world so i i think that is probably really special albeit i i I don't know myself from like personally and just from your the way you digest a team as a fan independent of anybody else. It's got to be when you're younger, I think, because everything you just said, Robert, like obviously you don't have bills, you don't have a mortgage, you don't have any of other

that shit. And also, you can still look up to these guys a little bit more as like super human beings. Like I think you lose a little bit of that when you become older than these guys. And don't get me wrong. like NFL players are still superhuman compared to like what I'm capable of. But at some point you start to feel a little weird like worshiping what a 25 year old is doing on a football field. You're like, I'm almost twice your age and I'm trying to pay for a wedding and do all this other shit. It just changes the way that you interact with the game.

So yeah, I would agree with you like high school when you're, you know, you're rushing to school on Monday to talk to your buddies about what happened and like talk shit. to your friend in the other class who is a fan of the rival team. I don't know that it gets a whole lot better than that. I will say, though, because the last part of Dan's question is, is it dependent on how good the team is? I was 30 when 2019 LSU won the national title and Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase and Justin Jefferson. I was 30 years old and that was still, I mean, it was unlike anything ever.

And it like, it put me into a different point. place. Like when the team is so good that you're like, what I'm seeing is historic and it will never get better than this, all bets are off after that. Like, you can enjoy that at a different level, no matter what age you are speaking from experience. I mean, that was me and Bellar with the 2016 Cubs, right? I mean, it was just, I was 20. I was 29 when they won that World Series. Beller was probably 42, 43. 32. I turned 32 at the end of that season. But yes, like, I mean, I have unbelievable Mark Grace and Ryan Sandberg memories, but that is my favorite Cup season and I was 32 years old at the end of it.

I don't have a whole lot here. I will say I grew up, I do think quality of team really does matter. I grew up in Florida, close enough to Gainesville. And so the 2006 to 2009 Chris Leak to Tim Tebow era Gators were when I was like nine to 12 years old, that was a real good time to be a Florida Gators fan. And that was incredible. Everything after that, actually, I, I, I've, I've, often said this. The Gators, when they, there was something about the Will Must champ teams where it was

like, you knew what you were going to be, which was obviously after this period, it was after Urban Meyer, where it was like, we're going to be a top five defense. All the defense is going to kick ass. Everyone is kind of insane. The offense is going to be like the 70th best in the country and we're going to hate our quarterback. I knew what I was getting and I appreciated that. They hired Jim McElwain. I am. You're so sick, dude. They hired Jim McElwain in 2013 and I was like, they don't know what they want to be anymore. It's over. And they have, like, have, like, floundered as a college since then. Highlighting.

That was kind of when I give up. The Will Must champ Gators because they had good linebacker play is insane. Like it's crazy. Those teams with like Dom Easley, John Bostic, like Dante Fowler. I'm easily. John Bostic. My God. Dominic Easley is my favorite gator of all time. That guy was incredible.

That is insane. Like you just said, I mean, yeah, 06 to like 2009 Florida is like as good as it hits. Yes. They put like 60 guys in the NFL. Basketball championships in there too. But no, no, no. Screw Brandon Spikes, Percy Harvin and all these other guys. I want to talk about John Bostic.

Bostick was solid and classin right there. The thing is, dude, Dominic Easley came out the same year as Aaron Donald. And I was like, they're the same player. And then obviously, I thought Donnie Mc Easley was going to be so good. I thought he was going to be so good. If his knees worked, he would have been. I appreciate Dan's acknowledgement that also in, when he was in college and those bears teams like 06 2010 is when he was drinking during

those games the most. My blood alcohol level by the end of the 2010 NFC championship game after the Caleb Haney experience was I just can't even describe what state I was in after watching that game in a bar. It was a bad situation. So shout out to Dan. Shout out to Dan. Great question. Let's get to the next one here, Sean Kearney.

I feel like every draft season we hear the idea of drafting a tackle with the potential he could kick inside and play guard if needed. Are there any examples you can think of where this has happened and been considered a success? It feels like most tackles taken early who don't work out don't end up having that second life. So why is it always seen as a potential benefit? Dave, you've been building the beast for a few months. Now, what do you got here? So I wanted to, I wanted to qualify or I wanted to see what y'all thought about this. Like, are we including guys that move to guard before they ever play? Okay, we're moving to guys. That list is endless. I mean, there's so many examples of that. the list is endless.

All right, but even still, thinking about this, I think Sean makes a good point. And that's, I think we talked about it on an episode of the show earlier this week, where like in the case of a Spencer Fano or even a Francis Maui Noah, if the guy might have to move to guard, is he ultimately worth like a top 10 draft pick? I think that's a very valid consideration. Having said that,

I thought of a few guys off the top of my head, like right within the last year or so, Kingsley Suamataia is playing better at guard than he did at tackle where he was originally drafted. Mackay Beckton helped the Eagles win a Super Bowl at guard. Titus Howard, I think you could argue, is a better guard than tackle. And then this one, I'm cheating a little bit. But Tyler Smith could absolutely play either position and has. Like the Cowboys kicked him out to tackle because Tyron Smith got hurt in his second year.

And he was good. He's a better guard. But he can do both. and when they drafted him, they weren't sure where they would play him. So, yeah, I think it's not as good. Like, the list of guys that moved to guard before their career even starts is definitely so much better. But you can find examples of guys that have found success after moving inside, for sure. And I would say to the point of the question, it's like there aren't a lot of guys who were just bad tackles and then went to guard and, like, turned it around.

Like, there are some, like, you know, the Mackay-Becton example is a good one. There are a couple of examples of guys doing that. but usually it's like a king of suh matai is a good example tyler smith was obviously a really good tackle sam cosmy played right tackle early on in his career he moved to guard he's been kick-ass there you mentioned titus howard justin pew also played uh tackle for a little bit in the nflb before mostly moving to guard for the rest of his career and then i went back even a little bit further roger saffled played a tackle for the rams for a while and then became like an awesome awesome guard especially during like those early mcvay years towards the end of his career so um it's it's more often

decent tackle gets moved to guard and then just becomes a monster, then it is like a bad tackle moves to guard and has a career. But you know, there's some example. Like, Tevin Jenkins, I thought was a good guard once he moved there. It just like injuries and stuff kind of took it away. So there are some examples, but usually it's like capable tackle moves to guard and just becomes a pro bowler. Yeah, I think it's abject failures.

It doesn't happen that often. But I think like Derek said, the guys that were just kind of like mad tackles moving to guard, I think there's enough examples where it doesn't, feel like you're reaching or you're building like you're building a list of exceptions. Like I had 10 names. I had Kingsu Sumae, Sam Cosmy, Alex Boone, Calceo Semile, James Carpenter, Roger Saffold, Andrews Pete, it was never a good player at either position, but he was more functional at guard than he was a tackle.

Mackay backed in and I also had Tevin Jenkins. And so there's a decent amount of examples. But like to Dave's point, the list of guys who just immediately were college tackles and played guard. There's a lot of Hall fame players on that list. Like Zach Martin's on that list. Joel Betonio was one of those players. I wrote a story in 2015 about all of the guys playing guard in the NFL that were college tackles and how many positive examples there were of that. And so there's tons of those. But even guys who were allowed to fail, quote unquote, a tackle and moved inside, I think there are enough of those where you should be open to the process.

All right. We're going to take one more quick break and then come back and hit a few more of your questions. All right, what's the next one? All right, let's stay in the draft mindset. We are approaching the draft after all. El Rocco, 337, says during a discussion about Fernando Mendoza, you all seem to say he could be the 12th best quarterback and the Raiders should be happy with that level of production. While I understand the sentiment, didn't we just see this play out with Miami and Tua, Arizona and Kyler? Tua and Kyler were clearly better than any quarterback either of those teams could readily find as a replacement, but they weren't top to your guys. yet their teams still had to give out top dollar contracts because they didn't want to head back into the quarterback wilderness.

If you have a QB who is good but not great, eventually you find yourself in a Kobayashi-Maru that's a no-win scenario for people who haven't watched Star Trek, that includes me, Kobayshu-Maruish situation where it comes time to pay your above-average quarterback elite money and you either do it knowing you will regret it or spin the roulette wheel. If the Raiders don't think he can ever be a top-five guy, should they take Mendoza knowing his best-case scenario is he's paid like a top-five guy when he doesn't produce like that. Robert, why don't you take this one first? Yes. Like, what are you going to do? I think that there are, the Tua situation is that's a non-starter to me.

Like, two was never a good quarterback. And so this idea that he was a top 12 quarterback is, no, he never was a top 12 quarterback. I don't think he was ever an above average quarterback in the NFL. Kyler, if you put a very well-built team around 2021 Kyler Murray, while you were still paying Kyler Murray not a lot of money, I think you can win the Super Bowl with that sort of team. I think they mean the Eagles are an example of this, like what they did with the Carson Wentz, Nick Foll's combination.

I do think that in that rookie quarterback window, in that five years, you can absolutely build a Super Bowl winner around a quarterback that is a top 12 player. The Rams did this with Jared Gough. If Bryce Young was the 12th best quarterback in the league instead of the 22nd best quarterback in the league right now, we would probably talk about the Panthers as a team that could potentially win the Super Bowl.

And so I think there are tons of examples. CJ Stroud is a player like this. Like if the rest of the Texans' offense, if the offensive line was good enough over the last couple years, would the Texans be a potential Super Bowl team? I think absolutely the answer is yes. And so, yeah, are you going to be in a position when you get to the end of that contract

that you're going to have to make a decision? 100%. But I also think there are, are teams that could have won the Super Bowl with Kirk Cousins on the contract that he was on. It requires you to do a better job building the rest of the team around the quarterback. You have way less margin for error after you paid a guy. But I think this type of process is significantly better than any of the alternative timelines. What are the alternative timelines?

There just isn't one. And I also think like with quarterback, it's like I think we've gotten to a point where we kind of believe that 10 through 20 can be a little bit like, amorphous just depending on the season, depending on surrounding cast, all that stuff. But there is a line. And like if your quarterback dips below that line, you just don't have it. And like paying for anything above that line, even if you're not getting quote value for it, like you're, you know, whatever, that is the one position where paying for competency is the value. And so, you know, you've kind of said this before, Robert, like winning in the NFL is winning with a Ryan Tannahill. And the reality is that a Ryan Tannahill is the 12th best quarterback and you're paying him like the fifth best.

I also think that, like, it's not a guarantee that Mendoza is only the 12th best quarterback. He could be really good. I know that, like, myself and, like, others are not necessarily putting him quite in that elite tier of quarterback prospect, like maybe Joe Burrow when he came out or anything like that. But there is still absolutely a chance that a guy like that does turn into the sixth best NFL quarterback. And so I still, again, you cannot pass. I mean, he could.

I mean, I'm not saying that I believe that he is that good, but, like, he is physically, he's the prototype. That is the one thing that I do think like people are kind of missing with Mendoza. He's like 6.5.2.30 runs pretty well and has an absolute canon of an arm. He's built to play it in the way that you should be built. Fernando Mendoza

loves LinkedIn and gives like dorky interviews. And so I feel like people have him conflated with some sort of like, I don't know, like wimpy choir boy or something. Like Fernando Mendoza is like a prototype sort of

guy. Like, like, we're not just compare them to the two dudes we're talking about. Like, Tua, who's a pretty undersized guy who also had a major injury in college. And then Kyler, who's like a historical outlier among quarterbacks drafted that highly. That's not Fernando Mendoza. Fernando Mendoza is like he, he, he, it looks and is the part of a guy you draft number one overall. So I think that is a difference worth highlighting number one. And then number two, I would just say, I know, like, some people aren't going to want to hear this because you get into a situation where, like, if we're not winning and competing for the Super Bowl, what the hell are we doing? And that's the end goal. And I get that.

But even in the case of Tua, where, like, a lot of people thought the deal was a bad idea at the time. A lot of people saw it coming. I think that's totally fair. And I get that it didn't look good in the playoffs. The Miami Dolphins still with Tua as their guys. guy in the Mike McDaniel era. 9 and 8, 11 and 6, 8 and 9, 7, and 10, like even the bad years are such a step up from where the Las Vegas Raiders have been for most of the last quarter century.

Like, with the exception of one and a half good Derek Carr seasons, Raiders fans should do anything to have that sort of success, even if they never sniff the Super Bowl, even if they go to Kansas City and play in minus five degrees and like don't score any points like the dolphins did. You should sign up for that every time if that's what Fernando Mendoza gives you because that's what you get with the franchise quarterback. It wasn't as good for Arizona. But even at one point in Kyler Murray's career, the Cardinals, like the first year he was good,

the Cardinals were six and three looking like a playoff team and they fell apart. And then the next year, they were as good as 10 and 2. We can have a whole conversation about Cliff King's. is he a good coach and does Kyler fade down the stretch and that's all fair that's another stratosphere from what we associate with like the modern day Las Vegas Raiders. So you sign up for that every single time and hope that it can be better in the long run. If the Arizona Cardinals during the Kyler Murray experience stop drafting Smurfs at receiver and draft a single defensive player and play him in the right position. Like we might be having a different discussion about this. We

the bow knicks is an ankle injury away from bow knicks playing in the super bowl potentially and likely a few months ago jalen hertz won the super bowl two years ago i just think that there are more quarterbacks capable of winning super bowls and the spectrum of them especially when they're not getting paid very much is wider than we want to say it is Derek my question to you about this i'm i'm not going to let this for nando mendoza's sixth best quarterback and lee thing slip away something because i think it's harder to be the six best quarterback in the league than you're making it out to be. Is the path to Fernando Mendoza being the sixth best quarterback in the league, him eventually becoming Dak Prescott? Yeah, probably.

Like him being like that style of quarterback, that probably is to move. And I think especially like when Dak was younger and he could move around a little bit more. Like that probably is like. I was going to say young Fernando is more mobile than DAC at this point in his career. I know DAC was pretty mobile as a younger player. Right. Like right now. And like this, this, I'm helped a little bit by the time that like, let's say this is

all you want this to happen year three as it is with every young quarterback. Matthew Stafford's out of league by that point. So that helps a little bit. But like, I guess more realistically, it's like seventh or eighth or ninth or something like that. But like I do think that he can climb above 12th and it's not going to be like that. It wouldn't be that crazy. Like he's built. He has he is more physically impressive than a number of the other like elite quarterbacks right now, which like that's not all it boils down to. But he does have like more to him than some of the other guys. Well, and to your point, Derek, if everything after the top four or five is nebulous, which completely agree with like i'm i'm i'm kind of done trying to rank it past the top four or five i just

don't even know if it's possible well you better get on board when we do who's the six best quarterback in the league again come june you got it my answer was the right one by the way it was it certainly was uh but like if fernando mendoza's the 12th best quarterback in the league on average isn't it completely plausible that in a like for a year or two over the course of that career he plays like the sixth best quarterback? I think that's completely reasonable. And if he gets to that general range by the end of his rookie

contract, then it becomes an even different discussion. The 12th best quarterback making $8 million might as well be the fifth best quarterback if you look at the types of teams that have won Super Bowls over the last 15 years. 100%. Exactly. And I also think

with where got like with how quarterback development works like I don't think him being the 12th best guy by year three means that he'll be that forever. Like some guys age really well into 28, 29, 30. Like, it took, what, seven years for Matt Ryan to become what he became? And obviously, Matt Ryan was good before that and had other really good seasons. But like to really crescendo like that is kind of what I mean.

I've used this phrase a lot when it comes to quarterbacks. And a coach said this to me, and I go back to it. And it was right on the heels of Matthew Stafford winning the Super Bowl with the Rams. And we were talking about what types of quarterbacks can win you Super Bowls. and obviously having a blue chip quarterback is the most important thing and then having a red ship quarterback on a rookie contract was the second most valuable thing

but the other bucket of quarterbacks that can get you there are the red ship quarterbacks who have those blue chip stretches or with the right things around them can feel like blue chip quarterbacks Matthew Stafford is one of those guys Matt Ryan winning the MVP in 2016 is one of those guys

Dak Prescott is one of those guys I'd make an argument that like the best years of Kirk Cousins felt like that and it kind of seems like for Nana Mendoza could have like that shaped his career. And I will hit again the point of just think about how you would look at this year's Carolina Panthers if Bryce Young was the 12th best quarterback in the league.

Just think about how you would project them moving into this season if that happened. Because to me, the way that they've been able to wield the rookie quarterback contract, the way that if you look at their draft and the way they built the team, it feels pretty middle of the road, right? Like it feels like an average set of results for, what their draft picks have turned into. It's not overly great. It's not overly bad.

And they've been able to backstop just that average output in the draft by being able to wield the money that they have. And I think that if he was like the 12th best quarterback, I don't want to like offend anybody. But like if you dropped, let's just let's just do this. If you dropped 2022 Kirk Cousins onto this year's Carolina Panthers and he was making Bryce Young's money, they absolutely would like, we would talk about that. them as a potential team that could surprise people

win the Super Bowl. They would run away with the division. Yeah, they would say NFC South favorites without a doubt. Yeah, for sure. So I think that's what I would go back to. And I think that, again, the Texans are another good example of this. I think when you have to pay the guy, it's a different discussion. I get that.

But I still think that he's the 12th best quarterback. He is worth paying that sort of contract. And I also think that like paying the 12th or 13th best quarterback and like trying to figure out over the next three years if you can make the money work and all that stuff, that's a good problem to have. The problem with paying quarterbacks is when you're paying like Daniel Jones after the Giants year like that amount of money. That is when you get problems. But if you're paying quarterback 12, like quarterback four, that's a good problem to have. Like you're obviously, again, not getting

value for the contract, but you have a good player on hand. And quarterback 12 is somewhere between 8 and 12. We just said that, you know. Exactly. Yes. If you're worried about what you're paying for Nano Mendoza in five or six years. Right. Let's get them on the roster first. You had so much more success than anybody in our age range. I mean, when was the last time the Raiders were that consistently good? It was so long ago. And I think that matters too. Like the team in question, like if, I mean, if you're picking one overall and it's been

that type of time since you've really had a franchise guy, what are we even doing? Yeah, like I'm signing up for that every single time. There's like a tier of quarterbacks right now that, again, they're not top five guys. They're probably somewhere in that like six to 15 range that we've talked about or six to 12 that we've talked about. But if Fernando Mendoza is making whatever the market number is five years from now, let's call it, I don't even want to throw the number out there because it's going to cloud the conversation. If he's making market money five or six years from now and you put him in the same tier of guys that currently exists, that's Jordan Love, Dak Prescott, Brock Purdy, Trevor Lawrence, J.1 Hertz, even, Jared Goff.

the quarterback contracts are not what is preventing those teams and winning the Super Bowl. They are making it harder that eventually it is going to get harder. Your margin for error increases but it's not the reason that they're not getting there.

And I also think... If it's Tua, that is the reason. Yes, exactly. That's the problem. When you dip below the line and are paying for it, that's the problem. But if they are above the line, yes, it does make it harder,

but it's like there is value in having a guy that keeps you competitive every single year. So long as the rest of the roster is not like complete disaster mode. Like I know we just mentioned Lawrence, but like those rosters were horrible for a minute there. All right. That is all we've got for today.

For the rest of the week, we are just continuing to roll through our NFL draft coverage. Our second episode of On the Clock, it's going to be coming your guys away tomorrow with our friend Jordan Reed from ESPN. We're going to be hitting picks six. Excuse me. We're going to be hitting picks seven through 12.

the Washington commanders are just over the moon with who is left on the board as we get to their spot on the clock tomorrow. They got Jeremiah Love still there. Caleb Downs is still there. Carnal, or no, Carlis-Tay went to the Brown, so he is not there.

But Jeremiah Love is available to Washington at 7. So we'll see if Jordan decides that's where he wants to send Jeremiah Love. Building the Beast is going to be back your guys' way on Wednesday. And then a couple more draft shows coming later in the week, including the start of our positional breakdowns, which I always look forward to. to every single year. For now, that is all we got. Appreciate you guys listening. Talk to you very soon. Thanks for tuning in. Make sure to hit that subscribe or follow button so you never miss an episode.

If you enjoyed what you heard, please like, comment, and leave a rating. We'll see you next time.