Colin Cowherd Podcast - Payton Has Russ “Cookin”, Aaron Rodgers Will Never Matter Again In The NFL, Kyler Can Play, USC Weak In Trenches

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That's me, col I N twenty dollars off your first purchase. Terms apply again creating account. The redeem code cool N twenty dollars off. Download game Time today, last minute deals, loess priced tickets guaranteed. All right, this is going to be a good one today. John Middlecoff and I chop it up for almost an hour, but I want to start with the Denver Broncos tonight. You know when Sean Payton came out and took that shot at Nathaniel Hackett,

everybody freaked out, WHOA, that's over the top. Baron Rodgers stuck up for his buddy. Sean pay does know anything. Nathaniel Hackett and the Jets last forty drives one touchdown. Meanwhile, Russell Wilson has taken Nathaniel Hackett's Russell Wilson eighty four passer rating, sixteen touchdowns, eleven picks. Russell now is a one oh four passer rating. It's all the same, dudes, eighteen touchdowns, four picks. Nathaniel Hackett is not a good

football coach. Sean Payton's a great football coach. Listen to the passer ratings of Russell Wilson's career from twenty eighteen to on one eleven, one O six, one o five, one oh three, eighty four, one oh four. Try to find the Nathaniel Hackett year. The Jets offense is now the most unwatchable offense. I'll make the argument that Zach Wilson's the least effective quarterback, starting quarterback I've seen in the NFL and maybe in my life. Nathaniel Hackett Sean

Payton was right. What you're watching in Denver's amazing. And Russell Wilson, they've beaten the Chiefs, maybe the best team in the league. The Bills hammered the Jets today and the red hot hottest team in the league in terms of winning Street Minnesota Vikings three weeks in a row, three games in a row. It's it's coaching. It's the same guys, isn't it amazing? That's why you know it. We all know the quarterback leads this league. That's why

I never bought into Russell Wilson is washed. It's impossible. You can't go from one O four, one O three, one O three, one O three. Can't play. It doesn't make any there's no historical precedent. So Russell tonight made the throw of the night to Courtland Sutton, who also made a great play. Had that really good? Was it

third or fourth down? Little lob over the linebacker was called interference, but caught anyway by the Broncos under heavy, heavy pressure because of Brian Floores as blitz packages for the Vikings, kept dumping it off to p Ryan in the backs, and then new some running himself. I mean, all the Russell Wilson stuff in Seattle's back, the playmaking, the good deep ball, the good decision making. Here's the

thing with Russell Wilson. Sean fixed him, or should we say Sean got him back on the freeway, the Russell Wilson interstate. This is how he's played at college, Seahawks and Broncos, with one exception than Nathaniel Hacket year. I mean, go back to Wisconsin, Seattle, this Denver. It's always been the same player. Now. I don't think he looks quite as twitchy as before, not quite as twitchy, but you're seeing basically the same stuff.

not quite as dynamic, not as dynamic. But you know, I look at Russell Wilson twenty seven to thirty five, two hundred and sixty yards. He doesn't make mistakes, get you in and out of plays, moves well, play maker, the laterals, the quick screens. But it really is for all this stuff about you know, Sean Payton, it was too much ego. What you were watching is great coaching, from Hackett's disaster to the first three weeks of the year where it was a bit of a mess zero

to three to this now. It's fun to watch. And I know a lot of you are saying, we'll calling you. You know you like Sean Payton, so of course this is what you think. No, what I like is really smart offensive coaches. That's what I like. I mean, look at it. Look at the offenses right now that couldn't close out games today, Bears defensive head coach, Jets mess, Seahawks defensive head coach Ron Rivera. Washington swept by the Giants this year. Yikes. Pittsburgh defensive coach Kenny Pickett is

not getting better. In fact, I'll get into this later, but you watch Pickett and Jordan love One is getting better every week. Jordan love One's getting worse Kenny Pickett. Look at the coaching cultures packers, offensive culture, steeters, defensive culture. So I don't think Russell Wilson would have gotten better this year with just anybody Nathaniel Hackett coaching. But to be able to take Russell last year into Russell this year, the dramatic improvement, I don't think you can do that

with a defensive coach. I don't. I don't think you can. I mean, look at how quickly Sean McVeigh got Baker Mayfield to be good, had two days of practice. Look At what Kevin O'Connell did with Josh Dobbs who didn't get a practice. Look at what Sean Payton has done to course correct Russell Wilson. I don't think any of this stuff is a coincidence. I don't think defensive coaches

can pull that off. Like I don't think Justin Fields is ever going to be an elite franchise quarterback, but I do think it hurts him being with Matty Eberflus. Justin Herbert is playing is oursoff. I think Brandon Staley once again, Justin Herbert makes the plays. Brandon Staley can't make the stops as the defensive coach. So it's not that I know Sean Payton and like him, I've been on this for two to three years, and I know

it's after a while it's irritating. But if you look at some of these quick turnarounds by these quarterbacks, it's seemingly all offensive coaches. You could have brought in a very good defensive coach this year at Denver and maybe they would have won the same number of games or maybe more. That defensive coach would not have taken Russell Wilson from last year and created this current Russell Wilson.

Absolutely not. Tom Brady will joke privately, I mean, you know, and probably publicly to his team Belichick didn't understand anything about offense. Didn't even understand some of the terminology of it. It's a different world, I find myself. The AFC has got good teams. Started looking at the AFC teams that you know, you got a lot of these teams that are five and five and one game over five hundred and five hundred or one game under five hundred. It's Broncos,

it's Chargers, it's Bills. There is so much talent in the AFC. It's just incredible. It really is. Today Arizona, I thought, pretty good team faced an AFC team lost, Minnesota, pretty good team hot faced, an AFC team lost. So the AFC is the superior conference. You're seeing it time and time and time again. This is I felt tonight was the biggest win for Russell Wilson, even bigger than Kansas City, even bigger than Buffalo, because I felt the last drive of the game was so much about Russell

Wilson's playmaking. It was so much about Russ cooking, you know. Kansas City was about Mahomes second half offense, not watered down, unable to really generate anything. The Buffalo win was about the Bill's mistakes. This game was about Russell Wilson in the second half, engineering several important drives, especially the last one for a touchdown. And I felt like this was as big a win for Russell Wilson as he has had two three years, maybe longer. It felt like Russell's game.

That throw to Courtland Sutton that play felt so much like a seahawk played by Russell Wilson. So and again, I don't know as Sean Payton fixed Russell Wilson, or is he just course corrected Russell back to being who Russell Wilson is, which has always been a minus quarterback, be plus a minus quarterback, you know. Twenty seven to thirty five, two hundred and sixty yards, game winning touchdown, game winning drive that feels like old russ Son of it,

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Winning in the NFL is hard. Hiring Morgan and Morgan is easy. Former NFL scout, He's on the volume, one of our faves. We're going to roll for about an hour tonight. John Middlecoff joining us. All right, both of us want to get rid of Brandon Staley, so I'll get rid of that in a second. But I will say this between we have two iconic franchises, Packers Steelers

with two young quarterbacks. We don't love either. But I will say this, Jordan Love makes throws to his young receivers on calls by the coaching staff where it feels as if they trust him that they're going to let him make some big throws in big spots. He was good on third down today seven or fourteen. I thought the play calling was at times aggressive. He threw for over three hundred yards. Now it's the Chargers. It is the worst coach defense with Brandon Staley, arguably for their

talent in the league. But before we get into Brandon, I do think Jordan Love. I really think we have to acknowledge Packers have done a good job through the US John of drafting and developing players. They don't pick, they don't pick offensive players in the first round. Love was an exception. But I do see he'll never be Burrow accurate. That's not what he is. He's not gonna be He's not gonna throw it like Stafford or Josh Allen. But Jordan Love. I don't see anything with Pickett. I

see something with Jordan Love. What is it?

saw Aidan O'Connell do that a couple of times. Another guy that has more physical skills than Kenny Pickett as a as a thrower. Yeah, listen, I do think you got to be very careful making judgments with quarterbacks when it comes to playing against the Chargers. But Gudakin said a couple weeks ago that the last ten games we're kind of gonna determine this guy's fate. So, I mean, today was definitely not a negative for him right now. Can he do that consistently down the stretch the weather

gets worse. He's got a lot on the line, and we've been talking about this NonStop. The Packers, because of the contract he's in, aren't in the worst spot. If they win and he progresses, Okay, if he loses and does it whatever. So to me, it's a win win that they're playing with house money right now. Never forget in that trade. They finagled the second round pick this year out of the Jets, Zach Wilson, I mean their quarterbacks, the Jets are terrible. They play the Dolphins coming up

on Black Friday. That's another l So that pick. They're gonna have some draft, ammo. But like you said that, they invest all these defensive players The crazy part about the Packers is their defense never looks you know, historically's never good. But they have a bunch of first round picks and I paid guys on that side of the ball.

They're not with Jordan Love. Now let's transition to Brandon Staley, who once again got snippy after the game. I feel bad for Justin Herbert. Quintin Johnson appears to be, if not a whiff, he is just a non factor until year two at a wide receiver. He's lost, he's over his skill, over his head. I've heard he's struggling to learn the playbook. So he's got he didn't play with a ton of urgency. He's loose. He didn't run precise routes. But I do you believe. I mean, you're a former scout,

you know how these guys think. I have to believe at least the Spanos's Dean Spanoses has to now at least consider sleep on it making a change at head coach.

line I mean in a winner get end game. And then last year to me, was more symbolic of kind of what we've seen kicking the crap out of the Jags and then the blown coverage out of the blown coverage after the blown coverage today. And this is what I say when I preface by saying we got to be careful about the Jordan Love, I mean, guys are

kind of wide open against the Chargers. No team consistently blow coverages, and especially in big spots, that's not you could be playing the Bears or I mean the Panthers and guys aren't as open. So it's you gotta be careful with the Chargers. But to me, the snippiness, you just don't get to act like that if you're not Bill Parcells, Belichick, Andy Reid, like, I mean, what are you doing? And I think it reflects he knows. I mean, this Plaine flight right home has to be extremely uncomfortable.

Who knows by the end of the day tomorrow he's not gonna have to clear out his locker. And let's face, I think Joey Bosa might have torn his achilles. I mean, this franchise right now is in major shambles for having a really good, high end quarterback. It's kind of sad, it really is. You got to feel for you know, just I don't know how many of them there are, but I actually know a decent amount that from San

Diego Charger fans. For a team that always has talent, you know, a lot of crappy teams like just the Bears. What do they do. The Chargers always have talent my entire life. I mean back to the Drew Brees early days, to the Philip Rivers days, to this team over the last three or four years, and just the results to say, I mean, there are four to go forward and six in the NFL. You gotta be that's like the Giants, the Jets. Yes, these poorly teams that don't have a

lot of depth of talent. That is not the case here well.

know his kids. Tom Tellesco's a friend. They if you look at some of the offenses struggling Jets, defensive coach Seattle in the last month, defensive coach Washington, defensive coach Pittsburgh, defensive coach Chicago defensive coach. This this team is just underachieving. The Spanos has had Brian Dabele there. Remember when they hired Brandon Saley. We were surprised by it, big time, big time. I mean, it was kind of a given based on Telesco's relationship with Brian and Dable and all

my guys in the league. Again, you're a former NFL scout. My guys in the league were all like, oh, Daboll's great. Eric Mangini, whether we're at dinner or we're on the air, has said like, I will vouch for Brian Dabele. He knows him very well. He's like one of the smartest guys I've ever had the pleasure to be around. So I look at the charters and I think to myself, you know, we can always blame this or that the Spanos family had an opportunity we going to Brian Dable.

It probably because Staley's probably one of the cheapest coaches in the league. And so the other thing to consider, John, if you give it to Kellen Moore, you can kick the tires on Kellen Moore as a head coach. You just figure out in the last six I mean, doesn't that make sense to you.

price tag to get this guy. Even if we don't have to give him the ninety hundred million dollars Denver, we're going to have to give a number that we're very uncomfortable giving, which to me, Colin is insane. I do think being cheap when you have when one when you inherit the wealth, and two when you're making the level of wealth these teams, it's like a disease because they're getting four hundred million dollars a year alone from

the NFL. The alone from the NFL, well, your payrolls two hundred and twenty million dollars, so you're talking an extra one hundred and twenty million dollars. And this is not a signing bonus. You don't have to give the seventy million to Sean Payton on day one when he signs the contract. You pay it over the life of the deal. So even if you got to buy Staley out for fifteen million dollars, these numbers to the ninety nine point nine percent of people, to these NFL owners

are a line item. It's an expense, and I think some of these you look at these old school owners that have been involved in the league when it was really, really cheap and money was not flowing like it was now in the seventies. In the eighties, the Bears are a good example. They're very uncomfortable with the way the digits have changed. It's why some of these owners that got into the eighties but were mavericks like Jerry or Robert Craft are unfazed by the big numbers. They're willing

to spend. But when you look at Spanos, fifteen twenty million dollars to buy a guy out and then seventy to pay a guy is is crazy to him. This where I listen, say what you want about Mark Davis. He has not been afraid to take big swings with money because he knows it's kind of all monopoly money.

If this isn't real, you're not actually even You could be the worst team in the league, right, I mean, you could literally not win a game and you get the same amount of money as the Eagles are forty nine ers the carriage, you television ratings, and that's not even counting the other money that you make. So yeah, to me, Kellen Moore, to give him a I think that he's this a viable candidate in general, given that

they already know him. Clearly, if we assume that him and Herbert have a really good relationship, like Brandon Staley, like Anthony Lynn, like Mike McCoy, is not going to cost the premium numbers, So you could get him a four year deal for let's say twenty thirty million dollars whatever. I mean, it's a lot of money to most people, but to these NFL coaches, I mean, you got call fifteen to twenty college coaches are making nine to ten

million dollars. Oh. And the other thing is in your division, you have the best coach currently in the NFL who has a twenty seven year old superstar quarterback, and Sean Payton who over the last couple of weeks has proven like he's not the village idiot anymore so. And listen the Raiders, I mean, say what you want. They just have a lot of talent, and they have They've accumulated some players, so it's you better put some effort into this.

What's the point of paying your quarterback all this money? And they did cut them an enormous check and they put them under the premium contract if you're not going to do everything humanly possible to surround them. And it starts with the guy calling the play, slash the head coach.

as you noted in the COVID year. I think he's Johnny Manziel with a better arm. I just don't think. I don't know if he loves the game, he certainly doesn't inspire teammates. One of my favorite picks of the week was Buffalo today. I thought they sort of get right pissed off. Twelve men in the field, blazing five. We had a good week. The Rams helped us, but one of my favorite picks was, you know, Buffalo's embarrassed itself with that twelve men on the field, all the turnovers,

all the drops. They were going to come home and this is sort of we've talked about this before Thanksgiving, going into it Thanksgiving and coming out of it. This is the separation time in the NFL. The Jets are in a strange spot, so they've got some cap space, but they have to draft a left tackle. You could argue because Elijah Vera Tucker is not ever healthy. They need five new offensive linemen, probably four. You run the Jets. They whiffed on a left tackle, on a quarterback. They've

hit on virtually everybody else. As you well know, there's two positions maybe three, you can't whiff on. Left tackle. Quarterback are way up there. Would you bring Sala and Joe Douglas back. They're anemic offensively. They are another defensive coach team that looks just out of sync with the league offensively. This was embarrassing, this humiliating loss. I mean, christ even the Giants one today with Tommy the veto. You own good by the way, Yeah, you own the Jets.

What do you do going forward?

have a really good wide receiver. Look at Tank Dell for the Houston Texas. I found him in the third round. We got to get a guy in the mid rounds to be your number two wide receiver. You drafted a tight end, like you should be able to figure some stuff out. Let's invest in the offensive line. I would bring these guys back just because of Aaron Rodgers. But if this does not turn around next year, they gotta go fast. I mean, they might not make it through

the season. It'd be like if it's clearly not a playoff team at this time, to me, they're all gone, because, let's face it, I had a guy tell me when it was clear that he had drafted Joe Douglas drafted a lot of really good players. He's like, let's just pick seven of them. If six out of seven of them, you know, the Garrett Wilson's, the Bectons, the Sauce Gardeners, the pass rushers all become Pro Bowl level guys, that's awesome. But if Zack Wilson is a bust, we're in trouble.

And if all those guys are busts and Zach Wilson's a player, will get contract extensions and will be viewed as big time in the NFL. And while they were bailed out a little with the Rogers trade, not really because he never got to play and we got to see Zach Wilson on display again and it consistently got worse. And I think it's easy to be objective with Zack Wilson, because this year there's the immaturity, like off the field is just quiet. It's just as the player, and he's

objectively terrible. He doesn't know how to play the position. I mean today you could tell right away after the first quarter they didn't stand a chance, Like he didn't have a chance, no matter what the defense did, no matter if they got ten turnovers from Josh Allen, which clearly he was going to be pretty locked and loaded. He's a disaster and usually don't get bailed out when

you draft a guy that high. The other thing, Robert Sala, I mean you can just I had a take the other day when he was coloring his beard.

for twenty five. It's about winning and losing. You cannot be focused on some of this stuff when you're losing, Well, what do you notice today? Salla shaved that thing off, right. It's just like you just got to focus on people are judging your team, not how you're looking some of this other stuff. And I think sometimes the Jets get caught up in that, Like when the Giants are good,

there's never any fluff around them. The Jets always deal with all that stuff on and off the field, and I think those guys, the story about Aaron Rodgers coming back off the Achilles is insane, Like, what are we even taught? That's the dumbest story going. He's not coming back, He's never been coming back. And obviously they're not even going to be in position because they're going to be so far out of it by that time to even

risk it. But I think they got clearly they would not have been as bad if he was able to play. I mean, yeah, compared to Zach Wilson is a pretty wide gap, but it probably would have been a little bit more of a struggle than people like me thought it was going to be fair.

leverage here. And I said, if you have it, be careful about flexing because people will remember when you don't. Aaron too often flexes Alan Lizard. Now you're stuck with that contract, Aaron. They can't go by Devonte Adams. He's Alan Lazarre's not worth that money. Randall Cobb can't play Hackett. Give me a break. Aaron wants you to know he's got power and too often use his leverage. And Brady had it his entire career in New England. Johnny never

used it. He never flexed. He went to craft twice once on Garoppolo, and I was told even a year before Garoppolo, he complained a little bit about Belichick and the relationship and that Bill could just be at times really, if not hostile, disrespectful. But Brady never used it. By the way, Peyton Manning didn't use it anytime. Aaron gets an inch of it, he uses it. Lazard is now a bad contract, Hackett's a bad coordinator. Wouldn't it be nice to go out and buy the best free agent

center on the market. And I think Aaron's his own worst enemy is that I said this. I don't believe Aaron will ever matter in the NFL again. And that's not a knock on Aaron, it's not. I think coming back is a huge mistake and he's better to just, you know, like most Jets seasons, let it just, you know, put it in the washer, wash it out, dryer. We'll see what it looks like in a year. But I

don't think he'll ever matter again. I do think eventually the Bills will go pay seven figures for an offensive coordinator. Miami's not going backwards much. They have a really smart coach. Burrow will come back healthy. Baltimore's Oh was good. You start looking. Brandon Staley probably out. They have an offensive, competent coach. Mahome's going nowhere. Russell, Wilson, Payton are now at least viable. They can play. This is my take, Aaron will never matter again in the NFL. Am I wrong.

pretty shitty year for his standards the previous year. Yeah, so this is a guy I think sometimes and I'm guilty of this. You just go, oh, eight months, nine months recovery, come back, He's gonna be forty years old off achilles. That even if the doctors and the rehabs are dramatically better now than historically, these are type injuries that ruined career. Look at Klay Thompson. The guy can barely He's a shell of himself, and he's way younger

and a much better athlete. And I know he had the ACL as well, But I think if you just based it strictly on the way you battle back from an injury like that, when a huge part of what made you a really good player was movement. He's good, he's a good pocket player, but movement really separated him, made him an all time great player. So if he can't really move, what's he just gonna do when he's getting, you know, pressured NonStop with that offense? Just throw it

away time, right? So I think that because one thing Brady and Manning always had is that was the only way they could play. They could never move, so they mastered it from the moment they were twenty four years old or hell in college. Peyton was a little bit better athlete in college than the game in the NFL. But Rogers part of this game was like, screw it, I'll just take off right or hang off left, hit guys down the field. Well, that's gonna be over. I

think we have to bank on that being over. So yeah, I mean, I would say I think the Jets big

picture just have major, major problems. They took a huge home run swing, which I can't blame them, they didn't have any other options, but it immediately backfired in their face when was Achilles ripped and now you're getting a guy back now, I think the only thing that they got going for him is he gave him money back, right that that's seventy five million, wasn't one hundred and ten million or whatever it was, right, So financially they get a little relief based on that contract that they

negotiated before the season ever happened. But yeah, I think they're in major, major problem. And this, like, what did they actually gain out of this year? All these good defensive players that are on rookie contra just waste it. You're going to go. I mean, they'd be lucky to go seven and ten again at this I don't see how they win another game.

only thing charging because the Giants won today. New England's the only threat, and Belichick will probably coach his way to a win. So Carolina, which is now the Bears pick is number one, and they're going to have a chance to draft Caleb Williams. So I want to ask you. And it was interesting because I've called Justin Fields a YouTube quarterback. If you just take his clips Sam Darnold very much like this, I can give you three minutes

of Sam Darnold. That's jaw dropping. You're just I could go usc to the Jets and you're like, shit, that guy can play. And then you watch him and the slow release, two to three horrible throws. He'll get hit, he'll fumble, a little lost to the line of scrimmage, and it was it was really interesting. So I had the just it was funny, this is how I think of Justin Field. So I had the Bears plus seven and a half, and when the Lion scored, I thought, please take time off the clock, because if you score

and give Justin Fields a minute, he'll throw a pick six. Well, sure enough, he comes out, no awareness in the pocket at all, hit, fumbled, ball, gets kicked out. It's only a safety. But I was thinking, oh, don't give Justin Fields a minute, he will throw a pick six, And I think that I think I've always said this about bullpens and baseball. None of us watch as caster. You watch your favorite baseball team. There's too many games. You can't watch everybody. So a fan knows this team better

than the media. And how you feel about your bullpen as a fan, you're a Giants guy when they go to the pen, how you feel regardless of what happens? Because you watch everybody watches they're all we all watch all NFL teams. You and I watch tons of college football, but in baseball, I watch a lot of Dodgers. I

used to watch Yankees. You right, And when the manager comes out in the seventh, how do you feel because you know that team better than Buster only Tom Verducci, Peter Gammons, and with Justin Fields, I feel like a bad bullpen. He can make plays, but if you have to cover a game and he trails, I'm like, oh my god, that's the feeling you get when you don't trust your bullpen. In baseball, they're gonna draft Kayleb Williams, Right, the Bears would draft Kayleb Williams.

going to be their quarterback next year. One thing I learned actually when I got into football and I worked for Pat Hill at Fresno State, and he had learned this from working in the NFL for Belichick is how worthless highlight tapes are, whether it's for an NFL draft prospect or recruiting a high school kid, because, like you said, you can manipulate it. You can make any guy look like Zach Wilson.

This is a guy that gets banged up a lot like say this, Kyler Murray similar in the sense of physical freaks, right in terms of speed, arm strength. He's shorter obviously than he's a good player. Yeah, Kyler Murray, when you watch him, if you're a Texans fan, if you're gambling against him, keeps you on the edge of your seat.

He's still because it's his rookie contract's over. He hasn't proven that much beside running around like Kyler has proven that he can, even to the day against the Texans, who are clearly pretty good. He's taking a team full of nobody's running around. You're like, Jesus, guy looks good second game off an ACL liner, but he plays the quarterback position a little more naturally for a running quarterback,

where Justin Fields his sweet plays are just runs. But it doesn't feel like it's in the natural flow of the game. Yeah and yeah, so I'm with you, I Caleb Williams, I think Drake May is really fallen for people. Now, I think the Oregon and Washington quarterback are gonna be fascinating evals. They've continued to excel. But I think Kyler is really for a guy. A year ago we were all making fun of couldn't stop playing video games in

the contract to then getting injured. Listen, men mature later than others, like I matured a lot in my late twenties early thirties, So to think that Kyler couldn't grow a little bit. They named him a captain and I first thought, maybe they're just doing that, you know, to increase his value. What if they actually kind of like him? Right? How many people do you meet that other people have told you, like, this guy's not a great guy, or this guy's a bad guy, and then you meet him

and you kind of like him. What if they just have good interactions with him. He's playing well, he's done everything they've asked him to do, and they just enjoy the Kyler Murray Kyler Murray experience experience. Plus, their head coach was around Jalen Hirts for a couple of years as the defensive coordinator, so maybe he knows how dangerous guys like this are. If I'm guessing right now Kyler Murray is a starting quarterback for the years of the Cardinals next year.

think he's done. It's gonna be really interesting the idea. If you're not gonna take Caleb Williams, okay, there's no question somebody else will take it, So you could I mean, here's where you could say, Chicago goes Okay, we're gonna stick with Justin Field. I wouldn't. I think Caleb Williams is absolutely better. I think he's more accurate, he's more natural, he's equally as athletic. He's a power thrower and he's never been hurt and he gets banged around by us.

He's crappy offensive line. So I'm I am. I think if Andrew Luck was a ten prospect, he's an eight and a half to a nine, Justin Fields was a six, I would do it in a heartbeat. Plus Fields has been in the NFL several years, He's been hurt a lot, like a lot. So but my thing is you could get for that pick. If you want to keep Fields, John, you know you're getting at least two first ye least two first.

The Lions are a good example. They went from like six to twelve, picked up an extra high second round pick and got their starting tight end. So you can utilize that to gain more picks because they did screw up, you know, in my mind, trading for Sweat just given they could have just paid him that contract on the open market and use a second round pick. A second

round pick are so valuable. But with some of their maneuvering, maybe they're viewing we could play around and gain some picks back if we use that second round pick to move back seven spots, you know, to take an offensive lineman at twelve and get an extra second round pick. So I guess I could see some logic there if that's what they end up doing. But yeah, I mean

I would be stunned. Now. I think the big picture question is gonna because it's already been out there, is the Eli Manning John elway are they going to demand? Are you know that we're not gonna go there?

there's seven and five. Who cares? I mean, it's just the prospect is separate from the program, which is true. So yeah, I mean I think Kayleb Williams the way this has played out, I thought Drake May had a pretty good shot a month ago, but holy shit, he's been a lot worse. Yesterday against a Clemson defense, which is really good. He just hasn't looked as good. And that's that's part of evaluating the prospect is the more games you play, the more I get on you, especially

when you play better teams. Sam Hartman this year transfers Notre Dame. Could this guy be like a second round pick because his first couple games looked incredible. They were playing nobody. Then they started playing people, and he looked like an undrafted free agent.

not corners and receivers, it's not quarterbacks. They recruit the best large men Oregon, as you well know. Penay Seule's another example. I've watched Oregon play twice this year. John. They are big, they are Michigan big. They are a big team. Washington's talented. They don't look like Oregon. Okay, USC has not recruited big people when the best recruited are in your staff is a defensive back coach, You're in trouble. When Pete was there, the best recruiter was

ed Orgeron right. USC is small, and Lincoln Riley is out here calling plays. That's how micro us he has been. They have fallen in love with Sark and Kiffing and play callers and play designers. USC is compared to Oregon, is a small football team. And I've watched them over the course of the last several years, and I said, they're best recruiter. Every college staff has a guy who just recruits. He can't coach. He can recruit USC's best recruiters a defensive back coach. Don't know how good of

a coach he is. But the guys in the secondary, certainly, they've plateau. They don't get better when people look at USC's issues. I just keep saying the same thing. And I was told this by an NFL coach three years ago who was out of work. Briefly I met at a practice. He goes, they just don't look like Ohio State. They don't look like Texas. Even average Texas teams were big six seven oer line. USC has one defensive lineman, Bear Alexander who will play on Sunday. It's rush ends,

it's two hundred and seventy five pound defensive linemen. So my takeaway is Lin's into this wizardry of play calling. It doesn't matter they had Sark and Kiffen. They've always had good play callers. That's Arizona and Jed Fish. What makes you a seven eight top ten program is big guys up front.

way right. He feels like a tough guy in the trenches, and that's how he built his teams. Bob Stoop's defensive guy, and you watch Lincoln there is and I've been saying this forever. You are who your mentors are in football because when you're young, it really shapes who you are now. It doesn't mean you can't put your own spin on things. But he's a Mike Leach guy. Like that's he's a

Mike Leach guy. Saban is a Belichick guy. Kirby is a Saban guy, right, I mean think about that, and you watched Kyle Whittingham's another guy who has who is wired like a tough guy. Who do he work for? Urban Meyer What that program has probably I don't even think it gets enough respect for they were in the whack fifteen years ago and what they have become in the past. They've gone to the Rose Bowl back to

back years because he values the trenches. And when I think about those Pete Carroll teams, it was the offensive and defensive line, and I mean that's what Pete.

reason they couldn't win it. They had, they had a they had a championship level offense, but they were soft on defense. I don't think you fake that. Well, that's who you are, that's what you recruit. It's what you see in recruiting. Because he was trained through his first ten years of football as a player and then he went into coaching even before he was done by Leach. And what to me that it's kind of like the

Mike D'Antoni of football. Offense, offense, offense, offense, offense. Well, that's never gonna win in It didn't win twenty years ago, it doesn't win now because you're gonna have to play Kirby, You're gonna have to play Nick. You're gonna have to play Ohio State or Michigan. Both those two teams have NFL guys everywhere.

They were just incredibly limited at quarterback. Jim Harbaugh's team play hard USC against UCLA in the biggest game for the school in the alumni mailed it in they don't respect Lincoln. Lincoln. Lincoln is very twenty twenty three is like media people. It's treat the player great, and it's all about the player, and it's all about the play calling. I thought the effort by USC was disrespectful to the coaching staff at USC. Chip Kelly's on the hot seat.

That team was high fiving, fist pumping, jumping up and down, played with incredible intensity. USC acted like they didn't want to be there. And to me, that goes back to the coach. If you have limitations. I mean, Chip's got some limitations at quarterback right now. There's not a lot he can do right you and I watch. You watch certain teams and you just say, you know, there's limitations for Pete Carroll. What is he going to do at quarterback when Gino's out and Drew Lot comes in. There's

nothing you can do. If I was a USC administrator or a booster like that team, they they didn't respect Lincoln. That was an absolutely lethargic effort.

or we're obviously Jim Harball. Their program means everything. Usually you don't get Oklahoma to USC, right, you would go from I don't know, like in Arizona State you win twelve games back to back years and then USC gets you, and it means a lot to you watch Lincoln Riley. He's there for one one reason only. They gve him a hundred and twenty million dollars. Yeah, and there's an

apathy to me when you watch the program. I had a scout tell me he thinks going to a lot of these programs and he's been on the road for twenty plus years. The rivalries are not the same with all the transferring. It used to be embedded in you, right, like a family. You're taught from the moment you get into the program and by the time. It's why when you hear older NFL players in their thirties talk about

a certain rivalry. If you're Ohio State game, the Michigan gamer, you're a Bama guy, the Auburn gamer, duke North Carolina, it means it was ingrained into them in the moment they Now it's kind of become a little which I'm for transferring. It's awesome with the quarterbacks, but you're watching some of these games. I didn't think it meant anything to usc anything. And I mean personally, I know I'm not as big a Chip Kelly guy. I don't think

he cares that much about the program. But like his clearly cared more than Lincoln, and two games matter a lot to USC people like are their rivals Notre Dame and UCLA. Yep, you know, the the Utah game, the Oregon game, the Washington game. Obviously, especially Oregon Washington. They're better than you. I think people can stomach that. But to get be lifeless against those two teams imagic. Being the sixty year old guy who's been cutting big checks is a big part of the program that those two

nights a year mean a lot to that individual. And listen, I he's not gonna go anywhere because of the contract, but I just don't see the fit. I don't see it working. And you have to wonder if there are a lot of people like, oh my, because at least with Chip right, he's not the amount of money they paid him, even though I think he got a contract extension whatever last year. It's not nearly on the level. I mean, this is like a Jimbo Fisher level on

steroids contract. So you're just kind of got to make this work, and it's by you. If I would have told you at the beginning of the season that they went seven to five, you would have said, well, Caleb shatters his leg early on in the season, maybe like their defensive coordinator gets fired after week you would have said insane, It would have been impossible, like an awful year for them, felt like on paper nine and three right, they didn't beat anybody that they should have been. And honestly,

they're very, very lucky to win that Arizona game. They easily could be six and six. Yes, to me, they're much closer to six and sixteen than they are nine and three teen.

the LA Chargers will not pay for Harball. They just won't stop the Spanosys do. Chicago's a mess. You start looking around, Washington's interesting, but they don't have a quarterback. The idea that Harbor says, Okay, I can't be on the sidelines next year. According to the NCAA, I lose twenty scholarships over three years. It's a pretty stack roster. Even with their NFL losses. This is now a completely two team. It's a two team conference. Oregon Washington will

be viable. US he's a mess and UCLA is not in Michigan's class. And I thought I could see Harbaugh saying, Hey, I got my kids, my dad lives next to me in an arbor. I'm gonna stay here. I did the NFL, I got to a Super Bowl? Is that my legacy? Now I'm not. I'm not leaving Michigan. And it wouldn't hurt him if they don't win the National Championship. You can't take it from him. If you vacated wins that never ding Pete Carroll, nobody gives a rip about that.

If you don't let him be in the sidelines, I think you and I would agree they'd still win ten games next year. I mean, the key is coaching. That's the key that it's the weak, it's the preparation, it's not the management. Of a cup. I mean, Harbaugh isn't a guy barking in a headset throughout the course of a game. He's not. He's a very much a mentor to his He coaches, coaches.

playing very well right now. He stays through fairly punitive discipline because he his takeaway is this is my legacy and I'm going to stick it out. I think we all a lot of people believe he's going to the NFL. I do not think there's many good jobs. I think the Charger is it, and I don't think they'd hire him.

I'm with you. I think there's a very good chance. And clearly what he means to them for them being this good, it's a twelve million dollars coach. Even if he gets suspended, who cares. I know, when you got an elite guy like it does not matter. And clearly they have no chance to upgrade, so they are going to have to throw an enormous contract in front of them, which clearly they already had, and then this came up. I don't think that's gonna change anything. The Raiders would

be the one curve ball. But if even today they lost, but Antonio Pierce has proven to be maybe I think it's much easier for Mark Davis just to roll with him, not to pay as much and just take a deep breath for a couple of years. Yeah, I think Antonio Pierce says like the lead on that job, So I'm with you. The Bears and Chargers would be out short term. Though. This quarterback's making me a little nervous because we all annointed him. He looked really good the Penn State game.

He's kind of got some twenty nineteen Jimmy Garoppolo vibes right now. They don't trust him. He throw a terrible pick in the Maryland game in the red zone. They didn't have him throw a past the previous week, partly because they didn't need to, but also is this guy playing his best football right now? So the way he's playing, do I trust them without Gym on the sideline, even if he is just their motivation style makes me a little nervous. But I do think this is gonna be

Jim's finest hour this week. I mean, he's back to the forty nine er gays to the hell of the peak when they beat Pete Carroll is a forty one point. It's not the game, it's what he does leading up. I think you're gonna get him. That place is gonna be going bananas.

like the Packers, just mail it in. The one major difference, you know, the NBA has really battled the tanking no one takes in the NFL, even the shitty teams give you. The Giants are rolling out Tommy DeVito, who die hard football people couldn't point out of a lineup, and they're playing their ass off against the divisional opponent, the Bears today, I mean, are giving you everything they have against a

Lions team that's gonna win thirteen or fourteen games. Listen, we can talk all we want about the product these quarterbacks hitting injured, but at least on any given game, regardless of the opponents, you get everyone's best effort. It may not always result in wins. But there's no like we're just gonna mail it in today, or oh, this guy's not gonna play, or this coach doesn't give a shit.

That's not the case with the NFL at all. And that's, I mean, to me, a big variable that has helped separate the NFL as baseball and basketball just give up on the season, you know, a quarter of the way in.

know they do like he misses easy stuff. But that I don't worry about Harbaugh not being on the sideline against the Ohio State in ann Arbor with this roster. I worry about JJ McCarthy. I'm just not sold on him. I just I think he's loose. I think he's a little cocky. I think he misses easy stuff. I don't I'm not a big fan.

feel as calm. I also think we're too quick to like this guy has to come out. Maybe this I actually just stay in college all four or five years, however long he has eligibility. He's still an underclassman. He doesn't have to come out in the NFL. So, like I, at one point in time, people were talking about this guy being a top ten pick. To me, he is not remotely close to that now. And obviously this week is enormous. At some of these playoff games, if he

plays in them, we'll be huge. But that Maryland game, and even going back to the Penn State game, what they didn't have him do I think is very reflective of their trust in the guy right now. And you can't tell me, and I don't even know like what the you know the parameters are of the suspension, but that Harbaugh didn't text him on at halftime at the Penn State game and said, we're not throwing the ball. Kyle Shanahan, NFC Championship. Do not. They cannot move the ball,

run the ball every play. Do not let our quarterback screw us and give them a fumble six or a pick six. They are not scoring the ball. And I think it was a little they didn't have a choice this week where they had to have him throw a little bit, and you were just like holding on for dear life.

They haven't done that my entire life. Like I said to myself, Okay, this is a different Detroit team. They've lost that game every single time they get out played. It's over. This is a totally different Lions Team's.

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