How did Lamar Jackson get here?

I recognize Ryan Wilson, CBSSports.com, Mockdraft Maven, also part of the Pick 6 Podcast, Super Friends, and if I am not mistaken, the brand new and with the first Pick Pod. Do I have that right, Ryan Wilson? Yeah, yeah, Adam, you do. And when you say it like that, it seems like I'm pretty busy. You are busy.

I can't believe you consent to come on this program. I appreciate your time. We're going to get to a potential, well, thank you, a new QB1 in a minute, because it changes every day, I think. But I want to start with Lamar Jackson. And there have been a lot of theories thrown out there around why Lamar Jackson has not signed. I think it's simple. What do you think the reason is that Lamar Jackson, like the Panthers have basically said, yeah, not interested in Lamar. Why do you think that is? If I had to guess, guaranteed money.

I mean, that seems pretty straightforward, right? It starts with Sean Watson and the deal that Jimmy Haslam gave him last year that made a lot of owners very unhappy because of this moment that we're finding ourselves at right now with Lamar. And Lamar doesn't have an agent. You know, everyone knows that, but it would probably make negotiating a lot easier because whether Lamar thinks he's getting a fair deal or not, and ultimately it's up to him to decide that, you can take the personal side out of it when your agent is negotiating your behalf.

When you're sitting in a room with your bosses and they have to point out things that they weren't crazy about, you're going to take that personally. That's just how it works. Your agent can be one person removed.

You don't have to worry about it. He can handle all that stuff or she can handle all that stuff. And by the way, Lamar's missing on all sorts of marketing opportunities that he's not taking advantage of because again, he's his own agent, just basically free money, whether it's selling Kool-Aid or whatever it is that the kids are into these days, he's not getting any of that. But that's another conversation. I would imagine the guaranteed money. And if they were able to come off of that, Lamar, I would imagine the Ravens would be a little more likely to get a deal done. But ultimately at the end of the day, Adam, it's Lamar's choice. So if he wants whatever hundreds of millions guaranteed, that's where he's at right now.

Well, I don't think there's any question. If he was willing to, I mean, the $230 million might be real, but if he was willing to essentially extend the contract out for a long period of time, I mean, the Ravens might be willing to do something like that because the Ravens would have signed him already if they could have gotten him without giving him the Deshaun Watson contract. Am I crazy? No, no, that's right. And again, I think that's why owners are not happy with Jimmy Haslam being agreeing to whatever he agreed to last year, because number one, look, here's Lamar's point of view. I'm better than Deshaun.

That was clear. Deshaun was terrible last year. I know he took two years off, but that's not my problem. I didn't tell Jimmy Haslam to write that check.

I want more than that because I am better than that. And I've been more important to your football team. And then the problem becomes, Adam, when the Ravens are like, well, we're not winning any playoff games, you're injured. And he has to take that personally and internalize it. And then, you know, we're at the impasse.

And that's the other part of it. It's not only that he wants this contract that no owner is going to give. And by the way, I think Ryan Clark said yesterday on ESPN that he believes there is collusion. I do too, because these owners talk to each other and like, no, we ain't doing that. Are you going to do that?

Nope. Well, that is collusion. It's just two owners got together and said, we're not doing it. It's what major league baseball costs. It costs the owners hundreds of millions of dollars in a settlement because they colluded. This goes back now about a dozen, maybe 15 years. But I firmly believe that that has taken place, but I understand why it's taken place because this is just not normal for the NFL to do that.

But if he had been healthy to finish the last two seasons, I think there might be, maybe the Ravens even might be more interested in it. Yeah. I don't. So the quotient thing feel, it feels like something's going on, but the other thing is, I've talked to some people on the finance side who are like, listen, there's a problem with collusion and you noted it, Adam, like it's a crime. And then if you get caught, you're in deep doo-doo because you mentioned that the payout that the major league baseball had to make.

The other thing for me is, and I'm sure these owners have talked that I don't doubt that, whether it's formally or informally, whatever. But the other thing is these owners want to win and it only takes one. We say this all the time, but a quarterback getting overdraft, it only takes one team, one owner to be like, you know what? Two first round picks is a bargain for Lamar Jackson. Our team thinks we need a new face to the franchise.

I will do it and I'll deal with the repercussions later. And, you know, Jimmy Haslam on some level did that because I don't know who he consulted about whether he should get that money out, guaranteed, but he did it and there was pushback. The problem is the Browns didn't win, but there's a team and just again, speculating. If David Tepper decides, okay, I'll take one more crack at the free agent market slash trade market, I'll give up two first round picks for Lamar. I guarantee you, well, you would know better than me, but I get a sense that the fan base would be excited about a new quarterback, one that's proven to win football games. Oh, they'd sell out Bank of America Stadium tomorrow. They signed Lamar Jackson today. No, they'd be sold out.

They would sell out next year already. Forget about this year. Because that's what Lamar Jackson is. He's bonafide. We all know. He's a show.

He's a show in and of himself. But again, I do believe, as long as there's no paper trail and no text messages that can be secured, I believe these owners have talked to each other because that's exactly what they do. And I think they're smart enough knowing what the history of this particular crime, because it is criminal in the eyes of the sport to do that.

I absolutely believe that they have discussed this among themselves. Let me ask you about Aaron Rodgers before we get to the new QB1 coming out of college. Ryan Wilson from CBSSports.com and check out the brand new and with the first pick podcast. Aaron Rodgers and the Jets went speed dating and then apparently they're creating profiles on FarmersOnly.com now.

Where is this? And is this even a good deal, good idea for the Jets? It doesn't feel like a good idea for the Jets because I said this the other day. I feel like Jimmy Garoppolo might be a better fit for the Jets for several reasons. One, he seems to fit into a locker room a little easier than Aaron Rodgers does. He's not a first bout hall of famer. No one will ever accuse him of that. But he does what you want him to do on the field.

He makes few mistakes. He's not a pain to deal with in terms of the coaching staff. And every year around this time we see reports that the Packers are done with Aaron Rodgers and every year they get back together. It's almost like a high school quarterback cheerleader romance.

And at some point you think they're just going to go their separate ways and they just have to happen. And is Aaron Rodgers playing more than a year? Do we know that? Is he going to be invested in the Jets if they start owing forward? Do we know that?

And those are the questions I have. If you have that defense in New York, those young players, a good coaching staff and a good GM, and you bring in something like Jimmy Garoppolo, who, and I don't mean this in a negative way, who's an upgrade over Mike White, who that team bought into last year when he had to take over Zach Wilson, you have a chance to win the division and that's just reality. You can certainly win a Super Bowl with Aaron Rodgers, but I don't know if that's the Aaron Rodgers you're going to get. And that would be my concern. Not to mention what Aaron Rodgers salary cap, cap hit does to the Jets cap.

What do they have to jettison? I know this is not necessarily a big deal, but Braxton Barrios went to high school in Raleigh. He's a Raleigh kid.

He went to Leesville Road High School. Jets just had to get rid of him to bring in Chuck Clark. That might've happened anyway, but Braxton Barrios was a useful player for them. But you bring in somebody who's got a cap hit of, I don't know, $6 billion.

It has to impact you down the road. And the draft pitch you're going to have to give up and potentially the players you have to give away to get Aaron Rodgers in the building. Whereas Jimmy G is going to be a free agent in a few days here and you get to keep your draft capital. And it feels like a pretty simple solution to me.

But again, we just talked about this, Adam. Owners do crazy things. And if Woody Johnson decides Aaron Rodgers is his man, that's what's going to happen.

Unbelievable. All right, Ryan Wilson, let's get to it. Almost every day, QB1 changes.

And I saw your clip online this morning. I know Brady Quinn was in the clip and I think it was Rick Spielman was also there. And Will Levis, the quarterback in Kentucky, is he the new QB1?

Not yet. Some teams like him a lot, but the concern is the 2022 tape. And there are a lot of reasons for that. And I'm sure we can go into greater detail before the draft. But Rick Spielman is my co-host on the podcast.

And so he and I have been doing it. He was the Vikings GM for 10 years. Our QB1 remains, Rick and I both, Bryce Young, even though he's historically undersized. But Rick slipped the other day on the podcast that C.J. Stroud is now 1B behind Bryce Young. He's been on Bryce Young since the ball as his type of player.

And so C.J. Stroud is the potential climber. I talked to teams that said he's going to be in the mix for quarterback one as well. Will Levis feels like a gamble if you're taking him first overall because there's so much uncertainty about what he will look like in the NFL. Physically, checks every box. He probably has the best arm in this draft and that includes Anthony Richardson.

Incredibly smart, teammates love him, so on and so forth. But he struggled with injuries. The offensive coordinator wasn't very good at Kentucky. The opposite line was even worse last year. They lost three guys to the draft.

So now you've got to project what that's going to look like. And these are all the things that the Panthers, for example, are doing. The Raiders at seven, the Colts at four, and of course the Texans at two, to try to figure out what's what and who's who. Because Bryce Young, if he were the same height and width as Will Levis, this is Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow, Hayden Manning, crowd territory. But the issue is, of course, everyone has something that's not exactly perfect about him. And that's what you got to figure out.

If the Panthers stay at nine, will a quarterback be there? Everyone loves TV Dad. On the next TV Dad presented by Progressive, TV Dad explains becoming a man.

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See capitalone.com for details. You're going to be gambling. I would say 50-50. There's a chance one gets there. And that's because there'll be a run edge rushers and probably offensive linemen or two and maybe even a cornerback ahead of you if everything stays put. But I imagine the Bears are going to try to move down at one because they, you know, they can get an edge rusher or a Jalen Carter type at pick five if a team moves up for a quarterback. And once teams start, like the first four picks will decide what the Panthers need to do. And if a couple of teams move up and the Panthers could probably have to think about leapfrogging the Raiders, for example, if they're still there at seven to get a quarterback, especially if they like two out of the four or three out of the four quarterbacks more than the remainder. And then they got to do that math because you might stay put at nine and your quarterback four may be different than the one that's on the board. And then you got to go in another direction and explain to the families why you didn't get a quarterback.

Yes, it is. It is about the quarterback. See, if it were me and it's easy because I don't have a I don't have emotional investment in it. And B, I'm not accountable to the to the Panthers nor their fans. If it was me, I'd stay at nine. And if the quarterback I liked was there, I'd do it. And if he was it, I would just go, oh, well, and either trade back or take the best player at nine. Because I think all four of these quarterbacks are guesses, all of them. Bryce Young for the for the size factor and the others, because, I mean, maybe one of them will be good, but the odds aren't the odds are that one of these four will be good NFL quarterbacks. That's what the odds are. I just assumed and we don't know which one.

I just assumed take who's ever left. And that's not a bad strategy. Unfortunately, fans drive a lot, not a lot. They drive a good part of what teams think about because, as you pointed out, Lamar, you got to feel the seats and owners and GMs and coaches, they hear the blowback and they don't have to be on Twitter to know about it. They listen to radio like everyone else.

They read the papers like everyone else, especially the local papers. And that's the concern. And to your point, Adam, I was looking over the last few drafts in terms of trade ups. The Bears traded for Mr. Biscay. That did not work out. The Jets traded for Sam Darnold.

That was a disaster as well. And you give up so much on the chance for 25% chance, as you put it, to help you hit a home run. And a lot of times I describe this as sort of like, I mean, I'm old and I don't watch a lot of baseball now, but like Dave Kingman, either you're hitting the grand slam or you're striking out.

There are a lot more strikeouts than there are grand slams. And that's the concern. I don't hate your theory. Stay put at nine. There are going to be a lot of good players there who don't play quarterback at nine. And if a team wants to trade up for a cornerback or an offensive tackle, even more reason to trade down. But the issue I'll ask you, what's plan B a quarterback? Cause I think Sam Darnold is a free agent, right?

Oh yeah. The only quarterback who played last year that is on the roster for this year is, he didn't even play last year, is Matt Corral. All the other quarterbacks are off, but at that point you can get involved. Well, not by that point, but I mean, they have to have a backup. They have to have a quarterback in place anyway.

They have to have a, um, a Jacoby Brissette or, or somebody that resembles Jacoby Brissette in place anyway. Cause whoever they draft isn't going to play. I mean, none of these guys are ready to play. Right. Bryce will probably play year one.

He has the best chance. Will Lefler probably start CJ will too, but I think it's fair to say that the, the expectations should be lowered for all those guys. Cause they're probably going to go to bad teams and well, it's not, you're not playing now. You're not playing for Alabama. You're not playing for Ohio state anymore. You're playing in the NFL. And I know you didn't mention interestingly there for the Panthers, Adam is a Lamar Jackson.

Yes. I mean, look, as I said yesterday, if he didn't destroy your cap, uh, and cause the Panthers have $3 million of cap space. That's a, that's a problem because if it's guaranteed, that's whatever you sign him for, that's your cap number. Um, it's going to be a problem, but look, I'd endorse Lamar Jackson. I just don't, I think the reason why teams aren't signing him is the contract demands and the fact that he's been unavailable at the end of the last two seasons.

Real, real quick, final thing. Why aren't the bears interested in a quarterback again? Well, the problem is if you take a quarterback there and then, and then, uh, are you, you take a quarterback there, then you have to restart and you have that need. You have needs at offensive line. You have needs at linebacker.

You have needs a wide receiver. And I thought the second half of the season for Chicago, they finally got it, had a plan for using Justin Fields. So if you can continue along that plan, keep him healthy and fill in the other holes by trading down and getting more draft picks, then you're onto something.

You're basically saying I'm starting over if you drafted on the quarterback right now. I agree. Uh, I actually think what the bears are doing is right, but I also think it's telling us something that if any of these quarterbacks were, I mean, off the charts prospects, the bears would have taken him. They, they would have stayed right there and taken him.

But I agree. I think the bears are going to trade out. I think they're telling us something.

Uh, Ryan Wilson, I hope people flock to the new pod and with the first pick, uh, from cbssports.com at Ryan Wilson, CBS. I appreciate it, man. We'll talk to you soon. Thank you, Adam. On the next TV dad presented by progressive TV dad explains becoming a man. Some it's time we had the talk. Okay. TV dad, you know, drivers who switch and save with progressive could save hundreds. Oh, is that my voice is changing.

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