The Season with Peter Scheger is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's Up, Everybody, This is Peter Schreger. This is the Season with Peter Schreger. And as you know, our best shows are in the off season when we are reacting to free agency and draft news. Last week we had Mike Garatfolo on to set the table. And now as I am recording this, it is three hours into free agency.
So we started at twelve.
We're recording this at three pm Eastern, and we'll call this an emergency pod, which.
Is something that Bill Simmons I think coined.
But it's our instant reaction to the first wave of free agent moves.
And I will tell.
You the big one to me is what went down just now with the Seattle Seahawks and the New York Jets. And we have dominant that are still about to follow. We'll be on Twitter throughout this show, so we're gonna do good thirty forty minutes right now, and if we get more quarterback news, we will report it. But I said it throughout Good Morning Football this morning, and I said it throughout the week. The first domino to fall will be Stafford. The second domino to fall will be
Sam Donald. The third will be Justin Fields. And then there is this see of names, and it includes Daniel Jones, it includes Aaron Rodgers, it includes Russell Wilson, It quickly includes a Carson Wentz, It quickly includes a mac Jones. And there are seats to be filled. So my instant reactions Sam Donald. All along the thought was he would come back on a short term deal, two years, maybe
forty million, to go back to the Minnesota Vikings. But when the Seattle Seahawks traded Gino Smith to Vegas, there was a giant void at quarterback for them. They go and they get Sam Donald. I like this deal. I think the money's right. Three years, one hundred million, so you're saying about thirty three million dollars a year, which puts him in that middle tier of quarterbacks. He also
gets fifty five million dollars guaranteed. Finally, at this stage in his career, Sam Donald gets the love and appreciation. He's still wanted. He's the official quarterback one. There is no debate there in Seattle. I don't know if Sam Donald's great. I still don't seventeen weeks of amazing football.
But I will tell you this his best game. And it could be debatable whether it was some of the big yards he put up, or the comeback he had against the Bears, or the overtime he had in Chicago where he came all the way.
Back last year.
But I think his best game, his clutches game, his gutsy his performance was Week sixteen in Seattle.
They're down twenty four to twenty.
Late, he leads them back, throws the touchdown to Justin Jefferson in the end zone. Donald that day completed twenty six passes for you know, I think it was like twenty six to thirty one.
Did it in seat in the elements, with all.
Of the pressure in the world on him, and did that while throwing three touchdowns no interceptions, having a fourth quarter comeback on Mike McDonald's defense. Now, I don't know if McDonald and John Schneider, we'll get the full story in the coming day.
I don't know if they saw this three steps ahead.
But when their negotiations with Gino went off the rails a little bit and Gino was talking million forty five million at thirty five years old, it quickly made them pivot and said, well, what other options are there? Donald now goes up to Seattle, where he'll play at an outdoor stadium in the weather, in the elements.
We'll see how that goes. Remember he's a West Coast kid.
His career in New York was not not anything to write home about. He then bounced around from Carolina to San Francisco to this dream season in Minnesota, which was mostly.
Done in that dome inside.
So we'll see how he reacts and how he responds. So what are the trickle down effects of that? Well, the Jets quickly, quickly, right after we got our news out of Seattle, the Jets finally, you know, it's like smoke coming from the Vatican because we haven't heard a word from them since Darren Mugi and Aaron Glen took over. As far as you know, what they wanted to do, their intentions, there have been no leaks in that building. They go and they signed Justin Fields for two years
forty million. So that's twenty million a year for Justin Fields, it's thirty three million dollars a year for Sam Darnald.
Who would you rather have that situation?
I think you'd say Donald based on the track record and the numbers that he put up last year, but Fields provides a running element. Fields, of Course was college quarterback to Garrett Wilson. Fields of Course has this upside where you feel like the scratch of the surface just has begun. So those are the first two dominoes to drop at quarterback. I am going to bring on a guest in a little bit, and we had him on when the Jets were doing their their coach and GM search.
His name is Danny, and I call him Danny from lot E.
Because that's where he tailgates with the kebab guy for those Jets games. He gave up his Jets season tickets after last year, in a fit of rage, gave him up, So I'm not paying money to go see this team anymore. They have since hired a new head coach, a new GM, a new offensive coordinator, a new defensive coordinator, have an entirely new front office, and I'm curious to check in with Danny on Howie feels about his new quarterback one being justin Fields. But before we get there, what other
spots are still vacant? As we record this, the Giants still do not have a quarterback. My insight tells me that the plan was to go big on Rogers, all right, and hopefully that's.
Still the plan, and my information wasn't wrong.
Go big on Rogers, whatever that means, but show Rogers their intention on bringing him in, and if Rogers doesn't, then we pivot. But even if there's Rogers, the thought is you sign Rogers to a deal, or if it's Carson Wentz or Russell Wilson, and then you also address it in the draft, and that might mean third overall. I would say it could mean thirty fourth overall, which they have that pick quarterbacks who could be targets. I don't see cam Ward unless you trade up for one
being there at number three. So you start going down the list and it's maybe Shador Sanders. But I really like the sound of Jackson Dart to the Giants, So in a ideal world for Giants fans, I think it's Rogers for a year with Jackson Dart in the room. If you listen to Zach Wilson, if you listen to Jordan love Rogers as much as a monster. The media made him out to be not a bad guy to
young quarterbacks, and definitely was not. Brett Farv to him is a giving guy, is a mentor in many ways and has always been good to those younger quarterbacks in the room, whether it be a Tim Boyle or a Matt Flynn or in this case in recent years, Zach Wilson, Jordan Travis, who is it whoever? I would think the Giants would be very happy with a Jackson Dart long term.
And Aaron Rodgers short term.
But as you're listening to this, that plan might go awry because there's talked that the Steelers, with fields now out the door to the Jets, could be all in on Rogers. Darnold was a talking point for the Steelers. He's not going there. Russell Wilson was there last year. We hear that they're moving on from him. So right now, if you're Aaron Rodgers and were again, our three oh seven pm Easterns is an emergency podcast. Is three hours into free agency? Are you going to the Steelers or
the Giants? If the money is the same with the Steelers, the Pros are probably a better roster, probably a more established franchise as far as recent years goes. And then probably a coach that you've long admired for the Giants. The Pros are Brian Dables, an offensive head coach, the Giants have Molik neighbors, and the Giants, well, you don't have to uproot your life now.
Look, does he live in Malibu full time?
Does he spend time in all these other countries, traveling and finding himself?
Yes?
Do I think Aaron Rodgers owning a home in Montclear, New Jersey is going to be what breaks the tie here?
No, Aaron Rodgers can buy and.
Sell homes three hundred and sixty five days of the year's plenty of money left over. He's made more money as an NFL quarterback than any person in the history of the game.
That said, if he likes his.
Community, if he likes being in the spotlight of New York, if he likes having the comforts of being able to stay where he lives and not having to uproot his life again, there is something too staying with the Giants. So Aaron Rodgers goes from being this discarded quarterback of the Jets to now potentially being able to choose his
next home between those two franchises. Some quick other thoughts, I would say, I like what the Patriots did and I know I've already gotten crushed in my timeline for positively talking about the Patriots just because they're.
Shlling out money.
But I think Milton Williams was the top free agent in this in this entire free agent class that was left over as far as you know, guys who were ascending at that age.
They signed him.
Now, yes, twenty six million dollars a year is a ton, but the money at this point, guys, it's it's fungible in a way that next year the salard CAP's going to go up even more than the new year after that's going to go even more.
Like, don't get caught up.
On the money when it comes to these guys, because the money's a lot, and the salary cap was completely changed. So the Patriots had money going in, and then they had even more money after that. So did they offer him the most I don't know, but I know there were other teams involved. I know that the Cardinals were interested. I don't think the Panthers were as interested. I know there were some tweets saying there that he had signed
with the Panthers. That's not anything that was worth you know, retweeting or commenting on because that wasn't the case, and it ends up going to the Patriots. Splaine Long has been a good player, they get him, Morgan Moses, they bring him in, and you go through the names and yesterday Harold Landry, these are guys.
These are guys.
Now. I would still look at the Patriots and say they need more on the offensive tackle position, and I guess they'll go offensive line in the draft with that fourth pick. Gosh will Campbell. Are we sure he's a left tackle? Are we sure he's even a tackle at all? Or is he a guard? That's really rich at fourth overall, But that's the top offensive lineman in this draft if they go that way. As of this recording, Patrick McCarry is still not signed anywhere.
He's a great Ravens player.
Perhaps he's the guy that they go with and they fill these holes with.
Some other stuff. As we're going through this the Chiefs.
You hate seeing them lose Joe Toney, they had to do it. But I love what they've done the last few days. They've continued to add players, bring back guys. Nick Bolton a huge addition for Kansas City. Not gonna steal any headlines. That was a big one. I'm just going through these real quick here.
I like what the Bears did bringing in my guy Deo.
If you listened to last week's pod with Mike Garatfolo, we discover mister Doo And if you're wondering who mister Doo is, it's Indianapolis Colts for a few years there and his name is Deo odeya Ingbo. And I've butchered that on national television. I've putchered that on podcasts. But Bear signed him the big money and he is a twenty five year old pass rusher that is ascending.
The Bears.
Of course, pick up Joe Toney. The Bears have done good work the last few days and they continue to add and I think deyo is was right up there with Milton Williams as one of the top young ascending defensive front seven players. All right, those are my initial takes. Cowboys fans, I have nothing for you. I know they brought back big Osa and they did. They let Jordan Lewis walk out the door and they've been silent otherwise.
Sorry about that.
Bengals fans, you bring back everybody but Higgins, Hendrickson and Chase. We'll see how Higgins and Chase go and if they can figure out a deal, and oh yeah, one rant Miles Garrett. I have no animosity towards Miles Garrett, but I do want a lot of time and energy back if you can give it to me. I spent a lot of time on Good Morning Football talking about you the last two weeks. I said it all along. There
was no way the Browns were trading them. They have made that clear, and in hindsight, as we go through all this, everyone who freaked out about Jimmy HASLM not wanting to sit with Miles Garrett. Shame on you. You can't be You can't have it both ways. You can't complain about Jerry Jones meddling or Woody Johnson meddling and then also want the owner of the Browns to suddenly drop everything and negotiate with a player. I don't care who the player is. We can't have it both ways.
Do you want your owners heavily involved or do you not want your owners heavily involved? Is the first thing we hear, that these owners get too much involved and let the GM do his job. Jimmy Haslam the Browns distanced themselves that I'm not meeting with Miles Garrett. We have two years left on the contract and two years after that. Let the GM do it well. The GM found to make Miles Garrett happy. It wasn't with a Super Bowl ring. It wasn't with more players. It was
with more money. Miles Garrett wrote a passionate letter about how all he cares about is winning a Lombardi. Miles Garrett went on the Rich Eisend Show and spoke about how there's no dollar amount, there's there's no there's no money that it could be spent. There is nothing having to do with being the highest non paid player that will even change his mind. He needs to be traded. He wants to be traded. Well, here's the issue. Doesn't have a no trade clause. So they could have sent
them anywhere. This could have sende the NFL oblivion wherever that is besides Cleveland.
They could have sent them there.
And forty million dollars should us speak and Miles Garrett, his agent, Nicole lind did a fine job getting him this money, and whatever the conversations were, he seems to have had a change of heart quote unquote, So Miles Garrett, it's amazing how that works, and I don't spite you.
I just wish we didn't spend so much energy super Bowl Week, not talking about the Chiefs and Eagles, and so much energy at the combine, not talking about Shador and Kim War and all those guys, and instead talking about Miles Garrett and his steadfast desire to be a Super Bowl champion. He will go back to the Browns where he'll make forty million dollars and the team is even more financially strapped to give him more assistance and
help as they were before this whole entire experience. All right, quick instant reaction from our guy Danny from Lottie right after this.
All right, no further ado. This is our guy.
We talked to him earlier this season when they were about to start their coaching in GM higher process. He is the biggest Jets fan I know, and they have a new quarterback and Justin Fields. They also signed Justin Fields with absolutely no leaks out of the building and not a single negative story of the past few weeks
as far as dysfunction in the building. He is no longer a season ticket holder, but he is my dear friend who I like to play a little paddle with and now we're talking a little paddling of the Jets topic here, Danny from Lattie, how are you feeling Justin Fields? Two years, forty million, New York Jets, new quarterback?
Are you buying the jersey?
What's going on? Shrakes?
Thanks for having me on this crazy opening day, a free agency.
Historic day where Twitter went down.
Yeah, you know, back to my college days.
A refreshing pro football talk to see you know who I'm going to be disappointed about next. But look, I think Justin Fields is a low risk, high upside signing. I wasn't banging the table for Justin like our other paddle buddy, Eric. You know, half his dream offseason is complete now with Fields. You know, in his perfect world, Fields will be throwing to Tyler Warren. But look, with what was available, I think this is the best outcome. We couldn't go into the season riding Tyrod Taylor. You know,
Tyrod's a good guy, good spots starter. But with Dustin Fields, you know, I look at it as you know, I don't want to say a lot of ticket, but maybe maybe you hit here. The money's not so big, it's not a big commitment and Look, he's explosive and he makes exciting plays. Maybe he can bring some life back into MetLife. I don't I'm not upset at the signing. And if you can't get if you look at fields.
He ended twenty twenty three on a high note. The last seven games he was four and three, threw for five touchdowns, rush for another three.
They had a chance to do something in the last week of the season and stop.
The Lions from from you know whatever. It went in the line, and he's stunk when it mattered. I'll just say that. Everyone points to twenty twenty three.
I remember his final weeks of the season with the Lot with the Bears, the go on, sorry sorry.
Sorry, okay, and then look started out four and two with Pittsburgh.
Wasn't fine, dude, benched in that game.
He wasn't.
He wasn't, you know, throwing it all over the lot like it up. But he protected the ball.
He only had one interception in the six games.
He did, you know what it took to win, you know, in four out of the six, and it looked like he was you know, it looked like he you know, he was progressing. So it would have been nice to see him play a few more games with Pittsburgh and see if he developed a little more.
But maybe we have something here.
Okay, what's it tell you that A I think he did choose the Jets over Pittsburgh and b the fact that Mike Tomlin two different questions. One he picked the Jets over Pittsburg, which is rare to say, oh, I want that situation. And then the second one, Mike Tomlin went to Russell Wilson over him, and as Russell Wilson began to go, you know, slide downwards and play poorly down the rest of the season, did not go back to Justin Fields.
Well, first off, why did he pick New York? You know, I'm guessing that.
The money was a lot bigger with the Jets and Steelers, and probably the Jets were giving him more of a commitment level, saying you're the guy.
You know, you're the starter, here's the ball, let's go.
And obviously I'm sure Fields, you know, isn't too thrilled with Tomlin after getting yanked, you know, starting out four and two.
But you know what's not being talked enough about here is.
Maybe he wanted to, you know, get back with Garrett Wilson, who he had that connection with at Ohio State. And look, if you remember when we talked on the pod during the coaching search and we were talking about Rogers and you know, just the landscape of the team. What I said, one of the most important things was is Garrett Wilson gonna be happy if we bring back Rogers?
And I think we realized now the answer would have been no.
So if you were going to bring anybody in to make Garrett happy, Field was the guy. And maybe Fields, you know, wanted to come back and play with Garrett and on the Jets. I don't think there's any question that he's going to be the guy and they're going to ride it out and see what he can do, and if it works out, you know, there's a good chance he could be the long term solution here in New York.
So I think that's why he picked the Jets. Why did Tomlin stick with Ross?
Ross is a Super Bowl winning in that you know, was protecting the ball. They were winning games, and yeah, they hit that rough patch and where they were playing playoff teams and they you know, they didn't win. But I think Tomlin, you know, in typical Tomlin fashion, was concerned about, you know, just getting into the playoffs and having that another you know, playoff season on his resume, probably knowing that whether it was Fields or Wilson, he wasn't going to go very far anyway.
Okay, here, I'm gonna give you some updates in the last five minutes, some news and if you're listening again, we're recording this at three fifteen pm during there'll be plenty more by the time this goes up and it's posted.
Josh Sweat leaves the Eagles for the Arizona Cardinals on a monster deal.
Okay, so that's one Tellanoah Hufonga, who had a great twenty twenty two and has been missing on the field from twenty three to twenty four, signs with the Denver Broncos. And there is still no word on Aaron Rodgers to the Giants or Aaron Rodgers to the Pittsburgh Steelers. As we record this, I believe that is going to be the next domino to drop. And then you'll see Daniel Jones sign somewhere, and then you will probably see Russell
Wilson sign somewhere. Could you believe it as a Jets fan that Aaron Rodgers is being heavily quartered by the Giants, and the Giants are more or less waiting on Aaron Rodgers' decision.
It feels like a couple of years ago with the Jets, where you had a coach and a gm who are fighting for their lives here and need to, you know.
Need to make the playoffs to keep their jobs.
And as tempting as it may be for Shane and day Ball to get Rogers in there so they can, you know, convince themselves that they're going to be competitive, I just I don't think it's the right move.
I don't think it's the right move for the Giants. I don't think it's the right move for Rodgers.
If I'm Rogers, I'm doing whatever I can to get to Pittsburgh. Look, Pittsburgh seems like regardless of who plays quarterback, they're in the hunt they make the playoffs.
And now with DK.
That defense and Tomlin, that's an attractive situation for any quarterback.
And Rogers didn't play terrible last year. I think a lot of games. I think they lost a lot of games because of the defense, not because of him.
And you fired a coach five weeks into the season, and you fired the like it's complete this function. You have to admit, as much as it's fun to have stories and gossip like it is kind of a refreshing first couple of weeks with Darren Mougey and Aaron Glenn and Rick Spielman that there.
Hasn't been a peep out of that building.
I think people just aren't so interested in the team, and everyone is just down and really has no expectations. So we're all just paying attention to other things. And I think I think the media is as well. There's no shortage of action elsewhere around the league that they can focus on instead of, you know, beating the dead horse of you know, this downtrodden franch.
I Metugi at the combine. I was impressed. I never met him before. I was impressed.
We'll see.
I mean, if Sean Payton likes him, I like him. He knows football, so we'll see. I mean, I think it's Aaron Glenn's show. And I think the thing that I'm probably do have some hope about is that it seems like the GM and the cultural aligned and they're on the same page, and you know they're going to work together to you know, instill their vision here, not what we've had.
In the past. But I have no expectations for Mugie. I mean, we'll see.
I mean one thing, if I'm Mugie, I'm letting this justin fields acquisition get in the way of drafting a quarterback, you know, whether that's somebody at seven. If you believe there's a guy there that you know could be a franchise quarterback, then why not take them. If you want to wait and maybe trade back into the twenties to get somebody like Baltimore did with Lamar, and let's do that. But I wouldn't just be going all in on fields here and saying, Okay, we got our guy.
Okay.
In closing two questions, One, you have given up your season tickets. Does any of this encourage you to want to, you know, re up and go call the Jets ticket line and invest your money again into Jets season ticket holding?
Absolutely not.
I need to see I need to see a I need to see a product on the field that gets me excited, that gets me to buy back in, that just shows that we're a respectable team that is prepared, that actually looks like they practice.
And you know, can compete against the better teams in the league. Until then, I'm you don't.
Get my money now, and you don't get my love.
And then more importantly, we're recording this Monday three thirty tonight. We have a sport called paddle that we play every Monday night in Brooklyn at the Spot Paddle House. Now, Andrew Schultz, the star comedian, has a big special on Netflix. He went on Joe Rogan and started talking about our sport, and Rogan had never heard of it. It's this good for our small sport of paddle, which is two on two tennis with glass walls, that we have.
Been playing for years.
Or is this now here come the unwashed masses into our lovely little sport like an indie band that has been discovered by pop radio, and now it's just going to be overrun with new people that we that we aren't familiar with playing our sport.
I think it's great.
I think more and more people are realizing that this is something real.
This isn't you know, some you know, fly by night, some version of pickleball.
That you know people talk badly about. You know, to play paddle, you have to be a real athlete. You need short area quickness.
Maybe we can have a little paddle combine yep, you know, one of these days. But if anything, you know, I think it will bring more athletes to the space, more fun people for us to play with, and you know, hopefully more paddle facilities for us to test.
Yeah, I mean, I will say this.
I've gotten so many text from people knowing that I love this sport that Schultz even mentioned it on Joe Rogan that I've got to say. The antennas are up, the radars are up, but you are a day one ambassador of the game. And if you haven't played paddle, it's very New York, it's very la It's coming. I know they opened one in Nashville, and it's big in Florida as well, and huge in Europe.
It's how would you explain it?
It's two on two tennis with these glass walls on the side, and it is the only sport that I think is like truly social and you meet new people and we have had such a blast. We have before some that we play with, but I am by far the worst player in our foursome and you have not knocked me out of this group yet.
So I appreciate you being we.
Keep you in for the mahomes. No, look, you know that's it.
I have as and and the pizza reservations afterwards, so we'll see.
That's it, all.
Right, get back to work. You've got actual deals to do. I'm just sitting here waiting on others to make deals. I appreciate you. I'll see you tonight and by then we'll probably know where Aaron Rodgers is playing next year.
Sounds good, thanks, Rakes.
All right.
Shout out to Danny from lot E or Danny formerly from lot E, diehard Jets fan.
Who it's Danny from the couch.
Now, Danny from the couch, Danny from the couch with Adam Archaltta on the call.
That's how that's going to go this year. So enjoy it, all right, buddy. So that's the Jets fan perspective.
It would be a whole lot different if I had a Giants fan perspective on right now, they are freaking out. I think Ryan Russillo had a funny, funny post. He was like, let me find it said, Field's approval rating on X is the only thing close to Chalame right now. It's true, like Jets fans are treating justin Fields like he's Joe Montana. At least Die Danny was a little more moderate in his appraise for him. But we'll see how it goes. This is just the first three hours
of free agency. Wanted to get some content out there. If you're listening, chime in, tweet the show, tweet us. Although Twitter was down for the first two hours offraise, which actually made it kind of fun. I actually enjoyed that I was checking NFL dot com refreshing. I will say this, the NFL Instagram never did I ever check it, and I finally I'm like, all right, I'm gonna go
to them. And the first thing at noon they posted was like, you know, an announcement of Olivia Colpo and Christian McCaffrey having a baby, and like, not today, guys, not today, not the audience. But congratulations to the McCaffrey Colpo clan on that one.
Plenty of more pods to come.
Maybe we'll do another one tomorrow or this week and we'll give our reactions.
But there it is, first three hours of free agency. Here in the books. Thanks for listening.
The Season with Peter Schrager is a production of the NFL and partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts.