Colin Cowherd Podcast - Russell Wilson A Great Fit For Steelers, Mac Jones Traded, Baker Gets Paid, Broncos Blowing It Up

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Dodger game. Otani didn't even play. I mean, they are an all star team. There had to be twenty thousand people there. You're waiting twenty five minutes for margarita. The vibes at spring training, for these teams, especially the Dodgers, it's a remarkable experience. It was fun. Now the guys, you know, Mookie Bets and those guys come out after

five or six innings. But talk about a guy. I mean, they got Otani who pitches and hits, Mookie Bets plays second shortstop and all the outfield positions.

There's just all stars everywhere. Now it all comes down, as you know in baseball, it all comes down to the healthier staff. If your stiff staff can't get out, it doesn't matter how many guys position players are great. But no, I had a guy in my staff, Greg Towhey, big big baseball fan, his kids played baseball. He said he went to a Podres game. Potres have an all star team, they got big names. Walked right in Dodgers. Minute he came in to sitting down was like a forty five minute experience.

just the vibes. Otani didn't even play, and you never know in spring when a guy's gonna play or not, so you just kind of show up hoping a lot of Tani jerseys. I mean, you talk about that guy moves the needle. Listen football. You see all the money flowing in this sport. Every team has it. In baseball, obviously there's the haves and the have nots. Yeah, I grew up a big Giants guy. I'm supposed to hate these guys. They are a well run operation right now.

May you know Mac Jones isn't I thought it was a little low. If Trey Lance goes for a four and I'm not sure he can play at all? I kept thinking to myself. So Mac Jones was a high school All American quarterback, college All American quarterback and Rookie of the Year is first year, how much of it is the dude can't play? And how much of it is this was a bad spot with a coach that appeared to be tone deaf to offense and a little bit of a grudge holder. Do you think he can play at all?

full time starter in the league. Because his contract, right, he's they're not gonna pick up his fifth year option, which is going to be well over twenty million dollars, So you're basically just trading for one year of his services and then you never know, maybe Trevor Lawrence gets hurt and he's good and you get, you know, strike oil. I was thinking about this today though, Colin, and this is why I'm a big believer when you draft guys really high. There is no such thing as a high floor.

It doesn't exist. Right, Like this guy, he's gonna be Kirk Cousins, or maybe he's just not gonna be that good. Right. It's why I had no problem taking big swings on Zach Wilson and Trey Lance because the likelihood of the guy you're trying to hit a home run no matter what at best Mac Jones was always going to be a stand up double, maybe rounding second looking at third, but he was never even gonna be a triple. His best case scenario is going to be a friend top

ten quarterback, and that's if everything went perfectly. And I don't know, I just I think it's very telling that girod Meo is a former player, spent a lot of time around Tom Brady has been there. This whole Mac Jones experience, It's clear, like I don't want this guy around. Let's face it. Part of mac Jones was, Okay, he's gonna be like Cousins or Jared Goff. What do those

guys have in space character focus? This guy was kind of viewed pretty immature right that That to me was a huge red flag that I didn't quite see coming. But that came to rust really quick with some of his like come on, Mack, let's let's get it together.

at his first year. Listen, he is a kid that played sort of in a pro offense down in Alabama with really good people, where so you can argue Obama had better players than offensively at least skill position players than New England. I don't even think that's that's not even ll He's.

the road if you're not a stand up guy. And I think Mac came with a reputation that he was a bit of a brand. I was told by somebody I trust. I was told this last year, and this is somebody that is a great source. He said, you couldn't coach him hard. You just couldn't coach him hard. Brady got annoyed with it after about fifteen twenty years of it. But you could coach him hard like Mack, you couldn't. He pouted, petty, and there was just you know,

he just that's what I heard. And when I heard that, I'm like, well, that's the wrong culture. That's all they do in New England. But he came from that in Alabama. It's not like Nick Saban was holding his hand right. So I think Bill always felt comfortable drafting an urban guy, drafting a Saban guy, because those coaches were in their players, you know, in their face twenty four to seven, three

sixty five. And it turns out, listen, we can make excuses for Mac a couple of years ago with the Patricia Joe Judge embarrassment and it was but last year he had Bill O'Brien and he constantly was throwing the ball to the other team. In confidence is a powerful thing for any young person. Yeah, he clearly lost it. But like you said, Jay Cutler and Aaron Rodgers throw a better ball at their left hand.

He had no backup plan. Hell, even when Tom left, he had to sign Cam in the summer. So Mack did he truly want mac or did he just need a quarterback? And three years later the other thing, And we talked about this a lot. The clock in football now is rapid. This is not I'm giving you four or five years second later, buddy, Thanksgiving second year.

can move like you gotta be able. And that's why I was like adamant Kyle Shanahan, you cannot draft this guy high because his the root the margin for error with him, like the margin for err with the physically gifted guys. Even Jalen hurts like he can play bad and its still his numbers look pretty good because physically he's pretty gifted. Could throw the ball, he throws a beautiful deep ball, can run the Herberts like mac Jones had never sniffed those guys physical attributes.

said get Jimmy g out of here. It almost felt like the relationship changed. Bill was pissed at Tom resented it. You know, you can see Bill like the old parcels I'm cooking the dinner. I want to have the groceries, and mostly Bill did. But that was the one time Craft stepped in and said, no, get him out. Even though Brady won the Super Bowl in Atlanta, it was almost a hostility toward Brady, And you know, I was

thinking Mahomes is more gifted. But if you gave Mahomes a defensive coach that didn't know anything, didn't know the language, especially early in his career, I don't know. I think my takeaway after episode eight is Tom's resilience is remarkable. He got the verbal shit kicked out of him for twenty years, and at the end, because of the Garoppolo

move is by hunch. Bill was just not nice to him, Like all those rings and all that money and that legacy and you're not getting that with ninety nine percent.

Veach and Andy all the time. And I'm not talking during the sea I'm talking in the offseason. You know. One of the big parts of ty Dunn's article was like, God, Sean, you need to work a little more with Josh Allen. Yes, right, this is could you want to Why wouldn't you want some of their opinions and be on the same page as them. You go as they go. So I think that's at the forefront of kind of the world we're

in right now with quarterbacks in their front office. You want to be tied at the hip and be I would say, just your relationship is much more unique than all the other players who still have the old school a little bit of a widget like if you're not playing, we'll get rid of you, we can replace you. You know, beside what fifty players in the NFL, the Aaron Donalds, the Trent Williams, But they're few and four between. Most guys I've been in these meetings, you're constantly talking, can

we upgrade here? Is this guy worth the money? Can we draft a guy in the second round to get ninety percent of the value, and in three years he's way cheaper. But the quarterback is not that spot. It's why you see, you know, Baker Mayfield get a lot of money because what else are they gonna do. Kirk Cousin's gonna get a ton of money that position. You know, Bill, he became a star right in the eighties. I mean you I don't remember it, but obviously his game plans

against Bill Walsh. It was a different time. I mean, Bill Walsh was always trying to get rid of Joe Montana, Bill Parcells, you know, him and Phil Simms were discreaming at each other constantly that the quarterback was viewed as an equal. Even with Montana. It's like, well, next man up his back, go Steve, you're in. And it's just and that was kind of the world he grew up on where I think Andy was right at that time in the nineties. The power of FARV I think just

looks at it a lot differently. Yes, And that's why you think, and you've been saying this for the transition of this timing for him, it's just it's the ultimate, it's perfect right. He's made for this era of foot, he's why he's kicking everybody's ass.

a lot of these stories inside the stories. If they talked about how Belichick wouldn't call a time out because they were watching Russell Wilson look unorganized on the field and Bill's sitting there watching him. He's like, I'm not

bailing these guys out. I'm just gonna sit here. And I had heard that story before, but I will say this to people on the flake gate, whether you like the Patriots or not, there is there's storytelling, and it's fascinating to hear these players talk and that I appreciated. All Right, let's let's move to Baker Mayfield. It's three years, one hundred million dollar deal, fifty guaranteed. It feels a little bit like the Daniel Jones contract, where it's probably

closer to fifty million to one hundred million. Your thought on the fit the contract again, I I don't have a pride. Again, this is not the division with Mahomes and Herbert. That's not what we're talking about here. I think I think it makes sense to me. I think he's actually, you know, he's a little bit of a loose, a little bit of a he's got a little bit of a pirate feel to him, right, like he's he's one of those guys that he's got a chip on his shoulder.

a guy you know can function. We were talking about this before you hopped on. I think the division plays a huge part where you feel good. I was talking to Jason Light at the combine. They feel very comfortable with Baker. I think Baker, like you said, feels very comfortable in their operation. They have a lot of star players, yeah, who really like him. That matters, right, Like why do the forty nine ers have so much trust in party? Obviously he plays well. Their star corps trusts them, likes

being around them. They value that. Tristan Wurf's win Field, Mike Evans, they rally around Baker Mayfield. So that's worth You could argue ten twenty percent over what you'd like to pay right away. That's right, And this is really a worst case scenario. It's a two year deal. Look who he's playing. David Tepper is a fantastic stock trader. He's a god awful NFL owner right, that operation is

in shambles. The Saints have Derek Carr, Dennis Allen, and we'll see like cousins if he ends up at Atlanta, which a lot of people think. He is coming off in Achilles with an operation that hasn't really been winning in the last six so their players don't even know how to win. That's the one thing Jason Light talked about. Baker got to come in here with a chip. We have a lot of guys who spent the three years around Tom, so we have the winning culture here with

our star guys. Like these guys have been in huge games for three years and they just rillied around Baker. I think if you watch Baker in the right day in the playoff game, awesome. I watched him a lot during the year and like, I'm not really seeing it, say new offensive coordinator. Now, I get it. Little rich for my taste, but totally understandable. What were they gonna do? Let them walk. They're drafting in the mid twenties. They don't have any other options.

I don't think he's quite the athlete, doesn't move as well, but he moves okay for me. I think to your point, the division matters. I mean again, I'm not paying Derek Carr. If it's Herbert Harbaugh, Andy Reid Mahomes, I'm really uncomfortable paying him a lot in that division. I mean, the NFC South has been probably the weakest division in football ten in the last twenty years. I mean, it's like the SEC. I don't know what it is. Is there less revenue to fan care less, are the owners not

very good. It's just not a very good division. It's just you know some of it too, John his passion. There have been down years, but the Giants have Super Bowls, Washington has super Bowls, the Eagles have super Bowls, you know, I mean all these teams, the Cowboys, Egles, that division cares his college football is irrelevant in the Northeast outside of Akrishan State. I do think in the South, Saturday is such a big day that it's just there's not if you listen to sports talk radio on a Monday,

they're not crushing the NFL team there. They're ripping their sec head coach and quarterback. And I do think there's a you know, it just doesn't feel as big. And so that division to me is best quarterback wins it. And this morning, this afternoon, Baker's arguably the best quarterback.

ugly game, but made some plays down the stretching. So you've now seen him in two playoff games, you clearly feel comfortable. You got a year with him studying how hard he prepared you just you go from six point eight five million dollars though to thirty five. You know, do you get the same level of chip on your shoulder? Some guys excel, you know, not everyone's Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods and Tom Brady. They could have a chip on their shoulder till the day they die. Some guys

ebb and flow with that a little bit. So I do think there's gonna be some pressure on Baker next year. So everyone was counting him out last year. This year everyone's gonna celebrate him. We'll see. I still think Tampa well, I guess we'll know with Kirk Cousins in the next couple of days. But I'd still give them a very very good shot to win that division when you.

everybody was lamenting how we treat running backs. But Seattle cut two got rid of two good safeties. Justin Simmons for Denver's a really good safety. Nobody wants to pay a safety. So I mean, I think you see what they're doing here. They're like, listen, we've just we got to get we have to get. We have to hit on six draft picks. The only way to make that

whole Russell Wilson thing work. And it can you get bo Nicks at twelve, you hit on four to five other draft picks, and it is amazing how you mitigate cap problems.

for a year. But I don't think it's one of these death knells. I think that's what's great about this sport. You start accumulating picks. It's a numbers game. You hit on six or seven, you get through stuff like this.

tidal wave. So it's the trade. When you look at the collateral damage of the trade, it's not just the pick they gave up to Seattle, which Seattle hit on those guys and the players they gave up. You have to include all these guys they cut right because they had to free some money that they had to be able to breathe. So like I listen, you know, I don't know Sean Payton, but I can't imagine he doesn't want to cut the safety. But Jerry Judy probably would

have been traded no matter what. They cut some guys because they have to get money that they need to kind of balance everything out. So to me, the Russell Wilson contract, you saw the title, what these guys getting cut and trader are part of that. The Buffalo Bill same thing to a lighter extent. They gave von Miller fifty five million dollars. It's a disaster that was. So they're cutting all these guys. They're cutting all these guys.

Well that the ramification of they can't cut von Miller, it'd be twenty five million dollars on their salary cap. So they got to cut high. They got to cut Poyer, they got to cut the center. They just that's part of the deal. It's why you know these front offices and football is hard because if a guy gets injured. But Von Miller was thirty plus years old, I understand the Russell Wilson deal at the time, but like they're paid to get it right and they got it wrong.

And let's face it, they wanted Aaron Rodgers. That was what they did. And then the moment he went back to Green Bay, they were so desperate that they got over aggressive to John Schneider when he's sitting in his hotel room at the Combine George Payton a couple of years ago, and he gave him the farm. John Sneyder

tried to trade Russell Wilson, remember in twenty eighteen. He wanted to give him to the Browns to draft Josh Allen and Russell said no. So they made a huge swing and they also and listen, I understand why they did it. They were all in. They didn't have to give him a contract. He was under contract when they traded for him a couple of years, but they wanted to get him up there and they thought he was going to be a star, and it backfired. Think about epic proportions.

point they bring him back? He takes control. The drafts have been great in Seattle since these coaches, you know, they they hate to admit it, but they don't watch football on Saturdays. They're not sitting around on Saturdays watching these Andy Reid will tell you that I'm I don't have time. And so when you all of a sudden you want to be a man the GMS, I know, I mean, I know, Tom Telesco Brett Veach Saturday, they're sitting watching college football for hours. They're going to games.

You can't ender late on that stuff and go, well, here's some film. You gotta watch the games.

don't get a great feel. If you have confidence in a John Schneider, in a Brett Veach, in a less need let them do their job. They spend three hundred and sixty five days even during the season, and I've been in the you know, from Monday through Friday, the general manager will spend some time. He go to practice, evaluate his own team, watch free agents. He also watches draft picks. I'm talking September through December during the week right evaluate him like his scouts are doing monneling him.

So by the time the season ends or you get to the playoffs, he's watched probably the top one hundred and fifty two hundred guys on their draft board and has a really good feel for him and has won and has evaluated all the reports on their character. He knows these guys pretty well. Where the coaches come in kind of blind to the combine, meet the kid for the first time, like how about this guy, it's like, well, this guy can't really play. I know he's a great personality,

and it kind of gets convoluted that way. So these best organizations are able to kind of split it. Or even if the coach, if he's making twelve to eighteen million dollars, he's the highest paid guy in the organization, but he's willing to give, like, hey, we shouldn't do this coach, and he listens, and anytime that you're not willing to listen, Let's face it happens a lot around the league, but Belichick wouldn't listen to anybody. Yeah, and

that that was a huge downfall for him. And he's had really excellent personnel guys throughout his career in the building, but he just won't listen. How he just will not.

developed pretty well. They have some really nice personnel at wide receiver, running back, tight end. You know, O line is what it is. It's not terrible, it's not great, And you think to yourself, that's a better fit than the Giants. Could I argue this that go look at the Super Bowls, go look at the playoffs. Defensive coaches, they're not getting there? Is that the Giants. You're entering great entry point. It's like being a morning show in

a radio station. You don't want to replace Howard Stern. You want to replace like a guy that is awful, and so any success feels big. So the Giants have been irrelevant for about twelve years, roughly one double digit season, twelve years. You have an offensive coach, you have a very good left tackle, you have a star back, but you actually have some pieces. You have a pass rusher, you have a decent defense. I like the GM. Now the coach is a lot, but he is an offensive

coach and we have seen him. I think Daniel Jones. I think that he got into the playoffs is a fairly remarkable achievement by any coach. Would you automatically say, if you're Russell, take the Steelers better organization. Now they don't have the same GM they had for years, So it's a whole different ballgame in Pittsburgh now many suggest Giant Steelers. Is it as cut and dried as we think that Pittsburgh's the better fit.

Washington is going to be much more competitive. It's the highest rated division in the league, so everyone's paying attention. And if it continues to be ugly, I don't know if their team is good enough to overcome that, and it could really just it could end his career. Well, I have a hard time even if he just is average. Now, well, the Steelers have been competitive with below average quarterbacks, so if he's just averaged, they could be competitive, right to me.

The Giants, I mean, Colin, they were really, really terrible last year and they lost their quarterback to a torn ACL It wasn't like every guy was hurt on the team. There's an argument Daniel Saquan's probably gone a free agency. You think, I guess, you never know. The owner could resign.

is Tomlin just not pay attention to offense. Which Russell could say, great, I'll run it, or you know, he walks into a building where they all their money. It's they all spend it on defense. The number one defensive spending team in the league. How do you view the Steelers as a quarterback? You know, Kenny Pickett can't play, we think, how do you view the Steelers as an operation for a quarterback?

Wad makea Fitzpatrick. They have a second pass rusher, Cam Hayward still around. Like you said, they always have skill guys. The running back du Old Najee Harris really came on at the end of the season, warn the little backs

really good, that war is good. There's a chance. What if Russell's not really functional in this modern day NFL and the way he's playing now, these coaches want you to have more than the one readability and every single personime, watch five guys come on your show last week, it's like, well he won read all the guys around Denver. Watch every play takes off and you watch him like, where's this Russell? And maybe he was always doing it. He was just such a spectacular athlete and such a you know,

instinctive playmaker. You get older, you're not quite as quick twitch, you lose your confidence a little bit, and it's hard to just maintain that style of play forever. Steve Young said this thirty five years ago. To sustain quarterback play, you've got to learn to play in the pocket, right and that's how a lot of these guys play forever in their older age where it feels like aged overnight because you can't just run around and freelance. Well.

consistently now for a decade. I don't ever expect him to just be Oh, he's one of the boys having some beards with the old line at the at the Burger Joint, like that's not where Tom and Peyton and a lot of guys, I mean, josh Al and Lamar, all these guys just really resonate with their teammates. Even a huge thing with Jalen Hurts when they Wally Pip

Carson Wentz was like, guys just liked them. And there's always been this weird gap of like Russell's a little more famous, why I can see him being interested in New York, the brand, all that stuff that comes along with it. And that's always feels like with Russell Wilson, there's this kind of elements which when he's playing great, who cares you deal with it? It? Drew drove Seattle a

little nuts, but they were always competitive. The moment that turns it feels like I don't even want to deal with I could see some of these teams listen, everyone gets desperate. You eventually pull the trigger. But I don't know. I mean, remember that once upon a time Cam Newton was just sitting there in a summer. Are we sure Russell Wilson's a lot to be signed by the end of this week? I We'll see. I'm a very fascinated to watch how this thing plays out well. And listen

for the first time in his life. Yeah, we kind of want you. These teams aren't gonna be kissing his ass.

Pete wanted it out. It didn't work with Peyton. That's almost unheard of for a two Super Place one Trophy quarterback where people taking I've never heard any teammate bag on Tom Brady. I mean Peyton was intense.

interacting with people and the quarterback position. I think a lot of these guys get it early on, like in high school, maybe even junior high. That natural everyone's kind of looking at him, and it just grows your confidence and you're very comfortable doing it when you look at the history like Dan Marino, just go throughout the list of names guys drafted high not even like Hall of Famers, Carson Palmer, they just they just kind of get it.

The crew of guys we have right now, I mean, how natural Josh Allen, Patrick, mahomes Lamar, their ability to just the respect's even the wrong way to put it, but like that's my guy all the whole. The kicker says that, the d line says it all the offensive guy's saying, and Russell's really kind of an outlier, high end player. He's no longer, but even in his prime where it didn't feel like everyone there's a gap there,

and I don't know what was missing. I don't know the guy personally, but even the guys that know him personally always felt like it's just weird. It's like, he's not giving you his number. You got to call my people's like, Russell, I'm sitting right next to you in the locker room. It's so effin weird.

lot of turnovers and a lot of average. They had to hire two new coordinators. Sirianni to me feels at times over as Skis you know the organization, well, you know, I said, there's there's always The NFL is getting more predictable because it's more quarterback coach centric. So Houston was clearly a surprise.

Washington with cap space, could be an interesting team. If Jaden Daniels comes in or Drake May and they can play a little bit, it's gonna be some. They got some good players. I don't love the feeling around Philadelphia now. They'll pivot quickly if they're if they're struggling at Thanksgiving, they'll make a move. So I don't I don't love you're losing. It almost reminds me when the Patriots lost Bruce Kei and Vrabel and you replace them with young guys.

You're like, hey, these guys are good players. You lost the soul of your team. And they Patriots, even with Tommy came back the next year, they were just a kind of a mistake plagued mess I don't love the vibe for and I very pro Eagles on my show, but I don't love the vibe I feel now your thoughts.

I think the the pressure you know, on the barbecue Winslow went up to high on Jalen Hursts in terms of not just display, but the leadership to run the organization. You had two guys, I mean Fletcher Cox the top fifteen pick, so he was a highly touted guy, was a really good player. Kelsey late Bloomer, but these guys have ran the organization for the last seven eight years. So you lose that that void, and then you're paying

the quarterback forty five million. The coach in a little turmoil of like, okay, Sirianni, you got pressure on you sometimes when you have a really good organization internally, right, the Patriots had it forever. They had Tom but they also had mccordy, Slater, high tower Edelman, like they had a core. You start removing some of those guys, now the pressure goes, Well, you lose Fletcher Cox. Okay, it's on Jalen Carter that has a ton of question marks

just as a human let alone the player. Can't he sustain Jordan Davis. These are two highly touted high picks. Okay, can you guys become the next Fletcher Cox because he's no longer around, right, and they always draft linemen, so it's like, Okay, they have a really good player to fill in for Jason kelcey, but it's not quite the same his void that he leaves from, you know, just verbally and anytime there's an issue, the reporters go to

those guys. They went to Fletcher Cox last year. When everything was imploding, He's like screaming at the reporter, like, calm down, that's bullshit. Kelsey always could just simmer the moment. And in Philly you need that. Yeah, it's why the Russell Wilson thing in New York. I'm like that that pressure is a lot different in Seattle and even Denver, which is a high level organization in terms of its coverage,

it ain't New York and Philly is the ultimate. And then you just to me, anytime you factor in a huge quarterback contract, I think the pressure on Sirianni, but I don't hear next year is just you. You could argue that the combo right going into the season with like mccarsony and Dak like the level of like, let's see, this's just not you're not gonna fire hurts after the season because of the contract. But we've seen them move

on fast from Wentz before. So he better played really well, like a Pro Bowl level, or they're gonna have problems and the leadership, it's not even just the play, like everyone's now looking at you like it doesn't always feel like he's super verbal on the sideline, right, And it was reported that they're kind of working on that. Well, now he does have a choice.

gonna get hit and you're gonna get hit hard. Yeah, this league is not you know John Lynch and Steve Atwater hitting you. These guys are still hitting you pretty hard and they We've never had faster players on defense. So clearly the wear and tear not enough typically to like knock him out for a month. But I wonder if he's just in a lot of pain. But how do you balance. He's probably never gonna be I mean, he's never gonna be a top two or three pocket

quarterback in the end is now. But when he's playing really well, he's this hybrid player. What happens to all these guys as they age a little bit and the money comes in, they don't I don't even blame him. I don't want to get tackled down the field, but you have to do that to be a great player. Like Lamar is pretty unique. He's so fast he can avoid and he's really good at getting down. Most of those guys don't have his like four to three.

you said, this organization they work at rapid speed. They are not like, let's just give it a couple of years, see how it goes like. They will pivot and they will pivot fast. Yeah.

that's what he looks like. He just he didn't have a ton of confidence. You know, he's a classic. He could win you a game if he had to start for two mid season, but by and large God Mason Rudolph came in and at least threw the ball to the right people. It felt like he limited as he is better arm talent. Got the ball to Pickens. It's like, it's not that hard target that guy thirteen times, get it to him nine, you're gonna score some points. So

you know, it's funny. Philadelphia is the kind of organization after a while, you know, like the Rams are very progressive. They are just always taking swings and that's just how less need is. I know him pretty well. And McVeigh that Stan cronky. They take big swings. Green Bay a little more reluctant to do that stuff. Let it bake, Pittsburgh, let it bake. You know, I was sitting there flying it was in Chicago this weekend. As I flew back, I thought, at least I know what those teams are like.

They have a you know, Rams, aggressive San Francisco, aggressive, Dallas. They draft and pay their own. Pittsburgh, Green Bay they let it bake. The Bears don't have an image and so they really don't. And I was thinking about this with Caleb Williams. Anybody with a functional brain. If your kid was going it was a quarterback and star quarterback and was going number one, you wouldn't pick the Bears.

But here's my thing that I think he's going to end up looking a lot like Kyler Murray and Josh Allen. Yere one where you're going to have no doubt in your mind. He's an NFL franchise quarterback.

feels like a coordinator. Give me realistic numbers on Caleb Williams for a franchise again that doesn't even really have a brand since the eighties.

solid offensive lineman after last draft. I think the question just is the organizational pressure on the coach that if you start a little slow, because anytime listen, he was losing games last year at USC tight games like it's hard. I mean, their team's not going to be as loaded offensively as a lot of the teams are going to play. I mean Green Bay and Detroit are clearly better. So what happens if they start three and five? Is there pressure to fire ebra Flus in the are they already

going another coach? I would say, I think he's going to be pretty solid because a lot like a young Jalen Hurts and some of these young they'll just run around, so you can he's not going to be afraid to do it. He was doing it all last year. Yeah, So as long as he's willing to do that, he can make plays because his arm is so great outside of the pocket. And that's an attribute that he brings to the table immediately is the scramble ability not to run.

But Deshaun Watson had this early in his career and he does not have the arm that Caleb Williams has. He would Russell made a career out of this scramble behind the line of scrimmage to keep a play alive and then hit a big playoff. I think that's what he's going to have to make a killing on early

and luckily he can't. And that's where a lot of players they look good early on DeShawn Russell and then as it goes on, they don't want to keep playing like that, and it's like can you And if he can develop into it, then he'll be a top ten quarterback. If he can't, and there's some questions some people think he's not good in the construct of an offense. You watch all the sc games last year, I think it was such a mess. It's hard to even I know

physically he has the gifts. People think he's pretty solid. I know there's a lot of pushback about his team and the brand and the money. Well, it's college football now. I mean he's been how much Kayleb Williams make the last couple of years ten million. If if I was making ten million as a college kid, I'd need a team too. I don't know what's going on.

have had very average. I mean, Jerry Rice's kid is probably a fourth or a fifth round receiver.

defensive coach. Yes, so what if they're just it might not be on his shoulders like it is a lot of times with these young quarterbacks because their defense is getting shredded on a weekly basis. So maybe it's actually gonna be a little easier in the sense that his defense in the pros is gonna be way better anything he experienced in college Oklahoma or USC.

number two quarterback prospect? And every single one of them hit me back, Yeah, what it's all said and done. They think he's because it gets back to is he's going to be a great NFL player. Nobody knows, right, but you might as well take the guy with the more physical gifts. He's got a big arm, he's really accurate this year, and he can move now. He's you can tell he's really skinny, he refused to wag. But

he's tall. He's like six ' four exactly. So if over the next couple of years he can get up to two o five two ten, let's say I'm assuming maybe low one nineties right now, it'd be fine. And he's really fast, but again, arm wise, very accurate, throws a very beautiful deep ball, and has a powerfulm So I came away thinking that guy that there are actually some similarities there. I wanted to hate him just because

what I watched at ASU was so ugly. Sometimes you get that initial you watch him play a couple of games like this guy couldn't play, and then you watch him what he did this year with Brian Kelly in a real operation, Like this kid looks like a star. Yeah, obviously he won the Heisman, But from an NFL prospect, I wonder if the gap clearly Caleb's gonna go one. But I think physically he brings a lot to the table. He's not as thick as Caleb, right, I mean Caleb is.

Arizona State to LSU. I went on the Herd on FS one and Fox Sports Radio, and I remember saying he's good, he can play. I remember his first couple of games. My daughter went to Arizona State, so I was kind of like you know, I and I knew her, so I was kind of like, I don't watch this, and Jesus was he I remember this first start in college. I'm like, you know, Arizona State games are at night because it's so hot, so you have to make it. You have to make a point to watch him. They

don't like fall into your lap. There's no day games, right, So I would stay up and watch them, and I was like, shit, man, he may wait, he may wait one sixty, but he throw. If you go back to his first year starting, he had total pois. He absolutely looked like the best freshman quarterback in the conference. So now you give him LSU's protection and you give him an offensive coach, so you know, you know, sometimes you look back and you go, yeah, of course Lamar Jackson

was going to be good. He was moving all over the field against Clemson. I think you're gonna look at Jaden Daniels and go. He was moving up and down the field against SEC defenses.

And then I started thinking, we kind of knows what it looks like, right, what guys sound like, what makes them tick. He's been around I don't know. I mean, one of the greatest NBA players and one of the greatest athletes of all time, and Draymond and Clay i'd

say had pretty unique careers from a success standpoint. I was like, I think Washington, it's gonna piss some people off because the way they're doing it's a little differently with Bob Myers and thinking outside that, I think they got a lot of high level people around that building.

most of these guys that move well by themselves. About two years of the light going on, Russell Wilson, show you this, all these running quarterbacks, Mahomes said, year three the light went on, You're like, oh, everything slows down. Well, that's why pocket guys like Mac Jones. No, you don't get those two years. That's Jared Goff, by the way, his first year when he had a bad old line, couldn't run save his life. So I think I think Jaden, even if he's not great in the pocket, will move enough.

They're going to buy some offensive line pieces. Terry McLaurin. They got some backs. I like, that's my surprise team.

these teams are thrown around. I mean, the Bears just probably gave out sixty seventy million dollars over when they signed Sweat and then Jalen Johnson. And they are not some big money team with just Dallas cowboy you know, David Tepper level money sitting in the bank account. Everyone has so much money now in the NFL that I want to give Baker Mayfield fifty You don't even think

about it. And historically in football, people were half the teams in the league were hesitant to give these big numbers. They didn't want to get stuck. Now no one's like, oh it doesn't work, We'll move on next year. The money flowing with this television deal has made the league, which is good for fans. Most players. If the team wants to keep them, they stay.

It just doesn't matter. And I think I think gambling has I know at Fox, people don't turn off bad games anymore. You stick around nobody these bad games used to have they'd fall off the cliff.

don't know. I just look at the NFL and I'm like, I remember five, six, seven years ago when I was hearing these Northeast sports writers say the CT to the end of football in America, and I'm like, guys, stop going to baseball games. Football is not going anywhere.