The Ringer NFL Show - Mahomes in the Spotlight, Jimmy G Expectations, Sneaky Impact Players, and More From Media Night | The Ringer NFL Show

Episode Date: January 28, 2020

We give our takeaways from Super Bowl LIV’s opening night, aka media night, including Patrick Mahomes's comfort in the spotlight, underrated impact players like San Francisco's Kyle Juszczyk and Kansas City’s Sammy Watkins, what we would like to see from Jimmy G, and more. Hosts: Robert Mays and Kevin Clark Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Ringar NFL show. I'm Robert May is joined as always by Kevin. Clark, Kevin. How you doing, buddy? I'm doing okay. I feel like Kurt Cousins running a play in the Superdome right now. We're at Radio Row, and there's just noise. Everyone's doing their own shows around us. So much is happening.

And so we both have to kind of do the put your hands on your ears thing to get the play call in to just even do this podcast. I don't understand how you even function with 70,000 people screaming because there are about 10 people screaming in here. And we can't do a little bit too much for me to think. Yeah. So we're not cut out for it. We are at Radio Row. It is Tuesday of Super Bowl Week. It has already been a heck of a week so far.

Media night. And as Kevin tweeted earlier today, there was a slight incident with me on day one of media availability. We're good. I'm random. I walked into the wrong room while looking for a bottle of water. I was apparently not supposed to be there. People were not happy. Everything is fine.

I am okay. We are just rolling here. We're in no distractions culture. No. We just roll on towards the game. You know what? It's a next play mentality. it's a next man up mentality.

The most important play is the next play, and Robert Mays will not walk in the wrong room ever again. I certainly will not. I'm a fear of being reprimanded by police. All right. So last night was media night. Obviously, it's a circus every year. But it's still fun.

I think it's informative every single year. So just initially, what were your main takeaways from opening nights, as they call it? Hmm. Okay, so I actually think that the dominant topic of conversation was Kobe Bryant. Yeah. I think that you start to, and I thought about writing Kobe Bryant going into it,

and then you start to hear these things, whether that's Patrick Mahomes, talking about how he watches Kobe's not only his gameplay before games, but his interviews because he liked how Kobe contextualized things. Richard Sherman walking off his Achilles injury in 2017 because he had seen Kobe walk off his Achilles injury in 2013. George Kittle said the reason he played sports was because of this. And so it was because of Kobe Bryant. And so I think that you started to tie it all up and he realized that

that Kobe Bryant, despite never playing football or picking up a football at any meaningful level, is one of the most influential athletes in an NFL locker room. And I thought that was really interesting to hear, and I think guys wanted to talk about that and the impact he had. I don't know what the right word is. I used the word Paul yesterday.

It seemed like that was, there was something hanging over the entire, all the festivities here. And that's a negative thing about it, but it also does, you're right. It permeates sports culture. And I think that it's been impossible to ignore in conversation, over the place over the last couple of days. I mean, I was in public when I heard about it and just

watching it all kind of sift through and having people find out about it, all of that kind of stuff. It's remarkable. And I think that that's transition to now. I don't think that stops, even though it's people know about it, obviously. I do think that it's a conversation that continues to trickle among the entire sports culture. And I think that you were smart to do that. So I think that the other, the sort of the second layer of media night aside from the Kobe Bryant stuff was how many smart, interesting people that are in this game. Because Richard Sherman,

listen, he's talking about Kobe, but then he's talking about the game in very granular terms. I mean, even, you know, I think guys, I wasn't as familiar with. Everyone knows Sherman is a good talker. And then you go and you hear, you know, a bunch of guys on the chiefs and on the Niners.

And they're all just, there's just a lot of smart people on both sides. And these teams have, you know, some of the smartest. Brett Veach was kind of holding court yesterday. I think that a lot of people who had not spoken to Brett Beach in the past. I have got to know how smart of a guy he is and how he sees the game. Obviously, John Lynch is someone who, because he was in the broadcast booth, people know how he views the game.

I think that this is an interesting game from a roster standpoint, from a quarterback standpoint, a coaching standpoint, but also how these guys talk about the game is just as interesting. I totally agree. And I talked to a lot of people last night that gave me that same sort of impression. I talked to Mike McDaniel for a while, who's the run game coordinator for the Niners, excuse me. And I was just so struck. I never talked to him before. and I was so struck by so many things about him.

First of all, he's just not what you expect whatsoever. He's in his 30s. He was wearing Tom Ford glasses and like kind of the same flap room hat that Shanahan wears. How was that now? What do you expect it? Because I just, he just doesn't look like a football coach.

You never pick him out of a lineup as a football coach. Shane Day, the quarterback's coach for the Niners is the exact same way. He was just wearing a button down shirt with you would never expect that he was a football coach. And I just, that it seems like that aesthetic kind of. What does Mike McDaniel look like he does for a living? Does he host a podcast?

No, I think he looks like he works for some sort of social networking site. He's a Silicon Valley guy in some way. Yes, absolutely. Totally open concept. They have some sleep pods. They're really into just maximization of overall production. He sends a lot of emails and say things like, we're going to press pause on this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Absolutely. So, but I think that, you know, we joke about that, but it does seem like that kind of dictates the way they think about things. He was telling me that he feels like him. and Kyle and all those guys on those staff and that staff, because they didn't play professional football, they feel like they have to constantly prove themselves to players. They constantly have to show players, we're putting you in the best position to succeed. You should trust me because I promise you I'm going to do the best thing I can for you. And that to me is interesting.

I think that that does make sense because it really does push them to constantly looking for solutions. And when you watch that offense, they're constantly finding them. So that's always one of the more fascinating parts about this week is being around people you've never been around before and just kind of understanding who they are, how they think all that. But on the other side of it, I also think it can be illuminating to be around people we do know and that we have been around before. And one of the things that's really jumped out to me, and this may seem silly to some people over the last 24 hours, is just how big of a star Patrick Mahomes is and is going to be. Yes. And not in a bad way.

Just in an owning the moment kind of way. That's exactly what I mean. And I would say most high-level quarterbacks are like that. He loved being on that stage last night. He's not shying away from it. I think that most superstars in sports in any sport are like that. And I think that was, I wasn't surprised by that. I've spent some time with Patrick.

I understand sort of how much that nothing phases him. But I thought that was funny to see yesterday. He clearly is soaking it in. He clearly is comfortable in the spotway. And it really is one of those, you know, we've been around, you know, you and I've covered a bunch of Super Bowls. Most of the time the Patriots are here. Yeah. So we haven't really seen this moment of this young quarterback.

I guess last year with golf a little bit, but it was very different where this guy, you can see the early steps of a superstar career, like a career that we will remember forever. You know, I'm sure this is kind of what it was probably like. I don't think golf. I don't think so either. And I think we're canceling that we're going to remember golf's career forever. When's the last time we really saw a guy on this level at this stage in his career? I think there was probably, probably Russell Wilson. I think it was a little bit like that.

It was different because the defense was the story. I agree with that. I agree with that. And then Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas and those guys were the more famous part of it. Yeah, I mean, I think that's a good point. I think that, you know, we were not around for Peyton's first Super Bowl. But that was even eight years into his career. Oh, no, I know.

I'm just saying, like, as far as just the new. Rogers was like 26 when he played in his. I assumed that's what it felt like. Yeah, I was not there yet. But I assume this is what it was like, where you're just watching this guy who's clearly charismatic, clearly very smart,

clearly comfortable with whatever this is, and embraced it. And I think that that's kind of where... And they never got back. And they never got back. I assume Patrick Mahomes will get back. Did you see his quote today? I did not.

He said, I told my mom, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I hope to have many times, which is really funny. He's clearly enjoying about this podcast. It's absolutely right. So,

you wrote a piece. Oh, yeah. Let me, let me, let me, let me, let me do it. I don't want you

to talk about your own piece. Thank you. Thank you. You wrote a piece about Kyle Juichick. I did. Fullback, Harvard grad.

You graduate from Harvard? Yeah. Yes? Harvard attendee. I don't know. I have no idea. I'm assuming he didn't leave Harvard early.

Yeah, we got to call the registrar. He probably graduated. Um, Harvard alumnus. And he, by the way, Dante Scranake is retiring.

I saw that. Okay, let's get that later. Pour one out. So you wrote a piece, and I wanted to use that as a jumping off point, because he is not the best player. He is not the most important player, but I think he does things that unlocks

certain doors for other players, and to the point that you can make a case, he's quite important. And I wanted to use that as a jumping off point to who sort of the most important people are in this game that we're not talking about. I tend to think this is going to be a superstar-driven, game. And I think that there are, you know, I was just doing a podcast to the PFF guys,

and they were telling me that Patrick Mahomes is making a mistake on 4% of his throws, which is basically the most mistake-free football ever played. Essentially, Drew Breeze led the NFL in mistake-free throws. And he was at 8% mistakes this year. Mahomes is at half. And then the league average for mistake-prone throws is 15%. The league average is probably a little bit misleading. though. Just take out Chicago. Just take out all the Bears plays, and then we'll be able to bring it all back. So anyway, we'll get to the

superstars later, but what I wanted to talk about is who are the guys like the juice checks, and we can start with him, who are more important than we're talking about. And I do think it'll be a superstar-driven game, but I think that there will be moments where these kind of guys play pivotal roles, whether they're being taken advantage of,

whether they're making big plays, all of that stuff. And we can start with Ju-check. I wanted to start with him. First of all, when I wrote that, I can't spell a use check. So when I wrote it, I just spelled it Juice Check every single time and then just did a find and replaced later, which is just excellent journalism. But I am fascinated by him because when the Niners started to build this roster, when Shanahan and Lynch got here, they did some things financially that people kind of looked at and really kind of cocked their head because they were spending money in kind of outlandish ways on guys that didn't seem to fit that profile. Juscheck was one of them. His contract on an AAV basis is 42% higher than any other fullback in the league.

I love it. And when you look at that, it's like, well, that's crazy. How can you do that? And part of the reason they can do that is because of how many things he can do for them. He's not just a fullback. He lined up in eight different spots on the first eight plays of NSC championship game. He's a fullback. He's a tight end.

He's a slot receiver at times. He does so many things and he blocks in a way a lot of fullbacks can't because of the way he moves. So I think that we dismiss. understand how much a fullback can matter to an offense when he's more than a fullback. And I think that he allows them to dictate coverage. He allows them to play with tendencies. He allows them to be what the Niners want to be. And I think that we're going to see that show up all the time on Sunday the same way it does every week. In total dollars, Jushik is making $21 million over four years, $7 million guaranteed. So he's got 21 total in

compensation. The next highest paid fullback is $8 million. It's remarkable. it's Patrick DeMarco. Patrick Ricard in Baltimore is 7.3. And these are valuable players. They're just not being paid a ton. By the way, Patrick, Patrick Ricard replaced Kyle Use Check in Baltimore. Patrick DeMarco played for Kyle Shanahan in Atlanta

and then parlayed that into his deal with the bills. All these things are connected. They've got a little network and they all have, I don't know if you touched on this, but I've seen him wear it. They all have a make fullbacks great again hat. There's only a certain amount of them. So these three, Danny Vitale,

Pat Devlin, or James Devlin, that's really it. Yeah. And I think it's Andy Janovich, who was the one who started the hat thing. And now the Broncos are doing a lot of that now, too. So there's only only only five or six teams that have, that do this a lot. There's a lot. I'm seeing a lot of guys on the minimum here at fullback in the NFL.

The average contract is for $3 million. So there we go. Yes. So I think that this is the kind of. thing. And it's very funny. I want to be, I want to inject some humility into this. If Bill O'Brien did this and they weren't in the Super Bowl, or if, I don't know, Doug Morone did it, or someone just gave $21 million to a fullback and they went nine and seven, we would make fun of that team forever. This is an example of a smart team being smarter than everybody else,

knowing exactly what they needed, knowing that even though $21 million is a lot for a fullback, It's not in a $189 million salary cap or whatever it is. It's also not when the fullback also plays tight end. Right. What I'm saying is that we would completely destroy any dumb team that did. If the bears gave $20 million to a fullback and they'd had the season they did, I would never stop making fun of it. So this is a great example of smart people being smart, doing things nobody else is doing

and succeeding despite kind of zinging where everybody else is zagging. But that's the thing. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. And so I think that it's amazing that the Niners had this vision because they knew they knew what Kyle Shanahan needed and they built that team. That's the incredible thing of John Lynch. It's an incredible thing of Kyle Shanahan having this vision and knowing exactly what he wanted.

You know, when I was in Miami doing a piece about the Dolphins rebuilding, Chris Greer, the GM mentioned San Francisco before anybody else as far as the team that they wanted to emulate. Now it was a little different. They picked in, they had high draft picks, I think, four straight years. They weren't tanking, but they had the quarterback injury last year. And so they get Nick Bosa. I mean, they lucked into some of this. But if you're a GM right now, you're looking at San Francisco. They didn't have to draft that quarterback.

They got him on the open, not the open market, but they got him via trade. They had to pay them. They had to pay them. But if you're a GM starting from scratch right now, you can do much worse than emulating San Francisco. And so I think the fullback thing is another example of them having the confidence saying, we're just going to do this. most people would have roasted them for it.

I think we probably at some point did roast them. I always understood what they wanted to do with him. Right. And I always thought they would use him more as a weapon than a fullback. I'm so obsessive value sometimes and I would probably scoff. Nobody would bring up the tapes. Let's be clear about this. The Niners are not unassailable. The Jerich McKinnon contract is horrendous. Yep.

I mean, they screw up. Every team does screw up. It's the same way where just because Bill Belichick has never been able to draft a wide receiver in his entire career as a general manager, it doesn't discount the vision he has for other spots, the vision he has for his football team overall. So it's not as if the Niners are perfect in the choices that they've made, but I do think that you have to appreciate the vision they had at the beginning of this. I am with you. I am with you. And I think that, I mean, both, Brett Beach is the same way. They knew how to build a team for their head coach. That is a lesson here. All right. Who is on that list for you? Under overlooked guys that you feel like are going to

come up in a big way on Sunday. So I, I've talked a little bit about this. And it's funny because Sammy Watkins had a very nice game last game. And you kind of think about, you know, listen, Sammy Watkins has not been a tremendous player for the Kansas City Chiefs. But if he's playing well and he's the quote unquote bad skill guy, then the Chiefs are doing pretty well. It's pretty good. I mean, I do, again. Speaking of bad contracts, by the way.

Speaking of bad contracts, exactly. And so I tend to think that it's, if there's going to be someone who's going to save the game, it's going to be. I mean, maybe it's an offensive lineman. Maybe it's a Chiefs offensive lineman. You know, yet Mitchell Schwartz is having, by PFF, the second best postseason run in history as a... It's incredible against Wattman. Logan Mancans is number one.

And then Brandon Linder is actually number three of all time. Mitchell Schwartz... Interesting. Across that line, and nobody other than Schwartz is above 71 on PFF grades here. And so there's going to have to be some heroes to stop that front four from getting home. on Mahomes. Now, Mahomes doesn't take a lot of sacks. He plays, as we said, mistake-free football.

But I think if you pressure Mahomes, you have obviously a much better chance of winning the game. And I'm intrigued to see how maybe the sort of Eric Fisher, writer, Austin Ryder, kind of that ilk of Lyman do against the front board. I think the interiors would interest me. Because, you know, Wuzniewski was plugged in there in the middle of the season. Duvenant-Tardee. Doveney. Tardeefe has had a pretty up and down-town year. I assume he will not be back. with them next season based on what his contract is. Nor do I.

So we've seen this in the past. The Patriots did the same thing last year. A lot of twists. A lot of inside games. A lot of trying to take advantage of the interior of that line. That group is better now than they were at this point last season, but I don't think they've played a team like this before. You know, the team that gives the Chiefs relative problems compared to other teams.

Obviously, the Chiefs still score, the Chiefs still get there is the Chargers. And the Niners have a similar blueprint. a similar defense to the Chargers. San Diego is going to play... San Diego, every time. The Chargers are going to play a ton of that deep three zone all game, no matter of the situation,

all the time. The Niners are go play more man in passing situations, everything else, but the bones of the scheme are the same and the approach on the defensive line is the same. They're not going to blitz a lot, and they're going to do a lot of games

and twist because those guys have chains of direction skills. I think that blueprint is interesting, and I think that's why those three interior guys to the Chiefs are extremely important. Yeah, and interior with the Niners is really intriguing to me because I think a lot of people thought the Western Richburg injury was one of these injuries. It was funny. When he got injured, I was in to San Francisco when it happened. When he got injured, I thought that there was a chance of other people thought this too, that the Niners start playing worse and everyone realizes it's because Western Richburg was really freaking good.

Or the interior line was solid and all that stuff and no one was talking about it. But Ben Garland comes in and he's been steady, steady and solid. and now you have Chris Jones coming in. He seems to be healthy. He's one of the best players in this game when healthy. The interior of the line that way is interesting to me too. Totally. And I think that that spot comes up in these games more often

than we tend to think it will. The other thing I am looking at for both of these teams is safety play for two different reasons. So Daniel Sorensen has been really good for the chiefs in the playoffs. But over time, he's been somebody you can take advantage of every once in a while. Sure.

and I'm really curious about what's going to happen with how Shanahan attacks him because the Niners passing game, which I think will need to show up in this game for them to win, is predicated on attacking the middle of the field. So how can they create space in the middle of the field by manipulating a guy like that? And Sorensen seems like, and Matthew, too, seem like they've been so keyed in to indicators, tendencies,

things that are telling them what's going to come based on formation, situation, all of that. Shannon is so good at playing with the defense's expectations. So how can he try to use that preparation almost in a way against a guy like Daniel Sorensen? Because I think that's going to be one of the keys for the Niners. Daniel Sorensen was a combine monster. Was he really? Kind of.

Yeah, he was incredible three cone by any defensive back. I remember because I did, because John Dorsey used to be all about the Spark guys. I remember having this long conversation with him about it. And he was telling me about Daniel Sorensen. Wow. Yeah. All change of direction stuff. 60 yards shuttle, 99%tile, 20 yards shuttle 94, 3 cone 98th.

Not explosive. First overall. Not explosive. All my guy does is change direction. Here's my question. All day long. How the hell did the Patriots not draft him? I know.

Because guess who else is also on this list? Jordan Richards. Oh, really? Yes. He's one of his best comps on mock draftable. He's just a change. Daniel Sorensen is a change of direction, God. God, that's so, so funny that one of the guys

most similar to him got drafted by the Patriots in the second round. This guy didn't get drafted. Again, I'm shocked that he did not end up going to New England. Incredible. Anybody else stand out for you? I think that, and same thing on the other side with safeties, Jimmy Ward.

Yep. Because we've talked about, a lot of people have talked about this is kind of one of the bigger storylines schematically coming into the game. The Niners have done a better job than any defense in the NFL of limiting big plays down the field. The Chiefs create big plays down the field better than the offense in the league.

It's a strength-on-strength matchup. And we've talked to so much this season about the Niners' defensive line and how that group has transformed and really allowed this defense to flourish. But people haven't talked as much about the secondary outside of Richard Sherman. You know, Jimmy Ward is somebody this team drafted in the first round. And I think that people were uncertain about what he could necessarily be when he was healthy. And he's had the best season of his career. And his role and his spot in the middle of the field, if they do play a lot of that three deep zone,

and how the chiefs choose to attack him is going to be a huge part of how this game goes. What do you want to, speaking of bit players, Jimmy Gropolo through eight times in the NSW championship game. $137 million role player. He's a role player. No, we like Jimmy Gropo.

I like Jimmy Gropo. I think he's a very solid quarterback. What do you want to see from Jim and Gropolo on Sunday? Do you care? Do you want to see? Do you think that... I don't know. I mean, like, would you be...

Do you think Jimmy Garoppel is capable of just a high-octane shootout performance? 100%. I saw him do it against the Saints in the Superdome. This team can throw the ball if they want to throw the ball. The fact that they've ran it as consistently as they have over the last two weeks is because they could. I don't think it has anything to do with their faith in Jimmy Garaplo. I really don't. As I've talked to more and more smart people about offensive football over the last couple months,

and it came up all the time when I was talking about the partnership, the Drew Brees and Sean Payton have had over the past decade and a half. It's just that a lot of coaches try to art smart themselves, and they don't take the path of least resistance when things are working. They try to do things that are overly complicated instead of doing the work. A bad coach would have on like a third down in the third quarter just gone play action and like throwing a bomb and just throw an interception. Bill O'Brien would have done that and then named himself life GM. Somebody told me a story today about, in the, NFC championship game when they were playing the Packers and there was a second half and they came out.

And when the Packers expected them to run, they ran a play action throw and just hit Julio for a 75-yard touchdown. It's like, you don't need to do it, but why not if it's going to work? And I think that that's kind of what's happened with the Niners running game over the last couple weeks. But I don't think that has anything to do or predicts it all what they're going to do on Sunday. I agree with that. All right. That all we got, buddy. That's it. All right. We'll be back tomorrow and we will be back every other day this week from the Super Bowl. And as always, guys, thank you so much for listening to the Ringer NFL show on the Ringer podcast network. We'll talk to you later.