The Ringer NFL Show - Aaron Rodgers Reaction, Plus Offseason Predictions

Episode Date: February 23, 2022

Kevin, Nora, and Steven open up by discussing Aaron Rodgers’s cryptic Instagram post and whether he will or will not play next season. They finish by debating the biggest winners in free agency, Tom Brady, QBs in the draft, and other offseason issues.  Host: Kevin Clark, Nora Princiotti, and Steven Ruiz Associate Producer: Stefan Anderson Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Derek Thompson, long-time writer with the Atlantic Magazine on tech, culture, and politics. There is a lot of noise out there, and my goal is to cut through the headlines, loud tweets, and hot takes in my new podcast, plain English. I'll talk to some of the smartest people I know to give you clear viewpoints and memorable takeaways. Plain English starts November 16th. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. It is the ringer NFL show, part of the Ringar Podcast Network. I'm Kevin Fark. Offseason edition, joined by Nora Prince. Idy, Nora, hello. Hello, Kevin.

And Stephen Ruiz, who just, who before we logged on, said he's a little bit rusty, he's not potted in two weeks. Do you remember about to talk, Stephen? No. No. That was my attempt. That was my acting attempt, by the way. That was my acting debut. Could we knock the rest of? Wow. Okay. So we're going to do a couple of different things here. We're going to react first. We're going to do an offseason predictions pod. And then one of the topics was Aaron Rogers. Then Aaron Rogers put an Instagram post on on Monday night that everybody overreacted to.

On Tuesday, he joined Pat McAfee. Nora has been in a recording, has not heard any of the Pat McAfee update. And Nora, you'll be surprised to learn. I did a two-hour podcast with Danny Hyphitz, and I came out. And just the whole world of Aaron Rogers had changed. And I'm going to be honest with you come in. I would love it if you and Stephen could, like, explain this to me. Because I tried to catch up really fast.

But then there were all of these words, like, about a cleanse. And I did not get there. I don't know what happened. Please explain. I wouldn't look too deeply into the cleanse if I were you. Because I did. And I do not enjoy the mechanics of it. The update is there is no update.

So on Monday night and posts his Instagram post, it says it's gratitude. He shouts a bunch of people out. I didn't think much of it. And what I realize now is we're just going to overreact to everything he does. And I guess I should have seen this coming, but like there was a photo of Devante Adams and Randall Cobb. And Rogers normally stands in the middle of those two guys. He found a photo from Kansas City, which is the game obviously he missed. And he posted it and everybody was like, whoa, like he's the missing, he's missing from this photo.

What's going on here? And he explained today on McAfee that that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, Photo just brought tears to his eyes because he likes those guys, he enjoyed his best friends. He said there was going to be no update on his feature, no news. It was basically just like a gratitude post. And I guess this is where we are, Stephen, in the off-season news cycles that every time Aaron Rodgers post,

and by the way, there were Packers fans who were like, this is kind of what he does. You know, like, I think he just kind of has a couple glasses of scotch and just posts, like, you know, aim away messages. Like, I don't think that this is, I don't think everything has to be referatim of what he's going to do. next year. Stephen, what did you think? Yeah, and I know I'm deranged because

I spent like 20 minutes trying to Google search images for that specific image to figure out what he searched to find it. And I couldn't find it anywhere and there's no watermark on it. Does he have like a photo wire service? Well, it's possible a team photographer took it.

Possibly. He would have an in on that. I don't know. I feel like we don't, we've never had an NFL character quite like this. Like a guy, I'm trying to think of an equivalent from another sport. Maybe Kevin Durant, maybe Kyrie Irving for various reasons. Who's extremely online? Yeah, extremely online.

And like we hang on every post. Name another NFL poster. We do this with LeBron, but it's completely different. It's like LeBron like post a photo of him like eating dinner and everybody's like, LeBron and Bronny enjoy a dinner. And we have to forget about that way. It's Taco Tuesday. Like for a year, people, like, I would get ESPN push alerts.

It were like, LeBron celebrates Taco Tuesday. And it's like, okay, cool, excellent. LeBron's doing Taco Tuesday, Aaron Rogers is coming off a week of venomous. What? Yeah, oh, yeah. No, I think you probably should have been locked in on this McAfee thing. He really, they really got in there. So there's a couple of things that are worth mentioning.

Number one is that McAfee kept saying there was no way you retire. And Rogers just kind of slightly smiled. I don't think he's going to retire. So Ian Rappaport was actually on the show before Rogers. McAfee is the only source of NFL information right now. Like that's either it's either players on McAfee, telling people what they're going to do or insiders on McAfee or report that. So Rappaport said that he doesn't think that Rogers is going to get traded.

He thinks he's either going to retire or come back. And that kind of dovetails with what a lot of insiders said on Super Bowl Sunday, which is his optimism. Rogers himself met with Gutt & Coens, LaFleur, Russ Ball, who controls the, money there and basically said it's it's positive and there's been real honest conversations and he said it's quote much different the meetings have been much different than they've been in the past he also said quote i'm not going to hold anyone hostage on this uh and he also said he loves the game

and he can still play and it's given him a lot and the toe injury right now is the only a lingering problem um tom silverstein who covers the packers and does a great great job he's been there forever in green bay said on twitter welcome to brett farf too And I don't know if it's going to reach those levels, nor what do you think about kind of the timetable of the next couple of months? Well, I think Rogers has said a bunch of times that he's like he's not going to hold them hostage. He's going to make a decision. The thing is, I believe him in that because it works in his best interest as well, because there are real logistical things that are set up where if he's going to go somewhere else, he absolutely should do it now. because the Packers are set up to get something in return.

And because of that, Rogers is going to have the best chance at controlling where he ends up. And if he wants to do that or if he thinks that that's a realistic possibility, he is incentivized to figure it all out so that, you know, the musical chairs don't start getting butts in seats, right? Like, so that as many options are open as possible. That I do believe. pretty much everything else. I'm just like,

I'm out on the prognostications. I will, I will watch McAfee. I suppose in the coming weeks, see what we hear. He's, Rogers to me seems like he's doing, I don't know what the opposite

of concern trolling is, but the type of like, you guys, I am so good right now. Like, you're mad about how good I am. Like how great I'm. doing how at peace I am with my life in the world. And once

he told Kevin Van Valkenberg that he like staged a bookshelf behind him in one of his early Maccathy appearances and put like Atlas shrugged there so that people would freak out. That was the moment I decided to just like let all of this wash over me and see what happens.

Everything he does is on purpose. And so that's what makes this more complicated than than most is every interview he grants, everything he says, every topic he addresses. Go ahead. So here's the problem. I have some experience with this type of behavior from a public person because do you want to know someone else who did everything on purpose for a long time in the public eye? Have you done a long podcast series about her? Yes. Is it Taylor Swift? Oh, I thought it was Danny Hyphitz. I'm sorry. I thought it was Danny Hypertz.

Here's the problem. Here's the problem. Taylor Swift is now incapable of posting on social media, wearing a specific color to an event, tweeting, using certain words without a horde of people searching for things that they can use as clues. Now, it's possible that Aaron Rogers chose that photo from the Chiefs game

because he is Aaron Rogers and there are no accidents with Aaron Rogers. It is also possible that that has been the case for so long that now actually there are accidents with Aaron Rogers because everything is assumed to have deep significance and it's impossible to tell what they're. I think we're giving him too much credit.

I really think we're giving him too much credit. This is a guy that teased the haircut and then it turned out to be a John Wick costume. Like everyone was speculating about. That is what I'm saying. Some of this may actually be meaningless. But Stephen, we're kind of making the same point. The bar is so low for him to impress everybody

that when the John Wick costume came out, everybody was like, this guy's just doing it right. And it's like, well, okay, it's John Wick. I would also say, Nora, it's actually a bit like, like Stanley Kubrick, where he puts, he put so many things in his movies that wore a message. But then there was this entire cult of people who were like, oh, this is also a message. And it's like, no, no, it's just like. It wasn't.

What's that documentary call? Like the room 22, 237, I believe. We should do that with, with Roger's Instagram posts. We're getting there. It's like a couple. So last year, Taylor Swift, accidentally, some of her people accidentally, didn't, they had an old watermark on a sample version of an album cover and it accidentally got posted and incredibly quickly, hordes of people on the internet had decided that it was all

a clue that there was a surprise album coming and it wasn't true. But when you behave like that for such a long time, what are people supposed to do other than look for clues? Here's my other observation. He wears a lot of graphic teas that you could buy at Old Navy. I don't think this is a guy that's as complex as we're making him out. He's wearing an office graphic t-shirt. Well, also, and I'm as guilty of this as anybody

because I actually wrote, we talked about, he and I talked about that t-shirt and I wrote it up in August or whatever. But like the office is a pretty, pretty widespread popular show. Like, we can't act like it's... Not exactly a deep cut. Yeah, we can't act like he's really into like, you know, early 2000's hardcore

or something. What's what I'm saying? of this community that yeah. It's not even the British office. It's not even the British office. And I also feel like the British office has been somewhat disrespected by the American office cult, but that's different.

I also want to just say I really like the Pat McAfee show. It's just fun. And there were people who were, they were kind of near us at Radio Row, and there was just a lot of clapping. And I kind of feel like we need more clapping in sports media. You loved the clapping. I would like Pat McAfee to wear sleeves,

but I am impressed with. No. No. Don't kill the vibe. That's his look. Why are you shaming his look? I would like to kill the vibe. I'd like a vibe shift. I don't. I'm invoking a vibe shift. On Pat McAfee? Towards sleeves? It's just like sleeves, you know?

No, I'm in. I'm in on the whole vibe. I don't know Pat McAfee at all. I've never met him. The closest I've been is I have a 10-second Pat McAfee story, which is that I was an indie a couple of years ago. I think he was a player then. And I was, I had to sit in the lobby of, I think, the Weston in Indianapolis doing something. and he happened to be in the lobby. I have no idea why he was there.

But the Big Ten volleyball tournament or some Big Ten volleyball thing was happening in India. And there were these two Michigan parents who were sitting next to Pat McAfee. And McAfee was just like, tell him about Michigan volleyball. And they were like, really,

they were getting in the weeds. And he was getting in the weeds. He was getting really excited at Michigan volleyball. And I was like, oh, my God, I love Michigan volleyball. It was the most earnest thing I've ever been around. I'm just saying like, what's going on with the Colts punter?

He's just so into Michigan volleyball right now because he met these two random parents. I don't, I've never been around an athlete by Pat Mackey. I never met him. He's big on enthusiasm. Yeah. He's just clapping. This is a secret sauce.

I watched the Maccathy stand-up video on YouTube. Thought I was going to be bad because he's an athlete. Pretty good. Also, I highly recommend Googling Ryan Fitzpatrick at the Fred Jackson roast. Very good set by Ryan Fitzpatrick, by the way. Have you been, so in the two weeks since you've been putting up, you've just been looking up stand-up comedy from NFL athletes? That's all I've been looking up. All right. Let's move on.

So this is the first question in our offseason predictions, and it's about Aaron Rogers. Aaron Rogers makes a decision on his future that lasts the over under is April 28th, North Preciati. Yeah, well, so I sort of already, I guess I alluded to this in my answer to your first question, but I would go under. Originally, you know, free agency starts March 16. originally he said he would do that. Then I think he kind of walked that back a little bit, but still, at a certain point, landing spots go away.

And whether he intends to use those or not, the incentive structure makes it so that Aaron Rogers would want to figure out what he wants to do sooner than that. I would go under two. And I think the longer he waits, the more likely he is to be traded, but I don't think he's going to get traded. Trade it?

asked, yeah, I don't think he's going to get traded. I'm saying if he waits longer, but I think it's, I think he should commit sooner rather than later because the Packers do have a lot of work to do this off season in terms of like restructuring contracts and getting under the cap and being able to sign players and free agency. If that's what he wants, he wants to be a Super Bowl contender and keep this team together. He's got to do it sooner rather than later. Steve, why do you think if the longer it goes, the more likely he is to not be traded?

I kind of feel it. Oh, no, no. Trade it. Trade it. I think it's more likely... Like the longer it gets drawn out, the more likely it is that he is traded. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, we're agreeing. Okay. Cool. I think he's going to come back. And I also think that... This is a weird thing to say. I think that it's possible that at some point he tells Brian Guttenkinson and Russ Ball and

Matt LaFergett is coming back and doesn't tell the general public and it never leaks. And he gets to... draw this out a little bit. Like, isn't that the best scenario for the Aaron Rogers? I think that's already happened, to be honest. I already think that's conversation happened. I mean, the Tom Clements hired getting back the QB coach. I think, like, they're going to sign Jake Kumero in like a week.

And that's going to clinched it. It's kind of like, it's kind of like the Sean McBay thing where it's like, Sean McBay was like reaching out to guys to be the OC, obviously after Kevin O'Connell left. And then like a week later, it's like, he might retire. And it's like, well, I don't know, he's building a staff for next year. So I think it seems like he's not going to retire. But yeah, no.

You do become like the quarterback who cried retirement at a certain point. Yeah, he's gone through that before. Yeah, but you can only go through it so many times. Tell that to Ben Rathesburg. Yeah, I was going to say the limit doesn't exist. He can just keep doing this for a long time. I think the limit does exist if you're like doing an hour on McAfee a week or whatever. Let me ask you a question.

So there were what, 120,000 people watching on McAfee today live when Rodgers was on there? like what if he just kept this up for the entire like until the draft do you think those numbers would appreciably go down by like april 15th because i don't oh i kind of do he would have to play it up on social media like him just like sticking to the routine of just showing up every week without teasing it i think numbers would go down but if he teased it like he did last night but i don't think he was teasing i think it was just like an instagram post oh no yeah i don't think he was either i think he was just like he was just like a instagram post oh no yeah i don't think he was either i think he was just you just very sentimental last night. Yeah. Okay, but whether it was intentional or not, right?

Like, he posts on Instagram and that had something to do with why the appearance on McAfee got that number. If he does that exact same thing three weeks in a row and then the, then like goes on and goes, yeah, no, I'm figuring it out. there's a certain portion of that population that tunes in for the first one that is not tuning in for the fourth one. To his credit, he did come out right away and say, I'm not telling you guys anything about my future.

So don't stick around. I don't know if you said that part, but I clicked out. Yeah, but then he gave us, he gave us cleanse content. Yeah, I got the highlights from Twitter. That's true. I mean, look, if he's going to keep going into that stuff, he might get a whole new population of listeners and viewers to tune in.

that's a tough market to break into. The wellness market, the Goop market. What if he just wants his male goop? That seems like so not outside the realm of possibility. Tom Brady did that? I don't think Tom Brady did that. I don't think

that TB12 method is male goop. I don't think that's correct. And that it's not nearly as successful. Yeah, but it's also just as it has different vibes. Like, I feel like TB12 is more just like, I'm just a work out regimen. Goop is like a lifestyle. No, it's a lifestyle.

I think, yeah, no, I, I disagree with that and I also think Tom Brady would. Yeah, you haven't read the book. I'm sure he'd like it to be a male group, but it's not going to work. When he first came out with the book, he pitched it to like farmers and graphic designers. I was like, who is this book for?

Farmers and graphic designers? Yeah, look it up. That's like from the press. Two big demos. He says it's for everybody. That's a wide net. Anything else in Aaron Roberts will be to the second topic. I mean, at what point do we start feeling bad for Jordan Love?

And have they given up on him? Is he just done? Should they trade Jordan Love? Probably. Like, why not? Like, at this point, like, you've shown no faith in it. And we all watch the Chiefs game. Like, we know what's up.

They're not going to get a lot more. So I think you just give it. It's year three. He's not going to play. I mean, you already wasted the first round pick. Like, we don't have to put. attend. Question number two.

Over under quarterbacks taken in the first round. I'm setting this. So a lot of mocks have two, a lot of mocks have three. I've seen some mocks before. I'm setting it at three and a half only because I feel like the number always rises. Kind of we've talked about this coach is getting involved. Oh, here comes Sam Hal. Hey, great pro day, all that shit.

Teams talk themselves into it. Stephen Ruiz was excited about this question because he wants to plan a flag and a prospect, not literally. But we'll start with you, Nora. I would just always go over. There's just no circumstance under which I'm not going over with this one. Do you have a list? We need to give the floor to Stephen. Yeah, okay.

Like, we're just not. We'll go through the first round possibilities. But Stephen, you have the floor to stake a claim in a prospect. I'm a, I'm a, Malik Willis guy. I'm not afraid to admit it. There's a lot of people out there. who I respect their opinions, they're film grinders,

their draft opinion havers. They don't like Malik Willis. In my group chats, I get laughed at. They call me dumb. They called Malik Willis like a running back, a water receiver.

I think he's the best thrower in the draft. And I don't even think it's close. I'm not getting excited by Desmond Ritten. That seems to be the consensus, draft Twitter, QB1.

He's Ryan Tannahill. He's Ryan Tannahill. I can't get excited for Ryan Tannahill. Meanwhile, Malik Willis, second best runner to enter the league besides Lamar Jackson. He is Lamar Jackson. He's not Lamar Jackson. He's not that fast. He's not that chifty.

But he's like 80% of what Lamar Jackson is, which I think is something you could build an office around. We just saw the Eagles make the playoffs with Jalen Hertz. He could throw the football way better than Jalen Hertz. Like the Eagles win that game against the bucks. If Jalen Hertz could throw, Malik Willis can make those thirms. Can I push back on one thing? If Ryan Tannenhill's career was available in the draft, he would go in the

first round. A million percent. He went in the first round and he got traded by the team that drafted him for nothing. After he kept getting hurt, I'm just saying that, and also, by the way, like, that, that team would probably all things considered, like, have kept Ryan Tannahill, would be my guess. Oh, oh, I am, I'm a Ryan Tannahill defender. At least I was in Miami. I thought he was underrated. But I'm not taking Ryan Tannhill with a top 10 picked. No, not top 10. I will take him the first round. I don't think so.

So Daniel Jeremiah, let's just do this. Daniel Jeremiah has two quarterbacks throwing the first round. Kenny Pickett at 18, Malik Willis at 20. Does that seem right to you? Malik Willis to the Steelers, can he picket to the Saints? I think both will be top 15 picks by the end of it.

It seems like Malik Willis got hype after the Senior Bowl. Apparently he killed the Senior Bowl. And I think that's only going to continue when he interviews and when he starts throwing at his pro day. I think that's really going to help him. I would not be surprised if he's a top 10 pick, to be honest with you. and I think Ritter's worth taking a flyer on in the top 15.

I just wouldn't take them in the top 10. So wait. Our Danny Kelly has four going in the first round. It sounds like, but it sounds like you have a lot of quarterbacks going on the first round, Ruiz, because is Matt Corral a first round pick here? No. No.

I think, Kenny Pickett will be one. I don't think, I think the Panthers are drafting Kenny Pickett. Not to spoil another question later in the draft. Tepper was the owner was a pit booster. Matt Ruhle recruited him.

That's enough right there. Those two guys, that's enough for them. That checks both the boxes they're looking for. Like, I recruited him out of college and I'm vaguely, like, have some relation to him. That's enough for the Panthers. He's not getting past six, in my opinion. I think he's going to be a Panther.

What about Sam Howell? He's, like, injured Baker Mayfield, but even worse to me. Like, as an NFL prospect, I can't get excited about him. Like, he has no process in the pocket. At the first sign of pressure, he just starts scrambling. He takes a ton of sacks for a guy that's been in that offense for a while.

And, like, theoretically, he would be, like, you know, better at the process stuff and get rid of the ball quickly. No, not with him. And they run a bunch of RPO's. I don't know how you're taking so many sacks when you literally only have a second to throw the ball. So I can't see it with Sam Howell. I went to the Miami-UNC game and Sam Howell had a big run and kind of celebrated. happened to have, you know, in the front row. He kind of celebrated in my face, and I'm trying to get over that as a prospect evaluation.

Is that a positive or a negative for you? It's, I'm not feeling great about it. See, he's just too big. It's Baker adjacent. That's Baker adjacent behavior right there. I'm actually, you're his coward. I think I'm overrating him because I want to be neutral on him because of how mad I was with that. Does that make sense?

Yeah. It does. No, it does because it's very easy to become a hater, especially now that you've said this in public, that you got publicly owned by Sam HAL. Extremely, extremely publicly owned. You're pulling an Aaron Rogers. You're looking at the haters and being like,

I'm so okay with this. I'm not upset at all. It's not influencing my opinions at all. I'm good. Man, Sam Howell. Do you own any graphic T-shirts from Old Navy, like a 30-Rock shirt? I don't.

I have a couple of Miami graphics. t-shirts like the old logo that's about it i was wearing one in this particular scenario maybe that's why he celebrated in my face um games tom brady plays in 2022 zero point five is the over under hello nora hello zero that man is retired he's going to go work on mail goop he already made it doesn't need it he already did it he can play again well apparently i need some work so bill i was on with bill last week and he is completely convinced that he's going to go to the Niners. He's obviously still under contract with the Bucks.

Seemed like he was, I thought he was retiring. Bill's theory is that he was saying goodbye to the Bucks. Obviously the Bucks would be in compensation in that scenario. I think he's retired. It makes sense that he's retired. It'd be very weird if he wasn't retired. And he was just like, I'm back. Now, just read the Instagram post.

Like, if we're just going to have an offseason of quarterback communicating their Instagram posts, I might move to Antarctica. but I did that in my dream last night You did that in your dream I moved I took a gondola to Antarctica but it didn't have to do

with quarterbacks Stephen Tom Brady For the sake of content I'll take the over I'll say he plays one game with the 49ers and then retires after one game No of course he's not going to play

What is the question is this? genuine question about this. And I love that Bill has, like, gone hard on this theory. But are we building into this, this idea that he might play for San Francisco? Like, how badly do we think that Tom Brady wants to be a 49er at some point? I don't think he cares about this all that much. I mean, he grew up a 49ers fan. He was at the catch.

I think he's got some. Yeah. Then he was the greatest quarterback of all time. Yeah, but I, so he and Rogers are both fueled by the fact. the 49ers passed on them. And my question is, like, doesn't it make you want to play for them less that you were pissed off at them for 20 years? I think it does. I think he and Rogers were fueled by things like that because he and Rogers, part of why they are so good,

is that they seek out things to be fueled by and to continue to be fueled by. Even long after they would really truly spark that reaction if those guys were not actively searching for things to just, like, kind of ramp up how irked they are about. not X, Y, or Z. I just don't think that putting on that jersey and suiting up for a day is super meaningful to Brady. So my question about this is just like, if anyone is to take the over here, what is he getting out of doing it? And if the answer is like a childhood thing, then I'm at least comfortable with taking the other side. You're overlooking the very obvious reason for him going to San Francisco. dunking on Jimmy Garoblo.

Yes. Winning a Super Bowl. That honestly, like that, and getting them a Super Bowl. Yeah, after he failed. But I would, like, put the 49ers on, like, a top five list of teams

that make the least sense for Tom Brady. Like, they're the only team in the NFL that has two starting quarterbacks right now and they're going to bring in a third. Yeah, I know. Too many, too many cooks. I would also say that if there's a reason that he would want to play,

it's because he's addicted to football. And he wanted to play until he was 50. And then he was all of a sudden, like, I'm done. That's, that's, Bill's kind of argument, right? I think that like starts to go away when you're 45 years old and playing the most violent sport there is.

Also like he could keep just keep playing for the butts. Yeah, but the bucks are in a weird spot right now. I don't know. I don't know. This is, this was not, I thought he was retired until people started saying he was, he might not be retired and now it's a contact question. I'm going under. We're all going on.

Except Stephen who kind of who thinks this is going to sign a one, one game contract with San Francisco. All right. Let's set some odds here. Star quarterback most likely to be traded before training camp. Stephen? I'm going with Russell Wilson. I don't think it's going to happen. I think there's like a 20% chance it's going to happen. But who are the other star quarterbacks for considering? Is it just

Rogers and Kyler? And Kyler, yeah. Yeah, I don't think either of those. I feel like the Kyler stuff is just the beginning stages of like a contract negotiations. It's been like a little weird, but I think that's what this is like man it was some pretty weird contract negotiations hey I I

I'm not going to say what if your ringer contract negotiations started off like that just like it kind of did Andrew Marchand just tweeting out that Stephen Ruiz is immature and petulant like Chris Morton's did a couple weeks ago he said that about me or Kyle he said that about Tyler

I was gonna have to I was gonna have to tweet back at Morton, a little clapback. I think you would have heard, dude, I think you would have heard if Mort had tweeted that about you. Mort follows me. Yeah, I probably would have got a notification on my phone. He's never tweeted.

Yeah, he's never, he's never tweeted that about any of us, from what I understand. Stephen Ruiz is so busy, beefing with everyone over, Malik Willis takes that he misses that he's been just, like, had his character assessing.

Yeah, by Morton. No, it was, I did Mort call Kyler? Didn't he say that the sources say he's like, like a finger pointer. Something like that. Yeah. No,

I was too busy watching NFL stand-up acts to pay attention to the Kyle. Oh, man, Mort's really coming at me. Anyway, check out Ronnie Brown doing a tight five. All right. I'd listen to a wildcat bit by Ronnie Brown. I'm sure Ronnie Brown's got five minutes of material in them.

No, or anybody getting traded? Actually, no, sorry. Different question. Who's most likely to be traded? Yeah. So I have a different answer for those two questions. But I still think Rogers is most likely to get traded.

I think when they redid the contract, they paved the way. And if it's going to happen now is when it makes the most sense to do it. I still think the best thing, the objective best thing for all sides would be for him to stay. But things have been weird for a long time. And they were so weird last year that they... tweaked his deal so that it would make sense for him to be traded and he would have the control that he would need to do to do that in a way that he was comfortable with this offseason. That is not unlike what Brady did essentially where now he had to do it through free agency,

but needed to kind of do the holdout conflict with the team thing to get some leverage to restructure his contract. In Brady's case, it was buying his way into free agency. In Rogers' case, it made it so that, you know, the out exists this season if it's going to happen in a way where it's mutually beneficial to both sides. Again, I still think he stays, but I think there's just more of a clear path with Rogers than anybody else. So I'm in agreement that no star quarterback gets traded. I'd say at this point, only because I know, we all collectively know so little about it. I would actually, if I was setting odds, actually say that Kyler has.

has the best chance. It's all extremely remote. Like the other franchises, I think, are kind of resolute and just being like, whatever. I think that Kyler, I just don't know what to expect there. And Arizona's a weird franchise. Like, they already hired Cliff Kingsbury. So, like, sticking with Cliff Kingsbury's already kind of estranged. Like, we're already kind of down that road.

So I don't know. I'm just putting that in that. I have no idea what the hell is going on in Arizona pile. I'm super with you in this, in the sense that the vice. vibes are just like weird. Yeah, yeah. My thing with Kyler is just given how they acquired him, right, and moving on from Rosen and that whole thing,

having this not work with a quarterback of Kyler Murray's age and caliber, like that is a super fireable offense. And the people who would have to agree to trade him would be the people under the microscope for doing it. I just, it's just hard for me to feel like that could have. happen. I think the one thing with the Russ trade is I think it would be harder for the Seahawks to trade

him because Russ is not like a normal quarterback. Like he's a quarterback that takes him the offense. I'm talking about on the field. And he like transforms the offense. It's like the offense has to be what it was for the Bengals this year where it was just like all explosive plays and getting sacked. Like that's the

offense that it's inevitable. Like we've seen different coordinators in Seattle and it always comes back to that type of offense. don't think coaches around the league necessarily want that type of quarterback. Like when Andy Benoit did the Matthew Stafford is better than Russell Wilson thing, I think he was getting info from coaches. And coaches like a quarterback goes one to two to three through his progressions and gets rid of the ball. And Russell Wilson has never been that, never will be that.

He also signed a sandwich once a little bit. He also sold bread that was shaped like a football. He's got some thoughts on bread. Listen. Everybody was making bread during the pandemic and he was selling it and shaping it. It's fine. All right.

Best free agent who actually switches teams. Steven. I'm going to say Von Miller. I don't think a lot of free agents are going to switch teams. I think the receivers may have, but then a bunch of them got torn ACLs at the end of the year. And it took out the top three free agent receivers. Teran Armstrong is another one,

but I don't know if he's, He's like, has the star power. He's, like, probably the best player. I think Tron Armstead is the best players being switched teams. I just don't think he's. That was also my answer. I don't think he's the most famous players going to switch teams. Like the saints.

I think he's the best. You had, Stephen, you had a great piece about the, the quarterbacks, Wilson and Rogers, kind of controlling everything this week. And in it, you had a link about the PFF intern who did the effective cap space thing. And essentially, like, I mean, it's a great graphic for the cap isn't really. situation because of just how how many teams can free up like $40 million with like two of low restructures. But at the end of the day, like the Saints are really over the cap. And it's going to be really hard for them to fit a $60 million, I mean, $20 million a year

plus contract. When you think about all the teams that need, and obviously franchise tag is what it is and if they can figure that out more power to them. But when you consider the teams that are going to be desperate for OL help, that Toronto Armstead, Mike, get overpaid. Yeah. And I would say this about the Saints. They probably could resign Armstead if they wanted to, but we're at the point where they shouldn't. Like, enough. Enough of the kicking the can down the road and restructuring people. Like, give it up the Saints. It's time to move on. It's time to rebuild. I also think he might not be able to be franchise tagged because of what they did with Voidiers on his contract. So I actually think that's not an option.

Yeah. Good to know. That's why I have, I was like, why is this not? Like, you know, like, On those 100 Top 100 lists, it's all like, Devont Adams's number one. It's like he's done to that. Dom's really a free agent? No,

he's going to be franchise-intagued. So it is, it is what it is. In 2016, he signed a five-year-s-six-five million dollars. It's Armstead. signed a five-year-six-million-dollar contract extension. Don't,

we can look into that, that, the franchise-type stuff a little bit later. All right. Nora, what's your answer? Armstead? I had Armstead as well. Also, Cincinnati Bengals,

come on down. Well, I've also seen the dolphins mock there as well. So the Bengals, it would be a boon for the Bengals to be able to do that. That would be Brett Veach-esque. I mean, also, it would kind of be like the Bengals team building strategy is just like, let's take Saints players that are too expensive for the Saints now. Drew Brees. Alvin.

Tomara. It might be an upgrade in the arm strength. Oh, wow. Just pretend like it didn't happen. Where were you? Solac and I were laughing. There was a pass where Joe Burrow kind of in the Super Bowl. We kind of skipped one about nine yards.

Oh, I remember it. I remember it. And Solac kind of took to each other. We didn't have to say anything, but we did. We just like, it's a shame Ruiz's in here for that. There's no cheering in the press box unless Ruiz could have seen the nine yards skipped a pass. Oh, I would have cheered. I would have cheered.

I had a meme ready for that moment. And I, this is a testament to Joe Burrow. good he is. I didn't send the tweet because I was afraid that they would win the Super Bowl and I would get old taste exposed. It was like a picture of Christian Bale looking at the Batman suit and said

it had me over Christian bail and Joe Burrow arm jokes over the Batman suit. I was very proud of it. Didn't get to send it. Well, there's always next year. I sent it like a week later. Oh, okay. Good. I missed it.

I missed it just like you was more fascinating your character. All right. This is for you, Stephen. Most likely quarterback to play for the Carolina Panthers in 2022. Who cares? Like, who cares at this point? I mean, it's going to be one.

It's going to be either Kirk Cousins or it's going to be, and I'm already forgetting his name. It's probably a defense mechanism, but picket from Pitt. I already forget his first name. Kenny Pickett. It's going to be one of those two. Or somehow it's going to be Will Greer,

the guy they drafted like three years ago in the third round for no reason at all and he never played. Whatever they got to do to move on from this regime, that's what I'm reading for. I really want Malik Willis, but I don't want him to be coached by this coaching staff, and I fear they're going to ruin him. And I don't really want to get pulled back in. I think emotionally I'd be invested if they drafted Willis. And I really don't want that. Nora, do you have anything to improve upon the Panthers fans saying who cares who plays quarterback in 2022? That's a tough scene. I think I worry about Kenny Pickett. exclusively because of his last name,

I would just be so nervous to draft a quarterback whose last name included pick. Yeah. He gave it to a pretty good Miami. He gave it to a pretty good Miami team as a freshman in 2017. They lost last year. I haven't actually done full scouting. I don't really start scouting prospects until the combine

because I'm just all about athleticism. So we'll see. If the guys that there's actually, so it appears that there's going to be no boycott, but if there was, that would be a tough scene for me because almost all of my scouting has done. by athletic numbers and I flow through there.

So hopefully all the combine goes smoothly. All right. Let me defend my Panthers fandom first. I'm not like, I'm not an overly cynical Panthers fan right now. Oh, yeah. Why would anybody think that? Why would anybody think that?

I got invited onto a Panthers podcast tomorrow. And the person that DM me, this is how they asked me, they said, do you want to come on the podcast and talk about the bum-ass Panthers? And this is like one of the most optimistic, like, podcasters out there. Yeah.

we're sick of this as fans. You're sick? You're sick? All right. Team most likely to be declared to have won the off season after the draft and free agency. We're talking in July. We're saying this team improved the most. It's a totally narrative award. Nora, what are you going with?

I think it's the Chargers. Got a lot of cab space. They'll pick late, but it'll be some like non-premium position. guy that everybody gets excited about because they'll have put up good numbers in college and we'll just feel good. There's going to be good vibes. It's always the Chargers. The Chargers always suck people in. But the Chargers have done a nice job in the past as well. Last year. I agree. They got Corey Lindley. They got Matt Filer. They've made the job. A great head coach. Great head coach. So is, are you saying that implicit in this is like,

No. Team most likely to be declared to have won the off season and then be proven to have not won the season? No, it's, it's, I don't think, I think the chargers were seen as having done the right process last year. I think the bangles. Yeah, and I think that's going to continue. I think the bangles that they just acquire like three offensive

climbing people are going to be like bang up jog by Duke to. Done. It's a low bar. It's a low bar for. I'll tell you, it's going to be the Jets. Yes, yes. Four picks in the first 38, tons of cap space. Low bar.

Go ahead. They're going to draft Mike Williams. He's going to catch like 60 passes and four touchdowns. They're going to draft a pass rusher or sign a pass rusher that gets like five sacks. They're going to sign a running back to too much money. And they're going to go four and 13 again. And they're going to draft a quarterback the year after. The same thing the Jets have been doing for like, it's been three-year cycles of the same thing over and over again.

It's going to continue. Well, and then people can do all of that stuff and tack on at the end. Plus, it's kind of like they just got Carl Lawson. Yeah. Yes, 100%. They did that with C.J. Mosley and then he opted out. I don't know. I think the Chargers are going to get like one field stretcher and guys like Stephen Ruiz are going to.

So I think it's... Oh, I'm already there. I'm already there. It's easy for the... It's easy for the Jets to win the off season because they have so many holes that they can just get whoever. And people are like, the Jets just stacking talent. And so it's easier. Like the Chargers have more refined needs.

The Bengals have more refined needs. I'd say all three of those are in the mix. We'll see how it goes. Steve, remember how mad Jets fans were you at, were with you a couple weeks ago? Yeah, I was just about to like do a call back to that and say they should go after James Winston, but I don't think they would have taken that very time.

If you ever, I think I send this to you, Jets fans ratioed me to hell like three years ago, because on Rissillo, I said that the Jets were wasting Sam Darn when Adam Gates was bad. And I just like to revisit that. It was like thousands of replies. And I like to visit, revisit that every once in a while. Well, you were wrong. It was the other way around, in my opinion.

Sam Darnel wasted the Jets? No, wasted Adam Gase. You should get another shot. I think you should get another shot. Give him one more shot. Adam Gase innocent? I just, I feel bad because listen, I don't want to get into the Jets thing. I think,

the Jets will one day be better than they currently are. But it's just, it's a franchise problem. And so, like, I think Jets fans want to be optimistic, unlike the Panthers fans. They want to be optimistic and they just can't get there because there's just, there's just roadblocks there. So I don't, I don't, I don't, I feel bad when, when Jets fans, you know, get mobilizing the internet and say things that I think that are going to be proven untrue because it's just the Jets need to, to get out of neutral as a franchise. That's my whole take on, on getting out of high Jets fans. I think Jets fans are good. Yeah.

I like that's my take. It's like they're just stuck in this, in this purgatory. And like I understand why they argue for the things that they argue for. But like I just don't think it's going to work out for them in the short term. That's my take. I like Jets fans. If I,

if I, like, I'd rather be a Jets fan than a Giants fan just from a vibe standpoint. Oh, 100%. A hundred percent. Like my, I assume that my,

my eventual children would grow up in, the tri-state area and I would funnel them towards Jets fandom. I mean, there's like 30 other teams you can choose. You don't have to choose one of those two. Yeah, I'm a big local guy. I don't know if you've gotten that vibe from that.

Is that I root for Orlando Magic University of Miami because I'm extremely, I'm a hyper local fan. I'm not trying to be a D.C. guy roots the Carolina Panthers like you. I have no rebuttal. I have nothing to say. I have nothing to say. It's a good point. It was a good burden. I feel like you felt. You felt when Sam Howell owned you in public.

God, I'm still a little bad about it. I'm still a little bad about it. Who won that game, by the way? But it's healthy that you're admitting it now. UNC did it. UNC, they got a tipped interception on the final drive. Oh, I was trying to make you feel bad about my losing. Yeah, but it was everything, everything was fine because after

exclusion to Florida State, they hired Mario Cristobal, and now they're spending tons of money. They got embarrassed into being good, which is really the only way to do it. Shame is the only motivator in this world. Take notes, stats, fans. This has been the Ringar NFL show on the Ringer Podcast Network. We'll be back next week. Thank you to Sophanin-Inderson for the original production production provisions by Arjuna, Ram people.