It's time to have a conversation with someone who covers all things related to the league in the Dallas area and cover the Dallas Cowboys up close. And, you know, I thought last season was pretty chaotic in the way that Jerry Jones decided to handle the long-term contract extensions for both C.D. Lamb and Dak Prescott. He allowed for the market to jump at both wide receiver and quarterback, allowed C.D. Lamb to hold out for the vast majority training camp pretty much the whole time they were out in Oxnard, California. That's right when they get back to Texas to a deal that made him the second highest paid wide receiver in the entire league, waited until hours before kickoff of week one to re-sign Dak Prescott to his four-year, $240 million deal and make him the highest paid player on an average per year salary basis. And you would think, okay, maybe Jerry is going to learn his lesson about contract management after waiting, waiting, waiting and then still ending up paying top of the market price. And Stephen Jones at Brian Schottenheimer's introductory press conference, he talked about being selectively aggressive and reevaluating the team's free agency approach after last offseason in which they delayed those two big contracts I mentioned.
And then spent the fewest amount of money in the entire NFL last offseason. You think, okay, maybe things can be different. I mean, ultimately a little, I guess.
Right. I mean, they signed a lot of former first round picks, but dudes who are third, fourth wave free agency guys, Micah Parsons, no change there. Jerry's still opting to wait because he wants to, quote, get the deal right. I mean, what more do you have to know about Micah Parsons? He's the only dude in NFL history since Sachs became an official metric in 1982 to have at least 12 of them in each of his first four seasons in the league. And yeah, saying he didn't know who David Mulageta is, which is Micah Parsons' agent, also the agent who signed Jordan Love to his long-term contract, the Green Bay Packers. Got notoriously got Deshaun Watson a five-year fully guaranteed $230 million contract, got Jalen Ramsey paid, Jesse Bates paid, a lot of NFL guys paid.
He's a mega agent. So to say that and probably take off one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful agent in the NFL I thought was pretty ludicrous. I'm sure this will all end with Micah Parsons resigning either at the top of the market or number two in the market, just like Dak and CD, but I don't know why we do this song and dance every year only to end up with the same result.
It's the Dallas Cowboys way. Garrett Poldell is here with us, covers all things NFL for CBS Sports. When you take a look at, you mentioned Dak Prescott being a quarterback. We know he's making $60 million a year. When you take a look at Brock Purdy, we know he's about to get a massive raise, entering into the final year of his contract, making $5 million. And we heard from Jed York that they're trying to make him the highest paid 49er ever. When you think about what quarterbacks currently paid, where do you think he's going to slide in at?
I think his number is going to be at least over $50 million. I don't know if you see Brock Purdy at the absolute top of the market, just because you look at him, right? He was the last pick of his draft class. But then, he was a Super Bowl starter for the 49ers, so obviously proved his worth. And even last year, when some of his supporting cast like Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel were hurt, Trent Williams was hurt, he was still pretty productive. And actually, oddly enough, his air yards for pass temp, like throwing downfield, he was actually throwing the ball deeper than he did when the 49ers reached the Super Bowl a couple years ago, despite not having as nearly of a talented cast because of injuries.
And that was something, you know, a lot of people looked at him as like this game manager. But I'm sure there are a lot of teams that love to have Brock Purdy, so I would say I'd put him in the range of somewhere between like $50, $55 million. Jordan Love, who I mentioned a little earlier, he's four years, $55 million. I'd say somewhere around the Jordan Love range. Jordan Love signed four years, $220. It would probably be my guess for Brock Purdy. I think he's going to approach it knowing that he'd rather have, you know, and the 49ers pretty proactive about their salary cap stuff and getting guys paid who they want to pay and resign early.
He'd probably want to have the most talented group of dudes around him. So I would imagine that this would get done this offseason for around the Jordan Love range. When we think about how much he's going to get paid, there's another quarterback, dare I say, lingering about. His name is Aaron Rodgers. We heard from Art Rooney that he feels optimistic that Aaron Rodgers is going to end up with the Steelers. What do you think is the holdup?
I mean, is it a matter of ego? Is Aaron Rodgers hoping for an injury in the summer to, I don't know, J.J. McCarthy with the Vikings? What's the holdup here with Rodgers? He waiting for the draft?
That's a great question. And well, it kind of seems like he's made his decision already, right? I mean, there were videos and pictures that surfaced on social media of him throwing with new Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf at UCLA at some point in the very recent times that we live in. So I would say I don't know if he'd be throwing with DK Metcalf, the Steelers new number one receiver, if he wasn't going to go there. I mean, that would be an incredible misdirect by him. And I know he loves to play us in the media and football fans alike. I don't know what the holdup is, but I would imagine that he would probably get something done before the draft.
Right. I mean, I'm not really sure. I mean, he made a Netflix documentary called Aaron Rodgers Colon Enigma. He's an enigma, Jr. Who knows? But the fact that he worked out with Metcalf at UCLA very recently would indicate to me, at least if I'm putting two and two together, that four would be that he would be in Pittsburgh for 2025. OK. CBS Sports NFL writer Garrett Podell is here with us.
That's a that's a good prediction for Aaron Rodgers for 2025. One thing that we are not sure about following the NFL owners meetings is what's going to take place with the the push. Apparently, the owners are split on whether or not to get rid of it. Roger Goodell is saying that it's a matter of safety, even though they don't have any data. Is this ultimately going to be banned or adjusted even if they re vote in May? I mean, I think there's a way to, quote, readjust it, even if there's not anything written in paper about it. I honestly so you need 24 out of 32 teams to vote on something to get it approved or re legislate in the NFL. I think it was 16 teams voted to get rid of it. And obviously that's a third of the number short that they needed to overturn it.
But I think there's a way honestly, J.R., for them to fix the push without putting it in writing. And that's officiating it better. And what I mean by that is when you watch the push, if you look at the center, whether it's the Eagles or some other teams who run it really well, the Cowboys actually run it pretty well. And there's a couple others.
San Francisco runs it pretty well. You watch the center. If you look at basically from chest up, the center is committing a neutral zone infraction. That's where they line up on that play there. Like if you walked up to the center on the push, push play on pretty much any team. I know there are over 300 pounds, but it looks like if you just gave them a little poke, they would tumble over with how much of their body weight is leaning forward and how much of their kind of upper half of their torsos over the line of scrimmage. So I think if officiating really cracked down on making sure all the offensive linemen on that play truly were behind the line of scrimmage on that and then simultaneously defensive linemen in the interior, same type of thing, although it's a little more pronounced and noticeable when on those plays, the offensive line, particularly the center, is well over the line of scrimmage before it even happens. I think that would reduce the perceived injury risk on that play for sure. So you think the NFL is going to find a loophole as it relates to, hey, we weren't legislating this play properly.
It was illegal the whole damn time. I mean, I think the legality of it, you know, that's for the teams, but I'm just saying the league itself, like there are different things the refs like emphasize from year to year. For example, there was the one year a few years ago where roughing the passer was a really big thing. And they were calling rough in the past everything too much, too much. But I so I think if they could just maybe overcorrect officiating the push, making sure all the offensive linemen are actually behind the line of scrimmage on that. I mean, that would, you know, create, I think, less of a dramatic, you know, head to head or head into somebody's chest type of collision upon the snap for a play like that, which in turn would reduce. I think Roger Goodell said, like, yeah, the risk. This is Dr. Alan Sills, their head medical guy with the league, like a risk of a catastrophic injury on the play, because really in the NFL, let's be honest, any play a catastrophic injury could occur when you have such a high impact. So I think just let's make sure everyone's lined up and really police that.
And I think that could be a subtle way to tweak it a little bit. OK, Matt Garrett, last question for you. I know you're heavily invested in what takes place in the draft later on this month. A lot of conversations about what the Titans would do at one with the Browns would do that at two and what the Giants would do at three. What do you think is going to take place in those first three selections?
I think these owner meetings have been very enlightening, JR. I think it's almost a lock that Cam Ward, the 2024 Davey O'Brien winning quarterback for Miami is going to go number one overall in this draft. I mean, he's in a tier of his own as a quarterback prospect, his ability to throw on the run and do a really great job playing off schedule when things break down.
And just the physical traits. I think he's going to be one. Now, I had a new mock draft come out this week and I had Shader Sanders number two to the Browns and Abdul Carter, the All-American edge rusher out of Penn State third to the Giants. Now, after hearing owner Jimmy Haslam's comments about his quarterback situation this week, saying Deshaun Watson's a big swing and miss. But at the same time, we're not going to force the issue at quarterback in the draft. What forced the issue at quarterback in the draft came across to me as was we're not going to pick Shader Sanders just because we need a quarterback.
They might still pick them. But after hearing that comment, I'm inclined to think they're going to pick Abdul Carter second and pair him with Miles Garrett and have just a wrecking crew at their edge rusher spots in Cleveland. And then I do think Shader Sanders in my next mock draft, I'll have him go in third to the Giants.
I was at the Shrine Bowl here in North Texas, one of the two major draft showcases, along with the Senior Bowl. And I was sitting in the player lobby talking to some CBS Sports co-workers and I turn over my left shoulder and I see Shader Sanders in a huddle in the lobby talking with Giants general manager Joe Shane, Giants head coach Brian Dable and Giants assistant general manager Brandon Brown. And so either like that is the greatest smokescreen in the world and New York is just trying to inflate Shader Sanders value for whatever reason, or maybe they don't want him or they're in love with Shader Sanders.
I'm inclined to believe it's the latter. And so I think if Shader Sanders drops them at three that they will take him. All right. Well, the New York Giants will have one interesting quarterback room.
And at that point, I guess Joe Shane and Brian Dable are going to kind of stretch out their own longevity with the franchise. Hey, Garrett, thank you so much for coming through and sharing your insight. Where can people follow you, your writings and all of your work with CBS? They can follow me on Twitter at Garrett Podell. G.A.R.E.T.T. P.O.D.E.L.L. And then all my writing is CBSSports.com.
Hit the NFL tab. Hey, Garrett, thank you so much for the time and insight. Look forward to chatting with you down the line, man. Absolutely. Had a great time talking. J.R., pleasure to join you.
