Frank, how are you, man? Hey, what's going on?
I'm great. When you think about some of the press conferences and quotes that we got today, is there one thing that caught your attention the most? Um, there's so much went on, and you don't know what to really make of a lot of it. But I thought maybe the most interesting thing for me anyway, was that the Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry came out and said, we think Travis Hunter is a receiver in the NFL. Now, that goes against what we've heard from most everybody. Weaver says he's quarterback, first of all, or maybe could play both, but mostly cornerback. And I think the Browns are the only team really on the record to say, no, we think he's a receiver. And it goes, for one, it speaks to Travis Hunter's talent, that you can even have this argument with a straight face, that he's pretty much the best quarterback and the best receiver in the NFL draft this year. And also the Titans came out and said, yeah, we think he could do both. Like he has before, why couldn't he again?
I don't know if that's, you know, just placating on me. I don't want to cause any waves by saying he can't. So what else are you going to answer? But I thought the Browns are the second pick of the draft and could theoretically draft Travis Hunter. I think he's a receiver first and foremost. I think there's a base going to keep going on until the draft when it's revealed who drafts him and what their plan is for him. But Travis Hunter, I don't really remember another player like this entering the draft where he's just so elite at two different positions that there's going to be this ongoing debate.
Well, Frank, what do you think is most likely to happen? We know the Tennessee Titans have their thoughts. They had some some words today on Travis Hunter. They looked at him as a defender first. What do you think they do to kind of set the table for the Browns and Giants after them?
Yeah, it's really hard to tell. They didn't, you know, tip off their hand at all today, what I saw anyway. So I don't know that we have an idea of how the Titans are leaning.
Usually you learn that this week, Don. I think by the end of the week, there'll be some reports out there saying, you know, maybe this or that is where the Titans are leaning. So I assume it's going to be Cam Ward, the quarterback, Miami. I don't, I wouldn't be shocked if it's Abdul Carter, the pass rusher, Penn State, anybody else.
I'd be pretty surprised. Even if Travis Hunter should wear Sanders, I'd be surprised if he goes over Cam Ward at this point. But it just, the reason I say Cam is just it's hard to pass on a quarterback.
It really is. You just, you don't have a quarterback. I mean, your coach, Brian Callahan's first year, I believe they were three and 14. You just can't have another three and 14 season and expect to keep your job.
Like, he knows that. So I assume that the push is going to be, get a quarterback and hope he's the right guy. I think Cam Ward brings some good things to the table.
I think Abdul Carter's a better player. But when you don't have a quarterback, you don't have a chance. And I think that that's probably going to be what the Titans do. And I don't, same with the Browns really. Hunter Browns pass a quarterback. How do they pass Shadore Sanders at number two? You have nothing at quarterback.
What's your option there? So as I sit here today, I bet on quarterbacks going one, two, just because you look at the desperation of those teams. And then the Giants of three are going to throw up their hands and say, now what do we do? Frank Schwab is joining us from Yahoo Sports. When you talk about the Cleveland Browns and certainly Shadore Sanders with his last name and pedigree, he's going to have a little bit more influence than than most prospects.
We see that he's not participating in the workout portion by passing the ball to this week at the combine. Do you think that that Dion would kind of he's pretty much said he kind of sway where he would or would not get drafty. You think that's a bluff for we in reality, right?
Yeah, I don't think so. Like Dion is very much a salesman in many ways. I like Dion. I mean, I'm based out here in Colorado. I've seen what he's done to the CU program here and all that. But look, if a team wants Shadore Sanders, I don't think they're really listening to what Dion Sanders has to say about it. You know, I mean, that's just what it is. It's part of the deal.
It's part of the showmanship. But at the end of the day, Dion knows how the NFL works. And I don't really think that, you know, I guess there's a possibility that he pulls Eli Manning and forces a trade that way. But I think that wherever Shadore ends up going, I think he's going to be very pleased with that. And, you know, and I, you know, whether it's Las Vegas or Cleveland or Giants or whatever, I think he's I think he'd be a pretty good pro. I don't know if he'd be great. I don't know if he's that kind of a prospect.
But from what I saw from him in college, you know, being out here, he he's got a chance to have a really, really nice career ahead of him. Well, Frank, you talk about the incoming QBs. We have a few veteran quarterbacks who I feel like they're going to be playing musical chairs. Aaron Rodgers is eventually going to be out with the New York Jets. Matthew Stafford angling for a contract with the Rams or potentially elsewhere. Russell Wilson up for grabs. Where do you think the biggest splash might come when it comes down to quarterback musical chairs? I think maybe the biggest splash is going to be Sam Darnold just because he's coming off that really good season.
I mean, they kind of went off the rails a little bit in the last two games, but still he played well. I mean, it's it's hard to really criticize him that much for a good season. But I think the most interesting one is Aaron Rodgers just because he is Aaron Rodgers. And, you know, he's one of the five best quarterbacks of all time.
And we all know there's the baggage that comes along with it. Yeah, we saw how he kind of overtook the Jets organization in many ways. Gabe Barrow, that organization was kind of calling the shots on who got hired, who got signed, all that kind of thing. I don't know that he's going to have to get that influence anywhere else.
I also don't know where the best landing spot for him is. But the one that makes sense is the Pittsburgh Steelers, because they're a good football team. They're a playoff football team.
I don't know they're going to win a championship, but they're a good playoff football team. Every other team looking for a quarterback is bad. Like, what point is Aaron Rodgers going to play for the Tennessee Titans or the Cleveland Browns or even the Raiders next year? Like, what, he can go 5 and 12 in the last season? I just I think that the interesting part of all the Aaron Rodgers stuff is just fitting the puzzle together and seeing if there is a fit.
So, we'll see. He's the most interesting to me. I don't know if it's the biggest splash, because at the end of the day, he's still a 42-year-old quarterback, and I don't think he's going to influence who makes or misses the playoffs that much.
But he's certainly the most interesting just because of who he is, Aaron Rodgers. Well, Frank, here in Atlanta, we got a team that everybody's trying to figure out when they will go back to the playoffs. How do you think this situation is going to play out with Kirk Cousins?
I mean, I heard Terry Fontenot was up there today saying, oh, we're fine keeping Kirk Cousins on the roster. I don't know who believes that. I don't. I don't know if anybody in Atlanta knows what on earth would you keep.
Yeah, nobody. He's got a $10 million roster bonus coming due on the fifth day of the league year. $27.5 million salary. No team in its right mind is paying a quarterback they benched last year to be their backup. It just doesn't make any sense.
So I get it. You try to keep any kind of trade leverage he has and hoping some team comes out of nowhere and offers a pick for Kirk Cousins, but that ain't going to happen. The entire NFL knows he's going to get cut.
And I don't see what happens after that. Kirk Cousins is another guy. Does it make sense for him to go grind it out with the Cleveland Browns for a year?
I don't really know. I mean, that's a lot of teams looking for quarterbacks. All the teams looking for quarterbacks are bad. Like, it's just it's a tough time to be looking for a quarterback. And it's a tough time to be a quarterback looking for a team because all the all the all the possible fits just don't seem to make a whole lot of sense.
Frank Schwab joining us from Yahoo Sports. You talk about looking for a quarterback. The Indianapolis Colts have already taken a look at Anthony Richardson and they've decided that they want to have a quarterback competition. They have to find a QB. Given Anthony Richardson, we all know about his athleticism.
We all see that he can also fall apart with one hit. Are his days pretty much numbered as a member of the Colts? It was only two years ago they drafted him. Not even two full years yet.
Yeah, it's it's interesting. Let's put it that way. I haven't given up on Anthony Richardson becoming a good quarterback, but he just has so far to go. I mean, he could improve his completion percentage 15% and still be the worst quarterback in the NFL that way. I mean, we're talking about just a long way to go as a passer just to be kind of mediocre. He does have athletic gifts, but like you said, injuries are an issue now too. There's multiple layers of Anthony Richardson where you're saying like, is this already kind of a sunk cost for the Colts?
I wonder if they're looking at it that way too. And the fact that Shane Stike and Chris Ballard seem to be on the hot seat in Indianapolis, that doesn't help Anthony Richardson at all. If you were to tell me Anthony Richardson needs two, three more years before he fully gets the development he needs, well, Stike and Ballard don't have that time. They can't sit here and wait for Anthony Richardson to complete 48% of his passes again. So I don't blame them at all for looking at other options as a quarterback. I think the Colts are going to find out what everybody else has found out, that you can want a quarterback.
That's awesome. There ain't many quarterbacks available to you. So I think it's just going to be very interesting to see what happens with Anthony Richardson. I'm rooting for him. He's just this dynamic athletic talent. I hope he does develop. I hope he does become a really, really good quarterback. But I think you said it right. His time is numbered there.
Let's put it that way. I think he's got to show some improvement very, very quickly to kind of get himself back into that circle of trust with the Colts. Hopefully he doesn't ask out of any more games in the process there. Well, Frank, we see how drafting a quarterback and having a great coach can can turn around your fortunes. Two seasons ago, we saw what happened with Houston, the Texans, with Stroud and D'Amico.
And now we pretty much saw what took place with Quinn and Jaden up in Washington. We see Drake May now being paired up with Mike Vrabel. What team do you think has an opportunity to make a big jump this upcoming season? I know we got to get through free agency, but do you see a team that's kind of put the pieces together to maybe kind of make a splash? You know, I think the you know, I don't think any of it's not going to happen the way it's happened the last couple of years with a rookie quarterback doing it. Like, I can't imagine Tennessee Titans draft Cam Ward and they're all of a sudden 12 o'clock next year. I don't think Cam Ward is that kind of a player.
So you look at it in other ways. I do think one team that is maybe is the Jacksonville Jaguars, which sounds crazy, but we all kind of like the Jaguars a couple of years ago. And now Trevor Lawrence gets a new offensive coach who I think can do a great job with the Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield last year. They do have some talent.
Bryd Thomas Jr. had a great rookie season, all that kind of stuff. So I wonder, and it's not a tough division either. Like that division, Houston was pretty good, but they took a step back last season. So I look at teams that could come kind of out of nowhere and make a big improvement.
Something that's going to happen. I mean, it always happens every year. Jacksonville comes to mind. I think Chicago's the obvious answer because we're all waiting on Caleb with Ben Johnson to see what he does as coach. But if you're looking for somebody, not everybody's going to say, I think maybe Jacksonville. I want to see what they do this offseason, see how they go about, you know, signing guys to fix their defense, how they, you know, approach a draft. But when you look at, say, what team could maybe jump up five, six wins, win a division, I think Jacksonville is in that category. They just need to figure out what Trevor Lawrence is at some point.
Wow. Well, and Trevor Lawrence, he's going through so many coaches. Let's let's see if this one finally works for him. They're paying a guy fifty five million dollars.
Hey, Frank, last question for you. Forget all these teams that are trying to get closer to a championship. The team that just won a championship is now being kicked in the behind because of a play involving a behind. It's such a push. What's the big deal?
No deal. Like why we got the Packers complaining about this for? I think it's just sour grapes.
I really do. I think it's we can't stop it. So we need to get a rule in here to take it out of the game. I mean, there's no other way you could stop that play with the Eagles running. Now, other teams running, you can stop it once a while. Nobody else has figured it out like the Eagles, because Jalen Hurts is really, really good at it.
Robert, the line's really good at it and they practice it well. No other team has had the level of success in the Eagles, which is another reason I think it's hard. It's hard for me to believe you could ban it. Like what if, like we said, like, well, you know, Justin Jefferson's a really good running flag. Well, he can't run that anymore.
He's got to legislate it out of the game. Like we would. That would be ridiculous. But it's basically what we're doing with the Eagles, right? Like we're saying, like, you have this unstoppable play on third and one, fourth and one. You can't run it anymore because we can't stop it. Like that doesn't seem fair to me at all.
I think it's just sour grapes. I don't think the NFL can legislate it out of the game because I don't think this is a league-wide thing where you just say, well, nobody can stop this play. It's kind of boring for the fans. I get, like, there are rules put in place in every sport all the time. Somebody brought up today, isn't it like, you know, banning the shift in baseball? If you ban this just for the optics of the game and the watchability of the game, maybe I could buy that argument. But to me, it's not that. It's not a player safety issue. It's just other teams whining that they can't stop it. So I don't know why you have to make a rule change based on that. Yeah, look at the Green Bay Packers leading the charge on that one.
Hey, Frank, thank you so much for the time. Where can people follow and read your work with Yahoo! Sports? Yeah, best place is just at yahoo.com slash nfl, but also on all the social media at Yahoo!
Schwab. So, you know, interesting time of year with the combine. Free agencies coming up.
Draft after that. These teams are trying to, like you said, be the next Washington commanders and try to go from last place to making the playoffs. It's always interesting. Yeah, we'll see what team actually goes in the right direction and we'll see what team kind of makes the next big mistake.
It happens every single year. Hey, Frank, thank you for the time. We'll catch you down the line. That's why I appreciate it.
