On today's episode, Jason kicks things off with a quick thought on the Milwaukee Bucks win over the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets really wanted to win this one (Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving both played about 40 minutes) but for the second game in a row Brooklyn had no answer for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Will the return of James Harden suddenly solve the flaws that the Bucks exposed? Doubt it. Later, Jason explains why the recent play by the Washington Wizards and Minnesota Timberwolves could mean that both Bradley Beal and Karl-Anthony Towns stay put this summer. So if Beal and KAT are off the board, who are the next big names that could be on the move? Keep an eye on Damian Lillard and Kawhi Leonard. Just sayin'. Plus, ESPN senior NFL reporter Jeremy Fowler swings by to discuss why he feels like the only way this Aaron Rodgers saga gets resolved in Green Bay is if the Packers give him a massive new contract, how much of a role Packers CEO Mark Murphy has had both in the drafting of Jordan Love and the empowerment of GM Brian Gutekunst, how Rodgers' retirement threat differs from the Andrew Luck situation in Indianapolis a few years ago, why historically great quarterbacks - like Joe Montana, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady - tend to end their careers in different uniforms, why he's optimistic about Urban Meyer's transition to the NFL, what went wrong for Johnny Manziel in Cleveland back in the day, why a small majority of NFL decision makers had BYU's Zach Wilson ranked ahead of Clemson's Trevor Lawrence before the Draft, and much more!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What's up, party people,
that's your boy, Jason McIntyre Straight Fire for Wednesday May five.
Hope everybody had a joyous May fourth. You've got the
Star Wars jokes out of your system. Then last night
you watched a little NBA action, which we'll get too shortly,
(00:28):
but I gotta tease our guest today, um NFL reporter
Jeremy Fowler from ESPN. He he's kind of risen in
the ranks. I guess he's like one of their top
NFL reporters now. I mean I've known him for a while.
He's pretty meteoric rise from you know, like a team
reporter to a national reporter. He covers everything, and this
is the guy who covered Bret Farvin Minnesota, Johnny Football
(00:50):
in Cleveland, Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh. I mean, he's got
stories about all of them. It's good stuff. I think
you're gonna like what he has to say about the Packers.
I'm just gonna say this, Andrew Luck retired early from
the Colts, and the Colts didn't make him payback twenty
four million dollars. That is a topic that we talked about,
(01:12):
because remember Aaron Rodgers, if he goes through with this
retirement thing, everybody thinks it's a bluff. He would have
to potentially owe the team in the neighborhood of forty
mill That's a lot more than Andrew Luck. Now consider
Andrew Lux, you know, twenty four million dollar parachute payment,
thank you for your service and leading us to the
(01:34):
playoffs a bunch of times. Aaron Rodgers has done much
more than that in Green Bay. But a contentious ending
could color that. It's a good topic. I think you're
gonna like this with Jeremy Fowler really quickly. Off the top,
I want to just touch on a couple of NBA items.
First of all, this news that Lebron is gonna miss
both big games this week, the Thursday night game against
the paper Clips and then the Friday night game against
(01:57):
the Blazers not ideal. Not ideal for the Lakers chances
of avoiding that playing game. That being said, I think
some bigger things happen in the league. Now. Again, there's
about five or six games, maybe seven for some teams
left in the season, and I don't want to put
too much emphasis on games that happened late. If you
(02:18):
listen to yesterday's pod, you know this. We've been through this.
Lebron and his team sometimes fade late. They don't really care.
They're disinterested. The playoffs matter. Okay, Bucks Nets was an
interesting game and result, folks, Just so you know, the
Brooklyn Nets tried really really hard to win that game.
(02:39):
They want the number one seed. If you are, the
top three teams in the East by far are the Sixers,
the Nets, and the Bucks. Two of those will have
to meet in the second round. Whoever gets the number
one seed likely faces like Miami slash New York in
the second round. That is a significantly easier matchup. Then
(02:59):
go in tote tote with uh, the Nets are Bucks. Okay,
So if the Sixers get that number one seed and
they're now up one and a half games thanks to
the Nets loss in Milwaukee, UM, and the Nets tried hard. Listen.
Katie played forty minutes, scored thirty two points. Kyrie Irving
played thirty nine minutes, scored thirty eight points. It was
pretty clear that that bench. Remember how Bruce Brown had
(03:23):
delivered and Nick Claxton had delivered, and um, they've had guys,
show out. Landry Shambo, by the way, was awful one
for eight. Uh, just a bad game from him. But
just remember add James Harden to that trio. They're not
gonna be going to deep into the bench here when
you get to the big playoff games. This what this
felt like a playoff game. The Bucks come out on top.
(03:46):
I mean, they just had too much offense. Janics got
whatever he wanted. I mean he scored thirty six on
thirty shots. He was pretty good from the line ten
at twelve, which is uncharacteristic for him. But when Drew
Holiday is gonna go ten and eight, Dante de Vincenzo
ten points, fifteen rebounds, and then Chris Middleton twenty three points.
(04:07):
Bucks look, folks, Bucks look really good. With Brent Forbes
is coming off the bench with fourteen points. Uh, this
is a Bucks team. I'm not going overboard. P J.
Tucker is still getting worked into the mix. Bucks look
good and for the first time, and really in two years,
the Bucks kind of come into this as a bit
(04:28):
of an underdog. If you remember the last two years
they were favored to beat the Raptors. They lad that
series to nothing, then gagged it away to Kauai. Then
last year they kind of sputtered going into the bubble
and then they got stomped out by the Heat in
the second round when there were a big expectations, the
Bucks collapsed. Not a lot of expectations this year because
everybody's talking about the Nets and then there's you know,
(04:49):
the Joel Embiid fanboys out there. So big result, bad
one for the Nets, and again they don't have James Harden.
James Harden changes things significantly, but just watching a little
of that game, I do wonder how much does he
change things? Are we saying Kyrie Irving is taking not
shots but eighteen? Um, what's the bent rotation look like?
(05:11):
I'm just curious, like, can you play k D Harden
and Kyrie forty in a pivotal Game five and a
pivotal game six, pivotal game seven? I don't know. There's
still there's just a lot of unanswered questions about the
Bucks heading into the postseason. So not a good result
for them for the Nets. The Bucks again, impressive win
for Milwaukee. I quickly want to go over to Scott
(05:33):
Brooks and the Wizards. We haven't done a ton on
Russell Westbrook. There is a lot of people out there
who constantly are telling me, j you gotta give Russell
Westbrook his his his flowers. Come on, give it to him,
give it to him. Come on. He's been incredible. True story,
Russell Westbrook has been fantastic. I mean, he's putting up
monster numbers. They have a big one tonight against the Bucks.
(05:54):
The Wizards are in the playoffs. I'm spinning it forward.
I'm not saying do the do the Wizards have a
chance to pull it up set. I don't really care
if they could go from the ten to the seven,
and I don't care about that sty irrelevant. The big story,
you guys, think about it this way. The two biggest
names you've been hearing disgruntled star to head to form
a trio with somebody or Bradley Beale and Carl Anthony Towns.
(06:17):
Bradley Beale earlier in the season was so bitter with
the Whiz. There was a there was a game he
had buried his hands, his head in his hands on
the sideline, was just devastated, not speaking. There were defensive
assignments where he would just stand there and um he
was he was disinterested, he was unhappy and it was like,
all right, where's Bradley Bell gonna go? He's the big
story next offseason. And now Russell Westbrook and saved the day.
(06:41):
And Russell Westbrook all of a sudden playing out of
his mind. Rui Hachimura one of my favorite names in
the NBA. Like, they're playing well. I think it's safe
to say they're gonna be a playoff team, and Bradley
Beale is going to be removed from the offseason equation
of who's the star, who's gonna one out? Now? The
x have played well to the point where you expect
(07:03):
someone to say, I want to go play with Thibodeau
and Randall in New York. New York's happening again. There's
a number four seed, Like there's a vibe there. It's
a vibe, as they say on Instagram. But I wonder
about Carl Anthony Towns. The Wolves have climbed out of
the basement, and D'Angelo Russell's finally healthy, Anthony Edwards showing out.
He made the Rookie of the Year. Thing interesting, LaMelo
(07:24):
Ball was a runaway winner, got hurt, Anthony Edwards just
kept getting buckets, and you're like, oh uh, this is
kind of an interesting deal. Now they're not making the playoffs.
That's definitely not happening. They are twenty and forty five,
but showing signs of improvement. Kind of nice. And can
(07:44):
they leap frog Okay, see Cleveland Orlando in that race too.
If they lose the pick, they give it to Golden State.
Instead of it being five, four or five, it's like
eight or nine, which would not really help Golden State. Um.
And you know Minnesota is the pick in the top three,
they keep it. Um. You know, I think there's a
(08:07):
case where Carling Anthony town says, you know what, I
think I'm gonna stay. And now you're looking at an
NBA off season, the first in a long ass time, folks,
we're there's gonna be no player movement. I will give
you a sleeper name. I'm just gonna put it out there.
I'm not saying he wants out, because he's all along said,
I don't want out. Damian Lillard, my guy, you know,
(08:30):
I'm a Damian Lillard fan. He spoke to Chris Haynes recently,
and Damian Lillard and Chris Haynes had like a sit down,
and Lillard was not thrilled at like the direction and
you don't want to read too much into it, but
it was curious timing because it came at a point
where Portland's still fighting for a playoff spot. And I
(08:54):
mean Lillard wasn't briefly an m VP candidate. Um, I
don't know. It almost felt like Damian Little was not happy.
They went to the UM Conference finals two years ago.
They got swept by Golden State, but come on, it
was the Juggernaut Warriors. Um. I don't think Dame's gonna
ask out. But at the same time, I don't know
(09:17):
that trading c. J. McCollum is gonna affects what they need.
What would they need? Well, I thought they had a
wing in Robert Cumington. Clearly not the case. So I
don't know. I mean on the NBA front, like you
need a star to one out to drive the NBA
off season cycle. Otherwise, free agency is kind of irrelevant
(09:37):
now the only other name, And again Dame is a
massive reach because he has always said he don't want
to go anywhere. Should be all say I'm cool in Washington,
let's do this, and Karl Anthony town says we're building
something in many the other guy has to be Kawhi
Leonard and I have floated Kawhi Leonard and the Phoenix
Suns a couple of times in the off season. I
(09:57):
got laughed at, that's fine. I don't know why. Don't
mind going out of a limb. It's worked for me
throughout my career in sports media. It's got me to
where I am. I'm fine going out a limb saying
Kawai could be that guy. Let's watch the Clippers in
the playoffs. They have Rondo? Is he the solution? Just
before we get to Jeremy Fowler real quick? I can't
(10:19):
wait to see how Reggie Jackson, who's played well in
the last two months since Patrick Beverley has been hurt.
I can't wait to see what happens in a playoff
series when Reggie Jackson, who's again played very well for
this team look good, is banished to the bench and
getting like ten minutes because they have pet Bevan Rondo.
Reggie Jackson famously and okay, see was chirping because he
(10:39):
couldn't get minutes behind Westbrook and he's like, I'm as
good as Russ I need to be out there. They
just shift his ass out of town Clippers. Long way
to go for those guys in the West. All right,
Without further adode, let's get to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.
Jason likes to think he knows everything when it comes
to sports. I know what sports stands once, But for
(11:01):
everything he doesn't, he knows a guy who does. Let's
just say I know a guy who knows a guy
who knows another guy. All right, let's welcome into straight fire.
A guy I've known she's probably fifteen years because he's
covered the NFL, covered college football at its best, Urban
Meyer in Florida. Jeremy Fowler from ESPN, Jeremy, how are you, man?
(11:23):
I'm good, Jameson, Thanks for having me. I think the
last time I saw you was at the combine once
up a time, Yes, indeed combined back when I was
going there to try to figure out any fun interesting nuggets,
and that's when I really started to dig into the
mock drafts. Personally. I love the draft, Jeremy. I don't
know from from your perspective, it's probably a little tougher, right,
you gotta actually cover it and do a lot of stuff. Yeah,
I thought the draft was great this year. Though, like, yeah,
(11:45):
I'm still interested in the draft and it's three days
you know, gone. Um, I think the no combine almost
added an extra layer to it. And then because nobody
really knew how it was going to shake out and
what San Frame was doing for about a month and
you know, you're trying to piece it all the other
it was crazy, I mean. And and even these teams
like up until the last day were waiting on medical
information on a guy they might draft in the first round. Um,
(12:08):
it was a complete chaos with no combine, like they
were getting all these results really late in the process,
even some top guys. So it was It was interesting,
for sure, and I'm just curious how did you handle it?
From a coverage? Was everything from your house where you
are in Connecticut or where you've bouncing around the pro
days and stuff like that. So yeah, pro days are great.
I did go to Florida's Pro day because I was
(12:28):
doing UM, I was doing some Kyle Pitts. I did
a story and Kyle Pits and Gadarius Tony, So I
went down there. Uh, and that was cool, and uh,
that was pretty much like it was as loose as
I had seen UM from a like back to normal perspective,
Like there were hundreds of scouts and people like all
in the field hanging out and stuff. So it really
didn't feel like uh, one big precaution, you know, it's
(12:51):
kind of just um, it felt like normal a little bit.
And so, yeah, the I didn't hit. That was the
only pro day I went to. So I did everything
from home. You know, I got the basement set up,
and uh, you just you make your calls and you
go on air and try to talk about the draft.
So yeah, hey, let's start. You mentioned cal Darius Tony.
So this is one thing that I kind of have considered,
(13:13):
um when doing these mock drafts. And how like my
jets playing in New York cold weather town, the winds
pick up in the winter. You need to like tough guys.
And I'm not gonna knock Sam Donald, but warm weather
California kid. Okay, you just mentioned cal Darius Tony. Now
I believe the Giants traded back and scooped him up, right, Yes,
they traded back the Nine Spouts of Chicago. You yourself
(13:38):
are a guy from Florida and you are now living
up north in Connecticut. I'm just curious you obviously you're
not playing football, you're doing media stuff. But is there
something to that, you know like that, And I'm not
trying to generalize soft California kids, but I've been out
here now about five years and I'm gonna say it's
very easy and it's soft. I mean it is. It's
(13:59):
like a web. They're like, there's so many options and
you know, I play a bunch of pickup basketball and
not that that's a correlation to the NFL, but it's
a little softer out Like there is just this idea
like Kadarius Tony is a fast guy from the Floordigators.
How is he gonna mix with New York I'm just
any thoughts on that. Yeah, it's gonna test your toughness
(14:19):
for sure, But there's an intrigue with that too, Like
when you first go into the cold, you're like, oh,
I can do this and this is gonna be different
and fun and then where you know, it wears on
you after a while. But I think early on a
kid like that, though he's from Mobile, Alabama, he's you
know that that could be a tough area. Um, he's
pretty hard and so to speak, and uh, you know,
he's one of those really tough football guys that loves contacts.
(14:41):
I think he's actually gonna like it. Um, you know.
Zach Wilson is another one, right, coming from California, used
to throwing the ball around a b y U and
you know you've got a clean pocket, and um, you know,
it's a different mentality right now there's turf turf fields,
So maybe that helps a guy like Tony too. You
maintain your speed in the cold, and I think some
guys do like it. It's more about the may it
up than it is where you're from. Yeah, you know,
(15:03):
the perfect example is Aaron Rodgers. Of course, California kid
goes to Green Bay where it's freezing and he's utterly dominant.
But you've done a lot of reporting on this. The
situation now is, um, I guess like the biggest story
in the NFL probably for the next three months, like
Deshaun Watson for a minute was and now Rogers with
(15:24):
his alleged edict saying it's me or the g M.
I don't know where are you reporting wise on this?
And then just your thoughts on on Rogers. Yeah, this
is the story is going to dominate until there was clarity,
and there might not be clarity for a while, you know. Um.
I talked to some people around the league, some executs
who think that the Packers will dig in here and
just wait him out and then hey, if you don't
show up, we'll find you and play Jordan's Love. Um.
(15:46):
There are others that think that that the Packers already
making some plans behind the scenes. Maybe they get a
backup quarterback here fairly soon. Because they only have Jordan's
Love and Aaron Rodgers on the roster, they could maybe
try to get you know, an older veteran mentor for
love started out there. Maybe maybe start to apply some
pressure there. Um. The only way this saves, I think,
just after asking around, is that Rogers just gets a
(16:09):
completely new contract, that they start a cave and give
him a massive deal which ends the Jordan Love experiment.
But I don't think they want to do that. They
like the flexibility right now of of the They can
have a double take, right they can. They can double
Rogers contract didn't get out of in twenty two, and
then they still have Jordan Love waiting, and Rogers knows
they have that flexibility and doesn't like it, so he's
(16:29):
applying major pressure. So Okay, so you keep saying they,
is they go to Kunst who I probably keep butchering
his name, or is they Mark Murphy? Is Murphy who
is the big boss that I guess the guy who
hired the GM. Do we know what side he's on here?
Because you know they already had the Brett Farve situation
blow up in their face. That was extremely ugly. You
(16:49):
actually covered far of in Minnesota. Um, but do they
want to like test Aaron? Uh stop, let me stop.
Is there an example of a superstar quarterback, a top
ten quarterback all time ever getting fined by his team
for holding out? It's a good question. I can't imagine
that it's going to get that ugly, Like you don't
(17:10):
want to be that Like how much money has Aaron
Rodgers made everybody in the Green Bay Packers organization. Well,
we're in a different era now right where you don't
just wait out players until August in September, you trade
them now right like that because fans are too smart.
You gotta get the draft capital and so you know,
you can't just risk losing him for nothing or having
(17:30):
them retires. You gotta get some for in Rodgers, you
can get multiple first round picks you can get players.
I think Deshaun Watson maybe would have been the first
because Houston was so dug in uh that you know
they were maybe went waiting, willing to wait that out
and start finding when you didn't show up, because now
with the new c b A, if you're a veteran
on a second contract, they can start taking your money. Um.
And Nickkissario was that. I think he had that rep
(17:52):
as a new GM to be able to try to
set that limit. Now I think that Houston's moving on.
I mean, it's pretty obvious. They draft Davis Mills, they
got Tyrod Taylor. I think they're ready to roll with
those two guys and wait till Deshaun Watson's cases is
cleared up and then maybe make a move there. Um. So,
but I think he could have been the one to
show up and get fine or if if he stayed away. Uh.
(18:12):
But it's you're right, there's not much precedent for especially now.
You try to get the assets best you can, and
so Mark Murphy is trying to play both sides. I
think you know, I would be shocked if he goes
and says, Okay, I'm gonna fire my GM to make
Aaron Rodgers happy. I just I don't see that move
for a place that traditional. Um, you know, they're not
(18:33):
a new age team. They they stayed pretty steady and
how you know they're they're very measured and how they act.
They're kind of like the Steelers, right, They're not gonna
make brash moves necessarily. So I just don't see that. So,
you know, unless they can bridge the gap with a contract,
I don't know. There's a lot of a lot of
compromising to be done right now. It's just a matter
of if Rogers wants to come back. But you know,
Green Bay is a small town, right, It's not like
New York City, where if you're the GM and you
(18:54):
try to run off Eli Manning, you can try to hide, right,
And that, by the way, blew up in their face
as well. Is there a scenario where the GM, you know,
maybe gets reassigned in the front office or Murphy just says,
I'm sorry, we want to placate our quarterback who's a superstar,
who's a legend, and we want to keep him, and sorry, Gudakins,
(19:16):
I'm overruling. You can that happen, It's possible, but we
have to remember to the Jordan Love pick had to
be signed off by somebody, and that's somebody is Mark Murphy.
So it goes to the top. So they were probably
all on lockstep. Um, and I think, you know, I
can't speak for Matt let Flora, but I think and
he wanted he came to Green Bay to coach Aaron Rodgers,
and I think he likes Jordan's Love. And and look,
(19:37):
we know Rogers is. I think it's pretty well documented
he's not the easiest guy to coach and too to
play for to manage. I think that's become pretty clear. So, um,
there's probably some people on the ability that like the
idea of Jordan's Love right now, make no mistake, they
want Rogers back. That made that clear. But um, you know,
this is Jordan's Love is a Murphy call. And now
(19:58):
it's a call at the Mark, at the Martin Murphy level,
whether they move on or they keep Rogers. I do
wonder we saw Andrew Luck shockingly retire. It seems like
the Colts by all accounts, were blindsided. But then they
did not make him pay back the twenty four million.
I mean, Aaron Rodgers apparently would have to pay back
forty million if he retired early. Let me ask you,
(20:20):
Jeremy Rogers seems to be going through I don't midlife
crisis is a bit strong, but up and started hosting Jeopardy. Okay,
and then he goes and gets engaged to you know
this actress, and I don't know. It almost feels like
is is he in that? I'm in a transition mode. Hey,
you know what, I'm gonna try Jeopardy. I've got to
(20:41):
have a life after football. I'm gonna I'm getting engaged.
You know, I don't need this drama from the Packers.
You guys can have Darren, you can have Jordan's love.
I'm gonna go do my thing. Can you see that happening?
Oh see, Andrew Luck was such a unique situation because
he had so many injuries and plus, like you mentioned,
you know, he's These franchise quarterbacks make a lot of
(21:01):
money for their team. So the Colts knew, and Jim
Mercy knew the owner that Andrew Luck had made them
some money. They have done well, they made the playoffs,
so hey, let's just let him keep the signing bonus
that the check we wrote a few years ago. So
the Packers could maybe do that to make the problem
go away, so to speak. But um, I think they'd
rather trade him if he wants to keep playing. Uh yeah,
(21:21):
I mean if if he went and did the Jeopardy
full time, if he got that gig. It sounds like
he would seriously consider it. He seems really into it.
He seems really engaged. So if you get offered that job,
you don't take any contact, you make ten million a
year or whatever it is. Um, that would be a
a paid decrease for him. But um, you know, certainly
I could see it the packers. I don't know, that's
(21:41):
a lot of money to just let him keep for
just a couple of years. I mean, we saw Calvin
Johnson and Detroit. Now that was a little ugly. He
had a couple of years left on his deal. They
made a payback some of the signing bonus, and it's
been very tenuous even since then. So they're just starting
to now reconcile. This would be even uglier because they
already he had friction and then they asked for more money.
(22:02):
That would be you might be onto something. Maybe they
wouldn't ask her that money. I'm I'm curious did you
happen to know a ballpark on the Calvin Johnson number?
Because I've had forgotten that one. I think it was
only a few million left. But it's like, you know
that that signing bonus pro rates. So whatever deal he
had done, it was a six year deal and he
had some left on it, but it was it might
have only been like a million or two. I don't
think it was a massive number, but it's like, come on, really,
(22:24):
I produced for you. I'm a Hall of Fame guy,
and you're gonna ask me to pay back like money
that you probably don't need. Um, But in this case,
that's a big signing bonus. UM. Plus, they just gave
him a six point eight million dollar roster bonus. So
there are a lot of dynamics here. Employ Or if
he walked away, you know, it's convenient for him to
say I want to walk away because it applies pressure
on them now and that's part of his leverage. Uh.
(22:46):
You you covered a bunch of good quarterbacks in the NFL.
Ben Roethlisberger, Uh, Aaron Rodgers, Brett far I'm just curious.
You know, Roethlisberger's near the end, and in this offseason
I thought Pittsburgh. You know they didn't they didn't have
a plan, bat, they didn't make a move really in
free agency. I'm not counting Haskins. Um, where are you on,
big Big Ben? Do you think? I mean, is this
(23:06):
it for him? His wants on? Probably? So he's thirty nine, Yeah,
and he's got I mean, you know, when you take
a five million dollar salary cut, I don't care how
you slice it. Um. Even if he's helping the team,
which is good on him to do that, but like
you know, that's always a bad sign. That's always a
sign of declining play. If he had a monster year,
(23:27):
they wouldn't have asked him to do that. Um. So
you know, he goes from nine to fourteen million. It's
a pay cut. It is what it is. So you
have to think that his declining play. Anytime a guy
takes one, it's it's near the end. Um. You know
that said, they felt like he could still do enough,
if they could get him more of a running game.
They feel like, okay, maybe we have something for one
more year. Catch lighting in a bottle, maybe get in
(23:48):
the playoffs. Makes a noise and then you reassess. But
you know, I think they're thinking in two thousand twenty
two they can then they can not necessarily blow it up,
but look harder at quarterback options. But this is another franchise.
They're not like They're like the Packers. They're they're very conventional.
You know. They got Dwayne Haskins, which Mike Tomlin always
liked his talent. I think they said, hey, let's let's
get him in our building for a year. Maybe we
(24:10):
can sort of juvenate him a little bit, you knowing,
knowing the talents there. And they signed Mason Rudolph to
a contract extension. People with debate whether he's the answer not,
but they do still like him. They had a high
grade on him in the draft. They think, hey, maybe
in twenty two at least have him under contract. He
could start a few games as a one year bridge guy.
I'm wondering, Jeremy, why I just started thinking about this.
(24:30):
Why are ending so ugly at quarterback? I mean, listen,
in the NBA, it happens, you know. I tell people
like Patrick Ewing didn't end up with the Knicks at
the end of his career, a Larjah One ended up
with the Raptors. Like this kind of thing happens sometimes
but in the NFL, Like, it's just weird when you
see Joe Montana in a Chiefs jersey. You know, Peyton
played a few years in Denver, Um, tom Brady and Tampa,
(24:52):
but between four I can't see Roethlisberger playing anywhere else.
He he looks shot. At the end of the season.
In the playoff game, he was bad. Um. I don't know,
It's just I can't imagine Aaron Rodgers putting on a
Denver Broncos jersey. That just is a tough one for me.
I know it. It's it goes down to like all
these players, or most of them, you know, they feel
like they can still do it for more time, whether
(25:14):
they can or not. Tom Brady could, some others could not,
And so when you can, it gets ugly and you
get forced out. Um. Yeah, I mean I'm trying to
think of Rodgers in any other jersey. Uh, and Denver's
really the only place that makes sense. Yeah, the Raiders.
Apparently the Raiders. Some reporter claimed that there was interest.
I don't. Rogers doesn't seem like a Vegas guy. Him
(25:37):
and Gruden seem like oil and water, like or oil
and oil. I don't never makes a ton of sense,
it really does. They got a new GM that that's
really well respected. They got a ton and he's collaborative,
which Rogers obviously wants a ton of weapons. Three good receivers,
good defense. Like it makes a lot of sense. And
I think I think Rogers would take pride and trying
to beat myhomes every year and like, you know, being
(25:58):
in that same division. Um. But yeah, it's just it's
these teams. It's calculated, you know. It's all about the
money and the performance. And if a player, however great
he's been, doesn't match that, it rarely ends well unless
you just kind of ride into a Super Bowl sunset,
which Peyton Manning and John Elway did, but not very
many have. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk
(26:18):
lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at
Fox sports Radio dot com and within the I Heart
Radio app search f s R to listen live. Urban
Meyer is back. Is in back coach again. He's in
the NFL. And I don't want to say the media
gave him a pass at Ohio State, but I feel like,
and I don't want to give you too much credit
(26:39):
to but when he was at Florida, I feel like
you and other reporters kind of held his feet to
the fire back when the Gators had a bunch of
off field stuff. Um, I'm curious how you think urban
Meyer will transition to the NFL. So it's that's interesting
because I we're to what I think Urban might actually show,
(27:02):
uh and reveal more than he has or or has
been given credit for. Honestly, is the football acumen. I
do think he's wired like a Bill Belichick or Kyle Shanahan.
I'm not saying he's at their schematic level, but he
might be pretty close. Like he knows all twenty two
positions exactly, every nuance of how they should step, where
they should be. You know, how the left guard should
shade on a run blocking player. He's really pretty brilliant
(27:25):
with that step. So I think he might actually show
a little bit where he didn't get a lot of
credit because it's like the spread offense and oh, you
just have a bunch of five star guys at Ohio
State and you can you can maul people. But um,
he's actually pretty good at that stuff. So I think
he could scheme his way into some wins. Um. But
you know the problem is there, you know, I mean,
they're they're pretty short on talent. He saw in the draft.
(27:46):
They just had to get whatever they good at every position.
I mean, like you know, corner, safety, linebacker, Like the
whole defense is pretty pretty thin. So if it doesn't
go well early on. And plus we don't know how
he's gonna handle losing because he's never had to lose,
and when he does lose, he's shown maybe he hasn't
handled the best at Florida with with you know, retiring
and coming back and retiring again. So that's the question
(28:07):
is you know, how how long can he sustain it? Um?
What's the shelf life for an urban Meyer era? Is
it five years? Um? That seems to be you know
the kind of the case, five or six years. So yeah,
Jim Harball like right, kind of yeah. I mean that's
been the m O so Um. But I think schematically
held actually be pretty good. Um. I think he understands
like I gotta be hands off, like I can't be Mr.
(28:28):
Intensity all the time. Like I think he gets that. Um.
But you know, you're if you're taking a running back
in the first round saying Travis is gonna be a
third down back, Like I'm trying to figure out what
his plan is, or if he's naive, or if he
actually has a master plan and we don't understand yet.
Maybe he was just saying that to play Kate the
undrafted kid Robinson who had a really good year, although
I think he might suppressing. Honestly, well, I'm bullish on
(28:51):
the Jacks. I guess Jeremy my question, Like in Columbus,
he was, you know, the biggest deal in Ohio. If
he talked about a presidential race, like people would react.
He's kind of hidden in Jacksonville. It's kind of not
a big NFL market, you could argue as the smallest.
They have to play every year there in London. Um
is will he be kind of protected being in one
(29:12):
of those small markets in kind of a bad division
or will the spotlight of Trevor Lawrence, who you know
should be an incredible NFL player, or will that just
bring a lot of attention regardless of the market. I
think you're absolutely protected. I mean, Dave called well, the
GM lasted a long time. I don't remember the exact years,
but they had a lot of losing seasons and he
did some good things and made some you know, some
(29:32):
good trades. And got some good players. They had that
one playoff year where they they almost got to the
super Bowl. But Doug Maron Dave called ball lasted longer
in Jacksonville. They would have been New York with that
same scenario with the games they lost. So I do
think the leash is longer. I do think you can
hide a little bit there because of the market. It's
clearly a number thirty two, uh, thirty one or thirty
two as far as interest, and so you know, that
(29:52):
can kind of help you a little bit. So you know,
I think I think that he probably welcomes that at
this point, knowing that if you win games, people will care,
and if you lose games, like you know, you can
at least work your way through it a little bit
until I want to quickly go to Cleveland. So you
did get to cover the Johnny Manziel experience. First of all,
did you have to move to Cleveland for that? What
(30:13):
was that like? And then you know, second of all, like, um,
you know, I guess I like the Browns a lot
like your rationally, So I think you can make an
argument they have arguably the second best roster in the
a f C. That's how stacked they are. I'm sure
Ravens fans would disagree. Um, but I just, I guess
talk about Cleveland where they were with you and Menzela
(30:33):
and then where they are now. Yeah. So I was
in Minnesota covering the Vikings and I moved to Cleveland
in two fourteen to cover the Browns. No. No, I
was in Chicago in between there doing college football. But
then I moved to Cleveland, says Johnny's first year, and
they were they were like seven and four with Brian
Hoyer and like Andrew Hawkins and like all those guys,
Jordan Cameron at tight end, like they were just somehow
(30:54):
winning games. Um. And then it just all fell apart
and they put Johnny in and he was just woefully
up paired, like and then the stories that were pouring
out of there, like it was just every worst case
scenario of Manzil amplified by ten, Like it was just
a complete mess of just how you know, his life
was in disarray. Um, And so it was. It was interesting.
I only covered that team for a year and then
(31:16):
ESPN movie to the Steelers and then I eventually moved
to Pittsburgh. But it was, yeah, it was a different times,
it's a very like they were still trying to figure
it out. You had a new owner who was Jimmy
Haslm who was kind of all over the place and
just throwing darts on the wall trying to figure it out.
Now they have figured it out, but at the time,
you know, you had I remember over here on one
(31:37):
of the funniest lines I heard, and it told me like,
this is probably a bad sign in Cleveland. Is they
beat the Bengals to go I think six and four,
so they were on top of the ANFC North the
first time in a long time. And then I heard
some executives coming out of the locker room afterward and
they were high five and hugging each other, and then
one of them goes, We're going to Vegas, baby, really loud,
all media around, and I'm like, you know, what these
(31:59):
guys are is not, Like the football culture is just
not What is that executive still in the NFL Jeremy
uh No, at least one of them is not. But
like they just you know what I mean, Like the
stereotypes of Cleveland were like, yeah, they're just not ready.
They're gonna fumble this, and they did. That's what happened.
But um, now it's way different, and you're right, they're
(32:19):
they're absolutely loaded. Um. I mean I think they have
like ten new starters on defense, or ten guys who
could start or had started last year on their defense
between injury and free agency and the draft, or you know,
like capable starters in the draft. So there. I mean,
the pressure is gonna be on defensive coordinator Joe Woods
to get it done. He wanted help. He didn't have
a lot of it last year. Now he does. Yeah. Um,
(32:40):
I'm just curious if memory serves Johnny football, Like I
didn't show up at a Saturday practice. They couldn't find him.
It turns out he had like a raging KEG party.
Do you do you remember covering that? Covering that? Yes,
So I don't know exactly what the party was. I
don't recall that, Um, but I know like security had
to go to his house and find him, and and
(33:01):
then when they did, you know he was he didn't play.
I think you know he was he was on. He
was out for that game anyway because he had gotten
hurt like a hamstring. That's right, he's missing the final game.
But they essentially had to suspend them and then they
you know, it wasn't good. But were there a lot
of guys on the team hanging with him at the
at the part? I mean, was it based on the
culture issue some but like he hung out with Josh
(33:22):
Gordon some um and then obviously Josh had his problems,
but they've and then so yeah, I think some teammates
hung out with him here there. I mean, he was
very well light. He just he just wasn't ready at
that stage, you know what I mean, like you just
showed up and didn't do the plays and stuff like that.
And I guess I should wrap up asking about another
guy who um is kind of you know, small ish
(33:43):
white quarterback who looked very I don't want to say immature,
but just looked young at the draft. Uh, And that
Zach Wilson of my jets. Um, I will say, you
watch the highlight reel and Zach Wilson looks like he's
making the place, and you read, oh he's got the
quick twitch stuff of my home it there's a if
you squint, you can see a little Aaron Rodgers and
(34:04):
I just I don't know, I'm so excited and optimistic
because we haven't had a franchise quarterback with the Jets
and forever. But I don't know, like, where are you
on Zach Wilson? What are you hearing? So, I mean,
you know, it's funny and this is a small majority,
but I didn't talk to enough people around the league
that thought, like if if the hype around Trevor Lawrence
(34:25):
hadn't built for three years and Zach Wilson might actually
make a compelling case for number one, like among a
small majority, like maybe ten to fift percent um. But
I've talked to a few enough respective people are like,
I think you at least make it interesting, Like if
I was picking number one, I would at least think
about it, because it's the it's like the maybe it's
just the Aaron Rodgers bias. Everybody wants that the wild
(34:45):
throws and all the off platform throws and all that.
But he really is highly highly skilled at that to
the point where teams are like, man, you could really
create with this guy. It's like Steph or what like,
you know when you think of like the creativity of
the game and what you can do and making plays
on the run and all that. So Trevor is the
total Trevor's the total package, he's a better prospect, but
Zack ceiling because of that. You know, now granted he
(35:08):
was teams are concerned that, like, Okay, the bodywork is small,
he didn't play anybody, and he's thrown and he's got
an ocean of a pocket. It's not even a pocket.
It's like just it's got nobody around him and he
can just make the throw cleanly. So you know, how
does he react to that? We don't know, like how
does he handle pressure? All those things? But I mean,
I think it became really clear very early on in
(35:29):
the draft process that he would be number two. Like,
it wasn't It wasn't like something that the team had
to debate. Everybody just knew Zach was the second best. Yeah,
it's weird. Like Aaron Rodgers, you think back to his
time at Cal, you know, two year starter, put up
monster numbers, was no doubt an awesome, awesome talent, But
like Zack, Wilson didn't go into last season as the
(35:49):
definite starter at b y U E to like win
the job because the previous years he had been hurt.
Like what what's your confidence level in a guy who
has shown it again for one year in a COVID year.
I mean, I don't want to say there's a little
zach Levine to borrow an NBA name, Like Zach Levine
looked has looked incredible this year, but like half the
league is hurting, you know, like it's just an awkward
(36:10):
year in the NBA. What what if this is just
a weird year in college football? Because Jeremy be honest, like,
had anybody mentioned the name Zach Wilson to you before
last college football season? Yeah? Not until I remember like
hearing from a few agents that were like study quarterbacks,
like you got watch after this kid, but it was
more like underground at that point. It wasn't really Um yeah,
(36:30):
he definitely was not known before the game one of
the season, like it was sort of you kind of
had to search them out. But then like the moment
he started throwing the ball and they had a few
Thursday night games or whatever, it was like they had
just enough nationally televised action where you get to see
him live. Um, and and the buzz grew really fast
after that. Um, you know, but and I think teams
knew about him that You're right, it was like the
(36:51):
shoulder injury and you know, there's some questions and um,
you know, and I think the COVID season helped him, right,
Like there it was a weird year and there weren't
probably enough storylines that there normally wouldn't be with some
of the pageant trade schools. So it's like, okay, who's
this kid? And he got more played than maybe he
would have. Yeah, it's weird. I looked at the draft.
(37:11):
I'm not gonna try to bore you with who's good. Um,
it's all a projection. But everybody wants to find the
Zach Wilson, the Kyler Murray, uh, the Joe Burrow, the
guy who comes out of nowhere has a monster year
and becomes like an early pick. But let's be kind
of honest. And I mean, but it's not like Burrow
one much. In his first year he looked pretty good.
(37:33):
But like it's it's good one thing to do it
in college, but then to do in the NFL. Like
we see the turnover, like Whence gone, golf gone, Like
I don't know, is this maybe this is the new cycle?
You know, teams make a run with the quarterback, but
when it comes time to pay him, we're gonna start
to cycle over, let's build around the rookie quarterback. Yeah,
that's been talked about by a number of teams, Like
(37:54):
do we start the draft a guy every three years
even if we have a star? Right, Like let's say
h Allen's probably bad example because I think he's like
becoming a top guy. But let's say the Bill said, Okay, well,
you know we can't pay that guy and still feel
a competitive team under the salary cap constraints, So let's
just draft another guy, no matter how will Alan played. Now,
I think Buffalo is going to pay him and he's
(38:15):
the guy, But teams are at leased talking about that
model now, UM, Like Russell Wilson in Seattle, you know
they've had their problems. Uh, you know, Russell wants more
help and he's getting it this offseason. They've tried, you know,
and I think they're in a better place. But I
think Seattle was like, how much can we do with
this contract? You know it's it's a big number. Um,
(38:36):
I think all you know, Kirk Cousins is a forty
five million dollar cap hit in UM. Now the dead
salary cap money is the same amount. So maybe it's
a wash if you move on. But like Yeah, these
are the numbers are so outrageous and at the at
the c b A last year and they're negotiating that,
um the I know the NFL wanted a sort of
(38:59):
like max slot, kind of like in the NBA. They
talked about him, like, you know, you can set aside
cap for one player, which would basically be a quarterback rule,
right because every all the quarterbacks were the highest paid. Yes,
and the players wouldn't go for it for obvious reasons.
You know, they don't want to a competitive and balance.
But that was the league was trying to get in
front of that. And now that they have ten more
(39:21):
years of ballooning quarterback money, but the cap is sort
of what it is, and you're trying to manage and
sign ten other stars like they're wondering did we just
keep drafting rookies? Like That's definitely a conversation point. I'll
get you out of here on this. I did have
someone in the league when I kept saying I would
never pay Dak forty mail, I would never pay him
forty someone texted me like, Jay, the cap is gonna
(39:42):
be going up, Like this is gonna be the new
normal in three years. Dax deal is not gonna look bad.
The cap is gonna keep going up and I and
I was a little surprised that people think it's gonna
keep going up in perpetuity, that oh, CAP's gonna go
up twenty mil and then thirty Like can this be?
Can this continue to happen in the league? May be,
it's not an issue. I don't know. Yeah, I mean
the forecasts are big, for sure, So it's difficult right now.
(40:04):
It's supposed to be easier three years from now. And
that's why Dad wanted a four year deal and he
wouldn't do five years. Even the year before when they
were negotiating, he wouldn't do that because he saw this
you know, kind of windfall coming. He wants to do
the four years and then get back on it and
get a new deal at fifty million or whatever it's
gonna be. It's gonna be crazy, but um, those numbers
are gonna keep going up to so it's still gonna
be a challenge for some of these teams. Now, Like
(40:27):
I know, teams like to hide behind the salary cap
has this big problem and they can usually get around
it anyways, But there's still a question like how many stars.
Can you pay right now? Right? Like and seven? Maybe
like seven veterans on what are the Rams have? Like four?
Like yeah, I mean Stafford Ramsey, Uh, Aaron Donald. Maybe
(40:49):
it's just three Leonard Floyd. Um, oh that's right, Leonard Floyd. Yeah,
I guess if you're right, you can you can try
that strategy. I like how the Rams are getting creative
right though. They're trying something that nobody else is trying.
Like I give them points for that. Yeah, no first
round picks in like twenty eight years or whatever it is.
That's what it feels like. Yeah, I mean I actually
joked a less neat about that because I was like, man,
you guys are getting a mansion for your draft party.
(41:10):
You don't even have a first round pick, like, you know,
it's kind of it shows that they're independent, you know
what I mean? Like I kind of like that. And
he said, yeah, we're not trying to uh we respect
to everybody does their job. We don't have all the answers.
We're just trying some new stuff that we think's gonna work.
We're gonna try to hit on our day two picks
and hit on her home grown talent and pay the
stars and then you know, if we don't have first
(41:32):
round picks as a result, that's okay. Yeah, they got
the kid to to at well, um real tiny guy,
but McVeigh will probably scheme him up like Tyreek Hill
or something. Right, they got him and de Sewan now
I mean they got too I forgot about him. Yeah,
they got speed. Yeah that's what they needed to They
needed burners, and they had Matt Stafford with the cannon
right just unloading if he can get protection. So all right,
(41:54):
Jeremy Fowler ESPN, great stuff as always, Jeremy, thanks a
lot for the time and keep up the good work. Yeah,
Jason YouTube man, appreciate having me
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What's up, party people,
that's your boy, Jason McIntyre Straight Fire for Wednesday May five.
Hope everybody had a joyous May fourth. You've got the
Star Wars jokes out of your system. Then last night
you watched a little NBA action, which we'll get too shortly,
(00:28):
but I gotta tease our guest today, um NFL reporter
Jeremy Fowler from ESPN. He he's kind of risen in
the ranks. I guess he's like one of their top
NFL reporters now. I mean I've known him for a while.
He's pretty meteoric rise from you know, like a team
reporter to a national reporter. He covers everything, and this
is the guy who covered Bret Farvin Minnesota, Johnny Football
(00:50):
in Cleveland, Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh. I mean, he's got
stories about all of them. It's good stuff. I think
you're gonna like what he has to say about the Packers.
I'm just gonna say this, Andrew Luck retired early from
the Colts, and the Colts didn't make him payback twenty
four million dollars. That is a topic that we talked about,
(01:12):
because remember Aaron Rodgers, if he goes through with this
retirement thing, everybody thinks it's a bluff. He would have
to potentially owe the team in the neighborhood of forty
mill That's a lot more than Andrew Luck. Now consider
Andrew Lux, you know, twenty four million dollar parachute payment,
thank you for your service and leading us to the
(01:34):
playoffs a bunch of times. Aaron Rodgers has done much
more than that in Green Bay. But a contentious ending
could color that. It's a good topic. I think you're
gonna like this with Jeremy Fowler really quickly. Off the top,
I want to just touch on a couple of NBA items.
First of all, this news that Lebron is gonna miss
both big games this week, the Thursday night game against
the paper Clips and then the Friday night game against
(01:57):
the Blazers not ideal. Not ideal for the Lakers chances
of avoiding that playing game. That being said, I think
some bigger things happen in the league. Now. Again, there's
about five or six games, maybe seven for some teams
left in the season, and I don't want to put
too much emphasis on games that happened late. If you
(02:18):
listen to yesterday's pod, you know this. We've been through this.
Lebron and his team sometimes fade late. They don't really care.
They're disinterested. The playoffs matter. Okay, Bucks Nets was an
interesting game and result, folks, Just so you know, the
Brooklyn Nets tried really really hard to win that game.
(02:39):
They want the number one seed. If you are, the
top three teams in the East by far are the Sixers,
the Nets, and the Bucks. Two of those will have
to meet in the second round. Whoever gets the number
one seed likely faces like Miami slash New York in
the second round. That is a significantly easier matchup. Then
(02:59):
go in tote tote with uh, the Nets are Bucks. Okay,
So if the Sixers get that number one seed and
they're now up one and a half games thanks to
the Nets loss in Milwaukee, UM, and the Nets tried hard. Listen.
Katie played forty minutes, scored thirty two points. Kyrie Irving
played thirty nine minutes, scored thirty eight points. It was
pretty clear that that bench. Remember how Bruce Brown had
(03:23):
delivered and Nick Claxton had delivered, and um, they've had guys,
show out. Landry Shambo, by the way, was awful one
for eight. Uh, just a bad game from him. But
just remember add James Harden to that trio. They're not
gonna be going to deep into the bench here when
you get to the big playoff games. This what this
felt like a playoff game. The Bucks come out on top.
(03:46):
I mean, they just had too much offense. Janics got
whatever he wanted. I mean he scored thirty six on
thirty shots. He was pretty good from the line ten
at twelve, which is uncharacteristic for him. But when Drew
Holiday is gonna go ten and eight, Dante de Vincenzo
ten points, fifteen rebounds, and then Chris Middleton twenty three points.
(04:07):
Bucks look, folks, Bucks look really good. With Brent Forbes
is coming off the bench with fourteen points. Uh, this
is a Bucks team. I'm not going overboard. P J.
Tucker is still getting worked into the mix. Bucks look
good and for the first time, and really in two years,
the Bucks kind of come into this as a bit
(04:28):
of an underdog. If you remember the last two years
they were favored to beat the Raptors. They lad that
series to nothing, then gagged it away to Kauai. Then
last year they kind of sputtered going into the bubble
and then they got stomped out by the Heat in
the second round when there were a big expectations, the
Bucks collapsed. Not a lot of expectations this year because
everybody's talking about the Nets and then there's you know,
(04:49):
the Joel Embiid fanboys out there. So big result, bad
one for the Nets, and again they don't have James Harden.
James Harden changes things significantly, but just watching a little
of that game, I do wonder how much does he
change things? Are we saying Kyrie Irving is taking not
shots but eighteen? Um, what's the bent rotation look like?
(05:11):
I'm just curious, like, can you play k D Harden
and Kyrie forty in a pivotal Game five and a
pivotal game six, pivotal game seven? I don't know. There's
still there's just a lot of unanswered questions about the
Bucks heading into the postseason. So not a good result
for them for the Nets. The Bucks again, impressive win
for Milwaukee. I quickly want to go over to Scott
(05:33):
Brooks and the Wizards. We haven't done a ton on
Russell Westbrook. There is a lot of people out there
who constantly are telling me, j you gotta give Russell
Westbrook his his his flowers. Come on, give it to him,
give it to him. Come on. He's been incredible. True story,
Russell Westbrook has been fantastic. I mean, he's putting up
monster numbers. They have a big one tonight against the Bucks.
(05:54):
The Wizards are in the playoffs. I'm spinning it forward.
I'm not saying do the do the Wizards have a
chance to pull it up set. I don't really care
if they could go from the ten to the seven,
and I don't care about that sty irrelevant. The big story,
you guys, think about it this way. The two biggest
names you've been hearing disgruntled star to head to form
a trio with somebody or Bradley Beale and Carl Anthony Towns.
(06:17):
Bradley Beale earlier in the season was so bitter with
the Whiz. There was a there was a game he
had buried his hands, his head in his hands on
the sideline, was just devastated, not speaking. There were defensive
assignments where he would just stand there and um he
was he was disinterested, he was unhappy and it was like,
all right, where's Bradley Bell gonna go? He's the big
story next offseason. And now Russell Westbrook and saved the day.
(06:41):
And Russell Westbrook all of a sudden playing out of
his mind. Rui Hachimura one of my favorite names in
the NBA. Like, they're playing well. I think it's safe
to say they're gonna be a playoff team, and Bradley
Beale is going to be removed from the offseason equation
of who's the star, who's gonna one out? Now? The
x have played well to the point where you expect
(07:03):
someone to say, I want to go play with Thibodeau
and Randall in New York. New York's happening again. There's
a number four seed, Like there's a vibe there. It's
a vibe, as they say on Instagram. But I wonder
about Carl Anthony Towns. The Wolves have climbed out of
the basement, and D'Angelo Russell's finally healthy, Anthony Edwards showing out.
He made the Rookie of the Year. Thing interesting, LaMelo
(07:24):
Ball was a runaway winner, got hurt, Anthony Edwards just
kept getting buckets, and you're like, oh uh, this is
kind of an interesting deal. Now they're not making the playoffs.
That's definitely not happening. They are twenty and forty five,
but showing signs of improvement. Kind of nice. And can
(07:44):
they leap frog Okay, see Cleveland Orlando in that race too.
If they lose the pick, they give it to Golden State.
Instead of it being five, four or five, it's like
eight or nine, which would not really help Golden State. Um.
And you know Minnesota is the pick in the top three,
they keep it. Um. You know, I think there's a
(08:07):
case where Carling Anthony town says, you know what, I
think I'm gonna stay. And now you're looking at an
NBA off season, the first in a long ass time, folks,
we're there's gonna be no player movement. I will give
you a sleeper name. I'm just gonna put it out there.
I'm not saying he wants out, because he's all along said,
I don't want out. Damian Lillard, my guy, you know,
(08:30):
I'm a Damian Lillard fan. He spoke to Chris Haynes recently,
and Damian Lillard and Chris Haynes had like a sit down,
and Lillard was not thrilled at like the direction and
you don't want to read too much into it, but
it was curious timing because it came at a point
where Portland's still fighting for a playoff spot. And I
(08:54):
mean Lillard wasn't briefly an m VP candidate. Um, I
don't know. It almost felt like Damian Little was not happy.
They went to the UM Conference finals two years ago.
They got swept by Golden State, but come on, it
was the Juggernaut Warriors. Um. I don't think Dame's gonna
ask out. But at the same time, I don't know
(09:17):
that trading c. J. McCollum is gonna affects what they need.
What would they need? Well, I thought they had a
wing in Robert Cumington. Clearly not the case. So I
don't know. I mean on the NBA front, like you
need a star to one out to drive the NBA
off season cycle. Otherwise, free agency is kind of irrelevant
(09:37):
now the only other name, And again Dame is a
massive reach because he has always said he don't want
to go anywhere. Should be all say I'm cool in Washington,
let's do this, and Karl Anthony town says we're building
something in many the other guy has to be Kawhi
Leonard and I have floated Kawhi Leonard and the Phoenix
Suns a couple of times in the off season. I
(09:57):
got laughed at, that's fine. I don't know why. Don't
mind going out of a limb. It's worked for me
throughout my career in sports media. It's got me to
where I am. I'm fine going out a limb saying
Kawai could be that guy. Let's watch the Clippers in
the playoffs. They have Rondo? Is he the solution? Just
before we get to Jeremy Fowler real quick? I can't
(10:19):
wait to see how Reggie Jackson, who's played well in
the last two months since Patrick Beverley has been hurt.
I can't wait to see what happens in a playoff
series when Reggie Jackson, who's again played very well for
this team look good, is banished to the bench and
getting like ten minutes because they have pet Bevan Rondo.
Reggie Jackson famously and okay, see was chirping because he
(10:39):
couldn't get minutes behind Westbrook and he's like, I'm as
good as Russ I need to be out there. They
just shift his ass out of town Clippers. Long way
to go for those guys in the West. All right,
Without further adode, let's get to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.
Jason likes to think he knows everything when it comes
to sports. I know what sports stands once, But for
(11:01):
everything he doesn't, he knows a guy who does. Let's
just say I know a guy who knows a guy
who knows another guy. All right, let's welcome into straight fire.
A guy I've known she's probably fifteen years because he's
covered the NFL, covered college football at its best, Urban
Meyer in Florida. Jeremy Fowler from ESPN, Jeremy, how are you, man?
(11:23):
I'm good, Jameson, Thanks for having me. I think the
last time I saw you was at the combine once
up a time, Yes, indeed combined back when I was
going there to try to figure out any fun interesting nuggets,
and that's when I really started to dig into the
mock drafts. Personally. I love the draft, Jeremy. I don't
know from from your perspective, it's probably a little tougher, right,
you gotta actually cover it and do a lot of stuff. Yeah,
I thought the draft was great this year. Though, like, yeah,
(11:45):
I'm still interested in the draft and it's three days
you know, gone. Um, I think the no combine almost
added an extra layer to it. And then because nobody
really knew how it was going to shake out and
what San Frame was doing for about a month and
you know, you're trying to piece it all the other
it was crazy, I mean. And and even these teams
like up until the last day were waiting on medical
information on a guy they might draft in the first round. Um,
(12:08):
it was a complete chaos with no combine, like they
were getting all these results really late in the process,
even some top guys. So it was It was interesting,
for sure, and I'm just curious how did you handle it?
From a coverage? Was everything from your house where you
are in Connecticut or where you've bouncing around the pro
days and stuff like that. So yeah, pro days are great.
I did go to Florida's Pro day because I was
(12:28):
doing UM, I was doing some Kyle Pitts. I did
a story and Kyle Pits and Gadarius Tony, So I
went down there. Uh, and that was cool, and uh,
that was pretty much like it was as loose as
I had seen UM from a like back to normal perspective,
Like there were hundreds of scouts and people like all
in the field hanging out and stuff. So it really
didn't feel like uh, one big precaution, you know, it's
(12:51):
kind of just um, it felt like normal a little bit.
And so, yeah, the I didn't hit. That was the
only pro day I went to. So I did everything
from home. You know, I got the basement set up,
and uh, you just you make your calls and you
go on air and try to talk about the draft.
So yeah, hey, let's start. You mentioned cal Darius Tony.
So this is one thing that I kind of have considered,
(13:13):
um when doing these mock drafts. And how like my
jets playing in New York cold weather town, the winds
pick up in the winter. You need to like tough guys.
And I'm not gonna knock Sam Donald, but warm weather
California kid. Okay, you just mentioned cal Darius Tony. Now
I believe the Giants traded back and scooped him up, right, Yes,
they traded back the Nine Spouts of Chicago. You yourself
(13:38):
are a guy from Florida and you are now living
up north in Connecticut. I'm just curious you obviously you're
not playing football, you're doing media stuff. But is there
something to that, you know like that, And I'm not
trying to generalize soft California kids, but I've been out
here now about five years and I'm gonna say it's
very easy and it's soft. I mean it is. It's
(13:59):
like a web. They're like, there's so many options and
you know, I play a bunch of pickup basketball and
not that that's a correlation to the NFL, but it's
a little softer out Like there is just this idea
like Kadarius Tony is a fast guy from the Floordigators.
How is he gonna mix with New York I'm just
any thoughts on that. Yeah, it's gonna test your toughness
(14:19):
for sure, But there's an intrigue with that too, Like
when you first go into the cold, you're like, oh,
I can do this and this is gonna be different
and fun and then where you know, it wears on
you after a while. But I think early on a
kid like that, though he's from Mobile, Alabama, he's you
know that that could be a tough area. Um, he's
pretty hard and so to speak, and uh, you know,
he's one of those really tough football guys that loves contacts.
(14:41):
I think he's actually gonna like it. Um, you know.
Zach Wilson is another one, right, coming from California, used
to throwing the ball around a b y U and
you know you've got a clean pocket, and um, you know,
it's a different mentality right now there's turf turf fields,
So maybe that helps a guy like Tony too. You
maintain your speed in the cold, and I think some
guys do like it. It's more about the may it
up than it is where you're from. Yeah, you know,
(15:03):
the perfect example is Aaron Rodgers. Of course, California kid
goes to Green Bay where it's freezing and he's utterly dominant.
But you've done a lot of reporting on this. The
situation now is, um, I guess like the biggest story
in the NFL probably for the next three months, like
Deshaun Watson for a minute was and now Rogers with
(15:24):
his alleged edict saying it's me or the g M.
I don't know where are you reporting wise on this?
And then just your thoughts on on Rogers. Yeah, this
is the story is going to dominate until there was clarity,
and there might not be clarity for a while, you know. Um.
I talked to some people around the league, some executs
who think that the Packers will dig in here and
just wait him out and then hey, if you don't
show up, we'll find you and play Jordan's Love. Um.
(15:46):
There are others that think that that the Packers already
making some plans behind the scenes. Maybe they get a
backup quarterback here fairly soon. Because they only have Jordan's
Love and Aaron Rodgers on the roster, they could maybe
try to get you know, an older veteran mentor for
love started out there. Maybe maybe start to apply some
pressure there. Um. The only way this saves, I think,
just after asking around, is that Rogers just gets a
(16:09):
completely new contract, that they start a cave and give
him a massive deal which ends the Jordan Love experiment.
But I don't think they want to do that. They
like the flexibility right now of of the They can
have a double take, right they can. They can double
Rogers contract didn't get out of in twenty two, and
then they still have Jordan Love waiting, and Rogers knows
they have that flexibility and doesn't like it, so he's
(16:29):
applying major pressure. So Okay, so you keep saying they,
is they go to Kunst who I probably keep butchering
his name, or is they Mark Murphy? Is Murphy who
is the big boss that I guess the guy who
hired the GM. Do we know what side he's on here?
Because you know they already had the Brett Farve situation
blow up in their face. That was extremely ugly. You
(16:49):
actually covered far of in Minnesota. Um, but do they
want to like test Aaron? Uh stop, let me stop.
Is there an example of a superstar quarterback, a top
ten quarterback all time ever getting fined by his team
for holding out? It's a good question. I can't imagine
that it's going to get that ugly, Like you don't
(17:10):
want to be that Like how much money has Aaron
Rodgers made everybody in the Green Bay Packers organization. Well,
we're in a different era now right where you don't
just wait out players until August in September, you trade
them now right like that because fans are too smart.
You gotta get the draft capital and so you know,
you can't just risk losing him for nothing or having
(17:30):
them retires. You gotta get some for in Rodgers, you
can get multiple first round picks you can get players.
I think Deshaun Watson maybe would have been the first
because Houston was so dug in uh that you know
they were maybe went waiting, willing to wait that out
and start finding when you didn't show up, because now
with the new c b A, if you're a veteran
on a second contract, they can start taking your money. Um.
And Nickkissario was that. I think he had that rep
(17:52):
as a new GM to be able to try to
set that limit. Now I think that Houston's moving on.
I mean, it's pretty obvious. They draft Davis Mills, they
got Tyrod Taylor. I think they're ready to roll with
those two guys and wait till Deshaun Watson's cases is
cleared up and then maybe make a move there. Um. So,
but I think he could have been the one to
show up and get fine or if if he stayed away. Uh.
(18:12):
But it's you're right, there's not much precedent for especially now.
You try to get the assets best you can, and
so Mark Murphy is trying to play both sides. I
think you know, I would be shocked if he goes
and says, Okay, I'm gonna fire my GM to make
Aaron Rodgers happy. I just I don't see that move
for a place that traditional. Um, you know, they're not
(18:33):
a new age team. They they stayed pretty steady and
how you know they're they're very measured and how they act.
They're kind of like the Steelers, right, They're not gonna
make brash moves necessarily. So I just don't see that. So,
you know, unless they can bridge the gap with a contract,
I don't know. There's a lot of a lot of
compromising to be done right now. It's just a matter
of if Rogers wants to come back. But you know,
Green Bay is a small town, right, It's not like
New York City, where if you're the GM and you
(18:54):
try to run off Eli Manning, you can try to hide, right,
And that, by the way, blew up in their face
as well. Is there a scenario where the GM, you know,
maybe gets reassigned in the front office or Murphy just says,
I'm sorry, we want to placate our quarterback who's a superstar,
who's a legend, and we want to keep him, and sorry, Gudakins,
(19:16):
I'm overruling. You can that happen, It's possible, but we
have to remember to the Jordan Love pick had to
be signed off by somebody, and that's somebody is Mark Murphy.
So it goes to the top. So they were probably
all on lockstep. Um, and I think, you know, I
can't speak for Matt let Flora, but I think and
he wanted he came to Green Bay to coach Aaron Rodgers,
and I think he likes Jordan's Love. And and look,
(19:37):
we know Rogers is. I think it's pretty well documented
he's not the easiest guy to coach and too to
play for to manage. I think that's become pretty clear. So, um,
there's probably some people on the ability that like the
idea of Jordan's Love right now, make no mistake, they
want Rogers back. That made that clear. But um, you know,
this is Jordan's Love is a Murphy call. And now
(19:58):
it's a call at the Mark, at the Martin Murphy level,
whether they move on or they keep Rogers. I do
wonder we saw Andrew Luck shockingly retire. It seems like
the Colts by all accounts, were blindsided. But then they
did not make him pay back the twenty four million.
I mean, Aaron Rodgers apparently would have to pay back
forty million if he retired early. Let me ask you,
(20:20):
Jeremy Rogers seems to be going through I don't midlife
crisis is a bit strong, but up and started hosting Jeopardy. Okay,
and then he goes and gets engaged to you know
this actress, and I don't know. It almost feels like
is is he in that? I'm in a transition mode. Hey,
you know what, I'm gonna try Jeopardy. I've got to
(20:41):
have a life after football. I'm gonna I'm getting engaged.
You know, I don't need this drama from the Packers.
You guys can have Darren, you can have Jordan's love.
I'm gonna go do my thing. Can you see that happening?
Oh see, Andrew Luck was such a unique situation because
he had so many injuries and plus, like you mentioned,
you know, he's These franchise quarterbacks make a lot of
(21:01):
money for their team. So the Colts knew, and Jim
Mercy knew the owner that Andrew Luck had made them
some money. They have done well, they made the playoffs,
so hey, let's just let him keep the signing bonus
that the check we wrote a few years ago. So
the Packers could maybe do that to make the problem
go away, so to speak. But um, I think they'd
rather trade him if he wants to keep playing. Uh yeah,
(21:21):
I mean if if he went and did the Jeopardy
full time, if he got that gig. It sounds like
he would seriously consider it. He seems really into it.
He seems really engaged. So if you get offered that job,
you don't take any contact, you make ten million a
year or whatever it is. Um, that would be a
a paid decrease for him. But um, you know, certainly
I could see it the packers. I don't know, that's
(21:41):
a lot of money to just let him keep for
just a couple of years. I mean, we saw Calvin
Johnson and Detroit. Now that was a little ugly. He
had a couple of years left on his deal. They
made a payback some of the signing bonus, and it's
been very tenuous even since then. So they're just starting
to now reconcile. This would be even uglier because they
already he had friction and then they asked for more money.
(22:02):
That would be you might be onto something. Maybe they
wouldn't ask her that money. I'm I'm curious did you
happen to know a ballpark on the Calvin Johnson number?
Because I've had forgotten that one. I think it was
only a few million left. But it's like, you know
that that signing bonus pro rates. So whatever deal he
had done, it was a six year deal and he
had some left on it, but it was it might
have only been like a million or two. I don't
think it was a massive number, but it's like, come on, really,
(22:24):
I produced for you. I'm a Hall of Fame guy,
and you're gonna ask me to pay back like money
that you probably don't need. Um, But in this case,
that's a big signing bonus. UM. Plus, they just gave
him a six point eight million dollar roster bonus. So
there are a lot of dynamics here. Employ Or if
he walked away, you know, it's convenient for him to
say I want to walk away because it applies pressure
on them now and that's part of his leverage. Uh.
(22:46):
You you covered a bunch of good quarterbacks in the NFL.
Ben Roethlisberger, Uh, Aaron Rodgers, Brett far I'm just curious.
You know, Roethlisberger's near the end, and in this offseason
I thought Pittsburgh. You know they didn't they didn't have
a plan, bat, they didn't make a move really in
free agency. I'm not counting Haskins. Um, where are you on,
big Big Ben? Do you think? I mean, is this
(23:06):
it for him? His wants on? Probably? So he's thirty nine, Yeah,
and he's got I mean, you know, when you take
a five million dollar salary cut, I don't care how
you slice it. Um. Even if he's helping the team,
which is good on him to do that, but like
you know, that's always a bad sign. That's always a
sign of declining play. If he had a monster year,
(23:27):
they wouldn't have asked him to do that. Um. So
you know, he goes from nine to fourteen million. It's
a pay cut. It is what it is. So you
have to think that his declining play. Anytime a guy
takes one, it's it's near the end. Um. You know
that said, they felt like he could still do enough,
if they could get him more of a running game.
They feel like, okay, maybe we have something for one
more year. Catch lighting in a bottle, maybe get in
(23:48):
the playoffs. Makes a noise and then you reassess. But
you know, I think they're thinking in two thousand twenty
two they can then they can not necessarily blow it up,
but look harder at quarterback options. But this is another franchise.
They're not like They're like the Packers. They're they're very conventional.
You know. They got Dwayne Haskins, which Mike Tomlin always
liked his talent. I think they said, hey, let's let's
get him in our building for a year. Maybe we
(24:10):
can sort of juvenate him a little bit, you knowing,
knowing the talents there. And they signed Mason Rudolph to
a contract extension. People with debate whether he's the answer not,
but they do still like him. They had a high
grade on him in the draft. They think, hey, maybe
in twenty two at least have him under contract. He
could start a few games as a one year bridge guy.
I'm wondering, Jeremy, why I just started thinking about this.
(24:30):
Why are ending so ugly at quarterback? I mean, listen,
in the NBA, it happens, you know. I tell people
like Patrick Ewing didn't end up with the Knicks at
the end of his career, a Larjah One ended up
with the Raptors. Like this kind of thing happens sometimes
but in the NFL, Like, it's just weird when you
see Joe Montana in a Chiefs jersey. You know, Peyton
played a few years in Denver, Um, tom Brady and Tampa,
(24:52):
but between four I can't see Roethlisberger playing anywhere else.
He he looks shot. At the end of the season.
In the playoff game, he was bad. Um. I don't know,
It's just I can't imagine Aaron Rodgers putting on a
Denver Broncos jersey. That just is a tough one for me.
I know it. It's it goes down to like all
these players, or most of them, you know, they feel
like they can still do it for more time, whether
(25:14):
they can or not. Tom Brady could, some others could not,
And so when you can, it gets ugly and you
get forced out. Um. Yeah, I mean I'm trying to
think of Rodgers in any other jersey. Uh, and Denver's
really the only place that makes sense. Yeah, the Raiders.
Apparently the Raiders. Some reporter claimed that there was interest.
I don't. Rogers doesn't seem like a Vegas guy. Him
(25:37):
and Gruden seem like oil and water, like or oil
and oil. I don't never makes a ton of sense,
it really does. They got a new GM that that's
really well respected. They got a ton and he's collaborative,
which Rogers obviously wants a ton of weapons. Three good receivers,
good defense. Like it makes a lot of sense. And
I think I think Rogers would take pride and trying
to beat myhomes every year and like, you know, being
(25:58):
in that same division. Um. But yeah, it's just it's
these teams. It's calculated, you know. It's all about the
money and the performance. And if a player, however great
he's been, doesn't match that, it rarely ends well unless
you just kind of ride into a Super Bowl sunset,
which Peyton Manning and John Elway did, but not very
many have. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk
(26:18):
lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at
Fox sports Radio dot com and within the I Heart
Radio app search f s R to listen live. Urban
Meyer is back. Is in back coach again. He's in
the NFL. And I don't want to say the media
gave him a pass at Ohio State, but I feel like,
and I don't want to give you too much credit
(26:39):
to but when he was at Florida, I feel like
you and other reporters kind of held his feet to
the fire back when the Gators had a bunch of
off field stuff. Um, I'm curious how you think urban
Meyer will transition to the NFL. So it's that's interesting
because I we're to what I think Urban might actually show,
(27:02):
uh and reveal more than he has or or has
been given credit for. Honestly, is the football acumen. I
do think he's wired like a Bill Belichick or Kyle Shanahan.
I'm not saying he's at their schematic level, but he
might be pretty close. Like he knows all twenty two
positions exactly, every nuance of how they should step, where
they should be. You know, how the left guard should
shade on a run blocking player. He's really pretty brilliant
(27:25):
with that step. So I think he might actually show
a little bit where he didn't get a lot of
credit because it's like the spread offense and oh, you
just have a bunch of five star guys at Ohio
State and you can you can maul people. But um,
he's actually pretty good at that stuff. So I think
he could scheme his way into some wins. Um. But
you know the problem is there, you know, I mean,
they're they're pretty short on talent. He saw in the draft.
(27:46):
They just had to get whatever they good at every position.
I mean, like you know, corner, safety, linebacker, Like the
whole defense is pretty pretty thin. So if it doesn't
go well early on. And plus we don't know how
he's gonna handle losing because he's never had to lose,
and when he does lose, he's shown maybe he hasn't
handled the best at Florida with with you know, retiring
and coming back and retiring again. So that's the question
(28:07):
is you know, how how long can he sustain it? Um?
What's the shelf life for an urban Meyer era? Is
it five years? Um? That seems to be you know
the kind of the case, five or six years. So yeah,
Jim Harball like right, kind of yeah. I mean that's
been the m O so Um. But I think schematically
held actually be pretty good. Um. I think he understands
like I gotta be hands off, like I can't be Mr.
(28:28):
Intensity all the time. Like I think he gets that. Um.
But you know, you're if you're taking a running back
in the first round saying Travis is gonna be a
third down back, Like I'm trying to figure out what
his plan is, or if he's naive, or if he
actually has a master plan and we don't understand yet.
Maybe he was just saying that to play Kate the
undrafted kid Robinson who had a really good year, although
I think he might suppressing. Honestly, well, I'm bullish on
(28:51):
the Jacks. I guess Jeremy my question, Like in Columbus,
he was, you know, the biggest deal in Ohio. If
he talked about a presidential race, like people would react.
He's kind of hidden in Jacksonville. It's kind of not
a big NFL market, you could argue as the smallest.
They have to play every year there in London. Um
is will he be kind of protected being in one
(29:12):
of those small markets in kind of a bad division
or will the spotlight of Trevor Lawrence, who you know
should be an incredible NFL player, or will that just
bring a lot of attention regardless of the market. I
think you're absolutely protected. I mean, Dave called well, the
GM lasted a long time. I don't remember the exact years,
but they had a lot of losing seasons and he
did some good things and made some you know, some
(29:32):
good trades. And got some good players. They had that
one playoff year where they they almost got to the
super Bowl. But Doug Maron Dave called ball lasted longer
in Jacksonville. They would have been New York with that
same scenario with the games they lost. So I do
think the leash is longer. I do think you can
hide a little bit there because of the market. It's
clearly a number thirty two, uh, thirty one or thirty
two as far as interest, and so you know, that
(29:52):
can kind of help you a little bit. So you know,
I think I think that he probably welcomes that at
this point, knowing that if you win games, people will care,
and if you lose games, like you know, you can
at least work your way through it a little bit
until I want to quickly go to Cleveland. So you
did get to cover the Johnny Manziel experience. First of all,
did you have to move to Cleveland for that? What
(30:13):
was that like? And then you know, second of all, like, um,
you know, I guess I like the Browns a lot
like your rationally, So I think you can make an
argument they have arguably the second best roster in the
a f C. That's how stacked they are. I'm sure
Ravens fans would disagree. Um, but I just, I guess
talk about Cleveland where they were with you and Menzela
(30:33):
and then where they are now. Yeah. So I was
in Minnesota covering the Vikings and I moved to Cleveland
in two fourteen to cover the Browns. No. No, I
was in Chicago in between there doing college football. But
then I moved to Cleveland, says Johnny's first year, and
they were they were like seven and four with Brian
Hoyer and like Andrew Hawkins and like all those guys,
Jordan Cameron at tight end, like they were just somehow
(30:54):
winning games. Um. And then it just all fell apart
and they put Johnny in and he was just woefully
up paired, like and then the stories that were pouring
out of there, like it was just every worst case
scenario of Manzil amplified by ten, Like it was just
a complete mess of just how you know, his life
was in disarray. Um, And so it was. It was interesting.
I only covered that team for a year and then
(31:16):
ESPN movie to the Steelers and then I eventually moved
to Pittsburgh. But it was, yeah, it was a different times,
it's a very like they were still trying to figure
it out. You had a new owner who was Jimmy
Haslm who was kind of all over the place and
just throwing darts on the wall trying to figure it out.
Now they have figured it out, but at the time,
you know, you had I remember over here on one
(31:37):
of the funniest lines I heard, and it told me like,
this is probably a bad sign in Cleveland. Is they
beat the Bengals to go I think six and four,
so they were on top of the ANFC North the
first time in a long time. And then I heard
some executives coming out of the locker room afterward and
they were high five and hugging each other, and then
one of them goes, We're going to Vegas, baby, really loud,
all media around, and I'm like, you know, what these
(31:59):
guys are is not, Like the football culture is just
not What is that executive still in the NFL Jeremy
uh No, at least one of them is not. But
like they just you know what I mean, Like the
stereotypes of Cleveland were like, yeah, they're just not ready.
They're gonna fumble this, and they did. That's what happened.
But um, now it's way different, and you're right, they're
(32:19):
they're absolutely loaded. Um. I mean I think they have
like ten new starters on defense, or ten guys who
could start or had started last year on their defense
between injury and free agency and the draft, or you know,
like capable starters in the draft. So there. I mean,
the pressure is gonna be on defensive coordinator Joe Woods
to get it done. He wanted help. He didn't have
a lot of it last year. Now he does. Yeah. Um,
(32:40):
I'm just curious if memory serves Johnny football, Like I
didn't show up at a Saturday practice. They couldn't find him.
It turns out he had like a raging KEG party.
Do you do you remember covering that? Covering that? Yes,
So I don't know exactly what the party was. I
don't recall that, Um, but I know like security had
to go to his house and find him, and and
(33:01):
then when they did, you know he was he didn't play.
I think you know he was he was on. He
was out for that game anyway because he had gotten
hurt like a hamstring. That's right, he's missing the final game.
But they essentially had to suspend them and then they
you know, it wasn't good. But were there a lot
of guys on the team hanging with him at the
at the part? I mean, was it based on the
culture issue some but like he hung out with Josh
(33:22):
Gordon some um and then obviously Josh had his problems,
but they've and then so yeah, I think some teammates
hung out with him here there. I mean, he was
very well light. He just he just wasn't ready at
that stage, you know what I mean, like you just
showed up and didn't do the plays and stuff like that.
And I guess I should wrap up asking about another
guy who um is kind of you know, small ish
(33:43):
white quarterback who looked very I don't want to say immature,
but just looked young at the draft. Uh, And that
Zach Wilson of my jets. Um, I will say, you
watch the highlight reel and Zach Wilson looks like he's
making the place, and you read, oh he's got the
quick twitch stuff of my home it there's a if
you squint, you can see a little Aaron Rodgers and
(34:04):
I just I don't know, I'm so excited and optimistic
because we haven't had a franchise quarterback with the Jets
and forever. But I don't know, like, where are you
on Zach Wilson? What are you hearing? So, I mean,
you know, it's funny and this is a small majority,
but I didn't talk to enough people around the league
that thought, like if if the hype around Trevor Lawrence
(34:25):
hadn't built for three years and Zach Wilson might actually
make a compelling case for number one, like among a
small majority, like maybe ten to fift percent um. But
I've talked to a few enough respective people are like,
I think you at least make it interesting, Like if
I was picking number one, I would at least think
about it, because it's the it's like the maybe it's
just the Aaron Rodgers bias. Everybody wants that the wild
(34:45):
throws and all the off platform throws and all that.
But he really is highly highly skilled at that to
the point where teams are like, man, you could really
create with this guy. It's like Steph or what like,
you know when you think of like the creativity of
the game and what you can do and making plays
on the run and all that. So Trevor is the
total Trevor's the total package, he's a better prospect, but
Zack ceiling because of that. You know, now granted he
(35:08):
was teams are concerned that, like, Okay, the bodywork is small,
he didn't play anybody, and he's thrown and he's got
an ocean of a pocket. It's not even a pocket.
It's like just it's got nobody around him and he
can just make the throw cleanly. So you know, how
does he react to that? We don't know, like how
does he handle pressure? All those things? But I mean,
I think it became really clear very early on in
(35:29):
the draft process that he would be number two. Like,
it wasn't It wasn't like something that the team had
to debate. Everybody just knew Zach was the second best. Yeah,
it's weird. Like Aaron Rodgers, you think back to his
time at Cal, you know, two year starter, put up
monster numbers, was no doubt an awesome, awesome talent, But
like Zack, Wilson didn't go into last season as the
(35:49):
definite starter at b y U E to like win
the job because the previous years he had been hurt.
Like what what's your confidence level in a guy who
has shown it again for one year in a COVID year.
I mean, I don't want to say there's a little
zach Levine to borrow an NBA name, Like Zach Levine
looked has looked incredible this year, but like half the
league is hurting, you know, like it's just an awkward
(36:10):
year in the NBA. What what if this is just
a weird year in college football? Because Jeremy be honest, like,
had anybody mentioned the name Zach Wilson to you before
last college football season? Yeah? Not until I remember like
hearing from a few agents that were like study quarterbacks,
like you got watch after this kid, but it was
more like underground at that point. It wasn't really Um yeah,
(36:30):
he definitely was not known before the game one of
the season, like it was sort of you kind of
had to search them out. But then like the moment
he started throwing the ball and they had a few
Thursday night games or whatever, it was like they had
just enough nationally televised action where you get to see
him live. Um, and and the buzz grew really fast
after that. Um, you know, but and I think teams
knew about him that You're right, it was like the
(36:51):
shoulder injury and you know, there's some questions and um,
you know, and I think the COVID season helped him, right,
Like there it was a weird year and there weren't
probably enough storylines that there normally wouldn't be with some
of the pageant trade schools. So it's like, okay, who's
this kid? And he got more played than maybe he
would have. Yeah, it's weird. I looked at the draft.
(37:11):
I'm not gonna try to bore you with who's good. Um,
it's all a projection. But everybody wants to find the
Zach Wilson, the Kyler Murray, uh, the Joe Burrow, the
guy who comes out of nowhere has a monster year
and becomes like an early pick. But let's be kind
of honest. And I mean, but it's not like Burrow
one much. In his first year he looked pretty good.
(37:33):
But like it's it's good one thing to do it
in college, but then to do in the NFL. Like
we see the turnover, like Whence gone, golf gone, Like
I don't know, is this maybe this is the new cycle?
You know, teams make a run with the quarterback, but
when it comes time to pay him, we're gonna start
to cycle over, let's build around the rookie quarterback. Yeah,
that's been talked about by a number of teams, Like
(37:54):
do we start the draft a guy every three years
even if we have a star? Right, Like let's say
h Allen's probably bad example because I think he's like
becoming a top guy. But let's say the Bill said, Okay, well,
you know we can't pay that guy and still feel
a competitive team under the salary cap constraints, So let's
just draft another guy, no matter how will Alan played. Now,
I think Buffalo is going to pay him and he's
(38:15):
the guy, But teams are at leased talking about that
model now, UM, Like Russell Wilson in Seattle, you know
they've had their problems. Uh, you know, Russell wants more
help and he's getting it this offseason. They've tried, you know,
and I think they're in a better place. But I
think Seattle was like, how much can we do with
this contract? You know it's it's a big number. Um,
(38:36):
I think all you know, Kirk Cousins is a forty
five million dollar cap hit in UM. Now the dead
salary cap money is the same amount. So maybe it's
a wash if you move on. But like Yeah, these
are the numbers are so outrageous and at the at
the c b A last year and they're negotiating that,
um the I know the NFL wanted a sort of
(38:59):
like max slot, kind of like in the NBA. They
talked about him, like, you know, you can set aside
cap for one player, which would basically be a quarterback rule,
right because every all the quarterbacks were the highest paid. Yes,
and the players wouldn't go for it for obvious reasons.
You know, they don't want to a competitive and balance.
But that was the league was trying to get in
front of that. And now that they have ten more
(39:21):
years of ballooning quarterback money, but the cap is sort
of what it is, and you're trying to manage and
sign ten other stars like they're wondering did we just
keep drafting rookies? Like That's definitely a conversation point. I'll
get you out of here on this. I did have
someone in the league when I kept saying I would
never pay Dak forty mail, I would never pay him
forty someone texted me like, Jay, the cap is gonna
(39:42):
be going up, Like this is gonna be the new
normal in three years. Dax deal is not gonna look bad.
The cap is gonna keep going up and I and
I was a little surprised that people think it's gonna
keep going up in perpetuity, that oh, CAP's gonna go
up twenty mil and then thirty Like can this be?
Can this continue to happen in the league? May be,
it's not an issue. I don't know. Yeah, I mean
the forecasts are big, for sure, So it's difficult right now.
(40:04):
It's supposed to be easier three years from now. And
that's why Dad wanted a four year deal and he
wouldn't do five years. Even the year before when they
were negotiating, he wouldn't do that because he saw this
you know, kind of windfall coming. He wants to do
the four years and then get back on it and
get a new deal at fifty million or whatever it's
gonna be. It's gonna be crazy, but um, those numbers
are gonna keep going up to so it's still gonna
be a challenge for some of these teams. Now, Like
(40:27):
I know, teams like to hide behind the salary cap
has this big problem and they can usually get around
it anyways, But there's still a question like how many stars.
Can you pay right now? Right? Like and seven? Maybe
like seven veterans on what are the Rams have? Like four?
Like yeah, I mean Stafford Ramsey, Uh, Aaron Donald. Maybe
(40:49):
it's just three Leonard Floyd. Um, oh that's right, Leonard Floyd. Yeah,
I guess if you're right, you can you can try
that strategy. I like how the Rams are getting creative
right though. They're trying something that nobody else is trying.
Like I give them points for that. Yeah, no first
round picks in like twenty eight years or whatever it is.
That's what it feels like. Yeah, I mean I actually
joked a less neat about that because I was like, man,
you guys are getting a mansion for your draft party.
(41:10):
You don't even have a first round pick, like, you know,
it's kind of it shows that they're independent, you know
what I mean? Like I kind of like that. And
he said, yeah, we're not trying to uh we respect
to everybody does their job. We don't have all the answers.
We're just trying some new stuff that we think's gonna work.
We're gonna try to hit on our day two picks
and hit on her home grown talent and pay the
stars and then you know, if we don't have first
(41:32):
round picks as a result, that's okay. Yeah, they got
the kid to to at well, um real tiny guy,
but McVeigh will probably scheme him up like Tyreek Hill
or something. Right, they got him and de Sewan now
I mean they got too I forgot about him. Yeah,
they got speed. Yeah that's what they needed to They
needed burners, and they had Matt Stafford with the cannon
right just unloading if he can get protection. So all right,
(41:54):
Jeremy Fowler ESPN, great stuff as always, Jeremy, thanks a
lot for the time and keep up the good work. Yeah,
Jason YouTube man, appreciate having me
Host
Jason McIntyre
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