July 10, 2025 • 55 mins
Jonas Knox and LaVar Arrington on 2 Pros and a Cup of Joe, explain how the NFLPA looks awful in a collusion coverup. The Commanders bring back Super Bowl era uni’s, but still refuse to reward Terry McLaurin with a well-deserved contract. Plus, mass confusion in the NFC.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's the best of two pros and a couple. Joe
with Lamar Rings and rating Winn and Jonas Knox on Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
What Up Sticks? Good morning? Oh man, good morning? You
got that gas going early? I got up, bro, Like
yesterday was like I couldn't get my uh what you
got in the oh yeah, Celsius, ye nits yeah, bruh.
I was feeling a certain type of way yesterday. I
was like, man, I kind of feel a little off,
(00:35):
and I knew it was because I didn't get my
sleep pattern change right like you got we got used
to getting some sleep. Yesterday when I got up for
the show, I just felt like really really like in
a fog man and I couldn't really get out of it.
I was like, man, I got to approach today a
little differently, so so yeah, man, I approached it so
much so where I had so much energy. It was
(00:56):
like I'm just on the move. So yeah, I'm like
bouncing around right now. And Celsius will have you on
some like like let's go because you got I'm on
some like let's go right now, like let's fing go, man, Hey,
what do they call it? A? Well? Then I didn't
want to go down that. Yeah, I don't even want
to do it. Not ready for that.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
That joke will be told later, but nonetheless early we
are off and running here on this Thursday morning too.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
We've got a fun.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Little follow up on a story that we talked about
last week here. So, the NFLPA filed an appeal of
a ruling by arbitrator Christopher Droni that there was sufficient
evidence of collusion by owners in contract negotiations with quarterbacks
following the fully guaranteed contract given to Deshaun Watson. Well,
(01:51):
of course they should appeal that, especially if there was
evidence that would indicate that there was some sort of
collusion going on, or that Roger Goodell had instructed or
at least encouraged donors to try and ensure that there
wouldn't be fully guaranteed contracts handed out to quarterbacks following
the Deshaun Watson contract.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Of course they should.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Do that, and there did seem to be some evidence
when the findings came out. The problem is this should
have been appealed in January when the ruling was made,
and the only reason the NFLPA is appealing it now
is to save face because Pavlo Torre got ahold of
the transcripts.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
In fact, the NFL and senior leaders of the NFL
Players Association, and this was found and released on ESPN yesterday.
They found that the NFL Players Association struck what they're
calling an unusual confidentiality agreement that hid the details of
an arbitration decision from players, including a finding that league
(02:53):
executives had urged team owners to reduce guaranteed player compensation,
multiple sources told esp and in fact, also from ESPN,
some players told them that they were surprised by details
and the rulings, and that they didn't understand why the
union hadn't shared that ruling with them. So you've got
the NFLPA, upon seeing the transcripts from all this, and
(03:16):
players with the NFLPA and players in the league looking
at it, going wait, so you guys knew all this,
We had evidence of all this. This should have been
appealed in January, and you struck in agreement with the
other side to keep it confidential from us. And you've
got players, You've got people asking questions. You've got attorneys
(03:39):
like Peter Ginsberg, who's represented many NFL players for decades.
He said he was stunned to hear about the confidentiality agreement.
He said, quote as the head of the union, and
this is, you know, all of the now you've got,
you've got, you know, the current NFLPA executive director, Lloyd
Howell going after the former and to Morris Smith and
(04:01):
blaming him for sort of how this whole thing fell apart.
But oh yeah, and you get Peter Ginsburg, the attorney, saying,
as the head of the union, Lloyd has an obligation
to protect his best interest of the players. He said,
by agreeing to a confidentiality agreement, the union purposely blocked
the players from receiving crucial information about the operations of
(04:21):
the NFL.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
So it's almost like they're all in it together. But
go ahead, use the word how can you You're going
to appeal a scenario where if what you're accusing the
League of doing with this knowledge that you just spoke on,
wouldn't you call that colluding? Yeah, it's it's like, I mean,
(04:44):
I don't want it. It's not intended to be a
mic drop moment. But if I'm the union, if if
the people that are representing you are on some confidentiality
type of deal where they're not disclosing these pieces of
information that are pertinent and relevant to the people that
(05:05):
you're representing, and you're doing that with the other side,
that would be collusion.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
And and the fact that they're getting aggressive with it
now and appealing this when they should have done it again.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
This ruling came out in January.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
You had you had months, You had months to try
and figure this, figure this thing out. The only reason
now they're having to get on the offensive when it
comes to this is because the information got out. If
they if Pablo Torre hadn't gotten a hold of the
transcripts from what had happened, none of this probably takes place.
(05:42):
It's the nfl PA again trying to save face because
it's an awful look.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Just that's called espionage. I mean, there's all kas of
different words that that are used for this. It's big
it's big business. There's big business here. The owners stand
to lose some of their bottom line, a major part
of their bottom line. Some you know, these franchises are
facing being put in different positions in terms of you know,
(06:09):
we've heard Q say, listen, you do a fully guaranteed contract.
That contract apparently has to be placed in escrow. You
got to have the money for that contract up front
and ready to go. I would assume how many times
can you do a fully guaranteed contract. If that's the
case and you're an NFL franchise, how many times do
you want to do that where you have to commit
(06:31):
What if we're talking about these types of deals, they're
only going to be with the elite players, So you're
talking about hundreds of millions of dollars that you're having
to commit to this one player, and you have to
have that money together. It has to be there. So
I think it causes some complications for the structure that
(06:53):
exists for the NFL, and for what it's worth, you
have to be able. I know, the whole antitrust and
you know, no monopolies on business and stuff like that,
so they can only do things a certain type of
way before it goes down the lane of being colluding
and stuff like that, and you can't do it. But
(07:15):
they're a business. They're businesses. They're privately owned businesses, and
if you're going to have conversations about how you can
improve your bottom line, wouldn't you say that applies to
one hundred percent of the businesses that are out there.
You're going to try to figure out what the proper
(07:36):
business approach is. You're going to see how you can
manage your heart costs and your expenses. You're always trying
to impact your bottom line. That is something that you
learn if you're doing business and you're learning business or
you live in the real world. If you're going to
get a new contract at your job, you have to
understand where do you fit within that company's structure and
(08:01):
how does that impact their bottom line.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
If I'm a player, I'm pissed. I'm looking at this
going hold on.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
So you're being let down. You're not. You are being
You are the commodity that makes all of this work,
of course, but you're not the most important obviously, You're
not the most important driving force in terms of the
thought process or the approach of of how hard should
you push for certain things to get you know, get approved,
(08:30):
Like shouldn't you be on our side?
Speaker 3 (08:33):
That would be my thought as a player, I'd be like,
hold on a second, you like you know that this
is something we should have appealed, and you're conspiring with
owners to try and keep it from us.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I'm pissed. I'm looking around like it. As a former.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Player, doesn't it make you question everything, like when you
were in the league, Like wait a second.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
So what was going on back then? If I'm being honest,
I never trusted I never trusted the PA. I never
trusted him. I never really worked with them, and I
just I pretty much. I made sure that I kept
my own affairs, like close to the vest as much
as I could, Like if you if you were called
(09:11):
my rookie year, I didn't sign the group licensing agreement.
A lot of people don't realize that, but I didn't sign.
Like the first the first year that I was in
the league, they didn't have my They didn't have me
on the video game. They didn't have me on Matt
and I was just player fifty six, didn't have Arrington
and Trader cards and jerseys. They were selling my jersey.
(09:34):
They were selling Trader cards. And I sued and I
won because they weren't. My whole thing was, and this
is pre nil, but I understood in IL and my
whole thing was, if you're going to use my name,
image and likeness and and you're grouping me with all
(09:55):
of these other people, I want to know that my
interest is being represented proper for one, and for two,
I want to know what you're doing with my brand, Brett.
You could be I don't know what your markets are
or the pockets of where my relevancy lied as a
as a player outside of Pennsylvania at the time, and
where I got drafted to in Washington. But you're gonna
(10:19):
give me a residual check. When I get that residual check,
I don't really know what you've done other than jersey
sales or you know, card sales, whatever it may be.
I don't know how you're using my name, image and likeness,
how often you're using it, where you're using it. I
(10:41):
don't know all of these things, and you're not you're
not explaining these things clearly. So I'm not going to
sign this contract. I'm not going to say sign my
rights away to you guys. And that's the NFLPA. And
and they still did it, like they still released my jersey,
they were still selling cars. So that's when I knew,
like it's really about. At the end of the day,
(11:03):
the NFLPA is a business, right, let's just call it
what it is. The NFLPA is a business. They have
their bottom line, And you know what they have to do.
They have to figure out what the structure of their
business model is in order to be able to impact
their bottom line. They have employees, they got to maintain
(11:24):
a payroll. They have to run their business like a business.
And the worst thing you could do is bite the
hand that feeds you. At the end of the day,
they have one business and one business alone, and that
business is to be the cartilage in between the NFL
and the owners and the players. And I always wonder why.
(11:48):
And you do have a lot of former players that
are part of the PA you do, but I've always wondered,
why is it, Like you get a random person like
Demorris Smith, what is his representation to the football community?
You know what I mean? Like, if you don't understand
the football community, how can you actually how can you
(12:11):
actually represent it in a way where you understand how
we feel, or you understand the approaches of of what
what we're a part of. You if you're not relating
to us, how can you represent us in the best
manner possible.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
So we were making the point last week when Demorris
Smith's book came out and he's got all these excerpts
about it, and one of them, you know, he talked
about Aaron Rodgers and basically blasted Aaron Rodgers and just said,
you know, I got a text from Rogers and I
something along the lines of and I'm paraphrasing, you know,
can I walk into traffic instead? And my thought on
(12:48):
that was, Okay, this is one of the stars of
the league. You represent the stars of the league, so
to speak, or so we thought, and he wants to
talk to you, and your response is I'd rather walk
into traffic. That's not how that should work.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
J C.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Tretder, you know, and this was one of the details
that came out when these transcripts were made public by
Pablo Torri.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
J C.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Trett when the discussion was about Russell Wilson and his
negotiations and trying to get a guaranteed deal with the Broncos,
basically ripped into Russell Wilson. You're supposed to represent these guys.
You're not supposed to be burying them behind their back
and complaining about them behind their back. It's supposed to
be a union to where you're all in this together.
And then you see this stuff come out and it
(13:32):
reminds me almost.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Like of politics.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
And I can remember my brother told me this when
I was younger, and I always remember this, and I
kind of asked him because I didn't really understand the
you know, Democrats Republican, like I didn't understand any of
that stuff. But he basically just said to me, there
are no democrats or Republicans. It's the same a hole
in a different suit. And I still remember that a
different and I still remember that to this day. And
(13:56):
when I see stuff like this, I go, also, so
you're all in this together, like this is not There
is no NFLPA and owners there is. This would make
me question everything that I heard from the NFL.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
You should and you should. You know, you have your
team representatives, they go, they sit in the meetings. You
want to have a problem with somebody who's enlightened enough
to know that it's just a bunch of bs, like
we're here and it's it's like literally it's all for show,
Like let's get all of the reps from all the teams.
Let's take a picture like, oh, let's post it NFLPA.
(14:34):
We care, Oh turf wars da da da, this that
and the other. Okay, it's like all for show. To me,
it's always been all for show. And so when you
get down to a moment where Demorris Smith actually in
a moment of thinking that he's being candid and exposing
personality like Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Rodgers is really exposing Yes,
(15:00):
do you understand when you wrote that and people are
going to read that that they're going to be like, well,
why would Aaron Rodgers feel that way? Aaron Rodgers is
a lot of things. One thing you're not going to
mistake him for is being an idiot. He's not dumb.
He's not a dumb dude. So if he gets up
in emphatic fashion or whatever it is that he said,
takes a deep breath and leaves exits the meeting, you're
(15:24):
basically exposing the fact that this man is there and
he's sitting there listening to what you are saying and
what you are talking about, and it's a big ass
waste of time. It's all for show. Log the hours,
log the minutes so that you can add it to
the business plan. Here's what we did, here's the summary.
(15:44):
We hit all the line items. We could say, we look,
we can say we talked to you guys about it.
We discussed it, checking off the boxes you're going to
do in this scenario. I've always felt this has always
been my person and I hate to do it, but
because there are some really really fine dudes, and I
always mention their names, you know, from Nolan Harrison to
(16:07):
Andre Collins to you know.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Carl Carl.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Why do I always blank on Carl's name? Anyway, Lewis,
It's not Carl Lewis. Uh yeah, But anyway, there's always
going to be some really really good people. I remember
I used to hit up Georgia Tala, he worked, he
worked for the PA. I don't know if he's still
with him or not, but I would hit certain people
(16:32):
up that worked for the nfl PA, and I always
felt like I was talking to somebody who went through
a sales course. And the first thing you realize when
you're talking to somebody who's in sales and has been
trained and has a history in sale, is what's the
first thing they're going to do? Manage your expectation. The
best people in sales can manage an expectation. So now
(16:54):
you've you've immediately I bring something your way. Issue data
dae topic can we do this whatever or it may be,
manage the expectation. Then once you manage the expectation, you
create an underpromise type of deal so that you can
over deliver on the other side of it. That's what
(17:14):
the NFLPA has done to me for as long as
I can remember. Like Doug Allen, he's a penn stator
like great respect in some regards, but I just always
felt like, even back to then when it was back
to when Doug Allen was in there, it's always going
to be what moved the agenda of their business model
(17:39):
and until there's some way to figure that out. And
that's why I feel like the college aspect of everything
that's going on, it's some real there's some real hurdles
to clear. There's some real barriers to get around in
terms of finding a healthy space for how business is
going to be done at the college level with these
(18:00):
players now that money's involved. Because you see under the surface,
very surface, it goes way deeper with this glacier of
conversation that we're having, but just immediately under the surface,
when you see and hear things like this that we're
discussing right now, it ultimately exposes the unseen like we
(18:20):
know the known, like, Okay, here's a contract. This is
how much they're getting. The salary cap is here. This
is where it's moving to. These are the players that
are making the money. Here's how much you get if
you get tagged da da da that and the other.
You see all of those things. But when you start
to get into conversations like this where it's like, wait,
(18:40):
you're taking us out of of the parameters of what
our structure represents. Fully guaranteed contracts do not fit our model,
So get that bs up out of here, don't bring
that s our way. Oh then one owner panics and
it and now everybody's trying to figure out what are
(19:03):
we going to do from here? What do we do?
Speaker 3 (19:06):
And the Players Association is keeping secrets from its players.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
There you go, so, how are you going to how
are you going to really get to a real solution?
How are you really going to get to a real
solution to what's going on? You have all these bright minds,
like we don't have Q on Q would be able
to give us like a real you know, educated like
from the legal standpoint of it, and all this stuff,
and blase blah, you have bright minds that think with
(19:34):
that side of their brain and use just the concrete evidence.
And then you have other guys that use their experiences
and how they feel about people or the things that
they've collected information wise, and that's a it's a melting
pot of representatives of the players that are a part
of these meetings and trying to understand what's going on.
(19:54):
And and for the life of me, for all the
bright minds that that I've seen be a part of
the PA. If you buy into what the PA preaches
and you believe in it, you end up working for him.
If you don't, you just end up being a part
of it, scratching your head the whole time trying to
figure out why the hell do we have an NFLPA
if this is all we're going to get from it?
Speaker 3 (20:16):
And if you question that, the PA executive director tells
in a book later that he'd rather walk into.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Traffic than talk to you. How about that? It's okay,
all right, because because you called him out by getting
up and leaving the meeting because you didn't feel like
anything got accomplished, Like why why is that? That's crazy?
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Be sure to catch live editions of two pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington, and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern, three am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio wile.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Hey, what's up, everybody?
Speaker 3 (20:52):
It's me three time Pro bowla LeVar Arrington and I
couldn't be more excited to announce a podcast called Up
on Game?
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Is Up on Game? You asked? Along with my fellow
Pro bowler TJ. Huschman Zada and Super Bowl champion Yep,
that's right, Plexico Buruts. You can only name a show
with that type of talent on it. Up on Game
We're going to be sharing our real life experiences loaded
with teachable moments. Listen to Up on Game with me
(21:21):
Lebar Arrington, TJ. Hutschman, Zada, and Plexico Birds on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast from.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
How about the fact that they're bringing back the old
Washington Redskins jerseys?
Speaker 2 (21:39):
You see, we saw that there was a Indian group,
a Native American group that said now that things are
seemingly settling down and settling in in the United States,
which I don't know what news they're paying attention to
but uh it it's time to return and restore them
(22:00):
back to the Washington Redskins. I mean, you know, I
saw that report somewhere now been It could have been AI.
You know, you just never know anymore. You got to
really check your sources these days. But I did see
that there was a letter that was sent to Congress
or something to that effect. It wouldn't be the first.
(22:22):
I just.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Look, it's not for me to speak on who should
be offended by what when it comes to that stuff.
To my knowledge, I'm not Native American, so it's not
It's not my place to say who should be offended
and who shouldn't. But there was back when all this
was happening, some thought that if if it wasn't attached
(22:44):
to Dan Snyder, would there have been such a push
to make the change because he was so adamant and
he was so disliked by so many people that it
was almost like a battle to try and to get him.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Yeah, you wanted to devalue what he had. That's possible
because they would not even entertain the idea of the
stadium going into the district of Columbia, would not entertain it,
like they're sweet they're old, I'm telling you, and.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
I used to wear they are so sweet, like just
that color, combo, the scheme, all that like. And look,
I've said this before, I think a lot of those
unis from back in the day. You see the Seahawks
dust off the old ones, The Giants, the Eagles are
way better than some of the stuff they've come out
with now.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
So I like the commander's uniforms, though I think they
look pretty dope. To be honest, I like the commanders
so but I like their uniforms. And I know a
lot of people have a lot of issues one way
or the other in terms of how they feel about
the whole name deal, but you know, it is what
it is.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Well, speaking of the commanders, who are no longer the commandos,
we used to make that joke, and then once they
got good, it was no longer or fun to make
fun of the commandos. So they are the Commanders. Maybe
one day they'll go back to their former name. But nonetheless,
Joe Thaisman a legendary Washington commander slash Redskin. He talked
(24:14):
about the Terry McLaurin situation. He was on The Up
and Adams Show with Kay Adams, and had this to
say about the star receiver for Washington.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
That would be a major problem for all of us
to appreciate what the commanders have done, what Terry has done.
Terry's a dear friend. He's just a great young man,
a great leader.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
You know.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
You talk about intangibles. His intangibles and his value to
this football team are even more outweighed, should say than
his talent, which we know is extreme. He needs to
be paid. He needs to be paid right away. We
need to put this issue behind us as a football team.
He is one of the leaders and he's a guy
(24:55):
that you can always count on.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Now I agree with him about uh, Terry Macklin. I
think that Terry Macklin is an amazing football player, an
amazing person and should be compensated. I think he's a
major part of jayde and Daniel's success. So they got
to make sure they get Macklin's signed. Terry Macklin, Yeah,
(25:19):
I mean you didn't catch it though, did you catch it?
I did, just now, Yes, what I do? Did Macklin
look at your rundown? Oh, look at your rundown? Oh Jesus,
And you asked and you asked him earlier you asked
him earlier, did he have a knight? It was like,
(25:42):
there's no way.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
LeVar thinks his last name is Macklin. No, Levart doesn't,
Lee does apparently based on the rundown and just Macklin
not not his first name, just Macklin whatever. I don't
think he's played in quite some time. Isn't that the
receiver from Missouri? He went to the Eagles and oh
Jeremy mack Yeah, I remember him. Yeah, he was part
(26:04):
of that. It was him and DeShawn Jackson. Yeah, yeah,
they were all part of the the same team back then.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
No.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
On a more serious note, I do agree with what
Thaisman is saying now. I think that unless unless you
were to pull off, which would be I don't know,
it would rank up there as one of the highest
like profile trades to take place. Unless there's that that
rumor of TJ. Watt a swap out for TJ. Watt
(26:32):
and Terry McLaurin, which I think would be a win
win for both of them. I don't think that it
would be a slight if I'm Terry McLaurin, if I
get the opportunity to go to Pittsburgh and play you
would become the easily the number two receiver there and
and maybe even challenge to be number one, and that
(26:54):
that would be a tremendous And now you're talking about
there are no excuses for Pittsburgh and Aaron Rodgers and
I have a good year outside of maybe their backfield.
But and then if the Washington Commanders were able to
add a talent like TJ. Watt, it would make them
one of the most formidable defensive fronts in all of football.
(27:16):
So it would be a win win Outside of a
scenario like that, I can't see why you would mess
around with this situation, agreed, And so you gotta go ahead,
and you gotta You're getting closer and closer to training camp.
I mean we're in July. You know, maybe you give
it a week or two. I don't know, But you
don't want this to be a holdout scenario. You got
(27:39):
too much great will, good will built up from last
season with the transition to the Harris ownership group. You
have a guy in Jane Daniels who can carry the
load as the anchor, star franchise quarterback going into his
sophomore season. You don't want to do anything to lose
that momentum. It's like that water primer, you know, getting
(28:03):
the water out of the well. You've primed it and
you've primed it, and you've primed it, and they've done
a great job of getting the water to come out
of you know, with the pump, you don't want to
stop pumping because if you stop pumping, then the water
starts coming out, then you got to start the process
all over again. Washington is in a good position. Don't
lose your momentum. Sign Terry McLaurin.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
It just and that's the part that doesn't add up
to me, and it's why I think they're gonna get
a deal done. It's also why I think ultimately Pittsburgh's
going to get a deal done with TJ. Watt because
based on the direction of the organization, the plan of
the organization, this would be.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
The opposite of that.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
Washington has tried to stabilize the organization, set the foundation,
get first, you know, get new ownership in the restore
the faith and the fan base put together and build
a roster and sort of get this thing going from
the ground up. And the guy who who's been there
during the dark days of Washington when all that stuff
(29:04):
was happening is Terry McLaurin, and he's sort of the
the leader of the locker room, the veteran presence of
the locker room. To make all of this progress as
an organization only to not maintain Terry McLaurin just wouldn't
make any sense to me.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
It almost seems.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Counter to everything that they've tried to build there over
the past several years.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
It wouldn't make sense for the simple fact that you're
also talking about what are you what is your recourse
if you don't sign if you don't sign them back?
Like who are you using? Who are you using? And
that would be my biggest question is how do you
(29:50):
determine what direction you're going to go in? Like I
just find it to be curious that if you're if
you're intending to not pay two Mary McLaurin what he wants,
how are you looking at it? Are you viewing it
as the closer we get this is a game of chicken.
He's going to break break down and he's going, you
know him and his representation are going to do the deal.
(30:12):
Or are you looking at it like we're okay with
moving on from you know what we got going on.
It's interesting if you go to their depth chart on
ESPN or even to their site, it doesn't have any
skill positions outside of the quarterback listed on the depth chart,
which means they're fully aware. You gotta believe that you
(30:33):
can get a hold of depth charts pretty easily. They're
fully aware of what the situation is at the receiver's position.
They don't want people looking at their depth chart. So
it's either they got something in the wings that they
feel really good about and maybe they feel like they
can get a better value at the position and not
have to give Terry McLaurin that contract that he's seeking,
(30:55):
or you don't have anything at all, but it's still
a negotiation and you got to figure out how you
can get him at the best price that you can
get him for. And you gotta hold things close to
the vest till you get it done, or you're looking
at it as do we have enough value to move
them and bring in another another edition that's just as valued.
(31:16):
And again I gave you guys that that scenario of
how that could possibly play out, But keep in mind
the idea of that type of a trade taking place.
TJ Watt's gonna come in and he's gonna want to
get paid. Terry Mclaurin's gonna come into Pittsburgh and he's
gonna want to get paid. So why not just pay
what you have? Yeah? Why don't you pay for who
(31:36):
you have? And and Pittsburgh, of all teams, should be
the one that's thinking that way right now today.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Like Pittsburgh walking away or dealing TJ. Watt just it
just doesn't make any sense based on the moves that
they've made. Like every Pittsburgh's basically told everybody.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
I don't think you'd be able to justify it by
bringing in another weapon of the Caliberry McLaurin.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
No, No, I'd rather have TJ.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
Watt.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Terry mclaurin's a fine player that that's awesome, But I
feel like you need the anchor, you need the guy
on defense, and I'll take TJ. Watt Like I know
that that would load up the Steeler offense, but I
think you would lose too much defensively if you want from.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
I don't disagree with that sentiment at all, but I
will say, if I'm going all in, and I'm saying
this is a one year, I'm putting all my chips
in the center of the table. I'm loading up the offense,
sticks picks, just saying I'm loading up to offense. And
I wouldn't feel any certain type of way about it. Wow.
(32:40):
And even if it was TJ.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Watt boy really really selling out the defensive side of
the ball, Huh, why has it got to be that?
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Damn? I'm just saying, it's an offensive driven league. Pittsburgh
needs offense. They're going in on a legendary quarterback to
get one season out of them. Why would you not
load up? Why would you load up the skill players
on the offensive side of the ball. That's all I'm sad,
(33:13):
especially if you don't feel as though you can get
close enough to one another with what the you know,
what each side wants.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
To have, you know, so you know, it's so disturbing
about this. Oh punk Satani LaVar Arrington grows up in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
It's all about defense, baby, he loves the defense.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
He loves Greg Lloyd, Levon, Kirkland, Carnel Lake, Rod Woodson,
Kevin Green, all those Pittsburgh Steelers defensive players.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Cheezel goes on.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Yeah, to have one of the most illustrious college football
careers in the state of Pennsylvania on the defensive side.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Of the ball.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
And then years later at four fifteen local time, here
on a Thursday morning in July.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Eight fifteen in Pittsburgh, maybe.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
City seven fifteen, but three hours ahead seven fifteen.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Listen, thank you, Batman city would look for it to
be fifteen.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
Sitting here, we'd be closer to don He's sitting here
next to a vampire in an Italia.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
J yeah, shirt, yeah, stay. Didn't see the stay and
wasn't looking for that. And you're and you're sitting here
telling us down way too far on the coat.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
You're sitting here telling us it's right there. You're sitting
there telling us, you know what, forget about all that.
Let's bring in more offense at the defense. F my roots,
forget the Pittsburgh Steeler defensive legacy. None of that matters.
Let's go more offense. That's a damn disgrace.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
I mean, listen, I'm with you on that. I'm one
hundred percent with you, just so you know, I mean,
load up the defense, make sure they got a dope defense.
Get some some characters, some names on the defense side
of the ball. I'm all about it. Keep TJ wide,
I'm all about it. But I'm just saying, why would
(35:12):
it not be Why would it not be justifiable? If
you're saying this is an all in year, putting it
all in, all on the line, right, I'm putting it
all on the line. I'm not saving anything for any
other season. It's all on the line for this season.
And I could add another weapon like that to the
(35:34):
arsenal of weapons that you've already tried to put and
play like if they still had pickings. It's not even
it's not even a question. I think the fact that
they traded out, they traded out, they swapped out receivers,
leaves the door wide open for the conversation of you
still don't have enough weapons for Aaron Rodgers to overcome
(35:57):
defense schemes in national football?
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Do you if they send like Jordy Nelson or Alan
Lazard are available, like, let's just go that direct, good Jordy?
Why not?
Speaker 2 (36:07):
You know? All I know is you hyped it about
the defense. But if if I'm going all in and
my job is on the line or things are on
the line for what we're going to do for this
one season, why would you not give him another receiver
on the other side of the ball. I mean, that's
what they did for Dak Prescott. Like it's one thing.
(36:28):
If you got rid of a player, bring in another player,
and your your addition, you're you're adding to it. You
did not add to what you're doing in Pittsburgh. You
did not. You just replaced. You did not upgrade. You
bring in Terry McLaurin. You can definitively say you've upgraded
your offense, and you've upgraded in a way where now
(36:51):
John news Smith and Pat Fryarmouth at at tight end,
you got depth at tight end, and now you have
a one to two punch where either one of those
guys can play a one receiver position. Like you don't
even have to say one to two on a receiving
cord that would have Terry McLaurin and DK metcalf. It
(37:14):
just makes all the sense in the world if you
were going to do it, if you're going to be
forced to spend the money, I'm gonna spend that money
knowing that my job is on the line, and we're
putting all our cards and our chips in the front.
And then today I'm showing my hand, put my chips in.
I'm showing my hand. Here's what we're going to do.
Why wouldn't that make any Sense's that's how I see it. Yeah,
(37:35):
but that would be the only way that I don't
get a deal done with Scary Terry, And that'd be
the only way I don't get a deal done with TJ.
Watt is if I had the ability to be able
to swap out and add that type of value to
each each scenario. It's all about the money.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Arrington and
Jonas Knox weekdays. It's six am Eastern, three am Pacific.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
By the way, can I tell you something. My son's
a bit of an a hole. So he's four years
old and he we played baseball literally every day. He's obsessed.
All he wants to do all day longest play baseball.
He wakes up, he gets into full uniform every single day,
(38:23):
and then we go out, we play ball, and then
we get back.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
He rests for a little while and then he just
wants to.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
Feel ground balls in the house. And then my wife
gets pissed because he knocks stuff off the shelves or
the ball goes side with like it's just you know,
he's obsessed.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
But you know he's four years old.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
So when I pitch to him, I'm pitching underhand, like
I'm not you know, I'm just tossing him the ball
so he can hit it, so he can get his
swings in. And then yesterday we get back and he goes,
you're not a very good pitcher. I'm like, oh yeah,
why is that? He goes, I hit bombs off you.
I'm like bombs, Like what am I supposed to do?
(39:01):
Throw him splitters, like go off speed like I'm serving it.
I'm like, well, you know that's not very nice, budd.
He goes, yeah, I'm better than you. I'm like, okay,
so now.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Today, yeah, oh yeah, he's getting it on. Give it
to him full.
Speaker 3 (39:19):
Arsenal, give it to him, sladders, sniders, sinkers, I'll throw them,
a circle change, I'll throw I'm gonna brush him back
at least two three times.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Got hitting one time? Yeah, let him get uncomfortable.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
I'm like, dude, like like me, like, this is batting practice,
all right. This is like the home run derby, which
is gonna be on Monday like this is I'm serving
these up to you so you can perform at a
high level. And then he throws me under the bus
afterwards and calls me out for it, So now he's
gonna get it.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Good for Drew for that, Yeah, bad for you for
thinking that he can handle your your heat and uh,
let's see how it all plays out. Like you were
giving him the underhand, he was he knocking bombs off.
You got to do this though here. You got to
find the healthy balance between the reality of him needing
(40:09):
to get better and understanding the process, and the gassing
him up and making him think and believe that he's
the greatest of all time. You have to find the
balance of it. And I tend to lean towards going
towards gassing them up into believing that they're the greatest
of all time, because I feel like if you make
(40:30):
them believers, I ultimately believe that the mind is such
a powerful tool that you will ultimately become what it
is that you believe you're going to become. So gass
him up, but you got to knock him down sometimes though,
so that he understands the reality of saying you're the best, Like,
you're not even better than me right now, So you
got to keep working serves as a tool to make
(40:52):
them continue to work harder so that they can be better.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
Yeah, I'm definitely going to gas them up and make
him feel good about things. Right after he catches ninety
five in the rib there you go, right after.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
That, Well, then then he's going to cry, he's going
to get the bruise. He's going to remember that moment
because that experience will represent a vulnerable moment for him.
And and and it's like a pivotal moment, like and
then that's where you come in and you got to
be the dad. And then you be like, you know
it hurt, didn't it. You know, you gotta be like
(41:23):
the rafiki. You know it's like, but it's in the past, Like,
but it still hurts. Yeah, it still hurts, but it's
in the past. But you can make things better.
Speaker 3 (41:32):
Yeah, I'll tell them, like, listen, I know that that hurt,
but it doesn't hurt worse than having three layers of
sunblock on only to be told that you suck at
baseball afterwards because you're trying to help your kid out.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
That it sounds like a youth thing right there. It
sounds like you made it about you, you.
Speaker 3 (41:48):
Know, Yeah, that's what it sounds. Yeah, Well, one's going
to get away from me today and then we're going
to find out who sucks at baseball. That's what I
That's what I think is gonna happen. By the way, everybody,
it is Jonas Knox here at the home depot. It
is about time for pros to source the whole job
with one partner. Ask about all we can do for
you at the pro desk to the home depot pro.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
It's about time.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
So I was thinking about this because we were talking
earlier in the show about Michael Pennix Junior telling Michael
Vick that the success, the mark for success for the
Atlanta Falcons this year is to go to the playoffs.
And then you look at that division, you go, well,
you know they've probably been to the playoffs pretty recently. No, no,
absolutely not. It's been twenty seventeen since the Falcons have
(42:32):
been to the postseason. And I was thinking about this
with the season coming up, I have no idea who
I think is going to win the NFC because you
could go chalk and you could just say Philly, which
would be a safe bet. But if I don't want
to go Chalk, who else is there? Like I almost
was talking myself into the Cowboys again, and I thought, no,
(42:55):
that's not going to happen. Like it's the Cowboys and
there's no way that's going to happen. But you start
looking around the NFC and you go, all right, so
who are the real contenders? And you would think, well, Detroit,
you know, maybe they could take a next step. Lost
both their coordinators.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
That's a major question.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
And no team in NFL history has lost both coordinators
and gone to the Super Bowl the next year. You
start looking at Minnesota question mark with JJ McCarthy, the
Packers not.
Speaker 2 (43:24):
I mean you can have positive, you know, positive feedback
on that. You can you can feel good that they'll
be competitive this year. That'd be in the mix. I
mean you would think, you would think, and then you
start looking around. You go the Niners.
Speaker 3 (43:39):
But it's like, well, question, if we believe the Niners
window closed last year and now they're having to pay
Rock Party, which they weren't having to do before, is
this a bounce back even though they've got a really
favorable schedule. And I'm looking around going question marks. Maybe
it's the Rams, like, yes, that would be if it
would be one to go with, if you're not going
to go chalk with Philly. Maybe the Rams are the
(44:02):
team that you look at and go super Bowl pedigree
come back. You know they've drafted well, DeVonta Adams is there,
They've added pieces. Maybe the Rams are a team you
look at and go, all right, that's the team that's
going to be representing the NFC. If not Shock, if
you don't want to go boring and go Philly, I'm
struggling to find who I buy into.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
In the NFC this year. Again, I think the NFC East,
I'm going to continue to say it, the NFC East
is going to be crazy this year. You're going to
have potentially for really good teams, for competitive teams. I
think the New York Giants are going to take a
definitive step forward. They're going to be better. I think
(44:46):
Dallas is going to take a definitive step forward. They're
going to be better. I think the Eagles will continue
to be the Eagles. I look at this Washington Commander's
team and I think that they should be viewed as
the the one A or one B to the Eagles
being the one A. And that's because I saw a
(45:09):
team continue to improve. If you think about it, the
only real drop off you saw in play with the
Commanders last year is when he sustained the rib injuries.
When Jaydon Daniels sustained the rib injury, that was when
things got a little weird. So as long as Jaydon
(45:29):
Daniels is healthy, his understanding of the game is so
far ahead right now. His learning curve was so small
and he closed it down very quickly as a rookie.
It would be I think it would be a safe
bet to think that he's going to even be head
(45:50):
and shoulders better than what he was his rookie season.
And listen, I look at the Commanders. I think that
the Commanders, and I think that the NFC East because
for some strange reason, I think Rusk got I think
he's got magic in him maybe one more time. And
I really I'm really putting the pressure on the defense
(46:11):
to be what they need to be and and them
being able to get things done offensively with Russell Wilson.
If that doesn't work out, then you can put a
put a fork in the New York Giants and thinking
they're a dark horse. But there's another team, and they're
on the television right now. There's another team out there
that you got to say, there's a possibility that they
(46:31):
can improve to a level where they're competitive. Now again,
I think Detroit is vulnerable in the North because they
don't have their Their coordinators will have to see if
they're still the same team. Without that, you lose the
successful offensive coordinator to that dark horse team in the
(46:52):
same division, which is Ben Johnson to the Chicago Bears.
You're you know, people have been been hard on on
Caleb Williams about his fingernail paint and not liking girls
but like being focused on football. But in reality, he's
been a leader, he's been a stand up guy. He's delivered,
(47:14):
he's delivered stats.
Speaker 3 (47:18):
Can you add a little bit more context to that story,
because I didn't see that. Well, so that was a
report that apparently he would not go out with girls
because he was too focused on football or something along
those lines.
Speaker 2 (47:33):
I mean, and you know, so what good for him?
People be shaming these cats like that man was focused
on his career. You want to make it into a thing.
Jaydeon Daniels is always with his mom. They want to
make it into a thing. You're talking about two of
the more successful players stable, Like, you don't hear about
about them having crashouts. You don't hear nothing about either
(47:57):
one of them other than fingernail polished and not be
interested in girls because of his career, Like, so, what
good for them? But anyway back to what I was saying,
because of that focus that he has on being a really,
really good football player, there's the strong possibility that the
Chicago Bears could be a team to contend with this year.
(48:20):
You know, a couple things go the right way last year,
they probably have a better year. People feel a lot
better about them. But I think that this could be
a year, especially with Ben Johnson and hearing the things
that you know, Caleb had to say about being a
rookie and some of the things that he had to
deal with, and they're not being a real structure or
real approach to what his learning curve was going to be.
(48:42):
It sounded like he was having to figure that stuff
out on his own. And if he figured it out
on his own to the capacity and the degree that
he did last season, that's pretty commendable.
Speaker 3 (48:52):
The problem is it's the Bears, and the Bears much
like the Jets and some of these other bottom feeders
and dysfunction organizations in the NFL, that they're the type
of person that they would win the lottery and accidentally
wipe their ass with the ticketan like.
Speaker 2 (49:10):
It's just.
Speaker 3 (49:12):
You've heard it so many right there, that little staying
right there, that's a one under there. You just you've
seen it so many times, drafted, so many players done.
And but that goes to the overall point of the
NFC feels wide open. Give me your top three, one
two three, give me your one two two right now,
(49:34):
one two three, three teams in the NFC. I trust
the most one two three in order. Philly, yeap the Rams, Okay,
you gotta do it. Go ahead, I'm going to flip
flop them, but go ahead. I'll take Philly the Rams.
Speaker 2 (49:59):
Your heart want you to say, Chicago, no, no, no, But
you shouldn't be fighting Chicago. They could be a factor,
but they're not going to be a top three. I'm
torn between Detroit and San Francisco. Oh, like, I'm torn.
Speaker 3 (50:13):
Like because look, the talent is still there for the Lions,
but I can't help.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
But wonder.
Speaker 3 (50:18):
Look, you lost an NFC title game you probably should
have won, and then last year in the playoffs they
were annihilated by Washington. I mean that game really wasn't close,
and they could have won it. They could have won it.
They were in position to win it out. I don't point,
I don't, I don't think. I think that game was
over by halftime. They looked shook. And but San Francisco's
(50:42):
got that favorable schedule and they've they've got a lot
of talent. So I feel Philly the Rams, and then
it's either Detroit or San Francisco. Lockank tang Okan would
it who's your top three?
Speaker 2 (51:00):
Well, undoubtedly Philadelphia is number one. Until they are not
number one, you gotta put the Commander second. Because to me,
the Commanders had a really really strong year. Like I said,
the only slow up they had was when when jayde
Daniels got that injury. I think they'll be a better
(51:21):
team this year than what they were last year. I
thought that they had a pretty solid off season. And
then my third team is clearly I believe it's the
Rams Sticks. Thanks, and so with that being said, I mean,
you got two NFC East teams that I would say
are going to be one and two. And then again
(51:42):
the showing that the Rams had, I'm just going off
of what I saw last, what you've done for me lately.
That was a team that could have beat the Eagles.
The Commanders seemingly could have beat the Eagles, but it
didn't seem as though they looked as good against the
(52:03):
Eagles as the Rams did. And that could change this year.
I think that maybe the you know, you had a
first year head coach, you had a lot of things
up in the air in Washington. I just think that
there's going to be more stability, there's going to be
more familiarity, there's going to be more continuity, and they
get an opportunity to show that it wasn't a one
(52:24):
year situation, that this is a team that actually can
be good in the foreseeable future. I think that that's
where the Commanders are because again, I think everybody involved
in the organization understands what's at stake because of everything
that's taking place there. And then you look at that
that Rams team, they flew under the radar. They have
this young, young core group of guys on the defense.
(52:47):
They're going to get better, so you see them being
very competitive. The NFC West is not to me. I
don't think that the San Francisco forty nine ers are
going to be this crazy world beating tea. I do
think that their window has closed, and if it has closed,
then they're not as good as they're supposed to be.
I would say the biggest threat in the West two
(53:11):
this this this La RAMS team would be the Arizona Cardinals.
They're They're a dark horse team that could give teams
problems if you're not paying attention.
Speaker 3 (53:22):
The AFC just feels so much easier to try and forecasts,
like you know, going into it, all right, Kansas City
is going to be legit, Baltimore, Buffalo, Cincinnati. You would
assume like you would assume with the talent they've got there.
It just there's a lot more knowns than unknowns in
the a f C. Give us your one through three
in the AFC, YEP, Kansas City, Buffalo, Baltimore, easy, one
(53:48):
two three, that's what you're doing, one two three, That
actually one two locks.
Speaker 2 (53:55):
Bamn one two three. In the AFC, I will go.
Speaker 3 (54:00):
Baltimore, yeap, Kansas City, Buffalo knocks flocks.
Speaker 2 (54:08):
I'm gonna flip flop two and three. I'm gonna go Baltimore, Buffalo,
Kansas City.
Speaker 3 (54:14):
But pretty easy, right, Like, you don't have to think,
Like the NFC just feels like everything's white cent Philly
and the AFC.
Speaker 2 (54:22):
You kind of know who the teams are. But the
interesting thing is is that the wind blows how hard
it's at the top of the flagpole. So there could
be a fourth, fifth team that ends up going all
the way because of all of the bullets that they
got to absorb at the top of the total poles.
Speaker 3 (54:39):
Cincinnati, it could be Cincinnati. It could Yeah, it just
could be Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (54:44):
There's a lot of but there's a lot of teams
out there that it could be, right, Like, I'm curious
to see how good the La LA Chargers are going
to be this year. There's something about a hardball lad
team and going into the second year of his tenure there,
(55:06):
that's a team to watch. That's a team to watch
for this year because he's now gotten his running backs
room in and play, he's got his offensive line built up,
he's got his defense built up. It's going to be
interesting to see because he is going to run the ball,
but he has a dynamic passer in Herbert, and it'll
(55:27):
be interesting to see if Herbert can take that next step,
and I think he can under Harball
It's the best of two pros and a couple. Joe
with Lamar Rings and rating Winn and Jonas Knox on Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
What Up Sticks? Good morning? Oh man, good morning? You
got that gas going early? I got up, bro, Like
yesterday was like I couldn't get my uh what you
got in the oh yeah, Celsius, ye nits yeah, bruh.
I was feeling a certain type of way yesterday. I
was like, man, I kind of feel a little off,
(00:35):
and I knew it was because I didn't get my
sleep pattern change right like you got we got used
to getting some sleep. Yesterday when I got up for
the show, I just felt like really really like in
a fog man and I couldn't really get out of it.
I was like, man, I got to approach today a
little differently, so so yeah, man, I approached it so
much so where I had so much energy. It was
(00:56):
like I'm just on the move. So yeah, I'm like
bouncing around right now. And Celsius will have you on
some like like let's go because you got I'm on
some like let's go right now, like let's fing go, man, Hey,
what do they call it? A? Well? Then I didn't
want to go down that. Yeah, I don't even want
to do it. Not ready for that.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
That joke will be told later, but nonetheless early we
are off and running here on this Thursday morning too.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
We've got a fun.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Little follow up on a story that we talked about
last week here. So, the NFLPA filed an appeal of
a ruling by arbitrator Christopher Droni that there was sufficient
evidence of collusion by owners in contract negotiations with quarterbacks
following the fully guaranteed contract given to Deshaun Watson. Well,
(01:51):
of course they should appeal that, especially if there was
evidence that would indicate that there was some sort of
collusion going on, or that Roger Goodell had instructed or
at least encouraged donors to try and ensure that there
wouldn't be fully guaranteed contracts handed out to quarterbacks following
the Deshaun Watson contract.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Of course they should.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Do that, and there did seem to be some evidence
when the findings came out. The problem is this should
have been appealed in January when the ruling was made,
and the only reason the NFLPA is appealing it now
is to save face because Pavlo Torre got ahold of
the transcripts.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
In fact, the NFL and senior leaders of the NFL
Players Association, and this was found and released on ESPN yesterday.
They found that the NFL Players Association struck what they're
calling an unusual confidentiality agreement that hid the details of
an arbitration decision from players, including a finding that league
(02:53):
executives had urged team owners to reduce guaranteed player compensation,
multiple sources told esp and in fact, also from ESPN,
some players told them that they were surprised by details
and the rulings, and that they didn't understand why the
union hadn't shared that ruling with them. So you've got
the NFLPA, upon seeing the transcripts from all this, and
(03:16):
players with the NFLPA and players in the league looking
at it, going wait, so you guys knew all this,
We had evidence of all this. This should have been
appealed in January, and you struck in agreement with the
other side to keep it confidential from us. And you've
got players, You've got people asking questions. You've got attorneys
(03:39):
like Peter Ginsberg, who's represented many NFL players for decades.
He said he was stunned to hear about the confidentiality agreement.
He said, quote as the head of the union, and
this is, you know, all of the now you've got,
you've got, you know, the current NFLPA executive director, Lloyd
Howell going after the former and to Morris Smith and
(04:01):
blaming him for sort of how this whole thing fell apart.
But oh yeah, and you get Peter Ginsburg, the attorney, saying,
as the head of the union, Lloyd has an obligation
to protect his best interest of the players. He said,
by agreeing to a confidentiality agreement, the union purposely blocked
the players from receiving crucial information about the operations of
(04:21):
the NFL.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
So it's almost like they're all in it together. But
go ahead, use the word how can you You're going
to appeal a scenario where if what you're accusing the
League of doing with this knowledge that you just spoke on,
wouldn't you call that colluding? Yeah, it's it's like, I mean,
(04:44):
I don't want it. It's not intended to be a
mic drop moment. But if I'm the union, if if
the people that are representing you are on some confidentiality
type of deal where they're not disclosing these pieces of
information that are pertinent and relevant to the people that
(05:05):
you're representing, and you're doing that with the other side,
that would be collusion.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
And and the fact that they're getting aggressive with it
now and appealing this when they should have done it again.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
This ruling came out in January.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
You had you had months, You had months to try
and figure this, figure this thing out. The only reason
now they're having to get on the offensive when it
comes to this is because the information got out. If
they if Pablo Torre hadn't gotten a hold of the
transcripts from what had happened, none of this probably takes place.
(05:42):
It's the nfl PA again trying to save face because
it's an awful look.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Just that's called espionage. I mean, there's all kas of
different words that that are used for this. It's big
it's big business. There's big business here. The owners stand
to lose some of their bottom line, a major part
of their bottom line. Some you know, these franchises are
facing being put in different positions in terms of you know,
(06:09):
we've heard Q say, listen, you do a fully guaranteed contract.
That contract apparently has to be placed in escrow. You
got to have the money for that contract up front
and ready to go. I would assume how many times
can you do a fully guaranteed contract. If that's the
case and you're an NFL franchise, how many times do
you want to do that where you have to commit
(06:31):
What if we're talking about these types of deals, they're
only going to be with the elite players, So you're
talking about hundreds of millions of dollars that you're having
to commit to this one player, and you have to
have that money together. It has to be there. So
I think it causes some complications for the structure that
(06:53):
exists for the NFL, and for what it's worth, you
have to be able. I know, the whole antitrust and
you know, no monopolies on business and stuff like that,
so they can only do things a certain type of
way before it goes down the lane of being colluding
and stuff like that, and you can't do it. But
(07:15):
they're a business. They're businesses. They're privately owned businesses, and
if you're going to have conversations about how you can
improve your bottom line, wouldn't you say that applies to
one hundred percent of the businesses that are out there.
You're going to try to figure out what the proper
(07:36):
business approach is. You're going to see how you can
manage your heart costs and your expenses. You're always trying
to impact your bottom line. That is something that you
learn if you're doing business and you're learning business or
you live in the real world. If you're going to
get a new contract at your job, you have to
understand where do you fit within that company's structure and
(08:01):
how does that impact their bottom line.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
If I'm a player, I'm pissed. I'm looking at this
going hold on.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
So you're being let down. You're not. You are being
You are the commodity that makes all of this work,
of course, but you're not the most important obviously, You're
not the most important driving force in terms of the
thought process or the approach of of how hard should
you push for certain things to get you know, get approved,
(08:30):
Like shouldn't you be on our side?
Speaker 3 (08:33):
That would be my thought as a player, I'd be like,
hold on a second, you like you know that this
is something we should have appealed, and you're conspiring with
owners to try and keep it from us.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I'm pissed. I'm looking around like it. As a former.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Player, doesn't it make you question everything, like when you
were in the league, Like wait a second.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
So what was going on back then? If I'm being honest,
I never trusted I never trusted the PA. I never
trusted him. I never really worked with them, and I
just I pretty much. I made sure that I kept
my own affairs, like close to the vest as much
as I could, Like if you if you were called
(09:11):
my rookie year, I didn't sign the group licensing agreement.
A lot of people don't realize that, but I didn't sign.
Like the first the first year that I was in
the league, they didn't have my They didn't have me
on the video game. They didn't have me on Matt
and I was just player fifty six, didn't have Arrington
and Trader cards and jerseys. They were selling my jersey.
(09:34):
They were selling Trader cards. And I sued and I
won because they weren't. My whole thing was, and this
is pre nil, but I understood in IL and my
whole thing was, if you're going to use my name,
image and likeness and and you're grouping me with all
(09:55):
of these other people, I want to know that my
interest is being represented proper for one, and for two,
I want to know what you're doing with my brand, Brett.
You could be I don't know what your markets are
or the pockets of where my relevancy lied as a
as a player outside of Pennsylvania at the time, and
where I got drafted to in Washington. But you're gonna
(10:19):
give me a residual check. When I get that residual check,
I don't really know what you've done other than jersey
sales or you know, card sales, whatever it may be.
I don't know how you're using my name, image and likeness,
how often you're using it, where you're using it. I
(10:41):
don't know all of these things, and you're not you're
not explaining these things clearly. So I'm not going to
sign this contract. I'm not going to say sign my
rights away to you guys. And that's the NFLPA. And
and they still did it, like they still released my jersey,
they were still selling cars. So that's when I knew,
like it's really about. At the end of the day,
(11:03):
the NFLPA is a business, right, let's just call it
what it is. The NFLPA is a business. They have
their bottom line, And you know what they have to do.
They have to figure out what the structure of their
business model is in order to be able to impact
their bottom line. They have employees, they got to maintain
(11:24):
a payroll. They have to run their business like a business.
And the worst thing you could do is bite the
hand that feeds you. At the end of the day,
they have one business and one business alone, and that
business is to be the cartilage in between the NFL
and the owners and the players. And I always wonder why.
(11:48):
And you do have a lot of former players that
are part of the PA you do, but I've always wondered,
why is it, Like you get a random person like
Demorris Smith, what is his representation to the football community?
You know what I mean? Like, if you don't understand
the football community, how can you actually how can you
(12:11):
actually represent it in a way where you understand how
we feel, or you understand the approaches of of what
what we're a part of. You if you're not relating
to us, how can you represent us in the best
manner possible.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
So we were making the point last week when Demorris
Smith's book came out and he's got all these excerpts
about it, and one of them, you know, he talked
about Aaron Rodgers and basically blasted Aaron Rodgers and just said,
you know, I got a text from Rogers and I
something along the lines of and I'm paraphrasing, you know,
can I walk into traffic instead? And my thought on
(12:48):
that was, Okay, this is one of the stars of
the league. You represent the stars of the league, so
to speak, or so we thought, and he wants to
talk to you, and your response is I'd rather walk
into traffic. That's not how that should work.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
J C.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Tretder, you know, and this was one of the details
that came out when these transcripts were made public by
Pablo Torri.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
J C.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Trett when the discussion was about Russell Wilson and his
negotiations and trying to get a guaranteed deal with the Broncos,
basically ripped into Russell Wilson. You're supposed to represent these guys.
You're not supposed to be burying them behind their back
and complaining about them behind their back. It's supposed to
be a union to where you're all in this together.
And then you see this stuff come out and it
(13:32):
reminds me almost.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Like of politics.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
And I can remember my brother told me this when
I was younger, and I always remember this, and I
kind of asked him because I didn't really understand the
you know, Democrats Republican, like I didn't understand any of
that stuff. But he basically just said to me, there
are no democrats or Republicans. It's the same a hole
in a different suit. And I still remember that a
different and I still remember that to this day. And
(13:56):
when I see stuff like this, I go, also, so
you're all in this together, like this is not There
is no NFLPA and owners there is. This would make
me question everything that I heard from the NFL.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
You should and you should. You know, you have your
team representatives, they go, they sit in the meetings. You
want to have a problem with somebody who's enlightened enough
to know that it's just a bunch of bs, like
we're here and it's it's like literally it's all for show,
Like let's get all of the reps from all the teams.
Let's take a picture like, oh, let's post it NFLPA.
(14:34):
We care, Oh turf wars da da da, this that
and the other. Okay, it's like all for show. To me,
it's always been all for show. And so when you
get down to a moment where Demorris Smith actually in
a moment of thinking that he's being candid and exposing
personality like Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Rodgers is really exposing Yes,
(15:00):
do you understand when you wrote that and people are
going to read that that they're going to be like, well,
why would Aaron Rodgers feel that way? Aaron Rodgers is
a lot of things. One thing you're not going to
mistake him for is being an idiot. He's not dumb.
He's not a dumb dude. So if he gets up
in emphatic fashion or whatever it is that he said,
takes a deep breath and leaves exits the meeting, you're
(15:24):
basically exposing the fact that this man is there and
he's sitting there listening to what you are saying and
what you are talking about, and it's a big ass
waste of time. It's all for show. Log the hours,
log the minutes so that you can add it to
the business plan. Here's what we did, here's the summary.
(15:44):
We hit all the line items. We could say, we look,
we can say we talked to you guys about it.
We discussed it, checking off the boxes you're going to
do in this scenario. I've always felt this has always
been my person and I hate to do it, but
because there are some really really fine dudes, and I
always mention their names, you know, from Nolan Harrison to
(16:07):
Andre Collins to you know.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Carl Carl.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Why do I always blank on Carl's name? Anyway, Lewis,
It's not Carl Lewis. Uh yeah, But anyway, there's always
going to be some really really good people. I remember
I used to hit up Georgia Tala, he worked, he
worked for the PA. I don't know if he's still
with him or not, but I would hit certain people
(16:32):
up that worked for the nfl PA, and I always
felt like I was talking to somebody who went through
a sales course. And the first thing you realize when
you're talking to somebody who's in sales and has been
trained and has a history in sale, is what's the
first thing they're going to do? Manage your expectation. The
best people in sales can manage an expectation. So now
(16:54):
you've you've immediately I bring something your way. Issue data
dae topic can we do this whatever or it may be,
manage the expectation. Then once you manage the expectation, you
create an underpromise type of deal so that you can
over deliver on the other side of it. That's what
(17:14):
the NFLPA has done to me for as long as
I can remember. Like Doug Allen, he's a penn stator
like great respect in some regards, but I just always
felt like, even back to then when it was back
to when Doug Allen was in there, it's always going
to be what moved the agenda of their business model
(17:39):
and until there's some way to figure that out. And
that's why I feel like the college aspect of everything
that's going on, it's some real there's some real hurdles
to clear. There's some real barriers to get around in
terms of finding a healthy space for how business is
going to be done at the college level with these
(18:00):
players now that money's involved. Because you see under the surface,
very surface, it goes way deeper with this glacier of
conversation that we're having, but just immediately under the surface,
when you see and hear things like this that we're
discussing right now, it ultimately exposes the unseen like we
(18:20):
know the known, like, Okay, here's a contract. This is
how much they're getting. The salary cap is here. This
is where it's moving to. These are the players that
are making the money. Here's how much you get if
you get tagged da da da that and the other.
You see all of those things. But when you start
to get into conversations like this where it's like, wait,
(18:40):
you're taking us out of of the parameters of what
our structure represents. Fully guaranteed contracts do not fit our model,
So get that bs up out of here, don't bring
that s our way. Oh then one owner panics and
it and now everybody's trying to figure out what are
(19:03):
we going to do from here? What do we do?
Speaker 3 (19:06):
And the Players Association is keeping secrets from its players.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
There you go, so, how are you going to how
are you going to really get to a real solution?
How are you really going to get to a real
solution to what's going on? You have all these bright minds,
like we don't have Q on Q would be able
to give us like a real you know, educated like
from the legal standpoint of it, and all this stuff,
and blase blah, you have bright minds that think with
(19:34):
that side of their brain and use just the concrete evidence.
And then you have other guys that use their experiences
and how they feel about people or the things that
they've collected information wise, and that's a it's a melting
pot of representatives of the players that are a part
of these meetings and trying to understand what's going on.
(19:54):
And and for the life of me, for all the
bright minds that that I've seen be a part of
the PA. If you buy into what the PA preaches
and you believe in it, you end up working for him.
If you don't, you just end up being a part
of it, scratching your head the whole time trying to
figure out why the hell do we have an NFLPA
if this is all we're going to get from it?
Speaker 3 (20:16):
And if you question that, the PA executive director tells
in a book later that he'd rather walk into.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Traffic than talk to you. How about that? It's okay,
all right, because because you called him out by getting
up and leaving the meeting because you didn't feel like
anything got accomplished, Like why why is that? That's crazy?
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Be sure to catch live editions of two pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington, and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern, three am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio wile.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Hey, what's up, everybody?
Speaker 3 (20:52):
It's me three time Pro bowla LeVar Arrington and I
couldn't be more excited to announce a podcast called Up
on Game?
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Is Up on Game? You asked? Along with my fellow
Pro bowler TJ. Huschman Zada and Super Bowl champion Yep,
that's right, Plexico Buruts. You can only name a show
with that type of talent on it. Up on Game
We're going to be sharing our real life experiences loaded
with teachable moments. Listen to Up on Game with me
(21:21):
Lebar Arrington, TJ. Hutschman, Zada, and Plexico Birds on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast from.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
How about the fact that they're bringing back the old
Washington Redskins jerseys?
Speaker 2 (21:39):
You see, we saw that there was a Indian group,
a Native American group that said now that things are
seemingly settling down and settling in in the United States,
which I don't know what news they're paying attention to
but uh it it's time to return and restore them
(22:00):
back to the Washington Redskins. I mean, you know, I
saw that report somewhere now been It could have been AI.
You know, you just never know anymore. You got to
really check your sources these days. But I did see
that there was a letter that was sent to Congress
or something to that effect. It wouldn't be the first.
(22:22):
I just.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Look, it's not for me to speak on who should
be offended by what when it comes to that stuff.
To my knowledge, I'm not Native American, so it's not
It's not my place to say who should be offended
and who shouldn't. But there was back when all this
was happening, some thought that if if it wasn't attached
(22:44):
to Dan Snyder, would there have been such a push
to make the change because he was so adamant and
he was so disliked by so many people that it
was almost like a battle to try and to get him.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Yeah, you wanted to devalue what he had. That's possible
because they would not even entertain the idea of the
stadium going into the district of Columbia, would not entertain it,
like they're sweet they're old, I'm telling you, and.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
I used to wear they are so sweet, like just
that color, combo, the scheme, all that like. And look,
I've said this before, I think a lot of those
unis from back in the day. You see the Seahawks
dust off the old ones, The Giants, the Eagles are
way better than some of the stuff they've come out
with now.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
So I like the commander's uniforms, though I think they
look pretty dope. To be honest, I like the commanders
so but I like their uniforms. And I know a
lot of people have a lot of issues one way
or the other in terms of how they feel about
the whole name deal, but you know, it is what
it is.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Well, speaking of the commanders, who are no longer the commandos,
we used to make that joke, and then once they
got good, it was no longer or fun to make
fun of the commandos. So they are the Commanders. Maybe
one day they'll go back to their former name. But nonetheless,
Joe Thaisman a legendary Washington commander slash Redskin. He talked
(24:14):
about the Terry McLaurin situation. He was on The Up
and Adams Show with Kay Adams, and had this to
say about the star receiver for Washington.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
That would be a major problem for all of us
to appreciate what the commanders have done, what Terry has done.
Terry's a dear friend. He's just a great young man,
a great leader.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
You know.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
You talk about intangibles. His intangibles and his value to
this football team are even more outweighed, should say than
his talent, which we know is extreme. He needs to
be paid. He needs to be paid right away. We
need to put this issue behind us as a football team.
He is one of the leaders and he's a guy
(24:55):
that you can always count on.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Now I agree with him about uh, Terry Macklin. I
think that Terry Macklin is an amazing football player, an
amazing person and should be compensated. I think he's a
major part of jayde and Daniel's success. So they got
to make sure they get Macklin's signed. Terry Macklin, Yeah,
(25:19):
I mean you didn't catch it though, did you catch it?
I did, just now, Yes, what I do? Did Macklin
look at your rundown? Oh, look at your rundown? Oh Jesus,
And you asked and you asked him earlier you asked
him earlier, did he have a knight? It was like,
(25:42):
there's no way.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
LeVar thinks his last name is Macklin. No, Levart doesn't,
Lee does apparently based on the rundown and just Macklin
not not his first name, just Macklin whatever. I don't
think he's played in quite some time. Isn't that the
receiver from Missouri? He went to the Eagles and oh
Jeremy mack Yeah, I remember him. Yeah, he was part
(26:04):
of that. It was him and DeShawn Jackson. Yeah, yeah,
they were all part of the the same team back then.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
No.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
On a more serious note, I do agree with what
Thaisman is saying now. I think that unless unless you
were to pull off, which would be I don't know,
it would rank up there as one of the highest
like profile trades to take place. Unless there's that that
rumor of TJ. Watt a swap out for TJ. Watt
(26:32):
and Terry McLaurin, which I think would be a win
win for both of them. I don't think that it
would be a slight if I'm Terry McLaurin, if I
get the opportunity to go to Pittsburgh and play you
would become the easily the number two receiver there and
and maybe even challenge to be number one, and that
(26:54):
that would be a tremendous And now you're talking about
there are no excuses for Pittsburgh and Aaron Rodgers and
I have a good year outside of maybe their backfield.
But and then if the Washington Commanders were able to
add a talent like TJ. Watt, it would make them
one of the most formidable defensive fronts in all of football.
(27:16):
So it would be a win win Outside of a
scenario like that, I can't see why you would mess
around with this situation, agreed, And so you gotta go ahead,
and you gotta You're getting closer and closer to training camp.
I mean we're in July. You know, maybe you give
it a week or two. I don't know, But you
don't want this to be a holdout scenario. You got
(27:39):
too much great will, good will built up from last
season with the transition to the Harris ownership group. You
have a guy in Jane Daniels who can carry the
load as the anchor, star franchise quarterback going into his
sophomore season. You don't want to do anything to lose
that momentum. It's like that water primer, you know, getting
(28:03):
the water out of the well. You've primed it and
you've primed it, and you've primed it, and they've done
a great job of getting the water to come out
of you know, with the pump, you don't want to
stop pumping because if you stop pumping, then the water
starts coming out, then you got to start the process
all over again. Washington is in a good position. Don't
lose your momentum. Sign Terry McLaurin.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
It just and that's the part that doesn't add up
to me, and it's why I think they're gonna get
a deal done. It's also why I think ultimately Pittsburgh's
going to get a deal done with TJ. Watt because
based on the direction of the organization, the plan of
the organization, this would be.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
The opposite of that.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
Washington has tried to stabilize the organization, set the foundation,
get first, you know, get new ownership in the restore
the faith and the fan base put together and build
a roster and sort of get this thing going from
the ground up. And the guy who who's been there
during the dark days of Washington when all that stuff
(29:04):
was happening is Terry McLaurin, and he's sort of the
the leader of the locker room, the veteran presence of
the locker room. To make all of this progress as
an organization only to not maintain Terry McLaurin just wouldn't
make any sense to me.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
It almost seems.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Counter to everything that they've tried to build there over
the past several years.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
It wouldn't make sense for the simple fact that you're
also talking about what are you what is your recourse
if you don't sign if you don't sign them back?
Like who are you using? Who are you using? And
that would be my biggest question is how do you
(29:50):
determine what direction you're going to go in? Like I
just find it to be curious that if you're if
you're intending to not pay two Mary McLaurin what he wants,
how are you looking at it? Are you viewing it
as the closer we get this is a game of chicken.
He's going to break break down and he's going, you
know him and his representation are going to do the deal.
(30:12):
Or are you looking at it like we're okay with
moving on from you know what we got going on.
It's interesting if you go to their depth chart on
ESPN or even to their site, it doesn't have any
skill positions outside of the quarterback listed on the depth chart,
which means they're fully aware. You gotta believe that you
(30:33):
can get a hold of depth charts pretty easily. They're
fully aware of what the situation is at the receiver's position.
They don't want people looking at their depth chart. So
it's either they got something in the wings that they
feel really good about and maybe they feel like they
can get a better value at the position and not
have to give Terry McLaurin that contract that he's seeking,
(30:55):
or you don't have anything at all, but it's still
a negotiation and you got to figure out how you
can get him at the best price that you can
get him for. And you gotta hold things close to
the vest till you get it done, or you're looking
at it as do we have enough value to move
them and bring in another another edition that's just as valued.
(31:16):
And again I gave you guys that that scenario of
how that could possibly play out, But keep in mind
the idea of that type of a trade taking place.
TJ Watt's gonna come in and he's gonna want to
get paid. Terry Mclaurin's gonna come into Pittsburgh and he's
gonna want to get paid. So why not just pay
what you have? Yeah? Why don't you pay for who
(31:36):
you have? And and Pittsburgh, of all teams, should be
the one that's thinking that way right now today.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Like Pittsburgh walking away or dealing TJ. Watt just it
just doesn't make any sense based on the moves that
they've made. Like every Pittsburgh's basically told everybody.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
I don't think you'd be able to justify it by
bringing in another weapon of the Caliberry McLaurin.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
No, No, I'd rather have TJ.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
Watt.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Terry mclaurin's a fine player that that's awesome, But I
feel like you need the anchor, you need the guy
on defense, and I'll take TJ. Watt Like I know
that that would load up the Steeler offense, but I
think you would lose too much defensively if you want from.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
I don't disagree with that sentiment at all, but I
will say, if I'm going all in, and I'm saying
this is a one year, I'm putting all my chips
in the center of the table. I'm loading up the offense,
sticks picks, just saying I'm loading up to offense. And
I wouldn't feel any certain type of way about it. Wow.
(32:40):
And even if it was TJ.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Watt boy really really selling out the defensive side of
the ball, Huh, why has it got to be that?
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Damn? I'm just saying, it's an offensive driven league. Pittsburgh
needs offense. They're going in on a legendary quarterback to
get one season out of them. Why would you not
load up? Why would you load up the skill players
on the offensive side of the ball. That's all I'm sad,
(33:13):
especially if you don't feel as though you can get
close enough to one another with what the you know,
what each side wants.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
To have, you know, so you know, it's so disturbing
about this. Oh punk Satani LaVar Arrington grows up in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
It's all about defense, baby, he loves the defense.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
He loves Greg Lloyd, Levon, Kirkland, Carnel Lake, Rod Woodson,
Kevin Green, all those Pittsburgh Steelers defensive players.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Cheezel goes on.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Yeah, to have one of the most illustrious college football
careers in the state of Pennsylvania on the defensive side.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Of the ball.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
And then years later at four fifteen local time, here
on a Thursday morning in July.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Eight fifteen in Pittsburgh, maybe.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
City seven fifteen, but three hours ahead seven fifteen.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Listen, thank you, Batman city would look for it to
be fifteen.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
Sitting here, we'd be closer to don He's sitting here
next to a vampire in an Italia.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
J yeah, shirt, yeah, stay. Didn't see the stay and
wasn't looking for that. And you're and you're sitting here
telling us down way too far on the coat.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
You're sitting here telling us it's right there. You're sitting
there telling us, you know what, forget about all that.
Let's bring in more offense at the defense. F my roots,
forget the Pittsburgh Steeler defensive legacy. None of that matters.
Let's go more offense. That's a damn disgrace.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
I mean, listen, I'm with you on that. I'm one
hundred percent with you, just so you know, I mean,
load up the defense, make sure they got a dope defense.
Get some some characters, some names on the defense side
of the ball. I'm all about it. Keep TJ wide,
I'm all about it. But I'm just saying, why would
(35:12):
it not be Why would it not be justifiable? If
you're saying this is an all in year, putting it
all in, all on the line, right, I'm putting it
all on the line. I'm not saving anything for any
other season. It's all on the line for this season.
And I could add another weapon like that to the
(35:34):
arsenal of weapons that you've already tried to put and
play like if they still had pickings. It's not even
it's not even a question. I think the fact that
they traded out, they traded out, they swapped out receivers,
leaves the door wide open for the conversation of you
still don't have enough weapons for Aaron Rodgers to overcome
(35:57):
defense schemes in national football?
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Do you if they send like Jordy Nelson or Alan
Lazard are available, like, let's just go that direct, good Jordy?
Why not?
Speaker 2 (36:07):
You know? All I know is you hyped it about
the defense. But if if I'm going all in and
my job is on the line or things are on
the line for what we're going to do for this
one season, why would you not give him another receiver
on the other side of the ball. I mean, that's
what they did for Dak Prescott. Like it's one thing.
(36:28):
If you got rid of a player, bring in another player,
and your your addition, you're you're adding to it. You
did not add to what you're doing in Pittsburgh. You
did not. You just replaced. You did not upgrade. You
bring in Terry McLaurin. You can definitively say you've upgraded
your offense, and you've upgraded in a way where now
(36:51):
John news Smith and Pat Fryarmouth at at tight end,
you got depth at tight end, and now you have
a one to two punch where either one of those
guys can play a one receiver position. Like you don't
even have to say one to two on a receiving
cord that would have Terry McLaurin and DK metcalf. It
(37:14):
just makes all the sense in the world if you
were going to do it, if you're going to be
forced to spend the money, I'm gonna spend that money
knowing that my job is on the line, and we're
putting all our cards and our chips in the front.
And then today I'm showing my hand, put my chips in.
I'm showing my hand. Here's what we're going to do.
Why wouldn't that make any Sense's that's how I see it. Yeah,
(37:35):
but that would be the only way that I don't
get a deal done with Scary Terry, And that'd be
the only way I don't get a deal done with TJ.
Watt is if I had the ability to be able
to swap out and add that type of value to
each each scenario. It's all about the money.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Arrington and
Jonas Knox weekdays. It's six am Eastern, three am Pacific.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
By the way, can I tell you something. My son's
a bit of an a hole. So he's four years
old and he we played baseball literally every day. He's obsessed.
All he wants to do all day longest play baseball.
He wakes up, he gets into full uniform every single day,
(38:23):
and then we go out, we play ball, and then
we get back.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
He rests for a little while and then he just
wants to.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
Feel ground balls in the house. And then my wife
gets pissed because he knocks stuff off the shelves or
the ball goes side with like it's just you know,
he's obsessed.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
But you know he's four years old.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
So when I pitch to him, I'm pitching underhand, like
I'm not you know, I'm just tossing him the ball
so he can hit it, so he can get his
swings in. And then yesterday we get back and he goes,
you're not a very good pitcher. I'm like, oh yeah,
why is that? He goes, I hit bombs off you.
I'm like bombs, Like what am I supposed to do?
(39:01):
Throw him splitters, like go off speed like I'm serving it.
I'm like, well, you know that's not very nice, budd.
He goes, yeah, I'm better than you. I'm like, okay,
so now.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Today, yeah, oh yeah, he's getting it on. Give it
to him full.
Speaker 3 (39:19):
Arsenal, give it to him, sladders, sniders, sinkers, I'll throw them,
a circle change, I'll throw I'm gonna brush him back
at least two three times.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Got hitting one time? Yeah, let him get uncomfortable.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
I'm like, dude, like like me, like, this is batting practice,
all right. This is like the home run derby, which
is gonna be on Monday like this is I'm serving
these up to you so you can perform at a
high level. And then he throws me under the bus
afterwards and calls me out for it, So now he's
gonna get it.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Good for Drew for that, Yeah, bad for you for
thinking that he can handle your your heat and uh,
let's see how it all plays out. Like you were
giving him the underhand, he was he knocking bombs off.
You got to do this though here. You got to
find the healthy balance between the reality of him needing
(40:09):
to get better and understanding the process, and the gassing
him up and making him think and believe that he's
the greatest of all time. You have to find the
balance of it. And I tend to lean towards going
towards gassing them up into believing that they're the greatest
of all time, because I feel like if you make
(40:30):
them believers, I ultimately believe that the mind is such
a powerful tool that you will ultimately become what it
is that you believe you're going to become. So gass
him up, but you got to knock him down sometimes though,
so that he understands the reality of saying you're the best, Like,
you're not even better than me right now, So you
got to keep working serves as a tool to make
(40:52):
them continue to work harder so that they can be better.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
Yeah, I'm definitely going to gas them up and make
him feel good about things. Right after he catches ninety
five in the rib there you go, right after.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
That, Well, then then he's going to cry, he's going
to get the bruise. He's going to remember that moment
because that experience will represent a vulnerable moment for him.
And and and it's like a pivotal moment, like and
then that's where you come in and you got to
be the dad. And then you be like, you know
it hurt, didn't it. You know, you gotta be like
(41:23):
the rafiki. You know it's like, but it's in the past, Like,
but it still hurts. Yeah, it still hurts, but it's
in the past. But you can make things better.
Speaker 3 (41:32):
Yeah, I'll tell them, like, listen, I know that that hurt,
but it doesn't hurt worse than having three layers of
sunblock on only to be told that you suck at
baseball afterwards because you're trying to help your kid out.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
That it sounds like a youth thing right there. It
sounds like you made it about you, you.
Speaker 3 (41:48):
Know, Yeah, that's what it sounds. Yeah, Well, one's going
to get away from me today and then we're going
to find out who sucks at baseball. That's what I
That's what I think is gonna happen. By the way, everybody,
it is Jonas Knox here at the home depot. It
is about time for pros to source the whole job
with one partner. Ask about all we can do for
you at the pro desk to the home depot pro.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
It's about time.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
So I was thinking about this because we were talking
earlier in the show about Michael Pennix Junior telling Michael
Vick that the success, the mark for success for the
Atlanta Falcons this year is to go to the playoffs.
And then you look at that division, you go, well,
you know they've probably been to the playoffs pretty recently. No, no,
absolutely not. It's been twenty seventeen since the Falcons have
(42:32):
been to the postseason. And I was thinking about this
with the season coming up, I have no idea who
I think is going to win the NFC because you
could go chalk and you could just say Philly, which
would be a safe bet. But if I don't want
to go Chalk, who else is there? Like I almost
was talking myself into the Cowboys again, and I thought, no,
(42:55):
that's not going to happen. Like it's the Cowboys and
there's no way that's going to happen. But you start
looking around the NFC and you go, all right, so
who are the real contenders? And you would think, well, Detroit,
you know, maybe they could take a next step. Lost
both their coordinators.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
That's a major question.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
And no team in NFL history has lost both coordinators
and gone to the Super Bowl the next year. You
start looking at Minnesota question mark with JJ McCarthy, the
Packers not.
Speaker 2 (43:24):
I mean you can have positive, you know, positive feedback
on that. You can you can feel good that they'll
be competitive this year. That'd be in the mix. I
mean you would think, you would think, and then you
start looking around. You go the Niners.
Speaker 3 (43:39):
But it's like, well, question, if we believe the Niners
window closed last year and now they're having to pay
Rock Party, which they weren't having to do before, is
this a bounce back even though they've got a really
favorable schedule. And I'm looking around going question marks. Maybe
it's the Rams, like, yes, that would be if it
would be one to go with, if you're not going
to go chalk with Philly. Maybe the Rams are the
(44:02):
team that you look at and go super Bowl pedigree
come back. You know they've drafted well, DeVonta Adams is there,
They've added pieces. Maybe the Rams are a team you
look at and go, all right, that's the team that's
going to be representing the NFC. If not Shock, if
you don't want to go boring and go Philly, I'm
struggling to find who I buy into.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
In the NFC this year. Again, I think the NFC East,
I'm going to continue to say it, the NFC East
is going to be crazy this year. You're going to
have potentially for really good teams, for competitive teams. I
think the New York Giants are going to take a
definitive step forward. They're going to be better. I think
(44:46):
Dallas is going to take a definitive step forward. They're
going to be better. I think the Eagles will continue
to be the Eagles. I look at this Washington Commander's
team and I think that they should be viewed as
the the one A or one B to the Eagles
being the one A. And that's because I saw a
(45:09):
team continue to improve. If you think about it, the
only real drop off you saw in play with the
Commanders last year is when he sustained the rib injuries.
When Jaydon Daniels sustained the rib injury, that was when
things got a little weird. So as long as Jaydon
(45:29):
Daniels is healthy, his understanding of the game is so
far ahead right now. His learning curve was so small
and he closed it down very quickly as a rookie.
It would be I think it would be a safe
bet to think that he's going to even be head
(45:50):
and shoulders better than what he was his rookie season.
And listen, I look at the Commanders. I think that
the Commanders, and I think that the NFC East because
for some strange reason, I think Rusk got I think
he's got magic in him maybe one more time. And
I really I'm really putting the pressure on the defense
(46:11):
to be what they need to be and and them
being able to get things done offensively with Russell Wilson.
If that doesn't work out, then you can put a
put a fork in the New York Giants and thinking
they're a dark horse. But there's another team, and they're
on the television right now. There's another team out there
that you got to say, there's a possibility that they
(46:31):
can improve to a level where they're competitive. Now again,
I think Detroit is vulnerable in the North because they
don't have their Their coordinators will have to see if
they're still the same team. Without that, you lose the
successful offensive coordinator to that dark horse team in the
(46:52):
same division, which is Ben Johnson to the Chicago Bears.
You're you know, people have been been hard on on
Caleb Williams about his fingernail paint and not liking girls
but like being focused on football. But in reality, he's
been a leader, he's been a stand up guy. He's delivered,
(47:14):
he's delivered stats.
Speaker 3 (47:18):
Can you add a little bit more context to that story,
because I didn't see that. Well, so that was a
report that apparently he would not go out with girls
because he was too focused on football or something along
those lines.
Speaker 2 (47:33):
I mean, and you know, so what good for him?
People be shaming these cats like that man was focused
on his career. You want to make it into a thing.
Jaydeon Daniels is always with his mom. They want to
make it into a thing. You're talking about two of
the more successful players stable, Like, you don't hear about
about them having crashouts. You don't hear nothing about either
(47:57):
one of them other than fingernail polished and not be
interested in girls because of his career, Like, so, what
good for them? But anyway back to what I was saying,
because of that focus that he has on being a really,
really good football player, there's the strong possibility that the
Chicago Bears could be a team to contend with this year.
(48:20):
You know, a couple things go the right way last year,
they probably have a better year. People feel a lot
better about them. But I think that this could be
a year, especially with Ben Johnson and hearing the things
that you know, Caleb had to say about being a
rookie and some of the things that he had to
deal with, and they're not being a real structure or
real approach to what his learning curve was going to be.
(48:42):
It sounded like he was having to figure that stuff
out on his own. And if he figured it out
on his own to the capacity and the degree that
he did last season, that's pretty commendable.
Speaker 3 (48:52):
The problem is it's the Bears, and the Bears much
like the Jets and some of these other bottom feeders
and dysfunction organizations in the NFL, that they're the type
of person that they would win the lottery and accidentally
wipe their ass with the ticketan like.
Speaker 2 (49:10):
It's just.
Speaker 3 (49:12):
You've heard it so many right there, that little staying
right there, that's a one under there. You just you've
seen it so many times, drafted, so many players done.
And but that goes to the overall point of the
NFC feels wide open. Give me your top three, one
two three, give me your one two two right now,
(49:34):
one two three, three teams in the NFC. I trust
the most one two three in order. Philly, yeap the Rams, Okay,
you gotta do it. Go ahead, I'm going to flip
flop them, but go ahead. I'll take Philly the Rams.
Speaker 2 (49:59):
Your heart want you to say, Chicago, no, no, no, But
you shouldn't be fighting Chicago. They could be a factor,
but they're not going to be a top three. I'm
torn between Detroit and San Francisco. Oh, like, I'm torn.
Speaker 3 (50:13):
Like because look, the talent is still there for the Lions,
but I can't help.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
But wonder.
Speaker 3 (50:18):
Look, you lost an NFC title game you probably should
have won, and then last year in the playoffs they
were annihilated by Washington. I mean that game really wasn't close,
and they could have won it. They could have won it.
They were in position to win it out. I don't point,
I don't, I don't think. I think that game was
over by halftime. They looked shook. And but San Francisco's
(50:42):
got that favorable schedule and they've they've got a lot
of talent. So I feel Philly the Rams, and then
it's either Detroit or San Francisco. Lockank tang Okan would
it who's your top three?
Speaker 2 (51:00):
Well, undoubtedly Philadelphia is number one. Until they are not
number one, you gotta put the Commander second. Because to me,
the Commanders had a really really strong year. Like I said,
the only slow up they had was when when jayde
Daniels got that injury. I think they'll be a better
(51:21):
team this year than what they were last year. I
thought that they had a pretty solid off season. And
then my third team is clearly I believe it's the
Rams Sticks. Thanks, and so with that being said, I mean,
you got two NFC East teams that I would say
are going to be one and two. And then again
(51:42):
the showing that the Rams had, I'm just going off
of what I saw last, what you've done for me lately.
That was a team that could have beat the Eagles.
The Commanders seemingly could have beat the Eagles, but it
didn't seem as though they looked as good against the
(52:03):
Eagles as the Rams did. And that could change this year.
I think that maybe the you know, you had a
first year head coach, you had a lot of things
up in the air in Washington. I just think that
there's going to be more stability, there's going to be
more familiarity, there's going to be more continuity, and they
get an opportunity to show that it wasn't a one
(52:24):
year situation, that this is a team that actually can
be good in the foreseeable future. I think that that's
where the Commanders are because again, I think everybody involved
in the organization understands what's at stake because of everything
that's taking place there. And then you look at that
that Rams team, they flew under the radar. They have
this young, young core group of guys on the defense.
(52:47):
They're going to get better, so you see them being
very competitive. The NFC West is not to me. I
don't think that the San Francisco forty nine ers are
going to be this crazy world beating tea. I do
think that their window has closed, and if it has closed,
then they're not as good as they're supposed to be.
I would say the biggest threat in the West two
(53:11):
this this this La RAMS team would be the Arizona Cardinals.
They're They're a dark horse team that could give teams
problems if you're not paying attention.
Speaker 3 (53:22):
The AFC just feels so much easier to try and forecasts,
like you know, going into it, all right, Kansas City
is going to be legit, Baltimore, Buffalo, Cincinnati. You would
assume like you would assume with the talent they've got there.
It just there's a lot more knowns than unknowns in
the a f C. Give us your one through three
in the AFC, YEP, Kansas City, Buffalo, Baltimore, easy, one
(53:48):
two three, that's what you're doing, one two three, That
actually one two locks.
Speaker 2 (53:55):
Bamn one two three. In the AFC, I will go.
Speaker 3 (54:00):
Baltimore, yeap, Kansas City, Buffalo knocks flocks.
Speaker 2 (54:08):
I'm gonna flip flop two and three. I'm gonna go Baltimore, Buffalo,
Kansas City.
Speaker 3 (54:14):
But pretty easy, right, Like, you don't have to think,
Like the NFC just feels like everything's white cent Philly
and the AFC.
Speaker 2 (54:22):
You kind of know who the teams are. But the
interesting thing is is that the wind blows how hard
it's at the top of the flagpole. So there could
be a fourth, fifth team that ends up going all
the way because of all of the bullets that they
got to absorb at the top of the total poles.
Speaker 3 (54:39):
Cincinnati, it could be Cincinnati. It could Yeah, it just
could be Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (54:44):
There's a lot of but there's a lot of teams
out there that it could be, right, Like, I'm curious
to see how good the La LA Chargers are going
to be this year. There's something about a hardball lad
team and going into the second year of his tenure there,
(55:06):
that's a team to watch. That's a team to watch
for this year because he's now gotten his running backs
room in and play, he's got his offensive line built up,
he's got his defense built up. It's going to be
interesting to see because he is going to run the ball,
but he has a dynamic passer in Herbert, and it'll
(55:27):
be interesting to see if Herbert can take that next step,
and I think he can under Harball
Hosts And Creators
Brady Quinn
LaVar Arrington
Jonas Knox
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