The Ringer NFL Show - Saddest Quarterback Competitions

Episode Date: July 21, 2022

Danny and Rodger go through the saddest quarterback competitions heading into the start of training camp. Hosts: Danny Heifetz and Rodger Sherman Associate Producer: Carlos Chiriboga Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, friends, and welcome to a golf podcast unlike any other. This is Fairway Rowland on the Ringer podcast network. I am your starter. Joe House every week on Fairway Rowland. It is myself and our PGA tour correspondent on the ground, Nathan Hubbard, talking all things, professional golf, amateur golf, amateur betting, professional betting, amateur drinking, professional drinking, my birdie buddies.

If you want to hit them straight out there, please check out Fairway Rowland. Every week, available on Spotify. The Ringer NFL show on the Ringer podcast network. My name is Danny Hyfitton. I am joined by Roger Sherman. We are doing a countdown of 50 days to the NFL season. Today, Roger and I are going through

the ultimate NFL training camp topic, which is the saddest, quarterback battles entering 2022. Like the saddest, the most pathetic quarterback battles. I cannot believe this is what my team has been reduced to battles. Roger, let's just take it away here.

What is the single saddest quarterback battle for an NFL team entering this season? There are only a handful of actual, like, legit quarterback battles and to be far in a way, the one that just hurts me in my soul the most is the Carolina Panthers, Baker Bayfield,

Sam Darnold, a few other people who are hanging around, but mainly those two guys who were just a few years ago, hot NFL draft prospects, the number one and number three picks back in 2018. And now one of them will be a backup to the other, most likely Sam Darnold's, because Sam Dardold is like legit, really bad. And Baker Mayfield is just kind of like not good for having been a number one pick. It's probably going to be Baker over Sam unless something weird happens. And like, it's, it's just bad vibes for everybody involved.

It's so awkward. It is so unbelievably awkward. Baker was the first pick in 2018. Donald's the third pick in 2018. There is very little precedent for this in NFL history. It's like you can go back like very early 90s, 80s. Like, we're talking, you can count on one hand the number of time that basically the top two quarterbacks in the draft have ever even been on the same team.

Never mind like actually competing for a spot. but now that we're in, I don't know, I just feel like it's, it's just kind of humiliating probably for Darnold to be in this spot. Yeah, and just the way the Panthers have handled the quarterback situation

over the past three, four years, they traded for Darnold last year. They immediately committed to paying him $19 million this year. They picked up his option. When they asked head coach Matt Ruhl about that last year,

like why did you immediately do that for no reason? He didn't really have a reason. he didn't really have a reason for doing it. He just said, like, well, if he was a free agent, we'd have to pay him a lot of buddy, which isn't how options. It's not like how options work. That's the whole point is they're not going to be a free.

Anyway, it's just these two guys who so recently had such high hopes. The other funny element is that the other sad elements, sad for them, funny for me, is the panthers offensive coordinator is your beloved former giants coach ben macadew of the cheese cake factory menu is he bringing it is he bringing it back i hope not i feel like that's too many options i feel like darnell and baker will be overwhelmed by the cheesecake factory menu just back in 2018 he was asked how he felt about the draft situation the the giants he was the giant's head coach they didn't need a quarterback and he had baker mayfield ranked sixth out of the quarterbacks in the 2018 draft.

He said, Alan, Jackson, Darnold, Rosen, Rudolph, and then Josh Rosen, Mason Rudolph, and then Baker Mayfield. He said, I don't think he's a great athlete. The guy is kind of like a pocket quarterback that is short. It has small hands. That's what I worry about. Isn't this good for Baker, though? I feel like Baker's problem was that other than four offensive coordinators in three years

and Donald was with Adam Gason, I kind of just feel like both these guys probably could have been good, but they were stuck with terrible teams. However, Baker also needs to be doubted to actually be good. And I just feel like Baker playing the Browns in week one if he wins the job. And then good. His offense court doesn't believe in him. The more people who don't believe in Baker, the better he will do. It's like directly proportional.

Like way he was a walkout at Texas Tech. He was good there. He was a walkout again at Oklahoma. He won the He was the Heysman. He became the number one pick. That's what it all went wrong. And now he's making a third of the money that Sam Donald's making. So there, that's going to piss them off too.

Because the Panthers committed to paying. Sam Darnold's $19 million last year, he's only making about $5 billion. He actually took a pay cut, which he's trying to make himself feel more disrespected by taking pay cut. I didn't think of that. That's Galaxy. Yeah. It's smart.

It sets him up for next year when he's a free agent. And he's not going to be in the progressive commercials anymore. If you watched any football games last year, you saw Baker Mayfield's living in the Cleveland Brown Stadium. They decided it was like too sad to do one about him getting traded. I guess he could be in other commercials, but they officially announced they're discontinuing that one. I think that that also could rev him up. But, you know, I guess what the best argument you have for this turning out well for him is the vibes are so bad and he feeds off of those. That's, it's really not a good, It's also just really remarkable since Matt Rule took over.

They cut cab, they signed Teddy, they traded away Teddy, they paid a lot of money. They paid, they ate a lot of cap to trade him away. Then they brought in Sam Dardold and immediately started paying him a lot. Then they had to bring back him. And now it's it's just when you lay it all out, it just gives the impression that the people here may not know. what they are doing? Do you agree with that assessment? Yeah, I mean, I think that's pretty obvious, noted by the cutting cam and then bringing him back.

All right. So the Panthers definitely the saddest situation league. What is the second saddest quarterback battle of 2022? It's sad because in the first situation, we were looking at two players who have fallen far. With number two, the Seattle Seahawks, it's a team that has kind of stumbled upon an unfortunate situation after having Russell Wilson. for almost a decade playing every single game. They will have Gino Smith and Drew Locke competing for the number one spot. You knew that it was a possibility that they would be two of the people I said, and you just

looked so disappointed and crestfallen, even hearing those two names. I mean, this is a really douchy thing for me to say, but I'm a Giants fan. And obviously, I had Eli Manning for like a 15-year stretch. He never missed the game. And then now Daniel Jones is kind of like, you know, my personal reckoning. And Geno Smith actually benched Eli Manning. hasn't really been an issue for me to worry about quarterback battles. You're a Jets fan.

And so I just briefly just contemplated for a moment if there was a quarterback battle for my favorite team between Gino Smith and Drew Locke. And it just actually gave me like, I think my heart skipped the beat. Does that give you like PTSD at all with the Jets or no? Well, I was actually a Gino endorser during his time at the Jets. And honestly, because he's been a backup for so much of his career, he hasn't really played a lot of bad football like some of the other people out here, the Sam Darnold's.

Drew Locke does not have a lot of particularly good times. I don't know what you're beating around the bush for. Your luck is horrible. I'm sorry. Like, he's bad.

I'm like walking this very thin line where I'm on the sad quarterbacks podcast and I'm like, this person's only okay. He's not good. He's very bad. It should be,

it should be Gino's for sure. But like, The sadness comes from the fact that, like, you lose Russell Wilson and the guy who you bring in in the trade back from him, you get Drew Locke back in that trade. And he's probably not good enough to be better than the guy who was your backup. You essentially just went to your guy who was a backup last year. And Gino played last year. I think the only win they had when he was playing was against the Jaguars. So, like, you already – he played well.

played deep like he his stats were okay i think he had five touchdowns one interception um like which which is better than most of the other people we're going to talk about on this sad quarterback podcast but just the fact that you've you've a hundred percent downgraded from a one of the best quarterbacks in the league to the guy who is literally his backup only playing in case of strange hand injury it's it's a heartbreaking thing There was a while when I was texting our colleague Danny Kelly every day, just a reminder that Drew Locke was on the Seahawks. And I stopped doing it because it felt like it was actually hurting him. That's so mean.

Why would you do that? Well, he said like, he sent out a tweet like, I'm just going to need like a reminder every once in a while that it's real that Drew Locke. Oh, he literally asked. Okay. He literally asked people to. But I don't think he was expecting. me to take it up on him. And he would type back like,

L.O.L. Like, I was about to do something happy. And then you reminded me of that. And like I had to break it off after a while. Yeah. I just, I felt like I was hurting him. That's pretty tough.

And I didn't want to do that. He's a great guy. He is a great. My co-s fantasy football show. I think Drew Locke, I'm half serious. I'm actually mostly serious, a quarter kidding.

I think they got Drew Locke because he's tall. And he's the opposite of Russell Wilson. It's kind of like when you break up with the guy and then like you just end up with the opposite guy and just, you know, you either get someone that's a lot like your ex or nothing like your ex, not really anything in the middle. He's just the rebound and they got Russell Wilson

and they're trying to rebound, but like Russ is short and like has trouble throwing over the middle. And like they're saying, you know what? We're at Drew Locke. Rocket arm and like he's just going to be six foot five and he's just going to look over. Is he actually six six six? Yeah, he's, uh, yeah, he's six foot four.

So four or depending how you count six inches taller than Russell Wilson. And I just think the fact that Russ was unable to pepper the middle of the field I kind of think that they like the idea of having a quarterback who's kind of everything that Russell Wilson isn't in a lot of ways and just having him do a lot of the offensive stuff that Russ wasn't able to do. But classic rebound. And it's just, you know, they'll pretend they're happy and they'll talk themselves into it. But, you know, everyone knows it won't really last more than a year. I mean, I don't think they're going to talk themselves into Drew Locke. I think they're going to play Gino.

I know, but they said they like Drewlock more than any quarterback in this year's draft. That's why they didn't take one at nine. I do think you'll probably be Gino, but part of me is like, I, I don't know. I bet that they're tempted. They're tempted by, so you think, you think Gino's going to win, though. Yeah, I mean, he's actually played quarterback, like, well in NFL games before. Why? Are you upset that Drew Locke led the league in bad throws for, like, two years in a row?

I feel like Drew Locke being in the Russell Wilson trade was, like, less about, they may have said that about him, but it was less about the Seahawks thinking like, oh, we're going to need Drew to play quarterback and more just like it would have been awkward for him to be around in Denver. Like they brought in Russell Wilson and then Drew Locke was still just hanging around. We just, the Panthers brought in Baker Mayfield. Like Drew Locke and out of the awkwardness of playing behind Russell Wilson. All right. Next sad situation, Roger.

So we got the Panthers with Baker and Darnold at number one. We've got the Seahawks, the Jim Smith and Drew Locke. What is the third saddest quarterback situation entering 2022? This one I don't think makes me as like, I don't think this one hurts my heart so much as it's just whoever wins is obviously going to be the worst started quarterback in the league. The Falcons, Marcus Marriota, Desmond Ritter. I actually like both players.

And it's just if you had to, I mean, am I right? Whoever wins this one is probably number 32 out of 32. I actually don't think so. I think that the Seahawks, Gino Smith or Locke, if Drewlock wins, he's the worst quarterback. I think that the Falcons, I'm all the optimistic. So Desmond Ritter is the rookie quarterback. The Falcons drafted this year, third round, I think. Ben Solac radicalized me on Ritter.

I feel like Desmond Ritter has everything you want to kind of succeed as the third round quarterback mold immediately. He has a plan. He said that he told teams in interviews he had a plan, like a four-month plan or whatever timeline from draft day to training camp to beat out a veteran quarterback starting. I kind of like that. And then the flip side, the Falcons coach, Arthur Smith, was the offense accorded for Tennessee. when Mario's the starter.

But then Ryan Tannahill overtook Mariota and then just became like top three in every efficiency stat with like Patrick Mahomes, Drew Breeze and freaking Ryan Tannhill even though they traded like a fourth rounder for him and he just emerged.

Part of me is wondering if history will rhyme and Marioita who are all reading off won't be great, but will like just be surprisingly fine for Atlanta. I think Atlanta's kind of a pretty bad team this year. But part of me wonders if the Falcons quarterback will be like,

oh, okay. You don't suck. Like kind of a Arthur Smith did some fun stuff on offense last year. Very interesting usage of players. We were happy about Cordarral Patterson for the first time ever. But the Falcons as a team, though, have the problem, you know, that line where it's like,

oh, it's basically like, oh, are you mad at me? And it's like, no, I don't think about you at all. And that's like the Falcons in a nutshell. It's like they have a couple cool players. Kyle Pitts is interesting. But overall, no one thinks about the Falcons. So I think I'm actually like happier with whichever one of these two not great quarterbacks takes over than like watching Matt Ryan play for the Falcons when the Falcons were not good. Matt Ryan is the single most boring player in the history of boring players.

He's a starting quarterback for 12 years and no one knows three things about him. Is a former National Football League most valuable player? Okay, that's one. His nickname's Maddie Ice. That's two. What he lost, Super Bowl of the Patriots. Okay. tell me a fourth thing about Matt Ryan.

Where's he from? You have children. You don't know anything about Matt Ryan. He went to Boston College. He was the number three picking the NFL grader. What have you learned about Matt Ryan since 2009? Like, what have you learned? Nothing.

I think he's in Madden. He's in commercials for something where they're playing off the fact that his nickname is Maddie Ice. It's like Natty Light. I don't know. Smeanor off ice. I feel like it was like a laundry detergent or something. He's the perfect boring guy for a boring team and the Falcons are going to do their color rush jerseys. And I think they're incorporating Georgia and Georgia tech because they're the Falcons like the third most popular football team in Georgia.

So I was coming in and saying like, I'm happy that he gets to that Matt Ryan gets to be free. You're all in on Desmond Redder. I think whoever wins that battle will be, will be fine. I don't even know if they're going to be average. But like, there'll be like the 20th best quarterback in the NFL. That will be like surprising. I'm historically a Marriota supporter, but I was really concerned by the way he was used on the Raiders last year. He had, they brought him in like a lot, uh, backing up car.

And he had 13 carries and two passes for four yards. He had 13 carries for 87 yards and two passes for four yards, which makes me think that they didn't even have faith in him to like pretend that he could throw. Well, Mario has bad PR. Like everyone kind of thinks he dropped off the earth. Marita had a nerve injury in his throwing arm, and it just didn't really get a lot of publicity. I don't know if it's because he's on the Titans or whatever,

but like for whatever reason, people just think he sucked. And it's like, no, he hit a nerve injury in his throwing arm, and it's really difficult to heal. So I think that his career, I feel like he still could have been pretty good if that didn't happen to him. I mean, maybe I'm just a sap.

I was really into him, but I don't know. We'll see. Getting usurped by Ryan Tanahill. Literally the good you're not supposed to worry about. Like there is a time when if we had said Mario to Tannahill quarterback battle, that would have made us feel sad. Yeah, now it's exciting.

That would have been unlike the 2017 episode of this podcast. That's the top three sad quarterback situations. Panthers and then the Seahawks and the Falcons. Do you have any honorable mentions for just sadness? Give me the list here and I want to pick a sad one. I don't want to say it's like sad unless Jimmy Garoppolo wins. but the 49ers today it was announced that Jimmy Garoppolo is allowed to seek a trade.

But like if they have to keep playing him instead of turning things over to Trey Lance, I would characterize the San Francisco 49ers who had a great playoff run last year and almost made the Super Bowl. I would characterize their quarterback situation as sad if that's an actual quarterback battle. I agree. I think the 49ers are like an open marriage where everyone was on the same page and then suddenly everyone was not on the same page. And this isn't good anymore.

It's like they're going back to monogamy with Trey Lance and the Niners, but Jimmy's still there. And it's like, Jimmy can't be here anymore. Like this is not this three-way thing anymore. It's just, it's toxic. It's got to go.

But it's not really battled to me. I feel like Lance has the job. And I feel that way also about the Steelers. It's not really even a battle. I feel like Mitchell Trubisky will probably be the starter. And Kenny Pickett will very clearly not. Sadness, though. I think there's one more sad thing, which isn't a quarterback battle, but I still think it's

sad. And I think it's the Washington commanders. Like everyone basically being like, yeah, you know, Carson Wentz, best quarterback Washington's had in four years. That is incredible as a fact. I mean, the Eagles are in the same division and basically took a $30 million punch on the chin to get rid of this dude and then goes to the cults and the cults blow a 98% chance of making the playoffs in short because Carson Wence was terrible.

And then the Colts bail on Wence and then Washington gets them. And that was to play the Eagles twice a year. And they're like, yeah, best quarterback I've had in four years. How sad is that? And like there was sort of a folk hero thing with Taylor Hinekegee too. Like I feel like I don't fully know. I think people in Washington are putting on a brave face about Carson Wentz. But in their hearts, they'd rather just keep having Taylor Heineke play quarterback instead of.

Well, that's the advice I got. If I ever testify in front of Congress, you got to have a brave face. That's kind of what I, that's what I understand. They're not doing that, though. The advice they saw in succession. They're not testing. He's not, he's hiding in international waters. You know, Roger, we discussed this as a story idea in the NFL ideas meeting we just had.

And maybe I shouldn't blow this, you know, some, you know, the ideas we have. But, you know, an idea we're throwing around is how long. could one of us stay on a super yacht? And I would like the ringer to expense. And I just want to be on a super yacht. And I want to see, you know, how hard it is and really just kind of do some hardcore investigative journalism and expense the super yacht. How long do you think you'd last in a super yacht with absolutely zero treading into like,

you know, anything outside of international waters? Can you podcast on? Yeah, super. Yeah. Internet, of course. Jerry Jones takes meetings from his yacht. You could put a podcast. Yeah, he like, he drafted from the yacht, I think.

Yeah. I'm pretty not concerned about my ability to hang out there. Could you do a year? Could you do a year on a super yacht? Like you don't see your family for holidays? Nothing. This is one of those questions that someone tweets out. Like, oh, for like $5 million, would you like eat McDonald's once a day?

Yeah, I could live on it. Of course, that would be very easy. It's very comfortable. I think he has a basketball. Dan Snyder has like a basketball court and like a movie theater out there. The thought of Dan Snyder playing basketball is a little haunting. I mean, it's, it's, he can stay there for as long as he wants. And I think that would be a good situation for Washington fans too.

Carson Wentz, like even though it's not a battle, isn't the Washington, I mean, I don't the quarterback specifically, but Carson Wentz has to be the saddest of all these things because Washington's the saddest team. And even though the Seahawks, it's like, no one really feels bad for them. They were just really good and relevant for a long time. They have a bunch of picks. And then the Panthers, well, I mean, honestly, cleaning house at this point would be best. The Falcons, yeah, honestly, they've Kyle Pitts.

they'll get a new quarterback next year probably. Like, they'll be fine. Washington is so desolate. It's so hopeless. I feel like even though it's not a battle, Wenz says their quarterback is the saddest thing. But he gives you just enough hope to think, you know what?

We can make the playoffs. And then he will take it away from you. He's like a New York Nick. If any NFL player was going to be the Knicks, it's like Carson Wentz is like that as a person. Just enough hope to reel you in and then just boom. How dare you? And like, that's incredible because every time

you think that Washington fans couldn't have hope, it's just, it's brutal. So, all right. anything we missed? Any other sad situations you want to hit here? I mean, I didn't talk about the New York Jets. Like, we're, you know, Zach Wilson's getting a lot of PR boosts right now. So, like, I feel like this is a pretty successful moment for me.

I, a New York Jets fan, came on to a sad quarterback podcast that did not even bring up the New York Jets for the entire time, except when we retroactively talked about Gino Smith. So, like, that's a win for me, I think. Yeah, you know what? I'm going to punt the Zach Wilson conversation to another day. But, you know, to each their own. As long as, you know, like the Niners thing, everyone's on the same page.

I don't know. All right, those are the saddest quarterback battles entering 2022. Thank you, Roger. Thank you, Arjuna. Thank you, Carlos, for production help. Thank you to everybody for listening. We'll continue. The Ringer NFL show is counting down to kick off.

So you can check it out more on the Ringer NFL show tomorrow. And also, you can hear me more on the Ringer Fantasy Football Show. We're getting into gear. And you can check out our fantasy guide, fantasy football. ringer.com. Thank you, everybody, for listening.