Steve Hartman & Geoff Schwartz Talk NFL Training Camps, QB Deals, Olympics, and More!

Steve Hartman and Geoff Schwartz discuss what is happening in the NFL training camps. Steve and Geoff also talk shop on the new mega deals between Jordan Love and Tua Tagovailoa. Plus, the guys talk more with Adam Caplan, live look into the Olympic events, and much more!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Living the dream once again here on a fabulous sports Saturday.

Speaker 3 (00:08):
This is Fox Sports Saturday.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
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Speaker 3 (00:22):
Com, theh wait tire buy and should be well.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Look who has come in today, My longtime partner from
a different era here at Fox Sports Radio, the great
Jeff Schwartz.

Speaker 3 (00:36):
Jeff, how are you today?

Speaker 4 (00:38):
Good? I am in a football moone if I went
to a Panther's training camp practice this morning, first time,
and I believe thirty years now that they're not away
for camp and not in Spiderborg, South Carolina at Watford College,
so they're back here in Charlotte's a much easier to
get to see them. Took my sun today and good

(00:59):
time seeing some former teammates that were there, and you know,
getting that little the football fever, even though not to
be the old guy in the room here, but training
camp practice is not what it used to be, buddy.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
It's not well.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
By the way, can I preface by saying that we
are two big ten guys.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
Now, we are two big ten legends.

Speaker 4 (01:19):
That is certainly true.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
I mean my Ucla roots.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Of course, Jeff raised by UCLA parents, became an Oregon duck.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
But we're big ten guys, now, how's that feel?

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Well?

Speaker 4 (01:30):
What is so weird about all that is that I
was just a Big ten media day and I was
there because I cover the Big ten for another another
one of my jobs. And I had been at Pacto
Media Day the previous four years, I guess now, and
the Pacto Media Day has always been smaller, but you know,

(01:54):
good vibe, and the vibe is good, even though last
year was a little bit weird because everyone sort of
knew the conflict was maybe heading a direction that I
would wanted it to go, but high energy, like you know,
small ballroom maybe somewhere, and you get to the Big
tim Media Day. And PACT twelve was one day. All
twelve teams get to the Big twelve. Steve. It's three days,

(02:15):
six teams a day. It's in Lucas Oil Stateium, Indianapolis.
The whole entire football field is full. There's there's a
podium on one end, there's twenty areas for radio, there's
a Big ten network set, there's a CBS twenty four
to seven set, and there's ten podiums. It reminds me

(02:35):
a lot of if you ever watch the Monday night
of the Super Bowl they have that media night, it
reminds me of that, just like an entire media setup.
And it just felt really really big, you know. And
you know, I don't think that we've I felt that
way about where the PAC twelve was at until, you know,

(02:56):
really really never. But it felt big, Steve, like we
had sort of arrived at, you know, some big boy
coverage of football.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Well, it's a different level. I mean, look at what
and we're got. Obviously we have NonStop NFL football. Adam
kaplan our NFL inside is going to be joining us
come up here in about fifteen minutes. But the Big
ten and the SEC when it comes to college football,
they're just next level, you know. And as we've talked
about this, Jeff, you and I have talked about in

(03:28):
the past, it's this continuing evolution of where college football
is going that has gotten us to.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
Where we are now.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Where we've had this realignment of these conferences, the essential
dissolve of the Pac twelve. We're going to have a
twelve school playoff coming up this year. It's just a
whole different world. And we said this throughout the twenty
twenty three season. Take a snapshot of what's happening this
year because it's over. The twenty twenty three will be

(03:59):
the last last year of college football as we essentially
have known it for over one hundred years. And the
whole world's going to change in a single year. And
that's the way it's going to look in twenty twenty four.
I can't wait for it. We've got a lot of
college football. We could do that, but I want to
focus on the NFL. So look, with all due respect
to the Olympics, and I know Olympics is going on

(04:20):
right now, and in no way am I trying to
lower the interest in the Olympics. A lot of people,
some people are more interests or less interested.

Speaker 4 (04:29):
Just in the background.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
It exactly, it's background noise. You're watching sports you would
never watch if they weren't on the Olympics.

Speaker 3 (04:35):
That's that's fine, you.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Know, And when the US does well, boom, Hello USA,
that's all good. But this morning I was riveted to
the NFL Network. They were out at training caps and
doing a lot of interviews, and I'm like, Okay, the
football season is here, let's get to it. So I
want to I want to break this down and start

(04:57):
with a team that you're near and dear two and
that is the Kansas City Chiefs. They became the ninth
team to win back to back Super Bowls. Oh yeah,
starting with the Packers winning Super Bowls one and two,
and the previous eight teams that have won back to
back have not been able to get the third.

Speaker 3 (05:17):
Some have come close.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Actually the closest was the forty nine Ers.

Speaker 3 (05:23):
They won back to back.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
In eighty eight and eighty nine, and then in nineteen
ninety they lose the NFC Championship Game to the Giants
fifteen thirteen on five field goals. I think the forty
nine Ers would have fared well against the Bills in
that Super Bowl. Maybe not, but you still still had
Montana at the top of his game. But outside of that,
you know, it's been a rough ride to try to
get that third Super Bowl.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
So let's start with the Chiefs.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
Now.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
I boldly stated a couple of years ago that when
Tyreek Hill left that's it for the Chiefs, and they
have received then they've won back to back Super bowl
since then, So you know I was on the money
with that prediction. So you've got and I've said this
over the last year or so, when we define franchise
quarterback in my world, there is only one franchise quarterback

(06:11):
in the league right now, and his name is Patrick Mahomes.
Because if the idea of every franchise is to win
Super Bowls, there's only three other teams that have a
quarterback that has actually won a Super Bowl. You have
Matthew Stafford, you have Aaron Rodgers, anybody else, anybody else?

(06:32):
Who's that other quarterback? That would be Russell Wilson. So
those are the only three quarterbacks. Those are the only
other three quarterbacks have all won a single Super Bowl.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
This guy's got three. The question is will he get four?

Speaker 2 (06:44):
So I want you to break this down because you
know this Chiefs team backwards and forwards, most.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
Of us do.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
By this point.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
It's crazy to me because I've had so many friends, Jeff,
that have been big Cheese fans over the years, and
much like the Patriots were before Tom Brady, they were
just a non story there's nothing to the Chiefs history.
They did win a super Bowl, you know, won super
Bowl four, but there was nothing there, no great legacy
or anything else. And then all of a sudden, right quarterback,
right coach, boom, They're winning, just like the Patriots did

(07:13):
with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Should the Chiefs be
the favorites going into the season to do something that
has never been done before, and that is to win
a third consecutive Super Bowl.

Speaker 4 (07:26):
They should be the favorites, But it doesn't mean I'm
favoring them to do this, right, if that makes sense.
I mean they after what they did last year going
on the road to Buffalo. Is that that game that
was a lot of fun as a Chiefs fan, but
fun to just see the atmosphere and Buffalo did to
go to Baltimore and win that game. They had one

(07:46):
of the hardest stretches to make to even make a
super Bowl. And then they played a juggernaut team in
the forty nine ers and they won that game. Right,
Their road to winning last season was extraordinary for the
way their offense played for most of the year, and
obviously they have Mahomes and good offensive line and so
like you know they're over to overcome some of that
those pass game problems that they saw last season, and

(08:09):
so it makes sense because of the road they were
on and they're not gonna find a tougher road most
likely if they were going back this season, it's not
gonna be a tougher than was last year. So they're
rightfully the favorite. And to me, what it comes down
to Steve for them this year is health. We know health, right,
That always matters. Right, they lose a Jerry Scene on defense,

(08:31):
I think to find another corner to sort of sort
of fill in, you know that that role right to
to take this posit or they do it together. Here's
the thing though, as well, is that you don't need
your defense if you're Kansas City, to be the best
defense in the NFL, like we saw last year, at
certain points, you just needm to be like tenth best,

(08:54):
Steve right, because your offense should be better this year
with Race she Rice in year two with Worthy or whatnother.
It's a suspension looming for Rice at some point. And
the Warriors left tackle where you probably start a rookie.
You have Kelsey. You drafted this tight end of TC
that looks pretty good so far in training camp. So
it's about just getting the offense they're healthy, and the

(09:16):
defense just not being terrible, and you'll end up in
the playoff at some point with probably one home game
at the minimum, and you feel good about it. But
the AFC steve very very hard.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
Well, it is very hard, but I mean, to me,
there's a big bud on just how difficult the AFC
is to navigate. All right, we're gonna pick this conversation
up on the other side along with Dean, joined by
a man that is there in the camps right now.
He's beginning his odyssey around the National Football League.

Speaker 3 (09:46):
Where he is.

Speaker 2 (09:47):
We're gonna find out when we come back. That is
our NFL insider, Adam Kaplan. This is Fox Sports Saturday.

Speaker 5 (09:55):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot Com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 2 (10:08):
Steve Harbin, Jeff Schwartz. Here, Fox Sports Saturday. We are
coming you live from the tire Rack dot Com studios
and we're talking NFL.

Speaker 3 (10:18):
Oh, we're talking some NFL right now.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
And joining us as he begins his odyssey around training
camps around the National Football League is our Fox Sports
Radio NFL insider Adam Kaplan. Well, Adam, we've been doing
this for years now, and we know how excited this
time of the year is for you.

Speaker 3 (10:37):
Give us a little because everyone's just envious.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
Like, if you're an NFL fan, the idea of traveling
around the country to different training camps sounds insane and
you get to live it. So what's your how are
you going to begin your training camp odyssey?

Speaker 6 (10:53):
You know, it's funny because I'm working, I'm I'm finishing
my schedule. I have to do like the two weeks
at a time or a week at a time, so
I could give you a co of what I've done
and where.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
I'm going next week and the week after.

Speaker 6 (11:03):
So I've got I just hit the Eagles on Thursday
and today. I'll see the Commanders on Monday, depending on
whether if the weather holds up, I'll see the Steelers
on Tuesday.

Speaker 1 (11:13):
Now, if Lamar Jackson does not.

Speaker 6 (11:15):
Get sick two days in a row again, I will
visit the Ravens on Wednesday. I'll probably do a double
shot Giants Thursday morning, Eagles Thursday night at Lincoln Financial Field.
They have a public prectice stadium. Then I fly out West.
I fly out West Friday night. I got Saturday.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
Let me see.

Speaker 6 (11:34):
I have the Saints in the morning and then the
Raiders at night. Talking to Antonio.

Speaker 3 (11:37):
Peak don't mention the Raiders being here.

Speaker 6 (11:41):
But talking ap so he wanted to get away. To
his word, he said they were going to get away.
So I'll see the Raiders next Saturday night, and then
I will see my first joint practice the Chargers at
the Bolt hosting the Rams before I fly back to
Philly on a Sunday afternoon.

Speaker 4 (11:58):
You're a busy man. I am almost less interested in
in what Tua got paid and what Jordan Love got paid,
and more interested in what this does to the Cowboys,
because you know, a lot of the noise around them
is self inflicted. They're the ones talking about this. But
you know, Jerry Jones, I mean, if he's gonna pay Dak,
it's going to be more expensive. Now, how do these

(12:19):
two deals affect what the Cowboys have to do with
Dak after the season?

Speaker 6 (12:23):
Yeah, of course, Michael Parsons ceedee lamb Dak Prescott.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
Yeah, it's not good. Look, they as they've done for decades.
Now they wait, they wait, they wait. I don't know
why they do so.

Speaker 6 (12:34):
By the way, agents love the Cowboys because they know,
for the most part, if you've got a top five player,
top ten player on the roster, you know that most
likely they're going to try but never finish because they
they wait, they wait, they wait, and Jerry holds onto
his money. Then they want to pay when they want to.
So Dak Steel, if it got done now, would be

(12:54):
between fifty seven and sixty million.

Speaker 1 (12:56):
I think probably closer to sixty.

Speaker 6 (12:59):
That see if it gets done because they want Ceede
Lamb's deal done see CD Lambs deals a lot easier
to get done. Why because we know what the deal's
got to look like. We could all debate how much
better Justin Jefferson is than Ceedee Lamb. It doesn't matter.
Numbers matter, and his numbers statistically are very comparable to
Justin Jefferson, and his argument is going to be thirty

(13:19):
five million a year.

Speaker 1 (13:20):
The Cowboys know this.

Speaker 6 (13:22):
They also know that Michael Parsons wants to be the
highest paid non quarterback in NFL history.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
By the way, he deserves it.

Speaker 6 (13:28):
If it's getting done, he's getting that that's not going
to get done with without that getting without hitting that number,
So Jeff to move this forward.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
They've they got a problem here. They got a problem here,
and they're very lucky these guys.

Speaker 6 (13:41):
Have not left camp and do what Trent Williams has
done with the Niners, and he's got a very undervalued deal.
By the way Trent Williams's they did a deal was
never even close to what was reported. When I got
the term said to me, I was like, wow, this
is not what's out there. As you know, Jeff, these
contracts are not usually what they seem the most part,
although I feel strongly that the Jordan Love deal because

(14:01):
I've gotten early stuff back the It's kind of like
when there are big a couple of deals that have
been done, like the Vikings did a non traditional deal
for them, they changed their structure and justin Jefferson's deal
was kind of stunning that that was an unbelievable deal
he got.

Speaker 1 (14:18):
The packers were actually very fair.

Speaker 6 (14:20):
They typically don't guarantee future money and they had to
to get this done. And he was one contract and
grocery who told.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
Me this week. So he told me this three days ago.

Speaker 6 (14:28):
There is no way that Jordan Love was going to
take less than Trevor Lawrence, who got fifty five million year.
He goes, Trevor Larrence had a down year. He goes,
you can't justify paying him last Stuart Love and then
Trevor Lawrence and they did not.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
Well, let's carry on with this Jordan Love deal though,
one year, one year and then boom And obviously you're
very close in covering the Eagles. And we saw Jalen
Hurts in a very similar situation a year ago where
he had this breakout year and he got this huge
deal and it's not like he fell off the map,
but he definitely took a step backwards last year.

Speaker 3 (15:02):
So how do you feel?

Speaker 2 (15:03):
Because I've always been a Jalen Hurts fan the way
he handled his situation at Alabama like a champion before
transferring Oklahoma. I just think there's a maturity level in
Jalen Hurts that always impressed me. But it seemed like
in some regards, expectations come with these huge contracts and
Jalen Hurts simply did not produce a better season than

(15:24):
he had a year before.

Speaker 3 (15:25):
So how do you think this is? Because Jordan Love's
already talking about it.

Speaker 2 (15:28):
You know, he's talking about pressure comes with these big contracts.
But what did you see, if anything, on how that
contract may have affected Jalen Hurts last season.

Speaker 6 (15:40):
One thing Steve that Hurts said this week and I
didn't I he would know better than I would. And
he said he's had eight different play callers in the
last ten years. That probably had a lot to do
with not all of it, but that had a big
thing to do with it. Because Shanestyke and the Colts
head coach, he was the play call on twenty two too.

(16:00):
Sirianni Nick Sirianni handed it over to him in twenty
twenty one. This is their first year together after seven
games because it wasn't going well and he that was
his idea, by the way, and Steiken and Hurts had
a great connection in twenty two and then he Stike
and leaves. It's Brian Johnson who ironically the very close
to Jalen. Brian Johnson has known the Hurts family since

(16:21):
Jayen was like nine or ten years old. And it
didn't go well for Brian Johnson. Brian Johnson was let go.
He's now with Washington. It's bizarre situation. So now you
have Kellen Moore, by the way, he runs a completely
different offense.

Speaker 1 (16:31):
He runs a spread. I was there to day. All
they did was eleven personnel.

Speaker 6 (16:34):
I mean almost every play was eleven personnel, which is
Kellen's default scheme. So this is different for Jalen. It's
hard man. I look, you're right, Steve, he took a
step back. There's no denying it. I'm told that's what
the tape showed. Now we can talk about his contract.
I talked to a former NFL quarterback coach recently who
told me that he's seen it before when he coaches
guys who've got contracts. They don't become a title. It's

(16:56):
just that something happens where maybe they try to hard,
it gets to their head. They have to try to
live up to the contract. Steve, that's I kind of
think that's where you're going here, because that's what I
think happened to Hurts last season.

Speaker 4 (17:08):
The AFC East, to me, is a really fascinating division
because you know, there's just a lot of pressure on
a lot of a lot of teams. Right two, it
just got paid the Aaron Rodgers situation Buffalo, there's pressure
with Josh Allen, which one of those tam you think
is going to be left behind because someone's not making
the playoffs.

Speaker 6 (17:29):
Well Knowingland's not making it, but you didn't mention them.
But of course that was obvious, right. You know what's funny?
So for I do television for a company called sports
GUD and they look at NFL futures a lot.

Speaker 1 (17:39):
You know that.

Speaker 6 (17:39):
We look at numbers and data and gaming numbers. And
I said it, listen, it's real simple. If if Aaron
Rodgers plays fifteen out of seventeen games, that win that division.
I'm just telling you. Their roster, their defensive rosters phenomenal.
Maybe them and the Niners are the best defensive roster.

(18:00):
They've addressed their offensive line. I'm not saying it's great,
but it's going to be better. It shouldn't be patchwork.
Briestall's the second year of coming back from that AC
injury where he was really good last year.

Speaker 1 (18:09):
By the way, they have a tight end.

Speaker 6 (18:11):
Talking to the Jets, he loved this Tyler Conklin who
came up from Minnesota, who unfortunately been working after Rogers
got hurt with a bunch of number three quarterbacks. So
they feel really good good about their team. The Dolphins
have they still have issues, guys, they still have issues
on both sides of the football.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
I'm not sold on them. And I want to know who's.

Speaker 6 (18:27):
Going to make a play for the Bills in their
passing game on the outside, I just don't see it.
So to me, guys, I'm gonna pick the Jets right now,
Jeff on your point. Now you want to talk about pressure,
No one has more pressure in that division than Robert Sala.
Absolutely not not even close. Mike McDonald. Mike McDaniel's going
to win a playoff game. And by the way, we
have even mentioned Sean McDermott. Shawn has lost a lot

(18:49):
of good coaches over the years, and there's gonna be
a lot of pressure on Shawn to get things going.
I know he's done a great job with Brandon Bean
turned things around, but the biggest pressures and by the way,
on Joe dougas the gentle manher as well, the Jets.

Speaker 2 (19:01):
Rock Party said in an interview that he wants to
be dominant. He even talked about being Tom Brady. I mean,
that's that's the level that he sees that he said,
if I feel like I can get to that Tom
Brady level. You haven't always been the biggest advocate for
Rock Party. I know that, but I always ask this

(19:24):
question about mostly quarterbacks.

Speaker 3 (19:27):
What is his ceiling?

Speaker 2 (19:28):
I mean, obviously he has defied all logic from being
the last player picked on the draft to where he
is now, you know, into overtime of a Super Bowl.
But you've had enough time to evaluate his game, obviously
surrounded by great talent and obviously in astute offensive mine
on the sideline, But where is your ceiling on just

(19:50):
how far Rock Perty can take this?

Speaker 1 (19:52):
I mean, if you want to, We're not the rings here.

Speaker 6 (19:54):
I mean I put him in top ten, top twelve
at this West Coast system and he's just fin in it.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
I mean he throws with a sense of timing.

Speaker 6 (20:01):
I remember talking to one of the assistant coaches I
was there in twenty two when you know, Party was
borderline going to make the roster, and he's like, you
could just tell how cerebral this guy is, how he
sees everything before it happens. And that's that's the beauty
of the West Coast offense. Now, if he played North
Turners offense, he would there's no chance because you know
from with North Turner, it's power running deep passing. He

(20:23):
can't throw the ball past thirty yards, but within thirty
yards it is beautiful, and it's on a line, and
it's timing. He throws anticipation. By the way, speaking of Brady,
that's what Brady is. I saw the best practice of
my life. He came to Philly in twenty fifteen, and
I've never seen twenty seven for twenty seven inut of practice,
every single pass with anticipation. That means you're putting the

(20:45):
ball out as the receivers halfway through this route and
the guy the quarterbacks saying go get the football.

Speaker 1 (20:50):
He's throng almost blindly.

Speaker 6 (20:52):
And party's Party's at this West Coast system, like no
one saw this. Like I give Kyle Shannon and credit
no question about it. They can They didn't want to
deal with Simon's on tractor free agent. Then he's open season.
So to answer your question right now, I put him
in the top ten to top twelve. Could he be
top five?

Speaker 1 (21:09):
I don't know about that.

Speaker 6 (21:11):
But the other part about this is if they trade
Brandon Ayuck, I know they don't want to have talked
to the Niners people there a lot.

Speaker 1 (21:16):
They clearly don't want to trade him.

Speaker 6 (21:18):
But if you know, if Ayuk walks out of training
camp in late August for the season, I'm not thinking
he's going to do that, but if they don't step
things up here and they're not close, I mean, you
never know what happens, so you never know what happens here.
But I give Ayo credit for doing what he's done
so far here. He could, you know, he can make
it ugly, but he hasn't. Although I know they asked
for a trade, but it's not been It has not
been ugly. Internally, they understand this. But man, if they

(21:40):
traded Ayok, that would be a game chage. I put
the odds against it. But I know what happens when
things you know, when we get closer to the season,
if he decides to make things a little different.

Speaker 4 (21:51):
Rookie quarterbacks Kayleid Williams, Jackson Daniels, bow Nicks. I believe
is getting a lot of reps with the ones which
quarterbacks so far has sort of had a good camp.

Speaker 6 (22:03):
Daniels, everything I've heard has been really good. You know,
Drake May is long ways away and it's kind of
what I thought McCarthy because he's got to learn the
West Coast scheme. Sam Darnald, we know who he is.
Everyone's going crazy over Darnald, folks. There's a reason why
he keeps going from team to team teams. He's a
Coaches love him because he's tough. He's been through a lot.
He doesn't process real well. He overthinks he's Eventually it's

(22:27):
just not going to work. And look, they drafted McCarthy
to start. Caleb Williams has been fun. It's been up
and down for what I understand for him so far.
They've got a lot of talent around the folks. This
is the best in my career here covering the NFL
twenty five years. This is probably the most offensive talent
the Bears put together. It's I'm not used to talking
about the Bears and offensive talent. He should have not

(22:47):
had it. This is an amazing deep group that they
have here at running back today and wide receiver. I now,
this is by the way West Coast offense that Walterin's running,
Shane Water and their offensive coordinator. So it's going to
take cablem Caleb Williams some time to get it down right.
But if he could just throw with better timing this thing.
And by the way, their eight and a half win
total I thought was too high. If Caleb Williams is

(23:09):
better than I thought, they're probably going to go over
that total.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
Yeah, that seemed to be a high number considering where
they've been over the last couple of years. But again
I'm a believer Caleb Williams are gonna get much more
into that. By the way, every single Saturday here throughout
training camp, you're not going to get better information than
from the man himself, the Great Adam Kaplan, our Fox
Sports Radio NFL's insider. By next week he'll have covered
half the camps already. That just the way he is,

(23:33):
tech is about ten boom, just like that in one week.
Great stuff is always Adam will check in with you
next week and.

Speaker 1 (23:40):
It'll be from LA. Yeah, I've looked forward to talking
to you guys.

Speaker 3 (23:42):
That'll be great. Adam Kaplan will be there once again.

Speaker 2 (23:45):
A quick reminder here, Fox Sports Radios teamed up with
tirerach dot Com to give away a set of four
brand new tires valued it up to fifteen hundred dollars
every two weeks this summer.

Speaker 3 (23:56):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
Three lucky listeners, we'll receive a set of four new tires,
plus installation taxes and fees valued it up to fifteen
hundred dollars. The first winter will be picked at the
conclusion of this weekend, so be sure to enter now.
Get rules for the first set of four brand new
tires at Fox sportsradio dot com. Tom is taking the
register before our first winter selected on Monday morning.

Speaker 3 (24:18):
At Fox Sports Radio dot com.

Speaker 2 (24:19):
It's all furnished by tire rack dot com the way
tire mind should be. All right, let's find out what
is trending right now. And Jeff, how long have you
been married now?

Speaker 4 (24:29):
I have been married ten years?

Speaker 3 (24:31):
Ten years, and you have two beautiful children.

Speaker 2 (24:34):
I do, yeah, and I've been I was married twenty
years in divorce ten and I have three adult children
right now. So we're at different levels, different stages. But
here's the next stage. Brian Famileybefen has return from his
wedding and he is newly married. He's sporting his wedding ring.

(24:57):
It just keeps falling off my ring finger, by the way,
and that's not a great time. Well, it's you keep
taking it on and off. Well, yeah, you start playing
with it. First of all, you're not used to wearing
a ring, no, obviously, so the fact that it's there,
I don't know, Jeff, were you playing around with your
wedding ring in the beginning.

Speaker 4 (25:16):
Sort of like, yeah, so I haven't won my ring
in nine and a half years.

Speaker 3 (25:20):
Yeah, so there you go. Yeah, yeah, it's it on
full display probably somewhere.

Speaker 6 (25:25):
Well.

Speaker 4 (25:25):
Part of it is that when I would come home,
my wife would say, why do you still have your
ring on at night? Because she takes hers all her
Julier off and puts it like in a bowl besides
the bed. And so I'm a Julian person, but I
got nothing.

Speaker 1 (25:38):
I don't.

Speaker 4 (25:39):
I don't wearing a jeweler. I don't like it. It
feels weird on me. And so she said, just take
it off at night like I do, And I just
never put it back off. So I know where they are.
I just don't.

Speaker 3 (25:49):
My dad never took off that ring sixty years. I
mean never my parents.

Speaker 4 (25:53):
My parents don't take it forty yeah, seven years they're.

Speaker 7 (25:56):
Taking Well, the only time your dad, Steve would take
it off is when he was at the bar. Right,
That's what sixty years of marriage will do you.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
Yeah, But anyway, congratulations, and he says he feels completely
the same.

Speaker 3 (26:13):
I can tell you're not. So there you go. How
can you tell? I just know I can see that.
I can see that as a man of experience. Yes, yes, yes,
And I did tell you about something. I'm not going
to share it on the air, but I did tell
you there's a certain magic about that ring. Unbelievable about
that ring, unbelievable.

Speaker 7 (26:32):
Yes, and there's certain certainly a certain magic about having
the Olympics going on right now. You guys can feel
the energy. We're looking at the medal count here. Five
medals for Australia, five for tem Usa. That is the
most out of enemy country. Although the Stars and Stripes
have only one gold and that was today. They got
that in the for about one hundred freestyle relay that

(26:53):
is men swimming, women swimming for tm Usa. Katie Ledeci
nabbing bronze a bit of an understatement for him or
for her, excuse me, underperforming four hundred meter freestyle was
the event. Australia does have three goals, one in cycling
row the other in swimming women's field hockey. Argentina had

(27:14):
a four to one win against Team USA. I no, Steve,
you are watching the women's field hockey every moment of
that action with jaw Gabe. And then we had the
men's volleyball going on with Team USA winning against Argentina
in a sweep. Men's soccer for the Americans winning four
to one against New Zealand, and while we're not going

(27:36):
to get Team USA men's basketball until tomorrow when they
take on Argentina, there were other games involving other basketball teams.
Canada winning today eighty six to seventy nine against Greece,
Shai Gilgis Alexander scoring in double figures. Arja Barrett had
twenty three points. Giannis Dentacumpo thirty four points in disappointment,

(27:56):
but he did put up his numbers. France winning seventy
eight to sixty six against Brazil. Victor wembin Yama had
nineteen points, fourteen of those coming in the first half.
Wins for Germany over Japan ninety seven to seventy seven
and Australia ninety two to eighty And finally guys in
women's fencing at Bay bronze medal match. Yeah, I think

(28:18):
this is the first time we've ever mentioned fencing on FSR.
It was Esther Muhari from Hungary winning against Estonia's Nelly Divert,
and that was a fifteen to fourteen final. So I'm
sure we'll be breaking down that an hour number three
of the show and Jeff and Steve as I get
it back to you. The other good news is, of

(28:38):
course Ravens quarterback in Lamar Jackson, he is back at
the practice field after four mispractices because of a sickness.
And we do know that according to NFL Network, Cowboys
executive vice president Stephen Jones delivered wide receiver Ceedlamb, who
was holding out a higher paying contract, yesterday. Nothing has

(29:00):
been official as far as him saying yes to the contract,
but Lamb and his camp are maintaining what we're calling
healthy communication as they're talking it through amongst one another
and the team hoping that they come to some sort
of consensus on a new deal.

Speaker 3 (29:14):
I'm sure they will, by the way, a little bit early.

Speaker 2 (29:17):
You know Chris Propett, who is our resident fanatic when
it comes to the Olympics. I walked into the studio,
I said, Wow, who's winning this ping pong match? He
went Bizerko on me table tennis.

Speaker 3 (29:31):
Yeah, it's ping pong.

Speaker 4 (29:33):
I'm sorry.

Speaker 7 (29:34):
And during one of the hours that he was working
with us, we also got into some equestrian I had
to get the updates on that.

Speaker 3 (29:40):
In the Olympics.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
Yes, I'm not surprised the Hungarian won. Fancy my mother
being Hungarian. She was a fencer back in her high
school days.

Speaker 4 (29:49):
So there you go.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
Really, yeah, a little bit. You've told me more about
your mother than I really care to know. Well, it's
it's unbelievable.

Speaker 7 (29:56):
Well, it's interesting because Jeff I was telling Steve this,
So my mom she in the eighty four Olympics in
Los Angeles. She was carrying the placard for Morocco. Now
she's not from Morocco, but as they're walking through the
coliseum opening ceremony, she is wearing all, you know, representing
Morocco with the sign.

Speaker 3 (30:16):
And that was six years after she made her Playboy debut.

Speaker 2 (30:20):
She was in Playboy from UCLA. Yes, so they had
like students. Was a nude, Jeff, but it was she
was a student at UCLA at the same time I
was at UCLA. Yeah, and she was, and then she
was chosen as one of those beautiful co eds. UCLA
certainly has had their fair share over the years.

Speaker 7 (30:41):
So all that from your mom, Yeah, Girls of the
Pac ten is what it was called, the catalog.

Speaker 2 (30:48):
That was well, it became the Pac ten in nineteen
seventy eight, so that was right when she had in
seventy eight, seventy eight.

Speaker 3 (30:55):
That was the Yeah, the Arizona and Arizona State jiant.

Speaker 4 (30:57):
I don't think they're going to do like Girls of
a Big Town with the new conference, are they?

Speaker 1 (31:01):
No?

Speaker 2 (31:02):
They no knock on the big tam. There's a lot
of beautiful women in the Big ten, but you know,
to celebrate the new Big Ten.

Speaker 7 (31:08):
Yeah, they also invited my mom to come along and
do some some more photo shoots that you know, showed
more and she said no, thanks, no.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
No, no, she made a smart decision there. Well, Befen,
enjoy a married life. You'll see where it turns out.

Speaker 7 (31:22):
Again.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
You'll get to the Jeff level and then eventually my
level and I hope your level. You don't what the
ten years divorce tagged on at the end, but yeah, anyway,
good luck to you on that one, Beefinn.

Speaker 3 (31:32):
Once again, this is Fox Sports Saturday.

Speaker 2 (31:34):
Steve Harbin, Jeff Schwartz, we are here live from the
tai Iraq dot Com studios. I'm right pickup where we
left off before Adam Kaplan joined us, and we were
talking about the Chiefs, Jeff, and then you just sort
of threw in, But the AFC is going to be tough,
and I'm really torn in which team is next in line.

(31:58):
I mean, we had the rape a year ago, fell
on their face with the worst game plan ever in
that matchup against the Chiefs, where I guess the game
plan will let's have Lamar Jackson throw the ball forty times.

Speaker 3 (32:10):
I was absurd.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
The Bills, who are perceived as a team that may
have already seen their window come and go. The Bengals,
if Joe Burrow can stay on the field, which he
hasn't in two of.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
His four seasons.

Speaker 2 (32:26):
Right now, who do you have as the main challenger
the team most likely to thrown the Chiefs in the AFC.

Speaker 4 (32:40):
Well, the team that's played them the best is the Bengals, Steve, Like,
the Bengals are the team who has played them the
best right and right now? Is like, as a Chiefs fan,
that's the team I would not want to see. I
mean again, we've seen that, We've seen these teams match
up before in the playoffs. It has given the Chiefs
the most trouble. We saw them the record seasons, give

(33:00):
them chefs like they're the team that has routinely given
them the most trouble each and every year. And you know,
for whatever it is, and Burrow's just ability to just
be Joe Burrow in those moments and he's never phased
by the Chiefs and never faced by Arrowhead. So it
feels like that to me is the team I would
worry about the most. I will say, though, I don't

(33:21):
know what to make of the Jets. I really don't, Steve,
I have no idea, but they are a very talented
team with a quarterback that has played a lot of football.
If they get to a situation where they're playing in
the final weekend before the Super Bowl, that would it
would worry me a little bit as a Chiefs fan.
I mean that means that Jets are playing good football

(33:42):
with a good quarterback and a good defense. But otherwise
I don't know if I fear anyone else because of
what the Chiefs have done to everyone else over the
the last three years. The Bengals are the team, Steve
the Bangles are team that played them the toughest in
this Patrick Mahomes sort of Joe Burrow era.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
Well, you mentioned the Jets. I saw in Aaron Rodgers
interview today. Brian Baldinger did this interview with him on
the NFL Network, and it was interesting how Aaron Rodgers
concluded the conversation by saying, there are going to be
a lot of ups and downs this season. We expect

(34:21):
to have more ups than downs, but stay tuned. That
was basically his message.

Speaker 3 (34:27):
Here's what I do know in terms.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
Of production from their quarterback. Few teams in the league
had a bigger upgrade from twenty twenty two to twenty
twenty three than the Packers had last year. I mean,
if you look at Jordan Love's numbers in twenty twenty
three as compared to what Aaron Rodgers did in twenty
twenty two, that was as big a leap in production
as any team in the league had at the quarterback position.

(34:54):
So after winning back to back MVP awards, twenty twenty
two was a down year Aaron Rodgers, and now he's
had a lost season and he's coming back at age
forty just sort of reading into the demeanor of Aaron Rodgers.
Although he was very positive and obviously excited to get
back on the football field, and he certainly doesn't lack confidence.

(35:17):
I think he's realistic to know there's a lot of
unknown right now, just a lot of unknown. I mean,
he can talk about how talented the skill guys are
around him, which seems to be accurate. Obviously, the Jets
have one of the better defenses in the league. If
he can just stay healthy, you feel like the Jets
will be in playoff contention. Yeah, but that's still a

(35:40):
lot of ifs. And there's just, to me, the big
question about Aaron Rodgers. I mean, what player are we
going to see? A guy that is now three years
removed from being one of the elite quarterbacks in this league.

Speaker 4 (35:53):
The problem with a lot of the ifs is that
their IF's in one season, Like this is not a
a situation where you have if we don't get this year, guys,
we'll get him next year. There might not be a
next year, right because of Rogers age, the contract is
solid going to come back if they don't sort of

(36:15):
do well this season and kind of do what they
want you have a brand, you have a new coach.
You know. Defense, we see each and every year Steve
has a little more volatility than offense. Offense tends to
remain sort of even. Defense tends to go up and down.
So to guarantee the Jets have a good defense two
years from now, it's probably tough to imagine that happening.

(36:36):
And they haven't done it yet. The Rodgers played with
four snaps last year. They haven't even done this together
as a team with Rogers, So I think that he
is right that it might take some time to figure
out who they are as a team, and they have
time to do that. I mean, they have. It's a
seventeen week season, right as long as you get in
the postseason. We've seen more teams win on the road

(36:57):
recently in the postseason, which we used to, which used
to be sort of few and far between. And so
they can get in the dance and they feel good
about their team as they get in the dance, then yeah,
I buy what he's saying. But if you're a Jets
fan who just watched your quarterback get hurt last season
very early in the season, I'm not Sally, you don't
want to hear, yeah, I might take some time. You

(37:21):
want to win. Now, you wanted to start fast. They
have a tough schedule, and maybe Rogers is kind of
sort of alluding to the tough schedule, will start and
you wanted to hit to hit the ground running. But
Rogers see is he's spent a lot of football. He
knows what this is about. And I understand him being like, hey, guys,
you know it might take a little bit of time,
and that's okay.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
All right, brief segment coming up. I'm gonna share with
you the shocker of the season already, and you're gonna
blow your lid when you hear me talk. You'll tell
me to get off the year, most likely immediately after
I make the comment I'm gonna make.

Speaker 3 (37:54):
This is Fox Sports Saturday.

Speaker 5 (37:57):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup nation.
Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio dot com
and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen live.

Speaker 2 (38:10):
Steve Harvin, Jeff Schwartz, Fox Sports Saturday. We are live
from the ti iraq dot com studios. All right, we
only have a couple of minutes before the top of
the hour, son, know what's your appetite Jeff with this thought.
A year ago, nobody, nobody could have predicted that the
Houston Texans would make the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (38:28):
Correct, nobody would have made that prediction.

Speaker 2 (38:33):
So I'm about to make a prediction that nobody is
sharing right now. I've shared it with others and absolutely
everyone's like laughing at me. But I see the possibility
of a team. I think they're over under his five
and a half wins, which is similar to what Houston
was a year ago making the playoffs this year. And
the reason I say that is they have a new
quarterback that is very unique. He's a rookie quarterback. He

(38:58):
did something that's never been done in the history of
college football, sixty one career starts, no at the Division
one level. Bo Nicks is going to lead the Denver
Broncos to the playoffs this year because Sean Payton has
got the quarterback he wants. You can say, well, who
are the skill guys. That's what everyone's saying about the

(39:20):
Texans a year ago. I believe the bow Knicks, under
the tutelage of Sean Payton, Raiders are down.

Speaker 3 (39:26):
Jim Arbo will eventually get a job done with the Chargers,
but not this year.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
I'm not saying to catch the Chiefs, but I think
they can crawl into a wild card spot mark my words.
The Denver Broncos, led by their rookie quarterback, your Oregon
Duck bow.

Speaker 3 (39:42):
Knicks like the playoffs in twenty twenty four.

Speaker 4 (39:46):
I have thirty seconds to respond to this.

Speaker 3 (39:48):
Well, you can respond on the other side if you
want to really go on.

Speaker 4 (39:51):
You purposely set me up for this one.

Speaker 2 (39:53):
Why don't you Why don't you set up a response
in the next ten seconds or so.

Speaker 4 (39:58):
The answer is no, A simple answer, No, I don't.
I just don't. I don't think. Jeez, what beginning.

Speaker 2 (40:05):
I just gave you sixty one career starts, the most
Division one history.

Speaker 4 (40:11):
The answer is no, and I'll explain that.

Speaker 3 (40:13):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
On the other side, I went because I believe we
know that every year of one or two teams come
out of absolutely nowhere.

Speaker 3 (40:21):
I'm smelling it for the Denver Broncos.

Speaker 2 (40:23):
We'll continue on with this absurdity known as Fox Sports Saturday.
Rolling along here on another fully loaded sports Saturday.

Speaker 3 (40:34):
Fox Sports Saturday.

Speaker 2 (40:35):
We're broadcasting live from the ti Iraq dot Com studios
tyrat dot Com. We're gonna get you there on that
match selection, fast red shipping, free road as a protection
over ten thousand recommended installers tire rack dot com the
way tire buying should be. Jeff put it perfectly. As
far as the Olympics are concerned, for the next couple
of weeks, it'll be in the background. Yes, in fact,

(40:55):
in our studios here, Jeff, three TVs showing three entirely
different sports. So it's going to be constant, and every
once in a while something that's going to catch your eye.
And you know, every Olympic Games produces people that suddenly
become household names that were not before the Olympics.

Speaker 3 (41:14):
So looking forward to all that.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
But this show today is in honor of the launching
of training camps around the National Football League, and right
before the top of the hour, I knew I blow
Jeff away with his prediction. We'll get more on that
in a second, but I know this about the NFL,
and it happens perhaps more in the NFL than any
other sport, and it happens on a consistent basis.

Speaker 3 (41:41):
Year after year after year.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
What do we always say, six or seven coaches are
fired every year, So we know that there's going to
be a team or two that is completely off the
radar going into the season. This is the beauty of
training camps, right, everyone's optimistics, the new season, everything else.
But from the ashes of a year ago, somebody's going
to emerge one or two teams that you never think about.

(42:06):
I mean, let's look at the Rams going into last season,
question marks everywhere. Basically they were in cap hell. They
had bought out to win a Super Bowl and at
work they won the Super Bowl. Now they were going
to have to pay the price. Who could have predicted
before the season that Pukinakua would have a historic season
as a rookie as wide receiver. Who could have predicted

(42:27):
that Kyron Williams would end up leading the NFL in
rushing yards per game.

Speaker 3 (42:33):
Both making the Pro Bowl.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
It changed the whole dynamic of the offense, and Matthew
Stafford for the first time in his career was named
to the Pro Bowl as a non alternate. He was
actually named to the Pro Bowl for the first time
in his career, and the Rams made the playoffs. So
I look back about addition through subtraction to just sort

(42:55):
of take my Bronco pick to the next level by
getting rid of Russell Wilson, because the last team that
did that was the Seattle Seahawks. They traded away Russell
Wilson and got Drew Locke in in return. And we
were talking about it, Jeff at that time, talking about, well,
it looks like Seattle is probably thinking, all right, a
year from now, we're going to be in.

Speaker 3 (43:16):
A position to have the number one pick in the draft.

Speaker 2 (43:18):
And along comes Geno Smith, who I didn't even know
was still in the league, and all of a sudden,
Geno Smith becomes the starting quarterback, makes.

Speaker 3 (43:25):
The Pro Bowl, and they make the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (43:29):
Now I know that Bo Nicks is not Geno Smith
in terms of NFL experience, but I also know this
Sean Payton is a guy that knows quarterbacks. He was
never happy with Russell Wilson, despite the fact that Russell
Wilson put up respectable numbers in twenty twenty three, and
now he gets to take a kid from day one
and make him into the quarterback he wants. The Broncos

(43:51):
had a rough start to the season, to say the least.
Their defense wasn't just bad, it was historically bad, but
by season's end, their defense was more than respectable Jerry
Judy was another.

Speaker 3 (44:02):
Guy they needed to get rid of.

Speaker 2 (44:05):
It was obvious that Sean Payton, who has more power
than just about any coach in this league, he was
given one hundred percent stamp to do what you want
to do. He has rid this team of the players
he doesn't want, and now he's bringing in players he
does want. And I think that he is very happy
to have Bo Knicks as his quarterback and all the experience.
This is not a typical rookie quarterback, not with five

(44:28):
years as a starter in the SEC in the PAC
twelve sixty one career starts count fabulous season at Oregon
a year ago. I'm not saying this team is going
to be any kind of juggernaut, but I think there's
going to be a lot of teams swimming in that
ten and seven, nine and eight area, and one of
them is going to sneak in the playoffs that no
one sees. And I think with Sean Payton plus Bo Knicks,

(44:50):
who apparently I think more of than you do, being
the Oregon guy, I think that they have an opportunity
to actually shock people and get in to the playoffs.

Speaker 4 (45:03):
Well, you said be the Texans which is the division winner.
So you're just saying.

Speaker 3 (45:09):
A playoff team, a playoff team, they're not going to
beat the Chiefs. I'm saying they're gonna sneak in as
a wildcard.

Speaker 4 (45:14):
Well, that's less offensive than what you originally said.

Speaker 3 (45:16):
Now, I never said they were going to win the division.

Speaker 4 (45:18):
Okay, Well you said the Texans, and the Texans won
the division last.

Speaker 2 (45:21):
Well, I know they won the division last year, but
I did not say that of the Broncos. They're not
going to beat the Chiefs.

Speaker 3 (45:25):
But I did say the Raiders are a down team
right now.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
I don't know quarterback situation, and I'm a big Jim
Harbaugh guy, but that team is a mess and they've
got a couple of years to get back on track.

Speaker 4 (45:37):
I'm fully on board, by the way, with you and
the Chargers. I think people looked at Harrbaugh and what
he's done in other places. I think a media fixed.
I don't think they're there right now.

Speaker 3 (45:46):
They didn't do a media fix in Michigan.

Speaker 2 (45:47):
He lost six straight years to Ohio State before beating
him in the seventh year.

Speaker 4 (45:51):
I agree, all right, So the Broncos, let's start with this.

Speaker 2 (45:57):
C J.

Speaker 4 (45:57):
Stroud was a better prospect coming out to the draft.
Then Bonnicks was right.

Speaker 2 (46:02):
Well, I thought so, but then everyone was downgrading him
before the draft. I said, I know what I should
against Georgia. I mean, you look like correct.

Speaker 4 (46:09):
So that was the question right for Stroud was do
we get the Georgia TJ. Stroud or do we get
the other twenty one games he started? And we got
the Georgia CJ. Stroud. There's no Bonix's organ guy, I
like bo Nicks. There's no Georgia game for Bonnicks. You know,
there's not that game where it's like, okay, that is

(46:32):
high level, incredible quarterback. But he's played played well throughout
the season. Don't get me wrong, But the talent of
these two players, as far as quarterbacks, in my book,
is different. They're they're not the same type of player.
So if you want to argue that the team of
the Broncos can sort of carry him along, which is
what you mentioned with the defense improving late last season

(46:54):
with some of the weapons that they have, the offensive
line's okay, not great certainly, Paul, But I don't see
bo Nicks having the type of season that strouded.

Speaker 3 (47:04):
What about the Peyton factor again a year ago, it
wasn't just CJ. Stratt.

Speaker 2 (47:08):
He had a rookie coach who wasn't an offensive coach.
So I mean, you're like, all right, where's where is
this guy going to be able to take his game?
I mean, look at we all saw the Georgia game.
At least I thought. I saw the Georgia game, and
I'm like, wow, I mean, this guy is next level.
But still he was going on to a team with
a defensive coach as his head coach, a rookie head coach.

Speaker 3 (47:27):
This is a different situation with both Nicks.

Speaker 2 (47:29):
He's going with Sean Payton, who obviously never was comfortable
with Russell Wilson, and now he selected this kid in
the first round. There's something that he likes about his game.
There's a lot I like about bo Nix's game. The
guy completed almost eighty percent of his passes last season.

Speaker 4 (47:45):
There's a lot to like about his game. And his
game does match what Sean Payton wants at a quarterback,
which is ball out on time, efficient thrower of the football.
Don't take me risks. It's not as a young player,
but you but you need a little bit more risk

(48:08):
in my opinion, to get to where you want to
be a playoff quarterback, you like Nix is like the
next step for Nicks is taking that sort of like, okay,
let's say the next step and be a little more
aggressive and a little bit more decisive on some of
those passes. I think he fits well what Sean Payne
wants to do. I might disagree with you there, but
I don't think that in year one he's ready. Bo

(48:32):
Nicks is for the CJ. Stroud ascension. The thing that
Stroud did it was historical. As we know is he's Steve.
He's an outlier, right, So if you want to say
that that Dixon come in and play well and get
him to a playoff, he's not going to do it
the way Stroud did it. It's impossible to do that,

(48:52):
I think with this because they're different prospects, different players
on their team, different type of player themselves. I mean,
we go to eight Broncos eight and nine, we think
nine and eight.

Speaker 2 (49:04):
So last year the Broncos were eight and nine after
that horrific start, so again can they improve?

Speaker 3 (49:10):
But the over runners five and a half, so they've
really downgraded this team.

Speaker 2 (49:14):
You lose a veteran quarterback like Russell Wilson most likely
starting a rookie, and bow Nicks they really downgraded him,
and I'm like, I don't believe that.

Speaker 4 (49:22):
So the last thing I'll say here is the reports
from training camps so far. I actually asked someone today
in Denver who covers the team, because I was, you know,
I wanted to know about about Nicks. He made the
comment that so far Stidham has been better, which is fine.
It's a couple of days in the camp. I don't

(49:44):
take much into that, Steve, but he's been better. And
the things that sort of were worried about Nicks as
a young player are still sort of there, right, which
is the anticipation getting the ball out, you know, sort
of you know, aggressively, but but don't clam up. You know,
there's a fine line between being too aggressive. Right, But
supposed today he had three reds one touchdowns, like he

(50:05):
looked much better today in practice. So if Stidham is
starting right now, of course Nisen start at some point,
but the other places William is already starting, no surprise. Obviously,
Daniels is already starting, no surprise. But Nix right now,
it doesn't even have the one rep so it just
feels like there's a long way to go.

Speaker 3 (50:25):
On the other side, I want to get as much
time as it can.

Speaker 4 (50:28):
See.

Speaker 3 (50:28):
This is the thing, Jeff, we have a very limited time.

Speaker 4 (50:30):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (50:31):
I want to ask you about a couple of teams,
and I'll give you a little preview. One of them
is a team that was two and fifteen a year
ago in your neighborhood. That would be the Carolina Panthers.

Speaker 4 (50:42):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:42):
And then I also want to talk about another team
that I'll just say for you. Won't tell you exactly
who it is, but I'm sure you'll have plenty to say.
We continue on as we are off and running with
this NFL season right here on Fox Sports Saturday Steve

(51:02):
Arbin and Jeff Schwartz. Here Fox Sports Saturday. We're coming
alive from the tyrag dot Com studios. Don't forget after
the short podcast is going up, So if you miss
any of today's show, check out the podcast. Just search
Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts, then follow
rate and review the podcasts again. Just search Fox Sports
Radio wherever you get your podcasts. You'll see the show

(51:23):
posted right after we get off the air. Well, it's
party todd now that we are officially starting a new
NFL season and we are just getting started here Jeff
Schwartz and I talking about the upcoming season with training
camps just underway. All right, I want to steer to
the worst team in the NFL over the last couple
of years.

Speaker 3 (51:43):
That would be the Carolina Panthers.

Speaker 2 (51:46):
Bryce Young had a rough rookie season, to say the least,
onlike CJ. Stroud, who had a historic rookie season two
and fifteen a year ago.

Speaker 3 (51:56):
Dave Canalis, of course a protege of Pete Carroll.

Speaker 2 (51:59):
Pete Carroll Well originally hired him to be an existent
strength coach at USC in two thousand and nine and
then start somewhere man to start somewhere, and then when
he went to Seattle the next year, he brought him
in as his receivers coach. And now he gets an
obvious opportunity here. It can't get much worse, or can it.
I guess we're gonna have to find that out.

Speaker 1 (52:19):
But give us the.

Speaker 2 (52:20):
Early buzz on Canals. What is the reception to him
and what kind of expectations should we have for the
Carolina Panthers in twenty twenty four.

Speaker 4 (52:32):
I know that they think Bryce Stung will be better
this year right now, I know that it's Steve it's
hard to be may be worse than last season. But
last season was a dumpster fire for many reasons. Right
one is that maybe Bryce Young it wasn't ready to
succeed the level that Stroud was, right, I mean, that's
certainly fair. It does take guys sometimes a little bit longer.

(52:53):
At Josh Allen right as an example, where it took
him a couple of years to sort of become what
he is now. So it's certainly possible that it might
take it might take him time. But also he's working
with an offensive scheme and coaching staff that really didn't
put him in the best position to win. We saw
Canallis last year with Baker Mayfield put him in a

(53:14):
great position to win, which which I mean, I think
none of us thought that would be the case. With
Tampa Bay last season, Baker Mayfield was coming off of
some some down years. He had some moments. Remember that
he showed up on a Tuesday Steven played on a
and played on a Thursday night maybe it was, and
ended up winning that game, And I mean there were
moments that that that that he showed that he could

(53:36):
be that guy, but he wasn't what we thought he
was going to be last season. So Canallas gets points
for that, So I think I think, look, the goal
is just to get is to get young for their
first year together. Is to get him back to average average,
right like if you go from if you expect him

(53:56):
to be from where it was last year Steve to
like great not gonna happen. Is to get him back
to sort of just a baseline where you feel comfortable
hanging the year three that you've done the right things
in the year two to win at a higher rate
in year three. That's what the goal is. This year,
they have got a bigger offensive line. So when you

(54:16):
have shorter quarterbacks. You mentioned Sean Payton. This is what
the Saints did for so many years with Breeze. Is
that to get the throwing lanes where you want them,
you need to have big offensive linemen in the middle,
center and two guards. And the reason why is to
create those throwing lanes. If the linemen are very firm

(54:38):
in the middle, they're big, physical guys, keep everyone the
line of scrimmage. The lanes are easier to see the
linemen sort of backing up in the quarterback slap right.
They go back and look at the Saints offensive linemen
in the middle. They have been huge. They've been big
boys with Drew Brees for all those years. It makes
a ton of sense. And that's what the Panthers did
this aw season. They when it got big guards to

(55:00):
help right down. So like they've done the right things
that they They got Dante Johnson, they got their running
back in the first round. They've tried their best to
surround him with the necessary pieces to succeed. Now it's
up to him and the coach. You have to make
it happen. The defense was good last year, not great,
but they have pieces there to be much better this season.
They have a good a good coordinator and good defensive

(55:20):
staff Steve, So I think they have a chance to
be better than people think in a division that's not great.
You know, everyone sort of knows the Falcons might be good,
but that doesn't want to like pick them to be
good because it's the Falcons. So I think he's got
a chance win the division maybe wow wow wow wow.

(55:43):
I think a wildcard team is certainly doable, but again,
the goal is to end this season feeling like Bryce
Young improved to where you can build around him in
year three. Right, that's the goal of this season.

Speaker 1 (55:55):
All right.

Speaker 2 (55:56):
So you mentioned the Falcons, and obviously fortunes are expected
to change with the Falcons with the addition of Kirk
Cousins as their quarterback, who, by the way, is still
coming off in Achilles, so we still have to see
what kind of shape he is in. What we do
know is a year ago before he got hurt, statistically elast,
he was having his best season ever. Well, this coming

(56:18):
off a year that can only be turned a miracle
season for the Vikings, arguably the worst thirteen win team
in the history of the NFL, eleven to zero in
one score games until they ironically lose a one score
game at home in the.

Speaker 3 (56:31):
Playoffs to the Giants of all teams.

Speaker 2 (56:33):
So Kevin O'Connell is back, and they go into the
season with a guy that's still, for some reason intrigues me,
and that is Sam Darnold.

Speaker 3 (56:42):
I don't know why, but he still intrigues me.

Speaker 2 (56:44):
And of course JJ McCarthy's drafted out of Michigan coming
off their national championship season. Let's talk about this Vikings team,
because we know they were not as good as that
thirteen and four record indicated. When you win eleven straight
one scoring games, you know you're getting every bounce your way.
They also engineered the greatest single game comeback in the
history of the NFL. So a lot of things were

(57:06):
working well for the Vikings. Yeah, that miracle comeback. Jeff
Saturday doing a great coaching job that day.

Speaker 3 (57:13):
Anyway, So.

Speaker 2 (57:15):
What should we expect from the Vikings? And let's start
with that quarterback position. Sam Darnold. I mean again, any
guy that starts his career with the Jets is going
to have a rough time of it. He went down
to Carolina, but then he got to sort of a
season and clear his head to be on a winning
team of the forty nine ers.

Speaker 3 (57:33):
Do you see him hanging on to that job.

Speaker 2 (57:37):
Or are they going to try to fast pace JJ
McCarthy into that starting role.

Speaker 4 (57:42):
Man, This was always difficult because I think McCarthy needs
time to get seasoned right. But you have to know
fairly early if for quarterback is good or not, because
an you get a situation where you know you kind
of can't plan for the future. The Packers are the
best example that they got lucky. I mean, I don't

(58:03):
know they've done this twice now, the last two quarterbacks
they haven't played them, and being good a lot of times,
you have to know what that guy is so you
can build around them, right, And so having McCarthy sit
for a year and having Donald play it, it doesn't
advance your franchise at all, you know, But then again,
you don't want to put McCarthy out there to get
in a situation where you know he's overwhelmed and it

(58:25):
ends up costing him sort of mental development in year one.
But I have to imagine the first chance they get
to play him, Steve, they're gonna do it. You just
sort of sort of have to. So I would imagine
he plays sooner or later. And the Vikings are interesting. Look,
if you have a good left tackle, which they do,

(58:47):
and the offensive line otherwise is not bad, you have
the best wide receiver in the game, Yes, you got
a chance, got a chance, right.

Speaker 2 (58:55):
I can ask my question about Sam Donald's this, can
he pull a Gino Smith?

Speaker 3 (58:59):
I mean, is there any because no one?

Speaker 2 (59:02):
I mean, you hadn't completely written off Geno Smith when
all of a sudden he emerges as a star with Seattle.

Speaker 3 (59:09):
I mean, I think the whole world did. I mean,
you just mentioned it right there.

Speaker 2 (59:13):
Sam Donald will be throwing to the best wide receiver
talent in the league, right he will.

Speaker 4 (59:22):
But here's the thing about Sam Donald is the Seattle
did not have a quarterback in waiting when Gino was there.
I don't think so nothing to on my head is
the Vikings have their quarterback in waiting, right, he's he's ready,
he's McCarthy. He's there right right. And so the problem

(59:44):
to me here, Steve, is that Donald being good doesn't
advance your team anywhere because McCarthy's playing next season. So
it doesn't do it doesn't do you any good for
Donald unless you want to try Donald in Week eight
or nine right to someone who might need him. But
the future of your team is not Sam Darnold, so

(01:00:05):
it does no good for him to be good. I mean,
I mean, yeah, it's will do you say that?

Speaker 2 (01:00:10):
But I always remember the Arizona Cardinals when they said, well,
the future team is not Kurt Warner, it's Matt Liner.

Speaker 3 (01:00:16):
Matt Liner is the top ten pick in the draft.

Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
He's a placeholder until we put Matt liner it in
and the next thing you know, he's laid him to
a well he was, but after his one year with
the Giants, everyone thought whatever magic he had with the
Rams was long gone, and then all of a sudden
he regained it in a Cardinal uniform.

Speaker 4 (01:00:36):
No, I'm with I'm with you in the general idea
of that. But Warner was the Again I hate comparing
people to outliers, but he was the outliner all this, right,
It's that's not normal for the for that to happen.
It's But also I think the Vikings, I'll do what
the similarities are sort of there with personnel, right, Larry Fitzgerald, right,

(01:00:56):
and just like they're there, Bruce arians great offensive play.
I think we think Kevin O'Connell can can call offense,
you know, can call offense. We played that team in
O eight with the Panthers here in Carolina and the
playoffs that did not go well for us as a Panthers.
But I I just don't see the the Vikings again,

(01:01:20):
don't need Darnold to be their guy the future, and
I just think they need to get McCarthy in the
field as soon as possible. Hopefully obviously hopeful that it doesn't,
you know, kind of stunt his development.

Speaker 3 (01:01:34):
I you know a lot of people were down on McCarthy.
I don't know why. When they needed him to come
up big, he came up big.

Speaker 2 (01:01:44):
I mean that was my observation. I mean, it was
not an offense. It was going to throw the ball
forty times a game. That's not Jim Harbour's Michigan offense.
But when he needed to make plays, yeah he made
place Oh yeah no.

Speaker 4 (01:02:00):
And so you know, he he absolutely made enough plays
when it mattered the most. The thing about it is
you sort.

Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
Of need.

Speaker 4 (01:02:08):
You just need a little bit. You need a little
bit more in the NFL, more more of the offense
will be required to be good.

Speaker 2 (01:02:18):
Well, there's two things again that a quarterback has to
have in the NFL to be successful.

Speaker 3 (01:02:25):
One is accuracy. You got to be an accurate thrower
or else you can't be.

Speaker 2 (01:02:30):
And the second thing is your brain has to work
at warp speed. You have to be able to in
a split second manufacture what it is you're going to
do with the football.

Speaker 3 (01:02:44):
The quicker you can decide.

Speaker 2 (01:02:46):
The greatest quarterbacks are running at warp speed in their
brain and a split second, they have to decide where
to throw the ball, you know, eat it, do whatever
you're going to do with the football. You have to
be able to do that in a split second. You
have to have that instinct. If you do those two things,
then you can be a successive quarterback in the NFL.
All right, let's find out, oh, by the way quick

(01:03:07):
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(01:03:29):
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five percent off. I think that this gentleman's wife is
thinking of getting one of those real quick. Right now,
let's find out what is trending as BFEN Brian Finley,
the newly married Brian Finley is joining us.

Speaker 6 (01:03:51):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:03:51):
I know you and your beautiful bride had been together
for a while, but have you noticed any difference in
her now that she is miss this is Brian fin Like.

Speaker 7 (01:04:02):
I know what I know, and that is that she
knows that she's always right about everything. And that's sort
of the mindset you have to have.

Speaker 2 (01:04:09):
See the reason that I'm divorced, and like Jeff's still
married and hopefully you'll be married. When people say happy wife,
happy life, my feeling was always happy me, happy life,
and so that's that's a bad thing if.

Speaker 3 (01:04:26):
You want to be married.

Speaker 2 (01:04:27):
Long.

Speaker 3 (01:04:27):
Oh we could see that, Steve.

Speaker 2 (01:04:28):
Yeah, you know everybody who has had a conversation with
you exactly what happy me, happy happy world.

Speaker 3 (01:04:35):
Yeah, exactly, that's what you're gunning for, right yea, Oh
my good. I actually have a T shirt that says that,
by the way, happy me happy.

Speaker 2 (01:04:43):
I'm surprised because it has a cat on it because
cats are of that mentality.

Speaker 3 (01:04:47):
Yeah, well, were well, And Jeff.

Speaker 7 (01:04:50):
You should see Steve because he wears the same two
shirts every weekend.

Speaker 3 (01:04:55):
Yes, I swear you have like five articles of clothing
in your word.

Speaker 2 (01:05:00):
There is no access in my in terms of underwear, socks, pants, shirts, anything.

Speaker 7 (01:05:07):
There's no access in my life. And you can use
one pair of all of those words that you just said.
As far as clothing, one for the whole week.

Speaker 4 (01:05:15):
That's what I do.

Speaker 3 (01:05:16):
I actually only have six shirts.

Speaker 2 (01:05:19):
And like you only have like two pairs of underwear,
I have two pairs of jeans, one the lesser. I
wear on the weekends if I go out of like
a you know, date night or something, So that's when
you wear your rip jeans, right, yes, So anyway, I
like to simplify. I don't know, Jeff, is your parents
have got Is your dad like to simplify things? As

(01:05:39):
he's gotten older, I don't still is he's still in
search of the answers?

Speaker 4 (01:05:46):
No, I think I mean he he wears clothes. I
don't think he has he's clothes had I only has
six six T shirts. I think more than that.

Speaker 3 (01:05:54):
Oh okay, yeah, I don't know. As you get older,
I don't know, you seem to whittle it down. That's
the way it works, at least in your world, Steve
is unlike anybody else's.

Speaker 1 (01:06:06):
That is that is the case.

Speaker 7 (01:06:08):
Speaking of the world, the world is watching what's going
on in the Olympics in Paris and team USA getting
that first gold, and it came to the men's for
by one hundred meter freestyle relay. So men's swimming is
where that came Katie Ledeki and women swimming for these
Stars and Stripes picking up a bronze in the four
hundred meter freestyle. So the Americans have a total of

(01:06:30):
five medals one gold. Five medals is the most out
of any country. That's tied for the most with Australia
now they have five, but they also have three golds,
two coming from swimming one in cycling team Canada, the
women said soccer coach Bev Priestman is suspended for a
year and the team is going to be docked six
points for these Olympics. After Canada decided it would be

(01:06:53):
a great idea to fly a drone over an opponent's
practice to try and get a competitive advantage. They quickly
were reprimanded because of that. Elsewhere in the Olympics, the
men's basketball team is going to start up play on
Sunday against Serbia against Nicole Jokic, and according to Steve Kerr,

(01:07:15):
who was running things for that American program, Joel Embiid
along with Anthony Davis, might miss tomorrow's game because of
illnesses that kept them out of practice today. In other
men's basketball games in the Olympics, Canada winning eighty six
to seventy nine against Greece. France got nineteen points from
Victor Runbinyama on the way to a seventy eight to
sixty six triumph over Brazil, Germany over Japan, and also

(01:07:38):
Australia winning against a lowly Spaniard team ninety two to eighty.
Men's soccer for the Americans winning four to one against
New Zealand. We also saw some interesting developments in men's
tennis when it comes to doubles, and you've got Carlos
Alcaraz and Ralfo Nadal winning their first round for Spain

(01:08:00):
in straight set seven of six to six y four
against a pair from Argentina. And on the American side
of things, in the women's doubles, Coco Goff and Jessica Pagoula.
They are into the second round after beating a pair
from Australia six ' three six ' one. In Major
League Baseball, we're seeing a few trades populate our news

(01:08:20):
channels and social media and our timelines. One would includezz
Or Jazz Chisholm going to the Marlins or from the
Marlin excuse me, to the Yankees. So yeah, Jazz Chisholm
Junior from the Marlins to the Yankees, and in exchange,
the Marlins are going to receive.

Speaker 3 (01:08:39):
Three prospects in the deal.

Speaker 7 (01:08:41):
And just a couple of quick notes from some of
the notable games that are going on in Major League
Baseball as of right now. We got the Twins up
two to one against the Tigers. That's in the sixth inning.
Some of the finals to mention, Blue Jays over the Rays, arranger,
excuse me, seven to three. The Padres had a nine
to four triumph in Baltimore against the Orioles where Manhamachado

(01:09:04):
went yard on a three run home run. Braves over
the Mets ford to nothing, and the Reds get beat
down by the Rays four to nothing. Two guys that
if you put them in the ring, nobody's going to
beat them down. Jeff Schwartz, Steve Hartman.

Speaker 2 (01:09:21):
We are a dynamic doo, no question about that. We
have history is always important, had a lot of history.
Once again, we're coming to life from the tire rack
dot Com Studios in a very short amount of time.
I'm trying to cover as much ground as I can
with Jeff. I want to get back to the forty
nine Ers for a moment here.

Speaker 4 (01:09:39):
Yeah, so.

Speaker 3 (01:09:41):
Courting and Kyle Shanahan.

Speaker 2 (01:09:42):
No word yet on either Trent Williams or Brandon Nyuk
in terms of their contracts. What's interesting here is, I
mean Ayuk obviously has become a very favorite target of
Brock party, no question about his value to this team.

Speaker 3 (01:09:57):
And then you have Trent Williams.

Speaker 2 (01:09:58):
Trent Williams has had one of the most interesting, what
will be Hall of Fame careers ever. He played nine
seasons in Washington never once was named First team All Pro,
although he was like a Pro Bowl player, but not
first team All Pro. Correct, and he has made First
team AP All Pro each of the last three years.

(01:10:21):
He just turned thirty six, and there's no question, especially
in game the few games that he missed. The drop
off in the forty nine ers offense was dramatic. So
how much do you commit to a Trent Williams at
this point of his career and do you do so

(01:10:41):
in a manner that may cost you Ayuk?

Speaker 4 (01:10:47):
So here is the overriding issue. Niners have all these contracts,
Steve is if they're gonna have to pay Brock pretty
sixty million dollars a year to play quarterback for them
either after this season, well, excuse me, it has to
be after this season at some point before next season.
That's the going rate for quarterback in the National Football

(01:11:08):
League after Dak gets his deal done. But also the
success that brock Party has had outweighs other quarterbacks that
are getting contracts right now from their team. So his
agent will be like, guess what, we need more money.
We're playing well, So you cannot pay big top dollar
two a quarterback, a running back, a left tackle, a

(01:11:30):
tight end, two wide receivers. The third wide receiver. By
the way, Steven has a pretty good deal for a
third option. They'd spend a first round pick on a
wide receiver, a defensive end, a middle linebacker, secondary pieces.
You can't pay everyone right now. Kansas City has paid
their quarterback, has paid their tight end, has paid a

(01:11:52):
defensive lineman, a right tackle, and a left guard.

Speaker 3 (01:11:55):
Yeah, but they're paying a quarterback under market value.

Speaker 4 (01:11:58):
Sure, but even though they but the point is they
have only they only have five guys on these monster
contracts that everyone else is young. Now, they're gonna have
to pay the center pretty soon, but they might get ready.
The left grafter it doesn't matter the problem is that
for the Niners is you just can't pay everyone. It's
impossible to pay everyone that you want to pay. And
they're figuring out right now, who are we gonna pay now?
Trent Williams, I'd argue, at his age, there's there's some

(01:12:22):
trepidation about that, but he's playing his butt off like
his age is not shown at all, right, Steve Right,
So I think that what they're gonna do is they're
gonna pay Trent Williams, give him some more money, because
he certainly deserves to have some more money for the
way he's played. And then in the draft, the position
that you can find most readily available outside of the
first round as wide receiver, Like the Niners, I understand

(01:12:44):
them being like, you know what, we're just not gonna
pay brand Ayuk, like, like, we can just find someone else.
He's not a hundred target guy in our offense because
our offense doesn't require that, and we'll let him go
somewhere else and we'll just get another wide receiver in
the draft, which they did, by the way, this year, right,
They got to go another one next year. So that's
why you're not understand on this. I think though, Patron Williams,
they're not gonna pay you. Maybe they trade him. I

(01:13:05):
don't think so. And that's the way they hope, because
they got to pay the quarterback all this money after
next season.

Speaker 1 (01:13:12):
All right.

Speaker 2 (01:13:12):
On the other side, I want to ask you about
one more team, very publicized team that also has got
to make some decisions on some rather large contracts.

Speaker 3 (01:13:20):
I think you know who we're talking about.

Speaker 2 (01:13:22):
This is Fox Sports Saturday, Steve Hartman and Jeff Schwartz,
Fox Sports Saturday.

Speaker 3 (01:13:30):
We're live from the tai iraq dot Com studios.

Speaker 2 (01:13:33):
I want to thank our crew today, the newly red
Ryan Family, beefan little skipping his stat no question about that,
he's riding high now. Are brilliant producer Patrick who did
not have to come up with a question for me today,
And who's your daddy?

Speaker 3 (01:13:48):
So you can save that up for next.

Speaker 2 (01:13:49):
Week, Pat, I'm gonna save you two of them. Steve,
I know you got a couple weeks to prepare for that.
We've got a double show next week with Monsey returning.
And of course Mary Mack, who apparently dug in my
brain today to come up with a music bed that
I knew every single song throughout the show today.

Speaker 3 (01:14:06):
Which was unbelievable.

Speaker 2 (01:14:07):
Normally I don't know any of the songs you play,
you and Monsei team up against me, but today I was.

Speaker 3 (01:14:14):
With in the mood to be like, you know what,
what what's Steve want to hear today?

Speaker 2 (01:14:17):
Yeah, let's go old school there, and you did that,
Mary Mack, thank you so much, great stuff as always.
All right, so Jeff in our final segment together, here
see how quick this show is.

Speaker 3 (01:14:29):
Very fast, very very fast. Let's talk about the Dallas
Cowboys for a second here.

Speaker 2 (01:14:33):
The bad news for the Cowboys is that they will
not be NFC East Champions this year. We know that
because no team has repeated his NFC East Champs since
Andy Reid and the Eagles rattled up four straight NFC
East titles between.

Speaker 3 (01:14:46):
One and four. Twenty years yeah, twenty years since the
team repeated his NFC East champs.

Speaker 2 (01:14:53):
Future Hall of Famers Zach Martin gave the Cowboys some
hope when he actually restructured his deal to give him
cap relief. If one guy really should not have done that,
it was Zach Martin. I mean, he's at least based
on his Hall of Fame meter. Number one on that team.
He's a sure fire Hall of Famer. But what do

(01:15:14):
you do with Michael Parson? You know, ce d Lamb situation. Obviously,
with Dak Prescott, let's start with Okay, I want to
start with Michah Parsons. And I say that because I
heard you early in our conversation with Adam Kaplan talking
about you that he's earned the right to be the
highest paid non quarterback in the league, and that seems

(01:15:37):
to be not well okay.

Speaker 4 (01:15:39):
So no, no, no, he said he wants to be
paid like the highest non quarterback in the in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (01:15:46):
Well, let me ask you this about Michael Parsons, because
I hear a lot of different things about Michael Parsons.
I mean, he does some of the glossy stuff really well,
but there's other people that say Michael Parsons overall over.
So how much commitment are you gonna make to Micaeh Parsons,
hm is. I'll put it this way, who's more valuable

(01:16:08):
Michaeh Parsons to their defense or Dak Prescott to their offense.

Speaker 4 (01:16:14):
Oh, I'd argue the quarterbacks always more valuable, but that's
probably not the best way to go about deciding who
gets paid and who doesn't because you you need a
pass rusher like him on your team, right, I mean
it's a value position where you look at him and
just as a pass rusher in general, and he's very
talented and very good. I saw some of the off

(01:16:36):
the ball linebackers, so I just kind of wish they
would stop doing that with him and just let him
be a full time pass rusher because I think what
his bread and butter is, right, and off the ball
stuff is kind of quirky and fun sometimes, but like,
let's just get let's let him play what he's destined
to be, which is a pass rusher. So I uh,
I think that it's it'd be hard to pass a

(01:16:59):
player like that up. It'd be almost unprecedented, I think,
to let a player like that walk without trying to
get him a second contract, right, I mean, I can't
think of anyone the top of my head right now
that a pass rusher of that elk that just said
the team was like, yeah, we're just not we're not paid.

Speaker 3 (01:17:15):
The Bears got rid of him, but did they They.

Speaker 4 (01:17:20):
Had they already paid him at least once before.

Speaker 3 (01:17:23):
I think they had. Yeah, But Obviously he came to
the charges and showed he had plenty of gats.

Speaker 4 (01:17:28):
I'm talking about like he hasn't even paid yet, Like
the second contract. I know teams have in the rebuild
modes have traded away those type of players I'm just
talking about from the first team to play on to
get rid of it before you even get a second contract.
It's probably unprecedented. So I think they're gonna have to
do it. Steve, the Cowboys questions come down to this,

(01:17:49):
and they have to figure this out. I know there's
plenty of talk about what this answer is is is
Dak Prescott the guy who's winning you Super Bowl or
someone else?

Speaker 3 (01:18:01):
Okay, let's stop right there. Let's answer that question.

Speaker 2 (01:18:04):
So Dak Prescott last year was runner up in the
MVP voting to Lamar Jackson, had a fabulous season regular season,
and then just disastrous playoff game at home against the Packers.
There's no other way to describe it, a disaster. Well,
the numbers looked that was all garbage time, folks. All
the number any numbers he put up in the game

(01:18:25):
were garbage time.

Speaker 3 (01:18:27):
And so he's won two.

Speaker 2 (01:18:28):
Playoff games or is he won one? I'm A one
or two, and so I always said this about quarterbacks.
I mean, there are exceptions, obviously, but usually if you
haven't gotten to that level by your third or fourth year,
it ain't there.

Speaker 3 (01:18:46):
It ain't there.

Speaker 4 (01:18:47):
Yeah, so I would say he's not a super winning quarterback.
That's just my my take on very very kind of
just a quick pass at that. I just I don't
see it from him. Here's the thing, what people will
say about the playoffs so small sample size, small sample size.
I mean, guy like Dak Prescott gets judged on quarterback,
I mean, on on on on playoff games like that's

(01:19:09):
he gets paid to win those games. Like that's no
matter what you're doing the regular season, you are paid
to win the playoff games. Yeah, right now, You're paid
to get there obviously, but you gotta win those playoff games.
Like I don't understand this idea. I do want to
say the idea behind it, but but the if you
are getting paid that much money, you have to win
your playoff games. That's what the NFL is and he

(01:19:31):
has not done that yet.

Speaker 3 (01:19:31):
I'm not sure that he will consistently two and five
in playoffs starts.

Speaker 4 (01:19:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:19:38):
Yeah, by the way, Lamar Jackson's the same guy. We
haven't even mentioned really the Ravens today.

Speaker 4 (01:19:44):
Yeah, people get really angry when you mentioned Lamar Jackson
hasn't played well as well in the postseason.

Speaker 3 (01:19:50):
Well, it's just fact, I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:19:52):
But again, I still go back to last year's AFC
Chamonsi game, Like, what the heck were they thinking? Yeah, well,
he was going to outthrow Patrick Mahomes. That was your
game plan.

Speaker 4 (01:20:04):
It was a bad idea.

Speaker 3 (01:20:07):
I mean, sometimes you have to think about that.

Speaker 2 (01:20:09):
All right, Any last second, thoughts about a Cinderella team
here that no one's talking about.

Speaker 3 (01:20:14):
Since I gave you the Broncos, I said the Panthers.

Speaker 2 (01:20:18):
Maybe Panthers to make the playoffs and hey, the worst
division in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (01:20:23):
Jeff, it's great to talk to you. As always. We'll
do it again down the road. Just keep it here, folks.
More coming up. This is Fox Sports Radio.