The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - Lamar/Ravens Standoff, Daniel Jones Overpay, Rodgers/Jets Momentum, McVay Personnel Impatience

Episode Date: March 10, 2023

John discusses the biggest hang ups in the contentious contract negotiations Lamar Jackson and the Ravens, why the Giants didn’t need to massively overpay for Daniel Jones, what Sean McVay has in common with LeBron James when it comes to bailing on players, why Aaron Rodgers to the Jets looks like it’s just a matter of time, and how the Geno Smith deal shows the Seahawks are an elite operation. Subscribe NOW and follow Middlekauff and The Volume on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest content. It's always FanDuel for the best wagering action! #volume #herd Get 90% off RexMD and only pay $2 per dosage with our exclusive link https://rexmd.com/3ANDOUT (https://rexmd.com/3ANDOUT)!  #rexmdpodSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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If you go onto the interwebs, if you go onto the bird app, a lot of anger, er. Everyone in the media, all the former players are so much outrage. I want to say, It's laughable, but the reality is it's predictable.

And listen, what makes football and just pro sports in general such a unique billion dollar industry is all the assets are people, right? I guess beside the stadiums. But the main assets, the $100 million, the $200 million assets are players and are human beings. So I get it. It makes it emotional for those people. But I don't understand how the people that cover the league and the former player, especially older guys in their late 30s, early 40s that have been through the ringer in the league, get so emotional about it.

Because this is not just a business, it's a massive business. And when you make big business decisions, you know, like you can argue take the emotion out of it, easy for you to say. easy to say on the outside, will the teams do it? At least the well-run teams. What did Bill Belichick get credit for for so long? And I'm not even talking specifically about Lamar Jackson.

But any time that you deal with a contract, a big contract, and in football, that means a lot of guaranteed money, you have to be somewhat emotionless because this is the business you're in. It's about balancing that money on a thing called, a salary cap. You could look at it much differently

if football was baseball and there was no cap, even though in a weird way there is because of this of the tax that they have in baseball. And even basketball, which is a soft cap, has a massive tax. I see it with the Warriors who pay a lot of money in luxury tax

because they go over it. Football it's hard cap. And you have to fit your roster under that. If you're listening to this, you know that. But signing these massive deals are complicated. And what I find the funniest part about this whole Lamar

Jackson situation and really the reaction to it is just last year, we all agree one of the dumbest stupidest contracts we've ever seen, Deshawn Watson. Everyone wants

people to give Lamar Jackson more money than that. Even though Deshawn Watson, who you can argue even when he was playing well, was probably slightly below Lamar. He had moments where he was slightly above. That contract is atrocious. And then another guy who over the course of his career

is dramatically better than both Super Bowl champion had been to another, who had been just a perennial pro baller every single year, and until a finger injury had never missed games, was one of the most durable people in the league. And besides his questionable charity, character was five star. everyone's laughing at Russell Wilson's contract.

All these people in the media, all the fans, all the former players, all talking shit about both. Yet when it comes to Lamar, like, pay him his money. Well, yeah, that's hard to do when he wants $240 million fully guaranteed. You go, well, the best player in recent memory, Patrick Bohomes, got $450 million. dollars. Yet nothing of that money remotely is guaranteed. It was like, I'm pretty sure it's under $150 million. And he's dramatically better than Lamar, dramatically better than Deshaun Watson, dramatically better than Patrick Mahomes. But the Lamar Jackson situation is difficult. It is complicated. Is he a premium player when he's on the field? No one argues that. Is he

really good and worth a lot of money? Of course he is. But these situations, become complicated because you have to pay them a lot of money and trade multiple picks. But here's the other thing. The amount of lying that goes on during free agency and during the draft, we all know. We talked about it for a long time. It literally has, we call it something specifically. It's called lying season. Yet when this situation is happening, we know a bunch of people are lying.

All these teams that are already tapping out before they've even got involved, everyone's like, oh, my God, how is this possible? Why do you believe any of them? You know, one of the problems with just the amount of social media and we have so many different channels to consume everything is the teams know this. And I think two industries specifically, sports teams and politicians now use the media to just carry out their lies. and I don't blame them because they don't care.

All they care about is doing the best for their individual business, whether you're the Ravens or whether you're the Falcons or whether you're the Carolina Panthers. And everyone on the outside who's up in arms, it's like, guys, can we just let this situation play out? Now, there is a massive red flag. And as someone in the NFL brought it up to me, why would the Ravens or why are they unsure about paying them? And last year, I've often said that the number was, 16, 170, I read somewhere today that it was $133 million guaranteed

and $250 million total before the season started in the offseason. And Lamar turned it down. Now essentially, $133 million in guaranteed at signing. With a guy like Lamar who you have drafted, more than likely, and you see this with so many quarterbacks, you end up making

much closer to the 250 than the guaranteed money because they're not going to cut you in a couple years. because of the way that they have to amortize your contract over the cap, you end up playing it out if you're just a solid player, let alone a Pro Bowl level town. And Lamar Jackson declined that. And now he finds himself in this situation after just playing 12 games and having for his standards a pretty poor season.

And then during that time, during last season, we have recent examples of several guys, many athletic quarterbacks who are all viewed as disastrous contracts. And they're all over the map, right? Tyler's viewed that for now several reasons. One, character slash he's injured. Deshawn viewed that as like,

who would pay that much money and trade for a guy who hasn't played football in a long time, who's also dealing with 7 million massage therapists, allegedly, off the field. And then Russell Wilson, no problems, no issues, but now looks to be declining. And they all got, you know, especially two of the three of them,

got traded for a lot and then paid a bunch of money. And it looks like utter disasters. So I don't blame teams for questioning should I allocate $200 million for someone with question marks. And right now, Lamar's question marks are health. He's played 12 games each of the last two seasons. Do the math. Miss some games. That's an immediate red flag. Durability is important at the quarterback position. Here's the other situation. I am not pro or anti-agent. Now, In my industry, I once upon a time had an agent. I've never had one since because looking back, I didn't need it.

I could have just negotiated the deal on my own. But the amount of money, and that was almost a decade ago, that was pennies on the dollar. We're talking $100,000. So that is nowhere near comparable to Lamar Jackson situation. Now, I think most people listening to this, especially if you're my age in your 30s, maybe you're doing well in your 20s and definitely if you're older, have purchased a home and you've all dealt with real estate agents. My position on a real estate agent has dramatically changed, I would say, over the last four or five

years. I'm currently dating one and I see what she goes through the work she puts in for her clients. Because I used to think, like, why do you even need any? Why do I need a real estate agent? Well, because the majority of people are not going to be able to do everything you need to do to maximize the value of your home, especially in a time like we're currently sitting in, which is much more difficult to sell a home. So their value, you could argue three, four, even two years ago when times were humming, we could argue it. But when normal times, which we're currently in and we're going to be in for a while,

their value is really important. And especially like if I have a condo for $100,000 in some crappy area, could I sell it on my own if I want to allocate some time and resources to it? Probably. But if I have a home, worth 10, 15, $20 million in some premium area in Malibu, in Trubador, in Tennessee, in Jupiter, Florida. I probably want someone who knows what they're doing to maximize the value because of the amount of money we're talking about. So like Richard Sherman and Bobby Wagner recently negotiated their own

contracts, both guys well over 30, and both guys were on their third contract of their career. So they had experience in negotiating contracts with an agent, understood the landscape of it, and then did their own research to be able to handle their third contract, which was obviously less than the most money they had ever made previously. So I respect that. In their shoes, I understand not having an agent. But if I was Lamar Jackson, just like if I was any human being and I was dealing with an astronomical amount of money in a situation where I don't know the ins and out,

of contract negotiations. Charles Robinson of Yahoo wrote a fantastic article on this. When you were dealing with what he's asking for over $200 million in guaranteed, to even have those conversations is not with the coach and the general manager. Obviously, they play a role and they're going to give their say on it. This is an owner decision. So guys like Tom Condon and Drew Rosenhouse and the top agents, you know what they have?

a direct line to every owner in the NFL. And I'm probably leaving out other agents that are high level that have dealt with owners for years. But those are the two that come to my mind. And in this article, he wrote, like, these are the type contracts that get done when sitting with the owner on the yacht or at the country club.

This is an owner decision. Because we can argue it's archaic and it is. It's a rule. When you sign these guys, the true guaranteed money you have to have within two weeks at the point of signing. So several years ago, when Matt Ryan signed for over $100 million in true guarantees, Arthur Blank put that into an escrow account immediately.

So when you're talking about Lamar and that number, even if he signed for 230, I think I saw that the Deshaun Watson number was actually like 180. But $180 million has to be able to be put into escrow immediately. We are talking historic amount of money for the NFL. Here's a thing. These media people and definitely these foreign players like, oh, the owner just want to save money. No, that's not the way it works.

Do you see the salary caps of all these teams? All these teams spend the money. It's how do you want to allocate the money? Like I said, this is a business. And in your salary cap, $225 million is a pie chart. And how we allocate that money over a two or three or four year period, especially if we're a high-level organization like the Baltimore Ravens are, or like some of these other successful teams are, dictate whether we're going to sustain success

or not be successful. Think of the most successful coach of the last 20 years, Bill Belichick. Now, he had the benefit of Tom Brady taking less, but he constantly made good economic decisions with getting rid of a player too early before a year too late. Now, Andy Reid benefits now from having Patrick Mahomes, who signed for a deal way less than what Lamar Jackson wants, but they constantly do that. that too. Last year they got rid of the Honey Badger. They just got rid of Frank Clark. Last year they traded Tyree Kill. They have made calculated risks. And that's all this is. We're taking

calculated risks when you sign humans. Because unlike most of our businesses, you can put the revenue streams on an Excel spreadsheet and be pretty numb to this. You're dealing with people who at any moment in this sport can get injured. I see a lot of people going, all the contracts, should be purely guaranteed every penny. Why I'd say this, the NFL by far is the healthiest business of the three major sports in this country. Sorry, hockey, you're fourth. And I like hockey. I've been watching a little bit more.

Is that the NFL with non-guaranteed contracts leave these teams' ability to constantly be fluid and constantly be changing in a sport that just has the most injuries. Is that the most fair to the players? No. But is it the healthiest thing for the sport, for us as fans, for us that consume the league, for ultimately the health of the league? Because still these players are getting paid historic amounts of money. And unlike the NBA, for example, you pay 53 players. Now, obviously not all 53 players make $10, $20 million a league, but more players now than ever are making $10 plus million, are making $15 plus million, or making $7 plus million. So more money is getting distributed out than ever before. Still, even with the fluidity of the non-guaranteed contracts, which obviously leads over time to turnover, which is the healthiest thing in this sport, because unlike basketball,

most guys are not just going to have a 17-year career where they don't get injured that much. That's not the way it works, besides quarterback. And then this specific quarterback has been injured. But this goes back to his mother is his agent. So the amount of money that we're talking involves owners to get involved. Well, and even let's just, I don't know his mom, let's assume she's a high level woman. The chances that she is equipped to do this and handle this seems extreme,

given that there are only a couple people that are equipped surrounding the NFL to use these type deals. As Charles Robinson wrote in his article today, talking to just different people around the league and agents, They're probably less than eight agents who you'd even feel good about negotiating a contract of this status. So Lamar's at a disadvantage just given the way he set himself up. You should never, whether you're selling real estate, whether you're selling a business, whether you're negotiating a contract. If you aren't equipped to handle it, it behooves you to pay someone a couple points, aka a couple percent, to handle a nine-figure deal. because most of us will never negotiate that much, even if we're a player. Hell, I know people that have sold businesses for $50 million, $100 million that get people involved,

specific lawyers for that specific industry, because they negotiate the deals. I've never done this before, and these are businessmen, and they need someone to negotiate either an acquisition or sale. It's the way it works. And I feel like Lamar Jackson's been at a disadvantage because of this situation. and I'm not, I would lean more to be anti-agent. But this situation has kind of jumped the shark when we start getting to the numbers. And then like I said to begin with, the numbers in which we originally started talking about,

the Deshaun Watson money, Kyler Murray contract. We laugh at those contracts. So it's like, why doesn't he deserve the money that these guys are getting paid that are disasters? And then last but not least, Lamar Jackson is a good player. And this notion that these teams put, out these statements to these reporters and everyone took it at gospel, like I said, was laughable. It's lying season. These conversations, a lot of these teams are interested.

And when I say interested, they're kicking the tires behind the scenes. They're going, how much would this cost? What would we have to give up? Half the teams that probably acknowledge that they were out, they're fucking lying. Do we have to see this every single year? How do we fall for this over and over? I just don't understand it. Now, does that mean that they're going to do it?

I don't know. Because giving multiple first round picks, whatever. I would always give multiple first round picks for a really good player. But if he won't sign a contract for anything less than $230 million guaranteed, that's going to complicate things. It's why I don't blame the Ravens. How could the Ravens give them the exclusive tag? Why would they not? Okay, Lamar, you think you're not worth what we're offering you?

Go get a better offer. See what you can do. Like I said, like everything. Everyone knows that this isn't fucking Little League. This is a billion dollar business. That's good business. You don't just cut the check for the most amount of money possible because you should because the public outcry. No, not if you question, is this the right move?

Would he actually get this on the open market? We'll get to Daniel Jones here in a second. Was that the right thing to do? Of course not. But teams like the Detroit Lions and Houston Texans, would be not doing their job if they aren't interested in this. Now, the number one thing, and I mentioned this earlier, why are the Ravens cool with punning on this?

If they are, because they've been outspoken about how they want Lamar Jackson on their team. Now, if they actually trade him, was it just simply, you know, because of the ledger and because they wanted to get rid of the contract? Or did they go, we don't think this guy can stay healthy? or it's like we don't think he's ever going to be as good as he once was. And you got to try as, you know, as hard as it might be to gather some of that information internally in their building. But if I'm the Lions and I got multiple first round picks, when you have to trade two first round picks for this non-exclusive tag, it doesn't say what pick you have to trade.

The Lions can use their top 10 pick on whoever they want and trade their first round pick, which was right, I think it's right at the end of like 17, 18, 19. The Houston Texans, they are loaded with picks. They have the Browns pick this year and next year. They could use the second overall pick on Will Anderson and trade their pick. And then next year, trade the Browns pick. You know, trade the Browns pick both years, right, depending on whichever one's higher. So if you think these teams are not doing their due diligence,

are not putting together packages and figuring out the total cost, Then you're just as bad as all the people screaming and bitching on Twitter. Now, does it actually go down? There are a lot of variables to this. I would not be cool with paying him $230 plus million contract. I don't think that's good business. Now, if I get them for $150 million, 100%. I would do that in heartbeat because that's what the top players have been getting.

I don't care what Deshawn Watson got. That's the dumbest contract. You could argue in the history of sports. so this situation is not going to go away anytime soon, but I think it's very disingenuous to compare, well, Daniel Jones is making this, and Lamar Jackson tells you all you need to know.

Yeah, Lamar Jackson would have blown by him last year, but he told him no. The Ravens would gladly probably give him $140, $150 million right now. He won't accept that money. So comparing Daniel Jones and Lamar Jackson, it's just trying to get a reaction, Because that is just, that's just stupid, you know?

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No, stop, Louisiana. Call 1-800-3-2-7-50-50 or visit www.WM-Hpline.org slash problem gambling, visit www.mdgamblinghelp.org, Maryland, 1-8778 Hope, New York, or text Hope, New York, 467-369, New York, 1-800, 522, 4,700, Wyoming, or visit www.1-800 gambler.net, West Virginia. I think the Giants tried to have their cake and eat it too. And they did, ultimately. Their problem was they just way overpaid.

I get it. They're two big free agents where they're quarterback and they're running back. and it's not just any quarterback, a quarterback that they once drafted in the top 10, and it finally took till his fourth year to become a really good player, really good to be strong, a solid starter. And then they're star running back. Now, running backs are complicated, right? Because like Deshawn Watson, we make fun of long-term contracts on running backs.

That's bad business. Why? Because it's very easy to get good, cheap running backs in the draft. And paying running backs usually by their sixth, seventh year, beside like Derek Henry, they get shittier. They get injured. A lot of wear and tear. So they didn't want to lose either guy.

So the easiest move was, in their mind, extend Daniel Jones and franchise Sequin Barclay. The problem is they paid a 50 million premium to do that. Because Daniel Jones got $82 million essentially guaranteed. It's like a two-year $82 million. That's what the contract is to me. I don't care about average per year. All that shit is fluff. Whatever your guaranteed money is dictates how long you are on the team

and how long your security on the team. So when I give him $82 million, essentially like $40 million a year for a couple years. And Sequin, who, because he's a really good player, they probably don't want to give a long-term deal to. There have been some reports they do, but it's just you would pay him $10 million a year on a yearly basis. no problem. The franchise tag for Daniel Jones would have been $32 million. We can't franchise them both. So clearly they wanted to get DJ done so they could franchise

Seque Juan and get them both under the squad and then figure it out moving forward. The problem on this, if you would have franchised Seekuan Barclay at $10 million and let Daniel Jones hit the open market, is anyone giving him the contract the Giants just gave him? is anyone giving him $82 million guaranteed? Derek Carr, who is coming off a rough year, has a career resume that blows Daniel Jones out of the fucking water. Got $70 million. So DJ got $12 million more in guarantees than Derek Carr.

Derek Carr throws the ball better than him. Now, you could argue there's still a lot of untapped potential, whatever. I can't see anyone given Daniel Jones. more than 50, 60 million dollars. Gino Smith, who just had a dramatically better season than Daniel Jones, got a little over $50 million guaranteed. I think that's more like his market. So this is the balance of sometimes being unemotional with players.

And I'm not even necessarily blaming Dayball and Joe Shane, because I think they've proven to be really good. And one of the reasons Dayball won the coach of the year, obviously they made the playoffs, was because how average his roster was, how bad Daniel Jones had been, and then he took that group of players, Sequin Healthy, to the playoffs. He's like, God, this guy can really get guys to overachieve.

Well, if your coach can get guys to overachieve, that means you can pick and choose who to pay. And to me, Daniel Jones, like, is much more of a replaceable player than Sequin Barclay. But to pay, and I understand not wanting to give Sequan Barclay, like extend them at $30, $40 million guaranteed and then franchise Daniel Jones. But that is still cheaper than what they did with Daniel Jones,

who, let's face it, still needs to prove he can do this more than one season. And this is a classic, and Michael Lombardi and his podcast has talked about it. I saw it when I was on the Eagles. The Giants get very emotional about their players, the ownership, guys that represent them well, guys that just the New York market's very difficult.

And these two guys clearly are pretty impressive players. They wanted to keep them both. I don't blame them for wanting to keep them both. I cannot give Daniel Jones, based on one season, $82 million in guaranteed. And call myself a high-level business, a good operation. That's just, that's embarrassing. No way around it. Okay, before we dive into McVeigh and the Rams, trading Stafford,

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with his first stint with the Raiders and then with Tampa, I think ironically because Al and they work together, Al Davis had this, George Steinbrenner had this. Some executives or coaches or owners can be very fickle and can be very herky jerky and can be can turn on people and players fast. And I think part of being a good coach,

being a good executive, being good really in any industry, sometimes you've got to have some patience. And sometimes you have to, and this goes back to the Lamarst, situation, if you're having success, still be able to separate the success in what's best for the long-term health of the business or if this is a good decision. Because it's easy to make prudent decisions sometimes when you're struggling. Sometimes, you know, you can look past it

when you're having success and vice versa. Sometimes you make desperate decisions when you're struggling. And they can all come back to bite you in the ass. It's why when you see Belichick, you know, when you see, I think Andy reads the great example of this now. there's a consistency to them. You know, it's not just patience, but it's just, I'm not trying to sprint every single day. And listen, I think sometimes when you're younger, we naturally can be a little more impatient. And I think I know this personally speaking, as I've aged, I've become more patience, become more patient. I think a big part of that is perspective and just understanding that not everything is the end of the world.

And not everything has to happen immediately, even in the world we live in in 2020. 23. So when I see that Michael Lombardi report that Matt Safford can be traded, I go, you know, there is a herky, jerky nature. When it comes to the Rams, it's not just less need. You know, they are a Sean McVeigh operation. Everything that happens with them, with their coaches, and definitely their roster, he's signing off on. So when they get rid of Jared Gough, when they sign Alan Robinson, when they trade for Stafford, and then they extend them, He's all behind this, given double thumbs up. So a year later, after they win the Super Bowl and they give this guy a massive extension,

for them to be thinking about trading him, McVeigh already sour on the guy, it's starting to feel like Sean McVeigh has some LeBron James tendencies. I think Sean McVeigh is an excellent football coach, just like LeBron James, one of the greatest athletes of my lifetime. But do any two humans sour on in LeBron's case, teammates? now he's also the pseudo general manager. In Sean's case, his players, faster than those two? That one day they love you, one day they need you,

and the next day they can't wait to kick you to the curve? It's pretty crazy. And listen, it's sports. Some guys have bad games. Some guys have bad seasons. But just last year, Sean McVeigh was pounding the table for Alan Robinson. They gave him $15 million a year. Now they can't wait to get rid of them.

Sean, you know, Matt Stafford, here's the thing. clearly he's got some elbow issues, right? You had him last year, was leading the league in interceptions. The entire league knows that. If you're listening to this on March 10th, in seven days, Matt Stafford is guaranteed if he's on the roster, $57 million. So you're basically giving him $60 million,

anyone who trades for him who has to give him $60 million, guarantee it. We just saw Matt Ryan, who obviously is not as talented at this point in time in his career, but just on the other end making a lot of money and it was a disaster. I don't think there's any team in the league with the concern about his elbow that is trading for him at that price point. But what led, what uncertainty has changed since a year ago today?

And Sean McVeigh has to find a way to be a little more patient with his operation because he just turns on these guys. It gets out there. and then, you know, it just becomes an enormous story. And they're going to get to the point where there's no turning back, you know, and I commended them. Like most people, it worked, trading picks for players, Jalen Ramsey, trading for Matt Stafford, it worked.

They constantly had success. But this constant, just like getting rid of guys and souring on guys is not a sustainable way to operate. You just, especially when you're paying them. large amounts of money because sometimes you're going to get stuck with these players. And I think Sean McVeigh, one thing he has to mature on as he gets older

if he stays as a coach and doesn't leave to the broadcasting profession is to find a way to get a little more patient. Because right now, one thing stopped going well, which as they did last year, this is not going to be a sustainable model. If I was a Jets fan right now, I would be pretty excited.

Because not only does all science point to us getting Aaron Rogers, it feels like we might not even need to give up our first round pick to get them. And this gets back to the Stafford thing. A huge variable in Aaron Rodd... If Aaron Rogers' contract right now was $28 million, the rate, a ton of other teams would be involved. But you're basically giving them $60 million the moment you trade for them. And that's what you're going to have to pay him. And it's a complicated situation. But because of his contract, it makes him actually a little easier for them to acquire. And I had recently a Colt fan

shot me a DM. And he's like, do you think we should just sit where we're at instead of trading up to get a quarterback? Because when you look at all the recent history of teams that traded up to get quarterbacks from RG3 to Trey Lance to Carson Wentz, a lot of them have backfired. And when you've looked at teams that just stood pad, right?

The chargers are a good example. They just waited. Justin Herbert fell in their lap. and now they're doing cartwheels every single day because Justin Herbert's on their team. Hell, even Belichick didn't budge, got Mack Jones, not the biggest fan of, but he didn't have to trade

any assets to get them. Justin Fields and Trey Lance, beside the two picks that were used, traded a total of three first round picks to move up to get those two guys. So when you trade a lot of first round picks for quarterbacks, one, there's no guarantee in football using a first round pick on a quarterback

is ever going to work. The Jets know very well. They just used the number two overall pick on Zach Wilson a couple years ago. It's been a disaster. What's funny is I was on a walk the other day. And I was listening to Daniel Jeremiah's podcast. And for those of you that don't know, I know DJ because when I first got hired with the Eagles, DJ was on the staff.

And then when I became the West Coast Scout, the reason I became it is because DJ had been the West Coast Scout. He took the job with the NFL network. And he was telling me, he was pushing for me to get that job. I begged and pleaded and I got the job and we've been buddies ever since. And I text him, I'm like, because in their podcast, they were talking about Will Levis and Anthony Richardson. I'm like, when you first came into the NFL and that's like 20 years ago, do you think that guys like Levis and Anthony Richardson, what round would they have gone in? Like the fourth?

And he's like, yeah, at best. And obviously the world has changed. And guys, we're talking 20 years ago, those guys are fourth, fifth round picks. And now these guys, both guys are going to be top 10 draft picks. So there's no guarantee with anything with a quarterback. So if I'm a Jets fan, clearly the Packers are moving on. Don't blame them. Time for Jordan Love.

Start a new era. Aaron Rogers 39. Let's just go our separate ways. But this notion that they're a little desperate, well, yeah, that's true. But getting Aaron Rogers, who still is very healthy and has played one, two MVPs in the last three years, like, you just can't do any better unless you're going to end up with fucking Trevor Lawrence or Justin Herbert. And the chances of that happened in the draft, you just thought it was going to happen with Zach Wilson. and it's the complete opposite.

The guy can't complete a pass. I mean, the guy can't throw a slant route. If Aaron Rogers is on your team in the next week, it's got to be one of the great moments, even if it's just a short-term thing, even if it only lasts a year or two, that excitement dwarfs you guys getting Brett four of years ago because of how well this guy is playing.

And if he signs off on this, he's going to have a lot to prove. A lot of people are going to be betting against him. I personally think there's a very good chance of it working. Now, the one concern would be is that one knock last year was like, you know, it took a while for them to get going because he's not great with young players. And it took a while for Christian Watson, who by the end of the season looked really

good, right? And Josh, and not Joshua Dobbs, but Romeo Dobbs, whoever, the wide receiver from Nevada, it just took a little time. Like he kept throwing to Randall Cobb. He is going to be immediately dealing with two younger players, right? The Ohio state wide receiver, Wilson, and Elijah Moore. Now, third and second year guys, but this is not exactly Jordan, Jordan Nelson and Devante Adams in your 7 and 10. So if that to me is the question mark,

will he play in the off season? I would mandate that if I was the Jets, even though you quote unquote can't mandate. It's like, listen, Aaron, no problem giving you a lot of money. No problem making this trade. We're just going to need you to come in OTAs and work with our guys. But if you get them, like I think you immediately have to put the Jets as, you know, a Super Bowl can.

contender, a Super Bowl contender. A lot of unknowns. I wouldn't have them above, obviously, the Chiefs, the Bengals, or the Bengals, but I'd like their chances. I'd like their chances a lot. And last but not least, I think the Gino contract was incredible for a lot of reasons. One, and I talked about this the other day on the podcast, it's cool when a guy, it takes him a little while to fulfill his dreams or fulfill his potential. I actually think it's very relatable. Most of us, no matter what business you're in, don't just strike oil and, you know, immediately in your profession. In pro sports, if you have a 15-year career, you know, by the time you get to year 7, 8, 10,

right, in that range, like it feels like you've been in the league a long time. And Gino Smith came in the league a long time ago, and it took him until last year to have a big time season. And then he got paid. But I think part of the reason Seattle felt very comfortable about giving him $50 million, dollars, which compared to Daniel Jones, he threw double the amount of touchdowns as Daniel Jones. Now, we could argue they got a bunch better receivers, whatever, but still, like, Gino Smith, much more explosive passer than Daniel Jones for $30 million less.

Is it Gino immediately went on record and said, if they draft a guy, I will, I will immediately mentor him and do whatever I have to do. Guy like Gino Smith, and I said this like Alex Smith, they are the ideal bridge quarterbacks. Now, you got to pay them a little more than like the $10 million guy, obviously. But one, you can win with them. Or in Seattle's like win big, probably not, but they can make a wildcard again. No problem. And two, they are great influences on what Seattle's probably going to draft an Anthony Richardson, a Will Levis.

I would put money on that. And that guy is going to be able to redshirt. And that guy is going to be able to watch a guy who has seen good times, got paid $50 million, and seen shitty times, been cut, been made fun of, hasn't been very good. And that guy has not just perspective, but just an understanding of what it takes and can give them a lot of different areas of advice, right? Not just this is what it's like to be a 40 million. You know, what could Peyton Manning really tell a backup quarterback beside how to kick

ass, take names, and print cash? You know, I'm here to dominate. It's not really that relatable to the majority of guys, besides, like, being a good guy. I'm not saying he can't relate, but from a football perspective, most quarterbacks who backed up Peyton Manning couldn't do what he did on the field and could never relate to the wealth and the power he had in the organization. Gino's coming at that from a completely different perspective. It's why I think Alex Smith was an incredible mentor. Listen, having Warren Buffett or Charlie Munger tell you about stocks is awesome. But having a guy that lost it all in the 08 crash and then battled back

to be successful by the end of, you know, the decade and by 2019 had built back up his portfolio. I want to talk to that guy. I want to find out what he did, right? I want to find out about his mindset. Like, there's a lot to be learned there. So I think Seattle not only did the right thing by resigning him, but now is an incredible position to draft a quarterback really high and let him sit and let him learn and let him just kind of figure it out. Now, there's no guarantee that that guy's going to be any good, but he's going to be

in a situation where not only is he nurtured, he gets to watch, but it's not uncomfortable. And any young person, and I say this all the time, think about whatever job you have that day when you walk in for the first time, it's kind of intimidating. You don't know that many people. You don't really know how the day's going to go. You don't really know where the bathroom is. You don't, you know, you just kind of got to feel your way out. Even that first, six months. It's just a feeling out process. And anytime and anyone who's listening to this can relate to like when you meet someone who is in a position of authority who takes you under your wing, how easy it is to become comfortable fast. How easy it is to when I moved to Philadelphia,

I lived in California my entire life, right when I moved there, a couple younger guys on staff who were above me in the pecking order. Still friends with the day, they're crushing it. I mean, they're both of them having a lot of success. And it's just, easier to transition into a new job when you have people to lean on. And I think Gino is going to be that guy for Anthony Richardson or Will Levis. And while Seattle, like to me, Seattle's winning nine or ten games next year, especially when you look at the landscape of the NFC. Appreciate everyone listening.

Have a great weekend. Talk to everyone soon. See you. The volume. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David,

Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and headwriter, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashed. Others say it's unleashed. Leaching Human Potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all,

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