The Ringer NFL Show - Which NFL Teams Need a QB? Plus, Pete Carroll to Vegas and the Endless Jerry Jones Saga.

Episode Date: January 29, 2025

The guys briefly check in on the latest coaching news around the league, including the Cowboys' new HC, Pete Carroll’s return, Liam Coen’s switcheroo, and more (1:43). Next, they run through all 32 teams to determine which ones are the most in need of a quarterback, diving into what the Vikings should do with Sam Darnold, Anthony Richardson’s shaky status as a starter, Shedeur Sanders vs. Cam Ward, and much more (19:25). Later, they guess whether someone is a character from ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’ or a Coachella act (1:17:53). Check out our 2025 Ringer NFL Draft Guide here! Email us! [e-mail] The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck Social: Kiera Givens Producers: Kai Grady and Carlos Chiriboga Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the fall of 2014, a group of hackers pulled off the biggest Hollywood heist of all time. They broke into computer servers belonging to Sony Pictures and released hundreds of thousands of top secret documents. The attack would cause an international incident, upend thousands of lives, and changed the movie industry forever. From Spotify and the Ringer podcast network, I'm Brian Raftery, and this is the Hollywood hack. Listen on the big picture feed. Welcome to the Ringer Fantasy Football Show, AKA the Ringer. NFL draft show. My name is Danny Kelly and Craig Horlebeck.

And today we are answering a simple question ahead of the NFL off season. Who needs a quarterback? We are literally going to go through all 32 teams and figure out who actually needs a quarterback this off season. I put my hand out for signal that the Pittsburgh Steelers need a quarterback, but we'll get to that. Are you talking about pro bowler, Russell Wilson? Oh my God. The public is the dumbest part of the NFL. We just get rid of it.

Go get to pro bowler Tyler Huntley while we're at it. It went, the pro bowl actually, this point is like an insult that you got the pro bowl label because that means you didn't turn it down. I know. Correct. Joe Burroughs going though. But yes, for those of you who are unaware, Russell Wilson was named a pro bowler because Josh Allen dropped out.

So was Drake May. That, he played, at least he played well. He played promising for a rookie. Let's put it that way. The pro bowl is a joke. So we're going to get through just who needs a quarterback. But first, we want to get these coach hirings that we. frankly, we're not able to get to because they happened over the weekend.

And then the conference championships happened. And we were like, I don't think we want to hit, like, Liam Cohen to the Jaguars after like Chief's Bills. You know, it's kind of like, you know, keep your drugs separate sometimes, uppers and downers. So let's just go through these. Starting with, honestly, something that's kind of crazy that happened here, which is, DK, the Raiders hired Pete Carroll to be the head coach of the Las Vegas.

I love it. I was doing my mock draft, by the way. And I was like trying to figure out who to give to the Raiders. I was like, wait, who is their coach? I completely had forgotten because the news, it was like a news dump time. I don't even remember when they announced it, but it was just like,

there was so much other stuff going on. I almost like completely forgot. This one feels pretty weird. I think this feels the weirdest out of all of the coaching hires. There's something funny about, so Pete Carroll is now the oldest coach ever, right? The oldest head coach ever. It's 73 years old.

He's older than Belichick. Older than Belichick. And it's hilarious because he's like not, it's not like 73-year-old Pete is joining a franchise that's like ready to go right now. Like this is a team that need, like he's coming in with no quarterback, not a top two pick ready to get a quarterback,

not a roster that's like ready, really to win and like front office disarray. Like it's like this is like a long time rebuild. I feel like that's coming in Vegas. And it's funny that the oldest coach in the league is stepping in to do that. It's funny for a lot of reasons because it's also kind of like the anti-Belichick in a way where Belichick was like,

I'm not going to just take anything. And Pete Carroll was like, I'll probably take anything, man. And, like, I think, ironically, Pete Carroll probably knows better than Belichick how hard college probably is with NIL and everything. But in a weird way, it makes sense, though. I mean, I actually think this is a huge one for the Raiders. Yeah.

Because, like, it's a huge legitimizing hire. You're like, wow, Pete Carroll's on the Raiders. All right, Raiders. Legitimate. I was talking to Austin here at the ring and he was like, there's an adult in the room. It's like they have, you know what I mean? It's like, you know, depending how you feel about John Gruden as like a full-fledged adult.

It's like, it's been like 30 years since the Raiders have had an actual adult running. the team. And like there's, there's a, I think that there's a week to week as D.K., as you would say, in Pete Carroll's book, competitiveness that the Raiders will be able to bring. I don't know about this season. Competitive caldron. Yeah. It's like, frankly, like the Raiders were primed to get their asses kicked six times a year by Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs in this division. And now it's like, okay, like this is a real, it's, at least not a punchline right now. I don't know if the Raiders are going to compete ever with Pete Carroll. But I mean, you know, what's his book called, D. DK, win forever. Yeah. Can I, can, can I, can, can I, can, can I.

I ask a stupid question that as not really an NFL historian, I'm fully prepared to be incorrect, but this is something that I feel like a young, stupid podcast that would do is just throw out a ridiculous claim. That's probably not right. Is this the most iconic coached division ever now? Yes. That's actually, I think, a good take. Well, number one, let's give thanks and let's give praise to the Raiders for hiring Pete Carroll. So now we have another Carol Harbaugh potential for a rivalry here. The Carol Harbaugh rivalry being rekindled is so great for the NFL.

It's so great for fans. What was the deal? Because outside of the Pacific Northwest, this has been forgotten. What was the deal? Outside of the Pacific Northwest with like the fish tossing where only people know about that

in the Pacific Northwest. What was going on? Space needle fish toss. Dude, almost 50% of Europeans that listened to the show knew that what the fish toss were. I just think they all lived in Seattle at one point. They put their mics toward their mouth.

But also, you guys missed it. I pulled a Collinsworth. I called it fish, fish tosh. Fish Josh. Pass rush. Mike, they're just tossing that fish back in the

I want to see Josh Allen throw the fish, Mike. Wait, so what happened with Pete Carroll and Harbaugh? I forget who was met. I love that you put, what's the deal with Harbaugh and Carol?

Because at one point when they were both in college, Harba was at Stanford. Carroll was at USC. Oh, yeah. Harba, like, ran the score up on USC and then, like,

just kept going. And I don't even know. They tried to score late in the game. It was like a less than a minute. I can't remember the exact details. But it was basically, like,

they were just running the score up. And after the game, Carol came over to Harbaugh, goes, what's your deal? Which was like, I mean, it's like, I don't believe that any coach should feel bad about running the score up personally. But it's a very funny question to ask an opposing coach after a game is like, what's your deal? Also ahead of the time, because frankly, isn't that all we all want to know about Jim Harbaugh? What's your deal? I mean, it's a really meta, like, big picture question that a lot of people would like to know, what's Harbaugh's deal? But at the time, it was, you know, caught on camera.

And I don't think Carol, I can't remember. I don't think he made a big deal out of it afterwards. It was just kind of like a spur of the moment thing. But ever since then, there's been a pretty strong rivalry. And then, but obviously when Pete Carroll went to the Seahawks, the Seahawks 49ers had, you know, at least from my point of view, one of the best rivalries of that era. Oh, yeah. Two amazing defenses, two good offenses. The NFC championship game, the Richard Sherman, Michael Crabtree stuff, like the Helen Kaepernick, the NFC championship games, Legion of Boone.

Every single one of the games was so good. There was so much bad blood between the two of them. It was so awesome. It was so much fun to be a part of. So I'm just glad that's back, number one. But yeah, when you add in Sean Payton, who's won a Super Bowl, you add in Andy Reid, who is, you know, and even Bill said it, like, encroaching on Belichick in terms of, like, all-time great coaches. Like, if he keeps this up, if he keeps getting Super Bowls, he's going to be in that air. I mean, Andy Reid has now made 11 conference championships as a coach.

I would say these are four, are these four first balance? Hall of Fame coaches? Maybe not Harbaugh? Maybe not Harbaugh? I don't think, yeah, I don't know. If football was like basketball where there's no pro or college, it's just a basketball hall of fame,

Harbaugh absolutely would make the football hall fame because he spent 10 years at Michigan that won a championship undefeated. If Harbaugh wins a Super Bowl with the Chargers, he will be because he'll be the fourth coach all time to win a Super Bowl and a national title. I mean, that's the funny part is Pete Carroll. It's like, if you say Pete Carroll's the worst coach in division,

that's incredible. But then you look at Sean Payton. I mean, again, the Broncos is at 90 million dead money. and Sean Payton brought rookie Bo Nix to the playoffs. So, I mean, yeah, this is an absolutely insane, insane division. And frankly, like, that is why I think the Raiders. And Tom Brady did a good job because, like, if you have the wrong coach, you're going to get walloped.

Real quick, it's kind of weird that Tom Brady hired Pete Carroll, isn't it? Like, imagine going back, never mind the tuck rule game and saying Brady's going to buy a piece of this team one day. It's like going to the Search Super Bowl when R Us through that pick and be like, not only did this just happen to you, but, like, Tom Brady's going to hire Pete Carroll's head coach one day. It is weird. It is weird, I feel old, I guess.

but yeah, that's a good call, Craig. This is definitely the best division with coaches ever. I mean, frankly, this is probably half of the top eight division. Half of the top eight coaches in the NFL are in this division probably. I saw this stat from Patrick Dardy the other day. Pete Carroll has four losing seasons and 18 years in the NFL. That doesn't even count what he did at USC, which is create dynasty. I don't know.

Let me point you to Mike Tomlin, buddy. That is true. The further I get away from Pete Carroll in terms of Seahawks, coach and Seahawks fans that kind of like got sick of them over the years for some reason. It's like you're too close to it. Craig,

you're probably going to this a little bit. You just kind of get sick of an all time. One of the like a great coach who's always producing a winner, always competing, giving your team a chance to go to the playoffs, all of that stuff. Seahawks fans, I think got sick of them.

The further I get away from that though, though I'm like, man, Carol is one of the best coaches of all time. Like I'm so happy to see him back in the NFL. I'm a lifelong Raiders fan now over the last couple of weeks. and yeah, I'm just really excited to see where this goes. By the way, Marshawn showed up to the Raiders presser with Pete Carroll

and was like screaming in the background. It was amazing. Carol didn't even realize it would say him either. But they met up later. It was great. So the other one, so Brian Schottenheimer got higher. Speaking of press conferences. Oh, my God.

It's unbelievable. So first of all, the news broke with Adam Schaefter, who basically, I forget if he said Jerry Jones called him or texted him, and then he tweeted it, but he said, Jerry's quote from Jerry Jones, Brian Schottenheimer is known as a career assistant. He ain't Brian no more. He is now known as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.

That was how the guy was announcing. Ringing endorsement. What is he funny? This was an all time like, oh, okay, Pete Carroll got, oh, Ben Johnson, oh, Mike Vrabel. And then Brian Schotenheimer's the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys? Dude, it's insane. First of all, this is also, this is prime what D.K. said about Bill Belichick, where Jerry Jones is too old, he doesn't know anybody anymore.

Like, this is, like, you know, they always are like, oh, the exhaustive searches. It's like the Jets interviewed almost 20 people. The minimum you can do to hire Brian Schottenheimer is interview three people. You literally have to satisfy the Rooney Rule and then interview Brian Schottenheimer. They only interviewed four people.

They interviewed Robert Sal and Leslie Frazier on the defensive side. And they interviewed Kellynne Moore, who they fired two years ago, and they interviewed Brian Schottenheimer in the game of the job. And Jerry Jones is basically like his dad was a good coach

and the Apple doesn't fall far from the tree, which is the most 84-year-old thing to possibly do or say. And the press conferences are always interesting because it does, they spend, they spend like 10 hours talking about football two days in a row. So the press conference kind of end up like a rehashed version of what they were talking about. And Schottenheimer leading with like, you know, we're a football family. The Joneses are a football family. Just love football families.

And I'm like, that's literally all it was. That's literally the entire thing was just Jerry's like, he'll be my pain sponge. Did you guys see what Jerry said recently is? Okay. I'll just read this tweet. Jerry Jones, when asked how the reaction of Cowboys fans makes him feel about this higher. There is a very low percentage of that is smiles and glory holes. Very low percentage.

I have no idea what he's talking about. No, you know exactly. No, he's, you know what he's talking about. He actually, he says, he says glory holes kind of a lot. He does say glory holes at a time. He said a Super Bowl would be the ultimate glory hole. So don't tell me he's not talking about what we're thinking about. The Super Bowl would be the ultimate glory hole.

I get that. That's indisputably correct. Can we make a, we need to put out our Instagram, false on Instagram ring your fancy football. We need to put up the, it's always sunny when Danny DeVito and it's always sunny wants a glory hole in the bar. That's like Jerry Jones with Schottnheimer. Did you see Chris Long's post about like people in this timeline clearly must not be aware that the glory hole is an old mining term about striking oil? Oh. Yeah.

Well, yeah. We don't think he's actually talking about a fucking glory hole. No, he has no idea what a glory hole means in the urban dictionary way. I kind of did. I'm not going to lie. Oh, my God. It's a mining, it's an oil term, that would make more sense. It's an oil term, yeah.

You learned that on Landman? Probably. He cried again in this press conference. He's crying all the time now. The whole thing was weird. He was talking about how this was such a big risk hiring Schottenheimer as he's sitting next to him. He's like, you think this isn't a risk hiring this guy to be the head coach?

It's a massive risk. But like, I know what I'm doing. I trust myself, the osmosis that he got from his father. I trust it. This is a football guy. I'm like, this guy's right next to you. This is like when Sean Conner's talking about Trent Balke on the same call with him.

Yeah, maybe we'll fire him if things don't go well, but we'll see. It's like an arrest of development where like pans and then Busters right there. She's like, I don't know talking about Buster. I just love this. He's just so completely oblivious to everything.

By the way, Schottenheimer's been a coach for a really long time in the NFL. Yeah, Bill Barnwell pointed out that Brian Schotton his first head coaching interview was in 2006. Wow. No one has hired him. It's been almost 20 years. I don't think he even got a head coach interview.

He carried him once. I mean, yeah. So there's that. I mean, yeah, Brian, that's a thing. That's, that's, that's also the way the press conference started was like literally they were like, Jerry Jones, Brian Schottnheimer, big round of applause. And he's like, and COO and also owner, Stephen Jones. And then there's like dead silence.

And Brian Schottnerner was like, I'll clap for you, Stephen. And he just starts clapping right to his face. Like, really. that's literally oh my god anyway but if you thought that was cringy Liam Cohen oh my god okay so where did we leave off the jaguars fired Trent ball it's been a long week worm worm tongue got thrown out it's lemon it's January what a week huh it's Wednesday lemon oh my god literally this is the sorry Craig I know you haven't seen Lord of the Rings the two buildings but this was literally the uh

jaguars are rohan and Trent Balkees worm tongue and they just like like threw his ass out and they just got rid of him. I'm seeing Worm Tongue at Coachella this year actually. That's sick. Oh, that'd be good. Lord of the Rings or Coachella? Oh, let's do that. Kai, pull that up by the end of the episode. Maybe we have time. Lord of the Rings or Coachella acts is great. Guy, yeah, do something useful. Kyle, you know 60 minutes.

Yeah. That's so good. You don't actually have to do that, Kai, unless you want to. But I want to. Okay, fine. I'll do it. So the Jack. No, no, I mean, I'll do it. He doesn't have to do it.

Oh, well, we have a show to do. Okay. I'll do it later. Okay. So anyway, so the Jaguars literally interviewed Liam Cohen, and he was like, I'm good because Trent Balke is here and went back to the Bucks, which when Ben Johnson does it, that's one thing and he turns them down, but Liam Cohen does it. And Shad Khan, the owner of the Jags was like, all right, now the tuxed are kind of fucked up.

And they fired Trent Balke. And then Liam Cohen, who had already said he would take a coordinator job with the Bucks, Todd Bulls like called him and was like, how are you doing? And Liam Cole was like, oh, I'm at the doctor with my kid. I'll talk to you later. And then he took the Jaguars job. and people were freaking out about this. I got to say,

I didn't think it was a big deal. I agree. He got a fucking head coach offer. He hadn't signed his contract at Tampa Bay. Like, whatever. The situation changed. It's not like he was like a flip-flopper. Yeah.

He was like, I won't work for like the cockroach of the NFL. And then they fired him. He's like, okay, now I'll do it. But yeah, sure. I don't know.

People were having like, they were having aneurisms about this whole thing. There's like this crazy scandal that he didn't call the team back immediately. It's like, dude, it's the off season. and fucking chill out. I actually think Liam Cohen will be a good coach. Obviously, you'll never able to see whether someone will actually be good

from the coordinator to the head coaching thing until it actually happens. Like, it's hard to say. Although we're an old program. But like, I think Liam Cohen is not some flash in the pan. Like, he's very, like, he's one of the few, he didn't just like work for McVeigh.

McVeigh sought Liam Cohen out when he was at Kentucky to learn from Liam Cohen. This isn't like some dude who's like a white 43-year-old guy who just was friends with McVeigh. And they're like, yeah, sure. Head coaching job for anyone. Like, this is, he's like a truly. I mean, that's all true. But also he's good.

like it's like Sean McVeigh sought him out so it's like a little different also the whole Friends with McVeigh thing is actually working out pretty well for a lot of people yeah actually they're sure doing a great job um so Craig Craig Craig alluded to it though I got we got to bring it up Duval

Duval what did you think of that what was your take on that Craig Creegey zero I missed on the ridge scale zero or did Liam Cohen do the Duval oh my God you didn't see that's where you been man he's been looking for glory holes honestly right now it's it'll he says it's a three second clip just go to twitter and search Liam Cohen Duval oh i quit twitter follow me on blue sky maybe just go there just fucking go to

you can't do that it's crazy hit up to google they make you log in now it's probably every it's on youtube i don't know tick talk search it anywhere you have a social media app instagram it's like the do it's anywhere you get your pad podcast anywhere you doom scroll search Liam Cohen duval I actually hate the term doob scroll I wish I didn't say that Dooball Oh god That's like

Okay can I give you can I give you a hot The high fits hot take here It's actually the opposite This is good you know why Look at every coach we made fun of their opening pressers Jonathan Gannon He was like pukyu peepoo great job Right

Dan Ciariani biting kneecaps Incredible job Siriani was like I mean Siriani's pressur was tough and then he was talking about like, I like, I couldn't watch it. I literally could not watch. He was talking about it.

Adam Gase was weird. He's the exception to this. Yeah. But Siriani, either the opening presser or early on was talking about who he likes to play rock paper scissors with guys at the combine to see how competitive they are.

We made fun of him for that. The more we make fun of you in the opening press conference, the better you've done. It just means we love you. Really? You need to be a little bit eccentric, perhaps, to be a successful NFL coach. Look at Jim Harbaugh.

He's a beloved. it weirdo. Speaking of Lord of the Rings, why does Liam Cohen in this video look like with one of the Hobbits got like a really good haircut? Yeah,

it kind of looks like Pippin. I can't comment on that. I don't know what the Hobbits really look like. It kind of looks like Pippin, right? D.K. I don't know, kind of, I guess. All right, fine. Sure.

I mean, he's a white guy. He tried so hard. He basically like tried to do like the Rizzler, like the Riz face while he did Duval and it didn't work. Yeah, it's tough. How was the reception on that in the room at the time.

It feels like there was crickets after he said that. I think it was a secondhand embarrassment and forced laughter to make him feel better. Yeah, that's, that happens a lot. This guy's going 10 and 7. They gave him a pity laugh. Everybody was saying, oh, in 17, the second they saw the Duval clip.

That's one of the worst things that can happen with the trap door of like the pity laugh that you think is a real laugh and you keep going. That's always tough, you know. That is, yeah. Lack of awareness there.

Craig does that. He gave it a shot. He missed. Only way to go is. up from here for Liam. You miss all the shots you don't take, right? That's right. Let's go to just who needs a quarterback right now.

And I want to just go through. We're just going to go through the draft order, like, in reverse. And we're just going to go through who needs a quarterback. Real quick, just a reminder, we are going to be in New Orleans the week of the Super Bowl, doing all the Super Bowl content, going to be in Los Angeles doing a show right after the Super Bowl ends. Hi, if it's over under four and a half Benets for the week. The week?

I was in New Orleans last week for a bachelor party and I had to use. So, like, I'm kind of, yeah, I know, I'm overdosing. You went to Cafe Dubai Dubai. I went to Cafe Duvon. You're a little bit. Are you benignate out? Or are you kind of just getting started? The engine's warm now.

I'm not going to wait in line for them, but if they're put in front of me, I'll crush one. But like, the funny thing is that you look like Scarface because they just threw so much, like, powdered sugar down that if you have, like, you go to radio row and you're going to be covered in powder sugar. It's like actually, you got to, like, change your clothes. Like, it's a haircut or something. It's crazy. Yeah. Yeah, it does get everywhere. It's everywhere.

So, but yeah, no, if you get them, I'll have them. But you liked it. Oh, yeah, it's incredible fried dough and sugar. It's like I think the Gaffley Dumont is the highest approval rating of any food in the world. Donut. Donuts got me to go to church

for like half my life. Donuts? Yeah, because you get donuts afterwards. It's pretty good draw. Honestly, it's a great draw. Yeah. Instead of those nasty crackers, you know what I mean? Talking about the body of Christ.

Yeah. The body of Christ should be an apple fritter. Oh, my God. Put that on it. That's the Pope just sat up at his bed Like Pope just fell to his knees in a Walmart Dude Jackie dropped the body of Christ once at church And the priest made her pick it up off the ground

It ate it Five of Christ five second roll The Lord's ball is the five second roll on Jesus He made her pick it up Oh my God Wooh Anyway Anyway I don't think the chiefs need a quarterback

No they don't need a quarterback Okay yeah we'll go through all the quarterbacks What's his contract status? No Okay It's a good deal now it actually is an amazing good deal the whole time

it was so yeah the chiefs of patrick bums they don't a quarterback eagles jalen hurts two super bowls in three years eagles don't need a quarterback bills Josh Allen they don't need a quarterback Washington jaden Daniels best rookie season like ever they don't need a quarterback ravens lamar they don't need a quarterback lions they're not getting rid of golf

this is going fast yeah the lions not get rid of golf they don't need a quarterback texans Cj strowes don't need a quarterback rams they don't need a quarterback right now Matt stafford's playing great i do think there's room for them to get like a development no guy like Quinn Ewers or anyone else McVeigh likes in the draft.

You could throw a dart and hit, you know, I wouldn't be shocked if they throw a dart on someone that, you know, maybe McVeigh, like, believes in. Like, I mean, James would be backing up Stafford. I don't know. But like, obviously they're not replacing Stafford for next year. But I feel like they're not going to waste a third or fourth round pick on a quarterback. It feels like they're in win now mode and they're really good at developing and they want

to get kind of rookies to actually play a part immediately. But I can see them signing some type of vet who could. Has Stafford committed to playing already next year? year. I feel like he's still kind of up in here. He wants more money. I mean, last year they'd get him $5 million just because they didn't give him an extension because he's underpaid. I mean, he's making less than, I mean, he's going to be making less than Brock Bernie soon. So I mean, Stafford, I don't think he's retiring. But the best time to get a quarterbacks when you don't need one. Like, that's what happened with the Eagles. They got Jalen Hertz when they had wince.

Like, you know, you get your love when you have Rogers. Like, I think you need to get one when you don't need one. Speaking of which, Vikings here, picking 24th. The Vikings, Sam Donald and J.J. McCarthy. I mean, obviously the question is now, do they bring Sam Darnold back? I think before the whole disaster of the last two weeks of the season, there was a question of do they just trade J.J. McCarthy and keep Sam Darnold.

That's over. So the question now is Darnold's a free agent. And I mean, on one hand, fifth in yards and fifth in touchdowns and won 14 games. On the other hand, I mean, kind of beat his pants of the playoffs and like, you know, nine sacks.

Most sacks in the history of a playoff game. So I'm going to steal a line that Austin Gail ran on me the other day where it's like, Trey Kman actually described Darnold as running in the pocket and not resetting. and that actually is really what the Vikings have to do is do you run it back or do you kind of reset? D.K., where are you at right now?

Like, do you, what do you think the Vikings should do? Like, do you think the Vikings, like, pay Sam, like, tag him for $40 million? Did you let him go as a free agent for probably, like, nothing? Gosh, it's tough. I think they're going to go with JJ McCarthy. Can I ask a question about tagging? If they tagged Arnold, he can still leave, right? Somebody else can still offer him a contract and the Vikings get the opportunity to match.

So there's like different types of tags. So yeah, they could do like a transition tag. I think the tag the Vikings would probably do is there's a transition. There's like a non-exclusive tag that long story short, they could pay him $39 million. And then if a team wants to sign him to a deal, they would have to give the Vikings two first run picks, which obviously I'm sure the Vikings would be thrilled to take two first-run picks for Darnold. No one will do that. So you just pay $39 million you keep Darnold for this year.

The alternatives are if you let him go and some free agents, you get a compensatory draft pick and back. it's probably not going to happen because the Vikings are going to spend the cap space. So if you let Donald go to free agency, nothing happens. You could tag him and keep him for $40 million or the middle option is you tag him and you still trade him. That happened for the Matt Castle with the Patriots.

So when Brady tours ACL in 08, Matt Castle won 11 games, the Patriots actually tagged Matt Castle and then traded him to Kansas City with Mike Vrabel for a second round pick. That's kind of what I'm wondering if it happens here, if there's a middle ground because I got to tell you guys, I've looked into this, and I didn't think it was going to happen, but Donald's probably going to get somewhere between $40 million guaranteed

or like $90 million guaranteed. It's going to get like a Baker deal, like $3 for $100. Maybe with the Raiders. Yeah, so it's like it could be Kirk even for four years and $160, or really $90 million guaranteed. But the point being, if that's what he's getting, the Vikings probably do tag him and trade him because I don't know. Yeah.

But ultimately, I guess, I think it's going to be J.J. McCarthy starting for the Vikings next year. 100%. Would you say that? Yes. I think that to me is the argument for the Vikings keeping Darnold is it's a little insane to pay a backup quarterback $40 million but I think the flip side is like to have a backup quarterback who won 14 games

and can go in the offense without any reps is kind of crazy and you just look at it holistically as the quarterback position it's kind of like how the Falcons looked at it last year but I think that to me the lesson from this Darnold thing is not pay Sam Donald $40 million. To me the lesson is you should resign Daniel Jones for $10 million. That's what Donald made last year is $10 million. Just give it to Daniel Jones clearly

and like let McCarthy play and then see if Daniel Jones is good. And honestly, they should probably tag and trade Darnold if you think you can get something for him. Agreed. Cool. I forgot they signed Daniel Jones. They should re-sign him.

As we go through this, I'm curious where you guys think Donald will go because it's easy to say they'll let him go. But where he goes is kind of interesting. Packers, they, I mean, Jordan Love, they don't need a quarterback. Packers fans are kind of weird about him, but I'm like, he's better than, I mean, I don't know. Yeah.

We're one year away from Jordan Love being a conversation point of if they should. Agreed or not. Right now it's like a weird conversation. have because they're like the youngest offense in the NFL. So like what are you going to say? But until then, charges of Herbert. I don't want to hear anything about that. Craig.

Steelers, baby. We actually got the really rare owner just directly weighing in on the quarterback situation this week. Art Rooney, this is from Propriterate ESPN. Art Rooney literally said, quote, I wouldn't close the door, but I'd say it's probably unlikely to bring back both Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. I think both of them see themselves as starter.

and I don't know that they want to share the same job again next year. So I would say most likely we probably don't wind up bringing both Wilson and Fields back, end quote. So Craig, if you could bring Russ and Fields back on a multi-year deal at the same money, who would you rather have Russ or Fields? Well, I was going to say Fields, now that Russ is a pro bowler, I'm kind of leaning Russ. Yeah. No, I would actually go with Justin Fields. I think he's better for the offense, and I also think that means we can get out of it easier.

I think if Russ is here, we're going to sign him to a three-year deal. He'll be okay enough to go nine and eight. And then, like, we'll just be doing the Russ thing for a while. And I don't want to do it. I don't think he's, I don't think he really works with the Arthur Smith offense. I don't think he works with the offense we have right now. I would rather just do the Fields thing and let Arthur Smith try to have fun with him and use this dual threat guy who's still young and athletic and can, like, make plays on his own,

then rely on Russell Wilson in his mediocre offensive line as Russ is turning like 37 next year. and we sign him to some dumb three-year deal. I don't want to do that at all. I don't want either of them. And I'm honestly, the Steelers, they can't do anything, in my opinion. Like, they're not going to be able to get a guy in the draft unless they, like, do everything to move up and get Cam Ward or Shador, which they're not going to do, and I don't want them to do.

They're going to keep Arthur Smith. They're probably going to keep the defensive coordinator. They're obviously keeping Mike Tomlin. Sounds like nothing's going to change. And they're just going to run it back again next year, and they're going to go fucking nine and eight. And it sucks. The new Jeff Fisher. It's like we could go get, we could go get,

We could get rid of both of them and go get Kirk Cousins or Sam Darnold or, God forbid, Derek Carr. I don't think they're going to do any of that because I don't think any of those options are really that much better than Justin Fields or Russell Wilson, who are already in the system. But I don't know. So I think like the path of least resistance is like, let's just, we'll do fields for another year or two. And then maybe we can figure it out after that. The funniest thing for content would be if Aaron Rogers got cut by the jets and signed with the stewards. You know what? Sure.

Let's do that. Why not? It doesn't matter. Aaron Rogers is like this unstoppable force of locker room. destruction and Mike Tomlin's like this immovable object of locker room protection. I kind of want to see him go ahead to head. Rodgers and Pickens. I wonder how they'd go on. There's like no path for the Steelers to be good two years from now. You know what I mean? Well, if you can't hear Jaylen Milrow in the draft and then he's actually incredible, that would probably be one. I guess we can

tell you my actual realistic thought that I've thought about you're going to hate this even more than I'd rather just have Justin Fields in Milrow, but yeah. Do you know who I think actually should pair with Fields instead of Fields in Rust last year? You know who the new Fields and someone should be? Honestly, the Steelers should sign Daniel Jones. That's actually the person that makes me sense. Because he's like Arthur Smith was there for Ryan Tannale in Tennessee. I think that's like the right comp for Daniel Jones at this point his career. He's like, Tannale is like, you know, he's like this guy that.

Tadale went for a fourth round pick to Tennessee and then they like got the one seat with him. I think Daniel Jones actually kind of has a lot in common with that. Derek Henry, but yeah. Well, you have Naji Harris. No, we won't. Same difference. You're right. Yeah, it's a better running back.

Jalen Warren. Yeah, Jalen Warren and George Pickens versus Derek Henry and A.J. Brown. Hmm. I don't know. D.K., what do you think the Steelers should do? They're like kind of an aging defense. I just think this is really nasty,

and they're going to be like a seven to nine-win team for the next three years. Yeah, I think they are kind of in that purgatory or whatever. Every team, every franchise has a life cycle, and you kind of go through different life cycles, and the Steelers are approaching that, Okay, getting pretty close to the time where you sort of like start over and clean slate it, but they're not to that point yet. They still have too good of a defense.

They still have too many stars on defense. But I don't know. None of these are great options. I think the best option is Donald, but you don't want to give him a big money contract probably. You don't want to trade for him if he gets tagged. I do not want Sam Donald. I want to be on the record saying I do not want the Steelers to give Sam Darnold $90 million. But again, here's the options.

Darnold, Cousins, Rogers, Carr, I don't know how they would get him, but whatever. Justin Fields, Daniel Jones, Andy Dalton, James Winston. It's a brutal quarterback year in the offseason. There's no good free agents, other than Donald. And what do we make of Kirk Cousins? I mean, Kirk Cousins at some point, maybe we'll be a little healthier, but he might be just done.

I think he might just be done. I think so here's the thing with Kirk, and it's actually relevant with the Steelers and Russ. Just like the Steelers last year got Russell Wilson for $1 million, because the Broncos cut him. I mean, this honestly takes it to the next team. We can just get to the next team here. I mean, if you just go down the draft, Broncos have Bo Nex, they're not changing.

Bucks at Baker-Mayfield. If you look at the Falcons at 15, I think the Falcons have to cut Kirk Cousins. And we can go into why. But, like, I mean, Terry Fontano, the GM is pretending they're not. He's like, oh, we're comfortable with Kirk is a bet. He's lying. They're going to cut Kirk Cousins by March 15th, March 16th. And so he's going to have the same thing.

I think Kirk Cousins plays for the veteran minimum for a million dollars because he'll get like 26, 27 million from the Falcons. And so I think Kirk Cousins could, I think he goes to the Browns because he used to play for Kevin Stefansky. And he did, Stifansky was the quarterback's coach in 2018 and the 2019. The only playoff when Kirk Cousins

ever had was in Minnesota. So I kind of think that he goes to the Stafansky and the Browns for a million bucks. That would make a lot of sense. You'd have two working Achilles tendons between two quarterbacks that you're... Yeah, so it averages out to one healthy person. Yeah. If Watson re-tore his Achilles, I know.

I think Watson's done in Cleveland. But as we go through these, we could circle back on Cleveland a minute, but as we go through these, just remember, Kirk Cousins can sign for $1 million, which kind of offsets the, damn, he sucked.

Should the Steelers just do that? They just only get quarterbacks that they can pay $1 million to every year? That sounds like, maybe they do that. $1 million challenge? Okay. Yeah, but the Falcons,

I do think the Falcons cut Kirk Cousins, and they obviously go with Michael Benix Jr. They drafted last year. But yeah, Kirk's going to get cut. And frankly, I think they would trade him, but he played too badly. Like, no one's going to trade him after how awfully he was. They're going to have to come up. Dude, he had like zero touchdowns and eight interceptions in three games.

Yeah. I guess that wasn't the best. Before we keep rolling down here, DK, I mean, of all these other teams, just here real quick. So the Steelers are the 21st pick. Broncos with Bownecks, no chance. Bucks with Baker, no chance. We got a Coobiac. We got a Cubiak.

You got a Cubiak. You got a Cubiac running your offense. Which one, Clint? You can go get. Klein and Clay. Yeah, I think it's Clint. Clint Kubiak. I think it's Clint.

Yeah, you don't even know. I haven't double-checked. But yeah, it's Clint Kubiak from the Saints, the guy that we were obsessed with for two weeks last year. That's coordinator in the league for two weeks. I will say, though, you know, if you look at what he did offensively, the motion, play action, the way that they were pushing the ball deep with Derek Carr. Like, Derek Carr looked incredible when he was actually healthy. Or touchdowns in Dallas for New Orleans than touchdowns in Dallas for Dallas. I mean, we should say the Saints offense is absolutely ravaged.

So it's not like he had a time. By the end of the season, he was throwing a Dante, you know, it was Spencer Rattler throwing a Dante Pettis. Right. When, I think I looked this up, when Derek Carr was playing, the average 24 points a game, which was like top 10. So they were a good offense when Derek Carr was playing. And I think all that highly of Derek Carr, as you guys know.

So I'm kind of excited about this. I think he's a good fit for what the CX want to do. The run pass ratio, again, when Carr was healthy, it was extremely high run. And a lot of that was because they were leading, but they're always going to be a pretty run-centric, balanced offense in the Kubiak family. And I've been doing some reading about kind of like what Kubiak brings, what the Kubiak field and slash Shanahan family brings.

But usually bring their sons. That's usually what happens. There's a lot of Kubiak small. The apple does not far fall from the tree decay. It's like the Schottenheimer's, you know? Well, your dad was good at this. Yeah. Yeah.

Exactly. But I think what it will do is, in theory, take some pressure off of Gino Smith, just based on, like, in the Shanahan slash Kubiak systems, it sounds like the center is doing a lot of, like, protection calls. They're not relying on the quarterback to do that. They're, in terms of audibles and stuff, there's like a little bit less power at the line of scrimmage. I think there's just basically, like, you go up there and you have two plays and you either check to one or you run the play that you were given. So there's a clawback power from Gino here? Well, that's one way of saying it, I guess, and I didn't really mean to say it that way, but you're also just taking a little bit off of his plate in terms of like you don't have to carry the offense like he did this last season.

I think the big thing for the CXO, of course, is going to be who's going to be their offensive linemen? Because their offensive line was terrible this year. One of the worst in the NFL. They need to invest in the offensive line. And I think that's going to be like the big variable here. But my guess is they keep Gino. Yeah, I think you keep Gino.

Yeah, I think 85, 90% Gino, there's always a chance that they move on. I doubt it, but, um, you know, weird things happen and, you know, the coach, the offensive coordinator changed. And the coach, uh, Mike McDonald was very cool. He was just, he answered the question where is like, is Gino Smith can be your quarterback next year? And he was like, I have no reason to believe he's not. So yeah. It was just like, dude, just say yes. Um, but we'll see. I don't really know. I, I'm guessing Gino Smith will be back, but, I mean, what else would they do? I think, I think that's the other thing. It's like, what else are you going to do?

Sam Howell? I think that was like fan therapy. We're going to build your health care. The Bengals with Joe Burrow, I don't know, man. Do you think they need to get like a long-term answer with Joe Burroughs being so tough? I need to see him lift a couple more water bottles

before I'm willing to keep him around. I agree. Who knows? Very weights, very fullness of water. If we see him in New Orleans, I'm going to throw a really heavy water bottle to let him see what he does. Cardinals with Kyler Murray.

I actually think if a franchise quarterback got traded it would be Kyler Murray, but I don't think he's getting traded. But I wouldn't be shocked. Yeah. Football fandom is so funny because I don't even really like Kyle Murray, but I'm like, man, I would love him in Pittsburgh. I would take him right now. Let's do it. Let's give him another shot. Okay, so Colt with Anthony Richardson, again,

I think they're keeping Anthony Richardson, like, strongly. I know that he was an embarrassment, and everything about this was an embarrassment in Indianapolis. But the short version... They're going to get some competition for him, though. Yeah, I think they get competition. I think this is where if the Steelers don't want Justin Fields back, I think Justin Fields should go compete.

for this job in Indianapolis, because the problem with the Colts, among the many problems, starting with Jim Ursaic, teaching people maturity, is that the Colts, Joe Flacco and Anthony Richardson, could the ideal offense for them

look any different? And like, you need someone like Justin Fields to come in and actually, like the Anthony Richardson offense with the backup quarterback should be similar. And I don't know.

It's just the insane thing to ask of the players to be doing such different stuff all the time, the other people in the offense. But I think that Colts have to stick with Richardson because honestly,

Chris Ballard, the GM, waited six years after Andrew Luck retired to replace him with another, like, drafting a quarterback. And you can't just bail on him. So what they're doing is they're just going to, he's just going to Chris Hess, who's like this private quarterback. I don't even want to call him a coach. He's like a coach. He's like a biometrics guy. It's like drive line with MLB pitchers or like golfers where they go to trackmaster. It's like, it's like an MRI almost for, not really, but like an MRI basically for your swing or your rotation or your movement where they just like basically get all this biometric data and just basically are like, here's all the inefficiencies in your motion.

So they're going to send Richardson there. And if not, if he doesn't get better, they all get fired. Yeah, that guy, Josh Allen credits that guy for basically changing the way he throws. And basically, like, firing his hips before, you know, bringing the ball around. And that changed the entire, like, course of his career. One of the coolest conversations I had is this guy, Tom House, who was a former pitcher. And then he is now quarterback who read he helped Tom Brady with his throwing motion at Drew Breeze.

And he's just helped everyone under the sun. And his whole, and like, when he told me this, I was, like, blown away. but he was like any rotational motion and his sport is all the same. Like a quarterback throwing a ball, a ball swing, it's all the same thing. It's all the same thing. It's all about like driving with your legs and hips first

and then letting the upper body kind of fall afterwards to continue with the momentum rather than just forcing all of the torque on your shoulder or your arms or whatever. And the entire thing is literally you're creating kinetic motion from your feet and it is a chain of, because we say arm power or arm strength,

but it's really just how efficient, like how much of the energy you're creating in your feet makes it to the tips. your fingers. That's like literally it. And it's like how much are you leaking out of the 100% capability? That's what Mahomes is actually amazing at is that he can have his feet in the air and he still gets power on a throw. Like that's the insanity of the whole thing. Dude, if Shane Steichen doesn't get Anthony Richardson in some VR goggles ASAP, he should be fired. Anthony Richardson should be sleeping in VR goggles. Every day, he should do a thousand reps and follow the Jaden Daniels model.

I also worry that, don't you think if they get a good backup. I feel like it's like this weird catch-22 where Anthony Richardson is not good enough to kind of not need like a quality backup. But also he's so, he's bad enough where you're going to consider benching him a lot if you do have a good backup, which is like kind of, you don't want to do that either. So it's like if you get Justin Fields or you bring in a competent vet, doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of like letting him sink or swim out there? Because if they go one in three, everyone's going to be like bench Anthony Richardson again and they're going to bringing a backup who's more competent.

This is the thing we always joke about where it's like, oh, you can't bring Cam Duton into New England a few years ago, you know, because, you know, everyone will like him. Yeah, it's like, you need to know with Anthony Richardson. Like, I think you just kind of have to let him go for 17 games and not have a backup. He just sort of burn the boats and have no backup option. Yeah, because then you'll know. Because if it's like, oh, he was good and then he got bench and then he came back and he got

better, you're just in the same situation again. I feel like sink or swim for 17 games and then make a decision after that. I think it's a catch-22 though in a way because based on, again, this is all reading between the lines or whatever, but they really want to light a fire under his ass in terms of like leadership and, you know, being first in, first out, all that shit that like all the cliche stuff that probably does really, really matter at quarterback. Everything you hear from the coaches, everything you hear from the GM is like, we need this guy to become the leader. And you can't get that if you just coddle him and expect and just tell him he's the guy. You know what I mean? So that was why Chris Ballard was like, I really wish I've got him more competition. We basically need him to, we need to light a fire under his ass a little bit.

So like, it's like that's, is that more important? Is that going to be ultimately the biggest deal is creating that competitive situation where he really, you know, self-actualizes and all that stuff? Or is it like, are you more worried about, oh, if he struggles a couple games, then fans are going to start calling for the other guy? It's like, it's a hard. It's a, it's a catch point, too, because really they need both. A hundred percent. And just to give that, like, an actual story, like the Washington this season, so the people, there were a couple veteran captains who would get there at 5.30 in the morning, like,

hours early before stuff started. It's like Bobby Wagner, who's been in the NFL forever. And Austin Echler, who's like a crazy psycho work ethic guy. And Jeremy Reeves, who's like their special teamer, who's an amazing story. And Jeremy Reeves had this Players Tribune article where he was like, I've never seen Jay Daniels get there. He's always there before us. No one actually knows what time he gets the,

work, but he's always there before us at 5.30. And so I think that in a nutshell, you sign Justin Fields because of Justin Fields trying to take your job and he shows up at six and Anthony Richardson can't beat him there at six, it's probably not going to work. Like, he's not going to work if he can't even beat him there in the morning. And I know that's a cliche and a little annoying, but like there is truth to that. Yeah. You lost the game on the way to the stadium.

Yeah. Yeah. It is, it's hard because I don't know. At some point, it's smarter, not harder. It doesn't, it isn't exactly like you get there. first person to get there. But it's like Jalen Hertz, I know is renowned for extreme work ethic. And I remember like when Russell Wilson came in to Seahawks, he was a third round

pick. No one expected him to start. Matt Flynn was the starter at the time. They just signed him in free agency. But Wilson came in and this, mind you, like rookie camp is a week or two after the drive. It's like a couple weeks after the draft. It's not very long. And he already, he ran the rookie camp.

Russell Wilson did. He knew all the plays. He was getting guys set up. He was, he was the, the coach of the camp. And he was a rookie. And obviously, they're all rookies,

but like basically most, most rookies will go into that situation and be like, I don't know what to do. Like, I don't know what any of these words meet. I don't know where to stand. I don't know how to take a snap. I've never done this.

And he ran the camp. And I remember Pete Carroll said at the time, he was like, and I was like, I knew at that moment this was going to be our guy. Like, you need, you need that crazy,

like, almost insane guy to be the quarterback to lead your team because there's just a billion things to do as a quarterback in the game. You really do have to be kind of like a psycho to do it.

And the flip side, again, is Anthony Richardson, like, he's going to a year three. Aaron Rogers didn't play, he played one game in his first three seasons. You know what I mean? So, I don't know,

keep that stuff in mind. So dolphins, they don't need a quarterback. I mean, too, I frankly, if they wanted to get out of Tua, I don't really think they can. I don't think Miami wants to. I don't think Mike McDaniel could

if he wanted to because, frankly, he put his neck on the line to get to the extension to assign a big contract extension for a quarter of a billion dollars in August because Mike McDaniel basically asked Stephen Ross the dolphins owner to and Stephen Ross didn't really want to.

Look, frankly, like, they just need to ensure the contract in case, too, it gets more concussions. It's kind of tough. But, like, I mean, he's the best quarterback since Dan Marino. Like, the dolphins can't get rid of him right now. So, I mean, he's, it's, like, not even close. He's, like, the best quarterback they've had in 30 years. And again, like, what are you going to do? Otherwise, yeah, what are they going to do?

You trade to or you need a quarterback. Cowboys, it's the same situation where it's like, you just paid DAC. He's injured. And it's like, it doesn't matter. Like, you just paid Dak Prescott, like, this massive contract. Like, it's a family. If people think Jack is bad now, I feel like everyone has just decided DAC isn't good anymore.

Yeah, the tightest turned, I think for, for DAC. Well, I think the Cowboys aren't serious anymore. I think when the Cowboys were winning 12 games a year, it was like weird because like they're winning 12 games a year. I mean, that was only the year before this one, right? I mean, that was last year they won 12 games. I think the last two years have really, really highlighted the extent, like it's the extent to which Jerry Jones cares more about attention than actual

winning, which before, even diehard Cowboys fans now, you can't, you can't not see it. I really think there's no better example than stewing the Dak Prescott contract on the Sunday of week one and keeping everyone in the entire building in limbo about what DAC and CD Lamb we're going to be doing because Jerry Jones used it as free media. Like, it's literally you don't have to pay for the PR. And so I'm talking about you every day. And it's like Jerry really cares about money and attention and how little money you can spend to get as much attention as possible.

And like every decision they make is like that. And I think this year people really saw, like, they, like, just shot and everything. Like, they're not serious. Like, they're not really serious about, like, don't work at that. They're not actually trying to win. Yeah. Like, the time Jerry's spending on and working on is how to make the NFL money. Like, Jerry's big goal is the NFL getting to $27 billion a year by 2027.

Like, that's what Jerry cares about, frankly. I think, I think Prescott's going to have a good year next year. I don't know. He tore his hamstring off the bone, dude. Yeah, that's not the best. We got to see. It's not ideal. I want to see it.

Dude, 49ers with Brock Bertie, I don't think they're getting rid of him, but the price of, there's this wireline, like price of the brick going up. I know he's said this before, but just a reminder, Deshawn Watson makes almost as much per game as Brock Purdy has made in his entire career. That would be tough. That would be a tough thing to hear. Watson's $2.5 million a game. Brock Purdy has made $2.8 million in his entire three years. And so, dude, this contract for Brock Purdy is going to be $50 million to $60 million a year. It's going to be somewhere between $50 and $60 million a pop.

What's your impression of that? What's your reaction to that? I'd be curious what most 49er fans' reaction to that is. Because I think from a Seahawks point of view, Seahawks fans, everything I've seen in Seahawks land, it's like, please, God, sign him to a $50 million per year contract. Like, this is going to sink your ship. Like, everyone's like, please do it. Is that how you feel?

I'm kind of in the middle. I'm just like it feels like a lot, but he also has demonstrated that he clearly could run this offense. But I think it's like once you get, if you give him that amount of money, it's like you, you kind of have an expectation from what you're getting for that money and it's like a guy who elevates everyone around him. I don't know if that's him. I think he's a very good point card in this offense.

And he's a sneaky little shit who runs around and gets first downs. So I'm kind of in the middle of the average quarterback, the average quarterback salary in the NFL right now is $40 million a year. Brock Purdy is literally among the last three seasons combined, number one in EPA per dropback, number one. Now obviously that's a team statistic, but the point is if you wanted to negotiate with him, the average guys at 40,

you can't argue Brock Purdy's been average. Like he's been above average. And even if you don't think he is, like you're going to lose. Yeah, even if you don't think he's great, he's definitely good to very good. And I feel like the way it always works with these quarterbacks, it's like the Kirk Cousin model. The good quarterbacks end up getting overpaid,

most out of any type of quarterback in the league. And that's what Brock is. It's like, sure, maybe he's getting $10 million more than what he should be paid based on his talent. But, I mean, this is a guy who brought the team to the Super Bowl. Like, you know that if things are working in Brock Purdy's the quarterback, this is a team good enough to go to the Super Bowl. You have to do it.

Craig, would you give up a first-round pick just for the chance to sign Brock Brady to $50 million a year? If I'm Pittsburgh? Yeah. Yeah. See, my answer to that is, of course you would. I'm shocked that you're even thinking about it. Oh, my instinct is, uh, no.

It's hard because he feels inextricable from... You wouldn't give up the 21st pick in this draft to just bring Robert Bernie over? For 50 million a year? No, I probably would. Because I guess if he was a free agent and just like anybody could sign him and we're just adding in the 24th overall pick, big fucking deal. D.K.'s hemming and hauling on this is how I know that you should keep Gino Smith because you haven't watched and you haven't, let me rephrase,

You haven't rooted for bad quarterback play recently enough to say yes that fast. Because the giant Robbins. Give me property. I don't care. Oh my God. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. Bears are picking 10th.

Obviously, Caleb Williams, Ben Johnson, like, you know, they're not doing anything. Saints are picking 9th. This one's crazy. Okay. I actually think that Derek Carr is one of the guys who get traded around because the Saints can save like $40 million if they trade Derek Carr in the first couple days of the offseason. I kind of think they might. Who's going to trade for him?

Well, this is, so, dude. I'd rather have Brock than Derrick Carr. Really? I don't want to. Beggers can't be choosers, though. This is the thing. Like, you don't have to trade a lot because the Saints basically are going to take a huge discount to get off it.

So, like, it's Derrick Carr for like a fourth round pick. It's like the Tannihill thing. It's like the 10th pick in the draft, the 120th pick in the draft for Derrick just because you have to pay in the money. And I'm like, that sounds terrible. But I'm like, if you're the Saints, if Kirk Cousins doesn't go to, of the Browns. I wonder if Kirk Cousins goes to the Saints because he can play for a million dollars.

And then the Saints just flipped Derek Carr for like a sixth. Anyone to take this deal? I don't know. I mean, the New York teams? The Giants, the Jets, if they get rid of Rogers, the Browns, the Steelers. I don't know. Like, I could see him going somewhere else. His cap hit next year is $51 million and then $61 the following year.

Yeah. It's big. Christ. Imagine the Niners with Brock Birdie, and they're like, we want you to take less than Derek Carr. Imagine what Brock Bertie's agent would say. Yeah, yeah. So, dude, I'm not going to... You know what I really think is going to happen?

I think the Giants are going to trade for Derek Carr because I'm realizing that would be like my karmic retribution for saying how much I hate Derek R. I kind of think the Giants are going to do it. That would be good. He's the most depressing quarterback your team could trade for, right? Right now in the league? That would start.

Yeah, that would break me. It would break me. I would really... Like, because, oh, my God. Because I'd buy in. That's the worst part. That's a really good question, Craig. I think maybe Aaron Rogers

I think might go higher than in that list. No. Right now, you're telling me you'd rather have Derek Carr than Aaron. Rogers hit a Hail Mary last year. I think I would.

You'd rather have Derek Carr? No, it's all, it's not how, it's not 100% how they are on the field. It's also just the bullshit that surrounds them. Oh, what's Rogers going to do? Get everyone in the Giants fired? Thank God. What do I have to lose?

What are we rooting for here? What are we looking to be bad? Because then in that case, this is a different conversation. One million percent rather have Aaron Rogers on the Steelers. Did you watch the Jets offense this year? He was terrible. I actually think the offense by the end of the season was fine.

I have my hot take that I believe. We got to fire up Austin Gale. Austin Gale has like, he's burning down Amazon for us to power the servers to do these searches for how terrible Aaron Rogers was this season. Obviously, if you look at his touchdowns interceptions, that's about the only thing that looks good. Everything else, efficiency-wise, was atrocious. I don't care about the stats because the problem was that he gave Rogers what he and made him happy.

And you have to piss him off and make him mad. And then he wins two MVP. You give him the ayahuasca. You make him mad. You make him think he doesn't like, you know. And like I actually think motivated Rogers is, well, if you look at the Jets, though, I think the Jets are going to cut him. I'm taking car.

Well, the Jets are at 8 and they have Bryce Young. They're not going to, anything's possible. They're not getting rid of Bryce Young. So the Jets are here at 7 with Rogers. The current iteration, the Jets are going to have to cut him because don't ask me why. But basically, if they cut him, it's 50 million. dead, but if they keep them, it's going to be like 90 million dead money. Don't ask me why.

But they have to cut them. It's like half the price to cut them than to keep them. So that means if the Jets cut him, who does Aaron Rogers play for? The Giants are not going to do it because you can't take the Jets. It's the same reason the Giants won't get darnled. It's just embarrassing for them and they're too proud to take the Jets leftovers. But like, Rogers would have to play for. What does he play for?

The Saints can't afford Rogers. They're out. Is Rogers going to play for the tight, like the Browns or the, the Titans or like they're going to take a quarterback like would he go to the Steelers? I'm like there's not a lot of places for him. I feel like the Steelers hilariously are a pretty good answer to this question. Why? Just because they're like a competent roster with a stable coach and everything is

theoretically. They can talk themselves into being like, look, we're just a good veteran quarterback. I mean, I'm not going to lie. Like if the Steelers took Aaron Rogers. Why they signed Russell. It's one of those things you have to do the week one test. If the Steelers played the Ravens in week one and the Steelers' defense. and the Steelers defense like kind of like

shut down Lamar and you're like oh damn Tomlin's doing some new modern defensive stuff and then Aaron Rogers just like throws two touchdowns to Pickens you'd be like oh my God like they could do it we're so back you'd be so yeah you'd be so and that's like how long would you need to see it to believe it like Donald it took us 10 weeks Rogers like two quarters the Rogers offense doesn't work because you can't move

it's the same deal with Kirk Cousins they like their run game is terrible they can't they can't do any of the runs feels. Yeah. But would you really want fields? Like the holistic Rogers' offense doesn't work. Rogers can make some individually cool plays, but it's a broken offense. If Aaron Rogers is upset with Garrett Wilson and Mike Williams, can you fucking imagine what he would do

to George Pickens? Yeah. After one miscommunication? I just wonder if Rogers is going to retire. I just, I really feel like he might have to retire or he's going to have to swallow his pride because I feel like Rogers is not going to go somewhere where he's not necessarily guaranteed to be the starter. Like if the Titans take a quarterback and he's not going to like mentor Cam Ward or Sheter Sanders, you know what I mean?

Rogers was 22nd and EPA for dropback and success rate this season. 22nd. So here's my question. But if you're the Jets, let's say this for a second. I bet Derek Carr was higher. If you're the Jets, you probably don't take him back, right? I kind of think that Mad Rogers coming back isn't the worst thing, but maybe you probably want to flush the building. You know how I feel.

Bring him back. Bring him back. If you don't bring him back, who is the Jets quarterback? Yeah. It's not Donald. It's not Rogers. Kirk, I mean, is it Kirk Cousins? You get the other old Achilles quarterback.

That kind of seems weird. No, if you bring in Kirk Cousins, there's no reason why you shouldn't just keep Aaron Rogers, to be honest. James, James would be too much for everybody. But also, I just don't think... James, as a jet, is too much. That's too much power. Also, I just don't think James could ever play for a defensive coach.

They're too turnover obsessed. That's why he can't go to Pittsburgh. This is like D.K.'s kicker thing, where it's like, they just shuffle kickers. All these shitty quarterbacks are just going to change teams next year, none of them are going to be good again. If they need logs, and they need logs. Derek Carr was 11th in EPA per dropback, by the way.

Wow. Just behind Patrick Mahomes, just ahead of Justin Herbert. I kind of think Card to show that stats are stupid. Part of the chance makes sense. EPA per dropback is not like my favorite quarterback stat because it does have a lot to do with the surrounding cast around you, but... It's like Brock Perkins first. Well, I mean, that is also.

Derek Carr did not have a good supporting cast, and Aaron Rogers did. So Aaron Rogers get to pick it. So the next one here is the Raiders who have Aiden O'Connell and Gardner Minshue and, I mean, frankly, that was the entire problem. So Tom Brady is literally running this team as the minority owner.

Pete Carroll's the head coach. We got good old John Spy Tech is the GM. Love Spy Tech. Sure. Our boy. Real person? I kind of think that the Raiders get their pick of the litter of the free Asians. Like, I think that the Raiders kind of,

everyone's kind of want to come to them and Brady. Like, I think Rogers, if he could go anywhere, was probably going to want to go to the Raiders, even though the team's not great to play for Brady. I kind of think Pete Carroll reuniting with Russell Wilson makes a lot of sense. Like, they're both, like, way more desperate than when they traded each other, like traded Russ away. Like, Russ playing for Pete and playing for Brady, which I think he's obsessed with Brady.

So it's like the older couple that gets divorced and they go date and they realize everyone's horrible and they're like, you know what, it's better off. We're better off together. Let's just get back together. Because when Russell Wilson, I don't know, a lot of this is like

reporting and rumors and who knows and what it was completely true but the story was at the time, Russell Wilson tried to get Pete and John Schneider fired. Like he lost the power struggle

in Seattle. So like the idea of reuniting Russell with Pete sounds crazy to me. But again, like water on the bridge now maybe they like, there were different situations. He wanted to run the offense and throw more and they tried that and he sucks.

And it failed. Yeah. And then Schottenheimer got fired. Now he's the head coached to the Cowboys. And then Shottenham got fired. There's the coach of the Cowboys. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe Pete's on like a, you know, get back together with his old crew because

Marchan was there. And obviously the ending of that Super Bowl against the Patriots where they threw the ball instead of running like Marciaun reportedly like blamed Carol for for that. And like like he, Marchon said at one point that he didn't think Carol wanted him to be the face of the team or whatever or something like that. And they're back to being great friends. So I think, you know.

I don't think that was on their mind at the time. I'm not ruling it out, but I think it would just be a weird, it'll be weird to see them back together, I guess. So, Hyth, going back to what you were saying about kind of Shador and Dion and Dion not allowing his son to play for certain teams, I do think if I had to pick any scenario, it would be that the Raiders trade up and get Shador at number two. That to me makes the most sense of that. I think it makes a ton of sense for everyone involved.

And I do think there's a world where if you're the Browns, you'd sign Kirk Cousins for a million dollars, you have a plan for a year. And then, again, it's like if you're Shudor, again, I just Shudor Sanders being this homeschooled quarterback where Deion has just been his coach for last eight years running the offense. And I'm like, I mean, Shadurr Sanders had an NIL deal with TB12. Like, there's literally a financial relationship there already.

And so if you're the Raiders, I kind of think you get Shadur Sanders. If Tom Brady wants Shudor Sanders, I think Dion Sanders absolutely wants to send Shudur, are the Raiders. So if the Raiders like him, I think you get Shadur and you're playing in the interim with March is just, yeah, you get, you get Russell Wilson. You pay him like a give him a one-year deal, put him with Pete Carroll, and then you go and get Shadur and you sideline Russ or whoever. I think there's, the more that I think about it, the more that I start doing mock drafts and digging into the draft and trying to kind of just get a lay of the land. I think there's

more and more in my mind, a realistic world in which Shudor is just there at six. I think so, too. You know what I mean? Because it, It all comes down to what do the Titans want to do? You don't think the Giants would take them at three? Well, here's the scenario. If the Titans decide they're not ready to hand over the keys to the franchise to either one of these quarterbacks, and they just take Abdul Carter or Travis Hunter, one of the Blue Chip guys they see in this draft, they just take him number one.

And then you have at number two, the Browns who, they're a quagmire. I don't know what to think of them. They might not take a quarterback. And then you have the Giants who have their choice. I strongly strongly strong I think the Browns take a quarterback. That's fine. Maybe they do. No one fucking knows.

They could not. There's a very strong chance they don't take a quarterback there. And then you have the Giants take one of the quarterbacks. And then, you know, the Patriots aren't taking a quarterback. Jags aren't taking a quarterback. Honestly, it's like, I feel like recently the quarterbacks have been pushed up a lot. And we see like big runs early on in draft. But like it's not that rare to see good quarterbacks fall.

six, eight, ten, eleven, twelve. Like, it's pretty common going back over the years for guys who we think the whole draft period are going to be like top three picks. They end up being 10th or 11th. You know what I mean? Yeah. The draft is weird. The draft goes weird.

Every year, it's like a shocking surprise what happens in the draft. If you're the Raiders, though, I mean, that is such a crazy risk because if Cam Ward goes one to Tennessee, you are crossing your fingers that the Browns and the Giants won't take a quarterback. And I guess if you bank on the fact that Shador won't go to Cleaver. won't go to Cleveland. I guess you're just having to bank on the Giants. Well, if their plan is like Shudur or bust, then yeah, they will trade up.

But if their plan is, man, we feel good about Shudder lasting to six. And let's just like hold our, you know, hold our nerve and see if this works. It's a poker game. Because remember, what happened was the Manning family in 2004, they told the Chargers, like, we won't play for you. If you take us, we're not coming. Right. And the Chargers called their bluff.

And they drafted Eli Manning. Like, I don't know if people remember this. The Chargers drafted Eli Manning. The Giants did not draft Eli Manning. The Chargers took him first. And then Eli Manning went on television, which this is, I mean, imagine this happened today, which might happen again. Just such a diva.

Went on television and said, we're not going to play for the San Diego charges. We're not going to do it. So the Chargers took the Giants took Philip Rivers and hat in hand. They had to pay three first round picks for Eli Manning. And so they gave three firsts for Eli. Yeah. And so I don't feel about that in general, refusing to go to a team. it was great for me. I got two first. The ironies, they were right.

No, but like in general, the idea of a player refusing to go to the team that picked him, how do you feel about that philosophically? It takes courage to like stand up and do something different than literally everyone's doing. And I think a lot of people will hate you. Like, probably the overwhelming majority of fans will hate it. Obviously, the fans of the team. But the reality is it's a crazy process and it's fine for me to stand up to it. Like, it's insane that imagine if like the best lawyer, imagine if the best loss, school student in the world went to the worst law firm. That's how the NFL does business.

Like, imagine if the best MBA candidate went to the worst bank. Like, this whole thing's crazy. I have no problem. And again, this isn't like... Yeah, but wouldn't that be like if the worst law firm paid you the most money? Yeah, but the money is between first and six pick is like incremental, especially with the advertising, who cares? Also, D.N. Sanders is already rich.

Who gives a shit? Like, it's about having a good career. And like... I don't know. I can see the argument where it's a slippery slope where you can't just start having people be like, I don't want to go to the bottom five team. I'm not going anywhere. It's leverage.

It's like anything else. It's leverage. The point is his father spent his whole life building an unparalleled level of leverage with Dion Sanders. It's like you basically need a Hall of Fame father to actually be able to pull this off. And like, again, this isn't a conspiracy theory. I think that's the thing I want to nail down. Dionne Sanders literally said certain cities, we're going to pull it Eli.

Like he said that out loud a year ago. If you had to pick one city for him to pull an Eli, it's Cleveland. It's not as smart to get out in front of it. It's smart to say it so far in advance because now it's like out there and it's less controversial now because it's had a year to marinate and bake and it's now just kind of common knowledge

and it's not this like draft night or week of draft week shock. It's like, yeah, he's not going to go to the Browns. And the key thing to remember is Dion said he'll do it privately. He said he will do it behind closed doors because he doesn't want to embarrass anybody. So the implicit, frankly, threat is he's going to tell Jimmy Haslam in the Browns

and he's going to pass the message along to the Browns, thanks, but no thanks. And then if they take him, guess who's going to be on television on draft night saying, yeah, Shudder's not, we're not going to Cleveland. And if you, like, you know what I mean? He's going to be like, I got money, I'll pay the fines, don't care. And so, again, I know I'm getting out of my skis before.

He said it. He said he's going to do it. So I think that D.K. is the scenario you're talking about, is if they've informed Tennessee in Cleveland, we're not going. Then the question is, what does he think about the Giants? And maybe he just wants to go to the Raiders. And again, I kind of think it makes sense. If you're, if Shudder Sanders is your son, you're like, yeah, I want Tom Brady to teach my kid.

So I kind of do think that's where the Raiders end up. I do think they get Shadur. Yeah. What happened to the whole Shudur and Dion are a package deal? Is that over now? The timing of the NFL, the timing of the NFL. It seems like it's not going to work. Makes it impractical because you'd have to hire Deion Sanders like now.

Right. And then the real answer is that why would you- Would have had to have hired Sanders for that to be like a sure thing? You have to get Shitter drafted and then come around for the job. Like that's the thing, is if Pete Carroll is now and then Pete Carroll does. years, Dion can swoop in and, you know, when Pete Carroll's like 77 years old, which is another reason I think is possible.

This is the long-term succession plan. Because it's easier for Deion to take the job of a bad head coach than to, imagine if Deion took the Cowboys job, and then the Cowboys call you and we're like, we want Shadur. And you're like, all right, give me four first round picks. Totally. Give me five.

Yeah. So the Raiders, the Raiders actually, I think, are going to have a lot of options. Seeing the Free Agents with Brady and everything. There's a lot of people connecting Sam Donald to them, too. Yeah. The Jaguars, the Jaguars.

The Jaguars is, yeah, we could see. Jaguros, Trevor Lawrence don't need a quarterback. Patriots of Jake May don't need a quarterback. I think the Giants have the worst quarterback situation entirely. I know I'm biased, but like they have Drew Locke and Tommy Cutlets. They cut Daniel Jones. I mean, literally. Can't please how bad Drew Locke was.

Dude. I mean, I didn't think he was good. And then how good he was. I didn't think, well, right. I didn't think he was good, but I didn't think he was this bad. The. My expectations were low, but fall. Holy fuck. Dude.

I remember that one game where he's. scored 43 fantasy points. The flip side of this whole conversation is, I really do feel confident that Sheter is not going to go to Cleveland. Let's say the Titans take Cam Ward. If you're the Giants, I feel like, do you, like, all the whole thing's going to be is when does Dion Sanders replace Brian Dable? That's the whole thing.

I'm like, can you win that way? I don't know if you can win that way. But the flip side is if Cam Ward's there, I feel like you almost have to take them. Because I'm like, what is the alternative? Like the Giants are going to get Kirk Cousins or Derrick Carr? James. Who's the chance of quarterback going to be if they don't draft one? I don't want to make Khyphitz root for his team to lose for a whole other year.

No, I do. We got to finally let him root for wins. You're so close. Now is not, the Cam Ward should door Sanders is not here to pull the trigger on quarterback. You're so close. I will say, I kind of do want to just, even if it's there a car, I'll take my lumps. Like, Russ, one-year deal with someone. Kirk Cousins for a million dollars.

I kind of do, I keep talking myself into like, trade back with the Raiders or something. And it's like, or just get Abdul-Carter. it's like if you get a third spot just take Abdul Carter and you could pair him with Brian Burns spoiler Dek his draft comp for Abdul Carter is Brian Burns you have Brian Burns and Abdul Carter

defensive end Dexter Lawrence at defensive tackle it's an identity that's like back to the Giants 15, 20 years ago it's like oh you could rush four and win a game and I'm like at least I mean the Eagles are doing a pretty good job with that kind of strategy

yeah I'm like just just be elite at something or at least get a right tag get me trade back to six get me a right tackle and at least have a solo in the second I'm like, yeah. Yeah, honestly, trade back in for Millrow.

I mean, have Milrow run the fucking Daniel Jones offense from a couple years ago when they went to the playoffs. He ran the bunch. He ran the ball like, I don't know, third most of all the quarterbacks. I can't remember what it was, but he was running all over the place.

They were trying to kill him. I don't know, man. Just saying, like, there's other options. This is like what, I think my point, Hyphitz is, I think more than one team will be like, is this the year that we take? a quarterback is this year that we go all in on a quarterback i don't know let's wait maybe let's just take one of these other blue chip guys i don't think any of these quarterbacks are so good that all

the teams are going to be you know quite as uh i don't know what the word is like enthusiastic or desperate to take a quarterback early early on um i do like them both as prospects but i don't think it's the same it's not nearly as the same as like was last can i tell you my fear my fear is the The Giants, because Daible and Shane are basically in a win-now mandate and they either have to make the playoffs or, like, show real development with a rookie quarterback. My fear is they're extorted into trading up because my fear is if the, let's say the Titans take Cam Ward or Shadur and then like the Browns trade back or whatever. Let's say the first two picks are quarterbacks. If the Giants are stuck with like Derek Carr, Daible is probably getting fired. So my fear is they have to take a quarterback.

The Browns and Titans know that. And they don't just take Cam Ward or Shudder, but they trade up to take like Cam Ward. They have to give up like a first round pick next year to get Cam Ward. And I'm like, oh, God, sit there at three, whatever. All right, we went over the Browns already. I mean, Deshaun Watson's never playing for the Browns again. And I could go over that again with this contract.

Do you have the information or is it still kind of black box of like how much the cap changes if he is injured, it never comes back? Yeah, so it's a lot. So just to remind people, so again, he had this five-year, $250 million guaranteed where it actually was like, if they cut them, they would own $250 million. Like they have to pay in the $250. Like in his cap hits would be $70 something million a year. No, 250.

Like if they're saying, like every, it's $50 million for five years. And in, you know, it's like, Kirkhusband. Couldn't, if they cut him, would it, they'd have to eat it all at once or I thought they could like prorated. You could split it up. You could do a 125. The point is, like, they have to pay in the full 250. There'd be a massive dead cap.

Yeah. Huge, an unprecedented dead cap. But there is a now a new, now there's two new wrinkles to this. One is he tours Achilles again. And he may have perhaps possibly done it on vacation doing non-football activities. When he was not wearing his boot, apparently. What was he doing? Do we know what he was doing?

We have no, there's no firm information on this. Like there's like a rumor going on social media. There's like a photo of his Instagram. I don't know when the photo on his Instagram is taken. But basically, if Deshaun Watson retours Achilles while he was not in a boot, there's a chance that it could void his contract. We'll see about that. I think the real, the one that's concrete and definitely happening is the Browns,

insured his contract, and there's this new loophole where basically the Browns pay a huge insurance premium to insurance company in case Deshaun Watson gets hurt. He does get hurt. So the games that Deshaun Watson was missed, the Brown's enough to pay him. The insurance company pays him. And this is a really weird loophole,

but the salary cap. Yeah, this is wild that this is a thing. So the salary cap is for salary. Technically, the Browns did not pay the salary. The insurance company paid the salary, so they get a credit back at the end of the year, like a tax refund they can use to net. this year's salary cap. So they get $25 million back extra for this year in salary cap.

So if Deshaun Watson, because he tore his Achilles again, misses this whole season, the $50 million in this year, the Browns have the insurance company pays them $50 million. But the Browns get $50 million back next the year after this. So they get $25 million back for this year, $50 million the year after. At that point, they could cut him in like 2026. So they actually have just by paying this insurance company, this weird loophole, they can actually get out of paying him, even if it's not out of the contract. I can't believe that's a rule. And then he's just in limbo on the team not playing slash recovering and getting paid by

the insurance company, not the Browns. Yes, the Browns banish him and no one in the Cleveland wants to deal with him anymore. And he gets to tell himself that he was treated poorly or whatever and gets to like be basically being like self-exile and tell himself whatever he wants. But like no one wants to deal with each other again and they never do, which is why I think her cousins makes sense to Cleveland, give him a million bucks with the Russell Wilson thing and Steelers. And he gets to play for Kevin Stefansky.

the Browns have the flexibility to take a quarterback or not, but they get to the Falcons, Kirk Cousins, Pennix thing, except instead of giving Kirk Cousins 90 million, the Browns will do it with one million. Yeah. Kirk for one million, I think is fine. With someone who already knows the offense. Yeah.

Is it going to work when he can't move? I guess the assumption is he'll be able to move better next year. I think the movement issue is one, it's you're going to be better off the second year after the Achilles than the first. And also I think it's a wear and tear of it's about, he had a moral mobility in October. than December. I think it's a wear and tear it down the stretch. I have to imagine that another year of rehab, he's going to be better. As much as he's a year older, I think he's better this year

than the previous season. Remember, he didn't practice to like mid-August. I mean, yeah, I can, I can see there's definitely going to be some like comeback player of the year buzz for Kirk Cudence next year. Kirk literally, he wasn't even ready for the beginning of training camp from the injury. So I'm kind of like, you know, he's suddenly he's like 20 months removed from the thing. I kind of think he'll be okay. Good enough. For a million dollars? be better than Russ was. Titans at one, the Titans at one,

I mean, Will Levis is there for two more years. He's not going to play. I think Brian Callahan, I loved how honest and transparent he was, just the disgust with Will Levis was amazing. D.K., gun to your head. Should the Titans take Cam Ward or should her Sanders?

Should they, who should they take? I think they would rather, I think that I'd lean Shudder as like a fit for their offense. I think I'm going to ultimately, like Cam a little bit more, but they're pretty close in my mind. So this is where, and I know maybe I'm like leaning too much on the Dion thing, but I don't know how you don't talk about it. You're Brian Callahan. You've been hired as an NFL head

coach. That's a risky risk. You literally had the worst record in the NFL. Like your first season, you were literally last. If you take Shudor Sanders and you either suck again and have another bottom five record or you're okay, but Dion doesn't like and Shadur is unhappy. Has there ever been anyone more likely to get you fired? Like, is Shadur better enough than Cam to, like, selfishly for the coach to want to endorse someone. Like, you see, should her better enough than Cam to justify bringing Dion Sanders his shadow into your life? Probably not.

Probably not. Yeah. In that specific scenario. You're drafting your own replacement. You're drafting your replacement. It's like, I know maybe I'm leaning too much into this, but I'm like, how could they not think this way? Couldn't you say the same about the Giants?

Yeah, but he's, Calahan's maybe not the one making the choice, right? Like, he might not be actually making that call. It might not be, but it's not like Caliant doesn't. and get to weigh in, but I mean, but the same with the GM. Like, do you think,

you know, Chad, we haven't talked to this. Chad, the guy running the Titans' GM. He was the assistant GM. And then when the old one got fired, he leapt over GM and just became the president of football operations.

He was never a GM. He was the VP who became a GM and now hires the other GMs. It's like he never did the GM job. Chad Brinker. That's the dream. No. That is the dream. So does he want Dion Sanders involved?

I don't know. Probably not. It's going to be Camboard. I can. And that's the thing. Maybe I'm totally wrong on this. And I know some people think Shadurr Sanders is way better than Cam Ward. Some people think Cam Ward's better than Shadur.

It just feels like you're creating the invitations for your own funeral. Cam Ward currently even odds to go first overall. Yeah. Shador Sanders, eight to one. Trade back, run it back with Levis. I kind of like that year three of Levis. I also think if that, the logic we just went through is like why they just signed Arnold. And the Titans just signed Arnold and are basically like, screw it.

They feel to me more. Yeah, I don't know. Obviously, who knows what's going to happen at this point so early. But when you explain that whole scenario, it's like, oh, maybe there are just a veteran quarterback bridge guy this year. Take Abdul Carter and just be happy that they have a good pass rusher. I think you have to trade back from the first spot. It's tough to, like, just go first and, like, not take a quarterback or, like, even trade back for a quarterback. I think that's the thing.

I mean, that's the ideal, but you have to have a partner. And that's assuming that some team is going to be in love enough with these guys to give up like a future first or whatever it is that you want to trade back. Because you have to weigh, how much is it worth potentially losing this guy that we really love to trade back a couple spots? Yeah. Okay. Before we get out of here, final guesses, where are these people go? I think Kirk, well, not final guesses. It's like six weeks.

But I would say if I didn't make one prediction, I think Kirk to the Browns for a million bucks. Is there any, if one pick, what would you do? Oh, like, is there any guy you feel strongly about? Yeah, anyway, my strong ones are Shadur to the Raiders in some capacity, and Kirk to the Browns. You can pick anything you want. Kirk to the Brown, Shador to the Raiders. I do like Shador to the Raiders a lot.

I think that makes them of sense to me. If there's any other in terms of free agency. Or whatever you want. Yeah. I think Darnold to the Raiders. I'm a little reticent to say that Carol is going to be. super excited to hitch his wagon to a rookie quarterback in year one. You could also argue Pete Carroll will intrinsically understand the Dion dynamic better than any of these people.

Yeah. Also, everyone talks about how old Pete Carroll is, but he does not think about it that way. He's the most energetic 73-year-old person I've ever seen in my life. Who's more energy? Pete Carroll or Brian Callahan? I mean, right. Zach Taylor or Pete Carroll? Or Brian Callahan.

Pete Carroll has more like, he's more vivacious than Kyle. Shanahan. Kyle Shanahan's more tired than Pete Carroll. I feel bad for Brian Callan. He's like the Drake London of coaches. It's like, what's your favorite Brian Callahan memory or quote?

Honestly, it's the press conferences, but we'll love us. It's the faces after we'll have stuff, something. I like Brian Callahan. I just don't think Dionne Sanders will pick him to coach's on. He's rocking a beard right now.

It looks pretty good. Can I say it? Beards for coaches are always a red flag. If you didn't start with the beard and you have a beard, it's not good. I think the Steelers are going to sign Russell Wilson.

that's my prediction. Yeah. Yeah, because that would make you unhappy. That's why I think the Giants will get Derrick Carr. All right. That's all we got.

We have Deke's draft guy. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. I will say Kai has 10 Lord of the Rings versus Coachella names ready for us. Let's go. Kai's the fucking man.

Kai, you're such a legend. Did I beat you with the other one? D.K. I got a better record. Yes, with the Harry Potter. Even though Harry Potter, even though he'd seen Harry Potter movies.

Potter. I have not read Harry Potter. I've not read Lord of the Rings. I've seen the movies a lot, but also I'd be lying if I knew more than like 12 people's names and all Lord of the Rings. So, all right, Kai, please grace us with our new favorite game. Glenn Powell, by the way, that's great. Oh, thank you. Oh, that's been, Glenn Powell. Kai's got the best T-shirts in the game. He does. You're too kind. By the way, are those t-shirts that you buy, those kind of like novelty t-shirts?

Are they ever pretty uncomfortable and, like, shitty quality? Sometimes, there are misses, for sure. That's always the fear. Like, like, really weird shaped? Every time you're on Instagram and you're like, wow, this is like a really niche cool t-shirt and you buy it. It's like, oh, this is made of tissue paper. Oh, yeah, it happens to me. It happens to the best most.

But luckily, none of them are like that expensive. So it's like, you know, $30, $40 range. Yeah. Probably $40, $50 range, if we're being honest. All right. Take it easy now. Flex. Damn.

So we're going to play Lord of the Rings character or is it Coachella acts. Okay. Are we all guessing? I feel like Hyvitz and D. D.K. are going to know these. I think, Dek and I, I think we hold back, but if we don't know, like, we get in there. If you don't know, you guess. If you do know, you don't guess. Okay. I have 10 names. Half of them are from the two buildings.

And the other half are from the 2002 cochella lineup. The year that the movie was released. Oh, that's brutal. That's typical. That's sick. Okay. Elbow. Well, I know, isn't there a Bilbo? There's a Bilbo Baggins, right? Yeah, Elbow's got to be Lord of the Rings.

Is Elbow his brother? Elbow and Bilbo? Yeah, the family. I think it's a, I think it's a, I think. it's an act. I think it's an act as well. I think it's a, yeah, Coachella. I'm saying final answers. Coachella. Cochella.

Hyphids? Lord of the Rings. It's Coachella. Let's go. Elbow is it Coachella? An English rock band, apparently. I did Google. Elbow baggins. That was really good. Well, because there's fair and or a mere mere. It's like the same thing with the letter. Whatever. Don't say too many names. Your spoiling feature. You're going to ruin the game.

Sorry. Gimley. That's got to be. of the Rings. That sounds so Lord of the Rings-sy. Hi Fitz. He knows. And if he knows, that means it's Lord of the Rings.

Craig's right. It's Lord of the Rings. It's Lord of the Rings. It's a main character, yeah. Okay. Digweed. Digweed? Wow. Digweed? See, that honestly sounds,

that sounds more Harry Pottery. I think that's what Harry takes to, like, breathe under water. Right. Like, that's some J.K. Rowling's shit. So I'm going to go with Coachella. Me too. I think it's Coachella. Shit.

Oh, Hyfinniz snuck in there a wrong answer. I thought Digweed would get you. I'm not going to lie. I'm cooking. I'm 3-0, baby. Let's ride. Kai, you got to wait until Hyphen says it. Thank you.

We almost escaped that. Craig being undefeated versus like we've seen the stuff and we're doing terribly. Oh, my God. Hey, I've got any wrong. That's true. But you lost Harry Potter. That's fine. Ozo Motley.

Ozo Motley? Can I, can we get spelling? or is that not allowed? Not allowed. Okay. Damn it. He rules with an iron fist that Kai. I got to get you to get one wrong here.

What is it? Ozo Motley? Mm-hmm. Ozo Motley? I'm going to go with... Gets says Coachella. No? Yeah, I'm going to go to Coachella.

Okay. I'm going Coachella. I've said Lord of the Rings three straight times. I've been wrong each time, so I'm saying Lord of the Rings. It's Coachella. Yes. Yes. I have for the record never heard of these bands though

Who is Ozo Motley and how did they get in Coachella They're an American rock band That's all I know from 2002 Anyone was that Ozo Motley Coachella 02 Please email us at rigor fantasy football Gmail.com Okay we're about halfway Sam

Both Ooh is this a trick question Kai right now is it both No Okay. Sam. I'm going to go Lord of the Rings. Okay.

This, yeah, I mean, yeah. This is kind of a trick question, I feel like, a little bit. But yeah, it's just Sam. I don't know what you want for me. Is Sam, is Sam Wise, Gangey? Is that a guy? Yeah. He's like the second or third most famous character from the book.

I'm going to tell you right now, if Sam, if you, if Sam's a Coachella act and you're going to call us in Samwise. This is actually pretty good. That's what he's going to do. I see it in his face. Okay. Are we ready? Yeah. Lord of the Rings.

That's okay. Yeah. God. God we're overthinking it. Five and no, baby. Five left. Herbert. Damn it.

Damn you, Kai. Herbert. Herbert. And nobody named Herbert in Middle Earth. Yeah, I'm saying Coachella. Same. Yeah, it's Coachella. Yeah.

No, but Craig. Can we make that a quote card? Anybody named Herbert and Middle Earth. Dude, that's like, that's the difference in Lord of the Rings and Dude is Dude has Duncan, Idaho. Yeah, we were doing Dune names. I would have said Herbert. Duncan, Sky Ridge. We should do.

Emails at RingerFantasy Football at Gmail.com. Yeah, we'll do Dune names or, yeah, in pharmaceuticals. I know, buddy named Herbert, Middle Earth. We're going to get Lord of the Rings scholars telling you about Herbert, the Hobbit. All right, Kai. Next one. A. Omer. See, this could be a trick because that sounds so Lord of the Rings-Z,

but it almost sounds too easy. Say the name again? A-O-Mere. I won't overthink it. Well, A-O-Mere? I won't overthink it. I'll go as Lord of the Rings. I'm going Lord of the Rings, too.

Yeah, it is. Lord of the Rings. Okay. That's A-O-W-N's bro, I believe. Is that easy friends? Elba? What's that? Elbow and Herbert. He's friends with Herbert.

Herbert. Herbert, Elbow, and Ae-O-Mare were hanging out last night. I really thought, like, the Sam Herbert back and forth would probably throw you off, but here we are. Co-Sheen. Can I get the language of origin? No. Would you say, what'd you say? Co-sheen. Kai, are you a fan of Lord of the Rings?

I've seen them. I'm not like the biggest fan, but they're good. I've seen them. I enjoy them. So we're not going to make any videos of Kai watching. Lord of the Rings so the first time and crying at the most emotional scenes. No.

But they're good. I really want to enjoy them. It has to be Coachella. Yeah. It's Coachella. It's also, is it French for pork or whatever for pig? No clue.

Yeah, I'll go with Coachella. It's Coachella. It's tough. Not a lot of drama here. You're just getting them all. Yeah. Okay. El Ronde.

Lord of the Rings. Yeah, I think it's Lord of the Rings. It is. Lord of the Rings. Bang. Damn. Arwin. Oh.

Uh-oh. You may have cut me here. Say it again. Arwin. Arwin. This is kind of right down the middle. This can go either way. This is a coin flip.

Arwin. Who did we just do? Who was the one before? El Rond. Arwin? I'm going to go with Lord of the Rings I'm going to say Coachella It's it's uh Elron's daughter

It's also we just talked about this It's fucking Stephen Tyler's daughter played Arwin In the movie Oh my god Yeah it's Liv Tyler Did I go one for 10? 10 for 10 and oh Craig Good job

Thank you impressive I'd like to point out that I got all of them correct too But that's fine Shout to DK You read the books In the movies matters a little bit This is dad Craig, me being obsessed with Lord of the Rings for like 10 years of my life does matter a little bit.

Also, you were more aware of music in 2002 than I was as well. That's true. That's true. Although I had not heard of any of those bands. Yeah. They're all real bands on Coachella 2002. Is there another movie franchise where this could be close? Star Wars? No, Star Wars names are too specific. Dune would be incredible because, again, Duke, Duncan Idaho could be a character in the replacements. You know what I'm saying?

Like these do these do-names. Duncan Idaho sounds like a folk act that is, plays, who opens for the luminaires. Koshaun, Koshaun, Koshaun is pig in French, not Kosheen. Oh, that's where I was getting mixed up there. Gurney Halleck, it's a good name. Herbert. Gurney. Hobbled Herbert.

Gurney Halleck is the, like, Gurney Halleck and Duncan Idaho are like the two of the biggest badasses in the universe. They're sick. Gurney and Duncan. Why is it called Middle Earth? I don't know It is kind of weird that Like all the names in Lord of the Rings are fucking sick But then he's just like middle earth

All right thank you DK Thank you Craig thank you to You know J.R. Tolkien for writing that thing And then thank you to Herbert All the bands at 2002 Coachella shout out Vote on that thing Email so reamacy football To vote on that thing

Email us of reinforce and football We'll take more if anyone, we'll take more pharmaceutical stuff. I still want to hear from people about like Sky Rizzi and other drug names and anyone who could tell us about why these Zell Jans. Zel Jans and Jans. I'm not putting Zel Jans in my body. Thank you, Lorne.

Lauren. Thank you, Elbow. I don't think of Guy, Carlis too. Yeah. Elbow, so what is Albo do? Thanks for coming up with that on the spot. That was great. Yeah.

What does Elbo do? English rock band from Manchester in the 90s. Manchester. Well, the band members are named Craig Potter, Mark Potter, and Guy Garvey. Guy Garvey. That's a name. What's Elbow doing these days?

Are they still around? Yeah, what are they up to? Yeah, it says they are still active. Do they think we could get them on the show? They had an album come out in March last year. Lovers leave. We should listen. Good for them.

They're doing well. What's up with the name Elbow? Yeah, I wonder why they're named Elbo. Elbow. They did an acoustic cover of Destiny Child's independent women. They changed their name to Elbow in 1997, inspired by a line in the BBC TV drama The Singing Detective. Deep cut. In which the character Philip Marlowe describes the word elbow as the loveliest word in the English language. Disagree.

Not sure elbow does it. Because your elbow makes an elbow? It's like an elbow. It's like, is that why? What do you think so? There's a lot of, there's probably a lot of drugs involved. Do you think Elbow was called that because it was Elbone? And then they shortened it because like Elbone would make a lot of sense. Their original name, so they started in the 1990. They changed their name to Elbow in 1997. Their original name for seven years was Mr. Soft.

Okay. Elbow might be better than that. Elbow is better. Elbow is better than Mr. Soft. Does that mean what we think it means? Named after the song by Coffee Rebel. Is this a glory hole type of situation where we don't know the. meaning of names, etymology.

Mr. Soft. I'm sure the Brits had a field day with Mr. Soft. sounds like a nickname that a group of women would have for some guy that he never finds out about, but that's what they call him in a group text. It's like a character from sex in the city. Mr. Soft. Yeah, they're out brunch. Mr. Big and then Mr. Big.

And then there's middle. Middle. Mr. Middle. God. Goodbye, everyone. I got to watch those damn movies. Must be 21 plus. and present in select states, Fandul is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino LLC. Gambling problem.

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