The NFL Season is here!

This is the best of the Adam Gold Show Podcast brought to you by Coach Pete at Capital Financial Advisory Group.

Visit us at capitalfinancialusa.com. This is the Adam Gold Show. This is the Adam Gold Show. A very intense beginning. Very intense beginning.

It is an open worthy of the start of the NFL season. See Adam Gold Show. I am him.

That's Dennis Cox over there. Announcement coming tomorrow, by the way. Don't say, no, no, no.

Don't say anything. Oh, so there's an announcement coming tomorrow? Big announcement coming tomorrow. Oh, okay. We'll just leave it at that. Oh, okay.

Leave it at that. I don't know what this announcement is. Yeah, you do? Do I? Geez. Oh, okay. I did not. All right.

Now I get it. Okay. What? I didn't know. If you're watching on TV, I put my hand over my eyes inside. Okay.

It's just that simple. You can watch us on TV. WRAL Sports Plus. You can find it locally if you are in the Raleigh Market. Channel 1257 on Spectrum Cable.

Over the air. 34.1 on your antenna. Apparently looks great, even if I'm on it. And Dennis, between the two of us, I'm surprised they haven't shut it down. Wow. Wow. We belong on radio. It's obvious, right? It's obvious.

I am fit for TVs. I don't know about you, but I carry a confidence in the swagger. Anytime I'm on camera. You're like the Baker Mayfield.

Yeah, I do. By the way, do you know how handsome Baker Mayfield is? Tell me. Go on.

He has been rated the second most handsome quarterback in the NFL. By whom? I'll tell you by whom.

I'm sure it's a reputable outfit. This will come up later in the program. Okay. Right. Is this Lauren Brownlow?

No, no, no, no. There's an app for it. It's actually a scientific formula. Oh, okay. I was like, what app are we using? I don't know what goes into it. I don't know what goes into it, but there is a scientific formula that has determined that Baker Mayfield is the second most handsome quarterback in the NFL.

In the NFL. Using the old website Hot or Not? Is that where we're using it? No, no. That would actually be funny. Actually, that would be great.

Let's do that. So, if you can find it. So, let me ask you this question.

I will not give you the answer. Who do you think is the most handsome quarterback in the NFL? Across the whole NFL?

Jimmy G's got to be number one. Jimmy Garoppolo. I think they're looking for starting quarterback. Oh, just starting quarterback?

My guess is probably went Brady. All right. That's your guess. Yeah. I'm not telling you if that is right or wrong. That is your guess. All right.

Just hang on to that for a little bit later on. And if people want to guess who is the most handsome quarterback in the league, hit us up on Twitter. At a gold fan or at the fan rookie. I will give the answer later. It'll probably be during halftime entertainment.

I'm very much intrigued by this. Where I will give you the answer to the most handsome quarterback in the NFL. Let's play Hot or Not? QV edition.

Get right to it. It is opening day, so let's let our hair down what little there is of it. Seriously, let's play Hot or Not?

QV style. Let's go. No, no, that's a long tease. That is a long tease right there. All right.

Let's get right to it. Ten years, $115 million for Dabo Sweeney. It's a contract extension. Keep in mind that Clemson just signed Dabo to a 10-year contract in 2019. A 2019 deal that pays him $8.5 million a year, insufficient for Dabo Sweeney. Not enough.

Right. Ten years. So they tacked three more years.

They found, they looked between the couch cushions. They looked between the putt-putt golf holes in the team house, the water slides, all of the other amenities that the players don't really want to use because they don't want to hang out at the team house. And they found enough coins to add $2 million a year now and give Dabo a whole bunch of cash later. That'll keep him with the Tigers program until 2031. Danny Connell, Florida State legend, our friend who will actually join us in a little while, on Dabo's extension. Nick Saban had a clause in his contract. That's my hunch, Adam, and I haven't done the research on this.

I did see the news. I bet Dabo's got a clause in there that says, hey, he's got to be a top three highest paid coach in college football. And that's what it's for. And that was something, because routinely I see agents of college football coaches absolutely work over athletic directors and presidents and whoever's negotiating on behalf of the universities. They get in the worst contractual obligations that you possibly could do if we cared about business, but I don't think anybody does. It's about crazy passionate college football fans, and I can't be the guy that loses Dabo Sweeney. So let me go ahead and give you a clause in there that says you'll be the highest paid no matter what happens on the field.

And so that's where you have it. So yeah, I mean, it doesn't make a lot of sense. It's got to be a contractual clause. I'm sure it is a contractual clause. I'm actually not sure it doesn't make sense. I think it might make sense. I have said this before about coaches.

There is no middle ground. You are either underpaid or overpaid. Like, no offense, the overwhelming majority of college head coaches are way overpaid.

But at the very top, you're probably underpaid. Nick Saban worth a lot more than the 11 point something million dollars he gets from Alabama. He's probably worth $30 million a year to Alabama. Same with Dabo Sweeney, to be honest, and a lot of coaches who make $5 million a year. Those schools might be the same if they paid the coach $1 million a year. But that's not the going rate.

That's not how it works. So I did ask Danny this, or Danny offered this, and then we talked about it, about with all that money, maybe players. It's just the latest example of how much money is flowing to these coaches and eventually it's going to flow to the players.

That's coming extremely soon. I'd say within five years we have revenue sharing with the players, which I pushed back for a long time. But you know what, the money wasn't this great. Now that it's this exorbitant, I'm all in.

I'm like, yep, you're right. There is too much money to go around, especially when you're giving coaches like Dabo a raise, who was already making $92 million. Now you got to make it $110, $111. There's no reason to do that. So now let's at least give it to the players. There we go. That's what we've been saying, right? College is basically operating at the exact same way that it did when there wasn't a ton of money flowing into the sport. And now it's a multi-billion dollar industry.

So we have all that money. The general deal has not changed between the universities and the players. It's time that deal changed. End of story. Time that deal changed. Forget about the morality of it.

The economics of it say that that deal needs to change. Okay, we start tonight. Opening day in the NFL. Doesn't have the same feel to it as it does in Major League Baseball, even though baseball has that ridiculous ESPN whatever night, Thursday night game before we get all underway. There is just one game and it's separated by three days from the Full Tilt Sunday. Bills at Rams tonight.

I believe the Bills are a road favorite. I think two and a half points is what I saw. Everybody's zero and zero though, Dennis.

Everybody's zero and zero. That's our football cliche. We all have a chance. Yep. Two pretty big reunion games in the open. Russell Wilson going back to Seattle. That's actually a big deal.

Russell Wilson, who was the quarterback of record as Seattle put together an incredible run, even though it only won one Super Bowl. I mean, that's just fact. Better run than most.

Yeah, that is true. Just shows you how hard it is to win a Super Bowl. So, he's with the Broncos now and Baker Mayfield will face off against the Browns at Bank of America Stadium. No, I mean, I'm grateful for the time I've had in Cleveland.

Like I said, I started my career there. Fans there at Football Town, you know, obviously, like I've mentioned multiple times, it ended abruptly and you know, unexpectedly, but we're here now. Everything happens for a reason and I'm rolling with the punches and I'm like I said, I'm happy to be a panther. I'm sure he is happy to be a panther.

Look, it has to mean just a little bit more. Here's a little bit more of Baker on facing his former mates. Like I mentioned last week, I think it's a great storyline. Obviously, there's history involved, you know, leading up to this week. There's other games in the NFL that guys are playing their former teams. It's just it's the excitement leading up to week one that I think is building that anticipation up. But for me, it's the familiarity anytime you're playing guys, you know, it makes it just more interesting, more fun. You get to smack talk a little bit with your buddies that you've been with for a little bit and you know how to poke and prod and get the best out of them.

And it's I'm looking forward to the opportunity. He says, if I'm not mistaken, he said he wanted to give Nicholas Chubb. He wanted to hug Nicholas Chubb.

Yes, right. The fact that he called him Nicholas makes me chuckle. He did. He called him Nicholas, not Nick Chubb. Nicholas Chubb.

Look, it's cool. Browns are good. Even though the Browns don't have Deshaun Watson, they will have Jacoby Brissett, who is a more than capable backup quarterback.

And it'll be interesting to see how that game plays out. For me, the most important thing I am looking for out of the Panthers against the Browns is not Baker Mayfield. I want to see Christian McCaffrey. I want to see how he looks. I want to see how often they hand him the ball.

I want to see how they deploy him. To me, that's my that's my aim in this game, how the Panthers use Christian McCaffrey. We will talk Panthers and the rest of the league with Will Brinson in about four minutes. We're here, man. It's the start of the season.

And a little bit later on, we will ask questions of you and hopefully you'll participate as we start some NFL conversation. The Mets are no longer reeling. Amazing. They sweep a doubleheader from the Pirates, which, frankly, is not that heavy a lift. Braves crushed the A's.

Those two teams tied in the loss column. Elsewhere, Aaron Judge homered again. Yeah, fifty five.

All right. So Aaron Judge has fifty five home runs. It seems like he homers every day. And this has started the if only the baseball media hadn't fawned over Mark Maguire and Sammy Sosa as their steroid addled bodies were making a mockery of the home run record. We could actually be covering a pure home run chase. Aaron Judge chasing the Yankees record. Roger Maris. You know what?

I don't want to tell you to go soak your head. But let's just enjoy this. Let's not let just can we not can we steroids were part of baseball and might still be part of baseball for 30 years. Performance enhancers were part of baseball for 50 years prior. Rarely do we have a pure sport. So with all of the purity, if we found out tomorrow that Aaron Judge tested positive, how many people would be shocked? I hope the number is zero because we should never be shocked. Players are always trying to find an edge, but they will tell you that we're just it was an accident.

I had cataract surgery. Yeah, I don't know whatever cut of meat. Tainted meat.

The tainted meat defense is great. Real quick, Joe Buck from ESPN. Now, Joe Buck. Saying that not Shohei Ohtani. Aaron Judge is the MVP. Aaron Judge hands down now. Ohtani won last year. And you're right. He did last year and is doing it again.

Something we've never seen. You know, John Smoltz, who I work with and deeply respect, said if he just concentrated on pitching, he'd be Jacob deGrom. And then you add in the power and the way he could run and everything. He's unbelievable.

Great guy. But Judge on a first place team as they're hanging on in the AL East by five games now without him, they're not where they are clearly. And he's six away from tying the Yankees franchise record for home runs. To me, it's Aaron Judge and it's him winning his first in the American League.

First of all, I don't even know why it's a conversation. No offense to Shohei Ohtani, who is amazing. I don't know if John Smoltz is right or wrong, that he'd be Jacob deGrom if he just concentrated on pitching. He's a really good pitcher and he's a really good hitter. But his team is 17 games under 500.

They are buried. You can't be the MVP of the league if your team stinks and his team stinks. Forget about didn't impact.

But no, it's easier to play on a day in, day out basis when there is no consequence. And if and when the Angels lose, it's just a day that ends in a Y. Yeah. Every single at bat Aaron Judge takes has consequence to it. He's the reason the Yankees are five ahead of the Rays four and loss column. He's the reason nobody else.

It's not even close. Aaron Judge has had a remarkable season in his walk year. And it's going to cost the Yankees 37 million dollars a year minimum to keep Aaron Judge. That contract is going to be awesome. It's not going to be like Ohtani's contract.

That is going to be the best contract. All right. I said it. It was opening day in the National Football League. Will Brinson, senior NFL writer, CBS Sports dot com. Pick six podcast moderator as we bring will on.

Normally we do this Mondays, but we are doing this on Thursdays today because we didn't have a Monday. We sort of did, but it was a Tuesday and will was probably doing a fantasy football draft. But I listen to the pick six podcast today. It was the Brady Quinn show you. You sound very, very happy when you talk to Brady Quinn. Then you guys talked about all sorts of things that weren't about the NFL.

You talked about you talked about build those be I L B as in boy. So people understand that we haven't said anything that you can't let your kids hear how many would be thrown on the field at SoFi Stadium tonight. Let's start with the opener because we have the defending Super Bowl champion. We're going to talk about the Panthers in a little bit.

We'll do that in our next segment. But we have the defending Super Bowl champions who are somehow home underdogs to the Buffalo Bills. Has there ever been this much hype behind the Buffalo Bills, even in the Jim Kelly days?

I don't think so. I mean, this is you know, this is the team. This is the team with the Super Bowl favorite, the sixth one. They are, you know, minus two and a half at the Rams.

And Josh Allen is the prohibitive MVP favorite at 61 as well, or maybe even five to one to pick up where you look. You know, it's it's just I've been asked that a couple of times. I think this week it's like because, you know, people are sort of what's the jolt of college football?

You know, what happens? It's like, you know, you're like, all right, well, the NFL is the NFL is here. Like today, football is football week after Labor Day. And I think, yeah, I mean, I think I think it's surprising because it just it doesn't it doesn't make sense.

It didn't really pass the say it out loud test. The Bills are the best team in football. But if you look at the roster top to bottom, I mean, they probably are the most complete roster. They don't they don't really have a weakness. I mean, to Davis White, they're offering quarterback to see me out for weeks. So that's you know, he's starting on the start of these four weeks during the season on PEP.

But maybe that that's a spot you could nitpick. I mean, Josh Allen is, you know, arguably the the best quarterback in football. I mean, I think a lot of people take Patrick Mahal. So Josh Allen's played at that level. You've got the elite talent around him. It's the five digs and Gabe Davis, Dawson Knox. I just had a call. I didn't just send a contract extension. He's potential to take a leap guy. And they have great coaching, the very steady and the division is pretty easy to like the Patriots.

Don't look at great. The Dolphins are all to a pipe videos and the Jets are the Jets. So kind of make sense. No, no, I think it I think it does.

It does make sense. I do think the Bills have the best roster in the game. He didn't even mention stuff.

I don't maybe it didn't. I missed it. Stefan Diggs, who may or may not be the best wide receiver in the sport, but he's certainly on the short list. I think when you talk about the best quarterbacks in the game, look, it's there are tiers of quarterbacks. I don't believe that the Bills would trade Josh Allen for any other quarterback, even though you could argue that Mahomes or Rogers is better. Josh Allen is in that isn't in that category of quarterback. He is a dominant, dominant player.

I want to push back on one thing, though. You said about the Bills. Great coaching, because I think that's that is the look.

I love Sean McDermott. But last year, there were two examples of anti-Bucks meltdown that the one against. Yes, exactly. Those two those two examples were the separators between the Bills going to the Super Bowl, maybe, and ending in the second round of the playoffs. And that to me, they are 100% on the decisions that Sean McDermott made.

So if he has grown from those, then I agree, then they have great coaching. But we will only know when they get in that situation to allow a Patriots offense and they didn't get beat by their offense as much as anything else. But to allow a Patriots team to throw the ball just three times and beat you is egregious.

That is malpractice. And then the way they played the last 13 seconds of their playoff game in Kansas City, even though it took Kansas City a remarkable, you know, it was remarkable that they tied the game with the field goal. The fact is that McDermott misplayed that entire situation. And it cost them two games. On the Patriots thing, like we talked about this after it happened, like very clearly, Bill Belichick was in Sean McDermott's hat.

I mean, yeah, that's a fair, it's a valid point. Like Belichick wore a Navy mask, you know, when he was doing his interview. It's like said Navy football over and then he ran the ball, you know, 55 times down their throat in that in that win game. And then McDermott still shook up the next weekend, you know, half time with the Bucks game the next week. He was like crying to Tracy to Tracy Wolfson, like going to go into the locker room. And it's like, dude, you're still rocked by this Belichick thing.

You got to get it together, man. And the 30 seconds is definitely a fair point. I mean, I would just say that if in-game coaching, that definitely maybe put up a red flag for that. But I think generally speaking, he's a very good coach, like a top 10 coach in the NFL. Yes, I agree. I think he is.

And he can go to the next level if he cleans up those types of things. And those are two pretty bad ways to lose games. Last thing in this segment, and then we'll come back and we'll talk about the Panthers and we'll talk about some other interesting decisions. And, you know, we I want to talk about teams that we believe are going to be in the Super Bowl.

I think we've already talked about one of them. I think the Bills are going to the Super Bowl this year out of the AFC, even though the AFC is stacked. But let me ask you this about the New England Patriots. If I said I'm not sure they're I think they're a nine win team even in this division.

Am I crazy? I mean, I think you might be shooting high. Really? Okay, good.

So I think I think there I I am not impressed at all. Bill Belichick, if he can win 10 or 11 games with this group, that's amazing. I mean, like, let's, you know, I reference this all the time. But my buddy Garrett always likes to do the say it out loud test and like your offense is going to be run. He's like Bill Belichick is creating a new offense installing a different type of run game than he's used the past 20 years.

And he's going to turn it over to Matt Patricia and Joe Judge to run it. Does that pass the say out loud test? No, it's not for me.

No, it does. What do you mean a new type of offense? Are they going to run? They've done they've done power power. They've been a power run team for like 20 years.

And now he's going to switch to be his own blocking. You know what they should do? They should bring in Paul Johnson and run the spread offense that he ran at Georgia Tech. It might be it might be a more attractive offense and what we're going to get from the Patriots this year. I mean, by all accounts, like anyone who's been there says it is they're like, man, this is ugly.

Yeah, it looks it. I don't have any confidence that that they're going to have any kind of offense. And I don't think their defense is going to resemble anything that came close to their best defenses, let alone the 2000 Ravens that they're going to need to make that offense winnable.

Like if we if you took I mean, obviously, you have to max the odds. I think there's a little bit more credence. But I mean, if you took the Patriots and what they're all doing and took away, Belichick and put them into fine green Seahawks uniforms, would you be like it's a 9-1 team?

They're under six and a half. Yeah. What are we doing? I mean, it's like a Jets offense with maybe a steadier quarterback, although I don't know. We haven't we we have to the Matt Jones, the Jets have better weapons. They do. They just Jets don't have anybody throwing to those weapons right now is Zach Wilson will be out for another four weeks.

And again, I don't understand. Mike White must be so bad that Joe Flacco is going to be the starting quarterback during the Joe Flacco week one Revenge Game. How about that action?

That's the good stuff right there. Exactly. They're not beating the Ravens. No way. No, no way.

No how. All right. When we come back, Baker Mayfield and the Panthers, they're going up against his former team.

I don't really think it matters. We'll talk a little Panthers and Christian McCaffrey. And then we will get to, I think, the most intriguing quarterback story in the NFL, especially early in the season. Next, Adam Gold here from my man, Coach Pete DeRuta with the Capital Financial Advisory Group. We are talking retirement.

All right, Coach, simple. When do we start tax planning in retirement? We should start as soon as possible because here's one thing, Adam, taxes are not going away. And so the game here is we know the rules.

A lot of people want to ignore the rules or act like they don't are familiar with them. But the IRS knows the rules. And so we get to retirement. They're going to reach in and start taking some of their money out of your accounts. So the secret here is to put a force field around as much as possible by strategically moving some of our money to Roth IRA or some of the other vehicles that aren't taxed, like special life insurance policies.

You can borrow against your money there and never have to pay tax on your money that you build up inside your cash value. So there are a lot of strategies here. The one strategy that does not work is ignoring it.

So let's make sure to not ignore it. The next 10 people will do for you your very own tax and retirement plan that will help you minimize taxation all the way through retirement. 800-661-7383.

All you got is call or you can text Adam to 21000 for Coach Pete DeRuta. Dennis Cox on the ones and twos. Apparently today's bump offering is Led Zeppelin I. I don't know if anybody else suggested it or Dennis just decided.

No, someone else did actually suggest it. Led Zeppelin 1. I would have gone Led Zeppelin 2 or Physical Graffiti, but this is also a banger of an album.

They're all bangers, man. Zeppelin. So no fish for Will Brinson. Senior NFL writer, CVSSports.com. Pick 6 podcast moderator, as I was in the gymnasium this morning on one of the apparatus, I was listening to the Pick 6 podcast. It was Brady Quinn and we will talk about some big-time Super Bowl contenders between now and the time we have to let Will go in about 25 minutes. But let's talk about the Panthers who are probably not a big-time Super Bowl contender, but let's talk about Baker Mayfield and the Panthers. I think you and I talked about a couple of weeks ago that, you know, fringy playoff team if everything goes right and the way when I look at the schedule, it's hard for me to envision them winning more than eight games, even if things go right. But again, that probably makes you fringy. But man, Darren Gant, our friend from Panthers.com wrote a great piece about Baker and I'm I think I'm more optimistic about Baker today than I was.

Let's just say 10 days ago. Yeah, I love I'm a Baker guy. I like bigger coming out of the draft coming into the draft coming out of the draft. You know, thought honestly thought he should have gotten more love for Rookie of the Year with the way he played and but certainly has ups and downs.

Yeah, he's an upgrade overshaved Arnold for sure. That's I mean, that's a no one is I don't think anyone's debating that. It's just a matter of can is Baker Mayfield a product of what is put around him or is Baker Mayfield a product or is what is or is the team that Baker Mayfield's on a product of Baker Mayfield. And I think, you know, that's sort of the Kirk Cousins, Andy Dalton, Derek Carr debate, right? Like if you know and if and if it's the case of Baker's what is put around it, I mean, look for most quarterbacks, it is like it's not, you know, most quarterbacks don't drag the people around them up to the highest level.

Like, that's, you know, that's the truly elite elite quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, etc. And so I'm operating the assumption that Baker needs things to be right around him for him to have a successful season. And like we said, it's just it boils down to can Christian McCaffrey play a full season of football?

Can that offensive line, you know, can you get quantum pass block correctly? Can the offensive line, you know, be healthy, stay healthy and be productive, be an average to above average group in the NFL? Because if that happens, I think Baker Mayfield with DJ Moore and Robbie Anderson and now, I love this question all like, you know, some some fun weapons. You know, I think Baker could end up having a pretty good season. The Panthers could be that friendly playoff team. But if you know, if the offensive line isn't good, and you know, if the things around Baker, you know, become a hindrance and not a benefit, then I think all of a sudden you're talking about a team that might win five games again. Oh, yes, the five and 12 season is there again, I think the schedule, depending on some of the quality, especially in their own division, if the Buccaneers are good, which I don't know that is a guarantee. If the Saints are good, which I think the Saints could be actually pretty good. It could be a difficult division on top of having not a great, not necessarily a favorable schedule.

And I think that you because you mentioned it right away. I think this season is more about Christian McCaffrey than it is about any other player on the offensive side. He has they have no chance. If he is not forget about healthy. I I don't see him as an injury prone player, but they have to be able to create opportunities for McCaffrey where he can be the difference maker that we know he is. Yeah, I mean, you know, you look at the first and look, it's hard because it's against, you know, it's against what the Giants, Jets and Texans the first three games last year, right?

Like, they're bad, like, literally like the three worst teams in football outside of the Panthers. And anyway, you know, it's Yeah, but it's like you see McCaffrey out there and Donald looked awesome. Like, Donald's, you know, Donald was a better player with Christian McCaffrey was out there and healthy and, you know, it's almost like, you know, you talk about like, is it Baker's pieces around Baker? I mean, you know, same thing for most quarterbacks and Christian McCaffrey is a big, big piece around a quarterback because you can put him in space near the line of scrimmage. You can get him, you can hand off to him, you can give him the ball in, you know, swing passes screen passes. I mean, every play was running through Christian McCaffrey the first couple weeks of the season last year, and the offense looks so much better than it did the second that he got hurt.

Yeah, I mean, without him, without him, they're sunk. I still, I want to see them put Christian McCaffrey into pass patterns, not just use him as a safety valve. I think he has the potential for him being a difference maker in so many facets of the game are there, but we'll see how they use him. Look, when he first got into the league, the Panthers coaching staff, especially with Norv Turner, I think they just utilized him so well. It's hard to judge because Matt Ruhl hadn't had him, right?

This is year three. Matt Ruhl got here. He's like, oh man, I got Christian McCaffrey.

Actually, you don't. He's played what, 10 games, right? The one thing I worry about too is like, remember in 2019, Ron Rivera was, you know, on the hot, very much on the hot seat coming into the year. I mean, obviously he got fired midway through, but you know, he, he was like, he basically was like, I don't care about the long-term sustainability of Christian McCaffrey. I'm giving him an unholy number of touches.

And I'm a little worried that Matt Ruhl might do the same thing this year. Well, but he should look, this is my, this is my opinion is that if you protect Christian McCaffrey, then you should trade him. If you, you, the chances of McCaffrey, whether you protect him or not being great three years from now are not good because that's the position. There are so few running backs that last beyond five or six years at the highest possible level. So few, but if you don't use him, if you try to protect him, then you're not going to get the best out of him anyway.

So what's the point? You just have to hope that he's effective for, you know, at least another two years, but he's so good. I just don't, you don't have a choice. You got to use him. I hope he gets, and I've, I said this from his rookie season on, he's got to touch the ball 30 times a game. Somehow he has to touch it 30 times a game. If he does that, whether it's 10 catches and 20 carries, do it. I don't care. He's your best player.

He's your best player, and I don't particularly think it's close. Shouts to DJ Moore. In the division, who scares you the most? Is it the Buccaneers or is it possibly the Saints? Well, I mean, I guess it depends on what, what, what our definition of fear is. You know, hypothetically, if you had hammered the Buccaneers to win the division at plus money when Tom Brady announced he was coming back to football, then the Saints would scare you the most.

Very good. Such a wise, clearly the best team. It does feel, and I think this is very similar to the Eagles and the Cowboys in the inner seas, but it does feel like people are selling the bucks or maybe people are buying the Saints, but I don't think it's like entirely because they're like, Oh, the Saints are just awesome. I think it's a little bit of like recency bias with all these injuries of the bucks and Tom Brady being so freaking weird and missing 11 days from training camp and people, it's where people are kind of trying to sell the bucks. You know, like if people are trying to sell the Cowboys and do in doing so are buying the Eagles. I think people are trying to sell on the box and in doing so are buying on the Saints because, you know, frankly, the Panthers and Falcons aren't really viable options. So I still think Tampa is the best team, you know, look, and, you know, this argument made against the Buccaneers, too, by the way, but, you know, Sean Payton is gone.

That is a huge deal to be where people are sort of glossier. They're like, Oh, Pete Carmichael got this. Now, granted, Bruce Arians gone as well.

But it's highball and very similar circumstances. I just, I feel like the Sean Payton thing is a much bigger deal than Bruce. All right, so because Byron left, which is still there, and Byron left, which is the offensive coordinator.

It's almost identical with the set up, too, by the way. O.C. is still the same defensive coordinator who has previous experience as a head coach with a terrible team. Jets and Raiders for those two guys becomes the head coach.

It's very bizarre. All right, so if we instituted, let's just say, let's use Russell Wilson as an example here. Okay, if we made Russell Wilson the quarterback of the New Orleans Saints, what is the opinion of the New Orleans Saints? Like a top five. I mean, they're really a team.

Right. Okay, so I actually think they're the favorite with the division. I think the Saints, taking quarterback out of the equation, and I get it, you can't.

Taking quarterback out of the equation, I think the Saints have the better roster. And I get the sense that we're going to see a good, maybe not a great, but a good Jameis Winston. And I have fears that the Buccaneers just can't block. Their offensive line is so decimated right now. I just have fears that they can't block, and I think their offense is going to have struggles. And they're kind of old.

I mean, they're old in so many positions on the offensive side of the ball. I think this could be a really, really tight race. I really do.

I don't want it to be, but it very well could be. Like, you know, I do think if you get good Jameis for a full season, like efficient Jameis. I mean, this person doesn't exist. You get good, efficient Jameis Winston for a full season of football. I mean, you know, I still think it's like, you know, you're probably not wrong, like take the quarterback out. Maybe they haven't been a roster, but it's like, I mean, still Tom Brady versus Jameis Winston. Right, I get it.

I get it. Brady makes everybody better. He intimidates people into being better football players. I don't know, he has that ability.

Bless him. I don't, I have no problem with Tom Brady. I love Tom Brady. But I think we're going to see. It's a hot take right there. It is, it very much is. I think we're going to see a really good Jameis Winston.

And if we see a really good Jameis Winston, I think the Saints might be the better team in that division. Opening a business checking account shouldn't be harder than running your business. So why do most banks still make you go into a branch? With Live Oak Bank, you can open an account online in minutes.

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Open a business checking account today at LiveOakBank.com slash business checking. Let's talk about what I believe is the most intriguing quarterback situation in the entire sport. And that is Trey Lance being the quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers. Jimmy Garoppolo just took him what?

To the NFC Championship game. He's taken him to a Super Bowl. And Kyle Shanahan did not flinch.

He just went, thanks Jimmy. Trey Lance is the guy and he did it early. He didn't even make Trey Lance win the job in camp. They just installed Trey Lance as the guy.

I don't know, I trust Kyle Shanahan with this. I think Trey's going to be good. Your thoughts on Lance as the leader of the 49ers? Yeah, I think he gives them a massive amount of upside. If Trey Lance stinks, it's going to be a tough season for me in fantasy and in basketball across the board.

Me too. And his running skill set doesn't just differentiate him from other guys in the NFL. It just puts him in that same category as a Jalen Hurts or Lamar Jackson. Even Josh Allen, all are a little different running style of course. But the ability to...

If he can functionally operate Kyle Shanahan's system, then he will have an explosive dominant season. Now, I also think there's something to it. I can't remember if Brady and I were talking about this on the pod or if maybe we referenced it after we quit recording.

Which I guess is not helpful for anybody who's listening to my guests. He was just saying he was a little hesitant, a little bit worried about Lance and the 49ers. I kind of threw out the hypothetical or the conspiracy theory, if you will. It's John Lynch who's pushing Trey Lance to make sure he gets the starting gig. Even if Kyle Shanahan thinks he might not be entirely ready. That he wanted to be Trey's team. That he wanted to trade Jimmy so that it could be Trey's team. And that Kyle Shanahan all along was perfectly fine at not trading Jimmy Garoppolo. And hoped that this would be the result at the end of the day. That they wouldn't get enough for him. That they would have to keep him. And as such, he would have a really good backup with a restructure contract.

Which they ended up doing. I think there's something to that. Which is fair enough to worry a little bit about whether Trey Lance is ready or not. I just think there's going to be highs.

There's going to be lows. But I also think he's a good bet. Now 30 to 1, maybe not.

But 50 to 1, a few weeks ago, I think we talked about it. Trey Lance to an MVP was a pretty good look, I think. And sort of fits the Mahomes Lamar Jackson mold of second year guy who sat and then learned the system. Had it built around him. Explodes with a creative play caller.

Et cetera, et cetera. I think that if you have Trey Lance as your quarterback and George Kittle as your tight end on your fantasy team, I think that has a fair chance of being a really good combination this year. Big fan. Throwing Brandon Ayute too. That's right. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Devo. And a fully contracted Devo Samuel. So yeah, that's a really- With rushing yardage and touchdown bonuses built into his contract.

That's even better. Look, I think the 49ers, I'll just say it, I think the Bills and the 49ers are going to meet in the Super Bowl. That's my pick to get the Super Bowl. What is it?

LVII. I actually had the Niners as my NFC pick until the last second. I was debating between them and the Eagles.

And it came down to two factors. One, I wanted an all bird Super Bowl, which has never happened before. Bird mascot Super Bowl. And two, I played golf with my buddy Buzz yesterday.

And he is an Eagles fan in town. You know, just felt sort of kismet, is that right? Sure. That sounds good. Okay. Close enough. Yeah.

Well, good. I'm glad you were so easily swayed by your buddy being in town and convincing you that the Eagles are good. I like the Eagles too. Eagles or Cowboys win the NFC East?

Eagles. I think maybe not comfortably, but being like, Tyron Smith is out till December at least. That's a big deal for the Cowboys. I think it is a big deal too. I also, well, we'll see how they, you know, are they really going to like lean on C.D. Land, Noah Murray Cooper, Golladay. I mean, they've got these guys, you know, it's not the same offense that it was. I still think they will be very good.

All right. Let me ask you about the AFC West. And interesting, I thought it was that Brady Quinn said on the podcast today, on your podcast, the pick six podcast, which people should download and listen to every day. It's a daily NFL podcast that he thought he was going off the board by picking the Kansas City Chiefs to get to the Super Bowl.

Mike, wait a second, because he picked, I think it was the Chiefs and the Packers. Yeah, it's very chalky, but like, it's kind of like subtle to like smart chalky. It's very chalky. Not a popular pick. Right, but it is, it is chalky because those are two of the three best quarterbacks in the world.

So why not? I also feel like the two of the three teams most favored to win. Right. So I'm not worried about the Chiefs offense either. And I'm not worried about the Packers offense. I've thought that Aaron Rodgers has always made all of his receivers better. So I'm not concerned that they don't have Devante Adams, maybe a little bit more concerned that the Chiefs don't have as much turn small play into huge play without Tyreek Hill. But who steps into that role?

Yeah. I mean, I think that like my theory all along has been that they're going to try and replace Tyreek Hill with some with the combination of guys like the underneath stuff is Juju. The deep ball stuff is Marcus Valley scaling. Meeko Hardman is like a, you know, was drafted to kind of be the next Tyreek Hill and maybe he can actually be that, you know, in, you know, when you when you, you know, in the throes of July, when you're walking through these theoretical, you know, operations for NFL teams, you know, it kind of makes sense and kind of works and you can kind of sell somebody on it. We'll see on Sunday, though, it might not it might not work. Tyreek Hill is a pretty important player. But I think both the Chiefs and the Packers are being downgraded far too much based on their loss at a wide receiver. Of course, those wide receivers are important. No one is suggesting that Tyreek Hill and Devontae Adams aren't two to three to the five best receivers in football. But at the same time, you know, those guys really became great because they had these just Hall of Fame all time quarterbacks throwing to them. And, you know, those quarterbacks are still there and they're still very good. So I'll take the quarterback and the coach over the receiver, you know, when it comes to importance and value that I place on a team possibly winning the division. Yeah, look, I think that those two quarterbacks just make everybody around them better. Like Brady makes everybody it doesn't matter who the receivers are. Tom Brady is going to make you a better player.

All right. Let's wrap this up. Give me your Super Bowl prediction, sir. Well, I kind of gave it away that I had the Eagles as the NFC side. Would you like to guess what my AFC birdside was? Your AFC birdside Ravens? Yes. Um, he wasn't Ravens.

It's not conventional, but it's not also not like that crazy. No. You don't need a couple things to happen. One the Ravens had to be a lot healthier than last year, but that tends to regress to the mean a little bit more than I think people understand when it comes to, you know, you know, an injured team, typically a really injured team typically will have better injury luck the following year. That's just sort of how it works.

It's just, it's just, just have to trust me on it. And the, um, and you know, Lamar Jackson, I want him in a contract here. I don't want him to get a contract done by tomorrow. I want him as you know, my Super Bowl pick. I want him to be motivated to make as much money as possible and to ironically pull the Joe Flacco on them.

Since that's through the facing of week one, you know, go and bet on yourself, win a Super Bowl and make them pay you whatever you want. Um, if the Eagles, I think people forget that Jalen hurts is only 24. It feels like he's 35 because he's been in the spotlight for so long. He's from Alabama, um, then your Oklahoma, the draft, the, you know, the Nick Foles stuff. And now, you know, what he's really just one year started for the Eagles. I don't think it's crazy to suggest he could have a breakout season and, and sort of take a leap forward as a passer with AJ Brown, Devontae Smith, that Dallas got it there. They have sort of 2017, like for the, for the Eagles in terms of their offensive and defensive lines. I mean, I think it's, if you get any kind of leap forward for hurts, then this Eagle team is really dangerous. Yeah, I think, I don't think that it's crazy to think that Jalen hurts can be as good as Dak Prescott. Um, I think, I think Hertz has is such a solid person. I think he'll be a really, really good player this year. Will Brinson, we'll talk to you on Monday. It seems like Monday's just a few days away because it is, uh, thank you very much for the opener, sir. This is the Adam Gold Show.