March 19, 2022 • 35 mins
There’s still a lot of controversy surrounding NFL quarterback Deshaun Watson, but it’s nothing new to the world of sports commentary considering other high profiled athletes who have been accused and/or punished. NFL Insider Jason Cole joins the guys to share his favorite memories of the late John Clayton, the latest quarterback shuffle in the NFL, and much more on The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Greetings and welcome inside
our two of The Jason Smith Show with my big
friend Mike Harmon, live from the Fox Sports Radio studios.
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then you need Indeed because Indeed's powerful hiring platform makes
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Find your next grade higher visiting Indeed dot com slash credit.
That's Indeed dot Com slash credit. Well right now, thirteen
minutes to go on the second half, Davidson trailing Michigan
State forty five. Steph Curry has all forty five points
for Davidson fifteen threes on the night. Michigan State having
(01:09):
a lot of trouble, but still it is a two
point lead there. Meanwhile, coal Gate has a early three
nothing lead over Wisconsin, and if they win, Mike Harmon,
I'm claiming this one because you know how many times
I've been to col Gate, how many times I went
to see games at Star Rink. Oh, I am a
cold Gate by by what proxy? So if col Gate wins,
I'm taking. If they lose, I will mention at all.
But if they win, on completely taken that. Yeah, halfway
(01:31):
through the first half thirteen ten paint drying might be
you know, rivaling uh, the excitement of that game right now.
But I mean you probably saw the inside of the
campus more than you did the inside of your coal
Gate toothpaste. I was I was never a big cold
We were always Crest. We were a Crest House. Was
(01:53):
never a big cold Gate guy. Okay, it was always Crests.
Really bad joke, but I'm glad. I'm glad we got
deeper and deeper dive into the bathroom habits of one Jason. Well,
you when you're implying a brush my brush my teeth
all the time, I I use Crest. I'm not a
cold Gate guy as you would say, as you would say, notice, sponsor,
(02:13):
I'm gonna talk about if they're notice sponser. I don't
know why you gotta do it that way. I've just
got forgiven. That's what I said, even when I made that,
made the joke, pay us anything? So they we don't.
We don't give them a lot of run reference their
product in general. Yeah. Uh so again, no matter what
(02:34):
toothpaste you use, Yes, it's still thirteen ten. The first
half of that, yes, brush brush your teeth. What was
what was the movie? Oh, conspiracy theory, right, that's what
we're mel. Gibson was saying that the government hides like
controlling the people in the floor ride of toothpaste, and
that's not able to control the world because you know,
people who don't brush their teeth, watch, you know, do this,
(02:55):
do this whole thing. And that's how the government controls you.
I can't give that's how they at you. I can't
believe that hasn't made it made its way around as
a conspiracy theory. It's all in the toothpaste, man, it's
all in the two. I bet you if you go
into the dark web you can find some of that.
Uh boy, I'll let you do that. Uh So, the
Deshaun Watson trade goes down today. And it's stunning. Uh.
(03:17):
He decides, in a reversal of fortune, to go to
the Cleveland Browns, who were told they were out just
a day and a half ago, went through all kinds
of drama with Baker Mayfield. Maybe Deshaun Watson felt bad saying,
oh boy, maybe I'll go to Cleveland. No, Cleveland, clearly,
Cleveland is the right choice when you're talking about the
finalist that was down to Atlanta, New Orleans, Carolina. They
have the best coaching staff, they have the best roster,
(03:39):
and you're talking about someone who now wants to win
and wants to reprove himself, which is what he said
earlier today. Cleveland makes sense. Now. The other part of
it is this, and this is this, this is this
is part of what goes on with the Shawn Watson.
It's really hard to talk about him right now. It
really is because the narrative out has just blown off
(04:02):
all of the legal peril that he was in. He
still has twenty two cases, uh that that women have
have filed civil cases against him for um unwanted and
unlawful behavior during massages. Twenty two women. And and even
though we had the story last week that there are
no criminal charges that were filed, which which again is
(04:22):
still something people are trying to come to grips with
all twenty two women. Lie, I mean, you got twenty
two people here, but there's no evidence. Look, it's this
is how it's gone. He has not spoken, he has
not said anything about what happened. He took the Fifth Amendment. Uh,
so we've got no explanation for what went on at
(04:43):
all these different times, all the all the women that
he is that he seeked out to find as as masseuses,
which why do you have twenty two different women giving
you massages? I mean, again, there's so many unanswered questions,
and I don't know that we're ever going to get
answers to the questions. And so it's hard to talk
about him because he matters so much to the rest
of the NFL and what it means for the for
(05:04):
the Browns and where the quarterback shuffle goes, and it's
a big deal for the business of the NFL and
for fans who are who are trying to figure out
where their teams are gonna go and how our teams
are gonna be. But the rest of it, it's it's
hard because the optic of all these legal issues and
just because all right, there's no criminal charges and then
a few days later, here's a guy getting more guaranteed
(05:24):
money than anybody in the history of the game. I mean,
let's think about that optic for a second. Deshaun Watson
couldn't even see the field because of because of this,
and now we have somewhat of of Uh. I would
say we made maybe half of a resolution because these
were civil cases that were filed. Now here come the
criminal cases that they looked at already. We still have
that going on, and and now here's yes, now it's
(05:47):
about on the field, and now here's the money, and
here's where we talk about him and how good the
Browns are gonna be and what this means for Baker Mayfield.
It's a very difficult thing to do. So, I mean, look,
Mike and I come on the radio every night and
we talked four hours about stuff, and and you know,
sometimes it's it's harder than others. And you know, we'll
get to John Clayton coming up in a couple of minutes,
but um, this is also one of those times where
(06:07):
it really is difficult because it's it's it's it still
feels it makes me feel weird just be talking about suddenly, Okay,
now this is over and here's what's going on, when
we still haven't really had a final answer to it.
And and maybe had Watson talked about it and said
what happened and we got a better explanation or something different,
(06:27):
it would be different. But there's still so much of
this Mike that's a clouded in secrecy that to suddenly
make that jump to okay, now he's back on, we
could talk about him now we talk No, it's it's
still it's still a difficult needle to thread to go.
What's the right balance to to to strike between having
respect for what's going on and what's still going on
and the business of the NFL. It's it's really difficult
(06:49):
to do. Yeah, I don't think, you know, you compartmentalize, right.
I had this conversation, Uh, you know, we do private soccer, uh,
working on some skills and you know, for work with
Madeline on Fridays, and she asked, as we started our drive,
it's up you know, the palace verdies, so we gotta
go sit in traffic a bit. And she asked, what
(07:09):
the big story of the day was because there's gonna
be basketball. I go, well, no, She goes, oh that
guy again. I go yeah. She goes, what's new with
it now? Because it's been sitting there for eighteen months, right,
I mean, it's it's there, so you know, those those stories,
you know, are are in the balance. And she'd seen
names and wanted to see if she could connect the
dots herself. I said, yes, Uh, he was able to
(07:32):
orchestrate the trade, and I kind of went through the
timeline of it all, and the whole time she's just
staring at me. Go and they're going to trade for him?
I go yes, because for now the criminal stuff is
off to the side. Still have to go through all
of the civil cases, twenty two of them. Uh so
to get a two thirty million dollar contract. Look, I
(07:54):
begrudge no man or woman the dollars they go in
or in our business, other businesses, whatever you do across America.
Still just trying to reconcile all that, with the cases
still pending, and knowing that that many teams we're coming
along and trying to figure out not only the lay
of the land, which meant they spent considerable man hours
and women hours I mean, I don't know. I just
(08:14):
went for the uh, the old catch all, but the
idea that you spent a lot of time doing your
due diligence on his availability, probably calling the league office
to see if you could suss out any information from
them about what a potential suspension is going to be,
and not to mention all of your um financial folks
(08:35):
going through and contract lawyers and everybody else to try
to see what you can come up with that makes sense.
And you know, compensation from a draft pick. Like you
think about all of the hours and energy spent on this,
and there's still a little of it that doesn't feel right.
And that's not the claim that you know, I I'm
the grand poobah, the all knowing and saying hey twenty two,
(08:57):
all of them. You know, he's just this miserable all
the way through. Right, I don't know what reality is.
We don't know what reality is. We know the criminal
charges were our criminal allegations never turned into charges, right,
they indicted, They looked at it, and no charges end
up being filed. Now, uh, he pled pled the fifth
(09:20):
and for now those are those are off. So you
know the business of the NFL came back in and
our jobs to talk about the business of the NFL. Right,
I don't know if I go as far as we
we do in the Few Good Men. If I do, so,
what is it without passion or prejudice. But the the
idea is that we do still have to talk about
what it means, the domino effects. It doesn't mean that
(09:43):
it's the the happy subject that you're talking about. Again,
congratulations to the Browns on getting one hell of a
quarterback if when he's available, but there's there's a lot
of consideration, and you know, the you talk about the
moral costs and and if folks want to go down
that road, then then you do. In the end, when
he's on the field, it's it's wins, losses and performance.
(10:05):
And at the end of the day. Uh, that's sports radio,
sports television, it's a it's a television show. Doesn't mean
you have to like all the principal characters, how they're written,
how they're drawn, or in this case, what may or
may not have happened in their personal lives. So yeah,
it's there. There isn't a little unrest with these cases
still not settled or come to conclusion. Uh. To the
(10:29):
long story, short like it feels like normally we like
things all tidied up right and boxed and putting the
corner or back on the shelf. Right now you're still
you're getting a two hundred thirty million dollar guaranteed deal
compensation back to Houston, and the final chapter of the
story isn't even written, you know. And you say that
(10:51):
about the lie that the Jack Ross line about I
represent the government without passion or put your judice in.
My client has a case. That's kind of what it's
gonna be for Watson is it's a big story now,
and he has been a big story because of his
legal situation. Where is he gonna go? How where's he
gonna end up? Now we know the answer to that.
And and I can tell you this when when we
(11:12):
get to the point now how to cover DeShawn Watson,
He's gonna be covered like we covered Michael Vick post prison,
like we covered Ben Roethlisberger post his issues that he
had off the field with women. In that you're not
going to get a lot of spirited conversation. You're gonna
get conversation how it matters to the business of the games.
(11:36):
And this is what happened, and he needs to play
better and he needs to do this. That's kind of
what it's gonna be. I don't think there's gonna be
a lot of passion. There's gonna be a lot of
detachment when it comes discussing DeShawn Watson because of this.
And we will talk about him like we talked about
Vick or Roethlisberger or Tyree Kill or or anybody that
that has a situation where boy, we really don't know
what the answer to this is and in the end,
(11:56):
what do you do. We talk about it as much
as we have to, and then we move on to
other things. And it doesn't mean that that this is
any less of a story. It's just it's it's hard,
you know, and and and it's hard for people who
have to try to figure out the right way, you know,
as we do every night here to talk about things,
and that's kind of how it's gonna be. We'll talk
about the Browns is they're winning, and we'll mention Watson's
(12:17):
name he's playing well, and boy, Watson's playing well in
this But you're not gonna see the over the top
effusiveness and excitement that you normally are gonna get about
other players when they're playing well, it's not gonna be
how people say about Matt Joe. Matt Jones just completed
two passes in a row. This guy is better than
Tom Brady. I mean, you're not gonna see that kind
of excitement it's gonna be. It's gonna be much more
(12:37):
muted and much more buttoned up when it comes to
the impact when you break stuff, when we break stuff down.
Regarding Watson the Browns, that that's kind of how I
see it going. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten
pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
the I Heart Radio app A little bit of Raining
(12:58):
Blood All Slayer for John Clayton. Let's hear it yeah,
Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with My best
friend Mike Harmon live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios.
Hiring heating up. Indeed's hiring platform makes it easy to attract,
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(13:18):
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right now, five minutes left to go, Michigan State, try
and hold on against Davidson. Lot more on this game
coming up, but joining us now on the hotline a
man who is still currently a Pro Football Hall of
(13:40):
Fame voter, longtime insider, longtime friend of the show, and
I guarantee without even knowing, he was probably a long
time friend of John Clayton, because if you're in the
business as long as he is, everybody's been that kind
of guy. Jason Cole, what's happening, man, Well, you hit
it right on the top of the head. Um, rough night, tonight, guys,
(14:02):
rough night. John John is as good a human being
as you will ever find in this business, as honest
and as um as good and helpful a person as
you could ever imagine having had contact with, especially when
you're getting started in this business. What I did, and yeah,
(14:24):
tonight tonight's little tell well and you look, hey, it's
I've known him a long time, been to dinner with
him and his wife. But I really now now I'm
a little upset because he's he's the guy to blame
for losing you on on the on the we we
wouldn't have to worry about your hits every week and
all the crap thing you say, Now it's John Clinton.
Now I know it's John Clayton's fault. Now, yes, you
(14:49):
can put it. You can put this all the creation
of this is an extension is and this is this
madness is an extension of John Clayton, who would appreciate
madness because he had a devious sense of year he had.
He just been a less helpful guy. You know that
That is the kids would have avoided, You would have
(15:10):
avoided all of this that would have just disappeared in
another world. Yeah. Yeah, I had the chance to do
a couple of events with John a long while ago,
and some radio hits. But like the timeline tonight, you
know obviously the long tenure at ESPN, but Jay's Jake
hold the uh. The consistent thing is just very much
that people talking about their first jobs and how he
(15:34):
would seek them out to try to make them comfortable,
uh in environments, and that that seems to be the legacy.
I would remember talking. I was in Buffalo, right and
he was working in we were a playoff game, and
he had read some of my stuff about. You know,
I was pretty easy a knowledgeable about the salary cap
(15:54):
and followed it and you know, figured teams out. And
I was one of those guys. Yeah, and he was
better at and I was way better and always better.
But he's one of those guys who recognize that people
understood that the salary cap was really critical and important,
whereas a lot of people we just kind of write
it off like, oh, they'll figure out the money and
(16:14):
they'll get the players they want to get. Now, it
was a lot. It was a lot more technical than that.
And you know, like John could have been a capologist
for any of these teams. I mean like he could
have literally study the league and it would have been
better than probably guys because he both he also understood football,
(16:35):
Like that's the other thing. I mean, just a genius
explaining the game, relating it to what the numbers meant,
what teams did well, didn't do well. Yeah, he's a
smart a football report as you'll ever meet. You know,
like Adam Schefter is a great information guy. Obviously there
(16:57):
are other guys who are good information guys, but it's
very rare the guys completely and totally understand the game.
The cap the economics, how it all works together. And
really like the best part of John is as good
as he was on radio and as much information, as
much stuff as he would learn about the game. If
(17:19):
you've got him into those moments where he could just
be kind of off color and not you know not
I'm just I'm not talking about swearing all the time
or anything like, just but just completely and totally honest
about the guys where he could just say, you know,
that guy doesn't know what he's doing. Like when he
could say it that way, he was just he was
(17:41):
even more amazing. Like so if you could get John
Clayton unfiltered, you know, not you know, away from the
having the you know, to do in a TV way
or a radio way and just like serve it up
the way he really thought, Oh my god, it was
even better. It's just and I was I was privileged
(18:02):
to have had hours of those kinds of conversations with
John all the way. So I yeah, yeah, this is
a this is a rough night, but it's also a
glorious night to remember one of the guys, probably the
two or three guys in this profession I respect the most.
You know, It's funny you say that because it's kind
of like if you know, you talk about the moments
(18:22):
off camera. And I mentioned earlier in the show, like,
but some of the best conversations John and I would
have was about the TV show twenty four because we
were both huge fans of the show, and like he
would come on my show every week and for like
ten minutes before we take we talk about twenty four.
Who do you think that this new president Gregory? It's
in his great I don't know, is he better than
David Palmer? When did we do the hit? And then
(18:43):
we talk about after the fifteen minutes after what do
you think is gonna happen? Just those are the conversations.
I remember just how how much he would say. He
would say and Jason, I'll talk to you next week
after an All New twenty four, and that like became
the way he would sign off when he would come
on the show, because that's how Fox would say it
up next on an all new, I'll talk to you
next Sunday after an All New, And he made it
(19:06):
that way. And I know some executives said, hey, why
does John say it that way? I got why you're upset?
You really, what do you think is gonna you worry, Hey,
people are gonna turn off the radio and go watch
twenty four. Really you think that's what's gonna happen. Uh.
People in the ESPN were insane. Sometimes they got mad
at me once because you know, because I knew him
really well, and we would and we would talk and
I would call, hey, Johnny Cee, what do you think
(19:27):
about this? And you just to have that kind of conversation.
I remember one time after one of my managers said, yeah,
you know, I think we're gonna dial it back on
on the on the the closeness. I what do you head? Well,
when you call him Johnny C I go, yeah, well,
what's wrong with that? Because you know, it just seems
like it's chummy, it's buddy, buddy. I think I think
it were it were. It kind of blurs the line
with professionalism and certain things I go on the radio
(19:50):
call in the I mean, these are some of this
is some of the US ESPN was always worried about.
And and when he came on and I said hey,
John and he knew I think that happened because at
one time I forgot about it. And I said, all right,
so Johnny see he goes whoops, and just like he
didn't even say anything else. He just knew that they
said that, and he didn't care. But he just said whoops,
and then he answered because he knew that what he
(20:10):
didn't care. It was just he knew that conversation that
went on and he slipped in that woods right there.
Oh my god, he was. He was so much fun. He's, uh,
what a perceptive dude, that funny dude. He just I
just remember having conversations with him about yeah, this is
what this guy really said about that guy. And again,
(20:37):
like he under he was never big on talking about
for the macho, alpha male side of football because he
just thought, you know that everybody should know that, everybody
should should accept that. But when he did dip into
that kind of stuff and he got away from the
analytical stuff, he knew, you know, like he just knew
the personalities. He knew like who was the real me
(21:00):
in the profession and who were the really smart guys
because he studied their work and he saw that guy's
it's just not sharp, yeah, or this guy's an idiot
he didn't know what he's doing, or that guy really
really understand like he could he could really pick it out.
So you know, I think NFL teams just missed, really
(21:27):
missed it, that somebody should have hired this guy to
be to do the analytics of football, you know, because
he was so far out of it, and he would
have made great hires, and he would have understood who
was a good personnel people were, and he would have like,
he could have done all that kind of stuff. He
was that smart. He should have been on the inside
(21:47):
of the game. But I'm forever grateful that he was not,
and that I got a chance to get to know
him this way. Jason Spitz Show with Mike Harmon here
on Fox Sports Radio. All right, in the in the
tribute from a personnel standpoint, We've got our guy, Jason
Cole with us at Jason Cole sixty two, where you
find him on Twitter. You've got the latest book, l
(22:09):
Way of Relentless Life. Go get that exceedingly blunt. You
know that from his weekly visits. Still a selector for
the Pro Football Hall of Fame, despite uh Smith's efforts
to make that a ready to derail my my voterdom. Yes, collectorum,
whatever we want to call it. Yes, So with with
with a little nod to to John Clayton in mind today,
(22:31):
obviously the zag in the quarterback world as Deshaun Watson
becomes a member of the Cleveland Browns, would love to
hear the unfiltered Clayton on it. But here you are,
Jason Cole, we come to expect even even more unfiltered
from you. Personnel wise. Twenty two cases still hanging. What
went through your mind when you saw two hundred thirty
(22:52):
million guaranteed? I was, Look, I'm impressed with what Cleveland
didn't this deal? They came back. They convinced him to
do it. Obviously the coaching staff having a big impact
on this, because like, if you're Deshaun Watson, you're looking
at the the ownership, You're probably going come on, um,
(23:12):
but you know, I think that the coach convinced him
on this one. The money is obviously important, but for
three first, um, a third and what a fifth? You know,
to get him and no players involved. I mean, in
a sense, they got him for less than Denver got
Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson thirty I mean Deshaun Watson
(23:37):
and Russell Wilson is thirty three. So when you take
that into account. And yeah, the money is expensive, I
get it, but you don't get very many opportunities to
get a franchise quarterback, and if you're Cleveland. I mean
I made this point on Twitter a couple of weeks ago,
talking about how long it's been since some teams have
had franchise quarterbacks, like they haven't had a franchise quarterback
(24:01):
and you know it since Bernie Costar, And some people
would argue that, you know, Costar wasn't even truly a
franchise guy would that would take issue with that, But
name a great quarterback, a truly great quarterback to Cleveland's
had since Otto Graham. If you if you thought my
Beverly Hills Beverly Hillbillies reference was aged last week, you know,
(24:25):
I can't wait to hear what you guys think of
the Auto Grant reference. That's I celebrate his whole catalog.
Go cats. I see. I thought you were going to
say since Brian site, but you went back even further
than two thousand seven with Derek was a flash in
the pan kind of guy. I mean, he was okay, wow,
look at you don't give me he was part of
the Cardiac kids. It's the greatest NFL films ever The
(24:48):
Cardiac Kids. That's the best episode NFL Films has ever done.
It's yeah, it's fine, it's good. Peter doubt after about
three years. Okay, it wasn't It wasn't all that. This
is all John Clayton's fault. I mean, all of this,
all of this hate from all of this critis who
made you? Who should we blame for you? Like? Is
(25:10):
it is it? The is it? Is it? Sommy Werblin?
Or do we get you know? Has? What are we
doing here? What are you doing? You know? Like name?
It's like did Joe Nameth? Like dreams of Joe Nameeth? Like, oh,
we can do it again, there'll be another name of No,
there's not. You are the Jets. That's all you get.
So you live in the past with Werblin, Nameth and Has,
(25:31):
and you know a bunch of other guys that most
of New Yorkers have never heard about because you're Jets
fan and you know nothing. I interviewed Joe Nameth once
and I really want to no no, no, no, no,
Like ninety seconds is one of those where he's it
was a red carpet thing. And Joanna said, so I
had him for like ninety seconds. I finished the interview
and I said, I have no idea what I just
(25:53):
asked him. I was just like, oh my god, it's
Joe Nameeth. It's like the world for me. Joe Nameeth
is right there. You want to talk to him? And
my head just went, sure, let's p let me talk
to Joe Namath. Shouldn't You're all I have it? If
I had Tom Seaver standing here next to you, my
(26:14):
entire life would be in circle right here, happy man,
this is what I have right here? Uh? So hey,
So lastly, because I know you were you were big
on this yesterday as well. Uh, the whole the whole
behavior from Baker Mayfield throughout this whole thing. I'm sitting
out of thank you. No want to be traded. I
(26:37):
I look, I get it, you know when I understand
that he that that he's not someone that's mentally strong.
But shouldn't the Browns have known that he this was
gonna happen? I mean, they've known the guy for four years.
I'm gonna I'm not I'm not disputing that, Okay, I'm
not disputing that Cleveland should have anticipated that he would
have a childlike response, which is probably why they came
(26:57):
back and said we'll do whatever. We double up big
exactly absolutely, like they're like, oh my god, now we've
gotta deal with this again. I'll forget it. Go get go,
give him the two thirty eight. You know, do we
have to give him three hundred millions. Let's just do
it to get rid of Baker. Okay, Um, I get it, Okay,
but I just look at Baker Mayfield and go, what
(27:18):
happened to the dude who had swagger? Who would come
back and go, oh, you wanted Deshaun Watton? Huh, let
me show you what I can do, right? And that
would have been the guy who you know, you know,
did that in second college the first couple of years
in the pros. Now it's like, well, I had my
brand to protecting this, and then I'm a whiner, Like, God,
(27:42):
you are such. I can't say it on air, but
you're such. I I just can't say. The SEC is
gonna you know, I'll be banned from the show forever.
But god, it's so soft, it's so weak. Um, and
I you I hear this, like, oh, what's Matt Ryan
(28:02):
going to do now that Atlanta Matt Ryan's gonna come
back and he's gonna play for the money. He's gonna
play really hard, and he's probably not gonna be real happy.
But that's what you do, right, Like you just come
back and you prove it to everybody that I'm just
better and I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna play balls
out right here, you know, And that's that's the way
we're going to do this. And I'll show you what
(28:22):
I made of Like to me, I would respect that. Now, Look,
I understand plenty of other players have talked their way
off of teams and that's their strategy. And I under
and I explained lots of times, and I said it
on this show. You know, are you willing to talk
your way off of a team? That's Aaron, Aaron Rodgers.
Do you have the guts to talk your way off
of a team? So I understand that's a strategy. It's
(28:44):
not a strategy I respect, but it's a strategy and
it's the strategy that you have to play in certain situations.
And Baker was willing to do that, and I respect
that he's willing to stand up and say I want
to be out of here. And I get that, but
I don't respect the overall approach, like if it was
you know, I'm I'm like, I look at Tom Brady.
(29:06):
When Tom Brady was in Michigan and Drew Henson shows
up and Drew Henson god in Michigan, right, like he's
a freshman and Brady's a junior, and everybody thinks that,
you know, Drew Henson just walk on water and walk
straight into the starting quarterback position. What you know, Brady
stuck it out, mostly because his dad told him, Yeah, look,
(29:28):
life's tough, go fight. Yeah, you can come back to
cal if you want, and you know you can play.
You can play for that horrible school if you want.
But the shot, um, you're right, yeah, but you know
you could. You know, tell Amy Trask I said that
place to Twitter to her, Um, you know you can't
(29:50):
play for that awful school, or you can be a
man and you can stay at Michigan and you know,
win the job and show some mental toughness. And that's
what he did. And I know one of the main
reasons why Tom Brady is who he is because he
didn't look back and say, oh, they brought in Drew Hanson.
They don't love me. Lloyd Carr doesn't love me. He
(30:12):
didn't even recruit me because there was the previous coach. Um,
oh you like now he's like, look all those to
take the job, and he did. You can fall on
Twitter at Jason Cole sixty two. That is at Jason
Cole sixty two, longtime NFL Insider Pro Football Hall of
Fame voter. In the book Elway or Relentless Life of Course,
available bookstores and Amazon. It's basically anywhere you want books,
(30:35):
you can get it. Jay is always buddy, appreciate your time.
My friend will talk to you next week. Guys, be good,
take care of thanks. Brother. All right, there goes Jays.
So it's John Clayton's fault. We have Jason Cole alright, wow, okay.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific and Got. The podcast is called All Ball.
(31:00):
We usually talk all basketball all the time, but it's
more about the stories about what made these people love
their sport and all the interesting interactions along the way.
We talked to coaches, we talked to players. We tell
you stories. You downloaded. He listened to it. I think
you like it. Listen to All Ball with Doug Gottlieb
on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast orherever you
(31:23):
get your podcast, Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show
with my best friend Mike Harmon. We got more on
de Shaun Watson coming your way in about ten minutes
or so. But while that got most of the headlines.
At eight two million dollars guaranteed to him and he's
(31:44):
now gonna be the new quarterback of the Browns, um
the a f C West continues to just load up
as Juju Smith Schuster agrees to terms with the Chiefs
one year and ten million dollars. Smith Schuster making the
announcement earlier today on social media. Nobody else had it.
It was just people quote tweeting him, going, Juju smith
(32:06):
Schuster is just announced he's a chief. Like that's I
was a chief, you know, ready to go, and it's like, oh,
Smith Schuster is a chief. Apparently I didn't get that.
But I'll tell you what, man. For everything we've seen
the last few days and still we went over the
the peck order last night after Davonte Adams to the Raiders,
this move. If anything is going to say maybe I
(32:27):
don't have the Chargers as my favorite. This move does
it for the Chiefs because this is absolutely what they've
needed for a while. Now. You can be a really
good quarterback and if you don't have enough guys can
catch a football, uh, you're gonna struggle. And teams kind
of figured out a little bit, all right, this is
what you do with it taking years. This is how
you do it against the Chiefs. This is how you
(32:47):
bracket Tyreek Hill, and this is what you do with
Travis Kelsey and the Chiefs have not had any other weapons.
Their running game has been pedestrian. They've not found another
wide receiver to really breakthrough and be that number two.
They lost Sandy Watkins, who has never really that good
a couple of years ago, but now they go get
Juju Smith Schuster, who as long as he is healthy,
he is terrific. I don't know how he's lasted on
(33:08):
the market two straight years one year, ten million dollar deals,
but he is legit. And suddenly now you give another option.
Where are you gonna roll your coverages to? Now now
you have a you have a big time wide receiver
on either side of the field and Kelsey down the middle.
If anything's gonna say, yeah, I don't know about the
charges of the favorites anymore. This is that move because
(33:29):
this is what the Chiefs needed. They need another big
move on offense to make their offense a little bit
more dynamic. And now you're talking about adding a guy
who when when he's right as a top fifteen receiver
in the NFL, I mean, he's just that good and
and and for him to be out there for so
long and one year and ten million, and you go,
how did nobody else do this? How did no one
say one year in twelve million, one year in thirteen million?
(33:50):
Because Juji smith Schuster is a really good harm and
he's the second year in a row he stayed out
there and signed for one year. Well, I think part
of it was, I mean last year was the bed
on yourself health. And then he played five games and
only had twenty eight targets, uh and missed the rest
of the year. So you know, unfortunately, that means what
do you do. Let's do it again, and we look
(34:13):
at the money and look if it if it breaks right,
you're correct, right, he did have a hundred eleven catches
and he had ninety seven catches in and this is
an even year, so that would say he'll probably have
a good year because remember and that was the Roethlisberger
injury years, so you take that with a grain of salt.
(34:33):
But he himself only played twelve games that year, seventy targets,
forty two receptions. So I think part of it is
he's got to prove that he can stay healthy and
as a number three option, right, that's what he is
in this offense, that he's got an opportunity to still
put up numbers, especially if they continue to try the
(34:53):
bracket coverage that we've seen for Tyree Hill and for
Travis Kelsey. So opportunity is there. He's got to go
make the most of it. And it certainly makes the
offense better because now mcicole Hartman can slide back into
a w R three role, which makes him that much
more dangerous against a lesser cornerback. If he's the productive
(35:13):
version of himself, the Chiefs win the division. All this
other stuff that's gone on this offseason, but that's the
big key. If he's the productive version of himself, that's
what happens. If some butts baby Twitter and how about
a Fresca Mike and swollen dome. That race keeps getting better.
Back to the biggest NFL story of the day, Next
Fox
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every night
on the I Heart Radio app by searching fs R.
(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Greetings and welcome inside
our two of The Jason Smith Show with my big
friend Mike Harmon, live from the Fox Sports Radio studios.
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then you need Indeed because Indeed's powerful hiring platform makes
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Find your next grade higher visiting Indeed dot com slash credit.
That's Indeed dot Com slash credit. Well right now, thirteen
minutes to go on the second half, Davidson trailing Michigan
State forty five. Steph Curry has all forty five points
for Davidson fifteen threes on the night. Michigan State having
(01:09):
a lot of trouble, but still it is a two
point lead there. Meanwhile, coal Gate has a early three
nothing lead over Wisconsin, and if they win, Mike Harmon,
I'm claiming this one because you know how many times
I've been to col Gate, how many times I went
to see games at Star Rink. Oh, I am a
cold Gate by by what proxy? So if col Gate wins,
I'm taking. If they lose, I will mention at all.
But if they win, on completely taken that. Yeah, halfway
(01:31):
through the first half thirteen ten paint drying might be
you know, rivaling uh, the excitement of that game right now.
But I mean you probably saw the inside of the
campus more than you did the inside of your coal
Gate toothpaste. I was I was never a big cold
We were always Crest. We were a Crest House. Was
(01:53):
never a big cold Gate guy. Okay, it was always Crests.
Really bad joke, but I'm glad. I'm glad we got
deeper and deeper dive into the bathroom habits of one Jason. Well,
you when you're implying a brush my brush my teeth
all the time, I I use Crest. I'm not a
cold Gate guy as you would say, as you would say, notice, sponsor,
(02:13):
I'm gonna talk about if they're notice sponser. I don't
know why you gotta do it that way. I've just
got forgiven. That's what I said, even when I made that,
made the joke, pay us anything? So they we don't.
We don't give them a lot of run reference their
product in general. Yeah. Uh so again, no matter what
(02:34):
toothpaste you use, Yes, it's still thirteen ten. The first
half of that, yes, brush brush your teeth. What was
what was the movie? Oh, conspiracy theory, right, that's what
we're mel. Gibson was saying that the government hides like
controlling the people in the floor ride of toothpaste, and
that's not able to control the world because you know,
people who don't brush their teeth, watch, you know, do this,
(02:55):
do this whole thing. And that's how the government controls you.
I can't give that's how they at you. I can't
believe that hasn't made it made its way around as
a conspiracy theory. It's all in the toothpaste, man, it's
all in the two. I bet you if you go
into the dark web you can find some of that.
Uh boy, I'll let you do that. Uh So, the
Deshaun Watson trade goes down today. And it's stunning. Uh.
(03:17):
He decides, in a reversal of fortune, to go to
the Cleveland Browns, who were told they were out just
a day and a half ago, went through all kinds
of drama with Baker Mayfield. Maybe Deshaun Watson felt bad saying,
oh boy, maybe I'll go to Cleveland. No, Cleveland, clearly,
Cleveland is the right choice when you're talking about the
finalist that was down to Atlanta, New Orleans, Carolina. They
have the best coaching staff, they have the best roster,
(03:39):
and you're talking about someone who now wants to win
and wants to reprove himself, which is what he said
earlier today. Cleveland makes sense. Now. The other part of
it is this, and this is this, this is this
is part of what goes on with the Shawn Watson.
It's really hard to talk about him right now. It
really is because the narrative out has just blown off
(04:02):
all of the legal peril that he was in. He
still has twenty two cases, uh that that women have
have filed civil cases against him for um unwanted and
unlawful behavior during massages. Twenty two women. And and even
though we had the story last week that there are
no criminal charges that were filed, which which again is
(04:22):
still something people are trying to come to grips with
all twenty two women. Lie, I mean, you got twenty
two people here, but there's no evidence. Look, it's this
is how it's gone. He has not spoken, he has
not said anything about what happened. He took the Fifth Amendment. Uh,
so we've got no explanation for what went on at
(04:43):
all these different times, all the all the women that
he is that he seeked out to find as as masseuses,
which why do you have twenty two different women giving
you massages? I mean, again, there's so many unanswered questions,
and I don't know that we're ever going to get
answers to the questions. And so it's hard to talk
about him because he matters so much to the rest
of the NFL and what it means for the for
(05:04):
the Browns and where the quarterback shuffle goes, and it's
a big deal for the business of the NFL and
for fans who are who are trying to figure out
where their teams are gonna go and how our teams
are gonna be. But the rest of it, it's it's
hard because the optic of all these legal issues and
just because all right, there's no criminal charges and then
a few days later, here's a guy getting more guaranteed
(05:24):
money than anybody in the history of the game. I mean,
let's think about that optic for a second. Deshaun Watson
couldn't even see the field because of because of this,
and now we have somewhat of of Uh. I would
say we made maybe half of a resolution because these
were civil cases that were filed. Now here come the
criminal cases that they looked at already. We still have
that going on, and and now here's yes, now it's
(05:47):
about on the field, and now here's the money, and
here's where we talk about him and how good the
Browns are gonna be and what this means for Baker Mayfield.
It's a very difficult thing to do. So, I mean, look,
Mike and I come on the radio every night and
we talked four hours about stuff, and and you know,
sometimes it's it's harder than others. And you know, we'll
get to John Clayton coming up in a couple of minutes,
but um, this is also one of those times where
(06:07):
it really is difficult because it's it's it's it still
feels it makes me feel weird just be talking about suddenly, Okay,
now this is over and here's what's going on, when
we still haven't really had a final answer to it.
And and maybe had Watson talked about it and said
what happened and we got a better explanation or something different,
(06:27):
it would be different. But there's still so much of
this Mike that's a clouded in secrecy that to suddenly
make that jump to okay, now he's back on, we
could talk about him now we talk No, it's it's
still it's still a difficult needle to thread to go.
What's the right balance to to to strike between having
respect for what's going on and what's still going on
and the business of the NFL. It's it's really difficult
(06:49):
to do. Yeah, I don't think, you know, you compartmentalize, right.
I had this conversation, Uh, you know, we do private soccer, uh,
working on some skills and you know, for work with
Madeline on Fridays, and she asked, as we started our drive,
it's up you know, the palace verdies, so we gotta
go sit in traffic a bit. And she asked, what
(07:09):
the big story of the day was because there's gonna
be basketball. I go, well, no, She goes, oh that
guy again. I go yeah. She goes, what's new with
it now? Because it's been sitting there for eighteen months, right,
I mean, it's it's there, so you know, those those stories,
you know, are are in the balance. And she'd seen
names and wanted to see if she could connect the
dots herself. I said, yes, Uh, he was able to
(07:32):
orchestrate the trade, and I kind of went through the
timeline of it all, and the whole time she's just
staring at me. Go and they're going to trade for him?
I go yes, because for now the criminal stuff is
off to the side. Still have to go through all
of the civil cases, twenty two of them. Uh so
to get a two thirty million dollar contract. Look, I
(07:54):
begrudge no man or woman the dollars they go in
or in our business, other businesses, whatever you do across America.
Still just trying to reconcile all that, with the cases
still pending, and knowing that that many teams we're coming
along and trying to figure out not only the lay
of the land, which meant they spent considerable man hours
and women hours I mean, I don't know. I just
(08:14):
went for the uh, the old catch all, but the
idea that you spent a lot of time doing your
due diligence on his availability, probably calling the league office
to see if you could suss out any information from
them about what a potential suspension is going to be,
and not to mention all of your um financial folks
(08:35):
going through and contract lawyers and everybody else to try
to see what you can come up with that makes sense.
And you know, compensation from a draft pick. Like you
think about all of the hours and energy spent on this,
and there's still a little of it that doesn't feel right.
And that's not the claim that you know, I I'm
the grand poobah, the all knowing and saying hey twenty two,
(08:57):
all of them. You know, he's just this miserable all
the way through. Right, I don't know what reality is.
We don't know what reality is. We know the criminal
charges were our criminal allegations never turned into charges, right,
they indicted, They looked at it, and no charges end
up being filed. Now, uh, he pled pled the fifth
(09:20):
and for now those are those are off. So you
know the business of the NFL came back in and
our jobs to talk about the business of the NFL. Right,
I don't know if I go as far as we
we do in the Few Good Men. If I do, so,
what is it without passion or prejudice. But the the
idea is that we do still have to talk about
what it means, the domino effects. It doesn't mean that
(09:43):
it's the the happy subject that you're talking about. Again,
congratulations to the Browns on getting one hell of a
quarterback if when he's available, but there's there's a lot
of consideration, and you know, the you talk about the
moral costs and and if folks want to go down
that road, then then you do. In the end, when
he's on the field, it's it's wins, losses and performance.
(10:05):
And at the end of the day. Uh, that's sports radio,
sports television, it's a it's a television show. Doesn't mean
you have to like all the principal characters, how they're written,
how they're drawn, or in this case, what may or
may not have happened in their personal lives. So yeah,
it's there. There isn't a little unrest with these cases
still not settled or come to conclusion. Uh. To the
(10:29):
long story, short like it feels like normally we like
things all tidied up right and boxed and putting the
corner or back on the shelf. Right now you're still
you're getting a two hundred thirty million dollar guaranteed deal
compensation back to Houston, and the final chapter of the
story isn't even written, you know. And you say that
(10:51):
about the lie that the Jack Ross line about I
represent the government without passion or put your judice in.
My client has a case. That's kind of what it's
gonna be for Watson is it's a big story now,
and he has been a big story because of his
legal situation. Where is he gonna go? How where's he
gonna end up? Now we know the answer to that.
And and I can tell you this when when we
(11:12):
get to the point now how to cover DeShawn Watson,
He's gonna be covered like we covered Michael Vick post prison,
like we covered Ben Roethlisberger post his issues that he
had off the field with women. In that you're not
going to get a lot of spirited conversation. You're gonna
get conversation how it matters to the business of the games.
(11:36):
And this is what happened, and he needs to play
better and he needs to do this. That's kind of
what it's gonna be. I don't think there's gonna be
a lot of passion. There's gonna be a lot of
detachment when it comes discussing DeShawn Watson because of this.
And we will talk about him like we talked about
Vick or Roethlisberger or Tyree Kill or or anybody that
that has a situation where boy, we really don't know
what the answer to this is and in the end,
(11:56):
what do you do. We talk about it as much
as we have to, and then we move on to
other things. And it doesn't mean that that this is
any less of a story. It's just it's it's hard,
you know, and and and it's hard for people who
have to try to figure out the right way, you know,
as we do every night here to talk about things,
and that's kind of how it's gonna be. We'll talk
about the Browns is they're winning, and we'll mention Watson's
(12:17):
name he's playing well, and boy, Watson's playing well in
this But you're not gonna see the over the top
effusiveness and excitement that you normally are gonna get about
other players when they're playing well, it's not gonna be
how people say about Matt Joe. Matt Jones just completed
two passes in a row. This guy is better than
Tom Brady. I mean, you're not gonna see that kind
of excitement it's gonna be. It's gonna be much more
(12:37):
muted and much more buttoned up when it comes to
the impact when you break stuff, when we break stuff down.
Regarding Watson the Browns, that that's kind of how I
see it going. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten
pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
the I Heart Radio app A little bit of Raining
(12:58):
Blood All Slayer for John Clayton. Let's hear it yeah,
Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with My best
friend Mike Harmon live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios.
Hiring heating up. Indeed's hiring platform makes it easy to attract,
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(13:18):
post and instantly receive a shortlist of quality candidates on
indeed whose resumes match of job description. Visit indeed dot
com slash credit. That's indeed dot Com slash credit. Well,
right now, five minutes left to go, Michigan State, try
and hold on against Davidson. Lot more on this game
coming up, but joining us now on the hotline a
man who is still currently a Pro Football Hall of
(13:40):
Fame voter, longtime insider, longtime friend of the show, and
I guarantee without even knowing, he was probably a long
time friend of John Clayton, because if you're in the
business as long as he is, everybody's been that kind
of guy. Jason Cole, what's happening, man, Well, you hit
it right on the top of the head. Um, rough night, tonight, guys,
(14:02):
rough night. John John is as good a human being
as you will ever find in this business, as honest
and as um as good and helpful a person as
you could ever imagine having had contact with, especially when
you're getting started in this business. What I did, and yeah,
(14:24):
tonight tonight's little tell well and you look, hey, it's
I've known him a long time, been to dinner with
him and his wife. But I really now now I'm
a little upset because he's he's the guy to blame
for losing you on on the on the we we
wouldn't have to worry about your hits every week and
all the crap thing you say, Now it's John Clinton.
Now I know it's John Clayton's fault. Now, yes, you
(14:49):
can put it. You can put this all the creation
of this is an extension is and this is this
madness is an extension of John Clayton, who would appreciate
madness because he had a devious sense of year he had.
He just been a less helpful guy. You know that
That is the kids would have avoided, You would have
(15:10):
avoided all of this that would have just disappeared in
another world. Yeah. Yeah, I had the chance to do
a couple of events with John a long while ago,
and some radio hits. But like the timeline tonight, you
know obviously the long tenure at ESPN, but Jay's Jake
hold the uh. The consistent thing is just very much
that people talking about their first jobs and how he
(15:34):
would seek them out to try to make them comfortable,
uh in environments, and that that seems to be the legacy.
I would remember talking. I was in Buffalo, right and
he was working in we were a playoff game, and
he had read some of my stuff about. You know,
I was pretty easy a knowledgeable about the salary cap
(15:54):
and followed it and you know, figured teams out. And
I was one of those guys. Yeah, and he was
better at and I was way better and always better.
But he's one of those guys who recognize that people
understood that the salary cap was really critical and important,
whereas a lot of people we just kind of write
it off like, oh, they'll figure out the money and
(16:14):
they'll get the players they want to get. Now, it
was a lot. It was a lot more technical than that.
And you know, like John could have been a capologist
for any of these teams. I mean like he could
have literally study the league and it would have been
better than probably guys because he both he also understood football,
(16:35):
Like that's the other thing. I mean, just a genius
explaining the game, relating it to what the numbers meant,
what teams did well, didn't do well. Yeah, he's a
smart a football report as you'll ever meet. You know,
like Adam Schefter is a great information guy. Obviously there
(16:57):
are other guys who are good information guys, but it's
very rare the guys completely and totally understand the game.
The cap the economics, how it all works together. And
really like the best part of John is as good
as he was on radio and as much information, as
much stuff as he would learn about the game. If
(17:19):
you've got him into those moments where he could just
be kind of off color and not you know not
I'm just I'm not talking about swearing all the time
or anything like, just but just completely and totally honest
about the guys where he could just say, you know,
that guy doesn't know what he's doing. Like when he
could say it that way, he was just he was
(17:41):
even more amazing. Like so if you could get John
Clayton unfiltered, you know, not you know, away from the
having the you know, to do in a TV way
or a radio way and just like serve it up
the way he really thought, Oh my god, it was
even better. It's just and I was I was privileged
(18:02):
to have had hours of those kinds of conversations with
John all the way. So I yeah, yeah, this is
a this is a rough night, but it's also a
glorious night to remember one of the guys, probably the
two or three guys in this profession I respect the most.
You know, It's funny you say that because it's kind
of like if you know, you talk about the moments
(18:22):
off camera. And I mentioned earlier in the show, like,
but some of the best conversations John and I would
have was about the TV show twenty four because we
were both huge fans of the show, and like he
would come on my show every week and for like
ten minutes before we take we talk about twenty four.
Who do you think that this new president Gregory? It's
in his great I don't know, is he better than
David Palmer? When did we do the hit? And then
(18:43):
we talk about after the fifteen minutes after what do
you think is gonna happen? Just those are the conversations.
I remember just how how much he would say. He
would say and Jason, I'll talk to you next week
after an All New twenty four, and that like became
the way he would sign off when he would come
on the show, because that's how Fox would say it
up next on an all new, I'll talk to you
next Sunday after an All New, And he made it
(19:06):
that way. And I know some executives said, hey, why
does John say it that way? I got why you're upset?
You really, what do you think is gonna you worry, Hey,
people are gonna turn off the radio and go watch
twenty four. Really you think that's what's gonna happen. Uh.
People in the ESPN were insane. Sometimes they got mad
at me once because you know, because I knew him
really well, and we would and we would talk and
I would call, hey, Johnny Cee, what do you think
(19:27):
about this? And you just to have that kind of conversation.
I remember one time after one of my managers said, yeah,
you know, I think we're gonna dial it back on
on the on the the closeness. I what do you head? Well,
when you call him Johnny C I go, yeah, well,
what's wrong with that? Because you know, it just seems
like it's chummy, it's buddy, buddy. I think I think
it were it were. It kind of blurs the line
with professionalism and certain things I go on the radio
(19:50):
call in the I mean, these are some of this
is some of the US ESPN was always worried about.
And and when he came on and I said hey,
John and he knew I think that happened because at
one time I forgot about it. And I said, all right,
so Johnny see he goes whoops, and just like he
didn't even say anything else. He just knew that they
said that, and he didn't care. But he just said whoops,
and then he answered because he knew that what he
(20:10):
didn't care. It was just he knew that conversation that
went on and he slipped in that woods right there.
Oh my god, he was. He was so much fun. He's, uh,
what a perceptive dude, that funny dude. He just I
just remember having conversations with him about yeah, this is
what this guy really said about that guy. And again,
(20:37):
like he under he was never big on talking about
for the macho, alpha male side of football because he
just thought, you know that everybody should know that, everybody
should should accept that. But when he did dip into
that kind of stuff and he got away from the
analytical stuff, he knew, you know, like he just knew
the personalities. He knew like who was the real me
(21:00):
in the profession and who were the really smart guys
because he studied their work and he saw that guy's
it's just not sharp, yeah, or this guy's an idiot
he didn't know what he's doing, or that guy really
really understand like he could he could really pick it out.
So you know, I think NFL teams just missed, really
(21:27):
missed it, that somebody should have hired this guy to
be to do the analytics of football, you know, because
he was so far out of it, and he would
have made great hires, and he would have understood who
was a good personnel people were, and he would have like,
he could have done all that kind of stuff. He
was that smart. He should have been on the inside
(21:47):
of the game. But I'm forever grateful that he was not,
and that I got a chance to get to know
him this way. Jason Spitz Show with Mike Harmon here
on Fox Sports Radio. All right, in the in the
tribute from a personnel standpoint, We've got our guy, Jason
Cole with us at Jason Cole sixty two, where you
find him on Twitter. You've got the latest book, l
(22:09):
Way of Relentless Life. Go get that exceedingly blunt. You
know that from his weekly visits. Still a selector for
the Pro Football Hall of Fame, despite uh Smith's efforts
to make that a ready to derail my my voterdom. Yes, collectorum,
whatever we want to call it. Yes, So with with
with a little nod to to John Clayton in mind today,
(22:31):
obviously the zag in the quarterback world as Deshaun Watson
becomes a member of the Cleveland Browns, would love to
hear the unfiltered Clayton on it. But here you are,
Jason Cole, we come to expect even even more unfiltered
from you. Personnel wise. Twenty two cases still hanging. What
went through your mind when you saw two hundred thirty
(22:52):
million guaranteed? I was, Look, I'm impressed with what Cleveland
didn't this deal? They came back. They convinced him to
do it. Obviously the coaching staff having a big impact
on this, because like, if you're Deshaun Watson, you're looking
at the the ownership, You're probably going come on, um,
(23:12):
but you know, I think that the coach convinced him
on this one. The money is obviously important, but for
three first, um, a third and what a fifth? You know,
to get him and no players involved. I mean, in
a sense, they got him for less than Denver got
Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson thirty I mean Deshaun Watson
(23:37):
and Russell Wilson is thirty three. So when you take
that into account. And yeah, the money is expensive, I
get it, but you don't get very many opportunities to
get a franchise quarterback, and if you're Cleveland. I mean
I made this point on Twitter a couple of weeks ago,
talking about how long it's been since some teams have
had franchise quarterbacks, like they haven't had a franchise quarterback
(24:01):
and you know it since Bernie Costar, And some people
would argue that, you know, Costar wasn't even truly a
franchise guy would that would take issue with that, But
name a great quarterback, a truly great quarterback to Cleveland's
had since Otto Graham. If you if you thought my
Beverly Hills Beverly Hillbillies reference was aged last week, you know,
(24:25):
I can't wait to hear what you guys think of
the Auto Grant reference. That's I celebrate his whole catalog.
Go cats. I see. I thought you were going to
say since Brian site, but you went back even further
than two thousand seven with Derek was a flash in
the pan kind of guy. I mean, he was okay, wow,
look at you don't give me he was part of
the Cardiac kids. It's the greatest NFL films ever The
(24:48):
Cardiac Kids. That's the best episode NFL Films has ever done.
It's yeah, it's fine, it's good. Peter doubt after about
three years. Okay, it wasn't It wasn't all that. This
is all John Clayton's fault. I mean, all of this,
all of this hate from all of this critis who
made you? Who should we blame for you? Like? Is
(25:10):
it is it? The is it? Is it? Sommy Werblin?
Or do we get you know? Has? What are we
doing here? What are you doing? You know? Like name?
It's like did Joe Nameth? Like dreams of Joe Nameeth? Like, oh,
we can do it again, there'll be another name of No,
there's not. You are the Jets. That's all you get.
So you live in the past with Werblin, Nameth and Has,
(25:31):
and you know a bunch of other guys that most
of New Yorkers have never heard about because you're Jets
fan and you know nothing. I interviewed Joe Nameth once
and I really want to no no, no, no, no,
Like ninety seconds is one of those where he's it
was a red carpet thing. And Joanna said, so I
had him for like ninety seconds. I finished the interview
and I said, I have no idea what I just
(25:53):
asked him. I was just like, oh my god, it's
Joe Nameeth. It's like the world for me. Joe Nameeth
is right there. You want to talk to him? And
my head just went, sure, let's p let me talk
to Joe Namath. Shouldn't You're all I have it? If
I had Tom Seaver standing here next to you, my
(26:14):
entire life would be in circle right here, happy man,
this is what I have right here? Uh? So hey,
So lastly, because I know you were you were big
on this yesterday as well. Uh, the whole the whole
behavior from Baker Mayfield throughout this whole thing. I'm sitting
out of thank you. No want to be traded. I
(26:37):
I look, I get it, you know when I understand
that he that that he's not someone that's mentally strong.
But shouldn't the Browns have known that he this was
gonna happen? I mean, they've known the guy for four years.
I'm gonna I'm not I'm not disputing that, Okay, I'm
not disputing that Cleveland should have anticipated that he would
have a childlike response, which is probably why they came
(26:57):
back and said we'll do whatever. We double up big
exactly absolutely, like they're like, oh my god, now we've
gotta deal with this again. I'll forget it. Go get go,
give him the two thirty eight. You know, do we
have to give him three hundred millions. Let's just do
it to get rid of Baker. Okay, Um, I get it, Okay,
but I just look at Baker Mayfield and go, what
(27:18):
happened to the dude who had swagger? Who would come
back and go, oh, you wanted Deshaun Watton? Huh, let
me show you what I can do, right? And that
would have been the guy who you know, you know,
did that in second college the first couple of years
in the pros. Now it's like, well, I had my
brand to protecting this, and then I'm a whiner, Like, God,
(27:42):
you are such. I can't say it on air, but
you're such. I I just can't say. The SEC is
gonna you know, I'll be banned from the show forever.
But god, it's so soft, it's so weak. Um, and
I you I hear this, like, oh, what's Matt Ryan
(28:02):
going to do now that Atlanta Matt Ryan's gonna come
back and he's gonna play for the money. He's gonna
play really hard, and he's probably not gonna be real happy.
But that's what you do, right, Like you just come
back and you prove it to everybody that I'm just
better and I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna play balls
out right here, you know, And that's that's the way
we're going to do this. And I'll show you what
(28:22):
I made of Like to me, I would respect that. Now, Look,
I understand plenty of other players have talked their way
off of teams and that's their strategy. And I under
and I explained lots of times, and I said it
on this show. You know, are you willing to talk
your way off of a team? That's Aaron, Aaron Rodgers.
Do you have the guts to talk your way off
of a team? So I understand that's a strategy. It's
(28:44):
not a strategy I respect, but it's a strategy and
it's the strategy that you have to play in certain situations.
And Baker was willing to do that, and I respect
that he's willing to stand up and say I want
to be out of here. And I get that, but
I don't respect the overall approach, like if it was
you know, I'm I'm like, I look at Tom Brady.
(29:06):
When Tom Brady was in Michigan and Drew Henson shows
up and Drew Henson god in Michigan, right, like he's
a freshman and Brady's a junior, and everybody thinks that,
you know, Drew Henson just walk on water and walk
straight into the starting quarterback position. What you know, Brady
stuck it out, mostly because his dad told him, Yeah, look,
(29:28):
life's tough, go fight. Yeah, you can come back to
cal if you want, and you know you can play.
You can play for that horrible school if you want.
But the shot, um, you're right, yeah, but you know
you could. You know, tell Amy Trask I said that
place to Twitter to her, Um, you know you can't
(29:50):
play for that awful school, or you can be a
man and you can stay at Michigan and you know,
win the job and show some mental toughness. And that's
what he did. And I know one of the main
reasons why Tom Brady is who he is because he
didn't look back and say, oh, they brought in Drew Hanson.
They don't love me. Lloyd Carr doesn't love me. He
(30:12):
didn't even recruit me because there was the previous coach. Um,
oh you like now he's like, look all those to
take the job, and he did. You can fall on
Twitter at Jason Cole sixty two. That is at Jason
Cole sixty two, longtime NFL Insider Pro Football Hall of
Fame voter. In the book Elway or Relentless Life of Course,
available bookstores and Amazon. It's basically anywhere you want books,
(30:35):
you can get it. Jay is always buddy, appreciate your time.
My friend will talk to you next week. Guys, be good,
take care of thanks. Brother. All right, there goes Jays.
So it's John Clayton's fault. We have Jason Cole alright, wow, okay.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific and Got. The podcast is called All Ball.
(31:00):
We usually talk all basketball all the time, but it's
more about the stories about what made these people love
their sport and all the interesting interactions along the way.
We talked to coaches, we talked to players. We tell
you stories. You downloaded. He listened to it. I think
you like it. Listen to All Ball with Doug Gottlieb
on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast orherever you
(31:23):
get your podcast, Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show
with my best friend Mike Harmon. We got more on
de Shaun Watson coming your way in about ten minutes
or so. But while that got most of the headlines.
At eight two million dollars guaranteed to him and he's
(31:44):
now gonna be the new quarterback of the Browns, um
the a f C West continues to just load up
as Juju Smith Schuster agrees to terms with the Chiefs
one year and ten million dollars. Smith Schuster making the
announcement earlier today on social media. Nobody else had it.
It was just people quote tweeting him, going, Juju smith
(32:06):
Schuster is just announced he's a chief. Like that's I
was a chief, you know, ready to go, and it's like, oh,
Smith Schuster is a chief. Apparently I didn't get that.
But I'll tell you what, man. For everything we've seen
the last few days and still we went over the
the peck order last night after Davonte Adams to the Raiders,
this move. If anything is going to say maybe I
(32:27):
don't have the Chargers as my favorite. This move does
it for the Chiefs because this is absolutely what they've
needed for a while. Now. You can be a really
good quarterback and if you don't have enough guys can
catch a football, uh, you're gonna struggle. And teams kind
of figured out a little bit, all right, this is
what you do with it taking years. This is how
you do it against the Chiefs. This is how you
(32:47):
bracket Tyreek Hill, and this is what you do with
Travis Kelsey and the Chiefs have not had any other weapons.
Their running game has been pedestrian. They've not found another
wide receiver to really breakthrough and be that number two.
They lost Sandy Watkins, who has never really that good
a couple of years ago, but now they go get
Juju Smith Schuster, who as long as he is healthy,
he is terrific. I don't know how he's lasted on
(33:08):
the market two straight years one year, ten million dollar deals,
but he is legit. And suddenly now you give another option.
Where are you gonna roll your coverages to? Now now
you have a you have a big time wide receiver
on either side of the field and Kelsey down the middle.
If anything's gonna say, yeah, I don't know about the
charges of the favorites anymore. This is that move because
(33:29):
this is what the Chiefs needed. They need another big
move on offense to make their offense a little bit
more dynamic. And now you're talking about adding a guy
who when when he's right as a top fifteen receiver
in the NFL, I mean, he's just that good and
and and for him to be out there for so
long and one year and ten million, and you go,
how did nobody else do this? How did no one
say one year in twelve million, one year in thirteen million?
(33:50):
Because Juji smith Schuster is a really good harm and
he's the second year in a row he stayed out
there and signed for one year. Well, I think part
of it was, I mean last year was the bed
on yourself health. And then he played five games and
only had twenty eight targets, uh and missed the rest
of the year. So you know, unfortunately, that means what
do you do. Let's do it again, and we look
(34:13):
at the money and look if it if it breaks right,
you're correct, right, he did have a hundred eleven catches
and he had ninety seven catches in and this is
an even year, so that would say he'll probably have
a good year because remember and that was the Roethlisberger
injury years, so you take that with a grain of salt.
(34:33):
But he himself only played twelve games that year, seventy targets,
forty two receptions. So I think part of it is
he's got to prove that he can stay healthy and
as a number three option, right, that's what he is
in this offense, that he's got an opportunity to still
put up numbers, especially if they continue to try the
(34:53):
bracket coverage that we've seen for Tyree Hill and for
Travis Kelsey. So opportunity is there. He's got to go
make the most of it. And it certainly makes the
offense better because now mcicole Hartman can slide back into
a w R three role, which makes him that much
more dangerous against a lesser cornerback. If he's the productive
(35:13):
version of himself, the Chiefs win the division. All this
other stuff that's gone on this offseason, but that's the
big key. If he's the productive version of himself, that's
what happens. If some butts baby Twitter and how about
a Fresca Mike and swollen dome. That race keeps getting better.
Back to the biggest NFL story of the day, Next
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