The Fumblerooski Podcast - Grass -Ep 461 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: July 21, 2026

On today's episode, a conversation about grass vs turf and the #WorthTheCost movement. Chris Johnson is getting inducted into the Titans Ring of Honor, Alvin Kamara takes a pay cut, and Tom Brady is officially weird as hell. Justin Tucker, CJ Medeiros, and Chris Costich talk all this and more!

On today's episode of the Fumble Ruski podcast, the push for grass consists on as the World Cup has finally come to an end, and NFL players really want the grass. Alva Camaro reworks his contract. Tom Brady is being fucking weird. Camp Scataboo is still a dumbass. All that and more. This is the Fulmuriski podcast.

It may not have always showed it in the staff sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touch. So one's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome to the Fumble Ruski podcast by Secret Weapon Consulting. We got CJ, we got Tuck.

We got myself, Chris. C.J, welcome back from vacation, my man. Ah, thanks. Great to be back. I missed you guys. I did. I did. We missed you too.

I'm rested. I'm recharged. I'm ready to go. Let's do this. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Obviously, World Cup has finally come to an end. And now we can actually focus on American football with training camp for a lot of teams starting up this week.

One storyline that I saw was that the New England Patriots for the first time in 20 years is having training camp start on a Saturday. There's your big training camp news for this week. But yeah, most of our offseason stuff is done now that we've gone through all the, divisional previews and our top five for positions. Which, CJ, we, I actually, before the episode last week, I meant to text you if you wanted to give your top five quarterbacks. And before we got into neck deep into our, into what we're actually going to be talking about today. What's your top five? Well, quick.

Yeah. So right off the back, because I actually do have it. My number five is Joe Burrow. Four, I have Lamar. Three is Mahomes. Two is Allen. Number one. I'm doing Stafford reigning MVP.

That's fine. Yeah, I think we both also had Stafford as number one as well. Yeah. And for those Patriots fans, also know what I'm a Pat's fan wondering, I think Mays probably like my number six. I did not. The only reason that I don't, I mean, look, the only, I want to see him do it again. and then it'll be top five.

Ooh, Donald? May. May. Oh, okay. Yeah, I need to see one more season. Consistency does matter for this. Yeah, him and Caleb Williams, I think, could be top five,

but one season doesn't really make you. Yeah. No. Yeah, I think Tuck and I's big debate was really Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson at that point. But wasn't even, wasn't a, massive debate. It was more of an understanding of where we're at. Yeah, as much as I want to put Lamar Jackson number one, I do have to take this season in its totality into account. As much as I just want to say, fuck it, he's number one,

we can't do it. No, of course not. You got to be fair here. And to be fair, that's why Burrow and Lamar, as much as I like them and respect their games, are five and four, respectively because I want to put them higher, but they are injury prone. I'm just going to say it. Yeah. Kind of made me, no only reason why I thought of it off the bat was because I was looking through the ESPN NFL storylines, see what we should talk about today. And this came up.

And the NFL execs and whatnot gave coaches and scouts gave their top 10. real quick, here are the honorable mentions. Sam Darnold, Jaden Daniels, Jordan, Love, Brock Purdy, Baker, Trevor Lawrence, and Jalen Hertz. Top 10, 10 to 1, Caleb Williams, Jared Goff, Drake May, Justin Herbert, Dak, Lamar, Burrow, Stafford, Mahomes, and Josh Allen, which is kind of funny because I didn't even have Mahomes. That's my top five. No, you kind of have to. Also, I'm sorry.

there's no world where If Man is over Drake May. I'm sorry, no. Even for one season. Even for one season of quality production. We just said it only had one season. You're right. And If Man's been underwhelming for multiple. He's consistently underwhelming.

If Man, I can't believe you're getting me to say it. If Man is a top 10 to top five quarterback depending on who you ask. I think it's still tough. I think he is too. I would just would rather have Drake May over him. For one season? For that one season? Yes. Okay. And also, the only reason that you think this, and you might allow it,

is because that the discourse around Drake, May and Justin Herbert, is totally different. What's the discourse? Well, it's this, because it's the exact same narrative. but flip-flopped. For example, if let's just say the Patriots have a star defender tear their ACL, somehow Drake May is going to get blamed for it. Meanwhile, Justin Herbert could fucking shoot someone,

and they would probably blame his O-line or the coaching. Like, everything is Drake May's fault compared to nothing is Justin Herbert's fault. And it's so stupid. We should probably get going. Yeah. I'm not going to harp on the point. So with the World Cup coming to an end, this has really kind of been an ongoing thing.

We kind of are just talking about it because now the World Cup is over and this is now like a full-fledged thing. And it's NFL players pushing for grass fields over turf fields. And granted, this has been a ongoing storyline, especially in the last couple of years, more so right now with the hashtag worth the cost to express their desire for permanent grass plank surfaces. George Kittle is another one that has been very vocal about it as well.

Zaire Franklin, quote, the cost of doing nothing is paid for by players' bodies. Make grass mandatory. We're hashtag worth the cost. Caleb Williams. Laramie Tunsell also getting in on the matter. the renewed social media push comes after the NFLPA released a statement at the beginning of the World Cup, urging team owners to make the switch to natural grass surfaces.

And the only reason why there was grass was to FIFA's request, which, of course, these NFL stadiums had no business dealing with. Granted, there are some stadiums that already had grass to begin with, such as Kansas City and Miami. but a lot of others such as Gillette, MetLife, SoFi, we're all turf. Same thing with Seattle, of course, too. Oh, in San Francisco as well, also only having grass. So a bit of a 50-50 split or almost feels like a 50-50 split on it. But I mentioned George Kettle.

He made a statement back in last month. We've made it clear that we prefer grass fields. we know it's better on our bodies. And clearly we know it's possible based on everything that went into putting down grass fields for the World Cup in each stadium. At this point, it comes down to the NFL making it a priority in choosing to invest in us as players because our bodies are our business, which they get to capitalize on. And the big stat, of course, 92% of NFL players prefer natural grass. I've always been kind of split on it because like, look, if the players want grass, just give them the fucking grass.

I feel like, I guess in the last couple of years, I feel like that there shouldn't, that there isn't really a note, like, shouldn't be a difference because, like, think of the last however many years where stadiums have had turf, artificial turf or, uh, astro turf or whatever.

Yeah, astro turf was shit. There's, there's no gang by that. Ask anybody that played in old veteran stadium, um, in Philly. But, like, I feel, I think now the reason why we're seeing so many tornies yells and whatnot from unnatural playing surfaces is because these players' bodies are so advanced to the point where sometimes they're going too fast for their own capability or their own body's capability.

So I feel like turf has never actually been the actual problem. I think that these athletes and their bodies are just so fucking advanced that it's gone to this point. But I do also want to stress that, you know, we are for the players most of the time and player advocates. So, I mean, these players are already making you billions of dollars. Why not? Why not try to protect your billion dollar asset? That's my take. The thing is about, I just, for most part, whenever it comes to, like, ACL injuries, like, bad, like injuries, it usually only happens in one particular place, and they're one of the ones that use turf, and that's MetLife Stadium.

For whatever reason, something tragically happens at that stadium, and everyone is, like, fearful of it. So maybe if they actually did change it to, like, grass, maybe there might be a difference. But at the same time, it's kind of like, I'm not, if the players want grass because it's better for their bodies and it's an asset for the league, I don't understand why there's this problem with just giving them grass. If players feel like it is better for the product, it is better for their bodies, it's just better all around, just give them the damn grass. How much more is, how much more expensive is it than regular turf is my thing? and if it can be like looked upon and like discarded like the difference is minuscule it's like just give them the green grass just allow them to play on grass it makes no sense to me so i'm all four

players that want to play on green grass just give them the damn grass and call the day because as the world cup has proven they can do it if they really want it to the question is why don't they want to. And so if it's just a matter of money, I don't know how much more they're making off of this than they would during a regular, like a regular football season, but it can't be that much more, Kenit. So it's just like, just give them the greengrass and see how it goes.

If it's not, if it's not much of a difference, just switch it back. Yeah. I was just looking it up real quick. since since 2000 13 teams switched over to turf and the most recent being the Titans you mean grass what do you mean grass what you said 13 teams switched over to turf yeah from grass to turf oh from grass to turf oh oh oh never mind oh um I was thinking the last 20 years because that's when the Patriots did it in 06 but I was

like let's just go to 2000 and it's like the Seahawks the Lions, the Patriots, the Colts, the Bengals, the Cowboys mentioned the Titans, the Vikings because of the new stadium. Falcons, new stadium, MetLife, but

like MetLife's always been turf and I think they they got the biggest, the biggest issue with the MetLife is that they switch to a different type of turf. That's the issue with them.

Rams and Chargers, so technically 14 teams because the Rams and the Chargers share a stadium. Carolina, Nissan Stadium, Tennessee Titans, but Titans are also better to get a new stadium as well, which will also be turf. Okay.

CJ. This was never an issue. like when it first came up that I really gave much thought to. But the more that I think about it, is there really any reason that they're not going to have grass? It just seems like, eh, I don't really want to. And then they just call it a day. I mean, that's really just how it seems to be, honestly.

And for a lot of teams, what's really the downside? You know, if it costs a little more. I mean, if you. you do have grasped and I would imagine that there will be less injuries for your team. That's, you know, that's nice, right? Because, you know, you don't want like someone, especially someone that you've paid a lot of money for going down with an injury because, you know, the turf monster snapped up all their ligaments. Right. And, you know, the more healthy players you have odds are the better your team will be, which is more butts in seats, which means,

more money. You know, stop me when I'm wrong. And you look at, like you said, MetLife Stadium, or remember FedEx Field commanders, oh, that place. Those places will just eat your ACLs. They'll eat your LCLs. You know, they'll eat your Achilles. I just, I really don't see a reason not to use grass outside of maybe it's a little more

expensive, but if your team is healthy and you're not having to rely on backups and therefore you're more competitive in games, I feel like more people beat at the stadium. I think the cost would offset, no? I'm just saying. And like we all just said, this is possible. This is something that they have the ability. to do. What they did for the World Cup just proved it. So

I'm just saying, I think it's worth the investment as all. Yeah, I think it's worth the investment. I think that these billionaires don't want to, like, maintaining these grass fields costs a lot of money and

it's a lot of work to do so. And there's a lot, most of these stadiums there are other events going on, right? Like, the Miami Dolphins share their stadium with the Miami hurricanes. The Steelers share their stadium with with Pitt.

And the Steelers Stadium, their field, like that, when it gets to like December, it looks like fucking football. But like, it's not the nice looking green grass that you'd get in September

and August. And like, bringing in other sports, I guess. Look at baseball, right? Like, I was just at Fenway Park this weekend for a game. and you could still see the remnants of the stage from the Noah Khan concert. Ruining the beautiful Fenway Park outfield grass.

No disrespect to Noah Khan. He broke records last week for what is week-long performance at Fenway or whatever. But it's still it still fucks up the grass. There's a lot of things that fucks up the grass. And it's a lot of money to maintain these fields. Arizona, I think, does it really well where they like roll basically keep their field outside away from the stadium and then roll it back in once it's time for Sunday, once it's time for game day. But like, I don't know how much money the Cardinals are spending just doing that alone. But I can imagine it's a pretty penny.

It's worth it though because their grass looks fucking great. Well, that's just me. I don't know. It's, it's just harder to maintain. It's easier to make, like, yeah, they're still, uh, you still have to maintain turf. Because turf fields, if you don't maintain them properly, they suck. They really fucking suck. Um, so yeah. Yeah. I just hope this situation gets cleared up sooner or later, whether or not they get turf or not. I mean, grass or not. I don't think it matters too much,

but if the players say there is a big impact and there is a difference, just give them the grass field. Yeah. Do we have anything else before we want to move on? Because I have one last thing, but. No. All right. I'll just end it with the statistic NFL Players Association,

according to the NFLPA. players have a total of a 28% higher rate of non-contact, lower extremity injuries on artificial turf compared to grass. Foot and ankle injuries, 69% higher on turf, 32% higher for knee injuries. And there was a joint study on lower extremity injuries spanning the 21 and 22 seasons showed artificial turf had 1.42 injuries per game compared to 1.22 on natural grass. that also shows that the odds of an injury requiring season-ending surgery are significantly higher on artificial surfaces. We'll see if this changes anything, but I honestly highly doubt it. What do we see as the chances like the odds percentage-wise, zero to 100 that NFL teams actually make all 32 teams are playing on grass.

All 32? I would say less than 10. 5% chance. Everyone plays on grass. Yeah. No. Yeah. Because there's other stadiums that are like, they're on grass and like weather makes it really fucking shitty.

And everybody hates the weather. Like take Miami, for example. they got to deal with frigging rainstorms all the fucking time. That makes their feel really bad. I don't know if you guys remember this. Over 20 years ago, it was like a Monday night game between the Steelers and the Dolphins, and they called it the Mud Bowl because Pitt had a football game on Saturday.

And there was a massive rainstorm over the weekend that fucked up the entire field. And the Steelers had to play the Dolphins on Monday Night Football. And they put this new sod down. A new sod got ruined. And the final score was like six to three. Yeah, also there was a Super Bowl. I think it was the second Niners Chiefs where the Niners players were bitching about the grass being too slippery or whatever. Yes, there was a lot of, there was a big controversy about that.

Oh, and of course you have what's his face, Torres Achilles coming on to the field too. Aaron Rogers? No, there was a, um, Niners linebacker. Was it? Yeah, it was Drey Greenlaw. Tours Akely popped his Achilles when he was coming on to the field for the next drive. Yep. And it changed the whole Super Bowl from there.

They actually might have won if he was still healthy. Yeah. Big chance of that. All right. Moving on to a little bit of higher feelings, I guess. Chris Johnson inducted into the, is going to be inducted into the Titans ring. of honor. Ceremony will take place during

halftime of the team's season opener at Nissan Stadium on September 13th. And of course, this comes after Chris Johnson revealed last month that he was diagnosed with ALS. We were talking before we start recording.

This comes a little bit late, of course. Probably should have been done earlier, but of course, with the timing of everything, that this was going to be done one way or another sooner rather than later. I guess the only thing I really have to say is good. Good. I love to see it. It shouldn't have taken this long.

Like with the Patriots with Adam Venetary, it shouldn't have taken Chris Johnson this long to get them to the ring of honor. Who the hell else are they putting in there over Chris Johnson? I need to know who. Because some of them probably don't deserve it over Chris. it shouldn't have taken this long for him to get ALS for them to be like, okay, let's put him into the ring of honor.

It just feels like, it feels wrong in a sense. Like, I'm glad he's getting in. He deserves it. But at the same time, you guys could have put him in a while ago. Why did it take you this long to do it? Let's look at some of the current Ring of Honor members, actually. Team owner, but Adams Jr. In terms of executives and coaches, Floyd Reese, Mike Holivac, Jeff Fisher, and Bum Phillips.

Yeah. Granted, a lot of this is also going to be spanning to the Houston Oilers days. Warren Moon, George Blandis, Steve McNair, Earl Campbell, Eddie George, now Chris Johnson, or about to be Chris Johnson. Billy Whitechews Johnson, Frank Whitechek, Jim Noren, rest in peace, Frank Whitechek. Or no. No. Excuse me. He is not dead.

I was thinking of Lorenzo O'Neill. Bruce Matthews, Mike Munchok and Elvin Bithea, Robert Brazil, Ken Houston, and old broadcaster, Mike Keith. Hmm. Okay. Because you have to remember, you have to remember, too,

like, like, A, the Titans have really been around for almost 30 years. Yeah. There hasn't been a lot of great Titans teams. There's just been,

great titan slash oilers players and really their best team was the two best teams they ever had were the teams that A went to the Super Bowl and then lost to the Rams and the other one they lost to the Ravens in the AFC championship Divisional Oh there's two

There's two yeah there's two times they lost to us in the Divisional I thought that was That wasn't the AFC championship in 2000 2000 was the divisional because the championship was us against Oakland. Oh, that's right. That's right. In 08, we faced them in the divisional round,

and then we had to face the Steelers in the AFC championship game. So both. And then in 2019, we had to face them in the divisional round, and we lost. Damn it. I keep forgetting how good those Oakland teams were in late 90s, early 2000s. Yeah. Yeah. John Gruden did his thing until, you know,

They trade it into Tampa Bay. Yeah. Which I don't know if you, not to get off topic here, I don't know if you guys saw that clip of John Gruden on a podcast. It was either last year or a couple years ago, I forget. But he was talking about how he got traded to Tampa Bay. And she's like, yeah, like the biggest problem with getting traded to a team as a coach isn't the fact that you're getting traded.

It's the fact that you're getting traded. you're getting traded for more as draft picks. Like, I forget what the trade itself was, or actually I'll do a quick search with it right now. A couple of first round picks, which again messes him over since he's the one leaving to go to the team without them.

Exactly. That was basically the thing was that John Gruden was like, well, now I don't really have anything to play with. Yeah, I have a real. And like, granted Tampa was willing to do that because they had a Super Bowl caliber team right at their fingertips. And unfortunately, they just need to get rid of Tony Dungey to do so. But, yeah, they went all in for one year.

And John Gruden was like, great, now I don't have a future after this. This sucks. So John Gruden trade. CJ, what's your take, though, while I look for this? Nothing you guys haven't already said. Just it's about time. I don't think you should take him this long because, in fact, I believe he's their only 2,000-yard rusher on franchise history. And it's probably cute.

Had you joined to Derek Henry. Oh, no, no, Derek Henry. I don't know. Derek Henry and him. My brain isn't working today, yes. But yeah, well, yeah, Derek Henry, I have no one for a, I don't know. I don't know. But, yeah, no, I mean, considering the fact that he's one of their 2,000-yard rushers, I always forget that.

Like, I don't know why. I keep thinking it's him because, I don't know. because he gets so hyped up for that. And rightfully so. But, yeah, he's one of the most, I would say, purely electric players they've ever had, you know, one of the guys that had the most hype around him. So it was only a matter of time. So I like he was a scrub outside of that season either.

I mean, I would not even dare insinuate that he's a one-year wonder because he's not. So, I mean, he's definitely the top ten favorite. Titans of like every Titans fan as well. So, I don't know. I just, I don't like the fact that took an ALS diagnosis for this, but better than never, I guess.

Yeah. Back to the John Gruden trade real quick. It was for two first round picks, two second round picks, and $8 million. For contexts, they got more for John Gruden than they did when they traded away to Coleo Mac to the Bears.

Wow. I'd be so pissed if I'm John going to Tampa Bay. I'm like, what are you guys doing? You've given me nothing. Yeah. Except one year and I have to max out all of our potential this year. Yeah. For the next two years, I have nothing coming in except free agency.

Would you guys like to hear what those picks turned out to end up turning into? Sure. Turned into the 21st and 53rd overall picks in 2002 and 2002 in the 32nd and 33rd overall in 03 and 04 respectively. They turned into Daniel Graham, Patriots legend, Langston Walker, Tyler Brayton, Tony Hollings. And Tony Hollings was a supplemental draft pick by Houston. Okay. Okay. even still I'm not sure what they would have looked like under John Gruden's hands like the

picks themselves not the players it could have been something totally different yeah um yes we'll never know or those were the players that were picked in those picks but the raiders didn't end up keeping them the players that actually ended up in oakland were langston walker Tyler Brayton, Philip Buchanan, Sam Williams, and Ryan Hogue. Okay. So, yeah, the Buccaneers won that trade because they ended up with a ring out of it. Yeah. Yeah.

All right. We're going to take a quick break when we come back. We're going to get into the back half of our show, which involves talking about George Pickens, Alvin Cameras, staying with the Saints. And just other NFL news. This is the former risky podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns.

Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. All right. George Pickens officially to play on the franchise tag of 27.3 million franchise tender after the franchise tag deadline passed last Wednesday. And not the franchise, excuse me, let me rephrase. The deadline for tag players to agree to long-term contracts.

That deadline passed on Wednesday. And that was really kind of the thing that most people were kind of looking at in terms of pickings in the Cowboys, because the Cowboys, the few times that they've tagged a receiver, a.k. Des Bryant, they signed that. them to a long-term deal. Like I said, it happened with Des Bryant. So many people thought it was going to be the same thing here with Pickens. And I guess the only real good thing that you get out of George Pickens playing on the tag is,

A, you have a guy now that obviously you saw from last year really playing up to what his potential is supposed to be compared to what he was doing out in Pittsburgh, which was Jack, because who's the Steelers. and a guy that actually wants to play in Dallas and the organization reciprocates the same feeling. Granted, should the Cowboys agree to a long-term deal? Yeah, they should agree to a long-term deal with Pickens. But it makes it easier that I guess a player is willing to play on this one-year deal, which I mean this one-year deal is 27.3.

million fucking dollars. So not that hard to say no to. But it works. It works. Especially for how Dallas is kind of in a weird spot with their cap space. I'm happy. I wouldn't say happy. I think the situation with George Pickensonson's finally amenable.

But still, I'm not ecstatic about the idea of him playing on a franchise tag. I think sooner or later they're going to have to pay him. and I'm trying to see who they have to pay coming up this season or who will be off their books that they might try to resign. And I'm not going to, I can't figure it out right now, but I think sooner or later they're going to have to figure out that situation. Because they have CD, they had pickings now, they had Prescott. I'm not sure when they're coming up. But sooner or later, someone's going to have to get paid all over again. So they have to be worried about that situation and how much they're willing to pay him.

The defense is always going to be a concern. Quinn Williams might be coming up sooner or later. It's just they have to be worried about the money situation. So sooner or later, I do think they have to pay Pickens because he's more than earned that money. And I believe he can do a lot more with what he's going to do in the future. Because he's on the right side of 30, correct? He's only one time. Yeah.

So I believe that. Yeah. So I believe he'll be just fine in that he'll be productive going forward, but it's just a matter of how much can they afford to pay him, considering their cap restraints and how many people they may have to pay coming up. Even still, D.U.M. better. If they pay him, it is more likely than not just what the way the market is than the ever-present wide receiver inflation, that they're going to have to pay him more than C.D. Lam. Lam is number one on the depth chart.

be honest, can you guys see a world where they pay them more than lamb and lamb storms into the front office and demands more money? I could see that. In fact, if I see that, it's what I expect to happen. I would, I feel like that would probably have to depend on how this year goes for the both of them. If George Pickens has a much better than CD Lamb, which statistically he had this past year, but CD Lamb also missed three games. And George Pickens freaking flourished when there was no CD Lamb. So I'd be curious to see what the numbers end up racking up to be after week 18 rolls around. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Also, Pickens, you know, finally living up to his potential in Dallas, you know, a team with like a good quarterback and a team that prioritizes offense and explosions instead of mediocrity. Well, they're going to be mediocre regardless. That's just because it's Dallas. Not for lack of trying. Not for a lot of time, you know. But honestly, I don't really, if I'm a Cowboys fan, I don't want to break him and pickings up.

But what else can you do? Like, you're going to have to pay him at some point. And, you know, DAC can see him with contracts. You don't really fail. He makes more than Lamb. You don't know how Lamb's going to take it because you know how wide receivers can be. And here's a question. Like, walk with me.

Walk with me, Andy. I think the Dallas Cowboys are going to make the playoffs. I think there's a very real chance that they win their division. I think they will win their division. But what happens if they don't? I will tell you this right now. If you do not, if somehow you miss the playoffs, where it's like another thing like last season where the offense is humming,

but the defense lets you down, if they have a carbon copy of last season where they fall just short, honestly, you have no business resigning pickings because that means the defense still isn't saved. And I know we love having big name wide receivers and being flashy and the explosive plays and the highlight real catches. But if one side of the ball practically doesn't exist, then some, financial, just some financial intelligence is an order, you know. I was just going to say, like, it depends on how the defense does this year, because if the defense approves and your young players pan out, then fine.

But the problem is, if the Cowboys are smart, then CD or George Pickens' next contract actually isn't in Pickens' hands alone. because when you have two wide receiver ones and a terrible defense, one of them, be a lamb or pickings, by default, becomes excess goods. And when you're in the financial situation that the Cowboys are, you really don't have any room for a luxury player. Yeah. I mean, I was honestly about to start making NBA comparisons because it's almost like,

like how the NBA is now. you realistically can't really have two guys on a max deal on your or super max deal for that matter on your team without completely plummeting the rest of the roster at that point and the Cowboys could be seeing themselves in very similar situation just from their wide receiver room alone. Yeah. Also, some other people would say, oh, they could tag Pickens again, which you could do that. But my counter is this is George Pickens we're talking about.

Honest to God, I am surprised if you know him and his personality and just basic NFL, like, history, you know, if you know him, then I was expecting, like, social media tantrums. I was expecting him just, like, not sign it. Like, you know, because I think that was all of us when he got tagged. We were just like, oh, boy. Oh, boy. But that's what I mean, though. It's different. Like, if it was Pittsburgh, it would be like your, like, it would be like that if it was Pittsburgh.

True. Okay. But still, Pickens is known for not exactly having a level head, which that's cool at times, but sometimes it can, you know, maybe that team will like it as much. And we saw in Dallas that hasn't quite gone away. It's better, but it's still there. So my question is, do you, I mean, let's just say next season rolls around you two are very far apart on a deal. Do you risk doing it again?

Because I think you get one. And then if you try it again, it's going to get ugly. Yeah. That's just not a pick and stay. That happens to a lot of players. Oh, yeah. Once they get tagged the second time, they start getting angry. Yeah.

And honestly, once again, I'll just say it, abolish the tag. It's so stupid. Or at bare minimum, have it done for one year because after that it gets silly. Anything else? Thank you. The Cowboys are going to Cowboys. I think they could make the playoffs, but that division looks a little tougher because I think the Giants are going to get better in the Eagles or the Eagles.

I think if they do make it, it's going to be as a wildcard team. But if they don't do anything in the playoffs or are they missing? outright together. They're going to have to make some decisions right quick. Yeah. But I guess at that point, if you look at Washington, New York, where are they transition-wise? Are they transitioning into being a playoff team? Or for Washington's case, are they transitioning back to being a playoff team or not? Or in the Giants case, can they transition into a big year two of Jackson Dart? That's basically we're looking after that. Alvin Camara, re-worked his contract.

He took a $5.5 million pay cut. Sixth was originally supposed to be making $11.5 million in base salary this season, restructured it to where he's now making $6 million this year with a chance to make up to $8.5. With incentives, this was done last week as well. Camara, the weird thing with Camara, and this makes sense. I think Camer realized where he is. now in his career, especially with the roster construction that the Saints have put on, where you bring in Travis AetN, and it seems very clear that ATS is going to be the main back,

the Belcow back. I mean, they're going to be splitting, split time, obviously. But Aetian is probably going to end up getting, or excuse me, Travis Aachan, is probably going to be getting the majority of the snaps year. he may not get the majority of the touches, but he's going to get the majority of the snaps, which I mean, in turn,

is probably going to end up getting a majority touches. But I think this is good, though, I think, in terms of Camara, because he wants to stay with the Saints. He wants to retire a Saint. Good for the organization. Good for the fan base.

And yeah. And it's, I will never, I will never dock a team for keeping a veteran presence as well. Congrats to the Saints. I don't. I think this is, this could be a dangerous once you punch it. Both of them can stay healthy.

Alvin Camara is only 29. And yet, Joey's 30. He's 30 now? Yeah. Because it says, I'm looking at spot tracking. And it says at signing, he was 29. Oh, at signing he was 29. He, uh, it literally says that 30 years old.

He can still be productive. I'll give him that. He's almost three. His birthday is on the 25th, so he's going to be turning 31. Well, when he signed the deal, he was 29. That was a year ago. So what's the extension now? Or what's the contract situation now?

All right, so he's making... What the fuck is? Whatever. I'm not about to go figure this out. But I think this is a good one-to-comination with Camara and Travis Etienne. Etienne is the younger, fresher leg, so he'll obviously get more of the touches, but Alvin Camara is still a dangerous man with the ball in the sand. It's coming out of the backfield and catching passes. So they actually have a similar type running back with Camara and Travis Etienne, so they'll constantly have a running threat and a receiving threat no matter who's on the field.

So I think that's a good pickup for them. I think this is good long term for Alvin Camer because he's. doesn't have to take as many touches and get it as much. So I think this will prolong this career. And I think this helps out the Saints' offense entirely. I think you can have both of them on the field at the same time and have one of the other on the field at the same time. So it gives them versatility.

And I don't think there's going to be a problem with how many touches each either one of them gets. I think it's just the understanding of there's a number one and there's a number two now. I think the Saints have I think this is an improvement not a bad thing and I think this helps them out as far as contract negotiations going forward with other people so yeah not bad saints not bad anything else I just really like this move for ball parties yeah he gets to stay there more he's you know well known well loved in New Orleans he can be more more of a receiving back compared to A-Champ being more of a ground-and-pound type of guy, which is the role I would assume he would fill. But yeah, I think this was good because he's been, I think he's missed 13 games over the past

three seasons. He's starting to get a little banged up and he's seen another guy to carry the load. So you have someone who's younger, refresher legs, and Travis A-chan, and that's it. That's really all there is to it. and the fact that Camara is so agreeable to this, I think, makes it perfect, honestly. I think they're going to have a nasty one-two punch that the rest of the NFC South will have to respect. I was just about to bring that up to, C.J., I think that's a great point because he has not finished out an entire season. He's been hurt for the conclusion of the last two seasons.

And so I think you make a great point that this is going to help him be able to finish out. a full 17-game season. And shit for all we know, because it's the NFC South, the Saints could make a fucking run into the playoffs and that'll keep the legs fresh for that playoff run. If they do make it that way. And it's the way that the Saints ended last year, I mean, who knows? They got a lot of momentum going into this season. Mm-hmm.

All right. It looked like you got something to say, Tuck. Well, they won the division, though, is the question. I'm not sure on that yet. I'm not even saying wing the division. I'm not even saying that. I'm just saying playoffs. That's all.

Yeah, but who will they get over? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, someone's going to fucking shit the bed. Who knows? In the West? In the NFC West? Oh, well, NFC West is a completely different story.

But I'm saying, I'm saying like just the other divisions in general, like someone can very well shit the bed very easily. I mean, look at Washington. We thought that they're going to be another, they were going to be a playoff contender last year. and they shit the bed. For all we know, the 49ers can easily shit the bed. Like their injury luck last year was really bad,

but they still performed at a high level to where they could get that second wildcard spot. That doesn't happen very often. That's a very, very rare occasion that that happens. Fair enough. We'll see. We'll see. All right. Time for other NFL news.

Tom Brady What is What have they done to my goat? What have they done to them? Friggin, let's get into a fake beef with Logan Paul. Mm-hmm. You guys see the fanatics shit. Never mind the Logan Paul thing.

You guys see the fanatic shit over the weekend where they had them come out as the Undertaker. I've seen some clips. Yeah. Yeah. And then I've been seeing some Dave Portnoy tweets as well. and it's like what the fuck is going on here what the hell all you had to do

was be a color analyst for the number one broadcast in Fox do some podcasts and that's it and be an owner for that matter and that's it and that's it not be a fucking weirdo here we are and now I had to separate Tom Brady the football player

from Tom Brady the man and I don't want to do that I don't want to do that it sucks this fucking sucks um why not why can't you separate the two because he's my goat

he's my go I grew my first fucking 23 years of life has been watching this man dominate and like you know obviously through those 23 years

you didn't really see how much of a weirdo he was outside of like, you know, dissing his kids on the lips or the training regiment and whatnot. You know how much of a psycho he was? Oh, well, being a psycho and being a weirdo

are, in my opinion, are two different things. Like being a psycho is like, obviously what you see out of Tom Brady being on the Patriots in Tampa. It's the mentality that he brings to a football field. The weirdo shit is like, what are we doing? Like, it's the getting into the fake beef with Logan Paul for, like, cloud chasing. I saw someone say cloud chasing.

How are you Tom Brady and your cloud chasing? He's bored. He ain't got nothing else to do. I mean, he should be running the Oakland Raiders since he is an owner. Yeah. May not be a majority owner, but he's still an owner. I mean, apparently he has enough, apparently has enough leeway to make decisions or have a strong voice in making decisions.

Mm-hmm. By the way, it's crazy that he's an owner and a broadcaster. Oh, yeah. All right, Philo Pat's fan, CJ. What's say you? I would love to, if time travel was real, to grab Tom Brady circa 2014, 2015, 2016,

take him to present day and say, this is you. This is what you're going to become. And hear me out, I think the Brady of that era would hate the Brady of this era. Yeah, because he's still playing. Okay, your point? He would be like, why isn't Brady in his playbook? Why is he doing this?

What the hell is it? But if I told him that he retired and this is what he was going to be, I don't think he like it very much. I don't think he'd ever retire. He would never retire. He would have played until he died. He's like, damn it,

where's Giselle? Yeah. Oh, she cheated on you with a jujitsu instructor, pal. Sorry. Yeah. But look, but my point is,

it's just, as a Pat's fan, this is just so weird seeing, like, what's going on. Like, yeah, I mean,

I, he's getting much better as an analyst. Well, jury's still out on the owner thing, but this is so weird. This beef with Logan Paul that's faker. then WWE is just stupid.

They were flipping each other out for the World Cup, and little Michael Rubin had to hold Logan Paul back. This whole Tom Brady Michael Rubin thing, it's so creepy. And you know what? I held my tongue last time, and I will not do it now. Michael Rubin, there is, once again, just my opinion, not passing it off his fact. you can't beam me from wherever you are.

You may not do that. Don't do it. You can't sue me. You can't take my precious whatever monies I have. Something about him is not right. Something about him does not sit well with me. Maybe it's those alleged wink wink. I'm not saying it's true.

Diddy parties that he's throwing? Or maybe it's this whole like weird stranglehold he has on the sports merch market. but this is just so creepy. Him and Logan Paul and Tom Brady, you know, who knows what they're doing? I don't want to speculate because, like I said, he's going to beam me. He's going to do it. He's going to obliterate my house.

Once again, that's a joke. That's a joke. This is parody under the law. It says I can do that. You can't sue me. But I don't, this whole thing is just weird. Tom Brady's become weird and I hate it. He's such a, I don't know what the word is, such a, I don't know. It's such a, just weird thing to do. I really don't like this.

It's like, dude, you're Tom Brady. You're the goat. Like, why? Like, is this the case of, you know, like a video game? You've completed the main story. Now you're just stuck doing side missions. to fill time. Like, I don't, I don't understand why he became this way.

And honest to God, my fellow Americans, I don't even think he was this way. Really, even when he retired, I think he's just become this. Yeah. And honestly, this happens a lot. Like, hell. And also, for all my Patriots fans, is Bill Belichick really any different? We know what he's doing. we know what he's doing.

He's a few years shy of being on a certain island to tell you the truth. And that hurts me to say as a Pat's fan. But it's so weird. Like, who knew they were this weird, man? Like, I just, I don't like it. I mean, at bare minimum, Jules and Grunk have remained normal. If you watch the Dudes on Dudes Podcast or listen to it, God bless. I love that show so much.

It's so funny. but outside but brady what are we doing lock in bro you got a team to run go coach and throw with fernando mendoza and shit like why why are you partying with little michael ruffin it's so creepy like and all the other athletes but why are you doing that it's so weird like i don't know what you're doing but i imagine there's baby oil involved once again that's a joke i'm not passing this office back. Please don't airstrike my house. Michael Rubin and the people he may work for.

Don't do it. Don't do it. But yeah, that's all. Yeah. My beloved goat. You hate to see him like this, but it is what it is. Hey, just wait. Who knows?

Lamar could be the next fucking weirdo that we don't know about. I don't know. He kind of already, but he's funny, but he's funny. What was the thing with Lamar that people were like, what the fuck? Like, he keeps pulling up and taking pictures at gas stations. Oh, yeah.

Remember his famous Johnny tweet? That was funny. Just Lamar Jackson. Johnny. Johnny, yes. That was amazing. Wasn't there that other picture that came out of Lamar and he's like blazed as a motherfucker.

And it was when he was hurt. He's absolutely blazed up and he's out like in tacos or some shit or Mexican. Yeah. Yeah, I've seen that too. You know, he just wants his tacos, you know, that's fine. He was all that was.

He just wanted tacos. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's funny, how he'll just, like, show up to gas stations and start taking pictures. I mean, at a gas station, he seems like such a nice dude. He just so happens to be at gas stations and he keeps taking pictures at the gas station. I just don't know why. Yeah. Or when he made fun of the Ravens' former center, Tyler Linderbaum,

I'm fucking like that one dude from that one. Buford. Oh, Buford. That was funny. Yeah, I guess back to Brady real quick. We should have, man. The moment he left that, that pregnant girl, the moment he left that pregnant girl, we should have known.

Huh? There's, he got a girl, he got like some famous. Oh, Bridget Moynihan. Yeah, back of the day. Yeah, we should have known. Should have known. Who's we? We were.

children. Yeah, me and goddamn what was I am. We should have known when we were four years old, man. I should have known when I was in like second grade, go to the teacher and be like, yo, teach.

This Tom Brady guy, when I graduated college is going to become a real weirdo. He ditched his pregnant girl, man. I mean, to be fair, he was at that graduation, that high school graduation. So he didn't ditch them.

entirely. Oh, no, I know. Still, like, is like a father in that kid's life and stuff. Yeah. No, I know. That's got,

I'm rough. I'm just being funny. He has, like, what, four kids by two different women? Yes. He has kids with Giselle. For some reason, I was thinking,

though, there's a third, but it's definitely just two. Yeah. Unless, unless, unless there is, like,

Michael Jordan's secret son out there. Yes. Really? Like, Michael Jordan is a secret son? No, I'm being, I'm making a joke because everyone was saying. If you're going to say Jimmy Butler, we're not doing that.

No, I was making a Jimmy Butler joke there. Also, for. Or Anthony Edwards. For all the basketball people out there, the basketball fans, excuse me, I want to say this. Yeah, that's going to sound really bad at a context. That's, I was going to sound really bad. Yeah. No, but for all basketball fans out there, please stop saying Jimmy Butler is Michael Jordan's kid.

Furthermore, until he wins a ring, the nickname Jimmy Jordan is going into retirement stat. Yeah. Oh, man. Good times. Cam Scadaboo, perfectly fine after a botched backflip. This, when I first saw it, it gave me the same vibes as, as, uh, as a gronk when he was dancing after, uh, after that second Super Bowl that the pets. loss of the Giants in and there's like the video of Gronk at the after party because what he

he supposed he had like a high ankle sprain or something like that or a torn MC I forget what injury Gronk had going into that Super Bowl but it was like oh looks like Gronk's okay looks like Gronk's just fine after celebrating or after losing the Super Bowl or whatever and here he is on an injured ankle dancing around like he's not injured at all Granted, Cam Scataboo, I would assume, is 100% right now after, you know, dealing, recovering from his knee injury. But that's kind of the vibe that I got out of it in terms of a reactionary stuff. I just hope Cam doesn't do anything that injures himself again.

But, oh, my God, every time you see something from him, it's like he's getting closer. It's like, let's relax here, Cam. let's there's money on the line here for your health let's let's not lose it can i ask a question yes like this is like a literal question that i have when cam scataboo was in college arizona state university is where he was do we even know what his major was you could ask you just i mean i used to get how he behaves and everything that was going on at Arizona State. I was like, there's no way

on God's green earth. This man attended a single class. A lot of times you can see on their bio on their college page. It's not publicly documented. Not on his college page?

I looked at, I just looked it up and it says a specific college major is not publicly documented. He focused on his athletic. He didn't learn shit. Well, then again, Ken, I feel like most people that go to Arizona State don't exactly learn shit. Same thing with the University of Arizona. That whole state is just one big party college.

You know, like if you know about Arizona State, you know. Well, it's kind of like the Jill. And I would set foot in. These are not people that I myself would associate with. Same thing with the University of Arizona as well. There's a reason why Rob Gruncowski went there. He went to Arizona, not Arizona State. But, yeah.

Yes. I said the same thing with Arizona. Oh. There was no reason Rob Grunkowski went there. I know full of damn well where he went to college. You, you wonderful. Hey, man, you made two mishaps. I had to check you make sure.

But it's kind of like that Jalen Brown thing that he said after the, when he was on the stream, it was like right after the report came out that he acts like he's the smartest person in the room. and it's like, well, no shit. He went to fucking Cal. The bar for IQ in these pro leagues aren't that high. They got the ball knowledge and that's all they need.

Oh, didn't he went to USC? No, he went to Cal. Ronnie went to USC. Not many NBA players come out of USC, say the least. Unless it's like WNBA. He went to Cal Berkeley. that's still a hardest school to get into exactly no that's what I mean

Jalen Brown is like actually a really smart dude I remember how he signed his worky deal he didn't use an actual agent he used the NBA like PA and that's kind of smart because they have to work for you well that's like the whole reason one of the big reasons why the Celtics

drafted Jalen Brown was because he was so damn smart and that was like one of the one of the things that he got booed about on draft night was that he played a Cal and Cal is like not really known for ball or at least in the

I love Aaron Rogers. Yeah, well I'm more saying in the college basketball sphere. Oh, yeah. But, yeah. Ethan Nelson in regards to Scataboo. No. I'll just. Yeah, he's a

brick. I love it. Yeah. God love him. You know, just just hand him some crayons and some glue he'll be fine yeah quick breaking news before we end the show Devante Wyatt sends a three or 57 million dollar contract extension

with the Packers good for him fair enough you know reasonable deal that I don't really view that as an overpay do we know what the guaranteed money is it doesn't say but he also got a $20 million signing bonus via Ian Rappaport

you know what good for him good for him Good for him. I'm fine with it. The Packers need defense, especially with the Mike Parsons injury. Shoring that up. Yeah, I'm fine with it. Yeah, he had a good season. Reward you guys.

Reward your defense. Shoring him up was the wise thing to do, me, thanks. Me, thanks. Oh, and the Packers didn't even have a first one. What do you mean mean things? Why are you saying that? Like, I'm speaking Mandarin. No, I'm sorry.

whatever I hear like someone talk like that I think of you guys don't follow golf I think a Tommy Fleetwood's son and he's like, I'm just trying me hottest or just trying me hottest. Fascinating. We got to follow golf.

We got to follow golf. I follow golf. You guys don't really follow golf. No, I don't follow golf. Caring is very hard to do when it comes to golf, Chris. That's all right. Not everyone has to care about golf.

I like golf. All right. That's all the schedule content that we have for you today. Anything else on y'all's mind before we end the show? No, I'm good on my end. Nothing worth all to talk about. Cool. Yeah, no. Training camp starting up this week.

And we'll have more training camp news stories for you once we head into next Monday, next Tuesday's episode at AD. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Fulmuruski podcast. And be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel where we also have all our episodes available on all streaming platforms. Be sure to follow our Instagram, Fulmuruski underscore podcast, keep up with the pod in the latest coverage on the NFL. Otherwise, we will see you next Tuesday over now.