The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - TAFS goes holiday shopping!

Episode Date: December 24, 2024

It's the holiday season and we're getting in the spirit on The Athletic Football Show. From the right offensive coach for Caleb Wiliams to a new team for Myles Garrett, Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen are giving gifts to players, teams and coaches across the NFL on this episode of TAFS.RundownA want for more from the Cowboys for Jerry JonesA ball-winner for Lamar JacksonThe right offensive coach for Caleb WilliamsThe fountain of youth for Matthew StaffordWolverine blood for the LionsFramed depth charts for John SchneiderA new team for Myles GarrettOne of the dudes for the JaguarsA partner in crime for Christian GonzalezAn apology card for the FalconsHost: Robert MaysCo-Host: Derrik KlassenExecutive Producer: Michael BellerProducer: Michael BellerSubscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTubeFollow 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, brought to you by Thursday Night Football only on Prime Video. I'm Robert Mays. It is a special Christmas edition of the Athletic Football Show today. Derek Claston joined me for this Christmas Eve show to chat about some gifts that we want to hand out to people around the NFL. We wanted to get in the holiday spirit and the festive spirit. And so we figured, why not? Let's just lean into this. So we picked, I think, nine different people, organizations, folks around the league that we wanted to give something to this holiday season.

and because we felt like they needed it. So let's get to it. They're kind of here, man. I'm doing good. This is probably the most unique show that I think we've done to this point so far. So it's fun to take a little holiday detour and just do kind of a silly little show here. We were doing more of this a couple years ago. I think I started taking myself a little bit too seriously.

So I'm glad we're waiting back into these waters. What we're going to do today is we're going to hand out some Christmas gifts to people around the NFL. Some of these are serious. some of them are not quite as serious, but just things that we feel like people around the league could use as we get closer to the holidays. Before we dig into this, what is your Christmas situation?

Are you, your family, like big Christmas family? We're really not, actually, because growing up, my mother was a nurse and she worked like nights a lot, and she used to work a lot of holidays just because,

like, well, you get a lot more pay, so why not work the holidays? There's nobody else wants to do it. So, like, kind of growing up,

I kind of got accustomed to, like, we just don't do a whole lot. So in a way, it's kind of nice because the holidays are more chill for me than a lot of other people. A lot of other people seem to be, you know, kind of antsy, a lot's going on. And for me, it's just like kind of a nice couple of days to sit down and rest. Yeah, our Christmas has definitely been pruned over the years. My grandparents, we used to do it at their house and now they stay in Arizona for the holidays because it's warm there and I completely understand why they would. And my niece was born last year and so she's 15 months old now.

And so we did Christmas at my brother's house for the first time last year. And then we're going to do it again. And so this is the first time where she's 15 months old and she's aware of things and we can like buy her stuff. So me and my wife just have gone ham on the Christmas presents for my niece because that's what we should do. Like we're like the aunt and uncle. We're the older aunt uncle.

It's our role to do that. So Christmas is huge in my family growing up. My dad just loved Christmas. Like my dad was very much a giving gifts is how I show people that I care about them. and I am very much the same. So being able to just figure out how can I spend too much money on the people that I care about is always an enjoyable part of my calendar. So I'm glad that we're back and I'm very much looking forward to a little bit of family time here over the next couple days. Yeah, that'll be sweet, especially with your niece. I mean, her first mildly sentient kind of

Christmas that maybe she'll remember a couple of things of and actually appreciate this stuff. I think that's really sweet. Yeah, she's aware. Like she's there. She's present. Like she's a part of the hang. and so this year is going to feel a little bit different. I'm very much looking forward to it. All right, let's hand out some of these gifts. I'm going to start this off. And I want to begin here because I was paying attention to some of the nuggets, some of the breadcrumbs that were being dropped yesterday about the Mike McCarthy situation

in Dallas. And so many things that have happened over the last 24 hours, the framing of it has been this. Well, they haven't given up on the season, and they're still playing pretty hard. So that's an argument for why the Caltech. boy should potentially bring back Mike McCarthy. And we've heard this from a few different places. And it's not hard to figure out who would benefit from those things being leaked out there.

Here's how I feel about this. Not quitting on your team during a lost season is the reason to not fire a coach during that season. If that's the justification you want for having Mike McCarthy keep his job until the end of the year, I think that's more than fair. Like, why would you fire him? They're still playing pretty hard. they're not getting walked over. I think that he's done a decent job of holding this thing together.

I don't think that's an argument for why you should bring him back as your head coach when his contract is expiring. I'm old enough to remember that when Dak Prescott was healthy, this was one of the bottom 10 offenses in the league this year with a quarterback that they're paying $60 million. So this is a long way of saying, the first gift that I want to give out is I want to make like, you know, those little name thing.

that you can put on your desk. I want to make one for Jerry Jones that just says, you should want more than this. And I just want to put it on his desk. And I have little notes on my desk, just like to remind myself of things and, you know, the mindset I want to be in,

etc. I just want one that's sitting right next to wherever his fancy pens are. And I just wanted to say, you should want more than this. And just remind him all the time that whatever has been going on over the last couple of years, you don't have to accept this as reality. You have the means and the money and the roster to want more than whatever has been happening.

That's the thing. You have the mean, first of all, you're Jerry Jones. Like the money is not a problem. You can go out and do whatever you want, all of that stuff. You also kind of like you just said, you already have the stars. Like you've got the hard parts, right? Like the Micah Parsons, the top 10 quarterback, the elite superstar receiver. You have all of this stuff. Even the offensive line, you've got some young pieces that are there. You've got all the foundational stuff. that would make you want to say, hey, we can really go kick this thing up a notch. And Jerry, just for him to potentially be waiting back into another season of Mike McCarthy, is just like, why? Like, we did this song and dance last year kind of with Iber flus. And I know you've talked about this a little bit of like last year is like, oh, the defense is really kicking it up a notch. And they're really fighting for him and they're not giving up on the season.

And then we go into this year, they get to draft a quarterback. And obviously Dallas won't be in that scenario. But they draft a quarterback and it just all gets blown up completely. And it's like, why wouldn't that happen? with Mike McCarthy and the Cowboys. It feels like we're closer to that than Mike McCarthy suddenly, you know, tapping into whatever he had in the early 2010s

with Aaron Rogers and stuff like that. So, yeah, Jerry, you should certainly want more than this. Mike McCarthy is a capable NFL football coach. I don't think Mike McCarthy is some like stooge that doesn't know what he's doing. He is more than capable of competently leading an NFL team to, you know, a moderate, respectable record. But I just don't understand how you can look around

the rest of the league and look at some of these coaches and systems and different things that can supercharge your offense and sit there and say, yeah, I'm fine topping out in like, at like eighth and offensive DVO way with back Prescott. Like, I'm okay with that. I just don't think that's an acceptable place to land. I know they've scored a lot of points over the last few years and some of the more traditional metrics have been kinder to their offense. They played an abysmal schedule last year when they were racking up all those points.

And look at what happened. Just look at the trajectory of the 2023 Cowboys season. The offense is really bad until the buy. Their doors blown off by the Niners. They get the buy. They come back from the buy. And the offense looks more dynamic because they have stolen things from other teams around the league. Coaches that you would be free to hire off of that tree if you pleased.

They do that for a while. The offense has life using motion. It just feels alive in a way that it didn't before. We see a new gear that the offense reaches. and then when we get to the end of the season and they're forced to continue iterating on the ideas they stole from other people, they're incapable of doing that and they run out of gas. I just don't understand why we think that movie is going to end any differently. I think you could absolutely make a case that Mike McCarthy can keep a steady hand on the wheel for an NFL team.

But when you have some of the talent that this team does and the supposed aspirations that I think Jerry Jones would tell you that he has, I don't understand how a steady hand is what you're going to be chasing. That's the thing. Like, you've already, to me, probably seen the ceiling of what this team can be. And like the steady hand head coach is like really good if you're trying to rebuild this thing and like trying to get back off of the ground and stuff like that. But that's not really ever where the Cowboys have been in the past, basically since they got, actually in a really long time, I don't even know the last time they were really rebuilding

because they had the one year where Romo gets like hurt and they're bad and all that stuff and then they get Dak Prescott. But it's like they weren't really rebuilding and they kind of stumbled into a quarterback anyway. They don't need to be rebuilding right now. They stumbled into multiple quarterbacks over the last 20 years. Right. So, like, they don't, I don't know. They're just in a position where they don't necessarily need the steady hand. You're the Dallas Cowboys, man.

Like, have some respect for yourself and for your name as a franchise in your place in history. Go take a home run swing. Again, just a simple reminder on the side of the desk. You should want more than this. That's my first one. The first gift you want to be given out this Christmas season to someone in the NFL is what? So Lamar Jackson is. already on an MVP pace for the third time in his career. So giving him anything else probably

seems a little bit extra. Like he's already clearly doing okay. I would like to see him with a ball winner just once in his career though. Just somebody who can, he can throw it up and they're going to go find it because we've been so used to him. He won an MVP with Willie Sneed, who not a ball winner, more of a fast, you know, kind of ripped down the steam type of player. His best wide receiver right now is either Zay Flowers or Rashad Bateman, neither of whom to me are very good. good ball winners, particularly Zay. They're more the get them the ball in space, all these overrouts, you know, they can run it yards after catch. And in between those two seasons, they really haven't had a whole lot of guys who are big ball winners. And even like Mark Andrews is a really, really good

tight end. And he can win the ball sometimes. But he to me is more of a athletic kind of race over the middle of the field type of tight end. Not necessarily you're just throw it up to him. He's going to Jimmy Graham just win the ball in the air type of tight end. So just once in Lamar's career, I'd like him to have a guy who just chuck him up, give him like a prime Mike Williams, something like that where he can just throw it up there. I can't believe this is where you landed. This is a team that has spent like four first round picks on receivers. They've had one of the best tights in the last five years.

I understand that to an extent. I do think that the gear we've seen Rashad Bateman reached this year and the strengths that Zayflowers does have, I think would it be nice if Lamar could just chucking deep to a T. Higgins type at some point. Yeah, it'd be fun to watch. I still feel like he's doing okay. It's, it's less about he needs this for the offense to be better. It's more just like, I literally want to see what it looks like as like an experiment for how does his game change. If he gets a Michael Crabtree type, just something like that where he can throw it up. So you don't think that Lamar has been neglected. You don't, you don't feel like this is some sort

of malpractice and they've been. This is, this is halfway a gift for me where I, where I I just want to see what good Lamar Jackson 50-50 ball type of offense looks like. See, I was going to ask you, is there a moment recently that has pushed you to this place? Was there like a play or a miscatch or like some sort of contested opportunity that wasn't made that allowed, that like forced you to arrive here? Zay had one last week where Lamar throws up an overrout that's kind of contested in Zayflowers. Just can't get it because he's got a defensive back draped over him. Like just somebody who can catch those more often than not would be very nice. again, they're totally fine on offense. They're maybe the best offense in the league right now,

the way that it's constructed. But I think part of the issues, too, we've had with over the years of Lamar Jackson being like, ah, he's not a great deep passer. Well, yeah, he's never had a guy that he feels comfortable just like if I throw it a little bit short, my guy can go get it. I just want to see what it looks like. The funniest thing is that deep threat on this team is Rashad Bateman, who we've talked about this before. It's just never what I expected him to be as an NFL player. Like, based on his pre-draft profile, the fact that Rashad Bateman is like the coverage lifter corner route runner on this team is just, that's not what I anticipated. I'd actually think he's done a pretty good job of it. And I do think that he's been a pretty useful piece for this offense the entire year.

But I agree. It is just kind of a, it's a strangely built receiving record. And it has been for a very long time. I mean, you look back at like, I'm looking at the 2021 Ravens stat lines right now. So Mark Andrews led the team in targets that year, totally understandable. Marquise Brown is second. He had 91 catches that year. This is what I'm talking about.

I am taller than. And then even other guys like Devin Duverne got 47 targets that year. There have been a lot of small, fast guys that we have paired with Lamar Jackson over the last like seven seasons. I guess six years. 2019 was his first year to start.

So this is your six of Lamar is a full-time starter. And that's what I'm talking about. And again, a lot of those players have been decent. Like Hollywood Brown was a good player for them. Say Flowers has been good. Bateman has stepped up. It's just, I want to see the Mike Evans, T. Higgins, Mike Williams, just somebody who can go do that. I would love to see, I forgot the Deshawn Jackson part of it,

Deshawn Jackson caught nine passes in 2022. I, uh, I would love to see somebody could do the math on this, just the average height of the Ravens receivers since Lamar Jackson became the quarterback. It's probably like five, nine and a half. The only team that would be lower than them would be the Cardinals under Cliff Kingsbury. Yes. And just all the smurfs that were on that team. But I'm sure they'd be in the running for the top five. I do like that one. All right. Let's get into this next one.

I want to give Caleb Williams an offensive coach that just gives him confidence. This is like a Wizard of Oz thing. Like I just want to give him courage moving forward. That's what I want to gift Caleb Williams. I wanted to use this as a space to just kind of sit in what the Caleb Williams experience has been up to this point in the season because I don't really know what other times we'll have to really dig into that before we get to the playoffs and we start talking about the teams that actually matter. The Chicago Bears do not matter to 90% of NFL fans are out there,

even if they have the number one pick. But they matter to me, and so we're going to talk about it. I think if you watched what Caleb Williams has done this year and you aren't at least a little bit worried about what he is going to look like over the course of his rookie contract and potentially his career, I think you're lying to yourself. I think there are elements of his game that are genuinely concerning when you think about the totality of what they've looked like over the course of the season. Two things that I will point out. One, the sack totals. Just the pure amount of sacks that he is taking is a concern.

I think that their past protection plan has been pretty poor for a good chunk of this season. And I think the offense overall has structural issues that have probably led to some past protection problems. If you look at quick pressures, unblock pressures, et cetera, they're up there. You know, they are near the top of the league in most of those metrics. It's not as bad as teams like the Seahawks or the Texans, but it's generally in the same vicinity. But he is not blameless even if you consider some of that stuff. The other part of this, and we've talked about it, the accuracy on touch deep throws this season has been horrendous. Like if you look at those numbers, he is by far the least efficient deep passer in the NFL this year.

And when you watch him on cork some of those throws, there are misses that are just, bizarre. I mean, some of the placement and some of the choices that he's making. And when I watch those throws, what I come back to is this is somebody who's just not playing with a lot of conviction or confidence right now. And if you look at the way

that Bryce Young has played under Dave Canales, or you look at some of these other quarterbacks who've kind of flipped the switch when we've had different voices in their ear. That's what I want for Caleb Williams. I want the right coach who is going to be able to work with him and kind of pull out some of that you know, not bravado, not like the flashiness.

That's not the sort of confidence I'm talking about, but the belief in what you're seeing and the ability to play like you're believing what you're seeing. And I think that there are offensive coaches, hopefully in this cycle that will be able to give that to him. That is what I want for him moving forward. He is playing like he needs things to be perfect. And not like, how do I explain it? It's like there are just certain times where I think coming into the season and coming into his rookie year,

I was like, yeah, two or three times a game, he's going to look at a quick game concept and be like, no, I'm good here. And I'm just going to go scramble. And he kind of does that. But I think the bigger issue is like, if that was just it and then he was still making plays outside of the pocket more consistently, I'd be like, whatever. You're getting enough good out of this that it's fine. But first of all, you're not getting out of the pocket enough. That's exactly. He's not actually doing enough of that where he's like instead of when he does turn things down, he just stands in the pocket and goes on to the next thing and goes on to the next thing.

And it's like, if you're just going to turn down open throws, you need to move. So I think that is part of the problem. But then him turning down some of these open throws, it to me just feels like he wants to be a perfectionist. He has to get to the right spot and feel like it is wide-ass open the way that it like just the red sea, like the sea is just parting for him to make this perfect throw. And that's just not the reality of the NFL. Like you have to make tight window throws at every level of the field on your first read, second read, third read, fourth read.

and the fact that he's not confident triggering on that stuff, to me, has been the biggest concern. And you still see moments where it looks good, but there's too many moments where he's just one little thing, like one flash of color across his face just completely throws him into a loop, and he just doesn't seem like he can play quarterback anymore. And I think Sam Darnold, funny enough, is like the most instructive player here where I think that was a huge issue for a lot of Sam Darnold's career. And the fact that that is not really an issue for him now with Kevin O'Connell, who obviously is a really good play caller and coach. The fact that he's instilled that type of confidence in a player who, before Kevin O'Connell,

Sam Donald was statistically the worst, like one of the worst quarterbacks ever. And so like that level of confidence being able to instill that in him in a player who had no statistical output. There is like, you should be able to get more than that from Caleb Williams. And so I agree with you. Like he just needs a guy who can be like, hey man, it's not going to be perfect. But you're the first overall pick with a really good arm. Just make the throw and it will be there.

I think that the willingness to push the ball into tight windows so many times over the last couple weeks heard about the stout where he hasn't thrown interception like 300 dropbacks. That's a bad thing.

That is a bad thing. That's a coward indicator. This interception free streak that he is on has been touted as this great thing. It's a rookie record. It's a Bears franchise record. I don't care about that.

I don't care about not throwing interceptions. Like that doesn't matter to me. I think that him being willing to play a slightly more carefree style where you don't feel bogged down and you don't feel like that perfectionism is creeping in, that is ultimately going to be a good thing for him. The Kevin O'Connell point is a great one. The other guy that I would point out, obviously his flashes before the coaching change were

much, much better than Caleb Williams, but I still think it's instructive. The way that Justin Herbert is playing with Jim Harbaugh, this doesn't even necessarily need to be some like schematic brilliance. This is just about finding the right staff and the right voices to be like, hey, this is the way that you need to play. Just loosen up a little bit, man. You're super talented. Have a good time out there. Don't worry about what's going on. The right support system from the coaching staff, that is when I'm after here. And the one thing I wanted to mention the last thing, when it comes to the sacks and when it comes to taking those sacks, here's why I'm not quite as worried about him

as I would be with some other guys who have a sack taking problem. There are other guys that you watch. I think Justin Fields was honestly like this, where there is not a lot of fluidity in the a pocket. They don't really understand what's happening around them in that space specifically. When you watch Caleb Williams, his pocket movement is actually okay. He senses when their bodies, where they're coming from, where he needs to slide. The problem becomes after that happens, then he starts hanging out into the ball and is just eating these things laid in the down. And I feel like when you're a quarterback that doesn't have any sense of that space, that's when we have a huge issue because that's a natural thing that I don't think can get better. I do actually think

that he has a sense for how to navigate things when they get dirty. It's just about playing a little bit quicker outside of that. That is a great point. Like it's when you watch Daniel Jones or Justin Fields or Ryan Tannahill, there wasn't a feel. It was, I'm going to get to the top of my drop. I'm going to stand here for three seconds and either I'm going to get sacked or I'll realize that nothing's there and I'll finally take off and run. With Caleb, you do see him like sit in the pocket. He'll hitch. He'll slide. He'll drift a little bit. He's trying to do stuff. He just has no sense of when to be like, all right, dude, the play's dead. I've got to check it down or I've got to throw it away. And that to me, kind of like you said, I can sell myself the story that that is something that can come with just playing

more NFL games. Whereas the natural feel for how to move, how the pocket is flowing around you, kind of have that or you don't in most cases. Like there are a few guys who have who have improved on it. like Gino Smith, obviously, but there's not that many cases of guys just developing that skill down the line. I've had a lot of really informative conversations with quarterbacks this off season about stuff like this, talking to Gino about it and just when he felt like kind of the mental side of things converge with his physical talent. And he told me that it was when he was with the Chargers and just talking to Philip

Rivers and just being like, all right, this is what I'm seeing here. This is how I would respond to this. And he looked like a different quarterback when it came to taking sacks and his internal clock when he got to Seattle compared to earlier in his career. And Sam Darnold is another guy that just talking to him about the relationship with Kevin O'Connell. And to me, it comes back to intentionality behind what you're trying to accomplish as an offense. And Jared Goff said the same thing to me about his relationship with Ben Johnson.

It turned him into a different player when he started sitting there with Ben every single day and was like, hey, what are we trying to accomplish here? Why are you doing this? Where are my outlets on this play? Why is everything structured the way that it's structured? And that allows you, even if it's more information, to play a little bit freer because you understand what you're trying to accomplish. And I just think that that sort of voice and that's sort of an ecosystem, that can get you a different version of a player and oftentimes a different version of a player that is not nearly as talented as Caleb Williams. So do you need a little bit of imagination and do you need to tell yourself a little bit of a story considering what the season has looked like?

Absolutely. But I am still in a place where despite some of my hangups, I'm willing to tell myself that story. So am I. He's too talented in the flashes have been too good for me to completely give up on this. Like you give it another year before you start to hit the panic button, I think. All right. Before we continue on our gift giving spree here, let's take a quick break. What's your next one here?

What's your next gift that you want to give out this week? I would like to give Matthew Stafford the ever-elusive fountain of youth. or let him do steroids. I don't really care, whichever one. We just can't lose this style of quarterback. Like, listen, the league's top quarterbacks are awesome. Like Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow. They're so good, they're so fluid, they're more athletic than they've ever been.

But there is something aesthetically pleasing about watching a Matthew Stafford or a Gino-Smith just hang in there in the pocket and rip 20-yard dig routes, these insane cornerouts, these seam routes that they have no business throwing. And there just aren't that many of them in the league. And I think Stafford is the best one. But outside of him, it's like, DAC at his best and Gino at his best. And you hope that maybe Michael Panics can be that

because he's not like a very mobile creative guy. Like there's just not many of this style of quarterback left. And Stafford to me, when he's really on his game, is very obviously the best one of the bunch. And so I would just like to have this for five, six, seven more years instead of potentially one or two more. Like I just, the longer week. six, seven more years.

Well, if we could give him this fountain of youth or steroids, that's what I'm saying. Because I think at our current trajectory, it's not going to be that long. And that's why I'm trying to get him some help here. This is very funny because you are a Michael Pennock skeptic, or at least were a Michael Pennock skeptic. And it feels like you should be rooting for Michael Pennock to succeed if there in some ways he feels like potentially a natural successor to the way that we want Matthew Stafford to play.

He would be. I think I still have a lot of skepticism about how close we're ever going to get to that point. And that's more of my hang up. But like stylistically, he does fall into this bucket of the Matthew Stafford, Dak Prescott, Gino Smith, where it's like he's going to drop back there and he's going to whip that dig route, man. Should he? Sometimes maybe not, but he has the arm to do it. And he knows he has the arm to do it. So if it hits, it will be great. And if he does become that successor that we need where, you know, in two years, he starts to play like a top 10 quarterback. And by then Stafford, is starting to fall out, that would be a decent place for the league to be in. I'm with you on this. I just, and I feel like I've kind of realized this over the last couple years and the very full-throat of support that I give to G-Dio at pretty much every single turn is, is partially motivated by me just liking him stylistically. I just love watching somebody play the position like that. Sometimes I think he plays it to his own detriment.

And that's not even like an interception thing. It's more so just turning down easier throws to make the tough throw more often than he probably has to. And I think you could easily make an argument that that's not an optimized way to play quarterback, but it's an entertaining way to play quarterback. It's the way I want to see people. It is an honorable way to play the position. And listen, Gino's 35. Gino's not that much younger than Matthew Stafford. So there is a very real chance that both of these guys are on their way out within the next two, three seasons. And we don't have that many clear successors when it comes to picking up that mantle.

I love Josh Allen. I love Omar Jackson. I love Patrick Mahomes. But stylistically, they are different than what you are talking about. Exactly. And that's all it is. And again, I love those guys

at the top of the league, but we need at least two or three of these guys to keep it different. I had a couple that were adjacent to this Matthew Stafford Fountain of Youth thing that I was going to throw in there. I would love to give the Niners a time machine just to go back to a happier place.

Like, if I could just throw them into Back to the Future and toss them in the Delorean with Doc Brown. I think that would probably be worth it. And the other one is, do you think that we could turn all of the Detroit Lions into Wolverine? I would like to see it. If we could at least give one of them,

if we could at least just give it to Aidan Hutchinson or at least one guy, that would be great. How about five? We can resurrect- Five is a good middle ground here. We can resurrect five Detroit Lions from the just carnage that has happened this year. So let's say Carlton Davis, Aidan Hutchinson, Alene McNeil, and Marcus Davenport.

Like those will be the five. Yeah. Yeah. And any of the, one of the backers, one of the like thousand backers that they've lost. That's so true. They're down to like the seventh guy at this point. It's probably Anzolone, right? If you go to pick one of them just based on the skill set, they're missing the most. It's amazing that you could sit here and list like 13, 15 lines that've gotten hurt and you still wouldn't. You'd miss important ones. Yes.

It's not just that you miss a couple. Yes. So those are the two. I had, a time machine for the Niners and some sort of Wolverine treatment for the Detroit Lions. My next real one here for John Schneider. What I would like to give John Schneider, my brother probably won't listen to this before Christmas. He might, though. I bought my brother something for his office.

And I like framing things. Like, I think that it's a fun thing to just, like, we've filmed a ton of concert posters recently. because now that I don't drink at concerts, I'm like of sound enough mind to buy a poster, remember it and get it all the way home. And so we started framing them and they're like lining the wall in my basement. And I think it's just a fun little, you know,

it's a fun little thing in having around the house. So for John, what I was thinking is I would print out the depth charts of the top 10 offenses in the NFL and I would frame them and I would give them to him to like put up in his office. And the reason that I want to do this is I would like to show him what those rosters look like and where they found some of those pieces. John has very famously said that he thinks paying for guards and investing in guards and interior offensive linemen is overrated.

That's fine. That's his prerogative. If you look at the top 10 teams in the NFL by DVOA, here are the teams in order. Ravens, bills, Packers, Lions, Bengals, Washington, Tampa, Rams, Eagles, Chiefs. The only team on that entire list to not have either a big money interior offensive lineman or an interior offensive lineman drafted in the first two rounds is Cincinnati.

I do not think Cincinnati is an optimized NFL roster. Yeah, they're cheating. They have a top five quarterback and maybe the best duo of past catchers in the NFL. Like they are playing a different sport. And they're best friends. Like they, Jamar Chase and Joe Burrow played together already. Like they have, yeah, they've cheated the system. They don't count here.

So if we're not learning anything from the Bengals, the Ravens drafted Tyler Linderbaum in the first round of the NFL draft. The Bills drafted Osirons Torrance in the second round. The Packers have Elton Jenkins on a big time deal, and Josh Myers was the second 60 seconds pick in the draft. The Lions drafted Frank Ragnow in the first round. They also have two first round picks at tackle, so we can talk about that. Washington just signed Sam Cosme to a very big extension. He has been one of the most important players on their offense this season. Tampa Bay has Graham Barton that they drafted in the first round and Cody Mock that they drafted in the second round on top of having Tristan Wharfs.

The Rams drafted Steve Avila in the second round and just gave Kevin Dotson an astronomical amount of money this offseason. The Eagles drafted Cam Juergens in the second round and Landon Dickerson, I believe in the second round. Landon Dickerson is now making a shitload of money. They also have massive investments at two of their other offensive line positions. The Chiefs signed Joe Tuny to the biggest guard contract in the NFL when they signed him. It's been a second round pick on Creed Humphrey, and their right guard is now in line for a massive extension. So, yes, if you don't want to invest into your offensive linemen, that is an option for you. But I think if you look at directionally the way the league has gone over the last few years and the importance of having a team that can play various styles on offense,

that often manifests with the way that you build your offensive line. If he wants to look at that and think that's not causal, I'm not really listening to that, that's fine. that's a reasonable conclusion to come to. I disagree with it. I just want to present him the information. I was going to say I also disagree with it. I think offensive line, because it is so central to everything, can be causal. Like, it is the glue that brings all of this stuff together.

And even some of those teams, like you mentioned all of where they drafted guys and all that stuff, even some of these teams made extra investments or like early investments, the Eagles, drafting Cam Juergens, like a year or two early to make sure that they have this succession plan. the bucks went out. Not only did they draft Graham Barton this year, but they go in sign Ben Bredesen to play left guard. All of these teams, even though they had already invested a ton, we're like, nah, we have to double down and triple down until we have one of these top seven, eight, 10 offensive lines where we really feel comfortable that this is solidified, run, and pass. The Seahawks, they just have not done that. And I know they've gotten a little bit unlucky with

like Abe Lucas at right tackle with some of his health stuff. And you can pass some of that aside. But what they've done on the interior, and I know they tried to sign Connor Williams and then he retired, and that's a whole, that's a whole weird thing. But the non-investment at guard over the past basically forever, I think has been a problem. And I think when you watch the ways that this offense capitulates at times this season, it's because of the guard play. Yeah, if you look at just the spending at the position overall, a good majority of those teams either to have the cap spending is very high. like the against the cap offensive line spending is very high, or they've invested real draft resources into it, like almost unequivocally. The Seahawks this season, this is a hilarious number.

The Chiefs are spending $60.7 million against the cap on their offensive line. They are number one in the NFL and cap spending. The Rams are number two, the Falcons are number three. The Chiefs are at $60 million. Where do you think the Seahawks are? Let's see. They've got two rookie contract tackled. no big ticket interior players.

I mean, it can't be more than like $28 million. Is it even that high? Try half that. No shot. $14 million. The chiefs are at $60. And you don't even have to be at 60. But half the league is over 28.

Let's count the teams. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, eighteen. There are 18 teams in the NFL that are spending double on their offensive line against the cap what the Seattle Seahawks are. Part of that is explained by having rookie contract players. But I do think that it is an indicator of what this team has done with the investments at that position group. And I do think that it has hurt them. Well, and like the value of having two rookie contract tackles is that you should theoretically have more money to go spend on the other positions.

And that is not in the case. Yeah. So just, you know, I just want to give John a little nudge about. where some of these really, really good offenses have put some of their resources and the potential benefits that might be coming from it. What's your next one here? So for Miles Garrett, let's just get him on a new team, man. He kind of started, he started hinting at this himself. So this, this to me is not like instigating anything. I think he started hinting at this a little bit to the media a couple of weeks ago or about a week ago. But he is the first player in NFL history

to get over 100 sacks before turning 29 years. old. This is legitimately one of, in my opinion, he's the best edge rusher I've ever seen in my lifetime. He's not necessarily the best defensive lineman. Like, JJ Watt was kind of played all over, so he's a trickier case. And then Aaron Donald obviously played along the interior. But pure edge player, he is, I think, the best that I've ever seen. And he's been wallowing away on a Brown's team that really hasn't been much of any, like I think they made the playoffs once, maybe over this past handful of years that he's been there. Twice. Twice. And even then, like, you never felt like they were a serious threat in any of those years. They were one of those teams that just

kind of bumped in. And so I know the defense overall was great last year for the first time where it was like, okay, you're finally, he's on an elite unit that feels like it is up to the level of him. But he is genuinely one of the best players I've ever seen. And the fact that he is against stock on a Brown's team that has three, four wins at this stage in the season, I'm over it, man. I just want to see him flourish on a team that is actually going to take him where he deserves to go. he was alluding to this, I think, in the locker room after the game when they were asking him about the sacks. He's like, yeah, it's great to have 100 sacks. I'd love to start winning some football games.

Yes. I'm sure it would be great. All right. This is a completely useless exercise, but we're going to do it anyway. If you could drop Miles Garrett onto one playoff team for the stretch run, who would it be? The Buffalo Bills, no question. No question the Buffalo Bills. Oh, my God.

Like, if you could supercharge that defense. with a true ace pass structure? Because you've talked about this before. What are some of the things that you need to go and have that Super Bowl run? I mean, they've got the quarterback, the offensive infrastructure is great, the offensive line's great. You've talked about how you need that ace pass structure who can get you five pressures a game.

I'm pretty sure Miles Garrett can do that for you. And they have some other decent pieces there. So to me, it would be the bills. I support this for several reasons. This is such a stupid thing, but we're going to do it anyway. I support this for several reasons. One, we have so many examples of how awesome elite past rushers look in the Bills uniform. Think about Bruce Smith.

Think about what Mario Williams looked like when he signed with the Bills. Like, it's so easy to picture an alien from outer space wearing the Bills uniform. And it's a four-man front. Like, there's just no imagination necessary. There's no projection. Like, you could just drop him onto what the Bills are right now. And nothing would have to change about the way. that he plays or the way that they play for it to supercharge what they're doing on defense.

So I'm sorry, Bill's fans, for putting this in your mind when it's there's no bearing of reality whatsoever. But it's a fun exercise. Right. It's a fun little thing to think about and fantasize for two seconds. Yeah, I actually really like that one a lot. It's very easy for me to picture. Unfortunately, it will never be happening. I think the bills are probably a little bit scarred with big time edge rusher investments after the way the Von Miller thing has gone over the last couple years. Yeah, I wouldn't blame them for it. And like they invested a ton in all these past rushers and you know Greg Rousseau is like nice but none of them I do like Greg Rousseau. Yeah, but none of them have quite reached the level of, you know, your five, five pressure

a game type that I think we're looking for here. I'm going to stick in the AFC for the Jacksonville Jaguars. I want to give the Jacksonville Jaguars the next, I was going to say transformative coach. I don't even even, I don't know if it even needs to be that drastic. I want to give them just one of the dudes. One of those guys who every single year, we're sitting there in week seven or eight, his offense is outperforming whatever expectations we had for them. And we say, you know what? I know that it's a crowded field this year, but you have to mention X guy in the coach

of the year discussion just based on what he's doing with that offense, whether that's Matt LaFleur, whether that's Kevin O'Connell. I just want to give the Jags their version of that. I want them to have a KOC or a Matt Lafleur. And honestly, the GMs that go with it. Give them like the Quasi Kevin O'Connell pairing. Give them the Gould Kuhn's Matt LaFleur pairing. Some of this may be construed as like wanting to give this to Trevor Lawrence

because I still believe in the right circumstances, Trevor Lawrence could be a good quarterback. This isn't even about that. I just want an organization that has been stumbling between mildly disappointing options for most of my lifetime. Even when they went to the AFC championship game, it was a Doug Marone-led team that was just elite on defense for a year. Just some stability on that side of the ball and the feeling that comes along with being

that sort of organization. I just want them. I want that for them and for their fan base. This is about Trevor Lawrence for me, because listen, I don't mean to take away from Jared Goff here. If Jared Goff can lead maybe the best offense in the league. league and the most put together offense in the league. I'm pretty sure Trevor Lawrence, who is basically a more physically talented version of that player, I would like to see what he can do in that style

of offense, whether it is literally Ben Johnson next year or Liam Cohen or whoever it is. Just get him in an offense where they can fix the offensive line, they can get into this play action structure, they can really throw it down the field. Trevor Lawrence doesn't feel like he has to be in third and nine's all the time the way that he was a little bit this year and especially last year. just for once can we get this guy who was billed as a generational talent and I still think is a very, very good player, just a little bit more stability, a little bit more stuff for him to stand on, a few more shoulders for him to lean on. Yeah, I just, can we just make it like a Liam Cohen, John Spy Tech pairing in Jacksonville,

who John is the assistant GM in Tampa Bay right now? Let's just, let's just see how that goes. I understand Liam Cohen's only been an offensive coordinator for one year, but if you look at the hit rate on guys from that tree and what they have done as head coaches, I think we have a lot of evidence that there are worse places you can look for a play calling head coach that can change the portions of what your offense looks like. And so just going that direction and seeing how it works out for them, I support that. Like I would like to see what Trevor Lawrence looks like in the offense that Liam Cohen is running for Baker Mayfield right now. And I don't think that's too much to ask. Among all of the ones on this list, it's probably the most. realistic. Exactly. That's actually a good point. This is probably the one that should or could at least happen in a realistic manner. Like some of the, is Jerry going to really turn himself around and is, you know, are the Seahawks going to learn their lessons about guard investments? Who knows about any of that stuff? There is a good chance to Jaguars actually go out and make the offensive hire that

they need to go and make. It is funny, though, they've obviously gone after a few offensive guys in a row now. So there is part of me that wonders if they're burned by it and want to go in a different direction. but again, I really need to see Trevor Lawrence with one of the guys. I feel like Doug Peterson, if we're thinking about the archetype of coaches that they've had over the last three regimes, Doug Morone is an offensive coach, but Doug Marron is like an offensive line coach. Like, he's more so just like a, I wouldn't throw him in like the offensive guru bucket when it comes to hiring a head coach in the NFL. He was a retread head coach. This is somebody that was like a stable option more than a flash in the pant.

type. Urban Meyer is the definition of like seeking out a program. It's a program builder, right? Like, it's a guy who did it in college. Like when you seek out Urban Meyer, that's what you want. You want somebody who's going to build a program from the ground up. He was obviously an incredible offensive innovator early in his time as a college coach. But if you're going to hire a college coach, for the most part, I think that's what you're looking for. And Doug Peterson, even if he's an offensive coach, he is still somebody that was a retread,

who I think is more of a, yeah, we know what this guy is. There's a level of stability here in this choice. So even if it's another offensive coach, I still think it's an offensive coach with the background and the sales pitch that is a little bit different than some of the things that they've been trying recently. That's a really good point. Like none of those guys were the late 30s take a swing on a hot shot coordinator types. They were all like you said, either the college program builder who's like 50 something years old or coaches who have coached in the league before. maybe our calling plays. You can't really tell with Doug Peterson and Press Taylor at this point.

But yeah, they haven't done the hot shot coordinator thing. So that's a good point. You've kind of sold me on that a little bit. All right. We're going to get back and finish out our Christmas list. But before we do, we're going to take one more quick break. What's your next one? Next present you want to give out this Christmas season.

So this is a little bit on the lines of what I said with Miles Garrett. But Christian Gonzalez for the Patriots has been phenomenal. Like he might be an all-pro. He has truly been one of the best cornerbacks in the league, and he's been stuck on a defense that is really, really fallen by the wayside this year. When you look at a lot of the other elite corners, they all have a really nice friend on the other side. Sauce Gardner had DJ Reed,

Pat Sertan has Riley Moss who emerged this year. Even Derek Stingley, like the Texans went out and drafted Kamari Lasseter, and he's been not like elite, but he's been good for this season, especially as a... He's been playing better. The last month or so, I think that he is really locked in. fun to kind of watch his improvement, especially when they're asking him to play in space. Like when they were asking him to defend crossers and other things in the middle of the field

earlier in the year, I think that some of those athletic limitations showed up. I feel like he's playing with a lot more confidence right now. And it's actually been really fun to watch. It's been awesome. And again, it took kind of like you said, three months of the season for them to figure out exactly how they want to use them and exactly how they want to lock it in. But they've got it here by the time that, you know, it's playoff times. And that's really all that matters.

So all of those other elite guys, they have a really good player on the other side. Christian Gonzalez at this point does not. Like Jonathan Jones has not been a very productive player. Marcus Jones sometimes can give you something on the other side, but he's a little bit undersized. Like it would be nice if we could just have another really solid number two across from Christian Gonzalez. And I think we would start to feel how dominant a player Christian Gonzalez is because I think that's when you really start to feel how dominant these number one corners are is when the number two corner is not. giving up a bunch of free plays. Like I think we felt that a little bit with Stingley and Lasseter this year. I think when, you know, Riley Moss being in and out of the lineup, I think has made that

clear for Denver. Like, they've been a different defense without him. And then Saust and DJ Reed, like when those two were playing at a really, really high level, you could just feel how suffocating it was for those two to have that. And even you can go back to like the Seahawks with Richard Sherman. It was very different when they had like peak Brandon Browner versus when they were trying to cycle in all these other guys and didn't know exactly what they wanted to do. So yeah, just let's get Christian Gonzalez a proper running mate on the other side. What do you think? Where are you at right now with the first year of the Giraud Mayo era?

I'm not very excited about it. And it's complicated because I think we knew the defense would fall off because... Did you think it would fall off like this? No. And here's why it feels so frustrating. or like how I've been able to articulate it. So I think we do it would fall off because obviously Barmore is not able to play for a lot of the season. Judon leaves, all that other stuff.

But with Bill, you always felt like you would see a guy like Jelani Tavai and be like, man, how are they getting this level of play out of that guy? Or just some of the random safeties that they're throwing in there, like Adrian Phillips. You watch him and you're like, man, how are they getting this level of play out of that guy? Or Marcus Jones, who I just mentioned. You watch this Patriots defense. You don't feel that with any of those guys. you look at Jalani Tavai now and it's like, oh, he's a little bit of a problem. And you look at some of these other safeties who are having to play.

And it's like, ah, they're not getting the level of play. I think they wanted out of there. You're feeling the deterioration of talent up front, certainly. Like really outside of Gonzalez, you're not getting that much high level play out of these guys. And I know Keon White has stepped up this season, but I think to me that is the biggest difference in the feeling. So I still want to give him some grace because I think stepping into the shoes of the greatest defensive architect ever was always going to be.

really, really difficult. And I do think he nailed some of the hires on offense. Like, I actually think Alex Van Pelt has been a good offensive coordinator. I think it seems like their quarterback coach has done a really good job with Drake May. I think their offensive line is not good, but like, I think they've gotten somehow more out of it. Like, they should be the 30 second offensive line and they're like moderately better than that. It is the talented group in the league, even coming into the season before they had to deal with the injuries they've had to deal with. And they're not that level of embarrassing. Like, it could be worse theoretically. So it's, It's weird that I feel worse about the defense for Mayo than I thought I would, but I feel a lot

better about the offense. And maybe that's just more of the Drake May effect than anything, but that's kind of where I sit right now. I think that's a perfectly reasonable place to land. I don't know how to frame it because part of me wants to say, even with the injuries on defense, we're so used to the players on that team in that building being the best versions of themselves on that side of the ball, that watching a team, even that's banged up, be by some metrics, the worst defense in the NFL, that's hard to square when you're thinking about the argument for him taking over from Belichick and the fact that there would be some level of continuity in what we're getting out of the defensive players and what we're getting out of the defensive personnel.

The fact that that hasn't happened, I don't really know where that puts me in terms of projecting this group moving forward, especially because it does feel like they've done a decent job in the people that they've hired on the offensive side of the ball. So hopefully when they get healthier next year, the defense can take us can kind of bounce back a little bit. I hope so too. And like it was kind of a double whammy for Mayo in the sense of like he's jumping into the head coaching job and he's having to take on more of the defense without Belichick. Like that's just for a guy who hasn't coached very long to begin with, that's just a lot. When you obviously compare that with Belichick who was calling Super Bowl winning defenses even before he got to New England and then obviously called,

you know, five or six of them with the Patriots. So like, it's just a lot. So like, It's just the difference in experience level, I think that more than anything is what you're feeling, where you have this super young coach in Gerard Mayo who's wearing way more hats than I think he's used to, as opposed to Bill Belichick, who had done this for decades before and had a very clear track record of how good he could be. Yeah, I mean, the guys that just haven't played very much for them this year, like Drew Bell peppers for a lot of reasons. Obviously, Christian Barmore has been heard the entire year. They trade Matthew Judon before the season even starts. They've just endured so many.

John Bentley only played two games. They've just endured so many injuries on that side that I want to give them a little bit of grace. But it really is strange and kind of disorienting to watch a Patriots defense. Again, never like never rise above the level of the talent that they have on that side of the ball because that's just never. That's not the experience we've had watching this team for a very long time. Yeah, I don't ever remember a defense like that. Even when the Patriots defense under Belichick could be a little mediocre below our average, they still had the like spags effect where it's like,

yeah, they'll figure it out. They'll do some bullshit in the playoffs and it'll be fine. I mean, they were like 31st in defensive DVOA when they went to the Super Bowl in 2017. The defense was horrendous in that game and ultimately lost that game against Nick Foles. And the match, my Patricia got a head coaching job. But that's right. That's right. It's neither here nor there.

My last one here, and this may be an overreaction, but I kind of have been building to this as I've thought more and more about this situation. The last gift that I want to hand out is I want to give the Falcons just a collective apology card from everyone in NFL media based on how we talked about the quarterback choice way back when. And this is important to remember. No matter what happened, if they had sat Pennix for three years, you burned three years of their rookie quarterback contract. If Kirk was bad and you were using Pennix as an insurance policy just in case the Kirk thing didn't work out, then you should. shouldn't have given Kirk the money that you did. No matter what happens, when they move on from Kirk next year, if they can trade him, they will still eat 37.5 million dollars in dead money.

They'll save $3 million against the cap because he has a $40 million cap hit. If they cut him, it's $60 million in dead money. So it's not like there are no consequences from how this worked out. But I do think, and I was softening to this over the course of the summer as I thought more and more about it. Figuring out the quarterback position and having the correct answer at the quarterback position is so far in a way the most important thing you can do as an NFL franchise, giving yourself two opportunities to get that right, I think that's okay. I think even if that's not the optimal way to use your resources and even if you're going

to have to rob Peter to pay Paul somewhere along the way as part of this process, if you think a guy has a chance to be really good and you have an opportunity to draft him, even if the timeline is going to be a little bit unconventional, I think we probably should have been more open to that as a solution than we were in the moment. And I think some of that was colored by the lack of faith people had in Pennex as a prospect. I was blessed with ignorance in that moment where I didn't have to let that cloud my judgment. The chance that he was just really good and the chance that he was like a, in the way that they framed it, like a Stafford-esque thrower of the football, I was open to that idea because I didn't really have any of the hangups with him because I didn't

study him that way coming into the NFL. So I've been open to this for a while. I think that there is a chance when we get to the end of it, a lot of people feel not that great about their pre-draft thoughts and they're in the moment reaction to that draft pick and the Falcons decided to go this direction. There is a part of me that is. open to all of that. And I think all of that is extremely fair. There's another part of me that one thinks this is very early. It's extremely early. And the other thing to me is there's obviously a chance that panics could be really, really good. It's absolutely on the table. It's on the table for like any prospect that goes this high. I still think, and this is kind of what I felt in the moment,

it's two very expensive swings for what I believe the ceiling to be like quarterback 15. Like you are spending a lot of resources and a lot of money to get quarterback 15. But are you open to the fact that he might not be quarterback 15? Are you open to the fact that he might be quarterback eight? Because if he's quarterback eight, then this conversation changes. If he is, but for me, I will, I'll cross that bridge when we get there. And I'm willing to wait on it. That's kind of what I'm saying in that I don't really have an impediment to

thinking that's possible based on what I've seen and based on the confidence they have in what he can potentially be. And that may be overstated and that may be wrong. But I think that I am more clear-eyed when it comes to that path than some of the people who have a pre-draft opinion of him. So in my mind, it's like, listen, this already looks like it was a good idea to protect themselves against the Kirk thing. They're still going to have to pay $40 million against the cap next year at quarterback with a

rookie quarterback. That is not ideal, but you can still survive that if your pivot is to a guy on a rookie contract. So really what they've done is they've essentially burned a year and a half of a rookie quarterback contract as part of this process. That's not great, but you can survive that very easily if he ends up becoming a difference maker at the position. Yeah, if he does end up being that guy, then none of this matters. I think to me the difference is just like, kind of like you said, because you didn't have to study him and stuff as much, it's easier to think about this almost a little bit more, like, in theory. Yes, it's like a abstract, 100%.

Right. Whereas I just, even if I don't necessarily disagree with the theory and the abstract of it, it's hard for me to strip myself of what I thought of Michael Penix as a prospect, and that to me is the barrier right now. Yeah, I might just be wrong about what his potential looks like. I mean, I might be wrong about what it's, like, one of us are going to be wrong. It's just a matter of what we thought coming in. I think that over investing at quarterback, we haven't really seen it go wrong.

Like when has it gone poorly for a team that's done this? The Eagles drafting Jalen Hertz in the second round when they had Carson Wentz. Remember the reaction to that in the moment and how fucking stupid people thought that was? Like you just signed Carson Wentz to this extension. Why are you burning a second round pick on Jalen Hertz? the ability to pivot to a free Jalen Hertz over those couple years while still paying Carson Lentz allowed the Eagles to get to a Super Bowl. Like it ended up becoming like a franchise altering decision in order to do that.

The Packers drafting Jordan Love in the first round with Aaron Rogers on the roster, the Packers are not in this position if they don't do that with Jordan Love. So I just think that the opportunity cost is obviously real. And would the Falcons look different if Jared Verst was on the Falcons right now? absolutely. But are the Falcons better set up if Michael Penix ends up becoming a top half of the league quarterback, even if they don't have Jared Verse? Yes, even considering the fact that they're still paying a veteran next year, I think it's unequivocally yes. Yeah. And again, this is why I don't necessarily disagree with the theory, but that's also like there was still as equal a chance that

Jordan Love sucked as much as any other quarterback draft pick. Like them doubling down on the quarterback resources didn't necessarily help him be good. Like, do you know what I'm saying? There's a 50% chance that guy's going to hit anyway. I mean, I guess, but I still cannot strip what I thought of the player coming in into the draft. And I don't think one pretty good debut to be fair. He played pretty well in his debut.

But this is just, it's a little too early for me, a little bit too early to give this president out. I was already on my way to, again, just being more open to the way that they allocated their resources than other people were. in the moment. And I think that even just one game of watching what he looked like in that offense compared to Kirk has got me to a place where I was just like, yeah, this is fine. Like them doing it this way, like, this is totally fine.

We probably shouldn't have had as much of a problem with it in the moment as we did. Because we want this stuff to be optimized. We want teams to make the correct decisions. Like, you have a pie chart of resources. Use it the best possible way that you can. If you already have a quarterback, why would you draft another quarterback when you could use it somewhere else? but quarterback is so different.

And having a quarterback is so important that I think it's actually worth reframing some of the ways that we talk and think about that and maybe being a little bit more open-minded about what the proper investment in that position actually looks like. Yeah. I mean, again, I'm going to say for the last time, but like I don't disagree with any of the theory. To me, it's about the specific player that I had a, that I just get hung up on a little bit. I kind of like them.

I don't know. I'm excited to watch what he does. I like to debut more than I thought I would. I'll start with that. So maybe I'm like inching towards apology, but again, the last thing I want to say here, this is not based on one game. I was already on my way to getting here. And I just think that what's happened with Kirk specifically and the fact that they needed to even move off of him, that feels more important than whatever Michael Pennix did on Sunday. This is more about the fact that protecting themselves for this potentiality was worth it for the Falcons. And what they did was worth doing.

I remember you talking to me about this like three, four weeks ago when the should we bench Kirk thing came up. So like before we even saw Pennix, but just the fact that you were like, well, at least they have another guy to go to. That's when you started to be like, maybe this wasn't so bad. Even in the off season, I was kind of sitting there as being like, what's the worst thing that could possibly happen? They lose two games of it.

They lose two years of his rookie contract or they have to pay Kirk while he's not the roster like that's the worst thing that can happen and that's just not that bad to me like that that of all the potential things that can happen neither one of those consequences is something it's those are not insurmountable especially when it may come with having an answer at the most important position in the sport yeah i mean it's it's it's hard to push back on that all right that is all we've got for today those are the presents we wanted to hand out this christmas season I hope you guys enjoy your holiday. This will be coming out on Christmas Eve.

So, you know, hopefully you're listening to this while doing something warm and cozy and enjoying time with family. We will be back on probably Thursday afternoon. The way that we would typically release our midweek show on Tuesday evening for drive time, we'll probably end up doing that with the week 17 preview, quote unquote. That week 17 preview is going to be coming out on Thursday into Friday. is mostly going to be a recap of the Christmas games, and then we're going to talk about a couple of the other big games on the schedule. Packers, Vikings, massive game.

We're going to talk about Packers Vikings and a couple other little nuggets from the slate, but it is not going to be the full-scale preview that we typically do on Friday. So just keep that in mind as you're looking forward to that show and as you think about what the next few days are going to look like here on the Athletic Football Show. For now, that is all we got. Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays for those. of you guys who do not do not celebrate we will talk to you very soon.