The Ringer NFL Show - Fantasy Futures of Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Jones, and Josh Allen. Plus Conference Championship Winners and Offseason QB Chaos

Episode Date: January 26, 2021

We nominate our winners from conference championship weekend, discuss the fantasy futures of the top players whose seasons ended this week, and look ahead to a likely chaotic NFL offseason. Bills-Chiefs (7:01) Bucs-Packers (24:12) Offseason QB Chaos (37:52) Email us! [e-mail]! Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's episode of the Ring of Fantasy Football Show, we discussed the ageless Tom Brady getting into 10, 10 Super Bowls, and how he's going up against magical Mahomes, which is a clash of Titans. We also go through the 18, 18 teams that might switch quarterbacks this off season. It's just just nuts. We also expose our ignorance about men's gymnastics and try to brainstorm a new name for Turf Toe.

Stick around. Welcome to the Ringer Fantasy Football Show. My name is Danny Heifitz, and I'm here with Danny Kelly and Craig Horlebeck. Tom Brady, patched bomes in the Super Bowl. Dika, give me your thoughts. Go. I think it's a great matchup.

I think it's absolutely freaking absurd that Tom Brady is in the freaking Super Bowl again. But it's also like extremely impressive and it's really cool. I don't know. It's just one of those things where you're witnessing greatness. It's 10th freaking Super Bowl. He's been in a Super Bowl over half of the seasons that he's been in the NFL and healthy. Like it's just, yeah, I'd say that's kind of like the big takeaway. Tom Brady back in the freaking Super Bowl again.

After Tom Brady plays in this Super Bowl, he will have played an 18% of all Super Bowls. That's just so like, it's one of those things that will never, ever be matched. But at the same time, maybe it will by the other guy he's playing in this game, which is, you know, who is Patrick Mahomes, who probably should have, you know, if it wasn't for D. Ford or whoever lining up in the neutral zone like two or two years ago, he probably would have been his third straight Super Bowl. So I think it's definitely a cool storyline from like the all-time goat. to the next go.

I saw someone tweet this. The goat and the kid. Like, get it like a little goat. Yeah, yeah, I get it. It's not like a Billy kid. I think this was a fun fact that we had once. The thing that got me, Jeff Howe tweeted this,

he's a Pats writer. Tom Brady now in healthy seasons has made the Super Bowl more often than Michael Jordan made field goals. Michael Jordan's shooting percentage is lower than Tom Brady. Like 45% or something like that? Yeah, Michael Jordan shot like 48% from the field.

Brady's about to hit 52% on making the Super Bowl when he's healthy. So that freaking blows my mind. But can we, wait, wait, can we also say like it sucks? Like, God damn it? So I'm fine. I'm a Giants fan. I don't care. I have no more Tom Brady demons.

I am complained. You've exercised those demons? Yeah, okay. I'm vaccinated against the Tom Brady illness. That's the only thing you're vaccinated against. Well, the Giants got two shots. Do you guys feel part of me, I'm kind of split because part of me is like, God damn it. I never want Brady to win. But the other part of me is like, it's so historic and it's

something to hate that you almost want it to happen because then it becomes something you can talk about for the rest of time. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Remember when we were talking a couple weeks ago about how we claim we want underdogs, but we actually just want monarchies and rulers? Yes. Like, I think the most boring thing is if a different team won the Super Bowl every year. Like, if 10 different teams won in 10 years, I think that would suck. It almost like dilutes the gravity of the Super Bowl if like some random different team is winning it every year.

I don't know if that makes any sense, but like in my mind, it does. Like, it's really freaking hard to win the Super Bowl. And, you know, if it was almost like a little bit random thing, it would maybe not be as powerful or something like that. So, yeah, I definitely get that. I think, you know, from a completely objective point of view, it's incredible, kind of like what I said before, like you're witnessing, you know, one of the greatest professional athletes ever, literally, you know, do his thing. And I remember when I went to the Super Bowl, two years

ago when they beat the Rams, you know, in the Super Bowl, I went into the locker room and I just, like, Tom Brady walked by me. And I was like, I don't normally like care about this type of saying I was a little bit awestruck just like holy shit Tom Brady just walked past me like it's it was like he's like the kind of guy that's like larger than life and in at the back of my mind I'm like this is annoying saying this stuff because you know it's Tom Brady and like we've been programmed to kind of hate him over the years but like at the same time you know it's just really cool like to see him do his thing again you know he's just he's on a whole different level he's 43 years old Tom Brady is obviously he you know he's technically the best

quarterback ever from a statistical standpoint. Is he the best content sports star of all time? Yeah, I don't want to be a media guy, but this is a gift from the content gods. I can't remember a super duper star who has created more content than Tom Brady in his career. His career is literally the internet era. So I don't think anyone could possibly have created more content. I don't know. Who's the guy who created the marathon by running from one Greek city or the other?

Maybe that had a lot of content back in the day. Because I want Patrick Mahomes to win, but the content wants Tom Brady. win. You know what I mean? There's so, well, the content either way, I was talking to Ben Glicksman, one of our ringer editors, and he gave the best analogy, which is this is like Greek mythology. This is Kronos, who's the King of the Titans, and that's Brady, like, time itself. And then Zeus is rebels against him and is like literally old gods versus new gods, clash of the Titans fighter, winner gets Mount Olympus. It's like, that's what this feels like. Yeah. It's insane.

Yeah. Who are you going to be rooting for in the Super Bowl? Mahomes. Rooting. Well, rooting is not the right word, I guess. I have hard time imagining that when Patrick Mahomes

was on the field, I'll be like, sack him, sack him. I just don't think that that's going to come up in my mind. I just don't see that happening.

So I guess it's the chiefs if I really go deep down. But it's just crazy. So it's, honestly, it feels scripted. It's one of those things I think in some ways

makes sports worth watching. Like these things, the fact that it, we are actually going to get to witness this. It's like if LeBron and Jordan played in the finals. You know, Mahomes isn't that far along yet, but that is very much what this feels like.

It's kind of nuts. And to that point, if Brady wins this, he's like the goat for at least 20 more years. Because the Holmes is the only person in the player in the currently playing that could even be in the conversation to be in the conversation.

And if he loses to Brady, it's over before it even begins. Right. So there's a lot of stakes in the Super Bowl. It's pretty nuts. All right. So with that said, we'll do winners and losers

for each of these games. We'll go winners. We'll look at the guys who made big performances. We'll look at offseason outlooks for the teams are lost. And we're also going to get to the quarterback carousel at the end

because there's, I mean, Adam Schaeffer tweeted this morning that he thinks 18 teams might switch quarterback. So, you know, that's normal. But first up,

let's go Chiefs beat Bills. Mm-hmm. Remember what it was 9-0, Buffalo? Yeah. And no one really had even a carrot in their, you know, in their hearts.

Like, it was one of those things where you expected that the Chiefs would come back, right? Yeah, I mean, you could just, if you check the live betting, that's the best way to tell, like, what the pulse of the nation is. Like, when they were down 9-0, the chiefs were, like, favored by a point and a half. That's so ridiculous. That's amazing. No, it's true, though, because Mahomes, you know, it's funny, the best moment of Tom Brady's career was the 28 to 3 comeback against Atlanta. It's a 25-point comeback. Mahomes did a 24-point comeback last year in, like,

10 minutes against the Texans. One of my winners is multiple, sorry, one of my, we're doing winners and losers. I have a loser here, which is multiple score deficits. Because since 2019, last year, Chiefs came down from 24 in the divisional round. They were down 10, two separate times in the AFC championship last year. They were down 10 in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. They were down nine. Yeah. And then they were down nine now to the bills. It's unbelievable. I think the like the big takeaway from that is like Patrick Mahomes is inevitable or the Chiefs are inevitable. The combination of players on the Chiefs offense. the coaching staff, even their defense

was really good in this game. But for me, the winner, like the clear winner this week was Patrick Holmes, who came off, you know, he had turf toe. Let's not forget that he had turf toe. I did forget for large swaths of the game. I kept remembering himself, he's hurt. It's one of those things where he's, like, running,

and he can barely a little hobble over to the sidewalk. You know what I mean? Like, he looked pained. We need a new name for turftoe, because it sounds so benign, but it's clearly such a hindrance to athletes and it, like, ruins their entire season. I think Devontadams had it,

last year. Wait, didn't you have turf toe? A ripped foot? Yeah, I think I have turf toe. And you're like, oh, this is a real thing. I want people to stop making fun of me. Guys have a sprained, you know, MCL, and that sounds so much worse.

But guys play through that, and they're fine. If you have turf toe, you, like, can't run. Like, it needs to be called something. Turf and toe both sounds so weak. Well, I think the problem is toes are important. Respect the ligaments in your toes. Toes are really important to balance. It should be called something else,

because I feel like everyone's like, oh, he's got a turf toe. While we'll come over the new name for turf toe, we need. a name for when you say something and then the announcers say it right after you. Like when you say something that Tony Ramos is the same thing and you feel really smart, we need a word for that. Please email Ringer Fantasy Football at gmail.com for that and a new name for Turf Toll.

Having said that, Mahomes really good. DK, continue. Yeah, so, you know, coming off of the concussion playing on a bumfoot, goes out and passes for 325 yards and three touchdowns. Like several of his passes were of the impossible variety. And I'm here to tell you, I'm going to make a lot of it. in my life's goal to not let anyone get Patrick Mahomes fatigue.

Like, I'm just going to keep nailing it into your heads. This guy is special. What he's doing is not normal. You know, he's like throwing across his body while the guy's pulling on his jersey, like from the other direction. You know, these no-look passes. Everything that he's doing is incredible.

I saw this stat actually from Nick Wright on Twitter. Patrick Mahomes drives this postseason. Touchdown. Touchdown. Field goal. Field goal. Missed field goal. Missed field goal. Field goal, he was injured on that drive. Password to this game. Three and out.

But the three and out ended on a drop, that Tyreek Hill drop on like a 40, perfect place, 40-yard ball down field. Touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown. Like, zero fuck up. I mean, like, you know, there's messups here and there like in individual plays. But all those drives ended in a score or should have ended in a score probably, especially that one with Hill at the beginning of the game on Sunday. So, you know, what Mahomes is doing, what that offense is doing, even when they're not operating at full beauty or whatever you want to say, you know, I mean, they can like look kind of clunky and they're still really, really dangerous.

And I think that was kind of the case last night. The thing I come back to is just Mahomes doesn't, Mahomes has this smooth clunkiness in a way in that he moves around the pocket. It's not graceful. Like, it's not necessarily ballet. it kind of just looks as half hazard as it really is sometimes. And yet he never really looks like he's trying that hard either. Even when he's scrambling and he's picking up 10 yards and third and 10, it never seems like he's going at 100% effort.

It's bizarre. I can't even know to describe it. And then he's also at this mental level of the game that's matched his physical abilities where he's looking off defenders and he's processing what's happening so quick that there's not really a way to defend when you're in zone coverage and you just pump fake a linebacker that way and then just get to your third read that way. Just what are you supposed to do?

And then he also can make every throw on the field too. He's ridiculous. So I think, yeah, just it's important to remember, like, in all the Tom Brady talk, which is totally valid, like Patrick Mahomes is right there in terms of, he's in his prime right now. The things he's doing as a quarterback are pretty much unheard of. I mean, obviously, I think a lot of people of different generations

probably be like, oh, you just haven't watched no football. But, like, Mahomes, for me, is like the best player I've ever seen playing football. It's not a generation. thing. It's really simple. Here are the quarterbacks who have made two Super Bowls in the first three seasons. It's Mahomes. It's Russell Wilson. It's Kurt Warner. Russell Wilson was

a game manager for one of the best defenses ever. Kurt Warner was obviously Kurt Warner this unique story. Mahomes is the youngest quarterback to make two Super Bowls, period. He's 25. He's going to two. Not to mention, as you said, D.K, if the coin flip and overtime goes

differently, or I think if D. Ford isn't off sides, he's got three Super Bowls in his first three years. And so that's a first place MVP finish, probably a second place this year, 50 touchdown passes, an MVP, Super Bowl MVP, by the time he's 25. And if he gets to two Super Bowls, this is key. I know it sounds a little stupid for people like us to be talking about, oh, Mahomes, goat conversation, Brady. Obviously, Brady's so far ahead. But here's the thing. If Mahomes wins the Super Bowl in two weeks, he's the most accomplished quarterback in America in the league after Brady. He is the most

accomplished active player because Bree's never got more than one Super Bowl win. Brett Farr have never got more than one Super Bowl win. Rothless Bernard. Paine Manning got his second Super Bowl win at 39 years old. Like Mahomes, if he gets one more Super Bowl ring at 25, he'd only need one more to be in the top three ever. The only guys with more than two are Troy Ackman,

Joe Montana, Bradshaw, and Brady. He'd already be top five with two more rings. Yeah, I mean, Romo said it. Romo was joking with Nance on the broadcast. Like if he retired after this year, he'd be a Hall of Famer. Dude, it's true, though. It's really true. Oh, man. Also, how great is it that we get

Nansen Romo for the Super Bowl? Oh, it's so great. Romo's, I, Romo is the absolute best. Romo is the Mahomes of color guys. He's fantastic. I actually agree with that, and I think that NBC gave this contract to Drew Breeze. I don't understand it.

I don't know how Drew Brees is going to be entertaining. Yeah. Bill has been talking his podcast about Philip Rivers. This is the guy, I agree. Because the thing with Romo... I would watch that. Yeah. Romo's such a normal guy.

The thing with Romo is he's famous, obviously, Cowboys, and all that. He's really smart, he gets football and all that. But you can get that from a lot of people, right? Drew Brees is smart and famous and knows football. The difference with Romo is he became famous at a really late age. He went to, like, Eastern Illinois, was a nobody, undrafted quarterback, nobody, back a quarterback, second, third string,

whatever, nobody. And then he becomes the start at like 25, 26 years old. So he's like a developed, a developed normal person by the time he's famous. I think that's why he's so relatable. He's not as guarded as like other people who've been like five-star prospects. It's because we're getting a bit off topic here, but I want to weigh in on the Romo. The thing I love about Romo is not only is he smart and he can like break down and see things that are happening in real time and like, you know, he'll see a play and two seconds later he's like, okay, here's what happened, blah, blah, blah.

Yeah. You know, here's like seven different like things that only like a quarterback could see probably, right? Not only that, but he has so much, like, genuinely. Ernest Zeal for the game. I want to watch the game with him because he's like super excited about it. He thinks it's fun. I actually think Chris Collinsworth has this trait too where he gets legitimately excited when you see cool, fun, like interesting things happen on the field.

And I want to be listening to that guy. I want to be talking to that guy at the bar or whatever when you're watching the game. So I think that's what makes Ramos so good. Not to mention, you know, he's very comfortable and like not awkward and, you know, whatever, all that other stuff that goes into broadcasting, but he also has that zeal that I like. Yeah, I knew Akeman,

I think Akeman kind of needs to be cycled out because when the Scotty Miller touchdown happened, Trey Kman was like, whoa, and I was like, I've never heard Trey Akeman excited about anything. That was the first time. He seems like pretty depressed

about the state of the NFL or something like that in every game nowadays. It's like, he's just like, ah, God, not again. He's just been doing it too long. I don't think he's, I don't think he's, I feel like he's hungover for every game or something.

It's kind of in a bad mood. Yeah. Surly. Okay. Let's talk about actual football players who are played out. Any other winners from the Chiefs game?

Mahomes is good. Congratulations to us for this take. I just want to toss out. He's not a player. He's a coach. Andy Reed. You know, I'm not the most tenured football watcher in the world,

but I just can't remember, I can't remember a time in which I saw play calling be so imbalanced in a football game than the Mahomes, Andy Reed Chiefs. I have never seen more people open in my life.

It's just like your play. playing Madden, and the guy's just better than you, and you're like, I'm not going to win. Like, the plays he's picking are just better than mine. I could close my eyes and try and hit one of them, but whatever he's doing, I'm not. And it really feels like Andy Reid is on another level. That's the thing about Mahomes is that there's stats out there.

He's not throwing balls into tight windows because nobody's fucking guarded. Everyone's open. The whole game. All these touchdowns are like these wide open lobs to people, and when push comes to shove and it, you know, it gets close. Mahomes can still make their throws.

But the shit Andy Reid is doing is next. level. What you just said, though, like, I think is so true and so key to point out, I don't know what the percentage of his throws are that are like this, but it feels really high. Mahomes just fucking lobs passes down the field. He just, like, it's like pitching catch. He's just tossing it, flyers up. Like, you know what I mean? He's just throwing it to the guy down the field. And we always talk about his arm and his rare arm talent. He can throw it through a person's body probably if he wanted to, you know, through their chest cavity, just right clean through it, you know, to be like cotterized on the inside. That's how hard he can fucking throw the ball.

But at the same time, I mean, he just like 90%, it doesn't, not 90, but it feels like he's just fucking lobbing it to a wide open guy down the field. And I think that is exactly like, that speaks to the quality of the play calling. He's, they're just getting guys open. He doesn't have to like force it into a tight window with three guys around him. He doesn't. He doesn't. doesn't have to throw it through a defender or whatever. Yeah, I think that's like the perfect example of why Andy Reid is so good. You know, he has that, he has that weapon in Mahomes, but he's making it easy for him. Oh, and I think we've learned that to really achieve greatness and have a dynasty. You don't need one, you need both. You need Belichick and Brady. Yeah.

You need Reed and Mahomes because there's been guys, I mean, I don't know, take your pick of all of them quarterbacks. Like, they didn't do what these guys were doing because maybe they didn't have the play calling, they didn't have the coach to go along with them. You know how like you can slow a podcast down to 0.8? It looks like the opponents of the Chiefs are on 0.8 and they're playing at full speed. It's just, it's absolutely nuts. Okay, so Chiefs won, they're going to the Super Bowl. We have two more weeks to talk about them.

Let's look at the bills a little bit. I'm just curious, we can run through just the big storylines for this bill's offseason. Obviously, Josh Allen was so much better this season. and he took this leap that not a lot of people saw coming. I mean, Craig, Craig was on him, but I don't think even Craig was like, oh, yeah, he'll cut down his interceptions, even though he'll throw way more passes.

Josh Allen just relearned how to throw and looks amazing. He threw 10 touchdowns his first year, then 20, his second, and 40, his third. And Jim Nance pointed out that that means I guess he'll throw 80 next year. Jim Nance quietly is pretty funny, by the way. We don't talk about Jim Nance. He's getting funnier.

Yeah, he is. He's loosening up. Him and Romo made a joke about technique, and he was like, oh, football technique. Yeah, Nancy's good He's like a fun uncle So Stefan So let's go Josh Allen

Josh Allen's the QB1 In fantasy If you conclude week 17 Which is a very touchy subject among us But we don't have to go into that now Where would you rank Josh Allen Among quarterbacks In 2020

Or sorry, 20201 I forget what year it is Yeah in fantasy Where would you Where would you rank him Just among quarterbacks Second

Mahomes first What do you get first? Allen's Yeah Yeah I think so, you know, obviously the only question is, like, can Kyler Murray continue to do what he was doing early on in the season? Like, that might make me, like, give him a little bit of an edge. But yeah, I think it's Mahomes, Allen.

And then those guys have the highest, like, floor and potentially the highest ceiling. To me, everyone else is, like, way more variable, like, what we're going to get from any of them. Like, Murray is not nearly as good of a passer yet as Josh Allen was this season. What about Stefan Diggs? Obviously, he led the league in receiving yards. I believe he was the first bill to do either of those things. And he did it in his first season as a bill. Wrecked our belief that he wouldn't transition well.

I believe he set the record for receiving yards and catches for any player in their first year on a new team, or at least any veteran on a new team. Is Diggs the number one receiver next year? Is Diggs top five? Where do you put Stefan Diggs? Yeah, I put him in the top five. I would think, you know, especially with Dayball coming back next season, like everything, all systems should be.

you go with this offense next year. I do think, and Craig's going to hate this, but we're probably going to talk about regression to the mean a little bit. And we saw that a little bit with Josh Allen in this last game. But, I mean, I think we're going to be talking about that a little bit. At the end of the day, I'm still going to be

really bullish on this offense overall. I think that they still have, you know, they have the ability to take what they did this year and improve on it a lot. They have, like, more depth coming up at the receiver position, all that stuff. Gabriel, I think, is another guy, Gabe Dave, who could take another jump next. season. So, yeah, I'm definitely really bullish on Diggs going forward. Yeah, in my opinion,

Diggs is the wide receiver two in next year, my early rankings. I think I would, if Rogers is in Green Bay, I think Adams is still number one. And I think Diggs is number two. The regression thing with Josh Allen, did he regress or did he just play a team with a really great defensive scheme? I don't know. He wasn't terrible. I think he just, you know, played a team that was, that schemed him up well. Is that regression or did he just like play a good defense? I think he played a really good defense. I was just ribbing you a little bit there, but, you know, I think. Craig was ripped.

Craig was going to regress. I'm still waiting on my homes to regress. No, I know, right? Well, he did. Well, that's the thing is like he did regress after his 50, whatever, he threw 50 touchdowns in 2018. Do you mean by regression you mean dislocated his kneecap? Well, that is involved in regression. That's baked into regression, yes.

Well, we'll have this conversation at a later day. We have all seen argument whether regression is. You can have a fucking perfect season every season. It's not that. Unless you're the two people in the Super Bowl, which apparently you can. Yeah. Okay, so the bills... Wait, Hyvitz, I want to know what you think about Alan and Diggs.

Where do you rank them? You draft tomorrow. I think that... I don't think I would take Diggs in the first round, which is what matters. I think the reality is that he's a second round receiver to me. So I think that I agree with Dvante's number one. I think Michael Thomas has way dropped off the map. I'm at the point, though, I might take Travis Kelsey over Diggs.

Like, if I'm actually ranking receivers, I might go like... I'm cheating, but Devante, Kelsey Diggs. and I'm just thinking realistically if I have the 10th pick I don't like the running backs who are left and I'm going to draft and then Devonti's off the board I'm like you know at this point I think I take Kelsey over Diggs

honestly it's just it's insane I can't wait to have the discussion about is Travis Kelsey getting too old and he just he's just not age I don't want to hear about age anymore the quarterback of the Super Bowl is 43 years old he said he'd played a 45 like eight years ago we all laughed and at this point

he could play to 50 and it wouldn't even be surprising anymore so we got to stop age is just, you know, it's a number. It's the life in your years. Okay. Flip side, want to talk bucks packers? Yeah. Yeah.

All right. So the bucks beat the Packers. Great. Yes, correct. No. Thank you. Should we just cut right to the heart of this and get to this field goal conversation with Lafleur and Rogers like running into the end zone and you want to just get this out of the way? Sure.

Yeah. How do you guys feel about the Monday morning quarterbacking, the Sunday night quarterbacking of if I were Aaron Rogers, I would have just run into the end zone. I don't know how I feel about everyone second-guessing Aaron Rogers' instincts. Oh, that play? Well, that play, yeah, that play didn't bother me as much. There's a lot to unpack here, right? Because, you know, there's a lot of speculation going around.

We don't know if it's fake news or whatnot. But, like, you know, did Rogers know that they were in four-down territory? Did he not? No, he said that he thought they were going to go for it, and then they kicked the field, and then they decided to kick the field goal. And by the time, he could have had a conversation with Lefleur. They'd already sent bodies onto the field. and they probably would have had it,

he didn't say this part, but they probably would have had to spend a time out to make the switch and at that point it's too late. I'm blown away by that though because I guess I'm just amazed that you could be in that situation, what is it, third and goal at the eight, and Rogers doesn't, is it hearing from Lafleur,

hey, we will do X if we don't. Yeah, it's like, I just kind of assume that at that level of football, you have to know because that's what the scramble's all about. Rogers needs to know, if you pick up four yards here, that's fine because we'll go for it and fourth and four, fourth and eight maybe we won't. Regardless of whether you think they should kick there or not,

Rogers needs to know the decision on third down so we can make the decisions on the play. That's the inexcusable part of the whole thing. You can't just go in on first down and be like, we're going to go forward on fourth no matter what, probably, right? Because if they're on the 10, you might not, but he needed to let him know like, hey, if we're around the five-ish yard line, we'll probably go for it. Yeah. Right? That's the part of this that's nuts to me. The decision to kick the field goal, obviously, I mean, I think it's nuts to me as well.

I mean, just you have Aaron Rogers, you have Devante Adams, you've almost had a touchdown either way. It's just, it was crazy. I think LeFleur was kind of tilting. If you've ever played poker and you just need a fold. He was on tilt. So, tough for him. As for the game, now that that that's out of the way.

Robert Mays, formerly of the ringer, posted a photo of like the exact screenshot of like when Rogers could have taken off. Not sure he would have scored. Oh, I don't think he would have. No, I think he would have gotten four. It depends. He's being chased by Pierre Paul, who's fast.

and he's beat. But the point is, Rogers said in the press conference, I thought there was a guy behind me. You know what? He doesn't have eyes at the back of his head. And you know what? Him trusting his instincts

has worked out pretty well the last 14 years. Yeah, I agree. I don't know what you want him to do. Like, you should have saw the person behind you. It's like,

well, that's his job. Trust his instincts about who's behind him. He didn't think he was going to make it. Right. So, yeah, I think the whole,

well, if he ran it, he would have scored. It's like, he was playing Aaron Rogers football. Don't go wrong. I was also shouting at the TV be like he should run. But I am also very hesitant to be like,

idiot, should have rid the ball. Anyways, the Bucks won this game, and we're bearing a very important story here. Playoff Leonard Fournett. Apex Mountain for Leonard Fournet. Craig, you called it. It's got to be, right? And he didn't even touch the trade of the game. That touchdown run was.

Unbelievable. Life. In that moment was Apex Leonard Fournet. I mean, he's going to be the start. running back at a goddamn Super Bowl. And not only that, because, like, honestly,

the rest of the game, he had, like, 55 yards on 12 carries and that one rush was 20 years. He was fine. Troy Aikman, I love what announcers who haven't announced

a certain player in a long time, like, when they do one thing good, they kind of just, like, overtout them. He's like, well, this Fournet guy, he could do anything. You know, he can run.

You know, he can catch. He's quick. He's powerful. He's nimble. And it's like, wow, I don't, like,

there's not many guys you can say that about. I also love Fournet because even though Brady's on the team, Fournett could pass as the oldest guy on the roster. Yeah. So if you just looked at the pictures of them. Yeah, he could have done that coming out of college.

He could be like, he's a very young-looking 50-year-old man. You know what I mean? It's unbelievable. Whatever his picture pops up, but I'm like, he's 25? What are you talking about? Can we talk about his touchdown run, though?

It was actually legitimate, legitimately impressive. He leaped, leaped? Is it leaped or leapt? High Fitz. Poor cana lo's I don't know. Either way people know

what you mean and that's how I believe language should evolve. He leapt over a guy that was in front of him bounced to the outside showed good speed on that. Then he spun move

back to the inside to break a tackle and then he like went into the air and like rotated. It was like he got hit midair and sort of did like this twirling thing that you'd see from some like a tumbler

and like landed in the end. Like a tumbleweed? No, from like a gymnastics tumbler. Like the pommel horse. A Tumblr account. I was like, what? What's the, what is it? What's the thing where you run, you sprint down the thing, and then you jump and you

hit the pommel horse and you go flying? What's that called? A pommel horse? That event. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. I don't know what that's called spring jumping. It's called pommel horse.

Is it not? Springboard? Maybe it is the springboard. Oh, is that right? Springboard. There are people shouting at this podcast. There's no Olympics this year, so it doesn't matter. We'll figure it out in 2028.

By the way, there was a tweet going around that showed the difference between the springboard. I'm just going to call it the springboard because I don't know what the fuck it's called. In like the gold medal springboard in like 1930 versus the gold medal springboard in like 20, whatever, 16. And the difference is hilarious. The one in like the 1930s, he literally just, he just like put his hands down. It was like a, you know, parkour, how they like they put their hands down and then just keep flying. like over it. He did like a parkour move over it

and then took like three steps on the landing and that was the gold medal. And then in 2016 the guy did like 12 flips and like three spins and landed perfectly without like moving an inch. Like it was like. Yeah, it's like watching Terminator 1 and then like end game.

Yeah. Anyway, what were you even talking about? Lenny Fournett playoff winner. Any other winners from this box game? I want to shout out Chris Godwin because he's kind of been a punching bag because of the drops.

And I get that. Like he's had some pretty egregious drops this week or this playoffs. And he actually did drop a pass in this game. Pretty easy one. But he did make up for it with some amazing huge plays. He had five catches, 110 yards. He converted all five of his catches were for first downs on third down plays. Those are five out of the nine total third down conversions for the Buccaneers this game.

He converted a third and 14 in the first quarter. Three plays later. Mike Evans had a touchdown. He converted a third and nine for 52 yards, that big play down the middle of the field where he leapt up and grabbed the ball. And then the next play was Lenny Fornes touchdowns. So he like set up two of the Buccaneers touchdowns in the first half. And then he also got the game ceiling end around, third and five, 48 seconds left, took the ball around, slid right after the first down, game over, like going to the Super Bowl. So I just wanted to shout out Chris Godwin for being awesome, even though, you know, you know,

I think obviously we have to chalk up. He's been playing with a broken finger or broken hand. Like that's going to affect your ability to catch the football. So, like, I think we can just kind of like let that go. I think it's telling that both Brady and Mahomes had a receiver make a big mistake and then went right back to them, right? Because Godwin had a huge drop. The next play started catching these third downs.

It's right. No hesitation from Brady. Yeah, it's the opposite of one coach's bencher running back who fumbled. It's the opposite. They sit the whole game. And you know, who's really good at that? Andy Reed and the Chiefs because Miko Hardman fumbles. that punt basically hands the bills that they're, I mean, they're only touchdown of the first half,

really. And the next drive, like people are tapping them on the bench. The next drive, Mahomes throws first down to him, gets him back in the game, and then he gets the touchdown. Like, it's the same thing when Cream Hunt fumbled his first career snap. And then they gave him the ball next drive. And it's like, boom, career like 200 yards or whatever he had. It's like the chiefs and the bucks don't let players who make a mistake stew. They, they recirculate them back in to get the confidence up. It's, it's interesting, isn't it? The best teams are doing that, encouraging your players rather than sitting them. Although, having said that, I mean,

Bruce Ariens is the guy who benches running backs, so maybe it's just a Brady thing. Not Lenny. Not Lenny. Never Lenny. By the way, it's vault. Springboard. Springboard is a hole vault.

Springboard is like a pole vaulting? The diving thing. No, just vault. They run down, they jump off the little thing, and then they hit the, I believe it's called a pommel horse, and then they like do these crazy fucking flips and shit. I was going to feel bad about not knowing this, but the last time there was an Olympics in the summer,

like Barack Obama was president. It was a long time ago. So I don't feel bad about not knowing this. While we're correcting ourselves, so I want to talk about turf toe, I found out the actual term. It's metatarsal phalangial articulation due to hyper extension.

Does it metatarsal mean toe? Phalangi means digittoe? Yeah, metatarsopalangial articulation. Yeah. So we just need something better than turf toe. articulate, okay, whatever. Packers lost. Aaron Jones fumbled twice. And in my mind, when I come back to this game,

I don't care about the officiating problem. I don't care of people had issues with that. I'm not really worried about the Lafleur field goal thing. Then it bothers me as Aaron Jones fumbled twice, and Kevin King got roasted. Jones is a free agent. Like, Jones might not come back to this team. I'm curious what you guys think Aaron Jones could do on another team

or whether how important is to the Packers' offense. They should bring them back. DK, how replaceable is he in this offense? Oh, that's tough because I mean, on one hand, very explosive player, very dynamic in the passing game, but

at the same time, you know, for a team that's kind of cash-strapped in terms of the salary cap, they've got a lot of work to do. Obviously, they need to improve their offense in the passing game, I think, like in terms of getting more weapons and receivers and all that. And, you know, obviously,

Aaron Rogers was talking about after game. They just can't bring everybody back next year. To me, if I'm the Packers, I'm not prioritizing running back, especially considering they just picked a guy like AJ Dillon in the second round, who looked really good in the chances that he's gotten this season. So if I'm the Packers, you know, running back is low on my list of priorities. That might be not what, that might be just like kind of like my fantasy and analytics, Twitter, like, seeping into this and like football teams actually seem to value their running backs at a much high. higher rate than people on Twitter do.

But, you know, if I was that team, like, that wouldn't be my high priority. Like, you're not spending a huge chunk of money on a running back. No. And then I think, I mean, my guess is that Aaron Jones will probably want a large contract and could probably get one somewhere else. And Jamal Williams is also a free agent on Green Bay. I could see them resigning Jamal Williams and having him just be the 1B to A.J. Dillan's 1A.

And just kind of swapping Jones out for Dylan and just for a lot cheaper. But Aaron Jones could go to a lot of places. There's a lot of, uh, Seattle. Atlanta, Miami. I mean, there's a lot of teams that could use him. Reading the tea leaves here, these are the thing, obviously, look, teams don't just start thinking about these moves now. They start thinking about them at least a year ahead. I think the fact they used a second round pick, and AJ Dylan speaks volumes about their plans here, and I think that I do unfortunately think they're probably going to move on from him.

I think it's more likely than not. So he was fun, and unfortunately, you know, two fumbles in your last game. If he, it is his last game is really awful way to go out, and he got hurt. So that's a really, that's a terrible way to go out because I think he's a really big he's a great player for them I think he was really popular so it's tough I think that yeah and I think the counter to what I just said the counter to like obviously he had two fumbles he didn't look great but like I think a lot of Packers fans are probably annoyed because they did not try and play more balanced football they had

they just kind of abandoned the run game obviously you're going up against a good run defense but yeah I mean this is their offense the whole year is like very balanced use the play action like do all that stuff very strong run game And it almost felt a little bit like they just went away from it too early, but I don't know. Well, no, here's the thing. Look, I was the person beating the drum that, look, when they played in week six, the bucks just outplayed them. They got a huge pass rush on Rogers. It's a weird game.

I don't think it's going to happen again. Guess what? It was the same game. It was like the same thing happened. They beat them at the line of scrimmage. They got five sacks just like they did in week six. It was 28 to 10 in the third quarter, just like it was in week six. It was like the same game.

So I think that the thing is they just got beat in the trench. They just straight up were out physicaled by the Bucks defense, and I don't blame them for not running the ball. I think that they really had problems protecting Aaron Rogers, and I just did not anticipate that because it turns out they really had struggled to protect him three times this season, really, and two of them were against the Bucks. So that D-Line's unreal. And then on that note also, because I think the games were the same in week six, the Chiefs and the Bucks played earlier this season. Maybe that game will be the same way. I predict Tyree Kill will have 208 receiving yards in the first quarter in the Super Bowl. that's awesome

yeah all right sticking with packers uh off season outlook here devante was the number one

receiver in fantasy next year right no one's assuming things happen but that's that's boilerplate I think the big question for the Packers here

is Rogers I you know it's funny the twist and turns of a calendar year 12 months ago Aaron Rogers is the quarterback in Green Bay

how could he leave they draft Jordan Love and well crap they drafted a quarterback in the first round, it seems even Aaron Rogers went on 10 questions with Kyle Brantz. Like, yeah, I guess I won't finish my career here. You know what I mean? Like, even Rogers didn't know.

Then they played the season. They go 13 and 3, he's going to win MVP. And it's like, oh, well, I guess obviously Rogers is the quarterback again. And then they lose this game. He's in the press conference. And he's just kind of getting all existential. I, correct. Can we play the clip so we have the actual context?

Yeah, but that's a good question. I don't know. I really don't. There's a lot of unknowns going into this offseason now. and I'm going to have to take some time away for sure and clear my head and just kind of see what's going on with everything. But it's pretty tough right now, especially thinking about the guys that may or may not be here next year. There's always change as to the only constant this business. It's really tough to get to this point.

Really, really tough. So with all of that, what do you make of the situation, D.K.? I think it's probably much ado about nothing at the end of the day. Like, that's kind of just my gut. But I want to point out, this isn't just, you know, like us, like trying to, like, make this dramatic or whatever. Like, there was, I saw this from several longtime Packers beat reporters who were all very, like, almost like shook from that press conference talking about how down in

the dumps Aaron Rogers was. So I'm going to, I'll just read off a couple of them. Jason Wilde from the athletic. Aaron Rogers sure sounded like a guy saying goodbye. Matt Schneidman from the athletic. Aaron Rogers fully sounded like someone who doesn't know if he'll be the quarterback here next season. And then he went on to say, Aaron Rogers, more than any athlete on planet Earth, knows exactly what he's saying with every word. He has a purpose with every syllable he says.

He said he's uncertain about his future. He wouldn't say that if he fully felt he'd be the QB here next season, end of story. End quote. Zach Cruz from Packers Wire, about 50. 15 minutes ago, and this is like him saying this in the moment, about 15 minutes ago, I was very sure Aaron Rogers would be a Packers QB in 2021, but I must admit I'm a little less sure right now. So like all these B reporters are taking that and they're basically saying like even, you know, even it's not just like a national media like, oh, he's going to move,

blah, blah, blah, you know, it's these really clued in B reporters that are saying this. So I think there's something to it. It's at least worth considering and talking about he could force his way out if he wanted to. The cap situation is not necessarily ideal for him getting out because they would have to split his cap numbers over the last two years and it would be really bad for them overall, but he could

do it. So, I don't know, it is kind of an interesting thing, especially considering he did just lose to Tom Brady who switched careers late, went to a team that was like built perfectly to like help him win a lot of weapons.

The Packers obviously did not do that drafting his future replacement, a running back, and a fullback in the first three rounds of the draft. Like, these guys, maybe that is like this mistake, this fatal mistake that actually ends up getting Rogers out of there. So I don't know. I just think it's an interesting storyline. I don't think it's going to happen at the end of the day, but it's at least worth talking about. I think it's a bit of media piggybacking. Like, it was a fun thing to say yesterday. Like, I don't know, the whole like Rogers is so conscious about every syllable he says.

It's like, okay, so is every fucking superstar. You don't take Lepar. Ron James is conscious about everything he says. I mean, I think Rogers was doing a smart job by basically putting all of the blame on Matt LaFleur. I mean, Rogers got the ball a bazillion times after three Brady interceptions, didn't score, didn't exactly have the hottest second half. I think he had like five completions in the second half or something like that. I think this was just smart, media savvy Rogers kind of being like, I'm going to be cryptic here. I'm going to put some blame on my coach. Talk about that final, you know, series.

I think he's going to be in the Packers next year. I agree. I think it's important to dissect. Those reports are saying it sounds like Rogers doesn't know if he'll be back. There's a huge difference between him not being told he'll be back and difference between him wanting out and a difference between they won't bring him back. I don't equate Aaron Rogers not being told you're our guy with, they want to get rid of Aaron Rogers after 13 three season where he won MVP. I don't think they're going to get rid of him.

I don't think they have any reason to get rid of him. I think he's just upset because he doesn't know and that he knows TikTok the Jordan Love clock is ticking and he's just upset about that as anyone would be in his situation. So I don't think he's going to go. TikTok, the Jordan Love clock is ticking. That was pretty. That was fancy.

No love is lost. But here's the thing. The reason is we don't have to manufacture anything about Rogers because there's like 18 other quarterbacks who are like my switch team. So like here's the thing. A thing that got buried this weekend because of the timing was that Adam Schafter reported that Matt Stafford and the Lions have

agreed to part ways, which is a strange way to go about a trade offer, but whatever. Apparently, Stafford approached the lion's owner Sheila Fordhamp and asked for a trade. I don't blame him. Twelve years, no playoff appearances. You can make it that whatever you wish. But that's just one domino. So Stafford seems like he's going to go. And then obviously there's these Deshawn Watson reports that he wants out that has been going on forever. And that's just two. So again, Schaefter tweeted this week, he thinks that his over under for quarterbacks changing this offseason is 18. And he says there's

basically only 10 quarterbacks locked into their starting job. Ten of three. 30. Holy shit. Ten of 32 quarterbacks are locked. Wow. So he's called it unprecedented. So here's what I did. I went through.

I just made buckets of teams of how likely they are to change their quarterback this off season. You want to just go through these and we'll talk about them? Yes, set the table. All right. So we'll start with the easy ones, the ones we know. Teams that are definitely in need of quarterback. The Saints. Drew Brees is retiring.

Probably go to NBC. We think it's probably Taysim Hill replacing him, right? I don't think it's going to be Jamis. seems to be Tase. Who knows? The Colts, Philip Rivers retired, they got Jacoby Percette, we'll see what happens there.

The Bears, hilarious. Tribusky, they're like, fine, let him go. He played just good enough they're going to think about it. They somehow kept their GM and coach to this offseason, who are the people invested in Trubiske.

I have no idea. Either way, it's a disaster. The Patriots, Cam Newton was on a one-year deal. I feel like he won't be back. No. Washington, I mean, obviously, they cut Haskins,

Alex Smith is old. They needed a guy. And then the Panthers, Matt Rule, their head coach was very wishy-washy about Bridgewater. He said he needed a great office season. The Panthers are probably in the list. And then the Lions, obviously. I would say maybe the Panthers are

maybe not a team that's definitely in need. Maybe that if we're like making nits, we put them in a different category. But overall, I think I agree with everything else. Okay, we can put the Panthers in. So teams that might need a quarterback. This is where it gets interesting. Yeah. The Jets.

Darno. I want to linger here for a second. This situation has changed drastically twice over the last five weeks because it was like pretty cut and dry for a while. They'll probably get Trevor Lawrence if they get the first pick and then they'll trade Donald. Then they lose Lawrence and they have the second pick

and now they have to evaluate what do you want to do here. But they'll probably still take Justin Fields or whoever second pick trade Donald. And if you talk to people who know things, the number one destination that all the smart people kind of point out for Donald is the 49ers because basically Donald's skill set that was completely an utterly weight.

did into Jets would be perfect with Kyle Shanahan in the 49ers. And so that was a really popular kind of out their thought. Here's the thing. The Jets just hired 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Sala, and he's bringing with him Shannon's offensive coordinator, Mike Lafleur, who's the younger brother

of Matt Lafleur, who's the Packers Head Coach. So instead of sending Donald to San Francisco, the Jets just brought San Francisco to Sam Donald. And I think that there's a real question here of, after all this, would you rather draft Justin Fields and get like a third or second rounder for

Darnold or keep Sam Darnold and trade that second pick away and get some picks and build an actual team with a real offensive system. After all this stuff, I think it's super possible they keep Sam Darnold on this team. Wow, I'm kind of sold on that. There was a report too, I think. I apologize for not remembering where exactly it came from,

but that the new coaches Robert Sala and Michael Fleur are, high on Darnold, or at least they have confidence that they can turn his career around. If I'm the Jets, I'm probably taking Fields. I like Fields a lot, and I think a lot of people like Zach Wilson a lot. So like one of those two guys and just kind of like clean slate it, you know, I just feel like Darnold probably be better off with a change of scenery. I think it might just be better for all parties involved.

However, yeah, I mean, if you can get like another first, another like second, third, whatever, like, you can get a lot for number two overall. If you can pick up some franchise cornerstone type players with those picks and continue to kind of do what you're doing and changes. And obviously, I think they brought Sala in because he's like a change your culture type guy. He's like a badass, like really, really passionate. Yeah.

And so, I don't know. I think there's definitely an argument for both. I would lean towards just taking fields and clean slating it, but I don't think it's cut and dried what they're going to do for sure. I think there's an argument to undo the same Darnold trade. They traded three second rounders to move up three spots and get Darnold. And I think there's a chance now. If you could move down three spots, get three second rounders or a first rounder and put them around Darnal, I think it'd be interesting.

Anyway, so the Jets are probably in the bucket, but they might not be. Other one, this is the hilarious one is the Texans. I mean, this is nuts. Obviously, they don't want to get rid of Dishon Watson, but there is, this to me isn't even football. And I understand there's a whole thing of, like, the NBA and like this is player empowerment coming and, like, Deshawn wants out. It's not even that to me. This is like Greek mythology. This is like, this is a tragedy of cutting off your own nose to save your face or whatever the metaphor is.

And you just make so many mistakes. You're into mythology in this episode. I really love mythology. But it's like you just keep making mistakes to cover up your previous mistakes. And then this is like the grand finale of like the thing you've been trying to preserve the whole time. Now you're going to have to trade away Deshaun to recoup all the picks that you just got rid of. And now you're going to be back to where you were before you drafted Deshaun Watson. the first place.

Yeah. I can just see, I can just see Shea Serrano getting angry thinking about like this whole scenario. It's just unbelievable. Texans fans don't deserve this. This is, this whole situation sucks for them,

you know, for the whole organization, for the players that are still there in the organization. I still can't get over that. They were up 24 to zero in the Chiefs last year. And then it all fell apart. Life comes at you fast. Oh my God.

Life comes at you fast. I want to shout out Well actually I think there's only really three teams That can make an offer for Deshawn At least in my mind Obviously many teams could make huge offers But realistically I feel like it has to be the Jets Or the Dolphins, the top two

Because they have multiple first round picks And they could each put a quarterback in The Jets could put Donald in The Dolphins could put two in I have no idea of either those teams Are interested or how interested they are And getting rid of But those teams don't have to bankrupt all their first rounders

To get Deshawn Because they have so many first rounders the Seahawks somehow got two first rounders for Jamal Adams and then the dolphins are still pulling in the Texans' picks. It would be hilarious if the Texans had to trade Deshaun to get their picks back. But either way, I feel like those two teams are the frontrunners, right? Yeah. Who's the third?

So shout out Riley McAtee, your editor, who wrote a piece for the ringer.com. You can check it out on Tuesday, where he ranked all the possible offers for Deshawn and he threw out one potential crazy one, which is the best one on the table. Would you, Dika, I got a question for you. Yeah.

What if the Jaguars offered the first pick for Trevor Lawrence for Deshawn? Straight up. Oh, that is a really difficult question. It's like a bird in a hand versus two in the Bush type of deal. I think, oh, man. If you're Jacksonville, you do it. I think it's the show. Now, here's the thing.

The caveat is this is probably not real because they're division rivals. So it seems nuts that this would ever happen. But it's still like a pretty crazy exercise. Would you rat? Deshawn's 25. Lawrence is what, 21? Like, who would you rather have? I feel like I'd rather have to Sean.

Maybe. what the fuck it's not even close you know how many first round pick quarterbacks flame out Deshawn Washington is generational talent you would do that immediately if you're Jacksonville and that's how I feel

I don't know I think it's closer than you're saying but I think at the end of the day I side with you like Watson is a proven superstar in the league Lawrence is supposed to turn into the next he's like a year older than Joe Burrow you can play for 20 more years if he's on the TB 12

here's the deal here's the difference one big difference anyway is Lawrence gets that five-year rookie contract where you're seeing a shit time of money. I'm done with the rookie contract thing. I'm so over it. I'd rather have a good quarterback. It's a legitimate thing that you have to read.

I'd rather have a good quarterback at this point. I feel like the rookie contract thing is real but then at the same time. I'll be honest. Probably. All right. So let's keep rolling here. So teams that might need a quarterback,

the Broncos. Drew Locke. All right. Was he just terrible or was he hurt? Like, let's run it back. No. No.

I don't think he's very good. I desperately want Matt Stafford to get traded to the Broncos. Oh, that didn't my dream of Denver. Yeah. If anything happens this off season, like 18 teams changing fucking quarterbacks, I just want Matt Stafford on the Broncos. That's all I ask. That's a good call because it's a year or year too late because John Elway just handed over

the reins for the Broncos. But like Elway is the guy who'd be like, yeah, Stafford, hell you do it ever. Like he would finally get. Dude, they spent the last two, three years building up this offensive skill positions. They've got no fan. Jerry Judy. Corlin Sutton, KJ. Hamler. They even got Albert O, who's really an interesting, like, potential, like, he's like a four-four of tight-in.

I think they're the perfect landing spot for a guy like Stafford who's proven. You know, they have this, like, support system around him where he can excel and he can get, and like, from a fantasy point of view, which is obviously what I'm most worried about. Like, they could, he could unlock Judy. He could unlock fan and, like, really get this offense going. So that's really what I want this off season, if anything happens, is Stafford to go to Broncos. That's a really fun one. Yeah, that's a good one, D.K. Okay, so next up, the other one, the Falcons.

I think that there's a real sense that the Falcons might blow it up. They have new coach, new GM. Matt Ryan is, I mean, old. In my opinion, the single least interesting player who's been relevant of the last 15 years. Like, even Andy Dalton is more relevant than Matt Ryan. I mean, for a guy that almost won a Super Bowl, do you know anything about Matt Ryan? You know one thing? no

can you remember can you remember any interview with Matt Ryan I don't know what his voice sounds like I don't know anything about him I don't know if I should reveal this he was the MVP of league

hyphids he was the MVP about Matt Ryan anyways the point is I think that if they moved on it would be fine Matt Ryan is the perfect and bottom of the Falcons

to be honest but anyway I think that one they could totally be looking for new one the 49ers really interesting one they can cut Jimmy Garap and because the salary cap

is like nailing smoke to a wall. It's like it would cost them like nothing, like three million bucks or whatever. I think they should. I don't think Jimmy's very good. I think they need to make it upgrade. I think the Niners on the list. The other one, Craig, I'm curious. The Steelers. Do you think, first of all, do you think Rathsburg or retires or not? I don't. I think he's going to come back. Yeah, I thought that that was the report anyway that he's coming, he's planning on playing again. He said he, I'm not quoting, but he basically said, I'm going to talk to God and then my family and then the Steelers in that order. I don't know

if he's done with that process yet. Okay. He hasn't gotten back. God, God hasn't gotten back to yet? I don't know. I'm not, I'm not, they didn't see me on the conversation. You're not going to take the bait on that one, High Fitz. No, I think you do whatever he wants. I don't know. People can ask, whatever they want. Fair. Fair. I don't know who

I want on the Steelers. I kind of wanted Sam Darnold to be honest, but we'll see what happens with the Jets. But I want Ben to retire, which is kind of sad, but I do. It reminds me of when Eli had to go and Giants fans didn't want to say it. It's time. But like Eli had to go.

and you can talk about it privately amongst yourselves with the Steelers, your fellow Steelers fans, but it's hard to say to other people like, yeah, no, like Ben's done, but he's done. Like, it just doesn't, I'm curious if Randy Fickner, the offensive coordinator who's fired, if he just was doing a bad job,

or they had to just move mountains to not pass the ball in certain ways because of Rothesberger. But the Steelers with a mobile quarterback who can throw more than 25 yards downfield, I think would be a very interesting offense. Craig, would you rather have Fitzmagic than Rathusberger? Wow. Probably.

Are the Steelers better with Fitzmagic than they are with Rothsch? I think Stafford's the guy for Pittsburgh. I think his toughness. I mean, that would be great too. That would be great too. Personality-wise, Stafford is just such a tough dude

that I think that Pittsburgh fans would freaking fall in love with the guy. I feel like there's a lot of love for Matt Stafford in the past month. Detroit fans love Stafford. Lions fans love that guy. I mean, all seriousness, he took them from a joke to,

mediocre, which doesn't get you glory, but like, it's pretty hard to do. Like, you didn't make them a Patriots, but they're not like a joke anymore. And he's so young. He's 32 years old. I feel like he's been 32 for five years. Yeah, I think Stratford. Wilson's age. Staff, wow. Stafford and Pittsburgh's my choice. Okay, rolling along, the other one, the Rams, which is not quite the Rogers level thing,

but one of those things where it would not have been a question until Sean McVeigh declined to endorse him and then had a chance to clarify and also declined to, endorse him and then again. Double down. And then, I don't know. And then when that happens, I usually feel away, but I usually want to see how like the very plugged in people respond to the situations, the Schifters, the Peter Kings, how they assess that.

And especially I think Peter King really was like, you know, look, Sean McVeigh had his chance that means something. Like, he didn't do it. I think that the Rams are in a weird spot because Gough has this huge contract, which McVeigh, you know, was very much a part of helping Gough get that deal. I think it's where they want out. But I do think if the Rams had a chance to improve the quarterback spot they would. So I think it's really possible. And I think there's a bit of a window here with the Rams and perhaps McVease sees that, you know, with his defense and everything

he's got going. They are really kind of one quarterback away from maybe making a big splash. Okay. The other one, and I think this is the one that is getting buried by the 16 other more plausible scenarios. I think the Raiders. I think John Gruden gets bored really easily. And Derek Carr just is fine. And I think they only, he's like two and a half million in Deadcap if they get rid of them. I could see Derek Carr. I don't know why. Maybe it's because he's like game managery. I could see him going to Washington.

I feel like that would really make sense. Oh yeah. I could see that. That's interesting. Okay. And then teams that are probably not changing quarterbacks, but we have to talk about. Packers, I don't think it's going to happen. And then the other one's Dallas, Dak Prescott, which is like the biggest one coming into the season. And now we've completely forgotten about it because we haven't seen

since October. But I think there's just the assumption he's coming back, I think he's coming back. Is that a dumb assumption to make? Or is there any way they let him out of the building? I don't think so because I think that the way he got injured, I think made the whole negotiation thing a lot more emotional, quite frankly. And Jerry Jones paid for this team to be a fantasy football owner.

Like Jerry Jones, like, he picks the jocks and socks, as he would say. And I don't think that he did this to let that Prescott go. Like, that's just not how he wants this team to go. So how he'll be going. And then, hi, I see one more team in here. Why is this team here? So here's the thing. We just went through.

How many teams did we just go through? We discussed two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve, fourteen, seventeen teams. We just hit. You should change quarterbacks. More than half the league. You know what we didn't fucking mention? The New York football giants are not on this list. Your New York football giants.

The giants who should be as willing to ditch Daniel Jones as anybody seem like they're going to hang on to Daniel Jones. And I'm losing my mind. How are they not on this list? Go get to Sean. Go get anybody. Get me out of this, my relationship with this kid. I don't want to be rooting for Daniel Jones anymore, man. It is Senior Bowl week, High Fitz.

Senior Bowl kicks off on Tuesday, which means we're two years removed now from Dave Gettleman falling full. What is it? What did he say in bloom and love? Well, I don't even actually know what the actual words he used, but it was something kind of creepy. you say head over heels full

off the top of my head I'm like full in bloom love with Daniel Jones at the senior bowl even though Jones like I was looking back at my nose he said he said he just looked it up I was in full bloom love weird thing to say

and you know what the most upsetting part about the Daniel Jones experience is it's the same shit he was doing a Duke it's not like any of the problems he has in New York are new it's oh he just seems to really not have any pocket awareness and he just turns it over at a ridiculous rate. That's what he did with Duke in the ACC.

Why do we think he's going to get better? Oh my God. I just, I think Josh Allen really fucked things up for bad quarterbacks and GMs because everyone's going to think that what if Daniel Jones can become the next Josh Allen. Everyone thinks you're that guy who can turn around. This is the coaching syndrome.

It's like we all, everyone views their sphere of light, the world through their sphere of life. You know, everyone in the media thinks, you know, the world can be solved by like a polarized media environment. Coaches think everything can be coached away. That's why Sean McVeigh signed Blake Bortles. It's what John Gruden signed Nathan Peterman.

They look at those guys and like, well, the coaching must be the issue. I can coach them and make them better. And that's, you're so right. They're going to look at a flawed prospect. Like, well, he's got the physical tools so, you know, we can fix all his mental habits. And like, no, it's really hard. Mind you comp for Daniel Jones coming in, Hyfitz. Do you remember?

No, I probably blocked it out of my mind. It's like behind the firewall. Oh, his Bortles. Bortles, I hate myself The turnover thing That was the reason I did the Bortals is Toolsy You know big

Looks like looks the part Has the tools Turnovers are a problem So the thing looks the part has the tools But bad I mean Darnold It probably fits into the same category here too Well no Josh Allen

Trubisky Daniel Jones and Bortals All of one thing common to me which is They expand the genre Of turning the ball over Like I see them do it in ways I've never seen it. It pushes the boundaries

of what I thought it could be. And Alan has escaped that. And Alan's actually was like, I'm going to spend my whole off season actually changing how I throw because I have a growth mindset. And these other dudes, maybe they do too.

I don't know what they're doing. But I just, I feel trapped in a way that when Eli Manning, I never had that problem. This is all new for me. Yeah, you were really perhaps in bottom three fan football

situation. Because at least the other teams are talking about it. At least you're like, who should the quarterback be? The Giants just like, I guess we're going to roll it back as more than half the league

is thinking about switching the quarterback. The Giants are like, mm-hmm, it's like this is fine dog, just chilling in the burning room. Jones has flashed at the very least. That's the problem. He has been good enough.

See, he's the real Trubisky. The Bears, I don't think Trubisky, I don't think Trubisky played well enough at the end of the season for the Bears to hold on to him. Yeah, no, at the end of the season,

he was better. And I don't think he played well enough, though, for the bears to fall into it. Jones has played well enough to convince the Giants he's the guy. But I have not seen enough improvement from Daniel's... And here's thing, if he becomes great an MVP candidate and people throw this back

at me, I would be overjoyed. I would love nothing more. You're rooting for that. Shower it. Just shower me with it, yeah. Don't see it coming. Okay. I think that's all we got. That's all we got. Before we go, I want to tease the ringer NFL

draft guide coming out on Wednesday. 27th, D.K. Talk about it. Yeah. So I've been doing, I've done this now. This is my third year doing the ringer NFL draft guide. We're going to have eventually 100 prospect breakdowns, full scouting reports, player comps, all that stuff. Starting out with 32 this week. We're going to have mock draft.

We're going to have, eventually we'll have team needs as we get closer to the NFL draft. But since there's no combine this year's, the senior ball is weird. You can definitely dig into that draft. guide and kind of start getting an idea of who's going to be in the first round he literally scouts every single player the draft guide it's like you can view it on your phone it is like the most beautiful product dkays scouting guides are really funny you did compare dwayne has bansansbergh this week's steelers signed has uh haskins so there you go slow-footed big big bodied fella yeah and um also the draft guides all the draft guides the ringer makes are so

aesthetically pleasing you could just peruse it for hours and hours and also this kind of uptales into our offseason plan. We can just tease it a little bit. We're going to dip our toe into the dynasty waters. I mean, we have Danny fucking Kelly, the draft guru with us. Obviously, we're going to use him if he's at our disposal. So, yeah, we're going to do some dynasty stuff, maybe start a ringer league. We're still working out what exactly we're going to do.

But yeah, offseason content, we're not going to be going to be a lot of draft. It's not just going to be dynasty. We're also going to be talk drafting. We'll be talking teams and offseason content. We'll look at free agency. We'll look at the draft. It's going to be a lot of fun. Maybe some trivia.

Who knows? Maybe trivia. Yeah, let's just do it. A lot of D.K. guessing prospects heights. I want somebody to do a draft guide for the ringer staff. That'd be really fun. Scouting reports?

Yeah, I just want like a full run. That could get bad quick. I don't know if we want that. Okay, maybe not. Well, as long as there isn't like anonymous leaking to the scout media. To like people fall on the draft. That would be pretty funny. Late on deadline.

Editors are not real high on this guy. editors around the league Question is his heart You know his motivations Not really reliable Character issues Like he files his stories With too many characters

Bring smelly lunches to work We don't like it Well Put fish in the microwave It's a son of a bitch Well that's not a problem I don't think I've seen a co-worker in years That's true

That's true Anyway let's get the hell out of here Thank you DK Thank you, Craig. Check out DK's draft guide, which will be available at NFLDraft.orghum. Yeah, early Wednesday, the 27th. Boom.

Thank you, Lauren. Lauren. I'm going to say, thank you, Cole Beasley. He's a rapper. Oh, wow. Cross-over. He played with a broken leg. Leg.

Yeah. I couldn't remember what it was broken. Something was broken, and he's been playing on it. Now his heart's broken, but it's better than because we thank Colby. All right. See you guys on Friday. Today.