It is the JR Sport Reshow here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Man, all this news about Tom Thibodeau being fired, there's still plenty NFL news going around today as well. And over the past couple of weeks guys who have showed up to work, guys who are not at work, people who don't even have contracts to talk about the latest and what's going on in the league and what might take place joining us right now is someone who has covered the league for many years an NFL writer, historian, now covering the league in many facets and catch him, his writings on Sports Illustrated, the founder of Pro Football Guru. Joining us right now is Russell Baxter. Russell, how are you?
I'm good, but I, you know, I have to tell you that countdown back to being on the show, I'm like having a flashback to war games. Oh my goodness. Well, you're the only person that hears that, so the public has no idea what you hear. Oh good one. I'll keep it my secret for now on.
Yeah, you're the only person that heard that. Me, you, and our producer. But it was appropriate to have you here, which is a good thing. Speaking of countdowns, Russell, when the heck is Aaron Rodgers going to show up to work with the Steelers or is he not? He's just, he's doing what he wants to do.
Taking a vacation, huh? Well, if you believe, you know, and the person that seems like they're the most in touch here is Albert Grier. You know, these personal issues with him going on. There are some people who think he's going to be one mandatory OTA start or mandatory mini camp and so on, that he will be there for that. You know, there are other veterans who are not doing, but you know, Aaron's track record the last couple of years being very, very vague, being very, very Brett Favre-like, for lack of a better word, is not painting him in a very good light. Here's what I ascertain from the Steelers situation.
Regardless if it's Aaron Rodgers, if it's Mason Rudolph, this is a one-year fix for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Um, they drafted Will Howard in the sixth round and no, I didn't come on there and tell you he's going to be their savior of the future. Um, you know, this, uh, pretty popular because we talk football 20, well, not 24 seven me, I took, I talked at 25 eight and next year's draft class in terms of quarterbacks is a little more comparable to 2024.
Certainly not comparable to 2025. It's kind of a disappointing draft class, um, for, for many people. And the prospects were in high cam ward was, uh, you know, clearly the number one Jackson dart wind up going in, in the first round, we only going to get into Chidor Sanders and all that other stuff. But the 2026 class is where I think the Steelers will make their move for their quarterback of the future. And I say that because, and I've heard some ridiculous notions by people about Steelers tanking and so on that ain't happy. Let me ask you this, would you tank if you already had 12 draft choices? No, this is probably no, not at all.
No, exactly. And that's what the Steelers are looking at because of the free agency losses they had this year, plus the Pickens trade. So if the compensatories pan out, like most people think they will, they're going to have 12 picks next year, which will give them maneuverability.
So regardless if Aaron Rogers comes in, if Mason Rudolph is the starter, um, even if Aaron Rogers signs, you know, we don't know if he's going to be able to start 17 games. Right. Um, I just can't see the Steelers thing. Let's put it this way. And, and, and I'm being serious when you've lost six straight playoff games and you ended last season on a five game losing streak, why would you need to tank? You need to get better. Touche.
Yeah. Just not, not, not at all. We'll be enjoyed by Russell Baxter covers all things NFL for SI. Having said that from a Steelers perspective, there's a lot that's been said about Kirk cousins being a potential backup plan. Uh, what do you think the future holds for Kirk cousins? Is he really going to have to just wait for that situation to pan out or some other team to be desperate with an injured quarterback or what have you? Well, his is an interesting situation and, um, you know, here's, what's funny about Kirk cousins situation. Remember both him and Aaron Rogers suffered Achilles injuries last year or the year before I should say, um, Kirk cousins came midway through the season in 2023.
Okay. Aaron Rogers basically had a full year to recover and he still wasn't the same until the second half of 2024 early in the season. And Kirk has was a very mistake prone yet at the same time, that was the team that was putting a lot of points on the board. Um, they actually swept the Buccaneers who won the division, you know, so they were very up and down, very erratic, very inconsistent. They decided to pull the plug on him, uh, and give the job to Michael Pennick. Um, and they still had a shot into the playoffs at the end of the year.
Yeah. They wanted to, they wanted to get knocked off by the Carolina Panthers in the final game of the season. So I don't know what Kirk cousins health status is comfortable enough to say now, now he's more than a year removed from the Achilles injury. So there's talk that he's the Steelers backup plan. Um, it's hard to believe that he's going to sit out a season because I still think he has some very good football left in him. So, but how healthy he was last year is a mystery because that's, that's the kind of injury that takes a long time to recover from. And, you know, the nature of the injury, because it's basically a non-contact injury is there's a little trepidation when you're on the field, this is going to happen again. Remember when Aaron Rodgers went down against the Bills in the opening game in the 2020 three season, it looked like nothing. And yet he was gone for the years. So he's kind of the wild card to be honest with you here, because again, I think he could help the team, um, but I find it hard to believe he's going to be on the sidelines when the season starts, if that makes sense.
Okay. Well, we're going to find out soon enough. Well, I got to wait a couple of months, another quarterback that was in the news today, uh, D'Amico Ryan's talked about how CJ Stroud hasn't thrown a football here in OTAs because of general soreness. When you think about his, his history of shoulder issues dating back to college, understanding that this is June, is there a reason to be concerned? You think there could be, you know, if you're the Houston Texans and you watch him get beat up last year and they basically gutted their, their offensive line in a lottery memory, they traded Laramie tonsils to the, uh, to the Washington commanders, um, you know, made some other beds, brought in a lot of veterans to plug holes and so on. So, uh, yeah, I, you know, only they know, uh, if it's an issue, but you know, what's so interesting now about the NFL and how teams get and players get ready for the season, it's so dramatically different than when, you know, I started watching football, you know, you, you basically didn't do anything in the off season. In fact, you know, because there was no free agency and no high salaries, a lot of players got jobs to help pick their bills. And then they showed up at training camp and played their way back into shape.
Okay. Back then, back then you had six preseason games. Imagine that, six preseason games. And if you were the defending Super Bowl champion, you played seven preseason games because you played the college all-stars in a game. Imagine that paying 21, 21 games, seven don't count and 14 don't do.
Okay. That's how it used to be. And so on, but then free agency changed all that. Now we have OTAs, we have minicamps, we have maxicamps, all the other different things that go on. Players are constantly trying to get into shape. Players work out with each other, uh, on the side and so on. So it's a much different, it's more of a full-time job than it used to be. I just think it's something they probably have to keep an eye on.
It's something that they have to monitor. But the biggest problem for the Texans was that offensive line. It proved to be their undoing, even though they won the division for the second straight year. Want to hear something very odd about the Houston Texans? Yes.
They've won eight division titles since 2011. Yeah. And have a tough time advancing. That's exactly right.
Well, here's the funny thing. They're like Noah's Ark. They won in 2011 and 2012. They win two at a time. They've never won three in a row and they've never been a wildcard team and they've never gotten to the AFC championship game, but yet they've won eight division titles since 2011, which is one of the higher totals in the league. So this is a big breakout year for them to take that next step, to get to that AFC championship game. Are the Chiefs a little down? Are the Chargers on their way up? Is Denver on its way up? Um, you know, the Chiefs been in the playoffs 10 years in a row.
Okay. They could tie the NFL records this year. So we, we know how this league is. We often see last place teams go from last to the playoffs. We saw it twice last year, the Chargers were last place team and the commanders were the last place team. In 2023, Washington got all the way to the NFC title game. So Tennessee, Indianapolis.
Wow. You know, Jacksonville, are they lurking to steal something away from the team? Remember, the Texans stole the title a couple of years ago.
They were a last place team and in CJ Stroud's first year. So this league is so unpredictable. That's why what New England did and what Kansas City is doing now, and to a degree, Philadelphia, um, they're, they're like outliers in this league now, um, in, in an era where they want parity. And yet there are teams like the Jets who have been in the playoffs since 2010. The Raiders haven't won a playoff game since 2002. The Dolphins haven't won a playoff game since 2000. So how do you figure this league out?
Well, let me ask you this question to close things out. Russell, you talk about teams that have been able to turn things around rather quickly. Is there a team that you feel confident in that they will turn things around this upcoming season and is, or is there a team that you think is going to take a big old drop? Well, New England intrigues me because of the hiring of Mike Ragle and the pieces he put together. A lot of physical defenders, um, bolstered the offensive line, um, got Drake May some help. Um, they needed help with the pass rush. They were, they had the second fewest, uh, I'm sorry, the fewest sacks in the league last year. Imagine that the New England Patriots for 20 years, one of the better defensive clubs and they've fallen off. So I think New England is a team.
I'm not saying they're going to plant Buffalo. I mean, Buffalo's won the division, you know, five straight, you know, five straight years. They can't get to the Superbowl anymore. So, um, Seattle intrigues me, but I don't think that's a big surprise. They were 10 and seven last year and they lost out on a, uh, a very, very odd tiebreaker. A team that to me to keep an eye on maybe on the downswing a bit could be one of those teams in the NFC North. Um, you know, the lions lost both their coordinators and their star center just retired yesterday. Yeah.
Rag. Now that's a, that's a big loss for a team that had one of the better offensive lines in the league. Kevin O'Connell was coaching here last year. Sam Darnold's gone.
Now it's JJ McCarthy. They lost some pieces as well. They revamped their offensive line. You know, it was fun. You remember how good the NFC North was in the regular season last year, Detroit, Green Bay and Minnesota. They all were one and done in the playoffs. Yeah.
Well, we were all looking for a little bit of parody. Maybe, maybe we get another breakthrough this upcoming season. It's kind of crazy. Here we are in June and we got to wait for some of these, uh, roster decisions to still pan out. Who's going to get a new contract.
Who's not. We still have a lot to get into and it's June. We're a little more than a month away from camp. Oh yeah. Listen, I do my countdown on, on my Twitter account.
Back football guru is today is 58 days from the, to the hall of fame game. Wow. Wow. Hey, don't rush the summer now, Russell. Okay.
Don't rush the summer. I just do the countdown. I don't control the stars by the way. I'm watching, I'm watching the Phillies, uh, Blue Jays game on my TV here. Okay. I think I just saw Aaron Rogers come up to bat Aaron.
Are you sure he found something else to do in the off season? No, I'm lying. I'm Pinocchio.
My nose just broke the TV. Oh no. I'm just saying, I don't know. Maybe he found a side job to do instead of, uh, you know, playing football. We'll see.
Never say never in today's world. Oh my God. Well, didn't he, he played baseball like as a kid kid. So maybe he got an itch that he needs to scratch. It wouldn't surprise me.
Hey man, if he throws a baseball, like he throws a football, I want him in right field. Oh yeah. Well yeah.
He'd be able to rifle it down without a shadow of a doubt. Hey Russell, thank you so much for the time and the insight. Tell everybody where they can keep up with you, your writings, all the good stuff. Well, um, back football guru is my Twitter slash X account and so on.
I put all my work on there. I'm a, just so you know, I'm affiliated with sports illustrated. I don't write, um, for sports illustrated. I write for some of the team that's called on SI and I do pieces on the bills, the chargers, uh, the Seahawks and the Panthers. I also do fan side.
I do NFL spin zone, fin fanatic, Titan size. Um, I keep busy. I love to write. I've been doing this for a long time and I love coming on here and talking to people like you who enjoy football. Hey listen, and certainly appreciate your expertise and willingness to share the information with us all. Hey Russell, thank you. We'll catch you soon down the line. Okay, definitely. You got it. Have a good night. You as well. That Russell Baxter.
