January 10, 2023 • 21 mins
Peter Schrager weighs in on the coaching carousel, giving up to date conversations he’s had with Sean Payton, Sean McVay, and Kliff Kingsbury. Then Peter breaks down the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks upcoming wildcard game.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
The season with Peter Schreeger as a production of the
NFL in partnership with my Heart Radio. What's up, everybody,
It's playoff time. It's Super wild Card weekend. After they're
(00:27):
calling it now the NFL Super wild Card Weekend. I
feel like it's the what Jason, what was it when
we were kids in New Jersey? Was Park? You know,
It's like, that's what Super wild Card weekend? Um, I'm
Peter Schreeger. This is the season with Peter Schreeger, and
we are now into the playoffs and I'm already so
(00:48):
fired up for the week that is ahead in football.
We're gonna get to the games. But I wanted to
start going through some coaching stuff. I've got really close
relationships with a lot of these guys and I want
to empty the bag and I haven't done it on
Good Morning Football. It's Tuesday's fluid, of course, but let's
let's get to the big ones. Uh. Let's start was
Shawan Payton. He was great last week on the podcast.
(01:08):
We got a lot of great feedback, made a little
news with him saying stuff about New Orleans and it's
not looking to go back there. And then also the
Brady history with him and that they're most likely to
work together at Fox as opposed to somewhere else. Then
on Sunday, I was on Fox NFL Kickoff with him,
and uh are great producers there were like, that was
(01:31):
a good podcast you did with I want to we
reenact that and ask him things more up to date
because there was news overnight and we did. But I'll
go to Saturday night, Sean pay and Chris and Thompson
and I went to dinner in Los Angeles. Um. The
three of us had a nice long dinner and we
just chatted about life, careers and then Sean Payton and
that was the topic. And I think it's really interesting
(01:51):
where he's at in his life. He's really happy at
Fox Sports, and I know you roll your eyes, Okay,
really happy and money is not an issue. He's gotten paid,
So when you have money is not an issue and
you're really happy and you're living in Manhattan beach uh
and living in life where he literally was saying us
last week, he walks the dogs, he plays golf, and
then he still gets to be a part of a
team on the weekends. It's really appealing to stay, especially
(02:13):
at Fox where there's like a culture of you know,
they treat uh, they treat their guys really good. And
Sean Payton has treated really well there. Um, He's loved
and he knows he's got that as a fallback. So
what would it take for him to go? Uh the
appeal of returning to coaching, as he said with that
great Nascar analogy, he's outside the stadium, he hears the buzz,
(02:33):
He's no, he's gonna come back. It's just when. Um.
There are things that I think, man, I don't think
the money is paramount. I think situation. I think comfort.
I think his ability uh to do things his way
and to be able to compete with the guys around
him that he wants. So I do think that he
(02:54):
wants to bring his own defensive coordinator. I don't think
I'm speaking out of turn that I think he'd want
to bring some of his front office guys. Not saying
he would fire a GM and it's already there, but
I think he would want some of his guys and
he's got a lot of years of experience working in
organizations and people he trusts, and he would want to
bring them. One thing I think is really important. I
don't think quarterback is like this end all be all
(03:14):
for Sean talked about it. I said Russell Wilson's name
on Sunday and he didn't shudder, he didn't. And his
point was they didn't have a quarterback in New Orleans
and he got there and no one wanted Drew Brees.
And yeah, that might have been lightning in a bottle.
But guess what. Drew Brees went down. Teddy Bridgewater went
five and oh for the Saints a couple of years ago,
and they went to the playoffs. Um last year, Jameis
(03:37):
Winston went down. They had a rotating door of Taysom Hill,
of Ian Book of Trevor Simeon. Guess what they were
into till Week eighteen when they were finally eliminated at
the end. Like, I don't think Sean looks at the
quarterback position as the end all be all, and he's
never had a Justin Herbert or a Josh Allen. He's
never had one of those guys. But I honestly look
(03:59):
at the availability of Sean pay and and also the
matches that he would make like that Denver's gotta be appealing.
Owners are willing to spend money on the team. Forget
his salary. The team, I don't know if you guys
saw this Week eighteen already eliminated. They put four thousand
dollars into the field for just Week eight teen in
Denver to make sure the playing surface was that it
(04:20):
was was up to snuff. Um. Not every team does that.
That's a real commitment to winning, and that's putting your
money where your mouth is. I think that's appealing. I
think working for UH an owner that wants to win
that badly or wants to put the best product on
the field is something that is appealing. I haven't heard
of any other teams reach out to the Saints to
to get the permission to speak to Sean, But I
(04:42):
would imagine of the different vacancies, I would think Arizona.
I don't know if he's gonna go to Arizona. That's
so many question marks there, especially with the fact that uh,
you know, you also have to build from the bottom,
and there's a quarterback that you're married to for all
that time that he doesn't know what Kyler Murray. So
let's say Arizona is one Houston. All those draft picks
they have the second in the twelfth pick, they have
(05:04):
an empty quarterback was and the negatives are the Houston
Texans franchise has been more about the last few years,
and you'd have to really build that thing from the
bottom up. But it's no worse than what New Orleans
was in when he got there. And the last one's Carolina.
And I think a very important point that he made
on Fox with Me on Sunday with Sean Payton was
it's okay, I will coach in the division, and I
(05:26):
think the Saints would trade me within the division if
the if the compensation is right, and he cited that
Bill Parcels went from the Patriots to the Jets. He
cited that Bill Belichick went from UH temporarily with the
Jets to the Patriots. There have been interdivision trades before
of coaches. It has been done, and it seemed from
(05:46):
his indication on Fox Sunday that I don't know if
he's had conversation with Mickey Loomis, but they'd at least
be listening to what Carolina had to offer. You look
at all those destinations right now, and I could be
missing one. Am I missing one of them? That vacancy, Oh, Indianapolis,
I don't see Indianapolis. I'm just dismissing that. I just
I don't I don't think Sean would. I don't know.
That just seems like a different kind of deal. Um,
(06:07):
thank you for that, Aaron. I forgot the Colts Right now,
As of Tuesday morning, the Cardinals and the Panthers and
the Texans have not asked or have gotten permission from
the Saints to speak with Shaanpagne. Only Denver has. But
I think all four of those are in play. But
here's the wild card. And again, I talk all the
time with Paine. He has not told me this straight out,
but I know his history. I know his relationship with
(06:28):
that city where he lived for many years and coached.
If the Dallas job opens up, I think that's the
front runner. That would That would take a lot, That
would take McCarthy having a colossal failure on Monday. I
think it would take a lot. And again, I'm not
speaking on behalf of Sean Page. And I just think
all these other options you can be vinced on, you
(06:48):
can you can twist your Dallas. It's like, all right,
former Cowboys offensive coordinator, great relationship with Jerry Jones, lived
in Dallas, raised his kids, in Dallas. Um, certainly something
to watch alright, one sewn down? How about the next?
Sean McVeigh. Everyone's asking me about McVeigh. Spoke with Hi yesterday.
(07:10):
Anyone who tells you that this is a decision has
been made is a crooking, a liar, because it has
as of Tuesday. Sean McVeigh not fickle, but certainly not
someone who's gotta take yet right now. And I knew
this for a couple of weeks, and the Rams knew
this for a couple of weeks. He's burnt out. We
talked about it. Um, you want to go through the
field stuff. Well, yeah, on the coaching field, he has
(07:31):
had NonStop since seventeen, just you know, pedal to the metal,
got the super Bowl, and you think that this would
be this great like feeling of of joy and all right,
I've accomplished something. He's not wired that way. So it
was right back to work and there really was no
time off. And I think that these injuries, you know,
all coming at the same time, and then him trying
to muster the same sort of energy and same sort
(07:53):
of zest that he had the year before this year
was difficult. And he's turned that inward. This is real
like psychology stuff that we're talking about now, this is
real mental health stuff. These are the conversations they didn't
have when Parcels walked away from the Giants, or when
we've seen countless coaches leave at their peak and then
maybe hint to come back. And the burnout factor is
really strong with Sean. The question is is he so
(08:15):
burnt out that he needs time away. Here's how I
would envision if he was to step away, going I
think I'm fine saying this, and this is why they
pay me on a podcast. You know. They want stuff
that's different than just what I've said everywhere else. So
here we go the plan that I would see, and
this is talking to multiple sources within the RAMS and
with Sean, that makes the most sense if he were
to walk away, was it goes away. He's still involved
(08:39):
with the team in some capacity, whether that be assisting
with the draft or popping in here and there, but
he would have conversations with the RAMS and how that
would go. And they do hire either an interim coach
from internal, which would be like a Rahey Morris or
someone like that, or they hire an external coach who's
willing going and knowing this might just be a one
year deal, and look, it might be forever. McVay might
(09:00):
never come back, but I think the expectation is that
he eventually would come back and just needs some time away.
Whether that's one season, two seasons, I don't know, but
that one season would give a coach who might not
get a head coaching opportunity elsewhere, the opportunity to show
his chops. That might give a coach that doesn't necessarily
(09:21):
have the name um that that other coaches in the
league already have who are interviewing, give them a chance
to put them on the radar. I would imagine the
coaching hire would be inspired and would have input from
not only Sean McVeigh um, but from a lot of
different people within the Rams organization. Could be internal, could
be external. Could be someone who's used to work for
the Rams and is now somewhere else and is looking
(09:42):
to get back with the Rams um. But I think,
no matter what, if Sean takes a year away or
he stays, that important period right now before the draft
is going to be spent on mental health, spent on
recharging the batteries, and spent on re prioritizing what he
wants to do. And this guy's only thirty six, he
has no kids, but he's got a lot of responsibilities
(10:02):
within that building and also a lot of stuff that's
been going on in his life. I don't he would
mind me sharing that. Um, his grandfather was his mentor,
his grandfather was his beacon as far as football goes,
and his grandfather's passing, uh was not sudden, but was
something that really affected him. I also think his wife's family,
(10:22):
many of whom are in Ukraine right now. The handling
of how do you manage that on a day to
day basis, that's not a one week thing. That is
an ongoing thing, and the toll that that has taken
on not only his wife, Veronica's family, but his his
own being and every day, you know, having to try
to get the good news coming there and whether that's
(10:42):
coming or not, and what he can do to help,
and how to be a better husband and better family member.
All that stuff is real, uh. And there's a lot
of other little things paper cuts along the way that
would add up. But the truth of the matter is
he has been NonStop football seven since he got the
job in and you can say, all these guys are,
but I think that he has enough self awareness to know.
(11:03):
And the flip side is he also has enough self
awareness to know. The longer this drags on, the more
this puts other coaches in a bad position looking for jobs,
or this puts his players in a weird position knowing
whether they want to come back to the Rams or not,
And it puts a team in a tough position. So
I would imagine before the Super Bowl or combine will
(11:23):
have a better ideal. But I don't think he's gonna
make a decision in the next couple of days. That's
the McVeigh deal. Lastly, Kingsbury spoke to him for about
an hour yesterday. Again, I don't think I'm betraying his
confidence in me telling you this. I said, it was
actually a really good conversation with bid Will. Uh. Mr
Bidwill came in and like he had a really emotional farewell,
(11:44):
Like bid Will and Cliff really got along, and Cliff
really liked bid Will. Um four and thirteen was just
not the season that the Cardinals expected and someone has
to pay for that, and it looks like it's going
to be the head coach. But I thought Bidwill's comments
were classy. Afterwards, he said, uh, you know, no one
works harder. I've never been around a harder working coach. Again,
(12:05):
same thing. And I'm not saying because Cliff is single
and you know it doesn't have a wife and doesn't
have a family, and that this is like what his
But Kingsbury lived at the Arizona Cardinals building. And you
might say, well, well, how they only win four games.
Let's just go real quick through this thing. A quarterback
gets the injury, he goes down. You know, they were
making things work with Colte McCoy for a while. He
goes down. They go to Mexico City, the offensive line
(12:28):
coach gets in some some drama there. They get back
the GM. Uh, you know, it takes a leave of absence,
and that leave of absence ended up being for the
rest of the season, and eventually that's that for him.
So you're talking about no offensive line coach, no quarterback,
no GM. And you know Kingsbury didn't say a word.
He didn't once, you know, say w wait a second,
(12:50):
this is not fair or make excuses. He just kind
of ate it and he'll eat it. And guess what
he'll eat guaranteed paychecks for the next five years. This
is the part I think people don't even know when
to talk about the NFL coaching situation. The contracts are guaranteed,
so in one way, talking to Cliff yesterday, there was
this feeling of, you know, we didn't get it done,
(13:10):
and also I feel bad for my assistant coaches because
you know, it's all they have to uproot their lives.
But on the other end of it is I didn't
ask to get fired. I didn't quit, and now I
get five years of guaranteed paychecks until seven. That means
every two weeks a direct deposit hits and it comes
from the Arizona Cardinals until Uh. He's very quick to say,
(13:35):
don't cry for me, I'll be all right, and he's
gonna do his best to make sure those assistant coaches
land somewhere on new staffs. He's not doing anything until
those guys all find their footing somewhere. Uh. But Kingsbury,
I don't think he's rushing to get back to coaching.
Everyone's talking about him going to the Patriots being offensive coordinator.
I don't see that. I think he's gonna take some time.
It's been a grueling twelve months for him. Uh, and
(13:57):
he's getting paid out, so it's a paid vacation. He's
gonna use it and he'll assess what he wants to
do next. Contract wise, it's interesting in his deal there's
offset language. So say he was to go and Aaron,
give me any NFL team that needs an offensive you
might want an offensive coordinator. You just name any team, really, Okay,
So say the Colts they hire um, you know whoever,
(14:19):
they hire Hardball as their coach. I'm just putting that
out there, and Hardball hires Kingsburyer's offensive coordinator. And money wise,
let's say I don't know what Cliff was making. Let's
say Cliff was making three million dollars with the Cardinals,
all right, and let's say the Colts say, will give
you one million to be our offensive coordinator. The Cardinals
still have to pay him the two million. It offsets,
so it's it's abtracted from what you're making with that team,
(14:42):
and then you get that money left over. So even
if he was to take you know, five thousand dollars
to be an offensive lot and offensive coordinator or a
quarterback coach, the Cardinals have to then eat the rest
of that cost. It's it's wild. You know a lot
of people are like, why isn't Adam Gates. We haven't
heard from Adam Gates. Adam Gaze was doing that with
two teams with the Jets and Dolphins, Like it's it's
(15:03):
the truth, Like Adam Gates was making a lot of
money the last few years. And it's just what it is.
When you're a fired head coach, you're gonna be okay financially.
When you're a fired offensive coordinator or a fired offensive
line coach, right, it's not the same. You're not making
the same money and some of those contracts aren't as guaranteed.
But uh, Kingsbury's gonna be all right. I don't know
about that job. And I really like the Cardinals organization.
(15:25):
I think bid Will is a good man and I
think he wants to win. And look, he's eating these costs.
He knows how much it costs. To fire Cliff is
a real bold move because you're ripping off the band aid.
But the fans wanted it and it was time to
start a new But you gotta find a GM, gotta
find a coach. Kyler is probably not ready for the
start of the season, and you're looking at a roster
that has, you know, DeAndre Hopkins probably at a different
(15:46):
stage of his career than he was. You're looking around,
you're like, all right, we got two linebackers the last
couple of drafts, and Zaven Collins and and uh Isaiah
Simmons who haven't really developed in the way that you'd
expect first round players to do. Like, I don't see
what's there. So again, true rebuild, great place to live, Arizona,
low pressure market. So you kind of like that if
(16:08):
you're a coach, knowing that it's you're gonna have some
time to at least get your footing. But between Indianapolis, Houston, Arizona, Denver, Carolina, UM,
it'll be interesting over the next few days. The one
name I would mention and we haven't had him on
the podcast yet, and I kind of regret not getting
him on, and I think he's gonna be a head
coach is Ben Johnson, the offensive coordinator of the Lions. Um.
(16:32):
I'm just hearing a lot of good things, and I
think the way that they came out and performed uh
Sunday against the Packers in a game that they were
technically eliminated from and then giving it. They're all at
Green Bay. How about this. I'd be very surprised if
Ben Johnson isn't it a a head coach. And I know
people want to say, well, what about this guy? What
about that guy? I'm not I'm not look, I'm not
(16:53):
weighing in on anything about other guys. I'd be surprised
if thirty six year old offensive coordinator math major in
college played quarterback at North Carolina like you you could,
and then was with Dolphins and Dan Campbell got him
here in uh, of course, in in Detroit, and he's
been outstanding and creative and he's a communicator, so not
(17:17):
a household name. But I'd say, if we're doing this
at Super Bowl Week, I would be surprised if Ben
Johnson wasn't a quarterback. Guys. We've got a sponsor to
this season with Peter Schreeger. I'm told that's great news. Uh.
And it's DraftKings, who I've been partners with for many years,
UH through the NFL Network and Good Morning Football. Let's
get into the playoff preview presented by DraftKings Sports Book.
(17:41):
I'm gonna focus on one game, and that is Seattle
in San Francisco. Right now, we're looking at the point spread,
as the forty Niners are ten point favorites. The over
under is forty two and a half, and if you
want to be real bold, the money line is a
plus four hundred for Seattle and minus five hundred for
San Francisco. I'm gonna focus on one player and one
player only, and that is brock Purty. I went on
(18:04):
Good Morning Football on on Tuesday morning of this week
and I said that brock Purty should be the offensive
rookie of the year, and I got scoffed, I got
laughed at. Jason McCurdy almost threw a pen at me
because party has played five games. But I think what
brock Purty has done over the last five weeks is
as impressive as anything that any rookie has done over
the whole entire seventeen game season. Bertie came in in
(18:26):
the most adverse situations, thrown into the mix as a Mr.
Irrelevant last pick in the draft, and not only has
exceeded his expectations, He's been better than Trey Lance, He's
been better than Jimmy Garoppolo, and he has the forty
Niners offense playing it's best football of the year. I
know this is division rivalry. I know that Seattle and
San Francisco has a ton, a ton of history. I
(18:49):
also know that San Francisco is likely going to wax
the Seahawks this weekend. No Jordan Brooks on the defensive
side for Seattle. Rock Purty getting more and more confidence
as the week goes on, and I think brock Purty
is a strength, not a weakness for the San Francisco
forda Nanits You're gonn see a lot of analysis this
week saying well, it's brock Purty's inexperience, going into how
(19:12):
many rookies do the Seahawks have. They have two rookies
that offensive tackle, They've got Kenneth Walker, They've got to Requall,
and they've got boy A mafe Gino Smith doesn't isn't
exactly Tom Brady with his playoff experience. And I think
that San Francisco is gonna be rocking early Saturday. Fans
are gonna come out and droves. I love the Seahawks
fan base. This game was being played in Seattle like
it was a few Thursday nights ago. Maybe I say
(19:34):
Seattle as a shot, but uh, I might regret this
decision and being so blunt about this. I think the
forty Niners take care of business, and I think brock
Purty has a day. That was the playoff preview presented
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com slash football terms. I wanted to put all this
in a separate podcast than my guest for this week.
(20:37):
So this is part one. We're going to title that.
I think two. Shawn's a cliff and a bunch of
coaching vacancies. I like that, errands at work and no
sounds good. Yeah, he's nodding all right. Part two is
going to be an awesome interview with one of my
favorite people in the world. Stay on the feed. Uh
Brandon Bean is going to take us through the last week.
He has said he's the GM of the Buffalo Bills.
(20:58):
Thanks for listening, everybody, click on Part two coming up
right now. Yeah. Yeah. The Season with Peter Schrager is
(21:21):
a production of the NFL and partnership with I Heart Radio.
For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the i
Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts.
The season with Peter Schreeger as a production of the
NFL in partnership with my Heart Radio. What's up, everybody,
It's playoff time. It's Super wild Card weekend. After they're
(00:27):
calling it now the NFL Super wild Card Weekend. I
feel like it's the what Jason, what was it when
we were kids in New Jersey? Was Park? You know,
It's like, that's what Super wild Card weekend? Um, I'm
Peter Schreeger. This is the season with Peter Schreeger, and
we are now into the playoffs and I'm already so
(00:48):
fired up for the week that is ahead in football.
We're gonna get to the games. But I wanted to
start going through some coaching stuff. I've got really close
relationships with a lot of these guys and I want
to empty the bag and I haven't done it on
Good Morning Football. It's Tuesday's fluid, of course, but let's
let's get to the big ones. Uh. Let's start was
Shawan Payton. He was great last week on the podcast.
(01:08):
We got a lot of great feedback, made a little
news with him saying stuff about New Orleans and it's
not looking to go back there. And then also the
Brady history with him and that they're most likely to
work together at Fox as opposed to somewhere else. Then
on Sunday, I was on Fox NFL Kickoff with him,
and uh are great producers there were like, that was
(01:31):
a good podcast you did with I want to we
reenact that and ask him things more up to date
because there was news overnight and we did. But I'll
go to Saturday night, Sean pay and Chris and Thompson
and I went to dinner in Los Angeles. Um. The
three of us had a nice long dinner and we
just chatted about life, careers and then Sean Payton and
that was the topic. And I think it's really interesting
(01:51):
where he's at in his life. He's really happy at
Fox Sports, and I know you roll your eyes, Okay,
really happy and money is not an issue. He's gotten paid,
So when you have money is not an issue and
you're really happy and you're living in Manhattan beach uh
and living in life where he literally was saying us
last week, he walks the dogs, he plays golf, and
then he still gets to be a part of a
team on the weekends. It's really appealing to stay, especially
(02:13):
at Fox where there's like a culture of you know,
they treat uh, they treat their guys really good. And
Sean Payton has treated really well there. Um, He's loved
and he knows he's got that as a fallback. So
what would it take for him to go? Uh the
appeal of returning to coaching, as he said with that
great Nascar analogy, he's outside the stadium, he hears the buzz,
(02:33):
He's no, he's gonna come back. It's just when. Um.
There are things that I think, man, I don't think
the money is paramount. I think situation. I think comfort.
I think his ability uh to do things his way
and to be able to compete with the guys around
him that he wants. So I do think that he
(02:54):
wants to bring his own defensive coordinator. I don't think
I'm speaking out of turn that I think he'd want
to bring some of his front office guys. Not saying
he would fire a GM and it's already there, but
I think he would want some of his guys and
he's got a lot of years of experience working in
organizations and people he trusts, and he would want to
bring them. One thing I think is really important. I
don't think quarterback is like this end all be all
(03:14):
for Sean talked about it. I said Russell Wilson's name
on Sunday and he didn't shudder, he didn't. And his
point was they didn't have a quarterback in New Orleans
and he got there and no one wanted Drew Brees.
And yeah, that might have been lightning in a bottle.
But guess what. Drew Brees went down. Teddy Bridgewater went
five and oh for the Saints a couple of years ago,
and they went to the playoffs. Um last year, Jameis
(03:37):
Winston went down. They had a rotating door of Taysom Hill,
of Ian Book of Trevor Simeon. Guess what they were
into till Week eighteen when they were finally eliminated at
the end. Like, I don't think Sean looks at the
quarterback position as the end all be all, and he's
never had a Justin Herbert or a Josh Allen. He's
never had one of those guys. But I honestly look
(03:59):
at the availability of Sean pay and and also the
matches that he would make like that Denver's gotta be appealing.
Owners are willing to spend money on the team. Forget
his salary. The team, I don't know if you guys
saw this Week eighteen already eliminated. They put four thousand
dollars into the field for just Week eight teen in
Denver to make sure the playing surface was that it
(04:20):
was was up to snuff. Um. Not every team does that.
That's a real commitment to winning, and that's putting your
money where your mouth is. I think that's appealing. I
think working for UH an owner that wants to win
that badly or wants to put the best product on
the field is something that is appealing. I haven't heard
of any other teams reach out to the Saints to
to get the permission to speak to Sean, But I
(04:42):
would imagine of the different vacancies, I would think Arizona.
I don't know if he's gonna go to Arizona. That's
so many question marks there, especially with the fact that uh,
you know, you also have to build from the bottom,
and there's a quarterback that you're married to for all
that time that he doesn't know what Kyler Murray. So
let's say Arizona is one Houston. All those draft picks
they have the second in the twelfth pick, they have
(05:04):
an empty quarterback was and the negatives are the Houston
Texans franchise has been more about the last few years,
and you'd have to really build that thing from the
bottom up. But it's no worse than what New Orleans
was in when he got there. And the last one's Carolina.
And I think a very important point that he made
on Fox with Me on Sunday with Sean Payton was
it's okay, I will coach in the division, and I
(05:26):
think the Saints would trade me within the division if
the if the compensation is right, and he cited that
Bill Parcels went from the Patriots to the Jets. He
cited that Bill Belichick went from UH temporarily with the
Jets to the Patriots. There have been interdivision trades before
of coaches. It has been done, and it seemed from
(05:46):
his indication on Fox Sunday that I don't know if
he's had conversation with Mickey Loomis, but they'd at least
be listening to what Carolina had to offer. You look
at all those destinations right now, and I could be
missing one. Am I missing one of them? That vacancy, Oh, Indianapolis,
I don't see Indianapolis. I'm just dismissing that. I just
I don't I don't think Sean would. I don't know.
That just seems like a different kind of deal. Um,
(06:07):
thank you for that, Aaron. I forgot the Colts Right now,
As of Tuesday morning, the Cardinals and the Panthers and
the Texans have not asked or have gotten permission from
the Saints to speak with Shaanpagne. Only Denver has. But
I think all four of those are in play. But
here's the wild card. And again, I talk all the
time with Paine. He has not told me this straight out,
but I know his history. I know his relationship with
(06:28):
that city where he lived for many years and coached.
If the Dallas job opens up, I think that's the
front runner. That would That would take a lot, That
would take McCarthy having a colossal failure on Monday. I
think it would take a lot. And again, I'm not
speaking on behalf of Sean Page. And I just think
all these other options you can be vinced on, you
(06:48):
can you can twist your Dallas. It's like, all right,
former Cowboys offensive coordinator, great relationship with Jerry Jones, lived
in Dallas, raised his kids, in Dallas. Um, certainly something
to watch alright, one sewn down? How about the next?
Sean McVeigh. Everyone's asking me about McVeigh. Spoke with Hi yesterday.
(07:10):
Anyone who tells you that this is a decision has
been made is a crooking, a liar, because it has
as of Tuesday. Sean McVeigh not fickle, but certainly not
someone who's gotta take yet right now. And I knew
this for a couple of weeks, and the Rams knew
this for a couple of weeks. He's burnt out. We
talked about it. Um, you want to go through the
field stuff. Well, yeah, on the coaching field, he has
(07:31):
had NonStop since seventeen, just you know, pedal to the metal,
got the super Bowl, and you think that this would
be this great like feeling of of joy and all right,
I've accomplished something. He's not wired that way. So it
was right back to work and there really was no
time off. And I think that these injuries, you know,
all coming at the same time, and then him trying
to muster the same sort of energy and same sort
(07:53):
of zest that he had the year before this year
was difficult. And he's turned that inward. This is real
like psychology stuff that we're talking about now, this is
real mental health stuff. These are the conversations they didn't
have when Parcels walked away from the Giants, or when
we've seen countless coaches leave at their peak and then
maybe hint to come back. And the burnout factor is
really strong with Sean. The question is is he so
(08:15):
burnt out that he needs time away. Here's how I
would envision if he was to step away, going I
think I'm fine saying this, and this is why they
pay me on a podcast. You know. They want stuff
that's different than just what I've said everywhere else. So
here we go the plan that I would see, and
this is talking to multiple sources within the RAMS and
with Sean, that makes the most sense if he were
to walk away, was it goes away. He's still involved
(08:39):
with the team in some capacity, whether that be assisting
with the draft or popping in here and there, but
he would have conversations with the RAMS and how that
would go. And they do hire either an interim coach
from internal, which would be like a Rahey Morris or
someone like that, or they hire an external coach who's
willing going and knowing this might just be a one
year deal, and look, it might be forever. McVay might
(09:00):
never come back, but I think the expectation is that
he eventually would come back and just needs some time away.
Whether that's one season, two seasons, I don't know, but
that one season would give a coach who might not
get a head coaching opportunity elsewhere, the opportunity to show
his chops. That might give a coach that doesn't necessarily
(09:21):
have the name um that that other coaches in the
league already have who are interviewing, give them a chance
to put them on the radar. I would imagine the
coaching hire would be inspired and would have input from
not only Sean McVeigh um, but from a lot of
different people within the Rams organization. Could be internal, could
be external. Could be someone who's used to work for
the Rams and is now somewhere else and is looking
(09:42):
to get back with the Rams um. But I think,
no matter what, if Sean takes a year away or
he stays, that important period right now before the draft
is going to be spent on mental health, spent on
recharging the batteries, and spent on re prioritizing what he
wants to do. And this guy's only thirty six, he
has no kids, but he's got a lot of responsibilities
(10:02):
within that building and also a lot of stuff that's
been going on in his life. I don't he would
mind me sharing that. Um, his grandfather was his mentor,
his grandfather was his beacon as far as football goes,
and his grandfather's passing, uh was not sudden, but was
something that really affected him. I also think his wife's family,
(10:22):
many of whom are in Ukraine right now. The handling
of how do you manage that on a day to
day basis, that's not a one week thing. That is
an ongoing thing, and the toll that that has taken
on not only his wife, Veronica's family, but his his
own being and every day, you know, having to try
to get the good news coming there and whether that's
(10:42):
coming or not, and what he can do to help,
and how to be a better husband and better family member.
All that stuff is real, uh. And there's a lot
of other little things paper cuts along the way that
would add up. But the truth of the matter is
he has been NonStop football seven since he got the
job in and you can say, all these guys are,
but I think that he has enough self awareness to know.
(11:03):
And the flip side is he also has enough self
awareness to know. The longer this drags on, the more
this puts other coaches in a bad position looking for jobs,
or this puts his players in a weird position knowing
whether they want to come back to the Rams or not,
And it puts a team in a tough position. So
I would imagine before the Super Bowl or combine will
(11:23):
have a better ideal. But I don't think he's gonna
make a decision in the next couple of days. That's
the McVeigh deal. Lastly, Kingsbury spoke to him for about
an hour yesterday. Again, I don't think I'm betraying his
confidence in me telling you this. I said, it was
actually a really good conversation with bid Will. Uh. Mr
Bidwill came in and like he had a really emotional farewell,
(11:44):
Like bid Will and Cliff really got along, and Cliff
really liked bid Will. Um four and thirteen was just
not the season that the Cardinals expected and someone has
to pay for that, and it looks like it's going
to be the head coach. But I thought Bidwill's comments
were classy. Afterwards, he said, uh, you know, no one
works harder. I've never been around a harder working coach. Again,
(12:05):
same thing. And I'm not saying because Cliff is single
and you know it doesn't have a wife and doesn't
have a family, and that this is like what his
But Kingsbury lived at the Arizona Cardinals building. And you
might say, well, well, how they only win four games.
Let's just go real quick through this thing. A quarterback
gets the injury, he goes down. You know, they were
making things work with Colte McCoy for a while. He
goes down. They go to Mexico City, the offensive line
(12:28):
coach gets in some some drama there. They get back
the GM. Uh, you know, it takes a leave of absence,
and that leave of absence ended up being for the
rest of the season, and eventually that's that for him.
So you're talking about no offensive line coach, no quarterback,
no GM. And you know Kingsbury didn't say a word.
He didn't once, you know, say w wait a second,
(12:50):
this is not fair or make excuses. He just kind
of ate it and he'll eat it. And guess what
he'll eat guaranteed paychecks for the next five years. This
is the part I think people don't even know when
to talk about the NFL coaching situation. The contracts are guaranteed,
so in one way, talking to Cliff yesterday, there was
this feeling of, you know, we didn't get it done,
(13:10):
and also I feel bad for my assistant coaches because
you know, it's all they have to uproot their lives.
But on the other end of it is I didn't
ask to get fired. I didn't quit, and now I
get five years of guaranteed paychecks until seven. That means
every two weeks a direct deposit hits and it comes
from the Arizona Cardinals until Uh. He's very quick to say,
(13:35):
don't cry for me, I'll be all right, and he's
gonna do his best to make sure those assistant coaches
land somewhere on new staffs. He's not doing anything until
those guys all find their footing somewhere. Uh. But Kingsbury,
I don't think he's rushing to get back to coaching.
Everyone's talking about him going to the Patriots being offensive coordinator.
I don't see that. I think he's gonna take some time.
It's been a grueling twelve months for him. Uh, and
(13:57):
he's getting paid out, so it's a paid vacation. He's
gonna use it and he'll assess what he wants to
do next. Contract wise, it's interesting in his deal there's
offset language. So say he was to go and Aaron,
give me any NFL team that needs an offensive you
might want an offensive coordinator. You just name any team, really, Okay,
So say the Colts they hire um, you know whoever,
(14:19):
they hire Hardball as their coach. I'm just putting that
out there, and Hardball hires Kingsburyer's offensive coordinator. And money wise,
let's say I don't know what Cliff was making. Let's
say Cliff was making three million dollars with the Cardinals,
all right, and let's say the Colts say, will give
you one million to be our offensive coordinator. The Cardinals
still have to pay him the two million. It offsets,
so it's it's abtracted from what you're making with that team,
(14:42):
and then you get that money left over. So even
if he was to take you know, five thousand dollars
to be an offensive lot and offensive coordinator or a
quarterback coach, the Cardinals have to then eat the rest
of that cost. It's it's wild. You know a lot
of people are like, why isn't Adam Gates. We haven't
heard from Adam Gates. Adam Gaze was doing that with
two teams with the Jets and Dolphins, Like it's it's
(15:03):
the truth, Like Adam Gates was making a lot of
money the last few years. And it's just what it is.
When you're a fired head coach, you're gonna be okay financially.
When you're a fired offensive coordinator or a fired offensive
line coach, right, it's not the same. You're not making
the same money and some of those contracts aren't as guaranteed.
But uh, Kingsbury's gonna be all right. I don't know
about that job. And I really like the Cardinals organization.
(15:25):
I think bid Will is a good man and I
think he wants to win. And look, he's eating these costs.
He knows how much it costs. To fire Cliff is
a real bold move because you're ripping off the band aid.
But the fans wanted it and it was time to
start a new But you gotta find a GM, gotta
find a coach. Kyler is probably not ready for the
start of the season, and you're looking at a roster
that has, you know, DeAndre Hopkins probably at a different
(15:46):
stage of his career than he was. You're looking around,
you're like, all right, we got two linebackers the last
couple of drafts, and Zaven Collins and and uh Isaiah
Simmons who haven't really developed in the way that you'd
expect first round players to do. Like, I don't see
what's there. So again, true rebuild, great place to live, Arizona,
low pressure market. So you kind of like that if
(16:08):
you're a coach, knowing that it's you're gonna have some
time to at least get your footing. But between Indianapolis, Houston, Arizona, Denver, Carolina, UM,
it'll be interesting over the next few days. The one
name I would mention and we haven't had him on
the podcast yet, and I kind of regret not getting
him on, and I think he's gonna be a head
coach is Ben Johnson, the offensive coordinator of the Lions. Um.
(16:32):
I'm just hearing a lot of good things, and I
think the way that they came out and performed uh
Sunday against the Packers in a game that they were
technically eliminated from and then giving it. They're all at
Green Bay. How about this. I'd be very surprised if
Ben Johnson isn't it a a head coach. And I know
people want to say, well, what about this guy? What
about that guy? I'm not I'm not look, I'm not
(16:53):
weighing in on anything about other guys. I'd be surprised
if thirty six year old offensive coordinator math major in
college played quarterback at North Carolina like you you could,
and then was with Dolphins and Dan Campbell got him
here in uh, of course, in in Detroit, and he's
been outstanding and creative and he's a communicator, so not
(17:17):
a household name. But I'd say, if we're doing this
at Super Bowl Week, I would be surprised if Ben
Johnson wasn't a quarterback. Guys. We've got a sponsor to
this season with Peter Schreeger. I'm told that's great news. Uh.
And it's DraftKings, who I've been partners with for many years,
UH through the NFL Network and Good Morning Football. Let's
get into the playoff preview presented by DraftKings Sports Book.
(17:41):
I'm gonna focus on one game, and that is Seattle
in San Francisco. Right now, we're looking at the point spread,
as the forty Niners are ten point favorites. The over
under is forty two and a half, and if you
want to be real bold, the money line is a
plus four hundred for Seattle and minus five hundred for
San Francisco. I'm gonna focus on one player and one
player only, and that is brock Purty. I went on
(18:04):
Good Morning Football on on Tuesday morning of this week
and I said that brock Purty should be the offensive
rookie of the year, and I got scoffed, I got
laughed at. Jason McCurdy almost threw a pen at me
because party has played five games. But I think what
brock Purty has done over the last five weeks is
as impressive as anything that any rookie has done over
the whole entire seventeen game season. Bertie came in in
(18:26):
the most adverse situations, thrown into the mix as a Mr.
Irrelevant last pick in the draft, and not only has
exceeded his expectations, He's been better than Trey Lance, He's
been better than Jimmy Garoppolo, and he has the forty
Niners offense playing it's best football of the year. I
know this is division rivalry. I know that Seattle and
San Francisco has a ton, a ton of history. I
(18:49):
also know that San Francisco is likely going to wax
the Seahawks this weekend. No Jordan Brooks on the defensive
side for Seattle. Rock Purty getting more and more confidence
as the week goes on, and I think brock Purty
is a strength, not a weakness for the San Francisco
forda Nanits You're gonn see a lot of analysis this
week saying well, it's brock Purty's inexperience, going into how
(19:12):
many rookies do the Seahawks have. They have two rookies
that offensive tackle, They've got Kenneth Walker, They've got to Requall,
and they've got boy A mafe Gino Smith doesn't isn't
exactly Tom Brady with his playoff experience. And I think
that San Francisco is gonna be rocking early Saturday. Fans
are gonna come out and droves. I love the Seahawks
fan base. This game was being played in Seattle like
it was a few Thursday nights ago. Maybe I say
(19:34):
Seattle as a shot, but uh, I might regret this
decision and being so blunt about this. I think the
forty Niners take care of business, and I think brock
Purty has a day. That was the playoff preview presented
by Draft Kings sports Book download the Draft Kings sports
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Eligibility in terms of sports book dot Draft Kings dot
com slash football terms. I wanted to put all this
in a separate podcast than my guest for this week.
(20:37):
So this is part one. We're going to title that.
I think two. Shawn's a cliff and a bunch of
coaching vacancies. I like that, errands at work and no
sounds good. Yeah, he's nodding all right. Part two is
going to be an awesome interview with one of my
favorite people in the world. Stay on the feed. Uh
Brandon Bean is going to take us through the last week.
He has said he's the GM of the Buffalo Bills.
(20:58):
Thanks for listening, everybody, click on Part two coming up
right now. Yeah. Yeah. The Season with Peter Schrager is
(21:21):
a production of the NFL and partnership with I Heart Radio.
For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the i
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Host
Peter Schrager
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